Good question.
What seems obvious is that the massive muscles achieved by world class pro body builders is difficult to sustain long term. They all get smaller once they retire. The cost of the food and the drugs is too high, not to mention the stress on the body from extreme training, be it intensity or volume.
Yes itās so easy to lose what you gained quickly. I thought I had been making pretty good gains lately and then about two weeks ago I was feeling ill and stopped training. When I started up again about a week later I was down at least 4 reps on every exercise and worse yet I had been doing a chin a day for a few weeks and finally got my nose over the bar! Now Iām back to not even getting my head to the bar. This is when I start wondering , why bother?
Scott
Strength decreases very quickly but muscle takes a long time to go away as long as youāre natural. You could stop training for a month and still have the same level of muscle
Perhaps muscle loss during a layoff happens more rapidly as you get older?
It easily could, but Scott only referenced his strength numbers going down. So I was just trying to assure him that in that short of a time, it was likely just strength loss
What Im struggling with is dropping the weights Ive worked so hard to get to! Call it ego but it is a sense of accomplishment to see the many plates. Better than the average. Did so well on the 303030 plan. Hard to change. Do have a question, is this program better that X-Force?
Thanks!
They are close, but X-Force is better.
I have used xforceā¦and they are fantastic machines
But none of your trainees has been able to beat Hudlow in 1995, correct?
Yes. David Hudlow was smart and extremely motivated. He performed every exercise in an A+ manner.
Scary to fathom the results of Hudlow had he access to X-Force!
I agree.
Dr. Darden,
Iāve found that the main confounder with Inbody readings is water and glycogen fluctuations as well as just daily variabilityā¦. So Iāve been experimenting with formulas to compensate, taking into account that muscle is 70% water and that we tend to store 3 grams of water for every gram of glycogen we store. (Approximately)
So based on my formulas, it would indicate that during your program, I actually gained comparing start day to end day (1 day comparison) 3.48 lbs of lean tissue (but gained too much fat, from overeating)
If I compare 5 day average at beginning to 5 day average at end, the gain is 2.5 lbs of lean tissueā¦.
In my opinion, either one is pretty good for a 62 year old, training for over 40 years, with modest genetic potential.
Whether comparing 1 day or 5 day averages, this came with between 8 and 9 lbs of body fatā¦ and I take responsibility for that as your program did not advocate the kind of overfeeding I indulged in.
Iāve stopped posting on your forum, because Iām not comfortable with moderators moving my posts to other parts of the siteā¦. The moderators apparently think that I should be more open minded about other high volume approaches espoused on the site, but my interest in that site, with very few exceptions begins and ends with your forum.
Iāve moved back to more of a super slow approach, as I was not comfortable with the initial fast rep to get to the beginning of a negative, or the 10 quick reps in the middle, and in fact, began to notice joint pain at the end of the programā¦.
What I am doing is sticking to 3 traditional super slow 1010 reps, and on my fourth rep, I go to a 10 up 20 second down cadence, putting greater emphasis on a final negative, which in most cases is somewhat short of failure. I gauge whether to increase resistance if I am able to do an extra rep after this (no particular cadence for extra rep, just slow and in good form)
Since March 8, Iāve lost over 10 lbs and some of that has been lean tissue, but part of a longer term strategy, which currently involves a calorie deficit to get back to leanness that I feel better at.
Subsequently, I will create a āslightā calorie surplus, and do a program again, with the goal of gaining lean tissue with little if any fat gainā¦.
All the bestā¦
if anyone has any interest in my progress, I do have a youtube channelā¦
== Scott==
Thatās exactly how Iāve been feeling. Iām going to miss your posts, they were always something to look forward to. I donāt know where youāre going to lose that 10 pounds from, youāve looked pretty trim all along but I canāt remember seeing some comparison pose shots from the very beginning of the Darden programs to the end? Iāll look for you on YouTube!
Scott
Do I understand that in the 30-10-30 protocol then, you do a positive rep to begin the first 30 second negative rep?
Ideally no, but most have to.
I set the exercise up for such a protocol so that the first rep is a pure negative rep. Some innovation was needed to be able to do this with my exercise equipment but Iāve worked it out well.
This is an interesting side of 30 10 30 I havenāt thought much on. Iām curious if you did these modifications to have the weight already in a position to start the negative because getting it to position by cheating it up or how ever you did it caused you problems?
I usually just cheat the weight up to start the negative but that seems easy as the weight Iām using is significantly less than my I rep maximum.
Scott
I feel similarly! I will limit my posts!
I have went to the original SuperSlow published in ā The Nautilus Advanced Bodybuilding Book,ā
starting at page 82, and ending at page 91.
I add a longer concentric of up to 30 seconds, and stick to a 4 second eccentric! Eccentric emphasized repetitions cause muscle damage, and I need no DOMS at my age. I agree with Ricky, that joint pain is not acceptable anymore from any exercise program.
FYI
Your pro Hutchins rant on uTube is easily dismissed when the foremost authority with proper credentials states for the record that resistance training is not enough for proper cardiovascular conditioning. Check out Martin Gibala!
With my combo homemade Bohicalus machine that I can perform pullovers, pulldowns, leg presses, calf raises, bench presses, presses, etc. itās fairly easy to load the machine for the first negative rep. For example in the pullover, I raise the weight āstackā to the ātopā position, secure it with a 2"x4", load the barbell plates onto the weight āstackā, strap myself onto the machine, get ready to start the timer (I have two kinds) for whatever protocol Iām using, push āupā a tiny bit to drop the 2"x4" thatās holding up the weight stack, start the timer, and begin the negative rep, continue with the positive/negative reps, then finish the second negative rep and all of this while watching the timer and listening to it as well. Now with other equipment itās different. For example, doing seated dumbbell flyes: I use one of the timers that I can start using my foot but I first press the pair of dumbbells up into the starting (first negative) position, hit the timer with my foot, and begin.