Prime Time: Are You Ready for Some CT?!

I’m here for you!

Coach:

I put this question to CW, and I’d love to get your response as well:

What are your thoughts on powerlifters who perform the competition lifts multiple times a week year round? Taking the squat for example:

Monday: Comp. SQ (4,3,2,4,3,2)

Tuesday: Front SQ (work up to moderate triple)

Wednesday: Comp. SQ (work up to moderate single)

Thursday: Bulgarian SQ or Step-Up (3-4 sets of 10)

Friday: Comp. SQ (3x3 @ 85% 1RM)

Saturday: BoxSQ (6x3 Dynamic Effort Method)

If loading parameters are cycled adequately and volume is kept in check, can a lifter do well performing the competition lift three times a week (or more)?

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
I’m here for you![/quote]

Thib,
What would you suggest for a power bodybuilder who wants to speed up his hands for some improved striking power? I’d like to have my cake and eat it too. Still train for size but add some specialty work with it.

Best,
DH

CT you mentioned women have a harder time recruiting MU’s then men. Do you know of any scienetific backing for this? i’d be interested to learn more

CT-

I have a couple quick questions about your pendulum powerlifting program. I have utilized a similar type of pendulum wave style in my own training in the past.

  1. When one finishes a complete pendulum wave, do you make any changes for the next pendulum cycle or do you repeat the pendulum cycle (like the one you wrote for example) several times and simply try to utilize heavier loads with the same exercises and rep/set formats (where appropriate) without a lot of changes?

  2. The structural phases of the program serve as a type of unloading week, correct? I assume that this is why there is no planned back-off week in the program.

For the 3-4 years I trained for olympic lifting I trained some variation of the snatch, clean & jerk and squat at EVERY workout (5-6 training days per week for 5 to 10 weekly sessions).

All international-level olympic lifters train the compatitive lifts (or variations) and the squat (or variations) AT LEAST 4 days per week. Most of them train 6 days a week with 9 weekly workouts being the norm:

Monday: 2 daily workouts
Tuesday: 1 daily workout
Wednesday: 2 daily workouts
Thursday: 1 daily workout
Friday: 2 daily workouts
Saturday: 1 daily workout
Sunday: OFF

NOW, this is not a recommendation. Olympic lifter build-up to this training frequency over a 4-6 year period. However basically all competitive olympic lifters start with at least 3 weekly sessions working the whole body on all 3.

Russian powerlifters use a similar methodology (their methods being based on the old soviet olympic lifting system) training all the competition lifts at least 3 times per week.

This doesn’t mean that this type of schedule is ideal, but it shows that it can be done.

However it requires a proper volume/intensity approach. The total reps have to be very low and there should be some form of intensity variation during the week. Olympic lifters will wave the intensity during the week WITHOUT CHANGING THE NUMBER OF REPS PER SET. For example they might per form the snatch 3 times per week…

Workout 1 might use an average of 90% for all the work sets and rely on 2-3 reps per set.

Workout 2 might use an average of 70% for all the work sets but still use 2-3 reps per set.

Workout 3 might use an average of 80% once again for sets of 2-3 reps.

[quote]Ramo wrote:
Coach:

I put this question to CW, and I’d love to get your response as well:

What are your thoughts on powerlifters who perform the competition lifts multiple times a week year round? Taking the squat for example:

Monday: Comp. SQ (4,3,2,4,3,2)

Tuesday: Front SQ (work up to moderate triple)

Wednesday: Comp. SQ (work up to moderate single)

Thursday: Bulgarian SQ or Step-Up (3-4 sets of 10)

Friday: Comp. SQ (3x3 @ 85% 1RM)

Saturday: BoxSQ (6x3 Dynamic Effort Method)

If loading parameters are cycled adequately and volume is kept in check, can a lifter do well performing the competition lift three times a week (or more)?
[/quote]

CT,

How many days to you recommend training legs for easy-hard gainers with a goals primarly hypertropy.

Thanks

CT,

In your article on recovery strategies, you mention Restorative Pulse Electromyostimulation.

I have a slight tear of my pec minor. Is RPE something that would be worth looking into for this type of muscle injury, or is RPE more suited for “healthy” muscles in need of post-workout recovery? Have you ever used RPE on any of your athletes with a similar muscular injury?

Thanks.

[quote]Disc Hoss wrote:
Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
I’m here for you!

Thib,
What would you suggest for a power bodybuilder who wants to speed up his hands for some improved striking power? I’d like to have my cake and eat it too. Still train for size but add some specialty work with it.

Best,
DH
[/quote]

I like:

Speed presses (bench or incline) with jumpstrech bands added if available.

Speed dumbbell press

Balistic bench press in the smith machine

Standing shot put with ligth shots

Push jerks

“Arms sprinting” on a mini-trampoline: assume a push-up position with both hands on a mini-trampoline and perform a “sprinting” (or more precicely a piston action) action with both arms.

During the hypertrophy weeks on the pendulum powerlifting routine on bench days, I was thinking of having my training partner push down on the bar then letting go after the 6,5,4,3,2,1 second isometric holds instead of myself holding the bar in that position. Is this a good idea to blast past my sticking point?

Also are clap pushups a good alternative for the ballistic bench press since I have no smith machine?

Cheers

CT-how long did it take you before you “made” it in the industry, can you describe your early success ad failures for us? such as working enviroment and clients?

[quote]bigpump23 wrote:
CT you mentioned women have a harder time recruiting MU’s then men. Do you know of any scienetific backing for this? i’d be interested to learn more[/quote]

You can start by reading …

http://jap.physiology.org/cgi/reprint/77/5/2163.pdf

http://jap.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/90/3/804

http://jap.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/94/6/2263?ck=nck

[quote]Bushido wrote:
CT,

How many days to you recommend training legs for easy-hard gainers with a goals primarly hypertropy.

Thanks[/quote]

EHG should train 3 times per week using a whole-body approach. So 3 weekly leg workouts consisting of 1 or 2 exercises per session.

[quote]bigpump23 wrote:
CT-how long did it take you before you “made” it in the industry, can you describe your early success ad failures for us? such as working enviroment and clients?[/quote]

Well for what it’s worth I do not consider myself to be a made man yet. I still have to work super hard every day to make sure that I keep my place in the sun. Being made is having to beat off clients with a stick and being able to REFUSE some peoples willing to shell 20 000$/year to work with you!

But if we consider how long it took me to get to the level I’m at right now, I’d have to say around 5-6 years … my career can be broken down into the following key events:

  1. Finally deciding what I wanted to do with my life and enrolling in exercise science in 1999. I also started writing articles for some amateur websites.

  2. Submiting my first article to T-mag … which was turned down :slight_smile: in 2001

  3. Started to train professional hockey players. My mentor, Jean Boutet, was responsible for their training and because he was short on time he gave me the contract. That was in 2002.

  4. Submiting yet another article to T-mag … which was accepted (Money Exercises).

  5. Then I had something like 5 articles turned down. They were much too scientific. I then understood that humor and simplicity were important qualities. I have been on a streak ever since :slight_smile:

  6. Then my first book got out which started me out on the seminar circuit. That was in 2004 (or late 2003).

  7. Finally I was hired by Coach Export which organize dozens of yearly seminars and became responsible for the design of all their teaching material and about half of their seminars. That was last year.

[quote]The Indestructible wrote:
CT,

In your article on recovery strategies, you mention Restorative Pulse Electromyostimulation.

I have a slight tear of my pec minor. Is RPE something that would be worth looking into for this type of muscle injury, or is RPE more suited for “healthy” muscles in need of post-workout recovery? Have you ever used RPE on any of your athletes with a similar muscular injury?

Thanks.[/quote]

I would not recommend EMS on an injured muscle, especially if there is still some tissue damage. Once the tear is healed it can be implemented, but not before that.

[quote]pgainda wrote:
During the hypertrophy weeks on the pendulum powerlifting routine on bench days, I was thinking of having my training partner push down on the bar then letting go after the 6,5,4,3,2,1 second isometric holds instead of myself holding the bar in that position. Is this a good idea to blast past my sticking point?

Also are clap pushups a good alternative for the ballistic bench press since I have no smith machine?

Cheers [/quote]

It’s a good idea. But in that case you should perform the hold about 1-2" below your sticking point and then explode upward as your partner release the bar.

CT,

What type of watch did you use to keep track of the twelve intervals during Interval Build-Up Running from your Running Man article?

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do;?id=459414

I haven’t been able to find a watch that has 12 separate countdown timers.

Thank you for your time!

I am the one doing the clocking while my athletes do the running. So I simply reset the timer every time :slight_smile: You can also do that for yourself (even if an interval is 2-3 seconds too long/too short it wont kill you!). Or use distance instead of time.

[quote]Kai Zen wrote:
CT,

What type of watch did you use to keep track of the twelve intervals during Interval Build-Up Running from your Running Man article?

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do;?id=459414

I haven’t been able to find a watch that has 12 separate countdown timers.

Thank you for your time!
[/quote]

C.T. in your Black Book you have a sample program (football program) in which the power/explosive excersises (Olympic lifts) are performed last in the workouts. Also, in one of your recent articles (Conjugate training part I and II) you have a couple sample programs that have a similar set-up. (Explosive lifts towards the end of the program).

Wouldn’t you want to perform explosive lifts (depth jumps, ballistic bench, O. lifts etc) early on in workout, while fresh? I’m just thinkin’ a person won’t be as EXPLOSIVE when already fatigued from all the other excercises previously performed.

Thanks and I love your work!!

Danny

I love your Running Man article, but how would one know if the CNS would be getting taxed too much while on a particular program that calls for off days or moderate cardio due to it’s high CNS stress, without having to use trial and error?

Is there a way to tell by looking at the frequency and intensity of the workouts, or would one just have to kind of guess and adjust as they go?