Doggcrapp Training: A silly name for a serious mass gaining program that’ll help get your physique to the next level.
Are you ready to kickstart your physique into a mountain of muscle? Are you prepared to blast your strength to superhuman levels? Are you prepared to grunt in agony as you finish a “Widowmaker?” Welcome to Doggcrapp training.
Conceived by Dante Trudel, a long-time bodybuilder and muscle theorist, in 1999, Doggcrapp wildfire quickly spread throughout various bodybuilding forums. Named after Trudel’s forum screen name, Doggcrapp training is simple and often illuminating. In fact, perhaps the main impetus for Trudel’s investigations into building his program were what he saw as needless complications and obsessive compulsive behavior by the bodybuilding community.
Doggcrapp training shuns these complications, stripping a mass-building program down to its bare bones, and what is left turns out to be shockingly effective for many advocates.
A Word of Warning!
Doggcrapp training is not for beginners. It’s not even for decently built intermediates. It’s a program exclusively designed to take experienced bodybuilders to the next level of mass by a dedicated form of gradually increased resistance training.
Being a program for serious muscle-heads, it’s also not recommended for part-time gym enthusiasts or recreational athletes. Simply put, if you’re a soccer player looking to bulk up, Doggcrapp is not for you. If you’re a mixed martial artist looking for extra muscle, look elsewhere. If you’re a dedicated bodybuilder looking to take your physique to the next level, Doggcrapp may be just the solution you’re looking for.
Tenets of Doggcrapp: Training Till Failure
The foundation of the Doggcrapp method is progressively overloading your muscles with heavier weights each time you workout. Similar to Mike Mentzer’s Heavy Duty Program, the training is built upon effectively utilizing only one work-set per muscle group per workout. This minimalist approach may sound too easy on paper, but after trying it in the gym, you’ll be shocked at the intensity.
After sufficiently warming up with progressively lighter sets, you prepare yourself for the heavy work-set. Get ready to put everything you’ve got into this set. It will be the last time you work the muscle until the next workout, so make it count.
To push yourself to failure, you’ll be using the rest-pause technique. Like the rest of Doggcrapp’s methods, it’s intuitive and easy to apply. Perform 8-10 reps of of the given exercise until you can’t possibly perform another. Then take a short rest while you breathe deeply 10-15 times. Fully loaded with oxygen and slightly recuperated by your break, perform another mini-set of reps until failure. You’ll probably get about 3-5. Then, another break with deep breaths. Finally, perform your final mini-set until failure, probably hitting an additional 2-3 reps this time.
When it’s all said and done, you’ll have performed 10-15 reps and be completely exhausted. That’s it. You’re done with that muscle group. Move on to the next one. For arm exercises, keep the reps higher, aiming for 20-30 reps per rest-pause set. Additionally, the 10-15 reps isn’t set in stone. If you want to use lighter weights and go higher on the reps to protect your joints and tendons, go ahead. The program will still be effective.
Exceptions to the Rest-Pause Rule
Don’t try to use rest-pause techniques when it seems dangerous. Forget trying it with squats or deadlifts or bent over rows. Don’t injure yourself. Besides, there are other Doggcrapp methods available for those exercises.
For deadlifts and bent over rows, do two normal, albeit intense, sets. After warming up with lighter sets, do one heavy set of 6-8 reps. Rest until you’re ready, and then perform another lighter set of 9-12 reps.
For quads, you’ll be performing what Doggcrapp proponents call a “Widowmaker” set. Basically, it’s a grueling all-out set of 20 reps. You’ll warm up, then perform your heavy work set of 5 reps. Rest and prepare yourself mentally, then crank out the 20 rep widowmaker with a comfortable, but difficult, weight.
For calves, you’ll be performing one excruciating set of 10-15 reps. Explode up the the weight, then lower for a count of five seconds. Rest for 10-15 seconds in the bottom position of the calf raise and then explode up again for another rep.
Train Muscles With More Frequency
The Doggcrapp training bodypart split is unique. Like everything else in the method, it’s simple and logically devised. It’s based on the idea that popular bodybuilding programs involving a full-body split don’t optimize training because they focus on individual muscles each day. The lower volume of this training allows you to workout more frequently, creating more opportunities to increase your strength and size.
This method doesn’t devote an entire training day to chest or arms. Not even an entire day to legs. Instead, the two-day split recommended to newbies to Doggcrapp is as follows:
Workout 1:
Chest
Shoulders
Triceps
Back Width
Back ThicknessWorkout 2:
Biceps
Forearms
Calves
Hamstrings
Quads
Back width refers to vertical pulling motions like lat pulldowns or chin-ups. Back thickness refers to rowing movements. Certainly untraditional to say the least. The muscles are to be trained in that order. It may seem strange to place your big movements like squats or deadlifts last in your workouts, but it makes sense from a Doggcrapp perspective. After a grueling Doggcrapp squat or back session, you’ll have no energy left to do anything except waddle painfully out of the gym.
The workouts are performed every other day with rest on the weekends. Monday, Wednesday, Friday is ideal, but tweak to fit your schedule as needed.
Intense Stretching
Doggcrapp followers are big proponents of intense stretching. Very intense stretching. Though the science is controversial at best, advocates believe that by stretching the fascia surrounding the belly of the muscle, you create additional space for the muscle to eventually grow.
To achieve this, perform an intense stretch after working out the targeted muscle. For instance, after your chest rest-pause set, perform an intense chest stretch. Then on to the next muscle group. After your bicep set, perform an intense bicep stretch. And so on.
These stretches are often weighted and involve holding weights in the bottom position of an exercise. A chest stretch, for example, would entail holding two dumbbells in the bottom position of a dumbbell fly for 60 seconds.
If this seems a little too extreme for you, just focus on intensely stretching the targeted muscle for a minute without weight. Remember though, the whole Doggcrapp method is about extremes.
Cardio
Low-intensity cardio is to be done on your days off for 30 minutes or so. It’s most effective before breakfast on an empty stomach, allowing your body to really burn fat efficiently.
Nothing fancy here, and nothing too difficult. You’ll already be beat from yesterday’s grueling workout, so keep your cardio light. Some easy biking, or incline treadmill walking, or if it’s sunny, a brisk walk outside with your dog or maybe your mother-in-law.
Blast and Cruise
To avoid burnout, it’s important to periodize your training. With the extremely heavy poundages and ever-increasing weights of Doggcrapp training, this is especially important.
Doggcrapp trainees solve this problem by adopting two phases of training, called “blasting” and “cruising.” Basically, hard and easy. Your blast phase will be the above program and can last anywhere from 7-10 weeks, or even more if you’re feeling great and still getting stronger. During this phase, work your ass off, try to increase the weights and reps lifted every workout, do your stretches, do your cardio on your off days, and eat boatloads of protein.
Then, enter a “cruise” phase of a week or two. Do whatever you like during this phase. Skip the gym. Do some pushups and pull-ups. Maybe some light circuit training. Perhaps a swim or a yoga class. Just remember to take it easy. You’ll be on to your next blast soon enough.
Exercise Choice
To avoid boredom and to keep yourself increasing during every workout, you’ll be changing your exercise selection every week. For example, if you perform a dumbbell bench press for chest during Workout 1, then the next week you’ll perform a different chest exercise, maybe incline bench, or a chest press in the Hammer Strength machine.
That being said, since you’ll be pushing yourself to the max on every set, don’t be afraid of using machines. During Doggcrapp training, Hammer Strength machines are your friend. The Smith machine is your ally. The Leg Press and Hack Squat Machine are your paramours. If you train with a partner, you may be able to utilize free weights successfully, but if you’re training alone, it’s often dangerous to push yourself to complete failure on many exercises.
Additionally, since you’ll be performing only one exercise per bodypart per week, pick a large, compound movement that takes relatively heavy weights. Don’t pick machine flys for chest. The weights are usually too light to increase the poundages during every training session. That is the foundation of this program. It can be said again. Attempt to increase the poundages every training session.
Sample Program
Workout 1A
- Chest – Decline Barbell Press on Smith Machine – 10 -15 reps rest-pause
- (Chest stretch)
- Shoulders – Smith Machine Military Press – 10 – 15 reps rest-pause
- (Shoulder stretch)
- Triceps – Dip Machine – 20 – 25 reps rest-pause
- (Tricep Stretch)
- Back Width – Pull-ups – As many as you can rest-pause style
- Back Thickness – Bent over Row – 1 set of 6 reps, 1 set of 10 reps
- (Lat stretch)
Workout 2A
- Biceps – Seated Incline Dumbbell Curls – 15-20 reps rest-pause
- Forearms – Barbell Reverse Curl – 1 set 12-15 reps
- (Bicep stretch)
- Calves – Seated Calf Raise – 1 set 12-15 reps
- Hamstrings – Lying Leg Curl – 15-20 reps rest-pause
- (Hamstring stretch)
- Quads – Front squat – 1 set 5 reps, 1 set “Widowmaker”
- (Quadriceps stretch)
Workout 1B
- Chest – Hammer Strength Wide Chest Machine – 10-15 reps rest-pause
- (Chest stretch)
- Shoulders – Dumbbell Military Press – 15-20 reps rest-pause
- (Shoulder stretch)
- Tricep – Tricep Extension Machine – 20-30 reps rest-pause
- (Tricep stretch)
- Back Width – Lat Pulldown – 10-15 reps rest-pause
- Back Thickness – Rack Deadlifts (deadlifts from pins at the knees) 1 set 6 reps, 1 set 10 reps
- (Lat stretch)
Workout 2B
- Biceps – Barbell Curl – 15-20 reps rest-pause
- Forearms – Cross-chest Hammer Curls – 1 set 12-15 reps
- (Bicep stretch)
- Calves – Donkey Calf Raise – 1 set 12 -15 reps
- Hamstrings – Glute-Ham Raise – 15-20 reps rest-pause
- (Hamstring stretch)
- Quads – Leg Press – 1 set 5 reps, 1 set “Widowmaker”
- (Quadriceps stretch)
Workout 1C
- Chest – Incline Barbell Press on Smith Machine – 10-15 reps rest-pause
- (Chest stretch)
- Shoulders – Hammer Strength Shoulder Press – 10-15 reps rest-pause
- (Shoulder stretch)
- Triceps – Close-grip Bench Press – 12-18 reps rest-pause
- (Tricep stretch)
- Back width – Hammer Strength Pulldown Reverse Grip – 10-15 reps rest-pause
- Back thickness – T-Bar Row – 1 set 6 reps, 1 set 10 reps
- (Lat stretch)
Workout 2C
- Biceps – Preacher Curl – 15-20 reps rest-pause
- Forearms – Zottman Curls – 1 set 12-15 reps
- (Biceps stretch)
- Calves – Standing Calf Raise – 1 set 12-15 reps
- Hamstrings – Standing Leg Curl – 15-20 reps rest-pause
- (Hamstring stretch)
- Quads – Hack Machine Squats – 1 set 5 reps, 1 set “Widowmaker”
- (Quadriceps Stretch)
The above is simply a template. Feel free to change the exercises and rep schemes to suit your weak points and needs.
Tying it all Together – The Logbook
Since the essence of Doggcrapp training lies in steadily getting stronger on key exercises, you must keep track of your progress. For this reason, the key ingredient of a successful Doggcrapp trainee is carrying a logbook to meticulously document everything you do in the gym.
Before you arrive, create a chart with your exercise selection. As you workout, write down everything. Weights used, reps used, length of weighted stretches. Sweat accumulation measured in milliliters. Okay, skip the last one.
It’s an excellent motivational tool. When you look back at your logbook two months down the line, you’ll be amazed on how much strength you’ve gained.
