The Thib is here to answer your call … old school style! (whatever that means)
CT, no question today, just wanted to say that my 6-year old daughter really enjoys polka running. We do it together around the house. My wife thinks we’re both crazy.
Hey, I remember reading an article you did about post workout recovery tips, but what would you recomend for extreme next day DOMS?
I usually don’t get DOMS untill two days after a workout, and usually not this bad but I just added more volume to my already high intensity leg workout.
I understand cold works well right after a workout, and alternating cold and heat can pump blood into the muscle, but am I too late for this type of treatment?
Would light cardio be best?
Thanks!
Yes, I do think that in this case, light physical activity for the sore muscle group is best. Could be low intensity cardio, GPP work or high reps sets with low weights.
[quote]SWR-1222D wrote:
Hey, I remember reading an article you did about post workout recovery tips, but what would you recomend for extreme next day DOMS?
I usually don’t get DOMS untill two days after a workout, and usually not this bad but I just added more volume to my already high intensity leg workout.
I understand cold works well right after a workout, and alternating cold and heat can pump blood into the muscle, but am I too late for this type of treatment?
Would light cardio be best?
Thanks![/quote]
[quote]MikeTheBear wrote:
CT, no question today, just wanted to say that my 6-year old daughter really enjoys polka running. We do it together around the house. My wife thinks we’re both crazy.[/quote]
You kinda are 
this is from last weeks Prime Time, again thanks for the vertical leap routine. What I was wondering was how you would incorporate some olympic lifts into that routine?
I haven’t written a vertical routine for this website. This one is very effective though:
DAY 1.
A. Back squat
3 x 3-5 reps
B. Speed squat
5 x 3 reps at 45-55% (adding jumpstretch bands if available)
C. Jump squat
3 x 8-10 at 20% of your bodyweight
D. Depth jumps
3 x 8-10 from a 50-70cm box
E. Vertical jumps
3 x 8-10
DAY 2.
A. Bench press
5 x 6-8
B. Barbell rowing
5 x 6-8
C. Push press
5 x 6-8
D. Weighted pull-ups
5 x 6-8
DAY 3.
A. Vertical jump
3 x 8-10
B. Depth jumps
3 x 8-10 from a 50-70cm box
C. Jump lunges
3 x 4-5/leg with 10% of bodyweight
D. Bulgarian squat
5 x 4-5/leg
E. Romanian deadlift
5 x 4-5
DAY 4.
A. Low incline dumbbell press
5 x 8-10
B. 1-arm dumbbell row
5 x 8-10/arm
C. Close-grip bench press
5 x 8-10
D. Barbell curl
5 x 8-10
hey ct, i notice theres alot of pro-bodybuilding bashing on this site. at least towards the modern style of training. but what about arnold and the champs of the past? what do you personally, as a bodybuilder, think about arnolds encyclopedia. I borrowed it off of a friend, and im impressed, its nothing like what you read in the magazines, other than the extremely high volume it seems like some great advice. Now im no bodybuilder, far from it, but arnold deserves the respect. so, what do you think?
I just sent an article on training for the vertical jump to TC. In the original program I did not include any olympic lifts because not everybody know how to do them properly.
In the program I’ve written for you, you can replace the speed squats by power cleans from the hang. And the bulgarian squats by power snatch from blocks.
[quote]enigma wrote:
this is from last weeks Prime Time, again thanks for the vertical leap routine. What I was wondering was how you would incorporate some olympic lifts into that routine?
I haven’t written a vertical routine for this website. This one is very effective though:
DAY 1.
A. Back squat
3 x 3-5 reps
B. Speed squat
5 x 3 reps at 45-55% (adding jumpstretch bands if available)
C. Jump squat
3 x 8-10 at 20% of your bodyweight
D. Depth jumps
3 x 8-10 from a 50-70cm box
E. Vertical jumps
3 x 8-10
DAY 2.
A. Bench press
5 x 6-8
B. Barbell rowing
5 x 6-8
C. Push press
5 x 6-8
D. Weighted pull-ups
5 x 6-8
DAY 3.
A. Vertical jump
3 x 8-10
B. Depth jumps
3 x 8-10 from a 50-70cm box
C. Jump lunges
3 x 4-5/leg with 10% of bodyweight
D. Bulgarian squat
5 x 4-5/leg
E. Romanian deadlift
5 x 4-5
DAY 4.
A. Low incline dumbbell press
5 x 8-10
B. 1-arm dumbbell row
5 x 8-10/arm
C. Close-grip bench press
5 x 8-10
D. Barbell curl
5 x 8-10
[/quote]
[quote]Deathroe wrote:
hey ct, i notice theres alot of pro-bodybuilding bashing on this site. at least towards the modern style of training. but what about arnold and the champs of the past? what do you personally, as a bodybuilder, think about arnolds encyclopedia. I borrowed it off of a friend, and im impressed, its nothing like what you read in the magazines, other than the extremely high volume it seems like some great advice. Now im no bodybuilder, far from it, but arnold deserves the respect. so, what do you think?[/quote]
I really like the book. It does contain fantastic pictures and the section on psychology and competing is very good. The diet info is also decent. I don’t like the routines outlined, way too much volume. But the rest of the book is very interesting.
thanks, CT.
Hey CT
What would be a good 3 day program for a brachiomorph looking to put on about 20lbs or so?
thanks
GZ
Hey CT
My bench has stalled and I think I have been over training and under recovering.
I have written the following program to up my bench and maintain my other core lifts
I want to keep volume down so I can recovery and not over train.
My last session yesterday I only did a single on the weight I did for 2 reps last week
Got a funny feeling I should stop benching all together
Your thoughts?
Mon
A1 Bench 5,2,5,2,5,2
A2 Face pulls 8,8,8,8,8,8
Tuesday
Squats 5x5
Walking lunges 3 x 8
Thursday
A1 Dumbbell bench 3 x 5
A2 Reverse flye 3 x 8
B1 Skull crushes 3x6
B2 Cuban press 3 x 8
Friday
Deadlift 5x5
thanks for your help
Hi CT,
Can you critic my workout plan?
I would use this training plan for 3 week (accumulation phase), after which I would go on to an intensification phase.
Monday - Chest/back
Cable Pullover: 2 x 12 22X0 0 sec. (superseted)
Bent-Over BB Row: 2 x 12 22X0 0 sec. (superseted)
Standing Pullover with Cable: 2 x 12 22X0 90 sec. (superseted)
Lat Pulldown: 4 x 12 22X0 90s
High incline DB bench press 3 x 12 22X0 0 sec. (superseted)
Low incline DB bench press 3 x 12 22X0 0 sec. (superseted)
Flat DB bench press 3 x 12 22X0 90 sec. (superseted)
Tuesday - Legs
Deadlift 4 x 12 22X0 90 sec.
Romanean Deadlift 4 x 12 22X0 0 sec. (superseted)
Leg curl 4 x 12 22X0 90 sec. (superseted)
Bulgarean squat 4 x 12 22X0 90 sec.
Hack squat 4 x 12 22X0 0 sec. (superseted)
Leg extension 4 x 12 22X0 90 sec. (superseted)
Thursday - biceps/triceps/abs
zottman DB curl 2 x extended drop set 31X0 90 sec.
Reverse incline hammer DB curl 4 x 12 31X0 90 sec.
Cable rope pushdown 2 x extended drop set 31X0 90 sec.
Close grip bench 4 x 12 31X0 90 sec.
Swiss ball crunch 4 x 12 31X0 90 sec.
Reverse crunch 4 x 12 31X0 90 sec.
High-to-low cable woodchops 4 x 12 31X0 90 sec.
Saturday - deltoids
Standing military press 1 x extended drop set 32X0
1 arm cable lateral raise 4 x 12 31X2 90 sec.
Incline rear delt raise 2 x extended drop set 31X1
T-Bar row to delts 4 x 12 31X1 90 sec.
Cuban press 4 x 12 2020 90 sec.
Standing cable external rotation 4 x 12 2020 90 sec.
Side-Lying External Rotation 4 x 12 2020 90 sec.
Thanks!
Christian,
is Charlie Francis’ sight the only place to purchase your books?
[quote]gzafer wrote:
Hey CT
What would be a good 3 day program for a brachiomorph looking to put on about 20lbs or so?
thanks
GZ[/quote]
Just to make sure that everybody is on the same page…
The dolicomorph, brachiomorĥ and mesomorph body type classification was drawn up by A.I. Mulchin in 1972.
Accordning to him :
Dolichomorphs: individuals with long upper and lower extremities and a relatively short and wide torso.
Brachiomorphs: individuals with shorther upper and lower extremities and a relatively long, narrow torso.
Mesomorphs: individuals with a proportional extremities-torso ratio.
In these individuals the arm and leg length as well as shoulder width come up to:
Dolicomorphs:
arm = 45-46% of height
leg = 54-55% of height
shoulder = 23% of height
Brachiomorphs:
arm = 42-43% of height
leg = 50-51% of height
shoulder = 25% of height
Mesomorphs:
arm = 43-44% of height
leg = 52-53% of height
shoulder = 24% of height
Brachiomorphs are structurally built to lift a lot of weight on movements such as the bench press and squat.
Their upper body push workouts should revolve around a small selection of movements, mostly big pressing exercises like the bench press, decline press and push press/military press.
Same thing could be said for their lower body training, they could only perform squats (front and back) and gorw big legs.
On the other hand they will need more exercise variation for the upper body pulling muscles. Various types of pulls should be used.
They will also have problems building-up their deadlift so they should include more posterior chain exercises.
So to recap:
-
Few pushing movements (but more sets per exercises). Best to train these exercises in the 3-5 and 6-8 rep ranges
-
Few leg exercises (but more sets per exercises). Also in the 3-5 and 6-8 rep ranges
-
More pulling exercises variety. Perform exercises in the 6-8, 8-10 and 10-12 rep ranges. You will need to use advanced techniques such as iso-dynamic contrast and tempo contrast.
-
More posterior chain exercises (read coach Poliquin’s article on hamstring for a few good ideas).
What is the weak link in your bench press? If you feel that you should stop bench pressing altogether I think it’s a good idea… we do change our biceps, triceps, legs, exercises etc. every 4-6 weeks but for some reason the bench press never leaves our program!
I think that now would be a good time to focus more on your triceps and shoulders. Give the bench press a rest (you can keep on performing close-grip bench or decline bench) while building up the muscles involved in the bench press individually. This will be less stressful on the CNS and it will probably allow you to resume your progressing in 4-6 weeks.
I would also increase the amount of rhomboids/lats work.
[quote]RobNZ wrote:
Hey CT
My bench has stalled and I think I have been over training and under recovering.
I have written the following program to up my bench and maintain my other core lifts
I want to keep volume down so I can recovery and not over train.
My last session yesterday I only did a single on the weight I did for 2 reps last week
Got a funny feeling I should stop benching all together
Your thoughts?
Mon
A1 Bench 5,2,5,2,5,2
A2 Face pulls 8,8,8,8,8,8
Tuesday
Squats 5x5
Walking lunges 3 x 8
Thursday
A1 Dumbbell bench 3 x 5
A2 Reverse flye 3 x 8
B1 Skull crushes 3x6
B2 Cuban press 3 x 8
Friday
Deadlift 5x5
thanks for your help[/quote]
[quote]KINE wrote:
Christian,
is Charlie Francis’ sight the only place to purchase your books?[/quote]
I had no idea he even sold them anymore! The hard copies version on my book is out of print. The pdf versions are still available though.
thanks CT
Hey CT, I would like to do your emphasis rotational program for chest and back and was wondering If I should do any direct arm movements since Ill be using a lot of pushing a pulling exercises. Also, could I add in deadlifts once a week for overall back thickness? Thanks
Hi CT,
In another month I’m going to start teaching a group exercise class called Group Power. It’s a freeweight lifting class done in a group setting, using “barbells” and small weight plates. It’s always a full body routine, but unfortunately places a HUGE emphasis on muscular endurance. Lots of slow tempo, extremely light weight, and ridiculous TUTs (the biceps “track” is literally 4 minutes of non-stop curling).
I’ll be teaching it twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I’d like to at least maintain my current maximal strength and CNS efficiency levels, so I’m thinking a fairly low set/rep volume high intensity movement-plane based session on Saturday, followed by another low-volume, semi-dynamic effort/speed day on Sunday or Monday. Your thoughts?