Beyond Brawn - The Insider's Encyclopedia on How to Build Muscle && Might

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. e secondary exercises should not restrict progress in the core movements

when you are focusing on building mass. Ideally you will progress in a cycle

at the same relative rate in all your exercises, until progress ceases across

the board. But in practice, to maximize gains on your core exercises, you

may need to phase out some of the secondary movements as you approach

the end of a cycle, or reduce their training frequency. Ideally you should not

phase out any exercises unless you have made some gains on them relative to

your pre-cycle bests. But phasing out of secondary exercises could be done

earlier if progress in the primary exercises is being hurt by the secondary

movements. If, however, you are an extreme hard gainer you may not, at least

temporarily, be using any secondary movements even at the start of a cycle.

. One core exercise may peak before the others. Do not stop a cycle because

you have come to a halt in only one core exercise. But do not risk terminat-

ing progress everywhere by banging your head against the wall in the stuck

exercise. Do maintenance work in the stuck core exercise, drop it, or sub-

stitute it, and then get a few weeks of additional gains out of the other core

movement(s). en stop the cycle.

An example of a cycle

. e exact length of any cycle should not be predetermined unless you are

locked into a deadline that cannot be extended, e.g., a competition, vacation

or some travelling. Generally speaking, stretch each cycle out for as long

as you can keep adding a little poundage to each of your core exercises.

When you get stuck for three or at most four weeks at the same poundages

and reps in most of your core movements, despite using all possible cycle-

extending tactics, you are temporarily at the end of your training tether, and

that is time to stop.

. Do not be so stubborn that you continue battling with a body that has had

enough (for now). If you continue to battle on, you may pay for it—mentally

e fastest possible rate of progress can be made by having the

longest possible stretch of consecutive full-bore workouts, the

greatest possible frequency of training, and the largest possible

poundage increments. But in practice the “fastest possible” is usu-

ally very slow.

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