Naturally Intense High Intensity Training Fitness Blog

Vanadyl Sulfate and the Placebo Effect: The Supplement I Thought Was Making Me Grow

Kevin Richardson — Mon, 03 Aug 2026 11:37:26 +0000

Vanadyl Sulfate for Bodybuilding: The Supplement I Thought Was Making Me Grow

In the early 1990s, I took a bodybuilding supplement called vanadyl sulfate and experienced some of the best muscle pumps of my life.

The pumps were so dramatic that I genuinely believed I could see myself growing.

My arms felt like they were going to burst after curls. After training my back, the pump was so intense that I could barely bring my arms down comfortably at my sides.

And I wasn’t the only one.

Other experienced natural bodybuilders around me were reporting exactly the same thing.

So if vanadyl sulfate worked so well, why have most people today never even heard of it?

Because what happened with vanadyl sulfate taught me one of the most important lessons I’ve learned during nearly four decades of natural bodybuilding:

Just because a supplement feels like it’s working doesn’t mean the supplement is responsible for your results.

Was Vanadyl Sulfate Just a Placebo Effect

Vanadyl sulfate — sometimes spelled vanadyl sulphate — is a vanadium compound that became extremely popular in bodybuilding circles during the early 1990s.

At the time, the supplement industry was beginning to explode.

I was training naturally in Trinidad, trying to build as much muscle as I possibly could without using anabolic steroids or other bodybuilding drugs.

Then vanadyl sulfate appeared.

The marketing claim was extremely compelling.

Vanadyl sulfate was promoted as a kind of natural insulin mimetic, meaning it was supposed to produce some insulin-like effects in the body.

The basic bodybuilding argument went something like this:

Glucose + amino acids → muscle cells → greater fullness and muscle growth

If a supplement could supposedly help drive more nutrients into muscle cells, then the promise was:

Better nutrient partitioning
Increased glycogen storage
Greater muscle fullness
Bigger pumps
Better recovery
More muscle growth

For a natural bodybuilder in the early 1990s, that sounded extraordinary.

Why Natural Bodybuilders Were So Excited About It

You have to understand the environment at the time.

Natural athletes were constantly being reminded that drug-enhanced bodybuilders had advantages that we did not.

If you were committed to remaining drug-free, you knew there were limits to what supplements could realistically accomplish.

So when something appeared that was being marketed as a compound capable of improving nutrient delivery to muscle tissue without drugs, people wanted to believe it.

My training partner Gully and I talked about vanadyl sulfate constantly.

So did other experienced lifters around us.

People compared dosages.

If the recommended amount seemed to work, naturally the next question became:

What would happen if you took more?

There was an almost electric feeling in the gym.

It felt as though natural bodybuilders had finally discovered something that actually made a noticeable difference.

And I wanted it to work.

That point matters.

Because what happened next is where this story becomes much more interesting.

The Vanadyl Sulfate Pumps Were Incredible

I started taking vanadyl sulfate according to the recommendations at the time.

Then I waited.

And the pumps came.

By that stage I had already been training for years. I knew what a muscular pump felt like, especially from the type of high-intensity training I was doing.

But this seemed different.

The muscle fullness was unlike anything I remembered experiencing previously.

After curls, my arms felt enormous.

After a back workout, the fullness could become almost uncomfortable.

I would look at myself in the mirror and genuinely think:

I can see myself growing from this.

And again, it wasn’t simply my imagination in the sense that nothing physical was happening.

The pump itself was real.

Gully experienced it.

Other lifters experienced it.

People were reporting better pumps, greater fullness and the feeling that recovery had improved.

Multiple experienced natural athletes were all using the same supplement and reporting similar physical sensations.

On the surface, that sounds like extremely convincing evidence that vanadyl sulfate worked.

But there was a problem.

The Pumps Were Real. The Muscle Gains Weren’t.

As the weeks turned into months, something became increasingly difficult to ignore.

The pumps continued.

The excitement continued.

But the actual muscle growth we expected from vanadyl sulfate wasn’t materializing.

There was no obvious increase in muscle mass that we could attribute to the supplement.

And eventually research began failing to support many of the extraordinary claims that had been made for vanadyl sulfate in healthy individuals.

The marketing story and the measurable results simply didn’t line up.

Then something very familiar happened.

Vanadyl sulfate quietly disappeared from the center of the bodybuilding supplement world.

There was no dramatic announcement.

The industry simply moved on to the next promising ingredient.

And most of us moved on with it.

So Why Did Vanadyl Sulfate Feel Like It Worked?

This is the part of the story that stayed with me.

After decades of natural training and coaching athletes, I’ve come to believe that the most interesting part of my experience wasn’t vanadyl sulfate itself.

It was expectation.

The pumps were real.

The experience was real.

My belief that something was happening was certainly real.

But that doesn’t mean vanadyl sulfate was producing the muscle-building effect I attributed to it.

Think about what happens when you genuinely believe you’ve discovered something that will improve your training.

You go into the gym excited.

You’re focused.

You pay closer attention to every contraction.

You notice every sensation.

You may train with greater purpose.

You expect the workout to be exceptional.

And then you start looking for evidence that your expectation is correct.

That mental state can change the entire training experience.

It certainly changed mine.

How Much of Your Supplement’s Effect Is Actually You?

This raises a question that I think every natural athlete should ask.

When your current supplement feels like it’s working:

How much of that effect is coming from the supplement — and how much of it is coming from you?

This is especially important when the effect you are measuring is something subjective like:

Muscle pumps
Energy
Focus
Motivation
Perceived recovery
Muscle fullness

Those sensations can be very real without proving that a product is increasing muscle growth.

That’s an important distinction.

Feeling something and building additional muscle are not automatically the same thing.

The Supplement Industry Can Make Natural Athletes Feel Powerless

My biggest problem with supplement culture isn’t simply that products can be overhyped.

It’s what happens psychologically when athletes begin believing that success depends on something outside themselves.

A powder.

A pill.

A pre-workout.

A new compound.

The latest ingredient everybody online is talking about.

Over time, you can begin attributing your strength, your progress and your physique to products instead of to the things that actually required years of effort.

That can be profoundly disempowering.

Because your results didn’t come from a bottle.

You built them.

You showed up.

You trained.

You pushed yourself.

You ate consistently.

You recovered.

You did the work repeatedly for months and years when there was no immediate reward.

A supplement should never be allowed to take credit for the work that you did.

What Vanadyl Sulfate Taught Me About Natural Bodybuilding

I have no regrets about taking vanadyl sulfate.

In fact, I’m glad I had the experience.

Because it taught me something considerably more valuable than the supplement itself ever could have.

The more excited you are about a supplement, the easier it can become to convince yourself that it is responsible for everything you are experiencing.

That lesson stayed with me.

I eventually stopped using bodybuilding supplements altogether.

I haven’t relied on them for bodybuilding for more than 30 years.

And after nearly four decades of natural training, I believe more strongly than ever that natural athletes underestimate how much they can accomplish through intelligent training, consistency, nutrition and patience.

Your Mental State Matters More Than Most Lifters Realize

There is another lesson here that goes beyond supplements.

What you believe about your training matters.

What you expect from yourself can influence how you approach a workout.

Your level of focus matters.

Your intention matters.

Your willingness to push when the workout becomes difficult matters.

This isn’t simply philosophical motivation.

For a natural athlete, your mental state can be one of the most practical tools you bring into the gym.

That’s a subject I will be exploring much more deeply, because after decades of training myself and coaching other athletes, I believe the relationship between expectation and physical performance is one of the most underestimated aspects of natural bodybuilding.

Do You Need Vanadyl Sulfate to Build Muscle?

No.

And the bigger lesson is that you should be cautious about attributing your progress to any supplement simply because you notice a pump, more energy or some other immediate sensation after taking it.

Muscle growth is the result of what you do consistently over time.

No supplement can replace:

Progressive physical challenge
High-quality training
Appropriate recovery
Consistent nutrition
Patience
Years of sustained effort

Natural bodybuilding is a long game.

Your greatest advantage is not finding the next miracle supplement.

It’s learning how much your own body is capable of when you train intelligently and refuse to become dependent on shortcuts.

Frequently Asked Questions About Vanadyl Sulfate

What is vanadyl sulfate?

Vanadyl sulfate is a vanadium compound that was heavily marketed to bodybuilders in the 1990s, particularly for its supposed insulin-like effects and potential ability to improve nutrient uptake into muscle cells.

Why did bodybuilders take vanadyl sulfate?

Bodybuilders used it because it was promoted as an insulin mimetic that could potentially increase muscle fullness, pumps, glycogen storage, recovery and muscle growth.

Does vanadyl sulfate build muscle?

The dramatic muscle-building claims surrounding vanadyl sulfate did not ultimately hold up the way many bodybuilders expected. Experiencing a stronger pump while using a product does not by itself demonstrate increased muscle growth.

Did vanadyl sulfate improve muscle pumps?

I personally experienced extraordinary pumps while taking it, as did other lifters around me. The important distinction is that experiencing a pump does not prove that the supplement itself is producing additional muscle growth.

Do natural bodybuilders need supplements to build muscle?

No. I have trained naturally for decades and have not used bodybuilding supplements for more than 30 years. Intelligent training, nutrition, recovery, consistency and patience remain the foundation.

Learn More About Naturally Intense High Intensity Training

If you’re interested in learning how I approach natural muscle building through Naturally Intense High Intensity Training, you can explore more of my training philosophy here at our official website.

And if you’d like to train online with me or one of my trainers, information on our online personal training programs is available through the links below.

The vanadyl sulfate era was a fascinating chapter in my bodybuilding life.

But the most valuable thing it taught me had nothing to do with the supplement.

The results never came from the bottle.

They came from the work.

And they came from you.

Excelsior.

The post Vanadyl Sulfate and the Placebo Effect: The Supplement I Thought Was Making Me Grow appeared first on Naturally Intense High Intensity Training Fitness Blog.

The 5-Minute Chest Workout That Built My Pecs Naturally

Kevin Richardson — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 21:35:35 +0000

Most chest workouts are built around the same old formula.

Bench press. Incline press. Dumbbell press. Flyes. Cable crossovers. More sets. More exercises. More volume.

But what if that is exactly why so many natural trainees never build the chest they want?

In the video below, I break down the unconventional chest training approach I have used for decades as a lifetime drug-free natural bodybuilder. It is not based on spending an hour on chest day. It is not based on chasing more and more exercises. And it is definitely not based on copying the routines of steroid-using bodybuilders or genetically gifted influencers.

This is a brutally intense, joint-friendly chest workout that can be done in about 5 to 6 minutes, once per week.

Why Most Chest Workouts Fail Natural Lifters

The majority of chest training advice online comes from people who are either genetically gifted, enhanced, or both.

That matters.

Because if someone has elite genetics or is using performance-enhancing drugs, they can often grow from training approaches that may not work nearly as well for the average natural lifter. They can usually tolerate more volume, recover faster, and build muscle under conditions that would bury most natural athletes.

That was not my story.

When I started bodybuilding, I was 125 pounds at six feet tall. My chest was one of my weakest body parts. It was so underdeveloped that when I started training back in Trinidad, people would joke and ask if I was a pirate because I had a sunken chest.

Regular progressive resistance workouts did not do much for me.

What changed everything was learning how to train with far less volume and far more intensity.

Instead of doing more exercises, more sets, and more weekly chest workouts, I focused on creating a stimulus strong enough to force my body to adapt.

That is the foundation of Naturally Intense High Intensity Training.

The Real Goal of Chest Training

The goal of chest training is not to see how many exercises you can do.

The goal is not to spend 45 minutes moving from one chest machine to the next.

The goal is not to max out your bench press every week.

The real goal is to expose the chest muscles to a demand they are not accustomed to, push that demand to the point of overload, and then allow the body enough time to recover and adapt.

That is how muscle is built naturally.

Your body does not build muscle just because you lifted weights. It builds muscle when the demand is high enough that it has a reason to change.

Once you understand that, your chest workouts become much simpler.

Not easier.

Simpler.

My Basic High-Intensity Chest Workout Structure

For most beginner and intermediate trainees, a Naturally Intense chest workout can be built around only two exercises:

One compound chest exercise
One isolation chest exercise

That is it.

For example:

Incline barbell press
Flat dumbbell fly

Or:

Flat dumbbell press
Cable fly

Or:

Decline press
Pec deck

The exact exercises change every workout. That is one of the most important parts of the system.

We do not repeat the same chest workout over and over. One week might be incline presses. The next week might be flat presses. The week after that might be decline presses. The angles, exercises, rep styles, and intensity techniques are constantly changing.

This keeps the body from becoming too accustomed to the same routine while also reducing repetitive stress on the joints over time.

Why I Don’t Use Traditional Progressive Resistance

Most people are taught that the only way to build muscle is to do the same exercises week after week and keep trying to add more weight or more reps.

That is traditional progressive resistance.

But in Naturally Intense High Intensity Training, the goal is not to keep repeating the same workout and measuring progress only by the weight on the bar.

The goal is to build the body.

That means the true measure of progress is what happens over time:

Does your chest look fuller?
Are your muscles getting denser?
Are you stronger when you return to old exercises?
Are you able to train hard without joint pain?
Are you still progressing years later?

In my experience training over a thousand men and women, clients often become much stronger even without chasing the same lifts every week.

Sometimes they may not perform the exact same exercise in the exact same way for months, or even longer. But when they return to it, they are often shocked by how much stronger they have become.

That is because muscle growth and strength development are not limited to repeating the same movement endlessly.

No Rest Between Sets

The first major rule of this chest workout is simple:

No rest between sets.

You move from set to set with only enough time to change the weight or get into position.

That is one of the reasons the workout is so short.

It is also one of the reasons it is so hard.

A proper high-intensity chest workout should leave you breathing almost as hard as an intense leg workout. Chest day, done this way, should not feel comfortable. It should not feel like a casual pump session.

It should feel like a fight.

That does not mean reckless training. It does not mean throwing weights around. It means controlled, focused, brutally hard work with almost no wasted time.

The First Two Sets Are Not Easy

In the video, I demonstrate incline barbell presses followed by flat dumbbell flyes.

For each exercise, the first two sets are not throwaway warmups. They are more like evaluation sets.

They help you feel where your body is that day, prepare mentally, and build toward the all-out final set.

A simple structure might look like this:

Exercise 1: Compound Chest Movement

Set 1: Moderate weight for 12–15 reps
Set 2: Heavier weight for around 10–12 reps
Set 3: All-out high-intensity set using an advanced technique

Exercise 2: Isolation Chest Movement

Set 1: Moderate weight for 10–12 reps
Set 2: Heavier weight for around 8–10 reps
Set 3: All-out high-intensity set

The final set is where everything changes.

That is where you stop simply doing reps and start creating a real reason for the body to adapt.

What “All Out” Really Means

When I say the last set is all out, I mean all out.

This is the part most people miss.

They stop when the set becomes uncomfortable. They stop when the reps slow down. They stop when their body starts telling them it does not want to continue.

But in high-intensity training, that is exactly where the real stimulus begins.

The final set may include:

Drop sets
Supersets
Compound sets
Slow motion reps
Partial reps
Rest-pause reps
Giant sets
High-rep finishers
Isometric holds

The specific technique is not the most important part.

The most important part is that the final set takes the muscle to a level of effort it is not prepared for.

That is what forces adaptation.

Why One Compound Exercise Is Enough

Most people think they need multiple presses in the same workout to build their chest.

Incline press. Flat press. Decline press. Machine press. Dumbbell press.

But when you train with true high intensity and no rest between sets, doing multiple compound chest exercises back to back becomes unnecessary and often counterproductive.

When I first began training this way, I tried to keep doing conventional chest workouts. I would do incline presses, then flat presses, then some type of fly movement.

But once the intensity was high enough, the second compound movement became almost useless.

My pecs, delts, and triceps were already fried.

The performance was so poor that it did not make sense to keep adding more exercises just for the sake of doing more.

That is why I prefer one hard compound chest movement followed by one isolation chest movement.

It is simple, brutal, efficient, and effective.

The Joint-Friendly Advantage

One of the biggest benefits of this style of training is not just muscle growth.

It is longevity.

At 51 years old, I can still train exceptionally heavy. I can still use weights similar to what I used in my 20s. And I can do it without the chronic joint pain that stops so many lifters as they get older.

That is not an accident.

Think about the difference between doing a 5-minute chest workout once per week and doing 30 to 45 minutes of chest training once or twice per week for decades.

The wear and tear adds up.

Volume is cumulative.

Every extra set, every repeated exercise, every heavy press done over and over for years places stress on the joints. You might not feel it immediately, but over 5, 10, 20, or 30 years, it matters.

By keeping the workout brief, intense, and constantly varied, you can create a powerful muscle-building stimulus while reducing unnecessary repetitive stress.

For natural bodybuilding, that matters tremendously because natural muscle growth takes time.

You need a training system you can keep doing for years.

Not just for a few months.

A Sample 5-Minute Chest Workout

Here is a basic version of the workout demonstrated in the video.

Exercise 1: Incline Barbell Press

Set 1: 15 reps
Set 2: 10–12 reps
Set 3: 6 hard reps followed by partial reps or assisted reps to complete failure

No rest between sets except the time needed to change the weight.

Exercise 2: Flat Dumbbell Fly

Set 1: 10–12 reps
Set 2: 8–10 reps
Set 3: 6 hard reps with holds, partials, or another high-intensity finisher

Again, no rest except the time needed to change weights.

This is not a beginner “easy chest workout.” It is short because it is hard. If you are doing it correctly, you should not feel like you need more chest exercises afterward.

Why Variety Matters

In Naturally Intense High Intensity Training, every workout is different.

That does require imagination, but it is also one of the most enjoyable parts of the system.

Every chest workout feels new. Every session presents a different challenge. You are not walking into the gym to repeat the same stale routine you did last week.

That variety also helps reduce repetitive stress.

Instead of hammering the same exact groove, angle, and exercise pattern year after year, you rotate movements and methods while keeping the central principle the same:

Train briefly.
Train intensely.
Push to overload.
Recover.
Adapt.

Can You Build a Bigger Chest Training Only Once Per Week?

Yes, if the workout is hard enough.

Most people hear “once per week” and assume it cannot be enough. But that usually comes from misunderstanding what high-intensity training actually is.

If your chest workout is easy, once per week will not be enough.

If your chest workout is a comfortable pump session, once per week will not be enough.

But if your chest workout is taken to a level of intensity that creates a true overload, and if you allow enough time for recovery and adaptation, once per week can be extremely effective for natural trainees.

That is how I took one of my weakest body parts and turned it into a strong point.

And it is how I have trained my chest for decades without beating up my joints.

Who This Chest Workout Is For

This approach is especially useful for:

Natural bodybuilders
Lifters over 40 or 50
Busy professionals who do not have time for long workouts
People with a history of joint irritation from high-volume training
Lifters who feel stuck doing conventional chest routines
Anyone who wants to build muscle without living in the gym

This does not mean everyone should immediately jump into all-out advanced intensity techniques without learning proper control.

But it does mean you should question the idea that more volume automatically means better results.

For natural athletes, better training is not always more training.

Sometimes better training means doing less, but doing it with far more purpose.

Final Thoughts

The best chest workout is not the one with the most exercises.

It is the one that creates the strongest reason for your body to change while allowing you to recover, stay healthy, and keep training year after year.

That is the real advantage of Naturally Intense High Intensity Training.

It is brief.
It is brutal.
It is efficient.
And when done correctly, it can help you build muscle naturally while protecting your joints over the long term.

Watch the full video above to see the workout demonstrated step by step, and if you want to learn more about Naturally Intense High Intensity Training or train with me and my team online, visit Naturally Intense Personal Training.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a 5-minute chest workout really build muscle?

Yes, but only if the workout is performed with extremely high intensity. The short duration works because the sets are taken to a level of effort that creates a real overload. This is not casual training or a light pump workout.

How often should I train chest with this method?

In the Naturally Intense system, chest is trained once per week along with biceps, triceps, and abdominals. The goal is to train hard enough that the body needs several days to recover and adapt.

Do I need more than two chest exercises?

Most beginner and intermediate trainees do not. One compound movement and one isolation movement can be enough if the intensity is high enough and there is no rest between sets.

Is this chest workout good for older lifters?

This approach can be very useful for older lifters because it reduces excessive volume and repetitive joint stress. The key is to train hard but intelligently, using control, proper exercise selection, and appropriate intensity techniques.

Should I do the same chest workout every week?

No. In Naturally Intense High Intensity Training, every workout changes. You may use different exercises, angles, rep styles, and intensity techniques each week while keeping the same core principle: brief, intense, focused training.

Is this better than traditional chest training?

For many natural lifters, especially those who are not recovering well from high-volume training, this approach can be far more sustainable. Traditional training can work, but more sets and more exercises are not always the answer.

The post The 5-Minute Chest Workout That Built My Pecs Naturally appeared first on Naturally Intense High Intensity Training Fitness Blog.

What REALLY Happens When You Train 3 Days Straight With No Rest Days?

Kevin Richardson — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 21:23:41 +0000

Most people assume that if you train hard, you need to spread your workouts out as much as possible.

That sounds logical.

Train Monday, rest Tuesday.
Train Wednesday, rest Thursday.
Train Friday, rest the weekend.

And if the workouts are truly intense, it would seem to make even more sense. Because if you are pushing your body to the limit, going to failure, using partials, negatives, isometrics, and training with almost no rest between exercises, then surely training three days in a row would be too much.

That was my assumption as well.

And for a long time, I thought the best approach had to be giving the body as much space as possible between workouts.

But there is a difference between what sounds right and what actually happens when you test it over time.

That is what this article is about.

Not theory.
Not conjecture.
Not what someone says should happen because it sounds reasonable.

I am talking about what I have observed over 36 years of training myself and hundreds of men and women using Naturally Intense High Intensity Training.

And the results were not what I expected.

The Common Assumption: More Rest Between Workouts Must Be Better

The usual argument goes like this:

If you train intensely, you need more recovery.
If you need more recovery, you should not train on consecutive days.
So a Monday, Wednesday, Friday split must be better than Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.

On paper, that sounds reasonable.

And in some training systems, it may be.

If you are doing long workouts, high volume, repeated exercises, multiple movements for the same body part, and then adding cardio on top of that, your body may absolutely need more space between sessions.

But that is not how Naturally Intense High Intensity Training works.

Our workouts are short. Usually 10 to 15 minutes. Sometimes up to 20 minutes. They are extremely intense, but very low in volume. And the split is designed so that the same major muscle groups are not being trained directly again the next day.

That distinction matters.

Because when people hear “training three days straight,” they often imagine training the same muscles hard three days in a row.

That is not what I am talking about.

The Three-Day Split I Use

The Naturally Intense three-day split is simple:

Day 1: Legs
Day 2: Back and Shoulders
Day 3: Chest and Arms

That means if you train Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, you are not doing legs hard three days in a row. You are not doing chest hard three days in a row. You are not doing back hard three days in a row.

Each major muscle group still gets about a full week before it is trained directly again.

That is a crucial point.

The body is training three days in a row, but the same body parts are not being hammered directly three days in a row.

And that is where people often misunderstand the difference between systemic recovery and local muscle recovery.

Local Recovery vs. Whole-Body Recovery

When people talk about recovery, they often talk as if the body is one simple system.

But recovery is not that simple.

Your legs may be recovering from leg day, while your chest is fresh.
Your back may be recovering, while your arms can still perform.
Your nervous system, sleep, nutrition, stress levels, age, and total workload all play a role.

That is why I do not recommend looking at recovery only in terms of the calendar.

The better question is:

Can you perform at a high level when you train the next day?

Because if performance drops, that is a problem.

If strength drops, that is a problem.

If you are dragging through workouts, that is a problem.

But if you can train legs on Monday, back and shoulders on Tuesday, chest and arms on Wednesday, and performance does not decline, then the question becomes: why assume it is automatically inferior?

Research on training frequency supports the idea that frequency by itself is not always the deciding factor. Meta-analyses have found that when training volume is equated, frequency does not appear to have a major independent effect on muscle hypertrophy, and frequency’s advantage for strength can shrink when total volume is matched.

That does not mean everyone should train three days in a row.

It means the simple rule of “you must always rest between workouts” is not as absolute as many people think.

What I Expected To Happen

When I first tested training three days straight, I expected the spaced-out group to do better.

I expected Monday, Wednesday, Friday to outperform Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.

It seemed obvious.

More recovery between workouts should mean better performance, better strength increases, better muscle growth, and better fat loss.

But over time, that is not what I observed.

With Naturally Intense High Intensity Training, I consistently found that clients training three days in a row often did just as well, and in many cases better, than those spreading the workouts out across the week.

Again, I am not presenting this as a controlled laboratory trial.

I am presenting it as the result of decades of real-world coaching, note-taking, testing, and observation with hundreds of clients.

And over 36 years, patterns start to matter.

Why Three Days Straight Can Work With High Intensity Training

The reason it works is not because recovery does not matter.

Recovery matters tremendously.

The reason it works is because the training structure respects recovery while still allowing consecutive workout days.

There are several reasons this can happen.

First, the workouts are short. The body is not being beaten down for an hour or more.

Second, the weekly volume is low. You are not doing exercise after exercise for the same muscle group.

Third, each body part gets several days before being trained directly again.

Fourth, the workouts are intense enough to stimulate adaptation without requiring marathon sessions.

Fifth, the three-day structure allows the rest of the week to become a true recovery period.

In other words, the split compresses the training stress into three focused sessions and then gives the body several days to recover, adapt, and grow.

That is very different from training hard three days straight, doing cardio on the off days, and never giving the body a true break.

The Mistake Most People Make With “Rest Days”

This is where many lifters go wrong.

They say they are resting from weights, but then they add cardio on their off days.

So instead of three hard workouts and four days of recovery, they create something closer to this:

Weight training.
Cardio.
Weight training.
Cardio.
Weight training.
More cardio.
Maybe one day off.

And then they wonder why their strength is not moving, their muscles look flatter, their joints ache, or their fat loss stalls.

I have seen this repeatedly for decades.

Clients who added cardio on their off days, or even after workouts, often still made progress. But they usually did not make as much progress as those who trained intensely three days a week and did no cardio.

That was not what I expected when I first had clients adding cardio on off days.

I genuinely expected the extra cardio to improve fat loss.

But over time, the clients doing extra cardio were often the ones who gained less muscle, gained less strength, and interestingly, sometimes lost less body fat compared to those doing only the high-intensity weight training three days per week.

That is not because cardio is evil.

It is because recovery is not free.

Everything you do has a cost.

If the goal is maximum muscle gain and fat loss as a natural athlete, the question is not, “Can I do more?”

The question is, “Can I recover from what I am already doing well enough to improve?”

Why More Exercise Does Not Always Mean More Fat Loss

Most people think more activity automatically means more fat loss.

But the body does not always work like a simple calculator.

When training stress gets too high, several things can happen.

You may train with less intensity.
Your strength may not climb as well.
Your muscles may stay flatter.
You may unconsciously reduce activity outside the gym.
You may have more hunger.
You may sleep worse.
You may not recover fully enough to keep progressing.

And if your high-intensity weight training is what is building the muscle that drives your metabolism and changes your body composition, then anything that interferes with that process can reduce your long-term results.

This is why I have always looked at fat loss and muscle gain together.

The goal is not just to burn calories today.

The goal is to build a body that keeps improving over time.

There is research showing that concurrent training — combining aerobic and resistance training — can be done successfully, but the interference question is not completely imaginary. Some analyses suggest aerobic training may have small negative effects under certain conditions, especially depending on modality, timing, intensity, and total workload. Running has historically appeared more likely to interfere with strength and hypertrophy than cycling in some analyses, while other reviews find concurrent training does not necessarily compromise whole-muscle hypertrophy or maximal strength.

That nuance matters.

For the average person, some cardio may be perfectly fine.

But for the natural trainee trying to maximize muscle, strength, and fat loss with very intense training, adding more work is not always the answer.

Sometimes the answer is to train harder, train briefer, and recover better.

Small Muscles Are Already Getting Enough Work

Another point people miss is that smaller muscles are often trained indirectly.

On a chest and arms day, the triceps are trained directly.

But your triceps also assist in pressing movements.

On a back and shoulders day, your biceps are involved in pulling movements.

Your shoulders are involved in many upper-body exercises, even when they are not the primary target.

So when someone looks at the split and asks, “Are the smaller muscles getting enough frequency?” the answer is yes.

They are getting direct work and indirect work.

And in my experience, they do not need to be blasted with multiple direct workouts every week to grow.

In fact, for many natural trainees, giving small muscles too much direct work is one of the fastest ways to create elbow pain, shoulder pain, overuse issues, and stalled progress.

That is why I prefer a split where the major body parts are trained directly once per week, while smaller muscles receive additional indirect stimulation from compound movement patterns.

It is enough to grow.

And it is often far more sustainable.

The Real Question: What Happens To Performance?

This is the most important part.

When I compared clients training Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday against those training Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I did not just care about how they felt.

I cared about performance.

Were they stronger?
Were they able to push as hard?
Were they gaining muscle?
Were they losing fat?
Were they recovering?
Were they staying injury-free?

Because if three days straight made performance worse, I would not use it.

I do not care how convenient a program is if it does not produce results.

But over the years, the three-day consecutive structure held up remarkably well.

For many clients, it worked extremely well because it created consistency.

They got the hard work done early in the week.

They did not have workouts hanging over their head.

They did not have to restart mentally every other day.

And the rest of the week became a real recovery window.

That matters more than people think.

Why Spreading Workouts Out Can Backfire

The Monday, Wednesday, Friday split looks good on paper.

But in real life, people miss workouts.

They get busy.

Work runs late.

Family obligations happen.

Sleep suffers.

A Friday workout becomes Saturday.

Saturday becomes Sunday.

Then the split starts sliding all over the place.

For many people, training three days in a row creates a simple structure:

Show up.
Train hard.
Get it done.
Recover.

That simplicity can improve adherence.

And adherence is one of the most underrated parts of long-term success.

The best program is not the one that looks perfect on paper.

The best program is the one that produces results consistently in the real world.

Recovery Still Matters

None of this means recovery is unimportant.

Recovery is everything.

But recovery has to be understood properly.

A 2024 review on recovery in resistance training noted that lower-body exercises may require more recovery time than upper-body exercises, with lower body often requiring 48 to 72 hours and upper body sometimes recovering faster depending on the context.

That fits very well with what I have observed.

Leg day is usually the most systemically demanding day.

That is why legs are first.

Then back and shoulders.

Then chest and arms.

By the time you return to legs the following week, the legs have had a full recovery window.

And if the workouts are structured properly, the fact that you trained upper body the day after legs does not automatically mean your legs cannot recover.

Who Should Not Train Three Days Straight?

Training three days in a row is not for everyone.

It may not be appropriate if:

You are doing high-volume workouts.
You are training the same muscles repeatedly.
You are not sleeping well.
You are under extreme stress.
You are adding cardio on off days.
You are recovering from injury.
You are new to intense training.
You cannot maintain performance from session to session.

It also may not work if your workouts are too long.

The three-day consecutive split works because the workouts are short, intense, and intelligently divided.

If you try to take a bodybuilding magazine-style high-volume program and cram it into three consecutive days, that is a completely different situation.

That is not what I recommend.

The Naturally Intense Approach

Naturally Intense High Intensity Training is based on a very simple idea:

Stimulate the body as powerfully as possible, then give it the opportunity to recover and adapt.

That does not require training six days a week.

It does not require living in the gym.

It does not require adding endless cardio.

It requires intensity, structure, consistency, and recovery.

For most natural athletes, that means three short workouts per week.

Not easy workouts.

Not comfortable workouts.

Not workouts where you stop when it starts to burn.

But brief, brutally focused workouts that take the muscle to the point where it has no choice but to adapt.

And when that is done correctly, more is not always better.

Better is better.

What I Have Seen Over 36 Years

This is not just an idea I came up with yesterday.

I have trained this way myself for decades.

I used this approach to go from a skinny kid in Trinidad to a successful natural bodybuilding champion.

I have used it with men and women of all ages, from beginners to advanced trainees, from people trying to lose weight to natural bodybuilders preparing for competition.

And over and over again, the same pattern appears:

Three days per week can be enough.
Short workouts can be enough.
Training three days straight can work.
Adding more cardio does not always improve results.
More rest between workouts is not automatically better.
And for natural trainees, recovery is often the missing piece.

That is the part the fitness industry often misses.

They tell you to do more.

More sets.
More exercises.
More days.
More cardio.
More supplements.
More protein shakes.
More complexity.

But over 36 years, I have seen countless people get better results by doing less total work, but doing that work with far more intensity and precision.

So, Should You Train Three Days Straight?

The answer is:

You can, if the program is designed correctly.

If you are training legs Monday, back and shoulders Tuesday, and chest and arms Wednesday using short, high-intensity workouts, then training three days in a row can work extremely well.

But if you are doing long, high-volume workouts, training the same muscles repeatedly, adding cardio on off days, sleeping poorly, or ignoring your recovery, then training three days straight may be too much.

The split is not magic.

The execution is what matters.

Done incorrectly, three days straight can bury you.

Done correctly, it can be one of the most efficient ways for a natural athlete to build muscle, gain strength, lose fat, and recover properly.

The Bottom Line

What really happens when you train three days straight?

If your program is poorly designed, you may burn out, stall, and recover poorly.

But if your training is brief, intense, low volume, and properly split across different muscle groups, training three days straight can work far better than most people expect.

That is what I have seen in my own training.

That is what I have seen with hundreds of clients.

And that is why I still use this structure today.

Train hard.
Train briefly.
Recover fully.
And stop assuming that more days in the gym automatically means better results.

FAQ About Training Frequency

Can you train three days straight and still build muscle?

Yes, you can train three days straight and still build muscle if the program is properly designed. The key is not training the same major muscle groups hard on consecutive days and keeping the workouts brief, intense, and low in volume.

Is it bad to lift weights with no rest days between workouts?

It depends on the workout structure. Training the same muscles hard every day can interfere with recovery, but a split such as legs, back and shoulders, then chest and arms allows each major muscle group several days before it is trained directly again.

Is Monday, Wednesday, Friday better than Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday?

Not always. While Monday, Wednesday, Friday gives more rest between sessions, a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday split can work very well when workouts are short, intense, and properly divided by body part.

Should natural bodybuilders train three days per week?

In my experience, three days per week is ideal for many natural bodybuilders when the workouts are intense enough. More training days are not automatically better if they reduce recovery, performance, or long-term consistency.

Should I do cardio on rest days?

Cardio can be useful depending on your goal, but for natural trainees focused on maximizing muscle, strength, and fat loss, adding cardio on rest days can sometimes interfere with recovery. I have consistently seen many clients progress better with only three high-intensity weight training sessions per week and no added cardio.

The post What REALLY Happens When You Train 3 Days Straight With No Rest Days? appeared first on Naturally Intense High Intensity Training Fitness Blog.

Natural Bodybuilding: Why Genetics Matter Less Than You Think

Kevin Richardson — Mon, 11 May 2026 14:22:13 +0000

One of the biggest lies in modern Natural Bodybuilding is the idea that only genetically gifted people can build an impressive physique naturally. You hear it everywhere. People claiming that you need elite genetics to succeed as a natural bodybuilder and that nobody can look impressive naturally. And of course, the ever present idea that every competitor in natural bodybuilding competitions is secretly on steroids, so there’s no point in trying.

People buy into these ideas and begin to believe it. And in so doing, they stop pushing themselves before they ever discover what they are truly capable of achieving. But here’s the reality, most people never even come close to realizing their full natural bodybuilding potential. And if I had listened to the people who told me I had “average genetics,” I never would have become a successful natural bodybuilder, and be where I am now as a coach and creator of Naturally Intense High Intensity Training.

My Journey Into Natural Bodybuilding Started At 125 Pounds

When I first started training, I was an extremely skinny kid. I weighed only 125 pounds and I was six feet tall. Back then, there was no YouTube or social media, all we had were bodybuilding magazines and whatever information we could gather inside the gym from other lifters. Like many starting their natural bodybuilding journey, I was obsessed with building muscle and transforming my physique naturally. But when I first walked into a gym back in Trinidad where I grew up, I was told something that stuck with me for years as the gym instructor looked at me and said:

“You don’t have the frame or the genetics for bodybuilding.”

I was devastated, but I told myself I was going to keep going anyway and a two years later, I encountered one of those “genetic potential” charts based on fat-free mass calculations. At around 165 pounds and roughly 12–13% body fat, the chart basically told me I had average genetics. That hit me pretty hard as now it wasn’t just someone’s opinion, as this felt scientific and almost as if my future in natural bodybuilding had already been decided for me.

The Biggest Mistake People Make In Natural Bodybuilding

But that’s where most people fail.They become obsessed with charts, numbers and ideas of good or bad genetics instead of focusing on effort, consistency, recovery, and discipline. Modern fitness culture has convinced people that if they don’t look exceptional immediately, they must not have good genetics but natural bodybuilding doesn’t work that way. There are no transformations in a few months because building muscle naturally takes:

Time
Patience
Recovery
Intensity
Consistency
Smart programming

Most importantly, it requires believing in yourself long enough to see what your body is capable of, which is extremely hard in a world where social media keeps bombarding us with images of influencers and bodybuilders on steroids who claim to be natural.

The Problem With Social Media And Natural Bodybuilding

Today, many people compare themselves to steroid users pretending to be natural, fitness influencers using TRT, edited transformation photos in addition to Hollywood actors using performance-enhancing drugs and claiming their sudden transformations were natural. It all creates truly unrealistic body standards and the result is devastating as people stop believing they can build impressive physiques naturally. But the reality is a large percentage of what people think are “elite genetics” are actually the result of:

Years of consistency
Recovery-focused training
Discipline
Smart nutrition
Progressive overload
Lifestyle structure

Most people never train consistently enough to even find out what their true natural bodybuilding potential might really be.

My First Natural Bodybuilding Competition

By age 18, I had transformed myself from 125 pounds to over 175 pounds and entered my first bodybuilding competition. so was proud of my progress thinking of how far I had come and was ready to show the world, until I got backstage. Standing next to the other competitors shattered my confidence as out of 12 competitors…I placed dead last. Granted some of them were clearly on steroids, it honestly, that reinforced everything I feared about my genetics not being suitable for bodybuilding. But instead of quitting bodybuilding altogether, I made a different decision, I would simply outwork everyone I possibly could, training harder than anyone else and see where the chips would land. And that mindset changed my life.

How “Bad Genetics” Led Me To Develop Naturally Intense High Intensity Training

In retrospect, being told I had bad genetics actually became one of the greatest gifts of my life, because it forced me to question everything. Instead of blindly following popular fitness advice, I became obsessed with testing training methods, studying everything I could about recovery and adaptation and trying to find the most effective methods for natural bodybuilding. That process eventually led to the development of Naturally Intense High Intensity Training. A natural bodybuilding system based on:

Brief but brutally intense workouts
Maximum effort
Minimal unnecessary volume
Recovery optimization
Joint longevity
Sustainable lifelong training

Discovering Natural Bodybuilding Changed Everything

When I moved to the United States at age 20, I had already mentally retired from bodybuilding competition. As hard as I worked and with as much progress that I made, I felt I simply didn’t have the genetics to succeed. Then at 24 years old, while training at the legendary 5th Avenue Gym, I met Charlie Carollo, vice chairman of one of the leading natural bodybuilding federations at the time, the NGA. He was the owner of the gym and one day he saw me training and asked me if I competed in bodybuilding competitions. When I told him I had “retired,” he laughed and said:

“You can’t retire from anything at 24.” And he insisted I compete again.

And for the first time in my life, I competed specifically against natural athletes and that completely changed everything. Because suddenly, the physique I had spent years believing was “average” or “sub par” actually stood out! I won my class at my very first NGA Hercules competition and more importantly, I realized something critical, which is that the he environment you compare yourself to shapes your entire self-image.

What Actually Matters In Natural Bodybuilding

Most people are asking the wrong question. Instead of asking:

“Do I have good genetics for bodybuilding?”

You should ask:

“Am I truly doing everything possible to maximize my own potential?”

Because that’s what natural bodybuilding is really about, and here are the factors that matter most:

1. Consistency

Consistency beats genetics far more often than people realize.

I haven’t missed a week of training in decades.

Most people fail in natural bodybuilding because they stop and restart repeatedly.

Your body adapts to what you consistently do over years, not days, so you have to keep at it.

2. Training Intensity

Most people simply do not train hard enough to maximize muscle growth naturally.

True training intensity means:

Pushing beyond comfort
Training with focus
Reaching real muscular fatigue
Creating meaningful stimulus

That’s one of the core principles behind Naturally Intense High Intensity Training.

3. Recovery

Natural bodybuilding is not about doing more.

It’s about recovering better.

Natural athletes cannot rely on anabolic drugs to accelerate recovery.

That means recovery management becomes one of the most important factors for long-term muscle growth.

This is why my training system emphasizes:

Brief workouts
Maximum intensity
Strategic recovery
Reduced overuse injuries
Long-term sustainability

4. Loving The Natural Bodybuilding Lifestyle

At some point, my focus shifted. I stopped obsessing over outcomes and started falling in love with:

The discipline
The nutrition
The challenge
The training itself
The lifestyle

That mindset is what allowed me to continue long enough to realize my full potential and honestly, that may be the most important lesson in natural bodybuilding. Because if you truly love the process, consistency becomes automatic.

The Real Reward Of Natural Bodybuilding

You see, even if I had never won a single title, the journey still would have been worth it. Because natural bodybuilding gives you far more than muscle. It gives you:

Better health
Greater confidence
More energy
Physical resilience
Mental discipline
Longevity
Self-respect

At 51 years old, training naturally with brief high intensity workouts, I still feel fantastic. That’s the real reward. Not social media likes. Not trophies. Not validation from strangers online. The path itself becomes the reward.

Natural Bodybuilding FAQ

Can you build an impressive physique naturally?

Absolutely.

Many people can build highly impressive physiques naturally with proper training intensity, recovery, consistency, and nutrition.

Most people simply underestimate what is possible through natural bodybuilding.

Is natural bodybuilding harder than enhanced bodybuilding?

Natural bodybuilding requires more precise recovery management because natural athletes cannot rely on anabolic drugs to accelerate recovery and reduce fatigue.

This makes intelligent programming extremely important.

How often should natural bodybuilders train?

Most natural athletes benefit from less volume and more recovery than traditional bodybuilding programs recommend.

The goal is maximizing adaptation—not accumulating endless workouts.

Do genetics matter in natural bodybuilding?

Yes, genetics matter to some degree.

But most people never come remotely close to reaching their actual genetic potential because they quit too early, train inconsistently, or follow ineffective programs.

Can average genetics still build muscle naturally?

Absolutely.

Consistency, discipline, recovery, and intensity often matter far more than genetics alone.

Final Thoughts On Natural Bodybuilding

If I had listened to everyone who told me I had average genetics…

I would never have discovered what I was truly capable of.

And neither will you if you stop before giving yourself a real chance.

Stop obsessing over genetics.

Stop comparing yourself to enhanced athletes.

Stop assuming impressive natural physiques are impossible.

Instead:

Train hard
Recover properly
Eat well
Stay consistent
Trust the process

Because you are probably capable of far more than you realize.

Stay natural.
Believe in yourself.

And as always…Excelsior!!!

The post Natural Bodybuilding: Why Genetics Matter Less Than You Think appeared first on Naturally Intense High Intensity Training Fitness Blog.

The Fast Warm-Up Hack That Saves Your Joints and Improves Muscle Growth

Kevin Richardson — Wed, 06 May 2026 13:36:55 +0000

In my experience, most people treat warm-ups like wasted time. A few minutes on a treadmill. Some arm circles. A few half-hearted stretches. Then straight into heavy lifting, while others spend too much time warming. A half hour or more of cardio to warm up, then they start their weight training. Both approaches to warming up come with some downsides and if you are training intensely, it’s important to note that your warm-up routine can determine everything. It determines:

your performance during your weight training session
your injury risk, both short term and long term
your recovery
and your ability to keep training intensely for decades

After more than 35 years of high intensity training and still lifting heavy naturally in my 50s without TRT or steroids, I can tell you firsthand that proper warm-ups are one of the biggest reasons I’ve been able to avoid the chronic joint pain and overuse injuries that stop so many lifters from realizing their potential.And ironically, the biggest mistake most people make with warm-ups is taking too much rest.

In this article, I’m going to break down the fast no-rest warm-up method that is a key principle in Naturally Intense High Intensity Training, discuss why it works, and how it helps protect your joints while maximizing performance and muscle growth.

Why Warm-Ups Matter More Than Most Lifters Realize

Warm-ups aren’t just about “loosening up.” A proper warm-up increases:

muscle temperature
blood flow
nervous system activation
connective tissue elasticity
movement efficiency

Research consistently shows that warmer muscles perform better and are less prone to strains and injury. Warm muscle tissue is more pliable, more responsive, and better prepared to handle high levels of force production all of which becomes critically important when you are training with high intensity. Because once you start pushing close to muscular failure with heavy weights, cold muscles and stiff joints become a liability. And as you get older, this matters even more.

The Biggest Warm-Up Mistake Most People Make

Most lifters accidentally cool themselves down during their warm-up.They:

take too much rest between warm-up sets
spend too much time chatting
stretch endlessly
or warm up with exercises that have nothing to do with the movement they’re about to perform

Then they wonder why their joints feel stiff when the heavy set starts. The goal of a warm-up is not fatigue. The goal is preparation and you want to gradually elevate muscle temperature while preparing the nervous system for the exact movement you’re about to perform. That’s why my warm-up system is built around movement-specific progression with virtually no rest between sets.

My No-Rest Warm-Up Method

One of the defining principles of Naturally Intense High Intensity Training is minimizing unnecessary rest, resting only as long as it takes to change weights or no more than 20-30 seconds between sets. That principle starts and is founded in the warm-up itself. In the video, I demonstrate what a warm up set looks like using the Naturally Intense method with incline dumbbell flyes. I start with a light set for approximately 20 repetitions and this serves as what I call a check set.

During my check set I’m evaluating:

how my joints feel
whether there are any aches or pains
how my muscles are responding
my overall readiness for heavy training that day

As I explain in the workout:

“I’m checking everything… how my joints [feel], any aches and pains… figuring out how I feel today.”

This is one of the most important concepts in training intelligently because your body changes daily and so you need to evaluate where you are at the start of every workout. Sleep, stress, recovery, inflammation, nutrition, and life fatigue all affect your training performance. And so your warm-up should help you assess readiness along with mechanically preparing your muscles by increasing their temperature.

Why No Rest Between Warm-Up Sets Works So Well

After the initial set, I move immediately into the next warm-up set with a heavier weight and virtually no rest whatsoever beyond changing the dumbbells. Why? Because the moment you stop moving for too long, muscle temperature starts dropping and muscle temperature matters tremendously.

Remember, warm muscles:

contract more efficiently
generate force better
move more smoothly
and tolerate heavy loading more safely

Cold muscles do the opposite as I explain in the video:

“A cold muscle… can increase your likelihood of injury by strains or pulls, especially if you’re lifting heavy weights and trying to get high intensity.”

This is one reason why my workouts remain extremely short, going nonstop and lasting no more than 10-20 minutes max. Because if you keep your movement continuous, you maintain optimal muscle temperature throughout your training session. And it allows you to train with tremendous intensity while minimizing unnecessary joint stress.

The “Check Set” Is One of the Most Important Parts of Training

Most people rush through warm-ups trying to get to the “real workout.” But experienced lifters understand, as I said that the warm-up tells you how your body is functioning that day. Your check set gives you valuable information about:

recovery quality
inflammation
tightness
mobility
nervous system readiness
fatigue levels

That awareness can help prevent injuries before they happen and if something feels off during the warm-up, you can adjust:

the exercise selection
the intensity
the range of motion
or even the entire session

This becomes increasingly important as you age. And that’s one reason I’ve been able to continue training intensely for decades without the chronic breakdown and overuse injuries many lifters experience.

Why This Method Helps Protect Your Joints

One of the biggest misconceptions in fitness is that heavy training itself destroys joints. In reality, and from what I have seen over the past three decades plus is that poor preparation and excessive repetitive volume are often the bigger problem. When muscles are properly warmed up:

movement becomes smoother
connective tissues become more compliant
force distributes more efficiently
and the body is better able to absorb stress safely

But if you repeatedly load cold joints and stiff tissues under heavy resistance, injury risk increases dramatically. This is especially important for natural athletes. Enhanced athletes using steroids or TRT recover faster and experience altered pain and inflammation responses, allowing them to tolerate training styles that many natural athletes simply cannot sustain long-term. So we natural lifters need to be more strategic and it’s why an intelligent and well-thought out warm-up plan becomes critical.

Why I Believe This Has Helped Me Continue Training Heavy in My 50s

I mention directly in the video:

“I wouldn’t be able to be lifting the weights that I’m lifting today in my 50s had I not trained this way.”

And I truly believe that because this method keeps my muscles continuously prepared for heavy effort. I’m never sitting around between sets cooling down so I’m never jumping abruptly from inactivity into maximal force production while I am training. Everything flows progressively and over the years, those details matter enormously because overuse injuries don’t appear overnight.They accumulate slowly through years of poor movement preparation, excessive volume, repetitive loading patterns, and insufficient recovery. That’s why longevity has always been one of the central goals of Naturally Intense High Intensity Training. Not just building muscle naturally, but building muscle sustainably.

Why Warm-Ups Matter Even More After 40

As we age, connective tissues recover more slowly, joint stiffness increases, mobility restrictions become more common and injury recovery takes much longer. That doesn’t mean you should stop training hard. Quite the opposite as it means your preparation needs to become more intelligent. The good news is that proper warm-ups can dramatically improve:

movement quality
joint comfort
force production
and your confidence while training under heavy loads

And contrary to popular belief, aging naturally does not mean you have to abandon intensity. I train clients from their 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s using the same warm up protocols because what works works and the principles remain the same regardless of age.

Why My Workouts Stay So Short

People often hear that my workouts are brief and assume they must be easy or superficial and I can assure you that they aren’t. They’re brutally intense. And one reason they can remain short is because the warm-up itself is structured so efficiently with no wasted time and no meaningless pacing around the gym or watching your phone. Every movement has purpose and this continuous progression helps create an environment where:

muscle temperature stays elevated
focus remains high
intensity stays consistent
and the workout becomes incredibly efficient

As I demonstrate in the video, by the second set I’m already completely warm and ready to push hard. And that efficiency becomes a major advantage for natural athletes trying to maximize recovery while minimizing unnecessary wear and tear.

Final Thoughts: Train Hard, But Train Intelligently

Most people think longevity comes from avoiding hard training but I have seen the contrary to be true, you can absolutely train hard for decades but only if you train intelligently. And that means:

respecting recovery
managing volume
preparing properly
and understanding that warm-ups are not optional

Your warm-up is the bridge between inactivity and performance so treat it seriously. And as I always say:

“To whom much is given, much is expected.”

I was fortunate growing up around old-school lifters who shared knowledge freely because they genuinely wanted younger athletes to improve. That same spirit is why I continue sharing these principles today. Because if this approach helps you avoid injuries, train harder safely, build more muscle naturally or continue lifting intensely for years to come, then it’s more than worth passing on. So give it a try as you may be surprised how much more progress you make while staying injury free! Thanks for reading and as always, Excelsior!

Frequently Asked Questions

Does warming up actually prevent injuries?

A proper warm-up may help reduce injury risk by increasing muscle temperature, improving mobility, and preparing connective tissues and the nervous system for heavy loading.

How long should a warm-up take before lifting weights?

A warm-up should be long enough to fully prepare the body without creating unnecessary fatigue. In high intensity training, efficient movement-specific warm-up sets are often more effective than long generalized routines.

Should you rest between warm-up sets?

Too much rest between warm-up sets can allow muscles to cool down. Minimal rest helps maintain elevated muscle temperature and readiness for performance.

What is a “check set”?

A check set is a warm-up set used to evaluate readiness, joint condition, tightness, fatigue, and overall performance capacity before heavy training begins.

Why are warm-ups more important after 40?

As we age, connective tissues and joints typically require more preparation before intense activity. Intelligent warm-ups can help improve comfort, mobility, and performance while reducing unnecessary strain.

Can warm-ups improve muscle growth?

Indirectly, yes. Better warm-ups improve performance quality, movement efficiency, and training intensity—all of which can contribute to better muscular stimulation and long-term progress.

References

Fradkin AJ, Zazryn TR, Smoliga JM. Effects of warming-up on physical performance: a systematic review with meta-analysis. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2010;24(1):140–148.
Bishop D. Warm up I: potential mechanisms and the effects of passive warm up on exercise performance. Sports Medicine. 2003;33(6):439–454.
Bishop D. Warm up II: performance changes following active warm up and how to structure the warm up. Sports Medicine. 2003;33(7):483–498.
McGowan CJ, Pyne DB, Thompson KG, Rattray B. Warm-Up Strategies for Sport and Exercise: Mechanisms and Applications. Sports Medicine. 2015;45(11):1523–1546.
Shellock FG, Prentice WE. Warming-up and stretching for improved physical performance and prevention of sports-related injuries. Sports Medicine. 1985;2(4):267–278.
Woods K, Bishop P, Jones E. Warm-Up and Stretching in the Prevention of Muscular Injury. Sports Medicine. 2007;37(12):1089–1099.
Behm DG, Chaouachi A. A review of the acute effects of static and dynamic stretching on performance. European Journal of Applied Physiology. 2011;111(11):2633–2651.
American College of Sports Medicine. ACSM’s Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription. 11th Edition. Wolters Kluwer; 2021.
Garrett WE Jr. Muscle strain injuries: clinical and basic aspects. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 1990;22(4):436–443.
Proske U, Morgan DL. Muscle damage from eccentric exercise: mechanism, mechanical signs, adaptation and clinical applications. Journal of Physiology. 2001;537(Pt 2):333–345.
Page P. Current concepts in muscle stretching for exercise and rehabilitation. International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy. 2012;7(1):109–119.
Richardson K. The FAST Warm-Up Hack That SAVES Your Joints! YouTube video. Kevin Richardson

The post The Fast Warm-Up Hack That Saves Your Joints and Improves Muscle Growth appeared first on Naturally Intense High Intensity Training Fitness Blog.

The Most Important Hormone for Natural Muscle Growth (And Why It’s Not What You Think)

Kevin Richardson — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 21:29:22 +0000

The Most Important Hormone for Natural Muscle Growth (And It’s Not What You Think)

If you’re a natural athlete, you’ve probably spent time worrying about testosterone or growth hormone. Maybe you’ve looked up supplements, special diets, or “hormone-boosting” workout routines.

But here’s the truth:

Focusing on testosterone as the primary driver of muscle growth is one of the biggest mistakes natural athletes make.

Hormones matter—but they’re not the driver. The driver is something far more fundamental.

The Real Driver of Muscle Growth

Muscle growth isn’t triggered by a magic chemical.

It’s triggered by a process:

Unaccustomed stimulus (hard training)
Overload (pushing beyond comfort)
Recovery
Adaptation (muscle + strength)

Hormones like testosterone and growth hormone support this process, but they don’t start it on their own.

Internal link:
What they don’t tell you about natural bodybuilding physiques:
https://naturallyintense.net/what-they-dont-tell-you-about-natural-bodybuilding-physiques/

The “Natural Hormone Ceiling” Nobody Wants to Talk About

As a natural athlete, your body has a built-in ceiling for how much testosterone and growth hormone it can produce.

Yes, you can:

Improve sleep
Eat better
Reduce stress
Train smarter

But you cannot artificially “hack” your way into a completely new hormonal category without drugs.

Here’s what surprises most people:

Many successful natural athletes have completely average testosterone levels.

That includes me.

Why Hormone Obsession Comes From the Wrong Role Models

A lot of modern training culture is shaped by people using anabolic steroids, growth hormone, and other performance-enhancing drugs.

Those drugs dramatically change the rules:

Faster recovery
Higher training frequency tolerance
More total volume possible
Less immediate feedback when something is “too much”

So when drug-assisted athletes promote high-volume routines, natural athletes assume:

“I just need to increase testosterone and do what they do.”

That logic is backwards.

Internal link:
Get the body you want training less than an hour a week:
https://naturallyintense.net/get-the-body-you-want-training-less-than-an-hour-a-week/

General Adaptation Syndrome: The Real Key to Results

In the 1930s, an endocrinologist named Hans Selye described the body’s response to controlled stress using the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS).

This is the foundation of how natural training should be approached.

Stage 1: Alarm (New Stress)

When you apply a new stress, your body reacts.

In training, this may look like:

Soreness
Fatigue
A temporary performance dip

Analogy: Think about how calluses form on your hands.
When you first start lifting hard, your hands can blister and feel raw.

Stage 2: Adaptation (The Growth Stage)

If the stress is high enough and recovery is sufficient, your body adapts:

Strength increases
Muscle increases
Work capacity improves

Analogy: Your hands form calluses.
The same bar that hurt before no longer hurts.

Stage 3: Exhaustion (Too Much, Too Often)

If you apply too much stress too frequently without enough recovery:

Performance drops
Progress stalls
Injuries increase

This is where natural athletes get trapped—especially when they copy high-volume splits.

Recovery Is Where Growth Happens

This is one of the most misunderstood truths in fitness:

Adaptation happens after training—not during it.

You don’t build calluses by rubbing your hands nonstop.
You build calluses by challenging them briefly, then letting them heal.

Muscle is no different.

Internal link:
Fat loss and muscle gain with LESS activity? High intensity training secrets:
https://naturallyintense.net/fat-loss-and-muscle-gain-with-less-activity/

How This Created Naturally Intense High Intensity Training

I started at 125 pounds at 6 feet tall.

I didn’t have special genetics.
I didn’t have artificially elevated hormones.

What I had was a relentless focus on the stress–recovery–adaptation cycle.

So I built a system based on:

Very high intensity
Very low volume
Enough recovery to actually adapt

The Split That Built My Physique

I found my best progress came from:

Training 3 days per week
Resting 4 days per week

Example split:

Day 1: Legs
Day 2: Back + Shoulders
Day 3: Chest + Arms + Abs

Every time I experimented with more frequency—4 or 5 days per week—my progress got worse.

And I saw the same thing in my clients:

The ones who trained fewer days (but trained hard enough) built more muscle and often lost more body fat than those training more frequently.

The High-Volume Myth (And Where It Really Came From)

High-volume bodybuilding culture became dominant because drug-assisted bodybuilders were pioneers of the aesthetic.

But steroids and growth hormone change what the body can recover from.

So volume-heavy programming becomes survivable—and even productive—when recovery is artificially enhanced.

Natural athletes don’t have that advantage.

Internal link:
Best rep range for muscle growth: natural bodybuilding tips:
https://naturallyintense.net/best-rep-range-for-muscle-growth/

“But Testosterone Increases After Workouts…”

Some studies show a temporary bump in testosterone after training.

The problem is how that information gets misused.

People take it to mean:

“Train more often to get more testosterone to get more gains.”

But temporary hormonal spikes aren’t the driver of long-term progress for natural athletes.

The driver is still:

Stimulus
Recovery
Adaptation

What Natural Athletes Should Focus On Instead

Here’s where your attention should go if you want maximum results naturally:

Train With Real Intensity

Your training has to be challenging enough to produce an unaccustomed stimulus.

Recover Like It’s Your Job

If you don’t recover, you don’t adapt.

Stay Consistent With the Process

Progress comes from repeating the cycle, not chasing hacks.

And yes—nutrition matters, especially protein.

Internal link:
What if EVERYTHING you know about protein intake is wrong?:
https://naturallyintense.net/what-if-everything-you-know-about-protein-intake-is-wrong/

The Bottom Line

If you’re training naturally:

Your hormones have a ceiling
You don’t need “outside hacks”
You need a system built around intensity + recovery

You already have all the tools you need to build muscle and create a fantastic physique.

If you want to learn more about Naturally Intense High Intensity Training, start here:
https://naturallyintense.net/

The post The Most Important Hormone for Natural Muscle Growth (And Why It’s Not What You Think) appeared first on Naturally Intense High Intensity Training Fitness Blog.

Boulder Shoulders with Pain-Free Side Lateral Raises

Kevin Richardson — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 17:18:08 +0000

Click HERE to watch “Boulder Shoulders with PAIN FREE Side Lateral Raises”

Side lateral raises are arguably the most important exercise for building the medial deltoids—the muscles responsible for that wide, capped-shoulder look. This is especially true for natural athletes where intelligent exercise selection and proper intensity matter far more than excessive volume.

But what happens when side lateral raises hurt?

Over the years, I’ve had countless people ask what they should do if traditional side lateral raises cause shoulder pain. The reality is that many people have shoulder issues—whether from sports, daily life, past injuries, or simply performing the same exercises over and over again.

In this article, I’m going to show you how to perform side lateral raises in a way that has helped many of my clients train pain-free, along with two shoulder-friendly side lateral raise variations you can incorporate immediately using Naturally Intense High Intensity Training principles.

High Intensity Training Is Not Just for Elite Athletes

When most people hear the term “high intensity training,” they assume it’s only for elite athletes or bodybuilders. While I do train both, the majority of my clients over the years have been regular men and women—many in their 60s, 70s, and even 80s.

I’ve worked with long-term clients for more than a decade and have even trained individuals into their 90s. That kind of longevity requires smart programming and a deep understanding of injury management.

One of the foundational principles of Naturally Intense High Intensity Training is that every workout is different. This constant variation not only drives muscle growth but also drastically reduces the risk of overuse injuries by continually challenging the muscles in new ways.

Muscles grow when exposed to unaccustomed stimulus—a concept further explored in How Muscles Get Bigger and Stronger From Lifting Weights.

Rule #1 When Training Around Shoulder Pain

The most important rule when training with a shoulder injury is simple: it must not hurt.

When I work with someone dealing with shoulder pain, we always start with very light weight and carefully test movements. Nearly every time, we find a variation or range of motion that causes zero pain.

Once you find a movement that doesn’t hurt, that becomes your exercise—even if it’s unconventional.

The Biggest Side Lateral Raise Mistake

One of the most common mistakes people make with side lateral raises is pulling from the hands instead of the elbows.

Pull From the Elbows, Not the Hands

When performing side lateral raises, focus on driving the movement from your elbows rather than your hands. Avoid excessive wrist rotation or “teacup” motions, as these can place unnecessary stress on the shoulder joint.

Pulling from the elbows not only reduces joint irritation, but it also gives you better leverage—allowing you to use more weight safely. More weight means greater overload, and greater overload leads to increased muscle growth in the medial deltoids.

For strategies on training with fewer reps and sets while still making gains, see How Many Reps and Sets to Build Muscle.

Pain-Free Side Lateral Raise Variation #1: Lean-Away Laterals

This variation is extremely effective for people with shoulder pain.

Hold onto a stable object, step your feet out, and lean away from your support. Perform the side lateral raise from this position.

The lean-away setup minimizes shoulder impingement and creates a smoother resistance curve, allowing many people with shoulder injuries to train pain-free.

Because of the added leverage, you can safely use heavier weight. Don’t be afraid to push the set hard and incorporate partial repetitions as fatigue sets in. The goal is maximum intensity without pain.

Pain-Free Side Lateral Raise Variation #2: Partial Range Medial Delt Raises

Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart and hold a pair of dumbbells at your sides. Maintain a slight bend in your elbows.

Using small, controlled movements, raise the dumbbells only part of the way up—staying in the lower to mid-range of motion. Focus on constant tension rather than lifting the weight high. By adding an isometric hold in the middle of a set, you increase the intensity of the exercise without risking any pain in the shoulders.

This variation heavily targets the medial deltoids while remaining extremely joint-friendly.

What About Trap Involvement?

You may notice your trapezius muscles assisting during this exercise. That’s not a problem.

Muscles do not grow best in complete isolation. Compound involvement allows you to use more weight, generate more overload, and ultimately stimulate more muscle growth.

Just as squats recruit multiple muscle groups while still building powerful quadriceps, these side lateral variations effectively grow the medial delts even with assistance from surrounding muscles.

For more on why intelligent variation matters and how to structure your training split, check out Best Workout Split for Natural Bodybuilders.

Train Hard, Train Smart, Stay Pain-Free

Shoulder pain doesn’t mean your shoulder training is over.

With proper technique, intelligent exercise variation, and Naturally Intense High Intensity Training principles, you can continue building bigger shoulders while protecting your joints for the long term.

Always consult a physician before beginning any new exercise routine, especially if pain is present. But by finding movements that don’t hurt and applying maximum effort once you do, you can continue progressing safely.

Know I believe in you.

And as always—Excelsior.

CLICK FOR A FREE COPY OF KEVIN’S WEIGHT LOSS E-BOOK!

Featured everywhere from the Wall Street Journal to CBS News, Kevin Richardson’s Naturally Intense High Intensity Training have helped hundreds lose weight and transform their bodies with his 10 Minute Workouts. One of the top natural bodybuilders of his time, Kevin is also the international fitness consultant for UNICEF and one of the top personal trainers in New York City.

The post Boulder Shoulders with Pain-Free Side Lateral Raises appeared first on Naturally Intense High Intensity Training Fitness Blog.

What Really Happened During the Dog Attack on a Toddler in NYC

Kevin Richardson — Fri, 26 Dec 2025 12:13:25 +0000

I never planned on speaking publicly about this.

But enough people have reached out—friends, strangers, and people who saw the video—that I felt it was important to explain what actually happened. More importantly, I want to talk about why stepping in matters when you see someone in danger.

A Normal Day That Changed in Seconds

It was an ordinary day. My son and I were out shopping in Manhattan, near Union Square, doing what we often do. We were heading toward Forbidden Planet, the comic book store I visit almost every week.

As we were walking, we heard a sudden commotion ahead of us.

At first, it was just shouting—confusing, overlapping voices. But then I heard something unmistakable: a child screaming.

I immediately told my son, “Stay behind me,” and moved forward to see what was happening.

What I Saw When I Reached the Scene

In front of me was a mother holding her toddler—barely more than a baby—while a pit bull was clamped down on the child’s leg.

The mother was pulling with everything she had. The father was pulling. The dog’s owner was trying to pull the dog back.

Nothing worked.

The dog was locked on.

Anyone familiar with pit bulls knows this behavior—when they latch, they don’t let go easily. The harder people pulled, the worse it became. It was horrifying to witness.

I looked back at my son and told him to stay where he was. Then I stepped in.

Why I Did What I Did

People around me were trying everything they could. Someone punched the dog. Someone threw water on it. Everyone was trying.

But I’ve unfortunately seen dog attacks before. I know that striking or startling a dog in that state can often make it bite down even harder.

Because of my background—decades of martial arts training, grappling experience, and study of anatomy—I recognized something critical in that moment: the dog’s carotid arteries were exposed due to its positioning.

I also knew something else.

The dog wasn’t acting out of malice. It was an animal, acting on instinct. Killing the dog was not something I wanted to do unless there was absolutely no other option.

At that moment, I believed there was a way to stop the attack without killing the dog—and save the child.

The Moment Everything Stopped

I positioned myself behind the dog, placing pressure on both carotid arteries. I squeezed as hard as I could.

The dog was pure muscle—rigid, locked, unrelenting.

Around me, everything was chaos: the mother screaming, the child screaming, people shouting.

I remember praying silently, asking not to fail and hoping I could help this child.

There was a moment when I wasn’t sure it was working. I thought to myself that if this didn’t stop the attack, I might have to put the dog down.

Then, slowly, I felt it.

The dog began to loosen. Then go limp. And finally—it released the child.

Choosing When to Let Go

At that point, I had a decision to make.

I could have continued applying pressure until the dog lost consciousness. But I didn’t know whether that would mean it would recover—or die.

The child was free. That was all that mattered.

So I let go.

The dog appeared dazed and attempted to move forward again, but the owner was finally able to restrain it. I got up immediately—I had no intention of being bitten myself.

After the Attack

I went straight to the child and his father. The mother was on the ground in shock.

As a parent, I can say without hesitation that there is nothing worse than seeing your child hurt.

I told the father not to move the child and to keep him as still as possible. There was blood from puncture wounds. Someone said 911 had been called and that an ambulance was on the way.

I put my hand on the mother’s shoulder and told her it was going to be okay. The immediate danger had passed.

I prayed that the child’s injuries wouldn’t be severe—and that he was young enough not to remember what had just happened.

Walking Away Quietly

After that, I went back to my son.

I asked him if he was okay. He said he was.

I put my hood up, walked to Forbidden Planet, bought my comic books, and went on with the day as if nothing had happened.

I didn’t want attention. I didn’t want recognition.

As far as I was concerned, the child was safer than he had been moments before. That was enough.

About the Video and the Attention

Since then, people have been reaching out constantly—messages, calls, and strangers stopping me in the street.

I’m grateful, but also overwhelmed.

I don’t like the word hero.

Because the truth is that everyone who tried that day was a hero. The people who threw water. The person who struck the dog. Everyone who tried to help.

This is New York. People didn’t stand around doing nothing—they acted.

What I Want People to Take From This

This holiday season, I want to leave you with something I often say:

To whom much is given, much is expected.

You may not be big. You may not be trained. You may not know exactly what to do.

But do something.

Even if it’s calling for help. Even if it’s drawing attention. Even if it’s just trying.

When chaos hits, rational thinking is incredibly difficult—especially without training. It’s easy to criticize afterward. Acting in the moment is not easy.

What matters is trying.

Final Thoughts

I don’t want to turn this into a political discussion about dog breeds. That’s not the point.

A terrible thing happened. A child was hurt. And thankfully, people stepped in.

Please keep that child and his family in your prayers.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Know that I believe in you.

Excelsior.

— Kevin Richardson

The post What Really Happened During the Dog Attack on a Toddler in NYC appeared first on Naturally Intense High Intensity Training Fitness Blog.

What if EVERYTHING You Know About Protein Intake is WRONG?

Kevin Richardson — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 17:34:30 +0000

Click HERE to Watch: What if EVERYTHING You Know About Protein Intake is Wrong!

What if EVERYTHING You Know About Protein Intake is WRONG?

So for years you’ve been told that having more protein and eating more calories will give you more muscle.

But what if every single thing you know about protein intake and calorie intake is absolutely wrong?

And not just wrong, but also holding people back from realizing their full potential as natural athletes. In fact, one of the reasons why a lot of people in developed countries probably don’t have the amount of muscle mass gain as natural athletes in undeveloped countries could be not because of better genetics as most people would seem to think.

It could actually be because they’re eating too much.

And so in this video I’m going to turn everything you know about bodybuilding nutrition upside down. And hopefully it’ll help you make better decisions in terms of what you need to eat to really build muscle.

Most Protein and Calorie Recommendations for Building Muscle Come From Bodybuilders Using Steroids

So before I go any further, we have to address the elephant in the room, which is the fact that a lot of people out there in the bodybuilding community talk about the fact that you need one gram of protein per pound of body weight and also that you need to take in a ton of calories and bulk up in order to build muscle and then afterwards diet down.

And this cycle of bulking up and dieting down is essentially what competitive bodybuilders do and have been doing for decades.

And it’s become pretty much the de facto way that most natural athletes out there who are trying to build muscle will employ in their endeavors to try to put on as much muscle mass as possible.

But, like I said, there are elephants in the room. And the biggest one is the fact that most bodybuilders use drugs.

Why Popular Protein Intake Requirements for Building Muscle Don’t Apply to Natural Bodybuilders

The problem with drug use is that it allows you to consume more protein and utilize that protein in a way that a natural athlete never could.

It also allows you to consume a ridiculous amount of calories and not have their body fat increase. And not just not having their body fat not increase, but they can put on a lot of muscle as a result.

And so for them, it makes absolute sense to consume as many calories as you possibly can and as much protein as you possibly can, bulk up to take advantage of the anabolic effects of steroids and then afterwards cut back down.

And the problem is that for natural bodybuilders as well, it sounds like a good idea, because number one, it sounds completely logical. The more you eat, the bigger your muscles are gonna get from all the extra calories and extra protein.

Number two, of course, we’re bombarded by all the bodybuilders doing it and we figured, hey, if it works for them, it should work for us.

And number three, because it feels good. Who doesn’t want to eat more?

Marketing Propaganda Makes It Hard To Get Real Protein and Calorie Intake Recommendations

The fact is this, when it comes to bodybuilding there is almost zero science to it whatsoever. People just pretty much go by tradition and what the most popular athletes or influencers are doing. And there’s no evidence-based testing.

And also, very important, there’s no trying to understand what the minimum dose is. And unfortunately because we live in an era where almost every single bodybuilding magazine back in my time to the bodybuilding influencer today is trying to you some sort of protein supplement because that’s how they make their money.

The idea of having a really high protein intake is one that sells protein supplements. And unfortunately that essentially drives the bodybuilding industry.

And so there’s no interest whatsoever in trying to figure out what the minimum dose is because you’re trying to create a good consumer.

And you want a consumer to consume as much as possible.

Eating Too Much Protein & Calories Can Reduce Muscle Gains in Athletes

But the problem is, could it really be that the fact that if you take in too many calories and too much protein that your results are actually less than someone taking in less protein and less calories?

But here’s the problem.

The problem is that we focus so much on what people in developed countries are doing that we forget that there’s a whole world out there of people who are building tremendous amounts of muscle without tremendous amounts of protein.

And also without tremendous amounts of calories. That’s important. They aren’t eating that much and they’re building ridiculously impressive physiques.

And we’re not really taking the time to look at that and say, “Well, wait a minute. There’s something going on there.”

They’re not bulking up at any point in time because they don’t have the resources to bulk up. But at the end of the day, they are walking around with physiques that almost anyone who is bulking up, cutting down, going through that awful feeling of having to overeat all the time and then afterwards basically starve yourself.

You would love to walk around with that physique without having to go through a lot of stress on your body and we’re not paying attention to it.

Understanding the Law of Diminishing Returns for Protein Intake and Energy Intake

So what I want to do in this video is talk a little bit about what I call the Law of Diminishing Returns.

The Law of Diminishing Returns suggests that the benefit gained from any specific input decreases as that input increases beyond a certain point which in this particular instance refers to the fact that even though eating protein and having a certain amount of calories will help you build muscle that there could come a point where eating over a certain amount of calories and protein actually gives you less results.

This a bit of a hypothesis on my part but, however, it’s my story and it’s also the story of a lot of natural bodybuilders and natural athletes who I’ve worked with for decades all around the world.

My own story is one that I’ve told many a time. I started off at 125lbs at 6ft tall and was able to realize my dream as a successful natural bodybuilder at 198 1/2lbs, consuming only 120 grams of protein per day.

That’s right, and I’ve this many times before. 120 grams of protein per day was all the protein that was required regardless of what my size was to be able to build a truly impressive physique.

How Bulking Up Can Lead to Less Muscle Gains For Natural Bodybuilders

When I came here to the United States when I was 20 years old, I did what every bodybuilder would aspire to do, which was I bulked up to as much as 252 pounds as one point in time and it was absolutely miserable.

And then I cut down to 211 pounds for a competition which was also equally ridiculously terrible and I’ll never do it again.

Click HERE to watch Kevin’s Video: How I Lost 43lbs in 12 Weeks The Dark Side of Natural Bodybuilder

And I did put on additional muscle mass from doing that, but it was no where near as significant as when I was eating less. To the point where later in my career I started eating far less and kept on getting gains.

And given the fact that I was eating more or less the same amount of calories when I was 125lbs as I was when I was 198lbs, because again, like I said, I grew up in Trinidad. We didn’t have that many resources and as a result I didn’t have the luxury of being able to take in 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. I would’ve loved to, but I simply couldn’t.

Kevin’s Daily Calorie Intake During His Period of Maximum Muscle Gain

I also would’ve loved to be eating more calories on a regular basis but I was probably getting around 2,200 to later on maybe 2,500 calories max on a regular basis, which is pretty much on the low side.

Some days would be even as low as 1,800 calories per day. And yet, I still was able to grow. And again, it’s always a mistake to take the experience of one particular individual and think that extrapolates to the entire population.

It’s called the errors of small numbers.

And if I was only taking my own experience and saying, “Well, this worked for me and that’s how everyone else should be eating as well.” That would be a mistake.

But it’s not just me. That’s the thing.

The Sweet Spot in Terms of Daily Protein Intake To Build Muscle Without Drugs

I’ve worked with so many people around the world, like I said. And what I found looking back at all my notes and everything else was that the sweet spot seems to be somewhere between 100-130 grams of protein regardless of how much someone weighed and regardless of activity level.

That somehow or the other seemed to be enough to help people put on significant amounts of muscle mass.

The Importance of Lower To Moderate Calorie Intake For Better Muscle Gains

But, here’s the thing, almost always when they were consuming 2,500 calories or less, with 3,000 calories at the upper limit.

And again, the strange thing is that this seemed to hold true regardless of activity level or body weight.

That’s, relatively for a bodybuilder, is low protein intake coupled with what for a bodybuilder as well would be a moderate caloric intake but seemed to be a sweet spot to really help people grow.

Why These Numbers Apply to All Natural Athletes

Now, over the years, I’ve helped hundreds of men and women put on significant amounts of muscle. And I’ve always had them do it with diets that have been extremely on the moderate side with not bulking up whatsoever.

So I have a pretty large data set from people who I’ve worked with myself and I can see for a fact that you can take in a moderate amount of calories and a moderate amount of protein and still build a physique that puts you on stage at the level of a professional natural bodybuilder.

Examples of Better Results From Eating Less Protein and Less Calories

But what I’ve also witnessed over the years is the number of men, and sometimes women, but mostly men who’ve come to me over the years and talked to me about the extreme amount of protein that they were eating, the extreme amount of calories that they were eating.

And when they would come to me and we would essentially re-work their diet, have them eat considerably less protein and considerably less calories in conjunction with the high intensity training that we do, they made better results.

Which, over time, got me to a point where I’m making this video right now because my whole life is based on the idea of that whatever I’ve seen or observed over the years is something that I think should be shared with as many people as possible and without trying to sell you something.

Now let’s talk about how evolution plays into this.

Now, it makes sense completely from an evolutionary perspective because our ancestors were not eating at any point in time, one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight.

That simply wasn’t happening.

But they obviously were able to increase their muscle mass because the entire adaptive process whereby we increase our muscle mass is a survival based one.

It’s what allowed our ancestors to survive in extremely harsh environments where they would try to do an activity, barely be able to do it, or not be able to do it, and their body would adapt by increasing their muscle strength and to some degree muscle size to allow them to continue to do that activity to survive.

Those that were able to do that would survive the harsher environments and would go on to become our ancestors.

Those who were not able to do those things, obviously died out, and were not our ancestors.

And so it does make sense, also, given the fact that hunter and gatherers in general do not have ridiculous caloric intakes. And so, one would be able to surmise that we are designed to have low energy intakes and even perhaps, low protein intakes and still be able to build muscle.

But perhaps even be able to build better muscle under those circumstances because it’s under those circumstances of low energy intake and low protein intake that our ancestors probably would have needed to have built more muscle to be able to do what they needed to survive.

And so what I’m going to leave you with with this video is to think about the idea that most information you’ve gotten so far about eating more protein and everything else has almost always come from those who benefit from the over-consumption of the consumer.

And perhaps it makes sense first to sit back and do what I did, which is a very simple experiment. Eat less, monitor your progress, and see what happens.

And at 50 years old, I still look like this over 20 years from my last time stepping on stage in a bodybuilding competition.

And so there just might be something to this whole idea of eating less calories, eating less protein, as you have nothing to lose by trying it!

Now that you’ve seen this video, make you watch this video on how I gained 70 pounds of muscle naturally!

Click HERE to watch: How I Ate to gain 70lbs Naturally!

And so I hope that you are able to learn something from this particular video. Incorporate it into your nutrition, and it helps you on your path to excellence.

Thanks so much for watching, know that I believe in you, and as always, Excelsior!

CLICK FOR A FREE COPY OF KEVIN’S WEIGHT LOSS E-BOOK!

The post What if EVERYTHING You Know About Protein Intake is WRONG? appeared first on Naturally Intense High Intensity Training Fitness Blog.

Build Massive Delts (Just 5 Minutes a Week!)

Kevin Richardson — Tue, 06 May 2025 21:59:04 +0000

Click Here to Watch Build Capped Delts in 2025! (Just 5 Minutes a Week!)

Building Capped Delts

So before I started training, my shoulders were so narrow, they’d call me one stripe. They call me one stripe because, but they said I was so skinny that my pajamas only had one stripe. Yeah, they went there.

In fact, my shoulders were so narrow I couldn’t wear a tank top because they kept on falling off all the time. I was able to go from being 125 pounds to being a successful natural bodybuilder and build my shoulders to look like this, training my shoulders only five minutes a week.

That’s right, only five minutes a week. You see, I train with something called Naturally Intense High Intensity Training, a system of high intensity workout whereby I train 10, 15 max 20 minutes three times a week.

And now you might think that 5 to 6 minutes isn’t enough to get fantastic looking deltoids, and that maybe Kevin is some sort of a genetic freak. But here’s the deal over the past 30 years, I’ve trained hundreds of men and women, some of them successful natural bodybuilding champions, and helped them get better results in less time.

And what I’m seeing here sounds unconventional and it sounds unconventional because here’s the problem.

How Steroids Skewers Shoulder Training for Natural Athletes

Most people who talk about what it takes to get really great and capped shoulders tend to be those very same people who were born with really greatly capped shoulders or in many cases, they’re using steroids.

I know that sounds a little bit on the incredible side, but bear in mind, you’re getting information from someone who started off with really narrow shoulders, who built them into what you see today.

And today I’m going to share with you some of those principles to cap out those delts. So stay tuned. Let’s talk a little more about this.

So shoulder workouts within the context of Naturally Intense High Intensity Training we always train our shoulders on the same day we train our back.

So when I started training my shoulders they were extremely narrow. And before I go any further, I’d like to point out the fact that it took a very long time from me to go from looking like this to looking like this. And the most important part is that at 50 years old, I still look like this.

But not only do I still look like this but I can still train exceptionally heavy because one of the most important aspects of Naturally Intense High Training is creating a program that’s going to be sustainable.

Now, that being said, if you put into place some of these principles, our clients tend to see results, especially in the shoulder region within even as short as two weeks.

The Importance of Training Variety To Build Great Shoulders

And then in addition to the high intensity principles that we use, every single workout is different.

There is no conventional progressive resistance. But here’s why it works.

Muscles get bigger and stronger in response to unaccustomed stimulus, and with Naturally Intense High Intensity workouts, every single time you train it’s going to be different exercises, and we do the exercises differently as well.

And so you never get to a comfortable place where you’re in a groove. And to make things even more intense, we have no breaths whatsoever between sets or exercises. You go nonstop.

If I’m going by myself, I will literally get through an entire shoulder workout in about five minutes. If I’m training with my training partner, what I’ll do, I’ll do my sets, then she’ll do her sets, as we’re always try to minimize rest time because what that does is it exponentially increases the training intensity.

Now bear in mind that the eagle lifter is out there. That’s going to create a significant drop in how much you can actually use. And I remember myself, how frustrated I was when I saw my power ranges go down when I first saw training this way.

But over time, the numbers do go back up, and you can see for yourself that I don’t train light at all.

How Variety Helps Prevent Shoulder Injuries

In order for you to be able to keep on training, you need to be training with a sustainable training program that’s not going to cause wear and tear on your joints.

The number one cause of injury training in the gym isn’t someone doing the exercise wrong, it’s overuse.

It’s doing the same thing over and over, and many of you out there can attest to the fact that your joints hurt when you do certain exercises.

And there’s so many people out there who would have had fantastic shoulders and amazing physiques, but because of the fact that they have a nagging injury that gets worse and worse and worse because of doing the same exercises over and over, they aren’t able to do it.

That, plus the fact that I average an hour training per week, which is what most people do in a day. And they do that sometimes four, five sometimes even six times a week, and so the amount of wear and tear on your joints is significantly higher.

This form of training works because it makes sure you have no plateaus because your muscles are always in a place where they have to consistently try to adapt something that’s new to them, and the fact that it allows you keep on training without getting injured.

High Intensity Is Essential For Building Delts Naturally

So the first and most important aspect behind Naturally Intense High Training when it comes to training your shoulders or any body part whatsoever, is the intensity. The intensity has to be blistering.

And we use every single high intensity principle possible and technique to make our workouts as hard as they possibly can be.

In a way that’s counter-intuitive to most progressive overload systems, whereby the idea is to be more efficient to lift more weights, whereas with Naturally Intense High Intensity training, the focus is on intensity, figuring out how to take that exercise you’re doing and make it harder.

That being said, it is a challenge and done correctly, it should be the hardest workouts of your entire life.

The fact you get your shoulders done in 5 to 6 minutes doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. It means it’s going to be 5 to 6 minutes of absolute hell.

I’m going to lay out the basis of the exercise selection for you and it’s fairly simple.

High Intensity Training For Front Delts

Now, for simplicity’s sake, the shoulder muscles are broken down into the front deltoids, the side deltoids, and the rear deltoids and the trapezius muscles, and we make sure you do an exercise for each one of those sections over the course of a cycle. And so you start with front delts for pressing exercise.

We always start with a pressing movement and people think, well, a pressing movement, there are only 1 or 2 press moves so you can actually do. And that’s not true at all.

We focus on explosive exercises like plyometric type and clean and presses.

But we’ll also have our clients do things like seated barbell military presses, standing barbell military presses, military presses against the rack, high incline military presses, dumbbell presses, palm out dumbbell presses, palm in dumbbell presses, Arnold presses, neutral grip dumbbell presses, neutral grip barbell presses, machine presses, calf machine shoulder presses, viking presses.

So much so it can be months before you do the same exercise twice and again. Because every single workout is different, the way you do the exercise is going to be significantly different.

Best Practices for Side Lateral Raises and Building Side Delts

And so after pressing movement, I’ll usually do some sort of lateral raise movement. Now usually we’ll choose one exercise for your side deltoids. And then the next week include an exercise for your rear deltoids. And the reason why we do that is when we’re training at this type of intensity, most people are not able to do an exercise for their medial deltoids and their rear deltoids in the same workout.

You’re just too toasted, and so we break it up over the course of weeks, which also makes it easier to consistently be varying your workouts.

Now, I’ve been doing this now for over 30 years, and I will do an exercise for my medial deltoids and my rear deltoids in the same workout. But unless I’m training a really advanced athlete or natural bodybuilder, most people will only be doing one of those exercises a week.

A Note About Side Lateral Raises

Now, an important note about side lateral raises. A lot of people have shoulder pain doing them because they do it every single time they train their shoulders. So over the course several months, several years it becomes painful.

But bear in mind that side lateral raises aren’t the only exercise to build your delts. There are so many exercises that you can do.

And as in the context of Naturally Intense High Training, we always mix it up and do something different.

So just like the presses, every single time you do a lateral raise movement, it’s going to be significantly different from the one you were doing before. And the way you do it again, it’s going to be a different form of execution, ensuring that your muscles are always exposed to an unaccustomed stimulus, an overload which is going to guarantee you the adaptive response, and making muscles bigger and stronger over time.

Now, when it comes to side lateral raises I tend to go extremely heavy. With my clients as well, I have them go really, really heavy because if you really want to activate your medial or side deltoid and get those capped shoulders, you have to go heavy.

One of the things I learned growing up in Trinidad from one of my coaches was the fact that if you keep on using really tiny weights that are nice and easy and again, first rep, nice and easy, last rep nice and easy, you’re not going to make those muscles grow if you are a natural athlete.

Historically, we’ve always gotten so much information from people who were using drugs who literally get a muscle significantly larger without actually even having to lift any weights.

That’s how powerful steroids are.

And one of the most important facts about using steroids is that it tends to significantly increase shoulder size. And so a lot of information we get out there, from people talking about every single rep should be perfect, and your form should be absolutely flawless, are people who literally didn’t have to train that hard and probably didn’t have to train at all to get the shoulder development that they had that’s impressive.

If you’re a natural athlete and you’re like me and you were not genetically blessed with really great shoulders, you are going to have to train really hard and also really push in terms of the weight.

Capped Delts Require Well Developed Rear Deltoids

The other aspect is that our shoulders are three dimensional, not two dimensional. Everyone keeps on training their medial deltoids really, really hard, but they don’t even think about training their rear delts.

Your rear delts are going to really make a significant difference with that overall roundness. Because if you don’t have significantly developed rear delts, you’re not going to have that three dimensional look to your deltoid, because the bigger your rear delts are, the more impressive your medial delts are going to look.

So it’s important to do rear delt movement as heavy as, if not heavier than side lateral movement. Really push it in terms of weight and also, of course in terms of intensity.

High Intensity Training for Traps

And so after doing presses and laterals, we do trap movements.

And we always do a direct trapezius exercise every single time we train. Now there are a lot of people out there, especially women who do not like training their traps, thinking sometimes they can get really, really big and really, really masculine looking.

And trust me, as someone who has trained hundreds of women over the years, that’s simply just not going to happen.

But it’s really important for the overall balance, both esthetically and in terms of injury prevention, to make sure you train all the muscle groups on your shoulders. You can’t pick and choose.

So you always train traps, it’s one exercise. It can be an upright row movement or shrug movement. And there are lots of different ways that we can do shrugs.

And so all these 3 to 4 exercises are all that I do for my delts. And again, this is not what I’m doing now that I’m in 50 years old to somehow maintain, this is exactly how I have trained now for decades and have put mass on my shoulders in the first place.

And so I was truly blessed going up with a lot of really important people who took the time to help me get to where I am today, and my mom always raised me with the idea to whom much is given, much is expected.

And so I do my best and share as much as I’ve learned over the years to help you along your path.

Now, really important because you’re seeing this video make sure you see this video of what back training because you train shoulders and back on the same day.

And make sure as well you see this video to understand more about our training splits.

So thank you so much for tuning in. Know that I truly believe in you. And as always, Excelsior!

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