So guys, about to start my 3rd week of the training phase, and strength is going up tremendously. Ya’ll think I should go a few more weeks with it, and milk what I can, or go ahead do as recommended in the book, and go back into a ramp after 3 weeks of Supergrowth/Training phase??
I’ve read this and the original thread about BBB and the book. Haven’t done it myself, but what I understood from MODOK’s and C_C’s posts in the original thread, you should definately milk everething there is to it and once the gains stop, then you need to put yourself thru the ramp again. Ramp is the stimulus for the “real” training, so why do it before you really have to do it? Again, never done BBB, but that’s what I’d do.
For most people I would start with the 4 day split and work through it as prescribed. After that you can do a split for a while to shock the system before doing BBB again.
Personally I would not do the 6 day BBB first time around. Save that for the second round. Reading the comments on this thread, some people find the 6 day too much. Perhaps this would not be the case if they had run the 4 day version first?
For the comment about repeating phases…Don’t! I found that I would get jumps of improvements at different parts of each phase, so work though each one and take on the subtle changes that are prescribed (reduced rest, increased sets, increased volume).
Learn from my mistake: First phase I selected as few exercises as possible and chest=Bench Press and thighs= Squat. Better to vary things.
How do you guys keep track of progress with this program? Do you record every set/rep of every exercise for every day?
[quote]forbes wrote:
How do you guys keep track of progress with this program? Do you record every set/rep of every exercise for every day?[/quote]
Yes. I try to go up in reps or weight on the first ‘all-out’ set of each exercise after warming up, then lower the weight on preceding sets the minimum I feel required to have those sets stay in the desired rep range with good form. My main ‘goal’ is to progress on that first set though.
@Spideyyy the book saids to milk out the training phase as long as you want and get off it once you stop making progress. I believe the minimum is 3 and 6 weeks being the most.
BTW you need to update us with some pics man!
Thanks guys. Yesterday I felt real strong, but today felt like shit (mostly due to work and school stress). I’ll likely see how my last 2 workouts of the week go before deciding whether to extend my training phase or start a new ramp. If I move up considerably on the ‘money’ lifts, I’ll probably give myself another week of training phase. But if I barley make my reps, I’ll likely move to a ramp.
@DazeDolo Not much change since my avi, mostly making strength gains on BBB, while getting leaner. I’ll give myself another ramp, then will likely post pics. I’m trying to gain weight right now, but this program runs through the cals, so I’m slowly adding in food to hopefully move further towards the ultimate goal of actually being Big Beyond Belief lol
Big Beyond Belief was the program I used for my first year of university. In fourth year now and those were still the best gains I’ve ever had. Put about 30 pounds on in 4 months.
I’ve recently been thinking of going back to it as I love it, but I’m finding it difficult to schedule in working out along with my schooling. We shall see, maybe next semester.
Just ended my 2nd run of Ramp 1. Going into the Training Phase/SuperGrowth Phase now. Love this program
Bump. I’m interested on your layouts on ramp 2,especially the 6 day version…My gym has only the basic stuff (no hammers or smith) and i’ve always some troubles on choosing the pressing movements
2 Question
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for the ramp 2: How the fuck are you supposed to train back,chest and leg 6 day in a row and why neglect shoulder? Anybody every try to alternate delts and chest on ramp 2?
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Is the ramp 2 is really necessary? Does anybody just keep doing ramp 1 and supergrowth phase?
[quote]GTFOmyPowerRack wrote:
2 Question
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for the ramp 2: How the fuck are you supposed to train back,chest and leg 6 day in a row and why neglect shoulder? Anybody every try to alternate delts and chest on ramp 2?
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Is the ramp 2 is really necessary? Does anybody just keep doing ramp 1 and supergrowth phase?[/quote]
Spidey does.
[quote]GTFOmyPowerRack wrote:
2 Question
-
for the ramp 2: How the fuck are you supposed to train back,chest and leg 6 day in a row and why neglect shoulder? Anybody every try to alternate delts and chest on ramp 2?
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Is the ramp 2 is really necessary? Does anybody just keep doing ramp 1 and supergrowth phase?[/quote]
my 2 cents:
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on ramp 2 you don’t have direct delts work only for 3 weeks, then on SG they come back…I don’t think it’s a big issue if you set up the program in the right way
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some veterans of bbb say that they have the best gains on ramp1, others on the other ramps…i would run the full program before picking up my favourite ramp…
right now i’m on the 3rd week of ramp 2, is a big change from ramp1, mostly for the hellish frequency, but progression is going good on nearly all lifts
[quote]GTFOmyPowerRack wrote:
2 Question
-
for the ramp 2: How the fuck are you supposed to train back,chest and leg 6 day in a row and why neglect shoulder? Anybody every try to alternate delts and chest on ramp 2?
-
Is the ramp 2 is really necessary? Does anybody just keep doing ramp 1 and supergrowth phase?[/quote]
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I tried it, and well, honestly it just blows lol. I ended up hurting my shoulder. and IMO it was from doing pressing/flyes/tricep work 6x a week. I was newb when I tried that, so take it with a grain of salt, but still, didn’t hitting stuff that much.
For chest I just alternated between a press and fly every time
For back alternated between a vertical pull and horizontal pull
For legs alternated between Quads and Hams
If I were to do it again, I’d make sure to ONLY do movements that didn’t stress my shoulders or lower back. So…
DB’s > BB.
Decline Pressing > Incline Pressing
Neutral Grips on presses and pulls
Front Squats > Back Squats
But that’s just me. It’s just 3 weeks, delts won’t shrink in that time. And fatigued delts will probably screw up the next says chest work, IMO.
- That’s what I do. I ran it twice this fall, then kind of coasted on a Supergrowth phase for awhile because of an injury during basketball. Finishing my first week my 3rd run at Ramp 1 in the last few months tomorrow. Though I’ve tweaked the split a bit. To my liking, having ran it a few times.
So finishing my first week of Ramp 1 tomorrow. Last two ramps, I’ve used the same lifts on Day 1 for Day 5, and Day 2 for Day 6, just using different rep ranges. So workouts were like A/B/C/D/A/B/Off/A/B. This time though, I’m just alternating the days all the way through. So it’ll be like A/B/C/D/A/B/Off/C/D/A/B…
Also I moved Triceps to the other ‘upper’ body day, and added ham work to my ‘lower’ day. Pressing 5-6x a week is too much for me. lol. Lifting looks like this:
Workout A:
Incline Dumbbell Press
Supinated Pulldowns
Close-Grip BB Press
DB Curls + Abs
Workout B:
DB Upright Rows/Laterals
Oly Back Squat
Hamstring Curls
Calves
Workout C:
Hernon DB Rows
Decline BB Press
DB Hammer Curls
OH Rope Extensions
Workout D:
Rear Delt Swings/Flies
Oly Front Squats
Romanian Deadlifts
Calves
So, those are my workouts. Most of my exercise selection is based on recommendations from Phil Hernon’s writings (whose principles are what BBB is really based around) and obviously just finding what works for my body type really. Taking in about 3300 calories on lifting days, using the ‘off’ day as a control day (cheating if I felt I missed some eating that week or just feel run-down, eat less if I feel a bit bloofy). Hoping lifts keep going up and I gain some quality mass.
Open to critiques or suggestions, always wanting to learn.
I think Ramp2 is a good thing to try, but I will say that for my part, it’s something that I will never do again, at least at the 6x/week frequency.
If anyone out there is thinking about doing it, though, I found it essential to conceptualize my workouts in terms of spinal loading and to alternate days based on that. So, on days 1, 3, and 5 I would have “spinal loading” movements (back squat, SLDL, BB Press, BB Rows, etc), whereas on 2, 4, and 6 I would have “non-spinal loading” movements (leg press, lateral raises, lat pulldowns/pullups, etc).
That’s really the key to a sustainable, healthy Ramp2, IMO. I also think it’s worth giving a try for everyone, although the third week of Ramp2 really burned me out. I also think that this would be good to do with someone else because you can motivate each other to push through.
[quote]The3Commandments wrote:
I think Ramp2 is a good thing to try, but I will say that for my part, it’s something that I will never do again, at least at the 6x/week frequency.
If anyone out there is thinking about doing it, though, I found it essential to conceptualize my workouts in terms of spinal loading and to alternate days based on that. So, on days 1, 3, and 5 I would have “spinal loading” movements (back squat, SLDL, BB Press, BB Rows, etc), whereas on 2, 4, and 6 I would have “non-spinal loading” movements (leg press, lateral raises, lat pulldowns/pullups, etc).
That’s really the key to a sustainable, healthy Ramp2, IMO. I also think it’s worth giving a try for everyone, although the third week of Ramp2 really burned me out. I also think that this would be good to do with someone else because you can motivate each other to push through.[/quote]
Yeah the spinal loading idea is pretty solid. Maybe treat every other day as a HEAVY day, then the next day a ‘light day’ for all movements. Regardless, it’s not a good idea to try and go balls to the wall on the 2nd Ramp the entire time. This is probably the time to keep a rep or two in the tank as well.
3 Commandments, I know you have some experience with the programs. Does my layout above look decent?
What are Hernon rows
[quote]Spidey22 wrote:
Yeah the spinal loading idea is pretty solid. Maybe treat every other day as a HEAVY day, then the next day a ‘light day’ for all movements. Regardless, it’s not a good idea to try and go balls to the wall on the 2nd Ramp the entire time. This is probably the time to keep a rep or two in the tank as well.
3 Commandments, I know you have some experience with the programs. Does my layout above look decent? [/quote]
I disagree strongly with you on the heavy/light idea. Frankly, if you’re going to approach it like that, then I would advise just not f***ing doing it. The whole point is for it to be too much.
I’ve run two full go-throughs on the 6x/week. Never really done the 4x/week.
Here are my thoughts on your setup: [comments in brackets]
Workout A:
Incline Dumbbell Press
Supinated Pulldowns [consider: weighted pullups]
Close-Grip BB Press [I did this for a long time. Ultimately, though, I liked doing skullcrushers or weighted dips more.]
DB Curls + Abs
Workout B:
DB Upright Rows/Laterals
Oly Back Squat
Hamstring Curls [consider: SLDL, done without locking out and using only 25lb plates]
Calves
Workout C:
Hernon DB Rows
Decline BB Press
DB Hammer Curls
OH Rope Extensions [I get why you used these. I guess it’s just worth mentioning that the exercise selection in the BBB book would dictate against using this]
Workout D:
Rear Delt Swings/Flies [Using OHP here might be better: one day of pressing overhead a week will keep you developing in that area. And you can do the Meadows Rear Fly Swings as a finisher like he talks about in his shoulders article].
Oly Front Squats
Romanian Deadlifts [if you do SLDLs the other days like I mentioned, then here you could do trap bar deadlift or hole-paused squats. I really think that hole-paused squats have helped my squats].
Calves
That said, I’m not that impressive (yet!), so take what I say with a grain of salt.