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Pierfrancesco: Hi Matt. I wanted to ask for your off-season calories and your supplementation. but the first question I wanted to ask you is : I have a great difficulty in recovery, many muscular soreness that last about 4 days and consequently I easily reach a plateau. Tell me something about training, nutrition supplementation and Active rest. Thank you in advance.
A: Hey Pierfrancesco – Are you constantly changing your style of training or are you doing mainly the same movements weekly and just aiming to increase reps or weight?
Arm Training –
The main things that we are wanting to improve on while Nathan is here in this short time frame (~8 weeks) is to bring up his legs, bring his hamstrings in sharper which comes from condition as well as just better connection with them during training and also bring up his triceps as much as we can to complete his arms. In my opinion he has world class biceps already.
1: Camber Bar Close Grip Press down – placed an emphasis on keeping shoulders back and keeping chest up not leaning into the stack.
– Worked up to one all out rest pause set in the rep range area of 8-10 / 4-6 / 2-42: Single Arm Tricep Extension using D Handle
– Keeping elbow tucked into side and keeping shoulder back. We did sets of 8 until a max set of 8, worked from 70lb t0 120 lb on the cable stack.3: Close Grip Smith press with Elbows Out
– This is how Jay used to do them back in the day, you are 100% stronger when you tuck elbows in but I do feel more direct load and stretch on the triceps when I flair them out. We worked up to a max set of 8-10 reps then a back off set where there was a greater emphasis placed on the eccentric and coming to a full pause at the bottom (keeping tension on triceps) then firing out from that position.4: Dip Machine
4p x 8
5p x 8
6p x 8
7p x 8
8p x Max set (11)5: Standing French Press with back against a pad
– This was a stretch empahsis set where we keep the movement from fully stretched position and drive to bring elbows to 90 degree then back down. 1 Max set of 20 reps.6: Hammer Rope Curl –
Working up to two heavy sets with holds at contraction in the 8-10 rep range. We did a lot of warm up sets here.7: Plate Loaded Preacher Curl
Working up to two max sets in the 8-10 rep range8: Standing Single Arm DB Curl
8 reps on right arm then into 8 reps on left. Last set we did a quad drop set aiming for 6-8 reps on each.Hey Scott – Yes we will get a Arm video up in the next two weeks okay! We just filmed a shoulder workout that will be going up this week.
I am going to lay out below what we did yesterday for our arm training.
Hey Caidin – I prefer to do Upright rows with DB because its not a fixed bar / path so I think it eliminates most of the shoulder issues that could come up with the movement. The movement to me is all about elbow drive and less about elbow flexion.
Hey Craig – Within that question do you have any knee issues? If so I would work to correct the issue and not mask it with the wrap. If you have no knee issues and are just using it on your max sets I do not think its a bad idea, I would recommend you do the majority of your leg training with no wraps.
Parowa –
Awesome thanks Matt.
As I train on my own and never have a training partner to spot, would you advise I build my program so that all exercises are rest-pause and muscle rounds?
A: Hey man I would do 1 rest pause set and 1 muscle round set per muscle group.
Hey Guys!
Nathan is here and he is getting settled. When new guys come to town I really try to help where I can but also not overly dictate. Nathan has come a long way and I dont think what has got him here is broken by any means so I am just looking to bridge the gap between my style of training and his and find the best approach for both of us. Some of the goals that we have while he is here the next 8 weeks is to bring up his back / legs / triceps.
Thus far we have trained hamstrings / shoulders / arms.
One of the main things that Nathan likes to do is do his warm up sets all the way leading up to main set is to stay around 10 reps. Seeing as he is in prep as well we definitely want to avoid injury so getting a bit more sub max work here in this situation I think is wise.
Ill start laying out our training as well last few days we have had really good workouts but its been a bit more based off of feel.
Thomas –
Hey Matt ! Thanks for your answer about insulin sensitivity !
My second question is more about training, on a shoulder and triceps day, do you see any problem to start with Triceps compounds (close grip floor press and dips) before hitting the shoulders ?
This compound are also used to do a secondary work for chest (lagging muscle) on a 4 day split (chest and biceps, back and abs, rest, shoulders and Triceps, Legs, rest)
A: Hey Thomas – If you want to program your day out in this manner I would do the compound movements first before you move to the single joint movements so with this type of format I would still do your main shoulder press movement first and then go into compound tricep movements. Then go back to single joint shoulder movements and then finish with single joint tricep movements.
Parowa –
Hey Matt
Thank you for your help, this site is building some really good information. I do have a question regarding training:-
what determines if u make an exerise a rest pause set, muscle round, or straight set?
Are there specific exercises that each of those work better with as opposed to others?
A: Hey man this is a great question. So basically what I do or my thoughts on this are the following. I think you should always try to really get the absolute most out of a straight set and in my opinion this also means having a spot to be as safe as possible within a straight set. What I mean by getting the most out of it is truly getting to failure without any form breakdown and speeding up your reps as you get deeper into the set.
Things like muscle rounds, rest pause ect are great tools to use in a lot of different situations but the one that I use them most in is when I do not have a spot so that way you can extend a set to get more out of it safely since you are not able to take the straight set to the same extent without a spot.
I also like using these techniques for legs since I do not think its safe to get stuck at the bottom of a hack squat or leg press so by using these you can get more out of the entire set than you could just a straight set.
Diomidis – Hey Matt !
My weakest bodyparts are chest and shoulders. I am 9 weeks out right now and train 6 days per week (push-pull-quads-push-pull-hams). Do you believe that i need to change the split to improve those weak areas ?
A: Hey Diomidis – can you let me know a little more about your set up / volume / exercise selection and I will be able to give you some input!
Parowa123 – When you calculate a nutrition plan do you count fats found in carb and protein sources?
A: Hey man yes I think its important to calculate all macros from all sources. For example I specifically use red meat due to its fat content but this is obviously a protein source as well. I believe its important to track everything.
Fidel – Hey Matt, how would you approach a fat loss phase given that the individual has a lot of body fat to lose (20-25lbs) and their current caloric needs are not high in order to make an easy deficit.
A: I am thinking what you are saying is the individual has a lot to body fat to lose but is not currently eating a lot of food? If I am understanding correctly in this case I would most likely increase the calories initially and see if we can start off loosing fat by eating more not less, the reason why you might be holding fat currently is because you might not be eating enough.
Thomas –
What’s your tricks to improve insulin sensitivity?
First I’ve decrease my carb intake (not the calories) and up the fats ratio
start to include apple cidar vinegar at night or post meal with high fat
start consuming carbs only pre, intra and post and my pump is better, more lean and zero problem with energy
And be more careful with how i digest food
if you can give me more advices will be really appreciated! Thanks!
A: One of the biggest things I would say here man is just simply creating a deficit will increase you insulin sensitivity. What you have mentioned above are also other means but increasing the deficit, adding some cardio will do it every time in healthy individuals. In some cases even higher fats can make insulin sensitivity increase, I would just simply increase the deficit first and monitor your fasted numbers. The less bodyfat you are holding the more sensitive you will be!
Also in the case of eating a lot of CHO and aiming to keep your numbers in healthy range I like to implement a GDA, personally I use Matador from Project AD.
Travis – Hey Matt, im in offseason right now, i train at night and eat 2 meals after training. I dont do any intra workout nutrition , and eat a meal 1.5 hr before training consisting of 45p/45c/14f . my ? is would a intra workout shake really do me any good ? im not using any insulin . post workout ive been consuming 50 g whey iso and 50 gram carb from cream of rice and honey. is that a good combo? is there any other carb sources you like for post workout with out doing a intra shake? is pineapple good or banana, also i was thinking rice krispys would be good what do you think?
A: Hey Travis – Honestly man based off of what you have given here I think you are in a good spot I would not add in intra workout carbs. If you just continue to add in carbs prior to and after training as needed based off of how you are responding that is fine! I like your current source of post workout fuel!
Josue –
Hey matt
wich supps do you use to help with the nutrition and supps to avoid issues like the bloating?
A: When it comes to bloating that is typically not a supplement issue that is a food issue so I would look to address the foods that are making you bloated and remove them.
In terms of the supplements that I use, I use betaine HCL prior to each meal to allow me to better digest fats. I have a bit of a gallbladder issue that I have had since my late teens and this helps correct it. I also use matador with my carb meals to aid in keeping my blood sugar in a healthy place. Other than this I just eat foods that digest well for me to avoid being overly bloated outside of my current food volume itself.
One thing to watch for is consuming to much fiber for instance – if you are constantly bloated your fiber intake might be to high.
Catch up….
Hey Guys I have been Mia in terms of my own training due to getting a respiratory infection, I am one of those guys that it really bothers me to talk about myself in a negative sense IE being sick so I just let it roll, still a little sick but feeling well enough to train.
I am 20 weeks out from my qualifier which if all goes well that will then determine the direction for the rest of the year. I am going to be doing a weekly video log update for you guys once I get into the full swing of things. This week I am getting back to consistent nutrition from being sick, back to weighing EVERYTHING which I honestly have not done since my goal was to eat as much as I could I was weighing just to make sure I got enough but if I was over and not getting sloppy I deemed that as okay so now just tightening up everything a bit. Once I get my starting diet fully I will lay out here!
Training tonight was just getting back into things and I have one of my guys from Canada here Maher Alasfar he won the masters class at Canadian nationals and is preparing for the Toronto Pro.
Main thing we were working on tonight and I am going to wear this out with you guys because I really believe in it is truly focusing on the eccentric loading portion of hamstrings. You literally can contract the muscle in a way that you can only do with knee flexion and elbow flexion so all the way down you should be contracting against the load. I watch so many train hamstrings and that seems to be totally missed its more so just lowering the weight rather than flexing against the weight.
Tonight we did
3 Sets Lying Leg Curls (stretch partials on all sets)
Barbell RDL sets of 6 until a max set of 8 (again really driving heals into ground pulling toes up and loading hamstrings)
3 sets of Inverse Leg Curl (stretch partials on last set)
2 sets of single leg leg curl
1 max set after several warm ups of a wide stance leg press really getting deep into stretch and driving knees out.Caidin – Thanks for the response Matt. I also see from your base diet on page 1 your current diet lacks any dairy. What is your reasoning behind this and do you/would you recommend taking a calcium supplement to try and get some mineral deficiencies remedied from a lack of a direct calcium source via food?
Hey Caidin – I do have a slight allergy from dairy where I get little red dots on my skin – I notice this every time I eat cheese or yogurt or something like that. I also like to have a smooth transition from my off season foods to my diet foods so that is why I do not have dairy in my off season diet simply because I know I wont diet on those types of foods. I believe there are better sources of fat I can use within my diet other than dietary fat from dairy during a prep where those things really matter in terms of the quality of fats you are ingesting as you dont get an abundance. I do take a multi mineral every day which I feel are important for performance athletes to use – I use from a company called trace minerals its a droplet type bottle.
Lucas – Hey matt , thanks to reply , im not assuming that taking and fat at the same time is bad but we saw a lot of coach who said to put them appart , like a high fat meal and a high carbs meal , im just trying to understand your points on that ! Thanks
Hey Lucas – Right now I am in my off season and I am taking in a lot of calories I simply do not have enough time or meals in the day to be able to just do carbs and protein meals coupled with fat and protein meals. I would have trouble digesting that much fat / carbs in one meal. For me right now I believe the total intake is what is most important and getting that food down in such a way that you can properly digest. I have gotten many people in great shape with both carbs and fats in the same meals – the thing that trumps everything here is your intake vs what is needed for proper fat loss not so much splitting the carbs and fats. Now when it does get into the nitty gritty of a prep it is much easier to split macros like this simply because neither the carbs or fats are not in abundance but for right now my goal is to gain as much tissue as I can not fat loss.
Bicep Training
Aeronn – How do you approach arm training from a mentality/intensity perspective? It is my most lagging body part and I struggle always to achieve a level of intensity that is similar to back or legs when training arms.
Aeronn – This is a great question I am going to do a video on this as well because I feel I can go more adequately in depth, I actually just broke this down for one of my athletes this morning. The main thing I think I can get across for effective arm training is you have to eliminate momentum and other (larger muscle groups being involved mainly the shoulder / leaning and getting your body weight into things like tricep pressdowns ect.
You have to think by all means the bicep and the tricep for that matter are smaller main muscle groups just as is the rear delt. If you are continuing to progress in the loading of your bicep movements I think you really need to be mindful of what is getting recruited to move that weight as I am willing to bet its more than just the bicep.
Here is some that I wrote for my athlete this AM
Triceps
I want you try for the time being doing everything overhead with a fixed shoulder from a stretched position. Close Grip Bench and Weighted Dips with a belt or Hammer DipsWe just really have to limit momentum – I am all about weight but in the case of arms you have to think those muscle groups are so small (much like rear delts) if you are using heavy heavy poundages realistically other muscle groups are going to be taking over.
Biceps
I want you to try and do everything as fixed as you can – DB preacher curls, 90 degree barbell curls (hanging over the preacher bench the opposite way) Incline DB Curls (just try to literally not move your shoulder at all)Also with biceps and hamstrings they are the only two muscles that we can maximally load all the way down (eccentric) squeeze the mess out of them throughout the eccentric. Not sure if you have thought about this before but you can hit a bicep contraction the entire time but with something like chest you cant do this to the same extent throughout the eccentric.
AB Training –
Michael – Hey Matt, what’s your take on ab training? I’ve always been told it’s not needed as they get a lot of indirect work but just wanted to see where you stand on that. Thanks
I will be the first to say that I am not as on point with my ab training as I should be. I believe your abs are the same type of muscle as anything else in your body need to be trained accordingly. What I mean by this is you don’t need to train them every day, you dont need to do sets of 100, you dont need to do sets timed until you cant move. I believe that you need to learn how to fully contract your abs without engaging other muscle groups like hip flexors and train through a full range of motion (fully expanding and contracting diaphragm). During prep I am much better about ab training and what I normally do is progressive sets just as I would on any other body part. Either a kneeling rope crunch or Exercise ball crunch with weight until I cannot reach a full contraction within the 12-15 rep range and then some sort of lower ab movement usually a hanging leg raise. With all my ab movements I aim to cut out all momentum and just let my abs due the work. So to recap I do about 5-6 working sets twice a week, once I started and stuck to these principles my abs really improved in terms of look and development.
