Big Fat Training Program Guide, Part II

[MentalMike]

Big Fat Training Program Guide, Part II
by Chris Shugart

Are you new to Testosterone Nation? Are our 1000-plus articles starting to make your head spin? Are you experiencing information overload? Then this is the article series for you. If you missed Part I, you can find it here.

Even if you're a T-Nation vet, we think you'll find this guide to our major training programs handy. If not, then you can kiss our collective asses, read Men's Fitness, and continue to look like the bastard offspring of Dr. Phil and Oprah.

Now, let's continue with the program reviews and summaries!


Meltdown Training by Don Alessi

Alessi believes aerobic endurance training sucks and GH producing lactic-acid training is the way to go if you want to lose fat quickly. The premise here is similar to Poliquin's German Body Comp: train in a way that forces GH to flood the muscle cells via the stimulation of blood lactate. In practical application, that means doing some lung-bursting circuits which hurt so badly you'll think your muscles are on fire.

Utilizing slower than normal concentrics for 10 to 12 reps, no rest periods and big compound movements like chin-ups, deadlifts and squats, this program will get you sucking wind like nothing else. In fact, that's really the only drawback to this program: it's flat out too tough for many people to endure. But T-mag readers report good results even if they have to rest a little more than suggested.

If you need to lose fat fast and don't mind lying on the floor in a fetal position after training, then Meltdown is for you. Here are the links to the original program and the two equally nasty sequels.

Meltdown Training I

Meltdown Training II

Meltdown Training III


The Growth Surge Project by John Berardi and Chris Shugart

The premise behind this training plan is simple, but not something most people take into consideration when designing a program. Muscle growth isn't a linear process. It seems to come in "spurts" or "surges." The GSP takes note of that fact and is set up to trigger a muscular growth spurt.

To do this, the program is broken up into three stages, each lasting two weeks: the priming stage, the growth stage, and the recovery stage. During the first stage, you get your body ready for a muscular growth surge through both dietary and training manipulation. The growth stage involves intense, twice-a-day workouts and more chewing than most people can handle. Finally, the recovery stage helps you both recover from stage two and "solidify" your gains.

This program is not for the lazy. It's mentally and physically challenging, but those who follow it closely usually gain a good ten pounds of muscle. If you've got the balls and a lot of self-discipline, here are the links:

Part I

Part II

Part III


Fat to Fire by Coach John Davies

Coach D begins this program with an interesting fact: diet alone can lead to fat loss, but mostly visceral fat, the kind around your organs. Exercise, on the other hand, leads to much greater losses in subcutaneous fat, the fat right beneath the skin which looks so damned ugly in a snug shirt. The solution: train your ass off, Renegade style!

Davies' program will not only help you lose fat rapidly, it'll help you improve work capacity and motor skills. He does this by using one day of weight training and then one day of morning GPP (General Physical Preparedness) training, which involves jumping jacks and various drills gleaned from Davies' experience training football players. The weight training portion involves supersets and short rest periods culminating in a fast paced 45-minute workout.

You can find the original Fat to Fire program here. Coach D also wrote a sequel recently. Check it out here.


Escalating Density Training (EDT) by Charles Staley

"Forget about sets and reps. Forget about rest intervals. Forget about time under tension." That's what Charles Staley said when he unleashed EDT train on T-mag. And believe it or not, the program makes sense!

The basic principle behind EDT is this: in order for a biological system (such as muscle) to grow, it must be challenged with ever-increasing workloads. Thus, EDT works because it's based on auto-regulatory progression. In other words, every week you'll do more work.

In short, each workout consists of two 20-minute training sessions separated by a short rest period. In each 20-minute session, you'll be supersetting two different exercises. That's right, the whole workout only consists of four exercises! Staley recommends you use a weight that represents your 10-12 rep max, but you only do five or six reps with it each time. Seems odd (and kinda' easy) but you'll be begging for the 20-minutes to be up about halfway through! All you do is count the reps and try to beat that number the next time you perform the same workout.

Feedback has been very good on EDT. I think it's perfect for specialization work and I saw nice increases in upper arm measurements using it in this manner. Staley has written numerous EDT article for T-mag. Here are the links if you want try them out:

Escalating Density Training

Escalating Density Training, Phase 2

The EDT Arm Specialization Mesocycle

Lose The Fat, Keep The Strength

EDT for Maximal Strength


100 Reps to Bigger Muscles by Chad Waterbury

If you've read other articles by Chad Waterbury, you'll know the big guy likes heavy, explosive training for the most part. So why the heck did he write an article about doing 100 reps?! Well, because if done correctly, it'll lead to improved recovery and better muscle performance — and that means bigger muscles in the long run!

Here's how you do it. First, don't give up your standard training program. Instead, pick either one major muscle group you want to improve (like chest) or two minor ones (like calves and biceps). Let's say you choose biceps. You'll pick an exercise and perform 100 reps in one day. You can do 50 super light reps in the morning and 50 at night, or you could do 25 reps every four hours or 10 reps every hour. You get the idea.

You never train to failure and you don't emphasize the eccentric or negative portion of the lift. You don't want this type of training to cause soreness. Do the 100 rep program every day except for the day you normally train biceps with heavier weights at the gym.

I did this program for arms once and liked the results. I simply kept a couple of light dumbbells in my office and used the 25-rep method. Pretty cool. For all the details, checkout CW's program here.


Ripped, Rugged, and Dense by Joel Marion

When you think of weight training for fat loss, you probably think of using higher reps. After all, this seems to burn more calories, and then there's that whole lactic acid/growth hormone release theory. But in this program, the author has you doing a 5 x 5, powerlifting-style workout. Why? Well, the idea is to improve muscle density (myogenic and neurogenic tone).

Does it work? For the most part, it does, though you probably don't want to be on an extreme keto diet or anything while lifting so heavily. Also, this program isn't going to do much for you if you need to lose a ton of fat. It's designed instead for those already 12% or lower (for males).

Combined with the three HIIT (high intensity interval training) cardio sessions per week, this six week program can help those already in good shape to get into great shape! Here's the link.


Big Muscles, Busy Schedules by Ian King

When we asked Ian to write up a program for a busy guy who can only hit the weights a couple of days a week, we knew he'd come up with something unique. In this program, you'll only train twice per week for six "stages." Each stage will last from two to four weeks and you'll be lifting heavier as you go along. As the stages progress, you'll either be doing a full body or a split routine, giving you the best of both worlds in a limited time frame.

It's a smart, hard hitting program to choose if you can only train twice per week. It may also be a good cure for those who are suffering from the disease of overtraining. If that's you, check out Ian's program here.


Hypertrophy-Specific Training (HST) by Bryan Haycock

T-mag first interviewed Bryan Haycock back in issue #216. There he talked about his theories on hypertrophy training — not athletic training, not pure strength training, but training for the sole purpose of getting bigger muscles. Haycock says most bodybuilders are using outdated and misapplied strength training programs to get bigger. His solution is HST.

HST is based on several principles: mechanical load, high frequency, progressive load, and strategic deconditioning (off time). Put all that together and what you basically do is train each body part every 48 hours, increase the weight every workout, decrease the reps every two weeks, and decondition the muscle before you do it all over again. To make it simple, Haycock provides some downloadable charts in his article.

Feedback has been pretty good. To checkout the whole HST program Haycock wrote especially for T-mag readers, put your little mousy thing right here and click.


Renegade Bodybuilding by Coach John Davies

What? Coach Davies, Mr. Functional Strength himself, writing a (gasp!) bodybuilding program? Has he fallen off that Indo board too many times? Dropped a kettlebell on his head?

Nope, this is indeed a bodybuilding program from Coach D, but with the inevitable Renegade twist. This program will not only help you get "hyoooge," it'll also enhance work capacity and make you more athletic — what Davies calls "total bodybuilding," a mixture of old school iron pumping and modern attention to core work and conditioning.

If you're ready to try something different to kick-start growth, check out Renegade Bodybuilding here.


The Bulk Building Workout by Ian King

"Is he kidding?" That's what most people asked after reading about this program. Answer: No, he's not, but he is taking things to the extreme. We asked Ian to write a program for a hardgainer who'll do anything to get big fast. This article was Ian's response. (Warn us the next time we use the word "anything" with Ian King!)

The training itself is just what you'd expect: big compound movements, no sissy stuff, and no machines. It's the lifestyle suggestions that scare people: sleep eleven hours a night, overeat (abs be damned!), be lazy (except in the gym), never walk anywhere expect from the bedroom to the fridge, put your social life on hold, avoid all stress, quit your job…. Getting the picture? This program is for someone with a lot of time on his hands, no responsibilities and a truly single-minded desire to get large.

Again, is he kidding? Well, we don't think he really means for someone to do all these things (who could, except for maybe a college kid on summer vacation). What he's doing is showing the skinny bastards out there what would be the ideal way to get big fast. It's up to you to apply what you can to your lifestyle.

Does it work? Hell, there's no way it could fail, if someone could actually follow every instruction. Even if you can't, you can certainly get the overall message from the program and apply what you need to your next mass phase. For all the gory details, click here.


Bodybuilding's Best Kept Secret by Don Alessi

I'll give away Alessi's secret right now — Olympic lifting. That's what makes up the core of this particular program. Why Olympic lifts? Alessi believes many of our prime movers (major muscle groups) never reach their potential because of weak kinetic chains. Olympic lifting essentially fixes those weak links and allows for fresh muscle growth.

Alessi makes a great case for this and then provides a full program in his article. The lifts are pretty technical and the learning curve is kinda steep for non-athletes, but the ideas presented are rock solid. Check it out here.


The Anti-Bodybuilding Hypertrophy Program by Chad Waterbury

Never train to failure. Don't train with weights two days in row. Train muscle groups more frequently. Train through soreness. Forget about time under tension. There's no need to train the arms directly… Those are just a few of the ideas making up the core of this nervous system-focused program.

This CW program turns the "rules" of size training upside down. Ever hear how three sets of ten reps is ideal for hypertrophy? Well, CW has you doing the opposite for much of this routine: ten sets of three. The workouts are generally shorter than average, but you'll hit the same muscle groups again later in the week. Also, every week you'll either add more reps or more weight. (And you'll wish these workouts were even shorter when you're performing deadlifts at ten sets of five!)

Does it work? Yes, it does! Readers are reporting both size and strength gains. And nope, from what we've heard, no one is losing arm size either, although Waterbury does provide an arm training option for those too scared not to curl. This program is a winner. Click here for details.


Training for Gaining by Arley Vest

This three-phase training program is part of our "Senior T-man" series designed for older dudes, but don't take that the wrong way. The Training for Gaining program is great for just about anyone. It's old school, but not just for old guys. In fact, it's pretty darned brutal, especially if you've never used things like barbell hack squats and "five breath pause" leg presses.

Overall, a solid program emphasizing the big basics. Here are the links:

Phase I

Phase II

Phase III


Outlaw Strength and Conditioning by Chad Waterbury

This untraditional program is aimed at dramatically improving your General Physical Preparedness (GPP). It's all about boosting your total body conditioning while at the same time increasing your strength, power, and cardiovascular health. If you lift a lot but still find yourself "out of shape," this is the program for you.

Besides the strange and painful exercises, Waterbury has you use short rest periods. Not only that, but every week of this seven week program you'll cut five seconds off the rest periods. At the end of the seventh week you'll be executing the same routine with half the rest! By no coincidence, you'll also be a lean, mean, ass-stomping machine in less than two months! Checkout the whole program here.


OVT: Optimized Volume Training by Christian Thibaudeau

This is yet another approach to volume training — using lots of sets and reps to tear down a muscle and induce hypertrophy. The difference with OVT is that Thibaudeau thinks most volume training programs neglect strength. Some trainees can even get weaker on a regular high volume program. Thib's version fixes that problem and allows for gains in strength as well as functional hypertrophy.

Like German Volume Training, this program still has you doing 100 total reps per muscle group; however, the distribution of those reps is vastly different. First, you superset two exercises for the same muscle group — one big compound movement and one isolation exercise with no rest between them. The first exercise is super heavy and the second exercise is light, but uses a painfully slow tempo. You'll use two different supersets per muscle.

This is a vicious program that can be tough to handle for a beginner. But if you're advanced and ready to rock the volume, OVT is the way to go. Check it out here.


The Eight Keys by Dave Tate

When newbies come to the T-mag forum they often ask for a link to "that Westside program I've been hearing about." What they don't realize is that Westside can't be explained in just one article. It's an ever-evolving approach to powerlifting, a lifestyle that revolves around pushing and pulling insane amounts of weight. Like I said, it can't be summed up in one training article… but it can be summed up pretty well in four articles.

The Eight Keys is just that, a heaping helpin' of Dave Tate's and Louie Simmon's training knowledge, compiled from years and years spent under the big iron. The eight key factors required to get as strong as possible, according to Tate, are: coaching, teamwork, conditioning, strength, speed, recovery, attitude and nutrition.

Big Dave delves into each of these in detail in these four articles, making it what's perhaps the most complete guide to Westside powerlifting ever written. These four articles are a must read for anyone wanting to work on maximal strength development.

Here are the links:

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV


Super Beast by Christian Thibaudeau

This program combines several modern methods of strength development into one new program that's unlike anything you've tried before. First, Thibaudeau explains the "new" means of strength development including isometric action, accentuated eccentrics, isomiometric and iso-ballistic action, and auto-regulatory clustering. (Don't worry, those sound more complicated than they really are.)

He then talks about potentiating methods (synaptic facilitation, optimal anatomical positioning, and optimal arousal) and puts them all together in one complete program. The program takes more than a little brain power to sort through and put to work, but most get the hang of it after the first week. If you're ready for an advanced strength program, click here.


The End (Finally!)

Okay, I've just spent several days re-reading and summarizing over 30 training programs for you. If you still decide to go to the gym and do the same boring, outdated routine you got out of a 1987 issue of Muscle & Fitness, well, you deserve to look the same this time next year… and the year after that... and the year after that.

Or you could adopt one of these programs (choosing the one that's most different than what you're doing now) and make some real changes. Up to you, hombre. Choose wisely.