[Andrew Bollard]

@alpinewithb Thanks for adding context, your question makes a lot more sense now. I’m in the same situation as you; before I started cutting weight and doing structured endurance training, I was 200lbs on a 5’10” frame, way too heavy and muscular to enjoy mountain sports without getting gassed on every uphill section. Folks like us can definitely get away with reduced strength training and instead focus on adding more aerobic capacity training.

You could definitely get away with not following the 3×4 protool to the letter; however, I personally wouldn’t replace it with a high-rep calisthenics protocol. For a former gym bro, that kind of work will probably have a muscular endurance effect, which would explain why you’re getting pretty sore. You could do a lower intensity maintenance program just to keep up your strength without wrecking yourself through high rep work, so that when you go to do an ME block you’ll still have plenty of max strength capacity to draw upon. Something like Dan John’s Easy Strength could be perfect, although I appreciate that you want to avoid gymming or buying more equipment. What equipment do you currently have access to?