Fortitude Training (Review)

[Jim]

Scott
What are your thoughts of using the fortitude approach when prepping?

 

[Scott Stevenson]

If one on, one off isn't precluded, I think I'll stick with it in that case.
It just feels "right".

Resting times coming down was in regard to between muscle rounds.
The back MRs and leg MRs batter me but the necessary waiting time between other body parts doesn't seem to be as highly demanding now/today - which it was on the first day of MRs.

It's no hardship to keep time between sets fixed, however.

Cheers for the reply - I will PM you over on the other side.

Roger Dodger.

Got you back on the "other side."

-S

 

[Scott Stevenson]

Scott
What are your thoughts of using the fortitude approach when prepping?

Only if you've used it previously in the off-season. I'd not start the new program when dieting - too much changing at once.

-S

 

[TinyTim]

 

[GSB]

Guys..

Question on these..

TIer 2 - Muscle Rounds,

If you have say 2 muscle rounds for thighs....would you do say one on smith squats and then one on leg press or can you do both on the smith squat?

Then you zig zag to the isolation exercises i believe?

So Say..

Smith Squat.
Leg Extenstion(quad - anyone got any quad isolation exercises....would bulgarian split squat be one...or lunges?)
Smith Squat
Hamstring Curl

STRETCH..

Then do calves, bis, forearms and stretch again...

ALSO...on the UPPER muscle round day..if your doing 2muscle rounds per bodypart for back, chest delts...do you complete say BOTH musclerounds using different exercises for each bodypart, stretch, then move onto the next bodypart correct?

 

[danny187]

@Righty

He is the man for this or Dr Scott himself

 

[Mr mac]

If memory serves your best to pick the same compound twice on that day. Then you can change or rotate it next week

 

[Scott Stevenson]

Guys..

Question on these..

TIer 2 - Muscle Rounds,

If you have say 2 muscle rounds for thighs....would you do say one on smith squats and then one on leg press or can you do both on the smith squat?

Then you zig zag to the isolation exercises i believe?

So Say..

Smith Squat.
Leg Extenstion(quad - anyone got any quad isolation exercises....would bulgarian split squat be one...or lunges?)
Smith Squat
Hamstring Curl

STRETCH..

Zig zagging the term I use for LOADING sets, not for Muscle rounds.

You can order the MR's however you like: DO isolation's first to pre-fatigue, do 1 compound thigh MR, the Iso MR's and then finish with another compound MR. Your call

ALSO...on the UPPER muscle round day..if your doing 2muscle rounds per bodypart for back, chest delts...do you complete say BOTH musclerounds using different exercises for each bodypart, stretch, then move onto the next bodypart correct?

That's also up to you.

For the sake of moving through your workout, doing all the MR's for a given muscle group is fastest, b/c you'll need less warm-up. You won't be able to effectively use in iso MR to pre-fatigue for a muscle group (e.g. a fly movement before a press movement) if you train other muscle groups in between.

OTOH, if you're someone who feels they can benefit from using heavier loads (experience tells you this or you've not done a program that was progressive overload based and focused on lifting heavy), you can do an MR for each muscle group, moving through them sequentially, which will mean you're more recovered for each muscle round. This doesn't take THAT much longer b/c you can, for instance, finish AN MR for back and then go pretty quickly into a Warm-up for chest when still recovering from back. You'll be receiving from back as you warm up the chest, so you're kind of multi-tasking.

I intentionally left these things open too in case you have a particular machine you want to use or what have you. Some guys will get fixated on sequencing exercises, etc. and the MR's are about choosing the right exercise and sequencing them the right way, including doing MR's for different muscle groups one at a time if that means more weight for you. (You also keep a good pump in the whole upper body doing them this way... )

-S

 

[GSB]

Really appreciate the fast response Scott!

Smith Sissy Squats....QUAD exercise or thigh mate? Same with bulgarian split squats and lunges....Im going to say all QUAD as they do isolate the quad well?

With the latter two, you alternate each leg...so on loading if you did them would you do say 6-12reps one side then the other then rest 2mins and repeat...and same IF you were crazy enough to do it for muscle round...4reps one side, 4reps next side and just repeat as i am guessing the 4reps gives your other side 10s or near enough to rest?

 

[TinyTim]

Really appreciate the fast response Scott!

Smith Sissy Squats....QUAD exercise or thigh mate? Same with bulgarian split squats and lunges....Im going to say all QUAD as they do isolate the quad well?

With the latter two, you alternate each leg...so on loading if you did them would you do say 6-12reps one side then the other then rest 2mins and repeat...and same IF you were crazy enough to do it for muscle round...4reps one side, 4reps next side and just repeat as i am guessing the 4reps gives your other side 10s or near enough to rest?

Depending on stride length and rear leg elevation, Bulgarian split squats can target pretty much anything upper leg based.
The way I do them, glutes and hams fail before quads. The whole upper leg gets DOMs.

 

[Scott Stevenson]

Really appreciate the fast response Scott!

Smith Sissy Squats....QUAD exercise or thigh mate? Same with bulgarian split squats and lunges....Im going to say all QUAD as they do isolate the quad well?

Righty gave you a great answer here. Also, how you position your upper body (mainly a matter of hip extension) will change the relative impact on quads vs. posterior chain.

With the latter two, you alternate each leg...so on loading if you did them would you do say 6-12reps one side then the other then rest 2mins and repeat...and same IF you were crazy enough to do it for muscle round...4reps one side, 4reps next side and just repeat as i am guessing the 4reps gives your other side 10s or near enough to rest?

I would generally not do those for Loading sets, but you could. If so, I'd go 1 leg - finish it's set and then switch legs.

Those are conducive to MR's, though and they ARE as fun as you'd imagine. See the book on the MRs: You're dead on. One reasons I stuck with the 10s / 5 breaths between sets in the MR is b/c that creates about a 1:1 work / rest ratio. Mathematically pretty, and also allows you to simply alternate back n' forth (just as you said).

When doing something like a RP (DC style) set, when you get different #'s of reps, it was a pain to try to equalize the rest intervals for each leg after a failure point. With the MR's this way - there's no thinking. You just get in there sand go until you get all 6 sets (but still adjusting weight as needed if you fail before the 6th set).

(IF you happen to fail with one leg and not the other - this would be rare - my general suggestion is to focus the set on accommodating the smaller leg (limb / muscle group), which is likely the weaker one.

-S

 

[GSB]

Thanks guys.

So Bulgarian split squats could be used as loading exercises for thigh movement?

Upper Mr tier 2 for me today

 

[TinyTim]

Thanks guys.

So Bulgarian split squats could be used as loading exercises for thigh movement?

Upper Mr tier 2 for me today

Mechanically, these could put quite large forces through your patellar tendons, and knees in general, depending on set-up - stride, elevation and, as Dr Scott mentioned, relative torso and hip positioning.
A controlled execution and tempo could see you right for the upper end of loading ranges though, I guess - somewhere around 10-12 reps.

 

[Mr mac]

I agree with righty here when I do Bulgarians I need to double check foot placement etc to make sure I'm not hyper flexing my spine so if I did muscle rounds constantly swapping I would end up cocking up foot placement when tired and probably do some injury.

I made the mistake last night doing muscle round for rack deads and to be honest started the last 2 sets of 4 reps not correctly and I'm paying for it this morning with a very stiff lower back.

I think the barbell step up would work well as a muscle round.

I've found I'm preferring machines for muscle rounds, no re setting or adjusting yourself.

For example last night I did a full body all muscle round and other than deads everything else worked well

Chins
Swiss bar rack bench press (chest triceps in one)
Machine delt
Bicep machine swapped arm to arm every 4 reps
Glute ham raise.

 

[Scott Stevenson]

I made the mistake last night doing muscle round for rack deads and to be honest started the last 2 sets of 4 reps not correctly and I'm paying for it this morning with a very stiff lower back.

I've done these and have several folks who like to do them, but That's a concern of mine with Rack reads, too. They become pretty low back intensive, too (standing up between sets of the MR rests the lats but the low back doesn't get the same recovery), so I don't find it's the most effective.

I LOVE BO rows for MR's, though.

-S