DC training help!? please

[greekgeorge]

Hi everybody Im a little scetchy on this routine tonight was my first night can you tell me if i did this right?

BICEPS- One warm up set barbell curls 12 reps 40 pounds.
working set- Preecher curl- 75 for 14 reps. rest pause- put weight down for 15 deep breaths.
30 second static rep

FOREARMS- dumbell hammer curls 30's for 15 reps.
two stretches- held 60 short barbell bar in forearm curl position 30 second. 2nd stretch- reverse grip held with 40 pound bar.

CALVES-10 reps 3 45pound plates on calf press machine 20 second negative last rep.
HAMS- Reverse Leg curls. 35 pounds 20 reps rest pause. -i know its weak I have lady hams.

QUADS- MAchine hack squat- 225-10 reps
hack squat- 315-4
standard barbell squat 185-20 reps.
Stretches

today was a on day so tommorow will be off 1 on 1off. right?

 

[greekgeorge]

oh I did sissy squats weightless as my quad stretch.

 

[greekgeorge]

anybody ?

 

[dstarkey]

Looks pretty good to me bro. But I think on quads, you just do a heavy set of 4-8 and then the 20 rep widowmaker, instead of doing the 225 for 10.

 

[unc21]

You are correct dstarkey.

With squats you wanna do a really heavy set so that you only get about 5 reps.

then take as much time as you need, and do a set of 20 (widowmaker) without stopping ( or at least trying not to).

Also, are you going to failure on all of your lifts?

You also want to make sure you are keeping a very detailed log of your lifts, so that the next time you get around to that life, you increase the weight.

 

[dstarkey]

Yea keeping a record of your workouts like UNC21 said is probably one of the most important things. If you stick to the DC principles, by the end of your first blast you should see some pretty good jump in numbers.

 

[OnTheRoadTo]

You aren't doing it right.


Dante's 3 day split (the one you should be on)

Pick 3 exercises per body part
Gym 3 times a week A/B/A; B/A/B

Day A:
Biceps
Forearms
calves (these are done differently, 1 straight set, 7 second negative, 2 second pause at bottom, NO CHEATING FULL RANGE OF MOTION....this will be incredibly painful don't ***** out)
Hams (I generally do ham curls/GHR/hip thrust to avoid complicating with deadlifts)
Quads (squat or leg press variant) Special case - work up to a HEAVY set of 5-6, then widowmaker (20 reps at your 10 rep max, breathing squats. If you aren't panting on the floor for a minute after this, learn how to get more intense)

Day B:
Chest (press or incline press)
Shoulders (press type)
triceps
back width (upper back specific)
back thickness (deadlift/heavy row variant) Special case: work up to a triple, or cluster reps for 4-7 reps heavy as ****

THE REP SCHEME. This is key. In addition to a controlled negative (key and often overlooked) , your weights should be what you can pound out 8 reps on a super fresh muscle. I generally warm up with 75% of what my weight will be. after your 8, 15 deep breaths. Don't milk it. then another set, you should be able to get 3 more...15 breaths...then maybe 2 more. You just did 8+3+2 = 13 RestPaused. When that number gets above 18 with a given weight, bump. This will happen fast.


STRETCHES
You need to be holding a super deep and painful stretch for at least 45 seconds after the workouts. I usually stretch after chest/shoulders/tris, bis/forearms, backwidth/thickness and quads/hams to avoid interfering with strength (static stretching does)

Google or go to intense muscle for how to do these. I'm convinced they're a needed part of the program.


You'll make very good gains for about 6 weeks, then take a light week and do a different program and come back to DC. IMO it's very much a shock the system thing.


WHY DC WORKS

A few reasons:
1. frequency (you hit each muscle 1.5x a week. Don't miss workouts.)

2. failure. The real gains don't come from volume, they come from the ****ing battle that is the last rep. ONE MORE THAN LAST WEEK. Every time. The logbook is your enemy. With DC you're fighting that last rep battle 3 times in about a minute. You're forcing a very stressful situation on your body. It will respond.

3. Recovery. You're doing less work, so be careful, you can get fat as **** doing this program. You're burning less calories (low total volume) while causing a lot of muscle damage. Don't do HIIT, but up to 45 minutes a day of slow cardio (or just walking/brisk activity) gets the blood pumping, and keeps the fat away. ignore this at your peril. The stretches boost recovery too.


I'd also recommend Dante's 6pm carb cutoff if you can.

 

[greekgeorge]

thanks great info. I am on the anabolic diet so the carb thing wont be an issue.

 

[greekgeorge]

and ontheroadto. I will pm you with another workout after i try to nail down your method. One other question is how often do I vary excercises. If I incline today can I decline next time or no.

 

[unc21]

you need to pick 3 exercises for each body part.

So as OntheRoad mentioned youll have an A and B day, so it would look like this....

mon - A1
tues - off
wed - B1
thurs - off
fri - A2
sat & sun - off

mon - B2.......and so on from there.

So you wont get to the same exercise until you have done the other 2 through the planned out schedule

 

[greekgeorge]

little confused on rep scheme. SO its warm up with 75 percent than do a single set of eight. 12 breaths than 3 reps? or 3 more reps than previous set being 11.?

Sorry, excuse my ignorance just want to get this done right and I am researching those stretches.

 

[Tomahawk88]

little confused on rep scheme. SO its warm up with 75 percent than do a single set of eight. 12 breaths than 3 reps? or 3 more reps than previous set being 11.?

Sorry, excuse my ignorance just want to get this done right and I am researching those stretches.

Warm up then do a set to failure USUALLY at 8 reps then 15 deep breathes and go to failure again then 15 more deep breathes then go to failure again.

 

[OnTheRoadTo]

Right, it's the failure you're after. ****ing stare your logbook down before you start the rest-pause assault. If that number was 13 last week (8-3-2), you better believe that I am thinking NINE on the first leg of the rest pause.

3 exercises per body part, examples

Chest: DB flat, incline DB, Smith flat bench
Shoulders: DB press, smith press, hammer strength press
triceps: kneeling tri extension, CG bench, reverse grip bench
back width: WG neutral grip cable rows, WG lat pulldowns, Flite lat machine
back thickness: deadlift, rack pull, DB row


biceps: bb curl, seated incline db curl, ez preacher curl
forearms: reverse bb curl, reverse ezbar curl, wrist roller
calves: donkey, some calf machine, leg press calf raise
quads: squat, smith squat, leg press
hams: lying ham curl, seated ham curl, barbell hip thrusts


75% of working weight is what works for me...but I always warm up my joints beforehand. I wouldn't do any sets at all that are going to take energy out of the tank, but the muscles and joints should be warm before you begin the all out assault on the set.


Try to stick to the program as close as you can. The one thing I really suggest is to find a way to work cardio or activity into your routine, otherwise the lowered training volume can lead to fat gain.

Again, I recommend sticking the program on a legit bulk (lots of meat and milk and eggs) for about 6 weeks, then deload a week and choose a program based on different principles. You can come back later and reignite the DC progress.

 

[frostjason]

Go to intensemuscle.com like Ontheroadto mentioned. You can find anything you want to know about DC training there. They have plans laid out and Dante list everything out in detail on how you should do it. Not saying noone here doesn't know. Its just that site helped me with some of my questions.

 

[frostjason]

DC is big on stretching also. There is a program that tells you how to really get a deep stretch in all of the major muscle groups.

 

[Tomahawk88]

I did my first DC workout in a good while today and it felt so damn GOOD! I envy all those out there that can bulk. Plan on doing DC for a little while just to change things up. Love the stretching really seems to help.