#13 drop 5% BF increase 4kg Muscle

Chalk Strength by Simon Bungate

My program that dropped 5% Body fat and increased 4kg of muscle in 6 weeks - More importantly the lessons i learnt.

Having a big facility with swimming, gymnastics, yoga, sauna, free, pin, plate, machines, gas, cardio and classes.

I trained in every area of the gym and used every technique I could find and there is one main lesson that came from all this as the one main ingredient for success for experienced trainers and that is...

Volume and intent will win.

He who can do the most volume without breaking either intention or their body will get the most gains.

Context - my goal was muscle gain / but i will explain how this has flowed over to my athlete training soon.

Back from a 6 week Europe holiday with the boys I decided it was time to give it my all!

My goal was to be in the best shape I could be in and I was going to try and push the boundaries of my bodies capabilities.

Now when I started I had been away for 6 weeks overseas but I definitely wasn't back to a beginner.

I mention this because i see volume in the opposite way for beginners, i believe the least amount of volume with achieving improvements the better. Gains are easy when you are just starting training so save all the tricks up your sleeve for when you need it.

I also have the same thought patterns when working with young athletes but this episode is all about gains for the experienced trainer.

I had analysed who was getting the best results over the years of working in the gym and it was firstly the ones who spent the most time in the gym. Secondly the ones who spent the most time in the gym who actually were doing something and 3rdly that something was generally strength based.

I specifically paid attention to the gymnastics, weight lifters and swimming squads who would seem to just get stronger, bigger and fitter the more they did. Thanks to these guys i decided i would set up a program that would push my Volume through the roof.

Twice a day training. (and no i hadn't met Charles Poliquin yet or heard of this style of training)

I would keep my reps low with high intensity in the morning concerntrating on big compound moves.

Then I would get back out there again in the afternoon hitting the same muscle groups but with less sets but way more reps 15 to 20 at least just really pumping as much bloodflow as i could into the same muscles.

I started doing this every second day and I was surprised to notice I was less sore after the double day then the single day. I put it down to increase blood flow back to those areas and therefore recovering quicker especially doing this session just before a big feed and sleep.

Next phase I stepped up to twice a day with another increase in overall volume every day. Rest Sunday only.

I had kept my intensity high in the morning session and had more than doubled my volume with the afternoon session. But the biggest bonus was with shorter sessions to my normal training i could show intent to every movement.

I was starting to get really sore as I started lifting more weight I could really feel some crazy Dom’s (delayed onset of muscle soreness) kicking in. There were days where i could barely walk down the stairs.

But from the start I decided that soreness would not be the measure to slow down instead I used strength decrease as the measure of when i should drop back but to my surprise i didn't lose strength no matter how sore i got i could still lift the same numbers.

The program would hit every body part 3 times a week and would have a full rest day on Sunday’s.

The key was every single session i went as hard as i could..

After just 6 weeks of following this plan i had gone from 14% BF and 84kg to 10% BF and 88kg.

Yes i was completely clean but my supplement and nutrition was completely on point which i will share in coming episodes.

3 main takeaways for training for gains.

1. Firstly only do what you need to do to get improvements.

2. Secondly when improvements stop change intention, variety and

specificity.

3. Lastly learning to max volume without breaking is the key to top end results.