I joined T Nation first, then IM right afterwards. My user name is the same there as it is here. I tried to start a new DC regimen, but I realized 1.) im still young, and I also haven’t been training long (2 years), and 2.) my sport of choice has a different training scheme than BB stuff such as DC. Although when I get older and probably won’t be competing in PL stuff I’ll use some DC stuff.
And nice I’ll have a look see.
When you feel you are advanced enough I’ll gladly help you with the DC stuff. (I’ve read quite much everything on the topic several times and I used it myself for quite some time)
DC, improves strength as well as size, so it can be used for powerlifting too (at least to a certain extent)
General update (Prepare yourself, for I’m going to ramble, this post is kind of unorganized)
Diet: Day 7
Weight is down two more pounds from day 4 (so total of 7 pounds during the first week, 3 of which was water weight so 4 really)
I haven’t measured my waist since the last update, but it’s going down.
More veins have appeared and my obliques are starting to have some definition.
I’m really feeling quite depleted now, so I’ll refeed in the day after tomorrow.
Now when I say refeed, I mean refeed. I’m not going to have a cheat day, and I’m not going to have a cheat meal either. It’s going to be normal breakfast (eggs and vegetables alongside green tea) and after that I will eat mostly complex carbs and lean meat, with fish oil, green tea and apple cider vinegar alongside each meal. I’m shooting for 500-600 grams of carbs, 350g protein and I’m limiting fat to the eggs and fish oil that day. I’ll also be consuming a lot of water and salt.
The day after everything returns to normal, and I’ll refeed again 9 days later.
Apart from thinking about carbs, I’ve had this constant thought that I really want to coach someone on their way to a bodybuilding show. I don’t know why, I’ve just had it, day and night.
Maybe it stems from the fact that I was challenged to do a show myself (I mentioned this briefly some time ago)
Oh well, maybe someone will come to me with competing in mind…
My training has been going well, weights and reps are going up on pretty much every movement despite the added cardio and radically dropped calories. The only weird thing is that for some reason I have this weird feeling that I should do behind the back deadlifts and jeffersons, maybe it’s just the lack of max singles in my current routine. (I’ll just say this - apart from bodybuilding I really love oddlifting)
???
Oddlifting is like powerlifting
it’s just that the competition lifts are… odd
For example, behind the back deadlift, incline bench press and behind the neck jerk are oddlifts
Check this link out:
I think after this year, and maybe midway into next year I might take some time off for DC stuff. My main goal is to get my lifts to 225/350/450 (bench/dead/squat). After that I feel like I might be approaching my “genetic limit”, so that’ll be the time where I experiment to see if I can push the boundaries. That’s if I even stall at those numbers. Now that I’ve been introducing conditioning work, I recover very well.
Those are really good numbers for a woman, at that point you’ll be more than ready for DC.
I like to have conditioning work in my programs as well, alongside with helping performance and recovery, it helps with controlling the amount of fat gained.
Even when I was 247 pounds, my resting heart rate was around 48-52 beats/minute. (Yeah, not the lowest possible, but it’s kinda low)
The added muscle mass from DC could help you progress even further in powerlifting when you feel like you have stalled big time.
For the young guys - longevity
But man, I wanted training stuff!
Well, this is training stuff, kind of. And this is the stuff that keeps you training year after year, and thus it is one of the most important aspects of strength training and bodybuilding.
So what can you do to increase your longevity? Let’s see.
I’m going to separate these things into four categories.
First off, exercise selection.
When you are choosing your main movements, consider these things:
If you answer “yes” to everything when you think about, say, incline bench, congratulations, you’ve just found a great exercise for yourself.
If you are a bodybuilder, I would suggest that you try to select your compound movements so that they target the weak points in your physique.
Now, alongside with the compound lifts, you should perform some assistance exercises and auxiliary exercises.
When choosing assistance exercises, go with the same steps you used when choosing your main movements (the five steps). Assistance movements should consist of exercises that either help you get past your sticking points/strengthen your main movement if you are a powerlifter, or if you are a bodybuilder you could use them to train your strong points/further stimulate the weak points.
So, if you are a bodybuilder and your upper chest sucks, you could start with incline bench, and follow that up with dumbbell bench. Not that any of you young guys should worry about weak upper chests.
When we are choosing auxiliary exercises, we can pretty much forget steps 3 and 4. Of course there must be a way to progress and the movement must be safe when going heavier, but the main point should be injury prevention. Auxiliary exercises mainly target the small muscles that are often understimulated and may be prone to injury. An example of such muscle would be the rotator cuff, for example.
Think about the things you have neglected, and choose exercises that stimulate those muscles appropriately.
Such exercises could be, for example:
Apart from using auxiliary movements to prevent injuries, you can use them to help you properly activate your muscles when you are performing bigger coumpound lifts. In this case, use lighter weight, lift explosively and hold the fully flexed position for just a second. As soon as you are not feeling the muscle working anymore, end the set. (You can do this with pretty much any movement that provides a good contraction for the intented muscle)
Now what you need to understand is that the bulk of your workload should always come from big compound lifts, assistance lifts and auxiliary movements are just to help you progress further and to prevent injuries. So don’t neglect them, but don’t base your workouts around them. (Given that you are a healthy young individual)
Now let’s discuss cardio.
“I don’t do cardio, it kills your gains.”
Well actually, being fat kills your gains. And skipping cardio makes it easier to get fat. Apart from burning a few extra calories cardio gives you the aerobic conditioning that you will need if you ever want to try squatting for 15-20 reps (which I strongly suggest you try).
Cardio also happens to strengthen the most important muscle in your body - the heart (and you biceps if you have a rowing ergometer. It’s a tough call between those two)
Now that this has been said, how should you utilize cardio?
If you have poor recovery ability and you need to burn some fat, do your cardio after you have done your weight training. Drink your post-workout shake, jump on the rowing ergometer and row for a hard 10 minutes. After that do some semi-light incline treadmill walking.
If your recovery ability is good you could do that on your off days, and follow that up with mobility training.
If you recover very well, you can do cardio pretty much every day (I wouldn’t do it after legs).
Now for the opposite - you have to gain weight, what should you do?
You will still do cardio. Yes, I said before that it makes it harder to get fat (which is good in this case) but it also stimulates your appetite. Have you ever wondered why you can’t pound down food on your off days like you can on your training days? It’s because you are not doing anything.
Now here’s what to do:
If you don’t gain fat very easily, do some semi-light walking (incline treadmill for 20 minutes would be great) on your off days, after having breakfast. (You should be sweating and your heart rate should be elevated)
If you gain some fat when bulking, you can either
a ) row for 10 ish minutes before the walking
b ) do cardio also on your training days (again, not after legs)
If you gain fat very easily, you should consider doing cardio twice a day on your off days and once a day on your training days (not on leg days)
If you are in the last group you should also check your nutrition, you are probably not eating that well.
For forms of cardio, choose something you enjoy (I wouldn’t recommend biking, as it tightens your hip flexors), but make sure that the cardio is not so hard that it interferes with your weight training.
There is not too much to say about mobility, just do it.
Find a good streching routine that goes through your while body and perform it religiously.
Before stretching, foam roll your body troughoutly (if you don’t know how to foam roll correctly, find a tutorial first)
You should stretch on three occasions:
Briefly before training
After training (you can wait an hour or two after training before you do this if you want)
On off days
Remember to foam roll before every session, and try to get in a good 6-7 hours of stretching per week.
Now, how long to hold a stretch for?
Before training, hold it for a maximum of 10 seconds at a time, but anytime else, you can go on for several minutes.
Stretching shouldn’t hurt you, if it does, scale back a bit or find better stretches. The only thing you should feel is, well, the stretch, surprising, isn’t it?
Injury prevention is a big part of longevity. After what I’ve said about mobility and exercise selection, there isn’t really that much left to say. Really, just this: be smart. Don’t try to rush your progress, use good form and always remember to warm up troughoutly.
If you can’t stop bouncing the bar off your chest to get more weight on the bench press, you’ll learn to train smart the hard way - by getting injured.
Now think about this:
Scenario a )
You go from benching 100 pound for 5 with proper form to benching 185 for 3 with a humongous bounce in 5 months. With proper form you could do 155 for 5.
Now, you are going for a new 1 RM, 200 pounds.
You let the bar drop to your chest to get a good bounce and as soon as it bounces back up and you flex your pecs, something happens - you just tore your pec. Darn, now you are out of the game for several months and you’ll need to start shin with just the bar. After a year’s hard work you are benching 100 for 5 again if you are lucky.
Scenario b ) You go from 100 for 5 with good form to 155 for 5 in good form in 5 months (the exact same strength gain) and you know that bouncing of the bar is stupid. You continue to train with good form and in the end of the year you are benching 200 for 5 in good form.
Now, compare this to scenario a, and you’ll see that you are twice as strong as you would have been if you tried to cheat. And won’t have future problems with big weights because of injuries. Some guys injure themselves so badly that they can never lift heavy again.
Think about it.
Lastly, motivation. Think, what motivates you? Have both short and long term goals. If your long term goal is to bench 225, your short term goal could be to get your bench from 135 to 155.
Remember not to only focus on the goal you have, enjoy the journey as well. Personally, I enjoy every workout and I know that they are taking me toward my goals.
Boy, was this a long one. I hope I didn’t iss anything. As always, I would love to answer your questions and see some discussion happening.
Ironic
Sorry I couldn’t help myself
But another great post.
Injury prevention is very important! Touch wood, I have not injured myself in training yet.
Nice post just wondering about this statement. A weak upper chest and very exposed clavicles are one of the major reasons I got into lifting.
So
Much
Content
I can only count to three, after that it’s all guesswork 
I stated this because a lot of young guys start focusing on the wrong things, such as isolating the upper chest with a million different variations, when what they really need is a lot more mass overall.
(And when they focus on isolation they forget progressive resistance)
If you want to target your upper chest without losing out on pressing strength try this:
(This is a standard in John Meadow’s programs, called pre-pump)
On your upper body/pressing days start with incline dumbbell press (bench at 30-45°) now it is important that you do not go all out here intensity or volume wise. I’ve found that a maxium of two sets is appropriate, and RPE should be around 8-9 (1 or 2 more perfect reps in the tank)
Do 6-11 reps per set.
So to recap: 1-2x6-11 with rpe 8-9 on dumbbell incline bench is the first thing you do on your push/upper body days.
Basically you are just changing the time you do one of your assistance exercises.
This is a way to cheat the system and I utilize it with almost every bodybuilding trainee I have
Yeah, I like to write about strength training and bodybuilding stuff (as you may have noticed)
Really, this is more of a thought log than a training log, but I guess it’s not a bad thing.
Welcome abroad, by the way, I hope you get well involved in the discussion!
would you say swimming is a good conditioning sport? I used to be a swimmer in highschool so at the moment this is my choice of keeping the fain gain to a minimum.
And a resting HR of 55 or below is VERY good. Seriously. Last time I measured mine it was at the beginning of the year and its around 65-70, so still healthy but not where I want it to be. Some of my biker buddies have serious bradycardia, but at the same time it doesn’t really affect their health. But that fascinating to see how the body adapts to things.
Swimming is a good option, and even more so if you enjoy it.[quote=“planetcybertron, post:136, topic:223959”]
And a resting HR of 55 or below is VERY good. Seriously. Last time I measured mine it was at the beginning of the year and its around 65-70, so still healthy but not where I want it to be.
[/quote]
Yeah, I know, I just feel like I could push it lower, perhaps even under 48
I have one friend whose resting heart rate is over a hundred, he is a small guy and one hell of an distance runner even though he doesn’t train in any way.
I’ve always found it very fascinating
Oh man, here we go again.
Do you want to know how you can recognize someone who is getting results in the gym? (Apart from the fact that they are 10 pounds bigger each time you see them)
They are efficient. There is no fluff in their workouts and no errors in their form.
The best guys and girls train with very abbreviated routines.
I remember this one time a woman with ungodly amounts of muscle came into the gym I train at. She did 2 warmup sets on the bench, then one heavy set of 10, walked over to the pull-up bar and banged out a set of 8 with 35 pounds of added weight and walked out of the door. Every single repetition was done in a controlled fashion, and in good form. You could actually see that every single rep had a meaning, there was a reason to do them. If you just let the bar fall on your chest and then use the bounce to get it up, you are missing out. There is no rhyme or reason to what you are doing. Think, do you look efficient? Do you look like you are in control of what is happening? If not, drop the weight and hone your technique.
Now I’m not saying that you should train only with one set of bench and one set of pull-ups. Or that you should be doing deadlifts with 135 to hold your perfect form when you can do 405 with a bit of uglyness in it. (Now looking like a scared cat does not mean the same thing as having a bit of uglyness in it)
What I am saying is cut out the fluff. Think: do I really need to do front raises, alternating front raises and cable front raises for five sets each or could a set or two of heavy overhead pressing possibly lead to the same (or better) results?
And what I am saying is that strive for perfection with your form, and try to be efficient, but do not get too keen on about it. (Bounce benches and quarter squats are still banned)
I’m a bit obsessive with being as efficient as possible. Usually if a client comes to me from another trainer, I use extensive amounts of time to perfect their form in order for them to be more efficient, and I cut their amount of exercises and sets by over 50%. (Usually their old programs call for something like an arm day with eight exercises and 32 sets and I’m just wondering, who in their right mind would make a middle-aged woman do this when just want to lose some fat)
Now here is a protip for all you new personal trainers: If you trainee needs a lot of time to learn the way to properly execute a movement, use 15 minutes in the beginning of each session to teach them, then move onto the actual training part (an don’t use too complicated movements here)
I’d like to write a longer post but I’m having a terrible migraine, christ.
Regarding this, once upon a time a friend of mine asked me:
“Hey is it better to do your front raises seated or standing?”
I asked him what was his overhead press 5RM
He didn’t know what overhead press was
Turned out that he had never even been in a gym before and was planning to start out next week. (I went there with him and put him on the right track)
You see?
People are too caught up in the details.
I blame fitness magazines. Fair enough they have to make their individual routines look up to date and interesting with each new edition but the useless shit they fill them with makes me shake my head.
This fluff routines bullshit and the supplementation crap really does make it difficult for beginners to make decent gains. Unfortunately gains are one of the big drivers of consistency (at least for me), and we all know how important consistency is!