I think my ability to do that TO THE EXTENT that I can is largely genetic. I’ve said before that if I was to give someone else advice on how to get fat quickly, I’d have them eat the way I do. My diet should be making me fat. I eat junk food all the time. I’ve got pop tarts and a soda at my desk right now. I eat ice cream most nights. Carbs all day every day.
But that being said, a theory I have, and others have suggested the same thing, is that high carb acclimation is something that is highly desirable and achievable. I think that the people who feel like they have to keep carbs very, very low are probably doing themselves a disservice by never trying to add more carbs to their diet over time.
If I was going to recommend a dietary strategy to any weight lifter, or strength athlete in general, it would be along the lines of the vertical diet. I don’t think there’s any general eating template that can match that one. Lots of red meat, lots of white rice, and vegetables with every meal. Very rare, if any, cheats, because honestly, there’s no need for it with that sort of diet. I’ve seen so many athletes get lean and strong using that method.
Very interesting. And honestly, I think I kinda knew that would be the answer. I know for myself I’ve always eaten fairly high carb and been able to stay fairly lean. I only recently drop my carbs down because I put on about 15-20 lbs from December to March and, while I was stronger than ever, I was fluffier than ever and didn’t like it. I think that was largely due to basically doing no conditioning at all, though, which is something I’ve always done.
Thanks for the info. Always appreciate your input.
I honestly thought I would despise this program after getting through half of it, but I’ve come to really — in a sick way — enjoy it. It’s simple, and I like the fact that it’s 1 all-out brutal set followed by just a couple other exercises. It’s also something that, once you’re acclimatized to it, I’m sure could be used as assistance or bodybuilding work after a strength movement. I can honestly see myself upping the weight and running this plan again.
@Frank_C Haha, I know. When you find something that works for you, gotta run with it, though.
27/05/2020
Yoga
20 minutes
Notes:
Today was supposed to be running, but the combination of my legs being a little tender from so many days of training in a row, combined with my low back being really sore and tender from the storm front that moved in last night, meant that I just needed to chill and do some restorative work this morning.
I really enjoy yoga. I think it’s something most strength athletes should do at least semi-regularly.
Nothing really to note. The interval running felt WAY easier than it has in past weeks. Same with the longer jog. I think the running and long sets of squats are having a positive effect on one another; the running increases my work capacity and the squats are increasing my leg endurance. Win win.
My upper back was getting a pump from squats today. When I get too gassed for unbroken reps anymore, I do 5 deep breaths, 5 reps, 5 deep breaths, repeat. Well, with the deep breaths I was also raising and lowering my chest/traps/shoulders, and my back was getting quite a workout. Basically like a Hise shrug.
Supersetting the leg extensions and curls made this so much worse. When both sides of your thigh are worked hard, walking is hilarious.
I was super gassed today for some reason. Legs were moving well but my lungs were not keeping up. I think I might go back to what I did a while ago which was alternating long distance, mid distance/intervals, then sprints. Rotated between them 2x a week. Seemed to work well.
Today was just to get some rough training max numbers so I can start my new program next week. Hungarian Oak Leg Blast isn’t over yet, but I wanted this current cycle and the next to line up with a complete leader/anchor cycle.
Program will run like so:
DAY 1
Hang power clean & jerk, 5’s PRO
SS w/ curls (varied)
Hang power clean & jerk, 3x5 @ FSL
SS w/ 400m run
Hungarian Oak Leg Blast
DAY 2
Bench, SVR II
SS w/ keg carry
Push, pull, core circuit
Band dislocations, 50 reps
DAY 3
Hang power snatch, 5’s PRO
SS w/ triceps (varied)
Hang power snatch, 3x5 @ FSL
SS w/ 400m run
Hungarian Oak Leg Blast
The power variations from hang are for a few reasons: 1) easier and less technical than the full lift, while still offering full body power training, 2) slightly more ability to elicit hypertrophy due to having to catch the bar and lower it to the knee, 3) less weight required meaning more time to progress, and potentially less abuse on my nervous system, 4) upper body has to work harder due to less leg drive, which is good for my desire of bodybuilding the upper and athlete-ing the lower.
SVR II was chosen for the bench because I get program ADD a lot, especially for my upper body, and SVR II addresses that. It also covers all the bases of volume and strength.
Not giving up on Hungarian Oak Leg Blast yet because I’m having a blast (pun intended) with it and wanna see how far I can push it. It’s also low enough intensity that it can easily be an assistance program.
Had very similar conclusions on the hang power snatches. They answer the mail pretty well. Curious to see how well SVR II holds up for you. Should definitely satisfy the ADD.
SVR II was one of the first programs I looked at in Forever and thought, “That looks fun”. I’m interested in Pervertor too, depending on how SVR II pans out.
Damn. This was both a great and horrible workout. The first half was fine; I really like supersetting the C+J with the 400m runs. Theeeeeen came time for the 5+ minutes of squatting. I made sure to take a longer break before tackling it, but I wanted to die. My legs were tired, but not too badly — it was my upper back that was screaming to get rid of the bar. Just from breathing and supporting the bar, it was pumped and on fire, and during the last 90 second it took all my self control not to dump the bar. 8 minutes is gonna suck.
I’m gonna dump the jerk and just do hang power cleans, and a loaded carry instead of the curls. I want everything to be as “athletic” as possible. Loaded carries are basically a “strength run”, and since I’m really focusing on my power and endurance for my lower body, loaded carries are perfect. It also is a great way to add them back in after taking a break.
Looks like an awesome workout, dude. Have you taken any photos of your legs? Be interested to see the size difference when you finish this program.
Got your own “Litvinov” workout going on!
I really like the way your training looks, and would enjoy doing the same, I just also have different goals, haha. I really enjoy front squats (kinda back squats, not so much), deadlifts, Oly lifts, and though I’ve done very little of them, carries and such. However, I’ve done those before and my beach muscles didn’t improve much, just my legs and back. Was giving benching another shot today (5/3/1, 3’s weeks, with FSL for 5x5 after) and just was in pain the whole time…then I did a bunch of curls and laterals and stuff and just was totally tuned out for the rest of the workout, haha. Doesn’t have nearly the same affect as a heavy deadlift set, but I know it’s important.
Just looking at Meadow’s upper body workouts hoping I see something that looks okay.
Anyway, keep up the work. Fun following along with your process.
@jshaving Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures of my legs at the start of the program. I honesty didn’t think it would get me very far, but after the 4th week when I did notice some leg gain, I was kicking myself for not taking photos. This is also while I’m on a calorie cut, and I’m still seeing size increase in my legs. Clearly it’s working.
And yeah, I saw you doing the Litvinov stuff, read the article, and was super intrigued. I’m gonna ride it out a bit.
Regarding the performance vs beach muscle stuff, I totally get that. I’ll admit, my beach muscle game is super weak; like you, my legs and back see the biggest increase in gains with my training. I honestly don’t mind though, because I’m largely performance focused. Looking good is just a side effect. I will say, however, that 2 ways that I’ve been able to “trick” myself into doing beach work is through heavy rest/pause work, and 100 rep sets. The rest/pause stuff is great for hypertrophy, is over quickly, and is a good way to make an exercise like a bicep curl feel high intensity. The 100 rep work is not only good for connective tissue, but it also leads to good muscle growth and has a level of endurance intensity that I think you’d like.
@mr.v3lv3t Thanks, man! It was both fun and dreadful, haha.
Using 5/3/1 SVR II for the bench as my upper body day. This was a great workout; shorter than my full/lower body days, but very intense. This is good for my personal version of bodybuilding the upper body while athlete-ing the lower body.
@jshaving, not that it’s perfect, but going heavy and rest/pausing every exercise is a great way of making your beach work feel more intense, as seen above. The rows, curls and extensions will have to be heavier next week, but the incline press was perfect, because I really only did 1 set of high reps, followed by a bunch of sets of 2-4 reps. Feels less like beach work and more like strength work.
Now that was a good workout. I treated each “section” as its own mini workout, and took extended rests between them (4-5 minutes). It meant I was able to bust my ass on each part.
Getting through the 6 minutes of squats was hard, but I paced myself better this time by alternating 5 reps with 5 breaths. It meant I was able to keep going for the full 6 minutes, instead of busting my ass for a bunch of reps, then having to pause and gulp air for a while. I don’t know if it led to more reps than before, but it led to more consistent time under tension.
I’d honestly really forgotten about rest pause…I don’t think I’ve ever actually used it.
At the moment, I’ve loaned all of my dumbbells to a friend’s little brother while the gyms were closed, but they’re opening back up…I think I’ll ask for them back, since it seems like I can get away with incline DB benching. Maybe I’ll do a couple warmup sets, then a rest pause set of those, then a set of rows to failure, or at least pretty high rep. Arm and shoulder stuff will be decided on when it’s time. It’s pretty easy to just get a pump - I’m not too concerned with making sure my lateral raise weight is making steady gains, haha.
I actually like that idea for upper body! I tend to stick with 5/3/1, since it makes sense to me and I’ve found success with it, but I do 3 sets, then usually 1-5 more sets of supplemental work, and I just feel like there’s no real purpose. It hurts and I don’t like it. One all out set that I increase weight on as needed seems like it’d work. It’ll serve its hypertrophy purposes and if I go from a 50lb DB to a 70-80lb one for more reps I’ll be stronger. Thanks for the reminder of this!