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In response to my earlier threads, Analyzer recommended that I check out John Christy′s training methods. I have outmost respect for Az and would therefore like to look into JC′s philosophy. However, the only resource that I have for this

http://www.totalstrength.info/

has very little information. Does anyone have another resource or does anyone know more about his training philosophy? If so, please share with us.

Thanks for your time…

Sub7

Thanks for the kind words sub!

John Christy′s stuff is tough to find. Most of his articles (and here are tons of them) were only printed in the ′Hardgainer Magazine′. BUT, many of the guys on the Hardgainer roundtable forum, who are really helpful, would be glad to answer questions on his training methods. 🙂 Are you a member of the HGRT?

His basic approach is two full body routines, 1-2 sets of 8, or 2 sets of 5. Keep the routines minimalistic, such as 5-8 exercises at most. Train hard, but never hit failure on purpose. When you can′t add 5 or so pounds and keep your reps the same, you use microloads. Some people use little washers, anything to add like 1-2 lbs total to the bar each week. His trainees just keep doing that for months and months on end. After a year they end up sneaking a ton on the bar but it feels the same since they do it so slow. The only drawback with his method, is you have to be willing to stick with the same routine, and rep range for a loooooooong time. No changing things or it ruins the process.

Wish I had more info. for ya!

Az

A sample Christy routine is as follows
Monday
Squats 1 set
Stiff legged deadlift 1 set
Bench press 2 sets
Pulldowns 2 sets

Thursday
Deadlift 1 set
military press 2 sets
Barbel curl 2 sets

Add to that crunches, calf work and possibly some grip work.
It does sound a bit dull sticking with the same excercises all the time, but if adding the weight in small amounts, the weights can go up each workout for a very long time, so you wont think of it as boring.
I got my all time best results following a simular[not quite to failure] routine many years back.
In my case the weights increased steadily for over 18 months.
1lb increases do not sound much, but after 18 months it adds up to quite an amount for an advanced trainer.

Guys,

Pardon me but who′s John Christy ?

PEACE.

He′s a very successful gym owner/trainer who wrote a lot of good articles for hardgainer magazine

Cheers,

Az