Hey Chad, I know diet is not your specialty but I read somewhere that you currently use high carbs only when you have high intensity workout days (med-med, low-low, etc.). Do you find using this simple rule is an easier alternative to AD or T-Dawg 2.0?
I tried going on a low carb diet with carb loading days and ended up with the following:
low carb 4 days (around 120-150 g)
high carb 1 day (500+g)
repeat
Do you think I should stick to this (its easy for me to follow or try harder to follow one of the diet plans on the site?
By the way I get roughly the same amount of caloric exercise every day (only 3 days weights though), so I keep my calorie levels equal, just high fat on the low carb days.
Chad, first I want to say I love your articles. I used BBB for a while and made great gains in both mass and strength. I’ve also recently been using a routine I wrote myself using many of your principles and have been loving it.
I’m sure you’ve answered this before but I haven’t found it. I started ABBH 1 today, and was concerned about the lack of shoulder exercises. I was wondering if something like this would be OK to do (only listing Upper Body days):
Day 1
10x3 Bench, Bent Row
5x3 Preacher Curl, Triceps Extension
3x3-5x3 Standing BB Military Press
[quote]Chad Waterbury wrote:
PharmD Pete wrote:
Chad,
I just started your Next Big 3 program yesterday and had an awful time doing the press squats with even the bar, so I switched to dumbells in an attempt to improve my form.
The problem seemed to be that I kept falling forward when i squatt down. This is likely due to limited shoulder ROM/flexibility and i know in the past you have recommended some contract/relax strecthing prior to the exercise itself.
What do you recommend I do on off days to help strengthen my shoulders and improve my flexibility?
Yes, you seem to have some flexibility and core strength insufficiences. I suggest you switch to the snatch for the part of the program. Once you finish the program with the snatch, you’ll be better suited to perform the exercise correctly. [/quote]
Sounds good chad, I’ll switch to the snatch and hope that improves my weak areas.
In the meantime are there some stretches that you could recommend to help improve my flexibility?
[quote]luddini wrote:
Hey Chad, I know diet is not your specialty but I read somewhere that you currently use high carbs only when you have high intensity workout days (med-med, low-low, etc.). Do you find using this simple rule is an easier alternative to AD or T-Dawg 2.0?
I tried going on a low carb diet with carb loading days and ended up with the following:
low carb 4 days (around 120-150 g)
high carb 1 day (500+g)
repeat
Do you think I should stick to this (its easy for me to follow or try harder to follow one of the diet plans on the site?
By the way I get roughly the same amount of caloric exercise every day (only 3 days weights though), so I keep my calorie levels equal, just high fat on the low carb days.[/quote]
I’m not sure where you heard that, but that’s only one of many different methods I utilize. Actually, the “high carb” day begins after the demanding workout, not before it.
Nevertheless, the plan you mentioned works well for some trainees. Give it a try if it’s easy for you to follow.
[quote]OneEye wrote:
Chad, first I want to say I love your articles. I used BBB for a while and made great gains in both mass and strength. I’ve also recently been using a routine I wrote myself using many of your principles and have been loving it.
I’m sure you’ve answered this before but I haven’t found it. I started ABBH 1 today, and was concerned about the lack of shoulder exercises. I was wondering if something like this would be OK to do (only listing Upper Body days):
Day 1
10x3 Bench, Bent Row
5x3 Preacher Curl, Triceps Extension
3x3-5x3 Standing BB Military Press
PharmD Pete, I’ve found the “Shoulder Horn” to be a very effective way to train your external rotators. The simple and short stretching routine coupled with the Shoulder Horn routine has really helped my shoulder stability, strength, and ROM/flexibility.
[quote]PharmD Pete wrote:
Chad Waterbury wrote:
PharmD Pete wrote:
Chad,
I just started your Next Big 3 program yesterday and had an awful time doing the press squats with even the bar, so I switched to dumbells in an attempt to improve my form.
The problem seemed to be that I kept falling forward when i squatt down. This is likely due to limited shoulder ROM/flexibility and i know in the past you have recommended some contract/relax strecthing prior to the exercise itself.
What do you recommend I do on off days to help strengthen my shoulders and improve my flexibility?
Yes, you seem to have some flexibility and core strength insufficiences. I suggest you switch to the snatch for the part of the program. Once you finish the program with the snatch, you’ll be better suited to perform the exercise correctly.
Sounds good chad, I’ll switch to the snatch and hope that improves my weak areas.
In the meantime are there some stretches that you could recommend to help improve my flexibility?
[/quote]
You could check out the “Lazy Man’s Guide to Stretching” article. I suggest you perform the stretches after your muscles are warm. Also, I don’t recommend performing the stretches before a workout.
Im involved in armwrestling and Im wondering what kind of bodypart frequency I should do while armwrestling 1xwk. Is doing everything 2xwk too much? This would be a 3xwk frequency for the muscles used in armwrestling as they are being hit during the armwrestling practice. Thanks in advance
Thanks for the new article, it is awesome. I’m finishing my final week of Total Body Training - then, after a week of rest I’ll tackle your new program or Quattro Dynamo. I must say, “The Art of Waterbury” looks very tempting.
My chest has always been my weak bodypart; doing 100 RTBM, training the compounds hard and adding some isolation work 3 times a week has made a HUGE difference in my chest’s appearance.
From your Rep/Set Bible and The Art of Waterbury; training a muscle group 4 times a week seems to be reasonable (within my current reach anyway). Am I right in thinking 4 times a week is just half of what is possible in the long run? Eventually, I would like to put my bodyparts I’m happy with on a decent amount of volume (training them 2 times a week) and really blast my chest using some AM PM training, supersets (within your set/rep limits), and plain old increased frequency. I know it would have to be introduced slowly, but I have the sinking feeling that you’ve pushed your training beyond 4 times a week.
Like I said 2 weeks ago - I’ve lowered my calories slightly (300-500 a day); stripped a bit of fat (amazingly enough, that amount of calorie difference seems to have made a slight difference in my recovery; I feel a lot better “bulking” than on a modestly reduced calorie diet). I’m at a decent bodyfat and look forward to 4 a week training. Great articles and feedback.
Thanks.
JamminJS
Good to hear you’re receiving the desired results from my programs.
As for the 4x/week training, you could give it a shot. But, this program might be a better “bridge” between 3x and 4x/week training. Perform this program, then adhere to my Set/Rep Bible parameters for 4x/week training. At that point, I should have another high frequency article posted. [/quote]
Chad,
Thanks for the advice; that’s what I’ll do…I’ll be diving into the Art of Waterbury next week and get used to training each bodypart 4 times a week. I’m looking forward to it; will keep my eyes open for further Waterbury articles.