Jason Ferruggia is a trainer who I purchased a series of ebooks from a good long time ago. Like a lot of books I purchase, it collected edust until recently.
I printed out his text, slapped it all into a binder, and am currently, uh, letting that collect literal dust. But I also revisited his website and signed up for his newsletter. Got one seven hours ago (so sayeth the bot built into my Google Gmail account). The article in the email was titled The Magic Number For Building Muscle.
Attached at the end were the following words: "If you liked today’s article, please feel free to forward this email to any friends, family members or coworkers that you think would enjoy it."
While it doesn’t list BodySpacers specifically, I’m going to include ya’ll.
Here’s a bit of what is included in the newsletter:
"Contrary to what most bodybuilding workout programs prescribe, there is rarely a need to ever do more than two sets per exercise when you are trying to build muscle. You read that right, I said that there is rarely ever a need to do more than two sets per exercise!
If you can’t get the job done with two sets you probably aren’t training hard enough. In theory you should be able to get the job done with just one set but I like to use two just to be safe and make sure all bases are covered. The second set is basically an insurance set.
The are only a few times you should do more than two sets per exercise. If you are a raw beginner who needs more sets just to practice and perfect your form then you should probably do more than two sets. If you are doing speed exercises such as cleans or box jumps you should also do a few more sets. Finally, if you are varying the reps and weights, you can do more than two sets. For example if you are doing two sets of three with 315, a set of five with 295 and a set of eight with 275, you can get away with more than two sets. But other than that, you should never do more than two sets of any exercise with the same weight for the same reps.
There are a few different approaches you can take to doing your two sets. The first approach is to go balls out on your first set and then drop the weight a little bit on your second set and use it as a sort of backoff set. Theoretically this will allow you to give your most effort when you are freshest on your first set. The second approach is to hold a little something back on your first set and instead use it as a hard, working warm up set. Then you go balls to the wall on the
second set.
It has been suggested that a heavy, but not all out set, before your money set can serve as a neural primer and arouse your nervous system thus making the second set even more effective. A third option is to not take neither set to the limit but instead just do two very hard sets to clean failure. Each option works very well but you will have to experiment to see which is best for you. The most demanding method would be to do two all out sets to failure. This also works quite well but may be a bit hard for some people to recover from.
Whatever option you choose will be far better than the normal, mindless nonsense of doing 4-6 sets per exercise and you will get far better results. Better muscle gains with far less work? Sounds like an unbeatable plan to me."
With those words in mind, I abbreviated today’s chest and triceps workout completed at Gold’s Gym. Compare today’s chest/tri with the previous session:
Today, March 22, 2008 (at Gold’s):
Smith Flat bench 170×12, 185×10
Smith Incline bench 185×5,4
Close-grip Olympic bar benches 125×8, 130×6
Pushdowns 60×12, 75×12
Total sets: 8
Previous workout, March 15, 2008 (at Planet Fitness):
Smith Incline bench 135×8, 155×8, 165×6
Smith Flat bench 155×8, 185×4,5
Close-grip Olympic bar benches 115×8,8,8
Total sets: 9
D’OH! Okay, so it was only a ONE-set abbreviation. :p
Since the Smith machines at Gold’s and PF seem to vary significantly, I can’t really compare the numbers, however the Olympic bar close-grips moved up a touch. I’ll be a happier camper when I can rep those puppies with an Oly bar with two wheels added.
In addition to reviewing and then implementing some of Ferruggia’s philosophy, I’m also following a menu and supplement plan courtesy of Gaspari Nutrition. And it’s nice that I have break/vacation right now in order to get used to the meal schedule. I’ve taken a few liberties with the plan as presented, pulling out a few things, but it’s basically as is presented in the pdf that’s available by visiting Gasparinutrition.com.
8 a.m. Meal 1 KICKSTART
Halodrol Liquigels 1
IntraPro 1 scoop
Complex Carbs and/or fruit 30-100g
10:30 a.m. Meal 2
Lean Protein Chicken/turkey brst, lean beef, fish, egg whites
Complex Carbs 30-100g
Drink Water
1 p.m. Meal 3
IntraPro 1 scoop
Complex Carbs 30-100g
3:30 p.m. Meal 4
Halodrol Liquigels 1
Lean Protein Chicken/turkey brst, lean beef, fish, egg whites
Complex Carbs 30-100g
Drink Water
6 p.m. Meal 5
IntraPro 1 scoop
Complex and/or Fibrous Carbs 30-100g
6:30 p.m. GET IN GEAR
SuperPump250 1 scoop
PlasmaJet 1 serving (never use more than once a day or 4x per week, and never on non-training days)
7 p.m. TRAINING
SizeOn 1 scoop immediately after training
9 p.m. Meal 6
Halodrol Liquigels 1
Lean Protein Chicken/turkey brst, lean beef, fish, egg whites
Complex and/or Fibrous Carbs 30-100g
Drink Water
Bedtime
Novedex XT 2 capsules before bed
I joke that I am soliciting for membership to THE HOUSE OF DIESEL, but it’s really not too funny to be dissatisfied with your appearance. Body dysmorphic disorder or justified p!ssed-off-edness? Regardless, I taped the pumped (pop)gunz at 15 1/4″ left (flexed to the gills) and 15 3/8″ right (equally squozed-fisted to my shoulder).
Right arm, 15 3/8″! Brother, can you spare a triceps?
I see sixteen on the horizon. (Okay, a distant horizon, but…)
View all comments | Leave Comment