Lets talk STRESS.

Stress is the root cause of almost every illness, disease, lack of gains, and early grave that health experts (including me) have warned people about for decades.

Saying that stress is a killer is nothing new.

BUT, my perspective on fixing it is counter to what I often see recommended...

The current meta is about relaxation, calming the nervous system. And I dont entirely disagree, but this approach is very female coded.

Men are built to endure. Greatness requires stress tolerance.

If we are to be Pragmatic Men, We can do two things with Stress

-Eliminate it entirely. Which itself is often not practical to do (maybe some things can be eliminated, but not all things)

-Become more resilient to it.

Its true that your nervous system can only handle so much. So you either remove the amount, or improve HOW it handles the amount you load it with.

Yet what I often promoted are stress multiplication practices that make the problems worse,

I talk to a lot of founders in hard tech, heavy industry, and high-earning fields, and there’s a pattern where I end up in the exact same conversation happening over and over again.

These guys are redlined, they feel fried, but they are misled into stacking MORE protocols on top of an already fatigued nervous system and mind.

Rather than improve stress tolerance or remove stress, they introduce more chronic stressors disguised as fake solutions.

This is bad, for a multitude of reasons. To understand why

The Dichotomy of Two Stresses

Stress can be divided into two categories. Acute and Chronic.

Acute stress is voluntary.

You go to the gym, you load a barbell, you lift heavy weights, and you put them down. You do it again until your system has had enough for the day.

You rack the bar, and the stressor is over. This is the good kind of stress because IT HAS AN END.

Bruce McEwen at Rockefeller spent his career studying this: The body and mind has a healthy stress response that gets switched on, stays on for a period of time, and then switched OFF.

This is sympathetic nervous system being activated. The part of the nervous system that Fight-Flight-Freeze. This is called the SNS (Sympathetic Nervous System).

Acute Stress engages the SNS, and then the body transitions to the PNS, the Parasympathetic nervous for recovery.

The Stress of Exercise makes you rise to the challenge of Stress, and makes you better at Relaxing after the challenge is done.

You WANT your body to be able to use both systems and transition. This is trainable

Sandra Klaperski, a psychologist out of the University of Freiburg, ran an experiment that demonstrates what happens when you build the body underneath it.

In a randomized trial out of Freiburg, researchers took 149 men and split them into three groups: twelve weeks of exercise, twelve weeks of relaxation training, or doing nothing.

Then they brought everyone into a lab and stressed them out.

The exercise group’s entire stress response—cortisol, heart rate, heart rate variability—came in completely blunted across the board.

In comparison, the other two groups did not perform nearly as well.

When you pit stress management protocols head-to-head against physical training, training wins every single time.

And then we have Chronic Stress

Chronic stress is often not as intense as acute stress.

But its stress that never stops.

Chronic stress simmers in the background. Its often of a more psychological dynamic.

It looks like worrying about your bills, your health, your family, your business. Over the long term, this drains your immune system, and opens the door to almost any disease imaginable.

Now to be Clear, The answer is NOT. “GET RID OF ALL CHRONIC STRESS”.

Again, we must be realistic.

If you are a parent, an entrepreneur, an operator, you chose this chronic stress voluntary. Your goal is not to live a carefree life with zero responsibility.

And your body evolved to handle an enormous physical load, provided the load is manageable.

But modern life blurs all our stressors together. Work stress, money stress, health stress, family stress can all become one.

And some health influencer encouraging you to be orthorexic because of fragrances or dish soap or the sun being too bright is just adding to the insanity

Which reminds me…

The Bryan Johnson Optimization Trap

If you know me, you know that I appreciate Bryan for being willing to document everything and getting tons of data on his health. I think that’s cool and he is being a scientist running his own N=1 experiment.

That said...

Bryan’s approach, I believe, skews toward becoming completely orthorexic in trying to document and questionably optimize every parameter.

He is making himself more inclined to be fragile — said simply.

He recently announced he has an autoimmune condition—autoimmune gastritis—that in his own words, is causing his “stomach to eat itself.”

Stomach and gut issues are always the first warning lights of the wrong kind of stress.

Neither of us has a crystal ball, but I would bet that even if he ate the way I do, trained the way I do, and stopped avoiding the sun, he would have ended up in a similar place.

He was diagnosed with an autoimmune condition at 21. The underlying predisposition was there long before the protocols.

The issue isn’t his disease. It is his POSTURE towards it.

His entire philosophy is “don’t die.” He is using every piece of anti-aging science available, applied with maximum force, to try and control the one thing no man controls.

In an interview with MIT Technology Review, talking about his movement, he said they are “playing with the idea that the body is God.”

When you pile up tools and protocols just to defend a rigid self-image, treating your body like a machine to be optimized instead of a human organism with dynamic needs, your nervous system stays locked in a state of functional freeze.

He is optimizing his way into his own body attacking itself.

The Reaching Spiral

Bryan is just the most prominent example. This is the exact same thing a thousand online coaches and protocol salesmen are pushing onto you.

Every bad feeling must be fixed. Every input must be managed.

And the reaching for tools under stress is what makes the load worse.

Take breathing exercises. Great in concept. They’re designed to induce a parasympathetic response. They help you relax.

But you cannot always be relaxed. You need to be able to toggle back and forth. Get too far into the relaxation rabbit hole, and mildly stressful situations become major problems.

Sometimes your cortisol will spike. Thats okay. Getting caught in the mental loop of “am I handling this right” creates a double bind of worrying about worrying. Your anxious because your getting anxious.

This is the biggest problem with wearables and health data

You get info, stress about the numbers, and the numbers get worse. Are the numbers even accurate? DO they matter or at all? Are they “real” in any objective sense.

Maybe, maybe not, but they start directing peoples decision making and guiding their nervous system.

How To Actually Use Tools

I have a simple Binary.

A tool exists to solve a problem. Clearly.
Not to create problems. Which gets messy.

As basic as that sounds, a lot of the “stress management” is performance. It’s “tool shaped” but doesn’t deliver on the outcome.

The intention behind the actions you take makes all the difference.

If a tool creates more work and needs it own KPIs without clear ROI, it’s NOT A tool. Don’t bother with it.

To assess a tool, ask what the objective outcome should be from it. If there isnt one, if its a vague promise, or if it creates more work…its NOT something you need to bother with.

There are simple things that I use and they have clear outcomes

-Phone call with my team. yeah we have slack and do zooms, but I call people on the phone. We figure things out faster. We reply to texts quickly. A culture of quick communication is how you get shit done. Dont wait for meetings and BS email chains to get to the point.

-Black out curtains. They make the room dark, and I sleep better. FIN

-Incandescent and circadian friendly lightbulbs. The lights in my house arent white light blue light blasting us all day. We wake up at dawn, fall asleep a few hours after sunset. The whole family. The peace of mind this gives is immeasurable.

-A home gym. I can train without leaving my house. Exercise makes me stronger, and I handle stress better and Im healthier. FIN.

-Magnesium, collagen, nattokinase. Somewhere around half the population doesnt get enough and its depleted from soil. Collagen is good for connective tissue. Ive promoted it for years. Not everyone drinks bone broth, I put it in coffee. Nattokinase is good for cardviovascular health.

Neurovolt, as a pick-me-up in the morning before I start my workday.

I built Neurovolt specifically because I wanted a cognitive and energetic edge without the sympathetic-nervous-system-on-fire feeling. That redlined feeling can be like rocket fuel in the moment, but it taxes your stress budget for the rest of the day. And long term you burnout.

As a father, I don’t always get a perfect sleep score. Nor do I obsesses about the score in the first place. I don’t need a ring to tell me I did t sleep optimal. Some nights I get 5 hours. It’s not ideal, but worrying about lost sleep causes more stress than the lost sleep itself.

On those short nights, I find it significantly easier to get all my work done and be present with my kids when I have a nootropic that improves my focus and stress resilience That’s what I made it for.

This simple framework applies to all forms of chronic stress

1. Build the physical organism Get into the gym and lift heavy weights 3 to 4 days a week. Physical strength expands your nervous system’s capacity for friction. Stop looking for relaxation hacks until your baseline is built. “A stronger human is harder to kill, more resilient to stress and more useful in general”

2. Organize the Stress so its easier to process. If it cannot be organized at all or you are not the person to do it, delegate. If you dont have a choice, learn the skill. If its messy and can be made neat, organize. If you are avoiding it, stop and confront it. Its its truly toxic, then get serious about cutting it out.

3. Stop treating information as the destination Stop obsessing over your Oura ring scores, lab tests, and micro-protocols. Reaching for endless fixes keeps your mind convinced that you are constantly in danger.

4. Always do your best: being an entrepreneur is a roller coaster ride, you are constantly learning and failing, and trying to create solutions. You are leading a team, creating your own path, and figuring all of this out yourself. If you push yourself to the best of your abilities…even if you fail, you will still be ahead of where you started. Acting with this kind of integrity in your actions will give you peace of mind.

I did all I could, and it WORKED. (And transformed you into a more capable and wiser person)

Holding back and knowing you could have done more is what creates stress and regret later.

That being said…

5. Accept what you cannot control The bills, the business problems, the thing keeping you up at 3 AM, some of it cannot be solved tonight. Pretending otherwise just keeps your stress switch buzzing needlessly.

Act daily, move the proverbial needle forward. Dont stop moving.

And finally

6. Dont Try to Do it ALL Yourself. As a new company founder and Father, I haven’t given myself a Plan B. All I have is Plan A, and a backup plan to make Plan A work.

My calendar is on lockdown for the first time since I was a personal trainer, budgeted by the hour.

I did something very counter intuitive to protect the most important habit I have:

I hired a Fitness coach.

More specifically, a bodybuilding coach.

I won’t say who. I handed my programming over them, and I follow it. I don’t ask a thousand questions; I don’t tweak it,

I just run the program, get my training in, and leave.

En Summa

Become Resilient as Possible. Recognize what is important. Ignore what is Not. And protect your foundations.

and Keep your mind sharp with NeuroVolt.

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References

1. McEwen BS. Protective and damaging effects of stress mediators. New England Journal of Medicine. 1998;338(3):171-179.

2. Klaperski S, von Dawans B, Heinrichs M, Fuchs R. Effects of a 12-week endurance training program on the physiological response to psychosocial stress in men: a randomized controlled trial. Journal of Behavioral Medicine. 2014;37(6):1118-1133.

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I made the group so people have an open forum to share their experiences with GLPs and other “peptides”, and we could all learn from each other.

I knew that GLPs were going to take the industry by storm, and I myself experimented with GLPS and dozens of other compounds.

Some are amazing and life changing. Others, their usage is more contextual, or purely experimental, and certainly not mandatory.

Of all the “peptides” on the market, its the GLPs that are having the biggest impact, primarily for weight loss.

That said, after observing the anecdotal reports of literally thousands of people using these, there are some fundamental mistakes that are constantly being made

The BIGGEST mistake people make on GLP-1s isn’t taking the medication.

It’s thinking the medication does all the work.

Now, in MY broscience group, we push everyone to exercise hard, eat protein, and make the habit changes to build muscle and burn fat in the right way.

However, in many other groups Im in (that are GLP support groups for less fitness focused people), MOST people using GLPS are not doing that. And the DATA says as much

-The majority of people using GLPS dont exercise

This is partly where the OZEMPIC FACE Phenomenon is coming from

People are essentially crash dieting, but they cannot FEEL that they are crash dieting.

They are skipping out on protein. They are not eating regularly. They are not prioritizing macros or micros. They are not staying hydrated.

Rather they are aiming for fast weight loss, losing muscle, and then doing this for months on end.

I’ll refrain from posting the various female and male celebrities who have shown dramatic weight loss the past few years and look sickly and skeletal. Its painful to look at.

ALL of this is Avoidable and does not need to happen

If you want to use. GLP to lose fat without sacrificing muscle and dramatically improve your health the RIGHT WAY, this is what matters:

• Eat enough protein-Aim for at least 1 gram per lb of estimated lean mass. This should come primarily in the form of food. Id suggest lean proteins, egg whites, fish, and anything that is palatable and not too fatty. With GLPS youll get full fast, so fatty protein sources like steak tend not to be a good choice.

If this is especially challenging, use protein shakes, protein milk, and liquid forms. DO NOT skip out on the protein


• Lift weights 3–5x/week-Nothing with training changes because youre using a GLP. Follow a program that has you doing moderate volume and working every major muscle group hard each work. The type of program does not matter. I’d suggest a simple Push Pull legs style program

• Don’t skip meals just because you’re not hungry-But the GLP is making me not want to eat!! Yes I know, but youre undereating and crash dieting as a result. Again, protein, simple and complex carbohydrates. Low to moderate fat intake. Whole food sources. You still need macros and micros same as before.

• Prioritize nutrient-dense foods over empty calories-This one in particular is bad; people barely eat with their glp, but then eat JUNK because its “easy to digest” and its the only food thats appetizing

But what do I eat????
THE SAME THINGS YOU SHOULD BE EATING IF YOU WERENT USING A GLP

Protein Sources

-Lean Cuts of beef
-chicken breasts, chicken tenderloins, chicken thighs
-any kind of white fish
-Pork (if you eat pork)
-Eggs

Carb Sources

-rice (any kind of rice)
-oatmeal
-whole grain pastas
-greens (any kind)
-potatoes
-fruit
-vegetables (all kinds are acceptable)

Cooking Oils

-Butter
-Olive Oil
-Avocado Oil
-Coconut Oil

• Stay hydrated and get enough fiber-People are not only undereating, theyre also dehydrated. They are missing out on water intake from food, and drinking less fluid. I would recommend drinking a gallon of water a day if you are over 200lbs, and at least 100 ounces a day if you are less than 200lbs.

A NOTE ON ELECTROLYTES-GLPs such as retatrutide increase excretion of potassium and sodium. You MUST make sure to consume enough of both of these in your daily diet, otherwise your energy levels and physical performance will be crashing

I recommend SPORT DRINK


• Lose weight steadily, not as fast as possible

Yes, everyone is always impressed by massive weight loss. This is the worst approach and its how you lose muscle.

I will share that this past year, I experimented with Retatrutide, Tirzepatide, and Semaglutide, I tried THEM ALL.

Tirz ended up being my personal favorite, (for reasons I will discuss in another post).

Over the course of about 10 months, I slowly brought my bodyweight down from around 205 to 195.

Thats 1lb a month.

Now, this an ultra conservative approach, and for someone with much more weight to lose, Id suggest aiming for 4-8lbs a month, but I share this to make a point.

That 10lbs was essentially 100% fat, I didnt lose any muscle, and it enabled me to get a to leaner bodycomp and set myself up for a “growth phase”

If you have a lot of fat to lose, 1-2lbs a week is a reasonable target. Unless you are very obese, you dont need to aggressively lose more than that monthly.

If you want to lose weight the RIGHT way with GLPS, join the Broscience telegram group. Its free and carefully moderated to be productive and helpful for everyone

Join here.

Many years ago when I was still training clients full time, I had a bodybuilder show up to the gym wanting to talk. He was an enhanced guy, had a great physique, but was having recurrent problems with bicep tendinitis, forearm and arm and shoulder tightness, and wasnt quite sure what to do.

He was quite muscular, and it was a classical case where outwardly looking at him, you’d never guess he was in pain or struggling with training.

But he reported numbness in his arms, the aforementioned bicep pain, and as he described, his mind muscle connection had declined, and it was very concerning to him.

He’d tried talking to his regular doctor, but muscular as he was, the doctor told him him he likely overtraining, and didnt offer much beyond that.

Myself, Ive never been a competitive bodybuilder obviously, but Ive have a talent for movement and was well known for being able to assess biomechanics to a deeper level than most trainers.

He described his symptoms, his training history, and asked me what I thought.

I did not have an immediate answer, and I asked him if I could feel his arms and shoulders and take him through some movement drills

Hands on Assessment, Touch, and palpation is a Real Skill

If I put my hand on your shoulder and ask you to raise your arm to the front, that will feel different to the touch versus you raising your arm out to the side. I can feel what your joint is doing by way of touch.

And that is just one example. Hands on cueing and movement direction is not popular in the coaching world so much, but is used much more in physical therapy.

For legal purposes, always ask peoples permission and be very clear where you are touching them

Its well established in hands on palpation (actively touching a working muscle) actually increases neural drive to the muscle. Touch is powerful.

In his case, I asked him to squeeze his hand into a fist, do some simple resisted bicep curls, and some deltoid raises

While he did this, I simply felt his muscles with my hands, going from the wrist to the shoulder

What I noticed immediately is that his muscle tonicity was extremely high. Meaning his muscles felt hard to the touch. This is not unusual in guys who are using steroids, but his muscle felt hypertonic. They were hard to the point of being stiff.

When he flexed and contracted his muscles, this contraction did not feel “smooth” to the touch, but rather cramped.

To understand what i mean, imagine trying to flex your muscles as hard as you can while walking; you cant do it. They are opposing actions. Muscles contract and relax in cycles. If they are overly contracted, movement becomes increasingly stiff to the point of immobility.

His forearms and biceps and shoulders all had this feeling, as did upper back.

My assessment was not a diagnosis (Im not a doctor), but it ended up being the correct one

I think you may be experiencing Compartment Syndrome

Specifically, Chronic Exertional Compartment Syndrome (CECS)

Compartment syndrome is when excess pressure builds up inside a muscle or group of muscles, with pressure the muscle tissue, nerves, blood vessels and fascia.

As the muscle contracts and expands during repetitive activity, the fascia may not expand enough, temporarily limiting blood flow and irritating the nerves.

Compartment syndrome is somewhat similar to when you have “pump” in the muscle. Normally this temporarily swelling and mild pain is enjoyable, except it doesn’t go away, and it becomes irritating and starts affecting muscle function.

Compartment Syndrome can potentially be life threatening, this is called Acute Compartment Syndrome, but this is typically from a serious injury where blood is pooling up.

That is a very different situation from what this gentlemen was experiencing. His was the chronic kind.

I offered two suggestions to him.

-See local sports orthopedist who I knew was skilled and could confirm (or contradict, maybe it was something else, like thoracic outlet syndrome)

-See a local Chinese Medicine doctor who was well known for massage and using acupuncture.

TCM (traditional chinese medicine) gets argued about in mainstream medical world, but there is some evidence for it working for certain conditions, and as I told him, the intervention he clearly needed was getting the muscles in his arms to RELAX and not be so stiff.

What was the Outcome?

About a month later he dropped in again in high spirits. My observation had been the correct diagnosis, and the TCM doctor had done multiple rounds of deep tissue massage and acupuncture on him and his pain had decreased immensely and his workouts were far better.

In particular, he highlighted how he had never been a guy that gets massages, but now he was a believer in their effects and they’d become a regular part of his recovery.

-the merits of acupuncture we can discuss in another newsletter

Why Can Massage Be So Powerful?

If you ask some clinicians about massage and its effects, they may be pessimistic

-You cant change fascia or muscle with your hands!

-Any effects are temporary

-its placebo+relaxation

-Its impossible for someone to accurately FEEL muscle tension and knots and tissue quality with their hands!! Its PREPOSTEROUS!!

I am sharing this first to frame the skepticism that people have towards massage. Some people are very turned off by the idea of another person touching them, while others are doubtful that massage will do anything at all. This doubt is sometimes shared among some in the medical world as well.

However, massage has a LONG history as being used as Medicine

The Egyptians, Greeks, and Chinese all treated soft tissue restriction with hands. This is depicted in artwork, and described in historical literature.

The power of TOUCH is undeniable.

Touch is one of the oldest regulatory systems humans have. The universe is TACTILE, its atoms interacting with one another on a physical level. Touching another person creates a dynamic interaction between two peoples nervous system. Touch is an ultra powerful phenomena.

The skin is packed with mechanoreceptors that feed directly into the spinal cord and brain. When another person’s hands apply pressure, shear, or sustained contact, those receptors fire in patterns that self-touch and foam rolling cannot fully replicate. The nervous system receives the novel sensory data and responds to it.

Massage treats the nervous system through the skin and muscles

Muscle tonicity drops. Blood flow and oxygenation improve from the improved fluid dynamics within the muscle. The bodily intuitive sense of where the limb is in space can increase. This effect may not be permanent, but it is happening.

The ancients knew this. They observed actions and outcomes. Massage was prescribed for athletes 3000 years ago because it helped them recover from hard training. It was prescribed to help the body improve its vital powers to heal. Nothing has changed.

This is why I am dismissive of Modern skepticism.

If it didnt work, it wouldnt have lasted across civilizations for millennia. Our lack of understanding as to how it works does not negate the outcomes it produces.

Massage can change emotional state

A common phenomenon among masseuses is people experiencing “emotional release” during massage. This can be tears, sobbing, and rush of shame/fear/sadness/regret/trauma and more that is characterized as emotional repression.

Again, this phenomenon is dismissed by some as more a peculiarity than anything substantial, but Im not of the mind to dismiss it.

That the body and mind keep a record or “score” over time is a valid concept. Motor development, mental development, and skill acquisition from the time we are born through adulthood are all predicated on exposure and repetition. Our mindbody is ALWAYS keeping a score and maintaining a dynamic record of inputs, and this memory is dispersed throughout the body itself. It does not exist only in the mind-brain.

Dr. John Sarno’s work on Tension Myositis Syndrome must be mentioned

Sarno argued that unconscious emotional tension, especially repressed anger and the constant drive to perform, this causes the autonomic nervous system to constrict blood flow to specific muscles, nerves, and tendons. The result is mild oxygen deprivation. The tissue stays slightly ischemic. It tightens, and it hurts. The more primitive parts of the brain then treats the pain as a structural problem and keeps the cycle running.

This is how high mental stress people can end up with non specific pain and tightness that has no identifiable origin.

This can also be the people where they want a deep tissue massage to feel like being put underneath a steamroller.

They might get temporary relief, but there bodily tightness is psycho emotional in origin, not physical.

If this resonates with you, I would encourage you to explore Dr. Sarno's work further

The Divided Mind, the Epidemic of Mindbody Disorders

Practical Recommendations

If you've never had massage before, where should you get started? And what types are most beneficial?

The world of massage is Broad, I've had about every kind, from the various styles of Asian massage to medical massage, and niche therapies like muscle activation technique, active release, and electrical stimulation of various types.

I don't have a favorite, but I do have contextual recommendations

-if you are simply looking for a relaxing experience, Swedish massage, and Thai massage are good places to start

The masseuse will always ask you how much pressure you’d like and the overall focus is relaxation.

-if you have specific issues around muscle tightness, muscle condition, and recurrent muscle strain

-for tight muscles or muscles you have trouble recruiting in training, I’d recommend Muscle Activation Technique (MAT). This modality specifically focuses on improving communication between the brain and neuromuscular innervation.

-if you have inhibition due to past injury and scar tissue, I would recommend active release technique (ART)

-if you have more challenging neurological issues where it seems MAT can’t fix it, try ARPwave. This uses electrical stimulation to rebuild motor coordination

Always keep in mind that the mind body journey is never perfectly linear

The body rebuilds itself through experience. You learn by doing, you heal by experiencing.

-This post was brought to you by coffee from the gas station, and NEURVOLT. You you should try

Now lets talk about HOW to squat Better

Ive written a lot about the squat over the years, largely because its been the most challenging exercise for myself.

But in this article, I want to keep it simple

What is the ONE THING Anyone can do to improve their squat pattern?

Heel Elevation

Elevating your heels instantly enables you to squat deeper, stay more upright, put more of the load on your quads and glutes versus low back, and overall is a fantastic tactic that ANYONE can use at ANY level of training.

You dont need to be bodybuilder, powerlifter, olympic lifter. You could be 15 or 75, super experienced at lifting or a novice.

Regardless, elevating your heels will improve your overall squat technique.

WHY?

Becauase by raising the heel, you artificially increases your dorsiflexion range of motion.
Heel elevation creates whats called a negative shin angle, meaning your tibia is angled backward relative to a vertical line over the ankle/foot compared to if you were standing flat foot.

This gives you the gain in dorsiflexion, which means your knee can now travel further forward over your toes before you hit the natural end-range of your ankle mobility.

This increase in forward knee travel yields two big benefits:

1. Squatting with a More Upright Torso: Because the knees can track forward, the hips don’t need to shoot backwards as far to maintain balance. The torso stays more vertical. A more vertical torso means the heavy barbell on your back compresses the spine in more balanced fashion from top to bottom (axial loading) from reducing the sheer force (stress on the low back) that can happen with the torso more bent over.
   
   This is a GOD SEND if you are one of those people with a long femurs and a short torso. No more good morning squat.

2. Maximum Quadricep Recruitment: Hypertrophy is about placing tension on the target muscle. When the torso leans forward and hips go back, the glutes and lower back take the brunt of the load. When the torso stays upright and the knee tracking increases, the mechanical tension and load is now balanced between glutes and quads.

My Professional Recommendation is that this is an Ideal Way to Squat

Whats the BEST Way to Elevate Your Heels?

A weightlifting shoe.

Weightlifting shoes have a non-compressible, elevated heel, typically ranging from 0.5 to 1 inch (roughly 15 to 25 millimeters).

What are good brands??

I have no affiliate code or any ONE company to recommend.

Personally I have Inov8s (which Im not sure are in stock right now). I like them because they have a lot of heel elevation. I use them for Front squats.

I had my personal GPT make this table.

If you dont want to use weight lifting shoes, you can always use a 2x4

-Creatine is in stock with Ferta Supplements

Then the cognitive health benefits started to emerge. This is when the 10 gram daily recommendation became popular. Which to be fair, broscientists and athletes had already been doing for 2 decades, but these things take time to hit mainstream.

Im making a huge bet on the creatine market continuing to expand, because the newer research is going beyond the gym.

The benefits of creatine are extending to reproduction and fertility.

Admittingly the science on this is in its early stages, but the evidence is becoming more and more interesting.

Right now, the strongest data is for female reproductive health and pregnancy, with a smaller but plausible body of evidence and direction for male fertility.

Creatine and Female reproductive health

The simplest way to understand creatine is that is net effect is increasing the production and availability of ATP.

Respective to the reproductive system, the ovaries, uterus, placenta, and developing embryo all have enormous energy demands.

These tissues rely on the creatine-phosphocreatine system as a rapid ATP energy buffer to help maintain normal cellular function.

One 2024 analysis of more than 4,500 women in the NHANES database found that women consuming more dietary creatine had:

• Lower odds of irregular menstrual cycles

• Lower rates of several obstetric complications

• Lower rates of certain pelvic disorders

Now this was purely an observational study. Its association, not causation. But it aligns with nutrient availability playing an obvious role in overall metabolic and hormonal health.

Considering that women by default produce less creatine than men and have more of a natural demand for it, its not a wild conjecture that having a diet higher in creatine would be beneficial.

Creatine and Getting Pregnant (and Delivery)

This is arguably the most exciting area of research.

Across multiple animal studies, maternal creatine supplementation has been shown to:

• Protect the fetal brain during periods of oxygen deprivation

• Reduce birth injury caused by hypoxia

• Improve neonatal survival

• Protect the heart, kidneys, and diaphragm

The mechanism behind this is that creatine functions as an energy reserve during the stress of labor and delivery, helping tissues maintain ATP production when oxygen availability falls. It falls in line with research showing the metabolically healthy, fit women have easier labor and delivery than unhealthy women.

There is also the overall energy demands of pregnancy itself. Being lethargic is a common experience for many women; creatine can potentially alleviate this.

Human clinical trials are understandably limited (giving creatine to women about to give birth is not a simple experiment to run, let alone get approved), but the overall body of evidence is that creatine is a Prenatal supplement to consider taking.

Creatine and Male fertility

To preface: Sperm are among the most energy-demanding cells in the human body.

Sperm are packed with mitochondria to power their swimming, and that swimming requires ATP.

That ATP powers:

• Motility

• Capacitation

• The acrosome reaction

• Fertilization itself

Much like the female system, creatine kinase enzymes are also highly abundant in sperm, suggesting that creatine is deeply involved in sperm energy metabolism.

Human clinical evaluations show that normal, fertile males tend to have higher creatine levels in their spermatozoa compared to infertile males.

Conversely, elevated CK activity in seminal plasma often correlates with poor sperm morphology and biochemically immature sperm. For men who are infertile or “low fertilitity”, something is going wrong with the sperms energy metabolism.

Creatine can help with IVF: The addition of exogenous creatine to insemination media has been shown to enhance sperm capacitation, velocity, and overall fertilizing capacity during in vitro fertilization (IVF), even sustaining motility under hypoxic conditions.

Furthermore, dietary administration of creatine precursors in animal has resulted in improved semen concentration, total sperm count, and forward motility.

What does this mean for Men? Supplementing with creatine is probably good for your swimmers.

This is why I think Creatine is going to become known as Fertility Supplement.

The creatine-phosphocreatine system helps maintain ATP availability during periods of exceptionally high energy demand. And that is what reproduction is for both sexes.

Sperm have high energy demand. Eggs have high energy demand. Pregnancy has high energy demand.

Its well established that mitochondrial function players a major role in fertility. Younger people have MORE mitochondria than older people, and can make more ATP.

Anything that improves the ability to rapidly regenerate ATP has a biologically plausible role in supporting reproductive function.

What supplements can help our mitochondria with ATP? Creatine is the obvious choice, and its already well established in its effects in the muscular skeletal system.

My Recommendation

I recommend creatine already for the muscle and brain benefits. And Im recommending it again for the potential Reproductive health benefits.

Ferta Creatine is in stock.

-Obviously its branded for women with the packaging. Its 100% microionized creatine monohydrate. Your wife can take it. You can take it as well if you want (speaking to the men). (Larger blue container will be coming soon in Q4, for Him and Her).

Ive been thinking ahead to the future lately. Im 37 right now. In only 3 years I will be 40. And then the big milestone will be 50. And then 60.

By 2050 I will 61 years old.

Ive no doubt the time will pass quickly, and I wonder what advances in longevity medicine and health enhancement will be established by then.

I obviously experiment with lots of things, and Im trying to be proactive as possible. I dont believe that humans will ever become immortal, but increasing health span and overall robustness as we age is without a doubt possible.

Within the next 25 years, I foresee the medical paradigm shifting from its current reactive, pathogenic model of disease management, to one of continuous health optimization.

We wont define health as the absence of disease, but the presence of functional robustness. Healthspan as its often called.

My earnest hope is that it will be possible to be 70-80 to even 90, and have a level of function comparable to a 40-50 year old.

How will that be achieved?

My 7 Predictions

1. Optimizing Via Genetics

In the future, you will personalize their health enhancement based on their DNA.

This is already possible with genomic sequencing, and tests such as Fitness Genes. Use code AJAC20 for a discount

But this is not currently widely practiced or known, even though the testing is there.

However as understanding of genomics increases, I predict daily nutrition and supplementation being tailored to individual genetic expression.

Things like optimizing for methylation cycles, or bypassing predispositions for inflammation, or even changing training volume, everything will be customized and you’ll be able to use the knowledge to run at peak function.

Provided you are willing to put in the work of course.

2. Organ Preservation

This is where the bioregulators come into the play. If we can keep our heart and other organs functioning in a youthful state, lifespan and quality of life should correspondingly increase.

I believe heart disease and organ failure will be drastically reduced through theis preemptive maintenance. Im bullish on Lipid-lowering therapies, such as PCSK9 inhibitors, in preventing heart disease. Concurrently, targeted bioregulators will become standard practice to maintain the function of aging organs, preserving the output of glands like the thymus, pineal gland, and thyroid to keep systemic immunity and circadian rhythms youthful. Well have a clear hierarchy of organs to target as we age to maintain vitality

3. Hormone Replacement Therapy

I expect Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) will lost all the remaining stigmas around it and become the baseline standard of care for aging adults. Rather than accepting the inevitable physiological decline associated with falling testosterone, estrogen, and growth hormone levels, by 2050 we will be living in a time of broad optimization. Both menopause and andropause will be things of the past (for health minded people that can afford it). Older people will be able to maintain bone density, preserve lean muscle mass, and protect neurosteroid balance well into the later decades of life. You will feel younger, look younger, and perform younger

4. On-Demand Tissue Healing and Pain Reduction.

In the broscience world, its already widely practiced to use the “Wolverine stack” (BPC-157 and TB-500), along with Growth hormone, to accelerate tissue regeneration after injury. In another 25 years, that will become standardized (along with other peptides, and things like stem cells), and we will have the ability to recover from injuries in significantly less time. The era of being injured and then being in chronic pain and permanently deficient will be gone.

5. Amplified Adaptation to Tension

The exercise mimetics breathrough is coming. While exercise will be remain essential, mechanical, we will have the ability to amplify our bodies response to exercise, especially cardiovascular training (and testosterone already amplifies the response ot resistance training). Exercise mimetic compounds that trigger pathways like AMPK will accelerate the metabolic adaptations. We will essentially be giving ourselves elite cardio epigenetics. Running a 6 minute mile will be possible for almost anyone.

This will allow aging populations to maintain elite levels of cardiovascular fitness and metabolic insulin sensitivity with significantly less joint wear and tear as they age. It also will also lead to higher levels of performance in sports.

6. Mitochondrial Bioenergetics

Alongside the exercise mimetics we have the mitochondria. By 2050, we will have multiple therapies that can be combined with exercise to maximize ATP production and improve cellular respiration. Keeping our mitochondria younger, creating new mitochondria, and eliminating old ones (senescence), there will be protocols and strategies for all of this.

7. Cognitive Optimization

Youre only as old as your Brain function. Along with preserving the body, we can preserve the brain and improve it. Ironically, I dont think exercise will be replaced ever in this regard. There is nothing more powerful for elevating brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), enhancing synaptic plasticity, and driving neurogenesis. What will exists this will be expanded brain supporting peptides like Semax and Selank, better understanding nootropics, and more focus on brain energy metabolism supplementation and protecting the brain from stress and inflammation.

-This is what NEUROVOLT was designed for.

Ultimately, 2050 will be the end “normal aging.”

If you are affluent enough and motivated enough, your 2nd half of life will be markedly different than all prior generations, and living to 100 with health span will be possible.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments

I started calling myself a Broscientist years ago when I saw the “Science and Evidence” crowd turn obnoxious.

“Wheres your STUDY??” became their constant refrain.

The study says this

The study says that

I didnt think any of these people were scientific thinkers. They simply wanted to be dogmatic know it alls, in a field where the body of historical evidence and observing natural phenomenon has existed for thousands of years, and in a domain where the human body is complex dynamic system.

Exercise science has an epistemological problem

I think part of this is the fault of academia, and the illusion that “exercise scientists” are intellectually rigorous. Exercise science is considered a joke field to go into (so has fitness for a long time). Im a personal trainer, so its the pot calling the kettle black right now.

What are the issues though with exercise science, and whole “science and evidence based crowd?

In no particular order.

1. The Ergodicity Problem (The N=1 Dilemma)

Big words I know, but its the only word that suits what Im trying to describe.

In statistics, a system is “ergodic” if the average behavior of a group perfectly predicts the behavior of a single individual over time.

It might take time, but it will eventually happen.

However, human biology is non-ergodic. The behavior or adaptation of ONE individual does not predict the others. In fact the behavior of the group varies considerably, and the more people you add into the group, the more different behaviors/adaptation outcomes you get.

If you get enough people together, some trends DO emerge, no question there. But its still a way range, and its not a perfect standard distribution either.

Attempts to find “optimal” then are innately doomed to fail. At best you can elucidate principles, but making declarations over things like sets and reps is plainly stupid.

2. The Epistemological Wall of Blinding

And on that note, the obession with STUDIES.

Fitness studies are TERRIBLE by study standards.

Why?

Some context: in pharmacology, the gold standard is a double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled trial.

In these studies, the patient doesn’t know if they got the drug or the sugar pill, and the researcher handing it to them doesn’t know either.

No bias.

In Exercise science, this is fundamentally impossible.

EVERY study is “biased”.

You cannot blind a human to the fact that they are doing a heavy set of squats to failure. Or high reps. Or 5 sets instead of 1. Or slow reps versus fast. Or training legs once a week versus 2x. etc etc etc

They always know what the intervention is. And you also cannot blind the researcher or the coach administering the protocol.

Because both parties are aware of who is in the experimental group and who is in the control group, this psychological variable of belief instantly contaminates the data.

If the experimental group believes they are doing a novel, cutting-edge protocol, their sympathetic arousal is higher, their intent is sharper, and their motor unit recruitment increases.

If the experimental group BELIEVES they are on steroids, they will respond MORE to training and get correspondingly higher strength increases.
The psychological vector is impossible to ignore and remove

3. And there is no Control Group, because how could there be?

Who exactly constitutes a “control group” in an exercise study?

• The “Dont train at all” Control: If the control group is sedentary, the study merely proves that moving your body produces more adaptation than sitting on a couch. This is biologically obvious and practically useless. Yes, exercise works, no shit really?

• The “Standard Care” Control: If the control group does a so called generic 3x10 routine while the experimental group does a complex undulating periodization model, the control subjects inevitably realize they are in the “boring” group. They are doing 3x10. They can count.
  
  This triggers a nocebo effect, a drop in enthusiasm and central drive, which could artificially depress their results and makes the experimental protocol look superior.

  
  And going further

4. There is Biological Flux (The Heraclitus Principle)

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”

You never wake up in the same body twice. Think about that. Every exercise/fitness experience youve ever done has left some neurological/genomic/epigenetic memory in some form. Even if its only a metal memory.

But a true scientific experiment by conventional thinking requires controlling the independent variables to test a dependent variable.

But then in a human, the variables are constantly shifting:

• prior training experiene

• prior BELIEFS about training

• past and current mindset

• plus things like

• Circadian rhythm fluctuations

• Systemic inflammation and prior central nervous system (CNS) fatigue

• hydration and glycogen levels

• Psychological allostatic load (stress)

This is the reality of being human, there are no baseline starting conditions to ever be replicated. As such you CANNOT ever double blind yourself, or run two experiments and compare results with neutrality. The former will influence the latter. Your training is ALWAYS biased, your body is always biased. You never wake up in the same body twice.

But what about if you’ve NEVER trained?

5. Now we have the “Novice” Noise Effect

A massive portion of exercise science literature is conducted on untrained or moderately trained college-aged males (because they are the easiest subjects for university researchers to recruit).

Thats fine, but in untrained populations, the signal-to-noise ratio is completely skewed.

Because the stimulus is novel, and humans are adaptive organisms (an organism by definition is an adaptive system) we find out that everything works.

So how do you extract the efficacy of a specific variable (like rest periods or volume load) when the subject’s body is adapting simply because they picked up a weight?

To find a strong signal/protocol, you’d need some kind of training system run thousands of times across many many novices, and then compare it, rougly, with other systems, and then you might find a protocol worth following.

-To date, the best protocol thats been innovated on is simple 3x5 or 5x5 barbell training. The Starting Strength novice program is probably the most proven in the world.

5. The Personality and Belief Variable

You also cannot separate the psychological from the psychological. If someone believes a new high-intensity protocol is the “secret” to growth, or a high volume protocol, they will psychologically arouse their sympathetic nervous system more effectively. They are more engaged with training. They probably even stimulate a greater GROWTH response.

This heightened and excited state drives stronger neural drive, higher motor unit recruitment, and ultimately, better results. The belief literally changes the biochemical output and adaptations.

This is why I say that PERSONALITY is the overlooked dynamic in training results. We can assess skeletons and muscles, but what do you ENJOY. Enjoyment is probably anabolic.

En Summa: Science is a Compass, its not a Map

If we accept that true, blinded exercise science is impossible on the individual level, what are we left with?

We have heuristics. AKA principles,

• Progressive overload/stress exposure is required for continual adaptation.

• The body follows Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands (SAID principle).

• For strength and muscle gains, we need some mechanical tension (aka lifting weights)

Beyond that, the actual application, like manipulating volume, frequency, intensity, understanding biomechanics, its not science by itself

Its the engineering of the human body, and the art of application, and the science of biology, and all of that together leads to experience and outcomes.

And the beauty of this, despite the complexity, is that the practice of training CAN be simple in practice. Its self discovery and creation of self knowledge that never ends.

The past 2 years have been ALL about peptides on Health X and the overall fitness industry.

People have taken issue with this (like not neglecting the “basics”), but the reality is GLPS are life changing were on the edge of massive breakthroughs in health enhancement.

Ive led the charge on this, and the past year Ive experimented with dozens of compounds. GLPs of course, but also many small molecules, and bioregulators.

Its been very 80/20 to say the least.

80% effects are questionable, arent needed and are simply something to spend $$ on.

20% works great, hugely impactful.

The GLPS without question are number 1.

behind that would be growth hormone (but you need a prescription for it from a super cool doctor)

And behind that...the bioregulators. SOME of them. Not all, but some.

Specifically Pinealon and Epitalon.

Whats the big deal with these?

After obesity, fucked up sleep is the most common health issue for people

I dont think I need to write a thesis on why sleep is important.

People sleep bad in myriad ways. Too much caffeine, never seeing the sun, blasting their eyes with their phone at midnight. So on and so forth.

The TAM of Sleep is the entire human race.

What peptides exist to help this?

Enter Epitalon, and Pinealon

To be clear, these are not sedative compounds the way most people think of sleep supplements.

Their development in Russia was never to “make you sleepy”.

They were developed by Professor Khavinson under the auspices of improving brain function; specifically resistance to stress and decreasing inflammation/oxidation.

It emerged in the human research that the research subjects reported sleeping better. This was not a specific goal.

What exactly are they doing then?

We will go in alphabetical order.

Epitalon gets your pineal gland to make melatonin, in the EVENING, when its supposed to be made.

When people are chronically stressed and produce cortisol around the clock, they often wont produce melatonin in the 2nd half of the day.

If you are one of those people who is more tired in the morning and gets more awake in the evening, this might be your issue.

Epitalon targets the pineal gland and upregulates AANAT, the rate-limiting enzyme for melatonin synthesis, and pCREB, a transcription factor essential for circadian gene signaling.

It in essence signals the pinealon gland to resume evening timed melatonin production.

Not everyone benefits from Epitalon, but a single course is a worthy experiment to run. Khavinson recommended it TWICE a year. Not something you take daily and for forever

Typical protocols run 3–6 mg daily for 20-30 days, dosed usually in the evening, with 6 months off before reassessment.

Elite research carries it in stock and the capsules are enteric coated to ensure they get absorbed.

The other one is Pinealon

This is one people tend to notice more (although they both synergize together).

Pinealon is more of an “anti stress” bioregular/peptide. It was intended to be neuroprotective, with the effect of reducing oxidation/inflammation in the brain itself.

It also has the effect of improving serotonin production (itself a precursor to melatonin)

This is the one that people tend to report more cognitive benefits from

The typical protocols run 1–3 mg daily for 20–30 days, dosed usually in the morning, with 3 months off before reassessment.

They ALSO Work Well Together

Epitalon restores circadian timing in the pineal gland itself. Pinealon fortifies the neural environment and flow between the pineal gland and the brain.

Considering they only need to be used 1-2 times a year, they are an experiment worth running

Elite Research carries both of them. They are blended with sodium and enteric coated to ensure digestion.

Order Pinealon+
Order Epitalon+

Pseudo functional trainers love to dunk on it.

Regular gym goers love to throw on weight and do half reps and believe it’s a show of serious strength

Leg presses are not all made equally well. Depending on the design and setup, some models work better than others

Used correctly it’s a fantastic weigh to develop the quads and glutes and spare the spine.

Used incorrectly it’s a lumbar crunch and ego lift.

Let's learn how to do it right

1. Pelvic Positioning

https://youtu.be/4PYXEYqgCqk?is=klT9d-nXNP19WpUg

I want to watch this video

When you like press, you need to maintain a neutral spine in pelvic position, your pelvis should not tuck under you. The posterior pelvic tilt puts a ton of pressure on the lumbar spine. It's the reason why many people strain their lower back leg pressing.

1. Knee Bend

An “ass to grass” leg press is not the goal. If your knees are coming up to your chest, but your butt is rounding underneath you, you're going to injure yourself.

The target Is 90 degrees of bend at the knee. Maybe slightly more. And thats it.

Some people have the BONE STRUCTURE to “go deep” on a leg press and not lose their pelvic position. If this is you, you will figure it out within your first few training sessions. It’s not something you can force your body to do.

1. Keep your spine straight

Don't tuck the chin. Dont round the upper back. Maintain a neutral spine

It should look like this

https://youtube.com/shorts/S4c9EYGYDA8?is=mgpgp1Jwsv4vOvSO

1. Feet high? Feet low? It depends

The forward flexion you get in your knees, the more your quads will be recruited. If you leg press with less knee bend and more vertical shin, it will be more of your glutes taking on the load.

https://youtube.com/shorts/nRrlAneS8ic?is=KlOw5fuc_6Rrhqrs

Most people have a “sweet spot” position that enables proper depth, and is in the middle of the two. You can alternate the foot position if you want, or stick with the middle position that works both muscles.

1. Different leg presses suit different bodies

A conventional 45 Degree leg press doesn’t work for some people. The torso angle inhibits knee bend and hip flexion. I am one of these people.

For more, horizontal leg press works far better.

here is my favorite model

https://youtu.be/L5ZQH5Ppjq8?is=_b5DbZpcOPuP30oC

Another version I like is an upright leg press. It's not as angled as a 45, and allows for better ROM

https://youtu.be/BqtKBC68GJw?is=PQi5KR1SenT4FLUP

Major point here; experiment and find the machine that works best for you. If you can find a good groove with one machine, try another.

6. Tempo

Slow the reps, feel the burn. Control the eccentric, press hard on the concentric. Keep your reps honest. Take your working sets to failure, or at least your last set

1. Reps, high reps

I don't see the point of Doing less than 10 reps for working sets. The entire point of leg press is that you can overload your legs and not have to worry about your back. There’s no better exercise for high rep sets.

I will also add, the regardless of what arguments the “sCiEnCe” based lifting crowd likes to make, higher reps lead to more leg growth.

my favorite set and rep protocol is 30 Reps on your first set, and then keep doing sets with only 1-2 minutes inbetween, and keep going until you can barely do 10 reps. Maybe it’s 5 sets, maybe it’s 7, maybe it’s 4. Do it and watch your legs grow

This post was brought to you by this mornings NeuroVolt, Dad energy, and waiting till my kids fell asleep.

They didnt aspire to live to be FIT, rather they wanted to be fit to LIVE. Their goals were having good bloodwork, losing bodyfat, being relatively lean, and feeling strong and confident with their body. Health was a platform for the other areas of their life

Side note-At any given time, this is the majority of the market for the health and fitness industry. I always remind fitness professionals of this. The “hardcore” market of people is a much much smaller market.

The challenges to becoming health are numerous, and often center on the struggles of the individual; forming good habits, mindset, time management, hunger (although GLPs alleviate this)

One significant obstacle that is often overlooked is the resistance of Others

Said simple, the biggest obstacle to becoming healthy will often be those closest to you.

This tends to catch people off guard, and is painful to experience. Its an uncomfortable realization; the people that you believed cared about you and had your interest at heart are upset that you are trying to be healthy.

We have silent contracts with all of our loved ones

They know you as someone that does not exercise. They know you as someone that does not prioritize health. They know you as someone that likes to drink, or likes to eat, or the fat friend.

Or the fat spouse.

And now you are changing that, and its disruptive to their understanding of your identity. You are violating their ideas and expectations about you. And they are mad at your for it. They are not encouraging. They are upset

How Do You Handle This?

If you have 100% supportive friends and family, you are very blessed and should be appreciative.

If you do not, you need to be prepared. These are my lessons for you

1. Be vigilant for resistance

The day you make the decision to become a better version of yourself and assert agency is a great day. But do not expect automatic support from your entire social circle. As you begin to make changes and demonstrate new habits, you will find that not everyone supports this. Cynical comments, snark, confusion, questioning can come in unexpected way. Some people may be more resistant to your efforts than others. You cannot anticipate where this will all come from, but simply recognizing it is half the battle to dealing with it.

2. Do not compromise yourself

In the midst of holding yourself accountable to your new actions and habits, you will have people trying to get you stop, slow down, do less, be less obvious about it, do not give into any of this.

You must hold your ground. The new version of your life that you are creating is not going to be found in negotiating with people who want you to stay the same.

3. Remove yourself from pathogenic relationships and environments

This is understandably challenging, but it must be done. You are never going to win a war against a diseased environment. You are never going to transform friends and family who want you to be fat and unhappy and resent you for breaking out of the cycle. You become a mirror to all their insecurities and failures and they will resent you for it.

Likewise, if your job and work life are a major drag on your health, you MUST change that. Whether it takes a month or a year, you cannot allow that diseased status quo to persist unchecked.

4. Put people in their place

You will need to have uncomfortable conversations. There will be tension. There might be insults or arguments. Again, no compromising, hold your ground. If you can change the terms of a relationship and someone is accepting, fantastic. If not, then minimize interaction, or remove them from your life. Not everyone you know is going to be good for you

5. Health comes from Coherence

Coherence means alignment between your mindset, your actions, your relationships, your environment. Its another way of saying “holistic” but is more defined by logical consistency between all the different parts. People who are healthy “by default” have coherence between all areas of their life. Their inner world and outer world are in a virtuous cycle.

En Summa

Do not let anyone stop you.

Keep your mind sharp with Neurovolt.

This post was brought to you by Dunkin Donuts Iced Coffee, and a double serving of Neurovolt this morning.

During this saga of life with building Athanor, I find myself returning to fitness subjects for a comforting familiarity. Recently I changed my training schedule recently to a bodypart split recently and Ive been enjoying it immensely. It made me consider my perspective on lower body training after the most recent leg day.

What you will learn today

• The dumb trend I fell for when I started personal training (and what you shouldnt fall for either)

• Why I consider free weight squats to still be essential, but…

• Why the leg press is probably the real size builder

• The power of the leg press for longevity

On the subject of leg training

When I got started a personal trainer in 2010, there were two dominating trends

-Powerlifting, which encouraged everyone to squat bench press and deadlift, and these lifts were all anyone really needed to be fit strong healthy muscular

-Functional training, which discouraged machine usage, isolation training, and emphasized “stabilizing” exercises, balance movements, single limb training, and what I later came to dub “trainer trick exercises” which look cool but serve no real purpose other than wasting peoples time.

Being a novice personal trainer, I fell into the powerlifting camp. I didnt use machines, I did not have my clients use machines, and I was critical of machine based training of any kind.

I trained my clients exclusively with free weights, the barbell, and bodyweight movements.

This was not bad, dont get me wrong, but the my exclusion of an entire set of tools left me with limited options at times.

My stubbornness also led to poor training decisions with my own workouts. Ive said many times, Ive got terrible structure for powerlifting with with long arms, long femurs, shallow rib cage, a short torso, and congenital Spondylolisthesis.

Over time and way of experience, I became far more open minded and dropped the dogmatism about exercises.

Everything is simply a TOOL. You can use it, not use it, and all tools have their place, some are more powerful than others, with broader use. Others more specific.

Arguing over exercises are arguments between weak egos.

In particular, the Leg Press

When you squat, the limiting factor in the weight you can use is typically NOT the legs, but the TORSO.

Its your low back, your spine, your shoulders, maybe your arms. Its not the pelvis and thigh muscles.

This is intuitive for anyone who has ever lifted. You can get on a leg press and move FAR more weight than you can on a free weight squat. The leg press is only loading the hips.

At the same time you have this increase in intensity and loading on the legs, there is also the removal of stress and fatigue from the spine/torso.

This allows you to go HARD on your legs, arguably harder than you could squatting. But with no risk of spinal fatigue and injury.

You can safely do high rep sets. You can do drop sets. You can experiment with tempo. You can go to failure. You can pyramid up or down in weight.

And all without the risk and fatigue limitation that comes with free weight squats.

This is all to say that the leg press is a fantastic tool for building size and strength in quads and glutes.

Especially as you AGE-Applying intensity requires intelligence. I want you to do things that challenge the energy capacity of your legs and stimulate the maximum amount of muscle fiber. The leg press allows you to do this.

To be clear, the leg press is NOT a substitute for squatting.

Its a common refrain in the health and fitness world that you need to do SQUATS.

And this is correct.

The ability to have your knees and hips bend together from a standing position is a fundamental human movement. This trains the quadriceps and glutes. Humans are a bipedal organism. There are no disadvantages to having strong legs. Only advantages.

Squats can be done many different ways

The past few years in particular, pendulum squats have become popular. But having used them and compared them, Ive still come to favor some kind of free weight squat that you have to stabilize your torso.

The old school adage of “free weights build more strength” I partially agree with. The ability to internally stabilize and control your bodyweight in space under load MUST be trained directly. The core stability and overall recruitment of muscle cannot be matched.

What kind of free weight squats?

That can be a back squat,

A front squat

A goblet squat

or a bulgarian split squat.

you also have unloaded bodyweight squats, and Hindu squats as well.

and if your spine for whatever reason cannot tolerate any kind of heavy loading on the torso, then use a belt squat.

Stabilized squats are great too

Smith machines, pendulums, and hack squats remove the need for stabilizing and allow you to often use heavier weight and be more targeted with where you emphasize muscle tension.

That said

Free weight squats and leg press should have equal priority in your training

With free weights you can focus on perfect technique, not take sets to failure, and stick with your 5-10 rep range.

With the leg press following, you can go higher rep, go for a pump, and thrash your legs as hard as you want. I would not do less than 10 reps in a set. Its a leg press. I would say do 10-30 reps for your working sets.

A workout I am enjoying right now

Front squats, 5 sets of 8-10 reps

Leg press, 5 sets of 10-30 reps.

Leg curls, seated or stability ball. 4 sets of 10-20 reps

Leg extension, 4 sets of 10-20 reps

Dumbbell romanian deadlift, 4-5 sets of 8-12 reps

Thanks for reading friends, until next time

-This post is brought to you by neurovolt that I took this morning

Brian looks amazing. I said as much. He went from 30% bodyfat to looking like a superhero. His before and after was the result of getting SERIOUS and remaking his whole identity.
Great guy and ive enjoyed following him. I believe he works with clients as well

But but but did he use anabolics?

Sure did, he was and is quite open about it.

But testosterone doesnt lift the weight or follow the diet for you.

This kind of change doesnt happen without being absolutely DIALED IN with training, nutrition, discipline on all levels.

I already know the grumbling is starting

I think this kind of transformation is INSPIRING.

Not everyone shared my opinion though.

The comments were a mix of respect and admiration, and spiteful resentment and browbeating.

Because he’d used anabolics, aka steroids, aka your-hard work-and-total transformation of your physique is meaningless, get-fucked-Im-a-better-more-moral-person-than-you

Brian had a sense of humor about it, and as mentioned he himself is 100% open about his anabolics usage.

I was probably more upset about it than he was, and recorded a RANT in my car on the bullshit moralizing around anabolics/PEDS/TRT

Ive seen similar arguments now about people losing weight GLPS.

You Dont DESERVE to feel good or be recognized for what you did for yourself, because you didnt suffer enough for it.

For essentially all of human history, we’ve regarded greed, gluttony, and sloth as moral failures, and categorized them as sins.

Consequently, the fitness industry (and society at large) for man years considered obesity to be character defect, and a willpower failure.

This was judgmental without question, and let us say the judgements were correct, but being judgmental has had a very poor track record of fixing peoples behavior at scale.

Working on “mindset” and the infinite multitude of fat loss gurus and fitness pros failed to stop the rise of obesity. So did religion for that matter. Whether you gave your life to Christ and were saved or believed in Allah and Muhammed as his prophet…

People were are are still fat. Calling things a sin doesn’t sufficiently stop people. Especially not with consumption.

And as obesity was studied as a medical disease, we learned that was an extremely challenging situation to fix. Yes, it required a calorie deficit and exercise, but breaking the psychosomatic, neuroendocrine, hormonal cascade and all its loops that reinforced counter-health behavior was a seemingly intractable problem at scale.

Then GLPS came along. They reduced the hunger drive, drove down the mental fixations, and allowed people FINALLY, for the first time in history, to change their behavior in the more “moral” direction.

Obesity rate is going down finally as a result.

That is the power of technology.

Technology exists to improve the human condition and lower the cost of an outcome. Technology is the application of knowledge to achieve a goal, in a way that can be replicated.

A GLP is a technology in the same sense that an antibiotic is. Or insulin.

Or testosterone for that matter.

Someone identified a mechanism, isolated the signaling involved, and produced a molecule that does a job the body is supposed to do or unable to do.

Now the objection is that the weight came off the wrong way.

Or the muscle was gained in the wrong way.

We can use medicine and technology everywhere else in our life to relieve stress and achieve our goals faster, BUT fat loss and muscle gain MUST be done “naturally” to be respected.

The “RIGHT” Way is you Fail repeatedly over and over again and are in poor health until you figure it out “naturally”

The RIGHT Way is you can only make gains naturally and slowly, and if youre not genetically blessed, haha fucking get over it. Too BAD you skinny fuck.

I find this patently absurd. Every year of your life spent obese is a tragedy and no one gains anything from it.

Nor is spending life weak and struggling against the genetic hand you’ve been dealt. Life is not fair. We accept that.

But why cant we improve the odds for ourself?

Everywhere else in Life, you are considered SMART for Getting results with efficiency and figuring out a better way.

You can hire a coach to learn a skill and hire a CPA to save taxes and hire experts to get the job done right

but with the BODY, now its a problem.

That brings me back to the anabolics conundrum

Ive always been open that Im a natural lifter. I dont use testosterone. Not out of any sense of moral superiority, but because I genuinely dont have the desire for it. I started lifting in HS for female attention. It worked. My test levels are good, my quality of life high, Im happy with how I look. Training is a part of my identity. I dont have good genetics for size or strength, but I also have reasonably decent “hormonal” profile naturally, thank you Mom and Dad.

That said, I recognize that for many men, they are suffering, their life is not what it could be, and their suboptimal hormonal state is behind it.

Testosterone replacement therapy is about far more than muscle. Restoring androgen levels improves bone mineral density, insulin sensitivity, visceral fat, sexual function, and makes men feel alive again.

You gain nothing by being in a Low T, low energy state. You only lose.

TRT is a godsend for guys everywhere.

There are also men who simply want to be BIG and Muscular and Strong.

Thats great. We can psychoanalyze this to death if want about the edge cases and the guys with “bigorexia”, but wanting to be strong with muscles is as natural a masculine a desire that a man can have.

So men uses steroids (testosterone) to achieve this.

There are also men who want to be OPTIMIZED and desire a heightened state of performance and well being. Maybe they dont absolutely need TRT, but they want the enhancement.

If using anabolics improves your life, use them.

If you dont care about for them, then dont. You have free will.

My desire is simply, I want people to be happy and healthy.

Be responsible in whatever form of enhancement you use. And track your biomarkers accordingly.

If you are a man or woman interested in hormone replacement therapy, TRT, and want the most qualified medical guidance and supervision, contact Velocity Health.

Before we begin

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In light of a recent post I made on how people neglect rehabilitation, my friend Chris Masterjohn made an insightful commentary and observation

“Rehab” for life. -By (go follow him and subscribe)

And fix your training program.

If the injury was substantial enough to permanently remodel tissue (stretching ligaments or tearing something that needs to be reattached) the need to rehab is quasi-permanent.

But “rehabbing” is often just doing exercises you should do anyway with greater and more intentional focus.

For example my left shoulder dislocated four times and had one operation when I was in my teens and early 20s.

If it ever hurts it’s because I wasn’t doing enough to strengthen it’s ability to bear load in various positions and directions while being kept flush to my body.

Every few years I’ve developed pain in my shoulder that occurs during irregular protraction and it disappears after a few days or a week or two of banded protraction exercises.

Recently I was doing some exercises that were very heavy on external rotation and lateral pulling without proportional counterbalancing of internal rotation and lateral squeezing, and it destabilized my shoulder allowing me to feel pain in a wide variety of positions.

I experimented with exercises and the simplest way to correct it was to do cable or banded internal rotation.

None of these problems ever happen to my right shoulder.

They only happen to my left shoulder, which is not held in place effectively by my stretched ligaments, requiring more work of my muscles to coordinate it, especially in keeping it close to my body.

This also manifests as a defective frontal lat display, even when I have zero pain.

Pictures had made me think my left lat is smaller than my right. But I disproved this taking a picture of my lat spread from the back with a measuring tape. In fact it is just that my protraction on my left side is not strong enough to compensate for my stretched ligaments which manifests as a weaker frontal lat display.

The work I need to do to rehab, though, is a result of an imbalanced program.

Protraction should be abundant. An easy way to get it in is to do gymnastic pushups instead of regular pushups.

If you do the full range of things you should be able to do with your shoulder, you will get plenty of work of the internal rotators that keep it flush to the body. That means having them not just push weight in front of you or on top of you but also be moving loads where the resistance is outside your body and moving into or across it.

If you introduce an exercise that moves your body in one way you should counterbalance it with an exercise that moves it the opposite way, unless you are introducing a temporary and strategic asymmetry.

So, on the one hand, your need to rehab could be forever.

On the other hand, rehabbing it is just compensating for the deficiencies of your program.

In fact, you probably got injured because of the deficiencies of your training in the first place.

For example, I had biases in my falling that made me spiral forward from left to right, plunging my left shoulder into the ground.

I should have trained how to fall, and I should have found and corrected that asymmetry.

I do both now, but I can still subtly feel that same asymmetry:

When I was 14 it made me spiral forward across my body to the right, plunging my left shoulder into the ground.

Now what I feel is that when I do forward and backward rolls, the backward roll over my left shoulder, which takes my right side backwards across my body, feels hard to coordinate compared to the other three rolls.

The asymmetry formerly forced me forward to the right. Now it subtly restrains me from gracefully rolling backward to the left.

I was injured in the first place because I didn’t find and train out my asymmetries.

The injuries have created a lifelong vulnerability of shoulder pain in response to far less glaring deficiencies in my training program.

But if I train right, I have no pain. And I don’t need to rehab because proper training is always rehabbing everything.

Damn, well Said

Chris, knowingly or unknowingly, lays out a number of physiological lessons and training principles that are rarely talked about.

1. Injury can creates permanent structural change

When we talk about making a 100% recovery from injury, that “100%” is usually defined in the context of performance and being pain free. The tissue and joints though are NEVER going to be exactly the same as they were post injury. They’ve had to rebuild themselves. Hopefully this rebuild got you back to moving how you want, but that healing process is now part of physiological record and changes can still be present. In many cases if the ligaments are stretched, scar tissue is present, and/or tissue is remodeled, the joint loses some of its passive stability. This means the muscles must permanently work harder to keep the joint stable and flush. This means you MUST always keep those muscles stronger and train them directly. This could apply to the your knee, your hips, your spine, your glutes, your shoulders, etc. You cannot neglect this life long strength practice.

2. “Rehab” is usually just proper training done with more intention

Bodybuilding often gets called dumb. Yet its one of the most intelligent ways to train; build muscle and strength through training your body through its natural ranges of motion. Most of what gets labeled as rehab is simply exercises you should already be doing; training your shoulder girdle, training your glutes, having a strong back, having strong quads, etc. The difference is you train with greater focus, volume, or specificity because the joint is now less forgiving.

3. Training must be permanently “imbalanced”

The idea of training “balanced” sounds nice, but it has no real defintion. And in the case of rehab and staying painfree, you will likely ALWAYS need to do that extra strengthening work. Your training is going to “imbalanced” on purpose to make sure that old injury never regresses into a weakness. That might mean lifelong focus on overhead stability and the rotator cuff, or the glutes, or ankles and achilles and calves, etc.

4. Post Injury, training lines of movement and opposing movements become essential

One of the peculiarities of injury is that you if dont train a line of movement, you not only lose strength in that line of movement, but theres a negative effect on overall joint function. You need to get a muscle strong on both sides of the joint, in both directions. If you introduce an exercise that moves the body or joint in one direction, you should generally include work in the opposite direction.

Do you leg curls and leg extensions? Do you do an equal amount of pulling as you do pressing? When was the last time you did single leg exercises? Or did a wide stance squat? Do you performing pulling movements with a wide and narrow grip? Can your shoulders both internally and externally rotate?

These are rhetorical questions; the major point is that you need a holistic bodybuilding approach moving forward.

5. Asymmetries that caused the original injury still exist

If you injured yourself with bad technique, you must address that. The same subtle movement biases (how you fall, how you roll, how you load one side) often remain years later and continue to stress the vulnerable joint. These need to be identified and trained out.

6. Good training is Continuous Rehab

Bodybuilding is the process of building your body, and well designed program achieves across multiple context. There process of muscle and strength and prehab and rehab all cross over with one another. The customization of this process and yoiur workouts will be unique to yourself. What you need is dynamic to yourself at any given time.

Fin.

Low back pain is the most common kind of orthopedic pain. Around 80% of adults will experience low back pain at some point in their life.

On any given day, about 1 in 4 adults (in the USA) report low back pain.

Ive written many times before that most low back pain can be solved with general strength training. The fundamental issue is not anything wrong with your back, but rather your back is WEAK, and needs to be muscularly strengthened.

Deadlifts for low back pain

But what about HERNIATED DISCS?

This must be much more serious, right?

Maybe not. Sort of. Lets Talk about it.

To start with, lets define what a Disc is.

We are talking about the rubber soft tissue that attach vertebrae to one another.

A disc contain a soft center (the nucleus) and a tougher shell that is rubbery. If you were to feel one, it would feel like a very stiff circle made of gel. Discs act both as shock absorption, and they allow the spine to bend. You can imagine if your back was solid bone, movement would be largely impossible.

A disc herniation is a case where the disc is protruding out from its normal position in the intervertebral space, and there may be a narrowing of the disc to one side. Most disc herniations are posterior (meaning they bulge outward towards the back)

However, there are 4 levels of a “Disc Herniation”, ranging from minor (and possibly asymptomatic) to traumatic.

When people talking about herniating a disc, its typically a bulge or prolapse. The term herniation refers more to a level 3 extrusion

Here is a clear visual breakdown of the four levels

• Level 1: Protrusion (Bulge): The soft nucleus pulposus pushes the tough outer ring (annulus fibrosus) backward, creating a bulge. The outer ring is still intact. A bulged disc can be asymptomatic, or painful. You can experience a disc bulge and be in pain, but they usually resolve within a few weeks.

• Level 2: Prolapse: The bulge becomes larger, often reaching the edge of the annulus, but the outer wall is still containing the material. This large bulge can compress a spinal nerve. But not always. My particular injury years ago was diagnosed as a prolapse, but without any nerve compression.

• Level 3 Extrusion: The annulus fibrosus has a radial tear, and the soft nucleus has squeezed out through the tear into the spinal canal.

• Level 4 Sequestration: The extruded material from the previous step has broken free and separated from the main disc. It is a detached fragment (a sequestered fragment) within the spinal canal.

Heres where it gets interesting, the more SEVERE Disc Injuries appear to Heal Better

This is according to a Meta Analysis on Disc Rehabilitation.

The Occcurence of Spontaneous Disc Regression in different herniations (meaning) the disc healed on its own)

-Sequestration - 96%
-Extrusion - 70%
-Protrusion -41 %
-Disc Bulging -13%

Complete herniation Resolution is seen in
- 43% of Sequestrations
- 15% of Extrusions

What are we supposed to think about that?

The theory behind this is that a severe disc injury heals better because it provokes a greater immune system and overall healing response.

Whereas a level 1 and 2 herniation are painful, but not debilitating. The downside is that they are more likely to become a chronic back pain issue for people.

In my professional experience, when people claim to have herniated a disc and now have chronic low back pain, its typically a Level 1 or 2 situation, not 3 or 4.

Levels 3 and 4 are much more traumatic and don’t typically occur under normal every day circumstances. They are situations where someone would be in major pain and likely need medical attention. And they would get a real diagnosis.

More often than not, people self report experiencing some kind of severe back spasm while lifting something, usually from an awkward position. They are in pain for a few days. They are told this might be a “bulged/herniated disc” and they latch onto the diagnosis.

Sometimes they are old this by a chiropractor (some chiros do imaging).

Very rarely does anyone have a real medical report of an MRI or CAT scan with a diagnosis made by an orthopedist.

The combination of a disc bulge plus a back muscle strain creates the setup for chronic pain plus AVOIDANCE

People think they are “broken”, doomed to be in pain for forever, and they can never do the same activities/exercise every again.

Catastrophic thinking.

This phenomenon of a physical pain that is tied into a psychological belief and triggers is referred to as a biopsychosocial phenomenon.

If you have chronic low back pain, you should consider this psychological dimension

I would suggest reading “Healing Back Pain: The Mind Body Connection”, by Dr. John Sarno

To address the Physical Part of the Process

If you have a complex case, it may be advisable to work with a specialist.

Talk to Matt (Kobra Sports Med on X)

For MOST people though, a general approach will take you out of pain.

A general approach is the intelligent bodybuilding approach. You strengthen the respective joints and muscles by training them direct with exercises that strengthen them.

This may sound redundant, but fitness is often made needlessly complicated. Most aches and pains are solved by strength training and building muscle.

Contrary to what you may think, there is not any one muscle that is lower back. You can see in this picture, the pink shaded area is entirely fascia, its connective tissue. The lats attach to the spine through this connective tissue, but the triangular space at bottom of your spine is not actually an area that you can readily muscle up directly.

What you can do is train the spinal erectors. This is a set of muscles that run along the entire length of the spine itself.

These muscles are trained isometrically during ANY back exercise. Especially during any kind of deadlift movement, they receive immense stimulus purely from the isometric contraction alone.

To Train them Directly, There are TWO great exercises to do

1. 45 degree hyperextensions-Ive talked about this exercise dozens of times over the years. Do it with bodyweight. 2-4 sets, high reps to start with. Motion is lotion. If I had a disc injury, Id be doing these daily or Every other day.
   
   If you can do sets of 30+ reps bodyweight, hold a weight across the chest. Doesnt need to be heavy. 10, 25, 45lbs. If you get strong at these, youre back is probably pain free.

2. Deadlifts-If you are not comfortable with these, start with hyperextensions first. Deadlift once a week. Sets of 5. One working set in the beginning to start with. Learn proper technique. Work with a coach if you’re clueless on form.

There is of course much more to back training than these two exercises, but for disc herniations and spinal strengthening, these should be in your weekly routine.

What about PEPTIDES???

Someone will ask this. I assume they are talking about the wolverine stack in some form.

Peptides wont fix your back pain by themselves.

You need to do the physical EXERCISE. You can inject all the peptides you want. Its not fixing a fundamental lack of muscle and connective tissue integrity. Exercise does that.

Go to the gym, Train. Do your rehab. Or bodybuilding. Or bodybuilding rehab. whatever you want to call it.

Train to be strong.

What does Pre-Exhaust mean?

Pre-Exhaust is a training tactic where you do isolation exercise first before compound movements. Its not a new thing, its been done since the 1950s.

Like many practices though, its goes through phases of popularity, then being forgotten.

Recently Bailey Schober on X brought it up (great coach to follow by the way)

I commented on this being a useful training tactic, and recorded a short video

Why Would Anyone Do this though? I thought Compound movements should be done first, and isolation second?

No. You can switch the order. There is no “rule” anywhere that says exercises MUST be done heaviest to lightest.

Training compounds first is advisable for beginners

As you progress and move to the intermediate stage after your first year training, you can try different sequences.

Before we go further

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The Motivation Behind Pre-Exhaust is Insightful

Many decades ago, bodybuilders noticed that when doing compound movements, the the prime mover (meaning the main muscle being targeted and moving the weight), it often is NOT the limiting muscle in performing the exercises.

Rather its the secondary muscles.

For example, when doing a heavy bench press, the weak point in the lift is not necessarily the pectorals, but the triceps and front delts.

These secondary muscles fatigue faster than the prime mover muscle.

Bodybuilding is about stimulating muscle tissue to grow. The weight of an exercise is simply a tool, not the goal.

So how can we move a compound movement more effective at training a target muscle?

The answer, we flip the order.

You hit a single-joint isolation movement first, like dumbbell flies before chest press, or leg extensions before squats, to intentionally fatigue the target muscle.

Then, when you do your heavy compound lift, the limiting factor in the exercise becomes that primary muscle. Not the secondary muscles. They stay more fresh (meaning less fatigued).

This makes training safer, as these muscles effectively act as your bodys built-in spotters. As your chest starts to reach failure, they get recruited more and keep your joints and muscle safe because you can still stabilise the weight despite the primary mover reaching failure.

Pre-exhaust has been used by champion bodybuilders for decades this reason

You get to maximize mechanical tension exactly where you want it.

You create a intense mind-muscle connection,

and you stimulate hypertrophy.

And best of all, because the muscle is already tired, you don’t need to overload your joints with massive absolute weight on the heavy lifts to get a growth stimulus. It’s smarter, safer, and undeniably effective.

But the WEIGHT is LIGHTER!!! And the rEsEaRcH says you are WRONG.

Let me clear. I dont give a fuck what the “research” says. That said, the research isnt being interpreted correctly by whoever is saying this.

The counter arguments against pre-exhaust usually center on the following

• Argument 1: It forces you to drop the absolute load on your compound lifts, thereby reducing mechanical tension.

• Argument 2: The pre-fatigued target muscle shows lower overall motor unit recruitment during the main lift.

• Argument 3: It generates high levels of central nervous system (CNS) fatigue early in the workout, degrading the quality of the remaining sets.

Dismantling the arguments against pre-exhaustion

While Im at a point in my career and life that I generally find it pointless to argue with people about fitness topics, I’ll address the criticisms on this.

The issue with these arguments is they all fail to account for how muscle tissue actually experiences mechanical tension in real world training

1. “The Weight is LIGHTER!”, Yes, but Absolute Load vs Local Mechanical Tension Is not the same thing

The argument that lighter weight equals less growth stimulus confuses external load with internal tissue tension. Hypertrophy is driven by the mechanical tension experienced by individual muscle fibers.

When you perform a heavy press or squat fresh, your nervous system distributes the load across multiple joints and muscle groups. If a synergistic muscle (like the anterior deltoid) is highly efficient, it takes the brunt of the work.

By pre-exhausting the prime mover (the chest), the absolute weight on the barbell drops, but the relative demand on the remaining functional fibers of the chest skyrockets. The target tissue still experiences maximum tension even though the total weight on the bar is lighter.

Again, let us revisit the fact that ALL rep ranges build muscle. That the weight is lighter does not mean that mechanical loading on the muscle disappeared.

2. The EMG DATA says theres less muscle recruitment! Okay, but EMG data is surface level, non standardized, and has no clear evidence to say its 1:1 with muscle growth

Why does EMG amplitude drop or stay flat during the compound lifts after pre-exhaustion?

Because the muscle is already tired. It cannot produce the same peak electrical output as a fresh muscle.

Theres nothing groundbreaking about that. We’d expect that to happen

However, a lower EMG reading does not mean high-threshold motor units are not working.

Lets remember Henneman’s Size Principle, which your body recruits muscle fibers from smallest to largest based on demand.

Because the target muscle starts the compound lift in a fatigued state, your nervous system is forced to bypass the low-threshold fibers and recruit those stubborn, growth-prone high-threshold motor units from the very first repetition of the compound lift, rather than waiting for the final few reps of the set. And then as the fibers drop of, you get recruitment of the smaller, more endurance based fibers, which are less likely to grow, but still have growth potential.

Id call this a win for muscle growth.

3. But Pre-exhaust creates more fatigue! SO what? Thats the point

Your muscles contract because your brain sends an electrical impulse for them to contract. This your central nervous system.

But that muscle fatigue is not the nervous system “turning the muscle off.” This is the other issue with EMG

Fatigue happens at two levels.

First, muscle fibers themselves become less capable of contracting and producing force. Calcium handling becomes less efficient, cross-bridge cycling slows, metabolites accumulate, and each individual fiber simply contracts with less force than it did a few reps ago.

Second, the nervous system gradually reduces its output as fatigue increases. This is partly a protective mechanism. Your brain is constantly receiving feedback from the working muscle about metabolic stress and mechanical strain.

But during a pre-exhaust set, peripheral fatigue inside the muscle is whats being experienced, not some big shutdown of the nervous system.

Again, thats the mechanism behind pre-exhaust that we want.

You fatigue the target muscle first with an isolation movement. When you move to the compound exercise, the nervous system doesn’t suddenly decide the muscle is too fatigued and activation drops off.

Instead it has to recruit progressively more motor units from the first set to compensate for the fact that the existing fibers are producing less force. Yes you’re using less weight, but youre making deep inroads into recruiting the big and small fibers.

The target muscle reaches a very high level of local fatigue while the assisting muscles remain comparatively fresh.

Your triceps aren’t failing before your chest.

Your lower back isn’t failing before your quads.

Your grip isn’t failing before your lats.

The weak link becomes the muscle you’re actually trying to grow.

That is bodybuilding.

Training the tissue you want to stimulate growth in.

If youre tired from this, this is why we take REST days. Lets not be obtuse here.

4. The “Built-In Spotter” Effect

When you pre-exhaust your quads with leg extensions and then do a hack squat or leg press or barbell squat, your glutes and adductors are completely fresh. They effectively act as a built-in spotter that I mentioned before. Your quads can be giving out, but you still have some control over the weight and can even get some more reps in. This also drives the mind-muscle connection (the neurological innervation to the target muscle). You can FEEL when a muscle is being worked.

For powerlifting and 1 rep maxes, you dont care about this.

But this is bodybuilding. Were developing muscle tissue and sculpting the body, not simply moving weight from point A to point B.

5. And the Biggest Benefit: Joint Longevity

The goal of training is to to build muscle, be strong, and KEEP training, year after year.

We want our train to preserve our joints, not destroy them.

Lifting big weights year after year takes a toll on connective tissue.

If you need to squat 405 lbs to fully stimulate your quads, your knees, hips, and lower back absorb that massive structural stress. If you pre-exhaust your quads with machine hack extensions first, you might get the exact same metabolic and mechanical stimulus on your quads using only 275 lbs on the barbell.

Maximizing muscular tension while minimizing joint stress is the holy grail of career longevity in bodybuilding and in LIFE.

Pre-exhaustion shifts the stress of the lift from your joints to your muscles.

Your muscles dont grow from “weight”, they grow from the muscle fibers being fatigued with mechanical tension and repeatedly contracting and lengthening.

Heavy, medium, and light weight ALL grow muscle. This has been proven conclusively across decades of broscience (and oft cited scientific research).

EVERY rep range can stimulate muscle provided the sets are intense (meaning you train close to failure).

Im SOLD! So How Do I Pre-exhaust in my training?

Firstly Pre-exhaust is intended for BIG muscles. Smaller muscles that are trained with isolation exercises, like biceps, calves, or calves, pre-exhaust is not a strategy. There are ways to sequence those muscles, but it doesnt fall under the pre-exhaust method.

The muscles you can pre-exhaust for are:

• Chest

• Shoulders

• Back

• Quads

• Glutes

• Hamstrings

You dont need to do this for every big muscle group. You might do it for legs but not back. You might do it for chest, but not shoulders. Its up to you, try things and see what you like.

Historically, the way most lifters did pre-exhaust was to simply put the isolation exercise first, finish the sets, and then move on to the compound movements.

This is the way I recommend doing it.

The Universal Pre-Exhaust Protocol

1.Select Your Isolation Exercise

Do this movement for anywhere from 2-4 sets, usually in the 10-20 rep range. By way of it being a more isolating movement, its not going to be done for low reps.

2.Then do your compound exercises

These can be done for however many sets and reps you like. Rep range would probably be a bit lower, say 6-10, 8-12, or 10-15.

Muscle-Specific Protocols

1. Chest (Pectoralis Major)

• The Isolation exercise : Low-to-High Cable Fly or Pec Deck. Cables or machines are preferential over dumbbells because they maintain constant mechanical tension and work better with higher reps.

• The Compound exercise: Incline Dumbbell Press or Converging Machine Press. Machines offer the stability needed to safely push a pre-fatigued chest to absolute failure without risking a dropped barbell.

2. Quadriceps

• The Isolation exercise: Seated Leg Extension. Lean back in the seat to maximize the stretch on the rectus femoris at the hip joint.

• The Compound exercise: Hack Squat, Pendulum Squat, or Leg Press. Eliminating the balance component allows you to safely hammer the quadriceps through deep knee flexion.

Another option is LEG Press before Squats

• I got this combo from Coach Nash from one of his videos. He does high rep leg press, and THEN moves on to free weight squats

• This takes out the low back and torso as the limiting factor.

3. Back (Latissimus Dorsi)

• The Isolation Exercise: Straight-Arm Cable Pullover or Nautilus-Style Pullover Machine. This was popularized by Dorian Yates. It isolates the lats performing shoulder extension.

• The Compound Exercise: Lat Pulldown or Horizontal Row. With the biceps and grip completely fresh, you can go hard on your pull movements with improved mind muscle connection.

4. Hamstrings

• The Isolation Exercise: Lying or Seated Leg Curl. This targets the knee flexion function of the hamstrings.

• The Compound: Stiff Leg Deadlift or 45 Degree hyper: With the hamstring pre pumped you get increased innervation from the deep stretch when doing stiff leg deadlifts.

5. Deltoids

• The Isolation Exercise: Seated Dumbbell Lateral Raise. Focus on reaching and raising the weight out toward the walls, perform high reps (10+) and get a pump and burn in the side delts.

• The Compound Exercise: Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press or Machine Overhead Press: Now the delts are pumped, the rotator cuff is already warm, and again you can focus on rep quality and right weights. You only get one set of rotator cuffs.

6. Glutes

• The Isolation Exercise: Cable Kickback. This targets the glutes in their fully shortened position and you get a glute pump

• The Compound Exercise: Hip thrust: If you struggle to feel your glutes working on this exercise, you wont anymore. You also could do RDLs, or a reverse lunge. The effect will be the same.

In Summary

Pre-exhaust has survived 70 years of trends because it solves a problem every serious lifter eventually runs into; if you want to train forever, you must preserve your joints, not break them down.

When you are in the lifting world long enough, you eventually pick up on the pattern of men who are BUILT at 50+ are typically NOT the ones maxing out.

They are the ones who figured out how to “stimulate not annihilate”. The weight is a tool, not the end goal.

Try out pre-exhaust for 4 weeks in your training, see how you like it. You may find its the missing tactic that changes how you train long term.

Call it synchronicity.

If you want to map the actual bottlenecks in your hormones, fertility, metabolism, and recovery, book a call with Ferta.

Your State of Health is Dynamic. Your Sperm Are Manifest of this State

The quality of sperm reflects the health state of the father. I’ll cite some scientific research for this.

In 2016 a Copenhagen group led by Romain Barrès took sperm from lean men and obese men and sequenced the epigenome.

The DNA methylation patterns and small non-coding RNA content were markedly different between the two groups.

Then they took a separate cohort of morbidly obese men through gastric bypass and sampled again after the weight came off.

The sperm methylome had been dramatically remodeled, with the largest changes at NPY and MC4R, genes that govern appetite regulation in the brain [1].

Obesity results in unhealthy sperm. Unfatting yourself gives you leaner, better sperm.

Moral of the story

You encoding your offsprings future genetics every day. Take this seriously.

Sperm is not just a delivery vehicle for a fixed set of chromosomes. Your metabolic state, inflammation, oxidative load, physical fitness, all of this is being written into your swimmers.

This is why sperm count alone is not a good metric for your virility. Yes you want more, not less, but the quality matters.

How do we improve that?

TO start, get a Semen Analysis Done

Figure out your baseline.

Count

Size

Shape

Structure

Motility

DNA Fragmentation, this is extra and you typically have to request it

All of that gets factored into a Score.

Typical parameters and normal reference ranges include:

• Volume ≥ 1.5 mL.

• Concentration ≥ 15 million sperm per mL.

• Total sperm number ≥ 39 million per ejaculate.

• Motility ≥ 40% (with a focus on progressive motility).

• Morphology ≥ 4% normal forms.

The clock is 90 days for Sperm Production

Contrary to popular belief, sperm are not produced in 24 hours. The actual process of spermatogenesis takes about 74 days from primordial cell to formed sperm, plus roughly two more weeks of epididymal maturation before a sperm is functional.

Whatever you are doing today wont show up in your ejaculate for another 12 weeks.

There are no overnight fixes.

You can improve semen volume, but the actual sperm themselves are not fast tracked.

If you want to get your wife pregnant, you need to start at least 90 days out.

Both parents’ health at the moment of conception is on the table. Your woman carries the pregnancy. You are writing the opening instructions so to speak as to whether that fertilization will be viable. Or whether your sperm are worth choosing at all.

The fastest sperm is not the winner.

Of the hundreds of millions of sperm in ejaculate, only a few hundred make to the cervix.
Cervical mucus at ovulation organizes into microscopic channels. Sperm with abnormal morphology or non-progressive motility get caught in the mesh and never make the uterus.

Theres more steps after this, but the primary point is that the ONE sperm thats selected is basically genetically screened for health and then pulled into the egg for the actual fertilization.

Metabolic health is fertility health

So how healthy are we talking here?

The first priority is bodycomposition, aka bodyfat.

The largest analysis on this pooled 21 studies and 13,077 men. Compared against normal weight, the odds of oligozoospermia or azoospermia ran 1.11 for overweight, 1.28 for obese, and 2.04 for morbidly obese. Underweight men landed at 1.15 [2].

Whats that mean?

Carry too much fat and you get insulin resistance, aromatase converting testosterone into estrogen, systemic inflammation, sleep apnea, and testicular oxidative stress.

However, get TOO Lean and thyroid drops, cortisol climbs, libido drops, sleep suffers, and the body concludes the environment is unsafe to reproduce in. Reproduction is an energy abundant function.

Obviously for most men, the issue is going to be excess bodyfat, not finding out they are too lean. But if you are super lean, maybe you need to ease off, start bulking, and be more relaxed.

The “Sweet Spot” for Male Fertility is between 12-17%, give or take a point or two

Thats a healthy walk around bodycomposition that doesnt require dieting to maintain.

If you need to unfat yourself FIRST, Get on a GLP (if youre open to it), execute on the BASICS, and work a with Coach

Mitochondria rule everything

Sperm motility is ATP-dependent, which makes swimming a mitochondrial powered movement ability.

You dont need to have super iron man endurance to have health sperm, but regular cardiovascular activity is a necessity.

30 minutes 3x a week.

Even better, 30 minutes daily.

Do HIIT once a week

LIFT WEIGHTS. I shouldnt need to tell you this.

Provided youre training is not beating your body down, the strongest, fittest version of yourself is going to produce the healthiest sperm.

Its possible peptides can help with this. MOTSC has data in rodents showing it improve sperm parameters. Experimental in humans obviously.

Eat like your offspring are going to be Warriors

Go caveman, primal, paleo, whatever you want to call it.

Eat eggs, beef, organs, oysters, complex carbohydrates, vegetables, olive oil.

If you’re boozing, STOP.
If you eat like an asshole, STOP.

I dont need to need to write an essay on fried foods and sugar.

You know what to eat. I’m not writing for beginners.

Consume enough minerals. Potassium, sodium, magnesium, zinc, selenium.

If you focus on micronutrients, the macros usually take care of themselves.

Is HEAT a Big Deal?

Depends. A 2013 study out of Padua put healthy men through regular Finnish sauna and documented significant impairment of spermatogenesis: degraded sperm parameters, altered mitochondrial function, and disrupted DNA packaging. Reversible after cessation, and real while it was happening [3].

That said, theres lots of men who use Sauna and hot tubs and they get their women pregnant.

This is an N=1 situation. If sperm health is an issue, refrain from the heat therapy for a few months.

Keep your genitals loose. Loose cotton or bamboo boxers are a cheap intervention available to any man reading this And more comfortable.

If you are on TRT, Get the Sperm test and then determine a strategy

Exogenous testosterone suppresses LH and FSH, thats well established. Spermatogenesis stalls, and roughly 40% of men on TRT go azoospermic.

That said, TRT does NOT mean you are automatically infertile either.

A 2024 cohort out of a single fertility center ran 77 men with a history of testosterone use on 3,000 IU of hCG plus 75 IU of FSH, three times weekly. 74% improved their sperm concentration. The men who stayed on testosterone throughout recovered at the same rate as the men who came off it. Concurrent testosterone did not impede spermatogenic recovery [4].

Its become popular on “TRT X” to recommend HCG for any man on TRT. I think this is a great recommendation. It keeps the testicles functional and prevents atrophy.

hCG mimics LH. It binds the Leydig cells and drives intratesticular testosterone, which builds the local environment sperm production requires.

Serum testosterone tells you nothing about this number; intratesticular concentrations run 50 to 100 times higher than blood, and the gradient is what Sertoli cells respond to. hMG or recombinant FSH hits the Sertoli cells directly and drives production and maturation.

Testosterone keeps the man functional. hCG keeps the testes receiving the intratesticular signal. FSH brings the production line back online.

For some men, coming off is correct. For others, maybe you can stay on, but this is best done with a specialist who understands the axis. Know that suppression is not sterilization.

Supplements can help

• Out of all supplements, I think Carnitine has the best evidence. The oral form has been shown many times to improve sperm parameters. Effective dosing is 3 grams daily.
  
  Personally I prefer the injectable. It has much higher absorption and negates any side effects.
  
  Effective dosing is 500-600mg daily.
  
  This is Bro biohacker territory if you elect to do this.
  
  Elite research carries Carnitine
  
  -Many people find Carnitine to also improve fat loss and have a positive effect on libido.
  

• CoQ10 has solid evidence in men with idiopathic infertility. It also has cardiovascular health benefits.

• NAC also has positive evidence for improving sperm parameters

• Zinc is an essential micronutrient and easy to supplement with. Every time ejaculate, you lose zinc

Supplements do not need to be “maxxed” with excess dosing. Take the effective clinical dose. Assess the effects 90 days later.

Not every man needs all of it. Most men need three of them and won’t do the other work.

Peptides and bioregulators amplify a system that has earned them. BPC-157 when gut integrity, tissue repair, endothelial function, or inflammation is dragging, because gut inflammation drives endotoxin, endotoxin loads the liver, a loaded liver damages mitochondria, and damaged mitochondria produce a dirtier testicular environment. KPV when immune and gut inflammation are driving histamine, food reactions, and loose stool. GHK-Cu. SS-31, which acts directly on cardiolipin at the inner mitochondrial membrane. MOTS-c in the right metabolic case. Pineal bioregulator when circadian rhythm and sleep are destroyed. Thymus when immune load and chronic inflammation are high. Testicular when reproductive tissue signaling needs support.

The human fertility trials on those do not exist. I’m reporting what we have used and what we have watched happen across our cases. Weigh it accordingly.

None of it rescues a man who sleeps five hours, drinks every weekend, and eats like a teenager. Advanced tools amplify a foundation. Point them at a broken system and you are paying to optimize dysfunction.

A couple trying to conceive should not only be asking whether his sperm can reach the egg. They should be asking what quality of man is sending the signal.

References

1. Donkin I, Versteyhe S, Ingerslev LR, et al. Obesity and bariatric surgery drive epigenetic variation of spermatozoa in humans. Cell Metabolism. 2016;23(2):369–378.

2. Sermondade N, Faure C, Fezeu L, et al. BMI in relation to sperm count: an updated systematic review and collaborative meta-analysis. Human Reproduction Update. 2013;19(3):221–231.

3. Garolla A, Torino M, Sartini B, et al. Seminal and molecular evidence that sauna exposure affects human spermatogenesis. Human Reproduction. 2013;28(4):877–885.

4. Optimal restoration of spermatogenesis after testosterone therapy using human chorionic gonadotropin and follicle-stimulating hormone. Fertility and Sterility. 2024.

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If you want to map the actual bottlenecks in your hormones, fertility, metabolism, and recovery, book a call with Ferta.

You’re ignoring the BASICS

You’re not even doing the FUNDAMENTALS

People are forgetting the FOUNDATIONS

These kinds of warnings lectures make for easy content and scolding, but I dont think they are helpful.

Maybe you agree.

The reason I find them facile…

What is the Meaning of the “Basics”?

Now, another fitness person might say Im overcomplicating, but Im not asking this question to be pedantic.

My professional career and all my work has been written for the general public.

My audience has always been “average joes” who want to become fit joes, maybe “jacked joes”.

Despite the proliferation of health knowledge, the “average joe” does NOT possess clear, articulate understanding of “basics”.

The concept of “basics” comes from fitness professionals, who possess far greater experience, education, and immersion.

"The Basics” is coming from people who dedicate their lives to be authorities, and then they presume that what they know must be simple and obvious to everyone.

This is the Expert Blindness Fallacy

What is familiar and seems simple to an expert is unknown and complex to the uninitiated

The truth is that even in the fitness world, there is no such thing as “Basics” that could even be agreed upon.

Are we talking about resistance training, aka lifting weights?

I can find 10 different opinions on how weights should be lifted, from reps, to sets, to rep speed, to exercises, and programs. Are you asking a powerlifter? A bodybuilder? A former D1 athlete who became a trainer? A running coach who advocates supplemental strength training?

I can say “lift weights with progressive overload, its so BASIC”

But theres multiple way to apply progressive overload.

Does the listener even know what progressive overload is? Have they heard this sequence of words before?

Are we talking about diet?

I can find 10 different opinions on diet, high carb low carb, food choice, protein intake, primal paleo pescatarian whole food vegetarian, seed oils no seed oils, raw is law, raw milk, probiotics, soluble fiber, gut health

The “average joe” doesnt know how calories work, how to calculate maintenance calories, how protein fat carbs different in calorie amount and thermogenic cost.

How is this “basic?”

Are we talking about sleep?

We might have some consensus here. If were fully deprived of sleep we eventually collapse from exhaustion and can die.

”Get enough sleep” is about as close as you will get consensus and simplicity.

What about CARDIO?

Again, I can find 10 different opinions on aerobics, anaerobics, HIIT, steps, steps are made up, but do steps, 10k steps, 8k steps, Zone training, running walking sprinting assault bike rower kettlebells jump rope

The proposition that there are “basics” which are commonly agreed upon and easily learned and everyone should know them is a fallacy

Its only in the broadest terms that you could get health authorities to concur that

-Exercise is important, you should exercise

-Diet is important, eat healthy food

-Sleep is important, get enough sleep

But these are also vague, contain no clear guidance, and as soon as you attempt to draw out details, you get competing answers and opinions and protocols and programs and recommendations.

Yelling at people that they cant use GLPS without doing the BASICS is pointless

The truth is that you can start a GLP before you get dialed in/optimized/locked in. The whole point of the GLP is to make the process of becoming healthy easier by reducing the mental stress that normally accompanies dieting.

Now that weve got that out of the way, what are the habits, actions, and practices that you should be doing?

These are my Defined Non-Negotiables

This is how I would train someone if they wanted to lose weight. Every coach will have their own preference. This is where I would start, and this assumes the person is fully committed to the gym.

Resistance Training

Lift weights 4 times per week. Focus on compound exercises first, then isolation exercises. I would program 8-12 reps for the upper body, 10-20 for the lower body. I would keep it SIMPLE and do a push pull legs split, with one day repeating each week. I would do 2 sets per major muscle, 3-4 sets per exercises, and pyramid up in weight on most sets (while going down in reps).

I’d keep running this program for as long as it produced results and the trainee enjoyed it.

Nutrition

Eat 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight from whole sources every day. If you fall short, dont worry about it. Keep that the target. If you are very obese, aim for 1 gram of protein per lab of estimated lean mass.

Chicken, beef, fish, eggs, dairy if tolerated. Time most carbs around training for performance and recovery, rice, potatoes, oats. Vegetables at every meal. Fats from olive oil, ghee, coconut oil. Calorie control through food quality first with protein.

As the GLP will affect appetite, Id have them drink protein shakes to get in the necessary protein.

If low energy is an issue, have carbohydrate snacks. Fruit works great.

Adjust based on results: scale weight, measurements, how clothes fit, training performance.

Daily Movement

Walk 30 minutes minimum a day. You can include this in a step count, but walk 30 minutes straight. This does not need to be a workout, its simply walking continuously.

Cardio

Once a week, get on an airbike. Pedal hard for 20 seconds. Rest for 1 minute. Repeat this 10 times.

Sleep

Enough to feel rested. Id put the minimum at 6 hours. Ideally more.

Supplements

At this point the only real “MUST HAVE” supplement I think everyone should daily is magnesium. Mag glycinate, mag malate, mag taurate all work. So long as its not magnesium oxide

If you are using a GLP though, you will be excreting more sodium and potassium

Ive learned this because I have 6000 people in my biohacker group (FREE TO JOIN) and everyone who uses a GLP benefits from this and notices an immediate difference.

I recommend SPORT DRINK.

10 grams of creatine monohydrate. People who are older tend to notice creatine more. 10 grams is where i notice it. I think 5 grams is too low. I also dont think you need more than 10 grams daily.

Neurovolt or whatever nootropic you want to use.

Stress Management

This is different for everyone. If you need a “destress” activity like yoga, deep breathing, stretching, DO IT.

Personally I dont do anything for stress beyond sitting in a Sauna. (Contact High Tech Health and mention AJAC for your own)

The goal with all of this would be IDENTITY CHANGE

I hate the term “Lifestyle change”.

Lifetyle change fails because behavior always reverts back to identity.

You can force yourself to train five days a week for three months, and if you still see yourself as a man trying to get in shape, month four is when you quit.

This last piece I would consider the most important; you must take on the social life and adventures of someone who is PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY HIGH ENERGY AND STRONG.

This is the hardest part of course, but its possible. You will need to change your social activities, social circle, and probably redo some relationships in your life. But you will be a NEW you. And that new life will be ongoing.

This question has persisted throughout training for thousands of years.

-Take Neurovolt and you will have the cognitive energy for high volume lifting AND thinking.

Its a reasonable question and line of thinking. In most athletic endeavors, more training produces a higher level of athlete.

Whether the training is perfectly efficient is secondary. For classic competition activities, for example running, to run far you must practice running far.

In fighting, the more you fight, the better you become.

But what about growing muscle tissue?

The volume argument has run continuously since Jones started selling Nautilus machines in 1970.

Arthur Jones said you could do one set and everyone else was doing junk training.

Mike Mentzer adopted this philosophy and it turned into Heavy Duty. Dorian Yates later took up the mantle of intensity. So did Dante Trudel, with the argument the long term strength gains with big weights matters most of all.

These are not bad arguments.

But on the opposite side, there is also the undeniable reality that the majority of bodybuilders, both natural and enhanced, and at the highest levels of competition, they did A LOT of sets.

From the High Volume position, each hard set is a growth signal.

Signals accrue the more sets you do, so the lifter putting 20 quality sets into a muscle each week sends 4 times the signal of the man doing 5, and the size difference over time reflects it.

The “science” does directionally support this.

Schoenfeld, Ogborn, and Krieger pooled 15 studies in 2017 and found a graded dose response.

Lifters doing 10 or more weekly sets per muscle gained measurably more size than lifters under 5, and each added set bought additional growth.

Radaelli’s 2015 trial ran men through 6 months at 1, 3, or 5 sets per exercise.

The 5-set group built the most muscle at nearly every site measured.

Schoenfeld tested it again in 2019 on trained lifters, the population that supposedly needs less, and the group running 30 to 45 weekly sets grew the most quad and triceps thickness of the three conditions.

Thats not to say that everyone should be doing 30 sets, but double digit sets is historically Common

Silver Age natural bodybuilders often followed full body routines and did 10-20 sets per muscle per week. They had specialization routines which consisted of double digit sets for each muscle.

Steve Reeves trained total body 3x a week, for 2-3 hours. Never did less than 10 sets a week per muscle

Vince Gironda considered 12-15 sets the ideal.

Every Mr. Olympia up to Dorian Yates followed a high volume program, as did every Mr. Olympia after him.

In the natural bodybuilding world, the majority of champions follow moderate to higher volume programs.

To say high volume training does not work is bullshit.

It CLEARLY works and has worked for decades.

Is High Volume the BEST way to train though?

This the question that starts stupid arguments.

Training is N=1 because

A) Its hard to define “best”. The reality of genetics means that some people will ALWAYS be low responders to training stimulus.

Best for them means finding a stimulus they can adapt to.

And within this “hardgainer” population, you have people who respond best to low volume and get overwhelmed and dont recover from too much volume.

Then you also have people who only respond to high volume and have stimulus threshold level that must be crossed before they grow.

You then also have the Moderate Middle, people with “average” genetics.

You have people that excel with lighter weights. You have people that can grind out super heavy singles. You have differences in structure, muscle bellies, tendons, joints.

Then you have the FREAKS. They grow from anything, and it doesnt seem to matter how they train, because they adapt regardless. Most every Olympia champion had freak genetics before they ever took steroids.

B) The body changes over time. As people get bigger, stronger, more kinesthetically intelligent, their training evolves. There is also the fact the changes in stimulus are needed to keep adapting, and this can can come from manipulation of volume, intensity, and rep ranges. There is no set science to this, its an N=1 art form

C) Recovery capacity can and does increase. There is a false belief that your ability to recover from resistance training is finite. This is untrue. Similar to aerobic training, the body can handle larger volumes over time. Does this mean more muscle tissue? Maybe it does, provided training is intelligent. Someone who has never trained can be tired from 6 moderate sets for a muscle. Someone who has trained for 20 years and is stronger could do 18 sets. Do they NEED to do 18 sets to grow? Not necessarily, but it is TRUE that they are capable of higher output and can recover from more training.

D) personality plays a huge role. Some people love the concept of high intensity and are drawn to practice it. Others are not. Some try it and quit. Others stay with it for many years.

E) the body ages over time. Training age shifts it, sleep shifts it, a stressful quarter at work shifts it, and 40-year-old recovery is not 25-year-old recovery. The man who grew on 20 sets at 28 may be handling only 10 at responder at 50. Or maybe he trained higher intensity when he was young, and now trains higher volume, more moderate weights being older.

F) Response to training is fat tailed. This where the bell curve model of thinking is misleading. When you actually TRAIN clients, and have trainees (Ive had tens of thousands who have used my programs), you realize learn that EVERY training style works, and that unusual adaptive responses will happen. Ive had people who sent me results of putting on 20lbs of muscle of from low, moderate, high volume, high frequency, low frequency, 3 hours a week, 6 hours a week, and every mix thereof. You dont KNOW until you try something.

That's the whole practical lesson of N=1

When a trait is bell-shaped, the average is a reliable prescription and you can follow it.
When it has a long tail, the average tells you where to start and nothing more, because the tail is populated enough that you might be in it.

The exercise science research gives us the mean, and it gives a start point. We know that about 4 sets is the minimum. About 10 sets is the middle.

But only your personal experience tells you whether you're a center-of-the-curve responder or a tail case, and there's no way to know but to run the dose, do a program, and see what results you get.

Ancient Greek athletes did not train randomly, and their training was as effective as any method that exists to today.

the Acient Geeks loved performance enhancement and definitely would have used NeuroVolt before competition

The model that developed over many centuries was a 4 day training split called a Tetrad

Day 1-Light Training

Day 2-Heavy Training

Day 3-Rest with very light training

Day 4-Moderate Training

This was not always strictly followed, and many athletes did not use it at all and instead a favored what we would call a “peaking” program today, where they’d train easy and then ramp up training intensity up until the competition, 

But regardless, the fact that periodization exists shows they clearly understood that the body required rest and recovery, and their training was not a random process, it was intentional and foresight and consideration went into it. 

1. Progressive overload-this principle was well understood and for those athletes that needed immense strength and power, resistance training was used 

2. Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands-This was also well understood. Different athletes naturally required different training to excel at their given sport
   
   

3. Cross Training-Every athlete cross trained. Running was done by every kind of athlete, as was wrestling. No matter how specialized an athlete was, they never neglected a basic level of general physical preparation
   
   

4. Resistance Training with different intensities-Light hand weights were used (weighing up to 25lbs), as well as heavy stones (used to deadlift and atlas stone style lifts). Much like I advocate today, the Ancient greeks used different lifting intensities to fully develop their athleticism. They did not only do “low reps” or “high reps” they did ALL the reps
   
   

5. Functional Training-Everything the Ancient Greeks did have to WORK IN PRACTICE, NOT IN THEORY. Their training was effective because if something did not work, it would not be practiced, period.
   
   

All Athletes Trained According for essential athletic abilities 

• They trained to run and sprint 

• They trained to lift heavy weights and carry them

• They trained to strike and to wrestle

• They trained to throw objects (throwing stones was a war tactic in fact)

• They trained to condition the arms for endurance (based on how often they fought each other, this is sensible)

• They trained the grip and the back

Training high frequency

You will train on a 6 day training schedule. But you have the option of taking a rest day whenever you NEED to and choose to. Its 6 days of training, but those days are not restricted to a one week time frame. 

That means some weeks you might train 6 days in a row, other weeks you might train 3 days, rest one day, train 2 days, rest a day, and so on and so forth. 

I am trusting you in your ability to regulate your own recovery each week, and giving you permission to take a rest when you feel you need to do. 

This program does NOT use any barbells, or any machines. 

This is quite unique. The only equipment you will be using is Dumbbells, kettlebells, and medicine balls, along with your bodyweight. 

Why no barbell and no machines?  Because that is not what the Ancient Greeks trained with. They had weights that were analogous to dumbbells, they lifted heavy stones and did throws, they performed many calisthenic exercises, but there was absolutely nothing they did that was lifting a metal pole with weights attached to it, nor did they have anything resembling machines in their training. 

This program can be done in a home gym easily provided you have dumbbells and pullup and dip bars. You will also need a suspension trainer. This means a TRX, or something similar. You can build your own suspension trainer for very little money if a TRX is too expensive. 

This program uses ALL rep ranges

Every workout in this program has you do explosive movements, heavy movements, and high rep movements. You can expect to see marked differences in your athletic capacity within a few weeks. 

This said, BE CAUTIOUS

If you have not jumped or sprinted in years, be very conservative with these exercises. I am trusting you in your ability to AUTOREGULATE your training, meaning that you can make your own workout adjustments and not injure yourself. 

This program WILL build Muscle, Strength, and Power

The Ancient Greeks did not train the body as a collection of parts, they trained it as a whole organism. Power came from the legs, the back, the shoulders. You can see in the statues of their athletes how strong they were, they trained for pure performance, the aesthetics were a manifest effect of the training. 

This program will do the same for you. 

Each Workout in This program consists of 4 exercises

• An explosive movement, done for very low reps with a focus on power

• A heavy exercise, done for low to moderate reps. 

• A  supplemental exercise that builds muscle for the prior two movement 

• A pump movement that is high reps and works a corresponding muscle group
  
  

If you would like to add in EXTRA exercises, you are free to do so, BUT...do not ask me about you can add in extra exercises. 

Once you begin changing a program, it is YOUR program, not mine. 

How Long to Do the Program…?

The Program model of training Power, Strength, Hypertrophy, you can use this model the rest of your life. It is infinitely adaptable and can be adjusted to suit many different purposes. 

In regards to the length of the program, I firmly believe that you could run this program and learn to customize for practically FOREVER. While my other programs I suggest following for 12-16 weeks, this one you can use essentially life long. It is designed to be AUTOREGULATED, meaning you adjust it as needed based on your energy levels and needs. It is not a program you will plateau on so long as you adjust exercises and get the necessary recovery. 

Training Day, and Recovery…

You have 6 training days in total. These days DO NOT need to all be done in one week. 

If you want to train 6 days a week, you can, but the program is designed as a “rolling schedule”, meaning the training days can go past the traditional 7 day time frame.

So depending on how many rest days you want to take, you can train 4 to 5 to 6 days a week, while following a 8 or 9 or 10 day training schedule.

Because of muscular and coordination overlap between the workouts, you will NOT lose “gains”, if you follow a 10 day training schedule versus a 7 day.

. In a given month, you can complete the workouts 3-4 times.

Remember that all results come from RECOVERY.

Recovery means you SLEEP ENOUGH and EAT ENOUGH. If either of these things are lacking, your results from this training will be lackluster at best. You cannot negotiate recovery. You either get enough, or you are under recovered and your “gains” will be compromised. 

The Hercules Program 

DAY 1 – Swing Day

A) Box Jumps-Perform 5 sets 3 jumps.
Take 1-2 minutes rest between. Start with a LOW box that you know you can jump to. Elevate the height of the box with each set.
If you do not have boxes, you can do standing vertical jumps in place, reaching as high as you can upwards. 

Always land softly and do not crash your landings. 

B) Heavy KB Swing – 5 sets of 10 reps
If you do have a Kettlebell, you can make a T-handle that you can load with plates. 

Or you can perform DB swings.
Your heavy swings should be ¼ to ½ your bodyweight. This is an explosive movement. Rest 1-2 minutes between sets 

C) Posterior Chain Building– 50-60 total working reps in 2-5 sets
For this exercise, you have options.

The first is bodyweight 45 Degree Hyperextensions. Try 2-3 sets of 15-25 reps each.
The second, a bodyweight GHR if you have access to one of those (do 5 sets of 5-10 if you have one of these). 

The third, a horizontal Back Extension machine. 2-5 sets of 50-60 total reps. 

Lastly, you could do perform 2-3 sets of 1 minute each of isometric supermans.
The goal with all these exercises is to work the glutes, hamstrings, and spinal erectors together. 

D) Leg Curl 4 sets of 10-20 reps
You can use a seated leg curl, a lying leg curl, a TRX leg curl, a stability ball leg curl, a bodyweight leg curl...any kind of leg curl. 

Whichever you use, do working sets for high reps. This movement is for the lower hamstrings and strengthens the attachments in the back of the knee and the lower leg. 

DAY 2 – Press Day

A) DB Push Press - 5 sets of 5 reps
The focus with these is not how heavy the weight is, but how heavy can be while be EXPLOSIVE. Your reps should be crisp and powerful, not grinding and losing your balance while struggling to lockout the weights. Start light and ramp up your sets, with the last 2-3 sets being the heavy sets

B) Standing Alternating DB Overhead Press with Neutral Grip – 3 sets of 10-15 reps
You will use the same weight for all sets. Press one side, press the other side. This exercise is for time under tension, and as its done standing, your core and entire body stays engaged and gets trained. A small amount of momentum is acceptable to get all the necessary reps in. 

C) Bodyweight Rows-5 sets of 10-20 reps
These can be done with rings, in a squat rack, a smith machine, or with a TRX. My preferred version is with a TRX, with your feet elevated on a low box. Start at whatever level you need to. If sets of 20 reps becomes doable, add weight to your sets and perform heavy sets of 8-10 reps. 

D) Deltoid Raises+Bicep Curls Pump Circuit
This is a circuit of exercises done back to back to back
Seated DB Front raise-15 reps
Seated DB lateral Raise-15 reps
Seated DB Hammer Curl-20 reps (use a heavier weight than you used for the delt raises)
Perform all exercises without rest in between, break for 1 minute, then repeat the circuit for a total of 3-4 times. 

DAY 3 – Lunge Day

A) Broad Jump-Perform 5 sets of 3 jumps. 

Soft landing on all jumps. Start with an easy jump, then increase the power and distance over the sets. 

B) Weighted ATG Lunge with Heel Elevated–5 sets of 8 reps
Start with bodyweight, and gradually add weight every set, the last 2 sets will be the heaviest set. If you can perform the exercise on flat ground, do so, but I suggest starting by elevating the front foot 2-4 inches off the ground, you can do this easily by stacking two 45lb plates on top of each other, or using a low box. 

The first set is ALWAYS bodyweight. Add weight each set in a manner appropriate to your level of strength.
Example, bodyweight, then 10lb DBs, then 15lbs, then 20lbs, then last set 25lbs. 

C) DB Walking Lunge-3 sets of 10 steps per leg
Perform these with a GLUTE emphasis, be sure to watch the accompanying video. Use the same weight for all sets. Quality of movement takes precedence over the weight. Each step should be smooth and controlled, and you should be balanced the entire time 

D) 3 sets of seated Calf Raises, 3 sets of Standing 1-leg Calf Raise

Seated Calf Raises are to be done first. 3 sets of 20, 15, 10 reps, increasing the weight each set. Full descend and come up as high as possible on the ball of the foot. No momentum. 

For standing 1-leg calf raise, 3 sets of 10 reps each leg. When that becomes easy, add weight by holding a DB in one hand. Use the other hand for balance.

DAY 4 – Dip Day

A) Medicine Forward Throw- Perform 5 sets of 3 reps
Ideally you have a wall you can launch a medicine ball into. 

If you do not have a wall, you could alternatively go outside and do medicine ball throws, and simply walk to the medicine ball and pick it up after each throw. 

If that is not possible either, perform plyometric push-ups, 5 sets of 3, with the focus being to get as high off the ground as possible. 

B) Weighted Dips-Perform 4 working sets of 8-15 reps
The first set is always bodyweight. 

The second set add weight

The last two sets are your heaviest sets. 

C) Decline Pushups (pushups with the Feet Elevated), or HandStand Pushups-

You have two options here.
The first option is decline pushups. These require propping your feet up on a box or bench, performing what is essentially a bodyweight incline press. Perform 4 sets of 8-20 reps

If those are easy, or become easy, then progress to a handstand push ups.
For Handstand pushups, perform 4 sets of 6-10 reps 

D) Pushups DB Raises Complex
Perform a set of moderate or close grip pushups to positive failure

Perform a set of bent over DB rear delt raises to positive failure 

Repeat for 3-4 total sets 

DAY 5 – Pull Day
A) Heavy Farmers Walks-4 sets of 30 seconds
These are as simple as it gets. Pick up a pair of heavy DBs, walk with them for 30 seconds. That is all there is to it. Rest 1-2 minutes between sets

B) Weighted Chinups or pullups (alternate each workout) – 5 sets 12-10-8-6-4 reps  

The first set is always bodyweight for 12 reps 

The second is bodyweight for 10 reps. If this is EASY though, add a small amount of weight (5-10lbs)
The 3rd, 4th, and 5th set, add weight. The easiest way to do this is with a dip/chin belt, adding 5-10lbs each set. The last set of 4 should be your heaviest set. 

FYI-If you are not yet strong enough to do weighted pullups and chinups, then stick with bodyweight for 5 sets until you. Use bands if necessary to assist yourself 

C) Bodyweight Rows-5 sets of 10-20 reps
These can be done with rings, in a squat rack, a smith machine, or with a TRX. 

My preferred version is with a TRX, with your feet elevated on a low box. Start at whatever level you need to. 

If sets of 20 reps becomes doable, add weight to your sets and perform heavy sets of 8-10 reps. 

D) Hammer curls with Fat Gripz if possible, 3-4 sets of 20-30 reps

These can be done seated or standing. As the reps are high, you won't be using very heavy weights obviously. Rest 1-2 minutes between sets

DAY 6– Squat Day
A) Alternating Jump Lunge-5 sets 5 reps per leg (10 total each set) 

Start with easy jumps on the first set, then gradually increase the power and height on each sets

B) DB Goblet Squat with heels elevated– 4 sets 10, 10, 20, 10 reps  

The first set start with light weight or no weight 

Second set, increase the weight slightly 

Third set, this is your all out to failure set. As many reps as you can do.
4th sets, 10 more reps with the weight you used in set 3

Once you’ve achieved ½ bodyweight, then work on achieving 30 reps with ½ bodyweight on the 3rd set

C) DB Romanian Deadlift- 4 sets of 10-15 reps
These can be done with rings, in a squat rack, a smith machine, or with a TRX. My preferred version is with a TRX, with your feet elevated on a low box. Start at whatever level you need to. If sets of 20 reps becomes doable, add weight to your sets and perform heavy sets of 8-10 reps. 

D) 3 sets of seated Calf Raises, 3 sets of Standing 1-leg Calf Raise

Seated Calf Raises are to be done first. 3 sets of 20,15,10 reps, increasing the weight each set. Full descend and come up as high as possible on the ball of the foot. No momentum. 

For standing 1-leg calf raise, 3 sets of 10 reps each leg. When that becomes easy, add weight by holding a DB in one hand. Use the other hand for balance.

Cardio

The cardio on this program is NON-NEGOTIABLE. You WILL do it. 

It is simple though. 

You will Walk or Run 1 mile daily. 

That is it. 

You can walk the mile, you can run the mile, or some mixture thereof, but you will always do your mile. 

The Goal is that overtime, you increase both your walking speed, and your mile time, but you will do so slowly and incrementally. This steady improvement in aerobic and anaerobic capacity will improve your bodycomposition, your endurance, and your overall stamina for training in all forms. 

There, I got it out of the way. I was talking with a friend over the weekend who had a low back strain and he said he was icing it and I told him to stop and he was surprised and I realized that people still believing you should be icing sprains/strains/injuries and how could I be so naive to think that “everyone knows RICE is wrong” simply because Ive posted about it in the past.

What am I talking about here?

Get a bottle of Neurovolt and take advantage of Soviet Super Soldier research for Stress resilience.

RICE is an acronym. Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.

This is what most people are told to do if they are injured.

RICE originated in 1978, based on the writings of Dr. Gabe Mirkin. He wrote the definitive sports medicine text of the era, titled, The Sportsmedicine Book.

The influence of that book on injury treatment is hard to overstate. Athletic trainers, doctors, coaches, physical therapists, all of them used its methods, and RICE became synonymous with treating any athletic injury. You need rest. You need to ice to reduce inflammation. You need to keep it wrapped tight. You need to elevate. This is still considered cutting edge advice for normies.

Correct, right?

Wrong.

Mirkin himself has reversed his position on every point except elevation, and even that comes with a caveat. He coined RICE in his 1978 book and formally retracted the I.C.E. in March 2014, writing that both ice and complete rest may delay healing instead of helping.

Decades of research and applied practice have shown the protocol to be not just ineffective but actively counterproductive.

Icing and time off leads to atrophy and lengthens recovery time.

Icing interferes with the inflammatory process that does the healing. The mechanism is simple once you understand what inflammation is for. Ice constricts the blood vessels around the injury and shuts off the flow that carries the healing cells of inflammation into the tissue, and those vessels stay closed for hours after the ice comes off.

Icing is simply not doing anything for the actual healing process.

A 2014 trial published in Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy took 11 men, damaged their muscle through hard eccentric work, and iced it. The ice did not speed recovery. It delayed it, and produced a rebound in muscle hemoglobin compared to the men who did nothing.

What are you supposed to do then?

Enter the PEACE and LOVE Protocol

PEACE & LOVE is the real cutting edge preferred method over routine icing (RICE) for most acute soft‑tissue injuries. Icing itself has been relegated to being an immediate intervention done for pain management (by way of numbing), but its no longer prescriptive

Peace and Love is what Ive personally done and had people do over many years, and it WORKS, far better than RICE does.

What PEACE & LOVE actually means

PEACE is the protocol to follow in the first 1-3 days after the injury

• Protection: Temporarily limit movement/loading 1–3 days to prevent further damage.

• Elevation: Raise the injured area above heart level to help fluid drainage and swelling.

• Avoid anti‑inflammatories (and usually ice): Allow normal inflammation, which is necessary for tissue repair.

• Compression: Use bandage or wrap to support tissue and manage swelling.

• Education: Understand the expected course, avoid over‑treatment, and stay engaged in active recovery. This is a big one. Many people fall into depressive states post injury and believe they are damaged for life, they question whether they will heal, they are scared to move again. The right MINDSET is the difference between full recovery versus a chronic pain outcome.

LOVE comes after the acute phase, from about day 4 onwards

• Load: Gradually reintroduce weight‑bearing, unloaded, and loaded movement as pain allows.

• Optimism: Maintain a positive mindset; fear and catastrophizing worsen pain and delay recovery.

• Vascularization: Add pain‑free cardio (bike, walking, pool) to improve blood flow and healing.

• Exercise: Structured rehab to restore strength, range of motion, and balance. Start with stabilization, unloaded movement, isometrics. Progress to increased weight bearing, full range isokinetics aka lifting weights, and eventually low grade dynamic and plyometrics.

If you are going to ICE at all, its in the first 12-24 hours

Again, the reason to ice is numb the affected area and reduce perceived pain. This can have a positive mental effect. But you do not keep icing beyond that.

Practical Summary

For a typical sprain/strain (ankle, knee, wrist, muscle pull)

• First 1–3 days: Follow PEACE: protect, elevate, compress, avoid heavy NSAID use and continuous icing; use brief ice only if pain is limiting sleep or basic function.

• After a few days: Shift to LOVE: start gentle loading, light cardio to get blood flow, and progressive exercises, ideally under PT or sports‑med guidance.

A note on NSAIDs. Please use them sparingly. Yes they reduce pain, but they do nothing for actual healing, and the research on them is worse than people realize. NSAIDS inhibit muscle protein synthesis.

In 2002, Trappe et al showed that 1,200 mg of ibuprofen suppressed muscle protein synthesis in the 24 hours after training. This was an 8-week resistance training study found that 1,200 mg of ibuprofen per day blunted both strength and muscle growth compared to a low 75 mg dose of aspirin. The mechanism runs through satellite cells, the precursor cells that fuse to your fibers and let them grow. NSAIDs inhibit satellite cell proliferation for up to 8 days after a single bout of hard eccentric exercise.

NSAIDS should only be used for acute situations where pain is BAD and you need mental relief. Do not turn them into a habit.

What ELSE Can you Do?

Long time readers should know I am very favorable to Peptides, collagen (10-20 grams daily), vitamin C (500-1000mg), and you could include potentially include curcumin as well if inflammation is an issue (500-1000mg daily with piperine, the liposomal form). Although I’d personally just use KPV. And growth hormone (if you can source it)

I cover my recommended protocol here.

Lastly, If You want to go ALL out on healing after injury, Get a Redlight

In the situation of “Im injured and will do whatever it takes to heal” then I would in fact recommend redlight therapy daily.

Infrared light stimulates the mitochondria and accelerates cellular regeneration. A 2025 meta-analysis of photomodulation studies using wavelengths from 660 to 950 nm found significant reductions in soreness and large improvements in strength recovery at 24 and 48 hours after muscle damage. The mechanism is mitochondrial. Red and near-infrared light is absorbed by cytochrome c oxidase in the electron transport chain, which raises ATP output.

=More cellular energy, faster repair.

Ive owned a large full body Mito redlight since 2021. My wife uses it more than I do. I have used it sparingly when Ive had minor injuries. In the hierarchy of health tools, I dont consider it essential…BUT it is useful for when you are hurt.

Id suggest getting a small panel that you can use for the affected area. 10 minutes daily at about 1 foot away wherever you are hurt.

Get a Mito Pro Panel