Doggcrap/HIT Hybrid

[Jonnycatz]

I am 32 y/o, 6"3", 185#, ~12-15% BF. Ive been lifting for 2 months now this time around. My previous lifting experience total is about 1.5 yrs. Physically, I am at my all time heaviest body weight by a couple pounds and my arms are matching their best size at 14.5" cold. This represents a 12lb gain and 1" gain respectively after the 2 month run. My body has been to this point 3 times now, and my gains always slowed at this point, so im know that Im now at a plateau. Strenghtwise, my deadlift is stronger than ever by 25lbs for reps (275), every other lift I employ is about to 80-90% of their all-time best.
My goal is hardcore bulk... dirty is fine but not too dirty. The programs Ive been looking at closely are Ironmans HIT and Doggcrap. Both of these address very important apsects (some are different and some are similar). I feel at my current level, im not ready to do a full blown program of either, but have come up with a hybrid program which im going to start. I will try to train each body part twice in an 8 day period, ex. chest/lats/delts on Mon/Fri and Legs/calves on Weds/following Mon. I will choose two instead of three favorite exercises for each bodypart to keep my neural pathways stronger.
Each workout per muscle will consist of a couple easy warmup sets followed by one working set to complete failure "partner will very lightly assist final rep" followed with one very slow negative rep. Only one exercise per bodypart. The rest/pause method from Doggcrap will not be used yet because after the set my muscles are wasted and I can barely perform 1 more rep even after an entire minute of rest. Between-set recovery is a big personal weakness, so im unable to reap the benefits of rest/pause as of now. For the 1st workouts on Mon/Wed, I will use 4-6 rep sets, for the 2nd workouts on Fri/following Mon, i will use my other chosen favorite exercise. Hopefully, the one all-out set will be enough to grow from, but not too much to recover from before next assault in 4-5 days. I will employ extreme stretching also after sets.

[Jonnycatz]

Here is a proposed workout schedule:
MON
Chest - Bench Press (1 set 4-6 reps)
Delts - Upright barbell row (1 set 4-6 reps)
Lats - Pulldowns to front (1 set 4-6 reps)
Triceps - pushdowns (1 set 4-6 reps)
Biceps - preacher curl (1 set 4-6 reps)

WED
Thighs - Rock bottom squats (1 set 4-6 reps) my back bends forward way too much trying to compensate for my quad weakness on parallel squats, using rock bottom squats makes it easy to maintain correct form.
Calves - standing calve raise (1 set 10-12 reps)

FRI
Chest - incline dbl press (1 set 4-6 reps)
Delts - shoulder press machine or dbl military press "undecided" (1 set 4-6 reps)
Lats - Pulldowns to back or barbell rows "undecided"(1 set 4-6 reps)
Triceps - Dips "elbows in close" (1 set 4-6 reps) use weight belt if needed to fail in rep range
Biceps - Incline Dbl curl, barbell, or dbl curl "undecided"(1 set 4-6 reps)

Following MON
Thighs - Deadlifts (1 set 4-6 reps)
Calves - calve press on leg press machine (1 set 10-12 reps)

** Traps should get adequate stimulation from upright rows and deadlifts, so im skipping any direct work on them.
** Hamstrings should be getting enuf from rock-bottom squats and deadlifts.
** Rear delts may not be getting much here, they may need a direct set.
** Key point is to hit true failure on the working set (not almost).
** On squats and deadlifts, I may stop one rep shy of failure, as I feel this can be dangerous and is incredibly taxing. FOR THOSE VERY FEW WHO ATTEMPT IT... YOU WILL enter the twilight zone... be careful, have spotter(s), and tightly keep form in check.

The workout is now complete and will reset on Wednesday. The same exercises will be used, but now will be in the 8-10 rep range per set (15-20 for calves) I love deadlifts so much that I had to throw them in. I dont feel they are a top leg developer, but it is a staple that should be in any bulk program. I may try standing on a block for deeper range deadlifts to stimulate thighs more. I do not do leg presses because of an injury to my ribs a few weeks ago. When my thighs contacted my rib cage on the descent, they knocked something loose. Squats take me longer to recover from than any other lift, and I need to be able to walk at work. So once a week is all I will tolerate.
I could keep the same exercise for each body part for the entire week instead of switching to the other, but use the different rep range instead on the 2nd workout. Then switch to the other exercise the following week. Since the rep ranges will be different and theoretically target different fibers, this could possibly help muscular recovery as different fibers are supposedly recruited than were for the previous workout. Not so for CMS recovery though. As time passes, I will slowly be introducing rest/pause sets to workouts. Hopefully being able to ultilize them fully after a few months. Please provide input on the usefulness/uselessness of any parts of this program or any improvements/changes that seem to be needed. Starting on May 22.

[Billy_Bathgate]

** Hamstrings should be getting enuf from rock-bottom squats and deadlifts.


hell no

add 1 set of reverse hyper or pull throughs

[Jonnycatz]

** Hamstrings should be getting enuf from rock-bottom squats and deadlifts.


hell no

add 1 set of reverse hyper or pull throughs

Thx, Good point!! Obviously I had thought about hamstring stimulation and wasnt sure on them. I wanted to add stiff-leg deadlifts (one of my favs), but felt that may be too much on back combined with regular deads and squats. Im not familiar with the two u mentioned, would u describe them plz?

[Billy_Bathgate]

well if you dont know what a reverse hyper is, your gym prob dont have one or youd know i think...its kinda like this table you lay on though and it looks similar to leg curl, but your legs are straight and your pulling the weight with your ass and hams..if that makes any sense....rarely gyms have these from my experience

the other is hard to explain, but you like bend over (haha) and so you are looking through your legs upsidedown, and either grab a band or a low pully and raise up. you have to stand right and use your hamstrings to stand upright, and you have to concentrate on that or you dont feel it as much

but, they are my two fav

id throw SLDL with the squat day, and maybe like seated good mornings with the squat then (again, conc on your hams to do the work and they hit it hard, you dont have to go heavy or anythign)..or whatever you want. just not a big fan of leg curls and its hard to think of other stuff sometimes besides sldl

or dep on how you feel, you may want a quad ex instead of ham with the deads..kinda a toss up, id go with what you feel