Hi Christian,
Which powerlifting federation will you be lifting in?
What lifts will you be hoping for?
CT,
I lift for relative strength and follow a split along the lines of your Different Journies, Different Destinations Functional program.
The problem is I feel more soreness in my left side than my right. It’s not night and day but it concerns me. I’m sure it’s due to imbalances from years of grappling as Joe DeFranco, Pavel Tsatsouline, and Jim Wendler have all evaluated my technique at seminars.
I’d like to add some single leg exercises. For example:
A)5x3 Back Squat
B)2x3 Bulgarian Split Squats
I put the Bulgarian Splits second because the strength imbalance isn’t so bad that it alters my technique when doing regular back squats.
-
Do you think this is the best order or should I switch?
-
Would five sets be too many sets w/ both legs when dealing w/ a noticeable imbalance?
Thank you in advance;This is a huge question for me.
It’s Wednesday … I’m ready to roar!
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
It’s Wednesday … I’m ready to roar![/quote]
Christian,
I’m trying to gain all around usable strength so do you think based upon the paragraph I’m about to post, sledgehammer training is more important than say power cleans/deadlifts/squats/presses or equally as important? In other words should sledgehammer training make up 50% of my training and power cleans/deadlifts/squats/presses make up the other 50% or should it be 75% sledge 25% free weights? According to this paragraph it looks as though the olifts/powerlifts only enhance certain things and I was under the impression that they were pretty much the best all around things to do including over sledge/sandbag, etc?? Please clarify. Thanks.
"One of the areas that the sledgehammer greatly improves upon is rotary and angular/diagonal trunk strength. When using the sledgehammer, you can change the degree of angle or even the direction of the sledgehammer while you are swinging it. Most weight programs focus on the big lifts to enhance their athletes’ sports performance and decrease incidence of injury: squat, bench press, deadlift, power clean, etc. While these lifts will enhance an athlete’s performance on the field, they are all done essentially in a singular plane aspect.
So What Will It Do?
They will allow an athlete to jump higher, run faster, hit harder, etc., but ALL sports will require the athlete during practice/competition to utilize their body in one, two or all three planes of motion at the same time. This means the athlete needs to have the motor units of the rotary and angular/diagonal muscles ready to assist the prime movers as they function in a near-maximal or maximal state and are ready to function when called upon. An example of this is as follows: a hockey player can power clean 110 kg for 5 reps.
A very good weight for anyone. Now, when he gets on the ice he is able to use this added strength to check harder and skate faster. However, when it comes time to hit the puck as hard and with as much finesse as he can, he is not able to transfer all that added strength to hitting the puck.
Why? In this example, his prime mover muscles are strong, but his rotary and angular/diagonal muscles are not as functional. When it came time to utilize his new strength, there was a loss of power transfer to the puck since his trunk stabilizers and movers were not as strong, thereby not allowing the prime movers of his body to put forth all of their power.
CT-
I’m wondering what kind of approach you would take for a BB’er that just finished contest prep and is looking to regain lost strength as quickly as humanly possible?
Also, I remember you once mentioning that females tend to respond better to steady state cardio due to the estrogen related fat storage…does this mean you stay away from HIIT for them or more or less just do a more balanced combination of the two than you would for a male?
thanks
Hey Coach wanted to update you on the transformation, in my last week, what do reccommend after its over take a week off, i know i did an extra week, in stage 2, I have put some weight back on in the last stage that was the goal right. 215, last weight, body comp was at 12.7, what i love so much about your programs is im build like you meaning with my height and weight being similiar, i dont know if im an easy gainer, like you, would the easy gainer program benefit me next or should i just lay off a week maybe do some endurance cardio, play basketball or sport, kinda like a mental break, i have noticed a big diffence in my physique, i will take my measurements and body comp again to compare, and update you after the tranformation, would the farmer walks be good to do for the energy system training, like back and fourth 10 times or should i add in the 100m sprints as well thanks for your input and great advice, when are doing any conferences do you ever come to the us for any of them would love to hear you speak and maybe meet you one day
There are no “best for everything” training techniques or methods. Everything can contribute to your success if you use them right. The olympic lifts, if you are able to perform them properly, are excellent tools to improve whole body power.
Sledgehammer training will also contribute to power, strength-endurance and hypertrophy (especially in the forearms, arms, trunk and shoulders).
Sanbag carry or lifting will also build a lot of usable strength and strength-endurance.
Lifting big weights on movements such as the bench press, squat, deadlift, row and push press will build tons of strength and size.
Hopefully you catch my drift… nothing is best for everything and no single method can lead to optimal development.
[quote]BPC wrote:
Christian,
I’m trying to gain all around usable strength so do you think based upon the paragraph I’m about to post, sledgehammer training is more important than say power cleans/deadlifts/squats/presses or equally as important? In other words should sledgehammer training make up 50% of my training and power cleans/deadlifts/squats/presses make up the other 50% or should it be 75% sledge 25% free weights? According to this paragraph it looks as though the olifts/powerlifts only enhance certain things and I was under the impression that they were pretty much the best all around things to do including over sledge/sandbag, etc?? Please clarify. Thanks.
[/quote]
[quote]philco wrote:
CT-
I’m wondering what kind of approach you would take for a BB’er that just finished contest prep and is looking to regain lost strength as quickly as humanly possible?
[/quote]
Well, the 2-3 first post-contest weeks are actually great weeks to gain strength because of the anabolic rebound from stopping the intense diet AND the better leverage provided by the post-competition water retention. So during that period one can perform a higher volume of heavy lifting (provided that food intake is drastically increased).
I personally found that combining heavy lifting in the 3-5 reps range; frequent training (whole body 3-4 times per week); partial (overload) reps and functional isometrics work great to gain back your strength. Basically what you need to do is lift some big weights. Sounds simply, IT IS! Eat a ton, lift big … you will benefit from a huge anabolic rebound and will gain a lot of strength and muscle in a short time.
[quote]philco wrote:
Also, I remember you once mentioning that females tend to respond better to steady state cardio due to the estrogen related fat storage…does this mean you stay away from HIIT for them or more or less just do a more balanced combination of the two than you would for a male?
thanks [/quote]
It isn’t related to estrogen fat storage … well that’s not the most important reason. Studies have found that at low intensities women use more fat than men. And no, that doesn’t mean that they should completely avoid HIIT work. a 2/1 ratio works fine (e.g. 2 steady state WO + 1 HIIT session per week).
The farmer walk, sled dragging, sandbag carry and sledgehammer striking are all possible alternative forms of energy system work.
For an athlete training in-season, do you prefer full body or split training? Which do you prefer for a cutting cycle?
thanks for the great info…
I hear you on the whole anabolic rebound thing and it makes sense. But then again you have a lot of people who say that you need to increase calories slowly, ie. 250 calories per week when coming off an intense diet instead of just jumping straight into high calories in order to prevent fat gain. Do you not buy into this at all?
[quote]leon79 wrote:
For an athlete training in-season, do you prefer full body or split training? Which do you prefer for a cutting cycle?[/quote]
In season we use short full-body sessions, normally only 3 lifts per workout.
For a cutting cycle it doesn’t matter… strength training should be used to preserve or gain muscle not to stimulate fat loss.
In that regard a full-body workout 3x per week is good because the lower total frequency allows you to better recover while on a low calories diet. I also allows for one more energy systems work per week.
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
Well, the 2-3 first post-contest weeks are actually great weeks to gain strength because of the anabolic rebound from stopping the intense diet AND the better leverage provided by the post-competition water retention. So during that period one can perform a higher volume of heavy lifting (provided that food intake is drastically increased).
[/quote]
Could this bit of info be incorporated into a year-round strategy? I remember the late Dan Duchaine writing about alternating periods of 2 to 4 weeks of dieting with periods of 2 to 4 weeks of mass gaining. I’ve always been cautious to add back calories after coming off a diet, assuming that if I added calories back too quickly that I would put back a lot of fat.
[quote]philco wrote:
thanks for the great info…
I hear you on the whole anabolic rebound thing and it makes sense. But then again you have a lot of people who say that you need to increase calories slowly, ie. 250 calories per week when coming off an intense diet instead of just jumping straight into high calories in order to prevent fat gain. Do you not buy into this at all?
[/quote]
After a contest I like to use a super high calories week … after 16 weeks of intense dieting I feel that I diserve it. THEN after that first week I drop the calories back down to maintenance and slowly increase it.
This way I get an anabolic rebound without excessive fat gain. Since most of the nutrients will be used to either build muscle tissue or surcompensate the glycogen stores, at worst you are looking at a 2-3lbs body fat gain for the same amount of muscle and about 4-6lbs of water and added glycogen. Which is a good deal if you ask me because losing 2lbs of fat is much easier to do than gaining 2lbs of muscle.
Wasn’t it Torbjorn Akerfeld with his ABCDE diet who proposed such a scheme?
Anyway, Lyle McDonald’s book “The ultimate diet 2.0” is based on the rebound theory and it can be used for a relatively long period of time. I used it for 8 weeks with Lyle’s help and got great results.
[quote]downintucson wrote:
Could this bit of info be incorporated into a year-round strategy? I remember the late Dan Duchaine writing about alternating periods of 2 to 4 weeks of dieting with periods of 2 to 4 weeks of mass gaining. I’ve always been cautious to add back calories after coming off a diet, assuming that if I added calories back too quickly that I would put back a lot of fat.
[/quote]
[quote]philco wrote:
thanks for the great info…
Do you not buy into this at all?
[/quote]
Well, I buy it … but you asked for the FASTEST way to gain back your strength.
You’re right, it was the ABCDE diet that started everybody at MM2K writing about whether such a diet scheme would work. Duchaine’s plan was not as drastic as ABCDE (he also never made outrageous claims like the Akerfeldt did), and he used waking body temperature to gauge when to switch from dieting to mass gaining and caliper measurements to gauge when to switch back.
Also, Duchaine’s “Dirty Dieting” newslatter outlined what was called the anabolic/catabolic diet, but I think it was a train wreck of an idea.
Lyle’s UD2 diet is based on an old diet called the rebound diet … might have been from Duchaine too.
CT,
Been reading with interest about LeFreak and his pics, and we’re all interested in that program where you focus on 2 bodyparts for 3 weeks at a time.
I’m not going to ask for details, because I’m sure it will make a nice 6-7 part article-you can do one on EACH of the 3 day/3 week bodypart focus routines…
…but I am curious if you have thought about or experimented with ONLY training 2-3 bodyparts at a time and basically let the others detrain while all your efforts and recovery go into those.
Also, interested if you read Big Beyond Belief. Any inspiration there? Although I don’t use it any more, I incorporate many of the ideas and it WAS the first routine that ever worked for me after many years of hard work with no success.
Thanks
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
There are no “best for everything” training techniques or methods. Everything can contribute to your success if you use them right. The olympic lifts, if you are able to perform them properly, are excellent tools to improve whole body power.
Sledgehammer training will also contribute to power, strength-endurance and hypertrophy (especially in the forearms, arms, trunk and shoulders).
Sanbag carry or lifting will also build a lot of usable strength and strength-endurance.
Lifting big weights on movements such as the bench press, squat, deadlift, row and push press will build tons of strength and size.
Hopefully you catch my drift… nothing is best for everything and no single method can lead to optimal development.
BPC wrote:
Christian,
I’m trying to gain all around usable strength so do you think based upon the paragraph I’m about to post, sledgehammer training is more important than say power cleans/deadlifts/squats/presses or equally as important? In other words should sledgehammer training make up 50% of my training and power cleans/deadlifts/squats/presses make up the other 50% or should it be 75% sledge 25% free weights? According to this paragraph it looks as though the olifts/powerlifts only enhance certain things and I was under the impression that they were pretty much the best all around things to do including over sledge/sandbag, etc?? Please clarify. Thanks.
[/quote]
Gotcha.
Thanks.