[quote]Thy. wrote:
Thib, is it fine having 3 upper and 3 lower body sessions in a week, with 2 (rarely 3 on best days) exercises in each ? The exercises done with the ramping method, rarely above max force point. If it’s fine, should I have an off day in the middle or in the end of the week ?[/quote]
Some might pull it off if nutrition, supplementation, recovery are perfect and if life is not too stressful. But if any of those factors are not 100% on, you will stagnate after 4 weeks. And then might regress.
It would be ‘‘safer’’ to use 2 sessions for each and maybe add one ‘‘beach’’ day (biceps, triceps, abs) per week.
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
STEROIDS AND TRAINING PART II: TRAINING FREQUENCY
A natural lifter will be better off training each muscle group twice per week, sometimes 3 times per week (during specialization phases).[/quote]
Would you be setting this up like a typical Upper-Lower split?
How would you balance the days so as to hit the muscles necessary without spending 2 hours in the gym and destroying yourself?
Also, for a beach day…
Do you still do the ramping sets and other techniques for arms since the weight would be much more difficult to go up 20-30 lbs?
Would doing some sprints and maybe jumps or medicine ball work on the beach day be too much??
Thanks for the great info as always, loving the new progress in strength and body comp. (so does my girlfriend)
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
STEROIDS AND TRAINING PART II: TRAINING FREQUENCY
A natural lifter will be better off training each muscle group twice per week, sometimes 3 times per week (during specialization phases).[/quote]
Would you be setting this up like a typical Upper-Lower split?
How would you balance the days so as to hit the muscles necessary without spending 2 hours in the gym and destroying yourself?
Also, for a beach day…
Do you still do the ramping sets and other techniques for arms since the weight would be much more difficult to go up 20-30 lbs?
Would doing some sprints and maybe jumps or medicine ball work on the beach day be too much??
Thanks for the great info as always, loving the new progress in strength and body comp. (so does my girlfriend)[/quote]
^^^im interested in how a beach day would be set up too… super set bi’s/tri’s maybe?
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
STEROIDS AND TRAINING PART II: TRAINING FREQUENCY
A natural lifter will be better off training each muscle group twice per week, sometimes 3 times per week (during specialization phases).[/quote]
Would you be setting this up like a typical Upper-Lower split?
How would you balance the days so as to hit the muscles necessary without spending 2 hours in the gym and destroying yourself?
Also, for a beach day…
Do you still do the ramping sets and other techniques for arms since the weight would be much more difficult to go up 20-30 lbs?
Would doing some sprints and maybe jumps or medicine ball work on the beach day be too much??
Thanks for the great info as always, loving the new progress in strength and body comp. (so does my girlfriend)[/quote]
A) (training split): It depends on the number of days you train per week. You could use:
Upper - Lower split (if you train 4 times a week)
Upper - Lower - Whole body (if you train 3 times a week)
Legs - Push - Pull (if you train 6 times a week)
No session should last longer than 75 minutes or so. I recommend no more than 3-5 total exercises per workout
B) (Beach day) Ramp up only on exercises where you use at least 100lbs. Otherwise, do ONE lighter and more explosive set, then jump to your working weight.
C) (Beach day sprints) I have mixed feelings about this. Sprinting is neurally demanding and does fatigue the nervous system. The goal of the beach day is to do some non-stressful work (isolation stuff for lagging bodyparts) and while sprints are a good addition to a training week, they might compromise your recovery if you do them on the beach day (you end up having too many CNS-intensive days).
kinda similar question to MAF14, what would be a good exercise(s) for the lateral head of the triceps?
Whenever I do squats wit my feet flat on the ground, my inner thighs cramp up. Even with a narrow stance, proper warm up etc. They still cramp up. Only when I elevate my heels do they seem fine. Any suggestions with this?
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
STEROIDS AND TRAINING PART II: TRAINING FREQUENCY
I discussed the training volume, number of reps and training load that is ideal for natural and enhanced lifters in an earlier post. This post will attack the same subject from the angle of training frequency.
When it comes to frequency for enhanced lifters, here is what I believe:
TECHNICALLY enhanced lifters are able to train each muscle group more often because of the increased protein synthesis and glycogen storage. In other words the muscles recover faster from training.
Still IN THEORY enhanced lifters are able to train more often (as in more days per week) for the same reason as above AND because they artificially blunt the action of cortisol at the receptor level.
HOWEVER in reality they should actually train each muscle group LESS OFTEN.
Why? Because…
although their muscles recover faster their tendons do not. This, once again, increase the risk of injuries because as time goes by the muscles will get stronger while the tendons get progressively (and proportionally) weaker.
while the increased protein synthesis and glycogen storage will allow the muscle to do more work and recover faster, the nervous system will not recover any faster (in fact some steroids are psychostimulants that might even drain the nervous system even more during a training session). For that reason an enhanced lifter might miss the signs that it’s time to give the body a break: the muscles can still do the job, the lifter is still gaining strength and size… so he assumes that everything is fine. But the risk of chronic fatigue is quite real, he just doesn’t see it.
Basically… an enhanced lifter CAN train more often. But by doing so he is likely to do more harm than good, especially in the long run.
Not to mention that since AAS basically makes the lifter anabolic 24-7, he requires a lesser frequency of stimulation to gain size and strength, so training at a higher frequency is unecessary.
That’s why most pro bodybuilders train most muscle groups once a week. There are obviously exceptions, but most do. This doesn’t mean that because those guys are training like that that it is necessarily the best way for everybody to train. But for them it is: it’s the safest way for them to train and the one that allows them to take advantage of their capacity to tolerate more volume.
A natural lifter will be better off training each muscle group twice per week, sometimes 3 times per week (during specialization phases).[/quote]
Christian,
I really have no interest in the training of bodybuilders. I just thought it was very interesting that you referred to tendon adaptation and how it isn’t able to occur as quickly as muscular adaptations when “assisted”. Some of my colleagues and I have been discussing the possibility that lack of tendon adaptation in “assisted” athletes may account for some of the increased power display you see initially when starting the use of “assistance”, but these results tend to diminish over a period of extended use. Obviously, this is purely anecdotal, but nonetheless I was wondering if you had nay thoughts?
Thanks for all the free information and advice you give to everyone…
I really have no interest in the training of bodybuilders. I just thought it was very interesting that you referred to tendon adaptation and how it isn’t able to occur as quickly as muscular adaptations when “assisted”. Some of my colleagues and I have been discussing the possibility that lack of tendon adaptation in “assisted” athletes may account for some of the increased power display you see initially when starting the use of “assistance”, but these results tend to diminish over a period of extended use. Obviously, this is purely anecdotal, but nonetheless I was wondering if you had nay thoughts?
Thanks for all the free information and advice you give to everyone…[/quote]
Actually the main reason for the quick increase in power output when one begins using AAS is mostly due to the psychostimulent of some of these products. Basically some AAS increase neural drive and aggressiveness (not to the extent of causing ‘‘roid rage’’ which is largely a myth). Strong androgens (testosterone, trenbolone, halotestin, among others) have a stronger effect in that regard and they normally lead to a quick gain in strength and power. But like anything that improves neural drive, the gains quickly become slower.
C) (Beach day sprints) I have mixed feelings about this. Sprinting is neurally demanding and does fatigue the nervous system. The goal of the beach day is to do some non-stressful work (isolation stuff for lagging bodyparts) and while sprints are a good addition to a training week, they might compromise your recovery if you do them on the beach day (you end up having too many CNS-intensive days).[/quote]
Sounds good… I think I remember Eric Cressey saying he does an Upper/Lower split for Mon-Tue-Thurs-Fri while running sprints and doing mobility drills on Wed and Sat and that’s kind of where I got the idea.
I do play Co-Ed volleyball on Sundays most weekends, it’s pretty low key, but gets me a good 25-30 jumps or so in an hour. I’ll probably leave the sprint work for weekends that I don’t play volleyball and am feeling energized…
Thanks for the help again… Always looking forward to the next new bit of info you have to offer…
