Hypertrophy 101: What You Need To Know To Grow

“I've been training for 3 years, but my programs were nothing compared to the ones Chris put me on. My strength shot through the roof and I am the leanest I've ever been.  No doubt about it, Chris is one of the top strength coaches in the nation. Yeah, I said it, nation! Their was not one question that he couldn't give me a full explanation for. I gained more knowledge working with him then I would've got anywhere else!”
 
Jordan Crespi - Future Strength & Conditioning Coach
 
Q: One thing too, I'm gonna start doing some hypertrophy work. Should I keep the split the same and exercise choice...?

A: I don't remember your split completely, but from my memory you were doing upper / lower splits. If I'm correct, I would go to a 3 training rotation instead of a 2. For hypertrophy work, you need more volume per muscle group to cause a lot of trauma to the muscle or muscles being trained. In this case, getting really sore is the key.

I like this split a lot. It’s worked very well for me and everyone I’ve ever used it on.

Legs on one day
Chest and Back on one day
Shoulders and Arms on one day

Train each muscle group every fifth day. So if you trained legs on Monday, you wouldn't train them again until Saturday. 

Here's a good layout:

Monday: Legs
Wednesday: Chest & Back
Thursday: Shoulders & Arms
Friday: Off
Saturday: Legs
Sunday: Off
Monday: Chest & Back
Tuesday: Shoulders & Arms

You see the pattern.

Obviously, make sure you're picking exercises that give you the biggest ROI (Return ON Investment).

Do your isolated exercises after you've done your compound exercises and start each compound exercise with a lower rep range to take advantage on post tetanic facilitation (you recruit as many high thresh hold motor units as possible first with big weight, low reps).

Now hypertrophy them with reps in the best hypertrophy ranges. First 6-8 reps, then 8-12 reps. This way you're recruiting damn near every fiber type that can hypertrophy.

So for legs, it might look like this:

A:  Front Squats: 4 sets of 2,4,2,4  TEMPO 3010    Rest: 180 secs
Try to beat your first wave of 2,4 on your next wave of 2,4.

B1: Barbell Reverse Lunge: 3 sets of 6-8  TEMPO 2010 (OR CONTROLLED)  Rest: 90 secs
B2: Glute Ham Raise: 3 sets of 6-8  TEMPO 3010  Rest: 90 secs

C1: Barbell Step Up, Between Mid-Shin and Knee Level: 3 sets of 10-12 Tempo Controlled  Rest: 75 secs
C2: Dumbbell Romanian Dead Lift: 3 sets of 10-12  TEMPO: 3010  Rest: 75 secs

D1: Donkey Calf Raise: 3 sets of 8,10,12  TEMPO 2210  Rest: 10 secs
D2: Parillo Calf Squat: 3 sets of 10-12 TEMPO 1013  Rest: 75-90 secs

So we're knocking off several different fiber types with different rep ranges and tension times and changing angles. The more angles, rep ranges, TUT's (time under tension), and to a degree, volume, equals more damage to the muscles which equals more hypertrophy.

Write everything down so you can measure and track it (what gets measured, gets improved). Make an effort to go up in weight every workout. Once you’re not going up in weight or in reps with the same weight, you’ve adapted to the program so it needs to be changed for different stimulus.

Try to keep your workouts to no longer than an hour after you’ve done your warm-up. And make sure you’re pounding food. Literally eat like it’s your job.

Since you’re carb tolerant, I’d have a protein / carb shake immediately after your last set of your last exercise with a ratio around 1 : 2 protein to carb. And if you can afford it, take BCAA’s during your workout. I like Poliquin’s BCAA Supreme since they’re pills. You’ll need at least 20 grams though and 40 would be better.

Eat a large meal between 30-45 minutes after your shake, and then go on eating every two to three hours.

Let me know if you need any help.

Stay focused,

Chris Grayson