Help with my "Best Damn..." Plan

Bigger Stronger Leaner Christian Thibaudeau Coaching
1

Hi everyone, I’m new to the forum but I’ve already read a lot of topics and I’m a t-nation reader for at least 1 year.
I’ll introduce myself: I’m a 20 year old male from Chile, South America. I’ve training seriously 2 years and I consider myself an obsessed gym rat.

In the past, I had serious problems with my nutrition, Overbulking then suffering from doing a cut diet with really lots of volume and cardio but really eating “too clean and too little” so losing a lot of the hard earned muscle.
My mind wasn’t healthy but right now I do better with nutrition.

I tend to be a little of a hard gainer in terms of muscle but I tend to gain fat without much problem. That’s why I have a very strict nutrition right now and I measure my calories.

Right now I’m at around 67kg fasted in the morning and I’m 179 cms.

I’m consuming 2800 calories (more or less, I usually measure food cooked as I’m not who cooks) on training days and 2450 on sundays (I eat less carbs as I don’t train that day).

I don’t eat a lot of carbs (250 ish) and I try to consume them around workout. I eat a lot of protein (250 ish too) and the rest is distributed with fat and some carbs when I have some days with more carbs.

I did your Indigo project hypertrophy plan (3 phases) and I think that I Improved a lot in my technique and range of motion, I had my PRs of 80kg in bench press, 52 kg in OHP, 110 kg in Squat, 125kg in DL all with full range of motion. (before I hadn’t a full range of motion).

I think I got something like 1 kg of muscle (I entered that program after a cut, so I started eating less calories and finished at around 2900 per day)

Right now I’m eating less calories because I’m having summer holidays and I’m not as active as I’m not going to the university.

I know I need to make “gainz” since I’m small even though I’m lean (something like 10 % I think, last year I was at around this “leanness” and when I got measured, I was at around 8.8%).

So… arriving to the question… I’m doing your “best damn…” plan.

The thing is I’m a gym rat and I tend to train a lot. As an example, for your indigo project training plan, I added some warm ups and I always trained at failure in a lot of the hypertrophy exercises.

My current plan is basically:

  1. bike 5-8 min
  2. 4x3 vertical jumps or long jumps (depending on push/pull days)
  3. Four exercises
  4. grip work 2 sets (loaded carries)
  5. 2 sets of hanging leg raises
  6. 2 sets of scissors
  7. “optional” bike 5-8 min, just on Wednesday and Thursday when I do leg extensions and leg curls, as it is more “isolation”

The thing is I’m adding 1-2 warm up sets before the 3 sets, and sometimes as I don’t feel tired, I add an extra set at the end when I’m putting weights in their places (so If I was deadlifting 100kg, I do a set with 60 kg, some like 12 reps with an emphasis in technique).

I decided to do more “bang for bucks” exercises, so I’m squatting twice a week (double RP day and double drop set day), deadlift 1 day (double drop set), romanian deadlift 1 day (double rest pause), military press twice a week (double RP and drop set), bench press twice too (same advanced techniques) and for triceps, one day close grip bench press (double drop set) and weighted dips (double rest pause). For my back I just to barbell rows once (double rest pause) and chin ups once (double rest pause) the 2 other days, seated cable rows and pulldowns. (the other exercises are more “isolation” for the mTor sets!)

I feel good when I’m at the gym, I don’t have problems when I’m working out, but I’m needing a lot of sleep, something like 9 hours and a nap after lunch… it’s very weird.
Workouts are lasting something between 1:25, 1:35.
I just finished my 5th session of the second week and as I’m monitoring my weight, I’ll adjust calories next week to try to gain something like 0.15-0.2kg per week.

I’m going very near to failure on the last sets, and I’ll increase weights after two weeks in a row achieving 2 extra reps of what I have to do. (so for example, I did 100kg deadlift 8 times two weeks in a row so I’ll increase to 105 kg next week, and as I did 70kg for 10 reps in that double drop set, I’ll increase to 75kg)

What do you think?

I’m curious because I’m doing more “work” so I fear that I’m training more than what I have to, and I don’t know if I should because of all the science you have behind the program.

However, I want to train abs and grip because I think the indigo project didn’t help me with that, and I feel those jumps are necessary because I want to maintain my hops.

Thanks for reading all of this stuff… I need some help and I’m forward to be hearing what you guys think

2

Good grief. Can you summarize?

3

just do the programme as written! sounds like your doing too much extra, it all adds up.

4

I was going to write the exact same thing. The chance of me answering a question in inversely proportional to the length of the question.

2 Likes
5

Then do a different program. This is strictly a muscle-building program it is NOT a performance one.

6

20 years old, 179 cms, 67 kg fasted in the morning.
Been training 2 years at least 4 times every single week. nutrition on point since the start of 2016. I started 2016 at 65 kg and I’m 67 right now, Equal leanness (about 10%).
I’ve been bigger but I had to cut more or less 4 months ago. Then I did INDIGO PROJECT HYPERTROPHY. My technique improved a lot and I maintained muscle (reverse dieting).

Right now “Best damn…” plan as I’m still very skinny.
The thing is that I’m a gym rat and I tend to over exercise.
I just finished week 2, and I was doing this:

  1. bike 5-8 min
  2. 4x3 vertical jumps or long jumps (depending on push/pull days)
  3. Four exercises
  4. grip work 2 sets (loaded carries)
  5. 2 sets of hanging leg raises
  6. 2 sets of scissors
  7. “optional” bike 5-8 min, just on Wednesday and Thursday when I do leg extensions and leg curls, as it is more “isolation”

I’ll eliminate the jump work as I felt a little sore because of that, but the thing is do 1-2 warm up sets more before the exercises (2 extra warm ups for deadlifts, squats, military, bent over row, 1 for the rest) and after every workout I add some grip work and abs (as I feel that the indigo project didn’t have enough and I wanted to improve).
I’m fearing that I’m doing too much even though I feel great at the gym, bc I’m needing more sleep (9 hours).
Workouts take around 1:25-1:35 (with the jumps and all)
I’m currently eating 2800 kcal on training days and 2450 on sunday. I’ll adjust monitoring my weight.
The plan just utilizes machines for mTor sets,for seated row and pulldowns mTor and drop sets too. The rest is Military press, Squat, Bench Press, Deadlift (twice, for drop set and rest pause), dips, bent over…
Should I continue doing the extra work?
Is it better to do the abs sets as a “blitz” every 4-6 weeks for 2 weeks?
May I continue doing just the grip work or is it detrimental to gains? (I have been improving, doing between 45 seconds, 1 min every set, if I can do more I increase resistance)

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The chance of me answering a question in inversely proportional to the length of the question.

1 Like
8

2kg of muscle gained in a year means nutrition is definitely not “on point”

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x2 as above: 147lbs at 5’11 is properly underweight for any athletic individual.

I would say switch to a template with more days off like this below and eat significantly more (clean) food like 3500cals till you get to say 75kg…

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I don’t know how to answer to this…
My nutrition is on point but that doesn’t mean I don’t make mistakes. (as we all do, I guess).
I was progressing very well till I got injured (right knee) because of too much work. (5 times every week squatting, deadlifting and bench pressing; 8 hours aprox of squash every week).
That happened in early february and I couldn’t train well legs like 3-4 months. Obviously I lost mass and I couldn’t improve in that frametime. (I guess I gained fat too…)
Besides that, here in Chile is pretty common that we make strikes when we want to fight for some rights, some at my university we went like 6 weeks on strike… I was bulking more aggresively at that time and just upped calories, the thing is that 6 weeks I wasn’t active at all because I didn’t go to the university, so I was burning like 400 calories less. I got a lot fatter quickly so I had to start cutting. Considering that, 2kg of muscle in 1 year for a natural that tends to over work doesn’t sound that bad for me.
I want to improve though, I can do better and I will as I learned from some mistakes of the past (that’s why I’m only at 2750 calories, I’m not being very active as I’m in holidays).

11

I know that I need to bulk brother.
I’ll continue adjusting calories until I arrive to a sweet spot because I’m not being that active. At the past I was at around 3100-3200 when training 4 days a week but when I was going to the university.
I eat a lot of clean food, to the point that I don’t know how my family can afford it haha (protein and whole food is very expensive).
I definitely want to try that program but when I’ll less time to work out (when the university starts) because I can’t be happy if I feel that I have a lot of free time and I’m not using it to workout. That’s why I selected a plan with 6 days working out.
However, thanks for the advice, I’ll up calories after this week

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3120×4160 2.46 MB

Not in HQ but it’s a photo taken about 1-2 weeks ago.
Lights don’t help but it is what it is. I think I look fuller after having breakfast as I don’t eat a lot in the night before sleeping (and I just eat protein in the middle of the night, a shake or chicken).

13

@ierazo
If you feel you absolutely must train six days per week to satisfy a psychological need, look at CT’s Built for Bad, on this site, or check his site, Thib army, for The Strength Skill Workout. Both are CT approved for six days/week.

14

Thanks for answering believer423.
I’ll check those programs, but I’m searching mass and isn’t the best damn plan for natural lifters a 6 workouts per week program for mass?
The thing is that I don’t know if I can add some abs and grip work at the end of the workouts as I think I need to improve those two (they weren’t trained directly in INDIGO project and, in fact, my grip is a weak link for me).
I’m adding some warm up sets too and I don’t know if they help me or slow my progress.
I’m feeling good at the gym but I’m needing a lot of sleep so I’m not sure if that is good or not.

15

Right now “Best damn…” plan as I’m still very skinny.
The thing is that I’m a gym rat and I tend to over exercise.
I just finished week 2, and I was doing this:

  1. bike 5-8 min
  2. 4x3 vertical jumps or long jumps (depending on push/pull days)
  3. Four exercises
  4. grip work 2 sets (loaded carries)
  5. 2 sets of hanging leg raises
  6. 2 sets of scissors
  7. “optional” bike 5-8 min, just on Wednesday and Thursday when I do leg extensions and leg curls, as it is more “isolation”

Should I continue doing the extra work? (not jumps, I’ll eliminate them;(I am doing abs and grip as Indigo project didn’t train them and I feel them as weak links))
Is it better to do the abs sets as a “blitz” every 4-6 weeks for 2 weeks?
May I continue doing just the grip work or is it detrimental to gains? (I have been improving, doing between 45 seconds, 1 min every set, if I can do more I increase resistance)

16

Track your calories for a week, along with your weight. Drop the cycling, follow the plan as written. This is a starting point. Try this for a week, then two, etc… Make enough good decisionsin a row and great things can happen.
Finally, listen to others in this forum. Lots of great advice here already.

17

It sounds like you are trying to ride too many horses but you only have one ass. PICK A GOAL. Is your goal hypertrophy? If yes, then follow the program exactly as described. Is your goal strength? Then pick a different plan. I have been in this game a long time and I truly believe the biggest hurdle to getting where you want to be is by having too many goals. Example: “I want to get bigger, get stronger, get leaner and improve my cardio conditioning.” Those are 4 goals and as the adage goes, “The dog that chases too many rabbits will not catch any.”

1 Like
18

I think you already know your answer. you are doing too much let your body and mind breathe brother. maybe try some mindfulness and feel the right now.

19

Ummmm…you’re replying to an 8 year old post.