Try not to be. I know some guys from my gym who has good calibre to lift amazing weights but won't put the diligent work to get it. Whereas me, im a very small and weak guy, trying everything possible to climb it up as high as possible.
After finally benching 225 for a yolo double, I decided to run smolov jr back to back for bench. Was actually pretty awesome! Got a great mind-tendon connection, really learned what tendonopathy feels like.
I love the explanation of challenge and mastery - as a beginner you get the impression that good training is about progress in load and performance. So you define good training by lifting more or more reps and that's how you get satisfaction. But as intermediate, you need to learn to appreciate the training for the training itself, improving your skills and not just more weight/reps. And that's a hard switch to make, but it's the way to keep the fun in training and prevent frustration. A lesson I definitely need to learn as early intermediate
Total agreement. At the end of my workout, my satisfaction comes from perfectly executed form, breathing, full control of weight, and quality of reps. Another benefit to this focus is being much safer on one's tendons and insertions.
Excellent points everyone. Also, just to add, I have also began to include running and cycling into my training plan. This has drastically changed things as now planning training, recovery and diet become a bit more complex. It’s a great way I think to become a more well rounded athlete. However of course it’s not for everyone. If you want to purely focus on raw strength and size then sticking to weights is probably your best bet, but also include something like Bouldering or callisthenics to start utilising your hard earned gains for new technical skills
I actually think I'm basically an intermediate now after a few years of lazy training and now one very intense year of training, a ton thanks to this channel. Really pushing myself, learning my body, adjusting my program accordingly. Awesome video.
Been training for 27 years now. Owned one of the largest MMA gyms in my county and made some real good gains in both fitness and my martial arts.... i've fluxed with my weight up and down staying health while doing so. I know how my body works and how to bulk or cut effectively. I'd consider that I know a lot, and don't feel I pick up new stuff often. But this channel just goes to show we always learn new stuff. Dude your content is so good and honest.... I feel its a no bull channel, its not trying to sell me a subscription or some magic pill crazy exercise method or that normal social media bull. I actually still learn stuff when I visit weekly.... Thank you my man.
Man, I was literally just thinking about this - I was in that Starting Strength culture for YEARS. And it's exactly like you said. It did great for teaching me how to move my body and move weight, and develop a foundation of strength, but I plateaued a long time ago. In the last 1 year since following this channel, and applying the RP framework, I have made huge gains. Allowing myself to expand my rep ranges and exercises, and especially increase the set volume, have made a massive improvement in my training quality. As always, thank you Dr. Mike and the RP team! However, no coffee shops? Sorry, that's where this friendship ends. This parasocial relationship feels so one sided - it's like you don't even know me!
If starting strength novice lp didn't end after 2 or 3 months it wasn't done correctly. Mark understands that you need to move into weekly then monthly programming that's why there's the book PPST
@@RenaissancePeriodization Oh God, I knew it, it's my own fear of intimacy that has driven me to this state of utter loneliness. Okay. I open up my heart, and my body, to your love
@@benjaminralow1176 Yeah, and that's totally on me. I learned the one thing, and just stuck with it for too long. Didn't do any more rigorous research. Never read PPST
Preach brother, i'm a 100+ kg dude so eating like 200+++ gr of proteins per day is hard as hell (especially if you only eat clean food) and i have chronic insomnia so i sleep only like 6 bad hours per night, or less. I'm never gonna maximize my gains...
Have you tried putting your feet together, knees together, heels stuck to the ground and try to sit on your ankle? Really gives flexibility that makes squatting not suck.
😮The whole thing about increasing time devoted to mastery occurred to me intuitively. It’s not just about adding 5lbs to the bar. It’s about working with each weight until it feels smooth, explosive, and *effortless*
I got stuck in a beginner phase for too long by sticking with the 3 sets of 10. I started researching and watching yours and Jeff Nippard's videos. I saw a huge difference. I wish I had done this earlier. Thanks for your videos!
This is such a breath of fresh air. My friend sent me a link to your channel and I couldn't be happier. The strength world needs more of this type of "rubber meets the road" content. This validates a lot of my thoughts and ideas... Great stuff.
Great video. Would like to see more intermediate themed vids with tips to managing the common un-intended muscles/structures becoming the limiting factor. Like; anterior knee pain alterations with squats, lower back pump instead of hamstrings/glutes, grip strength with pulls (straps), and personally I struggle with long head of triceps with lat pull downs. Any alteration tips on stuff like this would be really helpful for those who're getting to those heavier loads!
I’m becoming an intermediate and what is working for me rep range wise is 12 10 8 on smaller exercises such as lat pull downs and tricep push downs, and 8 5 3 for bigger exercises such as the barbell bench press and barbell back squat.
When I hit a plateau as an intermediate lifter, the single best thing I did to leave it was a) create a plan b) keep a workout journal c) formulate a goal. Keeping the workout journal kept me motivated, but also allowed me to figure out what programs worked better for me in terms of strength and size gains.
Oh boy.. another RP video.. it really is the holiday season, huh? ❤ Edit: holy shit that “challenge week - mastery week” is a fantastic idea for me moving forward..
@@Chaosdude341 good.. been on maintenance for a bit, so training overall has been pretty chill.. Jan. 1st starts part two of my fat loss phase (along with everyone else 😂) Wbu??
As someone who started with purely bodybuilding focused training, using mind muscle connection as an indication that a set is productive definitely slowed me down. Heavy loads only cause technical breakdown if controlling a movement under heavy load is an unpracticed skill for you. Things like trying to take the traps out of delt flys ended up making lose out on a lot of the intensity thats so crucial for adaptation.
Another thing about being an intermediate lifter is recognising that, due to the fact that you're now so much stronger and capable of neuromuscularly efficient outputs, certain exercises that you may have loved as a beginner are no longer good for you. For me it's weighted dips. As a beginner I loved these as a prime builder for the pressing muscles. At this stage, doing meaningful volume with this exercise creates so much fatigue and wear that it's not worth it, at least not as a primary movement. I may still do them as a secondary compound on a day where I'm pressing or I may occasionally build up to a single heavy set of 5 just for enjoyment and to keep strength but it's no longer something I can open up the day with 4/5 sets of 6-8 reps.
I’ll know I’m intermediate when I understand this comment. “So much fatigue and wear that it’s not worth it” sounds like what exercises are supposed to do…yet you’ve interpreted that was a bad thing, co-signed by Dr Mike. I hope to understand this better in time.
@@westmcgee9320 its more about the SFR of what the workout itself produced as you go to the gym longer you figure out how to still push hard and make gains but not to the point where it takes too long too recover from and messes up your split.
I just hit 160kg for 4 reps squat after following all your advice since a year ago, I can't believe you help people for free (we all know it gets you closer to your Italian sex machine) it's great
Ahh, mind muscle connection. That must be why I really love machine preacher curls and bayesian cable curls. Something about those two that they give me a wicked stretch, very good pump (sometimes painful for a bit) and I still get a bit of DOMS despite training them regularly for the last year. I'm starting to get much less DOMS from preachers, but dropsets or clusters have DOMS back on the menu 💪
Man I've been squatting 315 for a few crazy hard reps for a while. There's so many things I still learn. I still have to learn to breath properly. Consistent foot placement, focus.
I think as a female intermediate listening to my body has been the most beneficial mentally and physically. I put way more emphasis on warm up sets to warm up my technique and make sure my muscles are firing the right ways and appropriately (making sure I'm not doing any compensations). Then I add my working set. Then feel it out. If I feel like I could handle and squeeze out a couple reps past my working set. I'll do that or I may drop set if I am feeling good. But thank god for a trainer who showed me how to do hard things and fire the muscles correctly breathing through discomfort. He got me my first couple pull-ups unassisted by form corrections and mind/muscle connection. Forever grateful for a good sports trainer and taking the time to also get a physical therapist evaluation to see how my body moves and where I was compensating and correct them with ROM and Mind/Muscle drills. Also keep in mind lifting for me is like a dance because I do aerial pole gymnastics as a sport so I have to really watch my back/spine/core stability. So when I feel really good I'll hit my back exercises but then know that's all I'm going to get for awhile because I have practice the rest of the week and may need more rest than the average person before I can train my back again. It's a dance. Yay intermediate training. Been at this for 4 years and I keep learning how to move better every day.
ive been working out consistently now for about 5 years and just recently started to learn about the mind muscle connection. I knew about it, you can’t go 5 days in a gym without someone saying the actual words but actually understanding is a different beast. The thing that helped me was playing with the speed and cadence of my reps not necessarily slowing it down but also making one part of the rep slow and the other part explosive helped me really feel it which then carried over to all my sets/reps any way I do them.
2 months in Starting Strength and I plateaued around 270lbs squatting starting around 160. Ate as much as possible (put on 35 pounds in the time. Lots of milk, oatmeal, beef, honey, and rice), and I started taking breaks in the program because my knee hurt and my lower back was feeling worn out. Then I stopped because I could no longer handle working and working out since I was always so burnt out. Then I turned to drugs and relapsed because I feel so worn out in life, and I get sucked into the ease. This has happened to me twice now. But watching several of your videos and understanding the neurological stress build up and it makes sense. I've always done low reps high weight, and the fatigue catches up to me, as I'm forcing my nervous system to move more and more weight with the same amount of muscle, and I expected to feel as rejuvenated as when I was using lower weight. I am going to start phasing in a more hypertrophic program, and work on building muscle mass for a few months (which was one of my main goals besides understanding my body and feeling comfortable/strong) and then switch back to training my nervous system. I am going to use front squats at a higher rep range to build my abs, spinae erectors, and quads, which were my two weaker points squatting.
This sounds pretty much identical to my experience. I did starting strength in Oct 2019. By the end of the year, I could squat 250x5, previous max being 180x5. Went from 175-195lbs. Definitely gained muscle along with fat. Knees and lower back were unhappy. Wish I had switched then to a hypertrophy program with these things in mind.
@@skyfire1129 luckily we know now so when we go again, we will only be better. More muscle, and more strength with better listening abilities to our bodies limits. Imma get going again real soon but I’ve been letting my back and knees heal up.
Starting Strength is like the title says, just for beginner and novice gains to be done with as quickly as possible. Intermediate lifters are supposed to use practical programming, the other book from Mark for powerlifting focus.
I guess I was definitely an intermediate years ago in my mid twenties when I was at the peak of my lifting career, deadlifting 180kgs, squatting and benching 110kgs. Doing lots of compounds. No perfect technique. Looking swole. Then, there came injuries and accidentally renewed party life. Now, in my mid thirties there is 100% focus and perfect technique, but the injuries keep coming. Mentally very challenging to be there and do light machines all the time...I wanna be big again!
"Perfect technique" means nothing. I'm turning 37 in a couple months and due to the way my body is (knees, hips, hypermobility in my joints, etc) a lot of "perfect technique" CAUSES injuries rather than preventing them. Yes, technique matters and there's a proper technique that works for an overwhelming majority of people, but if you're getting injured doing those techniques then they aren't perfect for you. Look into different stances, different elbow positions, different shoulder alignment, whatever you need to do to prevent injuries and try it with lower weight for a couple weeks then increase from there. I have the absolute weirdest squat stance due to my knees, hips and lower back but it's what keeps my lower back from screaming at me for a month, unlike "proper" squats which do cause actual injury to me.
I've been an off and on gym goer since high school. Now I'm 33 at just over 4 months of 5 days/week and seeing good results. Been watching all your videos. Great stuff! Hoping I can stick to it this time and see what I'm capable of before I get too old 😬
Hi Dr. Mike!🙂 It would really make my day if you could take a little bit of your time to answer this question: If my goal is to optimize as much as possible hypertrophy for my lower body and if I have total freedom on my schedule... what would be, in your expert opinion, the best way to go regarding my “lower body activity level“ right after my leg workout as well as the day after my leg day? 1.Using my legs/moving as little as possible. 2.Using my legs as little as possible EXCEPT for slow and short walks after each meals to bring nutrients to the damaged muscles to potentially help with the recovery process. 3.Just moving around normally without worrying about my lower body activity level because it will make no to little difference anyway. 4.Another option I am not considering. And does incorporating a little bit of stretching can be a good idea as well or no stretching at all would be better? I am open to every bit of your knowledge/any comments on the subject if you ever want to share. Just know that you are my favourite hypertrophy teacher on the internet right now. Happy holidays Dr. Mike!🎉😊
You are overthinking it... simply avoid high impact activities on your legs (not a good idea running, specially on hard surfaces, although that depends of each individual). You can walk normally (I assume you will not walk 10 kms) and do your daily activities, even take walks and low impact/low intensity cardio.
@@pablov1323 he wants to maximize his gains! So his question is does he need to move to bring nutrients to the muscles after a workout? Or is it not even noticeable to do so? Would resting maximize his hypertrophy more than walking? Or the other way around? He wants to add every bit of stimulus as possible! Just like us all. Might be over thinking it but that's what Dr. Mike said to do, just think and try new things. He doesn't know if he should waste hit time with it or not.
For me it was training too much variation that was holding me back, I used to do typical bro workouts with a thousand different exercises and accessory movements. Realising all that crap wasn’t benefiting me in anyway and just reducing my recovery, and cutting down my workouts by about 70% as a result Since then my approach has been focus on the important movements, the squat, the deadlift, the snatch and the clean, and get really really good at them, rather than just being ok to bad at lots of exercises
Love the video! Made me realize, doing excercises is the easiest part. The planning, analysing and knowing what the hell are You doing is the hard and super scary part. So many variables to consider. Hope it all gets easier with time.
I think it will, my view of it is I felt way more lost and in a constant state of adding volume and changing exercises too frequently before I had learned about the current general recommendations for programming. It's empowering once you have a good idea of all the areas you have to work with, and how to test where you primarily need to improve. Makes training feel like a video game where you upgrade yourself
You're right about pushing yourself to figure out where your limits are. I thought I had estimated my squat 10RM weight correctly until I got to the last week of my mesocycle and hit 21 reps with 1RIR. Upped my 10RM by 10kg for the next mesocycle, but my reps are still too high. So either I'm gaining strength ridiculously fast (unlikely) or I just wasn't pushing myself hard enough on squats before.
Thanks a lot for this video. It's weird but I always knew something was wrong in my training but never could point to what. Turns out I've been doing two years of minde muscle connection bullshit while having farily slow progression even though I'm sore after my workouts. Somehow convinced myself that honing in on the technique with the same weights would count as progressive overload. Heading to the gym now to look for real overload and go get back my gainz ! Thank you so much for all the knowledge you share. I have learned so much thanks to you guys !
Thank you for this. I'm intermediate and I still train for newbie gainz and wonder why it's not working. Thank you very much. My approach will be different from here. You are a rock star coach!
I'm still a beginner. All thanks to dr. mike I broke out of the optimal workout split and pump chasing and started training to failure. Learnt how to program properly and use MRV, MAV and all that good stuff. The gains have been crazy. All the credit goes to this channel along with Natural hypertrophy, Alphadestiny, Geoffrey Schofield, Mind pump tv
Wish I knew what this man puts out back when I started. Stronglifts program will easily put you into intermediate if done correctly. Then you start hitting plateaus in multiple lifts. This is when diet and load/volume ratio start becoming limiting. Your body aches trying to push this heavy every workout, and recovery is taking longer. Throw in some alt exercises, do higher rep ranges, eat more, break plateaus. You learn to take more than a day off(Deload) and periodically change your program when you stall. Make sure to cut every so often and eat better...or put on 40lbs like I had at this point. Took a stall to motivate me to cut and it was 2 years to get that off. I'm stuck at high-intermediate due to time restraints, age and worn joints/back now from stubbornly sticking to low reps for so long from stronglifts. That is the downside to over-obsessing with the amazing strength gainz of Stronglifts. I have been lifting consistently for 12+ years.
Dr. Myk Al here with not making enough gains. Sometimes I feel like the videos made on this channel are aimed directly at me lol.. Ive been spinning my wheels all year after 3 years of consistent working out. I just cant seem to put on any meaningful reps or weight.
One problem I have with knowing whether I'm actually progressing in terms of strength is I don't always do the same exercises in the same order. For example with chest training, if I go to failure with DB press and then do pec fly, I hit failure on pec fly at a lower weight than if I did it first. And the reason why I sometimes have to switch the order is because of bench or machine availability at the gym 🤷♂️
Been at the gym for 1 year, 11 days. And I'm starting to learn the mistakes that are outlined in this video; invaluable advice! And making people laugh while learning, increases retention 5-fold. Thanks Dr Mike! 🙏 🎉
When I started, I had to rely on advice from the guy who sat in the corner of the change rooms at the gym. Beginner knowledge was free, then there came a price and you can't wash that shame off. Dr Mike, amazing advice that you can use and still look your mother in the eye come Christmas time. Well, maybe not entirely but at least for a second.
Great video. I was stuck for a while and then I forced myself to start watching your videos and other videos of the pros and I realized I can train harder than what I thought was possible and I learned to concentrate way more on technique, slow eccentrics with powerful concentric and progress started showing itself once again. Love your videos, always in the back of my head when I train now.
For me, a true mind muscle connection cannot happen until you get to at least the intermediate stage because the muscles have to develop first using a few different techniques and then once they get past a certain point, you can truly work on your form and squeeze each muscle through each contraction of full range of motion and then you will feel a mind muscle connection
You called me out directly with the lat thing 😂😂Last year was my 3rd year of training seriously (I trained 3 years prior to that but was just a casual lifter) and on a single arm cable lat pulldown I got to the point where I could "feel" my lats like crazy, but now I realize it wasn't doing much for muscle growth (because as you could guess, I didn't get stronger on that specific exercise lol). You know your shit Dr. Thanks for remembering the intermediates! A lot of body builders on RUclips just talk about super advanced stuff.
I’ve been lifting for 3 going on 4 years now and I’ve found that my workout has evolved over time I’ve added things taken somthings out. I will use one movement for a period and sub it for another. I’ll superset certain things. The intensity of the workout for me is the main focus. Maximize intensity with the window of time I have each day. And nutrition is the other thing I’ve really been focusing on it’s been a process. I had to pivot last year bc my gains halted its good to be open minded with your training
I'm not sure if I can legitimately consider myself an intermediate but I made a MAJOR change when I stopped logging every set, tracking every weight. I was going through some very mentally painful life at the time a was just going to the gym to enjoy myself. That was 2 years ago. I've progressed so much more now. I mentally do "track" the exercises I do (ie, rotate through the variations) but Im still not logging my sets. I'm in there to enjoy myself, feel the muscle, feel the contraction, hit failure a lot. But above all, enjoy myself. That alone has made a massive difference.
Fantastic video. It came extremely handy. Specially point 5 I was wondering about that last week and I started a journal, simple notes where I keep what was my volume on that excercise last time I did it and log the changes which hopefully will be always evolving. Thanks for the knowledge man
It’s something I’ve seen with a lot of people at the gym I go to, they train for about 8 months to a year, see massive gains in size and strength and then plateau, hard. For me when I cut out about 70% of my workout, mostly bullshit accessory movements and crap like that, my strength exploded again. On legs days now I do snatch, back squat and RDLs, and that’s it. In the last 3 months I’ve added 27kg to my squat PR and 80kg to my RDL working set (60kg to 140kg) leg gains have been insane as well
Idk if I’m fully advanced or still on my way. But one big topic is plateaus. I think that us naturals need to really take the long term approach and really only focus on advancing a few muscles at a time while maintaining the rest.
I would love advice for a 58 year old female, bilateral hip and knee injuries, low back and shoulder arthritis but I still want to maximize posterior chain hypertrophy.
''sticking to same exercise'' so true. Working out from a home gym I can mostly just do ''squat'' for quads. Low bar are crap for MY quads. Currently trying high bar and i've order myself a SSB ! Tired of not feeling tired in the quads AHAH. Wish I had a leg press/hack squat quads machine
I'm intermediate in terms of time but I've never been able to squat my bw for reps and it frustrates me so much. I keep having back issues. Admittedly, I only really started pushing myself by increasing weight around 2019 and during the pandemic I had to rely on calisthenics but still...
Many very useful, and honest info here..... Big Mike. Mastering an exercise usually doesn't include actually doing the leverage over, and over (we avoid plateaus this way) in m/e phases. Could you cover Conjugate in one of these videos? Get that cough checked out, Biggs.... wait uh minute, no hippies?.....
@@akbananachucker2441 Im a Conjugate Powerlifter, and DM understands the point I am making. What don't you understand? Also, I didn't "say" anything, I typed coherent, and succinct words
@@autisticplane8066 who the hell is DM? Oh Dr. Mike. I doubt he gives a f about what hippies have to say. Especially ones trying to sound weird. This is a bodybuilding channel. Not many understand that crap. Why don't you just take the pecker out of your mouth and talk so we can all understand here.
Needed this, been lifting since 14 on and off with wrestling and boxing (22 now) Broke my arm bad 2 years ago. Elbow replacement, big scar splitting my tricep in two. Gave up for a year, got back in and got my gains back. Def an intermediate, know how to work out for me just not huge.
about to enter intermediate after 2yrs training hard. made good gains, and I was lazy in the food and supplements area, taking about a month off to fix my ac joint and about to go hard again but thanks to this video with a much clearer view on how am going about it.
I'm 71. Have literally been training off and on since i was 16. At this point, all I am doing is desperately working to maintain muscular and skeletal health. May be a loosing proposition, but I'm pretty stubborn. When i train to failure, it's a hard stop. I can't do another good rep period. Sometimes i get a good pump. Sometimes i don't. Pretty aggravating. Working around injuries new and old is a challenge. Sometimes feel like I'll never progress again. I keep at it anyway. At least I can slow the loss as i age.
my greatest intermediate mistake was not taking a deload, not listening to my body, and Overtraining for 3 years straight... I didn't even stop knowing my lifts are going down. It was so bad that I'm only lifting 50% of my max... for 3 years...
2:39 How exactly would you increase weight in that scenario, let‘s say for the bench press: Session 1: 200 lbs Session 2: 210 lbs Session 3: 200 lbs with better form Session 4: 220 lbs ?
Session 1: 200 lbs Session 2: 200 lbs with better form Session 3: 210 lbs I think that’s what he’s saying An helpful approach I found is using rep ranges instead of just rep goals: let’s say you have to do 3 sets with 8-12 reps Session 1: 200 lbs 10-10-9 Session 2: 200 lbs 12-12-12 Session 3: 210 lbs 10-9-9 Basically every time you hit the top of the rep range for every set you go up in weight, instead of going up in weight every session
Just bought a Jeff Nippard program, definitely going to tailor follow 6! (but Jeff knows his stuff, be interesting to see the customisations he's added 🤓)
Question: Will having a better mind muscle connection cause you to be sore more than usual? Im 34 and have been working out off and on since I was 18 (I was consistent the first 7 years then took a 4 year break where I would work out every now and then but have started working out consistently again the last 5 years). I’ve followed every plan there is (5x5, 7x7, 8x8, German volume, Arnold’s workout, Dorian Yates workout, strongman, powerlifting, etc) so I’ve had high volume/low volume and everything Inbetween. But over the last year or two I personally feel like I’ve gotten better mind muscle connection then ever before but my workouts, that wouldn’t even phase me in my younger days, have left me so sore it’s crazy sometimes for days. I use to consider getting sore a sign of a very good workout back when I would only get sore every now and then but now it feels like I’m either doing something extremely well or extremely bad or maybe I’m just getting old lol.
I disagree on your take on 531 being low volume. The current recommendations for 531 templates are usually 3-4 days of training per week with 8 sets of compound movements (bench, squat, press, deadlift) and 50-100 reps of pushing, pulling, and single leg (or core) work every session. This should be well above MEV.
Agree. I feel like he might be slightly bias against what's essentially a direct competitor to his own programming 🤷🏻♂️ Burger King don't go telling everyone how great McDonald's Big Macs are, right?
4:20 Doing your individual SFR research is hard. My squat is stuck at a plateau and I don’t know what else to experiment with other than squats with different weights and rep ranges, yet I can’t seem to break through.
Do wide stance or front squats if you want change, but you could cycle through volume cycles with your 65%1RM 80% 90% even 95% of your 1RM, while working on single leg strength. Sometimes a 55% 10x10 GVT would spark so much DOMS that your 5RM might become a 6RM
For me doing accessory exercises to help stabilizer muscles have helped a lot. As do Bulgarian split squats and leg presses with one leg. Fixing asymmetries allowing for more efficient force transfer.
Love your content. Do you have a video that you recommend as a starting place to learn your overall theories/opinions on training? I always feel like I'm jumping into the middle. Thank you.
Beginner gains is why I work out for 3 months, quit, then come back. I get to repeat beginner gains year round! 😆
Working smarter not harder
Lmao
Try not to be. I know some guys from my gym who has good calibre to lift amazing weights but won't put the diligent work to get it. Whereas me, im a very small and weak guy, trying everything possible to climb it up as high as possible.
Same. Put in a solid 2-6 weeks, something interrupts my groove, start again 🤷♂️
@@Sluttybags that's called a deload.....
After finally benching 225 for a yolo double, I decided to run smolov jr back to back for bench. Was actually pretty awesome! Got a great mind-tendon connection, really learned what tendonopathy feels like.
Bahahaha
LOL
Ayo 💀
what did your strength go up to?
I once did a Sally porter with my biceps on a flat track whipping the bottle! Man!
I love the explanation of challenge and mastery - as a beginner you get the impression that good training is about progress in load and performance. So you define good training by lifting more or more reps and that's how you get satisfaction. But as intermediate, you need to learn to appreciate the training for the training itself, improving your skills and not just more weight/reps. And that's a hard switch to make, but it's the way to keep the fun in training and prevent frustration. A lesson I definitely need to learn as early intermediate
Yep, I don't think I learned that lesson for about 15 years and I paid the price in injuries and poor results! - Dr. Mike
Total agreement. At the end of my workout, my satisfaction comes from perfectly executed form, breathing, full control of weight, and quality of reps. Another benefit to this focus is being much safer on one's tendons and insertions.
Excellent points everyone. Also, just to add, I have also began to include running and cycling into my training plan. This has drastically changed things as now planning training, recovery and diet become a bit more complex. It’s a great way I think to become a more well rounded athlete. However of course it’s not for everyone. If you want to purely focus on raw strength and size then sticking to weights is probably your best bet, but also include something like Bouldering or callisthenics to start utilising your hard earned gains for new technical skills
Dr Mike is a national treasure.
Thank you. As an Intermediate for 7 years with slow progression I found this very helpful
I actually think I'm basically an intermediate now after a few years of lazy training and now one very intense year of training, a ton thanks to this channel. Really pushing myself, learning my body, adjusting my program accordingly. Awesome video.
Suspect
Keep on doing a good job, and thanks for the props! - Dr. Mike
Nice, dont stop!
@@Dusta_Rhymes name checks out
@@RenaissancePeriodization l
Been training for 27 years now. Owned one of the largest MMA gyms in my county and made some real good gains in both fitness and my martial arts.... i've fluxed with my weight up and down staying health while doing so. I know how my body works and how to bulk or cut effectively. I'd consider that I know a lot, and don't feel I pick up new stuff often. But this channel just goes to show we always learn new stuff. Dude your content is so good and honest.... I feel its a no bull channel, its not trying to sell me a subscription or some magic pill crazy exercise method or that normal social media bull. I actually still learn stuff when I visit weekly.... Thank you my man.
Man, I was literally just thinking about this - I was in that Starting Strength culture for YEARS. And it's exactly like you said. It did great for teaching me how to move my body and move weight, and develop a foundation of strength, but I plateaued a long time ago. In the last 1 year since following this channel, and applying the RP framework, I have made huge gains. Allowing myself to expand my rep ranges and exercises, and especially increase the set volume, have made a massive improvement in my training quality.
As always, thank you Dr. Mike and the RP team!
However, no coffee shops? Sorry, that's where this friendship ends. This parasocial relationship feels so one sided - it's like you don't even know me!
If starting strength novice lp didn't end after 2 or 3 months it wasn't done correctly. Mark understands that you need to move into weekly then monthly programming that's why there's the book PPST
Yeah man, I feel that! And you know what, I TRIED to get to know you, but you keep pushing everyone around you away! LET ME LOVE YOU! - Dr. Mike
@@RenaissancePeriodization Oh God, I knew it, it's my own fear of intimacy that has driven me to this state of utter loneliness. Okay. I open up my heart, and my body, to your love
@@benjaminralow1176 Yeah, and that's totally on me. I learned the one thing, and just stuck with it for too long. Didn't do any more rigorous research. Never read PPST
@@lowlyloop 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
My biggest mistakes were not enough protein and going to bed late every night.
Resting alone grows muscles doesn’t have to be long sleep
@@ODDMAN-g4w nope
@@ODDMAN-g4w That's nonsense, sleeping is basically as important to growing muscles as doing the training itself.
@@TehIdiotOne probably more important than stimulus ( training )
Preach brother, i'm a 100+ kg dude so eating like 200+++ gr of proteins per day is hard as hell (especially if you only eat clean food) and i have chronic insomnia so i sleep only like 6 bad hours per night, or less.
I'm never gonna maximize my gains...
Implementing leg presses was a game changer... squats always felt terrible and I just kept forcing them because I'm an idiot.
Have you tried putting your feet together, knees together, heels stuck to the ground and try to sit on your ankle? Really gives flexibility that makes squatting not suck.
@@josh2711or try sumo! with the way my legs are inserted at my hips
I get 0 flexibility when my legs are close together
I like how I’m hitting those peaks little by little but your right switching up techniques is the key of true muscle build and recovery
😮The whole thing about increasing time devoted to mastery occurred to me intuitively. It’s not just about adding 5lbs to the bar. It’s about working with each weight until it feels smooth, explosive, and *effortless*
Yes
Also getting your joints stronger
Like when goku & gohan mastered Super Sayain in the hyperbolic time chamber. Master where you're at, then move on. 💯💯
Going through that myself
I got stuck in a beginner phase for too long by sticking with the 3 sets of 10. I started researching and watching yours and Jeff Nippard's videos. I saw a huge difference. I wish I had done this earlier. Thanks for your videos!
lmao 3 sets of 10 reminds me of 2014 days
Did you add sets or reps? How did you alter your routine to help your progress?
what did you do differently?
What do you do now?
Did you change your name?
Intermediate is enough for me. Just maintenance with no suffering.
Yeah, I mean past that is miniscule gains anyways
This is such a breath of fresh air. My friend sent me a link to your channel and I couldn't be happier. The strength world needs more of this type of "rubber meets the road" content. This validates a lot of my thoughts and ideas... Great stuff.
Great video. Would like to see more intermediate themed vids with tips to managing the common un-intended muscles/structures becoming the limiting factor. Like; anterior knee pain alterations with squats, lower back pump instead of hamstrings/glutes, grip strength with pulls (straps), and personally I struggle with long head of triceps with lat pull downs. Any alteration tips on stuff like this would be really helpful for those who're getting to those heavier loads!
I’m becoming an intermediate and what is working for me rep range wise is 12 10 8 on smaller exercises such as lat pull downs and tricep push downs, and 8 5 3 for bigger exercises such as the barbell bench press and barbell back squat.
When I hit a plateau as an intermediate lifter, the single best thing I did to leave it was a) create a plan b) keep a workout journal c) formulate a goal. Keeping the workout journal kept me motivated, but also allowed me to figure out what programs worked better for me in terms of strength and size gains.
Thankfully I didn't make any of these mistakes since I had watched RP/Dr Mike extensively before I got to the Intermediate+ area
Twenty four years later, I’m still a beginner but I’m making gains like a pro… little to none 😂
Real 😭
Oh boy.. another RP video.. it really is the holiday season, huh? ❤
Edit: holy shit that “challenge week - mastery week” is a fantastic idea for me moving forward..
I'll keep me ears out for the challenge week quote, thanks for sharing your favorite part. How's your training going?
@@Chaosdude341 good.. been on maintenance for a bit, so training overall has been pretty chill.. Jan. 1st starts part two of my fat loss phase (along with everyone else 😂)
Wbu??
100%
As someone who started with purely bodybuilding focused training, using mind muscle connection as an indication that a set is productive definitely slowed me down. Heavy loads only cause technical breakdown if controlling a movement under heavy load is an unpracticed skill for you. Things like trying to take the traps out of delt flys ended up making lose out on a lot of the intensity thats so crucial for adaptation.
Thank you for this comment
Hey man, the only reason I have any traps is from years of bad delt raise form 😅
Another thing about being an intermediate lifter is recognising that, due to the fact that you're now so much stronger and capable of neuromuscularly efficient outputs, certain exercises that you may have loved as a beginner are no longer good for you. For me it's weighted dips. As a beginner I loved these as a prime builder for the pressing muscles. At this stage, doing meaningful volume with this exercise creates so much fatigue and wear that it's not worth it, at least not as a primary movement. I may still do them as a secondary compound on a day where I'm pressing or I may occasionally build up to a single heavy set of 5 just for enjoyment and to keep strength but it's no longer something I can open up the day with 4/5 sets of 6-8 reps.
Yesss very wise. - Dr. Mike
I’ll know I’m intermediate when I understand this comment.
“So much fatigue and wear that it’s not worth it” sounds like what exercises are supposed to do…yet you’ve interpreted that was a bad thing, co-signed by Dr Mike.
I hope to understand this better in time.
@@westmcgee9320 its more about the SFR of what the workout itself produced as you go to the gym longer you figure out how to still push hard and make gains but not to the point where it takes too long too recover from and messes up your split.
I just hit 160kg for 4 reps squat after following all your advice since a year ago, I can't believe you help people for free (we all know it gets you closer to your Italian sex machine) it's great
That’s great dude! ATG?
@@lukaposeidon8490 what's tag mean?
Congratulations!!! - Dr. Mike
@@akbananachucker2441 ATG is Ass-to-grass or a full depth squat.
@@lukaposeidon8490 yes, and a slow eccentric
Ahh, mind muscle connection. That must be why I really love machine preacher curls and bayesian cable curls. Something about those two that they give me a wicked stretch, very good pump (sometimes painful for a bit) and I still get a bit of DOMS despite training them regularly for the last year. I'm starting to get much less DOMS from preachers, but dropsets or clusters have DOMS back on the menu 💪
Man I've been squatting 315 for a few crazy hard reps for a while. There's so many things I still learn. I still have to learn to breath properly. Consistent foot placement, focus.
I think as a female intermediate listening to my body has been the most beneficial mentally and physically. I put way more emphasis on warm up sets to warm up my technique and make sure my muscles are firing the right ways and appropriately (making sure I'm not doing any compensations). Then I add my working set. Then feel it out. If I feel like I could handle and squeeze out a couple reps past my working set. I'll do that or I may drop set if I am feeling good. But thank god for a trainer who showed me how to do hard things and fire the muscles correctly breathing through discomfort. He got me my first couple pull-ups unassisted by form corrections and mind/muscle connection. Forever grateful for a good sports trainer and taking the time to also get a physical therapist evaluation to see how my body moves and where I was compensating and correct them with ROM and Mind/Muscle drills. Also keep in mind lifting for me is like a dance because I do aerial pole gymnastics as a sport so I have to really watch my back/spine/core stability. So when I feel really good I'll hit my back exercises but then know that's all I'm going to get for awhile because I have practice the rest of the week and may need more rest than the average person before I can train my back again. It's a dance. Yay intermediate training. Been at this for 4 years and I keep learning how to move better every day.
Over 20 yrs ago throwing weight around was what I did. I've learned controlling the resistance is most important. Also focusing on a full stretch
ive been working out consistently now for about 5 years and just recently started to learn about the mind muscle connection. I knew about it, you can’t go 5 days in a gym without someone saying the actual words but actually understanding is a different beast. The thing that helped me was playing with the speed and cadence of my reps not necessarily slowing it down but also making one part of the rep slow and the other part explosive helped me really feel it which then carried over to all my sets/reps any way I do them.
2 months in Starting Strength and I plateaued around 270lbs squatting starting around 160. Ate as much as possible (put on 35 pounds in the time. Lots of milk, oatmeal, beef, honey, and rice), and I started taking breaks in the program because my knee hurt and my lower back was feeling worn out. Then I stopped because I could no longer handle working and working out since I was always so burnt out. Then I turned to drugs and relapsed because I feel so worn out in life, and I get sucked into the ease. This has happened to me twice now.
But watching several of your videos and understanding the neurological stress build up and it makes sense. I've always done low reps high weight, and the fatigue catches up to me, as I'm forcing my nervous system to move more and more weight with the same amount of muscle, and I expected to feel as rejuvenated as when I was using lower weight. I am going to start phasing in a more hypertrophic program, and work on building muscle mass for a few months (which was one of my main goals besides understanding my body and feeling comfortable/strong) and then switch back to training my nervous system. I am going to use front squats at a higher rep range to build my abs, spinae erectors, and quads, which were my two weaker points squatting.
This sounds pretty much identical to my experience. I did starting strength in Oct 2019. By the end of the year, I could squat 250x5, previous max being 180x5. Went from 175-195lbs. Definitely gained muscle along with fat. Knees and lower back were unhappy. Wish I had switched then to a hypertrophy program with these things in mind.
@@skyfire1129 luckily we know now so when we go again, we will only be better. More muscle, and more strength with better listening abilities to our bodies limits. Imma get going again real soon but I’ve been letting my back and knees heal up.
Hope you watched "What Repetition Range Should YOU Train In?" from this channel.
Starting Strength is like the title says, just for beginner and novice gains to be done with as quickly as possible. Intermediate lifters are supposed to use practical programming, the other book from Mark for powerlifting focus.
I guess I was definitely an intermediate years ago in my mid twenties when I was at the peak of my lifting career, deadlifting 180kgs, squatting and benching 110kgs. Doing lots of compounds. No perfect technique. Looking swole. Then, there came injuries and accidentally renewed party life. Now, in my mid thirties there is 100% focus and perfect technique, but the injuries keep coming. Mentally very challenging to be there and do light machines all the time...I wanna be big again!
TRT
"Perfect technique" means nothing. I'm turning 37 in a couple months and due to the way my body is (knees, hips, hypermobility in my joints, etc) a lot of "perfect technique" CAUSES injuries rather than preventing them. Yes, technique matters and there's a proper technique that works for an overwhelming majority of people, but if you're getting injured doing those techniques then they aren't perfect for you. Look into different stances, different elbow positions, different shoulder alignment, whatever you need to do to prevent injuries and try it with lower weight for a couple weeks then increase from there. I have the absolute weirdest squat stance due to my knees, hips and lower back but it's what keeps my lower back from screaming at me for a month, unlike "proper" squats which do cause actual injury to me.
This couldn't come at a more perfect time for me, thank you Dr. Mike
I've been an off and on gym goer since high school. Now I'm 33 at just over 4 months of 5 days/week and seeing good results. Been watching all your videos. Great stuff! Hoping I can stick to it this time and see what I'm capable of before I get too old 😬
Hi Dr. Mike!🙂
It would really make my day if you could take a little bit of your time to answer this question:
If my goal is to optimize as much as possible hypertrophy for my lower body and if I have total freedom on my schedule... what would be, in your expert opinion, the best way to go regarding my “lower body activity level“ right after my leg workout as well as the day after my leg day?
1.Using my legs/moving as little as possible.
2.Using my legs as little as possible EXCEPT for slow and short walks after each meals to bring nutrients to the damaged muscles to potentially help with the recovery process.
3.Just moving around normally without worrying about my lower body activity level because it will make no to little difference anyway.
4.Another option I am not considering.
And does incorporating a little bit of stretching can be a good idea as well or no stretching at all would be better? I am open to every bit of your knowledge/any comments on the subject if you ever want to share.
Just know that you are my favourite hypertrophy teacher on the internet right now. Happy holidays Dr. Mike!🎉😊
How lazy can you be?
You are overthinking it... simply avoid high impact activities on your legs (not a good idea running, specially on hard surfaces, although that depends of each individual). You can walk normally (I assume you will not walk 10 kms) and do your daily activities, even take walks and low impact/low intensity cardio.
@@pablov1323 he wants to maximize his gains! So his question is does he need to move to bring nutrients to the muscles after a workout? Or is it not even noticeable to do so? Would resting maximize his hypertrophy more than walking? Or the other way around? He wants to add every bit of stimulus as possible! Just like us all. Might be over thinking it but that's what Dr. Mike said to do, just think and try new things. He doesn't know if he should waste hit time with it or not.
My vote is #3, but err on the side of not going on crazy long walks or bike rides to where you're ultra tired in your legs after. - Dr. Mike
@@RenaissancePeriodization Wow thank you so much for taking the time Dr. Mike!!!😃😀🥳🥳👌👌
Thanks for putting this out there for free.
😂😂😂 this is the funniest video I’ve watched in years 😭 he pretty much called me out on every category while cracking jokes. “Thanks Frank Zane!” 🤣
For me it was training too much variation that was holding me back, I used to do typical bro workouts with a thousand different exercises and accessory movements. Realising all that crap wasn’t benefiting me in anyway and just reducing my recovery, and cutting down my workouts by about 70% as a result
Since then my approach has been focus on the important movements, the squat, the deadlift, the snatch and the clean, and get really really good at them, rather than just being ok to bad at lots of exercises
“Less is more”
Love the video! Made me realize, doing excercises is the easiest part. The planning, analysing and knowing what the hell are You doing is the hard and super scary part. So many variables to consider. Hope it all gets easier with time.
I think it will, my view of it is I felt way more lost and in a constant state of adding volume and changing exercises too frequently before I had learned about the current general recommendations for programming. It's empowering once you have a good idea of all the areas you have to work with, and how to test where you primarily need to improve. Makes training feel like a video game where you upgrade yourself
make sure you deload!!!
You're right about pushing yourself to figure out where your limits are. I thought I had estimated my squat 10RM weight correctly until I got to the last week of my mesocycle and hit 21 reps with 1RIR. Upped my 10RM by 10kg for the next mesocycle, but my reps are still too high. So either I'm gaining strength ridiculously fast (unlikely) or I just wasn't pushing myself hard enough on squats before.
Run a one-rep max test for squats. And agreed it also sounds like you are hard undertraining
You’re way underestimating your 1RIR
Been following RP and taking your advice for a bit now. Thank you for not keeping me stuck as a beginner!
Thanks a lot for this video.
It's weird but I always knew something was wrong in my training but never could point to what. Turns out I've been doing two years of minde muscle connection bullshit while having farily slow progression even though I'm sore after my workouts. Somehow convinced myself that honing in on the technique with the same weights would count as progressive overload.
Heading to the gym now to look for real overload and go get back my gainz !
Thank you so much for all the knowledge you share. I have learned so much thanks to you guys !
#6 is a big one. Especially considering that a lot of programs (especially specialization & peaking routines) were created by/for enhanced lifters.
This was fantastic! Will you be doing a similar video for Advanced trainees?
Thank you for this. I'm intermediate and I still train for newbie gainz and wonder why it's not working. Thank you very much. My approach will be different from here. You are a rock star coach!
The set ranges advice was great. I revently switched to doing less sets and i am getting stronger. Its so jarring to think about but it works.
this guy is funny and informative, he is full of knowledge with sense of humor
I'm still a beginner. All thanks to dr. mike I broke out of the optimal workout split and pump chasing and started training to failure. Learnt how to program properly and use MRV, MAV and all that good stuff. The gains have been crazy. All the credit goes to this channel along with Natural hypertrophy, Alphadestiny, Geoffrey Schofield, Mind pump tv
Wish I knew what this man puts out back when I started. Stronglifts program will easily put you into intermediate if done correctly. Then you start hitting plateaus in multiple lifts. This is when diet and load/volume ratio start becoming limiting. Your body aches trying to push this heavy every workout, and recovery is taking longer. Throw in some alt exercises, do higher rep ranges, eat more, break plateaus. You learn to take more than a day off(Deload) and periodically change your program when you stall.
Make sure to cut every so often and eat better...or put on 40lbs like I had at this point. Took a stall to motivate me to cut and it was 2 years to get that off. I'm stuck at high-intermediate due to time restraints, age and worn joints/back now from stubbornly sticking to low reps for so long from stronglifts. That is the downside to over-obsessing with the amazing strength gainz of Stronglifts. I have been lifting consistently for 12+ years.
Dr. Myk Al here with not making enough gains.
Sometimes I feel like the videos made on this channel are aimed directly at me lol.. Ive been spinning my wheels all year after 3 years of consistent working out. I just cant seem to put on any meaningful reps or weight.
For me it was listening to RIR recommendations and not going to failure as well as too much frequency.
One problem I have with knowing whether I'm actually progressing in terms of strength is I don't always do the same exercises in the same order. For example with chest training, if I go to failure with DB press and then do pec fly, I hit failure on pec fly at a lower weight than if I did it first. And the reason why I sometimes have to switch the order is because of bench or machine availability at the gym 🤷♂️
Thank you Coach Mike, for constantly filling my mind with good ideas!
How doesn't Dr Mike have 500k subs ? Great great content, always.
Cos there's no BS...the algorithm rewards BS
now more than a million :D
You could also split the mastery and challenge weeks between muscle groups to spread out the wins and the recovery.
Been at the gym for 1 year, 11 days. And I'm starting to learn the mistakes that are outlined in this video; invaluable advice! And making people laugh while learning, increases retention 5-fold. Thanks Dr Mike! 🙏 🎉
When I started, I had to rely on advice from the guy who sat in the corner of the change rooms at the gym. Beginner knowledge was free, then there came a price and you can't wash that shame off.
Dr Mike, amazing advice that you can use and still look your mother in the eye come Christmas time. Well, maybe not entirely but at least for a second.
Another great video!RP is for my opinion,the most informative and serious fitness channel in youtube!
Great video. I was stuck for a while and then I forced myself to start watching your videos and other videos of the pros and I realized I can train harder than what I thought was possible and I learned to concentrate way more on technique, slow eccentrics with powerful concentric and progress started showing itself once again. Love your videos, always in the back of my head when I train now.
For me, a true mind muscle connection cannot happen until you get to at least the intermediate stage because the muscles have to develop first using a few different techniques and then once they get past a certain point, you can truly work on your form and squeeze each muscle through each contraction of full range of motion and then you will feel a mind muscle connection
5/3/1 is all about picking the right accessories and progressing and rotating them
It’s not “low volume” unless you make it low volume
You called me out directly with the lat thing 😂😂Last year was my 3rd year of training seriously (I trained 3 years prior to that but was just a casual lifter) and on a single arm cable lat pulldown I got to the point where I could "feel" my lats like crazy, but now I realize it wasn't doing much for muscle growth (because as you could guess, I didn't get stronger on that specific exercise lol). You know your shit Dr. Thanks for remembering the intermediates! A lot of body builders on RUclips just talk about super advanced stuff.
Hot damn #1 hurts. I actually did switch programs because I had no PRs. That high you get from one is so sweet
I was rewatching the beginner mistakes video and I was hoping for something for people a bit more experienced!
7:05 that joke deserves a fuming award, and you deserve on also for being the funniest guy in the fitness industry
I’ve been lifting for 3 going on 4 years now and I’ve found that my workout has evolved over time I’ve added things taken somthings out. I will use one movement for a period and sub it for another. I’ll superset certain things. The intensity of the workout for me is the main focus. Maximize intensity with the window of time I have each day. And nutrition is the other thing I’ve really been focusing on it’s been a process. I had to pivot last year bc my gains halted its good to be open minded with your training
I'm not sure if I can legitimately consider myself an intermediate but I made a MAJOR change when I stopped logging every set, tracking every weight. I was going through some very mentally painful life at the time a was just going to the gym to enjoy myself. That was 2 years ago. I've progressed so much more now.
I mentally do "track" the exercises I do (ie, rotate through the variations) but Im still not logging my sets.
I'm in there to enjoy myself, feel the muscle, feel the contraction, hit failure a lot. But above all, enjoy myself.
That alone has made a massive difference.
Fantastic video. It came extremely handy. Specially point 5 I was wondering about that last week and I started a journal, simple notes where I keep what was my volume on that excercise last time I did it and log the changes which hopefully will be always evolving.
Thanks for the knowledge man
Always great videos, no nonsense information that almost anyone can use.
It’s something I’ve seen with a lot of people at the gym I go to, they train for about 8 months to a year, see massive gains in size and strength and then plateau, hard. For me when I cut out about 70% of my workout, mostly bullshit accessory movements and crap like that, my strength exploded again. On legs days now I do snatch, back squat and RDLs, and that’s it. In the last 3 months I’ve added 27kg to my squat PR and 80kg to my RDL working set (60kg to 140kg) leg gains have been insane as well
Idk if I’m fully advanced or still on my way. But one big topic is plateaus. I think that us naturals need to really take the long term approach and really only focus on advancing a few muscles at a time while maintaining the rest.
I appreciate your explanation of Mind-Muscle Connection! Pretty sure I was getting that wrong for quite a while!
I would love advice for a 58 year old female, bilateral hip and knee injuries, low back and shoulder arthritis but I still want to maximize posterior chain hypertrophy.
''sticking to same exercise'' so true. Working out from a home gym I can mostly just do ''squat'' for quads. Low bar are crap for MY quads. Currently trying high bar and i've order myself a SSB ! Tired of not feeling tired in the quads AHAH. Wish I had a leg press/hack squat quads machine
Front squats and deep BB lunges 👍
I'm intermediate in terms of time but I've never been able to squat my bw for reps and it frustrates me so much. I keep having back issues. Admittedly, I only really started pushing myself by increasing weight around 2019 and during the pandemic I had to rely on calisthenics but still...
Many very useful, and honest info here..... Big Mike. Mastering an exercise usually doesn't include actually doing the leverage over, and over (we avoid plateaus this way) in m/e phases. Could you cover Conjugate in one of these videos? Get that cough checked out, Biggs.... wait uh minute, no hippies?.....
Either your autistic or I'm autistic cuz I didn't understand half the crap you said.
@@akbananachucker2441 Im a Conjugate Powerlifter, and DM understands the point I am making. What don't you understand? Also, I didn't "say" anything, I typed coherent, and succinct words
@@autisticplane8066 who the hell is DM? Oh Dr. Mike. I doubt he gives a f about what hippies have to say. Especially ones trying to sound weird. This is a bodybuilding channel. Not many understand that crap. Why don't you just take the pecker out of your mouth and talk so we can all understand here.
Needed this, been lifting since 14 on and off with wrestling and boxing (22 now) Broke my arm bad 2 years ago. Elbow replacement, big scar splitting my tricep in two. Gave up for a year, got back in and got my gains back. Def an intermediate, know how to work out for me just not huge.
Best channel in this subject matter if you want to do the best you can.
Mike I gotta say your my favorite man of the small hat. Incredibly helpful video.
about to enter intermediate after 2yrs training hard. made good gains, and I was lazy in the food and supplements area, taking about a month off to fix my ac joint and about to go hard again but thanks to this video with a much clearer view on how am going about it.
I’ve used a lot of wave cycles for strength on my intermediate clients in the past. Backing off always seems to work
I'm 71. Have literally been training off and on since i was 16. At this point, all I am doing is desperately working to maintain muscular and skeletal health. May be a loosing proposition, but I'm pretty stubborn. When i train to failure, it's a hard stop. I can't do another good rep period. Sometimes i get a good pump. Sometimes i don't. Pretty aggravating. Working around injuries new and old is a challenge. Sometimes feel like I'll never progress again. I keep at it anyway. At least I can slow the loss as i age.
It's official! I will call my progression blueprint the Mega-city One project! I love your videos, dr. Mike!
Its easy to look to make wholesale changes when those beginner gains fade rather than needed smaller tweaks
my greatest intermediate mistake was not taking a deload, not listening to my body, and Overtraining for 3 years straight... I didn't even stop knowing my lifts are going down. It was so bad that I'm only lifting 50% of my max... for 3 years...
2:39 How exactly would you increase weight in that scenario, let‘s say for the bench press:
Session 1: 200 lbs
Session 2: 210 lbs
Session 3: 200 lbs with better form
Session 4: 220 lbs
?
Session 1: 200 lbs
Session 2: 200 lbs with better form
Session 3: 210 lbs
I think that’s what he’s saying
An helpful approach I found is using rep ranges instead of just rep goals: let’s say you have to do 3 sets with 8-12 reps
Session 1: 200 lbs 10-10-9
Session 2: 200 lbs 12-12-12
Session 3: 210 lbs 10-9-9
Basically every time you hit the top of the rep range for every set you go up in weight, instead of going up in weight every session
Watching this channel for a year and a half has got me hitting prs almost every session.
thanks for making these videos it really help
PERFECTION. Thank you for rational logic at a poetic pace
Dr. Mike can you give some tips on getting stronger alone? When stuck on intermediate.
Explained this so eloquently
Just bought a Jeff Nippard program, definitely going to tailor follow 6!
(but Jeff knows his stuff, be interesting to see the customisations he's added 🤓)
This is exactly the video I needed
if you want to get big you gotta push yourself. Hit that shit hard
Question: Will having a better mind muscle connection cause you to be sore more than usual?
Im 34 and have been working out off and on since I was 18 (I was consistent the first 7 years then took a 4 year break where I would work out every now and then but have started working out consistently again the last 5 years). I’ve followed every plan there is (5x5, 7x7, 8x8, German volume, Arnold’s workout, Dorian Yates workout, strongman, powerlifting, etc) so I’ve had high volume/low volume and everything Inbetween. But over the last year or two I personally feel like I’ve gotten better mind muscle connection then ever before but my workouts, that wouldn’t even phase me in my younger days, have left me so sore it’s crazy sometimes for days. I use to consider getting sore a sign of a very good workout back when I would only get sore every now and then but now it feels like I’m either doing something extremely well or extremely bad or maybe I’m just getting old lol.
I disagree on your take on 531 being low volume. The current recommendations for 531 templates are usually 3-4 days of training per week with 8 sets of compound movements (bench, squat, press, deadlift) and 50-100 reps of pushing, pulling, and single leg (or core) work every session. This should be well above MEV.
Agree. I feel like he might be slightly bias against what's essentially a direct competitor to his own programming 🤷🏻♂️ Burger King don't go telling everyone how great McDonald's Big Macs are, right?
Absolutely excellent video. Thank you! 🙏
4:20 Doing your individual SFR research is hard. My squat is stuck at a plateau and I don’t know what else to experiment with other than squats with different weights and rep ranges, yet I can’t seem to break through.
Do wide stance or front squats if you want change, but you could cycle through volume cycles with your 65%1RM 80% 90% even 95% of your 1RM, while working on single leg strength. Sometimes a 55% 10x10 GVT would spark so much DOMS that your 5RM might become a 6RM
If it wasn't hard, everybody would be a great squatter. Embrace the challenge.
For me doing accessory exercises to help stabilizer muscles have helped a lot. As do Bulgarian split squats and leg presses with one leg. Fixing asymmetries allowing for more efficient force transfer.
Thank you so much for this and all that you do 🙏
Sometimes I scale back a bit to lighter resistance and redial in my technique for a couple sessions then go heavy again.
Great talk. Very useful. Insightfelul.
Once again, thank you Dr. Mike! God bless
Love your content. Do you have a video that you recommend as a starting place to learn your overall theories/opinions on training?
I always feel like I'm jumping into the middle. Thank you.