Questions about OVT

[IronFist]

Alright. Well I guess I'm going to try OVT (Optimized Volume Training) cuz I have no other ideas for what to do right now.

But, the article (http://www.t-mag.com/nation_articles/257ovt.jsp) at t-mag didn't help much.

Here's what the chest part of the workout looks like:



Exercise Sets Reps Tempo Rest Intervals

A1. Bench 5 5 201 none
Press

A2. Flat DB 5 5 602 120 sec
Flies

B1. Incline 5 5 201 none
Bench Press

B2 Incline DB 5 5 602 120 sec
Flies

C1. (back exercises not listed)
^Hey, it's hard to get them lined up properly

Question 1: After reading the non-specific instructions in the article, does that translate to English as:

Do Bench for 1 set of 5, then immediately go to flat DB flies for 5 sets of 5. Then rest 120 seconds and repeat 4 more times. Then do Incline BP for 1 set of 5 and then immediate go to Incline DB flies for 5 sets of 5 and then rest and repeat 4 more times. In other words, like this:

A1: 1 set of 5 no rest
A2: 1 set of 5, rest 120 seconds
----repeat all that 4 times----

B1: 1 set of 5 no rest
B2: 1 set of 5, rest 120 seconds
----repeat the B's 4 times----

Or, does it mean this:

A1: 1 set of 5 no rest
A2: 1 set of 5, rest 120 seconds
B1: 1 set of 5 no rest
B2: 1 set of 5, rest 120 seconds
----repeat ALL that 4 times----

Their "example routine" doesn't help much.

Also, can anyone think of two exercises I could replace the incline stuff with? I can't do incline bench press because my body treats it as overhead presses, ie. 100% anterior delt and no pecs. And since you all know my anterior delts are too big already...

Question 2: Does a tempo of "201" mean 2 seconds eccentric (down for bench press), zero seconds rest, and 1 second concentric?

Question 3: Do you think it would still work if, for example, for legs I did the same volume but just used two exercises? I don't like their suggested leg routine and I don't feel like doing high volume of squats AND deadlifts on the same day. So could I just do like Squat/Lunges and then Squat/Lunges again?

Question 4: Why do I hate routines so much that aren't specific with poundages expressed as a percentage of 1RM? "use a weight that feels heavy that you can do with good form and can increase each week" is bull****. It sounds like someone just pulled a routine out of their ass and didn't do much research.

Question 5: So the weights stay the same for each set, right? You just increase them each week? So each set of bench or whatever for that day will be the same amount, right?

Thanks.

[IronFist]

And now that I think about it, the way they have it set up, 100 reps per body part, but two body parts per day, isn't that a lot?

Like you do 100 reps for chest and then you're supposed to go on and do 100 reps for back? That sounds kind of excessive, don't you think?

Or maybe not. I dunno.

Their split is like this:

Day 1: Chest and back
Day 2: Legs and abs
Day 3: Off
Day 4: Biceps and triceps
Day 5: Off
Day 6: Anterior/medial deltoid and rear deltoid
Day 7: Off

I'm going to change that around because I don't need to do day 6. My shoulders will grow enough just from the stimulation they receive from benching and back work. Maybe I'll do it like this:

Day 1: Chest and back
Day 2: off
Day 3: Legs
Day 4: off
Day 5: Biceps and triceps
Day 6: off
Day 7: off

or maybe

Day 1: Chest
Day 2: Legs
Day 3: off
Day 4: Biceps and triceps
Day 5: off
Day 6: Back
Day 7: off

I don't know yet.

[IronFist]

Well, I just did my first OVT workout. I only did chest cuz I was kinda tired all day and I didn't feel like doing back, too.

So it was (bench for 5 reps, dumbell flies for 5 reps, rest 120 seconds) x 5
And then (decline bench x 5, decline flies x 5, 120s rest) x 5

The weight I used for bench was kind of heavy, but since I was doing sets of 5 (as opposed to the sets of 10 I had in GVT) it seemed pretty easy. Right after I finished each set I had to do a set of 5 dumbell flies. I've never done dumbell flies before. Taking 6 seconds to lower the weight was weird because you don't really feel it until the bottom 20% of the ROM due to leverage. Anyway, thanks to the flies, each successive set of bench press felt heavier and heavier since my pecs were getting more fatigued.

The strange thing, though, was that even toward the end of the sets I never felt much lactic acid buildup. It was hard to bench cuz my pecs were so tired, but there was no "burn" to fight through.

Anyway, I got one freaking hell of a pump in my chest. I know that's not conclusive of anything but it's worth mentioning. Also, my last set of decline bench felt like I was benching twice as much as I was thanks to pec fatigue.

I don't really know if I'm going to keep with this program, however. I might try a version of the "anti-bodybuilding" program that Bai He linked to.

Oh yeah, question: Are dumbell flies bad? I've heard good and bad things about this exercise. I've heard things like it puts undue stress on some tendons of the pecs or biceps or something and that it might not be such a good exercise. Anyone?

[Ford Prefect]

question 1
Yes. It's 1 set of 5 bench immdiately followed by 1 set of 5 flies followed by 120 sec rest. repeat.

The purpose is to do 1 set of 10 with these supersets.

question 2
Correct.

question 3
If you aren't comfortable doing the exercises then by all means switch it up. I would recommend not doing the same exercises though. Maybe do leg presses mixed with something else after you do the squats/lunges. It's all about the volume.

question 4
Lot's of advanced guys like Christian and Tate train by feel and don't stick to percentages. Using strict percentages is really a token of western periodization models, and that it what these authors are trying to get everybody away from. The "Smolov" squat cycle Pavel talks about looks like some western program straight out of a PLUSA from 10 years ago. Just go with a weight that you feel you can get 7 reps with to start.

question 5
yes.

Second Post

Yeah, I do think that's a little excessive and that you should switch the order of the body parts each week. I don't think it's too excessive though.

Third Post

DB flies aren't bad unless they are done with bad form or you have a really tight chest and shoulders. It's not something, I'd go heavy on though.