Eat Train Prosper

Diet-end Peaking, Strength Cycles, & Long-term Specialization | ETP#36

September 21, 2021 Aaron Straker | Bryan Boorstein
Eat Train Prosper
Diet-end Peaking, Strength Cycles, & Long-term Specialization | ETP#36
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

After nearly 4.5 months of dieting Bryan is in his final days so we cover his “peaking” strategy he plans to employ heading into his photoshoot. We also discuss upcoming strength training cycles we both will transition to during this fall season after exclusively training for hypertrophy for 2+ years. We wrap up with long-term specialization cycles of 12 months or even longer and when and why this might be appropriate for you as opposed to a traditional 8 to 12 week specialization. As always, thanks for listening! ✌️

Nutrition Coaching with Aaron ⬇️
https://strakernutritionco.com/metabolic-performance-protocol

Complete Client Check-In System for Online Coaches ⬇️
https://strakernutritionco.com/macronutrient-reporting-check-in-template/

Follow Bryan's Gym Programming ⬇️
https://evolvedtrainingsystems.com

Find Us on Social Media  ⬇️
Instagram: @Eat.Train.Prosper
Instagram: @bryanboorstein
Instagram: @aaron_straker
YouTube: EAT TRAIN PROSPER PODCAST

Coaching with Aaron ⬇️
https://strakernutritionco.com/nutrition-coaching-apply-now/

Done For You Client Check-In System for Online Coaches ⬇️
https://strakernutritionco.com/macronutrient-reporting-check-in-template/

Paragon Training Methods Programming ⬇️
https://paragontrainingmethods.com

Follow Bryan's Evolved Training Systems Programming ⬇️
https://evolvedtrainingsystems.com

Find Us on Social Media ⬇️
IG | @Eat.Train.Prosper
IG | @bryanboorstein
IG | @aaron_straker
YT | EAT TRAIN PROSPER PODCAST

[aaron_straker]:

Me quick, six, thirty, five, six, fourteen. Go. what's up, guys, Happy Tuesday. welcome back to another episode of each train. Prosper today's Brin myself. We' going to talk a little about some upcoming strength cycle design for the end of Bris Di. A little bit about training specialization cycles that as your training age increases, the amount of time you allocate to achieving a goal or a or tangible progress with certain part of your physie strength adaptationttera, may take a little bit longer before diving into these things, Brian. What's the latest with you?

[bryan_boorstein]:

Well, I'm looking at myself in this, Uh, this video as it's looking back at me and I feel really small right now, and in fact I am small right now, because I just waited in this morning at the leanest that I've been since Uh, two thousand fifteen. So was a hundred and eighty three point four pounds, And this comes two days after I was a hundred and eighty six point six. So it's a three point two pound drop in two days, and I like knew this was coming for whatever reason, like I've been talking about in my stories, right? So I dropped my calories from about twenty six, twenty seven hundred calorie average to like twenty three hundred average, like six or seven days ago. and since the day that I dropped them, the scale increased every single day. It went all the way from one eighty, three point six to one, eighty, six, point six, three pounds in six days every day, linearly like half a pound every day and was like What is going on like? I really hope that my I, I don't need like nineteen hundred calories and really twenty three hundred calories as a surplus or whatever, But I trusted the signs that I was hungry that I had low motivation. That I felt like I was in a deficit and I just trusted this for a whole week, and then suddenly it was a two pound loss yesterday and then another another pound lost today. So I feel slightly vindicated. I feel relieved. And um, I think that everything is on track for me to do what I talked about last episode, which was kind of eat up into my photo shoot and my plan, as long as the scale doesn't do anything crazy on me, or even if it does, I might still do this because I feel like I'm close at this point. Uh, but I'm going to just add thirty to fifty carbs each day for four to five days, and that would essentially put me at like five hundred ith carbs the day before the photo shoot. Gonna do my absolute best not to have fat. Come with that, because that was the problem a year ago when I loaded for my photo shoot. Is I? um, I went into it with the best intentions of trying to just do it with carbs, but you know a little butter in my rice here or like something there, and you know, maybe two percent milk with my cereal instead of skim milk. And before I know it, it was like not all carves that I was, I was surpassing with and I felt like I. I looked a little watery and not in. Like not very full in in the places that I wanted to be. so for whatever it's worth, Um, I'm going to try and do it a little bit better this time. and uh, that's pretty much the update. Now. I'm just really excited to get back to eating in a I guess progressively increasing manner starting on Thursday, which is in two days.

[aaron_straker]:

Yeah, that's exciting. Superir. one question I have for you, how much variation is there in your day to day of like food selection like last four, five days.

[bryan_boorstein]:

Yeah, not any until dinner. Um, so I literally eat the exact same things like. I just copied my nutrition log every day until dinner time, and then I write in something new. Um, so dinner has been varied? Uh, I, I don't really know what to say other than that, like I, I've been focusing on the macros and not on. like the electrolyes that it might contain, and

[aaron_straker]:

Oh, yeah, that's

[bryan_boorstein]:

things like that and you know or like, Like the, you know, there's a lot of salt in this and maybe less than that or whatever. Like. I've just really been focusing on keeping the macros where I want them to be, and given that the first part of the day is the same all the time, that pretty much means that my dinner macros are also in line, similar the same. I mean, I might replace a little fat with little carbs, Uh, depending on the night, but

[aaron_straker]:

gota

[bryan_boorstein]:

mostly you know, the the clooric totals the same.

[aaron_straker]:

understood. and then uh, training wise, Have you noticed like the drop off this week in raps or anything like that Of those still hold and strong.

[bryan_boorstein]:

No, it's a good question. Yeah, yesterday I did my pendulum, and uh pendulum was the past few weeks. I've been kind of oscillating between seven and eight reps with three plates, and uh yesterday I got nine and then I also added the first exercise I do is leg extensions before the pendulum, and I added a pound to each set and I added a rep. This is the first time in four weeks that I didn't just add a pound and then match reps, but I added a pound and added a rep. Um, so there's more improvement on both movements that I've made in you know, five weeks or something like that. So uh, that stuff's go going well. Chest is the only muscle group that I've lost strength on and this is exactly what happened in my last diet. to Um. My dumbbell fly press, which is my kind of metric movement for chest, you know, throughout the last six plus months in off Seaason, I was hitting it, Uh, eighty five for ten and uh, I was able to sustain nine for most of the diet, and then last week it dropped to eight. Uh, so I've lost two reps on fly press. I've lost Uh a rep on Cline press, which follows fly press. Ah, and I think I lost a wrap on weighted pushups, which I thought was odd because I weigh less, but I'm sure there was just that increased fatigue from the prior movements and I don't really think too much about it. But yeah, chest overall is just the first thing to go for me. For whatever reason, I just always lose strength there. and then you know, actuallyx, axeally loaded, Uh, lower body movements, Uh, specifically quad ones. I tend to to lose quickly, or at least noticeably. Uh, like when I used to back squat, I would always be weaker as I would get smaller. Uh, you know, just having less mass to come out of the hole with and stuff like that, but with the machine based stuff like with my hack press machine with the pendulum and the leg extension and stuff. it's been you know business as usual, So pretty pretty happy about that. Um, Already, Els, are feeling a little heavier Like I would say. I have actually haven't. I'm upset with myself because I actually haven't followed like a very, Um. Brian, programming style with my r. d, ls, like I did four or five weeks of um, straight bar hit banded, and then I was like You know what, I'm going to try trap bars, So then I did like four or five weeks of Like trap barht banded, And then this this last week I went back to straight bar again And so I'm just kinda like I don't know whether I'm losing strength or not on arty elsels, like I probably am, which is probably why I. I keep changing movements because I'm like. Oh, that felt really hard. I don't want to do that. um, but uh, but yeah, man, it's you know. training motivation is low, and this is the at least at least before training once you get into training and I do like my warm upsets and stuff like I'm I'm good to go, But like the morning driving Bryce into school and then kinda like sipping on my element thing, and like mentally preparing for the session. I just like. I'm just kind of like. Oh, like I could take a rest day day and I could just get extra steps in, and I kinda like start negotiating in my head a little bit. And those are things that like I never. during the off season when I'm fully fed. I'm like Yes, I get to go to the gym. This is awesome. You know, so I think I even mentioned this on the last episode that when I start feeling diet fatigue, it's not like I'm like, really, really hungry or really weak, or that my training is really impacted And it's it's just motivation And that's what happens to me too, when I'm at the end of a messocycle and I know it's a deal week. it's like I'm getting weaker and I'm like. Well fok. I need to delo, nowcause, I'm getting weaker. It's just like I don't really want to go to the gym right now, like I've been beating it for like six to eight weeks. I think I need to take a step back and and do a deload. So for me it's always mental before it's physical and I think if I get to the point that it's physical then I've gone further than I usually go. You know,

[aaron_straker]:

Yeah, then you know, it's kind of time. it's you're we' warranted a deload or something like that.

[bryan_boorstein]:

yeah,

[aaron_straker]:

Um, one thing I notice at the end of my diet when I, the. What? how I realize I had that fatigue? I'm one of those people. I don't know why. I just like run up the steps all the time. I like

[bryan_boorstein]:

Mhm.

[aaron_straker]:

bounce up the steps, you know, and I found myself just kind of like slowly, like mopping up the steps. and like my legs felt a little heavy And then it was like Well, literally, One of those days I feel the diet fatigue like I am. I'm like moving up the steps. I got a slower pace. I'm n, not even crossing my mind to like run up them normally and I was like I can feel my legs feel a little heavy like I can feel it. Um. but that was really the only time that I felt at Uh, this, this ma, the most recent time, and that's I don't know. I think when you, when you can load a lot of vegetables, when you know how to play the game when you are really uh, invested in the outcome and you know, kind of shift that perception or that identity. If you are, it just become much. you know easier now. But like, like everything else, you are going to run into that um. physiological response And

[bryan_boorstein]:

eventually,

[aaron_straker]:

that's mo. More manifest in in a different way and different people.

[bryan_boorstein]:

yeah, uh, the running of the stairs thing is really interesting because I actually think that both hills and stairs are way more cumbersome to walk up them at any point in life. Whether I'm like fully fed, dieted in a wheelchair Like it doesn't really matter. Like going up a hill slowly or upstairs slowly. It just drains me like I would so much rather bound up that thing. get to the top and be like Whoo. That's a good one, you know, and then just kind of like to keep going. So,

[aaron_straker]:

Yeah,

[bryan_boorstein]:

yeah, that's it's funny. Others have just made me think of that. and then yeah, that's it's funny. Others have just made me think of that. and then I, also another thing I thought of is you know Steve Hall, the revived I, also another thing I thought of is you know Steve Hall, the revived stronger guy. He was just talking about how he's been diying this whole stronger guy. He was just talking about how he's been diying this whole time, and he's in contest shape right now. He's been dining on twenty six time, and he's in contest shape right now. He's been dining on twenty six to twenty eight hundred calories on his low days. to twenty eight hundred calories on his low days. He's been having thirty five hundred calories on it to four thousand calories on his refed days and he's a hundred and seventy four pounds on stage right now,

[aaron_straker]:

how long has it been?

[bryan_boorstein]:

he said, started End of May, So he's one month later than I was, and he's leer than not him.

[aaron_straker]:

That's pretty good. That's really good. How

[bryan_boorstein]:

Yeah,

[aaron_straker]:

I know he, I' is he or I know he was doing the walking with the weighted vesting.

[bryan_boorstein]:

Yes,

[aaron_straker]:

That's he carried throughout his. his.

[bryan_boorstein]:

so yeah, so not only is he doing the weighted vest thing and walking A, he said an average of fifteen k steps a day, which is more or less what I'm hitting, too. Um, but he has been wearing a weighted vest ten to twelve hours a day since the beginning of prep, and he did uh, a progressive bulld, where he started at five kilos and then went uh, half the day with five kilos and half a day with ten kilos, And then he went up to Takulos and I think he's been at tanklos for a couple months now, Which is a big vest to be wearing ten to twelve hours a day.

[aaron_straker]:

what? twenty two change

[bryan_boorstein]:

Yeah, yeah,

[aaron_straker]:

pounds, ten to twelve hour. I mean, that's your. I mean. that's your waking hours. Pretty much

[bryan_boorstein]:

yeah, he said he only takes it off for posing and for working out.

[aaron_straker]:

what I really interested in is. so. One one thing that's really interesting is whenever I wear a weighted vass, my traps are killing me just from supporting it and I wonder like the adaptation you get from that or even I. I'm hesitant to say hypertraphry, but there are some adaptation that's going to go on with your traps to be able to wear it that long.

[bryan_boorstein]:

Yeah, yeah, well, he did say that he noticed like his upper back was getting sore, you know at first, and I think he had to do something to mitigate that along the way, I think that's why he ended up going with the the He. like. I think he originally made a jump from five kills to taklos and it messed him up, so then he, he backtracked and did like the half day at five kilos and half day tenkilllas thing, But he did say like his upper back volume dropped. I believe, because he was just feeling like super tight and sore in his upper back. Um, so yeah, maybe an adaptation there. I also wonder like reversely if you could get any slow twitch conversion in any of those muscles up there because you're now doing this thing all the time. if it just becomes like the way your muscles received the signal. So it's like you're doing this like highly endurance activity for the musculature, instead of this more like targeted highpersviy stimulus. So I don't really know. I mean he looks great on stage. so um, whatever, whatever he did, it seems severe. he. fine.

[aaron_straker]:

Yeah, it's pretty cool

[bryan_boorstein]:

Yeah,

[aaron_straker]:

cool. It's like newer stuff that you don't hear about as much. I'm

[bryan_boorstein]:

yeah, for sure,

[aaron_straker]:

my initial thought is, I'm not sure if I would rather just eat a little bit less food or wear

[bryan_boorstein]:

yeah,

[aaron_straker]:

away vest for twelve hours for four months,

[bryan_boorstein]:

no, for sure, I agree.

[aaron_straker]:

but is a it is a cool like experiment thing for him for him to see you know completely through.

[bryan_boorstein]:

Yeah, well, I think one of the best factors that I had going for me in this diet is that I just kind of did it along with life like I didn't really have to think about the fact that I was dieting. I just kind of lived life as I was dieting Right. And if you have this weight to vest on all the time, aside from the fact that, okay, so you get to eat maybe a couple hundred more calories or not al. But now you're like constantly aware that your dieting like at every moment you' like West dieing all restriction. Like all this is annoying. Like I want to take this off right. So there's like this this stimulus that's just constantly beating you down, and like putting you in negative space. Maybe so, I think for me, kind of to your point. I just I don't know if that would work with like my mentality in the way that I approach dieting as if it's just kind of like operating in the background.

[aaron_straker]:

Yeah, I agree with that. I have uh, a little bit of update F from my standpoint, Um,

[bryan_boorstein]:

Y.

[aaron_straker]:

and it's interesting. I'm still not like I, I'm going to be completely transparent. I'm not excited about it whatsoever, but it has been something that's been brewing for a while and I've finally decided to deal with it. so as we've talked about multiple times in the podcast, My digestion has always been kind of like, you know, kind of iffy. At best, It's why I don't really like. Like going out to eat. I don't um do a lot of variation because it's like easily, kind of ups, Uh, upsets my stomach, And then with the lifestyle with the travel and all the countries we lived in, I got bacterial infections in every single one. we moved to Um. So, over the past, since you know January, nineteenth intestinal infection in Vietnam, Uh to in Bali, Uh one in Columbia, which was Norally, because we were with a bunch of um, uh, locals and they all got it Du. So you

[bryan_boorstein]:

oh man,

[aaron_straker]:

know it's bad when the people that lived there got it Um. Peru, Uh two in Mexico, So I think I'm at eight, Um, and there might be one place I can't remember so that's like you know eight times in the last two and a half years. It something like I think only two of them. I've actually uh, gone on antibiotics for, but it's just like a bunch of different bacteria in there, and now what I most recently discovered was like, Um, a proachin bowter that I've been using for you know over a year all of a sudden, I couldn't digest any morere di'm. Yeah, so I do think there is a little bit more to this because I have found Um, three of my clients who also all of a sudden can't digest it well, And then I put something out on my instgram, and like, had like six other people message me about it, too, So I actually reach out to Dimatze. I'm going to follow up to them. I think it could possibly be a supplier change or something along those lines, but I think there may be a little bit more of an end of one type of deal there. but

[bryan_boorstein]:

that's really interesting because you actually got me drinkingamze, and I've just been buying that shit off the shelf since I basically have get way and gaor as my first feelings of the day. I haven't noticed any issues yet. I'm wondering if maybe I should order a new new thing or I don know, seems to be fine so far, but

[aaron_straker]:

yeah it. Yeah. Well, what I notice is it it? It started in like late July,

[bryan_boorstein]:

interesting art. continue.

[aaron_straker]:

September, or sorry, August, Uh, in that time frame and I followed up with everyone. When was the last time you bought one type of deal? Um, but I I'll follow up with with Dimatis Actually emailed me back this morning, so I will kind of fault there. But anyway, talk to my coach and it's something we've talked about a little bit for. And if we're in a good spot like body compositions, great like let's just take some. Let's just put away two three months and focus on you know, fixing the Gu type deal, Um, so going through like a gut protocol there it's and it's different because we have to re reroduce carbohydrate to a large degree. You increase fat intake by a large amount, Um. Because the majority of your digestive intolerances, not like allergies or anything like that, and intolerances are going to be carbohydrate based, because the

[bryan_boorstein]:

y.

[aaron_straker]:

carbohydrates can ferment in the small in testine, and the large in testine. Um feed bacteria, and they're both good and bad, And then this is what produces you know, methane, flatu and Scs, type of thing. They also produce uh hydrogen in certain circumstances as well, so Um, switch up in my diet and it's been interesting because I'm like Okay, I'm not at like starting over, but I'm like. I need to restructure how I think about my day. How I, you know, design

[bryan_boorstein]:

yeah. yeaheze.

[aaron_straker]:

everything, and one thing that I find is I'm like Okay. I'm going to get some like more nuts seeds. you know, chees seeds ground fllax, sea Brazil nuts. But a lot of these nuts and seeds and stuff also have carbohydrate. Same thing with like avocado, So it's harder what you go, If like, in my opinion, at least when you go with the higher fat approach, because a majority of your fats also contain carbohydrates. Deary,

[bryan_boorstein]:

Yeah,

[aaron_straker]:

I can't do cheese 'cause I'm lactose intolerant.

[bryan_boorstein]:

there's no lacos and cheese's caseing.

[aaron_straker]:

Some cheeses. There's no. there's smaller amounts of lactose sin.

[bryan_boorstein]:

Okay,

[aaron_straker]:

like I exact. I. I just pulled this up for a client yesterday and sent ' a list. Um. I. I can't remember the ones off the top of my head. Some are lower, but I've never been a big cheese person anyway, And it's something like caseine. I don't do well with that all, so those are things. I definitely don't want to add it, because I know I don't adjust them well.

[bryan_boorstein]:

yeah, yeah, that's tough then because cheese is always my goaty when I need fat

[aaron_straker]:

Yeah, so I mean like, fortunately, I have these really good olive oils that are like confused. Um, so I, I'll be adding that on stuff, but it's definitely going to be like a lower volume of food. Um, and just kind of restructuring my eating design, but I'm interested. I'm committed right to to to the protocol that we're goingnna run and hopefully just get my um digestion in a better spot, 'cause like I said, it was always pretty iffy and then just all the travel just fucked me up,

[bryan_boorstein]:

right,

[aaron_straker]:

so taking the time back and just going to redu re reduced training. you know only four days per week, Um, I'm goingnna add in a yoga on Tuesday nights, which is tonight. I mean we found a really cool class which is to B. We just lay on the ground for an hour, and this lady just says nice things about you, so I'm like I'll fuck and go to that.

[bryan_boorstein]:

very nice like y and yoga. You just stretch.

[aaron_straker]:

Yeah, um, so I'll do that and then just take it. Take a day by day week by week.

[bryan_boorstein]:

Yeah,

[aaron_straker]:

See things progress and hopefully,

[bryan_boorstein]:

what are your macros now?

[aaron_straker]:

Um, protein is still high this week, Um, two eighty five and uh, fats are like one hundred and one oh five on training and rest days, And then protein went came down to two, two thirty. Our sorry

[bryan_boorstein]:

Cars? carbs. Yeah,

[aaron_straker]:

carbs came down to like two thirty on training days, and then one thirty on rest days.

[bryan_boorstein]:

I actually don't really think that that's like ridiculously low. I mean.

[aaron_straker]:

Well, is it just first week? It'll probably continue to shift. Yeah,

[bryan_boorstein]:

Oh, you think it will go. So, uh, one thing you can do it. I know you probably thought of this, but the exciting thing is you can have like fatter meats.

[aaron_straker]:

I don't enjoy them.

[bryan_boorstein]:

Really

[aaron_straker]:

Yeah,

[bryan_boorstein]:

like, like a marbled filletminion or something like that.

[aaron_straker]:

well, like like a f. like a fillet, I, I will say I enjoy or like, Um, like a tender, long, tender. Lu's pretty lean. Actually, Yeah, uh, those I do, but like a, like a a

[bryan_boorstein]:

Yeah, tender lins fille. same thing. Yeah,

[aaron_straker]:

ribbye. If to be

[bryan_boorstein]:

no, it's too fatty. Yeah,

[aaron_straker]:

completely honest, I'm cutting it out. I just don't enjoy it.

[bryan_boorstein]:

no, no, I don't eat the fat chunks at all.

[aaron_straker]:

Yeah, yeah,

[bryan_boorstein]:

I, I don't do that either. I. I eat the the stuff, but when you get a fillet or like, sometimes try tips are marble too,

[aaron_straker]:

try top,

[bryan_boorstein]:

And you really you re like, but I also I, I can find. I, I prefer lean, try tips,

[aaron_straker]:

Mhm,

[bryan_boorstein]:

at least dieting, but there are you know. fattiyer. try tips that that are fantastic. Um, and you could have like you know, chicken thighs. You can cook them in garlic butter sauce. I mean, that sounds amazing. So

[aaron_straker]:

Yeah, I, it does. It does open things up for for sure. Um, Yeah, I, it does. It does open things up for for sure. Um,

[bryan_boorstein]:

or olive oil. if you don't have butter. Yeah,

[aaron_straker]:

the it's for a lot of the stuff with, like the the making meats and better. It's the time commitment I don't want. like Okay, I need six pounds of chicken. I don't want to like. Make three at a time in this garlic butter thing where I'm like redoing it every you know, every serving. An. now I've been cooking chicken for forty five minutes. Uh, but

[bryan_boorstein]:

I get that.

[aaron_straker]:

yeah, it does open up for things. and one thing I I do like is it gives me a new avenue to produce solutions for clientele. Because like there's clients who come move like digestive issues. right. we need to go with a lower carbohydrate approach. And now I have more examples of these types of meals. Let's incorporate these sorts of food. So just puts me back in the driver' seat to

[bryan_boorstein]:

Mhm.

[aaron_straker]:

create new solutions

[bryan_boorstein]:

Yep, for sure,

[aaron_straker]:

And that is that is the standpoint I always

[bryan_boorstein]:

very cool. I like that. Well, it's good to hear that you're getting some solutions to this thing because eight bacterial infections in two and a half years is a lot of sickness, but I'm guessing that you would be able to handle covet pretty well. Like

[aaron_straker]:

like. Yeah,

[bryan_boorstein]:

no big deal. After all that you know.

[aaron_straker]:

like the thing my body is, you know, the whole kind of. If you don't use it, you lose it like I use my immune system. A whole lot

[bryan_boorstein]:

Yeah, exactly. it's ready to go. Uh, speaking of, I think my mom might have it, which is actually really kind of a shame, but she's doing okay. She she feels okay 'cause she got vaccinated.

[aaron_straker]:

good. Not good. she asked. Obviously,

[bryan_boorstein]:

Yeah, well, I mean, yeah, I think ever. honestly. I really think everyone's just going to get it. Let's not make this acoved episode. but I think eventually everyone iss just going to get coven. That's just how it's going to have to happen. Um. Okay, Do you want to talk about strength? things streng cycles.

[aaron_straker]:

let's yeah. let's talk about getting strong.

[bryan_boorstein]:

All right, cool. so just to give every update in case you missed the episode. I think it was like two episodes ago where we introduced this. Um, we were kind of talking about my plans because I've been dieting for a really long time now, and uh, as I've been dieting, I've kind of gotten what I called hypertriphy fatigue, which basically just means that I've been training hyperetrophy for like three plus straight years with no breaks like I haven't done an o cycle. I haven't done a strength cycle. I've taken like a week or ten days off here and there, but um, but yeah, basically just training hyperchy straight ahead and uh, we have the dayta driven guys coming on next week, which I'm really excited about there. They do some highy pertrophy work as well, but they're primarily focused in the strength realm of things. And uh, they're the guys that it really focus a lot on the idea that you don't have to go close to failure. Um, that you can use increased volume with lower proximity to failures and get essentially the same stimulus especially for strength work. And we've kind of briefly discussed this on other epodes, too, where like strength is such a neural adaptation. And when you do do a wrap, that's like a grinding, like failure type rep. you're inevitably going to engage some unintended musculature as like a compensentory comp, compensatory effect as you're working through the sticking points, So if we can kind of do our movements where they're almost like isn't a sticking point and we're always focusing on rep, speed out of the hole or whatever the bottom position is of a movement, then we can essentially uh, keep velocity high and keep the neural priming system, et cetera, um, I don't exactly know what to call it. We'll get the day to driven guys

[aaron_straker]:

No, Yeah,

[bryan_boorstein]:

to talk about this more next week, but essentially you just can get really strong by doing something like seven sets of three with a eight r. M. So you take a weight You could do eight times, but you only do it three times and then you do that for seven sets, right. Um, and that way you ensure that your movement patterns are crisp and and all that good stuff. That's kind of the idea I wa to take into some of the the strength work that I'm doing here. So the the way that I've designed, actually let me backtrack one little bit and continue my update. So the twenty ninth of September, I'm getting snipped, and then I'mnna take a week off during that week off. I'm going to eat a lot of food and really focus on recovery. This will be. This will allow me about two weeks of time since the diet ended, 'cause I'll have the week off of the gym, plus kind of the final week where I'm eating up into it. and uh, then I'll have an intro week after that, So I think uh, October sixth or whatever, will probably be the the the point of seventh. Something like that will be the point where I'll start week one. And uh, it'll be like an intro week where I'll just kind of like lightly, go through the movements and reintroduce my body to what a low bar back squat feels like. what a conventional deadlift feels like things like that. Um, and then after that week, so maybe the week like of October, twelve, thirteenh, something like that, then I kind of start getting into actual structure of work weeks where I think Uh, the strength movements like my back squat and my deadlift, I am goingnna take that more prudent like seven sets of three approach, um. I really do want to do. I talk an errand before the show. I really want to do more research into designing a strength cycle. So what I've laid out right now is what I would call like V, one, um, the alpha version of my Uh. of my full body strength program. But uh, as it stands right now, my first day is a low bar back squat, a conventional deadlift, a uh, paws dumbbell bench press and a barbell curl. And so the first two movements will be definitely De. Actually, the first three will be done for sure. The the pauseingclined bench press as well, will be done with like seven sets of three, or probably seven sevens to five or something like that. Whatever it is, it's tend to be a lower effort shy of failure. Um, and then on day two, which will be two days later because I'll have a rest day in between. Uh, I have a little more hyperchrophy focus for the legs, so I'm goingnna do. uh, leg curls and pendulum squat, and I think I'll still probably be within like two to three reps a failure on those and probably just increase volumes slightly from what I've been doing because I'll be you know, three up some failure instead of more or less a hat failure. And then, uh, I have a cheests supported row, and uh, a barbelt overhead pressed ten vily in there, Uh, for anyone that follows long on my story, I tried overhead pressing again like a couple of weeks ago with dumbbells thinking it would feel better and it really felt awful and my shoulder kind of grinded the whole way through. So I tentatively wrote in strict overhead press. But I'm enough to mess around with Ha. position. I was talking to Ableel or I and what A was saying is that he also feels grindy when he's like in here, which is how I used to press kind of like you know, shoulder with elbows down, and he said when he took it out like a little bit wider out here, and then started doing his presses like that that he had no shoulder issue. Um, and that's something I've never tried, because I don't feel strong out there, so

[aaron_straker]:

you're coming on the Barard. All right,

[bryan_boorstein]:

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, um, so I don't know. I'm goingnna enough to mess around with overhead press and I don't know what I'm goingnna do if if overhead presses out, I don't know what I'm going to throw in there. I'm going have to think about it, and then my third day is back to doing back squats again, so it's a back swan on like day one, and then again on on dayy day five. And uh, then it's a ardeal because I don't do well with conventional deadlifting twice a week. I've never. I've tried it a couple of times in cycles and stuff, and it just doesn't work for me. I feel beat up all the time, so I'm going to do a ry l on the second um day with Back swat, And then I tentatively have in a dumbbell fly, press a one arm pulled down, and like a dumbbell trie extension or something. I was trying to choose. M the accessory movements that aren't like back squot deadlift. I was trying to choose ones that are conducive to doing a little bit more volume with further proximity from failure. Um, and I feel like you know when you get into things like push downs and cable curls and stuff like that like it just doesn't feel like anything unless you go close to failure. But when you do like, you can take a trice of a extension, or like a P, a dumbbell press, or something like that, and you can get something out of like you know, eight sets of six to eight, or something like that. Uh, with a you know twelve to fifteen, r, m, or or something along those lines, so I think they're a little bit more conducive to just the goal of the cycle, But I'm also open to the fact that programming streng cycles is not my forte, and that I do intend to do more. Uh, research into this over the next two weeks, and especially, I think the week leading up to my first week because I'll essentially be on the couch with without working out for a week. I'll literally have nothing to do except listen to podcast and read about ways that I should design my upcoming strength cycle. So I think Um, what we should do is probably revisit this topic in like early October once. I've actually got my head wrapped around a little more. and after we've talked to zach and Josh on next week's episode and who knows maybe this thing looks like completely different and uh, and we have a lot more kind of intelligent things to say on the matter.

[aaron_straker]:

Yeah, I'm excited as well. I, unfortunately, mine's probably going to get kicked down the the timeline a little bit. I probably won't be able to start until. Uh, maybe sometime in November or even early December, but it is something I'm excited for because I haven't really taken it from an angle that I'm that. I plan on with the knowledge that I have now.

[bryan_boorstein]:

Yeah,

[aaron_straker]:

Um, so I'm excited to you know. I mean there's there's. also one thing is like it. Its just it feels cool to feel strong. Sometimes you know, Um,

[bryan_boorstein]:

yep,

[aaron_straker]:

and that's something that I haven't really experienced in a while. Like a lot of times I'm using weights that are like you know, thirty forty percent, l, less than I than I have done before. Um. granted a different you know stimulus, Generally different, repcade and et cetera, but it will be kind of cool Just to see Uh, if I can get back to some of those numbers, Um, and a different, a different type of style of training I am excited for as well, and to

[bryan_boorstein]:

yeah,

[aaron_straker]:

see what it does with physique stuff. As also

[bryan_boorstein]:

yeah, yeah, I don't really think it's have any effect someone asked me about that. I think Jeremiaa Bear

[aaron_straker]:

Mhm,

[bryan_boorstein]:

asked me about it. Oh, I' on it foradcast recently he's like. Do you think the strength cycle is going to have positive impacts on your hypertphy training? And and I thought about it for a second, and I was like I, I don't really like I. I. So so the what we ended up talking about on the podcast, which is actually kind of interesting, but uh, just to give you like the novella version I, the way that N one kind of designs, their strength cycles is like they usually stay in the hyperch, re. zone, they just stay on the lower side of it, so like Uh, One example is like six sets, a six on a back squat, but you're increasing wayight every set where it's like you know four to five r i r on the first set and then on the last set. It's like a zero to one r i r. So you're getting like one. Like really, really hard work set. but there's also a lot of like effective sets on the way up there as well, so it's actually kind of a lot of volume. too.

[aaron_straker]:

one.

[bryan_boorstein]:

Um, and so yeah, and then Jeremy was saying that they also will do like you know six sets of four. Which again, same idea where you're building each set like Yeaha, fors, is a little bit below that kind of hyperchffy threshold. But it's like it's not sets of one to three. And then you're also doing six sets of four. so you're getting like twenty four reps in there and there's they're relatively close to failure. So whether it's six sets of six or six sets of four, or six at to eight, or something like that, they're staying in the lower end of the hypertrophy range a lot of the time, and the way that I want to design the cycle is to start with something like triples, and then progressively as I go, potentially end up with doubles and maybe even some singles. So in that type of design I really just don't see it having a whole lot of transfer into hypertrophy. Uh, I don't think it's go to affect my ability to do more reps with my twelve r, M. and I also don't think it's go to necessarily build any muscle mass either. Um. But I think that what it might do is provided me a little more motivation when I get back to Hper Ffy training because I won't have just been doing hypertry training forever, and it may potentially um allow a little bit of resensitization, So if I've been training hyperty for three years, then my body's pretty well damn adapted to hypertvy, and maybe taking a little bit of time not training hyperchphy could somehow stimulate Um. Some sort of resensitization effect and maybe I get like a little jump in the beginning, but I don't think long term that there's any tangible difference as a result of doing a Stra cycle like this.

[aaron_straker]:

I know I would agree with that from my initial understanding of what I have now being said. I do have hope. and this isn't you know we briefly talked about when we had Um. comes on. The show has all this hypertphy work, and adding some extra tissue to those areas may help us inrength. andeavs.

[bryan_boorstein]:

Yeah, for sure, I actually was thinking about that this morning because I guess I have a little bit of trepidation and call it even anxiety about the numbers that I used to hit. Because like okay, I wa to check my ego this cycle and I want to try and do this thing that's staying shy of failure and not having those like really grindy reps that oftentimes cause like a low back tweak or like you know whatever it is, Uh, especially as I get older, so I really want to check my ego and I feel like when I know that, like you and I talked about this and we're like, Oh, man, well, I hit a four o five triple on back squat five years ago, so now on this. Cycle, like is my expectation that I'm supposed to hit like a four or five triple on back squat because things are different now like I might. The way the way I execute movement is different. I'm not training in a crossfiit gym where at all times there's like twelve people yelling at me to make sure that I do the rep that I really really don't want to do. Um, and so I don't know. There's like kind of all these these factors going into it and I don't want to set myself up to be extremely disappointed at the end of this. So there I have. I guess. I guess trepidation would be the right word. I, uh, I'm excited about it, but I don't want to get caught in this mindset of chasing old numbers.

[aaron_straker]:

I agree with that there. I guess for me, there are some that I think are potentially not really attainable again, and then others that I think are, and that

[bryan_boorstein]:

Mhm,

[aaron_straker]:

kind of gives me I feel uh, like, like a splitting offens type of deal. Like deadlift, I feel confident I can go p. r. deadlift overhead press. I feel confident in that as well back squat. I really don't think I stand a chance. and it's just because, like even in those days like the back squat, you know, progress was so hard for me to make, and

[bryan_boorstein]:

Me too,

[aaron_straker]:

the others really weren't as as hord, um that I feel like now it's only going to be that same scenario will just be exacerbated by and being a littlet more wise. Hopefully

[bryan_boorstein]:

yeah, Mhm, Yeah, I mean, I might even call it timid like I,

[aaron_straker]:

that's a great term to use as well.

[bryan_boorstein]:

I, I just don't want to like. I couldn't in my dungeon gym. I don't know if you have seen this, but I have like this this power rack thing that's like one of those slanted ones and it, it has these little arms at the bottom that are maybe like six inches long. So if I have to bail a back squat in my dungeon gym, I don't know if I'm going to survive and some of my equipment probably won't survive, so I, I don't. I will. I will not fail a squat like I remember. On that last cycle I did where I got to four or five by three. There were a couple times at the end where I did have to bail out back swats. And that's something that I think I had like to keep in my past.

[aaron_straker]:

I would agree with that. Yeah,

[bryan_boorstein]:

Just no point man,

[aaron_straker]:

yeah, yeah,

[bryan_boorstein]:

no point.

[aaron_straker]:

so moving on from that, the one thing I, what did want to talk about is kind of what we were just talking about, Like as we are getting you know, we're deep into being. It basically advanced in our training careers, Right, some things. that. basically we just need to allocate more time to to Uh, for the specialization type cycles. So, for example, writes Uh, cheests specialization for an entire year, as opposed to like, you know, if you are twenty years old in your new training, you might do like an eight week chest specialization cycle. And you might make like you know tons of progress in those eight weeks. but at this point where we've probably put on ninety five percent of the amount of muscle mass we will put on at the you know Chester, whatever localized area, probably not us for our legs, Which is why we spend a lot of time training them right. We might just need to dedicate much more time to that. So is there anything with? Um? No, Just tell me, what are your thoughts about?

[bryan_boorstein]:

Yeah, So we, this idea kind of came out of Uh, a podcast I was listening to from our buddy Dave Mcconney, who was on here, whatever it wasfence for. Um, and he had a guy on who actually proposed this idea. He. I don't understand how anybody that's been training longer than ten years would do something and then not commit to it for like at least a year, because you're like already at the point where you're going to have to struggle tooth and nail to make any gains at all. So like if you commit to do something, you can't expect to see any tangible change in four weeks, eight weeks, half a year, or whatever's like, you got to commit to this for a long time, And I thought about it, and it is an interesting idea. It's like when you look at the notion of training for the rest of your life, you know, I, I've been training twenty five years. If I've been train twenty five years with no specialization. Basically, I just kind of do the same amount of volume for the most part or what I need. I basically do that the amount of volume that I need or that I believe I need for each muscle group each week. So if I need fourteen cents for back, I do fourteen cents. If I need seven cents for bycepts, I do seven sets. I never have really taken my volume in any specific musculer group up above and beyond. What is kind of my determined amount that I need. They've alls kind of imbalanced. So this idea of like flipping the balance right, So when you look at training for the rest of your life, If I have another twenty years of quality training in me or even fifteen, I could do a year of Chs specialization, and then the rest of the fourteen years, I just kind of put chest on like maintenance level and it just kind of I. I maintain those adaptations that were gained in the year of specialization, and then you choose a new muscle group and say this year I'm focusing on quads, and then after that you know quad volume kinda drops. and whatever the idea being, that like you, literally spend that year building up that muscle group by making that your priority over the other ones. And since we know that maintenance volume is significantly lower at least in the short term than it is to gain, and we know that from the conversation with Helms, that for a longer period of time you can take volume down to, he said, He thinks long term you could do forty to fifty percent of the volume is, as I believe what he said on the podcast. Whereas the studies are showing one ninth of the volume, but I think the one ninth what he was saying is like this is a short term study. He's like. For a long term, You know forty to fifty percent of what you were doing to gain is probably sufficient. So you were needing fourteen cents for back well after your back year specialization. where you do twenty five sets. Now you just do seven after a year of twenty five cents. Now you're doing seven for back for the next five years, and you just kind of maintain what you gained during that year of doing twenty five sets. And this is like a really mature way of looking at training right. Like for you to take a muscle group and specialize in that muscle group for a year. If you're new to training and you did that, you would have a lopsided physique Like that year of specializing in that Mos would create like distortion in one area of your body. For me, I could specialize in the muscle group for a year, and to the untrained eye, or maybe even to the train diye. it might look like nothing happened, so I think it's a really interesting idea that as you as your training age goes, that you do organize your training in in some manner somewhat similar to this where there is a prioritization effect. Yeah, what do you think of that?

[aaron_straker]:

I really like it and I think why I like it is because I find myself that I've spent literally the last year plus focusing on my legs. I don't really not much changed. Do you know? I think they? I think they're better. Um, but not by like sleeps and bounds, you know, and they think it might be one of those things. Is as you right another thing that happens with your training age as it increases, You have like imbalances things that you just inherently are better at than others? You know, my muscle connection all these different things. And it's not like everything grows at a proportional rate, Because that would assume that you can perform every movement as quality as other ones. Maybe joint injuries all these different things. And it's how you can kind of like balance things out as you get deeper into your

[bryan_boorstein]:

Yeah, Yeah,

[aaron_straker]:

training age. And that's kind of where we're finding ourselves now. Like said, To spend a year on my legs, could probably spend enough three there to be completely honest, Um, and hope that they would bring up to like back. Delt, you know type of deal

[bryan_boorstein]:

do you uh, feel like, as you specialied in legs this year that you had to drop volume for the upper body regions?

[aaron_straker]:

from me like, just not so much a recovery standpoint, but just from like a time and being realistic with myself like

[bryan_boorstein]:

So were you doing less? Though? like? when would you say your upper body received less volume this year than it did in prior years?

[aaron_straker]:

yeah, especially because I was training legs three times a week. Um, for for a couple, you know, Uh, for a couple months, and even on those up, I would do two upper body days. Those days just get long, trying to train

[bryan_boorstein]:

Yeah,

[aaron_straker]:

your entire upper body,

[bryan_boorstein]:

for sure. Yeah,

[aaron_straker]:

even if you, even if you're just doing like one set or sorry, like one exercise for like bicepts and tricepts doing like two for chest, a vertical and a horizontal pull for back.

[bryan_boorstein]:

y.

[aaron_straker]:

You know a lateral delt. You're now at five exercises. It just it's just time consuming. I'm talking an hour and forty minute gym section type thing, and after a while you're just like. I mean, I love the gym, but after like an hour and forty of minutes of being in there training like, I just kind of want to fuck and go home.

[bryan_boorstein]:

Yeah. So this is interesting because you spent a year essentially prioritizing your legs, and yet you did less volume for your upper body and didn't lose anything in your upper body. I can say for sure, from seeing the pictures, and I would even say that you added mass in your delts and possibly some other areas, maybe a little bit on the lats or back. So I would say for sure your physique didn't go backwards in your upper body by doing less and it still moved forward.

[aaron_straker]:

I would agree with that, and a lot of that too, I will say comes from like I dramatically improve improved movement execution

[bryan_boorstein]:

Mhm.

[aaron_straker]:

kind of across the board. Um,

[bryan_boorstein]:

Yeah,

[aaron_straker]:

and that's one of those things. that, as you do it more and do it longer, or really take the time to learn from people and remove your ego from it and realize that you know, Even though I've trained for sixteen seventeen years, there's a lot of someone I fucking clue about. Um, I

[bryan_boorstein]:

y,

[aaron_straker]:

was able to really push forward just by admitting that I don't know what I don't know.

[bryan_boorstein]:

cool. Well, that's awesomecause. I think that that is a testament to this idea of specialzation, and fortuitously, Alberto Nona' just posted on his story yesterday, a picture of him flexing like a a kind of most most muscular and hegoes. This whole year has been spent on Delt and arms specialization, and he goes. I think it's working, but my legs also grew and like, like Fock man like he', basically saying like my legs are my strong points. So like no matter what I do like the legs still grow which is kind of like y like us in our upper bodies like. I, really. I really believe that with the execution style that we have right now that we really could go to like a minimum effect of volume for for upper for the whole upper body. like, I could probably do four to six sets for most upper body areas per week, and probably twenty to thirty sets for legs. And like, I don't think I would lose anything on my upper body. I mean, I would probably have to try it to be sure, but Um, this is an interesting idea and I've been meaning to do a specialization cycle just in general because I haven't done one before. And so this is something that I'm definitely considering for after the strength cycle is over. Um, kind of seeing how I feel at that point, but potentially designing a cycle that that really does prioritize one or two muscle groups. Maybe it's quads and hams, or it's chestin have chestin trices bycepts, I don't know one of the two. Um. But anyway, yeah, those are some interesting ideas. and uh, we'll have to kind of you know, touch base and revisit it as we go

[aaron_straker]:

Yeah, but something after the strike circle I would like to definitely do as well, so we could talk about

[bryan_boorstein]:

cool. I did that. Well, we'll off to do one together. Maybe we'll both do legs, since that just seems to be the thing

[aaron_straker]:

seems to be appropriate for for you and I here.

[bryan_boorstein]:

fucking al Vero Unias and his god gifted legs. Um cool. Do you want to jump into the last

[aaron_straker]:

Yeah, we will. Uh, and especially because it's something that. Really. It kind of so. the thing. So basically the topic is muscle soreness Right and then what it means? how you can interpret it and how it can be used as a mechanism to enhance your training. So what happens far too often is people think that like if you're super freakent sore, that means you have like the best workout you crushed yourself and you're go to like, facilitate all these new gains where it's probably a little bit of the opposite. You probably pushed yourself way too hard under a covered overtrained under. A, um, maybe a dehydrated, missing electroly sorts of thing, and you actually kind of set yourself back a little bit, because now you need to postpone your next training session until you're recovered, which is now usually an extra day to three. four days, et cetera, Um, as I talked a little bit earlier in the in the episode about my training has shifted because I'm now going to were reducing. we need to redu stress on the body, so training's coming down to Um four days, Um, not doing in any intensity technique. Everyone. It's kind of just a little bit more of straightforward, kind of a li. A lot of the rep ranges actually like you briefly brought up around and one strength cycle,

[bryan_boorstein]:

M?

[aaron_straker]:

so it's a lot of like, most exercises I would say are like six, six to eight raps, some atit like ten, maybe lateral delts at like twelve, but everything else is generally in that six to eight. So I had leg press, Um, and I was excited to use the leg press that I had hated for years because I now found a way to not hate it. Um. So' like okay, I, What is like? My only or I had one other quad exercise which was like, Um, you know, um, um, split squats with like a um. at the An. So I was like I'm going to push the Bl lightd pressure a little bit. I want to make sure I get a good leg stimulus because obviously it's still my goals, my legs, and that sort of thing, so put it on there and I end up like pushing just. I guess a little bit too hard. I got through my four sets of six. I didn't fail anything, and everything was about like a one r r. But it was challenging and then I did the split squats, Um, which I did on with lightwight. I think I only did like twenty fives in each hand, but I did like. like really driving the knee forward, right, um. I woke up the next day in a world of fucking pain and its that was on. Uh, I did that on Saturday, and I was supposed to, you know, train train my uh train legs again yesterday and Monday, and I had to floop it and I could it, or sorry. No, that was on Friday. I'm sorry, I trained legs on Friday and I was supposed to go on Monday, and like they were still super sore yesterday. Um, so it was just goes to show. like when you change something or when you kind of push too hard in out of the gate, Um it. it's like I immediately knew I was like. Oh, wow, I fucked up like I'm I'm definitely going to need an extra. Probably like two days to recover. Um before I can go into this and it's something like. I mean, I'm training regularly. I draed my legs very very hard, but just that shift in rap range or something like that that I wasn't really prepared for and and poorly gauging my weights, to be completely honest, wracked me.

[bryan_boorstein]:

Yeah, Yeah, this is one of the reasons why soreness is just an an awful indicator of whether you had a good session or not, Because the repeated Bo effect basically says that if you do something over and over and over again, your body adapts to it and you become less sore. So if you continue doing four sets of six on leg press, and then the same version of split squads each time that you do this leg day each week or whatever, you will get progressively less sore. But that doesn't mean that they're working less effectively. In fact, it probably means they're working more effectively because right now you're in that area that we always talk about where it's the neural adaptation phase where you' just learning movements. You're trying a new rap range. You are learning how to brace your learning of, explode out of the bottom of a of a split squat and engage. These are things that you get better at because there skill the neural adaptation period right. So that is one reason I always say that soreness. It can tell you that you did too much, but it can't really tell you anything else. It can't tell you that you had a quality session. It can tell you that you stimulated the muscle like good work. You fucked that muscle off like you definitely worked it. Um, that's cool. but it doesn't tell you that that you did too. that you didn't. It can't tell you that you did enough right like you can still have done enough, but not be sore. So, uh, also on Jeremh's podcast that I was on the a couple of days ago or a week ago, or whatever. Um, he asked me. You know what? What are? what? Of the things that I like to use to kind of identify a quality session and I went through the normal things like you know. You do want to get a pump like at least if you're not in an an extreme deficit like you should get a pump while you train. you probably shouldn't lose your pump while you train like. Those are probably decent ideas to look at. I don't think they're great, but there's something um soreness you know. Like, yeah, you wa to like, feel your muscles and know that that like something happened, but you don't want to be debilitated to the point where you have to flip for Ob seessions, or uh, or you can't walk for days, right. Um, but the one that I really really do like and I think that I've as I've worked with clients over the last like six months, or whatever, the idea of disruption over the day, so I think it's different to look at disruption like immediately, post workout, which I think is also important. So this is the idea of like, Oh, I just did a big upper body day and like now it like is weird to wash my hair in the shower afterwards or something. or I just did legs, and now I have to walk upstairs and I'm like hobbling or whatever. Right. These are like the immediate effects of the worko. But I proposed the idea that maybe looking at the way that you feel three or four hours after the workout is a very important metric, and as I kind of have gone through it over the last six months, I've found more and more correlation to quality sessions from disruption a few hours later. So this isn't like the same feeling that you get twenty minutes after where you literally can't walk upstairs, Or you, you feel weird, you know, washing your hair. But it's the idea of like, it's three or four hours later and I still like am walking up the stairs and I feel something I'm like. Oh, that's a lot attention in my quat. Like I didn't really expect that, or um, you know, you go to grab something off a top shelf and you feel like you know a little bit of fatigue through your like, lap or shoulder or whatever. I mean these are very subtle signs and you have to be like, very tuned in with your body, but I think that anybody that trains hard can relate to those sentiments and look at that disruptive feeling and be able to say like Yeah, That is something that that I do feel kind of as the day progresses. Um, so that that isn't soreness. I just thought it was important to kind of go on that tangent and talk about something that is a good training indicator. Um, other than soreness, but as we kind of continue down the path of soreness, Um, we know that muscle damage is closely related to soreness. And so when we are really sore, our body literally has to heal the damage before it can instigate M, P, S. most of protein synthesis and begin building. So there's there's a M, B, S. Right muscle breakdown, Is that right, M, M, there's

[aaron_straker]:

I'm aham

[bryan_boorstein]:

anyway. There's okay, So there there's a. there's a muscle breakdown and then there's a. a muscle protein synsis, and muscle breakdown is is what's occurring first and has to be healed before we can go into muscle protein synthesis. So that's the point of that and therefore, if we are too sore, were actually not going to maximize the effect of the most fourteen synthis, because it has to go through this process of healing first. Um, so we're limiting the amount of time that we can be in positive nitrogen balance? Is that said right? Did do you have any add to that?

[aaron_straker]:

I do not the lot. Ther I. I said I do not, and then I was immediately going to add something to it and the only thing that I want to add is the the downt time between training sessions, too like, if you like, do what I did, train way too hard. Your art sort. Now you push back those you know, leg sessions, and the more

[bryan_boorstein]:

Yep,

[aaron_straker]:

times that you do that, the more subsequent pushbacks you have, and then you literally getting less volume in an Exx time frame Because you need more recovery between sessions.

[bryan_boorstein]:

yeah, yeah, and then I also can relate this to what I was talking about with my leg days a couple of episodes ago, where I was training my legs again as soon as I wasn't sore. So I reference how like I would have the day after I'd be sore, then the second day after I'd feel like a little tightness, and it was like minorly sore. and then the third day I would pretty much not have anything, so I would train again the fourth day and I was realizing that that wasn't actually sufficient recovery from me, and I started making better progress when I puh leg sessions to the fifth or the sixth day. Um. so that's unique to me, of course, and I don't necessarily think that other people need to follow that, but those little kind of subtle things kind of lead me to believe that may be. Um. The process of healing. It really doesn't begin for me until after the soreness has dissipated. like I needed a full day or two where I wasn't sore before I could actually see progress the subsequent session. So, uh, something important also to keep in mind, And then the muscle protein thing I was talking about is M p B, muscle protein breakdown and m. p. S. muscle protein synthesis.

[aaron_straker]:

That's it. Okay? Yeah, yeah, I think to kind of fault with what you just said', Something that knowlicors out there should just test right, Give yourself

[bryan_boorstein]:

Yeah,

[aaron_straker]:

extra day and then see Okay, did I smash? You know what I did the day before? Um, There was something that. This is obviously completely subjective to me, but I remember when we were living in Mexico over the winter and I ended up we. We did like a trip somewhere I can't remember, like a short weekend trip and I ended up like taking like an extra like three days off of training and I came back on Monday to lift legs when I normally would have lifted them on on Friday or Saturday, and I was able to add like I, I, I did the same weight, but I, I added like six raps or something like that like stupid, and I was like,

[bryan_boorstein]:

insane.

[aaron_straker]:

Oh, wow, yeah, and that was during that time where I was training my legs three times per per. Week, and just by having like that net like a four five day gap in between, I was able to have like a ton of progress.

[bryan_boorstein]:

Youcovered.

[aaron_straker]:

Yeah, yeah, it's hard. It's hard at that. you're You're just station. You're using the volume. you know,

[bryan_boorstein]:

Yeah,

[aaron_straker]:

Game at that at that Um rate.

[bryan_boorstein]:

well, that's like the superensation thing they talk about You just kind of push that edge. You riding that like red line and you' just trying not to fall off the edge. And then if you make it, then you take a few days off and suddenly supersation occurs, and like all that work that you put in is able to be manifested, which is pretty cool that it actually worked like that for you.

[aaron_straker]:

Yeah, but it it was like, But the Getenthans, one of the things that I was a lot of times managing like Okay, Our my knees are a little bit aggy, is you know, and that was Uh. That's the kind of M. I was say, fear, but like the risk there is a joint integrity with that.

[bryan_boorstein]:

Yeah, well, sweet dude, I think that was a good episode. I don't have

[aaron_straker]:

I do as well. So anything else you want Add on the summerbrim.

[bryan_boorstein]:

anything else, said No man. I think next time we talk, Um, I will be the day after a photo shoot in the day before going to see Albero and Brian, so Um, next week will be the day to driven guys. Uh, will give a quick update. Let you guys know where I am at with everything in that kind of intermediary day. and then I guess the following week, Uh, when we get on here will'll be able to uh to chat about my photo shooting my time up there, and I'll be eating a pllenty. I'll be having a cheese steak,

[aaron_straker]:

Yeah, everything wrapped up.

[bryan_boorstein]:

and uh, it will be messing air' stomach up through the internet.

[aaron_straker]:

Yeah, through some weird internet asmosis, so Ill have good issues for me that she's take

[bryan_boorstein]:

I'll enjoy it for you.

[aaron_straker]:

all right, So as always,

[bryan_boorstein]:

Yep.

[aaron_straker]:

thanks for listen, guys, Brid and I will talk to you next week.

Introduction & Updates
Strategies for feeding UP into a photoshoot
Decrease in training rep performance in end of diet?
Wearing a weighted vest during dieting
Aaron shifting his nutrition priority to gut health
Bryan’s post diet strength cycle design
Allocating more time to specialization type cycles as your training age increases
Muscle soreness. What it means and how we can interpret it so that it can be used as a mechanism to enhance our training