I took this photo ~2 weeks after I increased my calorie intake up to 3,000 calories per day with one cheat day per week. I’ve put on about 3lbs and due to higher carb intake, I think I’m retaining more water and thus look a little more bulky, at least for me. However, please note that this photo includes incredible lighting and a post-workout pump.
It’s been a while since I recorded a podcast on my own training and diet journey. In this episode, I talk about my own physical insecurities and new approach to diet to see if I can add more muscle mass whilst minimising fat gain. Since recording this, I was reminded that muscle gain, at my level, is a marathon, not a sprint. Therefore, I’m looking to continue this experiment for the rest of 2018 to see what happens. I will keep you posted!
This is my current A/B routine performed once every 3-5 days. The details of the protocol are provided in the podcast. For images and instruction for each exercise, please see Project Kratos and some links below:
A Routine:
- Pushup
- Pull up or chin up (alternated)
- Single legged squat (alternate starting leg)
- Neck extension
- Neck flexion
B Routine:
- Seated row
- Overhead press
- Leg raises
- Single leg dumbbell calf raises
- Prone trunk extension
- Neck lateral
Access my personal workout journal inside HIT Business Membership
Highlights:
- How to think about optimising muscle hypertrophy over the long term
- How to balance the pursuit of muscle gain with the preservation or improvement of health span
- Why cultivating a healthy perspective toward your physical appearance is really important
- …. and much, much more
Download How to Attract Great Personal Trainers PDF
- Listen to it on iTunes
- Stream by clicking here
- Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as”
This episode is brought to you by ARXFit.com, ARX are the most innovative, efficient and effective all-in-one exercise machines I have ever seen. I was really impressed with my ARX workout. The intensity and adaptive resistance were unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. I love how the machine enables you to increase the negative load to fatigue target muscles more quickly and I love how the workouts are effortlessly quantified. The software tracks maximum force output, rate of work, total amount of work done and more in front of you on-screen, allowing you to compete with your pervious performance, to give you and your clients real-time motivation.As well as being utilised by many HIT trainers to deliver highly effective and efficient workouts to their clients, ARX comes highly recommended by world-class trainers and brands including Bulletproof, Tony Robbins, and Ben Greenfield Fitness. To find out more about ARX and get $500 OFF install, please go to ARXfit.com and mention Corporate Warrior in the how did you hear about us field – ORDER HERE
Selected Links from the Episode
- High-Intensity Bodyweight Training Routines, How to Improve Your HIT Workouts For Better Results and Efficiency, Detailed Nutrition Plan, and Tracking and Improving Your Biomarkers
- How to Lose Fat Effectively, Maximise Muscle Gain, and Increase Productivity
- Body by Science: A Research Based Program for Strength Training, Body Building, and Complete Fitness in 12 Minutes a Week by Dr Doug McGuff and John R. Little ( Amazon US / Amazon UK )
- Training to failure
- Lean Gains
- Martin Berkhan before-and-after
- Dr James Steele – The Real Truth About Maximizing Muscle Gain
- Maximum Muscular Bodyweight and Measurements Calculator
- Nick Paterson – “Be happy with what you got”
- How to Lose 14 Pounds in Less Than 30 Days – The Complete Slow Carb Diet Guide
- Project Kratos
- Pushup handles ( Amazon US / Amazon UK )
- Single-legged-squats
- 3-point caliper test
- Cheap caliper ( Amazon US / Amazon UK )
- Myfitnesspal
- S. Pellegrino sparkling water
- Galway, Ireland
- My Vilano bike ( Amazon US / Amazon UK )
- Tesco food delivery
- Farmers walk
- Chemicals in lavender and tea tree oil appear to be hormone disruptors
- Dr Bronner’s Organic Peppermint Soap Bar ( Amazon US / Amazon UK )
People Mentioned
- Andy Magness (Listen to my episode with Andy here, part 2 is pending as of 02/09/18)
- Dr. James Steele (Listen to my episodes with James here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4)
- Dr Jürgen Giessing
- Martin Berkhan
- Casey Butt
- Skyler Tanner (Listen to my episodes with Skyler here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, and Part 6)
- Nick Paterson
- Dr Ted Naiman (Listen to my episodes with Ted here: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3)
- Drew Baye (Listen to my episodes with Drew here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, and Part 7)
- Dr Doug McGuff (Listen to my episodes with Doug here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4)
- Mike Bradley (Listen to my episode with Mike here)
- Ted Harrison (Listen to my episodes with Ted here: Part 1 and Part 2)
- Dr Brad Schoenfeld (Listen to my episodes with Brad here: Part 1 and Part 2)
- Scott M (carnivore podcast)
507 – Can Lengthened Partials Supercharge Your Clients’ Muscle Gains (and How Can You Break Out of Training Plateaus)? Dr. James Steele’s New Study
500 – What I’ve Learned After 11 Years of Interviewing World-Class HIT Experts and Fitness Entrepreneurs (Luke Carlson interviews Lawrence Neal)
499 – The Best HIT Protocol for Strength, Muscle Mass, and Hypertrophy (SuperSlow VS High-Volume HIT Debate with Dagoberto Vila and Dr. James Fisher)
Great job as always, Lawrence! It’s good to hear from someone normal, based on the stats you give for height and weight v. the bro science junk we find everywhere else. It’ll be interested to hear how your experiments turn out. Your thinking is very much in line with that first chapter of Body by Science about keeping the balance between health, fitness, and exercise (except here you talk about health span v. muscle mass and body composition). Question: are you still getting all your calories in two meals, within a 6 or 8 hour window?
My current stats: 6’0″, about 170 lbs. Before I found Body by Science a little over three years ago, I was 180 lbs. I was still lean, but upon starting the HIT protocols, lost 5 lbs easily. This January, I started intermittent fasting and dropped another 5 lbs. Still gaining strength, though slowly now. I’m perfectly happy with how I look / feel / function, but if the Lean Gains stuff will add a pound of muscle per year, and it will work with a good, whole foods diet, I’m all for it, so long as it’s done without the psychological angst many guys carry around with them about their physiques.
And cold showers – awesome stuff. I started that this past November when a friend sent me the Wim Hof course. I’m actually almost looking forward to the winter when the water is brutally cold…
Keep us posted on your progress!
Lawrence, I think we all (hardgainer types) tend to get psychologically duped by the great responders who’s images become imprinted in our brains as “what could be” if we just did the right things. When we go looking for it, we either get hurt, get fat, or give up (or a combo). We’d be far better off jettisoning the bodybuilder as any part of the ideal look. In fact, we’d be better off throwing out the gym mirror all together.
Good luck Lawrence! I am a hard gainer who has also tried to add more muscle. But….gain a bit of cushion too. I am 195cm and at 93-95kgs I am good. Anything higher and i look a little bit heavy. I have come to the realization that I am what I am and genetics are stubborn. I am just focussing on eating healthy, lifting the HIT way and not worrying about my size or body fat too much. I am much happier this way. I remember Drew Baye saying if you can see your abs you’re doing ok, you dont need to be ripped. I have mucked around with my diet in the past and have settled on fresh unprocessed food. Thanks for the great site!
Hi Lawrence, very nice stuff! I like those episodes a lot. Very nice of you to do these periodically. I listened to the thigns you’ve planned and do very closely. There is one point, that I have problem with though. You say it is a bulk up experiment and the general change is eating more calories basically. Let’s see how this will turn out, But if the goal is absolute muscle add on, then how about you limit the volume of exercise even further. There are two things about exercise, one good and one bad – Intensity is good and the Amount is bad remember A.J.? As I heared, you are still doing these 60-90 second sets. Would you consider dropping this to like 25-45 sec of TUL(at least for the big compound movements)?! All the same being equal like form etc. that will be a dramatic decrease in actual volume of exercise. According to logic, it should provide you with enough reserve of “recuperating” energy. Instead of normal 5-6 slow reps do 3 or 2 to failure. As far as HIT whisdom is concerned what you will compromise (perhaps) is your cardiovascular and metabolic training a bit…but hey we can’t focuse on ALL and GET great results on ALL right?! Or may be we can, I don’t know. I myself love to experiment and this idea is something, that I am planing to explore in my personal next experiment. I have not found forcefeeding to be helpful so far. The calorie intake has only established the weight and level of leanness, that I am able to attain. But that’s me. I’ve suggested that to you in the past, but in that time you were unsure if 30 second set will be stimulus enough. Remember? I guess that currently you’ve come to a point to understand that it is enough stimulus for growth of strenght and size and may not be enough for other things. But in any case it is undisputedly much, much less of a fatigue and volume to recover from. What do you think about that?
Lawrence,
great to tell this all. What I sense is still a urge to base self esteem on muscle mass/looks and then the thought of serving this by pushing with a rope. And oh, your calves are telling. But, that’s my opinion.
You tell that you want to see where you can end regarding muscle mass but still don”t want to do things that could conflict with healthspan (logic) and being able to do things like moving quickly etc. I think you here haven”t made up your mind on priority. Gaining 1 kg a year sounds reasonable but I think that these numbers are calculated after the fact, 10 kg over 10 years. But more likely is 7-8 kg in the first 2 years and then….
Gaining more mass will be difficult for you as well for most others. I don’t look to a minority group that can gain reasonable easy(I dont mean only the stage BB) but at the majority of people. And sustainability is a issue here too. You mentioned it but I think if you want to explore more the outer limit you must compromise here too.
Maybe it is not even the amount of food and cal that need to change but the workout volume/frequency for getting out of the “normal” status quo. Here again, how much more gain will it deliver and is it sustainable from where you are now??
Just some quick random thoughts after listening to the episode. Yet, this is not meant to discourage, you know that. And, never workout to maintain…..strive for progression regardless it”s possibility. LATER in life you look so much better and muscular compared to the rest around you.
Good luck!!
Powerful words from a very smart man Lawrence – don’t take this lightly!!!
A bit off topic Lawrence but I have been meaning to ask for a while, its in regards to previous podcasts. Drew Baye advises that you should mix up the order of exercises from time to time so each muscle group has a turn at the first set, therefore being fresh and able to lift heavier/longer tul. However, I forget the guest, but research suggests that as long as you are getting to MMF it shouldnt really matter whether you hit MMF with a lower weight on set 5 or with the higher weight on set one. For example, if your row is always the last set you perform your body is already fatigued from the previous chest/shoulder/ other sets, therefore you cant lift as heavey weight for the desired tul as you could if you did it first. But does this really make a diffence if you hit MMF? I have found it doesn’t but would like to hear your thoughts or experience.
Hi Lawrence, loved this podcast! I was curious, and maybe a bit nitpicky; you mentioned TUL of 60-90 seconds. I might be pedantic but I was always under the impression that the optimal time was 45-90 secs (as advocated in Body By Science). Why the 15 second discrepancy?
Thanks a lot.
Reg
Hey Lawrence! Loved the episode and thank you for the shoutout to me and link to Carnivore Cast. Very interesting topic.
I think you’re thinking about a lot of the right things, but a few more I’d add based on the science for gainz:
1) Fasted training has been shown to be sub-optimal for protein synthesis. I think you’re missing out here and a whey protein shake ~30 min before training or a small whole-food meal ~2 hours before would be best. See more here from Menno and Ketogains (they’ve both reversed their stance on this): https://www.facebook.com/331518806905961/posts/1779790492078778/
2) In a similar vein, I think 2 meals a day is sub-optimal for protein synthesis and hypertrophy. Here’s a great article on that: https://bayesianbodybuilding.com/meal-frequency-science/
3) Cold showers, while I know you’re doing them for the mental benefits as well, may be detrimental to testosterone and gains. Alessandro Ferretti has talked about this on numerous podcasts in his work with athletes, particularly when combined with low(er) carb diets and fasting.
Looking forward to hearing your progress! Make sure you eat up on calories too!
Looking great Lawrence . I think that perhaps you should consider upping your carb intake . Carbs & hydration are your best friends when it comes to building & maintaining muscle mass . Your body will actually start to devour itself without sufficient carb intake by converting protein into glucose & this is something that paleo/primal fail to consider in their muscle building pursuits . Also the nutrients/vitamins/minerals you get from e.g. fruit & veg is vital to health .
Absolutely agree!
Well, I don’t. And, all I will say is take a good look at Lawrence……..he could become a TOFI.
Sodium intake is also vital for muscle performance & maintaining good hydration as well .
Interesting to hear about what you are trying lately. Some thoughts…
People always seem to want what they can’t have. You seem to be a naturally lean guy, meaning you can get to that state pretty easily. I’d love to be in that boat, but I’m not. So maybe just learn to appreciate that gift.
There have been some in the field of nutrition who speculate that protein + carbohydrate is more anabolic than protein alone or with fat. This brief review suggests that more evidence is needed before any conclusions can be drawn:
https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1550-2783-10-42
Ad’s concern is that even a little bit of carbohydrate will make you fat. But that isn’t consistent with the classic bodybuilder’s diet, which includes a lot of lean protein, controlled amounts of carbohydrate, and relatively little fat. Ad also admits that the real issue is if carbs cause you to lose control of your calorie intake. So I guess it might depend on how you personally respond, and how tasty the carbs are. Plain potatoes or unseasoned rice are probably a lot less risky that carbs combined with salt, fat, and seasonings.
Protein intake does seem to facilitate muscle synthesis, and since loss of muscle mass becomes an issue for function as we age, that suggests you need to pay attention to this, particularly as you get older. But does that mean that high protein intake, particularly when young, has no downside? One of the big names in longevity research, Valter Longo, thinks it is an issue. He believes that high levels of protein intake, especially when young, increase the risk for dying of other causes, thus shortening life span on average. Is he right or wrong? Heck if I know, but he has a case worth reading and understanding. Perhaps a high protein intake is what you should have if you want a high performance body. But does high performance correlate with longevity? Or is it the case that the candle that burns hotter burns out faster?
To All,
I like the manner of posting the opinions here and see some overlapping thoughts and some differences. mayor theme is that Lawrence isn’t our client and we don’t know enough specific of him to give the best advice. So we are left with our general points of view. And that is how it Always will be. Another theme that I also mentioned and a few of you to is the question of longterm health versus shortterm more gains for Lawrence. And/or accepting his physique as it is( with calves others would ask for the magic routine to HIM!!!)..
So Lawrence, did you made up your mind. Let us know your thoughts and plan of action. But remember, IS IT WORTH IT??
All have a great day.
Remember, Lawrence…you can’t push with a rope.
Have a good read through Lyle McDonald’s articles about fat loss/muscle gain, metabolism and dieting. As I’ve said before TLDR is that for an individual at or close to their genetic potential fat and muscle is gained/lost proportionally (as a fairly hard rule) you can gain muscle as long as you don’t mind adding fat. If you want to cut the fat again the LBM with decrease in tandem. Obviously there exists the theoretical ability to get those very marginal gains over years especially in a genetically gifted individual but eating hundreds of calories over maintenance is only leading one way. Realising this and accepting realistic outcomes was what allowed me to reach my current BMI after 2.5 years.