BodyBuilding

Training Specifically for Muscle Size, Mass and Bulk

Updated on January 18, 2021 by Brad Murphy

Training specifically for muscle size. When you look at the world’s greatest bodybuilders, you would be forgiven for thinking they are also the world’s strongest men.

They do after all have the largest muscles of anybody. The idea that someone who weighs a hundred pounds less than Mr. Olympia can out-lift him, and out-lift him by a good margin, is surely counter-intuitive.

Of course, powerlifters, strongmen and pure weightlifters are the strongest people on the planet, despite their muscle measurements not stacking up to those of a professional bodybuilder.

So, what gives?

The theory that you can train differently, and specifically, for sheer size or likewise for raw strength, is long established.

There are a lot of intricacies to this, and it’s not even a subject the scientific, nor athletic, community has a complete understanding of yet.

However, it’s obviously possible. And to that end, I will discuss both strength specific training and size specific training throughout this website.

Read the strength primer, and the hypertrophy article to gain some insight into the basics.

For now, let’s talk about getting massive.

Training Specifically for Muscle Size – Training Volume

You will hear this again and again: to build bulk muscle mass, you need to train high volume.

“Training Volume” in basic terms refers to the number of reps and sets you are putting in to a muscle/muscle group per week, assuming the weight/load remains relative to effort.

In even simpler terms. 5 sets a week is better than 3 sets, and 10 sets is better than 5, when it comes to increasing muscle hypertrophy (Krieger study and Schoenfeld study)

Of course, there’s a point when overtraining within the session would become a problem but it is also it’s own limiting factor. Sometimes you just don’t have another set in you.

Success here is best measured by results, and finding the “sweet spot” volume wise for you as an individual is part of the fun.

Training Specifically for Muscle Size – Training Frequency

Frequency and volume are tied to one another, but can have independent effects depending on how you design your program.

Training a muscle or muscle group twice or more a week would be considered high-frequency, which by the way is associated with greater muscle growth over time (Schoenfeld and Krieger)

If you do the same routine as you would on a single session per week then you are also doubling your volume.

However, if you halve your intra-session set count because you’re now training twice per week then you are keeping your volume relatively equal.

There isn’t enough evidence to compare different frequencies and equivocal volume with different volumes and equivocal frequency.

If I was pushed I’d say higher frequency wins out because due to triggering anabolic pathways more often.

Training Specifically for Muscle Size – Going Anaerobic

If you’ve read the strength training article then note the discussion about the order of cardio and resistance training.

Cardio saps energy and energy is required to push/pull the heaviest loads possible to elicit the greatest strength gains.

The same doesn’t appear to be true for gains in muscle size. This could have something to do with the theory that sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, which is often the type of muscle fiber growth associated with size, is triggered by anaerobic processes.

What I mean is that working your muscles under load and going deep into anaerobic respiration appears to stimulate post-training muscle hypertrophy, regardless of the load.

Something bodybuilders often do is to focus on the bigger muscles after they have virtually exhausted themselves working on smaller groups. As such they use smaller loads.

They might say something like “the muscles don’t know what weight they are lifting”.

So if size gains are more associated with higher rep sets that go deeply anaerobic, rather than the actual weight, it shouldn’t matter what order cardio and resistance training are done in (Eddens study)

However, when comparing resistance training only sessions with cardio plus resistance training sessions, the RT only wins with respect to size gains (Wilson study)

The last point there suggests cardio exercise has some attenuating effect on anabolic processes, as is also the case for strength specific training.

Slow, Fast or Both?

I really enjoy playing with the speed of my reps, but does it pay to lift fast or slow?

Scientists call this “movement velocity” and they have measurements. A slow movement is between 2 to 3 seconds for the eccentric contraction and the same for the concentric.

A fast movement would be about a second for each of the eccentric and concentric portions.

What’s nice and weird is that quads tend to grow more from slow movement velocities while biceps grow bigger from fast movements (Hackett study)

The studies aren’t plentiful so you can’t go making sweeping statements like that really. However, let’s just do a quick thought experiment based on the above cited meta.

Let’s say quads do grow bigger from slow reps and biceps grow larger from fast reps.

Could it be that the more muscles there are in the main group – quads having four and biceps having two – account for the difference?

Or, perhaps it’s just mass – quads are much bigger than biceps. Perhaps it’s a bit of both.

Whatever it is, it’s worth exploring. Do a few weeks of going slow and compare with a few weeks of going fast.

Personally, I like mixing explosive reps with slow reps, especially for the bigger compound lifts like squats, for the potential that they activate different kinds of muscle fibers – slow-twitch (type I) and fast-twitch (type IIa and IIb).

Strength Training for Bodybuilders – Starting Out

Updated on November 12, 2020 by Brad Murphy

This article is for bodybuilders who want to gain strength. The muscle may look good but it may lack strength and power. Here is a guide for strength training for bodybuilders

If you’re starting out on the path of resistance training then this will be a valuable read.

With articles like this, I endeavour to be brief, while “priming” you with enough information to (a) help you understand the subject a little more; and (b) highlight some areas of interest you might want to pursue.

Resistance training with the specific goal of increasing strength is, I believe, the most important discipline within the overall bodybuilding and physique enhancement ethos.

I consider it the default training mode because it is an entirely functional platform from which additional performance, sport, physique and strength goals can be successfully realized.

High Load Resistance Training

Lifting heavy loads leads to significantly greater gains in dynamic strength than low load training. This is fairly unsurprising but it has still taken several studies and some meta analysis to prove scientifically.

High loads are defined here as weight equal or greater than 60% of your 1RM (one rep max).

The term “dynamic” here refers to the movement of the muscle, and thus the load, by either concentric contractions (where the muscle shortens) or eccentric contractions (where the muscle lengthens but muscle fibers still contracting under load).

An example of a concentric contraction is the shortening (and bulging) of the biceps during a bicep curl as the weight is moved upwards towards the shoulder.

Here, the contraction forces applied by the biceps are greater than the downward force of the weight.

As the weight is lowered to a straight arm position, still under load, an eccentric contraction is performed and the biceps lengthen. Here the contraction forces of the biceps are outweighed by the forces acting on the load.

Isometric strength, where the muscle does not move and the weight is held statically, is not significantly different with low-load versus high-load training.

Strength gains however tend to only be made in the specific position of the isometric hold.

1RM – One Rep Max

This is the maximum load you can lift for one repetition, i.e. a single concentric-eccentric contraction.

A 1RM should always be completed under the supervision of a spotter or multiple spotters for large compound movements where a failure could be dangerous.

Examples include squats, bench press and military press.

The 1RM is a benchmark for people looking to increase their dynamic strength but is also used by people who are more interested in maximum size gains.

Compound Movements

Compound movements are typically lifts where multiple muscle groups and joints are employed to execute them.

The Big Four compound lifts – which I will repeatedly refer to on this website – are the classic Deadlift, Squat, Shoulder Press, and Bench Press.

These, or variations of them, are the pillars of dynamic strength training, and cannot be ignored if brute strength is your goal.

Executed correctly, they activate many major muscle groups dynamically, and many secondary support muscles isometrically, including the entire core.

Lift First – Cardio Second

This is another aspect of strength training which seems obvious in hindsight but is obviously not from the beginning.

I see a lot of people doing a cardio session prior to their resistance training sequence, and much more than a light 5 minute warmup.

Performing any type of cardio, aerobic or anaerobic, before lifting weights is a bad idea, and the science is there to back me up.

Without going into depth about muscle glycogen and carbohydrate vs fat oxidation, just think of it in terms of energy.

Your strength training needs maximum energy for maximum gains, so that you can repeatedly push or pull heavy weight (> 60 % of 1RM).

Using a lot of your stored fuel reservoir during a cardio session, before even hitting the weights, will reduce much of the potential progress to be made in strength.

By contrast, your aerobic fitness is not dependent on the same sequencing, so in “getting the cardio out of the way” there is no benefit to speak of.

In this context, maximum strength gains would actually be made if cardio is not completed on the same days as strength training.

However, time constraints, in addition to the important health aspects of regular cardio cannot be ignored.

Variable Resistance, Negative Reps and Periodization

There is more to discuss about strength training…much, much more. This being a mere primer, I don’t want to write a thesis about it here.

It’s worth briefly mentioning some other interesting areas that have been studied in a clinical setting, and to the point that meta-analyses (studies of studies, if you will) have been conducted.

Variable resistance is an interesting training adaptation that leads to improved strength gains, even for experienced lifters [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25968227].

This involves the attachment of bands – which increase resistance as elastic potential loads – or chains – which increase in weight as more is lifted from the floor.

Periodization has been tested in a scientific setting, comparing linear periodization with undulating.

Undulating periodization, where set length and load is altered week by week, appears to be most effective for leg press strength, where squat and bench press weren’t really affected.

None of the results were statistically significant, but many people believe that “keeping the body guessing” in this way does lead to greater adaptations.

Negative Reps are a specific way of training that requires a spotter or spotters to help with the “positive” concentric rep while the lifter performs the “negative” eccentric rep.

This is generally done to allow large loads to be used, i.e. those greater than the lifter could actually push or pull through the concentric contraction.

It is said that this training method can elicit greater strength gains due to the neural and muscular adaptation required to perform controlled eccentric contractions under heavier and heavier loads.

Which is Better Creatine or Beta Alanine? Is it Fair to Compare?

Updated on June 6, 2020 by Brad Murphy

Creatine and Beta Alanine are often compared. Is it fair to analyze their differences though? Although similar they are responsible for different workout benefits.

Creatine or Beta Alanine?

Although similar, it is wise to note that creatine helps with short, intense bursts of power, while beta alanine can prevent lactic acid from getting into your muscles and making you fatigue more during your workouts.

Firstly I am going to give an overview of Creatine and what it does.

Creatine Monohydrate is the Granddaddy of strength supplements. If you ever meet anyone who tells you to avoid creatine, find a computer, google ‘moron’…and then smack them over the head with the keyboard.

I jest (but not really).

Creatine best supplement — Creatine – arguably the go to supplement for strength

Once upon a time, I was asked to review a product – for the sake of anonymity, let’s call it SuperCreatine.

SuperCreatine was a “nitric oxide booster” in capsule form, and one of the “benefits” they listed in the marketing hype was “Creatine Free!!”

Not only would SuperCreatine fail to raise the nitric oxide levels of a growth-stunted dung beetle, but the manufacturers thought its distinct lack of creatine was a selling point.

My review was honest. They didn’t send me any more free crap.

Creatine and Phosphocreatine for ATP Cycle

Creatine occurs naturally in your body. It’s synthesized in your liver and kidneys at a rough rate of 1 gram per day.

It’s also partially replenished via your dietary intake, which can provide another single gram per day.

Those 2 grams play a pivotal role in the recycling of ATP (adenosine triphosphate) from ADP (adenosine diphosphate).

It does this by being converted to phosphocreatine once it reaches the muscles or brain, and donating phosphate groups when ADP needs to be phosphorylated back to ATP.

It’s a phosphate donor.

Most of your creatine stores are in your skeletal muscle as phosphocreatine. Some is in your brain, floating around in your blood, or in other organs and tissues.

ATP is the principal energy molecule in your body, and for all life as we know it. It’s more like a broker though, acting as an intermediary between stored energy and processes that require it.

Creatine Monohydrate and Saturating Your Cells

Here’s the fun part about: you have room to store much more than you synthesize or obtain from your diet.

The two gram turnover that I talked about in the section above is satisfactory for people who don’t engage in anaerobic resistance training regularly.

However, if you lift, and your sets often go into the red, your creatine stores can be quickly depleted as phosphate groups are donated faster than they can be replenished.

So, if you take an appropriate dose on a daily basis, not only will it mitigate your energy deficit problem, it will eventually saturate your cells.

Saturation provides your muscles with a reservoir of phosphocreatine to recycle enough ATP for your daily gym shenanigans.

What Can Creatine Do For You?

Let’s put some numbers on this, shall we?

A meta-analysis of creatine studies found that creatine supplementation adds:
8% to the user’s Squat strength
3% to the user’s Leg Press strength
Another meta-analysis showed improvements in Bench strength and lean body mass.

The type of training it helps with is short bursts of force output that go into anaerobic respiration.

Anything less than 30 seconds is where creatine is at home, i.e. most mass/strength building sets.

Some efforts lasting between 30 seconds and 2.5 minutes can also benefit from creatine supplementation, like a volume set of squats for example.

Effects become unreliable for efforts lasting longer than two and a half minutes.

Creatine Monohydrate best supplement in the world

What About Different Forms of Creatine?

Creatine monohydrate (CM) is the cheapest form of creatine. Companies can no longer make oodles of profit from CM, so they had to shake up the business and make some fancy sounding creatines.

The thing is, CM provides the closest to 100% absorption out of any type of creatine.

Also, those creatine powders mixed with something for “ultra fast absorption” are missing the point. Creatine doesn’t need to be absorbed super fast.

All you have to do with CM is build it up to the point of cell saturation. When you work out, you use some of it, and the next time you take a dose, you just top up your creatine pool.

Absorption speed is irrelevant. And spending more money to get it is silly.

The only concession I have made is to buy “micronized” CM, because it mixes better with my protein shake.

Should I Cycle Creatine?

There’s no real point in cycling creatine. If you come off it, you’ll only have to re-saturate your cells again when you go back on it.

There’s no safety concern with using creatine long term at the doses recommended below.

How Much Should I Take and What About Loading Doses?

Between 3 and 6 grams per day appears work out for most people. Taking this amount will slowly saturate your cells but you should still have a surplus to requirements during the saturation phase.

Loading creatine by taking 20 to 25 grams per day (split into four or five separate doses to be easier on the stomach) for about five days will help you reach saturation quicker.

Loading can increase the water retention effect (creatine initially pulls water into the muscles), and high doses can cause mild stomach cramps…plus, there’s no real need to load.

Personally I throw 5 grams into my post-workout shake.

Job done.

Is Creatine Safe?

Remarkable so. Some old studies were super cautious about creatine so you might read that the long term effects are unknown or that it might tax the kidneys.

Long term use of high doses of creatine are still unknown because nobody is dumb enough to take large doses for years, because it’s not necessary. Five grams a day is fine.

Some people should avoid loading creatine just in case. They include (and might not be limited to) people with high blood pressure, people with reduced kidney function.

That’s Creatine covered in a very concise manner – let’s talk about Beta Alanine.

What is Beta Alanine?

Do you know what beta-alanine is doing inside your body when you take it? Is it necessary to take it before a workout? And what’s that weird tingly feeling all about? Is it safe?

beta alanine supplement — Beta Alanine is often compared to Creatine.

All the questions are valid, and a few might yield surprising answers for some of you.

Beta-Alanine is one of the most common ingredients in today’s pre-workout supplements.

It’s become so accepted in the sports supplement industry that if you don’t see around 3.2 grams of the patented standard beta-alanine extract CarnoSyn in your pre-workout, you’d have to wonder why.

Hopefully, most people using it are aware of its effects, and understand its capabilities and shortcomings. If not, this is the article for you because you should know what you’re putting in to your body.

Beta Alanine – A Lowly Non-Essential Amino Acid?

We tend to put more stock in the essential amino acids as supplements because we can’t synthesize them within our bodies.

Essential AAs are therefore obtained from out diet, and we can top them up or add to them with supplements.

There are 9 essential AAs but the ones you are most aware of are probably the branched chain amino acids (BCAAs), Leucine, Isoleucine and Valine. That’s because of their importance in muscle tissue, energy and recovery.

Beta-Alanine is a non-essential amino acid. The non-essential AAs are often thought of as less important but that’s a mistake.

In fact, non-essential AAs like beta-alanine are often the limiting factors in the bio-chemical processes that also involve essential amino acids.

This will make more sense if we talk about Carnosine.

Carnosine, Beta-Alanine and Histidine

Beta-Alanine is made in your liver and from there travels to, and enters, your muscle tissue. Once there it hooks up with the essential amino-acid, Histidine.

The two together form a dipeptide (two amino acids linked together) called Carnosine.

Carnosine cannot enter muscle tissue so it has to be made inside it. There it is stored for use as a buffer to lactic acid and protection against oxidative stress in general.

It can however be broken down to its constituent substrates (beta-alanine and histidine) in the liver, which can then travel to muscle tissue and reverse the process.

That said, it is accepted that beta-alanine supplementation is the most efficient and preferred route for increasing muscle carnosine levels.

Moreover, beta-alanine is the limiting step in carnosine production, unless there is a histidine deficiency, and so it only makes sense for athletes and bodybuilders to supplement with BA.

What Does Carnosine Do For My Workouts?

Most people associate beta-alanine with giving them the extra gas for one or two more reps in a set.

This effect comes from the additional muscle carnosine that supplementing BA provides. Carnosine acts as a buffer to acid – lactic acid included – and slowing the fatiguing effects of a drop in pH level.

Several studies have found that beta-alanine can improve physical performance, reduce fatigue and even increase the hypertrophic effect of training because of the lactic acid buffering effect.

It’s quite specific in doing this though. The exercise range where beta-alanine can help you squeeze some more energy out is between 60 seconds to 4 minute of high output training.

Imagine an 800 or 1500 meter race, or high volume sets of squats, and you’re in the right zone.

Are There Any Other Benefits of Beta-Alanine Supplementation?

Some interesting research shows that BA can attenuate the aging process of cells. This is once again due to carnosine’s protective actions, defending cells of oxidative damage.

There are two ways in which BA might help slow the aging process: by preserving DNA from the shortening effect of multiple replications, or by slowing the build-up of toxic altered protein by-products in cells.

Supplement Timing

I mentioned at the beginning of this article that beta-alanine had become almost ubiquitous in the context of pre-workout powder supplements.

The thing is, it’s something that you accumulate, in a similar way to creatine monohydrate.

Over several days of taking 2 to 5 grams of BA per day you will basically create a storage reservoir of carnosine within your muscle tissue.

This is all to say that you can actually supplement BA separately, and its efficacy is not dependant on timing.

Therefore, if you have a favourite pre-workout blend that doesn’t include BA, or you don’t enjoy the tingles (parasthesia – see below) during a workout, or after a large dose, then you can split the BA servings up and take them anytime you want.

Parasethesia – A Harmless Side Effect

Supplementing with beta-alanine can cause a harmless side effect known as parasthesia – a tingly skin sensation that is mostly felt in the face, neck and shoulders but that can spread the the extremities.

It tends to happen when larger doses (2 to 5 grams) are taken at once, which of course is the case where pre-workout supplements are concerned.

Again, though, it’s not a harmful effect. It’s simply a case of whether you mind it or not. Some people enjoy it, me included.

Creatine or Beta Alanine Which is Best – Conclusion

If you ask a hundreds personal trainers, bodybuilders or supplement to choose either creatine or Beta Alanine you will most likely get an equal split between Creatine and Beta Alanine advocates.

So that kind of answers the question. Why choose – use them both as they are complimentary.

Training To Failure – Muscle Soreness and Muscle Failure

Updated on April 28, 2020 by Brad Murphy

Is working out until you can’t work out anymore a good or bad thing? We look at the science of muscle soreness and muscle failure

Muscle Soreness and Muscle Failure

This is part 2 (part 1 here) of Training to Failure – in layman terms… working out until you cannot workout anymore

Context has the final word once again.

Muscle Soreness and Muscle Failure – What Does the Science Say?

Scientific studies have attempted to compare failure and non-failure training and some have done a reasonable job at it.

I won’t slam you with a thousand study references but up until now the picture has looked something like this:

Not everyone is great at judging how close they are to muscle failure, so training to failure is a guaranteed way to ensure you are working the muscles hard enough to elicit growth.

Chronic failure training – as in, going at it every time you hit the gym – however, can cause fatigue which can hinder your overall effort and possibly dull growth.

Failure training is no more dangerous than non-failure training provided any potential problems are mitigated. In other words, it’s not inherently dangerous to train a muscle to failure, but falling over while squatting to failure is (okay that last bit wasn’t sciency).

Some studies have even completely contradicted each other in the past, where one says failure training produces better results while another concludes that it hinders progress.

So, what are we to think from a scientific standpoint?

Recently, a comprehensive study was undertaken.

Over the course of 20 weeks, 10 different training protocols – each one a unique combination repetition design – were performed by the subjects.

Muscle damage and fatigue were measured before each training session and at intervals afterwards, ranging from 6 hours to 48 hours post-workout.

Subjects performed 3 sets of bench press followed by squats. The rep protocol included 5 failure and 5 non-failure designs of different rep counts. The non-failure protocols also ranged in RPE (rate of perceived exertion).

For example, in the failure group, one subject would do 12 reps where 12 were possible. That would be a failure set. This went all the way down to a failure set 4 reps where only 4 were possible.

In the non-failure group, one subject did 6 reps where 12 were possible, another did 5/10, and so on down to one subject doing 2 reps where 4 were possible.

Intensities (weight) was matched to the RPE and rep counts.

The results of the study were as expected, but it’s nice to have a quality investigation say as much.

High rep failure sets – particularly 10 to 12 reps – take longer to recover from than sets at 5 to 8 RPE.

Again, that sounds obvious but when you consider that the scientists measured actual physical performance as a follow-up at 6, 24 and 48 hours it bears significance that the higher-rep failure guys had reduced power compared to the non-failure subjects.

So, with that in mind, the longer recovery time could definitely impinge on volume, and therefore gains.

The study shouldn’t be interpreted as saying never do failure sets, but it was the first one to show the recovery over time following failure versus non-failure training and with different RPEs and rep counts to boot.

What would be great to see now is what recovery and progress can be made from 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9 RPE where repetitions are equal and resistance (weight) is the variable.

Training Experience and Muscle Failure

Something I’ve heard a lot is that over time, you have to train to failure more and more to continue seeing progress.

This is generally from people who have been lifting for years, perhaps 10 and over. They are talking about a widely held belief that adding muscle mass and/or making strength increases becomes that much more difficult as you become more and more experienced.

Of course it’s true. The most successful bodybuilders in the world cannot make the same gains as someone who is 6 months into regular lifting.

Training to failure appears to be synonymous with that “extra” that veteran bodybuilders are referring to.

We can’t really look at scientific data and make any meaningful conclusions in the context of lifetime lifters.

At least, I don’t know of any studies that have been able to get guys with a decade or more experience busting iron.

For one thing, the diminished returns from their training would make it very difficult to measure anything in a reasonable amount of time.

So does experience dictate how much you should train to failure? Probably, but I can’t put numbers on it.

A pro bodybuilder probably mixes it in with non-failure training in a way that’s optimal for them as an individual in terms of recovery.

These people are at the apex of their potential for muscle gains and so squeezing fractions of improvement out of their already sculpted muscles probably takes some extreme work.

For regular human beings, experience will matter but then so will individual responses to resistance training.

I know some people who can’t move the day after a gruelling leg workout and others who are back at the gym squatting.

This could be partly due to individual biochemical responses to training, but it can also be because of individual perceptions of effort.

Muscle Soreness and Muscle Failure – Varied Perception of Effort

We’ve established what muscle failure is and it’s pretty easy to understand when you’re lifting weight.

What’s perhaps more difficult is an individual’s perception of how close they are to that muscle failure. Are they 2 reps away from failure? Or is it 3…4?

Some of us are better at it. Since it’s becoming fairly clear that we shouldn’t train to failure every time we train, due to the lengthy recovery process and the potential decrease in performance and volume, how close should we get?

It’s a good question, and one that’s often answered with: go with how you feel.

If you training program is of decent design then your overall volume – provided the intensity is adequate – is the most important factor for progress.

Once you are lifting considerable percentages of your 1RM (i.e. 60% and above), total volume is important.

Volume can be measured in total weight lifted as well as number of sets performed.

If your 1RM on benchpress is 275 lbs then if you take 70% of that and 90% of that you can still perform the same volume with 70% as you do with 90% but your likely to be much less fatigued.

That isn’t to say you should always stick to 70% of your 1RM, the point is more about related to being able to achieve your program’s volume by making the right decisions.

Perhaps later in the week, or on your last session of that exercise before you have a couple days off, you can do some failure sets.

Muscle Soreness and Muscle Failure – Leaving No Doubt

I mentioned earlier in the article that this might be the best reason to train to failure.

Taking the muscle to failure leaves no doubt as to how close you have got to maximal motor unit output and muscle fiber recruitment.

In the very least, it reassures you that you couldn’t have done more even if you tried.

Once again, if you are approaching your total volume for that muscle or muscle group for the week then it won’t hurt to use it.

How Much is Too Much?

I would say if your first sets of a training session are difficult or painful to get through because of residual fatigue/soreness from the previous session, you are overdoing it.

Actually, if it occurs over a sustained period of time, it’s a good sign that you are overtraining in general, along with other indicators like declining performance, psychological distress, sleep disturbance, lack of motivation, deteriorating physique

I and many people have found that soreness level and the length of time it sticks around are great indicators of how suited a program design is to the individual using it.

In my opinion the larger compound lifts like squats and deadlifts shouldn’t be taken to failure often, if at all.

These movement rely on so many muscles and muscle groups that working them to that point is likely to result in your form slipping, and yes, possible injury.

What’s more, given the stress these lifts place on the central nervous system (CNS), particularly the closer you get to maximum single repetition loads, working to failure can have detrimental effects that go beyond the musculoskeletal system.

Muscle Soreness and Muscle Failure – Single-Joint Movements

The single-joint movements, machine and cable exercises are more suited to putting in maximum effort. Once you’ve finished your free squats, for example, taking your legs to the pain cave on the leg press isn’t a bad thing – again, so long as the rest of your training doesn’t suffer.

By no means is it necessary or even advantageous to train to failure every time you go to the gym. Employed correctly it can be a useful addition to your program.

There are lots of options open to you as well. No-one is telling you (they shouldn’t be anyway) to do a specific number of sets to failure within a workout.

People often use it on their last set of a particular exercise. They might even combine it with a big drop set where they reduce the weight by about 30% after reaching failure and then go again, repeating the process once or twice more.

Going Beyond Failure

Muscle failure doesn’t even stop some people. They go beyond that point by performing spotter-assisted repetitions; forced and negative reps.

Forced reps are those which a spotter helps you complete after you have reached the point of muscle failure on your own. It’s a bit like reducing the weight but without even the pause it would take to do so.

Negative reps also require a spotter, and sometimes more than one.

These are traditionally done with weight that is heavier than the lifter can actually lift with the concentric – or positive – portion of the repetition.

It works after concentric failure as well because it’s more or less the same thing. The spotters help you lift the weight on the positive and then allow you to perform a controlled negative.

Either one of these options are ways by which you can go deeper into the pain cave. The value of them can be debated all day long, as can regular failure sets.

Main Takeaway Points

I think the moral of the muscle failure story can be summed up with the following points:

Training to failure is relatively safe, provided it does not lead to dangerous practices (like back squatting to failure away from the power rack).

It is not, however, essential to make muscle growth gains, neither is it fore strength improvements – at least not in the first few years of training.

Including some failure sets will help guarantee you are recruiting maximum motor units and muscle fibers, but this can probably also be achieved if you leave a couple reps in the tank provided you have an accurate perception of how many you have left.

Too much failure training will inhibit your ability to complete weekly volume, which is arguably more important for progress than failure sets anyway.

Strategic timing of failure sets – such as in the last few sets of your weekly volume, or before a couple days rest will help limit any negative impact they have on your overall volume and frequency

Closing Remarks on Training To Failure – Muscle Soreness and Muscle Failure

If you’re befuddled by the amount of information coming at you and you’re still not sure whether failure sets are good for your gains or not then join the club.

No-one can tell you for sure, but the science is getting better at zeroing in on the issue.

Research, bro-science, anecdotal evidence, observations, and whatever else has issued from the mouths of the wise and weird, has shown that muscle failure still has a place in a rounded training program.

Some scientists found that it enhances the production of growth hormone following a workout. Other studies show a benefit in terms of hypertrophy.

Bodybuilders have done it for years, and given the literal weight of their opinion, you’d be hard pressed to tell them they are wrong.

And if nothing else, sometimes smashing an exercise until the muscle is well and truly murdered…well, it just feels right.

Plus, the pump you get is outrageous.

Modern research is leaning more towards the opinion that it’s almost redundant, especially if it negatively affects your overall training volume…but they also say you might want to add some in just in case, you know, to make sure you’re pushing your muscles as much as you think you are.

Thankfully, there’s nothing specifically saying failure sets are useless or dangerous.

So have at it, but remember this: the deeper you go into that pain cave, the longer it takes to find your way out afterwards.

Don’t overdo it, otherwise you’re just wasting time and energy, and that’s something none of is can afford.

Dianabol (dbol) Review – Results, Cycle for Bodybuilders

Updated on April 14, 2020 by Brad Murphy

Dianabol is a steroid that is used by some bodybuilders and athletes in an attempt to increase muscle growth. Dianabol is not injected – it comes in a pill. In fact, it’s the most popular orally taken muscle-building steroid in existence.

Dianabol Review – Dbol Review

Dianabol is a branded version of the anabolic steroid Methandrostenolone. It’s also one of the most popular orally take anabolic steroids of all time.

This article is describing Dianabol – it’s uses, it’s history and it’s complications. We are not providing any link to buy Dianabol nor are we condoning its use in the bodybuilding industry. Dianabol and Dbol are one and the same. We advise using a Dbol alternative

Although there is an injectable version of Dianabol as well, most users prefer to take it by mouth.

Dianabol was developed in the late 1950s and its ability to provide rapid gains in muscle mass made it an instant hit with bodybuilders. To this day, it remains a popular option with bodybuilders who wish to bulk up fast.

Dianabol bulking up — Dianabol is one of the most popular bodybuilding supplements

A Short Dianabol History Lesson

It was created in the 1950s by the American physician John Bosley Ziegler. It was originally used for boosting the testosterone levels of people suffering from hypogonadism.

During the 1960s, Ziegler decided to give the American weightlifting team an extra competitive edge at the Olympics. He used his creation to do it. As it turned out, his efforts were wasted because the team from the Soviet Union still won.

However, the American athletes were quick to notice using the steroid was making a difference to their training efforts. Thanks to Dianabol, getting bigger and stronger had become a lot easier.

It wasn’t long before Ziegler discovered some athletes were using up to 20 times the normal dose. This made him regret his earlier experiments, but the damage was done. Dianabol had become a key player in the Golden Age of Bodybuilding.

Dianabol remains a popular steroid to this day, despite the fact that it’s an illegal controlled drug.

BodyBuilder on Dianabol — It’s possible to deliver Dianabol to the body via intramuscular injections but most bodybuilders prefer to take a Dianabol pill

How Dianabol Works

One of the most important things it does is improve protein synthesis. It also boosts nitrogen retention and that’s important too.

Protein synthesis is the process where the amino acids brought to the muscles by the blood are put to work. It’s a fancy way of referring to the muscle building process.

The thing is, this “anabolic” muscle building process needs nitrogen as well as protein (amino acids). In fact, the more nitrogen there is, the more efficient the muscle building process will be.

By improving protein synthesis and nitrogen retention in the way that it does, Dianabol creates the perfect environment for maximum muscle growth.

How to Use Dianabol

It’s possible to deliver Dianabol to the body via intramuscular injections but most bodybuilders prefer to take a Dianabol pill. The preference is mostly due to the fact that the steroid is not fully broken down by the digestive process.

Bodybuilders who use this steroid often take 30-50mg per day and use it in a cycle of 4-6 weeks. However, Dianabol has quite a short half life (3-5 hours). That makes it necessary to split the dose over the course of the day.

In order to avoid the risk of stomach upsets, it’s generally best to time the doses to correspond with meals.

Some people don’t favor this method of using the steroid. They take the full daily dose at once instead and do so prior to their workouts.

Bodybuilders who use Dianabol in this way believe it enables an improved uptake of the steroid. They also argue it boosts performance during their workouts.

It seems likely that this method may provide a higher blood concentration of the steroid while working out. The problem is, taking Dianabol as a single, larger dose places a greater strain on the liver. You only have one of those and it has to last for life, so there’s a lot to be said for splitting the dose.

Dianabol Side Effects

Dianabol can do a lot of good things. There’s no denying the fact. It’s a muscle-building superstar. The thing is, it can do a lot of terrible things to the body as well. In this case, there is no yin without yang and when a steroid goes yang it’s no laughing matter.

Let’s take a look at some of the downsides to be aware of before you consider allowing the Dianabol steroid into your life.

Many Dianabol users report experiencing water retention. Nobody wants to have a lot of puffy flesh covering their muscles, but it’s not a frighting thing. It may be murder on your muscle definition, but water retention isn’t going to kill you.

Sporting a spectacular set of man boobs won’t kill you either, but it’s not a particularly masculine trait. Worrying about selecting the best training bra is a territory better suited to female bodybuilders. So, if you are considering using Dianabol, be aware doing so may leave you feeling a tit.

More worryingly though, Dbol is a steroid that can cause liver damage. This is because it’s a C17-Alpha Alkylated oral anabolic steroid. That means it can be processed by the liver without being destroyed.

Using a liver support supplement like N-Acetyl L-Cysteine may help to some extent. However, before you use a steroid like this you really need to ask yourself if the risk is worthwhile.

Other common side effects include:

Acne
Greasy skin
Aggression
Testicle shrinkage
Enlarged prostate gland
Loss of sex drive/impotence
Mood swings
High Blood Pressure
High cholesterol
Hair loss (men)
Increased body hair (women)
Cardiovascular problems
Suppressed testosterone production

Some Common Mistakes When Using Dianabol

A poor understanding of the steroid and it’s potential side effects increases the likelihood of harm.

Here are four of the most common Dianabol mistakes:

Overdosing in an effort to rush the process
Running the cycle for too long
Not using any on cycle support
Not bothering with a post cycle therapy

Dianabol Pros and Cons

Like the characters in a spaghetti western, Dbol can be good, bad, or just plain ugly. The big difference is, it can be all three things at once.

PROS	CONS
Better protein synthesis	Illegal steroid
Improved nitrogen retention	Has many potential side effects
Reduces fatigue	May cause irreparable liver damage
Increases strength	Requires post cycle therapy
Provides fast muscle gains	Competition bans
Increases gains in overall mass	Gains can fade quickly
	Bad for the heart
	Safer alternatives available

Is Dianabol Worth the Risk?

The power is undeniable, but so are the negative aspects its use can entail.

Unless you really know what you are doing, the potential benefits are not worth the risks involved.

Even if you have experience using steroids and know how to reduce the associated dangers, it’s still a game of Russian Roulette. That’s a game nobody should be playing. It’s pointless.

Nobody’s saying it doesn’t work, but the 60s and 70s are long gone. Steroids have had their day.

The only reason Dbol and the other mighty anabolic dinosaurs are not extinct already is too many people refuse to leave the past behind and move on.

That’s a pity because the supplement industry has evolved. Nobody needs to be gambling with their health anymore. The future is already here and there are better options available.

A Dbol Alternative

The risks are simply not worth it – especially when products exist that can you similar results by using something that is perfect legal and free from side effects.

CrazyBulk have developed a range of legal steroids that have become major players in the supplement industry. Their Dianabol alternative is called D-bal and it can provide the following benefits

Massive muscle gains
Through-the-roof strength increases
Vegetarian-friendly legal steroid
Results within 30 days

You can read full review here

Dianabol FAQ

What kind of gains can I expect?

Many users report gains of four to seven pounds within the first week. By the end of a six-week cycle, the total gains are often up to 28 pounds.

However, up to 15 percent of the added poundage may be water weight instead of muscle mass.

Can women use Dianabol?

Women can use it if they want to but it may not be advisable. Dianabol is an androgenic steroid. Women who use it run the risk of developing typical male characteristics such as a deeper voice and increased body hair.

Is a post cycle therapy really necessary?

Absolutely. It’s very necessary. Dianabol shuts down your HPTA (Hypothalamus Pituitary Testicular Axis). That scuppers natural testosterone production for a long time.

You’ll need to do a full PCT to get things back on track. Skip it and any gains you made will vanish fast. There will be a lot of other consequences as well.

What’s the difference between Dianabol and Dbol?

There is no difference. They are both the same thing. Dbol is short for Dianabol.

How long does Dianabol remain detectable?

Despite its short half life, it can remain detectable in your urine and blood for a number of weeks. Some sources say it will be evident for up to four weeks, others say six weeks.

In reality, the exact time will probably vary somewhat from one person to the next.

If you are likely to be subjected to steroid testing, the best thing to do is to stay clear of steroids altogether.

Proven Set Variations for Increasing Muscle Mass

Updated on March 2, 2020 by Brad Murphy

Playing with sets for optimum muscle mass building.

Changing aspects of the sets you perform during a resistance training workout can help you increase your muscle mass gains significantly.

A lot of people do the same exercise, for the same number of reps, for straight sets…forever.

They do this, and wonder why they are not making the same progress as they once did. One big reason is because their muscles have adapted to the way they have been training.

Muscles do that when they get used to certain stimuli. It’s what makes them great, but it’s also what makes them

Not only does messing with set design allow you to break that stagnation, but it offers additional advantages for stimulating muscle hypertrophy.

For the sake of clarity, let’s just determine what I’m referring to when I say set.

A set is a number of repetitions of an exercise or exercises performed continuously until the next rest period.

You can manipulate sets in a number of ways. To start with I’ll cover some of the more classic sets that bodybuilders have gained a lot of success with over the years.

If you get through those and it’s nothing new to you then fear not, there will be more.

On the other hand, if you are totally new to resistance training or you are recovering from injury, then I would not attempt these sets until you have a solid base of straight set training under your belt.

For a green lifter, the point where you should start messing with sets is an individual thing. There’s no template that suits everyone. These are the bodybuilding basics.

However, if you record your progress from the start, you will see very clearly when your progress in your current program starts to stall.

The Classic Bodybuilding Sets – Adding Exercises

One of the first things to do when you want to push your gains, when you’re experiencing what you think is a plateau, stagnation, or whatever, is to add exercises to the set.

These sets are basically two or more exercises performed back to back with no rest in between.

The main benefit of doing this is of course the increased training volume without adding too much additional time to the total workout.

Again, you’ve probably heard of them before, but read on anyway because there’s some useful tips for getting the most out of them.

Supersets – Increasing Muscle Mass

When you lift a weight, you are using the agonist muscle in concentric and eccentric contraction, which is the shortening and lengthening of the muscle, respectively, under load.

The simplest example of this is the bicep curl. The biceps are the agonist in the curl movement and must contract concentrically and eccentrically in order to complete both the positive and negative portion of each repetition.

The agonist is often called the prime mover, as it is the primary muscle utilized in the exercise.

An antagonist is simple the muscle that must work in an opposing way to allow the contraction of the prime mover.

In the case of the bicep curl, the triceps work antagonistically. They actually relax to allow themselves to lengthen so that the biceps muscles can perform concentric contractions.

On the eccentric contraction, as the biceps extend under load, the triceps must contract to allow it.

Superset training is where you train both muscles (or muscle groups) in their agonist-antagonist pairs.

The superset is a number of reps of an exercise which uses the agonist, immediately followed by a number of reps using what was the antagonist, but switching it to become the agonist.

It is only once both have been completed that the set is over and the rest interval between sets begins.

A basic bicep-tricep superset might be:

12 x barbell bicep curls, followed immediately by
12 x cable tricep pull-downs

People often pick an agonist-antagonist pair and do three or four supersets on them. Basically about the same number of exercises they would do in straight set fashion on the single muscle group.

Doing this for one pair per workout is a great way to add an extra muscle group without the addition of much more time, i.e. just the time it takes to complete the extra reps.

Superset training is not just a time saver which allows for more volume though. The first muscle to be trained in the pair actually becomes a weaker antagonist for the second muscle.

That might seem like a bad thing but it’s beneficial to your muscle gains, because a weaker antagonist allows for a stronger contraction of the agonist.

Biceps and triceps are a beautiful example of this because there are two bicep muscles and three tricep muscles. By training biceps first in the superset, it allows for the stronger triceps to get maximal contractions, thereby increasing the resistance or number of reps you can lift.

Another agonist-antagonist muscle pair example is the chest and back. Both muscle groups are fairly large and so superset training the pecs and lats for example will cover a lot of ground, plus provide that hypertrophy benefit from added volume and second exercise power.

Guys often perform cable rows before hitting the benchpress so that they can maximize the pectoral activation.

Recommended frequency: superset training is demanding but it’s not as intense as some of the set variations I’m going to get to. However, there are some things to think about.

It may not be optimal, for example to perform biceps-triceps and then chest-back the following day. Reason being, the chest-back superset will actually utilize the triceps and biceps quite heavily anyway. If they are fatigued from the day before, they might be limiting factors in your chest and back exercises.

With all that in mind, I would give both muscle groups two days rest before you hit them again. This means you can focus on other muscles on the days between.

The most common muscle group pairings are:

Chest and Back
Biceps and Triceps
Quads and Hamstrings
Shoulders and Lats

People find different combinations to work. Some focus on supersets for a limited period of time, while others add them in to their program on a regular but less intense basis.

Personally, I like to add a couple supersets in to my training per week, with one upper body and one lower body pairing.

Compound Sets – Increasing Muscle Mass

Compound sets are also two back-to-back exercises with no rest in between but both are done on the same muscle group, rather than agonist-antagonist pairs like in supersets.

You can either:

Use the same part of the muscle group in both exercises; or
Target two different sections of the muscle group

A tactic often used is to perform a multi-joint lift (aka compound movement) and then immediately follow it with an isolation exercise.

Examples include:

Bench press with dumbbell fly
Shoulder press with lateral raise
Squats with leg extensions

Other methods used include:

Barbell exercises followed by dumbbell exercises
Free weight exercises followed by machine exercises

A benefit of doing compound sets is of course the added volume without much added time. Much like supersets.

When you are trying to hit a particular muscle group harder to stimulate a greater growth response in the days following, there aren’t many better exercises than compound sets and tri-sets and giant sets (I’ll get to those in a bit).

Compound sets are more intensive than supersets thought because you are focusing the entire set on one muscle group, sometimes on one muscle.

There’s only one way to make up for the added energy you expend and that is in the recovery process.

These sets are therefore best used only occasionally and/or for short stretches. The longer you use them for, the more at risk you are of over-training.

I will stop using compound sets at the first sign of unusually high tiredness over the course of a couple of regular days.

Also, you should consider adding time to the rest interval between workouts of the same muscle group. Some people wait up to a week before training the same muscle group again after they have hit it with compound sets. Others only need 3 days rest but for them it is still an increase.

Find your pattern.

Tri-Sets and Giant Sets – Increasing Muscle Mass

Compound sets aren’t limited to two exercises like supersets are. Tri-sets and Giant sets are basically just bigger compound sets.

At the risk of stating the obvious, tri-sets are sets where you perform three exercises on the trot with no rest intervals in between them.

What’s cool about tri-sets is that you can do three sets and hit an entire small muscle group, without the need to add on some straight set exercises afterwards.

Your triceps are a great example because there are three of them and you can perform a nice, quick transition between the exercises to hit the long-head, lateral head and medial head of the group.

Giant sets are four or more exercises performed on the bounce. They are perhaps better suited to the larger muscle group, but can be performed on smaller groups provided lifting form doesn’t suffer.

In fact, that piece of advice goes for any of the compound set variations. If your form starts to slip during any part of the set then I would suggest that your rep counts are too high, or you are simply not ready for that intensity of exercise yet.

Make sure you can cope with the intra-set endurance required before you attempt trisets and giant sets. If you are used to hitting straight sets on the shoulders, for example, then jumping into giant sets might not work out for the best because you don’t have the stamina to really get the most out of it.

Increasing Exercise Intensity

The increasing exercise intensity and set volume from two exercise compound sets up to giant sets would be best approached in congruence with your experience level.

This will help you to avoid over-training, injury and program failure, as you will be confident in your strength and skill, despite the sets still pushing you physically.

As you stuff more exercises into your compound sets, your frequency and period of training them should be less and shorter respectively.

Not only will this reduce the likelihood of overtraining, fatigue and failure, but it will help you recover better and in fact grow more from the training stimulus.

Basically, the more energy you put into the process, the longer your body needs to recover and overcompensate afterwards.

One muscle group particularly suited to giant set training is the abdominal muscles. There are many variations of exercises, utilizing bodyweight, free-weights, cables and other machines that can target different sections of the abs.

Also, due to to almost constant use of our core, the abdominal muscles are used to being engaged frequently and for extended periods. Thus they have a high recovery rate, between both sets and workouts.

Giants sets are therefore a great way to work the core deeply and stimulate maximum growth by interrupting that fast recovery time with back-to-back exercises.

Things to Bear in Mind – Increasing Muscle Mass

Additional volume and intensity means additional stress. Supersets and all variations of compound sets should be used infrequently and for short periods of time to get the maximum adaptations from them.

There are a few ways to work them into your program, and over time you will become accustomed to what works for you.

Some people add one or two set variations into every workout for a period of time, targeting different muscle groups each session. This works because no one muscle group becomes overly fatigued over the course of a few weeks.

For example, if Monday is your chest day and arms day, then you could probably do a superset for your arms and a compound set for your chest. On the other hand, you could do straight sets on your chest and then tri-set your triceps to really finish them off. The following week, you could tri-set your chest and straight set your triceps.

This would allow both to recover adequately for the next chest/arms day the following week.

Another possibility is using set variations to bring a lagging muscle group up to the same standard as the rest of your physique.

Compound/Super-Setting

This can either be done by compound/super-setting that muscle group every week for a few weeks and training the rest as normal.

A strategy that has worked well for me is adding a workout for that muscle group within the week’s program and using set variations then.

For example: if I feel a muscle group is lagging, such as my back, then I will simply add another back workout to my weekly program so that there is only 2/3 days between each back workout.

Supersets are great for this because you can superset your back with your chest on chest day and then carry out back day as normal a few days later.

To take it to the next level, you could dedicate an additional workout to the lagging muscle group – the back in this case – and do compound sets on that additional day while training it as normal on the regular back day.

Again, it will take some experimentation to see whether this is actually beneficial to your muscle growth response, or whether it fatigues you more and ends up being detrimental.

The more you focus on one muscle group, the more you have to be wary about the length of time you train for, both within the session and on a week by week basis.

Experience, fitness level, diet, sleep and general activity level in your life will dictate much of what you can achieve, and there is no point in me saying ‘do this for 4 weeks for the best results’ because no program fits all.

Somebody who has a very physical job, for instance, should not be attempting multiple giant sets per week unless they are mitigating the energy usage elsewhere with nutrition and additional hours of sleep.

What I’m saying is: as you invest more energy into your program, another factor of your life must give some back to retain the balance and prevent you from experiencing the negative effects of over-training.