Current Bodybuilding Training Thread 2.0

I personally think some serious magic happens with quads when you hit sets of 20+.

Arms and delts also seem to like higher reps. I never do less than 12 (and rarely ever less than 15) for delts.

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My rep ranges are 4-8 and 8-15. The only times I do 20 rep sets are when they are mandated in the difficult workouts, and they are not meant to be difficult anyways.

i dont go lower than 3 ( only in the last set of front squat ) and higher than 20 ( only in some leg exercises ) but sometimes i pick a light weight and try to reach 100 reps in as little time as possible. ( of course i take photos after its done because i cant miss that pump :smile: )

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Hello, bumping up this gem of a thread with an update and a question. I am through 12 weeks of a 17 week cut, and still progressing. I am down 12 pounds (201 to 189), waist is 2.5" smaller, and have ab definition for the first time in my life. Until very recently, I was still getting stronger.

I had been doing 3 fullbody workouts, and 3 days of HIIT + LISS. The plan after 12 weeks is to throttle down the carbs, basically follow Shelby Starnes’ “Two weeks to shredded” plan but for 5 weeks. I also switch up the lifting, taking the same exercises/sets/reps and arranging into 4 days, Upper/lower split, with 2 HIIT sessions after lower body days. HIIT makes my legs grow, so I am not doing much volume.

My question is where to put in LISS. I had been doing 15-20min of easy machine cardio (120-130bpm) after HIIT. I am thinking of now doing morning walks progressing from 20min to 40min, and thinking of starting 3-4x/wk and progressing if needed. I lift in the evenings. Where I walk there are stairs and such to add a little resistance, and keep the HR in the right range.

Have you all found the brisk walk to be a good enough burner during the late stages?

Yeah. I was doing 50 min pre breakfast walks everyday in the last six weeks of my prep.

most definitely. If you are already sure you are in a calorie deficit (and you most certainly are judging by your post) walking/LISS is a great “calorie drain” that will further burn more fat. I added in a walk to the store (45 minutes round trip) 2-3 times a week as part of my fat loss strategy, and at least that way it was “productive” instead of just more exercise.

Some thought’s for input from bodybuilders. Now, I don’t want to go down the frequency rabbit hole as it’s already been beat to death, but this isn’t about full-body versus split approach. Rather I’m wondering about the utilization of frequency as a tool for lagging body parts, and that high frequency doesn’t seem to be often mentioned in the context of bringing up multiple lagging body parts for less developed BBers.

Say a guy/gal is lagging in glutes, calves, shoulder width, & lat width, (X shape deal) why would they not hit each of those groups directly multiple times per week for as long as needed to bring up the lagging parts? Or is this sort of approach used, but as a seperate specialization block?

I personally use that sort of approach in the offseason to bring up body parts. Right now I’m hitting chest, back, and shoulders 2x/week. It has worked for me in the past and is working right now.

I think the whole frequency debate was in reference to upper-lower splits vs. individual body parts. Hitting an individual body part 2x a week is simply a higher frequency body part split. If you can recover from it, it keeps protein synthesis upregulated for an individual body part for longer in the course of 7 days vs. hitting that muscle 1x/week.

This would of course entail doing less volume on individual days than if you were to hit it once/wk.

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I agree with @MoreMuscle – this is definitely something that many bodybuilders use in the off-season (I’ve read the splits of some pros who do this during prep too…obviously they have a bit more assistance for recovery, though).

For the typical person, bringing up three or four lagging muscle groups is unnecessary because that just means that the person is under-developed in general…does that make sense? Most of use haven’t reached the point of development where we can, say, ignore our chests (relatively) and focus on our shoulders, arms, glutes, and calves with a back and leg day thrown in.

AKA – the reason your thought isn’t read very often is because it’s still optimal to hit EVERYTHING (because everything still needs to develop) and then just add the weakest visual muscle group in a second time.

Another concept I thought about is simple logistics. Because there aren’t a lot of specialized templates out there laying out a split where the glutes, medial delts, chest, and calves are hit twice a week, it’s a logistical nightmare for the average person to create such a split…but much easier to have a split and hit one muscle group twice in the week.

So…yes, it’s a feasible concept and may people employ it. My long reply is more a possible explanation for why many don’t speak about it and why you probably don’t read many articles advocating such an approach.

I’m currently hitting legs, abs, arms, and calves twice during my split (chest, back, shoulders just once).

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Has anyone had a crack at Somersault Squats? lower back has been playing up a bit and find these to be pretty good alternative to squats.

Good stuff man, thank you for the response. I’m glad you’ve used such a tool with success. I may employ that style in the off season to bring up sone weak links in the chain.

Ahh, i get ya. Yeah that does make sense. If one is significantly lacking in development, i can certainly see why such an approach is less than optimal. I guess that’s why I’m so unfamiliar with said specialized programs, because as you allude to most are made as a general template designed to bring up everything, not necessarily a customization for a single individual whom has a specific weakness.

Thanks for the response man.

Got another question for the nation here

How do you all handle deloads? Scheduled or instinctively? Week off completely or just a reduction or change in training?

Any other thoughts on them are welcome too

I have kids in daycare and seem to get some strange illness every 5-8 weeks. Works great.

3 ways:

The first is my joints are hurting so bad I need to spend a week feeling sorry for myself and moping about.

The second is when my training has gotten stale and I’m going to change it. I usually take a week off before I do this. This happens maybe every 4-6 months.

The third is when I’m a lazy bastard and miss a week of workouts for whatever reason.

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First week of deer hunting season was my deload!

This week was is a prescribed deload for me (5/3/1)…so I switched programs. If I’m feeling beat up I skip most assistance and any higher rep work on the main lifts. I don’t typically lower my main strength sets much. Also, I try to focus on getting 8hrs sleep and upping my cals a bit. So I guess to answer your question, instinctively, and just a reduction in training.

ALso a bonus Q

Do you guys adjust calories on deloads?

I like to do them instinctually when I feel beat up, dragging, low energy, strength stalls and it’s hard to get a pump. At that point I’ll go to the gym every other day for about a week, lighten the volume and intensity and just focus on getting blood in there.

I’ll cut back carbs very slightly, but not much. I think of the deload, aside from training, should let your body know everything is alright and it can relax/recover. I think keeping nutrition the same on a training day might also be a good option and cut back on non training days. IMO it really depends how lean you are and how lean you want to be. So, I play it slightly safe and cut carbs slightly and more so on non training days, but still get a good amount in for recovery and sanity.

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I take a planned one every few months now, and I’ll work up to a heavy-ish single (not grinding, but “hard”) and then back off for a moderate 5x5 at a maybe 10RM or so. Focusing on bar speed and technique.

Goal is not to detrain and not to be crippling sore the next week. I have tried the week-off method before and find myself needing 2-3 weeks to get back to my previous working weights, and am just wrecked with soreness that first week leading into week 2.

I have gone months and months without any back off and find my shoulders and elbows get beat up if I dont put them in now a days.

No change in diet except I have a natural lowering of carbs/cals as I do tend to have a pre workout meal so that just goes away, something on the order of 300 calories.

While I understand the approach of planning deloads, I always played it by ear. Sometimes your body can handle a lot more than you planned and sometimes not. So long as you pay attention and don’t always feel the need to “tough it out” because you didn’t have a deload planned just yet, I think the smart trainer will realize when they need a break.

As far as adjusting food during time off, I like to think that a few extra cals certainly won’t hurt when you’re hoping to rest up. Just don’t be stupid about it -lol

S