Someone asked me a few questions by email, that forced me to write down, what I consider " the basics" in terms of training, diet, and supplementation.

So here it is, for your perusement, or bemusement.

Training:

- work 2 bodyparts (BP) per day in a thre day split, something like this:

Day 1: Chest (10) and Tris (8)
Day 2: Back (12) Bis (8)
Day 3: SHoulders (10) Legs (12)
Off
repeat

The number in parens, is the total number of WORKING sets. In other
words, do three exercises for each BP but do the total number of sets
indicated.

Whats a working set? After sufficient warm up (blood pumped into muscles
and joints lubricated), then you count sets. I may do 5 warm ups before I
do a working set. Then a working set is a weight that you will fail with
in the 6-10 rep range. Alwasy go to failure and if you are getting more
than 10, its too light, less than 6 and its too heavy.

Diet:

- you need at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. If you are
trying to grow, I recommend 1.5 grams. In other words, EAT! CHicken,
fish, beef, eggs, protein shakes, tuna, eat.

- Get plenty of fruits and veggies and fibrous carbs, and eliminate sugars
and refined carbs.

- Get plenty of EFAs (eesential fatty acids). Peanuts, fish oil, SesaThin, flax
oil, olive oil, red meat, egg yolks.

- 1 gallon of water a day, minimum.


Basic Supplementation:

Post workout shake: 40-50 grams of whey protein (this is essential); you
can throw in between 50-100 grams of dextrose and 5-10 grams of creatine
to spice it up, but the whey is essential.

Fish oil -- 5-15 grams per day.

SesaThin -- this lignan is essential for general health and very beneficial for losing fat/or keeping it off. It is also an anti-oxidant and anti-inflamatory.

Joints (if necessary) -- glucosamine, chondritin and MSM. 1-2 grams, 1-2 grams, and 2
grams per day are the upper limits. You can half that when feeling good.

Multi.

***Get this stuff in order and you should see some nice progression for a while.

Nice one! This is now a FAQ for newbie' s who want to know

1) What should I do

2) What should I take

3) Basics for getting muscle mass

Great job Twin Peak. This really helps!

Pardon me if I am overlooking something obvious but I do not quite understand the training portion where you describe sets.

So if the number in parentheses is the number of working sets, you have an 8 after bi' s, but only a 2 after back. Are you saying you only do 2 working sets total for back (so essentially you warm up, then do 2 heavy sets for back and that is it)? Or are you saying you do 2 working sets per back exercise (6 total working sets)?

Thanks,
Bryan

ORIGINAL: TXAggie

Pardon me if I am overlooking something obvious but I do not quite understand the training portion where you describe sets.

So if the number in parentheses is the number of working sets, you have an 8 after bi' s, but only a 2 after back. Are you saying you only do 2 working sets total for back (so essentially you warm up, then do 2 heavy sets for back and that is it)? Or are you saying you do 2 working sets per back exercise (6 total working sets)?

Thanks,
Bryan

I am saying that you have picked up on a typo.

Should have read 12, and in fact now reads twelve, thanks.

I am not Yates and Mentzer or Hay**** for that matter (they would recommend 2).

Then a working set is a weight that you will fail with
in the 6-10 rep range. Alwasy go to failure and if you are getting more
than 10, its too light, less than 6 and its too heavy.

Can you elaborate on this? Are you referring to weight usage during the aforementioned excercises?

He's saying that if you can lift the weight more than ten times, it means the weight is too light- Not enough of a challenge, you need to use a heavier weight.
On the other end, if you can't lift the weight six times, it means the weight is too heavy for you, and you need to make it a little lighter.

To clear something up in terms of sets/reps and excersizes....

you say:

Day 1: Chest (10) and Tris (8)
Day 2: Back (12) Bis (8)
Day 3: SHoulders (10) Legs (12)

So am I to understand with back for example, the 12 working sets are divided into 3 excersies with 4 sets of 6 or so reps (to failure) each?

and the reason Bis and Tri have less sets is because you can't do as many different exersies with the smaller muscles?
so with Bis the 8 working sets would be 2 excersizes with 4 sets of 6 reps...?

bare with me I am a tottal NOOB

...but with the info I have gathered here in just one day, I am feeling very close to having a full diet and work out plan figured out...

I didn't learn this until after I went through a lot of greef... You need to learn about and understand your body, before you can change it.

Are you goin to fly a helicopter with out learning about it first? no...

Same here, i went through a lot of pains to understand my body and working it. I would say it took me 2 1/2 years to find how my body responded best. Now i am reinventing myself again since im getting older.

Does anyone have an opinion on Free weights and machine weight against using a resistance training program like bowflex (Just in case, I have no interest in bowflex or any other thing...... I eat iron for breakfast and all other 5 meals. lol)

But I was curious about it, the only thing I have seen on those machines is really losing fat and strengthening muscles... Can you make gains?

Yeah I'll have to make a studio apartment a home gym, because then I would be dead serious when I say... Iron is my life... I live in the gym!

how do you do a warmup for muscles?

thanks

Quick cardio session like 5-8 minutes and some stretching after the cardio.

Or just do about 4-5 sets at a real light weight and put on more until you get to your first working set.

So maybe for bench:

135 x 12
135 x 10
185 x 6
225 x 3
225 x 1 (mental readiness)

Then you do your working sets for bench.

Put in whatever weight you'd normally do but the point is.. you start off light and work up.. so that your muscles are ready for that exercise. Or you can do the cardio and then do this routine. Just don't do like 1 warm-up and then hit the heaviest weight you've ever done.

I have found over the years that at least one three month cycle of HEAVY power movements in the 3-5 rep range is helpful in progressing year to year. I do a progression of 3 sets of 5 week one 5sets of 5 week two. 3 sets of five week three. 5 sets of 3 week four. Focus on compound movements and take 4 to 5 min rest between sets so your nervous system recovers fully. I prefer not to warm up by doing the same exercise with lighter weight as I have found this to decrease the poundage I can work up to during my peak sets. I warm up doing light cardio for ten min and dress warm in winter. I will warm up the antagonist muscle groups with a few light sets to prevent pulls and tears. I also do the first set with a very slow negative also on the first rep of the following sets. Even during lighter periods when you do 6 to 10 reps a weight is too heavy if your form is not perfect for all but the last rep. When you lose form the set is over. If you did not get your rep goal drop the weight down. Get some one who has good form to watch you and if possible video a work out or two so you can see the mistakes you are making in form. Hope this helps. Your Brother in Big Arms. Aquaman.

With this program you train every body part twice a week??

In the other thread it says to train them only once a week.