Body composition
During mass gaining phases, body composition should be measured every two to three
weeks to determine what percentage of the weight being gained is muscle and fat. This will allow
trainees to monitor the results of their experiments and make adjustments to calorie and
carbohydrate intake.
Training
In terms of training, mass gains are best achieved with an emphasis on basic movements
like squats, benches, deadlifts, pulldowns/chins, etc, with few isolation movements. Recall that
the growth range is somewhere between 6-20 reps or about 20-60” per set. Emphasis should be
placed on the negative (lowering) portion of the movement as this seems to be a primary
stimulus for strength and mass gains.
Most advanced lifters find that training a muscle once every 5-7 days is an ideal frequency,
although this depends on the intensity of loading. In general, it seems that larger muscles (quads,
chest, back) take longer to recover than smaller muscle groups (shoulders and arms). However,
trying to set up workout programs around individual bodypart recovery times leads to too many
days in the gym and unrealistic schedules (such as training triceps the day before chest). Most
lifters will get the best mass gains training 3-4 hours per week maximum.
In terms of sets and reps, no one prescription is ideal for everyone. Some lifters respond
best to high rep (12-20) sets while others thrive on low rep sets (6-12). An ideal situation is
probably a combination of varying rep ranges, either in the same workout or alternated as in the
periodization scheme presented in chapter 26.
In a periodized scheme, a lifter might alternate between periods of 10-15 reps (roughly 40-
60 seconds per set) and periods of 6-10 reps (roughly 20-40 seconds per set) every 4-6 weeks or
so. An occasional (i.e. every 6-8 weeks or so) change to very low reps (1-5 reps, sets 20” or less)
can help improve the neural aspects of training, raising strength thresholds for the higher rep
brackets.
The primary issue that lifters must keep in mind is that they will be limited to a certain
number of sets based on the length of the carb-up. To a great degree, that will ultimately
determine the training structure which should be used. This is another reason why the CKD is
probably not ideal for mass gains. The structure of the diet puts limitations on the types of
training which can be done.
As calories are above maintenance, techniques such as forced reps and strip sets may be
useful but care must be taken. Overuse of any high-intensity technique can lead rapidly to
overtraining regardless of diet. It is best to pick one or two body parts per cycle (generally weak
body parts for bodybuilders) for extra attention while working other body parts at maintenance
with fewer sets.
Continual progress on all body parts at once is rare, especially in advanced lifters. While
devoting extra intensity on one or two body parts, techniques such as forced reps should not be
used more than every other workout for any given bodypart. The intervening workout should be