What is the least amount of training needed to produce maximal muscle gains? It's a question long debated among both bodybuilders and exercise scientists. Many bodybuilders follow the dictum that "more is better." They believe that the greater the training volume, or the … [Read more...]
Gaining Muscular Size and Strength: What Does the Research Show? by Jerry Brainum 4/22
How do you determine the best training techniques to develop added muscular size and strength? One obvious answer would be the time-honored trial and error technique. What this entails is trying various styles of training until you find the particular plan that works best for … [Read more...]
Don’t Have Time To Train? Sure You Do! by Jerry Brainum 12/21
People can offer all sorts of excuses for not exercising regularly. The most common excuse is time, as in "I don't have enough time to exercise." While many people do live busy lives, the notion that they cannot spare any time for exercise is usually not true. The simple truth is that … [Read more...]
Muscular Hypertrophy for Bodybuilders: What Training Styles Work the Best? by Jerry Brainum 6/21
In this publication, I've presented science-based training techniques that work for most people. When I say "science-based" I'm referring to the fact that most of this information has appeared in various scientific studies of competitive bodybuilders. But there are … [Read more...]
When is it Best to Train to Muscular Failure? by Jerry Brainum 5/20
Although the training to failure concept has been discussed several times in past issues of Applied Metabolics, a new study defines just when training to failure is best used to promote gains in muscular size.. The notion of training to complete muscular failure isn't new but … [Read more...]
Advanced Bodybuilding Training Techniques: Is There Any Science behind them? by Jerry Brainum 1/20
Beginners make gains no matter how they train. As such, the best way to train when you begin to lift weights is to follow a standard system of training, just doing regular sets and reps with nothing fancy added. Indeed, attempts to employ more advanced training techniques when … [Read more...]
How Many Sets Are Needed to Develop Maximum Muscular Size and Strength? by Jerry Brainum 9/19
It seems that everyone has a different opinion about what constitutes the ideal amount of exercise volume that would promote maximal gains in muscular size and strength. Bodybuilding is notorious for the "more is better" philosophy, which means that the more you do, the … [Read more...]
Breaking Training Plateaus For Advanced Trainees by Jerry Brainum 8/19
Muscular gains come easy when you first begin training. At least it appears that way. All beginners, no matter what their genetic gifts may be for bodybuilding or lack thereof, make fairly rapid gains when they first start to regularly train. What happens is that you develop a … [Read more...]
Training to Muscular Failure: An Update with New Insights by Jerry Brainum
I wrote about training to muscular failure in the May 2015 issue of Applied Metabolics, and that article covered all the available research at the time related to training to failure. I also discussed the history of training to failure, and how the principle first came about. … [Read more...]
Do Women Need to Train Differently Than Men? by Jerry Brainum
When I first began lifting weights in 1962, you never saw any women even go near weights. Lifting weights was strictly a male pursuit in those days, although in some parts of the country, such as in California, some women had dared to start using weights as a method of shaping … [Read more...]