Hypertrophy Bootcamp: Day 1 Update
Day 1 of the 5 Day Hypertrophy Bootcamp, East Greenwich, Rhode Island!
Instructors:
Charles Poliquin
Ben Pakulski
Derek Woodske
Ryan Fanley
Welcome to my daily report of the 2012 Hypertrophy Bootcamp! Here’s
how we were greeted:
“Over the next five days you’re going to learn FIFTEEN (15) hypertrophy
methods. Each day we’ll train three times and each time we train you’ll
learn one new method. After the next five days you need to take five
complete days off. No deload day or “active recovery”. Nothing. The next
five days you’ll each gain 5-7 pounds of muscle. Any questions so far?”
The 17 students from Australia, Finland, Canada and the U.S. drooled with
anticipation… Where have you been all my life Charles?!
Today we went through three workouts for chest and back starting off with
a Modified Hepburn method in the morning and then ending with giant sets
in the evening. Here are some sound bites from the notes. Feel free to test
my new knowledge behind the WHY of each of these methods:
1. During CNS (central nervous system) training forced reps are used for
one thing and one thing only…. To save your friends life. Otherwise, forced
reps are not permitted during CNS training. Why? Because forced reps
increase acidity which decrease force production. Plus forced reps lead to
bad form and bad form with heavy loads can lead to injuries.
2. There are three categories of people in the gym:
– Those who know a lot of theory but don’t have a flipping clue of what they
are doing.
– Those that have a lot of experience but are misguided by horrible theory
and concepts.
– Those that have theory AND enough experience to created desired
changes and responses.
3. Training makes you weaker and smaller. At the end of this 5 days I’m
going to be skinnier. The goal of your training is to train so hard you make
yourself “skinny” so when you recover you “supercompensate” and become
bigger. Why does that make sense? The more stress = the more growth…
IF you recover and if you recover then you’ve experienced the “training
effect.”
4. CNS workouts in the morning (the one we did this morning consisted of
13 sets of 3 reps) potentiate (excite) the CNS, which in turn helps you
recruit 5-7% more muscle fibers in the afternoon. This ONE tip got me my
moneys worth. Heavy training in the morning. Volume training in the
evening. 5 days on. 5 days off. You can only do these double or triple day
sessions for 1-2 cycles max. Drug assisted individuals might be able to
handle three of these cycles if their sleep and nutrition is perfect.
5. Our Pre Workout Supplement Protocol: BCAA + Carnitine + Beta
Alaninine + 1 electrolyte pack. I’ll talk about WHY this stack is so powerful
in the future.
6. Best way to train CNS system is EXPLOSIVE REPS (as fast as you can)
with 4 second negative. Why is explosiveness necessary? Because we are
trying to recruit the fast-twitch muscle fibers that have the greatest potential
for growth.
7. If you’re on a tight budget the only supplement you need is BCAA (for
muscle growth). BCAA increase blood sugar while you train, increase
insulin, cortisol and growth hormone at the same time, increase insulin
sensitivity and androgen receptor receptivity (your ability to uptake
testosterone and utilize it).
