EyeDentist, How Do You Train?

Training
201

[quote]ActivitiesGuy wrote:

[quote]EyeDentist wrote:

[quote]StevenF wrote:

[quote]EyeDentist wrote:
Speaking of chuckles: It so happens today is my b’day. My clinic staff normally use someone’s (anyone’s) birthday as an excuse to bring cookies, brownies, cupcakes, etc, to the office. However, given my fanatical avoidance of carbs at work, they instead brought…beef jerky. I was highly amused.

Oh, and thank you for refraining from referring to me as ‘E.D.’[/quote]

I lol’d. funny stuff. I’m the same way at work when it comes to treats. I get a lot of compliments on my diet though. Not too many people cracking open cans of sardines. [/quote]

Yep–same with me and my jars of PB.
[/quote]

I had a coworker thank me for doing some work outside my job description by giving me some of these:

He knew that I wasn’t really the type who wanted cookies.[/quote]

I’d say that spoke well of both of you–him for being perceptive enough to pick up on your interest in fitness/health, and you for ‘walking the walk’ consistently enough to cause this guy to reach that conclusion.

202

[quote]EyeDentist wrote:

[quote]StevenF wrote:

[quote]EyeDentist wrote:

Speaking of chuckles: It so happens today is my b’day. My clinic staff normally use someone’s (anyone’s) birthday as an excuse to bring cookies, brownies, cupcakes, etc, to the office. However, given my fanatical avoidance of carbs at work, they instead brought…beef jerky. I was highly amused.

Oh, and thank you for refraining from referring to me as ‘E.D.’[/quote]

I lol’d. funny stuff. I’m the same way at work when it comes to treats. I get a lot of compliments on my diet though. Not too many people cracking open cans of sardines. [/quote]

Yep–same with me and my jars of PB.
[/quote]

My attendings like to make fun of me for not eating lunch. Say its lunch you can get your diet pop now

203

[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:

[quote]EyeDentist wrote:

[quote]StevenF wrote:

[quote]EyeDentist wrote:

Speaking of chuckles: It so happens today is my b’day. My clinic staff normally use someone’s (anyone’s) birthday as an excuse to bring cookies, brownies, cupcakes, etc, to the office. However, given my fanatical avoidance of carbs at work, they instead brought…beef jerky. I was highly amused.

Oh, and thank you for refraining from referring to me as ‘E.D.’[/quote]

I lol’d. funny stuff. I’m the same way at work when it comes to treats. I get a lot of compliments on my diet though. Not too many people cracking open cans of sardines. [/quote]

Yep–same with me and my jars of PB.
[/quote]

My attendings like to make fun of me for not eating lunch. Say its lunch you can get your diet pop now [/quote]

If it wasn’t your (lack of) lunch, they’d find some other thing to needle you about. We’re jerks like that. (And if you think it’s bad now, just wait until you’re a resident.) ;^)

204

[quote]EyeDentist wrote:

[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:

[quote]EyeDentist wrote:

[quote]StevenF wrote:

[quote]EyeDentist wrote:

Speaking of chuckles: It so happens today is my b’day. My clinic staff normally use someone’s (anyone’s) birthday as an excuse to bring cookies, brownies, cupcakes, etc, to the office. However, given my fanatical avoidance of carbs at work, they instead brought…beef jerky. I was highly amused.

Oh, and thank you for refraining from referring to me as ‘E.D.’[/quote]

I lol’d. funny stuff. I’m the same way at work when it comes to treats. I get a lot of compliments on my diet though. Not too many people cracking open cans of sardines. [/quote]

Yep–same with me and my jars of PB.
[/quote]

My attendings like to make fun of me for not eating lunch. Say its lunch you can get your diet pop now [/quote]

If it wasn’t your (lack of) lunch, they’d find some other thing to needle you about. We’re jerks like that. (And if you think it’s bad now, just wait until you’re a resident.) ;^)
[/quote]

Lol I could care less I would rather them joke around than be serious all the time.

Only had one attending who actually pass for works out in some way. Another one did but was jusr a big big guy

205

Hi Eyedentist, thanks again for this fantastic thread. I’d really love to hear more detail on your approach to ab training. Could you break it down further? Is it just crunches that you do? How do you recommend building up to such high volumes? I know you mentioned doing 2,000 at one point - how many do you tend to do on average? What sort of rest periods do you use? And what frequency? Thank you!

206

Hi furo, currently I’m incorporating ab work into my conditioning workouts. I do these 1/4 days. I have two such workouts:
a) KB swings + hanging knee raises. I do 30-s KB swings/rest 30-s/30-s knee raises/rest 30-s/30-s KB swings/etc, x 10 sets of each. I do 25 knee raises per set, so total 250 per workout.
[And then 4 days later…]
b) Leg press + crunches. I do 30-s leg press/30-s rest/60-s crunches/30-s rest/etc, x 10 sets of each. I do 100 crunches per set, so total 1000 per workout. (I do 60-s of crunches because the movement is not as taxing as knee raises.)

Re form: I do crunches lengthwise on a bench positioned near a wall. My butt is within a couple of feet of the wall, and my legs are extended with my feet up the wall. (This position completely eliminates the quads from assisting in the movement.) The ROM is very short and limited to the contracted portion–I try and touch my rib margin to my hipbones on every rep, and don’t allow my upper back to touch the bench until the set is complete. I cross my arms over my chest, and tuck my chin.

Re high-volume ab work–I am indeed a fan of it, and am convinced it accounts for the midsection I have today. (Along with diet, of course.) If asked for recommendations re developing abs, I would say the following:

  1. Work abs 5-or-so days/week.
  2. The lion’s share of ab work should employ the crunch as described above. IMO, this movement hits the upper abs better than anything else (and thus enjoys the biggest ‘bang for the buck’ with respect to impacting the appearance of the midsection).
  3. In building volume, think in terms of time, not reps. Start by doing as many crunches as possible in 5 minutes. (I use a wrist chronograph.) Don’t worry if you can’t go 5 min straight–pause as needed, then get back to it. When you can go 5 min without stopping, increase to 6 min; when you can do 6, go to 7, etc. Before you know it, you’re doing 10 min, which is about 1000 reps.
  4. Once you can do crunches for 10 min straight, start alternating ab workouts between 10 min of crunches on one day, and knee raises (I prefer hanging) the next. Build knee raise volume the same way as crunches; ie, by doing as many as possible in 5 min, resting as needed. (Confession: When I was running this, I was never able to go a full 5 min without resting, so I counted reps, and made sure to get 1 extra rep each workout.)
  5. Once you’ve got those abs built up, dial in the diet to reveal them.

Hope this helps!

207

Thank you very much Eyedentist, I really appreciate it!

208

Perhaps another update is in order? As mentioned in my last, I’ve been running the following split:

Day 1: Lateral/Rear Delts
Day 2: 1 hr run
Day 3: Chest/Back/Front Delts/Arms
Day 4: Conditioning: KB swings + Abs (hanging knee raises)
Day 5: Lateral/Rear Delts
Day 6: 1 hr run
Day 7: Chest/Back/Front Delts/Arms
Day 8: Conditioning: Leg Press + Abs (crunches)

Things were going swimmingly until I tweaked my right calf during a run about a month ago. Nothing serious; just enough to make running problematic. I have tried several times since to run again, but each attempt re-tweaked the calf about 25-min into the run. So it looks like the 1-hr runs are off the table for a while.

Because I can’t run, I’m going to start working Legs again. Here is how I’ve modified my split:

Day 1: Lateral/Rear Delts
Day 2: Conditioning: KB swings + Abs (hanging knee raises); Leg Press + Abs (crunches); Legs
Day 3: Chest/Back/Front Delts/Arms
Day 4: 20-min run + 40-min inclined treadmill walk (or a 1-hr inclined treadmill walk if I can’t run at all)

I know Day 2 looks insane; let me unpack it. I will do 15 min of alternating KB swings and knee raises, followed immediately by 15 min of alternating leg press and crunches. This will serve two purposes: 1) it will give me 30 min of conditioning, and 2) it will maximally warm-up my creaky old legs before I start lifting with them.

I will structure the Legs workout MD style–begin with curls and extensions, move on to a heavy compound movement, finish with movements to stretch the quads and hammies. First workout is today.

Re diet: I have worked my way up to averaging 2700 cals/d. Because my new plan is to lift 3 days out of 4, I will aim for 1600-1800 low-carb cals on my run/treadmill day, and 3000-3100 high-carb cals/d on the other three. (Note that this averages to 2700/d.) As before, I will aim for an average of 180-200 g of protein/d. I will continue to slowly and systematically add cals depending upon how my weight/body comp responds.

An aside: I have noticed a definite uptick in strength since being forced to stop running. Of course, this might be simply a function of having more calories available for protein metabolism. However, I can’t help but wonder if it secondary to a more general ‘reset’ of my metabolism, from Endurance mode to Strength mode. Just speculating.

Photo is after yesterday’s delt workout; apologies for the blur. Weight that AM was 186.8.

[photo]40618[/photo]

209

Looking forward to seeing how you respond to the increase in cals.

210

this thread’s inspired me to start training my abs again

211

[quote]Dr. Pangloss wrote:
Looking forward to seeing how you respond to the increase in cals.[/quote]

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this previously, but it was a comment/question of yours that got me moving again. Thanks for that.

212

A whole day just on delts? That seems pretty unique. How long does this workout last? Are you chasing a specific aesthetic?

213

[quote]roland2000 wrote:
A whole day just on delts?
[/quote]

It’s even worse than you think, because my ‘Delt’ workout comprises only medial and rear delts (anterior delts are lumped in with Chest).

About 40 minutes.

Yes–I’m trying to create the illusion of having clavicles. ;^)

EDIT: Seriously though, I adopted this split as a way to prioritize development of breadth/fullness across the shoulder girdle.

214

I’ve got a question for you Eye Dentist. I know you have some injuries that prohibit Leg heavier leg work and some other issues. How would you design a program for yourself had you not encountered those issues? Like you could include heavy leg workouts and such?

How would you arrange your split? How would you arrange your leg days?

215

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:
I’ve got a question for you Eye Dentist. I know you have some injuries that prohibit Leg heavier leg work and some other issues. How would you design a program for yourself had you not encountered those issues? Like you could include heavy leg workouts and such?

How would you arrange your split? How would you arrange your leg days?[/quote]

Hi Spidey. My approach to structuring a Leg workout would be the same as for other bodyparts:

–Start with high-rep activation/pump work with the ROM limited to the contracted portion; then
–reverse-pyramid heavy (=8-15 rep range) compound movement(s) for hypertrophy; and
–finish it off with high-rep work in the stretched portion of the ROM.

If everything were in working order, a Leg workout would look something like this:

  1. Leg curls alternated with extensions, 20-30 reps/set, 4 sets each. Would stay 3-5 reps short of failure. I would toggle back-and-forth between the machines with little/no break between sets. If I were feeling sporty, the final set of each might employ heavy partials and/or be done TUT style for 60 seconds or so.
  2. Leg press. 4-6 sets in the 15-rep range, ramping the weight. Rest 1-2 minutes between sets. The first set would stop well short of failure, but the weight on the last set would be such that I would fail by the ~15th rep.
  3. Squats. This would be the ‘main course.’ 4-6 sets with weights that limited me to 8-12 reps/set. (The first set would be the heaviest, and I would drop the weight as needed on subsequent sets to stay in the 8-12 rep range.) Would rest 3-4 minutes between sets. Sets would be continued until I felt I couldn’t complete another rep. The last set would employ an intensification technique of some sort–rest-pause, strip sets, something.
  4. Hack squats alternated with SLDLs/RDLs. 2-4 sets of each. Rest 30-60 seconds between sets. Not much weight for either exercise; the goal is the stretch, not moving big weight. For each, most of the movement would be spent in the stretched position. With each set, I would try and stretch the muscles more and more.

So, that’s it in a nutshell. What do you think?

216

you look like a ripped Bob Saget.

217

[quote]StevenF wrote:
you look like a ripped Bob Saget. [/quote]

You have no idea how much my wife is going to laugh when I show her your comment. Much to my chagrin and her amusement, I get told I look like Bob Saget about once a week. (On one occasion, a woman actually asked me if I WAS Bob Saget.)

218

[quote]EyeDentist wrote:

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:
I’ve got a question for you Eye Dentist. I know you have some injuries that prohibit Leg heavier leg work and some other issues. How would you design a program for yourself had you not encountered those issues? Like you could include heavy leg workouts and such?

How would you arrange your split? How would you arrange your leg days?[/quote]

Hi Spidey. My approach to structuring a Leg workout would be the same as for other bodyparts:

–Start with high-rep activation/pump work with the ROM limited to the contracted portion; then
–reverse-pyramid heavy (=8-15 rep range) compound movement(s) for hypertrophy; and
–finish it off with high-rep work in the stretched portion of the ROM.

If everything were in working order, a Leg workout would look something like this:

  1. Leg curls alternated with extensions, 20-30 reps/set, 4 sets each. Would stay 3-5 reps short of failure. I would toggle back-and-forth between the machines with little/no break between sets. If I were feeling sporty, the final set of each might employ heavy partials and/or be done TUT style for 60 seconds or so.
  2. Leg press. 4-6 sets in the 15-rep range, ramping the weight. Rest 1-2 minutes between sets. The first set would stop well short of failure, but the weight on the last set would be such that I would fail by the ~15th rep.
  3. Squats. This would be the ‘main course.’ 4-6 sets with weights that limited me to 8-12 reps/set. (The first set would be the heaviest, and I would drop the weight as needed on subsequent sets to stay in the 8-12 rep range.) Would rest 3-4 minutes between sets. Sets would be continued until I felt I couldn’t complete another rep. The last set would employ an intensification technique of some sort–rest-pause, strip sets, something.
  4. Hack squats alternated with SLDLs/RDLs. 2-4 sets of each. Rest 30-60 seconds between sets. Not much weight for either exercise; the goal is the stretch, not moving big weight. For each, most of the movement would be spent in the stretched position. With each set, I would try and stretch the muscles more and more.

So, that’s it in a nutshell. What do you think?[/quote]

Thanks for writing all that up! That actually sounds like a really good workout, and something I may try-out once I get back to a commercial gym!

So with this workout being pretty intense, how would you accommodate the added stress and recovery? Would you simply alter your split to include more rest? Eat more?

219

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:

[quote]EyeDentist wrote:

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:
I’ve got a question for you Eye Dentist. I know you have some injuries that prohibit Leg heavier leg work and some other issues. How would you design a program for yourself had you not encountered those issues? Like you could include heavy leg workouts and such?

How would you arrange your split? How would you arrange your leg days?[/quote]

Hi Spidey. My approach to structuring a Leg workout would be the same as for other bodyparts:

–Start with high-rep activation/pump work with the ROM limited to the contracted portion; then
–reverse-pyramid heavy (=8-15 rep range) compound movement(s) for hypertrophy; and
–finish it off with high-rep work in the stretched portion of the ROM.

If everything were in working order, a Leg workout would look something like this:

  1. Leg curls alternated with extensions, 20-30 reps/set, 4 sets each. Would stay 3-5 reps short of failure. I would toggle back-and-forth between the machines with little/no break between sets. If I were feeling sporty, the final set of each might employ heavy partials and/or be done TUT style for 60 seconds or so.
  2. Leg press. 4-6 sets in the 15-rep range, ramping the weight. Rest 1-2 minutes between sets. The first set would stop well short of failure, but the weight on the last set would be such that I would fail by the ~15th rep.
  3. Squats. This would be the ‘main course.’ 4-6 sets with weights that limited me to 8-12 reps/set. (The first set would be the heaviest, and I would drop the weight as needed on subsequent sets to stay in the 8-12 rep range.) Would rest 3-4 minutes between sets. Sets would be continued until I felt I couldn’t complete another rep. The last set would employ an intensification technique of some sort–rest-pause, strip sets, something.
  4. Hack squats alternated with SLDLs/RDLs. 2-4 sets of each. Rest 30-60 seconds between sets. Not much weight for either exercise; the goal is the stretch, not moving big weight. For each, most of the movement would be spent in the stretched position. With each set, I would try and stretch the muscles more and more.

So, that’s it in a nutshell. What do you think?[/quote]

Thanks for writing all that up! That actually sounds like a really good workout, and something I may try-out once I get back to a commercial gym!

So with this workout being pretty intense, how would you accommodate the added stress and recovery? Would you simply alter your split to include more rest? Eat more? [/quote]

I think this workout could be done as part of a 3-on/1-off split; ie, once every four days. In fact, this is exactly the programming I’m aiming toward as I ease back into working Legs. As for eating, I will slowly add cals as tolerated–but I was doing this anyway. (Perhaps the added exertion of Leg work will raise the ceiling on where my cals ultimately plateau?)

220

I’m really late to this thread, but my goal is to look as good as you when I’m 50! Great work!