Dear god that is a horrible workout. I second above, stronglifts 5x5 and madcow 5x5 intermediate is all the general purpose weightlifter should ever need. If they want to beat themselves up a bit, german volume training. If they want to experiment with some heavy shit, westside. If they want to eat a lot and not get fat, doggcrapp.

1/7
DC B-2

Rest paused
Standing DB curl 55x22
Seated Calf, failed. cramps
Glute Ham Raise Bodyweightx15. Still assisting

straight set
Pinwheel curls 70x7

widowmaker
box squat 425x4, 350x16

You're right. I'm wrong. Jiff is wonderful for you, sugar is awesome, trust in faceless assholes on the internet and nutritional advice from the 70s, and calories from sticky buns vice calories from a tuna steak both have the same propensity to turn into lard. Enjoy your largess.

@ Matt,

I don’t mean to be a dick here but do I really have to defend a position that says hydrogenated oils are bad? I know it seems like I am dodging the argument and I know the inevitable "OMGZORZ SHOW ME THE SIENSE!!!1" is probably forthcoming but jesus. Google hydrogenated oils, that should be enough to get you thinking in the right direction.

Crap peanut butter has added sugar, molasses. Molasses is virtually identical to HFCS, being something similar to the 45/55 glucose/fructose that is found in HFCS. Read the label. Lets not forget added sugar = bad, even if it isnt HFCS, which IS the component in peanut butter.

And seriously. SCREW scientific consensus. Go ahead, load up on sugar and HFCS and wait for "science" to tell you its bad. Haven't you seen personal evidence to the contrary? Hell, a guy in a coat still tells me I need to get 60% of my calories from grain and >60 grams of protein will induce kidney failure. I'll bear that in mind when I go home tonight and high box squat 445 and live a healthy wonderful life devoid of the spare tire he pokes me with every time he peers down my throat.

Lastly, calories are NOT calories. If I eat 2500 calories of cake vice 2500 calories of vegetables and lean meat, do you really think I am going to end up with the same body?

So massive quantities of trans fat is the only barometer by which you decide to eat foods? Because 75% of calories coming from hydrogenated oils and most of the remainder coming from HFCS is a pretty good one too. No one likes to throw away food, but where would you rather have it, in the landfill or on your ass?

Dont forget added HFCS. Most peanut butter is complete crap. Why not make your own?

Rippetoe has it nailed. This has got to be one of the most looming cognitive disconnects in the entire "health" world. That people do not realize that effort in <= results. This is why every day my gym adds another elliptical or weird ab contraption but takes away a cage and lets the 140lb dumbbell that has been broken for 2 years just continue to sit there. Because ellipticals are easy and people can do them. People cant move heavy things without it hurting and making them sweat, and they'd much rather be on the elliptical living the delusion that 60 minutes at a heart rate of 110 is doing anything other than gradually wearing down the two pieces of fabric wedged between their lycra'd thighs.

Until you can do 8 unassisted chin ups with good form you have no business doing isolation movements for your arms.

Ditto everything Apollo said

I am 27 and I will break you.

Nice killar abz by the way.

1/5
DC A-2

rest paused
BB incline bench 260x12
Standing BB behind the neck press 160x13
Reverse Bench 215x18
wide-t pulldown 165x15

straight sets
Narrow Cable Row 170x8 195x4

I find that if I do them real slow or pausing 5 seconds at every stage is much better for me both in terms of minimizing flailing and maximizing the amount of abdominal torture. Particularly in the "bridge."

If you're up for another one that will kill you, try these.

Dragon Flag

Apollo, do you find your shoulder exhausting first on the turkish getups? I have good scapular mobility so I know I am keeping the weight in a good place. I still feel like my shoulder runs out of steam long before anything else.

1/2
DC B-1

Rest Paused
BB Curl 135x13
wrist curls 55x7

The 4 minute Calf raise
Leg press calf raise 400x11

Widowmaker
Super Narrow smith squat 355x6 310x19
Sumo Leg Press 630x8, 730x5

The curls with 135 were a big psychological lift for me. The form was a bit too shit for my taste, but it will get better.

12/30
DC A-1


Rest Paused
BB incline bench 285x13
DB military 95x14
3 board press 285x9
iso hi row 310x19

Straight set
Rack Pull 495x7, 545x3

oatmeal. hands down

Man. leave for a while and Apollo just runs this place with his crossfit. Where's the iron?

DC workout B-3
I'll only post the widowmaker because it's the only real lift on the B-days.

Knees to eyeballs leg press: 800x3, 717.5x18

Uh...what do you eat?

Oh dear link fail

Your text to link here...

Fatty acids, and ketone bodies cannot be converted into glucose

[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketone_bodies]Wrong[/url

[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketosis]Wrong[/url

And (albeit sheep)

[url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1309065/Wrong[/url

True. He was also 18 stone and obese.

Correlation is not causation. He died because he hit his head on a rock, because he was fat does not mean his science was bad.

As to your last point, you didn’t prove that carb restrictive diets weren't a good idea. In fact, you showed more evidence why they are successful with bodybuilders. They are tough to maintain, they are a bitch to shop for, and substantial dedication is necessary to achieve your goal (fat loss)...but they work. They certainly aren't the best for everybody, and they certainly only fit a very narrow scope of fitness goals, but I think its stupid to come flat out and say they are ineffective.

Tom, 13 lbs of muscle in 4 months requiring steriods is just hyperbole, right?

Marek, I really don’t want to go down this whole "are carbs necessary" train again because in the end no one agrees. Your body wont lose lean mass on atkins provided you don’t cut your calories. Can you explain to me why my body would decide to shed muscle if I get 3000 calories from meat and fat vice meat, fat, and carbs?

It is obvious that you don't really understand what is going on in induction because the body cleaves fatty acids into ketone bodies which are then used as glucose by the brain. Your body needs glucose to function. Right. Cant agree more. But the fact that most people think that this can only come from a carbohydrate is patently incorrect. While ketosis is also accompanied by glucogenesis, they arent mutually exclusive, nor is any one of them "bad."

Atkins died because he hit head on a rock

Yes. I am a total DC convert. I had been between 5x5, GVT, and westside for years without really gaining much more than 10% on my lifts. I've been on DC for 4 months now and I've gone from 192 to 209, about 12.2% BF to 10.4%. I've added 40 lbs to my squat and I couldn’t be happier. It is a wondrous routine that is absolute torture.

Yes. I work late and have school so I find the best solution is to pick up an entire peruvian chicken and eat it. There is a surfeit of those places in northern va, and they often have steamed vegetables and spinach as sides. It takes about 10 minutes to pick one up and I am home eating that bastard in another 15.

This would also be a good time for you to buy a giant tub of protein. You mix a couple scoops of that with some oatmeal and flax seeds and you have a pretty solid meal replacement.


Suzette, energy bars are absolute shit. I understand the need for food when you have zero time and I sometimes succumb to them as well, but lets not pretend that a luna bar, cliff bar, or anything else is anything but a log of complete crap. Sure, a protein bar fulfills your 40/30/30 ratio, but that 40 is coming from corn syrup. Wouldn't you rather it come from complex carbs?

Kiwi, your diet advice sounds similar to what Dante Trudell talks about a lot in DC training. You a doggcrapper?

Ken, I don’t think Atkins is a gimmick. It really does work, there is real science behind it, and most people who stick to it have a lot of success...it's just a major pain in the ass. I'd agree with you in that its probably not worth it for most people because induction is so hard to maintain, both mentally and nutritionally, and the slightest screw up can mess it all up. But I don't think I'd ever say that the underlying mechanism is BS.

Why don't you exercise and then you wont have to put yourself through the torture of Atkins induction? I'm sure most here will agree that nutrition is paramount to losing weight, but going for a jog and picking up something heavy a couple times per week will help too.

Atkins induction is <20g of carbs a day. It is absolute hell. It works though, but the 2 weeks you spend eating meat, cheese, and flax oil is not easy by any stretch. You'll be dog tired, your workouts will be absolute shit, and you'll be crabby as hell all the time. But oh god does it work. But rest assured, if you aren't completely ascetic with your carbs you'll flop out of ketosis for so much as deeply inhaling a loaf of bread and then you'll spend the next 24 hours wasted getting your body back where it was. In the end, it wasn't worth it for me because I was pretty good with carbos to begin with.

Just stop eating refined grains, sugar, and coke and get yourself 1500 calories a day from lean meats and veggies.

Jesus God. Just put the fork down. "You can't stop eating?" There are very few things where we physiologically cannot stop doing. Breathing, thinking, and farting. Eating is not one of them. Unless someone has a gun to your head, I suggest you take a step back and realize that the only thing holding you back from your fitness goals here is your own terpitude.

May I suggest my tried and true method of dealing with food cravings?

1) Go to Costco, but 10lbs of chicken breasts
2) Grill them all. Deliciously
3) Place in fridge
4) Every time you get hungry, eat a chicken breast and drink a glass of some fiber replacement crap like metamucil.
5) You will be full
6) Stop whining

Damn, disappear for a while and it is good to see someone who's advice seems to be spot on. Been listening to a lot of comments you've made recently Dave and I've got to say I'm glad to see you've found the light on a lot of things.

I completely agree as far as fat loss supplements, most of them are a complete crock of shit. Some of them are actually made up (like taurine, which I think is nothing more than carbon), some of them do very little (yohimbe), and some of them arent worth feeling like you've got a rabbit heart (ephedrine). Personally, I think that massive amounts of EPA/DHA in the form of fish oil, coupled with some caffeine to get your mind right is just about all you need. On mornings after I've had a particularly interesting evening, I pound some coffee and take some BCAAs to counter muscle catabolism and just sweat it out on the treadmill for an hour. Makes me feel like a new man.

Justa, interesting thought in that last post.

That's just about the most irresponsible advice I've ever seen. Do you mean that if someone eats 8000 calories day, 100% protein, that would be OK?

You conveniently ignored both my points with one statement. Too much of anything, even protein, is bad for you. No single diet is good for everyone. And you accused ME of absolutes.

No, I thought it would be obvious to most people able to disaggregate logical statements from short quips that I was just stating that eating larger amounts of protein hasn't been shown to have ill-effects on healthy individuals.

You took the one comment in my response that was in jest far out of context, probably because everything else I said had too much merit to justify a concise response. good job.

Of course too much of anything is bad. But how much is too much? the RDA and AHA don't know. Bodybuilders don't know. I don't know. I'll tell you one thing though, it will be a long time before the evils of high protein start killing people instead of the other things they eat in their diet.

And no, just because someone has a degree in nutrition I don't automatically take their words as gospel. Anyone with a degree can just spew off at the mouth, we have the scientific method for a reason.

I can't disagree with any of the axioms in that link. Far out man.

Except eating insects. pass on that.