What 220lbs. At 6% Looks Like According To Dexa

[IronLion2]

Need to place the feet out toward the end of the foot plate too.

The depths of your feet certainly help recruit the quads but I do the exact opposite. Platz did the same thing, it's much harder mobility wise which duh platz but there's no better knee and thigh movement than keeping your feet close and under your glutes while pushing your knees wide and out. Bodybuilders often have no fucking thighs, especially physique guys, the outer quad sweep is the minority of the anterior legs.

 

[thethinker48]

Wooo dude have fun.

A good hack squat changed my training forever. Took the need to squats completely out (i was a hip squatter anyways and hit 700+ that way...never any tension on my quads tho) Hacks are the best.

And belt squats?! you lucky SOB. Probably the piece of equipment I'm the most jealous of.

Ty. That belt squat machine is hands down the best leg movement that removes unnecessary lower back stress.

I did both hacks and belt squats today, and my lower back feels great. For probably 8 years I trained at a place with only a leg press and squat rack. Great movements, but man it's nice to have variety.

 

[IronLion2]

Ty. That belt squat machine is hands down the best leg movement that removes unnecessary lower back stress.

I did both hacks and belt squats today, and my lower back feels great. For probably 8 years I trained at a place with only a leg press and squat rack. Great movements, but man it's nice to have variety.

Hatfield squats, ass to grass or split stance on the belt or pitt shark. Thank me later.

I've got some clients I'll do entire blocks on just the Pitt shark. Good for bodybuilders but even better for athletes.

 

[lookslikesausage]

I agree. Hacks work great if you use the right foot placement to take some stress off the knees. They feel great! Belt squats are a favorite of mine also. Its too bad that more guys don't get to use the belt squat. Its the only exercise that feels like it's going to shred my quads right off the bone, in a good way.

interesting. the gym i train at has a Pit Shark belt squat and i don't get a lot of quad stimulation using it. i've tried every foot placement and distance from the load too. the way it pulls my hips back very much resembles and feels like a PLing style squat (butt out, hips back). Big fan of hacks though.

 

[maldorf]

The depths of your feet certainly help recruit the quads but I do the exact opposite. Platz did the same thing, it's much harder mobility wise which duh platz but there's no better knee and thigh movement than keeping your feet close and under your glutes while pushing your knees wide and out. Bodybuilders often have no fucking thighs, especially physique guys, the outer quad sweep is the minority of the anterior legs.

Just that position is the one that puts the most stress on the knees. Got so I couldn't do them that way.

 

[Backfrominjury]

Awesome physique bro. Quads are amazing. Congrats on putting in the work!

 

[Cmacchia71]

I do push / pull / legs and hit it all twice a week. I take Wednesday off. One push day is upper chest / front delt focus, the other is mid chest and medial delt. One pull day is back thickness, the other is width. One leg day is quads, the other is hamstrings and glutes.

I've managed to replicate everything I do at the gym on my Bowflex - rack deadlifts, leg press, abduction / adduction, etc. I have had to get creative - for example, to exhaust my legs on leg press, I put all weights on both sides, loop a blue EliteFTS band around the tower and over my back, then press with one leg at a time.

I literally didn't change anything from my gym workouts - same exercises, same number of sets. The reps are a little higher on compound lifts simply because the Bowflex doesn't have as much resistance as I'd like.

The key to remember if your muscles aren't smart - they don't know if they're lifting a barbell with 405lbs. or a resistance band, they only know how hard they're working. If you can get the same feeling in your muscles you do with real weights, you're good.

Awesome job, thank you for sharing. I've found that the body does not need the massive amounts of protein and calories to grow. This is definitely a healthier way to grow. Carb manipulation is the key to growth and for getting ripped. Thanks again

 

[madg]

Daniel what split you using in your training ?

How many sets ?

Thanks

 

[IronLion2]

@danieltx did you say you ran NPH or N for the carb loads or are you R for all dosing?

 

[danieltx]

Daniel what split you using in your training ?

How many sets ?

Thanks

I do push / pull / legs and hit it all twice a week. I take Wednesday off. One push day is upper chest / front delt focus, the other is mid chest and medial delt. One pull day is back thickness, the other is width. One leg day is quads, the other is hamstrings and glutes.

I'm going to list actual workouts here but WHAT WORKS BEST FOR ME WILL NOT BE WHAT WORKS BEST FOR YOU! Don't just blindly follow others' plans, you'll never reach your full potential that way. Use them as guide, note what works and doesn't work for you, and continue creating your own plans.

Push:

• Free Motion incline fly x 3 (warm up)
• Hammer Strength incline press x 8
• Free Motion T-incline fly x 3
• Free Motion lateral raise / front raise superset x 3
• Shoulder press machine single arm x 3
• Another cable-pulley or DB lateral raise / front raise superset x 3 (ex. this time lateral raises with arms straight out vs. upright row style earlier)
• Push down single arm x 6

Pull:

• Hammer Strength low row single arm x 4
• Free Motion high row single arm x 3
• Smith machine rack deadlift x 5-6
• Smith machine shrug behind back x 3-4
• Hammer Strength plate loaded preacher curl single arm x 3
• Cable pulley hammer curl single arm x 3
• Cable pulley wrist curls both sides x 3

Legs:

• Hip adbuction x 4
• Leg extension x 4
• Hip adduction x 4
• Free Motion Hack squat plate loaded x 4-5
• Leg press x 4-5
  • Sometimes I don't do Hack squats and just do 12 sets of leg press

 

[danieltx]

@danieltx did you say you ran NPH or N for the carb loads or are you R for all dosing?

I rarely use Humulin N - only deep in my offseason when my daily carbs are at their highest. Currently only doing carbs intraworkout and in my last meal of the day during the week so it'll be a while before I touch it, if at all.

I use Humulin R (technically Novolin R but I'm so used to saying Humulin) for everything - preworkout, around meals, etc.

 

[danieltx]

Just had my rebound Dexa scan - now at 262lbs. at 6.2% from 219.8lbs. at 6.1% on May 22, just over 9 weeks. Couldn't be happier with the results - blew away last year's rebound (242lbs. at 7.8%) and well on my way to 275+lbs.

Took this yesterday during chest / shoulders / triceps:

 

[thethinker48]

Just crazy and consistent progress bro. Great job!

 

[Sides]

How have you changed your training during the rebound? I know in your initial post, you mentioned that because you had maintained so well on the Bowflex, that you would be slotting in less intense work to recover, as opposed to going hard and heavy week after week all the time. Have you regularly scheduled in rest weeks or less intense periods to deload and recover, or have you been pushing hard to gain all the time during your rebound?

 

[danieltx]

How have you changed your training during the rebound? I know in your initial post, you mentioned that because you had maintained so well on the Bowflex, that you would be slotting in less intense work to recover, as opposed to going hard and heavy week after week all the time. Have you regularly scheduled in rest weeks or less intense periods to deload and recover, or have you been pushing hard to gain all the time during your rebound?

I haven't made too many changes, but some of the big ones are:

• No incline barbell benching
  • Currently using Hammer Strength incline press
• Only flat barbell benching every 2-3 weeks
  • Mostly using Hammer Strength flat press instead
• Still not back to my preferred Hack squats
  • I always trained legs at 24 Hour Fitness but that location's now closed and I haven't found a gym with a Hack squat that hits my quads as well
• Only leg pressing for quads right now
• No barbell shoulder pressing
  • Currently using Hammer Strength shoulder press, facing out for side delts and facing in for front delts - all unilateral

My changes are really more with my training than rest - doing less systemically fatiguing exercises, things that isolate the target muscle better. I still train 6 days a week with 1 scheduled off day, only taking an extra if I really feel worn out. I do deload on Smith rack deadlifts about every 4 weeks, but that's the only deloading I do in my training.

Pushing as hard as ever to maximize gains on this rebound, just continuing to refine my approach so I get more from what I do. That's key to consistently progressing over the years.

 

[USMuscle9403]

Fuck, what a rebound. And just as lean, impressive as hell, dude. What's your diet like now? Sorry if I missed it...

 

[danieltx]

Fuck, what a rebound. And just as lean, impressive as hell, dude. What's your diet like now? Sorry if I missed it...

This was yesterday:

Breakfast:

• 2 scoops ON Hydrowhey
• 1 scoop True Nutrition custom mix

Lunch part 1 (I eat half this now, half later):

• 10oz. 98% ground beef
• 10oz. chicken breast
• 5oz. bison top sirloin
• 17oz. hash brown potatoes

Intraworkout:

• 1/2 scoops Karbolyn (was doing 1-1.5 scoops earlier in rebound when carbs in other meals weren't as high)
• 4 scoops Purple Wraath
• 2 scoops Crealyze

Postworkout:

• 1.5 scoops Rice N Grinds
• 2.75 scoops ON Hydrowhey
• 1 pack Ghirardelli mug brownie mix

Lunch part 2:

• Finish what's left, typically 1/2 to 1/3 of what I made

Big bowl - all this gets mixed up in a bowl, freezes for a while, then microwaved to eat:

• 2 scoops ON Hydrowhey
• 2 scoops True Nutriton custom mix
• 2 Tiff's Treats cookies
• 6 tbsp Lion's Pack sugar-free cookie dough
• 1 pint Nick's light ice cream
• 3 tbsp sunflower butter
• 1 Quest bar
• Wash it all down with a big glass of almond milk

I'm pushing ~5,000 calories / day right now, definitely the most I've ever consumed. I've kept my diet a bit cleaner on this rebound compared to last year and it's definitely helped my results.

 

[USMuscle9403]

I love how your diet is very strict but kinda not I'm learning myself how well the body can utilize freshly introduced calories, even with some junk thrown in there. I'm around the same, about 5k, but am only just now noticing a little water starting to creep up. I guess an average of at least a half dozen extra donuts every day, plus staying overnight at work which mysteriously leads to a large, high quality pizza half the time, eventually leads to some water weight...

 

[juggy38]

John meadows really opened my eyes in calories. He said when he won his pro card he was at 1500-1600 calories for the last 3 weeks, doing 6 days of his MD training and cardio 4-5x a week. And he has a shit ton of muscle.

I thought I was gonna get “ripped” at 22-2300 calories lol