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I'm 24, and have been lifting since Jr High football at age 12. I've made decent gains. wouldn't say that I think I've reached my final potential as I still seem to make gains. That being said, I may be nearing it. The largest man in my family is 6' and 170lbs, but I'm 6'3" and 240. I kept reading about the Blueprint on bodybuildingsupplements.com and finally figured I needed to know what it was all about.
I started training with a very high volume approach similar to bodybuilders of the 60's. It worked well enough, but in mid highschool I went through a lazy period and actually seemed to get better gains with slightly less volume. I took a little over a year off in college and when I went back I just didn't have time to train for 2+ hours 6 days per week. I then found that I was gaining ever better with even less volume. I did however, find that for me, I do not gain strength well if I do not hit the same lift twice per week, so I still hit the gym 4 or 6 days depending on the split. I just try to keep the time in the gym to a minimum. My current goal is to add as much strength as possible with little to no bodyfat. I'm not terribly worried about mass at the moment, but a little more on the arms wouldn't hurt my feelings. There isn't a lot about fat loss in the blueprint, but that would be of interest some time around Feb or so.

All welcome Billton!

You've got the right program in hand for strength gains, that's for sure. On the fat mitigation, that's a snap either with the descending caloric spiral outlined in The BP OR the zig zage method outlined below:

First 3 days 120% of maintenance calorie intake

Remainder of first 2 weeks: 120% on training days, 100% on off days
Next 2 weeks: 100% on training days, 90% on off days
Final 2 weeks: 100% on training days, 70-80% on off days, depending upon how much fat needs to be lost.

In reality, you have up to 3 weeks in Cruise to get it off, but I favor that period more for norming vs. any aggressive fat loss.

Hope that helps!

In this first run I'm not concerned with loosing, just maintaining the best I can. I'm at 17.6 by bio-electrical impedence, and that's okay for winter. I would like to be sub 12 by march or april. What would you recommend for maintaining durning my first Blueprint run?

Tough call on calories as we're all different.

I like to keep track of daily calories over a week's time. Divide by 7 at the end. Assuming your scale weight is within a pound or so as when you started, presto - there's your magic maintenance #

I'm on day four of my famine(I had already taken almost two weeks off when I purchased BP, and I got a waking F/S/S). I had a question regarding the strength periodic, and when to start it. I'm confused about how many days I take to begin working out after the famine phase. Then, about the periodic, how many lifts is it designed to handle? I was thinking Bench, Clean and Press, Squat, Deadlift. Is there any reason that would certainly be too much?

Great questions.

First, do take care going into workout #3. If you at all feel sick, off or just "not right" - discontinue. Health first, always!

Next, you take 3 days off entirely just to sleep and eat before commencing your 5 workout bridge into the Periodic.

Once we establish your 1RM's in 2 big lifts, (suggest BP and SQ) I'll take it from there.

Have fun with it and remember... one week at a time. Best for focus, execution and keeping everything straight. I'll take care of the rest!

Great questions.

First, do take care going into workout #3. If you at all feel sick, off or just "not right" - discontinue. Health first, always!

Next, you take 3 days off entirely just to sleep and eat before commencing your 5 workout bridge into the Periodic.

Once we establish your 1RM's in 2 big lifts, (suggest BP and SQ) I'll take it from there.

Have fun with it and remember... one week at a time. Best for focus, execution and keeping everything straight. I'll take care of the rest!

I noticed that you said you had folks working out everyday in Blueprint 1.0, and since I typically workout six days per week and have done pretty high volume, I just hit it everyday, and did an upper/lower split cutting down rest periods in the following manner. 3:00, 2:00, 1:30, 1:00, and tomorrow :30. I haven't hit the gym yet today. I have a bench and squat max from 6 weeks ago. I worked out three weeks, got sick for a week, took the next week off even though I was well, and now famine this week. Should we use those numbers or get new ones?

You definately want new ones and you DEFINATELY want to start inserting some rest days in there (or at least consider it).

The frequent colds/sickness are a sign. A rather obvious sign your body is protesting the volume/frequency. I appreciate your enthusiasm don't get me wrong, but I also know how to read the tea leaves...

You will benefit greatly from some additional recovery time. I wish I had my youth back

I'll get some new ones then, and certainly consider dropping the frequency. A big part of the frequency is based on two things. One, I try to keep my gym time under an hour a day, so I try not to cram too much into one workout anymore. And two, I haven't been able to build strength in the past without hitting a lift at least twice per week. When I drop to once per week I tend to stall out, and if I go 10 days or more I seem to go backward. On the first part of the periodic I was looking at doing an upper lower split and doing four workouts per week. Unfortunately, due to my schedule, it would be MTWT. I would have preferred MTTF. I don't know how I feel about three days off in a row. I may consider some LIGHT work for 15 minutes or so on Friday or Saterday. What do you think?

That makes sense. Schedules are schedules, so do your best.

I know that's cliche, but its the truth. You sound like you're prioritizing correctly so I have no worries. The one thing that will really help here is that intra-workout drink I outline in BP. If you're not already on that, I'd get on it right quick.

Will GREATLY enhance your recovery from these very intense sessions!

Sounds good. I was planned on getting some BCAA's. I have never used an intra-workout drink. So, during the first three days of the feast do you recommend BCAA's? Thanks!

Generally no, unless you're using BCAA protocol #1.

Otherwise, use protocol #2. Easier on the wallet too for us cheap folk

Day 1 of the famine: Waking HR 55 bpm, weight 241lbs, BF% 17.6%.

Day 1 of the feast: Waking HR 65 bpm, weight 236lbs, BF not checked.