Coach, with two-a-days coming up in about a week, I’m trying to come up with a badass drink I could have before and/or after practice to improve recovery and avoid dehydration.
I have BCAAs, Beta-Alanine, PLCAR, tyrosine, glucoronolactone, taurine, carbs (gatorade), leucine and tricreatine malate.
What combination of those would help me out?
[quote]Cyrus_99 wrote:
Hey coach,
Sorry about the bombardment of questions from me. I was just wondering: Im on the zinc deficiency protocol u outlined earlier, and Im taking a multi 3X a day, taking 800-1200mg magnesium at night, and taking an emulsified fish oil at night as well. Is there anything else that should be added to an upkeep regimen like this? BTW: I do push/pull type workouts upper and lower 3-4 days/wk. Thanks for everything, you have been a great resource.[/quote]
Seems more than adequate. I always recommend using as little as possible to get the job done… when the job isn’t getting done anymore, explore new options and additions.
[quote]kg wrote:
Coach I just realized I had posted this question in the wrong forum so I will post it here sorry about that.
When using the targeted carbs is it fine just to skip 2nd pwo carbs since I’ve noticed I tend to gain fat pretty easy when increasing carbs. Also is it just trace carbs on non workout days or just less than 50g
Thanks
[/quote]
Non workout days = less than 50g
Having carbs only post-workout is perfectly fine. In fact, I only recommend splitting them when the amount you have to take is too high for one ‘‘meal’’. If you don’t handle carbs that well you will not use a lot of carbs, so there is no need to split them.
[quote]youngoldguy wrote:
Coach:
I actually enjoy jogging (crazy, I know). But I’m training for maximum relative strength. Currently I’m doing Bill Starr’s 5x5 which works extremely well for me.
If I wanted to include an easy 20-30 minute jog once or twice a week, is there a BCAA/protein shake protocol you could suggest that would limit catabolism and strength loss?
Thanks.[/quote]
The main problem will be knee overuse rather than catabolism.
Coach,
Do you find there’s an appreciable difference between a true upper/lower split and a movement pattern split (i.e. vertical push + press on day 1, hip dominant on day 2, etc), as in “one works a little better for hypertrophy, the other for strength”, given that the overall volume of each routine would be the same? Or is this simply a difference of frequency and a matter of personal preference?
Thanks
Coach, what’s your opinion on high-calorie, high-fat foods such as coconut milk for bulking? I’m thinking about adding a can a day to help with my weight gain, but I’m concerned most of it will go to my waist and not my muscle. Would it be better to just eat clean and in larger portions than I’m accustomed to?
[quote]tg2hbk4488 wrote:
Hey Coach,
I am a poor college student, and as such, I need to make money any way I can. I sell my blood plasma twice a week. Will this be hurting any of my gains in the gym? I figure maybe just slow down recovery because the body is swtiching effort to make new plasma, but anything besides this?
[/quote]
My recommendation is that this guy should donate his brain to science. He’s obviously not using it.
Thibs, I had a question re: your Hot Wheels in a Hurry article about the placement of the power clean on the quad dominant day. Does the PC involve the quads more than the power snatch? I always thought it was hamstring dominant. (Actually, I realize that it’s pretty much a total bodyu exercise, but it’s usually found in hamstring programs.) Thanks.
Hi Coach
I am relatively new to T-Nation, but have read tons of articles so far. I would like to get into weightlifting to increase my size and develop muscle. I am really skinny at 6’1 and 145lbs. However, I was born with only one arm (I am missing my right arm just at the elbow).
Therefore, I am afraid that by lifting I will develop major imbalances. Do you know of any way I could strengthen my right side (I currently just lean against a wall and push off of it from many different angles) and lift normally with my left side (DB bench, DB Shoulder press, Pulldowns, etc.)
I have been doing normal exercises with my left arm and trying to strengthen my right side, but I am afraid I may develop some probs.
Thanks.
Hi coach,
in one of your previous posts, you say, regarding plyometrics,
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
They are CNS-intensive and you should not have more than 3 cNS intensive sessions per week. So do them on workout days, first in your workout (it will help with CNS activation, making the whole workout more effective).[/quote]
so they shouldn’t be overused since more that 3 workouts a week of CNS intensive training shouldn’t be performed… so how could fast twitch (who, if I got it right, need longer rest periods) type individuals performing motor learning phases with consecutive training days not get overtrained? (I’m not only talking about plyo there, I’m disgressing towards CNS training in general)
Is it related to your “some of my athletes work 30 minutes and look better than 99% of the population”? But does a genetical fiber makeup also makes motor learning easier for these people and helps them getting the same results with less learning?
Thanks in advance,
Nicolas
Coach, the max is 3 sesion a week of CNS intense work? sorry to ask but west side would be 4 a week? i sometimes follow, and i am thinking if it is not aproprieted for a regular drug-free athlete?
[quote]ricardowesley wrote:
Coach, the max is 3 sesion a week of CNS intense work? sorry to ask but west side would be 4 a week? i sometimes follow, and i am thinking if it is not aproprieted for a regular drug-free athlete?[/quote]
I’m not saying that it’s the ‘‘max’’, but most people will do better on 3 CNS-intensive sessions a week. Do not forget that what the elite does, is not always what the average individual should be doing.
Hi CT.
A question if you have time.
Is there something wrong with young people lifting heavy weights ???
Im getting grief from people saying its bad for me, should take up basketball till im older and im getting fairly fed up of it.
I have seen you trained a girl who you even bought olympic gear for who was lifting ALOT of weight… so i would presume you have nothing against young people lifting weight ??
Thanks for your time, its just getting REALLY annoying being young and having to defend myself all the time why i want to lift weight.
[quote]MikeTheBear wrote:
Thibs, I had a question re: your Hot Wheels in a Hurry article about the placement of the power clean on the quad dominant day. Does the PC involve the quads more than the power snatch? I always thought it was hamstring dominant. (Actually, I realize that it’s pretty much a total bodyu exercise, but it’s usually found in hamstring programs.) Thanks.
[/quote]
All olympic pulls (snatch variations, clean variations, snatch pulls, clean pulls) are hamstring-dominant if performed properly.
However if you compare the two, the clean normally involves the quads more than the snatch because the hip and back extension in the clean tend to be less than in the snatch. Watch elite olympic lifters… in the snatch they tend to really accentuate the hip and back extension, making a ‘‘reverse C’’ shape with their body. However in the clean the body tends to remain more upright.
Basically in a snatch you tend to pull more ‘‘up and back’’ while in the clean you tend to pull more ‘‘up’’.
I want to train the olympic lifts twice a week with an athlete who has to improve his power ASAP. This means one olympic lift with each lower body workout. Since both the snatch and clean are hamstring-dominant (or more precisely, posterior chain dominant) I had to make a choice and decided to include the clean, which is the less posterior-chain dominant of the two, in the quads day.
I am currently doing a workout routine that is on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. All other days in the week are rest days. I was wondering if it would be alright to add in some unilateral leg work as well as some body weight exercises and conditioning on Saturday. Would this be a good idea or should i just fit those exercises as accessory exercises on the days that i workout? BTW, i am doing 3 full body workouts a week.
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
youngoldguy wrote:
Coach:
I actually enjoy jogging (crazy, I know). But I’m training for maximum relative strength. Currently I’m doing Bill Starr’s 5x5 which works extremely well for me.
If I wanted to include an easy 20-30 minute jog once or twice a week, is there a BCAA/protein shake protocol you could suggest that would limit catabolism and strength loss?
Thanks.
The main problem will be knee overuse rather than catabolism.[/quote]
Cool. I take a ton of fish oil to combat that anyway.
coach, it seems that bodybuilders of old times past built great bodies with total body workouts (one of the best being reg park). whats your take on them (regarding muscle growth)? you think they’re good for building a base of mass, or can they still be used after the base has been built to further development?
CT,
If possible, I’d like to get your thoughts on a few questions related to triceps work.
Would you rate board presses and overhead rack lockouts as being on par with( or possibly even slightly better than) dips as a triceps strength and mass builder?
Would performing board presses and overhead rack lockouts with pronated, supinated, and semi-supinated(with a specialty parallel or angled-grip barbell) grips foster more complete development of the triceps complex?
In programming, would the above choices be used in place of using an isolation exercise, since they mainly target the triceps despite being a derivative of a compound lift? Or are they more appropriate as a substitute for dips, decline close-grip bench presses, and close-grip grip bench presses?
While powerlifters often use low reps with them to work the top end of the bench press, would it also be appropriate for someone training mainly for aesthetic purposes to also use these with higher reps and the constant tension method by going just short of lockout, or would this be a waste of time since the ROM is already abbreviated to begin with?
Thanks for your time, coach.
hey Thib.
im new to T-Nation but i was looking through the site and came across your pendulum bodybuilding article. im excited to start it but i had a quick question about the reps with pauses… when you say, “This means that on each rep you’ll include a pause at the mid-point of the exercise (halfway down).”
are you talking about halfway through the eccentric part of the exercise? sorry if this is a dumb question but i just want clarification.
thanks for your time.
[quote]youngoldguy wrote:
Cool. I take a ton of fish oil to combat that anyway.
[/quote]
It wont protect you against an excessive workload. It can help with imflammation, but it cannot prevent knee problems for overuse.
Hi Christian
Two questions please:
Why do you increase carb-up frequency as a person gets leaner? Is it because a person can tolerate more carbs so why not or is it because more frequent carb-ups are required to keep losing fat optimally? If the latter, what is the reason for this?
Is coffee a help or a hindrance for fat loss? I’ve heard you and Poliquin discuss it before but, if coffee raises blood sugar, surely it is detrimental?
Thanks for your advice.
w-o-i