DC beginners ongoing thread

[Madd Hatter]

I've seen several people trying DC for the first time lately, myself included, so thought I'd make this thread for questions and comments about how the routine and related general health is going for everyone.

After 11 days off I headed in for my first day on the routine. Used the Smith machine for Bench and Military Press despite promising myself I'd never touch that machine again. It worked great for going to failure on bench. On Military I found it impossible to keep my arms directly below the bar. To do so would keep me from bringing the bar down to my chest and instead breaking my nose. Did that to failure as well, only it was my triceps that failed and not my delts. Tips on that?

Tricep and back exercises went alright, though by then I think I was mentally slacking off instead of staying focused on "intensity, do not stop until you absolutely can't do any more!". I'm going to have to watch that, because this is such low-volume everything needs to count. Question: On BB rows, touch to stomach or "close enough"?

On the shoulder stretch, are your arms suppose to be 90 degrees or straight with your body hanging low? I could not get the stretch going on that one.

Whole thing took me about 40 mins, little shorter than I would like. My reps probably weren't consistently slow enough, though that doesn't make much difference time-wise. Coming off a 4 day 60 min. split with no signs of overtraining, it's really hard to set my doubts aside. I want to go to the gym again tomorrow dammit, but must wait until Wednesday. I don't care what anybody says, I'm doing cardio on the weekends to make my membership fee worth it. I'll keep it moderate. I also started a bulking (moderate) diet today, and I can already see this is going to be hard to keep up on a daily basis. Everytime I look at my watch it's time to eat. Most of those times I have trouble forcing it down. I have the feeling I'm gonna put on 20 lbs of fat soon between the food and what seems like so little gym work.

 

[Tom Treutlein]

I hear ya' Hatter, but man just take the leap and try.

My first workout was tonight - hated it. I felt like shit after not training for a fuckin' week and being a slob with my diet. I tried to down all the food, and it was a bitch.

I think it's okay to eat 3 big meals, or maybe 4-5... main deal is getting the nutrients down. Eating more often will help to lower the metabolism and keep the weight down. However if that's not a problem, or you're an ectomorph... don't worry. Let yourself splurge 3 meals a day instead of 6-8.

I don't know what anyone will say about this, but it doesn't seem that detrimental to me.

Workouts on DC are supposed to be that short. Mine was 32 dude, don't worry. How were your stretches?

Shoulder stretch - straight, grip the bar and walk out.

 

[Madd Hatter]

The chest stretch I felt, the back stretch I felt (not the hanging from a bar, the other one), but neither got to be excruciating. The shoulder stretch I could not get. I don't have the flexibility to grab the bar with straight arms, my arms only become straight if I walk out then lower my body and hang. At that point my heels aren't supporting any weight, my arms are holding me up.

Yeah, I would say getting the cals/macros in is a big concern, with the details of timing and volume of food a distant second. I'm eating anywhere from every 1-2 hours, but don't expect all my days will be so leisurely I can do that.

Chest and lats somewhat sore today (not too uncommon for first day after a break), nothing in tris or shoulders. I never get sore so I'm not expecting much different this time. Abs are pretty darn sore, I guess from BB rows. Tomorrow's Bi/Leg day, can't wait to see how I embarass myself going for it all on squats.

 

[Madd Hatter]

Sheesh, are there animations or something anywhere for these stretches? Today I couldn't get the bicep or quad stretch, though I looked like a fucking moron trying. ARRGH!!!!!!!!

 

[MattRecc]

for the quad stretch, grab the bar and walk under it like ur gonna put it on ur shoulders for a squat, then throw ur knees out and lean back while holding the bar with your hands, sink down into a sissy squat. You have to play around with it at first but once u find it, your legs start shaking, you pulsate sweat, and everyone stares at you like you just Od'd on crack

 

[Madd Hatter]

Did DC ever list any alternative stretches? I just can't get the frickin shoulder stretch (I'll try the quad stretch one more time but doubt that will go well either).

Yesterday when I tried the shoulder, I could feel a stretch by keeping my neck in front of the bar and my arms about 90 degrees. Then I realized those were probably my lats.