Ready to Be Trained!

If you’re looking for a structured workout plan you can’t go wrong by following Thibs or Meadows.

You can find out information about Thibs’ layering system here:

I highly recommend his powerlifting ten day split, if you want someone to be tyrannical and dictate a training programme for you this is what I would go for, replacing the deadlift work with squats. Do this cycle three times through without the meet simulation then do a deload week after the third cycle then repeat…

John Meadows has written articles on here outlining his training philosophy:

http://www.T-Nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/chest_obliteration_mountain_dog_style&cr=

Choosing between them is purely a matter of personal preference. Thibs focusses on explosive heavy lifting on compound lifts: for the layer system you have 1 main lift per workout and work it at different intensity levels, ramping to a 1RM, doing heavy clusters and then some “lighter” extended set work. Meadows tends to go for high volume and intensity, as well as using some eccentric and band work. Whichever programme you look at and think ‘that looks like great fun’, that’s the one for you.

Find one that appeals, stick to it for six months and profit. In terms of diet I agree with the others who have said don’t get fixated on supplements, but equally just do whatever works for you. You’ve clearly made great gains with how you’ve been eating so just try upping the calorie intake and see how your body responds, you’ll find the happy medium where you’re gaining without getting too soft with a bit of experimentation.

So to break through a plateau find a new programme which looks fun and will offer a different training stimulus and stick to it for at elast 3 months, and alongside this up your calorie intake until you’re gaining again. Hope this helps, I know what it can be like to just have paralysis in the face of information overload. I’m making great progress with the layering system so if you’d like more information I can give you a more detailed overview, though the best thing to do is to receive wisdom from the horse’s mouth (so to speak) and have a peruse of thibs’ forum.