Now we’ll zero in on the phase 1 routine we recently adopted, which we constructed using Jonathan’s original version as a template.
While we made a number of tweaks, one thing we’re not changing is the bodypart split. We’re doing all-out workouts three days per week in the anabolic-primer phase with the original bodypart order:
Monday: Legs, chest, back, delts
Tuesday: Deadlifts, calves, arms, abs
Friday: Legs, chest, back, delts, calves
That may look like way too many bodyparts to train on Monday and Friday, but keep in mind that we do only one to two work sets per exercise and two to four sets per muscle group (see the workouts listed on page 72). So the individual bodypart volume is low, but the frequency with which you hit each muscle is high.
For example, before we moved to the Size Surge program, we were training quads once a week with about six all-out sets. On the program’s phase 1 routine legs get blasted three days a week with only two to three sets at each workout—hack squats and extensions on Monday, Trap Bar deadlifts on Wednesday and lunges and extensions on Friday.
To Squat or Not?
If you missed last month’s installment of TEG, you may be thinking, “What, no heavy free-bar squats for quads?!” As we explained, after decades of heavy squatting Steve was getting hip pain from the exercise, and we’ve both had numerous lower-back injuries due to the spine compression from having hundreds of pounds across our shoulders. We’ve also been reading about numerous older bodybuilders who have required hip replacements. Neither of us wants to go down that road if we can avoid it.
We’re not saying that squats are bad; they’re just not right for us at this point in our lifting careers—at least not the heavy free-bar variety. Machine hack squats and Trap Bar deadlifts are more ergonomically correct for us. If you’re young and/or are built for squatting without joint pain or injury, get after it. We’re just not taking any chances.
We made a few other exercise substitutions to Jonathan’s original Size Surge phase 1 workouts, like rack pulls instead of dumbbell upright rows and dumbbell instead of barbell curls; however, the integrity of the program has remained intact for the most part.
You’ll remember that when Jonathan used the Size Surge program to gain 20 pounds of muscle in 10 weeks, he was in his early 20s. It helped him reenergize his bodybuilding training and move to the next level. (You can see his before and after photos on the e-book cover at the bottom of page 79.) Now he’s past 35, and Steve is 50, so joint-friendly exercises are a must.
The Density-Immensity Connection
In recent TEG installments we’ve discussed the importance of power training in conjunction with density, or endurance, work. You need both for maximum muscle growth: Recent research has shown that the biggest bodybuilders have a preponderance of type 2A muscle fibers, the fast-twitchers with both power and endurance capabilities. (Eur J Appl Physiol. 103[5]:579-83. 2008.)
If you look at the Size Surge workouts below, you may wonder where the density work is—the supersets, drop sets and/or higher-rep sets that force longer tension times. The answer is, it’s mostly a power-dominant phase; however, if you look closely, you’ll see that there is some density work as well.
For example, if you use the optimal rep speed, which is about 1.5 seconds up and three seconds down, you’ll get 30 to 40 seconds of tension time on the first set of each big exercise. That’s because you use a poundage that gets you to nine reps on the first set—nine times 4.5 seconds equals 40.5 seconds.
Now, that’s not as much endurance work as doing drop sets or supersets, but it’s more tension time than most trainees get. If you watch most wannabe-big bodybuilders training, you’ll see all work sets lasting fewer than 20 seconds—total power, zero density—which is why gains are so slow for most. They get no density size effects, which the key 2A muscle fibers require to develop to the extreme.
There’s more density stimulation on the back end of most bodypart routines in the phase 1 Size Surge program. Notice that for many muscle groups a follow-up continuous-tension isolation exercise, such as leg extensions for quads, leg curls for hams and pushdowns for triceps, is included.
True, it’s usually for only one set and for only seven to nine reps, but even that will choke off blood flow from the target muscle for an endurance-component growth response. In other words, while they are short bursts of tension and occlusion in the power-rep range, they’ll do sizable things for the endurance side of the 2As. It’s the perfect chaser to the big exercise you do first.
Power-Dominant Mass Response
Understand that power in and of itself is a key get-bigger trigger, so you should always strive to get stronger. It appears to be the dominant hypertrophic stimulus in many trainees. As Arthur Jones, the creator of Nautilus machines and the father of high-intensity training, said:
“When the actual progress of an individual trainee is carefully charted over a period of a few months, several rather surprising results will become immediately apparent; for example, while strength levels will increase in a series of gentle curves, increases in the size of the involved bodyparts—and thus apparent increases in muscular mass—will result in a stair-step pattern.”
What Jones was trying to get across is that strength increases are usually fairly steady, fluctuating slightly up and down but on a distinctly upward trajectory, while size increases come in sudden spurts or bursts followed by plateaus—a stair-step pattern. Said Jones, “In effect, size increases permit strength increases—and strength increases force size increases.”
At one point Jones was fanatical about measuring his arms and noted that once they grew almost a full inch overnight. Now, that’s a growth spurt!
Jonathan vividly remembers his steady strength increases during the very first Size Surge experiment—at almost every workout—and by the end, week 10, he’d packed on 20 pounds of muscle. He obviously got a few significant stair-step size spurts along the way, just as Jones predicted.
The bottom line is that power is important, but density, or endurance, is a key factor in packing on extreme muscle mass as well. As you can see, some density work is included in phase 1, just not in its purest form—supersets, drop sets or higher-rep sets. Here it’s all power sets with density edges; however, to continue to stair-step your size gains, you get a bit more density in phase 2, when you move to full-range Positions of Flexion.
As we explained last month, with full-on POF mass training you attack the midrange-, stretch- and contracted-position of each target muscle. For example, for biceps it’s barbell curls, incline curls and concentration curls. That gives you density size effects via blood-flow blockage during contracted-position exercises, like concentration curls, to finish off each muscle. Plus, you get density size stimulation on stretch-position exercises. Most of those produce occlusion as well as anabolic stretch overload. Stretch exercises include overhead extensions for triceps, incline curls for biceps and sissy squats for quads—but we’re getting ahead of ourselves. More POF protocol next month.
The lesson is that whether you’re on the Size Surge program or something else, always be sure you get a few longer-tension-time sets so you fully develop the key 2A mass fibers; don’t settle for the sluggish size gains produced by all-lower-rep, short-set workouts—which is what the majority of bodybuilders do.
Science Says…
Just so you don’t think we pulled the power-density idea out of a hat, here’s what scientists have recently discovered—eye-opening data, to say the least.
Researchers took about 100 randomly selected subjects and trained them using various set-and-rep protocols. Those with a so-called ACE-2 variant, or endurance gene—skinny folks—responded best to training using 12 to 15 reps, or extended tension times. When those subjects used heavier weight, which limited their reps to around eight, they had much slower gains.
On the other hand, the subjects who were more anaerobic, with something called an ACE-DD variant, got similar gains from both types of loads—heavier, low-rep work and higher-rep sets. They also made greater strength gains than the endurance-oriented group. Still, the DD subjects made the most gains from the heavier training, implying that they respond best to that kind of lower-rep weight work. (Eur J App Physiol. 95[1]:20-26. 2005.)
We’ve observed that exact response variance in our training. Steve’s muscles are more endurance oriented—ACE-2—as he is more of a hardgainer. Jonathan’s are more anaerobic, ACE-DD. If our training has too much extended-tension, or density, work, Jonathan stagnates; if we do too much heavy lower-rep power work, Steve’s muscle gains stall or regress.
To sum it up, everyone needs both types of training—power and density—to max out muscle mass, but the right amount of each can be different depending on your genetics and fiber makeup. Our hypothesis is that a good average for an acceptable hypertrophic response is about two-thirds power and one-third density, although hardgainers tend to skew higher in the density component. Interesting stuff, and the two-thirds-power/one-third density is about what the phase Size Surge program contains.
IRON MAN Training & Research Center Muscle-Training Program 126
Monday, Workout 1
Hack squats 2 x 9, 7
Leg extensions 1 x 7-9
Stiff-legged deadlifts 1 x 7-9
Leg curls 1 x 7-9
Bench presses 2 x 9, 7
Decline flyes 1 x 7-9
Incline dumbbell presses 2 x 7-9
Pulldowns 2 x 9, 7
Bent-over rows 2 x 7-9
Dumbbell presses 2 x 9, 7
Rack pulls 2 x 9, 7
Leg press calf raises 2 x 12-18Wednesday, Workout 2
Trap Bar deadlifts 2 x 9, 7
Standing calf raises 2 x 12-18
Dumbbell curls 2 x 9, 7
Concentration curls 2 x 7-9
Lying dumbbell extensions 2 x 9, 7
Pushdowns 2 x 7-9
Dumbbell wrist curls or rockers 1 x 12-18
Hammer curls 1 x 7-9
Incline kneeups 2 x 7-9
Ab Bench crunches 2 x 10-15Friday, Workout 3
Dumbbell lunges 2 x 7-9
Leg extensions 1 x 7-9
Leg curls 2 x 7-9
Seated calf raises 2 x 12-18
Bench presses 2 x 9, 7
Decline flyes 1 x 7-9
Incline dumbbell presses 2 x 7-9
Pulldowns 2 x 9, 7
Bent-over rows 2 x 7-9
Dumbbell presses 2 x 9, 7
Rack pulls 2 x 9, 7
Monday, Workout 1
Squats 2 x 7-9
Leg extensions 1 x 7-9
Stiff-legged deadlifts 1 x 7-9
Leg curls 1 x 7-9
Bench presses 2 x 7-9
Dumbbell flyes 1 x 7-9
Incline dumbbell presses 2 x 7-9
Chins 2 x 7-9
Bent-over rows 2 x 7-9
Behind-the-neck presses 2 x 7-9
Dumbbell upright rows 2 x 7-9Wednesday, Workout 2
Deadlifts 2 x 7-9
Standing calf raises 2 x 12-18
Barbell curls 2 x 7-9
Lying extensions 2 x 7-9
Wrist curls 1 x 12-18
Hammer curls 1 x 7-9
Incline kneeups 2 x 7-9
Crunches 2 x 12-18Friday, Workout 3
Squats 2 x 7-9
Leg extensions 1 x 7-9
Leg curls 1 x 7-9
Seated calf raises 2 x 12-18
Bench presses 2 x 7-9
Dumbbell flyes 1 x 7-9
Incline dumbbell presses 2 x 7-9
Chins 2 x 7-9
Bent-over rows 2 x 7-9
Behind-the-neck presses 2 x 7-9
Dumbbell upright rows 2 x 7-9
source:ironmanmagazine.com