3 week blasts?

[Scott Stevenson]

Hi Scott, thanks for the reply.

My goal is to gain some serious muscle

You're welcome!

<sarcasm here>

Have you thought about just trying to gain some silly muscle, instead?...

<sarcasm off>

So, this is a very important issue here, as your goals are not really concrete: They are nebulous to some degree and thus don't give you any specific direction in which to move.

If you want to get to Canada from Florida, knowing your latitude is very important: You may travel east or west along the route, but if you're not moving North overall, you're not moving in the direction of success.

So, as far as goals go, I recommend that they include the following:

What: Strength, muscle mass (from body comp), etc.

How: Strategies, which is what this threads about (Are 3 week blasts OK?)

When / Where: What's the TIMELINE for reaching this goal?

HOW measured: This is the kicker here, too.

So, as far as goals for you, you might set a goal for gaining 15lb of muscle mass / fat free mass (and perhaps some circumference goals as those seem important to you) and use body composition estimates to evaluate when you have reached that amount of FFM.

You'd then know you're zeroing in on that goal when you've reached perhaps 20lb of FFM (which could take several years), accounting for the loss of some FFM when dieting off whatever fat you've gained.

IMPORTANT: IF you've not gained X (goal) amount of muscle (FFM) during the off-season, you can't expect to have it at the end of a diet.

and I have set myself out to be in a caloric surplus for an extended amount of time, I am aiming for 1 to 2 years at a push which is why I am utilising the slow and steady approach (0.25 - .5lb max per week) rather than gaining 1-2lbs a week approach. I used to get contest ready (natural) every year but felt the improvements made in the time being off-season weren't good enough, which is probably down to spending too little time gaining, getting scared I was too fat and then dieting down, repeat. I say all this and these different phrases as if I am a competitive bodybuilder but it is purely just to look good due to being bullied for the way I looked at school (over 10-12 years ago now) but it still unfortunately has had an everlasting effect. Of course I love my training and I am so passionate about it, its like a huge part of my life.. If I don't train I start going crazy and feel lost LOL.

So having a goal body comp / FFM / Muscle mass and objective measures of this will give you perspective on the long haul. Are you gaining that FFM, perhaps in step-wise fashion, over the course of the blasts / cutting cycles or just taking two steps forward and two steps back overall?

Progress wise, for the amount of fat that I feel I have gained amongst my midsection I was kind of hoping for some bigger measurements upon measuring. In my response to Altamir above I mention only gaining .75- 1 inch at a push on my thighs, which I don't know if that's good for such a small increase in weight (10lbs approx). You're probably thinking "geez, what's this guy expecting, 5+ inches?". Tbh no, not 5 inches that's realistically impossible lol but I was hoping more so around 1.25-1.5. This is probably a body part which has grown noticeably if that makes sense, hence why I decided to measure it. Upon reflection and finding out it was so minimal, you can bet that I didn't measure anything else purely because I would feel disheartened and let down, so I did myself a favour mentally and didn't bother.

Circumference measures are probably my least favorite as they don't differentiate muscle from fat. I'd rather see at least a skin fold along the line of girth measurement to get an idea of how that component of circumference is changing.

I am a numbers guy so I have a certain number in mind which I want my body parts to hit, regardless if it looks good/massive to other people at a certain measurement or not if it aint hit that number then it isn't good enough to me.

Bodybuilding, its very much a mental game and tbh a game that I have been losing for 8 years.. I still absolutely love it regardless though even though times it gets me down, like having to take time off, injuries, motivation slumps etc. I am just trying to figure out whats up so I can revitalise my love for the game.

So, it does sound like you've got some specific circumference measures in mind and I'm talking about getting even more detailed with the numbers, so hopefully this resonates with you.

There are several sites that have outlined ideal relative girth measurements and good measures for high level physiques, but this usually assumes a low body fat percentage. So, as I mention above, using circumferences when one's gaining both fat and muscle isn't specific to the goal of getting larger arm, leg, etc. size due to muscle gain.

I agree with you here, I hate having to end my cruise mid week. It screws everything up timing wise, this could be a reason mentally why I prefer to do 3 or 6 weeks as it gives you a bang on 1 week or 2 week cruise.

So, two options here:

One can simply start a Blast on a day other than Day 1 of the Blast.

If your cruise is supposed to be about 10 days and that means your next day of training would be a Friday, which is typically Day 3 of the program for you, there's no law forbidding you start with Day 3, so you can keep the same weekly schedule in place.

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The 3:1 Blast:Cruise ratio is a guideline that seems to work for most folks and is a place to start, but it's not hard n' fast set in stone. I get the STRONG sense that Cruising - TAPERING - in the way i've set it up in FT is an improvement over what I was seeing with DC training (where it was very much up to the person and more guys would regress during the Cruise than I liked seeing), but that doesn't mean it can't be improved, which is what you guys are doing - for you (I hope).

Here's the thing: if you feel really uneasy about shifting the days of the week you do different days of FT because of cruising that is not either 1 or 2 weeks exactly, then doing what makes you feel like you're in your groove makes better sense. If you really like going to a given gym on Saturdays for MRs and can't do that b/c of starting your Blast with Day 1 midweek, then that's going to make training less fun, which is NOT what I want and what will propel gains. Plus, switching your training days around could mean you don't have access to the same equipment in a way you can progress on it.

(I personally would also adjust your Intensive Cruise strategy too, if this means you're shortening your IC to 1 week, i.e., shorten the period of the IC during which you're training / be sure you've got plenty of non-training days at the end of the IC. This would violate the ⅔ - ⅓ "rule" of the IC, but you're already living on the edge, so why not?... On the other hand, it's OK to do a few more days of MRs if "extending" your cruise to an even 2 weeks makes more sense.)

-Scott