Hello Christian,
I acquired the intensity hypertrophy program, and it is mentioned at the beginning that there are options depending on the equipment available.
Is there a list or should I ask you directly on the forum?
It should be mentioned in the exercise selection part of the program. If you can’t find it, you can ask me here
I’m sorry I don’t see the different exercises proposed.
I just don’t have access to a hack squat or leg press.
What would you replace it with?
To help him give the best substitutes, what do you have? Smith machine, belt squat, just barbells/ dumbbells, etc.?
I have barbells, dumbells, rack squat and low pulley
A good sub for the hack squat/leg press would be:
- heels elevated cable squats
- landmine hack squat (barbell behind you, end of the bar on your shoulder). If you don’t have a landmine, you can just put the end of the bar in a corner.
Note how in both you are trying to push BACK and up not just stand up
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Thank you very much for your help. I recently bought a landmine so I’m going to test the exercise in the second video.
Coach how low are the reps in the intensity phase. I used to always do heavy explosive low volume intensity type training and always trained to failure based on instinct and phycological factors, it just made feel better and was always drawn to that type of training, but due to age and injuries I achieve failure in a higher rep range now. Ive lost some mass training lighter and maybe due to age also and my goal is strictly hypertrophy at this time. Thanks
Typically 6-10
Ok thanks coach. I believe I can manage that if I use slow eccentrics and a pause thus causing the weight to be significantly less than when I would normally train fast and explosive.
Hello Christian,
If you don’t feel comfortable doing cable lateral raises, can the dumbbell variation be a good replacement in the program?
Just to jump in on this part, he’s referencing a particularly high absolute volume when he says that (so like 120+ sets per week or 20-24 sets per bodypart).
The volume phase in the program is referring to increasing volume as its main progression scheme. So you’ll still stay within a reasonable total number of sets (say 60-100 weekly sets or 12-16 per bodypart). You’re not doing extremely high volume per se, but you’re increasing the number of sets week to week to make each session progressively more challenging.
The volume may be relatively higher than the other phases, but that’s more a side effect than a goal as you get closer to failure; the main point is still accumulating those effective reps and progressing on a defined parameter week to week.
I actually addressed this point in the lastest Question of Strength (podcast every Thursday at 11am eastern time on Testosterone Nation’s Youtube channel).
It will also be part of an upcoming series of articles about effort, volume and load-based training.
But there is the unedited portion of that article that might answer your question:
HIGH VOLUME, BODYBUILDING AND STEROIDS
Can you look at how competitive bodybuilders train and copy what they are doing?
Well, one thing you need to consider is the PEDs aspect. Not only do they increase the response of your body to the training stimulus, it actually changes your physiology and because of that, what works for enhanced lifters might not be the way to go for natural ones.
I’ll steal my own thunder and say that higher volume of work benefits more from steroids than lower-volume, higher-effort or heavier loads.
I’ll present my reasoning and the scientific data that supports it in a moment.
What I am not saying is that low-volume/high effort and load-based heavier work don’t benefit from steroids. Steroids and other PEDs will give you greater gains than if you are not using them, regardless of your training style.
But what I am saying is that because of the way they work, steroids will be more beneficial (and thus “work” better) with volume-based training.
Here are some of the reasons:
Reason #1. Greater growth in the slow-twitch fibers
An interesting fact came up during one of my discussions with my friend, and “advanced performance (PED)” expert, Broderick Chavez.
Steroids have a greater effect on the slow-twitch fibers. Steroids can make these normally poorly responsive (to hypertrophy) fibers grow a lot more. So much so that the proportion occupied by the slow-twitch fibers increases significantly over that of the fast-twitch ones.
Not only that, but steroids can even increase the conversion of fast-twitch fibers into slow twitch fibers.
Research supporting the preceding paragraphs:
Dimauro, J., Balnave, R.J. & Shorey, C.D. Effects of anabolic steroids and high intensity exercise on rat skeletal muscle fibres and capillarization. Europ. J. Appl. Physiol. 64, 204–212 (1992). Effects of anabolic steroids and high intensity exercise on rat skeletal muscle fibres and capillarization | SpringerLink
Markus Czesla, Gaby Mehlhorn, Dirk Fritzsche, Gerhard Asmussen,
Cardiomyoplasty — Improvement of Muscle Fibre Type Transformation by an Anabolic Steroid (Metenolone), Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology,Volume 29, Issue 11, 2989-2996,
(1997)
Noirez, P., Ferry, A. Effect of anabolic/androgenic steroids on myosin heavy chain expression in hindlimb muscles of male rats. Eur J Appl Physiol 81, 155–158 (2000). Effect of anabolic/androgenic steroids on myosin heavy chain expression in hindlimb muscles of male rats | SpringerLink
Then why are steroids making people stronger? Aren’t fast-twitch fibers better for strength?
Absolutely. Some of the reasons are that:
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Most steroids have a strong effect on neurology, improving the capacity of the nervous system to recruit the muscle fibers and have them produce a high level of force (especially the DHT class).
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Another neurological effect of some steroids is an increase in acetylcholine recycling, which will increase acetylcholine levels. This can further increases strength and power production as well as motor learning
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Some steroids, especially the more androgenic ones also significantly increases the sensitivity of the beta-adrenergic receptors; this makes you a lot more sensitive to your own adrenaline, which potentiates muscle strength
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Gaining muscle, even if it’s in the slow-twitch fibers, will make a muscle stronger
But that’s also why steroids often seem to lead to more muscle growth than strength gains and why it is easier to reach close to world class levels of strength than world class levels of muscle mass naturally.
It’s also why we often see a skinny ectomorph completely morph into a different individual when getting on PEDs while the more naturally muscular mesomorph just become a bigger (sometimes only a bit bigger) version of themselves.
Now, if you compare the more traditional high-volume training approach with the effort-based and load-based approaches, you can easily see how that style of training would involve/rely more on the slow twitch fibers.
Fast-twitch fibers are recruited only on a need-to basis. And the need to recruit them can come from:
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Having to move a heavy load
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Reaching a fatigue level in your sets that make the effort required high enough to need the FT fibers
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Doing explosive movement
Condition one will be the most present in load-based training which relies on heavy lifting, but also in effort-based work which typically sticks to 5-8 reps (sometimes up to 10) per set which is also “heavy”.
Plus, going to failure will lead to the recruitment of FT fibers (condition 2). Which further explain why effort-based work targets the FT fibers more.
And the last point: a higher volume of work (especially with fairly short rest periods) is more suited for slow-twitch and intermediate fibers, which have a much higher fatigue tolerance than fast-twitch ones.
The point is that:
“YES, steroids will increase gains from all types of resistance training. But high volume training benefits the most”
Reason #2. More protein synthesis = better damage repair
Too much muscle damage can hurt muscle growth. That’s because the protein synthesis used to repair the damage is not used to add new tissue (muscle growth).
When you are natural, the total amount of protein synthesis you can create is limited due to your natural level of anabolic hormones.
The amount of protein synthesis that you can create is limited; if you use a large proportion of it to repair the muscle damage, you have less left to build muscle.
If you are using steroids, you increase protein synthesis and nitrogen retention a lot more. Which means that you can repair more muscle damage while still having enough left to build a lot of muscle.
Muscle damage is caused by the leaking of calcium ions during muscle contractions. So the more (fairly intense) contractions you have in a workout, the more muscle damage you create. In other words, high volume training lead to more muscle damage than lower volume work.
That’s another reason why high-volume training benefits more from steroids than effort-based training.
Reason #3. Increased muscle insulin sensitivity and glycogen storage
Another effect of steroids is that they increase intramuscular glycogen storage (likely due, in part, to higher insulin sensitivity). Besides contributing to the muscles looking bigger and fuller, this is beneficial for high volume of training which require more glycogen than low-volume work or for heavy work that rely more on the phosphagen energy system.
Reason #4. Reducing the risk of “training burnout”
I already mentioned that some steroids make you more sensitive to your own adrenaline by increasing the sensitivity of the beta-adrenergic receptors.
“Training burnout”, what most erroneously call “overtraining” is in large part due to the desensitization of the beta-adrenergic receptors. By being less sensitive to your own adrenaline you lose strength, power, motivation, drive, energy and even your endurance performance will drop.
When it comes to training, this is caused by excessive adrenaline levels. When it is too high for too long (or too often) you overstimulate your receptors which become less sensitive.
Adrenaline levels are heavily influenced by cortisol levels. Cortisol increases the conversion of nor-adrenaline into adrenaline.
The more volume you do in training, the more cortisol you release (because of a higher need to mobilized stored energy; cortisol increases energy mobilization).
You are more likely to “burn-out” from high volume of training.
Steroids can counterbalance that by increasing the sensitivity of the beta-adrenergic receptors. Reducing the risk of “training burnout”.
Another reason why high-volume benefits more from steroids than lower volume.
What’s the point?
Proponents of effort-based/lower volume training say that you can’t look at how pro bodybuilders train because steroids allow them to not only tolerate higher volumes of training, but gain more from volume.
Volume proponents will counter by pointing out that the high-level bodybuilder who use effort-based training are also on steroids so it’s still a 1 to 1 comparison.
It’s not.
Volume-based training benefits more from steroids and the amount of volume used by elite bodybuilders is likely too high for natural lifters to gain maximally.
DOES IT MEAN THAT NATURALS CAN’T DO VOLUME-BASED TRAINING?
No, it doesn’t.
Volume-based doesn’t mean high-volume. Certainly not to the level that a lot of pro bodybuilders are doing.
Volume-based is higher in volume than effort-based. But “high volume” is relative. 12-15 sets per muscle per week is “high” compared to effort-based training but it’s low compared to what a lot of bodybuilders are doing.
What really defines volume-based training is that the mode of progression is a gradual increase in volume throughout the training cycle.
4 Likes
Coach,
Any chance you can provide some more detail on the frequency that each body part is hit per week in each plan?
Thanks so much!
Dude…
You already have the answer on this topic…
4 workouts per week, the schedule calls for workouts on Mon/Wed/Fri/Sat (but you can change the days to fit your schedule).
Intensity/effort-based = push/pull/legs/gap workout
Volume-based and load-based = chest & triceps / legs / back & biceps / delts & rear delts
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Dudeeeee…… appreciate you summarizing, but split doesn’t tell me precise frequency, which was my question. I’m “assuming” the Volume based and Load based hit everything ONCE per week. Additionally, Push Pull, Legs, Gap: Does “Gap” provide extra frequency for everything, certain body parts, or are there options with exercise selections for us to decide?
Coach , As you recommend the division of macronutrients in each program, I have purchased all three.
That is honestly an individual thing.
It depends on several things.
- Goal (fat loss, muscle gain with minimal fat gain, maximum muscle gain)
- Tolerance to carbs/insulin sensitivity
- Personal preferences
- Amount of cardiovascular training
- Type of cardio (steady state, intervals, metcons)
- Amount of muscle mass
- Race and origin/ancestry can even play a role (e.g. Chinese or Chinese ancestry do better on a higher carbs diet whereas Scandinavians do better on a higher fat/lower carbs diet)
So I can’t give you an exact ratio.
What I can tell you is that:
a) I recommend that you start with 1g of protein per pound of body weight.
b) Then make sure that you get around 15g of fiber (or more) per 1000kcals in your diet
c) Then you select where your energetic nutrients come from (is it more carbs/less fat, more fats/less carbs, or 50/50)…
Factors that require you to add more carbs:
- Higher muscle mass
- Doing high-intensity cardio (intervals, metcons, Crossfit) on top of weight training
- Practicing a sport like basketball, BJJ, boxing, hockey, soccer on top of weight training
- Being lean (the leaner you are, the more carbs you ca take in)
- Ratio of fast twitch fibers (the more fast-twitch dominant you are, the more carbs you should take in).
- Having a high level of stress and/or problems sleeping
- Being cold all the time
Typically start people on one of these levels
(ratio of fat calories to carbs calories… don’t forget that one gram of fat provides 9kcals and 1 gram of carbs provides 4)
70% fats / 30% carbs
50% fats / 50% carbs
30% fats / 70% carbs
15% fats / 85% carbs
(when muscle growth is the main goal, I pretty much never go full keto, 90% fat/10% or less carbs)
The more of the above factors you have the more carbs-dominant a diet is.
Now, understand that those percentages are of the energy-nutrients calories, not total daily calories.
For example, let’s say I establish that someone needs 3200kcals per day.
I start by removing the calories from protein (because it is almost impossible to store protein as fat and it is rarely used for fuel).
So let’s say that the client is 200lbs, this means 200g of protein, which is 800kcals.
So to calculate the amount of “energetic nutrients calories” (carb and fat).
In our example that is 3200kcals - 800kcals = 2400kcals.
This means that we have 2400kcals to allocate to carbs and fats.
The ratio depends on the factors mentioned above.
Let’s say that in our example we choose 30% fats and 70% carbs.
This means…
2400kcals x 30% = 720kcals from fat, which is is 80g of fats (9kcal per gram of fat)
2400kcals x 70% = 1680kcals from carbs, which is 420g of carbs (4kcals per gram of carbs)
We also want 45g of fiber (15g per 1000kcals in the diet), which counts as “carbs”, so it is taken off the carbs total.
So that means:
200g of protein
80g of fats
45g of fiber
375g of carbs
Keep in mind that:
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This is an example, it is NOT what I recommend for you. It shows you how to select your nutrient ratio and quantities by yourself
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You don’t need to hit exactly those numbers. Even if you are 10-20g off up or down on some day it’s fine. It’s a target.
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Coach, I’m on week two of the intensity program. Each week after week one you have a set extender built-in after failure. For example week two says after failure, drop the weight 25% and do as many reps as possible. After that failure plus as many reps as possible do you still recommend doing the 80% 6 to 8 reps or does the extender replace that last set for each body part?
Still do the back off set