Just got back from there. Was visiting my in-laws in Aurora. Terrible place to do Murph, haha.
I’ll bet! I just finished in the hotel gym, and my heart rate was a good 10 BPM higher than normal.
And yeah, the reserves is a weird scenario. It’s HRC’s job to just fill numbers, and I likely wasn’t clear enough that I never really intended to come back. It’s on me: I was still in the IRR, which means you’re still in and available to be used. Lesson learned. I loved the army, but I’ve just got nothing left to give and it has certainly moved on without me.
Life continues to roll, which is always good. I have been doing my hotel workouts this week, which are great but don’t completely scratch any itch.
I’ll be able to head home tomorrow, instead of onto my next trip like I originally thought I might need to do, so that’s great news!
Off the UK and Spain in a couple of weeks, I can train with my old man in the UK but in Spain it will be hotel gym for the win. Looks like I will be doing lots of chest shoulders and arms. LOL
You’ll have to keep me posted if you come up with anything clever to do. I’ve always traveled, but it’s pretty heavy lately where these are the majority of my workouts for a month or two at a time
I am sure I can find something that will do the job. I’ll deff post in my log what ever I come up with.
Flying home! I’m on the road a day or two every week for the foreseeable, but no more multiple weeks at a time. It’s time for me to actually do a program again and make some gains.
I’m going to either do John’s “Honey Badger” or “Thanos” (I’m about to let the online dice decide) because I really want to give occlusion training a good run. I also like that they’re 3 days that I essentially have to do at home, and the other days are either optional or easy to do in hotel gyms.
The universe has spoken!
Got home and swam with the kids Thursday night, then did legs yesterday. It was pretty bad; can definitely tell I haven’t touched a barbell in a month (minus the 3 reps of the PT test). Good to get one done, though.
Last night my wife wanted to go see Hootie and the Blowfish, who were playing downtown. That was some 90s excellence! Then I had some chores and now we’re about to go see “If,” so workout two might not be until morning.
On the irritating side, it looks like we have to replace our AC unit. Argh! But not the end of the world.
Legs
-
Lying Leg Curls
40/15
50/10
65/10
80/10
95/10
110/10 + 80/8 + 60/8 -
SSB Squats
Doubled chains for all sets
45/10
135/10
185/6
225/10
That was seriously all I wanted to do. I’m pretty deconditioned here. -
Belt Squats
1pps/6
1.25pps/12
1pps/16
1pps/15 -
RDL
135/10 x 3 -
BFR Leg Extensions
50/15 x 4 w/ 30s rests
Oof! I’m sore even from that
“If” wasn’t our favorite; I think it was more for younger kids. Still fun to be home and hang out though.
My son went to the gym with me and did the first two exercises with me! Then he ran around the track while I finished up and fell asleep in the truck on the way home. He’s grown up a lot, really quickly, these last couple months.
Today was chest and shoulders… and, again, very obvious that I haven’t been lifting. I’d imagine this will be a quick bounce back.
-
DB Bench
30/15
50/10
70/8
80/8
90/8
100/4 - yikes -
Machine Incline
-/6
1pps/14 + 7
1.25pps/8 + 5
1.35pps/8 + 4 -
Bench
Light chains all sets
Pause on chest
135/8 x 3 -
DB Flyes
30/8 x 3 -
DB Rear Delt
15/25 x 3 -
DB Side Raise
20/12 x 3 -
BB Over and Back
45/8
65/8
85/8
This makes my heart happy!!
That’s some wholesome content
Hoooooo boy, team. I stepped on a scale and it was not good. 4 weeks of traveling will do that, even if not trying to blow it out.
I’m taking a return to the Velocity Diet, with a little more Family Man thrown in than last time to accommodate trips. We’ll see how it goes here!
It was a massive disappointment for all of our family. Was Expecting much more.
Better pull your finger out and start working before summer disappears ![]()
Right?? I think we caught it in time, and it would have been worse if not for the carnivore run that actually had me eating pretty, well, ok on the road. I am liking the control of the short-term strict interventions lately, though.
I fly back to the UK on Saturday for a 3 week break. I am pretty sure any diet or control will disappear. At least it will be winter when I get home so I can keep my shirt on.
You timed it better than I. I hope you have an incredible time!

My wife got me this shirt, and I’m sharing the joy of it in spirit of what you wrote here, haha. But it’s awesome you’ve got so many tools in the toolbox now for just such a situation. Between carnivore and the Velocity Diet, there’s lots of quick and nifty ways to right the ship.
That’s pretty funny.
And you’re 100% right. It’s been a good year of adding new tools, both training and dieting. I’m way more in tune with how I’m feeling, too. Like I feel sluggish with “off” foods in me before I’ve gained 20 lbs. That’s a win, too, I think. It tightens the range a bit. I didn’t stray crazy far from the idea of carnivore, although I had added back in potatoes because they seemed to sit well, so damage was better controlled than normal. Eating out all the time definitely still just changes everything from food quality to calories to hunger to mindset.
Case in point: literally one day of cleaning it up and I dropped nearly 5 lbs., so that was a lot of water and nonsense sitting on me. I’m also thinking the V-diet will be easier this time around and is a good reset.
Back day, starting to feel a little more in the groove… although my eye started to wander to more athletic things as it always does.
Backstory: my wife, in her role managing fitness memberships, ended up having an entire CrossFit gym close its doors and move into her gym. They opened that space while I was gone, so the last couple days I’ve been watching folks do cool stuff in there. Today was a bunch of jacked ladies jumping and doing cleans and stuff and I got a little jealous.
To the story, as far as we know, this is the first time someone has moved a box into a commercial gym this way. I’m explaining to my wife this is relatively high-level business development and she’s not giving herself enough credit. I’d like her to ditch the place (and based on this story, I’ve certainly identified her - not accidental!) and get into medical sales… I do have some idea what we’re looking for in a candidate. We’ll see. I think she’s starting to realize she gives more than this role asks, but she just doesn’t quite have the confidence to go all-in after much bigger stuff; I do think that’s shifting.
Last night it was cold, because that’s how it works in Ohio, so we had a fire outside after volleyball and watched some of those travel channel haunted house shows. My son got way into it, which was a bit of a surprise (usually it scares him). The AC is totally out and is being replaced Thursday, so we’re fortunate it’s cold for a couple days.
The reserve unit is being pretty amicable with me, but I literally can’t make it to any of the stuff they’re scheduling without a major work conflict. So far they’re very understanding, but I’m bringing them zero value. I’d imagine will find a way to part ways here shortly so we’re not further wasting each others’ time. It’s a very weird world when HR is totally separated from operations; I don’t think I appreciated that until doing it on the other side.
Anyway, the workout for the day (is this not why you are here??):
-
Meadows Row
No handle today; it gets on my nerves to take off and on
-/8
25/8
50/8
75/8 x 3
75/18 -
Assisted Pull-ups
-55/5
-80/8 x 3 -
Rack Pulls
Bottom pin
135/3
225/3
315/3
365/3
405/3 -
Wide MAG Low Cable Rows
35/6
50/10 x 3 -
Hanging Leg Raise
4 x 10 -
Reverse Hyper
.25pps/12 x 2
