I started following you when you were at 10k subs. Watching on and off for years. Bought your program back then and did the full body workout routine for 7 months 3x per week. I got stronger and bigger than 90 % of the people that went to the gym for 2 years+ doing ppl splits. I always recommend your channel and the novice workout to everyone who asks for advice since then. Awesome to see your success!
Thanks for sharing your gains experience OG, that 10k special feels like yesterday and I'm so happy that you stuck around for all these years and ended up MOGGING most lifers at the gym. We fulfilled our "Alpha Destiny". Cheers to continual success!
The chest expander truly is the best investment I've made in fitness. I'm doing high rep pullups every day (300+) and doing all variations of pullaparts using it, and my back is STRONG now Alex, it's kind of "your" thing now. I think it would be smart if you got sponsored lol, or even made your own
@@conorscott1386 Usually go to the gym and do 30 sets of 10 with one min rest between sets and my max in one set is 20. I think that leans more towards GTG.
@@duvertjeremy4690 if i'm being honest i think those are just industrial springs bought from a hardware store. He talked about people using garage door springs in past videos.
I have 2 sets of military press on my push day. You Sir have made me confident that i should not remove it. Also, I like doing it cuz it makes me look epic in front of a mirror.
Brother that depth at 18:25 pretty much jumpscared me, holy shit good job. I thought I had good mobility on behind the neck presses but u got me beat 😂🙏
please talk about how important is it for the natural bodybuilder to focus on progressing lifts in some way in order to maximize the ability to put on muscle versus Im just gonna go in and chase the sensation a pump, I wanna feel muscles working, coming from your background as a natural for a lifetime
@@ChicagoScorpion exactly. And it ultimately all anyone can say is "it depends try it for yourself because we are all individual" unless they are shilling something
@@sotirioskapartzianis235 literally bro. Without ever even doing or maxing out normal bread and butter dips. Probably can't even hit a 1 plate bench with a crap diet worried about tiny points of their programming
"Is rotating neutral grip pull-ups for chin-ups after 6 weeks of using neutral grip pull-ups considered program hopping… Is changing the day I perform lateral raises considered program hopping" -These guys
Carryover is such an underrated yet awesome concept - never could do 315 for 8 reps at RPE until today. Did a lot of variations, higher rep work, etc. and today pulled 315 for 8 reps and it honestly felt like RPE 8. Love your content mang
Alex, a few nutrition questions please, how important to you is the protein content per meal, especially the leucine content, because almost everyone says that studies show that you need at least 3g of leucine three to five times per day per meal to stimulate muscle protein synthesis and to build muscle!? In your entire strength training career, have you ever paid attention to how much protein a meal has or how much leucine and has it changed over the years? In your early years when you were building muscle mass, did you eat more protein per meal or more protein in general? how much protein do you eat per meal, how many grams of a protein source, for example chicken, beef, turkey, eggs etc. and how much protein overall per meal? And how much total protein per day? I´m very confused and to get in 3g of leucine per meal a few times a day I have to eat almost 6oz of chicken breast per meal for example and thats a lot of food and very expensive. I´m very skinny and want to build muscle mass and I believe in what you say. Thank you very much
Ayyyye I haven’t had a question answered on the channel since my question about trap bar rack pulls a few years ago, when my name was still “Terror Zone” 😂 getting my question answered feels like you’re literally right there talking back to me instead of me just listening to a video you uploaded. Thanks for your response once again!
@@AlexLeonidas Yes sir, finally decided to change my name on here. Similar to when you first named the channel AlphaDestiny, I was also a teenager and thought it sounded cool at the time.
It feels incredible and I'm excited to experience the long term bulletproofing! I feel like the back presses and super wide grip pullups built me enough tissue capacity to handle this position. Starting light though.
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
Personally, I don't see why it would be stupid. Might be a lot harder and not necessary as the weight gets heavy. But also depends on how your knee joints feel about it. A,d also you must be really masochistic to to push it to 15 lmao. A 8-12 rep range on these for me is already torture.
Great Q&A as always Alex !love all Variations of pull-ups .Also can’t forget about the Rows along with some isolation.The back gains have been insane with all these exercises implemented 💪🏽
Reducing muscular overlap and only training a muscle when "recovered" are very overrated principles imo. Nobody worries about this kind of thing in sports, but for some reason we act like a little fatigue or soreness means the muscle is at too low a recovery point to train. I've found that increased frequency reduces my soreness overall and improves my work capacity. I think frequency is hugely important for lagging smaller muscles like side/rear delts, biceps, and calves. It's not uncommon for me to hit biceps 4 out of 5 training days (total sets in the range of 12-15). Your body adapts, and you can still train hard if you're smart with your warmups and lift like a bodybuilder (Dr. Mike style preferred). I used to obsess about where I would add volume for a particular muscle. Just spread it throughout the week with the same volume to start, it'll increase your rep and set to set quality. Then just bump up by a set on a couple of the days. It's also helpful to alternate movements day to day, at the minimum, if not use 3-4 different movements each week.
Love the super wide pull-ups. Made me so strong I can smack the whole rack on pull downs. Thanks Al, like always the best fitness channel on all social media.
as a beginner with the goal to build as maximum muscle as possible naturally, is it really necessary to eat every two to four hours? How much time do you have between your meals and snacks or shakes and do you ever ate every two to four hours to build muscle? thx
As a “hardgainer “ who started a year ago, I went all in as you described - essentially a bulk. I’m up 20 lbs but have to eat caloric excess with only 1 protein supplement /day. This doesn’t mean eating every two hours but eating better (and a bit more) when i do. That said every body is different, but yea you’ll have to eat different than before you were lifting
I stopped following most bobybuilders a long time ago now, you are the only one I still follow to this day because you are natural, you deserve to be so much bigger than all these roid heads
Kind of wild to hear someone who always stressed the importance of getting more out of less weight still saying they regret going so heavy so often - it just shows how using pure weight increase as the primary method of progression is ironically, arguably the least beneficial means of building muscle.
You went from shooting videos in your room as a teenager to becoming one of the most recognised natty lifters on the internet, you sir made it ! 👍 Respect
Thank you for bringing the chest expander to my repertoire of workouts. My rear delts and traps have absolutely exploded. In my five years working out they have never been worked this well.
Is being tall or short actually makes a difference in lifting? like if your short your range of motion is shorter so heavier weight but if your taller you can build more muscle mass so who really has the upper hand? so like who can theoreticaly be stronger and who can build muscle mass? (next QnA)
Thank you for answering my question Alex (last question). I'm weak. 60kg OHP 1RM at 73kg bw so I just asked that question to learn more. Love your vids brother God bless ☦
Pull-ups alone will not get you that thicc back. Some type of row is essential imo. And face pulls. I think it is a good idea to mix things up. Some days I do heavy barbell rows, others I do weighted inverse rows on the rings and sometimes I just do different grips on the cable machine.
Back thickness is a very tenuous concept. Do you mean big traps? Erectors? Lower lats? Scapular muscles? I've seen thickness applied to all these areas. The bottom line is the back is a complex group of muscles that can be hit in a variety of ways. I think most natural lifters have severely lagging lats. Heck, even most enhanced pros do. This is why I think rows have become a bit overrated recently. They're not some panacea, and you won't build your lats fully from rowing. You can hit most of the back with pullup variations, grip width and hand rotation bias different areas. You'd need extra volume for upper traps and erectors, but any balanced program will include hip hinges and some rows.
Depends how strong you get at various grips but I do agree that adding in at least one horizontal pull is optimal. Inverted rows are actually Godly when done right.
I did pullups only for back training for years, my back looked great but I developed neck pain that lasted for months and prevented me from training until I strengthened my mid back with horizontal pulls.
Question: Many people such as yourself have gotten amazing results with closed chain vertical pulls. But the last several years a lot of top level natural bodybuilders have completely shifted to open chain vertical pulls for their hypertrophy work. Their reasoning seems to be the added stability giving better output potential, and the ability to isolate the back more. What do you think about this approach?
You could argue that wide grip pullups have less lat stretch at the bottom position compared to close grip, and thus less range of motion to stimulate the lats
The lats lose leverage at higher levels of humeral elevation so the wide grip grooves you in perfectly for lats not to mention the shoulder addiction component especially for the top squeeze
@@AlexLeonidasHow does the lat's leverage at the top affect the stretch? I've always felt narrow supinated chins as the most lat stretch, perhaps since the lats wrap around the ribs. Would be interested to hear your take. 💪
Quick comment on the pull apart (expander) who would be against it? Work is work, and work works. It’s legit just a banded pull a part. Add fat grips to it. I bet it would blow up even more. It’s always going to boil down to consistency and progressively getting more and more difficult. The body knows resistance that’s it. How you apply it is either here nor there.
How would you program a bodyweight-only program weekly? I really liked your "down" calisthenics workouts, but I've always wondered how exactly could those routines be spaced throughout the week. There's this great youtuber called K Boges who has his foolproof template like he likes to call it where he does one pull, push and squat variation almost every day for 2-4 sets for each exercise. Even though it seems like a valid approach for most people I wondered if there could be an even more effective way to maximize your size potential with calisthenics (since he doesn't talk that much about isolation work and regarding the legs, he favours endurance rather than size). In my case specifically, I have a pullup bar and two dumbbells (15 lbs each) which I planned to use for isolation work (myo reps style since it is a fixed weight. I also use bands for neck training). I want to have a routine which I could perform anywhere (and I don't mind doing bodyweight squats in the 500+ total reps in a single workout), but I can't seem to piece it together so that it makes sense regarding the frequency and volume. Any tips would be appreciated.
Hello Alex, I absolutely adore your videos; your channel is a true hidden gem, to be honest. I was wondering if you could create a video guiding us on how to structure an upper/lower workout split? Your expertise would be incredibly valuable.
Might be a dumb question BUT, i've heard multiple people say, "if you are a beginner then you dont need as much volume to grow, so keep it as low as possible, so in the future when you plateu you got another tool in the toolbox", on the other side others say, "when you are a beginner you have superior recover capabilities, therefore you can push volume a lot without having overuse and overlap problems". What do you think is the correct aproach? Love your content!
Hey man, Blaha is calling you out again in a video he just posted. Said you hurt people, damaged equipment, etc. with the above the knee rack pulls. Pretty nasty video in my opinion, I just thought you should be "awared" about it.
Just making up lies as usual and I have nothing to apologize for. I made enough videos clarifying my stance on rack pulls and they absolutely got me and my OG audience yoked. Only bad parts was the SFR and lack of carryover to deadlifts (which I never promoted), but the raw stimulus stimulus itself was off the charts. And the injury rates were practically inexistent, never got nasty messages about tears/back problems/anything of the sort. Plus the average puller wasn't doing +1000lbs, I'd say at most 500-800 for moderate reps so there wasn't a bar bending epidemic. Not surprised, and he never apologized for calling me Strapon Destiny or removed those 2017 drama videos targeted towards me, where he made up a plethora of vile sh*t, criticizing my methods then eventually copying them. Thanks for letting me know brother.
@@AlexLeonidas I agree man, he's an absolute piece of trash (why I spend my time exposing him). I used to absolutely love rack pulls and anyone with common sense can tell that they're great trap builders. I learned about them from you and they've personally helped me. So thanks for that. Lately he has been attacking people for their height. Just yesterday he said a bunch of IFBB pro's are from the lollipop guild. Which is disgusting IMO and highly hypocritical. He accused you wearing lifts in your shoes. I've found forum posts where he talked about how he wears lifts in his shoes. I put it in a music video I made making fun of him. Also did another one of him to the oompa loompa song. Normally I don't agree with those types of attacks but he needs a taste of his own medicine IMO. Anyways man I've been a long time fan of yours (3 years or so). You've done a great job helping people lift and keep up the good work. He's a hateful, jealous, spiteful, and toothless piece of trash. I think the best revenge is just to continue being successful. I'm sure it grates on him every single day.
Hello sir, and thank you for uploading these videos. I have learned a lot from them. Do you think a 13 year old, who has still not hit a growth spurt, should do power shrugs for traps, or will it stunt growth? I'm only 5'2 and 95 - 98 lbs btw, but have been doing calisthenics for a bit over 1 year consistently, with some biceps isolation with dumbbells and pull-aparts with the chest expander. Thanks
Hi Alex, thank you for everything you do for the community! Can you expand on your concept of 6 sets of compounds / 4 sets of isolations per session 2x per week? I've been lifting for 14mo consistently - as for 4 sets of isolation for 2x full body / week, how would I fit in abs, neck, tricep, bicep, delts, etc. into 4 isolation sets per session? Would love if you can expand on this in a future Q&A
Hey Alex, I was wondering if lifting heavy can cause any sort of hernia. If it can than my question is how to prevent it from happening? Great Q&A as always, keep up the good work💪
Wassup Alex? What's your opinion on zercher lifts (squats shrugs etc), do you still do them and would you recommend them (especially for intermediates)?Much love from Greece ❤
Hey Alex, you used to preach heavy exercises, saying that on top of the weighted stretch, it “overloads” the muscle (heavy cheat rows & rack pulls), but you now support the opposite philosophy of more out of less weight because mechanical tension is what’s important. I’m curious though, what are the specific benefits of higher absolute loads for strength and hypertrophy? I also remember you talking about how dips are great for triceps due to the high absolute load. What other exercises are beneficial due to this?
Hey Alex, I had to skip the gym for over three months due to health complications. I lost a bunch of muscle (fat too). When I go back to lifting, can I “maingain” my muscles back due to muscle memory, or should I bulk again. For context: I went from almost 16 inch arms (15 3/4) to 14 inch arms, I haven’t measured the rest of my body. But I went down a size in all of my clothing items. (Large to medium).
Hey Alex could you talk about how u transitioned from being shredded to your bull? I.e did you slowly start bulking or just started eating what ever you wanted as soon as the cut finished ? Thanks man
I started laughing hard at 18:25 when I saw that behind-the-neck down to the mid-back press 😂😂. Good lift, it just took me by surprise. Great video again Alex!
I don't have a proper bench for chest presses, so I do floor presses with 2 one inch boards under me, I started doing reverse grip presses for 3 sets then supination presses for 3 sets, pre exhausting my chest with flys and reverse grip presses has greatly improved my supination presses And my overall PUSH PULL LEGS split has greatly improved and I'm doing only 3 sets per individual exercise and staying between 5-10 reps, and only doing 2-3 exercises per body part each workout and using calisthenics as warm up movements and burn out movements
Hey Alex, what's your opinion on using a hybrid AB press/incline bench as a way of hitting front delts and upper chest in one go? Peter Khatcherian seems to be a pretty big advocate for this method
Hey Alex. I'm a novice. Former Athelete. Lifting 4x/wk while cutting for 4 months while gaining strength on SBD. 126lbs, 5'4, 15% bf now no stall on LP yet. SBD 1RM based on 5RM. (265/135/330). Raw, beltless, sumo, high bar. The National Men's Junior record for 115lb in my country is (310/190/355). 130lbs record - (390/225/485) & 145lbs record - (465/325/475). I'll be turning 24 in June, 2026, I want to break a National Record. What should I do after LP ceases. Strength is priority right now.
Starting with dips before bench press feels like the easier way to underdevelop your upper chest. You'll get your triceps and lower-mid chest so tired by doing them first that you won't be able to stimulate your upper chest as much on the bench press.
The point about increasing proximity to failure AND intensity instead of adding volume while bulking got sort of overly general, no? Adding volume can be a tool either way, you just have to make sure it makes sense for either purpose. If cutting, you could add sets as long as your calories reflects this extra effort and recovery (dont end up underfed). On the other side, the benefit of adding volume instead of intensity on a bulk would be that you DON'T have to use higher intensity, for what ever reason. Both choices should aim to get closer to failure anyway imo, that's not exclusive to the intensity approach. But why would you want to avoid intensity? There's no rule really, but there are tons of reasons people can run into. Personally I feel like intensity is a razors edge to balance in terms of fatigue. This is definitely partly a skill issue then, done right you shouldn't neceessarily bump into fatigue, but controlling volume is way easier for me. In contrast, piling on the intensity I can feel fresh as a cucumber on Monday but wake up like a maxed out credit card Thursday and have it linger far longer than usual. Towards the end of a meso I'll definitely be more injury prone as my stupidity rises with my fatigue levels, I don't know that heavier weights leads to injury, but I know that if I'm ever injured it's when I'm lifting on the intense side and have a lapse of judgment/poor focus. I also prefer sepparate strength meso's so I can focus more and not have to learn to balance the heavier side of volume-intensity limits, bulk or not. Oh and the variety is nice too, keeps the spirit high. I should mention, since you said "can actually recover from": if anyone isn't recovering they're just doing too much work either way. Intensity can take you into that territory as well, both can be right when done correctly and for the right reason. But fair play, I do see a lot of people complain about for example Israetels programming. But why though? If they're doing 20 sets their argument has to be that it's their MRV, but then saying they're not recovering and refusing to lower the volume sort of blows my mind. Also, rep creeping and refusing to increment intensity at all, then being shocked when it isn't manageable week 5. It's a balancing act, and it just takes some proper planning and testing to get right.
As for the tricep pushdowns, I always used to do as long rope as possible, but lately I have been doing one arm pushdowns and angling my body more parallel to the rope and really extending it with one arm away from the midline. If you’re perpendicular on a cable, which you have to be with both arms, the tension from the cable doesn’t really extend away from the midline; more so to the right or left from the tension. I rarely do any unilateral exercises because of time and fatigue but pushdowns are easy enough for that not to be a problem. I just feel like regardless of how long the rope is, you have to sacrifice some tension doing both arms at the same time.
Hey Alex, I got stuck at early intermediate status in weighted pull ups. I can do two plates(40 kg) for 4-5 reps but did not make any progress in the last 6 months. Do you have any suggestion to break the plateau? For the info my bw is 80 kg, I follow a full body program in which I hit weighted pull ups 2-3 times per week. Thanks for great content!
Do you do any variations? Like middle paused pullups, top paused pullups? Also include horizontal pulls, strengthen the mid back, maybe try less volume?
Something I've wondered for a while now.. I'm currently 21 and have been lifting on and off for 10 years. I was a twig when I started and I've made progress for sure, but not the usual massive changes most make after that long. I'm aware of my mistakes (program hopping, not eating enough, inconsistency, etc.) and know my lack of progress is my own fault. If I still have novice to intermediate numbers on most lifts (compound or isolation), do I still have plenty of room to grow or does the regression of muscle gain year after year mean that my progress will be very small from a hypertrophy standpoint? Thanks for your contribution to the fitness community as always! -Seth
People and their EMG data……I can deduce that pull aparts work, simply by looking at your upper back, and rear delts. When did this stuff have to become so overcomplicated? Just look at Alex’s back, and take his daggum word for it, folks. It’s pretty obvious
@Alex Leonidas Thank you for the content. My questions are: 1: do you think since reverse grip is harder then overhand, would close grip underhand improve standard bench press without practice? 2: what’s your take of underhand overhead press? Thank you for the content and keep up the good work.
Yo Alex, you say AD press is optimal for front delt hypertrophy as there is a greater stretch when the torso isn't completely vertical. If you have a slight lean back (not excessive) on the standing OHP, won't this basically accomplish the same thing? Thanks for the great content as always.
Alex, why does it feel like my nuts are going into my stomach when I do box squats? I followed all the steps in your tutorial, but it just doesn't feel right. Its super uncomfortable
Hey Alex thank you for your consistent quality content! I was wondering what your opinion is of high and upright rows? They seem like great upper back compound exercises? Potentially building a great base for ohp
hey, it would be next level if you did some punching bag workouts and bare knuckle boxing with muay thai etc. you already mastered the weights and rings and calesthics, how about branching out to the martial arts ? i dare say even compete. it would get a huge following and many people would follow you.
6:30 ,you can also use extra hooks on the springs instead ,it will make it easier because springs wont be stretched as much ,It would be a good way if you cant get the amount of reps you want after you add a whole spring ,that way you will get something in between Edited: to make it more clear
@@AlexLeonidas I meant putting extra hooks at the end of the spring to make the spring stretch less therefore it will be easier and you get something that is harder but not as hard if you didnt add the extra hooks at the end ,Idk what the limit would be since I dont have a chest expander but you can experment with it Edit: my bad there I wasnt clear enough in first message xDD
Yo Alex time for you and Eric Bugenhagen to do a Collab now he is not any more with WWE. We already spam him to make a Collab with you. It's gonna be crazy
Say you go to a busy gym and can't properly follow your program because the equipment you want to use is always full and you're limited on time. How much would it hurt your gains if you opt to do a substitution exercise from time to time, for example a DB bench instead of a regular bench press?
I started following you when you were at 10k subs. Watching on and off for years. Bought your program back then and did the full body workout routine for 7 months 3x per week. I got stronger and bigger than 90 % of the people that went to the gym for 2 years+ doing ppl splits. I always recommend your channel and the novice workout to everyone who asks for advice since then. Awesome to see your success!
Thanks for sharing your gains experience OG, that 10k special feels like yesterday and I'm so happy that you stuck around for all these years and ended up MOGGING most lifers at the gym. We fulfilled our "Alpha Destiny". Cheers to continual success!
The chest expander truly is the best investment I've made in fitness.
I'm doing high rep pullups every day (300+) and doing all variations of pullaparts using it, and my back is STRONG now
Alex, it's kind of "your" thing now. I think it would be smart if you got sponsored lol, or even made your own
Do you know where his Big springs at 4:33 come from ?
I’m agree, he’s basically the face of the chest expander at this point
300 pull-ups dang. Most I ever did in a day was like 150. You doing GTG or straight sets?
@@conorscott1386 Usually go to the gym and do 30 sets of 10 with one min rest between sets and my max in one set is 20. I think that leans more towards GTG.
@@duvertjeremy4690 if i'm being honest i think those are just industrial springs bought from a hardware store.
He talked about people using garage door springs in past videos.
I have 2 sets of military press on my push day. You Sir have made me confident that i should not remove it. Also, I like doing it cuz it makes me look epic in front of a mirror.
Perfect, and 2 sets on a push day is all you need for vertical pressing! I do 1 set seated, then 1 set standing.
Brother that depth at 18:25 pretty much jumpscared me, holy shit good job. I thought I had good mobility on behind the neck presses but u got me beat 😂🙏
That’s called the handsome press !
please talk about how important is it for the natural bodybuilder to focus on progressing lifts in some way in order to maximize the ability to put on muscle versus Im just gonna go in and chase the sensation a pump, I wanna feel muscles working, coming from your background as a natural for a lifetime
Well its the only thing that works.
Guys need to stop asking questions before trying it in their program and seeing their individual results. (I just posted a video why)
Fr. These guys ask the dumbest hypothetical questions but they never once tried what they're talking about.
"Are weighted dips good for hypertrophy? My gym bro told me they kill gains 🤓"
@@ChicagoScorpion exactly. And it ultimately all anyone can say is "it depends try it for yourself because we are all individual" unless they are shilling something
@@sotirioskapartzianis235 literally bro. Without ever even doing or maxing out normal bread and butter dips. Probably can't even hit a 1 plate bench with a crap diet worried about tiny points of their programming
"Is rotating neutral grip pull-ups for chin-ups after 6 weeks of using neutral grip pull-ups considered program hopping… Is changing the day I perform lateral raises considered program hopping" -These guys
Carryover is such an underrated yet awesome concept - never could do 315 for 8 reps at RPE until today. Did a lot of variations, higher rep work, etc. and today pulled 315 for 8 reps and it honestly felt like RPE 8. Love your content mang
Awesome, Moises! Strength is strength 💯
Alex, a few nutrition questions please, how important to you is the protein content per meal, especially the leucine content, because almost everyone says that studies show that you need at least 3g of leucine three to five times per day per meal to stimulate muscle protein synthesis and to build muscle!? In your entire strength training career, have you ever paid attention to how much protein a meal has or how much leucine and has it changed over the years? In your early years when you were building muscle mass, did you eat more protein per meal or more protein in general? how much protein do you eat per meal, how many grams of a protein source, for example chicken, beef, turkey, eggs etc. and how much protein overall per meal? And how much total protein per day? I´m very confused and to get in 3g of leucine per meal a few times a day I have to eat almost 6oz of chicken breast per meal for example and thats a lot of food and very expensive. I´m very skinny and want to build muscle mass and I believe in what you say. Thank you very much
great questions!
I hope he answers all the questions in detail
would like to see this answered as well!
Your reverse grip bench press guidance has benefitted my life immensely
I am very happy to hear that REAL lifters like you benefited from that reverse grip segment. Let's get these gains!
Ayyyye I haven’t had a question answered on the channel since my question about trap bar rack pulls a few years ago, when my name was still “Terror Zone” 😂 getting my question answered feels like you’re literally right there talking back to me instead of me just listening to a video you uploaded. Thanks for your response once again!
Ayeeeeee my man Terror Zone, thanks for your great question and long term support!
@@AlexLeonidas Yes sir, finally decided to change my name on here. Similar to when you first named the channel AlphaDestiny, I was also a teenager and thought it sounded cool at the time.
Awesome to see you perform the handsome press !
It feels incredible and I'm excited to experience the long term bulletproofing! I feel like the back presses and super wide grip pullups built me enough tissue capacity to handle this position. Starting light though.
@@AlexLeonidas yes keep up the amazing content !
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
Personally, I don't see why it would be stupid. Might be a lot harder and not necessary as the weight gets heavy. But also depends on how your knee joints feel about it. A,d also you must be really masochistic to to push it to 15 lmao. A 8-12 rep range on these for me is already torture.
Happy to see the behind the presses working for you again
Wish I never dropped them!
Most underrated fitness TH-camr
Great Q&A as always Alex !love all Variations of pull-ups .Also can’t forget about the Rows along with some isolation.The back gains have been insane with all these exercises implemented 💪🏽
Reducing muscular overlap and only training a muscle when "recovered" are very overrated principles imo. Nobody worries about this kind of thing in sports, but for some reason we act like a little fatigue or soreness means the muscle is at too low a recovery point to train.
I've found that increased frequency reduces my soreness overall and improves my work capacity. I think frequency is hugely important for lagging smaller muscles like side/rear delts, biceps, and calves. It's not uncommon for me to hit biceps 4 out of 5 training days (total sets in the range of 12-15). Your body adapts, and you can still train hard if you're smart with your warmups and lift like a bodybuilder (Dr. Mike style preferred).
I used to obsess about where I would add volume for a particular muscle. Just spread it throughout the week with the same volume to start, it'll increase your rep and set to set quality. Then just bump up by a set on a couple of the days. It's also helpful to alternate movements day to day, at the minimum, if not use 3-4 different movements each week.
Love the super wide pull-ups. Made me so strong I can smack the whole rack on pull downs. Thanks Al, like always the best fitness channel on all social media.
Hell yeah, pulldowns are so easy by comparison! You're strong AF brother 💯
Agree and interesting answer to the question. Stimulus is about the effort, not just the load.
as a beginner with the goal to build as maximum muscle as possible naturally, is it really necessary to eat every two to four hours? How much time do you have between your meals and snacks or shakes and do you ever ate every two to four hours to build muscle? thx
As a “hardgainer “ who started a year ago, I went all in as you described - essentially a bulk. I’m up 20 lbs but have to eat caloric excess with only 1 protein supplement /day. This doesn’t mean eating every two hours but eating better (and a bit more) when i do. That said every body is different, but yea you’ll have to eat different than before you were lifting
I stopped following most bobybuilders a long time ago now, you are the only one I still follow to this day because you are natural, you deserve to be so much bigger than all these roid heads
Thank you, Frederick.
For the algorithm, thanks for giving out so much good information for free
Kind of wild to hear someone who always stressed the importance of getting more out of less weight still saying they regret going so heavy so often - it just shows how using pure weight increase as the primary method of progression is ironically, arguably the least beneficial means of building muscle.
It's a crazy turn of events bro, never thought my training would be this different.
You went from shooting videos in your room as a teenager to becoming one of the most recognised natty lifters on the internet, you sir made it ! 👍 Respect
Thank you, Peps.
Thank you for bringing the chest expander to my repertoire of workouts. My rear delts and traps have absolutely exploded. In my five years working out they have never been worked this well.
Is being tall or short actually makes a difference in lifting? like if your short your range of motion is shorter so heavier weight but if your taller you can build more muscle mass so who really has the upper hand? so like who can theoreticaly be stronger and who can build muscle mass? (next QnA)
Thank you for answering my question Alex (last question). I'm weak. 60kg OHP 1RM at 73kg bw so I just asked that question to learn more. Love your vids brother God bless ☦
Are you insane? You are nearing a bodyweight OHP that's not weak bro give yourself more credit
That's a pretty solid OHP man you shouldn't put yourself down.
I'm 73kg too and my OHP is 55kg. 60kg is my goal to get in the next couple of months so you're doing great imo.
Keep grinding homie, and a 60kg OHP at 73kg is NOT WEAK!!
@@AlexLeonidas what about 40kg weighted pull up 1RM at 73kg bw, is that good?
Pull-ups alone will not get you that thicc back. Some type of row is essential imo. And face pulls. I think it is a good idea to mix things up. Some days I do heavy barbell rows, others I do weighted inverse rows on the rings and sometimes I just do different grips on the cable machine.
Back thickness is a very tenuous concept. Do you mean big traps? Erectors? Lower lats? Scapular muscles? I've seen thickness applied to all these areas. The bottom line is the back is a complex group of muscles that can be hit in a variety of ways.
I think most natural lifters have severely lagging lats. Heck, even most enhanced pros do. This is why I think rows have become a bit overrated recently. They're not some panacea, and you won't build your lats fully from rowing.
You can hit most of the back with pullup variations, grip width and hand rotation bias different areas. You'd need extra volume for upper traps and erectors, but any balanced program will include hip hinges and some rows.
Depends how strong you get at various grips but I do agree that adding in at least one horizontal pull is optimal. Inverted rows are actually Godly when done right.
Alex these q&a’s are just so priceless! Thank you for your time sir
I did variations of pull-ups for lats only for the last two months. My lat development has been crazy
Hell yeah, pullups always win
I did pullups only for back training for years, my back looked great but I developed neck pain that lasted for months and prevented me from training until I strengthened my mid back with horizontal pulls.
Question: Many people such as yourself have gotten amazing results with closed chain vertical pulls. But the last several years a lot of top level natural bodybuilders have completely shifted to open chain vertical pulls for their hypertrophy work. Their reasoning seems to be the added stability giving better output potential, and the ability to isolate the back more. What do you think about this approach?
You could argue that wide grip pullups have less lat stretch at the bottom position compared to close grip, and thus less range of motion to stimulate the lats
Partials past failure on at least one set can probably somewhat compensate for this
The lats lose leverage at higher levels of humeral elevation so the wide grip grooves you in perfectly for lats not to mention the shoulder addiction component especially for the top squeeze
@@AlexLeonidasHow does the lat's leverage at the top affect the stretch? I've always felt narrow supinated chins as the most lat stretch, perhaps since the lats wrap around the ribs. Would be interested to hear your take. 💪
Quick comment on the pull apart (expander) who would be against it? Work is work, and work works. It’s legit just a banded pull a part. Add fat grips to it. I bet it would blow up even more. It’s always going to boil down to consistency and progressively getting more and more difficult. The body knows resistance that’s it. How you apply it is either here nor there.
How would you program a bodyweight-only program weekly? I really liked your "down" calisthenics workouts, but I've always wondered how exactly could those routines be spaced throughout the week.
There's this great youtuber called K Boges who has his foolproof template like he likes to call it where he does one pull, push and squat variation almost every day for 2-4 sets for each exercise. Even though it seems like a valid approach for most people I wondered if there could be an even more effective way to maximize your size potential with calisthenics (since he doesn't talk that much about isolation work and regarding the legs, he favours endurance rather than size). In my case specifically, I have a pullup bar and two dumbbells (15 lbs each) which I planned to use for isolation work (myo reps style since it is a fixed weight. I also use bands for neck training).
I want to have a routine which I could perform anywhere (and I don't mind doing bodyweight squats in the 500+ total reps in a single workout), but I can't seem to piece it together so that it makes sense regarding the frequency and volume. Any tips would be appreciated.
Yeeeeah we at the Q&A
I love this QnA series 😊
Hello Alex, I absolutely adore your videos; your channel is a true hidden gem, to be honest. I was wondering if you could create a video guiding us on how to structure an upper/lower workout split? Your expertise would be incredibly valuable.
Might be a dumb question BUT, i've heard multiple people say, "if you are a beginner then you dont need as much volume to grow, so keep it as low as possible, so in the future when you plateu you got another tool in the toolbox", on the other side others say, "when you are a beginner you have superior recover capabilities, therefore you can push volume a lot without having overuse and overlap problems". What do you think is the correct aproach?
Love your content!
Alex, would love your recommendation on where a high quality chest expander, since you mention to be weary of low-quality devices.
The best expander of all time can be purchased from shop.handgripper.net
My man 💪🏻
Preciate you King 💪🏻
Hey man, Blaha is calling you out again in a video he just posted. Said you hurt people, damaged equipment, etc. with the above the knee rack pulls. Pretty nasty video in my opinion, I just thought you should be "awared" about it.
Just making up lies as usual and I have nothing to apologize for. I made enough videos clarifying my stance on rack pulls and they absolutely got me and my OG audience yoked. Only bad parts was the SFR and lack of carryover to deadlifts (which I never promoted), but the raw stimulus stimulus itself was off the charts. And the injury rates were practically inexistent, never got nasty messages about tears/back problems/anything of the sort. Plus the average puller wasn't doing +1000lbs, I'd say at most 500-800 for moderate reps so there wasn't a bar bending epidemic. Not surprised, and he never apologized for calling me Strapon Destiny or removed those 2017 drama videos targeted towards me, where he made up a plethora of vile sh*t, criticizing my methods then eventually copying them. Thanks for letting me know brother.
@@AlexLeonidas I agree man, he's an absolute piece of trash (why I spend my time exposing him). I used to absolutely love rack pulls and anyone with common sense can tell that they're great trap builders. I learned about them from you and they've personally helped me. So thanks for that.
Lately he has been attacking people for their height. Just yesterday he said a bunch of IFBB pro's are from the lollipop guild. Which is disgusting IMO and highly hypocritical. He accused you wearing lifts in your shoes. I've found forum posts where he talked about how he wears lifts in his shoes. I put it in a music video I made making fun of him. Also did another one of him to the oompa loompa song. Normally I don't agree with those types of attacks but he needs a taste of his own medicine IMO.
Anyways man I've been a long time fan of yours (3 years or so). You've done a great job helping people lift and keep up the good work. He's a hateful, jealous, spiteful, and toothless piece of trash. I think the best revenge is just to continue being successful. I'm sure it grates on him every single day.
Beard gains in the B-roll is crazy😂
Pretty much my entire back was built by pull ups only lol, I've tried rows every now and then but have always stuck to just plain pull ups
Hi Alex! Could you please get a photoshoot with Kratos makeup at some point? Perhaps for 400k?
Maybe for Next April Fools I can do a Kratos Workout, thanks for the support brother!
18:25 I tore my anterior delt just looking at this
Barbell apparel needs to make a chest expander with your face on it lmao
Lmao seriously!!!
Good Q&A. Questioning strength training beliefs against real world experience. This is necessary!
Hi Mr. Leonidas, when do you have your last meal before bed and how do you structure your meals?
Would you recommend skipping the top part of narrow grip vertical pulls for lats?
Alex your channel has helped me a lot.Thanks for the great content as always❤
Joi aai akhom 😎
Much love, Surajit Baruah!
Hello sir, and thank you for uploading these videos. I have learned a lot from them.
Do you think a 13 year old, who has still not hit a growth spurt, should do power shrugs for traps, or will it stunt growth? I'm only 5'2 and 95 - 98 lbs btw, but have been doing calisthenics for a bit over 1 year consistently, with some biceps isolation with dumbbells and pull-aparts with the chest expander.
Thanks
Don’t do power shrugs bro, run his novice program instead
Hi Alex, thank you for everything you do for the community! Can you expand on your concept of 6 sets of compounds / 4 sets of isolations per session 2x per week? I've been lifting for 14mo consistently - as for 4 sets of isolation for 2x full body / week, how would I fit in abs, neck, tricep, bicep, delts, etc. into 4 isolation sets per session?
Would love if you can expand on this in a future Q&A
Aneurysm levels! ❤
Hey Alex, I was wondering if lifting heavy can cause any sort of hernia. If it can than my question is how to prevent it from happening? Great Q&A as always, keep up the good work💪
Those behind the neck presses are just like the ones I do. They're really the best side delt exercise!
Wassup Alex? What's your opinion on zercher lifts (squats shrugs etc), do you still do them and would you recommend them (especially for intermediates)?Much love from Greece ❤
Hey Alex, you used to preach heavy exercises, saying that on top of the weighted stretch, it “overloads” the muscle (heavy cheat rows & rack pulls), but you now support the opposite philosophy of more out of less weight because mechanical tension is what’s important. I’m curious though, what are the specific benefits of higher absolute loads for strength and hypertrophy? I also remember you talking about how dips are great for triceps due to the high absolute load. What other exercises are beneficial due to this?
Hey Alex, I had to skip the gym for over three months due to health complications. I lost a bunch of muscle (fat too). When I go back to lifting, can I “maingain” my muscles back due to muscle memory, or should I bulk again. For context: I went from almost 16 inch arms (15 3/4) to 14 inch arms, I haven’t measured the rest of my body. But I went down a size in all of my clothing items. (Large to medium).
Great Q&A as always - just started using dual ropes recently and they've really changed the game.
Also are you still plant-based?
Glad to hear it! Plant dominant and I would like to go full vegan again
Hey Alex could you talk about how u transitioned from being shredded to your bull? I.e did you slowly start bulking or just started eating what ever you wanted as soon as the cut finished ? Thanks man
I remember him saying he felt like he rushed into this bulk. Can’t remember which video. Sorry this is not a full answer!
I started laughing hard at 18:25 when I saw that behind-the-neck down to the mid-back press 😂😂. Good lift, it just took me by surprise. Great video again Alex!
That’s called the handsome press !
18:26 wtf Bro !
😂😂😂😂
The handsome press !
12:20 I would say that I actually lower my volume while bulking !
Dude has so many different interesting pieces of equipment. Never seen those handles at the end for seated extensions.
Excellent video . Great information
I don't have a proper bench for chest presses, so I do floor presses with 2 one inch boards under me, I started doing reverse grip presses for 3 sets then supination presses for 3 sets, pre exhausting my chest with flys and reverse grip presses has greatly improved my supination presses
And my overall PUSH PULL LEGS split has greatly improved and I'm doing only 3 sets per individual exercise and staying between 5-10 reps, and only doing 2-3 exercises per body part each workout and using calisthenics as warm up movements and burn out movements
Great info as always Alex
Hey Alex, what's your opinion on using a hybrid AB press/incline bench as a way of hitting front delts and upper chest in one go? Peter Khatcherian seems to be a pretty big advocate for this method
Hey Alex. I'm a novice. Former Athelete. Lifting 4x/wk while cutting for 4 months while gaining strength on SBD. 126lbs, 5'4, 15% bf now no stall on LP yet.
SBD 1RM based on 5RM. (265/135/330). Raw, beltless, sumo, high bar.
The National Men's Junior record for 115lb in my country is (310/190/355). 130lbs record - (390/225/485) & 145lbs record - (465/325/475).
I'll be turning 24 in June, 2026, I want to break a National Record. What should I do after LP ceases. Strength is priority right now.
Starting with dips before bench press feels like the easier way to underdevelop your upper chest. You'll get your triceps and lower-mid chest so tired by doing them first that you won't be able to stimulate your upper chest as much on the bench press.
My jaw dropped at 18:25, i gotta try this out with some light weight one day
Definitely start light (45-65lbs) and microload from there. The delt stimulation is off the charts given the super ROM.
Thank u so much for the reply! U r the best
The point about increasing proximity to failure AND intensity instead of adding volume while bulking got sort of overly general, no? Adding volume can be a tool either way, you just have to make sure it makes sense for either purpose. If cutting, you could add sets as long as your calories reflects this extra effort and recovery (dont end up underfed). On the other side, the benefit of adding volume instead of intensity on a bulk would be that you DON'T have to use higher intensity, for what ever reason.
Both choices should aim to get closer to failure anyway imo, that's not exclusive to the intensity approach. But why would you want to avoid intensity? There's no rule really, but there are tons of reasons people can run into. Personally I feel like intensity is a razors edge to balance in terms of fatigue. This is definitely partly a skill issue then, done right you shouldn't neceessarily bump into fatigue, but controlling volume is way easier for me. In contrast, piling on the intensity I can feel fresh as a cucumber on Monday but wake up like a maxed out credit card Thursday and have it linger far longer than usual. Towards the end of a meso I'll definitely be more injury prone as my stupidity rises with my fatigue levels, I don't know that heavier weights leads to injury, but I know that if I'm ever injured it's when I'm lifting on the intense side and have a lapse of judgment/poor focus. I also prefer sepparate strength meso's so I can focus more and not have to learn to balance the heavier side of volume-intensity limits, bulk or not. Oh and the variety is nice too, keeps the spirit high.
I should mention, since you said "can actually recover from": if anyone isn't recovering they're just doing too much work either way. Intensity can take you into that territory as well, both can be right when done correctly and for the right reason. But fair play, I do see a lot of people complain about for example Israetels programming. But why though? If they're doing 20 sets their argument has to be that it's their MRV, but then saying they're not recovering and refusing to lower the volume sort of blows my mind. Also, rep creeping and refusing to increment intensity at all, then being shocked when it isn't manageable week 5. It's a balancing act, and it just takes some proper planning and testing to get right.
As for the tricep pushdowns, I always used to do as long rope as possible, but lately I have been doing one arm pushdowns and angling my body more parallel to the rope and really extending it with one arm away from the midline. If you’re perpendicular on a cable, which you have to be with both arms, the tension from the cable doesn’t really extend away from the midline; more so to the right or left from the tension. I rarely do any unilateral exercises because of time and fatigue but pushdowns are easy enough for that not to be a problem. I just feel like regardless of how long the rope is, you have to sacrifice some tension doing both arms at the same time.
What's the best chest expander?
Alex!!!!
Bald and bearded and beautiful gang 💪
Hey Alex, I got stuck at early intermediate status in weighted pull ups. I can do two plates(40 kg) for 4-5 reps but did not make any progress in the last 6 months. Do you have any suggestion to break the plateau?
For the info my bw is 80 kg, I follow a full body program in which I hit weighted pull ups 2-3 times per week.
Thanks for great content!
Do accessories to progress lagging muscles for me bicep curls helped alot
Do you do any variations? Like middle paused pullups, top paused pullups? Also include horizontal pulls, strengthen the mid back, maybe try less volume?
I need that tricep attachment 😂 what is it called
That is called a Spreader Bar! Beware when you search that 😂
For me super wide was a lot more than normal shoulder grip. Reps and weighted.
Bro your QAs are fucking gold
Something I've wondered for a while now.. I'm currently 21 and have been lifting on and off for 10 years. I was a twig when I started and I've made progress for sure, but not the usual massive changes most make after that long. I'm aware of my mistakes (program hopping, not eating enough, inconsistency, etc.) and know my lack of progress is my own fault. If I still have novice to intermediate numbers on most lifts (compound or isolation), do I still have plenty of room to grow or does the regression of muscle gain year after year mean that my progress will be very small from a hypertrophy standpoint?
Thanks for your contribution to the fitness community as always! -Seth
Can resistance band replace expander?
It could if you have enough bands, but it won't beat having high quality springs
People and their EMG data……I can deduce that pull aparts work, simply by looking at your upper back, and rear delts. When did this stuff have to become so overcomplicated? Just look at Alex’s back, and take his daggum word for it, folks. It’s pretty obvious
I always get middle back pain from standing ohp even with far lower weight than I can do seated
@Alex Leonidas
Thank you for the content. My questions are:
1: do you think since reverse grip is harder then overhand, would close grip underhand improve standard bench press without practice?
2: what’s your take of underhand overhead press?
Thank you for the content and keep up the good work.
Yo Alex, you say AD press is optimal for front delt hypertrophy as there is a greater stretch when the torso isn't completely vertical. If you have a slight lean back (not excessive) on the standing OHP, won't this basically accomplish the same thing? Thanks for the great content as always.
That might be worse for the lower back due to extreme flexion and poor stability in comparison to normal upright ohp
Alex, why does it feel like my nuts are going into my stomach when I do box squats? I followed all the steps in your tutorial, but it just doesn't feel right. Its super uncomfortable
Dude am doing 13-15 down pull-ups with 1-2 sec pause at bottom or top with
Wide grip pullups aren't optimal for your back... there have been studies on this. Wide grip, though harder, it provides inferior ROM.
Hey Alex thank you for your consistent quality content! I was wondering what your opinion is of high and upright rows? They seem like great upper back compound exercises? Potentially building a great base for ohp
hey, it would be next level if you did some punching bag workouts and bare knuckle boxing with muay thai etc. you already mastered the weights and rings and calesthics, how about branching out to the martial arts ? i dare say even compete. it would get a huge following and many people would follow you.
6:30 ,you can also use extra hooks on the springs instead ,it will make it easier because springs wont be stretched as much ,It would be a good way if you cant get the amount of reps you want after you add a whole spring ,that way you will get something in between
Edited: to make it more clear
Do you mean one hook for both springs this way I only have to clip the hole once?
@@AlexLeonidas I meant putting extra hooks at the end of the spring to make the spring stretch less therefore it will be easier and you get something that is harder but not as hard if you didnt add the extra hooks at the end ,Idk what the limit would be since I dont have a chest expander but you can experment with it
Edit:
my bad there I wasnt clear enough in first message xDD
Ohhhh I see, that's smart with the super springs, could act as a form of micro progression. Thanks for sharing bro!@@AbidPowa
@@AlexLeonidas np man ,thanks for the amazing content
Yo Alex time for you and Eric Bugenhagen to do a Collab now he is not any more with WWE. We already spam him to make a Collab with you. It's gonna be crazy
You're neglecting the negative with those expander pulls. Negatives have been shown to provide even more growth than the positive.
Been doing nothing but pushups daily lately, occasional/frequent pull ups.
Say you go to a busy gym and can't properly follow your program because the equipment you want to use is always full and you're limited on time. How much would it hurt your gains if you opt to do a substitution exercise from time to time, for example a DB bench instead of a regular bench press?
Good stuff.
Alex, love the content. Here’s a question for you, what are the benefits of a close grip decline bench press (barbell) vs. a dip?
The only benefit is that it's easier on the shoulders
Always found super wide pull ups to be bad for shoulders, I wouldn't do them if you don't have the physiology for it
I used to be like that, but now it's been a year and a half of zero pain. Just gotta ease into them and use proper form.
Love your content Alex. What is your toughts on incline curl specialisation for biceps. How would you program it.