Profile: 'Cliffy'

Right, if I get this bit wrong blame compassionategirl cos she told me to do it!!!

A biologist and medical scientist by background; into (mainly) strength/power routines for 3 1/2 years using basically the following system: light warm-up, medium 2nd set, then power set for 1--3 reps, followed by still heavy but lighter set for about 10 reps. No more than two heavy sets per move, no more than two moves per bodypart, no more than one bodypart trained each 7--14 days--so lots of rest and high protein foods. This has taken me from 150lbs 3 years ago to 230lbs today and still growing.

Age: 43

Height: 5'10"

Weight 230lbs

Chest 50"

Arms 18 1/4"

waist 34"

Legs 26 1/2"

Very little fat

100% vegan for 23 years

Anything more your gonna needs tickets for hehehe

Cliffy

Right, if I get this bit wrong blame compassionategirl cos she told me to do it!!!

 

Cliffy

Nice to see your first post Cliffy, and an official Welcome! You will get many more by the end of the day, I promise!

50 inch chest and 18 1/4 inch arms!!!

I bow before you vegan monster! Welcome to the board!

Hello Cliffy.

23 year vegan - much respect to you.

Cliffy,

You are awesome and packed full of muscle! Thanks for joining our group and great to have another big guy on here.....not saying "I am a big guy" but we have a number of big strong lifters here.

I'm at work so I gotta go, but I'll be in touch soon.

Great to have you as part of our TEAM!

I look forward to hearing more from you,

Robert

I cannot believe I missed part of your post!!

100% vegan for TWENTY THREE YEARS!!!! I am in awe - I will need a few moments to contain the MAMMOTH amount of respect I have for you. And, on top of that, you are a scientist - a profession and an industry that generally sees animals as research data, means to human ends.

So a scientist who is 100% vegan for over two decades???!!!!

It is an HONOUR to have you among us!

Well, you are most certainly a wecoming bunch and I thank you most sincerely. As I find my way round the site I'll be able to catch up on all your posts and chat, which will be great. Rarely have much time these days for the nicer things in life like good chats with other trainers, what with 'bird flu' matters here in Europe, but I shall make sure that you folks are a priority every time I get a chance to click on line.

Thanks again for the welcomes.

Cliffy

hey Cliffy,

There is a "bird flu" discussion in the general category section (the last category on the botom of the message board main page).

I would love to hear some of your thoughts whenever you get the chance to post them in that thread.

Thanks again for joining us!

Thanks for the very kind comments, compassionategirl. I was a 'vegetarian' 2 years before the 23 year veganism, can't remember the dark days of eating animals I am pleased to say.

As for bird flu stuff, sure I'll go try to find that section now!

Wow, I'm also in awe of you! 23 years! That's awesome. I'm very glad you've joined us here; welcome!

Thanks veggymeggy. Back in the 80's there was certainly less choice than now, and one quickly learnt to accept pasta and cereal. Now that veganism is the sensible option its become targeted by so many food companies and choice is way better. You wouldn't believe some of the sweet cakes we can get in UK that are vegan!

Hi Cliffy!

Cool to have you here!

Nice numbers you have there

Ever considered getting on stage We have this little project up for next year...

If you're right about the very little fat (that's relative ) you could do very well in natural contests, the master class is over 40 years of age.

23 years vegan is cool - when i'm 43, i'll only be 21 years vegan ...

In opposite to Meggy, who'll be, like, 30 years or so vegan

no more than one bodypart trained each 7--14 day

Do you mean every bodypart once in 1-2 weeks or do you really mean what you said - only one bodypart in 1-2 weeks?!

It would take 3-8 weeks to train your whole body like that... ?

I find it extremely interesting how different training programs are and how great the results of people following them.

love and peace,

Daywalker

Hi Daywalker

I've been asked before about doing the 'stage thing' and it's just not 'me'.

I understand the confusion about the routine I listed, so to clarify it goes like this:

Monday--Chest & biceps

Tuesday--Legs and grip

Wednesday--Rest

Thursday--Shoulers & triceps

Friday--Back

Saturday--Rest

Sunday--Rest

Each trip to the gym is over and done within 45 minutes tops.

No two 'big' bodyparts get worked on the same day and each has at least 1 week's rest. Also, I will often intersperse a light week between two heavy weeks so that a full 14 days without heavy lifting separates two workouts. If I'm pushing a particular body part for power, I'll tend to shift the system so that I only do very heavy sets each 10--14 days with no lighter workouts in between. I find it takes 7--10 days for muscles to fully recover from a really blasting session and then 'new growth' happens after that, so working muscles too soon creates a static or catabolic rather than anabolic response. But that's just me!

My approach has been almost unchanged for some time and, for me, it is short-sharp INTENSITY during the workout that makes a good session, then rest and nutrition take over.

Hope this helps.

Cliffy

Welcome from me, too! Hopefulle in about 20 years more of us can say that they have bee vegan for such a long time...

The workout sounds good. From a sports scientists point of view your idea of the pefect moment to train the same muscle again sounds okay but 7-10 days is kind of long. Usually for hypertrophy about 4-6 days are seen as the optimum, which means the adaption on the stimulus training is best. But if for your body and mind 7-10 days feel perfect, you should go on training like this. Like you says: Thats just you. I think the role of mental power is absolutely underestimated.

Keep on doing your thing!

Looking at your profession I wonder if you could add some scientific facts to this discussion: viewtopic.php?t=516&highlight=natural

Hi Flanders

Good to hear from you.

I know most people think of 7—10 days as being rather a long gap between the same work-outs. I know many people see 4--6 days, or thereabouts, as the optimum between same work-outs but I think this ‘4—6 days’ approach is overtraining (unless one is going light to medium) and that by using it many, but maybe not all, trainers are missing great opportunities for improvement.

If I were to train on the ‘every 4—6 days’ approach with my current intensity then my performance would drop like a stone and I’d lose mass. I’ve tried it many times on an experimental basis and it is always bad news for strength and muscle growth. The tendo-ligamentous injuries also creep to me in as collagen is slower to recover than myofib. tissue, and the neural pathways also need to get over the chemical insult of a barbaric session—so muscle recovery is only a part of it; as you will know. But it’s not just me, whenever I help out guys or girls in the gym who are struggling they too find that heavy, intense, work-outs followed by long intermediate rest gives them fast results with fewer problems.

By chance I found a site by trainer ‘Pete Sisco’ on the net some months ago and much, but certainly not all, of his approach is coincidentally similar to mine and he was allowing months between same bodypart workouts. I do deadlifts about once every three months, and then only one heavy set, but I am always stronger with each session. The silly notion that one loses strength after a few days I think makes some people paranoid and they end up overtraining and spoiling possible improvements. If I miss three weeks in a row from the gym I will still be stronger when I get back in as a result of the workout I did three weeks earlier—so long as I’ve eaten sensibly in the meantime.

You are quite right about mental power—for me the mind is half of everything and it is obvious that so many trainers could do better if they showed mental tenacity on each rep rather than give up when it seems tough.

I’ll go check out the link you suggested.

Take care and chat soon

Cliffy

Hi Cliffy!

Thank you very much for explaining your opinion in detail. I just downloaded Train smart by Pete Sisco and will read it during the next days. Maybe there is something to learn.

I train every muscle once a week in only 2 training sessions. 1st is arms and legs and second is chest, beck, shoulder and calves. It is not optimal but I just do not have time (Baby, girlfriend, work) to split the body parts on more sessions.

I give you a feedback about the book,

Have a nice weekend,

David

Hi Thanks for message. Am very interested to hear your thoughts anytime, and how you get on.

Take care

Cliffy

Welcome Sir! I was born in Peckham, South London so it's great to see another Londoner you seem to train similar to me but I do one set to failure each body part and I do it all in one day! so I can get plenty of rest, I like to train close to my max wieght so I need that rest, I also like to eat so resting and eating is my luxury right now anyway have a great time on this great list!!!

Hi Bigbwii

Thanks for the welcome. Yes, there's something to be said for whole body training in one session (combined with good rest), probably a good growth hormone releaser too!

Cheers,

Cliffy

Yes, your right! I've noticed that since I started training heavy I'm been growing more hair on my body I've also experienced a lot of growth (mass) something that I'm not used to!

Hey cliffy!

I read Pete Siscos E-Book and liked it very much. I will try to get some more information about this concept.

I like the idea of training once a month and keep growing...

Hi Flanders

I really hope it works for you. I can't say I follow it precisely but there are some strong similarities with my own routine.

I look forward to your reports on how things go for you.

Cheers,

Cliffy