**Marcus's HIT Dungeon**

[marcus300]

Whats on the agenda?

Shoulders abs and pain.

[cousinmuscles]

Mondays training:
Close grip bench 130 x 3,2,2
incline barbell bench 100 x 6,6,6
dips +40kg x 12,12,10
reverse ez bar curl 35 x 12,12,12

tonights training
front squat 150x2,1 - something went wrong today, wanted to go for triples but the bar kept slipping forwards on the left side and I felt a sharp pain in my wrist so I ditched this. Wasn't sure if I even felt much fatigue in my legs... got a bit angry. tried back squats and got up to 180kg for a single and could definitely feel fatigue, just that it was different somehow... I think I need a LOT of form practice with light weight because there must be lagging muscles for the front squat specifically.

leg press 230 x 10,10,10
glute ham raise +25 x 10,10,12
roman leg raise x 20,25,20

[GirlyGymRat]

Got stuck with wife stuff this am so I missed my workout window. Snuck in about three excersises for back in the afternoon which is all I had time for. Really tried to make it count. Wife, always becomes priority number one. Not sure how's she pulls that off each time?

She owns all the _ _ _ _ _!

[GirlyGymRat]

Another deep tissue this evening....massages are cutting into my workouts!

Haven’t been hitting the gym enough. This needs to change!

[hollowedzeus]

Shoulders abs and pain.

https://youtu.be/-aS3yhRqllU

[marcus300]

RC warm up
bands internal external rotations

Seated db side laterals
3 warm up sets - light weight, perfect form and constant tension
2 working sets - to failure hitting my high end rep scale around 12 reps

Hammer strength shoulder press
2 feel sets - slow, constant tension, no lockouts and using rep range of 8-12
2 working set - time under tension ( so I wouldn't use a heavy weight) hitting rep range of 8 and under

db bent over laterals
2 feel sets - same style as above
2 working sets - to failure - rep range 12 and under

smith machine rear shrugs
2 feel sets - slow, good form with rep range or around 12 ish
2 working sets - to failure and last set was 1 drop sets with few seconds holds


Abs
leg raises 200
crunches 100

[tarmyg]

Since I am posting in this thread now I'll start sharing some of my Indian stories. Usually, something that we, I mean us in the west, or at least in the US, would find very odd or weird happens even though the degree of weirdness varies. Today was, of course, no exception. As I was lying on the bench and just starting to do my presses (bench press) the cleaning lady was around picking things up. I am, in the middle of my 8-12 reps on 225, when I say in the middle, I really mean, actually performing my reps when she started to load the left side of the bar with 5lb weights. She managed to get two of them on before I put the bar back and looked at her with a WTF face. No point in saying anything as she speaks zero English only the local language, Kannada. Well, such is life here, people with zero logic running around!

Today's workout was chest and arms. I employed Marcus300 technique and tried to fry every fiber in my muscles. Seems to have worked decently well but I think I can still push a bit more.

[marcus300]

Since I am posting in this thread now I'll start sharing some of my Indian stories. Usually, something that we, I mean us in the west, or at least in the US, would find very odd or weird happens even though the degree of weirdness varies. Today was, of course, no exception. As I was lying on the bench and just starting to do my presses (bench press) the cleaning lady was around picking things up. I am, in the middle of my 8-12 reps on 225, when I say in the middle, I really mean, actually performing my reps when she started to load the left side of the bar with 5lb weights. She managed to get two of them on before I put the bar back and looked at her with a WTF face. No point in saying anything as she speaks zero English only the local language, Kannada. Well, such is life here, people with zero logic running around!

Today's workout was chest and arms. I employed Marcus300 technique and tried to fry every fiber in my muscles. Seems to have worked decently well but I think I can still push a bit more.

hahah hahaha

Sounds good tramyg, forcus on condensing your working sets into 1 or 2 and going all out to positive failure, once you have mastered positive failure start looking into beyond failure methods

[marcus300]

Repost

Shoulders have always been a struggle for me. Mine dont look too bad, but there's not much of a cup/mass on me.

Even though my back looks good, there's no thickness to it.

Could do with seeing what routine you have for your delts reps,weights sets etc ?

For your back focus on thickness one week and width the next, I do this alot of the time because the back is a very large area and it takes alot out of me to train it correctly so I focus on either the thickness or width. The two movements what have made my back thick are bent over rowing and one arm dumbell rows, these two put slabs of tissue all over my back. For bent over rowing try doing them Yates style which is bent over around 45 degress this takes alot of strain off the lower back and will target the upper back thickness over the inner and outer lats area, keep your back ridged and flat at all times.

I'll give you a couple of ideas how to go to failure and beyond doing bent over rows what I do myself all the time. Once warmed up you want to be hitting a weight what you can only do around 5-6 reps lets say thats 3 plates a side for you, once you have hit total failure and your form is really struggling then drop the weight and take a plate a side off the bar and start over again, go to failure, which could mean another 6-8 reps or what ever you can do in strict form, then take another plate a side off and rep again keeping your back straight and pull right back with your elbows close to your side and squeeze every muscle in your back, by the end of this bent over dropset you should be gasping for breath and your back should be that pumped it feels like you turn into Quasimodo.

Another failure method on the bent over rows is rest pause, hit your heaviest set which should be around 5-6 reps and drop the bar and rest for 5-6 deep breaths then start rowing again, you may do another 3-4 reps then drop the bar and repeat 5 deep breaths and row again until you are doing around 1-2 reps then set it over, again your back should feel like a range of mountains after that, if not your not executing the movement correctly.

Once you have hit either one of those failure methods go straight over to the one arm dumbell movment and row again, back needs to be straight with your arse stuck out, make sure your back is flat or arched in because otherwise you can not contract your back at all and your arms will be doing all the work, this goes with bent over rowing aswell make sure your back is flat or arhced in otherwise if your back is bent out you arent working the back but lifting the weight with your arms, dont use to much weight so back falls into this positive just enough so you can keep good form but your hitting failure around the 5-6 reps mark. One one arm dumbell rows try and go to 6-10 rep range and feel the contratcion as you bring it up and the stretch as you bring it down. Once you hit those heavy big bells dropset again so you go beyond failure, yes this will make you gasp for breath and make you feel sick but if you want your back to explode you have to take yourself to hell and back, dont just train train and go through the motions train like someone as a gun to your head and your life depends on it. Think of something what angers you and lift that weight to failure and beyond.

Low pulley rows is good after the above two movements and also hyperexentions are very good for carving that canyon down your low back which looks freaky, use weighted hypers

Please let me know how you get on,


I love training shoulders Mmmmmm the blood what flows into them while I'm training makes them look freaky. Again I hit shoulders with the same intensity with all my bodyparts. Normnally its one bodypart per week but its hit so intense and with so much aggression it needs time off the repair from the assault ive given it so if your struiggling with delts do the same, go with once per week but when you hit them go to war with yourself and tear them apart.

send me your shoulder workout and I'll go through something diffferent for you to really make them explode in size and shape.

Stuggling to bring up my upper chest, and having issues with getting separation in my quads.

Try starting your chest workout with upper dumbell or barbell press, I prefer dumbell pressing. Go with HIT method so first full warm up using two sets of ssomething like 20 reps and make sure your chest if fully warmed up and do some stretching, then pick a weight what you can only complete around 6 reps with and I mean the 6th rep is a real fuking struggle like your eye balls are going to explode, this is complete failure, then get your training partner to help you with 2 more forced reps which will take you beyond failure, you should be screaming inside once these have been completed, now your at total positive failure strength so now you need to get your partner to help you with 2 negative reps and slowly lower the weight once you have done 2 negs you have exhausted positive and negative strength and your upper chest should be done, move onto incline flyes and again repat the process of failure plus forced plus negs. If your upper chest doesnt grow your not doing them right or hard enough, hit this routine for your upper chest for 3 months and see what happens. Please let me know how you get on but please once your doing your working set make sure you go balls to the wall dont just go thorugh the motions like most int he gym, train like a god, train like you want to get bigger than anyone else, train like your not human and dont waste the time in the gym.

I train that hard sometimes when doing delts or chest my eye balls shake, my training partner's vision goes somethings when he is pushing that hard, my whole body shakes because I cant push any harder, thats the difference!! we all talk about steroids and these great cycles and these extreme bulking diets but most dont train right or hard enough. Many dont grow and many just blow up and return to the same old state before the cycle, you want to know why!!! because they dont train hard and intense enough. The body adapts very quickly so you hasve to increase the overload or the intensity to keep it growing, so next time you go in the gym go to war with yourself otherwise your wasting your time and effort....

Ok big guy, since this thread seems to have turned into an 'ask Marcus for training advice' instead of your diary, i'm jumping on board.

I have many muscle groups i'm unhappy with, but by far my biggest lagging group is shoulders. All 3 heads are terribly underdeveloped, almost non-existent. My physique actually looks odd because of this. I swear when I'm heavier and bulky (like I am now), my hips are almost in line with my damn shoulders. It's ridiculous.

Anything you can recommend? I'm actually wanting to engage more delts into my bench pressing where I see most guys looking for the opposite. I basically stick with the meat and potatoes shoulder exercises:

Seated Military Press or Push Press
Lateral Raise
Rear Delt Fly's (dumbbells)

I throw in some other isolation stuff but this is the bulk of it. I'm really starting to get depressed.

Hey GB Ive got to ask you a question do you really think your training hard enough?? see post 732

The more I read your posts I get the feeling your very critical and self conscious, the image you have of yourself isn't the image we have of you my friend. From the pictures I've seen I think your being very hard. Your avy for example you have great muscle, separation and definition and you should stop being so hard on yourself. I know we are always so critical of our own bodies but I get the feeling its really getting to you lately.

If you want bigger shoulders you got to press and press my friend till it hurts. Do you train HIT? if not give it a go and attack your shoulders with some serious intense work-outs. Try hitting your shoulders after a rest days when your full of energy and motivation is high, the movements your doing look fine but I've no idea what sets and reps your doing but how about following something what I do,

Dumbell press/military press
2 warm up sets - make sure you stretch in-between each set and warm them up with a high number of reps, increase the weight on the 2nd warm up set.
1 or 2 working sets - use a weight what is your max for around 4-6 reps, make sure you cant push another rep out go to complete failure - then get your partner to help you with 2 forced reps, after your forced reps you should be at complete positive muscular failure, now do 2 negative reps and slowly lower the weight until you don't have any strength left.
If by any chance you don't have a training partner and forced and negs are something you cant complete then do a triple dropset and on the last dropset keep going until you only doing half and quarter reps. You may need to ask someone to just stand by to spot you depends on the weight your going to use.

Your shoulders after the above should be full of blood and feel like big boulders, make sure you go to your limit and don't leave anything in the tank. Push as hard as possible and overload your muscles to the max, take yourself to hell and back and past the pain. If you want big shoulder mate you got to press and make it hard and intense. Pressing is the bread and butter of making your delts wide,thick and huge so don't waste your time and effort of just going through the motions, when your doing your working sets make sure its to complete positive failure then go beyond this by either going into forced and negs or dropsets to take you into serious growth environment. Yes it hurts, yes it painful and yes it will force you grow so dont waste your sets and reps remember heavy intense short workouts.

Next up is lateral raises but with a difference

We going to superset them with single arm upright row - example http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjC0U...e_gdata_player

1st set - use a weight so we are hitting failure at 10 reps, then straight into single arm upright row for another 10 reps -tilt your body so your strain and tension is on the side delt rather than trap and front delt. When I mention 10 reps you should be failing around 8 reps and the next 2 should be 3/4 rep and half reps- we need to be at complete failure so keep that in mind when I mention the rep range. This goes for both lateral and upright row superset.
2nd set - increase the weight so we are hitting failure at 8 reps, straight into single arm upright row for another 8reps
3rd set - increase weight again so we are hitting 6reps failure - then same again single arm upright row 6reps

Your delts should be in serious pain with an aching sensation what feels like a hot rod being pushed through them. Ive been doing these and they work really well. I also do straight forward lateral raises which would take me through 2 working sets with 2 forced and 2 negs so alternate them week by week, again you will need a partner to help you with the forced and negs.

Next up rear delts

1 feel set -15 reps
2 working sets - rep range should be failing at 8 reps then triple dropset -remember you should be failure and still doing 3/4 and 1/2 reps to finish the set off. Failure means complete positive failure so you are unable to lift those bells an inch,
Job done -


Shrugs
1 feel set - 15 reps
2 working sets - rep range failing at 6-8 reps, then triple dropset. Stretch at the bottom and lift your delts up to your ears as high as possible, no fuking around here strap yourself to the bar and get your partner to strip the bar at every dropset and make sure you go to failure on each dropset. Your traps should be on fire and feel like your carrying a tree trunk around with you on your shoulders, if its doesn't you aren't doing them hard enough.

This workout shouldn't last no longer than around 45mins

You do that routine for 3 months and feed the growth your body needs with enough nutrition and you will grow big boulders, if you don't I will come over there and train with you. You should attack all body parts like this with a high level of heavy duty intense workouts which puts serious overload on your system and your body as no alternative but to grow bigger and stronger. Also make sure your in a good anabolic environment and feed the growth and you will grow, now I will ask you again "Do you think your training hard enough?"

Bahahah... you offering!?!
Curious as to your thoughts on those who say our bodies don't require a full week's rest before being trained again, thus we miss opportunities to stimulate more growth. I suppose it boils down to the intensity/severity of said training...

GB, I'm being honest with you, you have to train hard and intesne mate otherwise you will not get the rewards. Your failing before you even walk in the gym come on get motivated and shift some weight and increase the intensity and make sure your body grows. You got to dig down deep if you want it that bad and if you are truely a hard gainer then you have to dig deeper than anyone of us so get your heart back and get stuck in...

I would say train the body once every 5 days or so, what ever works for you but from the sounds of it you need to attack one bodypart per workout session and concentrate on doing it hard and intense. If you do HIT correctly and use the intesnity I have described you will need a few days to recover that bodypart so dont be training the whole body twice per week thats crazy and impossible for someone to train this hard to do that anyway unless your training twice per day.

I am goingt o let some of you guys into a secret, I have met up someone from this forum and trained for a few months not to sure if you want me to say who it is but I will ask him and if he is willing to give you guys some feedback about our session he can by me, so watch this space I'll ask him

Ive known Marcus for many years, the first time I contacted him was about 6 years ago when I asked him if he could do a private consolation for my diet, training and cycles. I knew at this time he was very busy but we managed to work together and since then I've never looked back. He tought me how to prime my body correctly, how to design a short burst cycle but most of all he showed me how to train to a level which would seriously pack on muscle tissue. I think after the first 10 wk consultation I put on close to 30lbs and kept around 20lbs, I did work with him many more times and every time he taught me something new.

Once we had arranged to meet up and work out together and we did so on and off for around 6 months, it wasn't all the time but when we were both free we would travel and workout. This is when I knew what pain was!! Ive never trained as hard and intense in my life, sometimes to the point of throwing up. There is only one outcome when you train to that level, serious muscle growth! Within 3 months of training the way he taught me I put on another 20lbs+. Marcus warms up and then trains very heavy and intense for short periods of time, forced and negatives are the foundation of most of his workouts but he also throws in dropsets for certain muscle groups because he says they respond better this way and i trust his judgement because the results speak for themselves!! The guy is huge and ripped and all I can say is if he ever helps you guys out personally you will learn how to grow and maximize every bit of your potential.

Thanks Marcus

[cousinmuscles]

Since I am posting in this thread now I'll start sharing some of my Indian stories. Usually, something that we, I mean us in the west, or at least in the US, would find very odd or weird happens even though the degree of weirdness varies. Today was, of course, no exception. As I was lying on the bench and just starting to do my presses (bench press) the cleaning lady was around picking things up. I am, in the middle of my 8-12 reps on 225, when I say in the middle, I really mean, actually performing my reps when she started to load the left side of the bar with 5lb weights. She managed to get two of them on before I put the bar back and looked at her with a WTF face. No point in saying anything as she speaks zero English only the local language, Kannada. Well, such is life here, people with zero logic running around!

Today's workout was chest and arms. I employed Marcus300 technique and tried to fry every fiber in my muscles. Seems to have worked decently well but I think I can still push a bit more.

Maybe she thought you weren't training hard enough and needed more weight. LOL

[charger69]

Marcus- did you ever compete in B.B.? If so, how did you change the workout prior to the comp?


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[charger69]

Maybe she thought you weren't training hard enough and needed more weight. LOL

She was getting him ready for the Charger rematch in Jan. LOL


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[marcus300]

Marcus- did you ever compete in B.B.? If so, how did you change the workout prior to the comp?


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No charger I've never competed, I've come close but things got in the way. I have put contest on and organised them.

[charger69]

No charger I've never competed, I've come close but things got in the way. I have put contest on and organised them.

Ok. Thank you. With your knowledge, how would your routine be different than what you mainly do here?
BTW- it’s about time for you to get onstage. LOL


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[marcus300]

Ok. Thank you. With your knowledge, how would your routine be different than what you mainly do here?
BTW- it’s about time for you to get onstage. LOL


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It would depend at which stage of the contest prep you are but I wouldn't change anything, what built the muscle will preserve the muscle all what I would advice is to drop the intensity as you start getting closer the comp date. I use what works mentality I'm not a person who swaps and changes looking for this magical routine what's going to transport you into the pro ranks. Ive found what works so I manipulate that routine to suit the environment I am in. Exactly the same ideas what Dorian talks about.

My time for stepping on stage has gone charger lol, I am far past my best and I struggle with injuries and health issues these days which are both top priority for me. I've not cycled for years and I will remain AAS free just my trt. I have evolved into a new environment which does feel very strange and let me tell you it was a huge emotional ride and took me many months to accept this is the new me. I've been controlled by the gym, training, drugs and its a part of who I am, being freaky and the biggest fuker around what makes head turn was a mission I had to achieve and accomplish but how I feel now is all about my health because I've been through some tuff times and now to keep fighting the fight I was under is tooooooo much risk.

[marcus300]

[charger69]

It would depend at which stage of the contest prep you are but I wouldn't change anything, what built the muscle will preserve the muscle all what I would advice is to drop the intensity as you start getting closer the comp date. I use what works mentality I'm not a person who swaps and changes looking for this magical routine what's going to transport you into the pro ranks. Ive found what works so I manipulate that routine to suit the environment I am in. Exactly the same ideas what Dorian talks about.

My time for stepping on stage has gone charger lol, I am far past my best and I struggle with injuries and health issues these days which are both top priority for me. I've not cycled for years and I will remain AAS free just my trt. I have evolved into a new environment which does feel very strange and let me tell you it was a huge emotional ride and took me many months to accept this is the new me. I've been controlled by the gym, training, drugs and its a part of who I am, being freaky and the biggest fuker around what makes head turn was a mission I had to achieve and accomplish but how I feel now is all about my health because I've been through some tuff times and now to keep fighting the fight I was under is tooooooo much risk.

I asked the question because I usually change up the last month and use higher reps and keeping contracted trying to force the blood to the muscle. Sort of like a mini circuit training.
There is no real science behind what I do other than that is what I was taught. I am trying to become more scientific in my training but there are opinions all over the place.


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[clarky.]

Did arms the night good session,

Seated db curls 1w 5 rp 4 drop 6 drop 3 **new weight**

Db preacher 1w 9 rp 4 one more set on right plus 3 neg

Cable preacher 3 sets 9- 8 - 6

Tri pd 1w 10 drop 6 drop 3 **new weight**

Behind hrad tri ex v bar 1w 10 drop 6 drop 3

Db french press 2 sets 7

Cardio bike 11 min 2 mile done and fucked.

[clarky.]

Went a good walk with the mrs last night, so got some more cardio in.
Fuck so going to sleep now, i'll catch up on all the big mans re posts the mora.

[Kyle1337]

Do you guys recommend on a competition style cutting diet to carb cycle every other day? I am doing Carb day (150g) then no carb day (veggy carb only so like 20g) and then repeat... With 1 cheat meal. I am down to roughly 6% BF but I feel like this diet I am on isn't gonna get me where I want. I've never done this before, so curious to what you guys suggest?

[Obs]

I asked the question because I usually change up the last month and use higher reps and keeping contracted trying to force the blood to the muscle. Sort of like a mini circuit training.
There is no real science behind what I do other than that is what I was taught. I am trying to become more scientific in my training but there are opinions all over the place.


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Read what marcus posted carefully and watch the blood and guts video.
Its going to failure and beyound that causes mass growth.

When you are totally spent and you barely squeeze out that failing rep @ the 6th, no way you could do another, and someone assists just enough to get 2 more slow excruciating reps.... Your fucking dying... Now two more negative reps!

You just did ten reps and reached beyond failure in a way you never could with four plain jane sets of ten.

I have to utilize immediate dropsets to get close because I got nobody to lift with.

Watch Feroce lift alone vs. Dorian with someone.
Both men are badasses with no vagina in them but who do you think is in more pain?

When you look at what dorian accomplished in his first three years.... Wow! Seth doesn't hold a candle to him. Yates wasn't that big when he started but he blew up like no one had ever seen in the history of BBing.

I'm telling you brother give HIT a try. You will transform in six weeks.

[kelkel]

I have to utilize immediate dropsets to get close because I got nobody to lift with.

Welcome to my world.

[Obs]

Welcome to my world.

I would lift with you and I wouldn't annoy you either...

[marcus300]

reposts

hey Marcus....how do you incorporate your negatives in your workout. do you do your working sets first....lets say....6 sets then after that you do 5 negative sets? or do a set then do a negative and repeat? and if you're adding dropsets are you doing working set....negs....then dropset?
after reading the way you do your workouts I gave it a shot yesterday and my back feel lovely....was just curious on how YOU did it....thanks

Doing HIT correctly you will not have enough energy/gas/stamina to complete that many sets. Its typically two feel good sets or warm ups and one working set to the max with forced reps negatives etc. I will let "the man" elaborate more.
In my experience for chest as an example I am complete done warm up and all in 35 mins of doing chest. And my chest is more sore in the 35 mins then it has been before when I was doing a 1.5 hour work out. Basically I did not push to the MAX. It takes a certain mind set to push to the MAX.
And my bench has went up 20 lbs in a few months and I have been stuck at 3 plates for awhile.

Cancer82 - gearbox is right

First there are many styles of HIT, there isnt one style what fits all. With HIT you shouldnt be doing many sets, once you have warmed up you should be doing one or two workinbg sets and thats it, usually one working is enough but depends on the muscle group you may throw another in to make sure its at total failure and beyond personally I would either incorporate dropsets in my working set or forced and negs. If you read some of my workouts you will see how I use them but an example would be - incline dumbell press, ive fully warmed up and on my working set which would be a weight what I would be able to do around 4,5 reps- what I mean by this is it would be impossible to do another rep no matter what I am at total positive muscle failure and not one further rep can be obtained, at this stage I would do two forced reps which my training partner would help me with, this would take me beyond failure and into the pain zone, at this stage I cant do another rep, ive done 2 forced and now I will do 2 negatives, I will slowly lower the weight and my partner will help me get it up to do another neg - after postitive strength as totally gone the only strength you have left is negative or static so by doing negs at this stage after forced you have recruited every single muscle fiber in your upper chest and you have overloaded the muscle completely, this will produce some serious size BUT you have to make sure your going to failkure on at each section, dont leave anything in the tank and kid yourself, when your doing your reps you must go to failure wheather thats at 4 ,5,6 reps what eevr it is you go to total positive failure then do 2 forced reps and then 2 negative reps and the job is done....thats forced and negtaives....dropsets are another method to take you to total failure and beyond

that explains it perfectly....and I would assume if u dont have a partner to do forced and negatives at the point where positive strength is gone this is where u would do dropsets? out of curiosity why do u only do two forced and negatives have u tried more and this is what u found to be best? thanks

Thats right at the point of failure if you aren't doing forced and negs then this is the point were you would dropset.
I do dropsets at certain times and with certain bodyparts because I feel some grow better with this method but your correct if you haven't got a training partner you can use the dropset protocol. You go to positive failure so you cant do another rep even if your life depended on it and then do 2 dropsets, on each drop you take yourself to positive failure again so after the last drop your in a very painful place hahah and you have recruited a lot of fibers and fully stimulated growth.

This is were many fail, many don't train hard enough to build serious size. The size what makes people turn around when you walk past, the size what makes everyone look at you like your from another planet. You have to train to complete failure and beyond, many read this but don't implement it correctly but once you learn how to take yourself to total positive failure you can start going beyond failure which is were the serious pain starts. I cant emphasize this enough about training hard and intense this is were you stimulate growth, this is were you recruit all your muscle fibers and fully overload your body so it as no other way to go except to grow big. Short heavy intense work-outs go home and feed and watch your body change!!!

The reason why I say 2 forced reps and 2 negative reps is because I've found once I've reach total positive failure were its impossible to do another rep I can only do another 2 forced reps before all my strength fades and the same happens with negs. Now if you feel you can do 3 forced and 3 negs go for it but if your doing 4-6 forced and same with negs you aren't going to total failure on your straight working sets, your leaving something in the tank to complete the forced and negs and this shouldn't be happening. Once you truly hit failure on your own you haven't got much left even with forced reps so usually that's around 2 reps at the most in many cases and if you can do a lot more your not training to true failure on your working set.

Trust me, many people live off steroids and blow up and blow back down and don't truly build any serious tissue for yrs, why because they aren't training correctly. Many diet and waste away muscle tissue and many others just don't take the body to hell and back with training and if your looking for that serious size what I've mentioned what turns heads you have to train to these levels

marcus, have you talked about how you train in between these periods of heavy and intense workouts? you mentioned that you dont train like this all year round. kind of in spurts to coincide with your short cycles. so when off cycle or when off the intense periods, what is your training like? just lighter weights or is there differences in rest time between sets, number of reps and sets...?

Thats right I dont train like this all the time, every 5-6 weeks I do change things around because my body just cant take that kind of pain and constant attack for weeks on end. Sometime I do a week inbetween the 6 week period if I feel I need it. I am a believer in what built the muscle will keep the muscle so not matter if I am bulking or cutting my main focus is always the same and try and keep the intensity up unless my body is telling me something else. When I change things around I will have longer rest periods inbetween sets and start using the pre-exhaust, volume, rest pause and pyramiding up to failure. I listen to my body and it tells me it needs a step back from the assault I am taking, so some easy lifting days just to failure, nothing to extreme just rest pause but not going into the serious pain zone of forced and negs or drops. My movements change around to suit how I feel but in the back of my mind is what built the muscle will keep the muscle and no matter what my main concern is to keep hold of the tissue Ive built and not waste any away, so if my body is telling me to pull back and it does often I pull back using some of the methods above but not going into the beyond failure zone which takes alot of mental concentration aswell. Normally after about a week or two I feel I am ready to start attacking again. I know the way I train isn't for everyone because of the constant assault and pain your put yourself through but for me I just grow from it, if you can get yourself in that zone the size what can be built is amazing and what built the muscle will keep the muscle. Keeping hold of the the muscle is a whole new set of rules like Ive mentioned before its were many fail and just waste tissue away by dieting too much and changing training but if you listen to your body how it grows you learn how to train to maintain

Marcus reading your post about assaulting your body and you grow grow. How long have you been training this intense ?
What were your stats prior? In other words how much size have you put on doing this do you think? It obviously works for you. Just curious I have a buddy that would be around 170 lbs with out diet training and gear. He's 250lbs+.

I experimented many different styles of training over the yrs and and in the early days I did grow most people will when you introduce some kind of overload to the body, but you come to a size what you just can't get over, its like a huge sticking point and no matter what you do you just cant seem to get over it. This is when I discovered how I train now because this for me produced some serious gains and got me over the sticking point but it does takes a lot of mental focus to get through this kind of training, its not for the weak minded at all and it can take over your life if your not careful. Obviously it wasn't just the training its a number of factors what I put together what helped but this style produced some serious thick set muscle tissue. You get guys weighing 270lbs and still don't look muscular, this is the whole point in bodybuilding its how you look and how muscular you are. I know some mates who are 270-280lbs and I look a lot bigger and far more muscular than any of them, it all about how balanced and how muscular you are. I have a body what is thick set and I put that down to genetics obviously but a lot of the way I train has produced this thick set muscular body.

At the moment I am 252lbs at 13-14% bf and over the last year or so ive been really training hard to build new tissue while keeping my bf low and ive made some really decent gains on bodyparts what I would say were lagging. When I first started training I was about 155lbs.

I attack my body hard and intense for short periods of time, when I feel like I need a break I take one, when I need to pull back on the beyond failure methods I do and incorporate other methods and swap and change things around. Ive just done a legs workout and I did rest pause on nearly all the movements this was a pullback for me but I kept the intensity up. Sometime due to my work schedule I will miss 3-4 days of training but to be honest I look forward to this because I feel like I fully repair then I get back in the gym and train hard and intense, ITS JUST THE WAY I DO THINGS because it works for me and ive transform many online clients with how they train. Find out what works for you and implement keep a log and watch and learn from your own body...

Ohh I know but everything that is said in here is fairly logical if you get me compared to what you can read and get too much information and then you just get bogged down in reading and trying more and more.

The only thing now I am finding is my body has adjusted to the cleaner diet and low carbs and cardio I need to do something to counter act this.

I'm really pleased you have found some
direction so you can move forward, there isn't one way what fits all but
once you do find out what does work you can adapt it and then your have
a great tool for growth. One thing what does "fits all" is being
consistent with your diet, training, sleep and mental approach this is
something what I've not faulted over the years, I've been like a robot
and I can't express enough how important this is, being consistent year
in year out!!


I use carb cycling all the time no matter what I am trying to achieve whether that's to confused my body into burning fat as fuel or to use it to follow the growth spurts to build muscle tissue.
I am a firm believer that the body grows in spurts and I like to follow this no matter what, whether that's my anabolic use, diets or training methods. I will follow a growth spurt and apply my intense protocols in any of the areas what will enhance growth and then I will back off let my body stabilize while I maintain and then hit it hard and intense again. Yes I'm old school but it works for me and plenty before me so thats what
I do....

Marcus a while back you gave someone some crazy motivation to attack the weights. And I remember him saying he never got that mind set before. Mind pm ing my what ever the hell you told him?

I have loads of pm's and I help many out with motivation, infact if you read between the lines of this thread you will see that having a very strong mental approach is one of the best tool's you can have at building muscle tissue. Not many can really train all out, not many know exactly what failure means and not many know how to build muscle from hard intense training.. I can't remember which post you on about but ive had some very intense chats with people about motivation and getting into this mind set. I did post a response to someone in this thread which was this one below about training hard enough

ARE YOU TRAINING HARD ENOUGH?

I've had a few PM's about training and cycles and one thing what shines through to me is that a lot are not training hard enough they dont fully understand how to train correctly. We spend so much time designing cycles and eliminating sides we think we have the perfect environment to grow into something what looks like it was carved out of stone but after 15 weeks of these super cycles most are pming me asking how can they stop the gains sliding away. We assume members training is hard and intense enough but in reality it isn't. I see alot of members just coasting through their training sessions and doing a set number of reps and sets and think the diet and AAS will transform them into a living god but all what happens is the gains slide away and they end up going back on gear to get some kind of size back.

I can't emphasize enough how important it is to find the right training protocol for your body to grow. You have to try many training routines and find which one you respond best to. We also need to get in the right mind set when we walk in that gym, you going there for one purpose and if you don't push your body beyond what its capable of doing your not going to grow bigger. You want to be leaving that gym feeling like you just done 10 rounds with Tyson in his hay day. You have to go through the pain, you have to push and pull the hardest you have ever done before, you have to push your body to places where its never been before and push past the pain every single time you go in the gym.

Overload your body to a state were its screaming for you to stop and no matter what you couldn't do one more rep even if your life depended on it, if you don't train in this fashion your not training hard enough. Do you want to be bigger than anyone else, do you want to turn heads and do you want to have that monster size what no one else has got then if this is the case stop *****ing around in the gym and stop going through the motions and push past your limits and use methods what take you to hell and back.

I train that hard my eye balls shake and I find it hard to focus, I mentally prepare myself and think of things what make me angry and I push that last rep out no matter what. I kind of like the pain in certain bodyparts and I can push past it into a world of total hell, I feel like I am on fire and I swear I can feel the blood surging through my veins into the muscle what I am working. When I've done my last working set I know I cant perform another rep even if someone had a gun to my head and said you'll die if you don't do another rep, I know I've come to my limit and the sick thing about this is I actually enjoy it., I dream about it, I think about it and I cant wait to get back in the gym to do it again. Its like I'm self harming because the torture I go through is extremely painful but I know this is what I have to do to maintain what I've got and to build those extra few lbs of tissue. This is what seperates the normal guys who look like they go to the gym to the fuking monsters what walk this earth

Now are you training hard enough? ask yourself can you train harder because if the answer is yes your restricting your gains and wasting money and time. Why spend all that money on gear, gh and food when your not attacking your body like you should be. Think about it and make your next workout like your going to war with yourself.

[marcus300]

Arms

single arm bicep concentration machine curls
3 warm up sets - all performed slow and time under tension, hitting high end rep range
2 working sets - both to failure plus 2 forced reps

seated db curls
2 feel sets - TUT again and hitting my higher end rep range
2 working sets - failure plus halves and quarters

hammer curls
2 working sets - both to failure, both drop sets twice

wrist bb curls
2 working sets - higher end reps

straight bar cable pushdowns
3 warm up sets
2 working sets - failure and heavy

db French press both hands
2 feel sets
2 working sets to failure

machine dips
2 working sets -mid rep range heavy

[tarmyg]

Decent workout day today while my wife headed out for some more travels. Moving around India for a few days before hitting Okinawa and then San Diego. Trying to see where we might end up and hopefully San Diego or Ithaca, NY will become two of the options.

Some DOMS from this weeks workout which shows how off I am from the less workout intensity of the month of May. Think it will take me a few weeks to get back into it.

3-Position Squat Clean Complex
On the 2:00 x 6 Rounds:
High Hang Squat Clean (High Thigh)
Hang Squat Clean (Knee Level)
Squat Clean
Front Squat
Kept it light at 70kg

Pause Front Squat
5 Sets of 2
Three Second Pause in Bottom. Build steadily to a Heavy Set of 2, 3x90kg, 2x100kg

Conditioning
AMRAP 5:
15-12-9:
Kettlebell Swing - 24kg
Front Squat 60kg
Calorie Row

Rest 5 Minutes

AMRAP 5:
15-12-9:
Kettlebell Swing - 24kg
Front Squat - 50kg
Calorie Row

[charger69]

Decent workout day today while my wife headed out for some more travels. Moving around India for a few days before hitting Okinawa and then San Diego. Trying to see where we might end up and hopefully San Diego or Ithaca, NY will become two of the options.

Some DOMS from this weeks workout which shows how off I am from the less workout intensity of the month of May. Think it will take me a few weeks to get back into it.

3-Position Squat Clean Complex
On the 2:00 x 6 Rounds:
High Hang Squat Clean (High Thigh)
Hang Squat Clean (Knee Level)
Squat Clean
Front Squat
Kept it light at 70kg

Pause Front Squat
5 Sets of 2
Three Second Pause in Bottom. Build steadily to a Heavy Set of 2, 3x90kg, 2x100kg

Conditioning
AMRAP 5:
15-12-9:
Kettlebell Swing - 24kg
Front Squat 60kg
Calorie Row

Rest 5 Minutes

AMRAP 5:
15-12-9:
Kettlebell Swing - 24kg
Front Squat - 50kg
Calorie Row

Come out to San Diego. We could train together. LOL


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[clarky.]

Afternoon fellas/ ladies. Shoulders and traps for me the night.

[almostgone]

Really liking the current avatar, Marcus!!

[GirlyGymRat]

Kelkel. Are you taking a rest period or injury recovery?

[clarky.]

Really liking the current avatar, Marcus!!

Quite cool eh.

[clarky.]

Hi fellas/ladies, went and did shoulders and traps. Well i say that it was just a very fast session, my head was everywhere apart from the gym really.

Db side raises 2w 1 drop a side.

Rev pec dec 2w a side

Smith shrugs wide grip 3 sets of 15

No cardio nothing els just home.

[kelkel]

Kelkel. Are you taking a rest period or injury recovery?

Negative. Training is quite intense right now. Just got done actually. Haven't posted much though. Life damn busy lately!

[clarky.]

Negative. Training is quite intense right now. Just got done actually. Haven't posted much though. Life damn busy lately!

Aye, tell me about it.

[Obs]

Negative. Training is quite intense right now. Just got done actually. Haven't posted much though. Life damn busy lately!

I think everyone is so busy right now its ridiculous.
One of those years...

[marcus300]

Legs

Really exhausted me, my cardio is shot and really need to increase this over the coming weeks.

Leg ext
3 warm up sets
2 working sets to failure

Squats
4 sets - heavy as possible, slow and deep

leg press
2 feel sets
1 working sets to failure

db single leg lunges
3 sets -to hell and back

lying leg curls
2 sets to failure

standing calf raises
3 sets higher end reps

seated calf raises
3 sets to failure

[tarmyg]

A crappy workout, sexual harassment, and a root canal are how I can summarize my day. I woke up with a massive pain in my mouth. It turns out I got some infection, and a root canal is needed. Tomorrow morning at 8.30AM that fun is happening!

Workout entirely failed of course as I was in too much pain to do it, but like the stubborn dumbass I am I had to try it. Did not work!

On my way home I stopped by the pharmacy to pick up my antibiotics and as I was in line (People stand VERY close to each other here) when this guy in front of me started rubbing the back of his hand on my penis. I honestly did not understand what was happening at first and the only thought through my head was "Wow, this dude has no sense of personal space." Some microsecond later I stepped back, tapped him on the shoulder and told him it was probably best if he left. He did!

All in all, the day could have gone better!

[cousinmuscles]

A crappy workout, sexual harassment, and a root canal are how I can summarize my day. I woke up with a massive pain in my mouth. It turns out I got some infection, and a root canal is needed. Tomorrow morning at 8.30AM that fun is happening!

Workout entirely failed of course as I was in too much pain to do it, but like the stubborn dumbass I am I had to try it. Did not work!

On my way home I stopped by the pharmacy to pick up my antibiotics and as I was in line (People stand VERY close to each other here) when this guy in front of me started rubbing the back of his hand on my penis. I honestly did not understand what was happening at first and the only thought through my head was "Wow, this dude has no sense of personal space." Some microsecond later I stepped back, tapped him on the shoulder and told him it was probably best if he left. He did!

All in all, the day could have gone better!

Should have asked him if he wanted to give you a HJ LOL!!

[kelkel]

On my way home I stopped by the pharmacy to pick up my antibiotics and as I was in line (People stand VERY close to each other here) when this guy in front of me started rubbing the back of his hand on my penis. I honestly did not understand what was happening at first and the only thought through my head was "Wow, this dude has no sense of personal space."

How many minutes did this go on for before you asked him to stop?

[tarmyg]

How many minutes did this go on for before you asked him to stop?

I would say 5-10 seconds! Edit: I am guessing here because it is safe to say I was a bit off my game.