Was super fresh, but Push to hard + Volume now i am Stressed 45 minutes later. But i feel i could manage Stress with 2x/Week without problemsâ:person_shrugging:.
Cardio only Heart frequency below 135 & short. Cardio is very Dangerous(!)
First time Low Activity, and then more daily Activity . I think i must have more oxygen/mitochondria without pushing Cortisol too much etc
My Body uses fruits as Energy source much much better then starch, but all ppl say Fructose dangerous?!
If eat fruits IT gives my Body a Push. Suggestion on this topic? Sounds irrational, but thats how i feel âŠ
fruits even pushes me more then pure Dextrose Most of the time. What the Heck, i do Not understand
Something about this combination is clearly working for you if you feel fine again. Given that you are/were struggling with chronic fatigue, feeling fine is a big improvement.
It depends on your goals but right now it might be the right approach for you. Ultimately I would believe the most important goal for you right now is to just get well and feel better again.
Your current training protocol as you laid it out in bullet points looks very well balanced:
you have some weight training in there to maintain muscle/strength or even stimulate muscle protein synthesis.
youâre working on your cardiovascular health, which will not only improve your heart health but also the health of your other organs such as the brain, lungs, kidneys, liver, gut and so on. Most all important biomarkers will improve simply by engaging in cardiovascular activities. I would perhaps consider swapping out running for cycling as it is easier on the joints and better from a recovery perspective (running has a lot of eccentric action in it, possibly creating muscle damage and increasing recovery demands).
Sauna, especially at high temperatures, works great to improve blood flow, strengthen immune system function and enhance recovery from training/life stress. If you want to maximize benefits, try to extend to 20 minutes of sauna and do it 1.5 hours prebed. The big drop in core body temperature after getting out of the sauna will get you in an optimal state for deep sleep.
I feel uncomfortable with full body because of length/fatigue and like to do Push/Pull from âthe best damn workoutâ.
The main concern here is, i dont like to go that often to my gym and like to train in my homegym most of the time. Gym maximum 3x (to combine with low impact cardio), preferably Pull workouts, since i do not have cable/row machines and hamstring Curl-Machine etc.
Problem though are the push exercises, since i am very limited (i do have rack bar, barbell, bench etc.) and the techniques Chris suggests are difficult to implement for the big mainlifts because there are demanding on cns.
So can you help me for these exercices:
Bulgarian Split Squats (very effective)
Flat Benchpress (somehow effective)
How can i implement the load schemes and techniques? Or can i focus on just one scheme to make things easier (which one?)
And what is your advice for Lat/Pulling exercises in the gym for the techniques? Anything special, or doesnt matter?
I donât know the loading schemes and techniques used in the best damn workout for naturals. I know the main structure of the program is high frequency, low volume and high intensiveness (how much effort you put into your set, not to be mistaken with intensity which is load).
Because the frequency and the intensiveness are both high, the volume must automatically be low for naturals to allow them to recover and make gains.
CT likes to keep things interesting and effective, thatâs why low volume in BDWFN is equated by doing a low number of worksets and accumulating enough effective reps through intensity techniques like rest-pause, myo reps, dropsets etc.
Using only one scheme can be helpful if you want to make your workouts less complex, as long as you push to failure on those worksets. If you donât want to use intensity techniques, I suggest doing 2 worksets to failure instead of 1 to accumulate enough effective reps for growth.
Basically you would want to select exercises where you have a great MM connection. If you can connect to the target muscles and feel a hard contraction, than that exercise will work great for you.
You can use reps with a normal tempo (2010), thereâs not really a need for a slower eccentric in a back workout, unless youâre trying to learn a new movement, strengthen tendons or induce a lot of muscle damage (not a great idea when youâre dealing with fatigue). I like to add short pauses (maybe 1 or 2 seconds) in the peak contraction as I find this to be effective to increase MM connection and local fatigue.
My personal favorite techniques for pulling exercises (for pure hypertrophy) are rest-pause, post fatigue and dropsets. These never disappoint. Myo reps or mechanical dropsets are also great for biceps.
If youâre seeking advice on technique with pulling exercises, I like the approach of Mike van Wyck and Charles Glass.
No, I would focus instead on mastering technique first and adding short pauses at the peak contraction in your warmup sets to teach your brain how to connect to the target muscle(s).
Resistance bands as a pre-warmup are one of the best options to improve MM connection. You can pick an isolation exercise for a muscle thatâs lacking and simply hold the peak contraction for 3-5 seconds and do 5-10 reps like that for 1-2 sets before you head over to your first exercise.
If you donât have acces to bands than the second best option would be cables, third best machines and bbâs or dbâs last.
For the past 8 weeks Iâve managed to consistently train 2-3 FULL BODY sessions per week at a set count of 3-4 per muscle group, which is very high. With the beginning of week 9, fatigue is clearly noticeable. I had planned a break from training after week 10-11 and would like to continue a bit. But the full body is relatively long and I thought about dividing this training into upper and lower body. And thus train upper body early in the morning and lower body late at night. Always with a rest day afterwards. So ON/OFF/ON etc.
Is it maybe a little better than the full body? It motivates me.
If it motivates you more than full body than yes, itâs better. The effort that you put into your workouts will be higher when you are more motivated.
However, motivation should not be the deciding factor in your decision to train (hard) or not to train. At least not in the short term.
Discipline is actually way more important than motivation because it will keep you consistent with your workout schedule, nutrition, sleep hygiene and so on.
So even on those days when you are not that pumped to train, you should still go in and start your workout to check if you are fatigued or just demotivated.
Now, if you are so fatigued/drained that you get a massive drop off in reps on only the first or even second set of your first exercise, then I would jump to the second exercise and see if the same drop off occurs. If it doesnât, complete the workout. If it does, stop the workout and take a day off.
You can divide your workout succesfully into two segments as long as you accumulate enough effective volume for the target muscle groups.
For example if your full body workouts have 2 leg exercises each, then you can benefit from segmenting them into upper and lower. But if thereâs only 1 leg exercise, the accumulated volume might not be enough for each muscle group of the legs. Unless maybe you do a high number of working sets but that will likely create too much fatigue and upregulate cortisol too much if you do your leg workout too close to bedtime.
Off course the 1 leg exercise is not an issue if your goal is simply to maintain what you have. If itâs growth youâre after you might be better of picking 2 leg exercises. For example one compound exercise like a squat or a deadlift variation and one isolation exercise for a lagging muscle group.
Thanks for the comprehensive answer to identify severe fatigue or overtraining. The fact that I have trained the whole body plan for so long also speaks for my discipline. As I understand you, can I train twice a day? Upper body in the morning, lower body in the evening? My full body plan included a quad exercise and a hamstrings exercise.
April 7th is entered in my diary for the 10-day training break. I donât like deloads. But i implement stretching and cardio which makes fun. Something like this.
I train at home and it spends a lot of time. I train while i am cooking for example lol
oh and after each session i do 15 min autogenic training. I also do a cold turkey, bought an old nokia handy (no smartphone) and give my laptop to my mother for 1 month. I dont have tv.
Those media put a lot of cortisol and do sleep disturbance also.
The screens and social media work more via stimulation of the dopaminergic pathway rather than cortisol. They do have an effect on cortisol but itâs not as magnified as people think it is.
Your brain sort of gets amped up (for a lack of a better term) by the blue light waves coming from your screens and the tons of digital information from your social media, making it hard for some individuals to unwind when bedtime comes around.
Relaxing or deep breathing exercises post-workout are excellent, also before bed.
I would advise you to try it out for some time and see what happens. As long as the volume (total number of weekly worksets per muscle group) is somewhat the same and you donât train too close to bedtime, I donât see any harm in that.
hello, at the end of the month i have to have an operation on the external meniscus. Do you have any tips on how I should behave before and after surgery? from training, nutrition and supps. Thanks
something else: I ate from 20.2 -17.4. vegan. Itâs not something I like. but for religious reasons, maybe I have a deficiency - I only took multivitamin and forgot to take creatine and now gave away 1 kg (=2 pounds). because of the op
now i am Stressed 45 minutes later. But i feel i could manage Stress with 2x/Week without problemsâ:person_shrugging:.