PRIME TIME CT

Training Powerlifting
1

No fancy intro, just Q&A!

2

CT,

I just read through your “Fun With Women” article. In it you mentioned that the Oly lifts were very beneficial to women due to the fact that they have greater potential for neural efficiency development.

My question is when/how should you introduce a women to the Oly lifts. For example my wife only started weight training a few months ago. She has dropped off for a while and has probably lost any gains she made. Even then she would struggle to bench press an Oly bar of 20kg, so I am wondering how much strength should she build before doing these lifts? At really light weights I guess it would be OK to use a “normal” barbell without the spinning collars which is only say 10kg.

Any thoughts/advice?

Cheers,

Ben

3

CT, I’d love your expert feedback on my “Powerlifting Paradox” thread.

Feel free to answer wherever you want(because you’re bigger than me).

Cheers

4

http://images.t-nation.com/forum_images/./1/.1117757684750.CT_2.JPG

WooHoo!!!

It was great to learn that I wasn’t the ONLY “Genetic Fat Bastard” around! (We need to start a club, CT!)

Thanks for the information the other night…somehow I thought that the enhanced could get by with a bit more than the unenhanced…

  1. Out of curiosity…how long did you take to make the “HOT-ROX” transformation above?

  2. What were your changes in wt./bodyfat percentages?

  3. What was your basic diet and program?

Thanks, CT!

Mufasa

5

What do you think is the besy program for those of use that still have MAG-10 or other pro-h supplies who are looking for size gains. Twice a day like you european? One of your other prgrams like bodybuilding pendulim? Or maybe CWs QD or Waturbury method? Maybe push them a little harder or something? Thanks.

6

CT,

do you think it’s more important for hypertrophy development to keep the TUT in the 20-60 secondes range or to use a heavier weight (80%+) for very low reps and TUT (just 3-5 reps because of 10+ years of training and advanced intramuscular coordination).

Let’s assume you’d only could do one program without variation.

So what’s paramount: the time under tension or the magnitude of the tension?

BTW, I really appriciate your articles!

phire

7

[quote]Mufasa wrote:

  1. Out of curiosity…how long did you take to make the “HOT-ROX” transformation above?
    [/quote]

Hard to really say, there is something like a year between both pics, but I made most of the transformation in a 16 weeks period. Then, over the next 8 months or so improved slightly.

[quote]Mufasa wrote:
2) What were your changes in wt./bodyfat percentages?
[/quote]

I was around 16-18% before at 235lbs (give or take 5-7lbs) and ended up at a low point of 4.2% (12 sites caliper test) … now … since we all have 3% of intraviceral fat stored that means that I basically went from 16-18% down to 7.5% or so.

In the pics posted in my “new pics” thread I was leaner, but didn’t have my BF measured.

My weight over the past year varied from 210 to 195 (I’m 198lbs on the “after” pic you posted).

[quote]Mufasa wrote:
3) What was your basic diet and program?
[/quote]

All detailed in “The mutation” series.

8

[quote]doctasarge wrote:
What do you think is the besy program for those of use that still have MAG-10 or other pro-h supplies who are looking for size gains. Twice a day like you european? One of your other prgrams like bodybuilding pendulim? Or maybe CWs QD or Waturbury method? Maybe push them a little harder or something? Thanks.[/quote]

When using androgens/anabolics you can recover from a higher workload. So a program like the European bodybuilding program would be ideal.

9

You can introduce a trainee to the easier versions of the olympic lifts (power clean/snatch from hang/blocks) when:

a) He/she can perform a Romanian deadlift and a full close-stance/high bar back squat with perfect form

and

b) Have a good abdominal belt (strong obliques and TA)

[quote]bg100 wrote:
CT,

I just read through your “Fun With Women” article. In it you mentioned that the Oly lifts were very beneficial to women due to the fact that they have greater potential for neural efficiency development.

My question is when/how should you introduce a women to the Oly lifts. For example my wife only started weight training a few months ago. She has dropped off for a while and has probably lost any gains she made. Even then she would struggle to bench press an Oly bar of 20kg, so I am wondering how much strength should she build before doing these lifts? At really light weights I guess it would be OK to use a “normal” barbell without the spinning collars which is only say 10kg.

Any thoughts/advice?

Cheers,

Ben[/quote]

10

If I could only do one program it would be a mix of three methods:

  1. Strength loading/upper end of rep range (3-5 reps / TUT of 5-20 sec.)
  2. Functional hypertrophy zone (6-8 reps / TUT of 20 to 40 sec)
  3. Total hypertrophy zone (8-12 reps / TUT of 40 to 60 sec)

I would chose 3 exercises per muscle group:

a) Main exercise to be trained in the 3-5 zone

b) Assistance exercise to be trained in the 6-8 zone

c) Isolation exericse to be trained in the 8-12 zone

[quote]PhiRe wrote:
CT,

do you think it’s more important for hypertrophy development to keep the TUT in the 20-60 secondes range or to use a heavier weight (80%+) for very low reps and TUT (just 3-5 reps because of 10+ years of training and advanced intramuscular coordination).

Let’s assume you’d only could do one program without variation.

So what’s paramount: the time under tension or the magnitude of the tension?

BTW, I really appriciate your articles!

phire[/quote]

11

Thanks CT, seems like we’ve got some work to do on the abs and squat before starting O-lifts.

12

CT,

What are some of your favorite sled workouts?

(I posted this last night but I was too late.

13

CT,

I’m interested in trying your 2 a day/ accumulatin and intensification training routine that you have mentioned. However, I do not see many results from accumulation phases. Is there anyway I can alter the training routines to better fit my type.

Thanks

14

Just a quick question about the first continuum article. With the iso exercises with more than one position would you do 1 position per complex or quickly change position (and in some cases the pins) to cover all in one complex?

15

CT, any chance you could give an example of a reactive continuum, or perhaps any other continuum’s you reference in program design.

16

[quote]Robert Monti wrote:
CT,

What are some of your favorite sled workouts?

(I posted this last night but I was too late. [/quote]

It depends on the sport. One thing I really like to do, and I used it with a lot of my football players, is a GPP circuit. I call it the “Warlord workout”…

Basically the athletes will engage in 3-4 different forms of GPP work, spending a certain amount of time/reps at each station before moving on to the the next. The circuit is repeated 2-4 times. One that was very effective was as follow (performed by a defensive lineman and a linebacker):

STATION 1
Sled dragging 100m walks
a. forward walk
b. backward walk
c. forward walk + two hands punch

STATION 2
Sledgehammer (hitting a big tire)

  • Alternate right and left cross swings for a total of 5 minutes non-stop

STATION 3
Sandbag lift and carry (100lbs bag)

  • Pick up the bag into a standing bear hug. Walk 10m, drop it, pick it up again, walk 10m, etc. Do this for a total of 100m
17

[quote]Driven wrote:
CT,

I’m interested in trying your 2 a day/ accumulatin and intensification training routine that you have mentioned. However, I do not see many results from accumulation phases. Is there anyway I can alter the training routines to better fit my type.

Thanks[/quote]

Train in the functional hypertrophy zone (6-8 reps) instead of with reps in the 10-12 zone during the accumulation phase and use reps in the 3-5 range during the intensification phase.

18

[quote]cal wrote:
Just a quick question about the first continuum article. With the iso exercises with more than one position would you do 1 position per complex or quickly change position (and in some cases the pins) to cover all in one complex?[/quote]

Perform all the required positions as one set … it doesn’t take that long, maybe 10-20 sec. between each position.

19

Thank you CT, I really appreciate it!

20

[quote]squattin600 wrote:
CT, any chance you could give an example of a reactive continuum, or perhaps any other continuum’s you reference in program design.[/quote]

There’s no reactive continuum. There could be an explosive continuum:

  1. Olympic lift variation

  2. Balistic exercise (jump squat, balistic bench, med ball throws)

  3. Plyometric/reactive exercise (depth jump, depth push-up)

  4. Landing/reactive-absorption exercise (altitude drops)