Feed Muscles for Better Pumps The Texas Oak

Written by Logan Franklin

23 August 2022

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Feed Muscles for Better Pumps

The Texas Oak

By Logan Franklin

MD is proud to announce the return to these pages of Logan Franklin, one of the fastest-rising stars in the Classic Physique division and a U.S. Army combat veteran. Here in his new column “The Texas Oak” presented by GAT Sport, he will help you achieve all your own physique goals.

Q: Your coach Milos Sarcev is a huge proponent of intra-workout nutrition. I saw on your Instagram that you now use GAT Sport products while training, including:

• 2 scoops Carbotein^®, 62 grams of carbs

• 10mg Glutamine

• 12 oz Bodyarmor, 21 grams of carbs

• 8 oz H2O

How long have you been utilizing intra-workout nutrition, and what benefits have you seen?

A: I started doing intra shakes maybe around 2015-2016, and I’ve tried to keep improving on the formula. At one point I added Glutamine. More recently I changed from using Gatorade to Bodyarmor because it contains natural sugars. The whole purpose of intra shakes is to feed the body in and around the workout when the muscles need those nutrients most. You want to have plenty of muscle glycogen available to fuel the contractions and deliver better pumps. A lot of people have the misconception that recovery starts when you get home from the gym, eat your post-workout meal, and rest. I believe it should start from set number one. Even before the first set of my workouts, sometimes I will take a couple of sips of that shake. I make it last for almost the entire workout to have all the carbs/glycogen available so I can keep pushing my body with the intensity I demand from my workouts.

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Building Bigger Calves

Q: I know one of your goals was to really make your calves an outstanding body part. What strategies have you implemented, and have you seen significant improvements yet?

A: They have definitely improved, but I won’t say “significant” because most people would take that as meaning they have grown several inches. It’s taking years to bring them up. This year I started training with Hunter Labrada and his crew, and Hunter has given me a bunch of pointers about body positioning and how to properly press off your foot. He showed me his method on calves of thinking about pushing the front of the ankle as far forward as possible when doing any type of calf raise. Little adjustments like that can help activate the calf so much more. We also make sure we do the exercises in the right order, such as exercises with legs straight for the gastrocnemius before seated raises with bent legs for the soleus. Last, I now hit them three times a week, which seems to be the ideal frequency.

‘Bro Split’ Works Best

Q: You’re a big Arnold fan, so I’m wondering if you have ever tried his workout where chest and back are done together as all supersets?

A: I have tried it a few times, but honestly it just takes too long to work both of those body parts in one session. I don’t have that kind of time anymore since I became a dad, because I want to make sure Marissa gets a chance to leave the house and get to the gym as well. The “bro” split where chest and back have their own training days works much better for me. I will do rear delts along with back, or I might do them later on in my garage gym as part of my “touch-up” work. I will train back earlier in the day, then in the early evening when we put my son to bed, I will hit my garage for some pull-ups, rear delts, and a little posing practice.

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Train for Allow for Recovery

Q: How do you gauge recovery from the previous workout for a given body part? If it’s sore, does that mean it hasn’t recovered yet? And do you still get sore all the time after training every body part?

A: I still get sore from every single workout. I get sore from my chest workout, my back workout, arms, everything I train gets sore for a couple of days. I’ve never experienced having a muscle group still being sore by the time I hit it again. If you take in all the right nutrients and give the muscle adequate time to rest, you shouldn’t encounter that situation. The only time anyone should have a muscle staying sore that long is if they have just returned to training after a long layoff and maybe went too hard in that initial workout. The training split I am following now is designed to allow adequate recovery for all body parts before they are trained again. It looks like this:

Day 1: Back and rear delts

Day 2: Chest and shoulders

Day 3: Arms

Day 4: Legs (alternating)

Day 5: Rest, repeat

I alternate leg days. The first workout is quads and calves. The next time I train legs is hamstrings, glutes and calves. On the quad-dominant day, I still do one hamstring exercise like a lying leg curl, and I will do a few sets of extensions on the hamstring-dominant day.

Recipe to Get Ripped

Q: When trying to get ripped to shreds, do you incorporate cheat meals or refeeds, or just stay on the diet for the entire prep with none of those?

A: I stay on my diet year-round. My triceps are striated right now in the middle of my off-season while I’m a health recovery phase between cycles. I eat wholesome, nutritious foods day in and day out to feed my body with a purpose, but I will have occasional cheat meals if I want them at this point. Staying in good shape allows me to do guest-posing appearances or photo shoots at any time the opportunity arises. Also by staying lean year-round, it doesn’t take much adjustment for me to lock in a contest diet. There are no cheat meals from that point on, though my coach Milos Sarcev will adjust my portion sizes depending on what’s happening with my body composition.

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