Do you need to squat, bench press and deadlift?

The squat, bench press and deadlift are commonly mentioned amongst lifters as exercises that you "must do" in order to make substantial progress in the gym. But is this really the case? This is what I will examine in today's entry.

Goals

It's really important that we discuss goals if we are talking about making progress in the gym. Otherwise how do we know what we are progressing towards? In the case of powerlifting specifically you really have to do the squat, bench and deadlift because that is what powerlifting involves. If you can't do one or more of those lifts then you aren't able to compete (unless it's in a one lift meet eg bench press only).

For those who are training for strength but aren't powerlifters then they probably should do the squat, bench press and deadlift because they are exercises that are well suited for developing maximal strength, however they aren't the only variations or exercise options that can be used to develop strength. For example a front squat could be used for strength development instead of a back squat. Machines like the hack squat could also be used as an alternative. Technically a seated chest press machine could be used instead of a bench press while strength is still the goal. And what really is strength anyway? The main measure of it is being able to shift heavier loads over time (typically speaking about low rep ranges and usually measured with a 1 RM). However there is no reason why we cannot think of higher reps like 8 or 10 as "strength training" as well. After all if you are training on the hack squat machine and you are able to perform 6 reps in January and by March you are able to perform 10 reps did you not become stronger? Strength training can include a variety of exercises and rep ranges.

Now if hypertrophy is the primary objective then again this is a similar situation to that just described for strength training. More exercises than just the squat, bench press and deadlift can obviously produce hypertrophy and so many different substitutes can be used if desired. That isn't to say that squats, bench press and deadlifts aren't good exercises if adding muscle is the goal - they are very good exercises. But they aren't the only way to get from (a) to (b) and I think the degree to which they are idolised as the holy grail is a little over zealous.

In this article I am going to focus primarily on squats, bench press and deadlifts and whether they are necessary for hypertrophy.

Where did this come from?

Bodybuilders have always squatted, bench pressed and deadlifted. It's been a staple part of resistance training programs for decades. When I think specifically about natural bodybuilders especially those who are scientifically minded there has been a shift towards powerlifting in recent years. We have drawn some valuable things from powerlifters because obviously they do some things right when it comes to lifting weights. I think that we have looked at the squat, bench and deadlift and seen the benefits of including them as a basis for a bodybuilding program. However I think that this has perhaps been over emphasised to the point where people think that these are exercises that must be included and if you aren't including them then you are unlikely to make the best possible progress.

As a side note I think there is also a stigma attached to these exercises that if you aren't doing them you are somehow a "pussy". In my opinion that is a silly notion and which is ego driven and has nothing to do with whether your training program is effective or not.

Good vs Necessary

Differentiating between the terms "good" and "necessary" when speaking about the effectiveness of these exercises is a really important thing to do. A good exercise is an exercise that in this context will produce hypertrophy. A necessary exercise is an exercise that MUST be included to produce hypertrophy. No exercise is "necessary" when we are considering hypertrophy as the goal because there are always other options and some of them will produce similar or equivalent results to the main three in question. Now I don't want this to become the age old "which is better - squat or leg press?" argument but when we are talking about compound exercises that are not the squat, bench press or deadlift some of them have the capacity to be applied and produce results within the realm of what is achievable with the big three.

Individual Activation

Something interesting that I took away from a seminar I attended a few weeks back was from a presentation by Bret Contreras. One of the studies he had performed looked at the EMG activity for the glutes across various exercises performed by various subjects. Some of them had higher glute activation when performing hip thrusts. One girl who was a powerlifter actually had the highest glute activation when performing the front squat. This is interesting as it suggests that different people will be able to activate certain muscle better with different exercises perhaps due to previous practice of specific motor patterns or due to their physical structure or maybe even due to the "mind muscle connection" if there is such a thing. So we do need to consider individual variation in this regard and not just recommend squats, bench and deadlifts as a blanket hypertrophy solution for all lifters.

Mechanics

Another aspect of individuality is how we are put together and our biomechanics. Essentially all humans are similar in terms of our anatomy and function ie for the most part we all have femurs, we all have tibias etc. But there is individual variation within that structure. Some people have very long limbs, different length torsos, different depth and orientation hip sockets, variations in muscle attachments, muscle tightness, stiff joints, genetic abnormalities etc and these things can all affect how we move and perform exercises. Some exercises just might not make a lot of sense for some people.

Injuries

While the squat, bench and deadlift are great exercises, sometimes people develop or have pre existing injuries which limits them or even prevents them from performing these movements safely. In such cases it would be silly to continue to attempt performing the aggravating exercise(s) because it may worsen the injury. Making injuries worse is not a great way to produce hypertrophy. If you can't train because you are injured, you can't make progress. So if you can't perform the squat, bench press or deadlift due to injury that is ok. Do something else that you can do safely and make progress with that instead.

Personal Preference

Personal preference is definitely something to consider when constructing a training program. Sometimes we do have to do stuff that we don't like in order to get the benefit from doing that thing. However, most of the time if you favor an exercise then you are probably not only going to adhere to it but you are probably going to put forth more effort to do it well. By the same token, if you really hate doing a certain exercise you might not be driven to make progress doing that exercise. If you hate bench pressing for example there is no reason that you have to keep bench pressing provided that you can find an alternative exercise.

Results

It's important to pay attention to the results you are getting when including a certain exercise in your program. This is difficult to do because as bodybuilders we aren't often doing just one exercise for a body part, we are doing multiple exercises. Also over time multiple variables are likely to change such as exercise choice, rep ranges, volume, intensity, frequency etc. So it can be hard to isolate just one variable. Having said this, if you have been training for a fairly long time and done things over and over and over again you should be able to get a pretty good feeling for which things are giving you the best results. When we are doing "research" on ourselves by noticing things, it's certainly not a controlled trial but that doesn't mean what we notice about ourselves isn't valuable.

Not All or Nothing

I think we need to get away from the all or nothing mentality when it comes to things like the effectiveness of the big three. When I say "all or nothing" I don't think that others think that if you do squats, bench and deadlifts that you will get amazing results and if you don't do them (and do different exercises) you will get literally no results. But some people do tend to think that squats, bench press and deadlifts will produce a high level of results and that doing other exercises will produce a sub par level of results. This is ultimately not the case, especially when you consider all the factors I have mentioned previously. If you are able to do an exercise with consistency and it suits your body then you will invariably make progress with it.

As a personal anecdote I actually won my pro card by winning my class at the world championships in 2011 without ever having squatted or deadlifted. I had done smith machine squats before, but no deadlifts of any kind. I also had a fairly recent back injury (2010) which made it a smart choice to not do those exercises at the time. Instead for my leg training I focused my efforts for compound exercises on leg press, hack squats and lunges. And I actually had fairly average legs prior to 2010 so "genetics" cannot be used as an excuse here. The point being of course that it is in fact possible to achieve a high standard of results (well above average) without performing the squat, bench press and deadlift. To be fair my legs are bigger now after having included squats in my training (and having changed gyms and used different equipment), but I've also been training for an extra five years.

INBF/WNBF World Championships 2011

What do I recommend?

I do recommend that most people do include some variation of a squat, bench and deadlift in their program if their goal is hypertrophy because they are great exercise options. I say do them if you can do them safely. But as you can see, there are many factors to be taken into account. If you can't or don't want to do any of these three exercises for whatever reason, it doesn't mean that you cannot achieve a very high standard without them. You don't HAVE to do them to be a bodybuilder.

Thanks for reading. If you have any questions about this topic you can contact me at the details below or by leaving a comment. I encourage you to follow me on social media, the details for which are below also.

Muscle Academy contact details:

Email - info@muscleacademy.com.au
Website - http://www.muscleacademy.com.au
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/MuscleAcademy
Instagram/Twitter/Snapchat - @evansoooon

- Evan

Max testing for bodybuilders

Before I get into the meat of this week's article I want to mention a few clients who have done well recently at their shows:

Lisa Thomas - First up Lisa competed at the INBA show at the Health and Fitness Expo in Melbourne. She placed second in her class in Figure. I've only been working with Lisa for a few months but we were really happy with how she looked on the day.

Melanie Cowling - Mel competed in the INBA Brisbane Classic around three weeks back. She placed first in Figure International Open and second in Figure Open Class 2. A great way to wrap up the season for Mel!

Joey Cantlin - Joey flew down to Sydney for the INBA City Nationals. After a few weeks of harsh dieting and a great peak week Joey looked his best to date on stage. He entered Mr Physique Open and the Mr Physique Pro Qualifier. Unfortunately he did not place in either division simply because both line ups were very strong. Nonetheless a very impressive showing.

Mr Physique Open (third from right)

Mr Physique Pro Qualifier (right)

Max Testing

Now for this week's topic which is max testing for bodybuilders. I see a lot of people go about testing in a way that is less than ideal. I want to discuss where I think people go wrong and what I think is a good way to go about testing.

Testing Mistakes

The casual max out guy - This is the guy/girl who decides randomly that they are going to test their max on a given day despite not having planned it into their training. The best reasons I can ascertain as to why people do this is curiosity as to whether they have gotten stronger and to give themselves a transient ego boost. None of these are particularly useful if you are a bodybuilder. Knowing that your 1 RM went up by X amount might confirm in your mind that you are stronger than previously and that therefore your training is working. It might give you a bit of confidence. But it's not particularly useful unless you intend to plug those numbers into a spreadsheet. Chances are if you randomly decided to test your 1 RM then I'd wager you aren't using this kind of program structure and perhaps you don't have any program structure at all. And further on the down side if you aren't used to performing 1 RMs you are probably looking at an increased risk of injury. This is not an ideal way to do things at all in my opinion.

Bad form - When you are using very heavy loads for low reps it is generally much harder to maintain the same degree of control as you would when you perform more reps with lighter loads. This is especially true if you haven't had a lot of practice training in low rep ranges (weight lifting is a skill). However there is slight variations in form that naturally tend to occur as a result of the weight being lifted simply being heavier and then there is lifting a weight that is beyond your means and having your form become worse as a result. For example if your lower back starts rounding over and you are shaking when deadlifting then chances are the weight is too heavy for you. When testing we should always strive to maintain correct form and we need to be honest with ourselves because ultimately the numbers that come out of the max tests should be meaningful, realistic and practical.

Who wants a one way ticket to Snap City?

1 RM testing as a bodybuilder - As bodybuilders for the most part we train within moderate to high rep ranges (at least if we are training in an efficient way to stimulate hypertrophy). Of course some strength work is usually involved and in fact sometimes we can do entire blocks of strength work. But it's usually 80 % hypertrophy, 20 % strength (for most bodybuilders). Taking this into consideration does it really make sense to do a max test to find out what your 1 RM is? Wouldn't it make more sense to test with more reps so that the number is more "functional" or in line with what you normally do? With a significantly heavy load you've got a higher risk of injury and you've got the fact that as bodybuilders many of us are not conditioned toward strength training. So as a bodybuilder chances are you'll suck more at performing a 1 RM than you will at a moderate rep range simply because we train more frequently in a moderate to high rep range. If you suck at strength work then your 1 RM is going to under estimate what you are capable of when training for reps. Conversely if you are one of the outliers who is great at strength work either due to genetic capacity or because you include plenty of strength work in your training, your 1 RM might actually over estimate your ability to perform reps. When this data is then applied to your training it will make things either way too easy or way too hard respectively. So outside of hybrid powerlifter-bodybuilders or people that do a lot of strength work but for the purpose of bodybuilding, bodybuilders generally shouldn't be testing 1 RMs in my opinion.

Suggested Approach to Max Testing

Purpose of testing - At this point I think it's worth going over WHY we test. Testing is done to see if we got stronger but we aren't doing it just for that end. Perhaps a better question is "why do we want to know our strength levels?". After all we want to do something useful with the result rather than just having it as a vague measurement of apparent progress (don't get me wrong, we do want to measure and track strength over time but this is not the only reason for testing). Remember that as bodybuilders we should care about strength but only to the degree that it allows us to build more muscle tissue. We shouldn't want to get stronger just for the sake of being stronger if our goal is hypertrophy. Anyway we want to do something with our max testing numbers and that is we want to use them to help plan our future training. Either a true 1 RM or estimated 1 RM can be used to calculate estimates of loads for our training. Finding out an estimated 1 RM might be done manually or by plugging the results into a spreadsheet template that has been written for this purpose. The estimated 1 RM can then be used to estimate training loads by doing the same kind of thing but in reverse. That way as you get stronger (or maybe even weaker if you are dieting) the loads go up (or down) by an appropriate amount. In other words it's a tool you can use to aid in your application of progressive overload to training based on your ongoing performance.

How to test as a bodybuilder - In my opinion the best way to test as a bodybuilder is to do an AMRAP set (as many reps as possible). This means that you would train with a load you would normally use and take that set all the way to failure. Of course the reps should be done with good form and in fact I like to terminate the set after experiencing a break down in form. Only good reps should count towards the AMRAP. 

Testing in this way you've most likely done a set to failure in a moderate rep range and this information is now very meaningful because it's relevant to the rep range that bodybuilders typically do most of their training in. It should form a realistic estimate that is useful for planning and adjusting training loads.

Another way to do the test is not to perform the AMRAP set off the back off one of your normal sets but rather to deliberately do a test in a rep range of your choosing. For example you might want to test a 6 RM, so you would take a guess at what weight you could do for 6 reps and then try it. You should generally choose somewhere in the moderate range and at the lowest on the cusp of a low rep range. This is heavy enough to give a realistic estimate of how many good form reps you can do but not so light that you might terminate the set early due to pain or breathlessness. For example testing with 12 - 15 reps might cause you to gas out. Personally I like to test my major compound lifts like squats, bench press and deadlifts in the 4 - 8 rep range. If you happen to be testing something different like lat pull downs though it may well be appropriate to do your AMRAP set in the 10 - 12 rep range so of course take into account what exercise you are doing and in what rep ranges you most frequently train it.

When to test - Testing should be done in a planned manner. A great time to test is at the end of a program during or just after a deload week, That way the data can be applied to the next block of training you are about to do. An alternative to this is to do AMRAP sets throughout the program weekly or fortnightly. This will keep your strength data more current with your progression (you may get stronger as you go, so rather than testing just at the end of the program it can be good to adjust loads throughout).

What to do with the data - In order to apply the data to your training you will need to use the max test data to estimate your 1 RM. After you have that number you can work with percentages of that number for pre-planned numbers of sets and reps (this will depend on the total training structure and how intense you want each set to be).

Below are some resources for calculating 1 RM:

1. An article by Casey Butt which details how to manually calculate an estimated 1 RM using a variety of formulas

http://www.weightrainer.net/training/coefficients.html

2. An article which calculates your estimated 1 RM for you as well as a percentages of your 1 RM in 5% increments. It also contains a table with the number of reps which correspond to percentages of 1 RM. The table can be used to manually predict estimated 1 RM from reps and load or to manually predict reps and load from an estimated 1 RM.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/other7.htm

Those are my thoughts on max testing for bodybuilders. If you agree or disagree leave a comment below and let me know what you guys think about this topic.

You can contact me via the detail provided below if you want to speak to me about my coaching services.

Muscle Academy contact details:

Email - info@muscleacademy.com.au

Website - http://www.muscleacademy.com.au

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/MuscleAcademy

Instagram/Twitter/Snapchat - @evansoooon

- Evan

New home for the Muscle Academy Blog

For the past three years I have been writing articles for this blog. Blogspot has served as a great host for my blogs but I have now moved all my content to the Muscle Academy website.

You will be able to access all my past and future articles at the following link - http://muscleacademy.com.au/blog.html

Thankyou and see you all there!

- Evan

Post Contest Expectations

So you've dieted for six months, done a mountain of cardio, gone through a peak week, shaved your body, donned a dark tan and posing trunks and (hopefully) won a trophy. But what happens next? What should you expect? And how can you deal with it? All this and more will be covered in this week's blog.

Navigating the post contest period can be a tricky time for most if not all competitors. You've put your body through a lot getting down to contest levels of body fat and the price of getting that lean is not without consequence. Detailed below are the things you can typically expect to experience post show.

What to expect

Bingeing and over eating

I have put a lot of competitors through contest preps and I have been through quite a few myself. I can say at this point I haven't come across a single competitor (including myself) who hasn't experienced periods of constant or intermittent over eating post show. This seems to be independent of the post show plan I put in place. I have structured plans in detail in all different types of ways, rigid ones, very flexible ones and everything in between. The end result is ultimately always that I see episodes of over eating. In most cases I see this go on for several weeks until the person kind of "gets it out of their system" and they actually want to "eat healthy" again.

In my opinion this comes down to several factors:

1) Appetite is usually sky high for a while after a period of chronic calorie restriction even though more food is being consumed (I was traveling after my last show and I actually started buying vegetables and fruit to keep in my hotel room at night so that I would eat that rather than ice cream or cookies. I knew I should have been full but I just felt like eating, more and more and more).

2) Psychologically people are very food focused at this stage and often feel like they have to make up for all the foods they missed out on during contest prep. Many people will actually line up a list of foods or a list of restaurants they are going to go to after they are finished prepping.

3) There are now no more pending conditions which require restriction or moderation. That is, you've been dieting hard for months for this one show, or series of shows and now that they are done you have no immediate reason to not eat as much as you want, whenever you want.

4) If you didn't do so well in your shows, were unhappy with how you looked or are a bit lost for direction now that they are over then you may take solace in eating delicious foods and/or a large amount of food.

So don't beat yourself up if you do happen to binge after a show. I literally have not come across anyone at this point in time who has been able to perfectly reverse out of a bodybuilding season. If you binge post contest you are not a failure, you are normal.

Though I haven't come across one yet, I think it is possible for some people to navigate this period in a structured manner. I think that I could probably do it myself if I were to do a season purely in Australia where I have access to ideal circumstances like cooking facilities and am not tempted to any great degree by delicious foods. No doubt I would still struggle and I only think I could do it in this context because I am very self disciplined. However what usually happens is I end up doing a show or two over in the USA to round out my season and afterwards I tend to then travel for a few weeks and enjoy the food as part of that experience of traveling (usually without cooking facilities). It might not be the best choice nutritionally to do this but I guess who is going to go to travel to the USA to compete and then restrict themselves from experiencing the food of that region afterwards? Not this guy! So in my case, no regrets there.

Gradual recovery

I suppose what we would like to happen post show is that we start eating "normal" amounts of food again and all the adaptations that we have incurred along the way to getting shredded normalise straight away. And indeed this does tend to happen with some variables. In my case for example my energy levels, mood and libido all recovered very quickly. However this is not the case for all variables. Some things can take a lot longer to return to normal eg strength, appetite, libido, food related behaviours, psychological factors.

It might take many months until you feel normal again after completing a contest season. In my case and in most cases that I have observed, it tends to take around half the time you prepped. So if you prepped for six months, you'll probably be feeling pretty good three months post show. Though this is not a hard and fast rule.

I also want to note that not only does the length of recovery time tend to vary between individuals but that each variable that has been affected can recover at different rates for different people. For example some people might experience very few problems with food focus and appetite after two to three weeks, while others might still be going nuts about food three months after their contest season ends. While one person's libido may recover in one month, another's might take two to three month's to fully return to normal.

In my experience the things that may have been disturbed which you will see return to normal over time are (in no particular order):

- energy levels
- mood
- hormone levels, libido and menstrual cycle
- appetite
- mentality and behaviours relating to food
- body fat levels
- body weight
- muscle mass
- gym performance/strength
- disturbed digestion
- non food related psychological issues experienced during contest prep eg anxiety
- sleep
- metabolism

Feeling lost

It's not uncommon to lack direction and goals after completing a contest season. For many months the competitor's life has revolved around preparing for this one day and before you know it, it's all over. Often afterwards the competitor is left not really knowing what to do next because they have been so focused on that one massive day, very little thought goes into what the plan is going to be after the contests are over. Also because life has been so uber focused on bodybuilding for the past 6 plus months, in some cases the competitor can almost get sick of bodybuilding or aspects of it. The result can be spinning wheels for months, losing interest in training and diet, regressing in regards to physique or taking up related disciplines like powerlifting.

Body image related psychology

I think that in the case of competitors who have truly gotten contest lean we can agree that body fat levels that low are not something which are sustainable for various reasons. After a contest season body fat needs to be put back on. But having said that, it can be really difficult dealing with losing that level of conditioning and watching yourself smooth over after having worked so hard for a long period of time to achieve it. This can be compounded because having reached such a level of condition, anything above that can now feel "fat". In fact very lean and healthy body fat levels can now essentially make some competitors feel fat even though they are very normal or perhaps actually much leaner than average. So just keep in mind that these kinds of things can be things you experience fear or anxiety over.

How to deal with it

Post contest plan

The most important thing to have is a post contest plan. This plan needs to be realistic and specific. The athlete needs to be able to carry out the plan and they need to know exactly how they are going to go about it. It also needs to be something which is discussed between the coach and competitor in advance so as to set clear expectations of what is going to happen and how it is going to be carried out. This plan needs to be agreed upon by both parties so that both are on the same page prior to executing it.

If a specific plan is not set, the post contest period can become treacherous ground especially for the inexperienced competitor. The competitor is essentially left goalless and without direction or structure after coming off a period which has been extremely goal oriented and structured. At the same time the competitor has a lot to deal with in terms of physical and psychological disturbances related to the diet, their body image, how they did in their show(s) etc.

One thing I feel should be a priority in the post contest plan is recovery. This is something that should take precedence over things like maintaining a lean body composition. Context is important here and I'm not saying staying (relatively) lean isn't desirable but we cannot stay contest lean for a prolonged period of time and recovery of all the things that have happened to the body over the course of the prep is something that should be focused on more than maintaining a six pack.

Setting goals

It's really important to set some goals for after the show before the end of the contest season is reached. This goes hand in hand with building the post contest plan. Goals should be in relation to nutrition, recovery, body composition, physique improvements, training and even areas in life outside of bodybuilding and fitness. If thought goes into all these things and at least some vague goals are set in relation to them, it makes for a well constructed plan and a smooth transition into the improvement season and normal life. It also just makes the process more efficient in regards to progress and avoids time wasting.

Self discipline

This is really something that is under rated. Anybody who has completed a contest prep and gotten shredded has a lot of self discipline because it takes a lot to get through a prep and deal with all those sacrifices and challenges along the way. Along the same lines, one of the elements of a successful post show period is discipline. It's going to require similar or greater levels of self discipline than the contest prep itself to stay on track and execute a reverse diet/recovery diet in a successful manner. Applying willpower and disciplining yourself is a powerful tool in your arsenal and I think competitive bodybuilders can take what they've learned in that regard from the contest prep period to the post contest period.

Patience

Patience is a quality that is going to be necessary for navigating the post contest window. This is because as I have discussed previously, some of the less than desirable adaptations that have occurred during a contest prep can take a long time to return to normal. For example if you were squatting 150 kg during your previous off season and at the end of your prep you are squatting 110 kg, you cannot expect to be squatting 150 kg immediately post contest. It is likely to take a while until your strength increases back to that previous level. This is kind of logical in the sense that when you were prepping your strength would have dropped down gradually rather than plummeting suddenly from 150 kg to 110 kg. So along the same lines it's going to take time for that strength to gradually build back up as your muscle mass increases, body weight increases and your leverages improve. This is of course the case for many other variables too. Knowing roughly what to expect can help put your mind at ease so that you can focus on controlling what you can and being patient about what you cannot.

Dealing with body image related psychology

In this case I think the biggest thing is being educated about what to expect. Just being aware that you may experience things like anxiety about changes in body composition away from contest shape post show is half the battle won. Trying to relax and go with the process with the understanding that it is completely normal to lose that super lean condition is a good idea. This is the general attitude and approach I would suggest taking. As your body changes it is something which usually you should adjust to mentally. Of course if it remains an ongoing issue then you should consider seeking help from a psychological health professional.

The post contest period is not something that is always easily dealt with. Just knowing what to expect, having a strategy in place and having someone to help you work through it effectively can be of benefit.

Thanks for reading. If you have anything to add to the discussion please feel free to do so where I have shared this on social media or in the comment section below.

You can contact me via the details provided below if you want to speak to me about my coaching services.

Muscle Academy contact details:

Email - info@muscleacademy.com.au
Website - http://www.muscleacademy.com.au
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/MuscleAcademy
Instagram and Twitter - @evansoooon

- Evan

Off season update: fat loss phase

Off season update

Recently I executed a fat loss phase as a part of my off season. This might sound confusing because the off season for a bodybuilder means it is an improvement phase - a phase where you are trying to get better and improve your physique for next time you compete. In this case the improvement phase has involved the inclusion of a fat loss phase. Whilst I haven't been improving in terms of adding muscle mass at this time, it is contributing towards putting me in a smarter place overall (body fat wise).

Rationale

The general idea is that if I can get leaner I will be in a position where I can sustain a surplus and continue to perform well in the gym for a reasonable length of time without getting ridiculously far away from contest condition (in terms of body fat levels). As such I will be in a better position to begin contest prep when I eventually decide to.

Duration

So far I have been cutting for fourteen weeks and I am now entering the final week of the cut. So at the end of this week the cut will have been approximately a fifteen week fat loss phase. Originally I called this a "mini cut" but I would say this has gone well past that as a mini cut is usually six weeks or less in duration.

Nutrition Structure

The approach I took was to simply count protein and calories. Carb and fat targets were not specific but often ended up being similar on most days anyway. My target calorie intake was 3000 - 3100 calories per day. Usually I was conservative and tried to hit 3000 but sometimes actually went below this. Typically my macronutrient intake ended up as something along the lines of 240 - 260 P, 330 - 350 C, 55 - 75 F.

Refeed days were included at 4000 calories. The major target here was a carb range of 600 - 625 grams. Protein was usually fairly consistent and fat was adjusted to fit the remaining calories. The set up for this was 7 days low, 3 days high. This is something we trialed over the course of this fat loss phase. I can confirm that I did feel better as a result of the consecutive refeed days but of course doing things this way it does tend to drag out the overall length of the deficit. Using this approach one needs to allow a longer period of time to lose body fat.

Some additional things I did to make this cut more tolerable and practical is I did not measure or track my vegetable intake but was fairly consistent each day having several servings of vegetables with dinner. Usually it would be onion, garlic, green beans, capsicum, mushroom and kale/spinach. I also did not weigh out my fruit intake (I did track it but I didn't weigh the individual pieces of fruit). Instead I estimated the weight of the fruit to generally be around 100 grams each. I had one banana and one apple of similar size each day. This just made things a whole lot easier and less stressful as it can be a pain in the ass to measure fruits and vegetables every single day.

Cardio

I also did no formal cardio during this fat loss phase. I continued any normal recreational activity that I did regularly in the off season (one karate class per week, surfed sometimes and went for an occasional walk) but I didn't go out of my way or formally plan to do anything additional that would count as cardio.

Training

My training throughout my fat loss phase has consisted of around three training blocks. The goal of each of them has been primarily to maintain strength and muscle mass. The structure of each block has been a little different, the first including more frequency per body part, the second having a lower frequency per body but higher intensity and the third retaining fairly low frequency for some body parts but substituting some volume for intensity. For the most part it has been fairly effective. I have lost strength universally for all the big lifts but it is in line with the changes that we would expect to see eventually during an extended fat loss phase (altered leverages, reduced energy, potential muscle loss).

Results

Body weight has been tracked daily during this cut and a weekly average has been used along with weekly photographs to track progress. Weight loss has been fairly smooth with some periods of slower weight loss but continued fat loss ie no change in weight but visually leaner. As such no changes to calories or cardio have been required throughout the fat loss phase. Essentially if things looked a bit slow I just waited it out and stayed consistent and over time I continued to make progress. I think if you give yourself a good amount of time this can be a really good way to do things because you can maintain a higher caloric intake for a longer time period.

The absolute amount of weight I have lost to this point is ~ 6 kg.

Personal Experience

Even though this cut has been for a reasonable length of time, I haven't experienced too many negative side effects. Energy has been fine, mood has been undisturbed, libido is normal. I would say the only two things I have experienced have been some strength loss (this wasn't obvious until the second half of the cut) and also some occasional hunger. I have also experienced a few minor injuries but I cannot say for sure whether the cut played a role in the development of these or not. For the most part though I have enjoyed the process and I've felt pretty good physically and mentally throughout it.

Starting Stats

Starting weight - 106 kg
Off season calories - 3900 - 4000
Low day calories - 3000 - 3100
Refeed day calories - 3900 - 4000
Cardio - none
Squat estimated 1 RM - 217.5 kg
Deadlift estimated 1 RM- 235 kg
Bench Press estimated 1 RM - 170 kg

 Starting photo - front

Starting photo - rear

Starting photo - most muscular

Finishing Stats
 

Finishing weight - 100 kg (99.7 kg lowest weight so far)
Low day calories - 3000 - 3100 (no change)
Refeed day calories - 3900 - 4000 (no change)
Cardio - none (no change)
Squat estimated 1 RM - 207.5 kg (4.6 % decrease)
Deadlift estimated 1 RM- 222.5 kg (5.3 % decrease)
Bench Press estimated 1 RM - 155 kg (8.8 % decrease)

 14 weeks - front

 

14 weeks - rear

14 weeks - most muscular
 

How do you think I did with this fat loss phase? Leave a comment below or on social media. You can contact me via the details provided below if you want to speak to me about my coaching services.

Muscle Academy contact details:

Email - info@muscleacademy.com.au
Website - http://www.muscleacademy.com.au
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/MuscleAcademy
Instagram and Twitter - @evansoooon

- Evan

Accepting yourself but not accepting defeat

I'm going to cover an area this week that a lot of people struggle with and that is accepting yourself for who you are. A lot of females struggle in this area but it definitely affects males too. Of course this does flow over to many areas of of physical and emotional selves but I am going to focus on this from a bodybuilding perspective because, well ... this is a bodybuilding blog.

Caveat

What I would like to do first is add a caveat to the notion of accepting yourself for who you are and that is "AND work on improving yourself as a whole and bettering your weaknesses". The whole idea of resistance training and body sculpting is to try to get better. To become bigger and stronger and improve weak areas. Making progress is part of what it's all about so whilst we should accept our limitations, we should also avoid accepting them so much that we create beliefs that limit us more than the physical limitations do. For example if you have small calves, you believe that they will never grow and therefore you do not train them or put very little effort into training them then they won't grow. If you believed that you could improve and took action towards it then your calves probably would have a better chance at getting bigger over time. At the same time if you can see your genetic calf structure isn't very good, it might be reasonable to believe that your calves probably aren't going to be as big as Ben Pakulski's calves at any time in the near future or perhaps ever. Attitude is important. You must be able to be both positive, driven and realistic all at the same time.

Don't listen to Will Ferrell

A famous karate master named Shoshin Nagamine said this about limiting yourself:

"He is human and so am I. I cannot develop my own potentialities when in the trap of self-limitations. I must discard this self-limitation. If he practices 3 times, I must practice 6 times." - Shoshin Nagamine

Obviously this applies directly to karate practice but we can easily see how this can also apply to other activities like bodybuilding and indeed life in general. That is, whilst some physical limitations do exist for all of us, more often than not our limitations are largely in our mind, created by ourselves. It is interesting how far you can go by believing in yourself, discarding limiting beliefs and taking action.

Accepting Yourself

What I do want to talk about is accepting yourself because I think people really beat themselves up over their physique related achievements. Essentially what you need to realise when we are talking about physical structure is we all have genetic weak points - areas of the body where visually our attachments make our muscles look a certain way, muscles that don't respond very well to training, areas of the body that tend to hold more body fat than others, structural asymmetries and bone structures that shape our frame. Some of these things we can do something about, others we have no control over. If a muscle doesn't respond well to training, you can generally still make progress over time. If your bone structure isn't the way you'd like it to be or your muscle attachments make your biceps look bunched up with no peak, there is nothing you can do about those things. Instead of beating yourself up, instead resolve to take action towards the things you can influence and accept or ignore the things you cannot.

Everybody has the potential to improve themselves, but not everybody has the physical potential to be a world champion bodybuilder. In fact very few people have that potential. Unfortunately these days everybody thinks they are going to make it to the top. That's the thing about being at the top, somebody has to be there and only one person can be. Not every single person can be at the top, otherwise there would be no top. - I think I just said the word "top" four times in three sentences -. Anyway you get my drift. I encourage everyone to be the best they can be and strive for excellence but at the same time delusion and a lack of realism isn't going to help and tends to just create eventual disappointment. Remember like I said a few paragraphs back - stay positive, driven and realistic!

Back to the original topic. Generally you'll find even the very best in the world have weak points in their physiques. Several time natural world champion Shevon Cunningham has legs that self admittedly don't respond as well as his upper body. Looking at Doug Miller's physique, most people would consider him the best natural bodybuilder of our era and yet his chest lags a little compared to the rest of his physique. In my case my posterior chain excluding my glutes are lagging behind (back, hamstrings and to a lesser degree calves). Even the great Arnold Schwarzenegger had trouble bringing up his legs. My point being if some of the best bodybuilders in the world (not placing myself here by the way) all have weak features in their physiques and they are at the top of their game then you can certainly be alright accepting that you have weak points too and it is ok.

Again in my case, I do know that my back and hamstrings are weak areas. My calves used to be very weak for probably the first ten years of lifting. These areas I know might never become strong points. My back is never going to look like Doug Miller's or Nsima Inyang's and I am ok with that. But that sure as hell doesn't stop me from working hard to improve it! My calves have a large medial head and small lateral head. That is still the case in terms of relative structure but because I've been focused on making sure they improved, they have now become respectable and I am reasonably happy with their development. It might have taken thirteen years but they grew. If I had given up after one or two years then they wouldn't have changed at all. I have been training my hamstrings multiple times per week for years. Sometimes I have been training them four to five days per week. The improvements are small but they are there because I am relentless in my attitude and in my approach. So again, don't focus on perfection. Perfection is impossible. Focus on improvement. If you do that, there is a strong chance that you will get better and if you don't you can still be satisfied with the effort you put forth.

Thankyou for reading. I appreciate everyone who follows myself and the perspectives I share in this blog. Have anything to add? Leave a comment below or on social media. As always you can contact me via the details provided below if you want to speak to me about my coaching services.

Muscle Academy contact details:

Email - info@muscleacademy.com.au
Website - http://www.muscleacademy.com.au
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/MuscleAcademy
Instagram and Twitter - @evansoooon

- Evan

Bodybuilding - Effort Required!

What I'd like to write about this week is something I feel is often missed. It's something that as a coach or a competitor we assume is in place. It's a given. But for some people it actually goes out the window. The key factor I'm talking about here is off course effort.

Before I begin I'm going to preface what I say with the following. You should always train in a manner that is suitable for your current requirements and goals. You should be able to recover adequately from training and it should suit your practical circumstances.

Having said all that, some people just don't put in enough effort to their training to achieve substantial results. This does not mean you should be pushing at crazy levels of intensity, to and beyond the point of failure etc. What it means is you need to be realistic with yourself, you need to have goals, you need to have the right attitude, you need to push yourself appropriate to your training level and you need to physically do what is required to get the results.

Be Realistic

When I talk about being realistic I think you should primarily be comparing yourself to yourself. Are you improving or making progress towards what you'd like to achieve? Is it decent progress? Is it sustainable? What does your physique look like? Are you stronger or weaker than a year ago? Occasionally you may want to compare yourself to others and I think in some circumstances that can be useful as a bit of a wake up call. But for the most part just be realistic by comparing yourself to yourself and asking yourself whether you are really improving. If you're not sure you might need to use some means to measure progress. If you're not improving slowly over time, you need to ask yourself "why?".

Have Goals

This is really important. You need to know what you are trying to achieve in the long term and in the short term when you are training. Even if your goal is vague eg "gaining muscle", it's still something that you can take action towards. If you are turning up at the gym just to tick off the box of going to the gym and you're really not aware of why you are going or what you want to achieve then you're in trouble. If you don't know why you are there in the first place then your training sessions most likely aren't going to be structured and any results you achieve will be haphazard. I'm sure some people have gotten results this way but you are better off having a goal and working towards it.

Attitude

Many people these days are rather minimalist with their approach to training. That is, they do the least they possibly can in order to get results. I can see that at times this is quite appropriate but sometimes it promotes laziness and a naturally lazy person will gravitate towards applying this philosophy constantly. "Why do more, if I can get away with doing less?" they will think. The key phrase there is "get away with". Sure you get away with it but it isn't help you achieve the best possible results. Doing less will generally get you the minimum result. At times (but not always) doing more will actually help you achieve a more substantial result. In most cases the person who is willing to do more will get a greater result. Of course there is a limit to this and the danger is the over zealous person may run themselves into the ground and be unable to recover adequately. As such you need to know when doing more is appropriate and when you need to back off. Sometimes doing whatever it takes actually means backing off and doing less when you want to do more. It's all in the attitude.

Push Yourself

What I mean here is sometimes we are lying to ourselves with how hard we are training or how much we can lift. For example I've seen (male) bodybuilders who have been training for five or more years still doing two to three plates per side on the leg press. I cannot fathom how that is even possible considering when I was a weak, skinny teenager I leg pressed two plates per side the first time I ever trained legs! In cases like this it might be because the person is too lazy to load up more plates onto the machine, because they don't want to challenge themselves or maybe they are even a bit scared. Whatever the case is they have told themselves that a two to three plates per side leg press is adequate for building muscle and strength. It really doesn't matter what you are lifting, but you need to be real with yourself. Are you cruising on an easy weight or are you pushing yourself to improve and gradually become stronger over time?

Do what is required

This is what it boils down to. To get results you need to be doing a certain amount at minimum and perhaps more to achieve a greater result. If you aren't doing enough of a "dose" of effective training then you won't improve or you might only see very modest changes. You may even go backwards in some cases.

I want to compare this to dieting. We know that in order to lose body fat we need to be in a caloric deficit. If I'm not in a deficit I'm generally not going to lose body fat. It's the same with training. If you aren't training at all you won't build any muscle or strength. And if you aren't training very much then you cannot expect muscle or strength gain to be significant. You have to do at minimum what is enough for you.

Final Thought

I've seen people with quite good knowledge of training and nutrition achieve less in the way of training induced adaptations than people who have a sub par knowledge of these areas. The difference is largely effort (sometimes genetics can play a role too). Essentially the people with below average knowledge just wanted it more and they put more effort into everything. They "outworked" the competition. This isn't always the case, because sometimes people who try really hard can get poor results too simply because they are applying crappy diets and training routines. But for the most part effort and consistency will win out if the person with a lot of knowledge is lazy.

Do you agree with what I've written? Tell me below in the comments or on social media.

As always you can contact me via the details provided below if you want to speak to me about my coaching services.

Muscle Academy contact details:

Email - info@muscleacademy.com.au
Website - http://www.muscleacademy.com.au
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/MuscleAcademy
Instagram and Twitter - @evansoooon

- Evan

Getting started with your fitness goal

This post is for all the people who are thinking about getting into exercise, lifting weights, eating better, losing some weight, improving their health and lifestyle etc. I thought to write this after a friend of mine was asking about how they could lose weight and if a supplement they had seen would help. This person to the best of my knowledge is not exercising regularly or eating in any kind of structured way. Those are two huge boxes that he could tick to improve his health and fitness. So this has prompted me to write some tips for those who are wanting to get started on improving their fitness but aren't sure how.

1. Just start!

There is nothing quite like throwing yourself in the deep end. Whilst I think it can be a good idea to do a little bit of reading and research before you start. It can be difficult to know what is correct and what is rubbish because there is so much misinformation out there in the fitness industry. This makes things very confusing and sometimes over whelming to the beginner. So my suggestion is just get started on something basic. You don't have to know everything and you don't have to get it exactly right when you start. Most of us don't. While I can't say I ever did anything completely stupid, I did do things that could be improved upon when I started. I'm ok with that and you know what? I'm probably still doing some things that could be improved upon at the moment. Each year I feel that I am learning more and I can look back at the previous year and see where I went a little wrong. That's part of the journey and you need to be ok with not having all the answers. So again the best advice I can give is to just start, use your common sense and then learn as you go.

2. Do your research and learn

When I first started training with weights I was already coming from a background of athletics and martial arts. So I was far from being completely new to exercise and I was used to body weight resistance exercise already. However I was completely new to resistance exercise with weights. Now being a 16 year old at the time I certainly didn't have access to the information that I do today. So how did I learn?

- I watched others at the gym, particularly bodybuilders and how they did the exercises.
- I read the instructions on each machine for how the exercise is performed.
- I borrowed some bodybuilding VHS tapes from an older friend and watched them many times until I had a good idea of how to perform the exercises shown on them
- I purchased Arnold's Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding and read it
- I researched exercise options and technique online (at the time I used www.bodybuilding.com)
- I learned about musculoskeletal anatomy

Now by today's standards some of this might not be considered the best ways to learn because some of the information from these sources is outdated, less than ideal and unreliable. But for that point in time it was pretty decent and allowed me to make some reasonable progress in a safe way. I'd also like to throw in that even though I didn't do this, doing some technique sessions with a personal trainer can be quite valuable for someone new to weight training.

I suppose my point is when you are new to training there are lots of things to learn and lots of ways you can learn them. Sure there are evidence based methods for training and nutrition which I would encourage everyone to seek out so that you don't waste your time doing things that are inefficient. But when you are starting you should probably first prioritise: (a) training with a consistent and sustainable routine, (b) learning how to do exercises correctly so that you stay healthy and uninjured. After you've got (a) and (b) down then start looking at how you can structure everything better.

3. Stop looking for the easy way out

Realise that there is no easy way to achieving anything substantial. You might not want to be a world champion and that is absolutely fine but doesn't mean different rules apply to you. You still need to put in hard work consistently to get results. One of the most common things I hear from people who look the same or worse as time goes on is "I don't want to get too big". What someone is really thinking when they say this is "to get big you clearly have to put in a lot of work, so if I put in just a little bit of work I'll probably achieve my goal of improving my body composition moderately". What actually happens is these people end up half assing everything on an inconsistent basis and they achieve nothing and sometimes they actually go backwards. They have under estimated the work required to get the results they want. Dedicate yourself to your goal, no matter how small. I'm not saying get obsessed with it but realise you need to put in consistent hard work to get results, not occasional mucking around. Make a commitment to it and you'll get it done.

The other thing I want to talk about here is supplements. Lots of emphasis is placed on these by beginners sometimes because of (a) marketing and misinformation and (b) it sounds like an easy solution. There are some supplements that do have a small effect but for the most part supplements do very little and some do nothing at all. When you are starting out you could probably avoid supplements all together and just focus on what you can learn about training and nutrition. You'll save money doing things this way and still get substantial results. However if you are wondering about supplements a good place to start is by searching for the ingredients of the supplement you are interested in on http://www.examine.com and seeing whether there is any evidence backing them. The worst thing you can do is walk into a supplement store uninformed and rely on the sales assistant for advice.

4. Be realistic

As I eluded to above, one of the keys to achieving results is to be consistent. That means what you are doing needs to be sustainable. If what you are doing involves extreme changes that you'll only be able to sustain for a few weeks and doesn't fit in with your life then it's going to be fruitless. Instead make smaller changes and make sure you can commit to them. For example going from doing no exercise to exercising 6 days/week might be difficult to maintain especially if you already have a busy schedule. But maybe you could commit to exercising 3 days per week for 1 hour. Even though the second option sounds like it's not going to achieve the same results because it's half as much exercise, it actually make a lot more sense. Obviously if you are able to stick to an exercise and/or eating plan for the long term then you are going to get sustainable results. And that's what matters.

It's also wise to set realistic goals and be realistic about how long it's going to take to achieve them. In general body composition changes occur gradually. Expect for it to take a while. It should take a while! Be patient and as I said above stay consistent. If you are doing the right things, results will happen over time. Unfortunately these days everyone wants something in five minutes. It doesn't work that way when it comes to this stuff so you'll have to commit over the long haul. Fortunately if you do, it's worth it in the end.

5. There are no failures only set backs

I think before you start, it's important to go into this realising that you are going to make mistakes. Chances are you are going to fail, not once but numerous times. Perhaps many times! Failing doesn't mean that you have to stop and give up. It just means you are human and it's an experience to learn and improve from. If you mess up, then move on and get back on track again. With time you are likely to fail less and less. Look at failures as obstacles on your journey towards success and not as an ultimate end point. With this attitude, you cannot be beaten.

That's it for another week. I hope that these tips have been helpful for you. If you have a friend that could benefit from reading this then please share this article with them and help them get in on the fitness revolution.

Have anything to add for beginners? Leave a comment below or on social media. As always you can contact me via the details provided below if you want to speak to me about my coaching services.

Muscle Academy contact details:

Email - info@muscleacademy.com.au
Website - http://www.muscleacademy.com.au
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/MuscleAcademy
Instagram and Twitter - @evansoooon

- Evan

Periodisation Models

There has been a lot of harping on about daily undulating periodisation (DUP) recently. It has been toted as the ultimate training solution for making gains in strength and muscle hypertrophy. It is also spoken about as if it is mutually exclusive from other kinds of periodisation. Simply put, that just isn't true. DUP is a periodisation model and it can be implemented with effect but it isn't the holy grail and it isn't necessarily exclusive from other models.

Periodisation - what it is

Periodisation is how training is put together. It is organised in three ways:

Microcycle - this is typically one week of training or thereabouts.

Mesocycle - this is usually around 2 - 8 weeks in duration, though it is not a strict rule. It consists of multiple microcycles.

Macrocycle - this is the big picture plan usually in preparation for a competitive event of some kind. It consists of multiple mesocycles. It could be 6 months, 1 year, 4 years etc.

What kinds of periodisation are there?

Linear - Starts with low intensity, high volume and works up to high intensity, low volume. Generally volume and intensity are the variables which are periodised but other variables can be periodised as well.

Non Linear - This includes undulating periodisation and conjugate periodisation. Typically volume and/or intensity are changed daily or weekly.

Block - Block periodisation involves organising training into blocks which each have a focus on a goal. For example a training block may focus primarily on developing strength with higher relative loads.

Periodisation is not mutually exclusive

The idea that these types of periodisation are separate from each other is incorrect and I think poorly understood. Rather each type of periodisation contains components of the others.

Firstly all training is essentially linear periodisation because it contains linear progression. The nature of weight training is progressive. If you add volume in the form of more weight, an extra rep or an extra set then you made a linear progression in volume and/or intensity. So even if you are training with what you think is a DUP set up, you will ultimately have a linear element to your training. In reality you'll have undulation of training variables occurring daily and linearity occurring weekly (or however often progression happens to occur).

If you're training with a frequency of 2 times per week or more per muscle group then chances are you have undulation occurring to some degree in your program. For example if you do bicep curls with 4 sets of 8 on Monday and then you do bicep curls with 3 sets of 15 on Thursday then you just did DUP. You undulated the volume and intensity via changing the sets, reps and load over a period of days.

You can have a block of training which is largely focused on strength which also has elements of undulation and linearity. Allow me to illustrate with an example:

Lets say the macrocycle is 8 weeks, with 3 weeks of training, 1 week of deload, 3 weeks of training and 1 week of deload/testing. You perform two lifts each day of: squat, bench, deadlift, OHP 4 days per week at varying numbers of sets, reps and percentage of 1 RM. You also do some accessory work - one week you do 3 sets of 12, the next week you do 3 sets of 10, the third week you do 3 sets of 8 prior to deloading during the fourth week and starting again the next week.

This is set up as a block where the primary lifts and the associated loads, sets and reps have a trend toward developing strength. It has a block periodisation element to it. You have your reps, sets and load for the primary lifts undulating from workout to workout (a daily undulating periodisation element). The secondary work is set up with load (intensity) increasing and volume (reps) decreasing week to week as would typically occur in linear periodisation. And of course we are trying to get stronger from the start of the block to the end of the block (another linear element).

As you can see there are endless ways to organise training and periodisation doesn't fit into the neat little package of  specifically "DUP" or "linear periodisation". Rather periodisation models are going to contain elements applied over periods of time. If you see someone trying to sell you a DUP program, remember it's because it's a popular buzzword right now and not because it's exclusive or superior to any other way of organising training.

That's a wrap for this week. Have any feedback? Leave a comment below or on social media. As always you can contact me via the details provided below if you want to speak to me about my coaching services.

Muscle Academy contact details:

Email - info@muscleacademy.com.au
Website - http://www.muscleacademy.com.au
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/MuscleAcademy
Instagram and Twitter - @evansoooon

- Evan