Fortitude Training!

[Flex500]

http://drscottstevenson.com/index.html

Dr. Scott charges next to nothing so make sure you purchase the programs/ebooks from him. Don't download a free copy somewhere.

Cool! Oh yeah I’ll pay for it for sure

 

[juggy38]

I always love FT. It’s so customizable

like want a block to bring up legs, run tier 2 legs and tier 1 everything else.

like mentioned a few times, zig-zagging in a “fitness gym” at 5pm is fucking almost impossible. But it can be done. And if you don’t ever zig-zag, it still works brilliantly

I don’t know how any human survives tier 3 for all body parts lol

 

[homonunculus]

Hey Scott,
Would it not be ideal to use a bb row or chest support t bar for pump work and MRS? I ask since upper back focus is something im addressing and those 2 moments I've dialed them.in.
But I'd like to bb row as a loading movement too.

T-Bar rows would be a better choice for Pump sets (but you can certainly use it for the other Set Types), IMO, but I'd save the BB rows (standing) for loading sets and MR's.

"Row Stop Deads" are an Exercise I'd throw in there and these can be used for All Three Set types, IMO and will give you another option: https://www.instagram.com/p/Br3OMRGnLQJ/

So I'd think about maybe doing Pendlay Rows as a Loading set (strict form) a/o MR, too.

For Loading Sets, you could literally rotate among BB Rows, Pendlay Rows, Standing T-Bar Rows, rack heads (1-2 of these in the 3 exercise group rotation), as well as Row Stop Deads and T-Bar Rows (one or both in the rotation will help you to remember to focus on the Lats and help keep you from using body english as you add weight to the bar). You could then use Pendlays, row stop deads and Supported T-bar (or other supported rows) for MR's and Pump sets.

-S

 

[homonunculus]

Thanks for your honest thoughts. I do have a copy of the FT ebook. One of the reasons why I like the idea of the VV ebook is to help me get started on the program. Been wanting to try it for quite some time, but sometimes I find it a tad confusing and so, I feel the VV might be a good help for me to fully understand the program and have something more specific to follow since it's all laid out for you.

Your call, my man. I set up my discussion board primarily to make sure everyone can carry out FT, so feel free to ask away / search there. There's nothing in the program you'll not be able to wrap your head around, I'm pretty sure, but learning styles differ, so getting in there and doing it might be your best way to learning the system, as well.

-S

 

[homonunculus]

Cool! Oh yeah I’ll pay for it for sure

Thanks, man!

I offer support (the board I've been mentioning) for folks who actually buy the book, of course. So, def. feel free to come over there if there's anything that's unclear! (Purchase email has the details for getting on the board. )

-S

 

[homonunculus]

http://drscottstevenson.com/index.html

Dr. Scott charges next to nothing so make sure you purchase the programs/ebooks from him. Don't download a free copy somewhere.

THANK YOU!

-S

 

[beans]

Forgot to ask. If available days to train are Tues Wed Fri Sat. 4 day can still be implemented? I ask since the back to back days. I'm assuming if let's say legs are sore but not super beat up, shouldn't be an issue?? And would probably do good to get the pump work for circulation? Also, you say limit cardio around leg loading iirc? Does daily walking make a difference? Walk 25k-30k daily.

 

[homonunculus]

Forgot to ask. If available days to train are Tues Wed Fri Sat. 4 day can still be implemented? I ask since the back to back days. I'm assuming if let's say legs are sore but not super beat up, shouldn't be an issue?? And would probably do good to get the pump work for circulation? Also, you say limit cardio around leg loading iirc? Does daily walking make a difference? Walk 25k-30k daily.

Hey beans!

You'll run into recovery issues possible cramming the days together like that, in particular Days 1 and 2 (which are both full body in the Basic and Turbo versions). What you can do though is, depending upon your recovery, how you execute Pump sets (this is auto regulated), your age, etc. what works best for growth for you, etc. vary the Volume Tiers on Day 1 and 2, such that you're doing a lesser Volume Tier on 1 of these days. It could be done various ways. Let's say you're using Volume Tier II generally and training Day 1 and 2 on Tues and Wed. You could this:

Emphasize Loading Set Volume:
Tues: Lower Loading Sets Tier II, Upper Pump Sets Tier I
Wed: Upper Loading Sets Tier II, Lower Pump Sets Tier I

-or-

Emphasize Pump Set Volume:
Tues: Lower Loading Sets Tier I, Upper Pump Sets Tier II
Wed: Upper Loading Sets Tier I, Lower Pump Sets Tier II

-or-

Back off a bit on 2nd Day of Training (e.g., if you find yourself drained - "CNS fatigue" - on Wed.)
Tues: Lower Loading Sets Tier II, Upper Pump Sets Tier II
Wed: Upper Loading Sets Tier I, Lower Pump Sets Tier I

Focus on 2nd Day of Training (e.g., if you grow better training upper heavier and lower with higher reps)
Tues: Lower Loading Sets Tier I, Upper Pump Sets Tier I
Wed: Upper Loading Sets Tier II, Lower Pump Sets Tier II

Of course, you can change the Pump Set Strategies as well to fine tune based on Recovery.

Older guys might want to do Loading sets in a higher rep range to save the joints a bit.
Pump sets can be done with anything from a straight set of ~20-30 reps to any kind of torture you'd like including partial reps, reverse 21's, 21's, 5's into the Hole (google that) or whatever you come up with on the fly.
Hell, you could even put the Loading sets all on Day I or the Pump Sets all on Day I and adjust Tiers, there, but I'd be wary of that much loading set training all in one day unless you're backing off on Volume, relatively speaking for you. In that case, I'd put lower last if you find training legs whacks you (ala how Dante has it set up in the DC 2-way split).

-----------

Walking THAT much (do you have some kind of walking patrol job?..), this could def. beat up your legs. I would try to have a day of limited walking before (if you find it helps with training efforts) and/or after (if you find it helps with recovery) and ideally both on the days you do heavy leg training.

I would probably also favor a lower rep strategy on Pump sets and setting loads for your MR's to be a bit higher (failing in the 4th set vs. the 6th) assuming your joints are OK with that. This is just a theoretical measure to counter the molecular signaling you're sending to the active muscles in you legs with that much continuous activity (it's not one that favor growth, unless you're perhaps an individual who naturally walks in the balls of his feet and already has tremendous calf development).

-S

 

[TheOtherOne55]

IMO, Fortitude is my favorite "program."
Although I'm not running it at the moment, i personally LOVE full body WO's.
As an ex college athlete, i love feeling the entire full body fatigue haha as weird as that sounds.
Plus, there's something about hitting a liiiitttle bit of upper body every WO that most guys will dig.
I also think the full body thing dials up your calorie expenditure quite a bit (Scott has written about this before, lots of guys can drop cardio doing FT). So it's a win win for me. I've always been able to make good strength gains too, no stalling.
I tend to stall a bit on DC, but can always keep it moving with FT.

The onlllly reason i don't run it year round is that I'm at the point that i need some specific BP growth.
FT (in my eyes) works great when the entire goal is to grow EVERYTHING and get stronger.
I just have a hard time making specific BP gains—partially because I don't want to bastardize the program and start adding a bunch of shit. For instance, just like you XPOC, I've been on the push/pull/legs train for a long time.
But after a long journey with that, i needed more delt and arm focus. I'm such a thick wide body that i need more volume in my arms and delts (and they respond better to that too). So i basically broke it into a PUSH/PULL/ARM+DELT/LEGS program, working out 4x a week. Thats was "my fix" after exploring and talking to other dudes with similar problems (honestly, i hit up Jordan's client Jaime Johal for advice). Im not sure what I would do with FT with that. Of course, I have read and dove into the threads on Scott's forum about BP stuff and tried to move the exercise order and all that, but I probably need to pivot at some level.

Glad this thread came up. I'm going to NEED to cut soon (I'm basically chilling at 293 cruising trying to get my wife pregnant) and as soon as I check that box its off the races to peel off this layer lol. I'm still working with Justin Harris and he and I have talked about, "ok, soon as this happens, let's get after it." But I've been playing with the idea of jumping into a new program.
I know Scott loves the phrase, "dance with the one who bung ya" haha so I'm not sure what ill do yet.

 

[homonunculus]

IMO, Fortitude is my favorite "program."
Although I'm not running it at the moment, i personally LOVE full body WO's.
As an ex college athlete, i love feeling the entire full body fatigue haha as weird as that sounds.
Plus, there's something about hitting a liiiitttle bit of upper body every WO that most guys will dig.
I also think the full body thing dials up your calorie expenditure quite a bit (Scott has written about this before, lots of guys can drop cardio doing FT). So it's a win win for me. I've always been able to make good strength gains too, no stalling.
I tend to stall a bit on DC, but can always keep it moving with FT.

The onlllly reason i don't run it year round is that I'm at the point that i need some specific BP growth.
FT (in my eyes) works great when the entire goal is to grow EVERYTHING and get stronger.
I just have a hard time making specific BP gains—partially because I don't want to bastardize the program and start adding a bunch of shit. For instance, just like you XPOC, I've been on the push/pull/legs train for a long time.
But after a long journey with that, i needed more delt and arm focus. I'm such a thick wide body that i need more volume in my arms and delts (and they respond better to that too). So i basically broke it into a PUSH/PULL/ARM+DELT/LEGS program, working out 4x a week. Thats was "my fix" after exploring and talking to other dudes with similar problems (honestly, i hit up Jordan's client Jaime Johal for advice). Im not sure what I would do with FT with that. Of course, I have read and dove into the threads on Scott's forum about BP stuff and tried to move the exercise order and all that, but I probably need to pivot at some level.

Glad this thread came up. I'm going to NEED to cut soon (I'm basically chilling at 293 cruising trying to get my wife pregnant) and as soon as I check that box its off the races to peel off this layer lol. I'm still working with Justin Harris and he and I have talked about, "ok, soon as this happens, let's get after it." But I've been playing with the idea of jumping into a new program.
I know Scott loves the phrase, "dance with the one who bung ya" haha so I'm not sure what ill do yet.

Thanks for the kind words, man!

I've got a FAQ on my board and one of them addresses bringing up weak muscle groups.

You're not bastardizing the program in my eyes in adjusting to make this happen - just making use of the built in flexibility. (For the sake of simplicity some of these details weren't a focus of the book, as I figured correctly that there would be some confusion. This will be in the next edition.)

A few things can be done if you're wanting to bring up arms and delts.

• Do higher volume Tiers for those muscle groups.
• Blast the living hell out of them with the Pump sets: 5's into the hole type execution and other brutal shit, including leverage drop set (e.g, go from strict triceps press downs to standing over the handle a bit and doing more of CG decline cable chest press), and isolation holds (e.g., for delts, raise both DB's for a side later and do 5 reps with one side while holding the other side up, then switch to 5 with the other arm (holding the first), etc.)
• Make the stretches brutal (focus on extreme and occlusion for 90sec).
• Choose compound exercises for chest and back to get more arm involvement (generally, without of course trying to make a back or chest movement into an arm movement)
• Be progressive with the MR's, rather than just choosing new ones on the fly. You do this various ways, but for you, keeping the failure point in the 6th set might work best and even selecting load so you're getting 3-4 reps there as you progress (lighter weight for better mind muscle connection).
• For delts, pre-exhaust with isolation before compound movement with loading sets and put isolation MR's before compound MR's.
• Exercise selection: SO MUCH to say here but I've got a few things on my IG.

Stretches I'd go with would be
• Delts: Handcuff stretch (google that if you're unsure).
• Biceps: Occlusion stretch grasping a vertical poll with a pronated/ thumb down/ palm facing rearwards grip and turn the elbow (supinate) while looking away from the arm you're stretching (similar to a pec stretch, but no to much to feel it in the pec).
• Triceps: Overhead / behind the back stretch. I like to use a cable at shoulder height or below and use a strap ( as with the handcuff stretch) to be sure grip strength isn't limiting. You'll grip the handle palm down (hand at your ear / top of your trap) and step into the stretch, pulling your arm back. (You can do the same with a barbell in a rack / smith machine just by ducking under the bar, gripping it the same way and occlusion stretching.)

-S

 

[beans]

Hey beans!

You'll run into recovery issues possible cramming the days together like that, in particular Days 1 and 2 (which are both full body in the Basic and Turbo versions). What you can do though is, depending upon your recovery, how you execute Pump sets (this is auto regulated), your age, etc. what works best for growth for you, etc. vary the Volume Tiers on Day 1 and 2, such that you're doing a lesser Volume Tier on 1 of these days. It could be done various ways. Let's say you're using Volume Tier II generally and training Day 1 and 2 on Tues and Wed. You could this:

Emphasize Loading Set Volume:
Tues: Lower Loading Sets Tier II, Upper Pump Sets Tier I
Wed: Upper Loading Sets Tier II, Lower Pump Sets Tier I

-or-

Emphasize Pump Set Volume:
Tues: Lower Loading Sets Tier I, Upper Pump Sets Tier II
Wed: Upper Loading Sets Tier I, Lower Pump Sets Tier II

-or-

Back off a bit on 2nd Day of Training (e.g., if you find yourself drained - "CNS fatigue" - on Wed.)
Tues: Lower Loading Sets Tier II, Upper Pump Sets Tier II
Wed: Upper Loading Sets Tier I, Lower Pump Sets Tier I

Focus on 2nd Day of Training (e.g., if you grow better training upper heavier and lower with higher reps)
Tues: Lower Loading Sets Tier I, Upper Pump Sets Tier I
Wed: Upper Loading Sets Tier II, Lower Pump Sets Tier II

Of course, you can change the Pump Set Strategies as well to fine tune based on Recovery.

Older guys might want to do Loading sets in a higher rep range to save the joints a bit.
Pump sets can be done with anything from a straight set of ~20-30 reps to any kind of torture you'd like including partial reps, reverse 21's, 21's, 5's into the Hole (google that) or whatever you come up with on the fly.
Hell, you could even put the Loading sets all on Day I or the Pump Sets all on Day I and adjust Tiers, there, but I'd be wary of that much loading set training all in one day unless you're backing off on Volume, relatively speaking for you. In that case, I'd put lower last if you find training legs whacks you (ala how Dante has it set up in the DC 2-way split).

-----------

Walking THAT much (do you have some kind of walking patrol job?..), this could def. beat up your legs. I would try to have a day of limited walking before (if you find it helps with training efforts) and/or after (if you find it helps with recovery) and ideally both on the days you do heavy leg training.

I would probably also favor a lower rep strategy on Pump sets and setting loads for your MR's to be a bit higher (failing in the 4th set vs. the 6th) assuming your joints are OK with that. This is just a theoretical measure to counter the molecular signaling you're sending to the active muscles in you legs with that much continuous activity (it's not one that favor growth, unless you're perhaps an individual who naturally walks in the balls of his feet and already has tremendous calf development).

-S

Thank you for the detailed response!
Currently going to start basic tier 1 like you recommend and go from there. Goal was this past week but adductor strain while posing killed that idea.
for all that walking,, Warehouse work in the food industry. Pandemic caused issues with losing and not being able to retain employees. Should return to normal in next 6 months. Which will cut steps roughly in half.
I could start the rotation a day after a shorter shift and go woth rotation falling on those days. Didnt think of that.
Fortunately they tend to recover after 2 days, some soreness next day is all.
When I did try the day 1 loading lower/upper pump i recovered for next session. But adductor issue killed that.

I will definitely be implementing this programming more with rebound and lengthy offseason. As in higher tiers due to more food/ increased recovery. Aside from that, the training is actually fun. Push, pull,legs is boring as can be. I like structure, but at same time has to be enjoyable, only got so many years we can do this stuff.

I definitely do my best to manage fatigue. Colitis will flare and will start running in reverse with progression quick. And it's hard to fix that. Had that run in 6 months ago, but from work, not gym. Not fun

 

[homonunculus]

Thank you for the detailed response!
Currently going to start basic tier 1 like you recommend and go from there. Goal was this past week but adductor strain while posing killed that idea.
for all that walking,, Warehouse work in the food industry. Pandemic caused issues with losing and not being able to retain employees. Should return to normal in next 6 months. Which will cut steps roughly in half.
I could start the rotation a day after a shorter shift and go woth rotation falling on those days. Didnt think of that.
Fortunately they tend to recover after 2 days, some soreness next day is all.
When I did try the day 1 loading lower/upper pump i recovered for next session. But adductor issue killed that.

I will definitely be implementing this programming more with rebound and lengthy offseason. As in higher tiers due to more food/ increased recovery. Aside from that, the training is actually fun. Push, pull,legs is boring as can be. I like structure, but at same time has to be enjoyable, only got so many years we can do this stuff.

I definitely do my best to manage fatigue. Colitis will flare and will start running in reverse with progression quick. And it's hard to fix that. Had that run in 6 months ago, but from work, not gym. Not fun

Sounds like you've got some good strategies to put into place.

Yes, making it fun is SUPER important, IMO. If it's not sustainable, it's not gonna work.

-S

 

[heavyhitter]

Thanks for the kind words, man!

I've got a FAQ on my board and one of them addresses bringing up weak muscle groups.

You're not bastardizing the program in my eyes in adjusting to make this happen - just making use of the built in flexibility. (For the sake of simplicity some of these details weren't a focus of the book, as I figured correctly that there would be some confusion. This will be in the next edition.)

A few things can be done if you're wanting to bring up arms and delts.

• Do higher volume Tiers for those muscle groups.
• Blast the living hell out of them with the Pump sets: 5's into the hole type execution and other brutal shit, including leverage drop set (e.g, go from strict triceps press downs to standing over the handle a bit and doing more of CG decline cable chest press), and isolation holds (e.g., for delts, raise both DB's for a side later and do 5 reps with one side while holding the other side up, then switch to 5 with the other arm (holding the first), etc.)
• Make the stretches brutal (focus on extreme and occlusion for 90sec).
• Choose compound exercises for chest and back to get more arm involvement (generally, without of course trying to make a back or chest movement into an arm movement)
• Be progressive with the MR's, rather than just choosing new ones on the fly. You do this various ways, but for you, keeping the failure point in the 6th set might work best and even selecting load so you're getting 3-4 reps there as you progress (lighter weight for better mind muscle connection).
• For delts, pre-exhaust with isolation before compound movement with loading sets and put isolation MR's before compound MR's.
• Exercise selection: SO MUCH to say here but I've got a few things on my IG.

Stretches I'd go with would be
• Delts: Handcuff stretch (google that if you're unsure).
• Biceps: Occlusion stretch grasping a vertical poll with a pronated/ thumb down/ palm facing rearwards grip and turn the elbow (supinate) while looking away from the arm you're stretching (similar to a pec stretch, but no to much to feel it in the pec).
• Triceps: Overhead / behind the back stretch. I like to use a cable at shoulder height or below and use a strap ( as with the handcuff stretch) to be sure grip strength isn't limiting. You'll grip the handle palm down (hand at your ear / top of your trap) and step into the stretch, pulling your arm back. (You can do the same with a barbell in a rack / smith machine just by ducking under the bar, gripping it the same way and occlusion stretching.)

-S

Funny....I’ve always done the bicep stretch this way because it just felt best. Just happened to grab the upright on the smith machine one day between sets and leaned away and felt this great stretch on my bicep

 

[Flex500]

Just wanted to give a shout out to Scott. If you haven't done so...buy the book!

Scott also took the time to make a very detailed post on YT to a comment I made on one of his videos (that was like a year old!) and really cool back and forth on FB. I did not and would not expect the level of engagement he gave but thought it was really and quite genuine.

I think I'd just consider buying another book to support a good human lol.

 

[homonunculus]

Funny....I’ve always done the bicep stretch this way because it just felt best. Just happened to grab the upright on the smith machine one day between sets and leaned away and felt this great stretch on my bicep

When I demo / teach / instruct on stretches, I'm all about doing just what you did - stretching intuitively, i.e., to find the technique and angle the feels right. (E.g., whether one does a single leg ham stretch with a leg up on a box, as an occlusion stretch in FT, vs. an extreme loaded stretch into a stiff-legged DL position)

This goes for the FT stretches especially b/c the occlusion and Extreme stretches (these are DC stretches) as I suggest they're used to in an auto-regulatory fashion in a could ways:

How tough the stretch is: Contraction effort during the occlusion stretch and load used during the DC stretch.
Angle / technique of the stretch: E.g., if you're lacking in upper chest stimulus on a given day, you might do an extreme db fly stretch on a incline or do unilateral pec occlusion stretches that focus the stimulus on the upper pec.

-S

 

[homonunculus]

Just wanted to give a shout out to Scott. If you haven't done so...buy the book!

Scott also took the time to make a very detailed post on YT to a comment I made on one of his videos (that was like a year old!) and really cool back and forth on FB. I did not and would not expect the level of engagement he gave but thought it was really and quite genuine.

I think I'd just consider buying another book to support a good human lol.

Thanks, Brother! I like helping of course and it's just smart to do so across platforms, too. On my board, I'll ask folks to search for stuff I've already answered ad nauseam and I send folks there who I know have access (free with the e-book). On other platforms, I'll usually note the board but also help out with a direct answer most of the time.

I would say that the vast majority of the time when folks ask in me in PM / DM a question and I direct them to the board, they never make it over there. (This is maybe 95% of the time.) I do think / hope though that when I make it known about the board after giving a good question this gets folks over there. (The board, like pro muscle of course, is a nice central hub where people can search and each post is read 100's or 1000's of times. This is a good use of my time and way to disseminate info, as is FB and YT. Answering a Q that's in the e-book and I've answered on the board already in private message to someone is something I just can't afford to do and keeps them coming back to me vs. the board. Even now, in making this post, I'm probably saving time as folks get this message.)

-S

 

[tkav1980]

OK Bought the book this morning and just finished reading it.
So so many questions and cant get into the board : account verification email never showed up and is not in spam.

I'm concerned with exercise variety. I have the following equipment to work with.

Bar / plates up to 650 lbs
Power rack
Solid flat bench
Adjustable bench
spin lock dumbells : I can get a single one up to about 110 but not both
EZ curl bar
Single pulley cable I made.

I have no idea how I'd do a muscle round with this set up. This is gonna be tough to figure out.

And a commercial gym is unfortunately out of the question. I will however slowly, as funds allow, be adding to the home gym.

I need to get my ass over to that board and figure out how to use this program. It seems amazing and if nothing else, It gives me some interesting ideas on how to tweak another program I like.

 

[kastro]

Looks like you should be good on upper body stuff.For legs you could look into an IRONMIND hip belt squat.Not sure how much they are these days but i bought mine about 20 years ago and it was pretty cheap.Im sure Scott will chime in and give you some ideas he is a goldmine of knowledge

 

[Delt123]

OK Bought the book this morning and just finished reading it.
So so many questions and cant get into the board : account verification email never showed up and is not in spam.

I'm concerned with exercise variety. I have the following equipment to work with.

Bar / plates up to 650 lbs
Power rack
Solid flat bench
Adjustable bench
spin lock dumbells : I can get a single one up to about 110 but not both
EZ curl bar
Single pulley cable I made.

I have no idea how I'd do a muscle round with this set up. This is gonna be tough to figure out.

And a commercial gym is unfortunately out of the question. I will however slowly, as funds allow, be adding to the home gym.

I need to get my ass over to that board and figure out how to use this program. It seems amazing and if nothing else, It gives me some interesting ideas on how to tweak another program I like.

-back width muscle round: rack chins: put the bb on the safety bars and pull yourself up using the bb.
-back thickness muscle round: deadstop bor. again using the safety bars.
-chest muscleround: deadstop decline/flat/incline presses.
-shoulders muscle round: either exercise tbh. Deadstop OH presses if you want to press.
-Tricep muscle round: deadstop EZ skullcrusher.
-Biceps muscle round: EZ curl

-calf muscle round: using the 45lbs plates as an elevation: standing (unilateral) db calf raise.
-hamstring muscle round: lying db leg curl, either from the ground (shorter ROM) or on a bench where you put some plates below the front ‘feet’ of the bench.
-quad muscle round: Db split squats.

 

[OuchThatHurts]

OK Bought the book this morning and just finished reading it.
So so many questions and cant get into the board : account verification email never showed up and is not in spam.

I'm concerned with exercise variety. I have the following equipment to work with.

Bar / plates up to 650 lbs
Power rack
Solid flat bench
Adjustable bench
spin lock dumbells : I can get a single one up to about 110 but not both
EZ curl bar
Single pulley cable I made.

I have no idea how I'd do a muscle round with this set up. This is gonna be tough to figure out.

And a commercial gym is unfortunately out of the question. I will however slowly, as funds allow, be adding to the home gym.

I need to get my ass over to that board and figure out how to use this program. It seems amazing and if nothing else, It gives me some interesting ideas on how to tweak another program I like.

With the exception of needing a little more dumbell weight, there is no reason why you can't science out an awesome FT program just with what you have right there.