Body by Science - 12 min workout a week

[majormark]

Hello,

Has anyone here tried program described in the Body by Science book or a similar one? What results did you get?

I tried it for a month and it seems that my muscles have increased (at least in density) as the time under tension increased by just a few seconds in some cases.

For those of you who dont know about this style of training check out:
  180degreehealth.com/2012/04/body-by-science
  and an excellent interview my Dr Mercola with the author: Dr. Mercola Interviews Doug McGuff about High Intensity Exercise

[aLptHW4k4y]

I've done it, expect good results as long as you're prepared to go to hell for 20 minutes a week..

[Bio-shell Avatar]

i'm training in this fashion since earlier this year but i'm a noob so for me it's better to do a workout every 2-4 days instead of just once a week. if you've done weight training for years and can actually damage your muscles enough in one workout that they require a week of recovery then i'm sure once a week is fine but for me the results are currently better with about two workouts per week. i usually have one 20-30min hit resistance workout, then 3-4 days later a sprint 8 training (20min) for legs and cardio, and 2-3 days later resistance training again, followed by sprint 8. during resistance training i do the 5 compound exercises and a few smaller ones until i'm really wasted. so legs are trained every 2-4 days (once with weights and once with sprints). it's the largest muscles and give the highest growth hormone increase. imo it's better to have this hgh stimulation every few days as opposed to just once a week. if i reach a plateau at some point and can't increase weight or time under load anymore i'm going to expand the recovery phase but for now it works very well as described above.

[majormark]

aLptHW4k4y,
you dont need to go to complete muscle failure to get results. I rarely do that and still have results, with the little amount of time I spent.
 
It does seem to work well even with free weights or body-weight exercises.  The thing with body-weight exercises is that you may notice the time under tension stays constant sometimes, but the in reality you may be moving more weight than last time so it's still a progress.

[l0rdcha0s]

I trained in traditional bodybuilding fashion. Although I felt leaner and did feel like I gained some muscle, the gains were small and barely noticeable. After hearing about Doug's book and about the training routine in his book and the training principles through a friend I decided to try it. It was helpful to have someone who knew the protocol helping me make sure I did everything right. I can definitely tell this was a lot higher intensity than so called other "high intensity" workouts. I kept at it and even brought it to some of my clients with great results. Case in point (sorry to use a cliche body part) my arms remained around 16-16.5 for 3 years training like a traditional bodybuilder. Two to three months on the program my arms were around 17 inches, that's when I knew this stuff works.

[svrn]

what clients? are you a personal trainer?

[l0rdcha0s]

what clients? are you a personal trainer?

Yes I am. Mostly middle-aged adults. A few younger people.

[jessica]

lordchaos in my imagination, when your avatar pans down, you have really tiny little legs.............hhhahah sorry, but you are lookin ripped dude, why cant I find someone to get strong wit uuuggh!

[l0rdcha0s]

lordchaos in my imagination, when your avatar pans down, you have really tiny little legs.............hhhahah sorry, but you are lookin ripped dude, why cant I find someone to get strong wit uuuggh!

Haha I used to neglect legs a lot like a good majority of people. I'd make excuses to miss leg day or whatever. Haven't done that in a while. I've kind of become a masochist in that respect, leg day is probably the most painful day in the gym but I love it. I wouldn't say I have huge legs but when I was practicing traditional bodybuilding they were strong.

I attached a picture. That was me in 2011. I forget how much weight I was pushing but the max I've leg pressed was 1500 pounds for 6 reps. I still think I have small legs (and small muslces in general, kind of get that from looking on the huge steroid guys in bodybuilding).

[svrn]

my legs have been sore for almost 3 weeks now after my last leg workout. THey almost feel fine now. THey probably take so long to heal because its such a big muscle.

[Neone]

You have had the DOMS for three weeks?

[jessica]

haha awesome lordchaos, you know I was just giving you sht, but much respect on pushing that much weight.

troll, 3 weeks dude? that sucks! i don't think you should be suffering that much......

[l0rdcha0s]

haha awesome lordchaos, you know I was just giving you sht, but much respect on pushing that much weight.

Haha I know.

As for the recovery time. It is possible for muscles to be fatigued and need to recover for that long. As far as DOMS I've never heard of it lasting 3 weeks. A change in the duration of DOMS could be due to your recent change in training routines. The program that you posted, when done correctly, is at a much higher intensity than the bodyweight workout you were doing (which was most likely moderate intensity). The deeper strength inroading process caused by higher intensity workouts would certainly increase the duration of recovery for the muscle but that is in terms of fatiguability not DOMS.

In my experience, when I first began working out my muscles would take a long time being sore and gradually they recovered faster as my fitness improved. They again went through the same process when I adapted to a higher intensity workout like you switched to.

[svrn]

haha awesome lordchaos, you know I was just giving you sht, but much respect on pushing that much weight.

troll, 3 weeks dude? that sucks! i don't think you should be suffering that much......

Im not suffering. THey havent been painfuly sore for 3 weeks i just know they havent fully recovered yet. They have gotten noticeably bigger though since that last workout. I have no question that its just doing the necessary repairs. I think its a good thing.

its pretty much gone now though.

[svrn]

Haha I know.

As for the recovery time. It is possible for muscles to be fatigued and need to recover for that long. As far as DOMS I've never heard of it lasting 3 weeks. A change in the duration of DOMS could be due to your recent change in training routines. The program that you posted, when done correctly, is at a much higher intensity than the bodyweight workout you were doing (which was most likely moderate intensity). The deeper strength inroading process caused by higher intensity workouts would certainly increase the duration of recovery for the muscle but that is in terms of fatiguability not DOMS.

In my experience, when I first began working out my muscles would take a long time being sore and gradually they recovered faster as my fitness improved. They again went through the same process when I adapted to a higher intensity workout like you switched to.

yeah but iv just started high intesnsity and have yet to do a leg workout on this program. THis long lasting soreness was from a particularly intense squat session with both feet together rather than shuodler width.

[l0rdcha0s]

yeah but iv just started high intesnsity and have yet to do a leg workout on this program. THis long lasting soreness was from a particularly intense squat session with both feet together rather than shuodler width.

I'm not sure. I never do squats/leg press closer than shoulder width apart. That distance is sufficient for hitting all parts of the quadriceps. I think the "both feet together" scenario places too much emphasis on the vastus lateralis rather than the whole muscle group. At that angle you could've pulled or strained muscle or tendons as well. Without real testing it might be hard to pin point the exact cause of the increased soreness.

[svrn]

I got the legs together thing from convict conditioning.

It felt like only muscle pain.

[aLptHW4k4y]

Probably it was some sort of (mini) injury, muscles don't keep hurting for 3 weeks provided you eat and sleep well.

[Neone]

I think that if you are just starting out and are serious, you don't need to do weird crossfit what the hell exercises. Just do regular squats, you will get gains and not injure yourself. If you were sore for three weeks that's not a good workout, and if you are after progress a routine that let you recover and work out again faster would be much more efficient than 'convict' squats.

[svrn]

i think i have been misunderstood. My legs werent in pain. I could walk perfectly fine, they just felt like they were still healing.

[l0rdcha0s]

i think i have been misunderstood. My legs werent in pain. I could walk perfectly fine, they just felt like they were still healing.

Oh totally different. I understand what you mean. That's perfectly normal and expected on a true HIT routine which is what the workout you posted seemed most similar too. Like I said I've heard of one of my friends clients only seeing him once a month due to her long recovery period (she is older). She's not in pain but you can still feel fatigue in the muscles. For example my legs aren't experiencing DOMS but it takes more effort to walk up the stairs because the all of the muscle fibers aren't fully recovered and ready to be worked out again.