What are some of the effects in regards to hypertrophy? Any significant increases in LBM or measurements in anyone who has used DDB’s system?
[quote]dookie1481 wrote:
What are some of the effects in regards to hypertrophy? Any significant increases in LBM or measurements in anyone who has used DB’s system?[/quote]
Dookie,
Since it is a system and not a training program (big difference there!), you can tailor it to your needs to add size VERY quickly.
Without going into too much detail, you have a few basic options to work with:
(1) Use a lot of speed and power stuff before you move into a strength block.
(2) Incoroporate power and strength work on the same training day or in the same training block.
Also, train based on the unique nature of your nervous system functions and tie in to your metabolic system. There’s a great book by Bill Walcott and Trish Fahey that I highly recommend if you’re interested in finally eating like you should instead of like a farm animal from a slop-pit.
Nervous system training plus nervous system eating…tough combo to beat my friends!
Peace,
Brad
Thanks for clearing up the vids - quite a few people bag on em 
What’s the name of this particular book Brad?
[quote]CoolColJ wrote:
Thanks for clearing up the vids - quite a few people bag on em :)[/quote]
CoolColJ, I read your post from CF about this subject. Have you been using this still? What were the end results? Did you ever do an upper-body cycle? Any recommendations as far as constructing a workout for myself, e.g., what exercises to choose?
[quote]philtwine wrote:
What’s the name of this particular book Brad?[/quote]
Philtwine,
Sorry, bro, the name of the book dodged my memory earlier. It’s called “The Metabolic Typing Diet”.
Peace,
Brad
[quote]CoolColJ wrote:
Thanks for clearing up the vids - quite a few people bag on em :)[/quote]
CoolColJ,
No problem. Feel free to ask more questions if you’re still not getting it.
Peace,
Brad
Another question, Brad. Some have alluded to extra workouts, but the subject has not been directly addressed. Two reasons: strengthening weak points (upper back, neck, external rotators, etc.) and keeping me in the gym. I love to lift, even if it’s a 20-30 min. session. It makes me feel a lot better during the rest of the day. I currently lift 5 days a week; 3 main workouts and 2 prehab/vanity days. I’m sure a case can also be made for active recovery. My question is would 2 extra, low-intensity workouts (20-30 min.) likely be detrimental to progress?
[quote]dookie1481 wrote:
Some have alluded to extra workouts, but the subject has not been directly addressed. Two reasons: strengthening weak points (upper back, neck, external rotators, etc.) and keeping me in the gym.[/quote]
Dookie,
There is a fine line between hitting neglected muscles and just training more! Whenever the topic of ‘extra workouts’ gets brought up everyone starts salivating over the thought of additional gym time. But I’d bet that if you take a step back and really evaluate your needs, you should be doing the opposite- “less is more”.
I would suggest splitting your upper into two separate sessions- a push session and a pull session. Your lower body work would comprise a third session. If you take this schedule into consideration you’d already be training 3 out of every 4 days!
Granted, there may be some extra “small muscles” work done throughout the week. The neck, wrist and forearms are good examples. But, then again, a lot of times these muscles may be taxed enough depending on what you’re doing…so always think less before you start thinking more.
As for ‘active recovery’, TMS treatments are much better for more reasons than I care to list here.
Dietrich made a statement in one of his articles about how an athlete should focus most of his time on trying to restore and recuperate but, unfortunately, most athletes spend all their time worrying about ways to thrash their system. One thing I’ve learned from his system is that you really don’t have to work all that hard to get better results. But this is coming from a guy who thought a friday night at the gym was well worth the sacrifice- “work harder than your competition!” Boy did I have it all wrong. Work “smarter”, friends, not harder. I can’t over-stress the importance of AREG!
Peace,
Brad
[quote]CoolColJ, I read your post from CF about this subject. Have you been using this still? What were the end results?
Did you ever do an upper-body cycle? Any recommendations as far as constructing a workout for myself, e.g., what exercises
to choose?[/quote]
I’ve been training this way since the start of year. Although it’s not exactly a pure version of it, I have slightly modified it to suit my needs and style. But most of the system is intact, I just do some olys during the warmups as part of the exercise rotations
I have had good gains, but not as good as they should have been due to poor sleep levels, trying to lean up at the moment and not understanding how to structure workouts properly for my own weaknesses.
The description of strength as a rectangle with mag as the height and strain time/duration as the width is something I wished I had known earlier.
Because I knew I was rate dominant - extremely hit and miss type lifter. I blow up weights fast and make them look effortless (even though they are not) and then crash and burn with 10lbs more etc. So I had a tall but narrow box from doing explosive stuff all the time.
I intially spent a lot of time trying to get a wider box, which is what I needed to do, but I didn’t maintain or increase the height of the box, so while I did get stronger, it was more in a different manner. I did increase my strain abilities, but let my mag abilities decrease. So while my 1RM fullsquat did go up, it felt much harder than it used to be and much slower.
But the last month or so I have figured this out and rectified the situation and things are feeling much lighter and I’m confident of some big PRs.
That is pretty much key to the DB system, if he explained it this way in his book, it would have been really easy to understand.
Mag increases height, and An1 ISO increases width. AN2 duration work increases work capacity, rate supports mag work and mag work capacity. Then bigger box increases strength and you want to aim for a square box - ie equal balance of mag and duration
As far as gains go.
At the start of the year my fullsquat PR was 365lbs, I have doubled that a few weeks back and also did 385lbs. Not much of a gain, but as I explained above, this will change shortly
I was going heavy all the time as well which is not what I needed to do for me. The interesting thing from doing all the duration work I did is that I can now do way more reps at any % of my 1RM compared to before.
Cleangrip frontsquat is much better - best was 255lbs x2 at the start of year. I did 275x3 a few months back and 1RM of 305lbs. 305 shot up really easily, but I crashed and burned with 315lbs → still lacking strain ability. I expect to crack 315lbs in a few weeks time, as I have worked up to a 285lbs ISO hold at the sticking point for 7secs last workout, up from 255lbs (hope to hit 295-305 today) while also bringing up my reactive and explosive strength - so I have bigger box now
I beefed my frontsquat up mostly doing ISO holds, since the reactive/mag side is mostly covered by the squatcleans and power jerks I do. Off course fullsquats has some carryover and the lat machine situps as well.
Strict cleangrip oly style deadlift (lowered under control RDL style) is now up to 403lbs x3 a few weeks back. Middle of this year it was 353x3, and at the start of the year I’m not sure, but definitely lower than 355x3. 1RM is 455lbs as of a few weeks ago with hookgrip and in oly shoes, and no belt.
I also snatch grip deadlifted with hookgrip and with a slight pause on the floor between each rep and shrug at the top for 293x8. I used to struggle with 225lbs for triples
Closegrip (14inch) bench without arch or leg drive, has gone from 255lbs at the start of the year to around 295lbs. I can do 255x4, so 4 reps with my old 1RM is not bad. And all I did was regular reps in all rep ranges mostly
All my other lifts have improved by similar amounts. But now that I have a better understanding of how to organise and structure the workouts for me, I expect better gains from now on. Hopefully 
In any case all lifts are up across the board by varying amounts, all my olys are up as well, I can jump higher at my current bodyweight and my sprint accleration is up a notch as well.
Some lifts did blow up by huge amounts - the lat machine situps ISO holds went from 25lbs for 30secs to 120lb dumbell for 30secs in a few months! Doing situps for sets of 15 was fairly easy with 100lb dumbells, so I figured my core is as strong as I ever need for a while. And the fact my hipflexors and abs didn’t get sore at all after my first all out sprint session in over 1 +years was proof enough.
Work capacity is on another level altogether! I can hit multiple sets within 96% of a new PR quite comfortably now, and it won’t wipe out my CNS.
But things will get interesting from here on - I’ll keep you guys informed
As far as what to do.
I spent the most of time not doing any mag work. Big mistake, as Mag work is the key! If I had mainatined my mag abilities while blowing up my duration like I did, who knows how much better I would have gained across the board.
3-4 exercise a session is about optimal I think. I do some prehab stuff for the cuffs etc after the session and some ISO (EQI) hold stretches on my AN2 duration sessions. I mostly use a 4% dropoff for duration work, to accomodate the extra stuff I do. training every 4-5 days
I used to use 3 min rest between each exercise, but have cut it down to 2mins. And was suggested to keep the total rotation time to 8mins and divide the rest accordingly.
I would train all duration An1/An2, Mag and rate the time, because as I have found out, if one element is missing gains will slow down dramaticly. They are all interrelated and help feed each other.
AREG is huge, I don’t know if I could ever go back to guessing how many sets to do in a workout…
And one cool thing I like is, that a lot of times I might not do an exercise for 10 days, but yet I am stronger on it when I come back. In this regard I am no longer scared of not training for long periods of time, because my strength rarely goes back down.
Also I have put on quite a bit of muscle mass, even though that was not my goal
combing mag and iso work is a strong stimulus for muscle mass
Well since Coolcol posted his results, I’ll post mine. I began using DB’s methods in April/May.
At the time I had a squat of 500, despite my name. Since then recently squatted 600, for the first time in 4 years. At the time I first squatted 600 I was 40lbs heavier, and assisted (you could say I was in teh GFH world). Both lifts were raw, I have been unassisted for over three years now. I had no idea I could lose weight and push my squat up so dramatically in a few months
Unlike CCJ’s example, I was a duration dominant lifter. I have been employing DB’s speed-strength template for the last few months, which represent the greatest improvement in my strength. I have found, as Brad stated earlier, that as my strength speed work improves, so does my maximal strength. I am currently still driving towards my goal of having my strength-speed waves at 74/94%.
I have not employed any maximal effort work, except for my recent squat max, just been using the speed-strength template.
I really believe that the speed-strength template can give athletes the results they seek for sports (faster, more powerful, stronger, greater work capacity) as it is repsonsible for driving my squat up 100lbs in a few months.
I have also noted that my work capacity has gone through the roof, I am jumping higher (not my goal), faster and my poor aching shoulder and knees have not had any pain since I began my odessey.
Jesus, you guys wrote novels! Thanks for all of the info. I am understanding more and more everyday. I am going to start soon; I just don’t want to jump in until I know precisely what I am doing. Thanks again, guys.
My advice to you dookie is to start implementing the autoregulatory portion of the system ASAP, them start working through the templates and methods. This way you’ll have an idea about your own body, and you’ll get some of the kinks out early.
[quote]squattin600 wrote:
My advice to you dookie is to start implementing the autoregulatory portion of the system ASAP, them start working through the templates and methods. This way you’ll have an idea about your own body, and you’ll get some of the kinks out early.
[/quote]
I was just thinking about that. I think I will go in there and figure it out. I’m just one of those people that doesn’t like to go into something without a plan. Thanks for the help.
OK, this results posting looks like fun, so here’s a short version of mine.
Around the start of the year I decided I was going to get back into playing basketball again. I was about 18 months out of having a complete ACL reconstruction and had been doing a westside template before this. Strength work ala westside used to improve my athleticism pretty quickly in the past but this time I felt like a lumbering beast on the court - there were people I flat out couldn’t guard at all that I had started playing against so I thought it was time to get a little more specific.
I read Kelly Baggett’s article on inno-sport and bought the book, gave that a few reads and read all of the past Q&A’s and went about trying to determine my neurodynamic weakness - turns out I had no rate, or particularly even mag development and my reactive ability was completely useless.
On the 27th March I did my initial testing, 65.5cm vertical (25 inches), couldn’t get any higher from any depth jump height than my standing vertical, squatted 150kg and squatted 140kg from the pins.
On the 28th June I re-tested my depth jumps and after mostly doing ADA (depth drop work) I finally had some semblence of reactive ability, jumping highest from a 40cm box. My vert had also increased to 79cm (31 inches).
On the 18th September I re-tested my max squat - despite not doing standard squats for 6 months I added 10kg (22lbs) and likely could have got more if I was at all bothered with my squat 1RM any more. The entire rep was completed in under two seconds - completely flew up.
Last Saturday (23rd October) I jumped 90cm (35.5 inches) measured by a measuring device which gives lower readings than my initial method (the old chalk and wall test). Running jump is well over 1 metre (40 inches) and I don’t plan on stopping any time soon!
Oh and should Jeremy or Brad be reading this - stop reading and get that EMS article up!
Can you elaborate a bit more on Metabolic typing? It sounds like you’ve used it and I’m curious about it. I’ve heard about the book but this is a first time I’ve heard about anyone using it for nervous system functions.
[quote]Nuttall wrote:
Also, train based on the unique nature of your nervous system functions and tie in to your metabolic system. There’s a great book by Bill Walcott and Trish Fahey that I highly recommend if you’re interested in finally eating like you should instead of like a farm animal from a slop-pit.
Nervous system training plus nervous
system eating…tough combo to beat my friends!
Peace,
Brad[/quote]
Good work Ant. I’m with ya, I’d like to see the forums go up. That will be nice.
Tungsten,
The book has you take a test to see which branch of your autonomic nervous system (sympathetic vs parasympathetic) you are more efficiently functioning off of, or more strongly relying on right now (yes, it can change). Which branch fuels you more at the moment determines what type of fuel you need to put in your body at the moment. This neuro-endocrine relationship and response is well understood and documented in scientific literature, and this book doesn’t hold back when it comes to giving you plenty of practical examples and references to explore.
I have found the book to be be dead-on. Haven’t you noticed when you eat certain foods that you feel a certain way? Or maybe you have just found that you don’t like to eat every hour on the hour? Maybe you’ve wondered why different cultures who eat “wrong” but don’t have problems with obesity or cardiovascular related problems can ‘cheat science’?
Just like you need a special training routine to meet your unique goals you need a special eating plan to meet your unique goals. These plans change as your system adapts, too, which further proves the inadequacy of one-size-fits-all training and diet plans.
Peace,
Brad
Interesting replies and posts by everyone. I was beginning to think I was the only one who liked talking about his ‘success story’ with this system.
One of my favorite ‘success stories’ was by a guy who private messaged me a few weeks ago and said that his old training partners have accused him and his buddy of ‘plunging the pin’ since they switched to DB’s methods. I guess their results shot up pretty fast, “too fast” if you ask their old training partners!
(pssst, Ant, the article will go up Thursday…keep it between us though, bro!)
Peace,
Brad