WORKOUT GUIDE

Victor Chee

if you're not improving you're falling behind

- chris bumstead
 PREFACE
Gym + Diet + Sleep. You need to get all three right consistently to grow. Nothing will make up for the
lack of any one of these and your results will suffer if you don’t. There are no shortcuts, fad diets, or
“magic pill” workaround no matter what you do and take unless you’re already a genetic anomaly. There
are multiple opinions on how to approach them but this is a flexible guide based on my experiences and
research to optimize natural bodybuilding. I suggest you adapt it to your goals and recovery abilities.

What is this guide? This guide is a no-nonsense system to everything that works gathered in one place
for those that are serious about starting their fitness journey. I believe this information should be free and
there is no “special-method” that isn’t publicly available. But you can choose to buy it from someone
reputable if you want to support them. The reason why most people are unable to get “stand-out” results is
typically all in the effort (and rarely genetics). Almost everyone that does not have a medical condition
can naturally look incredible if they truly dedicated themselves to it for enough time.

What you can change. Training and diet can drastically change your physique by controlling the overall
body fat and size of your muscles to create shape around the frame that exists on your body. If you want a
part of your body to get smaller, lose overall body fat and don’t train the muscles in that region. If you
want a part of your body to be bigger, train them with more intention and provide yourself with enough
nutrients to grow. If you want to “tone” your muscles, this doesn’t really exist and it just means the same
thing as losing body fat, so you need to be on a calorie deficit (more on that in the diet section).

What you can’t change. As an adult, there is no way to change your bones, muscle shape, muscle
insertions, and fat distribution from training and diet alone. People that tell you otherwise are scammers.
But even with limitations, everyone can build an amazing physique. Proportions can be deceiving and
create size illusions. For example, you can’t change your natural waist size (at a low body fat %) because
it is genetic, but you can prevent it from growing bigger and build the frame around it. This is achievable
through avoiding work on the obliques and building a bigger X frame (taper that flows well by training
deltoids, latissimus dorsi, glutes and quad muscles). This creates the illusion of a small waist.

Note on your potential. People often doubt their own natural potential too much thinking every person
that looks good must be on PEDs or taking some hidden pill. Don’t doubt yourself just because of what
someone else has told you. I won’t say genetics doesn’t matter because if you are unlucky, your potential
can be lower than others. With enough effort, you will still be better off than 99% of gym goers because
most people don’t even try properly. I can say for sure that I was not “lucky” starting at an anorexic
weight at ~50kgs/~110lbs <16 BMI. But I have a strong obsession. How many people do you know are
truly obsessed? If you ask someone at the gym did you train as hard as you could? Did you diet correctly
everyday? Did you sleep on time everyday? Track everything correctly and consistently everyday? Year
round for 3+ years? No compromises? No cheats? No alcohol? Never skipped on lifting, dieting, resting
well? Listening to the cues of your body everyday? Thinking everyday “how can I grow bigger faster?
How can I do even better? How can I recover better?” Refining yourself everyday “I need to push myself
harder” “I need to recover better than before.” The number of people that can honestly say “yes” is
exceptionally small. Most people may want the results but nobody is actually willing to do it. This is why
it’s rare. The progress is slow, it’s repetitive, and it’s not as glamorous as “just lift, feel good, you’re big
now”. You need to be on point with everything, including the non-adrenaline driven parts. Training very
hard, tracking your body measurements, dieting and resting well. Results creep in very slowly. You may
not see them until years later. But surely, over time, they come. I’m not saying you have to put in the same
dedication if you’re not willing to let it take up your headspace. If you somehow stumbled upon here and
are reading this though, then you’re more likely to be similar to me, someone who was not gifted with the
genetic disposition for muscle or low bodyfat. So the only way to get truly impressive stand-out results as
a natural is to forget “life-balance”. You have to push yourself further than others would.
 INTRODUCTION
This is a bodybuilding guide. I have minimal experience with olympic lifting, powerlifting, and
plyometric training, so this guide does NOT focus on targeting strength, power, or athleticism. If you’re a
beginner with other lifting goals, I would recommend "Starting Strength" by Mark Rippetoe. Keep in
mind, I am a lifetime natural so I am personally unfamiliar with enhanced bodybuilding. This guide (in
theory) would still work if you’re enhanced, but some rules probably don’t apply to you.

Muscle growth. To optimize muscle growth, our goal is to MAXIMIZE the signals that lead to more
Muscle Protein Synthesis (MPS) and less Muscle Protein Breakdown (MPB). Basically MPS > MPB =
Muscle Growth. This means we want to MINIMIZE excessive muscle damage, injury risk, and systemic
fatigue (central nervous system, axial, immune, cardiovascular, and mental fatigue). This is the reason
why the routine does not emphasize axial loads like heavy deadlifts and squats, focusing more on stable
lifts that can be easily progressively overloaded with faster recovery. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t
train intensely, you still want to recruit High-Threshold Motor Units (HTMU) that drives growth. Stable
lifts involving fewer muscle groups just allows you to more effectively recover and focus on your motor
neurons activating targeted muscles through the range of motion. The choice to avoid heavy unstable
compound exercises in this guide was made to allow us to train more frequently to signal muscle growth
with minimal fatigue and damage, and more importantly reduce the risk of injury. Accidental form
breakdown from fatigue or some mishap in heavy unstable lifts are prone to injury. Focusing mostly on
stable lifts allows us to efficiently split our training into shorter and more frequent high-quality sessions.
You can still have growth from training each muscle once a week. The results would be similar as long as
volume and intensity are equal but this is practically difficult to achieve. From my experience, muscles
respond better with more frequent high-quality sessions using different rep-ranges throughout.

Train hard. I am a strong supporter of training to failure because I believe most people, especially
beginners, will stop too far away from true failure and end up leaving more reps available than they think.
It’s easy to waste away years with little to no growth when you’re only training to mild discomfort. I have
personally tried Reps-in-Reserve training methods and found it felt like a lot of guesswork, doesn’t give
an enjoyable gym experience, and results in slower growth. Fatigue when going to failure on every set is
not an issue and overtraining is much harder to reach than most people think as long as recovery, weight,
and volume is appropriately adjusted. My rule-of-thumb with lifting frequency is that smaller muscles can
recover faster, while bigger muscles will take longer. Low loads at higher-reps taken to failure also
recover much faster than heavier loads. There are also some variances in body shape and selective muscle
growth that you need to determine for yourself. I do suggest you incorporate medium weight compound
lifts once in a while for resilience and injury prevention but they are not required for muscle growth.

Volume and time control. Each gym session takes me 1-2 hours depending on how long I rest between
sets. I often add/remove sets based on recovery and suggest you do too to keep it around 1 hr 30 min.

Diet and rest. Besides training hard, your body also needs to RECOVER. Without the proper nutrition
from your diet and proper rest from sleep, your body won’t be able to perform well and recover so you
won’t be able to grow muscle efficiently. A very common misunderstanding is that muscles must be
broken down first to grow. This is incorrect and if you didn’t already know this, I suggest you glance over
the common myths section. You need to get enough nutrients, especially high-quality proteins and fats.
By high-quality, I mean a complete amino-acid profile with higher leucine (meats, eggs, dairy, beans,
whey…) and mostly monounsaturated fats (olive oil, avocado oil, almonds…). Carbohydrates are not
essential, but they will fuel you for better gym sessions and make you recover better, leading to much
better results. You will also need to sleep well to recover and maintain healthy hormone levels for your
body to sustain growth. If you’re lacking in RECOVERY (nutrition + sleep), you will find yourself with
sub-optimal or even unimpressive results no matter how hard and efficiently you train.
 GYM ROUTINE
NOTE*: this guide is for almost all muscles. If you want a more tailored routine without having to figure
out which exercises for your desired physique, you can send me a message for a consultation.

Training Specifics
●​ Eccentric (muscle lengthening of lift) – always control on heavy weights (1-4s) to prevent injury
●​ Concentric (muscle contracting/shortening of lift) – speed is up to you on heavy or light
○​ Slower is better for mind-muscle connection (intentional contraction of target muscle)
better for beginners since being able to “feel” the muscle does help you grow better
○​ Faster is better for explosiveness/power (recruiting lots of muscle fibers really quickly)
●​ Train to failure - I recommend pushing yourself as hard as you can for all non-compound lifts
○​ “The burn” is NOT an indicator of where you stop, keep going…
○​ Failure = physically can’t do anymore full reps, you can still keep going though…
○​ Past failure (optional) = continue with partial reps until you physically are unable to do
much range of motion

MY PERSONAL Blueprint (some genetic variances that you should think about for yourself)
●​ First year into serious training, I noticed Chest, Arms, Quads grew easily for me
○​ Chest grew so fast that after some sessions my skin would tear with fresh stretch marks
○​ Wanted to avoid them growing out of proportion to avoid “barrel-like” physique
●​ So for 3 YEARS, I focused only on building my weak points and left my strong points for later
○​ no primary chest targeted exercises
○​ no primary arm exercises
○​ light on the legs
●​ Main focus was Lats, Forearms, Shoulders because they grew slow for me

Around early-2025 physique (for those that want to work towards my build around then)
●​ Heavily emphasized back training (pull exercises) for a v-taper
●​ Worked on mainly: back, shoulders, legs
●​ Avoided arms and chest to avoid a stocky build (avoiding growth in the front trunk area)
●​ Avoided abs and obliques to avoid blocky look (avoiding growth in mid-section and waist)
●​ Resulted in athletic physique that is conventionally considered attractive but doesn’t stand out
or look “big”. I still emphasize back-heavy but have since changed goals

Around mid-2025 physique

●​ Started adding in chest and arms back into my routine to build well-rounded physique
●​ More intuitive lifting after having learned the cues of my own body and taking inspiration from
some great bodybuilders
○​ changing non-main lifts when I feel my body has adapted to be too efficient in the lift
○​ incorporating different weight-rep ranges depending on local and systemic fatigue
●​ Posing everyday and then deciding where to work based on
1.​ How it looks by exposing my weak points when posing
2.​ How I feel on the day of the lift
●​ So I can target weak points more frequently while avoiding injury and over stimulus.
 PUSH DAY
EXERCISE SETS X REPS
Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press OR 20 reps (warm-up)
Incline Dumbbell / Barbell Press 3 x (8 ~ 12 reps)
Seated Machine Leg Extensions 2 x (20-30 reps) active recovery
20 reps (warm-up)
Cable/Dumbell Lateral Raises
3 x (10 ~ 15 reps)
Rope Cable Tricep Extension OR
2 x (6 ~ 12 reps)
Parallel Bar Dips
Behind-the-Back Cable Lateral Raises OR
3 x (6 ~ 12 reps)
Upper range Dumbell Lateral Raises
Single-Arm Cable / Dumbbell Rear Delt Fly 3 x (6 ~ 12 reps)
Cable Chest Fly (angle of choice) OR
4 x (10 ~ 15 reps)
Cable Internal & External Shoulder Rotations
Standing or Seated Calf Raises 3 x (10 ~ 20 reps)
Drop Set Dumbbell Lateral Raises ~10 reps down weight rack to failure

PULL DAY
EXERCISE SETS X REPS
20 reps (warm-up)
Wide Grip Lat Pulldown 3 x (8 ~ 12 reps)
OR OR
Wide Grip Pull-Ups (Bodyweight/Weighted) 20 pull-ups (warm-up)
3 x drop sets weighted pull-ups (~3, 5, 10 reps)
Bulgarian Split Squats 2 x (6 ~ 12 reps) per leg
Supinated Lat Pulldown OR Chin-Ups OR Single
3 x (6 ~ 12 reps)
Arm Pulldown OR Pronated Medium-Grip Rows
Reverse-Grip Barbell/Dumbbell Curls 2 x (6 ~ 12 reps)
Close-Grip Seated Cable Rows OR Chest
3 x (6 ~ 12 reps)
Supported Rows OR Single-Arm Cable Rows
Barbell/Dumbbell/Cable Wrist Curls (Palmar &
3 x (6 ~ 12 reps each)
Dorsal Flexion)
Cable Y Raises 2 x (10 ~ 20 reps)
Romanian Back Extensions (Hyperextensions) 2 x (6 ~ 12 reps)
Drop Set Lat Pulldown ~10 reps down weight to failure
 LEG DAY
EXERCISE SETS X REPS
4 x (6 ~ 12 reps) (light-medium-weight, focus on
Barbell Back Squats
tension and explosiveness)
Standing Calf Raises 4 x (10 ~ 20 reps)
Single-Leg Seated Machine Leg Extensions 3 x (6 ~ 12 reps)
Single-Leg Hamstring Curls 2 x (6 ~ 12 reps)
Barbell Hip Thrusts OR Dumbbell Glute Focus
3 x (6 ~ 12 reps)
Step-Ups
Barbell/Dumbbell/Cable Wrist Curls (Palmar &
3 x (6 ~ 12 reps each)
Dorsal Flexion)
Cable Single Arm Side Lat Pulldown OR
2 x (20-30 reps each) recovery sets
Cable Internal & External Shoulder Rotations
Leg Raises 2 x (~20 reps)
Drop Set Hack Squat or Leg Press ~10 reps up & down weight to failure

ARM DAY (OPTIONAL)

EXERCISE SETS X REPS
20 reps warmup
Hammer Curls OR
3 x (6 ~ 12 reps) (medium-weight, focus on tension
Arm Blaster Cross Body Curls
and explosiveness)
Cable Rope Triceps Pushdown 2 x (8 ~ 15 reps)
Preacher Barbell/Dumbbell Curls 3 x (6 ~ 12 reps) (fast concentric, slow eccentric)
Cable/Dumbell Lateral Raises 3 x (6 ~ 12 reps)
Seated Incline Dumbbell Curls OR
3 x (6 ~ 12 reps)
Bayesian Cable Curls
Overhead Cable/Dumbbell Triceps Extension 2 x (6 ~ 12 reps)
Barbell/Dumbbell/Cable Wrist Curls (Palmar &
2 x (6 ~ 12 reps)
Dorsal Flexion)
Cable Crunches 3 x (6 ~ 12 reps)
Drop Set Favorite Curl Variation ~10 reps up & down weight to failure
 CARDIO
MINIMUM DAILY – 10m walk, 5m stretch
RECOMMENDED DAILY – 7000+ steps a day

Just get your walk in, it doesn’t take long.

●​ Promotes blood flow to deliver nutrients to muscles and helps clear metabolic byproducts
●​ Improves mood and energizes you to be more active throughout the day

It sounds counterintuitive but increasing your low-intensity movement will make you feel more energized
throughout the day. There are some hormonal and brain factors at play here.

I would avoid intense and long cardio because it can fatigue your system and negatively affect muscle
recovery. You can stack as much low-intensity activity like walking or light swimming as you want, to
help recovery and is especially good on a cut.

AESTHETICS
This part is subjective. These are some muscles to emphasize in my opinion to build an aesthetic shape. In
general both men and women should emphasize the X frame (small waist, wide back & shoulders, big
legs), but there are some “masculine” and “feminine” aesthetic traits to be aware of.

I think these are based on biologically healthy traits that men and women are already predisposed to in
terms of size. Bigger traps and arms are not conventionally considered aesthetic on women, but a bigger
lower body creates a strong waist to hip/glute/leg ratio. Massive legs and glutes are not conventionally
considered aesthetic on men if it overpowers the upper body, but a strong upper body creates a greater
waist to shoulder ratio. This may reflect traits that have become partially hardwired in our brains through
centuries of selection favoring survivability – particularly regarding a woman’s potential to bear and rear
children, and a man’s potential to protect and provide.

MEN
1.​ BACK (Especially LATS, TERES, RHOMBOIDS, MID/LOWER TRAPS)
2.​ SHOULDERS (DELTOIDS)
3.​ CHEST & ARMS
4.​ LEGS & GLUTES (for classic if you want that outwards sweep)

WOMEN
1.​ GLUTES
2.​ LEGS
3.​ BACK (mainly just LATS, TERES)
4.​ SHOULDERS

Note on ABS: you’ll see them if you’re at a low enough body fat. Most people will have decent visible
abs without working them at all once they cut down. Fat distribution on your body is determined by
genetics so there will be some people that have an easier time getting them visible than others. They are
stabilizers used in almost every compound excercise. But once you’re reasonably lean and you still want
them to pop out more, you can then decide whether you want to start training them seriously. I wouldn’t
start until then because it can add thickness to your waist if you progressively overload for multiple years.
 RECOMMENDED SPLIT / PERIODIZATION
●​ Recommend supersetting for faster completion, but single set works too if it’s more enjoyable
●​ Adjust number exercises and sets based on your recovery
●​ Deload every 4-12 weeks by reducing the number of sets for 1 week using the same weights
○​ I personally do it when I really need to recover which is consistently around 1-2 months
for me. Make sure you’re not using it as an excuse to go easy on yourself.
●​ (ADVANCED) Daily Undulating Periodization. Use all throughout the week/day and rotate:
■​ Heavy lifts 5-10 reps (fast concentric)
■​ Slow controlled lifts 5-12 reps (slow both, focus on squeeze and lengthening)
■​ Light lifts, short-rest 20-30+ reps (fast-concentric fast-eccentric past the burn)
●​ (OPTIONAL) rotate accessory exercises biweekly based on your physique checks
●​ (OPTIONAL) intuitive lifting and rotate active recovery days to maximize growth on weak points
(place recovery days the day after target muscles)

This routine is just a basic structure I started out to use to stay consistent and track progress. The
“push-pull-legs” split is an efficient way to incorporate muscles that get worked together but other splits
that space recovery can work just as well. Make sure you leave a sufficient gap between working the same
muscle group again because there is a blunted muscle growth signaling (mTORC1 response) so you want
it to recover enough before your next session with the same muscles to maximize growth.

You can take an unstructured approach and listen to the body to decrease/increase the number of sets,
swap exercises, and choose rep ranges on the day of training depending on goals and recovery. I wouldn’t
recommend this to everyone unless they have been consciously paying attention to their body for years.

MON:​ ​ PUSH A (shoulder, tri emphasis)

TUES:​ ​ PULL A (vertical pull emphasis)​
WED:​ ​ LEGS A (quad, calves emphasis)​
THU:​ ​ ARMS (bi, tri, rear delt emphasis) / ABS / ACTIVE RECOVERY ​
FRI:​ ​ PUSH B (chest emphasis)
SAT:​ ​ PULL B (horizontal pull emphasis)
SUN:​ ​ LEGS B (glute, hams emphasis) / ABS / ACTIVE RECOVERY

Red highlights are optional rest days if recovery is slow. You can design a custom split as long as you’re
hitting all muscles you want after a recovery period to grow effectively but I would stick to at least
keeping a couple of the same main lifts to continuously track progress on your major muscle groups:

CHEST: incline / upright press

BACK: vertical pull, horizontal pull
LEGS: squat / leg extension, leg curl (or RDL), calf raises
SHOULDERS: lateral raise
ARMS: bicep curl, tricep extension

And then swap out any other exercises during your gym session based on your aesthetic preferences,
weak points, recovery, and injury proneness. Keep in mind that there is no one correct way or split for
training. There are countless number of bodybuilders that all look amazing and have drastically different
splits and methods. This can make it confusing about which is the “best way” but there is no real answer
to this. Just try different ones and use the one you enjoy and can stay consistent with. The fact that all of
them work is good because it just means there are multiple ways to get good results. The common
consensus on optimizing training is that the best split for you is just the one where you can get the most
intensity + volume with but still recover best on.
 DIET
I would say 90% of your results depend on how well you control your diet.

Main points:
●​ Always hit minimum fat + protein, adjust carbs as needed
●​ Count calories the first time you meal prep to be 100% on any bulk/cut/maintenance.
●​ How do you calculate macros and calories accurately?
○​ Weigh SINGLE ingredient foods (most accurate)
■​ Make sure to measure as Cooked vs Uncooked
○​ Read nutrition labels (inaccurate, FDA allows them to be up to 20% off)
○​ When eating out, use labels or estimate (extremely inaccurate)
●​ Use a calculator like this to start out on your maintenance then adjust based on progress tracking
○​ IMPORTANT it’s an estimate. It doesn't actually know how much you move, fidget, or
exercise a day. The most accurate is tracking your weight DAILY set weight target
weekly/biweekly to see if you’re getting close averages to them
●​ Best way to stay on track with your diet is to prep your food 1-2 steps away from eating them
in bulk ahead of time to avoid eating out. This takes out guesswork so you know the macros and
calories on each meal.

EXAMPLE CALORIES & MACROS

73 kg / 180cm / 10% bf / LBM = 65.7kg / Sedentary Work / Trains Everyday
CUT: BULK MAINTENANCE

208g PROTEIN (high quality) 200g PROTEIN (high quality) 200g PROTEIN
~3x g per kg LBM ~3x g per kg LBM ~3x g per kg LBM
42.2% calories 28.0% calories 33.5% calories

150g CARBS 340 CARBS 250g CARBS

~2.2x per kg LBM ~5x per kg LBM ~4x per kg LBM
30.4% calories 47.7% calories 41.9% calories

60g FATS 77g FATS 65g FATS

~0.82x per kg BM ~1x per kg BM 0.9x per kg BM
27.4% calories 24.3% calories 24.5% calories

~2000 calories ~2800 calories ~2400 calories

CUTTING vs BULKING
TLDR
●​ A simple starting point for beginners:
○​ Males: cut if above ~12% body fat, otherwise bulk (if you want to gain muscle)
○​ Females: cut if above ~20% body fat, otherwise bulk (if you want to gain muscle)
●​ Recommended cut time, min 2 months, max 4 months
●​ Recommended bulk time min 6 months, max 12 months
●​ Have some stress managing protocols like meditation, supplements to reduce cortisol
●​ Most beginners should begin on a cut, and gain muscle at the same time (yes you can)
Why does this matter? (skip if not interested)
If you’re like me and in it for the long-game of getting naturally as big and lean as possible and quickly, I
think it’s most efficient to have bulk and cut cycles. Energy availability, nutritional partitioning, and
hormones play a significant role in your results so we take them into consideration when planning.

CATEGORY CALORIE DEFICIT CALORIE SURPLUS SIGNIFICANCE ON

RESULTS

Energy
Availability
Body prioritizes survival
functions. Less energy for
More energy for
recovery and growth
🔴 Very High – effects
MPS, MPB, and recovery
recovery and growth.

Nutrient
Partitioning
Nutrients directed toward
energy needs and fat
Nutrients more directed
toward muscle repair
🟠 High – muscle growth
vs stored/burning
oxidation. and growth.

Cortisol
Levels
Elevated due to caloric stress,
training fatigue, and poorer
Lowered due to reduced
physiological stress.
🟠 High – affects
recovery, testosterone, and
(Stress recovery. May lower muscle retention
Hormone) testosterone and increase
MPB

Fat Loss
Potential
Body uses body fat as energy. Body has enough energy
externally so it doesn't
🟠 High – determines
efficiency of fat
use body fat. mobilization

Testosterone
Levels
Suppressed. Reduces muscle
recovery and growth.
Elevated. (Unless you
gain too much body fat
🟡 Moderate – supports
hypertrophy and recovery,
which leads to especially in deficits
testosterone converting
to estrogen via
aromatase)

●​ Day-to-day stress => higher cortisol

●​ overtraining or training for way too long => higher cortisol

●​ 1-2 weeks into cut, rapid weight loss is mostly water + glycogen (NOT fat loss)
●​ 1-2 weeks into bulk, rapid weight gain is mostly water + glycogen (NOT gains in muscle mass)

Sounds complicated? It is complicated. Your body tries to keep things at an equilibrium, which is why
there is resistance at the opposite ends of the spectrum of eating too much and too little for too long.

But by understanding the mechanisms, we can use them to our advantage to control our diet phases. Keep
in mind that the exact optimal time period depends on the person because genetics determine your
hormone levels and recovery abilities. But we’re all likely to be somewhat in the normal range (unless
you’ve noticed a significantly lower or higher amount of muscle on yourself compared to most).

We can prevent prolonged effects of these categories by limiting our cut time to 2-4 months and
limiting our bulk to 6-12 months.
CUTTING
●​ Fundamentals:
○​ Purpose is to lose fat, retain/gain muscle
○​ Eat on a calorie deficit, -200-600 kcal daily. (exception is if you have excessively high
body fat % already 40%+, then you can cut faster)
○​ Cutting too fast leads to more muscle loss, increased cortisol, and reduced testosterone
○​ Eat more protein than on a bulk or maintenance to retain muscle and increase satiety
○​ Adjust by decreasing calories as your weight goes down
●​ Advanced (for those trying to get shredded)
○​ Incorporate refeeds when you’re at a lower body fat (1-2x weekly when < ~10% bodyfat)
○​ Time your fast carbs (high GI foods) with a fast protein source like whey before and after
workouts to raise insulin and prevent muscle breakdown (avoid fasted training)
○​ Time heavier meals (low GI foods) before sleep to prevent hunger wakeups
●​ Extras:
○​ Timing your meals to start later in the day can help you be less starved, less likely to
overeat, and get better sleep.
○​ Try to eat fast digesting protein + carbs before and after workouts to reduce MPB
○​ Eat slow digesting proteins and foods before sleeping (especially on aggressive cuts)
○​ Avoid consecutive cutting longer than 3-4 months due to effects on hormones and energy
○​ If you need to lose more fat, do mini-maintenance phase for 1-4 weeks before resuming
○​ Avoid having tasty foods in the pantry (for those with lack of self-control)
○​ Appetite / Hunger varies per person but if you’re particularly struggling, try to eat more
high volume low calorie foods and incorporate foods with high satiety index

BULKING
●​ Fundamentals:
○​ Purpose is to gain muscle
○​ Eat on a calorie surplus, +200-600 kcal daily
○​ Avoid bulking too fast cause it just leads to excessive fat gain
○​ Adjust by increasing your calories as your weight goes up
●​ Extras:
○​ Recommend bulking for at least 6 months for more muscle gain
○​ Avoid excessive fat consumption, try to stay below 1.5g per kg body weight daily
○​ Nutrition and carb timing doesn’t matter as much because muscle stores are typically
filled

MAINTENANCE / RECOMP
●​ Eat on calorie balance, make sure weekly calories are the same.
●​ Get enough protein + fats

PROTEIN INTAKE
Typical Recommended Daily average: 2.2g protein per kg of total body weight
My Recommended and Personal average: 3-3.5g protein per kg of FAT FREE MASS
YMMV – personally on high intensity training, I found more protein = better recovery, and growth

FAT INTAKE
Daily average: 0.8-1.5g per kg per body weight. Preferably 60+% monounsaturated (avocado, almonds,
olive oil), rest from saturated animal fats (meat, butter, egg yolks)
Cholesterol (OPTIONAL): 7mg per LBM or around 400mg + a day (liver, shrimp, sardines, egg yolks)
Fat + Cholesterol intake is required to absorb essential nutrients and maintain healthy hormone levels so
don’t skip.

CARB INTAKE
Adjust based on how you feel for recovery and lifts. This part is the most variable throughout your diet
phases. When carbs are too low it will have a negative effect on performance and recovery. Avoid
extremely processed or refined sugars (with high glycemic index) except for pre and post workout
recovery, even then take them in moderation so you don’t cross the threshold for a sugar crash.

Prep: Often manipulated by bodybuilders to affect the fullness of their muscles. Carb depletion 3-4 days
out from showday / photoshoot, carb load 1-3 days before your showday / photoshoot.

FIBER INTAKE
My recommended minimum: 1g per 100 kcal consumed
USDA recommended intake: 1.4g per 100 kcal consumed

More fiber is typically just better for health, so go for more if you can, (without getting too bloated).
Try to get the minimum fiber especially on a high-protein diet and during a cut or you’ll have an
unpleasant time.

Prep: Often taken out 2-3 days before bodybuilding shows or photoshoots to prevent bloating.

SODIUM INTAKE
Recommended: 2000-5000 mg day (depending on your size, activity level, water intake, sweating)

You don’t really need to be tracking this unless you’re on prep or consuming a crazy amount a day.
Keeping this on the higher side is actually better for performance but this can cause you to bloat and store
more water between your muscles and skin. If you want to look less bloated you should keep sodium
consistent without overdoing it and drink more water.

Prep: Sodium is often measured but not manipulated since it can be dangerous without benefits.

WATER INTAKE
Recommended: 2-4L day (depending on size, activity level, sodium intake, sweating)

Just try to hit a minimum of 2L a day and it will make you feel much better in general. Water is pretty
much essential in all the important cellular processes that we want to occur throughout any sort of dieting
including hypertrophy, nutrient delivery, fat oxidation etc. If you’re aiming to look less bloated you can
try to drink more water when your sodium intake is higher. Just don’t go crazy on chugging water to the
point of water intoxication (hyponatremia).

Prep: If you’re going for a show, you should already know that water is often manipulated during peak
week. 6-8L 3-4 days before show, tapered down to 3-5L around 1-3 days out from show day.
CONVENIENT FOODS
List of foods that store easily in the pantry or fridge for easier prep and meal plans to reach your macros.

LOW-TO-NO-CALORIE
●​ Konjac (basically 0 calories)
●​ Frozen Vegetables (spinach, broccoli, carrots etc..)
●​ Splenda, Monk Fruit (sweetener of choice for coffee, drinks etc)
●​ Sugar-free syrups (honey, maple syrup, syrup…)
●​ Dried Mushrooms, can be prepped with rice
●​ Dried Vegetables (Spinach flakes, carrots) , can be prepped with rice
●​ Pickled Vegetables (Kimchi, Pickles, Radish…)

CARBS:
●​ Oats
●​ Frozen Fruits
●​ Rice (frozen or dried)
●​ Potatoes (great for cutting my fav is russet)
●​ Rice cakes (fast digesting, convenient, good for advanced lifters who time their carbs or carb
load)

PROTEIN:
●​ Greek yoghurt (non-fat, no sugar variants exist)
●​ Cottage cheese (non and low-fat variants exist)
●​ Whole Eggs, Egg Whites
●​ Fat-free feta cheese
●​ Protein Powders (Whey Protein Isolate, Whey Protein Concentrate, Brown Rice + Pea Mix…)
●​ Protein Pancake Mixes
●​ Frozen Cooked Meats (Chicken breast, Karaage, TJ teriyaki chicken…)
●​ Dried Beans (can be cooked together with rice)
●​ Canned Tuna (don’t eat everyday cause of heavy metals)
●​ Ground meats (chicken, turkey, beef) can be more time consuming to prep

FATS
●​ Whole eggs (from yok)
●​ Nuts (Almonds, walnuts etc…)
●​ Almond Butter, Cashew Butter, Peanut Butter
●​ Extra Virgin Olive Oil
●​ Avocado Oil
●​ Butter (in moderation)

SAUCES & CONDIMENTS

●​ No calorie chilli sauces (sriracha, hot sauce, tabasco…)
●​ Mustard
●​ PB2
 SLEEP
It is essential to sleep enough for recovery so tracking it helps. The amount you need for full recovery
depends on your genetics and age so it can vary widely. Most people should aim for the 7-9 hour range.
To help improve sleep quality, I typically take 3g melatonin daily before bed on a cut

RECOVERY
I also recommend tracking recovery weekly based on a scale of 1-5. This should be based on
1.​ STRENGTH: if you’re getting stronger with same lifts + form, you’re recovering fine and can
ignore the others
2.​ MOOD + ENERGY: should not feel a dip in motivation, mood, concentration.
3.​ SLEEP: should be able to sleep fine
On a cut: 2 and 3 will inevitably get worse, so at least make sure that you maintain strength even if it
means lowering volume.

My training philosophy will NEVER be “less is more.” The goal is to train at a MAXIMAL level, not a
MINIMAL one. Over time, your recovery capacity adapts just like your muscles do. If you’re getting
stronger over time (being able to lift heavier, more reps, more sets), you have no joint/tendon pain, your
mood + energy is good, your sleep is good, but your muscles might be sore, you're likely recovering
enough and can ignore the muscle soreness. This is a common misconception I often see even more
experienced lifters get wrong. There is no single recovery schedule that works for everyone, but most
people’s recovery ability grows similarly and ends up slowing down to a similar spot, like most things in
nature, following a normal distribution. Some will be average, some will be unlucky, and few will have
exceptional recovery. You won’t know where you fall unless you push your limits. That’s why you should
gradually build more intensity and volume, always pushing up to the edge of what you can recover and
grow from. From time to time, you should overreach to test and expand your limits.

The “sweet spot” of maximal progress comes from continually testing and expanding your limits, while
staying smart enough to recognize when injury risk or fatigue requires pulling back or deloading so you
can grow in the long term. There will be cues if you listen to your body.

Some cues I look for to tell I’m overtraining. so I need to pull back on volume. First ask: How does my
body feel? Am I actually tired today or is it just me being delusional?
●​ A drop or no progress in strength - when you can’t do the same weight for same reps as last time
●​ A constant nagging feeling of pressure/anxiety with lack of motivation
●​ Tendon pain (you might want to get this checked or look for exercise variations to avoid injury)

It’s always helpful to be in tune with your body. This takes time but you’ll eventually be able to feel and
understand your body much better if you try to be objective in analyzing its cues. Don’t just blindly be
like “oh my body hurts so I’ll skip training.” You have to try to understand different types of pain, your
own mood, your psyche, your CNS etc… You want to push yourself to the edge of what's possible to
recover from so you can keep growing optimally.
 TRACKING PROGRESS
Tracking your progress to have some objectivity on your results is the best way to know you’re heading in
the right direction.. It’s hard to gauge progress just from inspection because you see yourself almost
everyday and how you feel about your physique can change through time. If you’ve validated your results
with the numbers and pictures for long enough you also get better at judging your true state overtime.
Using something like a google sheet or app helps: measurements . You can probably ask Gemini or
ChatGPT to make you a better one with custom formatting rules to color code to your preference.

By tracking your progress you have an objective view of whether you’re actually getting better, worse, or
remaining the same. Everyone is slightly different, and there are sometimes outliers so it’s best to track
your results and tweak variables to see how it affects your performance and progress overtime.

Daily:
●​ Bodyweight (best to do it same time everyday, like every morning, without any clothing)
●​ Calories: especially important when eating out, no meal plan or on inconsistent diet
●​ Macronutrients: Protein, Carbs, Fats
●​ Sleep hours
Weekly (or more frequently):
●​ Lifts (your main lifts, their weight, your full reps to failure)
●​ Recovery
Monthly (or more frequently):
●​ Body Tape Measurements (shown in the sheets)
○​ Neck, Chest, Waist, Hip, Arms, Legs, Calves, Forearms
●​ Body Fat %, Caliper or Estimate
●​ Images: same lighting and pose from front and back.
○​ Can move this to weekly or even daily if you want to stitch together a time lapse
Quarterly / Yearly (or more frequently):
●​ Body Fat % Dexa Scan
 STAYING CONSISTENT
This is a section for those having difficulty following a lifting and dieting lifestyle. This part varies
greatly from person-to-person. I can only provide what worked for me based on my priorities of staying
on track. It may require a bit of introspection but you should first try to figure out why you are even
pursuing this. A better question is if you even want it. There’s no point if you don’t truly want it bad
enough. This will determine how much effort and time you’re willing to put into going into staying on
track with gym, diet, and sleep. Once you’ve figured that out we can move onto the next step.

Mindset. You need to change your mindset if there’s something you don’t like about the process. Is lifting
uncomfortable? Is being hungry painful? Is eating more than you want exhausting? Is sleeping on time a
chore? Thinking these things repetitively can make you give-up. Learn to enjoy training hard, fueling
properly, and resting well. The fulfillment that you get from pushing yourself to your physical and mental
boundaries, attacking your weak points, and raising your standards to come back even stronger every time
should be addicting. You want to savor the ride and remember that being uncomfortable means you’re
doing it right. Nobody wants to be uncomfortable, which is why you will dominate the more you get used
to staying uncomfortable. Make the challenge itself and the delayed gratification of results be your joy.
You're consistently challenging yourself to grow everyday. One day of proper tracking, training hard, and
dieting won’t change you. What about 30 days? Probably not much yet. But 300, 1000, 3000? You’ll look
back and barely recognize yourself from the progress you’ve made. The changes will add up. This
persistence towards pushing yourself harder everyday to grow when it doesn’t have any immediate results
is extremely rare which also makes it more worth it.

Dieting. You pretty much want to avoid eating out as much as possible. There’s no real way around this
and I haven’t seen anyone able to get good results eating out at different restaurants on a daily basis.
When you do have an occasional meal out you should try to accurately estimate calories so it does not
hurt your progress but it can be a significant loss if you let yourself loose. Hitting the macros and calories
consistently is a requirement to optimize growth. To do this properly you can start by figuring out your
dieting values with some thought experiments or real experimentation. Do you like cooking? Are you
willing to spend hours in the kitchen everyday/weekly/monthly? Do you want to spend time eating? Do
you want to spend effort eating? Can you eat something bland as long as it fuels you? These are mine:
Convenience > Time > Satiety > Taste.
Based on this I developed strategies to automate dieting. I work full-time on a pretty mentally demanding
job and found that to reduce mental fatigue. I needed to
●​ Reduce time taken to eat as much as possible
●​ Reduce the amount of choices and thinking required as much as possible
●​ Make sure I still stay somewhat satiated on a cut to fuel myself to work efficiently

The best way for me was to “pre-think” and “prep” monthly/weekly and “execute” throughout the day.
●​ Plan my starting macros (adjusted weekly based on my tracked morning weight)
●​ Prep all my food beforehand and freeze them e.g. boiling 25-30 lbs of russet potatoes in one day
and freezing them into ziplocks
●​ Prep all my protein powders into 21 mason jars every week
●​ Use a dishwasher (important one so I don’t have to spend time cleaning)
●​ Get more plates and cutlery (so I can cycle through them and just toss in dishwasher)

Limit thinking and choices related to diet made in a day. These changes may seem insignificant but I
can give examples on why they were an important part of staying consistent for me. Imagine my life
everyday – having to make choices on what to eat, calculating macros of my diet every time I come up
with a new meal and then budgeting to go buy these groceries with the right quantities, weighing them
before I cook my meal, actually cooking all X-number of meals everyday, eating them, hand-washing the
dishes and cooking utensils after each of my X-number of meals, filling the protein bottle to the gram,
hand-washing the bottle on every shake and adding all this into my tracked macros app. The thinking and
choices for all these steps accumulates friction between me and hitting my nutrient goals. It makes things
feel like a burden. On a stressful and tiring day, I can easily imagine a scenario where I will end up being
tempted by a faster, cheaper, and more convenient alternative like fast food. We want to make the lifestyle
as easy as we can, so the convenience of it outweighs all your other options.

This frees up our thinking capacity on the daily. The habit becomes automatic because I can simply grab a
container from the fridge to microwave a meal that will fulfill my macronutrients, or grab a mason jar
prefilled with the protein I need, shake, chug, toss everything in the dishwasher. I don’t have to think as
much anymore so even on the bad days, it’s very unlikely that I will fall off. If you build your habits
extremely well, the time and effort to make unhealthy choices will at some point exceed the time and
effort required to stay on track. If you’re aiming to be a professional or have the monetary funds for it,
there are dieticians and coaches that can also plan your nutrition for you, while tracking your progress,
and making micro-adjustments to help you reach your goal. Outsourcing this thinking works if you have
enough trust in the source, but I have personally never gone this route and have always been self-coached.
Coaches may have more experience but IMO nobody will understand and be able to listen to the cues of
your body better than yourself.

Lifting. I enjoy training hard. It isn’t fun unless I get to feel myself reach failure so I can test my limit
everyday. Some enjoy “the shivers” that occur from taxing their CNS and motor neurons so much, others
may enjoy the feeling of muscles pushing against their skin from “the pump” that happens when pushing
themselves to metabolic failure. You may find enjoyment in different parts of lifting but you will learn to
enjoy the challenge as you get better because pushing yourself past a limit is a sign that you are growing.
The environment that you train in can affect the quality of your session. We can go through the same
process as dieting and evaluate your values here to determine what will keep you consistent. Do you
prefer a crowded gym or an empty one? Do you get very excited with new and nice equipment? How
much time are you willing to spend commuting to a gym?
Once again my values are: Proximity > Convenience > Enjoyment > Equipment > Environment.
I typically prefer to just wear a hoodie and train alone but it’s pretty much the same if I have fast access to
the right equipment so my requirements ended up being pretty simple:
●​ Live walking distance or at an apartment with a gym
Just make sure your priority at the gym doesn’t shift to become something social. Your primary objective
there should always be to train hard so you can grow and not to do 3-sets of talking.

Build a system. You want it to be routine. At some point things will start clicking and you’ll be making
progress just by doing things you always do but in a more efficient, time-allocated way. Everyday related
to eating, lifting, resting should look almost the exact same from a bird's-eye perspective. You’re just
tweaking small things related to diet weekly and adjusting your volume, weights, and lift variety based on
recovery and stimulus overtime. The small tweaks are all you need to grow optimally. You can reflect,
add-on, test, and improve your system if you find better or more efficient methods over time.

Staying disciplined. The most important thing I learned was that low-friction and convenience were the
most important factors for keeping me consistent. This meant reducing every effort that can be reduced
for necessities over prolonged more stressful periods of time. I figured out that I can plan + prepare
everything diet and lifting related ahead of my weeks/months. I could stay at an apartment or space that
had close access to a gym. Implementing these into a habit basically made it so effortless that it would
actually require more time and effort to fall off my system than staying on it. You don’t need to become a
complete robot (unless you’re on prep for a competition or truly believe you have the potential to be at the
top), you should try to relax once in a while especially when eating out with friends or performing
important social/family activities that may involve breaking your habits to accommodate others. But I
believe that automating trivial life maintenance tasks has freed me up to have more time to think
creatively and tackle more interesting problems I want to think about throughout my day.

SUPPLEMENT STACK
IMPORTANT**: Make sure to first have all foundational aspects of growth with GYM + RECOVERY
covered before even thinking about supplementation. This means training hard, getting the right
amount of calories from proteins, fats, carbs, and getting enough quality sleep. Avoid this section until
the others have become systemized into a habit.

The only supplements you might want to consider below along with the foundational aspects of growth
are protein and caffeine. Without the foundational aspects, supplements will make minimal difference to
your actual results. Even without supplements, you can have the same results as long as you’re hitting
everything else right. But I included this section because I think there is value in having them, especially
on a cut that will help keep you focused throughout the day, help you cover potential deficiencies, and
reduce cortisol levels from day-to-day stress and your workouts. They are mostly for me to maintain
high-performance on a day job outside of the gym while on an intensive workout regimen during cuts.

Now here are supplements I have on hand to take that I think works.

ANYTIME
Whey Protein Isolate as needed - easy way to get protein in with fewest calories, very good on a cut.
Creatine 3-5g daily - don’t feel a difference but supposed to work, pre-workout with citrulline
L-Citrulline Malate 2:1 5-10g daily - noticeable difference in recovery time, pre-workout with creatine
Psyllium Husk 5-10g daily - noticeably helpful for bowel movement (especially on a cut) and hunger

AM
Caffeine as needed - from coffee throughout the day. Works too well. Suppresses hunger too.
B-Complex - noticeable difference in energy and focus when taken with coffee
Fish Oil / Omega-3 - can’t tell the difference but I trust the research
Vitamin D3 + K2 - can’t tell the difference but probably works. Needed cause I don’t get much sun
ALCAR - noticeable focus / cognitive energy boost on cuts

PM
Magnesium - noticeable difference in sleep. Side effect of more vivid and memorable dreams
Zinc - no noticeable difference but probably works when deficient on a cut
Ashwagandha KSM66 - noticeable difference in sleep quality especially on a cut
Melatonin - very noticeable difference in sleep quality especially on a cut
5 minute meditation - try to just count seconds and focus on prolonging your breathe, helps sleep and
probably recovery

Other considerations:
EGCG - Possibly can increase fat oxidation at higher dosages.
Beta-Alanine - Some research backed improvements in strength
Betaine Anhydrous - Some research backed improvements in strength
Rhodiola - Research backed cognitive benefits, supposedly good for energy during cuts too
CPC-Choline - Research backed long-term cognitive benefits
Lion’s Mane - Research backed long-term cognitive benefits
 COMMON MYTHS
You don’t really need to read this section if you have a basic understanding of how the body works.

●​ Muscle must be broken down to grow: FALSE

There are multiple other pathways that lead to signaling muscle growth. We actually want to avoid
excessive breakdown because of its recovery demand and build muscle through other pathways because
too much muscle damage can hinder our progress by requiring more time and resources to recover.

●​ You can target fat loss in a body section: FALSE

There's no way to naturally spot reduce fat for a part of your body. The amount of fat stored per body
section is genetic (and hormonal). If your goal is fat-loss, just focus on overall fat loss through
calorie-deficit.

●​ Ab exercises will give you abs: mostly FALSE

Everyone has abs, it’s just underneath a layer of fat. If you get low enough body fat you will see your abs.
Working your abs may help make them bigger and more defined at a body fat level where it is already
visible, but it also contributes to a bigger waist.

●​ Eating fat will make you gain body fat: mostly FALSE
Fat does not inherently make you fat. Your body can store any excess proteins, carbs and fats as body fat.
What matters is total calories. Fat does have the highest calories per gram, so it might contribute more
easily.

●​ You can’t lose fat and gain muscle at the same time: mostly FALSE
This is false for most people. It only becomes difficult to do this if you’ve been training, dieting, sleeping
properly and consistently for around 3-5 years. At this point your muscle growth potential has slowed
down significantly, making it very unlikely that you will have any significant gain in muscle while on a
calorie deficit.

●​ Bodybuilding is healthy: DEPENDS

This depends on your current lifestyle. If you’re already not exercising, it could be an improvement on
your existing diet and activity choices. But you can completely ignore eating healthy foods and mainly
focus on hitting all your macros with complete proteins from unhealthy and processed food options to still
achieve a very good looking physique. Going down to extremely low body fat percentages is also never
good for your body. If you get more into fitness and watch more gym content, it’s also common to
develop some body dysmorphia from comparing yourself to others or to yourself when you’ve just
finished an extreme cut (at unhealthy / unsustainable levels of body fat).

●​ Genetics plays a large role: TRUE but UNLIKELY FOR YOU

I would say genetic variance is pretty small in terms of muscle growth potential. Outliers are rare which is
why all your neighbors are most likely neither world-class bodybuilders nor gauntly disabled. You can’t
blame genetics without having put in consistent effort for multiple years. This means training hard, being
extremely stringent and precise with calories, and making sure you’re resting enough for at least 2+ years.
Overall you likely will fall within a normal range of genetics and can achieve impressive results as long
as you work consistently through multiple years. Your diet + activity level throughout your childhood to
now would contribute to your starting point but I wouldn’t consider this a genetic factor.

●​ You can’t change body shape: TRUE for the most part
Your body shape, bone structure, muscle insertion points are genetic and can’t be changed naturally once
you’re done growing. They do impact how you look. However, you can bias growth for specific parts of
your body by training muscles you want to grow bigger. Regardless of these factors, I think everyone
looks better when they’re relatively lean and have some muscle mass.

●​ Lifting will make me grow too much muscle: FALSE

If it were that easy, everyone would be muscular. You need to lift + eat a surplus of calories and protein +
recover constantly for months or even years to have visible gains in muscle. If you’re a girl trying to not
look “bulky”, don’t worry. You won’t get bigger just by lifting, unless you’re already big or eating at a
calorie surplus.

MUSCLE GROWTH PATHWAYS

You don’t need to read this if you just want to follow a routine to lift, eat, sleep and grow. This part is for
nerds that want to know the exact pathways of muscle growth.

Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy - increase muscle volume (not tissue) with water, glycogen, mitochondria
and other things your muscles use to produce energy.
Myofibrillar Hypertrophy - increase muscle tissue fibers (muscle density) leading to more potential
force output and strength.

What do we know about how muscle growth works?

Muscle tissue growth is a signaling process that occurs from mTORC1 activation. This is local to the
muscle fibers that occur from the pathways below. Since it’s localized to the fiber and activation requires
some type of muscle tension to occur, the fastest way to stimulate growth is by recruiting and keeping
large muscle fibers under tension, which are typically HTMUs. We can achieve this by lifting somewhat
on the heavier side to drive enough force so your motor neurons activate as many muscle fibers as
possible. You can also reach this threshold by going to failure on any type of heavy or light lift. In theory,
variating your weight ranges should allow you to activate a range of muscle fibers for better growth but
this hasn’t been officially supported in practical research. If you’re a beginner, your brain, CNS, and
muscles rapidly improves in its efficiency at driving force. So you can actually get stronger without
having grown any new muscle. We can get around this by progressively overloading: increasing weight,
reps, sets, or time under tension. You can also try to introduce unfamiliar movements to your routine so
your body is not as efficient in it over time.

Why do we need a recovery period?

mTORC1 signaling is blunted after each high-intensity session for muscles worked after each session for
those muscle fibers. It remains elevated for around 24-48 hours depending on how trained you are, so it’s
best to have a small gap between working the same muscles so that your muscles have time to recover as
well as for those signals to reset so you can create another strong signal for muscle growth. Deloading
every couple months also helps to further reset this signaling and is a good way to prevent injury from
accumulated fatigue. In terms of long-term progress, we want to make sure we are at a balance point of
pushing our limits to signal growth but also recovering to prevent injury as much as possible.
MECHANICAL TENSION
Load → Mechanotransduction (FAK, integrins) → mTORC1 activation → Protein synthesis
→ Myofibrillar Hypertrophy
→ Satellite Cell Activation → Myonuclear Addition
→ Long-Term Myofibrillar Hypertrophy
Method: controlled tension on muscle fibers with moderate to heavy loads (65–85% 1RM) in full range
of motion

METABOLIC STRESS
High reps / low rest → Metabolite accumulation (lactate, Pi, H⁺) → Cellular swelling → mTOR activation​
→ Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy
Method: move muscle with lots of reps 20+ until you hit failure without much rest between sets. Cellular
swelling, metabolites, and blood volume leads to the “burn” and “pump” feeling.

MUSCLE DAMAGE
Eccentric overload / novel movement → Sarcomere disruption → Inflammatory cytokines → Satellite
Cell Recruitment → Myonuclear Addition
→ Myofibrillar Hypertrophy
→ Autocrine IGF-1 release → mTOR signaling
→ Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy (minor)
Method: very heavy load on muscles at new angles with more emphasis on eccentric (stretched)
movement

NUTRIENT SIGNALING
Leucine (dietary) → Sestrin2 / Rag-GTP → mTORC1 activation → Translation initiation
→ Transient Protein Synthesis (won’t be much unless you haven’t moved in years, more supportive)
→ Carbohydrate/Insulin → Anti-catabolic + supports mTOR
→ Environment Maintenance (No hypertrophy by itself)
Method: eat good quality protein with leucine. Get some fast carbs before and after lifting

STRETCH-MEDIATED SIGNALING
Loaded stretch (lengthened range) → TSC2 inhibition / PLD-mTOR → mTORC1 activation → Protein
synthesis
→ Myofibrillar Hypertrophy
→ Satellite Cell Activation (especially distal fibers)
→ Myonuclear Addition
→ Long-Term Myofibrillar Hypertrophy
Method: focus on lengthened portion of tension during lifts

SATELLITE CELL ACTIVATION

Sufficient tension/damage/stretch → Pax7+ cells → Proliferation + Fusion → Myonuclear Addition
→ Increases transcriptional capacity
→ Long-Term Myofibrillar Hypertrophy
Method: downstream pathway that occurs with most exercises but mostly for the following:
1. STRETCH SIGNALING 2. MUSCLE DAMAGE 3. MECHANICAL TENSION

HORMONE SIGNALING
Multi-joint resistance exercise → Acute GH/Test/IGF-1 spikes → PI3K-Akt-mTOR support
→ Transient Protein Synthesis
Testosterone/Anabolic Compounds → Direct Androgen Receptor binding in muscle → Gene transcription
for protein synthesis​
→ Satellite Cell Proliferation​
→ Myonuclear Addition​
→ Protein Synthesis via mTOR + AR pathways​
→ Myofibrillar Hypertrophy​
→ Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy​
→ Long-Term Myofibrillar Hypertrophy
Method: lift, eat well, sleep well. This makes a pretty big difference so we can optimize to maintain
naturally healthy levels. I have no experience with exogenous methods but you can find a lot of cases for
those online and in research. Its effectiveness is pretty apparent but with tradeoffs and lots of potentially
life-altering negative effects if overdone.

Practical focuses from these pathways:

Mechanical Tension, Stretched Tension, Muscle Damage, Metabolic Stress

SUBJECTIVE SCORING

Myofibrillar Sarcoplasmic Recovery Muscle Protein Muscle Protein

Pathway
Hypertrophy Hypertrophy Demand Breakdown Synthesis
Mechanical Tension 5/5 2/5 1/5 2/5 7/10
Metabolic Stress 1/5 5/5 1/5 1/5 6/10
Stretch-Mediated 5/5 1/5 2/5 3/5 6/10
Muscle Damage 5/5 1/5 5/5 5/5 6/10

This is mainly related to muscle protein synthesis, but there are also neuromuscular and fiber recruitment
components to lifting that affects strength, power, and your ability to move weight.

Muscles don’t move in isolation for a lot of exercises and practical purposes. Compound lifts are more
complex and have a learned motor skill component. For example a powerful deadlift requires to
efficiently move different muscles in chained coordination to generate more power. Besides the muscular
strength component of it, this also involves the brain and central nervous system. If your goal is
explosiveness, it requires neural efficiency to quickly activate as many fibers as possible in a short
amount of time that accelerates your movement. Training with heavy weights, performing compound lifts,
or doing plyometrics will probably help you the most with fiber recruitment, motor skills, and
neuromuscular adaptations over other training styles. It’s just not very efficient for our main focus which
is to build muscle. So the best routine really depends on your goals. We’re only looking at muscle growth
pathways here but can be technically more complicated than that. For bodybuilding purposes, the ones
that have a good ratio of recovery-demand to muscle growth are best like Mechanical Tension,
Metabolic Stress, and Stretch-Mediated pathways. We do want some Muscle Damage for hypertrophy
but not too much.
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“Comparison of Periodized and Non-Periodized Resistance Training on Maximal Strength: A

Meta-Analysis”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28497285/

“Low-fat diets and testosterone in men: Systematic review and meta-analysis of intervention studies”
https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.00007