Strength and Physique

Just a quick update: I have a couple of new articles at Bodybuilding.com: A Program for All Seasons Power Bodybuilding    This article is an online reprint of a Planet Muscle article.  It addresses training for the entire strength spectrum: explosive power, maximal strength, hypertrophy and strength endurance.  Also, Tactics and Strategies is currently unavailable. It'll be re-released soon with some additional chapters, including a chapter on ab training, which a lot of readers have been asking for. Anyway, on that note, let's answer some reader questions: Q: Hello. About the Post Exhaust Routine : Is it twice a week? Workout 1 on Monday and Workout 2 on Friday? My Answer: Hit each workout twice a week. So Workout 1 can be done Monday and Thursday, while Workout 2 can be done Tuesday and Friday. Q: I just read one of your articles on Bodybuilding.com, and I was wondering if you could help me with something. I have been riding BMX for about eight...

"I am a police officer in a small town and I am starting your strength training for the law enforcement warrior program . My goal I would like to achieve out of this program is to better my appearance in uniform. I would like to gain muscle and lose fat. I am 28 yrs old approximately 5' 8" and 145lbs with a relatively high metabolism. Only until recently have I began to gain fat weight around my mid section. "As a cop you realize that I don't have the opportunity to eat where and when I please and usually I just bite and swallow my food. My question I would like to ask is, what would you suggest as a nutritional program for this type of workout? "I do work day shift which gives me the opportunity to eat breakfast around 9:00am and then I eat lunch anywhere between 11:30 and 1:30. I then come home and eat again around 5:00 to 7:00pm. "We have a Dairy Queen, Pizza buffet, Subway, Chinese restaurant, and a soul food dinner in the town I work in. I...

Q:  "You've got a nice [YouTube] channel here. As I love doing pull ups, I decided to write a message to you. I'm wondering if it's possible to build a decent upper body without working out at the gym? I've seen something called 'Calisthenics' training which is based only on the weight of your own body. Those guys who use mostly bars in parks are really built. "So what do you think? Is it possible to build a decent muscled body and make the whole upper body strong with only pull ups and some push ups? "I've been doing pull ups for about 18 months so far. In the begining I couldn't do a single pull up. Now it's about 17 reps, but I use additional burden (2 dumbbells, 5 kgs each) so that is 10 extra kgs total. I do 5 series (10, 7, 6, 6, 5) as the 'Recon pull up program' says 3 times a week. In another 2 days I train biceps, triceps and few other parts of my body with push ups, chest expander, etc. "People sa...

Q:  I am following your Shotgun program , and after 6 weeks I'm in love with it. I do really like the template, and the possibility to choose exercises for the troubleshooting days. However I have a question about the shotgun movement of the third day, the bench press. I found that even if I lift a lot less with the dumbbell bench press (52 lbs) than the barbell bench press (132 lbs), my pecs are much more sore the next day with dumbbells. Is the dumbbell bench press intense enough to be a shotgun movement? Can it help increase strength (and eventually mass) as much as barbell? I'm working with the format 6x3. Thanks in advance for your input. Regards, Guillaume My Answer- Yes the dumbbell press performed in a 6x3 format would qualify as a Shotgun movement. Even though you are using less weight on the dumbbell bench press as opposed to the barbell bench press, the dumbbell version is superior for hypertrophy for 2 reasons: 1) There is a greater range of m...

Just a heads up: head out to your Barnes and Noble bookstore and pick up the latest issue of Planet Muscle . In it I have an article called "Heavy-Light Training." "Hello, can you give me a routine for the 10-8-6-15 program using just a barbell? All I have is a cage, a bench, an Olympic barbell and 300 lbs, no dumbbells. I can no longer go to a gym." Thanks for your time and help. - W.L. My Answer- You can still build a very impressive physique based solely on barbells and body weight exercises. Here's what I suggest: A) Squats- 4 sets of 10, 8, 6, 15 reps; 2 minutes rest. B) Bench press- 4 sets of 10, 8, 6, 15 reps; 90 seconds rest. C) Pull-ups or Barbell rows- 4 sets of 10, 8, 6, 15 reps; 90 seconds rest. D) Wide grip barbell upright rows- 4 sets of 10, 8, 6, 15 reps; 1 minute rest. E) Barbell curls- 4 sets of 10, 8, 6, 15 reps; 90 seconds rest. F) Close grip bench press- 4 sets of 10, 8, 6, 15 reps; 90 seconds rest. Q:  I have...

Q:  "I recently ran into your blog and profile. I am preparing to enter the academy for the LASD. I changed my training from a traditional body building approach to a much more high intensity cardio style routine to build my stamina.  "Now my problem is that I am losing muscle mass. I am 5'10 163. When I started training for this last July I was 174. My strength has gone down also because I cut back the weight training and heavy lifts for more reps. I am being told that I will not see the academy until June. I want to be able to hang with the cardio but also build my strength. Any advice would be most helpful.  "Thank you for your time sir." My Answer:  Sir? Save the formalities for the academy staff, son. As far as strength and muscle mass, you  will  lose it during the academy. This is inevitable unless you're an endomorph, a.k.a. fat boy. I lost quite a bit of weight during my 7 month academy and during my 3 month field training after that. So why accele...

Check out my latest video on the elbows out dumbbell row, which will work the teres major muscle and give you the wide shoulder look: Q: "If you have time could you please clear up a few things for me? First let me say thanks so much for doing the article . It’s going to be very helpful for me, since I’m a slim framed guy. I’m about 5’10 150 and can rep 160ish once or twice. I guess that 160 at my weight isn’t bad, but I want to add size.  "I’m a 6 year Krav Maga practitioner, so my build is more lean and built for speed, what I consider the martial artist build. I may have missed this, but how much weight should I be trying to do for each set? Should I try to add a little weight each time the number of reps goes down? How much should I try to lift on my 15 rep set?" Thanks, Mike My Answer: Look over the Q&A section of the article . I answer this question in there. For the first set, use a weight based on your 10 rep max. Add weight with ea...