LIFT WEIGHTS FASTER TO BECOME UNAPOLOGETICALLY POWERFUL Welcome! I’m so excited that you picked up a copy of Unapologetically Powerful and, if you’re reading this, that you also took the extra initiative to level up your fitness game with thisLift Weights Faster add-on. But let’s begin with the backstory, shall we? I created the original Lift Weights Faster and Lift Weights Faster 2 to be a plug-and-play circuit-training program to supplement any existing strict strength program, or to use as a stand-alone way to get fit — one where you got to pick out the workout you wanted to do on a given day. I believe wholeheartedly in taking a flexible, individualized approach to fitness, and I acknowledge that doesn’t always involve following a strict plan mapped out miles ahead of time. That said, if your goals are more specific, you need to have a more specific plan in place. Enter JVB’s Unapologetically Powerful, your guide to becoming a master of the “big three” lifts, and possibly even taking the platform as a powerlifting competitor. Better yet, it also incorporates biofeedback testing, just like we do at The Movement Minneapolis, the gym I co-own with my husband, David Dellanave. That way, you get both an individualized approach and a specific plan to help you increase your squat, bench press and deadlift numbers. This time around, even Lift Weights Faster gets specific. These circuits are designed to boost your powerlifting strength, as well as your overall physical preparedness. Each session is paired with the appropriate powerlifting session on your training schedule. It’s important that you pair them together as written, because I’ve designed these workouts to complement each other. How? With a tip I got from Alex Viada, founder of North Carolina–based fitness company Complete Human Performance. Viada notes the importance of stressing the body in similar ways on the same day, so that you are able to recover from that particular stimulus on the days that follow, rather than continuing to tax the same muscle groups every day. This keeps you fresh for when it’s go time on those muscle groups again. For example, on squat days, you’re going to be performing many squat-centric movements during the Lift Weights Faster workout, too, and on bench days, you may notice plenty o’ pushing movements in the circuits. Deadlift day? Be prepared to hinge in a hurry. Again, this way, you are able to recover properly, rather than littering each day with many categories of movement. When you’ve got a goal as specific as powerlifting, it’s smart to put even your circuits to work in service of that goal. But, before you dive into these workouts, please read the next section because it contains important information on how to best leverage them while completing Unapologetically Powerful. Even if you feel well-versed enough in the art of lifting weights faster, I’d still like you to read the next section. If, after that, you want to skip ahead to the workout libraries, exercise glossary, and workout calendars and be on your way, you have my blessing. UNAPOLOGETICALLY POWERFUL 2 HOW TO START Both the Beginner and Early Intermediate plans have corresponding Lift Weights Faster calendars that specifically list which workout you’ll complete on which days. These workouts’ total work volume was designed to ramp up alongside JVB’s powerlifting programs, so make sure you’re using the accompanying calendar to plot out your training days. Also, please note that when you look at the calendars, the days of the weeks are listed to simply give context for the programming. If your typical workout schedule is Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday, simply shift the Monday- Wednesday-Friday template for both Unapologetically Powerful and Lift Weights Faster to fit your schedule. Discussing the calendars further, you’ll notice that on the 12th week, there are only Unapologetically Powerful workouts listed. That is by design. I want you to take it easy on the conditioning at that point, and only complete the strength workouts before heading home to enjoy your strength gainz. TAKE TWO! You’ll notice that in both conditioning workout libraries that there are two calendars, one with the heading “Lift Weights Faster Program: Take Two.” That is a bonus program, completely separate from your first time through. In other words, I suspect that you may want to take another spin through the Unapologetically Power program, and I wanted you to have the opportunity to do completely new Lift Weights Faster workouts the second time through. Both options (all four, to be exact) take into considerations the same movement patterns and work well alongside the main powerlifting program. BEND SO YOU DON’T BREAK All that said, the workout calendar is not graven in stone. In addition to making exercise adjustments as necessary on lifting days, drop the guilt if you have to drop a conditioning workout here and there. The Unapologetically Powerful workouts should take a longer amount of time than a general strength program. Simply put, the main lifts require adequate rest between the sets to injure you’re able to move maximal weight (with great form) each set. Instead of “making up” a conditioning workout or trying to fit it in on a day dedicated to recovery, simply skip it and pick back up wherever the next powerlifting workout lands. It will be too confusing (to your body and your brain) to track two separate schedules, and since the conditioning workouts are gradual in their volume progressions, you’ll be able to handle the next workout without issue. EARLY INTERMEDIATE CONSIDERATIONS In addition to dropping the final week of conditioning for both tracks, the Early Intermediate program also has the fourth, optional, training day. JVB explains the intent of this extra workout more in-depth in the training program PDFs, but for our conditioning purposes, I do not want you to layer another conditioning workout on top of this workout. If you you’re down for the fourth day, great—but pack it in when you’re done. UNAPOLOGETICALLY POWERFUL 3 A QUICK WORD ON WEIGHT SELECTION I want to make an important point about the difference between your strength workouts and your conditioning workouts. Both workouts will build strength, but the Unapologetically Powerful workouts were designed with an important goal in mind: To get you maximally stronger. So, I want you following JVB’s instructions on how your workout sets should look with regard to intensity (meaning weight on the bar). Make every rep count, and maintain good form and speed from rep to rep. The main goal for Lift Weights Faster workouts, on other hand, is not maximal strength, but rather to complete as dense a workout as possible (this means you complete it as quickly as possible while still maintaining fresh form). For these workouts, I don’t want you moving a maximal amount of weight for the prescribed reps. Rather, I want you back off at least 20 percent from what is possible in that rep scheme so that you can stay speedy. For example, if you complete a Dumbbell One-Armed Strict Press with a 25-pound dumbbell for a set of 10 reps in the Unapologetically Powerful workout, you’ll want to use a 20 or probably even 15-pound dumbbell for the Lift Weights Faster workout for the same rep count. The goal here is to move through the workout quickly, never grinding reps. That said, I want to stress that when I say quickly, I don’t mean as fast as humanly possible. I mean under control, always being able to stop your body or the weight implement (if you needed to) on a dime, but still flowing from movement to movement with urgency. To draw a parallel: If you wanted to move faster from point A to point B, you would increase your speed from a walk to a jog or run. Both the jog and run would still be athletic and smooth, however. It would be inefficient and unsafe to do either in an out of control manner. The same goes for completing these conditioning workouts. Go a little lighter, and move from one movement to the other with some urgency, always taking care to make every movement look as clean as the one preceding it. This is Lift Weights Faster under control. Not Lift Weights Faster like a maniac. UNAPOLOGETICALLY POWERFUL 4 HOW YOU FEEL IS NOT A LIE Now that we’ve discussed the specific nuances that make this version of Lift Weights Faster different in the way it complements your powerlifting program, let’s talk shop about some general topics that should be kept in mind when completing any conditioning program. My rule of thumb: Regardless of your fitness level, if it feels like too much, it probably is. What may not look difficult on paper will play out very differently while you’re in the gym. Power exercises like medicine ball slams, kettlebell swings, and jump squat variations add up surprisingly fast. Remember, work and relationship stressors, lack of sleep, drastic changes to your diet — they all add up. Your body doesn’t distinguish between different types of stress, so piling training stress on top of life stress is unwise. If your progress starts stalling out, scale back your effort level and the weights you’re using, take things a bit slower, or change up your frequency. In fact, you’ll notice that the circuits in this conditioning library leave you bent over and wheezing — this is by design.