30 Jun Legendary Bodybuilding Secret For Full Body Mass

There are many ways to build muscle, providing you apply the right scientific principles to your approach.

Here’s what we know right now.

Two critically important training variables are intensity and volume.

Actually, they could be the 2 most important training variables to promote muscular hypertrophy.

Intensity refers to the amount of weight lifted and is usually defined as a percentage of your 1 RM (1 rep max).

And, volume is the amount of reps performed in a given training session.

If there is a true formula for muscle building, it’s lift heavy weight (high intensity) and do more reps (high volume).

MUSCLE BUILDING FORMULA (MBF) = HEAVY WEIGHT (HW) + HIGH VOLUME (HV)

This is pretty much established, right?

One of the foundations to building full body mass is the barbell squat.

And, not just squatting, but the high rep back squat (HRBS) which combines heavy weight and high volume.

THE HIGH REP BACK SQUAT

To my knowledge, the HRBS comes from legendary bodybuilder Tom Platz, who either invented or certainly made it famous.

If you want to see the HRBS in action, check out this video of Tom squatting 525 pounds for 23 reps.

The HRBS simply puts you under the bar for longer periods of time and increases “time under tension,” a key factor in building hypertrophy.

There are many variations of the HRBS program, but the principles are the same, no matter what the actual rep count at the end of a set.

It’s simple, spend more time under the bar squatting and perform high reps.

In the HRBS program, you’ll squat twice per week.

Here’s an example of what 2 days may look like in a HRBS program.

SESSION 1 (4 work sets)

  1. Start with 2 warm up sets to build the pattern
  2. Set 1 – 65% 1 RM x 10 reps
  3. Set 2 – 75% 1 RM x 8 reps
  4. Set 3 – 80% 1 RM x 6-8 reps
  5. Set 4 – 85% 1 RM x 4 reps

SESSION 2 (The HRBS session)

  1. 2 warm up sets, 10 reps
  2. 1 “medium” set x 6 reps
  3. Set 1 – 50-60% 1 RM x 20 reps
  4. Set 2 – 50-60% 1 RM x 15 reps

Let’s be clear, this is NOT a program you start out with when squatting.

It’s NOT a beginner’s program.

As a matter of fact, I’d recommend at least a few weeks of higher rep, high volume work before you even attempt 20 reps with a barbell back squat.

But, assuming you’ve progressively built up some volume with a twice a week squat program, you may be ready to test this out.

Another recommendation would be to only use this type of training for about 4-6 weeks as the physical demand is very intense.

I’m a big fan of 4-6 week training cycles anyway, with strategic periods of “de-loading” built in to maximize progress, allow for sufficient recovery, and keep the gains moving forward.

The high rep back squat is a secret for mass building success.

Actually, it’s not a secret at all, it’s just a damn hard program which is probably why it’s not discussed or implemented very often.  That’s just the truth.

If you’re goal is putting on more full body mass and size, consider the high rep back squat (HRBS) in a structured program.

And, by the way, I’ll be launching a new bodybuilding style program soon that will incorporate the high back squat into a very specific, progressive 6 week mass building system.

If you’re interested in being notified when this becomes available, be sure to enter your email below and I’ll let you know.

Scott Iardella writes about strength training methods to optimize health and performance. If you enjoyed this article, join a strong and growing community of passionate fitness enthusiasts and subscribe below to get a ton of cool, free stuff!  
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