FT Questions....

[Scott Stevenson]

Thanks for updating Altamir. Glad to see that these things made a difference for you! One question I have for you is, if you are only doing weighted chest stretch on a certain day(s), are you doing anything else on the other chest days (ie. occlusion stretch, flexibility stretch)? Or are you completely skipping stretching on those days?

I am wondering if standing in a doorway, for example, and stretching the chest that way after pump sets, rather than weighted extreme stretch, would work just as well for occlusion purposes yet not cause the same level of muscle fatigue? I haven't experimented with this yet, but will probably give it a try next blast.

Also an update on my chest training - I swapped iso exercises first and mass builder second, and I have been progressing, however, at a slow rate. On my pressing I have been gaining 1 or 2 reps each A/B/C exercise (1 on incline BB and flat BB, more on incline hammer machine which i can really grind out reps on). I guess this is decent progress, but painfully slow when compared to squatting or any leg movement for that matter that I can go up 5lbs/week pretty much every time.

FP,

Just a quick couple thoughts:

You could do that pec stretch in a power rack. That works well, IME. (Hands are a bit wider there and you can step into it, which might work will with your larger frame.)

Consider % increases on the chest pressing. 5 lb / week on a leg movement like a leg press is more like 2.5lb (or less) on a chest press.

-S

[Altamir]

Thanks for updating Altamir. Glad to see that these things made a difference for you! One question I have for you is, if you are only doing weighted chest stretch on a certain day(s), are you doing anything else on the other chest days (ie. occlusion stretch, flexibility stretch)? Or are you completely skipping stretching on those days?

I am wondering if standing in a doorway, for example, and stretching the chest that way after pump sets, rather than weighted extreme stretch, would work just as well for occlusion purposes yet not cause the same level of muscle fatigue? I haven't experimented with this yet, but will probably give it a try next blast.

Also an update on my chest training - I swapped iso exercises first and mass builder second, and I have been progressing, however, at a slow rate. On my pressing I have been gaining 1 or 2 reps each A/B/C exercise (1 on incline BB and flat BB, more on incline hammer machine which i can really grind out reps on). I guess this is decent progress, but painfully slow when compared to squatting or any leg movement for that matter that I can go up 5lbs/week pretty much every time.

I still did stretching on the other days, usually occlusion. Doing the exact stretch you are talking about (or actually Scott). I'd get into a power rack or smith machine, which would allow me to get a good stretch, better range of motion. There was significantly less fatigue from that as compared to the extreme stretch, but I could still feel a very nice, deep stretch through the fibers.

Glad to see you're still making some progress on you chest movements, even if its a slow rate. I am with you (and also agree with Scott above), that chest moves so much slower than legs. My progress last blast was nothing amazing, but it was progress, and I did not suffer from burnout at the end of my blast, where I actually regressed. This allowed me to keep the intensity high through my cruise and the start of my current blast. This felt much more like two steps forward, one step forward, instead of two steps forward, half a step back.

Best of luck to you. Let me know if you stumble across anything else with this. I will do the same.

[Foodpumps]

FP,

Just a quick couple thoughts:

You could do that pec stretch in a power rack. That works well, IME. (Hands are a bit wider there and you can step into it, which might work will with your larger frame.)

Consider % increases on the chest pressing. 5 lb / week on a leg movement like a leg press is more like 2.5lb (or less) on a chest press.

-S

Thank's Scott, I will give that stretch a try in the rack. Good point on the difference in % increase. I always think about that kind of thing with things like bicep curls (ie. increasing 5lbs is a large % increase) but forget when getting frustrated with chest lifts

[Foodpumps]

I still did stretching on the other days, usually occlusion. Doing the exact stretch you are talking about (or actually Scott). I'd get into a power rack or smith machine, which would allow me to get a good stretch, better range of motion. There was significantly less fatigue from that as compared to the extreme stretch, but I could still feel a very nice, deep stretch through the fibers.

Glad to see you're still making some progress on you chest movements, even if its a slow rate. I am with you (and also agree with Scott above), that chest moves so much slower than legs. My progress last blast was nothing amazing, but it was progress, and I did not suffer from burnout at the end of my blast, where I actually regressed. This allowed me to keep the intensity high through my cruise and the start of my current blast. This felt much more like two steps forward, one step forward, instead of two steps forward, half a step back.

Best of luck to you. Let me know if you stumble across anything else with this. I will do the same.

Good to hear about your progress. I am going to do more of the occlusion style stretch in the rack on my next blast (esp. after Monday pump sets), and up the calories on my Tuesday AM carb meal (this I recently added in, as I feel like I really need the extra carbs/cals after Monday lower load/upper pump workouts) and hopefully that helps progression on upper loading.

Side note: I did find an awesome occlusion stretch yesterday. There is a seated cable fly station at my gym which I did for my second chest MR. Right after finishing the last possible rep, I lowered the cables back and leaned forward (with arms at the bottom of the fly position) and went right into the stretch for 90 sec. taking no rest between the last rep and the stretch. This was absolutely brutal! Also the nice thing about it is you can kind of increase/decrease the intensity of the stretch as needed by leaning more forward or backward. My entire chest feels like it went through a meatgrinder, even up by the collar bone. I wont be doing this on Mondays, however

[midnight]

Good morning guys!

Just to confirm i havent read the book wrong.... There is no loading set training for arms? If so what is the reason?

[Scott Stevenson]

Good morning guys!

Just to confirm i havent read the book wrong.... There is no loading set training for arms? If so what is the reason?

If you don't have big guns already, you have no business doing FT...



JUST KIDDING!

You'll see that when you get rolling, MR's and Pump sets are plenty for arms when your'e also also doing heavy pressing, deadlift variations, etc, that there is plenty of work for the arms. (Many guys find that their arms grow faster than anything with FT, which might be b/c they have been doing too much for them previously.)

Additionally, heavy arm work (losing set rep ranges) tends to flare up tendonitis and cause joint issues for many, especially old guys. Also, for many, too, arms seem to respond best with higher reps for direct training.

-S

[Darkhorse0311]

No doubt!

To add: You can also chose variations of exercises to hammer the arms during the loading sets as well (Supinated rows/Pulldowns, dips for chest, and so forth).

[midnight]

Thanks for the replies SS and DH.

Two last questions regarding the training... Im doing my first week of FT and loving it! I train 2 days then day off then planning to train another 2 days. Anyway im doing tier 2 and completed days 1 2 and 3. Day 4 is muscle round including back. My biceps have doms from the workout of day 3. Is it a problem to train with fresh doms?

2nd question: Is it ok to workout more frequently? Instead of doing a workout every 7 days, can i do it every 6 days or even every 5? No particular reason except i love training!

[Scott Stevenson]

Thanks for the replies SS and DH.

Two last questions regarding the training... Im doing my first week of FT and loving it! I train 2 days then day off then planning to train another 2 days. Anyway im doing tier 2 and completed days 1 2 and 3. Day 4 is muscle round including back. My biceps have doms from the workout of day 3. Is it a problem to train with fresh doms?

Some folks are sore to some extent at the start of most training sessions. The extent of the soreness should be your guide here.

(FWIW, I suggest folks start with Tier I, not Tier II.)

2nd question: Is it ok to workout more frequently? Instead of doing a workout every 7 days, can i do it every 6 days or even every 5? No particular reason except i love training!

I guess it would be "OK," but if you're wanting to do the 4 day program , while training 5-6 x/ week, I would imagine you will have recovery issues. I'm for whatever makes folks happy!

-S[/quote]

[midnight]

Thanks for the reply DR SS, your a superstar!

Coming from high volume, tier 1 on paper seemed like a walk in the park, but i admit after starting on tier 2 that i was wrong!

I ended up doing day 4 workout minus the back workout. I will do the back exercises today. Doms in biceps doesnt feel so extreme like yesterday.

I want to pick your brain about protein but I will find the appropriate forum for it!