FT Questions....

[Hvypl8s]

Scott, maybe hoping for some insight Regarding the FT nutrition. I am a first thing in the morning trainer. I follow the recommendations in the e-book regarding the peri workout nutrition and then cut carbs off through afternoon and in to evenings. I started experimenting with doing some carbs before bed with my shake and found that I wake up more glycogen loaded and have a better pump in the gym. Total carbs peri workout around 250 and doing another 50 via oatmeal pre-bed. I started doing this because I was waking up in the am pretty flat during my dieting phase. So I basically have carbs pre/intra/post/post meal 2, then pull for 3 meals, then reintroduce carbs last meal. Has anyone else seen any positive benefit to this half assed carb back loading, or am I just setting myself up for fat accumulation with these carbs before bed?

[Scott Stevenson]

Scott, maybe hoping for some insight Regarding the FT nutrition. I am a first thing in the morning trainer. I follow the recommendations in the e-book regarding the peri workout nutrition and then cut carbs off through afternoon and in to evenings. I started experimenting with doing some carbs before bed with my shake and found that I wake up more glycogen loaded and have a better pump in the gym. Total carbs peri workout around 250 and doing another 50 via oatmeal pre-bed. I started doing this because I was waking up in the am pretty flat during my dieting phase. So I basically have carbs pre/intra/post/post meal 2, then pull for 3 meals, then reintroduce carbs last meal. Has anyone else seen any positive benefit to this half assed carb back loading, or am I just setting myself up for fat accumulation with these carbs before bed?

My guess is what you're sensing - the pump in the gym - is due to water shifts (or lack of water loss) brought on by the carb intake at night. You're better hydrated in the AM and get a better pump. (Give the same carb intake over 24hr, I'd not expect that you have greater muscular glycogen with the late day carb).

I don't think you're setting yourself up for fat accumulation with this. You might sleep more deeply with those carbs before going to bed, which can help with recovery overall (meaning you'd accumulate muscle more readily, directing caloric intake towards FFM vs. fat). If you getting a better pump means a better workout, then I'd go for that option, too.

-S

[Scott Stevenson]

Any FT tips for forearms? Over the years it seems my forearms have grown proportionally to my biceps, which is unfortunate considering they have always been a weakpoint and therefore remain a weakpoint (but fortunate in the sense that at least they grow unlike my calves ). Whether I use straps and no direct forearm work, or Fat Gripz and add additional direct work, it seems they still grow at a rate of 0.5-0.75in per 1in on my biceps. In any case, I’d still be interested to hear if there are some FT tricks for them I haven’t thought of.

So, are you saying here that you want your forearms to grow at a faster rate than your biceps?

What exercises are you doing for forearms?

-S

[Derek]

It's great to have you here, man. This is what I was hoping for in terms of the board.

BTW - this goes for everyone who might be reading - if you've bought the book, you get a free subscription, so no need to pay for the Dime a Day. (You'd just need to manually remove your subscription via PayPal - I can't do that from my end - and then I'll reinstate you when you message me. )

-S

I bought the book, is there some sort of "Premium" membership to the forums? I can seem to access all the forums.

[Scott Stevenson]

Well I'd love overall growth! But my forearms are disproportionally small....though I think it's largely due to attachments which is arguably worse due to the fact that that's something I can never change. For example my forearms are 13in while biceps are 16.25...ideally forearms would be closer to ~14in but either way at 13 they look smaller than my friends who's are only 11.5.

I use Fat Grips for my pull ups that I do twice per week. I was doing hammer curls with Fat Gripz daily for a month as a specialization block. Behind the back wrist curls, wrist extensions, etc...

used to do pinwheel curls a lot but haven't in years...always caught flak for the form lol can't say I thought they really brought them up better than anything else really.

I tried Dante's suggestion for a while of wrist curls followed by a 60sec stretch...it burned like crazy but I can't say I've ever done anything where I thought "wow they've come up a lot". This past cut when I was using the Fat Gripz all the time I did achieve a look I've never seen with my forearms before, considerably more vascular. So that was the first time I've seen a nice improvement, though size was the same. I plan to keep Fat Gripz in roughly half of my back and bicep work in the future.

Are you using straps for your back work and deads?...

I bought the book, is there some sort of "Premium" membership to the forums? I can seem to access all the forums.

Hey Bud!

Hit me with your transaction ID in a private message and I'll bump you up.

-S

[Altamir]

Nope, haven't used straps in a couple of years. Though I can't say I noticed any real difference when switching from using them fairly often to not using them at all.

To be honest, everything seems to have grown in proportion over the years with weak parts (calves, forearms, upper chest) remaining weak and strong points (back and traps) remaining strong points, even when I pretty much dropped all but basic work from the strong points and specialized the weak points. Would have to agree with Dante that it seems people just become larger versions of themselves with roughly similar proportions.

But of course I'm always open to suggestions from the creator of FT

I'm in the same flipping situation you are man. Weak points stay week, strong points stay strong. I've found better ways to train some of my weaker body parts. I've found the extreme stretching as helped add some more fullness to my weaker body parts. My legs are ALWAYS going to dominate my body. My forearms are ALWAYS going to suck. haha.

I agree with your spirit though and that, it does not make me want to stop trying to find bigger and better ways to train my weak points to see if I can at least bring them up a little!

As far as forearms, when I ran turbo I found that of all my muscle groups, my biceps responded the best to the increased frequency. So when I went back to basic I put a forearm pump set on my upper body muscle round days. Very minor tweak. I've not noticed any negatives from this and while I haven't seen my forearms just blow up over night, they are getting steadily stronger, which hopefully will lead to some gains along the way. Also it hits my biceps a little extra, which is another weak point for me.

My suggestion though, and I understand this maybe is not the most exciting answer, is to run at least 2 blasts without any modifications. Just as is, no additional stuff. Play with turbo if you like. Get a baseline for how the program treats you. And then start to play around. If you're paying close attention to yourself and your log book you should be able to tell in a few weeks if the changes you have made are positive or negative.

Hope this helps!

[Scott Stevenson]

Nope, haven't used straps in a couple of years. Though I can't say I noticed any real difference when switching from using them fairly often to not using them at all.

To be honest, everything seems to have grown in proportion over the years with weak parts (calves, forearms, upper chest) remaining weak and strong points (back and traps) remaining strong points, even when I pretty much dropped all but basic work from the strong points and specialized the weak points. Would have to agree with Dante that it seems people just become larger versions of themselves with roughly similar proportions.

But of course I'm always open to suggestions from the creator of FT

There is a way to do with training structure, but I don't want to put it out there for you, given you've not even done a regular FT blast.


I would say that I'd focus on the forearm stretches (esp. for the flexors), getting those done ASAP after MR's. Go for the occlusion stretches as long as they feel right. (They will hurt like Hades.)

-S

[Scott Stevenson]

Thanks Altamir, I'll stick with it as written for now.


Well fine! lol maybe in a few months then. Begins Sunday

Oh yea, forearm stretches burn like crazy. Never seemed to do a lot for me growth wise though. Unless I am mistaken, it seems there is only a single set of forearms prescribed in all of the FT sheets, and that is for Basic Tier 3...one set. So when would you suggest everyone else include the forearm stretches? After bicep work?

As mentioned I do plan on doing a decent amount with my Fat Gripz. And my bicep selections will probably include some forearm focused work as well such as hammer curls, reverse curls, etc so I'm hoping that helps. Guess we'll save anything more specific for later.
[/quote]

Sorry, didn't mean to say after pump sets. (The Tampa Pro is today and I've been running around like a crazy person trying to be in three places at once and working too fast. I'm a shitty multi-tasker.)

I think the main point is that, as you've said, your relative weakness shall remain so to some degree and you simply need to grow everywhere to some extent.

As you've said, progressive overload seems to be your ticket.

-S

[Con]

I enjoyed your bluecollar muscle radio interview yesterday!
When will this outlined FT program be released?
What will the price be (I really think you under charged for the FT book)?

I recently switched from FT to MD training simply because it was easier to do with training partners.
Truth is (no offense to John!) we're not loving the MD training (we're using the OMEGA program).
It just feels like our normal higher volume training programs but often lacking in the all out compound sets that we favor.
I will purchase the outlined FT program because I am lazy as heck when it comes to my own training.
I wont lie setting up the FT program was a pain in my ass and tough with training partners.

[Scott Stevenson]

I enjoyed your bluecollar muscle radio interview yesterday!
When will this outlined FT program be released?
What will the price be (I really think you under charged for the FT book)?

I recently switched from FT to MD training simply because it was easier to do with training partners.
Truth is (no offense to John!) we're not loving the MD training (we're using the OMEGA program).
It just feels like our normal higher volume training programs but often lacking in the all out compound sets that we favor.
I will purchase the outlined FT program because I am lazy as heck when it comes to my own training.
I wont lie setting up the FT program was a pain in my ass and tough with training partners.

Hey Con!!!

Coming out with it in the next few weeks. (Just aligning thing a as far as selling mechanics, etc.)

Not sure about price entirely. (I don't want to misspeak of course.) Yes, I've heard that about the book, but I hope the keeping the price low will help get it out there (and actually purchased vs. downloaded on Torrent).

This first one will be laid out pretty generically, of course, but show some ways of grouping exercises (e.g., for Muscle Rounds) that can be employed with FT, as well as some new exercises for some folks.

Naturally, there is a loss of flexibility with prescribed exercises, but for someone just feeling out the program, this may not be an issue. (Of course if a given exercise doesn't feel right on a given day for a given person, it doesn't make sense to do it.) For Loading sets, for instance, if the program calls for back squats and a given person prefers banded back squat, then that's that's an easy piece of secretarial work.

I'll blast the board (and FB, etc.) with the announcement. (T-muscle, too, of course.)

CONGRATS on getting asked to be a trainer in Dat's board. HUGE honor, I would say.

-S