Thib's Q&A May 3rd - 10th

Training
41

Coach,

I have been on a low carb diet for about 2 1/2 months now. In the first month I basically cut sugar and “bad carbs” from my diet. Meaning I only ate whole wheat carbs and probably stayed somewhere under 200 carbs a day.

But this past month and 1/2 I really been cutting hard. My diet has been relatively the same everyday:

6 meals:
3 protein shakes in between meals (46g protein, 6 grams carbs/shake)
3 meals

  1. 1 whole egg w/ either 5 pieces of turkey bacon or 2 pieces of turkey sausage
  2. 1 bag of tuna creations tuna (either on its own or with a salad w/ 3 tlbs of olive oil)
  3. Either chicken or steak plus broccoli

w/ a few snacks (thoughout day)
olives, almonds, cheese, pickles, etc

So overall an average day I have 30 carbs, 225g protein, 1800 cals (did not log fat,but i will in the future)
*days I lifted I had an extra 38 grams of carbs (23g glucose) and 23 grams of protein from a protein bar after my workout

supps/day:

12000mg of fish oil
10g creatine
6g glutamine
+xtend sup before, during, and after lifting (basically bcaas with citrulline malate and glutamine if you never heard of it)

I have been lifting 4 times a week with no cardio (because im dead after the workout).

I have lost about 25 pounds since i started (about 17 of which in the past month and 1/2) and have gotten much stronger, and I believe I gained muscle mass.

But my prob is, that I think I am starting to plateau in fat loss… what should i do to break this? would simply adding cardio/ HIIT help? or should I go even lower in carbs? or just stick to my plan? or nething else?

Thanks in advanced

42

Coach, when training chest/back, and “legs”;

Do you suggest doing 2 deadlift sessions?

For example, Chest/Back will have a conventional style dead lift (clean grip).

While Leg day would use a Romanian style deadLift.

I ask this because, as you said earlier fatiguing the lower back, and upper back can and usually will be detrimental to form.

That being said, i find it almost difficult to do a deadlift clean grip after squats on a “heavy” day, as i find my back feels uncomfortable. (not to mention my butt feels sore and lockout can be an issue).

The clean grip d/l will help with back thickness, while the Romanian will pretty much hit Hams more directly.

Thanks!, and this is following the program used on your refined physique article

43

Hey Thibs, what do you think of Poliquin’s Yang R-ALA and Alpha gpc in terms of pre-workout stimulants? I’ve yet to experiment with those products. Thanks a lot, you rock.

44

[quote]methias223 wrote:
Hey Thibs, what do you think of Poliquin’s Yang R-ALA and Alpha gpc in terms of pre-workout stimulants? I’ve yet to experiment with those products. Thanks a lot, you rock.[/quote]

I really like Alpha GPC and I’m lucky enough to use a version of it made by Biotest which may, one day, become available.

Receptormax is superior to yang r-ala, but both are effective.

45

Thib,

I have 2 shoulder-related questions for you. These stem from recent readings of articles by two prominent coaches who shall go unnamed. One was going on about how the kettlebell clean and press is a better shoulder builder than lateral raises and the other was saying that lateral raises should be used sparingly (if at all) by almost any lifter due to the potential for causing overuse amd other issues and that any added shoulder work should likely focus on external rotation work.

  1. You’ve often stated that the body looks for the most efficient way to accomplish any task, so while the KB clean and press would clearly recruit more MU’s than a lateral raise, the lateral delts could very well be relatively under-stimulated and in need of some direct work, correct? Or am I way off base here?

  2. While excessive use (abuse) of lateral raises would exacerbate r possibly precipitate shoulder issues, would a moderate volume of lateral raises really be anything but beneficial? I got somewhat emotional when the coach suggested scrapping lateral raises, but you always say a lifter should be convinced rather than seduced, so I did not want my emotions clouding the issue and was hoping for some of the clarity you always seem to have a knack for providing.

Thanks for your time!

46

I’ve been considering adding in plyometric training to help with my rebound on my drive for push jerks and push presses. I read your article on Kinetic Energy Accumulation Training and am considering using the following:

Block 1 (4 weeks)
Depth jumps
Block 2 (4 weeks)
Jump training/jumping onto a platform
Block 3 (4 weeks)
Depth jumps

I figured adding this into my lower body days so they would look like this:

Lower 1
5-7*5 jumps
Heavy power snatch
Deadlift variation
Abs/accessory work

Lower 2
5-7*5 jumps
Squat cleans
Front Squat
abs/accessory work

Does it make sense to still do oly work even after jump training? Is there any way to determine if this is “too much”?

Also, do you go over applying this type of training to a strength program in any of your books? I have most of them, but have only finished HTMB…

47

[quote]threewhitelights wrote:
I’ve been considering adding in plyometric training to help with my rebound on my drive for push jerks and push presses. I read your article on Kinetic Energy Accumulation Training and am considering using the following:

Block 1 (4 weeks)
Depth jumps
Block 2 (4 weeks)
Jump training/jumping onto a platform
Block 3 (4 weeks)
Depth jumps

I figured adding this into my lower body days so they would look like this:

Lower 1
5-7*5 jumps
Heavy power snatch
Deadlift variation
Abs/accessory work

Lower 2
5-7*5 jumps
Squat cleans
Front Squat
abs/accessory work

Does it make sense to still do oly work even after jump training? Is there any way to determine if this is “too much”?

Also, do you go over applying this type of training to a strength program in any of your books? I have most of them, but have only finished HTMB…[/quote]

That looks fine. When I was trained by Pierre Roy we would being all of our lifting sessions by 15 minutes of various types of jumps. It really fires up the nervous system and makes the lifting more efficient.

48

[quote]ThetfordMiner wrote:
Thib,

I have 2 shoulder-related questions for you. These stem from recent readings of articles by two prominent coaches who shall go unnamed. One was going on about how the kettlebell clean and press is a better shoulder builder than lateral raises and the other was saying that lateral raises should be used sparingly (if at all) by almost any lifter due to the potential for causing overuse amd other issues and that any added shoulder work should likely focus on external rotation work.

  1. You’ve often stated that the body looks for the most efficient way to accomplish any task, so while the KB clean and press would clearly recruit more MU’s than a lateral raise, the lateral delts could very well be relatively under-stimulated and in need of some direct work, correct? Or am I way off base here?

  2. While excessive use (abuse) of lateral raises would exacerbate r possibly precipitate shoulder issues, would a moderate volume of lateral raises really be anything but beneficial? I got somewhat emotional when the coach suggested scrapping lateral raises, but you always say a lifter should be convinced rather than seduced, so I did not want my emotions clouding the issue and was hoping for some of the clarity you always seem to have a knack for providing.

Thanks for your time!
[/quote]

Most people tend to have front delts that overpower their lateral delts (and posterior delts). This is due to three things:

  1. The anterior/front portion of the delts is generally fast-twitch dominant while the lateral portion is more mixed or even slow-twitch dominant. The anterior portion thus has a naturally higher growth potential.

  2. The anterior delts are heavily involved in any type of pressing movement. Dips, decline, flat, incline, military, barbell, dumbbells, kettlebells, machine… you name it, they all blast the anterior delts and most of the time actually do very little for the lateral portion. So the anterior delt does receive a helluva lot more stimulation than the lateral portion AND the higher recruitment frequency increases the CNS’ efficiency in recruiting that portion (anterior) of the muscle.

  3. As I stated earlier, in most individuals shoulder pressing movements tend to be anterior delt dominant. So if you only perform pressing exercises for the shoulders, chances are that you will just exacerbate your anterior delt dominance.

These three factors do tell me that a lot of people will actually need to perform at least some lateral delt work to avoid creating an insurmontable anterior delt dominance.

49

Coach,

  1. What do you think on the use of skins to speed recovery time during and in between workouts?

  2. What are the best exercises for improving posture problems?..I have a swollen rib joint related to my posture.

50

Coach,

Is it important to vary workload for a specific exercise from session to session? For example this session I did 10 reps and 3 sets with 100 Total of 3,000. When do you decrease the total workload

One last thing, what are some cortisol reduction supplements or even techniques that you use? I recall reading vitamin C, E, glyercine and phospho something. Are there any other supplements or things like meditation that could work?

Thank you!

51

Coach,

I have a serious matter on my hands. My brother and I started prohormones two years ago so that would make him 17 yrs old and myself 18 at the time. We used the methyl-1 pro hormone (P-Plex) for a month, at the dose of 15mg daily.

Since then our side effects are severe acne, belching, inability to digest foods & gain weight, loss of chest muscle, feeling of low testosterone, depression, anxiety and many more symptoms. Our overall health has declined since taking these hormones.

Thibs, even till this day we are experiencing these symptoms. Can you provide us with any advice?

Respectively,

Brian & Lucas.

52

Hi Coach

I am on my third week of a programme which is based on your Refined Transformation Physique article - and am enjoying a good start dropping 2lbs each week down to 14% BF so far. For fuller effect, I also opted to have a carb-up once every 14 days (a la John Berardi’s Get Shredded) as opposed to every 7 days. Otherwise, I’m following your diet and training advice very closely.

I also opted to schedule in a heavy workout on the carb-up day in an effort to potentially trigger new lean mass gain via glycogen ‘supercompensation’, etc. This is quite a taxing workout which has left me sore two days afterwards, despite very light cardio, foam roller work and stretching.

Do you think this workout is a useful tactic on this programme or is it likely to do more damage to my recovery ability given I am moving back to negative calorie/low carb balance for the following 13 days?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated coach.

JB

53

Coach,
When doing rest/pause in the 5-4-3-2-1 method you have talked about in the past, would you recommend that bodypart get worked only once per week? If two times per week is possible, what kind of volume and intensity would you recommend? Thanks

54

hey Thib i remember a while back when you wrote hungarian oak leg blast you said you were going to try it with the leg press instead. How did that workout for you?

55

I have been following the training plan you had for Bartl’s Transformation Clinic for last 13 weeks with great results (Down 24 lbs. of body fat, at 167 lbs. currently).

My only problem is that I feel that with this program I am chasing two birds with one stone. I love that I am up to 9-10 mile runs, but I feel that it isn’t the best program at my stage for body comp (don’t care about being a long distance runner). I am approx. 13-14% body fat. I am wanting to shift gears with my training and was hoping you could help point me in the right direction. I have just started Get Jacked Fast and before I get very far into it I was wanting to make sure that would be the plan for continued fat loss. My only goal is single digit bodyfat.

Any advise is appreciated.

56

If you follow “Get Jacked Fasted” you should have no problem getting into single digit bodyfat. It worked very well for me.

[quote]fuzzlwr wrote:
I have been following the training plan you had for Bartl’s Transformation Clinic for last 13 weeks with great results (Down 24 lbs. of body fat, at 167 lbs. currently).

My only problem is that I feel that with this program I am chasing two birds with one stone. I love that I am up to 9-10 mile runs, but I feel that it isn’t the best program at my stage for body comp (don’t care about being a long distance runner). I am approx. 13-14% body fat. I am wanting to shift gears with my training and was hoping you could help point me in the right direction. I have just started Get Jacked Fast and before I get very far into it I was wanting to make sure that would be the plan for continued fat loss. My only goal is single digit bodyfat.

Any advise is appreciated.

[/quote]

57

[quote]fuzzlwr wrote:
I have been following the training plan you had for Bartl’s Transformation Clinic for last 13 weeks with great results (Down 24 lbs. of body fat, at 167 lbs. currently).

My only problem is that I feel that with this program I am chasing two birds with one stone. I love that I am up to 9-10 mile runs, but I feel that it isn’t the best program at my stage for body comp (don’t care about being a long distance runner). I am approx. 13-14% body fat. I am wanting to shift gears with my training and was hoping you could help point me in the right direction. I have just started Get Jacked Fast and before I get very far into it I was wanting to make sure that would be the plan for continued fat loss. My only goal is single digit bodyfat.

Any advise is appreciated.

[/quote]

Yes that is a very good plan to follow… BUT … there is one problem: you have now been dieting for 13 weeks straight. I never recommend more than 12 straight weeks of dieting otherwise you risk running into trouble or at the very least your progress will stop.

Since the Get Jacked plan is 12 weeks in duration, it would be ill advised to start it right now. You should take a 7-10 days break from severe dieting then start the plan. Otherwise you’ll probably stall 3-4 weeks into the plan and will not reach your goal.

58

[quote]jimg21 wrote:
Coach,
When doing rest/pause in the 5-4-3-2-1 method you have talked about in the past, would you recommend that bodypart get worked only once per week? If two times per week is possible, what kind of volume and intensity would you recommend? Thanks[/quote]

If you work it twice a week the first session should be heavy load/low volume (one 5-4-3-2-1 exercise plus one assistance movement where you perform 3-5 sets of 4-6 reps).

The second session would be lower in intensity/loading and higher in volume and/or density.

59

[quote]Mondy wrote:
Coach,

Is it important to vary workload for a specific exercise from session to session? For example this session I did 10 reps and 3 sets with 100 Total of 3,000. When do you decrease the total workload[/quote]

Paralysis by analysis!!! You are making this to be much more complicated then it really is. Your main goal should be to find a way to progress each week. This means challenging yourself a bit more at every workout.

It could be from lifting more weight for the same number of reps (load progression), doing more reps with the same weight (reps progression), doing more sets with a similar loading pattern (volume progression), reducing rest intervals without changing the loading parameters (density progression), switching from a less demanding exercise to a harder one (exercise progression), using an intensification technique such as cluster, rest-pause, superset, etc. (special method progression), performing the eccentric/lowering portion of the movement slower (accentuated eccentric progression), etc.

In the grand scheme of things, if your main goal is to improve the way you look and the amount of muscle mass you carry, the method of progression you use will not make a huge difference. Depending on the week you will not be able to use the same progression method over and over, but as long as you improve in ONE REGARD you will stimulate progress.

[quote]Mondy wrote:
One last thing, what are some cortisol reduction supplements or even techniques that you use? I recall reading vitamin C, E, glyercine and phospho something. Are there any other supplements or things like meditation that could work?

Thank you! [/quote]

Vitamin C is a double-edged sword. It can help, but in excessive dosage it can actually have the opposite effect.

Glycerine will NOT lower cortisol; GLYCINE will. Glycine is an amino acid that acts as a neural relaxant/inhibitor which reduces the stress response/cortisol production.

Phosphatidylserine has also been shown to work with doses of 400-800mg.

Rhodiola is a potent adaptogen. While it will not necessarily lower cortisol per se, it improves the body’s response to stress which can indirectly lower cortisol production.

60

Coach, Thanks for your help. Would you also go light on training volume as well?