RippedZilla's thread of knowledge

That's just it - most that I talk too that come to me for advice want me to give the "drug answer" first over the real answer which is diet. The minute diet comes out of my mouth the conversation goes down hill and they lose interest quick.

Great read

Posting that took some balls as nobody wants to give the drugs their due credit. We all know diet is king, but feel forced to downplay the effects of AAS as many come here looking for a shortcut.

Excellent thread sir, you are indeed an asset for the forum. :)
 
Great post Zilla... Very interesting facts about the deadlift there...

Secretly pleased to read that, as I had to omit deads due to recurring injury niggles.

Keep 'em coming buddy
 
In response to the Exercise selection for bodybuilding part 1, the guys that I know that use when they say, "Yeah I use gear, but I bust my ass as well, and without that I wouldn't look the way I do.", they mean their overall physique. Meaning ok, so sitting on your ass as using gained you 7lbs of muscle. I'd like to see how much fat the gear/no training group gained vs. the gear/training group.

When you're on cycle you can suck down a ton of shit calories and still gain size, however you'll gain more fat as well. If a guy is big with minimal fat, and able to bulk up gaining a minimal amount of fat, and then drop fat while maintaining maximal muscle, sure gear helps with that, but it still takes a lot of dedication in the gym, in the kitchen, and hard work. At least the guys that I know, that's what they mean. They don't mean all of it came from ONLY hard work and dedication.
 
Mrrippedzilla said:
Your body has not been designed to push things behind you; major shoulder stress can occur due to the unnatural style of the movement. This means that exercises such as behind the neck presses & dips should be excluded.
I die a little inside when I see folks yanking the weight down on the lat pull-down machine, then struggle to hit the back of their neck. I often wonder why I see pros doing it that way as I know it can wreck havoc on the shoulders (rotator especially). Great information as always Ripped. :)
 
In response to the Exercise selection for bodybuilding part 1, the guys that I know that use when they say, "Yeah I use gear, but I bust my ass as well, and without that I wouldn't look the way I do.", they mean their overall physique. Meaning ok, so sitting on your ass as using gained you 7lbs of muscle. I'd like to see how much fat the gear/no training group gained vs. the gear/training group.

When you're on cycle you can suck down a ton of shit calories and still gain size, however you'll gain more fat as well. If a guy is big with minimal fat, and able to bulk up gaining a minimal amount of fat, and then drop fat while maintaining maximal muscle, sure gear helps with that, but it still takes a lot of dedication in the gym, in the kitchen, and hard work. At least the guys that I know, that's what they mean. They don't mean all of it came from ONLY hard work and dedication.

I've already stated that there was NO difference in body fat percentage in any of the groups - so that's your theory shot down :)

The study proves, as in its an absolute fact, that it does NOT take any hard work in the gym whatsoever to build muscle, with minimal fat gain, provided your diet is in check & your gear is not bunk.
There is no arguing with this, regardless of how butthurt some guys will be (as I knew would happen).

Let's face it "I look great because of the drugs I take" doesn't sound anywhere near as good as "I look good because I bust my ass in the gym in everyday".
In other words, those guys say they work hard because otherwise they wouldn't get any credit for their achievement whatsoever, the gear would get the praise - its an ego thing.
 
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I can give some anecdotal support for the "gain muscle sitting on your ass" statement. When I first started injecting test due to having low T levels, I had no gumption to do any exercising. Basically, I sat at my PC trying to surf the entire Internet to find its end. That is all the energy and care I could muster. A few weeks after starting the injections, I noticed I was losing fat and gaining muscle. Nothing to write home about, but enough to be noticeable.
 
I die a little inside when I see folks yanking the weight down on the lat pull-down machine, then struggle to hit the back of their neck. I often wonder why I see pros doing it that way as I know it can wreck havoc on the shoulders (rotator especially). Great information as always Ripped. :)

Oh totally agree...

I've literally just watched a clip of Juan Morel on IG doing quite possibly the WORST set of T-Bar rows I've ever seen...

Those results have gotta be 90% gear - 10% stimulation from shit form.

Sad thing is - all the natty naive guys who are up his arse now think that this is the way to row... it's sickening!
 
Muscle Specific Training Part 1

I will be explaining a style of training that I have been using that is very effective at bringing up lagging muscle groups, especially with the advantages of cycling. Its been around for quite a while and some of you may have heard of it - especially if your followers of Charles Poliquin or Christian Thibaudeau.
This style of training is for intermediate to advanced lifters only, beginners don't need to overcomplicate their routine too much since they can make gains following a basic 8-12 reps for everything programme provided they progressively lift heavier.

To maximise the growth of a muscle you need to understand the biomechanics and fibre type composition of that specific muscle as this will help you to adjust the reps, rest period & volume accordingly.
You do not have to follow everything in this article, but if you have a particular muscle group that is lagging behind I highly recommend going to the section for that group & following the guidelines to bring it back up to speed.

Firstly, we will look at the types of muscle fibres in different muscle groups, then I will explain the best reps/rest/set period for each muscle group.


Types of Muscle Fibers

The 3 main types of muscle fibers are known as type I, type IIa & type IIb - for the sake of simplicity I will be referring to these two as one group; "type II".
Type I are slow twitch fibers and type II are fast twitch.

Here is a simple guideline to show you the main characteristics of these muscle fibers:

Type I/slow twitch fibers

Contraction time: Slow Fast
Motor neuron size: Small Medium-large
Resistance to fatigue: High Medium - low
Used for: Aerobic Anaerobic
Maximum duration of use: Hours <30mins/<1 min
Power production: Low Medium-very high
Major storage fuel: Triglycerides Creatine phosphate & glycogen

Type II/fast twitch fibers

Contraction time: Fast
Motor neuron size: Medium-large
Resistance to fatigue: Medium - low
Used for: Anaerobic
Maximum duration of use: <30mins/<1 min
Power production: Medium-very high
Major storage fuel: Creatine phosphate & glycogen

Muscle fibre composition is based on genetics and, as you can see, it has training implications.
Fast twitch fibers generaly respond best to low frequency/volume, long rest & high intensity (weight on bar).
Slow twitch fibers respond best to high frequency/volume, short rest & low intensity.

Its important to remember that fast twitch fibers have a higher ceiling of growth compared to slow twitch. In fact, studies show fast twitch fibres to be at least 20% larger in an untrained state & can grow to be almost double the size of slow twitch fibres. This is why some muscles can never grow to the same degree as others.

Another important point is that although physiological characteristics obviously differ from person-to-person, when it comes to muscle fibre composition studies show the difference to be between 5-10% - pretty insignificant. This means that lagging muscle groups tend to be the same groups for most people.

Now most of you know that I believe in high intensity to be optimal for muscle growth, at least for beginners and most intermediates because this is the most optimal way to activate the maximum amount of muscle fibers. However, most people take the fact that slow twitch muscles have less potential for growth as a sign that they should ignore them - these are the same people who have poor forearms, calves, etc.
Its important to establish a balance in your training between intensity & volume.

The good news is that their are many studies looking into muscle fiber type composition for different muscle groups and these studies, along with my own experiences with clients, are what I've used to come up with the following guidelines for different muscle groups...

The good part begins in part 2 tomorrow :)


References

Changes in performance, muscle metabolites, enzymes and fibre types after short sprint training. B Dawson, M Fitzsimons, S Green, C Goodman, M Carey, K Cole. Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol. 1998 Jul;78(2):163-9

Effects of high intensity canoeing training on fibre area and fibre type in the latissimus dorsi muscle. S J Baker, L Hardy. Br J Sports Med. 1989 March; 23(1): 23-26
Free full article: Effects of high intensity canoeing training on fibre area and fibre type in the latissimus dorsi muscle.

Muscle fibre types and size in trained and untrained muscles of elite athletes. P A Tesch, J Karlsson. J Applied Physiology 1985; 58(6): 1716-1720

Muscular adaptations in response to three different resistance-training regimens: specificity of repetition maximum training zones. G E R Campos, T J Luecke, H K Wendeln, K Toma, F C Hagerman, T F Murray, K E Ragg, N A Ratamess, W J Kraemer, R S Staron. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2002 November; 88(1-2): 50-60
I HIGHLY recommend at last reading the abstract to this awesome study: Muscular adaptations in response to three different resistance-trai... - PubMed - NCBI

Performance and fibre characteristics of human skeletal muscle during short sprint training and detraining on a cycle ergometer. M T Linossier, D Dormois, A Geyssant, C Denis. Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol. 1997;75(6):491-8

The role of resistance exercise intensity on muscle fibre adaptations. A C Fry. Sports Med. 2004; 34(10): 663-679

Training induced changes in the subgroups of human type II skeletal muscle fibers. P Anderson, J Hendriksson. Acta Physiologica Scandinavica 1977; 99: 123-135
 
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Optimal training vs regular training.
What would be the difference in gains?
The enhanced people trained the same as the natties and the enhanced people gained 3x more.
Are the extra gains going to be worth it for most people. It will be for competition purposes.
I have not changed my training since starting my cycle. I have gained more than I thought, I would compared to my previous years of training. People have noticed that i'm bigger and one of my friends commented that it's starting to show. I bs him and told him i was training harder. lol.
I did not change my training at all. I now know what 600mg test and 600mg EQ will do for me.
 
Optimal training vs regular training.
What would be the difference in gains?
The enhanced people trained the same as the natties and the enhanced people gained 3x more.

You need to remember the study I used in a previous article - your going to grow more on cycle than a natural even if you did zero training & the natural had a perfect diet, optimal training, great genetics, etc.
Quality gear makes a HUGE difference.

But why settle for less?
If you knew that fixing your training routine would add an extra 2/3 pounds of muscle, wouldn't you do it?
An enhanced guy with an optimal routine will always grow more than one with an average routine.
That's one of the reasons I'm writing about training, most guys do whatever everyone else is doing - if it was me I would want to make sure I'm doing everything I can do make sure my cycle gives me MAXIMUM gains, not just good gains.

You'll see in the next article what an optimal routine should look like & how far away most guys are from it - not everyone on gear looks as good as their cycle doses suggest for a reason :)
 
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Is there a optimal training routine for when on a cycle and after cycle? Whats the difference if there is one?
most people do not stay enhanced all year.
 
Is there a optimal training routine for when on a cycle and after cycle? Whats the difference if there is one?
most people do not stay enhanced all year.

An optimal routine for naturals will work the same, actually better, for on cycle - especially with the AAS involved.
Of course PCT is an exemption - its probably a good idea here to lower the frequency/volume of your training will maintaining intensity to make sure you keep your gains & recover properly.
 
Muscle Specific Training Part 2

Now that you all, hopefully, have a basic understanding of biomechanics & muscle fibre types - lets see how you can optimize your training for each specific muscle group.


Chest

The chest consists of an upper (clavicular head) & lower (sternal head) portion.
The main function of the chest is transverse shoulder flexion (internal rotation) & adduction (external rotation) so any exercise designed for the chest needs to involve these roles.
As a general rule, if your elbows are out to side then your shoulders are internally rotated, if they are by your side pointing to the floor then they are externally rotated.

Now the main problem lifters have when training the chest is that the front (anterior) delt tends to take over the load. The front delt is heavily involved in shoulder internal rotation but NOT external.
This means that you need to focus on movements with external rotation to really target your chest - the obvious example being flyes.
However, this does not mean that you should avoid chest movements with internal rotation. These moves stimulate your chest more since the chest is naturally stronger in this position. The key is to not overemphasize the front delts by adding a bunch of isolation work for it also - this leads to major shoulder problems as we'll see later.

Here are the best exercises for the chest:

- For pressing moves, the more your elbows flare out the better since this will lessen the role of non-transverse rotation, which is the main role of front raises.
The best exercise is guillotine presses, but I urge you to start with dumbbells since their is high risk attached to this move.
- Some guys will find that guillotine presses exacerbate shoulder problems, so a safer move would be pronated grip flyes.
A pronated, not a neutral, grip is key to maximise the strength of the chest since this involves more shoulder internal rotation.
This move is also better using cables to match the resistance curve to your strength curve - as I mentioned in a previous article.

Now the chest is made up of approximately 60% fast twitch muscle fibers so the ideal rep range needs to be 8-12 reps with a slow tempo on the eccentric portion.


Shoulders

Due to the sensitive nature of the shoulders, especially the rotator cuff, I see a lot of people messing up with their shoulder workouts and paying the price later on so this section is pretty important.

We all know the shoulder has 3 heads - front (anterior), rear(posterior) (rear) and lateral.
The biggest mistake bodybuilders make is they place way to much emphasis on the front delt and hardly any on the lateral or rear. In fact one study showed bodybuilders to have front delts 5 times bigger than average, with laterals only 3 times bigger and rear delts only 10-15%:
This isn't a shock because people tend to do a bunch of pushing movements on top of shoulder work & seem to think that side lateral raises are enough for the later delts - but they're not, at least not the way most people do them.

During a typical side raise, the force generated by the lateral delts is equal to the force generated by the front delt (75%) & rotator cuff muscles (25%).
This is means the side lateral raise is NOT an isolation move for the lateral delts, its simply just another shoulder exercise. I should add that these studies were done on average people, the results would be MUCH worse in bodybuilders due to the front delt dominance I mentioned earlier.

So how do we train the lateral delt with no involvement from the front?

Its all about doing the side lateral raise with good form:
- Do not do the move from the front in order to avoid shoulder flexion, which turns it into a front raise.
- Fully extend your elbow, I know its easier on the elbow to not do this but to keep maximum tension on the muscle you need full extension here.
- The weight needs to be in line with the lateral delt, this means doing the movement on an incline bench. An angle of around 30-60 degrees is sufficient but remember the lower the angle, the more the rear delts become involved.
- Range of motion: the first 30 degrees of the move is done primarily by the supraspinatus, then the lateral delt takes over. This means you need to maintain control of the move throughout the upper portion of the move - SO NO YANKING THE WEIGHT UP & DUCKING UNDERNEATH IT!

For the rear delts during horizontal moves such as the reverse flye, the more you externally rotate your shoulder the more the lateral head takes over. So you need to fully extend your elbow to minimize this external rotation and keep the focus on the rear delts.
I should add that all shoulder isolation moves should be done on an incline - its much more friendly for your shoulders health.

Exercises for the rear delt:
- reverse flyes, low incline side raises and any type of pulling movement that brings the elbows behind the body such as rows & face pulls (the lats cant extend the shoulder beyond neutral position, so rear delts are the main workers).

Exercises for the front delt:
- Honestly, you don't need any front delt work unless you have balanced shoulders & happen to be doing no overhead presses for whatever reason. In this case, front raises with external rotation is a good choice.

Exercises for the rotator cuff:
- for the external rotators you want to do face pulls with an underhand grip, using the stretch-reflex technique I mentioned in another article to explosively move the rope to your face & squeeze at the top.
- face pulls & reverse flyes are generally sufficient but if you want to isolate the infraspinatus and teres minor do side lying external rotations; this produced the greatest level of muscle activity according to EMG studies.


Since the shoulders are involved in practically everything you do in daily life, as you'd expect they have a very high work capacity and are approximately 60% slow twitch dominant - this means 15+ reps.


Triceps

Even more than the chest, the triceps are an explosive muscle group with approximately 67% of the muscle fibre being fast twitch.
So for all you guys doing high reps on the pulldowns - its time to stop that bullshit.
The rep range should be around 5-8 reps with big compound moves such as close grip bench presses, with pauses on the lockout & slow eccentrics.

Now we all know the tricep has 3 heads - long, lateral & medial. The big tricep compound moves are sufficient for the lateral & medial heads but NOT the long.
The long head crosses the elbow AND the shoulder in order to help with shoulder extension & external rotation - such as when you move your arm down towards your body.
This means its never going to be given enough tension during horizontal presses to be active at both joints at the same time - so you will have to add overhead work exclusively to work the long head such as skull crushers and any other version of the overhead tricep extension.


Biceps

The biceps have a long (outer) and short (inner) head.
The short head is a weak shoulder flexor that becomes inactive if you perform elbow & shoulder flexion together - this means that any movement that has your elbows in front of your shoulders is only working the long head, not the short.

A way to target the separate heads is to adjust your grip with a wide grip emphasizing the short & a narrow grip the long head (a shoulder length grip still places the tension on the long head).

All curl exercises hit the biceps but in terms of reps, they are slightly fast twitch dominant by approximately 5% so medium reps of 10-12 will do.


Forearms

I'm going to keep this section brief since there are way to many small separate muscles in the forearms that it would require an article of its own (which I have no motivation to write).
Movements involving elbow extension & flexion will cover most of the forearmmuscles, with some finger exercises & ulnar deviation being more advanced techniques. You also need to ensure your doing an equal amount of wrist flexion & extension in order to avoid problems in the future.

The forearms are VERY slow twitch dominant due to their constant use in daily life so 15+ reps is necessary.
Due to the limited range of motion, you also need to maximise the time under tension for forearms by having a very slow tempo throughout the range of motion of the movement.




In part 3 I'll be covering the different muscles of the back, midsection and legs to finish off this series :)



References

Biceps activity during shoulder motion: an electromyographic analysis. K Yamaguchi, K D Riew, L M Galatz, J A Syme, R J Neviaser. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 1997 March; (336): 122-129

Correlation between the proportion of fast fibers in the biceps brachii muscle and the relative torque during elbow flexion in subjects with clinical hypothesis of myopathy. C G N Back, P C B Oliveira, S M G Mattiello-Rosa , C F R Sobreira, E Z Martinez, A C Mattiello-Sverzut. Rev Bras Fisioter. 2008 March/April; 12(2): 107-112
Free to view for the public: Brazilian Journal of Physical Therapy - Correlation between the proportion of fast fibers in the biceps brachii muscle and the relative torque during elbow flexion in subjects with clinical hypothesis of myopathy

Data on the distribution of fibre types in thirty-six human muscles. An autopsy study. M A Johnson, J Polgar, D Weightman, D Appleton. J Neurol Sci. 1973 January; 18(1): 111-129

Electromyographicanalysis of the rotator cuff and deltoid musculature during common shoulder external rotation exercises. M M Reinold, K E Wilk, G S Fleisig, N Zheng, S W Barrentine, T Chmielewski, R C Cody, G G Jameson, J R Andrews. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2004 July; 34(7): 385-394

Fiber type composition and maximum shortening velocity of muscles crossing the human shoulder. R C Srinivasan, M P Lungren, J E Langenderfer, R E Hughes. ClinAnat. 2007 Mar;20(2):144-9

Shoulder muscle activity and function in common shoulder rehabilitation exercises. R F Escamilla, K Yamashiro, L Paulos, J R Andrews. Sports Med. 2009; 39(8): 663-685
Abstract is recommended reading: Shoulder muscle activity and function in common shoulder rehabilita... - PubMed - NCBI

The upper extremity of the professional tennis player: muscle volumes, fiber-type distribution and muscle strength. J Sanches-Moysi, F Idoate, H Olmedillas, A Guadalupe-Grau, S Alayn, A Carreras, C Dorado, J A L Calbet. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2010 June; 20(3): 524-534
 
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Muscle Specific Training Part 3

Time to finish this topic off...


Back

The back contains many different muscles that would take up way too much time and, frankly, I don't think many people are interested all of them.
So I'm going to split this section into the main muscle groups that can be trained, namely the lats, traps & lower back.

Latissimus Dorsi aka Lats

The main function of the lats is shoulder adduction & extension.
The lower part of the lats perform the adduction with the upper part involved in extension - so you need to incorporate both movements to maximise growth.
For shoulder adduction you need your shoulders to be externally rotated while for extension you want the shoulders to be in a neutral position.

An easy way to see if your externally rotating your shoulders is to ensure that your thumb is facing upwards, not down, while doing any type of rowing movement.
For example on straight arm pulldowns, you want to use a V bar rather than a straight bar to maximise growth by having the right shoulder rotation & hand positioning.

In terms of exercises:
Wide grip pullups/pulldowns are a good choice to maximise the growth of your lower lats through shoulder adduction.
For shoulder extension, pretty much any type of row will do provided you take into account the hand positioning I mentioned.

The lats have an equal amount of fast/slow twitch fibers so medium reps of 10-12 are the best choice.



Traps

This is another group where way to many people have inbalances because they focus on the upper traps (that look "aesthetic") and completely ignore the middle & lower traps.
Training the traps is actually pretty simple: depress, retract & elevate your scapulae in equal amounts versus resistance.

The traps are very slow twitch dominant so you need high volume, 15+ reps with an emphasis on slow tempo due to the limited range of motion of the muscles.
In terms of exercises, chin ups are an excellent way to target the mid-low traps as are any row variations that involve going from a high position to a low. For the upper traps, shrugs are the obvious choice.



Lower back

A very important group of muscles in your posterior chain (or "core"), effective training here can maximise all of your compound lifts & save you a lot of headaches with back injuries in the future.

The muscles in the lower back are designed to be stabilizers and NOT participate in any sort of flexion whatsoever. This means, if not performed correctly, moves such as back extensions can cause more harm than good.

The easiest way to train the lower back is through stable moves such as planks & bird dogs (youtube it for a demonstration) but the problem with these moves it that their is a limit to how much you can progress on them.
If your not susceptible to lower back problems, then back extensions are still the best way to optimize growth provided you correct your form
.

This involves AVOIDING full flexion of the lumbar spine (this looks a bit like a cat stretching) and instead maintaining a neutral spine by having a slight pelvic tilt. If done properly, your lower back should be stable throughout the move with no flexion whatsoever - an easy way to see if you've done it correctly is to have someone watch your lower back from a vertical position to see if there. If there is, then you need to readjust your form.
For anyone confused about this, PM me and I'll show you a video to demonstrate what I'm describing.

As for reps, the lower back is slow twitch dominant by approximately 6%, so 12-15 reps with a slight hold in the concentric position (2-3 secs) is optimal.



Abs

The rectus abdominis is involved in flexing the spine, the obliques are involved in rotating the spine and the transverse abdominis ("inner abs") are involved in creating intra-abdominal pressure.
This means compound movements like squats and deadlift variations are more than enough stimulation for the obliques and transverse abdominis but not for the rectus abdominis, which would need direct work.

The rectus abdominis is slightly fast twitch dominant and tends to respond best to 8-12 reps with slow eccentrics(3 sec).

However, when it comes to exercise selection things are complicated by the fact that spinal flexion, which is necessary to stimulate the abs, is inherently bad for your lower back & spine.
So my advice would be:
- Stick to planks or McGill curl ups if back health is a bigger priority
- Start doing hanging leg raises if maximum abs stimulation is the aim
- Perform crunches with a slightly tucked in hip to force your lower back to the ground in order to get the best of both worlds - any confusion about this technique please let me know.




Neck

I wasn't going to include this but since I incorporate neck training into my programme, and the neck is the most visible muscle group, I decided to include a short section on it.

The only exercises that will give you sufficient stimulation of the neck are weighted neck extensors & flexors (front, back & both sides). Start with a very little weight for your own safety.

The neck is 65% fast twitch dominant so you may think that low, explosive reps is the most optimal route.
Theoretically, yes but there are 2 major problems here:
- the neck is a very vulnerable body part as it is & I don't think its wise to do low rep high intensity stuff since the slightest error in form and your in a load of trouble.
- the neck also has a very short range of motion that makes it unlikely that you'll achieve enough muscle tension doing low, explosive reps.

Because of these considerations, I recommend 10-15 reps with a moderate tempo throughout the movement. This will allow a heavy enough weight to stimulate the muscle without risking injury.



Hamstrings

Hamstrings are involved in moving the hips during hip extension and knee flexion.
This dual function is key because if the hamstrings are flexed/stretched at the hip AND knee, they become inactive and don't get sufficient stimulation.

This means you need to choose movements that avoid all knee flexion, such as leg curls and straight leg/Romanian deadlifts.
The hamstrings are also EXTREMELY fast twitch dominant at 77% so reps of 5-8 with slow eccentrics is the way to go - forget all your high rep leg curl nonsense.




Glutes

To really emphasize the importance of training your glutes - countless polls conducted by women for women have shown that glutes are the most attractive body part on a male.
So all those men's bodybuilding magazines telling you its all about the chest, arms, etc - bullshit :)

Too many lifters train the hamstrings & glutes together despite the fact that they have COMPLETELY opposite functions & fibre types. This partially explains why male bodybuilders tend to have really poor glute development and overdeveloped hamstrings.
Both muscles are involved in hip extension but that's where the similarities end.

The glutes are activated when the knees are flexed, the hams are not. So any deadlift variety that involves bent knees, the glutes are being worked rather than hams - contrary to popular belief.
We've seen that the hams are very fast twitch dominant but the glutes are actually slightly (2-3%) slow twitch dominant - another reason why training both simultaneously will mean sacrificing growth in one of them (usually glutes).

Exercises for the glutes need to involve bent knees, so glute bridges & hip extensions are good choices here.
The rep range should be around 10-12 with a 3 second pause in the contracted position for glute isolation moves.




Quads

The quads have 3 heads known as the vastus lateralis (VL), rectus femoris (centre of the quad), and the vastus medialis oblique (VMO - teardrops).
All 3 heads are involved in knee extension but the rectus femoris is also involved in hip extension - this means its inactive on movements extending both the hips & knees (so leg extensions are better than squats here).

I should add that there are other muscles in the front of the thigh such as the adductors (60% slow twitch dominant) and a bunch of other small muscles around the hips that are even in terms of fibre composition - but I wont be going into detail about these.

The quads also have a mix of fibre composition with the VMO slightly slow twitch dominant, the VL 57% fast twitch and the rectus femoris is strongly fast twitch dominant at 65%.
The best thing to do here is use a mixed rep range with a slight emphasis on the low rep range. For example 2 sets of 8-12 with the 3rd & final set at 12-15.
I don't have any specific to say about exercise selection apart from ensuring you follow the rules I highlighted in my previous article.


Before moving on from the legs I want to add that in my experience leg compound moves (squats, lunges, etc) tend to stimulate more growth if the rep range is relatively high, such as 12-15.
I have a few theories as to why this may be but don't want to turn is article into broscience village so...




Calves

I've written so many training programmes for calves that I have all the data, and references, for this section memorized off the top of my head.

The calves can be split into two separate muscles - the soleus & the gastrocnemius.
The soleus is slightly "underneath" the gastroc but both are involved in giving the calves that well developed diamond like shape.

The soleus is approximately 90% slow twitch dominant & is involved in knee flexion.
This means the best way to train this portion of the calves is with donkey/seated calf raises through very high reps (20+) & slow tempo throughout the movement.

The gastroc is fast twitch dominant by a few percent and has a lateral & medial head.
To emphasise different heads of the gastroc you need to alter your foot positioning with toes out focusing on the medial & toes in for the lateral head.
Despite being only slightly fast twitch dominant, in my experience the gastroc responds very well to low reps. So the recommendation is to perform standing calf raises with neutral knee positioning in the 4-6 rep range with a slow (3 secs) eccentric portion.


For more specific information on training the calves - PM me & I'll said you a copy of a few routines I've used with success for my clients.



Conclusion

A few supplementary points to end on:

-An optimal rep range per muscle group is 40-60 reps, twice per week.
You can use this as a guideline to determine how many sets you need in your workout based on your split (5x5, 4x10, 3x12,2x15 etc).
- Optimal training frequency is 2-4x week but you can of course train more than this on cycle due to the enhanced recovery if you wish but I doubt it will add anything significant to your gains.
- Rest periods play a small role in building muscle, which is why I didn't really mention it. In general, you want short rest periods (60-90secs) for the slow twitch dominant & long periods (3-5 mins) for the fast twitch dominant.


Any questions about the techniques described in this article then please PM me and I'll be happy to explain.



References

Changes in muscle morphology in chronic trapezius myalgia. R Lindman, M Hagberg, K A Angqvist, K Soderlund, E Hultman, L E Thornell. Scand J Work Environ Health. 1991 October; 17(5): 347-355
Free to view study: Changes in muscle morphology in chronic trapezius myalgia. - PubMed - NCBI

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So what do you recommend for hamstrings then Zilla...?

I do both leg curls and Romanians... and I thought I was progressing really well...

The only other things I throw in for hammies, are lunges and leg press with feet high on the foot plate
 
So what do you recommend for hamstrings then Zilla...?

I do both leg curls and Romanians... and I thought I was progressing really well...

The only other things I throw in for hammies, are lunges and leg press with feet high on the foot plate

I recommend both leg curls and Romanians/straight leg deads in the article - the leg curl is the only exercise where knee flexion is ok because your lying down on your front.
Both moves are good choices :)

Lunges & high foot leg press are poor choices for hams due to the knee flexion - your glutes will benefit from lunges in particular though.

Of course, remember to keep the reps low with explosive concentric and slow eccentric portions - hamstrings respond very well to this due to the high fast twitch muscle dominance.
 
Did chest today and based on training part two I incorporated the guillotine press. Watched several videos on correct execution of it on you tube. Did lighter weight to get used to the move.

Tonight my chest feels like it did the first time I ever did chest LOL.

What a thread!
 
Did chest today and based on training part two I incorporated the guillotine press. Watched several videos on correct execution of it on you tube. Did lighter weight to get used to the move.

Tonight my chest feels like it did the first time I ever did chest LOL.

What a thread!

Same lmao, I just tried the guillotine press two days ago and my chest is still freaking killing me. Love it!

Thought this thread could use a bump ;)
 
I've been slacking off on this thread for a while - been busy with clients but will be writing something up this week.

Since its contest prep season for a lot of people, I've decided to focus on dieting - specifically the psychological aspect and how to overcome certain barriers.
This should be useful for a lot of people since everyone who's attempted to diet for any significant amount of time knows how much of a mind fuck it can be - contest prep individuals in particular will know what I'm referring to here.

Stay tuned :)
 
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