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Heavy and High

  An Essay for the Natural Lifter or Bodybuilder Read on and Discover One of the Secrets to Massive Muscles      Over the years, it has often been debated—on gym floors, discussion forums, and among bodybuilding trainers and strength coaches—whether hypertrophy is built via heavy weights or through high reps.  The debate was there when I first picked up a barbell almost 40 years ago and it’s still debated to this very day.  Now, we’re not talking about strength or performance here—heavy weight and low reps has, and always will, reign supreme in that domain—but, rather, strictly muscle growth.  Both camps have their proponents and their detractors.  On the “heavy side” of the camp, you have bodybuilders like “Brutal” Bertil Fox*, who built some of the thickest, most herculean mass possible and whose favorite method of training consisted of doing 3 exercises for each muscle group for 3 sets of 3 reps each.  And on the opposite side yo...
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The Strength/Power/Mass Protocol

  Get Strong, Massive, and Powerful with this Minimalist Program      Yesterday, I received an email from a reader with a simple question.  He asked what I thought was the best program for building strength and mass—this is one of the questions that I have received fairly regularly over the years.  He said that, after reading the many workout programs that I have on offer here at Integral Strength , he wasn’t sure which one he should select or what kind of program “style” in general was the best, and he said that, to be honest, all of the various programs I write about left him more than a little bit confused.  I told him, first, that there is no one program that reigns supreme over all others.  There are, in fact, a handful of programs that would be great depending on the lifter.  When selecting a program you must take into account several factors, including lifting history, age, job occupation (a construction worker needs a diff...

Metabolic Muscle-Building

  Hybrid Hypertrophy/Conditioning Programs Combining Full-Body Kettlebell Workouts with Multi-Split Bodybuilding Training      A lot of our population, including lifters and bodybuilders, are metabolically compromised.  I’ve seen a number of studies, research papers, and health articles declaring this.  But I don’t need a study or some health expert to explain it to me.  All I have to do is go to the grocery store, a local restaurant, or the local gym (not that I go to a local gym; just saying) to see the obvious right before my eyes.  People are out of shape.  And, despite a push to make America healthy once again, we’re getting even more out of shape.  But it doesn’t have to be this way, and, in fact, despite more and more obese people in this country, there are also a greater number of people who are in fantastic shape.  Even though it’s easy to be out of shape these days, it’s also easier to be in shape.  Ther...