After months with 3-to-4 sets per muscle on only the ideal exercises, Doug sent me an email… [Read more…]
Mr. America Doug Brignole’s Training, Part 6
In the previous newsletter, I mentioned that Doug gradually reduced his training volume through his 50s. At one point, he was doing 12-plus sets per muscle. [Read more…]
Mr. America Doug Brignole’s Training, Part 5
In 2021, Doug and I were going back and forth about workout volume. I suggested that he still may be doing too much with his 7 sets—30 reps down to 8-10…
I explained how I was making stellar progress using only 3 or 4. I even contrasted his workout time with mine in Old Man Young Muscle. Here’s what I wrote… [Read more…]
Mr. America Doug Brignole’s Training, Part 4
After Iron Man magazine was sold in 2014 and I semi-retired after 27 years there, I lost touch with Doug…
He was one of my favorite contributors because he always had something to add to the bodybuilding conversation with his biomechanics knowledge and savvy experimentation in the gym… [Read more…]
Mr. America Doug Brignole’s Training, Part 3
In the last newsletter, I discussed Doug’s training back in the early 2000s, specifically his use of antagonist supersets—alternating sets between opposing muscles, like biceps and triceps or chest and back… [Read more…]
Mass Mantra #76
Here’s a quote from Drug-Free Mr. Universe and biomechanics expert Doug Brignole (Old Man Young Muscle, page 12)… [Read more…]
Mr. America Doug Brignole’s Training, Part 2
I interviewed Mr. America Doug Brignole for Iron Man magazine back in the early 2000s. The interview and his workout at that time was reprinted in the The Ultimate Power-Density Mass Workout 2.0 ebook in 2008. He was 53 at that time (Michael Neveux photo)… [Read more…]
Mr. America Doug Brignole’s Training, Part 1
First, I want to reiterate that Mr. America and Drug-Free Mr. Universe Doug Brignole was a good friend (Robert Reiff photo)… [Read more…]
Mass Mantra #74
Here’s another science-based quote on hypertrophy from respected researcher Chris Beardsley…
When a muscle is fatigued, the recruitment (force) threshold reduces. So high-threshold motor units are recruited at lower levels of force [lighter weights]. 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 a sub-maximal load.
That explains how lighter-weight training with higher reps can produce growth. In fact, Drug-Free Mr. Universe and biomechanics expert Doug Brignole liked to begin with a 30-rep set to near failure into his 50s and 60s.
It works. A study by Schoenfeld, et al., showed that higher-rep training to failure produced somewhat better muscle growth than standard heavier lower-rep work. (See OMYM)
That’s a godsend for older geezer bodybuilders (like me) who don’t want to use—or can’t use—heavy, low-rep training any more.
You don’t have to blow out your joints to build muscle and use a walker around the gym as you age.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
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Ideal-Exercise-Only Workout for the Most Mass?
Q: I just read your newsletter on Position-of-Flexion [ideal exercise plus stretch- and contracted-position exercises]. I thought the natural strength curve of muscles is hard at the stretch and then tailing off at contraction. Doug [Brignole] said the ideal exercise is all you need. If others were beneficial, wouldn’t he have said so? [Read more…]
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