Dedicated to Your Physical Transformation
In the last training newsletter, I mentioned that most of the ideal exercises are isolation, or single-joint…
Starting body-part routines with them is not only safer but also more hypertrophic. What?
Am I crazy? Aren’t the mass moves—like barbell squats, bench presses, and rows—the best of the best?… [Read more…]
Q: The consensus has always been to do heavy compound exercises, like squats and rows, for mass. Do you not believe that? Your focus seems to be on isolation exercises. Don’t you think you would be bigger going heavy on the big exercises?
A: Even if I did think that heavy compound exercises built more mass, which I don’t, I would not emphasize them at this point. I’m 64 years old… [Read more…]
Q: You recently had a quote from Brad Schoenfeld, Ph.D. that said his meta analysis came to the conclusion that single-joint and multiple-joint exercises were equal in their ability to produce muscle mass. What do you think [biomechanics expert and Drug-Free Mr. Universe] Doug Brignole would’ve said about that?
A: Actually, I think the analysis came out before Doug’s death, and he did comment. [Read more…]
In a previous newsletter I printed a conversation between myself and my friend Bill, an avid climber and mountain biker who is also a retired physicians assistant.
We discussed how some compound, or multi-joint, exercises may be beneficial to some trainees depending on their goals—for example [Read more…]
After a previous newsletter that included a conversation with my friend Bill about compound, or multi-joint, moves vs. Doug Brignole’s ideal exercises, most of which are isolation, he had more to add… [Read more…]
Q: I’m using the Basic X-traordinary X-Rep Workout and making pretty good gains. I love that the workouts are quick and that I only use the Ultimate Exercise for each bodypart. My problem is that I think my gains could be even better because I’m not getting a big pump in some bodyparts. I do the density drop set on the Ultimate Exercise at the end, but most muscles just don’t pump like they should. Can I add an exercise to get more pumped? I have time.
A: That’s a common problem because everyone has muscles with low nerve force and/or fewer fast-twitch fibers. That makes getting a pump in those bodyparts more difficult, especially using only a big compound exercise. There are a number of things you can do, such as 10×10 style to end instead of a drop set, but we’ll give you something less time-consuming… [Read more…]
