37 years old, just completed 4 weeks of the best damn programme for naturals.
I have never seen such a MASSIVE improvement in my physique in such a short time span. You never “see” your own gains well week 3 and 4 I was getting home every night and looking in the mirror and seeing changes.
I read a long thread on here between CT and some guys arguing against him with the science (cortisol) and all I can say is in trenches this worked for me, and I am 6’2 ectomorph.
Signed up to the forum just to display my thanks to CT.
CT if you catch this – I see you mentioned a further article on progression but I can’t see you’ve published this yet?
I tried running this into a 5th week (this week) and I have to say I need to take a break because my big lifts (squat, bench) have regressed slightly and I am “dreading” getting under the bar for a 225 front squat, body feels a bit battered. Would love to know what the deload recommendations are. I’m going to take 5 days off and start “week 5” next Monday.
This post is humbling. That you! I didn’t write the second part but on my thibarmy site there is an article using a similar approach but also using heavy lifting. Its in the article section
You might want to check out CT’s Strength Skill Circuit method on Thibarmy. I have done Best Damn and Strength Skills with added hypertrophy. I had slightly better gains on Strength Skill but more importantly, I seemed to recover much faster. I hit a wall much faster in Best Damn…not sure why…maybe a combination of my age (in my 40s) and the fact that you go to failure more in Best Damn. I will likely stick with the Strength Skills template and rotate in some variations of the Big 3 every 5 weeks or so.
It’s interesting, I didn’t rest but instead went back in for workout A2 today (ham curls, above knee trap bar rack pull, machine row, preacher curl) and hit PR’s on everything (more reps, not weight).
I think what is happening to me is I am doing RDL on A1 and it is wiping me out for front squats the next day, which then is wiping me out for flat bench after that. I started on week one doing 80kg/180lbs on RDL for a 6,4,2 double rest pause set, week 5 I done 100kg/225lbs so added 5kg/11lbs each time and I think it caught up with me. Even today on the leg curl my hams were still tight from 48 hours ago. So I don’t think I was fatigued entirely, but fatigued from the RDL. I know that is a fine line and fatigue is fatigue, but I think experienced lifters will know what I mean.
Next week I am going to keep going, week 6, but I am going to start with B1 workout first, so start the week pushing rather than pulling, and even do flat bench before front squats and see what happens. I am prioritising this because I my pecs are lagging compared to the rest of me, I’m a little shoulder dominant (65kg/145lbs OHP vs 97.5kg/220lbs flat bench 1RM). I think putting RDL on day 2 will be easier for me as you go into ham curls and leg ext so your legs get a little “time off” from big compound lower body movements on days 3 and 4.
I’m aiming to run this for 12 weeks and hoping it will bring me out of a late novice into intermediate. Started lifting at 31 (6 years ago) but first 3 or 4 years was a total joke/waste of time. Only been serious 2-3 years so really should be doing better than late novice but that’s what you get for not doing serious programmes!
It depends on the person. Training responsiveness depends on how the program fits with your physiological and neurological profile
For example a figure girl I train used the strength skill circuit for 6 weeks and had a significant increase in muscle mass. I personally maintained my mass while improving my strength (via neural efficiency), my wife lasted 1 workout because she hated it and couldn’t train hard on it and one of my online clients swear by this type of training.
While other people’s experience might give you some interesting feedback, it doesn’t mean that you will have the same results.
Yes, I put on more size and muscle mass with Strength/Skill, but I am also doing the optional hypertrophy work, at 1-2 exercises per day. It wasn’t a huge difference, but enough to notice. Also, under Best Damn, I would start getting tired out at about Week 5 or so. On Strength/Skill, I am able to go to Week 6 or 7 before I have to do some minor de-loading, which is usually just cutting out the additional hypertrophy work for a week or two. The other thing I really like about Strength/Skill is how easy it is to adjust. If I am having a real stressful long week at work, I can cut back to 4 days, and still hit the big muscle groups twice in a week. Or, in the winter, you can add the optional hypertrophy work for some additional gains, but then replace with optional endurance work in the Spring. It is really a great template and a big thanks to CT for providing.
