It’s no problem man! I hope you make great progress too!! I’m excited to see how it treats you!
And yes, I follow a 1 second positive, 2 second negative tempo for the reps! Although you can also include “pulse-style” reps on the pump Sets after you hit failure on Pump Sets just for a little extra pump!
Absolutely exhausted this morning when I got up. Had a long weekend, workout on Friday and Saturday and a double header in softball. Had two migraines, one Friday night and one that woke me up early yesterday morning and kept me from getting back to sleep for several hours and then last night I got to bed later than I wanted and didn’t sleep the greatest. So overall my recovery this weekend is not where I would want it. But I still woke up looking extra full especially in my lats, so I still appear to be making gains, but I need a GOOD nights sleep and a Day free of training or sports to recharge.
Regardless of all of that, I absolutely killed it in the gym this morning! Went up in weight on the squat again, which is the big lift that this day is really programmed around for leg size, and the progressive overload has been working tremendously. My calves were still feeling brutalized this morning from the last 3 days of training and softball, so I cut calf raises out. I still got an amazing pump today too, which is a good sign to me that my body is still primed for growth and I’m not overdoing anything. This is the last week of this “progressive blast” of training so I really want to go all out with every session this week.
Lower Load/Upper Pump
Squat 240x8
Leg Extension 235x12
Squat 240x6
Leg Curl 150x9
Squat 245x8
Cable Adductor 80x15,9,4
Flyes 65x28, 65x20
Rack Pull-Ups w/ 15lb 32, 23
Machine Shoulder Press 135x24
Crunch 85
Lateral Raises 20x Reverse 21s+7 extra full reps
Crunch 52
Bent Over Lateral Raises 20x Reverse 21s+7 extra full reps
Crunch 45
Dumbbell Curl 30x Reverse 21s(x2)
Dumbbell Overhead Tricep Extension 60x Reverse 21s+14 extra full reps(x2)
Last “heavy” day of this training blast. I really wanted to go out strong, so I increased weight on bent Over Rows and shoulders and I also mixed things up a bit, I swapped incline Press and decline flye for flat bench and incline flye, and on the leg Pump Sets I cut out the glute-ham raises and focused all of my energy into close-legged leg Press fives into the hole supersetted immediately with fives into the hole on toe Press and repeated the cycle immediately with no rest. That finished this workout off in a brutal way.
Ellington Darden has a new T-Nation article up on a bigger arms challenge. I like making my arms bigger, so I’ll give it a shot during my “cruise” training phase next week. I figure I’ll do muscle Rounds on Monday, then “NeXT Arm Challenge” on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday, then finish off the cruise with Muscle Round workouts on Wednesday and Friday.
Upper Load/Lower Pump
Dumbbell Bent Over Rows 105x12, 115x10
Wide Grip Lat Pulldown(on the harder machine again) 210x10, 220x7
Dumbbell Bench 90x10, 100x8
Incline Flye 70x10, 75x7
Seated Dumbbell Overhead Press 45x10, 55x7
Scott Raises 30x10, 35x8
Nautilus Leg Press “19”xFives into the Hole(x2)
Supersetted with
Nautilus Toe Press “19”x Fives into the Hole(x2)
Excellent log, Dave. And kudos to you for taking the time to reply to a lot of comments.
Scott Stevenson remains one of my favourite training influences. I went through a stage where I was just doing muscle rounds on an upper lower split and still I felt like I was making good gains.
Despite running Fortitude for ages, and doing HIT, I have never run Doggcrapp. So I’m a month into that and, for me, it is a revelation. I believe the rest pause style is a good fit for me. The loaded stretching, which Scott borrowed from Dante, is brutal and, I believe, the number 1 reason for consistent DOMS every session. That, together with the A B C rotation. You can probably relate to that given Fortitude has a similar protocol.
Thank you so much for the kind words and checking the log out! I can totally relate on those stretches! I don’t really mention them on the log, but they are seriously more painful than the lifts themselves! But I love the feeling after I’ve done them, how much blood the muscles are filled with! I’m really going to be putting a lot of emphasis on those in my last two sessions this week.
Fortitude Training has been a training system that has worked so incredibly well for me, to borrow your terminology, it’s been a revelation! Scott Stevenson really is a great dude, super supportive, and he’s extremely smart when it comes to all things Bodybuilding. The fact that his ebook was only $20 and it’s so full of information really makes it an easy recommendation for anybody out there that wants to get huge!
I have not tried Doggcrapp either but I fully intend to as the next program I do, which will be later this year. Let me ask, when you ran DC, what did you use as your primary influence to structure your program, intensemuscle, the T-Nation article, or perhaps somewhere else?
Cheers Dave, good to hear from you.
I used an article from Revolutionary Program Design, which sets it out in a step by step process. This was helpful, e.g. it recommends higher reps for exercises using DBs, and/or for are older trainees, otherwise I would have probably gone for BB movements in the 6-9 rep range. The former appears to work far better for me.
Overall, I cannot fault the programme because a key part of the protocol is to ‘beat the logbook’, which I am managing to do on most movements. I am still on the ‘blast’ phase as I’m progressing on the lifts. I will plan to go back to Darden’s 30-10-30 as part of the ‘cruise’ and just go from there. The 3 times a week frequency also suits me, so it’s a win win.
I do love the beat the logbook approach as it appeals so much to my competitive side. That really has been a staple for me through my time with HIT and now Fortitude Training. Also the stretches should feel right at home, and the rest-pause looks like a great way to torture yourself to greater gains! What’s your favorite of the 3 training methods between FT, HIT, and DC?
I would probably say FT because I ran that for about 8 months solid. I also think you get a bit more variety with FT, e.g. low rep sets, high rep pump sets, muscle rounds, etc. I’m too early into DC to give it a proper evaluation but I don’t recall making such linear progress in any programme I have done. That said, this progress has coincided with a radical clean up of my diet (which was horrendous) so I would probably have progressed as well on other programmes with the same attention to diet and recovery.
Well thank you sir for all of the feedback! This will really help when I start DC training!
Also I’d like to say that I too enjoy the varied stimuli of FT. The different rep ranges and set types add variety, which adds fun and motivation. It also keeps me from ever feeling worn down.
Dave, just to say how I like your effort and especially your positivity, this is the only log I follow.
And yes, you seem to be progressing really well.
And thanks to James for chiming in here, always very interested in your experience. I have a very similar training outlook with you guys (although I would love to be closer to your age Dave haha), so whatever thoughts and experience you share, I really appreciate a lot, some of it I implement in my own training.
And yes, Dave I loved that story with meeting legendary Lou.
Thanks guys, keep rocking 
Thanks Hogar! I really appreciate that! I’m happy you’re enjoying the log! I’m right there with you, I enjoy training to failure with a more minimalist approach to volume. This log has been very fun for me to update and share all of my experiences, both good and bad.
And Lou is a great guy, and it was really an honor to meet him. He’s truly huge!
Gotta be honest, the workout was great but I kind of took my sweet time between sets. I’m just tired. It’s the end of the blast and body seems to know it, I’ve pushed it to the limit, so I’m really going to reward it with a ton of food today and hopefully I feel a bit more fresh for tomorrow’s workout!
Lower Focus Muscle Rounds
Hack Squat 365x4,4,4,4,2 315x4
Leg Extension 225x4,4,4,4,4,4
Rope Pull Through 180x4,4,4,4,4,3
Barbell Rack Rows 185x4,4,4,4,4,6
Decline Bench 225x4,4,4,4,3 185x4(the failure rep on that last 225 was a real grinder that I thought I wouldn’t possibly be able to get, but after like 10 seconds, I got it)
Overhead Machine Press 180x4,4,4,3 165x4,4
Preacher Curl 95x4,4,4,4,4,3
Wrist Curl on Preacher 125x4,4,4,4,4,4
Final training session of the blast last night! I swear it wanted to kill me, but I killed it right back! I was incredibly pumped by the end and I was still way up on my weights. The cable squats were shockingly brutal! Those were really a challenge!
Upper Focused Muscle Rounds
Nautilus Compound Row “22.9”x4,4,4,4,4,7
Weighted Chins 35x4,4,4,4,4,2
Neutral Grip Pulldowns 200x4,4,4,4,2 190x4
Weighted Dips 45x4,4,4,4,4,3
Cable Crossover “13”x4,4,4,4,3 “12”x4
Lateral Raises 30x4,4,4,4,4,5
Face Pulls 140x4,4,4,4,4,6
Tricep Rope Pushdowns 130x4,4,4,4,4,3
Cable Squats 200x4,4,4,4,4,5
Seated Calf Raise 170x4,4,4,4,4,3
Cable Crunches 120x4,4,4,4,4,20
I’ll post my full results, measurements, photos, and program review shortly! Stay tuned!
So I successfully completed a 6 Week blast of Fortitude Training. The first thing I would like to say is that I love the auto regulation of the program and the adaptability. I started week 1 with volume tier I, weeks 2 and 3 were at volume tier II, weeks 4,5, and 6 were at volume tier III. The last two weeks I also turned up the frequency to the “Turbo version” to go from working every body part 3 times a week to 4 times a week. The blast and cruise method of training is great for really pushing the volume and intensity for a few weeks. I could really feel by the end I NEEDED the cruise. My body was pretty tired feeling by the last two workouts, but the workouts were still really good. You can determine for yourself just how hard you want to push, as well as determining the lifts based around how you’re feeling. The training felt fresh every day with the different set types and helped keep me from feeling too fatigued or burned out. I think I’ll be incorporating this periodized approach to my training from here out.
These are easily the best gains I’ve made on any program especially in just a 6 week time period. My arms are the biggest they’ve ever been and my legs are vastly improved. I was really eating a lot more, especially on training days. Even though my waist is a half inch bigger, my overall body composition is vastly improved. To be up 8 pounds and have my measurements so much is almost unbelievable to me. Also my lifts were up every single session, I progressed in either reps, weight, or both. The load sets are your heavy days focused on beating the logbook, the Pump Sets are all about Minds muscle connection and hitting failure in a high rep range (20-30), and the muscle Rounds are a type of cluster set focused on 6 sets separated by 5 deep breaths (about 10 seconds) with one failure point in the 4,5, or 6th set with a weight drop if you fail before the 6th set, and you can push progressive overload with these as well.
I highly recommend this book and program to any experienced, advanced lifter. You really need to be in tune with your body, an understanding of what lifts work best for you and knowing just how hard you’re able to push, as well as not being afraid to push food to enhance recovery. Anyway, here are my results, which I’ll let speak for themselves.
You genuinely look bigger all over. Not by anything staggering of course, but noticeably bigger, which, at your level of leanness means it’s muscle, which as we all know is not easy to gain. Your chest is noticeably fuller, your arms are thicker, your traps are showing more from the front, your vastus lateralis on your quads looks bigger, your abs are definitely pushing through more, your biceps are bigger as well as your serratus looking more cut, and your lats are definitely wider. That’s a pretty big win, dude. Awesome work and consistency.
Thanks so much man. I think it’s truly just been a matter of pushing harder than I ever have before. To be up 8 pounds in 6 weeks is certainly more than I could’ve expected. It’s definitely a sign to me that I’m doing a program that is optimal for me individually and my goals. I appreciate the encouragement from you and everyone else, which definitely helped give me extra motivation! I appreciate you following and your own log has also been very motivating to me, especially how you manage your time with family and goals with your lifting and athletic endeavors!
Scott Stevenson has also made himself a great resource for help and guidance, which I’m so thankful for. He’s a patient dude and has put a lot of great info out there for free.
That is an absolute insane amount of progress for 6 weeks dude. I sure as hell hope you keep running this over and over again milking the gains dry from it
Thank you so much sir! Oh and you better believe I am! I would be a fool to try to change much at this point. Fortitude Training is my new pal for making huge gains haha
First day of my cruise today. Definitely favored Machines today. Joints and muscles are tired, so this workout was a nice change from the usual heavy loading sets that come on Mondays. Was actually still able to progress on weight and reps on every movement that I’ve done before. Tried out some new exercises that really felt good and fit the Bill for this recovery period. For anyone curious, I’m down a volume tier and just doing muscle Rounds for the first 2/3 of the cruise and straight up resting for the last 1/3.
Lower Focused Muscle Rounds
Leg Press 555x4,4,4,4,4,4
Hamstring Curl 135x4,4,4,4,4,3
One legged dumbbell calf raise 40x4,4,4,4,4,10
T-Bar Row 135x4,4,4,4,4,3
Low to High Cable Crossover “8”x4,4,4,4,4,4
Cable Lateral Raise 20x4,4,4,4,4,3
Single Arm Cable Curls 80x4,4,4,4,4,3
