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MI40 PDF Workout Gym Program Free Download Ben Pakulski Nation PDF
MI40 PDF Workout Gym Program Free Download Ben Pakulski Nation PDF
MI40 PDF Workout Gym Program Free Download Ben Pakulski Nation PDF
Training Manual
By Ben Pakulski
Honors Kinesiology Degree, CSCS, ACE, MAT
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Legal Disclaimer
The information presented in this work is by no way intended as medical advice
or as a substitute for medical counselling. The information should be used in
conjunction with the guidance and care of your physician. Consult your physician
before beginning this program as you would with any exercise and nutrition
program. If you choose not to obtain the consent of your physician and/or work with
your physician throughout the duration of your time using the recommendations in
the program, you are agreeing to accept full responsibility for your actions.
By continuing with the program, you recognize that, despite all precautions on the
part of Ben Pakulski Athletics, LLC, there are risks of injury or illness which can
occur because of your use of the aforementioned information and you expressly
assume such risks and waive, relinquish and release any claim which you may have
against Ben Pakulski Athletics, LLC, or its affiliates as a result of any future physical
injury or illness incurred in connection with, or as a result of, the use or misuse of
the program.
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Welcome to the Training Manual!
Congratulations and thank you!
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WARNING:
I believe this is the hardest and most effective muscle program in the world. This is
NOT for you IF you’re a tire kicker, lazy ass, or looking for a quick fix.
Are you going to stick your head in the sand? Are you going to go into denial?
Pretend you didn’t invest in this? Pretend you are already where you want to be?
For your sake, I hope not and, because you’re here right now, I know you’re not that
kind of person.
If you put every ounce of your being into the next 40 days, I promise you’ll get the
most incredible physique of your life. But you have to be ready to trust the science,
trust the program, and trust yourself.
The content (not to mention the length) of this system was created to
scare off the weak and cowardly, the “do-nothings”, and the bitter know-it-alls. If
you’re reading this right now, it tells me that you aren’t someone who is going to sit
on your hands and do nothing. So, I’m going to make a blatant proposal:
IF you follow this program, I think it will change your life, and I KNOW it will
change your physique!
No! It is NOT impossible to gain muscle AND lose body fat at the same time.
In fact, I suggest that you should expect it!
This program is designed to get you the MOST growth in the shortest amount of
time. This does not mean that you should continue on it forever (more on this
below).
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It is too intense and many variables need to be manipulated. It is definitely
beneficial to train with different rep ranges during certain times.
This program will eliminate all of the confusion and doubt in your mind. It will teach
you to think like, and train like, a pro athlete. Every time you step in the gym, you
will have a plan -- a plan that you can confidently believe will build muscle.
The key to this program is sticking to the 40-day rotation. Every day has a
reason behind it.
You MUST learn to perform exercises properly before you can advance to the
intermediate and advanced programs, so be honest with yourself.
Another question I deal with frequently and know many guys are afraid to ask
me, and which I’m more than comfortable sharing my thoughts on, is this “purple
elephant” in the room:
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‟Ben, aren’t you a pro bodybuilder
who takes steroids? I’m drug-free so why
should I listen to you?”
Fair question.
No matter what you’re taking, you’d BETTER make sure your body is working
optimally on the INSIDE if you want your training MAXIMIZED on the outside.
You can take as many „extra-curricular supplements” as you want, but if your body
isn’t treated as a whole organism, maximizing recovery, controlling inflammation,
and balancing hormones, it’s going to BREAK DOWN very, very quickly. Your gains
will be limited and very short-term.
There are TONS of juice monkeys in every gym taking stuff and NOT growing.
They have the “eat more protein, lift more weight” approach.
Sorry folks, the days of the dumb meathead are LONG GONE, along with parachute
pants and bandanas.
What someone chooses to do above and beyond PERFECT training concepts and
optimal nutrition is their own choice. Anabolic ‘assistance’ or not, why wouldn’t
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anyone want to minimize their time in the gym and maximize results? Sounds like
pretty simple meathead math to me.
The smarter bodybuilders, like myself, focus on how to optimize recovery: short
term and long term. This is the limiting factor to muscle growth! The faster you can
recover, the more time you spend being anabolic (growing). Improve your capacity
to recover faster, and you can train again sooner to stimulate more new growth.
Everything I’ll share in MI40!
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My personal motto has always been:
‟The more you know, the more you grow!”
So, why in the world did I create MI40?
I decided to create the MI40 Program to fill a tremendous need that I see each
and every day in the gym, at the beach, even on stage at fitness and bodybuilding
events. People just don’t know how to train. This is evident by the bad posture,
poor flexibility, and poor develop-ment we see in gyms all over the world!
“Looking around each day, anyone with a trained eye can see that you can break it
all down to about 3 or 4 common mistakes that everyone makes.”
After many years of exposure to this sport, it is now even easy to pick out the
exercises that people are doing improperly without ever seeing them in the gym.
Simply looking at someone’s structure, posture, range of motion, even how they
walk, will tell me a lot of information about what is going on in their body and how
they likely perform exercises, and move.
This lack of exercise knowledge seems to stem from a ‘blind leading the blind’
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mentality. People tend to look at those with the best or biggest physiques, and try
to emulate them. Or, they learn from the newest fad on TV or the Internet. Well,
that could be a great place to start if you were sure that the person you are learning
from has any clue what they are doing. Often, these people with the best physiques
are just blessed genetically or simply work harder or are very meticulous with their
nutrition. Or, perhaps it is just a well-positioned marketing program. All factors that
YOU, an outsider, cannot see.
There is so much information out there, no wonder young aspiring men and women
become discouraged and don’t know what they should and shouldn’t be doing in the
gym! I was there once, too. This is why I created this program.
I HATED not knowing the proper way of doing things. Watching the guys with the
biggest bodies train, is often comical. Clearly they have no idea what they are
doing; yet they are the guys teaching people in the gyms. Then, there is the ever-
so-educated ‘personal trainer’ who decided to take a weekend certification course
because he heard training paid more than his current job as the McDonald’s drive-
thru guy. THESE are the authorities?
MI40 is a journey to educate and inform each and every person who aspires to
have a more aesthetically-pleasing or healthy and functioning physique!
Years of studying the body and learning everything I could about biomechanics
and function has allowed me to advance my own physique to the level of being
considered one of the top 15 bodybuilders in the world. For a kid from a family of
fitness level negative zero, this is quite an accomplishment.
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Most people see an overly-muscled IFBB Pro bodybuilder and assume two things --
genetics and performance-enhancing drugs.
Well, the truth of the matter is that, yes, I do build muscle better than 90% of the
people in the world; however, I do NOT build muscle at anywhere near the rate at
which my direct competition builds muscle. To get myself to be one of the top 6
bodybuilders in the world, I need to perfect every single aspect of training, recovery,
and nutrition. My quest is never ending, and I feel I learn something new everyday.
Every single time I step in the gym, my focus is not only on building muscle and
having great workouts, but also on how to improve each and every exercise so that
I am able to get the most out of each muscle fiber on every rep.
This has taken a lot of studying of physics-angles and forces; anatomy and
biomechanics. Hours and hours of reading textbooks and researching the most
brilliant people in the world (and often seeking them out to train with them or learn
from them directly). All of the cumulative information gathered over the last 13
years has led me here, to MI40, and passing all of this information on to you.
I have such a tremendous love and passion for training and nutrition. Helping
people is what I am good at. I take pride in watching my knowledge and education
CHANGE PEOPLE LIVES! I will take the same pride in changing your life. I look
forward to seeing your before and after pics when you send them to me!
I really believe that I can take ANY physique and mold it into something amazing
(with the obvious exception of people that may not be physically or mentally capable
-- or even worse, LAZY!) I see everybody as a new challenge and I’m confident
we’ll do a serious number on your physique in the next 40 days.
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What To Expect From MI40?
The objective of this program is to teach each and every one of you how to build
REAL muscle. You will learn the PROPER form and execution on the 40 exercises
that are most important to your success.
I want you to be able to step into any gym with the confidence that you can build
muscle and change the way you look, at will.
The program takes into account EVERY SINGLE VARIABLE that MUST be
considered to make muscle GROW! These are the variables that most trainers and
athletes know nothing about:
The optimal amount of time that must be spent ‘under a load’ to maximize growth, is
between 40-70 seconds.
2) Neurological overload
To contract any muscle, requires coordination between your brain and your nervous
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system. Brain says contract; nervous system sends a signal; muscles move.
Eventually those muscles fatigue, but the nervous system is still getting a signal
to contract those muscles hard. At some point, the nervous system can no longer
recruit any more muscle fibers to contract and the muscle stops working.
Every time this happens, the body is asked to adapt, thereby forming new
neurological pathways to the muscle and, therefore, a greater percentage of
muscles can fire at once.
Every muscle has a specific range of motion that it moves through. To fully exploit
muscle growth, it is absolutely essential to know what this range is, and how the
muscle is intended to move.
Be sure to watch the online videos and review the Exercise Execution document to
learn what full range of motion is for each respective exercise.
The language of muscle is TENSION! You’ve all heard the saying, that “muscles
don’t know how much weight you’re lifting”. Well, it’s very true. Muscles
communicate in terms of tension.
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People have heard this so why don’t they do it? Maybe because people don’t want
to start with light weights, or put in the time to learn, or maybe they just want fast
results now.
How does this apply to you? Well, the goal of MI40 is to teach you how to create
the MAXIMUM amount of tension in your muscles. Weights are irrelevant. If we
can increase tension and torque in the working muscle without increasing the actual
weight, we grow equally as well and minimize chance of injury from uncontrolled
heavy weight and improper movements.
Research done by Viiru et al, in 2006, shows that the body has reached its climax
for muscular and neurological adaptation at this point. Using the same program
for longer is not necessarily detrimental, but for someone who wants to make
continuous gains, it’s time to change it up after 6 weeks.
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What do I do when I am finished
with the 40 days?
Definitely continue training. MI40 is actually designed to overload your nervous
system and allow for a greater percentage of muscle fiber to fire when it is
complete.
This means that you will actually be stronger and continue to grow for many weeks
following MI40, if you continue to train hard.
After 45 minutes of intense training, the body starts to inhibit anabolic hormones
(GROWTH!) and the ratio of catabolic (muscle break down) hormones increases.
Cortisol starts to rise at the first sign of internal muscle damage. It will continue to
rise as long as you train. The longer you train, the more cortisol you will produce.
Cortisol is not ALL bad, but there is definitely a point of diminishing returns.
Between 30-45 minutes is when growth potential has reached its peak and the
catabolic hormones start to overpower the anabolic growth-producing hormones.
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Is it bad if I train longer than 40 minutes?
MI40 sets out to provide the MOST OPTIMAL situation for growth
at ALL levels of the program. Some workouts might be tough to get done in 40
minutes. Some people would benefit from doing two shorter workouts when 2 body
parts need to be trained. That’s your decision.
Certain exercises involve more compound movements and are termed ‘mass
construction’ exercises. These are exercises that are known to recruit more overall
muscle fibers per repetition.
The ‘mass appeal’ exercises, or isolation movements, are the exercises that are
included for stimulating what are called the Low-Threshold Motor neurons -- the
muscle fibers that contract with minimal stimulus and lighter weights. These
exercises are perfect for learning to train a muscle through its FULL range of motion
and for creating a greater mind-muscle connection.
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How do you decide how many exercises
per body part?
Let’s do some math:
1 set = 40 seconds
Most exercises are 3-4 sets so each workout will be roughly 40-45 minutes of work
sets.
Some days you will notice you have 2 body parts. This was necessary to obtain the
optimal amount of frequency.
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For example, you can’t train chest the day after you train triceps.
When using Intentions, the amount of force you apply (either in or out), is inversely
proportional to the weight used. The lighter the weight, the harder you can/should
push.
The heavier the weight, the less you will be able to use Intentions.
Always do your best to use intention on the negative portion of ALL reps. Your body
is stronger eccentrically and therefore you can apply additional force without having
to worry about not completing the rep.
Watch the online videos to learn how to execute each exercise properly and re-read
the Exercise Execution Guide multiple times over. You’ll always pick up something
new. Don’t be lazy or assume you know how to train.
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When someone starts using Intentions, is it very normal for the weight to drop
significantly? This is okay. You are still creating as much, if not more, tension
inside your muscles.
Once you feel the increased tension on the muscle, and can maintain this through
the ENTIRE range of motion, slowly start increasing the weight back to where you
were prior to using Intentions.
You should be back to using your previous weight by the end of your first run
through the MI40 program…only now, doing it with INTENTION!
If you have a hard time learning to feel the exercises with Intention,
RE-WATCH the training videos. There are many helpful little tricks and hints in
there to help you along.
What is a tempo? How does it look for a pushing exercise? How does it look for a
pulling exercise?
A 4-0-1-0 tempo is the standard tempo for all MI40 exercises unless stated
otherwise.
A 4-0-1-0 tempo on a bench press (pushing exercise) would look like this:
4 seconds to lower
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0 second pause at the bottom
A 4-0-1-0 tempo on a lat pulldown (pulling exercise) would look like this:
It has been shown that your muscles are stronger on the negative (Eccentric)
portion of the rep. Increased Time under Tension here is a great way to exploit the
fact that you can use more weight and keep the muscles exposed to a load for a
longer period.
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Try doing a set with 4-second Concentric reps – it’s EXTREMELY difficult and you
will get tired quickly, whereas your muscles could continue to work on the eccentric
portion even after your concentric strength is gone.
We will also utilize the science of time under tension to upwards of 70 seconds on
NOS sets!
**Slowing down the movement increases the Time Under Tension and the
amount of Tension on the muscle. Remember what we said was the means of
communication between muscles? TENSION! We are increasing it in 2 ways by
simply slowing a movement down.
For a quick reference on the optimal amount of Time Under Tension for growth,
reference Mel Siff or Tudor Bompa.
During short duration exercise, your body relies heavily on Creatine Phosphate
(called C-P splitting) and ATP Glycolysis for energy. These energy systems have
been replenished substantially after 40 seconds to allow you to be able to continue
to exercise.
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The point here is to train the muscles again before they have a chance to recover
completely.
You may see many people taking longer between sets. The point of this would
be to allow the nervous system, which takes more time, to recover. This would be
advantageous in strength training. It is not as effective for muscle-building.
Training every 7 days is not enough to illicit optimal growth for most people.
Training every body part twice a week is way too much, but rotating through body
parts done twice weekly, is a great way to increase frequency and avoid burnout
and overtraining.
I CRAVED something that would ensure that my muscles are taken to their limit,
and CREATE NEW GROWTH!
My training partner and I had been coming up with creative ways to inflict pain on
each other during leg workouts, for years. I remember daydreaming of ways to
make workouts harder. My goal was to leave the gym knowing I had BLASTED
every single muscle fiber, and to have my training partner talking about how he had
never experienced muscle pumps and growth like this.
‘Straight sets’ just didn’t seem to do the trick anymore. Sure I felt a decent pump,
but it just didn’t seem to be the type of intensity that I KNEW I needed in order to
grow!
FACT: A ‘straight set’ will NEVER cause the type of neurological adaptation,
hormonal response, and therefore GROWTH, that a NOS set will cause.
Being a research junky, I had always read about overloading the muscle and
overloading the nervous system to stimulate new muscle and strength gains,
respectively. Time under Tension was proven to be the number one factor correlated
with muscle growth and overload!
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Something clicked in my brain! Time under MAXIMAL TENSION! This had to be
better than just Time under Tension!! And so, my GROWTH BABY was born!
If I could use the maximum amount of weight I could handle for strict form, for the
greatest amount of time possible, growth was inevitable! The only catch? IT’S
HARD!!!
NOS is something that I have been using religiously ever since… perfecting its
components. I use it to get ready for my contests and in my off-season. ‘Straight
sets’ are now a thing of the past.
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How To Perform NOS
NOS is completed by performing an ‘extended set’.
The goals here are to extend the set for as long as possible while maintaining
tension on the working muscle, and to perfect form!
Start the set with a weight that you can use for a strict 8 repetitions. After completing
your first 8 repetitions, decrease the weight by 20% (if you’re using 100lbs, you
would decrease by 20lbs, etc.)
Immediately continue to perform as many repetitions as you can with the second
weight (usually 5-8 reps).
Repeat this process 4 times in total (you will complete 3 drops, therefore 4 ‘sets’ --
100,80,60,40lbs).
AWESOME TIP:
DO NOT allow your form to stray in an attempt to complete more reps. If anything,
decrease the size of the Range of Motion (ROM) (‘partials’) -- just make sure to be
initiating the movement with the working muscle from a fully stretched position.
The NOS system was specifically designed to increase intra-muscular intensity and
create the optimal environment for growth! We have all heard of hormones like
testosterone, Growth Hormone, and IGF-1.
These hormones MUST be present inside the muscle cells to initiate the growth
process. The body has its own natural ability to create more than sufficient
amounts of these hormones, given the right training environment. NOS has been
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researched and proven to stimulate this precise training environment inside the
muscle! No other training protocol comes close to stimulating this amount of
muscle growth.
GH is released in response to exercise and the presence of lactic acid in the blood.
Lactic acid is released during anaerobic exercise for the first 2 minutes of activity.
GH levels will actually continue to be stable for a long time during training.
IGF-1 -- Insulin-like growth factor is only released during exercise when muscles are
pushed to their limit. This is the true muscle- building hormone. This is what makes
NOS so effective. Taking muscles to their brink causes maximal growth via IGF-1.
4 seconds to lower
That equals 5 sets per rep -- 8 reps per set equals 40 seconds per set!
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Let’s assume for this example that you were able to use 100 lbs for the first 2 sets,
and 90 for the 3rd set.
For the 4th and final set, the NOS set: Using 90 lbs again, the set will look identical
to the last one, except that once you have completed the 8th repetition, you will
drop the weight by approx 20% (in this case, that is 18 lbs, so we will drop 90,
70, 50, 30) and continue with perfect form, and the same 4-0-1-0 tempo until you
cannot complete another rep (ideally 4-5 repetitions with each weight).
**It is extremely important to note that there must not be longer than 10 seconds
between decreasing weight increments -- any longer will negate the NOS process.
**
There is a specific mindset that must be achieved to truly benefit from the NOS
overload: complete focus, and a strong mental desire to incinerate every last drop
of energy out of the working muscle. It is also essential to completely eliminate any
extraneous body movement.
When I say ‘lock it down’, I know that my mind goes directly into complete focus
on the working muscle and my body is locked in position. Nothing, other than the
muscle and joints I am working, are allowed to move.
When taking your body to the most extreme limit, as you are with NOS, it is
absolutely essential to be in the right mindset and not allow for any cheating or
unnecessary movement. If you cannot complete another full rep, drop the weight
and continue with 20% less weight.
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The ‘give it all you’ve got’ set!
GROW!
Once you have exhausted as many muscle fibers as possible (known as muscular
‘overload’), the workout is complete and the re-growth process is set to occur!
The word “Intentions” refers to your conscious INTENT to create TENSION in the
muscle during your quest for a lean muscular physique! BOOM!
MI40 is so effective because it considers the critical variables to create the ideal
weight training program. The first and foremost is execution and form. Sure, you
can grow muscle from lifting weights improperly, but you can also build muscle by
lifting sacks of potatoes all day long.
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If you’re someone who is seeking the information necessary to build a better
physique (which, if you’re reading this, then you certainly are!), you DON’T WANT
TO WASTE YOUR TIME!!
When you do things properly, things will start to balance out! The body wants all the
muscles to be proportionate so that the entire body can work as a whole unit. Start
doing things properly NOW. Perfect range, maximal tension! Your body will thank
you.
This program is extremely different because this is not the “I’m jacked, do what I
do?” routine. This program is based on proven scientific principles, and has been
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tested by average people and pro athletes alike. Everyone grows!
That is, everyone and anyone who wants to maximize time in the gym and minimize
the amount of time it takes to build an ideal physique. Every variable for growth has
been carefully considered and addressed to ensure optimal GROWTH!
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Who Is Ben Pakulski:
“The truth behind my story is that I come
from a family of overweight and obese
people, and I refused to accept this fate
when I was just a young child. When
I started lifting weights, I was a small
and soft 160-lb 16- year-old kid. As
a young athlete, I was always looking
up to the bigger guys. I found myself
reading muscle magazines to find
the proper way to train for bigger
and stronger muscles. I had no real
guidance, just a strong desire to be
healthy, muscular, and to look fit so that
the hot girls would like me. The guys in
my school with the biggest muscles had
the hottest chicks so I went to work!
My passion for learning about the body continued into my university years, when my
primary focus was biomechanics and kinesiology.
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training methods of every one I saw
-- not assuming they were wrong, just
wondering why they chose to do it the
way they did.
Anyone who knows me, or has trained with me knows that I am constantly looking
for ways to make things better. After years of carefully studying muscle function
and biomechanics, things have finally become clear. This being said, I don’t claim
to be a master of every muscle in the body -- we have over 600 of them. I only
claim to have mastered the muscles necessary for appearance and building a bad-
ass physique!
I have been building my body for over 13 years now. The last 5 years have been
the most influential for me. Throughout this time, I have had many mentors, role
models, training partners, and even trainers. All of whom have, in some way,
shaped who I am today. My passion for perfecting training has led me to travel
literally all over the world to find the best coaches and trainers from whom to learn.
One day, it all just clicked for me! It all became so simple. I could break down the
most important principles I’ve learned over the last 13 years into 3 simple things:
1) RANGE OF MOTION
2) TIME UNDER TENSION
3) MUSCULAR OVERLOAD
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If I could learn to eliminate extraneous and useless movement (cheating!), learn to
‘initiate with the working muscle’ (engage the proper muscle group for each specific
exercise -- in my opinion, THE most important thing you are going to learn!), while
applying these 3 principles….the potential for growth would be ENDLESS!
Whatever body type you’re told you have, this training will work for you. It’s ALL IN
YOUR CONTROL.
Focus on making every day your absolute best and you’ll arrive at your ultimate
body.”
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