Please Scroll Down to See Forums Below I currently use HST and will continue to until after my show end of May but then i want to give DC a try. I read the article but it is not clear to me how one selects the excercises and also the number of sets and reps. If any of you bro's have DC training log I would love to see it.
To all you DC trainees..I need som help
- Thread starter halfaclue
- Start date
halfaclue said:
Sets? Mostly "1" per bodypart, with a couple of exceptions. A typical set looks like this:
1. however many reps to failure, usually 7-12
2. put the weight down and take 15 deep breaths
3. go to failure again
4. repeat 2
5. go to failure one last time
On most upper body stuff, you'll wind up with one long set of 11-15 reps total. Notice I put quotation marks around 1; technically, you could call this 3 sets, but the rest period's so short that kind of distinction's pointless semantics. It's not much work, either way
Quad exercises get two sets: one in the 4-8 rep range, then a 20 repper with much lighter weight.
Also, rack deads and regular deadlifts get two sets: one 8 reps, another 4.
As far as exercises go, stick with compound stuff. The only single-joint exercises applicable would be for the arms and hamstrings. Even then, pick the movements which allow you to use the most weight; e.g., barbell curls.
However, machines are okay, even encouraged since they simplify rest-pausing. I don't like the Smith as much as Dante does, but I have a hard time arguing with the results his guys report from using it. I prefer Hammer, a few Nautilus, Med-X, Icarian and the rare few Bodymasters (but good luck finding a press with enough fucking weight!).
The big thing about exercise selection is that you've got a poll of 3 movements you rotate through. Take pecs, for instance. You'd want to do something like this:
week 1
Monday--incline Smith or BB press
Friday--Hammer incline press
week 2
Wed.--weighted dips
week 3
Mon.--repeat cycle
The only other exercise choice distinction I can make is to consider back training in terms of "back width" and "back thickness." Width stuff involves mostly the lats--stuff like chin and pulldown variations. Thickness stuff includes rows and deadlifts (though you could do SLDL or Romanians for hamstrings).
A few miscellaneous notes, mostly cautionary:
*Do as many warm-up sets as needed, but don't turn the warm-ups into a workout. If you can curl 150 for 8 reps, you might warm-up like this:
barx15
65x8
95x4
115x2
135x1
*I've found that the two rest-pause "sets" are often too much. Back to the curl example, say you do that 8 reps with 150 and can't get a 9th. Then you manage to rest-pause 3 more reps.
At that point, I usually stop. I don't do another rest-paused set. Though the volume's very low, you only train heavy for about 4-8 weeks at a stretch and the exercise rotation helps keep the strength gains coming, training to failure's stressful enough as is--going beyond it is suicide for some people. For that reason, Dante recommends people start out only w/ straight sets. If they can handle that, then they can integrate the rest-pausing.
*Doing 20 repper squats, hack squats or leg presses to failure leaves me feeling like death for days on end. I simply can't recover from that. Some of Dante's guys can, some can't. If someone already has very good quads, I think he usually has them do just one work set of 8-10 reps (?).
*Dante definitely made me a believer in his "extreme stretches," but the more unweighted stretches you can do, the better. The pec stretch--a deep fly motion with DBs--pumps my biceps up so much I simply can't train my back effectively.
*Sometimes you can "blast" for many weeks on end; sometimes, you'll struggle to get stronger after 3 weeks of blasting. I train lighter, or "cruise" as Dante says, until I feel like going into the gym and rending everybody in there limb from limb.
*It's best not to deviate from Dante's recommendations. He is The Man, and happens to be a great guy with a big heart. Still, just as someone told me in Madcow's 5x5 thread, get enough experience with the routine under your belt and you could try and tweak it a little. But if you do that...
*...be careful in how you represent that DC variation about the internet. A lot of really petty people love to flame Dante and denigrate his methods. What doesn't help are the idiots who read a little bit of "Cycles For Pennies" then go and misrepresent the routine.
Further, DC trainees tend to take anything akin to strawmandering very seriously. In my experience, they are good guys who simply think highly of Dante (as I do). In light of the morons who take shots at the man, it's understandable that his trainees are protective of him.
Sometimes, though, this protectiveness means they'll bark at people who don't wish Dante ill. In some forums, this makes learning about the routine difficult; for every good response you receive from someone like Inhuman, you might get 4-5 sarcastic "read CFP" answers. Don't let that discourage you.
*Slamming protein's crucial on this program, as is the carb cut-off. When my diet's gone to shit, I've gotten progressively stronger alright, but had no size gains to show for it. And boy do I get fatter when I eat lots of carbs after dark, even when my overall caloric intake isn't that high. Beware of that.
*I have a hard time doing any kind of deadlift and squatting to failure, even if it's only for one set each, in the same week. You might keep that in mind as you choose your "back thickness" exercises...IMO, while deadlifts are pretty much without equal for erectors and traps, for overall back size a BB row is impossible to beat.
That's a whole lot to digest in one sitting, so if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask!
liftingfreak1983
New member
ya bro DC's is intense shit, i have made all my gains off of it
That is a huge help man and I'll definitely be asking you some questions soon.guldukat said:Sets? Mostly "1" per bodypart, with a couple of exceptions. A typical set looks like this:
1. however many reps to failure, usually 7-12
2. put the weight down and take 15 deep breaths
3. go to failure again
4. repeat 2
5. go to failure one last time
On most upper body stuff, you'll wind up with one long set of 11-15 reps total. Notice I put quotation marks around 1; technically, you could call this 3 sets, but the rest period's so short that kind of distinction's pointless semantics. It's not much work, either way
Quad exercises get two sets: one in the 4-8 rep range, then a 20 repper with much lighter weight.
Also, rack deads and regular deadlifts get two sets: one 8 reps, another 4.
As far as exercises go, stick with compound stuff. The only single-joint exercises applicable would be for the arms and hamstrings. Even then, pick the movements which allow you to use the most weight; e.g., barbell curls.
However, machines are okay, even encouraged since they simplify rest-pausing. I don't like the Smith as much as Dante does, but I have a hard time arguing with the results his guys report from using it. I prefer Hammer, a few Nautilus, Med-X, Icarian and the rare few Bodymasters (but good luck finding a press with enough fucking weight!).
The big thing about exercise selection is that you've got a poll of 3 movements you rotate through. Take pecs, for instance. You'd want to do something like this:
week 1
Monday--incline Smith or BB press
Friday--Hammer incline press
week 2
Wed.--weighted dips
week 3
Mon.--repeat cycle
The only other exercise choice distinction I can make is to consider back training in terms of "back width" and "back thickness." Width stuff involves mostly the lats--stuff like chin and pulldown variations. Thickness stuff includes rows and deadlifts (though you could do SLDL or Romanians for hamstrings).
A few miscellaneous notes, mostly cautionary:
*Do as many warm-up sets as needed, but don't turn the warm-ups into a workout. If you can curl 150 for 8 reps, you might warm-up like this:
barx15
65x8
95x4
115x2
135x1
*I've found that the two rest-pause "sets" are often too much. Back to the curl example, say you do that 8 reps with 150 and can't get a 9th. Then you manage to rest-pause 3 more reps.
At that point, I usually stop. I don't do another rest-paused set. Though the volume's very low, you only train heavy for about 4-8 weeks at a stretch and the exercise rotation helps keep the strength gains coming, training to failure's stressful enough as is--going beyond it is suicide for some people. For that reason, Dante recommends people start out only w/ straight sets. If they can handle that, then they can integrate the rest-pausing.
*Doing 20 repper squats, hack squats or leg presses to failure leaves me feeling like death for days on end. I simply can't recover from that. Some of Dante's guys can, some can't. If someone already has very good quads, I think he usually has them do just one work set of 8-10 reps (?).
*Dante definitely made me a believer in his "extreme stretches," but the more unweighted stretches you can do, the better. The pec stretch--a deep fly motion with DBs--pumps my biceps up so much I simply can't train my back effectively.
*Sometimes you can "blast" for many weeks on end; sometimes, you'll struggle to get stronger after 3 weeks of blasting. I train lighter, or "cruise" as Dante says, until I feel like going into the gym and rending everybody in there limb from limb.
*It's best not to deviate from Dante's recommendations. He is The Man, and happens to be a great guy with a big heart. Still, just as someone told me in Madcow's 5x5 thread, get enough experience with the routine under your belt and you could try and tweak it a little. But if you do that...
*...be careful in how you represent that DC variation about the internet. A lot of really petty people love to flame Dante and denigrate his methods. What doesn't help are the idiots who read a little bit of "Cycles For Pennies" then go and misrepresent the routine.
Further, DC trainees tend to take anything akin to strawmandering very seriously. In my experience, they are good guys who simply think highly of Dante (as I do). In light of the morons who take shots at the man, it's understandable that his trainees are protective of him.
Sometimes, though, this protectiveness means they'll bark at people who don't wish Dante ill. In some forums, this makes learning about the routine difficult; for every good response you receive from someone like Inhuman, you might get 4-5 sarcastic "read CFP" answers. Don't let that discourage you.
*Slamming protein's crucial on this program, as is the carb cut-off. When my diet's gone to shit, I've gotten progressively stronger alright, but had no size gains to show for it. And boy do I get fatter when I eat lots of carbs after dark, even when my overall caloric intake isn't that high. Beware of that.
*I have a hard time doing any kind of deadlift and squatting to failure, even if it's only for one set each, in the same week. You might keep that in mind as you choose your "back thickness" exercises...IMO, while deadlifts are pretty much without equal for erectors and traps, for overall back size a BB row is impossible to beat.
That's a whole lot to digest in one sitting, so if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask!
LOL.liftingfreak1983
New member
hell ya carbs are as important as protein even tho i do usually cut them after 6pm
Tom Treutlein
New member
The main issue is calories in vs. calories out. I agree with Jkurz, for once. Other issues can arise, depending on one's sensitivity to carbs, but usually this is only with very extreme cases.
Tom Treutlein said:
You gents are right. Regarding this statement:
"And boy do I get fatter when I eat lots of carbs after dark, even when my overall caloric intake isn't that high."
...by not "that high," I certainly didn't mean very low
But as is not too atypical, I overstated my case 
Thanks, guys. Very nice to be back here.
Tom Treutlein
New member
Yeah, where have you been man?
JKurz1
Banned
guldukat said:You gents are right. Regarding this statement:
"And boy do I get fatter when I eat lots of carbs after dark, even when my overall caloric intake isn't that high."
...by not "that high," I certainly didn't mean very low
Thanks, guys. Very nice to be back here.
Just busy with work and school.Similar threads
