I have been reading a lot about the DC training strategy over the past year and have found it very interesting. To boil it all down, the highlights of the strategy are:

- High Intensity sets (most rest pause)(some static holds)(emphasis on the negative phase of each rep)

- Low exercise volume to aid recovery (One rest pause or two straight working sets per body part after warm-up sets)

- A training schedule that allows you to hit each body part three times in a 10 day period (14 day series with rest days based on a Mon/Wed/Fri plan) while allowing sufficient time for growth(muscle adaptation) and recovery (I'm only hitting each muscle group twice in two weeks now, so this will be a 50% increase in the number of potential muscle building cycles.)

- An emphasis on strict form and continual progression (more reps leading to more weight when goal is met then more reps again, etc)

- An emphasis on rigorous post exercise stretching for each muscle group

- An increased total k/cal intake to fuel the muscle building process

My hesitation in giving the strategy a try has been that the majority of the people who have used it are AAS assisted and have been willing to up their total daily k/cals to the 5 - 6 k range. As I am not willing to do either of those things I had to wonder if the program would be too much for me, throwing me into a catabolic state.

I have read, however, of several natural BBers who have also tried it and had success with it. The AAS assisted BBers who have been eating 5-6,000 calories a day have gained up to 25 lbs of LBM a year with this plan, some more than that(Although many also gain a fair amount of bf in the process).

My goals are much more modest - I'd like to see if I can gain one lb of LBM a month, without a significant increase in bf levels. I like to stay at 7-9% in the off-season. So I figured that if I was very careful about keeping training volume low, and put together a solid diet and supplement program that would have me eating in the range of 4,000 calories on training days and 3,500 on non-training days that it might work. (50%P, 20%C, 30% good F)

The training plan is not difficult, but it takes a little time to work it all out on paper, and it changes enough (for exercise variety) that you really do need to keep a log which also helps you monitor your progression which is key to the programs success. Essentially you rotate through three different exercises (a different exercise for each of the three days that you will work that muscle group)for each muscle group over a 14 day series.

Starting on Monday I'm going to try it for the next 6 weeks, then take a two week break from it over the Christmas Holiday weeks. I have created an Excell spreadsheet for the training log - so if anyone wants to see it so you can betrter understand how the program works send me your email and I'll forward it to you. I could not figure out how to add it to the post.

I'll let you know how it seems to be going. I had to guess on what my starting weights and reps should be, so they may be a little high or low and will then be adjusted accordingly once I have some experience with it. The idea is to continually challange yourself and push the working set as far as you can each and every time.

Good luck VA - I look forward to watching your progress. When's the next comp?

The plan is to look for a show or two towards the end of next summer. Heck if Aram can still improve (and he's like 70 something I heard , but he's really a heck of a nice old geezer ) perhaps I can also look a little better next year.

I really need a little (ok...a lot ) more thickness and that only comes from more LBM. But I am determined to also come in leaner next time - so I will have my work cut out for me.

Well most days I feel like I'm 80. But my friends swear I don't look a day over 75.
Good luck with DC. I did a 5 week stint leading up to my NYS title show this past June, and on a pre-contest hypo-caloric diet, I was actually putting muscle on. Sully also experienced this same phenomenon. It truly defied logic at the time, but in all honesty my supp bill was off the charts (100% Beverly) and I was even taking Mass Maker up until the final 3 days without any sacrifice in conditioning.

Keys: going over the top with your intensity levels. I'm sure had I continued with the low cals, I would've overtrained real bad. With your off season calories, you should make great progress VA.

Another thing I noticed: once I ventured to more conventional training after DC, my mind to muscle focus was amplified, as well as my strengnth in all the core lifts.

Let us know how you make out. It's a lot of fun!! You'll LOVE leg day

ANH

I have done two blasts and two cruises on Doggcrapp training and it is the best routine I have ever done for gaining bulk and strength on barbell, smith machine and machine exercises. Be careful though on trying to go glute to calves on heavy quad exercises.

Aram - Why does it not surprise me that you have tried this - but you kept it a secret! One of the many things in your tool chest...

Thanks Mecca - I gave up glute to calves depth a long time ago - just don't want to risk the knee injuries. I have found that my leg exercises can still be productive if I concentrate on form, slow down as much as possible on the negative and hold for a moment at the bottom of each rep. For good or bad I was waved off of heavy squats many years ago by my Doc. I have some extra curvature in my lower spine that makes me susceptable to injury if I put a lot of weight on my shoulders so my exercise of choice for going heavy on legs has been the leg press.

What modifications did you make during the cruise? I was thinking of just going back to what my routine is now for the two cruise weeks. Challenging, but not back breaking. Did you also down size your diet during the cruise? My plan was to switch to a hardening diet for two weeks.

Have you ever seen any photos of the DC stretches being demonstrated? A couple of them are hard to visualize from the descriptions.

What kind of results did you see from your two blasts?

I use beverly diets sent to me from an advisor-(gaining diet) I follow during the DC blast and then I switch to the (hardening diet) during the cruise. I tried to blast straight through on the hardening and I began to overtrain, so now during the hardening phases I cruise and lift light, or take a active rest week, or currently I am trying DC's precontest routine which is just straight sets and two exercises per body part. I will take some time to layout the split, workouts, and weight progressions for you that worked well for me.

Here is the DC plan I am currently following, I swithched to this split from the MWF split because the MWF workouts were to long and brutal for me to recover from, also I need 4 days in between training a muscle instead of 3 days in order to recover fully.

I also just started the lean mass explosion diet recommended by Jeremiah F. I will keep you posted on the results. I just started and BW-235, BF 10.3%

day 1
1-decline smith bench
2-military
3-decline skull crusher
(power pec deck, side lateral machine-I use these as warmups to pump the chest and shoulders full of blood)

day 2
1-rack wide grip pullup
2-under hand bent row bench
3- bar curl
4-piwheel curl

day 3 off

day 4
1-seated calf
2-seated ham
3-45 degree leg press
4- inner groin machine

day 5
off

day 6
1- medium incline smith
2-behind neck smith
3- overhead db tricep
4-hang cleans
(fly machine to warmup chest)

day 7
1-behind head pulldown
2-db row
3-db incline curls
4-reverse barbell curl

day 8 off

day 9
1-standing calf
2-semi stiff leg dead
3-smith front squats

day 10 off

day 11
1- low incline barbell
2-front/behind barbell half presses
3-dips
4- smith shrugs
(db flys for chest warmup)

day 12
1-DC close grip cable row
2-overhand wide grip bent row bench
3-standing db curl
4-reverse cable curls

day 13 off

day 14
1-free bar squat/smith squat
2-lying ham
3-donkey calf machine

Mecca - I also have used a different exercise as a warm-up prior to my working R/P or straight sets. It keeps a little more variety in, yet does not lead to overtaining. It is my way of not letting go completely of some of my favorite exercises - yet still being true to the DC strategy. Or at least so I think - lol

I'm glad to see that someone else is into this style of training. I have attempted this program in the past with good results, but neglected to do the cruise. Very stupid!
I tried it for the final few weeks of "normal diet" and then on into a show-prep phase.
(I didn't end up competing then, but that's a long story)
Anyway, I felt kinda burned out, so the cruise if very important.
I'm trying it again using the 2 day split schedule EOD.
Today is Bi's, Tri's, Legs, Calves
Saturday will be Chest, shoulders, back.
Monday: repeat day 1.
Only 1 hardcore exercise per bodypart using the techniques previously explained in the above post.

day1-bi's, calves, back width then back thickness

day2-chest, shoulders, tri's

day3-hams, quads

follow in this order-train mon, tues, wed OFF, thurs, and repeat day 1 bodyparts on friday with weekends off to eat and recover.

extreme stretches r done after each bodypart and i throw in static holds with each chest, shoulder, tri, back width and bicep exercise after each one-only do this if you feel u are recovering fully after being on the program for at least one blast/cruise cycle. closer to a show i hit 1 set of all out failure around 12 reps then move on to the next exercise. everything stays the same just no more rest/pauses or statics. i still keep the stretches in but might back down on the weight.

you can find all the info you need @ intensemuscle.com

they tend not to answer direct q's but if you read the post and use the search the info is there along with the pics of stretching.

believe me when i say if done correctly the way dante set it up it is extemely intense!!!

yes it takes at least 2 weeks to get the weight right and adjustments on the excercises you picked(you will probally sub some that dont feel right).

this is my 8 week and ready for a cruise. in only 8 weeks ive gone from 195 to 217. the bf is still in check(4pack still visible)and have gotten to weights not lifted in years.

i'm 38yo and 5'11 and this has changed my entire outlook on how big i can actually get.

anyway enough rambling, later