This is a first for MuscleHack!

I’m VERY excited to announce that I want to conduct an online experiment, the goal of which is to increase the size of your arms by at least a half an inch in 1 week!

Since the beginning of summer ‘09 I’ve been busy researching behind the scenes. I’ve come to some potentially powerful theoretical conclusions and need volunteers to see how they translate into the real world.

While I won’t spend time right now explaining the theory or WHY I’m asking you to do this or that, I will detail the full protocol to those suitable candidates.

You’ll actually be doing less work in terms of time, but with crazy intensity in terms of effort! You are going to absolutely blitz your arms in a micro-workout!

The workout will be super-short but will be the most intense arm-day of your life! Please note that your body will want to stop short of the intensity I will recommend. You will HAVE to use your mind to overcome this obstacle.

Is half an inch in a week a lofty goal? Sure it is. But there’s a pertinent saying here…

Shoot for the moon, even if you miss you’ll land among the stars

So let’s aim high and see where it gets us. It’s an experiment after all.

Here’s how it’s going to go down…

I want about 20-30 people for this experiment. Suitable candidates must…

* Know what training to REAL failure is and already do this on a regular basis.

* Be prepared to take next week OFF training (except for the arm training itself). This current week (commencing Monday 16 November 2009) will be your last week of regular training. Next week you will train 1 day only – the arm workout I will give you.

* Be on a bulking cycle i.e. not currently cutting.

* Have a tape measure or myotape and be prepared to take daily arm measurements.

* Must own or have access to the following equipment:

- Floor pulley i.e. a machine with a pulley on the bottom of the frame, mostly used for cable rows =>

- Preacher Curl Bench

- Preferably, the following attachment: Stirrup cable attachment =>

- Barbell/Dumbbells

* Be willing to do what I say i.e. there may be temptation to do more or less than what I recommend. To find out whether or not this protocol works as effectively as I think it might, you need to stick to the program as designed.

* A positive attitude and an ability to self-motivate yourself is always nice too

So the first step is to register your interest if you meet the above criteria.

Age, gender, training experience etc. aren’t deciding factors. I want enthusiasm, passion and a willingness to REALLY go for it.

I’ve created a thread at the forum for you to register interest. Tell me a little bit about yourself if you can. And PLEASE don’t be disappointed if you don’t get picked.

Go here… http://www.bodybuildingforum.ie/personal-development/the-arm-blast-experiment-t1351.html

When I’ve got the spots filled I’ll be in touch with the program. I’ll probably create a separate forum for us or something like that to stay in touch.

Let’s Grow!

See You There,

Mark

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If you think it’s too late to get ripped at 40+ years of age, you’re wrong. STOP selling yourself short!

This post will be VERY encouraging to guys and girls who fit into this category, and motivational for everyone else.

One of the biggest surprises I had when I started this site was the sheer number of guys over 40 (sometimes over 60) who contacted me for advice.

Their number one concern?

“Is it too late for me” “Will this work for me?”   “Am I too old?”   “Will my body still build muscle?”   “Will my body still lose fat?”

Okay. Firstly, being in your 40’s is NOT old. I’m personally planning on living for over 100 years (and that’s not a joke).

Secondly, the biochemical changes that result in muscle growth are the same in a 50 year old as they are in an 18 year old. The stimulus required to induce growth is also the same. Fat loss is the SAME process for everyone too.

Is it possible that growth and fat loss may occur at a slower rate because of your age? Yes, but so what. It’s like that Chinese proverb I quoted in a previous article,

“If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking”

We all want to grow faster. We all want to lose fat faster. But so long as we are building/losing at all, we just have to ‘KEEP ON WALKING‘ and we will get to where we want to go.

Fortunately, however, ‘Total Six Pack Abs‘ uses 1.5lbs of fat loss per week as the MINIMUM target; so this system will get you there as fast as you’re going to get there.

Okay, enough from me. Here’s the very first correspondence I received from Chris Wolf after his purchase of ‘Total Six Pack Abs’.

“I’m the 43 year old guy who wrote you a few months ago about my concern that your program wouldn’t work for a guy my age in removing mid-section fat, because I was already in pretty good shape, exercised regularly and ate a high-protein diet. Well, it’s working and I can hardly wait to go work out at the YMCA to see the progress in the mirror. Thanks for helping me to get over the hump to try your book.

And by the way, you really need to warn people that this program is going to cost them a lot of money because they will need a new wardrobe. Not only can I see definition in my abs for the first time in my life, but my butt has shrunk too and I’m walking around in baggy pants. Thanks a lot!”

Some ‘before’ pics of Chris…

Some ‘after’ pics…

A little later he followed up with the following..

“I’m still not where I want to be, but I daresay my 43 year old body looks
pretty good thanks to the MuscleHack diet and exercise. Still walking around
in baggy pants though.”

And this…

“Though I’d like to have followed, and still hope to follow, your program with more discipline of weighing and being scientific, I had great success just focusing on the food choices (your recipes) and subbing those out for bread, starches, etc. My hope would be that this testimonial might help people get over the initial hump of “this is too hard; I won’t have success unless I follow his program to the letter.”

So Chris had great results without even following the program to the letter! He used the training system and simply ate WITHIN the acceptable foods list for both low-carb and high-carb portions. Although this isn’t a bad way to start the program if you’ve never done anything like this before, a more scientific approach would have yielded even better results.

Another thing I’d like to mention is Chris’ obvious muscular development.

His shoulders, arms, and especially pecs have certainly grown. His new lower body fat percentage then adds to the more defined look. This is yet another example of someone that has shattered the myth that it’s impossible to build muscle and lose fat simultaneously. It’s TOTALLY possible if you eat and train in a certain way.

For other guys & girls that fit into this age group: STOP putting off the decision to look great! Start to vividly imagine how your body will look if you make that affirmative decision today. Realize that it will have positive knock-on effects on all other areas of your life…

• Your relationships
• Your career
• Your energy levels
• Your mood
• Your sense of control over your own destiny!

If you decide NOT to make this decision, you’ll end up back at this point in 1 year, 5 years, or 10 years time wondering if you are too old. Wishing you had have gotten serious the first time around. Heck, you’d already have been reaping the rewards for years if you had just gone for it.

Remember that all you power lies in one moment only: NOW! The past and future don’t objectively exist, they are mental projections. ‘Now’ is the only moment we ever actually experience; realize this and seize it!

I want to thank Chris for getting in touch with me and submitting his testimonial. As with the rest of the MuscleHack Testimonials, this was totally unsolicited i.e. I did not ask for this review. People, of their own accord, come back to me because they are so excited about their results. And I really appreciate it!

Chris has his own website, ‘IndeaInc‘. You can also follow him on Twitter here.

Well done, Chris. I’m sure you are an inspiration to many!

Your Buddy,

Mark.

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Huh? A muscle dessert?

Imagine tucking into a sweet, delicious dessert that actually fed your muscles, NOT your waistline.

Now imagine that this high-quality protein snack was low in calories, carbs, and fat.

Sound impossible? It’s not, and I’m about to show you how to do it!

This makes a sweet, high-protein mousse that can complement ANY bodybuilding diet. Whether you’re on low-carb, low-fat, low-glycemic, bulking or cutting, this little beauty fits the bill.

This recipe makes about 6 servings. Make a batch and keep it in the fridge for when temptation gets the better of you.

It couldn’t be simpler, all you need is:

• 1 box sugar-free strawberry Jell-O
• 90g Vanilla Whey Protein
• 1 Cup Fat-Free Sour Cream (Prairie Farm’s is the lowest calorie)
• 1 Cup Frozen Mixed Berries
• 1 Cup Boiling Water

That’s it. All you gotta do is:

• Add the boiling water to the Jell-O and let it dissolve. Then place it in the fridge for 10 minutes and let it cool.
• Then take it back out, add your whey and whisk until the protein is thoroughly mixed through
• Now whisk in the sour cream until frothy
• Now fold in your mixed berries (or you can use just one type of berry if you prefer like raspberries)
• Now refrigerate for a further 4 hours.

The nutritional breakdown is incredible:

• 492 total calories or just 82 calories per serving
• 14g protein per serving
• Just 6.5g net carbs per serving
• 0g fat

Since this is snack food we don’t need a full 30g serving of protein, but you can easily have a double-serving for 28g of protein if you wish. Your meals should also be providing any dietary fats you need so the zero fat count should not be a concern for low-carbers.

A glycemic load rating is difficult here but the net carb count is so low that it’s not too much of a concern. The carbs come from the berries and sour cream; I reckon a GL of 3 is more than enough to cover it.

By the way, this recipe is a modified version of something I saw in a book called ‘Muscle Chow‘. There’s over 150 muscle recipes in there, I’m sure you’ll find some that you can incorporate into your bodybuilding lifestyle.

Enjoy It!

Mark

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You’re going to see some weird and wonderful things in this article!

Some animals (including people) have the ability to develop a freakishly large musculature in a much shorter period of time than the rest of us.

In my last article about bodybuilding genetics I said that one limiting factor was myostatin.

This protein, produced by the gene GDF-8, actively limits the amount of muscle you can grow per unit time. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could somehow block myostatin and enlarge our muscles ridiculously fast?

Before we answer that, let’s have a look at what a mutation causing a myostatin deficiency can do!

Below is ‘Wendy the Whippet’. Looks more like a pitbull with a skinny head!

The mouse on the left has a myostatin deficiency…

The first documented human case was of a German kid. He has twice the muscle mass of other kids his age, and half their bodyfat.

Now, you can guess what happens when this knowledge gets out. Unscrupulous supplement companies start releasing new lines of wonder supplements: Myostatin Inhibitors or Myostatin Blockers. Some people are desperate for effortless muscle gain so this was a no-brainer for these companies. Read on if you want to know if they actually work.

Serious research HAS being carried out on animals where the GDF-8 gene (which encodes for myostatin) was deleted, producing overly-muscled bodies.

However, knocking out a whole gene is not desirable because a gene encodes for many proteins, not just one. Efforts were then made to find a way to bind up myostatin so as to interfere with it at the receptor site. This worked but the compound ‘follistatin‘ also binded other hormones too. Again, this is not desirable.

To successfully inhibit myostatin alone, actual human research was needed. In order for this to go ahead, researchers needed to show that myostatin deletion actually occurred naturally in humans before the Human Research Advisory Committee would give this research the green light. The search was on to find such a case…

Blood samples were to be taken from likely candidates. Bodybuilders were the first and most obvious selection. However, something interesting happened, not a single bodybuilder agreed to have his blood analyzed! A gold star to anyone who can guess why not……not got it yet?

Imagine what would happen to those supplement companies who pay these guys if the average Joe knew that their success had NOTHING to do with ‘Wonder Supplement X‘. Pro bodybuilders would lose a lot of income if people got wind of this. Also, supplement companies would go out of business as too would a lot of bodybuilding magazines.

Over-sized musculatures are the result of one, or both, of the following:

• Genetics
• Steroids

So next time you see a champion pro-bodybuilder guzzling ‘Super-Grow 5000′ in the latest issue of your favorite muscle magazine, realize that this supplement had nothing to do with his freakishly-large muscle mass. He probably doesn’t even use it in real life.

This is not to say that you can’t get big, or ripped, or have an awesome body. You CAN!

But when you’re talking about really MASSIVE guys like Ronnie Coleman, you’re talking about a size that is just not attainable for the average guy. Personally I don’t care, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near that size anyway.

Now, back to the story…

So the athletes with this natural gift refused to take part. But in June 2004 it was announced that a human myostatin mutation had been found! The German kid above is that very human case. Now the research was approved and a drug called Myo-029 was produced.

Phase 1 & 2 trials were conducted which “contained some measures of efficacy”. However, for some reason, in “March 2008 it was announced that Wyeth would not develop the drug further for MD, but would continue to explore myostatin inhibition along with other strategies” (from Wikipedia).

This means that any supplements out there purporting to be ‘myostatin blockers‘ are not real and will not work.

I must reiterate that this is not cause for concern. Everyone CAN grow. Yes, the rest of us have to settle for slower growth but so what! If you’re facing in the right direction, all you have to do is keep on walking.

Don’t get upset because a rare few can reach their goals quicker. Trust me, most people that get into this game end up quitting. To succeed all you have to do is make gains and more importantly, STICK WITH IT!

If you’re interested, the supplements I DO recommend are:

1. Whey Protein Isolate
2. Micronized Creatine Monohydrate
3. L-Glutamine

Also, I only take these once a day (for the most part) as a post workout shake.

Now, I also have a little morning supplementation consisting of:

1. Fish Oil capsules
2. Magnesium or ZMA
   (whichever I have at the time)
3. Multivitamin

Stick with it. Many of us with less-than-desirable genetics have attained the bodies we always dreamed of! You can too!

Stay smart, don’t get scammed, and stay motivated!

Mark

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I’m going to use a word I hate in this article.

That word is ‘limitation‘.

I’m sure you’ve all heard something about genetic potential in the bodybuilding game. You’ve probably heard one or both of the following:

“He’s only got that great body because of his genetics” or,

“I quit because my genetics suck and I’ll never get anywhere anyway”

If you are confused by this topic, this post will clear things up for you.

In this article I’m going to explain these genetic limitations specifically because oftentimes when the topic of genetics is brought up, the conversation ends without any further explanation.

Now, before we get into this, DON’T GET DEPRESSED! I myself have less-than-average genetics.

In school, I was amongst the skinniest guys there. In fact, that was the whole reason I started lifting in the first place!

What’s crazy is that now some people say that I’m lucky. That I must have awesome genetics. You gotta be kidding me! At best, 2 of my body parts responded better than others i.e. my pecs and biceps, but it was STILL hard work, training to failure, and eating right that produced the growth I got.

So let’s have a look…

Somatotype

Although there are an infinite variety of body types out there, 3 main classifications have emerged:

• Ectomorph – skinny, thin torso, little bodyfat or muscle
• Mesomorph – muscular, broad shoulders, less bodyfat
• Endomorph – round torso, thick neck, shorter legs

Most likely you will fall somewhere between the extremes of these classifications. Obviously, the mesomorph body type is advantageous for bodybuilding.

Skeletal Formation

Carrying on from the above, the length, thickness, and structure of the bones also gives clues about genetic potential. Typically, very big guys will have broad shoulders, a small waist, and medium length limbs.

Neuromuscular Efficiency

This refers to to the efficiency of the relationship between the nervous system and the muscles themselves. Someone with high levels of neuromuscular efficiency will actually recruit more muscle fibers during muscular contractions. Those with lower levels will recruit less. For bodybuilding purposes, high levels of neuromuscular efficiency are obviously advantageous.

Muscle Fiber Density

Fairly self-explanatory. To grow muscle, we want to stimulate the fibers to hypertrophy. Obviously the more muscle fibers exist per square centimeter, the bigger you can get, and the bigger you’ll look without ever having lifted a weight.

Myostatin

I’ve talked before about how building massive muscle is a disadvantage from an evolutionary perspective. Sustaining a normal musculature is expensive enough calorie-wise; building MORE muscle is therefore not desirable from the body’s point of view. This is why you HAVE to give the body a damn good reason for it to build more muscle.

One of the ways the body limits muscle growth is through myostatin. The gene ‘GDF-8′ produces the myostatin protein for the purpose of limiting growth. The less myostatin you have circulating in your body, the easier it will be to build larger muscles.

Muscle Length

The longer a muscle is, the more potential there is for it to increase in size. This is because a muscle’s width will never exceed its length. The longer the actual muscle belly, and the shorter the tendons which connect the ends to the bone, the more potential you have to increase the size of that muscle.

This varies from muscle to muscle, which means that one person can have more potential in one muscle than in others. So if your calf muscles are short, that doesn’t mean that your biceps don’t have awesome potential.

Conclusion

PLEASE don’t be too concerned. People with average, or less-than-average, genetic potential are in the vast majority. People with superior genetic bodybuilding potential really are rare. Chances are that 95% of your fellow gym members are in the same boat as you.

I personally learned to embrace my skinny ass wrists and ankles and just got on with the job of building the muscle around them.

It is important to remember that while the above factors will dictate your starting point, and the rate at which you will grow, the fact is that…

EVERYONE CAN AND WILL GROW IF THEY TRAIN INTELLIGENTLY

Never forget that. People have been building muscles beyond normal levels for many, many years. Give your body a good enough reason and it will respond with new growth.

Stay Motivated!

Mark

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A lot of people are avoiding the most productive rep in a set because of an undue fear of injury.

In my last post I put forward the case for continuing a set until muscular failure when the goal is to maximize muscular growth.

However, you may have heard it said that training to failure is unsafe.

There is a fear of going to failure in some circles because they feel the last rep or 2 of a set is the most dangerous. They believe that they are in danger of tearing their tendons by working at this level of intensity.

But is this fear justified? I’ve created a video to answer the question, check it out. I’ve summarized the points below.

• Because of the intensity, fatiguing of fibers, and lactic acid build up, there’s the perception that this last rep is dangerous and can lead to injury.

• This feeling/perception is totally unrelated to the safety of the exercise.

• The key to understanding this is the difference between the strength levels of the muscles and the connective tissues.

• As you progress in a set towards failure, your muscle strength levels diminish. So each successive rep gets increasingly more difficult to execute.

• However, the level of force the tendons can withstand remains constant throughout the set.

• Once your strength levels dip below 50 units (in the above diagram), you’ve reached failure. It’s completely impossible to complete another rep. That last rep forced you to use 100% of your momentary muscular ability.

• Here’s the difference with tendons: tendons are not elastic like muscle. They are strong, fibrous tissue. If you have a tendon that can withstand 150 units of force, it will still withstand this force as much on the last rep as the first rep.

• You CAN damage connective tissue with sudden, jerking movements. Also, attempting to lift a load which forces the tendons to deal with a force beyond that which they can handle will probably lead to a tear.

So don’t fear failure!

Your Buddy,

Mark

P.S. If you found the video useful, please go to the YouTube page and rate up. Thank you

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“The necessary muscle stimulation to force adaptation occurs in the last few reps of a set.”

That’s a quote from my free book Total Anabolism. There’s more to this and if you want to MAXIMIZE increases in muscular size, it’s important for you to understand. We’ll look at muscle fibers, evolution, and the ‘anaerobic window’. Let’s get stuck in…

There is a point in a set where the ‘growth mechanism’ is activated, below which no muscular growth is stimulated.

You can liken this to a switch that’s flipped when you cross this threshold. I contend that this point is ‘failure’. When you reach the point in a set where you cannot possibly complete another positive repetition unassisted, you can say you’ve reached failure.

Muscle growth is actually a defense mechanism by the body. Much in the same way that a blood clot or a suntan is. Of course, a sufficient stimulus is required to produce this type of adaptation. Unfortunately for us humans, our bodies would much rather we built NO muscle whatsoever.

For evolutionary reasons the body doesn’t want to add more muscle!

Why not?

Muscle is metabolically active tissue i.e. the more of it you have, the more calories are required to keep you alive. Our bodies have adapted to expect long periods of hunger. They are also very efficient at storing/synthesizing body fat in anticipation of these periods.

Modern man is faced with the dilemma of wanting to be lean and muscular, while his body wants to have no ‘excess’ muscle (beyond normal levels) and a ready supply of fat for when famine strikes!

It should therefore be abundantly clear that without a really good reason, the body will not readily enlarge upon its existing muscle mass. Except for the neophyte or genetic freak, that reason is ‘failure’.

2B or Not 2B

Our most powerful muscle fibers, and the ones that respond most to weight training, are our type 2B fibers. These are our fast-twitch, anaerobic, power fibers. There are also our Type 1 fibers (slow twitch) and our type 2a and 2ab fibers (fast twitch). (No. 4 in the illustration is a muscle fiber).

Here’s the interesting thing about muscle fibers: They are recruited SEQUENTIALLY. This means that as a set increases in intensity and muscle fibers fatigue, more fibers are recruited from the NEXT fiber type in the following order:

• Type 1
• Type 2a
• Type 2ab
• Type 2b

Logically then, if we want to recruit and fatigue our type 2b fibers, we have to bring our set to a point where sufficient intensity is occurring to call into play the relevant motor units for the type 2b fibers.

In everyday life, the brain will not send out this signal unless there is some sort of emergency situation at hand. However, muscle hackers can voluntarily recruit these fibers by working to a point of muscular failure.

If, for example, a guy does a set of 10 reps, the tenth rep being the last rep possible, he won’t be involving his type 2b fibers until the 9th or 10th rep. All other reps build up to this point as fibers were recruited sequentially, and deeper inroads were made into starting strength levels through ever-increasing intensity.

It is that last, most uncomfortable, rep where the ‘growth switch’ is flipped. Bring a set to this point and you can rest easy knowing that you’ve done enough stimulate growth.

The ‘Anaerobic Window’

An incorrect interpretation of this may be to say that very high rep ranges can stimulate as much growth because if you fail at rep 30, you’ve still progressed through the sequential recruitment, right?

Not really. It is well agreed upon in the fitness world that sets lasting between 60-90 seconds or less will produce more in the way of anaerobic adaptations than aerobic ones. As I’ve stated before, because our ability to recover from mechanical work is not unlimited, sets lasting more than 1.5 minutes will SPLIT adaptations between both the aerobic and anaerobic systems.

While there is nothing magical about a certain repetition number, a good rep range and cadence should have you terminating a set around the 1 minute mark. Therefore training systems that advocate very high rep ranges, or even the SuperSlow ™ movement, are not optimal for those prioritizing muscular growth.

A question I often get is, “How do I know when I’ve reached failure?” I thought about it and came up with the following…

When you think you may have reached failure, try another rep. If you get that rep, try another one and so on. Basically, a set doesn’t end when you decide, it ends when your muscle(s) fails. If you find that you can hammer out 3 or 4 more reps every time you use this method, you are using weights that are too light. Often when people complain that they can’t reach failure, it’s simply a case of submaximal loads. So increase the weight, there’s nothing mysterious about failure, you’ll know it when you hit it.

Training ‘not-to-failure’ can lead to ‘fake progression’. If I use a weight that represents only 75% of my 10-reps-to-failure weight and lift a 10-rep set, I could ‘progress’ for many months by increasing by a rep here, an incremental weight increase there, and so on. My numbers would be going consistently up but I wouldn’t be progressing in actuality because:

• In a few months time I’ll finally reach the point where I lift 10 reps-to-failure with the weight I actually could have used way back at the start. This ‘fake progression’ ensured that I never pushed through the upper limits of my strength potential.

And I wouldn’t actually be growing because:

• I never forced any adaptation because I trained WITHIN my existing strength levels and never made any demand from my body to increase the size of the muscle fibers.

Of course, training with the requisite intensity to trigger growth does involve a longer recovery period and this can confuse some people. Those bodybuilders who train the same body part 3 times a week will fall into this category.

By the time they perform their second workout of the week (hitting the same muscle groups), they haven’t even recovered let alone overcompensated. Oftentimes, they’ll not be able to even repeat their previous performance let alone beat it. This disappointed guy goes back to his old system swearing never to train to failure again.

This longer recovery is for a very good reason though. Those powerful, type 2B fibers we want to hit, also take the longest to recover and overcompensate. The fact that you’ve flipped the growth switch and NEED that longer recovery time should put the over-anxious gym-goer’s mind at ease when he feels he’s not training enough.

So get to the gym and flip that switch!

Train Intelligently My Friends!

Mark

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I’ve created a low-glycemic load protein bar without compromising on taste. Here’s the nutritional breakdown before we get into the instructions:

• Glycemic Load = 5
• 308 Calories
• 37g carbs
• 32g protein
• 3.5 fat

I’ve already created 2 types of homemade protein bars for you guys to enjoy:

• low-carb protein bar
• low-fat protein bar

However, now that I’m a GLADiator (thanks Andrew), I wanted to create one that would fulfill the GLAD criteria:

• It should be rich in high-quality protein
• All carbs should be low-glycemic and total GL for the bar should be low
• There should be some essential fatty acids in there

This bar fits the bill and tastes better than any other I’ve tried.

Check out the video I made showing how to make it…

Here’s the ingredients:

• Whey Protein Isolate (chocolate flavor works best I think)
• Rolled oats
• Ground Flax Seed
• Blue Agave Nectar
• Water

The total Glycemic Load for this bar is just 5.

Blue Agave Nectar is your choice of syrup here owing to it’s low glycemic load i.e. GL 2 for a 20g/1 tablespoon serving.

Making it is simple:

• Mix all your dry ingredients thoroughly in a bowl i.e. protein, oats, and flax seed
• Now add your nectar, but don’t mix in yet
• Add a tablespoon of water
• Now mix it all together. Get your hands in there and really mix it well
• Spoon it out of the bowl and shape it into a bar. Let it set for a while in the fridge or chew it down straight away (it will be very gooey if you don’t let it set).

If you want to go completely natural make sure you use a protein powder without any artificial sweeteners.

Take Care,

Mark.

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The bodybuilding world is bursting at the seams with fiction.

Science, logic, and reason are NOT the cornerstones of this particular industry; tradition and hype unfortunately are.

I mean, who wants to develop a sound theory of this particular branch of exercise science when the new issue of ‘muscle blaster magazine’ promises overnight success?

New workouts and supplements are peddled by steroid-ridden “champions” who’ve never used the product, let alone depend upon it for their results.

People like me have to settle to be in minority because we aren’t prepared to flat-out lie to people in exchange for cash. Being honest with people gets less attention than “Add 2 inches to your arms in 2 weeks!” – it’s all glitz and glamor, less science and substance.

Anyway, rant over.

One of the MANY myths that still pervades this sport is the idea that a higher rep range should be employed to promote fat loss and definition on a cutting cycle.

We’re talking 15-20 reps per set here, sometimes more. The thinking is one, or both of the following:

• High reps will burn more calories than lower reps
• High reps promote a more defined/cut look

Firstly, just because a set lasts longer doesn’t necessarily mean it burns more calories. A low or medium rep range terminates sooner but the intensity of the contractions is higher. This means MORE stimulation of the anaerobic pathway which in turn must mean more stimulation of the aerobic pathway while you REST. (This is because the lactic acid build up converts to pyruvate which MUST in turn be metabolized aerobically. If you want a fuller explanation read the cell metabolism part of this article.)

However, it may be true that, on the whole, a full workout to high-rep failure burns more calories. But if so, we’re talking about tens of calories here folks, not hundreds. Just leave a few peas off your plate and you’re all set.

But there’s a more important issue.

Even if you burned 15 more calories, you’ve effectively SPLIT any adaptations that the body is going to make BETWEEN the anaerobic and aerobic systems. While you can’t truly isolate the anaerobic system by lifting weights, a bodybuilder MUST seek to steer the body’s adaptations towards muscle growth as much as possible.

And you can’t get the best of both worlds because the body’s recovery ability is NOT unlimited. If it were, things would be a lot easier for us guys, but it’s not. Therefore this limited resource must be ’spent’ on recovery and GROWTH of muscle tissue as far as possible.

Remember that when cutting you’ll be incorporating some cardio sessions into your regime to help accelerate the fat loss process. This, along with diet, is what takes care of lowering your body fat percentage. It only makes sense to keep your weight training sessions as anaerobic as possible.

You want to keep muscle-building (or at the very least, muscle-maintaining) a high priority as muscle tissue is metabolically active tissue i.e. it burns calories by simply existing. There are many opinions on just how many calories a pound of muscle burns ranging from 6 – 100. I think a good estimate is 35-50 per day. If you LOSE 5 pounds of muscle when cutting you’ve lost at least 63,875 worth of yearly calorie-burn, which equates to 18.25 pounds of fat. So muscle tissue is key to getting lean, and even MORE important for STAYING lean.

In short, the purpose of your weight training sessions is to stimulate growth irrespective of whether you’re on a bulking or cutting cycle. Attention to diet and incorporating some cardio is what’ll get you ripped. High reps have nothing to do with getting that defined look.

Train Intelligently,

Mark

Related posts:

1. Pictures From My First Successful Cutting Cycle I found some cool pics you might be interested in...

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If you want to grow you have to know!

This means that there must be some sort of objective means by which to measure your results. Without this you could be making no progress at all and not even knowing it.

Now, some people measure their muscle gain by scales. While this is better than nothing, total body weight fluctuates too much to be a reliable marker of muscle gain. Also, what if you lose fat and build muscle at the same time? This is a GREAT result, yet you may actually think you’re getting nowhere. I wrote an article here on why not to use scales to measure increases in muscle mass.

Another measure is the tape. This is a great tool (I recommend the ‘Myotape Body Tape Measure‘ for accurate results without the need for a second person) but suffers from the following:

• What if you’re losing fat on the same area that you’re building muscle e.g. the arms
• Small increases week on week are hard to detect with the tape and you may be fooled into thinking you’re not progressing at all
• If you hold the tape at a slightly different angle you can come up with very different results

So what do we do?

The key to measuring muscular gains is by measuring strength gains.

Any bodybuilding program worth its salt is essentially a strength building program and will centrally focus on the principle of progressive overload.

Here’s why you can count on strength gains as a good indicator…

The cross section of a muscle is directly proportional to its strength.

• In a man it’s about 140 pounds per square inch
• In a woman it’s about 105 pounds per square inch

Basically this means that strength gains correlate positively with muscle size. It does NOT mean, however, that everyone that can curl a certain weight will have the same size biceps – never make that mistake. We all start out with different strength levels, differing muscle fiber density, differing neuro-muscular efficiencies etc.

Always remember that it is YOUR job to make YOUR body as good as it can be. Stop looking over your shoulder at what the other guy can bench or squat or whatever; it doesn’t matter in the slightest. Get your ego out of the road to succeed.

Your only concern is yourself. Ensure that YOU are progressing over time, regardless of what the absolute poundages are. If you could only bench 45kg to failure on the 8th rep, that’s fine so long as you see a progression (even a small one) each and every workout.

Keep this mindset and you’ll reach your goal. Make use of the scales, body fat readings, and tape along the way, but remember that you most dependable friend is your strength gains.

Keep Progressing,

Mark

Related posts:

1. Warning! Do NOT Measure Muscle Gains With Scales. Here’s Why… The scales are NOT the way to track muscle growth!...
2. When To Increase Weight For Maximum Muscle Building Ok, this really needs to be cleared up once and...
3. How To Flip The ‘Growth Switch’ For NEW Muscle Gains “The necessary muscle stimulation to force adaptation occurs in the...

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