When I sent the e-mail out to subscribers and posted Why I Am No Longer A “Natural” Trainee I did not anticipate the response, which was overwhelming. Although I read every e-mail, I received so many, so quickly I am unable to directly reply to all of them right away. I appreciate all of your support and encouragement and will try to reply to every single response individually over time, but I wanted to address a lot of the common questions here for efficiency and so other readers could benefit.
Clomiphene Citrate and Anastrazole
First, about the drugs. Clomiphene Citrate and Anastrazole are not steroids. They increase testosterone indirectly by blocking estrogen so the body produces more luteinizing hormone which tells the testes to produce more testosterone and reducing the amount of testosterone that is converted to estrogen. These were prescribed instead of a testosterone replacement because increasing my own body’s production will also help with fertility, while taking a replacement would reduce it.
After we conceive I will probably switch to an injectable testosterone (more consistent than creams and gels, less concern about contact with others, but it depends on what my doctor will prescribe) and when I do I will be glad to answer any questions anyone has about what I am doing. As I mentioned in the last e-mail, I do not intend to take dosages comparable to those used by competitive bodybuilders which will result in supraphysiological levels of testosterone, but rather just enough to stay in the high end of the normal range.
I plan to keep everything within normal physiological ranges so anything I accomplish with training and diet is a representative of what is possible to drug-free trainees. Having been lax with my diet for a while and procrastinating on getting back in what I would consider “good” condition I’m feeling a lot more motivated and plan to be in “beach condition” in the next six to eight weeks. A process I will be blogging about.
Supplements
A few people asked about supplements for raising testosterone While there are a large number of supplements which claim to increase testosterone, very few live up to the hype. If you are deficient in zinc or vitamin D supplementation with these will help, but if you are not deficient taking more will not. While there is some research supporting the use of DHEA and fenugreek, the results depend on the population. Most of the rest of the testosterone-boosting supplements are a waste of money.
Diet
I am not making any dietary changes except to reduce and keep better track of calorie intake. My diet consists of mostly meat, fish, eggs and vegetables and fruit, with some nuts for snacks, and lots of coffee and water.
Comments on High TUL SuperSlow
Many people asked about the comment I made about losing size when using high TUL SuperSlow. At the time I was using a rep range of four to eight which resulted in TULs averaging over two minutes and training once weekly. Those of you who have been following my writing for a while might remember in the early 2000’s when I started writing about my experiments with what I then considered “low” TULs, in the range of three to four reps, or sixty to eighty seconds and the beginning of the reversal of this.
While this might seem to contradict the results of research showing relative effort to be more important than absolute load for stimulating muscular strength and size increases (all else being equal, achieving failure in a shorter TUL requires a higher load) consider most of this research was performed using typical repetition cadences, and not comparing them with the extremely long sets typical of SuperSlow.
The primacy of relative effort only appears to apply up to a point, beyond which a reduction in load or increase in TUL will result in less effective stimulus.
Although the optimal rep range can vary between individuals, and even muscle groups, and with different goals, I have found a rep range of six to ten at a moderate cadence (4/4) to be safe and effective, and use this as a starting point with my clients. For movements where a squeeze technique can be applied I use a 4/2/4 cadence and reduce the rep range to five to eight to keep the same TUL.
SuperSlow is an effective way to train, and if you are more comfortable or feel safer with slower reps then keep doing them, but don’t let your TUL’s get too high. Three to five reps is enough at that speed. High Intensity Workouts 2nd Edition Update
Once again, I haven’t stuck to my outline and have continued to expand the book beyond it’s original scope. What started out as an update has turned into a major rewrite with a lot of additional content, and I have started adding performance guidelines and tips for all of the exercises in all of the routines. The bad news is it’s going to be about another week, the good news is there is going to be a whole lot more stuff than originally intended. There will be no increase in price despite the additional content. With my current schedule it should be about another week and the bonus video will be available shortly after. In the meanwhile I am going to keep the pre-order page up for those interested:
Pre-Order the updated, expanded second edition of High Intensity Workouts
New Squat Rack Design
I’ve also finally gotten around to designing a squat rack, which incorporates some features from the UXS. In addition to the standard stuff like adjustable bar hooks, safety spotter bars, and plate and bar storage, there will be multiple chin-up and pull-up handles, dipping and rowing bars, a rounded heel-raise step and a few other things I’m working on designing.
I’ve designed the safety spotter bars so they can be flipped and attached upside down so they’ll hold a bar loaded with forty five pound plates about half an inch above the floor, making it less of a pain in the ass to load and unload for deadlifts.
Those tubes extending from behind the chin-up and pull-up handles are two, two-and-one-half, and three inch diameter handles for static holds to work the grip. Whether some version of this makes it into the final design depends on whether I find a better use for the space and how interested people are in the feature.
There will also be a spotter/hip-belt squat stand, although I’m still debating whether to make this fixed or have it flip up and back out of the way when not in use.
The beginnings of the first draft of a squat rack
This is in the very early stages, and I have no idea when it will be complete. I won’t have any idea what the price point will be until I’m done with the design and know what it will cost to build. It is being designed with a low profile (around seven feet tall) to fit in residential spaces, and so short people don’t have to jump to reach the chin-up and pull-up bars.
If you have questions about anything I’ve written about here, please post them in the comments below.
Thanks again to everybody for your support and encouragement, and keep training hard,
Drew
Comments on this entry are closed.
You said most test boosters are a waste of money, are there any out there that are legit, and when does the new book come out?
Adam,
DHEA and testofen/fenugreek are the only ones that seem to have much effect. D-aspartic acid increased serum and free testosterone significantly in one study, but I haven’t seen it duplicated yet and clients who have used it have seen little difference in blood tests. Contrary to marketing claims, tribulus is not an effective testosterone booster, and while large doses of horny goat weed increases testosterone in rats it hasn’t been shown to do the same in humans. Yohimbine is effective for fat burning but is not an effective testosterone booster, either.
I’m still finishing writing and editing several sections of the book and am trying to have it ready to go out this weekend.
So are you not eating carbs then? I was staying away from carbs for a while and found that I lost a lot of muscle. At this time I also started training using Doug McGuff’s methods from his BBS book and therefore reduced training from 3-4x week to just 1 or 2x. I recently started adding carbs back based on what I read from the Archevore Diet, where I eat bananas, potato, white rice and corn flakes on my workout days(2-3x week) and low carb paleo other days, meals eaten in an IF fashion as prescribed by Martin Berkham of leangains fame. One day a week i am carefree with nutrition and just indulge. I’m hoping to be able to put back on the muscle I lost, and then some. What do you think? I think the combination of low carbs and lower frequency/volume of training had a negative impact on my gains.
Hey Alessandro,
Of course I’m eating carbs. Vegetables and fruits are primarily carbohydrate, and I also eat some rice and use bagels or tortillas to make sandwiches occasionally.
I think you’re correct about the low carbs and too little volume and frequency affecting gains. The volume and frequency issue and finding a balance between overtraining and undertraining is something I cover in High Intensity Workouts 2.
Drew,
I would be very interested to learn as much as possible about your training and diet with regards to getting back into “beach condition” as you describe it. It’s something that I’m at the moment myself, and as a regular visitor to your site I’d love to read about what you’re doing.
Keep up the good work.
AC.
Hey AC,
The workouts I’m doing are covered in the upcoming High Intensity Workouts, but I will also write something this week outlining my current training and diet.
Hey Drew,
More questions from me, sorry!
On a similar note, and this links with what Alessandro mentioned you say say in your post – https://baye.com/getting-ripped-abs-with-no-direct-abdominal-exercises/
“On the day the photo in the book was taken I weighed 152 pounds in the morning. A few days prior my body fat was measured using Futrex (infrared), bioelectrical impedance, and skin folds, all of which put me between 3 and 4 percent body fat, although I think 5 or 6 might have been a more realistic figure.
About one week after resuming my normal diet I weighed over 165 pounds and actually appeared more muscular and leaner, indicating I was significantly glycogen depleted and should have spent the last few days before the contest carb loading.”
Now, I’m guessing the day of the 152 bodyweight was the black and white photo you have on this page – https://baye.com/ripped-abs/
Do you have any photos of you at the 165 bodyweight?
I’d love to see the difference between the two. Do you think you would have placed higher if you competed at 165, i.e. peaked a little better?
How much do you weigh now, and what weight do you think you’ll have to get down to in order to be in “beach condition”?
Do you see “beach condition” being something that will be easy for you to maintain in the long run?
AC,
I wish I had taken photos then. I definitely looked better, but I don’t know whether I’d have placed higher as a middleweight, since there were a lot of great competitors.
I currently weigh 202 pounds and my bodyfat percentage is in the high teens, so I need to get down in the 180’s to be where I want to. Maintaining it will not be difficult, it’s just a matter of eating more conscientiously.
Drew,
“Although the optimal rep range can vary between individuals, and even muscle groups, and with different goals, I have found a rep range of six to ten at a moderate cadence (4/4) to be safe and effective, and use this as a starting point with my clients. For movements where a squeeze technique can be applied I use a 4/2/4 cadence and reduce the rep range to five to eight to keep the same TUL.”
Do your suggestions for rep cadence (4/4 and 4/2/4) already include the time it takes to perform a smooth lower and upper turnaround of movement?
Thanks, Andy
Andy,
Yes, this includes turnaround time. I covered this in detail in the article Repetition Speed Recommendations.
I like the idea of keeping the squat rack at 7′ tall. many of the squat racks on the market are closer to 8′ making it not useable in older style homes with lower ceillings. biggest concern for me is the price. all those attachements can increase cost of producing making it harder to make some money. the chinup bars only really need to be straight and the ability to use a hammer grip. I wouldn’t put them on angles but that is just me. spotter rack is essential. looking forward to end result. keep us updated
James,
This is one of the things I’ve considered in the design. In addition to fitting in residential spaces I like to have the chin-up and pull-up bars at a height most people can grip without having to jump or hop up and a shorter person can reach with a short step.
While straight and parallel bars would work fine, the bars are angled for wrist comfort. After using the angled chin up bar on the UXS for a while I wouldn’t want to go back to a straight bar.
The safety spotter bars will be about 30″ deep, and reversible to allow the bar to be set low enough so when it is loaded with 45 pound plates they just clear the floor by a short distance. This will allow for much easier loading and unloading of plates for deadlifting.
One thing I was curious about is do you use the same rep ranges for all your clients. I remember Arthur Jones talking about specific rep ranges for trainees based on muscle efficiency. When I used a 4:2:4 cadence I found I could only manage 5 and a half reps for upper body and 8 for lower body. I have done other HIT programs requiring higher rep ranges in the past but used a faster cadence but still controlling the weight. However even if I use a faster cadence that the rep range is pretty consistent. These days rather than use any particular rep cadence I just try and control and load the muscle as much as possible. I’m really looking forward to your Doug Holland interview. Without getting all the back issues of Hardgainer his material isn’t very common. The squat rack sounds fantastic. Also anyone thinking of getting Project Kratos it comes highly recommended.
Vijay,
I start clients with the same rep ranges then adjust them based on individual response.
Doug is a great guy, a font of knowledge, and highly entertaining. I think you’ll enjoy reading my interview with him.
I ordered the paper book; does it come with a link to Ebook as well? Looking forward to it.
Why do you use reps instead of time under load? Obviously there will be a close correlation IF you are fairly precise in your 4 seconds up 4 seconds down; 8 sec/rep x 6-10 = 48-80 seconds, right? (I go to a gym where the nice young sadistic trainer holds the stopwatch on me and we right now are using 2 minutes as the “raise the weight” signal.)
This 59 year old doc is glad to have found you and McGuff by the way; after a year of HIT I’m again proud to look in the mirror. Thanks for your work.
Hey Jim,
I use repetitions rather than time under load for several reasons, but the primary one is that it is easier and more practical when self-training to count repetitions than to mess around with a stopwatch.
Part of the reason many high intensity training instructors switched from using the repetition count to time under load back in the nineties was because it was believed doing so would discourage a lot of form discrepancies people tend to commit when they’re more focused on getting reps than efficiently working their muscles, however this could have also been accomplished by making it clear to clients or subjects that only good repetitions will be counted. While this did tend to reduce some form problems it caused another, some people started intentionally slowing down or spending more time in positions where exercises are easier to extend the time, or “sandbagging”. This is not as much of a problem when using the repetition count.
Also, the tally counter is a useful tool for training when clients or subjects are taught to wait for the audible “click” as a cue to stop holding at the end point of compound pulling and simple exercises or when to start the turnaround as they approach the end point of compound pushing exercises.
Counting repetitions
Drew have you ever looked into warrior diet or anti estrogenic diet by Ori Hofmekler to address the testosterone/estrogen issue, I just found out I’m on the low end as well and would value your opinion . Thanks
Hey Joe,
I am familiar with the warrior diet but haven’t read Ori Hofmekler’s book yet and don’t know enough about the specifics of either to comment on them. I do know that your diet has a significant effect on testosterone and estrogen, and have made several adjustments to mine for this purpose, including more green leafy vegetables for the magnesium and zinc, more cruciferous for the indoles, and increased my carbohydrate intake to a moderate level. I will write a review of Hofmekler’s book when I read it.
I clicked through your link on “low carb causes low testosterone.” The subjects were on low carb for 3 days is all. It takes 2-4 weeks to even begin to “ketoadapt”; this is a common flaw in low carb research by people who do not know what they are doing. Jeff Volek wrote a book called something like “TNT” which is an intermittent carb program (Jeff is also an amateur weightlifter.) That said, we all have to figure in our own goals. As an almost 60 yo guy muscle growth is a bit lower on my list than health but I do totally understand the desire to build a physique. And my kid-siring days are in my past.
Doc Jim (Paleopathologist.com)
Jim,
Another way to look at this is it only took three days on a low carb diet for testosterone levels to drop. While there is tremendous variability in the amount of carbs that is optimal for any individual, I don’t think the majority of people need to go nearly as low as the 10 to 20% some are recommending.
Drew,
You mentioned years ago that you might eventually go on testosterone therapy. I was curious if you ever did. I’m 58 and have been on testosterone therapy for 3 years now. It completely changed my life.
Thanks
Doug
No, I never did. I’m 45 now and after cleaning up my diet and making an effort to get more sleep I think I’ll be fine without it for at least a few more years. I probably will when I’m in my 50s.