I’m Sean. I’m a 44-year-old bodybuilder who started at 13, but I’ve been unable to train since late October 2013. It’s a long story; suffice to say, a couple of diverticulitis surgeries fixed my colon, but left a gap in my ab wall which grew into a hernia.
Until I get the hernia fixed, my days of very heavy lifting are clearly behind me. However, I think I could safely build back decent size in my shoulders, arms and maybe a bit in the upper traps and pecs.
To that end, I’m intrigued by the 30-10-30 concept, and I recall further talk about “flutter reps” and some other methods that differ from the traditional HIT tenants about going to complete positive failure.
Hi Sean, I have been through the same journey (well, almost) with a lot of health issues, and only now start to recover. Having done some pretty expensive and unusual tests, I have found, at least, some of the root causes of my health problems. August 2022 was a good month for me, as I was able to (re)gain more in muscle and strength then in previous two years. I am 45 and also started at 13 y/o. What I recommend (what is helping me):
HST instead of HIT: I train to failure only one workout (the 6th) of a two-week block. I burn too easily going to failure every workout. With HST, I start with relatively light weights and increase them every workout until I reach failure on the 6th workout of the two-week mini cycle;
find out your ideal number of repetitions in order to adjust HST program accordingly: HST program requires to do 15 reps in first 2 weeks, 10 reps per exercise during 3-4 weeks, 5 reps during 5th and 6th week, negatives on weeks 7 and 8. My ideal number of repetitions are 7-9 for arms, 10-12 for torso, 15-20 for legs. Therefore, I never do 5 reps during 5th and 6th weeks. My plan for legs could be: 25 reps for weeks 1-2; 20 reps for 3-4; 15 for weeks 5-6; then 30-10-30 or some other technique (like negative accentuated) for weeks 7 and 8. For torso: 20, 15, 12, 30-10-30. For arms: 15, 10, 8, and something else (may be rest-pause). Dr. Darden’s books (for instance, Massive Muscles in 10 weeks) has the guidelines how to determine your ideal number of repetitions.
check your levels of magnesium and potassium and make sure you get enough of both. Magnesium is critical for muscle contractions. Unfortunately, you can’t get it enough with food, so supplementation is a good option. If you can eat bananas, oatmeal, potatoes, then getting enough potassium should not be a problem.
That was my original intent to use BDJ’s techniques during the last 2 weeks of the 8-week HST cycle, so the first 6 weeks will be a good “warm-up” for the most productive and demanding last 2 weeks. I planned to use a different technique from BDJ’s arsenal for each exercise session during a 2 week mini-cycle (so, 6 different techniques for each exercise, if I have 6 exercise sessions in 2 weeks). However, with my health conditions reoccurring, I have to play it by the ear nowadays. I still hope to be able to implement that plan when I am back to norm.
Calf Raise on Squatmax MD
MedX Lumbar Extension: once a week.
For variation, I can use:
Nautilus NextGen 10 degree chest instead of MedX chest press,
Nautilus Multi-Triceps and Nautilus 2ST chest press (which I use to target the triceps) for triceps;
Bowflex seating biceps curl (facing the rear end of the bench);
high-rep squats on SquatMax MD.
There are some other machines in my home gym, but I use them sporadically.
The usage of BDJ’s techniques will depend on (a) the muscle make-up (i.e. fast/mixed/slow, TUL and ideal number of reps for this muscle), (b) the exercise machine, (c) which techniques proved to be best and worst for that particular muscle and exercise. On the latter, I like ascending sets in thirds, but don’t like descending thirds (both from JRep2 book). “5x5, ha!” (from Advanced Bodybuilding Methods & Techniques) technique will be an overkill for my arms and torso, but will be just fine for my legs. “Fractals + Full” technique works (for me) great on MedX Chest Press, but not so great on MedX Lat Pulldown. So you get the idea.
Respectfully, I disagree…But for different reasons than Andre. You may need to avoid Squats and Heavy DLs — exercises where you have to hold your core tight. Other than that, the sky’s the limit!! I’ve been recovering from appendectomy surgery the last few weeks and have found that NOT tensing this hernia-sensitive area is doable while still going heavy on arm work and even torso work — It’s All About Concentration!!
Do your exercises seated.
Machines (most!*) are your friends.
Leg Extensions and Seated Leg Curls. Leg Press, but do not set the seat too far forward.
Stiff-Leg Deadlifts with bands can help you.
*No PO Machines and no chin-ups — nothing that starts with a big pull while your abs are stretched.
No Ballistic Work.