Attached is the program we will be starting on April 5, 2010. Ian developed this program last year, basing the program off the Starting Strength methodology. For those of us who went through the program, we saw tremendous gains in our strength and power output. This should be added incentive for those of you taking on the challenge.
If you are interested, please take the time to read and go over the program. In addition, you will need to calculate your numbers for the lifts based off your 1 RM.
If you have any questions, please just let me know.
Diet: For those of you who will be participating in the Strength Program, diet will be an essential part of the training. Because we’re on a quest to gain muscle, we’ll need to eat properly to achieve our goal. So, we are going to need protein to aid in the building and maintenance of muscle mass, carbohydrates to fuel our endeavors, and fat to assist us in our recovery.
For many of us, this means nothing more than following our current diet…”Paleo”. However, we are going to add a little twist….Milk, and I’m not talking 2% or non-fat…we want Whole Vitamin D saturated Milk!! I would tell you to drink a gallon a day, but honestly very few of you would be able to even attempt and complete that feat. So, I am just going to ask you to incorporate as much whole milk as you can. In addition, you’ll need to increase your protein intake considerably…I suggest doubling your current protein intake.
Why increase our protein and milk consumption? Plain and simple…the protein in going to aid in the growth and maintenance of muscle mass and the milk and all its fat are going to aid in the recovery process.
You will put on some addition lbs….but don’t worry! If you follow the program and the diet, a majority of the weight will be new muscle growth; however, there is going to be some accumulation of fat. Again don’t worry, fat is easier to remove than building muscle. Now, let’s get started!
So here is my delima:
I want to be stronger…much stronger! However, I’d like to lose 20 more lbs. of insulin resistant fat. I was planning on doing another 3 months of dairy free, strict Paleo. There’s no way in hell will I be able to drink whole milk; but that’s another Oprah (however I would concede and go back to drinking whey protein after a session as eating animal protein afterward simply just sucks). I want to get that 700lbs., but I want to rid myself of this truffle shuffle core too. Get lean and then strong…or strong and then lean? ARRRRRRRGGGGGGG! What’s a girl to do?!?!
I understand your dilemma regarding the consumption of dairy (i.e. Whole Milk) pre and post training sessions.
Let’s address those concerns and see if we can help you achieve your goal…700lb Club.
So you want to lose an additional 20lbs of insulin resist fat and get stronger all at the same time. Hmmm…that is going to be tough and here is the reason why. Muscle is denser than fat; therefore, muscle weighs more than fat. In addition, we are going to need some, not all, of the fat to assist in recovery and general health.
So what we want to do is….increase the good protein and fats to assist you in building muscle and burning fat.
Here’s where the milk comes in…the implementation of whole milk in your diet is going to do several things…and they are all good. Recent research shows milk is an excellent post recovery tool for weight training. The whey and casein proteins contained in milk act like a natural growth hormone. These proteins assist in muscle repair and growth. In addition, the consumption of milk aids in the body burning excess fat.
Here are several articles on the benefits on drinking milk while training with weights:
Now, I’m not suggesting you drink GOMAD (Gallon of Milk a Day); however, I am suggesting you have three (3) servings of whole milk a day. If taste is an issue, add a little chocolate Nestlé’s Quick to mask the taste. Stay away from pre-made chocolate milk because it’s made with high fructose corn syrup. And if whole milk is hard to swallow, even after adding the coco, move to a 2% milk. I hope this helps…
Are there any replacements for “Milk”? Nope…that is why it is so unique and “Does a body good”!
I know some of you ladies are concerned about starting the strength program. You’re worried you are going to bulk up and put on weight. You’re afraid all of the hard work you’ve been putting in the box will be lost. None of this is true…in fact, it’s far from the truth.
Ladies it is physically impossible for you to bulk up!
In order for you to bulk up, you would have to do several things. First, your body would have to start producing a ridiculous amount of testosterone. Second, you would have to consume a ridiculous amount of food and “milk”. Finally, you would have to make a trip across the border and visit Juan for a “special supplement”. With that said, I highly doubt any of you will be bulking up.
Strength training is extremely systemic…it is going to effect your whole body. Fat loss is inevitable with such a training program.
If you don’t believe me, please go to some of the powerlifting sites out there and start navigating their forums. You’ll read blogs from women who will describe their weight loss from weight training. Remember we are strength/weight training, not weight lifting. There is a difference. In weight lifting, you are just out to lift weights…you have no focus. Now, with strength training we have a focus…and that focus is our goal! For many of you the goal is to get stronger, for others it is the honor of possessing a 700lb or 1000lb Club T-Shirt. Take a look at 70’s Big site (70sbig.com) and take a few minutes to read the blogs.
Finally, stop looking at the scale…throw it out. Yes, weight loss is a goal, but we should also be concerned about the redistribution of the weight. We should be losing inches in our waist, and increasing the size of our back, chest, butt, legs and arms with muscle. All of this can not be determined by a scale.
This is a program that takes a serious commitment! With that being said, if you follow it strict, train hard, eat right and get rest, you should make some super gains in strength and while improving form and technique. I know I am looking forward to the next phase of strength and conditioning here at CFC.
I thought Juan “across the boarder” was legit, on that note. I am not a big fan of milk, nor is my stomach. So if I use almond or coconut milk coupled with the progenex pro pack products. Would I still see the same gains? I can get the insulin spike for other food, like sweet potatoes and fats from avocados, almond and coconut milk.
Sorry for the confusion…but Juan is not legit and in fact, he was shot-up by the federales yesterday while trying to run from them.
Yes…you can get the insulin spike from other foods; however, we are looking for something a little more than just an insulin spike. We are looking for the combination of the whey and casein protein, calcium, fat and the additional natural hormones found in milk, all of which are not found in any other food sources.
Will you see gains if you use the other food sources? Yes… but to what degree I can not tell you. However, I can tell you the gains would not be as large if you infused a high concentration of whey, casein and other special herbs and spices found in milk.
It sounds like you are lactose intolerant…so am I. You can go to your local supermarket and pick-up some lactaid pills. You’ll take one pill prior to ingesting the milk and it will relieve any discomfort that may be caused by the milk.
Now, if that doesn’t work, I suggest you look into a protein power that contains both whey and casein proteins. You’ll need to take the protein 2-3 times a day. In addition, you’ll need to increase your fat intake. “Recovery” is the reason for the fat. This training program is going to be very systemic on the body and you’ll need all the help you can get in the recovery process.
Besides the Monday and Friday workouts for the initial four weeks of the strength program, should you being doing any other forms of training in the down time? Yes! I suggest on Wednesday you do a 5x5 of bench press at 75% and 3 rounds of pull-ups to failure. In addition, you can throw in a WOD on one of the off days.
The WOD should be intense, but not so intense it will affect your lifts on your strength days. If you think the WOD is going to be to intense, scale the WOD back.
And for those of you still working on your unassisted pull-ups, I would like for you to do 3 sets of ring rows to failure.
In addition to the power-clean work shop of April 10, we’ll also have some instruction on the pull-up/chin-up and kipping.
A little off subject but the women off Uganda go into “Fattening Huts” for 2 months prior to getting married. They drink 5000 calories of milk a day. They have to stay in there all day and can only leave to go to the bathroom. One lady gained 80lbs in 2 months. The men there like their women to be big, the bigger the better. Now thats 70s Big.
One thing fellow CFC peeps, don’t try and “Scott” the strength program, I know you might thinks it’s too hard, or too easy. Trust me, better to stay on course.
Hahahahaha…Lesson learned. Now it’s time for some serious training. Monday add only one secondary movement: lunges 5x3@40% of your squat PR. On Wednesday for the first four (4) weeks, incorporate hanging power cleans with your 5x5 bench and weighted pull-ups. The hanging power cleans should be 5x3@75% of your clean PR.
This should prevent any future Scotting….go forth and conquer!!!
Here’s a good article from Mark’s Daily Apple on “How to gain weight and build muscle”...now, don’t let the title freak you out (i.e. gain weight). The article discusses strength training and the movements and diet necessary to achieve muscle growth:
