Question-Answer

Question: Someone walks into gym with a fairly modest lifting past (a recreational lifter or a little above) and says “I want to start getting bigger, what are three things I should know or do?”


Answer:To build muscle and gain weight you have to use big, compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, military presses, dips, chin ups, pushups and rows.

You have to train with adequate resistance, meaning 5-10 reps on average and you need to strive to get stronger and do more work over time. Progressive overload is a key component in making size and strength gains.

No matter how good your workout is you will never gain any appreciable size without adequate nutrition. Shoot for about one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight per day and 1-3 grams of carbs depending on your bodyfat levels, training age, chronological age and the type of workouts you are doing. The leaner you are the better your insulin sensitivity and thus the more carbs you can eat. This is especially true if you are a teenager with a racing metabolism. A 17 year old kid with single digit bodyfat might need three grams of carbs per pound in order to gain weight, whereas a 35 year old might only need 1-1.25 grams. Anymore than that and he’ll end up fat. For the older guy, carb cycling is going to be a smarter approach.

The take home point is you gotta eat for size gains.

Question: What about rookie mistakes. Which are the biggest ones to avoid? In other words, DON’T do this stuff!

Answer:If you’re a newbie to training don’t 12-16 top end, work sets per training session. You definitely don’t need more than that. As you get more advanced you will be able to tolerate more work but newbies and stereotypical hardgainers should keep their total volume low until they develop a solid strength base.

Don’t train more than 3-4 days per week.

Don’t let your training sessions (minus warm up and cool down time) last more than 45 minutes.

Don’t waste your time with machines and isolation movements.

Don’t train for the pump.

Don’t use body part splits.

Don’t train to failure.

Question: What about injury prevention. What are the risks involved with lifting more and heavier weights?

Answer:Any physical activity worth pursuing is always going to have some injury risk involved. The risks of heavy lifting include rotator cuff damage, torn pecs, knee damage, muscle strains, disc herniation, etc. The key is to try and minimize the risk as much as possible. The best ways to do that are the following:
Always warm up properly by jumping rope or doing some type of callisthenic drills for 5-10 minutes before training. Follow this up with some mobility work and some joint prep stuff as well. This is also known as the dynamic warm up.
Don’t just jump right into your heaviest sets but rather work up them gradually by doing 3-5 warm up sets with 40-90% of your starting weight. For example, if you were going to squat 275 you would want to first do the bar for ten reps, then 95 x 5, 135 x 5, 185 x 3, 225 x 3 and maybe even 250 x 1.
Always do prehab work for the shoulders, as they are very injury prone. This could include YTWL’s and shoulder dislocations with a broomstick before each upper body session and some work on unstable exercises such as ring dips or Jungle Gym pushups.
Always do at least 5-10 minutes of mobility work for the hips and other tight areas of the lower body before squatting or deadlifting. Static stretching may also be warranted here as well if the lifter is having a difficult time reaching the full squat position.
Never train to failure. When you do that and allow your form to break down the injury risk goes up. Anything less than picture perfect technique may lead to injury.

Question: Let’s say a guy wants to know how to build muscle and gain weight but has very limited time. Is it possible to do this? Can you get bigger with just 30 – 45 minutes a day in the gym three days a week?

 Answer:Your testosterone levels peak at around thirty minutes into your workout and are back to baseline at around the 45 minute mark, so keeping your workouts short is actually a great way to make even faster progress. Provided you’re in shape and have decent work capacity you can get a lot done in three 45 minute workouts per week.

Question: What are your favorite three exercises that can help people put on size and why?

Answer:Squat- Because there is no better exercise to develop the lower body. They involve every muscle group from your sternum down and will build big quads, hamstrings and glutes along with strengthening your abs and spinal erectors.

Deadlift- There is no more basic movement then bending down and picking something up off the floor. Thus, there is no more functional exercise than the deadlift. For trap, upper, mid and lower back size there is nothing that beats the deadlift. It also develops the grip and abs as well.

Tie: Standing Press & Pushup- After you have the lower body and a big pulling exercise covered you need a pressing movement to round the whole thing out. This is a tougher decision because there are several good ones. I think, for me, it would be a tie between a standing press and a pushup.

The pushup is the most highly under rated exercise in existence and believe it or not, most people can’t do it properly. When done correctly the pushup is a full body exercise and develops functional strength as well as anything you could possibly do. Of course, basic pushups are too easy for most people with more than a couple months of training experience so an advanced version like a suspended pushup with chains could be used.
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