Questions About Training

Training
641

[quote]Thy. wrote:
Thib, I hope I’m not exceeding the limit of free consultation by asking for another technique evaluation…
But this one is for exercise everyone else barely knows, the one you gave me earlier :

Friday: Low double contraction (lift up to knees, lower back down, stand up completely… this is ONE rep) 5 x 3 with 80-85% of your max

(snatch grip)

Sorry if this is too bold of me to ask again…[/quote]

The same comment as before applies: the first portion of the pull should be done upward and back, not just up.

Another comment: during the first pull (from floor to knee level), which is the portion you are actually doubling, the torso angle relative to the floor should not change.

642

[quote]pflifter wrote:
CT,

If following a 5 day split (Chest/Back, Legs, off, Arms, off, repeat)…do you find it excessive to do a pullup variation for back on day one and a close chin up on arms day?[/quote]

No, it’s fine

643

[quote]scream wrote:
Thib,

My knowledge on explosive contrasts is limited so I’m trying to gather info and learn more.

  1. I’m trying to come up with some ideas on what are optimal explosive contrast exercise pairings for a shoulder press or bench cycle with a heavy day earlier in the week. Any advice? [/quote]
  • When doing a contrast, both movements should be mechanically close to each other.
  • You can use several types of pairings provided that the first one is explosive. For example:

OPTION 1. Performing the same exercise with different loads and speed of contraction. (for example speed bench press with 50% of your max followed by regular bench press with 85-90%)

OPTION 2. Performing a strength-speed exercise then the regular lifting movement. A strength-speed lift is an explosive movement with a relatively heavy load. The best example being the olympic lift variations (you can use the push press or push jerk for overhead movements)

OPTION 3. Performing a speed-strength exercise then the regular lift. A speed-strength movement is an explosive exercise with a moderate load (e.g. jump squats with 20%, medicine ball throw from chest, bench throws)

OPTION 4. Performing a plyometric or jumping movement then the regular lift. Plyo movements for the pressing muscles could include various types of push-ups where you project yourself in the air.

[quote]scream wrote:
2) How many explosive contrasts would you limit that day to in order to avoid neural draining? I’m thinking 4-6 total exercises similar to the first phase of beast building, but obviously not sure if that’s the best choice based off that 1 example of a completely different program.
[/quote]

One contrast pairing per movement pattern you are focusing on. So if you are focusing on bench and overhead press you can do two pairings, or a total of 4 exercises (2 per pairings).

[quote]scream wrote:
3) Should I re-use the exercises from my heavy day earlier in the week also on my explosive contrast day as my heavy exercise for the contrasts or pick completely new ones?
[/quote]

You can do both. I see no problem with repeating them.

644

Christian,
how would a person train if he wanted to develop a lagging body part, in my case delts? How would my weekly split look like? How do i not over train? How long, in weeks/months should this “development” last?

Many thanks from oz!

645

CT,
I have trouble activating my glutes on squats, i use low bar squats and go pretty deep( below parallel) about shoulder width apart stance, i feel it all in the quads. I know for bodybuilding reasons it could be a good thing to be squatting with mainly your quads, but I’m training for a higher vertical jump and overall athletisism, and I know that a powerfull p-chain is important, and back squats are suppose to train it. Any ideas on how to correct this??
My routine for legs usually looks like
Squat, ramped to top set of 5,
Unilateral movement e.g. BSS or lunge 3x8-10
RDL 3x8-10
p.s i dont feel it in the glutes when doing RDL’s also.

Thanks!

646

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

This is a more general question. But something I really want your opinion on. I’m a long time reader, kind of a new poster.

Anyways, I’m looking to cut right now. I’m really trying to get my bodyfat down. So my question basically is…to insulin spike or not to insulin spike?

This has really been killing me because a Dr. Di Mauro P (anabolic diet guy), still maintains the insulin spike isn’t necessary.

The way I understand right now is we can choose to pick our anaoblic weapon: (1) Insulin - packs on muscle (2) GH (which remain high without carbs) - packs on less muscle but keeps you in a state of fat burning.

Are you on board with this or would say just do the damn insulin spike and cut the calories if you wanna cut?

Also, supposing a lifter did want to choose GH as his weapon, is Anaconda going to be low enough in carbs to avoid the insulin spike?

Do you know that starvation is one of the biggest GH stimulator there is? Seriously, look it up, there is actually a lot of research documenting the increase in GH during a fasting or starved state. Have you ever seen somebody get muscular while starved?

Insulin isn’t the enemy WHEN TIMED PROPERLY.

I do understand the fear of spiking insulin when trying to get lean. Heck, for most of my coaching career I have been a strong advocate of super low carbs dieting. To be honest I was much more strict than Dr. DiPasquale; he was recommending two days of high carbs… I was recommending 1-3 meals. He was for a super high carbs intake on the weekends, tolerating junk carbs … I was for a more controlled 200-300g of clean carbs.

But the truth is that while experimenting with several methods and talking with a lot of top Ph.Ds in nutrition I’ve come up to the conclusion that the mass gain (or at least mass protection) tha you can get from a PRE-workout insulin spike mixed with a high pre and during protein intake precedes in importance any potential benefits that you MIGHT have from not consuming carbs pre-workout.

Anaconda has no carbs in it. The insulin spike from the protocol is from leucine and the Surge Recovery added to the protocol.[/quote]

Hey Thibs,

When I was very fat (and knew not much of anything about bodybuilding or dieting) I lost a lot of weight and gained some muscle (I was a true beginner then). I dropped my calories tremendously and ate very low amounts of carbs. The thing is, I grew several inches during that time (I started a month before I turned 16). It could be that I was expected to grow anyway, but it’s crazy how I had very little nutrients and grew so much (in height and I gained some muscle mass).

When I think of how I did things back then, I always think I did many things wrong, but now it looks like I did something right. Also, my results were the best back then (lost a lot of weight in a short amount of time, kept it off, and gained some muscle) and I did a lot of things “wrong.”

How would I make my body think I was in a starved state, but not so much that I have the nutrients needed to support muscle growth?

Thank you.

647

Dear Thib,

I am wrestling for ““high school”” next year and would like to pack on some serious muscle mass and dense-ness if you catch my drift for the next following season. Now I got out of wrestling this year which I horribly regret for bodybuilding cause I thought that i was gonna make it and be a bodybuilder champ superstar. Yes I got carried away and hardly made any improvements. I got kind fat and soft actually from messing around with different routines and diets.

Now it might be a little late to ask since its August already. But what can I do to really SUPERCHARGE the muscle growth in a month, go crazy to get insane result? In a match I would like to look intimidating to my opponent and to give me an upper edge in confidence and psychologically.

Any ideas or suggestion, Thib?

Greatly appreciate it. THANKS.

648

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
scream wrote:
Thib,

My knowledge on explosive contrasts is limited so I’m trying to gather info and learn more.

  1. I’m trying to come up with some ideas on what are optimal explosive contrast exercise pairings for a shoulder press or bench cycle with a heavy day earlier in the week. Any advice?
  • When doing a contrast, both movements should be mechanically close to each other.
  • You can use several types of pairings provided that the first one is explosive. For example:

OPTION 1. Performing the same exercise with different loads and speed of contraction. (for example speed bench press with 50% of your max followed by regular bench press with 85-90%)

OPTION 2. Performing a strength-speed exercise then the regular lifting movement. A strength-speed lift is an explosive movement with a relatively heavy load. The best example being the olympic lift variations (you can use the push press or push jerk for overhead movements)

OPTION 3. Performing a speed-strength exercise then the regular lift. A speed-strength movement is an explosive exercise with a moderate load (e.g. jump squats with 20%, medicine ball throw from chest, bench throws)

OPTION 4. Performing a plyometric or jumping movement then the regular lift. Plyo movements for the pressing muscles could include various types of push-ups where you project yourself in the air.

scream wrote:
2) How many explosive contrasts would you limit that day to in order to avoid neural draining? I’m thinking 4-6 total exercises similar to the first phase of beast building, but obviously not sure if that’s the best choice based off that 1 example of a completely different program.

One contrast pairing per movement pattern you are focusing on. So if you are focusing on bench and overhead press you can do two pairings, or a total of 4 exercises (2 per pairings).

scream wrote:
3) Should I re-use the exercises from my heavy day earlier in the week also on my explosive contrast day as my heavy exercise for the contrasts or pick completely new ones?

You can do both. I see no problem with repeating them.

[/quote]

Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to help explain, it helped me understand much better.

649

hey coach

i have a little problem, i guess with my back… i work in Armored Cash Transport, and yesterday I had to go around a shopping mall with about 70kg in my box in just one hand (if it was in both it would ve been much easier)… carrying it in the right hand, was no big deal… but as I tried to carry it in the left hand, my whole RIGHT lower-back area started to contract and get tight as i tried to stay somewhat upright with that suitcase-box in my hand… what could that be, or how can I work on that in my workouts.

thank you

650

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
Thy. wrote:
Thib, I hope I’m not exceeding the limit of free consultation by asking for another technique evaluation…
But this one is for exercise everyone else barely knows, the one you gave me earlier :

Friday: Low double contraction (lift up to knees, lower back down, stand up completely… this is ONE rep) 5 x 3 with 80-85% of your max

(snatch grip)

Sorry if this is too bold of me to ask again…

The same comment as before applies: the first portion of the pull should be done upward and back, not just up.

Another comment: during the first pull (from floor to knee level), which is the portion you are actually doubling, the torso angle relative to the floor should not change.[/quote]

Thanks once again…!

About the torso angle - I suspected it too after studying your deadlift article. But I was not quite sure how is that achievable? Is it about hips starting too high ?

651

CT,
In an earlier post you mentioned that you split up your specialization with 1 Heavy Day (heavy partials/clusters), 1 Volume Day (mechanical drop sets), and 1 Dynamic Day (explosive exercises. I have an idea of what exercises to use for the dynamic day, but am not entirely sure on how to group them. If I were doing chest for instance, would Iso-Relaxation Bench be a choice? Would Medicine Ball throws, smith machine bench throws, or plyometric pushups fit? This might be too much to answer, but I maybe you can give me some Idea as to how one would group those exercises or if they would work at all.

Thanks.

652

[quote]ebomb5522 wrote:
CT,
In an earlier post you mentioned that you split up your specialization with 1 Heavy Day (heavy partials/clusters), 1 Volume Day (mechanical drop sets), and 1 Dynamic Day (explosive exercises. I have an idea of what exercises to use for the dynamic day, but am not entirely sure on how to group them. If I were doing chest for instance, would Iso-Relaxation Bench be a choice? Would Medicine Ball throws, smith machine bench throws, or plyometric pushups fit? This might be too much to answer, but I maybe you can give me some Idea as to how one would group those exercises or if they would work at all.

Thanks.[/quote]

Actually I dropped the volume day in favor of a density day. The volume day cut into recovery too much.

The stretch-relaxed bench is a good choice if you do it explosively using around 50% of our max. The others are all good choices too.

653

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
ebomb5522 wrote:
CT,
In an earlier post you mentioned that you split up your specialization with 1 Heavy Day (heavy partials/clusters), 1 Volume Day (mechanical drop sets), and 1 Dynamic Day (explosive exercises. I have an idea of what exercises to use for the dynamic day, but am not entirely sure on how to group them. If I were doing chest for instance, would Iso-Relaxation Bench be a choice? Would Medicine Ball throws, smith machine bench throws, or plyometric pushups fit? This might be too much to answer, but I maybe you can give me some Idea as to how one would group those exercises or if they would work at all.

Thanks.

Actually I dropped the volume day in favor of a density day. The volume day cut into recovery too much.

The stretch-relaxed bench is a good choice if you do it explosively using around 50% of our max. The others are all good choices too.[/quote]

Thank you for your quick response.

A density day? I’m not entirely sure, but does that consist of performing the lifts in timed periods (ie 20 minutes, as many sets as possible) or is this something totally different? I did your canadian bear density program and am wondering if it is similar to that.

654

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
ebomb5522 wrote:
CT,
In an earlier post you mentioned that you split up your specialization with 1 Heavy Day (heavy partials/clusters), 1 Volume Day (mechanical drop sets), and 1 Dynamic Day (explosive exercises. I have an idea of what exercises to use for the dynamic day, but am not entirely sure on how to group them. If I were doing chest for instance, would Iso-Relaxation Bench be a choice? Would Medicine Ball throws, smith machine bench throws, or plyometric pushups fit? This might be too much to answer, but I maybe you can give me some Idea as to how one would group those exercises or if they would work at all.

Thanks.

Actually I dropped the volume day in favor of a density day. The volume day cut into recovery too much.

The stretch-relaxed bench is a good choice if you do it explosively using around 50% of our max. The others are all good choices too.[/quote]

What is a stretch-relaxed exercise exactly ?

655

[quote]ebomb5522 wrote:
Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
ebomb5522 wrote:
CT,
In an earlier post you mentioned that you split up your specialization with 1 Heavy Day (heavy partials/clusters), 1 Volume Day (mechanical drop sets), and 1 Dynamic Day (explosive exercises. I have an idea of what exercises to use for the dynamic day, but am not entirely sure on how to group them. If I were doing chest for instance, would Iso-Relaxation Bench be a choice? Would Medicine Ball throws, smith machine bench throws, or plyometric pushups fit? This might be too much to answer, but I maybe you can give me some Idea as to how one would group those exercises or if they would work at all.

Thanks.

Actually I dropped the volume day in favor of a density day. The volume day cut into recovery too much.

The stretch-relaxed bench is a good choice if you do it explosively using around 50% of our max. The others are all good choices too.

Thank you for your quick response.

A density day? I’m not entirely sure, but does that consist of performing the lifts in timed periods (ie 20 minutes, as many sets as possible) or is this something totally different? I did your canadian bear density program and am wondering if it is similar to that.
[/quote]

Yes Density means what you said. Doing the same amount of work or more in the shortest amount of time possible. Like EDT for example. What is this Canadian Bear Density program you said? DO you have a link to it? Thanks.

656

Hey Thib. PLEASE, I really need your help. Please read this. I promise it won’t take long. Thank you, bro.

I am wrestling for ““high school”” next year and would like to pack on some serious muscle mass and dense-ness if you catch my drift for the next following season. Now I got out of wrestling this year which I horribly regret for bodybuilding cause I thought that i was gonna make it and be a bodybuilder champ superstar. Yes I got carried away and hardly made any improvements. I got kind fat and soft actually from messing around with different routines and diets.

Now it might be a little late to ask since its August already. But what can I do to really SUPERCHARGE the muscle growth in a month, go crazy to get insane result? In a match I would like to look intimidating to my opponent and to give me an upper edge in confidence and psychologically.

Any ideas or suggestion, Thib?

Greatly appreciate it. THANKS.

657

[quote]YakheeDamon wrote:
ebomb5522 wrote:
Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
ebomb5522 wrote:
CT,
In an earlier post you mentioned that you split up your specialization with 1 Heavy Day (heavy partials/clusters), 1 Volume Day (mechanical drop sets), and 1 Dynamic Day (explosive exercises. I have an idea of what exercises to use for the dynamic day, but am not entirely sure on how to group them.

If I were doing chest for instance, would Iso-Relaxation Bench be a choice? Would Medicine Ball throws, smith machine bench throws, or plyometric pushups fit? This might be too much to answer, but I maybe you can give me some Idea as to how one would group those exercises or if they would work at all.

Thanks.

Actually I dropped the volume day in favor of a density day. The volume day cut into recovery too much.

The stretch-relaxed bench is a good choice if you do it explosively using around 50% of our max. The others are all good choices too.

Thank you for your quick response.

A density day? I’m not entirely sure, but does that consist of performing the lifts in timed periods (ie 20 minutes, as many sets as possible) or is this something totally different? I did your canadian bear density program and am wondering if it is similar to that.

Yes Density means what you said. Doing the same amount of work or more in the shortest amount of time possible. Like EDT for example. What is this Canadian Bear Density program you said? DO you have a link to it? Thanks.
[/quote]

Here it is:Strength Training, Bodybuilding & Online Supplement Store - T NATION

658

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:

  • When doing a contrast, both movements should be mechanically close to each other.
  • You can use several types of pairings provided that the first one is explosive. For example:

OPTION 1. Performing the same exercise with different loads and speed of contraction. (for example speed bench press with 50% of your max followed by regular bench press with 85-90%)

OPTION 2. Performing a strength-speed exercise then the regular lifting movement. A strength-speed lift is an explosive movement with a relatively heavy load. The best example being the olympic lift variations (you can use the push press or push jerk for overhead movements)

OPTION 3. Performing a speed-strength exercise then the regular lift. A speed-strength movement is an explosive exercise with a moderate load (e.g. jump squats with 20%, medicine ball throw from chest, bench throws)

OPTION 4. Performing a plyometric or jumping movement then the regular lift. Plyo movements for the pressing muscles could include various types of push-ups where you project yourself in the air.

[/quote]

Thib,

Would you ever use a heavy movement prior to an explosive movement in a pairing or should the explosive movement always come first?

If possible, I also wanted to ask you about your thoughts on things like single-leg box jumps, 1-leg jump squats, or even single-leg box jumps performed either medially or laterally (possibly for landing mechanics). Do you see these as having a place in programs, or is it best to stick with regular box jumps and jump squats?

659

[quote]ebomb5522 wrote:
Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
ebomb5522 wrote:
CT,
In an earlier post you mentioned that you split up your specialization with 1 Heavy Day (heavy partials/clusters), 1 Volume Day (mechanical drop sets), and 1 Dynamic Day (explosive exercises. I have an idea of what exercises to use for the dynamic day, but am not entirely sure on how to group them. If I were doing chest for instance, would Iso-Relaxation Bench be a choice? Would Medicine Ball throws, smith machine bench throws, or plyometric pushups fit? This might be too much to answer, but I maybe you can give me some Idea as to how one would group those exercises or if they would work at all.

Thanks.

Actually I dropped the volume day in favor of a density day. The volume day cut into recovery too much.

The stretch-relaxed bench is a good choice if you do it explosively using around 50% of our max. The others are all good choices too.

Thank you for your quick response.

A density day? I’m not entirely sure, but does that consist of performing the lifts in timed periods (ie 20 minutes, as many sets as possible) or is this something totally different? I did your canadian bear density program and am wondering if it is similar to that.
[/quote]

There are several applications of density training as it basically means doing more work per unit of time. But it’s not like the Canadian bear. And I am not going to tell you how I use it before the program comes out.

660

[quote]YakheeDamon wrote:
Hey Thib. PLEASE, I really need your help. Please read this. I promise it won’t take long. Thank you, bro.

I am wrestling for ““high school”” next year and would like to pack on some serious muscle mass and dense-ness if you catch my drift for the next following season. Now I got out of wrestling this year which I horribly regret for bodybuilding cause I thought that i was gonna make it and be a bodybuilder champ superstar. Yes I got carried away and hardly made any improvements. I got kind fat and soft actually from messing around with different routines and diets.

Now it might be a little late to ask since its August already. But what can I do to really SUPERCHARGE the muscle growth in a month, go crazy to get insane result? In a match I would like to look intimidating to my opponent and to give me an upper edge in confidence and psychologically.

Any ideas or suggestion, Thib?

Greatly appreciate it. THANKS. [/quote]

Those who have been reading my forum for a long time know that one of my rule is that i NEVER answer those who repeat questions.