Beings that the workouts are extremely short and the volume of the program is not very high, a complex drink meant to spark anabolism and shut down catabolism is not necessary. Simply consuming a basic MRP, such as Classic GROW, both prior to and following your workout will cover all the bases. This is what I do, and it works fine, especially when dieting. The same goes for the HIIT sessions.
Now, when bulking, I’d still recommend shorter, more frequent sessions; however, you’d need to supplement w/ SURGE or something similar because the volume of each session would be much higher given a higher set/rep scheme. Also, the major goal of weight training when bulking is to induce hypertrophy, as to opposed to a fat loss cycle where the goal is to increase strength and maintain LBM.
3-4 weekly HIIT sessions conducted in the AM; every other day should suffice.
Again, I like to keep the sessions short by using work:rest ratios of 1:1/2 or 1:1. Beings that the goal is fat loss and not strictly anaerobic performance (although there will def be both aerobic and anaerobic carryover), those ratios are more than fine.
I had similar troubles with knees and ankles that caused me to avoid HIIT on the treadmill. Instead, I used the Eliptical utilizing the same protocol as HIIT. While the workout may not be as intense as on the track or treadmill, I found that by going to 25 minutes instead of the 15 that I had an exhausting workout(using 1:3 work/rest ratio). Hope this helps you.
I have been using this new program with a lot better success than the previous one and really enjoy it. I have been mixing in abs on the leg days, and adding in 20 minutes of rowing intervals following the upper body days with nice results. I was wondering how long you think someone could go on this without mixing things up. I had been doing your older version for about 2 weeks, then i took a three weeks of for graduatioon, got back on the new program and have gone through that about 6 times and I am about to go on vacation for a week again. I am wondering if I should stay with 5x5 program only change up some of the exersizes or if it would be time to move onto a different type of program.
Day 1-Quad Dom Legs, Back, calves
Day 2-Chest, Bi’s, Tris
Day 3-Hip Dom Legs, Shoulders
Do one compound lift per listed bodypart(squat, bench press, etc.); alternate the first 2 bodyparts on day 1 and day 2; do your workouts on Mon, Tues, Wed, & Fri; Take off Thurs, Sat, Sun, and just rotate the days.
This is very similar to a program that Joel helped me set up, and it worked very well. He may have something to add as well, but I figured I’d give you something to look at.
What do you think about doing a mag- 10 cycle combined with RR&D? Im just finishing up Meltdown and am about ready to start bulking. Sorry if this question has already been asked. Thanks for any help you can provide!
If you are going to go w/ Mag10, bump the volume up to 10x5 instead of 5x5. You’ll need significantly more volume to maximize your gains if doing this as a bulking program. Having said that, keep everything else the same and you should experience some nice size AND strength gains.
I don’t think Joel would mind me posting his reccomendations for using this as a bulking routine. I’m going to start doing this myself.
I asked him:
Since I’m BULKING not CUTTING, would it be wise to do your routine M-F, and instead of the 5x5 utilize a 10x5 scheme? What kind of load would be good if I was shooting for 10x5? And would I do it just like a 5x5, only increasing the weight each week once I hit all 5 reps on all 10 sets?
He responded:
Your reps will inevitbly drop off when performing 10 sets. Therefore, I recommend that you increase the weight if you perform more than 37 total repetitions. A 6RM should work fine. Maybe a 7RM is your performance really starts to drop off in the latter sets. Regardless, if you perform more than 37 reps, you’re okay.
Since my 6RM is around 145-150lbs, I’m going to probably use 145lbs and try to keep the weight constant for all 10 sets on bench.
Although Joel didn’t specify when to INCREASE the weight, I think I’ll do so once I can complete atleast 6-7 sets with 5 good reps. I think if I waited long enough so that I ended up getting 10 sets of 5, it would be too long without increasing the load. What do you guys think?
My bad, I thought you meant that if I couldn’t perform 37reps, the weight was too high (similar to when Poliquin says the weight is too heavy in a 5x5 if you can’t complete 14 reps)
I’ll take that into consideration tomorrow. I love high sets, low reps, so this should be fun.