Please do not post in this thread!

**Ronnie Rowland** · 11-23-2008, 04:31 PM

I just posted a revised version of Slingshot Training in this thread for those who have requested the updated information. Questions can now be asked in this thread if desired.

Editors Note: First of all, I want to say how much I am enjoying being a part of bodybuilding.com and would like to thank the people who have made this board what it is today. I would also like to thank the owner and moderators who have allowed me to share Slingshot Training with you! There is a ton of knowledge in this thread and I feel everyone will learn something to help achieve their bodybuilding success. The Slingshot Training Sytem concentrates on 5 primary areas- 1) Bodybuilding 2) Strength training for sports, 3) Power-lifting 4) Power-bodybuilding 5) General fitness for those wanting to lean out and lose weight. In this article I will focus on bodybuilding.

"Feel free to ask questions about Slingshot Training in this thread, in the workout section below or through private e-mails. I will provide you with "real answers" and do my best to provide those answers in a timely manner".

1. Introduction Chapter
2. Biography
3. Straight Sets
4. Training Past Muscle Failure
5. Returns You Get For Your Efforts
6. Slingshot Anabolic Cycles
7. Slingshot Aerobic Cycling For Bodybuilder's
8. Slingshot Pyramiding For Bodybuilder's
9. The First Training Phase-"The 2 Week Anabolic Prime"
10. Diet For 2 week Priming Phase
11. Sample Menu For 2 Week Priming Phase
12. The Second Training Phase-"The 8-12 Week Anabolic Blast"
13. Breaking Plateaus By Changing Training Frequency
14. Diet For 8-12 week Blasting Phase
15. Sample Menu For 8-12 Week Blasting Phase
16. Slingshot Bodyfat Loss Diet Plan
17. Sample Menu For Getting Shredded
18. Three-Four Day Per Week Split For Beginners
19. Three Day Per Week Split For "Once A Week" Muscle Training
20. Three Day Per Week Split For "Twice A Week" Muscle Training
21. Four Day Per Week Split For "Once A Week" Muscle Training
22. Four day per week Split For "Twice A Week" Muscle Training
23. Five Day Per Week Split For "Once A Week" And "Twice A Week" Muscle Training
24. Six Day Per Week Split For "Once A Week" And "Twice A Week" Muscle Training
25. The Slingshot Shocker-To Be Used For Blasting Past The Most Stubborn Training Plateaus
26. Training Routines To Be Used With The Slingshot Bodyfat Loss Diet Plan.
27. Please Represent Our Sport With Dignity
Glossary

Slingshot Training Overview:

First you must figure out whether you prefer once per week muscle group training or twice per week muscle group training. Then use the preferred training frequency as a base line. After 20-28 weeks of training a muscle with your preferred frequency ( once a week or twice a week), you will need to switch over to training each muscle group for 10-14 weeks using the other training frequency to break a plateau. This means using 2 training phases in a row consisting of ( two priming cycles and two blasting cycles) before switching over to 1 training phase ( 1 priming cycle and 1 blasting cycle) using the other training frequency. Then you repeat this protocol over and over! If you have no training frequency preference then you have the option of alternating back and forth between once a week muscle training and twice a week muscle training every 10-14 weeks. Slingshot Training involves training in 10-14 week phases. Each training phase consist of a 2 week prime and an 8 to 12 week blast. The prime is always two weeks in duration but the blast can be 8-12 weeks depending on how you feel. (Do not confuse the 2 week prime with the deload to be utlized during the 8-12 week blast!)

2 WEEK PRIME: You begin each 10-14 week training cycle by using strategic de-conditioning (priming phase) over a 2 week time span in order to down-regulate anabolic hormones and receptor sites for androgens. Total work sets and weight loads are reduced during the prime to make the muscle more responsive to the stimulus of weight training. You drop protein intake in half, replace those calories with carbohydrates, and decrease calories and/or increase aerobic training to lose body fat if needed to increase insulin sensitivity. This will put your body in a controlled catabolic state which sets up an environment for muscle growth during the following blast!

8-12 WEEK BLAST: Upon entering the blasting phase, the muscles will respond similar to when you first began lifting weights. Protein consumption increases to normal (high protein), carbohydrate calories are decreased somewhat, overall calories can be increased, and mini cycles called reloading and deloading are utilized. Reloading involves using twice as many work sets for a 1 to 4 week (depending on how you respond) to fully stimulate type-2 fibers-hence increase muscle mass. For instance, if you performed 6 intense work sets for chest during the deload you will need to use around 12 sets during the reload. Deloading involves decreasing total work sets as needed to allow for catch up growth that was stimulated during the reload, making continued strength improvements, and to prevent over-use/over-training. A deload should not exceed 1-2 weeks in duration and must be utlized after reloading for 1 to 4 weeks. During the deload you reduce the amount of work sets by about half. For instance, if you have been doing 12 sets for chest during a reload you will need to perform only 6 sets during the deload. Then you repeat this protocol over and over until the 8-12 week blast is complete. After completition of the blast it's time to revert back to 2 weeks of priming before entering another 8-12 week blasting phase.

In regards to exercise selection, you take multiple exercises to their utmost strength plateau with volume training (reload). When you plateau within this 1 to 4 week microcycle, you switch over to lower volume training (deload) to gain even more strength/size. If have not plateaued in strength by the 4th week of reloading you will still need to deload for a week to prevent over-training and allow for catch up growth that was stimulated during the reload. When you gain some additional strength and/or decide your battery has been fully recharged during a 1-2 week deload, you revert back to reloading to enhance muscle size. A 1-4 week reload is called a (microcycle). A 1-2 week deload is also called a (microcycle). The blasting phase as an 8-12 week long (macrocycle)!

During an 8-12 week blast, you gain maximal strength during a deload, then take these strength gains and break down more muscle tissue during a reload by performing more work sets. This type of repetitive progress is the secret so many are in search of yet few have found! Pro-bodybuilder?s would not be the size they are today if they lifted the same weights they started out with or used the same low volume programs they used as a beginner to get stronger! I am often asked, "is it really neccesarily to do both a deload and a reload during a blast"? My answer is this- There are a lot of people who think they are making progressive strength gains but in reality they are stuck in a training rut using the same weight loads over and over again. They will keep returning to train hard but continue using the same weights they used last month when their genetic potential in strength is far from being reached. They get a massive pump but they do not get any stronger! On the other hand, there are people who think they are making progressive gains in muscle size because they are getting stronger but in reality their ability to max out muscle size for their genetic potential is not being reached because they are always performing low volume. They use the same low volume approach over and over again while neglecting to go for massive pump. They will keep returning to the gym pushing heavy weight loads for only a set or two while making minimal gains in muscle size. In final, it takes both high volume and low volume to max out your genetic potential!!!

1) Activity Phase- 10-14 weeks( time Period)(in sequence)

2)Strategic deconditioning and recovery (the ?anabolic prime?)2 weeks of (low volume training)

3) Mass and strength (the ?anabolic blast?)8-12 weeks of ("low volume" and "high volume training")

**Ronnie Rowland** · 11-23-2008, 04:36 PM

PRIME/BLAST

Slingshot your way to the top in every sport!

The Slingshot Training System By Ronnie Rowland author of the ?Slingshot Training System.?

WARNING: READ FIRST

No liability is assumed by the author for information contained within. Anabolic steroids are illegal in many countries and are not condoned by the author. All readers, are advises that any form of supplements or drugs described may be illegal, prohibited, or used only with a doctors prescription. The author does not participate, advocate, or encourage in any illegal activities. Readers must consult with appropriate legal and medical authorities if not certain about what has been stated in this article. COPYRIGHTED BY Ronnie Rowland....

Introduction:

When many weight lifters hit a plateau, what do they do? They begin to push even harder by adding more intensity to their routine. This kind of thinking is wrong because a muscle has to be exposed to something it is not used to doing without over-training the nervous system and joints. Adding intensity, by way of beyond failure training techniques, is widely known for producing frustrated bodybuilders!

It's no secret that progressively adding more weight to every lift is a sure-fire way to increase total lean body mass, given the diet, training volume, and exercise selection is spot on. Almost everyone starts out using low volume. They grow at a phenomenal rate until the body adapts and quits responding. Because some feel the gains were so great using the lower volume approach, they begin to try and lift heavier weights while using the same program for extended periods of time. They put continued pressure on themselves to try to beat personal records each training session in hopes it will somehow further their muscle mass. Unfortunately, they end up with nothing more than chronic injuries and stagnation as a result.

The intelligent trainer's switch-over to using more volume, while the less fortunate keep thinking less is always more! The next mistake comes into play by the trainees who have switched over to using the higher volume approach. Many become so overwhelmed with their newly found muscle mass after having increased the volume that they begin to reason with themselves thinking more must always be done from that point on. They quickly hit a point of diminishing returns and eventually develop over-use injuries and an over-trained nervous system, instead of reverting back to using a lower amount of volume that worked so well at the beginning.

Sometimes their training will take the form of more sets-reps, exercises, intensity, training sessions, etc. Some are in constant search for the latest routines that will shock their muscles even further. However, all this does is hold them back even more because no one can overcome diminishing returns or keep using the same routine for extended periods of time and expect to make good gains. Slingshot Training helps you overcome both of these dilemmas by employing both low volume and high volume during the appropriate time frames!

** As someone who lifts weights, you will be going up against giants. In biblical times David used a "slingshot" to destroy his largest opponent of all, Goliath. Slingshot Training will dramatically change your physique in a short amount of time, trust me on this one.* *

Every time I browse the internet it?s the same old question being asked over and over again; ?What?s the best training routine to gain lean muscle mass and strength?? Many of you are jumping from program to program and it?s not really making any noticeable differences in your strength or appearance. Some of you were making gains but have now reached a plateau. Others believe that a properly structured routine won?t really make much difference in comparison to other training programs and you tend to be either an obsessive-compulsive high volume trainees (always going for a pump) or an obsessive-compulsive low volume trainees (always trying to gain more strength). If you fall into any of these categories, I want to share with you what I have found optimal for making forward progress as a weight lifter.

First, not everything that works is good. You can be sincere in what you believe and still be wrong. So far, so good, doesn?t mean you?re not going to have some serious issues with joint and tendon pain later on down the road. All too often a hero on this months muscle magazine turns into a zero a few months down the road because they become injured and can no longer train. Listen carefully, opinions and trends come and go. I get a head ache just thinking about all the high-intensity training techniques such as pre-exhaustion, forced reps, heavy negatives, down the rack, rest-pause, super sets, drop sets, and the list goes on, and on!

Let me be clear, various training techniques have nothing to do with genetic capabilities. There is not one single variable that is the total downfall of not being able to gain more muscle size. Forced reps, rest pause, drop sets; etc will all depict some form of muscular hypertrophy. However, a major problem (other than these techniques being less effective at stimulating muscular size-strength and putting more strain on the joints, tendons, and CNS) is that they take in a much selected group of principles and apply them. The theory of combining all different training techniques to increase muscle hypertrophy is short-sighting the way the human body responds. If genetics dictated the needs for a different training style, then some could use rest-pause or drop-sets and get bigger/stronger than what they could obtain with straight sets, and we know this is not the case! Time has proven that the genetically superior will respond better to all forms of training methods when compared to the genetically inferior. Simply changing the way you create damage by employing various beyond failure training methods does not alter the fact that overtraining of the CNS and joints/tendons will out pace muscular damage. So, it all boils down to finding that one training method that?s not only the most effective for all genetic types, but the safest. It just so happens that straight sets is that one training method. In final, straight sets is the superior training style that out does all the rest when periodized properly!

* * Just because something has been shown to work doesn't mean it?s the best way**

**Ronnie Rowland** · 11-23-2008, 04:37 PM

A lot of talented people fail because they don't have a strong work ethic or they get poor information and stick too it. It's very important to get the right information. Do some investigating. Our projection of things is how all of us make our decisions. And all too often, people tend to believe something just because they have heard others say it over and over again. You must resist letting others condition or brainwash you into believing something that is not altogether true. Be skeptical when someone is trying to sell you something. It pays to be defensive because there is always something being promoted as "new and amazing" that turns out to be pure garbage. I'm not telling you that Slingshot Training is the only one way to success, or that all other training systems are wrong. I'm all about teaching others what I have found to be optimal. I get tired of all the silly debates on the internet that means absolutely nothing. For every article debunking a certain method, 25 can be found supporting it. Studies are fine, and theories are great, but reality hits hard and the paper studies that are put out become worthless when the truth is finally revealed. When someone gives the default answer "Well there's not an effective off-season program that will work for everyone in terms of maxing out their genetics potential," I realize they are basically admitting they do not understand how the human body responds to outside stimuli.

The big picture is learning what it takes to create an effective progressive over-load (lift more weight) without getting injured and then taking those strength gains and proceeding forward to create a true progressive over-load (performing more sets with heavier weight loads) without developing over-use injuries and over-training. Add the proper nutrition into the mix and that?s how you get results. I refer to this as using a slingshot approach (hurling intensity to the muscles).

## Taking it to the edge is what were are here for##

If you gain strength but fail to gain some muscle size over time, it?s because you are not eating enough calories. If you gain strength by way of -decreasing training volume (deload) but neglect to increase training volume (reload) during a period of using more calories to put on weight, you will gain more body fat and less muscle size. Combining more volume with extra calories and increased strength gains is what causes maximum growth Then you must periodize these 3 factors so progress and recuperation can be made year round. Training has to do with adaptation. Volumes, Intensity, Frequency and Strength have their limitations. None of them are infinite. For e.g.; If you perform 1 intense set of heavy barbell curls twice a week, the neural pathways will eventually adjust themselves by getting stronger so they can handle an even heavier weight load next time you train. Yes, the biceps will get stronger, but not a lot bigger. Stay with me here! When you take advantage of the added strength gains made by using less volume (deload) and then co-mingle those added strength gains with additional training volume (reload) while not over-training, you can be assured you will grow bigger muscles. That is how you create a true progressive overload! You can use all the fancy beyond failure training methods such as drop sets and rest-pause for hours on end and never create a true progressive overload because limitless adaptation equals a heavier workload in conjunction with additional volume to breakdown down more muscle tissue, while never going past the point of diminishing returns.

A progressive over-load and a true progressive over-load are not one in the same. Creating a progressive over-load is brought forth by being able to lift more weight using the same form, amount of work sets, and rest periods between sets. A true progressive over-load (a phrase I coined) is also brought forth when you can lift more weight using the same form, and rest periods between sets, but the amount of work sets performed must be greater than what?s required to produce a progressive over-load!

After each subsequent set that follows the first work set, the type-1 fibers tire out earlier in the set and the type 2 fibers that are most responsible for giving you muscle size-strength take over the load for longer periods of time. By the time you have done only 2-3 intense sets, the endurance fibers are shutting down much earlier in the set and it's mostly the type-2 fibers lifting the weight. This is why volume training works well for pro-bodybuilders. The type-2 fibers must be made to adapt to lift more weight for longer periods of time in order to grow larger. In order to accomplish this feat, you must handle heavier weights over time. By training each bodypart only once a week as a "baseline," you will produce the most size gains with the least amount of effort, all while sparing the joints and central nervous system. Once the body adapts to once a week bodypart training you'll need to periodically hit each muscle group twice a week in order to keep progressing forward at the fastest rate humanly possible! Always training each muscle group once a week or always training a muscle group twice a week stops being productive for the more advanced bodybuilder. Once the muscles have fully adapted to the training frequency it must be changed if you are to continue to force the body to adapt. When done correctly this leads to further growth and strength gains! It takes around 2 to 4 weeks for adaptation to occur but it takes around 8 to 12 weeks for full-adaptation to occur. Full-adaptation is what you want! When you start to feel over-trained during an 8-12 week blast or your joints begin to ache, simply reduce the total work sets and keep blasting. A longer blast gives the body more time to adjust and you will hold onto the muscle better!

## I have learned that many people can do enough right by accident in the gym to reach a pretty high level of development. I like to see them obtain that last 20-25% with Slingshot Training they are usually missing out on while avoiding injuries that should never have occured in the first place.##

Multitudes of people, especially our youth, are often guilty of listening to those who are taking or have taken a ton of anabolic drugs. Not that there?s anything wrong with adults taking anabolics if they chose to do so, but when these individuals use their stats to bolster arguments in favor of some idiosyncratic approach to training and dieting, it becomes the flavor-of-the-month approach to bodybuilding. The truth is, a lot of drug- enhanced bodybuilders make impressive initial gains, but are not making continued gains because they do not know what constitutes proper diet and training. My suggestion to everyone is to approach training in a simplistic manner. There's no reason whatsoever to be filled with doubts. The best thing you can do is not over analyze and just train consistently hard and allow what ever will happen in the long run. This will put you on the right track!

It's rarely about muscle recovery, it's about tendon, joint and CNS recovery. Meaning the joints, tendons and CNS of steroid users can't withstand more than a natural trainer regardless of how many steroids they take to enhance protein synthesis. Just because someone using steroids will experience faster muscle recovery does not mean they can get by with more volume and make maximal gains. The muscle tissue of natural bodybuilders also recovers at a fast rate but they still need to wait for CNS and joint recovery to take place prior to training again.

Anabolic steroids are known for increasing the rate at which a muscle recovers by accelerating protein synthesis and up-regulating neuro-muscular pathways. This combination makes "steroid users" stronger and bigger at a quicker rate than natural trainers. The extra strength allows those who are on steroids to generate more intensity and push heavier work loads. The additional stress breaks down more muscle tissue, increases joint deterioration, and puts a tremendous strain on the central nervous system.

## Use of the Slingshot Training System promotes the greatest results in a controlled fashion?both with and without the use of illegal substances.##

Due to all the chaos, we now have much division in the weight lifting community. On one side we have the low volume crowd screaming everyone?s over training! On the extreme opposite end we have the high volume advocates preaching that anyone who uses low volume is lazy and are not doing enough work to stimulate muscle growth! Then there?s the moderate volume crew who believes low volume and high volume lifters are nothing more than a bunch of extremist! Next, we have the powerlifters claiming the only way to obtain size is to lift with heavy weights and low reps! Last, we come to the radicals who have given up on finding any truth and go around telling everyone all they need to do is lift until they drop and eat like a mad man! Next, we come to the fad diets. On one side we have the high carb crowd claiming if you eat dietary fats they are more likely to be stored as bodyfat. Then, we have the high fat diet advocates teaching that carbohydrates are a menace because they increases insulin levels causing our body?s to store fat. Yes, there are also groups who teach you should never eat carbs and fats in the same meal or eat carbs at night. Other self-proclaimed experts are saying the body is only capable of digesting a certain amounts of protein in each meal and the rest is stored as bodyfat or eliminated by the body. Last, we have the radicals who believe the more protein you eat the bigger and stronger your muscles will become. So, if you?re tired of all the chaos, and I know many of you are, you have finally found the right training system!

# # Slingshot Training is turning chaos into predictability for many weight lifters.# #

**Ronnie Rowland** · 11-23-2008, 04:38 PM

The Slingshot Training System is the authoritative guide to reaching your utmost genetic potential as a bodybuilder or power-lifter/strength athlete. Both natural and drug enhanced lifters should train in cycles that mimic the action/reaction factors of anabolic steroid cycles! The same dosage of synthetic testosterone enanthate starts losing it's effectiveness after having been active in the body for roughly 8-12 weeks. The same rule applies to anabolic agent like creatine that can be purchased over-the-counter by naturals. The secret lies in doing 2-Anabolic Phases (PRIME/BLAST)! The advantages of Slingshot Training over other routines is that it?s fun and exciting, it's not some cheesy cookie cutter routine, its' safe and proven to work, there?s training splits and exercises that will fit everyone?s needs, it allows you to work on weak points, there's a diet plan to fit everyone?s bodytype, it?s easy to follow and it will allow you to reach your utmost full-genetic potential in muscle size at a faster pace without becoming injured or over-trained.

Truth be told, some of you go around boasting about making gains following a particular training style or diet plan that's not really the best. When I was inexperienced, I was in the same boat. What I learned throughout my career is that it's not nearly as important to find which methods work, but rather finding those that do not work so well! Throughout my 22 years as both a personal trainer and weight lifter, I learned to allow my experiences in the gym and at the table have their way with me. I compared the over-all results of every training style/diet I could find until only the best was left standing. Now at 42 years of age, I have discovered that as with most truths, it's usually very simple and right in front of your face. The best program I have found for both bodybuilders and strength athletes is the Slingshot approach. I have a very good idea who most of you are. And even though we may have grown up in different parts of the world, we are just a like when it comes to weight training. Many of you are fed up with not looking any different and you do not want to spend the next few years wasting time jumping from program to program and being confused by all the different opinions. Slingshot Training is precisely what everyone is looking for in this day and age of complexity and over-analysis.

## Within the next 10 years, I predict that most that are serious about weight lifting (bodybuilding and strength training) will be using some form of Slingshot Training. Everyone must dedicate themselves to this lifestyle, incorporate the proper nutrition, lift heavy weights with the correct form, utilize straight sets, use a lot of sets for the anchor exercises and push through the cruelest reps weight lifting has to offer. You must avoid over analyzing and thinking in absolutes if you want to succeed at this sport. Bodybuilding in an extreme sport, but having an all-or-nothing mind-set is counter-productive. I am of the opinion, there never has nor will there ever be a better way to train than using a Slingshot approach.##

Important Note: I've received a ton of emails concerning training splits. For the record-I do not believe in "cookie cutter routines" because they do not work for everyone! Everybody has a unique training preference. This includes both exercise selection and the way body parts are split. No one split can be said to be Holy Grail because so much is dependent on individual preferences. The training splits listed are mere samples that have worked extremely well for many. Those of you with a very busy schedule may be able to train only twice a week where as some of you hardcore bodybuilders will want to train upwards of 7 days per week and twice a day (morning and aftenoon workouts)! For now I am covering 3, 4,5 and 6 day training splits for bodybuilder's. The strength training/power-lifting and power-building (hybrid between bodybuilding and powerlifting) programs will be listed in my book when it gets published. I do want to say something up front for those involved in various sports- Do not use speed reps in hopes of increasing athletic performance. This is wrong! Speed reps will actually do just the opposite over time by slowing down body motion in order to protect the joints. Those of you involved in sports must utilize polymetrics or practice the sport you are involved in to increase speed, not speed reps where there is a lock out at the end of the movement with weights. Also understand that you can use your own customized split with each and every type of training program. Just keep the maximum amount of sets and 2 training cycles (PRIME/BLAST) as I have outlined. DO NOT use poor splits were a lot of over-lapping occurs between body parts if you want Slingshot Training to work for you!

**Ronnie Rowland** · 11-23-2008, 04:39 PM

Biography

My name is Ronnie Rowland. I am 42 years old and have been a personal trainer for over 22 years. My passions for helping others gain as much size and strength as humanly possible has turned into a life time obsession. Years ago, I dreamed of designing the most logically consistent training system in the world. I'm glad to have the opportunity to share with you what I believe are the finest principles. For those of you who have a basic understanding of training and diet, Slinshot Training will make sense. My agenda is helping others full-fill their dreams both inside and outside the gym. When my elite clients think they are working hard in the gym and on their diet, I tell them that someone is probably working even harder and that should drive them crazy!

I specialize in working with elite-athletes (for i.e.; professional football players, bodybuilders and power-lifters). I'm here to help everyone in need. I do not quit on people because I have learned, it's like patronizing them for life! I tend to be a perfectionist and set no boundaries with my hardcore trainees. I teach them to think like a child so more can be accomplished through imagination and visualization. I am of the opinion that all too often weight lifters let society dictate to them what they can do instead of thinking outside the box. I also believe in making short term goals. Then once you achieve them you can start getting more aggressive in your vision of what you want to accomplish. If I do not know how to do something, I'll learn to do it. I'll do whatever it takes to help others achieve their weight-lifting goals and let no one stand in my way! I am commited to being the best personal trainer I can be. It's been very exciting for me to watch the transformations being made with Slingshot Training. I am convinced you have to have your mind, body and spirit working in harmony so you can confront and conquer this sport.

Muscle size, shape, potential for growth and strength are determined by your own personal set of genes-but I do not mean to imply the proper diet and training program won't help you maximize your genetic potential. My biggest obstacle as a personal trainer has been training "insecure people". They tend to get all upset when I show them a better way. For example, I have explained to many individuals that the flat bench press is great for those with superior chest genetics, but not so good if they were born with a small chest. With the flat press, more of the load is taken over by the front delts, triceps and lats as opposed to the chest for those individuals with small pecs. These people tend to do much better with decline presses, incline preses and flat flyes. People who were born with a big set of pecs usually excel using flat presses. Some of the people I meet that have a small chest will turn a deaf ear when they hear what I have to say about flat presses because they have a hard time accepting the fact they do not have a huge barrell shaped chest like Arnold. However, once they start having severe rotator cuff pain or show signs of lagging in the chest department, most become all ears.

## Let's be honest, accepting our genetic limitations is not an easy thing to do. You can lie to others if you choose to do so, but never lie to yourself! ##

Years ago, I dreamed of designing the most logically consistent training system in the world. I'm glad to have the opportunity to share with you what I believe are the finest bodybuilding principles. For those of you who have a basic understanding of training and diet, Slingshot Training will make sense. My body type falls into the category of your classic skinny-fat-man with poor vascularity. Before you laugh too hard at my non-training picture, I want you to realize my genetics represent the largest population of today?s bodybuilders; the hard gainer! Due to having surgeries, I was unable to train. I lost all the muscles I had worked for in only 2 years time. This occurred when I was in my early 30's. At the bottom of this page are some before and after pictures showing you what Slingshot Training has done for me. The after pictures were taken back in the summer. The picture of me holding up the fish was taken when I was unable to train. Here's a link to some current pictures- http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=112166341 In addition, my 45 year old wife decided to post some of her pictures in the following link- http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=112166211 My wife Kathy Rowland is currently squatting 315 pounds for 8 reps and is doing lunges for 15 reps with 2-45lb plates on each side of the bar. I will post more progress pictures of my wife and I as time goes on!

**Ronnie Rowland** · 11-23-2008, 04:41 PM

The STS is just as effective for one of my friends with good genetics. I?ll let you read a quote from a professional bodybuilder named "Tricky Jackson". Lonnie Tepor of Ironman Magazine referred to him as the greatest light weight bodybuilder of all time. A quote from Tricky Jackson himself: ?Many have asked what my "secret" is for putting on lean muscle mass during the off-season. To make a long story short, it wasn't until the year 2004 that I met long time professional trainer Ronnie Rowland out of Aiken South Carolina. He introduced me to an unconventional approach to bodybuilding called the STS (Slingshot Training System). I thought I had heard it all, but he opened up my eyes to what bodybuilding could be and showed me how to cycle my workouts in conjunction with my diet-supplements in order to mimic the way chemically enhanced bodybuilders make their best gains. In 2004, I was an advanced competitive bodybuilder weighing in at 198 lbs during the off- season and my gains, had all, but stopped. I gained only one pound of muscle that whole year stepping on the stage at 170 lbs. As you can imagine I was getting a bit frustrated. Rowland convinced me to give his off-season training system a try during the 2005 off-season. To my surprise, I increased my body weight considerable and was able to maintain 8 pounds of pure muscle after I dieted down for my show. This allowed me to step on stage at a ripped 178 lbs. It wasn't until getting my pro-card, that I fully realized just how far this training system had taken me. In 2006, I was about 221 lbs off season and a whopping 190 lbs on stage. That?s 12 more pounds of pure muscle in only a year?s time!!! It gets even better. I almost won my first pro show this past weekend by placing 2nd to Silvio Samuals in the Europe 210 lbs and under Division and came in 9th in the open. My experience with the STS is beyond measure-"literally"!

**Ronnie Rowland** · 11-23-2008, 04:42 PM

Straight sets

I am of the opinion that all beyond failure training techniques are just an egotistical way to promote a radically different training method! I have developed an advanced training system that will work for anyone that is willing to give it a chance. It goes against a lot of the Muscle Mag Dogma that?s continually being rehashed. There?s no rest-pause, drop sets, super sets, forced reps, etc. Many training systems sound whacky because they are whacky! If you do something extreme, it?s going to be something you can?t live with so it?s bound to fail. No one has nor will they ever, devise a training technique that will work as good as straight sets for building size and strength. There?s a very good reason that most veterans in this sport have stopped using extreme training techniques. It doesn?t matter if beyond failure training techniques are used in the lower rep-ranges or the higher rep-ranges because the burn and stress still carries over to the vulnerable joints and tendons-hence greatly increasing your odds of developing tendonitis and tearing a tendon. Using beyond failure training methods like rest-pause, forced reps and drop sets will force you to train with less volume and weight. Therefore, you won?t be able to keep the training volume and weight loads high enough for a long enough period to experience maximum muscular growth.

## As far as all beyond failure techniques such as strip sets, forced reps, rest-pause or whatever, after you do them the first time, you cannot go above and beyond the work you did last time without over-training or causing injury##

Power-lifters and those who compete in the world?s strongest man competitions are some of the largest men to ever walk on the face of this planet. They obtain their massiveness by utilizing nothing other than straight sets. Every training method other than straight sets has fallen short of what I consider optimal for providing fast, safe, and efficient results. There has never been any evidence to show that any training method regardless of how many bells and whistles it comes equipped with can increase your muscle mass and strength as efficiently as straight sets. Trust me on this one! Who do you think would make the most gains; a guy who does 4 sets of 10 reps using 400 lbs on the vertical leg press machine or the guy who does 1 triple drop set using 400 lbs, 350 lbs, 300 lbs and finally 270 lbs? The obvious answer is the guy who used more weight on all 4 sets. Why? Because straight sets allows you the power to lift a greater weight-load range. With beyond failure techniques such as drop sets, you?re basically breaking down less muscle tissue yet annihilating the nervous system and joints. The same rule applies to rest-pause training as well because with each subsequent set you are using fewer reps with the same amount of weight. A rest-paused set done in the 8-12 rep range will not create the same kind of strength gains that are obtained by using a straight set for 4-6 reps simply because you cannot lift heavy when training near the point of non-stop. Straight sets give you the best of both worlds because it allows you to stay within the bodies recovery limits while building maximum size and strength. Using beyond failure training methods will force you to train with less volume-hence you won?t be able to keep the training volume high enough to experience maximum muscular growth. Extremely long and intense workouts are what causes over-training "NOT" frequent training sessions or even twice a day training sessions.

* * There?s a lot to be said for being logically consistent* *

The problem with always using very intense low volume training and/or intense beyond failure training methods to gain muscle is that you are supposed to keep using more and more weight or perform more reps with the same weight until you get to the upper limit of whatever rep-range you have for the various exercises you are utilizing. That works for beginners but not for those of you who are more advanced. Anyone can make continued strength gains for the first year or two of training, but if you have been training for 5 years using a good training system, how much stronger do you think you are really going to become? Trust me, there is a limit you will reach! If not, then everyone of you reading this who have been lifting for 5 years would be bench pressing 500 pounds plus for 10 reps and that's not the way it works. Only the genetically gifted are able to bench press 500 pounds plus for 10 reps in good form! Most of you who have trained hard-heavy for multiple years have injuries of some form and have to be careful to not flare up old injuries. If you try to lift even heavier weights by employing intense beyond failure training methods such as rest-pause or forced reps, you are just going to get hurt even worse. Bodybuilding and powerlifting are two different things and you will do well to remember this. Just because I have been using 160 lbs on lying tricep extensions for the past two years does not mean I am not making forward progress as a bodybuilder! My tricep tendons can only handle so much pressure until they give way. So, by adding work sets and changing the frequency in which my triceps are stimulated, I get a rapid training effect as an advanced trainer without having to keep increasing the weight I lift or upping the intensity past momentary muscular failure. Those bodybuilder's who claim you must lift heavier weights every single week are either being dishonest or living in Fantasy Land. Low volume bodybuilders always hit a plateau and then they have no safe place to turn in order to put on more size! Proper periodization with nutrition, straight sets and supplements are the best route to take as an advanced weight trainer whether you are training for size, strength or both.

Important Note: Researchers from Truman State University (Kirksville Missouri) investigated whether the amount of rest taken between sets had an impact on the immune system/CNS. What they found was something I have known for some time: "Nine male college students performed two workouts of 10 sets of 10 reps of the leg press, resting either 1 minute or 3 minutes between sets. They found that the one-minute rest periods caused more strain on the subjects immune systems compared to 3-minute rest periods". The graphs shown in this article suggest that higher-intensity training techniques by way of shortening rest periods by only 2 minutes increases strain on the immune by an extra 60% on the Lymphocytes scale and 40% on the Monocytes scale. Now just imagine how much more of an increase you would get by using beyond failure techniques! Heavy compound exercises like the squat will take longer to recover from than isolation exercises such as biceps curls. When you go to good failure on very demanding compound movements, you may need to wait around 4 minutes between sets. It depends on how large the muscle group and with how much weight you are pushing. For example; you wont need to wait as long between sets for shoulder presses as you will deadlifts.

**Ronnie Rowland** · 11-23-2008, 04:42 PM

Regardless of what anyone claims, no ones body does well moving rapidly between sets or pushing beyond failure. It's just not as effective for increasing weight load-range and workload capacity as common power-lifting fundamentals. If so, every power-lifter and strongman on the face the planet would be using beyond failure training techniques instead of straight sets and we know that?s not the case. When over-training of the CNS occurs you are exhausting all the neurotransmitters in the nerves so that now they have trouble telling the muscles how to contract with optimum efficiency. People who make the mistake of training with more intensity by shortening their rest time between sets will become over-trained. Handling maximum weight places a tremendous stress upon the nervous system, which takes longer to recover than muscles. For example, cranking out 145 pounds for 8 repetitions puts less stress on your body than pushing 350 pounds for 8 repetitions. Your muscles grow, but your CNS and joints do not!

Bodybuilding is about applying stress to the targeted areas. The form and rep ranges to be used for bodybuilding is a bit different than power-lifting. With compound movements, bodybuilders should smoothly explode the weight faster with full power after completing approximately one fourth of the complete repetition. It should take you about a second and a half to complete the positive stroke when performing heavy compound movements. With isolation movements, you should wait and move the weight faster at about the half way point of the repetition. With full-stretch exercises the muscle and tendons are easily damaged with sudden burst at the beginning of the movement. With isolation movements the positive stroke should take you around 1 and a half to 2 seconds to complete! The controlled negative should be around 2 seconds for both categories of exercises. The positive stroke should be somewhat explosive yet controlled to the point it's working the muscles to the fullest extent. Moving the weight too slow (for i.e. a 3 second positive and a 4 second negative) won't allow you to use enough weight to fully break down the type 2 muscle fibers due to lactic acid build-up. As you approach the end of a work set, you'll need to increase the explosiveness within each repetition (not speed of the repetition itself) as your muscle begin to fatigue and build up lactic acid. Do not fall victim of using very slow reps to try and gain additional muscle size. This means avoiding the use of slow negatives, slow positives or both. The only time you can gain more muscle mass by converting to slow reps is if you have been under-training or using very poor form. In these particular cases it's the increase in time under tension, not the slow reps that are actually making the difference. The secret to increasing the recruitment of the powerful fast twitch muscle fibers is using a controlled negative and the fastest positive rep speed possible while delivering maximum stress to the targeted area. Then, simply increase the amount of weight you can lift in conjunction with extra time under tension during the appropriate periods.

Editors Note: I am all for using a controlled negative but against slow negatives. Rapidly stretching a muscle will reduce the time of the negative contraction. Thus, bodybuilders should strive to exploit all of the possible muscle stimulation benefits of the negative stroke by controlling the negative portion with a deliberate movement. Muscle tears can occur during the negative portion of the movement. This is when the muscle lengthens under the weight load. Performing your movements with a controlled negative of around 2 seconds actually helps protect against muscle injuries. The advantages are 3 fold:

1) It keeps you from using excessive momentum during the transition phase between the negative and positive portions of the movement.

2) The muscle adapts to the negative portion and builds up its resistance for injury during a negative part of the movement.

3) As with the positive stroke, controlling the negative causes your muscle to grow bigger and stronger.

Using heavy negatives, super slow negatives and/or negative training only should be avoided because the muscle damage experienced by this kind of training is very similar to the very thing you should be trying to avoid-(muscle strain)! In addition, attempting to perform a very slow negative produces a lot of lactic acid in the muscles-hence reducing your ability to push maximal weight on the positive contraction. Feeling the negative stroke and stretch should be treated with the same importance of feeling the squeeze and contraction during the positive stroke because both actions increase strength and size. If you avoid feeling the negative you?re missing out on your potential for increasing maximum muscle size and strength. Make sure to control the movement of each repetition to ensure that you generate both size and strength with both the positive and negative.

**Ronnie Rowland** · 11-23-2008, 04:43 PM

Training past muscle failure.

Powerlifter?s and those who compete in the strongest man/woman competitions have learned the value of preventing injuries and nervous system destruction by not training beyond momentary muscular failure. Taking less away from the body allows it to recuperate faster, meaning the overcompensation process (where strength and growth occurs) can conclude sooner and with consistency. Using excessive body english to reach absolute muscular failure or beyond (the point you can no longer budge a weight), especially with heavy work loads, creates great demand on the tendons, joints, and nervous system.

Your goal as a weight lifter should be to increase the weight on the bar through a Progressive Overload and train with great intensity, not training to the point where someone has to pull the barbell off your chest on the last rep or assist you in pumping out a few extra repetitions at the end of an intense work set by pushing past failure. Do not want to avoid training to failure if you are a bodybuilder; it?s the wrong kind of failure training you should avoid, especially when training a large muscle group like the legs. The ideal situation as a bodybuilder is to reach as close to muscular failure as possible on each work set, but in a way that will induce maximum stimulus to the muscle fibers without causing injury or impairing the Central Nervous System. I call this good failure because it is the absolute best way to train for maximum size. As a strength trainer/power-lifter you will want to train in the 1-5 rep range and try to leave one in the hole (stop one rep shy of good failure) on power-lifting movements to prevent injuries and Central Nervous System burn out.

## Bodybuilding and Powerlifting are not one in the same and you would do well to remember this if you want to be good at either.##

Some people have equated overloading the muscle with decreasing the amount of rest taken between sets. This means using a lot less weight on subsequent sets. Their purpose of moving quicker between sets is to burn the muscle beyond a point that can?t be achieved with straight sets. I think some tend to forget that burning a muscle with higher reps or taking less rest between sets is not equivalent to burning the muscles by performing additional work sets. Increasing training volume up to no more than 12 sets per major body part each training session, along with the a properly utilized deload, will allow you to train with a heavier workload on a progressive basis. You'll need to wait long enough between sets to allow ATP restoration. On the other hand, when you move rapidly between sets, ATP cannot regenerate itself fast enough to support a true progressive over-load.

It?s important that you understand a burn obtained from using more straight sets equals over-load, but a burn obtained from applying beyond failure techniques like triple drops sets, super sets, rest-pause and or moving rapidly between sets does not promote the same degree of over-load. Also, it?s been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that a certain amount of volume is needed when utilizing any rep-range with straight sets. Over-load and intensity should come through weight selection and the amount of sets performed, not to burn the muscle beyond fatigue. I think this is where some tend to get confused. Keep in mind that getting a nice pump is not the same as burning the muscles. Your primary focus should be overloading the muscles while obtaining a nice pump.

# # Obtaining a good pump by moving rapidly between sets should be avoided like the plague if your goal is to add size-strength. # #

I want you to understand that I have watched people waste a lot of precious time and energy using beyond failure techniques and many have the injuries to prove it! Nothing good can come from building the foundation of your workouts around training techniques whose primary focus is on nervous system/joint over load as opposed to progressive muscle over load. Beyond failure methods cause a severe burn in the muscle and this burn always carries over to the joints/tendons! This can produce tendonitis in short order. I?m here to tell you that using these extreme training methods with any consistency can hold you back by causing injury and nervous system fatigue!

**Ronnie Rowland** · 11-23-2008, 04:44 PM

Beware of Deception: Some of these training methods being exploited are more of a badge than a great training program. In fact, some of these programs are totally destructive to your body. Some of the followers can name the exercise selection for the most part, but that's about it. Ironically enough, they sure know how to preach it. I?ve witnessed more injuries from rest-pause, bouncy reps and forced reps, than any other forms of training. Don't allow yourself to become a victim. You'd think anybody in their right mind would know better, but it can be easy to get brainwashed through someone elses exxagerations about how much size they gained following a particular style of training. See to it that no one mis-leads you with pschological conditioning! Being able to discern between truth and error is very important. I respect the opinions of others but there has to be an authority in the weight lifting community. Cling to the things that are safe and timed-test in the gym. When a person departs from the basic foundations of weight training, they are going to end up disillusioned. Don't let some muscle magazines or some so-called training guru lead you astray! We as bodybuilder's need to make sure as individuals that we take responsibility for what we accept to believe and teach others. I am not pointing the finger at anyone in particular. I am only pointing out the fact that our generation of weight lifters have an oppotunity to fix some things that are broken and say never again will we be led astray by deceptive marketing strategies that lead only to fantasy land.

The human body wasn?t designed to go beyond failure. If you cannot lift a weight on your own within a given set, the weight load is too heavy! Extreme training methods have tore many a tendon clean off the bone and everyone who uses these techniques for long periods of time almost always develop a severe injury. Furthermore, techniques like rest-pause can weaken the muscle so severely it will rip a tendon clean off the bone before muscle failure occurs in the rest-paused reps within the set. It makes no difference whether or not the rest-paused reps are performed in the high or low rep range because extreme fatigue is still present and this stress carries over to the vulnerable tendons and joints.

Some training methods get their fame increased through articles in mainstream magazines. I have my concerns about some of these programs being exploited. Sometimes dogma and or marketing are a tough wall to crumble! Listen, I?ve spoken with literally thousands of trainers over the years who can vividly recall their last and final beyond failure training session. They grew to hate training and the gym with all their heart, mind, and soul! I think this speaks volumes about its validity in training to get giant muscles. I have been around bodybuilding for a long time now and I know many have the dedication to apply themselves. I don?t want you to make the mistake of pumping up your muscles with massive amounts of blood or pushing the muscles beyond belief with low reps. No ones body and mind can take that kind of abuse for long.

Every training method has some validity when applied with some sanity but, most tend to get carried away and make up the meat of their workout with these more dangerous yet less effective training techniques. Due to safety reasons and the lack of gains made using extreme forms of training, I have quit recommending any form of training other than time proven straight-sets.

Let's pretend you are doing a set of incline bench presses. You lay back on the incline press and crank out one, two, three, four, and five reps. You get to rep number 6 and your face begins to show some pain. Those standing around you think you're finished but you get rep number 7. Surely you are finished they are thinking, but you use sheer will-power to lift the weight to complete number 8 while still avoiding momentary failure. You try for rep number 9 and have to bounce the weight really hard off your chest in order to get the barbell up on your own and you just barely make it at that. The set should have been terminated after the completition of rep number 8! Repetition number 8 is what I consider good failure and repetition number 9 is what I call bad failure! Simply said, you continue lifting until you know that if you attempted the get the last rep you couldn't without severely draining the nervous system and using bad form!

Your goal as a bodybuilder is not to avoid training to failure; it's to avoid training to the wrong kind of failure. The ideal situation is to reach as close to muscular failure as possible, but in a way that will induce maximum stimulus to the muscle fibers without causing injury or impairing the Central Nervous System. I call this good failure because it is the absolute best way to train for maximum size.

* * I?ve experimented with training past failure and was very un-satisfied with the results. After making the switch to stopping at good failure, everyone?s results, including my own, have been nothing short of miraculous in comparison.* *

Contracting the muscles using good failure fatigues the muscle fully and builds muscle at a faster rate. As you become stronger, it becomes even more important to use impeccable form, choose the proper exercises that agree with your biomechanics and avoiding beyond failure training techniques so you can stay injury free. Nothing will set you back more than having to take time away from the gym due to an injury. I am all about longevity and have seen multitudes of serious injuries in the gym that could have been avoided in the first place! Knee wraps can be great for squats and other leg work. Weight lifting belts, manta rays and wrist straps work well for some during exercises such as dead-lifts and squats. Some elbow wraps can work great during triceps work and wrist braces like the tiger paw can provide relief for the wrist when doing heavy chest presses. Braces canl help you work around minor strains and tendonitis. Chiropractic care is another tool for bodybuilders experiencing pain in the spine! Glucosamine and Chondroitin can preserve cartilage in the joints and increase joint mobility. Active Release practitioners can reduce your symptoms of tendonitis. Use common sense and work around an injury when possible.

* * Muscle/tendon tears can be avoided by keeping the movement strict and never training past the point of not being able to get another good rep. Explosive repetitions are best for adding muscle size and gaining strength. For every rep of every set, power should be applied gradually. You must maintain tightness and never jerk, bounce, or toss the weight. **

It's important to work in the fullest range of motion possible without causing injury. You must be careful to avoid over-stretching the shoulders during exercises like flyes or you will damage the shoulders. The same thing applies to squats, leg presses, over-head presses, chest presses, dead-lifts, etc. Work in the fullest range of motion that's comfortable for your body not someone else's!

There are lots of kinds of exercises and lots of variations in the performance of them. Exercises done for higher reps would be more of a conditioning exercise. Exercises done with heavy loads and low reps will build strength. Exercises done with the heaviest load possible for moderate reps (6-12) will build muscle mass. Exercises done explosively will build power. The training effect would also depend on the training age of the individual. Most exercises are not inherently "bad for the joints." Exercises performed poorly can be stressful on the joints. Exercises performed with too great a volume or intensity for the conditioning level of the exerciser might become stressful on the joints. Certain exercises performed by someone with existing joint problems have the potential to create additional pain and should be performed with caution and care or avoided altogether.

**Ronnie Rowland** · 11-23-2008, 04:45 PM

Returns you get for your effort.

You get the most returns for your efforts with the first 3 sets for any given body part. Regardless of how many different exercises you perform for a given bodypart the ability to generate intensity is reduced considerably by the time you finish set # 5. Considerably less and less muscle tissue will be broken down with each consecutive set there after. After that point, the curve starts to taper off but 6 sets still provides gains. After 6 sets the curve continues to slope down and you will obtain even less results for your efforts! This must be taken into consideration when trying to gain strength.

There's a strong correlation between getting the most returns for your efforts during the first 5-6 sets of an exercise and increasing your odds of developing an over-use injury when exceeding 6 sets. Your ability to generate intensity using only 1 exercise for a particular body part will be greatly diminished by the time you've finished 5-6 sets. By switching over to a second exercise after doing 5-6 sets of the first exercise, you will increase the returns you get for your efforts during the second exercise because you'll be working from a different angle. The second exercise will fully breakdown down the remaining muscle fibers that are present within the muscle group. This means trying to go past that point by inserting a 3rd exercise would be a complete waste of time because the entire muscle has already been broken down. By doing 5-6 sets a piece with your two main exercises you will break down more muscle tissue and gain more strength than if you were to perform 20 sets with 5 different exercises. Performing upwards of 16-20 sets for a body part in one session will cause you to waste a lot of time because a muscle no longer fires with optimal force once you go past doing 12 sets. Regardless of how many different exercises you use for a particular body part, the ability to generate intensity is over with after 12 work sets. This must be taken into consideration when trying to gain size.

Performing more than 12 sets for any body part will make you refrain from using great intensity on every work set. For instance, if you were on your 5th set for quads, and you knew you had 15 sets left using 3 different exercises, you wouldn't push yourself nearly as hard as if you were on your 5th set for quads, and you knew you only had 5 sets left with only 1 other exercise. After completing 12 sets for any given body part, it's virtually impossible to generate enough intensity to further break down any substantial amount of muscle tissue. By trying to do so, it creates a scenario where the Central Nervous System and joints have to work harder to keep moving the weights while the muscles are working less. You can only stimulate the muscles so much in any given training session. After reaching the point of diminishing returns, very high volume trainers who train each body part using 20 sets in one training session have to over-strain to try and make up for the muscles inability to put forth effort. This creates tons of stress and possible injuries to the muscles, tendons, and joints. When fatigue is so great that stabilizers and synergists (which generally give out faster than the prime movers) become too tired to allow maintenance of proper form, you're asking for an injury. Train till the muscles gives out; not the joints!

FACT: Adding in a few extra sets after the completion of 12 intense work sets is not going to do anything but lengthen your workout and hamper the recovery process. The muscle is sufficiently stressed and fatigued already. Lastly, the extra sets would expose you to injury through over-use!

**Ronnie Rowland** · 11-23-2008, 04:46 PM

Slingshot Anabolic Cycles

It?s very common for fast acting anabolic/androgenic steroids to be used by the drug enhanced bodybuilder/power-lifter for 8-12 weeks at a time. After gaining mass-strength for 8-12 weeks they often take 2 weeks off (prime the body for future growth) and begin another 8-12 week mass cycle of different steroids or more of the same. Top level bodybuilders do not run long steroid cycles and then go off the drugs for lengthy periods of time. Doing so would keep them in a viscous cycle of making gains then losing most of the gains they worked so hard to obtain. This is very important to understand because the same rule applies to natural bodybuilders using legal anabolic agents like creatine and amino acids in various forms.

Editors Note: No adult should contemplate using anabolic steroids until they reach their maximum potential as a natural trainer through Slingshot Training The idea situation is to train naturally with Slingshot Training until you hit your plateau. Then you will have the option of adding steroids to blast past your natural plateau. If you haven't reached your natural plateau yet through Slingshot Training, then you will be wasting a lot of money on steroids that could have been used towards food.

Top level competitive bodybuilders who are chemically enhanced make much better gains and keep more of their gains by doing long drawn out cycles. In fact, most never go off all the drugs but this is not recommended for recreational trainers. Their base drugs usually consist of a slow acting testosterone and/or a slow acting anabolic. These top level competitors run these drugs as their base throughout the whole duration of the off-season. In order to free more testosterone during a mass phase they often add a fast acting oral steroid and/or a fast acting ester of the injectable version and run it along with the base at a high dose. Some even opt to throw in a different slow acting ester than what?s used for the base. Upon completion of a 8-12 week mass cycle, they reduce the drugs for a 2 week period in exception to the base. This is done in order to prime the body so they can make additional gains by going back to the same drugs or changing over to different drugs altogether for another 8-12 weeks. They also drastically reduce training volume during the 2 week period (called an anabolic prime) when fewer drugs are used. You might ask "Why would they reduce their dosages for two weeks as opposed to continuing"? It?s because at that point their body will become desensitized to the powerful drugs and their receptors will be fully saturated. If you steroid users stay on any drug past 12 weeks and continued with the same protocol, you begin doing more harm than good because SHGB levels will begin elevating and cortisol levels will increase-hence gains come to a screeching halt. Drugs like insulin, t-3, etc are known for being added during a 8-12 week blast while growth hormone is often run as a base throughout most of the year to keep bodyfat levels low and rebuild the tendons/joints. A positive nitrogen balance is a primary anabolic indicator of an anabolic agent and this will dissipate if the dosages are not continually increased or cycled properly.

The same dosage of synthetic testosterone starts losing it?s effectiveness after having been active in the body for around 12 weeks. The same rule applies to anabolic agent like creatine that can be purchased over-the?counter by natural bodybuilders. People who administer a slow acting testosterone begin having an increase in libido during their 3rd week of administering the drug. The majority of their gains are usually made during week 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. Your goal should be to use enough legal anabolics and/or anabolic/androgenic steroids to stimulate your receptors so muscle and strength gains can be achieved while avoiding over-saturated receptors. Receptor down regulation, which is a decrease in the amount of a steroid being utilized by a cell, will begin to occur after 12 weeks whether a person is natural or drug enhanced. You might ask? ?Does Slingshot Training work for natural athletes?? Absolutely! The Slingshot Training System is about working with the body?s Action/Reaction factors. It takes manipulating training volume along with use of enough legal anabolics (including the proper combinations of food) to stimulate the receptors so muscle and strength gains can be achieved while avoiding over-saturated receptors. By adding the most powerful legal anabolic substances known to man for 8-12 weeks, you will coincide with the way anabolic steroid users make their best gains.

Note: Let's say you are doing a test enanthate only cycle using 750 mgs per week for 12 weeks. You would begin the test during the 2 week prime. By the time the 10 week blast rolls around the testosterone will be kicking in. During the last 2 week of the blast (weeks 9-10), you could reduce the dosages down to 200 mgs per week so the higher dosages of test will be out of your system by the time the 2 week prime starts! During the next 12 week training cycle you could start with 500 mgs of test enanthate, 500 mgs of tren enanthate and/or 20 mgs of anavar during the 2 week prime and run it throughout the entire first 8 weeks of a 10 week blast. These drugs can be utilized the same way as you ran the straight test cycle by reducing or stopping them at the beginning of week when utlizing a 10 week blast. The possibilities are endless with Slingshot Training!!!!

I have done extensive research on the muscle building effects of anabolic steroids and how advanced bodybuilders use them to get big. You simply start out by intentionally creating a controlled catabolic state over a 2 week time span in order to down-regulate anabolic hormones and receptor sites for androgens. During this time you do very little weight training with high reps and increase aerobic work by a large margin. Protein calories remain unchanged while carbs and/or fat calories are slightly decreased. Effort should be put into consuming more lean proteins, more healthy fats and more slow burning carbs. After a 2 week ?anabolic prime?, muscle mass gains are maximized by proceeding into a 8-12 week ?blasting phase? when androgen receptor sites are up-regulated and every anabolic hormone in the body is at its peak. During this highly anabolic state, training volume and weight load capacity are increased in order to break down additional muscle tissue while all forms of aerobic work are dropped. Extra calories are consumed in the form of more carbs and fats while daily protein intake remains at around 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight.

You will not need 2 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight to put on maximum lean muscle during the off-season when utilizing Slingshot Training but you may need upwards of 2 grams per pound of body weight during a Slingshot Cutting Phase provided you have a fast metabolism. I have seen zero evidence after 22 years of being a gym rat that anything over 1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight is beneficial for anabolism. In fact, there is evidence that going too high with protein can actually reduce the anabolic response when utlized long term during the off-season. This is another reason I recommend reducing protein intake by about half for 14 days before entering the anabolic blasting phase! The problem with many bodybuilders is that they have this "more is better" or "all or nothing" mindset. They over analyze by thinking if an increase in protein intake is good, then supraphyisiological amounts must be better. Another example is intense work sets!!!

To increase lean body mass to the max, the most powerful anabolic supplements are added to a 8-12 week mass phase (blast phase) to increase strength, increase protein synthesis, and decrease protein breakdown. These anabolic supplements are always taken during the most catabolic period of the day (before breakfast on non-training days) and (after working outs or during breakfast on training days) to enhance their rate of absorption. The bigger your muscles become by following these 2 anabolic training cycles (PRIME/BLAST), the more receptors they create. Thus, you increase your body?s capacity to use larger amounts of anabolic hormones and/or it?s own naturally produced hormones. I refer to these basic macro-cycles as Slingshot Periodization. The Slingshot Training Cycles mimic the anabolic steroid cycles being used by top level professional bodybuilders/power-lifters behind the scenes, making Slingshot Training the best training system in existence for gaining size and strength.

**Ronnie Rowland** · 11-23-2008, 04:46 PM

Slingshot Aerobic Cycling

Cardio is not mandatory but it can be of great benefit to bodybuilders of all body types. The body rapidly adapts to any form of aerobics. If you try and burn a lot of calories through aerobic training, the body catches on as usual by slowing down your metabolism. Thyroid hormones have a partitioning effect upon muscle-to-fat ratios. Our endocrine system manufactures many hormones. For example, anabolic, catabolic and thyroid hormones can be manipulated by our diet and/or training regimen. During the tail end of a 2 week anabolic prime, T-4 conversion, to the more active T-3, begins to slowly decline, making bodyfat loss slower and muscle loss much easier. When too much cardio is added to a 8-12 week mass phase, the body will become less anabolic nor will it respond as well to cardio during the 2 week anabolic prime or when dieting down for a bodybuilding contest. An abundance of T-3 is needed during the mass phase to increase transport of creatine and increase androgen receptor site/insulin sensitivity. Engaging in too much cardio will decrease anabolic hormones and type 2 muscle fibers. We see this quite often in marathon runners who have been known to have bodyfat levels in the category of the clinically obese because they are all bones and tendons (very little muscle mass). Another problem with doing a lot of cardio during a blasting phase is that it will slow down recovery and muscle growth. This also slows down your metabolism over time. During weight training you actually stimulate the metabolic rate so that it stays higher for longer than when doing aerobics. There's a vast difference between losing weight and becoming leaner!

There's a lot of catch 22's in training and dieting so it's important you understand that adding a bunch of extra cardio in the off-season is the wrong answer! It's far better to keep carbs and/or over-all calories under control so energy can be spent on weight training as opposed to pounding your joints on a treadmill. One thing that some bodybuilders fail to realize is that they cannot be bodybuilders as well as marathon runners at the same time. You'll want to commit to putting on mass and strength or cutting because trying to do both at the same time can causes over-training. A lot of cardio also keeps you from gaining maximal muscle size during a blast because it can deter insulin sensitivity when coupled with the needed weight training volume to gain maximal size. But, a little cardio during a blast can help increase the appetite for those who have trouble gaining muscular weight. Put the majority of your energy into building muscle size-strength through weight training, not into becoming a cardio monkey.

The problem with aerobic training is the more you perform the better you'll become at it. If you try and run farther each session it will eventually become too easy and you'll reach a point you can't get the same benefits. To break this cycle, you'll need to periodize aerobic work just as you must periodize weight training in each of the designated training phases (PRIME/BLAST) so you can avoid adaptation and a sluggish thyroid/nervous system. I coined the phrase Slingshot Aerobic Cycling to define alternating back and forth between periods of doing more cardio and less cardio during each the two designated training phases (PRIME/BLAST).

A good zone for burning fat is staying in your target heart rate of roughly 70-80% of your max heart rate. Anytime you get the heart rate up to around 85% max or over, the body uses fewer fats for fuel and switches over to burning more carbs. When you burn up too many carbs with high intensity cardio, you're body can break down muscle tissue and turn that into carbs, so if you decide to use HIT or HIIT cardio make sure and eat adequate amounts of carbs. Do not use this approach during ketosis! While intense cardio will burn more calories, it can also burn the wrong kind of calories on top of your intense weight training if you are in ketosis. Your goal as a bodybuilder is to burn more fat calories and spare the CNS when dieting down during the prime not avoid giving the a break nervous system a break along with the joints. HIT or HIIT cardio is fine during both a blasting phase and a priming phase given it does not over-train your nervous system or prevent it from recovering from intense weight training.

In all honesty, low intensity cardio for very long durations, moderate intensity for moderate durations, high intensity for short durations, high-intensity interval training, etc, will all work well with Slingshot Training. In short, you are simply trying to burn more calories to reduce bodyfat levels and keep insulin sensitivity high. It?s your decision to find which type of cardio you desire to perform, if any at all, and then find how long of a session works best. For the prime, perform no more than (5 days per week). For the blast phase, limit cardio to only (1-2 per week if any) unless you are doing shows. And during a dealod some may opt to do upwards of 3 days of cardio. Many people make the mistake of reducing calories too much along with increasing cardio output during the prime and this is what will cause muscle loss. Aim to lose no more than 1-2 pounds per week during the 2 week prime (cutting phase) if you need to lose bodyfat. When it comes time to increase calories during the blast phase (mass phase) you will need to take into consideration that cardio will be reduced considerably and adding calories too abruptly will make you gain the wrong kind of weight. A good strategy is to drop fat calories by a small margin (only if needed on top of the extra cardio) during the 2 week prime.

In general, cardio should be longer in duration and lower in intensity if you are having symptoms of feeling over-trained. High intensity cardio or high intensity interval training can over-train the CNS when coupled with intense weight training sessions. With low-moderate intensity aerobic training you are more susceptible to parasympathetic over-training which is less common. Some will find that HIT cardio will prevent full restoration of the sympathetic nervous system used during intense weight training. If you fall into this category stick with moderate intensity cardio throughout both training phases if possible or reduce weight training volume if involved in sports or you get bored with moderate or low intensity cardio.

Editors Note: If your leg workouts are as intense as they should be, then you should not be doing cardio on leg training day. The only exception is during the prime when training volume is low. I can barely walk following a leg workout during the blasting phase!

Aerobic work creates a slight catabolic environment during the anabolic prime because it puts you in a calorie deficit. This keeps those in need from having to drastically drop the calories during a priming phase while still being able to burn a ton of bodyfat and prepare the body for future gains. Some bodybuilders think cardio makes you shrink during the off-season, but the right amount of cardio for your metabolism can help you gain muscle mass. It's only when you have a very fast metabolism or low bodyfat levels and cannot get in enough calories to support the muscles that aerobics will make you shrink! Think about the rapid muscular gains those bodybuilders makes after doing a show when most forms of aerobics are stopped or greatly reduced and it will begin to make sense to you. Trying to use extra resistance training to burn bodyfat during an anabolic prime will eventually causes chronic joint/tendon pain, along with sympathetic overtraining symptoms. Aerobics done right lets you burn additional calories while sparing the nervous system, joints, tendons, and muscles.

Note: If you are involved in sports and must do more cardio sessions for both training phase then Slingshot Training will still work given you eat right! Also, if you are a competitive bodybuilder who does a lot of shows throughout the off-season, then you may need to do upwards of 5 days of cardio during an 8-12 week blasting phase (depending on your metabolism, ability to control carbs and how well you respond to cardio vs more volume with weights.

**Ronnie Rowland** · 11-23-2008, 04:47 PM

Slingshot Pyramiding for Bodybuilder's

I have found Slingshot Pyramiding to be the best way to increase both strength and muscular size during an off-season blast. Warming up the right way and starting out with a medium rep PREP-SET taken 2 reps shy of absolute failure before performing a heavy low rep work-set with a key compound movements used by power-lifters allows you to take a much bigger jump in weight during a low rep set without becoming injured. A prep set consist of doing 4-8 reps and stopping at least 2 reps shy of good failure! When trying to gain additional strength you should do your heavy set for each anchor exercise first (after warm up-sets and the prep set) while your strength is at its peak. With all other work sets that follow, simply drop the poundages after each work set as needed, to stay in your desired rep-range.

Every advanced power-lifter and stregnth athlete I have worked with soon realizes they must hit their heaviest set on key movements before the neural muscular pathways weaken yet while they have some pump in the muscle. This is important because when a muscle is fresh, ATP (the chemical responsible for energy and contraction) and stored glycogen in the muscle are at their highest. That's when you can really lift some heavy weight loads. Stopping 2 reps shy of failure on the PREP SET will keep the CNS strong and awaken and optimize the firing of neural pathways for the heaviest work set that follows. This helps you to lift heavier weight! The PREP SET is more fatiguing than the warm up sets. You must never train to failure during the prep set or it will exhaust the CNS before the heaviest work set. And you?ll need to wait an additional minute or so before going to your heaviest work-set (set # 1). Power-lifters are known for doing a prep set and then waiting around 5 minutes or more before doing their heaviest set to increase weight load range and workload capacity. You?ll be required to wait around 4 minutes as a bodybuilder before doing your heaviest set on compound/power-lifting- movements. Then go back to around 2-3 minutes between sets for that same exercise on each set that follows.

Using more than 3 warm-up sets for any cold body part (for i.e. chest and quads) will hurt your performance. If you need more than 3 warm up sets your doing something wrong (for i.e.; ego lifting). If a muscle group is completely cold, you should always start using 1 high rep warm-up set of 12-15 reps followed by 1 to 2 heavier warm-up sets using only 6 reps. If you fail to warm up properly you won?t be able to bring enough blood flow (pump) into the muscles before performing the heaviest set even though you?ve done a PREP SET and this will increase the risk of getting injured. In addition, a muscle that is not warmed up sufficiently will contract and stretch with less efficiency and this means less muscle fiber stimulation. On the other hand, if you over exert yourself during the warm up sets by using more than one high rep set or using too much weight, you will become to fatigued to produce the desired training effect during the work sets. Warm ups are designed to bring blood flow into the muscle not break down muscle tissue or exert yourself. Using too much weight during warm-ups sets or pushing too much intensity is a huge mistake being made by many bodybuilders and it?s really hurting their ability to increase weight load range and workload capacity. A moderately pumped muscle responds better to heavier workloads and it takes a non-fatiguing high rep set followed by one or two moderate low rep sets to make this happen if the muscle is completely cold. Anytime you do not feel adequately warmed following a high and a low rep warm up set, you?ll need to add an additional low rep warm up set using the same amount of weight used in the second set. Adding more weight to the third warm up set would produce too much fatigue and would do nothing to further prepare the joints for the heavy workload to come.

Note: The PREP-SET is in a league of it's own. Not a warm-up and not an all out work set. You'll need to leave two in the hole during a PREP SET. And PREP SETS are to be used only for power exercises such as the following-(squats,dead-lifts, bench presses and over head shoulder presses)!

One low rep warm-up set is usually sufficient before doing the PREP SET for the deltoids if they are trained after chest. When training bicep after lats, a warm up set is generally not needed before proceeding to the work sets. If you feel the need to use more warm-ups set for the delts or biceps because it?s an area that?s been injured in the past, you can use a total of 2 low rep sets of 6 repetitions. In these particular cases, you would need to shun high reps during the warm up because of the fatigue already present from training the chest and lats. This rule applies to every body part. Performing countless warm-up sets for a body part that?s already filled with blood is counter productive and only wasting valuable gym time. It?s not mandatory to work your way up the ladder within each rep-scheme. Stay in the designated rep-range the best you can and add weight when applicable.

Note: If for some reason you are not able to use a particular rep-range due to joint pain, simply work in a rep-range where no pain is experienced.

More weight can be used during the low rep heavy set (4 to 6 reps) when utilizing the Slingshot Pyramiding Scheme. I?ve had multitudes of trainees obtain a new personal record on key movements the first time using this pyramiding scheme and they continue doing so because they are doing it right for the first time in their life! If you tried doing the heaviest set before the PREP SET, the muscles would not be pumped sufficiently to contract at full force-hence the chance of being injured would be greater. On the other hand, if you wait until the last work set to go heavy as many do, it will decreases performance due to excess fatigue-hence actually increase your chance for injury. You?ve got to do the heaviest work set when the muscle is at its strongest! The advantage is catching the body off guard! I call this Slingshot Pyramiding because it ?hurls? a burst of intensity to the muscles during the ?heaviest work-set? on the key power-building movements.

Slingshot Training adds an extra margin of safety by never doing heavy sets for isolation movements! With compound movements, more weight can be used without getting injured because more muscles come into play during the lift. No PREP SETS are required before doing isolation exercises. Do only the desired warm up sets, if any, and stay near the 8-10 rep-range for all intense work sets. Another way to surprise the muscles is during the the final work set when using a power-lifting movement. You will want to do an intense burn out set composed of higher reps (12-15) with key power-lifting movements to help increase functional strength. These will completely fatigue the stronger regions of the muscles being worked and in return activate some of the more stubborn dormant muscle fibers often neglected.

Note: There is way too much chaos amongst bodybuilders pertaining to which rep-range builds the most muscle size. It's simple! You'll need to perform the majority of your work sets in the 8-10 rep-range (give or take a rep or two) if you want to max out your full-genetic potential as a bodybuilder because it delivers superior gains in muscle size. Perform 1 heavy set in the 4-6 rep-ranges with key compound power-lifting exercises to make continued strength gains. Utilize 1 set in the 12-15 rep-ranges with your key power-lifting exercises to build endurance,functional strength and aid in healing. Keep most work sets in the 8-10 rep-range for maximum hypertrophy. This is how you obtain total bodypart mass and full-blown muscle-belly development!

Sample of how to pyramid your chest training as a "bodybuilder" during the blast: Here's a chest workout using 2 exercises once a week for 10 sets. Incline barbell bench press- 1st warm up set 135lbs-12 reps, 2nd warm up set 175lbs-6 reps, 3rd warm up set 185 lbs-4 reps, PREP SET- 240 lbs for 6 reps stopping 2 reps shy of failure). )-?wait an extra minute before performing your 1st work set?. 1st work set/heavy-set 350 lbs-4 reps to failure, 2rd work set 275 lbs for 8 to good failure, 3rd work set 265 lbs for 8 reps to failure, 4 th set 255 for 8 reps to failure, 5th work set 200 lbs for 12 reps to failure. Second exercise is flat flyes- 1st work set 45 lbs for 10 rep to failure, 2nd work set 45 lbs for 9 reps to failure, 3rd set 45 for 8 reps to failure, 4th work set 40 lbs for 9 reps to failure. 5th and final work set 40 lbs for 8 reps to failure.

Note: By keeping intense low-rep sets (4-6 reps) to roughly one per each training session it helps prevent over-training of the CNS, connective tissue and joints when training to all out failure on each set as a bodybuilder.

(Warm up sets are not included with samples and each work set is taken to failure)

Sample pyramiding schemes for "bodybuilders".

**Ronnie Rowland** · 11-23-2008, 04:48 PM

PRIME PYRAMIDING SAMPLES FOR ONCE A WEEK MUSCLE TRAINING

Sample using 2 exercises for 4 sets during 2 week anabolic prime when training each muscle once a week.

1st exercise is a key exercise-15 degree barbell decline press
1st set 12-15 reps to failure
2nd set 12-15 reps to failure

2nd exercise is a secondary exercise-15 degree Incline dumbbell flyes using inward pinky twist while bringing hands to lower chest during contraction.
1st set- 12-15 reps to failure
2nd set 12-15 reps to failure

(4 sets total for chest during prime when using 2 exercises per body part during blast)

Sample using 3 exercises for 4 sets during 2 week prime when training each muscle once a week.

1st exercise is a key exercise-15 degree decline press
1st set equals 12-15 reps to failure.
2nd set equals 12-15 reps to failure.

2nd exercise is a secondary exercise-15 degree incline barbell press.
1st set equals 12-15 reps to failure.

3rd exercise is a second secondary exercise- 15 degree incline flyes
1st set equals 12-15 reps to good failure.

(4 sets total for chest during prime when using 3 exercises per body part during blast)

Sample using 4 exercises for 4 sets during 2 week prime when training each muscle once a week.

1st exercise is a key exercise-15 degree decline press
1st set equals 12-15 reps to failure.

2nd exercise is a secondary exercise-15 degree incline barbell press.
1st set equals 12-15 reps to failure.

3rd exercise is a second secondary exercise- flat flyes.
1st set equals 12-15 reps to failure

4th set is a secondary exercise-15 degree incline flyes
1st set equals 12-15 reps to failure

(4 sets total for chest during prime when using 4 exercises per body part during blast)

BLAST PYRAMIDING SAMPLES FOR ONCE A WEEK MUSCLE TRAINING

Sample using 2 exercises for 12 sets during 8-12 week anabolic blast when training each muscle once a week

1st exercise is a key exercise-15 degree barbell decline press
PREP SET- 4-8 reps (2 reps short of failure)-wait an extra minute than usual before going to 1st work set
1st set 4-6 reps (heavy set) to failure
2nd set 8-10 reps to failure
3rd set 8-10 reps to failure
4th set 8-10 reps to failure
5th set 8-10 reps to failure
6th set 12-15 reps to failure

2nd exercise is a secondary exercise-10-15 degree Incline dumbbell flyes using inward Pinky
Twist while bringing hands to lower chest during contraction.
1st set- 8-10 reps to failure
2nd set 8-10 reps to failure
3rd set 8-10 reps to failure
4th set 8-10 reps to failure
5th set 8-10 reps to failure
6th set 8-10 reps to failure

Sample using 3 exercises for 4 sets during 8-12 week anabolic blast when training each muscle once a week

1st exercise is a key exercise-15 degree barbell decline press
PREP SET- 4-8 rep (2 reps short of failure) -wait an extra minute than usual before going to 1st work set
1st set 4-6 reps (heavy set) to failure
2nd set 8-10 reps to failure
3rd set 8-10 reps to failure
4th set 12-15 reps to failure

2nd exercise is a first secondary exercise- 15 degree barbell incline press
1st set- 8-10 reps to failure
2nd set 8-10 reps to failure
3rd set 8-10 reps to failure
4th set 8-10 reps to failure

3rd exercise is a second-secondary exercise
Flat bench dumbbell flyes using inward pinky twist while bringing hands to lower chest during contraction.
1st set- 8-10 reps to failure
2nd set 8-10 reps to failure
3rd set 8-10 reps to failure
4th set 8-10 reps to failure

Sample using 3 exercises for 12 sets during 8-12 week anabolic blast when training a muscle once a week. This scheme is set up for those who tend to get more chest growth from flyes than presses:

1st exercise is a key exercise-15 degree decline press
PREP SET 4-8 reps (2 reps short of failure)-wait an extra minute than usual before going to 1st work set
1st set 4-6 reps (heavy set) to failure
2nd set 8-10 reps to failure
3rd set 12-15 reps to failure

2nd exercise is a secondary exercise-15 degree incline barbell press
1st set-8-10 reps to failure
2nd set 8-10 reps to failure
3rd set 8-10 reps to failure

3rd exercise is a second secondary exercise- Flat flyes
1st set- 8-10 reps to failure
2nd set 8-10 reps to failure
3rd set 8-10 reps to failure
4th set 8-10 reps to failure
5th set 8-10 reps to failure
6th set 8-10 reps to failure

Sample using 3 exercises for 12 sets during 8-12 week anabolic blast for once a week muscle group training. Set up for those who tend to get the most chest growth from incline presses

1st exercise is a key exercise-15 degree barbell incline press
PREP SET- 4-8 reps (2 reps short of failure) -wait an extra minute than usual before going to first work set
1st set 4-6 reps (heavy set) to failure
2nd set 8-10 reps to failure
3rd set 8-10 reps to failure
4th set 8-10 reps to failure
5th set 8-10 repst o failure
6th set 12-15 reps to failure

2nd exercise is a secondary exercise-decline barbell bench press
1st set-8-10 reps to failure
2nd set 8-10 reps to failure
3rd set 8-10 reps to failure

3rd exercise is a second secondary exercise-15 degree incline flyes
1st set-8-10 reps to failure
2nd set 8-10 reps to failure
3rd set 8-10 reps to failure

Sample using 4 exercises for 12 sets during 8-12 week anabolic blast for once a week muscle training. Set up for those who tend to get better chest growth using multiple exercises

1st exercise is a key exercise-15 degree barbell decline press
PREP SET- 4-8 reps (2 reps short of failure) -wait an extra minute than usual before going to 1st work set
1st set 4-6 reps (heavy set) to failure
2nd set 8-10 reps to failure
3rd set 12-15 reps to failure

2nd exercise is a first secondary exercise- 15 degree barbell incline press
1st set- 8-10 reps to failure
2nd set 8-10 reps to failure
3rd set 8-10 reps to failure

3rd exercise is a second-secondary exercise
Flat bench dumbbell flyes using a slight inward pinky twist while bringing hands to lower chest during contraction.
1st set- 8-10 reps to failure
2nd set 8-10 reps to failure
3rd set 8-10 reps to failure

4th exercise is a third-secondary exercise
Incline flyes using a slight inward pinky twist while while bringing the hand to the mid-chest.
1st set- 8-10 reps to failure
2nd set 8-10 reps to failure
3rd set 8-10 reps to failure

Important Note: You have the option of increasing sets and/or adding additional exercises for ancillary bodyparts like traps during a blast if they are lagging behind. For example, if you decide to use 12 sets for traps choose 1 key movement and 1 or 2 secondary exercises. It could go as follows: 6 sets of seated dumbbell shrugs and 6 sets of standing barbell shrugs to front during the blast. "Forearm work" is optional but highly recommended for most. I would suggest adding some wrist curls and reverse wrist curls to your arm training.. Perform approximately 3 to 6 sets of each exercise during a blast.

**Ronnie Rowland** · 11-23-2008, 04:49 PM

PRIME PYRAMIDING SAMPLES FOR TWICE A WEEK MUSCLE TRAINING

Sample using 2 exercises with twice a week muscle group training during 2 week anabolic prime.

Monday (first workout for that week)-1st exercise is a key exercise-15 degree barbell decline press
1st set 12-15 reps to failure
2nd set 12-15 reps to failure

Thursday (second workout for that week)-2nd exercise is a secondary exercise-15 degree Incline dumbbell flyes using inward pinky twist while bringing hands to lower chest during contraction.

1st set- 12-15 reps to failure
2nd set 12-15 reps to failure

(4 sets total for chest during prime when using 2 exercises per body part during blast)

Sample using 3 exercises with twice a week muscle group training during 2 week prime.

Monday (first workout for that week)-1st exercise is a key exercise-15 degree decline press
1st set equals 12-15 reps to failure.
2nd set equals 12-15 reps to failure.

Thursday (second workout for that week)-2nd exercise is a secondary exercise-15 degree incline barbell press.
1st set equals 12-15 reps to failure.

Thursday (second workout for that week)-3rd exercise is a second secondary exercise- 15 degree incline flyes
1st set equals 12-15 reps to good failure.

(4 sets total for chest during prime when using 3 exercises per body part during blast)

Sample using 4 exercises with twice a week muscle group training during 2 week prime.

Monday (first workout for that week)-1st exercise is a key exercise-15 degree Decline incline press
1st set equals 12-15 reps to failure.

Monday (first workout for that week)-2nd exercise is a secondary exercise-15 degree incline barbell press.
1st set equals 12-15 reps to failure.

Thursday (second workout for that week)-3rd exercise is a second secondary exercise- flat flyes.
1st set equals 12-15 reps to failure

Thursday (second workout for that week)- 4th set is a secondary exercise-15 degree incline flyes
1st set equals 12-15 reps to failure

(4 sets total for chest during prime when using 4 exercises per body part during blast)

BLAST PYRAMIDING SAMPLES FOR TWICE A WEEK MUSCLE TRAINING

Sample using 2 exercises for 12 sets when training a body part twice a week during 8-12 week blast

Monday (first workout for that week)-1st exercise is a key exercise-15 degree decline press
PREP SET- 4-8 reps (2 reps short of failure) -wait an extra minute than usual before going to 1st work set
1st set 4-6 reps (heavy set) to failure
2nd set 8-10 reps to failure
3rd set 8-10 reps to failure
4th set 8-10 reps to failure
5th set 8-10 reps to failure
6th set 12-15 reps to failure

Thursday (second workout for that week)-2nd exercise is a secondary exercise-15 degree Incline dumbbell flyes using inward Pinky twist while bringing hands to lower chest during contraction.
1st set- 8-10 reps to failure
2nd set 8-10 reps to failure
3rd set 8-10 reps to failure
4th set 8-10 reps to failure
5th set 8-10 reps to failure
6th set 8-10 reps to failure

Sample using 3 exercises for 6 sets when training each msucle twice a week during a 8-12 week anabolic blast
1st exercise is a key exercise-15 degree barbell decline press
PREP SET- 4-8 reps (2 reps short of failure) -wait an extra minute than usual before going to 1st work set
1st set 4-6 reps (heavy set) to failure
2nd set 8-10 reps to failure
3rd set 8-10 reps to failure
4th set 12-15 reps to failure

2nd exercise is a first secondary exercise- 15 degree barbell incline press
1st set- 8-10 reps to failure
2nd set 8-10 reps to failure
3rd set 8-10 reps to failure
4th set 8-10 reps to failure

3rd exercise is a second-secondary exercise
Flat bench dumbbell flyes using inward pinky twist while bringing hands to lower chest during contraction.
1st set- 8-10 reps to failure
2nd set 8-10 reps to failure
3rd set 8-10 reps to failure
4th set 8-10 reps to failure

Sample for doing 3 exercises and 16 sets for quads during blast when training each muscle group twice a week:

Monday (first leg workout for the week)-6 sets to failure using key exercise.

Squats-
1st exercise is a key exercise
PREP SET- 4-8 reps (2 reps short of failure)-wait an extra minute than usual before going to 1st work set
1st set is a low rep set (4-6 reps) to good failure
2nd set is a medium rep set (8-10 reps) to failure
3rd set is a medium rep set (8-10 reps) to failure
4th set is a medium rep set (8-10 reps) to failure
5th set is a medium rep set (8-10 reps) to failure
6th set is a high rep set (12-15) to failure

Friday (second leg workout of the week)- 10 sets total to failure using 2- secondary exercises.

Smith machine lunges(first secondary exercise)-
1st set is a medium rep set (8-10 reps) to failure
2nd set is a medium rep set (8-10 reps) to failure
3rd set is a medium rep set (8-10 reps) to failure
4th set is a medium rep set (8-10) to failure
5th set is a medium rep set (8-10) to failure

Friday (second leg workout of the week) using second seondary exercise.

Leg extensions-
1st set is a medium rep set (8-10 reps) to failure
2nd set is a medium rep set (8-10 reps) to failure
3rd set is a medium rep set (8-10 reps) to failure
4th set is a medium rep set (8-10 reps) to failure
5th set is a medium rep set (8-10) to failure

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Ronnie Rowland** · 11-23-2008, 04:50 PM

THE FIRST TRAINING PHASE-"THE 2 WEEK PRIME"

During this first 2 week training phase you begin by intentionally creating a controlled catabolic state over a 2 week time span in order to down-regulate anabolic hormones and receptor sites for androgens. You perform very low volume with high reps and add more aerobic work if you do aerobics. The (prime is a low volume training phase). During the priming phase you will use strategic de-conditioning over a 2 week time span in order to make the muscle more responsive to the stimulus of weight training, thus making the muscle respond in a similar fashion as to when you first began lifting weights. You will be amazed at how fast you can gain muscle mass-strength after an ?anabolic prime?. This has a lot to do changing things up, allowing the nervous system to fully recover, and giving connective tissue time to repair itself.

##Everyone knows how weak we can become when the nervous system becomes over-trained and/or a joint/tendon becomes inflammed.##

Reaching a sticking point is one of the biggest reasons why weight lifters stop training. After they have experienced growth at a rapid rate during the first 6 months, their bodies readily adapts to the training and progress slows down. I have learned that the absolute best way to break plateaus is by changing my training completely by utlizing high reps combined with low volume. The high rep "burn-out sets" is a conditioning technique and is also a means to prevent tendonitis later on as you progress in size strength. They also increase functional strength and sarcoplasmic growth. High rep-training is very painful because once the muscle pain begins; your brain will tell you to ?STOP?! Don?t give in to the urge to stop cranking out those reps during the 2 week prime regardless of the pain and you will experience additional muscle growth. High rep training is very intense, especially when training the legs with compound exercises like squats, so it works best if used sparingly. Too much high rep training can push you into a catabolic mode, but just the right amount will increase muscle size.

Note: Perform 4 high rep sets per major body part during the prime regardless of the training split used! Only during the Slingshot Shocker can up to 8 sets be utilized.

During a pre-contest phase bodybuilders will over-train with aerobics and/or under-eat. Immediately following a show they are able to put on muscular weight while staying relatively lean because their body is in a "very receptive" state. The body can't take that kind of abuse on a frequent basis, so you must compromise by doing a 2 week "anabolic prime" after blasting for 8-12 weeks. Ask any competitive bodybuilder when they experience their biggest growth spurts and they will tell you it's after a competition.

You need to prime the body to improve insulin resistance so you can enter a mass phase and put on more muscle weight as opposed to more fat weight. A person with a poor metabolism won?t be able to grow muscle and keep bodyfat levels low because they are insulin resistant. Anyone who wants to succeed in building a better body must establish outstanding insulin sensitivity by changing their BMR. When your body deals well with insulin, it will produce a positive re-partitioning effect upon muscle-to-fat-ratio. This means an improved rate in which nutrients are absorbed-hence less adipose tissue build up during a mass phase. Insulin resistance is caused by 4 primary actions 1) Eating too many carbs. 2) Weight gain caused by eating too many calories from carbs and/or fats given protein intake is not excessive. Yes, too much protein can cause you to get fat as well! 3) Eating the wrong kinds of carbs or fats on a long term basis, 4) having a small amount of lean muscle tissue, and/or a lot of bodyfat. The definition of Insulin resistance consists of 2 different things. 1) Muscle cell resistance is when the muscle building hormone-insulin can no longer reach the muscles. Therefore, it won?t be able to drive amino acids and glucose into the cells. This means you will appear flat and not be able to build a substantial amount of tissue. 2) Fat cell insulin resistance means insulin can?t aid with nutrient storage in fat cells and the insulin will not be able to slow down the breakdown of fat.

Since the CNS and joints will be fully rested after a 2 week prime, you will be amazed at how fast you can gain muscle mass-strength. The high reps used during the 2 week prime gather lactic acid (the burning sensation) into the area where tendons are attached. This stimulates both the tendons and joints to get stronger because lactic acid keys off the fibroblasts to signal for collagen synthesis to occur. The anabolic prime is not about gaining size or strengthening the muscles connected to the tendons/joints per se, rather it's about muscle maintenance and creating a burn so collagen synthesis can be increased. Keeping the sets low with higher reps produces lactic acid while putting less wear and tear on the muscles/tendons/joints/nervous system-hence preparing the body once again for another 8-12 week mass/strength gaining phase!

I have found intense training for 2 weeks with low volume/high reps to be optimal for coaxing the body into becoming anabolic again. Give your body the time it needs and before you realize it, you?ll be eager to get back to working out with enough volume and weight loads to experience maximum hypertrophy. The high rep weight training combined with the specialized diet/supplement discontinuance and/or increased cardio output, will deplete glycogen levels making androgen receptor sites more sensitive. And it allows ample time for nagging injuries to heal. After years of making it to the next level in muscular development, only to develop another nagging injury to hold me back, I finally figured out a 2 week prime was needed to keep me relatively injury free. Do not skip the 2 week Anabolic Prime if you want to make forward progress at the fastest rate possible. Consider it joint therapy! Think of your tendons as a cable on a winch. When the cable gets frayed from over-use, the cable weakens and begins to lose strength. The same scenario happens to us when our tendons fray-we get weaker! Two weeks of using low sets/high reps will help prevent and repair the tiny frays in the tendons from the heavy-high volume lifting utilized during the mass phases. Those who neglect the 2 week prime will eventually move backwards as opposed to forward because of nagging injuries and nervous system burnout. Remember, you cannot see tendon damage occurring or go buy a new set at the local store like you can a cable for a winch when it goes bad! I cannot stress enough how important it is to perform a 2 week prime after 8-12 weeks of heavy-higher-volume-lifting. You'll be amazed at how much better your joints/CNS/tendons feel by utilizing an anabolic prime. Tendon repair is slow, but prevention techniques work relatively fast. Meaning reducing weight loads and volume for only 2 weeks before a mass phase can spell the difference between training free of pain or having to deal with nagging injuries year round and we all know how a nagging injury will hold back gains! The 2 week "Anabolic Prime" has more to do with prevention but inflammation can really improve in 2 short weeks. The strength gains made during this very low volume phase will not become manifested until you enter the ?anabolic blasting? phase. Reaching a sticking point after a 8-12 week mass phase is normal. The best way to overcome sticking points is by changing your routine to high reps and low volume for 2 weeks.

You?ll be surprised to see how much adipose your body will expel within this brief two week window. All the gains you make during the prior mass phase will remain in tact, given you do not lose over 2 pounds of bodyfat per week or over do cardio (exceed the 5 day limit). This training phase entails letting the sympathetic system (used during weight training) to completely rejuvenate while the parasympathetic system (used during aerobics) helps put the body is a controlled catabolic state.

Important Note: The anabolic prime is a 2 week muscle maintenance phase. Do not expect to build muscle during this period. You cannot train hard all the time without over-training. Your goal during a primer should be to burn the muscles with high reps while stopping each set a rep or two shy of good failure. Do not neglect this rest period so you will be ready to hit the heavy weights with a vengance duirng the 8 to 12 week blast.

**Ronnie Rowland** · 11-23-2008, 04:50 PM

Diet for Anabolic Priming Phase

During the 2 week prime you?ll need to reduce your protein intake by half during the entire training phase and replace those protein calories with slow burning carbs! This gives the organs a break from having to filter all that protein needed during the blast. Upon entering the blasting phase you must return to eating normal amounts of protein. Your muscles will latch on to that extra protein and start building new muscle tissue. Understand here that a very high protein diet used long term can cause insulin resistance and build up toxic ammonia. Obviously this is a problem for off-season bodybuilders!

A lot of people think dieting down of any kind makes you shrink, but the right kind of dieting in the off-season will actually help you gain muscle mass-strength. When a prime is performed properly over a brief 2 week window, no muscle mass will be lost. In order to make forward progress you have to take a small step back in body weight composed of bodyfat and water weight (not muscle) in order to go forward. You must never take a step back in muscle weight because this would create a viscous cycle of gaining muscle then turning right around and losing some of the muscle you gained during the blast. All too often bodybuilders tend to equate body weight loss with muscle loss and those two are not one in the same when done with caution. You will be in what?s considered a ?controlled catabolic state? during the prime and this is not the same thing as being in an ?uncontrolled catabolic state? where you are actually losing muscle mass-strength. You'll need to drop protein intake by around half for the entire 2 week anabolic prime while you are preparing to enter a blasting phase. Don't worry, the extra slow burning carbs will spare muscle tissue from being burned as fuel and help restore the central nervous system. When normal amounts of protein are added back into the diet at the beginning of the higher volume blasting phase, your muscles will grab hold of the extra protein and begin adding new muscle tissue. This means if you took in 300 grams of protein daily during the blast you will need roughly 150 grams of protein daily during the 2 week prime. All you are required to do is replace the deducted protein calories with carb calories. Next, simply decrease some calories from dietary fats if you need to lose bodyfat to improve insulin sensitivity! Insulin resistance is an obviously problem for many off-season bodybuilders who need a lot of protein and fats in order to build muscle tissue at the fastest rate humanly possible. Long term bulking with even moderate amounts of carbs that accompany a high protein diet will be more inclined to increase your blood glucose levels when you develop some degree of insulin reistance. Monosaturated fats are safer than carbs unless over indulged from a calorie stand point because too many calories will also cause insulin resistance. A a decrease in over-all calories consumption will improve insulin sensitivity regardless of macronutrient ratios ingested. In a nutshell, the body will enter a controlled catabolic state by dropping protein intake by half during an anabolic prime! Those who drop some fats in addition to the protein to decrease bodyfat/calorie intake, you will further create a controlled catabolic state. Think of protein and fats as nutrients and carbs as macro-nutrients! A decrease in bodyfat will still be made on a higher carb diet given additional calories are used for energy or calories are decreased in the diet. The body will adapt to the decrease in protein consumption in about 2 weeks and staying with such a protocol for upwards of 3 weeks could decrease muscle size. When you return to eating at maintenance level or above during the blasting phase that follows the prime and increase protein intake, your whole musculature store more protein in the form of lean muscle. On day 1 of the blasting phase you can start taking fast acting anabolic supplements along with increasing protein intake back to the norm.

* * The lesson to learn here is it takes a controlled catabolic environment to create an anabolic environment.* *

Fast acting supplements such as creatine, leucine, free form amino acids or fast acting anabolic steroids,etc should never be used during the 2 week prime. The only supplement allowed during this period is a ?base?. For natural bodybuilders the ?base? will consist of food and/or hydro whey mixed with some form of healthy fat like natural peanut butter, flax seed or carbs. The ?base? for the chemically enhanced bodybuilder could consist of slow acting esters such as Testosterone Enanthate, Deca, Equipoise, Growth Hormone, etc. You?ll need to eat every 3-4 hours dictating the need for 5-6 meals per day depending on how much you sleep. Carb intake will increase while protein and fat calories are decreased slightly in order to obtain a 1-4 pound weight loss over the entire 2 week period if needed to increase insulin sensitivity. You must determine how much water weight you lose when coming off the anabolic supplements and add that into the equation. You simply can?t lose too much bodyfat weight at any given time or you?ll sacrifice muscle and make it hard on the endocrine system. During a prime you can use green tea and/or caffeine pills up to twice a day at 200-400 mgs. Take them during breakfast and an hour before workouts to help push through and increase the thermogenic effect. Green tea extract also increases the metabolism. Take 500-1000 mgs of green tea along with caffeine twice a day. Obviously, drugs like Growth Hormone, Clenbuterol and T-3 can be used when priming to help improve insulin sensitivity.

Post workout-

Post workout nutrition (consisting of a whey shake and fast acting carbs) should be avoided during a prime unless you won't be able to eat for several hours. The prime is all about preserving the muscle mass you have already built while giving the system a break. All that's required post workout is your regularly scheduled post-workout meal after training.

Healthy fats and/or carbs must always to be used in conjunction with hydro whey protein when priming/cutting to slow down absorption and prevent catabolism. If you are unable to do aerobics during the ?anabolic prime? and need to lose bodyfat, drop 300-500 fat calories from your diet so a fat loss of 2-4 pounds occurs over a 2 week time span. Effort is put into consuming lean proteins, healthy fats and slow burning carbs (including breakfast and post workout) to enhance hormonal sensitivity and harden the musculature. Two weeks is all that?s needed to produce a reaction to the majority of hormonal actions in the body. After a 2-week prime, you have now created an environment for extraordinary muscle-strength gains! Do not skip the anabolic prime! You must prime the body to improve insulin resistance so you can enter a mass phase and put on more muscle weight as opposed to more fat weight. A person with a poor metabolism won?t be able to grow muscle and keep bodyfat levels low because they are insulin resistant.

** The bodyfat loss experienced during the anabolic prime will greatly improve insulin sensitivity and allow you to enter back into the blasting phase experiencing leaner muscle gains. * *

If you are already lean then it?s not necessary to lose any body weight during the 2 week prime, but you'll still be required to incorporate a 2 week prime. For those of you who do not need to lose bodyfat, all that's required to increase insulin/hormonal sensitivity is simply dropping all fast-acting anabolic supplements, decreasing the amount of saturated fats, hi-glycemic carbs and protein consumed. If you need to drop weight during the prime but cannot do cardio or the extra cardio is not enough, simply decrease fat calories! Those of you who struggle with gaining bodyfat easy or who have gained too much adipose tissue during the 8-12 week blast will need to try and lose about 1-2 pounds of body fat per week during the 2 week anabolic prime. Do not go overboard by losing too much weight. You should never go hungry during the prime. This is not pre-contest it?s simply a prime. All body types will be required to eat less saturated fat, less protein and hi GI carbs during the prime. The leaner you become the more saturated fats and hi GI carbs you'll be able to consume during the anabolic blast following the prime. Don't go over-board because they can be hazardous to your healthy. Even the ectomorphs possessing ****morphic tendencies should focus primarily on consuming essential fats and slower burning carbs year round.

Another big advantage of this approach is if adhered to properly you will avoid the dreaded plateau of no longer being able to gain muscular body weight without tons of fat until you've reached your full genetic potential. With mainstream methods you would gain slower, put on more unwanted bodyfat during the off-season, develop more nagging injuries and hit a plateau much sooner. When a plateau is hit using a long term high calorie diet, people begin to gain more bodyfat than muscle and injuries run rampant. Do not make the mistake of trying to go up and up in your weight while the Basal Metabolic Rate never has a chance to adjust. With Slingshot Training you will hold off on trying to make any additional muscular gains for 2 weeks and then take 1 giant step forward with each 8-12 week blasting phase. By the end of the first blasting phase you will be ahead of what can be accomplished using conventional programs. When trying to gain a lot of muscle size or lose large amounts of bodyfat, you must never take 1 step forward and a half a step back. Gradually work your way up or down the ladder in the direction you desire to go!

Important Note: If you go on vacation for a week, that can count towards the 2 week prime given you eat a good diet. You would have to do only one week of priming before returning to the blasting phase.

**Ronnie Rowland** · 11-23-2008, 04:51 PM

Sample Menu For 2 Week Priming Phase

Diet for entire 2 week anabolic prime:

To Lose Body Weight- Body weight x 16kcal. Measure your body fat weekly using a set of calipers and going by the mirror. Take in the same amount of calories as long as your body fat continues to improve. Cut 500kcal weekly when you don?t progress. Next take the blasting diet to be used on 5 lower calories/carb days and subtract protein in half while replacing them with carbs. Here?s a sample that can be used for the blasting diet listed below if you weigh a lean 175 pounds-

Meal 1: 2 bananas (50 grams of carbs), 2 whole ***** 3 enriched eggs (10 grams of fat/14 grams of protein, 1 egg whites (4 grams of protein) and 2 cups of oatmeal (120 grams of carbs)
1) Total- 18 grams of protein, 170 carbs, 14 grams of fat (CALS/872).

Meal 2: A half pack of lean deli chicken or tuna or left over lean meat from last night?s dinner (20 grams of protein) on 1 slice of whole wheat bread (20 carbs) and 1 apples (25 grams of carbs)
2) Total-20 grams of protein and 45 grams of carbs (260).

Meal 3: Any lean meat such as a half a pack of deli turkey (20 grams of Protein) and ? a pound of grapes (40 grams of carbs)
3) Total-20 grams of protein, 40 grams of carbs (260)

Meal 4: Small portion of lean meat such as chicken, salmon, London broil, flank steak, etc (25 grams of protein) salad (green leaf romaine) with 6 TBS of extra virgin olive oil (91 grams of fat), a small amount of feta cheese (7 grams of fat), 2 tbsp of croutons (4 carbs) and a sweet potato containing (30 grams of carbs).
4) Protein 25 grams, fats 91, carbs 34 (CALS/1055)

Meal 5: Whey protein shake (25 grams) with 1 tablespoon of smart balance peanut butter ( 9 grams of fat, 4 grams of protein, 3 carbs) on a slice of whole wheat bread.
5) 29 grams of protein, 9 grams of fat, 22 carbs (CALS/353)

DAILY TOTALS-(PROTEINS/112) (CARBS/314) (FATS 119) (CALORIES/2719) equals minus 155 calories below maintenance level for lower carb/calories days during blast.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This priming diet works in conjunction with the blasting diet listed on page 14!

**Ronnie Rowland** · 11-23-2008, 04:52 PM

The second training phase-"8-12 week anabolic blast".

After a two-week anabolic prime, muscle mass and strength gains are maximized by proceeding into an 8-12 week anabolic blasting phase where androgen receptor sites are up-regulated and every anabolic hormone in the body is at its peak. During this training phase you will go for a full pump and fully traumatize the muscle tissue to create an increase in muscle size-strength. This is accomplished using more volume to fully stimulate the type-2 muscle fibers. The blast during a reload can be a moderately-high volume training phase when training each muscle group once a week and can be a very-high volume training phase when training each muscle twice a week. Lifting heavier weight loads with volume will increase muscle size over-time.

Beware: Extreme soreness can occur when entering a blasting phase. This is due to the "Slingshot Effect" (hurling a burst of intensity to the muscles)!

The higher training volume used during the blast phase will certainly increase scar tissue through inflammation, but it will not be to the point of compromising gains when a deload is applied. Very low volume training prevents the build up of scar tissue but it also results in little muscle mass increases, even in the presence of increased strength gains. There is an optimal time limit for maximal growth to occur before accumulation in scar tissue out weighs the benefits of muscle gains. This inflammatory process is an essential part of the muscle growth process because mediators such as IGF-1 are stimulated by the release of inflammatory cells. Your goal as a weightlifter is to build muscle size without accumulating too much scar tissue-hence the need to reload and deload.

Higher volume training is one of the most under-rated weapons in your training arsenal. Increasing the amount of intense work sets you perform will increase the rate of lean muscle mass growth. I call this a reload! It will also increase the rate of fat loss during both a bulking and cutting phase. The amount of intense work sets you perform will determine your metabolic rate. This will govern if the food you eat is stored as bodyfat or used to build new muscle. Very low volume training (regardless of the intensity applied) results in slow healing and slow muscle growth! When training volume is too low, no amount of training intensity will cause calories to to be metabolized at an efficient rate. This is why many weight lifters hung up on always using low volume protocols get overly-fat. They eat to keep up with the supplements or drugs they are utilizing, but fail to train with enough volume in order that their metabolic rate will match. High volume training has a repartitioning effect on your whole musculature and it greatly ehances androgen receptor site sensitivity. Use it to allow maximum growth to occur with minimal gains in bodyfat.

Important Note: Some of you might find that after doing quads, your hamstrings and nervous system are pretty tired. So tired in fact, that you cannot train them to the extent needed to make maximum gains. The solution is to do hams and quads on separate training days or do quads in the AM and hams in the PM on the same training day. The same goes for separating back width and back thickness muscles and training the arms separate from the torso. You have the option of working out 6-7 days per week and/or doing 2 a day training sessions given the workouts are not too lengthy in duration. Other than beyond failure training methods, long-intense workouts is the leading cause of over-training! It's very important that you understand how over-training and under-resting will slow down your progress. The 3 major signs of entering an over-trained state are: 1) You don't have much of an appetite. 2) Your feel tired and lethargic. 3) Your strength levels are decreasing instead of maintaining or increasing.

**Ronnie Rowland** · 11-23-2008, 04:54 PM

Work harder on weak points if you want to bring them up to par. You have the option of increasing sets and/or adding additional exercises for ancillary bodyparts like traps during a blast if they are lagging behind. For instance, if wanting to use 12 sets for traps choose 1 key movement and 1-2 secondary exercises. It could go as follows: 4 sets of seated dumbbell shrugs, 4 sets of standing barbell shrugs to front (using a smith machine) and 4 sets of shrugs behind the back during the blast. "Forearm work" is optional but highly recommended for most. I would suggest adding some wrist curls and reverse wrist curls. Perform approximately 2-6 sets for each exercise during a high volume blast if needed.

A lengthy 8-12 week blasting phase, ensures the gains are permanent before doing another 2 week prime. Deloading during a blast allows for catch-up growth to occur that was stimulated during a Reload. It takes higher volume training to blast the type-2 fibers to the utmost and this causes fatigue to accumulate. During intense periods of blasting, some of the gains made are delayed because the body isn?t capable of converting all the extra training into gains because more training is happening at the same time the body needs more rest for recovery. Once a deload is incorporated and the body fully-adapts, your Central Nervous System will recover and allow maximum gains in size-strength to occur.

Important Note: You should deload every 1 to 4 weeks as needed. Deloading for a week, after reloading for 2 weeks, works well for many. Some of you that are having trouble gaining strength or tend to get over-trained easily may do best with a 1 week on (reload)/1 week off (deload) approach. Others do better utilizing a 4 week reload and a 1 week deload. Do not exceed 4 weeks of reloading during any blasting phase or 2 weeks of deloading!!!

You want to train with both volume and intensity when going for maximal muscle size. There will be several days during the blasting phase were you feel like doing fewer sets due to a lack of energy and/or joint pain. When this occurs you should do less volume on those days while keeping the intensity high! This is called a de-load and don't be afraid to utilize it when needed if you want to make maximum progress. On the other side of the coin, there will be days when you feel like doing more sets. This is called a reload and don't fear over-training when it times to hit it hard. Take advantage of the extra energy on those days or weeks by making your muscles withstand as many intense work sets as your nervous sytem and joints can handle without becoming over-trained or injured. Only you will know, so listen to your body and modify these learning lessons to do what works best for you. A de-load rejuventates the joints/nervous system-hence keeps you from over-training during a blasting phase. A reload improves overall conditioning which also helps you prevent over-training!

Let's say you have been doing 12 sets once a week for quadriceps for the first 2 weeks of the blast. You notice your knees are becoming sorer than usual and/or your energy is down a bit. If this happens simply drop the sets back to 6-8 until you are back up to par. A week is often all it takes! The main purpose of a deload is to help make you progressively stronger! The main purpose of a reload is to increase hypertrophy! Combining these two Slingshot Principles will increase size/strength with proper nutrtition. Do not use the de-load as a crutch to be lazy if you want to go as far as possible in this sport. De-loading must be incorporated during a blast if you want to keep making progressive gains in strength and/or to prevent over use injuries and CNS burnout. Do not avoid a reload in fear you might over-train. It takes periods of doing higher volume to attack type-2 muscle fibers and increase sarcoplasmic growth which constitutes nearly 30% of your total muscle size. As you learn your body you can almost map out a dealod and reload with good consistency before each blasting phase.

**Ronnie Rowland** · 11-23-2008, 04:55 PM

Slingshot Training is not about following a cheesy cookie cutter routine. I want to drive this point home! It's all about finding what works for you! Everyone responds differently to various sets, exercises, training days and nutritional plans. Everyone has different injuries, workloads outside the gym, etc, to work around as well. Most of us need to save some energy so we can specialize on lagging muscle groups or carry out our daily functions. The only way to figure out what's best for you is to try different Slingshot approaches. Due to my experience as a trainer, I can put you in the ballpark, but no one, including myself, can possibly tell you with 100% accuracy what's best for your body because it's your body! When working in person with serious lifters I keep a journal and make adjustments weekly. My advise to you is-keep what works and discard what doesnt work. For example, if you need more strength incorporate more rest days for a time if that's required for you to sleep better, eat more and have increased energy levels. Deloading during a blast is necessary (not to be mixed up with a priming phase) in order to max out your genetic potential. Do not back off the intensity during a deload unless you are injured but do change what you are doing in terms of the amount of sets performed and the exercises being used if need be to take some stress off the body and prevent boredom. Reloading and deloading make reference to the following paragraph located in the introduction chapter-" The intelligent trainer's switch-over to using more volume, while the less fortunate keep thinking less is always more! The next mistake comes into play by the trainees who have switched over to using the higher volume approach. Many become so overwhelmed with their newly found muscle mass after having increased the volume that they begin to reason with themselves thinking more must always be done from that point on. They quickly hit a point of diminishing returns and eventually develop over-use injuries and an over-trained nervous system, instead of reverting back to using a lower amount of volume that worked so well at the beginning."

Boredom prevention could be your biggest asset next to not over-training. This can dictate changing exercises or the order in which exercises are performed every time you train. If you always perform the same number of sets throughout an entire 8-12 week blast, it will be too hard on the body as a whole and bring forth over-training! I cycle back and forth between the amount of sets I perform and the exercise I do thoughout the entire 12 week blast. In a nutshell, mix it up! Over all variety keeps you moving forward. It should be several different training cycles in each 8-12 week blast and it can be different for various body parts! For instance, if my joints begin to ache ( for ie; knee pain during squats-I will quit using a full-range of motion until the knee pain subsides. My joints can't handle big strength gains well at age 42 but everyone is different. I also incorporate a mixed rep ranged throughout sets at times if my joints are hurting. For instance, if my knee begins to ache with 8 reps I will stay near 12-15 reps until it begins to feel better. Here's a good example of what I do when training a muscle twice a week- I might do only 4 sets for chest during the first weekly workout then 8 sets during the second weekly workout (12 sets total for that week). Then, I'll come back the next week and do 4 sets for both chest workouts (8 sets total for that week), then do 8 sets per each workout the following week (16 sets total for that week), then 12 sets per each workout (24 sets total for that week) the next week and then go back to 4 sets each workout (8 sets total for a total of two weeks) and so on. It always changes keeping my muscles off balance and mind fresh! Never forget, what may work during one blast may not work the same next blast. Things change and you have to adapt to those changes. Sticking to the same exercises, day-in-day-out, is only for beginners or blasting past the most stubborn plateaus!

## Avoiding overtraining is one of the hardest things for an over-enthusiastic lifter to do just as under-training is common amongst the overly cautious. Over-training doesn't necessarily mean that you have trained too much. It can mean you have trained too long using the same volume or frequency just as under-training can occur by not using the same volume or frequency for a long enough time frame to allow full-adapation to occur.##

During the last 2 weeks of the anabolic blast, a sudden drop in slow acting anabolic agents such as test enanthate or fast acting anabolic agents like test propionate will need to be made inorder to create a controlled catabolic state during the following prime, thus setting the body up for making future gains. Priming and blasting is mandatory all year long so progression and recovery can continually be made over months and years to come. The bigger your muscles become by following these 2 anabolic training cycles, the more receptors they create. I refer to this entire macro-cycle as Slingshot Periodization. These 2 training cycles mimic the anabolic steroid cycles being used by many top level professional bodybuilders and power-lifters behind the scenes, making it the absolute best periodization plan in existence.

Important Note: Slingshot Training was designed so you as an individual can train instinctively. This gets even more important as you advance. For example, there are a limited number of high quality exercises you can perform for each body part. It?s a good plan to hit the same exercises every week you train when trying to build up a good base. As you become more advanced and get very strong, doing these same exercises over and over again, can cause joint problems. Therefore, you will have to train instinctively to prevent over use injuries. This can mean changing the exercises you do frequently, especially during a re-loading phase when following a long drawn out blasting phase. For example, you may decide to decrease the amount of sets for a day, week, etc during a blast and replace squats with leg presses if you start to have knee problems or get bored of squats. Hammer squat machines, etc also work well for a change. I often alternate squats and lunges with the hammer squats machine and either 3/4 leg extensions or 3/4 leg presses. I will come in one week and begin my chest workout with decline presses. The following week I might start out with inclines for chest. If I feel my pecs needs more pump, I simply do more sets of flyes using very good form. Listen to your muscles, joints and nervous system and you will find your way through the bodybuilding maze!

Here?s another example: As a beginner you may be able to do dips for triceps at the beginning of your triceps workout. After you become more advance you may find that you can only do them at the end of your triceps workout without experiencing elbow pain because the muscle is fully warmed up. In addition, you may find you have to rotate dips with lying triceps extensions on an every other week basis to prevent chronic inflammation of the elbows and or wrist. Furthermore, there may be times when a nagging injury forces you to do only half reps or static holds.

Final Note: Some do best by reducing their weekly training sessions during a deload. For example, some may find that going from a 5 day split during a reload, to a 3-4 day split during a deload works better than staying with the 5 day split during the delaod given the rest allowed between training body parts remains similar. Below is a sample-

5 day split (reload sample )-

Monday-Chest
Tuesday-Back
Wednesday-Shoulders
Thursday-arms
Friday-legs

4 day split (deload sample that could be used with 5 day reload)-

Monday-Chest
Tuesday Back
Wednesday-Off
Thursday-Shoulders/arms
Firday-Legs

3 day split (deload sample that could be used with 5 day reload)-

Monday- Chest/Back
Tuesday-Off
Wednesday-Shoulders/arms
Thursday-Off
Friday-Legs

Cardio: Two days per week of cardio is sufficient for most during a blast. Do not exceed 3 days per week regardless of your metabolism.

**Ronnie Rowland** · 11-23-2008, 04:55 PM

Breaking Plateaus by Changing Training Frequency

I've seen a trend over the last few years were many people are stuck on training their muscles only once a week. I've also witnessed a trend were some always train each muscle twice a week. Always using either form of training is not optimal for bodybuilding or strength training! You need to mix things up by training each bodypart both "once a week" and "twice a week" in order to shock both the "central nervous system" and the "muscles". My wife (Kathy) and I prefer once a week muscle training. After we train our muscles using the once a week approach for an entire 20-28 week period (two 10-14 week training phases) our muscles become complacent and need to be trained twice a week for 10-14 weeks in order to make forward progress at the fastest rate possible. The same rule applies to those of you who obtain better results training a muscle twice a week as opposed to once a week. After 20-28 weeks of training a muscle twice a week, you will need to switch over to training each muscle group only once a week for 10-14 weeks to break a plateau. If you prefer one training frequency over the other, then use the most effective training style as a baseline. This means using it for up to 2 training cycles in a row consiting of (two priming cycles and two blasting cycles) before switching over to 1 training cycle using the other training frequency. Then repeat this protocol over and over! Kathy and I generally make out best gains using once a week training as our baseline (20-28 weeks in duration) while others excel with twice a week muscle training for (20-28 weeks in duration) before making a needed change. In addition, when it's time for twice a week muscle training, we sometimes skip the Standard Slingshot (were each muscle is trained twice a week using different exercises) and go straight into an 10-14 week cycle using the Slingshot Shocker (were each muscle is trained twice a week using the same exercises).

Important Note: If your body tends to respond better to "once a week" muscle training than "twice a week" muscle training or vise versa, then by all means stick to what's working best for two training cycles in a row. You want full-adaptation to occur for the most part before changing to a different program. For example, it takes about 2-4 weeks for a power-lifter's body to adapt to a set training program. However, it can take around 12 weeks for full-adaptation to occur when peaking for a power-lifting meet. There will be no continued improvement beyond the point to which the body has already fully-adapted regardless of how much intensity you put the body through in the gym When training each muscle group twice a week you'll provide each muscle group with one heavy day and one lighter day. Each muscle group is trained with more frequency and receives a different type of stress-hence providing a holistic approach to gaining more muscle mass and strength. Your Central Nervous, joints and muscles will welcome the separation of exercises into two different training sessions by helping you break training plateaus that cannot be accomplished if you always train a bodypart once a week!

When blasting you "DO NOT" need to use the same exact exercises over and over again because specific adaptations will still occur. If the over-head dumbbell press is one of your bread and butter exercise for the deltoids, then it's best to perform that specific exercise while you are totally fresh. When rotated with another basic movement such as military barbell presses, behind the neck presses using a smith machine, hammer strength shoulder presses, etc, you'd also want to start with presses so the maximum amount of weight can be used to build up the bulk of the shoulder complex. Another advantage of twice a week muscle group training is that it let's you hit secondary exercises like lateral raises while you are totally fresh during the second weekly shoulder workout. This will help widen the deltoids over-time because you will be able to use more weight on these very important secondary exercises when training each muscle twice a week. This same rule applies to the chest, etc! In addition, you can try training smaller muscle groups like the biceps with larger muscle groups like the back when training them twice a week and try keeping the smaller muscles like biceps separate from back workouts when training them once a week. Experiment to find what works best for you! When training a muscle once a week, it is harder to push the needed intensity with deltoids and triceps if performed after a 12 set chest workout. Training the deltoids and triceps on the same day as chest is easier with twice a week muscle group training because you will have more energy left to do so and it can shock the muscle by giving them a different type of stimulus. This has worked extremely well for my hardcore clients! For those who need the extra training volume or tend to get over-trained easily, 2 a day workouts can be your salvation! Instead of doing 90-120 plus minutes training sessions once a day, you can split your training time into half by doing two training sessions a day, whether you are training a body part once a week or twice a week. Below is an example of how to train a body part only once a week using a 2-day split.

Monday AM-CHEST
Monday PM-BICEPS/FOREARMS

TUESDAY AM-CALVES/QUADS-
TUSDAY PM-HAMS/ABS

THURSDAY AM-SHOULDERS
THURSDAY PM-TRICEPS

FRIDAY AM-LAT WIDTH
FRIDAY PM-LAT THICKNESS/REAR DELTS/TRAPS

Adjust the amount of sets you can handle per body part for the blasting phase. Some of you will do better using around 6-8 very intense work sets per major body part as a baseline during a reload when training a muscle once a week. Others of you will be able to use 10-12 work sets per each major body part (constituting longer workouts) and max out your genetics without over-training. Lower the amount of sets if you begin to feel lethargic, achy joints or begin to lose strength as a very advanced trainer. Those of you who are intermediates will have to lower the total amount of sets performed if you cannot make additional strength gains and those of you who are very advanced must deload (reduce the amount of sets) when you begin to get weaker or struggle maintaining current strength levels.

With twice a week muscle training you can do as many as 12 sets each week for that muscle group utilizing 2 exercises (6 sets a piece for each of the 2 exercises) or as few as (2 sets a piece for two exercises totaling only 4 sets per week). You also have the option of utilizing 18 sets per week with 3 exercises ( 6 sets a piece for each of the 3 exercises) or as few as (2 sets a piece for 3 exercises totaling only 6 sets for that week). In final, you can perform as many as 24 sets per week with 4 exercises (6 sets a piece for each of the 4 exercises) or as few as (2 sets a piece for each of the 4 exercises totaling 8 sets). There's no value in performing more than 12 sets per muscle group in any given training session. Do not exceed 6 intense work sets for any particular exercise so you can keep over-use injuries under control. Some of you will excel performing 6 sets a piece for the key/anchor exercise and doing only 2-3 sets a piece for secondary exercises. Your options are practically unlimited with Slingshot Training!

There?s no value in exceeding 12 intense work sets per body part in any particular training session. If you want to use only 2 exercises per body part use a key movement during the first weekly training session for that particular body part and a secondary movement during the second weekly workout for that same body part. If you choose to use 3 exercises for a body part then utilize a key movement during the first weekly training session for that body part and 2-secondary movements for the second weekly workout for that same body part. When utilizing 4 different exercises for a body part you will use a key movement and a secondary movement during the first weekly training session for that body part and 2-secondary exercises the following workout for the same body part. Obviously, you can use only 2 exercises for some body parts and as many as 4 for others!

Editors Note: I make my best overall gains by alternating back and forth between doing two "once a week" muscle group training phases and only one "twice a week" muscle group training phase. This is because at age 42, twice a week training, tends to irritate my joints more than once a week muscle group training. But, some find just the opposite to be true! With once a week muscle group training I often like 3 exercises for most of my major body parts while doing around 6 sets (during a deload) and about 12 sets total per week (during a reload). With twice a week muscle training I generally use 3-4 exercises for major body parts and perform around 6-9 sets (during a deload) and around 12-18 sets total per week (during a reload), depending on how I feel from week to week. Sometimes I do around the same amount of volume each week when training a muscle twice a week as compared to once a week muscle training but sometimes do less during twice a week training if my joints are sore or my nervous system is feeling tired due to my workloads outside the gym or inside the gym. My blasting phases generally last for 12 weeks when training a muscle "once a week" and only 8 weeks when training a muscle group "twice a week".

If you are always doing once a week muscle training or twice a week muscle training, you will plateau very quickly. Alternating back and forth between once a week muscle group training and twice a week muscle group training as needed will keep you from plateauing until you reach your full genetic potential as a weight-lifter once you learn how to manipulate sets. Some of you will obtain maximum results by alternating back and forth every 10-14 weeks between "once a week" training cycles and "twice a week" training cycles. It's up to you as an individual, to find out whether you thrive on "once a week" muscle training or "twice a week" muscle training. Some find they do equally well with both! In addition, for those body parts such as legs and lats that are more demanding to train, you can nail them only once a week while simultaneously hitting smaller muscle groups like the chest, calves, shoulders, arms, etc, twice a week! When the time comes to train the smaller muscle groups only once a week for an 8-12 week blast simply reduce the amount of sets for the legs and lats so you can be training them twice a week!

Hypothetically speaking, let say you have been using a 4 day training split, training each muscle once a week, with 6-12 sets per major body part. Now, let pretend you want to increase your work sets for each major body parts to around 20-24 sets for a few weeks but don't have the time to train twice a day to keep workout duration to around 60-90 minutes. In this particular case, you can increase your training days to around 6-7 days per week and not over-train given you deload and reload when the time is right for your body! To recap: Deload and Reload when it feels right to your body and go lighter with higher reps or heavier with lower reps as you feel fit.

**Ronnie Rowland** · 11-23-2008, 04:56 PM

Summary: A deload consist of reducing total work sets during a blasting phase and a reload consist of increasing total work sets during a blasting phase. No one should exceed 12 weeks of blasting, 4 weeks of reloading and 2 consecutive training cycles (20-24 weeks) consisting of the same muscle training frequency! Do not exceed more than two-10-14 week training phases with "once a week" muscle training if you prefer less training frequency. After 2 consecutive blast utilizing "once a week" muscle training, you will need to do one 10-14 week training phase with "twice a week" muscle training to keep from going stale. On the other hand, do not exceed two 10-14 week training phases were each muscle is trained "twice a "week." Those of you who thrive with "twice a week" muscle training will need to perform one 10-14 week training phase with "once a week" muscle training to prevent staleness before returning to 2 more training phases using twice a week training. I want to drive this point home!

With Slingshot Training you have the option of blasting for longer periods when training a muscle once a week than when training a muscle twice a week or vise versa. For example, you might excel by following a lengthy 12 week blasting phase when training each muscle group once a week muscle where as 8 weeks is all you can handle when training a muscle twice a week. On the other side of the coin, you might make more gains when each muscle is trained twice a week for 12 weeks while 8 weeks is plenty of blasting when utilizing once a week muscle group training. You may make better gains by performing 2-14 week- "once a week" training phases before having to do one "twice a week" muscle training in order to make continued progress. On the other hand, some of you will make your best gains by sticking with 2 straight 8-12 week blasting phases with "twice a week" muscle training before needing to revert back to "once a week" muscle training for a 10-14 week training phase. Some of you who thrive on "once a week" muscle group training may excel by performing 2-12 week blast with "once a week" training then jumping straight in to using the Slingshot Shocker method for 10-14 weeks and then returning to "once a week" muscle training for two more 10-14 week training phases. And those of you who thrive on "twice a week" muscle training should not use the Slingshot Shocker until after you have completed an 8-12 week training cycle using "once a week" muscle training. Yes, the Slingshot Shocker will count as one of your 10-14 week- "twice a week" muscle group training phases. Experiment to find your sweet spot!

Work harder on lagging points for a more balanced physique! Overall training volume can be increased when training each muscle twice a week ad it can be reduced. If you normally do 4 sets of decline press, 4 sets of incline press and 4 sets of flat flyes once a week, you could do up to 6 sets per exercise when training each muscle twice a week. This means you could do decline presses during the first part of the week for 6 sets and then 6 sets of incline presses and 6 sets of flat flyes in the following workout for that week. That comes to a grand total of 18 intense work sets for chest that week. It may seem like a lot of volume to some but that's the secret to reaching the elite level given you do not reload for too long. Making forward progress in both size and strength has to do with totally fatiguing the muscles while keeping the central nervous system and joints in tact. I keep track of weekly weight increases if there are any at my advanced level but it's been my ability to do more sets with the same amount of weight that's helped me gain the most muscle size. For example, at one point I was only able to do 1 set of over head presses with 225 lbs for 8 reps. After one intense work set I would have to keep reducing the weight by a considerable margin after each round to finish out 4 more intense work sets. After Slingshot Training my strength and endurance has increased to a point I can perform all 5 work sets with around 225 lbs in the 8-10 rep-range. THAT'S WHY I HAVE GAINED! AND THIS IS HOW YOU WILL GAIN!

Important Note: I highly suggest that you do not use the same exercises over and over again throughout the blasting phase, especially when training each muscle group twice a week. This kind of training is to be used by beginners or the more advanced trainee-on a limited basis to shock the system and break training plateaus. To prove my point- go and try to do multiple sets of squats with 8-10 reps twice a week for a lengthy period of time and see if you don't start experiencing joint problems along with an over-trained nervous system. Not to mention mental boredom! You must train more like a power-lifter when it comes to training each muscle twice a week on a frequent basis. For example, power-lifters may do squats on Monday and box squats on Friday but you rarely see them do both movements on Monday and Friday for lengthy periods. Why? It's because their joints, cns and mind can't take that kind of abuse for long. Training both the squat and box squat in the same workout session works well for power-lifting given you train those movements only once a week. You can use the same movements twice a week but utilize this form of training sparingly to break plateaus if you want to keep healthy joints. Yes, there are some people who can use the same exercises over and over again without experiencing over use but many cannot. Once again, you'll have to experiment to see how your body can hold up to the stress. Some people develop over use injuries very rapidly when using the same exercises, especially with twice a week training, while others appear to be no worse off. I encourage everyone to err on the side of caution. For instance, if you want to use the same PRIMARY EXERCISE during a second weekly workout in place of a SECONDARY EXERCISE the choice is ultimately yours! I also believe in increasing overall volume if you can handle it when training a muscle twice a week in order to over come sticking points! Think like a "Power-Lifter" when it comes to training each muscle twice a week with the Standard Slingshot and think like a "World's Strongest Man Competitor" when utilizing the Slingshot Shocker!

**Ronnie Rowland** · 11-23-2008, 04:58 PM

Diet for Anabolic Blasting Phase

In the off-season you?ll need to have less concern of gaining some additional body fat. You cannot build muscle during the 8-12 week blast without accumulating some adipose unless you can afford to inject 10 ius or more of Growth Hormone on a daily basis. If you attempt to stay lean year-round, you will sabotage your efforts in becoming as muscular as humanly possible. If you want more muscle size you cannot be constantly worrying about body fat levels. If you are a bodybuilder trying to put on pure lean muscle without any added body fat, you are going to have very small gains! It?s okay to have that smooth look in the off-season because your body needs that time to grow from eating higher calorie foods in order to pack on muscle size. The top pro and amateur bodybuilders do not look in contest shape all year long as some of you may have been led to believe. The pictures you see in the muscle magazines are taken the day after a contest after they have dieted down hard for many weeks using stimulants and diurectics.

Understand here that muscle is much harder to build than fat. I also want you to understand it?s easier to lose fat than muscle because muscle is rather easy to maintain while dieting off body fat when following the proper diet. All too often people have a hard time comprehending the fact that when they can gain 4 pounds of muscle and 2 pounds of bodyfat during a blast they?re actually becoming leaner. Obviously if you gain 4 pounds of bodyfat and only a half pound of muscle your losing leanness, but even if you gain 4 pounds of muscle and 4 pounds of bodyfat you still come out even-hence you?ll have more muscle mass than ever before. After the 2 week priming phase you will keep the muscle and lose fat-hence improve your lean body mass to bodyfat ratio even further. That said, do not bulk up in excess during a blast because you will have a harder time holding on to the muscle when dieting down. The secret is to gradually increase lean muscle mass while still being able to see it in the mirror and show it off to others.

The key to the entire muscular weight gaining process is learning how to manipulate both training and calorie factors. Insulin spikes should be kept to only 1 per day on both weight training days and non-weight training days. Doing so at peak times keeps everyone leaner and provides steadier energy levels. Post-workout and morning nutrition have finally gained significant attention because researchers have found the body has more ability to absorb nutrients after one trains or in the morning hours after a long fast because both time frames are considered catabolic periods. By following my recommendations, your body will increase protein synthesis, creating more of an anabolic state and make the most muscle repair possible without becoming fat. In addition to getting plenty of sleep and periodizing your training using the 2 phases prescribed, there is more you can do to help with recovery which in turn will lead to better gains in training. The body does best with 1 daily cholesterol, amino acid, insulin and calorie spikes from foods like whole milk, eggs yolks and red meat. Saturated fat is a natural precursor to testosterone. Foods such as red meat and whole eggs are choke-full of pro-inflammatory fats that increase muscle mass. It should be no surprise that a steak and potato combo will result in serious muscle growth post-training.

Post workout-

Post workout you can take in 25-50 grams of whey protein (my favorite is isolate because it digest easier) and some fast acting carbs (around 25-125 grams depending on your metabolism). An hour or two later take in only around 25-50 grams of carbs if you gain fat easily and upwards of 75 grams or more if you struggle putting on weight. It's a learning curve! Creatine and other over-the-counter anabolic agents should be taken as well unless prescribed different.

During workout-

Sipping on 25-50 grams of whey isolate is good practice, especially for those of you who struggle putting on weight.

Breakfast-

When spiking amino acids, insulin,etc for breakfast on non-training days you can take a whey protein shake (25-50 grams) roughly 5-15 minutes before eating breakfast. Creatine and other over-the-counter anabolic agents should be taken as well unless prescribed different.

Midnight-

Those of you who have trouble gaining weight can add a protein/fat meal (for i.e.; peanut butter/protein shake during the middle of the night to bump up total calories.

Keeping carbs/calories in check 5 days per week during the off-season is the best way for all ****totypes to add lean muscle mass to their frame without putting on too much bodyfat and getting overly smooth. In addition, aggressively increasing caloric and carb intake twice a week will actually help prevent the build-up of adipose tissue while increasing lean mass. The body responds in a positive manner when 2 non-consecutive calorie/carb up days are included each week because the extra carb/calories tricks the metabolism into working harder to burn off the extra food. It does so by driving up anabolic hormones and increasing thyroid hormone output-hence speeding up the metabolism and increasing lean muscle mass. When carbs and calories are constantly kept in check, your body adapts and the metabolism slows down. A certain amount of insulin is needed for muscle repair. Keeping carbs/insulin levels under control for too long will sabotage muscle gains and your body fat burning potential since muscle burns calories. Loading up on carbs/calories twice a week increases protein synthesis by increasing amino acid up take in muscle cells. You'll need to increase calories gradually during a mass phase. If you need 2500 cals to maintain the most effective plan to gain muscular weight is to increase cals by 300-500 in weekly increments until you reach a point you feel comfortable with in relation to muscle gains verse fat gains. Once bodyfat is starting to trump lean tissue gains, you'll want to decrease cals by 300-500 and stay there throughout the entire duration of the mass phase (blast and cruise combined). Aim to gain 1-2 lbs per week if need be and then you subtract or add as needed till you achieve your desired 1-2 lb gain each week. I see no value in gaining over around 20 pounds (minus water weight) during the off-season because it's hard on the heart. If you are still over your target bodyfat levels when the blast rolls around simply eat at maintenance levels, take it easy on the daily cholesterol, amino acid, insulin and calorie spike and let the extra training volume lean you out.

## Remember the low fat diet fad of the 1980s and 1990s? I watched Americans get fatter not leaner with their low fat diets. Becoming insulin resistance promotes high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type-2 diabetes, stroke, heat disease, many forms of cancer and an unattractive appearance.##

Eat a large breakfast regardless of whether you are bulking, cutting or just maintaining. A large breakfast is what elevates your metabolism and energy levels for that day. Breakfast should be loaded with carbs and protein and some fats. Take in more carbs earlier in the day and more fats later in the day. It's the same scenario as when you are cutting with the exception you will be combining carbs and fats in each meal as opposed to separating them. That said, it's important to reduce carb intake (not calorie intake per se) as the day progresses, especially after a post workout meal if you train in the evening because you will have less need for glucose and the extra carbs can be stored as adipose tissue. Those of you who struggle with gaining weight can have a small meal in the middle of the night composed mostly of protein and healthy fats!

**Ronnie Rowland** · 11-23-2008, 04:59 PM

Increasing calories during the blast phase will cause your body weight to climb to the next level. The net effect will be more energy and better workouts, which will create an upward cycle of muscle fullness, strength, and growth. Actually, the higher the calorie overage, the more muscle you will gain up to a point. You?ll have to get your overall calories down for your metabolism so you won?t have to put a strain on yourself by having to diet off excess bodyfat during the next cutting phase. One mistake some bodybuilders tend to make is to eat enough protein but not enough calories during a mass phase.

Important Note: Overall calories are directly related to how your body uses the protein you eat. When calories remain consistently higher than your daily energy requirements, protein is used to repair muscle tissue. When calories remain consistently low (for i.e.; during a cutting phase) your body burns ingested protein.

Think of the Slingshot Mass Gaining Diet as the same as the 3 low-1 high-2 low-1 high weekly carb rotation used to get ripped before a competition. The two differences is that you will be shocking your system to gain muscle weight as opposed to losing body fat. Also, carbs and fats will be eaten together in each meal as opposed to separating them like you should in a cutting phase. Combining fats and carbs in the same meals during an off-season blasting phase will create a better muscle building effect and increase energy output so you can lift heavier weights! Increased insulin levels obtained by combining carbs and fats during a blasting mass phase will suppress the muscle wasting hormone cortisol which induces protein synthesis. Elevated insulin levels will also down regulate SHBG (Sex Hormone Binding Globulin). High SHBG levels are one of the main culprits when testosterone is no longer working in conjunction with a good training-diet program. SHBG prevents testosterone from fitting into the receptors. (Bound testosterone) equals about 97-99 percent of total testosterone circulation while (free testosterone) equals about 1-3 percent of total test. When SHGB levels are kept low it allows free testosterone to fit into the receptor and make muscles grow at a faster rate. Therefore, making a low carb diet or low fat diet, less than optimal during a bulking up phase! There's no need in mixing a lot of carbs and fat together in one meal (except the once daily hyperinsulinemia meal) because doing so will slow down the digestive tract and cause bloating-hence preventing you from eating enough clean foods to put on size! My definition of "hyperinsulinemia" is simpy an insulin spike to the utmost from combining carbs and saturated fats in the same meal. For eaxmple: Whole eggs and whole wheat pancakes.

Note: Here's a good plan-Monday-low, Tuesday-low, Wednesday-high (carbs clean on the first carb/calorie up day-increase calories by around 1000 (day 3) Thursday-low, Friday-low, Saturday-high (have cheat day)-increase calories by around 2000, Sunday-low. On the first higher carb/calorie days you will focus on consuming more carbs while keep fats the same. During the cheat day (second calorie up day) you will increase both carbs and fats while still placing an emphasis on carbs. The results will be dramatic-mostly in muscle weight gain with less adipose tissue! I suggest that they keep protein and fat consistent and cycle carbs during the off-season to prevent going flat or running low on energy. Carbs must be kept under control (according to your metabolism). Lower them when you become bloated or start gaining too much fat. This helps you add lean muscle and minimize fat.

Additional calories should be consumed throughout the day (depending on your metabolism), during one of the 2 most catabolic periods of the day (breakfast or post workout) in order to minimize fat gains. On non-training days the ?anabolic meal? should be for breakfast. If you create very high insulin levels and consume just as many calories during the other meals on non-training days, less would end up in muscle stores to promote recovery and more of those calories would be stored as fat. Therefore, body composition would get worse over time. When you consume more calories and spike insulin, cholesterol, and amino acids during breakfast on non-training days or after exercise on training days, more calories will be absorbed and go towards muscle recovery and growth as opposed to being stored as fat. This means body composition will improve over time! The body's metabolism revs up more efficiently after a somewhat "dirty meal? as opposed to a ?clean meal? when consumed only once a day during a catabolic period. That said, the bulk of your daily dietary fats and carbs should come in the form of healthy fats like raw nuts/oils,etc and carbs ranging on the lower end of the glycemic index scale such as steel cut oats and fruit.

**Total calories determined how much weight you will lose or gain, but macronutrient ratios determines how much muscle you will lose or gain while making those calorie adjustments. * *

**Ronnie Rowland** · 11-23-2008, 05:00 PM

During the ?anabolic blast? you want to try and consume around 1 gram of fat for every 2 grams of carbohydrates as a baseline during the (5 lower carb days!) This means if you ingest 200 grams of carbs you?ll want to try and get in about 100 grams of fat. If you gain body fat easily when trying to put on muscle weight you can match carb grams for fat grams on an equal basis! This means if you take in around 150 grams of fat per day you will take in only 150 grams of carbs to keep insulin spikes down. On the other hand, if you have a fast metabolism and gain lean muscle easily, then you may need to increase your carbs to around 2.5 grams for each gram of fat consumed to increase insulin output. MAKING THESE ADJUSTMENTS IN YOUR DIET WILL MAKE ALL THE DIFFFRENCE IN THE WORLD! It may sound like a lot of fat grams to some of you, but this is one of the best kept nutritional secret for making leaner muscle mass gains and increasing strength! Essential fatty acids result in increased prostaglandin levels. Prostaglandins can stop catabolism (muscle wasting) in its tracks. This is why it?s imperative to eat plenty of EFA?S during the blast. Research has proven prostaglandins to be one of the most powerful anabolic activators in the body. Healthy fats also increase natural testosterone levelsIt has been exciting for me as a professional trainer to watch physical transformations by those who have never utilized higher amounts of calories through protein and healthy fats such as olive oil. When bodybuilder?s consume the same total calories per day as they had been prior to switching over to a higher fat/protein intake, they not only lose bodyfat, they also are able to increase both muscle mass and strength. Another benefit gained by ingesting EFA?S is that the insulin receptor sites of the muscle cells will become more sensitive than the insulin receptors on the fat cells. An increase in sensitivity of the muscle cells will push more amino acids from protein sources into the muscle cells and away from the fat cells! I?m here to tell you, dietary fats and protein make a huge difference in how many calories you can consume without getting fat! It?s the same scenario as having to bump up essential fatty acids and protein in order to see improvements in body composition when dieting down. This is simple to explain. Since essential fatty acids do not elicit an insulin response like carbs, less of those calories will be stored as adipose tissue. I learned from my biology background in college that the body requires a substantial amount of dietary fat for maximum protein synthesis to occur. Healthy fats such as fatty fish, olive oil, flax seed oil, macadamia nut oil, mixed nuts, almonds and natural peanut butter/butter like Smart Balance are great for gaining muscular weight. Whole eggs contain a mixture of both saturated fats and ***** 3?s. You can consume as many whole *****-3 eggs (egglands best brand) as you desire since most of the saturated fat has been replaced with Heart Healthy *****-3 Fats. Many healthy fats can be added to your protein shakes, oatmeal, put on salads, and put on top of baked foods such as chicken to increase the body?s production of an anabolic substance called prostaglandins and to increase testosterone levels. Most love baked fish or chicken in macadamia nut oil or olive oil. Canola oil works as well so get creative! Healthy fats spare the burning of glycogen allowing less carbs to be eaten and making the carbs you eat go a further distance before being burned for fuel. They also accelerate the formation of new glycogen by stimulating the receptors on the muscles to draw carbs into the muscle. Healthy fats not only help burn off body fat they are anabolic and are used as a fuel source to spare protein.

##Muscle cells are made up of both protein and fat. You won't build a lot of additional muscle tissue without consuming ample amounts of both fat and protein. You must eat enough of these two nutrients to repair the cell membranes that make up muscle tissue. Eating more healthy fats along with your protein sources is not just about increasing anabolic hormones; it's about muscle repair and joint health. ##

It?s only when carbohydrate intake is low for your particular body type that you have to worry about the body using amino acids as a fuel source or getting low blood sugar. If you have a very physical job or play sports then you can bump up the carb intake as needed. Consuming a higher ratio of carbohydrate grams than fat grams offers better gains and faster recovery. There is absolutely no question about this! Carbs provide the energy necessary for intense workouts more efficiently than fats and protein and are necessary for amino acids to work. You want to be holding a little water in the off-season. When carbs replenish glycogen in the muscles, it makes them more anabolic! Consuming too many carbs during a mass phase will definitely result in excess bloating and unwanted fatty deposits. A serious problem with most weight lifters off-season diets is they consume way too many calories through the ingestion of carbs and begin to get puffy and fat. This is because their bodies are never called upon to use the stored bodyfat for energy. If you consume carbs in excess you are going to under-feed your body with protein and fats needed for maximum protein synthesis to take place. When your glycogen deposits are already full, excess carbs will be turned into unattractive bodyfat when in a calorie surplus!

Important Note: It's practically impossible for anyone to say- "consume this many calories per day given you stats"! This is because your metabolism and daily energy needs are changing as your muscle mass and activity levels change. A good base line for gaining maximal muscle size with minimal body fat fall in this range: 1) 1-2 grams of carbs per pound of body weight. 2) .5 to .75 grams of fat per pound of body weight. 3) 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight.

If you tend to hold too much water then you are more than likely taking in too many carbs. Some bodybuilders tend to follow an extremely high carb, high protein, low fat diet during the off-season. That will work, but a better approach is consuming moderate carbs (defined as many as you can consume without gaining too much body fat), high proteins and pretty high in fats. The idea behind the Slingshot Diet is to use protein and fats to increase protein synthesis and improve anabolic hormone output. Next, you add carbs as needed for maximum energy, increasing caloric intake, increasing appetite and providing both a maximum anabolic/anti-catabolic environment through increasing insulin output and increasing water retention so heavier weight loads can be lifted while providing protection to the joints[/color].

During a blasting phase you can still use green tea and/or caffeine pills up to twice a day at 200-400 mgs. Take them during breakfast and an hour before workouts to help push through and increase the thermogenic effect. Green tea extract also increases the metabolism. Take 500-1000 mgs of green tea along with caffeine twice a day. Obviously, drugs like Growth Hormone, Clenbuterol, T-3,etc can be used when bulking to keep body fat levels under control if used properly."

Final Note: Some of you (especially those you who train with higher volume) may require a 3rd weekly carb up day to make maximal gains. The stimulus for your muscle to grow bigger comes from training overload not massive protein intake! If you are gettting over-trained easily/feeling burned out and wanting to avoid higher volume training during a reload, it's often caused from insufficient carbohydrates. Remember, carbs fuel your muscles so you can train with great intensity and fully recover. Keeping carbs in check will provide leaner gains, however your ability to perform intense strength training comes from carbs and to a lessser degree fats. This means there must be balance if you want to make maximal progress without getting fat! Some of you will need 3 non-consecutive weekly calorie/carb up days if 2 does not work. A good plan would be to carb/calorie up on Monday-Wednesday-Saturday if 3 are in fact required. Saturday could be your cheat day!

Sample blasting diets on the next post.

**Ronnie Rowland** · 11-23-2008, 05:01 PM

Sample Menus For 8-12 Week Blasting Phase

To Gain Muscle Weight- Body weight x 20kcal. Weigh yourself weekly. Continue eating the same amount of calories if you gain weight. If not, add 500kcal each week. Repeat until you reach your desired weight. If you normally need about 2500 calories each day to maintain your bodyweight, you should only increase calories to around 500 each week and stop once you are gaining muscle mass. This is where you want to be on the five lower carb/calorie days! You'll go past your sweet spot twice a week when carbing up. Everyone should keep carbohydrates higher in the morning and lower in the evening (unless you train in the evening) but mixing fats and carbs in moderation is okay during a mass phase and actually promotes muscle growth by increasing anabolism and reducing catabolism. High protein remains throughout the day! Protein intake should be adjusted at 1-1.5 grams per pound of body weight to fit your metabolism. Try to eat 5-6 meals per day.

Sample Blasting Diet for non-training days and 5 weekly lower carbohydrate/calorie days for 190 pound bodybuilder:

Meal 1 (HYPERINSULINEMIA MEAL): 2 scoops of whey isolate protein (40 grams of protein), 2 bananas (50 grams of carbs), 4 whole ***** 3 enriched eggs (20 grams of fat/28 grams of protein, 3 egg whites (12 grams of protein) and 1 cup of oatmeal (60 grams of carbs) Creatine and other over-the-counter anabolic agents should be taken as well unless prescibed different.
1) Total- 80 grams of protein (260 cals), 110 carbs (440 cals), 20 grams of fat (180 cals). (TOTAL CALS/880)

Meal 2: A whole pack of lean deli chicken or tuna (40 grams of protein or left over lean meat from last night?s dinner or lean deli meat and 1 apple (25 grams of carbs)
2) Total-40 grams of protein (160 cals) and 25 grams of carbs (100 cals). (TOTAL CALS/260)

Meal 3: Any lean meat such as a whole pack of deli turkey (40 grams of Protein) and ? a pound of grapes (40 grams of carbs)
3) Total-40 grams of protein (160 cals), 40 grams of carbs (160 cals) (TOTAL CALS/320)

Meal 4: Large portion of lean meat such as chicken, salmon, London broil, flank steak, etc (50 grams of protein) salad (green leaf romaine) with 6 TBS of extra virgin olive oil (91 grams of fat), a small amount of feta cheese (7 grams of fat) and 4 tbsp of croutons (8 carbs)
4) Protein 50 grams (200 cals), fats 91 (819 cals), carbs 8 (32 cals) (TOTAL CALS/ 1051)

Meal 5: Whey protein shake (40 grams) with 4 tablespoon of smart balance peanut butter ( 32 grams of fat, 16 grams of protein, 10 carbs)
5) 56 grams of protein (224), 32 grams of fat (288), 10 carbs(40) (CALS/552)

DAILY TOTALS-(PROTEINS/266 ) (CARBS/193) (FATS/143 ) (CALS/3123)

Sample Blasting Diet for work out days performed in the evening on 5 weekly lower carbohydrate/calorie days for 190 pound bodybuilder:

Meal 1: 8 egg whites and 2 whole eggs (40 grams of protein and 10 grams of fat) and 1 cup of oatmeal (50 grams of carbs)
2) Total-40 grams of protein (160 cals), 10 grams of fat (90 cals) and 50 grams of carbs (200 cals) total cals (450)

Meal 2: Any lean meat such as a whole pack of deli turkey (40 grams of Protein). Almonds 1/4 a cup of almonds (fat 14, protein 6, carbs 5).
Total-protein 46 grams (184 cals), carbs is 5 (20 cals) fats is 14 grams (126 cals) total cals (330)

Meal 3: 40 grams of protein from whey isolate protein shake and a banana.
Total-40 grams of protein (160 cals), 25 grams of carbs (100 cals). Total cals (260 cals)

WORKOUT!

Meal 4: Post Workout nutrition (MEAL 4)- Fast acting carb source such as Waxy Maize Starch, etc, (60 GRAMS OF CARBS) and 40 grams of Isolate Whey Protein. Creatine and other over-the-counter anabolic agents should be taken as well unless prescibed different.
Totals-protein 40 grams (160 cals) 60 grams of carbs (200 cals) Total cals (440)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Meal 5: (HYPERINSULINEMIA MEAL) Large portion of lean meat such as chicken, salmon, London broil, flank steak, etc (50 grams of protein) salad (green leaf romaine) with 6 TBS of extra virgin olive oil (91 grams of fat), a small amount of feta cheese (7 grams of fat) and 2 tbsp of croutons, a dry sweet potato (30 carbs) and slice of whole wheat bread (25 carbs)
Totals- Protein 50 grams (200 cals), fats 91 (819 cals), carbs 61 (244 cals) Total cals (1263)

Meal 6: Whey protein shake (40 grams) with 4 tablespoon of smart balance peanut butter ( 32 grams of fat, 16 grams of protein, 10 carbs)
Totals- 56 grams of protein (224 cals), 32 grams of fat (288 cals), 10 carbs (40 cals) Total cals (552)

DAILY TOTALS-(PROTEINS/ 277) (CARBS/211) (FATS/147 ) (CALS/3275)

Sample Blasting Diet for 1st weekly carbohydrate/calorie up day (not cheat day) if it falls on a non-training day for 190 pound bodybuilder:

Meal 1 (HYPERINSULINEMIA MEAL): 2 scoops of whey isolate protein (50 grams of protein), 2 bananas (50 grams of carbs), 4 whole ***** 3 enriched eggs (20 grams of fat/28 grams of protein, 3 egg whites (12 grams of protein) and 1 and a half cups of whole wheat pancakes (150 carbs) with a cup of blueberries (35 carbs), 1 whole egg in pancakes (protein 8, fat 5, and 2 tbs of olive oil in pancakes (28 grams of fat). Creatine and other over-the-counter anabolic agents should be taken as well unless prescibed different.
1) Total- 95 grams of protein (380 cals), 185 carbs (740 cals), 48 grams of fat (432 cals). (Total cals/1552)

Meal 2: A whole pack of lean deli chicken or tuna (40 grams of protein or left over lean meat from last night?s dinner, on 2 slices of whole wheat bread (40 grams of carbs) and 1 apple (25 grams of carbs).
2) Total-40 grams of protein (160 cals) and 65 grams of carbs (260 cals). (Total cals/420)

Meal 3: Any lean meat such as a whole pack of deli turkey (40 grams of Protein) on two slices of whole wheat bread (40 grams of carbs) Serving of grapes-25 grams of carbs)
3) Total-40 grams of protein (160 cals) , 65 grams of carbs (225 cals)

Meal 4: Large portion of lean meat such as chicken, salmon, London broil, flank steak, etc (50 grams of protein) salad (green leaf romaine) with 6 TBS of extra virgin olive oil (91 grams of fat), a small amount of feta cheese (7 grams of fat) and 2 tbsp of croutons (4 carbs) and 1 small sweet potato (20 carbs)
4) Protein 50 grams (200 cals), fats 91 (819), carbs 24 (96 cals). (Total cals/1115)

Meal 5: Whey protein shake (40 grams) with 4 tablespoons of smart balance peanut butter (32 grams of fat, 16 grams of protein, 10 carbs)
5) 56 grams of protein (224 cals), grams of fat 32 (288 cals) ,5 carbs (20 cals). (Total cals/492)

DAILY TOTALS-(PROTEINS/332 ) (CARBS/344 ) (FATS/171 ) (Total cals/4051 ) = 928 more calories than lower carb/calorie days.

Note: On second carb up day-?cheat day? you can eat more carbs and pretty much whatever you want for dinner (meal 5) but cheat according to your metabolism.Those with a slower metabolism will need to cheat less and those with a fast metabolism can eat pretty much whatever in those two large meals (Breakfast-dinner) and even add some more cheat throughout the day as well. All body types should make a point to have at least two large HYPERINSULINEMIA MEALS on their cheat day but not first carb up day

**Ronnie Rowland** · 11-23-2008, 05:02 PM

Sample Blasting Diet for 1st weekly higher carbohydrate/calorie day if it falls on a training day for 190 pound bodybuilder:

Meal 1: 50 grams worth of cereal and/or fruit, 2 whole eggs and 8 egg whites.
1: (40 Total-grams of protein (160 cals), 50 carbs ( 200 cals) and 10 grams of fat (90 cals) (Total cals/ 450)

Meal 2: Any lean meat such as a whole pack of deli turkey. Serving of grapes-25 grams of carbs) and Almonds 1/4 a cup of almonds (fat 14, protein 6, carbs 5).
3) Total-46 grams of protein (184 cals), 25 grams of carbs (100) (fats 14 (126 cals). (Total cals/410)

[b]Meal 3: Meal 3: 40 grams of protein from whey isolate protein shake and a banana (25 carbs).
[color="Red"]Total-40 grams of protein (160 cals), 25 grams of carbs (100). Total cals (260 cals)

WORKOUT-

Meal 4: Post Workout nutrition (MEAL 4)- Fast acting carb source such as Waxy Maize Starch, etc, (60 GRAMS OF CARBS) and 50 grams of Isolate Whey Protein. Creatine and other over-the-counter anabolic agents should be taken as well unless prescibed different.
4) Totals-(Protein 50 grams/ 200 cals) (Carbs 60 grams/240 cals) (Total cals/440)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Meal 5 (HYPERINSULINEMIA MEAL 5): 6 whole eggs (30 grams of fat/48 grams of protein, 4 egg whites (24 grams of protein) and 1 and a half cups of whole wheat pancakes (150 carbs) with a cup of blueberries (35 carbs), 1 whole egg in pancakes (protein 8, fat 5, and 6 tbs of olive oil in pancakes (70 grams of fat).
5) Totals- 80 grams of protein (320 cals), 185 carbs (740 cals), 105 grams of fat (945 cals) (Total cals/2005).

Meal 6: Whey protein shake (40 grams) with 4 tablespoon of smart balance peanut butter (32 grams of fat, 16 grams of protein, 10 carbs)
5) Totals-40 grams of protein (160 cals), 32 grams of fat (128 cals), 10 carbs (40 cals)=80 (Total cals/328)

DAILY TOTALS-(PROTEINS/ 246) (CARBS/355) (FATS/161) (CALS/3973) = 850 more calories than lower carb/calorie days.

NOTE: If you workout late in the evening during the first weekly carb up/calorie up day you have the option of consuming meal 1 in place of meal 5-making meal 5 your 1 hyperinsulinemia meal for that day. In this particular situation disregard meal 1 and instead consume something such as 65 grams worth of cereal and/or fruit and add 2 whole eggs and 8 egg whites (40 grams of protein) for that first meal of the day. You can eat pretty much whatever you want on the second carb up day- (cheat day) accroding to your metabolism. Those with a slower metabolism will need to cheat less and those with a fast metabolism can eat pretty much whatever they want all day long but should focus on breakfast and dinner!

Sample for 2nd weekly calorie/carb up day-(cheat day) for 190 pound bodybuilder.

Note:This sample applies to both training and non-training days with the exception of a training day requiring post workout nutriton-50 grams of protein from whey isolate shake, fast acting carbs and over-the counter anabolics if used. Take anabolic agents in the morning if it falls on a non-traininf day. This diet sample is for a non-training day so theres no post workout nutrition! I do not count my daily calories ever, rather I go by portion sizes and how I am looking in the mirror. No need in counting calories during a cheat day!

Meal 1: 2 scoops of whey isolate protein (50 grams of protein), 2 bananas, 4 whole eggs, 3 egg whites and 1 and a half cups of whole wheat pancakes with a cup of blueberries, 1 whole egg in pancakes 2 tbs of olive oil in pancakes. Creatine and other over-the-counter anabolic agents should be taken as well unless prescibed different.Take anabolic agents such as creatine!

Meal 2: Any lean meat such as a whole pack of deli turkey. Almonds 1/4 a cup of almonds.

Meal 3: Peanut butter and banana sandwhich and 50 grams of whey protein.

Meal 4: Pizza, chips and ice cream!

Meal 5: Cereal and 50 grams of whey protein.

Important note: Since you will transition using fewer sets during a deload, you may need to drop calorie by way of carbs if you begin to gain weight too fast. In addition, if you do a lot of shows or guest posting during the off-season and need to stay as lean as possible during the off-season, simply treat every day as a non-training day in regards to carb intake. This means consuming you hyperinsulinemia meal for breakfast only regardless of whether you train in the evening or the morning. This will keep you leaner! Those of you who tend to gain body fat easily when trying to put on muscular weight can treat every day as a non-training by making breakfast their once a day hyperinsulinemia meal. During a de-load, everyone who trains late in the day has the option of making breakfast their hyperinsulinemia meal since less calories will be burned as compared to a reload. Make sure and take in your post workout nutrition consisting of a fast acting carb and whey isolate protein regardless of what time of the day you train. Avoid reducing dietary fat intake during the 2 carb up days so the the muscle will fill up with glycogen!

Sample of a very lean bulk were you match carb grams and fat grams of an equal basis. If you ingest 100 grams of carbs then about 100 grams of fat should accompany those carbs. The sample below is to be used on five lower carb days for the week. Double the carbs twice a week on two non-consecutive "carb up/calorie up days". Make one of those carb up days a cheat meal.

Meal 1:
Whey isolate protein 25 grams
7 egg whites
3 whole ***** 3 enriched Eggs
90 grams of carbs (quaker oats)
2 cups of slim milk

Meal 2:
50 grams of whey isolate protein
1 banana

Meal 3:
7 ounces of ground turkey
Apple

Meal 4:
7 ounces chicken
salad w/4 tblspn olive oil

Meal 5:
7 oz flank steak
2-3 c veggies w 4 tblspn olive oil

Meal 6:
50 grams of whey isolate
4 tbspn ***** 3 smart balance peanut butter

**Ronnie Rowland** · 11-23-2008, 05:03 PM

SLINGSHOT BODY FAT LOSS DIET PLANS

Important Note: This diet is to be used in conjunction with the Slingshot Cutting Routine!

Use this bodyfat loss plan when following the Slingshot Cutting Routine. I would like to say there are multiple diet plans out there that do not work long term. These extreme weight loss diet plans are nothing more than temporary fixes that have nothing to do with living a happy lifestyle or obtaining a great body. Some of the diet plans being put out are unsafe and unrealistic for anyone to follow long term (i.e.: the Ketogenic diet). Carbohydrates are essential in metabolizing fat when going through the Krebs cycle because as carbs are depleted, the rate in which body fat gets metabolized is reduced. "Beta oxidation is the process by which fatty acids, in the form of Acyl-CoA molecules, are broken down in mitochondria and/or in peroxisomes to generate Acetyl-CoA, the entry molecule for the Krebs Cycle".

There are a lot of people with a condition known as ?insulin resistance?. Once you develop high levels of bodyfat your body will no longer respond to insulin as it should. What happens next is it only takes a small amount of carbohydrates to really shoot those insulin levels through the roof-hence bodyfat will be stored at a fast rate of speed. When too much insulin is produced, you will be left with too little sugar in the blood stream and some will get stored in the fat cells. This puts you in a viscous cycle where the fatter you get the easier it is to keep putting on the wrong kind of weight (bodyfat). This makes it very hard to lose bodyfat. But don?t panic! Once you lose the fat, gain the muscle mass, and establish outstanding insulin sensitivity, you will be able to control your bodyfat levels. This is great news because once you get lean you?ll probably be able to eat roughly 150-200 grams of carbs on the low carb days as opposed to 100-125 grams for maintenance and be able to consume a few more carbs later in the day. Also, you may be able to increase your carb up/calorie up days to 3 per week as opposed to only 2. Why? Because once you get lean, the metabolism speeds up! Losing weight is fairly easy, but stripping straight body fat off while maintaining or gaining lean body mass is tricky. Men in general have an easier time losing bodyfat because they carry more muscle mass. The more muscle mass you can acquire through the proper weight training regimen along with a high protein diet-the faster your resting metabolic rate will be just sitting around doing nothing (even while you sleep)! This is why a properly designed weight training program and diet is more important for improving body composition than cardio. Here I will outline a few things that have worked well for me and thousands of my clients. You can go to (fit day) on-line for a free journal. It calculates both calories and macronutrients for everything you consume!

Protein: Protein levels should be kept high in order to build or keep the body from eating muscle tissue during exercise or times of being in a calorie deficit. Everyone, regardless of their body type, needs about a minimum of 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight to maintain and/or gain lean muscle mass. Protein is used in gluconeogensis during exercise and fasting when carbs are low. Some of the energy your body uses will come from protein sources during periods were carbs are kept low (for i.e.; later in the day and while you sleep). I recommend that everyone keep protein at 1-2 grams of protein per pound of body weight during a long term cutting phase or a 2 week priming phase. Those with a slower metabolism will need less (for i.e. only 1 gram per pound of body weight). Too much protein can also make you fat due to producing a calorie surplus. What happens is glycogen levels spill over and the extra calories are stored as bodyfat. With my metabolism (endo-****) 2 grams of protein would make me fat and 1 gram would be a bit low. So, I take 1.25 and multiply it by my body weight. Then I divide that by 5 or 6 meals, depending on how many meals I am getting in for that day. When eating 6 meals per day I take in about 50 grams of protein during each meal. Eat your protein first because you?ll get fuller faster which will keep you from eating as many carbs and fats. This is good for bodyfat control! Tuna, chicken, salmon, turkey, egg whites and London broil are all good staples. Steer clear of the fattier deli meat that contains nitrates. Fatty red meat is not the best choice to make because it contains about 8 grams per serving and a serving is only about 4 ounces. In those 4 ounces you will only get roughly 25 grams of protein and a whopping 10 grams of saturated fat (not good)! This means you might need another serving of fatty ground beef to get your protein needs for that meal. However, the same 4 ounces of fish, turkey or chicken has about the same protein but only around 2 gram of fat or less. Therefore, you can eat more food while taking in fewer calories! Whey protein used twice a day as a meal-replacer works very well when combined with fruit earlier in the day and essential oils at night because it will bloat you and keep you satisfied. Smaller meals consumed throughout the day decreases bodyfat levels over-time. Every time you eat (especially protein) your body burns calories when it breaks down the food during digestion. This is why your body heats up every time you eat. The time spent in a heated state will burn more calories than when you are skipping meals. Protein will make you gain weight when added to what you are already eating but will make you lose bodyfat when it replaces some carb and/or fat calories! Why? Because for every 100 calories of carbs or fats consumed, only about 5 calories will be burned off through digestion. But for every 100 calories of protein you take in around 25 calories will be burned through the digestion process. This is why it?s so important to trade a lot of carbohydrate calories for protein calories when trying to lose fat. When whey protein is used, always add a small amount of essential fats such as smart balance peanut butter, almonds or mixed nuts to slow down the digestion rate and keep you full. Fruit can be added to whey protein post workout or during the earlier part of the day. Eating frequent meals prevents hunger pangs. Drink around 1 gallon of water per day to keep the body hydrated and the to boost the metabolism and try to stay away from wheat, gluten and dairy products to get absolutey ripped. I have never put a lot of emphasis on meticuously counting each and every calorie consumed, rather I concentrate on eating, with proper food combinations so that the food is broken down properly and absorbed. Never let yourself go hungry. When you are hungry it means that your body is using muscle tissue for energy, as opposed to bodyfat!

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