Men'sHealth INA Get Bigger, Stronger, and Leaner in Record Time with the New Science of Strength Training CHAD WATERBURY ltJ RODALE NOTICE The information in this book is meant to supp lement, not replace, proper exercise training All forms of exercise pose some inherent risks The editors and publisher advise readers to take full responsibility for their safety and know their limits Before practicing the exercises in thi s book, be sure that your equipment is well maintained , and not take risks beyond your level of experience, aptitude, training, and fitness The exercise and dietary programs in this book are not intended as a substitute for any exercise routine or dietary regimen that may have been prescribed by your doctor As with all exercise and dietary programs, you should get your doctor's approval before beginning Mention of specific companies, organizations, or authorities in this book does not imply endorsement by the author or publisher, nor does mention of specific companies, organizations, or authorities imply that they endorse this book, its author, or the publisher Internet addresses and telephone numbers given in this book were accurate at the time it went to press © 2008 by Rodale Inc Interior photographs © Rodale Images All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any other information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher Rodale books may be purchased for business or promotional use or for special sa les For information, please write to: Special Markets Department, Rodale Inc., 733 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Men's Health is a registered trademark of Rod ale Inc Printed in the United States of America Rodale In c makes every effort to use acid-free e, recycled paper@ Mitch Mandel /Rodale Images and Brad Buckman (page viii on ly) Halloday BOOK DESIGN BY Susan Eugster INTERIOR PHOTOGRAPHS BY ILLUSTRATIONS BY Scott Library of Congress Cata loging-in-P ublication Data Waterbury, Chad Men's health Huge in a hurry: get bigger, stronger, and leaner in record time with the new science of building muscle I by Chad Waterbury p cm Inel udes index ISBN-13978- 1- 59486- 954- direct mail hardcover ISBN-IO 1- 59486- 954- direct mail hardcover ISBN-I3978- 1- 60529- 934- paperback ISBN-IO 1- 60529- 934- paperback I Bodybuilding Weight training I Title II Titl e: Huge in a hurry GV546.5W38 2008 613.7'I - dc22 2008029457 Distributed to the trade by Macmillan 2468 10 9753 I direct mail hardcover 10 I paperback [JI RODALE LIVE YOUR WHOLE I LIFE ~ We inspire and enable people to improve their lives and the world around them For more of our products visit rodalestore.com or call 800-848-4735 We aLL have someone in our lives who affects us immeasurably Maybe that person is a parent, teacher, or friend Maybe that person gave us just enough encouragement at a critical moment, even if at the time we didn't think it was enough Or maybe that person didn't always have our best interests in mind, but instead acted in ways that forced us to learn the rules of life Maybe what that person didn't give us made us who we are today This book is dedicated to my late father He's the reason I'm here ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii INTRODUCTION: THE NERVE OF THIS GUY ! ix PART 1: THE BRAINS CH 1: HIGHWAY TO HUGENESS CH 2: THE SIZE PRINCIPLES 11 CH 3: KNOWLEDGE IS POWER AS LONG AS IT'S ACCURATE 21 PART 2: THE BRAWN CH 4: TOTAL-BODY TRAINING 39 CH 5: HIGH-FREQUENCY TRAINING 48 CH 6: EIGHT KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL WORKOUTS 56 CH 7: WARMING UP AND COOLING DOWN 66 CH 8: HOW TO USE THE PROGRAMS 90 PART 3: THE PLANS CH 9: GET READY 101 CH 10: GET BIG 104 CH 11: GET EVEN BIGGER 118 CH 12: GET STRONG 149 CH 13: GET EVEN STRONGER 164 CH 14: GET LEAN 184 PART 4: THE EXERCISES CH 15: UPPER-BODY PULLS 205 CH 16: UPPER-BODY PUSHES 221 CH 17: SQUATS AND SQUAT VARIATIONS 239 CH 18: DEADLIFTS AND DEAD LIFT VARIATIONS 253 CH 19: POWER EXERCISES 261 CH 20: ABDOMINAL EXERCISES 269 CH 21: SPECIALTY AND SINGLE-JOINT EXERCISES 279 PART 5: THE FUEL CH 22: FEEDING YOUR MUSCLES AND YOUR BRAIN 303 CH 23: WHAT TO EAT AND WHEN TO EAT IT 313 CH 24: GETTING READY FOR YOUR CLOSE-UP 329 INDEX 335 C WLEDGrV1E TS l\f\JO irst and foremost, I want to thank God for keeping me strong and healthy My mother is a close second Thanks for your love Next up is the rest of my fami ly: Lisa, for your abundance of joy, support, love, and even more support to top it off; Todd, for your wisdom and encouragement and for being unwavering in your honesty and integrity; Gary, for being as solid as a rock and for being such an incredible provider when I was a kid I want to thank my three best friends- Orbie, Stacey, and Telly- for the laughs and the beers Thanks to TC, Tim, and Chris at T-Nation for your continued support; to Debbie for your encouragement; and to Bill Hartman for your help with the mobility and flexibility information My sincere appreciation goes out to Rodale for the opportunity to write this book I want to thank Lou Schuler, without whom this book would never have been possible It was my honor and privilege to work with you Last, I want to thank Leslie for your love and your incredible spirit vii INTRODUCTION THE NERVE OF THIS GUY! fyou saw me walking down the street, your first thought wouldn't be, "Hey, that guy looks like a neurophysiologist." You'd probably guess that I'm a musclehead, which is fine That's exactly what I am And if you guessed that I make my living using my brawn as much as my brain, I'd still take it as a compliment I used to work as a nightclub bouncer, asking belligerent drunks to leave the premises and not taking "no" for an answer It's a tough job, and I feel fortunate to have gotten out with minimal scar tissue But I'm also a science geek who has a master's degree from the University of Arizona, with a focus on neurophysiology, the study of how the nervous system works in conjunction with the muscles to enable movement and improve human performance My interest in the subject isn't remotely academic: I want to know everything I can about making the human body bigger, stronger, faster, and leaner As soon as I think I've come across information that applies to those goals, I try it out in my own workouts If it works for me, I try it with the clients and athletes I train for a living And if it works for them, I write about it I've been writing for T-Nation, an online bodybuilding magazine, since 2000 If you had heard of me before you came across this book, that's probably why Each article I write is typically seen by tens of thousands of readers, and some articles have generated hundreds of comments, as well as discussions that spill over to other sites that aren't affiliated with T-Nation Those discussions can get heated, and some even turn vicious But I've been around long enough to realize that heat and hate always accompany a genuine paradigm shift, even in something as apolitical as strength training When one of my articles gains traction, it's usually because I've challenged a long-practiced and long-accepted idea A few years ago, for example, everyone agreed that the best way to build muscle mass was with sets of to 12 repetitions of each exercise in your workout program If you did fewer repetitions, you were building strength at the expense of muscle size I flipped that around, showing readers that working with heavy weights and relatively low repetitions3 to per set-would build size and strength simultaneously In fact, I argued, heavy weights are the best tool for building muscle mass Ix INTRODUCTION That's not just my opinion; it's one of the of your business, an area that the previous most basic rules of exercise science You can't owner had neglected When you give them pass a course in exercise physiology without work to in that area, your business immedi- knowing this rule Yet, almost every trainer ately generates more revenue, at the same cost and strength coach ignores it as soon as he After all, you were paying the workers any- leaves the classroom way Now you're paying them and getting It's called the size principle, which I explain in detail in Chapter The executive something in return The admonition to use heavy weights summary is this: Muscle fibers come in with low reps proved to be both popular and different sizes and have different roles But effective For many lifters, the one thing they your body always uses them in the same order, hadn 't tried was working with heavier with the smallest fibers going first and the weights I've heard this from more readers biggest fibers only going into action when you than I could ever count They'd been told for absolutely need to generate all-out strength decades that lifting near-maximum weights and power for a single, isolated action was both dangerous and ineffective for So I questioned the idea that the best way to build bigger muscles is with techniques that building muscle Why were they told that? The standard couldn't possibly employ all the fibers within explanation- that heavy weights would make those muscles their muscles stronger but not bigger- is a Here's an analogy: truly breathtaking misunderstanding of basic Imagine that you've bought a company, exercise science Why wouldn't stronger only to discover that a percentage of your muscles also be bigger, all else being equal? employees sit around all day with nothing to Or, put another way, why would muscles get And imagine that the previous owner of bigger unless they needed to get stronger? Why the company had done this deliberately, would your body add muscle tissue unless thinking it was a good idea to employ people there's a functional reason for it to be there? who didn't have any actual work to perform If you wanted to make that company succeed, the course Not even close Coaches and trainers first thing you'd is well, to be realistic, and athletes have observed throughout history most business owners would layoff all those that lifting heavy things makes humans bigger workers But you're smarter than most, and and stronger If the Neanderthals had invented when you look at those workers, you realize gyms before they went extinct, they might very they're incredibly skilled in one particular area x I wasn't the first lifter to see the light, of well have figured it out before humans did ' SIDE LUNGE WITH OVERHEAD REACH WHY? Increase mobility of inner thighs and hips HOW TO DO IT: Stand with your feet hip-width apart, hands at your sides Take the longest step you can to your right and drop down into a lunge while reaching toward the ceiling with both arms Keep you r toes pointing forward Push back to the starting position, lowering your arms Repeat to your left, and alternate sides until you finish all your reps 75 OVERHEAD SQUAT WHY? Increase mobility of shoulders, thoracic spine (upper back) , hips, and ankles HOW TO DO IT: If you have experience with Olympic lifts, or if you 've done this exercise before, you can start with a 4S-pound Olympic barbell Experienced lifters who've never done overhead squats before can use a standard barbell, which weighs 10 pounds If you are a novice lifter and have no idea what I'm talking about, try this the first time with a broomstick or anything else you can find that's similarly light No matter how strong you are, don't add any weight to the bar you use Grab the bar with a very wide grip and hold it overhead with your feet about shoulder-width apart, toes angled out slightly Push your hips back while keeping your chest up, and lower yourself into a squat Keep your elbows locked and the barbell over your head, if not behind it If you feel the bar moving forward, past your head, stop your descent and return to the starting position Also stop your descent if you feel your lower back slipping out of its natural arch in either direction - you don't want your back to round , but you also don't want it to go into an excessive arch Do all your repetitions with the best range of motion you can with good form , but don't go past the point at which your form breaks down If you don't have either problem, descend until your upper thighs are parallel to the floor, or slightly below that if you can, and then return to the starting position and repeat 76 WARMINGUPANDCOOLINGDOWN WARMUP SETS That's why I have upper-body exercises At this point, your body is ready to train But first in most of my Huge in a Hurry workouts that doesn't mean you're ready to jump right It takes less time to warm up for them, and by into your work sets, using heavy weights the time you're finished with work sets of pulls You' ll need to one or more warmup sets of and pushes, you'll be able to heavy squats each exercise before you begin your work sets or deadlifts with fewer warmup sets of that specific exercise The number of warmup sets you depends on any number of Here are a few suggestions for how to approach exercise-specific warmups factors: your age, your experience, your injury history, your comfort level and personal preferences, and whether the exercise is first or CONSIDER THE LOAD last in your workout In Chapter 6, I gave you four general catego- Really, warmup sets are an art, not a ries of weights you'll use in my workouts : science You're the artist There's no universal » Light (20 to 22 reps) "right" way to prepare for heavy lifts For one » Medium (10 to 12 reps) guy it might be four or five warmup sets » Heavy (4 to reps) Another guy might hate the idea of doing more than one, and he has gotten so used to working » Superheavy (2 or reps) with minimal warmup sets that he can it I don't think anyone reading this book without any problems The better you know would consider doing warmup sets for "light" your body, the better you'll be at preparing it weights A lot of you wouldn't want to be seen for productive workouts with a weight you could lift more than 20 This is as good a time as any to call your times, even if you were only using it to warm attention to an aspect of my workouts that up for "heavy" or "superheavy" sets But what differs from most others you when the program calls for A typical total-body workout will start "medium" work sets? There's no right or with squats or deadlifts We all know the wrong answer; I'd estimate that half my clients logic: Those exercises use the most muscle and would a warmup set, and half wouldn't require the most effort and concentration, so it When the program calls for heavy or makes sense to them when you have the superheavy weights, I think everyone needs to most energy However, they also require the or warmup sets Let's say you're doing most extensive warmup, perhaps to 10 deadlifts and plan to use 250 pounds for your minutes more than you'd need to warm up for work sets An easy way to warm up would be pulling or pushing exercises to use the weights you have to put on the bar 77 I THEBRAWN anyway So, you'd start with 135 pounds-the bar with a 45-pound plate on each end-and progress like this: » 135 pounds, or reps » 135 pounds, reps » 185 pounds, reps An equally strong lifter who's 20 years younger might skip those first two steps and » 185 pounds, or reps » 225 pounds, or reps Now you're ready to add the final weights and your work sets with 250 I'm not suggesting everyone should warm up this way, just that it's simple and time-efficient jump right into warmups with 135 Even that might be a concession to a coach or training partner; I've seen plenty of young lifters whose idea of a warmup was a couple of deep breaths before lifting near-max weights I don't recommend the no-warmup strategy, but in some circumstances, as I'll explain next, even that can work CONSIDER YOUR AGE Let's say you're 40, you were a serious athlete in high school, and you've been lifting consistently for more than 20 years, while playing recreational sports off and on in your twenties and thirties You are in good shape and always have been, but your knees have taken a hell of a beating over the years For you, a good warmup is the difference between feeling great for the next week or limping around like someone twice your age Your lower-body exercise is front squats, and you're going to work sets with 225 pounds (Like I said, you're in good shape.) But you probably take a lot longer to get to that weight than someone younger would In fact, your first warmup set might be with an empty barbell: CONSIDER YOUR REASONS FOR TRAINING Some of my clients have been members of elite military or police units At first I trained them the same way I'd train any other athletes, with plenty of warmup sets But then one Special Forces soldier explained the finer points of his job: Sometimes, he said, he has to go from deep sleep to a full-on uphill sprint carrying 40 pounds of gear Once or twice he got to wherever he was going before he even realized he was awake I wasn't doing him any favors by training him in the gym with extensive warmups Anything his body could do, it had to be able to without warning From then on, we went right into heavy work with little or no specific » 45 pounds, reps » 95 pounds, reps IIII 78 preparation Most of us have less urgent reasons for -, - WARMINGUPANDCOOLINGDOWN training, to the great relief of our wives and If you're using medium weights, sure With girlfriends My point is to keep in mind that heavy weights, you probably want to two whatever you in the weight room- includ- warmup sets for each exercise before you ing your approach to warming up- will have jump into work sets for that exercise And some effect on how you perform in other parts with superheavy weights, I think you'll of your life best with two or three warmup sets of each exercise before you your work sets of that exercise CONSIDER THE ORDER OF EXERCISES in circuits If you're working out in a crowded Ideally, you'll my workouts as a circuit- a gym, it's out of the question- as soon as you typical one might include chinups, dips, and walk away from a station, it might be 10 or 15 dead lifts, in that order I can't say with minutes before you can use it again But even complete veracity or confidence that any if it's possible, some of you won't want to work exercise is "safe." But I can say that upper- out that way Which, of course, is fine: It's body pulling exercises seem to pose the least your workout, even if you're using my pro- risk, which is why most of my workouts start grams In that case, you probably want to with one of those include at least one warmup set for the second You may find that you don't need to warm I know many of you won't the workouts and third exercises if you're using heavy up for the second and third exercises in the weights For superheavy loads, I recommend circuit Let's say you two warmup sets three warmup sets for the first exercise and at before your first work set of chinups (You'll least two for the others probably use the lat pUlldown machine for this.) That might be enough to prepare your Unless, that is, you're considering a career in Delta Force shoulder joints for the first work set of dips And after you've done a set of chinups and a set of dips, you might feel as if you're ready for FLEXIBILITY TRAINING a work set of deadlifts without additional I recommend these stretches immediately warmup sets following each training session Hold each Is that an ideal way to that circuit? position for 15 seconds 79 I II :11 HIP FLEXOR STRETCH Kneel on your right knee, with your torso upright, your left foot flat on the floor, and your left knee bent about 90 degrees (It's like the bottom position of a lunge, only with your right knee on the floor instead of just above it.) Lean back, pushing your hips forward and pulling your chest back, as you reach up and over your head with your right arm Hold that position, feeling the stretch in the right side of your pelvis Repeat on the other side 80 OUTER THIGH STRETCH Sit on the floor in what we used to call "Indian style." (It's like the lotus position in yoga, except the outer edges of your feet are on the floor.) Pull your left leg back and to the side so your left foot is behind you, with your left knee slightly bent Now lean forward from your hips and try to touch your nose to your right calf Hold as you feel the stretch in your right outer thigh Repeat on the opposite side 81 I III GLUTEALS, HAMSTRINGS, AND CALVES (GASTROCNEMIUS) STRETCH Stand with your feet together and your knees nearly straight, but not locked Push your hips back while keeping your lower back in its natural arch, and reach toward the floor You want to go as far as you can without your lower back losing its arch Hold that position 82 CALVES (SOLEUS) STRETCH Stand , bend forward from the hips, and place your hands on the floor, keeping your hips up Lift your left foot off the floor, and place it behind your right calf Bend your right knee slightly, and feel the stretch in the soleus of your right leg (The soleus is the flat calf muscle beneath the diamondshaped gastrocnemius.) Hold , then repeat on the opposite side 83 FRONT SHOULDER STRETCH Lift your right arm up and over your right shoulder and place your hand between your shoulder blades, palm down Place your left hand behind your lower back, palm turned out, and reach up to touch the fingers of your right hand Hold, then repeat with your arms reversed If you can't touch your fingers , you can use a towel-hold one end in your top hand, and grasp it as high as you can with your bottom hand 84 CHEST STRETCH Stand facing a wall Reach your left arm out to the side, parallel to the floor, with your left palm against the wall Twist your body to the right as far as possible and hold Repeat on the opposite side 85 LAT STRETCH Stand facing a wall with your arms extended overhead , shoulder-width apart, and your palms against the wall Push your hips back, lower your chest toward the floor, and hold 86 WRIST FLEXORS STRETCH This stretch is sometimes called "reverse prayer," which helps you visualize the position: Press your palms together behind your back, fingertips pointed up, and hold 87 UPPER TRAPS STRETCH Stand and place your left arm behind your lower back, your palm turned out With your right h'and, grasp the lower-left part of your head Gently pull your head diagonally, toward your right hip, and hold Repeat on the opposite side 88 LEVATOR SCAPULAE STRETCH Lift your left arm up and over your left shoulder so your left hand rests palm-down on your upper back Grab the left-rear side of your head with your right hand and gently pull your head diagonally toward your right hip Hold, then repeat on the opposite side 89 ... PHOTOGRAPHS BY ILLUSTRATIONS BY Scott Library of Congress Cata loging -in- P ublication Data Waterbury, Chad Men''s health Huge in a hurry: get bigger, stronger, and leaner in record time with the new. ..Men''sHealth INA Get Bigger, Stronger, and Leaner in Record Time with the New Science of Strength Training CHAD WATERBURY ltJ RODALE NOTICE The information in this book is meant to supp... genuine paradigm shift, even in something as apolitical as strength training When one of my articles gains traction, it''s usually because I''ve challenged a long-practiced and long-accepted idea A