FT Questions....

[xxscaxx]

Hey Scott,

I am a big fan of John Meadows workouts, in particular his band work. What do you think about adding bands for resistance on certain exercises? This honestly could be applied to anything really but i could see it being torturous on pump sets, and even MR sets depending on what it is. I particularly like using them for hammer machines for chest, and I LOVE them on the leg press. I just don't want to add things in without seeing what you thought first. I also love his spider crawl sets for shoulder mobility, I think this would be an awesome pump set but maybe for a higher tier as for me at least, they worked particularly well after another working set of shoulders (bent over raises, front raises, etc). Also, what are your thoughts on using hyperextensions for lower back work? Another thing I was a fan of. I also love your abductor/adductor work. My job requires me to sit all day at a desk and those get really tight especially during leg press/squats and I know this will help me in the long run. I would do them sparingly in the past but the consistency of doing them week in/out will hopefully show great improvement in my pain areas.

Loving FT so far!

Joe

[Scott Stevenson]

Hey Scott,

I am a big fan of John Meadows workouts, in particular his band work. What do you think about adding bands for resistance on certain exercises? This honestly could be applied to anything really but i could see it being torturous on pump sets, and even MR sets depending on what it is. I particularly like using them for hammer machines for chest, and I LOVE them on the leg press. I just don't want to add things in without seeing what you thought first. I also love his spider crawl sets for shoulder mobility, I think this would be an awesome pump set but maybe for a higher tier as for me at least, they worked particularly well after another working set of shoulders (bent over raises, front raises, etc). Also, what are your thoughts on using hyperextensions for lower back work? Another thing I was a fan of. I also love your abductor/adductor work. My job requires me to sit all day at a desk and those get really tight especially during leg press/squats and I know this will help me in the long run. I would do them sparingly in the past but the consistency of doing them week in/out will hopefully show great improvement in my pain areas.

Loving FT so far!

Joe

Hey Joe!

Thanks for posting this up here.

Yes, bands would be great for PUMP sets and MR's, especially PUMP sets if you want to focus on partial ROM reps during the set and the band helps increase tension where you want to feel it in a given movement.

The spider crawls could be a great pump set, too. (Tried them once or twice - yes, the pump was great.)

I would include hypers as a back MR or pump set, placed judiciously such that you keep your low back fresh for deeds and squat variations. E.g., you could do an MR there on Day 4 if you're using a leg press for a loading set (or something less low back intensive than a BB squat) for the following leg workout.

The hypers could thus be added in based on what you've done recently that taxed the low back. This kind of "auto regulation" of exercise selection is what I intended for the program. Just like if you feel l like more upper chest stimulation is needed on a given day's MR's (which would relate to the previous Loading aand PUMP set exercise used), you'd also select hyperextensions to ensure low back stimulus based on your training history (on paper) as well as how you feel that day, in the context to the other exercises. (E.g., a Tier III workout would NOT likely include two back heavy rowing movements and hyper extensions, but you might do a supported row, hyper extension, an high row (HS machine) and a lat pulldown of some sort to get , in this case, a good rowing isolation movement, paraspinal work (hypers), a mixed thickness / width exercise in the high row, and a pure with movement all in the same workout.



-S

[xxscaxx]

Hey Joe!

Thanks for posting this up here.

Yes, bands would be great for PUMP sets and MR's, especially PUMP sets if you want to focus on partial ROM reps during the set and the band helps increase tension where you want to feel it in a given movement.

The spider crawls could be a great pump set, too. (Tried them once or twice - yes, the pump was great.)

I would include hypers as a back MR or pump set, placed judiciously such that you keep your low back fresh for deeds and squat variations. E.g., you could do an MR there on Day 4 if you're using a leg press for a loading set (or something less low back intensive than a BB squat) for the following leg workout.

The hypers could thus be added in based on what you've done recently that taxed the low back. This kind of "auto regulation" of exercise selection is what I intended for the program. Just like if you feel l like more upper chest stimulation is needed on a given day's MR's (which would relate to the previous Loading aand PUMP set exercise used), you'd also select hyperextensions to ensure low back stimulus based on your training history (on paper) as well as how you feel that day, in the context to the other exercises. (E.g., a Tier III workout would NOT likely include two back heavy rowing movements and hyper extensions, but you might do a supported row, hyper extension, an high row (HS machine) and a lat pulldown of some sort to get , in this case, a good rowing isolation movement, paraspinal work (hypers), a mixed thickness / width exercise in the high row, and a pure with movement all in the same workout.



-S

Thanks for the reply Scott! Makes sense to keep the hypers away from a taxing lower back movement, I will keep this in mind.

I am going to definitely throw in spider crawls for a pump set. Going up and down the wall a few times is crazy, can't imagine the pump one would get from taking it until failure.

You mention deads in your post. I actually was wondering your thoughts on including deads in the program. I wanted to use it as a loading set for one of my three selected workouts, but was afraid it might be too taxing of a movement to include. Also, we are meant to push ourselves to failure and since I am only doing one set and one given exercise since i'm on tier 1, i figured this wasn't a good idea. Any input?

[Scott Stevenson]

Thanks for the reply Scott! Makes sense to keep the hypers away from a taxing lower back movement, I will keep this in mind.

I am going to definitely throw in spider crawls for a pump set. Going up and down the wall a few times is crazy, can't imagine the pump one would get from taking it until failure.

I'd try to work those spider crawls in as John suggests them, and not try to take them to failure if that means a 3+ min long set or something crazy.

You mention deads in your post.

I did?... (Where?... LOL)

I actually was wondering your thoughts on including deads in the program. I wanted to use it as a loading set for one of my three selected workouts, but was afraid it might be too taxing of a movement to include. Also, we are meant to push ourselves to failure and since I am only doing one set and one given exercise since i'm on tier 1, i figured this wasn't a good idea. Any input?

If full deeds are are go to back thickness exercise for you, then go for it.

Someone asked me yesterday on another board:

Would you recommend rack deads over deads off of the floor?

I recommend the better of those two for building your back specifically. Full deads may be more doable on this program b/c the lower body work is happening on that day anyway (PUMP sets), but I'd still pick the exercises that are you go to for packing on size for your back thickness. This can mean using a low rack for the rack deads, too (between a just below the knee cap rack dead and a floor dead, if you have a sweet spot in there).

-S

[JLarge1989]

Anyone that can help..

For Tier 2- Day 4....how much rest is there in between the

Back Thickness 1-2 x MR
Back Width 1-2 x MR
Chest 2 x MR
Delts 2 x MR

Is a muscle ROUND classed as doing all 4 of those then resting?

then you do the 2nd round..

Then do tri's abs after?

Bit confused on that..

Thanks

[Altamir]

Anyone that can help..

For Tier 2- Day 4....how much rest is there in between the

Back Thickness 1-2 x MR
Back Width 1-2 x MR
Chest 2 x MR
Delts 2 x MR

Is a muscle ROUND classed as doing all 4 of those then resting?

then you do the 2nd round..

Then do tri's abs after?

Bit confused on that..

Thanks

JLarge, ready through pages 94-96 again. It calls for "as much rest as needed between to be prepared for the next MR" I believe if I attempted to do 4 MRs in a row my heart would leap out of my chest. For me personally, I keep moving at a pretty steady clip. Between moving from machine to machine, loading weights, warming up the new movement. Its a minute or two, and I'm good to go. Granted, I'm brand new at this program, so take what I'm doing with that knowledge

As far as order, you do each muscle group, and then stretch. So for that day, back would be 3 MRs, then stretch, chest 2, then stretch, etc, etc.

[JLarge1989]

I believe all of these questions have been answered here.

You are correct on # of sets.

Low volume is how one might perceive it on Tier I, yes.

Whether or not you wait for your GF to finish her supersets is up to you and how closely you want to train with her, encourage her and make sure she's doing things correctly.

You rest 1:00 between pump set super sets if you're doing more than one Pump superset for a given pair / group of muscles.

Stretch after you've finished all the training a given muscle group for that day. (Stretching is not resting.)

Zig zagging is a term I chose to refer specifically to Loading sets only. This will be a practical consideration really anytime you come back to the same exercise and do another loading set for it. This would mean Tier II and III. (You don't really probably need to zig zag calf exercises, e.g., alternate between two exercises on one day. Just do one exercise on a given day for all the Loading sets on that day. If you're lucky enough to have a gym where you can zig zag them, and want to, go for it.)

-S

Hey Scott,

You said "Stretching is not resting"

So basically without me sounding stupid, if that's possible, haha..

You do the loading set or sets depending on tier for say back then stretch then start the 90seconds rest, then onto the next exercise?

---

JLarge, ready through pages 94-96 again. It calls for "as much rest as needed between to be prepared for the next MR" I believe if I attempted to do 4 MRs in a row my heart would leap out of my chest. For me personally, I keep moving at a pretty steady clip. Between moving from machine to machine, loading weights, warming up the new movement. Its a minute or two, and I'm good to go. Granted, I'm brand new at this program, so take what I'm doing with that knowledge

As far as order, you do each muscle group, and then stretch. So for that day, back would be 3 MRs, then stretch, chest 2, then stretch, etc, etc.

Hey Buddy, thanks.
I thought that but then in the rest it says this

"if you're doing a Muscle Round every 10 minutes, you're moving at a decent pace"

That's why it confused me



I've Written out Day 1 Tier 2 on Basic to see if i'm getting it right.

Day 1 – Lower Body Loading + Upper Body Pump

Loading Sets 6-12reps
Bulgarian Split Squats 1 x 6-12 – 2mins rest
Leg Extensions 1 x 6-12(failure) – 2mins rest
Barbell Squats 1 x 6-12(failure) – 2mins rest
Hamstring Curl 1 x 6-12(failure) – 2mins rest
Adductors 1 x Rest Pause 15-20reps
(Stretch Lower Body Here) – OR would you stretch after each set?

Seated Calf Raise 2 x 6-12 – 1min rest
Standing Calf Raise 2 x 6-12 – 1min rest
(Stretch Calfs here?)

Pump Sets 15-25reps (Supersets)
Cable Crossovers / Low Pulley Row - 1min rest x 2sets
Lateral Raises / Leg Raises – 1min rest x 1 sets then Hammer Strength Press / Roman Chair Ab Raises x 1set
Barbell Curl / Skullcrushers x 1set
(Stretch above here or stretch after each superset then start 1min rest?)


Personally i think after Completing say quads ill stretch, after hamstrings ill stretch....i won't wait until i've done thigh, quad and hamstrings before i start stretching?
Same with the super set, im guessing i stretch after i've done both the chest/back superset, then rest 1min and progress onto the shoulder and abs superset then stretch again?

[Scott Stevenson]

[quote='JLarge1989' pid='4198' dateline='1417810163']

Hey Scott,

You said "Stretching is not resting"

So basically without me sounding stupid, if that's possible, haha..

You do the loading set or sets depending on tier for say back then stretch then start the 90seconds rest, then onto the next exercise?
[quote]

As said previously, stretch a muscle group after you've finishing training it for that day and after you've fit in the sets you're doing that it's involved in. (E.g., on Day 1 for Thighs, do all Thigh loading sets then stretch quad and hams.)


Stretch Back after finishing training back.

Stretch chest after all chest training exercise, etc.

-------------

Rest refers to rest between weight training sets.

You'll never, per my program the way I intended it, be trying to squeeze in stretching between timed sets.

This would defy a couple important points of the program:

1.) Timed rest intervals between Loading set are in place to standardize the program for the purpose of progressive overload.

2.) Stretches can be one of the three types with varying duration. They are to be intuitive as to which you choose and how long you hold it and that decision is made after you have finish the weight training for that muscle group for that day's training session.

The two above are mutual incompatible.

[quote]Day 1 – Lower Body Loading + Upper Body Pump

Loading Sets 6-12reps
Bulgarian Split Squats 1 x 6-12 – 2mins rest
Leg Extensions 1 x 6-12(failure) – 2mins rest
Barbell Squats 1 x 6-12(failure) – 2mins rest
Hamstring Curl 1 x 6-12(failure) – 2mins rest[/quote]

You didn't name a tier.

You pick ONE COMPOUND loading exercise for thigh. You list two above. (You're not going to be able to hold down 4 machines or do both bulg split squats and then load up to BB squats with the same bar and not cut into recovery.)

----------------------

I suspect you haven't been reading this Q and A thread or other logs. This information is relatively clear (I'm far from perfect however), a/o it's been clarified. You're an outlier here in terms of understanding, so I'm going to assume you're just not doing your homework.

I will mention again that this is not a black n' white program. Its intended to make use of the experience and intuition of the trainee, as well as simply common sense, too. Without those things in place the program won't be nearly as effective, IMO.

-S

[JLarge1989]

Right Scott. Apologies. I listed tier 2 above buddy.

I just though cos tier 2 has two sets for thigh you could do 2 compound exercises but ill stick to barbell squats for A....that what you mean?

[Scott Stevenson]

Right Scott. Apologies. I listed tier 2 above buddy.

I just though cos tier 2 has two sets for thigh you could do 2 compound exercises but ill stick to barbell squats for A....that what you mean?

See p. 87 in the book.

-S