[quote]ajweins wrote:
Hit the 315 x20 widowmaker on squats yesterday. Not much for some of you guys but it was a pretty big milestone for me.[/quote]
Great job! Keep it up.
Dante’s post/description of the PDPP (for anyone who may have never heard of it, or just wants a refresher):
"I am going to show you how much exercise selection is of an utmost importance…and Im going to do this in a way thats going to make some of you unhappy for the next 8 weeks but there is a method to the madness.
I would like anyone reading this thread who is on the 2 way split…and feels their chest is lacking to do the following…and no there are no exceptions because this is my deal and im doing it my way.
Most gyms have the following machine…a cybex pec deck on a very slight incline…I know most of the major gyms out here have it…not a deep incline one…the very slight incline one that is close to vertical
I want you to throw your regular chest rotation in the garbage and use this machine every single chest day for the next 8 weeks or so…this is your chest exercise.
Will other parts of your chest probably go down a little bit…yea probably but they will go right back up with muscle memory after I teach you this example—in fact your chest will be much better in about 10-12 weeks when you go back to your regular 3 exercise chest rotation and I bet any money 80% of you will be saying “aint no way im taking that pec deck out of my rotation now…its in there with my smith incline press and my hammer strength flat press (or whatever your third exercise is) now”
Lets Begin:
Put the seat all the way up to the top,
put the notch to hold the arms all the way back (so you have to start at the very beginning–i think its got one notch after 6)…this is for the stretch of the movement and is very important—you arent going to bottom out here so put the notch all the way back for the arms. If you are hitting the rack when you go into your deep stretch, you arent doing it right.
Your pinky and ring finger are on the bottom of the pad (near that corner) the rest of your fingers are on the side of the pad…YOU PRESS THE PADS NOT THE HANDLES–A POWER PRESS OF THE PADS–im going to put a red arrow where your hand should be on the pad on the right so you see what i mean. Im also going to put a red arrow where the notch is to put the arms all the way back to get the full stretch.
Heres how i want reps done.
1)ass back against the pad, sternum held high, chest out, shoulders down and back at the beginning of the movement.
- YOU NEVER ROUND/ROLL FORWARD THE CHEST WHEN THE REPS GET HARD–YOU ALWAYS KEEP THE CHEST AND STERNUM HIGH…when the reps get really hard you are going to want to roll forward and press the handles together because it will be the only way you can do it—DONT–thats your last rep if you do—so now you know you cant do the roll forward or you lose the set—good— a little pressure on your ass
ok this is how i want a rep done–feet flat on floor–and on the stretch you can raise yourself about an inch (and youll see where this will come into play on the tough reps)–what i mean is you can kind of push with your feet and raise yourself about an inch (an inch only) in height on the back pad in the upper body on the negative portion of the movement…dont overthink this–its not going to be much but its going to help you greatly on the tough reps when you get a rhythm.
REP: its back into to full stretch with full air in your lungs, sternum high, head back, and that slight (and i mean slight–i dont mean 4-5 inches–i mean an inch) push with your feet to raise your torse upward and hold the stretch for “one onethousand two one thousand” count then push the handles together with your chest and sternum still held high----you can blow out your air BUT DONT ROLL YOUR CHEST AND TORSO FORWARD TO COMPLETE THE REP—chest and sternum held high!
Thats one rep—as you press the handles together you will automatically drop that inch that you pushed up with your feet and the very slight drop with momentum will give you a lil bit of oomph to complete the rep. When you get to the really tough reps that inch drop/momentum is going to get you 3-5 reps trust me. Those are the grind it out reps and they are golden so get your rhythm down.
First time doing this i want something like 50 pounds for 30 reps straight
(think thats easy? it will be for the first 15, and then the one onethousand, two onethousand pain will kick in and it will get a little more uncomfortable)
And then i want you guys to bump this up 10-15 pounds every week for the next 8 weeks every chest workout
And this is straight setted not rest paused.
Try to be a badass and keep it in the 20-30 rep range…youll fall out of it but try…and then at that point try to stay in the 15-20 range…youll fall out of it but try week after week
and then do the same thing for 10-15
id like to see something like this
50x30
65 x 27 next time
80 x 24 next time
95 x 21 next time
110 x 20 next time
125 x 16 next time
125 x 19 next time
140 x 14 next time
etc (and all this above is hypothetical—i want you going to failure here–complete utter failure)
and at that point i will have taught you all a lesson----you will see that you have more muscle mass on your sternum inner pec line than you have ever had previously–and you will do a most muscular in the mirror and see a great deal of thickness in your inner pec area than you ever had previously…and your going to come to realize how extremely important exercise selection is and doing an exercise that involves an enhanced stretch and then a press in a key mechanical position (sternum high chest high)
and at that point your going to go back and pick 3 rotated exercises for your chest and probably like i said have the pec deck presses in your rotation and really think about the other 2 exercises
Who is up for this — who is going to be my guinea pig? You dont have a chest anyway what is it going to hurt? Your going to lose 8 weeks of getting nowhere anyway doing it your way right? Try it out and let me prove to you what this stuff is all about.
When you do go back to your regular 3 exercise rotation your going to NOW have inner pec thickness this time along with GAINING BACK your old muscle mass in your chest in ONLY 2 weeks due to muscle memory…so dont worry about it."
Seriously? No one here has tried this? Scott? C_C?
When it comes to the DC program and the amount of food I have to eat, cardio is something that I have to do. I do steady state fasted on Tues and Thurs. Would it be OK to do some complexes on one of the weekend days? Too much? I would be using it as just a means of HIT. Thoughts…
I’m starting a new blast next week. I would’ve begun a couple of weeks ago, but I did one workout and got the flu, and then this week I couldn’t even get to the gym through the snow. But that’s just more motivation for me to push myself when I finally get back into it.
This is my planned rotation:
Monday 1A
Smith incline press 11-15RP
Smith press 11-15RP
Reverse wide grip smith press 11-20RP
Front pulldown 15-30RP
T-bar row 10-12SS 6-8SS
Wednesday 1B
Offset DB curls 15-30RP
Pinwheel curls 10-20SS
Standing calf raises 10-12SS
Seated leg curls 15-30RP
Full squats 4-8SS + 20WM
Friday 2A
PDPP (have to try this now!) 15-30RP
DB press 15-30RP
Close grip bench press 11-20RP
Close pulldown 15-30RP
Kroc rows 11-20RP
Monday 2B
BB curls 11-20RP
Hammer curls 11-20SS
Smith calf raise 10-12SS
Lying leg curls 15-30RP
Smith front squat 4-8SS + 20WM
Wednesday 3A
Flat DB press 15-30RP
OHP 11-20RP
Dips 15-30RP
Rack chins 15-30RP
Deadlift 10-12SS 6-8SS
Friday 3B
Machine curls 11-20RP
Reverse curl 11-20RP
*Leg press calf-raise 10-12SS
*Sumo leg press 15-25SS
*Leg press 4-8SS + 20WM
*My gym is waiting for the new leg press to be delivered, but due to the weather it hasn’t arrived yet. I might have to substitute these exercises for something else.
Please let me know what you think, thanks.
[quote]Mateus wrote:
When it comes to the DC program and the amount of food I have to eat, cardio is something that I have to do. I do steady state fasted on Tues and Thurs. Would it be OK to do some complexes on one of the weekend days? Too much? I would be using it as just a means of HIT. Thoughts…[/quote]
HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) you mean, right?
If you feel like you won’t have a problem with the extra recovery that it’s going to demand, and that it won’t hurt your progression in your other workouts or shorten your blasts, then give it a shot. Some guys can handle more intense cardio than others and still progress. Only way to know if you’re one of them is to try it I guess.
Just be on the lookout for signs of trouble (like having a harder time than normal progressing, feeling the signs of chronic fatigue coming on much sooner than usually, etc…) and take the complexes out if you see them.
[quote]Rational Gaze wrote:
I’m starting a new blast next week. I would’ve begun a couple of weeks ago, but I did one workout and got the flu, and then this week I couldn’t even get to the gym through the snow. But that’s just more motivation for me to push myself when I finally get back into it.
This is my planned rotation:
Monday 1A
Smith incline press 11-15RP
Smith press 11-15RP
Reverse wide grip smith press 11-20RP
Front pulldown 15-30RP
T-bar row 10-12SS 6-8SS
Wednesday 1B
Offset DB curls 15-30RP
Pinwheel curls 10-20SS
Standing calf raises 10-12SS
Seated leg curls 15-30RP
Full squats 4-8SS + 20WM
Friday 2A
PDPP (have to try this now!) 15-30RP
DB press 15-30RP
Close grip bench press 11-20RP
Close pulldown 15-30RP
Kroc rows 11-20RP
[/quote]
Personally I’d SS Kroc Rows for something like 12-20 or even 15-25 as Kroc rows tend to work well for a high rep, set, sort of like the WM for quads. Watch Kroc’s video on youtube of him doing them and you’ll see what I mean.
[quote]
Monday 2B
BB curls 11-20RP
Hammer curls 11-20SS
Smith calf raise 10-12SS
Lying leg curls 15-30RP
Smith front squat 4-8SS + 20WM
Wednesday 3A
Flat DB press 15-30RP
OHP 11-20RP
Dips 15-30RP
Rack chins 15-30RP
Deadlift 10-12SS 6-8SS
Friday 3B
Machine curls 11-20RP
Reverse curl 11-20RP
*Leg press calf-raise 10-12SS
*Sumo leg press 15-25SS
*Leg press 4-8SS + 20WM
*My gym is waiting for the new leg press to be delivered, but due to the weather it hasn’t arrived yet. I might have to substitute these exercises for something else.
Please let me know what you think, thanks.[/quote]
Looks pretty good. What do you intend to substitute those last 3 exercises with if the gym doesn’t get the new leg press in on time?
Thanks for catching that mistake! If I can’t use the leg press, I was thinking I would go with something like: donkey calf raises, glute-ham raise (or possibly a smith good morning ), and leg extensions. I know that’s not ideal, but I’m stuck with that for now.
[quote]Rational Gaze wrote:
I’m starting a new blast next week. I would’ve begun a couple of weeks ago, but I did one workout and got the flu, and then this week I couldn’t even get to the gym through the snow. But that’s just more motivation for me to push myself when I finally get back into it.
This is my planned rotation:
Monday 1A
Smith incline press 11-15RP
Smith press 11-15RP
Reverse wide grip smith press 11-20RP
Front pulldown 15-30RP
T-bar row 10-12SS 6-8SS
Wednesday 1B
Offset DB curls 15-30RP
Pinwheel curls 10-20SS
Standing calf raises 10-12SS
Seated leg curls 15-30RP
Full squats 4-8SS + 20WM
Friday 2A
PDPP (have to try this now!) 15-30RP - WHEN I DID IT, I DID IT WITH A SS TRYING TO HIT AS CLOSE TO 30 AS POSSIBLE. YOUR CHOICE THOUGH
DB press 15-30RP
Close grip bench press 11-20RP
Close pulldown 15-30RP
Kroc rows 11-20RP -SS. GO WITH MAYBE A 7-10 AND A 10-15SS, SOMETHING LIKE THAT.
Monday 2B
BB curls 11-20RP
Hammer curls 11-20SS
Smith calf raise 10-12SS
Lying leg curls 15-30RP
Smith front squat 4-8SS + 20WM
Wednesday 3A
Flat DB press 15-30RP
OHP 11-20RP
Dips 15-30RP
Rack chins 15-30RP
Deadlift 10-12SS 6-8SS
Friday 3B
Machine curls 11-20RP
Reverse curl 11-20RP - SS, NOT RP
*Leg press calf-raise 10-12SS
*Sumo leg press 15-25SS
*Leg press 4-8SS + 20WM
*My gym is waiting for the new leg press to be delivered, but due to the weather it hasn’t arrived yet. I might have to substitute these exercises for something else.
Please let me know what you think, thanks.[/quote]
in caps above. it looks like a good blast. as you wait for the equipment maybe use a hack squat? just a thought. overall it looks really good, good luck with the new blast.
[quote]dropshot001 wrote:
in caps above. it looks like a good blast. as you wait for the equipment maybe use a hack squat? just a thought. overall it looks really good, good luck with the new blast. [/quote]
Thanks for the help, I appreciate the suggestions. I wish I could use the hack squat, but they don’t have one.
[quote]Mateus wrote:
When it comes to the DC program and the amount of food I have to eat, cardio is something that I have to do. I do steady state fasted on Tues and Thurs. Would it be OK to do some complexes on one of the weekend days? Too much? I would be using it as just a means of HIT. Thoughts…[/quote]
stick to the steady state cardio or the HIIT if you can handle it. but once you get into things like complexes you start fucking with the simplicity of the program and why it works the way it is written
BTW, Mr. Purple,
I saw your post in the “how’s this for mass” thread, and honestly man, it’s just not worth arguing with people over. If they’re happy using some other training program or split, then more power to them. Trying to convert people to DC is only going to add to the “cultish” stigma that is at times associated with it’s trainees. No one has to train like this and none of us are actively trying to recruit trainees, nor do we really care how other people train (as long as they’re getting the results that they’re looking for).
Besides, it didn’t seem from the OP in that thread that DC would be an appropriate program for that individual. So it didn’t seem appropriate to argue over in that context.
[quote]Sentoguy wrote:
BTW, Mr. Purple,
I saw your post in the “how’s this for mass” thread, and honestly man, it’s just not worth arguing with people over. If they’re happy using some other training program or split, then more power to them. Trying to convert people to DC is only going to add to the “cultish” stigma that is at times associated with it’s trainees. No one has to train like this and none of us are actively trying to recruit trainees, nor do we really care how other people train (as long as they’re getting the results that they’re looking for).
Besides, it didn’t seem from the OP in that thread that DC would be an appropriate program for that individual. So it didn’t seem appropriate to argue over in that context.
[/quote]
My comment was a tongue in cheek kind of thing, just meant as a joke. I do like a good debate but I guess it’s already been done here. (With Dante himself checking in as I recall!)
I apologize if I put you or any of the other DC guys on the spot.
As for myself, I’d like to try a DC blast when I have one more year of lifting under my belt. I wonder if it would work with my situation: I work on a ship, 1 month on 1 month off. So I could blast when I’m at home and cruise when I’m at sea and don’t have access to really heavy weights.
Short blast and long cruise though… I might just have to settle for being 200-210 lbs.
Don’t make any sea cruise puns now 
[quote]Mr.Purple wrote:
[quote]Sentoguy wrote:
BTW, Mr. Purple,
I saw your post in the “how’s this for mass” thread, and honestly man, it’s just not worth arguing with people over. If they’re happy using some other training program or split, then more power to them. Trying to convert people to DC is only going to add to the “cultish” stigma that is at times associated with it’s trainees. No one has to train like this and none of us are actively trying to recruit trainees, nor do we really care how other people train (as long as they’re getting the results that they’re looking for).
Besides, it didn’t seem from the OP in that thread that DC would be an appropriate program for that individual. So it didn’t seem appropriate to argue over in that context.
[/quote]
My comment was a tongue in cheek kind of thing, just meant as a joke. I do like a good debate but I guess it’s already been done here. (With Dante himself checking in as I recall!)
I apologize if I put you or any of the other DC guys on the spot.[/quote]
Yeah I figured you weren’t serious. I had thought about commenting on that thread, but then thought, “you know what, if people want to think that DC doesn’t work, or only works for a small percentage of guys; then let them. I know it works and I’ve seen plenty of empirical evidence to convince me that it works.”
You could try it, but I’m not too sure how well it would work out.
Now for some motivation (since the thread is slow), some pics of some of Dante’s trainees and the results that they’ve gotten from training DC (just in case anyone doesn’t go over to IM and look at the pics):
Exhibit #1: “The Beast”
[quote]Sentoguy wrote:
[quote]Mr.Purple wrote:
[quote]Sentoguy wrote:
BTW, Mr. Purple,
I saw your post in the “how’s this for mass” thread, and honestly man, it’s just not worth arguing with people over. If they’re happy using some other training program or split, then more power to them. Trying to convert people to DC is only going to add to the “cultish” stigma that is at times associated with it’s trainees. No one has to train like this and none of us are actively trying to recruit trainees, nor do we really care how other people train (as long as they’re getting the results that they’re looking for).
Besides, it didn’t seem from the OP in that thread that DC would be an appropriate program for that individual. So it didn’t seem appropriate to argue over in that context.
[/quote]
My comment was a tongue in cheek kind of thing, just meant as a joke. I do like a good debate but I guess it’s already been done here. (With Dante himself checking in as I recall!)
I apologize if I put you or any of the other DC guys on the spot.[/quote]
Yeah I figured you weren’t serious. I had thought about commenting on that thread, but then thought, “you know what, if people want to think that DC doesn’t work, or only works for a small percentage of guys; then let them. I know it works and I’ve seen plenty of empirical evidence to convince me that it works.”[/quote]
I don’t understand myself… it’s not like Dusty Hanshaw(sp?) is the only impressive guy over there. Many people here are making good progress on it etc… you are right though, no use arguing 
Another pic:
Big Franco:
Justin Harris and Steve Kuclo: