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Muscle Mass Routine Introduction: Welcome to the Cindy Training Muscle Mass Routine, over the next few pages you will find the blueprint for seriously increasing your bodies muscle mass. Don’t be concerned with its relative simplicity, this is what works, don’t add or subtract a single rep, let alone an exercise or additional workout. This routine is not designed to sell some new technique or training product or potion, quite the opposite, this is resistance training in its purest and most basic form. You will find nothing new, but what most likely will be new to you is the understanding as to why this type of training works, as well as the effort that you need to put into it, if you follow this plan rep for rep and step for step and put your maximum effort in to every single workout, your body will have no choice but to adapt and grow! You owe it to yourself so give it your all and you’ll never look back!
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Methodology: The fitness industry is littered with overblown long-winded routines that are only really a regurgitation of another program but with an extra little twist (something to hook you in) this is sales, no more, no less. The human body hasn’t changed for around 200,000 years, so don’t try to keep up with this weeks fad or trend, the principles that built muscle in the past will continue to build muscle for quite some time to come, the exception to this is in the area of diet and nutrition, where a lot of understanding and progress has been made in recent years. The human body adapts to stress, if you stress a muscle correctly you will stimulate an anobolic process, that’s to say that if you place a new level of stress/effort upon a muscle, the human physiology will in turn adapt to this stress and build further muscle to cope with it in future. It is this very process of stimulus and adaptation that we need to tap into and optimise. Given that the human body has a finite amount of energy for both training and recovery it surely makes the most sense to get the maximum stimulus for the minimum exersion, this doesn’t mean a reduced effort, but it does mean a reduced volume, and by volume I mean sets and reps not weight!
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With all of this in mind, you will see that the exercises I have selected are the ones that involve the most muscle groups for the given area we are training in that particular workout. In example when we train shoulders on a Monday, I limit the exercise to three sets of heavy overhead press, and not 6 sets of front raises followed by 6 sets of lateral raises followed by 6 sets of reverse flies, that type of training belongs in the bin and has NO place in a real mass building routine. We need to avoid the isolation exercises, they’re for details, not for gaining Mass, ‘IF’ you are already big enough to only need concern yorself with the details, then I salute you, however for the remaining 99% of trainees on the planet, they are far better off sticking to the major compound moves for all of their workouts. We go to the Gym, hit the training hard, heavy, brief, in perfect form and we leave, thus begining the process of recovery, adaptation, over-compensation and therefore growth. Remember, you stimulate growth in the gym but you actually grow when you are recovering, don’t confuse hours in the gym with progress, you are eating into your bodies ability to adapt and develop, this isn’t a cardio routine, I’m not training you for the 10,000 meters!
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Progression: You’ll monitor your progress in three ways. 1. Your strength, you MUST add weight to each and every exercise at every workout, this progress will indicate your muscles adaptation and development, these steps needn’t be big, in fact it’s better to milk the progress over a longer period rather than to try and increase the weights used in too large an increment, remember, if you were to add just 1kg per week to your bench press for reps (that’s actually quite a lot) for a year, you would have added 52kg, this is entirely achievable if you are still within your genetic capabilities and you cover ALL areas of your training, nutrition and rest correctly. Now just close your eyes for a moment and picture the size that your chest, shoulders and arms would be if you were capable of lifting that, do you think they would still be the same size? Of course not, in fact I know of a genetically average man in his thirties who went from Bench pressing 55kg for 15 reps to 140 kg for 8 in the space of 3 years, all natural, all with a dedication and persistence that would put many champions to shame, he is now the possessor of a body the envy of 99% of trainees in gyms anywhere in the world, all achieved by applying these techniques and listening to his body’s need for rest and recovery. There’s absolutely NO reason why you wouldn’t have the same results, you just have to apply yourself to this program and the outcome is a certainty. Do not fail this routine, and this routine will not fail you!
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2. The mirror, take before and after pictures, Monthly is a good period, you will be amazed at the difference, you will witness your own near metamorphosis, you can monitor your musculature with a tape measure and view your progress with the pictures, this is a very good way of truly seeing what you’ve gained and where. 3. The scales, too many people monitor their progress solely on the scales, this is probably based on a social ill, scales can be very deceptive, fat weighs less than muscle, water weight fluctuates dramatically throughout the day, so if you’re going to monitor a part of your progress with the scales ensure that you are not weighing yourself any more often than weekly and take the measurement at the same time of day, usually morning time on an empty stomach, that should allow the results to relate to each other. A gain of 0.5-1kg weekly can be expected for the first 8-12 weeks, that’s a LOT, (remember we’re talking about muscle weight increase here, not water or fat) if it doesn’t sound like a lot, drag out 8kg of steak next time you are at the supermarket and then imagine it distributed evenly around your body!
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Putting it all together: The spinning plates We’ve all seen the stage performance of the spinning plates, where a guy, normally wearing a tuxedo and accompanied by a drum roll attempts to maintain 12 plates spinning on long sticks above his head. Well I like to use this analogy when describing the different factors that affect my training.
Spinning plate 1: Progress in strength, weekly increases in weight on the bar. Spinning plate 2: Diet structure and consistency, no missed meals in the day. Spinning plate 3: Sufficient rest on a nightly basis.
Consider that the moment he stops working the stick, the plate drops and breaks, from there he has to go and get another plate and start all over again. Keep the plates spinning DON’T let them fall!!!
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From there on it’s simply a case of rinse and repeat. If you take this approach and keep these factors as constants, then a positive outcome is inevitable, and the results you are wanting are simply there as a function of time. If you HONESTLY perform 6 months of training, resting and eating in this manner, you will wonder what happened to your old body and relish the new you! It takes a great deal of discipline to maintain all areas of your training, nutrition and rest 24/7 over a long period of time, but this is the sacrifice and effort that you must make in order to achieve your goals, don’t cheat yourself here!
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Expectations What can you reasonably expect to gain? This is a very difficult question to address due to the vast differences in initial size and genetic potential of the human being, what I can tell you is that you will be heading towards your genetic maximum faster training this way than any other way! If you gain over 10kg of real muscle in the next 6 Months you will barely recognize yourself, the additional plus side being that by nature of the way this routine dictates that you grow as a result of increased strength, (and not pump volume) as long as you maintain your strength you will keep your muscle, we’ve all heard the quote “use it or lose it” well that applies in spades to this routine, if you maintain your strength you will retain your new musculature
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The Training Approach, laying the foundations and forming the understanding. The routine layed out below is very simple in execution but very demanding once you are working with your maximum weight, it is your aim to ensure that you are always pushing into new ground with heavier weights each week whilst remaining within the rep range dictated, this doesn’t mean that you simply perform 8 reps and rack the bar, you’re 8th rep must be your absolute maximum effort, if you can even consider a 9th rep, the weight was too low! Your rest between sets is ALWAYS 4 minutes, this allows your body enough time to be able to give a second or third maximal effort set, if you allow any extra time to recover between sets from one workout to the next how will you know if you’ve actually progressed or merely allowed yourself more time to recover before lifting again. The rest time is a constant, so keep it that way! Warm up by spending 5-10 minutes on an exercise bike, this will not only prepare you for the harder work that lays ahead, but also thin the blood slightly, increasing the response and efficiency of your muscles for the demands that the heavy weight training will require.
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Then perform 2 lighter weight sets prior to the opening full effort set of the first exercise, the program is layed out so that you do not need to warm up before each and every exercise, with the exception of Tuesday, where I recommend running through a couple of sets of Deadlifts before performing your first work set, this has the benefit of ‘tieing in’ all of the musculature that is about to be used, whilst also helping you to practice the co-ordination of the exercise.
Free Weights Vs Machines I ALWAYS recommend the use of free weights over the use of machines when it comes to a mass building routine, now that’s not to say there aren’t some fine machines out there that do a good job of minimicing the demands required by free weight training, but that’s the point, they merely mimic, I’ve yet to experience a machine that can outperform the actual free-weight exercise that it is trying to emulate when it comes to building real mass. Remember, this isn’t a detail/shaping routine, we’re trying to pack some good musculature onto your frame! The only times when machines are acceptable are in the interests of safety and common sense, any time when you’re body is positioned under the weight, i.e. Bench Press or Overhead Press then you MUST always use a spotter, if for any reason you don’t have a spotter, then you must transfer the exercise to a machine that has a fail safe mechanism, thus eliminating the possibility of injury.
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A word on the spotter The role of the spotter is ONLY to help present the lifter with the weight in it’s correct position, and prevent injury should the lifter tire and no longer be able to control the weight. Too often I see spotters lifting the weight for the trainee, I’m often puzzled as to whether or not the person doing the bench press is training their chest, or whether the ‘Spotter’ is performing an upright row! The only time the Spotter should assist in a lift is in the final rep of a maximum effort set, so that the lifter can truly go to complete muscular failure. This isn’t the same as forced reps where the lifter continues with a few extra reps when they are no longer capable of lifting the weight themselves, that is a technique that is too extreme for most natural trainees anyway. Just train to total muscular failure under the bar and have your spotter assist the very final part of your final rep, but do NOT let the spotter take too much of the load as this literally robs you of your maximum gains, YOU must lift the weight, my spotter will only guide and assist if absolutely necessary, and only then with enough effort to keep the bar from stopping, he will sometimes just help nudge the weight through the sticking point and then remove his fingers from the bar as I start to move it again,
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this last final effort in your final rep is the ‘New Ground’ and it is where the majority of your progress will be made, DON’T let the spotter rob you of it. If you’ve ever seen someone truly fail a lift then you will know just how quickly the arms buckle and the weight falls, when spotting someone be ALERT, don’t let your attention waiver to the person who has just walked in, or to the pretty girl doing bent over rows in the corner, CONCENTRATE on the lifter and the Bar or Dumbbells. A note on Dumbbells: if you are spotting someone in the seated overhead press or any form of bench press whilst they are using Dumbbells, be sure to spot the lifters wrists NOT the elbows. If the lifter can no longer press the weight by themselves and you come in to assist underneath the elbows, consider that there is a very real possibility in a pressing movement that the triceps are also exhausted, meaning that the lifter can no longer keep their forearms in an upright position and if you’re supporting them under the elbow, then there is only one place for the dumbbell to go, and that’s straight into the face of the lifter. Spot the wrists NOT the elbow, this doesn’t mean grip their wrists during the lift, simply hover your hand around their wrists, not making contact with either the lifter or the weight (as this is very off putting) until necessary, the closer your hands are to the lifters wrists the safer your spot will be.
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Some simple rules 1. If it’s a Barbell exercise, such as Bench press or Overhead Press, Spot the Bar 2. If it’s a Dumbbell exercise, as above, spot the wrists. 3. If it’s the Squat exercise, then spot the lifter themselves by standing behind them and shadowing their movement, your arms should be ready to support the lifter around their lower ribcage and your hands should present themselves higher up, more onto the lower part of the chest. In the squat there’s a tendency to fall forwards and go ‘out of line’ in this position the spotter must first help correct the lift and then assist in an upward motion, DO NOT pull the lifter back towards you, merely re-correct their upper body to be back ‘in-line’ with the lift.
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Sets and Reps Many will see this program and be surprised at the lack of sets required, but keep in mind theses are MAXIMAL effort sets, you aren’t simply going through the motions, much like the reps, if you can even consider another set you weren’t trying hard enough, I often prescribe just a single set in some of the Big Powerlifts as the effort can be so immense once you have learned to train at your absolute maximum in perfect form, that to add another set is actually counter productive!.. You’re not there yet, but you can see the direction that this type of training leads. You will see that I have given a rep range, ie, 2 sets of 8-6, this means that your first set should MAX you at 8 reps and your second (with the same weight or slightly less if necessary) should MAX you at 6 reps, what is most important is that you train with the maximum weight that permits you to perform within this rep range for 2 sets with a 4 minute break, then the following week you will add some weight and repeat the process, keeping this balance and not over-reaching by increasing the weight steps by too much is the absolute golden fleece of muscle building, the longer you can maintain this process the stronger and therefore larger you will become!
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Pre Workout Meal Approximately 60-90 minutes prior to training, you should eat a balanced meal from my nutrition guide, and then when you arrive at the gym consume a Protein Shake with 25-30g of fast acting Whey Protein, this will have your body primed for growth from the moment you apply the necessary stimulus.
Post Workout Meal You will see that I have instructed you to consume a protein/carbohydrate shake immediately following your final workout set, this enables your body to begin the process of repairing and building new muscle as soon as possible!
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The Routine
Monday Exercise Whey Protein Warm up
Sets
Reps
Rest Explanation
5-10’
Bike
Overhead Shoulder press Close Grip Bench press
2
8-6
4
2
8-6
4
Shrugs
3
12-8
4
Carbohydrate and Protein Shake. Warm down, very 5’ slow.
25-30g Whey Protein Warm the muscles, thin the Blood, preparing you for the work ahead. Barbell Press in Front of the neck, lower the weight to the height of the bottom of your ears. Hands are vertical, straight up from your shoulders, when you lower the weight, your elbows will be pointing down your body, not outwards inline with the bar you’re pressing. Knees bent using Dumbells leaning forward very slightly, just off vertical, raise the dumbells with elbows locked as high as you can an then lower the weight to the bottom position, always in control. Consume 40 grams of protein with 40 grams of Carbohydrate Back on the bike, Push fresh nutrient filled blood through your muscles, beginning the growth process immediately
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Tuesday Exercise Whey Protein Warm up Back extensions
Sets
Reps
Rest
5-10’ 2
Bike 12-8
4
Chins Overhand 2 Wide Grip 2 Supported Barbell rows Seated cable row 2
12-8
4
8-6
4
8-6
4
3
12-8
4
Deadlifts
Carbohydrate and Protein Shake. 5’ Warm down
Explanation 25-30g Whey Protein Warm the muscles, thin the Blood, preparing you for the work ahead. Called Hyper-Extensions in some gyms, just don’t go too extreme in the range of motion, this is to specifically warm up your lower back. If you can’t yet perform Chin Ups, then substitute them with machine pulldowns. Row the bar with an overhand grip to your lower chest. Close vertical grip, row towards navel, keep elbows tight in to your side. Learn proper technique here, there are many examples to view online, but remember to keep a straight back and drive through your thighs and hips, do not lean forward during the lift, feel the center of the weight through your instep. The key (as per all exercises) is to use maximum effort whilst maintaining perfect form. Consume 40 grams of protein with 40 grams of Carbohydrate Back on the bike, Push fresh nutrient filled blood through your muscles, beginning the growth process immediately
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Thursday Exercise Whey Protein Warm up
Sets
Reps
5-10’
Bike
Rest
Flat Bench press 2
8-5
4
Incline Bench press
2
8-5
4
Dips
2
8-5
4
Biceps curls
2
8-5
4
Carbohydrate and Protein Shake. 5’ Warm down
Explanation 25-30g Whey Protein Warm the muscles, thin the Blood, preparing you for the work ahead. Full range barbell bench presses, make sure the bar touches your chest, don’t bounce it and keep the motion slow and controlled. Full range incline barbell bench presses, make sure the bar touches your chest, don’t bounce it and keep the motion slow and controlled. Do not allow your body to ‘fall through’ your shoulders here, maintain control at all times, add weight to a belt when you are able to perform more than the number prescribed. Use a straight barbell, again full range, don’t lean back or throw the weight, control the bar emphasizing the stress upon your arms, not your lower back! Consume 40 grams of protein with 40 grams of Carbohydrate Back on the bike, Push fresh nutrient filled blood through your muscles, beginning the growth process immediately
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Friday Exercise Whey Protein Warm up Squats
Sets
Reps
Rest
5-10’ 3
Bike 20-8
4
Leg press
2
12-8
4
Leg extensions
2
12-8
4
Leg curls
2
12-8
4
Calf raises
2
20-12
4
Carbohydrate and Protein Shake. 5’ Warm down
Explanation 25-30g Whey Protein Warm the muscles, thin the Blood, preparing you for the work ahead. The King of Leg development and overall body growth stimulation, learn perfect technique here, ALWAYS keep a straight back, look slightly up and descend until the tops of your thighs are just below horizontal, do not let your knees pass over in front of your toes, feel the center of the weight through your instep. Be careful to use a leg press that doesn’t encourage a rounding of your lower back, the effort should mostly be felt through your quadriceps. Simple, slow and controlled, be careful not to lock out the knees at the top, this places undue stress upon the patella tendon, merely raise and lower, do not kick or throw the weight. Simple, slow and controlled, the hamstring is in a vulnerable position during this exercise, so be careful not to use too much weight here, train the muscle, don’t force the joint. Holding a dumbell in the same side hand, place your forefoot on a 5cm raised platform and press yourself up into a tip toe position, this exercise will increase the calf muscle, but more importantly the addition al strength will greatly assist in the stability of Tuesdays Deadlift. Consume 40 grams of protein with 40 grams of Carbohydrate Back on the bike, Push fresh nutrient filled blood through your muscles, beginning the growth process immediately
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Conclusion All of the factors needed to achieve the results that you want are here, these are RULES, CONSTANTS, the only variable is you and your approach to them, don’t look for shortcuts and don’t be dissuaded by others opinions, take this opportunity to empower yourself with this new found knowledge, apply it fully and totally, without skipping any of the aforementioned areas of your life relating to your physical progress, and you will achieve the body that you want! No excuses now, call an end to it, don’t waste time looking for points of conjecture, just get in the gym and earn it, no short cuts, no procrastination, just effort, discipline and a mindset that will not allow you to fail….
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That’s it. The outcome is now firmly in YOUR hands. To truly effect the best understanding of how to get to the next level or to find more information regarding areas such as specific muscle building nutrition and my recommended supplements, please visit www.cindytraining.com This is the first step in your journey to a better body through an optimized training routine, but remember every journey has hills and valleys twists and turns, fortunately I already know the road that lies ahead of you. But just remember this …
“Train heavy, train hard”
Cindy Landolt
“I cannot lift the weight for you”
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Cindy Landolt Web Email
cindytraining.com
[email protected]
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© 2014 Cindy Landolt - all rights reserved © 2014 Cindy Training GmbH - all rights reserved No part of this document or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied, modified or adapted, without the prior written consent of the author.
