[quote]Markriff wrote:
Coach
It is a same force curve or type of contraction,if you use 50%RM(dynamic effort) or 87% for the same exercises?
For maybe make 2 days in dynamic.
(pour peut etre faire les deux seconds jours haut/bas en dynamic sur HP Mass)
Merci[/quote]
According to soviet research, sets with 50% do not have the same motor pattern/recruitment pattern as sets with 75%+.
CT, I’m not sure if this is your speciality, but would you know why I have knee pain on front squats(on the eccentric portion) even just a body weight front squat, but on lifts where there is very little eccentric load, such as trap bar dead lifts and regular dead lifts, I have no pain at all during the concentric portion?
If I cannot get the pain to subside, am I missing out on valuable exercises by choosing lifts where you lift the weight from a stop and don’t use much eccentric load? I would probably pick regular dead lifts and snatch grip dead lifts from a deficit.
Also, when you say to start with 60% of your mtw, is this considered your warmup? For example my max training weight on front squats is 165 lbs, so what I have been doing is starting with 95 x 3, then 115 x 3, then 125 x3, 145 x 3 (first training set). Is this a sufficient warmup?
^ if it helps, prior to front squats my warmup always includes goblet squats and band tke’s before i get under the bar. this makes my knees feel way better
hey CT,
i’ve been doing heavy lifting for a long time now and after my six weeks is up i plan to do a maintenance phase cause my joints don’t seem to be recovering at all. Do you plan on writing an article on a maintenance phase or can you briefly explain the best method used and how long of a period for. I’m not sure what percentage of my 3rep max to use and how many sets? thanks
maybe just work up top max training wt and stop?
It kinda seems like week one is a maintenance phase after you’re used to week 3 because it’s half the volume. Week 1 should feel easy.
Couldn’t he do a deload week and just do Neural Charge workouts? Light way but explosive movements. I think I remember CT saying something like that in another thread.
Hey CT,
I can’t seem to find the answer to my question anywhere, but I was wondering what you’d suggest doing on those not-so-great workout days on the HP Mass program. For example, what if mid-way through an upper body day, I find that the MTW for one of the exercises is more difficult to move than usual? Would it be okay to scale it down and continue the movement with lighter weight?
I ran into this issue yesterday, where despite starting out strong on my OHP and for the first few sets of bench, my MTW for bench was a lot more difficult to move than usual. If it’s any consolation, I’m on my second week. Usually the weight is pretty easy for me to move, but yesterday I was feeling off.
Thanks!
[quote]Pavlo1 wrote:
Ok - seems a common issue.
I’m starting to think standing press is actually the culprit oddly. On 31st December I did dips only and despite disobeying the program (and going for a PB - last day of the year, my NY present) my bisceps were fine.
Today on upper body pressing my bisceps were ruined by the end of the shoulder press sets, and i noticed this happened about a week ago. Not sure why as shoulder press was never a culprit before. I’m tempted to just go slightly lighter on this exercise than he prescribes (say 80% not 87.5%) and see what happens.
My 3 exercises were: Standing Press, Incline BB Press, and Dips. I’m better at dips than any upper body exercise hence its inclusion.
[quote]Mutsanah wrote:
[quote]timmcbride00 wrote:
[quote]Pavlo1 wrote:
Biscep/brachais soreness from pressing:
CT: All the fast turnarounds on pressing movements are causing me “squashed” biscep/brachais strains. I have had to cut short the last few HP upper body workouts.
Suggestions (i’ve skipped the biscep training during this problem)? Press off pins is obviously an option but i have always got best chest development from heavy weighted dips, which unfortunately is the worst for this. Do elbow wraps help?
[/quote]
I actually had the same issue. I thought maybe it was the pectoral tendon since the pain was in the bicep area (deep) but I could curl and do chinups pain free.
Currently, taking some time off pressing. I was recovering fine until it got cold and I stopped doing eccentric-less training, but I also wasn’t doing the volume of pressing in October or November compared to the amount I was doing after HP Mass came out. So I think both factors contributed.
[/quote]
I was having very similar symptoms during my first 3 weeks on HP Mass. This is what I did, not necessarily recommended for everyone.
Getting ready to start 5th week HP Mass and now no more pain in forearms or shoulders. Remember, I’m OLD as well as being an ectomorph, well, used to be…So for ME it works.
Apologies to CT for Frankenstein-ing his program. He can kill me later… 
Loving current version as stated above and making nice progress.
Cheers,
M
I also have to say it’s the overhead standing press. It happened to me when I was doing the I bodybuilder shoulder spec. I heard a crunch and felt immediate pain in the brachioradialis bicep area while doing push press.
I had actually started a thread on this in one of the other forums but no one could figure out why pressing would do this. This was months ago and just starting to heal up now but still acts up.
I know CT doesn’t answer injury type questions but maybe he can just offer an explanation as far as kinesiology is concerned.
i think whats getting me is the back to back heavy press days. I’m not used to benching over 300 for 2 days in a row even though i like it. The week 1 and 4 portions are better but still too much to let my body recover. I went on vacation for 4 days and did nothing but neural charge workouts and felt better but still not the answer.
I read something that ct wrote about maintenance where he ate 3 times a day and actually ran:), but didn’t say much about how many sets and reps and if stayed with compound or isolation. I don’t want to lose my strength so i figure i stlll have to do some heavy lifting somewhere and not rely on neural charge workouts.
Thib, for a lagging triceps what would you implement?
Picking close-grip bench press asa a main exercise or doing extra isolation work? A strength circuit (mainly for triceps) or something like staggered work (for extra volume)?
There are many things but I don’t know wich would be better?
what’s your opininon CT?
perhaps we could try this exercise of pins? realise a bit more taxing but its not a leg exercise so i can’t CNS being too depleted. I don’t want to quit shoulder press
[quote]as wrote:
[quote]Pavlo1 wrote:
Ok - seems a common issue.
I’m starting to think standing press is actually the culprit oddly. On 31st December I did dips only and despite disobeying the program (and going for a PB - last day of the year, my NY present) my bisceps were fine.
Today on upper body pressing my bisceps were ruined by the end of the shoulder press sets, and i noticed this happened about a week ago. Not sure why as shoulder press was never a culprit before. I’m tempted to just go slightly lighter on this exercise than he prescribes (say 80% not 87.5%) and see what happens.
My 3 exercises were: Standing Press, Incline BB Press, and Dips. I’m better at dips than any upper body exercise hence its inclusion.
[quote]Mutsanah wrote:
[quote]timmcbride00 wrote:
[quote]Pavlo1 wrote:
Biscep/brachais soreness from pressing:
CT: All the fast turnarounds on pressing movements are causing me “squashed” biscep/brachais strains. I have had to cut short the last few HP upper body workouts.
Suggestions (i’ve skipped the biscep training during this problem)? Press off pins is obviously an option but i have always got best chest development from heavy weighted dips, which unfortunately is the worst for this. Do elbow wraps help?
[/quote]
I actually had the same issue. I thought maybe it was the pectoral tendon since the pain was in the bicep area (deep) but I could curl and do chinups pain free.
Currently, taking some time off pressing. I was recovering fine until it got cold and I stopped doing eccentric-less training, but I also wasn’t doing the volume of pressing in October or November compared to the amount I was doing after HP Mass came out. So I think both factors contributed.
[/quote]
I was having very similar symptoms during my first 3 weeks on HP Mass. This is what I did, not necessarily recommended for everyone.
Getting ready to start 5th week HP Mass and now no more pain in forearms or shoulders. Remember, I’m OLD as well as being an ectomorph, well, used to be…So for ME it works.
Apologies to CT for Frankenstein-ing his program. He can kill me later…
Loving current version as stated above and making nice progress.
Cheers,
M
I also have to say it’s the overhead standing press. It happened to me when I was doing the I bodybuilder shoulder spec. I heard a crunch and felt immediate pain in the brachioradialis bicep area while doing push press.
I had actually started a thread on this in one of the other forums but no one could figure out why pressing would do this. This was months ago and just starting to heal up now but still acts up.
I know CT doesn’t answer injury type questions but maybe he can just offer an explanation as far as kinesiology is concerned.
[/quote]
From everything I’ve read and saw so far on eccentric-less training it is a great way to add more volume without the neural drain. Also it allows a great opportunity to shuttle more nutrients to the muscles. The way I constructed my program was to do the lower body pressing on Mon and Tues Wed neural charge with lats n bi’s then Thur and Fri upper body pressing.
My question is would it be a good option to do a full body eccentric-less training day on Sat? Hit each muscle using the sled this way adding a bit more volume and helping recovery because of the nutrients being shuttled to the muscles.
CT,
Is there a way to alter the HP mass program to emphasize foundation muscles more?
how closely does a concept2 indoor rowing machine compare to other eccentric-less methods?
CT,
Just read through the HP Mass protocol you have laid out for us. Essentially it looks like pressing specialisation routine with elements of consolidated loading and auto regulation for supporting muscle groups…very cool.
I’m also very fond of your techniques for maximising frequency, work and load — your explosive ramping method, neural charge and eccentric less work.
Also great to see consideration given to muscle groups and the type of training stimulus they best respond to. It would be great if we had more science to elucidate this further.
My only thought (for myself personally) to benefit the most would be to modify your system to be a “true” rotating specialisation routine.
So my thoughts are as follows for upper body pressing â?? (I struggle to do two heavy pressing days in a row â?? spiral fracture of the arm about a year ago)
M, - Peformace training pressing
T - Isolation work for pressing muscles (higher rep ranges 8-15)
W - Peformace training pressing
Th - Ecentric less work for pressing muscles
F - Lower Body Pressing (performance)
Sa - Foundation Training
Su - Neural Charge
Your feedback would be greatly appreciated.
My other question is around how you would go about laying out a back, bi specialisation split, would you include some performance work? Would you consolidate the loading in a simular fashion?
Thanks in advance
LR
“squashed biscep/brachais sufferers”
My physio said this was because I have an extremely tight biscep/braichais supinators (its very difficult for me to supinate my arms) and that this is causing the issue.
he suggested daily stretching of hanging from a pull up bar with a wide grip, with both hands supinated. He suggested it would take a month to make significant improvement on this
[quote]LR wrote:
CT,
Just read through the HP Mass protocol you have laid out for us. Essentially it looks like pressing specialisation routine with elements of consolidated loading and auto regulation for supporting muscle groups…very cool.
I’m also very fond of your techniques for maximising frequency, work and load — your explosive ramping method, neural charge and eccentric less work.
Also great to see consideration given to muscle groups and the type of training stimulus they best respond to. It would be great if we had more science to elucidate this further.
My only thought (for myself personally) to benefit the most would be to modify your system to be a “true” rotating specialisation routine.
So my thoughts are as follows for upper body pressing â?? (I struggle to do two heavy pressing days in a row â?? spiral fracture of the arm about a year ago)
M, - Peformace training pressing
T - Isolation work for pressing muscles (higher rep ranges 8-15)
W - Peformace training pressing
Th - Ecentric less work for pressing muscles
F - Lower Body Pressing (performance)
Sa - Foundation Training
Su - Neural Charge
Your feedback would be greatly appreciated.
My other question is around how you would go about laying out a back, bi specialisation split, would you include some performance work? Would you consolidate the loading in a simular fashion?
Thanks in advance
LR[/quote]
1 - the specialisation basically lays in the concentrated loading but for more specialisation add in ecc-less work and max strength/isolation circuits…give the 2 days in a row a crack, you might not be able to do it now so you might need to work up to doing the full workout…give tour a body a reason to adapt
2 - by ct’s mantra, back and bi’s don’t need specialisation, this is a performance program, not a bodybuilding program…that being said emphasise your scattered accessory work around back or bi’s, depending what you want…i only do row/retraction exercises for my scattered work, no cuffs or traps
CT,
For sled work immediately after lifting would you add any MAG-10 between lifting and sled work or would the dosage of the protocal recommended in your HPM article be OK?
Thanks
[quote]swans05 wrote:
[quote]LR wrote:
[/quote]
1 - the specialisation basically lays in the concentrated loading but for more specialisation add in ecc-less work and max strength/isolation circuits…give the 2 days in a row a crack, you might not be able to do it now so you might need to work up to doing the full workout…give tour a body a reason to adapt
2 - by ct’s mantra, back and bi’s don’t need specialisation, this is a performance program, not a bodybuilding program…that being said emphasise your scattered accessory work around back or bi’s, depending what you want…i only do row/retraction exercises for my scattered work, no cuffs or traps[/quote]
I appreciate your input – and I must admit that I’m obviously not fully versed in all of CT methods / opinions having only read his latest articles.
I suppose it comes down to what is meant by performance - my general impression from the article is that it is a mass building program.
Despite that, I don’t think it wise to think that back / bi / any other muscle don’t respond to simular variables (if, like me you are using this method from a bodybuilding perspective).
I would argue that more load / time under tension / frequency the more potent the growth stimulus for all muscle groups. The only other consideration is the CNS - so we must play with the variables to allow us to illicit the maximum stimulus based on which one(s) you think are most important.
I personally don’t see any reason to believe that if you are looking to bring up your back or biâ??s, that increasing TUT and frequency would be a bad thing…unless it leads to overtraining - which is not the case for me personally (I have a high training tolerance for back and bi work).