Decided to go ahead and add some intraworkout carbs back in this morning for a couple reasons:
Surge makes a massive difference for me in my morning workouts, and I’m ready to get back after it a little
It’s still within the Velocity Diet parameters
I’m happy enough (as much as any of us ever are) with my current body composition
I am going to pull a little bit of carbs out of my evening meal to compensate. Not because I’m really concerned about a bunch of fat gain, but more because I want to see what that does to my hunger and sleep. So I’ll still net out to ~100g - 125g a day, I’m guessing. I haven’t been counting, but I can eyeball relatively well.
Woke up super antsy and way before the gym opened, so I watched some Vikings shows on Netflix and decided to do some DE legs to wear myself out.
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.
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).
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.
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!
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
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
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”.
@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.
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!
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.
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!
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.
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
