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Deload Week to Grow More Muscle

Jonathan in an Arnold mask doing concentration curls

Q: You used to talk about taking a reload week after every four weeks of hard training. Do you still subscribe to that? I use the fifth week to do low-intensity workouts to insure full recovery, then I go back to intense ones for four more weeks. Works great. [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: deload, general adaption syndrome, intensity, mass building, muscle building

Forgotten Factor in Fast Mass Gains, part 1

Steve demonstrating seated cable pull-ins

The new meta-analysis by Robinson, et al. (2023) found that 12 ALL-OUT sets a week per muscle is the good top-end goal for hypertrophy… [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: fast mass, hypertrophy, intensity, training volume

Your Best # of Sets for Mass—new study, part 1

Mike Mentzer doing a forced rep on a Nautilus pullover machine

I’ve ranted about the workout-recovery moving target: Your best number of sets per week and optimal intensity for hypertrophy can vary… [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: arthur jones, fatigue, hypertrophy, intensity, mass building, mike mentzer, muscle building

Mass Mantra #33

Mike Mentzer on a beach in Australia, cropped

It’s becoming more clear that training efficiency that avoids damaging your joints and muscles is best for the fastest mass gains as well as for your future health.

Here’s a quote from high-intensity advocate and former pro bodybuilder Mike Mentzer on that subject (Wayne Gallasch photo). [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: heavy duty, high-intensity training, intensity, mass gains, mass mantra, mike mentzer, overtraining

Moment of Bodybuilding Zen 177: Arnold’s Intensity

Arnold doing cable rows, screaming

A rare photo of Arnold demonstrating the Stationary Torture Toboggan, a cardio machine popularized in his Austrian homeland. [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: anabolic drugs, arnold, arnold schwarzenegger, bodybuilding zen, intensity

Frequency, Intensity and Muscle Immensity (Study)

Steve doing heavy barbell curls

Hypertrophy researcher Chris Beardsley has said that a muscle recovers after only 48 hours—but as Mr. America/Mr. Universe Doug Brignole noted, that doesn’t include the supercompensation “growth” phase, which occurs after damage is repaired… [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: Brad Schoenfeld, Chris Beardsley, hypertrophy, intensity, research study, supercompensation, training frequency

Mass-Building Puzzle Solved—For Now, Part 2

Jonathan spotting Steve for hammer curls

I mentioned that hypertrophy researcher Chris Beardsley has said that a muscle recovers after only 48 hours. That’s two days. So does that mean we should train each muscle three times a week: M-W-F, for example?

There are considerations, such as intensity, muscle damage, and supercompensation… [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: Chris Beardsley, hypertrophy, intensity, mass-building, muscle damage, recovery, supercompensation

Intensity Guru: “Pull Back for More Mass”

Pics of Ellington Darden (doing shoulder presses and on the cover of Strength & Health)

In recent newsletters I’ve laid out some new theories on training to failure—basically that it can slow hypertrophy.

Not always, but too much creates severe damage, which saps recovery and growth. Doing only one set to failure while stopping others a rep or two short appears to be a better way to stimulate massive amounts of fast-twitch growth fibers (more on that below). [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: arthur jones, ellington darden, fast-twitch, growth fibers, high-intensity training, hypertrophy, intensity, mass building, MedX, Nautilus, recovery, Super High-Intensity Bodybuilding, T-Nation, The Nautilus Bodybuilding Book

Energy, Synergy, and Mass Intensity

Mike Mentzer on stage at the Olmpia (left) and doing a double biceps pose outdoors (right)

One of the thickest bodybuilders of yesteryear, before drug use went totally off the rails, was Mike Mentzer.

His last contest was the 1980 Mr. Olympia, the controversial comeback win for Arnold in Australia. Mentzer placed fifth, which triggered his retirement and a swim through the pool of madness for a few years. The photo on the left is from that contest. [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: energy, energy drain, heavy duty, intensity, John Little, mike mentzer, muscle synergy, steroids, synergy

Less Intensity = More Muscle Immensity?

Jonathan spotting Steve for hammer curls

Doug Brignole and I were discussing training sets to failure and the body’s response to that.

The common belief is that training a set until you can’t get another rep activates the most fast-twitch fibers possible. [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: Chris Beardsley, fast-twitch fibers, intensity, intermediate, size principle of muscle fiber recruitment, slow-twitch fibers

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