T NATION | The Intelligent and Relentless Pursuit of Muscle

Live Coaching: Friday
The Indigo Project. The Fallacy of the Cheat Day. By Christian Thibaudeau and Chris Shugart

Live Coaching: Thursday
The Indigo Project. The Hardcore Assumption. By Chris Shugart

Live Coaching: Wednesday
The Indigo Project. 5 Reasons to Use Partial Movements. By Christian Thibaudeau

Live Coaching: Tuesday
The Indigo Project. Accumulated Fatigue vs. Overtraining: Know the Difference! By Christian Thibaudeau

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Chris Shugart: @Absolute: Yeah, capers are actually full of the stuff that could interfere with Indigo. Actually no worries if you take it 40-60 mins before eating. Just a weird bit of trivia.

Chris Shugart: @Absolute: Avoid fruit and veggie juice and you're good to go. And don't eat a pound of capers.

Chris Shugart:

Chris Shugart: @howie: No problem. And if it's just neural charge, you can decrease the workout nutrition amounts or perhaps even avoid it (maybe MAG-10 only, even half a serving.)

Chris Shugart: @Weevo: Be sure to check the ingredients of those. I've found that only plain and popcorn flavored are clean enough, but I can't recall offhand why I avoided the cheddar.

Tim Henriques: @angry - thanks

Tim Henriques: @Toshiero - have you seen pictures of Poliquin, he is/was obviously very fit himself, I forget his exact background but if you are interpreting my message as to say someone like him (or Bret C) as mentioned above is not fit enough then my message was lost in translation. I am one should be pretty good (whatever that is) combined with a lot of scientific knowledge to be a good expert. Most famous fitness pros meet that standard, some newer up and coming ones may not

Tim Henriques: @Toshiero - and I am lifetime drug free, I don't think too many ESPN strongman can say that. And I would not consider myself the best expert to train them by any means. You as the reader have to decide if the author is good enough for your standards, you might decide I am not. I can accept, I wish I was bigger and stronger and I work hard to continue to improve. BTW if you think the USAPL is obscure then we can part ways here and now

Tim Henriques: @Toshiero - a better question is to find how many articles I have written for the purpose of training NFL players which is zero because I don't have a ton experience with them (although I do have some training collegiate players and a few went on to the NFL). I write training articles about getting strong and getting big. I have a 700 lb DL and a 1640 total at 198 done in the USAPL. I have competed in 2 local strongman competitions and won both of them. I also weigh 200-220 lbs

Tim Henriques: @Angus1 - I am not trying to ridicule the science aspect, I am making the point that the science is not complete and you need practical experience to enhance your knowledge. Your example of Bret C is not good IMO because he has a lot of practical experience and I am pretty sure he would agree with this position. A mediocre player at a high level would be just fine as far as I am concerned regarding practical experience. I am talking about people with very little experience giving advice

Tim Henriques: @symster - thanks, glad that helped

Tim Henriques: @tyciol - good point regarding Kirk. In terms of CT's reverse squat, you might have missed it but in the picture the lat pulldown bar is attached to weight at the top, thus the lifter will be pulling the body to the floor. So hip flexors and knee flexors would be the main muscles working there as that is the antagonistic motion of a squat (trunk, hip and knee flexion on the concentric phase) whereas a squat is trunk, hip, and knee extension on the concentric phase

Tim Henriques: @Terry - thanks buddy

Chris Shugart:

Chris Shugart: @hawkins: No, coconut flour contains coconut. :-) Seriously, it's a popular sub for celiacs.

Christian Thibaudeau: @ hawkins... I personally do not enjoy most of Walden Farm products; all the syrup and dressings have a weird slightly sour aftertaste (at least those that I tried) and the texture is pretty bad.

Chris Shugart: @iDrDan: Walden is hit and miss. Some of their stuff is okay; some is awful. The BBQ sauce is good (well, "good" for a near zero-calorie product); their peanut butter is smegma.

Chris Shugart: @hawkins: Agave is actually closer to HFCS. It's 90% fructose in fact. See our article here about that stuff: http://www.t-nation.com/...ils_of_fructose

Eric Cressey: @tyciol - should work fine.

Eric Cressey: @matistolc - great exercise. Just engage the anterior core the whole time.

The Definition of an Expert

by Tim Henriques. Weak people shouldn't give out strength training advice, and other truisms from Coach Henriques' big book of knowledge.

9 Training Strategies for Knee Pain
by Ben Bruno. Bruno lists brilliant strategies for knee pain that might come in handy to guys with good knees, too.

4 Steps to Fix Your Triceps
by Eric Cressey. Your quest for big, strong arms can get derailed if you suffer a triceps injury. Here's how to prevent it.

Sure-fire Way to Learn the Snatch
by Jon-Erik Kawamoto. Learning this Olympic lifting staple isn't as hard as it looks, you just need an approach like this.

Kroc Rows 101
by Matt Kroc. A step by step guide to performing the most bad-ass upper back exercise in existence.

Hard Ab Training
by Jim Kielbaso. Forget the complicated "core" workouts, here's a quick and dirty old school routine that will make your abs feel like someone sliced them open and dumped sriracha sauce on them.

Training Variations for Mass Gain
by Dean Somerset. Who says getting big requires cable machines and 3 sets of 10?

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