FT Questions....

[Scott Stevenson]

Yes sir, that is what I was referring to along with the fact that the isolation exercises aren't used as a barometer to cycle exercises due to their lack of progress such as the compounds would be.

Well, the fact that the loading set exercises are chosen based on a person's personal history in finding the best exercises suited for heavy training (and making progress from a body building perspective) is the best way of choosing them that I can think of.

Is there a better practical way to find the best mass gaining exercises other than by one's experience (and experimenting to find new and better ones)?

Or perhaps something in you just is unsettled by the subjective nature of this decision making process, logical or not?

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You can use the isolation exercises to gauge progression. No rule against that. If they are going up by leaps and bounds and your compounds are holding as far as reps with the same load, then that's progression. Typically everything will go up (or NOT) in unison, on the average, over the course of weeks / months

Yes sir, I read it over and over which is what led me to post and further clarify my understanding. I took notes and even found two minor typo's in your definition of "Zig-Zagging" on particularly pg88 which I was trying to find a way to bring to your attention so this is ironic. They are bolded here in parenthesis:
(pg88 States - Exercise Selection (ZIG-ZAGGING): Use Primary Compound Free weight exercises (Barbells, dumbbells and plate-loaded machines) or your specifc preferences for you “go to” mass building)

There are dozens and dozens of other typos throughout the book.

Thanks for the insight, and yes, the irony is thick!

Yes sir, exactly the first example you wrote out.
Week 1: Squats x (# sets depending on volume tier?... with perhaps a different rest interval?) yes sir, based on vol tier and 2min rest
Week 2: Squats as above
Week 3: Squats as above
Week 4: Squats (fail to progress by 1 reps or 5lb on any of the sets?... What if one set progresses and another does not?...)If one fails you lose it to the rotation
Week 5: Change to Leg Press as above
Week 6: Leg Press as above
Etc. until there is a failure to progress on Leg press (cruising at some point along the way, of course, too.)yes sir, the same outlines for cruise apply

You're welcome to do it this way if you like, but you'd be missing out on the things that I mention in my previous post.

If you use that strict criterion for progression, without any leeway for circumstances, you'll drop exercises more regularly. How much, I can't say, but this will possibly preclude you from grinding away with some of your best exercises. It's not uncommon for a very large percentage of your weekly performances on loading sets to only show progress on one or two, but not all of the sets. It's also not uncommon for many that "shit happens" and something gets in the way of recovery (poor sleep, travel, etc.) and you make progress or are lucky to just equal the previous numbers, when it's obvious that the reason for this is acute and won't be a problem after a good night's sleep, etc. Jumping ship on those exercises b/c you didn't progress on each and every one of them isn't a good idea, IMO. (Heck, even with DC training, you'd allow an "off week" if performance was not an improvement and didn't take a huge nose dive...)

The guys who make really good progress are the ones who GRIND out the reps week by week, micro loading as need be and holding on to exercises as much as possible. This is when the performance is more related to muscle mass gain, rather than changing exercises and the re-gaining familiarity, which can play a role even in people who have been training for decades.

Thank you for this in depth clarification. I guess I didn't understand the place of isolation super-setting with compounds on the "load" days. I see what you're aiming to achieve with this method now due to this clarification. Pg 94 actually shows me exactly what I was confused about with the tier 3 example. I will try it this way, I started with straight sets and compounds only.

No problemo! I'm sure you're not the only one to have wondered about this, so it was nice to have a new question asked.

-S