FT Questions....

[Altamir]

Hey Scott,

Figured this would be a better place for these questions than my log.

1. Two blasts in and things are for the most part going GREAT. Did both basic and turbo, seemed to grow better on turbo. All body parts seem to be responding very well to the program and are growing better than ever. There is one problem. Arms. Between two blasts they've gotten stronger, but growth has been about 3/16". (more in turbo, than basic) I understand, that ANY grow is good, even more so with stubborn body parts. But I am thinking about running arms at a higher volume tier that the rest of my body, hoping it can spur a little more growth. I know we also talked about this earlier, but was also thinking about adding triceps to Day #3, at least a pump set, to add additional stimulation. I understand that there is only one way to say if this works or not. (Just do it and try)

I am getting stronger on all my arm specific lifts. I feel like I am connecting with them better than ever with my pump sets, and am trying to take my intensity during my pump sets as far as I can while still staying in the design of the program. I am also finding and connecting very well with the extreme stretches. I'm not experiencing any elbow, or forearm tendentious, or joint discomfort at all in any of my two blasts so far. My body seems to be responding well increased frequency.

Just curious if you have encountered this with anyone else struggling to bring arms up and if this, or other modifications you have made to FT to help push them forward. Have also thought about dropping FT for a month and doing an arm specialization program to try and play catch up. (Thought I'm not a fan of this, as everything else is growing so well on FT, and agree that growing as a whole is the best option)

2. My chest has just died at the end of both blasts. Last 2 weeks or so progress on loading lifts seem to stall a bit, muscle rounds gains seem to continue but slow a bit. Then final day they regress. By the end of the intensive cruise they are good to go and keep moving forward again. Should I try and run chest at a lower volume tier? or this is just as intended from the program and I'm over reaching as designed? No other body part is doing this. Chest is still growing so its not a major issue.

Honestly, I'm just trying to tweak minor things. I'm pretty comfortable with the system now and if I ran it, as is, I'd be doing good, but as always we want to reach and tweak and optimize (and hopefully learn too!!)

[Scott Stevenson]

Altamir,

Great questions.

WRT arms: How much weight have you gained?...

Also, if you consider arms to be a weak point, they may be growing in unison with everything else, but you simply perceive them to be lagging in growth but they "lag" in general, so you're sensitive to arm size.

You could do that for chest, but chest is a common one to have lag in gains and also lose strength the most when dieting down. I suspect this is because most guys have focused on chest training and strength over the years (or simply train harder with chest vs. other muscle groups) and this phenomenon reflects the law of diminishing returns. I would first start by putting in exercises that you don't normally do or adding variations on the ones you do:

E.g., Use bands or chains for BB presses.
Use DB Presses as a compound exercise for chest.
Use bands in HS machines for presses.
Come up with brand new exercises for muscle rounds and progress on those.

Also, simply switch the order of your exercise in your Loading sets, putting isolation exercises first if you haven't been (or vice versa) and then progress forward with those #s in your log.

(I agree - the bottom line is growth here. )

-S

[Altamir]

Altamir,

Great questions.

WRT arms: How much weight have you gained?...

Thank you, as always for your awesome responses and I'm glad you thought they were great questions. I was worried I was analyzing things a little too much Two 6 week blasts, and one 2 week cruise (14 weeks) I've gained 6½lbs, which I consider pretty good and about average for what I have done in the past. The results with FT seem better though. But I get that they aren't going to be up an 1" or even 1/2" with that sort of weight gain.

Also, if you consider arms to be a weak point, they may be growing in unison with everything else, but you simply perceive them to be lagging in growth but they "lag" in general, so you're sensitive to arm size.

After thinking it over a bit after posting the question, I agree that they are probably at this point growing in unison with everything else, but overall they are behind the rest of my body. They lack that "pop" and it is discouraging as they are a very showy muscle group. My shoulders and traps seem to overpower them. (with legs overpowering everything) As you can tell, I am certainly sensitive to arm size! I'm not expecting miracles or only 6 weeks to put 1" on my biceps, but I would like to see if there is way I could encourage more growth and see if I can catch them up a bit.

You could do that for chest, but chest is a common one to have lag in gains and also lose strength the most when dieting down. I suspect this is because most guys have focused on chest training and strength over the years (or simply train harder with chest vs. other muscle groups) and this phenomenon reflects the law of diminishing returns. I would first start by putting in exercises that you don't normally do or adding variations on the ones you do:

E.g., Use bands or chains for BB presses.
Use DB Presses as a compound exercise for chest.
Use bands in HS machines for presses.
Come up with brand new exercises for muscle rounds and progress on those.

Also, simply switch the order of your exercise in your Loading sets, putting isolation exercises first if you haven't been (or vice versa) and then progress forward with those #s in your log.

(I agree - the bottom line is growth here. )

-S

These are all awesome ideas, thank you! Some of it was stuff I had been throwing around in my head thinking towards my next blast. I don't have any chains, but I've got buckets of EliteFTS bands. I'll put them to use! I did all pressing stuff for my MRs this last blast and I''m thinking that perhaps some more isolation stuff would be helpful. I did more pressing stuff to help give extra work to my triceps.

My shoulders often overpower my pressing movements, so doing isolation before compound lifts is a GREAT idea. Something I did in the past when I was running a more traditional style BB split and it worked well. Don't think this has been covered before, so forgive me if it has. This is more of a Tier 3 question. For loading, if doing isolation before loading, are we going to failure on isolation and then moving to compound? or stopping one rep shy? For example...

4 sets loading chest tier 3
Isolation to failure (or one rep shy?!)
Compound one rep shy
Isolation to failure
Compound to failure

Thank you once again Scott!

[Scott Stevenson]

Thank you, as always for your awesome responses and I'm glad you thought they were great questions. I was worried I was analyzing things a little too much Two 6 week blasts, and one 2 week cruise (14 weeks) I've gained 6½lbs, which I consider pretty good and about average for what I have done in the past. The results with FT seem better though. But I get that they aren't going to be up an 1" or even 1/2" with that sort of weight gain.


After thinking it over a bit after posting the question, I agree that they are probably at this point growing in unison with everything else, but overall they are behind the rest of my body. They lack that "pop" and it is discouraging as they are a very showy muscle group. My shoulders and traps seem to overpower them. (with legs overpowering everything) As you can tell, I am certainly sensitive to arm size! I'm not expecting miracles or only 6 weeks to put 1" on my biceps, but I would like to see if there is way I could encourage more growth and see if I can catch them up a bit.


These are all awesome ideas, thank you! Some of it was stuff I had been throwing around in my head thinking towards my next blast. I don't have any chains, but I've got buckets of EliteFTS bands. I'll put them to use! I did all pressing stuff for my MRs this last blast and I''m thinking that perhaps some more isolation stuff would be helpful. I did more pressing stuff to help give extra work to my triceps.

My shoulders often overpower my pressing movements, so doing isolation before compound lifts is a GREAT idea. Something I did in the past when I was running a more traditional style BB split and it worked well. Don't think this has been covered before, so forgive me if it has. This is more of a Tier 3 question. For loading, if doing isolation before loading, are we going to failure on isolation and then moving to compound? or stopping one rep shy? For example...

4 sets loading chest tier 3
Isolation to failure (or one rep shy?!)
Compound one rep shy
Isolation to failure
Compound to failure

Thank you once again Scott!

Roger the above.

The bands can open up a whole new world, for sure.

Yes, you could take that first ISO Loading set to failure, as long as you can do it safely of course. You may find, for instance, that if doing DB pec flies this could mean that your reps for the flies drop off significantly, such that you'd need two sets of DB's to stay in a 6-12 range.

Either way, I'd suggest sticking with the same rule of thumb regarding ISO loading sets (whether they are to failure or not) regardless of the order of operations (ISO or compound exercise first).

-S

[Altamir]

Roger the above.

The bands can open up a whole new world, for sure.

Yes, you could take that first ISO Loading set to failure, as long as you can do it safely of course. You may find, for instance, that if doing DB pec flies this could mean that your reps for the flies drop off significantly, such that you'd need two sets of DB's to stay in a 6-12 range.

Either way, I'd suggest sticking with the same rule of thumb regarding ISO loading sets (whether they are to failure or not) regardless of the order of operations (ISO or compound exercise first).

-S

Good deal, thank you very much for your time Scott.

I figured as much, but wanted to clarify. Looking forward to implementing all of this in my next blast!

[Scott Stevenson]

Good deal, thank you very much for your time Scott.

I figured as much, but wanted to clarify. Looking forward to implementing all of this in my next blast!

You're welcome! (Looking forward to seeing you growing! )

-S

[Altamir]

Me again!

This has more to do with carb intake / peri-workout shake timing when coming off an extended low carb period, or being more depleted ...

During my current intensive cruise, per FT, I've been keeping my carbs near zero on my non-training days. Weight has dropped off as it often does when you go low carb for a day or two. Coming into my Muscle Round training days during the intensive cruise, it feels like I have no "zip" on the first set or two. I know the strength is there, but its difficult to get a pump going, and the muscle "feels" weak.

I'm guessing this just has to do with not having any carbs in my body and it just taking a bit for me to warm up and the quick acting carbs to get into my system. I usually try to take in a few good pulls of my shake about 15 minutes before training as laid out in the FT book.

So it not only got me thinking about getting a better quality training session in during my intensive cruise, but also in periods of dieting where you would be depleted. In periods like this does it make more sense to start on your shake earlier to get into your body? (I was thinking either 30min. Or standard 15 min, and take 15 min to warm up) or to take in more? Or would it be better to say take in a small mixed macro meal before training (more of a mountain dog style diet). To make sure you at least have something in the system before you get hitting the iron hard?

Granted, best way is to just TRY and see. Which I will probably do anyway. Figured it was worth an ask.

[Scott Stevenson]

Me again!

This has more to do with carb intake / peri-workout shake timing when coming off an extended low carb period, or being more depleted ...

During my current intensive cruise, per FT, I've been keeping my carbs near zero on my non-training days. Weight has dropped off as it often does when you go low carb for a day or two. Coming into my Muscle Round training days during the intensive cruise, it feels like I have no "zip" on the first set or two. I know the strength is there, but its difficult to get a pump going, and the muscle "feels" weak.

I'm guessing this just has to do with not having any carbs in my body and it just taking a bit for me to warm up and the quick acting carbs to get into my system. I usually try to take in a few good pulls of my shake about 15 minutes before training as laid out in the FT book.

So it not only got me thinking about getting a better quality training session in during my intensive cruise, but also in periods of dieting where you would be depleted. In periods like this does it make more sense to start on your shake earlier to get into your body? (I was thinking either 30min. Or standard 15 min, and take 15 min to warm up) or to take in more? Or would it be better to say take in a small mixed macro meal before training (more of a mountain dog style diet). To make sure you at least have something in the system before you get hitting the iron hard?

Granted, best way is to just TRY and see. Which I will probably do anyway. Figured it was worth an ask.

VERY good question, yet again.

First thought is that some of what you're experiencing just reflects your need to cruise, as well as being in the depths of dieting. Training just gets tougher and you can tend to find that glycogen levels progressively decline.

Second thought is that there are many guys who do much better with a pre-workout carb containing meal. This can just be b/c it pulls them out of ketosis (which you may be in after a no-carb day previous after this period of time and dieting for this long) and that it helps will the pump/ fullness and thus how well they connect with the muscles training initially (which sets up a psychological state).

What you do during the IC depends on you, and your goals. It sounds to me like I might make the IC a change to *at least* eat at maintenance (~15kcal / lb) and set yourself up metabolically for further fat loss during the next Blast.

Recall that the purpose of the Blast when trying to grow is your main goal would be to create a taper / rebound effect, so you should be eating at least as much as during the Blast and this may mean using a training day diet on non-training days (since your training frequency will be less during the IC). To harness the effect of slightly overreaching, you want to kcal to be there to support the muscle growth. What you're describing sounds exactly like a case where you could grow really well from simply eating more overall, as well as including a mixed macro meal (if that keeps blood sugar stable for you) pre-workout.

-S

[Altamir]

VERY good question, yet again.

First thought is that some of what you're experiencing just reflects your need to cruise, as well as being in the depths of dieting. Training just gets tougher and you can tend to find that glycogen levels progressively decline.

Second thought is that there are many guys who do much better with a pre-workout carb containing meal. This can just be b/c it pulls them out of ketosis (which you may be in after a no-carb day previous after this period of time and dieting for this long) and that it helps will the pump/ fullness and thus how well they connect with the muscles training initially (which sets up a psychological state).

What you do during the IC depends on you, and your goals. It sounds to me like I might make the IC a change to *at least* eat at maintenance (~15kcal / lb) and set yourself up metabolically for further fat loss during the next Blast.

Recall that the purpose of the Blast when trying to grow is your main goal would be to create a taper / rebound effect, so you should be eating at least as much as during the Blast and this may mean using a training day diet on non-training days (since your training frequency will be less during the IC). To harness the effect of slightly overreaching, you want to kcal to be there to support the muscle growth. What you're describing sounds exactly like a case where you could grow really well from simply eating more overall, as well as including a mixed macro meal (if that keeps blood sugar stable for you) pre-workout.

-S

Thanks as always for the response Scott. Not trying to cut right now. Need to wait my turn . My wife is cutting now and we have a very strict "No two people cutting at the same time" rule as to keep the peace and sanity.

What you said at the end really struck a cord with me. After the last blast, I stuck to the non-training day diet on non-training days and the training day diet on training days and it worked fine. This time, going with the non-training diet days, two days after training, I am REALLY hungry, I can feel my blood sugar dipping. Not sure what the difference is, besides obviously having more muscle! So I'll just bump up the calories a bit and see if that makes it go better. If not I'll start with the mixed macro meal. I'll follow John Meadow's advice on that, as it seems very sound.

Thank you once again!!

[Scott Stevenson]

Thanks as always for the response Scott. Not trying to cut right now. Need to wait my turn . My wife is cutting now and we have a very strict "No two people cutting at the same time" rule as to keep the peace and sanity.

What you said at the end really struck a cord with me. After the last blast, I stuck to the non-training day diet on non-training days and the training day diet on training days and it worked fine. This time, going with the non-training diet days, two days after training, I am REALLY hungry, I can feel my blood sugar dipping. Not sure what the difference is, besides obviously having more muscle! So I'll just bump up the calories a bit and see if that makes it go better. If not I'll start with the mixed macro meal. I'll follow John Meadow's advice on that, as it seems very sound.

Thank you once again!!

You got it!

You're doing a really nice job of taking advantage of a program like FT. The template is there and creates structure for piecing together the training system that works for you, personally. FT is just a safety net holding the pieces together in one confined place, whereas you are the one who has to "compose" the puzzle.



-S