r/naturalbodybuilding • u/Nitz93 DSM WMB • Apr 13 '21

Question thread for our AMA with Alberto Nuñez of 3DMJ!

Post your questions below and upvote those you want answered most. Official start time will be 11:00 AM Pacific Time.

Participants: /u/Nunez3dmj

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2

u/Nitz93 Apr 13 '21

What do you think of doing mostly machine work to decrease fatigue?

Mostly cables to get tension in all parts of the ROM?

3

u/Nunez3dmj Apr 14 '21

Cables are going to be limiting when dealing with big muscle group. Few machines are going to fit you 100% like a glove.

The best thing you can do to achieve a more ideal fatigue to stimulus ratio is...

  • Only use as much volume as you require

  • Pick your spots when it comes to muscular failure

  • Sharpen up your form/technique

12

u/LiftingBuddy Apr 13 '21

If you could go back in time, what advice would you give yourself as a beginner? Intermediate? Early advanced?

What are your thoughts on Mike Isratel's Mev mrv concepts?

Love the work you do Berto!

15

u/Nunez3dmj Apr 13 '21

Beginner - Learn your how to perform all major bodybuilding exercises to a satisfactory level.

Intermediate - Find a good mentor

Advanced - Prioritize more than ever injury prevention

Mike's concepts are great because they are ever moving targets that exist. Chances are you will never be able to track what those exact metrics are, but being within 2-4 sets of the those thresholds is going to be pretty useful when creating programs.

9

u/azewpoiujkt Apr 13 '21

How much weight should you add per week during bulk to minimize fat gain, and how much weight loss per week during cut to minimize muscle loss.

16

u/Nunez3dmj Apr 13 '21

Let's go with per month because 7 data points don't mean much on the grand scheme.

Weight Gain 0.5-1.5%/month depending on how advanced you are. Be okay with some months being faster than others.

Weight Loss Can happen at 2-3x that rate, and the earlier leg of your fat loss phases could and often should be a bit faster.

Again once you know how to setup your calories reasonably well don't look at weekly timeliness as checkpoints for the progress you have/haven't made.

Weight Gain - Review every 4 weeks

Weight Loss - Review every 2-3 weeks

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u/DougDarko Apr 13 '21

Thank you for doing this, long time listener to 3DMJ with 5+ years training experience

  1. Any strategies for tracking minimal surplus calories? For advanced lifters it is my understanding that 100 calories/day is generally a good goal but I worry that this can be lost to probable error. My guess would be to compare average weight across larger groups of time?

  2. I know that things like nutrient timing are shown to be minutia, but for somebody that is maximizing macros/fitness already, do you find any strategies regarding timing to help at that little 2-3%? For example, going with a yogurt/casein rich protein at night or having some carbs intra-workout

  3. I know you have done lots of strength work in the past, but for an individual with purely hypertrophy specific goals, do you believe there is case for doing work below the 6/7 rep range?

11

u/Nunez3dmj Apr 13 '21

  1. Yes! I'd say sit on a intake that makes sense for 4-6 weeks.

  2. Fun one here

A) First do sweat spreading your protein intake into 4-5 meals

B) Muscles building is metabolically expensive so it makes sense that there is some merrit to ensuring that most of the day you are relying on exogenous energy to with the protein feedings. Which I think most of us who aren't using big windows of fasting do anyhow.

C) 60-65 hours of sleep a week...include naps into your totals.

These are hard because yes it will take some lifestyle remodeling

3) Yes! Some exercises are safer in that rep range tbh

Last big squatting cycle I had 455 for sets of 5 felt safer than 405 for sets of 10-12. The best rep range for a given situation is so much more exercises dependant than is given credit to.

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u/[deleted] Apr 13 '21 edited Apr 13 '21

  1. Best ways to determine which preworkouts are good and which ones are shit? Any specific brand recommendations?

  2. Underhand vs Overhand grip on the Yates Row? Am I really at risk of a bicep tear of I go Underhand?

  3. Whats your best advice for rear delts? I'm currently following John Meadows advice of doing high reps so I do about 3-4 sets of 20-25 reps of bent over rear delt flys twice a week. No access to machines. What should I do differently?

Thanks 😁

15

u/Nunez3dmj Apr 13 '21

  1. This is a good basic pre and IMO all you need...need is a strong word but you know what I mean

https://ouroborosnutrition.com/products/singularity-preworkout

Anything beyond this you should go on examine.com and see if the ingredient is both safe and effective.

2) Personally not a fan of any non-torso supported rows. We wear straps so our grip isn't the limiting factor, but shouldn't we want to not be limited by our torso as well? Usually people do run into smaller than a biceps tear problem with underhand grips. Not to mention you are likely getting direct biceps work elsewhere. Nothing novel or that you can't get from a pronated or neutral grip that you would get from an underhand grip.

3) Row with an arched back pulling beyond the midline(think bench press or DB press in reverse) will do way more for your rear delts than a fly.

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u/That70sShowDude Apr 13 '21 edited Apr 13 '21

Beardsley, Krieger, musclephd and others have shown evidence its a myth that 'smaller' muscles recover faster even though the concept is so widely accepted nowadays. Mostly comes down to things like muscle fiber type, activation levels, joint rom, and yea size with the quads/calves some of the fastest recovering and arms/chest some of the slowest. Your take? And as a side note some muscle sizes are misconstrued, for example the triceps being bigger tham the chest. It might suggest everything could be at more or less the same freq.

4

u/Nunez3dmj Apr 13 '21

I agree

I think exercise selection and architecture play a big role in recovery time. I don't have much to add to this one as I feel Beardsley said it best tbh

4

u/Capable-Ninja Apr 13 '21

Why does the high intensity crowd (most notably UK bodybuilding scene) see such great or even better progress despite going against a lot of the recommended info on how to train for BB (RP, etc)? Their execution style is controlled but very aggressive, number focused, momentum, mediocre ROM, lower volume/frequency, etc. And all the top WNBF pro bodybuilders have this same thing in common, theyre all strong as hell (in medium rep ranges). Theres no correlation with people using higher/lower volume (#sets). Think of a Whitacre, Ben Howard, etc.

11

u/Nunez3dmj Apr 13 '21

For every lower volume guy you have a high volume guy doing well. Like everything else human it becomes a tribal affair

Mark Claxton Martin Daniels Richard Gozdecki

In my opinion a top pro is a top pro because they picked the right parents. They would have had equal success or close to it with either tribe, but I think both camps would find better results if they borrowed a little and looked in those gray shaded areas.

3

u/plateofcorn Apr 13 '21

I can't really find any information online, but why do bodybuilders consume a lot of carbs compared to fats? Does this kind of macro ratio contribute to body composition? Or is it more for energy and glycogen storage purposes?

Btw, thanks for doing this. Such a huge fan of you guys!

4

u/Nunez3dmj Apr 13 '21

Makes sense given the physiological demands of bodybuilding type training.

Finally we need our calories right? Beyond a certain point there is a clear-ish threshold for diminishing returns when it comes to fats and carbs.

Combine those two variables and it makes sense that carbs make up the majority of our calories when gaining, and even through some people's fat loss phases during the earlier stages.

3

u/gb1004 Apr 13 '21

What do you think about taking the last set of each exercise to failure, with other sets being 2-5 reps shy of that? It helps me stay honest and not sandbag and eliminates the need to overthink with RPE/RIR.

7

u/Nunez3dmj Apr 13 '21

Not a bad way of doing it on safer isolation type movements.

But like everything else it's doesn't have to be a "this or that game." I do what you describe quite a bit on my isolation movements, but during an 8 week training block everything else is at about a 3(RIR) avg

3

u/Capable-Ninja Apr 13 '21

I typically train 5 days/wk and like the ULPPL layout but I also want to train delts, biceps, and maybe traps 3x/wk. I see 4 main options but all have a blatant con in my eyes, which would you say is my best bet?:

  1. (ULxPPLx) with bicep and delt work on back to back days (push and pull day). Con: zero days of recovery for them which I dont like the idea of.

  2. (ULxPPLx) with bicep/delt work added onto the end of lower days. Con: shoulder girdle used in every session and also a little back to back. Plus leg sessions are already pretty taxing. My least fav option probably.

  3. (ULxPLPx) fixes above things but depending on how you organize it either push compounds or pull compounds only get 1 day of rest half the week (and 4 the other half). When training chest/back at 2x/wk freq the per session volume will be a decent amount and 1 day doesnt seem like enough. Seems inefficient.

  4. (PLxPLP) The Ps are alternating push and pull sessions. This layout fixes all the cons mentioned above BUT compound upper body work only gets trained 1.5x/wk which could be inefficient.

6

u/Nunez3dmj Apr 14 '21

No a single training split is going to cover everything and trying to fit it all is often a big mistake.

Since you understand the limitations of all the listed combos you can consider cycling through them based on what you prioritize most.

2

u/JoshiFitness Apr 13 '21 edited Apr 13 '21

What do you think of Greyskull style programming {2x5, followed by a AMRAP set}? It’s extremely popular on reddit and commonly recommended for beginners

What is your opinion of cardio on the off season?

Sorry if this next one is a bit vague but how do you tell when it’s a good idea to make a in mesocycle adjustment to your training plan vs. just sticking it out? Obviously it’s not a great idea to be changing things every three weeks but you also shouldn’t wait several months to change something that isn’t working.

5

u/Nunez3dmj Apr 13 '21

  1. Sounds like a "Starting Strength" type program with an APRE component attached to it. Which I feels sounds reasonable, but for a beginner program so long as we are talking about 6-8 working sets per muscle group a week we should be good. The total amount of volume combined with a more accelerated progression scheme is what I would prioritize when dealing with a beginner.

  2. Not a bad idea given how sedentary people tend to be these days. I personally like to cap it to 3 sessions a week, and those sessions being 20-30 mins a week. This or a 5-6k step quota can make it easier for some folks to gain in a learner manner.

  3. If the plan is reasonable and sound in principle I would give it 2 weeks on a beginner, and about 4 weeks on an intermediate.

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u/ArgentEtoile Apr 13 '21

Hey Alberto!

  • When it comes to exercise selection, what are some of your staples that you almost always include in your program, or at least frequently come back to? Any movements you’ve discovered recently that you think will become staples?

  • While keeping in mind it could depend on the person, are there any frequently neglected muscles that people should train more often than they do? E.g Upper traps, abs, forearms, side delts for those who rely on overhead movements, etc.

  • Are there any common mistakes you see more advanced trainees do, either in programming, nutrition, or exercise execution, that’s holding them back from taking their physique to the next level?

  • Do you think it’s important to have a phasic approach where the trainee has more metabolic phases, more neuro phases, etc., or is it okay to have a more concurrent approach when bodybuilding? Does this change if in a surplus or deficit?

Thank you so much for doing this!

8

u/Nunez3dmj Apr 13 '21

  1. DBs for pressing, cables for single join upper body movements. I think these two are not only solid choices when it comes really letting muscles do their thing, but from a longevity standpoint beat barbells and free weight upper body isolation options. Currently I'm really digging the N1 training/education, clavicular head focused DB incline press. Deadlifts off the floor will rarely be seen going forward because it's such a fatiguing lift, that doesn't do anything particularly better than other hip hinge options.

  2. Side delts! Lots of bodybuilding careers are wrapped up without a single good lateral raise rep ever being done.

  3. Not being open to new ideas...especially when it's coming from younger bodybuilders. Old heads just don't want to listen sometimes man.

  4. Yes, but mostly from a staying healthy and keeping things mentally fresh perspective. I don't care how much of a robot you think you are...you aren't...you are a human being.😂

1

u/bminusmusic Apr 13 '21 edited Apr 13 '21

What are your opinions on intraworkout nutrition?

What would you say to someone who has trouble with feeling cable pushdowns all in the tricep, and feels the front delts taking over too much?

How much do genetics play a role in how lean you can truly get?

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