Hey CT,
Just have a few question on the strength skill circuit…
What is better for hypertrophy, behind the neck press or behind the neck push press?
In terms of adding more weight at the start of a new cycle, you suggest 10-20lbs, this is ok for me with lower body exercises but for upper body lifts its to much, is going up 5lbs ok?
Thanks for the help,
PK
Not CT, but
You’re overthinking it.
The smaller the increment you increase your weight each cycle, the longer you’ll probably see constant progress.
For hypertrophy? Strict press, not push press
Yes that’s fine, especially on overhead lifts
Ok great thanks for that…
I’ve been reading articles by Pendlay who suggests the ultimate way to increase weight/ mass gain is to do ‘extra’ sessions consisting of concentric only exercises… Whst are your thoughts on this CT…
As a student with a home gym, which allows plenty of time to train multiple session a week, using the strength skill circuit (which is my favourite way of training and focuses on my goal of an athletic look) how can I maximise this program to increase weight/ mass, such as through extra sessions?
Look forward to hearing what you suggest,
Thanks
PK
Already answered that in an earlier thread. I deeply respect Glenn. He is a great olympic lifting coach. But he hasn’t produced any people I would call “jacked”. While I will take his word for performance and olympic lifting, maybe not so much for hypertrophy.
THAT HAVING BEEN SAID. I did use concentric -only extra workouts (before Glenn wrote about them) when I trained Daryl Gee for the Olympia. I feel that it did help a bit, but it wouldn’t say it has a HUGE impact on hypertrophy. And even though since it’s devoid of eccentric stress it is easier to recover from, it is still physical work that expends energy and can cut into your recovery. Daryl Gee did concentric-only workouts in the PM, for the same muscles trained in the AM. BUT he was basically doing nothing but training, eating and sleeping. He was also a genetic freak and took steroids. He could recover from it. Not sure that most people could.
Very interesting makes sense what you said… On that, would it be better to do the add targeted hypertrophy work as a second session each day or is it better done straight after the session?
With my situation, is there added sessions I should do along with doing the strength skill circuit 6 x week with added hypertrophy work for ultimate mass gain?
Just a few other questions-
Is it ok to do the push press instead of the strict press for my overhead press or is it to stressful to do 3 days a week?
My weight gain has stalled over the last month and I don’t want to push my carbs higher, so as a tactic would having a protein shake in the middle of the night when I go to the toilet be a good idea to break the fast during the night?
Thanks again for the help,
PK
Better at the same session, kinda pointless to go back to the gym for 10 minutes of work
No… just because you have more free time doesn’t mean that you should train more. Your body has a limited capacity to recover, train harder not more.
It\s fine, but it might give you a little bit less muscle mass gain in the shoulders (depending on how efficient you are on the push press)
The natural body has a limited capacity to use protein to build muscle. You are limited by your own level of anabolic hormones. If you are already consuming more than 1g of protein per pound of body weight, adding the shake likely won’t help you build more muscle. You will have to increase carbs or fats if muscle gain stops.
Ok all covered thanks…
With the push press, does that have a better carry over to the bench press, or on this system doing the push vs strict the carry over is not that great?
With the middle of the night shake, I was thinking of keeping my protein total the same for the day just equalling out with the middle of the night shake… I was looking at the fasting period and by cutting that off during the night may work, as I have found I drop weight quickly when I fasted 10-16 hours in the past… Your thoughts?
Thanks again for all the help,
PK
Out of all the upper body pressing exercises, the push press likely has the least amount of carry over to the bench press, especially if you have a strong leg drive.
For example I trained a guy who had the following lifts (I’m not making this up!):
Push press: 160kg (352lbs)
Military press: 80kg (176lbs)
Bench press: 110kg (245lbs)
He also clean & jerked 200kg (he was an olympic lifter). Of course he didn’t practice the bench press that often, but if the push press had a good carryover he would still have bench pressed a lot more.
Won’t make a difference
Ok it’s the strict press then I’ll use…
Just on days, how high could I go for a day, currently at 80-90g a day?
Thanks for the overall help with the questions…
PK
80-90g of protein per day? That is REALLY low unless you are a 110lbs female
Sorry i was talking about fat, forgot to mention that… How high can you go with fat?
Also what would be better option for carry over to bench press, behind neck strict press or front military press?
Thanks again,
PK
It depends on your carbs intake, your goal and the mind of fat you are taking in.
If your goal is to gain muscle you will need a caloric surplus. How much of a surplus depends on if you want maximum growth (while accepting some fat gain), a decent muscle gain with only a small fat addition, or a slower muscle gain while minimizing fat gain.
Let’s say that your maintenance level is 2500 calories per day (it’s not, it’s just for the sake of illustration). Then you might want a 250, 500 or 750 calories a day surplus depending on your goal.
Let’s pretend that you select an intake of 3000 calories per day (on average) and a protein intake of 200g per day, which is around 800 calories. It leaves us an energy intake of 2200 calories per day.
The way you divide those 2200 calories (between fat and carbs) will depend on your insulin sensitivity (how well you tolerate carbs)…
For example if you decide to go with 300g of carbs (1200 calories since 1g of carbs is roughly 4 calories) it leaves you 1000 calories from fat. Since 1g of fat is 9 calories it means roughly 110g of fat.
If you decide to go with 400g of carbs (1600 calories) it leaves you 600 calories from fat or 67g of fat.
If you decide to go with 200g of carbs (800 calories) it leaves you 1400 calories from fat, or 155g of fat.
Again, these are not recommendations it is for illustration purposes.
Front