Thib, thanks! I completely understand but I just bought a bunch of glycine so I might as well use it when I start the program. Thanks again Thib!
Hi Coach.
I purchased your get jacked fast program and will be starting it on Monday. If you have a moment, would you please answer a few questions I have?
Do you have any general loading guidelines for the amount of weight we should use? I was planning on using a weight that I could move with good form and would leave me with one or two more reps in the tank per set.
Are the grams of meat and carbs per serving pre or post cooking?
Thank you for your time.
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
My recommendation would be to deload for a week (2-3 easy workouts). Then perform more of a bodybuilding workout for 2-3 weeks before going back to heavy lifting.
[/quote]
That’s exactly what I wanted to hear. I fell into the trap of using overtraining as a blanket statement. Always learning. Thank you!
[quote]parcmatter wrote:
Hi Coach.
I purchased your get jacked fast program and will be starting it on Monday. If you have a moment, would you please answer a few questions I have?
Do you have any general loading guidelines for the amount of weight we should use? I was planning on using a weight that I could move with good form and would leave me with one or two more reps in the tank per set.
Are the grams of meat and carbs per serving pre or post cooking?
Thank you for your time.[/quote]
Bought it too 
From what i understand, loading is as you said not to failure leave 1-2 in the tank, and the carbs/meat is PRE cooking.
(Correct if im wrong)
Hi coach,
Hows it going i know its early to start looking into offseason training but i want to be prepared as i have a huge offseason in front of me. i have read a ton of your articles, as well as your ebooks the black book of training secrets, as well as theory and application of modern strength and power methods i loved them learned so much, im a basketball player im 20 years old and im looking to play pro ball somewhere in europe after college (currently a soph) and im trying to get my edge by training smart.
I have seen thousands of ball players in my live but not many that train smart, so i feel that can be my edge. Im 6-9 245 and i play the foward spot right now i feel that im in the middle where i need to get a bit bigger but my explosiveness is really a bit behind i have pretty good technique in the power clean and snatch but i have pretty tough times getting my lifts up especially the bench and squat i dont know if its due to my length i have a 7 foot wingspan my max bench is 270 max squat about 260 i have always had a tough time really getting my squat right,
what i wanted to ask you is are there any changes you make when training with basketball players in mind becuase one of the toughest things i personally find for myself is recovery i mean i have to do skill work, as well as conditioning daily in order to improve so how do i tweak my training so that i can improve my explosiveness my current vertical is 24 inches and if i want to play pro i probably would like to get that up to around 29 inches this offseason. Is there any changes i should make to the way i train or what do you find effective for basketball players of tall heights? Also how does the ems work for some of your athletes i read the section on that and was wondering if you found it to be effective for explosiveness and recovery thanks for the time i appreciate it.
I have trained pretty hard the past few years main focus being on strength but have struggled and its getting a bit frustrating, i have done plyos as well but always the main focus was strength
Hi CT,
Congrats on the wedding and I wish you many happy years ahead. A question about HCL supplementation. I followed Poliquin’s protocol (eat half of solid protein meal, take HCL tab then eat rest of meal. Wait 15 min and you should feel slight burning in stomach. If feel nothing up dosage each meal). I am on two tabs per meal. I feel nothing after 15 min but do start to belch/burp alot for approx. 30 min after meal. After about 1 hr after meal I feel a slight burning in stomach. Does this tell me anything about my HCL levels? Thanks
Thib, another question about your get jacked…fast! Are the protein sources raw, or cooked?
Thanks
CT, in your Refined Physique Transformation article, you suggested that the following split would be a good approach.
Monday: Chest and back, heavy
Tuesday: Legs, heavy
Wednesday: OFF
Thursday: Lactate-inducing workout
Friday: Arms (heavy) and shoulders
Saturday: Lactate-inducing workout
Sunday: OFF
Would you train arms first on Friday? The way you wrote it, it seems like it is an arm day with some shoulder work thrown in.
I ask because I’m planning to do Push Press as my main shoulder exercise, and CG Bench for my main triceps exercise, and the Push Press will fatigue the triceps.
My apologies if this has been asked and answered, I’ve searched around to no avail.
Coach, in your Supplementation for Newbies article you recommend Vitamin C at 1000-1500mg pre and post workout. Is this something you still recommend or have your views or opinions on this changed? Thanks in advance
Coach Thib,
Thanks for taking the time to answer our many questions.
What are your thoughts on using guar gum (powder) to enhance insulin sensitivity? Dan Duchaine and Lyle McDonald used to recommend this, but I never hear anyone mention it anymore.
[quote]Italiano wrote:
Thib, another question about your get jacked…fast! Are the protein sources raw, or cooked?
Thanks[/quote]
That question is answered like 3 posts above yours…
[quote]El Conquistador wrote:
Coach Thib,
Thanks for taking the time to answer our many questions.
What are your thoughts on using guar gum (powder) to enhance insulin sensitivity? Dan Duchaine and Lyle McDonald used to recommend this, but I never hear anyone mention it anymore.[/quote]
That’s probably because there are a lot of other products superior to guar gum for this purpose. Fish oil being the grand-daddy of them all… Receptor max is also a good product so is apple cider vinegar
CT,
Has your general opinion changed about whether single-drop sets are an efficient technique for relative strength gains?
In your “Training Strategies Handbook” article a while back, you recommended a 4-6RM and then a 25% drop for functional hypertrophy. But I can’t remember you mentioning that technique since.
Do you still think it’s an efficient tool for hypertrophy? And would doing it for relative strength–say the first half of the set with your 3RM and the second with one’s 6RM–be effective? Thanks
Thib,
Is there any added benefit in introducing a rotational motion into various types of 1-arm DB and cable rows?
i.e. starting with a supinated grip in the stretch position and finishing with either a neutral or pronated grip or, alternatively, starting with a pronated grip and finishing with a neutral or supinated grip
Coach,
While there are many factors that can impact on what would be a given individuals optimal meal frequency, how often can a person likely get away with going 4 or more hours between feedings or fasting completely on a given day of the week?
Are less frequent feedings/longer periods between intake as much of a potential saboteur to physique-enhancing progress as some would lead us to believe?
There often seems to be a disconnect between “instinctive” eating based upon true physiological hunger and need as opposed to meticulously calculating intake and then mechanically “scheduling” feedings throughout the day.
I’d definitely be interested in hearing any of your thoughts on the issue of meal frequency and how to strike a balance between the flexibility/freedom that comes with not having to think about eating 5-8 times a day and doing enough pre-planning and using the best meal frequency to ensure optimal progress.
[quote]Brian Smith wrote:
CT,
Do you have a general opinion about whether drop sets, the kind with only two stages of loading, are an efficient technique for strength or hypertrophy gains?
For example: doing 3 reps of pull-ups at almost your 3RM, then putting down the extra-weight and immediately doing AMRAP with bodyweight.
I would get less reps at my bodyweight than if I did the unloaded pull-ups as a separate set. But maybe more motor units are activated by going heavy at first? Thanks[/quote]
I believe that the best drop sets are those that allow you to perform a total of 8-12 reps with the heaviest total weight possible.
Let’s take a few examples:
DROP SET 1
8 reps with 200lbs
drop to 150
4 reps with 150lbs
Total reps = 12
Weight/Rep = 183lbs
DROP SET 2
6 reps with 240lbs
drop to 200lbs
4 reps with 200lbs
drop to 150lbs
2 reps with 150lbs
Total reps = 12
Weight/Rep = 212lbs
DROP SET 3
3 reps with 280lbs
drop to 200lbs
4 reps with 200lbs
drop to 150lbs
3 reps with 150lbs
drop to 125lbs
2 reps with 125lbs
Total reps = 12
Weight/Rep = 195lbs
DROP SET 4
3 reps with 280lbs
drop to 140lbs
9 reps with 140lbs
Total reps = 12
Weight/Rep = 175lbs
In that example the most effective drop set would be the second one due to the higher average weight … in contrast, drop set 4, even if it has the highest top weight of all, only has an average load of 175lbs, making it the least effective option.
[quote]Brian Smith wrote:
CT,
Has your general opinion changed about whether single-drop sets are an efficient technique for relative strength gains?
In your “Training Strategies Handbook” article a while back, you recommended a 4-6RM and then a 25% drop for functional hypertrophy. But I can’t remember you mentioning that technique since.
Do you still think it’s an efficient tool for hypertrophy? And would doing it for relative strength–say the first half of the set with your 3RM and the second with one’s 6RM–be effective? Thanks[/quote]
As I mentioned, for hypertrophy purposes, the best drop set is the one that will allow you to perform a total of 8-12 reps with the highest possible load. From experience the 4-6RM + 25% drop is the method that suits this definition the best.
Thib,
Is there any added benefit in introducing a rotational motion into various types of 1-arm DB and cable rows?
i.e. starting with a supinated grip in the stretch position and finishing with either a neutral or pronated grip or, alternatively, starting with a pronated grip and finishing with a neutral or supinated grip
Thib,
Is there any added benefit in introducing a rotational motion into various types of 1-arm DB and cable rows?
i.e. starting with a supinated grip in the stretch position and finishing with either a neutral or pronated grip or, alternatively, starting with a pronated grip and finishing with a neutral or supinated grip
[quote]RustBeltGym wrote:
Coach,
While there are many factors that can impact on what would be a given individuals optimal meal frequency, how often can a person likely get away with going 4 or more hours between feedings or fasting completely on a given day of the week?
Are less frequent feedings/longer periods between intake as much of a potential saboteur to physique-enhancing progress as some would lead us to believe?
There often seems to be a disconnect between “instinctive” eating based upon true physiological hunger and need as opposed to meticulously calculating intake and then mechanically “scheduling” feedings throughout the day.
I’d definitely be interested in hearing any of your thoughts on the issue of meal frequency and how to strike a balance between the flexibility/freedom that comes with not having to think about eating 5-8 times a day and doing enough pre-planning and using the best meal frequency to ensure optimal progress.[/quote]
One question first… do you always talk like that or are you making an effort to sound extra smart on the internet? Seriously… I always say that ‘‘complexity is the lnaguage of the simple minds’’ … don’t overcomplicate things…
Anyway… the more I experiment and read, the more I’m convinced that meal frequency is really not as important as we like to believe or preach. As long as:
- proper post-workout nutrition is respected
- adequate amounts of protein and essential fats are provided
- enough energy is provided by the diet
then you’ll be fine.
I’ll use myself as an example, and my staff can vouch for this.
Recently I’ve been eating only twice a day: in the morning upon waking up (more of a shake than anything) and a lot of food from 8pm to 11pm (well, it might be 2-3 meals during that period but still…).
I will basically spend 12 hours without eating or having a shake.
Believe it or not, I gained mass during that time despite losing body fat. I do not weigh myself that often. Since I was getting leaner, I expected to be losing weight on the scale, quite the contrary! I actually reached a high of 229lbs (on 5’8’') while being the leanest I’ve been in quite a few months. 2 weeks ago I was 222lbs on average, and even reached a low ot 216lbs (completely dehydrated though).
Oh yeah, I also bench pressed 435lbs while I had been stuck hovering around 395 - 405 for a few weeks.
The things that made this work are, in my opinion:
-
Workout right before the eating period (to increase muscle insulin sensitivity thus diverting most of the ingested nutrients to the muscles… I believe that if you eat like that while being inactive you’ll get fat as hell)
-
Ingest 3-5g of BCAAs every 2-3 hours to avoid being in a catabolic state
-
Eat the same food as you normally would… a lot of people will gorge on shitty food at night… big mistake. My main foods are chicken, lettuce, low fat cheese, shakes amd tomatoes.
My guess regarding the muscle growth would be that food deprivation, followed by an intense workout led to a state where your body was hyper responsive to the food you eat, creating a huge anabolic rebound.
I DO NOT recommend this diet to anybody. In fact, for some it might be downright stupid (those who are inactive, those who will gorge on junk food, those with a fast metabolism). I’m just saying that this is what I’ve been doing and how it worked for me.
Do a pubmed search for ‘‘feast and famine cycle’’ or ‘‘thrifty gene hypothesis’’ for more info