T Nation

Anti-BB program & Fun with Women

Bodybuilding
#1

the second title referring to Thibadou’s article people :wink:

well i started up Chad Waterbury’s Anti-BB Hypertrophy program this week…and besides it hurting, i like it :wink: i decided to start up a new program of lifting heavy to gain a little size…which i’ve never really done. i always figured a woman couldn’t put on too much muscle so i never bothered much.

well anyway here’s my question. after reading Thibadou’s Fun with Women article he stated that women should have “slighty” higher reps than men when looking to gain mass/strength so i tweaked Chad’s program a bit to higher reps. is this a good idea with such a program or should i stick to what he has? so what i’m doing now is 10sets/7reps and 5sets/12 reps respectively (instead of 10/3 and 5/10).

also i’m taking a good guess on feel of what 80% and 60% of my 1RM is and i still seem to be pushing it almost to failure by my last set.

well i like the program regardless and hope to gain some muscle :slight_smile: thanks for any input on my weird calculations.

#2

how about 10/5 up to 10/7?

#3

KC in NYC - I like that handle. My brother lives in Tribeca, where do you live?
Okay, enough chit-chat. First, I recommend you stick to the program as it was designed. The Anti-BB was not designed with only men in mind, so don’t fret.
Second, I don’t completely agree with CT that higher reps are mandated for women to gain mass, because there are so many other factors involved. But lets say, for the sake of argument, that it is true. Therefore, it is assumed that women need a greater “time under tension” to achieve hypertrophy. To take this a step further, this would also assume that women have a greater percentage of Type IIA and Type I fibers than men (some of them do). It also assumes that women are less neurologically efficient than men (this one is a little trickier, but often true). Therefore, as a gross generalization, it wasn’t bad advice from CT.
But what you need to remember KC, is the Type IIB fibers have the greatest potential for growth. These high threshold fibers require a very large load in order to be sufficiently activated for growth. As anyone knows, super heavy weights and high reps don’t mix. So stick to my original guidelines. Besides, my low rep day is 10 x 3-5 reps, not 10 x 1-2 reps, so it’s not that low.
But if you prefer to poo-poo on my advice and adhere to higher rep sets, then switch your parameters to the following:

8 x 4-5 (instead of 10 x 3)
4 x 12-14 (instead of 10 x 5)

Good Luck!

#4

KC,
Also, just to let you know, I have not read CT’s Fun with Women article. He may have touched on all the points I mentioned. I was just giving you my two cents.

#5

Chad, thanks so much for responding. i may indeed go back to what was originally written for the program.

btw, i live in the West Village so TriBeCa isn’t too far off – greatest city in the world! :wink:

thanks again.