Intensive Cruise Critique

[nick xynias]

Hi Guys!
So this is my second intensive cruise and i think my last one i didn't utilise properly to enable a rebound effect.

My blast has lasted 6 weeks and therefore my cruise was a planned 2 weeks. My first week of the Cruise i got sick and spent most of the days in bed, i was thinking of setting up the final 9 days like this:
Rest
Lower MR's
Upper MR's
REST
Lower MR
Upper MR
Rest 3 Days

Start New Blast Period


Does this look like an okay way to treat the week?? Or does anyone else have any great ways they;ve set up their final 9-10 days of their intensive cruise??
Alternatively would something like Train/Rest/Train/Rest etc be better??

I have also been on incredibly high carbs during the blast period, so thinking of dropping carbs a bit for the last week to give my body a complete reset (granted i don't drop too much weight, in which case carbs will be brought back in).

Thanks for all your help!

[Altamir]

Lots of factors to take into account. I personally would NOT try to "make up for lost training time" in the last week of the cruise. Which is sort of what it looks like you are trying to do (maybe? This is my assumption) Your focus, IMO, should be on the blast upcoming. Not sure how depleted or awful you feel from being sick. But I'm guessing you're probably still not feeling 100%. I'd heavily rely on auto-regulating this last week. Hit your first MR session, see how it feels, see how you feel the day after, and make a plan form there, but focus on making sure you are set up to hit the ground running when your blast rolls around.

[Scott Stevenson]

I'd echo Altamir here.

Chances are, being sick and the associated lack of training and odd diet probably have left you without any super compensatory effect to harness.

I'd simply auto regulate your way back into training, being sure that you're highly recovered and then start another blast. (I'd use MR training sessions though, to get an idea of where you are recovery wise.)

This scale can be your guide. Ideally you're at a 9+.

   

-S

[nick xynias]

Thanks Guys!

Altamir - I wasn't necessarily trying to catch up on training sessions, I was just no exactly sure how one would space them properly to fully harness the super compensatory effect of the intensive cruise??

Scott - do you think that after a couple days off straight after the blast this compensatory effect boat so to speak has already been lost?

I just completed my first MR session, and it went great - managed to beat all my previous numbers even though I've been on no carbs AND I felt great afterwards! But I am going to auto regulate the rest of the week because after all - I don't want to start my next blast on Monday and still have that feeling of lethargy/being overworked (which is what I was getting towards the end of my previous blast)

The one major question I have is how to properly space the training days during an intensive cruise. I understand that for a hyperthetical 2 week IC - training will be over 8-10 days with 4 sessions - all of which are MR's, with the final 4-6 days completely off.

Is there a specific layout you guys can recommend on how to space these sessions or is it all autoregulated?? I wasn't sure if it should be Train/Off/Train/off ect or Train Train/off/off or how I've done mine above?? It's the one thing ive looked for over and over again in the books and the forums and haven't seemed to found the answer.

Again - thanks a lot guys! And Scott I heard excellent things about ur Seminar at the Arnolds - I only wish I was there!!

[Altamir]

No problem man, It just looked like you were stuffing a lot of training into your last week of your cruise. It just appears like your focus, albeit, very well intended, is on the wrong part right now. Don't sweat about "fully harnessing the super compensatory effect" of the cruise. You got a sick, it was well timed since it was on a down swing of training. Best option is to NOT try and play catch up, but to get yourself back on track so that you are fully ready to start training hard again. Very glad your MR session went VERY well.

So you can never go wrong with autoregulated things, however, I also think it helps to have a template to start off with. So I personally like to run as much space as possible between training sessions on a cruise. Just so I'm hitting every session as fresh as possible. I also like to put a little bit of an extra break up front. (At least one extra day, which usually works out to 2 days) Page 82 suggests training 2-3x/week or once every 3-4 days. I personally usually end up doing 2 training sessions a week, not quite spaced 3-4 days apart, since I have bit of a fixed schedule. So it usually goes, extra day off up front, training, rest, training, break until next blast, since I typically run 4 week blasts. Same principles can be applied to the 6 week blast/2 week cruise.

[Scott Stevenson]

Thanks Guys!

Altamir - I wasn't necessarily trying to catch up on training sessions, I was just no exactly sure how one would space them properly to fully harness the super compensatory effect of the intensive cruise??

Scott - do you think that after a couple days off straight after the blast this compensatory effect boat so to speak has already been lost?

A couple days - no. It sounded like you spent the first week of the cruise sick (not training) and some of those days in bed.

I just completed my first MR session, and it went great - managed to beat all my previous numbers even though I've been on no carbs AND I felt great afterwards! But I am going to auto regulate the rest of the week because after all - I don't want to start my next blast on Monday and still have that feeling of lethargy/being overworked (which is what I was getting towards the end of my previous blast)

The one major question I have is how to properly space the training days during an intensive cruise. I understand that for a hyperthetical 2 week IC - training will be over 8-10 days with 4 sessions - all of which are MR's, with the final 4-6 days completely off.

Is there a specific layout you guys can recommend on how to space these sessions or is it all autoregulated?? I wasn't sure if it should be Train/Off/Train/off ect or Train Train/off/off or how I've done mine above?? It's the one thing ive looked for over and over again in the books and the forums and haven't seemed to found the answer.

There are three examples in the book in the section in Intensive Cruising (p.97).

The simplest answer is to training with a frequency of 3 workouts / week vs. 4, but each cruise will be a matter of planning around weekends, trips, choosing how long the IC will last and auto regulating to some degree, too.

You are asking (in this thread and this question) essentially about something I think comes down to a function of auto regulation, which is something that YOU have the greatest authority on.

Again - thanks a lot guys! And Scott I heard excellent things about ur Seminar at the Arnolds - I only wish I was there!!

Sure! Yes, it was a blast. Seemed like most everyone was pretty happy. (The 9 dozen donuts we had brought in were good insurance, too.)

-S

[nick xynias]

It was more so about 4 days in bed - which is why I wasn't exactly sure how best to space out the training days and whether the 4 day gap was too long or still okay.

okay now I understand, the goal is to get an average of 3 workouts/week during intensive cruise while working around a type of 'holiday' scenario (ie letting gym fit in with life and not life fit in with gym) - that makes much more sense!
I'll definitely now know how to approach my next IC - weight surprisingly has stayed quite stable during this one, so hopefully it's not all blub and fat that's replaced muscle glycogen

omg yes Scott I saw all the food posts from John and other friends' stories on social media haha those donuts definitely went down a treat! hopefully one day i'll be in USA during one of ur seminars!

[Scott Stevenson]

It was more so about 4 days in bed - which is why I wasn't exactly sure how best to space out the training days and whether the 4 day gap was too long or still okay.

okay now I understand, the goal is to get an average of 3 workouts/week during intensive cruise while working around a type of 'holiday' scenario (ie letting gym fit in with life and not life fit in with gym) - that makes much more sense!
I'll definitely now know how to approach my next IC - weight surprisingly has stayed quite stable during this one, so hopefully it's not all blub and fat that's replaced muscle glycogen

Getting sick is never ideal...

Glad you figured it out. (Remember the book already contains the answer the vast majority of the Q's asked here on the board.)

omg yes Scott I saw all the food posts from John and other friends' stories on social media haha those donuts definitely went down a treat! hopefully one day i'll be in USA during one of ur seminars!

We did eat well!

Someone need but organize a seminar down under and I'll be there (and I presume John will, too)!

-S