The Primer Phase 

1
The Primer Phase 

Steve Hall
Lead author of The Primer Phase, Steve Hall, ap-
preciates that it can be difficult to navigate fitness
information that is available online. He under-
stands how confusing it can be and how there is
really such a mixed bag out there. This is why Re-
vive Stronger puts so much work into spreading
high quality information from academics with
lots of practical experience. In addition, Steve is a
competitive natural bodybuilder and has worked
with hundreds of clients.

Pascal Flor
Furthermore, with Pascal Flor who brought
a whole new level of quality control and
experience to the book. Being a bodybuilder
and coach himself, he has his own unique
experiences that he had ensured elements in
the book were laid out and communicated
clearly. Both have seen the huge value in
the implementation of a “Primer Phase”,
personally and with their own clients.

The goal of the book is to help you over-

come the gap of knowledge and give you
clear practical advice to go forward with
your own training and/or coaching.

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The Primer Phase 

Foreword
There are countless posts, articles, videos, and books about all things getting fit. This is just one of
many such sources of knowledge, but it’s very unlike most of the others. It’s different because it’s
produced by the Revive Stronger duo, Steve and Pascal. What sets them apart from nearly everyone
else in the fitness industry is that they are not people who are interested in what is termed “Stage
One Thinking.” Economist Thomas Sowell coined the term “Stage One Thinking” to denote thought
processes that only go one step ahead. “I’ll do a muscle gain phase and that will give me the muscle I
want,” is an example of such thinking. There’s nothing wrong with that line of thought, but the prob-
lem is that other things will also happen. Thinking beyond Stage One leads us to the realization that
such a gaining phase will also result in fat gain, which will require its own phase of diet and training to
reduce before “just the muscle” is left over.

Steve and Pascal lead their intellectual lives almost entirely beyond Stage One. In fact, the very idea
of the Primer Phase is to exhibit advanced thinking before you even start your main training phase.
The primer phase acts to improve your results in the phase that comes next, which gives you the kind
of enhanced results that only advanced thinking can. If you’d like a Stage One Thinking approach to
training that creates problems and deals with them haphazardly on the fly, there are many other places
online to get it. In this book, and in all of the content produced by Revive, you’ll be learning concepts
that were from the outset designed to subvert such errors in approach, and not only lead you to get
better results for yourself, but also teach you to become an advanced thinker about all things muscle
gain and fat loss so that you can help others.

Within this book and all of the other resources at Revive Stronger, Steve and Pascal will help you
harness the kind of approach to problems in fitness that will have you anticipating and correcting for
mistakes before they even happen. If that’s not the kind of intellectual content you’re interested in, I
don’t have anything much better to offer you. Enjoy this excellent book and I hope you learn a ton. It
comes with my absolute seal of approval!

- Dr. Mike Israetel, May 2019

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The Primer Phase 

Contents
1. Origins����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 5
2. Definition������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 5
Homeostasis, adaptive resistance & settling points�������������������������������������������������5
The primer phase���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������7
Hypertrophy training application�������������������������������������������������������������������������������8
Fat loss application�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 10
3. Training Practical Application������������������������������������������������������������������� 11
Volume����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 12
Intensity�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 12
Frequency������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 12
Exercise selection����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 13
Length & Progression����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 13
Deloading������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 14
4. Nutrition Practical Application������������������������������������������������������������������ 15
Calorie intake����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 15
Macronutrient intake����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 16
Fat loss recommendations��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 17
Muscle gain recommendations�������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 18
Flexibility during a primer��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 18
5. Mindset during The Primer Phase������������������������������������������������������������� 19
Goal orientated��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 19
Re-prioritisation of goals����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 19
6. Planning your Primer Phase���������������������������������������������������������������������� 20
Holiday/Exam period������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 20
Pre-Contest��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 21
Injuries���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 21
Mini cuts�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 21
7. Post Primer Expectations��������������������������������������������������������������������������� 22
MEV’s will be lower���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 22
How you look������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 22
8. Primer Phase Myths����������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 22
You will lose muscle������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 23
You will get fat���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 23
You’re spinning your wheels������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 24
You don’t need it because you’re not advanced����������������������������������������������������� 24
No one does this�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 24

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The Primer Phase 1. Origins

1. Origins
The idea of maintaining never made sense to me, I’m a bodybuilder, I either want to be growing mus-
cle, losing fat, or doing both. I don’t have time to waste maintaining, where is the value?

This kind of thinking is relatively common, not just for bodybuilders but also within the population as
a whole. No one wants to spin their wheels, stand still and not be moving towards their goals. This, my
friends, is part of the problem; viewing maintenance as standing still, as something that’s prolonging
the time it takes for you to reach your goals. That is why I coined the term ‘Primer Phase’ because it
frames this period of time correctly and positively. The Primer Phase is now a key component of a well
planned, well sequenced and phase potentiated plan for people looking to lose fat and gain muscle
long term.

When we hear ‘Prime’, we think of setting up for success and putting ourselves in a position where
we’re perfectly set to move towards our goals. How good is that? It’s really good and it is why the
Primer Phase is ultimately something you will want to employ within your body composition goals.

After going through the Primer Phase you will find fat loss phases easier, the risk of injury will be re-
duced, building muscle mass in gaining phases will be enhanced and in the end, you’ll have a renewed
sense of motivation for your goals. Later in the book, I’ll discuss why this is the case.

If such a phase is so powerful, why don’t many people do it? First, a lot of people aren’t serious enough
about their goals to worry about such phases. Secondly, as described above, sometimes we’re our own
worst enemy. We wanted more muscle and less fat yesterday, we do things that are irrational and not
well thought out. Fortunately, you’re someone who likes to think a little harder about their training
and nutrition, you realise the benefit in doing so and you will reap the rewards.

In short, the Primer Phase is the unsung hero of periodisation for fat loss and muscle gain.

2. Definition
Right now the Primer Phase sounds quite elusive, probably sounds almost too good to be true and
you’re probably sceptical. Quite right too, and I want to assure you that there is science behind this
phase, it isn’t just something I want to oversell. I don’t need to, you’ve already purchased the book and
you’re probably already bought into it anyway. Now we will just discuss the details.

It isn’t something that you ‘have to do’ to get results, but it will most likely make them more consistent,
more dependable and may allow you to get further than you’ve gotten before.

Homeostasis, adaptive resistance & settling points

Let me first introduce you to homeostasis, this is where your body wants to be and what it craves.
Homeostastis means stability, balance, maintenance, staying the same... the body always strives to take
itself to this point. Think of your thermostat at home, you set it to a certain temperature, your homeo-
stasis. If it gets hotter, then the air con comes on. If it gets colder, the heating will rise, and always take
you back to where you wanted to be.

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The Primer Phase 2. Definition

Then we have adaptive resistance, this is a well known biological phenomenon that you see in everyday
life. In short, it means that as we move further from our bodies homeostasis our body resists harder.

For example when you first step into the sun it is quite easy to burn yourself if you’re not careful. Thus,
as filigent human being, you apply sunscreen. However, some of the sun‘s rays likely still lead to an ad-
aptation, your skin got more tanned due to increased melanin. Due to higher levels of melanin you’re
less likely to get burned, this is the body’s adaptive and protective mechanism.

A more related example of adaptive resistance is when we diet. We’ve all been there, where after many
months of dieting we’re more tired, hungry, moody and probably eating less than when we started. This
is because the body is resisting weight loss, it has made adaptions to resist you losing weight. Whilst
we find such things annoying, this is fundamentally good, the body is attempting to prevent harm by
you starving to death.

Finally, we have settling points, to talk about these we need to first outline a ‘set point’. Your bodies ‘set
point’ is likely very much set at birth, it’s a body composition your body wants to be. It must be said
though that the set point is so far only a theory. For example, we never know what a person‘s set point
may be if they’ve always been obese or quite athletic. Can you say for certain that this was his set point
from birth? Not really. I’m also under the assumption that epigenetic factors play a huge role in the set
point and might even change it over time. That’s why “settling points” may be more feasible. ‘Settling
points’ are where we end up due to our environment and our own habits and behaviours. For exam-
ple, many of you reading will be much more muscular than your ‘set point’ may dictate, but by liftings
weights etc. you have settled to a greater lean mass.

There we have it, homeostasis is where our body wants to be, as we move away from it we build up
resistance and we know that we can influence where we end up via our settling points. Thereby no one
is destined to be fat, thin, muscular or skinny forever, these can be majorly influenced by our actions.

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The Primer Phase 2. Definition

The primer phase

When we’re aiming for muscle gain or fat loss we see these things happen:

»» Movement away from our homeostasis

»» Increased Adaptive Resistance

This is where we can use the concept of settling points to show you the value of the Primer Phase. As
adaptive resistance builds, fat loss or muscle growth slows down eventually, it can stop and even re-
gress. This is the body pushing against the movement from its homeostasis.

However, we know that settling points exist and that we can use this as an opportunity to achieve ho-
meostasis at a different body composition. This is where The Primer Phase comes in, we seek homeo-
stasis at a new body composition, allowing adaptive resistance to fall. Rather than fighting against our
body, we coax it to allow for continued adaptation.

Why are there new fad diets out every month? Because people fail to maintain the weight they lose!
They keep pushing against their body to a point where they breakdown, binge, give up and end up put-
ting the fat back on. Ever found yourself stalling out in the gym for months? Or worse getting injured?
Again, this often happens because we push ourselves too hard for too long.

The Primer Phase is like the holiday to the working calendar. Sure after a long day of hard work, an
evening off is enough to recharge you and allow you to work hard again tomorrow. However, after5
days you will need an entire weekend to renew your energy for the next week. Then, after several
months you need a holiday, a period of time to get away from it all, so you come back revived for many
more months of hard productive work.

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The Primer Phase 2. Definition

Therefor, the Primer phase does a few things:

1. Allows recovery from past stressors

2. Re-sensitizes us to lower stressors
3. Ultimately allows for ongoing positive adaptation

Time and time again we see that taking break aids progression towards goals, these are not steps
backwards, they are steps sideways, so you can recoup and come back to make strides forwards towards
your goals.

Hypertrophy training application

When we’re training for muscular hypertrophy, of course we’re training hard, just like strength train-
ing, but we’re typically doing much more volume. There is a given amount of volume that provides
us with the minimum volume required for growth, if we meet that, we will grow. This will vary from
person to person, but from here we look to progressively overload, making training harder over time.

A common misconception of progressive overload is that once you’ve hit a certain threshold that this
becomes your new baseline, Ie. once you’ve done X you’ll always have to do X+ to grow. That’s inher-
ently false. That would mean that every single time you’re hitting a personal best this will become your
new baseline and that if you were to repeat this same session, you won’t grow. Again, that is not correct.
If you repeat the same stimulus over and over again, you’ll most likely not get as much in return as like
the first time you did it but you’ll still induce a stressor that is followed by an adaption. So basically
you could do the same thing for a pretty long time and still see results, it will just become less and less
over time. This will probably look something like this:

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The Primer Phase 2. Definition

We go through periods of accumulating and progressing with our training, followed by a deload, after
which we begin to overload and accumulate again. This process can repeat itself over many months,
and each time we see an increase in adaptive resistance. Our response to training volumes decreases
over time, pumps are harder to come by, aches and pains are more frequent. We’ve gone through the
entire range of rep ranges, we’ve used all the tricks in the book to present further volumes like giant
sets, drop sets and other killer pump work. This also means our muscle fibres shift more towards slow
twitch characteristics and these are less able to hypertrophy. To reiterate a point, the reason we often
change exercises, include different rep ranges and sprinkle in pump work is to try and diminish the
staleness of training that settles in due to the repeated bout effect. As we do something we get better at
dealing with it up to a point where it is no longer a stressor and thus we don’t respond and don’t grow.
However, as suggested such techniques cannot be used indefinitely. Our body becomes increasingly
less responsive to this style of training and we know it and become less driven. Therefore, let’s discuss
adaptive resistance that builds up in response to hypertrophy training.

First and foremost, we see a build up of fatigue, not just of our muscles, but also tendons, ligaments,
joints and a variety of micro structures. Sure we see a fair bit of recovery when we manage fatigue well,
take our rest days and deloads. However, we do not get full recovery, this takes weeks of lower volumes.
Joints especially take a very long time to recover due to their poor innervation. For this reason, your
joints benefit more from a prolonged recovery phase compared to a deload week. So by scaling things
back we allow greater recovery of these structures and thus, help to prevent injury. In addition as we
train with higher and higher volumes, we use lower loads and possibly metabolite techniques, we see
a transition of our muscle fibre type to more slow twitch. It’s been seen now with relative confidence
that muscle fibres land on a spectrum of slow to fast, and can transition more towards one or the other.
Thus by reducing our training volume and increasing the intensity we can help transition our mus-
cles back towards being fast twitch. Why is this good? Because the faster twitch muscle fibres have a
greater propensity to hypertrophy. Also in addition to fatigue in relation to possible injuries we also see
a different sort of unwanted fatigue. This is through the increase of catabolic markers such as AMPK
and decreased anabolic markers such as mTOR. Overall this leads to a less anabolic environment.

Personally, I have experienced that when I keep pushing volume for a long period of time pumps be-
come more rare and my motivation drops. Personally I can deal with the drop in motivation, the gym
is a habit, it’s like brushing my teeth, I just do it. However, the decreased pumps are certainly related to
some of the factors above. While having the habit of going to the gym engrained is great, it isn’t going
to get you through the inevitable anabolic resistance that seems to be building. You’ve come to a point
where you can no longer present a stress to elicit a positive adaptation and pushing further could risk
injury. Of course you could keep training this way, possibly eek out slow progress or even stall, or you
can use a Primer Phase to alleviate this. Essentially you have overreached on a macro level, whereby
if you were to continue you would risk deleterious outcomes. Your fatigue is rising quicker than your
fitness, which leads to a drop in performance and if you keep pushing, this is where the problems
occur. By tapering your volume, you are able to functionally overreach, thereby experiencing positive
outcomes in the form of greater muscle growth via theorised super compensation.

Let me just expand on that last bit “theorised super compensation”. Right now we do not have any
direct research to confirm super compensation in relation to muscle growth, hence it being a theory.
However, super compensation does occur in many other sports, and we have sufficient rationale to
practically apply it in certain circumstances for muscle growth. In addition, there is some promising
research alluding to the notion of delayed muscle growth. Think of muscle growth like a train, it takes
a while for it to start moving and pick up speed, however, it doesn’t suddenly halt like a car can. What
happens is a more prolonged tapering off of speed, just like what seems to happen with muscle growth.

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The Primer Phase 2. Definition

Whereby it continues weeks after a high volume phase of training. This means that going into an ex-
tended diet is likely a poor idea, you may not reap the rewards of all your previous hard efforts. Which
is why going through a Primer Phase is again a good idea, as you’re able to capitalise on this delayed
growth.

*Note on level of advancement

Whilst I do not think lower volume phases are a lost cause for more novice trainees, I do not think
they are as powerful as they are for more advanced trainees. This is because those who have only been
training a few years do not need to push to quite as extreme levels to see a growth response, a novice
lifter probably doesn’t need to overreach. Linear progressions are quite possible and should be milked
out for as long as they can be. However, the longer you train, the stronger adaptive resistance to hyper-
trophy becomes and the harder you will need to push the limits. Therefore, those who are more inter-
mediate and definitely those who are advanced will likely find themselves needing to pull back with an
approach such as the Primer Phase.

Progressive overload is essential for long term gains, however, you cannot add indefinitely. Taking time
away to re-sensitise our muscles prevents this point of unsustainable training. Allowing you to grow
better once you get back to higher volumes, with the worst case being that you resume with lower
than previous volumes and can apply overload again in a sustainable manner. There are no studies
that have been conducted, at least not to my knowledge, on the hypothesis behind “re-sensitisation” of
muscle mass and response to training, however, with considering physiological adaptations such as the
repeated bout effect, adaptive resistance and adaptations of fibre types in conjunction with hormonal
responses and the detrimental byproducts of resistance training (for example wear & tear), it seems
like a compelling hypothesis that there may be something to re-sensitisation. Most of it is found on
a hypothesis and anecdotal observations, and it can’t be ruled out that other mechanisms are at play
which will either change or confirm the hypothesis.

Fat loss application

Every single one of you reading this know that the longer you diet the harder the diet becomes, addi-
tionally you know that the harder you diet the sooner you hit a wall. The speed, duration and ultimate-
ly the amount of weight you lose will dictate the kickback you get.

For the general population, the things that fail them ultimately isn’t the fact they cannot drop weight,
it’s that they cannot sustain that weight loss. This in large part is down to a lack of tools to manage
the weight drop. As we diet we get lazier, we feel less chirpy, our cravings increase and our motivation
dwells as unfortunately, the scale doesn’t come down as fast.

Adaptive resistance during fat loss:

»» Lowered NEAT (decreased energy levels)

»» Lowered testosterone
»» Lowered thyroid (decreased energy expenditure)
»» Lowered motivation
»» Increased Ghrelin & lowered leptin (more hunger)
»» Increased Cortisol and Catecholamine, decreased Serotonin (high stress)

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The Primer Phase 3. Training Practical Application

Above are known adaptations, which are actually there for good reason, to ensure our survival. If these
things didn’t happen in the paleolithic days we’d see people survive for much shorter periods of time,
and let it be said, the life expectancy was already only at a pathetic 33 years. Thing is, in our modern
age we can get a huge feast within 30 minutes by simply going on our phone and ordering something
highly palatable and calorie dense with just a few clicks. We aren’t at risk of starvation, but our body
doesn’t know that. Your body also doesn’t know that you only want to lose those 10kg to have six-pack
abs or look a little more toned for Instagram. It only knows one thing, that is a scarce income of food
over a longer period of time and that it needs to pull some levers to keep you alive.

In terms of dieting this is known as adaptive thermogenesis, and more easily termed “Metabolic Adap-
tation”, or simply just diet fatigue. As said, the longer we diet, the harder we diet and the more weight
we lose overall will see this diet fatigue escalate.

Many don’t understand the value in sustaining a lower bodyweight and taking a break from the diet,
thus they end up pushing it too far, for too long and find themselves regressing. Possibly binging,
breaking their diet and putting on the fat they’ve lost without regaining the muscle mass they’ve lost
as well which leaves them in a worse spot than where they started. Like a magnet, our previous body
fat settling point tries to return as we try to push it away. By entering a Primer Phase, we can reduce
this fatigue and allow our settling point to literally settle at a lower body fat. From here we can then be
in a prime position to change our body composition once again.

3. Training Practical Application

In this chapter, I am going to give you the practical tips on how to go about your training during a
Primer Phase. When you come out of the Primer Phase you’re in a position where your body is re-
sponsive to higher volumes, ready to grow and pumps are back on the menu.

11
The Primer Phase 3. Training Practical Application

Volume
During our hypertrophy training volume is the biggest contributor to fatigue, this, therefore, needs
to be brought down. Volume should be brought down to your maintenance volume - the amount of
volume that is required to maintain muscle mass.

This is surprisingly low, studies have found you can maintain your muscle for short periods of time do-
ing almost no training. However, a Primer Phase is not just a week, thus we do need to provide some
stimulus. Other literature has shown that we can sustain our muscle with ⅓ of the volume of what we
needed to grow it, so if you were doing 20 sets for your chest, now you need less than 8 sets. As you
can see, volume is going to be much lower and this will allow for a lot of fatigue to drop. I recommend
you drop your volume by 40% of your minimum effective volume (MEV), so if you started a hypertro-
phy mesocycle with 14 sets of back you would do around 8 sets.

Intensity
Intensity is going to be higher during a Primer Phase, not only will this help to promote a transition
of our muscle fibres more towards fast twitch (which have higher hypertrophic potential) but it also
means we can get away with even less volume.

Heavier loads allow us to use less volume, as these generally induce a greater stimulus on a per-set
basis and quickly recruit faster-twitch muscle fibers. Thus I recommend you work within the 4 to 10
repetition range, averaging 6 to 8 reps. Heavier loads tend to lead to greater stimulation on a per-set
basis compared to lighter loads. Due to the effort that is required to lift them, they will quickly recruit
fast-twitch fibres and lead to the desired mechanical tension without the substrate depletion associat-
ed with high-rep work. As a result, I recommend that you train within the 4-10 repetition range, but
maintain your average set between 6-8 reps

Relative intensity will be similar to your hypertrophy work, ranging from as high as 4 reps from fail-
ure all the way to 1 and possible working towards failure where appropriate. Expect this to be initially
quite shocking to the system, if you’ve been using sets with up to 30 reps and averaging 10+, then
coming down to an average of 5 is going to quite the change. The novelty of this stimulus will be diffi-
cult at first due to the extra load. Additionally, it will likely cause muscle soreness. By Week 3 onwards,
you will progressively become more acclimated and less sore with this style of training.

Remember though, the goal isn’t to necessarily hit PR’s or to get stronger, it’s to allow adaptive resis-
tance to reduce, provide the system with a different type of stimulus and thus, re-sensitise and prime
your body for the upcoming hypertrophy work. So don’t get anxious about it feeling a bit off.

Frequency
The number of times a week you hit a muscle group during a Primer Phase isn’t a big deal. The key is
getting sufficient amounts of volume during the week. Because you’re doing a lot less than usual, you
can probably reduce your frequency. However, that doesn‘t mean you have to.

For example, if you were doing a 6 day per week split such as; legs, push, pull then you could probably
move to a 5 day per week split of legs, push, pull, legs, upper quite comfortably. I think lowering your
frequency is not only practical during a Primer Phase but can allow the luxury of having more free

12
The Primer Phase 3. Training Practical Application

time out of the gym. Having said that, there is no reason you can’t stick to the same split and just have
very short workouts because they will be shorter. I just want you to remember though, every unit of
frequency comes at the price of reduced rest days. So instead of having lots of 20-30minute sessions
because you’re still training 6 days a week, you might want to consider dropping it to 4 or 5 days.

Exercise selection
Due to the intensity being higher it makes sense to use lifts that are synergistic with it. For example,
doing sets of 5 with DBs might be a bit awkward, maybe even riskier, your gym may not even have
heavy enough weights, so going for barbells is a good idea.

In general, opting for the big barbell lifts; your squats, deadlifts, rows and presses is a good idea. It can
be an opportunity to lift some loads you usually don’t, let the inner powerlifter come out a little. Also
by doing so, you can find that you don’t need many isolation exercises, as for example your rowing and
pulling might provide sufficient volume for your biceps. As an aside, it is probably worthwhile not
injecting too much novelty at this stage, so keeping some of the lifts from your previous phase of train-
ing is recommended. This is because this variation can provide a new impetus for growth, which is best
kept for your hypertrophy phases of training.

Length & Progression

Due to the higher intensities used this generally necessitates a shorter accumulation than your hyper-
trophy phases. Also, there isn’t sufficient reason to extend the Primer Phase any longer than it needs to
be, whilst it certainly isn’t spinning your wheels, doing many back to back would be.

13
The Primer Phase 3. Training Practical Application

My recommendation is to run 1 to 2 Primer Phases with 3 to 4 weeks accumulating, to 1 week of de-

loading. Start your mesocycle with taking your movements 3 to 4 reps shy from failure. Each week add
a small amount of load or a rep, which will likely take you closer to failure so that you finish with the
Primer Phase staying 1 to 0 reps shy of failure. Progressing via volume is ill-advised, as we’re purpose-
fully keeping this down and we only need to train with maintenance levels.

Deloading
Let me give you a really handy rule, if you ever have to ask or if someone asks you ‘do I have to deload?’
the answer is 9/10 a resounding YES! Just like most people don’t want to maintain and do a Primer
Phase, because they view it as standing still or even regressing (which we know it is not, actually it’s
quite the opposite). They view deloading as a waste of time, as weak or unnecessary, which is also com-
pletely not the case.

A deload is required when there has been a significant build of fatigue, this happens when we train in
an overloading fashion. Within a Primer Phase we are without a doubt accumulating some fatigue,
training close to failure and adding load each week. As a whole, the phase is re-sensitising us to higher
volumes, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t producing fatigue.

So yes, after 3 to 5 weeks of this lower volume training you will want to deload, before again doing
another number of weeks of lower volume training or entering your next higher volume phase. The
most important thing is that this deload week is underloading, it is not generating fatigue but aiding
in dropping it.

14
The Primer Phase 4. Nutrition Practical Application

We recommend:

»» 1st Half of deload week: drop load by up to 30%, half reps, equal sets as last week.
»» 2nd Half of deload week: drop load by up to 50%, half reps, up to 50% drop in sets as
last week.
»» This will make the second half of the deload nice and light to ensure you have dropped
fatigue plenty

By deloading at the end of the Primer you further aid in the re-sensitisation process, it is absolutely
key to do so.

4. Nutrition Practical Application

For those of you who struggle with rebounds after diets or find yourself unable to lose all the weight
you want to, this chapter is going to be incredibly helpful. The difference between taking a Primer
Phase and failing to do so could be the difference in getting to stage in condition or dropping out of
the prep due to an injury or binge. It could also be the difference between someone losing 30lbs and
keeping it off or, losing 30lbs and putting 10lbs back on.

Calorie intake
Homeostasis of your current body composition is the goal and that means you’ll want to be eating at
maintenance, in other terms, the aim is to take in the same number of calories as you burn.

How to go about calculating this?

The best way to come to your current predicted maintenance intake is to use past scale weight data.
As we can roughly assume that for every pound change on the scale each week there is a 3500 calorie
difference to our maintenance intake. That means if you gained a pound in a week, you’re roughly in a
3500 calorie surplus. If you lost 1 pound, that’s roughly a 3500 calorie deficit. Of course, this doesn’t
mean that you’ve lost or gained 1lbs of pure tissue from either fat and/or muscle in a week. Scale
weight is heavily influenced by things such as food in your digestive tract, water retention, glycogen
stores, hormonal environment, soreness and much more.

How do you then know when you’ve gained muscle mass or lost fat? We don’t, we won’t be able to pre-
dict or tell the exact numbers on a week to week or even monthly basis. All it comes down to is simply
not doing anything radical or stupid and the results will come. The best we can do is assess how quick-
ly you’re gaining weight, keep track of your body composition and look at your strength progression
to estimate whether you’re predominantly gaining muscle or fat. For example, if you’re gaining 2lbs a
week, you look like you’re mostly gaining fat in your progress pictures and strength is not moving at
all… then you’re likely mostly gaining fat. On the other hand, if you’re gaining 1lb per week, your body
composition still looks favourable and strength is increasing, then we can assume that you’re gaining a
decent amount of muscle mass.

Now, while it won’t be precise we can still use this rule of thumb to estimate where we set our calories.

15
The Primer Phase 4. Nutrition Practical Application

Setting calories transitioning from a deficit:

1. Look at the past month, take the total weight lost in lbs & divide it by 4.
2. Take this number and multiply it by 500 (this is your average daily deficit).
3. Look at the past month, take your average calories consumed.
4. Take step 3’s number and add step 2’s number to give you your calories.

Setting calories transitioning from a surplus:

Look at the past month, take the total weight gained in lbs & divide it by 4.
1.
Take this number and multiply it by 500 (this is your average daily surplus).
2.
Look at the past month, take your average calories consumed.
3.
Take step 3’s number and subtract step 2’s number to give you your calories.
4.
If you don’t have this data available to you then you can use the following general calculation to give
you your maintenance intake.

Multiply your bw in lbs by (females and those coming from a dieted state, edge towards a lower num-
ber):

»» Sedentary: 13
»» Somewhat active: 14
»» Active: 15
»» Very active: 16

Once you have your estimated intake you can use this going forward, but again, don’t expect this to be
completely accurate. You should track your weight and take weekly averages to see how it is trending
and adjust your calories accordingly. That being said, I would ignore the first couple of weeks of scale
change. The reason is that this is essentially bad data that doesn’t really tell you much of anything.
When you transition out of a diet into higher calories the same things occur that actually causes the
“3500kcal rule” to not work out most of the time. According to physics, your calorie intake should
yield a specific rate of weight loss, maintenance or gain. However, it hardly ever results in the exact
numbers that you were expecting based on your calculations

Some of the reasons may be; You lose water weight due to lower cortisol levels and the associated drop
in water. Or maybe you gain weight due to consuming more sodium and/or carbohydrtes and again
the associated water retained with that. Maybe you just gain weight because you’re eating more food in
weight. You see, there are a lot of things that can change. Likewise, the same thing can happen when
you come out of a surplus.

It’s possible that you lost water due to dropping inflammation that’s built up from the high volume
training or you drop it due to lower levels of stored glycogen and water. We can’t be certain of what is
really going on during the first couple of weeks of the Primer Phase, so I would trust the process and
continue forward. Only after those first two weeks making any adjustments due to scale feedback.

Macronutrient intake
Next up we need to set our macronutrients; fats, carbs and protein. During a Primer Phase as dis-
cussed the goal is body composition maintenance and our training is of a lower volume. Therefore,
aside from having sufficient protein, there is a lot of leeway when it comes to carbs and fats.

16
The Primer Phase 4. Nutrition Practical Application

During this phase, therefore, I don’t suggest you follow a given goal for carbs and fat and actually enjoy
some additional freedom at this time. Many who bodybuild follow quite a strict higher carb and lower
fat approach, which can get tiresome. During a Primer Phase there is not an inherent upside to such
an approach and thus loosening the reigns some can be really nice. You can enjoy a load more nut but-
ter, plenty of whole eggs, avo on toast etc. etc.

Furthermore, having a high carb intake is simply unnecessary. Carbohydrate and glycogen require-
ments for resistance training are often highly overestimated. When then considering the nature of the
training in a Primer Phase it becomes quite obvious that our requirements get even lower than before.

Protein, however, as discussed, is something you do need to consume in sufficient quantities. The
amount you need is directly related to your body mass, as a rule of thumb 1g per pound is a great rec-
ommendation. Can you drop this closer to 0.8g/lb or go up to 1.2g/lb sure, anywhere within that range
and you’ll be doing just fine.

Now that we have your protein set, you can consume the rest of your calories from a combination
of fat and carbs that suits your preferences. However, we do recommend a hard cut-off for fat being
0.3g/lb as a minimum. Going lower than this is probably not the best for health and wellbeing due to
essential fatty acids, fat soluble vitamins and the possible impact on our hormones.

Fat loss recommendations

When coming out of a fat loss diet into a Primer Phase there are some unique challenges you will be
faced with. Depending on the length and severity of your cut you’ll experience more or less of adaptive
thermogenesis, ie. your metabolism is somewhat down-regulated, your hunger is also higher etc.

It is not uncommon to see people fail at this point and regain all or some of the weight they’ve lost.
The negative adaptions from the diet are still present and if you’re not careful, you’ll put yourself in a
challenging spot. Unfortunately, some of the reasons that this may happen is the lack of strategy on
how to transition away from the diet in conjunction with the mentality of “alright, now that the diet is
over, I’ll indulge all the food that I didn’t allow myself during the cut”. The lack of a plan with negative
adaptations still being present and a huge quantity of palatable food, and your cravings will be hard to
resist. And if you’ve already given in to the cravings, stopping the binge that is on its way may become
an impossible task. Thus I suggest you make sure to keep your baseline diet & transition to more high-
ly palatable foods later and opt for the higher protein recommendations as protein is highly satiating.

Due to an increase in food quantity, volume and higher levels of sodium and water being consumed,
you may see an increase in your bodyweight. Do not stress, this is normal. Yes, you just read it, your
weight may creep up 1-2% and settle there. This is water weight due to extra glycogen storage and the
aforementioned food volume and sodium, do not stress. By the end of the Primer Phase your hunger
will be much easier to manage and likely not a problem and you’ll be maintaining on more calories.
I’d even go as far in saying that it may even get challenging at times to eat all the food if you’re not
making any drastic changes to your diet but just add calories in the form of extra food. If that’s actu-
ally what’s happening, perfect, you can start decreasing low calorie dense/highly satiating foods with
high calorie dense/less satiating foods, for example, reduce the amount of vegetables and change it for
the same amount of calories coming from rice. Generally, the longer you have dieted for and the more
weight you have lost the longer you will want to be in this maintenance phase.

17
The Primer Phase 4. Nutrition Practical Application

Recommendations:

»» Those who have lost 5-10% of body weight &/or dieted for 10 to 15 weeks - 4 to 6
weeks in a Primer Phase
»» Those who have lost 10%+ of their body weight &/or dieted for 15 weeks or more - 6 to
12 weeks in a Primer Phase

Be very honest with yourself, if you’re still feeling diet fatigue and don’t feel fully ready for another fat
loss journey, give yourself more time.

Muscle gain recommendations

There is quite a big difference when transitioning into a Primer Phase from a mass rather than a cut.
You’re more than likely fed up with stuffing your face and are looking forward to eating less, you don’t
have concerns over excess hunger, it’s quite the opposite.

Due to a decrease in food volume, quantity, associated sodium and water we may see a drop in weight
of up to 1-2% where it will likely then level off. Don’t stress, you’re not in a deficit, you’ve just dropped
body water. By the end of the Primer Phase you should feel ready to either eat more or less, depending
on your next goals.

Flexibility during a primer

As already discussed, I don’t think you need to worry about your macronutrients as much. If you
can hit your protein and calories targets, you are good! Tracking macros, using food diaries and such
things can cause some people to stress. This isn’t surprising, building muscle and dropping fat are lofty
goals and do need to be taken with some degree of seriousness, especially the more extreme the goals.
However, a Primer Phase is maintenance, we are not pushing in any particular direction. Thus my rec-
ommendation is to use the least stressful nutritional approach to obtain your results. The results being
maintenance, which as mentioned after the first 2 to 4 weeks of the Primer should be fairly comfort-
able for you. Therefore, you may wish to reduce your degree of nutritional precision, if you can do so
and meet your goals. Eating mindfully may be an option for you at this juncture. This means no track-
ing but you utilise the healthy habits you’ve developed over the time you’ve been tracking, such as:

»» igh protein intakes

H
»» Focussing on wholesome, minimally processed foods
»» Eating plenty of fruit and vegetables
»» Staying well hydrated
»» Limited snacking and taking time to eat your food

If you feel you have many of these habits down, and you would find it to be quite stress relieving to
seize tracking for the remainder of the Primer Phase, I encourage you to try it. In my experience this
can be a great way to further increase the benefits of the Primer Phase, it can actually help Prime you
further for your next phase. After weeks of not taking too much notice of what you’re eating and when
you’re eating, you start to develop an urge for the structure you were once accustomed to. You’re a little
sick of being so blaze with your nutrition and can’t wait to start prioritising carbs around your workout
and taking care to hit certain macronutrient targets.

18
The Primer Phase 5. Mindset during The Primer Phase

5. Mindset during The Primer Phase

Something I think is often foregone when talking about particular phases within our body composi-
tion journey is mindset, yet it is very important. There are multiple research papers that actually show
how strong the mind can be, an example many of you will be aware of is those who were given a sugar
pill but told it was steroids saw outrageous improvements over the following weeks. Other examples
include simply telling people that they have good genetics increased their subsequent results. This just
goes to show the real power the mind can have, and why we need to use it during each phase.

Goal orientated
First, we must have the goal in mind, always. Within a Primer Phase the goal is to get our training
done, sufficient to maintain and no more. Additionally, our goal is not fat loss or muscle gain, it is to
maintain our body composition, to eat an adequate amount of calories and protein. No more or less.

It can be very tempting to do more, to eat less and try and push body composition. This is what we
love and are used to doing but we must relax. Just like when we go on holiday, the goal isn’t to open
your laptop and do more work, the goal is to chill the fuck out. Again, the first few days of holiday
can be uncomfortable for some, but by the end, you’re on first name terms with the barman. Similarly
during a Primer, it will feel a little uncomfortable at first, but embrace it and soak it up, and you’ll reap
the rewards.

You can use this as an opportunity to focus on some smaller goals, maybe that’s getting a better rela-
tionship with food or a chance to really dial in your technique. Just because you’re maintaining doesn’t
mean you can’t still find some other things to get better at.

Re-prioritisation of goals
This is something I have been somewhat touching on within the previous chapter with regards to
becoming more flexible. One “obnoxious” thing that happens during the primer phase is that we have
more time on our hands. Normally, our mind is so focused on so many elements relating to our goal
that other important things can get lost along the way. The Primer Phase presents an opportunity for
more time, but also for more mental capacity that can then be re-allocated into other parts of your life.
Important parts of your life such as your friends, your partner, your family, your career or studies, may
be put on the backburner at certain times due to your hyper-focus on your physique. Or maybe you’re
very good at managing all of these and now you have some extra capacity to pick up a hobby you’ve
always wanted to give a go!

Use the Primer Phase to give more time to other priorities in your life. Personally, I love to try and
book holidays during this time, the volume of work is so low it’s easy to get in and the diet lends itself
very well to this too. I will touch on applications of Primer Phases later but realise you now have the
ability to reshuffle your priorities for a period of time.

19
The Primer Phase 6. Planning your Primer Phase

6. Planning your Primer Phase

Now you’re hopefully sold on the benefits of Primer Phases, how to do them and the mindset shift
you’ll want to take. In this chapter, I will teach you where to actually place the Primer Phase within
your training macrocyle. Something I want to make you aware of is Phase Potentiation, whereby the
following phase is set up by the past phase and further enhanced the next phase.

For a Primer Phase to successfully Prime you for the next incoming phase and thus lend itself to a
Phase Potentiated structure it wants to be slotted in after many months of high volume training mass-
ing/cutting and before more high volume training massing/cutting. The question is how long? In most
cases, you would not want to introduce a Primer more frequently than every 10 weeks, but wouldn’t
want to leave it as long as 20. There are scenarios outside of this, but they’re quite unique and most will
fit this general recommendation.

That means after 10 to 20 weeks of massing or cutting and training with higher volumes, you will want
to drop in a 4 to 12 week Primer Phase before doing another round of 10 to 20 weeks of massing or
cutting with higher volumes. I’ll throw out some examples below.

Holiday/Exam period
If you know you have a period of time where dieting or getting the gym is going to be particularly dif-
ficult, you can use a Primer. This might fit your ratio as described above, or it can be used ad hoc. There
is no downside of using a Primer more frequently, only that you could theoretically be gaining muscle
or losing fat with that time.

20
The Primer Phase 6. Planning your Primer Phase

Pre-Contest
As a competitor, you want to reverse engineer your contest prep, to ensure you give yourself sufficient
time to get lean. Many competitors attempt to lose 15 to 20% of their bodyweight in one linear run,
with maybe only a few week-long diet breaks. This can work but it certainly isn’t the smartest and will
not lead to the greatest physique taken to stage.

Losing an initial amount of fat, then taking a Primer Phase before your comp prep is a very smart
idea. This sets you up for success and has seen many of our clients at Revive Stronger have their most
successful preps to date. If you’re interested in learning more about our contest prep methodologies I
highly recommend checking out The Ultimate Guide to Contest Prep.

Injuries
These suck a lot but they can be made a lot worse by gaining unwanted fat or losing muscle or even
worse prolonging the injury. Pushing changes in your body composition makes little sense as you can-
not train the injured area with sufficient volume and thus you risk losing that muscle when dieting or
gaining unwanted fat during a mass.

It’s the perfect time to maintain, train with lower volumes and allow the injured area to get better
faster, so you can get back to your hard training as soon as possible. When it comes to being injured,
there’s always something you can do. However, that shouldn’t be cutting or pushing through an injury.

Mini cuts
Of special note is the use of Mini Cuts, these are short aggressive fat loss periods of 3 to 6 weeks.
Anything shorter than that and you’ve probably done nothing at all except for feeling miserable, hun-
gry and depleting your glycogen stores. While mini cuts can be pushed up to 8 weeks in my opinion,
this should be reserved for rare occasions. Anything longer than 8+ weeks is not a mini cut anymore.
If you need longer than 8 weeks, you’ve probably started too fat, didn’t push yourself enough or simply
weren’t on point. A mini cut is supposed to be somewhat uncomfortable. At least it’s supposed to be
unsustainable for longer than planned.

Mini cuts can be used in an offseason between massing cycles to prolong your time massing, howev-
er, mini cuts are not done on low volume training. That’s why there is a limit to the number of these
you can thread in without taking a true Primer Phase. You may find yourself able to mass for 10 to
20 weeks, take a 3 to 6 week mini cut and mass for another 10 to 20 weeks. By this point you’re likely
finding a lot of the negative effects of adaptive resistance to higher volume training kicking in, taking a
Primer Phase is now a very good idea.

To quote the Mini Cut Manual:

“It is important to note that even the best minicut does not re-sensitize or drop fatigue like a full
low volume phase or active rest phase would. So minicuts do not buy you the same amount of
muscle gain time as full low volume phases. Further, minicuts buy a bit less gain time each time
they are repeated. It is therefore probably not possible to just mass-minicut-mass-minicut
indefinitely if you want the best results. Minicutting can be a tool that expands you muscle gain
timeline significantly when used well, but is not a substitute for all conventional cuts, low volume
phases, or active rest phases.”

21
The Primer Phase 7. Post Primer Expectations

7. Post Primer Expectations

After you have completed a Primer Phase you need to expect a number of things to happen. With this
knowledge, you will avoid ‘messing up’ and thus make full use of your primed state.

MEV’s will be lower

Remember one of the key reasons we run such a phase of training is to re-sensitise you to lower train-
ing volumes. Getting a pump will never have been as easy as you get into higher volume training. You
need less volume to stimulate hypertrophy and your MEV’s for each of your muscle groups will be
down slightly on what they were when you left your last higher volume mesocycle. Therefore you want
to be sure to take that into account when planning your first microcycle of your next training block.
Furthermore, if you decide to vary your movements to garner some novelty, you will further reduce
your MEV numbers. This is good, it means you can eek out gains for longer and make the process eas-
ier on yourself. Why would you not want what are effectively easy gains? If you were to rush out of the
gates because you’re super duper hyped to train with higher volumes, again you risk holding yourself
back. You will likely find you get excessively sore, so much so your body is spending all its time mend-
ing damage and not actually growing!

As a rule of thumb reduce your expected MEV numbers by around 1/4 so if you needed to do 10 sets
of quads for any kind of growth response, lower this down to around 7 or 8 sets. What this means is
that your window between MEV and MRV will be larger, which means more time at MAV which in
return means more gains! Possibly this will allow you to make more assertive progressions week on
week or allow you to extend your mesocycle by a week or so. As always watch how you’re getting on
and go from there.

How you look

Very much related to the previous point is how you will look. When do you look your best? When
you have the most stupid pumps. Well hello, post Primer pumps and some of your most gnarly looks.
So look forward to what the pumps will do for you, this acute cell swelling will make you look bigger,
more vascular etc. In fact, the cell-swelling will even have additional anabolic effects. You can literally
expect to grow some muscle coming out of the Primer Phase even if entering a diet, just because you
have set the foundations up for growth. Now don’t expect this to last long but one mesocycle after a
Primer when dieting you could sure see growth during that time.

8. Primer Phase Myths

To further quash your apprehensions about the Primer Phase I want to get rid of any of those nagging
thoughts at the back of your mind. So let‘s run through the myths associated with Primer Phases and
wave bye bye to them one by one.

22
The Primer Phase 8. Primer Phase Myths

You will lose muscle

We lose muscle by not training with sufficient volume/intensity and not consuming adequate protein.
However, you’ll be doing maintenance volume with decent loads in the gym and will be making sure
to be on top of your protein so muscle loss isn’t a concern.

People get their knickers in a twist when they’re not seeing the same sort of muscle fullness, pumps
or vascularity. Also, they get concerned if the scale comes down. Thing is, this can all be explained by
training volume being lower, no metabolite work such as drop sets being included and total food and
likely carb intake is reduced.

To actually truly lose muscle tissue, you’ll have to do quite irresponsible and stupid stuff or even
consciously try to lose muscle tissue. Sticking to the plan and executing the Primer as intended will
definitely not cause you to lose muscle. The Primer isn’t the environment in which muscle loss becomes
an issue.

You will get fat

We can get fat by being in a caloric surplus but you’re not in a caloric surplus, you’re at maintenance.
People get a bit concerned because they gain weight out of say a cut but if you’ve done things right it
isn’t fat, it’s just water.

Maybe you can gain weight and you might look ‘softer’ but you shouldn’t be gaining fat. Think about
the type of training you’re doing in a Primer. It won’t make you look your absolute best and that is
okay. If you’re always more concerned about looking good than actually making progress, you may
want to reconsider your approach. So, if you do things right you won’t gain fat. It really is as simple as
that.

23
The Primer Phase 8. Primer Phase Myths

You’re spinning your wheels

The biggest, baddest myth of them all, maintaining is spinning your wheels. A Primer Phase is your
runway to your take-off, your bracing to your squat, your sleep to your wakefulness. It’s laying the
foundation for something rather special, it is not time wasted and in fact, sets you up for success.

To be honest, the best way to rid this idea is to go through one yourself, you’ll be sold. Just like the first
time you deload and come out feeling fresh and have weeks of productive training, or actually, make
time to get a quality 8 hours sleep after days of 6 hours.

The true dedicated athlete with ambitions and specific goals knows that he needs an intelligent ap-
proach to training & nutrition. Pushing your body all the time is not what I call an intelligent ap-
proach. Know when to pull back and know when to push.

You don’t need it because you’re not advanced

When you’re advanced, Primer Phases may be more important and utilized more frequently. How-
ever, this does not mean that they are useless for less advanced athletes. The benefits are still there for
trainees who are 1-2 years deep into their lifting career and are serious, train hard and are consistent. If
you’re not those three things then Periodisation, adaptive resistance, diet fatigue etc. just aren’t con-
cerns for you.

You’ll still want to take breaks away from dieting to stabilise your weight before you do something else.
High volume training will still get highly fatiguing, you will find yourself getting beat up and finding
staleness kicking in. It might just not happen as quickly as for someone more advanced. Similarly, if
you’re not a builder, maybe you don’t drill very often. However, a drill is still a useful tool to have in
your toolbox to get a certain job done. If you’re not an advanced trainee using high volumes, maybe
you won’t use a primer phase as often… but it’s still a useful tool!

No one does this

This is unfortunately not true:

1. Mike Israetel is a big proponent of maintenance phases.

2. Greg Nuckols posited the idea on his blog named “Grow like a new lifter again”
3. James Krieger implements cycles of higher & lower volumes
4. Brad Schoenfeld in his book “Max Muscle Plan” has a low volume strength phase
5. Bryan Haycock used “strategic deconditioning” in his HST programmes
6. John Meadows would take 2-3 weeks of easy training after every show, followed by 3
weeks off entirely.
7. Kevin Levrone was said to take 6+ months off at a time while he racked up the most
IFBB heavyweight pro wins in the 1990s
8. Andy Galpin thinks periodising in something very different from what you’re normally
training towards is very important to keep moving towards your goals

As you can see there is not only some of the brightest minds in the industry recommending such
phases, but there are some of the most jacked dudes on the planet doing such things with great suc-
cess.

24
The Primer Phase 8. Primer Phase Myths

A
special thanks to all the Revive Stronger com-
munity for making all of this possible. This
book, same as all the other content we’re pro-
ducing is for you guys! Furthermore, a huge thanks to
Mike Israetel for being a great inspiration, friend and
amazing value for the sport. Also, a big thanks goes
out to Ryan Solomon and Miguel Blacutt for checking
over this ebook and helping us out in every way possi-
ble. We could possibly go on for ages, however, this is
a relatively short ebook, so I guess it’s alright to leave
other names out, which we’d have to thank as well.

- Pascal & Steve

25