Less is more experiment

[coleriver9]

Not sure if I should post this in this category or misc. so sorry in advance.

I’d like to hear experiences from those who went from really “killing a muscle” to implementing “less is more” and any success stories? I suppose I’m going to try that and looking for psychological support.

Reasoning- my most lagging body part are biceps so I took the advice of training them more over the years. Ive implemented 2x week, 3x week, high reps, low reps, pull ups, static holds fat grips, hitting them daily with small volume etc. currently I’ve been doing Phat which hits them 2x week.

I noticed my most developed body parts, chest and legs, I tend to spend the least time on. I’ll only do 6 sets for chest a week sometimes, same with legs, yet people always point them out as well developed. I started to wonder maybe I should deploy that same approach to arms. Arms on the other hand NEVER are a vocal point, and actually they feel run down / flat most of the time.

Before anyone brings up diet, I track macros and gain / lose based on 500 cal surplus / deficit. On my last bulk I went from 190 to 207 and currently I’m cutting back down, yet to my disappointment arms are same.

Anyone experience / implement the “less is more” for a lagging body part?

[Crsk]

Mike Israetel has some interesting thoughts of stuff like this. I was never training arms enough and wondered why they never grew but he mentions training up to a Maximum recoverable volume so your 3x may still not have been enough if you found you could recover fine. Upping the volume to say 15 sets per week over a 4 week mesocycle. (from what I remember)

Alo remembering how much the tricep makes up of the bicep size.

I was hitting biceps around 4x a week and recovering well.

https://renaissanceperiodization.com...s-hypertrophy/

"Most people respond best to between 14 and 20 weekly sets on average."

[Vampirelol]

or learn how to use the muscle. nothing else matters lol

[jk202]

Check out Hypertrophy Coach's website (Joe Bennett). I promise it's the best $9 a month you'll spend. I can't say for sure yet if my gains have improved at a faster rate, but I'm having fantastic workouts getting more out of less. That's a huge part of his philosophy and the purpose of his site is getting more out of one set. And even after 5 years of consistent training, i took a ton of value from his stuff

I went from 20+ set workouts to 8-10. I think he has a thing were you can have full access for a week for free or something.

https://www.instagram.com/hypertrophycoach/?hl=en

He posts a lot of "finishers" on his instagram, but his site and training is based around compound load based progression. Hope this helps

[coleriver9]

@crsk Very interesting. I’m not sure I’d be the ideal candidate as my arms fatigue rather quickly lately and my biceps also have a pretty constant dull ache if that makes sense, so I might in fact not be recovering 100%. Funny because they start to feel recovered then when I start to lift them the dull ache returns.

[coleriver9]

Check out Hypertrophy Coach's website (Joe Bennett). I promise it's the best $9 a month you'll spend. I can't say for sure yet if my gains have improved at a faster rate, but I'm having fantastic workouts getting more out of less. That's a huge part of his philosophy and the purpose of his site is getting more out of one set. And even after 5 years of consistent training, i took a ton of value from his stuff

I went from 20+ set workouts to 8-10. I think he has a thing were you can have full access for a week for free or something.


He posts a lot of "finishers" on his instagram, but his site and training is based around compound load based progression. Hope this helps

very interesting thanks for the info i will check it out

[Garage Rat]

Here's my two cents from many many years of experience.
You have to experiment to find what works for you personally.
This can take awhile if you give a certain protocol a fair try 2-3 months or so.
Remember also nothing works for ever you will have to change something up because the body will adapt to the specific stress given.
Keep a training log to know exactly what you did so you can reference it and note if a protocol works or doesn't work for you.
Some body parts grow much easier than others and will differ for everyone and protocols may not work the same for all body parts.
For example my legs grew with higher reps 10-20 with moderate weight while my chest did better with 8-12 reps.
Also the comment above about about using the muscle and feeling it work is valid.
You should be able to feel and contract every rep for hypertrophy.
Remember also there is a lot of crossover on body parts when training.
If your doing a lot of back work there is bicep carry over from it so it could affect your arm recovery.
Lots to think about i hope i wrote something useful for you.

[coleriver9]

Here's my two cents from many many years of experience.
You have to experiment to find what works for you personally.
This can take awhile if you give a certain protocol a fair try 2-3 months or so.
Remember also nothing works for ever you will have to change something up because the body will adapt to the specific stress given.
Keep a training log to know exactly what you did so you can reference it and note if a protocol works or doesn't work for you.
Some body parts grow much easier than others and will differ for everyone and protocols may not work the same for all body parts.
For example my legs grew with higher reps 10-20 with moderate weight while my chest did better with 8-12 reps.
Also the comment above about about using the muscle and feeling it work is valid.
You should be able to feel and contract every rep for hypertrophy.
Remember also there is a lot of crossover on body parts when training.
If your doing a lot of back work there is bicep carry over from it so it could affect your arm recovery.
Lots to think about i hope i wrote something useful for you.

Garage Rat, thanks so much for such a well thought out reply. Very valuable. To your point, it can be tough to stick with a tactic for 2-3 months due to fact there are so many different schools of thought always coming at you. Great advice.

[Burgerbuger]

I know I am beating a dead horse here but OP imagine enrolling for a class with a mind set of just doing enough on each assignment. Then the final rolls around and you are hoping to get an A+ on it. Well instead of receiving a 90+ on your final you made a 55. That's what is happening here. You want the best grade possible with the least amount of effort. In the end maybe the best grade possible is a D+ if that's all you are putting in but you won't know that until 8-12 weeks down the line.

Your mind set should be to try and put as much effort as possible in the hopes of getting the results you want.

Bodybuilding is all about experimenting with trial and error. What works with one guy might not work soo well for you. It is in your best interest to determine if it's well worth your time.