Back in 2001, I was reading my first book on building muscle (Delavier’s Strength Training Anatomy), looking for the best reps range to build muscle. At the time, most coaches agreed there was a “hypertrophy range”. Usually 8-12 reps, but sometimes 6-12 reps. Even textbooks relayed the idea. But there wasn’t much evidence for it,…
This week, I was PUMPED to contribute this article to Greg Nuckols’ awesome site (I’ve been amazed by Greg’s work over the years): Training for Hypertrophy: The Case Against Muscle Damage In this piece, I review the evidence on muscle damage. Does it really cause hypertrophy? I was surprised to find out that, after all,…
A practical, science-based guide to building muscle faster with rest-pause sets In 1962, Cuban weightlifter Sergio Oliva received political asylum in America. In 1969, he would become the first (and only) bodybuilder to ever beat Arnold Schwarzenegger at the Mr. Olympia. Schwarzenegger later recounted: “Then for the first time, I saw Sergio Oliva in person….
We’ve just released warm-up sets! In a systematic review, McCrary et al. (2015) found “strong research-based evidence” that “warm-ups enhance power and strength performance.” In a meta-analysis, Fradkin et al. (2010) found that “Warm-up was shown to improve performance in 79% of the criterions examined.” So, you should warm up before each set with light…
I was on the Sigma Nutrition podcast with Danny Lennon (truly one of my favourites podcasts). We discussed effective reps and strategies for hypertrophy. As always, Danny asked great questions. He surprised me a bit, and we jumped into the juicy stuff right away. Highly recommended if you’re into podcasts: The day the podcast came…
Steve Hall of Revive Stronger just published a new podcast with me. Steve is a class act, and it was a pleasure to be on to discuss the science of effective reps and rest-pause sets: The Science of Effective Reps and Rest-pause Sets I wrote about the science of effective reps before. When I formalized…
Let me tell you a story: In 2008, I got an email one night. It read: “Hi Carl. I’ve done a lot of research and I’d like you to be my trainer. I’m 44 and I’m obese (252 lbs). I can’t live like that anymore. Are you available?” That client was a woman. We worked…