Here’s a quote from Drug-Free Mr. Universe and biomechanics expert Doug Brignole (Old Man Young Muscle, page 12)… [Read more…]
Mass Mantra #48
This quote is from Drug-Free Mr. Universe Doug Brignole, who passed away a year ago at age 63… [Read more…]
F the Details—Shut Up and Train?
You may have seen some bodybuilders say to stop analyzing your workouts—just do plenty of sets on the big exercises, and you’ll grow.
That may work if you’re young and/or on anabolic drugs. But as you age, you must get more analytical to continue making progress as well as avoid injury… [Read more…]
I was wrong
In last Monday’s newsletter, I had a quote from Mike Mentzer on how steroids significantly enhance recovery for faster muscle growth… [Read more…]
Mass Mantra #19
Here’s an interesting quote from Drug-Free Mr. Universe and biomechanics expert Doug Brignole on those group workouts when multiple trainees get together in a commercial gym to outdo each other on a lift like deadlifts… [Read more…]
Mass Mantra #17
Here’s a quote from the man who radically changed the way I train, biomechanics expert and Drug-Free Mr. Universe Doug Brignole: [Read more…]
Planes of Motion for New Mass?
I really miss my friend Mr. America/Mr. Universe Doug Brignole and our back-and-forths on training. His biomechanics knowledge was at the savant level, and his ideas did so much to make my workouts—as well as many others all over the world—more efficient and safer… [Read more…]
How to Add More Mass With Stretch, Part 1
Q: You’ve been diving into the growth-promoting potential of movements that emphasize the stretch phase of a muscle’s range of motion. Your science and logic seem pretty solid and correlates with some of the exercises I’ve done that cause significant soreness in a target muscle group. Do you think this could be as much a result of micro-damage from stretching as enhanced fiber recruitment? I could see this micro-trauma also causing hypertrophy, but I was curious if you had an opinion on this. I remember the sorest I’ve ever been was from an overly exuberant dive into stiff-legged deadlifts. I know biomechanics says that it’s almost exclusively a glute movement, but hamstrings do get a significant stretch under load at full extension, which my soreness verified.
A: Here’s a quote from hypertrophy researcher Brad Schoenfeld, Ph.D., on a human study using stretch only, which produced impressive muscle hypertrophy (from Old Man, Young Muscle)… [Read more…]
Mr. America’s New Workout
Mr. America/Mr. Universe and biomechanics expert Doug Brignole is doing a guest-posing exhibition in Las Vegas October 22. It’s at the AAU Mr. Universe that he won in 2019 (location: Plaza Hotel and Casino).
That means Doug is in contest-prep mode because he does not want to guest pose looking like a glazed doughnut. No chance of that. He’s a ripped 185 right now and very close to stage ready, as you can see here… [Read more…]
Isolation Exercises for Mass?
Q: In your Positions-of-Flexion training, you used to emphasize compound exercises, what you called midrange. Now you focus on isolation exercises. Is that an age thing to minimize injuries?
A: It has more to do with understanding biomechanics now, thanks to Mr. America and Mr. Universe Doug Brignole and his book The Physics of Resistance Exercise… [Read more…]