You want to build the body of a modern day Greek God, but you’re not sure if it’s possible. I mean, we’ve seen these actors get into Greek God shape.
Guys like Chris Evans in Captain America, Brad Pitt in Troy, Zac Efron in Baywatch.. I mean the list goes on. In just a matter of months these actors go from being an average fit person to looking like a Greek God.
So the question is, can you get the same results? The answer of course is a resounding YES. And no, you do not need drugs to do it. It all comes down to the right strategy.
If you have the right strategy, you can build the body of a Greek God. If you don’t have the right strategy, it will never happen.
So what is the key to looking like a Greek God.
Well, my friend.
It comes down to two things.
First, you must gain ‘dense powerful’ muscle in the right places
Secondly, you must not gain fat (or get slightly leaner)
If you accomplish those two tasks of gaining dense muscle in the right places and staying lean, you will morph your body from average or even skinny into that of a battle hardened Greek God.
So, how do we gain dense muscle in the right places. Glad you asked! Lets begin.
Gaining Muscle is Simple
Here’s the deal, gaining muscle is simple. If we had to boil it down to just one thing. One simple measurement that will produce muscle it’s getting stronger.
If we increase your strength on an exercise, you will gain muscle. In fact the stronger you get the better you will look.
With this in mind, it’s important to structure our training in the most effective way to produce our desired strength gains.
Unfortunately, the importance of strength has largely been forgotten. In the early days of lifting it was the cornerstone. But now, with drug induced bodybuilders, the focus is on tons of volume and pump training.
This may work if you’re on a cocktails of drugs. But for us natural lifters, there’s only one solution to gain muscle; month after month and year after year. And that’s to get damn strong.
The routine I’m going to share with you in this article is going to get you really, really strong. And with those strength gains you’re going to notice faster muscle growth than you ever had if your life.
The Power of Getting Stronger
Picture this with me: I snap my fingers and I add 50 lbs to your bench press. I add 50 lbs to your weighted chin ups.
What do you think would happen? The answer is obvious is it not? Your chest would fill out with dense muscle. Your back would widen and your arms would strengthen.
Muscle is simply a byproduct of getting stronger. Get stronger and your muscles will grow. There’s no need to do a thousand and one exercises. What we must do is get stronger on the key lifts.
How Do You Get Stronger?
There are a few keys that must be in place to maximize your strength and muscle gains. The first one may surprise you. You see, to maximize strength gains you need to have a full recharged and rested central nervous system.
Three Workouts Per week
When you lift intensely you deplete your nervous system and you’re not able to recruit your muscle fibers to your maximum ability. After a really intense workout, it takes roughly 48 hours for your nervous system to recharge.
For this reason, it’s best to workout three days per week on non consecutive days. Example Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Keep Workouts Short
For maximum strength gains you want to keep your workouts short and intense. This means you want to stick to about four exercises per workout and three sets per exercise.
That’s a total of 12 sets per workout. Sounds super short but you will come back into the gym with incredible strength.
Rest Three Minutes Between Sets
You also want to take long rest periods. In fact the research shows that by resting longer (3 minutes), you gain more strength and muscle.
By taking long rest periods you fully recover so you can lift as much weight as possible for as many reps.
If you’re fatigued you won’t build strength and muscle as efficiently.
Perform Reverse Pyramid Training
For most compound movements I perform reverse pyramid training. This is where you perform your heaviest set first for 4-6 reps. This is your money set. You’re pushing the heaviest weight and producing a lot of muscle.
If you perform this set correctly, you won’t be able to do it again for the same number of reps. Therefore, after resting three minutes, you actually want to reduce the weight and go for more repetitions.
You’re going to do three sets total. 4-6, 6-8 and 8-10. This also allows you to hit the full spectrum of repetitions to best build muscle.
By doing the heaviest set first, you’re fresh so you can hit the heaviest weight possible. What’s more, the heavy set will help you gain more muscle on the lighter set.
This is because lifting heavy will trigger a state of post muscle activation. This means you will use more muscle fibers than normal for your lighter sets. This is why the second and third set will feel lighter than normal.
Utilize a Two Day Workout Split
To maximize strength and muscle gains I recommend utilizing a two day workout split. One day will be dedicated to chest, shoulders and triceps (push) and the other day will be dedicated to back, biceps and legs (pull/legs).
By utilizing a two day workout split and working out three days per week, you will be performing every workout about every 4-5 days.
- Week One you will perform Workout A, Workout B, Workout A
- Week Two you will perform Workout B, Workout A, Workout B
Hitting your muscle groups every 4-5 days works incredibly. It allows the muscles and the local neurons that fire those specific muscles the perfect time to rest. Not too short and not too long. The result is you come into the gym stronger each and every workout.
Putting The Workout Together
Workout A
- Incline Bench Press: 4-6, 6-8, 8-10
- Standing Barbell Press: 4-6, 6-8, 8-10
- Dumbbell Lateral Raises: 3 sets of 10-15 reps (1-2 mins rest)
- Cable Rope Pushdowns: 3 sets of 8-12 reps (1-2 mins rest)
Notes
Perform 2-3 warm up sets for incline press and standing press. Perform heaviest weight first then drop the weight by 10% per set (resting three minutes between sets). When you can perform the top end of the rep range on all three sets increase the weight the following workout.
For lateral raises and rope pushdowns use the same weight for all three sets. Increase the weight when you can do three sets of 15 reps and 12 reps (push downs).
Workout B
- Weighted Pull ups: 4-6, 6-8, 8-10
- Sumo Deadlifts: 4-6, 6-8, 8-10
- Barbell Reverse Lunges: 3 sets of 6-8 reps
- Incline Dumbbell Curls: 3 sets of 6-8 reps
Perform 2-3 warm up sets for pull ups and sumo deadlifts. Perform heaviest weight first then drop the weight by 10% per set (resting three minutes between sets). When you can perform the top end of the rep range on all three sets increase the weight the following workout. For pull ups use total weight to determine 10% (bodyweight plus weight attached). If you can’t perform weighted pull ups, instead perform three sets of bodyweight pull ups. Or you may perform the first set weighted and the second and third set bodyweight.
For barbell reverse lunges and incline dumbbell curls use the same weight for all three sets. Increase the weight when you can do three sets of 8 reps.
Important Notes For The Workout
You will be absolutely blown away at how strong and muscular you get following this simple routine. It’s pretty damn crazy. As you get stronger on your incline press, shoulder press and weighted pull ups – your upper body will transform. You will become bigger, stronger and harder. Your legs and glutes will develop the perfect size from deadlifts and reverse lunges. It’s so damn awesome. But without the right nutrition plan you may not get the chiseled greek god body you’re after.
Nutrition for Gaining Muscle without Fat
You’re time is valuable so we’re going to keep this simple and to the point. The most important thing you must do to gain muscle without fat is to consume the right amount of calories.
Consume too many calories and fat gain will occur. Consume too few and you won’t gain the muscle and strength that you want.
For most people maintenance calories tends to be around 15 calories per pound of bodyweight. For maximum muscle gain without fat, you want to eat about 250 calories above that number.
If you’re 160 lbs that’s 2400 calories (+250). That’s 2650 calories per day. I like to go even higher on my workout days and a little lower on my rest days.
In this case it would be like 2900 on my workout days three times per week and about 2400 calories on my rest days (4x per week). It makes sense to consume more calories on your lifting days when you’re really triggering the most muscle growth.
It’s also important you consume enough protein. This is pretty easy if you eat a solid amount of meat or eggs for two meals per day (lunch and dinner).
This also brings me to the next point:
Intermittent Fasting
For maximum results, I recommend doing a daily fast. For the first 4-5 hours of the day you want to do intermittent fasting. Just consume water, black coffee, sparkling water and perhaps a zero calorie energy drink or pre workout (such as kino octane).
Fasting boosts fat burning, improves hormonal health and will set the stage for more lean muscle growth. Fasting will allow you to have a daily period that supports fat loss (fasting window) and a daily period that supports muscle growth (eating window).
It takes a few days to adapt but once you adapt the results are pretty damn awesome. As well, you become far more productive when you don’t have to worry about cooking and cleaning all day long.
Sample Meal Plan with Fasting
This is a good meal plan for someone that is about 165 lbs:
Lift Day (2900 calories)
Morning Through Noon (fasting):
- Water, Sparkling Water
- Black Coffee, Zero Calorie Energy Drink
Lunch (1,200 calories):
- Big serving of protein (chicken, steak ect)
- Big serving of carbs (potatoes, rice, pasta)
- Fruit/veggies
- Fats (butter, cheese, avocado)
Dinner (1,200 calories):
- Big serving of protein (chicken, steak ect)
- Big serving of carbs (potatoes, rice, pasta, tacos)
- Fruit/veggies
- Fats (butter, cheese, avocado)
Dessert (500 calories):
- Anything goes here, you earned it. Just don’t go beyond 500 calories
Rest Day (2400 calories)
Morning Through Noon (fasting)
- Water, Sparkling Water
- Black Coffee, Zero Calorie Energy Drink
Lunch (1000 calories)
- Big serving of protein (chicken, steak ect)
- Moderate serving of carbs (potatoes, rice, pasta)
- Fruit/veggies
- Fats (butter, cheese, avocado)
Dinner (1000 calories)
- Big serving of protein (chicken, steak ect)
- Moderate serving of carbs (potatoes, rice, pasta, tacos)
- Fruit/veggies
- Fats (butter, cheese, avocado)
Dessert or Light Meal (400 calories)
- Anything goes here, you earned it. Just don’t go beyond 400 calories
Final Comments
This is a badass routine that you can do for the next couple months to get super strong and gain dense muscle without any fat.
If you want to maximize your results I want you to join my Greek God Program. This is a complete six month program designed to transform you into a Greek God.
We’ve had over 50,000 students go through it so far… They went from skinny and average, into chiseled greek gods in a matter of months.
