Shiggy, here’s my thoughts on the workout. It happens to be the workout JB is doing; his weights and his reps and his goals. He’s about the same age as you, but very well conditioned and able to handle the volume, and I would bet that he’s not cutting. From the looks of things, the workout is designed with performance goals in mind; speed, strength and power. The problem is that speed, strength and power are going to suffer when you’re on a cutting diet and when you are carb and glycogen depleted.
The other problem I have is that it is way too many sets per week for someone on a cutting diet. I’m remembering an article of Joel Marion’s where the number 75 comes to mind. I’ve always set a max of about 75 to 80 sets per week.
I know you’re enjoying his program. Here’s what I would recommend. In Phase 1 there are 6 days of workouts. Do 5 days MAX, and let the last workout carry over to the next week. In other words, he has 6 workouts per week, 4 weeks, 24 workouts. Do 5 workouts a week, and it will take you roughly 5 weeks to complete Phase 1. Your recovery should improve if you drop the volume a bit.
Even though I’m cutting also, I’m following Chad Waterbury’s AntiBodyBuilding Hypertrophy Program. It was designed for people who want to lift heavy, but who have recovery issues. The best thing about the program is that when the sets are high and reps are low and the weight heavy, he tells you exactly the percentage of your 1RM that you should be lifting; i.e., 80% of 1RM when doing 10x5. When the sets are low, the reps high, the weight is reduced; i.e., 60% of 1RM when doing 5x10.
Knowing how heavy to lift when following different set/rep schemes will keep you from overtraining.
Play with it a bit, Shiggy. You can make this work if you make some adjustments.
Sounds good, TT. I’m about to start the 4th week of the 2nd phase…I know that when he got wiped, he cut out the Wed and Sat 5x5 workouts and reduced volume. Maybe I should keep those days cut out and move the four days over five, i.e. instead of Mon/Tues/Thurs/Fri, do something like Mon/Tues/Thurs/Sat…I knew this workout may not be a good fit for a weight loss phase as it is written; I am definitely open to these thoughts for change.
Another question I thought of regardling the sleep, which may be something I need to ask customer service, but do you think based on my first post that I should cycle Hot Rox? As I had mentioned in my first post, I’m pretty sensitive to stimulants. I could never take ephederine…it would give me a bad stomach ache. I had slowly worked my way up to 4 Hot Rox/day, taking them every day for about two weeks now. Do you think I should be concerned regarding my sleep issues and maybe not take them on the weekends? I get a slight bit of energy from them, but nothing like when I first started at the beginning of this thread. I thought I was pretty well adapted, but maybe not.
I like cutting your program to 4 days. The deal on this one is to experiment and see how your body responds. In this case, what I think is less important than how you feel your body responds. So, bottom line, listen to your body on this one, not me. (grin)
Re the Hot Rox, how late do you take the second dose? I think you’re supposed to take it like at 7:00am (or whenever you wake up) and 1:00pm (or 5 hours later). If you follow that dosing schedule, Hot Rox shouldn’t cause you a problem with sleep. My thoughts are that after two weeks you’re pretty well adapted, too.
Re cycling off of Hot Rox, the editors who wrote an article on it responded that Hot Rox was “safe to take indefinitely.”
You know what, TT…you got me thinking. Instead of trying to customize this program to fit my current needs, I should just switch to a new program for the time being. Since I KNOW that I am going to kick some ass this time with some new found motivation and with all the help I’m getting from you guys, I will switch back to the Berardi workout when I’m trimmed down and ready to focus on explosive power. I checked out the anti-building article that you are doing and I’m going to switch to that for a few weeks. That should help out a lot with my recovery.
I also got a good boost last night…I hung out with some good friends that I haven’t seen since about a week before I started this thread. They was blown away at how much better I look now than I did when they saw me last about four weeks ago. I was shocked by this because according to the scale, I’ve only lost about three pounds, but regardless of all the bf% testing inaccuracy problems I’m having, I must have lost a good chunk of fat while putting on some muscle! On top of that, I was able to hang out at a bar and relax, drinking a water with lemon and I had absolutely no desire to drink or eat junk. All this has added to the motivational fire for me to kick some ass this week!
Shiggy, I think that’s a great idea. I can assure you that recovery will not be an issue with ABBH.
I made my ABBH last twice as long as the 28 days because I flip-flopped the exercises and the rep schemes and did the program a second time.
If you like, I’ll send you my Excel spreadsheet of the program. You can always substitute the exercises you want for ones I selected. But it does lay out the numbers, percentage, reps, my 1RM and all that.
I can’t tell you how proud I am of you. People have no idea how important brain chemistry is when it comes to dieting successfully. It’s a huge factor. You’re accomplished far more than weight/fat loss. You’re feeling strong, feeling good, feeling in control, taking control. You’re improving your health and working through issues. It just doesn’t get any better. When all is said and done, you’re going to have the whole package.
Not to say that John’s program isn’t great, but I just feel that programs are set up how they are for a reason. Better to change to a program that better fits your present goals than try to toy with one to make it fit.
I am also interested in the sleep issue, how’d it go?
I actually slept good last night. I think I got a full eight hours. I have some l-theanine so I started taking that this weekend. I think that switching to this new workout will help me with energy, as I’ll have every other day off to rest and get used to the raised intensity of the t-man workouts versus all the years of isolation nonsense I was doing.
Great to hear it on the sleep you got Shiggy. As well as the enjoyment you are starting to get from your newly aquired training/dietary habits. When all these new ingredients get mixed in order, watch out world, a whole new Shiggy is on the way!!!
A little update on my sleep by the way. I got over just over 8 hrs last night. That was night #3 of l-theanine. I am loving it. I forgot how it felt to get good rest, as well as the recovery benefits it is giving me. WOW!! Thanks for the info TT.
That’s great news on the sleep, Phill & Shiggy!!! I still find it amazing how many different things go into getting your diet (and workouts) dialed in. There’s so much more involved than calories in and calories out.
ZMA use is a big yes. It is one of the products that I didnt actually mention, but is lumped in the plethora of things I tried to help with the sleep issue.
It did help in other areas though, cramping/recovery.
Hey guys…I seem to be getting closer to getting eight hours regularly, but I will definitely keep the ZMA in mind should I need other alternatives. Thanks for the good info.
I’m starting to get in better tune with my body. I’ve been out a couple of nights this week, and I’m at the point where I can do this without caving in to temptation (in fact, I’m not even tempted at all), but I can see I need to learn the ropes of ordering food out. I had steak and asparagus last night and told them to hold the potatoes (I’d say 4 oz. of steak at the most), and about four olives…I wasn’t full, but I felt “off,” and I had a shake made up for the final meal but could only finish about half before bed. I’m guessing that there was probably a carb sauce in there somewhere that threw me off, plus it had been about four hours since my meal before then, so that didn’t help either. I need to be sharp the rest of the week…between that meal and a rampage refeed I had Saturday night I need to try to ensure I don’t go backwards this week.
Shiggy you are doing great. It will only get easier with time. Just like the weight loss, your natural habits will also change at a slow and steady pace.
Shiggy, I just wanted to reassure you that your 6-hour all-out, anything-goes refeed will NOT work against your progress. When you first start doing refeeds, they make you incredibly nervous. But I promise you that there are physiological (as well as psychological) benefits.
So from the sounds of things, the fact that you did a “rampage refeed” means you’re doing it correctly.
I’m still having trouble believing that you originally titled this thread “Discipline Help.” Because in reality, you’ve shown incredibly discipline.
The next couple of weeks will be my big test, TT. This is what I went through for the last two years: two, three, even four weeks of being strict, and then caving in for a week, eating bad meals for part or even all of the day. As the months went by, I would lose ground, doing more bad than good, and I would gain weight.
But this time is different. “Strict” now is much more strict than it ever was, as this is the first time I’ve ever kept a food log. The 5-HTP and lots of Crystal Light are helping me with cravings. And most importantly, I now have you and the T-Forum to help give me extremely specific, customized advice for any hurdles that arise. That’s what’s helping me be patient and get in a long-term mindframe for success.
Well, if you feel your discipline and self-control heading south, just call me at 1-800-DIS-PLIN, Ext. E. We’ll get you fixed right up in short order. (wink)