With a week of lifting under my belt after a little layoff, I fully expect to start adding the weight to my lifts which will help to build muscle.

Week 2 Workout 4 of the Texas Method

The What

Foam Roll:

Calf, Quad, Hamstring, IT Band, Glutes, Pec, Lat (See Mike Boyle’s FSC 4.0 DVD and Defranco’s Core DVD)

Movement Prep:

Inchworm complex, KB Halo, KB Goblet Squat, KB Windmill, Overhead Band Wall Squat, Band Shoulder Dislocations, Lying Handcuffs, Lateral Band Walks, Single Leg Glute Iso Holds, T-Spine Bench Extensions, T-Spine Kneeling Rotations, Band Pull Aparts

Strength:

A1. Hip Thrust 3×5 – Worked up to 355lbs for 5 reps

A2. Band W’s – blue band x 15 reps for 3 sets

B1. Bench 5×5 – 215lbs x 5 reps for 5 sets

B2. Ab Wheel Rollouts 5×8 – bodyweight x 8 reps for 5 sets

C1. Squats 3×5 – 205lbs x 5 reps for 3 sets

C2. Cable Ab Crunch 3×15 – 12x 15 reps for 3 sets

Why This Will Help Build Muscle

Once again, this is the volume workout of the week. It’s designed to create a stress response that will eventually lead to a supercompensation for my PR workout of the week. It’s all about big compound movement for moderate reps/sets and moderate to heavy weights.

The Results

I felt 200% better than last week. Even though I’m still far below my 5 rep max on the bench, I easily could have done 225lbs this week, but I didn’t want to push it. Next week, I’ll hit that. As far as the squat is concerned, it’s still a battle. It improved by 20lbs since last week, but it was a struggle. If you noticed, I only did 3 sets of squats as compared to 5 sets of the bench. The reason being the hip thrusts and the fact I play tennis and basketball 3-4 times per weeks. Thus, I have to watch my volume for legs, or I get overtrained easily.

You may also notice I did hip thrusts instead of sumo deadlifts. After reading the work of Rippetoe as well as a few articles by strength coach Charles Staley, Irealized heavy deadlifts were extremely taxing on the entire body, especially for a hardgainer who is already squatting heavy. Thus, I perform the deadlifts every 2 weeks, and rotate them with hip thrusts which still works the hip hinge pattern.

A few other related points to ponder

  • People who continually say a calorie is a calorie are idiots. During my vacation, I decreased my protein intake and increased my carb intake (primarily because we ate out almost every meal). Even though my weight didn’t increase, I lost noticeable definition in my abs. My wife still doesn’t believe that I didn’t gain a pound during the vacation because of my decreased definition. A new study was just published in JAMA that evaluated diets with identical caloric intakes but different macronutrient %’s on body composition, insulin sensitivity, cholesterol levels, and a few other health parameters.  The results were as expected. I’ll have a post about it in the next week or so.
  • I’m a believer in BCAAs. Even though the evidence supporting their use is still sketchy, I’ve had nothing but success with them. I highly recommend adding them to your periworkout drink. I consume 15-20g during my workout. Here’s a great article by strength coach Charles Poliquin on their benefits. Primaforce just added a watermelon flavor to its BCAA powder. It’s quite tasty. If you’ve ever taken unflavored BCAAs, you know how unfriendly they can be on your taste buds.
  • Foam roll. Trust me, you’ll feel much better.