Quote of the Day: Masutatsu Oyama

"If someone asked me what a human being ought to devote the maximum of his life to, I would answer: training. Train more than you sleep."

—Masutatsu Oyama (founder of Kyokushin Karate-Do)

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Skill Training as Size Building

AKA: The 90% Rule for Mass and Power Some Thoughts and Programs on “Skill Training” as a Method for Gaining Size and Strength In my recent essay “Heavy and High,” I suggested that the key to gaining mass for the natural bodybuilder lies in the ability to do programs that utilize both heavy weights and a high workload. When a lot of modern bodybuilders think about training for hypertrophy, they largely think along the lines of training hard and then coupling this with plenty of rest and recovery. Almost every program you encounter—whether you read about them, watch a YouTube video discussing it, or have a casual conversation about them with a fellow gym-goer—revolves around the balance of “intensity” with rest days after workouts. The harder, or more , you train then the more you should rest. I’m not denying here that workouts do, and should , involve those considerations, but I prefer lifters to think in terms of workload and work ...

No Squats, No Problem!

How to Build Mass, Strength, and Power Without Squats Tips, Advice, and Programs On October 20th, I posted a Q&A article with my answers to a few questions that I had received lately. One of the questions asked: Could one design a strength-building, mass-gaining program without the use of squats? The question came from the fact that I have, over and over throughout the years, pushed the squat as the king of all exercises. On top of that, I have, in fact, written more than once that if you don’t do heavy squats, you can all but forget about building prodigious amounts of muscle mass and strength. However, I also pointed out that I thought it is possible to build strength and power without the almighty squat if you include enough other big, compound lifts that work the entirety of the body, especially lifts that work the back and the legs. This essay will include, in much more detail, what I think such programs sh...

Power Partials

Partial Rep and Power Rack Training for Added Strength and Power Pointers, Tips, Programs After some time spent under the bar, a lifter will often hit a wall when it comes to strength gains. It can happen to any lift or to all of one’s lifts. Oftentimes, the lifter will try new training programs, additional work, or less work. Sometimes, they may attempt to alter their nutritional regimens, increasing calories and/or protein, all in a hope to get their strength moving again. But one of the best techniques for increasing strength once more is the time-tested method of partial reps, often performed in the rack but also with the help of boards or blocks. In this essay, I want to look at the various ways that partials can be utilized, especially for the three powerlifts, the squat, the bench press, and the deadlift, although it can be used for other lifts, such as overhead movements and even curls. ...

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