FT Questions....

[Scott Stevenson]

what i meaned by that statement is that cause of that idea i have in my mind i increased my training days to 7 a week via pump workouts..
thats was the main reason for more freguent training..
but maybe i was overjealous and i overdone it and that lead me to overtraining and diminished gains? ( i gues yes as you said that also...)

Well, it seems like over those 9 mo. of MD training that adding in the 3 pump days didn't get you the gains you'd hoped for.

The real issue here, IMO, is recovery. The more you can train, the better, as long as you can recover, IMO. And this is a fine line, as you can recovery and continue to train in a certain way and not make substantial muscle gains if the nutrient surplus (and resulting insulin response, etc) is not there.

Consider a gain of 25lb of muscle in a year.

This breaks down to 2 lb / month or about ½ lb / week--> Roughly 1 ounce of muscle / day.

Muscle is mostly water, and in terms of protein accrual (protein balance) in skeletal muscle, this ounce of muscle gained means a protein balance of about 7-8 grams of protein / day.

Consider that you're eating lets days 200g of protein, so the shifting protein balance is very subtle to make even tremendous gains like this. Just a <5% shift in protein balance means growing like a weed.

--------------

So, back to the case in hand: The issue is whether pump training, but increasing blood flow during the exercise would increase recovery. Yes, perhaps having greater blood flow might have some effect, but this would suggest that blood flow is sub-optimal in some way. By analogy, would having more food available at a buffet mean that a person eats more than otherwise?... Probably, not, as a good buffet (like a good circulatory system) has plenty of food for ad lib eating.

So adding more workouts - of a pump style of training - would be a way to target muscle growth via a metabolic stress mechanism. Lighter loading would mean less muscle damage (PERHAPS!) and fewer "inroads" to recovery, but these are still workouts from which one must recover.

In essence, IMO, you're adding training volume with more workouts that might not be as difficult to recover from, and create a different set of cellular stimuli for growth compared to a heavier type of training. The effect on blood flow per se is not what would make these workouts effective, IMO. On the contrary, blood flow and the pump is simply the normal response (reactive hyperemia) to the imposed metabolic stress, which is the real source of the growth stimulus.

-S

[bill2]

Well, it seems like over those 9 mo. of MD training that adding in the 3 pump days didn't get you the gains you'd hoped for.

The real issue here, IMO, is recovery. The more you can train, the better, as long as you can recover, IMO. And this is a fine line, as you can recovery and continue to train in a certain way and not make substantial muscle gains if the nutrient surplus (and resulting insulin response, etc) is not there.

Consider a gain of 25lb of muscle in a year.

This breaks down to 2 lb / month or about ½ lb / week--> Roughly 1 ounce of muscle / day.

Muscle is mostly water, and in terms of protein accrual (protein balance) in skeletal muscle, this ounce of muscle gained means a protein balance of about 7-8 grams of protein / day.

Consider that you're eating lets days 200g of protein, so the shifting protein balance is very subtle to make even tremendous gains like this. Just a <5% shift in protein balance means growing like a weed.

--------------

So, back to the case in hand: The issue is whether pump training, but increasing blood flow during the exercise would increase recovery. Yes, perhaps having greater blood flow might have some effect, but this would suggest that blood flow is sub-optimal in some way. By analogy, would having more food available at a buffet mean that a person eats more than otherwise?... Probably, not, as a good buffet (like a good circulatory system) has plenty of food for ad lib eating.

So adding more workouts - of a pump style of training - would be a way to target muscle growth via a metabolic stress mechanism. Lighter loading would mean less muscle damage (PERHAPS!) and fewer "inroads" to recovery, but these are still workouts from which one must recover.

In essence, IMO, you're adding training volume with more workouts that might not be as difficult to recover from, and create a different set of cellular stimuli for growth compared to a heavier type of training. The effect on blood flow per se is not what would make these workouts effective, IMO. On the contrary, blood flow and the pump is simply the normal response (reactive hyperemia) to the imposed metabolic stress, which is the real source of the growth stimulus.

-S

your point is that i wasnt able to recover=diminished gains when the day was over?

[Scott Stevenson]

your point is that i wasnt able to recover=diminished gains when the day was over?

More importantly, how would you explain what happened?...

-S

[bill2]

More importantly, how would you explain what happened?...

-S

well i gues that conclusion seems about right ..
-do you beleive a bigger calorie diet during that time could offset the recovery issue? ( i have to say i was prety conservative with diet-calories in order to keep bodyfat in check..)
-what factors constribute in recovery in your opinion..?
(i m in tune with my body and know my limits and when to push the intencity or to live something in the tank..when i was feeling good and energetic it was time for my main workouts..when a bit tired or stressed or whatever than it was time for a pump workout .)

[Scott Stevenson]

well i gues that conclusion seems about right ..
-do you beleive a bigger calorie diet during that time could offset the recovery issue? ( i have to say i was prety conservative with diet-calories in order to keep bodyfat in check..)
-what factors constribute in recovery in your opinion..?
(i m in tune with my body and know my limits and when to push the intencity or to live something in the tank..when i was feeling good and energetic it was time for my main workouts..when a bit tired or stressed or whatever than it was time for a pump workout .)

Yes, more food will help up to a certain degree.

Being ready to handle the workout is on part of the equation, but performance also tells you something, too. Had you been forced to ensure strength (and weight) gains, by forcing some sort of progressive overload and ensuring that you were eating enough to gain weight, then you'd have had a different experience,

Recovery is multifactorial and a matter of massive number of things:

-Training stress
---Training, intensity, volume / workout, workout frequency
-Sleep amount and quality
-Food intake (Energy balance)
---Macro and micronutrient intake
---Nutrient timing
- Supplement a/o drug use (TONS of possibilities here)
- Psychological factors like expectancies, i.e., expectations of what will come of the workouts, general happiness, desire to train, enjoyment of training

-S

[bill2]

Yes, more food will help up to a certain degree.

Being ready to handle the workout is on part of the equation, but performance also tells you something, too. Had you been forced to ensure strength (and weight) gains, by forcing some sort of progressive overload and ensuring that you were eating enough to gain weight, then you'd have had a different experience,

Recovery is multifactorial and a matter of massive number of things:

-Training stress
---Training, intensity, volume / workout, workout frequency
-Sleep amount and quality
-Food intake (Energy balance)
---Macro and micronutrient intake
---Nutrient timing
- Supplement a/o drug use (TONS of possibilities here)
- Psychological factors like expectancies, i.e., expectations of what will come of the workouts, general happiness, desire to train, enjoyment of training

-S

thanks Scott for the advises you have given me..!
i will stick to your reccomendations from now on for sure!

[Scott Stevenson]

thanks Scott for the advises you have given me..!
i will stick to your reccomendations from now on for sure!

Bill,

I'd advise, first and foremost, to do what feels right and makes sense to you, regardless of what I say.



-S

[bill2]

i will listen to my body of cource Scott..and taking into considaration and your advise i will act accordingly..
Scott whats a good rate of wheight gain during a growing season is in your book?
dont mind to sacrifice a bit of condition in order to gain maxx fat free muscle but dont want to cross the line too far either and gain unwanted fat..?
( also curius to know in what rate you were gaining back to 2003 whene you reached 260 pounds and the percentage maybe of fat to muscle..?)

[Scott Stevenson]

i will listen to my body of cource Scott..and taking into considaration and your advise i will act accordingly..
Scott whats a good rate of wheight gain during a growing season is in your book?
dont mind to sacrifice a bit of condition in order to gain maxx fat free muscle but dont want to cross the line too far either and gain unwanted fat..?
( also curius to know in what rate you were gaining back to 2003 whene you reached 260 pounds and the percentage maybe of fat to muscle..?)

The rate will depend an a TON of things: experience, current size, previous breaks from training, hormonal status, GENETICS.

Some people literally can be considered non-responders to resistance training.

I couldn't tell you the ratio of fat to muscle back then. I had for the most part always dropped bout 20-30lb from off-season to contest shape, so I was going by the mirror and previous off-season weight and strength levels.

The kcal you'll need to grow and the ratio of fat /muscle will be something unique to each person.

On the average, in the studies of Bouchard et al. (search my articles at elitefts.com, the gain of FFM / fat with simple overfeeding is about 1:2.

If you can, with training, put on 2 lb FFM for each lb of muscle, this is pretty damn good, IMO.

-S

[Apexpf]

Sorry if this has been asked already, 31 pages of questions is quite a lot to go through on my mobile....

Just wanted to say that I'm loving the program so far Scott- as per everyone else here, it's a breathe of fresh air...(not really, as it has me gasping really...but anyway..) great program.

Just wanted to check that I have understood the various set types with regards to exercise choice and rotation etc

Loading sets- stick with the same exercises for a cycle (3-6 weeks) and switch up in new cycle?

Pump sets- these can be switched up each week?

MR- same as above?

Sorry if I have this completely wrong, I hope I'm not bastardising the plan- just want to be sure I'm using it to its fullest effect.

Thanks again Scott