Ben Pollack looks the way he does for a reason. Haha…he’s a closet bodybuilder who thrives on inhuman drop sets and slow eccentrics (don’t tell him I said that ).
Squat
135x10
290x10 (had 2-3 more decided to rack it)
Leg press
320x20
230x30
Nordic leg curls
X7
X7
X5
Banded hamstring curls
X20
X20
Standing calf raise (why? Oh boy calf training!)
230x15
230x20
I’m so sick of this type of training. This is bullshit. I can’t believe I paid for this shit. I am thinking of finishing what I paid for then moving on. I want to stay the course but it seems that this was just a money grab by pollack and not a serious attempt to “coach” anyone. Consider me a non believer. @Alpha has better programs and truly there for the people.
Great question. It just seems to be a program where I’m treading water. Not gaining not losing. Understand that I post my raw thoughts unfiltered and no holdback so I can see how the program builds and what my raw reaction is to all the workouts.
So far it doesn’t seem like enough work to build. The one or two working sets are hard to get done, but then it just seems to trail off at the end of the workout. It is a very different programming model than I have ever run before so it is a complete learning experience for me. I need to just settle in and learn, but this style of programming is frustrating to me…
Definitely finish what you paid for. Unless you get halfway through it and you find that you’re legitimately starting to dread going to the gym (too boring or too hard), I would stick it out. That way you can definitively say whether or not you like Ben’s programming. Who knows, there might be a couple PRs for you after all of this.
Hog you’ve made insane progress over the last year. It’s time to consolidate and keep it real. You say your not gaining or losing on this program but it’s only been a few weeks. Keep at it big fella, it will take time, the rate of progression you’ve had was bound to slow down at some stage.
I’m not sure if I’m gaining or what. This program doesn’t give me opportunities to go for it really. It tempers my push it to the limit desires. But hey I’m still following along.
I did do some Nordic curls for the first time and my hamstrings are all warm and toasty. I am able to do body weight dips now. So there are some positive take away from this program.
The next week he is releasing a nutrition plan and we move to 4 days a week lifting so I guess I need to stay disciplined and learn from a guy that knows more than I do…
I think I may have brought this up before, but there is training for fun; and there is training for a purpose. Pollack’s training is the latter, because he is concerned with performance.
Until now most of your training has been for fun. You get to hit PRs regularly, talk about how much you grinded, post big lifts on IG, etc. You haven’t been doing this for long, so you made progress (not without cost, though. Remember your hamstring). If that’s what you want out of training, that’s fine. Just remember your performance will probably suffer.
With Pollack’s system, your training is with purpose. It isn’t fun. It’s boring. It seems pointless to do ‘bodybuilding’. You’re not drained every session. You’re not moving weight enough to need to grind. Except what it’s doing is making you bigger and stronger. Your recovery is a part of the program.
That’s all you need to bear in mind: what you want out of training. If it’s fun, ditch the program. If it’s performance, embrace delayed gratification.
Mark is spot on here. There are many sessions in my training where I finish and feel like I haven’t done enough. Those sessions are the ones where I actually progress. It can be a little boring but for me it’s still feels good to be doing the program and hitting all the numbers. I guess that’s just my anal retention !!!
I think everything has been said here, and as @simo74 said @MarkKO is spot on. As always.
I get your rants Hog and I interpret them as it is what you’re thinking not actually what you will do.
I believe you’ll run the program, and being it a program for performance I’ll bet it will be as hard as you’ll like, not all the time but it will come.
When you’re done with it, you can look back at the journey and compare it to the Darkhorse.
And then you can decide what to do, what you liked the best.
That is some great info. Glad to see you are consuming information! Coach Thibb has always peaked my interest in his approach to training and applications.
You are correct brother. This program is shifting gears this next week some. Exercises are rotating (we are getting some new ones), lift ranges are changing, and we are adding a day to training.
All ranting aside. I am learning a ton. I quest I need to Head the advice “shut up and lift”.
@MarkKO and @simo74 are speaking things that I’m noticing even in this two weeks. That when I leave the gym, I can tell I’ve worked, but my cns isn’t crashed from “junk volume or intensity “.
Seems like there was an article on tnation awhile back that discussed the idea that do as little as you can to make gains. Something Chad Wesley Smith also promotes. He suggest if you exhaust the volume threshold to make gains early in training years you have nowhere to progress later in training years.