Random Reflections

We all know the type. They spend 10 hours/week or more in the gym but couldn’t bother to spend 30min/week doing their research. Now if they are to pathetic and hopeless to do a little research every week you know they are nowhere near the type to log calories and keep a training journal…e.c.t. So its the most idiotic situation imaginable….waste 100’s of hours in the gym because you couldn’t bother to spend 1hr doing your research.

So of course they go nowhere and many quit.

But there is this special tragic idiocy that actually drives me a little mad. Its the type who blame their body type. We’ve all heard it…"I’m an ectomorph, I can’t gain weight," I’m a "hard gainer," ect. ect. "I’m and endomorph..I’ll always be chubby"

So these individuals can go on for years spinning their wheels and making no or very little progress but they never actually admit to themselves that they are hopeless and that they need to go back to the drawing board. Rather they just keep repeating the same old paradigm to themselves…"I’m a hard gainer, I’m an ectomorph," "I can’t get a six-pack, I’m an endomorph," ect.

One other situation that bugs me at least as much…..The old "look how big he is…he must be on steroids" line. I really hate that one. Just because you’re too inept to get it done properly does not mean that everybody else is just as inept and therefore the only explanation for their success must be the roids. This seems to be the favorite alternate excuse..but it’s all the same mindset.

So the tragedy is that if they simply never got those pathetic excuses in their heads, they could have saved themselves years of training and just done something useful with their time. Or maybe the ones with strong character and some brains would finally have started doing their research and logging their efforts. 

Me, I’m an endomorph, but I will have a six pack, I will reach single digit body fat, and I’ll get it done this year!

Yesterday was my first day on a full body 10X3 (30 rep/set range) Chad Waterbury workout. I’ve believed strongly in frequency principle for awhile now. Over a year ago I noticed my chin-ups never went up faster than the time I just did a few sets 3 X per week. Then I noticed an article on T-nation showing that if one does the same volume over the week but split into 2-3 session/week rather than all in one (i.e. 5 sets bench press, 5 sets incline dumbbell, 5 sets dips in three separate days rather than 1 day) they grow 2-3 times faster in strength and size.

This reasoning led me to believe in DC training style, which I have been avidly educating myself in for several months now. My results have been mediocre and I know why (1) I’m still on a calorie deficit more often than not as I’m trying to get below 10% bf. (2) I’ve only been training for 1 year and all the reading on DC I’ve done has indicated DC is only for those with multiple years of full time training under their belt and who have reached a plateau. Still I stick with it for 3 whole months because as a rule that is the MINIMUM time to be on any one program….frequent shifting is a recipe for disaster.

Then I come across Chad’s training routines and principles and I see the truth in it right away. The fact that he’s worked out the optimal set/rep range, load, rest period, frequency for maximal strength gain, hypertrophy, fat loss by working with countless clients is invaluable information. Also like DC very little emphasis on isolation moves and nearly 100% compound exercises.

But the full body routine is the perfect solution to allow up to 4 training sessions per muscle per week. Theoretically this means 4 stimulation’s for growth per week rather than 1/week (with high volume) or 1-2/week with a DC 2-way split. I can see how I will plateau eventually with this training and I think by then I will be perfectly prepared for another round of DC style training.

Right now I’m restricting my calories more than ever and so will strictly adhere to Chad’s 10 X 3 for fat loss. 30 set/rep range, at 75% 1RM load, 45-75s breaks, 2X weekly. I will stick to this for 8 weeks hopefully dropping 5%bf. Then I will use his max hypertrophy (24-50 set/rep range, 60-90s breaks, 80-90% 1RM, 3-4X week)!!!! I think I will grow muscle like never before when I start this around mid February.

When I think back on the volume training I was doing for the first 8 months of this year (15 sets for chest …all to failure with forced reps, drop setting, negatives…e.c.t.) it makes me sick to think of how over trained I was.

The most important message….knowledge is power. Bodybuilder who do not constantly read are doomed to failure. I always take 100% responsibility. This combined with detailed logging of workouts, diet, and results and success is guaranteed.