Starting a new training regimen. Big Beyond Belief

Well as of today i am starting a new training cycle, its called OTS. I got this from a friend of mine at the gym, and he has been on it a while. I can definately see that he is making some good gains, so i thought i would give it a shot.
 
This training originated from Bulgarian training principles from back in the day, (60's and 70's). The reading on how it originated and the principles behind it are very interesting. My favorite part is the motto and approach that these lifters lived by, "The body becomes its function" Take a minute to think that over.
Anywho, The 2 main men in this are Leo Costa Jr and Dr Horine. They have put countless hours into there research, and Costa even went and trained with the Bulgarian Lifters as part of the research.
 
I will be keeping a very detailed log to track my progress on this system, and if anyone would like a copy i have it as an ebook, so let me know and ill email a copy to you.

No food tastes as good as looking good Feels.
"Body Becomes Its Function"

What are the principles behind it? what makes it different than every other program out there?

Well lets see, it seems that it goes against alot of what seems to be the staple of workout programs on this thread.
For instance its not uncommon to be training a bodypart 3 or even 4 times a week. Also, along those same lines Overtraining is a myth, and it doesnt necesarilly take 72 hours for a muscle to recover. It also believes strongly in the fact that constantly changing your routines(aka muscle confusion) maximizes gains.

Also there are 8 important points that are emphasized to meet gains, and each must be met each session:
1.training session length-no more than 45 minutes, bc after this your testosterone and ability to recover take a steep downward spiral.
2.Session Frequency-with proper nutrition you can recover in 2 hours, so with this being said this program allows for you to train anywhere from once a day 4 days a week to twice a day 6 days a week. Some of the most succesfull Bulgarian lifters and Bodybuilders using a regimen along these same principles trained up to 4 or 5 times a day!
3.Body part training frequency-a body part after 72 hours of training is at risk of atrophy, however that does not mean it takes this long to recover, that is why you can train each body part several times a week.
4.Exercise selection-this is a bit more complex part of the book but basically you want to stick with compound movements, something we can all agree on.
5.Rep speed- Slow controlled reps is not the best way. Remember "body becomes its function" The faster a weight is pushed through space the more stress is applied to the muscle/muscles involved. However you still want good form. The rule of thumb, as fast as you can move the weight while still keeping "good" not strict form.
6. Session Volume and Intensity-Volume=weightxrepsxsets Intensity equals the average weight lifted during a session. These two terms often getting very Misused, and confused for there actual meaning. High intensity workouts do not mean you put out more effort or are training harder.
7. Weight and Reps- Example: PL reps tend to be in the 1 to 3 range, as you are aiming for a higher weight on the bar everytime and lifting for power. But in BB you cannot measure your progress by weight on a bar, rather by muscle size. This being said, you will switch between high volume(13-15 reps at beg. of week) to high intensity(8-10 reps by the end of the week).
8.Rest between sets- Just like the number or reps and types of workouts throughout the week will change, so will your rest intervals based on what you are training for.

Those are the basic principles and i prolly didnt explain them to well, but like i said is anyone is interested in reading about the program let me know and ill send you some info.

If you have anymore questions ask away

No food tastes as good as looking good Feels.
"Body Becomes Its Function"

It sounds damn good to me.  Actually, every single one of those 8 points (except part of the 7th one) are my basic training beliefs anyway.  I don't like how it doesn't drop below 8 reps though.  Changing volume and intensity is great, but I think HEAVY WEIGHT, LOW REPS training is VERY important, and shouldn't be neglected.

"True genius, in many fields of human endeavor, is often revealed in elegant simplicity."

- A smart man

Journal: http://www.wannabebigforums.com/showthread.php?t=117358

Well, i have to admit i read nearly the whole intro, on the basis of the principles and its history, but only got to read the first couple of weeks of the actual wokouts. After diving into what weeks 4 on looks like(bri will like this) that there is some very low rep training days, there are actually days where you will go as low as 4-6 reps. 

No food tastes as good as looking good Feels.
"Body Becomes Its Function"

I sent you a PM with my email addy. I would love to read more about this program. Thanks Ryan

it does sound pretty interesting.  I'm sure it would work at adding muscle mass.

http://www.discussbodybuilding.com/Seos-Log-2008-m442008.aspx

Well im starting today, so i guess we'll see lol

No food tastes as good as looking good Feels.
"Body Becomes Its Function"

SEOINAGE


it does sound pretty interesting.  I'm sure it would work at adding muscle mass.

What makes you think that?  If the lifts make you stronger you are going to get bigger by default.  Stronger muscles become larger muscles.  I personally think the whole "lift in this rep range to gain size" is a bunch of BS.

Tired of information overload?  Confused about which plan is the right one for you?  Get yourself out of the dark by going to http://www.fitnessexpose.com/ and learn how to get into the best shape

? Stronger does not always mean bigger. Look at power lifters who are at light weights, they lift huge amounts of weight, but arent always very big. For example leon josaitis, he lifts in the 165 class and has lifts of Bench:480 , Squat:625 and Dead: 500. Yet he's only  165, 175 is the heaviest he has ever been.
Building muscle is all about getting the pump, and maximizing stress on the muscle via several different factors during a session(reps, speed of reps, form,, exercise selection, volume, intensity etc).

To say what you said seems to be a bit ignorant, sorry....
Plus in case you didnt notice the rep range goes anywhere from 4 to 15 reps during a set, so it sounds like its incorporating all ranges and not just a standard, 4-6 range or 10-15 range.

No food tastes as good as looking good Feels.
"Body Becomes Its Function"

Progressive overload (increasing tonnage), increasing volume, and caloric surplus = muscular hypertrophy.

"True genius, in many fields of human endeavor, is often revealed in elegant simplicity."

- A smart man

Journal: http://www.wannabebigforums.com/showthread.php?t=117358

MikeMahony

SEOINAGE


it does sound pretty interesting.  I'm sure it would work at adding muscle mass.

What makes you think that?  If the lifts make you stronger you are going to get bigger by default.  Stronger muscles become larger muscles.  I personally think the whole "lift in this rep range to gain size" is a bunch of BS.

interesting. I would have to disagree.

MikeMahony

SEOINAGE


it does sound pretty interesting.  I'm sure it would work at adding muscle mass.

What makes you think that?  If the lifts make you stronger you are going to get bigger by default.  Stronger muscles become larger muscles.  I personally think the whole "lift in this rep range to gain size" is a bunch of BS.

agree and disagree with your statement.  You can get stronger and gain absoultely no weight at all so i disagree with your first statement.   I agree with the whole rep this being bs though, considering the majority of the people on this site are natural lifters and are not pros the rep range is really irrelevant IMO.  You'll gain size by how much you eat.

thanks for the info Mon3yman, good read. I to am going to give this program a shot once I figure it out completely. I stayed up late last night and read through the entire thing. I have always felt like my rest period between lifting the same body part was to long. I have always done workouts like Max-OT and "truth about muscle gain" both programs only hit each muscle group one time per week. Anyways maybe I need to go back and read the workouts again because they lost me a little bit. I am going to do the once per day 6 days per week routine and see where I get after 18 weeks. What I didn't understand it on the workout it just says in general (4) back or (4) thighs.....what does this mean? It says that they are sets. Do you just choose 4 sets of different lifts? One lift, 4 sets? I assume thighs means both quads and hams......IF you can shed any light on this let me know. Thanks again for the info.

pm'd you.

brihead301


It sounds damn good to me.  Actually, every single one of those 8 points (except part of the 7th one) are my basic training beliefs anyway.  I don't like how it doesn't drop below 8 reps though.  Changing volume and intensity is great, but I think HEAVY WEIGHT, LOW REPS training is VERY important, and shouldn't be neglected.

Agreed.  There's no small people that pull over 400 pounds.

President of the Emancipation Detoxification. DBB's oldest forum group, punching baby seals since 2/12/08

randerson0398


thanks for the info Mon3yman, good read. I to am going to give this program a shot once I figure it out completely. I stayed up late last night and read through the entire thing. I have always felt like my rest period between lifting the same body part was to long. I have always done workouts like Max-OT and "truth about muscle gain" both programs only hit each muscle group one time per week. Anyways maybe I need to go back and read the workouts again because they lost me a little bit. I am going to do the once per day 6 days per week routine and see where I get after 18 weeks. What I didn't understand it on the workout it just says in general (4) back or (4) thighs.....what does this mean? It says that they are sets. Do you just choose 4 sets of different lifts? One lift, 4 sets? I assume thighs means both quads and hams......IF you can shed any light on this let me know. Thanks again for the info.

When you see the number in parenthasees, that is reffering to the number of sets you would do for 1 lift. For example, if it says (3) chest, mine the other day would have been 3 sets of BB Bench.  You are NOT doing 3 diff. exercises. lol
Are you going to be starting up a journal on here to track your workouts so the rest of us can criticize the hell out of em??? lol jk. But you should do a journal if you dont already have one.

No food tastes as good as looking good Feels.
"Body Becomes Its Function"

yes, I will track what I do. I have always logged all my sessions so that I can track progress. I'll be sure to post them so you can laugh at me........Ok, just to clarify before I get started on this program. I think that I wasn't quite clear with my question. Let me try again. For example the program says (4) thighs. Would that be four total sets of a combination of different lifts. (2) squat, (1) lunge, (1) SLD or would it be just (4) squat? If I am hitting my (4) chest on Monday and choose bb bench press would I switch on Wed to (4) chest and use a different exercise ( incline DB ) Thanks in advance.

I haven't had the opportunity to go back and re-read any of the program yet

OK the (4) thighs Ex. would be 4 sets of squats or 4 sets of leg press. Its not different exercises.
As for the chest example you could do bench one day and then you could do incline the other day or you could do bench on both days. Its up to you.

No food tastes as good as looking good Feels.
"Body Becomes Its Function"

I have sent you a massage,please check it.

I've Pm'ed you also

Starting a new training regimen. Big Beyond Belief

And I don't care if you've been lifting for years, or are just starting out! ..... At first, people talked a lot of crap about my new training. But in the last 8 months I've ... "Big Beyond Belief" only $49.00 plus shipping and handling ..

M0n3yman


? Stronger does not always mean bigger. Look at power lifters who are at light weights, they lift huge amounts of weight, but arent always very big. For example leon josaitis, he lifts in the 165 class and has lifts of Bench:480 , Squat:625 and Dead: 500. Yet he's only  165, 175 is the heaviest he has ever been.
Building muscle is all about getting the pump, and maximizing stress on the muscle via several different factors during a session(reps, speed of reps, form,, exercise selection, volume, intensity etc).

To say what you said seems to be a bit ignorant, sorry....
Plus in case you didnt notice the rep range goes anywhere from 4 to 15 reps during a set, so it sounds like its incorporating all ranges and not just a standard, 4-6 range or 10-15 range.

Alrighty then, here's a quotation from Chris Aceto on the topic of strength and size:
 
"Here's the formula: More strength equals more tension on the muscle equals more growth." -- Chris Aceto
 
So you must also think Chris Aceto is "a bit ignorant" as well, huh?  I mean, hey, he has only been a consultant to Jay Cutler when he won Mr. Olympia two years in a row.  He mustn't know what he's talking about, or does he?
 
You see, you used powerlifters as an example, but that's a poor example because they lift with just 2 or 3 reps, which doesn't keep the muscles under tension long enough. 
 
I will repeat:  Increase your strength (as a bodybuilder) and you increase your size.  The formula works.  Give it a try!

Tired of information overload?  Confused about which plan is the right one for you?  Get yourself out of the dark by going to http://www.fitnessexpose.com/ and learn how to get into the best shape

MikeMahony

M0n3yman


? Stronger does not always mean bigger. Look at power lifters who are at light weights, they lift huge amounts of weight, but arent always very big. For example leon josaitis, he lifts in the 165 class and has lifts of Bench:480 , Squat:625 and Dead: 500. Yet he's only  165, 175 is the heaviest he has ever been.
Building muscle is all about getting the pump, and maximizing stress on the muscle via several different factors during a session(reps, speed of reps, form,, exercise selection, volume, intensity etc).

To say what you said seems to be a bit ignorant, sorry....
Plus in case you didnt notice the rep range goes anywhere from 4 to 15 reps during a set, so it sounds like its incorporating all ranges and not just a standard, 4-6 range or 10-15 range.

Alrighty then, here's a quotation from Chris Aceto on the topic of strength and size:
 
"Here's the formula: More strength equals more tension on the muscle equals more growth." -- Chris Aceto
 
So you must also think Chris Aceto is "a bit ignorant" as well, huh?  I mean, hey, he has only been a consultant to Jay Cutler when he won Mr. Olympia two years in a row.  He mustn't know what he's talking about, or does he?
 
You see, you used powerlifters as an example, but that's a poor example because they lift with just 2 or 3 reps, which doesn't keep the muscles under tension long enough. 
 
I will repeat:  Increase your strength (as a bodybuilder) and you increase your size.  The formula works.  Give it a try!

X4!!!!!

Mahony makes a really good point. the only people really increasing strength w/o increasing their overall size would be the elite powerlifters and those who perform olympic lifts which have a very short amount of TUT (time under tension) for the muscles which will not correlate to size gains but it canhelp tremendously with explosive strength.

most of the time those doing olympic lifts dont perform the eccentric part of the lift lessening the TUT even greater.

for the average person in the gym increase in strength = increase in size

Current: 19, 5'11", 190@7%

bench:305 squat:370(atg) deadlift:475
Goals: 4plate squat, 5plate dead

"obsessed is a word the lazy use to describe the dedicated"

MikeMahony

SEOINAGE


it does sound pretty interesting.  I'm sure it would work at adding muscle mass.

What makes you think that?  If the lifts make you stronger you are going to get bigger by default.  Stronger muscles become larger muscles.  I personally think the whole "lift in this rep range to gain size" is a bunch of BS.

lol...what?

Explain then how ive put 90 lbs on my squat while losing 20 lbs. and gaining no muscle.

working on explosive phase
vertical: 35
weight: 206

Big 3: 300/440/515

Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.

Getting stronger doesn't mean you're required to grow.

There's a variety of people joining forums complaining because they've gotten so much stronger yet it's not showing in the mirror.

"Strength training" isn't always "hypertrophy training".

Can you gain hypertrophy while strength training? Yes.

What does hypertrophy specific training consist of? It's about 80% nutrition.

Power lifters would look much better if they'd go through a cutting phase, you'll find when the small amounts of big powerlifters cut they come out with a nice physique. Then again, they don't care about the look - just the amount of force they can generate in the bench press, squat and deadlift.

If you wouldn't count calories and lift heavy, you would of course get stronger...but your body wouldn't have anything new to produce muscle with. So instead of producing more muscle, your body will learn to use the muscle it has more efficiently, as I stated in another thread a lightweight powerlifter is a sterling example.

People can get stronger in a calorie deficit pretty easy, are you suggesting they're all burning fat and building muscle at the same time? No, they're not.

Stronger doesn't mean bigger - if this were the case there wouldn't be two types of hypertrophy.

Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy --- increase in size of muscle tissue with no compromise of strength increments.

Myofibrillar hypertrophy --- specific strength increments without compromise of a significant amount of size. 

ACE-CPT, NASM-CPT, AFPA-Nutrition Consultant 

Im an example of stronger does not mean bigger. When I was 23 or so, I had been lifting for about 8 years. In that particular year, my bench increased to about 1.8 times my body weight. I was 143 at the time. I had been 143 for the past 3 to 4 years. I gained a lot of strength overall as well, but stayed 143 and not real big. When I think about what I ate back then, Im suprised I managed to even get to 143. I ate like a bird compared to what I should have, and I did not take any supplements at all. Not even protien.

Let me bring this back to life. I have been reading up and apparently this program is amazing.

I haven't seen money in a while, but does anyone have the program so I can use it?

Well, seeing as no one had it, I bought the e book.

I also researched over at t-nation of people who are and have used it.

Folks, this program is ridiculously hard but extremely rewarding. One of the two recommended diet to do is the anabolic diet. A guy on the forums at t nation is using the anabolic diet and he has gained 22 pounds in about 4 weeks. That, and he hasn't gotten fatter, according to him. He was at one time squatting low numbers to now he is squatting 308 for 13-15 reps. There is a video to prove it.

This may be the answer to our prayers.

An increasement in strength is due to greater stimulation of the muscle fibers by the respective motor neurons which as a whole makes a motor unit. An increase in strength is therefore through increased neurological control and does not necessarily mean an increase in size although this may be the case if more muscle fibers are being recruited to be torn. However if a caloric surplus is not there it isn't going to happen regardless although an increasement in strength is still possible.