Yes, for the record I totally agree that no one puts Meadows in the corner (RIP).
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I am a fan of BJ’s zone training after buying his jreps books.
Do you still utilise this system and did you get good results?
I’ve been soley utilising jreps for my training for the last two and a half months and must say have really seen some nice composition changes.
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I first contacted Brian in 2007, simply by chance, when I wanted to change my carrier and was looking to obtain exercise certification. I bought the whole library of books written by him, at that time he was the head of IART (he later sold it to Mike Lipowski). I think first and second JReps were in the package too, and I started implementing the Zone Training system. It was an immediate success - I think I’ve never had such pump and “buzz” feeling in the muscles several hours and even days after training. Unfortunately for me, any training method has its shelf life - I become accustomed to any training stimulus/program within 2 weeks maximum. That’s why my annual training cycle is generally consist of 2 weeks blocks - I change things all the time. Since Brian’s methods (various JReps techniques and his other methods like 50-rep challenge or stutter reps or converging / expanding reps) usually have a very positive and noticeable effect on me, I try to incorporate them sporadically during a year at the times when I need some breakthrough and have a lot of energy. With rather poor genetics for bodybuilding, especially in my lower body (I am former short- and long distance runner, best result for a mile was 4:00:05 when I was 16), with 30+ training under my belt, I don’t expect huge increases in muscle mass anymore. (I was 180lbs and had 17" arms in 2003, but I was fat). Now If I manage to get 5lbs of lean muscle a year, it’s an achievement (and there were many years when I didn’t have any progress at all, for various reasons). When I was peaking in 2019 and asked Brian to help me with some advice, I used JReps and his other methods exclusively and didn’t utilize straight reps at all.
I think it’s better to show some “before and after” pictures to appreciate the difference:
First series are from April to Oct 2018. The second from July 2019.
This year I plan to use some of the JReps again in between cycles of heavy tension training (rest-pause, 30-10-30 methods, David Feather’s HEVT, DC training etc.). If everything goes well, I will utilize Lyle McDonald’s Ultimate 2.0 training and nutrition approach (with some modifications) in May and June next year to peak for July - August.
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Thank you for the pictures ! It’s not often that we get to see actual pictures of people posting on here.
Scott
My Fortitude workouts are generally 60-90 minutes. Maybe I’m on a higher volume tier or just doing more warm up sets.
I agree with @flappinit big time. Whether someone uses steroids doesn’t invalidate or validate their training methods or knowledge to me. Scott Stevenson, Dante Trudel, John Meadows are all some of my very favorite resources on training, nutrition, and supplementation and they’re all on the gas. They’ve helped me achieve the best gains of my life 13 years in.
Also @heavyhitter32 training the full body 4 times a week feels great in the way it’s laid out in Fortitude because you have so much variation in set types. Also the high frequency helps me not get as sore. Training a muscle 4 times a week has not really been studied in a clinical setting, but you can check out my log for an anecdotal view on what it has done for me.
And thank you @pettersson for always being so supportive!
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Kudos for putting up pictures. You mentioned your weight when fat. I’m curious how your weight varied across this span of time. Sometimes people can look more muscular by getting leaner, even if they didn’t gain size. Also, how tall are you?
Thanks for your interest, @average_al. Sorry, it will be a long post.
Don’t have all data handy - some of the training logs stayed in my home country and are lost now. Okay, I am 5’8" (174cm), all my parents were shorter than me. No strongmen in the family, maternal grandfather was from circus gymnast family (not looking like gymnast though), mother was a petite figure skater. My father was not into sports at all. My body type is ecto/meso/endo; long legs and arms; 6.5" wrist, 8.5" ankle, 14" knees; fat tends to accumulate around waist mostly. High metabolism in youth. Started training in 1990 with 10lbs dumbbells only at home when I was 13 y/o at ca. 120lbs bodyweight after seeing side bicep pose of Arnold in a magazine. My bicep was 11.5"; thigh 19", waist 29.5", calf 14". Arnold’s “The education of the bodybuilder” translated into Russian was the only available information in late 90s. Few gyms at that time in Russia (mostly filled with gangsters), so my first gym training was in college in 1994-1999.
During those years I brought my weight to 155 lbs (70kg), although was not so lean / muscular as in July 2019. In 2000 my first son was born, lack of sleep for almost 1/2 year, dropped my weight to 140lbs, no time to train. Once situation normalized, I started training using Mike Mentzer’s Heavy Duty system. By the time my second daughter was born in 2003 I weighted 180lbs with 16" arms, but was definitely overweight. Don’t have exact measurements for thighs and waist, but they were huge in comparison to me now. That time I started having digestion issues, had to start cleaning procedures and a very restrictive diet. In 4 months I went back to 140-145lbs being very thin and no muscles due to mostly vegetarian diet.
Within the next 12 years I was training regularly in local gyms with different approaches, but few successes, since my weight stopped at about 155lbs (70kg). During 2010-2014 trained in HIT style, Zone Training, Vince Gironda style maintaining about 155-160lbs weight and 12% bodyfat. Relocated with my wife and 4 kids to US in May 2015, started collecting Nautilus equipment in 2016 and training mostly HIT at first, but then started to mix things up. In Oct 2018 I was same 155lb, but with 10% bodyfat. Since my move to US my digestive issues started to re-appear more often, I switched to a low carb diet. Period from Oct 2018 to Sep 2019 was low carb (no grains), consultations with Brian Johnston and training according to his advice and training methods, and in July 2019 I was at149lbs with 7.0-7.5% bodyfat. My waist was 29" (74cm) or ca. 42.5% of my height which is about 7-8% bodyfat. Peaked in terms of muscularity and bodyfat.
No significant gains in 2000, my weight remains at 155lbs with 10% bodyfat; seems this is my setpoint. Nov 2020: replacing most of my Nautilus machines with 9 MedX pieces; what an upgrade! Starting 30-10-30 program early March 2021, bringing my weight to 163lbc (9.5% bodyfat) within the first 3 weeks; then adverse reaction to the supplements recommended within the course and a shoulder injury.
Didn’t finish the program and by mid-April my weight is back to starting 155-157lbs. Aug 2021 was quite successful: I started adding some muscles, although the rate of progress is modest. Variety in training, with good results from more frequent training in rest-pause fashion and 2 min rest in between sets, upper/lower split, with some favorite Brian’s methods (50-reps challenge, for instance) included. Definitely more solid in chest/back/shoulders now. Introducing carbs/grains into the diet brought a solid inch back to my waist almost overnight; but I can leave with it for the time being still staying within 10% bodyfat. Will try to bring my bodyweight to muscular 178lbs at 10% bodyfat which seems to be the upper limit of my potential. Pics from today.
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That was definitely a more detailed response than I was expecting. Thanks for taking the time to write it.
I know from first hand experience that it can be very easy to gain weight (and end up fat); much much harder to add weight while staying lean. That is especially true after the age of 40.
Based on the weights you’ve indicated for 2019, I’d say that if you could can get to 178 lbs and keep body fat at 10%, that would be quite an achievement.
I assume you mean on the HiT side, because plenty of posters include pictures in a training logs. I’d say most do at some point.
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Ambitious: yes. Impossible: probably. Worth trying: definitely.
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Dr. Darden,
You have mentioned that you still apply “going to failure” methods in your workouts every now and then…was curious as to how often you go to failure nowadays and is it all the exercises of that workout or just a couple
Also, I like your extreme HIT methods NTF 3x/week…and I was thinking of applying the failure workout maybe every Friday or every other friday where I would get 3 days rest before monday workout…do you think that would lead to overtraining?
Thx, dan
I believe your plan is a good one and won’t lead to overtraining. I use failure training today in only a couple of exercises, usually not the major ones.
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Dr. D, What made you come these conclusions about training to failure? How did you measure the 20% inroad?
Thanks
Most trainees (approximately 70%) make a 2% inroad with each repetition they perform related to their starting level of strength.
For example, if you could do a standing barbell curl with 100 pounds only once in good form – then your starting level of strength in the curl would be 100 pounds. But the idea is to not just do maximum, 1-repetition sets with this resistance. It’s much better to reduce the resistance to 80 pounds and try to do 10 reps. Can you understand that each rep makes a slight inroad (about 2 pounds) in your starting level of strength?
So, down it goes: 98, 96, 94, 92, 90, 88, 86, 84, 82, 80, and 78. On your 11th rep, you are approximately 78 pounds strong – and 78 pounds of curling strength won’t lift an 80-pound barbell in strict form.
In uncomplicated terms, the above is the thinking behind this idea.
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Of course I understand that. I knew you and Arthur measured thusly this way years ago. My question is what started you to thinking that NTF is better at making the inroad? Was always my understanding that you didnt know so you had to got failure to be sure you flipped the switch. To make sure you made the inroad into starting strength.
In my ebook, 30-10-30, Metabolic Challenges for Building Muscle, I pointed out that the practice of those two 30-second negatives allow you to make a deeper inroad without wiping you out. Thus, going to failure repeatedly was not necessary. Those negative reps, in good form, make a huge difference in stimulating muscle growth. Those negative reps, in fact, are the new “flipping the switch.”
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Appreciate it Dr. D!
Can you give me a readers digest version of Fortitude Training?
4 days a week, usually full body, wide variety of rep ranges, set schemes, and other techniques, rotating exercises, and a LOT of room for tailoring volume to your own preferences (two different versions of the program each with multiple volume “tiers” that you can choose from at will).
Currently on week 3 of it. The ebook is $20. Well worth the effort that was put into it, IMO.
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“Growth is linear, while fatigue is exponential, with increasing reps to failure”. Mike Israetel. Diminishing returns applies.