Commanding My Body

[misterjaydubyoo]

Thanks Mike!

I figured increased volume would be a good way to add mass, let's hope I can pull it off smart enough to recover and actually grow!

I think it is going to leave me borderline addicted to training, lol. I feel like I eat, sleep and breathe it currently.

You WILL become addicted. People have started calling me crazy, obsessed, etc. b/c I have become to love training more than ever. I love the extra volume, the fatigue, the pain, etc.

Look forward to following your growth progress!

[Mindwerkz]

Cool, Im interested to see where it takes you. I had always learned that you need significant rest and recovery for mass. Are you able to explain a little of the mechanism for me?

[Commander]

Originally Posted by Mindwerkz

Cool, Im interested to see where it takes you. I had always learned that you need significant rest and recovery for mass. Are you able to explain a little of the mechanism for me?

You do need rest and recovery, I just think that people overestimate how much they need and underestimate how good the body is at adapting.

I have come to believe that the body can handle almost anything you can throw at it….and praise God for that! I used to be very entrenched in a way of thinking that really impaired my training. I wouldn’t dream of bench pressing for example if my chest was still sore from a previous workout, or squatting if my legs were sore.

One of the big factors that shattered my pre-conceived notions was a Russian program named Smolov. My squat sucked (still does, but that isn’t Smolov’s fault!) and I desperately needed to improve it. I began reading about different programs and eventually settled on Smolov. It called for squatting 4 times per week at absolutely insane percentages of 1 rep maximum. And when you first start the program, your legs are absolutely crushed with DOMS. But a surprising thing happens, they get used to it, surprisingly quick in fact. Within the first 10 days or so, you are no longer crushed by DOMS. Your legs become recovering machines. While increasing my bodyweight by 4.7% on Smolov, my legs increased in girth by 7.6%. So that tells me that they were more than just recovering from the program, they were adding quality muscle mass.

Before that was ABC’s Hyperplasia challenge (my journal for that: http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/forum...ad.php?t=89552 ) I designed my own split for that based on a lot of what I had read from Chad Waterbury. He was/is a proponent of high frequency. That was my first true experience with double sessions and hitting a muscle group more than once per week. I felt it was successful. Funny thing was, I wanted everything I did to be verified by science. So I started scouring the ABC Journal of Hyperplasia. DUP in particular was a subject that fascinated me. Here is the article: http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/periodization3.pdf

This is a gross over simplification, but science supports the idea that using movements 3 times per week can be more effective than once per week.
Finally, during my recent fat loss attempts, my mind was opened further. I again employed double sessions, but now I was in a caloric deficit (my first time I was bulking). I was recovering from my workouts, setting PR’s in the gym and doing it all while losing fat! How, on earth did this happen!

Well, obviously with all of my examples (Smolov, Hyperplasia Challenge, recent fat loss), you cannot be an idiot. I was eating right and sleeping (fairly) well (anyone who reads my journal knows that I throw in an occasional sleepless night working a midnight shift!). I also wasn’t training to failure. This is not to say that I wasn’t intense. Watch some of my videos and you will see that I can be intense. But I knew if I was going to train with high frequency, I couldn’t push myself to mechanical failure.

Not sure if you read T-Nation, but there was an article recently which was a great summary of the science of hypertrophy (article here: http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_...phy_specialist )

Research shows three primary methods by which resistance training causes hypertrophy: mechanical tension, muscle damage, and metabolic stress. Each of these factors mediates various processes that ultimately act on myogenic pathways to either increase protein synthesis and/or decrease protein breakdown.

My first priority is strength. I train with mostly low reps to achieve hypertrophy mostly through mechanical tension. I also execute all my reps as explosively as possible thus increasing the tension even for lower weights. I have been using many sets and multiple sessions, thus the volume is leading to the muscle damage. Further, I include higher rep back off sets which are the ones which tend to have the metabolic stress (i.e. lactic acid build up).

Thanks to CT over at T-Nation, I have been dragging my tire a lot, this is referred to as eccentric-less training. I believe this has dramatically helped my recovery. The eccentric portion of the rep is where most muscle damage occurs. Further, sore muscles are not conducive to glycogen replenishment. Again, scouring ABC articles to back up everything with science, from the precontest week article ( http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/precontestweek.pdf ):

Doyle and colleagues stated that "Eccentric contractions appear to reduce muscle glycogen replenishment during the 1- to 10-day period after exercise."

The reason for this is complex. However it can be broken down to the fact that eccentric training causes a higher amount of myofibrillar damage, muscle membrane disruption, and inflammation. Such consequences can slow glucose transport ( as compared to concentric training ), as well as glycogen synthesis.

According to Harold et al. (1997) "Glycogen supercompensation is best achieved when the exercise is largely concentric and the mode of exercise (e.g., cycling) does not disrupt the mechanisms of glycogen synthesis."

So by utilizing eccentric-less training (here is a video example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CpKAwws1yg ), I am enhancing my glycogen replenishment thereby enhancing my recovery while at the same time providing a stimulus for growth based on the mechanical tension and metabolic stress that they endure with the training.

I hope that helps you see the rationale behind how I set up my program.

Something else I am excited about regarding training 3 times per day, I just crunched the numbers and I am taking in 81% of my daily calories within 1 hour of training! I should theoretically be a nutrient partitioning MACHINE! I also take in a whopping 92% of my daily carbs within 1 hour of training.

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So, last night, I got an idea to name this phase of my training. HardCory has done it, Workout Machine previously named his program, Defying Gravity, and I would like to join their ranks. It is corny, but I call it: Get Big or Die Trying.

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Friday

AM – Strength

Flat Bench Press superset with Wide Cable Rows, 65x8 reps after each bench set
157.5 (plus 5) 217.5x3

Rack Bench (5 inch off chest)
217.5 (plus 5) 247.5x3
192.5x10

Lunch – Eccentric-less

Tire Drags
Chest Press 50 superset with Lat Pulldown 50, 3 sets
Chest Fly 25 superset with High Row 75, 2 sets
Chest Press 50 superset with High Row 75, 1 set
Tricep Pushdown 25 superset with Bicep Curl 50, 2 sets

Even though I didn't fast yesterday, I still decided to feast today, ahh, the benefits of bulking.

Thanks to the additional carbs, I felt like I had a massive pump and looked absolutely huge after my tire session!

[misterjaydubyoo]

You do need rest and recovery, I just think that people overestimate how much they need and underestimate how good the body is at adapting.

EXACTLY. Rest and nutrition are key components to that. Most people cannot recover from high volume because their diets are horrific.

[arian11]

Originally Posted by misterjaydubyoo

EXACTLY. Rest and nutrition are key components to that. Most people cannot recover from high volume because their diets are horrific.

Yea, when I was in college I noticed that people could not recover because of horrible diets, not enough sleep, alcohol consumption, and also consistency. I've had friends who didn't work out for a period of time and then picked it back up all of sudden using some high volume bodybuilding magazine workout. Obviously, your body isn't going to be use to that much volume out of nowhere. You need to build up to it. I use to only be able to workout 3 or 4 times per week or my numbers wouldn't be as good in the later half of the week. But now, with proper nutrition and having given my body time to adapt, I can lift 5 times per week of pretty much all squat, deadlift, or bench variations. Our bodies are truly something amazing!

[bigbear6708]

cant argue with science!!!

[Commander]

Originally Posted by misterjaydubyoo

You WILL become addicted. People have started calling me crazy, obsessed, etc. b/c I have become to love training more than ever. I love the extra volume, the fatigue, the pain, etc.

Look forward to following your growth progress!

My wife, God bless her, is into fitness as well, but the other day she mentioned that all I seemed to talk about lately was training, lol! Whoops.

Originally Posted by misterjaydubyoo

EXACTLY. Rest and nutrition are key components to that. Most people cannot recover from high volume because their diets are horrific.

No doubt. I can't believe the crap people put in their bodies. Even people who profess to care about training.

Originally Posted by arian11

Yea, when I was in college I noticed that people could not recover because of horrible diets, not enough sleep, alcohol consumption, and also consistency. I've had friends who didn't work out for a period of time and then picked it back up all of sudden using some high volume bodybuilding magazine workout. Obviously, your body isn't going to be use to that much volume out of nowhere. You need to build up to it. I use to only be able to workout 3 or 4 times per week or my numbers wouldn't be as good in the later half of the week. But now, with proper nutrition and having given my body time to adapt, I can lift 5 times per week of pretty much all squat, deadlift, or bench variations. Our bodies are truly something amazing!

Well said Arian.

Originally Posted by bigbear6708

cant argue with science!!!

The Journal of Hyperplasia has been one of the keys to my progress. Recently, I've been trying some of the concepts presented in the T-Nation training lab and I am pleased to see them rooted in science as well.

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Friday Evening - Volume Bench Session

Flat Bench superset with Wide Cable Row 65x8 each set and with Ab Bench 50x8 each set
172.5x5, 6 sets

Rack Bench superset with Ab Bench
192.5x8, 5 sets

OH Tricep Extension
50x9, 6 sets

Light Tricep Pushdowns for the pump

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Saturday - Legs

Front Squat
122.5 (plus 10) 182.5x3

Squat
182.5 (plus 10) 232.5x3

Half Squat off pins
232.5 (plus 20) 312.5x5

SLDL superset with Leg Curl
120 (plus 20) 220x5 with 60x6 ,6 sets

Leg Extension with Sissy Squat
100x8, 4 sets with BWx8, 4 sets

Tire Work

Forward Sprints, 75
Backward Drags, 75

4 sets of each

[Commander]

Sunday

AM

Pullup
BW+2.5 (plus 5) BW+42.5x5 then worked back down
BW+32.5 (minus 10) BW+12.5x5
BW+2.5x10

Afternoon

Bent Row
92.5 (plus 10) 172.5x5
120x14, 13, 12
102.5x8 Q reps (double contraction at top), 3 sets

Tire Work

Forward Sprint, Backward Drag 75, 2 sets
Lat Pulldown 50, 3 sets
High Row 75, 3 sets
Stiff Arm Lat 25, 3 sets

PM

Bicep Curl superset with Ab Wheel Rollouts
62.5x12, 12, 12, 10, 10, 10 with BWx8, all sets

[Commander]

So, couldn't fall asleep until well after 2 a.m. I was reading "Brief History of Time", then watched a "Making of Walking Dead" special. My brain was just running in hyper mode. My fault I guess, I typically try to stay away from TV and computer at night. And reading about complex physics just gets my brain going.

I am super excited to watch this new "Walking Dead" series on AMC. I prefer fast "zombies" like those found on "28 days later", but I have heard good things about the Walking Dead series.

In spite of not sleeping I got up and trained. I figure every time I wake up and train I am building a habit and helping break my neurotic behavior (of being anxious that I won't get enough sleep). For example, if I can't fall asleep at 11pm, I, theoretically, shouldn't stress because I can think back and remember training at 6am after only getting slightly more than 3.5 hours of sleep. That should help me relax and actually fall asleep.

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Monday - OH Press Day

OH Press superset with Upright Cable Row
62.5 (plus 10) 102.5x3
107.5 (plus 5) 132.5x3

Push Press
132.5 (plus 5) 162.5x3

OH Rack Press - pins at eye level superset with Upright Cable Row
72.5 (plus 10) 112.5x3
117.5 (plus 5) 137.5x3

OH Press
105x9

OH Rack Press
100x9

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Diet Update

Bulk Started October 25, 2010: 173.5
Bodyweight average this week: 172.8 (yes, that's right, I lost 0.7 lbs on my bulk!)

Previous Macros - 2268 cal, 72 fat, 235 carb, 171 protein - PWO - 3108, 80, 347, 251
New Macros - 2648, 89, 276, 185 - PWO 3488, 97, 388, 265

Middle of last week, I had to add a serving of nuts to my afternoon because my lunch shift (and hence, meals and paraworkout nutrition) got moved earlier, making a very long gap between lunch and dinner. Today, I added 2 scoops of oats.

[superbilt]

Looking crazy lean Commander.