3 Ways to Get Big!
by Christian Thibaudeau

When someone starts to lift weights it's usually for one main reason: to build muscle. Almost
everyone who starts lifting wants to gain muscle to some extent. They
might not know it, but they do! Even the girl who doesn't want to get
big, just get "more toned," will need to build muscle to reach her
objective. Muscle growth is the way weight training improves
your appearance the most. From looking hard and defined to being
downright freaky, you need to build muscle to attain what you want out
of training. In that regard, it's interesting to know what stimulates
growth. It can get pretty confusing, too! Some big guys will
tell you that you should lift big weights: "Just lift the damn bar and
progressively add weight; that pumping stuff is for wusses!" Other
guys who are just as big will then say that the key is volume work:
"Top bodybuilders lift in the moderate rep ranges, so you should just
leave the super heavy stuff to powerlifters!" Others with
equally impressive physiques will point out that you should focus on
muscle tension, squeezing the muscle hard: "Simply lifting the weight
isn't enough. You must aim for the quality of the contraction!" The
thing is that they're all right to some extent! You can't argue with
results. Some guys have been getting big by focusing on lifting huge
weights on a few basic exercises. Others built their mass by doing a
lot of physical work on several exercises with a moderate resistance.
Some built great physiques "just lifting the damn weight" while others
really emphasize the squeeze, the pump, and feeling the muscle. It's
hard to say that any of these methods don't work because for each of
them we can find thousands of successful proponents. We know that all
of these methods can stimulate muscle growth, but how? And is it
important to know? Yes, it is. You should at least have a general idea
about these concepts so you'll be able to optimize your own workouts. You
have three basic ways of stimulating growth: heavy lifting, volume
work, and constant tension lifting. They all work via slightly
different mechanisms so it's worth it to take a quick look at each.

Method #1: Heavy Lifting When
you're performing sets with a relatively heavy weight, you stimulate
muscle growth via muscle micro-trauma (a high force output leads to a
high rate of protein degradation), neural factors (more complete
recruitment and fatigue of the high-threshold motor units) and hormonal
(increase of free Testosterone) factors. This is especially
true when the progressive overload principle is followed (trying to
increase the weight lifted over the weeks) since it forces the muscle
to make itself stronger and bigger to be able to sustain that type of
physical demand. Heavy lifting also has a potentiating effect on the
other exercises performed since it "wakes-up" the nervous system,
making it more efficient at recruiting the high-threshold motor units
in subsequent sets. Finally,
heavy lifting increases muscle density and myogenic tone (tonus: the
muscle looks harder even at rest). You don't need to lift your 1RM or
shoot for singles or doubles to have the benefits of heavy lifting. If
anything, when training for hypertrophy it's best to keep lifting heavy
but keep the reps moderate. Beginners and intermediates will do fine
with lifting around 85% of their maximum (lifting in the 6-8 rep range
to failure) while more advanced trainees will need to go up to 90%
(lifting in the 3-5 rep range). Advanced lifters can also use
high-intensity techniques such as cluster sets (sets of 5 reps with
90-92% of your max taking 10 seconds of rest between sets) and
rest-pause (perform a 3-5 RM, rest for 10-12 seconds, and perform a few
more reps).

Method #2: Constant Tension Here
we're talking about sets where the muscle doesn't relax for one
fraction of a second during the execution of a set. In other words, the
worked muscle needs to be kept super tense for the duration of the
exercise; the moment the muscle is allowed to relax, the set (using
this method) loses its efficacy. Constant tension sets are
obviously performed with fairly light weights since it's almost
impossible to maintain muscle tension throughout every inch of every
rep of a heavy set. The light weight oftentimes doesn't allow for much
muscle damage to occur, yet this type of training has been shown in
studies and with bodybuilders to be effective at building both strength
and size. So, there must be a second pathway for hypertrophy
stimulation. That pathway is the blood occlusion that occurs during
constant tension sets which prevents oxygen from going into the muscle
during the exercise. When you perform a strength training exercise
while depriving the target muscle of oxygen, several things happen:
lactate production increases, so does hGH and IGF-1 levels (two
anabolic hormones). Furthermore,
there's some evidence showing that when a muscle is being stimulated in
a hypoxic state (oxygen deprived), fast-twitch fiber activation is
increased, possibly because the shortage of oxygen prevents the use of
the aerobic pathway on which slow-twitch fibers are dependent. Here
we're talking about relatively light weights being used for sets
lasting at least 30 seconds, preferably 40-70 seconds (to maximize
lactate production) with a relatively slow (but not super-slow) tempo. The
real key is that the target muscle should never be allowed to relax
during the set. This means no pause between reps and keeping the muscle
flexed at all times. When the muscle relaxes, oxygen will enter the
muscle and you lose the efficacy of the technique. Due to the nature of
this method, isolation movements are your best choices.

Method #3: Volume/Cumulative Fatigue Training Zatsiorsky
wrote that a muscle fiber needs to be not only recruited but also
fatigued to be stimulated. Heavy lifting, while being a fantastic tool
to stimulate growth, often leaves some fibers un-stimulated. Volume
work, especially when performed with short rest intervals, can increase
the number of muscle fibers being stimulated via the cumulative fatigue
effect. Sure, some argue that this will lead to more slow-twitch fiber
hypertrophy (which is true), but if you're only after maximum muscle
growth, it doesn't matter! Athletes
should focus solely on fast-twitch fiber development, but mass-minded
individuals shouldn't shy away from volume work. Heck, even the
Westside guys are known for doing repetition method work, sometimes
with very high reps. To be effective, this method should be
performed with sets ranging from 8-12 reps (up to 15 or 20 on some
exercises) with short rest intervals (45-60 seconds). Advanced lifters
can also use high-density techniques such as pre/post-fatigue (superset
of two exercises for the same muscle group), drop-sets (perform 8-12
reps to technical failure, drop the weight by 15-20% and continue to
perform reps), and double contractions (one and half reps).

Arranging the Methods into a Workout Here's
a good rule: You should always put the more CNS-demanding stuff early
in the workout. Heavier exercises and more complex exercises involve
the CNS more. So in a workout using all three methods you should use
this order:
1. Heavy movement using a big compound exercise (bench press, squat, Romanian deadlift, military press, rowing)
2.
Intermediate movement (dumbbell press, leg press, lunges, reverse
hyper, glute-ham raise, wide stance leg press) for sets in the 8-12
reps range
3. Isolation exercise using constant tension for sets lasting 40-70 seconds (12 to 15 slow, tensed reps) The second rule is that the lower the reps per set, the more sets you do. Good arrangements for each muscle include:
CHEST — BEGINNER A. Decline bench press
5-6 sets of 6-8 reps
2 minutes of rest between sets B. Incline DB (dumbbell) press
4-5 sets of 10-12 reps
90 seconds of rest between sets C. Cable crossover
3-4 sets of 12-15 constant tension reps
60 seconds of rest
CHEST — INTERMEDIATE A. Decline bench press
5-6 sets of 3-5 reps
2 minutes of rest between sets B. Incline DB press
4-5 sets of 8-10 reps
90 seconds of rest between sets C. Cable crossover
3-4 sets of 10-12 constant tension reps
60 seconds of rest
CHEST — ADVANCED A. Decline bench press
5-6 sets of 5x1 cluster (sets of 5 reps with 10 seconds of rest between reps)
2 minutes of rest between sets B1. Flat DB press
4-5 sets of 8-10 reps
no rest B2. Flat DB flies with a pronated grip
4-5 sets of 8-10 reps
90 seconds of rest C. Cable crossover
3-4 sets of 10-12 constant tension reps
60 seconds of rest
BACK — BEGINNER A. Chest-supported DB rowing or chest-supported T-bar rowing with a parallel grip
5-6 sets of 6 to 8 reps
2 minutes of rest between sets B. Lat pulldown
4-5 sets of 10-12 reps
90 seconds of rest between sets C. Bent over DB laterals
4-5 sets of 10-12 reps
90 seconds of rest between sets D. Straight-arm pulldown
3-4 sets of 12-15 constant tension reps
60 seconds of rest *Note that we do one more back exercise so that we can work on both lats and mid-back equally
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