Jeff Rodriguez Thread

[Mattyb]

Jeff, I have saw your in the trenches training and I am going to try using low volume also. I wanted to see what ou thought about this training split. I know most of the sets should be in 4-6 range

Monday-Smith Incline(3 sets)
Flat DB(2 sets)
Hammer strength Incline(2 sets)
Barbell Curls(2 sets)
DB Curls(2 sets)
Hammer Curls(1 set)

Tuesday-Squats(2 sets)
Hack Squats(2 sets)
Leg Press(2 sets)
Standing leg curls(2 sets)
Lying leg curls(2 sets)
Standing Calf raises(3 sets)
Seated Calfs(2 sets)

Wednesday-off

Thursday-Wide Grip pullups(2 sets)
V Bar Pulldowns(2 sets)
Hammer Strength High Row(2 sets)
Seated Cable rows(2 sets)
DB Shrugs(3 sets)

Friday-Smith Front Press(3 sets)
DB Side laterals(2 sets)
Bent DB Laterals(2 sets)
Close Grip bench(2 sets)
Skullcrushers(2 sets)
Rope pressdown(1 set)

Also do you feel I would be better off not doing exercises like DB flyes and Leg ext. Thanks for the help

[jrod]

Jeff, I have saw your in the trenches training and I am going to try using low volume also. I wanted to see what ou thought about this training split. I know most of the sets should be in 4-6 range

Monday-Smith Incline(3 sets)
Flat DB(2 sets)
Hammer strength Incline(2 sets)
Barbell Curls(2 sets)
DB Curls(2 sets)
Hammer Curls(1 set)

Tuesday-Squats(2 sets)
Hack Squats(2 sets)
Leg Press(2 sets)
Standing leg curls(2 sets)
Lying leg curls(2 sets)
Standing Calf raises(3 sets)
Seated Calfs(2 sets)

Wednesday-off

Thursday-Wide Grip pullups(2 sets)
V Bar Pulldowns(2 sets)
Hammer Strength High Row(2 sets)
Seated Cable rows(2 sets)
DB Shrugs(3 sets)

Friday-Smith Front Press(3 sets)
DB Side laterals(2 sets)
Bent DB Laterals(2 sets)
Close Grip bench(2 sets)
Skullcrushers(2 sets)
Rope pressdown(1 set)

Also do you feel I would be better off not doing exercises like DB flyes and Leg ext. Thanks for the help

The training split looks good; good job putting that together. As for flyes and leg extensions, I would not do them. I personally don't like the way they feel and would rather do an exercise which I felt was more effective in place of them.

[Beastonio]

Hey Jeff, great job on your victory at the universe! u looked great!

I just did the natrural northern in Michigan yesterday and didnt come in as dry as i wanted and i'm going to be competing in the dave liberman natural northern this coming weekend. i understand how you maniplulate your water intake but i was wondering if you use any natural diuretics as well. if so what would you recommend? dandelion root, uva ursi, b6? i just used dandelion root this time, i took about 1000mgs every couple hours about 12 hours before weigh in. I also droped my water to just sips that morning of the show. water intake normally about a gallon and 1/2.

Thanks!

[pn]

Jeff--

No leg extensions? You feel squats & presses alone will give you cuts, separation, etc.?

[Fitzchivalry]

Didn't realize you had so many blog entries. Was reading near the beginning where you were doing incline BB bench and than "1/4 incline DB". What's the difference between these? Degree of incline or range of motion?

[jrod]

Hey Jeff, great job on your victory at the universe! u looked great!

I just did the natrural northern in Michigan yesterday and didnt come in as dry as i wanted and i'm going to be competing in the dave liberman natural northern this coming weekend. i understand how you maniplulate your water intake but i was wondering if you use any natural diuretics as well. if so what would you recommend? dandelion root, uva ursi, b6? i just used dandelion root this time, i took about 1000mgs every couple hours about 12 hours before weigh in. I also droped my water to just sips that morning of the show. water intake normally about a gallon and 1/2.

Thanks!

No, I've never used any diuretics. The closest thing would be vitamins (b, c) and caffeine. Thats about it. I put my entire drying out process into the hands of water and sodium manipulation and work on making this possible for a couple weeks (by drinking lots of water and keeping sodium high).

One thing I can tell you is that the leaner you are, the dryer you'll appear to be. I think if I did the same sodium/water process I do before a show, but in the offseason, it would not appear to work as well.

As for how to deal with your situation now, I don't know if drinking a bunch of water and trying my method would work well with so little time. Do your best with what you know. Maybe try caffeine???? sorry I can't be more helpful at this point.

Want to share some pictures from the last show to give a better idea of what you looked like?

[jrod]

Jeff--

No leg extensions? You feel squats & presses alone will give you cuts, separation, etc.?

Not really. I think squats, presses, leg extensions, or whatever else weight lifting exercise will not give you "cuts" and "seperation" as efficiently as cardio and diet will.

I think weight training is for making your muscles bigger. I think squats and leg presses do a much better job at making quad muscles bigger than extensions.

I think cardio and diet are for getting leaner. Cardio and diet in my opinion are a MUCH more efficient way to get leaner, cuts, seperation, etc., than a weight lifting exercise.

SO, my recommendation is, in the offseason, just focus on trying to make your quads as big as you can (using the best exercises to do this). The bigger the quad muscles, the more seperated and cut they will look at a low bodyfat. Once pre-contest starts, use diet and cardio to get as lean as possible.

This make sense?

Now if you can't do squats, leg presses, hack squats, front squats, lunges, split, squats,.... (for whatever reason: injuries, for example), then maybe the next best thing is extensions. Or maybe your knees, back, whatever can't handle a whole workout of the above exercises, then maybe do some of those, then extensions.

[jrod]

Didn't realize you had so many blog entries. Was reading near the beginning where you were doing incline BB bench and than "1/4 incline DB". What's the difference between these? Degree of incline or range of motion?

Degree of incline.

The bench set up for incline barbell presses is fixed at a specific angle. However, you can sometimes find benches which let you go anywhere from flat, to incline (same degree as fixed incline bench), to 90 degrees. For lack of a better term, I called the degree between flat and incline 1/4 incline.

I'm kind of doing the same thing this training split; I called it "semi" incline. Same thing, though.

[Beastonio]

No, I've never used any diuretics. The closest thing would be vitamins (b, c) and caffeine. Thats about it. I put my entire drying out process into the hands of water and sodium manipulation and work on making this possible for a couple weeks (by drinking lots of water and keeping sodium high).

One thing I can tell you is that the leaner you are, the dryer you'll appear to be. I think if I did the same sodium/water process I do before a show, but in the offseason, it would not appear to work as well.

As for how to deal with your situation now, I don't know if drinking a bunch of water and trying my method would work well with so little time. Do your best with what you know. Maybe try caffeine???? sorry I can't be more helpful at this point.

Want to share some pictures from the last show to give a better idea of what you looked like?

Wow you look so crazy dry for not using any diuretics! I think i may try caffeine. i was drinking a lot of coffee the day before seemed to work ok. how many milligrams of caffeine do you take throughout the day? i normally weigh about 186 in the morning and 188 at night . i weighed in at 184. i want to get down to middle weight but not sure if its possible (176 1/4). i notice from reading your blog that your weight changes dramaticly from morning to night, thats amazing. i am taking in about 150 grams of carbs, 20grams of fat and about 230g of protein a day. do u think lowering the carbs, droping sodium, incrasing fats day before weigh in would help? may flatten out...

i dont have any pics as of yet, but as soon as i do i will show u.

Thanks!

[jrod]

Wow you look so crazy dry for not using any diuretics! I think i may try caffeine. i was drinking a lot of coffee the day before seemed to work ok. how many milligrams of caffeine do you take throughout the day? i normally weigh about 186 in the morning and 188 at night . i weighed in at 184. i want to get down to middle weight but not sure if its possible (176 1/4). i notice from reading your blog that your weight changes dramaticly from morning to night, thats amazing. i am taking in about 150 grams of carbs, 20grams of fat and about 230g of protein a day. do u think lowering the carbs, droping sodium, incrasing fats day before weigh in would help? may flatten out...

i dont have any pics as of yet, but as soon as i do i will show u.

Thanks!

As for caffeine, not much. I had about a cup the day before the show, 1/2 cup plus a couple shots of esspresso the day of the show, and nothing on the 2nd day of the show.

Would it help, Im not 100% sure, but I don't think a drastic change is going to happen. I think the last few days don't make a huge drastic difference (they make some difference, but not all or nothing). So, if you are not looking lean and pretty dry a few days/a week out, I doubt you'll get VERY dry (naturally, at least), and if you're looking lean and dry, you'll look great. What I suggest is do the best with what you have right now, and take note of what you did (what worked well, what didn't) and use this to better yourself next time.

Lets see those pictures when you get them.

[mrusa85]

Lipolyze or Somalyze

Jeff,

Have you used Lipolyze or Somalyze in your contest preps? Safety issues have been raised with Usnic Acid. What's your take?

[Beastonio]

As for caffeine, not much. I had about a cup the day before the show, 1/2 cup plus a couple shots of esspresso the day of the show, and nothing on the 2nd day of the show.

Would it help, Im not 100% sure, but I don't think a drastic change is going to happen. I think the last few days don't make a huge drastic difference (they make some difference, but not all or nothing). So, if you are not looking lean and pretty dry a few days/a week out, I doubt you'll get VERY dry (naturally, at least), and if you're looking lean and dry, you'll look great. What I suggest is do the best with what you have right now, and take note of what you did (what worked well, what didn't) and use this to better yourself next time.

Lets see those pictures when you get them.

Sounds good Jeff, thanks bro. i will do my best to make sure i come in dry as i can. i'm ready and just relaxing right now. almost a day out right now... wish me luck!

MD should have the pics from this weekend up sometime on sat or sun.

[Carlito99]

Jeff,

Do you ever do any rear delt work? I haven't seen any in any of your routines that you've posted. If you don't ever do it, why is that?

[jrod]

Jeff,

Have you used Lipolyze or Somalyze in your contest preps? Safety issues have been raised with Usnic Acid. What's your take?

No, I have never used either one. As for safety issues, I've seen this addressed in Dave's Q&A thread. Here are a few things I found after a quick search on Dave's thread:

Deserusan (member on MD and one of the designers for this product)
feels the use of usnic acid could potentially be dangerous even at small dosages. Could you give me an honest breakdown of this formula versus yours? Everyone is entitled to there own opinion so if you think its crap just say so Companies are afraid of the law suit possibilities of USNIC ACID.......so they shy away form its use (I don't blame them....law suits suck)......... Usnic Acids claimed toxicity is from increased free radical production. The ONE STUDY that was done in a petri dish showed damage to cells treated with usnic. When Vitamin E was added to the petri dish, all the "damage" was prevented. This is a pretty cause and effect situation where as free radicals were neutralized, the cells were fine. Inside a human, there are NATURAL anti-oxidant systems as work (glutathione, peroxidases, ect.) that protect the cells from free radicals. On top of that I still fortify LIPOLYZE with additional antioxidants (Vit E and Green Tea Extract).

Here's another:

Usnic acid causes cellular energy-wasting by allowing potential energy that could be used to synthesize ATP to leak out of the cells via “leaky” mitochondrial membranes. Because of this energy loss, the cells must compensate by oxidizing additional fatty acids in order to ensure that adequate ATP levels are maintained. Whenever fatty acid oxidation in increased, the production of free radicals is also increased; and too many free radicals can potentially damage the cells integrity. This is where antioxidants come into play.

Several in vitro (cell culture) studies have demonstrated that massive amounts of Usnic acid can damage liver cells. Remember, this data has only been observed in petri dish conditions; not in the living organism. It should also be remembered that cells grown in petri dishes have one distinct disadvantage over cells found in the living body; there are no antioxidant systems to protect against free radical-induced oxidative damage. With this fact in mind, these same studies revealed that by adding a simple antioxidant like vitamin E to the cell culture media, cell damage was drastically reduced (if not eliminated).

The human body has a large array of endogenous antioxidant systems such as superoxide dismutase, glutathione reductase, catalase, and various peroxidases that effectively neutralize most free radicals that can lead to oxidative stress. Additionally, LIPOLYZE and SOMALYZE are both fortified with green tea extract and Vitamin E which further serve to reduce the threat of antioxidant damage within the cells.

[jrod]

Jeff,

Do you ever do any rear delt work? I haven't seen any in any of your routines that you've posted. If you don't ever do it, why is that?

Funny you should ask this, I was thinking about doing some rear delt training this weekend during shoulder day. I didn't, but I'm considering it.

Here's why I have not done any direct rear delt training. My rear delts get worked (and sometimes are sore) from training back and I usually train shoulders the day before back. I've always thought that my rear delts will get enough work from training back; especially when I do a lot of rowing exercises on back day. Furthermore, my rear delts get really sore from stiff legged deadlifts for some reason.

Its the same reason I don't do any direct front delt training; they get plenty of work from training chest (particularly from incline presses).