Induced Muscular Hypertrophy, or: Get Jack Buffed!
“I can’t see Jack!”
“That’s ’cause he’s too thin!”
“Not after this program he won’t be, after this you can’t miss him … guaranteed!”
Muscular Hype what? Muscular hypertrophy, i.e. “Muscle Growth”, is what Jack needs.
Jack is a reader of my blog, and he contacted me with a specific request. He’s not interested in getting leaner, but wants to build some serious muscle without getting fat … exactly the way I recommend you do it.
We'll get Jack to look like that! Claws are optional ...
He’s a little confused with all the contrary info floating around out there in the fitness world and wants some straight answers and most of all results.
Also he’s tried all kinds of stuff over the years, and it hasn’t cut it. So now we take out the secret weapons, the heavy, the BIG Guns!
We will turn Jack’s body into a finely tuned machine …
Well … you’ve come to right place, grasshopper! 
Very soon, the FORCE will be with you!
(I know, I know: it’s two different movies, I know!)
Here’s the Phase:
1. Nutrition:
We’ll keep that extra simple, just eat something with protein in it (whatever: aminos, eggs, shake, cottage cheese, cheese, yogurt, fish … all fair play, mate … Jack is from England! 
) about every 3 hours, don’t worry about calories, just watch the mirror and make sure you don’t lose sight of them Abs! Carbs are encouraged, but most all should be low G.I. (Cruciferous Veggies, whole grain spelt, barley and oatmeal, fruit like oranges and apples, most other vegetables, etc.).
Carbohydrates are encouraged if your goal is muscle mass gain.
They should be mostly low G.I. (glycemic Index, that means basically how much will they raise your insulin levels), with one exception: the Post Workout Shake.
Here the carbs WANNA be high G.I., we’ll get into that in the next section.
Note: organic food is always best as a general rule.
2. Supplements:
Alright Jack, now it’s getting serious! For serious results, the natural athlete needs serious supps; you’ll feel like you’re standing in the kitchen popping pills about half the day! BUT it’s temporary AND it’s worth it! 
Trust Mark, you’ll need this: to recover, to super-compensate, for an optimized Hormonal Response. If you want to induce muscular hypertrophy naturally (and I strongly suggest you stay away from anything else, hint hint! ) this is just plain necessary.
Again, you will not need to use all this for the rest of your life, just for this phase will do. And please don’t worry Mate, it’s a ton of stuff but it’s all actually really good for you, great for your health, too! Winner Winner FlapJack Dinner!
First we boost HGH (human growth hormone)
10 gram AM, 10-40 gram during the workout.
5 gram Am&PM, 10-20 gram Post Workout
5 gram AM and working up to 20 gram by 5 gram steps in the Post Workout Shake
3 x 15 mg p.d.
1000 mg per day minimum, half in the PWO (Post Workout Shake)
Now we aid recovery, jack up the metabolism, increase anabolism and strength
5000 IU per day
Lugol’s 5%, 6-10 Drops in some water, especially AM
1-3 drops under the tongue, 1-2 a day, earlier rather than later.
3 x 5-15 gram p.d.
20 gram in the PWO
30-40 gram in the PWO
5 day loading phase of 4 x 5 gram p.d., then 2 x 5 gram p.d.: 5 gram before and after workouts.
Take with the creatine, non-training days about 4 gram in the AM, training days up to 7.5 gram during the workout.
In very short, Beta Alanine makes creatine even more effective, or rather the two work hand in hand to produce an EXTREMELY synergistic double whammy!
We boost free testosterone, decrease conversion into estrogen and protect the prostate
5 gram 3 x p.d.
Here I have to recommend the product of a certain company, simply because it’s the best I’ve ever come across, it’s 10 x better than any other Saw Palmetto I ever used: it’s a concentrate, the actual oil of the plant.
It’s by Ultimate Nutrition, Saw Palmetto Berry Extract Capsules, take 3 caps x 2-3 p.d.
There’s a lot more health benefits to many of these supps, but I’m sticking to just the major benefits here, or rather WHY we’re using them and what for in particular.
Now the suggested dosage on all the supplement-cans will be much lower. IF you want the stuff to work, please use as suggested above. The Timing and the amount make all the difference.
You can get steroid-like effects by doing all this… nearly.
This way you WILL get steroid-like results, or at least pretty dang near that. This is how the pros do it: it’s a combo of the right foodies, right specific supplementation and training. You will not look like Jay Cutler, but you’ll get buffed for sure.
The difference? Your family jewels won’t shrink, your boobs won’t grow, and you won’t be cheating. Pretty good.
The TRAINING, Mwuahahahahahahaaaaaa … OK, OK, I’m fine, I’m FINE, I said! You can let go of me now …
3.Training:
Upper Body ( Mondays and Fridays)
| A1: Close Grip Pull-Ups, 3×8-10rm, 3010, 10s. pause A2: Incline Dumbbell-Press, 3×8-10rm, 3010, 10s. A3: Standing Barbell-Rows, 3×8-10rm, 3010, 10s. A4: Chest-Dips, 3×8-10rm, 3010, 10s. A5: Seated Cable-Rows, 3×8-10rm, 3010,1 0s. A6: Decline BaB-Press*, 3×8-10rm, 3010, 10s. A7: Front-Levers**, 3×8-10rm, 3010, 10s. A8: Dumbbell Flat-Press, 3×8-10rm, 3010, 10s. A9: EZ-Pull-Overs, 3×8-10rm, 3010, 10s. A10: Unrolling Dumbbell-Flys***, 3×8-10rm, 3010, 180s. B: Muscle Snatch, 3×8-10rm, 3010, 90s. rest |
*Arms Parallel Grip, usually some 35 cm wide (your true shoulder width)
**This is basically a standing Pullover, done with a Triceps bar on a high pulley. You take a split stance, bend your torso to some 45°, and do a fairly straight arm pullover motion. The point is that the strength curve changes, so it’s a totally different exercise to, say, the lying EZ Bar pullover. Also you increase the range of motion here.
***The arms ar nearly totally straight, the weights are high, on eye level. You stay on that plane when doing the move, for max stretch. The hands are pronated, yet in the bottom position you supinate, start the concentric (positive) phase, and “unroll” back to pronated (palms facing away from you).
Lower Body (Tuesdays and Fridays)
| A1: Full Squats, 3×8-10rm, 3010, 10s. pause A2: Leg Curls, 3×6-8rm, 3010, 10s. pause A3: Split Squats, 3×8-10rm, 3010, 10s. pause A4: Eccentric Back Extensions, 3×8-10rm, 3010, 180s. rest |
Yep, that’s enough, you’ll see!
EXPLANATION:
Let’s take the Upper Body workout as an example, because it’s more complex and might be more confusing. The Lower Body workout follows the exact same structure.
So you start with the Close Grip Pull Ups, do 8-10 reps at a 3010 tempo (means 3 seconds down, no pause, 1 second up, no pause, repeat for at least 8 reps, and no more than 10), take 10 seconds to go to the Incline Dumbbell-Press, and do the same there: 8-10 reps, same tempo, then after 10 seconds move to Standing Barbell-Rows, ditto there, etc, etc.
After you’ve done the whole circuit/super-set/giant set once, you rest for 3 minutes, then repeat 2 more times for a total of 3 sets.
That’s all! This being high volume and fairly high frequency work (twice a week per body part), you’ll need to unload to make sure the system can super-compensate. Again we’ll keep it simple here, yet very effective: just do 2 weeks full, then the 3rd week go down to 1 set only on everything, still 4 x week. Then in week # 4 you should be able to raise the working load on most lifts, going back to full sets/volume.
To make sure you achieve your Training Goals, focus on one thing only at a time
Remember Jack, you should always focus on one thing at a time, either gain muscle OR burn fat. Trying to do both at the same time is one major reason many never go anywheres, being just a little big and just a little fat.
Having said that, with this program you could actually lean out (with a different nutrition that’s customized for that) but since you’re not worried about that we will gain as much mass as possible while staying at the same body fat levels.
When you gain, make sure to not get fat. When burning, just don’t drop muscle
It’s like this: when building up, the only thing as far as body fat percentage is concerned is to not gain any.
When leaning out, the only thing to watch out for as far as muscle mass is to not lose any.
Both is easy if you know your stuff.
BUT make no mistake: this phase is tough! If you’re up for it and pull it through, you’ll reap the rewards for sure. Oh, did I say? The phase takes 4 weeks/1 month. 8 workouts each body part, that’s plenty.
And then we can look at phase 2, if you want, but one step at a time, right?
Feel the pain,
Mark
P.S.
Disclaimer: you know I’m not a MD, and you should talk to your health care practitioner before starting any exercise program, or before taking anything. The first thing the Doc will probably tell you is you’re CRAZY to take all this Sh*it! From there it’s your decision.
P.P.S.
This here is not a blog post, it’s a frigging NOVEL man! Normally I like to keep it short and look at one or two things at a time, but in a little bit more detail. Here we’ve covered a Kazillion things, many of which would (and probably soon will) make a good post by themselves. That is because this is not really a post, per “say”, but a PROGRAM, or rather the 1st phase of a muscular hypertrophy program.
21 Comments
Leave a Reply
Great Post man!
Thanks Dude, ooooff, it’s a NOVEL man!
Hey Mark,
This isn’t a post — man it’s a blueprint! Excellent info on 3 pronged approach to gaining muscle mass. The blog redesign is A1
. Keep up the great work.
Ray
Hey Ray!
Is that you man?! 6 Pack Abs Ray? GREAT to hear from ya man, AWESOME you’re still in touch!!!
Yeah thanks Dude, this is actually the first phase of a complete program, as my athletes are getting it, all the way man!
Great great great man, good to hear from ya!
Got a new site? Please lemme know, and let’s definitely stay in touch yeah?
Thanks,
Mark
P.S.
Yeah the Blog Makeover? You know Rusty Moore did that … the coolest Dude man, for
sure!
good post!
Great article Mark. When I get down to about 9% body fat I cant wait to try it! Do you have anything similiar to this plan but for cutting and dropping fat?! That would be great!
Thanks a lot man. Keep the great stuff coming!
Pat
Hey Pat!
Thanks!
Lemme see what I can come up with …
Mark
Thank you Mark!
I’m ready to begin.
Jack… from England
Hey Jack!
That’s great!
And please don’t hesitate to let me know if you have any trouble at all, best here in the comment section, so others can benefit, too.
But you are welcome to contact me via email as well of course!
Mark
Hey Mark,
it’s Jack here!
I’m at the end of the first month and I’ve put two pounds on.
Not sure about how much muscle but I think I look as much lean as before so I should be safe
Thank you!!!
ey Jack,
great to hear from you man, and the good news!
But 2 pounds? We’ll do better than that …
Time for Phase II …
Talk soon,
Mark
Hi Mark,
I am a friend of Jack (Jack form England lol) and I love your blog an currently following your 6 Phase Fat Loss Program.
A quick question: do you think dumbell pull over is a good exercise for chest?
I do feel my pecs working hard when I do it but many people say is not a good one and it works the lats only…?
Also (I know I said one quick question…) I struggle with pull ups; do you reckon that chin ups are the same?
I am looking forward to hear from you.
Thanks.
Pat
Hey Pat,
Merry Christmas Mate!
Thanks!
Yeah Pullovers are a crazy good compound exercise that work the beejeezus out of three muscle groups all at once:
Lats
Triceps
Pecs
It’s kinda special because of that and also in that it works your lats hard whilst leaving the biceps totally fresh — normally most back exercises smoke the biceps too, so this can be very useful to know!
A chest exercise that leaves the triceps be is all forms of flys.
Why is that important?
Say you want to pair chest and back in a workout, then pullovers might not be the best choice if you’re planning on for example bench presses. Because the pullovers smoke the tris, and then you will not bench all that much.
In the case of a triceps pre-exhaustion protocol you can make this work for you though, of course. Now the fresh pecs will help totally finish the tris in the bench press. So: pullovers —> Bench. That’s for triceps.
In Chin ups and pull ups the difference is the hand position:
Palms facing you, palms facing each other is Chins, palms facing away from you is Pull Ups (usually the harder form)
I’d start with close grip chin ups, they’re one of the easiest and the build you biceps, too!
Any more questions Pat, please let me know Mate!
Mark
P.S.
I’m watching the English movie Hot Fuzz right now and it’s one of the best action comedies I’ve ever seen!
Thank you Mark!
I always do pullovers after bench press and flys as a part of my chest workout.
Is it “bad” if I do pullovers on chest day and the day after I train my back?
What I mean is that I will end up doing and exercise that involve my back on chest day and than I will train my back again the day after…
As far as chin ups are concerned are they less effective than pull ups?
I mean the fact that they are a bit easier then the latter does that make them less effective on building up the lats?
Have a good end of 2011.
Hey Pat,
you too Mate!
Well, it kinda depends: It can be good to train muscle groups twice like that, indirectly the second time around.
BUT if you for example are going to do Chins or Pull Ups on Back day, you will not do nearly as well as you would when rested…
Generally speaking I would avoid it, to be sure you get appropriate rest and recovery.
Why not try this: use the pullovers as a finisher after the back workout instead.
While they smoke the chest alright, they’re definitely more of a back exercise… and triceps!
You could use a chest/biceps, back/triceps split in this case.
Pull-Ups vs Chins:
Usually you are right, if something is harder/heavier/higher intensity, it tends to be more effective.
In this case it wouldn’t be correct to say though, because they simply train different parts of your upper back and biceps.
Close grip chins for example are a good back and biceps builder both; they pair well with parallel bench press, which is a good chest and triceps builder. So you’ve basically done your arms after these two.
Pull Ups hit more the brachialis and wide pull ups hit the long head of the biceps, as well as the outer and lower lats.
The progression in difficulty would be:
Close grip chins, parallel chins, close pull ups, parallel pull ups, wide pull ups.
Then you got all the specialized stiff like subscap pull ups, sternum pull ups etc, etc.
My colleague Yavor from Bulgaria here works a lot with that:
http://relativestrengthadvantage.com/
Wish You a Happy New Year Pat!
Mark
Mark,
again, thank you for the kind and informative reply!
Unfortunately I am having more doubts now…!
Say I train two days then a day off etc.
On the first day:
Chest (bench press, flys and pullovers)
Shoulders (military press, lateral rises, sometimes a third movement like front or bent over rises)
Triceps (skull crushers and another one)
Second day: back (one set of pull ups then a few more chin ups, single arm rowing – having back problem I avoid deadlifts and bent over rowing movements)
Biceps (two movements)
Forearm just one movement.
Third day:
legs (half squats (knee problem!) lunges and calves)
Abs
So as you can see sometimes I do work out my chest and triceps then on the following day my back and biceps.
Considering your previous answers would you avoid pullovers on the chest day (perhaps adding a third movement for the chest) and perform it on the following day (chins, one arm rowing AND pullovers)???
I hope is not too confusing mate! Sorry…
I’ve forgot to mention that I train at home so I don’t have much stuff, just a bench, barbell, dumbells and a chin up bar so I cannot perform dips…
Again, thank you so much for your advice and I wish you a Happy New Year
Speak you soon
Pat
Yebbs, that’s right: just try the pullovers on Back day instead. This would be a Back and Triceps, Chest and Biceps split, so you’d do your triceps work on back day and biceps with chest.
Pullovers are great as a finisher, for example: chins @ 6 reps, rows @ 12 and pullovers @ 25. You might even make that into a killer tri-set:
A1:Pull-Ups, 3x 6rm, 30X1, 10seconds pause,
A2:Bent Over Bi-Lateral Dumbbell Rows (supported prone on a incline bench because of your lower back), 3x 12rm, 31X0, 10seconds pause,
A3:DB-Pullovers, 3x 25reps, 1010, 180 seconds rest interval.
Happy New Year’s Mate!
Mark
Hey Mark,
is Walter again, remember?
I’ve bought some Glutamine to take along the BCAA as a “precaution” and it comes in capsules of 1000 mg (1 gr).
They recommend 3 per day but re-reading this post I see you advice
5 gram Am&PM, 10-20 gram Post Workout…
That’s 20-40 capsules per day!!!
Is it a typo or am I supposed to swallow tablets the whole day???
Thank you.
Walter
Hey Walter!
Yeah that’s why some authorities go as far as saying that Glutamine caps or tabs are a rip off, basically. L-Glutamine is quite cheap, pretty tasteless (slightly sweet) and should always be bought as a pure powder, economy size. Pharmaceutical quality L-Glutamine, NOT the peptides, they can an allergen.
SO for now it seems a lot of caps it is…
Or if i were you I’d just switch it to powder…
Please let me know how it’s coming along?
Mark
Oh crap!
I’ve struggled so much to find Glutamine on the websites where I usually purchase supplements and finally got this one… now I am so gutted!!!
Anyway, I was going to start my “crazy” week tomorrow so wont be able to find the powder version.
I guess I’ll swallow a lot of them although they won’t be enough for the whole week.
Perhaps is better if i take them after training only.
Thanks mark, I will let you know how it went.
Walter
Yeah don’t worry about it, you’ll be just fine mate!
Considering you’ll be going very low cal I guess 10 gram post workout will do…
This is important tough, as it will ensure proper recovery from all the hard work!
Mark