You responded to my post on deloading on page 3.
[quote]ridethecliche wrote:
Quick Question:
Is an advantage of the BB split that your body parts get more of a chance to recover through the week and this allows for a lower chance of overuse injury as well?
My shoulders have always clicked and popped a little, and it’s been a little more prominent on a 2x a week push/pull split (legs 1x a week). I’m thinking of making the leap over to the split that has been described ad nauseum here to stop hitting my shoulders directly and indirectly up to 4 times a week. If I switch splits, I can probably add in 2-3x weekly rotator cuff rehab-ish exercises to do to lower the chances of a current minor annoyance developing into a full blown shoulder problem.
Thanks. [/quote]
I don’t know how to answer this because there are shitty movement-based, strength training, and bodypart split programs. There are also properly designed ones. There are bodybuilders with shoulder problems; there are pitchers with shoulder problems; there are powerlifters with shoulder problems. The list is endless. There are even sedentary people with problems.
I don’t know what your program looks like or what you do in daily life that might be the culprit.
Thanks for the advice. I just spent some time using the template that you’d sent me via PM and info from this thread and posted it in the beginners forum.
I don’t want to post the link here because it’ll take away from the thread. Here’s a link for anyone who wants to help. Thanks in advance.
For my shoulders, I’ll be doing a 5 circuit workout I found on diesel crew. I’ll do one of the circuits on every one of my workout days as a prehab measure in addition to some additional rotator cuff shoulder stuff on shoulder day. My shoulders have never really bothered me much (they get sore right now), but they’ve always popped and clicked. It’s only my right shoulder that does this. It’s probably an old tennis or frisbee injury. Some of the throws I used to do for frisbee really screwed up my shoulder. I realized which ones they were and stopped.
In any event, here’s the link: Forums - T Nation - The World's Trusted Community for Elite Fitness
[quote]Bricknyce wrote:
[quote]tomkade wrote:
Not sure if this was covered, but is it important to feel the “pump” after each workout session? thanks[/quote]
What matters is progress in size and strength. Pumping up a muscle MIGHT contribute to some growth. The ABILITY to pump a muscle does say something though. If you can’t get a pump in a muscle, chances are it’s one of your weaker bodyparts. Strong bodyparts can get a pump from doing the most mundane stuff, like shaving, washing your hair, walking up a flight of stairs, carrying groceries, etc. [/quote]
I might also add that progressive overload, when done correctly, will produce the “pump” as an inevitable byproduct of bodybuilding training. To train exclusively for the pump is misguided, however. One could use very light weights for a decent amount of reps and get a pump, yet these sets will contribute minimally to progress, if at all. To wit, I can get a pump going just from warm-up sets in many exercises.
Using the heaviest weight you can in set and rep ranges geared towards hypertrophy, and progressing in both reps and weight on the bar, will give you a pump without even thinking about it.
[quote]doubleh wrote:
Using the heaviest weight you can in set and rep ranges geared towards hypertrophy, and progressing in both reps and weight on the bar, will give you a pump without even thinking about it.[/quote]
I disagree. My chest lagged for most of my life and I always found it difficult to get a pump in it despite progressing in chest exercises. It was only when I implemented pre-exhaust that I could experience a pump in my pecs.
Are you naturally tricep-dominant in pressing movements? If what I said holds true for you in other muscle groups, there must be another reason your chest behaved differently.
Yes, I’m arms-dominant. That’s why I relied on dumbbell press and fly variations and pre-exhaust.
[quote]Bricknyce wrote:
[quote]doubleh wrote:
Using the heaviest weight you can in set and rep ranges geared towards hypertrophy, and progressing in both reps and weight on the bar, will give you a pump without even thinking about it.[/quote]
I disagree. My chest lagged for most of my life and I always found it difficult to get a pump in it despite progressing in chest exercises. It was only when I implemented pre-exhaust that I could experience a pump in my pecs. [/quote]
Ditto, and this goes for my biceps. It really seemed that no matter how much I progressed weight-wise for my curling movements, I could never feel the muscle working, never got a pump in them, and they were also never sore the next day. Instead, I would feel the strain in my brachialis (which would be sore the next day).
I was really frustrated with this, and finally was able to find an exercise that I DID manage to feel in my biceps… so, what I’ve been doing lately is working on pumping the shit out of the fuckers and really trying to imprint the feel of the contraction in my muscles and nerves. I’ve found that this is really helping bring the muscle into the other curl variations, and it all started with getting that pump going.
I would imagine that getting the pump in a muscle is largely influenced by ones ability to feel the muscle working (as opposed to just going through the movement), and, although I’ve never really asked anyone else about it, from personal experience I can agree with Brick that my better muscle groups are the ones that pump more easily than the rest. So, while the pump might not be a sign of proper training IN AND OF ITSELF, I would think that a good pump in the targeted muscle is certainly a symptom of an individual performing a movement correctly if they have the goal of stimulating a growth response there.
[quote]anonym wrote:
[quote]Bricknyce wrote:
[quote]doubleh wrote:
Using the heaviest weight you can in set and rep ranges geared towards hypertrophy, and progressing in both reps and weight on the bar, will give you a pump without even thinking about it.[/quote]
I disagree. My chest lagged for most of my life and I always found it difficult to get a pump in it despite progressing in chest exercises. It was only when I implemented pre-exhaust that I could experience a pump in my pecs. [/quote]
Ditto, and this goes for my biceps. It really seemed that no matter how much I progressed weight-wise for my curling movements, I could never feel the muscle working, never got a pump in them, and they were also never sore the next day. Instead, I would feel the strain in my brachialis (which would be sore the next day).
I was really frustrated with this, and finally was able to find an exercise that I DID manage to feel in my biceps… so, what I’ve been doing lately is working on pumping the shit out of the fuckers and really trying to imprint the feel of the contraction in my muscles and nerves. I’ve found that this is really helping bring the muscle into the other curl variations, and it all started with getting that pump going.
I would imagine that getting the pump in a muscle is largely influenced by ones ability to feel the muscle working (as opposed to just going through the movement), and, although I’ve never really asked anyone else about it, from personal experience I can agree with Brick that my better muscle groups are the ones that pump more easily than the rest. So, while the pump might not be a sign of proper training IN AND OF ITSELF, I would think that a good pump in the targeted muscle is certainly a symptom of an individual performing a movement correctly if they have the goal of stimulating a growth response there.[/quote]
Correct. As I wrote, pumping might not lead to growth, but the ability to get a pump is an indication that a muscle group is responsive to the lifts. As I wrote before too, I believe pre-exhaust is THEE best solution for a lagging muscle group because of the intramuscular pressure and innervation it creates in a muscle.
After doing it for some time, you can go back to conventional training, and voila, you feel the pump in the muscle with no pre-exhaust.
This same situation happened when I was doing my Westside routine for the first time. I realized that I just couldn’t get my glutes to fire and I wasn’t so explosive when using maximal weights in squats and deadlifts (1 to 3 reps). Same thing happened with speed work too. I just couldn’t blast the weight up and I instinctively knew it was because of weak glutes and tight hip flexors.
So I started EVERY workout, even upper body ones, with glute activation and mobility drills and hip flexor stretches. The pressure and innervation created in the glutes from those drills really allowed me to recruit them during lifts. Fast forward a few years later and I do glute activation drills only a few times per week.
I function much better in squats, deadlifts, and lunges now and I’ve never encountered back pain and stiffness again.
[quote]Bricknyce wrote:
Yes, I’m arms-dominant. That’s why I relied on dumbbell press and fly variations and pre-exhaust. [/quote]
Well there ya go. Your disagreement with my statement would appear to stem not so much from it’s viabilty, but rather from your own individual physiology.
I should perhaps amend the statement to include wording along the lines of “provided the exercises selected are providing enough stimulation to the target muscle”. It would seem obvious, but in hindsight cases such as yours - where arms-dominant individuals may progress in pressing movements, yet still have a tough time getting their chests to grow or feel a pump - would be the exception.
Thanks for the info. I might start doing for pecs as well, because I can’t ‘feel’ them on my pressing movements so I’ll start doing flyes before my presses in order to hopefully get them to recruit a bit more. Flyes hit my pecs perfectly, so here’s to hoping that works better than what I’ve been doing so far.
If you’re doing CGBP for triceps (on a non chest day) does it make any sense to pre exhaust the pecs for that as well?
[quote]Bricknyce wrote:
Frequency: 1 to 2 times per week per muscle group.
Body split up over 3 to 6 sessions, depending on frequency and number of muscles trainer per session.
2 to 3 muscles trained at each session.
Sets and reps: Warm up and ramp up to 1 to 2 all-out blast sets of 6 to 15 reps - depending on what you grow best from.
2 to 4 exercises per muscle group, including both compound and isolation exercises. Large muscles usually get 2 compound and 1 or 2 isolation exercises and small ones usually get 1 or 2 compound exercises and 1 or 2 isolation exercises.
[/quote]
Alright. So I think I misinterpreted something somewhere. What’s the max # of exercises that you should have per workout. I ask because if you’re doing 3 body parts with 2-4 exercises per body part, that can be 9-12 exercises which is too much, so where’s the balance?
[quote]ridethecliche wrote:
If you’re doing CGBP for triceps (on a non chest day) does it make any sense to pre exhaust the pecs for that as well?[/quote]
No. You don’t want to use your pecs for CGB. If you are doing them correctly, any major chest activation will only come as a byproduct of arm and front delt fatigue.
[quote]doubleh wrote:
[quote]ridethecliche wrote:
If you’re doing CGBP for triceps (on a non chest day) does it make any sense to pre exhaust the pecs for that as well?[/quote]
No. You don’t want to use your pecs for CGB. If you are doing them correctly, any major chest activation will only come as a byproduct of arm and front delt fatigue.
[/quote]
Thanks. That’s what I figured.
[quote]ridethecliche wrote:
Thanks for the info. I might start doing for pecs as well, because I can’t ‘feel’ them on my pressing movements so I’ll start doing flyes before my presses in order to hopefully get them to recruit a bit more. Flyes hit my pecs perfectly, so here’s to hoping that works better than what I’ve been doing so far.
If you’re doing CGBP for triceps (on a non chest day) does it make any sense to pre exhaust the pecs for that as well?
[quote]Bricknyce wrote:
Frequency: 1 to 2 times per week per muscle group.
Body split up over 3 to 6 sessions, depending on frequency and number of muscles trainer per session.
2 to 3 muscles trained at each session.
Sets and reps: Warm up and ramp up to 1 to 2 all-out blast sets of 6 to 15 reps - depending on what you grow best from.
2 to 4 exercises per muscle group, including both compound and isolation exercises. Large muscles usually get 2 compound and 1 or 2 isolation exercises and small ones usually get 1 or 2 compound exercises and 1 or 2 isolation exercises.
[/quote]
Alright. So I think I misinterpreted something somewhere. What’s the max # of exercises that you should have per workout. I ask because if you’re doing 3 body parts with 2-4 exercises per body part, that can be 9-12 exercises which is too much, so where’s the balance? [/quote]
Dude, you’re ALL OVER THE FUCKING PLACE! SERIOUSLY!
I really think you need to pick up some books and articles on nutrition and training to figure this thing out AS A WHOLE, or hire a personal trainer and a nutritionist or registered dietitian (RD).
SERIOUSLY!
Advice duly noted.
That being said, I’m going to play with what I came up with (I’d forgotten to take a few things out) and see how I do on it till may.
Thanks for all the advice. Anddd back to lurking.
[quote]ridethecliche wrote:
Advice duly noted.
That being said, I’m going to play with what I came up with (I’d forgotten to take a few things out) and see how I do on it till may.
Thanks for all the >>>>advices<<<<. Anddd back to lurking. [/quote]
Fixed.
[quote]ridethecliche wrote:
[quote]Bricknyce wrote:
Frequency: 1 to 2 times per week per muscle group.
Body split up over 3 to 6 sessions, depending on frequency and number of muscles trainer per session.
2 to 3 muscles trained at each session.
Sets and reps: Warm up and ramp up to 1 to 2 all-out blast sets of 6 to 15 reps - depending on what you grow best from.
2 to 4 exercises per muscle group, including both compound and isolation exercises. Large muscles usually get 2 compound and 1 or 2 isolation exercises and small ones usually get 1 or 2 compound exercises and 1 or 2 isolation exercises.
[/quote]
Alright. So I think I misinterpreted something somewhere. What’s the max # of exercises that you should have per workout. I ask because if you’re doing 3 body parts with 2-4 exercises per body part, that can be 9-12 exercises which is too much, so where’s the balance? [/quote]
Brick said a range for a reason - that is, if he said like 2-3 body parts trained per workout, and 2-4 exercises per body part…you’d regulate. You wouldn’t pick the highest numbers for each; like 3 body parts and 4 exercises for each body part in one session. Likewise, if you chose to do legs in a workout, you wouldn’t train more than one other bodypart in that same session.
Example:
If you wanted to do 3 body parts in a session (e.g. chest, shoulders, triceps), then you may chose to do 2 exercises per body part…making a grand total of 6 exercises. By the way, 6 exercises/session would be my limit personally.
[quote]ridethecliche wrote:
Advice duly noted.
That being said, I’m going to play with what I came up with (I’d forgotten to take a few things out) and see how I do on it till may.
Thanks for all the advice. Anddd back to lurking. [/quote]
Dude, stop lurking, pick a goal and a respective program and fucking work out. I don’t know what your problem is at this point.
I’ve come to believe that a) you don’t give a shit about anyone’s advice and ask for it for the sake of starting conversation, b) you can’t decide on a specific goal, c) you’re inherently self-defeatist, d) you’re mind is scrambled (hence why I wrote attribute b), and/or you like driving yourself nuts!
Read some articles and/or books and/or hire some professional exercise and diet help! I don’t know what more people or I can say to you at this point. You come up with the strangest shit and some of your posts indicate that you’re clueless about this thing AS A WHOLE! That is, you don’t have a broad understanding of training and nutrition and/or don’t know how to apply this understanding.
Ridethecliche what is your goal, how many days per week do you have available (more days can equal shorter sessions, keep that in mind), what is your weakest bodypart?
Hey Bricknice, you’re obviously an experienced individual, so, just out of curiosity, is there any reason why you chose to do the Built like a Badass program as opposed to structuring your own routine?
Or did you tweek it in order to better suit your needs?