My 'Not DC Training' Training Log

Training Bodybuilding
41

Hi,

Just got through reading your thread. Personal trainer, and been a hard DC convert for awhile now. Interesting experiment you’re doing. Glad everything is going well for you. I’m sure that the stretches are definitely helping. I actually use them with great success with all of my clients now, no matter what program they do, as I’ve rarely found anything to be that effective for posture, flexibility, shoulder issues and recovery!

Just saw that you said something finally went down. Being that you’re dieting and should be getting a better muscle to fat ratio, chins are not a good thing to be dropping on. However, do take into account that you also carb cycle. If your chins have happened to fall right after a few lower carb days when they come up and then all of a sudden you hit them the day after a big cheat, the added water/glycogen could be the equivalent of adding an extra 5 lbs on, and hence, dropping 1 rep isn’t as big of a deal, as you went up in ‘weight’ on the exercise. Not sure if that’s the case here, but just food for thought.

Also, several folks on the DC board have brought this up before, and it works for me very well. In order to help you ‘blast’ longer without burning out, just miss a workout. If you train Mon and Wed, then skip your Friday workout, it gives you 5 days rest, and unless you’re at the hard edge of overtraining already, is usually enough to allow you to blast for a few more weeks.

Good luck with the ‘RP’ experiment, lol, and hope all continues to go well.

Kubo

Edit- BTW, I would be remiss if I too did not mention the avatar. As Scott said above, when stretching, you just need to go to your ‘happy place’. I think that pic is my new happy place for this blast, lol.

42

[quote]MikeKubo wrote:
Hi,

Just got through reading your thread. Personal trainer, and been a hard DC convert for awhile now. Interesting experiment you’re doing. Glad everything is going well for you. I’m sure that the stretches are definitely helping. I actually use them with great success with all of my clients now, no matter what program they do, as I’ve rarely found anything to be that effective for posture, flexibility, shoulder issues and recovery!

Just saw that you said something finally went down. Being that you’re dieting and should be getting a better muscle to fat ratio, chins are not a good thing to be dropping on. However, do take into account that you also carb cycle. If your chins have happened to fall right after a few lower carb days when they come up and then all of a sudden you hit them the day after a big cheat, the added water/glycogen could be the equivalent of adding an extra 5 lbs on, and hence, dropping 1 rep isn’t as big of a deal, as you went up in ‘weight’ on the exercise. Not sure if that’s the case here, but just food for thought.

Also, several folks on the DC board have brought this up before, and it works for me very well. In order to help you ‘blast’ longer without burning out, just miss a workout. If you train Mon and Wed, then skip your Friday workout, it gives you 5 days rest, and unless you’re at the hard edge of overtraining already, is usually enough to allow you to blast for a few more weeks.

Good luck with the ‘RP’ experiment, lol, and hope all continues to go well.

Kubo

Edit- BTW, I would be remiss if I too did not mention the avatar. As Scott said above, when stretching, you just need to go to your ‘happy place’. I think that pic is my new happy place for this blast, lol. [/quote]

Keen insight about the rack chins. After reading your post, I went back and tried to analyze more thoroughly what may have gone wrong.

The workout was the day after two days of low carb. As this diet relies heavily on the “slingshot” from the highest carb day to the proceeding two days of low-carb for fat loss, I’ve been steadily decreasing calories on the low-carb days. My energy level was noticeably down this past week during the low-carb days. Perhaps that combined with the bloat of re-introducing carbs the day of the workout contributed to the performance decline.

Also, I may be making the exercise progressively more difficult without noticing. When I first started experimenting with rack chins, I had a bad habit of pushing off with my legs. I’ve since gotten better at keeping my legs “dead” during the exercise. Maybe I’m now lifting more of my own bodyweight but haven’t been taking that into account.

As you mentioned, I too was disturbed that my performance went down on what is a predominately bodyweight exercise, as my strength-to-weight ratio should be improving from the diet.

In the end, though, this kind of training is about putting up or shutting up. I’m not going to pat myself on the back for having come up with a nifty-sounding excuse for lack of progress. On the other hand, I thank you for the post. Made me put my thinking cap back on, which is almost always a good thing.

Thanks also for the comment about the avi. I was hoping to choose an avatar that would contribute something meaningful to T-Nation.

Cute, smiling face
Cleavage
Beer

I think TC would be proud of me

43

I put off my Monday session to today. Totally did not feel like training. Feel much better today. Depending on how today goes, I may start my cruise this week.

Overall, I think this blast was a success. My bodyfat is down, and as an added bonus my girlfriend and a few co-workers have commented that I look broader across the shoulders and that my arms look more muscular.

I am certain that my second blast will be much better than this one was.

Thanks to everyone who has helped me out, especially ScottM.

44

No problem man, you are doing the work, we are just trying to guide you in the general direction.

45

[quote]Scott M wrote:
No problem man, you are doing the work, we are just trying to guide you in the general direction. [/quote]

May I suggest this post be in the Strong Words section? From my experience, only those who have achieved a lot in their training are ever this gracious when being given thanks.

For example, once upon a time when I was a teenager I had the opportunity to talk to powerlifter Jesse Jackson (705 squat in the 148# class). I was impressed at his commanding yet soft-spoken nature. He shared some tips on how I could improve my squat technique. When I thanked him for his advice, he replied by commending me for my willingness to get under a heavy barbell and go to work.

46

Ended my first workout of week five. Performance dropped on two of the four exercises. Will be cruising for the remainder of this week and probably all of next week.

47

Will start my next blast on Monday (Feb 18). Family strife has made the cruise less than optimal, but I’m ready to get back at the weights.

Now I’ll really see if I know what I’m dong. Can’t chalk things up to rookie mistakes anymore.

Once again, thanks to all who have helped.

48

Are you going to post some workouts this time? I would enjoy it if you had the time.

49

Are you going to be doing things conventionally this time around?

50

Also, how was your progress?

51

[quote]Scott M wrote:
Are you going to post some workouts this time? I would enjoy it if you had the time. [/quote]

Yeah, will probably give more detail of workouts this go-round. Actual exercises, weights, reps, etc. description.

52

[quote]Stronghold wrote:
Are you going to be doing things conventionally this time around?[/quote]

Why should I bother growing a brain now?

Seriously, this blast will look more like DC, but won’t be DC. Same disclaimer of “this is NOT DC training” still applies.

Why? I don’t know everything there is to know about DC training. So, until I feel comfortable with my level of expertise, I’m going to keep a bit of distance between what I am doing and actual DC training.

53

[quote]will to power wrote:
Also, how was your progress? [/quote]

Difficult to answer, as I measured progress by

–how I felt (energetic about training)
–how I looked, and what others that I trusted commented regarding my appearance
–the logbook. I was able to progress for about four weeks. Doesn’t seem like much, but I usually take back-off weeks every fourth or fifth week anyway, and I was dieting pretty hard. So I was satisfied with the progress.

Will go back and post actual weight/rep increases later. Maybe that’s what you’re looking for.

54

[quote]downintucson wrote:
Stronghold wrote:
Are you going to be doing things conventionally this time around?

Why should I bother growing a brain now?

Seriously, this blast will look more like DC, but won’t be DC. Same disclaimer of “this is NOT DC training” still applies.

Why? I don’t know everything there is to know about DC training. So, until I feel comfortable with my level of expertise, I’m going to keep a bit of distance between what I am doing and actual DC training.
[/quote]

I will start by saying if your primary focus is still on bodyfat reduction then you can stick with your plan as you wish. If you get to a point in the near future when it’s muscle mass accumulation you are after and are still unsure of some aspects of DC feel free to drop some questions. I would suggest reading the “Trying DC” thread but it’s pretty large at this point haha(some guy keeps rambling on-get him a muzzle). Just ask any questions you have and we will clear it up.

55

This is Dante responding to someone about setting up DC training while they still want to cut some bodyfat. This is assuming you know about the rotating of exercises and bodypart splits etc… but a good template none the less

"ARE YOU DRINKING GREEN TEA ALL DAY–IT TAKES ABOUT 3 WEEKS TO GET USED TO EATING THIS KIND OF FOOD AND TURNING YOUR BODY INTO A FURNACE–YOU SEEM VERY UNHAPPY WITH THE BODYFAT SO I WOULD DO THIS IF I WAS YOU–STRAIGHT SET YOUR WORKOUTS AND DO CARDIO TWO TIMES A DAY ON OFF TRAINING DAYS–MORNING AND NITE FOR 30-45 MINS–AND THEN DO 30 MINUTES AFTER YOUR TRAINING SESSION

TAKE YOUR BODY TEMPERATURE UPON ARISING FOR 3 CONSECUTIVE DAYS AND TAKE THE MEAN AVERAGE AND MAKE SURE ITS NORMAL (FOR THYROID REASONS)—THE TRAINING WITH WEIGHTS MIGHT INCREASE MUSCLE MASS SLIGHTLY OR IT WILL STAY THE SAME BUT I WOULD FIRST GET YOUR BODYFAT PERCENTAGE DOWN TO A REASONABLE LEVEL YOUR HAPPY WITH AND THEN–STAY WITH THE SEMBLANCE OF THE SAME DIET–AND LESSEN CARDIO AND START RESTPAUSING THINGS (thats the quick version of all of this but i hope it is a start for you)"

Just for reference the guys diet was pretty much high protein moderate fats and low carbs and Dante made some minor suggestions(dumping extra carbs for breakfast etc) . Something to think about…

56

[quote]downintucson wrote:
will to power wrote:
Also, how was your progress?

Difficult to answer, as I measured progress by

–how I felt (energetic about training)
–how I looked, and what others that I trusted commented regarding my appearance
–the logbook. I was able to progress for about four weeks. Doesn’t seem like much, but I usually take back-off weeks every fourth or fifth week anyway, and I was dieting pretty hard. So I was satisfied with the progress.

Will go back and post actual weight/rep increases later. Maybe that’s what you’re looking for.

[/quote]

Since your primary goal was fat loss honestly the fact that your exercises were going up is awesome and you don’t have to post specifics if you don’t want to. I was just wondering if you kept any measures to track the fat loss and how that went eg waist measurements, hip to waist ratio. If I’m reading you right and you’ve made enough of a change that others have noticed then that answers my question.

57

[quote]Scott M wrote:

I will start by saying if your primary focus is still on bodyfat reduction then you can stick with your plan as you wish. If you get to a point in the near future when it’s muscle mass accumulation you are after and are still unsure of some aspects of DC feel free to drop some questions. I would suggest reading the “Trying DC” thread but it’s pretty large at this point haha(some guy keeps rambling on-get him a muzzle). Just ask any questions you have and we will clear it up. [/quote]

Thank you for your continued support.

My goal is to drop more fat before doing “for real” DC. I remember you mentioning that you look at the psychological aspect of things. For me, if I switched to a muscle mass phase right now I’d be more concerned with keeping my present level of bodyfat and would totally screw up a mass-gaining phase. I want to drop my bodyfat enough to give me “buffer zone” whereby I could stand to gain a few pounds of fat without those few pounds making me look like a fat fuck. When I finally decide to use real DC for mass-gaining, I just want to worry about inhaling protein and busting my ass during workouts (besides the other necessary things), not about gaining a pound or two of fat here and there.

58

[quote]will to power wrote:

Since your primary goal was fat loss honestly the fact that your exercises were going up is awesome and you don’t have to post specifics if you don’t want to. I was just wondering if you kept any measures to track the fat loss and how that went eg waist measurements, hip to waist ratio. If I’m reading you right and you’ve made enough of a change that others have noticed then that answers my question.[/quote]

Funny thing, I purposely kept from gathering too much data. I didn’t want to go out of my mind worrying about every 1/8th of an inch or 1/2 pound. I step on the scale once (okay, sometimes twice) per week but keep no measurements.

Best thing I heard during the past few weeks was a co-worker asking “How much do you weigh now?” When I told her that I was down to 195 she replied “Oh, really? I figured you were gaining weight because your shoulders and arms look bigger and you look more like this.” She made a “V” gesture with her hands to show what “like this” meant.

Hell, there ain’t nothin’ a measuring tape could tell me that’d get me more jazzed than hearing that!

59

[quote]downintucson wrote:

Best thing I heard during the past few weeks was a co-worker asking “How much do you weigh now?” When I told her that I was down to 195 she replied “Oh, really? I figured you were gaining weight because your shoulders and arms look bigger and you look more like this.” She made a “V” gesture with her hands to show what “like this” meant.

Hell, there ain’t nothin’ a measuring tape could tell me that’d get me more jazzed than hearing that!

[/quote]

Ha, you can always count on clueless coworkers to be a true measure of your progress. A waitress at the resturaunt I work at asked me if I was on “the same stuff Barry Bonds took” because my shoulders were looking bigger, those comments are the best. Good look with your training.

60

[quote]Scott M wrote:

Ha, you can always count on clueless coworkers to be a true measure of your progress. [/quote]

Ha, ha. Yeah, but its fun to hear that kind of stuff. Better than the stuff I heard back when I was 240. Stuff like “Geez, no offense, but you look like shit! Do you work out anymore?” And this was from a close friend of mine.