OVT: Optimized Volume Training?

Hey im reading this article:

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459276

and i just have a view questions if anyone can answer them for me because i am becoming really interested in starting this program. First off im 19 y/o 6"1 and weigh 170lbs. I want to try and probably gain 10 pounds more and become a lot stronger.

Right now when i go to the gym i usually do almost all free weight excercises and for example i dumbbell flat bench press 70’s and incline 65’s, is this considered somewhat strong for my weight and what not? Secondly Is this the right program for me? And finally the chart that the article displays. First off i dont understand the tempo section where it displays the #'s 201 and 602, secondly, under the category of rest intervals it says “No rest” for say bench press 5 x 5, does this mean right after i finish the first set i then jump onto the next set of 5? thanks.

hey man, I actually just started doing this program (Im 16) and although I’m not an expert I can somewhat answer your questions. First of all though … you’re gonna love this program, Im already at the point where I hate my rest days and cant wait until the next workout.

Each workout you do consists of 3-4 supersets. In the chart provided on the page explaining the workout each superset has a number. So for example the first superset on arms day is

1a. Barbell Curls (no rest) (tempo = 201)
1b. DB Curls (120 seconds) (tempo =602)

This means that you do one set of 5 reps on barbell curls and IMMEDIATELY go to do one set of 5 DB curls, and then rest 2 minutes, followed by another set of barbell curls, no rest, then DB curls, then rest and so on until you have completed all 5 sets for both exersizes - and then you move on to the next superset.

As far as tempo goes - I am not positive on what the actual numbers mean, but what I do know is that the SECOND exersize in the superset is meant to be done much slower than the first - the purpose of having this second exersize is not necissarily for getting up as much as you possibly can (although it is nice to up the weight of this exersize once and a while) but as CT says in his article, it is to increase the volume of the workout.

I hope I somewhat answered your questions - and I hope your experience with the OVT is as great as mine has been so far!

In the article it says if you do not know how to do a specific excercise to use the search engine to the left, i used to “Search” button and typed in the excercise but it doesnt seem to working like it says? any help with that?

[quote]beginner1991 wrote:

As far as tempo goes - I am not positive on what the actual numbers mean, but what I do know is that the SECOND exersize in the superset is meant to be done much slower than the first - the purpose of having this second exersize is not necissarily for getting up as much as you possibly can (although it is nice to up the weight of this exersize once and a while) but as CT says in his article, it is to increase the volume of the workout.

[/quote]

The numbers mean that the first number is the concentric (lowering of the weight), the second number is the number of seconds you pause at the bottom of the exercise, and the third number is the eccentric (lifting of the weight).

So for the exercises you mentioned:

1a. Barbell Curls (no rest) (tempo = 201)
1b. DB Curls (120 seconds) (tempo =602)

1a. 2 seconds to lower the bar, 0 seconds pause at the bottom (arms in front and parallel with your body), and 1 second to lift the weight up again.

1b. 6 seconds to lower the weight, 0 seconds pause at the bottom (arms parallel with your body), and 2 seconds to raise the weight up again.

Essentially, you want to take longer to lower the weight, so you can feel the burn, and explode up with the weight.

Hope this helps.

[quote]jck524 wrote:
In the article it says if you do not know how to do a specific excercise to use the search engine to the left, i used to “Search” button and typed in the excercise but it doesnt seem to working like it says? any help with that?[/quote]

If that’s not working, check out www.exrx.net, they have a list of a lot of exercises and how to perform them correctly. It usually has a video clip of a person performing the exercise, and a description as well.

[quote]tmoney1 wrote:
The numbers mean that the first number is the concentric (lowering of the weight), the second number is the number of seconds you pause at the bottom of the exercise, and the third number is the eccentric (lifting of the weight).[/quote]

Nope. The first number is the ECCENTRIC (lowering the weight), the second is the bottom pause, and the third is the CONCENTRIC (lifting the weight).

[quote]undeadlift wrote:
tmoney1 wrote:

Nope. The first number is the ECCENTRIC (lowering the weight), the second is the bottom pause, and the third is the CONCENTRIC (lifting the weight).[/quote]

Oh, my bad, had them backwards, thanks for the correction UDL.

I used this program in 04 and saw massive size and strength gains in 4 weeks. Lifts were increasing by 10-15lbs/week. I had very sore brachioradialises after 4 weeks and took a few weeks with lower intensities, then resumed the program. I’m starting the V-Diet next Monday then I’m hitting OVT again afterward.

[quote]RPC wrote:
I used this program in 04 and saw massive size and strength gains in 4 weeks. Lifts were increasing by 10-15lbs/week. I had very sore brachioradialises after 4 weeks and took a few weeks with lower intensities, then resumed the program. I’m starting the V-Diet next Monday then I’m hitting OVT again afterward.[/quote]

don’t bring back dead threads.

haha when i looked at the page i was like wtf is this post up here for. I actually just did 9 weeks of WS4SB III and i have gone from 170-185 over this time. I actually started OVT again today. One of my main questions is: it says to increase weight ever week for each main excersise, what happens if i cant rep the increased weight 5 times in my 4th and 5th set, do i just continue to try it until i complete 5 reps and THEN move up the weight or what?