As an older bodybuilder, there’s a silver lining—and I’m not just talking about my hair…
When you’re older, you can’t recover as quickly or easily, so you don’t have to kill yourself in the gym as often…
In fact, training too hard can spike stress hormones, like cortisol, and slow your gains significantly.
Even Mr. Universe and biomechanics expert Doug Brignole has cut back on his training, which has kick-started his gaining.
He went from using 10 or more sets per muscle training each every nine days to only four sets per muscle hitting each twice a week.
To get through 10-plus sets, he was stopping all sets well short of failure; now he is going close to failure on all four sets. Here’s what he said…
The combination of training closer to failure on each set, doing fewer sets and training each muscle more frequently has dramatically improved my rate of muscle growth—to a degree that I thought was not possible at my age (62). I’m delighted to see these great results now, but I regret not having used this approach sooner.
So even guys like Doug and myself, with over 45 years of training experience apiece, still make errors when it comes to training too much and too often sometimes…
In my case, it was late 2019 right before the pandemic. I was going to the gym three to four times a week, each workout lasting 1 1/2 hours. I didn’t look all that great, and my motivation was in the toilet. I took this shot to try and kick my motivation in the butt (“Bro, do you even lift?”)…
The pandemic pretty much flushed the motivation toilet—but then I reconnected with Doug. He told me about his book and said that using biomechanically correct exercises could not only help heal my joints, but build new muscle very efficiently…
I figured why not try it. I couldn’t do much in the way of building muscle with gyms closed, so I devised a three-days-per-week workout regimen, upper body one day, lower the next: Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday…
I couldn’t use heavy weights because all I had at home were 50-pound PowerBlock dumbbells, an adjustable bench, and a doorway chinning bar. So I opted for a high-rep set to failure, 20 seconds of rest, then a few more sets after…
All sets had only 20 seconds between them, emphasizing the ideal exercises I could do in my home gym, improvising on what Doug recommended. My reps would go: 20-12-9, same weight on all sets. I usually followed with a second exercise, two sets: 10-8.
Here are my progression photos: Again, the first is training 1 1/2 hours four days a week at a commercial gym. The middle is the shot that surprised me less than a year after using my new home workout plan emphasizing the ideal exercises. The last photo is with intermittent fasting for 10 weeks after the middle photo, still using 35-minute workouts at home…
I thought I couldn’t build muscle in my sparse home gym. I was wrong.
You’re probably saying, “Your story has grown tiresome,” so let me get to the point…
So many workout programs are painfully inefficient, using a shotgun approach.
The first step to turbocharge your muscle gains should be to emphasize the “ideal exercise” for each target muscle.
Those are the moves that check off the Top-5 Efficiency, Productivity, and Safety Factors (from Brignole’s 16). Those factors and the ideal exercises are outlined in Old Man, Young Muscle.
It’s how I re-muscled my physique in a few months. My version of intermittent fasting helped speed the process—both fat burning and adding muscle (outlined in the free companion ebook).
Keep in mind that I used no drugs, no hormone-replacement therapy, and no Photoshop. True, I have been in top shape before, so I was reconstructing, but still…
I’m now an old guy, so I guess you do get wiser as you get older…
If you want more muscle, stop making it so hard. It’s easier than you think.
New: Get the ideal exercise for each muscle, the best add-on moves for ultimate mass, complete 35-minute workouts, exercise start/finish photos and details on building muscle fast and efficiently in Old Man, Young Muscle.
And you still get The Muscle-On, Belly-Gone “Diet” ebook FREE for a limited time when you add Old Man, Young Muscle to your mass-building library. Go HERE.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
Steve Holman
Former Editor in Chief, Iron Man Magazine
www.X-Rep.com
Here’s 1 Simple Trick to Increase Masculinity
If you’re a man over the age of 40, then pay attention…
Today’s man (that’s you) is under attack from multiple angles—you’re being told that being a MAN is no longer allowed, and the foods and drinks you’re enjoying are slowly and effectively stripping away your manhood, leaving you with:
- An increasing amount of jiggly belly fat that will NOT go away
- Decreased sex-drive and E.D. problems
- Trouble sleeping
- Depression
- Lack of confidence
- Joint and muscle pain
- Risk of an early and painful death
- And just not feeling like a man anymore
But the good news is it’s NOT your fault—you’ve been lied to and deceived…
You can also feel good in knowing there’s a very simple trick you can start doing today to reclaim your manhood (and it does NOT involve a pill, cream, prescription, or increasing your T-levels).
Sound crazy?
Click here to discover 1 simple trick, you can start doing today, to reclaim your manhood (more sex, less belly fat, more confidence, more strength, and…)