Mr. America Doug Brignole’s Training, Part 7

After months with 3-to-4 sets per muscle on only the ideal exercises, Doug sent me an email…

I do believe the condition I am now achieving is beyond anything I’ve achieved in recent years, in many ways.

He sent me photos of his physique in September of 2022, as he was preparing for a posing exhibition in October…

Here are some of his comments to me regarding his evolved training philosophy—less volume and not training to failure, which is right in line with my own evolution from Old Man Young Muscle and OMYM2…

“Muscle fatigue” is a two-edged sword, it seems. It provides benefits, but—in the extreme—produces damage and compromises the potential benefits. Chris Beardsley (and also Brad Schoenfeld, Ph.D.) talks about “stimulating reps.” Obviously those are not the early reps when there is little fatigue. A bit later [in the set], when fatigue starts to set in, the reps are more stimulating. But then, suddenly, you reach a point (2 reps before total failure) where, if you continue, it works against you…

Part of this equation is the need to work that muscle again “before too long” (twice per week). So, again, if we focus on “killing” that muscle during a workout, it creates a situation that either requires too long to recover, or we work that muscle again despite it not being fully recovered, we’ve shot ourselves in the foot.

Doug is saying that if you train a muscle again before recovery and then growth, or supercomensation, takes place, you just spin your wheels—slow-to-no progress. He continues…

Basically, our attitude should be that we’re going to seduce that muscle into growth. We’re going to poke it and prod it, but not pound it. Then, we do it again “soon”, when it reaches the peak of the supercompensation phase (not after that peak passes).

The interesting thing about this is that we obviously cannot “rush it.” Our collective mentalities have always focused on finding ways to get MORE than what we’re getting. But it’s clear that all we can do is “the ideal intensity, and the ideal frequency” (and the ideal exercises….and the ideal nutrition), and we’ll be getting the best results we CAN get. Period.

I do believe twice per week is the ideal frequency, assuming each muscle is worked with the “ideal” intensity (which I believe is 3 sets performed at 95% maximum effort, regardless of whether it’s a 30 rep set, a 20 rep set, or a 12 rep set). More frequency would require a compromised intensity effort, per muscle, per workout….and that would not be better.

Great commentary from Doug. Unfortunately, Doug passed away on October 13, 2022, about a week before the exhibition. I was in a funk for weeks after I heard the news—shocked and saddened…

Yes, Doug told me that he was on testosterone—HRT. He said he used only enough to get his levels up to “normal.”

I’m not exactly sure what his definition of normal was, but he was under a doctor’s supervision. And I’m also not sure if he was on any type of diuretic at this point to improve leanness. That could have exacerbated his death from Covid.

I’ll continue with more from Doug in the next newsletter. For example, Is the ideal exercise all you need to fully stimulate a target muscle? Stay tuned…

Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.