Questions on Wingspan Workouts and the Shotgun Method

Q: "Hi, I read one of your articles (Wingspan Workouts), and there were 4 techniques you mentioned. The question is am I supposed to employ all 4 techniques or just one of them? I don't think it's impossible to employ all of the 4 because of the last part. Share with me what you think and thank you for your time. :)" 

-Moon 

My Answer: No, Moon, you don't do all four techniques in one workout. THAT WOULD BE CRAZY! Each technique would be a separate workout. Hence the name of the article: Wingspan Workouts. 

A lot of bodybuilding newbies have your mentality, which is this: let's include every exercise, technique and the kitchen sink in one workout. If you put everything into one workout, then that is a surefire way to overtrain and induce clinical depression. I'm serious. 

I don't blame you for having this mentality, because muscle mags show pro bodybuilders using this everything-and-the-kitchen-sink approach. But I don't need to point out that those guys use steroids. They purposely traumatize their muscles, because they've got the juice to recover and build muscle quickly. Hell, look through Arnold's encyclopedia and you'll find he trained 6 days a week, twice a day, with at least 4 exercises per body part. 

For us mere mortals, however, we need to train a lot more conservatively, but still push our muscles to the limit. But because we're training naturally (at least I am, I don't know about you, Moon) our limit is much lower than some dude on steroids. 

What you should do is rotate through all 4 Wingspan Workouts during a 2 week period. Do some active recovery workouts in between if you need to. This will push your body to the limit and force it to grow, but it will also give you some time for your body to recover between workouts. 

Q: "Hello,I wanted to give the Shotgun Method a try, but I was wondering how would this look for my two shotgun days: 

Day 1 SNATCH PULLUPS DEADLIFTS 

Day 2 CLEAN AND JERK or PRESS INCLINE PRESS SQUAT or OVERHEAD SQUAT 

I was also wondering due to my work schedule, children, etc. if this could work having Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday as my training days." 

Thanks, 

Norm 

My Answer: Exercises look fine. Schedule looks fine.