There's a lot that goes into the decision-making process of training, but realize that it doesn't have to be perfect. As long as you're stressing the muscle and letting it recover, there are likely a wide range of variables that will work just fine. Training is hard, and there are a lot of layers to it, but it's best to just get in there and start working. Gradually tailor your training to yourself. Unlike an actual suit, you don't need the perfect fit, you can adjust over time. For more on that process, check out my books. They'll help you train better, both immediately and in the future. Book 1: SWEAT (beginners/intermediates) www.verityfit.com/product-page/sweat Book 2: Ring Training For Hypertrophy (ring enthusiasts) www.verityfit.com/product-page/ring-training-for-hypertrophy Book 3: Resurrecting Your Gains (intermediates/advanced lifters) www.verityfit.com/product-page/resurrecting-your-gains-finding-your-muscle-growth-formula Can check the site for full Tables Of Contents of each book. Appreciate the support!
Would love to see your take on Dr Mike and Dr Wolf’s video about volume. Basically that more volume is better (on average) and there hasn’t been an upper limit shown. Was a nuanced chat ties in pretty well with some of the stuff you’re discussing in this video.
@@atdyeam1605 I've been asked a few times...not sure if I'll do a video on it, I thought they did a pretty good job overall. Most people are definitely undertraining, that's for sure.
I remember being a beginner like it was yesterday. I’m not sure if confused is the right word for how I felt about hypertrophy training, but frustrated or overwhelmed is probably how I’d describe it. Nearly every other sport, hobby, or profession has one or both of the following: an understanding of how the process works down to a science, OR instant feedback on whatever you’re doing. Nearly every sport that exists gives instant feedback on whether a method or play works, and it’s easy to calculate the success rate over time. Most professions can easily measure objective metrics in a short period of time, or have very concrete numbers to analyze in the short term. Lifting is weird. We don’t have it down to an exact science, and you don’t get instant feedback. The closest you can get to instant feedback is adding a rep or hitting a PR, after nailing down your technique and making your noob gains on that lift… or adding size to your measurements, which also takes time and has the variable of fat gain to blur the lines. So we have to settle for a methods that we know work, without knowing exactly why they work, and for people who like to understand and be in control of what they’re doing, like myself for example, that’s frustrating.
Honestly the most reliable metric I found is gaining strength (assuming good technique of course) basically like Fazlifts says. I think having key exercises for each muscle group and getting stronger at them over time is the key to building muscle. When I say key exercises that is individual it could be squats or back squats or leg press bench press chest press or weighted dips. But people seem to think it only applies to powerlifting. Apply it to curls, extensions, JM presses, lateral raises, it’s pretty fantastic
@@techtexan2816 tbh that's never been a reliable metric for me because I can get exponentially stronger by just getting really fat and not putting on any muscle. And also any time I lose bodyfat, and no muscle, I get weaker.
@@taylorhillard4868well of course that also should have been implied. Don’t get overtly fat just to add strength. You’ll gain some weight from adding muscle of course but honestly. Get stronger within around a 10-6% body fat composition you will have gained muscle. Like if you took your bench press from 135x8 to 225x8 even if you went form 10% bodyfat to 15% I can almost guarantee you you put on a substantial amount of muscle.
It is you don't have to train the same way as everyone else. I do doug Hepburn 8 x 2 @taylorhillard4868 People say it's long, I say it's slow enough for me to get stronger piling on loads of weight and reps and thinking you will get stronger over time is silly you can oy get stronger so quick
The fitness industry is a disgrace. Gyms are pushing the wrong material & information & environment. It's sad that there is barely any community & everyone is isolated in their own unsocial world with headphones (then again gym music full of rap is awful too)
The advice advanced lifters used to give of 'eat, sleep, train hard' still works as well today as it always has. People way overcomplicate it with hyper-focusing on what is the most optimal "science based" routine. It has never been complicated, but it is difficult. It's difficult to get good sleep every night, it's difficult to truly push yourself hard and have intensity in your workout, and most of all it's difficult to stick to this whole thing for years on end. People realize this and are looking for the cheat code. There isn't one. Consistent effort over time is what it takes.
Confusion is optimal! The more confused the lifter, the more confused the muscles, and Arnold said you gotta confuse the muscles (and of course he's always right!) In all seriousness, this is such an important topic, been lifting for close to 2 years stuck in "novice purgatory". Realizing more and more it's cause I just can't stick to the program I have and be patient with it. Always gotta go for that shiny new exercise and overthink everything instead of just caveman-ing the basics with intent and consistency. Having all the information in the world really is a double edged sword. Thanks for clearing some things up!
I also do less volume than I used to, and it seems to be going well. For me, it allows me to focus more, half arse less, and push harder. It's also just more fun and less time consuming, which in itself encourages consistency
A lot of steroid abusers will say you still need to put the work in to be huge, and yes true, but a really low motivated low work ethic person could get on gear and look pretty close to a hard working natural, and that’s the allure, remember steroids were made to get cows jacked by just standing around eating grass, so steroids do help build muscle without hardly trying, but they obviously do help to build more if you push harder
That’s their egos talking. They can’t handle admitting they have a ridiculous advantage. Steroids make a stupid difference. I knew a couple guys in hs they got huge on them, and they worked, but I work way harder. Getting advise on what works from steroid users when you’re a natural is like getting advise on how to dig a ditch with a shovel from a person who has only ever dug one with a backhoe. They really don’t know.
No just no. and people who haven’t done steroids and aren’t apart of that realm need to stop giving their completely wrong opinion. There are tons of guys on gear who don’t even look like they lift. Not everyone responds well to gear. Even with gear a lot of guys aren’t gonna do a cycle or two and look like Geoff or Alex Leonidas. Social media has completely skewed most people’s expectations. Steroids aren’t magic, the can be for good responders like Kevin Levrone. Flex wheeler and Paul dillete were notorious for their lazy training yet they were hyper responders to androgens. I new a couple kids in highschool who did a cycle one of them got to 145 pounds tbe other 165 pounds lol
I have been thinking a lot about the sayings “begin with the end in mind” and “irs about the journey not the destination.” Lifting has been a great area for me to grow, learn about myself and decide where I want to go. Life is your path. Don’t let others chart it for you.
I only recently realized how much low testosterone can affect motivation and progress. I found some great tips in a book that really helped me get moving and start working on myself. The book is called ‘You Are Stronger Than You Think’ by Borlest, and it truly opened my eyes in many ways. I’m now on my journey to becoming a better version of myself thanks to it.”
I really struggled when I had low testosterone… had the body comp of an adolescent, even after years of lifting. I’d put training, nutrition and recovery in that category as well. If even one of these is screwed up really bad, hypertrophy will suffer.
Really good video and a reminder that other people's experiences don't necessarily translate to you. Someone on TH-cam doesn't feel your fatigue or your freshness to train more sets or more frequently. Ultimately you have to try and find what works for you for progressive overload.
i think this is some of the best advice people can hear. everyone is different and there are so many variables and correct way to do things that everyone spends too much time trying to figure out what is "best" love the vids pls keep it up
Building muscle is the least confusing thing you could possibly train for. TH-cam gurus like to build entire careers off splitting hairs, but the reality is that of all physical endeavors or sports that you could possibly train for, lifting is by far the simplest and easiest.
Exactly! Try to increase performance(beyond the first 1-3 years) in sports, or top speed or jumping height, heck even 1rm strength and you will see the real pain 😅
There are some complications though. It’s not at all known to most people that training 1x/wk is extremely inefficient since gains from the last session start to go away as soon as growth ends 29-48h post workout, though it’s not significant loss until after 5 days post workout. Therefore minimum frequency needs to be every 5 days, which is about the same as a 3-day/wk U/L split
The technique/performance aspects of lifting are indeed pretty simple. The trick is that most people want 'advanced' results and want them rapidly, and that is difficult in terms of hypertrophy, and thats where it gets confusing. No offense, but as Geoff mentioned, a lot of the 'just lift' crowd are at the higher end of the bell curve in terms of response and are talking at the ones who are not (and I don't mean that as cope for being lazy). Its an expectations problem as unlike most other physical endeavors, people really do have high expectations of what they can accomplish in the gym, and even the audience of these videos are filled with survivorship bias. All of that said, its the jedi master meme of just getting in there and lifting, adjusting as you go being the answer regardless of all the nuance. If 'just lifting' with basic technique/programs doesn't work, all of the optimizations in the world probably aren't going to make the difference.
4:30 lmao your comedic edits are always hilarious. It's so true, and it just intuitively makes perfect sense. The concept is not even hard to grasp, but people are so paralyzed by analysis and trying to find the perfect sets and reps for optimal growth. Just pick a weight where you fail or come close to failing anywhere in the 5-30 rep range, and you will grow, period. Your muscles do not care how much weight you use, as long as you come close to exhausting them. A couple pros to going with a lighter weight in the higher rep range (15-30) would be that it is much easier to execute proper form when the weight is lighter, and it is easier on the joints, therefore better for longevity.
A very informative video. Personal anecdote regarding confusion about programming variables, in particular volume...which may help someone: After initial noobie gains the first 1.5 years of lifting (1RMs in SBD being 150 kg/90 kg/200 kg), I didn't progress at all or way too slow for one year. I slept 9 hrs per night, I ate in a consistent caloric surplus and trained very consistent and well execution-wise according to several people whom I asked. Even coaching from a known natty powerlifter didn't help that much. Now that I run a program which is ridiculously low in volume compared to standard recommendations (Upper/Lower/Rest with 1 set per muscle on lower days and 1-2 sets per muscle on upper days; all sets being RIR 0) I have again some type of "slow", but consistent progress where I can perform around 1 rep (or up the weight at the end of my selected rep range) more every 3rd to 4th session.
Awesome video, awesome content that is much needed in 2024. One more thing I would have added that I wish I had known earlier: resist the urge to tinker with your program. Unless you're having genuine actual pain that could lead injury, do everything you can to stick with the lifts in a program and progress the as far as possible. Don't bail on the chinup for that shiny lat pulldown variation you saw on instagram yesterday. Don't go to DB from barbell bench "just because". Way too guilty of this myself and though I've seen decent gains, can't help but think I'd be further along if I was stricter in this regard
@@chewychewjr This is a big problem, they'll do 5 sets vs 10 sets vs 15 sets (not exactly, but for the example), but only for 1 muscle. See if the huge number of sets works best when applied to EVERY muscle...
Watch a video of Schoenfeld doing a set to “failure” and you will understand why the study results are the way they are. If the expert who is conducting these studies is leaving 5 reps in the tank on a set to failure then just imagine how poorly the participants are training. It’s no wonder they see results up to 50 sets per week, you NEED that many sets when you train with such low effort.
If you guys ever bothered to look into it, you'd know the researchers are litterally yelling at the participants to do another rep. If anything, their training is probably much harder in the lab than it'd be in the gym. Listen to Eric Helms talk about the study conditions. Total beginners might not take exercises to muscular failure though, because they haven't conditioned their nervous system for the training. I know it's hard to cope with doing less (because who would want to do more?), but don't try to make it look like a fact that it necessarily produces better results.
Some researchers, like Max Coleman & Milo, claim that research has participants go to failure. If you read most papers it's very frequently called volitional failure, which says nothing about targeted muscle exertion. In the end, the results are always average. In that sense, exercise science is descriptive and is in a bad place to be prescriptive with recommendations.
Geoffrey ma boy, you’ve gone and made another solid video! I feel as though beginner, intermediate, and even advanced lifters (to some extent) could all benefit from this insight. It’s only been over the last couple of years or so that I gradually started to move away from overcomplicating this process. If you were spitting your facts back in the day, perhaps I’d have stopped overcomplicating things even sooner 💪🤓
Great video and lots of excellent points. Black and white thinking around training makes it extremely confusing. Of course, there's lots of minutiae, and many variables you can modify depending on ones training age, results and overall goals. But, if someone just followed a structured well-balanced program, focused on progression and consistency. Then, making small adjustments as they go along, they would likely shock themselves.
Not necessarily confusing but hard to get right. Since feedback for every change of a training variable is incredibly slow, if perceptible, it is very difficult to arrive at a program that works. I personally find it rather demotivating not knowing whether a change I've made is for the better (such as lowering volume and focusing on set quality) but having to stick with it for months to find out. In general, the tempo of natural progression is excruciatingly slow, at least for me, meaning that it's hard be motivated by results and having to rely on raw discipline alone.
What I do varies but they fall under certain constraints. 1. Volume: Shoot for 10-20 sets per muscle per week. With muscles I want to emphasis more on the higher end and muscles that don't need as much focus on the lower end. 2. Rep range: 5-20 reps is good. I usually pick 7-10 for compounds and biceps, 10-15 for all other isolations except for neck and calves where I do 15-20. 3. Frequency: I do each muscle twice a week. 4. Exercise Selection: I try to pick a compound movement and isolation movement for each muscle group. 5. RIR: Always try to by 0-2 reps shy of failure. Closer to 0-1 rir on isolations and around 1-2 rir for compounds 6. Range of motion: Full range of motion along with a few lengthened partial sets for just a few certain exercises (usually for back muscles) as a finisher. 7. Things like tempo and rest times I don't worry about too much. Your time under tension is what counts and that's covered with your rep range not being too short. Having said that though, I would go as fast as possible on the concentric and just be in control of the eccentric. You know you are getting close to failure when you significantly slow down on the concentric despite your best effort.
The new meta analysis Milo wolf discusses specifically notes volume has a super strong dose response with hypertrophy. I think the issue is that people aren’t taking fractional sets into amount, because exercises hit multiple muscle groups.
Yeah, most research counts indirect sets as full sets, while most people don't treat them as sets at all, which is why the volume recommendations can look wildly out of proportion. 20 sets of triceps seems pretty high to many but 10 sets chest press + 10 tricep isos seems pretty moderate to most.
the "for you" part is incredibly important. "the house of hypertrophy" broke down the 5-30 rep ranges stuff and u see that in these studies participants really reacted individually to different rep ranges, in the carneiro et al u can even see a participants that barely gained if not lost muscle on the low rep range but grew on the high rep range and vice versa. it seemed like the optimum for each individual fell anywhere from 5-30 reps BUT the fact that it fell in that range doesnt mean that for every person the same rep range is recommended even if it falls in the "hypertrophy rep range"
Hey Geoff, I just wanted to thank you for all your content. One of the realest ones in the fitness community. Consider researching more about Islam, I think you may like it. No pressure though, thanks again. Keep it up!
When I hear genetics, I just think how Arnold’s abdomen was like all chest (hardly abs), and how his biceps peaked, those are genetics, everyone generally can become jacked if they are willing
Like if you want the proper and nerdy Hello back!!! Remeber those?: "Whats up nerds" "Whats up Mcnuggets" "Whats up lifting aficionados" "Whats up strong Boiiis and strong ladies" and much more
I saw in one of menno henselmans videos that there was a study (or was it a meta analysis... probably latter) about reps in reserve and muscle size gains. in it the overall trend was that staying 0 to 2 reps in reserve gave the best gains, but what was more interesting to note was the outliers. the person who got the best muscle gains was working at 7 rir, and the one with the worst gains was training at 2 rir. what I found most interesting was that if the 7 rir outlier trained like most people at 0 to 2 rir that would not really have much benefit to them, and may serve to harm his gains instead.
I'm just glad I started lifting in the early 2010s when there was a lot less conflicting information out there and it was more straightforward. OPTIMAL SCIENCE BASED stuff hadn't yet complicated everything. Although unfortunately back then we had to contend with the powerlifting dogma that was so popular at the time. That definitely did some of us (at least myself) a disservice by setting up misplaced goals (I in fact never wanted to be a powerlifter and simply wanted to get jacked), overemphasizing strength training for the Big 3 lifts, and disparaging hypertrophy training.
I been making progress on low volume. Just for me I have found the more advanced I get, the more I need to laser focus in on an individual lift for a muscle group. For example, i stopped doing a myriad of quad /glute movements, and literally have consistently just done leg extensions and the power squat machine to failure. 1 warm up set, and 1 working set, and then 1 set to failure with rest pause. Every day, for months, just those two movements. Sure you can do some other fluff stuff as warmups and pumps, but bring the heat to 1 or 2 quality movements that work well for YOU. As established in the video, there exercise selection matters quite a bit more on an individual level. So 1. find movements that STIMULATE the muscle on your bod 2. laser focus in one those exercises, with killer intensity for 1-2 sets. Keep the number of these high intensity exercises to 1-3 movements on a given training session. Give it all you got here. 3. Progressively overload for months on this movement. Obviously eat high protein, rest and recover.
the main thing I get caught up in is what an appropriate rate of progression should be? So many sources on the internet say that you're a beginner/novice until you can stop adding 5lbs a workout until you bench 225 x 5, squat 315 x 5, etc.
Lol. Nice addition of RP's video title in text. This is why I went off RP and Dr Mike. He's too much "this is the way, this is the only way cause science says so and I'm an exercise scientist!". That's why I'm so glad I found this channel! More than one way to train, there's nuance. The science-based purists are just as dogmatic as the Mentzer HIT bros.
Look at Max Euceda, Will tennyson, Kinobody these are just some that have been mostly doing "lower" volume and are doing really good who are also natties. Just as Jordan Peteres said, all we need is a novel stimulus consistenly over a period of time and there will be growth. Volume is dependant on how often you train a muscle, there is no perfect number of sets. If the weight on the scale is going up and you are consistenly progressing your lifts reps or weight wise, the muscle will grow.
Arnold's Golden Six and Mentzer' "Most Productive" routine both had almost identical volume. Golden Six comes in at 60 sets a week, and Mentzer's Most Productive averaged about 18 sets every other day which is about 63, but he ranged from 40-80 depending on how many days off he took.
12:10😂😂😂😂GVS Sir is actually way funnier than most of the standup comedians and he super freakin jacked and extremely knowledgeable and only thing he promotes is boost camp,while most of the fitness Influencers promote literally anything for money (Revival fitness).... Never seen people like you and natural hypertrophy.... too good for the real world.👑🗿
I feel like I follow all the right people (some of the science crowd + the noble natties) yet I am truly getting lost in the sauce with the hypertrophy-strength correlation arguments lately. I’ve been training mainly for hypertrophy for 3 years now with good results, but i dabbled into EMOMs for strength for pullups and only now am finally able to say i have lats to speak of after being stuck a while doing assisted in the hypertrophy range. My bench does not progress quickly, and the 4-6 rep range helped me push through plateaus. It’d be tempting to start training all my main compounds for strength after that yet someone like NH would be against that. I don’t even have a question to ask, i still have a lot of figuring stuff out to do for my own build I guess.
Chase progress. 1 more rep, 5 more pounds on the bar. Find what stimulus allows you to progress consistently and keep doing that. I personally have settled on 2 working sets, 1st is 6-10 reps to failure, 2nd is 10-15 reps sometimes I’ll do a third set or a rest pause on the final set. My goal is to progress the first set primarily, second set is a bonus
I’m doing 2-3 direct sets a week to failure on some muscle groups right now (upper/lower) and I’ve been making huge leaps in performance the last seven weeks. It’s funny because I used to do higher volume 6x a week and my performance was always stuck. Everyone is different and what might be optimal for someone might be too much or too little for others. My training philosophy now is do what is required for performance increases and nothing more. When you plateau on a muscle then add 1-2 sets a week.
I’m doing something similar now too. I can pummel a muscle in 2-4 sets. Get a good stimulus to grow. And be able to hit it again in a few days. Doing 8 sets for one muscle in a sesh is overkill if you’re going to failure. Some people think edema from muscle damage is gains though
1 thing thats missing imo is how to keep progressing. Mabey the most important of them all. Im struggling with this. Can you go more in depth on this in a video? ty
Hey Geoff didn't you know it's actually so simple to get jacked, didn't you see RPs latest video with Milo confirming you just need more volume. Infact 2x the volume for 50% more hypertrophy! So simple!
I personally believe what led to growing muscle being confusing is that... There's a million different training styles and variables to grow muscle (calisthenics, different bb splits, high volume, low volume, intensity, frequency, and many many different things). BUT we as humans want to do things as fast as possible as optimal as possible, So with so many different ways and styles of training and no way to scientifically determine the most "Optimal" one it leads to this confusion and the mindset of "Maybe if i change this variable or that I'll see more growth", "This new study shows that actually this variable is the most important", "This jacked person did this style of training and grew so much so it must be optimal". It's this chase of the "Secret" to growing muscle optimally that led to all of this confusion.
Love watching you lift. Motivating to see what hard work really looks like (on the face). Lift hard sets until I can't move anymore, then go home and eat and sleep... Also I can tell from my (low) beard levels etc that genetics might explain why I get better results marathon running than building dat ass. 🤣
Great video again Geoffrey! Only thing I have problem with is your statement around 12:28 , Ok let say my first cycle was 600 mg test per week like in the study the highest dosage being studied . Before my first cycle I trained for 7 years , then let say I do nothing dont train , sit on the couch all day and just eat when I feel like it . Do you really think this apporach with just injecting 600 mg each week and doing fuck all would grow more muscle then being natural and push my workouts very hard and eating around the clock 😅? Dude most Guys are dissapointed about the results of their first cycle , steroids work , but they are no magic.
I think beginners should start low volume, then slowly increase that over time until they find a huge plateau or where they start to dip into overtraining, then find a lower volume they can keep progressing at. If that doesnt work, they can always go back to higher volume later.I've seen some natural advanced lifters, like Will Tennyson, benefit from low volume high intensity, likely because advanced lifters know how to push themselves hard and have a good sense of where failure is, and are better at avoiding things that are likely to cause injury. Reps depend a lot on what you're training. Whether it's for strength or size, you usually can still get away with (or even need for progression) high rep ranges like 13-20 on lifts where you're isolating small muscles like a tricep push down or an abductor/adductor machine.
GEOFFREY GAVE ME A HEART GEOFFREY GAVE ME A HEART GEOFFREY GAVE ME A HEART GEOFFREY GAVE ME A HEART GEOFFREY GAVE ME A HEART GEOFFREY GAVE ME A HEART GEOFFREY GAVE ME A HEART
I’ve made more results the past 2.5 months doing the same push pull leg workout twice a week lowerish volume high intensity than the previous 2.5 years just spinning my wheels trying to get everything as optimal as possible just train hard consistently same exercises and you’ll get stronger n bigger
Someone can please explain. I do exercises with big stretch (like bayesian cable curl) and consider all conditions by type of cable up, but don’t feel the stretch as if I was stretching this muscle. Is that how it’s supposed to be?
Yo GVS, any reason you do a little amount of calisthenics compared to your peers? Is it just preference? Do you think that cheating/more fluid form is good for bodybuilding calisthnics, or would you be more on the strict side?
Yeah, Sometimes it really gets confusing, people saying high volume or nothing, then Mike mentzer HIT. Then you have the whole Biomechanics and Basics, also the whole bulking debate sometimes it feels like it's impossible to know what's actually gonna work, you end up just trying anything and just making Du'aa hoping that it's gonna work, this is basically how I spent the last few years
I love especially when CERTAIN people tell you that an exercise is F tier and you’re wasting your time doing them and you explain that specific F tier is actually what helped blow you up….. then they block you
sorry for the desturb, i just have see the video about the newbie gains and novice and i created this classical fullbody routine: A : SQUAT 3x5-8 BENCH 3x5-8 CHIN UPS 3x5 CURL+TRICEPS 3x10 B : SQUAT 3x5-8 MILITARY PRESS 3x5-8 DEADLIFT 2x6 ROW 3x10 CLOSE GRIP BENCH 3x10. Do you think that it is solid?
These are thing that took me a year to understand 😂😂😅now iam so so clear no distraction just go the gym with my key exercises 2 sets for all all sets to absolute failure increase reps ans weights 2x frequency thats it no worries give it time until ur body builds 😅
A few years ago I used to do the 200 pushups a day as a beginner and did shoulder workouts and back workouts ON TOP of those, the back had 7 exercises 4 sets each til failure.. and I was small as shit. I thought I was becoming an intermediate a year and a bit ago because I moved to weights and did more moderate volume but I was progressing half a rep to a rep at a time at most, then I got ill, broke every platuae w kgs and many reps added. Since then I've added more days to my microcycle, waaaaaaaay less volume, I'm talking 4-10 sets per 10 day microcycle vs 12-22 sets per 7 day microcycle and my progression is 2-3 reps each time. I probably could progress the same with half of even those sets ngl, i do train pretty much til I'm questioning if I'm gonna crap myself Would U say growth is maximised if your strength per week is maximised or would U still need to do more for extra growth?
Hey guys, can you help me out with something? So, i really love training early in the morning, but i hate eating breakfast, because it takes time to digest and i gotta work too. Is it okay for me to just drink a cup of coffee with casein and go to the gym? As long as i eat very well after?
I think the best way to analogize this is to diet: ALL DIETS WORK if they create a calorie deficit. Creating a calorie deficit sucks because it’s hard work. So your job is to pick the diet that feels like it sucks the least TO YOU. Likewise, ALL TRAINING STYLES WORK if they create a stimulus. Creating a stimulus sucks because it’s hard work. So your job is to pick the training style that feels like it sucks the least TO YOU.
There's a lot that goes into the decision-making process of training, but realize that it doesn't have to be perfect. As long as you're stressing the muscle and letting it recover, there are likely a wide range of variables that will work just fine. Training is hard, and there are a lot of layers to it, but it's best to just get in there and start working.
Gradually tailor your training to yourself. Unlike an actual suit, you don't need the perfect fit, you can adjust over time. For more on that process, check out my books. They'll help you train better, both immediately and in the future.
Book 1: SWEAT (beginners/intermediates)
www.verityfit.com/product-page/sweat
Book 2: Ring Training For Hypertrophy (ring enthusiasts)
www.verityfit.com/product-page/ring-training-for-hypertrophy
Book 3: Resurrecting Your Gains (intermediates/advanced lifters)
www.verityfit.com/product-page/resurrecting-your-gains-finding-your-muscle-growth-formula
Can check the site for full Tables Of Contents of each book. Appreciate the support!
Would love to see your take on Dr Mike and Dr Wolf’s video about volume. Basically that more volume is better (on average) and there hasn’t been an upper limit shown. Was a nuanced chat ties in pretty well with some of the stuff you’re discussing in this video.
if you're training a muscle group 4-5 times a week but only doing a single exercise is that enough for significant growth
@@atdyeam1605 I've been asked a few times...not sure if I'll do a video on it, I thought they did a pretty good job overall. Most people are definitely undertraining, that's for sure.
Here before 720p, keep it coming!
dammit filmora
I'm only on 360p 😅
@@stiviajazi exactly 🤣
i feel like im in a person zoom call with Geoff at 360p
😭😭😭😭😭
I remember being a beginner like it was yesterday. I’m not sure if confused is the right word for how I felt about hypertrophy training, but frustrated or overwhelmed is probably how I’d describe it.
Nearly every other sport, hobby, or profession has one or both of the following: an understanding of how the process works down to a science, OR instant feedback on whatever you’re doing. Nearly every sport that exists gives instant feedback on whether a method or play works, and it’s easy to calculate the success rate over time. Most professions can easily measure objective metrics in a short period of time, or have very concrete numbers to analyze in the short term.
Lifting is weird. We don’t have it down to an exact science, and you don’t get instant feedback. The closest you can get to instant feedback is adding a rep or hitting a PR, after nailing down your technique and making your noob gains on that lift… or adding size to your measurements, which also takes time and has the variable of fat gain to blur the lines.
So we have to settle for a methods that we know work, without knowing exactly why they work, and for people who like to understand and be in control of what they’re doing, like myself for example, that’s frustrating.
Its like economics the feedback is so detached temporally-wise to the event that you cannot pinpoint what intervention specifically helped.
100%, it's hard to trust the process when you can't really see it working, and don't know something else might be better.
Honestly the most reliable metric I found is gaining strength (assuming good technique of course) basically like Fazlifts says. I think having key exercises for each muscle group and getting stronger at them over time is the key to building muscle. When I say key exercises that is individual it could be squats or back squats or leg press bench press chest press or weighted dips. But people seem to think it only applies to powerlifting. Apply it to curls, extensions, JM presses, lateral raises, it’s pretty fantastic
@@techtexan2816 tbh that's never been a reliable metric for me because I can get exponentially stronger by just getting really fat and not putting on any muscle. And also any time I lose bodyfat, and no muscle, I get weaker.
@@taylorhillard4868well of course that also should have been implied. Don’t get overtly fat just to add strength. You’ll gain some weight from adding muscle of course but honestly. Get stronger within around a 10-6% body fat composition you will have gained muscle. Like if you took your bench press from 135x8 to 225x8 even if you went form 10% bodyfat to 15% I can almost guarantee you you put on a substantial amount of muscle.
Just wanted to say I finally hit 135 on the bench. I couldn’t be happier
Good job bro 😎💪
Hell yea, next stop 185
Congrats 🎉🎉❤️
This is my PR last year, now I can hit 154lbs x 7
I started with the bar, and worked all the way up to 315 in 6 months. 135 is my first warmup set ;) keep going, good job!
“It’s all stimulus” is a great way to see training variables, really well put my man!
Because there's a lot of dogma in the fitness industry. At the end of the day consistency and enjoyment are gonna get you the most results.
If only it was enjoyable, lol
It is you don't have to train the same way as everyone else. I do doug Hepburn 8 x
2 @taylorhillard4868
People say it's long, I say it's slow enough for me to get stronger piling on loads of weight and reps and thinking you will get stronger over time is silly you can oy get stronger so quick
The fitness industry is a disgrace. Gyms are pushing the wrong material & information & environment.
It's sad that there is barely any community & everyone is isolated in their own unsocial world with headphones (then again gym music full of rap is awful too)
@@taylorhillard4868It is for me. I lift for 45-60 minutes after a workday on my feet lifting all day for 8 hours and 12k steps, that’s my warmup 😂
The advice advanced lifters used to give of 'eat, sleep, train hard' still works as well today as it always has. People way overcomplicate it with hyper-focusing on what is the most optimal "science based" routine. It has never been complicated, but it is difficult. It's difficult to get good sleep every night, it's difficult to truly push yourself hard and have intensity in your workout, and most of all it's difficult to stick to this whole thing for years on end. People realize this and are looking for the cheat code. There isn't one. Consistent effort over time is what it takes.
I’m on week 3 of GVS’s Boostcamp program. I’m doing the 3 day full body program. I highly recommend it! 👍🏼
You have come such a long way, Geoffrey, on so many levels.
.
Confusion is optimal! The more confused the lifter, the more confused the muscles, and Arnold said you gotta confuse the muscles (and of course he's always right!)
In all seriousness, this is such an important topic, been lifting for close to 2 years stuck in "novice purgatory". Realizing more and more it's cause I just can't stick to the program I have and be patient with it. Always gotta go for that shiny new exercise and overthink everything instead of just caveman-ing the basics with intent and consistency.
Having all the information in the world really is a double edged sword. Thanks for clearing some things up!
Straight BARS coming in at 7:43!
I also do less volume than I used to, and it seems to be going well. For me, it allows me to focus more, half arse less, and push harder. It's also just more fun and less time consuming, which in itself encourages consistency
A lot of steroid abusers will say you still need to put the work in to be huge, and yes true, but a really low motivated low work ethic person could get on gear and look pretty close to a hard working natural, and that’s the allure, remember steroids were made to get cows jacked by just standing around eating grass, so steroids do help build muscle without hardly trying, but they obviously do help to build more if you push harder
That’s their egos talking. They can’t handle admitting they have a ridiculous advantage. Steroids make a stupid difference. I knew a couple guys in hs they got huge on them, and they worked, but I work way harder. Getting advise on what works from steroid users when you’re a natural is like getting advise on how to dig a ditch with a shovel from a person who has only ever dug one with a backhoe. They really don’t know.
No just no. and people who haven’t done steroids and aren’t apart of that realm need to stop giving their completely wrong opinion. There are tons of guys on gear who don’t even look like they lift. Not everyone responds well to gear. Even with gear a lot of guys aren’t gonna do a cycle or two and look like Geoff or Alex Leonidas. Social media has completely skewed most people’s expectations. Steroids aren’t magic, the can be for good responders like Kevin Levrone. Flex wheeler and Paul dillete were notorious for their lazy training yet they were hyper responders to androgens. I new a couple kids in highschool who did a cycle one of them got to 145 pounds tbe other 165 pounds lol
I have been thinking a lot about the sayings “begin with the end in mind” and “irs about the journey not the destination.” Lifting has been a great area for me to grow, learn about myself and decide where I want to go. Life is your path. Don’t let others chart it for you.
I only recently realized how much low testosterone can affect motivation and progress. I found some great tips in a book that really helped me get moving and start working on myself. The book is called ‘You Are Stronger Than You Think’ by Borlest, and it truly opened my eyes in many ways. I’m now on my journey to becoming a better version of myself thanks to it.”
I really struggled when I had low testosterone… had the body comp of an adolescent, even after years of lifting. I’d put training, nutrition and recovery in that category as well. If even one of these is screwed up really bad, hypertrophy will suffer.
@@FreedomFox1anythubg you dis to increase testosterone?
@@jamesferone9021 eat 6 eggs a day
Really good video and a reminder that other people's experiences don't necessarily translate to you. Someone on TH-cam doesn't feel your fatigue or your freshness to train more sets or more frequently. Ultimately you have to try and find what works for you for progressive overload.
We're all gonna make it brahs
💪
I’m zyzz brah!
weird place to quote saucer No.1 but sure he is motivating still
fuaaark
i think this is some of the best advice people can hear. everyone is different and there are so many variables and correct way to do things that everyone spends too much time trying to figure out what is "best"
love the vids pls keep it up
Building muscle is the least confusing thing you could possibly train for. TH-cam gurus like to build entire careers off splitting hairs, but the reality is that of all physical endeavors or sports that you could possibly train for, lifting is by far the simplest and easiest.
Exactly! Try to increase performance(beyond the first 1-3 years) in sports, or top speed or jumping height, heck even 1rm strength and you will see the real pain 😅
@@kapoioBCS Or practicing the same skill or technique over and over again every day. Literally everything is harder than building muscle or strength.
Lift heavy rock until you can't anymore. Come back in a week, you should be able to do more or a heavier rock. Well done? Profit$?$
There are some complications though. It’s not at all known to most people that training 1x/wk is extremely inefficient since gains from the last session start to go away as soon as growth ends 29-48h post workout, though it’s not significant loss until after 5 days post workout. Therefore minimum frequency needs to be every 5 days, which is about the same as a 3-day/wk U/L split
The technique/performance aspects of lifting are indeed pretty simple. The trick is that most people want 'advanced' results and want them rapidly, and that is difficult in terms of hypertrophy, and thats where it gets confusing. No offense, but as Geoff mentioned, a lot of the 'just lift' crowd are at the higher end of the bell curve in terms of response and are talking at the ones who are not (and I don't mean that as cope for being lazy). Its an expectations problem as unlike most other physical endeavors, people really do have high expectations of what they can accomplish in the gym, and even the audience of these videos are filled with survivorship bias.
All of that said, its the jedi master meme of just getting in there and lifting, adjusting as you go being the answer regardless of all the nuance. If 'just lifting' with basic technique/programs doesn't work, all of the optimizations in the world probably aren't going to make the difference.
4:30 lmao your comedic edits are always hilarious. It's so true, and it just intuitively makes perfect sense. The concept is not even hard to grasp, but people are so paralyzed by analysis and trying to find the perfect sets and reps for optimal growth. Just pick a weight where you fail or come close to failing anywhere in the 5-30 rep range, and you will grow, period. Your muscles do not care how much weight you use, as long as you come close to exhausting them. A couple pros to going with a lighter weight in the higher rep range (15-30) would be that it is much easier to execute proper form when the weight is lighter, and it is easier on the joints, therefore better for longevity.
A very informative video.
Personal anecdote regarding confusion about programming variables, in particular volume...which may help someone:
After initial noobie gains the first 1.5 years of lifting (1RMs in SBD being 150 kg/90 kg/200 kg), I didn't progress at all or way too slow for one year. I slept 9 hrs per night, I ate in a consistent caloric surplus and trained very consistent and well execution-wise according to several people whom I asked.
Even coaching from a known natty powerlifter didn't help that much.
Now that I run a program which is ridiculously low in volume compared to standard recommendations (Upper/Lower/Rest with 1 set per muscle on lower days and 1-2 sets per muscle on upper days; all sets being RIR 0) I have again some type of "slow", but consistent progress where I can perform around 1 rep (or up the weight at the end of my selected rep range) more every 3rd to 4th session.
The camera quality makes me laugh, however the best channel about hypertrophy I discover so far
Awesome video, awesome content that is much needed in 2024. One more thing I would have added that I wish I had known earlier: resist the urge to tinker with your program. Unless you're having genuine actual pain that could lead injury, do everything you can to stick with the lifts in a program and progress the as far as possible. Don't bail on the chinup for that shiny lat pulldown variation you saw on instagram yesterday. Don't go to DB from barbell bench "just because". Way too guilty of this myself and though I've seen decent gains, can't help but think I'd be further along if I was stricter in this regard
I feel like the 'scientific' volume recommendations are soo high because the study participants are not actually training to true failure.
also that they're almost always doing a specialization routine, not all that volume on every Major muscle group every week.
@@chewychewjr This is a big problem, they'll do 5 sets vs 10 sets vs 15 sets (not exactly, but for the example), but only for 1 muscle. See if the huge number of sets works best when applied to EVERY muscle...
Watch a video of Schoenfeld doing a set to “failure” and you will understand why the study results are the way they are. If the expert who is conducting these studies is leaving 5 reps in the tank on a set to failure then just imagine how poorly the participants are training. It’s no wonder they see results up to 50 sets per week, you NEED that many sets when you train with such low effort.
If you guys ever bothered to look into it, you'd know the researchers are litterally yelling at the participants to do another rep. If anything, their training is probably much harder in the lab than it'd be in the gym. Listen to Eric Helms talk about the study conditions. Total beginners might not take exercises to muscular failure though, because they haven't conditioned their nervous system for the training. I know it's hard to cope with doing less (because who would want to do more?), but don't try to make it look like a fact that it necessarily produces better results.
Some researchers, like Max Coleman & Milo, claim that research has participants go to failure. If you read most papers it's very frequently called volitional failure, which says nothing about targeted muscle exertion. In the end, the results are always average. In that sense, exercise science is descriptive and is in a bad place to be prescriptive with recommendations.
Geoffrey ma boy, you’ve gone and made another solid video! I feel as though beginner, intermediate, and even advanced lifters (to some extent) could all benefit from this insight. It’s only been over the last couple of years or so that I gradually started to move away from overcomplicating this process. If you were spitting your facts back in the day, perhaps I’d have stopped overcomplicating things even sooner 💪🤓
Great video and lots of excellent points. Black and white thinking around training makes it extremely confusing. Of course, there's lots of minutiae, and many variables you can modify depending on ones training age, results and overall goals. But, if someone just followed a structured well-balanced program, focused on progression and consistency. Then, making small adjustments as they go along, they would likely shock themselves.
the pixel on the left seems super jacked while the talking one on the right seems super knowledgeable 🦾
new GVS, commenting for da algorithm and watching before going on the gym sesh.
Gotta confuse the muscle, right babe?
They say muscle growth and repair happen while asleep, so you must bench while asleep to shock the muscles.
Not necessarily confusing but hard to get right. Since feedback for every change of a training variable is incredibly slow, if perceptible, it is very difficult to arrive at a program that works. I personally find it rather demotivating not knowing whether a change I've made is for the better (such as lowering volume and focusing on set quality) but having to stick with it for months to find out. In general, the tempo of natural progression is excruciatingly slow, at least for me, meaning that it's hard be motivated by results and having to rely on raw discipline alone.
The journey is the destination.
depending on the camera angle your head is starting to look small in comparison to your upper body; god damn. looking YACKED my dude😁
What I do varies but they fall under certain constraints.
1. Volume: Shoot for 10-20 sets per muscle per week. With muscles I want to emphasis more on the higher end and muscles that don't need as much focus on the lower end.
2. Rep range: 5-20 reps is good. I usually pick 7-10 for compounds and biceps, 10-15 for all other isolations except for neck and calves where I do 15-20.
3. Frequency: I do each muscle twice a week.
4. Exercise Selection: I try to pick a compound movement and isolation movement for each muscle group.
5. RIR: Always try to by 0-2 reps shy of failure. Closer to 0-1 rir on isolations and around 1-2 rir for compounds
6. Range of motion: Full range of motion along with a few lengthened partial sets for just a few certain exercises (usually for back muscles) as a finisher.
7. Things like tempo and rest times I don't worry about too much. Your time under tension is what counts and that's covered with your rep range not being too short. Having said that though, I would go as fast as possible on the concentric and just be in control of the eccentric. You know you are getting close to failure when you significantly slow down on the concentric despite your best effort.
The new meta analysis Milo wolf discusses specifically notes volume has a super strong dose response with hypertrophy. I think the issue is that people aren’t taking fractional sets into amount, because exercises hit multiple muscle groups.
Yeah, most research counts indirect sets as full sets, while most people don't treat them as sets at all, which is why the volume recommendations can look wildly out of proportion. 20 sets of triceps seems pretty high to many but 10 sets chest press + 10 tricep isos seems pretty moderate to most.
the "for you" part is incredibly important. "the house of hypertrophy" broke down the 5-30 rep ranges stuff and u see that in these studies participants really reacted individually to different rep ranges, in the carneiro et al u can even see a participants that barely gained if not lost muscle on the low rep range but grew on the high rep range and vice versa. it seemed like the optimum for each individual fell anywhere from 5-30 reps BUT the fact that it fell in that range doesnt mean that for every person the same rep range is recommended even if it falls in the "hypertrophy rep range"
8 seconds ago is scary
Great video. This exact topic isn’t talked about enough to. Especially to early intermediates
I've already come to terms with my lifting not being optimal. There are just other stuff that takes priority and that's okay.
Hey Geoff, I just wanted to thank you for all your content. One of the realest ones in the fitness community.
Consider researching more about Islam, I think you may like it. No pressure though, thanks again. Keep it up!
When I hear genetics, I just think how Arnold’s abdomen was like all chest (hardly abs), and how his biceps peaked, those are genetics, everyone generally can become jacked if they are willing
🧐🧐 My face when he said “Hypertrophize.” This vocabulary is hypertrophizing my brain
Like if you want the proper and nerdy Hello back!!!
Remeber those?:
"Whats up nerds"
"Whats up Mcnuggets"
"Whats up lifting aficionados"
"Whats up strong Boiiis and strong ladies"
and much more
“What’s up, humanoids”. I could be wrong, but I feel like he’s said that one before. lol
“What’s up, Bipeds” is one of my favourites.
@@chonkeboiwhat's up hushpuppies is my favorite
Nail meet head on the average vs individual when speaking on exercise selections.
It’s the meadows row for me. Everyone seems to love it, but it just never felt all that great for me.
360p, we meet again my old friend
awwww crap no wonder it uploaded so quickly
Hey it’s better than 240. Remember that travesty of a quality?
I saw in one of menno henselmans videos that there was a study (or was it a meta analysis... probably latter) about reps in reserve and muscle size gains. in it the overall trend was that staying 0 to 2 reps in reserve gave the best gains, but what was more interesting to note was the outliers.
the person who got the best muscle gains was working at 7 rir, and the one with the worst gains was training at 2 rir.
what I found most interesting was that if the 7 rir outlier trained like most people at 0 to 2 rir that would not really have much benefit to them, and may serve to harm his gains instead.
7:44 I was not ready for those bars, Gahdamn we got MC GVS on the mic 🎤 🔥
7:42 Literally spitting facts
sounded like Eminem
Great video 👍💯💪
I appreciate your pixels.
13:36 What a set!
I'm just glad I started lifting in the early 2010s when there was a lot less conflicting information out there and it was more straightforward. OPTIMAL SCIENCE BASED stuff hadn't yet complicated everything. Although unfortunately back then we had to contend with the powerlifting dogma that was so popular at the time. That definitely did some of us (at least myself) a disservice by setting up misplaced goals (I in fact never wanted to be a powerlifter and simply wanted to get jacked), overemphasizing strength training for the Big 3 lifts, and disparaging hypertrophy training.
I been making progress on low volume. Just for me I have found the more advanced I get, the more I need to laser focus in on an individual lift for a muscle group.
For example, i stopped doing a myriad of quad
/glute movements, and literally have consistently just done leg extensions and the power squat machine to failure. 1 warm up set, and 1 working set, and then 1 set to failure with rest pause. Every day, for months, just those two movements.
Sure you can do some other fluff stuff as warmups and pumps, but bring the heat to 1 or 2 quality movements that work well for YOU. As established in the video, there exercise selection matters quite a bit more on an individual level.
So
1. find movements that STIMULATE the muscle on your bod
2. laser focus in one those exercises, with killer intensity for 1-2 sets. Keep the number of these high intensity exercises to 1-3 movements on a given training session. Give it all you got here.
3. Progressively overload for months on this movement.
Obviously eat high protein, rest and recover.
the main thing I get caught up in is what an appropriate rate of progression should be? So many sources on the internet say that you're a beginner/novice until you can stop adding 5lbs a workout until you bench 225 x 5, squat 315 x 5, etc.
360p but ill still watch with my popcorn in hand
360p and the gains never looked this legendary
Lol. Nice addition of RP's video title in text.
This is why I went off RP and Dr Mike. He's too much "this is the way, this is the only way cause science says so and I'm an exercise scientist!".
That's why I'm so glad I found this channel! More than one way to train, there's nuance.
The science-based purists are just as dogmatic as the Mentzer HIT bros.
Spiderman meme
Look at Max Euceda, Will tennyson, Kinobody these are just some that have been mostly doing "lower" volume and are doing really good who are also natties. Just as Jordan Peteres said, all we need is a novel stimulus consistenly over a period of time and there will be growth. Volume is dependant on how often you train a muscle, there is no perfect number of sets. If the weight on the scale is going up and you are consistenly progressing your lifts reps or weight wise, the muscle will grow.
Watching GVS then GVS uploads 🥴😳
4:56 I thought he was about to curl that and nearly turned off the video. Clearly whatever this guy's up to doesn't apply to me lol
Arnold's Golden Six and Mentzer' "Most Productive" routine both had almost identical volume. Golden Six comes in at 60 sets a week, and Mentzer's Most Productive averaged about 18 sets every other day which is about 63, but he ranged from 40-80 depending on how many days off he took.
Genatty or not would be an intetesting video idea! Might be worth trying.
Train hard and right within your own rhytm. Thats the formula most people need to individually discern fir themselves.
12:10😂😂😂😂GVS Sir is actually way funnier than most of the standup comedians and he super freakin jacked and extremely knowledgeable and only thing he promotes is boost camp,while most of the fitness Influencers promote literally anything for money (Revival fitness)....
Never seen people like you and natural hypertrophy....
too good for the real world.👑🗿
Why is this only 360p? My eyes are burning.
I feel like I follow all the right people (some of the science crowd + the noble natties) yet I am truly getting lost in the sauce with the hypertrophy-strength correlation arguments lately.
I’ve been training mainly for hypertrophy for 3 years now with good results, but i dabbled into EMOMs for strength for pullups and only now am finally able to say i have lats to speak of after being stuck a while doing assisted in the hypertrophy range.
My bench does not progress quickly, and the 4-6 rep range helped me push through plateaus.
It’d be tempting to start training all my main compounds for strength after that yet someone like NH would be against that.
I don’t even have a question to ask, i still have a lot of figuring stuff out to do for my own build I guess.
Chase progress. 1 more rep, 5 more pounds on the bar. Find what stimulus allows you to progress consistently and keep doing that. I personally have settled on 2 working sets, 1st is 6-10 reps to failure, 2nd is 10-15 reps sometimes I’ll do a third set or a rest pause on the final set. My goal is to progress the first set primarily, second set is a bonus
I’m doing 2-3 direct sets a week to failure on some muscle groups right now (upper/lower) and I’ve been making huge leaps in performance the last seven weeks. It’s funny because I used to do higher volume 6x a week and my performance was always stuck. Everyone is different and what might be optimal for someone might be too much or too little for others.
My training philosophy now is do what is required for performance increases and nothing more. When you plateau on a muscle then add 1-2 sets a week.
I’m doing something similar now too. I can pummel a muscle in 2-4 sets. Get a good stimulus to grow. And be able to hit it again in a few days. Doing 8 sets for one muscle in a sesh is overkill if you’re going to failure. Some people think edema from muscle damage is gains though
"This Obsession, each session and question, will get you that aggression, that you need for progression!" 😮💨
1 thing thats missing imo is how to keep progressing. Mabey the most important of them all. Im struggling with this. Can you go more in depth on this in a video? ty
Start with and stick with the basics: Bring in other stuff slowly while learning. Stay in the day you're in.
7:42 This is exactly why i watch GVS
Good on editing on this one 😂
Hey Geoff didn't you know it's actually so simple to get jacked, didn't you see RPs latest video with Milo confirming you just need more volume. Infact 2x the volume for 50% more hypertrophy! So simple!
I personally believe what led to growing muscle being confusing is that... There's a million different training styles and variables to grow muscle (calisthenics, different bb splits, high volume, low volume, intensity, frequency, and many many different things).
BUT we as humans want to do things as fast as possible as optimal as possible, So with so many different ways and styles of training and no way to scientifically determine the most "Optimal" one it leads to this confusion and the mindset of "Maybe if i change this variable or that I'll see more growth", "This new study shows that actually this variable is the most important", "This jacked person did this style of training and grew so much so it must be optimal".
It's this chase of the "Secret" to growing muscle optimally that led to all of this confusion.
Love watching you lift. Motivating to see what hard work really looks like (on the face). Lift hard sets until I can't move anymore, then go home and eat and sleep... Also I can tell from my (low) beard levels etc that genetics might explain why I get better results marathon running than building dat ass. 🤣
Thank you
Ah, 360p my old friend, how are you doing?
Great vid, algo bump.
Great video again Geoffrey!
Only thing I have problem with is your statement around 12:28 ,
Ok let say my first cycle was 600 mg test per week like in the study the highest dosage being studied .
Before my first cycle I trained for 7 years , then let say I do nothing dont train , sit on the couch all day and just eat when I feel like it . Do you really think this apporach with just injecting 600 mg each week and doing fuck all would grow more muscle then being natural and push my workouts very hard and eating around the clock 😅?
Dude most Guys are dissapointed about the results of their first cycle , steroids work , but they are no magic.
I think beginners should start low volume, then slowly increase that over time until they find a huge plateau or where they start to dip into overtraining, then find a lower volume they can keep progressing at. If that doesnt work, they can always go back to higher volume later.I've seen some natural advanced lifters, like Will Tennyson, benefit from low volume high intensity, likely because advanced lifters know how to push themselves hard and have a good sense of where failure is, and are better at avoiding things that are likely to cause injury. Reps depend a lot on what you're training. Whether it's for strength or size, you usually can still get away with (or even need for progression) high rep ranges like 13-20 on lifts where you're isolating small muscles like a tricep push down or an abductor/adductor machine.
Geoffrey uploaded Geoffrey uploaded Geoffrey uploadead!
GEOFFREY GAVE ME A HEART GEOFFREY GAVE ME A HEART GEOFFREY GAVE ME A HEART GEOFFREY GAVE ME A HEART GEOFFREY GAVE ME A HEART GEOFFREY GAVE ME A HEART GEOFFREY GAVE ME A HEART
I’ve made more results the past 2.5 months doing the same push pull leg workout twice a week lowerish volume high intensity than the previous 2.5 years just spinning my wheels trying to get everything as optimal as possible just train hard consistently same exercises and you’ll get stronger n bigger
Someone can please explain. I do exercises with big stretch (like bayesian cable curl) and consider all conditions by type of cable up, but don’t feel the stretch as if I was stretching this muscle. Is that how it’s supposed to be?
Bars baby BAAARRRSS...when will it drop?
Yo GVS, any reason you do a little amount of calisthenics compared to your peers? Is it just preference? Do you think that cheating/more fluid form is good for bodybuilding calisthnics, or would you be more on the strict side?
Just preference I guess.
Any advice on gaining size and is training beyond failure better for muscle building
For a guy with very vanilla genetics, medium intensity, higher frequency and all the volume I can stand is the only thing that gets the job done.
Yeah, Sometimes it really gets confusing, people saying high volume or nothing, then Mike mentzer HIT. Then you have the whole Biomechanics and Basics, also the whole bulking debate sometimes it feels like it's impossible to know what's actually gonna work, you end up just trying anything and just making Du'aa hoping that it's gonna work, this is basically how I spent the last few years
I love especially when CERTAIN people tell you that an exercise is F tier and you’re wasting your time doing them and you explain that specific F tier is actually what helped blow you up….. then they block you
Who blocked you?
This video is gonna be eternal 360p beauty
Jeff Alberts and Eric Helms, the modern natty Mentzer and Arnold
sorry for the desturb, i just have see the video about the newbie gains and novice and i created this classical fullbody routine: A : SQUAT 3x5-8 BENCH 3x5-8 CHIN UPS 3x5 CURL+TRICEPS 3x10 B : SQUAT 3x5-8 MILITARY PRESS 3x5-8 DEADLIFT 2x6 ROW 3x10 CLOSE GRIP BENCH 3x10. Do you think that it is solid?
Hurrah for timestamps
Love you Geoff, but comparing push ups to bench press 🤭
It isnt confusing. If you go from 60kg x 10 RDL to 160kg x 10 RDL, you will be more muscular, end of story.
These are thing that took me a year to understand 😂😂😅now iam so so clear no distraction just go the gym with my key exercises 2 sets for all all sets to absolute failure increase reps ans weights 2x frequency thats it no worries give it time until ur body builds 😅
So as long as you are progressing (reps/load) you are probably doing enough stimulus??
Do a video about genetics
A few years ago I used to do the 200 pushups a day as a beginner and did shoulder workouts and back workouts ON TOP of those, the back had 7 exercises 4 sets each til failure.. and I was small as shit. I thought I was becoming an intermediate a year and a bit ago because I moved to weights and did more moderate volume but I was progressing half a rep to a rep at a time at most, then I got ill, broke every platuae w kgs and many reps added. Since then I've added more days to my microcycle, waaaaaaaay less volume, I'm talking 4-10 sets per 10 day microcycle vs 12-22 sets per 7 day microcycle and my progression is 2-3 reps each time. I probably could progress the same with half of even those sets ngl, i do train pretty much til I'm questioning if I'm gonna crap myself
Would U say growth is maximised if your strength per week is maximised or would U still need to do more for extra growth?
Hey guys, can you help me out with something? So, i really love training early in the morning, but i hate eating breakfast, because it takes time to digest and i gotta work too. Is it okay for me to just drink a cup of coffee with casein and go to the gym? As long as i eat very well after?
I think the best way to analogize this is to diet: ALL DIETS WORK if they create a calorie deficit. Creating a calorie deficit sucks because it’s hard work. So your job is to pick the diet that feels like it sucks the least TO YOU.
Likewise, ALL TRAINING STYLES WORK if they create a stimulus. Creating a stimulus sucks because it’s hard work. So your job is to pick the training style that feels like it sucks the least TO YOU.
The confusion has just made it worse for me, it took the enjoyment i have to train.
Making gains now on Mass impact