Training like a bodybuilder with gymnastic exercises

slizzardman said:

Deft-Mastery said:

I wanted to ask about PPP: can you do these for like 5+ sets? Or should you "go slow" on them? I can do 10-11 as forward as I can go, which is pretty close to the hips (the hands), but not too close.

I've already done like 6 sets of 10 reps and I felt great but I wanted to do more of these during the day so I wanted to know if you shouldn't go too hard on these because like you said it takes like 3 months before an injury from decreased leverage exercises appears so...

With anything in this category I prefer to run it as more of a SSC. There's nothing wrong with alternating days between faster reps and slower reps, but I wouldn't change the overall volume at all and I definitely wouldn't mess with the hand positioning until you have a good 6-8 weeks of the exact same thing under your belt. That's my personal preference. Another thing I would do is start working on chest rolls and things like that, and start moving one set of PPP into your warm ups. I know that you are running a different type of program than I am, so it is harder for me to generalize what I do, but the basic premise is that as you get stronger and more highly trained many of the exercises that are your main work now will become your warm up. You want to have a good, challenging warm up that leads up to a relatively small volume of concentrated work sets, at least for strength work. The lower intensity of a bodybuilding training program will change that a little bit, but you still want to follow the same concept. For example, as you get stronger you may want to move PPP to more of a warm up position in each workout and start doing tuck planche push ups and planche dips for your work sets. In the grand scheme of things, PPP are really easy so don't keep them as your work sets forever. Start by moving one of the sets to the warm up and having one set of tuck planche push ups in your work sets. When you get to 10 reps transition another set, and when you have 2x10 another. Eventually you'll be doing 5x10 tuck planche push ups, and you'll be doing 1-3x10-20 PPP in your warm up. See what I mean? Do that slowly, don't rush it.

Ok. Actually I didn't ask my question right: what I wanted to ask was that if you have to do PPP in a SSC manner, or if you could do them like any other FBE, doing sets close to your max rep. This goes for tuck PL pushups/dips as well.

I gave my opinion. SSC for me.

slizzardman said:

Lavastine said:

All I can talk from is my experience, but I tried a few months of fingertips only work and while my finger strength got pretty good - I can easily do 2 finger pullups from the last joint on those fingers - my crushing strength went from easily repping a 350lbs gripper to struggling with a single Rep.

Interesting. Are we talking about a COC #3.5 or something? Which gripper? Regardless, a loss is a loss. What did you do to get that crushing strength back?

Yeah a 3.5 captain of crush. I just looked it up and its only 322.5 lbs on their site though, I thought I remember it being higher on amazons description page but, oh well.

To regain my strength I do alot of one arm hangs and swings with my hand as high up the bar as I can keep it without doing any kind of false grip(in addition to trying to break my buddies hands whenever we shake ), which usually means that section of the directly below the normal callouses is what takes the friction, like so;

And my grip is coming back quite handily if you'll pardon the pun. But the fact is that finger strength is very easily maintained once you have it, just put some fingertip work in your rotation once a week and I doubt you'd lose any.

Repping a #3.5 gripper??? I would like to see that

Interesting! Thank you for sharing! Repping 3.5 is nuts, I can rep #2 fairly easily, but I haven't played with anything higher...

That's some really good stuff to know!

Edit: I have to agree, the finger strength is pretty easy to keep once you have it.

slizzardman said:

I gave my opinion. SSC for me.

I just wanted to know if this was like the BL, PL or FL in which you said you will most likely get injured if you go hard on it, but with these (the PPP) you didn't really say if it was like that, you didn't say yes or no; I just wanted to know if I could train them like regular pushups or dips in which you can work near your limits and not get injured, not what your personal opinion was on the matter (no offense!).

The farther forward you lean in a planche position the more shearing force is put on your shoulder. So as you get more advanced in your ppp progressions you are more likely to get injured doing maxed reps repeatedly.

Yea, try to remember that PPP is a low leverage exercise. Done properly you are actually going all the way to straight arms, so you wouldn't want to put your hands somewhere that your elbows can not handle, you know what I mean?

Don't worry, I'm not mad, I'm just sharing my opinion. Anything that is low leverage like PPP, which includes tuck planche push ups and FL rows, as well as most of the more advanced basic strength, really does need to be done in a SSC type cycle. It is very easy to underestimate the forces acting on and around each joint even during something relatively simple like FL pulls. It's a lot more than weighted pull ups, I can tell you that. You will still need to be careful. There isn't much wrong with pushing a little when they come up in WODs, but if you're doing them every day you have to be more conservative. There is nothing wrong with being conservative 4 days a week and then once every 7-10 days really pushing hard, and then going back to the conservative approach for a week. That is, essentially, kind of what SHOULD be happening with a truly complete warm up in the WOD matrix.

I've been out of the game for 12 days now because I had something removed behind my leg and the doctor says that even though it wasn't a big deal it was still a "surgery" so I can't do any exercise at all, and that's why I haven't done anything at all for 12 days now. But I remember the last times I did PPP and I did them 5-6 sets of the most I could without going to failure, which was like 10 each set but my hands were somewhat close to my hips. So you say I shouldn't do them like this ever?

slizzardman said:

Done properly you are actually going all the way to straight arms, so you wouldn't want to put your hands somewhere that your elbows can not handle, you know what I mean?

Not really.

slizzardman said:

Don't worry, I'm not mad, I'm just sharing my opinion. Anything that is low leverage like PPP, which includes tuck planche push ups and FL rows, as well as most of the more advanced basic strength, really does need to be done in a SSC type cycle. It is very easy to underestimate the forces acting on and around each joint even during something relatively simple like FL pulls. It's a lot more than weighted pull ups, I can tell you that. You will still need to be careful. There isn't much wrong with pushing a little when they come up in WODs, but if you're doing them every day you have to be more conservative. There is nothing wrong with being conservative 4 days a week and then once every 7-10 days really pushing hard, and then going back to the conservative approach for a week. That is, essentially, kind of what SHOULD be happening with a truly complete warm up in the WOD matrix.

I'm not doing the WOD's yet, like I told you the other day...

My point is that you should not be pushing too hard too often. Doing a high volume workout like what you describe with a low leverage exercise, especially something like PPP, isn't something that you want to do too often. You are not thinking about the tendons and ligaments, only the muscles, and that will lead to injury.

Doing 50-60 reps of PPP with hands near the hips, going all the way up to straight arms or even very close, is a bad idea. I am simply sharing this from both experience and an intellectual understanding of what is happening to the tissues involved. If you choose to do this multiple times a week then you do, I'm not going to stop you. You will have quite a while where you meet with nothing but progress, and then one day you will feel the slightest *something* in your elbows. Not long after that you will realize that this *something* isn't going away, and at that point you have an injury that is going to take several months to heal and at least as long as the total injury time, meaning twice the healing time at a minimum, to properly condition the elbow for what you would be doing to it. I don't mind at all, I will simply be able to point to this discussion down the line and use it as a (hopefully) effective warning to others who may want to follow the same path. I apologize if I seem snide, because I simply want you to understand where I am coming from.

The comment about the WODs is to point out that if you work this movement HARD once every 9-12 days you will be much less likely to run into problems. I also use the WOD as a programming guide because there really isn't a benefit to doing more than 4 work sets unless you are trying a GVT-type protocol, and even then you're supposed to be working very low down on the intensity scale.

You could offset some of the danger by moving your hands closer to your shoulders most days, so that you are actually healing instead of hurting the elbow, and only hitting it hard once in a while as stated above. On these easier days PPP will not be your strength work but your warm up, and as such your volume should be limited to 1 set of 15-20 reps at the most, and that set should not wear you out.

slizzardman said:

My point is that you should not be pushing too hard too often. Doing a high volume workout like what you describe with a low leverage exercise, especially something like PPP, isn't something that you want to do too often. You are not thinking about the tendons and ligaments, only the muscles, and that will lead to injury.

Doing 50-60 reps of PPP with hands near the hips, going all the way up to straight arms or even very close, is a bad idea. I am simply sharing this from both experience and an intellectual understanding of what is happening to the tissues involved. If you choose to do this multiple times a week then you do, I'm not going to stop you. You will have quite a while where you meet with nothing but progress, and then one day you will feel the slightest *something* in your elbows. Not long after that you will realize that this *something* isn't going away, and at that point you have an injury that is going to take several months to heal and at least as long as the total injury time, meaning twice the healing time at a minimum, to properly condition the elbow for what you would be doing to it. I don't mind at all, I will simply be able to point to this discussion down the line and use it as a (hopefully) effective warning to others who may want to follow the same path. I apologize if I seem snide, because I simply want you to understand where I am coming from.

The comment about the WODs is to point out that if you work this movement HARD once every 9-12 days you will be much less likely to run into problems. I also use the WOD as a programming guide because there really isn't a benefit to doing more than 4 work sets unless you are trying a GVT-type protocol, and even then you're supposed to be working very low down on the intensity scale.

You could offset some of the danger by moving your hands closer to your shoulders most days, so that you are actually healing instead of hurting the elbow, and only hitting it hard once in a while as stated above. On these easier days PPP will not be your strength work but your warm up, and as such your volume should be limited to 1 set of 15-20 reps at the most, and that set should not wear you out.

Sorry man I was pissed because it's now been 19 days that I haven't done a single exercise and the soonest I'll probably be able to start working out again is until monday, so I'm pretty mad at that and my question didn't make too much sense.

So doing low leverage exercises is the secret of gymnastic strength and size as Coach said, but my question is, you won't ever need to go hard on them to get size will you? Or will there come a point in which you'll be capable and then you'll go hard on them? I don't even know if the question is right.

P.S. are you still putting the ring curls video? I'd really like to see how it is that you do this exercise...

1) I will make the rings curl video today and post it. I have no school today.

2) You WILL get to where you can do much harder work more frequently, due to biceps tendon conditioning, but that's 2-3 years down the line.

As for getting bigger, if you want to be big FAST your best bet is to cycle through Poliquin's entire GVT protocol from beginner to advanced, but you will have to either use a partial ROM in PPP with the intermediate and advanced protocols or use a higher leverage position. The workouts aren't terribly time consuming, will generate size very quickly if you eat properly, and won't contribute all that much to your strength. I would, without question, use exercises from the book for just about everything. You may have to scale things down a bit for your legs, it is hard to work light enough to use SLS or NLC for GVT with the natural progressions, but jumping deck squats will work well even though you don't get the same tension. Light barbell or weighted vest squats will be your best bet for the GVT. Half GHR can probably be scaled to where you can do GVT.

The reason for using the book exercises is simply that they generate more tension and use more of the body. Your training will still carry over to when you decide you are ready for the WODs. Weights will not. You'll just be heavier, which will make things harder. GVT is not originally intended to make you stronger, just bigger. Strength comes afterwards when you switch back to your regular training, though the GVT advanced protocol (WHICH YOU SHOULD NOT TRY UNTIL YOU HAVE DONE BEGINNER AND INTERMEDIATE!!!) will absolutely start the transition over to more strength.

The major advantage of doing a complete cycle of the GVT from beginner to advanced is that you will increase your mitochondrial density and the density of capillaries in the muscle. These adaptations will lead to more work capacity and faster healing, and if you then switch into the WODs you should do very well, as you'll already be adapted to CRAZY work capacity. You may not even get tired at first, which would be ideal. Hitting one GVT workout a month per motion plane should be PLENTY to maintain this adaptation, and it won't even interfere with the WODs.

This is my personal idea, and not a part of Coach's regimen. It would probably not be ideal for a competitive gymnast except perhaps a rings specialist, as it will pack on a little more than the minimum required muscle. The advantage is that A) you'll look a bit more impressive and B) you should heal noticeably faster and be more resistant to injury.

One think that is important is to keep the load the same, like SSC, and to NOT try the prescribed 60% of 1RM. That's ridiculously hard, for one thing (at least at the prescribed tempos) and that is easily heavy enough to cause fiber type conversion from more strength oriented to more endurance oriented. When you're initially trying to gain size, that's ok I guess, though I will seriously be impressed if you can maintain that for all 10 sets. It is absolutely brutal. I would go much easier, like 30-40%, for the maintenance sets once you're done gaining size. It is vitally, vitally important that you do scapular retraction specifically as a GVT exercise if you choose to do this.

In my opinion, if size is your first priority then we should get you there first using the exercises here and then get you onto the WOD program so that your size actually means something besides having to buy new shirts.

Go here, http://www.charlespoliquin.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/441/German_Volume_Training.aspx, and read the whole article.

My suggested exercises will be XR Bulgarian row and XR foot supported rows for back, XR PPP(switching to floor if you must) and XR dips( PB if you must) (NOT bulgarian, that is too much on the shoulder), HLL variation and windshield wiper variation for core, half GHR and deck squats for legs, arch ups and RLL for back, and biceps curls and overhead press for arms and shoulders. That's 3 workouts every 5 days, using Poliquin's template. That will be one workout cycle. You'll do 6 workout cycles, which makes for a 35 day beginner GVT cycle. After that you should spend 3 weeks working at a higher intensity, meaning harder variations, preferably WOD style. Then you'll go through the intermediate program, take the same 3 weeks "off" afterwards, and finally the advanced program. There is absolutely no way you won't gain at least 10 lbs off of that, and that is really lowballing, as long as you eat properly. That means quality foods(veggies, fruits and meats, with dairy if you wish) and lots of them.

Here's the basic template:

chest exercises: Dips, PPP. Workout cycle one: GVT for PPP, 3 sets of 8-10 for dips, same tempo. Workout cycle 2: GVT for dips, 3 sets of 8-10 PPP, same tempo.

By switching which exercise gets the GVT and which is just a few sets, you will avoid a lot of neural fatigue and keep the muscles adapting at the fastest rate possible. Yo should do this for all the exercise pairs. DO chest all at once, then back. That's one workout, as shown on the template. That will be the most time efficient way to do this, and if done right you should be done in under 50 minutes. You will be completely fried, so expect that. You will also be sore beyond belief after your first workout cycle.

p-8izkNkcBw

Slizz thanks for a couple more high quality epic posts. Very interesting information there. I'd also like to hear Coach Sommer's opinion of this, though it might be a bit outside the work he does with his gymnasts. As someone else posted, there are a lot of us skinny guys here, and sometimes i wonder if adding a few lbs of muscle early would help the process. I'm going to continue the pull up volume work at a minimum.

BTW-

Nice to see the basement is coming along as well, and the rings are looking sharp!

HAHAHA, they are SO MUCH BETTER than my homemade ones! I left those at my Mom's house for my best friend to use, he and his GF live there. I love having my real rings. Thanks to all of you guys again!

slizzardman said:

1) I will make the rings curl video today and post it. I have no school today.

Alright I just saw the video and now I get it, thanks a lot for it.

Your post got me all excited, I really want to get this right and do it right, so please bear with me! I suck at getting these things right.

slizzardman said:

2) You WILL get to where you can do much harder work more frequently, due to biceps tendon conditioning, but that's 2-3 years down the line.

Ok.

slizzardman said:

As for getting bigger, if you want to be big FAST your best bet is to cycle through Poliquin's entire GVT protocol from beginner to advanced, but you will have to either use a partial ROM in PPP with the intermediate and advanced protocols or use a higher leverage position. The workouts aren't terribly time consuming, will generate size very quickly if you eat properly, and won't contribute all that much to your strength. I would, without question, use exercises from the book for just about everything. You may have to scale things down a bit for your legs, it is hard to work light enough to use SLS or NLC for GVT with the natural progressions, but jumping deck squats will work well even though you don't get the same tension. Light barbell or weighted vest squats will be your best bet for the GVT. Half GHR can probably be scaled to where you can do GVT.

The reason for using the book exercises is simply that they generate more tension and use more of the body. Your training will still carry over to when you decide you are ready for the WODs. Weights will not. You'll just be heavier, which will make things harder. GVT is not originally intended to make you stronger, just bigger. Strength comes afterwards when you switch back to your regular training, though the GVT advanced protocol (WHICH YOU SHOULD NOT TRY UNTIL YOU HAVE DONE BEGINNER AND INTERMEDIATE!!!) will absolutely start the transition over to more strength.

When you say exercises from the book, you obviously mean exercises from BtGB right?

slizzardman said:

Hitting one GVT workout a month per motion plane should be PLENTY to maintain this adaptation...

What do you mean here?

slizzardman said:

One thing that is important is to keep the load the same, like SSC, and to NOT try the prescribed 60% of 1RM. That's ridiculously hard, for one thing (at least at the prescribed tempos) and that is easily heavy enough to cause fiber type conversion from more strength oriented to more endurance oriented. When you're initially trying to gain size, that's ok I guess, though I will seriously be impressed if you can maintain that for all 10 sets. It is absolutely brutal. I would go much easier, like 30-40%, for the maintenance sets once you're done gaining size. It is vitally, vitally important that you do scapular retraction specifically as a GVT exercise if you choose to do this.

I'm confused here: do you mean 60% of your max number of reps?

slizzardman said:

In my opinion, if size is your first priority then we should get you there first using the exercises here and then get you onto the WOD program so that your size actually means something besides having to buy new shirts.

Go here, http://www.charlespoliquin.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/441/German_Volume_Training.aspx, and read the whole article.

My suggested exercises will be XR Bulgarian row and XR foot supported rows for back, XR PPP(switching to floor if you must) and XR dips( PB if you must) (NOT bulgarian, that is too much on the shoulder), HLL variation and windshield wiper variation for core, half GHR and deck squats for legs, arch ups and RLL for back, and biceps curls and overhead press for arms and shoulders. That's 3 workouts every 5 days, using Poliquin's template. That will be one workout cycle. You'll do 6 workout cycles, which makes for a 35 day beginner GVT cycle. After that you should spend 3 weeks working at a higher intensity, meaning harder variations, preferably WOD style. Then you'll go through the intermediate program, take the same 3 weeks "off" afterwards, and finally the advanced program. There is absolutely no way you won't gain at least 10 lbs off of that, and that is really lowballing, as long as you eat properly. That means quality foods(veggies, fruits and meats, with dairy if you wish) and lots of them.

Here's the basic template:

chest exercises: Dips, PPP. Workout cycle one: GVT for PPP, 3 sets of 8-10 for dips, same tempo. Workout cycle 2: GVT for dips, 3 sets of 8-10 PPP, same tempo.

By switching which exercise gets the GVT and which is just a few sets, you will avoid a lot of neural fatigue and keep the muscles adapting at the fastest rate possible. Yo should do this for all the exercise pairs. DO chest all at once, then back. That's one workout, as shown on the template. That will be the most time efficient way to do this, and if done right you should be done in under 50 minutes. You will be completely fried, so expect that. You will also be sore beyond belief after your first workout cycle.

Ok I read the entire article.

Ok so in the template examples you gave, I would do 10 sets of PPP, and then 3 sets of 8-10 dips, this would be "chest" and only 1 day right? But how much should I rest between sets when doing GVT? And how much should I rest between the GVT and the other one?

You also said I should switch exercises done GVT and non-GVT, but how would this be? By weeks?

Oh yeah and can I still do the FSP's right?

FSP will be perfect warm up for this! Definitely keep doing them.

Thank you for reading! Ok, so your rest time will be 30-60s. 60s will allow you to use the heavier resistance for more sets and 30s will create a LOT more lactic acid, so for right now in the building phase I would opt for 60s sets. You'll still get plenty of lactic acid, believe me.

I do mean exercises from BtGB.

By once a month being plenty to maintain adaptation I mean that in combination with the WODS that should be enough GVT to keep the density of capillaries high, which will keep healing rate as fast as possible.

When I talk about the percentages I am referring to your one rep max. If you want to go by reps, you should be using your 20 rep max, so whatever position you can do 20 tempo reps with. That's going to be light, I can tell you that. It is ok to make the exercise easier as the sets go on if you need to. Don't worry about too much else. Right now, this is what you need to know. The rest of that paragraph is just for people who want to increase healing rate and joint stability without impacting their maximal strength.

You will go through 6 cycles of this: Chest/back day, legs/abs day, off day, arms/shoulders day, off. That is one cycle. Your next day will be chest/back again. This is very, very hard at first but you will get used to it fairly quickly. You will want a timer of some sort so that you know you are doing your tempo right and aren't resting too long.

Cycle 1,3,5 will be 10 sets of PPP and 3 sets of dips. Cycle 2,4,6 will be 10 sets of dips and 3 sets of PPP. Do the same for the other exercises. Does that make more sense?

Doing that 6 times will take 30 days or so. After that, you will work out in a non-GVT style for 3 weeks. It is important that you work heavier and with less sets/reps, and preferably with a focus on different exercises for the most part. This will get your body de-trained from the GVT so that when you do the intermediate cycle it will respond far better and grow more than if you try and either go straight into it from the beginner cycle or if you were already doing something similar.

After that three weeks of heavier, higher intensity training with different exercises you will start the intermediate protocol. We can fine tune that when you get finished with the 30 days of the beginner cycle.

slizzardman said:

FSP will be perfect warm up for this! Definitely keep doing them.

Thank you for reading! Ok, so your rest time will be 30-60s. 60s will allow you to use the heavier resistance for more sets and 30s will create a LOT more lactic acid, so for right now in the building phase I would opt for 60s sets. You'll still get plenty of lactic acid, believe me.

When I talk about the percentages I am referring to your one rep max. If you want to go by reps, you should be using your 20 rep max, so whatever position you can do 20 tempo reps with. That's going to be light, I can tell you that. It is ok to make the exercise easier as the sets go on if you need to. Don't worry about too much else. Right now, this is what you need to know. The rest of that paragraph is just for people who want to increase healing rate and joint stability without impacting their maximal strength.

Ok I'm a little confused: does this GVT has to be done with weights? By weights I mean weighted dips, chins etc. Like I said I don't lift or use weights so I don't know what my 1RM of anything is, but I will see to add weight to the dips and chins, that's for sure.

The last time I was working out (3 weeks ago) my max number for dips (PB) and chins was 12 and 11, respectively. Right now it could be 10, maybe.

So for example, with this kind of training you won't be training near your max reps? Because I know 30-60s rest is NOTHING if you're working near your max.

slizzardman said:

By once a month being plenty to maintain adaptation I mean that in combination with the WODS that should be enough GVT to keep the density of capillaries high, which will keep healing rate as fast as possible.

Oh so what you say here is for the future then? When you're at the advanced stage?

slizzardman said:

You will go through 6 cycles of this: Chest/back day, legs/abs day, off day, arms/shoulders day, off. That is one cycle. Your next day will be chest/back again. This is very, very hard at first but you will get used to it fairly quickly. You will want a timer of some sort so that you know you are doing your tempo right and aren't resting too long.

Cycle 1,3,5 will be 10 sets of PPP and 3 sets of dips. Cycle 2,4,6 will be 10 sets of dips and 3 sets of PPP. Do the same for the other exercises. Does that make more sense?

Sort of!

slizzardman said:

Doing that 6 times will take 30 days or so. After that, you will work out in a non-GVT style for 3 weeks. It is important that you work heavier and with less sets/reps, and preferably with a focus on different exercises for the most part. This will get your body de-trained from the GVT so that when you do the intermediate cycle it will respond far better and grow more than if you try and either go straight into it from the beginner cycle or if you were already doing something similar.

After that three weeks of heavier, higher intensity training with different exercises you will start the intermediate protocol. We can fine tune that when you get finished with the 30 days of the beginner cycle.

Ok.

slizzardman said:

p-8izkNkcBw

This exercise is kind of like a preacher curl due to the angle created between the body and arm. In Contreras' EMG studies he found that the preacher curl had one of the highest peak activations among bicep isolation exercises.

Isn't this GVT similar to what I did the other day? I did 12 sets of 60% max reps chins and dips, 45s between each exercise and each set.

Deft-Mastery said:

slizzardman said:

FSP will be perfect warm up for this! Definitely keep doing them.

Thank you for reading! Ok, so your rest time will be 30-60s. 60s will allow you to use the heavier resistance for more sets and 30s will create a LOT more lactic acid, so for right now in the building phase I would opt for 60s sets. You'll still get plenty of lactic acid, believe me.

When I talk about the percentages I am referring to your one rep max. If you want to go by reps, you should be using your 20 rep max, so whatever position you can do 20 tempo reps with. That's going to be light, I can tell you that. It is ok to make the exercise easier as the sets go on if you need to. Don't worry about too much else. Right now, this is what you need to know. The rest of that paragraph is just for people who want to increase healing rate and joint stability without impacting their maximal strength.

Ok I'm a little confused: does this GVT has to be done with weights? By weights I mean weighted dips, chins etc. Like I said I don't lift or use weights so I don't know what my 1RM of anything is, but I will see to add weight to the dips and chins, that's for sure.

The last time I was working out (3 weeks ago) my max number for dips (PB) and chins was 12 and 11, respectively. Right now it could be 10, maybe.

So for example, with this kind of training you won't be training near your max reps? Because I know 30-60s rest is NOTHING if you're working near your max.

slizzardman said:

By once a month being plenty to maintain adaptation I mean that in combination with the WODS that should be enough GVT to keep the density of capillaries high, which will keep healing rate as fast as possible.

Oh so what you say here is for the future then? When you're at the advanced stage?

slizzardman said:

You will go through 6 cycles of this: Chest/back day, legs/abs day, off day, arms/shoulders day, off. That is one cycle. Your next day will be chest/back again. This is very, very hard at first but you will get used to it fairly quickly. You will want a timer of some sort so that you know you are doing your tempo right and aren't resting too long.

Cycle 1,3,5 will be 10 sets of PPP and 3 sets of dips. Cycle 2,4,6 will be 10 sets of dips and 3 sets of PPP. Do the same for the other exercises. Does that make more sense?

Sort of!

slizzardman said:

Doing that 6 times will take 30 days or so. After that, you will work out in a non-GVT style for 3 weeks. It is important that you work heavier and with less sets/reps, and preferably with a focus on different exercises for the most part. This will get your body de-trained from the GVT so that when you do the intermediate cycle it will respond far better and grow more than if you try and either go straight into it from the beginner cycle or if you were already doing something similar.

After that three weeks of heavier, higher intensity training with different exercises you will start the intermediate protocol. We can fine tune that when you get finished with the 30 days of the beginner cycle.

Ok.

I am willing to bet at least 10 dollars that you are not going to be able to do all 10 sets of 10 with your bodyweight, much less any added weight. If you can, you should, but the rest times are going to change everything. GVT was designed for weight lifters, but the protocol will work for anything. You may need to start off with sets of 4-5 pull ups/dips. You will find out that the tempo will absolutely crush you. That's totally ok. In that case you'll just keep doing BW until you get up to 10 sets of 10 reps, taking 3 week breaks from GVT in-between the 30 day cycles. That alone will add some considerable size to your frame.

What I'm saying about once a month is for when you are no longer interested in GVT as a main training cycle. You never really want to lose the benefits you will get from that training.

slizzardman said:

I am willing to bet at least 10 dollars that you are not going to be able to do all 10 sets of 10 with your bodyweight, much less any added weight. If you can, you should, but the rest times are going to change everything. GVT was designed for weight lifters, but the protocol will work for anything. You may need to start off with sets of 4-5 pull ups/dips. You will find out that the tempo will absolutely crush you. That's totally ok. In that case you'll just keep doing BW until you get up to 10 sets of 10 reps, taking 3 week breaks from GVT in-between the 30 day cycles. That alone will add some considerable size to your frame.

Alright I re-read the article and I think I almost get it now, I just wanted to clarify some things:

-When he says the tempo will be 4X0, the eccentric portion of the exercise being 4 seconds and the concentric portion as rapidly as possible, does this mean that, with e.g. chinups, pulling up as fast as you can is the concentric, and taking 4 seconds to lower down is the eccentric? Is this how it is?

-I will be doing 4 exercises a day, in pairs? Should I do e.g. PPP first, and then the dips? Or 1 set PPP, then 1 set dips, and so on?

-How much time will I take after I am done with the first pair of exercises to begin with the other pair?

-You say I should start with 30-40% of my max reps?

-So this workout will be done only Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, and that's it?

I don't know if there was anything else, if there was, It'll come back later maybe.

You say doing this will fry me. I only hope it's as hard as you say!

Oh yeah this was what I forgot: you said biceps curls and overhead press for arms and shoulders: are these the ring curls from the video or did you mean with dumbbells? And overhead presses? Could HeSPU's be done instead of that?

You can't do the volume for HeSPU. You MIGHT be able to do it with pike push ups, but I think that even box HeSPU would be too much. However, if you CAN do them go for it! The rings curls are fine, biceps curls are biceps curls. I prefer rings, but it will be difficult to adjust your body position exactly each time. Regardless, I think they are a good idea. You need to be smart about where you use weights and where you use bodyweight. Choose based on what you can perform the proper volume with.