In the midst of this discussion, is another offshoot that I’ve often found interesting that usually gets overlooked or underappreciated. We all know that the forefathers of weight training subsisted on primarily TBT type programs.
And along with that came a mix of general conditioning, athleticism (often), and hypertrophy. And in all fairness, that was their intention for the most part.
Now today, the pendulum has moved to the other extreme. Everybody is ga-ga over hitting a bodypart once every week. Take notice that this is a relatively new phenomenon that directly coincides with the rise of AAS abuse. Note that last word.
What’s my point? Well, 10-20mg of D-Bol and maybe a dash or Primo was used in the 60’s and 70’s. And this was often only done for a 6-8 week spree just before a contest to keep the muscle they had gained while dieting.
While this is certainly a boost, it is like licking an aspirin in comparison to today’s 20+ drug list used by your favorite magazine oddity.
Truth is, we would do well to study this “Golden Era” and it’s estaablished training methods composed mainly of high frequency simple splits.
Anyone who knows me, also knows that I strongly support TBT type programs for 90% of all lifters wanting to gain mass. But I stronly advocate choosing the right exercises depending on natural body structure and bodyfat storage sites.
Someone who’s 6 ft tall with a 30" inseam shouldn’t he doing heavy squats if he wants to be a bodybuilder. So I advocate TBT style training with intelligent individualized exercise protocol/complexes. And there are all sorts of nuances to take into consideration. Starr hit’s some of these such as rotating emphases on the power moves with heavy,light,medium etc… but this is not the time or place, so…
From here, if you want to really get to some serious and aesthetic mass, and you aren’t blessed with the proportion of Francis Benfatto or Flex Wheeler, then you’ve got to alter your approach to bodybuilding. Many may be surprised to hear me say this.
For many a single split approach will yield much in the way of that extra mass and symmetry. For example an upper/lower split.
And eventually, a more elaborate split becomes almost mandatory. BUT NOT the once a week blitzkreig bullcrap espoused today. Gimme a break. Neither science nor my personal experience (minus syringes and tablets) supports this method as OPTIMAL for natural bodybuilders. Anything within reason will produce some results. But the idea is optimal.
Notice that guys like Pearl, Oliva, Scott, Draper and the like all advocated a higher frequency than what is utilized today. For example they might use a sigle split and hit it with 4-6 sessions a week.
Thus allowing at least two direct weekly sessions per muscle. And others would use a split that called for torso on monday and thurs, legs on tues and fri, and shoulders/arms on wed and sat. Again the frequency was greater far than the once a week “destruction” mentality of the 90’s and today.
I contend that because MPS (muscle protein synthesis, not to be confused with whole body protein synthesis)usually peters out after about 48 hours that nearly all the guys back in the Golden Era were discovering the 72 hour marker as the going rate for time between direct stimulation of any one muscle group.
It’s only after the use of mega-dose anabolics, ergogens, and lipolytics that we see the total destruction philosophy come to the fore. And of course AAS keep the body in a near constant anabolic state thus promoting protein synthesis INDEPENDENT of direct stimulation per se.
I don’t have such a luxury and neither do most of you I would assume.
It is my contention that once you’ve graduated from TBT to something such as a U/L split, and then perhaps (and most will never need it)to a more elaborate split, you still have to find a way to keep the frequency of stimulation greater than the the current vogue of once every week.
It’s a lot of wasted down time that isn’t capitalizing on what is known about muscle specific anabolic processes like MPS duration. ALSO, you’ll never get a real blast of T, IGF-1 and GH without using large compound movements as often as possible. You can curl and skull crush for an hour straight and never match what you’ll get from a few heavy sets of squats or deads.
Really THIS is the key concept Waterbury is pushing. Look at P10, and his latest TBT/ABBH hybrid. They focus on splits and bodyparts in an intelligent compromise. It’s jsut that TBT style training is the easiest and often most efficient route to greater frequency. It also is incredible for conditioning if done with the proper rest peroids.
So, when we combine experience with research I think it really leads to the style of training advocated by Gironda and the rest in the 60’s and 70’s overall. Research shows us the natural anabolic cycle of the body and it’s standard duration, which coincides nicely with what was done by some very big, strong men awhile back.
Before the extreme use of anabolics muddied the water and fostered erroneous conclusions leading to droves of skinny kids emulating today’s pros.
Jay Cutler et al., can afford to destroy a muscle once a week, they are taking supraphysiologic amounts of synthetic hormones to augment recovery by leaps and bounds. We aren’t.
They are in a constant state of indiscriminate protein synthesis, the very state we are using our training to try to induce naturally.
They walk around in a bath of hormones signaling DNA trascription and translation at ridiculous rates at all times. We aren’t.
So, while I’m all for experiential and observational knowledge trumping even good research, you’ve got to separate the baby and the bathwater.
Massive intake of AAS undergirds the whole foundational premise from which many of you are deriving your one bodypart per day once a week thrash-fest type methodologies. THAT is the thing I find it amazing that people miss here on these forums year after year.
Yeah, we all see that it “works”. Oh yeah, works really well when you often don’t have a full-time job and/or spend enough money to buy a modest car each year on your “supplements”.
Really well when you are such a destructive, insecure narcissist that your drug habit risks personal shame, a ruined reputation, and prison time all to show up on stage and look like a bloated, pathetic mess who can’t make it up the steps and pose for a few minutes without sucking wind like that fat kid in Jr. High phys ed class.
Sporting that sexy 42" waist. But I digress as this discussion is not to be a rant on the laughable state of the “sport” today. Forgive me. ;-0
So ulitmately if you’re going to espouse that we use a pool of subjects from which to draw some conclusions, then at least use real people who existed in a far more real environment both physiolocically and socially.
Long story short, almost all the golden era guys, both assisted and not came to the conclusion that hitting a bodypart about 2x per week or every 72 hours was best for the majority to employ for a majority of the time.
NOW, you have a realistic base from which to frame a proper debate for advanced bodybuilders concerning TBT vs splits and the connected issue of frequency from which to draw some realistic conclusions.
And if you aren’t advanced, then you’re best served with a TBT or U/L split to gain large amounts of mass. That’s the way I see it and that’s the way I’ve seen it.
Best,
DH