nolpolin2
Iron
- Joined
- Jul 2, 2024
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This is a routine that helped me gain 90 pounds over 14 months, was a full time gymcel before I found this site
Results:
Training volume and intensity are relevant to each other. What does that mean? Look below.
This chart shows the theory of high-volume low intensity versus low volume high intensity.
Keyword “Theory” here, in which there is no sort of perfect way set in stone. Over decades of modern and old-school bodybuilding, there has been long term debate in which way is better for muscle hypertrophy. We have seen the likes of Mike Mentzer and Arnold being on both opposites’ sides of the spectrum.
From Arnolds side of the spectrum, we see that Arnold spends so much time in the gym with very little intensity.
When we take a look at Arnold training, it is very easy to notice that most of his reps are just momentum and aren’t exactly perfect form. Now that’s not saying that what Arnold was doing was completely wrong, but with the sheer amount of volume, (5, sometimes 7 hours a day) he is exhausting so much energy than what is necessary.
Well then, why was Arnold still so massive?
Arnold obviously had elite genetics and his training style still produced muscle stimulus, even though his training style was somewhat counter productive.
(Arnold)
On the other side, we see Mike Mentzer, the “brainchild” of bodybuilding. Mike introduced what seemed to be a “revolutionary” new way to train. Mike came in with the idea that to grow one must train until absolute exhaustion and failure but in very little time, sometimes only having one set per muscle group per week. Now the idea that most people got from Mentzer was that you only had to go to failure in the actual main movement of the exercise, when in actuality Mentzer meant that one must go to failure in the concentric, eccentric, and isometric part of the moment.
(Mike Mentzer)
For example, failing to get a full rep on chest press, then having someone help you lift up the bar on the concentric then making you hold the weight on the way down, and after you can let it down anymore, you hold it for as long as you can.
Most people argue nowadays that after going to failure on one part of the movement then switching to an easier version of it, it is really just a fancy version of a drop set.
I must say, to think that you can grow as much as physically possible off of one set alone is absolutely ridiculous. Mike himself said earlier in his career before he dove into research that he followed the standard style of bodybuilding, doing regular amounts of volume, around 20 sets per muscle group per week.
Now, we know that to maintain and recover from prolonged exercise we have to reduce the number of sets at some point, some calling it a ‘deload’, which is proven to work.
My theory is that Mike, as he was starting this experiment of low volume high intensity, he chose people that were either completely new to bodybuilding or people who have been bodybuilding for many years. (Which is hardly a theory, that’s what he did.)
In both of these groups they both would have made significant progress in the first month of his training style, because the newbies would adapt to the new activity that they have never done, and the experienced bodybuilders would get the rest that they needed.
Well then, how did Mentzer’s clients maintain their physiques after the first month of his coaching?
Because they were doing just enough volume to maintain, not grow.
How to train for maximum hypertrophy:
For the perfect balance of volume to intensity, it is ideal to reach about 16-24 sets per muscle group per week. For the intensity side of it, you have to go until you have zero reps in reserve, as in you can do anymore, with maybe a few partial reps, just to try and move the weight, but that’s not really necessary on if you’re on the high end of the rep range.
What tempo and rep range you should be going at for these sets:
New research suggests that you can build muscle at pretty much any rep range, but for me, I stick to about 6-8 reps for my heavy compound movements, like military rows, shoulder press, squat, deadlift, dips, and 10-14 reps for my accessory movements like chest flies, triceps pushdowns, bicep curls, and others.
For tempo, go at about 2 seconds on the concentric and 3 seconds on the eccentric.
On compound lifts or heavy lifts, it is okay to have pauses in between reps to avoid injury.
Its alright it you veer outside of this tempo, as long as its not faster than that tempo.
REST PERIODS BETWEEN SETS:
2-3 minutes for accessories, 4-6 minutes for heavy compound lifts. Make sure to drink water between the compound lifts, but its not as important for the accessories, try to drink at least once every 2 sets.
Between these rest periods, it is sometimes crucial if you are low energy to eat something easily absorbed, like simple sugars in drinks, or anything with simple sugars.
The best exercises for muscle growth:
In general, it is okay to stick to exercises that you feel are effective for you, as everyone does not have the same skeleton, but stay away from stupid exercises like decline chest movements, anything to do with CrossFit, and sumo deadlift.
The exercises that I use and the number of sets that I do per week:
Day 1: Chest, triceps, back and biceps.
I’ve seen more progress doing it this way.
Heavy incline bench or smith press: 8-12 reps x4 sets.
Heavy barbell rows: 6-10 reps x4 sets.
Weighted dips: 8-12 reps x4 sets.
Lat pulldowns: 8-12 reps x4 sets.
Tricep pushdowns: 8-12 reps x6 sets.
Barbell Bicep curls: 8-12 reps x6 sets.
Chest flies: 8-15 reps x2 sets.
Hammer curls: 8-12 reps x4 sets.
Skull crushers: 8-12 reps x4 sets.
Now, this is the basic idea, but if I start plateauing on an exercise, ill change it up, that happens around every month.
Day 2: Abs
Weighted decline sit-ups 10-15 x6
Knee/leg raises 15-20 x6.
Short and simple, can do this on the same day that you train something else.
NEVER train obliques unless you’re a gymnast, as it adds a lot of bulk to your sides, which can look pretty bad.
ex: over developed obliques
Day 3: Legs and shoulders
Light squats 15 reps x3 sets to warm up.
Squats 8-12 x6 sets.
Heavy shoulder/ military press 8-12 x6 sets.
Deadlift 6-8 reps x3
Very low volume on deadlift, mostly focusing on strength when it comes to deadlifts.
Leg extension 8-12 reps x4
Super set with sissy squats to failure after each set
Lateral raises 8-12 reps x6 sets.
Face pulls 8-12 reps x6 sets.
Hamstring curls 8-12 reps x6 sets.
Repeat this for five days a week like so
Day 1, Day 3, Day 2, Day 1, Day 3
I know this plan is high volume, but that’s what works for me.
Feel free to go to failure every single time and do half the volume if you’d like, just try to not go too far away from that volume.
AVOIDING PLATEAUS
Now, from what I can tell, most people will go to the gym, and eat the exact same number of calories every single day that they go to the gym, and never change their volume, and get sad that they can’t see anymore results. It’s the stupidest shit I’ve ever heard of.
Without any change in your weight or your training, you will never grow. You Will maintain, but not grow.
Change your volume about every 6 months, if you're starting out go on the lower end, if your more experienced, go on the higher end.
CARDIO
Do HIIT running 3 times a week for around 30 minutes.
Aim for atleast 5-7 thousand steps each day, go for a bike ride if you don’t want to walk.
What is HIIT and why do I need to do it?
HIIT is High Intensity Interval Training
HIIT is known to increase blood flow and circulation, while augmenting growth horomone levels significantly.
Example of a HIIT session
2 minute jog
30 second rest
1 minute sprint
1 minute rest
(repeat sprints 8 times)
2 minute cooldown jog to finish.
Stretching afterwards is crucial to avoid injury, so make sure you stretch for around 5 minutes after every workout/run
Results:
Training volume and intensity are relevant to each other. What does that mean? Look below.
This chart shows the theory of high-volume low intensity versus low volume high intensity.
Keyword “Theory” here, in which there is no sort of perfect way set in stone. Over decades of modern and old-school bodybuilding, there has been long term debate in which way is better for muscle hypertrophy. We have seen the likes of Mike Mentzer and Arnold being on both opposites’ sides of the spectrum.
From Arnolds side of the spectrum, we see that Arnold spends so much time in the gym with very little intensity.
When we take a look at Arnold training, it is very easy to notice that most of his reps are just momentum and aren’t exactly perfect form. Now that’s not saying that what Arnold was doing was completely wrong, but with the sheer amount of volume, (5, sometimes 7 hours a day) he is exhausting so much energy than what is necessary.
Well then, why was Arnold still so massive?
Arnold obviously had elite genetics and his training style still produced muscle stimulus, even though his training style was somewhat counter productive.
On the other side, we see Mike Mentzer, the “brainchild” of bodybuilding. Mike introduced what seemed to be a “revolutionary” new way to train. Mike came in with the idea that to grow one must train until absolute exhaustion and failure but in very little time, sometimes only having one set per muscle group per week. Now the idea that most people got from Mentzer was that you only had to go to failure in the actual main movement of the exercise, when in actuality Mentzer meant that one must go to failure in the concentric, eccentric, and isometric part of the moment.
For example, failing to get a full rep on chest press, then having someone help you lift up the bar on the concentric then making you hold the weight on the way down, and after you can let it down anymore, you hold it for as long as you can.
Most people argue nowadays that after going to failure on one part of the movement then switching to an easier version of it, it is really just a fancy version of a drop set.
I must say, to think that you can grow as much as physically possible off of one set alone is absolutely ridiculous. Mike himself said earlier in his career before he dove into research that he followed the standard style of bodybuilding, doing regular amounts of volume, around 20 sets per muscle group per week.
Now, we know that to maintain and recover from prolonged exercise we have to reduce the number of sets at some point, some calling it a ‘deload’, which is proven to work.
My theory is that Mike, as he was starting this experiment of low volume high intensity, he chose people that were either completely new to bodybuilding or people who have been bodybuilding for many years. (Which is hardly a theory, that’s what he did.)
In both of these groups they both would have made significant progress in the first month of his training style, because the newbies would adapt to the new activity that they have never done, and the experienced bodybuilders would get the rest that they needed.
Well then, how did Mentzer’s clients maintain their physiques after the first month of his coaching?
Because they were doing just enough volume to maintain, not grow.
How to train for maximum hypertrophy:
For the perfect balance of volume to intensity, it is ideal to reach about 16-24 sets per muscle group per week. For the intensity side of it, you have to go until you have zero reps in reserve, as in you can do anymore, with maybe a few partial reps, just to try and move the weight, but that’s not really necessary on if you’re on the high end of the rep range.
What tempo and rep range you should be going at for these sets:
New research suggests that you can build muscle at pretty much any rep range, but for me, I stick to about 6-8 reps for my heavy compound movements, like military rows, shoulder press, squat, deadlift, dips, and 10-14 reps for my accessory movements like chest flies, triceps pushdowns, bicep curls, and others.
For tempo, go at about 2 seconds on the concentric and 3 seconds on the eccentric.
On compound lifts or heavy lifts, it is okay to have pauses in between reps to avoid injury.
Its alright it you veer outside of this tempo, as long as its not faster than that tempo.
REST PERIODS BETWEEN SETS:
2-3 minutes for accessories, 4-6 minutes for heavy compound lifts. Make sure to drink water between the compound lifts, but its not as important for the accessories, try to drink at least once every 2 sets.
Between these rest periods, it is sometimes crucial if you are low energy to eat something easily absorbed, like simple sugars in drinks, or anything with simple sugars.
The best exercises for muscle growth:
In general, it is okay to stick to exercises that you feel are effective for you, as everyone does not have the same skeleton, but stay away from stupid exercises like decline chest movements, anything to do with CrossFit, and sumo deadlift.
The exercises that I use and the number of sets that I do per week:
Day 1: Chest, triceps, back and biceps.
I’ve seen more progress doing it this way.
Heavy incline bench or smith press: 8-12 reps x4 sets.
Heavy barbell rows: 6-10 reps x4 sets.
Weighted dips: 8-12 reps x4 sets.
Lat pulldowns: 8-12 reps x4 sets.
Tricep pushdowns: 8-12 reps x6 sets.
Barbell Bicep curls: 8-12 reps x6 sets.
Chest flies: 8-15 reps x2 sets.
Hammer curls: 8-12 reps x4 sets.
Skull crushers: 8-12 reps x4 sets.
Now, this is the basic idea, but if I start plateauing on an exercise, ill change it up, that happens around every month.
Day 2: Abs
Weighted decline sit-ups 10-15 x6
Knee/leg raises 15-20 x6.
Short and simple, can do this on the same day that you train something else.
NEVER train obliques unless you’re a gymnast, as it adds a lot of bulk to your sides, which can look pretty bad.
Day 3: Legs and shoulders
Light squats 15 reps x3 sets to warm up.
Squats 8-12 x6 sets.
Heavy shoulder/ military press 8-12 x6 sets.
Deadlift 6-8 reps x3
Very low volume on deadlift, mostly focusing on strength when it comes to deadlifts.
Leg extension 8-12 reps x4
Super set with sissy squats to failure after each set
Lateral raises 8-12 reps x6 sets.
Face pulls 8-12 reps x6 sets.
Hamstring curls 8-12 reps x6 sets.
Repeat this for five days a week like so
Day 1, Day 3, Day 2, Day 1, Day 3
I know this plan is high volume, but that’s what works for me.
Feel free to go to failure every single time and do half the volume if you’d like, just try to not go too far away from that volume.
AVOIDING PLATEAUS
Now, from what I can tell, most people will go to the gym, and eat the exact same number of calories every single day that they go to the gym, and never change their volume, and get sad that they can’t see anymore results. It’s the stupidest shit I’ve ever heard of.
Without any change in your weight or your training, you will never grow. You Will maintain, but not grow.
Change your volume about every 6 months, if you're starting out go on the lower end, if your more experienced, go on the higher end.
CARDIO
Do HIIT running 3 times a week for around 30 minutes.
Aim for atleast 5-7 thousand steps each day, go for a bike ride if you don’t want to walk.
What is HIIT and why do I need to do it?
HIIT is High Intensity Interval Training
HIIT is known to increase blood flow and circulation, while augmenting growth horomone levels significantly.
Example of a HIIT session
2 minute jog
30 second rest
1 minute sprint
1 minute rest
(repeat sprints 8 times)
2 minute cooldown jog to finish.
Stretching afterwards is crucial to avoid injury, so make sure you stretch for around 5 minutes after every workout/run
respect the grind, ur post rep ratio defines ur looks irl, im .9 thats why im sub5
