Dondon Developments

My Training Plan

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A five-day week of barbell strength, kettlebell work, steel mace, and easy cardio — plus a daily foot-and-hip prehab layer — built to run indefinitely.

Overview

Five training days a week across four pieces, plus a daily foot/hip prehab underlay:

  • Barbell strength (2 days) — the strength anchor: deadlift, squat, presses, pulls.
  • Simple & Sinister (3 days) — kettlebell swings + Turkish get-ups for hip power, grip, unilateral stability, and conditioning. Minimalist and built to run alongside the barbell work without interfering.
  • Steel mace (Sat finisher) — rotational / anti-rotation work the bells and barbell don’t cover.
  • Easy cardio (off days) — casual biking for heart and endurance, kept easy enough to aid recovery rather than compete with it.
  • Daily prehab (feet & hips) — plantar-fascia/calf loading for the plantar fasciitis, plus hip-flexor mobility and glute/core work for the anterior pelvic tilt. A low-fatigue daily layer, not a training day of its own.

It’s a forever plan, not a cycle to finish. Nothing here has an end date — the progressions just keep going.

Equipment on hand: pair of 25 lb bells (~11 kg ea), one 20 kg bell, 15 lb steel mace, barbell + dumbbells.

Weekly Schedule

  • Mon — S&S
  • Tue — Barbell A
  • Wed — S&S
  • Thu — Off / walk / easy ride
  • Fri — Barbell B
  • Sat — S&S + carries
  • Sun — Off / easy ride

Daily underlay: the Feet & Hips prehab block below runs every day (the mobility/release/activation part). The heavier heel-raise loading piggybacks on Tue, Fri, and one S&S day so it lands every other day without adding sessions.

Fatigue notes:

  • Wed S&S falls the day after Tue deadlifts. If low back or grip is cooked, drop to swings-only (skip get-ups, move them to Sat) or lighten the bell. Don’t grind it.
  • Sat is the one heavier KB day; it gets a full rest day after.
  • Each barbell day has a buffer around it so posterior-chain fatigue doesn’t stack.
  • Heel-raise loading is low systemic fatigue but the fascia/tendon still needs recovery — alternate days, don’t run it back-to-back.

Easy Cardio

Optional, casual — just balance for all the weight work. Bike on Thu and/or Sun, 30–45 min, conversational pace (able to talk the whole time). No intervals, no long rides, no progression to chase. One or two easy rides a week gives the full heart/endurance benefit and helps recovery rather than competing with the lifting. The only rule: keep it easy enough that it never becomes a hard effort.

Daily Prehab — Feet & Hips

Two targets bolted on as a low-fatigue daily layer:

  • Feet / calves — plantar-fascia loading + calf strength for the plantar fasciitis. Strength is the actual fix here; stretching alone soothes but doesn’t resolve it.
  • Hips / pelvis — hip-flexor mobility plus glute/core work to pull the pelvis out of anterior tilt and, more importantly, teach it to hold neutral.

Split into a daily mobility/activation layer (genuinely every day, ~8–10 min) and a loading layer that runs every other day, because high-load tissue work needs the off-day to adapt.

Daily — mobility & activation (~8–10 min, every day)

Feet:

  • Plantar release — roll the arch over a lacrosse/golf ball or a frozen water bottle, 1–2 min per foot. Do it before your first steps in the morning and again at end of day. The frozen bottle doubles as anti-inflammatory.
  • Plantar + calf stretch — cross the sore foot over the opposite knee and pull the toes back toward the shin until the arch stretches, 30s × 3. This toe-pull is the plantar-fascia-specific stretch with the best evidence. Then a wall calf stretch, knee straight (gastroc) and knee bent (soleus), 30s each. Do the toe-pull before standing up in the morning — that first-step pain is the fascia being loaded cold.

Hips:

  • Half-kneeling hip-flexor stretch — down leg’s glute squeezed, pelvis tucked under (posterior tilt) before you shift forward, ribs down, no low-back arch. 30–45s each side. The pre-tuck is what aims it at the hip flexor instead of the low back — a passive lunge without it mostly misses.
  • Dead bug — 2×8/side, slow. Low back stays pressed flat into the floor the whole rep; if it lifts off, shorten the range. This is the anti-APT skill — holding the pelvis down while the limbs move.
  • Glute bridge — 2×12, pause and squeeze at the top, ribs down, finish with a slight posterior tilt rather than cranking the low back into extension.

Loading — heel raises (every other day, ~6–8 min)

The strength piece, and the part that actually resolves plantar fasciitis rather than just calming it. Piggyback on Tue / Fri (barbell) + one S&S day so it lands every other day.

  • Setup — balls of the feet on a step, heels hanging, a rolled towel under the toes so they’re dorsiflexed. That toe position tensions the plantar fascia through the windlass mechanism — it’s what makes this plantar-fascia loading and not just a calf raise.
  • Tempo — slow: 3s up, 2s hold at the top, 3s down. Controlled beats heavy.
  • Both knee positions — straight-knee for the gastroc, then a set knees slightly bent for the soleus. The soleus carries most of your standing/walking load and is the one most people under-train.

Progression (slow — fascia/tendon adapt on a slower clock than muscle):

  • Start: two legs, bodyweight, 3×12, toes on towel, slow tempo.
  • When 3×15 is easy: single leg, 3×8–10.
  • Then load: hold a dumbbell or the 20 kg bell (goblet or suitcase), or wear a loaded pack; keep it 3×8–12.

Truly daily high-load heel raises will outrun recovery — the irritated tissue in plantar fasciitis needs the off-day to adapt, so the loading is every other day. The mobility/release/activation layer is the genuinely daily part. If morning first-step pain is the main symptom, the single highest-value habit is the toe-pull stretch + arch roll before your feet hit the floor.

Under the bar: don’t chase an active posterior tuck on a heavy squat/deadlift — you’ll lose bracing. Cue ribs down into a neutral pelvis there. Save the deliberate posterior-tilt work for the bridges, dead bugs, and stretches, where you can actually train the position.

Already covered: the goblet squats, hip hinges, and get-ups you’re doing hit much of the anti-APT work already — glute-driven hinge, tall overhead position, braced core. The hip-flexor stretch and dead bug are the missing links, not a whole new program.

Both plantar fasciitis and postural APT respond to consistency over intensity — small daily doses beat occasional hard sessions. If foot pain is sharp, worsening, or unchanged after 6–8 weeks of loading, get it looked at; stubborn heel pain isn’t always fasciitis.

Barbell Days

Barbell A / B — same session both days:

  1. Pull-ups / dips supersets — 5×3, assisted, 45 lb
  2. Deadlifts — 3×3, 255–285, progressive
  3. Squats — 3×3, 205–225, progressive
  4. Chest press / bent-over rows supersets — 3×5, 55 lb dumbbells (each hand)

Plateau watch: 3×3 on squat/deadlift is low volume. If the barbell numbers stall for ~4–8 weeks, the fix is on the barbell side — add a back-off set or a 4th working set on squat/deadlift. Adding kettlebell volume won’t break a barbell plateau.

Kettlebell Days (S&S)

Warmup — one round of each, using a 25 lb bell:

  • Goblet squats — 1×10. Hold the bell at your chest, elbows inside your knees at the bottom, sit straight down between your hips. Pause a beat at the bottom; this is opening the hips more than building strength.
  • Hip hinges — 1×10. Bell held at the chest or hanging in both hands. Push the hips back (not down), soft knees, feel the hamstrings load, stand tall by squeezing the glutes. This grooves the swing pattern — do it deliberately.
  • Halos — 5 each direction. Bell held by the horns, upside-down, circled slowly around the head. Keep the ribs down and core tight so it’s the shoulders moving, not the low back arching.

Work:

  • One-hand swings — 10×10, alternating hands each set (100 total). Hinge and snap the hips to float the bell to chest height — it’s a hip drive, not a front raise, so the arm stays relaxed. Bell floats up, gravity brings it back, you hinge to catch it. Set the bell down and switch hands between sets. Rest as needed early; the long-term goal is all 100 in ~5 min.
  • Turkish get-ups — 10 total, 1 rep per set alternating sides (5 each). One full rep = floor all the way to standing and back down, one bell pressed overhead the whole time. Move through each position slowly and pause — this is a skill lift, not a burner. Take as long as you need per rep; there’s no tempo to chase. A full get-up runs ~30–45 sec each side when done right.

That’s the whole session on Mon and Wed. Saturday adds carries and the mace finisher below.

Saturday Add-Ons

Carries (after swings/get-ups): 3–4 rounds farmer or suitcase carry, ~40 yd each. Use the 25 lb pair for farmer, single bell for suitcase. Suitcase (offset, single bell) is anti-lateral-flexion core work that carries into squat/deadlift bracing.

Mace finisher (~5–8 min, after carries): 15 lb.

  • 360s — full circle behind the head and back. Start 5–10 per direction, strict. Learn this first; the pass behind the head is the whole skill.
  • 10-to-2s — shorter pendulum arc, gentler on the shoulder. Build volume here once 360s are controlled.

The mace feels much heavier than 15 lb because the load sits way out past your hands. Learn the 360 slow and film it from behind. Rushing or going heavy early is how the shoulder gets tweaked.

Loading

Swing/get-up loads don’t map to barbell numbers — start conservative. The stimulus is the 100-swing volume, not the weight. Ramp the bell over weeks, not days.

Swings

  • Start: 20 kg
  • Next: 24 kg
  • Simple standard (men): 32 kg
  • Long-game: 32 kg+

Get-ups

  • Start: 25 lb / 11 kg
  • Next: 20 kg
  • Simple standard (men): —
  • Long-game: 32 kg

Mace 360s

  • Start: 15 lb
  • Next: —
  • Simple standard (men): —
  • Long-game: 20–25 lb

Heel raises (plantar-fascia loading)

  • Start: two-leg bodyweight, 3×12, toes on towel, slow tempo
  • Next: single-leg bodyweight, 3×8–10
  • Simple standard: single-leg + light load (DB / 20 kg bell), 3×8–12
  • Long-game: single-leg, heavier load, both knee positions, pain-free

Swings: 20 kg is the only bell in range — use it, but if 10×10 one-hand feels ragged, do two-hand swings at 20 kg until the hinge is clean, then move to one-hand. Don’t let the bell turn the swing into a squat.

Get-ups: start with a 25 lb bell from the pair, one per session. Get-ups punish ego — a bell you can’t control overhead is how shoulders get hurt. Under-load on purpose. Next jump is the 20 kg once both sides are solid.

Double work (later): the 25 lb pair unlocks double swings, double front squats, and matched farmer carries once the basics are automatic.

Heel raises: progress reps before load, and single-leg before either. Add weight only when the last set is clean and pain-free — plantar tissue punishes rushed loading worse than a bell does.

Form References

  • Pavel, Simple & Sinister (the source; cheap).
  • StrongFirst free swing + get-up tutorials (YouTube).
  • Film the hinge and get-up from the side before pushing weight.
  • Rathleff / StrongFirst heel-raise-with-towel demos for the plantar loading.
  • Half-kneeling hip-flexor stretch: cue the posterior tuck before the lean.