THE BEST MUSCLE
BUILDING SPLIT FOR
INTERMEDIATES
I
F YOUR GOAL IS TO build
muscle, lose body fat and
transform your physique,
your focus in the gym should
be to trigger muscle protein
synthesis and stop training.
If your current workout split
looks something along the lines of…
30 sets of chest on Monday
30 sets of back on Tuesday
30 sets of legs on Wednesday
And so on…
Then you’re probably hammering
way too much volume.
To build muscle, you want a large
disparity between protein synthesis
and protein breakdown. Excessive
volume will only lead to more protein
breakdown, depleted glycogen
stores and increased cortisol
beyond the necessary levels
required for effective training
adaptation.
Because of these factors, your
ability to recover from your work-
outs diminishes. If you can’t recover,
you can’t get stronger. And if you
can’t be progressive with your
training, your body won’t change.
Muscle Growth In
Response to Stress
Muscles grow bigger in response to
stress. When your body is subject-
ed to new stress, it responds by
adapting and becoming stronger.
But if the stress is too intense or too
long, the muscles won’t have the
necessary recovery capacity to
INSPIRED BY
THE DORIAN YATES 1983-1986
TRAINING PROGRAMME
I BELIEVE THE NUMBER ONE MISTAKE THAT
NATURAL LIFTERS MAKE IS DOING TOO MUCH
VOLUME, SO WHEN I SAW THIS TRAINING
PROGRAMME THAT THE LEGEND DORIAN
YATES HAD WRITTEN, I TRIED IT AND IT
WORKED BETTER THAN ANYTHING ELSE I
HAD USED BEFORE.
BY AKASH VAGHELA PHOTOGRAPHS BY BEN MARK
adapt, which is what happens when
you bomb a muscle with 7 different
exercises for 5 sets of each.
When you perform this many
sets, your intensity level actually
goes down – it’s impossible to train
hard and long at the same time!
When you cut your volume in half,
you’ll be able to train harder, get
stronger, put more into each set,
and provide the extra stress
necessary to force adaptation
without exceeding your recovery
capacity.
Adding more sets doesn’t accom-
plish anything besides burning into
your energy stores and cutting into
your body’s ability to rebuild new
muscle tissue.
The Logic
Think about it.
If you perform 1 set with all out
intensity, what will another set do?
Maybe it taps off any remaining
motor units that were left
untouched in the first set.
So what about the third set?
Maybe that’s your ‘insurance
policy’ set.
But the 4th, 5th, 6th?
Now you’re wasting time, energy
and resources.
Whether you’re a man or a
woman, i