Bryant - Built To The Hilt: Creating A Muscularly Strong And Superbly Conditioned Body That Will Last A Lifetime

BUILT TO THE HILT

Creating A Muscularly Strong And Superbly Conditioned Body
That Will Last A Lifetime

BY
Josh Bryant

DISCLAIMER:

Before starting any new exercise or nutritional program, be sure to talk to your doctor. Before implementing any of the advice, tips, and strategies found in the book, be sure to get your physicians consent.

Special thanks from the publisher and author to
Michael Neveux, Kevin Jordan, Dr. Sal Arria, Betty Abrantes, and Lynette Smith

PUBLISHED BY

The Creative Syndicate
10400 Overland Road, Suite 143
Boise, Idaho, USA 83709

BOOK INFORMATION:

www.BuiltToTheHilt.com
http://JoshStrength.com

PHOTOGRAPHY BY Michael Neveux

MODEL: Kevin Jordan

LAYOUT & DESIGN: Betty Abrantes

COPYEDITING: Lynette Smith

Copyright 2013 by The Creative Syndicate
All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the publisher. All trademarks are the exclusive property of the publisher.

ISBN (PRINT): 978-1-937939-34-2
ISBN (EBOOK): 978-1-937939-35-9
Library of Congress Control Number 2013956589

BUILT

TO THE

HILT

CREATING A MUSCULARLY

STRONG AND SUPERBLY

CONDITIONED BODY THAT

WILL LAST A LIFETIME

By

JOSH BRYANT

To Dr. Fred Hatfield

For his tremendous help with this book
and for serving as my first inspiration
to investigate the scientific side
of lifting

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1.

Bodybuilding Methods and Traditions

"Bro science" is an anecdotal creed emanating from bodybuilding circles. It has driven training methodologies for generations of iron disciples. Some of these methods are validated by scientific studies, while others need to be eradicated from the bodybuilder's regimen.

Let's take a look at a number of popular methodologies commonly used by bodybuilders.

SPLIT SYSTEM TRAINING

For beginners, entire body training sessions are sufficient as they provide an ample stimulus for neural adaptation and trigger muscle growth. In fact, effective full body sessions may consist of only one set per body part. However, the gains from full body sessions taper off rather quickly, necessitating more advanced protocols.

Super Sets, Giant Sets, Rest Pause Sets, Drop Sets, Pyramiding, High Volume Training and sets consisting of multiple movements, or triple sets, are used by bodybuilders to prompt more muscle growth.

Keep in mind that using these advanced tactics while engaging in full body training sessions may be difficult, due to the extreme neural, mechanical, and metabolic demands placed on the body.

As such, a good idea is to shift your full body training to Split System Training, which will allow for maximal muscle stimulation while permitting time for your body to recover. This division of training is known as the Split System.

If you decide to train the same exercises repeatedly throughout the week with a goal of accelerating neural adaptations, you could find yourself sacrificing intensity, and working within percentages well below your one-rep maximum, thus shortchanging any gains in hypertrophy or strength.

One classic program is the 5 x 5, which calls for performing five sets of five repetitions of the squat, bench press and power clean, done three days per week.

Obviously you could choose to train each lift at full tilt during each session, but that would quickly lead to physical and mental burnout. Alternatively, you could fluctuate the training stresses throughout the week while still ingraining movement patterns, necessary to expedite neural adaptations, by alternating heavy (H), medium (M) and light (L) days for each movement.

That would look like this:

Monday

Power Clean (H)

Squat (M)

Bench Press (L)

Wednesday

Power Clean (M)

Squat (L)

Bench Press (H)

Friday

Power Clean (L)

Squat (H)

Bench Press (M)

Because of neural adaptations, you can improve at the movement without running the risk of overtraining. The split may not be divided by body part; however, intensity is cycled, or waved, breaking up the training stimulus in a sensible manner. You can easily adapt the aforementioned outline to any series of lifts on a three-day-per-week training split.

Training splits can be arranged in a seemingly infinite number of combinations. Another popular split, adapted from old school college football strength and conditioning programs, is the push/pull system, broken down by training pressing and squatting movements one day and training pulling movements, which would include chin-ups, rows, and deadlifts, on the other day.

A time-efficient twist to the push/pull system is to combine the movements in the same session and perform them as supersets throughout the workout. A pushing movement would be paired with a pulling movement.

Examples are:

Seemingly infinite combinations of training splits can be designed. Commonly employed splits include body-part training splits, where only one or two muscle groups are targeted each workout; antagonist body-part splits, where muscles that oppose one another are trained in the same workout; and movement-based splits, in which one compound movement, such as a squat, bench, or deadlift, is performed each workout.

Splits may also consist of training to failure, such as High Intensity Training, or they may emphasize phases of muscular contractions to induce more muscle growth. The realm of possibilities is practically endless.

Regardless of what split you choose to follow, it is imperative that you adhere to proven training principles. You must maximize energy levels for individual workouts and know that the results of a training program are the sum of individual workouts. When things are done right, the outcome is greater than the sum. In other words, synergy takes place and puts you on the road to building a championship physique.

SUPERSET

A superset is when two exercises are performed consecutively without a break. Originally, supersets were defined as combing two exercises of antagonist (opposing) muscle groups. An example would be a biceps curl immediately followed by a triceps extension.

A very popular method of supersetting, because of the emphasis on proper postural alignment and the elimination of muscle imbalances, is the push/pull superset system. This could be a horizontal or vertical pressing movement followed by a horizontal or vertical pull movement. An example would be a bench press paired with bent over row or a military press paired with a chin-up. The obvious benefit is that symmetrical development of opposition muscle groups is enhanced. This system is more intense than the traditional set system.