16 Too Young for DC Method?

[distorted views]

Topic

Oh and if 16 isn't too young then I will have many more questions very soon.

[mobsta]

i personally dont say who can or cannot but try reading these threads ..

http://www.intensemuscle.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1438

[mobsta]

http://www.intensemuscle.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1516

once again, i dont advise who can or cannot ,, im just trying to give a general idea ,, most advise to use this program when all others have failed (ex, hit, wsb etc)

[In-Human]

distorted views, I would never say someone is too old or to young to try anything, I will say that this program is very tough mentally as well as physicaly.

This programs puts some serious demands on your recovery system as well as your mind.

Read what mobsta has posted there for you and go from there.

Good luck and enjoy...

[distorted views]

Thanks to everyone who has posted replies so far. I just read the two suggested threads and they told me a lot that I probably needed to hear. I have been "lifting weights" since I was 13. I say it like that because I know what I have been doing is pretty much nothing and I have never really had a workout routine I followed.

I have been a member at a gym for about half a year now but haven't been going very much due to the fact that I've been trying to find a routine that I honestly feel like I can apply myself to 100% and get back everything I put into it.

Everyone says that after following different routines for years that DC was the only one that could push them past the point when all other routines failed. Wouldn't I be better off starting with the routine that isn't going to fail?

Oh and the main thing my question was referring to was the high calorie, high protein diet that goes along with the DC method; is that going to affect someone my age in a negative way? Also if I decide to try using this routine how long before I start should I start following the diet?

[USMuscle9403]

Honestly, I couldn't see a person of your age following this routine. That is not telling you to NOT do it, that is just my personal opinion on the matter. Generally, the people that are doing this program have tried just about everything else out there, have a very good base, have been training for a relatively long period of time and are fairly advanced lifters. I am one of the 'babies' of the program. I'm 19, have been lifting on and off for a little over 6 years. I hope Dante can chime in, I really have no idea how well this would work for a 16 year olds body. My suggestion would be to do the very basics of this program, and they are not specific at all. Eat plenty of food *very high protein*, progressive overload at every workout and rest well. Those are the fundamentals of bodybuilding that work for EVERYONE. In reference to the diet, I don't see how it would affect your negatively...but then again I am not an expert and maybe someone else can give you a better opinion. I believe that any bodybuilder, regardless of age, can benefit positively from high calorie/high protein. Also, if you decide to start following this routine, you should immediately start the diet. In fact, I would recommend that you start eating this way a week or even two weeks BEFORE training this way. The diet takes most people alot of getting used to. You will feel very very full all of the time for a little while. That, combined with lots of green tea intake and you will be sweating like R. Kelly at a girlscout's meeting at all times. That's just what the diet entails. That's about as specific as we go into diet, though. You see Dante leaves the specifics for his own clients, it's only fair. I am NOT a client, by the way. The majority of questions are easily answered in CFP anyway.
Allen

[distorted views]

I understand that the vast majority of people who use DC training have already been through several other programs. If I'm going to eventually end up using this program anyways wouldn't it be smarter (harder, but smarter) to just start off with DC Training? I plan on at least trying it unless someone tells me its going to kill me

EDIT: Off to bed, us children still have school to worry about, thanks again to everyone who has posted so far and thanks in advance to anyone else who helps me out.

[USMuscle9403]

Well, it seems as though you are really dead set on this program. My advice would be to look over CFP a few more times. Make sure this is REALLY right for you. Be a master of everything on CFP. Trust me, everytime you read it, something else pops up that wasn't there before *seemingly*. We will all be here to help you, we have some extremely knowledgeable people on this board. If you have any doubts at all, I say go with a more conventional approach to bodybuilding. If you are convinced this is right for you, then welcome to the Dogg Pound
Allen

[babygetoboy]

Well I'm not sure what you want to do, but if you decide to do it , please do it 100%, as CFP states.

Also, it will be difficult to follow this program 100% because of your age/situation. I'm not sure about you, but me and most people when in high school did not have a lot of money, and especially not enough money to support the eating on this program. The time is also a problem, as during school it will be difficult to get all your meals in, and unless you have fantastic parents, they will no doubt wonder why you do this, tell you it's not worth it , etc...

If your determined to do it, good for you, but do it 100% as it's stated, if you can't do it, then don't, do something else and get your base going.

Aside from the age and situation thing, I don't think the lack of experience training means anything.

I started with Dante after under a year of seriously ttraining, and also after losing a lot of weight because I was really overweight as a teen/young adult. I'm 23 now, and probably starting losing weight around 22 or late 21's. I had barely any realy training experience and Dante's program worked wonders for me, took to it like a fish to water. 50+lbs in 3 months, and I'm still growing dammit.

[sidewinda]

Hey man - I'm 16 and have been using DC training for a couple of months now, to great success. I started off by reading all 100+ pages of the original thread, then came here and musclemayhem, read everything there. I really liked what I heard, both in style and results, and decided to try it. Like I said, it's been working out great so far.

All I can say is - if you're going to try it, be serious about it and give it time. At the beginning, you will have to lower weights significantly until you adapt to the protocols - it's worth it. After these two months, I'm already ahead of where I was before. The way I see it - our youth is an advantage. What's better than starting to use DC when you're 19? Using it when you're 16.

Just listen to your body, don't be afraid of eating a TON of protein and giving it plenty of rest, and enjoy. There are a ton of knowledgable guys on here who will help you on your way. Hope this helps.

[hompie]

I think Blade is 15 and doing very well............

[big_byrd52]

Well, i have two opinnions on this, neither is right or wrong, just different.

first, the DC program is very basic and invovles all the moves u need to be doing to grow optimumly. yes it will save you years of frustration and stagnated gains. BUT,

at your young age, your body is still growing. Not everything has grown proportionally yet. For instance, the chest and arms will probably be last to begin to develop, while the shoulder girdle, legs, hips, and back. I think you should focus on these for more overall growth with the way the body develops. An example would be stuff by Stuart McRobert in his book Brawn. Here is an article by him that focuses on this type of training. I would say follow something along these lines before stepping up to DC. But defenately EAT EAT EAT, or u are just wasting your time on any routine u settle on.

To build muscle mass, you must increase strength. It’s that simple. You will never get huge arms, a monstrous back, a thick chest, or massive legs without lifting heavy weights. I know that probably doesn’t come as a revelation to anyone. But despite how obvious it seems, far too many people (and not just beginners) neglect power training and rarely make increasing the weights lifted in each successive workout a priority. You must get strong in the basic mass building exercises to bring about a significant increase in muscle size. One of the biggest mistakes typical bodybuilders make is when they implement specialization routines before they have the right to use them.

It constantly amazes me just how many neophytes (beginners), near neophytes, and other insufficiently developed bodybuilders plunge into single-body part specialization programs in the desperate attempt to build big arms. I don’t fault them for wanting big arms, but their approach to getting them is flawed. For the typical bodybuilder who is miles away from squatting 1 ½ times their bodyweight for 20 reps (if you weigh 180 lbs., that means 20 reps with 270 lbs.), an arm specialization program is utterly inappropriate and useless.
The strength and development needed to squat well over 1 ½ times bodyweight for 20 reps will build bigger arms faster then focusing on biceps and triceps training with isolation exercises. Even though squats are primarily a leg exercise, they stress and stimulate the entire body. But more importantly, if you are able to handle heavy weights in the squat, it logically follows that the rest of your body will undoubtedly be proportionally developed. It’s a rare case that you would be able to squat 1 ½ times your bodyweight and not have a substantial amount of upper body muscle mass.

This is not to say that you don’t need to train arms, and squats alone will cause massive upper body growth. You will still work every body part, but you must focus on squats, deadlifts, and rows—the exercises that develop the legs, hips, and back. Once you master the power movements and are able to handle impressive poundages on those lifts, the strength and muscle you gain will translate into greater weights used in arm, shoulder and chest exercises.

In every gym I’ve ever visited or trained in, there were countless teenage boys blasting away on routines, dominated by arm exercises, in the attempt to build arms like their idols. In the ‘70s, they wanted arms like Arnold Schwarzenegger, in the ‘80s Robby Robinson was a favorite and currently Mr. Olympia, Ronnie Coleman, has set the standard everyone wants to achieve. Unfortunately the 3 aforementioned men as well as most other top bodybuilders have arm development far beyond the reach of the average (or even above average) weight trainer. But arm size can be increased. However, not in the way young trainers, with physiques that don’t even have the faintest resemblance to those of bodybuilders are attempting to make progress. Thin arms, connected to narrow shoulders, fixed to shallow chest, joined to frail backs and skinny legs, don’t need body part specialization programs. Let’s not have skewed priorities. Let’s not try to put icing on the cake before the cake has been baked.


Priorities

Trying to stimulate a substantial increase in size in a single body part, without first having the main structures of the body in pretty impressive condition, is to have turned bodybuilding upside-down, inside-out and back to front.

The typical bodybuilder simply isn’t going to get much meat on his arms, calves, shoulders, pectorals and neck unless he first builds a considerable amount of muscle around the thighs, hips and back. It simply isn’t possible—for the typical drug-free bodybuilder, that is—to add much if any size to the small areas unless the big areas are already becoming substantial.
There’s a knock-on (additive) effect from the efforts to add substantial size to the thigh, hip and back structure (closely followed by upper body pushing structure-pecs and delts). The smaller muscle groups, like the biceps, and triceps will progress in size (so long as you don’t totally neglect them) pretty much in proportion to the increase in size of the big areas. It’s not a case of getting big and strong thighs, hips, back and upper-body pushing structure with everything else staying put. Far from it. As the thigh, hip, back and upper-body pushing structure grows, so does everything else. Work hard on squats and deadlifts, in addition to bench presses, overhead presses and some type of row or pulldown. Then you can add a little isolation work—curls, calf raises and neck work (but not all of this at every workout).


The “Driver”
The key point is that the “engine” that drives the gains in the small areas is the progress being made in the big areas. If you take it easy on the thigh and back you will, generally speaking, have trouble making gains in the other exercises, no matter how hard you work the latter.

All this isn’t to say just do squats, deadlifts and upper back work, quite closely followed by some upper-body pressing work. While such a limited program will deliver good gains on these few exercises, with some knock-on effect throughout the body, it’s not a year after year program. Very abbreviated routines are great for getting gains moving, and for building a foundation for moderately expanded routines. They are fine to keep returning to on a regular basis. The other training isn’t necessary all in the same workout but spread over the week. This will maintain balance throughout the body and capitalize upon the progress made in the thigh, hip and back structure.

Just remember that the thigh, hip and back structure comes first and is the “driver” (closely followed by the upper-body pushing structure) for the other exercises. These other exercises, though important in their own right, are passengers relative to the driving team.


Big Arms
To get big arms, get yourself on a basic program that focuses on the leg, hip and back structure without neglecting the arms themselves. As you improve your squatting ability, for reps and by say 100 pounds, your curling poundage should readily come up by 30 pounds or so if you work hard enough on your curls. This will add size to your biceps. While adding 100 pounds to your squat, you should be able to add 50-70 pounds to your bench press, for reps. This assumes you’ve put together a sound program and have worked hard on the bench. That will add size to your triceps.

If you’re desperate to add a couple of inches to your upper arms you’ll need to add 30 pounds or more over your body, unless your arms are way behind the rest of you. Don’t start thinking about 17” arms, or even 16” arms so long as your bodyweight is 130, 140, 150, 160, or even 170 pounds. Few people can get big arms without having a big body. You’re unlikely to be one of the exceptions.

15 sets of arm flexor exercises, and 15 sets of isolation tricep exercises—with a few squats, deadlifts and bench presses thrown in as an afterthought—will give you a great pump and attack the arms from “all angles”. However, it won’t make your arms grow much, if at all, unless you’re already squatting and benching big poundages, or are drug-assisted or genetically gifted.

As your main structures come along in size and strength (thigh, hip and back structure, and the pressing structure), the directly involved smaller body parts are brought along in size too. How can you bench press or dip impressive poundages without adding a lot of size to your triceps? How can you deadlift the house and row big weights without having the arm flexors—not to mention the shoulders and upper back—to go with those lifts? How can you squat close to 2 times bodyweight, for plenty of reps, without having a lot of muscle all over your body?

The greater the development and strength of the main muscular structures of the body, the greater the size and strength potential of the small areas of the body. Think it through. Suppose you can only squat and deadlift with 200 pounds, and your arms measure about 13”. You’re unlikely to add any more than half an inch or so on them, no matter how much arm specialization you put in.

However, put some real effort into the squat and deadlift, together with the bench press and a few other major basic movements. Build up the poundages by 50% or more, to the point where you can squat 300 pounds for over 10 reps, and pack on 30 pounds of muscle. Then, unless you have an unusual arm structure, you should be able to get your arms to around 16”. If you want 17” arms, plan on having to squat more than a few reps with around 2 times bodyweight, and on adding many more pounds of muscle throughout your body (unless you have a better-than-average growth potential in your upper arms).

All of this arm development would have been achieved without a single concentration curl, without a single pushdown and without a single preacher curl. This lesson in priorities proves that the shortest distance between you and big arms is not a straight line to a curl bar.

STRENGTH, MASS, AND POWER WORKOUT
(3 days per week—1 on, 1 off)
Monday
LEGS: Squats
1x 16 reps, 1x 12 reps, 1 x 8 reps, 1x 6 reps, 1 x 5 reps, 1 x 4 reps, 1 x 10 reps
BACK: T-Bar Rows or Seated Rows
1 x 16 reps, 1 x 10 reps, 1 x 8 reps, 1 x 6 reps, 2 x 5 reps, 1 x 10 reps
CALVES: Standing Calf Raises
1 x 12 reps, 1 x 8 reps, 1 x 6 reps, 1 x 10 reps

Wednesday
CHEST: Bench Presses
1 x 12 reps, 1 x 10 reps, 1 x 6 reps, 1 x 5 reps, 1 x 4 reps, 1 x 8 reps
CHEST/TRICEPS: Parallel Bar Dips
1 x 12 reps, 1 x 10 reps, 1 x 8-10 reps
BICEPS: Barbell Curls
1 x 10 reps, 1 x 8 reps, 2 x 6 reps
ABDOMINALS: Reverse Crunches
2 x 20 reps

Friday
LEGS, HIPS, BACK: Deadlifts
1 x 12 reps, 1 x 8 reps, 1 x 6 reps, 1 x 5 reps, 3 x 3 reps, 1 x 8 reps
SHOULDERS: Military Presses or Behind The Neck Presses
1 x 10 reps, 1 x 8 reps, 2 x 6 reps, 1 x 8 reps
CALVES: Seated Calf Raises
1 x 12 reps, 2 x 8 reps, 1 x 10 reps
ABDOMINALS: Crunches
2 x 20 reps

After a light warm-up set for each body part, adjust the weights used so that you are struggling to achieve the desired number of reps. Don’t sacrifice proper form for the sake of excessive weight, but the final rep of each set should be nearly impossible to complete. If you are able to breeze through each set, then the weights selected are too light and must be increased. When you get stronger while using proper form, you give your body no choice but to grow.

[Blade]

Originally posted by hompie
I think Blade is 15 and doing very well............

Yes, Im 15 and Im doing very well

[distorted views]

Does anyone have a link to the original thread?

I know that people who are clients of Dante can't post the diet he recommends you use but can anyone post a diet (or even just daily calorie and protein amounts) I should follow? Oh and I'm not sure if it matters much but I am 6'1" and 165lbs right now.

By the way I happen to have great parents who are more than willing to support a positive activity like weightlifting so the money required for the diet isn't much of an issue.

[mobsta]

http://www.animalkits.be/phpBB/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=253&forum=11&start=0

here ya go and read, read , read ,, then eat eat eat.. fuck 6'1 your a giant not a teenager,, do some searching on here as far as diet is concerned, i know some have posted it, maybe some bro's can advise of some other sites,, some of us are usually at muscle mayhem as well.. lots of good info there..