It happened! I am moving into a role more senior than I necessarily intended even to hit before retirement. I’m pumped for it, even if actually a little nervous. Great opportunity and buys the family a lot of financial freedom in their future.
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Sending you a great big hug and major CONGRATS!!! I’m so happy for you!! You’ll, no doubt, rock this new gig!
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Thank you @QuadQueen! I know it’s pure bragging, but this was huge and it’s nice for some of the risks to pay off vs result in homelessness (that wasn’t really on the table, so I’m exaggerating).
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Way to go man, congratulations! Hopefully they’ll let you stay home a little more.
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Well, that part actually went the opposite direction, but it will all be ok; part of what I agreed to. I’ll just bring the family to more of the places.
And thank you! Very much appreciated.
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Fantastic news, and brag away! Though I don’t see it as bragging, I see it as happy sharing and I’m delighted by it. 
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Thanks @EmilyQ! I’m happily sharing for sure!
DE Bench today. My right trap sometimes gets bound up when I do this, so I’m doing something wrong when setting in. Maybe that’s why my bench is so awful too.
Warmup 3 rounds:
- 8 hanging leg raises
- 15s plank
- 15 BPA
-
DE Bench
45/8
45/5
95/5
135/3
155/3 x 9 (3 grips)
30s between sets -
DB Incline
40/6
70/6
90/8
90/8 + 70/6 -
Seated Smith Press
2s hold on first and last rep
45/6
135/8
155/8 -
DB Y Raise
15/12 x 3 -
Spider Crawls
3 sets -
Rope Pressdown
Warmup
4 x 12 -
DB Kickout
20/8
30/8 x 3
Finally got a good feel on these!
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Back and bis!
I’m awfully sore, but in a good way where I feel “tight” but not crippled.
Tomorrow is ME legs, and I know it’s horrific, so we’ll see how bad that is.
It should be cool enough to take the dog on my walk this evening, so she’ll appreciate that. She hasn’t been able to go for a couple days for fear she’d overheat.
-
HS Low Row
Warmups
3pps/8 x 3 -
One-arm BB Row
Couple warmups
50/10 x 2
50/10 + 25/8
Used the Meadows row handle on these and liked it (again) -
Assisted Pull-up
-85/8 x 3
15s hold on the last set -
Rear Delt Machine
55/30 x 3 -
Seated DB Hammer Curl
20/8
30/10 + 5 partials
30/6
25/10 + 5 partials -
Machine Preacher
70/8
75/8 x 2
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Today was freaking hard! I’m still feeling good though.
Adding Surge/ harder workouts has increased by appetite exponentially, but I also dropped 1.5 lbs so that’s a great place to be. Just over a week of V diet to go, and then I’ll start adding eggs and the like back in (I simply miss them).
Warmup: 3 rounds
- 8 hanging leg raises
- 15s plank
- 15 BPA
-
Seated Leg Curls
40/10 x 2
70/8
100/10 x 3 -
SSB
45/8
135/4
225/3
315/3
225/5 x 2 -
Speed DL
225/3
275/1 x 15
10s between reps -
Belt Squat
1pps/4
2pps/8
2pps/8 + 6 + 5 -
BSS Drop Set of Death
10/5
20/5
30/8 + 8s + 20/8 + 8s + 10/8 + 8s + BW/8 + 8s -
RDL
135/4
185/8 x 3 -
Seated Calf
.25pps/15 x 4
Tibia raises in between sets -
Decline Sit-up
3 x 10
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that’s a lot of work this morning . . good stuff
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Still one of those things I love about the Velocity Diet: totally re-calibrates nutrition. I remember cutting weight for a powerlifting meet and thinking “I can’t wait to eat Carl’s Jr and pizza and pop-tarts” etc etc. You get off Velocity Diet and think “I can’t wait to have a good steak and some eggs”.
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@ajb5478 Thanks! I did this program a couple years ago, and the ME leg days were enough to give me anxiety. I felt like I was sliding into a wussy headspace, so this felt like the right choice to nip that in the bud.
@T3hPwnisher that is a fantastic point! I use the phrase “shrinks your stomach,” which I can’t say on the Internet or everyone will tell me how dumb I am, but that’s exactly the practical effect: you give up both the capacity and the desire to go overboard on a lot of the nutritionless foods. A great reset, as you’ve noted before.
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makes sense man . . get er done
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ME Upper!
I am enjoying the training, but the ME days are so long. I am starting to want to add some hard conditioning back in once I start eating again, because it’s that “push”/ the athletic component that I’m enjoying right now. I know that this program is not the right time to do that, from prior experience, so I’ll keep walking during this. My next block might be a 3-day PPL, with my normal bodybuilding-type cadence, and then an upper and lower day that’s more explosive work and circuits and hard conditioning. I’m thinking that might be fun. We’ll find out late August!
Warmup: 3 rounds:
- 8 hanging leg raises
- 15s plank
- 15 BPA
-
Slight Decline DB Press
40/12
65/8
85/4
100/8
100/5 (whoa, I crapped out) + 70/6 -
Incline Press
A bit closer grip than normal on these
45/8
135/6
18/2
205/2
225/3
195/2 w/ 3s negatives and 2s holds at top x 2 sets -
Lowish Incline DB Press
60/4
85/8
85/8 + 65/8 -
Dips
Feet out version
BW/7 x 3 -
DB Side Raise Swings
25/15
35/20 x 3 -
Machine Rear Delt
115/15 x 3 -
DB Tate Triceps Thingy
20/12
20/10
15/12 x 2 -
DB Skullcrusher
Really I do these to my shoulders and allow a little movement; that helps make it triceps instead of elbows.
25/8 x 2
25/12
The end. Taking the family to go see friends out in Baltimore and watch some baseball this weekend. Apparently I just can’t stay home even when work isn’t demanding it!
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That sums it up. Max effort is a blast, but it’s SO hard to work into a family schedule. And just think about those Westside dudes that would have 3+ hour training sessions, especially once the gear came out. I run into this issue with some of Brian Alsruhe’s programs as well. In theory, they should go fast, but working up to that max effort set takes some doing.
Cool to see you playing around with a few different approaches.
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Absolutely. Brian’s stuff looks awesome on papers, but it’s hard to pull off in a gym for me. It’s more targeted at garage gym folks, so that’s not really a knock, it’s just a huge distraction for me to try to figure it out. The $25 ebook versions do a great job addressing that, though.
Secondly, to your point, it’s really difficult to actually get everything set up, complete, and put away in anything less than 75 - 90 minutes. I know the idea is that all your conditioning and everything is now complete, but that’s a lot of time for a single session for me (which is about what these are taking right now). I’m better off with multiple shorter blasts, where I can do sprints and abs at home, for example.
I also couldn’t imagine some of the equipped sessions, but I think those tended to be dudes doing it on the weekends with their buddies. In that context, it makes a lot more sense, because it’s your hobby, training and social circle all in one. For us these days, we have separate outlets. Like my “hobby” is frequently youth volleyball spectator.
Anyway, I’m obviously at a point where staying amused is a higher priority than either efficient or optimal progress, so we’ll just keep taking the scenic routes.
Basketball starts next Sunday, and ME legs will end up on Friday next week, so let’s see how that goes!
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Drove back in yesterday, so DE legs was today instead of yesterday. We had a great time, though, and my friend got my kids out on the field to see drills and batting practice and stuff. Really great to get the families together.
Today felt awful, but we got it done.
Warmup (3 rounds):
- 8 hanging leg raises
- 15s plank
- 15 BPA
-
Lying Leg Curls
40/15
65/10
95/4
125/8 + 95/8 + 15 partials -
DE Box Squats
No chains this time
I think next week I’ll go back to the SSB. My shoulders were so uncomfortable under the bar that’s all I was thinking about.
45/6
135/5
185/2
245/2 x 15
30s between sets -
Leg Press
Same low and narrowish foot position
2pps/6
4pps/6
5pps/12 x 2 -
Reverse Hyper
1pps/10 x 3 -
Decline Leg Raise
3 x 11 -
Standing Calf
190/10 x 3
25 tibia raises in between
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Ha! Or the time added from the mandatory die on the floor between the last set main work giant set and the first assistance giant set!
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DE Upper today!
As bad as I felt yesterday, I felt good today. Just getting out of the car and moving around made the difference, I think.
Warmup (3 rounds):
- 8 hanging leg raises
- 15s plank
- 15 BPA
-
DE Bench
45/10
95/5
135/3
165/3 x 12 (3 grips)
30s between sets -
DB Incline
40/6
75/4
95/8
95/8 + 65/9 -
Smith Seated Press
2s holds on first and last reps
45/6
95/6
145/8
165/5 -
DB Y Raise
15/14 x 3 -
Spider Crawls
4 sets -
Rope Pressdown
27.5/10
52.5/12 x 4 -
DB Kickout
Pretty slow tempo
30/8 x 3
V-Diet has gone very well, but tomorrow is probably the end (2 days early). Rather than pretend the full racks of ribs I’m about to eat are a single “healthy solid meal,” let’s just call it what it is and eat up. I am liking the idea of keeping my carbs around my workouts and probably still having about half my week be V-Diet. It’s convenient, not difficult, and I don’t like being chubby (which is really easy for me) - I’m the opposite of the people on here that have to force feed themselves. I can not pay attention for a bit and all of a sudden be 230 if left to my own devices!
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