Crazy Muscle Gains Without Fat IF + Full Body Workouts

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1


Found this on bb.com after looking into “Leangains” for building muscle and losing fat. The guy gained very notable amount of muscle with very little fat. Hitting upper body 3 days per week and lower body once.

"I do an upper body/lower body split. I hit my full upper body about 3 times a week or so, and i hit my lower body (legs) once a week. For my upper body I focus on the main compound lifts with some isolation exercises as well. Example:

Chest:
Incline DB Press
Decline Press
Incline flies

Back:
Various grip pull-ups/Chins
deadlifts
Bent over rows

Shoulders:
Shoulder press/Military press
side delt raises with cable
shrugs

Triceps:
Dips
Skullcrushers supersetted with close grip bench
Tricep pushdowns

Biceps:
Various grip curls
Hammer curls
Chin ups

I do all these in one day, but in keep in mind I only do about 2-3 sets per exercise. The whole workout takes me a little over an hour. And I switch up some exercises here n there as well as the order.

For legs I just do the normal ****:

ATG squats
Leg press
Leg extensions
Seated calf raises
standing calf raises"

What do you guys think of this routine for gaining muscle, the guy claims he doest count calories but reduces carbs on off days as detailed in the leangains guide. The total workout comes to 27 sets, I am used to doing 18-21 sets per body part on a 5 day split and I seem to recover in 3 days so 9 per body part recovery shouldn’t be an issue.

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7 months later

3

what were his doses like?

4

[quote]TC15 wrote:
7 months later[/quote]

I already recommended you do an upper-lower split or full body routine and others encouraged you to follow a bare-bones, stripped down routine as well.

You didn’t like the advice.

I believe this guy could have made the same gains with less exercises. A barebones upper body workout can look as simple as this: bench, row, chinup, press (any variations of these), tricep extensions and curls.

A lower body workout can be leg curls, squats, stiff legged deadlift, lunges, calf raises, abdominal exercise. And as I said in another post, sure, throw in am isolation exercise somewhere if you must.

A full body workout can look as simple as this: bench, row, curl, squat or deadlift, press, chinup, abs, and so on.

He looks good.

He probably instinctively knew how much to eat for portion control after considerable time with this lifestyle. Eating a bit on off days is fine too.

IF is fine, if it suits one’s lifestyle and eating preference, but it’s not special, I believe.

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[quote]Mr. Walkway wrote:
what were his doses like?[/quote]

lol, beat me to it

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Crazy legs…Nice !
All those squats paid off.

Mat’

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[quote]Yogi wrote:

[quote]Mr. Walkway wrote:
what were his doses like?[/quote]

lol, beat me to it[/quote]

Just too funny.

S

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[quote]mat_angus wrote:
Crazy legs…Nice !
All those squats paid off.

Mat’
[/quote]

Literal LOL!

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[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:

[quote]Yogi wrote:

[quote]Mr. Walkway wrote:
what were his doses like?[/quote]

lol, beat me to it[/quote]

Just too funny.

S[/quote]

bro, I hope you’re not suggesting I can’t make that progress in 7 months training 3x a week and IFing. You know not to put limits on people! Don’t make me link that thread…

10

For all those saying he juiced, I am not ruling it out but the guy lifted from 2007-2009 and took a break until 2011.

So he could have experienced a bit of muscle memory action.

His weight change was something like 11b or something over 7 months so nothing crazy.

11

[quote]BrickHead wrote:

[quote]TC15 wrote:
7 months later[/quote]

I already recommended you do an upper-lower split or full body routine and others encouraged you to follow a bare-bones, stripped down routine as well.

You didn’t like the advice.

I believe this guy could have made the same gains with less exercises. A barebones upper body workout can look as simple as this: bench, row, chinup, press (any variations of these), tricep extensions and curls.

A lower body workout can be leg curls, squats, stiff legged deadlift, lunges, calf raises, abdominal exercise. And as I said in another post, sure, throw in am isolation exercise somewhere if you must.

A full body workout can look as simple as this: bench, row, curl, squat or deadlift, press, chinup, abs, and so on.

He looks good.

He probably instinctively knew how much to eat for portion control after considerable time with this lifestyle. Eating a bit on off days is fine too.

IF is fine, if it suits one’s lifestyle and eating preference, but it’s not special, I believe. [/quote]

What kind of volume do you think is best for hitting a body part 3 times per week by way of full body. If I did the 3 exercises 3 sets per body part, 3 times per week it comes to 27 sets per week. I normally do 18-21 sets per body part once per week so the volume is going up and so is the intensity. Im thinking 3 exercises but 2 sets each so only 18 sets per body part per week to match my normal volume but still upping the intensity.

I will probably adjust the routine to prioritise chest, lats and legs, since my arms and shoulder are overly developed in comparison.

12

[quote]TC15 wrote:
His weight change was something like 11b or something over 7 months so nothing crazy.

[/quote]

yeah, bro. 11lbs in 7 months staying at single digit bodyfat is easy.

13

it was a LOT of muscle memory. Like he was much bigger years before this picture, and is much bigger now. And trust me, he’s used. I’ve seen him post about it on another, more private forum. That’s not bad, but if you’re trying to recreate his ‘experiment’, you should know all the variables.

14

What is the best way to adjust this for a natural trainee ? Cut the volume ?

I have above average recovery in my opinion so I don’t want to cut the volume by that much.

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[quote]TC15 wrote:
What is the best way to adjust this for a natural trainee ? Cut the volume ?

I have above average recovery in my opinion so I don’t want to cut the volume by that much.
[/quote]

you could just keep it the same. It’ll still work

16

This looks like a fairly standard, unimaginative bro split to me. It will work, but there’s nothing magical about it. If this is what you want to do, commit to it 100% and you’ll get results.

My guess is you’ll be back here with a different magic bullet to help lose that last little bit of fat/gain muscle/add 40lbs to your bench within the week though. I would love you to prove me wrong though, I really would.

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[quote]dagill2 wrote:
This looks like a fairly standard, unimaginative bro split to me. It will work, but there’s nothing magical about it. If this is what you want to do, commit to it 100% and you’ll get results.

My guess is you’ll be back here with a different magic bullet to help lose that last little bit of fat/gain muscle/add 40lbs to your bench within the week though. I would love you to prove me wrong though, I really would.[/quote]

Haha I’m pretty consistent once I find something that works. I followed the same routine/diet for 3 years and got decent results but I want to try something different now.

Im switching from:

A 3-4 meal diet + 3 protein pulses through the day to Intermittent fasting for convenience.

From a 5 day split focusing on volume and a 8-15 rep range to a 3 day full body 6-8 rep range.

Instead of 5x70 minute sessions in the gym ill be doing 3x100 minute sessions. Again this is more convenient. Im pretty sure I can add 40b to my bench, benching 3 times a week.

And I still have about 6lb to lose until I am 8-9%bf before I start adding muscle again.

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Here is another drastic transformation on a 16/8 IF protocol in about 10 months.

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5 months later

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10 months later, IF benefits seem to more than just diet adherence and cals in cals out.