5 Things You're Missing
by Chad Waterbury

I wanted to introduce this article with something that would
grab your attention. You know, something like the masterpiece
choreography in the fight scene during The Bourne Ultimatum.
Or maybe that car wash scene in Cool Hand Luke.


Chad figured this wouldn't grab your
attention.
I tried my damnedest. I even bought one of those meditation
videos that promised lucid enlightenment. When that didn't work, I
re-read TC's book, The Testosterone Principles, chock full of
innuendos, anecdotes, and sublime humor. But nothing worked. I
simply couldn't figure out a clever way to introduce this
article.
So I'm going to skip the typical filler stuff, and get right to
the point.
The following are five things that you're probably missing in
your quest to reach your body composition goals. I hope they
inspire you.


1. Big Guns
Loading is the key progression when seeking monstrous guns. I
say this because in the last 12 years of working with people, the
load progression is the only method that's proven effective time
and again.
So you should just keep increasing the weight of your curls and
triceps extensions, right? Nope. That's not an effective strategy
either, because you're not targeting the real limitations.
The best solution is a multi-pronged approach. Here's how it all
breaks down.

1. Strengthen the posterior chain: heavy deadlifts, squats, and
good mornings are the best exercises to do it. By making your
posterior chain stronger, you'll have a more solid foundation of
support.

2. Strengthen the shoulder girdle and upper back: your shoulder
girdle and upper back must be strong enough to support heavy arm
movements. You can't go wrong with the snatch grip deadlift and
snatch to strength your upper back and traps. Throw in some rope
pulls to the face and dumbbell trap raises and you're covered.

3. Strengthen the forearms: the stronger your grip, the more
weight you'll be able to handle. Therefore, it's imperative to
strengthen your gripping muscles with a combination of wrist curls,
reverse wrist curls, towel pull-ups, and fat bar rows. If you don't
have access to a fat bar just wrap a towel around the bar the next
time you're doing rows. Even better, buy a pair of EZ grips from
Ivanko. They're an invaluable accessory.
Spend at least one month strengthening your posterior chain,
shoulder girdle/upper back, and forearms. When you return to any
elbow-flexion or elbow-extension movements, you can handle much
more load. Watch your arms grow the following month.
Bottom line: Build a foundation that supports heavy upper
body training.


Big guns need a strong foundation.


2. Big Quads
Scads of newsstand bodybuilding magazines extol the virtues of
the back squat to build big quads. The problem is that the back
squat usually isn't an effective quadriceps builder, unless you
have a specific skeletal structure (short femurs, long torso) and
sufficient mobility to go along with it.
Here's a simple, basic test to determine whether or not the back
squat is right for taking you to Tom Platzville.


Platzville.
Body weight squat: Stand next to a mirror. Start with your arms
crossed at your chest with your feet slightly wider than shoulder
width. Drop into a full squat while keeping your torso as vertical
as possible.
If, in the bottom position, your knees are fully flexed, your
heels are on the ground, and (this is imperative) your torso is
more than 75 degrees relative to the ground, you're built for
the back squat.
Your bottom position should look like this:

Tall people with long femurs, or those who lack mobility, end up
shifting too far forward to overload the quadriceps. Importantly,
this doesn'tmean the back squat won't be beneficial, but it
must be understood that when you can't achieve the depicted
position, a back squat won't build big, strong quads as quickly as
other lifts.
Assuming that you're shorter than 6'2", and you don't have
femurs like Yao Ming, you might just need to work on your technique
and mobility. One effective exercise is the wall squat. Here's how
you do it.
Wall squat: Stand facing a wall with your nose and toes against
it. Your feet should be slightly wider than shoulder width with
your feet angled out very slightly. Squat down as far as
possible with your arms hanging between your legs. With each rep,
you should be able to drop a little farther. Perform 3 sets of 15
reps every day until you can drop your hips below your knees. It
should look like this:

For those of you who can't drop your hips below your knees after
performing the wall squat every day for two weeks, I recommend
focusing on the front squat and single leg squat for quadriceps
development.
The wall squat, however, is great for anyone. It'll really hone
your squat and deadlift technique, regardless of your skeletal
structure or stature.
Bottom line: Do it until you can mimic the picture.
Depending on your skeletal structure, you might never be able to
replicate the ideal range of motion.


3. Don't Overeat Protein
Adding more protein isn't always the answer. If you're eating
less than one gram per pound of body weight, it can help. But if
you're at that level, adding more probably isn't going to be
beneficial.


More protein isn't always better.
I know it's en vogue to always tell people to eat more
protein, but I haven't found that to be an effective strategy
(importantly, I'm talking about men here. I've never worked with a
female who ate too much protein).
I've worked with many athletes who consume 1.5 or more grams per
pound of body weight, and many of these athletes hire me to lean
them up. If you're consuming that much protein and can't lose fat,
it's likely that your body's using protein for energy. This is a
problem because it keeps your body from getting its energy from its
fat reserves.
These athletes are often shocked when I lower their protein
intake. Sometimes I lower it to one gram per pound, other times
I'll lower it even further. This almost always helps them lose fat,
while increasing their energy.
Back in the day, I remember reading an article by Dan Duchaine
that said that overeating any macronutrient can make you fat. My 19
year-old mind was certain he was wrong. After all, more protein
can't keep you from getting lean, right? Wrong.
Bottom line: Increasing your protein intake to one gram
per pound of body weight can be beneficial. But unless you're
expending a huge amount of energy every day (think NBA basketball
player), more protein probably won't help, and it could have the
reverse effect by keeping you from getting lean.


4. Do the Overhead Squat
This is one of the most underrated exercises. You see, people
who focus too much on mobility often lose strength. And people who
spend too much time trying to build a bigger bench, squat, and
deadlift often lose mobility.
The overhead squat bridges the gap better than almost any other
exercise. You'll build total body strength, and you'll increase
mobility, particularly in the areas that need it most such as the
shoulders, thoracic spine, hips, and ankles. You can't beat that
combination.


The overhead squat bridges the gap better than any other
exercise.
You should begin your training sessions with the overhead squat.
To prepare your joints, do the following prep
routine:

10 foot circles in each direction
10 hip circles in each
direction
10 shoulder circles in each direction
10 wall squats
There's a myriad of ways you can use the overhead squat to reach
your goals, but here are three of the most popular, and the
parameters that will do it.

Hypertrophy: choose a load that allows you 6 reps while fresh.
Perform as many sets as it takes to reach 25 reps. Rest 60-90
seconds between each set. Do this twice each week at the beginning
of your training sessions.

Strength: choose a load that allows you 4 reps while fresh.
Perform as many sets as it takes to reach 15 reps. Rest 90-120
seconds between sets. Do this twice each week at the beginning of
your training sessions.

Fat loss: choose a load that allows you 20 reps while fresh.
Perform as many sets as it takes to reach 50 reps. Rest 60-90
seconds between each set. Do this three times per week after your
weight training sessions. In other words, this is a form of intense
energy systems training. Fatigue accumulates quickly since the reps
are high, and the rest periods don't allow for full recovery.
Expect to perform at least 5 sets to reach 50 reps.
For any of the above three plans, use the same load for all
sets. For example, if your 6RM for the overhead squat is 135
pounds, use that load for every set until you reach 25
reps.
You'll derive more benefits from the overhead squat if you do it
barefoot or in wrestling shoes.


5. Get Your Breakfast On
If breakfast isn't your biggest meal of the day, then your
metabolism isn't as high as it should be. Before you worry about
macronutrient ratios, calories, energy systems training, or any
other component of body transformation, make breakfast the most
calorically-dense meal of your day. Eat leftover pizza if you have
to. Yes, it's that important.
Since I didn't have a clever beginning to this article,
I'm not going to have a clever ending, either. So
there.


The most important meal of your day.

Note: I will be conducting a seminar in London, England on June
14. To reserve a spot contact Lee Hadden.
For more of Waterbury pick up his e-book The 10/10
Transformationhere.
His book Muscle Revolution can be purchased here.



Chad Waterbury is one of the world's leading experts on
developing muscle for the goal of enhancing performance. His novel
training methods are used by athletes, bodybuilders, figure models,
and fitness enthusiasts of all ages and from all walks of life. He
has an M.S. in Physiology from the University of Arizona, and he
specializes in the neurophysiology of human movement and
performance. He currently trains, consults and lectures around the
country.

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