MDA recently pointed me in the direction of the All Star Trainer's Secrets, how to lose the most fat and gain the most muscle in thirty days e-book, volume 1 and 2. I wrote a little review about it here- And some of the stuff in there sounded interesting enough to try, so I figured I'd keep a journal to track my progress.
Basically speaking, the book poses the question- How would you lose the most fat, and gain the most muscle in only thirty days- A whole bunch of experts threw their detailed two cents in, coming up with all sorts of ideas, workout and diet plans to best reach this goal. Seeing as the norm is cutting and bulking cycles being the most efficient way to get the bodies we want, I figured I'd give one of the methods a shot and see just how far I can get chasing both goals at once- So, the man who MDA recently called the "Max OT OG" is giving up that program for the next thirty days and placing his body in the hands of Pete Sisco's Static Contraction Training program. I'll be lifting heavier than I ever thought possible in what sounds like a very intense program- When I get started next week.
See, something most of the experts agreed on was this- Take a week off before starting any of these programs if you've already been working out. So, that's what I'm doing this week- Eating as always, but no lifting- I want my body to be fully rested and receptive to this program, and it sounds like I'm going to need the rest anyway.
I'll also have some before pics up later this week, just to watch my progress- This is going to be a tricky journal to keep, since I want it to be accurate, but I also don't want to get myself or anyone else in trouble for giving away the program- I'll figure something out.
Anyway, if it sounds interesting to you, stay tuned.

OMG...

Yeah I'm gonna follow this. I did not do that program either. Looked hella interesting.

Day one-
Started a little late this week 'cos life got in the way. Just as well though- On Monday and Tuesday, I didn't really feel like working out anyway- Not one bit. I took it as my body letting me know that it enjoyed last week off, and wasn't quite ready to get back to work. Today, however, was a different story-
I won't go into a whole breakdown of my meals for this program, but I'm taking in about 3250 calories a day, nice clean bulking food- Only one protein shake, post workout with a banana.

On to the workout that kicked my ass.
Today was chest, triceps and lats apparently- According to Mr. Sisco, anyway- Just three exercises, one per muscle group.
I warmed up with about fifteen minutes on the stairmaster we have at work, then did twelve partial bench presses- Upper portion of the movement only, using 180 pounds. Then on to the actual lift- Just one set, one VERY partial rep, if I'm reading the program right- Here's the kicker though. I won't go into how you come up with the amount of weight you should lift, since as I mentioned in the top entry here I'm not interested in giving away the whole e-book or anything, but I will tell you I put 380 pounds on the bar for this lift- And that was being conservative. Today was the first time I've ever loaded that sort of weight for any form of chest work, so I wasn't taking any chances by going all out- Plus, I had three reliable spotters, all of whom thought I was nuts for working out like this.
Basically, once you get a monster amount of weight on the bar, you unrack it, but stop a couple of inches short of locking out your arms- This way, your muscles have to work to keep the weight right there- If you lock out, your bones will support the weight instead of your muscles. You have to hold this weight in this position for five to ten seconds- Not easy. I think I might have been able to handle it for longer, but I decided again to play it safe and stop at eight seconds- My chest and triceps were screaming at me anyway, which didn't help- I didn't feel too much in my shoulders, but I'm sure they got their fair share of work here too.
Next up, close grip bench press. Same sort of warmup, ten or so partial reps in the upper portion of the movement, light weight. Again, loaded the bar with a weight I could never do a full rep with, and brought the bar within a couple of inches of locking out. WOW. Triceps really felt this one- At seven seconds, I felt myself trying to change the angle in my arms to take some of the stress off the tri's, and that's when I decided to have my spotters help me re-rack the bar. It was poor form.
Lastly, lats- Lat pulldowns, the easiest of today's lifts, only because there was no fear of dropping the weights on myself. I warmed up as prescribed, loaded up the insane amount of weight, and pulled the bar down a couple of inches- I actually had to have one spotter lay across my knees so that we outweighed the amount of weight I was trying to pull, otherwise I was just doing pullups at the lat station.
How did I feel afterwards? Strong as hell. Not pumped, no burn, not sure if I'll be sore tomorrow or not- (We all know I don't believe those things have anything to do with growth anyway, but figured I'd mention the absence of those things for those of you who are curious) But I did feel pretty damn strong, even if it was just a mental thing- I had never handled that sort of weight on those exercises before, and even though they were nowhere near a full rep, my muscles did support it- Which amazed me. I can't wait to see what sort of gains this type of workout will bring in thirty days.

Days 2 and 3-
Cardio only- I did thirty minutes on a stairmaster yesterday, and 45 minutes today- Really kicked my ass, since I'm not big on cardio at all. I hit the weights again tomorrow though- Not much to report on the last couple of days, except that I felt no real soreness from day one's workout.

Me want more!

Sorry about the lapses in posts- I'm definitely not the best at keeping a workout log.
Anyway, day 4 was another lifting day- Leg presses, toe raises, and barbell shrugs- Same principles as above. Load up an insane amount of weight, and hold it just below (Or above, when doing shrugs) the lockout position. Five to ten seconds, for just one rep after a warmup- This day kicked my butt good. I've never even done toe raises before with a leg press machine, so it was totally new to me- And to start doing an exercise in this manner for the first time- Well, I definitely wouldn't reccomend it. I did skimp on the amount of weight I used for this one for just that reason- But still felt it was challenging.
So- Day one and day four were lifting days, right? Guess what- That's it for lifting. Day one was workout A, and day four was workout B. After day four, I did two days of cardio, about 40 minutes each day- The rule is, 30 to 60 minutes of cardio on those days. Later on, you're supposed to go for longer, which is great for me, since I haven't been doing much cardio at all for the past couple of years. So, you're doing workout A one day, two days of cardio, then workout B, then two days of cardio, then workout A again, and so on- A little later, you'll be doing three days of cardio in between each workout- And if your lifts aren't increasing, you have to add another two days in between each workout. Definitely not your average routine if you ask me- But that's the whole reason I decided to give this a shot. This entire e-book has plenty of great routines, some of which I will probably try a little later on- But this workout really got me interested. I want to see how this form of training works, even though there are definitely a couple of points I'm sure people will be curious about- Most notably-
I'm only working out my lats, chest, triceps, legs and traps directly. How will the rest of my body respond? Will the secondary work my other muscles get be enough to promote strength and size gains?
Instead of asking the question on the forum, I'm going to answer it for myself.