Current Bodybuilding Training Thread 2.0

Lol blame the internet. “Hypertrophy training” is now regarded as only high rep pump stuff without regard for progression and you can only train for hypertrophy after “building a base of strength”.

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Golden post! Literal LOL here!

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Ha! Google “base of strength rippetoe” and click on the 3rd result.

Have fun!

I have to say that I love being stronger than in the past, but the only downside is how easy your muscle tightens up if you do a move incorrectly or with a little less warming up than normal.

Yours truly used to espouse the base of strength.

But I doubt you would have said something ludicrous like “get your squat to 500lbs using 5x5/ 5x3 first, then you can do 405lbs for 15 reps for hypertrophy and they’ll blow up” lol.

I don’t think there’s any problem with the term “base of strength”. It’s the way it’s interpreted nowadays alongside other nonsensical terminologies that’s the problem.

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Brick, again, thank you for your input. I’m definitely going to pick up one of those books that you recommended.

This a question for anyone who’d like to answer…do you still keep a training log? If so, why? If not, why not? And at what point did you stop keeping one?

I stopped keeping tabs on how many reps I was getting with certain weights. I already knew that I was bustin my ass with every set, but some days you’re gonna be stronger than others. A term I like to use is “perceived weight.” That means that on a given day I might be moving less weight for less reps than a week or two earlier but I may actually be working harder (slower repetition cadence, maybe a different sequence of exercises on that day, maybe just less sleep or poor eating throughout the day.)

when I stopped worrying about getting stronger each session is when i actually started growing and starting to look like a bodybuilder.

S

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Thank you Stu. Is it coincidental that I never see people with the biggest or best bodies in the gym walking around with a log book?

I have recetly been liking a 5/3/1 progression style where you keep track of one keystone lift. Then just do the assistance work that fits your goal, it could very easily be adapted to BBing. This way you get to test yourself on a variety of rep ranges for the big stuff, and then just go to work on the other stuff without worrying about the numbers so much. It also lets you keep in touch with the heavier stuff, which I think shouldnt be totally put to the side, and honestly you are very, very rarely doing a real 1RM or even a 3RM, and if you are its very close to time to do a reset and hop back a few cycles.

For example

Chest and triceps workout:

Bench: 5/3/1 (week 1 would be a top set of lets say 11, then 7 in week 2, then 5 in week 3)

DB incline Press: 4x8-12

Flat DB Fly: 3x10-15

Cable fly with squeeze: 2x15-20

triceps work: 6-8 sets of 8-12 reps

Its actually a very adaptable system and it lets you focus on the one lift, and then just “work” on the other lifts without much worry as to the weight. It lends itself well to spec’ing a body part too without lagging anything. Want to bring up shoulders? Do shoulder assistance on Bench and Press day.

You could even add some Meadows influence and put the “pump work” before the big 5/3/1 lift, then another “pump exercise” then finish off with something in the stretch position.

Obviously its not the end-all-be-all of BBing training, but its a good system for people who like to work within a proven frame work.

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Thank you Lonnie. I actually did 5/3/1 a few years ago and liked the adaptability of it. I’d like to train the way I’m training right now for a while, however, as I think I tend to jump around a bit.

Heres a Q for the group:

What does everyone think of (slightly) limited ROM on movements to use a bit more weight, and/or to keep the stress on the target muscle?

Lately I’ve been experimenting with squatting to a box and must say the burn/fatigue on the quads is much more pronounced. This is not a box squat where you “relax” or rock back on the box then stand back up, but just using the box as an indicator for when to stand back up, just barely touching it at all and coming back up when I start to feel it, The ROM is on the order of a 3/4 squat but the quads are on fire by the end of the set, whereas when I do my normal squats its more of a whole-leg movement with the glutes/hams/hips coming into play much more.

Anyone have any success with similar ideas on other movements?

The dude with the biggest quads I know doesn’t squat to parallel, but uses an absolute shit-ton of weight. He says the extra load builds his legs better than squatting less to parallel or below.

Personally I make my ROM on squats as long as possible so I can get maximum stimulation from the minimum amount of weight for the sake of my lower back.

this is the best way for naturals to train, dontcha know. Thibs said it so it must be true.

Lol I doubt Thibs will ever tell anyone to keep doing Starting Strength or Texas Madcow Method until he can squat 500lbs so he can finally start training for hypertrophy by doing high reps with a heavy enough weight. This is so unbelievably absurd on so many levels if I hadn’t been reading what the SS kids on the beginner forum have been writing for the past 3 years I would have thought this was a joke.

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I call them Constant Tension reps. I use them to create a bigger pump sometimes…but I also like employing them around injuries. For example, I twisted my ankle running this past weekend, so I’ve had to lighten the weight on some leg exercises. I can still do a lot of machine exercises for legs, but doing leg press and squats, I need to lighten the weight because my ankle doesn’t stabilize as well. With those two movements just this afternoon, I used the constant tension reps (slightly less range of motion).

Also, something that has really stuck with me through the years is from a video that DLB made. She pretty much told all the stupid trolls on YouTube to stop correcting her squat form (not going to or below parallel) because going lower increases glute/hamstring activation and stopping before parallel increased quad activation. Seeing as she was trying to target her quads…I got her point. And I think it has merit.

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See thats interesting because one of the reasons I started incorporating them was to get some of the strain OFF my low back, which I feel gets more work when I go ass to grass. I even feel less strain there with heavier weight by shortening the ROM to just above parallel

That was another reason I picked the height I did, seemed to be the breaking point between the quads losing the stimulation and the posterior chain kicking in. The burn is quite intense after around rep 10, and by rep 15 my quads (and only my quads) are on fire. 3 sets in that rep range blows them up.

I do this for shoulder movements, I stop the weight just above the head, apparently this is recommended for everyone since the top half of the movement is mostly serratus, triceps and traps. for me it is even more important however since I am 5’8 but have the arms lengths of someone at least 2 inches taller. But I should add, I go all the way down on shoulder movements, none of this parallel stuff. I also do it for Stiff-legged Deadlifts, I stop just above the knee. The shoulder idea came from Dr. Squat’s book on natural bodybuilding.

I am pretty much on board with the way Stu trains, partly because I learned from him and secondly because it’s what I grew into myself after this prep and actually training like a full-blown, hardcore bodybuilder.

I have in my head what I did last workout and try to beat that somehow, although no one is going to beat what they did at a last workout perpetually and there are going to be plenty of workouts in which no progress in reps or weight which will be made once one is past the beginner stage, especially with the isolation and machine exercises.

I don’t drive myself nuts with sets and reps either now, but I do best with three to four sets per exercise of 8 - 10 reps. I know the exercises I will do that day (this I am picky and inflexible with) and then handle the weight I did at last workout. If I do better, then next time I will add weight. This is nothing revolutionary…

Actually, I am going to continue more this weekend on some stuff in this thread and my own thread but I have been so damn busy with prep and tonight has been the first date night with my wife in MONTHS and I am near drunk from ONE glass of wine, likely because my body and brain chemistry is still out of whack from damn near destroying myself. So I will expand on some things FINALLY on a weekend in near half a year without pressure on me.

Cliff notes: train more like Jay Cutler and less like Dorian Yates.

Jay Cutler style: moderate to high volume, not til failure, go by feel, but still bust ass.

Dorian Yates: low volume, turn-purple death sets to failure with training partner assisting in unnecessary self torture.

I can see that for back squats, but I should have mentioned I exclusively front squat, again for the sake of my low back