Strength and Physique

Q: I'm currently following your Hypertrophy Training for the Ectomorph (HTE) programme, which is simply brilliant. It's a joy to follow, I never get bored and my body never gets fatigued because of the fourth week changing of rep ranges. I also bought and read your superb book High Tension Exercises for Muscular Growth which contains astonishing scientific information about the body and muscles. It's on another level compared to all the publications, websites and magazines I've ever read. It really is a fascinating book and has given me a far greater understanding of muscle growth and the best associated exercises and rep ranges. Thus, I have some questions. (a) You mention the benefit of the guillotine bench press, and I've been doing it. Where should my arms be when doing this? If I try to keep my arms at 90 degrees, forearms directly vertical, I can only lower the bar to approximately 18cm / 7inches off my chest. If I butterfly my arms, I can get the bar lower ...

Q: Hi James! Love your books! But I struggle doing overhead presses and all kinds of squats due to muscle stiffness, lack of mobility and so on. I've seen improvements since I started to use some drills you suggested  your YouTube page : halos ( SPV3 ) and shoulder circles against the wall . Thus, do you have any suggestions of mobility drills for the lower body?  Thanks! Victor My Answer:  For lower body mobility, I'm a firm believer in simple body weight squatting and lunging.  If you want to increase your range of motion on the squat, then you would simply do body weight squats. Use body weight squats and lunges as mobility exercises.  Don't worry about repetitions.  Focus on the full range of motion by squatting all the way down. Here's a humorous primer on how to do simple body weight squats: Now you may have tightness in certain areas that prevent you from squatting ass to the grass.  Again simple body weight exercises can help...

Q: I have skinny ass calves. When do I work out Calves? Is there a compound exercise that will also work the calves and thigh? Regards,  Jason My Answer: If you want to bulk the size of your calves, then you can use the Calf Specialization routine that's revealed in Neo-Classical Bodybuilding. If you want to incorporate the Calf Specialization routine into the Hypertrophy Training for the Ectomorph 2.0 program, then simply train calves at the beginning of each HTE 2.0 workout: Workout #1 Workout #2 Workout #3 Workout #4 CALVES: diminishing sets THIGHS 10-8-6-15 CHEST 10-8-6-15 BACK 10-8-6-15 DELTS 10-8-6-15 TRICEPS 10-8-6-15 CALVES: one-legged calf raises THIGHS 10-8-6-15 CHEST 10-8-6-15 BACK 10-8-6-15 DELTS 10-8-6-15 BICEPS 10-8-6-15 CALVES: descending sets THIGHS 10-8-6-15 CHEST 10-8-6-15 TRICEPS 10-8-6-15 BACK 10-8-6-15 DELTS 10-8-6-15 BICEPS 10-8-6-15

Q:  Thanks James, the list of exercises looks great. Just one question on calf training though: you don’t include Donkey Calf Raises in your list. On his website , Larry Scott offers a purposely designed machine for performing them without a partner. What are your thoughts on this exercise? Regards, Barry H. My Answer: Donkey calf raises are a great exercise, but I would have to disagree with most bodybuilding enthusiasts that the donkey calf raise is the best calf exercise. First let's tackle the machine Larry Scott created. I've never run across a gym that has this machine, so I can't tell you how effective it is in developing the calves. I did, however, try to simulate this machine by using: 1) a low pulley machine attached to 2) a weight belt 3) over a calf block and 4) bench All I can say I was not impressed with the feel of the exercise, especially given all the trouble of set-up. The reason why you can't approximate the donkey calf raise th...