Ditch free-weight CGP imo. Or use a board to take out the bottom part of ROM and have a platform to “launch” the bar from via leg-drive and arch if you get stuck. JM Presses are also an option.
I get the same problem with full-range free-weight CGP due to the fatigued shoulders from chest and delt work, I come out of the bottom and suddenly my strength just evaporates or something.
IH press and SRGB work better, as you can keep the delts out somewhat when pressing towards feet as well as up.
Another thing: raise rep-range to 15+ RP reps. (15-20 or so) if you want to keep the exercise in and possibly do your chest and delt stretches after tri work, the chest one in particular can tire out the delts.
[/quote]
C_C, you are the man. The above is EXACTLY what happens, I drive out of the bottom clean, everything going great, then - brick wall. I never even thought about faitgued shoulders being the issue, but you know, now that I think about it, where I get stuck is pretty much the transition point, so that’s probably it.
I really like CGB, though, so I will add a 3-board and see how that goes. Thanks bro.
Ditch free-weight CGP imo. Or use a board to take out the bottom part of ROM and have a platform to “launch” the bar from via leg-drive and arch if you get stuck. JM Presses are also an option.
I get the same problem with full-range free-weight CGP due to the fatigued shoulders from chest and delt work, I come out of the bottom and suddenly my strength just evaporates or something.
IH press and SRGB work better, as you can keep the delts out somewhat when pressing towards feet as well as up.
Another thing: raise rep-range to 15+ RP reps. (15-20 or so) if you want to keep the exercise in and possibly do your chest and delt stretches after tri work, the chest one in particular can tire out the delts.
C_C, you are the man. The above is EXACTLY what happens, I drive out of the bottom clean, everything going great, then - brick wall. I never even thought about faitgued shoulders being the issue, but you know, now that I think about it, where I get stuck is pretty much the transition point, so that’s probably it.
I really like CGB, though, so I will add a 3-board and see how that goes. Thanks bro.[/quote]
I thought I could carry this blast out to 12 weeks, but my body has let me know for the past 4 days that it’s time for a break (after 9 1/2 weeks). Appetite dropped off, DOMS have been more severe lately (along with knee joint soreness), feel run down in general. Ironically, I hadn’t stalled on log book progress, though on a few exercises I did notice a slow-down.
I’m not happy about the layoff in the coming week (I’m tempted to do some ab and trap work), but maybe I should consider it a blessing, rest up, and return mentally and physically fresh in a week or so.
Apologies in advance for not reading through all the previous posts, but how have many of you guys handled your time during your breaks?
I thought I could carry this blast out to 12 weeks, but my body has let me know for the past 4 days that it’s time for a break (after 9 1/2 weeks). Appetite dropped off, DOMS have been more severe lately (along with knee joint soreness), feel run down in general. Ironically, I hadn’t stalled on log book progress, though on a few exercises I did notice a slow-down.
I’m not happy about the layoff in the coming week (I’m tempted to do some ab and trap work), but maybe I should consider it a blessing, rest up, and return mentally and physically fresh in a week or so.
Apologies in advance for not reading through all the previous posts, but how have many of you guys handled your time during your breaks?
[/quote]
i will typically either take the week off with the exception of cardio (that stays the same), or i will take about 4-5 days off then have a really light day to get my body used to lifting again (basically get a pump and leave) and then begin the new blast.
I thought I could carry this blast out to 12 weeks, but my body has let me know for the past 4 days that it’s time for a break (after 9 1/2 weeks). Appetite dropped off, DOMS have been more severe lately (along with knee joint soreness), feel run down in general. Ironically, I hadn’t stalled on log book progress, though on a few exercises I did notice a slow-down.
I’m not happy about the layoff in the coming week (I’m tempted to do some ab and trap work), but maybe I should consider it a blessing, rest up, and return mentally and physically fresh in a week or so.
Apologies in advance for not reading through all the previous posts, but how have many of you guys handled your time during your breaks?
[/quote]
Same here. I had to cruise after friday’s WO despite continuing to hit PRs. I was feeling like a zombie at the gym despite napping for an hour before hand and having my diet be spot on (i’m dieting, but I was still getting all my cals/macros).
Annoying. But the way I think you need to look at it, is take the necessary time off to recoup so you can hit the gym full force and get back to hitting PRs.
This is only my 4th cruise. Did 2 weeks off the first time (really mentally brutal lol), and this last time I took one week off.
It really depends on you and what you need. I’m gonna get in the gym thursday or friday and just do some light stuff/mess around. I’ll do that for at least half of next week as well and see where i’m at.
From what i’ve seen, some guys can take 2 full weeks off, some take 1 full week then come back real light the second, others just one full week off, etc. Really up to you.
So i’m going off DC for maybe 3 months (gasp! blasphemous!) but it’s pretty much necessary (CC you can relate lol). I have my test this week (tuesday/wednesday) and then i’m gonna do some light stuff till at least next week. I have one more month left on my diet then i’m headed to Syracuse for 2 months on business to start my job. I go to 3 gyms here in Albany as it is to do DC and I know the odds of finding one great gym out there is kinda slim.
So i’ll be changing to the Yates 3-way/CC recommended split. I’m really looking forward to it actually. I haven’t done a standard BBing type split in a long time. Will be nice to do more than one exercise per session per body part. Also, now that I don’t have to worry about rep ranges so much I can do some exercises that I had to stop, like flat DB press.
Yeah there have been workouts where after I’m finished about an hour later I seriously dont even want to lift up my arms or do basic tasks like write I’m just so fatigued. I’m usually better after a few feedings and some rest, but the RPing is very, very taxing.
Numbers are going up though, so its stay-the-course for now.
[quote]Lonnie123 wrote:
Yeah there have been workouts where after I’m finished about an hour later I seriously dont even want to lift up my arms or do basic tasks like write I’m just so fatigued. I’m usually better after a few feedings and some rest, but the RPing is very, very taxing.
Numbers are going up though, so its stay-the-course for now.[/quote]
I’ve started doing DC this month (for better or worse; albeit after much preparation), and after the workout I’m completely drained. Then I have a three hour Spanish class and two-plus hours of homework following the class (off-days consist of more homework in the lab in place of gym time unfortunately). This all after a full day’s work at my job. Everyday is an effing battle to get to the finish line, but I’m making terrific size gains in such a short amount of time, and I’m progressing through each workout. All in all, it’s awesome!
I thought I could carry this blast out to 12 weeks, but my body has let me know for the past 4 days that it’s time for a break (after 9 1/2 weeks). Appetite dropped off, DOMS have been more severe lately (along with knee joint soreness), feel run down in general. Ironically, I hadn’t stalled on log book progress, though on a few exercises I did notice a slow-down.
I’m not happy about the layoff in the coming week (I’m tempted to do some ab and trap work), but maybe I should consider it a blessing, rest up, and return mentally and physically fresh in a week or so.
Apologies in advance for not reading through all the previous posts, but how have many of you guys handled your time during your breaks?
[/quote]
2 week cruise for me was either
1 week off completely (with FMC six days a week and protein down to 1.5 grams per lb of bodyweight and less carbs etc) + 1 week with 2 days of training (regular split, usually either tried out new exercises for fun or for the next blast or just did my old stuff if I hadn’t yet stalled… Anyway, no going to failure, no RP, either reducing the weights used by 10 percent or so or not… Really depends. On heavy stuff like deadlifts I’d reduce the weight. )
or alternatively 2 weeks of training light, same formula as above, 2 days per week etc, no failure or anything.
Also skipped calves and abs to keep sessions short…
Everyone does it a little different. I usually worked back up to my regular food-intake during the second half of week 2…
[quote]MeinHerzBrennt wrote:
Iron Dwarf wrote:
Premature Forced Break:
I thought I could carry this blast out to 12 weeks, but my body has let me know for the past 4 days that it’s time for a break (after 9 1/2 weeks). Appetite dropped off, DOMS have been more severe lately (along with knee joint soreness), feel run down in general. Ironically, I hadn’t stalled on log book progress, though on a few exercises I did notice a slow-down.
I’m not happy about the layoff in the coming week (I’m tempted to do some ab and trap work), but maybe I should consider it a blessing, rest up, and return mentally and physically fresh in a week or so.
Apologies in advance for not reading through all the previous posts, but how have many of you guys handled your time during your breaks?
Same here. I had to cruise after friday’s WO despite continuing to hit PRs. I was feeling like a zombie at the gym despite napping for an hour before hand[/quote] Napping during the day always leaves me sleepy… I sometimes do it after training (after pwo shake and meal or between shake and meal), but I would never even consider doing it before going to the gym… That’s just me though. [quote] and having my diet be spot on (i’m dieting, but I was still getting all my cals/macros).
Annoying. But the way I think you need to look at it, is take the necessary time off to recoup so you can hit the gym full force and get back to hitting PRs.
This is only my 4th cruise. Did 2 weeks off the first time (really mentally brutal lol), and this last time I took one week off.
It really depends on you and what you need. I’m gonna get in the gym thursday or friday and just do some light stuff/mess around. I’ll do that for at least half of next week as well and see where i’m at.
From what i’ve seen, some guys can take 2 full weeks off, some take 1 full week then come back real light the second, others just one full week off, etc. Really up to you. [/quote]
[quote]MeinHerzBrennt wrote:
Iron Dwarf wrote:
Premature Forced Break:
I thought I could carry this blast out to 12 weeks, but my body has let me know for the past 4 days that it’s time for a break (after 9 1/2 weeks). Appetite dropped off, DOMS have been more severe lately (along with knee joint soreness), feel run down in general. Ironically, I hadn’t stalled on log book progress, though on a few exercises I did notice a slow-down.
I’m not happy about the layoff in the coming week (I’m tempted to do some ab and trap work), but maybe I should consider it a blessing, rest up, and return mentally and physically fresh in a week or so.
Apologies in advance for not reading through all the previous posts, but how have many of you guys handled your time during your breaks?
Same here. I had to cruise after friday’s WO despite continuing to hit PRs. I was feeling like a zombie at the gym despite napping for an hour before hand and having my diet be spot on (i’m dieting, but I was still getting all my cals/macros).
Annoying. But the way I think you need to look at it, is take the necessary time off to recoup so you can hit the gym full force and get back to hitting PRs.
This is only my 4th cruise. Did 2 weeks off the first time (really mentally brutal lol), and this last time I took one week off.
It really depends on you and what you need. I’m gonna get in the gym thursday or friday and just do some light stuff/mess around. I’ll do that for at least half of next week as well and see where i’m at.
From what i’ve seen, some guys can take 2 full weeks off, some take 1 full week then come back real light the second, others just one full week off, etc. Really up to you. [/quote]
Thanks MHB!
By the way, why couldn’t you do Flat DB Presses in your DC lineup? I currently do them.
By the way, why couldn’t you do Flat DB Presses in your DC lineup? I currently do them.
[/quote]
don’t know if it is an issue for mhb, but for me i have always had trouble with the flat db presses because getting it out of neutral took a lot of energy for me, more so than with other db exercises such as incline or db militaries.
[quote]dropshot001 wrote:
Iron Dwarf wrote:
MeinHerzBrennt wrote:
Iron Dwarf wrote:
Premature Forced Break:
Thanks MHB!
By the way, why couldn’t you do Flat DB Presses in your DC lineup? I currently do them.
don’t know if it is an issue for mhb, but for me i have always had trouble with the flat db presses because getting it out of neutral took a lot of energy for me, more so than with other db exercises such as incline or db militaries.
[/quote]
I LOVE flat DB presses because they dont bother my shoulder and are a relatively safe chest ex for me to do. However, as most gyms, once you hit 100lb DBs, the DBs go up by 10lb increments afterwards. So, I got up to 100lb x 23 RP. However, going to 110 did NOT work lol. I got 8 on the first set, and knew I couldn’t RP them.
I only have one set of microplates, but even if I had two, i’d only be going up 2.5 lb each DB which seems real small of a jump.
In any event, keeping the microplates on the ends when you swing them up is a little annoying too as they can slide off (even the magnetic ones). So I stopped doing them.
Btw, I had a spotter push my elbows up for the first rep. I’ll definitely do that for the first rep of each set when I go back.
So anyway, now that i’m gonna do the 3 way for a while I can just do one all out set for 6-10 or whatever.
First post in this thread. I’ve been following this/the “trying doggcrapp training” thread for a while. Figured I’d share my experience now, having just finished my first blast. I’ve been somewhat familiar with DC for a while, but really began to research it thoroughly for about a month before I started it this June. I have my trusty 130 page word doc which I put together from IM, MM, and the DC threads haha…that’s helped a lot as I can CTRL-F any topic, and I’ll have some good tidbit or post in there. Thanks to the big posters here, you guys have helped me out a ton.
I lasted about 7 weeks, before I had to shut it down due to getting sick/general burnout. Pretty happy about the results–up about 8 lbs or so, with most of it muscle being muscle. Quads look denser, hammies are much thicker, my biceps definitely grew, and my shoulders are popping out more. Not 100% sure how my back progressed, need a picture of that. The parts that improved the most are they parts which I used higher rep ranges for…something to keep in mind for the next blast.
So I have 3 weeks before I go back to school and have access to a good gyms and adequate equipment. The plan is to keep out of the gym for most or all of this week. Next week, I’ll probably go in a few times and play around with some new lifts (PJRs and rack chins). Week 3, I plan on doing 3 or so intense non-DC workouts. After that, back to school and back to blasting! I’ll probably post the plan for the new blast in a couple weeks or so.
Things I learned from my first blast:
Getting enough sleep was key to recovering quickly enough between workouts. There isn’t really a substitute for adequate sleep–you can’t make up for it by eating more. A bad night’s sleep usually meant I’d be much sorer than usual for the next day or two.
Putting a small amount of effort into cooking makes getting down protein much easier…marinades made my life so much easier.
When leg pressing, and you want to hit your quads more than your glutes/hams, try keeping your ass down on the seat, and try to pull yourself as far down the seat as you can, by pulling on the handles. This is much easier to explain by video I guess.
The rolled up towel trick for HS presses works like a charm.
Nothing is worse than getting something like 9 or 10 reps on a lift the first time you do it, and then having to fight your way up in reps/deal with very slow weight increases.
Conversely, nothing is better than starting off with hitting a lift for 20-30 RP, and upping the weight drastically while keeping reps…for some reason, I was able to add 15-20 lbs a session, and even gain a rep or two when I kept the reps higher.
You won’t be as strong as you think on forearm movements, as you’ve just put your biceps through hell. Choose your weight accordingly if you don’t want to have shit form/miss the rep range.
The extreme stretched were hit and miss…there were some sessions were I’d be able to hit the shoulder stretch perfectly and really feel it, and there were some days where I’d get nothing.
If you’re using machines, make sure that they’re on the same “settings” every time(height, ROM, etc). This is easy enough with sometime like an old-school lat pulldown, but some of the newer machines have all sorts of weird settings–like dials and levels to change the strength curve, etc.
Doing cardio isn’t that bad if you’re somewhat creative with it. After spending a winter in upstate NY, I have no problem whatsoever going for a stroll outside and enjoying a breezy summer night. Even the treadmill isn’t that bad if you grab a book to read/get some studying done.
Seated DB Presses while facing the back pad are a fantastic shoulder movement. Got soreness/a pump from these guys like nothing else.
If you think that the workouts are short, wait till you’re 6+ weeks weeks into a blast. The workouts were shorter for me at first, but as I began to push harder and harder as the weights went up and up, I needed much more time between sets. It wasn’t that I was so out of breath or winded(except for maybe thickness/quads/hammies), but just tired in another way from going all-out…kinda hard to explain.
[Quote]4) The rolled up towel trick for HS presses works like a charm.
what is this trick?[/quote]
If you’ve done any sort of Hammer Strength bench press, I’m sure you know how tough the first rep is, due to the fact that you start from a dead stop in a very wakk position. This is compounded when you DC this movement, as it’s pretty tough to get more than one rep(if that) on third RP set, since it takes so much damn energy to get the first rep up.
So the trick is to grab two gym towels, and put them between the rubber stoppers and the handles of the HS machine. This makes the first rep easier as you start from a stronger position, and the towels just fall to the floor.
[quote]JoshM wrote:
8) The extreme stretched were hit and miss…there were some sessions were I’d be able to hit the shoulder stretch perfectly and really feel it, and there were some days where I’d get nothing.
[/quote]
I’ve yet to try this out, but it looks far more effective as a shoulder stretch. The shoulder stretch (all others I hit consistently) has been hit or miss for me as well, since I started doing them a few months ago. You might want to give it a test; I know I will the next time.
Also, some excellent feedback on your behalf from your initial experience. A lot of points to keep into consideration.
[quote]kylec72 wrote:
JoshM wrote:
8) The extreme stretched were hit and miss…there were some sessions were I’d be able to hit the shoulder stretch perfectly and really feel it, and there were some days where I’d get nothing.
I’ve yet to try this out, but it looks far more effective as a shoulder stretch. The shoulder stretch (all others I hit consistently) has been hit or miss for me as well, since I started doing them a few months ago. You might want to give it a test; I know I will the next time.
Also, some excellent feedback on your behalf from your initial experience. A lot of points to keep into consideration.[/quote]
The shoulder stretch is also the most difficult for me. I will try this next time.
[Quote]4) The rolled up towel trick for HS presses works like a charm.
what is this trick?
If you’ve done any sort of Hammer Strength bench press, I’m sure you know how tough the first rep is, due to the fact that you start from a dead stop in a very wakk position. This is compounded when you DC this movement, as it’s pretty tough to get more than one rep(if that) on third RP set, since it takes so much damn energy to get the first rep up.
So the trick is to grab two gym towels, and put them between the rubber stoppers and the handles of the HS machine. This makes the first rep easier as you start from a stronger position, and the towels just fall to the floor. [/quote]
thanks,
I’ve also heard of people doing this with a piece of PVC pipe attached to a string so that the pvc doesn’t role away.
I like Shelby’s shoulder stretch. Since seeing that video I’ve started implementing it into my workouts and I’ve liked the degree to which it stretches the medial delt.
I still use the stock shoulder stretch too though. I just alternate between the two depending on where I most feel the shoulder exercise that day.
