9/5/18
Conditioning
1.5 mile run: 12:20
A little slower than last time, not sure why. Felt pretty good through the first mile and hit a wall during the last half. A little warmer and more humid today, plus heavier squats yesterday may have something to do with it. Not too worried.
9/6/18
1000% Awesome, Anchor - C1/W3/D2
Warmup:
Throws
Pull aparts
Step ups
Deadlift:
45x10
135x5
185x5
225x5
295x5
335x1
375x2x0
Football bar bench: (outer grips)
45x10
95x5
115x5
135x5x5
Pushups:
2x20
1 arm BB row:
50x3x10
Pushdowns:
Red x2x15
BB curl:
45x20
Broke 375 off the floor twice, but no dice on the pull. Really thought I had it, especially with how quick 335 moved. First time with straps, setting up like usual with the brace in the crouched position. Second time I took air and braced standing, dropped into the bar mixed grip and tried to rip a la Brian Alsruhe. No difference in result for the most part. All good though, pretty sure I have that in me if I approach it not fatigued.
9/8/18
1000% Awesome, Anchor - C1/W3/D3
Warmup:
Basketball - 1 sprained ankle
Press:
50x10
70x5
80x5
100x5
110x3
Pullups - a bunch
Close grip bench - some
Curls - some
Pull aparts - a bunch
Fallouts - some
Dips - some
Well, today didn’t go as planned. Twisted up my ankle playing ball, should probably tape them or grab a brace if I want to do anything more than shoot some hoops at this point.
Skipped squats due to 0 mobility. As far as press top set, I think I’d have had 4 on a better day. Probably wouldn’t have gotten all 5 either way but who knows.
Took the press reps out of the rack instead of cleaning them up, which makes the first rep harder so there’s that too. Wasn’t really in it after so just hit some random movements for shits.
1000% Awesome is wicked awesome. I really enjoyed this program and it was perfect for my summer circumstances.
It’s a conditioning centric program, and the manual labor I performed this summer involved hiking building material into the woods then constructing fancy camping sites, so it was a pretty solid match.
I set some PRs which was nice. A handful of my top sets resulted in new rep maxes and some jokers were new 1rms. I think I made a little body comp progress as well.
I set up my sessions as:
Day 1: Squat-chin-press-chin giant set, followed with incline press-lunge superset. Add pull aparts to make a giant set for anchor.
Day 2: Deadlift-bench superset, followed by Pendlay row-bench superset, followed by curl/tricep superset. Anchor became Deadlift-bench, 1 arm row-landmine press-good morning giant set, curl/tricep superset.
Day 3: Squat-pullup-press giant set. Dips-tbar row superset. Anchor became dips-tbar row-fallout giant set.
Sessions lasted around 50-60 minutes a piece.
Overall, I think it’s a kick ass program. Great 3 day option for the time constrained, those who have recovery issues, or athletes with high conditioning needs.
I’d change a few exercise choices if I run it again, but the lessons learned were pretty valuable.
You may have to gain some weight to increase that DL pr
Yeah I’m clocking in around 173 waking up. Changing up the diet plan a little to push that higher. Now that I won’t be in the field so much it shouldn’t be hard.
Really amazing what your pulling im almost 100lbs heavier.
Haha thanks man. I’d hesitate to use amazing personally, but I’ll take it from an outside source 
One day I’ll try 1000% awesome.
What’s up next man
I just did almost the same thing, the damn thing left the floor by an inch and nope, no way.
Reading these forums 375 isn’t that high a number, but seeing other peeps, barely lifting 250, I know that 335 - 350 is in fact some awesome weight.
Someday we shall pull 4 plates and beyond, and still think it’s not that much.
Going to run God is a Beast next. That’ll give me another 9 weeks of programming and some good volume. I saw your videos, I think we had very similar results in the attempts haha.
9/11/18
Deaload week/TM test
Warmup:
Throws
Face pulls
Football bar bench: (outer grips)
45x10
95x5
115x5
135x3
155x3
175x3
185x3
Pull aparts - a lot
Pushdowns - some
Lateral raises - some
8/12/18
Deload week
Warmup:
Throws
Band TKEs
Back squat:
45x a bunch
135x3x a handful
185x1x a handful
Nordic ham curls: a few
Haven’t back squatted in forever. Just messing around with different bar positions. High bar is pretty uncomfy but I’d get used to it. Felt low bar almost immediately in my elbow, so idk about utilizing it again. Tried to find “mid-bar” but I don’t think I have enough meat on my traps at that position and the bar rests right on my scapula bone, not great for locking it in.
Nordic ham curls are fucking difficult.
You’ll figure it out mate, I spent over a year squatting with the bar too high and being too vertical.
Could always try some other form of squatting if you do like back squats
I think I may have spent a year squatting with the bar too low! haha
Once I figured out the low bar position that’s all I did, for better or worse. SSB has been a blessing to keep up squatting while my elbows were jacked up, but it definitely has it’s own quirks to deal with.
8/14/18
Deload week
Warmup:
Recumbant bike
Quad extensions
Laying hamstring curls
Front squat:
45x10
115x5
135x3x3
155x3x2
185x3x2
Seated hamstring curls - a bunch
Seated DB press:
25x10
30x10
35x2x10
Lat pulldown: (wide grip)
4x10x"8"
Incline DB press:
40x2x8
45x1x8
Lat pulldown: (narrow v-grip)
3x10x"8"
Pec dec:
"85"x10
"100"x10
"115"x8 - slow eccentric+stretch
Cable row:
"7"x10
"8"x10
"9"x8 - slow eccentric+stretch
Basketball: 20 mins shooting
Went to the university gym this AM. Decided to just combine the upper and lower days with all the equipment I had available and take tomorrow to chill.
So, discovery. Using the quad/hams machines prior to squatting did wonders for my knees. I’m going to figure out a way to recreate this at home because I felt like I had a squat PR in me with how smooth everything felt. It was awesome.
Used the thumbs hooked under bar grip for front squats, first time with that. It’s a winner for me I think.
I should probably keep an eye out for some used powerblocks, DB pressing kicks my ass so I have to assume it’d be a big help for my barbell lifts.
9/17/18
God is a Beast - Leader - C1/W1/D1
Warmup:
Foam roller
Band leg extensions+curls
Throws
Facepulls
Back squat:
45x10
115x5
135x5
155x5
185x5
205x5
165x5
195x5
215x5
Hammer curl:
35x5x10
Face pulls:
Red x4x12
SSB GMs:
95x5x10
Dips:
BWx5x10
First time doing a real back squat workout in a hot minute. Since March actually. Elbow held up pretty well, a little sore but definitely manageable. Felt so much stronger than the SSB.
Planned on lunges as assistance, but the ankle is still a bit wonky so decided for a more stationary lift. Might not be a bad idea to do something quad dominant like lunges on deadlift day anyway.
I think this day is going to wind up looking like squats-curls-pullaparts as a giant set or series of super sets, followed by GMs-dips superset.
9/18/18
God is a Beast - Leader - C1/W1/D2
Warmup:
Foam roll
Throws
Face pulls
Football bar press: (outer grips)
45x10
65x5
75x10x5
Pullups: (various grips)
BWx10x7
Fallouts: (33 links)
BWx10x5
2 arm landmine press:
50x10
60x10
70x10
70x8
Pull aparts:
Red x4x12
Decided to use the football bar for the BBS press session. Did every rep dead stop off the upper chest with about a 1 second pause. Felt really explosive throughout.
Organized this as press-pullup-fallout. Really solid combo though the fallouts were definitely getting sloppy towards the end. Room for improvement there.
Ended it with the double arm landmine press superset with pull aparts. Felt the landmine pretty solidly in my chest and shoulders, I’m not sure how effective a movement it is but I’m willing to give it a try for this cycle.
9/20/18
God is a Beast - C1/W1/D3
Warmup:
Band leg extension/curl
Throws
Facepulls
Deadlift:
45x10
135x5
185x5
225x5
255x5
285x5
235x5
265x5
296x5
Dips:
BWx8x8
T-bar row: (plates)
2x4x10
RFESS:
BWx10
15x3x10
Solid day, doesn’t look like much on paper compared to some of the other days but I’m feeling it. Brutal lower back pump made the assistance at the end pretty miserable.
Organized as deads-dips superset and rows-lunge superset. I think the RFESS was more challenging as a core/balance movement than for my legs, plan to up the weight for next time though, probably on rows too.
Good solid workouts you’re getting in Velvet.
I know it’s early days but how hard is this program compared to 1000% awesome?
Hey Mort,
Hard to say at this point, but I suspect the programs are different enough that a 1:1 comparison probably isn’t ideal.
In some respects it’s easier because you’re only focusing on the one big lift per day + assistance, where as 1000% was 2 per day + assistance. On the other hand, overall volume and intensity are much higher on this program.
It’s a pretty tough comparison as opposed to something like 1000% and Five and Dime. Those have the same basic structure but FnD is so much harder.