Thibs,
I’ve only done the first phase of the I,BB and have been surprised by the gains thus far. I feel I’ve grasped nearly full understanding on the mechanics behind the lifts. I’m up 2lbs, visibly have more separation in my upper chest and shoulders, I feel stronger, and my energy levels are through the roof. I’m looking forward to, as well as dreading, leg week. I can’t wait to see the gains that will accompany that size of muscle with this type of intensity.
Now, I have for the past 2 years trained steadily with two workout partners at different times. One at noon, one in the evening, for a total of 9-10 times in the gym per week. Since the start of I,BB I have limited my noon hour workouts to working with the same weight my partner uses(tops out at 70% of my max) while practicing max force techniques with low reps.
The workouts are 1 body part per day, and they’re really just movements or variations of those pulled from the I,BB routine. It’s different then anything my partner has done and he seems to be responding pretty well…he’s more energetic on the gym. Since he’s 40, higher energy levels are a big plus for him. I avoid any direct muscle work matching what I’m doing in I,BB for the week. Such as last week, I didn’t do shoulders or any upper chest to interfere with phase 1.
Since I’m not loading much weight I never feel like I got my ass kicked after the noon workout, but it does get the blood flowing. 6-7 hours later, I hit the gym for the I,BB workout of the day.
Do you think this will hold me back a lot as I get deeper into the program? I have made gains, but could it just be due to initial shock of the program? I’d like to keep lifting with my partner at noon, but if you think it will just be highly detrimental to my progress I would sideline myself to only training him.