5 Perfect Body Hacks

Introduction
Adding 100 pounds to your bench press, over the course of a year, as a
beginner, isn’t easy…but it’s certainly possible. Adding 100 pounds to
your biceps curls, on the other hand, is not realistic.
This is true for a couple of reasons:
1. Your chest, triceps, and shoulders, working together are far stronger
than your biceps alone.
2. The rate of progression would simply be too fast for anyone to
achieve, naturally.
Here’s what I mean.
If you bench pressed 100 lbs at the beginning of your training career,
and managed to increase it to 200 lbs over the course of 1 year, that
would make for a 50% increase in your bench. If you, however, began
with 10 pound dumbbells (20 lbs total) and ended the year using 60
pound dumbbells (120 lbs total), that would make for a 500% increase.
Make sense?
So this is why, if we are having time bringing up certain muscle groups
(large or small), it’s imperative that we take a more strategic approach.
In this guide, I am going to reveal 5 Perfect Body Hacks that will allow
you to add volume to any muscle or exercise, without getting stuck in a
dreaded plateau.

5 Perfect Body Hacks

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5 Perfect Body Hacks

1. Simple Progression

Simple Progress with Isolation Exercises

1. Choose a weight you can perform for x amount of sets, for 8 reps.
2. Once you are able to complete every set for the prescribed (8) reps,
aim to hit 10 reps, using the same weight.
3. Once you are able to complete every set for the prescribed (10) reps,
aim to hit 12 reps, using the same weight.
4. Once you are able to complete every set for the prescribed (12) reps,
increase the weight by 5-10 lbs.
5. Perform x sets for 8 reps using the new weight and repeat steps 2-5.

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2. Increase the Frequency

If Monday is your only chest day in the week, then your shit is broken.
A study that was published in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning
Research compared training 1 day per week using a split body workout
vs. 3 days per week using a full-body approach. Researchers found that
subjects who trained a single muscle-group more frequently
throughout the week, despite no changes in total volume, experienced
significantly more muscle growth than the low frequency group.
Another more recent meta-analysis made this statement:
“When comparing studies that investigated training muscle groups
between 1 to 3 days per week on a volume-equated basis, the current
body of evidence indicates that frequencies of training twice a week
promote superior hypertrophic outcomes to once a week.”
This is due to 2 main factors:
1. Repeated Bout Effect
Although this effect does still require an adequate rest period between
bouts, training more frequently will increase your ability to recover and
adapt.

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More efficient recovery and adaptation makes for extended

progression without a plateau, strength increases, and more overall
muscle growth.
And the more frequent training bouts bring us to our next point…
2. Muscle Protein Synthesis
MPS is essential to the body's ongoing growth and repair of muscle
tissue. If we can synthesize more protein than we breakdown, we end
up with more muscle than we started with.
Studies like one published in the Canadian Journal of Applied
Physiology suggest that MPS is more than doubled at about 24 hours
following an intense training bout. It then begins to drop back to
baseline about 12 hours later.
So let’s look at an individual who trains his chest every Monday. He
elevates MPS, by Wednesday it’s back to baseline, and it’s not elevated
again for another 5 days.
Now let’s look the individual who’s training his chest twice per week –
say Monday and Thursday. He elevates MPS, by Wednesday it’s back to
baseline, and the next day it’s elevated again. It’s pretty clear to see
that this individual is spending more time building and repairing muscle
tissue than the guy on the low frequency split routine.
Bottom Line: have a lacking muscle-group that you want to bring up?
Start training it 2-3 times per week.

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3. Specialization Training
If you want to build bigger arms (or a bigger bench press, higher vertical
or bigger chest) then you must focus on that one goal if you want
optimal results.
Don’t let your ego get in the way and allow you to believe that you can
focus on bigger pecs, a higher vertical, and building bigger arms all at
the same time.
Ideally, you would want all of your resources (training, nutrition, and
recovery) to help toward the ultimate goal of larger arms.
How to Specialize Lacking Muscle-Groups
1. Choose the 1 (or 2 maximum) muscle-group(s) you want to bring up.
2. Dedicate 3 days per week where you’ll train the muscle, directly.
3. Allocate 1 full-body training day to your weekly workout schedule –
this will ensure that you can maintain muscle-mass in all other muscle-
groups.
4. Ensure you’re eating in a caloric surplus. If you’re not eating enough,
your efforts will be in vain.
5. Hammer away at the target muscle for 3 weeks straight.
6. Pull back the volume, return back to your normal training, and watch
that muscle grow!

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4. Antagonist Paired Sets

These are essentially just super-set workouts that target the opposing
muscle groups simultaneously (i.e. biceps/triceps, hamstring/quads,
etc.)
Aside from increased training density, antagonist paired sets have been
shown to provide a number of benefits.
“Recent evidence suggests that exercising the antagonist musculature
acutely enhances subsequent performance for the agonist
musculature.”
Antagonist Pairs:
Biceps/Triceps
Chest/Back
Quads/Hamstrings
How to Perform Antagonist Paired Sets

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Combine two exercises and perform them back to back with very little
to no rest in between.
Once you’ve performed both exercises back to back, that is one set.
Once the set is complete, take a standard break and repeat.
Example:

A1. Pull Ups x 8

B1. Chest Dips x 8

Perform 8 repetitions of chest dips, immediately upon completion,

jump right into your pull ups. Perform 8 reps on your pull ups (this is
one set) and then rest for the prescribed rest period.
There has even been studies done on antagonist paired sets that show
they are a great form of active recovery (i.e. biceps are in active
recovery while triceps are working). Another benefit would be that the
antagonist muscle cannot aid in the lift due to pre-exhaustion resulting
in higher muscle activity

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5. Beyond Failure Training

When it comes to small isolation lifts, since we are limited to the
amount of weight we can increase, adding reps would be our best bet.
But if you’ve been training for long enough, you know that it’s easier
said than done. Especially as we get further into our lifting career and
closer to our genetic ceiling.
I mean seriously, when’s the last time you saw someone performing
side laterals with 70lb dumbbells, using strict form?
This is why we’ve got to get a bit more strategic and where I
recommend implementing beyond failure techniques.
Failure: The point where you cannot complete another repetition with
strict form.
1. Cheating: Once we’ve reached a point of muscular failure, we can no
longer perform another rep with strict form. But if we want to squeeze
a few more reps out of our set, we can loosen up our form a bit by
using some body English.

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The idea of cheat reps is to move the weight through a full range of
motion by using a bit of momentum in order to complete the rep. This
technique, however, should not be used excessively, nor should you
use it as a way to lift heavier.
How to Perform Cheat Reps
Biceps Curls: Once you’ve reached the point where you cannot perform
another repetition with strict form, you can use some body sway to
help curl the weight upward.
Lateral Raises: Once you’ve reached muscular failure, bend and unbend
your knees slightly to create a bit of momentum.
This technique should be kept limited to movements like: curls,
standing shoulder presses, lateral raises, and rear-delt flyes. It’s never a
good idea to cheat on squats, deadlifts, bench press, or any other heavy
compound lifts.
2. Drop Sets: If you reach failure on lateral raises with 30 pound
dumbbells, you should still be able to knock out a few more reps with
the 20’s. Drop Sets are a method by which you can extend your sets by
reducing the weight, after your initial set, in order to add some more
volume.
How to Perform Drop Sets
When performing a given exercise and reaching failure at, say, the 12th
rep, reduce the weight by about 20% and knock out as many as you can
with strict form. Reduce the weight again by another 20% and perform
another set to failure. Two or three weight reductions are more than
enough for the purpose of expanding the set.
For Example: Triceps Pushdowns
100lbs x 12

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80lbs x 6
60lbs x 4
End Set
This technique can be used with any exercise where the weight can be
quickly and easily adjusted.
3. Rest/Pause: A fatigued muscle can regain more than half of its
strength in a matter of seconds when resting. Rest/Pause training takes
full advantage of this regeneration by allowing you to move maximal
poundage, with strict form, after reaching failure.
A study published in The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical
Fitness compared 3 volume matched groups: SELF (reps to self-
determined repetition maximum); FAILURE (reps to failure); and REST
PAUSE (reps to self-determined repetition maximum with a rest/pause
technique). They concluded that rest/pause training leads to greater
muscle growth than traditional loading protocols.
How to Perform Rest/Pause Sets
Take your set to the point of failure, release the weight, and rest 10-15
seconds. Using the same amount of weight, perform another 3-4 reps;
rest 10-15 seconds, then knock out another 2-3 reps.
For Example: Biceps Curls
30lbs x 10 Reps
Rest 10-15 Seconds
30lbs x 4 Reps
Rest 10-15 Seconds
30lbs x 3 Reps
End Set

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