Hi Thib,
I`m competing in a sport that is called athletic fitness in europe. It includes dips(doing as many as possible) and pull ups(palms away doing as many as possible) and line up posses(front, rear and both sides). How would you set up a program when the goal is to add muscle all over the body with focus on upper body and doing as many reps as possible in pull ups and dips? I can train almost every day and several sessions some of the days if the sessions are short.
Hey CT, I saw you mention in the recent livespill that your somewhat gluten intolerant. I also correct me if Im wrong seem to remember you saying that you were lactose intollerant to some degree or at least to milk. I found out that I probly suffer from both of those aswell so I was wondering what foods you keep as a constant in your diet?
Hey CT, Iāve been looking at your 6 weeks to superhero program and have been wondering if there should be more biceps work in it. If so, what would you recommend?
Love your work, especially the new 6 weeks to Super Hero workout. I have access to everything I would need to do the workout, but I am in a bobsleigh training program, and all the training is set (and I know mixing workouts doesnāt work). Iāve been searching through your articles, but I have not found a answer to my question.
I always feel like I always have a lot of extra left in the tank, and I feel like I can add extra work (especially on Sunday, which is an off day).
So here goes: could I add neural charge/eccentric less workouts to this program?
My workouts looks like this:
Monday - Olympic Lifting Style Workout (all is focused on accelerating semi max weights)
Tuesday - Sprint Training (focus on starting, frequency and technique)
Wednesday - Olympic Lifting Style Workout (focus on 80% of 1 RM for Lower Reps and Max Speed)
Thursday - Cycling Workout (20-30 sec intervals vs 20-30 sec rest for 12 minutes x 3)
Friday - Olympic Lifting Style Workout (focus on 80% of 1 RM for Lower Reps and Max Speed)
Saturday - Hill Sprints (total of 30-40 sprints in sets of 10, for 4 sec of work)
Sunday - OFF
All Workout are in the afternoon (except Tuesdays, which are at 18:00).
Thanks!
Next year March/April we have 2 months training on our own, hopefully I can get to do one of your full programs then.
CT and or Anybody,
Iām starting my second week on the Superhero Complexes and aside from my shoulder killing me because I canāt get my head out of my ass on my BP form for some reason; Iām feeling a bit drained. Anybody else having this issue? Maybe itās just coincidence but it almost feels like itās the Pin Press that is contributing to my shoulder pain. Itās not like horribly drained but definitely more so than when I was following the HPM principles.
Tomorrow is my day āoffā and instead of doing a Neural Charge day Iām tempted to sleep-in; I typically get up at 3am to train because itās really the only quality training time I have. I was nodding off on my way into work today and unfortunately I was driving too.
Howās everybody else feeling? Am I the only one feeling a bit drained? LOL! The Chest / Deadlift day is pretty brutal for me, the Broad Jumps are awesome but definitely kick my butt. How are people handling their non-complex days? Wednesdays were Neural Charge days for me and Saturays Latās / Biās and Iām going to keep that schedule if at all possible.
I apologize because I know this has been covered before, but I canāt seem to find it. Iām pretty certain that Iām experiencing overtraining syndrome. I know I need to take some time off, but is there anything else I can do or supplements I can take to speed up recovery? Would neural charge workouts help? Or should I just avoid all exercise? Iāve been working out really hard for a long time and probably not getting enough calories. Lately Iāve been getting extremely fatigued with normal day activities and a week of rest hasnāt helped much. Blood tests are normal. Overtraining? Adrenal fatigue? Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Hey Thib, massive fan of your work. I have a unique problem. When I first started training I was your typical ego-orientated meat head who just trained arms and chest. Through basic training i got a rather large chest. Interestingly something happened to which no-one can make an accurate guess as to why. I injured my left shoulder doing bench. I never used a wide grip always a rather narrow shoulder width grip and it worked well for me the problem was due to rolling my shoulders forward and bringing the bar too close toward my clavicle. This technuqie was great for bringing out my chest but it was terrible for shoulders. For some unknown reason my chest liturally shrank in 2 weeks, im talking i was comletly flat chested no definition size or anything. I decided to change my bench form to make it safer for my shoulders, (retract and depress scaps and keeping elbows in). At first i was shit weak but after 2 months my bench went from 80-110kgs.
Strength kept going up and up the more i ate and benched this way. heres the probelm, I have abnormally large and strong traps. I have that hunched over anterioir tilt look. Due to this my body recruats my traps so heavily in bench that i barely get any chest work. My chest still gets sore and is developed quite well in the outer and lower portions but eveything else is flat. I thought i need to stimulate my chest more but no matter what i did nothing could build my non-existant inner and upper chest. My Traps dominate every chest movement not only that but now they dominate every shoulder compound movemnt! Im strong but i have no size. they say theres no such thing as building upper and inner pecsā¦thats bullshit because my chest was very full and now i just cant seem to recriute or stimulate any muscle wahtsoever in my chest, so much for muscle memory!.
How should i go about doing this? everything i try doesnt seem to work! Iv noticed this is a trend for those with rounded shoulders with big traps, they never have a decent chest.
Christian, I need some help. I am 53, !95 and 25%BF on tanita scale. I am not real strong as I can never seem to maintain workouts for more than a couple of weeks. Partly due to crazy work schedule, then I get tired and donāt feel like working out. end up not working out for a couple of weeks at a time. I want to get in the best shape of my life, ie: get leaner,stronger and add muscle. I recently purchased a pulse/fast kit and some Anaconda. I eat decent but not great, sometimes crap at work-hospital cafeteria.
What combination would you recommend for me to achieve my goals?I am currently doing Lean Hybrid muscle Reloaded in hopes of stripping fat and gaining muscle. I was wondering what workout program you would put me on? 6 weeks to superhero or some other program along with pulse fast. I really want this. Also, if possible do better on a 3 day a week program simply in terms of time for doing workouts. I work out at home. I have a power rack, adjust DBās to 90lbs, a prowler, a band cable system thatās good for assistance work like tri PDās, and a hill in front of my house. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks much, Grant
Iāve got carpal tunnel in both hands at the moment. I started olympic weightlifting about 2-3 weeks before I started the HP mass program and noticed it about a week or 2 after starting HP Mass. I was doing HP mass and 2 days of olympic lifting which replaced the Neural charge days. So I was averaging at least 2 hours of lifting every single day for about 6 weeks. I also work at trader joeās so I do a lot of register work where I pick up items all day. On top of that I was sleeping on my hands and I would wake up with them extremely numb.
I went to the chiropractor, got acupuncture, went to my regular doc, orthopedic surgeon - all multiple visits. None of that helped at all. Got an EMG test (nerve test) done and found out I had carpal tunnel in both hands, had pinched nerves in both elbows and both wrists and had SEVERE nerve damage. The numbness started out just seldom in my left hand, then minor constant numbness/loss of sensation in my left hand and started getting worse and eventually ended up with both hands constantly pretty numb (when I say constant I mean that now there was not one second of my life that my hands felt normal and had full sensation).
I also thought that this would go away with time and my body had to just get used to it. Well, since I sort of ignored it for a while it just kept getting worse and most people were saying I would need to get surgery in both hands.
I would definitely say get it checked out and listen to your body. If itās getting worse, ease off or work around it and donāt do things that bother it. Get some splints/braces for your hands/wrist to wear while sleeping at night if your waking up with them numb. DO NOT IGNORE THIS PROBLEM. Iāve never had any signs of carpal tunnel before this except when I would wake up and my hands would be numb from sleeping on them.
My hands are getting better now since I took a week off of work and got a doc note for limited register time and am not doing ANY upper body lifting. The only things that have helped my CTS is this nerve support formula Iām taking and this machine I rented that ended up costing me a ton of money. Iām just hoping that they get completely better soon and I can continue my normal lifting.
I am not blaming HP mass at all for my CTS. I really think it was just that my hands were basically never getting any rest and had new stress placed on them with the Olympic lifting.
Sorry for the long post but I just donāt want any one else to go through the same stuff I have. It sucks and because I pushed through it and ignored the problem for too long thinking my hands would return to normal once the frequency was lowered, I have now had to take 2 or even 3 steps back because I THOUGHT I was taking 1 step forward.
If anyone has any questions please go ahead and ask.
[/quote]
Thanks for sharing your story. The situation sucks but itās good to know Iām not alone in this, and itās encouraged me to get to the doc asap.
I did have this issue on one program before but pushed through and it eventually went away. But maybe it just went into hiding for a while!
What is the nerve formula youāre taking?[/quote]
Itās not carpel tunnel syndrome ModelT, that involves the median nerve. Our symptoms indicate ulnar nerve entrapment. I also have a slight pulley catch for both pinkie fingers when I try to make a fist. The cause I think is simply overuse since Iām not used to doing so much pressing, frequency or volume-wise.
While I have made some ridiculously fast gains in strength, I am taking at least a week off of upper body work to give my body a chance to rest/heal. I will simply squat a shit ton 3 days on 1 day off 2 days on 1 day off and repeat until the symptoms disappear. Other treatment includes taking an anti-inflammatory, I prefer ibuprofen. Fish-oil couldnāt hurt either. Also, there are stretching exercises to do throughout the day which Iāve started. Itās important not to bend your elbows too much or put pressure on them like when at the computer desk, and especially when you sleep try to keep your elbows straight.
Hereās a good link to check out:
Hope this helps.
[/quote]
The man said he had an EMG done which is a definitive test. If you donāt know what your talking about or arenāt sure you should note that. You are right that it involves the median nerve.Only real cure is surgery. I waited over 15 years to have mine done. Real simple procedure. Had one hand done under local with no sedation. Now I donāt wake up every night with numbness and pain.
Hi Thibs, have you written anything spesifically about training for olympic weightlifting? I would love to hear your thoughts on training and programming for weightliftingā¦
Coach Thibs (or anyone else with thoughts on this subject), I have used some of the assessments in the black book. (Iām a mesomorph with a strength deficit of about 2.83. Iāve also determined that Iām fast twitch dominant and need high load/acceleration exercises as well as a low volume of work).
All that being said I have a two fold question: 1) Are the main areas for strength/power development for the mma athlete are probably the legs, lower/upper back, and the trunk (rotation) and 2) As far as constructing a yearly training plan based on block programming, what is the order of focus for this athlete (as shown for different athletes on page 55)?
I donāt care who answers this because i dont think Thibs is answering questions anymore. I just started the program. i am coming off a high volume program 30 sets per body part. That typically took me about 1 hour to and hour and a half. This program if i am doing it correctly only takes about 20-30 minutes if you take the rests appropriately.
Iām leaving the gym feeling like i did barely anything. I am giving max effort and force on every rep but my legs are laughing at me and shrinkingā¦ So am i doing the program incorrectly? I am following the printouts, iām on week two of shoulders. IS there more to it? did i miss something?
[quote]drdoubleday wrote:
I donāt care who answers this because i dont think Thibs is answering questions anymore. I just started the program. i am coming off a high volume program 30 sets per body part. That typically took me about 1 hour to and hour and a half. This program if i am doing it correctly only takes about 20-30 minutes if you take the rests appropriately.
Iām leaving the gym feeling like i did barely anything. I am giving max effort and force on every rep but my legs are laughing at me and shrinkingā¦ So am i doing the program incorrectly? I am following the printouts, iām on week two of shoulders. IS there more to it? did i miss something?[/quote]
Are you saying that youāre doing HP Mass, feeling this way and seeing your leg mass shrink? If not, what are you doing? If you are doing HP Mass, are you following it as written? Whatās your diet like?
[quote]drdoubleday wrote:
I donāt care who answers this because i dont think Thibs is answering questions anymore. I just started the program. i am coming off a high volume program 30 sets per body part. That typically took me about 1 hour to and hour and a half. This program if i am doing it correctly only takes about 20-30 minutes if you take the rests appropriately.
Iām leaving the gym feeling like i did barely anything. I am giving max effort and force on every rep but my legs are laughing at me and shrinkingā¦ So am i doing the program incorrectly? I am following the printouts, iām on week two of shoulders. IS there more to it? did i miss something?[/quote]
Your doing it wrong, none of his programs are that short
[quote]drdoubleday wrote:
I donāt care who answers this because i dont think Thibs is answering questions anymore. I just started the program. i am coming off a high volume program 30 sets per body part. That typically took me about 1 hour to and hour and a half. This program if i am doing it correctly only takes about 20-30 minutes if you take the rests appropriately.
Iām leaving the gym feeling like i did barely anything. I am giving max effort and force on every rep but my legs are laughing at me and shrinkingā¦ So am i doing the program incorrectly? I am following the printouts, iām on week two of shoulders. IS there more to it? did i miss something?[/quote]
Your doing it wrong, none of his programs are that short[/quote]
LOL, no doubt. On paper his Superhero Complex doesnāt look all that long but it actually does take a bit of time.
I think to be able to help you we need more details on exactly what youāre doing? Have you re-read CTās article on HP Mass?
thank you and I have a few question regarding hpmass program:
you speak about sled work straight after the pressing workouts for upper bodyā¦ I suppose in that case you do not use the secondary emphasis lower body movement? so basically doing the upper body pressing then the sled work and that s it for the day , with eventually some hypertrophy circuit for the upper body pressing done that day?
now I pass to a modification I want to try to the original hpmass.
I feel like I am having great results for the upper body, I am totally sold about that , but it is not the same for the legs where I still have to see the results that I want, actually I have lost measures in that department, especially in the areas that I did not work directly when I simply choosen the back squat and deadlift as lower body movements plus the sled, even if I feel better now and It doesn t feel like being unbalanced.
so that s what I would do:
MON upper body pressing secondary LB emphasis (back squat)
TUE upper body pressing secondary LB emphasis (deadlift)
WEB lats and biceps (eventually arms sled work at late evening)
GIO lower body (Back squat, Leg press, Front BB lunges, Leg extension) secondary UP emphasis (military press) using 5 reps sets for leg presses and 10 reps sets for the lunges and extensions
VEN neural charge, calf, secondary UP emphasis (incline bench) ARMS
SAT neural charge, sled work
SUN Deadlift, Hip Thrust, Romanian deadlift, Leg curl, Glute ham raise
thank you and I have a few question regarding hpmass program:
you speak about sled work straight after the pressing workouts for upper bodyā¦ I suppose in that case you do not use the secondary emphasis lower body movement? so basically doing the upper body pressing then the sled work and that s it for the day , with eventually some hypertrophy circuit for the upper body pressing done that day?
now I pass to a modification I want to try to the original hpmass.
I feel like I am having great results for the upper body, I am totally sold about that , but it is not the same for the legs where I still have to see the results that I want, actually I have lost measures in that department, especially in the areas that I did not work directly when I simply choosen the back squat and deadlift as lower body movements plus the sled, even if I feel better now and It doesn t feel like being unbalanced.
so that s what I would do:
MON upper body pressing secondary LB emphasis (back squat)
TUE upper body pressing secondary LB emphasis (deadlift)
WEB lats and biceps (eventually arms sled work at late evening)
GIO lower body (Back squat, Leg press, Front BB lunges, Leg extension) secondary UP emphasis (military press) using 5 reps sets for leg presses and 10 reps sets for the lunges and extensions
VEN neural charge, calf, secondary UP emphasis (incline bench) ARMS
SAT neural charge, sled work
SUN Deadlift, Hip Thrust, Romanian deadlift, Leg curl, Glute ham raise
can you comment this please?
thank you
[/quote]
Regarding the sled work. He said that itās eccentric-less training and doesnāt drain your CNS, so thereās no problem adding the Sled work in-addition to the lower body movement.
Your adjustments look interesting; Iād be curious to see what CT says about them. I treat my hamstrings as accessory work and do some Hamstring work in conjunction with lower body day and it seems to be fine for me but Iām not an athlete or anything so your needs might be different. I so wish I had a way to do Glute Ham Raises at my gym.
[quote]Jaynick77 wrote:
. I so wish I had a way to do Glute Ham Raises at my gym. [/quote]
there isnāt a glute ham raise bench here at Venice Mecca where I train or at MuscleBeach, but still I do them, just putting my heels under some bench that has the right fit for me to do so
