5 Perfect Body Hacks

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2 Introduction Adding 100 pounds to your bench press, over the course of a year, as a beginner, isn t easy but it s certainly possible. Adding 100 pounds to your biceps curls, on the other hand, is not realistic. This is true for a couple of reasons: 1. Your chest, triceps, and shoulders, working together are far stronger than your biceps alone. 2. The rate of progression would simply be too fast for anyone to achieve, naturally. Here s what I mean. If you bench pressed 100 lbs at the beginning of your training career, and managed to increase it to 200 lbs over the course of 1 year, that would make for a 50% increase in your bench. If you, however, began with 10 pound dumbbells (20 lbs total) and ended the year using 60 pound dumbbells (120 lbs total), that would make for a 500% increase. Make sense? So this is why, if we are having time bringing up certain muscle groups (large or small), it s imperative that we take a more strategic approach. In this guide, I am going to reveal 5 Perfect Body Hacks that will allow you to add volume to any muscle or exercise, without getting stuck in a dreaded plateau. 5 Perfect Body Hacks

3 1. Simple Progression Simple Progress with Isolation Exercises 1. Choose a weight you can perform for x amount of sets, for 8 reps. 2. Once you are able to complete every set for the prescribed (8) reps, aim to hit 10 reps, using the same weight. 3. Once you are able to complete every set for the prescribed (10) reps, aim to hit 12 reps, using the same weight. 4. Once you are able to complete every set for the prescribed (12) reps, increase the weight by 5-10 lbs. 5. Perform x sets for 8 reps using the new weight and repeat steps 2-5.

4 2. Increase the Frequency If Monday is your only chest day in the week, then your shit is broken. A study that was published in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research compared training 1 day per week using a split body workout vs. 3 days per week using a full-body approach. Researchers found that subjects who trained a single muscle-group more frequently throughout the week, despite no changes in total volume, experienced significantly more muscle growth than the low frequency group. Another more recent meta-analysis made this statement: When comparing studies that investigated training muscle groups between 1 to 3 days per week on a volume-equated basis, the current body of evidence indicates that frequencies of training twice a week promote superior hypertrophic outcomes to once a week. 1. Repeated Bout Effect This is due to 2 main factors: Although this effect does still require an adequate rest period between bouts, training more frequently will increase your ability to recover and adapt.

5 More efficient recovery and adaptation makes for extended progression without a plateau, strength increases, and more overall muscle growth. And the more frequent training bouts bring us to our next point 2. Muscle Protein Synthesis MPS is essential to the body's ongoing growth and repair of muscle tissue. If we can synthesize more protein than we breakdown, we end up with more muscle than we started with. Studies like one published in the Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology suggest that MPS is more than doubled at about 24 hours following an intense training bout. It then begins to drop back to baseline about 12 hours later. So let s look at an individual who trains his chest every Monday. He elevates MPS, by Wednesday it s back to baseline, and it s not elevated again for another 5 days. Now let s look the individual who s training his chest twice per week say Monday and Thursday. He elevates MPS, by Wednesday it s back to baseline, and the next day it s elevated again. It s pretty clear to see that this individual is spending more time building and repairing muscle tissue than the guy on the low frequency split routine. Bottom Line: have a lacking muscle-group that you want to bring up? Start training it 2-3 times per week.

6 3. Specialization Training If you want to build bigger arms (or a bigger bench press, higher vertical or bigger chest) then you must focus on that one goal if you want optimal results. Don t let your ego get in the way and allow you to believe that you can focus on bigger pecs, a higher vertical, and building bigger arms all at the same time. Ideally, you would want all of your resources (training, nutrition, and recovery) to help toward the ultimate goal of larger arms. How to Specialize Lacking Muscle-Groups 1. Choose the 1 (or 2 maximum) muscle-group(s) you want to bring up. 2. Dedicate 3 days per week where you ll train the muscle, directly. 3. Allocate 1 full-body training day to your weekly workout schedule this will ensure that you can maintain muscle-mass in all other musclegroups. 4. Ensure you re eating in a caloric surplus. If you re not eating enough, your efforts will be in vain. 5. Hammer away at the target muscle for 3 weeks straight. 6. Pull back the volume, return back to your normal training, and watch that muscle grow!

7 4. Antagonist Paired Sets These are essentially just super-set workouts that target the opposing muscle groups simultaneously (i.e. biceps/triceps, hamstring/quads, etc.) Aside from increased training density, antagonist paired sets have been shown to provide a number of benefits. Recent evidence suggests that exercising the antagonist musculature acutely enhances subsequent performance for the agonist musculature. Antagonist Pairs: Biceps/Triceps Chest/Back Quads/Hamstrings How to Perform Antagonist Paired Sets

8 Combine two exercises and perform them back to back with very little to no rest in between. Once you ve performed both exercises back to back, that is one set. Once the set is complete, take a standard break and repeat. Example: A1. Pull Ups x 8 B1. Chest Dips x 8 Perform 8 repetitions of chest dips, immediately upon completion, jump right into your pull ups. Perform 8 reps on your pull ups (this is one set) and then rest for the prescribed rest period. There has even been studies done on antagonist paired sets that show they are a great form of active recovery (i.e. biceps are in active recovery while triceps are working). Another benefit would be that the antagonist muscle cannot aid in the lift due to pre-exhaustion resulting in higher muscle activity

9 5. Beyond Failure Training When it comes to small isolation lifts, since we are limited to the amount of weight we can increase, adding reps would be our best bet. But if you ve been training for long enough, you know that it s easier said than done. Especially as we get further into our lifting career and closer to our genetic ceiling. I mean seriously, when s the last time you saw someone performing side laterals with 70lb dumbbells, using strict form? This is why we ve got to get a bit more strategic and where I recommend implementing beyond failure techniques. Failure: The point where you cannot complete another repetition with strict form. 1. Cheating: Once we ve reached a point of muscular failure, we can no longer perform another rep with strict form. But if we want to squeeze a few more reps out of our set, we can loosen up our form a bit by using some body English.

10 The idea of cheat reps is to move the weight through a full range of motion by using a bit of momentum in order to complete the rep. This technique, however, should not be used excessively, nor should you use it as a way to lift heavier. How to Perform Cheat Reps Biceps Curls: Once you ve reached the point where you cannot perform another repetition with strict form, you can use some body sway to help curl the weight upward. Lateral Raises: Once you ve reached muscular failure, bend and unbend your knees slightly to create a bit of momentum. This technique should be kept limited to movements like: curls, standing shoulder presses, lateral raises, and rear-delt flyes. It s never a good idea to cheat on squats, deadlifts, bench press, or any other heavy compound lifts. 2. Drop Sets: If you reach failure on lateral raises with 30 pound dumbbells, you should still be able to knock out a few more reps with the 20 s. Drop Sets are a method by which you can extend your sets by reducing the weight, after your initial set, in order to add some more volume. How to Perform Drop Sets When performing a given exercise and reaching failure at, say, the 12 th rep, reduce the weight by about 20% and knock out as many as you can with strict form. Reduce the weight again by another 20% and perform another set to failure. Two or three weight reductions are more than enough for the purpose of expanding the set. For Example: Triceps Pushdowns 100lbs x 12

11 80lbs x 6 60lbs x 4 End Set This technique can be used with any exercise where the weight can be quickly and easily adjusted. 3. Rest/Pause: A fatigued muscle can regain more than half of its strength in a matter of seconds when resting. Rest/Pause training takes full advantage of this regeneration by allowing you to move maximal poundage, with strict form, after reaching failure. A study published in The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness compared 3 volume matched groups: SELF (reps to selfdetermined repetition maximum); FAILURE (reps to failure); and REST PAUSE (reps to self-determined repetition maximum with a rest/pause technique). They concluded that rest/pause training leads to greater muscle growth than traditional loading protocols. How to Perform Rest/Pause Sets Take your set to the point of failure, release the weight, and rest seconds. Using the same amount of weight, perform another 3-4 reps; rest seconds, then knock out another 2-3 reps. For Example: Biceps Curls 30lbs x 10 Reps Rest Seconds 30lbs x 4 Reps Rest Seconds 30lbs x 3 Reps End Set