We have come a long way in the last few years in our knowledge of training for maximum muscle gains. We have learned over the years that the bodybuilding routines we see in the mags are
very inefficient. You know what I I mean the old 3-4 exercises per bodypart using 3-4 sets per exercise for 8-12 reps. So why am I going over this with you? Because I got an e-mail from one of our favorite and one of the best there is Jason Ferruggia about a new program he has just come out with.
Minimalist Training For Massive Gains
Jason spells it all out for you a simple and effective approach to training that basically eliminates all the clutter that you’ll see in a lot of training programs. It’s all about taking the basic lifts and using them with straightforward programming (15 different routines) to achieve maximum muscle gains for sustained periods of time.
What Jason has done is strip down the workouts (minimalist). He has stripped away the useless components of workouts that many others are promoting and gives you a simplistic easy to follow muscle building program.
Maximum Muscle Gained With A Minimalist Approach
Here are 3 examples of the minimalist approach to maximum muscle gains:
Method #1: 2 Lifts a Day
How to do it: pick two compound exercises – one for the upper body and one for the lower body. Perform those same two lifts three times per week.
Example: pair up the deadlift and standing military press. Out of all the exercise combos that you can pick from, the deadlift and standing military press are two that hit virtually every muscle group in your body. How many sets and reps? You can’t go wrong with 5 sets of 5 reps of each exercise with the heaviest load possible. Do this workout on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
1A Deadlift for 5 reps
Rest
1B Standing military press for 5 reps
Rest and repeat 1A/1B combo four more times (5 rounds total)
Progression: focus on adding weight, even if it’s just 5 pounds each week.
Method #2: 3 Lifts a Day
How to do it: pick three compound exercises – an upper body push, an upper body pull, and a squat or deadlift. Perform those same three lifts three times per week.
Example: combine the squat, military press, and chin-up. These three exercises will hit every muscle group in your body. To this day it’s one of my favorite circuits. Again, you can’t go wrong with 5 sets of 5 reps per exercise. Perform this workout on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
1A Squat for 5 reps
Rest
1B Military press for 5 reps
Rest
1C Chin-up for 5 reps
Rest and repeat 1A-1C four more times (5 rounds total)
For Maximum Muscle Gains
Method #3: 3 Lifts a Day with Changing Volume
How to do it: pick three compound exercises like you did for Method #2. Let’s choose the deadlift, military press, and chin-up. Another option is to perform the squat, incline bench press, and one-arm row. Perform those three exercises three times per week but decrease the number of reps for each set every two weeks.
Example: start with 4 sets of 8 reps (4×8) for the first two weeks. Then do 5×7 for another two weeks. Next is 6×5 for two weeks. Finally, finish up the cycle with two weeks of 9×3.
Weeks 1-2: 4×8
Weeks 3-4: 5×7
Weeks 5-6: 6×5
Weeks 7-8: 9×3
These three methods are used by Jason Ferruggia, one of the best guys out there who can simplify your mass-training cycles.
The Simple Approach To Building Maximum Muscle
<—- (Click Here)Minimalist Training for Massive Gains - It’s got over 15 full training programs and more than THREE YEARS worth of workouts in there. This is a compilation of some of Jason’s favorite programs that he has used over the last 23 years in the Iron Game.
The best part is they are all simple, Zen-like programs with no more than three exercise per workout and no overly complicated formulas or techniques to add to the confusion and stress in our already busy lives.
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Tags: maximum muscle, maximum muscle gains, muscle, muscle gains
