#21 - Low Volume Bodybuilding? Dante Trudel's "Dog Crap" Training Method

Andy is running solo today, and sharing one of his favorite methods for building muscle in short, focused, and intense workouts. Many people, especially in the barbell trainign and powerlifting world, immediately associate bodybuilding with light weights, high rep sets and a lot of them. Andy has spoken in previous episodes about why bodybuilding requires progressive overload, via reps or weight, and why it doesn't even need to be high volume. A big influence on Andy's own programming methodology is Dante Trudel, a master bodybuilding coach who preached this approach as far back as the 1990's with his "Dog Crap" training (or DC Training for short).

Dante postulated that competitive bodybuilders could get better muscle growth with less volume in the gym (which causes greater fatigue that must be recovered from) and, importantly, fewer drugs (which were needed to recover from all the volume), if they focused on lower volume but more stimulative movements. This means chosing movements that produce more mechanical tension in the target muscles, and working those movements at a high relative intensity. This was accomplished using tops sets, backoff sets, and rest-pause sets.

Dante's methods were groundbreaking at the time, and remain relevant today in the sport of bodybuilding. As Andy notes, they work well for the non-competitive bodybuilder just looking to put more muscle on his frame, since they focus on short, intense workouts.

Follow Dante Trudel on Instagram: @dante_trudel

Baker Barbell Club Online: https://www.andybaker.com/landing-page/

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Andy Baker

Blog: www.AndyBaker.com

IG: @bakerbarbell

Owner of Kingwood Strength & Conditioning

Co-author of Practical Programming for Strength Training

Co-author of The Barbell Prescription: Strength Training for Life After 40

Dan Flanick

IG: @coachdanflanick