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Wade – I would just get back on the reverse plan with no additional increases if you stick to that you should see that your weight will come back down to the pre binge weight or close and then start to then increase the calories again after you have baselined. Dont re start a new deficit lower than your initial bump of rebound calories.
Question from Shane
Matt what’s your take on leg day training, as far as quad/ham split? Right now I’m starting to put the pedal down and I am getting back into the combo the leg entirely.
I feel when I break them up I’m much more capable of really going at it, as opposed to trying to do both at the same intensity the entire workout.
I think a big problem is I want to spend countless hours in the gym and when it comes to legs I will (3+) specially if I’m combining the two.
For someone wanting to get the most beneficial offseason what would you recommend?Answer
Hey Shane – in short I really prefer to split them up but both methods work very well. If you were to train them together it very well can be done but you just need to be very precise with your exercise selection and energy demands that are required for those movements. Stick to a short list of a select few bang for your buck movements and get the most out of them. Things like Hacks, RDL’s, Another quad loading movement, a leg curl variation and lunges lets say.
With splitting them a part I think you can get in a bit more volume without running into those marathon type sessions since you are doing a quad emphasis and hamstring emphasis day.
Regardless of what you choose the goal is to get as strong as possible and not just go into the gym to expend energy, with saying that I think the full leg day approach also can make you more grounded in the sense that you know you only have so many sets to give and you do not waste time doing un needed work or just sets that waste time and energy.
Question from Jellevdd
Hi Matt,
Do you use ketotifen and taurine during a clen rotation from 2 days on 2 days off. At a small amount of 20 clen ?Answer
I like to use taurine year around with training (as long as i remember to take it) and ketotifen I normally do not use unless people are having major sleeping issues but neither I believe are mandatory for clen to be effective.
Question From Aaron
Hi Matt,
I’m interested in using a lower volume, high intensity style training program. I really like your approach of pursuing progression on key lifts for each muscle group. Can you explain how you would warm up on each exercise in order to execute one top end work set to failure. Also can you give a recommendation on number of worksets per muscle group with a once per week frequency. I’m a natural trainer with over 5 years of lifting experience.
Thank you,
Answer
Hey Aaron – As far as the warm ups and progression goes it really is dependent on which lift it is and how strong you are in that lift. For example I am going to have to do more warm ups on a hack squat for example than I will doing a skull crusher. Generally speaking however the closer you are getting to your true working weight as long as you are properly warmed up the less reps you should do in order to have as much energy going into your top working set for that particular exercise.
For example on bench press it might look like this
Bar x 15
95 x 12
135 x 8
185 x 5
225 x 3
275 x 2
315 x Now to to true failure aiming for 5+ repsIf you hit the lower end of the rep range this might be a good idea to do a reduction in load set and then do another back off set to failure. Reduce the weight by say 15% and go again once recovered. If you hit the upper end or mid end of the range call it a day move to the next movement and repeat the above pattern again. Once you are warm though you should be able to reduce your working sets down even further.
As far as working sets per bodypart I would start in the 6-8 set range to true failure and monitor your progress from there!
Question
Lucas – Hey Matt, any tips to get rid of the last fat in the lower back area when approx 2/3 weeks out of the show ?
Answer
Hey Lucas that is just your last holding spot so you need to keep pushing the diet / cardio ect to get that last bit of fat off. We all have our areas like that, there are no tricks to spot reduction its just that you need to continue to do the work!
Chest and Shoulders
I noted this last week but I am adding in a bit more chest volume to increase frequency throughout the training week. Chest is something I really want to bring up this year. I am gauging my recovery to insure that by adding this additional work in I am still progressing on both days.
What I noticed this week is that hitting chest first does impact my shoulder pressing a bit but I am going to continue to play with this and see if I can find the right combination. I need to get both thicker and wider so it might be wise for me to start with a shoulder press first then chest press then go back to shoulders but this is how the workout went.
I had to do a little more machine work today because I have some inflammation in my left wrist making it hard to hold a DB, this has just started happening over time but I just need to slightly work around it to keep the swelling down.
Incline Hammer Press
Top set of 5p+25 x 7Back off set of 4 plates done rest pause style deadstopping each rep at the chest for 5 seconds (technique Dante posted about)
Seated Hammer Press
This is where I felt like the pressing and the extended stretch set really hit me hard when pressing. I normally do 4 plates fresh in the 7-8 range today I got it for 4 reps. Its not that I got weaker I just had already exhausted energy going into the set.Second set done with the 5 second pause style for a rest pause set at 3 pps, very challenging.
Lying D Handle Lateral Raise
1 Rest pause set
1 set x 15 reps (slight reduction in weight)Steep incline DB Press
105 x 8 repsReverse Peck Deck
1 rest pause set at 175 lbs
1 set x 15 at 145 lbsSeated Lateral Raise Machine
1 RP set at 150 lbs with arms completely straightHey Pierfrancesco I think you might have what some confusion on what progressive overload is the goal is to progress in loads on a weekly / bi weekly basis not within the workout. The volume here can be very low if you want it to be, the build up sets leading up to your top set (the set that counts) should not be overly taxing rather aid in your performance at that top end weight by allowing your body to acclimate to the loads and also properly warming up the muscle. Once the muscle is warmed and primed you can reduce the number of reps within a warm up set to just 1-3 simply just to hit that weight in route to your working weight. For example on bench press
135 lb x 8
185 lb x 5
225 lb x 5 275 x 3
315 now this is your true working set that you take to true failure and then move on to the next exercise. So in terms of volume this is really only considered 1 working set. Then you would move on to your next movement and repeat the pattern but since you are already warm you can now do less warm up sets leading into the next exerciseDoes this make sense to you now?
March 6 – Back Training and Notes
Notes and Changes for this workout: One of the things I noticed over the weekend training in Columbus was how much stronger I am at DB pull overs than I was in December. Since December I have used the Hammer Pull over weekly so this tells me that it has very good carry over to a DB pullover.
Secondly I have done DB incline Pull overs for the past 9 weeks or so straight so I have swapped this movement out for Hammer Row in the same plane of motion. The reason for this is because I feel like I have currently maxed out the DB row, not in terms of development but in terms of if I increase any more weight my form will not remain intact. So today we used the hammer Low row with the seat a bit lower to emphasize the upper back.
For todays workout we did either a top end set and back off set for each movement OR if we hit the upper end of the rep range for the first set then we maintained that same weight for the second set.
We are still alternating between a body weight supported and chest supported row for our rowing movements to not over work the lower back.
Hammer Pullover
Max set of 10 @ 4p + 50lbs total
Max set of 6-7 at same weightT Bar Row
10 -25’s x Max set
8 – 25’s x Max setHammer Low Row
275 x max set
245 x max setDB Hammer Row
145 x 9
145 x 7Hammer DY Row
4p+5ps x 7Close Grip Pulldown
160 x max + 2 forcedWeighted Stretch
Hey John –
I just started working with a new training partner over the last month so we have been more or less bringing our training together. I hate to dictate workouts in that its my way or the high way, we train with the same basic principles and believe in training to true failure and to me that is what matters. As far as exercise selection we stick to basically the same thing week in and week out but if we want to change out an exercise or if our lower back is feeling overly taxed we might choose something else but the target point on the muscle will be the same. For example I have done the same upper back row movement on an incline bench with DB’s since the beginning of Jan, today was the first time we swapped that out for another row movement. What I believe is most important is how you approach your training, how you approach individual build up and working sets and that you generally stick to the same structure each week. Within that structure constantly assessing weak points and how to make them stronger through proper exercise selection.
Hey Guys!
Enjoying the time at the Arnold, so far we’ve gotten footage with Josh training arms through a depletion workout as well as shoulders with Iain and Brett Wilkins yesterday. Training back with nick walker today!
Feb 25 – Chest
Dante trudel made a post this week and its something that I agree with 100% and want to implement more into my own training. I fully believe in the need to train a muscle from a fully stretched position and that is where you maximize growth but what he talked about was doing sets where you are spending extended time in the stretched position as well as in a shortened range of the movement. He talks about doing a shortened range of motion and in between each rep doing a static hold in the stretched position for a 5 count so I have started to implement this throughout this past week. Its been awesome in terms of how the muscle feels as well as fatigue level plus its just a fun challenge that I enjoy.
Chest today
Flat Barbell Press
415 x 6 (+10 lbs from last time) definitely felt some tricep fatigue here but progress is progress!Hammer Decline Press (we swapped decline barbell for hammer decline this week to get more converging at the top of the rep)
5pps x 9 (with 1.5 forced reps)
4pps x 9 (with 1 forced rep)Hammer Incline Press
5P + 5ps x 7 or 8
4p + 5ps x SameFly Machine – 2 second holds at full stretch and full contraction
170 x max set
DROP
150 x max set (5-6 as an idea)
DROP
130 x max set (4-5 as an idea)
30 second stretch holdFlat DB – Loaded stretch fly as explaned above – 5 second holds between each rep in the fully stretched position, 8-10 inch press immediately back into stretch
I did 2 sets here and stopped when it no longer felt save which I think was around 10-12 reps
A few things to note this week, I have tried to add a bit more frequency in two of my weaker body parts and these are just very small changes. I want to see what this does and go from there, if it negatively impacts my recovery I will pull back.
On my chest day I am training either biceps or triceps and this workout alternates weekly IE biceps week one and then triceps week 2 and so on. This is a bit more of a fast paced volume workout where I am hitting a top weight and then maintaining that weight for 2 additional sets with shorter rest periods. (Note: expect I did not do this today because my split got messed up see below)
Then I am still doing my typical Arm workout for now as I am still not training quads. This workout is more true to style with straight sets or rest pause sets to failure.
Second change was to add an additional 2 all out sets of chest to start out shoulder day. So for now this might seem very small but yes I am just adding an additional 2 sets and want to see what that provides me long term. For this past week I chose to do two sets at 5pps on Hammer Incline Press.
Today was the first day that I really felt these changes as I re entered my training cycle for the week and things felt a bit off but it was not a true test as this past Thursday I did chest and shoulders but my normal arm workout as not on Friday as I was out of the house all day I had to train arms on Saturday, and I know I hit some chest as well doing close grip presses as I reached true failure in my sets so that sort of messed up the recovery timing for todays chest workout.
This week I will be heading to the Arnold so my goal is to be as perfect as I can be. We are going to be getting some cool content for you guys on this trip as I am going to get to train with some of the guys that I work with that I do not see often.
Feb 20 – Health Update and Back Training
I am starting my road to recovery with a few different means currently and then my appointments start tomorrow.
I am using a blend of BPC157 and TB500 from the pharmacy, this was sent to me in cold packs already reconstituted so I am taking .25ml daily. Doing this for the overall inflammation and issues within the tendons.
Starting tomorrow I am going to see a renowned Chiro in Atlanta that does a majority of his work with Professional football players so I am not quite sure what my treatment will be just yet but looking forward to getting started and will keep you guys in the loop as I know more
I am also going to see DR Mack Sloan starting Monday for something called Trigger therapy (this is not massage work). I will give more info once I see him starting Monday. Dr Sloan is most famous for working with Terrell Owens in his prime.
Back
Today we swapped out two movements so we will start a rotation with this. Today we swapped Barbell Rows for T Bar rows and also Hammer low row for Hammer DY row. Next week we will go back to the original two movements and then so on from there alternating weekly. The rest of the training was the same. For pulldowns we have been doing either a seated lat pulldown OR Asst Pullups
Hammer Pullover
Max set at 5-45’s + 25
Back Off set at 5 – 45’sT bar Row – Really trying to stay over the weight as best I can in a fixed position.
10-25’s x max set (failed on 7th rep here)
8-25’s x max set (failed on 10th rep here)Incline Upper Back DB Row – I am working on making these reps better so I would say I am using a sub max weight to failure with two sets rather than a true heavy set and back off set. I just feel like I need to be improving upon my rep execution here more before I push max reps because with such a fixed movement if you force max work too quick its really going to expose your weaknesses.
85 lbs x max set x 2
Single Arm DB Row
135 x 9
135 x 7Assisted Pull ups
– 70 lb resistance
3 working sets on the last set I did – 70 into – 100 resistanceHammer DY low Row
3pps x max set bi lateral
3pps x max set iso lateralQuestion
FrenchBB – A question Matt, are you going to prepare athletes for Mr Olympia this year?
Do you still care about Nathan, Ian?Answer
Yes of course! Right now the only athlete I have qualified for the Olympia is Shaun Clarida. Its basically the same with all of my athletes that I am giving them as much of an opportunity as they can take to progress this off season so they are all doing later shows. I am still looking after all of the athletes I had for last years Olympia but they all need to re qualify which I believe they will do. Iain will be competing this year in Toronto for hopefully his first and last show of the year until the Olympia.
