Bodybuilding.net - Bodybuilding Forum

I am going to be starting OVT soon and want to make make sure that I know what I am doing as far as preparing my body. I have started a starting strength program to get my muscles ready, what I am having the most concern about is Fuel, Breathing, and Warmups.
(1) Does it matter what time of the day I work out with reguards to which meal I have just ate?
(2) What is the correct breathing pattern to use when doing exercises?
(3) When I am doing the OVT program Im not supposed to take a break inbetween each exercise in a superset, so should I only be warming up to the 1st exercise of each superset? But then I have 2 minutes after a super set to break, does that include a warmup for the next super set? Or can I just do a all around warmup before starting my program for the day?

Example:

Bench press 5x5 (No rest) Superset 1
Flat dumbbell flies (2 minute break) 5x5

Incline bench press 5x5 (No rest) Superset 2
Incline dumbbell flies (2 minute break) 5x5

Lat pulldown 5x5 (No rest) Superset 3
1 arm rowing (2 minute break) 5x5

Bent-over barbell rowing 5x5 (No rest) Superset 4
Seated cable rowing (2 minute break) 5x5

I like to workout before breakfast or after lunch. That's just my personal preference.

Exhale during positive work, inhale during negative work.....which means breath out when you're exerting your muscles

I think you've got things confused a bit. For Superset 1:

Set 1: Bench 5 reps-> No Rest-> DB Flyes 5 Reps-> 2 Min Break
Set 2: Bench 5 reps-> No Rest-> DB Flyes 5 Reps-> 2 Min Break
Set 3: "
Set 4: "
Set 5: "

For simplicity, Superset X has Exercise A and B. So for Superset 1, Bench is A and Flyes are B. For OVT its not simply a superset though, there is a temp.

Superset X
A- (Usually your heavy Compound) Done how you would normally do the set
B- (Usually an Isolation) Done with a 6-0-2 (I don't have time to look but I think its 6-0-2) so the negative portion is 6 seconds long, 0 at the end of the movement and 2 seconds positive. This is done to increase TUT (Time Under Tension)

So for Superset 1:
Bench- just as you normally would do it
Flyes- 6 seconds on the downward movement, then stop for 0 seconds at the bottom (basically just stop moving the weight down to kill momentum) then 2 seconds to bring it back to the starting position above your chest.

As far as warmups go, do a proper warmup before the first set of the first exercise (using your exercise A as your warmup exercise) and that should be it. Only one warmup needed really. No Need to warmup for exercise B because it is the same muscles that you worked in exercise A

Hope this helps!

__________________
"Pain don't hurt" - Dalton

"NO, this is my squat rack. Go get your own!"

"Damn that's shit heavy" - Wolf


To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.



To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Yeah, for your first compound exercise, I wouldn't worry at all about tempo. Worry more about weight. When you superset your flyes after your benching, that's the time to worry about tempo because it's important with that exercise.

For breathing, I personally prefer to take in a huge breath, hold it, unrack the bar and start my reps. I usually do 2-3 before I take in another huge breath and go again. If I'm really winded, I always take in and hold my breath after each rep. Same goes for squatting. For isolation exercises, that's when you can exhale for positive, inhale for negative.

For warmups, using "chest day" as an example, I would look at the "how to warm up" sticky at the top of the training forum. After you've warmed up, and did your first 5x5 exercises.. You do NOT need to re-warmup for your incline 5x5. Reason being, you've already warmed up!

My advice is to start off really conservative for the first week. You may have a much higher 5 x 5 than you'll need for this program after you include the supersets. So if your 5 x 5 for flat bench is 200 lbs, then I would probably try and use 150 and see how heavy that feels after the third or fourth set with the inclusion of supersetting flyes.

__________________

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.


I can be found at
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Yes, It helped out alot. I do have 1 more question on the Set and rep topic. Using the OVT program it is set up to be 5x5. Well what happens if you switch it to higher reps if you are looking for size?
Like 3 x 6-12? The reason I ask is because of this article i read....

"When you train with medium reps (6-12) the adaptations are more metabolic and cellular and only moderately neurological. This is why 6-12 reps is the range most often recommended for bodybuilding and hypertrophy. You get bigger and stronger in this rep range, but your strength gains are not maximal. This explains why some bodybuilders look stronger than they are (and why they are often the brunt of jokes made by powerlifters and weight lifters; i.e. “big, weak, slow, useless muscles”, ha ha).

When you train with higher reps (13-20+), the adaptations are mostly metabolic and cellular. This rep range produces local muscular endurance, a small degree of hypertrophy in certain cellular components such as the mitochondria and the capillaries, and very little strength.

There is not a distinct line where neural adaptations end and structural/metabolic adaptations begin; rather it is a continuum, like temperature or colors of a rainbow.

For example, when you train in the 6-8 rep range, the adaptations are still somewhat neural, but also metabolic/structural: In this rep range, you get excellent strength gains and also excellent hypertrophy. In the 8-12 rep range, there is still some neural adaptation, but less than the 6-8 range and much less than the 1-5 range. The advantage of the 8-12 rep range is that you get maximal hypertrophy (this is the best rep range for pure size increases when strength is not the number one concern). You will also get stronger, of course, but not nearly to the degree as you would training with lower reps. "

LOL, there's been a myriad of people who train using 5 reps a la 5x5 and muscle growth, believe it or not, does occur.

What you cut and pasted above isn't anywhere near written in stone.. Do 12 reps for growth and 5 reps for strength -> Draw the line in the sand.

I can tell you that I grew my absolute biggest fucking around in the 3-5 reps range rather than doing sets of 10-15. However, I think that article has more validity in certain muscles rather than others.

For example, my biceps grow far better using reps of 10-15 hands down. I don't dispute that. But, my chest and triceps need lower rep, heavier weight in order to grow at all. I can do a hundred sets of 10-15 rep triceps extensions and DB presses until I get blue in the face, but the 3-8 reps heavy as I can handle has been a Godsend. Just go and try some heavy 5 rep 4 board presses and see if you don't gain an inch on your arms after a few weeks!

Legs and Back IMO need both low heavy reps 3-8 as well as high reps 12-20 to grow. So to say everything needs something like 8-12 reps is really pressing the envelope and can really fuck up people's training if they buy into that.

Poundage:

Example A:

275 for 5 sets of 5 reps = 6,875 working output.

Example B:

225 for 3 sets of 10 reps = 6,750 working output.

---

What does this tell you? Basically, it's about the power output. Actually, the 5 x 5 is spotting the 3 x 10 an extra 5 reps to achieve the same output.

Matter of fact, I've spoken with a lot of people who've done HST (hypertrophy-specific training), and the vast majority (almost all of them) have stated that their best growth, or growth in general, has come from the 5 rep meso's rather than the 10-15's. Not coincidence if you ask me.

Thanks 0311, great answer and logic.

No problem, I live to serve

Strength and Hypertrophy...Not so Different

Here ya go. I just remembered we had this thread by Madcow about what we're talking about. Feel free to take a look. He described what I just attempted to much better.

I'll second what the Big Guy said