JOLIET JERRY'S DORM ROOM

Well it has been a while since my last update, so I felt it was time to check in. It is hard to believe that it’s March already and I have been on the DC training program for nearly 9 weeks. I have to say that I really enjoy this style of training. When I think of the endless volume per body part that I used to do I just cannot imagine going back to that. DC training requires some adjustment of thought process, some significant knowledge of how your body works (and doesn’t work), and at the beginning just blind faith that it will work. The first time through each workout is spent figuring out what weights work for you at the target rep ranges. Then each subsequent workout is a battle against the log book. In each workout, the sole focus is on increasing either the reps or the weight for each exercise from the previous workout. I am happy to say that I have done so with every exercise of every workout for the entire nine weeks. There was one week where I matched the previous workout on seated calf raises, but that was the worst I have done with anything so far.

Here is what I have done so far on the big three lifts…

Incline Bench Press
Week 1: 205 x 13
Most recent workout: 235 x 16

Smith Machine Squats
Week 1: 225 x 7 and 185 x 20
Most recent workout: 265 x 10 and 225 x 20

Rack Deadlifts
Week 1: 305 x 10 and 325 x 6
Most recent workout: 325 x 10 and 345 x 6

The basic DC tenets call for high intensity, low volume training and BIG eating. This was quite an adjustment for me. When I was going through my last 12 week program, which I blogged here in detail, a big part of my problem was eating enough. I had a hard time maintaining around 2,500 calories per day. Well nowadays I am consuming anywhere from 3,300 to 3,700 calories per day. It is a high protein, moderate carb, moderate fat diet that requires carb cut-offs later in the day. I have to tell you it’s kind of fun to be able to eat so much again. I have gained about 10 pounds in the 9 weeks and I know it isn’t all muscle but part of the psychology that I had to come to terms with was that in order to add mass, you have to add weight and all that weight isn’t going to be muscle mass. I have faith in my ability to diet the excess fat off when that time comes, but for now I am just focused on building mass. I look better, I feel better and I am performing better. It was quite a revelation how big of a part diet plays in adding mass. I mean I always talked the talk about it, but hadn’t really put it into practice on myself. Now that I see how it works, I truly believe in the fact that in order to get big you have to eat big.

My supplementation regimen is apparently working well because my recovery time is great. I am sore as hell for the two days following a workout, but by the time I need to train those muscles again, it’s all good. The additions I made to my program when I started to DC were to start taking 5g of glutamine twice a day, once in the morning and once post workout and I have also been taking 500mg of glucosamine + MSM twice a day.

So that’s about it for now. I will check back in as progress continues. Obviously, the gains will slow at some point. At that point you go into what they call a “cruise” which is about a week of active rest. Supposedly you come back from the cruise into the next “blast” stronger than ever. It will be interesting to see what happens. Whatever it is, I will be here to share it all with you, my RA friends.

Until then, keep working hard.

Jerry