Questions About Training

Training
361

[quote]Thy. wrote:
Hey Thibs,
What are your thoughts on this:
You hear it all over the place, that it’s easier for lighter guys to pull-up. I don’t see why is that - aren’t bigger guys supposed to have more muscle tissue strong enough to pull their bigger body weight? I bet a 300 lb strongman can do as many pull-ups as an elite 150 lb athlete who trains upper body for his sport. I mean, look at videos of Konstantinovs - 55 kip pull-ups and 4 clean pull-ups with +132 lb at at bw of 277…
I think if a heavy guy says that it means that his back strength sucks in relation to his size.[/quote]

Relative strength always advantage the smaller guys. Let’s look at olympic lifting records in the clean and jerk for example:

56kg class = 167.5kg = 2.99 times bodyweight
62kg = 177.5 = 2.8
69kg = 195 = 2.82
77kg = 207.5 = 2.6
85kg = 215 = 2.53
94kg = 227.5 = 2.42
105kg = 235 = 2.24

And since all of these are world record we can assumed that they were accomplished by athletes of similar qualification.

As you can see, the tendency is that relative strength tends to decrease with an increase in bodyweight.

And if you do the same comparison for other lifts such as a snatch, bench, deadlift and squat, you will see a similar pattern: except for some freak exceptions, relative strength decreases and absolute strength increases as the weight goes up.

Heck, Rezazadeh Hossein who weighs around 170kg would have to clean and jerk 500kg to “equal” the 56kg lifter in relative strength. He “only” clean and jerks 266kg … which is a world record, does that make him an inferior athlete?

362

hello coach,

         i am going out of town for a few months. i won't be able to follow my regular gym routine. i can manage bodyweight exercises though. pushup/pullup/bodyweight squats ... are some of exercises i intend to include in the list. i need to know whether i should keep a ratio in mind while doing these exercises. eg : 1 pullup - 3 pushups , hindu squats - GHR ... an example to this effect would be highly appreciated. regards.ty for ur time.
363

Coach Thibs,

I was wondering with today being July 4, do you celebrate the 4th or Dominion Day? My family originally hails from Quebec, but only my great grandparents stayed with Dominion Day. I still consider myself French-Canadian though.

364

[quote]BBriere wrote:
Coach Thibs,

I was wondering with today being July 4, do you celebrate the 4th or Dominion Day? My family originally hails from Quebec, but only my great grandparents stayed with Dominion Day. I still consider myself French-Canadian though.[/quote]

I’m celebrating “today Sebastien is competing and I have to spend the day pumping him up backstage” day… and answering questions between the pre-judging and evening show

365

I’ve been doing sort of a ramping rest-pause with all my workouts (4-5d a week)

Set 1: 10 reps light, probably at a 12-15rm
Set 2: 4-5 reps, 10 breath(20s) rest, 4-5 reps…non maximal, maybe 1-2 reps in the tank
Set 3: 4-5 reps, 10 breath(20s) rest, 4-5 reps or to maximal failure
Set 4: 1-3 reps, 10 breath(20s) rest, 1-3 reps or to maximal failure

So three different increasing weights, Set 1, Set 2/3, then Set 4. Have been increasing strength since started. On the second week now.

Very “fun” with deadlifts. I weigh 160lb and did 275lb for 4, rest then 2, “stop and go”. Well, actually the 275 didn’t go up at all at first, had to “man up” and let loose a few testosterone laden growls bofore it would go up. I got some stares.

Sidebar: Anyone ever research the advantage of voluntary “psyching up” as it relates to weight lifting? When lifting heavy and to failure such as on the last set it seems like if you psych yourself up, get mad, have someone slap you, scream, and other such “primal” motivations you’re able to lift more. I also rarely see people really get after it this way in the gym. They walk around, lift, and look all serious. Those who look intense, scream a bit, growl a bit, those are the ones lifting the heavies.

366

Thib,

Oldtime strongmen used to excel at things like one-arm barbell snatches, bent presses with a barbell, 1-arm barbell curl and press (or even just the curl portion), and an assortment of other unique lifts.

These lifts are a lot more than simply “novelty” movements, but where do you see a role for these in

(a) someone training strictly for strength

(b) someone primarily interested in size/aesthetics with a secondary emphasis on strength

I am wondering how to best work such lifts in with the primary goal (if they can effectively be worked in) without compromising overall results. What I want to avoid is throwing in a lift like a 1-arm barbell snatch simply because “it looks cool.”

If possible, can you also indidicate which of the following is the correct technique for a seated DB clean?

(a) a movement amounting to a shrug, a row towards the armpit, and an external rotation

or

(b) a row towards the armpit (but only as high as you can go without shrugging the shoulders) followed by an external rotation?

The shrug seems like it would interfere with the external rotation portion, but if I recall correctly that is the suggested technique.

367

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:

I don’t like to do weighted calves work with athletes unless they are severely lacking strength, which is rarely the case with athletes. The thing is that calves SIZE can impair sprinting performance because big/heavy calves decrease stride frequency by making it harder to “bring back” the leg after the push off phase.

Why? Because you are bringing your leg back by pulling with your hip flexors… the heavier your lower leg is, the more work the hips flexors must do.

I prefer to train calves with various jumping drills.

[/quote]

Coach,

Do you have any particular measures you use to determine when an athlete is lacking in strength to a degree that merits direct calf work?

Would you still include any direct work for the tibialis anterior with athletes, or would this also be excluded unless you see a major deficit in that area?

368

Coach

If you are in inseason training and it is not 2 a days are you able to workout like the offseason since all you do is fundementals and not a lot of running. Practice is only 2 hours but you do not really run and im a lineman so I run a lot less.

369

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
MEYMZ wrote:
You look real crazy on your avatar, what are your actual stats?

You said that the rest pause techniques are overtaxing to the CNS. Which frequency would you reccomend using these techniques?

The are not overtaxing if used properly. We use it once a week but we use other CNS-boosting methods.

In the avatar I was 225lbs on 5’8"… I actually reached a high of 240, but dieted down hard for 3 weeks get in decent photo shape.[/quote]

You said there’s a weight you reach in which you don’t attract as many clients as with a lighter weight. I read on your previous posts that it’s uncomfortable to have certain bodyweight for you with your height.

What would be your peak shape right now? I’m talking about the term you explained in which you have a combination of muscle fullness, definition, energy, strength, etc…

370

[quote]ThetfordMiner wrote:

Do you have any particular measures you use to determine when an athlete is lacking in strength to a degree that merits direct calf work?

Would you still include any direct work for the tibialis anterior with athletes, or would this also be excluded unless you see a major deficit in that area?
[/quote]

  1. Not really. It’s something that must be done through observation.

  2. Yes, in the early portion of the off season (if track work will be included) to reduce the risk of perostitis.

371

[quote]MEYMZ wrote:
Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
MEYMZ wrote:
You look real crazy on your avatar, what are your actual stats?

You said that the rest pause techniques are overtaxing to the CNS. Which frequency would you reccomend using these techniques?

The are not overtaxing if used properly. We use it once a week but we use other CNS-boosting methods.

In the avatar I was 225lbs on 5’8"… I actually reached a high of 240, but dieted down hard for 3 weeks get in decent photo shape.

You said there’s a weight you reach in which you don’t attract as many clients as with a lighter weight. I read on your previous posts that it’s uncomfortable to have certain bodyweight for you with your height.

What would be your peak shape right now? I’m talking about the term you explained in which you have a combination of muscle fullness, definition, energy, strength, etc… [/quote]

215lbs at 5-6% bodyfat is the best I looked.

This year I went up to 240 at 10% and really felt bad.

I then went down to the 225 at 8% in the picture which is just a bit too “fat” for my taste.

I want to be at 225 at 5% at the end of the year.

372

CT,

I have a lagging back because whilst I’ve trained my back I’ve only recently realised I’m quite arm dominant

When doing back exercises, I pull with elbows to emphasis the back but the only thing that really helped me feel the lats contracting was when I reduced the weight heavily

Therefore I’m planning to do a pre-exhaust with ligther weights/isolated exercises first before I do the heavy movements

Good Plan? Any words you can add to help bring up my back.

373

hey coach.

I have been training for 5 years, but i am still skinny and weak ( I am 60kg. 175cm. 23years old. ), my best lift is as little as 3reps on 100kg in deadlift. I now I have to be stricter with my food intake. I am a true hardgainer and my weight 5 years ago was 48kg at 175kg.

my question is: my goal is to weigh 75kg, would a strenght program ( 5x5 tbt style ) or a typicall bodybuilding program be best for my goal? or will both work for a guy like me?

thank you if you are able to help me out :slight_smile:

btw: you look really beef on your avatar.

374

Hey Thib,

I made this training program/method, and I would like to have your opinion about it.

Some background:
I started building this program after using DC for some time. I decided, that I wanted to change DC alot. There were 2 main reasons:

  1. DC seemed too CNS taxing
  2. I like to hit the whole muscle group that I´m training

THE PROGRAM

Every set is done like this:
First I use a compound exercise that hits the whole targeted area (upper and lower chest, anterior/lateral/posterior delts, whole bicep and brachialis etc.). I use a weight that I could lift 14 times (or whatever the highest end of the hypertrophy zone is for that muscle group). As I lift, I stop about 4 reps short of failure. Then I continue with an isolation exercise that targets the entire targeted area. I stop 1 rep short of failure. I take a 10-15sec break, and then I perform an isolation exercise that targets a part of the targeted area (upper pecs, posterior deltoid, branchialis etc.), and I go to failure. Then I take a 10-15sec break. Then I perform another isolation exercise that targets another part of the targeted area (lower pecs, lateral deltoid, long head of the biceps), and take that beyond failure.

So: Compound (multiple reps short), Isolation (1 short), 10-15sec, Targeted Isolation (failure), 10-15sec, Targeted Isolation (beyond failure).

Examle: Bench Press, Flyes, 10sec, Decline Squeeze Flyes, 10sec, Incline Squeeze Flyes

So yea, that´s one set. I´ll perform 1-3 sets, depending on the muscle group. Back thickness gets 1 set, biceps (that includes brachialis and brachioradialis) gets 3 sets. So the more complex, the less sets.

Of course all the muscle groups don´t get this kind of training. I train abs and obliques in the morning with straight sets, and I train my forearms between other sets, and so on. Every muscle group gets a different version of this.

The idea in this is, that I wont tax the CNS, but I´ll get absolutely brutal sets.

Here´s the split:
Monday A1
Tuesday B1
Wednesday OFF
Thursday A2
Friday B2

A: Upper body without biceps
B: Lower body and biceps

1 and 2 only mean, that I´ll perform different compound exercises on each, but that´s all.

So what do you think? Plese comment specifically, and dont just generally say that “that doesn´t work” or something. Then just tell me that´s wrong with it. I know that this program/method can´t be completely useless, as just by removing the general isolation exercise following the compound one, this is almost DC.

Thanks.

375

Thib,

This Summer I’ll be working with a local tennis player for the first time ever (first time training someone in this sport, not just the first time working with this individual).

As such, I was wondering if you have any tips on properly tailoring the types of energy systems training used to this particular sport. Tennis obviously has a lot of stops and starts and the players are moving in every which way with quick transitions from lateral movement to forward and backward movement. Given this, I’d like to get a better idea on how to design drills that are appropriate for the sport without trying to get excessively “cute” with the design process.

And if an answer would be beyond the scope of this forum, I’d even simply appreciate a heads up on resources to check out to learn more about creating appropriate event-specific energy systems training for different sports as well as learning how to develop proper testing of conditioning levels for different sports.

In the past a lot of my experience in programming energy systems work was related to body composition for clients, so I’d definitely like to look into ways to improve my knowledge and ability when it comes to energy systems training for various sports with differing needs both in terms of the dominant energy system and the type of movements used.

Thank you for your time, and (after seeing your new avatar) may I just say that you are inspirational as always.

376

Hey Coach,

With the new program coming out, would it be safe to say that one would simply require 4-5 days in the gym a week for approx 60mins?

Guess its not much longer til this comes out, so Im happy to wait for the answer.

Thanks,
GJ

377

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
tyler15625 wrote:
Coach,

In an earlier post you said you like a heavy day, a volume day, and a contrast day during each specialization phase. In the recent overhead pressing article you gave a template for a heavy day and a contrast day. Could you provide an example of a volume day for shoulders?

Thanks.

tyler

We actually changed it to a density day. But I can’t divulge exactly how we do it.[/quote]

Coach, can a contrast day be used with a whole body approach much like clusters are used with a whole body routine? Basically, choosing one of the compound lifts to perform. Test subject Nick has me intrigued as i too am short on time, will we ever get to see a detailed log of all the subjects much like the clinic was set-up? Lastly, how did things go with Sebastien Saturday?

378

coach,

if someone were training for optimal size and strength gains, training each body part twice a week, which would be better:

A heavy session (<5 reps per set, of >80% 1RM) and a volume session (10x10 or something equivalent)

OR

A heavy session (same as above) and a power session (10x3 with ~50-60% 1RM explosively)

what would be the ideal set/rep arrangement for both days? (ie 5x5 for heavy and 8x3 for power, or something like that)

thanks a ton in advance!

379

Thibs,

For strength development would you prefer a westside template or a high frequency but extremely low volume workout like the Dan Johns 40 day workout plan. What are the pros and cons to each method?

380

Thib,

I’ve been bench pressing for 3 weeks like this:

Mon: (heavy) work up to 100%, then 92% 3x2
Wed: (light) work up to 100% -5kg, then 92% -5kg 3x2
Fri: (medium) work up to 100% -2.5kg, then 92% -2.5kg 3x2

On all days I moved from 85% and higher with 2.5-5kg increments to get 5-6 singles over 85%.

Then I did 2-3 sets of 5 of heavy db shoulder press or db incline press

I don’t feel burnt out, but I don’t progress either.

Do you think it’s too much volume and frequency? What should I change?