Minimalist Training

This is just a short and sweet post

Jason F just sent me a email to let me know he is launching a new training program today

SO WHAT !!!

Well he is giving ALL Muscle Mass readers a huge discount till this Wednesday.

Make sure you check it out

CLICK HERE

The Magic Number for Building Muscle

By Jason Ferruggia


When looking at most popular muscle building workouts you need to understand that most forms of training have just been passed down for decades from one generation to the next, without the inclusion of rational thought. Sometime in the 60’s sensible muscle building programs started becoming less and less prevalent with the rapidly growing usage of anabolic steroids.

In days gone by, men like Steve Reeves and Paul Anderson trained with far more sensible, lower volume muscle building programs, but these started to disappear during the 60’s. By the time Arnold got to Gold’s Gym in Venice for the first time, high volume, bodypart splits were the widely accepted way for everyone who wanted to build muscle and gain strength to train.

This type of training is not based on rational thinking but just on the fact that “it’s what everyone else is doing.” The proponents of these training methods will always blindly tell you that “higher volume training is needed to build muscle.” Says who? I can tell you for a fact that the University of Chicago isn’t wasting time examining the effects of Jay Cutlers workouts. There are no studies saying that you need 8-12 sets per bodypart to build muscle. However, there are, in fact, studies that show the exact opposite; that one set is just as effective as three when it comes to building muscle.

The proponents of this type of training will also tell you that higher volume training is associated with higher levels of growth hormone secretion. What they don’t tell you is that almost anything you do elevates GH. Extreme temperatures elevate GH but my biceps don’t get bigger every time I take a shower. The increased GH secretion is not enough to make the slightest difference whatsoever in the muscle building process.

For the drug free lifter who does not possess muscle building genetics quite up to par with the Austrian Oak, training this way is a huge mistake. Not only does it drain your amino acid pool and glycogen stores but it dramatically increases your recovery time between workouts. If you do 8-12 sets for chest on Monday you can not recover from that workout and be able to train again for seven days. So you are only getting one growth stimulus per week or fifty two per year. Now if you reduce your volume to the point where you can recover faster and more efficiently without draining your amino acid pool and glycogen stores so greatly, you can train bodyparts twice per week instead of once. Now instead of 52 growth stimulating workouts per year for each bodypart, you can now do 104.

To train more often you absolutely have to lower your training volume. The total sets per workout should be kept low and the total sets per exercise should be even lower. Contrary to what a lot of the popular programs out there today prescribe, there is rarely a need to do more than two sets per exercise when you are trying to build muscle. If you can’t get the job done with two sets you probably aren’t training hard enough. In theory you should be able to get the job done with just one set but I like to use two just to be safe and make sure all bases are covered. The second set is basically an insurance set.

The are only a few times you should do more than two sets per exercise. If you are a raw beginner who needs more sets just to practice and perfect your form then you should probably do more than two sets. If you are doing speed exercises such as cleans or box jumps you should also do a few more sets. Finally, if you are varying the reps and weights, you can do more than two sets. For example if you are doing two sets of three with 315, a set of five with 295 and a set of eight with 275, you can get away with more than two sets. But other than that, you should never do more than two sets of any exercise with the same weight for the same reps.

There are a few different approaches you can take to doing your two sets. The first approach is to go balls out on your first set and then drop the weight a little bit on your second set and use it as a sort of backoff set. Theoretically this will allow you to give your most effort when you are freshest on your first set. The second approach is to hold a little something back on your first set and instead use it as a hard, working warm up set. Then you go balls to the wall on the second set. It has been suggested that a heavy, but not all out set, before your money set can serve as a neural primer and arouse your nervous system thus making the second set even more effective. The third option is to not take neither set to the limit but instead just do two very hard sets to clean failure. Each option works very well but you will have to experiment to see which is best for you. The most demanding method would be to do two all out death sets to failure. This can work but may be a bit hard for most people to recover from.

Whatever option you choose will be far better than the normal, mindless nonsense of doing 4-6 sets per exercise and you will get far better results. Better muscle gains with far less work? Sounds like an unbeatable plan to me.

Jason Ferruggia is a world famous fitness expert who is renowned for his ability to help people build muscle as fast as humanly possible. He has trained thousands of clients during the course of his 14 years as a professional fitness coach, including over 500 athletes from 20 different sports. Jason has written hundreds of training articles for top ranked magazines and websites and has authored four books. He is the head training adviser for Men’s Fitness Magazine where he also has his own monthly column dedicated to muscle building. For more great muscle building information, please Click Here!

Hofmekler's Controlled Fatigue Training

Ori Hofmekler is a well-known fitness expert, former Penthouse columnist and no stranger to controversy. His ideas about training run so contradictory to most of what you see in the fitness magazines that most people either say, "the guy's a fucking genius," or "he's a complete dumbass who doesn't know what he's talking about." Love him or hate him, one thing that Ori got right is his concept about the development of super hybrid muscle. In fact, his Controlled Fatigue Training program is really one of the very first hybrid muscle training programs ever put together. Hybrid muscle training develops super hybrid muscles and developing super hybrid muscle is of course you know, the goal of the Lean Hybrid Muscle training program.

Lean Hybrid Muscle is inspired in part by ancient warrior cultures like the Spartans, the Gladiators, the Vikings and others. Ori's concepts are also inspired by these warrior cultures. His interest arose from his formative military experiences, which prompted a life interest in survival science and the ways of the warriors. Ori began researching ancient cultures and based on what he learned, became convinced that ancient warrior cultures like the Spartans, the Gladiators and the Vikings were so successful because they had developed a great deal of super hybrid muscle.

Normal muscle fibers are generally either built for strength or endurance with not a lot crossover-at least not in modern man. Ancient warriors though, not only had great strength, but they had a hell of a lot of endurance too. They were like that because the way they trained forced them to develop super hybrid muscle, which is muscle that has essentially been reconfigured, adding mitochondrial density, resulting in a bigger stronger muscle with more endurance capacity.

Ori says that Controlled Fatigue Training builds super hybrid muscle by triggering our body's survival factors. Survival factors are what keep us alive-there's a lot of them but they include strength, power, speed and endurance. The survival factors are also what trigger the "fight or flight" response-meaning that you're either ready to seriously kick some ass or you're going to haul-ass for the hills with your tail between your legs. The ancient Spartans, Gladiators, Vikings and others, were able to choose "fight" not "flight" because they had developed super hybrid muscle. Their muscles were capable of generating and sustaining strength for extended periods.

Controlled Fatigue Training (CFT) seeks to mimic the same responses in our modern bodies and in the process, prompting the development of super hybrid muscle. Controlled Fatigue Training is built on a methodical combination of strength speed and endurance together-very much like the Lean Hybrid Muscle training program. But CFT isn't just another training program-it's tough. Really tough. So tough that I'd say that at least nine out ten guys who start training the CFT way, don't have the balls to stick with it for more than a couple weeks-if that. CFT requires you to repeatedly shock your body by doing really intense exercises that incorporate strength, speed and velocity to maximize the body's capacity to resist fatigue and stress.

According to Ori, "the core concept of controlled fatigue training is to gradually train the body to resist fatigue and sustain strength during a prolonged intense physical stress. That way one could handle higher volume of intense exercise and thereby be able to gain strength, speed, and velocity with an improved muscle/ fat composition."

The overall CFT workouts incorporate three components: 1) pre-fatigue exercises; 2) core exercises; and 3) post-fatigue exercises. One example of a CFT exercise would be riding a stationary exercise bike on a high level (at least level 10 or above) at a fast pace while simultaneously doing alternating dumbbell raises. Or you might find yourself doing a series of rapid sprints while carry dumbbells and when finished, launching immediately into weighted walking lunges just before doing five sets of dead-lifts. The sets are performed sequentially, with little or no rest between sets. You can rest for no more than one minute between exercises.

So you can see the similarities between Controlled Fatigue Training and Lean Hybrid Muscle Training. Both programs have as a core concept, the idea that when it comes to weight training, if you want to see real results, then moderation is for pussies. You've got to push yourself to your limits and beyond. The repeated intense, brutal onset of physical stress brought on by training programs like CFT and Lean Hybrid Muscle forces our bodies to adapt by increasing their capacity to utilize fuel and resist fatigue-switching the body into "survival mode." Once these triggers have been activated, it stimulates a profound anabolic effect that enables us to survive in times of high physical stress or danger by increasing our strength, speed and velocity while maintaining optimum body composition ratios.

Get my free report entitled, The Warrior Physique - Building The Super Hybrid Muscle. Click Here! to learn how you can rapidly build muscle and burn fat at the same time.

Does Training To Failure Help Increase Muscle Mass?

By Jason Ferruggia

Training to failure has long been a much debated subject amongst fitness professionals. Many experts tell you that if you really want to increase muscle mass you have to go to failure on each and every set you do while others will warn you to avoid training to failure at all costs. At different points in my career I have been on both sides of this fence as I am continually experimenting with more efficient ways of getting bigger and stronger.

Years ago I recommended that everyone go to failure on a regular basis if their goal was to rapidly increase muscle mass. I knew that hard work and high intensity were needed to bring about dramatic improvements in size and strength. This worked out incredibly well when I was training all of my clients with low volume workouts. Eventually I got away from low volume and started experimenting with a slightly higher approach for various reasons. The problem, however, is that you can’t train with high volume and high intensity. When you are doing a large number of sets there is absolutely no way you can take each of them to failure without severely burning yourself out.

After realizing this I immediately started advising all of my clients against going to failure. I told everyone to stop their sets with a rep or two left in the tank but not to ever take it all the way to a point of momentary muscular failure.

This worked fairly well but the fact remains that everyone who is serious about training, and really wants to increase muscle mass rapidly loves to train HARD! So what was happening was people were ignoring my advice and continuing to go to failure on at least 80-90% of their sets. The honest truth is that I ALWAYS go to failure, or very close to it, no matter what volume of training I am using. I don’t know any other way to train and could never stand to give it less than 100% effort when I’m in the gym. To me, and everyone I know who lives to lift heavy weights, that way of training is a lot more fun than going in and trying to hold back. I don’t want to hold anything back, I want to lay it all on the table and give it all I have.

Because of this fact I have steadily lowered my training volume recommendations over the last few years. Nowadays I rarely ever advise doing more than 12 sets per workout if your goal is to increase muscle mass. When you keep your volume this low you can train as hard as you want and safely go to failure on every set without ever worrying about frying your CNS or overtraining. This makes your workouts more fun and more productive. Not to mention, shorter, for all of you who are pressed for time.

When I say you can go to failure on every set I mean that the set should end when you can no longer complete another rep in good form. I don’t want you to literally fail in the middle of a rep as this can be potentially dangerous, especially if you do it on a squat or a bench press when you don’t have a spotter around. What I want you to do is work as hard as you can but stop the set after you grind out one last slow, brutal rep that requires all the effort you can muster without causing yourself to have a nervous breakdown or having your eyeballs pop out of your head. At that point the set is over; do not attempt another rep because that is when you get into overtraining territory.

That’s all there is to it. Remember, low volume plus high intensity is the exact formula needed to increase muscle mass rapidly.


Jason Ferruggia is a world famous fitness expert who is renowned for his ability to help people build muscle as fast as humanly possible. He is the head training adviser for Men’s Fitness Magazine where he also has his own monthly column dedicated to muscle building. For more Training to Failure tips, Click Here!

Why Cardio Doesn't Work for Fat Loss

By: Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS

Click Here!

Cardio exercise is such a strange thing. In theory, it should work
so perfectly well for all men and women, but as anyone who has
tried it knows, the practicality of it just doesn't add up.

After all, some men and women do cardio 6 hours, 9 hours, or more per week, and still have belly fat to burn. On the other hand, it works just fine for others.

British researchers wanted to get more insight into this paradox, and studied 35 overweight men and women, who weren't previously exercising.

(Reference: International Journal of Obesity 32: 177-184, 2008).

Subjects exercised 5 times per week for 12 weeks. That's a lot of
exercise, but it helped the subjects lose an average of 8.2 pounds, which is great - I was positively surprised by the results.

So cardio will work for some people, however, in my experience, it works best in young men, who need the help the least!

Back to the study, the variance in fat loss between individuals was huge. Check this out...

The best subject lost a staggering 32.3 pounds in 12 weeks, while the worst subject actually GAINED 3.74 pounds.

The scientists think they know where things went sour. They
classified the subjects into 2 groups, called the "Compensators"
and the "Non-compensators".

The Compensators were hungrier, and as a result consumed an extra 268 calories per day, all but wiping out their cardio efforts.

Therefore, the Compensators lost the least amount of weight, and scientists believe that was due to the huge "compensatory" increase in appetite experienced by this group.

Does your appetite increase when you do slow cardio? If it does,
research shows it will ruin your cardio efforts.

So if your cardio program is not working for you, check your
appetite and calorie intake to see if you are "compensating" for
your efforts. If you are, you might be better off using a program
of high-intensity resistance and interval training (i.e. Turbulence Training) for your weight loss efforts.

As Australian Professor Steve Boucher has shown in research,
interval training increases hormones called catecholamines. And
increased catecholamines can reduce appetite, among other fat-
burning benefits.

In the real world, few people lose 33 pounds after 12 weeks of
cardio. Heck, few even achieve an average weight loss of 8 pounds with aerobic exercise.

So again, check your appetite, and consider giving high-intensity
exercise a go for your next workout program.

Beat the curse of cardio with high-intensity Turbulence Training.

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training


About the Author

Learn about the "Dark Side of Cardio" in the free report from Craig Ballantyne
Click Here! Craig is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment,
Click Here!

Is a "Pump" Needed to Build Muscle?

By Jason Ferruggia

Who could ever forget that famous line from Pumping Iron where Arnold said that getting a good pump was better than sex?

We all laughed, although some of us harder than others, because deep down we agreed with what he said. But after all these years, the question still remains- is a good pump a defining component of a productive muscle building workout. Is it really that important?

Some people emphatically state that getting a good pump is necessary if you want to build muscle. There are no studies that show this to be true, but real world evidence shows that there is something to getting a good pump. First of all, the ability to easily obtain a good pump is a sign that your body is in an anabolic state and ready to train. It shows us that the body and the cells are well hydrated and ready to grow.

Some days, you go to the gym and can’t get a pump no matter what you do. Those are days that you probably shouldn’t even be training. Your body is telling you something, and that something is that you are not in an anabolic state, probably not fully recovered, and you are not ready to train. In other words you will not be building muscle on that day.

As far as the pump having an anabolic effect, this is debatable, but most bodybuilders swear that there is something to it. When you get a good pump, you are delivering tons of nutrient-rich blood to the muscles that will greatly increase amino-acid uptake. Theoretically, this should result in a greater anabolic effect.

The kind of training that stimulates a good pump causes sarcoplasmic and mitochondrial hypertrophy. This is the kind of hypertrophy which is lost very quickly when you stop training. It is completely different from myofibrillar hypertrophy, which comes from heavy training and lasts much longer. However, sarcoplasmic and mitochondrial hypertrophy is necessary if you want to be as big as humanly possible.

So, while it isn’t proven by science, there is probably something to gain from getting a good pump. Having said that, I definitely wouldn’t make it the focus of your workout. Chasing the pump and disregarding all of the principles of effective training is one of the biggest mistakes you can make and will do nothing to help you build lean muscle.

You can get a great pump from doing 50 pushups but everyone knows that’s not going to build muscle. Just mindlessly pursuing a pump will get you nowhere and may even cause losses in size and strength. However, after you have done the bulk of your workout you can always finish with a backoff set, a rest/pause set or even an occasional drop set to maximize your pump and thus maximize your body's muscle building potential.

For example, on your chest workout you could do a couple heavy sets on the bench press for 5-6 reps and then finish with one higher rep set of 8-12 on dips to get a great pump. If you do this you hit a variety of muscle fibers and target both types of hypertrophy. That way you get the best of both worlds.

Remember, it isn’t necessary and should never be the focus of your workouts (heavy training should) but getting a good pump tells you that you’re ready to build muscle and can even maximize your potential to do so.


Jason Ferruggia is a world famous fitness expert who is renowned for his ability to help people build muscle as fast as humanly possible. He has trained thousands of clients during his 14 years as a professional fitness coach, including more than 500 athletes from over 20 different sports. Jason has written hundreds of articles for numerous top rated training magazines and websites and has authored four fitness books. He is also the head training adviser for Men’s Fitness Magazine where he also has his own monthly column dedicated to muscle building. For more great muscle building information, please Click Here!

Hybrid Muscle Training For Sports?

Regardless of your body type or the type of training that your body responds to best, hybrid muscle training is all around, the most effective way to build muscle and get lean. Often times, guys ask me how hybrid training carries over into sports. Well, regardless of the sport, hybrid muscle training can help you be at the top of your game.

But did you know that there are also sports that by their very nature help you develop hybrid muscle? Actually, any sport that simultaneously incorporates resistance and cardio can be considered a hybrid activity. There are a number of sports that do this-let's talk about some of them now.

Football: This is a phenomenal sport that incorporates hybrid muscle training. The heavy pads provide resistance and with the all the cardio that is involved in the sport, it helps build type III or hybrid muscle. Other aspects of football that involve hybrid training include blocking and training with sleds during practice. All of these are activities that require endurance (the cardio part) and the muscles to deliver sustained strength (the resistance part).

If you have any doubt that football is an awesome hybrid training technique that can build a powerful, muscular physique just look at guys like Adrian Peterson, Terrell Owens or retired stars like Herschel Walker. All three have amazing physiques-and it all is the result of hybrid muscle training.

Strongman: This is really is all about hybrid muscle training. Unlike say powerlifting where the goal is to achieve your one-rep max, strongman training simultaneously requires both strength and endurance. And as you know, the best way to develop these qualities is through hybrid training. Examples of hybrid training activities that you see in strongman competitions include the tire flip, log carrying, truck pulling and the keg toss, among others.

And if you have any doubt that strongman training won't build a powerful, muscular physique, just take one look at Mariusz Pudzianowski and believe me, you'll eat your words.

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA): This one also incorporates hybrid muscle training-in fact, it's essential. Look at the guys fighting in the UFC. Do you think jogging ten miles a day carries over into the octagon and is going to help a guy get in shape for fight? No-two minutes into the match and he'll be winded.

Why? Because the successful fighters have developed hybrid type III muscle that has strength, power and endurance. They need to develop long, sustainable strength. You don't get that from ordinary training. When these guys train they have to mimic the moves they'll be doing in the octagon-grappling, pulling and other things that go on in a real fight. Guys like Ken Shamrock, Matt Hughes and Randy Couture all have developed hybrid, type III muscle.

Highland games: Seriously, this is about as hybrid as it gets. Have you ever seen these events? Some of the hybrid training activities you'll encounter in Highland games include the 56-pound shot put, the hammer throw with a 22-pound round metal ball attached to a handle, or the caber toss. This would have to be the signature event for the Highland games. The caber is a tapered log or pole that varies in height (roughly 19′-22′) and weight (100-130 pounds). They lift it, run with it and then heave it.

Lumberjack games: You've probably seen these on TV before. These games require participants to carry out feats of strength and endurance using extremely large and heavy logs. This one is 100% hybrid.

Arm wrestling: Your probably wouldn't have thought of this one but yes, arm wrestling is most definitely a sport that incorporates hybrid activities. After all, it does require long-or sustained strength-and the only way to get that is through hybrid training.

Track & field: Besides the running, you've also got activities like the shot put and the javelin throw. Both of these are activities that require both strength and endurance.

Kettlebell competitions: Kettlebells have been around a long time. Their shape and handles make them ideal for hybrid training. Some of the activities you'll see here that require long strength include the clean and snatch or the one- or two-armed kettlebell swing, among others.

CrossFit Competitions: These are the kinds of routines that are often touted as the "military" workouts so you'll often see military and law enforcement guys participating in these events. Nearly all of the activities require strength and endurance.

So there you have my response to the question about how hybrid muscle training carries over into sports. As you can see, not only does hybrid training and the development of type III muscle fibers enhance your athletic performance in many sports some sports are even hybrid in their nature.

Get my free report entitled, The Warrior Physique - Building The Super Hybrid Muscle. Click Here! to learn how you can rapidly build muscle and burn fat at the same time.

How to Build Big Calves

By Jason Ferruggia

How to build big calves… it’s a question that I pondered for many years as a kid, being born with calves like string beans. After much experimentation, what I finally realized was that high volume works great for calves. They are probably the hardest muscle to build. Just doing a few sets for them never did anything for me. Since I had no desire to train them and preferred to focus on strength, athleticism and bigger compound lifts they stayed that way for years.

The only time they finally responded was when I hit them with very high volume. I usually do this for about a month and then I am bored to tears and stop training calves again for another year. Also, you can't really tolerate the high volume loading for too long before you will start to develop some ankle/achilles problems. If you are an athlete and run or jump a lot, don't even consider doing high volume calf work.

But if how to build big calves is a question that you obsess over, and you just want to get them jacked then you need to really increase your volume and frequency. I once put two inches on my calves in just over a month! Now, don't get me wrong, my calves are still nowhere near huge, but the point is you can add significant size to your calves if you really want to.

They were Arnold's worst bodypart and he dedicated all his time and effort to bringing them up. He even cut all of his pants off at the knee so he had to suffer the embarrassment of having his calves exposed wherever he went.

One option is to do a set of calves between every set of every exercise you do at each workout. Be sure to go heavy, get a good, deep stretch and hold it for a second (and up to ten seconds) at the bottom and get all the way up on your big toe at the top while flexing your calves hard. When you do standing calves your knees should be slightly bent on the way down and then locked out on the way up.

Another option is to start each workout (or each lower body day) with calves. One day per week would be heavy standing calf raises for 5-10 sets of 5-8 reps and the other day would be seated calf raises done for 4-5 sets of 15-30 reps.

You should also consider training the tibialis anterior muscles. These are the muscles that run down the front of your shin. Some people develop imbalances from too much ankle extension and not enough ankle flexion. When this happens and becomes a problem, the calves will not grow. So train these muscles by hanging your feet off the end of a bench and holding a dumbbell or DARD device between them and flexing your feet up toward you for a few sets of 10-20 reps, twice a week.

After you finish up with standing, seated and donkey calf raises and the tib raises, try doing farmers walks for up to five or even ten minutes while remanining on your toes the entire time. This will absolutely smoke your calves.

Finally, finish up your workouts with 10-20 minutes of jumping rope.

The above strategies should definitely get anyone’s calves to grow rapidly in a couple of months. Just be sure to ease into the extra volume slowly and gradually and take a step back if your ankles start to bother you.

If you are currently doing only 3-4 sets of calves twice per week you should slowly add a set or two at every workout until you get to about 10 or so. Ten hard, heavy sets plus the farmers walks and jumping rope should be more than enough for most people to add an inch or so in a month.


Now you know how to build big calves. For more information on adding size to the rest of your body Click Here!

Train hard,

Jason Ferruggia

Max Effort Cardio?

Max Effort Cardio?
Discovering The Essence of Hard Core Fat Loss

If you’re anything like me… you HATE doing cardio! I can’t even stand the word, “cardio”. It conjures up childhood memories of watching my mom follow along with a Jane Fonda VHS while wearing tights and those knee-high bushy pink socks. — *shiver*

But I DO like the idea of burning off thick layers of beer belly fat and nastiness, without my butt going numb on a bicycle seat or bouncing around on colorful plastic blocks. In fact, the only thing I really enjoy doing in the gym is lifting heavy barbells and throwing around odd objects. So, as a part of my Lean Hybrid Muscle experiment I decided to utilize what I call “Max Effort Cardio”.

Max Effort Cardio is where I illicit a cardiovascular response via mulitjoint barbell exercises or strongman training. So, instead of the typical max effort singles and triples, I use a slightly lighter weight and perform back to back sets of 5’s… and here is the secret to this whole concept, with very MINIMAL rest intervals.

I know, I know… you’re probably saying, “Elliott, that doesn’t make any sense! Everything that I have been taught about weight training says that I should rest 2-3 minutes between max effort attempts — you must be going mad!”


Yes, I HAVE gone mad a long time ago… but all respected scientists do so eventually

Just bare with me for a moment!

If you consider that my Max Effort Cardio system forces your muscles to adapt by increasing Mitochondrial Density, you already understand that this means an increase capacity for fat burning ALL DAY LONG. In fact, it has been noted that weight training in a similar fashion to what I have described also keeps your metabolism burning at an accelerated rate for several hours after completing your training session.

This is in stark contrast to the immediate drop in metabolic rate when engaged in low intensity cardio, such as jogging or pedaling on a stationary bike.

Below is a workout for you to try… but you have to make me a promise. After you try the workout post a comment on this blog post about how you felt and if you think that this type of training can help ANYONE get bigger muscles and burn fat at the same time!

Try this:

Set a barbell with either 95 lbs or 135 lbs (more if you are a monster)

Perform 5-10 sets of 5 Thrusters (see the video below) with less than 30 seconds between sets.

If this doesn’t get your heart beating faster than a jack-rabbit’s in heat, then you’re probably dead.

For more Click Here!

Primal Workouts

Nature is amazing. Plants, animals, humans, insects and ecosystems, left on their own, over time adapt to their environment to not just exist, but to thrive. Each species is designed to do whatever it does best. For example, carnivores like wolves, lions and tigers are built to hunt and kill. They're strong and fast with sharp teeth and powerful jaws. And all this happens naturally. When they are born, their parents don't sit them down and explain to them what they have to do to become skilled hunters-they just go about living their lives and they develop that way naturally.

Animals in nature don't go to the gym. They don't lift weights, they don't do cardio, they don't read about the latest hot training routine and they don't go on diets. Yet despite the fact that they don't do any of these things, wolf cubs, lion cubs and others grow up to be skilled hunters with lean but incredibly strong bodies. Why? Because they live their lives the way nature intended, doing the activities that nature intended them to be doing without giving it any thought. It's like this throughout nature, with all species. What does this have to do with building a better body and why should you care? A lot-and I am going to tell you why.

Over the last thousand years or so man has gotten soft. By nature, we're hunter-gatherers, meaning that our bodies are built both to hunt and to forage for food-we kind of get the best of both worlds. But as our society has become more civilized we've moved away from doing the things that nature intended our bodies to be doing. And as a result, for the most part we've become flabby, soft and out-of-shape. We don't have to hunt down animals and kill them with our bare hands or with simple tools and we don't have to traverse long distances, searching for fruits, vegetables and nuts. When we did have to do those things every day in order to survive, we developed naturally lean and strong bodies-without even thinking about it.

Today though, we go to the gym, use machines, moon over the latest fad diet or hot new supplement. And what's the result? More people than ever before are overweight or obese. Our intellect and knowledge have grown exponentially but yet overall, we're in progressively worse shape than at any time in our history. What's the problem? I'll tell you what the problem is-it's us. When man intervenes things start to get all mucked up.

We've moved away from living the way nature intended us to live. We train at the gym doing exercises that are unnatural and wonder why we don't get results. Our ancestors didn't do this but yet they thrived. Look at the warrior cultures like the Spartans, the Vikings, the Roman Gladiators and others. They didn't have gyms but they developed lean, powerful, muscular bodies. They got that way because they did what they had to do to survive. They trained every day not doing isolated, contrived movements, but using compound movements that incorporated a variety of training styles and developed real-world skills.

Our ancestors didn't order carry-out food. If they were hungry they had to go out and forage or hunt. And while doing this, sometimes they got chased by wolves, bears or other humans. Food had to be carried across distances. If they killed a bear, they probably had to drag it a long ways back to camp. And the warrior cultures did the same thing-trekking across the land wearing their heavy battle gear and lugging cumbersome weapons, supplies and even wounded soldiers. These are the kinds of activities that are bodies were built to do. When we did those things on a daily basis, we just naturally got the best results without even thinking about it. Our ancestors-the hunter/gatherers and the warrior cultures developed into what they were and thrived because if they didn't, they would have perished.

And if we today want to see the same kind of results and be lean, muscular, strong and healthy, we need to stop looking for the magic bullet and look to our past. We need to get primal and train the way nature intended our bodies to train. To get really healthy and get the bodies we want we need to exercise the way our ancestors lived by getting primal in our workouts. So how's a modern guy supposed to "get primal" in his workout? One of the best ways to train like our ancestors is by following training strategies like Lean Hybrid Muscle Training and others.

As you may already know hybrid muscle training is a training philosophy. It incorporates the best of bodybuilding, powerlifting, strongman and cardio and combining them into a cohesive training philosophy that essentially mimics the sorts of intense physical activities our ancestors would have done on a daily basis. The approach runs totally contrary to most of what you may have read in magazines but most "revolutionary" ideas have done the same. It's a way to burn fat and build muscle at the same time, without the hit or miss-mostly miss-hassles of bulking and cutting. Lean Hybrid Muscle Training will really supercharge workouts and completely maximize your results.

Get my free report entitled, The Warrior Physique - Building The Super Hybrid Muscle. Click Here! to learn how you can rapidly build muscle and burn fat at the same time.

SHAKE IT BABY

By Jason G

Being a conditioning coach I get asked by athletes and clients all the time about what is the best protein shake to take. But there is a little bit more to it that just which brand to buy.

So we all know about carbs and low and hi GI, but few people know that the same applies to proteins.

To make things simple we’ll just refer to proteins as slow release and fast release.

The two types of proteins my athletes and clients use to get great results are whey based and casein based.

Whey protein is fast release and should be consumed as soon as you wake and after a workout in the form of a whey protein shake. Shakes are great as they are obviously liquid and can be used straight away by the body with no breaking down needed for up to an hour.

Casein based protein is slow release. Having a casein based protein will ensure a steady release of protein into your system for up to 7 hours. Having the right amino acids constantly freely available in your system will ensure that your body always has the building blocks needed to repair and build muscle

Best sources of Casein:
Casein Protein Powder ( look for micellar casein )
Cheese
Cottage Cheese
Milk

Best sources of Whey:
Whey Protein Powders

Basics of Training for Size, Part 2

By John Romaniello

Last time, we discussed one method of structuring training for the purposes of hypertrophy.

As I mentioned, while high-rep training is probably the fastest route towards mass gain, it is also an entirely single-purposed method. Great for beginners, and used even at the highest levels of bodybuilding, high-rep/high-volume training is good for gaining size and very little else.

On the other side of the spectrum, if you’re looking to get both big and strong, you have a more difficult road ahead of you, but with a greater goal at the end. In this case, we’d be talking about training with heavier loads and lower volume.

Strength increases are the result of training with heavy weight, which by default will place a pretty stringent limit on the amount of reps you can perform on a given set. Strength-oriented training relies on performing sets using anywhere from 1-5 reps, with the average being 3.

Heavy training is not only optimal for strength gains, but it can also be used to accrue a serious amount of muscle. Training with high weight recruits what are known as type IIb muscle fibers, which are the densest fibers and have the most potential for muscle growth. By lifting heavy, we activate these bad boys faster than I turn on sorority girls, which can potentially lead to gaining mass. Heavy lifting that is, not sorority girls.


As you might imagine, it becomes necessary to change things around in a given workout to meet our goals. As we’ve seen, it’s quite possible to increase size without strength, and the reverse is true here: you can get a lot stronger without getting bigger.

Once more we need to look at things from the perspective of volume. In order to allow for the necessary weight, we need to keep the reps per set pretty low. If you followed the generally bullshit training most clueless meatheads drop on you, the upper limit for sets would be 3 or 4 per exercise. With heavy training, this would leave you at about 9-15 total reps. Your strength would increase, but this is just not enough to stimulate growth.

So, to bump up the volume to a level that will be optimal for growth, we increase the number or sets. However, because of the heavier weight and the toll such training takes on the body, it is better to aim for just about half the total volume of the previous type of training we discussed. Or, simply put, around 60-75 reps

Once again, here is an example using chest:

Low Incline Bench Press – 10×4 (40 reps)
Weighted Dip – 8×3 (24 reps)
Flat Dumbbell Bench Press – 2×5 (10 reps)

So we’re topping out at only 75 reps, but the heavy weight makes each set pretty brutal.

Training in this way is, in the long run, probably more effective than high-rep training. Not only will you be stimulating type IIb fibers growth, but the constant exposure to heavier weights will lead to much greater strength increases; which, in turn, will allow you to continue to push out more reps with heavier weight should you ever decide to return to high rep training.

The main drawbacks here are the effects on your body. Firstly, it must be mentioned that constant use of heavy loads puts you at much greater risk of injury, particularly if you’re training any sort of pressing movement in this way.

When you use “lighter” weight (as in higher reps), the stress on your joints and connective tissue is lesser by far.

For this reason, it becomes more important to employ proper warm up techniques and practices nearly every workout, especially as you reach the upper levels of strength work. This is often time consuming and boring—sometimes multiple warm-up sets with just the bar—but it is of paramount importance.

In fact, in a recent interview with T-Nation.com, Bench Press Tzar Dave Tate stressed the importance of warm-up sets saying, “Don’t leave the weight and jump up until you’re absolutely ready to. There’ve been times at Westside where we used the bar for eight sets. These are world-record holders who aren’t ready to go to 95 pounds.”

And if there is anyone worth listening to with regard to benching, it is, as he is known in the industry, Dave Fuckin Tate.

Secondly, another consequence of heavier training is how very draining it is. Not only during the workout itself—necessitating longer rest periods and thereby slower paced workouts—but also after. Training with weight so heavy you can only lift it 3-4 consecutive times is phenomenally taxing on your body.

In order to recover properly, you need to pay extra attention to your para-workout nutrition, in particular your post workout shake.

More importantly, there needs to be more time between training sessions to allow for adequate recovery. Generally speaking, when training in this way, I recommend one training session per muscle pairing per week. Contrast this with high rep training, where you can probably squeak in two workouts per week with only a day or two of rest between.

Because of the less frequent—albeit more intense—stimulation, while you stand to allow for great muscle growth, it is sometimes a bit longer in coming.

Now, as mentioned in the beginning of the discussion, one of the larger factors in all of this the specific fiber make up of the individual in question.

Depending on their unique typology (if you’ll forgive the use of some pseudo-scientific industry jargon) some people will just always react better to higher reps, while others respond particularly well to low reps. And of course, there are the freaks who tend to grow well on any training program, regardless of set structure, rep range, or weight.

Again, as previously mentioned, it is pretty hard to ascertain your own fiber make up, and so the obvious approach is trial and error—switch the structure of your programming every few weeks and figure out what you respond best to.

In the mean time, come back tomorrow for some ideas about advanced levels of programming for size.

To find out more CLICK HERE

Basics of Training for Size, Part 1

By John Romaniello


Early this morning, I was working with a client doing some heavy benching, and we were interrupted by another gym member during a set.

Now, I normally don’t appreciate interruptions, but this chick was pretty cute and happened to be complimenting my client on his progress, so I let it slide and was happy to take a break while they dialogued for a bit.

Then another person came over—the admirer’s boyfriend. Lame.

I appreciate boyfriends even less than I appreciate interruptions.

On the other hand, the boyfriend was also pretty complimentary towards my client, which made me feel proud. He’s gained a significant amount of muscle in a pretty short time—just over 10 pounds in 6 weeks.

We keep careful records, and the numbers are always right in front of us, but having a few people notice is great. Especially for me, because it shows what an awesome trainer I am. Which, for the record, is Quite Awesome.

Anyway, emboldened by our receptiveness to his adoration, Cute Girl’s Boyfriend starts asking all sorts of questions which I did not, at that moment, have the time to answer. I asked him to wait a few minutes while we wrapped up our training session.

Three sets of bench press later and I’m seated at a table answering rapid fire questions from a kid who clearly has been getting the wrong information from all the wrong sources. He’s asking questions in earnest, as his training has not been productive lately.

He happened to ask me what the “best” set and rep scheme was for gaining muscle, and I inwardly groaned as I realized that this wasn’t going to be a short conversation. Without committing to a definitive answer of what I think is best, I gave him a rundown which I’d like to share with you.

If the question is, “which set/rep range is best for muscle gain?” the simple answer is “all of them.”

Unfortunately, that is also the most complicated answer.

You see, it’s like this: your muscles are made up of various types of fibers, and which rep ranges you best respond to is going to be a factor partially determined by your particular fiber make up.

Of course, without dissecting you (which, while undoubtedly fun, would not be very efficacious in terms of your training), there really isn’t any way to tell you what your general fiber make-up is, or what type of rep and set schemes you’re going to respond to. None of which really answers the question, of course. I know, just wait a tick, I’m getting there.

Let us assume for a moment that the training focus is entirely on growth, and not at all on strength. In that case, your concentration should be on the higher rep ranges; sets of 10-12, 12-15 or even as high as 20 are on the menu. As for the number of sets: well, that is something that will be determined by the number of exercises you for a particular body part.

It helps to think of things in terms of total volume. If you are training with higher reps, I would try to limit a specific muscle group to around 120 reps per work out, preferably just under.

Here is an example using chest:

Bench Press – 4×15 (60 reps)
Incline Dumbell Press – 3×12 (36 reps)
Dumbbell Fly – 2×10 (20 reps)

We’re looking at a total of 116 reps there, give or take any extras your were able to squeeze out, or reps you were unable to complete.

The reason for the high reps if your focus is primarily on hypertrophy is, once more, fiber make up. You are training for what is known as sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, or fluid hypertrophy.

High rep training is the simplest, fastest, and most visibly obvious way for beginners to pack on mass. The drawback is that the higher rep schemes used in this type of training necessitate very light (in relative terms, at least) loads to complete the set.

That being the case, strength tends not to increase. In fact, in some cases you may even notice a decrease if you attempt heavier training.

This is typical “bodybuilder” type training – all show and no go, as they say. You’ll look strong, but you won’t be strong. However, if all you’re going for is a good look in a tight shirt, this may sound like something you might be interested in.

In most cases, when new trainees hit the gym, they do some incarnation of this. They progress a bit, and then stall out. As with all things: when it comes to training everything works, but nothing works forever.

Tomorrow, we’ll discuss another way to structure your sets and reps to increase not only size, but also allow for rapid gains in strength.

To find out more CLICK HERE

Interview with Jason Feruggia

Interview with Jason Feruggia:

Most guys are being told to follow bodybuilding splits, train multiple times a day, and other non-sense training tactics that don’t work. What tips do you have for people looking to build muscle as fast as possible?

The key to making consistent size gains is making consistent strength gains (in a hypertrophy rep range) while eating enough food and allowing enough time for recovery. You need to constantly be doing more weight or more reps. The body will respond to any given stimulus one time and one time only. If you place the same demands on it a second time (like pressing the same weight for the same reps) nothing will happen. You must always be forcing it to adapt and thus you must always ask it do something it isn’t used to.

The easiest way to do this is add more weight or do more reps with the same weight. Aside from making consistent strength gains the next most important thing to consider is training frequency. To improve anything in life you need to do it frequently. Building muscle is no different. So you want to train a muscle as frequently as possible, while it is in a fresh and recovered state. This means that you should be training each body part once every 2-5 days, and not once a week like a lot of the muscle mags recommend. That’s too little frequency. The more times you can stimulate growth throughout the year the better. Obviously 104 growth stimulating workouts per year for each body part would be a lot better than 52.

I have seen the phrase “stimulate, don’t annihilate” on your blog in reference to training. Can you explain what you mean by this and the relation to training volume?

To elicit a training response you need to present the body with a stimulus that it isn’t used to. This stress will cause the body to adapt. The body adapts by building itself up bigger and stronger.

Where people go wrong is that they think they need to annihilate the muscle in order to elicit any type of response. This is completely counterproductive. When you annihilate the muscle with tons of sets and reps and intensity techniques like drop sets you drastically increase your recovery time. And as I mentioned previously, frequency is very important. So when you increase your recovery time you have to decrease your training time. You’re shooting yourself in the foot. The key is to do just enough to stimulate size and strength gains but not annihilate yourself so that it takes forever to recover, or worse- that you put yourself in a state of overtraining.

Triple Threat Muscle is your new program. What separates this program from all the others and can you tell our readers why you created it?

My Muscle Gaining Secrets program is specifically geared toward skinny guys, hardgainers and beginners. This is more of an intermediate/advanced program that is more athletically based. So while the main focus is still on building muscle there is also a shift toward a bit more speed work, mobility and conditioning in Triple Threat Muscle. The new program was created for the typical weekend warrior or Average Joe who wants to look and train like an athlete but doesn’t actually have the time or recovery ability to spend more than a few hours per week in the gym.

I spent the last two years experimenting on a wide group of individuals to come up with the most effective and fastest way to do this. Triple Threat Muscle is the result of two years of hard work and is based on all of my findings.

And finally, what general tips can you give to our readers who want transform their bodies?

• Strength train 3-4 days per week.
• Lift heavy and keep most of your sets in the range of 3-10 reps.
• Don’t go to failure.
• Train each body part 2-3 times per week.
• Don’t do more than 12-16 total sets per workout.
• Always strive to get stronger.
• Eat natural, organic foods and avoid anything processed.
• Sleep 8-10 hours per day.
• Minimize stress.
• Get out in the fresh air and sun more often.

To find out more got to Jason's new site, CLICK HERE

1 Key to FAST muscle growth

By Jason Ferruggia

Stop over thinking. That’s it. That’s one very important key to fast muscle growth. It’s that simple. Stop doing that and instead focus on what’s really important and you’ll grow a hell of a lot faster.

Every day people ask me what angle they should set the incline bench to, should they do hill sprints or sled sprints, whether they should wait two hours or two and half hours between meals, if they should do six reps or eight reps on dumbbell presses, if they should rest between arms when doing 1 arm rows or do both arms and then rest.

It’s all way too much thinking and over analyzing. Stop stressing yourself out over all the minute details that make very little difference in the big picture.

The majority of people who fail to gain any appreciable amounts of size and strength do so because they over think, over analyze and bang away on the keyboard more than they actually eat, sleep and train.

Simplify it all and your results will come much faster. Not to mention the fact that your life will be a lot less stressful.

Muscles get bigger when you apply a stress they are not used to and then feed them properly and allow them adequate time to recover.

How much stress is enough? A lot less than most people think. Muscle growth can be stimulated in just a few hard sets.

Your goal is not to get the most massive pump possible. Skinny guys tend to chase the pump during their workouts. It’s one of the reasons why they remain skinny. Doing an extra three sets of curls because it temporarily makes your arms a half an inch bigger is a waste of time. It does nothing to contribute to real muscle growth. The pump is just a rush of blood in the muscles. It’s not real, lasting size. So don’t obsess over it.

The easiest way to stimulate growth is by lifting heavier weights or doing more reps with the same weight (up to a point). Anything over twelve reps on most exercises will be a waste of time for most people. Hardgainers are better off sticking with ten and under. Advanced guys can get away with higher reps, occasionally; especially on lower body exercises.

So your goal is to beat your training journal every week. It helps to have a training partner and to try to beat him as well. The more motivation the better. Just get stronger, no matter what it takes. Do this three or four days per week and don’t spend more than an hour in the gym.

If your numbers are going up you know you are recovering properly and that your training is on point. But the scale needs to go up too. So make sure you are eating enough to make that happen. You can do that on the Paleo Diet, the Zone Diet, a vegetarian diet or whatever works for you. When all is said and done the most important thing is that you eat clean, organic food and get the necessary calories required to make the numbers on the scale go up.

You don’t want to get fat in the process, so the majority of you (except the genetic freaks whom we all envy yet secretlydespise) will need some type of cardio or conditioning to keep body fat levels in check. By far and away the number one choice here would be some type of sprinting. Do this once or twice per week. And get really good at jumping rope.

Simple, right?

Now stop thinking and start growing.

Jason Ferruggia

For more info go to Jason's new site CLICK HERE