Steroid users can get away with so much. Lazy workouts, no logical program, nonsensical progression but as soon as they see an incline bench they cringe in fear.
Not really, I have been following alex for 10 years and recently ive started 2nd cycle. Its not really like that for most people. Only for good responders. I didnt gain much muscle or lose any fat, and I have to train harder than natty
Seeing mike tear his pecs REINFORCED my beliefs tbh, he was gaining crazy strength at a crazy rapid rate while being on heavy drugs and a crazy dirty bulk + he had FAILED a bench pr 3 DAYS AGO! he SAID that his left pect was feeling weird as he was warming up, everything points to what we have discussed in this channel for years.
@@AlexLeonidasHave you ever covered the Masseter muscle? And why Brad Pitt but particularly Emily Deschanel, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie have larger masseters than Hafthor Bjornson? Or than Ronnie Coleman?
Right on Alex. I used max and submax singles right through my competitive lifting career. In fact one of the best runs of strength improvement was very early on when I pushed my Squat from 350 to 500 over 18 months and it was based around one max squat single per week with heavy assistance work. I used fairly frequent deloads so doing the same lift over and over was doable. Definitely a very useful technique. In those days it was almost always a lot of max singles and then lot's of bodybuilding work. Simple and effective.
@AlexLeonidas Luck bulletproof tons of natural people get tears too this is overused nick Wright tore his pec he's natural it can happen some people aree just unlucky you can do everything right and still have bad stiff happen
@@AlexLeonidas yea nick Wright is natural 100 percent watch his video plenty of other people Alan thrall also rotator cuff and pec strains steroids increase the risk yes but it's all down to genetics and tissues capacity some people naturally just don't have strong tendons or they don't strengthen at the same rate
You seriously need to write your own book. Your insight on your methods from conjugate would be a fascinating read. All the knowledge you put in these videos i could read and re read and re read for years.
Hey Alex! You’re exactly right! I’m 16 and I’ve been safely maxing out at least one exercise every week for months now. All my friends say “bro you’re pecs gonna pop like a pimple in if you do that so much” which is just the funniest thing ever to me 😂 like I’m 5’6” 160 lbs finally deadlifting 350 just because I’m young and that shits fun. So many kids my age are hitting sets of 10 and 20 because they think they’re training with Larry wheels and they don’t even know the joys of hitting a 135 OHP. Sorry for the long comment but you’re awesome man
Or they'll say "you can only get away with it when you're young!" I was told the same thing as a teenager and look what happened 10 years later 😂 Let them keep coping, 350 dead at 160 at your weight and age is awesome. You are ahead of the game.
I've been doing the max effort method for about 2 years, maxing out every week, works amazing and ive only ever missed 2 lifts ever, with proper programming and listening to my body. It is the way.
I saw a video of a guy who said he was not going to go up to 135 working weight (not even 1RM) that day "In light of the recent events regarding the Trent twins"....
That's very true, my knee and shoulder pain stopped when I started concentrating on maxing compounds and variations with gradual progression. And now I train beach volleyball, and still have no knee pain, I suffered more when I was doing a lot of reps, with less weight with more days of training at the gym than now that I jump all the time at volley and squat heavy the day after
Just wanna say you are an inspiration to me and many others. Seeing an actual natural athlete reach these numbers while STILL being below 100kgs. Just yesterday i hit my first 150kg bench at 100kg, and am truly inspired to continue the natural grind until i aswell can someday reach 4 plates. Much respect man
Great video and you hit the nail on the head. Social media is driving the thirst for higher and higher demand for geared lifters to continue to push the barrier and continually hurt themselves. I'm 46 and lifetime drug free and have been powerlifting for over quarter of a century and have only suffered minor injuries over the years, small tears or strains and these have occurred due to loss of form or technique.
Alex you gotta release a upper/lower/push/pull split using the conjugate method. I try my best to follow your advice through several videos but its hard to put it all together. Thanks brother.
Not gone through the whole video yet, but man, I’ll say it again, you figured out so many things and your passion for lifting and intelligence makes you on top of the fitness game. Following a plant-based diet and a really well-thought workout program that gives me results because of you, and for that I’m really thankful. Please keep up your amazing work!!❤
Commenting alpha destiny so i still remember his old school you tube name.. Also i accidentally figured out "maxing out" alway works as long as you are smart with it or rotate your lifts , and you confirmed it through your videos
@@AlexLeonidas yeah man thanks for that hack..admittedly I do have ups and downs I'm the gym but rotating lifts literally are like cheat code to regain what I "lost" effectively 💁🏾♂️. And people always ask.."didn't you fall off and were weaker 2 weeks ago? How you this strong again already?". I'm like, "rotating variations is a cheat code to re awaken that muscle memory fam🤣". And your teachings on different types of reps helped loads too!!
Absolutely true. I’ve maxed out for years. The only time I’ve had any ‘injury’ is overuse issues. Definitely didn’t come from weekly rotated max effort sessions. Cheers!
One thing I have noticed training these past 9 years is that, people that's on gear usually never struggle with their sets. Like hitting a 405lbs bench for 10 reps and none of them slow down. I think they don't want to train to failure because of the issues they have with muscle tears when they put in all their effort. Makes me glad that I have never touched that stuff. I wouldn't want to lift knowing at any moment I train harder than last time I'm eligible for a tendon/muscle rupture. STAY NATTY!!!
Thank you Alex. Been so focused on hypertrophy but what you said during this video is so true. Ima try to incorporate more strength training this upcoming meso cycle and see what happens. Appreciate you
(2.5 year natty) I've never injured my chest going for a 1 rep max. I've only irritated my chest by going BEYOND my 1 rep max, which healed in about 4 days. I went for a random 10lbs bench pr because i felt ''strong'' that day. I failed the lift and tried the same weight AGAIN because my ego took over and of course I failed again. I then dropped the weight by 10lbs and tried AGAIN and failed which then irritated/injured my chest. As long as you know your limits and keep your ego out of it there is no fear in going for a 1 rep max. Keep in mind this only caused a SLIGHT irritation in my chest even though I bashed my chest with loads it could not handle.
The funny thing is, people tend to focus on the ONE heavy single where someone got injured versus the hundreds, if not thousands of others that same lifter performed without issue. Lifting is inherently dangerous, whether you're doing top singles or high rep work, and the only way to grow and positively adapt is to push into the realm of potential danger. Obviously, limiting risk factors and training intelligently help to mitigate risk, but at the end of the day, if someone sticks with this for long enough, they will get hurt/injured.
Even with the tren twins injury, they seem like they max out very often and haven't had issues, instead, he was feeling slightly injured and tried to do new form on the max 585 attempt, from what I see, most people get hurt if they're doing things safely is overuse or going very intense with new awkward movements your doing got the first time
Yes, but there is a nuance here. You can lift your whole life without tearing anything if you go about intelligently. However, an overuse injury is almost a certainty. This holds true mainly for naturals. On the other hand, if you're enhanced, you run the risk of tearing a muscle because of the muscle/tendon strength discrepancy Alex mentioned.
I switched to conjugate following most of your recommendations. I've gotten so much stronger and bigger. I had a real poverty bench press, but that is getting stronger week on week too.
In Italy there is a pt who was able to use some kind of bulgarian method for bench, sumo deadlift, front squat, chin ups amd military press (but works with every lift). He did a max effort in each lift 2 time 2 day, 7 days a week, so he maxed out 14 times a week in each lift. At the end it's all about conditioning and being natural
There’s also a skill component to maxing out. If you don’t hardly ever do sets of 5,3,2 and ones and just throw some plates on for fun, you’re not exactly well prepared.
My man you've also maxed out so many times with weights that even some enhanced people can't even dream of touching! No injuries! Even with worse recovery at times, or random. Natty resilience, represent!!!!! Haha let's see that new bench PR
It is quite clear, that naturals are less likely injured. However, outside of setting your head for higher weight, theres zero reason to max out, tbh. It still has higher injury rate, lower gains, promotes suboptimal form.
I'm natural and my tendons definitely couldn't keep up with muscles but you definitely can feel it far before you get to the catastrophic level. I have to chill and take a bit of a break to give them a chance to heal up, then I'll focus on building them up specifically.
I think it is more risky unless you’re experienced with maxing out. And like most difficult things, it’s something that takes years of experience to start to master. Like you’ve been doing this a long time dude and most people are not as patient. Ironically the only time I’ve really gotten hurt was when doing a triple, so maybe it is just random haha
Yep I think for a noobie you probably won’t get injured but still not worth it. As you become intermediate, or advanced since ur stronger Always warming up the used muscles is key to prevent injury
Louie Simmons RIP also said "when you rep to failure you have done just that...failed" but that was in the context of compensatory acceleration from a bootlegged VHS of a bootlegged VHS I watched that until the tape broke. That was in the 90's, these days I like to max out so naturally the title drew me in. After several sets in the higher rep range I add weight to 95% and slow my reps to max out on the 3rd rep. Usually 4 t0 5 sets maybe 10 in all. That's just me, I'm past keeping track because now that I'm in my 70's I don't care but I can't stop. I will say that I used to hurt myself but never maxing out or using compensatory acceleration and I will also say that I watch enough workout content of mostly boring and recycled crap. On the other hand you got something going. Best luck and stay strong!
I meannn… everytime I see a pec tear is with the wide grip bench press at near max weights. You don’t do that kind of grip. Another point, guys in Arnold’s time did use a super wide grip like that, but Arnold and most of those guys only did bench presses working with 225-315, which 225 was around 50% of Arnold’s max. But you make a great point about steroids.
Been maxing out on the upper body for nearly 5 years. Not a single injury........ nothing. Bench up to 335 now. Did fuck my lower back up doing volume work on legs lol. Even then I'd say the injury was because I was suffering from insomnia and wasn't eating enough, in other words....I was not recovered.
I don't do 1-rep max's because honestly not sure what the point is; not due to fear of injury. That's not true, entirely; sometimes at the end of my set I will increase my bench and go for one heavy, but aside from that I just don't.
The natural lifter, we feel our tendons and ligaments be sore in real time so we know when we can actually max out. My personal biggest limit right now is recovery from that soreness lol
Looking like a true G with the 😎. Agree completely on your topic. Including max effort work in your training has the opposite effect that the fear mongerers state: it strengthens your tendons and connective tissues. In natural lifters, the tendons are usually much stronger than the muscles. Where we see problems is in enhanced guys who aren't used to max effort work and are doing it for clicks (like the dudes who have gotten injured training with Larry Wheels, looking at you incline bench pec tear guy) or in enhanced strength athletes as they peak (and drastically increase the pharmacology) for competition. It's a sudden mismatch in muscular strength and tendon strength that leads to these injuries in the vast majority of cases. If you're natural and managing fatigue (i.e. following some degree of programming), having a major myotendinous injury from lifting is highly unlikely. When I was into vertical jump training in my 20s, it was a well-known fact in that community that plyometrics strengthen the tendons and thicken them over time. This has been known since the 1950s when Soviet athletes were doing insane plyometrics (like depth drops from eye level height, for example). The forces that your tendons experience during plyometrics are much higher than produced lifting weights (like multiple times your body weight), yet I don't know of anyone in the vertical jump community from back then who had a tendon rupture from jump training. Sure, people got jumper's knee and overuse type injuries, but acute injuries didn't happen.
i assume that this is like a follow up video of mikey from the trentwins tearing his chest. I already know what Alex is going to say, i just like hearing him talk
This is another addition to the problem. You said it in this video: "I've been maxing out for over 10 years." Maxing out is a skill, just like everything else. And every skill needs gradual progression and grinding to improve. This doesn't mean it can't be dangerous, and it might be slightly more dangerous for enhanced lifters, but it is certainly not safe for the general population. It all comes down to this: Don't do stupid shit, listen to your body, and progress slowly and gradually.
Every material fails at some stress-repetition cycles, human body is no different, most important thing is 1.are you recovering from stress? and 2.listen to your body.
Even with rep work, if you use a controlled and relatively slow eccentric + switch up the variation every so often, you’ll be fine. I built up to using 20kg dumbbells on the lying dumbbell curl and I do pelican curls with more than my bodyweight. My biceps have never been torn or damaged.
@@AlexLeonidasThanks! And for the record I usually use 15-17.5kg dumbbells for that exercise. One day I just decided to test to see if I could do it and I can, but only for 8 on my first set.
He's totally correct on the one rep max thing in order to increase strength. I use to dead lift around maybe 115, just because i didn't do it as often as i should have and didn't push myself as hard. But after some time of practicing to go heavier and heavier, I'm proud to say that i can now dead lift 412 lbs, and that was all because of pushing myself to max out. So i know from experience that this is true. The only way to improve is by pushing yourself to go as heavy as you can to get used to the weight. Static holds has been a really great help in my improvement
There are enough videos of people getting injured while training with Larry Wheels to get the feeling that maxing out is very injury prone. Also a little experience as a doctor in orthopedic surgery operating in people with long term consequences for maxing out for a long time before paying the price later on. An analogy to this video is driving at 200 miles per hour and saying is only dangerous to drunk people or those people that do parkour at cliffs or tall buildings saying the problem is only those who are unlucky and fall.
We are way more durable than we give ourselves credit for. I’ve never once gotten injured maxing out and I pulled 550lbs at 165lbs 18 years old. The only little things that cause me to feel weird is if something absolutely ridiculous happens, for example the other day I was squatting in a rack I wasnt used to and I hit the pins with the plates on the way down and almost got knocked over to the side but I was still able to finish the set although i felt a touch unbalanced after 😂
I have to disagree slightly. I'm natty and have done mostly heavy/ max-out training. After hitting my DL PR, I got weaker and didn't take a deload or time off. I did the opposite and pushed myself harder. I tweaked my lower back really badly. Swapped back squat for front squat and eased into high rep, low intensity romanians. After a while I started regular DLs again. Even though it was submaximal, I was lifting the weight better than I did at the time of my PR. I decided to try to jump to a single that was within 15% of my PR and it flew up fast , but I tweaked my back again, nowhere near as bad as the first time though. All this to say - if you have injured your ligaments or joints, or are otherwise compromised, you are now in a similar situation as enhanced lifters - your muscles are strong, but your ligaments aren't synced up. If this is the case I think you should stay away from maxing out and slowly ramp up to it over a long period.
Yes he is wrong in everything except the well known fact that on steroids you will grow muscle strength even faster than a natural and it increases the gap between muscle and tendon strength. Everything else is completely false
I pinned myself under the bar today maxing my bench press. Thanks smith machine for having stops that saved me. (Turns out I can't get 2 reps with 3 plates. I really thought I had the 2nd rep, oops.)
Could you make a video about conjugate style training and how you train in general because I've been training for 3 years and that is a new world to me and I would like to know more about it awesome vids Alex keep it up😎
hey just wanted to add to this, life Time natty, only injury I have ever sustained was a partial(slight) pec tear on a 725lb deadlift. And I pushed my shit hard as I could, think Leonidas is pretty correct here, thanks for the info brother
Thanks for the video man. I've been agreeing with this for ages now. The steroid community is such a cancer honestly. 99% Of them claim "natty" while selling courses and their bullshit supplements. And they will band together and drag you down if you go against them on their social medias. You earned yourself a subscriber bro, keep up the good work!
the only exception to this rule is likely weighted calisthenics and advanced calisthenics, where even naturals can struggle with injury due to how extreme it is.
Can someone help me? I'm currently stuck at 225x5 bench press and I'm trying to bulk my way into 315. How would you go about doing that, the fastest way possible? (aside from taking PEDs)
Im a natural but my muscle strength outpaced my tendon strength, and I've been injured for over a year now and still have weakness, tendon and muscle pains and nerve pain. What should I do?
I mean tested powerlifters max out every training cycle and they rarely get injured from it. In fact, one great example is ThePanash who maxes out regularly and the reps are absolute grinders but he hasn't been injured in years and he's moving huge loads.
You know what's an interesting thought? We never heard of pec tears before steroids came out and many OGs were benching 405 and more. Of course it can happen, but it's VERY rare.
Ive gotten injuryed in max attempts as a natty however the root cause was the same as mikey, when i was younger i ignored any pain or feeling of being off and proceeded to YOLO it. Minor pec tear and broken wrist both from bench pressing, my pec happened cause i was pushing and ignored the off feeling in my chest the wrist happen cause my wrist strength wasnt keeping up with my chest strength and i was going RAW.
Every injury I’ve ever had which is many minor and moderate injuries but never a major or complete tear has been from rep work or building up the volume too fast. I’ve also never gotten injured from a 1 rep max. It’s important to also recognise that a muscle belly tear is more common from lacking mobility and when the weight forces a deeper stretch than you can tolerate that’s when a tear occurs.
Can totally agree with this. I'm new to lifting (2 1/2 years) and I've never felt any pain maxing out, I actually notice the most pain when I do something like high rep deadlift sets. As long as you have safeties/a spotter, you're absolutely fine maxxing out as a natural as long as you program it correctly so you're not spinning your wheels.
The best gains as a natty I made over 12 years of lifting was with low reps (5-10), high frequency for each muscle (every other day), low volume (not many sets per workout). This whole mindset of 'chest day, shoulders day...' followed by 20 sets of 20 reps of hitting the same muscle group in a single workout and expecting that it will continue to grow for the remaining 6 days of the week is suboptimal for natties.
![FORTNITE CLASSICS IS BACK! Fortnite Item Shop [November 15th, 2024] (Fortnite Chapter 5)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/RbQURbeFwqs/mqdefault.jpg)
“I max therefore I am”
THERE IS NO REASON TO BE ALIVE, IF YOU CAN NOT DO DEADLIFT!
My name is Max.... Max Powers....
Let’s go!
My name is max intensity nice to meet you
I am Max Effort 😅
the truth is that for a natural lifter the danger of a muscle tear is very small, almost non-existent
steroidsBuild muscle like jelly read the studies
I've been lifting for 16 years, not once did I tear anything and I've been natural the whole time too.
Luck bulletproof tons of natural people get tears too this is overused nick Wright tore his pec
Natty non lifters however...
@@Uchiadude134 yes you take gear and now you cry
ask doctors who do dissect bodybuilders after dead what muscle tissue looks like))
Steroid users can get away with so much. Lazy workouts, no logical program, nonsensical progression but as soon as they see an incline bench they cringe in fear.
🤣
Not to mention gaining massive amounts of muscle while following internet fad diets such as “OMAD”.
Not really, I have been following alex for 10 years and recently ive started 2nd cycle. Its not really like that for most people. Only for good responders. I didnt gain much muscle or lose any fat, and I have to train harder than natty
@@MilosevBoskoget off the gear then! Not worth it
@@MilosevBosko then why the fuck are you using steroids? sounds like a weird way to try to diminish the impact steroids have had for you.
Seeing mike tear his pecs REINFORCED my beliefs tbh, he was gaining crazy strength at a crazy rapid rate while being on heavy drugs and a crazy dirty bulk + he had FAILED a bench pr 3 DAYS AGO! he SAID that his left pect was feeling weird as he was warming up, everything points to what we have discussed in this channel for years.
It's sooooooooooo obvious!!!!! Anyone could have seen that coming, how do people not see this?
I think he admits this later in the video, he was getting too big too fast and it cost him months of gains.
You’re projecting your self reflection, intelligence and pragmatism onto those that wilfully, or not, completely lack it.
@@AlexLeonidas They don't know anything about training they just take drugs, eat a shit tonne and get stronger
Mike who?
😂 the shades are officially taking over, BaldOmniMan will love this one
I'm loving it 😂😂😂😂
@@AlexLeonidas Nah bro you need Bronson Shades!
Toguro Shades + Action Bronson Shades = Baldy Takeover
we need more footage in the new gym !!! Great content man.
Just moved in so I'm very low on clips! By the end of the month I'll have a lot more to work with.
@@AlexLeonidasHave you ever covered the Masseter muscle? And why Brad Pitt but particularly Emily Deschanel, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie have larger masseters than Hafthor Bjornson? Or than Ronnie Coleman?
The shades whilst hoisting max loads keeps you big as hell 0:57
RED lenses increase T-levels
Nice
Right on Alex. I used max and submax singles right through my competitive lifting career. In fact one of the best runs of strength improvement was very early on when I pushed my Squat from 350 to 500 over 18 months and it was based around one max squat single per week with heavy assistance work. I used fairly frequent deloads so doing the same lift over and over was doable. Definitely a very useful technique. In those days it was almost always a lot of max singles and then lot's of bodybuilding work. Simple and effective.
That's all it took eh, thank you for confirming this Faz!!!!
Tell me more about how you did it? What kind of rep work, percentages etc?
And that's backed up by experience!
@fazlifts Can you make a video how you reach 500 squat .
Alex proving that conjugate is the way, for many reasons! Less risk of injury being nr 1.
MAX EFFORT KEEPS THE MOTIVATION 💪 It's reaching failure "or almost" from the first repetition
Exactly!!! Maximum motor unit recruitment from rep one, same grinding as 0 RIR.
@AlexLeonidas Luck bulletproof tons of natural people get tears too this is overused nick Wright tore his pec he's natural it can happen some people aree just unlucky you can do everything right and still have bad stiff happen
@@Uchiadude134 Overuse and it wasn't conjugate programming, I'd argue minimalism + maxing out with elite loads has a higher injury risk for naturals.
@@AlexLeonidas yea nick Wright is natural 100 percent watch his video plenty of other people Alan thrall also rotator cuff and pec strains steroids increase the risk yes but it's all down to genetics and tissues capacity some people naturally just don't have strong tendons or they don't strengthen at the same rate
@@AlexLeonidas yes agreed maxing out with elite loads like 350 400 up that yes completely agree
After 10yrs of lifting ive never injured myself on a max attempt.
Only from overuse and backoff sets where my focus has dwindled
EXACTLY!!!!!!!! That's the real culprit, and it's awesome that you've also put in a decade of ME without injuries.
True. Doing too much is way worse than going too heavy.
looking like a greek god my dude. you motivate all of us
You seriously need to write your own book. Your insight on your methods from conjugate would be a fascinating read. All the knowledge you put in these videos i could read and re read and re read for years.
He did.
@@BuJammy Where is it?
Alex your longform videos like this one and the dip masterclass are your finest work. These should be required viewing for strength training.
That means a lot brother, thank you!!
I love the clips of Alex lifting with sunglasses on! its quite humorous but also bad ass 😂
Hey Alex! You’re exactly right! I’m 16 and I’ve been safely maxing out at least one exercise every week for months now. All my friends say “bro you’re pecs gonna pop like a pimple in if you do that so much” which is just the funniest thing ever to me 😂 like I’m 5’6” 160 lbs finally deadlifting 350 just because I’m young and that shits fun. So many kids my age are hitting sets of 10 and 20 because they think they’re training with Larry wheels and they don’t even know the joys of hitting a 135 OHP.
Sorry for the long comment but you’re awesome man
Or they'll say "you can only get away with it when you're young!" I was told the same thing as a teenager and look what happened 10 years later 😂 Let them keep coping, 350 dead at 160 at your weight and age is awesome. You are ahead of the game.
Haven't even watched yet but I've made up my mind..... we're maxing out on the rack pull above the knee today 🐍
Oh man!!!!!!! That too though, if naturals aren't tearing their traps with 1000lbs (and I did mixed grip with 905lbs) what does that say?
I've been doing the max effort method for about 2 years, maxing out every week, works amazing and ive only ever missed 2 lifts ever, with proper programming and listening to my body. It is the way.
I saw a video of a guy who said he was not going to go up to 135 working weight (not even 1RM) that day "In light of the recent events regarding the Trent twins"....
Brooooooooooo
I can't
Lmao glass chest
That's very true, my knee and shoulder pain stopped when I started concentrating on maxing compounds and variations with gradual progression. And now I train beach volleyball, and still have no knee pain, I suffered more when I was doing a lot of reps, with less weight with more days of training at the gym than now that I jump all the time at volley and squat heavy the day after
Preach brother. You got me into N.E. And maxing out every week too
Hell yeah brother
Just wanna say you are an inspiration to me and many others. Seeing an actual natural athlete reach these numbers while STILL being below 100kgs. Just yesterday i hit my first 150kg bench at 100kg, and am truly inspired to continue the natural grind until i aswell can someday reach 4 plates. Much respect man
Great job, thats a lot
Great video and you hit the nail on the head. Social media is driving the thirst for higher and higher demand for geared lifters to continue to push the barrier and continually hurt themselves. I'm 46 and lifetime drug free and have been powerlifting for over quarter of a century and have only suffered minor injuries over the years, small tears or strains and these have occurred due to loss of form or technique.
Alex you gotta release a upper/lower/push/pull split using the conjugate method. I try my best to follow your advice through several videos but its hard to put it all together. Thanks brother.
Not gone through the whole video yet, but man, I’ll say it again, you figured out so many things and your passion for lifting and intelligence makes you on top of the fitness game. Following a plant-based diet and a really well-thought workout program that gives me results because of you, and for that I’m really thankful. Please keep up your amazing work!!❤
Commenting alpha destiny so i still remember his old school you tube name..
Also i accidentally figured out "maxing out" alway works as long as you are smart with it or rotate your lifts , and you confirmed it through your videos
Rotating is the ONLY way to constantly max out, that's the ultimate hack!
@@AlexLeonidas yeah man thanks for that hack..admittedly I do have ups and downs I'm the gym but rotating lifts literally are like cheat code to regain what I "lost" effectively 💁🏾♂️. And people always ask.."didn't you fall off and were weaker 2 weeks ago? How you this strong again already?".
I'm like, "rotating variations is a cheat code to re awaken that muscle memory fam🤣". And your teachings on different types of reps helped loads too!!
Absolutely true. I’ve maxed out for years. The only time I’ve had any ‘injury’ is overuse issues. Definitely didn’t come from weekly rotated max effort sessions. Cheers!
I'm going to start lifting with shades on too. That's got to be worth an extra rep right there!
So glad you made this video! A lot of people are afraid of maxing out for no real reason!
One thing I have noticed training these past 9 years is that, people that's on gear usually never struggle with their sets. Like hitting a 405lbs bench for 10 reps and none of them slow down. I think they don't want to train to failure because of the issues they have with muscle tears when they put in all their effort. Makes me glad that I have never touched that stuff. I wouldn't want to lift knowing at any moment I train harder than last time I'm eligible for a tendon/muscle rupture. STAY NATTY!!!
Many natty people are the same way. If discomfort isn't a problem for you to handle you will stop like that.
This video actually convinced me to begin some power building. Thanks.
Awesome! Enjoy the natty injury free gains
Thank you Alex. Been so focused on hypertrophy but what you said during this video is so true. Ima try to incorporate more strength training this upcoming meso cycle and see what happens. Appreciate you
(2.5 year natty) I've never injured my chest going for a 1 rep max. I've only irritated my chest by going BEYOND my 1 rep max, which healed in about 4 days. I went for a random 10lbs bench pr because i felt ''strong'' that day. I failed the lift and tried the same weight AGAIN because my ego took over and of course I failed again. I then dropped the weight by 10lbs and tried AGAIN and failed which then irritated/injured my chest. As long as you know your limits and keep your ego out of it there is no fear in going for a 1 rep max. Keep in mind this only caused a SLIGHT irritation in my chest even though I bashed my chest with loads it could not handle.
Bench pr?
@@Backman6 265lbs, started benching last year after 1.5 years of bodyweight training
@@gsewew6080 bw?
@@Backman6 185lbs, 6ft
Yeah, 'cos you've never lifted enough weight to do any damage.
The funny thing is, people tend to focus on the ONE heavy single where someone got injured versus the hundreds, if not thousands of others that same lifter performed without issue. Lifting is inherently dangerous, whether you're doing top singles or high rep work, and the only way to grow and positively adapt is to push into the realm of potential danger. Obviously, limiting risk factors and training intelligently help to mitigate risk, but at the end of the day, if someone sticks with this for long enough, they will get hurt/injured.
Even with the tren twins injury, they seem like they max out very often and haven't had issues, instead, he was feeling slightly injured and tried to do new form on the max 585 attempt, from what I see, most people get hurt if they're doing things safely is overuse or going very intense with new awkward movements your doing got the first time
Yes, but there is a nuance here. You can lift your whole life without tearing anything if you go about intelligently. However, an overuse injury is almost a certainty. This holds true mainly for naturals.
On the other hand, if you're enhanced, you run the risk of tearing a muscle because of the muscle/tendon strength discrepancy Alex mentioned.
Well said
I switched to conjugate following most of your recommendations. I've gotten so much stronger and bigger. I had a real poverty bench press, but that is getting stronger week on week too.
LOVE TO HEAR THIS!!!!
Maxing out is less dangerous than doing 10 reps to RPE10 under fatigue lmao.
I agree! Fatigue is the enemy.
"I just hit 365×5, I should be able to bench 405 finally!" & PEDs is the career ender
Alex your barbell shirt is dope bro thank you for everything
Thanks for supporting me! Glad it fits well.
This man educating us again and again. Love it!
In Italy there is a pt who was able to use some kind of bulgarian method for bench, sumo deadlift, front squat, chin ups amd military press (but works with every lift). He did a max effort in each lift 2 time 2 day, 7 days a week, so he maxed out 14 times a week in each lift. At the end it's all about conditioning and being natural
There’s also a skill component to maxing out. If you don’t hardly ever do sets of 5,3,2 and ones and just throw some plates on for fun, you’re not exactly well prepared.
1000% agree.. gonna maxout on bench soon XD
My man you've also maxed out so many times with weights that even some enhanced people can't even dream of touching! No injuries! Even with worse recovery at times, or random.
Natty resilience, represent!!!!! Haha let's see that new bench PR
It is quite clear, that naturals are less likely injured. However, outside of setting your head for higher weight, theres zero reason to max out, tbh. It still has higher injury rate, lower gains, promotes suboptimal form.
Last sentence and saying zero reason is all wrong. I explain those details in this video.
Your explanation of The Westside Method was my favorite part of this video.
I'm natural and my tendons definitely couldn't keep up with muscles but you definitely can feel it far before you get to the catastrophic level. I have to chill and take a bit of a break to give them a chance to heal up, then I'll focus on building them up specifically.
I think it is more risky unless you’re experienced with maxing out. And like most difficult things, it’s something that takes years of experience to start to master. Like you’ve been doing this a long time dude and most people are not as patient.
Ironically the only time I’ve really gotten hurt was when doing a triple, so maybe it is just random haha
Yep I think for a noobie you probably won’t get injured but still not worth it. As you become intermediate, or advanced since ur stronger Always warming up the used muscles is key to prevent injury
Louie Simmons RIP also said "when you rep to failure you have done just that...failed" but that was in the context of compensatory acceleration from a bootlegged VHS of a bootlegged VHS I watched that until the tape broke. That was in the 90's, these days I like to max out so naturally the title drew me in. After several sets in the higher rep range I add weight to 95% and slow my reps to max out on the 3rd rep. Usually 4 t0 5 sets maybe 10 in all. That's just me, I'm past keeping track because now that I'm in my 70's I don't care but I can't stop. I will say that I used to hurt myself but never maxing out or using compensatory acceleration and I will also say that I watch enough workout content of mostly boring and recycled crap. On the other hand you got something going. Best luck and stay strong!
0:49 master roshi :)
I meannn… everytime I see a pec tear is with the wide grip bench press at near max weights.
You don’t do that kind of grip.
Another point, guys in Arnold’s time did use a super wide grip like that, but Arnold and most of those guys only did bench presses working with 225-315, which 225 was around 50% of Arnold’s max.
But you make a great point about steroids.
Been maxing out on the upper body for nearly 5 years. Not a single injury........ nothing. Bench up to 335 now. Did fuck my lower back up doing volume work on legs lol. Even then I'd say the injury was because I was suffering from insomnia and wasn't eating enough, in other words....I was not recovered.
Not surprising brother, thanks for sharing
Thanks for making such great content for us naturals
Thanks for trusting my word and not being misled be evil influencers. You're a real one.
I don't do 1-rep max's because honestly not sure what the point is; not due to fear of injury. That's not true, entirely; sometimes at the end of my set I will increase my bench and go for one heavy, but aside from that I just don't.
Best content on RUclips BY FAR
For the real ones only, much love Taylor!
The natural lifter, we feel our tendons and ligaments be sore in real time so we know when we can actually max out. My personal biggest limit right now is recovery from that soreness lol
Looking like a true G with the 😎.
Agree completely on your topic. Including max effort work in your training has the opposite effect that the fear mongerers state: it strengthens your tendons and connective tissues. In natural lifters, the tendons are usually much stronger than the muscles.
Where we see problems is in enhanced guys who aren't used to max effort work and are doing it for clicks (like the dudes who have gotten injured training with Larry Wheels, looking at you incline bench pec tear guy) or in enhanced strength athletes as they peak (and drastically increase the pharmacology) for competition. It's a sudden mismatch in muscular strength and tendon strength that leads to these injuries in the vast majority of cases. If you're natural and managing fatigue (i.e. following some degree of programming), having a major myotendinous injury from lifting is highly unlikely.
When I was into vertical jump training in my 20s, it was a well-known fact in that community that plyometrics strengthen the tendons and thicken them over time. This has been known since the 1950s when Soviet athletes were doing insane plyometrics (like depth drops from eye level height, for example). The forces that your tendons experience during plyometrics are much higher than produced lifting weights (like multiple times your body weight), yet I don't know of anyone in the vertical jump community from back then who had a tendon rupture from jump training. Sure, people got jumper's knee and overuse type injuries, but acute injuries didn't happen.
First here brother! Time to make gainzz.
PS : shades lookin' good
So close man, but your passion to make gains is there!
Pretty good quality content man. Subscribed
Spot on as always 🙌👊
Excellent video!!!
Not always but usually on my compound variations I love to start with strength work and follow it with hypertrophy work.
I wish you write a book covers your training philosophy, it would be a great help to us
World wide gains would increase by crazy high margins
Facts, much love Alex
i assume that this is like a follow up video of mikey from the trentwins tearing his chest. I already know what Alex is going to say, i just like hearing him talk
My man!
new garage gym is very aesthetic
This is another addition to the problem. You said it in this video: "I've been maxing out for over 10 years." Maxing out is a skill, just like everything else. And every skill needs gradual progression and grinding to improve. This doesn't mean it can't be dangerous, and it might be slightly more dangerous for enhanced lifters, but it is certainly not safe for the general population. It all comes down to this: Don't do stupid shit, listen to your body, and progress slowly and gradually.
This makes so much sense. I always felt drained after maxing out, but never realized it might be holding me back
I AIN'T EVER GONNA STOP MAXXXING OUT
YEAH BUDDY!!!! ruclips.net/video/NTdd9m5X8FI/видео.html
Thanks Alex great video, more naturals needs to hear this!❤
7:58 batman climbing out the ceiling when lights are switched on.
Every material fails at some stress-repetition cycles, human body is no different, most important thing is 1.are you recovering from stress? and 2.listen to your body.
This is correct and his babble is wrong
This is an excellent example of why this is my favorite strength training channel
I max out every time I lift, never been damaged. In fact I just make more strength gains
Even with rep work, if you use a controlled and relatively slow eccentric + switch up the variation every so often, you’ll be fine. I built up to using 20kg dumbbells on the lying dumbbell curl and I do pelican curls with more than my bodyweight. My biceps have never been torn or damaged.
That's true and wow you got some super strong biceps bro!
@@AlexLeonidasThanks! And for the record I usually use 15-17.5kg dumbbells for that exercise. One day I just decided to test to see if I could do it and I can, but only for 8 on my first set.
He's totally correct on the one rep max thing in order to increase strength. I use to dead lift around maybe 115, just because i didn't do it as often as i should have and didn't push myself as hard. But after some time of practicing to go heavier and heavier, I'm proud to say that i can now dead lift 412 lbs, and that was all because of pushing myself to max out. So i know from experience that this is true. The only way to improve is by pushing yourself to go as heavy as you can to get used to the weight. Static holds has been a really great help in my improvement
my gym just got that bells of steel bar and i love it
excellent vid Alex!!💪🤓
Out of curiosity, do you still mainly eat beans as your diet? I’ve been wondering if I should incorporate more into mine.
Great video
There are enough videos of people getting injured while training with Larry Wheels to get the feeling that maxing out is very injury prone. Also a little experience as a doctor in orthopedic surgery operating in people with long term consequences for maxing out for a long time before paying the price later on.
An analogy to this video is driving at 200 miles per hour and saying is only dangerous to drunk people or those people that do parkour at cliffs or tall buildings saying the problem is only those who are unlucky and fall.
Correct! Although the analogy could be cleaned up a bit.
The man, the myth, the legend😎
We are way more durable than we give ourselves credit for. I’ve never once gotten injured maxing out and I pulled 550lbs at 165lbs 18 years old. The only little things that cause me to feel weird is if something absolutely ridiculous happens, for example the other day I was squatting in a rack I wasnt used to and I hit the pins with the plates on the way down and almost got knocked over to the side but I was still able to finish the set although i felt a touch unbalanced after 😂
Just the video I needed to stay on the path. Thanks man!
I have to disagree slightly.
I'm natty and have done mostly heavy/ max-out training. After hitting my DL PR, I got weaker and didn't take a deload or time off. I did the opposite and pushed myself harder. I tweaked my lower back really badly.
Swapped back squat for front squat and eased into high rep, low intensity romanians. After a while I started regular DLs again. Even though it was submaximal, I was lifting the weight better than I did at the time of my PR. I decided to try to jump to a single that was within 15% of my PR and it flew up fast , but I tweaked my back again, nowhere near as bad as the first time though.
All this to say - if you have injured your ligaments or joints, or are otherwise compromised, you are now in a similar situation as enhanced lifters - your muscles are strong, but your ligaments aren't synced up. If this is the case I think you should stay away from maxing out and slowly ramp up to it over a long period.
Yes he is wrong in everything except the well known fact that on steroids you will grow muscle strength even faster than a natural and it increases the gap between muscle and tendon strength. Everything else is completely false
The thumbnail today is fire bro
I pinned myself under the bar today maxing my bench press. Thanks smith machine for having stops that saved me. (Turns out I can't get 2 reps with 3 plates. I really thought I had the 2nd rep, oops.)
Could you make a video about conjugate style training and how you train in general because I've been training for 3 years and that is a new world to me and I would like to know more about it awesome vids Alex keep it up😎
hey just wanted to add to this, life Time natty, only injury I have ever sustained was a partial(slight) pec tear on a 725lb deadlift. And I pushed my shit hard as I could, think Leonidas is pretty correct here, thanks for the info brother
I'll stick to RPE 0.5 cable crossover with 20s eccentric.
Lol Alex is fcking goated!!!
Thank you for this
Thanks for the video man. I've been agreeing with this for ages now. The steroid community is such a cancer honestly. 99% Of them claim "natty" while selling courses and their bullshit supplements. And they will band together and drag you down if you go against them on their social medias.
You earned yourself a subscriber bro, keep up the good work!
Love to hear a REAL take like this. Welcome aboard Jabbeoo, I couldn't agree more!!!!
the only exception to this rule is likely weighted calisthenics and advanced calisthenics, where even naturals can struggle with injury due to how extreme it is.
Good tips man. Going for a goal of 315lbs bench press naturally at 181cm , 165lbs atm. Am at 245lbs 1rm right now
When full on video course to teach us all of that in a more complete way with rules and methods? I liked the book
Can someone help me? I'm currently stuck at 225x5 bench press and I'm trying to bulk my way into 315. How would you go about doing that, the fastest way possible? (aside from taking PEDs)
Im a natural but my muscle strength outpaced my tendon strength, and I've been injured for over a year now and still have weakness, tendon and muscle pains and nerve pain. What should I do?
That's how the body works being on steroids just makes it happen faster
I mean tested powerlifters max out every training cycle and they rarely get injured from it. In fact, one great example is ThePanash who maxes out regularly and the reps are absolute grinders but he hasn't been injured in years and he's moving huge loads.
I max out occasionally, never had an issue.. I have also have not heard of a pec tear happen to a natural lifter
You know what's an interesting thought? We never heard of pec tears before steroids came out and many OGs were benching 405 and more. Of course it can happen, but it's VERY rare.
Love learning something new. Thanks for this video. Time to up the weight! 😁
Ive gotten injuryed in max attempts as a natty however the root cause was the same as mikey, when i was younger i ignored any pain or feeling of being off and proceeded to YOLO it. Minor pec tear and broken wrist both from bench pressing, my pec happened cause i was pushing and ignored the off feeling in my chest the wrist happen cause my wrist strength wasnt keeping up with my chest strength and i was going RAW.
Every injury I’ve ever had which is many minor and moderate injuries but never a major or complete tear has been from rep work or building up the volume too fast. I’ve also never gotten injured from a 1 rep max. It’s important to also recognise that a muscle belly tear is more common from lacking mobility and when the weight forces a deeper stretch than you can tolerate that’s when a tear occurs.
right on
"refine thine groove"
Excellent perspective
Can totally agree with this. I'm new to lifting (2 1/2 years) and I've never felt any pain maxing out, I actually notice the most pain when I do something like high rep deadlift sets. As long as you have safeties/a spotter, you're absolutely fine maxxing out as a natural as long as you program it correctly so you're not spinning your wheels.
The best gains as a natty I made over 12 years of lifting was with low reps (5-10), high frequency for each muscle (every other day), low volume (not many sets per workout).
This whole mindset of 'chest day, shoulders day...' followed by 20 sets of 20 reps of hitting the same muscle group in a single workout and expecting that it will continue to grow for the remaining 6 days of the week is suboptimal for natties.