Why You Should Build Muscle & Why Gaining Muscle Is So Damn Easy
Walking the walk with a well developed physique, comparable to Chris Hemsworth from Thor
I have to come clean for a second…. I have been guilty of being a little biased on my blog. You see, I go extremely in-depth talking about strategies to get lean and chiseled, but don’t give the same level of attention to gaining muscle. This is something that I will be balancing from here on out. So you can expect to see more posts dedicated to adding muscle.
Why Have I Talked So Much About Fat Loss?
1) I’m all about the lean and chiseled look. Having muscle is only impressive if you’re walking around at a low enough body fat to actually see the muscle shape and definition. You could actually build muscle definition easily. Further, strength is only impressive when expressed in relation to one’s bodyweight. So essentially what I’m saying is that strength and muscle means very little unless you’re lean and chiseled.
2) I’ve always had the greatest difficulty getting to and staying at a low body fat. And because of this, I’ve always felt the most compelled to talk about the subject of dropping fat. In the last 5 years alone, it’s been a constant quest to hit single digit body fat and maintain it with ease. This is something I have only mastered recently and I go into great detail about this very approach in my warrior shredding program.
*Your results may vary. Testimonials and examples used are exceptional results and are not intended to guarantee, promise, represent and/or assure that anyone will achieve the same or similar results.
You Shouldn’t Underestimate The Importance Of Muscle Mass
The fact of the matter is that being ripped to shreds means nothing unless you have the right amount of muscle mass to frame your physique. This is the cold hard truth! If you’re putting in the work tracking your macros, recording your workouts and destroying it in the gym then surely you don’t want this to go unnoticed. Unless you build a solid amount of muscle, your physique will hardly standout.
At the end of the day, you have to ask yourself, why are you really training? When we are really honest with ourselves, it largely comes down to wanting to be more attractive to the desired sex. You may disagree with me but fundamentally we are genetically programmed for two things; survival and reproduction. Consequently, almost everything we do can be traced back to increasing our chances at spreading our genes further. If you want to get better results with women (or men), then hey, it wouldn’t hurt to add a nice looking amount of muscle.
What Are The Advantages Of Having More Muscle?
Carrying around a solid amount of muscle is a clear indication of healthy genes and because of this, women will naturally be more inclined to have sex with you. This is why a nicely muscled and defined physique is so damn attractive! You’re positioning yourself as the absolute cream of the crop, albeit, from a purely physical standpoint. Now it does go with the saying, a great physique only gets you so far. It does a lot of the heavy lifting for you, pun intended, but if you don’t harness the right emotional state and belief system then it hardly means anything.
A guy with a great physique that doesn’t take himself too seriously (free of ego), lives in the moment (fun and spontaneous) and is strongly connected to his masculine desires (sexual) is a lethal combination. You’re essentially a women’s ultimate fantasy and invariably, women can just open up to you without feeling pressured or judged. Unfortunately, most guys have buckled under the social weight of the system, the very system that tells them a false narrative on how to act and behave to get the girl. Hide your sexual interest, be really nice and impress her by flashing money and talking about your accomplishments.
The best advice I can give you is to do the exact opposite. Be very sexual, girls love sex! Don’t be ‘nice’. Niceness usually comes with a hidden agenda, it’s not real. You’re being nice to get her to like you and so you can feel all warm and fuzzy from her validation and girls can see right through this! Be raw not nice. And last, but certainly not least, don’t be flashy. Trying to impress a girl sub communicates that you’re not enough. Instead be self deprecating. When she realizes you’re not trying to impress her at all, there will be a turning point and attraction will ramp up. But anyways, I’ve been drifting off into a long winded tangent so let’s get back to the core!
Building Muscle Has Always Been Easy for Me
Now I’ll be completely transparent, I have never really struggled to gain muscle. Then again, I’ll say right now, no one really needs to struggle to build muscle. With dieting, it’s different. Dieting is tough! We’re genetically programmed to want to eat lots of food and keep out body fat levels within a certain range. A range that doesn’t lend itself to shredded abs. This is a survival mechanism to protect yourself in case of a famine.
The human body is built for survival. Therefore gaining muscle is most definitely in our favor. If you challenge yourself week in and week out, lifting heavier and heavier loads, your body will make the necessary adaptations to better handle the task. This means a few things – a) you will become more proficient at doing the exercise. b) You will be able to utilize a higher threshold of muscle fibers. c) You will create more muscle tissue. Assuming you’re getting stronger each week, you will be improving in all three of these areas to some degree.
Now the question shouldn’t be, how does one build muscle, but rather, how does one screw up building muscle! I will address three of the biggest reasons why building muscle is so challenging for most people. Once you avoid these three pitfalls, building a highly muscular physique will be highly rewarding and will require minimal effort.
Mistake #1 – You Have Unrealistic Expectations
Most people have a completely skewed perception of how much muscle mass they can realistically gain. They want to gain 5-8 lbs of muscle per month, equating to roughly 1-2 lbs per week. This is absurd! If this was even remotely possible, you’d see life size action figures walking around everywhere you go. The reality of the situation is that gaining 15-20 lbs of muscle over the course of your first year of proper training is excellent. The most muscle I ever gained in a year was 20 lbs and this was with puberty on my side. So chances are a sizeable portion of that weight was simply driven from maturing. In the second year of proper training 8-10 lbs of muscle is fantastic. Then after that, 5 lbs per year is great!
Most people don’t want to hear this! They don’t want to accept it. They think that if they work their butts off, take all the supplements in the world and eat 12 meals per day they can gain 20 lbs of muscle in a matter of a few months. Yeah right! The good news is that it doesn’t take 50 lbs of muscle to look awesome. Stay lean and gain 15-20 lbs of well placed muscle and I guarantee that you’ll look fantastic. If you want to go for the Greek God look, you’ll likely have to put on about 20-25 lbs of muscle onto your natural frame while staying under 10% body fat.
If you don’t first accept that gaining muscle is a long term process then you will have set yourself up for failure. After a few weeks or a couple months, you will get frustrated at your lack of progress and you will fold your hand. This is truly a shame! My advice is simple – learn to love lifting! Love the journey! Love pushing yourself in the gym and making progress. Love the feeling of lifting heavy and conquering the weights. Let the muscle be a side benefit. If all you focus on is gaining muscle, you will get bored and quit.
Mistake #2 – Fancy Techniques and Chasing the Pump
Building muscle is quite simple – get stronger in the 5-10 rep range on key movements. This is truly where the magic happens! Below 5 reps and volume is too low and consequently most strength gains are due to increases in neuromuscular coordination. Going above 10-12 reps means lifting light weights that don’t provide enough tension to adequately stimulate muscle growth. If you build significant amounts of strength in the 5-10 rep range on solid movements – weighted chins and dips, shoulder presses, rows, bench/incline and squats/deads, you will be gaining muscle like crazy!
I should also mention that it’s important that you take full rest periods of 2-3 minutes or longer between sets. Training in the fatigued state is inferior for promoting long lasting strength and muscle gains. The pump you get from cumulative fatigue training is temporary and only accounts for a very small percentage of your muscle growth potential.
If your workouts consist of several exercises per body part, short rest periods and fancy ‘hypertrophy techniques’ like drop sets, super sets and pump tactics then you are seriously wasting your time. Great natural physiques are built around getting extremely strong not from trying to make curling 20 lbs dumbbells really tough. A productive muscle building workout should consist of 4-5 exercises, three sets per movement, long rest periods and a note pad for recording your progress.
Mistake #3 – Time and Money
Are you spending 5-7+ hours in the gym each week, $100+ on supplements each month and precious time cooking, cleaning and preparing 5+ meals each day? If yes then take a moment to pat yourself on the back. You just turned a very simple process into a full time job. I spend three hours or less in the gym each week, eat 2-3 delicious meals per day and hardly use any supplements. In fact, the only supplement I’ve been consistent with is a cup or two of black coffee before training! And my progress and gains have been nothing short of incredible.
I’ve spent months taking ‘essential supplements’ and the only difference I noticed was a lighter wallet and a more complicated life. I prefer to get as much of my nutrition from whole food and save bank on supplements that hardly make a lick of a difference. It’s important to understand, if your life revolves around your fitness, it’s going to be hard to stick with it. Besides, what fun is that? Stop wasting time and money on things that don’t payoff. Eat 2-4 whole food meals per day, train three times per week and minimize your supplementation game. I guarantee you that you will realize better results because of it and you won’t have to miss out on life.
Furthermore, if you are in the obsessive fitness mentality then one of two things generally happen. Either you’re completely a bore to be around and let your life revolve around fitness. Or you try to balance a life with your hectic training and diet schedule and constantly slip up. This usually results in the all or nothing outlook. If you miss one workout or one meal then you throw everything up into the air and decide that you’ll start back fresh next Monday. We know how that works out.
This Is The Big News
I have just launched my new course, the Greek God Muscle Building Program. This is program is designed to allow for consistent strength gains week after week . The workouts and exercises are set up to encourage proportional muscle growth and symmetry for the Greek god look. Furthermore, the nutritional strategies promote lean muscle gains while maintaining a low body fat.
*Your results may vary. Testimonials and examples used are exceptional results and are not intended to guarantee, promise, represent and/or assure that anyone will achieve the same or similar results.
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Hey greg, i just workout for 1/2 years but i did not gained that much muscle mass, but i think i am not a beginner anymore, do you think i should do the Greek god programm or can i try the superhero bulking programm ? :)
You’ve trained for half a year? That’s not very long. I would definitely start with the greek god program. Can you bench press 1.5x your bodyweight or close to it?
Awesome tips. Personally, I started gaining more muscle when I reduced stress in my life and started eating more.
Thanks Richard!
You look leaner and fuller than usual in those pictures above. You’re like shrink-wrapped. What were you doing during that time? Were you lean bulking?
I think it was after a workout. I was a bit bigger than, around 188.
Hi Greg,
I just purchased the Greek god program for two reasons: I want to be strong and working out three days per week is appealing.
That being said, I’m a woman doing this program. Would you recommend something different?
Also, I looked for the nutrition section and cardio recommendations for fat loss goals but I’m missing it. Is there another piece to the program I’m missing?
Thanks for your help!
This can work for women for sure. But it’s more dependent on what your goals are. If your goal is to get strong this will work very well. That said, there’s a lesser component on the lower body. If you’re interested in building up your legs more, you can cut back on some of the upperbody stuff and give a bit more attention to the legs.
You can do the recomp section to build muscle while losing fat. My other course – warrior shredding program – is focused on dropping fat and cutting. And there are cardio recommendations in the Q&A section
Hey Greg,
first things first, I lack size in my upper chest. Now I admit I am a bit of an ego lifter, meaning the big three are a must for me. So if I was to do both the bench and incline bench press in one workout followed by weighted dips, what order of the aforementioned exercises do you recommend? My lower chest does not lack any size, I’d be fine with doing just one set of flat bench as well, yet am I undecided when it comes the order.
Thanks in advance for your response
Kris
You could build up to one heavy set of bench press. Then hit two to three sets of incline bench and one final set of weighted dips.
Hi Greg, I just got the Greek God program and I have a question about the chin ups. I always hated chin ups and avoided them. I’m going to stick to the routine and do the chinups as suggested however my MAX weight might just be my full body weight. Would you suggest when I drop the 10% I use an assisted chin up machine at my gym to add some assistance or just try to do all the sets un-assisted at my weight. Everything else seems pretty easy to work your way into, but the chin up routine requires some mass to already be there.
Thanks
Don’t worry about reverse pyramid training for now. Do three sets of bodyweight chin ups. When you can do 8 reps on your first set then you can slowly begin adding weight.
Just a quick question. I’m finding that protein shakes make me fat! Even when I factor the amount of calories in the shake into my overall calorie intake (i’m eating at maintenance) I seem to just instantly look chubbier even in the morning when the bloatedness of the shake has gone away! Do protein shakes contain some sort of ingredient that would contribute to this? It’s like they are anti lean-bulk! Thanks!
Hey Laurence… It’s possibly that you don’t tolerate dairy very well so they’re making you bloated. Try cutting them out. You don’t need protein shakes to build muscle so there’s no reason why you need to have them.
Hi Greg,
Can you tell me:
Does the Greek god program have a nutritional section, and if so, how many meals a day?
How long is one workout?
Do the exercises need to be done in a gym or can we use bodyweight/isometrics?
Thanks!
Yes there’s a nutritional section and it’s based off 2-3 meals, depending on preference. The workouts usually take about 40-45 minutes from start to finish.
Hi Greg,
I am an ectomorph beginner. I have lots of trouble gaining weight, let alone muscle. I am interested in buying one of your programs. Does the Greek God program accommodate for my (pesky) body type? Or do you recommend another program?
Thanks,
Kevin
Yep the Greek God Program would work very well for you! It will help you build strength and add muscle while getting bigger and staying lean and chiseled.
“The best advice I can give you is to do the exact opposite. Be very sexual, girls love sex! ”
Greg, would you say there’s a limit to how sexual you should go initially with a woman i first met? Most men are sexual with their body language, and sexual innuendo and/or flirting, but being that flirting was never really my strength, maybe coming from a place of being afraid of offending a woman, or making her feel uncomfortable, during my highschool years i ended up being “too nice”. At 22(i’m 24 now) when trying to overcome my approach anxiety, I strived to be more sexual with my WORDS, in other words i let women know immediately what my interests were(i.e. to have sex with them), as i’m sure you’re probably thinking, i did get rejected alot. My question, is would you say theirs anything wrong with that approach, and those women who reject that approach were probably never attracted to me in the first place(so no lost) or do you feel that a level of comfort has to be established before i can express those desires, obviously your experiences may be different than mine, based on physical appearance/attractiveness(you’re muscular, and i’m just a beginner so haven’t built any muscle yet, even though I consider myself still a decent looking guy)so maybe you’ve been more successful being that direct. Just wondering how you go about being sexual with women.
I know you’re not a dating consultant or dating guru, but I still appreciate hearing your thoughts?
It has to come from a place of congruency! Don’t try to be sexual because you think the girl will like it, do it because you want to. It doesn’t matter so much if you’re muscular or not. It matters if you’re confident and not screening for her reaction.
Now this doesn’t mean you’re touching her in a creepy way. But if you feel like grabbing her, then do it. If you feel like pulling her in close to you and squeezing her butt then do it lol. She might be like, “omg, what are you doing, stop it.” How you respond is very important. You have to be chill like a rock. “Oh please, you love it” with a smirk on your face.
Now you don’t have to be super touchy off the bat. But you can’t be scared to get close and physical. She has to sense that you’re very comfortable. Sometimes, if a girl says something that I like, I’ll be like, “omg, you’re awesome, come here (and hug her).” I’ll hold the hug for a good 5 seconds or so and even patt her butt lol. They love it. You can even pick her up and spin her around. And go for the kiss right after.
It’s also the perfect time to get a number close.. “Let me get your number, you’re just so cute, we’re gonna grab drinks sometime”
Hi Greg, just a few questions:
1) The gym I attend has a seated set up for overhead barbell shoulder press. Would you recommend the standing version for better stability/core strength, etc., or do you think it matters whether someone does it standing or seated?
2) What would you say the main difference are between the Warrior Shredding program and the new Greek god muscle building program? I have your older Muscle Building program, but am very curious to maybe get the Warrior Shredding program as well and work on that one for a while.
3) I have your older Muscle Building course, but still haven’t received the updated version (have been checking my junk mail to make sure as well, and nothing there). Would you suggest I wait a while longer to see if it comes, or fire you off an email?
Thanks!
1. I prefer the standing variation. I find it is safer on the shoulders due to the angle of the elbows in relation to the shoulder. The elbows aren’t flared out as much. Plus it builds more stability and core strength.
2. Greek God is focused on muscle gain and has many more workout routines and programs for different goals (fast muscle gain, strength and specialization). The shredding program focused predominately on nailing the diet for effortless fat loss with less of an emphasis on different workouts.
3. You should have it now
Awesome thanks, got it.
Also, does the new Warrior Shredding program have more / updated info. compared with the first shredding manual you released a while ago? Apologies if you’ve answered this question before.
Thanks again!
Yes! The new Warrior Shredding Program is completely different from the original one. Far more extensive and a more effective approach.
Hej Greg
when you send the Greekgodprogramm on my email?
I have not received login information.
Great work and respect.
If you purchased the program it should have come in by the time you’re reading this.
Still nothing in my mailbox.. ):
You should have it now
I did!
Thanks man!
And Merry christmas, and a happy new year when that times come !
can a beginner start the greek god program or not ?
Yes. This program allows for very steady strength gains so it will work well for beginners.
great article as always , but i wanted to ask you a couple of questions about the greek god program , you say that you only have to train 3 days a week can those be like Three consecutive days or not ? and do you include cardio or any form of exercise in your program that can drop body fat from like 15% to below that ?
Non consecutive days. Ex: Mon, wed, fri
Yes there are some cardio recommendations for rest days depending on the goal
Cinema is the word in Greek “kinema” and means “movement”.
would not be a bad idea for a book title ;)
Best Regards
Hey Greg just curious as to what a good warmup routine would be before actually starting your workout (s) as I think I spend too long warming up about 20-30 min most days. I need help haha!
Thank you,
Joey
You don’t need to warm up. You just need to build up to the heavy weights with build up sets.
Awesome thank you! I don’t mean to be repetitive but i just want to confirm that I don’t need to warmup at all before my workouts? Just get up out of bed, drink my 2 cups of black coffee, go to the gym, do 2-3 warm up sets on my first 2 exercises for RPT as outlined in your shredding program I am currently following? No 5-10 min cardio to warm up the joints or arm circles/torso twist, etc.? I apologize again for asking but I’ve been a long time customer and I love and embrace your site but I just want to know what to do so I don’t get injured and not go into my workouts cold and not ready as I live in Vegas right now and its currently 40ish degrees in the morning when I go outside.
thank you,
Joey
If you’re training first thing in the morning then I would recommend getting some blood moving and doing about a 5-10 minute walk on the treadmill. Then go into your warm up sets.
In case of training just two times per week, do you think the routine below is good?
monday:
bench press (heavy)
front squats (heavy)
seated row (light)
lateral raises (light)
thursday:
deadlift (heavy)
standing press (heavy)
curls (light)
bodyweight exercise (ex. hanging leg raises, muscle up…)
Yeah that looks solid! BUt I’d definitely throw some weighted chins in there! Perhaps do some heavy chins after standing press and ditch the muscle ups.
I have also followed Visual Impact Muscle building and it seems like higher reps/ sets are important for Phase I sarcoplasmkc growth. How would you reconcile that with your approach of 5-10 reps?
PS: These days, I have customized the workout routine enough to combine sarcoplasmkc and myofibrillar growth with very brief weight loss periods to stay in an ideal range of weight I always desired. But there are still some individual muscle (mostly vanity related) goals I want to achieve. Hence, I follow your blog.
Well 80% of the work is done with long rest periods and heavy lifting in the 5-10 rep range. This is the type of training that will build the most muscle. You can’t gain much size from pump work. If that was the case, gyms would be filed with jacked people.
I just include some pump work and consider it like the cherry on top, that’s all it ever is!
Hey Greg!
You said you wanted a testimonial, i have no before pics, but i remember my strength and my weight when i started out. Do you have a mail i can send something to?
you’r “old” muscle building course have worked wonders, so i’m pretty hype’d for this update!
Love your work, both on workout and nutrition, but also on lifestyle, i’ve recently got my hands on “the power of now” and im going to read it when i have the time!
Quick question, is there any difference in “the power of now” and the audio book “practicing the power of now”?
Yah shoot me an email at gregoryogallagher@gmail.com (I really appreciate it)
Yah I find the audio practicing the power of now to be the best! Definitely read the book too. But in terms of getting the greatest overall benefit, I’d definitely recommend listening to the audio, it’s life changing.
Thanks, and will do soon! just need to put it together (:
have you btw send out mails to the buyers of the “old” muscle building course?
Cause i haven’t gotten any yet. Just want to make sure i’m not forgotten!
It will be in today, sorry for the delay Thomas! I just had to dig up all the emails so it took a while.
Is the new Greek God course a pdf course or a pdf/video course? I couldn’t really tell from reading the sales page.
PDF only
Haha … he was referring to your original program (kinobody muscle building course), but I think that was evident and hence your answer in regards of customer care a little sparse.
But more fun is that he changed the word “kino”, which in (Swiss-)German is equivalent to “cinema” and renamed your book “body cinema book” xD. Besides that he apperently did not read your last passage thoroughly enough, otherwise he would have realized that you offer a free update for people who purchased your original program.
I hope I could help settling some communication difficulties here ;-).
Hi,
I’ve just recently purchased your greek god program and I was wondering what diet I should follow when doing the strength and density workout, as I’m wanting to gain muscle mass?
Kind regards,
Gregg
You can follow the lean bulk diet in the guide!
hi greg, you already start sending the update for the buyers of the first version of your Muscle Building Course?
Tks Man
Sry Bro
I have not read it, the book is free for those who have your book.
I meant Kinobody.
Great job and great respect.
KINO is the word for cinema in some countries :)
Hey Greg,
Good post, man. Just wondering about your 2 – 3 minute rest times for a 5 – 10 rep set. I’ve never done that before with such a moderate to high rep set. Things I learned in Visual Impact Muscle Building from Rusty or other articles I’ve read would suggest that lighter weights and more reps equals muscle growth. These sets usually have short rest times and aim for that cumulative fatigue. Can you expand of the your long rest times? I’m interested to see if I’m doing this wrong.
I believe in training for progressive overload – that is to increase the weight/reps performed week after week. Taking longer rest periods allows for better recovery and therefore better performance and rate of progress. Cumulative fatigue style training causes some muscle growth but overall, it pales into comparison to training for consistent strength increases in the 5-10 rep range. So 80% of your training should be dedicated to heavy lifting with long rest periods in the 5-10 rep range and the last 20% can include pump training with short rest periods.
What kind of grip do you recommend on seated cable rows?
I do neutral grip
Hello Greg, I am from India. Here we are inspired by Bollywood and all the stars are required to be in great shape. I think you will agree they have Kimobody style physiques.
John Abraham – https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSVtyUdSAzePmkaJzzvOl1Jna6Vy8_8uiI0NxG1M4sJL2E-ViW0
Hrithik Roshan – https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTfAFovrjyYjF46ijtMw8-31WxeWAYohw0cXMuqsuyfSlG-qMKv
One question for you do you think they are on steroids and what about steroid use in Hollywood
Thanks Greg, love the new program.
It’s possible that they’re natural! I think a lot of people in hollywood are actually natural, and they’re not quite as jacked as the movies would make them seem.
Great article brother, always boosts my motivation when reading something awesome
Thanks Reece! Much appreciated
Awesome… can’t wait to read the new material in the Muscle Building course update! For those of us who purchased the original, do we need to specifically email you to get the no-charge updates, or will this be handled some other way? Thanks again for everything you do for all of us!
Nope, you’ll be getting an email later this week! I have all your emails on file :)
Hi Greg,
I notice you do not mention a calorie surplus, while you do mention whole food.
Because I always read about needing a calorie surplus to gain muscle, I wonder what your view on this is.
If you’re focusing on proper training and emphasizing solid nutrition the muscle tends to just come! If you’re concerned with building muscle while staying lean then it’s helpful that you ensure you’re not overdoing the calories.
Hey! Will you send me your greek god program? Already bought ur kinobody while ago!
Yes, it will be getting sent by the end of the week!
Greg, really digging these workouts and philosophies, man. I’m lean and well proportioned and now I’m simply trying to increase strength and size in the right places… Could you give your two cents on this program I’ve developed off of your website’s information? Trying to stay simple and well rounded…
A (Chest, Shoulders, Triceps and Abs):
Incline Bench Press- 3 sets of 4-6
Military Press – 3 sets of 4-6
Weighted Dips- 3 sets of 4-6
One-Armed Triceps Rope Pushdowns- 3 sets of 6-10 OR Dumbbell Squeeze Presses 3 sets of 6-10
Hanging Leg and Knee Raises: 3 sets of 20
Roman Chair Crunches: 3 sets of 20
B (Back, Biceps, and Legs):
Squats: 3 sets of 4-6
Deadlifts: 3 sets of 4-6
Weighted Pull-Ups (wide, hammer, close chin): 3 sets of 4-6
Single Leg Press (from heels) : 3 sets of 4-6
Seated Rows: 3 sets of 4-6
Standing Barbell Curls (wide to narrow): 3 sets of 6-10
I would do this Mon, Wed, Fri, alternating back and forth so each workout goes twice a week every other week…
My other thought was a four day split going Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri… I’m a natural ectomorph though, so I don’t want to overdue it, the four day split would be the same workout just done twice a week, (ex. A on Mon and Thurs and B on Tues and Fri)
Thoughts would be much appreciated, man.
Looks pretty good!
I’d just do 2 sets of squats and 1-2 sets of deadlifts though. Ditch the single leg press, do a set of bulgarian split squats instead for some single leg work.
Thanks man. Since posting this and applying it and reading more on the Dual Pyramid training, I’ve adapted it to this:
Monday (Legs and Shoulders)
Squats (sumo ass to grass) 3 sets of 5-8 (RPT)
Bulgarian Split Squats 3 sets of 8-10
Overhead Press 3 sets of 5-8 (RPT)
Side/Bent Over Superset Lateral Raises 3 sets of 8-10
Wednesday (Chest and Triceps)
Incline Bench Press 3 sets of 5-8 (RPT)
Weighted Dips 3 sets of 5-8 (RPT)
Incline Bench Flyes 3 sets of 8-10
One Armed Triceps Rope Push Down 3 sets of 8-10
Friday (Back and Biceps)
Deadlifts 3 sets of 5-8 (RPT)
Weighted Chins 3 sets of 5-8 (RPT)
One Armed Cable Rows 3 sets of 8-10
Dumbbell Bicep Curls 3 sets of 8-10
*With RPT, warm up for multiple sets, increasing weight without fatiguing. Rest 2 minutes between warmup sets. Generally, 3-4 warmup sets, 5-6 reps, no more than 80% of top weight for 1 rep at end. Then rest 3 minutes and get it. Back of 10% but add 1 rep for each subsequent set. Rest 5 minutes between exercises.
**For accessory exercises, use a weight that causes failure in the rep range, increase each time as rep ranges are met, and rest 90 seconds to two minutes in between.
**On Tuesdays and Thursdays, train three abs exercises, alternating between weighted (3×15) the first day and non-weighted (3×20 or to failure) the second.
***End each workout with a stretch session
I only post it to throw another suggestion to anyone looking for routines modeled off the principles you lay out. I personally kept the dead lifts and squats in cause I could stand to add some thickness to my back, traps, quads, and glutes, and don’t find that my little 29 inch waist thickens up at all, but every body is different.
Three days a week is awesome. I’m lifting heavier than ever, still getting a nice pump in the right places, and way less stressed about my routine. I’m committing to this until January 20th at the earliest and thinking the strength and muscle gains with a dialed in diet are gonna make for a nice check in point.
Cheers to the New Year, man!
Awesome Alec! I’m sure you’ll experience some pretty epic gains with that routine. I’d advise you to just do 2 sets of deadlifts on Friday though. Three sets may be a lot to recover from, especially since you’re doing squats monday.
How do you factor in sex as far as calories burned? Does it count as a 30-45 minute run? Or should we not count it into our weekly workouts?
Don’t count it
Man, I just bought yesterday your body cinema book. If only I had known that you publish a new book. Had I been rocking the $ 45 for your new book.
Kind regards from Switzerland
Body Cinema Book? Not sure what you’re talking about.
kino may be a German word for cinema
Thanks, good to know
Great post Greg. I look forward to the new muscle content.
What muscles are women most attracted to?
Have you noticed compliments by women when you’ve added mass?
Do women seem more focused on your arms or do you get more attention when shirtless on your abs?
Do you think it is healthier to have multiple girlfriends or just a group of friends with benefits?
How does sex with a steady girlfriend affect recovery and gains?
Thanks bro
1. I don’t think any particular muscle group is the most attractive. It’s about the total package and having balance. If I tell you the chest is the muscle girls are most attracted to and you build a huge chest then you’ll look silly if it’s out of balance with everything else.
2. Yes, women do like some muscle on their guys, it’s no secret.
3. I suppose it depends… Not 100% sure.. But when I’m with girls they are definitely turned out by my arms. Abs are definitely clearly a sign of sex appeal though
4. As long as you’re being honest and you’re acting from a place of truth then you should do what you want. So if you want to have many girlfriends because you like the variety and you’re being straight and upfront with them then that’s totally fine. But don’t pretend to be a boyfriend to a girl just to have sex because that’s just wrong. Never act in a way because you think that’s what the girl will like. You must act honestly and truthfully to yourself. If you have no intention of becoming a girls boyfriend then you probably shouldn’t text her all day and take her out for dinner and buy her stuff. Instead keep it brief, meet up with her and lead things in a sexual way while still being there to care for her.
5. It has no effect on recovery and gains.
Hi Greg!
You seem to have moved from working out a muscle group every 4-5 days to working out upper body twice a week and lower body once a week. Why is this so? I had consistent strength gains with working out a muscle group every 4-5 days. Is your new approach more effective in consistent muscle and strength gains?
Much support! thanks Greg!
Aaron, in my opinion, the quickest way to bring up your key lifts and build an awesome physique is to train a muscle group every 4-5 days. Now once you’re at the highly advanced level, it becomes very difficult to make continual strength gains at such a fast rate. Therefore I like to hit each muscle group once per week and provide slightly more variety of movements. This allows strength gain to take place at a slower rate…
In the new Greek God Muscle Building Program – I provide an extension program for when people want to switch to a three day split. This works well for people who have hit strong lifts already.
It seems to me that the more people I talk to and the more I look up information, mostly people suggest for more advanced people looking to gain muscle to do 5 day split routines and work out a different body part each day for ~45min workout. Now I have been on a 3 day a week routine that has me doing ~ 45 minutes each day with 2 minute breaks between sets (not including warm up/down) but one of the reasons it is shorter too is because I am not working out my legs. (I know, its horrible :/) and I can’t help but feel I am not doing enough. My body generally feels a bit less worn out on this lesser plan though, and I feel like I have been making slightly more strength gains on it that a 5 day split, but with so many people advocating doing more I can’t help but feel I might not be working as hard as I need to because I still get slow gains. I am just wondering why so many people advocate and use a 5 day method when it seems just as effective or more effective to give your body the little extra rest and just work 3 days with more full body moves…
John, you can’t look to what the masses are doing to determine the most effective approach. You must kill that mindset right now, it won’t get you anywhere in life. You need to put faith in yourself, first and foremost. If you’re making better strength gains and feeling better with a three day routine, then that’s exactly what you should be doing.
Hi Greg!
For the past month i have plateaued in gaining muscle. On training days i eat 500 calories over maintenance and on rest days i eat on maintenance. why is this happening. actually for the past month, i even lost 1lb even though i have 1500-1600 weekly caloric surplus. i even eat some ice cream, popcorn, etc. i really want to build muscle but it is a difficulty for me. i am also in the specialisation phase of KMB. any piece of advice will be great!
thanks!
Don’t focus too much on your weight. If your lifts are going up then you’re gonna be building muscle. Sometimes weight can plateau or fluctuate despite muscle gain. Use other forms of progress tracking including pictures and measurements. Also, you may need to increase your calories by a couple hundred.
Hey Greg do u think im overtraining whith VIMB phase 1 upper body specialization? do u think i can build muscle with that? thanks
You can build muscle with that. It’s a very high volume routine, I’ve always made better gains with a lower volume approach focused on strength progression.
GREG, I know it’s not the perfect post to ask this, but I always wonder , how do I know which muscle should I focus on during the specialization routine of your Muscle Building Program…
For example, my biceps are a little bit smaller than they should, but I ‘d love a huge back too….
Which muscle would you reccomend someone focus his attention on???
Thanks greg,
looking forward to the update
It really depends on your individual physique. You’ll have to look at yourself objectively to determine where you could stand to gain muscle mass the most. Shoulders, upper chest and arms are the three areas where most men need to gain the most size. However, if you’re skinny, it’s best to focus on building overall size on your chest, back and legs since this will make the biggest difference.
Great post, I’ve always worked out for 2 reason’s to appear attractive to women and to feel strong healthy and superfit! There is no better feeling than an intense workout!
Just saw the new Thor movie yesterday it was ok… Some decent humor but missing something in plot and the believability was questionable at times. Best superhero movie I’ve seen this last year was The Wolverine. Great Article Greg!
Thanks Josh! I was considering going to see Thor but I’ll probably Hedge my bets and see something else if it’s not that good.
Hey Greg, I wanted to say how much I appreciate all of your articles and your podcasts, they’re such an awesome source of knowledge and I’m really grateful for that.
I’m definitly considering starting one of your program, but I find myslef being in a strange position in wich I’m already at a low bodyfat % but not enough to really look great and at the same time I have a decent base of muscle that’s really showing, but on which I definitely would like to add more. I find myslef not knowing which one of your program I should buy and I am wondering if maybe it was possible for me to email you some pictures and a little backstory so that you could advise me on the way to continue my progress.
You’re one of the very few people of the online fitness community that I fully trust and respect so that would mean a lot to me to be able to share those few mails.
I’m also definitely looking forward to reading anything on Kinobody, whether it’s about fitness or general life improvement !
Take care.
Eric
I really appreciate this Eric! Sure, shoot me an email – gregoryogallagher@gmail.com
I’ll give you my thoughts on whether you should go with the greek god course to build muscle or shredding program to drop fat.
“strength is only impressive when expressed in relation to ones bodyweight.” I completely agree with this!
So pumped for the updated guide. Thanks for doing that for us!!
Hey Greg, how do we know if we’re on the mailing list. I purchased your muscle building program when it first came up and I have that but I haven’t been getting your newsletters and updates through email for a while now. So it makes me feel like im not on the list. (P.S. I can prove that I have the course if it comes down to that)
Thank you!
Wabib. Haven’t sent any special emails to customers yet. But if you purchased the program then I definitely have your email.
Great Article Greg! Looking forward to the update!
So glad you’re gonna start doing more articles on building muscle!
About your course, are the muscle building course and the greek god course different in any way or is the greek god an updated and improved version of the muscle building?
Greek God is the updated version! Glad you are pumped for more muscle building talk.
Hi Greg, first thank you for this great article. It is always very interesting to read your thoughts and great tips.
I already own the great kinobody muscle building course. With the upcoming Greek God Program, will there be a big difference between it and the “Warrior Shredding Program”?
The Greek God Program will be focused on muscle and strength gain. The warrior program is more focused on fat loss and building muscle to a lesser extent.
Greg your approach to diet and muscle gain is always consistent. A lot of people in the fitness community talk about changing things up, muscle confusion, super sets, drop sets, reverse pyramids, etc, etc to make gains. Do you ever change things up and if so how often? Is there a reason or benefit to doing so? Thanks for another great article.
I do minimal changes. Every few months I’ll mix up the split a little bit so I’m doing different muscle groups together. As well, I’ll rotate exercises and or rep ranges. I always stick to reverse pyramid training for my compound lifts and occasionally work in rest pause and pyramid sets for more volume.
Don’t change anything up anymore than you have to. That’s the main rule. Only when you burn out or stall should you adjust.
No B.S and straight to the point, Loved this post!
Thanks Ankit!
Great article! Also, many thanks for being more inclusive and not assuming that everyone wants to be attractive to the opposite sex. A number of past articles have been like that and this is such a welcome progression.
Kudos!
Thanks for your feedback William. I will definitely try to be more inclusive from here on out.
How does one become sexual towards women? Without being creepy, but then again most of them wouldn’t think that because of your amazing physique right?
It has to be calibrated. You can’t just randomly start making sexual advances. You have to be touchy and physical from the get go and also know when to back off. It’s a careful balance where you want to push it forward while making sure she’s comfortable. At the same time you need to be completely in the moment. If she pulls back or isn’t ready to take things further, she needs to sense that you’re emotionally unaffected. I can’t tell you how many times I pulled the trigger and the girl backed off and because I was so present and indifferent, she went with it.
Can you expand a bit more on ‘touching’ and how to act emotionally unaffected?
This is really beyond the scope of this article. But generally, being physical and touching isn’t something you do or even a skillset really. It’s just who you are. Confident and sexual guys are usually pretty physical because they like to touch.
Basically you want to be free of your ego. Practicing the power of now is amazing for this. If a girl rejects you then it should hardly even matter because you’re disidentified from your mind.
thank you for your article and answers, there very helpful as I just turned 21 and needed some advice on how to attract the opposite sex. and my friends can’t always help me because their way is very different than yours.
Awesome Chris! Glad you enjoyed the article.
how will we get the update, if we already have the original?
You’ll get an email.
Can you tell us when to expect the update?
By end of the week!