1 Natural Bodybuilding Training Secret To Non Stop Gains

Today I will share another great article from my friend,
Natural Mr. Olympia and Mr. Universe John Hansen.
In this article, John shares a super important training
secret for getting non-stop gains.

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And by the way, John sends a huge thanks to all of you
who have gotten his system which is on sale only until
Sunday at midnight! After that, the bonuses go away
and the price doubles so take advantage of this now!

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Furthermore, I will give you a NEVER BEFORE HEARD
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[Editing interview as we speak so I will send it out
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Note: Offer expires Sunday, Feb 23rd.

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With that said, here is John’s article about non stop gains:

1 Training Secret to Non Stop Gains
by John Hansen, Natural Mr. Olympia / Mr. Universe
MP6 Program Creator

Building muscle mass is not like saving money. If you consistently
deposit money into a savings account, even one with a minimal
interest rate, your savings will continue to rise. However, if you
consistently weight train for many years, you will not necessarily
continue to build more and more muscle mass. In fact, it’s more
than likely that your body will actually resist the push to build
more muscle size as you become more advanced.

When we first began weight training, the results came so easy. All
we had to do was show up at the gym and start throwing weights
around. It didn’t matter if we really trained hard, if we used
proper form, if we did too many sets and reps. We could train every
day for hours at a time, doing endless exercises and sets for just
one muscle group (50 sets just for the biceps!) and our muscles
sprouted like flowers in spring time. It was a wonderful experience!

Unfortunately, the good times didn’t last. It might have taken a
year or perhaps only months but eventually the muscle gains came
screeching to a sudden and definitive halt! The disappointing
results may have made you take a closer look at your exercise form
or even cut back on the number of sets you were doing so you don’t
run the danger of overtraining.

However, despite doing basically EVERYTHING right, gaining muscle
can still be a frustrating experience for the advanced trainer.
Your body adopts the attitude “been there, done that” and refuses
to budge even though you are now doing forced reps, drop sets,
supersets and every other high intensity training technique you can
think of.

Yet, despite your years of training experience and your body’s
stubborn response to building muscle, there is a basic tenet that
applies to developing more muscle mass, whether you are a novice
beginner or an advanced bodybuilder. It is the Rule of Progressive
Resistance!

Even though your muscles may seem like devious little creatures
that bob and weave their way around your attempts to make them
bigger, the truth is that they don’t have a mind of their own. Your
highly sought after muscle cells are merely composed of fibers,
liquid and other sarcoplasmic substances. If they are stimulated
correctly, they will grow. End of story!

So, how can you make your experienced muscle fibers, who have been
through it all after so many years of consistent, hard training,
finally begin to respond again? The answer is to progressively
overload them with more resistance. Those stubborn muscle fibers
won’t have any chance but to grow bigger and stronger from the
overload placed on them.

The best way to consistently overload the muscles with more
resistance is to CYCLE your workouts. By slowly but progressively
adding more resistance to your workouts, week after week, the
muscles will slowly adapt by getting both bigger and stronger. If
you have been trying to “force” muscle growth by training harder
and harder, this may finally be the solution for you to start
growing again.

The muscles don’t know what “hard” training is. They just respond
to more stress. If you impose greater amounts of stress on the
muscle, it will have no choice but to respond by adapting to that
stress. The adaptation response in this case will be to increase
the size and strength of the muscles in response to that increased
stress.

Cycling your workouts will allow you to slowly impose more
resistance (stress) on the muscles over several weeks (a cycle).
This method of progressively increasing the resistance on the
muscles will naturally allow the body to increase strength without
trying to force the muscles to respond.

By using both a Power Cycle and a Mass Cycle, you will be
developing both muscle strength and size with the overall goal of
building bigger muscles. The key to developing either strength or
mass is in the amount of repetitions performed. More weight and
less reps (3-5 repetitions) will develop greater strength and
power. Slightly higher repetitions (6-10 reps) is more conducive to
building more muscle mass and size.

We always begin with the Power Cycle first because the goal during
the training cycle is develop more strength in the specific
mass-building exercises. The more weight you can use for the proper
amount of reps, the more muscle mass you will build. By devoting a
set amount of weeks to primarily building up strength, you will be
able to use that increased power to build more size.

For example, let’s take everyone’s favorite exercise, the Barbell
Bench Press, and illustrate how you could use the Power and Mass
Cycles to build more size and strength into the chest. To start
off, pick a weight that you can do 6 repetitions with in the
Barbell Bench Press. For example, if you could do 225 pounds for an
easy 6 reps, that would be a good weight to start off with in Week
1 of the Power Cycle.

Power Cycle
Week 1 – 225 pounds for 3 sets of 5 reps
Week 2 – 235 pounds for 3 sets of 4 reps
Week 3 – 245 pounds for 3 sets of 3 reps
Week 4 – 235 pounds for 3 sets of 5 reps
Week 5 – 245 pounds for 3 sets of 4 reps
Week 6 – 255 pounds for 3 sets of 3 reps

The Power Cycle will last a total of six weeks. The six weeks is
actually two 3 week cycles in which the resistance is gradually
increased over the length of the cycle. This gradual progression
will allow the body to slowly increase strength without getting
stuck by trying to lift too heavy of a resistance too fast. It’s
important to coax the body to get stronger on it’s own by using a
program that will accomplish the goal of increasing power.

The amount of repetitions to be used for the Power Cycle is
approximately 3-5 reps. This selection of reps is slightly below
what is normally used to build muscle mass. Again, the goal is
power and strength first and muscle size second. However, prepare
to be surprised on how much size you will develop in addition to
more strength when using the Power Cycle.

Doing the right amount of weight for the required amount of
repetitions and doing three sets of each exercise is one of the
primary factors for the success of this program. By doing multiple
sets with the same weight instead of doing just one or two sets and
pushing that set to complete failure, you will be using a technique
that many powerlifters use to build strength. It’s that practice of
doing set after set after set that conditions the body to build the
strength in response to the stress imposed on the muscles. That’s
why doing three working sets for each exercise is vitally
important.

After the Power Cycle is completed, it’s time to change gears and
employ the Mass Cycle. The amount of reps used in the Mass Cycle
will be higher (5-7 reps) than what was used in the Power Cycle.
The increased reps will bring in more blood flow and lactic acid
build-up in the muscles. The muscles will get more sore in this
cycle than the Power Cycle because the muscle tissues will be
damaged more from the greater volume (more on that later).

When structuring the Mass Cycle for your workouts, a good rule to
follow is to take the weight that was used on the FIRST Week of the
Power Cycle and use that same weight for the SECOND Week of the
Mass Cycle. For example, let’s again use the Barbell Bench Press as
an example to illustrate the change from the Power Cycle to the
Mass Cycle for the full six weeks for each phase:

Mass Cycle
Week 1 – 215 pounds for 3 sets of 7 reps
Week 2 – 225 pounds for 3 sets of 6 reps
Week 3 – 235 pounds for 3 sets of 5 reps
Week 4 – 225 pounds for 3 sets of 7 reps
Week 5 – 235 pounds for 3 sets of 6 reps
Week 6 – 245 pounds for 3 sets of 5 reps

Looking at the difference between the Power Cycle and Mass Cycle
above may not seem like a giant improvement. After all, you are
only doing ONE MORE repetition on the Mass Cycle than you were
using during the Power Cycle on some of the weeks. It may almost
seem like a lot of work and dedication for only a little reward.

However, the difference in the two different training cycles is
very apparent when looking at the TOTAL VOLUME for both the Power
Cycle and the Mass Cycle. The total volume is computed by
multiplying the weight used each set by the sets and the reps. For
example, on week 1 of the Power Cycle for the Barbell Bench Press –

225 pounds x 5 reps x 3 sets = 3375

Let’s take the same volume approach with the Mass Cycle on week 2 –

225 pounds x 6 reps x 3 sets = 4050

Only one more repetition has increased the total volume of that one
exercise by 675 pounds! That’s a 17% increase with only the
addition of one more rep using the same weight and the same amount
of sets.

When you see the difference in Total Volume for the Power Cycle vs
the Mass Cycle, the difference is even more dramatic. Using the
Barbell Bench Press example illustrated above, lets look at the
totals in volume for both cycles:

Barbell Bench Press

Power Cycle Mass Cycle
Week 1 225x5x3 = 3375 215x7x3 = 4515
Week 2 235x4x3 = 2820 225x6x3 = 4050
Week 3 245x3x3 = 2205 235x5x3 = 3525
Week 4 235x5x3 = 3525 225x7x3 = 4725
Week 5 245x4x3 = 2940 235x6x3 = 4230
Week 6 255x3x3 = 2295 245x5x3 = 3675

If you are ready to start making some serious gains in both muscle
mass and strength again, then begin cycling your workouts for both
Power and Mass. No matter how long you have been training or how
complacent your muscles may seem to be, they won’t have any other
option but to grow when you start subjecting them to progressively
more resistance. Get ready to start growing again!

—-END OF ARTICLE—-

And before I leave, for those of you who may have missed out
on my last video, you can check it out below. Tons of great
muscle building information!

Take care and train hard!!!

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2 Comments

  1. nice tips you have given but i want to know the excerices that we can do in our home with dumbless only & what diet would to be taken that help to increase our muscles.

  2. This is a useful and interesting article,of course. Even more important than the Rule of Progressive Resistance, however,is the Rule of Progressive Intensity, since ultimately “intensity” is the key to muscle growth stimulation. And although the amount of resistance the muscle has to work against is certainly an important factor in determining the level of intensity of any exercise that you do,it’s not the only factor that comes into play in that regard. There are other factors that determine the intensity also.
    That’s why in my new book and workout plan, I recommend that for maximum muscle growth, you choose the exercise that enables you to achieve “maximum intensity” in the muscle;not necessarily the one that enables you to lift the heaviest weight(providing the greatest resistance).
    Because the only way you’ll build maximum muscle,especially “maximum muscle in minimum time”, is by achieving “maximum intensity” in the muscles used for any particular exercise. And “maximum intensity” and “maximum weight” don’t always go hand in hand. Because as stated,there are other factors in addition to the amount of resistance that determine the intensity of an exercise.
    So for maximum development of any muscle, you’re better off choosing an exercise that enables you to achieve maximum intensity, even if you have to use a lighter weight to do so;rather use a heavier weight for an exercise that does not enable you to achieve maximum intensity.
    Because ultimately,it’s the amount of “intensity” that determines the amount of muscle growth.not just the amount of resistance. And to achieve “maximum intensity” and maximum muscle growth, you need the correct definition for intensity,as it relates to strength training and muscle growth stimulation.
    So it would be interesting to know John Hansen’s definition for intensity. I would like to compare it with the one I use in my new book and workout plan. I know that the definition for intensity in my book and workout plan enables one to achieve maximum intensity for sure.
    In fact, it’s actually a more specific version of Mike Mentzer’s definition for intensity, one that can readily be applied to any weight-training exercise that you do to achieve maximum intensity.
    In any case,the Rule of Progressive Intensity definitely supersedes the Rule of Progressive Resistance,in regards to muscle growth stimulation. That’s how important intensity is.

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