Thib's Q&A

Training
4461

Thib,

While movements like the 1-arm DB overhead press (non-braced), unsupported 1-arm DB row, standing 1-arm cable row, unilaterally-loaded DB lunges, and exercises in this same vein would be considered inferior mass builders compared to more stable movements, are there specific times when you would feature these in a client’s program?

Do you see any value in adding in 2 or 3 sets of such exercises at the end of a training session to work on core stabilization or pelvic control/hip stability (in the case of the lunges)?

i.e. on back/horizontal pulling day use a 1-arm unsupported row variation, on shoulder/vertical pressing day use an unsupported 1-arm DB overhead press, unilaterally-loaded DB lunges on leg day, etc.

Or would that be improper?

4462

Coach, I am 22 years old, 6?2? and 190 lbs. Four years ago I lost over forty pounds of fat (and unfortunately muscle) on the Atkins Diet. I was on that low carb diet for about a year My exercise during that time was minimal and I became leaner but looked weak and was not even close to ripped (still had lost of visible fat in the visceral, pectoral, and back area.)

Through the past few years I have learned more about weightlifting and nutrition and have been on a variation of a low carb diet. In that period I have tried new things that have indeed lost more fat (even the Cheat to Lose but I ended up taking too much advantage of the cheat days.) I am still am not nearly as cut/lean as I would like to be.

For the past 2 months I have been on a lowcal/low carb diet. I consume 1800 calories per day on non-lift days and 1950 cals on lifting days.(with up to 57g carbs only PWO). I lift 3x a week with HIIT cardio sessions 3x a week. A sample lifting day looks like this:

Breakfast:Protein Shake+3 Fish Oils+3egg whites and mushrooms
Lunch: Salad with grilled chicken (2tbsp balsamic vinegar)+3 Fish Oils
Snack:Red Pepper with 2tbsp natural hummus
Preworkout: Protein Shake+3Fish Oils)
WORKOUT
PWO: Protein Shake+Large Apple and 2 rice cakes
Dinner: Lean Beef/Salmon/Grilled Chicken/Salmon (8-12oz) for dinner with salad (2tbsp balsamic vinegar)+3 Fish Oils
Before bed:2tbsp natural Peanut Butter+1 red pepper with 2tbsp natural hummus

A sample upper workout looks like this:
Incline Press 5x4

Kipping Pull-Ups 30-35 reps

Bench Press 3x3 @80%

Face Pulls w/ext. rotation 3x10 (holding it at peak contraction for a count of 2)

Pulldown Abs 2x15

This current diet and caloric deficit was great for the first month. I lost noteable body fat and my abs are coming in nicely. Nevertheless, lately I have not been seeing any more fat loss and not coming and closer to my goals. Do you have any suggestions on what my next play should be? Do I reset my metabolism? DO I increase/decrease cals even more?Thanks for your time and articles.

4463

Thib, you mentioned in an earlier post that hydrolized casein is superior to hydrolized whey during the post workout period; with whey isolate being the last choice of the three. Does this also hold true for pre-workout as well?

Also, would there be any benefit to taking a 50/50 mixture of hydrolized casein and hydrolized whey, rather than the hydrolized casein by itself? (obviously being mixed with carbs or glutamine/glycine)
Thanks

4464

Coach

Bought your “Get Jacked Fast” programme. I anticipate that I will have to travel some in those 12 weeks, and may have to delay a workout by 1/2 days a couple of times. Also, for 3 weekends, I will be unable to work out. Is it alright to just shuffle the workouts around so I still do all the work/week, just on different days? (As long as I’m rested enough for each workout)

Also, one more thing… I live in a second world country. There is no glutamine. I have Leucine, Surge, Whey Hydrosalate, Surge Workout Fuel, annd that’s about it. Is there any point to doing the programme if I can’t follow the nutritional guide 100%? It seems like an awesome programme, but my chances of getting anything more exotic than what I just listed are very low.

4465

[quote]Italiano wrote:
Thib, you mentioned in an earlier post that hydrolized casein is superior to hydrolized whey during the post workout period; with whey isolate being the last choice of the three. Does this also hold true for pre-workout as well?

Also, would there be any benefit to taking a 50/50 mixture of hydrolized casein and hydrolized whey, rather than the hydrolized casein by itself? (obviously being mixed with carbs or glutamine/glycine)
Thanks[/quote]

A mix might indeed be a bit better, but I do not expect the difference to really be significant.

4466

Hello Thib

I have been using workouts from T-Nation for the past 6 months and have been very pleased with the results. I want to thank you and the other coaches for all your time and effort.

I am a 45 yoa male 5’9" 200lbs and about 14%bf according to a Tanita body fat scale. The past 8 years or so I have lifted heavy for six months through the winter and then done short triathlons from March to August.

My weight generally drops down to around 192 or so during the summer. During the tri training I usually lift 2 or 3 days a week, run 2 days, bike 2 days and swim 1 day, with 1 day off.

I am looking to lift 2 days a week this summer and try to get down to 188 or so. I have seen a couple workouts in the archives for 2 day a week workouts (Reg Park 5X5). Do you have any recommendations to help keep the lean muscle mass I have gained while doing this.

Thanks again for your time and expertise.

Sam

4467

[quote]gaddismotivate wrote:

For the past 2 months I have been on a lowcal/low carb diet. I consume 1800 calories per day on non-lift days and 1950 cals on lifting days.(with up to 57g carbs only PWO). I lift 3x a week with HIIT cardio sessions 3x a week. A sample lifting day looks like this:

Breakfast:Protein Shake+3 Fish Oils+3egg whites and mushrooms
Lunch: Salad with grilled chicken (2tbsp balsamic vinegar)+3 Fish Oils
Snack:Red Pepper with 2tbsp natural hummus
Preworkout: Protein Shake+3Fish Oils)
WORKOUT
PWO: Protein Shake+Large Apple and 2 rice cakes
Dinner: Lean Beef/Salmon/Grilled Chicken/Salmon (8-12oz) for dinner with salad (2tbsp balsamic vinegar)+3 Fish Oils
Before bed:2tbsp natural Peanut Butter+1 red pepper with 2tbsp natural hummus

A sample upper workout looks like this:
Incline Press 5x4

Kipping Pull-Ups 30-35 reps

Bench Press 3x3 @80%

Face Pulls w/ext. rotation 3x10 (holding it at peak contraction for a count of 2)

Pulldown Abs 2x15

This current diet and caloric deficit was great for the first month. I lost noteable body fat and my abs are coming in nicely. Nevertheless, lately I have not been seeing any more fat loss and not coming and closer to my goals. Do you have any suggestions on what my next play should be? Do I reset my metabolism? DO I increase/decrease cals even more?Thanks for your time and articles.

[/quote]

First of all, there really isn’t such a thing as ‘metabolic slowdown’; at least not in the way we see it.

Your basal metabolic rate doesn’t change much. Studies conducted on super low caloric intakes (as low as 800 calories for 2-3 months) found no significant decrease in resting metabolic rate.

The real cause of what we see as a decrease in metabolic rate is in fact due to three things:

  1. Muscle loss… muscles are the body’s engine. The bigger the engine, the more fuel it burns. If you lose muscle mass you will thus burn more fuel/calories 24/7 which can reduce fat loss.

  2. Weight loss … even if all the weight you lose is fat, losing it still decreases the amount of energy you burn each day because you carry less bagage. Walk all day with a 20lbs vest and, trust me, you’ll burn a lot more energy. So if you lose 20lbs of fat you will burn less energy by moving and doing physical activity.

  3. Habituation: the more you perform an activity, the more you get used to it. When your body is well adapted to an activity it is more efficient and thus it burns less energy for the same action.

From my point of view DO NOT lower you calories, they are already too low. You kinda shot yourself in the foot by starting that low. But now if you increase calories too fast you might gain some fat.

My suggestion would first be to change your workout since it sucks. The first goal is to preserve or gain muscle to prevent a decrease in energy expenditure.

Then I would add more volume… when fat loss stagnates you should increase activity.

You also need to vary your activity: when you become adapted to a type of activity it becomes less effective at stimulating fat loss.

4468

Coach, i have a pickup basketball game from 8-10p.m coming up. What would you recommend eating before? I was thinking the following a few hours before.

100-150g Fish
25g Almonds
1 Scoop Whey

Is there too much fat that would possibly rub me of energy in that idea? Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance coach.

4469

Thib,

For a secondary or tertiary movement, would there be merit to using alternating DB presses (decline, flat, incline, OH) by combining the 1 and 1/4 rep technique using a “bottoms-up” fashion: the non working side stays down until the working arm comes back down? Or would that be going overboard by combining those constant tension techniques?

4470

CT,

If you have the time, I was hoping to get your input on two training-related questions.

  1. In the past you’ve laid out training “rules” where exercise order should usually start with the most CNS-intensive movement/the exercise that works the most muscle mass and then arrange in descending order. How do you feel about altering exercise order and breaking the “rules” as a potential means of progression once in a while?

e.g. altering the typical order and performing a movement in a more fatigued state than you typically do (except for highly technical things like Oly lifts), building performance back up to what it was under less-fatigued conditions, and then reverting back to the previous exercise order and seeing how much performance has improved.

  1. While the use of power cleans and snatches from the hang, clean or snatch grip high pulls, and clean or snatch pulls may not result in a lot of growth just on their own, would a 4-week phase utilizing these be a good way to stimulate new upper back and shoulder growth in a subsequent phase using more traditional “bodybuilding” exercises?
4471

Coach,

I will be undergoing surgery next week. I wont be able to train for 4 weeks or so… what kind of nutritional program and supps can I use to reduce the muscle loss?

Currently im ingesting 2,500 - 2,900 cals, using you carb cycling codex.

4472

[quote]TEKEN wrote:
Coach,

I will be undergoing surgery next week. I wont be able to train for 4 weeks or so… what kind of nutritional program and supps can I use to reduce the muscle loss?

Currently im ingesting 2,500 - 2,900 cals, using you carb cycling codex.[/quote]

I’ll start off by saying that, sadly, muscle loss is almost certain in that situation. First you have the huge cortisol output which follows surgery and that can last for days. Then you have the fact that you will not be able to train. Detraining normally occurs after around 10 days.

Also do not forget that your body, which is built for survival, will divert more nutrients towards recovery than to muscle maintenance.

However don’t be scared, it’s not like you’ll lose all of your muscles… and what you lose will be regained much faster than it took you to gain it the first time.

Anti-catabolic supplements can help… phosphatidylserine at 3 daily doses of 400mg (last 2 meals of the day + bedtime) can be of great help to lower cortisol levels.

Glycine at 5-10g along with the PPS (same time of intake) will also help with cortisol.

Leucine at 5g per meal will help you stay less catabolic and reduce the risk of losing muscle.

I’d also use big doses of glutamine (3 daily intakes of 20g) as your situation is one of the rare one where glutamine has been shown to be effective. In this case it will boost your immune system ans you’ll recover faster.

As for nutrition, keep your protein and good fats up… this is the key thing. Lots of veggies to keep yourself alkaline which also facilitates recovery and reduce catabolism.

4473

Coach,

I’ve read that increasing weight more than 10% per week is not a good idea, but I just recently started training my external rotators of the humerus and have found that my strength goes up much faster than 10% per week at this point. I first used 10 pounds, 5 days later 12.5 pounds, 5 days later 15 pounds, and 5 days later 17 pounds. Should I slow down or even reduce the weight to stay inside a safe range, or would it be better to take advantage of the rapid strength increases?

4474

Coach,

What is your opinion on eating only fruits and vegetables to get in carbohydrates. Would you consider it healthy? I do eat small quantities of buckwheat, quinoa, and millet. However, I do try to avoid grains.

Also, i consume Surge Recovery periworkout.

I have analyzed my vitamin and mineral intake on diet analysis programs and the only vitamin i came deficient in is Vitamin D. Which I do take a supplement for now.

Thank you

4475

Coach, what is your opinion on the perception of many that…

  1. All someone should focus on until they are advanced is increasing strength in the right rep range with basic exercises

  2. Most peoples volume is way too high

-pumped

4476

Coach, what is your opinion on the perception of many that…

  1. All someone should focus on until they are advanced is increasing strength in the right rep range with basic exercises

  2. Most peoples volume is way too high

-pumped

4477

Coach Thib,

What is the best periodization for an off-season athlete?
I’ve read articles saying that the early off-season should be a hypertrophy phase, and then gradually switch to lower reps.

Thank you,
hckman

4478

Coach,

In regard to your Refined Physique Transformation article, after the weekly carb load, how much of a scale increase should i expect after it? In the last two loads i did, my weight was the same before and after it. i know that scale weight can fluctuate, but this kinda made me scratch my head.

4479

Coach,

Most of the articles I read center around a program that lasts a specific amount of time and focuses on one specific goal (i.e. 12 week fat loss, 12 week strength, 8 week mass). What I never read about is how to link all the goals together into a long term mesocycle. How do you go about determining how to link those all together? What is the optimal way to link them?

For example, I’m 6’3"/230lbs. I have about 20% body fat. Current Maxes are 270 Bench, 405 Squat, 375 Deadlift. How would you link up various programs you’ve created to get me to 225lbs@10% BF with respective lifts of 315/425/425?

I came up with:

1)V-Diet
2)Your Upper/Lower/Arms routine
3)Beast Building
4)A program based around mechanical drop sets(I love the pump from those!)
5)Gus Pacho’s training

I’ll use these types of diets

1)V-Diet
2)Maintain / Slowly Increase
3)Ramping Caloric Surplus
4)Caloric Surplus
5)Low Carb T-Dawg type

The short version: How do you go about linking fat loss to strength gains to mass gains?

Thanks!

4480

Thib,

What are your thoughts on all those “cleanses” people are doing?

At first I was disgusted at the thought of consuming an all-liquid, low calorie/protein diet as catabolism is inevitable, but I’m starting to become more constructive about the idea (thinking longer term) as eliminating the toxins from your boday would provide a better environment for fat loss and muscle building. Any thoughts?