Hey coach, how important to you is muscle fascia stretching? From what I’ve learned, bodybuilders should be concerned with the “deep” fascia layer. This is not best stretched like the DC training protocol would have you believe, with regular muscle elongating stretches, but more with gaining a pump.
How important is getting a pump to you after the “primary” part of your workout (where you probably maintain less than 8 reps per set)?
Coach
Before all these post I used the number of reps to determine the training effect.
Now do you going under 5 reps, even hypertrophy, so when do you recommend do ramping sets or do sets of 1, 3 or 5 reps?
Thanks
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
MAF14 wrote:
but for the masses, mainly who prefer higher reps than 5, do you believe they also would benefit more from staying in the lower rep range)?
What if the things you ‘prefer’ don’t get you optimal results? Eating cake every day is not conductive to building a great body, but I’m sure many people ‘prefer’ it to chicken and rice!
I honestly believe that lower reps yield better results. [/quote]
Same here, I feel bigger and stronger after working out with low reps than i do with high reps.
Hi CT,
I have been lifting for longer than I care to admit and in this time have built a fairly impressive physique. That said, I believe that I have become a little too thick/muscular for my proportions and would like to drop some size. I look like a bodybuilder but would prefer to look like a fighter, if that makes any sense.
My question to you is how might you structure a program that would allow one to drop and sustain a drop in muscular weight in an intelligent way?
Thanks.
[quote]Serd wrote:
Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
Serd wrote:
Hey Coach,
I’m trying to put together an Upper/Lower body split with goals to increase strength and size. However, after hours and hours of searching and reading, I cannot find or formulate of my own, a proper plan of periodization to reach my goals. I really would appreciate any of your advice. I was thinking about choosing either a traditional linear or alternating periodization model, but not sure if either is an optimal method to choose.
Thanks for your time.
Serd
I don’t believe in periodization in the traditional meaning of the term. I just did an interview with Nate Green explaining my view point, it should ‘air’ shortly.
But basically I think that any system attempting to control and predict the athlete’s physiological state for many months in advance is flawed.
Your physiological state changes from day to day, it is thus impossible to predict exactly what amount and type of training will be required to stimulate gains (basically modifiying the physiological state) and not overstress the body (especially nervous, hormonal and immune systems).
I believe that we should know where we want to get, what general plan we’ll use to get there and which methods to use for each phase. But the day to day work needs to be autoregulated to make the best use of the evolving physiological state of the athlete.
thanks Coach for your thorough reply. I have taken what you said and will be experimenting with an Undulating Periodization model for Upper/Lower body workouts.
During the periodization, would I be taking full advantage of this system by having two different upper/lower body workouts and each week devote it to a different rep scheme, or just use the Same upper/lower body workouts and use different schemes during each week.
For example:
Week 1:
Upper body workout A (6x4)
Lower body workout A (4x8)
Upper body workout B (6x4)
Lower body Workout B (4x8)
Week 2:
Upper body workout A (3x12-15)
Lower body workout A (6x4)
Upper body workout B (3x12-15)
Lower body workout B (6x4)
Week 3:
Upper body Workout A (4x8)
Lower body Workout A (3x12-15)
Upper body Workout B (4x8)
Lower body Workout B (3x12-15)
or…
With the same upper/lower body workouts:
Week 1:
Upper body A (6x4)
Lower body A (4x8)
Upper body A (again…) (6x4)
Lower body A (again…) (4x8)
Then Week 2: Do a different rep scheme for the same two upper/lower body workouts.
Thanks CT.
[/quote]
Im going to do an Upper/Lower routine again starting tomorrow, and this was appealing to me with the rep scheme. I do most compound exercises in my routine, and referring to (6x4) if i did that for each body part wouldn’t that be to much heavy lifting for one workout? That’d be nearly 30sets of heavy lifting, or is there something im not seeing?
Hey coach,
ive got a couple of questions,
firstly, if i go to the gym and am feeling weak ( e.g a weight i can usually do 5 times i only manage twice)
Should i call it a day or lower the weight or use more volume, what should my approach be?
It really gets me down when a weight i lifted last week for like 5-6 reps feels 10lb heavier and i can barely move it twice…
Secondly, im weak and small you could say, but my chest is REALLY lagging… If i was to compare myself to people from my school, my arms/legs/shoulders/back are average or above of people who workout, but my chest is about as big or SMALLER than people who have NEVER touched a weight before.
How can i fix this… i know this sounds stupid me asking at such a small size, and most people would just say GO BUILD SOME MUSCLE then talk about lagging bodyparts… but id really like to hear your opinion on this
Thanks alot!
When doing dumbbell curls (or any curls, but mostly dumbbell), I notice in order to do more weight, my elbow moves (bringing in the front deltoid). Is this an okay way to curl or is keeping elbows pinned to the sides better for maximum bicep growth?
Thank you.
[quote]kaoticz wrote:
Hey coach,
ive got a couple of questions,
firstly, if i go to the gym and am feeling weak ( e.g a weight i can usually do 5 times i only manage twice)
Should i call it a day or lower the weight or use more volume, what should my approach be?
It really gets me down when a weight i lifted last week for like 5-6 reps feels 10lb heavier and i can barely move it twice…
I’m also curious to this question coach, last week I could feel I was getting a bit sick (feeling drained, bit dull feeling behind the eyes, lack of motivation and enthusiasm to go to gym), and i usuaslly am at the gym 6times a week, so i stopped cardio for the week and just kept lifting weights, took yesterday off and today I am so still feeling drained and tired, and I don’t want to not train but I have decided to take today off again to rest, is this the best option coach? the guilty feeling is the worst bit of taking a day off from the iron
Hey CT,
I just wanted your opinion on what you think would be the best way to go to be the strongest on my lifts:
Option 1: ramping weight starting at 60% of max for 5 reps
A1) Front Squats
rest
A2) BB RDL
B1) Weighted bulgarian squats
rest
B2) Leg curls
Option 2: ramping up weight starting with 60% of max for 5 reps.
A) Front squat
B) BB RDL
C1)Weighted Bulgarian Squat
rest
C2)Leg Curl
I was thinking option 2 would be better because there are some of the same muscles working in the compound hip dominant and compound quad dominant exercises.
Thanks for your time,
teebone2223
or would
[quote]Mr.Martian wrote:
Coach,
I have been utilizing a total body approach/upper lower split, but would like to give split training a try.
I know you stated that split is probably the least important thing and that you have no specific split mainly because it depends on you’re focusing on.
However, say I didn’t “want” to specialize anything at the moment, as split training is new to me. How would you group muscles going with 4 day split?
How would you break down the day ? In other words,say you were doing Chest/Back; would you pick a compound movement followed by 1 or 2 secondary lifts for each muscle group?
Thanks,
MM[/quote]
DAY 1. Horizontal push and pull
DAY 2. Legs quads dominant
DAY 3. Vertical push and pull
DAY 4. Legs hams dominant
[quote]michell wrote:
Coach
Before all these post I used the number of reps to determine the training effect.
Now do you going under 5 reps, even hypertrophy, so when do you recommend do ramping sets or do sets of 1, 3 or 5 reps?
Thanks
[/quote]
Hard to answer. When going for size the bulk of my work is in the 3 and 5 ramping reps.
I go to 1 mostly when training for strength.
Depending on my approach I will use 3s, 5s and 7s differently.
For example, if I decide to only use one exercise per muscle group I will obviously do more sets. So sometimes I will go through 5s and 3s for the same exercise.
For example:
Let’s say that my max bench is 425. I might do:
135lbs x 3 (feel set)
185lbs x 3 (feel set)
225lbs x 1 (feel set)
245lbs x 1 (feel set)
255lbs x 5
275lbs x 5
290lbs x 5
310lbs x 5
330lbs x 5
350lbs x 3
370lbs x 3
390lbs x 3
400lbs x 3
Sometimes I will use 3s for the primary exercise, 5s for the secondary one and 7s for the tertiary. Sometimes I stick to 3s or 5s for all the exercises.
[quote]kaoticz wrote:
Hey coach,
ive got a couple of questions,
firstly, if i go to the gym and am feeling weak ( e.g a weight i can usually do 5 times i only manage twice)
Should i call it a day or lower the weight or use more volume, what should my approach be?
It really gets me down when a weight i lifted last week for like 5-6 reps feels 10lb heavier and i can barely move it twice…
Secondly, im weak and small you could say, but my chest is REALLY lagging… If i was to compare myself to people from my school, my arms/legs/shoulders/back are average or above of people who workout, but my chest is about as big or SMALLER than people who have NEVER touched a weight before.
How can i fix this… i know this sounds stupid me asking at such a small size, and most people would just say GO BUILD SOME MUSCLE then talk about lagging bodyparts… but id really like to hear your opinion on this
Thanks alot![/quote]
I can give you zero advice in this regard if you don’t give me at least a general idea of how you train.
[quote]Loui.s wrote:
When doing dumbbell curls (or any curls, but mostly dumbbell), I notice in order to do more weight, my elbow moves (bringing in the front deltoid). Is this an okay way to curl or is keeping elbows pinned to the sides better for maximum bicep growth?
Thank you.[/quote]
It’s okay when going super heavy, mostly allowing a small cheat in order to bypass the weak point (kinda like a push press bypassing the weak point in a shoulder press motion). But most of the time I would avoid that, which is why I personally rely mostly on the preacher/scott curl variations.
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
michell wrote:
Coach
Before all these post I used the number of reps to determine the training effect.
Now do you going under 5 reps, even hypertrophy, so when do you recommend do ramping sets or do sets of 1, 3 or 5 reps?
Thanks
Hard to answer. When going for size the bulk of my work is in the 3 and 5 ramping reps.
I go to 1 mostly when training for strength.
Depending on my approach I will use 3s, 5s and 7s differently.
For example, if I decide to only use one exercise per muscle group I will obviously do more sets. So sometimes I will go through 5s and 3s for the same exercise.
For example:
Let’s say that my max bench is 425. I might do:
135lbs x 3 (feel set)
185lbs x 3 (feel set)
225lbs x 1 (feel set)
245lbs x 1 (feel set)
255lbs x 5
275lbs x 5
290lbs x 5
310lbs x 5
330lbs x 5
350lbs x 3
370lbs x 3
390lbs x 3
400lbs x 3
Sometimes I will use 3s for the primary exercise, 5s for the secondary one and 7s for the tertiary. Sometimes I stick to 3s or 5s for all the exercises.[/quote]
I was wondering - how different is the effect on strength when training with 1,2,3,4,5s ?
Is the difference between 2 and 3s significant for example ?
Do you need more volume with 2s (smaller jumps in ramp) ?
More for strength than for size is it better to train 1-3s than 3-5s ?
CT,
Today im starting a 4 day split, was thinking of an upper/lower. Is there one you recommend, sorry if you posted this before. And i was wondering if you can do ramping on an upper/lower split, which i am still a bit confused on. My bench max is 205, squat 315x2 -parallel, deadlift not sure. But can i still use your rep scheme? Is there an actual chart for ramping?
[quote]Addict3d wrote:
CT,
Today im starting a 4 day split, was thinking of an upper/lower. Is there one you recommend, sorry if you posted this before. [/quote]
Didn’t he just answer this a couple of hours ago? Maybe I am missing something.
[quote]jolopez wrote:
Addict3d wrote:
CT,
Today im starting a 4 day split, was thinking of an upper/lower. Is there one you recommend, sorry if you posted this before.
Didn’t he just answer this a couple of hours ago? Maybe I am missing something.
[/quote]
Yea I dont know how I missed it, sorry CT. But can I still use his ramping system on the routine he posted earlier which was this…
DAY 1. Horizontal push and pull
DAY 2. Legs quads dominant
DAY 3. Vertical push and pull
DAY 4. Legs hams dominant
CT,
I have really enjoyed reading your thoughts on ramping, the technique has totally changed the way I train.
In the past I warmed up by ramping then settled on the same weight for all work sets, I now recognise how this was far from optimal.
I also found your Skinny-Legs Cure article and want to follow it as my next legs program.
My question is, how should I ramp the weight up through the specified 4 and 3 work sets for squats, deadlifts and lunges? And is ramping relevant to mechanical drop sets?
Do I start the 1st work set at 60% of 1RM? Or use another (lower) percentage?
It should be the aim to finish the 4th set with the heaviest possible weight and be able to complete the reps, right?
I read the discussion thread and you answered a question on loading by saying,
“Start with a weight that you can do for 1-2 more reps than prescribed in the first movement. For example, if the set calls for 6 front squats, 6 close-stance back squats and 6 wide-stance back squat, use a weight that is around your 7-8RM on the front squat.”
Is this referring to the weight in the last set?
In the past I would have read this as implying start the first work set in this manner, wrong?
I realise the article is a year old and you said that your techniques and ideas are always evolving so is it a program you believe is still optimal?
Thanks for your time, your training knowledge is much appreciated.
Coach, any inkling on when “I, BODYBUILDER” will be released to the public? Just curious. Thanks.
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
Loui.s wrote:
When doing dumbbell curls (or any curls, but mostly dumbbell), I notice in order to do more weight, my elbow moves (bringing in the front deltoid). Is this an okay way to curl or is keeping elbows pinned to the sides better for maximum bicep growth?
Thank you.
It’s okay when going super heavy, mostly allowing a small cheat in order to bypass the weak point (kinda like a push press bypassing the weak point in a shoulder press motion). But most of the time I would avoid that, which is why I personally rely mostly on the preacher/scott curl variations.[/quote]
Are there any other acceptable cheats?
Thank you.