I’m often asked how I could possibly build muscle with only a 50-pound PowerBlock dumbbell set and a bench, as chronicled in Old Man Young Muscle.
It’s a common misconception that you need heavy weights to trigger hypertrophy—and besides, I had no choice…
I was forced to train in my sparse home gym due to the pandemic, which forced my gym to close. Here’s a pic of everything I had in my spare bedroom…
I thought, “Crap, okay, I’ll just do some half-hour workouts three days a week and keep my crummy physique under wraps until COVID is gone.”
But my moderate-weight, short-rests-between-sets workouts did some amazing things for my physique. The photo below was taken August 2021, toward the end of my 10-week transformation with the Old Man Young Muscle workouts…
Some research has shed light on why I got excellent results. It has to do with how fatigue affects hypertrophy…
I’ve discussed the study that showed lighter-weight, high-rep training to failure produced somewhat better muscle growth than standard heavier lower-rep work (Schoenfeld, et al). Researcher Chris Beardsley explains why…
When a muscle is fatigued, the recruitment (force) threshold reduces. So high-threshold motor units are recruited at lower levels of force. This means that when a muscle is very fatigued, it can display a very high level of motor unit recruitment, despite only producing a low level of force. Fatigue therefore contributes to hypertrophy by increasing the number of high-threshold motor units that can be recruited in any given muscular contraction with sub-maximal load.
So while I was using lighter weights, which I was forced to do, my short rests between sets kept fatigue high. And as the above quote explains, that fatigue pooling increases recruitment of high-threshold motor units, fast-twitch fibers, at the end of each set.
I didn’t have that information in my back pocket as assurance; I was merely using short rests between sets to make the weight feel heavier on the sets that followed the first. And set #1 was by necessity a high-rep set.
It was a stark-raving coincidence that I hit on something that science actually verifies. Bonus: moderate poundages don’t hammer joints—important if you’re old or younger looking to avoid orthopedic surgery later in life.
Oh, and emphasizing 2019 Drug-Free Mr. Universe Doug Brignole’s “ideal” exercises made a huge difference as well. They are the most efficient moves for mass, although a set or two of a unique and targeted add-on exercise helped me pack on even more muscle size.
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
X-Rep.com
Highly Recommended…
This is Doug Brignole’s incredible 400-page, large-format text on the biomechanics of exercise. It’s a guide to get you training correctly and building maximum muscle safely and efficiently.
Doug’s analysis and explanations on the science and logic behind muscular movement will show you why many of the so-called fundamental mass-building moves are inefficient time-wasters. Plus, he’ll show you the best alternatives.
Whether you’re a hobby bodybuilder, competitive athlete or personal trainer, this book is a must read, one you will refer to again and again throughout your training career.