How To Train For Pure Muscle Growth
Summary
TLDRIn this video, the focus is on maximizing pure muscle growth through five critical bodybuilding principles. The video emphasizes the importance of tension as the primary driver of muscle growth and introduces 'bodybuilding technique' for optimal tension application. It advises on proper lifting tempo, full range of motion, controlled effort, and the necessity of progressive overload for continuous muscle development. The video also advocates for high-tension exercises and discusses the role of training variables like volume and rest periods in muscle hypertrophy.
Takeaways
- 💪 Tension is the primary factor for muscle growth, causing a biochemical response that signals muscles to grow.
- 🏋️♂️ Bodybuilding technique is distinct from powerlifting, emphasizing controlled tempo and full range of motion for maximum tension.
- 📉 Controlled negative tempo (2-4 seconds) is crucial for muscle hypertrophy, as it places more emphasis on the eccentric phase of lifts.
- 🚀 Explosive concentric movements should follow slow negatives to maximize muscle tension and growth.
- 🙅♂️ Avoid 'cheating' on form; maintain proper technique to ensure target muscles receive the most tension.
- 💥 Pushing sets close to failure is key for maximizing muscle growth, as it stimulates greater hypertrophic response.
- 🔁 Progressive overload is essential to avoid plateaus; increase reps, add weight, or improve technique to continually challenge muscles.
- 🏋️♀️ High-tension exercises are preferable for pure hypertrophy training, offering better stimulus-to-fatigue ratios.
- 🔄 Variety in exercises is important for muscle growth; machines and cable exercises can be superior for targeting specific muscles.
- 📚 The 'Pure Bodybuilding' program offers a structured approach to maximize muscle growth with specific exercise demos and coaching cues.
Q & A
What is the primary focus of the video?
-The primary focus of the video is to explain how to train for pure muscle growth, outlining five crucial bodybuilding principles that must be followed to maximize muscular development.
What is the first principle discussed in the video for maximizing muscle growth?
-The first principle discussed is 'Tension is King,' emphasizing that tension is the primary factor driving muscle growth, which occurs when muscles stretch and contract under load.
What is 'bodybuilding technique' as mentioned in the video?
-Bodybuilding technique refers to a specific type of exercise performance that differs from powerlifting technique and common gym practices. It includes controlled tempo, full range of motion, and minimizing momentum to maximize muscle tension.
How does the video suggest managing the tempo during exercise for muscle hypertrophy?
-The video suggests a controlled tempo for bodybuilding, with a 2 to 4 second negative (lowering phase) and a faster, more explosive concentric (lifting phase) to maximize muscle growth.
What is the importance of range of motion in bodybuilding exercises as per the video?
-The video emphasizes the importance of a proper range of motion, usually a full range, to ensure the muscle is sufficiently stretched during lifting to maximize hypertrophy, with some exceptions where partial reps in the stretched aspect of the lift can be more effective.
Why is it important to push sets hard according to the video?
-Pushing sets hard is important because research shows that most people don't push their sets close enough to failure to stimulate new hypertrophy, which is necessary for muscle growth.
What does the video say about the effectiveness of training to failure for muscle growth?
-The video presents conflicting evidence on training to failure. While one meta-analysis suggests that training closer to failure leads to more muscle growth, another suggests there's no superiority of training to failure over non-failure training for hypertrophy.
What is the 'progressive overload principle' discussed in the video?
-The progressive overload principle is about increasing some training variable, such as weight, reps, or improving technique, from week to week to continue stimulating muscle growth and avoid plateaus.
Why should high tension exercises be chosen according to the video?
-High tension exercises should be chosen because they place high levels of tension on the target muscles, which is essential for muscle growth. The video suggests that machine and cable-based exercises often provide a better stimulus to fatigue ratio for pure hypertrophy training.
What does the video suggest about the role of training volume in muscle growth?
-The video suggests that training volume is important for muscle growth up to a point, and it's recommended to do two to three sets on most exercises, with the last set taken to failure to maximize volume and stimulate growth.
What additional resources are offered at the end of the video?
-At the end of the video, the presenter offers a new pure bodybuilding program for pre-order, which includes a full 10-week plan, the hypertrophy handbook, and the pure bodybuilding nutrition booklet, all designed to support muscle growth.
Outlines
💪 Maximizing Muscle Growth: The Importance of Tension
The video focuses on training for pure muscle growth, emphasizing five critical bodybuilding principles. The first principle is 'tension is King,' highlighting that tension, the force experienced by muscles during stretching and contraction, is crucial for muscle growth. The video suggests using bodybuilding technique, which includes controlled tempo, full range of motion, and avoiding cheating on form to maximize tension. It also stresses the importance of pushing sets hard to stimulate muscle growth, and the need for progressive overload to prevent plateaus by increasing training variables such as weight, reps, or improving technique.
🏋️♂️ Bodybuilding Techniques and Training to Failure
The video discusses the use of bodybuilding techniques to ensure maximum muscle tension, such as controlled negative movements and explosive concentric movements. It also addresses the debate on training to failure, presenting findings from recent meta-analyses that suggest a spike in muscle growth as one approaches failure. The video advises doing two to three sets with the last set taken to failure, while earlier sets should leave one or two reps in reserve. Additionally, it introduces a new bodybuilding program designed for muscle growth, emphasizing less demanding exercises for better recovery and pushing sets closer to failure.
📈 Progressive Overload and Choosing High-Tension Exercises
The video emphasizes the principle of progressive overload to continuously challenge muscles and avoid plateaus. It outlines various ways to apply this principle, such as increasing reps or weight, improving technique, or enhancing the mind-muscle connection. Furthermore, the video discusses the selection of high-tension exercises for optimal muscle stimulation, advocating for a mix of machine and cable exercises due to their high stimulus-to-fatigue ratio. It contrasts this with compound free weight exercises, which, while beneficial, may not be as efficient for pure hypertrophy due to their high fatigue demand. The video concludes with a recommendation for a new bodybuilding program designed to kickstart muscle growth, including a comprehensive guide and tailored exercise demos.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Tension
💡Bodybuilding Technique
💡Tempo
💡Range of Motion
💡Momentum
💡Progressive Overload
💡Stimulus to Fatigue Ratio
💡Mind-Muscle Connection
💡Volume
💡Machine and Cable Exercises
Highlights
Tension is the primary factor driving muscle growth.
Maximize tension on a muscle through specific bodybuilding techniques.
Use a controlled tempo for bodybuilding exercises, emphasizing the lowering phase.
Pair slower eccentric movements with faster concentric movements for optimal muscle stimulation.
Employ a full range of motion in exercises, with an emphasis on the stretched aspect for hypertrophy.
Maintain proper form to ensure target muscles receive the majority of the tension.
Push sets hard to maximize muscle growth, approaching failure for optimal stimulus.
Recent meta-analysis suggests a spike in muscle growth as reps approach failure.
Apply progressive overload by increasing reps, weight, or improving technique over time.
Choose exercises with a high stimulus to fatigue ratio for pure hypertrophy training.
Machine and cable-based exercises provide high tension with less fatigue, ideal for bodybuilding.
Free weights have their advantages but may not be as optimal for pure muscle growth due to higher fatigue.
Variety in exercises and novelty is beneficial for continued muscle growth.
Training split and rest periods are important but less critical than other factors for muscle growth.
Specialized hypertrophy techniques can be helpful for advanced trainees.
The Pure Bodybuilding program offers a structured approach to maximize muscle growth.
The program includes a variety of exercises and coaching cues for effective muscle stimulation.
Transcripts
in this video I'm going to explain how
to train for Pure muscle growth and I'm
going to lay out five crucial
bodybuilding principles that must be
followed to maximize your muscular
development this video isn't about how
to get stronger it isn't about how to
get both bigger and stronger this video
is about maximizing pure muscle
gain chapter 1 tension is
King okay so the first non-negotiable
principle is that tension is King at
this point tension is universally
recognized as the primary factor driving
muscle growth tension is the force that
our muscles experience when they stretch
and contract under load if you think of
each muscle fiber as a rope in a tug of
war that stretching and pulling on the
rope is tension that tension then causes
a biochemical signaling Cascade that
ultimately tells the muscle it needs to
grow bigger so how do we maximize
tension on a muscle well answering that
question leads us into the four
remaining
principles chapter 2 use bodybuilding
technique to ensure maximum tension we
need to perform exercises using a
specific type of technique that I'm
calling bodybuilding technique this
technique is different from powerlifting
technique and it's different from how
most people lift I was at an LA Fitness
Gym the other day and I noticed just how
few people actually use bodybuilding
technique almost nobody was taking all
the boxes the first box is lifting tempo
for bodybuilding we generally want a
controlled 2 to 4 second negative if
you're used to just letting the weight
free fall this will feel quite slow at
first but this is important because
research shows that the lowering phase
or the Ecentric is very likely more
important for muscle growth in the
positive phase or concentric yet for
whatever reason most people lift as if
the opposite were true most people just
try to get the weight up and then forget
about lowering it back down especially
as they get tired toward the end of a
set but this is a mistake because the
Reps toward the end of a set are the
most hypertrophic and the negative is
the most important part of each rep so
you really want to control and resist
the negative especially on those last
few reps new re Arch also indicates that
for muscle hypertrophy slower Ecentric
movements should be paired with faster
concentric movements this means that
while you want to go nice and slow on
the negative you should be more forceful
and explosive on the positive so if I'm
doing a hack squat I'm thinking control
control control on the way down and then
speed as I explode on the way up on
lateral raises I'm resisting the weight
on the way down and then driving the
dumbbells up and out forcefully on the
positive the same tempo should apply to
most exercises in your routine next
bodybuilding technique means using a
proper range of motion usually this
means using a full range of motion so
you get to at least parallel on squat
type exercises and ideally a bit below
parallel you bring the dumbbells all the
way down on presses until you feel a
nice deep stretch in your pecs and on
pull-ups you go all the way up and all
the way down however there is some
important Nuance here because recently a
number of Studies have shown that full
range of motion isn't always better for
muscle growth partial reps are sometimes
more effective but only when they're
done in the stretched aspect of the lift
in other words the stretch stretched
part is more hypertrophic than the
squeezed part so the bottom half of a
cable curl is more important than the
top half of a cable curl the bottom half
of a squat is more important than the
top half of a squat so you may not
necessarily always need to use a full
range of motion but you do need to get
the muscle sufficiently stretched while
lifting to maximize hypertrophy so if
you're not feeling a deep stretch at the
bottom of the range of motion you should
try to find that stretch by going a bit
deeper if going deeper causes you pain
or serious discomfort you can work on
any flexibility or Mobility deficit or
you can find a different exercise that
allows you to reach that deep stretch
because it really is that important
another thing I've been noticing a lot
at the gym is that most people do quite
a lot of cheating on their form probably
too much cheating to maximize muscle
growth that's because you can move the
weight without actually applying much
tension to the Target muscle for example
if I curl the weight up while leaning
back and forth I'm shifting tension away
from the biceps and onto the lower back
so we want to ensure that the target
muscle is receiving most of the tension
which means keeping momentum under
control
chapter three
effort you need to push sets hard and
unfortunately research consistently
shows that most people simply don't push
their sets hard enough to maximize
muscle growth it's very common to see
people hitting the gym year after year
but making no noticeable progress in
most cases this isn't because they'
maxed out their natural potential
instead it's usually because they simply
aren't pushing their sets close enough
to failure to stimulate new hypertrophy
so how hard is hard enough and how
important is going to failure well since
I published my last video on this topic
there's been a bombshell of a new meta
analysis that is the science-based
lifting Community buzzing and I need to
update a few things first I want to
quickly announce that I just launched my
new pure bodybuilding program for
pre-order over on Jeff ner.me
here's a sneak peek at week one day one
of the full body version of the program
we start with three sets of cross body
lat pull rounds which offer an insane
stretch on the lats then we do lwi
incline Smith machine press for the pecs
Which is less demanding than a freee
barbell press then it's on to machine
hip adductions to get the legs nice and
warmed up for leg press again another
low impact exercise that we can push
harder without generating tons of
fatigue and then we finish with some
face PS and cable crunches so by
prioritizing exercises that are less
costly recoverywise we're a to push them
much closer to failure without feeling
completely wrecked anyway you can
pre-order the full 10we plan at 30% off
for the pre-sale and I'll put a link to
that in the description box down below
so this is the new meta analysis which
found that as you get closer and closer
to failure the more muscle growth you
tend to see and this is their bombshell
figure that you've probably seen
floating around online here on the
x-axis we have reps in reserve so this
point here at zero would be failure
where you couldn't do another rep if you
tried this point would be two rep shy of
failure this would be 10 rep shy of
failure all the way down down to 22 rep
shy of failure which would basically
just be the easiest set imaginable and
then here on the y- AIS is muscle growth
and as you can see from the trend line
as you get closer and closer to failure
you see more and more muscle growth in
fact as you go from two reps in the tank
to zero reps in the tank muscle growth
really spikes up so naturally a lot of
people who endorse high-intensity to
failure training have been using this
study to make their case that if you
want to maximize muscle growth you need
to push sets all the way to failure and
I do think they have a pretty good case
for that training approach with this
study however what I haven't seen them
showing is this other brand new meta
analysis from 2022 which pulled 15
studies based on slightly different
inclusion criteria and came to a
different conclusion quote there is no
evidence to support that resistance
training performed to momentary muscular
failure is superior to non-failure
resistance training for muscle
hypertrophy so what's going on here well
it seems that depending on which
specific studies you include and how you
run the statistics you can either come
away from this body of science thinking
that going all the way to failure really
is a lot better for muscle growth or
that going all the way to failure
doesn't actually offer a meaningful
benefit over stopping a few reps shy the
evidence is conflicting so what should
we do practically speaking well this is
my takeaway do two to three sets on most
exercises and take the last set all the
way to failure for the first one or two
sets leave one or two reps in the tank
if you were to go to failure on all sets
you'd most likely be very fatigued by
the last set which means you'd get less
reps and hit less volume as a result we
know from other research that volume is
also important for muscle growth up to a
point now rather than do a full deep
dive on training volume I'll just put a
text summary up here on screen that you
guys can pause and read for more detail
on that so leave a few reps in the tank
for the earlier sets and send it to Hell
on the last set I also pretty much
always leave a rep or two in the tank on
heavy free weight compound exercises
like squats bench presses and deadlifts
even on the last set simply because
going to failure is so
disproportionately fatiguing that it's
not worth the risk on these movements
but that's also part of the reason why
those exercises aren't emphasized in my
pure bodybuilding program
chapter four give your muscles a reason
to
grow to build bigger muscles we need to
give them a good reason to grow if we
keep doing the exact same thing week
after week and month after month our
muscle growth will fairly quickly
Plateau so to keep things progressing
you need to apply the progressive
overload principle where you aim to
increase some training variable from
week to week now there are a few main
ways to apply Progressive overload
specifically for bodybuilding first you
can add reps at the same amount of
weight for example on bicep you could do
three sets of 10 in week 1 three sets of
11 in week 2 three sets of 12 in week
three and then in week four you could
either go for 13 reps or you could add
some weight and return back to 10 reps
and then start adding reps again this
type of progression is usually better
for moderate to high rep zones you can
also add weight at a fixed rep count for
example on hack squats you could do
three sets of six reps with three plates
per side in week one and then add 10
pounds to each side each week until
eventually you build up to four plates
per side for the same three sets of six
reps this type of progression is usually
better for lower to moderate rep zones
eventually you'll have a week where
you're not able to add weight or reps
and in this case you should focus on
improving some aspect of your Technique
you can try to control the negative
better use less momentum on the positive
or improve your range of motion I still
count this as Progressive overload
because it increases tension on the
target muscle as a final option you can
try to improve your mind muscle
Connection by really focusing on feeling
the target muscle working better
research has shown that the Mind muscle
connection can increase hypertrophy in
some cases and well it may not be as
effective as adding weight or reps or
improving technique it's still worth
keeping in mind especially on isolation
exercises where traditional overloading
becomes impractical at a certain point
of strength
development chapter five choose high
tension
exercises because tension is King we
need to make sure that we're choosing
exercises that place high levels of
tension on the target muscles and this
is where I may lose some of you so I
want to reiterate that this advice is
directed at pure hypertrophy training
not strength training or hybrid training
and so while it is true that you can
build a great physique by only using
barbell exercises like the squat bench
press and deadlift especially if you
throw in a pull-up in a freee row this
approach is probably too basic to
maximize muscle growth that's for two
reasons for one there will be smaller
muscles that go under stimulated if this
is literally all you do muscles like the
biceps side delts hamstrings and calves
won't be getting enough love and
secondly some of these exercises don't
have the best stimulus to fatigue ratio
this is a term coined by Dr Mike isra
tell and it essentially means exactly
what it sounds like the stimulus part
mainly refers to how much tension the
exercise delivers to the Target muscle
and the fatigue part refers to how
fatiguing the exercise is or how hard it
is to recover from so for example the
deadlift offers a high stimulus because
it places a lot of tension on the glutes
and the spinal Erectors which is great
but it also carries a very high fatigue
demand it's really hard to recover from
which isn't as great from a bodybuilding
perspective so for Pure hypertrophy we
want to at least air toward exercises
that have a High stimulus to fatigue
ratio now this doesn't mean that any
exercise that causes fatigue is bad
fatigue is an inevitable and necessary
part of training but generally speaking
if we can pick an exercise that offers
just as high or higher of a stimulus for
Less fatigue that's going to be a good
pick and machine and cable-based
exercises are some of the best options
for this they provide massive tension
for Less fatigue than free weights and
also tend to be safer to take to failure
research also shows that contrary to
popular belief machines are at least as
effective as free weights in stimulating
hypertrophy and some evidence suggests
that they may be superior in some cases
this shouldn't be super surprising
because machines and cables tend to have
fantastic resistance profiles where you
get this smooth even tension throughout
the range of motion for example with the
standard freeway dumbbell curl your
biceps reach their highest level of
tension when the elbow is at 90° and
experience virtually zero tension when
the bicep is fully stretched at the
bottom by contrast the face away Bean
cable curl offers much more continuous
tension on the biceps throughout the
ring range of motion including in that
important stretch position at the bottom
now I don't want to overstate the
superiority of machines and cables free
weights have some advantages too they're
more accessible they tend to have better
strength carryover and they may activate
smaller stabilizers better and I'm still
a fan of the barbell I love the squat
bench and deadlift and I think that
strength can fit neatly into a
hypertrophy plan if programmed correctly
but if we're designing a program purely
dedicated to muscle growth that's a
recovery wrinkle we don't need to worry
about plus we already know that having
some exercise variety and Novelty is
good for muscle growth and doing the
same exercises month after month and
year after year can get stale there are
a few other things that can impact
muscle growth but are relatively less
important your training split is
essentially just a way of organizing
your workouts throughout the week and as
long as it fits your schedule allows you
to push your sets hard do enough volume
and recover between workouts it'll work
just fine full body routines upper lower
splits push P leg splits and even
modified body part splits are all
effective options also rest periods seem
to matter somewhat for muscle growth
resting at least 1 minute between sets
is generally better than resting for
less than 1 minute so be careful not to
rush through your workout as it can
limit your recovery between sets and
then there are specialized hypertrophy
techniques like long length perals myor
reps and drop sets which can all be
helpful for driving continued progress
beyond the beginner stage I'm going to
cover at least five or six of these
techniques in an upcoming miniseries so
make sure you're subscribed and have a
look out for that within the next month
and again if you're looking for a
program to Kickstart some new growth I'd
recommend checking out my pure
bodybuilding program over on Jeff
ner.me % off you'll also get the
hypertrophy handbook sent to you right
away which covers everything you need to
know about training for muscle growth
and you'll get the pure bodybuilding
nutrition booklet right away so you can
get your diet on track as well you'll
also get all three versions of the pure
bodybuilding program when you pre-order
so you'll get the push pull legs full
body and upper lower versions of the
program after the pre-order week is over
you'll just select which one version of
the program you want unless you want to
buy all three separately each version of
the program also includes a weak points
and arm day so you can prioritize
whatever your individual weak point is
and I included the dedicated arm workor
because it's a really fun workout it's a
great pump and arms are super important
for bodybuilding this is definitely not
like any of my other programs and I
filmed over 200 private exercise demos
specifically for this program that each
come with specific coaching cues and
tutorials from me there's a lot of new
exercises in here that I think you guys
are really going to love so you can
click the link over here next to my head
if you want to check that out and as
always thank you guys so much for
watching I really appreciate it don't
forget to leave me a thumbs up if you
enjoyed the video subscribe if you
haven't already and I'll see you guys
I'll here in the next one
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