Bens Question
Hey Matt, looking forward to following the log.
Few Q’s:
– How do you find your recovery is overlapping Quads/Back Thickness as far as lower back/spine goes?
– What has been, in the past, the ‘sweet spot’ body-fat wise, where you felt, and performed best? Not asking for specific numbers here as they aren’t all that accurate, more-so just a brief idea.
– Do you (/have athletes) measure BG, may it be fasted or post prandial and base intake on it (specifically in rebound phases)?
Appreciate everything.
My Answer
Hey Ben Excited to have you here man!
Honestly man up to this point I do not have any issue with it extending back to previous off season. That being said I have not free bar squatted since the Olympia last year which I am going to start working back in. As long as my trunk is staying upright, if your lower back is constantly pumped during leg training your hips are either tucking under or you are getting too much forward trunk lean. But last off season (I am using this as I feel its a better gauge of true training) I had no issue hack squatting and then pulling the next day) I find my bigger issue recovering is when I pull on back day and do RDL on hamstring day but I still aim to get acclimated to this kind of volume as well.
I would say over 10% I am good and anything over 700g of carbs around peak weight is too much for me OR was last year, when the food was higher than that it was negatively impacting my training.
I feel that fasted levels of reading for MOST are a true test, if you are chronically elevated all day its not going to clear to a safe range over night. I also do not wany my athletes to overly fear pushing intake because of this so if you are taking the right precautionary measures IE GDA / Insulin mimickers as well as checking fasted levels and not eating like a fatty you will be good.
Michaels Question
Hey Matt,
im curious on how your vertical pull back day looks like, would it be possible to do a video on that day or just give me a run down on it thanks!
Hey Michael
This week we did as follows
Movement 1
3 sets of v grip (mag) pulldown to lower sternum staying completely upright and contracting hard through the eccentric as well as concentric working up to a max set of 8 (warm up sets not included, all three sets listed were a challenge)
Movement 2
2 Sets of above the head V grip Pulldows – Here we are splitting our elbows out wide and pulling the v grip directly down on top of our heads contracting the upper lats and upper traps. This movement was done with a heavier weight than the first movement
Movement 3
Behind the back wide grip Pulldown facing away from the stack and keeping our feelt behind us. the purpose of this is to cut out any leg drive and again to keep your body completely vertical. Once we failed behind the head we maintained that same fixed posture and pulled to the front for an additional 4-5 reps. Typically getting 8-10 to the back and 4-5 to the front. Two working sets at the heaviest load following warm ups.
Movements 4 and 5 (Pullover superset)
Rope pullover with a stretch emphasis – stretching the weight over your head on every rep and coming to pause at contraction mid way through the range and then back into the Stretch
INTO
Straight Arm Pulldown 3/4 of the range from partial stretch to full contraction
x 10 on each (3 rounds at challenging weight to get all 10 reps)
Movement 6
Single Arm Plate loaded Neutral Grip Pulldown – Tucking elbow hard and driving down into the lat – not flaring the elbow) No body english here. One arm straight into the other side. Typically getting 8-10. Two working sets at the heaviest load following warm ups.
