Comments on: Total Anabolism 3.0 – Frequently Asked Questions

By: krs

krs — Mon, 31 May 2010 18:14:39 +0000

Nathaniel

When you have hit three mass phase workouts your 4th will be a Consolidation. Check out link

https://www.bodybuildingforum.ie/workouts-exercises/new-to-musclehack-i-don-t-understand-the-workout-sheet-t2621.html

By: anthony

anthony — Sun, 30 May 2010 18:23:05 +0000

Hi Mark, does your recommendation of minimal increments in weights apply to beginners as well? If I am starting out wtih 75 lb on flies but know that I can get to more easily (either because I have done more in prior years or because 75 seems too low for my age and size), then should I do bigger increments in the beginning and fall to shorter increments later?

By: Nathaniel

Nathaniel — Sun, 30 May 2010 10:02:35 +0000

when do you do these consolidation workouts as stated in TA3 im confused?

By: Rich

Rich — Sat, 29 May 2010 17:05:44 +0000

@Mike
I did the MANS diet recently and lost 5kg in 3 weeks and ended up skinny (72-67kg). It’s incredibly easy to under eat on a low carb diet, despite you constantly eating. I stopped in the end, and am back to my previous plans. I’m not knocking MANS (in hindsight I implemented it incorrectly) but make sure you count your caloiries very carefully on a daily basis else your gains will be gone. The GLAD diet is possibly better for bulking and is much easier to get your calories.

By: Jimmy

Jimmy — Fri, 28 May 2010 21:43:23 +0000

Thanks for your help man! Your posts are a big motivation for me and my friend now when we decided to go really serious with our traing! A great tips from me to you is https://bit.ly/aikxIG What are your tips?

By: krs

krs — Fri, 28 May 2010 21:02:31 +0000

I use a normal Revolving Straight Bar that came with my equipment.

By: Zero

Zero — Fri, 28 May 2010 19:40:50 +0000

I’ve got a question on cable shrugs. What type of equipment bar do we use? Could you post an image example link?

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 28 May 2010 14:57:17 +0000

Mark – Is it normal to be losing weight while following a MANS diet (very low carbs M-F, carb up Weekends) and a 5 day THT split? Don’t get me wrong, I am in no way displeased with my body but it just seems like at my age (21) I should be putting on weight and not losing it as agressive as I am being in the gym. I am 6’2″ and when I started using TA 2.0 principals I was around 190, and this morning I weighed in at 183. I do look very cut right now though so it’s not really a complaint, just wondering if it was normal?

Thanks,
Mike

By: Zero

Zero — Fri, 28 May 2010 03:31:57 +0000

Kay cool. I can as well depending on what happens in those 2 weeks.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 28 May 2010 02:24:43 +0000

Zero- As I mentioned previously I get almost the same strength results training 3 days per week as I do 2 days per week. But some of the research out there tends to show better body composition changes from 3 days per week. I decided to increase my frequency just to see if it makes any difference for me. That and the fact that I work a full-time job, averaging 9-10 hours a day plus many weekends. So, when I get a free Sunday I would rather relax than do anything related to manual labor, including working out. If I don’t atrophy on a twice per week routine I surely won’t on a 3 day per week routine. In fact on average I can go two weeks without working out and still maintain my current weight and strength levels.

By: josh

josh — Fri, 28 May 2010 00:54:22 +0000

hey mark quick question. i have a bowflex that my parents bought awhile ago and i was wondering if that would be smart to use for the exercises in total anabolism 3.0? because most peoplee are incredbily quick to just shoot it down

By: Zero

Zero — Fri, 28 May 2010 00:21:53 +0000

Lool bro I hang out and all that shit. Lifting only takes 1 hour. Consolidation is like what, 15 mins? If I had a home gym, it would be a different situation, but it would be pointless packing shit up, riding to the gym, lift… and so on. I simply wake up, chill at home for a bit, lift, and then hangout especially now it’s summer= beach.

By: krs

krs — Thu, 27 May 2010 15:25:26 +0000

Zero you say you have too much time on your hands, get a girl friend if you have one spend more quality time with her.

By: Ted

Ted — Thu, 27 May 2010 08:37:39 +0000

@ Mark Yes that’s pretty much it. I love going to the gym, but I also love to eat/drink, and don’t want to monitor my diet too closely. As mentioned, I tend to eat healthy with the odd blowout so it doesn’t normally cause too much of an issue. Thanks for the book recommendation,I was going to order it straight away until I realised that you’ve probably condensed what it says into TA3!

@ Steve. Thanks for the advice, maybe I will give it a go then as you’re roughly my age! My concern is, once again, I don’t monitor my diet, I have no idea what my calorific intake is (nor do I care), but if I apply common sense to my diet (as everyone should) then perhaps it can’t be that bad.

By: Zero

Zero — Thu, 27 May 2010 04:33:31 +0000

Steve, why aren’t you lifting on Sundays, then on Tuesdays when obviously your POP is every other day like mine. You’re hitting atrophy… And I actually tested my POP again and I got stronger in the exercises in 24 hours so… lol? I did at least an extra rep or 2 on each exercise.

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 27 May 2010 01:02:58 +0000

Ted- I am also 37 and have trained for almost three years on a twice per week HIT routine with no additional exercise or cardio. My caloric intake is between 3000 and 3500 per day and I generally maintain my current weight. My metabolism has always been pretty high but has noticeably declined with age. I will admit that I am not in lean condition but I am in no way fat.

In regards to training 3 days per week. I have just started TA3 and am currently training Mon, Wed, and Fri. So far my strength is increasing on each workout which tells me that the POP is correct, at least for now. However, I have always been able to train 2 or 3 days per week with similar results.

In any case you might consider giving it try (after TA2) before dismissing it completely.

By: principal_lite

principal_lite — Wed, 26 May 2010 16:24:32 +0000

Thanks for feedback Mark will swap things over.

By: greg

greg — Wed, 26 May 2010 12:49:48 +0000

Mark ,
This work out is the motivation I needed just a quick question in regards to recovery my upper body recovers quick but the squats put my legs out for 3 days any suggestions on a replacement so i can train more frequently ?

Thanks

By: Mark McManus

Mark McManus — Wed, 26 May 2010 12:07:21 +0000

@Tim. Great to hear about your Total Six-Pack Abs success man!

By: Mark McManus

Mark McManus — Wed, 26 May 2010 12:03:23 +0000

@Domingo. It just depends on the intensity of those activities. Low intensity is fine since it’s purely aerobic. If it’s anaerobic i.e. you ‘feel the burn’ or experience muscle fatigue, it’s becoming more anaerobic and may interfere with the recovery process to a degree. If your goal isn’t to get bigger as quickly as possible then it shouldn’t concern you too much anyway.
@Ted. I get it. You eat more than necessary so you feel you need to exercise more to work it off. Well you know my advice is to tell people to eat their sufficient calorie requirement and not above it. This applies whether you’re on TA 2 or TA 3, although a TA 2 cycle will expend more calories. I’d just like to say that exercise isn’t as effective as it’s made out to be (calorie-burn wise). You can’t eat a 600 cal slice of pie then train for 600 calories and think it’s all worked off. A book called ‘Body By Science’ comes highly recommended for more on this. Anyway, you say your TA2 cycle is producing gains and that’s what matters most, so good luck to you.

By: Mark McManus

Mark McManus — Wed, 26 May 2010 11:50:12 +0000

@Paul. Thanks for that feedback. Glad you made the switch and are starting to experience new growth again.
@principal_lite. Remember, it’s flies first, then bench presses. Yes it would be a good idea to have more of a break between tri’s and chest if you are going to use this method.
@Mike. You’ll need to test it. The point is this: if your chest fails before your arms, it’s ok. If you find your front delts or biceps fail before your chest, it is not a good choice. Those machines involve the biceps a lot more than a proper pec deck. I’m not sure who the genius was who designed it. 😉

By: Ted

Ted — Wed, 26 May 2010 07:32:51 +0000

@ Tim
You asked why bother posting. I state clearly at the statrt:”At the very least it’s meaningless to you, and at the most it might provide further stimulus to the debate ” Further stimulus to the debate is the bit you might have missed. As Mark himself states in TA3:
“Now, am I totally 100% convinced that 1 set will produce the maximum growth possible for any given bodypart? NO. While the data suggests that it may produce maximal or close-to-maximal growth, I disagree with some others in the High Intensity Training camp who believe that a second
set is the worst thing you could possibly do. Upcoming releases of this program will clarify this as well as expand the program as a whole so stay tuned!”

I was giving my own take on the subject, specifically on diet, which Mark is free to ignore.

@ Steve-that’s very true. I do eat healthy, but with lapses, and I also like a drink (hey I’m English-it’s what we do!). As stated, due to my age, and my likely recovery time between workouts being most likely 2-3 days, I would be working out less, with little cardio, which at my age of 36 (soon to be 37) would probably not be a good thing. I think Zero’s post is along my line of thinking.
If I could workout Mon/Wed/Fri using TA3 then I wouldn’t mind, but as stated, it would most likely be Mon, Thurs, Sun due to my age and subsequent recovery times. Combine that with a decent, but not overly strict and totally monitored diet at the age of 37, with no cardio in the workouts, and I’m not totally sure what I’d end up looking like!

By: Zero

Zero — Wed, 26 May 2010 00:43:19 +0000

I like the science and ideas behind TA 3.0 and all, but after doing it couple times I don’t like it. I did TA 2.0 and enjoyed it more. It’s not that it doesn’t work, I just like higher volume and splits. You don’t get that satisfactory pump in your muscle when you do full body cause of the low volume, and specifically this 1 set volume. You can apply the POP method with splits as well just how Mark explained above. More volume, more rest thus how you do Back, Biceps let’s say Monday and rest longer(typically a week). I mean my POP is every other day, but for those who need longer- that’s like lifting twice a week. And the consolidation is super short. I’d do this if I had like a job, family, etc… but I’m still a high-school kid and got a shitload of time on my hands and I just wanna lift longer and enjoy it. I’m doing FST-7 right now.

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 25 May 2010 21:43:25 +0000

TED- no offense but that doesn’t sound like the best reason for not trying TA3. Regardless of what training program a person follows he or she should always modify the diet accordingly. However, if that person is eating healthy and not taking in excessive calories he or she isn’t going to get fat. Remember, once the muscles have been stimulated they need time to grow. During this time the metabolism is elevated due to catabolism and anabolism. Then once new muscle tissue has be created the metabolism has permanently increased slightly. As long as you are not taking in more calories than your body needs for this ongoing process (and as long as you aren’t living on the wrong kinds of food such as processed junk food) you are not going to get fat.

By: Tim

Tim — Tue, 25 May 2010 16:48:54 +0000

Ted,
Why bother posting? “Your system works but I’m not doing it” adds no value.

Mark,
TSPA is a huge success for me. Starting stats 180 lbs / 20% body fat (36lbs).
After 4 weeks 175 lbs / 12% body fat (21 lbs)

I’m going to start 3.0 in the next week or two (perfect timing). Many thanks to all the work you do.

Tim