I always found Phil Hernon interesting. When you write “3-5 failure sets,” how do you decide whether to do 3, 4, or 5 sets? Was there a progression plan behind it, or do you decide arbitrarily based on how you feel that day?
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I was pretty much just intuitive with that. I generally tried to achieve some progression any way that I could from session to session.
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Happy Anniversary
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If @davemccright is like me in this, you just kind of know when you’ve sufficiently trained a muscle, and you also know when theres just no more juice left to squeeze in a muscle.
Its more a question of “if i did another set, is it going to be productive?”
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Yeah that’s exactly how I go about it. If I’m not satisfied with the level of stimulation the muscle had gotten to that point, I have to go back and hit it some more. There’s a certain level of “muscular satisfaction”, I guess you could call it, that’s just fairly instinctive from years in the gym.
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Thank you man! It was a fantastic day!
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Realizing I forgot to log yesterday’s arm day. Last two days have been really busy. This session was exactly what I needed. The arm pump was just ricockulous! A very girthy and veiny engorgement!
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I hit like but this deserved an emoji as well!
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Had to knock this Session out in less than an hour due to the gym closing. Just like an NFL team playing on a short week, I just condensed the playbook and did slightly more Volume per exercise! The pump was monstrous! This was proof that diamonds are truly made under pressure! Absolutely no bogus time, no unnecessary time between sets. 30 seconds max and then I’m ripping that next set!
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Hit back and hams in the brother-in-law’s garage gym! I was so freaking destroyed by the end of this one. I just got after it with a ferocious intensity. No messing around. The back pump was nuts and then the Hamstring pump was straight up painful! Arms are up next! RIP Sam Rivers from Limp Bizkit
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In the book “Big Beyond Belief,” which also incorporates Phil Hernon’s ideas, the number of sets is deliberately increased from 3 to 4 to 5 in order to reach the zone of overtraining, and then the number is reduced again to 3 in order to achieve increased muscle growth (according to the theory).
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I also ran Big Beyond Belief at the beginning of the year. I followed the methodology to the letter. I do like the thought put behind the exact methodology there. The book does want you to get to where you can intuitively make those adjustments eventually after you’ve ran a few cycles of it.
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I have done this, it was absolutely brutal.
Maybe i should run a phil hernon program when I’m done with prep.
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I have a few saved from RIR0 and Intense Muscle. Just reach out if you want me to send you any
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Will do, brother
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Didn’t log my shoulder and arm session last night because I didn’t get to it until late so here’s another double log post! Phenomenal arm day last night and amazing chest and quad day today. The leg pump was absolutely painful. I can’t even believe how well I’m stimulating the quads in particular right now, which is so painful but awesome! My arms were pumped to oblivion last night! Not really much to share in terms of insight. Just locked in and training hard as hell right now.
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Hit Some back and hams today. Was feeling really strong on pull-ups today! Everything was moving super fast, my pace was super high. I was absolutely a man on a mission today. Obliterate my back and hams in an hour and get back home and back to my clients! Excited to hit some shoulders and arms up next!
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Big shoulder and arm day today. Just connected with everything really well, got a phenomenal pump! Kind of a late session just due to how busy it was today. Had Stan Efferding’s monster mash for dinner and that gave way to just a really good lift and monster pump! Hyped for the weekend and hoping to squeeze in a few more lifts, probably in the garage.
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Kind of a double up here because I forgot to post in the log yesterday. Went to the pumpkin patch with family and ran around with my nieces, playing tag and jumping on this balloon trampoline thing. It was a good time. Then got a late night garage session for chest and quads. Everything was actually feeling really good despite being kind of tired going into it. The pump was pretty sick! Same story for today. Garage session for Back and hams. Just a really good, basically textbook couple of training sessions for me here. Not trying to reinvent the wheel or anything. Just trying to improve a little bit Day by day during the off-season. Go Steelers tonight!
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Shoulders and arms was yesterdays and I just felt so extremely locked in. I think coming off a rest day, I was just so motivated and excited to be back in the gym and getting after it! This attitude is so great for productive gym sessions. Definitely hoping to bring that same energy for quads and chest today. The arm pump was crazy nice then I topped it off with a liter of Fairlife Chocolate milk Post workout.
And a photo I saw of Frank Zane from the ‘79 Olympia the other day to illustrate what we’re chasing. One of the best physiques I’ve ever seen!
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