The Weekly Dose

The Weekly Dose – December 1, 2019 THE WEEKLY DOSE [VIEW IN BROWSER]( [The Weekly Dose]( LATEST ARTICLES [German Volume Training]( [German Volume Training – The Real Story]( by Christian Thibaudeau Lifters talk about GVT as a no-fail training plan for size. But is it? Not according to science. Here's what to do instead. [Isolate Fisherman Rows]( [Tip: Isolate with Fisherman Rows]( by Lee Boyce Here's a better way to do dumbbell rows. [Hip Belt Squat]( [7 Variations of the Hip Belt Squat]( by Gareth Sapstead Can't squat with a barbell on your back? Build your legs like this. [Landmine Exercise]( [Tip: The Landmine Exercise You Need for Hammies]( by Gareth Sapstead Blast your hamstrings and glutes with this new twist on the RDL. [Red Meat]( [Red Meat: Not So Good For You... Unless]( by TC Luoma Here are ten ways to bulletproof your meat and protein intake in general so you can turn ignore all the contradictory reports. [Better Butts Bigger Legs]( [Tip: Better Butts and Bigger Legs]( by Gareth Sapstead Lower-body day just got more interesting. Here are two ways to make this move even more effective. [The Back Solution]( [Thick and Wide: The Back Solution]( by Paul Carter Here's how to get a thick, wide back... and why what you're doing now is probably holding back your gains. [Backside Training]( [Tip: Bodyweight-Only Backside Training]( by Gareth Sapstead Build your hamstrings, glutes, and back. No weight plates required. Check out these surprisingly challenging exercises. [Stuff is Rocket Fuel]( [This Stuff is Rocket Fuel for the Mind & Body]( by TC Luoma Boost mood and motivation. Increase performance. Heighten concentration. Supercharge the mind-muscle connection. [Get Stronger Overhead]( [Tip: Get Stronger Overhead – 3 Exercises You Need]( by TJ Kuster These accessory moves will help you build your barbell overhead press and a whole lot more. Check 'em out. [Big Triceps No Elbow Pain]( [Tip: Big Triceps, No Elbow Pain]( by Gareth Sapstead Build stronger triceps – without all the wear and tear – by using X cables. Try these inflammation-free exercises. [Curcumin Makes]( [Tip: Curcumin Makes Fat Cells Kill Themselves]( by TC Luoma New research shows that curcumin prevents baby fat cells from becoming adults while also causing adult fat cells to commit suicide. [Serious Athletes]( FEATURE ARTICLE [Choose: Development or Maintenance]( by Charles Staley [Choose Development or Maintenance]( Assign exercises to either "development" or "maintenance" status. As important as progression is, and as refined as your recovery techniques might be, you can't significantly improve every muscle group simultaneously. This is why bodybuilders often use specialization cycles for stubborn muscle groups. Sounds obvious enough, but lifters often lose sight of the fact that specializing in one area necessitates putting other things on "back burner" status. One simple way to accomplish this is to always assign each muscle to either "development" or "maintenance" status for any given training period. In practice, this mostly means distributing less total work to maintenance muscles and more relative work to those muscles you're aggressively trying to improve. Although determining your MEV (minimum effective volume) and MAV (maximal adaptive volume) for each muscle group will take a fair bit of trial and error, one simple starting point would be to perform nine sets a week for maintenance muscles and 15 sets per week for development muscles. Run those numbers for six weeks and then re-assign each muscle to the opposite grouping for the following six weeks. Furthermore, there's a simple and reliable way to determine if the volumes you assign (in number of sets per muscle/week) are optimal: • For maintenance muscles/exercises: If you can still hit the same number for the entire 6 weeks (meaning, your strength levels haven't receded), you probably haven't lost any muscle. And if you find yourself actually getting stronger over the 6-week maintenance phase, you can slightly reduce your weekly workload. • For development muscles/exercises: You should be getting gradually stronger over the 6-week development phase. If, for example, you benched 205 for 3x12 on week 1, you should be able to reach perhaps 220-225 for the same sets and reps on week 6. If you can't, you're either working too hard or not hard enough. TRENDING [Don't Look Like You Lift]( [5 Reasons You Don't Look Like You Lift]( by Dan John How come some people go to the gym a lot but don't look like it? Probably because they're making these mistakes. [Strong Athletes Have in Common]( [What All Strong Athletes Have in Common]( by Christian Thibaudeau Strengthen this muscle group and you'll get stronger at damn near everything. [Thanksgiving Sale]( POWERFUL WORDS Everything happens for a reason and sometimes the reason is that you're stupid and make bad choices. – [T Nation (Facebook)]( While it may feel safe and affirming to choose one way of looking at the world, and to join a tribe of like-minded people which supports it, that safety and affirmation will eventually become a prison of your own making. – [John Berardi, PhD]( Any increase in size must come with at least as much improvement in performance. Even if your goal is just to build an awesome looking body, you should maintain this high performance mentality. – [Christian Thibaudeau]( [Squat hard and often this month]( [Things that tell the truth]( [No hidden exercises]( [The Ten Worst Diets Ranked]( Copyright © 2019 T Nation LLC, All rights reserved. 1850 Reliable Circle, Colorado Springs, CO 80906 [Unsubscribe From List](