So glad to see I'm not the only one enjoying upper 2x lower 1x. If you're calisthenics focused and prioritize upper strength it's no doubt a good split for longevity and joint integrity.
@@nocapproductions5471 because you are working out 6 days a week for 2x muscle protein synthesis I don't have the time, patience or intention to workout that often, and your joints / body gets fatigued as hell If I was doing Ppl I would do legs 1x per week
Alex, your channel is insane, there is everything here, your production is really good and the pacing of your videos is really great. Seeing someone execute the exercises with perfect form and clear camera angle is very important. And the best thing is: without any music in the background. I realized the importance of deloads when, even if I wasn't that fatigued, my elbow and shoulders started to get fucked up. I just feel kinda dumb for not stopping, training was feeling really good and I thought I was gonna get adapted, even if my forearms were sore everyday. But it isn't that bad, it made me realize somethings I was doing wrong in the exercises of my programed, and it made me realize that a big stretch on the muscle isn't ok for some muscles, it justs feel wrong on my muscles, more so on biceps exercises.
Is great watching your channel grow, I remember when you were still trying to grow physically and mentally with your channel You've made amazing gains physically and with your channel
The idea of combining chest to bar pull ups and paused chin over bar pull ups to the tackle end range of pull ups sticking point is such a neat idea! 11:00
Alex, I have a video suggestion for you. Maybe you’ll like the idea, maybe not. We see a lot of people looking for the best split and we know there isn’t one, but I think we all are in pursuit of what will be ‘optimal’ (hate using that word) so instead of making videos on splits, is it possible for you to do a video on how to intelligently program for yourself no matter which program you choose? Like how much volume you should be doing or how to find the right volume, what frequency should you choose if it even matters, what to do about overlapping issues and all that so that people can program for themselves. Edit:- would like to add one thing. I’m sure you’re familiar with RyJewers. He made a fairly recent post where he talks about frequency and cites studies and mentions Chris Beardsley to suggest that a higher frequency is actually better than low frequency. What do you think about this?
Feel called out about the deload part. I have been hitting PR after PR latelly and i tried to ride that wave forever. Now i feel weak, tired and every exercise feels heavy. I think a deload will be necessary. Thanks for answering a question a did not have to ask. Great content as always.
Back then when you started training and only did calisthenics for the first four years, did you always take 72 or 96 hours rest between workouts or just 48 hours? Whether calisthenics or weight training, have you ever trained a muscle every 48 hours, only two sleeps between training the same muscle? thanks alex
I'm gonna answer it for you based on my own experience. 1. Everyone is different, some recover faster, some don't. Personally, I only hit the same muscle group a week later. I only lift 3x a week, push pull legs every other day. I did 24 hrs, 48, 72, 96. With different amounts of volume. But I find that with 6-8 sets a week per muscle group once a week is enough for me. I literally get stronger every single week compared to when i was just resting 48-96 hrs. If I did it more frequently, I'd overreach and get weaker. 2. Experiment on your own. The best way to find what works for you is to actually try it. You won't miss out on gains, the longterm progress outweighs the sacrifice of experimenting for a while. I also deload depending on what I feel. If I'm weaker for a session or two, feeling the joints and feeling tired all day - it's deload time. It's usually around every 4 weeks
To add on to Alex’s exercise selection for leg calisthenics and posterior chain: Gymnastic Ring-supported Good Mornings or Single-Leg RDLs are great. The nice thing with the Rings is that you can hold on to one or both to support yourself. Additionally, Ring Hamstring Curls are pretty good too. Those are progressable and a good contraction-biased accessory to Nordics. Also, bridging while doing face pulls has been good for my lower back and general flexibility, alongside the Lateral Delt gains from changing the relative torso angle.
@@Tom-pn8kg Basically the Good Morning movement pattern with a weighted backpack and holding on to the Ring in front of your body for support. Not true bodyweight however. It also puts a bit of tension on the Triceps Long Head. I don’t think it’s an amazing replacement for barbell, and I’ve only tried it a couple of times so it might be worth revisiting and modifying.
How can I learn the ins and outs of training as a beginner? How would you start, with which program to learn everything by myself to gain experience and to be independent, not to rely on anyone?
Myself personally, I would recommend going on training courses Like Weight lifting Olympic lifting and any other weight training courses Make sure that they are certified and recognised by a weightlifting organisations This way you'll be surrounded by a lot of knowledge people to help with learning how to do weight training If you want to go down the route of fitness / personal training courses Don't go for anything what's for a day or week A good course should be at least 6 months to years of studying
Hey Alex. Love your take on adding accomodating resistance for pullups. I figured this out by watching your videos couple of years ago. I was stuck at 50kg for a 1 rep max for a year. I couldnt lock out more weight. I started doing 10x3 muscleups or explosive pullups with bands and chains to increase my explosiveness out of the bottom. I also started doing more variations where the focus was the top(half pullups at the top, isometrics at the top and the middle of the movement, regular pullups with chains and bands etc). After a year i added a whole plate to my one rep max with a cleaner form. My bodyweight stayed the same so the progress was pure 20kgs added. I was supper happy with this. 3 years after i am training like this i went from 50kg 1RM to 78kg 1RM with 9kgs plus added to my bodyweight. I can assure everybody that this method works. My goal is to do 5 plates also. Btw this method also got me unstuck from my bench stagnation. I was stuck at 115kg 1RM and in a year went to 140kg 1RM. I can't thank you enough for your advice.
My go-to way of doing super wide pull-ups is with rings. The rings need to be placed far apart. You can also use a pronated, supinated or neutral (or rotating) grip with no issues.
Oh my Goodness Thank You so much for explaining Sissy Squats. I am a Biomechanic believer and I followed everything Doug Brignole taught for years with the exception that incline barbell presses dont hit the upper chest, I didn't get on board with that lesson but that's another comment. I have never seen an influencer say Sissy squats work, none of them that I've seen have praised them but you told the people the truth, that Sissy squats hit the quads just as well as regular barbell squats with no spinal load. From what I've seen me & you might be the only 2 people that truly believe it. I think it's because they have never done the exercise. You even showed the pic graph breaking down what you're teaching. Top Shelf video Alex, I'm waiting on your book to come out, if you haven't started writing it, get to work, haha. Seriously I'll be first in line to buy it. I love how you teach the truth, whether it's popular or not!!!! Take Care
"Hey Alex, I’m 19 and have been lifting for 3 years, mainly focused on aesthetics and hypertrophy training. I like blending strength and hypertrophy work. Recently, I've been struggling to see progress in my seated barbell overhead press-I've been doing it for 2 years, but my strength hasn’t improved much, and my delts aren’t growing as I’d like( my side delts are okay ). What’s your advice for building some serious shoulder size?" P.s : What routine/program would you recommend my main focus is building back,delts and arms. My chest is dominated. My split (Chest and delts , Back , Legs , Rest, Upper body ,Arms)
is it stupid to go up to 15 reps per set on exercises like bulgarian split squats or in general, regardless if its a compound movement or accesiorie exercise, as a natural
Wrong- Yes general rule of thumb 1 to 3 reps strength 6-8 reps hypertrophy 15 to 20+ reps muscle endurance But everyone is different Some people have responded with growth doing 20 reps but still lifting extremely heavy weights Also, it's important to train different rep ranges For your ligaments tendons and stage of your program
The 3 day split ULU, Is a way more social split if you want to head out for a hike with your pals on the weekend or go mountain biking or skateboarding. I'm probably going to switch from my 2 day upper, 2 day lower split to this during the New Zealand summer once my cut is done. It's way more social, most of us aren't competitive body builders. Don't turn down social situations!
Last couple years I see a lot of influencers recommending fully focusing on horizontal pushes and lateral raises, claiming it's optimal for delts. I don't know if it's just me, but my shoulders look the best when I start one of my two upper body days with OHP and I progress over time. Even if it's slower progress for obvious reasons than any bench press, they work the front and side delts better and you can literally feel it when doing it. Another argument is the stability, but I'd argue that you do get better at handling the OHP overtime and there're techniques to make slightly lower weights even more challenging and shoulders the limiting factor, not your core or lower back. To me, I always feel that my shoulders and tri are what does the job and never understood this "just do flat and incline for front delt". It doesn't work in practice as good as in theory even if front delts are active while benching. It's like saying never do isolation for tri and bi because they work in dips and chins. Perhaps, but is it optimal? I recommend to everybody to give OHP a chance as a primary movement for some weeks. See what happens to your shoulders.
It's interesting how anthropometry affects each individual's results with a given exercise. I'm the opposite of you. I emphasized OHP for years. Got really pronounced front delts but little else. Got to where it was affecting my chest focused presses negatively. I dropped OHP and started doing laterals only for shoulders and now my delts are rounded and balanced. Goes to show finding what works for you and your goals is always the best route.
I feel like the points Alex makes on board presses / heavy overload are opposite of my experience. I wound up dropping them from my routine because I felt like I was overloading my joints rather than my muscles. My shoulders and elbows hurt, I burned out more often, and got little progress in my chest. Started favoring loads I could handle with more complete ROM and I can train more, don't get joint pain or excess fatigue, and my muscles respond better. I don't think anyone can ever say "this or that" is the way. You have to see what works and doesn't work for you. Alex gets benefit from board presses and overloading. He figured that out for himself. But you have to do the same.
Yo, Alex, try the nordic back extention. I came up with this exercise (I think) when training my clients for nordics. You set your hip forward to have constant tension, flex your spine completely, touch the floor with your forehead (or even better when doing on a high floor for the deficit action) and come up contracting the glutes and hams. Amazing for that nordic strength. Helps me a lot since I can't do nordics twice a week. At this point I can hit 3x12 bodyweight and did 10 reps with added 10kg for a set. Hope it helps!
Best fitness channel on TH-cam by far. So you still advocate mini workouts since changing to 3x/week upper lower? Would also love to see more nutrition advice and meals from your way of eating. Thank you for the awesome channel!!
that chin up advice resonates with me...I think my pulls ups are stalling because I'm focusing on the top part too much - I will try to do additional static holds
Question for next Q&A: for torso dominant lifters like myself, what types of exercises do you recommend to strengthen weaknesses? I.e. lower back pain when squatting.
Years of treating weighted pullups like a main lift did wonders for me. Simple as finding your max weighted pullup and using 5/3/1 percent programming. It even includes an automatic deload week so that you're able to keep progressing year round
i love the behind the neck shoulder press…tried in front last shoulder day and felt nothing but chest and anterior delts which is cool but i’m trying to get those caps going
I like your point about selective deloading. I'm in the midst of a 0 RIR training week, and certain muscle groups are fried whereas others are setting volume PRs. I pretty much never deload my delts, traps, calves, or hamstrings. Even if I'm deloading other muscle groups, I'll often still take the isolations close to failure in a deload week. There are times where I was taking everything to 3-4 RIR during my deload week and it just made me feel detrained when I came back. This is in a purely hypertrophy context. When I was doing powerbuilding, it was a lot different. I really needed a full deload to express my peak strength and to progress into the next meso.
Love thse Q&As. Questions relevant to intermediates and advanced lifters, answered with nuance pulling from both experience and theory, relevant footage. 10/10
@@AlexLeonidasbeen around since all you could find on TH-cam was Scooby and Hodge Twins so I appreciate seeing the insane increase in quality in this space. Working my way out of intermediate purgatory day by day with his sort of content. We're all gonna make it 🚬😎
After just 2 sets of full nordic curls and deficit rdls my hams are COOKED for the next 5 days minimum. Always insane soreness despite having done them for years my body never gets used to the soreness.
@@damjanjagodic2943 It might be because of my technique. I do very controlled eccentrics and the soreness might be from the increased muscle damage. I also add pauses to the bottom of my deficit rdls.
What do you think about Ian Berseagle's 2 set/exercise routine for optimal strength and hypertrophy? You probably know a lot about him, but if you don't he's a 188 cm 95 kg streetlifting athlete and strength training coach who advises and promotes a 5 day push pull legs cycle with as few exercises as possible for each muscle group or movement pattern and exactly 2 max effort sets of at least 8 reps until failure for each exercise. A routine he talked about in one of his last videos goes something like this: Push - Bench press/Weighted dips 2x8-failure 5', OHP 2x8-failure 5', Lateral raise 2x8 failure 5' Pull - Lat machine/Weighted pullups 2x8-failure 5', Cable high row 2x8-failure 5' Legs - Back high bar squat 2x8-failure 5', Lying leg curl 2x8-failure 5', Hip thrust 2x8-failure 5', Standing calf raise 2x8-failure 5' I think it might be effective in some cases, but there's too little frequency for a beginner and probably a full-body 3 times a week with lower reps like your novice routine would work best.
I’ve started developing shoulder issues progressively over the years probably through a mix of rugby and neglecting shoulder health. Please can you summarise your best tips and exercises to recover and maintain shoulder health?
Alex, what do you think of the guillotine press? I’ve been using it as a variation for chest growth and i seem to get gnarly pumps from it with no shoulder discomfort. Granted i am using about 50% of my working weight that i use for regular bench press and focus on higher reps (10-15). Do you think it’s a worthwhile variation? Or am i playing with fire here?
Great vid alex, I learn something new as always, appreciate you brother! Here are some questions for the next vid: Q1: If I’m running a workout with different variations of an exercise on different days (e.g., underhand chin-ups on upper body A, overhand pull-ups on upper body B), how often should I change the variations? I’ve heard that doing the same variation both days would require faster swapping to avoid overuse or injury, correct? Also, I have reached an intermediate level on most lifts at least by “strength level” standards do you thing i should hop one a conjugate program? Q2: I’ve been cutting from 185 to 169, and my performance is suffering, but I still have some abdominal fat, so I want to cut to 160. Despite losing a pound a week, my bodyweight movements, like pull-ups, have regressed. Should I adjust my programming to account for the deficit, or keep everything the same, as typically suggest when cutting? Also, for context, I alternate upper/lower with 48-hour rest and usually stick to one variation per movement, usually not exceeding 3 sets per exercise. Also when does the vegan full day of eating come out?? Got me curious lol Thanks Alex, appreciate all the value you give, you are an inspiration to us all💪
When is the appropriate time to start wearing elbow and knee sleeves, wrist wraps, straps and belt? So many people seem to be extremely biased one way or the other
Sleeves = when you feel unwanted stimulus in your elbows and knees. Wrist wraps = if you have wrist problems. Straps = when your grip gives out before your back Belt = IMO after you can squat 1,5x and DL 2x your bodyweight as an helping accesory to your max effort lifts I see too many guys use lifting belts as a substiture or even as a "safety net"for bad form. They think it will save their backs. Best learn how to brace without it and then start using it to make most of your lifts when you're already strong.
Alex, your work is outstanding excellence. Thank you! Question for your next Q&A. Imagine you could design a scientific study about hypertrophy training. What would your question be? Or do you even have one?
Seen another TH-camr Jonathan Warren go against RP & Milo criticizing arching and retraction of scapula to “pre-stretch” the pecs. Tried his advice of flat back (stacked), with shoulder depression and letting my scaps protract and retract naturally . Never felt so much tension in my chest. This seems like something the science community has gotten wrong. Wondering your thoughts
I started doing the same on a couple of my pressing variations after watching that video. I was surprised to find that while my ROM (on DB incline bench) was now a couple inches shorter, I actually felt way more tension in the pecs at the bottom of my reps.
I learned the same from Kjetil Larsen. He even teaches a little shoulder elevation is better then depression. For shoulders health, that is. Not for pec stretching. He helped save my shoulders.
how’s it going Mr. Leonidas. Thanks for all the kickass content over the years. I’m struggling to grow my side delts in any meaningful way. I do a few different variations of lateral raises (wrist height cable raise, leaning dumbbell raise ect) over 3-4 days a week mixed in my 5 day Push pull legs upper legs split. About 20 sets a week over the 15-25 rep range zone. What advice do you have for growing stubborn side delts? Dying to have that boulder shoulder look since I have a naturally narrower shoulder width. Thanks again even if you don’t answer, brother. Your content is always the closest to home with my style of training
Alex, could you give a example of the progression of weights for max effort, like doing 225 bench for max effort one week. Then switching over to a floor press the next, would the weight stay the same with each variation until you come back to the original variation you started with?
You answered the question about growing legs with calisthenics/limited weight but what are you thought about increasing leg strength with weighted calisthenics? Specifically the hip hinge movement
Nice shoutout to Menno Henselmans. I'm doing his Autoregulatory Volume Training approach and reactive deload strategy and its working great for me. No more fullbody deloads, just deload body parts when necessary and take a few weeks off every year.
Glad to hear it. His reactive deload approach combined with a bit of Matt Wenning's deload advice will get you right! I think Menno has the best take on deloading by far.
A question regarding your stubborn back video: you recommend 3 compounds but what about cable pullovers? Would they count as a vertical pull in that template or should they be added in addition to the 3 compounds, making it 4 back exercises total for a session?
How would you build a "forever program" like a 531? I've been running a consistent programme since the pandemic and have been seeing good progress by periodising rep ranges and rotating exercises for variety/to hit weaknesses, but would be interested on your thoughts!
Alex how do you program in your cardio burpees alongside your 3 day and 4 day splits? Starting from scratch on the cardio and I know the burpees are going to be brutal for the first few sessions.
Alex thank you for all the educational content you produce, we all greatly appreciate you!! I had a question specifically related to side delts, I do PPL rest PPL, I do 3 sets of shoulder press followed by 3 sets of lateral raises. But my side delts are almost never recovered by the time next workout rolls around. Do you think I should drop it to 4 sets per session so I can get more accumulative volume month to month? Everything else recovers well for next session except shoulders
Alex, I'm a novice and really have trouble with knee cave on squats (they sometimes cave all the way in). What would you suggest to remedy this problem?
Hey buddy , can you please do a video on the path you would take to develop super strong lower back and core muscles from scratch due to weakness from relying to heavily on weight belts
Do you still use the ramping set method? How would you program it (movements, weight jumps)? I've been playing around with it recently on different main lifts and loving the greasing component.
Great video Alex but I need to correct you on one thing. Frequency metters a lot. 1 set 3 times a week is much better than 3 sets once a week. Frequency might be so superior in fact that even 1 set twice a week can beat 6 sets once a week. The reasons are: 1)The first set is the most important, so the more "first sets" you can do, the better. 2)By being stimulated so frequently, each muscle has less time atrophying. Atrophy happens hella fast. You can lose 2 months of progress in 10 days of not training
I’ve been trying to do barbell curls and ez bar curls with low and high reps but each rep is limited by the pain that radiates throughout the ulnar part on my arms. it seems as though only single arm preachers are the ones that doesn’t give me pain. do you have any suggestions to fix it? May you have more subscribers to come and I wish you the best in your future endeavors.
As an intermediate lifter do you suggest any kind of specialization and if so to what degree? Also, do you think specialization should first be done on mechanically advantaged or disadvantaged areas? I'm 5'9 with a 70 inch wingspan and I'm not sure if I wanna blow up my deadlift with those leverages or shore up my bench Keep up the good work, Alex, natty and huge for life 💪
Hey Alex - Thanks for all that you do. Taller lifter (6'3"). Working on my full depth squat and struggling with quad activation. In order to hit full depth I need to open my hips and point toes out. This is putting more emphasis on my adductors - which are my limiting factor. What accessory lift would you suggest to help develop my adductors? Thanks again.
Hey Alex, what do you think of my split? I do torso limbs split, every other day. On torso day i do back chest and shoulders, and on limbs legs arms and forearms.
Hi, Alex. Could you please go into more detail about your approach to PEDs. For example, do you think creatine, taurine, thiamine, etc. are bad? What about DHEA, pregnenalone, progesterone, etc? What about trying 1g of cholesterol powder per day to emulate Vince Gironda's 36 eggs per day? Where do you draw the line, and why do you draw the line there? Thanks!
Found your channel recently and I find it really great, Alex. Question, why do you think it is so hard/uncommon for proper studies to be performed in experienced lifters? Do you think that things would change drastically if suddenly we had a ton of quality studies like that?
You Might not be aware of this Sports studies, done in a controlled environment Limiting any variables, which could vary the outcome of the study They use a small selection of people to study in a lab Then they release a summary of the study, Which people use on social media as the actual information Where in fact the actual study, is over thousands of pages, with a lot of mathematical equations science and so on For the general public to actually understand the study paper you have to pay for the whole study which is not cheap You would also have to have at least 4 years of knowledge of advanced human biological and anatomy, plus maths and science degrees
Something I would like to mention on deloads. Purely speculation but perhaps how often someone needs to deload might also be tailored by their genetics. As recovery between sessions is hugely affected by genetics.
Hey Alex, for an MMA fighter, would you modify anything in your novice program in terms of frequency, volume or exercise selection? I don't care much for hypertrophy I just want to be stronger and perform better in fights. Cheers!
The 4 day upper lower is such an amazing split. I rest wednesday and weekends and just get stronger every week. The 2 rest days on a row is so OP Also Thanks for the content !
Hey Alex got a question, if running the NE system, do we have to rotate every lift, every week, or just the lift we maxed out on? Especially isolations, couldn’t we leave those in for weeks and run simple double progression on them? Thanks man you’re my #1 guy for everything fitness.
Hey Alex! Longtime fan here who has had his training absolutely revolutionized by your channel. I was wondering about your thoughts on round-back training and people like atlaspowershrugged. Do you extend the tissue capacity-load management argument you make for behind the neck pressing to loaded spinal flexion? Would you ever program Jefferson curls for injury resilience and/or spinal erector gains? Much love from Minnesota my brother.
Also, when it comes to chest expanders, do you believe the accommodating resistance compensates for the lack of stretch mediated hypertrophy? As in, because there can be hundreds of pound of tension in the squeeze, it doesn't matter that you are skipping out on the 'optimal' stretch that would only be loaded with 20-30 pounds. Last question: Do you believe ankle mobility can be increased significantly? Have you ever tried to increase your dorsiflexion? If so, what did you try and did it work?
The GOAT of the natty world.
Easily
Definitely natty for sure
@@JakeMuller-he9qfhe clearly is natty, up your standards
absolutely not, nunez,helmes clears easily
@@JakeMuller-he9qf😂
These are extremely in-depth answers to what seemingly is a generic Q&A, thanks a ton
Thank you brother, I'm glad you appreciate these. Each question is like its own video!
I t
So glad to see I'm not the only one enjoying upper 2x lower 1x. If you're calisthenics focused and prioritize upper strength it's no doubt a good split for longevity and joint integrity.
personally I do an upper with classic barbell / dumbbell training and an upper calisthenics. This combination is amazing! (And 1 leg trainingL
Right there with you with the 2 uppers and 1 lower!
Why not push pull legs? It was the goated split few years back
@@nocapproductions5471 because you are working out 6 days a week for 2x muscle protein synthesis
I don't have the time, patience or intention to workout that often, and your joints / body gets fatigued as hell
If I was doing Ppl I would do legs 1x per week
torso/limbs is goated
we at the buffet
YeAUUUUGHHHHH
Hahahaha this is gonna haunt Alex forever. I love these comments
Little did alex know he will be made fun of for this for the rest of time
WHATCHU GOT THERE, PHIL?!
Hell yeah another q&a
It's a monster Q&A, enjoy!
Alex, your channel is insane, there is everything here, your production is really good and the pacing of your videos is really great. Seeing someone execute the exercises with perfect form and clear camera angle is very important. And the best thing is: without any music in the background.
I realized the importance of deloads when, even if I wasn't that fatigued, my elbow and shoulders started to get fucked up. I just feel kinda dumb for not stopping, training was feeling really good and I thought I was gonna get adapted, even if my forearms were sore everyday. But it isn't that bad, it made me realize somethings I was doing wrong in the exercises of my programed, and it made me realize that a big stretch on the muscle isn't ok for some muscles, it justs feel wrong on my muscles, more so on biceps exercises.
Is great watching your channel grow,
I remember when you were still trying to grow physically and mentally with your channel
You've made amazing gains physically and with your channel
The idea of combining chest to bar pull ups and paused chin over bar pull ups to the tackle end range of pull ups sticking point is such a neat idea! 11:00
Alex, I have a video suggestion for you. Maybe you’ll like the idea, maybe not. We see a lot of people looking for the best split and we know there isn’t one, but I think we all are in pursuit of what will be ‘optimal’ (hate using that word) so instead of making videos on splits, is it possible for you to do a video on how to intelligently program for yourself no matter which program you choose? Like how much volume you should be doing or how to find the right volume, what frequency should you choose if it even matters, what to do about overlapping issues and all that so that people can program for themselves.
Edit:- would like to add one thing. I’m sure you’re familiar with RyJewers. He made a fairly recent post where he talks about frequency and cites studies and mentions Chris Beardsley to suggest that a higher frequency is actually better than low frequency. What do you think about this?
Feel called out about the deload part. I have been hitting PR after PR latelly and i tried to ride that wave forever. Now i feel weak, tired and every exercise feels heavy. I think a deload will be necessary. Thanks for answering a question a did not have to ask. Great content as always.
Back then when you started training and only did calisthenics for the first four years, did you always take 72 or 96 hours rest between workouts or just 48 hours? Whether calisthenics or weight training, have you ever trained a muscle every 48 hours, only two sleeps between training the same muscle? thanks alex
I have this question too
From previous videos and QandAs, he would train every other day. That is, for the same muscle. Didn't hit legs
I'm gonna answer it for you based on my own experience.
1. Everyone is different, some recover faster, some don't. Personally, I only hit the same muscle group a week later. I only lift 3x a week, push pull legs every other day.
I did 24 hrs, 48, 72, 96. With different amounts of volume. But I find that with 6-8 sets a week per muscle group once a week is enough for me. I literally get stronger every single week compared to when i was just resting 48-96 hrs. If I did it more frequently, I'd overreach and get weaker.
2. Experiment on your own. The best way to find what works for you is to actually try it. You won't miss out on gains, the longterm progress outweighs the sacrifice of experimenting for a while.
I also deload depending on what I feel. If I'm weaker for a session or two, feeling the joints and feeling tired all day - it's deload time. It's usually around every 4 weeks
To add on to Alex’s exercise selection for leg calisthenics and posterior chain:
Gymnastic Ring-supported Good Mornings or Single-Leg RDLs are great. The nice thing with the Rings is that you can hold on to one or both to support yourself.
Additionally, Ring Hamstring Curls are pretty good too. Those are progressable and a good contraction-biased accessory to Nordics.
Also, bridging while doing face pulls has been good for my lower back and general flexibility, alongside the Lateral Delt gains from changing the relative torso angle.
Gymnastic ring supported good mornings? Can you tell more about how that works?
@@Tom-pn8kg Basically the Good Morning movement pattern with a weighted backpack and holding on to the Ring in front of your body for support. Not true bodyweight however. It also puts a bit of tension on the Triceps Long Head.
I don’t think it’s an amazing replacement for barbell, and I’ve only tried it a couple of times so it might be worth revisiting and modifying.
You are such an inspiration, keep spreading knowledge, I've learned a lot, and I'm sure thousands others too
How can I learn the ins and outs of training as a beginner? How would you start, with which program to learn everything by myself to gain experience and to be independent, not to rely on anyone?
Myself personally, I would recommend going on training courses
Like Weight lifting Olympic lifting and any other weight training courses
Make sure that they are certified and recognised by a weightlifting organisations
This way you'll be surrounded by a lot of knowledge people to help with learning how to do weight training
If you want to go down the route of fitness / personal training courses
Don't go for anything what's for a day or week
A good course should be at least 6 months to years of studying
Watch E3 rehab. It's less elitist which is good for beginners. Slowly you will naturally gravitate towards people like Alex.
Natural hypertrophy also has a good series of videos on programming for hypertrophy
go to the gym, write down your thoughts while you are in there. keep track of your thoughts over time.
Full body 2-3x per week. Compound exercises 6-8 sets per exercise per week. 10-15 rep range.
Those are some awesome AF pull ups. Truly appreciate and enjoy your insightful videos regarding lifting 👍💪
Please may you do a specific video on how to arrange a 3 day week because that sounds ideal with a busy schedule!
Another certified banger Alex
the training footage is dopee!
Would love to see some og raw training videos of u again
Fantastic Q&A brother, keep it up, always looking forward to these
The pull up strength plateau ideas are 🔥
You Q&As are GOATed Alex. Thank you!
Hey Alex. Love your take on adding accomodating resistance for pullups. I figured this out by watching your videos couple of years ago. I was stuck at 50kg for a 1 rep max for a year. I couldnt lock out more weight. I started doing 10x3 muscleups or explosive pullups with bands and chains to increase my explosiveness out of the bottom. I also started doing more variations where the focus was the top(half pullups at the top, isometrics at the top and the middle of the movement, regular pullups with chains and bands etc). After a year i added a whole plate to my one rep max with a cleaner form. My bodyweight stayed the same so the progress was pure 20kgs added. I was supper happy with this. 3 years after i am training like this i went from 50kg 1RM to 78kg 1RM with 9kgs plus added to my bodyweight. I can assure everybody that this method works. My goal is to do 5 plates also. Btw this method also got me unstuck from my bench stagnation. I was stuck at 115kg 1RM and in a year went to 140kg 1RM. I can't thank you enough for your advice.
My go-to way of doing super wide pull-ups is with rings. The rings need to be placed far apart. You can also use a pronated, supinated or neutral (or rotating) grip with no issues.
Oh my Goodness
Thank You so much for explaining Sissy Squats.
I am a Biomechanic believer and I followed everything Doug Brignole taught for years with the exception that incline barbell presses dont hit the upper chest, I didn't get on board with that lesson but that's another comment.
I have never seen an influencer say Sissy squats work, none of them that I've seen have praised them but you told the people the truth, that Sissy squats hit the quads just as well as regular barbell squats with no spinal load. From what I've seen me & you might be the only 2 people that truly believe it. I think it's because they have never done the exercise.
You even showed the pic graph breaking down what you're teaching.
Top Shelf video Alex,
I'm waiting on your book to come out, if you haven't started writing it, get to work, haha.
Seriously I'll be first in line to buy it. I love how you teach the truth, whether it's popular or not!!!!
Take Care
so no one’s gonna talk about that transition from behind the neck pull up to OHP at 3:55.
"Hey Alex, I’m 19 and have been lifting for 3 years, mainly focused on aesthetics and hypertrophy training. I like blending strength and hypertrophy work. Recently, I've been struggling to see progress in my seated barbell overhead press-I've been doing it for 2 years, but my strength hasn’t improved much, and my delts aren’t growing as I’d like( my side delts are okay ). What’s your advice for building some serious shoulder size?"
P.s : What routine/program would you recommend my main focus is building back,delts and arms. My chest is dominated. My split (Chest and delts , Back , Legs , Rest, Upper body ,Arms)
is it stupid to go up to 15 reps per set on exercises like bulgarian split squats or in general, regardless if its a compound movement or accesiorie exercise, as a natural
No if you do it rarely
8-10 is the sweetspot in my experirnce
Not at all! As a natty ive noticed amazing stimulus proxies from all rep ranges depending on the exercise
Training is cyclical
Wrong-
Yes general rule of thumb
1 to 3 reps strength
6-8 reps hypertrophy
15 to 20+ reps muscle endurance
But everyone is different
Some people have responded with growth doing 20 reps but still lifting extremely heavy weights
Also, it's important to train different rep ranges
For your ligaments tendons and stage of your program
@@knightveg outdated information. What if i do 4 or 5 Reps? Do i get nothing? What about 14? The hypertrophy rep range is 4-35+, while strength is 1-6
The 3 day split ULU, Is a way more social split if you want to head out for a hike with your pals on the weekend or go mountain biking or skateboarding. I'm probably going to switch from my 2 day upper, 2 day lower split to this during the New Zealand summer once my cut is done.
It's way more social, most of us aren't competitive body builders. Don't turn down social situations!
Me reading this on friday after heavy squats 😢
@@Anandfulness 😆
Last couple years I see a lot of influencers recommending fully focusing on horizontal pushes and lateral raises, claiming it's optimal for delts. I don't know if it's just me, but my shoulders look the best when I start one of my two upper body days with OHP and I progress over time. Even if it's slower progress for obvious reasons than any bench press, they work the front and side delts better and you can literally feel it when doing it. Another argument is the stability, but I'd argue that you do get better at handling the OHP overtime and there're techniques to make slightly lower weights even more challenging and shoulders the limiting factor, not your core or lower back. To me, I always feel that my shoulders and tri are what does the job and never understood this "just do flat and incline for front delt". It doesn't work in practice as good as in theory even if front delts are active while benching. It's like saying never do isolation for tri and bi because they work in dips and chins. Perhaps, but is it optimal? I recommend to everybody to give OHP a chance as a primary movement for some weeks. See what happens to your shoulders.
It's interesting how anthropometry affects each individual's results with a given exercise. I'm the opposite of you. I emphasized OHP for years. Got really pronounced front delts but little else. Got to where it was affecting my chest focused presses negatively. I dropped OHP and started doing laterals only for shoulders and now my delts are rounded and balanced. Goes to show finding what works for you and your goals is always the best route.
Hey alex. Thanks for the vids, love your work. You show us what we can do as nattys
I feel like the points Alex makes on board presses / heavy overload are opposite of my experience. I wound up dropping them from my routine because I felt like I was overloading my joints rather than my muscles. My shoulders and elbows hurt, I burned out more often, and got little progress in my chest. Started favoring loads I could handle with more complete ROM and I can train more, don't get joint pain or excess fatigue, and my muscles respond better. I don't think anyone can ever say "this or that" is the way. You have to see what works and doesn't work for you. Alex gets benefit from board presses and overloading. He figured that out for himself. But you have to do the same.
“Babe wake up Alex dropped another banger”
I don't have a cambered pull-up bar, so I do them wide on the rings. You can easily adjust your wrist angles that's most comfortable
Yo, Alex, try the nordic back extention. I came up with this exercise (I think) when training my clients for nordics. You set your hip forward to have constant tension, flex your spine completely, touch the floor with your forehead (or even better when doing on a high floor for the deficit action) and come up contracting the glutes and hams. Amazing for that nordic strength. Helps me a lot since I can't do nordics twice a week. At this point I can hit 3x12 bodyweight and did 10 reps with added 10kg for a set. Hope it helps!
Best fitness channel on TH-cam by far.
So you still advocate mini workouts since changing to 3x/week upper lower?
Would also love to see more nutrition advice and meals from your way of eating.
Thank you for the awesome channel!!
Volume and intensity masterclass
I love your Q&A, I like every piece of advice you give. Always good stuff, accurate, good heart, genuine guy. More over a vegan heart ❤️
that chin up advice resonates with me...I think my pulls ups are stalling because I'm focusing on the top part too much - I will try to do additional static holds
Make a video on your haircare routine. How often you shave your head? The products you apply to your scalp? Maybe a video on how to shave head safely.
Amazing video! Thank you! High quality!
Great vid!
Question for next Q&A: for torso dominant lifters like myself, what types of exercises do you recommend to strengthen weaknesses? I.e. lower back pain when squatting.
Thanks for answering my question Alex !
Years of treating weighted pullups like a main lift did wonders for me. Simple as finding your max weighted pullup and using 5/3/1 percent programming. It even includes an automatic deload week so that you're able to keep progressing year round
i love the behind the neck shoulder press…tried in front last shoulder day and felt nothing but chest and anterior delts which is cool but i’m trying to get those caps going
I like your point about selective deloading. I'm in the midst of a 0 RIR training week, and certain muscle groups are fried whereas others are setting volume PRs.
I pretty much never deload my delts, traps, calves, or hamstrings. Even if I'm deloading other muscle groups, I'll often still take the isolations close to failure in a deload week. There are times where I was taking everything to 3-4 RIR during my deload week and it just made me feel detrained when I came back.
This is in a purely hypertrophy context. When I was doing powerbuilding, it was a lot different. I really needed a full deload to express my peak strength and to progress into the next meso.
Love thse Q&As. Questions relevant to intermediates and advanced lifters, answered with nuance pulling from both experience and theory, relevant footage. 10/10
Thank you Cole, I'm happy that real ones like you appreciate it!
@@AlexLeonidasbeen around since all you could find on TH-cam was Scooby and Hodge Twins so I appreciate seeing the insane increase in quality in this space. Working my way out of intermediate purgatory day by day with his sort of content. We're all gonna make it 🚬😎
After just 2 sets of full nordic curls and deficit rdls my hams are COOKED for the next 5 days minimum. Always insane soreness despite having done them for years my body never gets used to the soreness.
Hm interesting. I do nordics, rdls and swiss ball curls for hammies in one workout. I used to get crazy soreness but now my body has adapted
@@damjanjagodic2943 It might be because of my technique. I do very controlled eccentrics and the soreness might be from the increased muscle damage. I also add pauses to the bottom of my deficit rdls.
What do you think about Ian Berseagle's 2 set/exercise routine for optimal strength and hypertrophy? You probably know a lot about him, but if you don't he's a 188 cm 95 kg streetlifting athlete and strength training coach who advises and promotes a 5 day push pull legs cycle with as few exercises as possible for each muscle group or movement pattern and exactly 2 max effort sets of at least 8 reps until failure for each exercise.
A routine he talked about in one of his last videos goes something like this:
Push - Bench press/Weighted dips 2x8-failure 5', OHP 2x8-failure 5', Lateral raise 2x8 failure 5'
Pull - Lat machine/Weighted pullups 2x8-failure 5', Cable high row 2x8-failure 5'
Legs - Back high bar squat 2x8-failure 5', Lying leg curl 2x8-failure 5', Hip thrust 2x8-failure 5', Standing calf raise 2x8-failure 5'
I think it might be effective in some cases, but there's too little frequency for a beginner and probably a full-body 3 times a week with lower reps like your novice routine would work best.
I’ve started developing shoulder issues progressively over the years probably through a mix of rugby and neglecting shoulder health. Please can you summarise your best tips and exercises to recover and maintain shoulder health?
Alex, what do you think of the guillotine press? I’ve been using it as a variation for chest growth and i seem to get gnarly pumps from it with no shoulder discomfort. Granted i am using about 50% of my working weight that i use for regular bench press and focus on higher reps (10-15). Do you think it’s a worthwhile variation? Or am i playing with fire here?
Great vid alex, I learn something new as always, appreciate you brother!
Here are some questions for the next vid:
Q1:
If I’m running a workout with different variations of an exercise on different days (e.g., underhand chin-ups on upper body A, overhand pull-ups on upper body B), how often should I change the variations? I’ve heard that doing the same variation both days would require faster swapping to avoid overuse or injury, correct? Also, I have reached an intermediate level on most lifts at least by “strength level” standards do you thing i should hop one a conjugate program?
Q2:
I’ve been cutting from 185 to 169, and my performance is suffering, but I still have some abdominal fat, so I want to cut to 160. Despite losing a pound a week, my bodyweight movements, like pull-ups, have regressed. Should I adjust my programming to account for the deficit, or keep everything the same, as typically suggest when cutting? Also, for context, I alternate upper/lower with 48-hour rest and usually stick to one variation per movement, usually not exceeding 3 sets per exercise.
Also when does the vegan full day of eating come out?? Got me curious lol
Thanks Alex, appreciate all the value you give, you are an inspiration to us all💪
this!!!! stretch based chest excercises are so brutal on the shoulders. You can't do them with high frequency
When is the appropriate time to start wearing elbow and knee sleeves, wrist wraps, straps and belt? So many people seem to be extremely biased one way or the other
Sleeves = when you feel unwanted stimulus in your elbows and knees.
Wrist wraps = if you have wrist problems.
Straps = when your grip gives out before your back
Belt = IMO after you can squat 1,5x and DL 2x your bodyweight as an helping accesory to your max effort lifts
I see too many guys use lifting belts as a substiture or even as a "safety net"for bad form. They think it will save their backs. Best learn how to brace without it and then start using it to make most of your lifts when you're already strong.
Alex, your work is outstanding excellence. Thank you!
Question for your next Q&A.
Imagine you could design a scientific study about hypertrophy training. What would your question be? Or do you even have one?
Seen another TH-camr Jonathan Warren go against RP & Milo criticizing arching and retraction of scapula to “pre-stretch” the pecs. Tried his advice of flat back (stacked), with shoulder depression and letting my scaps protract and retract naturally .
Never felt so much tension in my chest. This seems like something the science community has gotten wrong. Wondering your thoughts
He is awesome
My chest has alos never felt better after his advice
I started doing the same on a couple of my pressing variations after watching that video.
I was surprised to find that while my ROM (on DB incline bench) was now a couple inches shorter, I actually felt way more tension in the pecs at the bottom of my reps.
I learned the same from Kjetil Larsen. He even teaches a little shoulder elevation is better then depression. For shoulders health, that is. Not for pec stretching.
He helped save my shoulders.
@@deavenhayes8187 Finding the same thing! Challenging my existing views, love it. No dogmatism here.
how’s it going Mr. Leonidas. Thanks for all the kickass content over the years. I’m struggling to grow my side delts in any meaningful way. I do a few different variations of lateral raises (wrist height cable raise, leaning dumbbell raise ect) over 3-4 days a week mixed in my 5 day Push pull legs upper legs split. About 20 sets a week over the 15-25 rep range zone. What advice do you have for growing stubborn side delts? Dying to have that boulder shoulder look since I have a naturally narrower shoulder width. Thanks again even if you don’t answer, brother. Your content is always the closest to home with my style of training
Alex, could you give a example of the progression of weights for max effort, like doing 225 bench for max effort one week. Then switching over to a floor press the next, would the weight stay the same with each variation until you come back to the original variation you started with?
You answered the question about growing legs with calisthenics/limited weight but what are you thought about increasing leg strength with weighted calisthenics? Specifically the hip hinge movement
Alex, you can buy a hamstring curl attachment for most benches.
Nice shoutout to Menno Henselmans. I'm doing his Autoregulatory Volume Training approach and reactive deload strategy and its working great for me. No more fullbody deloads, just deload body parts when necessary and take a few weeks off every year.
Glad to hear it. His reactive deload approach combined with a bit of Matt Wenning's deload advice will get you right! I think Menno has the best take on deloading by far.
A question regarding your stubborn back video: you recommend 3 compounds but what about cable pullovers? Would they count as a vertical pull in that template or should they be added in addition to the 3 compounds, making it 4 back exercises total for a session?
How would you build a "forever program" like a 531?
I've been running a consistent programme since the pandemic and have been seeing good progress by periodising rep ranges and rotating exercises for variety/to hit weaknesses, but would be interested on your thoughts!
Can we get a conjugate style programme similar to the one you run? Out here waiting🤣
Alex how do you program in your cardio burpees alongside your 3 day and 4 day splits? Starting from scratch on the cardio and I know the burpees are going to be brutal for the first few sessions.
Nobody talks about lifting hernia. What is the best way to prevent it, is bracing really the key?
19:22 I also love having a three incher😅
Alex thank you for all the educational content you produce, we all greatly appreciate you!! I had a question specifically related to side delts, I do PPL rest PPL, I do 3 sets of shoulder press followed by 3 sets of lateral raises. But my side delts are almost never recovered by the time next workout rolls around. Do you think I should drop it to 4 sets per session so I can get more accumulative volume month to month? Everything else recovers well for next session except shoulders
Love the Master Roshi look with the shades lol
🔥🔥😎
Alex, I'm a novice and really have trouble with knee cave on squats (they sometimes cave all the way in). What would you suggest to remedy this problem?
Hey buddy , can you please do a video on the path you would take to develop super strong lower back and core muscles from scratch due to weakness from relying to heavily on weight belts
Make a video about myo reps sets
I get bigger with 16-20 myo reps sets 15 sec rest
than regular sets 3-5 min rest 2 sets per exercise
Yo Alex can you review the two step method of Ian barseagle it’s pros and cons
Do you still use the ramping set method?
How would you program it (movements, weight jumps)?
I've been playing around with it recently on different main lifts and loving the greasing component.
Great video Alex but I need to correct you on one thing. Frequency metters a lot. 1 set 3 times a week is much better than 3 sets once a week. Frequency might be so superior in fact that even 1 set twice a week can beat 6 sets once a week. The reasons are: 1)The first set is the most important, so the more "first sets" you can do, the better. 2)By being stimulated so frequently, each muscle has less time atrophying. Atrophy happens hella fast. You can lose 2 months of progress in 10 days of not training
any advice on how to rehab the lower back from repeat deadlift inquiries? (without having access to reverse hyper or belt squat machine)
I’ve been trying to do barbell curls and ez bar curls with low and high reps but each rep is limited by the pain that radiates throughout the ulnar part on my arms. it seems as though only single arm preachers are the ones that doesn’t give me pain. do you have any suggestions to fix it?
May you have more subscribers to come and I wish you the best in your future endeavors.
As an intermediate lifter do you suggest any kind of specialization and if so to what degree? Also, do you think specialization should first be done on mechanically advantaged or disadvantaged areas? I'm 5'9 with a 70 inch wingspan and I'm not sure if I wanna blow up my deadlift with those leverages or shore up my bench
Keep up the good work, Alex, natty and huge for life 💪
Hey Alex - Thanks for all that you do. Taller lifter (6'3"). Working on my full depth squat and struggling with quad activation. In order to hit full depth I need to open my hips and point toes out. This is putting more emphasis on my adductors - which are my limiting factor. What accessory lift would you suggest to help develop my adductors? Thanks again.
Should I be feeling reverse hyper extensions more in my glutes, hamstrings, or spinal erectors?
Hey Alex, what do you think of my split? I do torso limbs split, every other day. On torso day i do back chest and shoulders, and on limbs legs arms and forearms.
Hi, Alex. Could you please go into more detail about your approach to PEDs. For example, do you think creatine, taurine, thiamine, etc. are bad? What about DHEA, pregnenalone, progesterone, etc? What about trying 1g of cholesterol powder per day to emulate Vince Gironda's 36 eggs per day? Where do you draw the line, and why do you draw the line there? Thanks!
Hey alex what pulley system do you use. The one for ghetto pulldowns
Hey Alex, do you think that 1 hard set a week of heavy deadlifts it’s enough to build strength and size while minimizing fatigue?
Found your channel recently and I find it really great, Alex.
Question, why do you think it is so hard/uncommon for proper studies to be performed in experienced lifters? Do you think that things would change drastically if suddenly we had a ton of quality studies like that?
You Might not be aware of this
Sports studies, done in a controlled environment
Limiting any variables, which could vary the outcome of the study
They use a small selection of people to study in a lab
Then they release a summary of the study,
Which people use on social media as the actual information
Where in fact the actual study, is over thousands of pages, with a lot of mathematical equations science and so on
For the general public to actually understand the study paper you have to pay for the whole study which is not cheap
You would also have to have at least 4 years of knowledge of advanced human biological and anatomy, plus maths and science degrees
What about kettlebell swings + calisthenics leg exercises???
What do you think of weighted calisthenics athlete Ian Barseagle saying he got 17.7 inch arms natty with only weighted pull-ups and weighted dips?
Something I would like to mention on deloads. Purely speculation but perhaps how often someone needs to deload might also be tailored by their genetics. As recovery between sessions is hugely affected by genetics.
Alex your thoughts please on SMP? Would you consider having it done?
Hey Alex, for an MMA fighter, would you modify anything in your novice program in terms of frequency, volume or exercise selection? I don't care much for hypertrophy I just want to be stronger and perform better in fights. Cheers!
Can high rep callisthenics be used for cardio? And did the New York callisthenics athletes really build their physiques of high reps?
The 4 day upper lower is such an amazing split. I rest wednesday and weekends and just get stronger every week. The 2 rest days on a row is so OP
Also Thanks for the content !
🏆 Our Champ 🏆
Hey Alex got a question, if running the NE system, do we have to rotate every lift, every week, or just the lift we maxed out on? Especially isolations, couldn’t we leave those in for weeks and run simple double progression on them? Thanks man you’re my #1 guy for everything fitness.
Hey Alex. On your max effort upper days, do you do either 1 push or 1 pull max effort, or do you do both 1 push and pull movements max effort?
What are the best bicep exercises/accessories to compliment learning a one arm pullup or chin up.
Hey Alex! Longtime fan here who has had his training absolutely revolutionized by your channel. I was wondering about your thoughts on round-back training and people like atlaspowershrugged. Do you extend the tissue capacity-load management argument you make for behind the neck pressing to loaded spinal flexion? Would you ever program Jefferson curls for injury resilience and/or spinal erector gains? Much love from Minnesota my brother.
Also, when it comes to chest expanders, do you believe the accommodating resistance compensates for the lack of stretch mediated hypertrophy? As in, because there can be hundreds of pound of tension in the squeeze, it doesn't matter that you are skipping out on the 'optimal' stretch that would only be loaded with 20-30 pounds.
Last question: Do you believe ankle mobility can be increased significantly? Have you ever tried to increase your dorsiflexion? If so, what did you try and did it work?
What about if you want to train everyday? Whats a good split for minimizing overuse?
Yo Alex.
Your thoughts on high rep squats? I do 5 sets with 90kg for 40reps on a ramp
thoughts about training biceps on lower days? I was thinking just 3 sets of db curls