Physique Clinic discussion for USCTrojan619

Training Bodybuilding
241

[quote]USCTrojan619 wrote:
Patriek wrote:
Btw, are there any people here with almost thesame body as USCTrojan619, but don’t have the “ecto” metabolism?

At my age, I don’t think I have an “ecto” metabolism anymore either. I certainly think its a lot better than other people my age, but I also know that it has slowed down a little from a few years back–the birth of my “love handles”. Haha!

[/quote]

This is not due to a slow metabolism but to bad eating habits.

From what I saw your diet:

  1. Was too high in sugar/carbs especially compared to your protein and fat intake.

  2. Had too much time between meals, this screws up insulin sensitivity and lead to fat storage in the “insulin” sites, most notably the love handles.

  3. Just overall bad food choices.

242

Hey Trojan,

Kudos on your positive attitude in the face of this daunting body transformation challenge while fighting a nasty bug and not missing a beat with your daily educational & family obligations. Even more on your humorous and riveting journal and writing skills. You have a lot of passion locked up in that compact frame. I hope you can maintain adequate sleep to maximize results and lose that pesky cold so that your body can laser focus its resources on recovery and growth.

I have faith in you. Your gumption is inspiring!

I intend to start mirroring your training regimen tomorrow. I know there is a world of pain in store for me, but I will endeavor to hold myself to the work ethic you have demonstrated when I am tested.

Godspeed.

243

Hey USC,

Dude! You STILL have that cold? Man… Wait til you workout without it, you’ll feel like a monster.

Ever ask Thibs if he had any suggestions about that? I’m just wondering if I missed that somewhere…

244

USC

I need some help here.

I’m not sure I’m doing this exercise correctly. I tried to follow the instructions below, but either this is supposed to be such a different experience from what I was expecting or I am totally performing it wrong.

What do you experience when you do this?

I am trying to go for the right feeling to get the correct results.

Your insight is much appreciated!

[quote]
I cut and pasted this from your Physique Clinic thread:
USCTrojan619 wrote:
Lastly, I’m familiar with all the exercises except for the Barbell top half press in power rack. I found this description online:

“Power rack half press. Position an inclined bench in a power rack. The barbells starting position is at hair level. With elbows pointing outward, hold the barbell at shoulder length. Raise it up, extending your elbows.”

Is that correct? Do you have any links to pics or videos of this exercise?

Coach replied:
Not on an incline, it’s a flat bench. It’s simple… it’s just the last half of a regular bench. You put the bench in the power rack and the safety pins are set so that when the bar is resting on the pins your elbows are at around 135 degrees. You start each rep from the safety pins and press to arms length.

You had this follow-up question to Coach:
Coach Thibs, I saw that the rep range for this exercise was 3, 2, 1. Does that mean I want to load up the weight so that for the first set, I can only do 3 reps, the second set, only 2 reps, and the last set, only 1 rep?

And Coach replied with:
Yes, although this is a potentiation exercise, not a building exercise. So even if you are not using your absolute maximum, it’s fine.

You replied:
I’m getting pretty adept at setting up the power rack (which is also a first for me). I’ve come to enjoy the potentiation exercises a lot. I’ve actually done 3 reps per set. Coach Thibs, let me know if I shouldn’t be doing this. I know you told me their purpose is not for muscle-building.

Coach replied:
The purpose is to activate the nervous system. The closer you go to your maximum, the more effective the exercise will be. JUST FOLLOW THE D**M DIRECTIONS WILL YA! [/quote]

245

[quote]Black Cat wrote:
Hey Trojan,

Kudos on your positive attitude in the face of this daunting body transformation challenge while fighting a nasty bug and not missing a beat with your daily educational & family obligations. Even more on your humorous and riveting journal and writing skills. You have a lot of passion locked up in that compact frame. I hope you can maintain adequate sleep to maximize results and lose that pesky cold so that your body can laser focus its resources on recovery and growth.

I have faith in you. Your gumption is inspiring!

I intend to start mirroring your training regimen tomorrow. I know there is a world of pain in store for me, but I will endeavor to hold myself to the work ethic you have demonstrated when I am tested.

Godspeed.[/quote]

Black Cat,

Good luck. This is no walk in the park at all. I know many on here have been eating well, and working out regularly for a long time now, so for them, the adjustment may not be all that difficult. Its been almost a year since I’ve had any kind of regimen both in diet and exercise, and it was really hard to get used to things. That first week can really break you if you’re not strong. Its critical to stay away from those “poisonous” people at this time that don’t understand, or can’t support your goals.

Stick with it. When you’re in the gym, and just don’t feel like doing anything, just remind yourself of your goals. Don’t be frustrated that you’re not lifting as heavy as everyone else; just perform within your abilities. And when you eat, go past your comfort zone. For us skinny guys, that’s the only way to get past it. The diet is even harder than the workout. But they work in conjunction w/ each other.

The harder you work in the gym, the easier it will be for you to eat because your body will learn what to do with all that food. The second week of eating is already better than the first because of this reason alone. In essence, my metabolism is being re-tuned, and you can literally sense/feel it.

Good luck, and hearing you guys stay strong on this end keeps me strong.

246

[quote]mithious wrote:
Hey USC,

Dude! You STILL have that cold? Man… Wait til you workout without it, you’ll feel like a monster.

Ever ask Thibs if he had any suggestions about that? I’m just wondering if I missed that somewhere…[/quote]

Yeah, bro. Colds tend to stick with me for a while. They always have. Coughs are always the last thing to rear its ugly head when I have a cold, and stay with me the longest. It probably doesn’t help that this has been my first cold/sickness of any kind this year, and it hit me pretty hard that first week.

247

[quote]T-Man Ohio wrote:
USC

I need some help here.

I’m not sure I’m doing this exercise correctly. I tried to follow the instructions below, but either this is supposed to be such a different experience from what I was expecting or I am totally performing it wrong.

What do you experience when you do this?

I am trying to go for the right feeling to get the correct results.

Your insight is much appreciated!
[/quote]

T-Man,

I don’t think I go for a feeling when I do this exercise. I just do as coach says and lift as heavy as possible in the given range, and stick to the 3, 2, 1 rep range. I’ve never done any kind of potentiation exercise before, so I’m new to this as well.

I just know at this time last year, I was only throwing 25s, maybe 35s on each side of the BB on the regular flat bench BB press, and that’s it. Yeah, I’m only doing 155 total now, but I couldn’t imagine already doing this within my 2nd week last year, and also trying to do it to failure multiple times. Its already past my own body weight as well.

I know others have also said it helped them get a better range of motion on the actual exercise itself.

248

[quote]USCTrojan619 wrote:
mithious wrote:
Hey USC,

Dude! You STILL have that cold? Man… Wait til you workout without it, you’ll feel like a monster.

Ever ask Thibs if he had any suggestions about that? I’m just wondering if I missed that somewhere…

Yeah, bro. Colds tend to stick with me for a while. They always have. Coughs are always the last thing to rear its ugly head when I have a cold, and stay with me the longest. It probably doesn’t help that this has been my first cold/sickness of any kind this year, and it hit me pretty hard that first week.

[/quote]

I feel your pain man… I used to get sick all the time.

I am still interested to know what Thib’s thinks of your cold situation. What would he suggest? More rest? Up the oranges? Would he have you change your training if you weren’t involved in the Physique Clinic?

I’m just surprised you hadn’t asked his advice on what to do about it… Perhaps he would just say “suck it up and train.” Or maybe he has some helpful tips on training with a cold?

I almost always train when I’m sick, but I lower my rep ranges and volume. I’ll also drop cardio (if I’m doing any that month)… And try to get as much rest as possible.

All that being said, since you’re involved in the clinic, my guess is it’s better use of everyones time to just push you through it, and try to forget about being sick.

But I wouldn’t normally suggest to anyone to train this hard when they are sick. How’s the immune system supposed to recuperate? How’s your CNS supposed to do all this extra work? How are you going to grow at the same time?

In practice, however, I know that it is possible to make gains when you are sick. But I don’t understand it.

And nothing is going to keep me out of the gym anyway.

249

My apologies if this has already been asked:

Why the sets to failure? Are they for CNS activation purposes?

And regarding your cold…

Go for an all out assualt on it. Order some Boswellia root or Echinacea plus Goldenseal and take TRIPLE the dose for about 5-7 days, then take recommended dose for another week.

Drink 5-6 cups of green tea per day, ideally using Dragonwell leaves (loose leaf, you’ll have to brew) and squeeze fresh lemon juice into each cup before drinking it, since Vit C increases efficacy of green tea compounds.

I wish you had REZ-V as I swear by it.

Lastly, take some ZMA for the sleep and try out about 2 mg of Melatonin but do NOT take it for more than 2 weeks straight without taking at least 2 weeks off in between.

You also need more sleep, bro. Your workouts are taxing and therefore knock down your immune system. Try to nap another 20-30 minutes a day if you can.

Coughs stay with me for at least two months…scary.

250

[quote]Nothing is as motivating as having a deadline. Let’s make one for you. How about you post new pics this Sunday?

That should put some fire into your training and eating![/quote]

Pics? Cmon, it’s 330 on the west coast, i thought you said youd take em whne you woke up, right before you peed! :slight_smile:

251

[quote]KBCThird wrote:
Nothing is as motivating as having a deadline. Let’s make one for you. How about you post new pics this Sunday?

That should put some fire into your training and eating!

Pics? Cmon, it’s 330 on the west coast, i thought you said youd take em whne you woke up, right before you peed! :-)[/quote]

Yes yes, can’t wait!

252

Of course we can’t expect to see visual improvements over 12 days.

If anybody gives USC crap for not getting huooge in TWELVE days, I will reach through this screen and bash them over the head with their own keyboard.

So perhaps we can’t visually see a muscular gain in 12 days, but we CAN see a few things here:

  1. You look way better under good lighting. Pic #1 is the closest to showing off what you’ve got. The veins in your forearms are even visible in that lighting, giving you a harder look. I would take 1/2 step back from that exact spot and you might be surprised with how good it looks. The other pics, while not BAD, are soft lighting, and make you look softer.

  2. Your muscles look fuller. Could be the increased carbs, could be swollen from workouts, could be - you’re growing! Probably all three.

  3. We can tell for sure that you are not getting smaller. You do not appear to be gaining too much fat.

How much weight have you gained? Keep it up bro!

253

i definately see a difference, but like Thib said, you can only gain up to two lbs of muscle month, so its the glycogen thats being stored around your muscles from the carbs… keep this up and you’ll definatley see a difference… could be the Surge workout fuel… come to think of it i dont feel like working out anymore till i get my hands on it.

254

[quote]USCTrojan619 wrote:
Yeah, bro. Colds tend to stick with me for a while. They always have. Coughs are always the last thing to rear its ugly head when I have a cold, and stay with me the longest. It probably doesn’t help that this has been my first cold/sickness of any kind this year, and it hit me pretty hard that first week.

[/quote]

If you have issues with getting sick, try taking between 10,000-20,00mg garlic a day. It’s rather cheap and inexpensive if you know where to buy it (vitacost.com). While it might not get you better, it will prevent you from getting sick in the first place. Also, get on that vit c too. If you have a good multi vitimin, you should be covered vit c wise, but a little extra will do far more to benefit you than hurt you. Might want to ask thibs about this. I haven’t been sick in over a year since I have been doing this.

255

you are doing good…

i actually didnt even expect you to make this much progress yet…in 4 weeks i guarantee you will see some real big changes from your first picture…

good job

256

Just checked out your pics. Your body looks much firmer and the muscles fuller. You have definitely broken the ice. I am sure you will start to see even more dramatic results soon. You will continually streamline your training and nutritional routines and drastically reduce the newbie impasses that are normal in the beginning. As you master the best ways to ingest all your food and nutrition and your metabolic rate increases, you’ll probably find yourself jonesing for the next meal instead of dreading it. The sleep and recovery will fall into place. At the end of this - YOU will be the guru!!

Tip: put a step under the flat bench and presto, you have either an incline or decline bench when none are available. There are lots of workarounds like that to enable you to stay in your workout groove even when the station you want is in use.

257

The pics were great.

Your first pics didn’t do you justice at all.

Chest and back are much more built than I could tell from the first ones and you’re leaner too.

You’ll have muscles popping out everywhere in no time.

Nice work

258

Did Coach Thibs give you any calf work? Wondering what a calf routine would look like in this training style and what day it would fit in.

259

You’re looking a lot bigger than you did in your first pics, keep up the good work!!

260

Man flu is tough. I feel your pain there as a fellow ecto and a fellow man flu sufferer.