If you aren’t doing some sort of progressive resistance training, then you’re gonna struggle more than a fraternity with a fridge full of O’Doul’s. Doesn’t matter what you’re trying to do. Wanna build muscle? You need it. Wanna lose fat? You need it. (You need to do both, remember?) REMEMBER? YOU BETTER REMEMBER. On the muscle end [...]
If you aren't doing some sort of progressive resistance training, then you're gonna struggle more than a fraternity with a fridge full of O'Doul's.
Doesn't matter what you're trying to do.
- Wanna build muscle? You need it.
- Wanna lose fat? You need it.
(You need to do both, remember?)
REMEMBER?
YOU BETTER REMEMBER.
On the muscle end —
Progressive resistance training drives muscle growth. If you aren't doing some sort of progressive resistance training, you won't build muscle.
On the body fat end —
If you're in a calorie deficit, trying to lose fat, progressive resistance training will bully your body into preserving more muscle mass than it otherwise would.
Rule of thumb: if you lose fat through diet alone, your body will shred through your stored energetic materials in a 75:25 fat-to-muscle ratio. So if you lose one pound, 75% will be body fat and 25% will be muscle mass.
Initially, at least — when you still have a decent amount of body fat. If you're leaner, or you've already lost a decent amount of body fat, the ratio will worsen. You'll lose more muscle per every pound lost.
At this point, you should be wondering: WHAT THE HECK IS DOES ‘PROPER’ RESISTANCE/STRENGTH TRAINING LOOK LIKE?
In my world, it looks like this:
Basic barbell and bodyweight training done with progressive intent, in order to build an x-physique that feels and moves just as good as it looks.
If the previous sentence make you soil your shorts, then listen up (be sure to soak your undies in soap first)…
I'm gonna give you the backbone of Burnt Toast Body, which is my basic barbell and bodyweight strength training program. For free. But before I do, lemme say this:
It's called Burnt Toast Body because your body deserves to be… well done. Okay, okay, okay. That's not what I wanted to say. This is what I wanted to say:
“Progressive resistance training” is genus, not a species. Basic barbell and bodyweight training is my (burnt) bread and butter. But as long as you respect the principles of progressive resistance training you'll win.
Principles supersede programs.
So before I throw you into the toaster, I’m going to embody the height of tyranny by pandering to the lowest common denominator explain the ONE progressive resistance training principle to rule them all.
Your muscle depends on this.
Muscle is a function of gravity. Ever broken a bone and got one of your joints put in plaster? I broke my right foot in five places in 2011. Ankle was in a cast for nearly eight weeks. My right quad and right calf melted like cheese on a coal fire pizza.
If you wanna build more muscle than what you currently have, you need resist and overcome MORE gravity. Unfortunately, there are no Mr. Popo managed hyperbolic time chambers.
You can't increase gravity.
But you can increase weight.
Assuming you’ve lived a rather sedentary life, your biceps’ primary job: slinging around the combined weight of your forearm and hand. Because that's what the biceps do. They flex the elbow. They lift the weight of your body parts below the elbow joint.
Your body parts are weight. If you severed your forearm from your upper-arm (at the elbow), your forearm and hand would fall to the ground. Your friend could pick up your severed forearm and hand and use it as a dumbbell.
Your body parts are fancy flesh dumbbells.
You need more of this.
You might not have HUGE biceps, but you have some level of muscularity. For perspective, if you immobilized your elbow for eight months, your biceps would shrink.
Your biceps aren’t larger than they currently are, because they’re large enough to lift/control the weight of your hand/forearm, which is the only thing your biceps need to do if you’re sedentary.
(You see what’s coming, don’t you?)
(If not, I don’t have high hopes for you.)
If you want your biceps to grow, you need to increase their weight responsibility. One of the simplest ways to do this: hold a dumbbell.
When you hold a dumbbell, your hand becomes heavier, which increases the strain on your biceps. They have to lift, overcome, and control more weight.
Keep in mind, however, “more weight” doesn't always equate to adding external weight to the equation. Look at the chin-up. During the chin-up, your biceps (along with other muscles) have to lift the weight of your torso and your lower-body. Your torso and lower-body weigh more than your forearm and hand, hence supergravity.
You need to get sticky.
For supergravity signaling, the resistance has to be large enough to make you honestly sticky (as opposed to springy). The difference between stickiness and springiness is important, and best understood through specific examples.
When you throw a baseball, you’re springy. You’re moving quickly. Bouncing. Reducing friction. You’re tapping into your tissues’ elastic abilities.
When you push a car, you’re sticky. You’re moving slowly. Grinding. Increasing friction. You’re tapping into your tissues’ ability to create tension.
Being honestly sticky means you can't be springy, no matter how hard you try. I can force myself to walk up the steps slow, like grandpa. But since I could leap up the steps, it's not an honestly sticky exercise.
Quantifying stickiness.
If you’re a quant nerd and you can’t swallow my romanticism, honest stickiness comes about when a resistance confines you to less than twenty repetitions on a given exercise.
- Able to do an exercise for more than twenty reps? Then the resistance probably isn’t high enough.
- Unable to do an exercise for one single rep? Then the resistance is probably too high.
This rule of thumb assumes you're doing exercises/movements through a rather full(ish) range of motion.
- If you can do thirty chest-to-floor push-ups, then the resistance isn't high enough. You need to add weight.
- If you can do thirty partial range of motion push-ups, but only ten full range of motion push-ups, then the resistance is high enough.
Fuller range of motion exercises tend to be better for muscle growth. Don’t ask why. Stop.
I don’t know why, alright?
The “why” doesn't matter, anyways. The phenomenon trumps the phenomenology. Fuller rage of motion exercises trigger muscle growth better than smaller range of motion exercises.
I have no reason to lie to you, especially considering I’m about to sell you something. (I am?)
The ONE principle is…
Do exercises through a full(ish) range of motion, with enough weight/resistance to make you sticky.
See why most “toning” strategies are bunk? They're all about lifting a light weight for high reps. If lifting a low weight for high reps was a valid strategy to influence the shape or size of your muscles, then every mother would be jacked. Because, babies.
Lifting and carrying a baby is no joke. I would know. I'm a recently crowned new dad. Babies don't make moms and dads jacked. The resistance isn't large enough.
Building an x-physique.
As promised, I'm gonna give you Burnt Toast Body, which is my beginner x-physique strength training program. When I was skinny-fat, I felt like I was trapped in a woman's body. I had wide hips and narrow shoulders. My body had an “A” shape.
I didn’t like my “A” shaped body.
I wanted an “X” shaped body. At first, I didn’t know how to train for this kind of body. Most dudes don’t, which is why they spam bench presses every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Dumb.
You SHOULDN’T be bench pressing AT ALL if you want to build an x-physique.
Anyways…
Punch this link to check out the program.
May the Gains be with you,
Ant
ps
What if you’re afraid to go to the gym? Unsure about how to use barbells? I get it. I'm a garage gym guy. Going to the gym and learning how to lift in front of random people wasn't an option for me. Waaayyyyy to insecure and self-conscious.
If you mentally meltdown in a gym setting, you should check out Zero to Barbell.
Zero to Barbell is a online course designed to prepare you for a life barbell and bodyweight training. Most of the drills and exercises within Zero to Barbell can be done within the comfort of your own home.