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.
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!
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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
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!
"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)
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?
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
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!!
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.
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.
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 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 🚬😎
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
Q&A: Is this a good split? Everything hit twice this way while fresh. Approx. 10-15 sets per week per muscle, 80% of volume in 8-12 rep range day 1: Yoke day (Pull(upper back focus) + Lower lite): Deadlift variation 2-3 sets, upper back 3-6 sets, + leg accesories 2: Push day vertical focus + biceps : 4-8 sets bis&tris , 2-6 sets chest, 2-6 sets vertical press + rear/side delt 3-6 sets 3:off 4: leg day : 8 to 20 sets total 5: Torso day : 4-12 sets chest&lats Focus 6: light broday : 4-8 sets bis&tris, rear/side delt/traps/forearms/neck 2-5 sets 7: Off then repeat
Hey Alex ! One time you enumerered the benefits of full range of motion (standardisation of reps, being strong in every range) but I can't find it anymore and I remember that you had more than two points! Could you do a specific segment about those benefits? Love your work ❤
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.
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
Hi Alex, I've reached the point where i'm pretty satisfied with my leg size and also I can't gain anymore size because at 6'4, finding pants that actually fit me is a nightmare. However i really love training legs, especially hamstrings. My question would be: How can i approach training legs with the goal of maintaining my current leg size, while still wanting to progress at Squats and Good Mornings(my two main lifts for the lower body)?I reduced my volume to 8 sets a week(4 quads, 4 hamstrings) and my legs still grow. Thanks man and keep up the good work!
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?
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, could something like a weighted stairmaster where you walk on your tiptoes for 10-20mins be good for calf hypertrophy on top of the standard calf exercises since the calves are an endurant muscle?
Well, that way you would just be training them isometrically, provided you keep them flexed the entire time. You won‘t be able to keep the tension long though, and your calves will just start to cramp up, especially for lenghts of 5 minutes and above.. regular calf raises are still the way to go
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?
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.
Paul Carter says sarcomerogesis from stretch focused lifts only lasts a couple months. But the low body and chest muscles do respond well to a deep stretch
Unless you’ve already answered this elsewhere, is it preferable to keep the joints stacked, and the delts in an “active” range on OHP, or is getting a longer ROM at the bottom and letting the elbows come back a little better? At least for me, with my limb lengths/proportions, I can’t keep my wrist stacked over my elbow while simultaneously touching the bar to my clavicles.
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?
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
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!
I currently train every other day, taking 2-3 days off whenever i feel my body needs it. 2 upper body days; one heavy day and one volume day. 2 lower body days; one with heavy squats and finishing with leg isolations. one with heavy deadlifts followed by back and hamstring work
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
Hi Alex! Love your content. How you would set up a 2 times per week full body split for an intermediate lifter, with your new principles concerning 2 sets to failure. My goals are more focused on hypertrophy than maximal strength. I was thinking of doing each workout as follows: 2 sets horisontal press, 2 sets vertical press, 2 sets squats, 2 sets tricep extensions, 2 sets hinge, 2 set vertical pull, 2 set leg isolation, 2 set horisontal pull, 2 set bicep curl. First set 5-8 reps, second set 8-12 reps. Will the volume be sufficient? Greetings from Sweden.
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.
What are your thoughts on a high frequency, lower intensity approach to training e.g., training full body 6-7 days a week with 2 sets per exercise and several RiR? I’ve seen some calisthenics athletes (a la Kyle Boges) take this approach and the theory seems sound, but I wanted to know your opinions on it considering it seems to contrast with your training style/philosophies.
Ez curl bar bench/ohp vs Swiss or arch nemesis. Way more stable & easy on wrist. Especially the BOS 2.0 with just 1 curve. You ever tried it? Been using it for rows, pullovers and rdls too.
How do you compare 2 sets RDL vs 3/4 sets Good Morning in one workout session for growth? I find that even 2 sets of RDL can be a bit taxing in a full body workout.
How are you splitting up your 4 day a week push, pull, upper, lower program with ME, DE and RE work? Also why have you switched to this vs your 2 day a week fullbody split you recommend?
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
On the topic of training glutes and lower back at home... Alex, do you think it's worth it to buy Olympic weights and bar instead of "regular" weights and bar? Here in my country the Olympic versions are significantly more expensive. I was also wondering the same for dumbbells, if you would recommend adjustable ones, for example 😅 My idea was to mainly use the weights to increase the difficulty of bulgarian split squats, and to do good mornings. Should I buy any kind of set up to fail it safely? Or could I simply bail it and let it fall to the grass? (When training outside haha)
The standard 1 inch barbells , the weight tolerance isn't that very high So if your primary goal it's be more fitness and beach ready looking body than it be fine If you're looking at lifting heavier then you need to look at Olympic pass bar Dumbbells You can get 1 inch or Olympic 2 inch handles you load the plates onto the bar , Depending on the type of exercises you're doing it can be time consuming taking on and off weights on these handles You're better off with adjustable dumbbells, there are some really good brands out there what don't cost that much
If there is a big gap in price between the 30mm and 50mm plates, what you could do alternatively, if you know someone who's a machinist(someone who operates bore, milling and turning machines) by trade, is just to bore or turn the bigger diameter on the 30mm plates. Sure in that case a 20kg plate weighs a bit less but youd only need to buy a 50mm barbell.
@@knightveg as a machinist myself, I can say that would be a lot more work that just widening the small diameter. Even if he knew someone with a turning machine that has a chuck that can fit up to a 500mm diameter, which is already unlikely for most smaller shops, they most likely dont have a 300mm sword to part with, so youd need to saw plates and predrill the diameter, at which point youd need to build a fixture to even hold the parts.
What are the limits of bodyweight calisthenics? You said that you believe that most people should atleast hit 30 dips (touch and go) before trying weighing. Is this because the dip is uniquely "stressful", or would you recommend you also hitting 30 pull-ups, before going weighted? What about harder variations like BTN, L sit or ring work, as in ring dips, push up and pull-ups? Is it worth it to "Max out" the hypertrophy rep range?
I feel like I've been hardstuck in the gym for a while, but I'm not THAT jacked or strong. Best numbers are 2 plates on bench for 1, 265 on squat, 275x6 RDL, 135x4 ohp, weighted dip 90x6. 5 ft 8 in, weigh 150 rn but i've bulked to about 170 before, but it feels like i just stay put give or take 5%. I've been lifting for a few years. Doing upper lower right now, about 2 sets per exercise. Not sure if I've been trying to do novice type of training for too long and need to do intermediate. If I want to have different upper/lower days (like an upper a and an upper b), should i do volume and intensity day? And then switch which day is volume/intensity every week? Or is this too complicated and I don't need all that?
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?
3:29 'the data shows that when volume is equated, frequency becomes less important'. This conflicts with what I've been reading. Can you provide sources for this? The hypertrophy science I've been reading shows that frequency is more important for hypertrophy stimulus than volume. That is, for example, 3 total sets in 1 session weekly is INFERIOR to 2 total sets spread throughout 2 sessions a week. The difference is even greater when comparing to 3 total sets spread throughout 3 sessions weekly. This is primarily because subsequent sets provide exponentially lower hypertrophy stimulus. Source: See Chris Beardsley's FAQ section or youtube interviews re frequency and volunme, specifically, the graphs.
How would you set up a program for people at home with adjustable dumbbells (2-34kg), adjustable bench and a pull-up bar as well as easy to get items like bands and neck harness. Going from novice to intermediate would probably be doable right? Anyway love your content, cheers.
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
Dr Milo wolf was talking about doing 30 sets per muscle group a week and talking about counting compounds as partial sets for forearms, biceps and triceps etc. who has time to do 30 sets per muscle group a week? And more importantly who can recover from that? Dr Mike has said in the past that your side delts can recover from 40 sets a week, training them 4 times a week…
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, as the neck training guy do you have any advice for training front neck without accidentally hypertrophying unwanted muscles like the platysma which could worsen facial aesthetics?
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 !
Do you think there is something in the peak contraction. You often mention RTO dips and push ups, and that they provide great peak contraction, but we know from the literature that the lengthened part is more important. Maybe similar to how different rep ranges stimulate muscle in different ways?
Hey Alex, would you mind expounding on the benefits and pit falls of resistance band training for those of us unable to get a quality chest expander? Thanks for the great info.
Thanks for answering my question, especially at the beginning of the video. Not to hog attention but I’ve wondered this for a while. I’ve noticed my bench performance seems to be noticeably different in my commercial gym vs. my home gym. I’ve benched 225 for 4 at home while also being able to do 6-7 reps in my public gym. Dynabody bench in the commercial gym, bells of steel comp bench and commercial rack in the home gym. Why do you think that’s the case?
My pleasure brother. The answer is simple, the weights at your gym aren't 45lbs (and maybe at home they're inaccurate if not calibrated). For me it's the opposite, narrow benches and the plates aren't flush.
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💪
Im a lil confused on how you say you increase the RPE on your backdown exercises over workout sessions, but you also switch out the max effort lift per session. So for example, if i did something like cgbp week 1, 3x10 backdown after the max effort lift, do i do 4x10 on the 2nd upper day in the same week then switch out the lift the next week?😊
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
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.
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 😢
@@MindfulMovementPractice 😆
Hell yeah another q&a
It's a monster Q&A, enjoy!
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
Those are some awesome AF pull ups. Truly appreciate and enjoy your insightful videos regarding lifting 👍💪
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
You are such an inspiration, keep spreading knowledge, I've learned a lot, and I'm sure thousands others too
Please may you do a specific video on how to arrange a 3 day week because that sounds ideal with a busy schedule!
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
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
Fantastic Q&A brother, keep it up, always looking forward to these
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?!
It's fucking funny 😂 I hope Alex is in on the joke, nothing nefarious. I loved that bear mode era
Another certified banger Alex
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!
You Q&As are GOATed Alex. Thank you!
“Babe wake up Alex dropped another banger”
"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)
so no one’s gonna talk about that transition from behind the neck pull up to OHP at 3:55.
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?
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
The pull up strength plateau ideas are 🔥
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!!
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.
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.
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 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 🚬😎
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.
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.
Amazing video! Thank you! High quality!
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.
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?
the training footage is dopee!
Would love to see some og raw training videos of u again
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 ❤️
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.
Q&A: Is this a good split? Everything hit twice this way while fresh. Approx. 10-15 sets per week per muscle, 80% of volume in 8-12 rep range
day 1: Yoke day (Pull(upper back focus) + Lower lite): Deadlift variation 2-3 sets, upper back 3-6 sets, + leg accesories
2: Push day vertical focus + biceps : 4-8 sets bis&tris , 2-6 sets chest, 2-6 sets vertical press + rear/side delt 3-6 sets
3:off
4: leg day : 8 to 20 sets total
5: Torso day : 4-12 sets chest&lats Focus
6: light broday : 4-8 sets bis&tris, rear/side delt/traps/forearms/neck 2-5 sets
7: Off then repeat
Hey Alex ! One time you enumerered the benefits of full range of motion (standardisation of reps, being strong in every range) but I can't find it anymore and I remember that you had more than two points!
Could you do a specific segment about those benefits?
Love your work ❤
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.
Hey alex. Thanks for the vids, love your work. You show us what we can do as nattys
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.
Hi Alex,
I've reached the point where i'm pretty satisfied with my leg size and also I can't gain anymore size because at 6'4, finding pants that actually fit me is a nightmare. However i really love training legs, especially hamstrings. My question would be: How can i approach training legs with the goal of maintaining my current leg size, while still wanting to progress at Squats and Good Mornings(my two main lifts for the lower body)?I reduced my volume to 8 sets a week(4 quads, 4 hamstrings) and my legs still grow. Thanks man and keep up the good work!
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?
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?
Great vid!
Alex, could something like a weighted stairmaster where you walk on your tiptoes for 10-20mins be good for calf hypertrophy on top of the standard calf exercises since the calves are an endurant muscle?
Well, that way you would just be training them isometrically, provided you keep them flexed the entire time. You won‘t be able to keep the tension long though, and your calves will just start to cramp up, especially for lenghts of 5 minutes and above.. regular calf raises are still the way to go
Thanks for answering my question Alex !
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?
Nobody talks about lifting hernia. What is the best way to prevent it, is bracing really the key?
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.
Paul Carter says sarcomerogesis from stretch focused lifts only lasts a couple months.
But the low body and chest muscles do respond well to a deep stretch
Unless you’ve already answered this elsewhere, is it preferable to keep the joints stacked, and the delts in an “active” range on OHP, or is getting a longer ROM at the bottom and letting the elbows come back a little better? At least for me, with my limb lengths/proportions, I can’t keep my wrist stacked over my elbow while simultaneously touching the bar to my clavicles.
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?
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
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
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!
I currently train every other day, taking 2-3 days off whenever i feel my body needs it. 2 upper body days; one heavy day and one volume day. 2 lower body days; one with heavy squats and finishing with leg isolations. one with heavy deadlifts followed by back and hamstring work
Can a person do lean bulk and recomp cycles between 14 and 18 % body fat forever if they don’t like cutting?
Easily, yes!
When looking at a leg day, with enphasis on the hams at the end of week, what exercise would you choose to start with, deadlifts or good mornings?
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
Should I be feeling reverse hyper extensions more in my glutes, hamstrings, or spinal erectors?
Hi Alex! Love your content. How you would set up a 2 times per week full body split for an intermediate lifter, with your new principles concerning 2 sets to failure. My goals are more focused on hypertrophy than maximal strength. I was thinking of doing each workout as follows: 2 sets horisontal press, 2 sets vertical press, 2 sets squats, 2 sets tricep extensions, 2 sets hinge, 2 set vertical pull, 2 set leg isolation, 2 set horisontal pull, 2 set bicep curl. First set 5-8 reps, second set 8-12 reps. Will the volume be sufficient? Greetings from Sweden.
19:32 yeah 3 inchers do tend to crush/bruise the ribs less
any advice on how to rehab the lower back from repeat deadlift inquiries? (without having access to reverse hyper or belt squat machine)
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.
What are your thoughts on a high frequency, lower intensity approach to training e.g., training full body 6-7 days a week with 2 sets per exercise and several RiR? I’ve seen some calisthenics athletes (a la Kyle Boges) take this approach and the theory seems sound, but I wanted to know your opinions on it considering it seems to contrast with your training style/philosophies.
Can high rep callisthenics be used for cardio? And did the New York callisthenics athletes really build their physiques of high reps?
Ez curl bar bench/ohp vs Swiss or arch nemesis.
Way more stable & easy on wrist.
Especially the BOS 2.0 with just 1 curve.
You ever tried it?
Been using it for rows, pullovers and rdls too.
How do you compare 2 sets RDL vs 3/4 sets Good Morning in one workout session for growth? I find that even 2 sets of RDL can be a bit taxing in a full body workout.
How are you splitting up your 4 day a week push, pull, upper, lower program with ME, DE and RE work? Also why have you switched to this vs your 2 day a week fullbody split you recommend?
Volume and intensity masterclass
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
On the topic of training glutes and lower back at home...
Alex, do you think it's worth it to buy Olympic weights and bar instead of "regular" weights and bar? Here in my country the Olympic versions are significantly more expensive.
I was also wondering the same for dumbbells, if you would recommend adjustable ones, for example 😅
My idea was to mainly use the weights to increase the difficulty of bulgarian split squats, and to do good mornings. Should I buy any kind of set up to fail it safely? Or could I simply bail it and let it fall to the grass? (When training outside haha)
The standard 1 inch barbells , the weight tolerance isn't that very high
So if your primary goal it's be more fitness and beach ready looking body than it be fine
If you're looking at lifting heavier then you need to look at Olympic pass bar
Dumbbells
You can get 1 inch or Olympic 2 inch handles
you load the plates onto the bar ,
Depending on the type of exercises you're doing it can be time consuming taking on and off weights on these handles
You're better off with adjustable dumbbells, there are some really good brands out there what don't cost that much
If there is a big gap in price between the 30mm and 50mm plates, what you could do alternatively, if you know someone who's a machinist(someone who operates bore, milling and turning machines) by trade, is just to bore or turn the bigger diameter on the 30mm plates. Sure in that case a 20kg plate weighs a bit less but youd only need to buy a 50mm barbell.
@@ValnirAesirssonif going for a DIY project
Better off making his own weight plates
Plenty of videos of how to do that on the internet
@@knightveg as a machinist myself, I can say that would be a lot more work that just widening the small diameter. Even if he knew someone with a turning machine that has a chuck that can fit up to a 500mm diameter, which is already unlikely for most smaller shops, they most likely dont have a 300mm sword to part with, so youd need to saw plates and predrill the diameter, at which point youd need to build a fixture to even hold the parts.
@@ValnirAesirsson How To: DIY Concrete Weight Plates That Don't Break
th-cam.com/video/2c6NhT2_mc8/w-d-xo.html
What are the best bicep exercises/accessories to compliment learning a one arm pullup or chin up.
What are the limits of bodyweight calisthenics? You said that you believe that most people should atleast hit 30 dips (touch and go) before trying weighing. Is this because the dip is uniquely "stressful", or would you recommend you also hitting 30 pull-ups, before going weighted? What about harder variations like BTN, L sit or ring work, as in ring dips, push up and pull-ups? Is it worth it to "Max out" the hypertrophy rep range?
I feel like I've been hardstuck in the gym for a while, but I'm not THAT jacked or strong. Best numbers are 2 plates on bench for 1, 265 on squat, 275x6 RDL, 135x4 ohp, weighted dip 90x6. 5 ft 8 in, weigh 150 rn but i've bulked to about 170 before, but it feels like i just stay put give or take 5%. I've been lifting for a few years.
Doing upper lower right now, about 2 sets per exercise. Not sure if I've been trying to do novice type of training for too long and need to do intermediate.
If I want to have different upper/lower days (like an upper a and an upper b), should i do volume and intensity day? And then switch which day is volume/intensity every week? Or is this too complicated and I don't need all that?
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?
3:29 'the data shows that when volume is equated, frequency becomes less important'. This conflicts with what I've been reading. Can you provide sources for this?
The hypertrophy science I've been reading shows that frequency is more important for hypertrophy stimulus than volume. That is, for example, 3 total sets in 1 session weekly is INFERIOR to 2 total sets spread throughout 2 sessions a week. The difference is even greater when comparing to 3 total sets spread throughout 3 sessions weekly. This is primarily because subsequent sets provide exponentially lower hypertrophy stimulus.
Source: See Chris Beardsley's FAQ section or youtube interviews re frequency and volunme, specifically, the graphs.
Those are mechanistic speculations, we don't have data comparing outcomes. It makes sense on paper but right now, I won't jump the gun.
How would you set up a program for people at home with adjustable dumbbells (2-34kg), adjustable bench and a pull-up bar as well as easy to get items like bands and neck harness. Going from novice to intermediate would probably be doable right?
Anyway love your content, cheers.
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
Yo Alex can you review the two step method of Ian barseagle it’s pros and cons
Dr Milo wolf was talking about doing 30 sets per muscle group a week and talking about counting compounds as partial sets for forearms, biceps and triceps etc. who has time to do 30 sets per muscle group a week? And more importantly who can recover from that? Dr Mike has said in the past that your side delts can recover from 40 sets a week, training them 4 times a week…
What about if you want to train everyday? Whats a good split for minimizing overuse?
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, as the neck training guy do you have any advice for training front neck without accidentally hypertrophying unwanted muscles like the platysma which could worsen facial aesthetics?
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 !
Do you think there is something in the peak contraction. You often mention RTO dips and push ups, and that they provide great peak contraction, but we know from the literature that the lengthened part is more important. Maybe similar to how different rep ranges stimulate muscle in different ways?
Hey Alex, would you mind expounding on the benefits and pit falls of resistance band training for those of us unable to get a quality chest expander?
Thanks for the great info.
Thanks for answering my question, especially at the beginning of the video. Not to hog attention but I’ve wondered this for a while. I’ve noticed my bench performance seems to be noticeably different in my commercial gym vs. my home gym. I’ve benched 225 for 4 at home while also being able to do 6-7 reps in my public gym. Dynabody bench in the commercial gym, bells of steel comp bench and commercial rack in the home gym. Why do you think that’s the case?
My pleasure brother. The answer is simple, the weights at your gym aren't 45lbs (and maybe at home they're inaccurate if not calibrated). For me it's the opposite, narrow benches and the plates aren't flush.
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💪
Im a lil confused on how you say you increase the RPE on your backdown exercises over workout sessions, but you also switch out the max effort lift per session. So for example, if i did something like cgbp week 1, 3x10 backdown after the max effort lift, do i do 4x10 on the 2nd upper day in the same week then switch out the lift the next week?😊