Questions About Training

Training
721

[quote]PF_88 wrote:
CT,

I have always had a lot of trouble activating my biceps, my forarms seem to take over for the most part. Pullups and chinups I feel more than most biceps exercises I have tried but feel my bicep growth is lacking from no direct work (and the direct tricep work I do really hits my triceps). Any particular techniques or exercises or advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks.[/quote]

When doing curls, keep the wrist joint extended at all times during the set (normally most people flex at their wrists while doing curls) doing so will prevent the arms flexors from the forearms to significantly participate to the exercise.

722

Hi coach,

what do you think of 6X6 (at about 80% 1RM) as a method? In France where I live, it is quite used do develop size/strength, in a whole body 3 times a week template, so I’d like to have your view on this.

In fact, I’d like to have my squat and front squat numbers to be up in a one month period (I’ve just finished a 3 week hypertrophy bodybuilding like program) while gaining size. I thought that using this 6X6 three times a week with
Squat
Bench press
Barbell Row
1 assistance exercise such as RDL or GHR or front squat

the 80% is too much for me so I usually ramp up towards it.

Thanks!
Hope you have some time to develop your tan NATURALLY :-).

723

Oh and I have another quick question for you, that in my opinion should be interesting for everyone.

I read that endurance athletes could perform well energy-wise using a low carb - high fat diet.
However, knowing that fat uses way more oxygen than carbohydrates to be used as fuel, won’t this diet put them in an oxygen debt?

My problem is that even if my theory seems good in appearance, I didn’t feel any ill-effects related to my very-low carb diet in my cardio activities (wrestling and running).

Thanks!

724

Thib,
I am currently working out 3 times a week. Training muscles like chest, back and legs every 6 days, and arms, shoulders, abs and calves every 4 days. Sometimes I still feel I need less time between big muscles sessions but my arms, shoulders and calves are sore all week round because I train them really hard with only 2 sets of 2 exercises for arms and 2 sets of 3 exercises for shoulders, and still hit them hard on chest/back day.
what should I do in that case?

thats what my split looks like:

Arms/shoulders
rest
Legs
rest
Chest/Back
rest
rest

725

[quote]gyakujujijime wrote:
Oh and I have another quick question for you, that in my opinion should be interesting for everyone.

I read that endurance athletes could perform well energy-wise using a low carb - high fat diet.
However, knowing that fat uses way more oxygen than carbohydrates to be used as fuel, won’t this diet put them in an oxygen debt?

My problem is that even if my theory seems good in appearance, I didn’t feel any ill-effects related to my very-low carb diet in my cardio activities (wrestling and running).

Thanks![/quote]

Your theory doesn’t even sounds good in appearance.

726

Christian,
Which deadlift variation is best for stressing the upper traps ? Regular overhand Romanians or snatch-grips

727

CT,
Whatâ??s the best supplementation/training program to avoid burning out my CNS?

Iâ??ve noticed that in a couple of your articles you mention “CNS drainage.” I think I may have this problem big-time. Training will be going great for 3-4 weeks then I seem to hit a wall (hard to get started in the morning, mental fatigue, lack of focus, etc.).

Currently Iâ??m training DC style w/a Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri split.

Thx.

728

[quote]SCF wrote:
Christian,
Which deadlift variation is best for stressing the upper traps ? Regular overhand Romanians or snatch-grips[/quote]

Rack pulls (half deadlift in he power rack)

729

Hey coach, had a couple questions:
My Split:
Chest/Back Day example
Bench Press 1-5 rep range
Incline 6-10 rep range
Dips 15-max reps
rep ranges and some exercises rotate every workout for the most part

I superset each Chest with a back… bench with a row…incline with pullups…and so on…
My question is should the rep range match with the antagonist exercises or differ or does it even matter…
I was also wondeing if we’ll be utilizing a power rack for I,bodybuilder… I’m already assuming we will…thank you for your time.

730

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
gyakujujijime wrote:
Oh and I have another quick question for you, that in my opinion should be interesting for everyone.

I read that endurance athletes could perform well energy-wise using a low carb - high fat diet.
However, knowing that fat uses way more oxygen than carbohydrates to be used as fuel, won’t this diet put them in an oxygen debt?

My problem is that even if my theory seems good in appearance, I didn’t feel any ill-effects related to my very-low carb diet in my cardio activities (wrestling and running).

Thanks!

Your theory doesn’t even sounds good in appearance. [/quote]

After further research, I found this study, which seems to be in adequation with my idea…

http://www.drmirkin.com/public/Ezine030506.html
“This study shows that a high-fat diet before extended sprinting hurts performance. A high fat diet causes muscles to burn a higher percentage of fat. Using fat for energy requires more oxygen than carbohydrates do, and how fast you can sprint 0.6 miles on a bicycle is limited by how rapidly you can deliver oxygen to muscles. Restricting carbohydrates before a sprint taking more than 50 seconds increases oxygen needs which slows you down”

while the positive adaptation of endurance athletes to a Hfat-Lcarb diet was read in an article written by Charles Poliquin.

What did I get wrong? Maybe the fact that what CP calls “endurance athletes” is people involved in sports like long distance cycling… if so, then what can be said about other athletes (I was thinking of being on a low carb diet year long for wrestling)?

Thanks, sorry for the long posts, but I can’t help it!

731

[quote]gyakujujijime wrote:
Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
gyakujujijime wrote:
Oh and I have another quick question for you, that in my opinion should be interesting for everyone.

I read that endurance athletes could perform well energy-wise using a low carb - high fat diet.
However, knowing that fat uses way more oxygen than carbohydrates to be used as fuel, won’t this diet put them in an oxygen debt?

My problem is that even if my theory seems good in appearance, I didn’t feel any ill-effects related to my very-low carb diet in my cardio activities (wrestling and running).

Thanks!

Your theory doesn’t even sounds good in appearance.

After further research, I found this study, which seems to be in adequation with my idea…

http://www.drmirkin.com/public/Ezine030506.html
“This study shows that a high-fat diet before extended sprinting hurts performance. A high fat diet causes muscles to burn a higher percentage of fat. Using fat for energy requires more oxygen than carbohydrates do, and how fast you can sprint 0.6 miles on a bicycle is limited by how rapidly you can deliver oxygen to muscles. Restricting carbohydrates before a sprint taking more than 50 seconds increases oxygen needs which slows you down”

while the positive adaptation of endurance athletes to a Hfat-Lcarb diet was read in an article written by Charles Poliquin.

What did I get wrong? Maybe the fact that what CP calls “endurance athletes” is people involved in sports like long distance cycling… if so, then what can be said about other athletes (I was thinking of being on a low carb diet year long for wrestling)?

Thanks, sorry for the long posts, but I can’t help it![/quote]

Sprinting doesn’t call for aerobic capacities, so its not oxidative in nature. Oxygen dept is seen with HIGH INTENSITY WORK, not endurance work.

And CP said that endurance athletes are generally built to do well on high carbs, not high fat diets.

From question of strength no.46:

"Q: Coach, your nutritional approach leans toward lower carbs and lower grains for most of the population. But what about low carbs for endurance athletes? Don’t they need the energy from carbs?

A: Here’s the thing: If these athletes have the genotype â?? the genetic constitution â?? to be endurance athletes, then they’ll naturally be carb-tolerant anyway.

They’re not “made” to be power athletes, and that goes for their nutritional tolerances as well as their physical structure. Their diet should be 65 to 70 percent carbohydrates. And remember, only 25 percent of the population is genetically carb-tolerant.

I’ve worked with endurance-type athletes in the past â?? swimming, biathlon, cross-country skiing â?? and it’s not uncommon for a cross-country skier to consume as much as 6,000 calories per day, with 70 percent of those from carbohydrate. These types of athletes used to not consume enough protein, but that’s mostly a thing of the past among those who perform well.

You can’t take 1970s research and apply it to athletes of this century. Their training volume wasn’t anything like it is today, when it’s not uncommon for some athletes to train three times per day. Some national teams may have their athletes consume as much as 10,000 calories per day. Unless they use carbohydrate liquids, they’re never going to make it.

So, carbs for hard-training, genetically inclined endurance athletes? Sure."

The problem is that you don’t seem to understand what ‘endurance’ work is. Sprinting is not endurance work Wrestling is NOT endurance work… it’s RESISTANCE (or strength-endurance) work.

732

Hey Thibs I don’t want to bug you with probably a stupid question to you, but I wanted to try your Density Canadian Bear Style program from your article to gain some size and strength, and I know you said that was what it was for, but I also read in another one of your articles that training with a focus in Density wasn’t optimal for strength/size gains. So I’m just a little confused, will the Canadian Bear program put some meat on my bones and boost my squat, or will it not?

733

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
gyakujujijime wrote:
Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
gyakujujijime wrote:
Oh and I have another quick question for you, that in my opinion should be interesting for everyone.

I read that endurance athletes could perform well energy-wise using a low carb - high fat diet.
However, knowing that fat uses way more oxygen than carbohydrates to be used as fuel, won’t this diet put them in an oxygen debt?

My problem is that even if my theory seems good in appearance, I didn’t feel any ill-effects related to my very-low carb diet in my cardio activities (wrestling and running).

Thanks!

Your theory doesn’t even sounds good in appearance.

After further research, I found this study, which seems to be in adequation with my idea…

http://www.drmirkin.com/public/Ezine030506.html
“This study shows that a high-fat diet before extended sprinting hurts performance. A high fat diet causes muscles to burn a higher percentage of fat. Using fat for energy requires more oxygen than carbohydrates do, and how fast you can sprint 0.6 miles on a bicycle is limited by how rapidly you can deliver oxygen to muscles. Restricting carbohydrates before a sprint taking more than 50 seconds increases oxygen needs which slows you down”

while the positive adaptation of endurance athletes to a Hfat-Lcarb diet was read in an article written by Charles Poliquin.

What did I get wrong? Maybe the fact that what CP calls “endurance athletes” is people involved in sports like long distance cycling… if so, then what can be said about other athletes (I was thinking of being on a low carb diet year long for wrestling)?

Thanks, sorry for the long posts, but I can’t help it!

Sprinting doesn’t call for aerobic capacities, so its not oxidative in nature. Oxygen dept is seen with HIGH INTENSITY WORK, not endurance work.

And CP said that endurance athletes are generally built to do well on high carbs, not high fat diets.

From question of strength no.46:

"Q: Coach, your nutritional approach leans toward lower carbs and lower grains for most of the population. But what about low carbs for endurance athletes? Don’t they need the energy from carbs?

A: Here’s the thing: If these athletes have the genotype â?? the genetic constitution â?? to be endurance athletes, then they’ll naturally be carb-tolerant anyway.

They’re not “made” to be power athletes, and that goes for their nutritional tolerances as well as their physical structure. Their diet should be 65 to 70 percent carbohydrates. And remember, only 25 percent of the population is genetically carb-tolerant.

I’ve worked with endurance-type athletes in the past â?? swimming, biathlon, cross-country skiing â?? and it’s not uncommon for a cross-country skier to consume as much as 6,000 calories per day, with 70 percent of those from carbohydrate. These types of athletes used to not consume enough protein, but that’s mostly a thing of the past among those who perform well.

You can’t take 1970s research and apply it to athletes of this century. Their training volume wasn’t anything like it is today, when it’s not uncommon for some athletes to train three times per day. Some national teams may have their athletes consume as much as 10,000 calories per day. Unless they use carbohydrate liquids, they’re never going to make it.

So, carbs for hard-training, genetically inclined endurance athletes? Sure."

The problem is that you don’t seem to understand what ‘endurance’ work is. Sprinting is not endurance work Wrestling is NOT endurance work… it’s RESISTANCE (or strength-endurance) work.[/quote]

Thanks, this story gets clearer now… I found back the thing that had me confused, it was the low carb roundtable part 2, and in this article, Poliquin said:

"For competitive athletes, how do you feel about a long term low-carb approach?

Charles Poliquin: If you’re talking about energy system sports like kayak or speed skating, then I’d say that low-carb diets don’t do well for these because of the demands on their glycogen stores, but those athletes tend to be insulin sensitive anyway.

Though an extremely low-carb diet would probably not be the perfect way to go for Olympic quality athletes, it’s interesting that the one study that was done with high performance athletes and a ketogenic diet (a very extreme form of low-carb diet) showed that their performance returned to “normal” (which for them was world class) within a month of being on the diet, showing that adaptation takes place. "

This was the “positive adaptation” I was talking about… I just didn’t get the separation in this sentence between energy system sports and others.
Now I get it better.

To sum it up:

  • ENDURANCE (now that I know what it is lol) athletes should eat High Carbs diet, for oxidation concerns as well as for caloric expenditure considerations.

  • Other athletes cases need to be adressed individually considering the athlete’s insulin sensitivity, his training schedule, his body fat… but in most of the cases a low carb diet has a lot of advantages, since strength or resistance training do not cause oxidation. However I think that an athlete shouldn’t use a ketogenic diet year round because it is not compatible with hyper high performance (except for strength sports maybe, now that I’ve read that your bodybuilders now hit new personal bests DURING their dieting period (??)).

Did I get it right?

Even if you don’t find time to answer, thanks a lot for the time you spend clarifying nutrition questions, even if it goes against what you used before, and thus forces you to reconsider everything. That’s really a great opportunity to learn for us all.

Thanks again!

734

Coach-

I am trying to cut a little(ok a lot) of fat. can you give me a quick set/rep scheme. I love the 5-1 cluster sets. Can this scheme be used throughout a fatloss phase? If so, how many times a week per body part? Thanks so much.

735

Thib,

I had seen things like suspension training on the TRX and figured it was merely one more potential tool in the tool box and that it had limited application in the bigger picture. However I just read a guest blog post by Coach Mike Boyle in which he mentions talking with Alwyn Cosgrove about it and rethinking his initial position, which was not in favor of the TRX. In particular he speaks of TRX inverted rows as replacing cable rows and essentially refers to cable row machines as a piece of junk.

My post is to not set top coaches at odds, but I was wondering if you could share your brief thoughts on this topic, and possibly even comment on the cable row comment. I’ll provide the link to the post, since it was relatively brief, but I understand if you do not have time to check it out.

Thanks for your time, Thib.

http://community.fitnessanywhere.com/blogs/mfp_interviews/archive/2009/08/06/a-trx-ah-ha-moment.aspx

736

[quote]Kal-El wrote:
Coach-

I am trying to cut a little(ok a lot) of fat. can you give me a quick set/rep scheme. I love the 5-1 cluster sets. Can this scheme be used throughout a fatloss phase? If so, how many times a week per body part? Thanks so much.[/quote]

Any method that will allow you to maximize your chances to maintain or even increase your strength can be used in a fat loss phase. To me, gaining strength (or at least maintaining it) is the best way to avoid losing muscle mass while dieting.

However clusters are tremendously hard on the nervous system (I have several stories of adverse CNS reaction to overusing clusters) so they should be limited to a maximum of two days per week. Not two days per muscle… two days where you use clusters. And use them only for one exercise per workout.

737

Hi coach Thib!

I’m bothering you with this, because any of the fellow members didn’t comment my WO plan even when asked. I am thinking of doing main lifts (4) with Wendler’s 5/3/1 on 3 day/week-version. After main lift I would do accessory exercises with the Giant set-style training, either BBB template or some modified version of BB-version. I want to do more than the base-template is and the bodybuilder-template feels too “one muscle group once a week”-style for my liking. I’d rather see my training as 3 total body workouts a week, where some days are more emphazised on some muscle groups (main lifts obviously).

Here are the principals according to which I did the planning:

  • 3 WO’s per week
  • main lifts done and calculated exactly by Wendler’s method
  • main lift and the same lift or lift very similar to main lift in same day (BBB-template)
  • Giant set-style brings it’s own benefits (shorter WO’s, good conditioning, still enough rest between sets for the muscle before doing it again → 2 min rest between rounds of 2a - 2d).
  • antagonist exercises within the same day
  • main muscle groups get hit at least 3 times in 4 training days. 2 heavy and 1-2 light days (kind of speed-strength -days) with lower volume and lighter weights
  • 2 explosive exercises within 8 days (PC and snatch on OHP- and BP-days)
  • 1 accessory exercise for bi’s and tri’s
    So this is my version 1.0 of Wendler’s 5/3/1 (BBB-template mixed in) with some Giant-set -style training.

Mo

  1. Overhead press
    2a) power clean 5x4
    2b) OHP 5x10x50%
    2c) DB row 5x10
    2d) split squat 5x3x60-70%
  2. abs+rehab

We

  1. Deadlift
    2a) DL 5x10x50%
    2b) dip 5x3x60-70%
    2c) chins 5x5
    2d) good mornings
  2. abs+rehab

Fri

  1. Bench press
    2a) DB snatch 5 x 5+5
    2b) BP 5x10x50%
    2c) BB row 5x10
    2d) DB curls 5x5
  2. abs+rehab

Mo

  1. Squat
    2a) Front squat 5x10x50%
    2b) Pull-ups 5 x 5
    2c) incl. DB Flyes 5x3x60-70%
    2d) CGBP 5x5
  2. abs+rehab

What do you think of this in general? Is it too mixed to be effective? Is this too much volume? Anything?

738

Hey CT

I’m an amateur strongman training for two upcoming contests, one of them being nationals. Right now, I’m sitting at about 275 probably around 18% bf… i was down to 250 a few months ago, but my strength was suffering a lot… what approach on diet would be best for me…

i don’t deal with carbs well, but its either eat them and keep throwing around the weight that i do or restrict them and lose strength, but i don’t want to gain any more around the waist, and hopefully shed some fat while increasing my strength… also, my training schedule looks like this

monday- deadlift and accessory lifts
wendesday-upper body and arm accessory work
thursday- squat day
saturday- event day

do you think thats too much? any info is greatly appreciated

739

[quote]desenuts wrote:
Hey CT

I’m an amateur strongman training for two upcoming contests, one of them being nationals. Right now, I’m sitting at about 275 probably around 18% bf… i was down to 250 a few months ago, but my strength was suffering a lot… what approach on diet would be best for me…

i don’t deal with carbs well, but its either eat them and keep throwing around the weight that i do or restrict them and lose strength, but i don’t want to gain any more around the waist, and hopefully shed some fat while increasing my strength… also, my training schedule looks like this

monday- deadlift and accessory lifts
wendesday-upper body and arm accessory work
thursday- squat day
saturday- event day

do you think thats too much? any info is greatly appreciated[/quote]

Your schedule looks fine, nothing wrong with it. As for your diet, I’d recommend restricting carbs to the para-workout period, but ingesting a lot of them.

My best recommendation would be to use:

60 minutes prior: 1 cup of rice
45 minutes prior: 2 scoops of Surge Workout Fuel
15-20 minutes prior: 2 scoops of Surge Recovery
After half of the workout: 2 scoops of Sure Recovery
Post-workout: 5g L-Leucine and 2 scoops of whey

The rest of the day is no carbs (only meat, fish, chicken and veggies)

This should give you around 250g of carbs and a targeted insulin surge which will drastically enhance the training effect.

740

thanks, i appreciate it