DC Training Info

[sam1976 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sam1976]

Written by Dante

DC training * (Part 1)

Bodybuilding as a whole is extreme and you must go to extreme lengths to be an out of the ordinary bodybuilder in this activity. The human body in no way wants to be 270 to 330 lbs of extreme muscularity. It wants to be a comfortable 155 to 180 lbs and will do a lot to keep a person at that homeostasis level. Jon Parillo was on the right track years ago when he was trying to make bodybuilders into food processing factories. It takes extreme amounts of food (protein), extremely heavy weights, sometimes extreme supplementation, (the choice) of extreme drugs, and other extreme situations to take a person who by evolution and genetics should be 180 pounds and make him into a hardcore 3 hundred pounds. OK first I have to go over some principles I believe in regarding training and I?ll hit more on training details later on.

a) I believe he who makes the greatest strength gains (in a controlled fashion) as a bodybuilder, makes the greatest muscle gains. Note: I said strength gains--everyone knows someone naturally strong who can bench 400 yet isn't that big. Going from a beginning 375 bench to 400 isn't that great of a strength gain and won?t result in much of a muscle gain. But if I show you someone who went from 150 to 400 on a bench press, that guy will have about 2.5 inches more of muscle thickness on his pecs. That is an incredible strength gain and will equal out into an incredible muscle gain. Ninety-nine percent of bodybuilders are brainwashed that they must go for a blood pump and are striving for that effect--(go up and down on your calves 500 times and tell me if your calves got any bigger). And those same 99% in a gym stay the same year after year. It's because they have no plan, they go in, get a pump and leave. They give the body no reason to change. Powerbodybuilders and powerlifters plan to continually get stronger and stronger on key movements. The body protects itself from ever increasing loads by getting muscularly bigger=adaption. I?M going to repeat this and hammer it home because of its importance: THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE THE GREATEST STRENGTH GAINS OVER TIME WILL MAKE THE GREATEST SIZE GAINS OVER TIME ACCORDING TO THEIR GENETIC POTENTIAL. If you reading this never get anywhere close to your ultimate strength levels (AT WHATEVER REP RANGE) you will never get to your utmost level of potential size.

b) I haven't seen a guy who can squat 500 for 20 reps, bench press 500 for 15 and deadlift 500 for 15 who was small yet ---but I have seen a lot and I mean a lot of people in the gym and on these Internet forums that are a buck 65 or two and change, shouting that you don't have to lift heavy to get big (in rare cases you will see a naturally strong powerlifter who has to curb calories to stay in a weight class and that is the reason he doesn't get bigger).

c) Training is all about adaption. In simple terms you lift a weight and your muscle has one of 2 choices, either tear completely under the load (which is incredibly rare and what we don't want) or the muscle lifts the weight and protects itself by remodeling and getting bigger to protect itself against the load (next time). If the weight gets heavier, the muscle has to again remodel and get bigger again to handle it. You can superset, superslow, giant set, pre exhaust all day long but the infinite adaption is load---meaning heavier and heavier weights is the only infinite thing you can do in your training. Intensity is finite. Volume is finite (or infinite if you want to do 9000 sets per bodypart)...everything else is finite. The Load is infinite and heavier and heavier weights used (I DON'T GIVE A CRAP WHAT SOME BUCK 58 POUND WRITER FROM FLEX MAGAZINE SAYS) will make the biggest bodybuilder (add high protein, glutamine and drugs to the mix and you have one large person).

d) The largest pro bodybuilders in the last 10 years (outside of Paul Dillett who is a genetic alien and I think could grow off of mowing lawns) are also the very strongest (Kovacs, Prince, Coleman, Yates, Francois, Nasser (although he trains lighter now). For anyone who argues that they have seen so and so pro bodybuilder and he trains light---well I will bet you he isn't gaining rapid size anymore and that his greatest size increases were when he was training **** heavy going for his pro card. Of course he will convince himself and others that he is "making the best gains of his career" though because no one likes to think what they are presently doing isn't working and they are running in place. Sadly heavy drug use can make up for a lot of training fallacies and leave people still uninformed on how they became massive. Ronnie Coleman is definitely in an elite class of muscle building genetically yet do you see him doing isolation exercises with light weights to be the most massive bodybuilder on this planet? NOPE! Ever see his video? 805 deadlifts for 2 reps, 765 for 6 reps deads, front squats with 600LBS for 6, 200LB dumbbells being thrown all over the place for chest, military presses 315 for 12 and a double with 405. I believe Coleman was clean or close to it when he was powerlifting and when he was an amateur bodybuilder. He won the Natural Team Universe and got his pro card at roughly 220-230LBS shredded to the bone and if that was natural or close to it--that's about 270LBS offseason and would be a huge natural bodybuilder. Since that time he has hooked up with Chad Nichols and blasted (with juice) up to his current 265LBS contest weight and 320LBS offseason. He trains heavier now than he ever did! The man has used extremely heavy weights and powerlifting fundamentals (even with his superior genetics for muscle size) to become the most impressive bodybuilder walking the globe. Well, if the man with some of the best genetics to build muscle out there is using back breaking weights trying to get bigger isn't that more of a reason the mere mortals of genetics in this sport should maybe take note? There are other pros out there with genetics on par with Coleman and using the same amount of drugs yet aren't pushing the limits with poundage's in training as does Coleman. You figure it out then, why is he absolutely crushing everyone onstage by outmuscling them if all things besides training are equal?

e) Who is the last incredibly massive bodybuilder you have seen (juice or not) who couldn't incline 405, squat 550, deadlift 550. I am talking freak-massive ALA Dorian, Kovacs, Francois, etc.....there are slew of guys in gyms using mega amounts of steroids on par with pros who are no where close to a pro's size, some with mediocre genetics, yet some with superb genetics. But the pro's using weights that are up there in the stratosphere are by and large the most freakish. These are pros we are talking about, who all have superior genetics for muscle accumulation. Do you think Yates, Francois, Cormier etc all just had natural genetics for incredible strength, not ever having to work for it? Jean Paul Guilliame is the only clean professional bodybuilder I ever trusted to be truly natural. The man is a smaller pro training without the juice yet trains incredibly heavy for his size--405LB squats rock bottom for up to 20 reps and his wheels are incredible. Flex Wheeler and Cris Cormier were the same height, the drugs are equal, Flex trained light, Cormier trains heavy. Cormier outweighs Wheeler onstage by 30LBS! Genetically, Wheeler is unsurpassed in pro bodybuilding, I think you already know the answer to this one--case closed. I usually don't like to use pro bodybuilders for examples but in these cases, my points are proven.
For those training clean-if you got guys doing massive amounts of steroids in gyms around America, who are not putting on appreciable size because they train with light weights, what in your right mind could make you think you will gain appreciable amounts of muscle mass as a natural training light?!?! One million people in the United States have admitted to using steroids--1 million!!! That is one out of every 300 people walking around. How many big people do you see out there? Not many. It sure isn't close to 1 million---- because 98% of bodybuilders have no clue what needs to be done training and eating wise to become elite.

I can.-- till next time-DC

[sam1976 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sam1976]

f) Please think of the times when you made the best size gains---the first time is in the first 2 years of lifting WHEN YOU MAKE YOUR BEST STRENGTH GAINS TOO! Then things start to slow down.. What's the next time?--You start using steroids and boom what happens? YOUR TRAINING WEIGHTS GO FLYING UP. And you get dramatically bigger! (I’M taking into effect protein assimilation, recovery etc also). The greatest strength gains you make will result in also the most rapid size gains (if you’re taking in the protein requirements of a 12 year old girl scout then you can discount yourself from the above group).

g) I believe in Powerbuilding not bodybuilding--using techniques that build the most strength gains in the fastest time possible while using the most effective exercises for that person. I am positive I could take 2 twins--have the first one do his own thing training wise, but using the same drugs, supplements and nutrition as the twin I train......come back a year later and the twin I trained would have 25LBS more muscle.

h) I've seen powerlifters (who catch a lot of guff from bodybuilders for being "fat&quot diet down and come in and destroy bodybuilders in bodybuilding shows time and time again. Over and over. Powerlifters and Powerbodybuilders are by far the thickest guys onstage when and if they decide to enter bodybuilding shows.

i) Heavy is relative--it doesn't mean 3 reps --- it means as heavy as you can go on that exercise no matter if it is 5 reps or 50 reps. I personally like to do hack squats for 20 reps but I use about 6 plates on each side rock bottom--that's as heavy as I can go on that exercise for 20 reps. I could do sets of 6 and probably use maybe 8 or 9 plates a side but my legs (and most people I train) grow best from heavy and 8-50 reps. The day you can squat 400LBS for 20 deep reps will be the day you are no longer complaining about your leg size.

j) No matter what the method someone uses to gain super strength gains-it’s imperative they do so. Again if you put someone out on a deserted island with 135LBS of weights he can superset, giant set, high rep, superslow etc etc squats, deadlifts and benches to his hearts delight...the sad story is his gains will quickly come to a halt because his limiting factor is the amount of strength he will gain. He has 135LBS to work with. You take that same guy on a deserted island and give him squats deadlifts, and benches and an unlimited weight supply that he constantly pushes, in 5 years I'll show you a big Gilligan.

k) I think the biggest fallacy in bodybuilding is "changing up" "keeping the body off balance"--you can keep the body off balance by always using techniques or methods that give your body a reason to get bigger=strength. If you don't write down your weights and every time you enter the gym you go by feel and do a different workout (like 98% of the gym members who never change do now) what has that done? Lets say Mr. Hypothetical gym member does 235 for 9 on the bench press this week, "tries to keep his body guessing" by doing 80LBS for 13 on flyes next week, 205 for 11 on inclines the week after, 245 on hammer press for 12 the week after that --and so on and so on---there is only a limited number of exercises you can do. Two months later when he does bench presses again and does 235 for 8 or 9 has he gained anything? Absolutely NOT! Four months later he does hammer presses for 245 for 11 (again) do you think he has given his body any reason to change? Take 2 twins and have one do a max squat for 20 reps and the other twin giant set 4 leg exercises with the same weight. All year long have the first twin blast away until he brings his squat with 20 reps from 185LBS to 400LBS. Have the second twin giant set four exercises every workout with the same weight he used in his first workout all year long. Believe me he is always going to be sore and he will be shocking the body every time but the sad truth is he will not gain **** after about the third leg workout because the load didn't change. There is no reason for his legs to grow in size due to the strength demand presented. The first twin who can now squat 400 for 20 is going to have some incredible wheels.

l) I use a certain method in my training because in my opinion it is the utmost method to rapidly gain strength. More on that later. Others might like a different method, that's up to them, doesn't matter as long as they are rapidly gaining strength. If you’re gaining appreciable strength on an exercise with a certain method I think the ABSOLUTELY WORSE THING YOU CAN DO is to change up right then. Take that exercise and method to its strength limit and when you get there, then change to a different exercise and get strong as hell on that exercise too.

m) For the next few months take note of the people you see in the gym that never change. They will be the ones using the same weight time after time on exercises whenever they are in the gym. These are the people who use 135, 185, 225 on the bench every time its chest day. Your best friends in the gym are the 2.5LB plates--your very best buds!!! You put those 2.5LB plates on that bar every time you bench press for 52 weeks and now your bench is 250LBS more at the end of the year! That would equal out to another inch to inch + half thickness on your chest. Can it be done? Probably not at that rate but TRYING TO DO IT will get you a lot bigger than doing what 98% of the people in the gym do. Unless you are gifted genetically to build muscle at a dizzying rate (most people aren't), the largest people in your gym will also be the ones heaving up the heaviest weights. Do you think they started out that way? No, they were probably 175 lb guys who bulldozed their way up to that level. A perfect example are male strippers. These guys use a boatload of drugs on par with hardcore competitive bodybuilders. After an initial phase where they grow off of steroids like everyone else--their growth stops (like forever). Why? Because they aren't eating 500 grams of protein a day and don't fight and claw their way to 500LB bench presses and 700LB squats and deadlifts. They stay on the drugs for years and years while stripping but don't go beyond that 200 to 220LB range. So much for juice being the total equalizer. I don't know why pseudo experts try to make training such an elite science when in actuality it’s pretty cut and dry. If you keep a training log and note your weights used for the next 5 years and find they are still the same you will pretty much look "still the same" in 5 years. If you double all your poundage's in the next five years in everything, your going to be one thick person .....If someone ever took a ratio of people who don't make gains to people who do, it would be pitiful. I would venture to say that 95% of people in gyms across this country aren't gaining muscle and are wasting their time. The absolutely best advice I could ever give a guy starting out lifting is "go train with an established powerlifter" and learn all the principles he trains with. There would be a lot more happy bodybuilders out there.

So now you guys know I believe in the heaviest training possible (safely)---I think I hammered that home, I needed to do that because so many bodybuilders are lost on how to get from A to Z.....it’s all part of my quest to make the biggest heavy slag iron lifting, high protein eating, stretching and recuperating massive bodybuilders

[sam1976 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sam1976]

PWorkout 1
CHEST: smith incline 375 x 15 reps rest pause (RP) and a 30 second static rep at the end (then stretches)
SHOULDERS: front smith press-330 x 13 RP and 30 second static (then stretches)
TRICEPS: reverse grip bench press 315 for 15-20 reps RP-no static (then stretches)
BACK WIDTH: rear rack chins to back of head 100 x 18 RP (20 second static at end)
BACK THICKNESS: floor deadlifts a brutal straight set of 8 reps and then a heavier debilitating 4 rep one (after warmups of course) (then stretches for back)


Workout 2
BICEPS: preacher bench barbell curl RP for 14 reps and 30 second static
FOREARMS: hammer curls straight set for 15 reps (then stretches for biceps)
CALVES: on hack squat straight set for 10-12 reps but with a 20 second negative phase
HAMSTRINGS: Cybex hamstring press (pressing with heels up top) RP for 20 reps
QUADS: hack squat --a brutal set for 10 reps (My legs are a strong bodypart and I allow people with good legs to go with one straight set only--but if your quads are playing catchup to the rest of the body, then you must do a heavy set of 4-8 reps followed after a rest by a "good god I freaking hate Doggcrapp" 20 reps set. Those quads will catch up in size pronto
Then stretches for quads and hams.

The absolutely most important thing of any of this is I write down all weights and reps done from the working set on a notepad. So every time I go into the gym I have to continually look back and beat the previous times reps/weight or both. If I can't or I don't beat it, no matter if I love doing the exercise or not, I have to change to a new exercise. Believe me this adds a grave seriousness, a clutch performance or imperativeness to a workout! I have exercises I love to do and knowing I will lose them if I don't beat the previous stats sucks! But there is a method to this madness because when you get to that sticking point of strength (AND YOU WILL, THERE IS NO WAY YOU CAN HACK SQUAT UP TO 50 PLATES A SIDE) that is when your muscle=strength gains will stop. At that point you must turn to a different exercise and then get brutally strong on that one. Then someday you will peak out on that one too. You can always come back to that loved exercise in the future and you'll start somewhat lower and build up to a peak again--and trust me that peak will be far more than the previous one. Some exercises you'll stay with and gain strength at for almost up to a year and some exercises you'll be at the limit in 4 weeks and lose them but its all in the plan. For example-- I love reverse grip bench presses, knowing that I have to beat 315 for 17 reps RP or else I have to change to maybe dips next time puts a serious sense of urgency into workouts. I either have to beat it by doing something to the effect of 320 for 15 RP or if I stick with 315, I have to get at least 19 reps RP or so. If I'm feeling crappy or having an off day I might give myself a little leeway and allow myself another go at it next time around but that's it. If I know ive plateaued out I MUST CHANGE THE EXERCISE. Thats the key to constant progression. The notepad is your intensity level, how badly you want to keep doing an exercise will be how hard you push to beat the previous. Looking at that piece of paper knowing what you have to do to beat it will bring out the best in you. Again, it's all in the plan to make you the strongest bodybuilder possible which will equal out into the biggest bodybuilder possible.

I find myself irritated now when people look at me and say "genetics" or something to that effect--its amazing to me that at 19 I was 6 foot and 137lbs (yes 137) and eating 6 meals a day and people would chuckle at me the stickboy trying to be a bodybuilder. I seriously did not miss a meal for my first 3 and a half years, I would set my alarm at 2am and wake up and eat scrambled eggs and pancakes if I missed a meal during the day. Two years later I looked "normal" at 196lbs or so. Two years just to look like a freaking normal person! I kept bombing away, eating and not taking no as an answer and now I am up at 300lbs and people say "you must have always been big" and "you have good genetics". That's tough for me to hear thinking how psyched I was to weigh more than 170 at one point. I've only trained a few true mesomorphs. Mesomorphs don't need trainers usually. I train ectomorphs and endomorphs predominantly. With all sincerity I can make 200lbers into 250lbers and 250lbers into 300lbers (I feel) quicker than anyone else. I dont mean that to sound cocky, please dont take it that way but Ive grown accustomed with what Im accomplishing with people to know Im very good at it. Most trainees all think the same thing seeing how my workouts are set up-"am I doing enough?"--If you can show someone how to train so hard that they realize they were holding back tremendously during their 8-20 set workouts, that's half the battle. The other half is making them realize how impossible it is to do 8-20 sets per bodypart if you truly, truly train balls to the wall hard. Personally, if I do a 20 rep hack squat with slag iron heavy weights....at 10 reps I am seriously doubting I am going to make it---at 14 reps IM seeing colors---at 17 reps IM asking God for help--and the last 3 reps are life, death, or rigor mortis---I know for a fact that there is no way in hell I could do another 4-5 sets of hacks like that. I gave everything I had right there on that set. If I can do another 4-5 sets like that I'm cruising at 70% at the most. If all you get out of my articles is the mindset of heavy weights, low volume, stretching, and frequency of body parts trained-I would be very happy because then I would have you on the right path to get you where you want to be.

It is so tough to talk about training when I am not in front of someone. In real life or at my gym people will see me or someone I train and be convinced that my system works very well. And in person I can explain how it all fits together. But for some reason giving an opinion on training online offends a lot of bodybuilders. It is like a blow to their ego as if your putting them down or telling them they don’t know how to train. And then you get every HIT, periodization, and brainwashed Wieder principle disciple arguing with me why their method is the best and I am wrong. People get pissed if they think what they might be doing training wise is wrong or not the most productive. It's human nature.



I seem to get alot of advanced bodybuilders over 250lbs come to me and I get them by their sticking points and up toward (and past) the 300lb mark. I can continually turn 170lb guys (who go along with me 100%) into 260lb plus monsters over and over but I cannot help guys who are 190-230lbs who are stuck in their ways. Those guys can continue to take the long road or never get there. In the past years since I’ve put my methods out there to view, I continue to hear different arguments against my way of training. Hey it’s radically different than the norm and like I said people can’t stand to think what they are presently doing training wise isn't the best! So far I’ve heard the usual gamut (overtraining, undertraining, undervolume, CNS saturation). One guy who said "not enough stimulation per workout"-sadly he has confused volume to equal gains. WRONG!!! If volume = gains go head and do 100 hard sets per bodypart and do each bodypart once every 3 weeks. Please tell me what incredible gains you get.


To me all this is an egotistical way to debunk a radically different method because you don’t want to believe what your presently doing is incorrect or 'slower gaining'. Every bodybuilder that I have trained in person has gained at least 47lbs! My top guy who is online I believe is at 77lbs gained now. This sport is full of fragile egos, pseudo-experts, armchair bicep curlers. I am a very advanced bodybuilder but the only thing I am conceited about is I truly believe I could take anybody reading this and turn them into a 4.0lbs per inch bodybuilder. I love taking a humble bodybuilder who doubts his genetics and making him the largest guy in his gym. That is so fun for me. I love the people who whisper in the corners that "he must be loaded to the hilt" yet he is on the same things they are. I love hearing the petty jealousy and anger that comes over other bodybuilders now that the guy I trained is the big boy on the block. I’m not pushing my methods on anyone. I want you to decide for yourself with deductive reasoning. But if you have been lifting for 4-5 years and people aren't commenting, stating or asking questions about you being a bodybuilder on a daily basis-I think that’s embarrassing and you might want to question if what you are doing training wise has merit to it. I only train hardcore bodybuilders (and some fitness girls) down here in So Cal. (its not my main job--I turn down a great deal of people due to my own personal reasons--which are mostly after interviewing them I feel they wont do what I say 100%) I am very, very good at turning normal people into the biggest bodybuilders in their area. In person I’ve trained 7 people bodybuilding wise in the last 4 years (5 used super supplements 2 were clean). Every one of those people gained at least 47lbs on their bodyweight at roughly the same or less bodyfat.

[rocco-x Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close rocco-x]

good post sam.i've got this one in my files.plan on doing DC in the fall.just started GVT routine.gonna run that for a bit and see how it plays out.

[sam1976 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sam1976]

good post sam.i've got this one in my files.plan on doing DC in the fall.just started GVT routine.gonna run that for a bit and see how it plays out.

i really enjoy the way dante writes. it's really entertaining to read. i love the theory behind his method, though i haven't put it into action myself. i have a couple friends that train DC and have had good results. one is a national level BB, the other is doing well at local shows. for me, there is no question that this stuff works. i haven't reached a point in my training where i feel ready for such a change. i get results out of training with volume and have a good time doing it. there will be a point that i do give a solid effort to DC. no question. so i enjoy spending time learning what i can now.

do you have any articles you can post here in the training forum on german volume because if so, i'd love to read them

[omni Member Find all posts View Profile Close omni]

Great read. I never looked into Doggcrapp training. The name, to me, made me think of low weight high reps so it never interested me. I've always responded best to heavy training. That post motivated me to give it a try. Tomorrow is workout#3. I'll try it for 3-4 months then evaluate my progress. Good stuff!

[omni Member Find all posts View Profile Close omni]

After workout 6- Everything improved. Incline bench up 30lbs. So far so good.

[omni Member Find all posts View Profile Close omni]

Since I posted earlier about my incine bench, i'm repping 345lbs now. oh...and I'm old.

[ceo Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close ceo]

After training DC, I could never go back to other styles.

[GXR64 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close GXR64]

i keep going back, i get to bored with others lol.