4char
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1/13/22 - Rest (planned)
I know I’m only 2 workouts into the DC programming, and I can certainly see where it would be great to build with.
I’ve weighed in 219, 220, 220lbs for the past 3 days, and I am still at a net deficit - I know I’m reading too much into this already, but I am a little worried that the reduced volume and training frequency is going to have a significant impact on my weight loss plan. Moreover, as intense as these training days are - I can still handle more training frequency than is prescribed. I have a few lifts that will increase in weight next go-round but I cannot fathom that +10-20 lbs on a couple lifts per training day will suddenly impact me so strongly that I cannot handle more volume.
I will stick with the program for the whole 2 week cycle and assess weight loss, but I believe I will need to stick with some form of 5-6x per week training to meet my weight loss goal. Given that I was already doing rest-pause (albeit slightly altered) progression, I don’t see the huge increase in intensity I was expecting.
As I said, I will stick with DC for the whole 2 week cycle and assess how I am doing with my weight loss goal - but my training anxiety/restlessness is causing some doubts in this type of program while intending to lose weight. Simply put - the Mifflin-St Jeor equation specifically states the activity multiplier is directly correlated to training frequency, which I have reduced… This will not help me with my current goal.
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I eat steak everyday. Join me on the dark side as we fill our arteries and empty our wallets 
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I felt the same when I started DC but there are a couple of things just to check.
Firstly the warm up sets, when reading and looking at DC training there is more WU sets than I had previously been using. While I’m sure it does add to overall weekly volume it really helps prime the body for that all out set. I often found if I rushed my WU sets or didn’t do enough priming, then my main set wouldn’t be as intense.
Second thing is to say that DC shouldn’t be used on a calorie deficit according to the DC writings. I think the idea is to stimulate muscle growth and get rest as well. That’s what I read but never tried it myself in a deficit so don’t know anymore than the DC website.
Either way keep up the good work dude!
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I’ve been doing lean ground beef every day for a few weeks now. Occasionally I’ll throw in a steak, but only like 1x per week atm.
Gotta lean out!
I think if you buy a real steak, there’s no problem at all with weight loss hehe
Yeah I would tend to agree with that. Even if a muscle-building workout is not that expensive (like 300 calories tops) you still have to get there, move around, take weights… it still is work. 300 cals x 7 is better better than 300 cals x 2.
But then if you only do your 2 DCs workouts but walk 12 000 steps a day and have a few cardio sessions per week you’ll shed fat no problemo
My favourite to lose weight are a good Meadows program or customed Conjugate
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I’ll look over both and get a feel for them, thanks for the recommendation!
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Also you could check out Athlete lean, Athlete strong on T Nation. A 4 week program for fat loss and performance. Did it thrice and I don’t think anyone ever disliked it
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Trudel had a thread about DC during contest prep (as in leaning out) and he basically just said to cut carbs and continue training as usual. When the energy deficit gets too strong, he says to turn it into a 4x per week split with same exercises, just over more days.
His diet info was pretty crude to say the least lol.
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4char
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1/15/22 - Rest (planned)
Yesterdays training session kicked my ass but fuck I want to go lift. Idk if I’m patient enough to stick to the true DC template long term. Still going to finish out the 2 week plan but I quite seriously might just bastardize it and run 4-5x per week along the lines of a periodized PPL with Rest-Pause progression style.
Learned a lot already and I’m not discounting any of it, I’m just not sure HIT is going to work with me and my impatient ass.
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4char
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your whoosh is around the corner
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That certainly is possible. In hindsight, changing up my HVT to HIT halfway through a cut probably wasn’t the best move I’d ever made lol. I attribute the ‘stall’ to this, but it’s hard to objectively call this a stall - maybe a “pause” more accurately.
It felt like every day I stepped on the scale I saw it go down, and it did this for like a month. Then it stopped and went back up when I hadn’t changed anything… Still, it’s only been “paused” for like 3-4 days so you’re probably right.
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On Intense Muscle, there’s a thread titled “ Updated–DC Training Newbies ***read This First And Then Ask Questions Later” that lays out everything super clearly. That’s how I designed my DC routine. DC may be lower volume than what you’ve been doing but it’s very focused volume. For instance, you aren’t going to get very much Intensity out of 5 sets of 5. With the rest-pause system in DC, you’re pushing those 3 “sets” to their limit which really fatigues the muscle past baseline efficiently. For someone on a pretty aggressive cut, the reduction in volume would be very good for recovery. It’s also super easy to progress on DC since you just add weight whenever you get to the top of your rep range for that exercise, so you’re just focusing on adding reps or weight every session. Beating the log book is the most important thing. DC is a great way of cutting out any BS, no junk exercises, no junk volume.
The stretches are also a good foundational piece because they add in a bit more work to “finish off” your muscles. I think they basically work by being a slow negative/weighted isometric. They’re painful but they help give you a better pump and they really helped my flexibility. They also don’t add that much time to the session. I also wasn’t sure about them at first but I ended up loving them. Keep up the good work dawg.
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