hey guys, i’ve recently looked into DC training after being refered to it by one of the guys on here and have done a fair bit of research over the past few days. Anyway, just wanted your guys view. Have you tried it, and if so what did you think?
From what i’ve read i really like the principles its based on and i can imagine its an enjoyable way of training and i’m definately thinking out starting my new cycle using this method. I’d appreciate your thoughts…cheers
It’s great for guys who got stuck around 500/400/600 and tried a lot of things with little success.
IF they have a very well equipped gym (need 3 exercises per muscle-group per blast, and another 2-3 alternatives esp. for smaller stuff, and they all have to be exercises you can progress well on, that don’t bother your tendons etc too much, and so on).
Requires a lot of effort in the kitchen too.
Not recommended for people trying to get there (high intermediate level) in the first place. It’s no magic routine either. Gives great rewards, but requires way too much effort to truly make it work and keep it working in the gym and outside to be a realistic choice for most people imo.
I’ve had some of my absolute fastest overall strength gains (think what some get out of sheiko and the like for the squat… Except you get similar or faster gains on most exercises, especially the big ones, if this is done right) and bw gains on that system (they kind of go together, can’t gain strength at that rate on most exercises without forcing yourself to gain some weight). Done it for years.
Like everything else it has serious downsides, such as a major impact on how you feel outside the gym especially towards the latter half of a blast. I’d avoid it if you’re a student who parties a lot or is under a lot of stress and so on. Then again, students are rarely advanced trainees in the first place.
It has an official forum. Disregard articles and the like, they never paint a complete picture, never include the myriad of workarounds for various issues that may pop up, and usually people who learn about it from blog posts or articles end up doing stuff wrong.
Oh, and if you’re still learning about basic technique etc, then just forget about it completely.
With the proper speed of progress on that system, especially during the first few blasts, you’d just end up injured.
thanks for the response. I’m just about to finish Thibs 6 weeks to superhero and i’m looking to transition to a bodybulding program, long term. I’ve been playing around with different ideas, writing my own programs and researching stuff like Thibs HP MASS and DC. Any personal recommendations on program thats worked for you?
cheers
Something not shiny and gimmicky… I assume you are young and not on gear?
Anything that gets you strong on a good variety of exercises.
You could use some powerlifting periodization or some such on 3-4 main lifts over the week, and then do your assistance work bodybuilding style ramped/pyramided…
Pick a training frequency that’s realistic under your circumstances (both days per week and frequency per muscle-group) and that you can actually maintain for some time without crashing and burning.
What are your current lifts, bw, height, years training… And where were you at back when you started?
Don’t do it if you have significant niggles or want to cut at the same time would be my advice.
Not to be recommended for first time dads as you’re going to need to get plenty of sleep in!
And I do typically get quite down towards the end of a blast
[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
Something not shiny and gimmicky… I assume you are young and not on gear?
Anything that gets you strong on a good variety of exercises.
You could use some powerlifting periodization or some such on 3-4 main lifts over the week, and then do your assistance work bodybuilding style ramped/pyramided…
Pick a training frequency that’s realistic under your circumstances (both days per week and frequency per muscle-group) and that you can actually maintain for some time without crashing and burning.
well thankfully your european so i dont have to worry about kg to lb conversion phew…
right, i’m 25, 72kg’s, just finishing up a cut. Started off at 65kg 2.5 yrs back. Managed to put on a bit of size and bulked upto 75kg but had to cut as i got some unwanted flab around the midsection…
as far as numbers: Bench 1RM 97.5KG. Squat 1RM 115KG. Deadlift 1RM 165kg. OHP 3PM 75KG (never tried a 1RM)
started off at: Bench 70kg. Squat 70kg. Deadlift 85kg. OHP 45kg.
I’m fairly happy with my progress although like everyone who started off training i know i made shit loads of mistakes and it wasnt till i took a personal training course 12 months ago and started doing a lot of my own research/reading that i really started to understand what it takes to put on some muscle/loss fat/ eat properly etc… till then i was just going thru the motions really, using what little knowledge i got from other lifters (a lot of it misguided unfortunately)
been looking at 5/3/1, DC, thibs HP mass and just standard BB programs. Feedback is appreciated!!
[quote]dre1986 wrote:
[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
Something not shiny and gimmicky… I assume you are young and not on gear?
Anything that gets you strong on a good variety of exercises.
You could use some powerlifting periodization or some such on 3-4 main lifts over the week, and then do your assistance work bodybuilding style ramped/pyramided…
Pick a training frequency that’s realistic under your circumstances (both days per week and frequency per muscle-group) and that you can actually maintain for some time without crashing and burning.
well thankfully your european so i dont have to worry about kg to lb conversion phew…
right, i’m 25, 72kg’s, just finishing up a cut. Started off at 65kg 2.5 yrs back. Managed to put on a bit of size and bulked upto 75kg but had to cut as i got some unwanted flab around the midsection…
as far as numbers: Bench 1RM 97.5KG. Squat 1RM 115KG. Deadlift 1RM 165kg. OHP 3PM 75KG (never tried a 1RM)
started off at: Bench 70kg. Squat 70kg. Deadlift 85kg. OHP 45kg.
I’m fairly happy with my progress although like everyone who started off training i know i made shit loads of mistakes and it wasnt till i took a personal training course 12 months ago and started doing a lot of my own research/reading that i really started to understand what it takes to put on some muscle/loss fat/ eat properly etc… till then i was just going thru the motions really, using what little knowledge i got from other lifters (a lot of it misguided unfortunately)
been looking at 5/3/1, DC, thibs HP mass and just standard BB programs. Feedback is appreciated!!
[/quote]
forgot height - i’m 181cm’s also ectomporphic but you would have worked that out from my weight and height i’m sure!
Can’t go wrong with 5/3/1. Simple yet effective for both advanced and beginners. I’d save DC training for some other time IMHO.
Sorry for the many hijack, but C_C, do you not get PM’s on here? I sent one that seems to have not gotten through…
[quote]Spidey22 wrote:
Sorry for the many hijack, but C_C, do you not get PM’s on here? I sent one that seems to have not gotten through…[/quote]
I can’t reply to pm’s whether the pm function is on or off… So I turned it off ages ago to keep from getting pm’s I can’t reply to.
Check my profile information if you want to contact me.
[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
[quote]Spidey22 wrote:
Sorry for the many hijack, but C_C, do you not get PM’s on here? I sent one that seems to have not gotten through…[/quote]
I can’t reply to pm’s whether the pm function is on or off… So I turned it off ages ago to keep from getting pm’s I can’t reply to.
Check my profile information if you want to contact me.
[/quote]
Thanks, I appreciate it.
[quote]dre1986 wrote:
[quote]dre1986 wrote:
[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
Something not shiny and gimmicky… I assume you are young and not on gear?
Anything that gets you strong on a good variety of exercises.
You could use some powerlifting periodization or some such on 3-4 main lifts over the week, and then do your assistance work bodybuilding style ramped/pyramided…
Pick a training frequency that’s realistic under your circumstances (both days per week and frequency per muscle-group) and that you can actually maintain for some time without crashing and burning.
[/quote]
[/quote]
You can overhead press 75Kg for 3, but not even bench 100? Weird. Is that a seated front press or a standing military?
Anyway… With those stats you are definitely still in the beginning stage (has the upside that you can do just about anything and make progress unless you really mess up badly… And if you do things right, that progress will come at a very fast rate).
Definitely avoid DC for now, though.
Thing is, at that stage you also have a truckload of options… Can be pretty confusing… You don’t really know your body yet, technique and setup, diet… Even if you think you do, your opinion will likely change a lot in the coming few years.
Got to develop your own preferences for doing stuff, what bodyparts/exercises to train together in a session, how often to train them, how to go about getting stronger on different exercises and whatnot… What foods really work for you, digestion-wise, to fill your daily quotas…
Have any reasonably exact goals in mind? (overall goal like bodybuilding, competitively or not… powerlifting by itself or in addition to bbing… a certain look you want… Certain numbers… Whatever)
Okay, the quote function just doesn’t want to work today. Let me edit that again…
…
Yes, that’s better.
CC pretty much covered it. DC is honestly one of the most brutal programs I have tried. There were some times after my leg day (and this lasted for days some times) where you just feel BOMBED, like you are lying down and you feel like you just cannot relax, like a weight is coming down on you. Window makers are nothing to take lightly.
Not only that, but you absolutely have to be able to get in proper, growth oriented nutrition day in and day out, you simply will not survive the program if you do not. If you have not been able to stay on a consistent, results producing, weight gaining diet for AT LEAST a year, I would not recommend even considering this routine.
DC is the best thing that ever happened to me… shame I can’t do good rotations because my gym sucks.
ive tried DC twice and have finally come to the conclusion that im not ready for it. on paper it seems all fine and good but when you actually try it, you learn a lot about what you can and cant do. that being said, the principles behind DC are amazing and i incorporate them into other things. my training uses rest-pause, morning cardio, extreme stretches, and carb cut offs at 6. i also uses a lot of the DC exercises and the DC calf protocol.
[quote]dre1986 wrote:
i can imagine its an enjoyable way of training [/quote]
wrong. its all but enjoyable.
[quote]zraw wrote:
[quote]dre1986 wrote:
i can imagine its an enjoyable way of training [/quote]
wrong. its all but enjoyable.[/quote]
And that’s what makes it enjoyable, at least for me.
It’s not “enjoyable” IMHO. First, it’s great, the variety and the intensity just stunning, but after a few weeks you’ll likely to feel shit outside the gym. It happened to me at least, even though I’ve made good progress in MASS, I was too drained when I finally ended the “blast”. Funny thing that it was with 3 times per week in the gym, whereas with other method, I can easily train 7 days per week, sometimes twice a day.
So if you “love being in the gym”, or something, then it’s not for you.
Nevertheless, it’s a top of the line system, which yielded great results for a lot of people, and I like it.
Not to mention Sentoguy, who is among the most helpful and reasonable guys around here, literally has hundreds of posts on the system, so you can just read through them and decide whether it’s for you or not . And it’s certainly great from a perspective of “time spent in gym—>results”. But, as you don’t spend that much time, you have to make it worth, which is FAR MORE DEMANDING than just doing some stuff.
So, if you don’t feel ready for it, don’t do it.