New To Peat: Weightlifting?

[mirc12354]

I wouldn't necessarily recommend what I do because I too suffer from fatigue, irritability. My temps/pulse could be higher. I suspect my metabolism is not where it could be (finasteride has something to do with it)

Anyways my routine I have seen the best results with for gaining muscle is Dante's Doggcrapp program. How to Build 50 Pounds of Muscle in 12 Months | T Nation This is not a very well known plan but a lot of Mr Olympia's have used it or something similar. There are two versions, one with more volume that is intended for steroid users and one with about half the work for "natural athletes". My take on it is this: 2 day split, day 1: push day, day 2: pull day. Day A, then, has chest, quads, triceps, shoulders. Day B is back, biceps, hamstrings, traps. The trick is that you do only one working set per muscle group, but do 2 light warm up sets first. On the "working set" you give it your best effort and really bring the pain. It's a drop-down tri-set which means that you do 10 controlled reps, drop the weight down about 15 %, do 8 more reps, drop the weight, do 6 reps. After I do an intense set like this for each muscle group, I do stretching excercises which help to stretch out and expand the muscle fascia. This should engorge the muscles with blood I suppose. So for chest I would take 40 lbs dumbells and do slow, controlled flies with a couple seconds pause at the bottom, and do just one or two sets with just arm stretching. For quads I might do some very slow negative reps on the leg press with light weight and just one leg.

The trick with this program is to only do one "insane" set per muscle group and do a lot of stretching, and its a 4 day cycle instead of the typical 7 days. So its push day, pull day, cardio/abs/calves day, rest day, then repeat using different excercises. Next cycle use different excercises again, and then on the 4th cycle repeat the excercises you did the first time and you should see progress.

I stopped taking this program seriously because I don't get a NO pump anymore since peating and also I just don't care about being very muscular anymore. However this was the best muscle-building program I ever tried, especially if you are eating tons of chicken breast and whey (Please don't do that).These days I just want to maintain a nice solid relatively lean build. So if I was 190-200 lbs, 10 % bodyfat that would be just awesome.

Did you do a more traditional heavy volume training phase prior to DC?? I think HIT or versions of it such as DC trainig are great for hypertrophy for a while (say 2 months or so) as long as you did some traditonal heavy volume training (preferably without failure) before that. If you just jump into it the results hypertrophy aren't as great - at least in my experience. I found out alternating heavy volume/moderate intensity for 2 monts followed with some HIT variation (high intensity/low volume) for 2 months worked best for me personaly. Besides thatI feel that I absolutely need starch (potatoes and bananas work great for me probably because the potassium content) for best results. Sugar just doesn't do it fot me.

 

[sladerunner69]

Did you do a more traditional heavy volume training phase prior to DC?? I think HIT or versions of it such as DC trainig are great for hypertrophy for a while (say 2 months or so) as long as you did some traditonal heavy volume training (preferably without failure) before that. If you just jump into it the results hypertrophy aren't as great - at least in my experience. I found out alternating heavy volume/moderate intensity for 2 monts followed with some HIT variation (high intensity/low volume) for 2 months worked best for me personaly. Besides thatI feel that I absolutely need starch (potatoes and bananas work great for me probably because the potassium content) for best results. Sugar just doesn't do it fot me.

I absolutely adore bananas. They are so pleasant and delicate and silky yet savory sweet. Just when they ripen towards a generous flecked pattern of brown spots, that is the time to enjoy these delightful gifts of nature. Banana lovers rejoice!

I don't eat them very often anymore as the starch tends to irritate my ugt, but the effect seems cumulative so as long as I only have one or two servings of starch epr day I am fine, such as well cooked potatoes or rice pasta at dinnertime. That way I can at least sit down with the familia for a traditional supper where we can interact socially like traditional humans.

What were we talking about anyways? Oh right, DC training. I think DC training is good year round because the program incorporates a large degree of variation. Changing excercises and "movements" is an integral aprt of the program, it's why you enver perform the same stuff until the 4th cycle, and then after a few months you pick entirely new excercises. I think it works well, and I used it when I was in my late teens to become the strongest most muscular kid at my gym. Even older bodybuilders with decades experience were impressed and compliment me on my gains. Most of them would then ask me if I was on steroids, and even when I explained I wasn't and was just a big eater, they insisted that I should be careful on the juice. This is just anecdotal experience but I have seen others use DC with fast gains as well.

The main issue with the program is that it is very stressful, not that it ignores strength gains in my opinion. I read a study in a great book called "Body By Science" which demonstrated that guys doing slow controlled movementsa for medium-higher rep counts actually gained as much strength in their one rep maxes as powerlifters on a low rep routine.

 

[ebs]

Based on my own experience I have to come to find that very short training sessions of only 2/3 exercises (20-30 min) work best. Back when I was training for 60 min and lifting heavy I felt drained and had a hoarse voice. I'm very sensative to increased stress and so this way of doing things was very detrimental. I was benching and deadlifting like a maniac while my body wasn't built for it. I now train relatively light and more focussed on bodyweight exercises like pull-ups and push-ups. This way it is doing what it's supposed to do, increased energy and wellbeing and slowly building a decent body.

 

[Hgreen56]

The only problem I found with sticking to a certain amount of reps is progress. It tends to stall. I found that for each lift I needed different strategies to increase my strength, for example, chest did best on linear progression, legs I didn't have to change the rep/set scheme, and deadlift I did something that I don't even think there is a term for haha. I used to do 7x3 on my powerlifting exercises, which was a lot of fun, but I was pretty tanked after 5 sets and then I still had 2 sets left lol. But it worked very good. I found three sets for the foundation exercises to be just perfect, in terms of getting the reps and sets, putting in optimal effort and progressing without overexertion. It would maybe be best to start with low sets (3 sets), and then work up if you feel your muscles might need some extra stimulus, but never to the expense of overexertion.
I also used to train a muscle only once a week and that was perfect for gaining strength, but I noticed that when I trained a muscle twice a week, my hypertrophy was better.

did/do you follow Heavy/Light/Medium Training strategy if you train 2 times a week?
So mo/tu heavy, thu/fri light, mo/tu medium, thu/fri heavy etc?
or maybe mo/tu heavy, thu/fri light, mo/tu heavy, thu/fri light etc? (no medium days)

 

[Hans]

did/do you follow Heavy/Light/Medium Training strategy if you train 2 times a week?
So mo/tu heavy, thu/fri light, mo/tu medium, thu/fri heavy etc?
or maybe mo/tu heavy, thu/fri light, mo/tu heavy, thu/fri light etc? (no medium days)

No it was heavy medium.
Now I'm doing a heavy, medium, powder/light style training in 10 days cycles and really liking it. With this program I'm building strength at a good pace, recovering optimally, building size and also improving agility and explosiveness for tricking all at the same time.

 

[David90]

Based on my own experience I have to come to find that very short training sessions of only 2/3 exercises (20-30 min) work best. Back when I was training for 60 min and lifting heavy I felt drained and had a hoarse voice. I'm very sensative to increased stress and so this way of doing things was very detrimental. I was benching and deadlifting like a maniac while my body wasn't built for it. I now train relatively light and more focussed on bodyweight exercises like pull-ups and push-ups. This way it is doing what it's supposed to do, increased energy and wellbeing and slowly building a decent body.

Same here. In my earlier Days (back in 2013) i was doing 1,5 Hour Workouts with Bro Splits. Not the Best way to built Muscle and Strength. Thankfully i came across Kinobody in 2014/2015 are learned much more about Higher Frequency Training as well as Progressive Overload(-Schemes). Nowadays i do mostly Upper/Lower Workouts or (at the Moment) Full Body Workouts.


The Most Mistakes that the normal Gym Guys are doing is:

-Training too much OR too less:
This Certainly depends on the Individual. Personal Story....I have a Friend of Mine who is Around 50 Years old. I have had him on a (around) 2 Times per Week, Upper/Lower Split (done Three Times per Week). And later on a ''simpler'' version of a Full Body Workout (Also Three Times per Week). Also with the Principles outlined in a few Other Threads. He was building Muscle and Strength quite good. He also said his Arms, Back and Chest are getting Bigger and it was noticable (as a onlooker) after around 3-4 Months. Then The Gym Staff decided spontaneously to put him on a Low Frequency (Every Muscle Group once per Week), Low Volume (UNDER 10 Sets per Bodypart per Week) Bro Split since it ''worked for the Gym Colleague''.

I outright confronted him (the Colleague) and asked him, why they put him on such a split if the Actual Research shows that Higher Frequency and Higher Volume Workouts are very benefical (if done right). Then i became the anwser above ( ''worked for the Gym Colleague'' ). I was like Facepalming with both Hands afterwards. He never ever heard of Guys like Eric Helms, Menno Henselmanns, Brad Schoenfeld, Mike Isratel, Bret Contretas, Jeff Nippard and so forth (which are Researching different Training Topics like Volume and Frequency). Because the Thing is every Person is Different. Not all Things are working for Anybody. Sure he should try his Workout Out and see if it works. But then there is SO much Research from the Guys Above showing that Higher Volume/High Frequency Workouts are benefical for Muscle and Strength Building then i don't see rationally any Point to still do a Bro-Split in 2021. End of the Story....

In General if someone wants to go Serious on Weightlifting/Training (Peat-Friendly) then Training at least Three Times Per Week for around 45-60 Minutes would be advisable.

-Training too Light OR too Hard:

This Certainly depends also on Certain Factors. But in General, the Weight should be Heavy Enough (for Compound Exercises) that you have at least 2 maybe 3 Reps in the Tank. I Would advise to go never to Failure on Compound Exercises. On Isolation Exercises you can go (occaisionally) to Failure since they are not so Demaning as the Compound Exercises.


-Training to Infrequently OR too Frequently:

-Actual Research is showing that it is quite benefical to do Higher Frequency Workouts (also in Terms of Muscle Protein Synthesis). Menno Henselmanns said one Time, that it makes sense, as you get more Advanced in Training, to do a Higher Frequency Workout, since the Time of Elevated Muscle Protein Synthesis decreases as you get more Advanced with Training over the Years (If i remeber it correctly ?).

The Best would be to do a Type of Workout that let's you Train each Bodypart at least Twice per Week, Three Times would be even better. So a Alternating Push/Pull or Alternating Upper/Lower (both done Three Times per Week), as well as a Full Body Workout would be Advisable.

Example would look like this:

Monday: Push
Tuesday: -
Wednesday: Pull
Thursday: -
Friday: Push
Saturday: -
Sunday: -

Monday: Pull
Tuesday: -
Wednesday: Push
Thursday: -
Friday: Pull
Saturday: -
Sunday: -

You get the Point....


-Training with too much OR to less Volume:

Dr. Mike Isratel is good in that Regard. You need a certain Number of Sets to hold on to Muscle or even Build Muscle.
Most Muscle Groups are getting Maintained by hitting them with 0-8 Sets per Muscle Group per Week (Depends strongly on the Muscle Group).

To Build Muscle in ANY Muscle Group you need (mostly) at least 10 Sets per Bodypart per Week. This is (as Natural) more then enough to Build Muscle and you will get to your Natural Limit in a few Years anyway. If you want to bring up certain Bodyparts faster, then you MAY need to up the Volume a bit and lower the Volume of some Muscle group elsewhere in exchange.

For Back it can go up to about 14-22 Sets per Week. For Chest to about 12-20 Sets. And for Abs also to about 16-20 Sets per Week, if you want to bring it up more quickly. These are Examples from his Hypertrophy Guides.



I Hope that it helps.....