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So you want to know what DC Training is all about? Be prepared to stare into the dark recesses of your heart and soul, and to trek across burning sands of pain. The training will push you farther than you thought you can go, further than you even thought possible. If you can come up with a game plan, stick to it and muster the willpower and intensity necessary for this training then the rewards can be bountiful. Your body will grow and become lean and strong. The caveat to this? You better know what the fuck you are doing or you will just be frustrated, sitting still spinning your tires in the mud.
The newbie always hears this. Whether it’s from the message boards or reading the stickies about DC Training on Intensemuscle.com. NO, you are not advanced enough for DC, you don’t have the time in the gym, etc. What does this really mean though? Why can’t I do DC Training? I can do whatever I want to can’t I? This is close to the mindset I had the first time I embarked on a DC journey.
I was just past 30 years old and hadn’t seriously trained in about 8 years. I was horribly fat, horribly out of shape and weak, but I was motivated and that’s what counts isn’t it? And I had done my time in the gym, I had put on 20lbs of muscle or so, I had been lifting at least three years so why not? I should have factored into the equation that all my experience was a lifetime ago. I had the typical want it now attitude though and went at DC full steam. Kind of. I thought.
I read all the stickies on Intense Muscle. I read peoples journals. I read and reread almost every post Dante had written. Somehow I still convinced myself it applied to me. After about six weeks on my first blast, I was fried. Cooked. Totally outdone by myself. I had gotten stronger on all my lifts and gotten up to 260lbs. So I was doing well though right? I couldn’t have been more wrong. No doubt I had put on some muscle. But I had also put on A TON OF FAT. Why? Despite being so learned in the ways of DC I didn’t incorporate carb cutoffs, I didn’t do ANY off day cardio, and in a quest to eat all the protein I thought I had to eat I effectively went on a see food diet and ate everything in site.
What is my point in telling you or anyone this story? It probably doesn’t exactly apply to your situation right? The point is that there is a reason that Dante and all the DC vet’s recommend at least three years of training and also of being fairly strong already before starting DC. It’s not that they don’t like you or that they think you suck as a bodybuilder (even though you just might, right now), or that you are a horrible person or somehow unworthy of the system. It’s that they WANT you to succeed. Dante developed this system to allow someone to pack on as much muscle as possible in the shortest amount of time.
Without the prior time in the gym, however, most people can’t possibly understand the intensity required for a true rest pause set. I mean TRULY taking your body to failure for the three failure points. Holding the stretches for an excruciating 60 seconds. You see, in volume training, or most other training systems you have some wiggle room for error. If you are doing 16 sets for chest, and making any progression in weight moved at all you are going to get bigger and stronger. The amount of volume you are doing is going to elicit a response. When you get down to doing DC, or any other HIT system for that matter, and you only have that ONE SET you have to truly make it count. For your back thickness exercises you are getting two straight sets. That’s it. If you don’t know how to take those two sets to the limit you are wasting your time. Leg day? You get heavy set of squats let’s say, and then your widow maker. You better be able to dig deep and move some iron on that one work set. The widow maker? Anyone can load the bar with a little weight and pound out 20 reps. Are you breathing like a locomotive when you’re done and ready to fall down? That’s what the widow maker should be. An absolute all out, high rep, heavy weight set that separates the men from the boys.
So the point of this is not to discourage you from doing DC, but to truly take a look at yourself and analyze whether or not you are ready. If not, it’s no big deal! There are plenty of training protocols out there that can get you up to snuff. Put your time in in the gym and at the dinner table. When you are ready, DC Training will be there for you to push your physique to the next level. When you do get to the level necessary to do DC make sure you incorporate all the principles not just a couple. Please don’t develop some new hybrid form of DC, just do it as laid out. Or don’t.
The newbie always hears this. Whether it’s from the message boards or reading the stickies about DC Training on Intensemuscle.com. NO, you are not advanced enough for DC, you don’t have the time in the gym, etc. What does this really mean though? Why can’t I do DC Training? I can do whatever I want to can’t I? This is close to the mindset I had the first time I embarked on a DC journey.
I was just past 30 years old and hadn’t seriously trained in about 8 years. I was horribly fat, horribly out of shape and weak, but I was motivated and that’s what counts isn’t it? And I had done my time in the gym, I had put on 20lbs of muscle or so, I had been lifting at least three years so why not? I should have factored into the equation that all my experience was a lifetime ago. I had the typical want it now attitude though and went at DC full steam. Kind of. I thought.
I read all the stickies on Intense Muscle. I read peoples journals. I read and reread almost every post Dante had written. Somehow I still convinced myself it applied to me. After about six weeks on my first blast, I was fried. Cooked. Totally outdone by myself. I had gotten stronger on all my lifts and gotten up to 260lbs. So I was doing well though right? I couldn’t have been more wrong. No doubt I had put on some muscle. But I had also put on A TON OF FAT. Why? Despite being so learned in the ways of DC I didn’t incorporate carb cutoffs, I didn’t do ANY off day cardio, and in a quest to eat all the protein I thought I had to eat I effectively went on a see food diet and ate everything in site.
What is my point in telling you or anyone this story? It probably doesn’t exactly apply to your situation right? The point is that there is a reason that Dante and all the DC vet’s recommend at least three years of training and also of being fairly strong already before starting DC. It’s not that they don’t like you or that they think you suck as a bodybuilder (even though you just might, right now), or that you are a horrible person or somehow unworthy of the system. It’s that they WANT you to succeed. Dante developed this system to allow someone to pack on as much muscle as possible in the shortest amount of time.
Without the prior time in the gym, however, most people can’t possibly understand the intensity required for a true rest pause set. I mean TRULY taking your body to failure for the three failure points. Holding the stretches for an excruciating 60 seconds. You see, in volume training, or most other training systems you have some wiggle room for error. If you are doing 16 sets for chest, and making any progression in weight moved at all you are going to get bigger and stronger. The amount of volume you are doing is going to elicit a response. When you get down to doing DC, or any other HIT system for that matter, and you only have that ONE SET you have to truly make it count. For your back thickness exercises you are getting two straight sets. That’s it. If you don’t know how to take those two sets to the limit you are wasting your time. Leg day? You get heavy set of squats let’s say, and then your widow maker. You better be able to dig deep and move some iron on that one work set. The widow maker? Anyone can load the bar with a little weight and pound out 20 reps. Are you breathing like a locomotive when you’re done and ready to fall down? That’s what the widow maker should be. An absolute all out, high rep, heavy weight set that separates the men from the boys.
So the point of this is not to discourage you from doing DC, but to truly take a look at yourself and analyze whether or not you are ready. If not, it’s no big deal! There are plenty of training protocols out there that can get you up to snuff. Put your time in in the gym and at the dinner table. When you are ready, DC Training will be there for you to push your physique to the next level. When you do get to the level necessary to do DC make sure you incorporate all the principles not just a couple. Please don’t develop some new hybrid form of DC, just do it as laid out. Or don’t.
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