T Nation

Breakdancing

Bodybuilding
#1

Hi all, I’ve been reading T-mag for a couple of years but this is my first post. I’m a student during the day but to help pay the bills I work in club dancing on a podium 3 times a week for a total of 2.5-3 hours each night depending on the shifts. This is very hard work and afterwards my legs feel very heavy. I normally train my legs twice a week with deadlift and squat variations and good mornings. I’m fairly sure that my legs just don’t get sufficient time to recover to get stronger and grow. Any suggestions for a training program where I could still train my legs and make progress? I like the sound of CW’s new 3 day a week total body program where I could still train my legs hard but reduce the emphasis. Any thoughts?

I also lead an active lifestyle during the day and consume at least 400g of carbs daily. I’m really unsure about how to eat when I work at night. I don’t really want to be drinking Surge at 2 in the morning just before bed because I already consume lots of carbs and am concerned about excess carbs especially just before bed leading to fat gain. Surge is absorbed so quickly that I would be wary of overnight catabolism too. I currently just stick to chicken and nuts to snack on between shifts and salmon and veggies before bed and then 80g of carbs from oats, fruit and veggies for breakfast. Any thoughts here too?

Thanks for your time everybody
Cheers

#2

You dance on a podium for money? Why does that sound odd to me…nothing personal.

#3

It pains me to say this to you ZEB because I learnt so much from your post about chin ups, but
Kiss My Ass lol!
It’s helping me to pay my tuition fees. Maybe I made a poor choice of words - it’s just a stage - there’s one on all 4 corners of the floor :slight_smile:

#4

Breakdown,

Surge is supposed to be used during and post workout. From your post it seems your using it right before bedtime. A good before bedtime meal is some cottage cheese and some EFA’s.

As far as diet do some research on this website and you’ll find a goldmine of information. Once you get to know your body and how it responds to different diets, training, etc. it gets much easier!

As far as your dancing you gotta do what you gotta do to pay the bills.
“Sancho”

#5

Breakdown,

I almost forgot there was a thread on here not to long ago, that dealt with working the night shift and eating. I think FCfighter had a really good schedule for your nocturnal lifestyle. Just look up his posts hope that helps!
“Sancho”

#6

Breakdown:

You dance on a stage, and they pay you to do this?

#7

ZEB, I don’t understand what you’re trying to say.

Apparently he’s not a stripper (not that there’s anything wrong with that… it pays well and it’s fun)… he just breakdances in some club and even gets paid for it.

I wish I was a good enough breakdancer to get paid for it. I absolutely don’t see what you’re trying to get at.

#8

I have never heard of a guy being paid to dance in a typical club unless he was a stripper. I didn’t think that he was a stripper, that’s why I asked.

I think I understand the situation now. thanks for cleaing it up for me.

:slight_smile:

#9

[quote]Sancho wrote:
Breakdown,

Surge is supposed to be used during and post workout. From your post it seems your using it right before bedtime. A good before bedtime meal is some cottage cheese and some EFA’s.

[/quote]

That’s my point Sancho. After work my legs feel very tired and I’m sure there must be some glycogen depletion. My heart rate also gets quite high.

My question is should I eat a traditional low-carb slow digesting protein meal after work directly before bed or should I eat a PWO style carb + protein meal? At the moment I eat salmon and veggies and then wait untill breakfast to eat the carbs to recover/replenish glycogen stores.

#10

How long from the time you stop dancing to the time you get to bed?

As far as using Surge, you are probably very sensitive to carbohydrates following your dancing, and shouldn’t have to worry too much about fat gain from it.

But I would recommend keeping 2 or 3 servings diluted in ice water, and sip throughout your dancing if you can. You could switch to regular water for the last half hour of dancing, then once you get home, consume a low carb, or at least low GI meal before going to bed.

#11

Good advice The Mage!!

#12

You cannot perform lots of aerobics and lots of bb at the same time. You need to recover properly. Therefore I would try:
day1 total body routine
day2: rest
day3: rest
day4: total body routine
day5: rest
day6: rest
I would suggest you “Total Body Training” by CW.

#13

Yeah good one Mage I like that suggestion. I will struggle to fit in enough daily fats but I’ve got to get some carbs in immediately after work. I think waiting until breakfast is too long.
Thanks for your help

#14

[quote]luca wrote:
You cannot perform lots of aerobics and lots of bb at the same time. You need to recover properly. Therefore I would try:
day1 total body routine
day2: rest
day3: rest
day4: total body routine
day5: rest
day6: rest
I would suggest you “Total Body Training” by CW.[/quote]

I’ve just done my first week of TBT at the moment. I trained 3 days out of 7 as CW prescribes but I’m only doing 2 leg exercises per workout. At the moment it’s deadlifts and lunges, squats and leg curls, front squats and good mornings.

I don’t think training 2 days in 6 would reach the frequency that CW recommends. By only choosing 2 leg exercises I can still hopefully give them enough time to recover between workouts. Any thoughts?