Reader. ..

Doesn't it seem some guys just know exactly what they're doing in the gym?

AND it seems like whatever they're doing is working?

If that's you... congrats - here's a cookie. If not, keep reading.

There are two huge training myths around building muscle.

1. You need to do a ton of training volume.
2. Doing a ton of sets and reps helps you burn more calories for fat loss.

The first one is a case of missing the forest for the trees.

Building muscle isn't just about pumping your muscles full of blood.

Or "Tearing them down just to build them back up."

In a nutshell...

(assuming you are maintaining lifting technique, tempo, etc)

Building Muscle is something *That Happens* when you:

Step 1: provide a high quality stimulus (You train hard in the gym, taking sets close to failure)

Step 2: Eat, sleep, and recover appropriately (allow the body to create adaptations)

Step 3: Repeat step 1, doing a little bit more weight or reps- not necessarily because you're trying harder, but because adaptations to the previous workout(s) were made and you're simply observing the numbers go up over time

Huh... perhaps sounds close to, but different from what you might have previously thought.

Most people think Progressive Overload or building muscle is about always pushing harder and doing 1 more rep than last time.

But really it's about lifting and eating and sleeping and recovering so that you positively adapt and are capable of doing 1 more rep than last time.

And that gets hard when you're constantly throwing the kitchen sink at your training volumes in the gym and binge watching the latest season of Game of Thrones or The Bear every night while you fall asleep with the TV on in your bedroom for a nice crap-quality night of sleep that is so routine for you that you consider it "decent."

If that sounds like you, it isn't personal lol.

Most people in the gym need to do a little bet less and a little bit more.

Perhaps a little bit less in terms of the number of sets and junk sets they're doing.

And a little bit more (or a lot more) intensity - taking sets closer to failure.

You know you're training hard enough when your final 5 reps, especially the last 3, really start to slow down in terms of the concentric.

We try to keep the eccentric duration the same each rep (lowering the bar to your chest on a benchpress)...

But the concentric duration (PRESSING it) is something that should involuntarily slow down toward the end of a set which indicates you're approaching failure.

I'd much rather you do 2-3 sets of taking sets to involuntary concentric slow-down...

Than 4-5 sets of throwing the weights around and always looking like you could've easily done 5 or more reps.

^^^Which is the unfortunate case when most people go to the gym.

In order to make sustainable muscle building progress over the long term, you need to follow a program to:

• Use great Bang for your Buck exercises to stimulate muscle tissue growth
• Train within the "Optimal" volume and intensity zone
• Keep yourself repeating the same workouts and exercises long enough so you can actually ADAPT (build muscle)

It's not much more complicated than that.

Have a process, and then trust the process.

Pick the right course, and then Stay the course until it's actually time to change it. It's less often than you think.

And when you are nailing these key components of building muscle, while simply eating enough calories and protein and not sleeping like a dumb dumb.

You'll be building muscle whether or not you're stressing about it.

And when you build muscle... you'll better like the way you look.

You'll feel different.

And when you feel better and like the way you look? Man...

Everything In life just get a little bit better.

Or maybe even a lot better.

Until tomorrow my guys,

"Do the Next Right Thing."

-Matt

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