Sussing out FT

[Scott Stevenson]

THANKS TO DENS for helping out on this one!

With this in mind it says in the book that the log is not totally essential with muscle rounds as long as you keep a note of the pool of exercises so when you return to one you know what your starting point is weight wise so I guess this answers my above question?!

The log book is where one would keep notes as to MR exercises and progression.

You could put a page for each muscle group in the back of your book and add things there, or write them in the day of the workout and refer back if you have the secretarial skills to find your previous records easily.

You are right it doesn't say that, it states about keeping a "pool" of exercises for MRs and then beating them! So the opposite to what I am thinking!

I think I may find an option for each body part and then hammer away to get stronger, then a second option for when I move up a tier (if!)

This is from the book on MR's:

"Rotating Exercises: Perform only one MR for a given exercise in a workout. Your exercise selection will be intuitive: Do exercises that you feel work best for your physique, in the context of how previous workouts went (and where you are sore, etc.), and making sure (as with PUMP SETS) to avoid those exercises that might cause or exacerbate joint or tendon pain. Muscle Round exercises should chosen be to “fll in the holes” in your physique. You don’t need to regularly do any particular exercises, keeping it very random and fresh. On the other hand, you might choose to hammer away at a given exercise until you grow quite strong in that movement and this is refected in your physique."

Here's what the book says about Pump Sets:

"Exercise Selection: Vary the exercises often and avoid any exercise that irritates a particularly sore area or a structure where you may be developing or tend to develop arthragia (joint pain) or tendinitis. Pump sets would be done mostly with (joint and tendon friendly) machines and cables with the intention to isolate the
muscle."

-S

[masonator]

Thanks guys I really appreciate the assistance ! In relation to my choice of loading exercises, I know they are individual, but they seem ok?

[Altamir]

Thanks guys I really appreciate the assistance ! In relation to my choice of loading exercises, I know they are individual, but they seem ok?

I'd first stress to you do what you think you'll do great with. Within a few weeks of running the program you'll have a much better idea of what's working for you, and what's not. And if you stick with the program long enough it will evolve.

As far as upfront, I'm sure others will have there input (Lots of great opinions here on the board). They look pretty good. There is only one thing you may want to give some question to. Thats SLDL after doing safety squats. Might be a lot on your low back, especially when Zig-zagging. Sounds like hell at tier 3 with that one.

Might want to think about moving that to maybe after your leg press day? Or replacing it with another hamstring isolation movement? You may recovered a lot better than I do, and have zero issue, but that jumps out to me as at least worthy of a second thought.

[masonator]

I'd first stress to you do what you think you'll do great with. Within a few weeks of running the program you'll have a much better idea of what's working for you, and what's not. And if you stick with the program long enough it will evolve.

As far as upfront, I'm sure others will have there input (Lots of great opinions here on the board). They look pretty good. There is only one thing you may want to give some question to. Thats SLDL after doing safety squats. Might be a lot on your low back, especially when Zig-zagging. Sounds like hell at tier 3 with that one.

Might want to think about moving that to maybe after your leg press day? Or replacing it with another hamstring isolation movement? You may recovered a lot better than I do, and have zero issue, but that jumps out to me as at least worthy of a second thought.

Much appreciated fella

So you think perhaps get in the gym for a week with basic outline of what I want to do and can play it by ear for first blast sussing it out by feel and with feedback on here?

Good point with the SLDL, sure it wont be a problem as I currently have a lower strength day and lower hypertrophy day on PHAT and I have SLDL after all my quad stuff on both in varying rep ranges.

My lower back has always been strong since my deadlifting days (which sadly came to an end after a nasty inguinal hernia repair)

Can still pull 200kg with relative comfort at any point but they scare the hell out of me !

[Altamir]

Much appreciated fella

So you think perhaps get in the gym for a week with basic outline of what I want to do and can play it by ear for first blast sussing it out by feel and with feedback on here?

Good point with the SLDL, sure it wont be a problem as I currently have a lower strength day and lower hypertrophy day on PHAT and I have SLDL after all my quad stuff on both in varying rep ranges.

My lower back has always been strong since my deadlifting days (which sadly came to an end after a nasty inguinal hernia repair)

Can still pull 200kg with relative comfort at any point but they scare the hell out of me !

My personal opinion is no better way to learn, than by doing. You can question and try to dig into details as much as possible, but nothing is really going to tell you what's going to work for you, until you do it.

I had to change a lot of my loading lifts after the first few weeks as they just were not working well for me. But I couldn't have figured it out until I did the program.

I'd either start a log or go at it for a few weeks, see what (if any) issues come back here with questions.

[masonator]

I think that's what I will do, my legs are still suffering from the last session so will prob try muscle round days on Mon & Wed and then crack on with loading days Fri & Sat next week.

I will start a log I think to gain some feedback along the way. Last question for a while, would you put a day between the muscle round days or the load days if you had to train 2on 1off 1on 1off 1on 1off ?

[Altamir]

I think that's what I will do, my legs are still suffering from the last session so will prob try muscle round days on Mon & Wed and then crack on with loading days Fri & Sat next week.

I will start a log I think to gain some feedback along the way. Last question for a while, would you put a day between the muscle round days or the load days if you had to train 2on 1off 1on 1off 1on 1off ?

Same answer as before "it depends"

Serious answer. Most people seem to put a day between loading days and do muscle rounds back to back.

For me personally I do loading days back to back. I train early on the weekends, so the gym is empty and I can zig zag and super set all I want to with little worry about machines or squat racks being taken up. My MR days are in the afternoon on weekdays, so its busier, but MR days allow me to be more flexible. Also I have a bad shoulder, so putting upper pump days the day before upper loading days sort of gives me a little bit of a pre-fatigue.

Doing both Loading days back to back is at times BRUTAL. But we discussed this in a previous thread, that the sort of back to back full body days creates a peak of stress, but allows for you to be semi-rested by the time you get around to your last MR day.

Again, take a look at what your weak points / injuries are and think about how setting up the days might help or hinder those. And again, nothing set in stone. Run one blast one way, and the next the other. See if it makes a difference

[righty]

A LOT of guys have made great gains with just Tier I. One of the best gainers (he goes by TinyTim on Testosteronemuscle.co.uk - you may know of him masonator?...) used Tier I throughout most of our time training together.

Training volume simply doesn't make up for a lack of intensity of effort. (No aspersions cast!)

-S

TinyTim aka righty checking in.
Thanks, Dr Scott - those words are appreciated.

It has probably been asked a million times but I am a volume guy...

Would I be a good candidate for starting on say Tier 2 of the basic rather than Tier 1, I just cant help but look at Tier 1 and think its not enough !!

Hi masonator,
I kinda got fed up with posting in my journal on TM in the end and deleted it - too much calling out of gains because people weren't having it that 15kg+ in 8 months was possible with barely a movement in multi-site caliper measurements (though I did gain some fat, for sure).

Still, Dr Scott received weekly pics and a ton of data, from which he managed my diet (I was a paid client of Dr Scott's).

Anyway, to the question of tier 1 vs tier 2.

Here's how I saw it: I have pretty crappy genetics - skinny fat by nature and an ecto frame. But I will not deviate from a plan and that was the key to making this awesome program work for me.
We set up a list of lifts which I had to beat every workout. Missing them meant potentially losing them and, as they were my favourites, I wasn't about to lose them. So, I had to beat them.

The first week was easy - because I hadn't yet worked out just how deep into muscular overload I could go.
Week two was hard - beating good (for me) lifts required effort.
Week three and I was thinking "how'm I gonna beat this - that was a cracking set last week?"
But they got beat.
And so on, deeper into overload every week and learning to push the mental boundary because there were plenty of physical fibres not yet fired and spent.

This was mostly all on tier 1 - I think we tried tier 2 for half a blast and it destroyed me - I needed an early cruise from that one.

If you can and do go further than you've gone before in terms of progression from week-to-week, and keep doing it week after week until it's time to cruise, tier 1 is "just" a tool facilitating very rapid progress - concentrating everything into as few lifts as possible and giving everything. Got quite anxious before some sessions because I knew they were going to be relatively insane but they got done. And I literally couldn't wait to leave the gym and get home to eating, as eating was the key between recovering and gaining, and burning out. I'll let Dr Scott go into the details of macro amounts he built me up to, if he's so inclined.

I was 46 at the time, so hardly in my prime of gaining youth.

One thing though - the cruise, as laid out in the book, played a huge role in sustained gaining. I came back from each cruise stronger and heavier and very refreshed. Not a meal was missed and not a cheat food was eaten. Just good old-fashioned slog.

I've been chatting with Dr Scott and it's shortly time for me to gain another 15kg under his wing (I laid the training up for a while as I swopped careers and got ready to move house). Unless he says differently, it'll be tier 1 again.

[masonator]

TinyTim aka righty checking in.
Thanks, Dr Scott - those words are appreciated.

Hi masonator,
I kinda got fed up with posting in my journal on TM in the end and deleted it - too much calling out of gains because people weren't having it that 15kg+ in 8 months was possible with barely a movement in multi-site caliper measurements (though I did gain some fat, for sure).

Still, Dr Scott received weekly pics and a ton of data, from which he managed my diet (I was a paid client of Dr Scott's).

Anyway, to the question of tier 1 vs tier 2.

Here's how I saw it: I have pretty crappy genetics - skinny fat by nature and an ecto frame. But I will not deviate from a plan and that was the key to making this awesome program work for me.
We set up a list of lifts which I had to beat every workout. Missing them meant potentially losing them and, as they were my favourites, I wasn't about to lose them. So, I had to beat them.

The first week was easy - because I hadn't yet worked out just how deep into muscular overload I could go.
Week two was hard - beating good (for me) lifts required effort.
Week three and I was thinking "how'm I gonna beat this - that was a cracking set last week?"
But they got beat.
And so on, deeper into overload every week and learning to push the mental boundary because there were plenty of physical fibres not yet fired and spent.

This was mostly all on tier 1 - I think we tried tier 2 for half a blast and it destroyed me - I needed an early cruise from that one.

If you can and do go further than you've gone before in terms of progression from week-to-week, and keep doing it week after week until it's time to cruise, tier 1 is "just" a tool facilitating very rapid progress - concentrating everything into as few lifts as possible and giving everything. Got quite anxious before some sessions because I knew they were going to be relatively insane but they got done. And I literally couldn't wait to leave the gym and get home to eating, as eating was the key between recovering and gaining, and burning out. I'll let Dr Scott go into the details of macro amounts he built me up to, if he's so inclined.

I was 46 at the time, so hardly in my prime of gaining youth.

One thing though - the cruise, as laid out in the book, played a huge role in sustained gaining. I came back from each cruise stronger and heavier and very refreshed. Not a meal was missed and not a cheat food was eaten. Just good old-fashioned slog.

I've been chatting with Dr Scott and it's shortly time for me to gain another 15kg under his wing (I laid the training up for a while as I swopped careers and got ready to move house). Unless he says differently, it'll be tier 1 again.

Hey Righty, I used to be more active on MT many moons ago but it has died a death from the good old days tbh although I went by the name Selecta!

I did look for your journal but obviously couldn't find it but thankfully a lot of your answers in the FT thread on T Muscle were still there and were helpful.

I must admit I started on Tier 1 today, started a log and it was a bit of a "feeler" session as I imagine the rest of the week will be but I did come out of it feeling ravenous but not wasted like I did from my PHAT session. (wasted in a "too much" kinda way I mean!)

So I have no qualms about sticking with tier 1 for a bit and seeing how it goes.
Either way it is nice to hear from people like yourself who I know have been there and done it, physique and routine wise so know your stuff!

To be fair a few other "mature" guys in the UK BB scene who I respect have also jumped on Fortitude so I can tell it must work !

I appreciate you commenting and if you have any tips/advice along the way that would be spot on!

By the way, 43 here so no spring chicken either !!!!

[righty]

Hey Righty, I used to be more active on MT many moons ago but it has died a death from the good old days tbh although I went by the name Selecta!

I did look for your journal but obviously couldn't find it but thankfully a lot of your answers in the FT thread on T Muscle were still there and were helpful.

I must admit I started on Tier 1 today, started a log and it was a bit of a "feeler" session as I imagine the rest of the week will be but I did come out of it feeling ravenous but not wasted like I did from my PHAT session. (wasted in a "too much" kinda way I mean!)

So I have no qualms about sticking with tier 1 for a bit and seeing how it goes.
Either way it is nice to hear from people like yourself who I know have been there and done it, physique and routine wise so know your stuff!

To be fair a few other "mature" guys in the UK BB scene who I respect have also jumped on Fortitude so I can tell it must work !

I appreciate you commenting and if you have any tips/advice along the way that would be spot on!

By the way, 43 here so no spring chicken either !!!!

Small world mate - remember you well.
Biggest tips - intensity and recovery aka follow the book exactly because it's all there (pay attention to the nutrition strategies and the stretching, too).
Can't see me ever doing a "fluff" set ever again - every set is a tool now.
Program is awesome, no doubt.
Best of luck mate.
Hit me up on TM.