hypertrophy | Top Form Fitness

Pre-Exhaust Training – Old School Mass Builder

One of my favorite advanced training techniques for hypertrophy (building muscle) is pre-exhaustion. This “old-school” method was used and recommended by some of the great golden-era bodybuilders from back in the day such as Casey Viator, Arthur Jones, and Mike Mentzer. However, I don’t recommend using this training protocol until you have a good foundation getting stronger with the big basic compound movements (such as squats, presses, and pulls). For myself, I like to alternate between a program like my Barbarian Strength Training and Pre-Exhaust Training every few weeks. […]

Josh Hewett2020-06-15T22:00:11-04:00

Your Ticket to the GunShow (Big Arms Routine)

Every red-blooded man with hair on his balls wants bigger, more muscular arms. It’s in our DNA. This is now one of my big goals for 2014… I plan on adding at least one inch to each arm within THREE months! How the heck do I plan on doing this? Well, the first step to growing bigger arms is to focus on gaining some quality muscle mass over your entire frame, by following a solid hypertrophy / muscle-building program, such as my Basic Anabolic Hypertrophy Training (BAHT) program and nutrition plan. I don’t recommend focusing on smaller muscle group too much until you have a decent base to build from. I don’t suggest trying to add inches to your arms during a “cutting phase”, or while following a caloric deficit. You need to be ready to gain some weight. Check out my BAHT blog post HERE: Basic Anabolic Hypertrophy Training [...]

Josh Hewett2014-01-25T23:10:15-05:00

How to Gain More Muscle Mass – GET BIG Program

After focusing on losing body fat for over a year, and successfully achieving a single digit body fat % as well as the coveted “six pack”, I’ve decided that I now look a little too “skinny” for my liking. So I’ve taken on a new goal, which is to gain a few pounds of muscle while minimizing fat gain. In preparation for this goal I’ve added to my knowledge of hypertrophy by doing a serious amount of reading, as well as speaking with other fitness experts who are well versed in the science of growing muscle. From what I’ve learned, I’ve put together what I believe to be a solid hypertrophy program. I’m about to list all the principles for WHY I set it up this way, so this may be a long post (bear with me!): I’m calling it BAHT (Basic Anabolic Hypertrophy Training). It follows some similar principles [...]

Josh Hewett2014-01-25T14:56:09-05:00

How to Induce Hypertrophy

So you want to gain some lean muscle? You’re looking to get “swole” but you’re getting confused by all the different training recommendations? Well, you’re in luck. My friend and colleague Jay Horn has shared this guest post detailing the key causes of hypertrophy. If you follow his suggestions and make sure your nutrition is on point (you are consuming adequate calories and macro-nutrients), you will grow. Let’s take a closer look: How to Induce Hypertrophy By Jay Horn Hypertrophy is a multifactorial process – this includes: Inroad (weakening of muscle) Increased progressive tension Accumulated fatigue (hormonal response) Microtrauma (tearing of muscle fibers where repair and growth can occur) No matter what the muscles MUST undergo a progressive tension stimulus. There are different training protocols out there that produce results, but nonetheless this is the most important factor: Progressive tension. This means one must load the muscle efficiently and have [...]

Josh Hewett2012-12-28T00:00:42-05:00

PakMan’s Top 5 Muscle Building Tips

This is a follow up to my previous post where I shared Ben’s Top 5 Fat Loss Tips, from his seminar Advanced Techniques for Muscular Hypertrophy and Fat Loss. This time I want to discuss his Top 5 Muscle Building Tips. Muscle Building Tip #1: Understand Muscle Function and Train with Focus One of the first things Ben spoke about was how important it was to have a decent understanding of the function of the muscles you are training. Learn their origins and insertions on your body, what their action is when they contract, understand how to fully shorten the muscle, and focus on creating tension in the target muscles when you are training. Your muscles don’t know how much weight you are moving… they only respond to how much tension you place on them. Once you understand basic muscle function, you can manipulate your exercises to better target your [...]

Josh Hewett2012-06-09T00:28:52-04:00

High Intensity Training Techniques (HITT)

Getting results from your training is strongly related to the intensity at which you train. If you don’t engage your exercise program with the appropriate intensity you are missing out on the progress you could be achieving. Even with the best training program and the most productive exercises, if you don’t challenge yourself you aren’t likely to see significant results. High intensity training requires a certain mental toughness, effort, and a willingness to get out of your comfort zone. The video below demonstrates 4 methods of increasing the intensity in your workouts using a technique called “set-extension”, which means you will employ these methods at the end of a set, once you have already reached momentary muscular fatigue. […]

Josh Hewett2011-05-06T20:27:33-04:00

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