Man in need of a plan

[tgerstmar2]

Coach Sonnon,
I want to thank you for the help you've given me, and I'm hoping I can enlist your aid once again. As you may remember I'm in week 5 of a 6 week DD cycle of side swipes and gamma casts. I've been quite pleased with the program overall, and will make a full report to the forum at the end ofnext week. I've been pondering what to do after next week, and got tothinking about your, Coach Szolek, and Coach Chomycia's transformations with CBs. I'm hoping you can help guide me through one of my own.
Let me recap my goals for you quickly:

State of Tim

Current:
Age: 28
Height: approx 6'2"
Weight: around 168
BF%: around 13-14

1 year ago (the progress I've made):
Weight: 220ish
BF%: 28

Goals - a lean, hard, strong, athletic body

For 1 year: (this is where I'd like to be around 5/05)
Weight: 175-180ish
BF%: 8-10

I'm willing to put in as much time as I can spare (I'll be starting
naturopathic medical school in a few months so I need to train wisely), andam willing to put in a lot of sweat to accomplish my goal. I'd just like
some intelligent direction from you regarding my training so I can get there as quickly and intelligently as possible. If I take my most aggressive goal: to be 180 lbs around 8% bodyfat (165.5 lbs LBM, 14.5 FM; currently146.2 lbs LBM, 21.8 FM) that would require putting on 19.3 lbs of muscle and losing 7.3 lbs of fat. Do you think this is possible? I know you, and Doug, have talked about putting on 30+ lbs of muscle in a year, I'll settle for 20!
I've got my diet pretty well in hand, although I'm always tweaking
here and there and open to any suggestions, but it's my training that needs some help. I tend to be a variety kind of guy using CBs, KBs, free weights, and bodyweight exercises, but if you're interested I'm happy to go on an extended CB foray and see what happens.
So, I'm hoping you can help me design an integrated one year program to quickly and effectively help me reach my goal physique of 180 lbs at 8% bf of functional body. If Coach Szolek, or Coach Chomycia or anyone else have any ideas/suggestions/comments I'm happy to listen.
Thank you!

[Scott Sonnon]

Tim,

There's no way any one of my staff is going to develop an integrated one year program for free. :lol: You've already received a free program, so should be on the path of learning how to do that for yourself.

If you're a "variety kind of guy" - that's probably why you're not putting on the mass you desire. You need to concentrate on a select few exercises for considerable time since the body adapts specifically and then progresses.

You may feel that your nutrition is fine, but putting on mass is about nutrition moreso than training.

[tgerstmar2]

In re-reading my post, it’s unfortunate I didn’t convey my message as clearly as I intended it. What I wanted was some guidance in setting up a long-range program to reach my goals. By integrated I meant a connected series of cycles, for I could throw together a bunch of exercises, but what I was hoping for was to draw on the coaches help to use the most effective exercises to achieve my goals. As experienced CBers you’d obviously tried many different routines/combinations/exercises and found more effective and less effective ones, I was hoping to utilize that knowledge.

Truthfully I see I was also asking for too much. In this little commune-ity of ours I forgot the reality that the coaches here make their living off of designing programs for individuals and what I was asking for amounted to a program. I can’t fault anyone for making a living and understand people are not interested in giving that much help without compensation.

Coach Sonnon, you make very good points, clearly things I need to work on. I apologize to everyone for this thread, I clearly misunderstood the purpose of this section of the forum, did not state myself well, and asked for too much. My apologies.

[Scott Sonnon]

Tim,

Just post what you want to accomplish specifically in the next 6 weeks. Then we'll work together to get you on the path to achieving that specific goal.

You don't have to do everything, just the next thing.

[tgerstmar2]

Scott,
Here’s what I’ve got right now.

My goal:
To be 180 lbs at 8% bf

What I need to do to get there:
Gain 19 lbs or muscle and lose 7 lbs of fat

Training Ideas
I have approximately one year of training to accomplish my goal.

1. Arrange training in 8 6-week cycles (48 weeks).
2. Arrange training in 3 3-month cycles via Consistent Winning

In traditional strength/bodybuilding (I use the word cautiously) the approach to achieve my goals would be to ‘bulk’ and ‘cut’. One reason I asked for guidance is I don’t know if the same methodology is used in CST. I do understand that body recomposition is largely regulated by caloric intake but exercise regimens tend to change based on the goals of the cycle. I’m not sure how CST fits into this.

Applying the traditional model I would engage in a series of cutting and bulking cycles until I reached my goal. So taking the example of 8 6 week cycles, I could structure them as follows, six weeks of ‘bulking’ followed by six weeks of ‘cutting’, repeated four times. Or I could do twelve weeks and twelve weeks, repeated twice.

Based on your experience (though I don’t believe you set out to gain or lose any weight) what generally speaking would you suggest? I can see the merit of switching exercises and performing another density cycle to add some more muscle (and a little fat) for the next six weeks, and then ‘cutting’. Or I can see entering another density cycle or something different and mildly restricting calories to do a little cutting. This is why I’m asking for advice; *I don't know what to do.*

In case anyone is wondering, in my mind everyone is, the reason I’m interested in this ‘bodybuilder’ ideal instead of focusing on performance as most people seem to do here on the forums is because I was a chubby kid, a chubby teenager, and a getting fat adult. For once in my life I want to be lean and athletic. I may get to my goal and see it’s too much work to stay there, that’s fine if it is, I want to get there. Having achieved this goal then I’ll focus more on performance. That said the talk and focus on functional strength is what has me here asking for help instead of on the bodybuilding boards.

Thanks for reading and thanks for any help anyone may offer.

[Scott Sonnon]

Tim,

What Clubbells do you have? How much time do you have to train? What's your vocational physical exertion level?

Describe your nutrition and meal structure.

[tgerstmar2]

Scott,
I will answer all your questions with, up to and possibly including, a sickeningly large amount of detail when I get home Sunday evening from house hunting. Thanks and wish me luck!

[Scott Sonnon]

Happy hunting, amigo. I know how challenging it can be with how often I've moved around the country!