i have been reaserching stregnth training lately and came across this post
on another board, this is some of the best info i have read. not just on training
but diet and gear use i recomed reading this even if the dc style is not for you...

Doggcrapp's Training Methods
Everyone should read this condensed version of "Cycles For Pennies." by Doggcrap

Without sounding cocky I am a very advanced bodybuilder down here in San Diego--cruising at 285lbs or so and going up over 300 this year. I came from a very, very hard gaining and skinny genetic structure (140lbs about 10 years ago) so gains have never come easy and I didn’t start super supplements until I was 225 clean (took me 6 years). (I use food as my chief anabolic).

What I am amazed at is the number of 180 to 220lb bodybuilders on the net who spend ungodly amounts of money and use so many different exotic compounds thinking that it is the end all super stack of all stacks. And they take huge, huge risks in trying to acquire these drugs. I have had an abundance of pro and top amateur friends to gain the knowledge that pretty much these top people in the sport are blasting high amounts of test as the base drug in the offseason to put on pro size with mostly one (sometimes two) other compounds (usually fina, or equipoise or some other non exotic drug and GH if it can be afforded). I firmly believe you will gain 2 times the amount of muscle off of 2 grams of test either alone or with another compound than having some kind of exotic stack involving 3 to 6 exotic hard to get expensive compounds. The receptor site theories have proven to be bunk. The cheapest and best stack I can think of anyone doing to put on major size is a gram or two of test with Arimidex to keep water off with fina 75 to 150mg every other day for 4 weeks --then 2 to 3 weeks of cruising (test at 300-400mg and clomid at 5 (day one), 4(day two), 3(day three),then 2 every day for 2 weeks)--and then back on everything full again (maybe equipoise used instead of fina this time) for 4 weeks (then 2 to 3 weeks cruising again etc etc)---if you can’t gain gobs of muscle on that nothing exotic (masteron, etc etc etc) surely isn’t going to do it for you. Testosterone is always the base for any gaining cycle of any pro friend I’ve had or top people with whom I talked with off record. I have never even been over 1000mg of test myself (yet) but I see guys spending and using 10 times the amount I do weighing 70lbs less. I think there is a major problem when the easiest, cheapest and most potent things are right in front of people and they are off searching for substance B-737 undecylate in bulgaria.

All too often we’ve seen 180-220 lbs bodybuilders obsessed with some irrelevant minutiae of bodybuilding, arguing the merits of using Anavar stacked with creatine or how dosages of primobolan should be divided up in order to maximize size. Just the other day in the gym, I heard two wannabe bodybuilders actually discussing the merits of using creatine stacked with various fruit juices. Now admittedly, I train at 24 Hour Fitness, not the most hardcore gym on the planet, but I literally had to laugh out loud listening to these two idiots taking each other incredibly seriously over an issue that has about as much relevance to the gaining of lean body mass as what kind of underwear I choose to put on prior to my foray into the gym. I know that both Dogg and myself receive countless emails from bodybuilders looking for that one special compound, you know the one I mean, the secret steroid that all the pros are using and no one else seems to be able to get their hands on. The steroid that if only I could manage to obtain, I’d be kicking Coleman’s ass all over the Olympia stage in no time. There is a major problem when the cheapest, easiest, and most potent drugs are widely available and bodybuilders are blaming their lack of success on everything but their food intake, work ethic in the gym, or cycles that wouldn’t make my girlfriend grow.

Perhaps the biggest secret in bodybuilding is that there are no secrets. There are no secret stacks, there are no secret drugs, the amateurs and pros that we see in Flex and other magazines are using the same drugs that are readily available to you or I. Ask any top amateur or pro what his favorite steroid is and you’ll undoubtedly get the same answer from everyone: TESTOSTERONE!! 2 grams of test a week is going to put size on you unlike anything else, I don’t care how exotic or expensive. You show me a rare DDR steroid that supposedly is 50X as anabolic as testosterone and runs $600 per bottle and I’ll show you a GC/MS assay of cheap steroids you could pick up in Mexico for $20. Anavar? A drug I put my girlfriend on if she wants to gain a few pounds of muscle. Primobolan? A steroid I’d give to my kid if he had the flu. Ok, these drugs may have their place in a bridging cycle, but believe me, no bodybuilder attempting to gain brutal size need to concern himself with mass cycles containing impotent steroids like anavar and primobolan.

Dogg: I am of the opinion that people should use the lowest dosages possible that will keep them gaining. If a newbie bodybuilder starts off with 2 grams of T every week and a high dose of fina etc, etc and eventually taps out on that where is he going to go? 4000 a week? I believe one should make their way up 750, to 1000 to 1200 to 1500 and so on slowly thru cycles. I am an advocate of the 4 week on 2 week cruising (then back on) method not because of receptor site saturation but due to 3 very important (to me) factors...

1) I lift extremely heavy and I push the limits for 4 weeks and I just need 2 weeks to kind of regroup myself and then go balls to the wall again with poundages for the next 4 weeks

2)Same with food intake-I religiously get in 500 to 600 grams of protein and I have to give myself a little break for those 2 weeks (I only go down to 400grams or so) or I'll go crazy

3) I think it’s of utmost importance to keep yourself regulated HPTA-wise. If your endogenous test levels diminish due to constant months of high androgens
when you do finally come off those size gains fly out the door...if you can keep your endo test somewhat normal you wont get the huge problems that keep
most bodybuilders bouncing up and down in bodyweight like yo-yo's..namely getting colds and flu's/injuries/depression/lack of aggression and appetite (which usually means test to estrogen ratio out of whack)...During the cruising period the 300-400mg of test will keep you from losing any muscle at all and the clomid and arimidex will get you as close (via 2 different routes) to homeostasis as possible.

Repeat-- We are not advocating that a newbie run out and start injecting himself with 2 grams of testosterone per week in an attempt to gain as much size as possible? Let me quantify what we are trying to say. At some point, 2 grams a week of testosterone may become a necessity as you reach the upper limits of size your body will grow on bodybuilding drugs.

Just as we all have a natural limit to how big we can get naturally, we also have a limit to how big we can get using performance enhancing drugs. You look at bodybuilders like Ruhl, Yates, or Coleman and you’re seeing men who have virtually maxed out their ability to add more muscle. Did Dorian’s physique change noticeably from year to year during his last several Olympias? Has Coleman’s? Sure, perhaps they come in a little tighter, Coleman may fluctuate 10 lbs in bodyweight from year to year, but realistically, these guys reached their genetic limit to add muscle long ago.

Now the massive amounts of drugs they take are simply to maintain the incredible amounts of LBM they have accrued over years of training, eating, and juicing. And this article isn’t being written for the Yates, Colemans, or Ruhls of the bodybuilding world, I seriously doubt they’re coming to a web site board for advice. This article is written for you, the aspiring bodybuilder, someone who wants to gain as much muscle as quickly as possible but doesn’t know how. Let’s say you’re an aspiring bodybuilder with good genetics and want to start your first cycle. If you start out at 2000 mg of test a week with other assorted steroids, where are you going to go from there when you eventually stop growing. You should seek to start with as low of an effective dose as possible and work your way up, always bearing in mind that your cycle is probably the last reason why you’re not growing. You show me a 180 lb bodybuilder that’s not growing on 750 mg of test a week and 50 mg of Methandrostenolone per day and I’ll show you someone who isn’t eating or training correctly unless he’s 4’11”.

A good starting dose for a newbie is in the range of 750-800 mg of testosterone per week, stacked with another steroid like methandrostenolone (50 mg/day in divided doses), trenbolone acetate (75 mg ED), or even an old standby like deca (600 mg/week). Use of an anti-aromatase like Arimidex is a must. As Dogg advocates, steroid cycles are times during which your body must be pushed to its limits. All too often you’ll see so-called bodybuilders (bodybuilders in their own mind really) begin a cycle and maintain the same kind of eating and training habits they adhered to pre-cycle. Will they gain muscle? Most definitely, several double-blind medical studies have proven that moderate dosages of testosterone will add small amounts of LBM and cause a slight decrease in body fat without any change in diet or exercise programs. But then again, that’s not really bodybuilding now is it?

Bodybuilding is an attempt to build yourself up to what you consider to be a physical ideal, and for more readers than not, that means brutally huge size. Brutally huge size is the result of two primary actions 1) brutal workouts and 2) a brutal eating schedule. Steroids assist in both of these endeavors, allowing you to train harder in the gym and increasing appetite so one can consume more food. There is also a limit to how much of this the psyche and body can take, regardless of how tough you are mentally or how genetically gifted you may be.

Editor's note:You’re seeing more and more top bodybuilding gurus advocate training cycles in this fashion, Dogg advocates 4 week training cycles, Trevor Smith from Nuclear advocates 6 week, and some others advocate 8 week cycles.)

Doggs 4 week training cycle involves cruising for 2 weeks after the initial four weeks (as discussed above) to get the HPTA back in check and then back on full bore again. You can either keep doing that indefinitely or stop the 4+2 regimen whenever you deem in necessary. Regardless of whether it’s 4+4, 6, or 8 weeks, at some point your body needs a break when you’re doing everything right in and out of the gym.

One must temper their newfound strength and appetite with the wisdom to apply them properly, we’re certainly not advocating that one lift weights to the point of injury or that an endomorph stuff themselves with everything in sight. Both Dogg and I are major advocates of stretching prior to working out and MORE IMPORTANTLY STRETCHING TO THE POINT OF THRESHOLDS AFTER working out.

He believes like Jon Parillo did, that "extreme stretching" directly after a bodypart is trained is key for recuperation, recovery, and a primer for growth via fascial stretching and maybe even hyperplasia (more on that in a future article). He’s outlined a series of stretches that he finds extremely effective at both avoiding injuries and adding size during cycles. These includes the weights he uses, which readers will obviously have to adjust (more than likely down) according to their own strength levels. Every extreme stretch is done right after that body part has been trained.

Chest
Flat bench 90lb dumbbells chest high--lungs full of air--first 10 seconds drop down into deepest stretch and then next 50 seconds really push the stretch (this really, really hurts) but do it faithfully and come back and post on the message board in 4 weeks and tell me if your chest isn't much fuller and rounder

Triceps
Seated on a flat bench-my back up against the barbell---75lb dumbbell in my hand behind my head (like in an overhead dumbbell extension)--sink dumbbell down into position for the first 10 seconds and then an agonizing 50 seconds
slightly leaning back and pushing the dumbbell down with the back of my head

Shoulders
This one is tough to describe--put barbell in squat rack shoulder height--face away from it and reach back and grab it palms up (hands on bottom of bar)---walk yourself outward until you are on your heels and the stretch gets painful--then roll your shoulders downward and hold for 60 seconds

Biceps
Just like the above position but hold barbell palms down now (hands on top of bar)--sink down in a squatting position first and if you can hack it into a kneeling position and then if you can hack that sink your butt down--60 seconds--I cannot make it 60 seconds-- I get to about 45—it’s too painful--if you can make it 60 seconds you are either inhuman or you need to raise the bar up another rung

Back
Honestly for about 3 years my training partner and I would hang a 100lb dumbbell from our waist and hung on the widest chinup bar (with wrist straps) to see who could get closest to 3 minutes--I never made it--I think 2 minutes 27 seconds was my record--but my back width is by far my best body part--I pull on a doorknob or stationary equipment with a rounded back now and it’s way too hard too explain here--just try it and get your feel for it

Hamstrings
Either leg up on a high barbell holding my toe and trying to force my leg straight with my free hand for an excruciating painful 60 seconds.

Quads
Facing a barbell in a power rack about hip high --grip it and simultaneously sink down and throw your knees under the barbell and do a sissy squat underneath it while going up on your toes. Then straighten your arms and lean as far back as you can---60 seconds and if this one doesn't make you hate my guts and bring tears to your eyes nothing will---do this one faithfully and tell me in 4 weeks if your quads don’t look a lot different than they used to.

Calves
My weak body part that I couldn’t get up too par until 2 years ago when I finally thought it out and figured out how to make them grow (with only one set twice a week too). I don’t need to stretch calves after because when I do calves I explode on the positive and take 5 seconds to get back to full stretch and then 15 seconds at the very bottom "one one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand etc" --15 seconds stretching at the bottom thinking and trying to flex my toes toward my shin--it is absolutely unbearable and you will most likely be shaking and want to give up at about 7 reps (I always go for 12reps with maximum weights)--do this on a hack squat or a leg press--my calves have finally taken off due to this and caught up to the rest of me thank God.

If you doubt the extra muscle growth possible with stretching I urge you to research hyperplasia (and the bird wing stretching protocols) where time X stretch X weight induced incredible hyperplasia. Our stretching is done under much lower time periods but fascial stretching and the possibility of induced hyperplasia cant be ignored. I’ve had too many people write me or tell me in person that the "extreme stretching" has dramatically changed their physique to ever doubt its virtues.

At this point, you may be asking yourself, why the title Cycling for Pennies? As future articles in this series will detail, success in this sport is more about dedication, willpower, knowledge, and application than it is incredibly expensive drug cycles. Yes, it cannot be denied that as one climbs the rungs of bodybuilding success that more and more expensive compounds must be used to level the playing field (most notably GH), but GH is a drug best utilized by those who’ve already made significant progress in the sport. For the beginning or intermediate level bodybuilder, the actual expense of the drugs should be minimal.


Bodybuilding as a whole is extreme and you must go to extreme lengths to be an out of the ordinary bodybuilder in this activity. The human body in no way wants to be 270 to 330 lbs of extreme muscularity. It wants to be a comfortable 155 to 180 lbs and will do a lot to keep a person at that homeostasis level. Jon Parillo was on the right track years ago when he was trying to make bodybuilders into food processing factories. It takes extreme amounts of food (protein), extremely heavy weights, sometimes extreme supplementation, (the choice) of extreme drugs, and other extreme situations to take a person who by evolution and genetics should be 180 pounds and make him into a hardcore 3 hundred pounds. OK first I have to go over some principles I believe in regarding training and I’ll hit more on training details later on.

a) I believe he who makes the greatest strength gains (in a controlled fashion) as a bodybuilder, makes the greatest muscle gains. Note: I said strength gains--everyone knows someone naturally strong who can bench 400 yet isn't that big. Going from a beginning 375 bench to 400 isn't that great of a strength gain and won’t result in much of a muscle gain. But if I show you someone who went from 150 to 400 on a bench press, that guy will have about 2.5 inches more of muscle thickness on his pecs. That is an incredible strength gain and will equal out into an incredible muscle gain. Ninety-nine percent of bodybuilders are brainwashed that they must go for a blood pump and are striving for that effect--(go up and down on your calves 500 times and tell me if your calves got any bigger). And those same 99% in a gym stay the same year after year. It's because they have no plan, they go in, get a pump and leave. They give the body no reason to change. Powerbodybuilders and powerlifters plan to continually get stronger and stronger on key movements. The body protects itself from ever increasing loads by getting muscularly bigger=adaption. I’M going to repeat this and hammer it home because of its importance: THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE THE GREATEST STRENGTH GAINS OVER TIME WILL MAKE THE GREATEST SIZE GAINS OVER TIME ACCORDING TO THEIR GENETIC POTENTIAL. If you reading this never get anywhere close to your ultimate strength levels (AT WHATEVER REP RANGE) you will never get to your utmost level of potential size.

b) I haven't seen a guy who can squat 500 for 20 reps, bench press 500 for 15 and deadlift 500 for 15 who was small yet ---but I have seen a lot and I mean a lot of people in the gym and on these Internet forums that are a buck 65 or two and change, shouting that you don't have to lift heavy to get big (in rare cases you will see a naturally strong powerlifter who has to curb calories to stay in a weight class and that is the reason he doesn't get bigger).
c) Training is all about adaption. In simple terms you lift a weight and your muscle has one of 2 choices, either tear completely under the load (which is incredibly rare and what we don't want) or the muscle lifts the weight and protects itself by remodeling and getting bigger to protect itself against the load (next time). If the weight gets heavier, the muscle has to again remodel and get bigger again to handle it. You can superset, superslow, giant set, pre exhaust all day long but the infinite adaption is load---meaning heavier and heavier weights is the only infinite thing you can do in your training. Intensity is finite. Volume is finite (or infinite if you want to do 9000 sets per bodypart)...everything else is finite. The Load is infinite and heavier and heavier weights used (I DON'T GIVE A CRAP WHAT SOME BUCK 58 POUND WRITER FROM FLEX MAGAZINE SAYS) will make the biggest bodybuilder (add high protein, glutamine and drugs to the mix and you have one large person).

d) The largest pro bodybuilders in the last 10 years (outside of Paul Dillett who is a genetic alien and I think could grow off of mowing lawns) are also the very strongest (Kovacs, Prince, Coleman, Yates, Francois, Nasser (although he trains lighter now). For anyone who argues that they have seen so and so pro bodybuilder and he trains light---well I will bet you he isn't gaining rapid size anymore and that his greatest size increases were when he was training shit heavy going for his pro card. Of course he will convince himself and others that he is "making the best gains of his career" though because no one likes to think what they are presently doing isn't working and they are running in place. Sadly heavy drug use can make up for a lot of training fallacies and leave people still uninformed on how they became massive. Ronnie Coleman is definitely in an elite class of muscle building genetically yet do you see him doing isolation exercises with light weights to be the most massive bodybuilder on this planet? NOPE! Ever see his video? 805 deadlifts for 2 reps, 765 for 6 reps deads, front squats with 600LBS for 6, 200LB dumbbells being thrown all over the place for chest, military presses 315 for 12 and a double with 405. I believe Coleman was clean or close to it when he was powerlifting and when he was an amateur bodybuilder. He won the Natural Team Universe and got his pro card at roughly 220-230LBS shredded to the bone and if that was natural or close to it--that's about 270LBS offseason and would be a huge natural bodybuilder. Since that time he has hooked up with Chad Nichols and blasted (with juice) up to his current 265LBS contest weight and 320LBS offseason. He trains heavier now than he ever did! The man has used extremely heavy weights and powerlifting fundamentals (even with his superior genetics for muscle size) to become the most impressive bodybuilder walking the globe. Well, if the man with some of the best genetics to build muscle out there is using back breaking weights trying to get bigger isn't that more of a reason the mere mortals of genetics in this sport should maybe take note? There are other pros out there with genetics on par with Coleman and using the same amount of drugs yet aren't pushing the limits with poundage's in training as does Coleman. You figure it out then, why is he absolutely crushing everyone onstage by outmuscling them if all things besides training are equal?

e) Who is the last incredibly massive bodybuilder you have seen (juice or not) who couldn't incline 405, squat 550, deadlift 550. I am talking freak-massive ALA Dorian, Kovacs, Francois, etc.....there are slew of guys in gyms using mega amounts of steroids on par with pros who are no where close to a pro's size, some with mediocre genetics, yet some with superb genetics. But the pro's using weights that are up there in the stratosphere are by and large the most freakish. These are pros we are talking about, who all have superior genetics for muscle accumulation. Do you think Yates, Francois, Cormier etc all just had natural genetics for incredible strength, not ever having to work for it? Jean Paul Guilliame is the only clean professional bodybuilder I ever trusted to be truly natural. The man is a smaller pro training without the juice yet trains incredibly heavy for his size--405LB squats rock bottom for up to 20 reps and his wheels are incredible. Flex Wheeler and Cris Cormier are the same height, the drugs are equal, Flex trains light, Cormier trains heavy. Cormier outweighs Wheeler onstage by 30LBS! Genetically, Wheeler is unsurpassed in pro bodybuilding, I think you already know the answer to this one--case closed. I usually don't like to use pro bodybuilders for examples but in these cases, my points are proven.

For those training clean-if you got guys doing massive amounts of steroids in gyms around America, who are not putting on appreciable size because they train with light weights, what in your right mind could make you think you will gain appreciable amounts of muscle mass as a natural training light?!?! One million people in the United States have admitted to using steroids--1 million!!! That is one out of every 300 people walking around. How many big people do you see out there? Not many. It sure isn't close to 1 million---- because 98% of bodybuilders have no clue what needs to be done training and eating wise to become elite.

f) Please think of the times when you made the best size gains---the first time is in the first 2 years of lifting WHEN YOU MAKE YOUR BEST STRENGTH GAINS TOO! Then things start to slow down.. What's the next time?--You start using steroids and boom what happens? YOUR TRAINING WEIGHTS GO FLYING UP. And you get dramatically bigger! (I’M taking into effect protein assimilation, recovery etc also). The greatest strength gains you make will result in also the most rapid size gains (if you’re taking in the protein requirements of a 12 year old girl scout then you can discount yourself from the above group).

g) I believe in Powerbuilding not bodybuilding--using techniques that build the most strength gains in the fastest time possible while using the most effective exercises for that person. I am positive I could take 2 twins--have the first one do his own thing training wise, but using the same drugs, supplements and nutrition as the twin I train......come back a year later and the twin I trained would have 25LBS more muscle.

h) I've seen powerlifters (who catch a lot of guff from bodybuilders for being "fat") diet down and come in and destroy bodybuilders in bodybuilding shows time and time again. Over and over. Powerlifters and Powerbodybuilders are by far the thickest guys onstage when and if they decide to enter bodybuilding shows.

i) Heavy is relative--it doesn't mean 3 reps --- it means as heavy as you can go on that exercise no matter if it is 5 reps or 50 reps. I personally like to do hack squats for 20 reps but I use about 6 plates on each side rock bottom--that's as heavy as I can go on that exercise for 20 reps. I could do sets of 6 and probably use maybe 8 or 9 plates a side but my legs (and most people I train) grow best from heavy and 8-50 reps. The day you can squat 400LBS for 20 deep reps will be the day you are no longer complaining about your leg size.

j) No matter what the method someone uses to gain super strength gains-it’s imperative they do so. Again if you put someone out on a deserted island with 135LBS of weights he can superset, giant set, high rep, superslow etc etc squats, deadlifts and benches to his hearts delight...the sad story is his gains will quickly come to a halt because his limiting factor is the amount of strength he will gain. He has 135LBS to work with. You take that same guy on a deserted island and give him squats deadlifts, and benches and an unlimited weight supply that he constantly pushes, in 5 years I'll show you a big Gilligan.

k) I think the biggest fallacy in bodybuilding is "changing up" "keeping the body off balance"--you can keep the body off balance by always using techniques or methods that give your body a reason to get bigger=strength. If you don't write down your weights and every time you enter the gym you go by feel and do a different workout (like 98% of the gym members who never change do now) what has that done? Lets say Mr. Hypothetical gym member does 235 for 9 on the bench press this week, "tries to keep his body guessing" by doing 80LBS for 13 on flyes next week, 205 for 11 on inclines the week after, 245 on hammer press for 12 the week after that --and so on and so on---there is only a limited number of exercises you can do. Two months later when he does bench presses again and does 235 for 8 or 9 has he gained anything? Absolutely NOT! Four months later he does hammer presses for 245 for 11 (again) do you think he has given his body any reason to change? Take 2 twins and have one do a max squat for 20 reps and the other twin giant set 4 leg exercises with the same weight. All year long have the first twin blast away until he brings his squat with 20 reps from 185LBS to 400LBS. Have the second twin giant set four exercises every workout with the same weight he used in his first workout all year long. Believe me he is always going to be sore and he will be shocking the body every time but the sad truth is he will not gain shit after about the third leg workout because the load didn't change. There is no reason for his legs to grow in size due to the strength demand presented. The first twin who can now squat 400 for 20 is going to have some incredible wheels.

l) I use a certain method in my training because in my opinion it is the utmost method to rapidly gain strength. More on that later. Others might like a different method, that's up to them, doesn't matter as long as they are rapidly gaining strength. If you’re gaining appreciable strength on an exercise with a certain method I think the ABSOLUTELY WORSE THING YOU CAN DO is to change up right then. Take that exercise and method to its strength limit and when you get there, then change to a different exercise and get strong as hell on that exercise too.

m) For the next few months take note of the people you see in the gym that never change. They will be the ones using the same weight time after time on exercises whenever they are in the gym. These are the people who use 135, 185, 225 on the bench every time its chest day. Your best friends in the gym are the 2.5LB plates--your very best buds!!! You put those 2.5LB plates on that bar every time you bench press for 52 weeks and now your bench is 250LBS more at the end of the year! That would equal out to another inch to inch + half thickness on your chest. Can it be done? Probably not at that rate but TRYING TO DO IT will get you a lot bigger than doing what 98% of the people in the gym do. Unless you are gifted genetically to build muscle at a dizzying rate (most people aren't), the largest people in your gym will also be the ones heaving up the heaviest weights. Do you think they started out that way? No, they were probably 175 lb guys who bulldozed their way up to that level. A perfect example are male strippers. These guys use a boatload of drugs on par with hardcore competitive bodybuilders. After an initial phase where they grow off of steroids like everyone else--their growth stops (like forever). Why? Because they aren't eating 500 grams of protein a day and don't fight and claw their way to 500LB bench presses and 700LB squats and deadlifts. They stay on the drugs for years and years while stripping but don't go beyond that 200 to 220LB range. So much for juice being the total equalizer. I don't know why pseudo experts try to make training such an elite science when in actuality it’s pretty cut and dry. If you keep a training log and note your weights used for the next 5 years and find they are still the same you will pretty much look "still the same" in 5 years. If you double all your poundage's in the next five years in everything, your going to be one thick person .....If someone ever took a ratio of people who don't make gains to people who do, it would be pitiful. I would venture to say that 95% of people in gyms across this country aren't gaining muscle and are wasting their time. The absolutely best advice I could ever give a guy starting out lifting is "go train with an established powerlifter" and learn all the principles he trains with. There would be a lot more happy bodybuilders out there.

So now you guys know I believe in the heaviest training possible (safely)---I think I hammered that home, I needed to do that because so many bodybuilders are lost on how to get from A to Z.....it’s all part of my quest to make the biggest heavy slag iron lifting, high protein eating, stretching and recuperating massive bodybuilders I can.-- till next time-DOGG

Now to get into specifics regarding training. Stay with me here. You are only doing one exercise per muscle group per day. You are doing your first favorite exercise for chest on day one, you're doing your second favorite exercise for chest the next time chest training rolls around and then your third favorite exercise for chest the time after that when chest training rolls around. Then you repeat the entire sequence again. You're doing the same exercises you would be doing anyway in a 7-14 days time and training chest 3 times in that same period with minimal sets so you can recover. You cannot do a 3-5 exercise, 10-20 set chest workout and recover to train chest again 3-4 days later. It's absolutely impossible!! But you can come in and do 2-5 warmup sets up to your heaviest set and then do ONE working set (either straight set or rest paused) all out on that exercise then recover and grow and be ready again 3-4 days later. This kind of training will have you growing as fast as humanly possible. Again the simple equation is "the most times per year you can train a body part incredibly heavy, with major strength gains, and recover will equal out to the fastest accumulation of muscle mass possible".

Why don't most pros do this kind of training? Why don't you?!?! Because every form of training has been taught to someone, passed down from the magazines for decades with no thought out rhyme or reasons. Every form of modern day training stems from what the guys in the 60's and Arnold was doing. Finally Yates and some others got people thinking about what truly is working when it comes to training. If you think about it-it's ridiculous some of these recommended routines in the magazines. Most training comes from peoples egos. People are so driven and desperate to get big that they believe they MUST do this and MUST do that every workout. Thirty sets here, with multiple exercises to hit every angle there. You know what that does? It dramatically cuts into your recovery ability (never mind amino acid pools and glycogen stores) so you cannot train that body part again in a couple days time. That defeats the purpose of rapid accumulation of muscle mass. I'll state this as a matter of fact because I believe it's true. I believe if you, the person reading this, trained the way I am recommending, you will be 20-40lbs of muscle larger in 3 years than if you kept training the way you are presently training. If that offends you or seems ballsy to state-SO BE IT!!! I've done enough studying and real life experimentation on aspiring bodybuilders to state that.

Some exercises involving legs and some back rowing exercises don't allow themselves to rest pause too well. A sample couple of days for me would be the following (IM not including warmup sets--just working sets).

Workout 1
CHEST: smith incline 375 x 15 reps rest pause (RP) and a 30 second static rep at the end (then stretches)
SHOULDERS: front smith press-330 x 13 RP and 30 second static (then stretches)
TRICEPS: reverse grip bench press 315 for 15-20 reps RP-no static (then stretches)
BACK WIDTH: rear pulldowns to back of head 300 x 18 RP (20 second static at end)
BACK THICKNESS: floor deadlifts straight set of 8-20 reps (then stretches for back)
The information below is from Peter O'Hanrahan's "Body Types, Part 1". It is a brief and incomplete description of the mesomorph's temperament.
Workout 2
BICEPS: preacher bench barbell curl RP for 14 reps and 30 second static
FOREARMS: hammer curls straight set for 15 reps (then stretches for biceps)
CALVES: on hack squat straight set for 12 reps but with a 20 second negative phase
HAMSTRINGS: Cybex hamstring press (pressing with heels up top) RP for 20 reps
QUADS: hack squat straight set of 6 plates each side for 20 reps (of course after warming up)

Then stretches for quads and hams.
The absolutely most important thing of any of this is I write down all weights and reps done from the working set on a notepad. So every time I go into the gym I have to continually look back and beat the previous times reps/weight or both. If I can't or I don't beat it, no matter if I love doing the exercise or not, I have to change to a new exercise. Believe me this adds a grave seriousness, a clutch performance or imperativeness to a workout! I have exercises I love to do and knowing I will lose them if I don't beat the previous stats sucks! But there is a method to this madness because when you get to that sticking point of strength (AND YOU WILL, THERE IS NO WAY YOU CAN HACK SQUAT UP TO 50 PLATES A SIDE) that is when your muscle=strength gains will stop. At that point you must turn to a different exercise and then get brutally strong on that one. Then someday you will peak out on that one too. You can always come back to that loved exercise in the future and you'll start somewhat lower and build up to a peak again--and trust me that peak will be far more than the previous one. Some exercises you'll stay with and gain strength at for almost up to a year and some exercises you'll be at the limit in 4 weeks and lose them but its all in the plan. For example-- I love reverse grip bench presses, knowing that I have to beat 315 for 17 reps RP or else I have to change to maybe dips next time puts a serious sense of urgency into workouts. I either have to beat it by doing something to the effect of 320 for 15 RP or if I stick with 315, I have to get at least 19 reps RP or so. If I'm feeling crappy or having an off day I might give myself a little leeway and allow myself another go at it next time around but that's it. The notepad is your intensity level, how badly you want to keep doing an exercise will be how hard you push to beat the previous. Looking at that piece of paper knowing what you have to do to beat it will bring out the best in you. Again, it's all in the plan to make you the strongest bodybuilder possible which will equal out into the biggest bodybuilder possible.

I find myself irritated now when people look at me and say "genetics" or something to that effect--its amazing to me that at 19 I was 6 foot and 137lbs (yes 137) and eating 6 meals a day and people would chuckle at me the stickboy trying to be a bodybuilder. I seriously did not miss a meal for my first 3 and a half years, I would set my alarm at 2am and wake up and eat scrambled eggs and pancakes if I missed a meal during the day. Two years later I looked "normal" at 196lbs or so. Two years just to look like a normal person! I kept bombing away, eating and not taking no as an answer and now I am up at 300lbs and people say "you must have always been big" and genetics. That's tough for me to hear thinking how psyched I was to weigh more than 170 at one point. I've only trained one true mesomorph. Mesomorphs don't need trainers usually. I train ectomorphs and endomorphs. The last 3 people I've trained have been a pudgy Mexican who was 172 (now 258lbs hard)--a skinny marine, and a guy stuck at 188lbs for many years (now 260). These people all thought the same thing seeing how my workouts were set up-"am I doing enough?"--If you can show someone how to train so hard that they realize they were holding back tremendously during their 8-20 set workouts, that's half the battle. The other half is making them realize how impossible it is to do 8-20 sets per bodypart if you truly, truly train balls to the wall hard. Personally, if I do a 20 rep hack squat with slag iron heavy weights....at 10 reps I am seriously doubting I am going to make it---at 14 reps IM seeing colors---at 17 reps IM asking God for help--and the last 3 reps are life, death, or rigor mortis---I know for a fact that there is no way in hell I could do another 4-5 sets of hacks like that. I gave everything I had right there on that set. If I can do another 4-5 sets like that I'm cruising at 70% at the most. If all you get out of my articles is the mindset of heavy weights, low volume, stretching, and frequency of body parts trained-I would be very happy because then I would have you on the right path to get you where you want to be.

Editor's note: Dogg is presently training people online with daily emails to them and an A to Z approach with diet supplementation training and recovery. He is expensive but he wants to be because he doesn't want to train a lot of people at once (Four at once is his limit). His first client has been lifting for 3 years with limited success but in 7 weeks with Dogg has gone from 183lbs at 7.5% bodyfat to 205lbs at 7.7% bodyfat. At the end of 10 weeks he should be around 216lbs or so and onward. Dogg is also online training 2 superheavyweight national competitors who came to him to put on pro size muscle. They will make an even bigger splash than what they already have accomplished. His flat fee is 400 dollars for everything designed (diet, training, supplementation) and then constant emails to you for at least 2 months monitoring and adjusting your progress. He does a strict interview first to see if you have the makeup and mindset of the person he wants to train. He turns away people who he doesn't believe will go at it or listen to him 100 percent. If 400 dollars equals out to the 40-60lbs of muscle Dogg puts on people repeatedly to you-- then you can contact him at Doggcrapp@ziplip.com

TRAINING

I am going to try and post a basic summary of the procedures, thoughts and exercises behind this style, but before I begin, this is NOT my writing, I do not take credit for coming up with it, all credit given to DOGGCRAPP.

THE BASIC SETUP(You need to pick 3 exercises for each body part listed):
Day one would be Monday and would be:
Chest
Shoulders
Triceps
Back Width
Back Thickness

Day two would be Wednesday and would be:
Biceps
Forearms
Calves
Hamstrings
Quads

Day three would be Friday and would be the same as day one but with different exercises:
Chest
Shoulders
Triceps
Back Width
Back Thickness

(Saturday + Sunday off)

Day four would be the following Monday and would be the same as day two but with different exercises:
Biceps
Forearms
Calves
Hamstrings
Quads

and so on Wenesday, Friday, Monday, Wenesday etc.

You’re hitting every bodypart twice in 8 days. The volume on everything is simply as many warmup sets as you need to do- to be ready for your ONE work set.

That can be two warmup sets for a small muscle group or five warmup sets for a large muscle group on heavy exercise like rack deadlifts. The ONE work set is either a straight set or a rest pause set (depending on your recovery abilities again).

For people on the lowest scale of recovery its just that one straight set---next up is a straight set with statics for people with slightly better than that recovery----next up is rest pausing (on many of the of movements) with statics for people with middle of the road recovery on up.

You're going to be doing one of these exercises for each group each day, and ONLY ONE WORK SET. Then the next time you do day 1, you would do only one work set of each of the other exercises, here is an example:

Monday(Workout 1):
CHEST: Smith Incline 375 x 15 reps rest pause (RP) and a 30 second static rep at the end (then stretches)
SHOULDERS: Front Smith Press-330 x 13 RP and 30 second static (then stretches)
TRICEPS: Reverse Grip Bench Press 315 for 15-20 reps RP-no static (then stretches)
BACK WIDTH: Rear Pulldowns to Back of Head 300 x 18 RP (20 second static at end)
BACK THICKNESS: Floor Deadlifts straight set of 8-20 reps (then stretches for back)

Wednesday(Workout 2 ):
BICEPS: Preacher Bench Barbell Curl RP for 14 reps and 30 second static
FOREARMS: Hammer Curls straight set for 15 reps (then stretches for biceps)
CALVES: on hack squat straight set for 12 reps but with a 20 second negative phase
HAMSTRINGS: Cybex hamstring press (pressing with heels up top) RP for 20 reps
QUADS: hack squat straight set of 6 plates each side for 20 reps (of course after warming up)

- Only start using rest pause techniques and static holds and such ONLY after you've determined you can recouperate from straight sets with this frequency.

- Use a controlled but explosive positive, and A 6-8 SECOND NEGATIVE (on all practical exercises)

- Use extreme stretching. I will explain this further in a bit

Now some info on the diet:

Here is a sample day:

Meal 1:
- Bowl of Fiber 1 or bran buds (I like to get a lot of my fiber here for convenience) in 2% milk
- 6 whole eggs, however you like (I think organic eggs are better BTW)
- Glass of milk

Meal 2:
- Protein drink in 2 cups of milk
- 3 tblspoons extra virgin (important) olive oil. You could use flax if you want but olive oil is sooo much cheaper and you're going to be going thru a lot of it.

Meal 3:
I usually eat some fast food now, based on whatever is a special. For example, 2 99 cent whoppers, or 2-3 99 cent double cheeseburgers, etc. Don't worry this won't make you fat, I'll explain later...

Meal 4:
At least 10 oz of chicken, steak, or fish. Drink some milk with this, if you're still hungry eat complex carbs till you're full. Some pasta or rice would be good.

Post-workout meal (fit this in obviously where it should go)
1.5-2 servings protein shake (yes that means as much as 110 g)
75 g or so simple sugar carbs, dextrose powder, grape juice etc...(I like dextrose powder from supplement direct)
And a complex carb like 1-2 baked potatoes if you can handle it. For convenience I sometimes don't do this (I know i should though)

Meal 5:
Large (12-16) steak (or chicken or whatever), potatoes, wheat bread etc basically another big ass meal.

Meal 6:
Protein shake in milk w/ 2 tblspoons EV olive oil

Now after 6-7 we're going to cut out the carbs. This way your glycogen stores will deplete and if you do cardio in the morning before you eat you'll eat into your fat stores, more on this later.

Meal 7:
One pound of extra-lean cooked hamburger with veggies

Meal 8:
Protein drink in water

This is just an example, you may eat more solid, or more liquid or whatever, but here are the basic guidelines:

1. Trace carbs (only perhaps those found in milk/veggies) after 6-7PM (depending on your schedule)

2. Get at least twice your BW in protein. Usually you'll get more on training days, for obvious reasons.

3. At least 4 tblspoons extra virgin olive oil a day.

4. You're eating a lot, you should get the protein down first, then eat the carbs to satisfy your hunger. That's why there's no real exact number of carbs you need to eat.
How to preform "Extreme Stretching"

Chest:
Flat bench 90lb dumbbells chest high--lungs full of air--first 10 seconds
drop down into deepest stretch and then next 50 seconds really push the
stretch (this really, really hurts) but do it faithfully and come back and
post on the AE message board in 4 weeks and tell me if your chest isn't much
fuller and rounder

Triceps:
Seated on a flat bench-my back up against the barbell---75lb dumbbell in my
hand behind my head (like in an overhead dumbbell extension)--sink dumbbell
down into position for the first 10 seconds and then an agonizing 50 seconds
slightly leaning back and pushing the dumbbell down with the back of my head

Shoulders:
This one is tough to describe--put barbell in squat rack shoulder
height--face away from it and reach back and grab it palms up (hands on
bottom of bar)---walk yourself outward until you are on your heels and the
stretch gets painful--then roll your shoulders downward and hold for 60
seconds

Biceps:
Just like the above position but hold barbell palms down now (hands on top of
bar)--sink down in a squatting position first and if you can hack it into a
kneeling position and then if you can hack that sink your butt down--60
seconds--I cannot make it 60 seconds-- I get to about 45—it’s too painful--if you can make it 60 seconds you are either inhuman or you need to raise the bar up another rung

Back:
Honestly for about 3 years my training partner and I would hang a 100lb
dumbbell from our waist and hung on the widest chinup bar (with wrist straps) to see who could get closest to 3 minutes--I never made it--I think 2 minutes 27 seconds was my record--but my back width is by far my best body part--I pull on a doorknob or stationary equipment with a rounded back now and it’s way too hard too explain here--just try it and get your feel for it

Hamstrings:
Either leg up on a high barbell holding my toe and trying to force my leg
straight with my free hand for an excruciating painful 60 seconds

Quads:
Facing a barbell in a power rack about hip high --grip it and simultaneously sink down and throw your knees under the barbell and do a sissy squat underneath it while going up on your toes. Then straighten your arms and lean as far back as you can---60 seconds and if this one doesn't make you hate my guts and bring tears to your eyes nothing will---do this one faithfully and tell me in 4 weeks if your quads don’t look a lot different than they used to

Calves:
My weak body part that I couldn’t get up too par until 2 years ago when I
finally thought it out and figured out how to make them grow (with only one set twice a week too). I don’t need to stretch calves after because when I do calves I explode on the positive and take 5 seconds to get back to full stretch and then 15 seconds at the very bottom "one one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand etc" --15 seconds stretching at the bottom thinking and trying to flex my toes toward my shin--it is absolutely
unbearable and you will most likely be shaking and want to give up at about 7 reps (I always go for 12reps with maximum weights)--do this on a hack squat or a leg press--my calves have finally taken off due to this and caught up to the rest of me thank God.

If you doubt the extra muscle growth possible with stretching I urge you
to research hyperplasia (and the bird wing stretching protocols) where time X stretch X weight induced incredible hyperplasia. Our stretching is done under much lower time periods but fascial stretching and the possibility of induced hyperplasia cant be ignored. I’ve had too many people write me or tell me in person that the "extreme stretching" has dramatically changed their physique to ever doubt its virtues.
__________________
XM Vikings fan crew #001
XM Twolves fan crew #001

Eat like a horse, train like a bull, juice like a heifer.
Obsessed is a word the lazy use to describe the dedicated.

Summary:

Training: (as many warmup sets as you need to be warmed up) and then just one or two balls to the wall hardcore sets per bodypart with progressively heavier and heavier weights and a key exercise used (and rest pausing)

Eating: High protein, moderate (good fats), and moderate carbs and then low to trace carbs from 4pm to 7pm on (determined by the individuals schedule)--high proteins and fats in some meals and high proteins and carbs in other meals during the day--but we dont want fats driven to fat cells with insulin spikes so we have to watch that process.

Recovery: Glutamine in high doses and extreme stretching to recover as fast as possible so you can train that bodypart quickly again

Nutritional Supplements and "super supplements" -- determined by the individual but i have definite set in stone opinions on this

happy reading, this is great for newer guys, looking for a point to start in my opnion...


later

DC has a really big following now..i speak sometimes wtih a prominant DC disciple and have been considering starting a program like it...

I believe there is another thread similar to this somewhere down the lines. It doesn't matter though, it is a great read most definately!!