Been having a think about the whole end of year training thing. It’s a base building phase, so I’m thinking I might do well to switch how I train for that period to a more bodybuilding oriented approach (especially after some tips from @IronOne and @Serge_A_Storms recently).
It’d take me outside my comfort zone in terms of exercise selection and training style but I don’t see how that’s an issue. The three main differences I’d be looking at:
train five days a week, not four
largely ditch competition movements and focus on body parts
try to get the sessions a lot shorter
This is what I came up with
Monday - shoulders/upper and middle back/arms
Smith machine high incline press 5x8-10 add weight at 5x10
lateral raises 10x10 supersetted with 1-5, 5-1 pull-up ladder
rear delt machine supersetted with rope lat pulldowns 3x12-15
curls
Tuesday - lower back/legs/abs
rack/block pulls 3x6-8, add weight at 8
SSB squat 350 set
band side bends supersetted with 45° back raises 3x25
Wednesday - chest/upper and middle back/arms
DB bench 5x8-10 add weight at 5x10
chain dips supsersetted with strict BB rows 3x8-10
pec flyes supersetted with T-bar rows 3x12-15
PJR pullovers
Thursday - legs/lower back/abs
close stance squat 5x8-10 add weight at 5x10
BB RDL 3x10-12
weighted decline sit-ups supersetted with walking lunges
Friday - shoulders/upper and middle back/arms
BB military press 5x8-10, add weight at 5x10
incline DB press supersetted with DB rows 3x10-12
lateral raises 5x12 supersetted with 1-5 pull-up ladder
This is pretty standard for me following a stomach upset. I wasn’t fully recovered at any point from Wednesday through to today and on top of that I’ve had pretty shit sleep the last two nights, not to mention training three days straight. I’m not worried. Performance has been where I want it, which is the real indicator. I’m about back to normal in other aspects too. A good sleep or two and no training till Monday and I’ll be fine.
I’ve seen this a lot through your log. I spose you probably have a better idea of you than I do… Lol just one of the benefits of having a consistent programming ay!
I kind of like Thibaudeau. And Jim of course.
Think he got some word of wisdom somewhere.
Anyway I would never leave the big lifts completely
If you decide to leave the sacred path of PL and join the BB community then try to read this article by Thib:
That, and just knowing myself. If I’m working with heavier loads and moving them as I need to everything is ticking over. I might feel off, but that doesn’t mean too much. I’ll just back stuff off like I did this week with assistance.
I like CT, but I cannot stand a lot of his programming. It just doesn’t sit right with me. I’ve actually read that particular article as well. I get what he’s saying, but it’d drive me nuts to train like that. Plus, I’m a real neophyte when it comes to bodybuilding training so I really would probably be better off with something simpler.
All I’m looking for is something to cover November and December that’ll let me get a feel for a different style of training and hopefully round my physique out a bit better. I’ll ditch the multiple warmup sets, reduce a lot of the rest breaks and just go in, get a pump and leave. The progression I’ve picked is there so I have a way to measure progress on my main lifts and ideally gain some strength, but that won’t be my focus.
Then come January I’ll head right back into Training Maximally much as I’ve been running it the last few cycles (raw/equipped alternating, using builder lifts on my backoff sets, etc) to prepare for what will hopefully be nationals around mid 2018.
I just heard of a guy who was talking about some program that supposedly puts on ungodly amounts of mass in a short time… I believe it was called Bullshitt
Smartest ones in the bunch may realize that I’m talking about Doggcrapp
DC would make you bigger and stronger (let’s put a lot in front of both of those) but it may hinder your explosiveness just a bit, because you’ll need to grind hard and you get used to it. But if that’s okay, I definitely recommend it.
If short training time is a big factor, try Arthur Jones’s style of training - high intensity, low volume sessions with practically no rest. Either 3 days of full body or 6 days of upper/lower per week focusing on big compound movements. Take a look at “The Colorado experiment” to get a better idea of this style of training.
One good thing about both of these training styles is the simplicity - do a hard set with more weight than last time and that’s it. It’s a good mental break from percentages and RPEs and such
I don’t know if you’ve ever done real low volume training but this could be a chance to try it - and a volume deload usually yields in muscular gains and added strength
I like your plan. I think even just adding another training day is awesome. It seems like you love training. Me too. I’d go nuts if I only trained 4 days a week, I just love being in the gym too much!
You’ll likely get a nice little boost in leanness from just cutting out the rest periods and warmup sets, too.
I mean, you’re already posing in briefs and posing pics, so you’re pretty much already a bodybuilder.
DC certainly crossed my mind. I’ll be honest, though, I don’t feel like I have a good enough handle on it at all to run it. That’s my only real reason for hesitating. I get the general principles but how to implement them…
Lame excuse, I know. It’s the same reason I didn’t run 5/3/1 for a couple of years, it took me that long to wrap my head around it.
I like DC Training for one of the simple principles that states ‘performing alternating lifts over a fortnight will increase each other, as long as they target similar muscles… and are performed with the high rep intensity that is so associated with bodybuilding’.
I’m paraphrasing of course, but also getting you thinking about what style of mass building you plan to get into.
Got a friend of mine that had run “big beyond belief” by Leo Costa
It’s something like 6 days a week. You alternate with reps in the 12-15 range then the 8-10 range and finally the 5-7 range. every week.
Each week put more weight on the bar/DB.
He did the program three times, and only the last he survived. Eating the shit out of him counting every calorie ending up putting some serious muscles on (and fat) something like 20 pounds.
Well we all know some programs and everyone of them works.
Mark you know your body better than any. So you have a plan, stick to it.
But beware “The dark side” of BB will eat you up. You might come out being able to DB pres 20 pounds in every possible angel and being able to feeeeeeeellllll the muscle working. Saying bench squat and DL dosen’t matter because you can’t feel the muscle.
Good luck with the experiment.
Quite. But you guys help me think and provide perspective.
What I’m looking at is nine weeks where I step back from training to get stronger above everything and work on adding some muscle (and hopefully learn something in the process). It’s actually an idea I got out of Paul Carter’s Base Building. Then come January 2018 back to what I’m doing now - because I know it works and is very sustainable.
If you decide to go the DC way and have Amy questions, I’d be happy to answer them. I’m no expert but I’ve spent a couple(hundred) hours reading Dante’s writings
Thank you. I read the old T Nation article about it and one thing that stood out was how taxing it is when you have other responsibilities like family as well as how different the diet is. I’ve only just gotten a handle on how to be not fat that I’m very wary of changing anything much. Oh, and most importantly it does seem to be a system more suited to very experienced guys, which I’m not.
Woke at 189.6 lbs, looking dry but fuller than yesterday. Made sure to hit the rehydration hard yesterday too, so I’m leaning towards this drop in weight not being dehydration.
You may not consider yourself experienced but you’re definitely wise beyond your training years. You’re smart, efficient, and very aware of your training and its effect on your body. Perhaps starting at a more mature age has allowed you to avoid months/years of stupid training.
Well, I’m not going to push you into doing DC. It’s a good thing you know your own limitations when it comes to training, even the best program (now I’m talking of the hypothetically absolutely best program there is - which does not exist) is not going to do any good to you if it doesn’t fit your needs and current life situation.
I know you know this, but someone who reads the log may have forgotten
