new to BB, lot's of questions

[hioctane]

Good day Everybody,

First post and a long one

I was trying to gain weight for last few years but without much success so far.

Current stats: 34 yo male, 6ft tall, weight 170lbs
Target for this year: 185lbs.

The only thing which worked for me was simple 8 week cycle of benchpress & deadlift.
5 sets x 8 reps, starting with ~60% of actual max weight at the beginning of the cycle and then adding 10 lbs each week until desired (projected) weight reached.
Once/if projected weight reached add 10lbs and repeat cycle.
Two workouts per week – benchpress & pulldown Monday and deadlift & donkey kick Friday.

Using cycle above I was able to gain 11lbs (stable weight gain) during last year, weight went few times up to 15lbs but did not stay long like that.

Diet:
Trying to eat 3 good meals a day with protein shakes early morning and before going to bed and few snacks in the middle of the day.
Probably around 3500 calories.

Supplements:
- Designer Whey Protein (2 scoops morning & 2 scoops evening) total ~ 72 gr of proteins
- UNIVERSAL NUTRITION Animal Pak
- Amino Acids (10 grams 30mins before and 10 grams right after training)

Sleep is a sore spot, I lucky if I can get 8+ hours (we have small kids) but 7 hours or so is normal.

I heard about ecdy on russian BB forums and going to try ThermoLife E-BOL this time, and also found this site thru the link on ThermoLife forums.

Here's my questions (finally):
1) Can I continue with my sets and reps cycle or I have to adapt 1RM approach?
1RM will be very hard (if possible) to do for me as I'm working out alone.

2) Do I need to add different exercises vs ones I'm doing now?
I noticed that I can do properly only one or max two exercises per training, anything above that will be with degraded technique and eventually with zero results.

3) I was thinking about doing 5 days famine phase using 50% of my current max weights, and then start at 70% and follow the same routine during feast phase following 80% for maint. phase.

My current benchpress is 135 lbs 5x6, deadlift 195 lbs 5x8.
I would like to benchpress 135 lbs 5x8 & deadlift 215 lbs 5x8 by the end of this cycle and perhaps benchpress my own weight (whatever it will be) by the end of the year 5x8 (that will be really nice).

I'm trying to figure out all this so I can start next week with Blueprint.

Any suggestion and comments are welcome!

Thank you!

[RobRegish]

Welcome aboard...

You have discovered the wonders of linear periodization and progressive overload. The latter is a fundamental requirement of setting musce growth into motion and the "trigger" that is responsible for your weight gain. It is responsible for finally unlocking your gains. If you liked that, you'll love what The Blueprint Periodic For Strength Athletes can do for you.

Highly recommended then, that you follow that strategy as laid out. Fire away with any questions that you may have and we're here to support you!

[BrainSquirt]

hioctane,

Welcome to BP. I’ll take a stab at your questions and Rob can correct and add more if needed.
Starting with
“2) Do I need to add different exercises vs ones I'm doing now?” In the Famine phase, imo, it’s best to really shift off your regular routines AND off what typically ‘works’ for you.
With weights, this means, going lighter (50% is ok), increasing the frequency of workouts, increasing the number of reps and sets, and progressively decreasing the recovery time between sets, (and also I get good results working multiple parts of body I don’t usually work), while simultaneously malnourishing yourself (to near death ) – essentially depleting your ‘pathways’ and setting the system into ‘alarm’ mode.

re “1) Can I continue with my sets and reps cycle or I have to adapt 1RM approach? ”
IRM approach is not a necessity. It is just an excellent way to calibrate. The main thing in the Feast phase is to go close to the opposite of Famine phase = going HEAVY, decrease the number of reps and sets, decrease the frequency of workouts, provide plenty of recovery time between sets, and focus on very few ( even one) lift, while simultaneously eating (and supplementing) yourself (to near death ) So, back to your “add different exercises vs ones I'm doing now” question – in Feast, those two are fine, especially if you have confidence in them.

re: “1RM will be very hard (if possible) to do for me as I'm working out alone.” Been there! Here’s an idea. I built a low safety rack with 4X4’s and pipes for doing solo bench press work. Used it from the time I got out of the club and until I got a rack. Generally, lifting closer to your 1RM with fewer reps and sets in Feast will help with putting on the pounds.

re: “3) following 80% for maint. phase. ” First pass on BP try changing it all up again in Maint. Let the group(s) you worked on in Feast know you haven’t forgotten them, but consider placing your emphasis on overall fitness and core and stabilizing your gains. I think Rob has referred to Maint as ‘letting it set’ .

Everyone has different tendencies and experiences so other’s should chime in if they have a different perspective here. That said – The first time you do BP cycle, I would suggest you place most of your attention on fine tuning the dietary component. Precision with overall intake and timing in both Famine and Feast - attuned to what is happening each day – is far more important than precision in lifting protocols. After you get some competence with the overall dietary part of the BP, then fine tune the progressions and protocols, etc. I think you'll find this produces the best long term results...

Hope this helps...

What time of day are you lifing?

[hioctane]

Rob & Brian,

Thank you for reply!

re: “1RM will be very hard (if possible) to do for me as I'm working out alone.” Been there! Here’s an idea. I built a low safety rack with 4X4’s and pipes for doing solo bench press work. Used it from the time I got out of the club and until I got a rack. Generally, lifting closer to your 1RM with fewer reps and sets in Feast will help with putting on the pounds.

I'm working out at the club and they do have rack, not sure if it can be used for benchpress but it is a good idea to try!

What time of day are you lifing?

Around 11AM usually.

[RobRegish]

Brain, you are the best.

Solid suggestions here. You are the McGuyver of lifting!

[hioctane]

Rob & Brain,

Thank you for answering my questions!

I finally into 4th day of the feast phase and tried to get 1rm in deadlift and benchpress today to calculate weights for next "6 session super load".

Problem #1:
After famine phase I feel rather weak, while initial 3 days loading helped I still feel that 1rm that I got today is a bit off.
Which is probably fine and can be corrected the end of this month during final session where I can push for more if I feel like it.

Problem #2:
Assuming 6 super load sessions/workouts required for deadlift & benchpress and they should be done in different days I need to find a way how to fit these 12 workouts into remaining 25 days of feast phase.
Two workouts per week (one for deadlift and another for benchpress) not going to cut it as it gives only 8 workouts total.
Even if I'm going with 3 workouts during first 2 weeks (while weights relatively low) and then 2 in the remaining 2 weeks it is still only gives 10 workouts total.
So far it looks like the only way to get there is 3 workouts a week for next 4 weeks.
Which is totally against Rob’s advice (decreasing number of workouts during feast).

Any ideas?

Thank you!

[RobRegish]

Hi Hioctane...

Appreciate you keeping us up to date. Do you have BP 2.0? If so, did you do the 5 workout protocol in the Famine or the 3? That'll help a bit in walking you through this. Also, any notes on how much weight you lost etc will also be of value.

In BP 2.0 I detail the all new training strategy for Feast. Briefly, we noticed what you're noticing now....delayed traction coming off of the famine and a bit weaker for the 1RM test.

To remedy this, BP 2.0 recommends a 1 set to absolute muscular failure approach (5 workouts) leading into your 1RM and THEN slide into the German program. This is found starting on page 13 of BP 2.0.

You're early enough in the process to do this so no worries. Please PM me your real name and I'll get BP 2.0 out to you right away.

Don't worry, once you get on track you'll be like everyone else here... minimum gains of 6-10lbs of LBM over the next 6 weeks!

[RobRegish]

And your bench press/deadlift sessions need not be separated on different days. Some do, some don't. If you do incorporate on the same day best to bench press first and then deadlift, as the DL takes a LOT out of you as I'm sure you know.

The workout frequency template is a suggestion. We all recover at different rates. For example, at 40 I recover a lot slower than I did at 20 so I need to take that into consideration. Feast should really be looked at as a total time period within which to get the required # of workouts.

I'd recommend looking at a full 6 weeks. Assuming 5 workouts HIT style plus 12 workouts for separate BP/DL sessions (longest cycle), that means you could conceivably train in a one on/two off format or one workout every 2.47 days.

17 workouts * 2.47 days = 42 days

[hioctane]

Rob,

Thank you for your answers.

Appreciate you keeping us up to date. Do you have BP 2.0? If so, did you do the 5 workout protocol in the Famine or the 3?

Looks like I have older version (pdf creation date is 2/2009).

That'll help a bit in walking you through this. Also, any notes on how much weight you lost etc will also be of value.

Around 5 lbs (from 170 to 165).

You're early enough in the process to do this so no worries. Please PM me your real name and I'll get BP 2.0 out to you right away.

PM sent

I'd recommend looking at a full 6 weeks.

What about suggested famine phase of not more than 28 days?
Am I missing something here?

For now I'll stick with two heavy workouts/week – benchpress & deadlift each workout. This is very aggressive for me as in the past I used to split legs/arms workouts but I'll give it a shot.
Hope BCCA will help here.

[BrainSquirt]

hioctance,

re: "RobRegish wrote:
I'd recommend looking at a full 6 weeks. "

Rob may have a specific (to you or to protocol) reason for 6 weeks and if so he’ll clear it up. In the meantime, a couple of general guidelines with Feast duration. One, and most important, your body will tell you when it’s done. You’ll back off the feasting naturally, the gains will level off, etc. and you’ll just know. Ideally we could just keep going, but that not the way life works – even for obsessed roid freaks. Remember, lifters are already pushing and pulling more than most humans ever do and to go to further extremes will at best not produce the gains you had envisioned and at worst, put you at high risk for injury. Plus, we don’t come to inertia / dead stop in Maint phase. Instead, look simply to working not so close to extremes and focus more on developing in areas that are less developed.

In my learning across the BP cycles I have run now, I’ve concluded it is long term best for me to ‘retire at the top’ of each Feast phase, instead of taking the ‘over the hill, declining and getting cut’ approach. In those moments it’s a tough functional choice to end the phase when things are going and feeling so good - so I’m learning to always plan out and schedule the last 3 or 4 workouts of the phase very carefully and finish very deliberately and strong…

hth

[askmass]

Looks like I have older version (pdf creation date is 2/2009).

Not sure when you purchased, but Rob is out of the loop this week on west coast business.

If you'll pop me an email request to askmass@bodybuildingsupplements.com and reference this thread I'll attach a copy of the new version for you, to cover for Rob in his absence.

Put "John" anywhere in the subject line and it will auto route to my box instead of the general and speed things up.

Welcome to the forums, by the way!