Question thread for our AMA with Alberto Nuñez of 3DMJ!

[ckxcr]

@gattacinza 1) This is going to be results based. There is a unique combo in there somewhere but you need to find it. So much of this is observing carefully

2)

 

[loveallandbeloved]

@paparazi257 I notice from your social media you don't do any traditional squats or deadlifts. I remember they used to be a part of your routine years back. Is this due to old injuries? Effectiveness in hypertrophy? Etc.

 

[noblemen]

@loveallandbeloved Paging @ckxcr

thank you

 

[ebioniterevival]

@paparazi257 What are some key pieces of info/metrics you look at when assessing nutrition for someone? (Trying to decide on macro breakdown) how do you know when to make an adjustment vs giving the diet more time to “do it’s thing”.

 

[ckxcr]

@ebioniterevival 1) Is this goal appropriate right now
2) Current lifestyle
3) What do they actually need

I don’t do macros these days. Calories and protein is enough hair splitting. Even for contest preppers

 

[craiga]

@paparazi257 How important is it to train exercises in a specific order? For example, if you squat at the beginning of the workout one day, and squat later in the workout another day due to all the racks being taken, does that make a difference in performance and progression?

 

[ckxcr]

@craiga Things that require the most skill first.

This will matter more as you become stronger and a because of this a bigger danger to yourself

 

[holyhippie]

@paparazi257 What happened to the questionable thumbnails on YouTube?

 

[ckxcr]

@holyhippie People don’t appreciate the child that won’t ever grow up as much as I do

Didn’t take it personal but I’ll just keep it to myself more moving forward

 

[grampatom42]

@paparazi257 What is your approach to training volume while cutting? Do you reduce volume or simply keep things the same?

 

[ckxcr]

@grampatom42 If you are being mindful of what you can recover from there shouldn’t be too much change. If you feel like you do chances are you are overdosing yourself during your gaining phases

 

[vsw874]

@paparazi257 Training for 15 years. Do you think it shortchanges long term progress to do a little cut to a 'beach leanness' each year? Still in a surplus for ~9 months/yr. Even if you compare it to a 3 year bulk (typical way) the time spent in each phase would be roughly similar. Why would this be superior if it is?

 

[ckxcr]

@vsw874 Not at all man. Cut in peace my dude.

 

[livingme7]

@paparazi257 What do you think of maingaining vs bulk n cut cycles?

 

[ckxcr]

@livingme7 Bulk or cut

Most people won’t fair well with ambiguous exogenous energy intakes. Muscle is an expensive process and we should dedicate time to this task

 

[sunshinelovin1700]

@paparazi257 What is your broader "diet" or way of living and how has bodybuilding fit into it and have there been times where they opposed each other?

 

[ckxcr]

@sunshinelovin1700 Best advice I can give you is make your bodybuilding fit your life and not the other way around. This will yield more consistency which is what 99% of people actually need

 

[weepingwillow422]

@paparazi257 What are your thoughts on extended cluster set training (Vince Gironda style e.g. 6x6 or 8x8 with 10-15 second rest, where the earliest sets are far from failure) versus myo-rep sets (e.g. 15 reps with 10-15 second rest)?

 

[ckxcr]

@weepingwillow422 Not a bad strategy at all. If you can manage it well I think it sounds rather good

 

[madre0035]

@paparazi257 Thanks for taking the time Alberto!

What’s your opinion on periodically lowering RIR over a training block? For example starting the first week at 3RIR, moving to 2RIR for the second week, and eventually failure before a reload.