New Training Questions

Christian_Thibaudeau · September 11, 2009, 11:42am

[quote]Loui.s wrote:

How long did it take you to get to the 315/275 bench initially?
[/quote]

I started training when I was 14, but only trained legs (seriously… I was a receiver at that point in my career and assumed that I only needed strong legs) for the first year, year and half.

At 15 I started training upper body and I bench pressed 235lbs around 10 months later. Then it took me roughly a year to climb up to 265.

When I stopped playing football I started competing in olympic lifting and did basically no direct upper body work, except for military and push presses, for 5 years (ok maybe a few sets here and there every few months). Then I trained more for strength, wanting to compete in powerlifting. So I started to use what looked like a Westside template.

Oddly enough I did my best olympic lifting when I stopped training on those lifts and trained with bands and did speed work!

Then I decided to drop the fat and switched to more of a bodybuilding mindset, but I always kept on training much like a powerlifter.

Rocky101 · September 11, 2009, 12:25pm

CT,
How would you go about correcting/activating the medial and posterior delt. This is a major weak area for me, and am not sure the best way to bring up this lagging body part. I have always read that the medial delt is slow twitch and using low reps isn’t the best way to bring them up.

MAF14 · September 11, 2009, 2:34pm

[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]

thank you. i was just wondering if there was any certain reason that you responded better to lower reps than any other individual(excluding those who are dominantly slow-twitch)

Christian_Thibaudeau · September 11, 2009, 4:21pm

[quote]Rocky101 wrote:
CT,
How would you go about correcting/activating the medial and posterior delt. This is a major weak area for me, and am not sure the best way to bring up this lagging body part. I have always read that the medial delt is slow twitch and using low reps isn’t the best way to bring them up.[/quote]

I used to believe in doing higher reps for slow-twitch dominant muscles. But in light of the knowledge I have accumulated over the past months it is obvious to me that this is a wrong approach. If anything you should include more explosive or low reps work for the lateral (not medial) and posterior heads of the deltoids.

To better isolate these heads, lean forward slightly when doing lateral raises and make sure that at the top your pinkies are higher than your thumbs.

Thy1 · September 11, 2009, 4:51pm

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
Loui.s wrote:

How long did it take you to get to the 315/275 bench initially?

I started training when I was 14, but only trained legs (seriously… I was a receiver at that point in my career and assumed that I only needed strong legs) for the first year, year and half.

At 15 I started training upper body and I bench pressed 235lbs around 10 months later. Then it took me roughly a year to climb up to 265.

When I stopped playing football I started competing in olympic lifting and did basically no direct upper body work, except for military and push presses, for 5 years (ok maybe a few sets here and there every few months). Then I trained more for strength, wanting to compete in powerlifting. So I started to use what looked like a Westside template.

Oddly enough I did my best olympic lifting when I stopped training on those lifts and trained with bands and did speed work!

Then I decided to drop the fat and switched to more of a bodybuilding mindset, but I always kept on training much like a powerlifter.[/quote]

This is crazy how some people can be strong enough at young age so fast. Many people I’ve seen start out with the weight that I needed about a year to come to. And overcome my strength in no time.

Although my first coach was an old-school bodybuilder, besides having me do triceps kickbacks, with my top bench being 45 kg for 6-8 reps and other stupid stuff, he had some good general principles like always ramping up the weight and mixing 8-12 rep cycles with 5-6 rep cycles.

I started out at 17 and I never missed a workout in a year and worked to my limit at every workout, every exercise. I didn’t even think much about working intensely, it came naturally, like “why go to the gym if you don’t work hard ?”. But despite my work ethics, I struggled to bench 80-85 kg for like 2 years. Even now , 3 years since I started, I can only bench 95 kg at 65 kg bodyweight. My diet is not perfect in quantity, but I always eat at least 3 big (for my size) quality meals a day. I’m totally not born to be strong above average level.

I have a friend that is the opposite. He started out having natural 85-90 kg chubby weight, while being the same height as me (5’7’ - 5’8’). He has thick wrists, knees, elbows, etc… born to be strong. He was training with an idiotic routine - 4x10 at bench, then 4x10 at incline bench with the same weight. Over and over again, for months. He started with 50 kg, easily went up in weight every week. After 3 months - 90 kg 4x10. After 5 months - 110 kg 4x10. Then he decided to compete in bench press competitions and took advice from a local powerlifter. Result : 150 kg x 1, total training time : 6 months. No supplements and no diet.

Forgive if this was inadequate to post this here, just wanted to share my thoughts.

baldadonis2002 · September 11, 2009, 6:39pm

Having sex right before lifting …good…bad? curious if it matters

ThorsHammer · September 11, 2009, 6:43pm

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
Rocky101 wrote:
CT,
How would you go about correcting/activating the medial and posterior delt. This is a major weak area for me, and am not sure the best way to bring up this lagging body part. I have always read that the medial delt is slow twitch and using low reps isn’t the best way to bring them up.

I used to believe in doing higher reps for slow-twitch dominant muscles. But in light of the knowledge I have accumulated over the past months it is obvious to me that this is a wrong approach. If anything you should include more explosive or low reps work for the lateral (not medial) and posterior heads of the deltoids.

To better isolate these heads, lean forward slightly when doing lateral raises and make sure that at the top your pinkies are higher than your thumbs.[/quote]

Thib,

Do you find that those advocating higher reps for lateral raises, in part because of “safety,” are somewhat misguided in that even low reps are relatively safe to perform when executed with textbook form and a weight that is properly selected and not a bit excessive on account of ego and funky mechanics?

Heck, compound movements often get touted as safer with low reps, because you’re 100-percent dialed in, whereas higher reps can leave you open to getting sloppy later in the set. Do you think that the relative safety of lower reps can also apply to isolation moves like laterals when form is spot on and the loads for low reps are challenging but not ego-driven?

I also wanted to ask another question related to torso and hand position with laterals. While I know that Eric Cressey’s work is not bodybuilding-focused, he seems to prefer “lateral” raises in the scapular plane and with the thumbs up if this lift is to be performed at all, so as to give the joint optimal positioning and the tendons of the RC muscles plenty of “breathing” room. Not that technique certainly seems to spare the shoulder joints, but it also doesn’t maximally focus on the lateral delts. Is there any inherent long-term risk from executing lateral raises with a slight forward lean and pinkies higher than thumbs, or would this not pose an issue for most guys?

IAgainstI · September 11, 2009, 7:00pm

Hey Coach. One of the articles you were featured in suggested this type of routine:

Mondays: Quad Dominant/Calves
Tuesdays: Upper Body Pull
Thursdays: Hips/Ham Dominant
Friday: Upper Body Push

I also mixed up some ballistic exercises in some of the workouts as well to hopefully maximize gains as stated in one of Nate Green’s articles featuring you.

Monday: Jump Squats between sets of Front Squats (6x4).
Single Leg Squats - 2x8 each leg
Narrow Leg Press - 3x6
Seated calf raises - 3x10

Tuesday: Power Cleans - 4x3
Pull-Ups/Chin-Ups Variation Cycle - BWx2 cycles
Rack Pulls - 3x6-8
Face Pulls - 3x8-10
Iso Dynamic rows - 2x6 reps. (starting from 10 second olds decreasing by 2 seconds each rep)

Thursday: Box Squat - Warm-Up + 2x4
Romanian Deadlift - 3x5
Glute Ham Raise - 3x8
Hamstring Leg Curl - 3x6-8

Friday: Explosive Barbell Bench between DB Bench sets - 4x6-8
Incline Barbell - 3x5-6
Floor Press - 2x6
DB Shoulder Press - 3x12-15
Dips - 2x6

I know it’s a lot to look at but how’s it lookin? I incorporated a lot of your suggestions from articles and put together that.

Gymjunkie · September 12, 2009, 6:19am

Hi Coach,

Not an easy question, but for an athlete that can train twice a day and goal is fat loss/muscle preservation, how would you set up their training, in a nutshell?

I.e Heavy CNS act. AM work, Lactic Acid PM work?

Thanks,
GJ

gojira · September 12, 2009, 12:58pm

Chris,

How tall are you, and how much do you weigh? How long were you a competitive Olympic lifter. How long ago was that?

Thanks

Christian_Thibaudeau · September 12, 2009, 3:36pm

[quote]gojira wrote:
Chris,

How tall are you, and how much do you weigh? How long were you a competitive Olympic lifter. How long ago was that?

Thanks[/quote]

My favorite color is silver and I like long walks on the beach… what the heck, this is a TRAINING questions and answer forum!!!

gojira · September 12, 2009, 4:33pm

Well Chris, I wonder because your profile states that you are 215 and 10 % bodyfat, yet the I, Bodybuilder article claims that you gained 27 pounds of muscle in six weeks. Then there is the profile from when you were an olympic lifter that claimed that you were 217 pounds and 10% body fat (which was later corrected by you to be 18%, because of poor measurement technique). This was the pre-T-Nation-shave-your entire-body-days.

So, I’m having a little problem with the math here.

So here’s my training question: what is the truth here? What was your weight pre-I bodybuilder, and what is your weight now? Where did the 27 pounds go? Are you 240 now? And can you point to some peer reviewed scientific articles that explains how the rules of stoichiometry and rate of protein synthesis can be defeated?

(Be careful, there are teenagers that look up to you reading this.)

Look, I admire athletes, especially Olympic lifters. It’s a tough sport with little to no glory (hell, they don’t even show it on television during the Olympics). But please, I’m appealing to your sense of responsibility for your actions and the products you endorse; a little clarification here.

Gojira

Goodfellow · September 12, 2009, 4:53pm

Hey thibs,

This is a bit of an awkward question, but I’m sure a lot of trainee’s end up in my position.

I’ve only been training seriously for 7-8 months, I’m 20 years old, 5’8", 186lbs.

I consider myself weak (315lb squat (4 reps), 225lb bench (4 reps), 335lb deadlift (4 reps)). I’m also kinda chubby (15-17% bodyfat, lovehandles).

This leaves me in a dilemma, how do I keep on increasing my strength to decent levels and get rid of my love handles?

This is why I said it was an awkward question, I’d like to know what you would do in such a situation.

Such I just keep eating healthy and training hard, and hope that results follow?

Thanks.

mmafan · September 12, 2009, 6:05pm

Hey Christian,

Could you give me an example of how you use the cns activation and then the stimulation work on an upper body workout?

forbes · September 12, 2009, 6:40pm

[quote]gojira wrote:
Well Chris, I wonder because your profile states that you are 215 and 10 % bodyfat, yet the I, Bodybuilder article claims that you gained 27 pounds of muscle in six weeks. Then there is the profile from when you were an olympic lifter that claimed that you were 217 pounds and 10% body fat (which was later corrected by you to be 18%, because of poor measurement technique). This was the pre-T-Nation-shave-your entire-body-days.

So, I’m having a little problem with the math here.
[/quote]

It’s called people change over time! He probably hasn’t updated his profile in some time. Obviously as his knowledge grew over time, he has been able to apply it and experience different changes in body comp over time.

Damn it, I used the word “time” too much!

Christian_Thibaudeau · September 12, 2009, 7:47pm

[quote]mmafan wrote:
Hey Christian,

Could you give me an example of how you use the cns activation and then the stimulation work on an upper body workout?[/quote]

There are several ways of doing so. And I don’t like to give specific examples because in the past people would assume that they were actual workout recommendations, not an example.

To give you an idea…

ACTIVATION TECHNIQUES:

explosive lifting (includes the early sets of a regular exercise when ramping up the weight)
Twitch reps
Blast isometrics
Lifts from the stretch-relax position (pushing, pulling, squatting from pins)
variations of the olympic lifts
Jumps and throws

These techniques can be used at the beginner of the workout, for the muscle to be trained (works best if you are only training one muscle group OR using a powerlifting approach where ypu focus on one lift) or contrasted with regular exercises (one activation, one stimulation, one activation, one stimulation… always ramping up the weight).

Christian_Thibaudeau · September 12, 2009, 7:49pm

[quote]Goodfellow wrote:
Hey thibs,

This is a bit of an awkward question, but I’m sure a lot of trainee’s end up in my position.

I’ve only been training seriously for 7-8 months, I’m 20 years old, 5’8", 186lbs.

I consider myself weak (315lb squat (4 reps), 225lb bench (4 reps), 335lb deadlift (4 reps)). I’m also kinda chubby (15-17% bodyfat, lovehandles).

This leaves me in a dilemma, how do I keep on increasing my strength to decent levels and get rid of my love handles?

This is why I said it was an awkward question, I’d like to know what you would do in such a situation.

Such I just keep eating healthy and training hard, and hope that results follow?

Thanks.
[/quote]

From my experience, gaining a lot of muscle while losing a lot of fat is rarely doable. However gaining strength while losing fat IS doable if you don’t restrict energetic nutrients too much, lose weight gradually and train focusing on the nervous system.

Christian_Thibaudeau · September 12, 2009, 8:08pm

[quote]gojira wrote:
Well Chris, I wonder because your profile states that you are 215 and 10 % bodyfat, yet the I, Bodybuilder article claims that you gained 27 pounds of muscle in six weeks. Then there is the profile from when you were an olympic lifter that claimed that you were 217 pounds and 10% body fat (which was later corrected by you to be 18%, because of poor measurement technique). This was the pre-T-Nation-shave-your entire-body-days.

So, I’m having a little problem with the math here.

So here’s my training question: what is the truth here? What was your weight pre-I bodybuilder, and what is your weight now? Where did the 27 pounds go? Are you 240 now? And can you point to some peer reviewed scientific articles that explains how the rules of stoichiometry and rate of protein synthesis can be defeated?

(Be careful, there are teenagers that look up to you reading this.)

Look, I admire athletes, especially Olympic lifters. It’s a tough sport with little to no glory (hell, they don’t even show it on television during the Olympics). But please, I’m appealing to your sense of responsibility for your actions and the products you endorse; a little clarification here.

Gojira
[/quote]

My weight and bodyfat fluctuated throughout the years. From a low of 182lbs (for one olympic lifting contest… in which I bombed) up to a high of 255lbs (when I got back from the olympia and stupidly decided to bulk). During those times my bodyfat also went from a low of 4% (bodybuilding contest) to a high of close to 18% (another olympic lifting contest… I was 230 and this was actually the same year as when I dropped down to 182lbs).

I really didn’t map out my bodyfat and bodyweight in a journal. And as I mentionned it fluctuated wildly during a year (e.g. being 182 with sub 10% and 230 and close to 20% the same year… not that many months appart).

I obviously have a better recollection of what happened this year.

I did reach a high of 242lbs during my I, BODYBUILDER experiment (the article only mentions 239). In the I’ BODYBUILDER preview video I was 234 and that was actually 2 weeks after the conclusion of my experiment. I was 215 (which is my normal ‘most of the year’ weight) before the experiment.

Immediately after I reached 242 I decided to lose weight because I had health problems at that weight due to a heart birth defect that was diagnosed last year.

For a month after the IBB experiment I ate only once or twice per day, didn’t take any supplements so that I could drop from 242 down to 215lbs which is the probably the heaviest weight where I still feel good.

To give you an idea, the pics used in the IBB article were shot 4 weeks after the conclusion of the experiment and I was down to 224.

When I was in Colorado ago to film the demo workouts (we were there 4 weeks) I actually dropped down to 202lbs, again mostly because I didn’t eat more than a fitness chick!

I really felt great at that weight and was super lean. But when I got back home, I suddenly had the desire to be big again and decided to regain size, but at a more manageable rate this time, to avoid shocking my body. Right now I’m 221 and since I still have a six pack I’m under 10%

BTW, you really can’t make me feel bad or pressure me into telling the truth ‘because of all the teenagers who look up to me’ because I know that I never misguided individuals and always try to be truthful.

Show you studies? Just because something has never been observed in a lab setting doesn’t mean that it can’t happen. I didn’t make claims myself, I only reported my own evolution. Heck, I didn’t even want to gain weight when I started the experiment… the supplement protocol was designed mostly to help me recover because I felt burned out. When the weight started pilling up I told myself ‘let’s see where that will lead me’. That’s the honest to God true story.

Thy1 · September 12, 2009, 8:25pm

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
gojira wrote:
Well Chris, I wonder because your profile states that you are 215 and 10 % bodyfat, yet the I, Bodybuilder article claims that you gained 27 pounds of muscle in six weeks. Then there is the profile from when you were an olympic lifter that claimed that you were 217 pounds and 10% body fat (which was later corrected by you to be 18%, because of poor measurement technique). This was the pre-T-Nation-shave-your entire-body-days.