PT Beast Sept 19 and 22

Christian, just curious what you define as moderate activity level in those types of formulas.

HEy Ct I’m going to use your specialization zone program. How do you feel about a week off in between each zone like maybe doing olad or your renaissance program, Just to make sure your strength levels are still there. Of course I would scale the strength stuff back and not do too much CNS draining work but would this the program and hypertrophy gains?

Ok guys, let’s get started. You can pile up the questions now!

[quote]cccp21 wrote:
Why don’t you write an article explaining why “sport-specific” exercices in the weightroom are counterproductive? In other words explain what might be wrong about this way of training.
Brandon Green[/quote]

That’s actually a good idea. I’ll look into it. Excessive specificity, i.e. trying to duplicate the exact sport movements with added weight can be detrimental to skill performance because this can lead to faulty motor patterns.

It is important to use specific exercises, but they shouldn’t be “too specific”… it’s okay to target the muscles and contraction type/velocity involved in a sport, but we shouldn’t try to duplicate the sporting movements in the weight room.

So IOW…its kind of stupid to use it as a way to add calories if youre still at a level of food intake (say 3500kcal) that’s still fairly easy for you to consume?

Hey CT,

What recommentations do you have for an athlete that has problems gaining mass in there quads and glutes. This athlete also as recovery issues while training legs because he has had a couple knee surgeries and the high frequency can be too hard on the joints.

Thanks

CT, I like the sample plan you laid out for FNF. Would you be totally against doing these in a circuit fashion to get a cardio/GPP benefit? I’m thinking this would kill two birds with one stone and I could skip the cardio/GPP portion and save some time.

[quote]realt81 wrote:
HEy Ct I’m going to use your specialization zone program. How do you feel about a week off in between each zone like maybe doing olad or your renaissance program, Just to make sure your strength levels are still there. Of course I would scale the strength stuff back and not do too much CNS draining work but would this the program and hypertrophy gains?[/quote]

Yes, that is a good idea. In that case I would recommend 1 week of either:

  • Renaissance program
  • One lift a day program
  • Chad’s anti-bodybuilding hypertrophy program

[quote]blam wrote:
Christian, just curious what you define as moderate activity level in those types of formulas. [/quote]

Moderate activity level would be having a non-physical job (or school), some walking along with one training session in the day.

The 20 reps routine is good to use for squats once in a while, but I wouldn’t recommend it on deadlifts. As fatigue sets in, it will be hard to maintain proper lifting position and could lead to an injury.

As for testing your max … you don’t have to test your 1RM. In fact, if you don’t intend to compete in strength sport, 1RM testing is useless. It’s much more effective and safer to test for a 3RM.

I suggest testing it every 4 weeks instead of 3.

[quote]nopal_juventus wrote:
Christian,

Would it be ok to every once in a while do 20 rep squats/deadlifts in your renaissance man program? Or should I stick to the prescribed rep schemes? Also, how would I go about testing my maxes? I was thinking of doing something like this (I’ve never tested my 1RM for anything):

Monday:
test 1RM for squat
regular horizontal chest & back workout

Wednesday:
test 1RM for bench
regular hip & vertical back workout

Friday:
test 1RM for bent-over rows
regular vertical chest and leg workout

Then I’d do a couple weeks of regular training and do the same scheme for deads, push press, and pullups. Would this be ok? [/quote]

[quote]MikeTheBear wrote:
CT, I like the sample plan you laid out for FNF. Would you be totally against doing these in a circuit fashion to get a cardio/GPP benefit? I’m thinking this would kill two birds with one stone and I could skip the cardio/GPP portion and save some time.[/quote]

Mike, I’ve used this method with my hockey players to work on their strength-endurance. They used a circuit consisting of 4 basic lifts. They started week 1 with 60 sec. between exercises, week 2 it dropped to 45 sec., down to 30 sec. by week 3 and down to 15 sec. by week 4.

CT, what type of mass gaining protocol(training system) do you employ for clients who have a difficult time putting on muscle. IE the type of person who has a lot of slow twitch fibers and just resists growth.

Coach:

I know the Smith Machine is much-maligned (as well it should be…it probably IS used too much…)

BUT I’ve found it to be useful with ONE exercise: Behind-the-Neck-Presses. It seems to allow me to REALLY focus some weight on the delts; AND it appears to make the exercise “safer”.

  1. What are your thoughts on Behind-the-Neck Presses?

  2. What are your thoughts on using the Smith Machine to perform them?

Thanks!

Mufasa

[quote]The 20 reps routine is good to use for squats once in a while, but I wouldn’t recommend it on deadlifts. As fatigue sets in, it will be hard to maintain proper lifting position and could lead to an injury.

As for testing your max … you don’t have to test your 1RM. In fact, if you don’t intend to compete in strength sport, 1RM testing is useless. It’s much more effective and safer to test for a 3RM.

I suggest testing it every 4 weeks instead of 3. [/quote]

Thanks. Yeah I noticed that when I go over 8 reps on deads it takes a lot more effort to simply hold the weight right and keep my back straight than it does to move the weight up and down. Guess I’ll only do it for back squats (I play soccer, so this’ll help with my work capacity). Also, when I talked about waiting a couple of weeks to test my maxes, I meant my maces for the other exercises. I was thinking of just testing my maxes for the same exercise every couple of months. Would this be ok?

[quote]Helix wrote:
CT, what type of mass gaining protocol(training system) do you employ for clients who have a difficult time putting on muscle. IE the type of person who has a lot of slow twitch fibers and just resists growth.[/quote]

The solution here is more nutritional than it is training related. Hard gainers must consume a lot of extra calories to force their body to grow, and they should eat very frequently. When someone fails to grow, nutrition is often the problem, even more so with those who are not “built” to be big.

Training-wise they should focus on big movements (squats, deadlifts, bench, barbell row, push press, pull-ups) and use a low training volume. For them the objective should be to GAIN as much strength as possible in the 8-12 reps range.

Another exercise, Coach, that I began to use when watching one of Ronnie Coleman’s tapes…“Blunges” (Walking Barbell Lunges)…(this exercise AIN’T for the weak…and Ronnie was doing them in 100 plus degree Texas Heat, peobably 50-100 yards at a time!)

  1. What are your thoughts on Walking Barbell Lunges?

  2. How would you incorporate them into a total program?

Mufasa

[quote]Mufasa wrote:

  1. What are your thoughts on Behind-the-Neck Presses?

  2. What are your thoughts on using the Smith Machine to perform them?

Thanks!

Mufasa[/quote]

Don’t tell anybody, but I’ve used this exercise myself from time to time! Shhhhhhht… don’t wanna make myself look foolish!

But you are right though, the Smith is probably the safest way to perform BN press. I don’t recommend using the exercise often, but it can be used as a change of pace every once in a while.

I use walking lunges extensively in the training of my hockey players. It’s a great exercise!

I’ve done them either with a barbell, dumbbells or a sled. I recommend doing them at the end of a leg workout. I like to do these for distance rather than weight. With the hockey players I normally use 75 yards and with football players, 25-50 yards depending on the position.

[quote]Mufasa wrote:
Another exercise, Coach, that I began to use when watching one of Ronnie Coleman’s tapes…“Blunges” (Walking Barbell Lunges)…(this exercise AIN’T for the weak…and Ronnie was doing them in 100 plus degree Texas Heat, peobably 50-100 yards at a time!)

  1. What are your thoughts on Walking Barbell Lunges?

  2. How would you incorporate them into a total program?

Mufasa [/quote]

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
With the hockey players I normally use 75 yards and with football players, 25-50 yards depending on the position.

[/quote]

Note that I normally use a sled for these distances.

Hey CT, quick question, I just started the pendulum bodybuilding training program this week and absolutlely love it, but was wondering should I keep following the tempo guidelines outlined in the article. Im just asking this because I’ve recently read where you said you dont really follow tempo that much anymore and especially with the two articles CW just pubished, it sounds better to just lift for as big a load as possible within those rep ranges. SO, should I stick with the tempo or drop it and worry about the load? Thank you for your time.