Strength and Physique

So check out the November/December issue of Planet Muscle. I have an article titled “Pivot Point Training,” a follow-up to my T-nation article The Shotgun Method. Pick up a copy the next time you’re at the supermarket or bookstore.

Anyway, I get questions all the time about training, but here’s one that even surprised me:

“I have just recently completed certification for training, and I have a training interview for a local gym, and they want to design a 30 minute workout. The person comes from an athletic background, general fitness and wants to lose about 10 lbs. No injuries to worry about. I was wondering if you could help me with an exercise plan that would help me do well for this test?”

Thanks,
Jake

My Answer: Jake are you paying me to write up this program? You just got certified as a trainer, but you want me to write a training program? I don’t know what certification you’ve got or what your training background is, but you should already know how to write up a training program. The interview is meant to showcase your skills as a trainer, not mine. Look through your study materials and write something up. It doesn’t have to be the ultimate workout, you just have to pass.

Strength and Physique V1 available on Amazon.com

"Hey, I’m in law enforcement in Las Vegas, and I started your work out Return to Cop Land. At first I was skeptical, because you go against a lot of the training norms. But I have been stuck in a rut, so I gave it a go. Let me tell you: boy did it work for me. I was so impressed, I purchased your book. The only thing you do not really cover is abdominal training, and I would be real interested in what you have to say on the subject matter.”

Thanks for everything,
C.W.

My Answer: Thanks for purchasing my book. I glad you like the results from the Return to Cop Land. Las Vegas PD, huh? If you work patrol, then I don’t envy you. I can’t imagine doing a foot or bike chase through the crowds on the Strip.

Anyway, as far as abdominal training I purposely left it out, because I’m not big on ab training at all. You’re more likely to overtrain when you add ab exercises, because there is a large net of nerves in your core area. This is why people feel the wind knocked out of them when they get punched or kneed in the stomach and solar plexus.

I don’t do any direct ab work at all, and I simply tense my abs for multi-joint exercises such as pull-ups, front squats and military presses. Tensing the abs and bringing them in to make your stomach flat will develop a more “cut” look to your abs, IF YOU DIET. The abs will look like they were etched in, rather than popping out. If you do a lot of direct work for the abs, like crunches or sit-ups, then your abs will pop out, and you’ll look like you have rolls of abs instead of carved abs.

In the book, I go over exercise selection where I state that for complete development of a muscle, you only need 2 carefully selected exercises. I go over how to choose these two exercises for each muscle group. The abs are no different. So if you’re hell bent on ab training, then you need an exercise that works the rectus abdominus (the six pack) and one that works the transverse abdominus, which is hidden underneath the rectus abdominus. The 2 best ab exercises for these 2 portions are hanging pikes (for the 6 pack) and planks for the transverse abdominus.

"My name is Ty. Currently I have been following your training routine titled Hypertrophy Training for the Ectomorph. But for some odd reason my muscles have been acting strange. What has been happening is when I work out, my muscles will give up on the very last set (which is normal of course), but here’s where I’m worried: They don’t get sore during that last set. They just stop and thats it.

“I’ve been getting a lot of calories, at least 4k a day. Mostly from chicken, rice, craisins, oatmeal. And I eat a small jar of organic peanut butter a day for protein. This is because I tend to hate supplements. I’ve talked to some health officials, and they’ve been OK with the amount of protein, but they did suggest that I eat some veggies as well.

“Anyways the very next day after my workouts I’m not sore. I don’t get it. I’m pushing very hard, but I’m not sore. Why is this? And on top of that, the harder I work out the more energized I feel. Could this be due to the calories? I just don’t understand why I’m not cramping.”

Sincerely,
Tyrone Fraley

My Answer: Cramping? Why the hell do you want to cramp up? Anyway, you’re not getting sore, because your muscles are becoming accustomed to the training. Soreness doesn’t necessarily mean you’re getting bigger. Soreness, however, is associated with a new stimulus. So if you want to be sore all the time, just change the exercises from workout to workout. Or just buy my book and you will find plenty of training routines to make you sore as hell.

Don’t worry about not being sore. As long as you are gaining in size or strength, that is what counts. And as far as you feeling energized from the workouts, it’s because the rest periods are long (3 minutes) and the number of sets is low (4 sets). Hitting your muscles hard and brief will wake up your nervous system.

"I read with interest your article on Vince Gironda’s 10-8-6-15 program for ectomorphs. What I am not clear on is how to choose the appropriate weight for each set. For example, if my maximum lift for one repetition in a particular exercise is 100 pounds, how much weight should I use for each of the sets? My plan is to use the following weights based on a maximal lift of 100 pounds:

50 pounds for 10 repetitions (which I view as a warm-up set)
75 pounds for 8 repetitions (which is a working set)
85 pounds for 6 repetitions (which is a working set)
50-60 pounds for 15 repetitions (which is a flushing set)

“Is the above plan what you and Vince Gironda had in mind with the 10-8-6-15 program? Thank you for your attention.”

Bob Morris

My Answer- Yep Bob, that looks good. Frankly I don’t care for calculating percentages, because your strength tends to vary day to day. On a given day, you might lift 7 reps with your 85% 1RM, the next day it might 5 reps. It is better to pick a weight that you think you can perform 10 reps with and perform as many reps as you can. That will give you an idea on how to add or subtract weight from set to set. But if you like everything planned out, then here are the official percentages for the 10-8-6-15 program:

First set = 10 reps with 50% of what you’ll use for your set of 6 reps

Second set = 8 reps with 75% of what you’ll use for your set of 6 reps

Third set = 6 reps with as much weight as you can handle for 6 good reps

Fourth set = 15 reps with 35% of what you used for your set of 6 reps

Strength and Physique V1 available on Amazon.com

"It’s an honor being able to contact you via email. Whenever I read one of your writings, I am impressed. I’d like to ask you a question regading shoulder health. Do you think it’s important to balance out vertical pushes (like shoulder presses) with pulls (like pullups) as well as horizontal pushes (like bench press) with pulls (like seated rows or dumbbell rows)?

"In other words: if I do military presses, do I also have to do pulldowns, pullups, or chinups? If I do bench presses, do I also have to do seated rows? I’ve read that this was important to avoid shoulder injuries due to lack of balance (rotator cuff, etc.)."

Thanks for your time, Sir!
-S.C.

My Answer: Yes and no. How’s that for an answer, huh? Anyway, what I mean is that for shoulder stability, yes, you do need to have movements that balance each other out. But it’s not necessarily in the manner that you’re describing. For example, to counterbalance horizontal pushing (bench press), you can perform an equal number of sets and reps on a horizontal pulling movement (cable rows) OR use a deadlift variation. Keeping your shoulders down and retracting them back during the deadlift will help stabilize your shoulders just as much, if not more, than rowing movements.

Do you need to include all four directions of movement to maintain optimal shoulder health? No, you don’t. You could leave out the horizontal pressing and concentrate on the other three movements and your shoulder health would improve quite a bit. So if you did military presses, pull-ups and seated cable rows, but no bench presses, then your shoulder health would be A-OK.

"Do you think 8 sets of 2-3 chinups 3 times a week would be a better alternative to 3 sets of 3 reps done 5 days out of the week? That would mean 24 chinups 3 times a week. If I follow another training routine, like barbell curls 2-3 times a week, I suppose 8×2-3 chinups might be too much."

My Answer: For both size AND strength, that would be a better option. Your first option would be good only for strength.

"I really need some help, I would like to know what you think of my current workout:

Monday: Biceps & Back
-Every set weight is increased by 5.
-EZ Curls 3×8,
-Incline Curls 3×8,
-Preacher Curls 2×8 then a drop set with half the weight and 15 reps. And one more set with more weight.
-Hammer Curls 3×8,

-Lat Pulldowns 3×8,
-Barbell Rows 3×8,
-Cable Rows, 2×8,
-V-bar Pulldowns 3×8

Tuesday: Chest
-Bench Press 5×5 With all one weight,
-Incline Bench Press 5×5 With all one weight,
-Incline Dumbell Press 5×5 With all one weight,
-Dumbell Pullovers 5×5 With all one weight,

Wednesday: Shoulders & Triceps
-Seated Barbell Military Press 5×5 With all one weight,
-Front Raises 5×5 With all one weight,
-Side Raises 5×5 With all one weight,
-Shrugs 5×5 With all one weight,

-Skull Crushers 5×5 With all one weight,
-Triceps Pulldown 5×5 With all one weight,
-Close Grip Bench Press 5×5 With all one weight.

Thursday: Bi’s & Back
-Every set weight is increased by 5
-Dumbell Curls 3×8,
-Hammer Curls 3×8,

-Lat Pulldowns 3×8,
-Barbell Rows 3×8,
-Cable Rows 3×8,
-V-Bar Pulldowns 3×8,

Friday : Chest
-Bench Press 5×5 With one weight,
-Incline Bench Press 5×5 With one weight,
-Incline Chest Flies 5×5 With one weight,
-Flat Bench Flyes 5×5 With one weight,

Saturday: Legs when I have time. Ha-ha, I know it’s bad.

Sunday: Rest

"Once again I apologize if I’m being a nuisance, but I would just like some advice from someone with knowledge. So I would like to know what you think of my workout if you don’t mind. Thank you!"

My Answer: Two things: 1) Work your legs more and 2) dont’ do biceps before back.

"I apologize for asking so many questions, but I just want to make sure I get the most effective workout. It seems that your Hypertrophy Training for Ectomorphs workout doesn’t hit the different areas of each muscle. Like your only hitting one spot of the biceps and one spot of the pectoralis. I’m not insulting what you know. I’m just curious, because it doesn’t seem like this would give me anymore size since I do most of those exercises already.”

-Alessandro Tribbiani

My Answer: If the article didn’t explain everything to you, then don’t do the workout.

"What’s your opinion on the 5×5 training programs? They are very well liked by many. Also, because of tight hamstrings, I like leg presses better than squats. Are leg presses effective? Squats are very useful and build overall strength. Can the same be said about leg presses?  Can arms be trained with the 5×5 method without resting in between? I did hammer curls today that way, and it felt good and didn’t take long:

5 reps with 17 kg
no rest
5 reps with 15 kg
no rest
5 reps with 12 kg
no rest
5 reps with 10 kg
no rest
5 reps with 9 kg

"Is this a good training method to follow for a long time? It gives a good burn and, as I said, is very quick. I have done hammer curls according to this pattern for a month, and it feels OK. If I follow a training program, is it wise to do chin ups 3 sets to failure 5 days a week? I did chinups today 3 sets to failure and I hardly felt any fatigue afterwards. To tell you the truth, chinups don’t seem very effective. I could only take 3 full chinups although my biceps aren’t that bad."

-CS

My Answer: What you’re doing are descending sets, otherwise known as drop sets. It is a very effective training method, but you will either get used to it or burn out on it. It’s best to do it once a week to avoid either stagnating or overtraining.  You can get used to any technique or exercise, no matter how traumatic it may seem at first. This is part of the reason why chin-ups aren’t doing anything for you: you acclimated to the exercise, because you’ve been doing a few sets of it 5 days out of the week. You’re doing small doses of chin-ups (3 sets) spread out across the week.

Plus, chances are you’re doing chin-ups with a narrow underhand grip. That is the second easiest chin-up variation to do. So if you’re doing it that way, then you won’t feel much in the back or biceps. Pull-ups with a wide overhand grip will stress your lats more, but you still won’t feel it in the biceps. Not only this, but if you can only do 3 chin-ups, then your total is so low (3 sets x 3 reps = 9 total reps), that you’re not stressing the lats or biceps much at all.

The 5×5 is a solid program and has been around for a long, long time. Of all the programs floating around in the gym, it is second to the 10-8-6-15 program as far as popularity. But while the 5×5 is solid program by itself, it works even better as a decompression program, which I go over in Strength and Physique V1.

As far as leg presses, it really depends on what your goal is. If you’re an athlete looking to gain real world strength and size, then the leg press won’t do anything for you unless you’re a speed skater. If you’re just concerned about size and nothing else, then the leg press is good choice, even better than the squat.

“Early July I wrote for advice on your Shotgun Method. Now three months later, I must say that I am really amazed with what I achieved thanks to it. I gained about an average of 1.8 kilograms a month since then, and in August and September also lost some body fat while gaining muscle (woot!). I transitioned from basic lifts to Olympic ones. Overall it was a really great experience not only seeing the results but also the fun I had.

“Now, I was wondering if you had any advice on how push it to the next stage or any other programs you can suggest (although I could still pursue this one as I am still getting results). Don’t worry if you have no time to answer. Thanks anyway for the program .”

A bientôt, Alex~

My Answer: Well Alex, if you’re still getting good results from the Shotgun Method, then by all means stick with it until the gains stop. Afterwards, switch to the 3-5 Method as a decompression phase: 3-5 sets, 3-5 reps, 3-5 minutes rest, 3-5 exercises for the whole body, 3-5 days a week.