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I made a post last week on instagram – for some reason it just hit me like a ton of bricks in the last few weeks when it came to my approach of training shoulders and how I have been molded into this thought process rather than what I believe works for literally every other body part.
When my back needed and still needs to come up I hammer rows from every angle I can and literally stay away from cables like I am allergic just because I believe in always choosing the biggest bang for your buck type movements.
When my legs need to come up I spend a majority of my time around hack squats and other squat machines
Yet when my shoulders need to come up I have continued to stuck to the same workouts that everyone else does in terms of exercise selection. This off season I have really tried to bring my chest up and to me that immediately meant doing more pressing and also looking at how I was pressing and aiming to improve upon my rep execution. Well going forward I am going to do the same for Shoulders. More pressing just as I would with my chest. Here is what I did today. All true working sets listed.
Hammer Seated Press
4p+25ps x 6 (got stuck on 7th rep)Standing Military Barbell Press
225 x 6 DROP 135 x 6 (slower eccentrics on 135) controlled eccentrics throughoutSeated DB Single Arm Press
– These are a very hard movement for me which is why I am doing them, my hope is not only it improves my delt size but also improves my two arm DB press. Just as a reference when fresh I can press 130 x 8 with a two arm DB press. For these as my third movement I finished with 100 x 7.Standing Lateral Raise
– Keeping arms completely straight pausing just before hitting my hips to keep tension on the delts.
25 – 30 – 35 – 40 x 10
45’s x 8 +5 partials again not touching my body throughoutSeated Reverse Pec Deck INTO Machine Lateral Raise (5-6 second eccentrics on each)
3 sets working up to a max working seat of 8 reps continuing to keep the eccentrics throughout
We’ve got a very big year ahead of us and it will be cool to be able to look back in a years time and see exactly how it was accomplished when all is said and done!
Really excited to have Michaela in here. She is mature well beyond her years and if you guys (men) will lay your pride down you can learn a lot from her approach both mentally and physically within this log!
Question
Hey Matt. I was wondering if you had any tips or cues for executing the RDL. My hams are a lagging body part of mine and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I simultaneously suck at RDL’s. I had a lumbar spine injury last June and ever since then I’ve had trouble executing the RDL without feeling some strong back pain, either with a barbell or dumbbells. I have video if you’d like to see, otherwise I’d be curious if you have any substitutional exercises that I could use to train the hams through hip extension instead of traditional knee flexion. Thanks
Answer
Hey Caidin if you can post a video in here man so I can provide you with feedback. What you said is a big misconception though most of the “traditional” knee flexion movements you still should be getting hip extension in the active range as well most just dont and do the exact opposite. The only one where this is not the case as much is seated hamstring curls.
Question
Hi Matt, what’s your opinion on minidiet. Is after a long period of caloric surplus (6 months) after the competition, although% bf is not high (I think about 10% no more) but insulin sensitivity is no longer great because morning sugar is around 100 (I use gh) a better choice will be a short but strong 4-5 week minicut or would you suggest a normal 8-10 week cutting stage and only then return to the muscle building phase
Answer
Are you currently using anything to aid in your blood glucose levels? GDA, Metformin, ect? I would suggest doing a shorter assertive diet, really pull back hard a few weeks, reset things then get back to growing rather than lingering on.
As far as my current split goes – its been a bit all over the place due to Nationals then Thanksgiving with gyms being closed and also in the midst of a move. I am still hitting everything but I am going back and forth with how to approach my days.
I am someone that likes to have a consistent schedule of for example: Legs on Monday, Chest Tuesday and so on that way each day of the week I know what I am doing. That being said I do really want to stick to 2 days off per week this off season and see what that yields. My current issue that I keep going back and forth in my mind about is sticking to a set weekly schedule training 5 days a week and having arms be a secondary body part within that split OR having a true arm day in there which then changes my training to 6 days a week. By keeping in two rest days a week that would make my schedule so that training would not fall on the same day each week. My reasoning for Arms is that I still really do feel I need a true arm day where I can give my full energy to arms and not “whats left” of my energy after something like back or chest. My arms have improved but are not dominant by any means and I want them to be so I think for now I will be keeping an arm day in and my split will look like this
Quads
Chest
Arms
off
Hams
Shoulders
Back
offQuestion
I am 5’7″, 167 lbs, currently at single digit (I think) BF%. I have been dieting around 2000 calories (228 P / 71 C / 90 F) and doing 75-90 mins cardio per day for 8 or 10 weeks. I want to start reversing into a bulk soon.
I went off the rails on Thanksgiving and took down about 10,000 calories, but was back on-track the next day. My weight was up to 173 the day after the holiday, but I am back down to 167 lbs. four days later. How bad did I damage my insulin sensitivity, and how long will it take to recover?
Also, how do you recommend increasing calories and reducing cardio as I reverse into a bulk?
Answer
Hey Wade – I wouldnt stress one day of going off man, its not a 100% complete end all be all but we can tell a lot about our sensitivity simply by checking a blood glucose meter.
I made a post in this thread not too long ago about how to go about reverse dieting that had some good information in it, I would recommend going back through here and reading. It all depends on how lean you are honestly the leaner you are the more you can get away with for the short term with a positive return. I would keep your fats and protein the same to start off and bring your carbs up to 300g and monitor from there, Dont make any further changes until your weight holds for 3-4 days straight with a consistent plan. Cardio I would keep at 20-25 min most days of the week.
French Bodybuilder – if you feel comfortable can you post pics in here or email me. matt@camp-jansen.com
Mark – Email me please matt@camp-jansen.com
Question
Matt,
What are you thoughts on still training heavy while on antibiotics & corticosteroids?
I have been prescribed Levofloxacin and Prednisone for chronic sinusitis and the biggest side effects are ruptured/torn tendons while using these medications, especially together . . .
I’ll be honest, I’m a little paranoid because I tore my biceps tendon in the summer at/around the same time I was on these before.
Thanks in advance,
Tim
Answer
Hey Tim – Is this basically like a chronic sinus infection? With both in your system you are going to be a bit off so yes I would be careful. Also I would make sure that you combat the antibiotics with probiotics. I would take at least 50billion cpu a day and continue to do so following the end of the anti. A few days off from training in the big picture as long as you are consistent with your diet and rest is not going to hurt you.
Question
Sean – Hey Matt writing up my new training program for my rebound/offseason, was wondering if you have any recommendations for exercises to widen my arms from the front and back shots, I had really big arms from the side so like my front double and rear double my arms are really strong point for me be from front relaxed and rear relaxed they are very narrow
Answer
Hey Sean – You just need to get them bigger period buddy so I would continue to stick to basic strict movements like Dips, close grip presses, overhead extensions and with your curling movements make sure you are using the actual bicep to move and contract the weight and not momentum. I am doing most of my bicep movements now as a drag curl to really take my front delts out of the movements and it has been successful thus far!
Question
Michael – Do you have clients follow any certain type of post contest protocol/detox? Or do you recommend anything? Best wishes as we approach the holiday season!!!
Answer
Hey Michael – I am a big fan of doing preventative things during prep in terms of doing the best we can to take car of liver and kidney function during prep. The things that I am big on is continuing to take care of liver and kidney and heart throughout the off season as well as use a lesser amount of stims, increase your rest ect. CoQ10, Curcumin, Ultimate Milk Thistle, NAC, Astragualus, Liver+ and heart+ from Project AD are things that I recommend you stay on all year.
I also have them take injectable glutathione at 200mg 2-3x per week post show. I get that from Revive – reviveivlounge.com
Question
Wanner –
About training .
What are in your opinion the best exercises to develop forearms?
What advice can you give to improve hamstrings, thinking about the overall look of them from the back(back Double bíceps pose) and from the side(side chest pose).
Answer
Hey Wanner
As far as forearms go I would do a lot of your warm up sets for back, Bicep Curls ect without straps. Just reserve your straps for your max effort heavy work.
For hamstrings I am a big believer in training both functions of the hamstring which is knee flexion and hip extension. For me Heavy Strict RDL’s are a must, seated and lying leg curls, with lying leg curls specifically drive your hips through the pad dont let your hips shoot backwards. By doing so you are working on hip extension to put the hamstring curl through its full working range. Also with Hamstring training really focus on and emphasize the eccentric portion of the range and contract throughout the entire range of motion not just the concentric phase.
