It was surprising to see myself being described in your article. I am a type 2 and thrive on Charles Staley’s EDT with a hint of high frequency thrown in. Great read, thanks.
My Lord that Article (Type 2) has absolutely nailed my profile.
No surprise that I’ve actually been training in this way for 6 weeks and am making good gains with motivation through the roof.
Diet wise spot on as well.
CT, great work man
1st post. Looong time reader. So I fall in the type 2 category. Don’t remember any training suggestions for a guy like me.
I didn’t really find my type so I checked some documentation about TCI and it seems there is a 4th type which fits perfectly my personality: Persistence. Why don’t you mention this one?
Ah well I’m kinda confused as there are parts of all 3 types that I strongly agree and disagree with. So I’m not sure what I am!
After reading the first article in the series I was convinced I fit into the type 3 profile, but now after reading each type specific article, and reviewing the first article again, I think I’m more so a type 2, but definitely combination of the two.
I see a lot of type 2 in my training, with the minimal warm-ups, double progression preference, and the unified training days. In regards to a type 3 personality though, I really dislike interruptions to my routine, and variety in training. I like to work the big lifts hard, but I have little interest in working accessories.
These articles are already having a big influence on my planned training going forward. Looking forward to the final article tomorrow, as well as checking out the test when it’s made available.
Thanks again for sharing all of this info!
Type 3 Questions/Comments:
First of all, great article. Crazy accurate. The level of preparation and activation required were spot on for me. I’m also very tentative to add weight because I’ve experienced injuries over the years and my flexors are always tight as a drum.
Volume: Personally, I’ve always seem to do better on a higher volume, moderate intensity, moderate frequency approach. 531 for hardgainers has been my current template. From what I gather, the key takeaway is to minimize the volume of high intensity sets. 5-7 sets at lower to medium intensity would be ok but only have 1-2 “money sets” of high intense effort?
Frequency: I typically hit a main lift once a week but include higher frequency on my assistance work. For example, DB press work, lateral raises 2x a week at a higher volume but lower intensity.
Deload: I’ve always struggled with deload. I’m wondering which would be a better deload/peak strategy for type 3. Reduce volume by 40% but increase intensity (i.e. peak) or a deload with lower volume and same intensity.
Conditioning work: I limit traditional cardio to light walking on off days. My question is regarding the use of Prowler and loaded carries. I typically like to add these in as finishers but I’m wondering if either of these (prowler most likely) is doing more harm than good.
I wish I knew these things 20 years ago. Much of it, I’ve learned over the years but in one article, you saved someone with proper self-awareness 10 years of experimentation. Thanks again!
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Type 3 checking in (I thought the profile was scary-accurate, BTW)
Thank you so much for writing the article!!
Question: you advocate a “small amount” of carbs for us at breakfast & lunch, if we train later in the day. How much would that be in grams?
Thank you, glad you liked it
In the original type it is not a 4th type but more of a subtype that can be found in conjunction with other types. With the subtypes I have 5 profiles and it fits more than 90% of those who I worked with. I will look into maybe adding persistance in the profiles, although it is less helpful for training and diet purposes since these people will basically will themselves to do anything
So likely a type 2b, read part 5 for more info
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BTW GUYS… just got off of a plane after a 26h flight to Australia, I will catch up tomorrow,
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Type 3 is very accurate for me and explains a lot. Fear of injury explains why my progress on the Olympic lifts was always slow, especially the snatch. I was and am passionate about Olympic lifting, but let’s be honest: moving a heavy bar from ground to overhead in one movement is scary. When Kevin Ogar was injured doing a snatch which resulted in paralysis, I too was paralyzed with fear, no pun intended. The part about type 3s being good at endurance is also accurate. There have been times when I did an endurance activity in the morning and then later had a really good lifting session.
I find the concept intresting, but really seems quite confusing in application. There are a lot of truesims, and generalisms that would apply across the board. For example reading your day 2 profile
" type 2 need to get a good feeling from training" , doesn’t everybody? Are there other types that don’t have to feeel good from their training
Or in describing the training for a type 2
" They normally respond to traditional bodybuilding"
One sentence later
" they can train for strength and be quite good at it"
Or lower down in your article
" they respond better to slower tempos, including isometric holds
And then in the next paragraph
" oddly enough they also respond to explosive work"
So a type 2 is suited for strength or hypertophy, does well with slow reps and fast reps… that pretty much covers everything almost
So all in all, there doesn’t appear enough specificity within each type, and from type to type as well there are way too many similiaraties in your prescriptions across the board that it really gets hard to differentiate
Almost to the point where it’s just a matter of listening to you own unique feedback to things
FFS! Just wait till all articles are released before you judge. We get all this info for free, and always someone has to bitch about it not being good enough
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This is a terrific article that eerily matches my personal experience. A question: when you say “16-18 sets per workout”, how do you account for certain kinds of sets in the balance sheet:
- Does a triple drop set count for three sets or one?
- Does a set of split squats for each leg count for two sets or one?
- Do you count things like abs or band pull aparts toward your total?
Etc.
Thanks in advance.
I also find the concept very interesting but there’s no way in hell I can figure out which type I am since many attributes from each apply and many don’t. I would need to be professionally assessed.
I have been training for about 12 years now, and reckon I know my body well through a fair amount of trial and error. Your account of type 2B and 3 is uncanny and it appears no coincidence that I’ve made my best gains following that style of training.
I have to say I am less convinced on the dietary aspect as I personally function very well on ketogenic diets. But I’m being picky as that’s very individual. Excellent article coach.
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Hey coach a quick question.Until today i thought i was a pure type 3, but when i read you suggest GVT for this type i was like HELL no. i did GVT before, and eventhough it felt great to do that amount of lifting, after 3-4 weeks i felt completely drained, and had no interest in going forward with this type of workout (i increased cals almost 20% but didnt help). everything except this points to that im a pure type 3, but both physically and mentally low volume, high intensity, more sessions per week seems to be my type…your thoughts on this?
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Dude, save it. It isn’t “free,” you get it b/c enough of us buy Biotest supplements. The guy’s post above you was basically right on. People who write horoscopes know how to make proclamations that seem individually tailored but are really broadly applicable, and a lot of this personality inventory stuff is the same. Could be the guy’s skepticism also owes to the fact that this particular author has had epiphanies of this kind about every six months for the past fifteen years.
If you train and compete for any length of time and take a scientific approach to what you’re doing, you’re going to figure out what works better for you and what is of little use. Superimposing a personality inventory or whatever on that may give it a new marketable twist or whatever, or give you a plausible story after the fact for why a thing works or doesn’t, but there’s no getting around the grinding, recording, adjusting.