FT Most Frequently Questions asked here on the Forum

[Scott Stevenson]

Hey scott, i have a few questions, sorry if they have been asked already but couldnt really find what i am looking for.

when it comes to warming up, for legs would you suggest warming up on each exercise, so say we are doing Squats, leg extensions and laying dumbell curls.

if you were squatting 150kgs for 6 reps, and say doing leg extensions of 35kgs for 8 reps, and 30kg dumbell for 8 reps with hamcurls, would you do something like this

squats :
60kgs for 8 reps
80kgs for 6 reps
100kgs for 3 reps
120 for for 2 reps
140 for 1 rep

and then for each other exercise do 1 or 2 "feel sets" to get the blood moving and go into your working sets?

or would you do 1 set of squats, 1 set of leg ext, 1 set hamstring curls and repeat 3x and go straight into the working sets 1 after the other?

so :
squat 60kgs
leg ext 20kgs
ham curl 15kgs

squat 80kgs
leg ext 25kgs
ham curl 20kgs

and then working sets would be
squat 150kgs for 8 reps,
rest 1.5mins
leg ext 35kgs
rest 1.5mins
ham curl 30kgs

sorry if that seems all over the show?

Warmups (load and reps) are entirely up to you, but I'd suggest doing at least one set of the isolation exercises to be sure the exercise feels OK, the machine is working, etc.

Everyone is different when it comes to warm-ups, just like the approach to doing a heavy set is different (in terms of visualization, adrenalizing, etc.). You may need to warm-up differently each day.


Integrative Bodybuilding

next question is regards to rotations and loading sets,

do you need to alternate between 3 exercises or would 2 suffice?
week 1 deadlift
week 2 rack pull
week 3 deadlift
week 4 rack pull

You don't need to do anything.

If you choose just two exercise rotations to rotate, this is not ideal for some folks. There can be some short term practice effects that contribute to the strength gains such that you plateau prematurely. (I've covered this one a few times now. )

and then your pump sets use things like rows? bent over/cable/Db row?

Exercise selection for Pump sets (and all set types) is covered in the book.

(Asking me to tell you what exercises to do is like asking me to order a meal for you when I don't know what kind of food you like. I don't known your physique, nor which exercises work for you as far as feeling the target muscle, how well you low back holds up to unsupported rowing and deadlifting in the same week, etc. Literally, my best guidance is written out in the book, so I'd re-read those sections on page 90 or so. )

my gym can be quite limited interms of equipment too (has a shit load of weights and a good couple machines but sometimes there is limited stuff)

so i am looking for more quad exercises, so far i have got leg ext and somersault squats, are there others you would suggest?

would you consider a Reverse hack squat as thigh exercise?

Smith sissy hack
Lap bar squats
Somersault squat
trap bar deadlift

I'll let you think about the reverse hack squat. (Where do you feel it?...)

when it comes to Loading pump and MR exercises could you do something like this :
Week 1
Load Incline smith
pump decline smith
MR Chest press machine

Week 2
Load decline smith
Pump Incline smith
MR chest press machine?

week 3
Load Decline Dumbell press
Pump Chest press machine
Muscle round Incline smith?

i am currently nursing a rotator cuff injury so those exercises dont seem to cause trouble in the shoulder.

That's a nice way to spread the load over the pecs, but you still need to auto regulate exercise selection for MRs and Pump Sets, per the book.

when it comes to progression, do you keep each rotation seperate?
week 1 loading Decline Smith : 100kgs for 8 reps
week 2 loading, Incline smith : do i try and better the weight used for Decline? or do i treat this as its own individual weight used?

I've answered this one quite a bit, too. (Did you really search?...)

Each rotation separate and progress could be on just one exercise in a rotation.

if i have lagging glutes, can i add in a glute exercise to the leg rotations? things like glute pull throughs,Hip trusts and reverse lunges? or would you suggest adding glutes into the warm up to make sure that they activate and fire during a squat, hack squat or smith squat and not take the glutes to failure?

GLutes are part of thighs. Make your thigh exercises glute focused.

when starting the FT cycle, say i was to pick the wrong weight for say pull ups, and i started with body weight, is it train smash to take the set past the 12 rep mark and say fail at 14 reps, and then make note of this and adjust the following session?

What else would you do?...

now i say you say in the book try and do reps continuously, now if you are squating 150kgs and you get to 6 reps and you are pretty gassed and you take 2 deep breaths before completing the last 1 or 2 reps, is this ok or do you feel that if thats the case dont try and do more reps?

The sets over if you can't keep the reps continuous and don't have the mental strength to keep from taking that breath. (If you need to adjust stance, etc., that's fine, but if you stop b/c you simply can't keep yourself from doing so, you're not executing the set correctly, so you'll need to work on that.

would you recommend doing any banded work? example, banded stiff legged deadlifts with the band pulling your hips back?

For you, no. You're overly complicating things as is.

sorry for the 1001 and questions, i bought this ebook ages ago and through personal circumstances never got around to training this way, but now that i am going to start this plan, i had more questions than i knew what to do with.

thanks for the great information and program, i am really looking forward to this.

Sure, but you should really re-read the book (and try a bit harder to search the forum), IMO.

I have the strong sense that much of what you're asking about is simply b/c you don't trust your own judgement and that is something that need to come into play with FT.

Imagine what you would say to another person if they asked you these questions, e.g., about exercise selection and order, etc. You'd probably have no hesitation in giving the answer you've already come up with.

-S