Big gun Friday. This was a hell of an arm day. Really liked the superset combos here. The pump was incredible. I’m very sore today and am happy about the rest days coming up.
Also reading this classic!
Big gun Friday. This was a hell of an arm day. Really liked the superset combos here. The pump was incredible. I’m very sore today and am happy about the rest days coming up.
Also reading this classic!
Love those old programs, any magic in there mate ?
Absolutely man! Incredible info in here and very forward thinking for 1994! I really really enjoy the info in here and think the training program looks awesome! I actually started this program last night and forgot to log it, so I’ll update now!
And so begins Big Beyond Belief! This book has been incredibly good and there’s lots of gems of wisdom in there and great information about Periodization and working yourself up to a level of functional overreaching and then tapering back down. I was extremely excited about the program after reading the book and so here we are. Two sessions in and they’ve been absolutely brutal! All sets to failure and so far, I’ve been working in the 13-15 rep range and 2 minutes rest periods. All of the sessions are supposed to be between 35-45 minutes and that’s been the case so far. The squats were crazy brutal!!!
I know Tom didn’t write this but pretty sure be endorsed the system back on the day. Tom Platz was one of Dorian Yates first training inspirations, I spoke to Dorian about this a little when I met him back in 1993. Very interested to see how you go with the volume in this one. Expecting big things.
Thanks man, that’s really cool! I’d love to meet Dorian! He’s definitely a huge inspiration for me! Tom is credited as a co-author here and there’s a section on his training philosophy and he’s extremely instinctive and in tune with his body. He doesn’t count reps or sets but basically tries to get everything possible out of a set. He describes it as diving in the water and trying to grab as many fish as possible on one breath until he absolutely has to come up for air, and with each follow-up set, he’s just trying to grab more fish until he’s grabbed them all. It’s very interesting and insightful. Tom has a very instinctive, artistic way of approaching his training. Somebody actually recently uploaded the Big Beyond Belief workout tapes with Tom and Leo Costa to YouTube! So extremely cool! Tom gives a lot of insights into his training philosophy as well. These two trained extremely intense and these videos are crazy inspiring!
Here’s part 1!
Full body session today. Loving getting back to high frequency training and picking my exercises based around what’s right on that day. The way exercises are ranked in the book definitely is preferential towards compound movements, moving your body through space and free weight movements, which definitely fits perfectly with my programming ideology and training preferences. From there, I plug in exercises based on what I feel I need. Workout was completed in 44 minutes and 36 seconds, so the exercises, sets and rest times are perfectly planned out to have me completing the workouts in the prescribed time (35-45 minutes).
I met Dorian Yates years ago in Sacramento. Pretty nice guy.
That’s really cool! He seems really down to earth, especially for someone as accomplished and well-off as he is. Those Blood and Guts tapes had a huge influence on me and teaching me what training intensity was all about!
Was too tired last night to log my session but here it is! It was another great one! Didn’t get to the gym until about 3:30 AM, but just needed to get it done. I pushed myself to the limit even in spite of my sleepy state! I was really sore coming into the session but I felt pretty good once I got into the exercises. Week 1 was a complete success! Excited to see what week 2 brings!
Last session before heading back to Canada today! Adding an extra set this week and cutting the rest times down 30 seconds. This presented a pretty significant challenge. I’ll hit the second session of the week on Wednesday after I’m back, settled and rested. Perfect session to leave on. Starting to acclimate a bit as this session didn’t absolutely kill me like the first session of last week. I guess we’ll see how sore I am tomorrow!
First lift back in Canada. Those high rep squats on 90 seconds rest are BRUTAL! I really could’ve picked any leg exercise here but I really love the challenge. I have 2 full body sessions to finish the week so that’s where I have to get extra mindful with exercise selection, but always picking the most challenging option where possible. So far I’ve kept things mostly the same as last week.
Lovely pen work in that log
Thanks man haha different pen, as the blue one I had been using died. Found this Sharpie pen that I think compliments my writing style very well
Full body session today as promised. Really was connecting with everything super well. Really just loving this training program. It fits my identity perfectly. Push every set to failure, get in and out of the gym in 45 minutes and push yourself to new limits! I also love the flexibility of selecting my own exercises.
I had a hell of a session today. Opened things up with front squats, which I haven’t done in a while. First set I had to terminate early due to losing my front rack position, each of the following sets I used straps around the bar to hold onto, which really helped me put my focus into my quads rather than maintaining the bar’s position. I think I’ll definitely be good to add weight to these next time. Banded push ups were such a sweet call for chest today. I initially tried to use every level of band resistance I had at once, but that was overzealous as I could only manage a partial. Definitely room to grow! Settled on the thick grey band and the standard red band, which was perfect. I was way stronger on weighted chin ups than I was expecting. Definitely good to add weight on those next time as well, as I exceeded the rep range. Right in the groove at the moment! Next week is going to be brutal with 5 sets and 60 seconds rest, but I say, bring it on!!
Came into this session like a bat out of hell. Slept great last night with a belly full of steak, potatoes and spinach, which fueled a tremendous session today! Going to need to harness all of my power for tomorrow’s session, which will include 5 sets of squats to or damn near failure. I could choose an easier exercise, but I do not intend on backing down from the challenge that this brings! Couldn’t believe how many reps I was able to bust out on incline. That was awesome.
Damn mate, 100’s for 19 reps is insane. Quality
Thank you man, I couldn’t believe how light they were feeling yesterday. Excited to get into the 20s soon! The training, nutrition and supplementation has been on point. I’ve been using Surge mixed with glutamine and creatine as well as Muscletech’s Clear Muscle, which is an HMB supplement and I think it’s helped me handle the volume and recover faster between workouts. Great support for hard training!
A really awesome night of sleep last night Led to a fantastic training session today! Started taping my mouth while I sleep to help prevent snoring and keep me breathing through my nose while I sleep. Night 1 was a big success as I felt very well rested!
I changed things up a little bit on my squats after watching some Phil Hernon and Natural Gallant Bodybuilding videos the last few days and instead of standing all the way up on my squats, I only came up about 3/4 or 4/5 of the way to keep more continuous tension on my quads. This really emphasizes the mid range and was just BRUTAL on my quads. Felt really minimal to no lower back fatigue, which was awesome. The great night’s sleep plus different rep style led to my single best squat performance ever with 315x20! Adapting like a beast to this program and really just loving it!