POST YOUR QUESTIONS
Coach
Before short intervals, how much ANACONDA and/or MAG-10 you recommend?
Hey CT, do you think that a partial rep pullup (top half maybe), from a dead stop is a good activation exercise before normal full range pullups?
In I, Bodybuilder you used medicine ball slams but I’m still curious about partial rep dead stop pullups. Deadstop vs ballistic
Are you enjoying your vacation? 
S
Coach, does the one arm power curl work well with the standing military press as well as the bench press? I tried it once and had better success, then tried it again and it didn’t work so good. I figured it would work because its basically the same movement just on a different plane. I’m doing Wendler’s 5/3/1
coach, when i squat im always strong out of the hole but the top 1/3 of my lift is where it slows or ends up being a grind. what would cause that to be my weakness and how do i strengthen it.
Given your recent post about carbs I would like your most up-to-date thoughts on carbs in the diet of a fat, out of shape beginner.
Are carbs in the morning and right before training still appropriate?
Thib, I have a huge tendency towards overtraining (I just love exercise). What is something fitness related and productive I can do that will let me release some aggression on days off? At this point, I just say f*** it and go do the hardest cardio/circuit training I can think of, but if I keep going to the gym every day I don’t think I will ever fully recover. TIA.
Haha, Thib calls that being “stimulus addict”, I’m one too. I’d like to know a way to get the “stimulus” on without draining CNS too.
I hope you’re having the holidays of your life Thib.
Hey CT I came across a photo of you doing a pistol squat and was wondering if there was any merit in doing them?
I saw the European Championships in weightlifting yesterday. Apart from being amazed by the strength on display, not to mention the muscular size of the weightlifters themselves, I noticed that most of the competitors were very young. Early to mid twenties actually.
Since you have a background in OL, perhaps you could explain why weightlifting appears to be a young man’s sport, as opposed to powerlifting. Are the bodies burnt up quicker, or is it the flexibility factor? Is it perhaps strength, though that would not explain why powerlifters are peaking at a later age.
Hey CT,
On May 12th, until the 19th I will be camping out due to a mandatory credit for school. The food that they are supplying us, is insufficient to say the least. It will be right in the middle of a bodybuilding contest prep(contest is the 26th of June). I was wondering what you recommend for exercise as to what to do for avoiding atrophy, and not halting fat loss. I was thinking of buying a bunch of protein bars that are very low on carbs, and trying to use that to try to make the best with the situation that I’ll be in. Thanks for any input if you have any!
[quote]StraightEdge wrote:
Hey CT,
On May 12th, until the 19th I will be camping out due to a mandatory credit for school. The food that they are supplying us, is insufficient to say the least. It will be right in the middle of a bodybuilding contest prep(contest is the 26th of June). I was wondering what you recommend for exercise as to what to do for avoiding atrophy, and not halting fat loss. I was thinking of buying a bunch of protein bars that are very low on carbs, and trying to use that to try to make the best with the situation that I’ll be in. Thanks for any input if you have any![/quote]
I’m not coach nor anywhere close to one but I’d say you might be better off to make your own protein bars with quality ingredients. I believe Chris Shugart has some recipes. Who knows what’s in the store bought ones. Does Biotest make one?
[quote]magicmatt wrote:
[quote]StraightEdge wrote:
Hey CT,
On May 12th, until the 19th I will be camping out due to a mandatory credit for school. The food that they are supplying us, is insufficient to say the least. It will be right in the middle of a bodybuilding contest prep(contest is the 26th of June). I was wondering what you recommend for exercise as to what to do for avoiding atrophy, and not halting fat loss. I was thinking of buying a bunch of protein bars that are very low on carbs, and trying to use that to try to make the best with the situation that I’ll be in. Thanks for any input if you have any![/quote]
I’m not coach nor anywhere close to one but I’d say you might be better off to make your own protein bars with quality ingredients. I believe Chris Shugart has some recipes. Who knows what’s in the store bought ones. Does Biotest make one?[/quote]
Thanks for the reply Matt, I went and checked out the Biotest protein bars. they have quite a bit of carbs, for what I’m looking for but I think that they will work, because they offer the best form of protein that I could get.
I mix Whey, egg beaters, cinnamon, and some kind of nut flour for a homemade nugget. Stick in the fridge, pack them in wax paper and they are fairly portable.
[quote]michell wrote:
Coach
Before short intervals, how much ANACONDA and/or MAG-10 you recommend?[/quote]
I would only use one scoop of Anaconda. Interval wont lead to an increase in possible anabolism so flooding the body with amino acids is pointless. Anaconda will, however, provide fuel for the anaerobic part of the intervals and help you recover faster from interval to interval.
[quote]mitak wrote:
Hey CT, do you think that a partial rep pullup (top half maybe), from a dead stop is a good activation exercise before normal full range pullups?
In I, Bodybuilder you used medicine ball slams but I’m still curious about partial rep dead stop pullups. Deadstop vs ballistic [/quote]
It would be a somewhat decent activation exercise for the biceps if you perform only the top half. To have a good activation impact on the back, it would have to be a bottom half partial really focusing on pulling with the back and not the arms.
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
Are you enjoying your vacation?
S[/quote]
I was, until I found out that we didn’t have an internet connection.
Seriously though, we were lucky with the weather, the food was …hmmm… plentyfull, I was able to train 5 times and thus limit the negative impact of the aforementionned food
[quote]magicmatt wrote:
Coach, does the one arm power curl work well with the standing military press as well as the bench press? I tried it once and had better success, then tried it again and it didn’t work so good. I figured it would work because its basically the same movement just on a different plane. I’m doing Wendler’s 5/3/1[/quote]
For the military press I like to start the workout with 1 arm DB clean and press as an activation exercise.
I also found that using an exercise to potentiate another one (e.g. power curl to potentiate bench or overhead press) works best if you do not use the same strategy for two workouts in a row, it’s better to rotate through a list of various activation strategies.
[quote]kg wrote:
coach, when i squat im always strong out of the hole but the top 1/3 of my lift is where it slows or ends up being a grind. what would cause that to be my weakness and how do i strengthen it.[/quote]
Which lifts? Do you have long limbs compared to your torso? Are you naturally explosive or not? Give me something to work with here!