Body recomposition is a polarizing topic among experts. Some say it’s impossible for experienced lifters. Others will tell you it’s the best way to reach your goals.

Simultaneously gaining muscle and losing fat is the holy grail for most gym-goers. It’s known in the fitness industry as body recomposition.

Body recomposition is a polarizing topic among experts. Some say it’s impossible for experienced lifters. Others will tell you it’s the best way to reach your goals.

Q. What’s the Truth?

A. Spoiler alert: You can do it, but that doesn’t mean you should try.

In this episode, I explain that recomposition is possible, but it is extremely difficult, and most people who try will fail.

I explain the five circumstances where recomposition is the best approach for you.

Outside of these circumstances, you can do it, but your margin for error is smaller. If you don’t get everything just right, you will almost certainly fail in recomping.

Listen to the episode to determine how the three factors decide if recomposition is an intelligent goal for you.

Once we’ve established that you are a good candidate for recomposition, I outline the top 10 training and nutrition strategies you must use to maximize your chances of success.

If you have any questions or comments about the show, please DM me on Instagram @tommaccormick.

You can also find this podcast sitting on top of all my other Six Pack of Knowledge podcasts (curated discussions with the greatest hypertrophy experts on the planet).

Or look for Breaking Muscle’s channel and podcasts on the following services: 

iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, Stitcher, PlayerFM, PodBean.

The post Body Recomposition – Just Because You Can Doesn’t Mean You Should appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Sleep is fascinating. We all know it is good for us, and most of us would like to get more, yet, according to research, 43.2% of adults are sleep deprived.

That’s almost half the population wandering around like caffeine-addicted zombies with brain fog because of poor sleep.

Sleep is fascinating. We all know it is good for us, and most of us would like to get more, yet, according to research, 43.2% of adults are sleep deprived.

That’s almost half the population wandering around like caffeine-addicted zombies with brain fog because of poor sleep.

This sleep deprivation is not normal or healthy!

Reduced sleep duration has been linked to seven of the fifteen leading causes of death in the U.S.

Poor sleep will:

• Disrupt hormonal function
• Weaken your immune system
• Impair brain function
• Slow your metabolism
• Increase appetite and cravings
• Reduce coordination

Start to Prioritize Your Sleep

Essentially, sleep deprivation will hinder every health, performance, coordination, hormonal, and recovery marker.

This translates to you being unhappy, weaker, fatter, slower, and carrying less muscle mass.

In this episode, I cover what the research on sleep shows and provide you with strategies to improve your sleep.

Sleep is your body’s most powerful recovery tool.

It’s time you started treating it with the respect it deserves. Listen to the show now to find out how.

You can also find this podcast sitting on top of all my other Six Pack of Knowledge podcasts (curated discussions with the greatest hypertrophy experts on the planet).

Or look for Breaking Muscle’s channel and podcasts on the following services: iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, Stitcher, PlayerFM, PodBean.

If you have any questions or comments about the show, please email me at

<a href=”mailto:tom@breakingmuscle.com>tom@breakingmuscle.com or drop me a DM on Instagram @tommaccormick.

The post Sleep is the Body’s Most Powerful Recovery Tool appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

As someone approaching their 40th birthday, I’m interested to know what the research shows about this syndrome.

So, I dug into the research to see what, if anything, could be done to reverse or at least slow down the physical decline we go through as we age.

What I discovered was fascinating, and I share all of it in this episode.

I’ll explain:

• Why do we lose muscle and strength as we age?
• That this rate of decay in physical capacity is not inevitable.
• How you can keep gaining strength and muscle mass up to your 60s.

There is a large amount of research on this subject, and it was eye-opening to dive deep and learn that we are all largely in control of how much muscle and strength we have as we age.

We Are Largely in Control of How We Age

The importance of healthy habits stacking on top of one another is crucial.

Likewise, the negative effects of bad habits compound very quickly.

I also discovered:

• Why most athletes peak in their 20s, but you can be at your best in your 40s and beyond.
• The key training strategies to implement as you age.
• Why your diet is absolutely crucial to you retaining muscle later in life.

If you apply what the research shows and implement the strategies I give in this episode, you can stay strong, muscular, and lean for decades to come.

You might not be an elite athlete in your 40s but, if you give your body what it needs, you can stay strong, lean, and fit. Doing so will serve you well for many decades and increase the chances of living a long and healthy life.

If you have any questions or comments about the show, please email me at

tom@breakingmuscle.com or drop me a DM on Instagram @tommaccormick.

You can also find this podcast sitting on top of all my other Six Pack of Knowledge podcasts (curated discussions with the greatest hypertrophy experts on the planet).

Or look for Breaking Muscle’s channel and podcasts on the following services: iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, Stitcher, PlayerFM, PodBean.

The post Building Muscle as You Age appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

In this episode, I’m delighted to join Tony Gentilcore to discuss how he charted his path within the fitness industry and has built a thriving business using coaching, writing, and educating.

In this episode, I’m delighted to join Tony Gentilcore to discuss how he charted his path within the fitness industry and has built a thriving business using coaching, writing, and educating.

Tony was one of the co-founders of Cressey Sports Performance (CSP). Since leaving CSP in 2016, he has been training people at his own studio, CORE, located in Boston, MA.

During our conversation, Tony explained:

• Owning your own gym is not the gold standard for success in the fitness industry.
• There are other career paths you can follow to have a fulfilling and financially rewarding fitness career.
• How he developed his education workshops and has taken them online during the pandemic.
• He suffers from imposter syndrome occasionally despite having presented worldwide, training countless elite athletes, and being featured in numerous publications.
• And why he rarely gives a single workshop

I had a ton of fun on this interview and have no doubt you’ll find tremendous value in Tony’s insight and experience.

If you have any questions or comments about the show, please email me at

tom@breakingmuscle.com or drop me a DM on Instagram @tommaccormick.

You can also find this podcast sitting on top of all my other Six Pack of Knowledge podcasts (curated discussions with the greatest hypertrophy experts on the planet).

Or look for Breaking Muscle’s channel and podcasts on the following services: iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, Stitcher, PlayerFM, PodBean.

The post A Successful Career in Fitness With Tony Gentilcore appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

A mini-cut is a vital tool in your muscle-building toolbox. Sadly, it is often misunderstood or used recklessly. Used strategically, mini-cuts are one of the best ways to help you build the bigger, leaner body you want.

A properly executed mini-cut is like robbing the fat bank.

A mini-cut is a vital tool in your muscle-building toolbox. Sadly, it is often misunderstood or used recklessly. Used strategically, mini-cuts are one of the best ways to help you build the bigger, leaner body you want.

A properly executed mini-cut is like robbing the fat bank.

You get in, get what you want, and get out before suffering any of the negative consequences of chronic dieting.

In this episode, I break down everything you need to know about mini-cuts.

I cover the following topics:

• What a mini-cut is and what it is not.
• Why you won’t lose muscle while mini-cutting.
• The benefits of mini-cuts
• How fast you should lose weight on a mini-cut
• How to establish your calorie needs
• Macro targets
• The best food choices
• Why nutrient timing can help
• How to determine the length of your mini-cut
• Training during a mini-cut
• Cardio or cardi-no
• When to use a mini-cut

If you have any questions or comments about the show, please email me at tom@breakingmuscle.com or drop me a DM on Instagram @tommaccormick.

You can also find this podcast sitting on top of all my other Six Pack of Knowledge podcasts (curated discussions with the greatest hypertrophy experts on the planet).

Or look for Breaking Muscle’s channel and podcasts on the following services: iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, Stitcher, PlayerFM, PodBean.

If you would like to learn more about Tom’s coaching services or follow him on social media, you can go to his website.

The post The Misunderstood Art of Mini-Cutting for More Muscle appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

In this episode, I sat down with my friend and colleague, Tarek Shuhaibar, to discuss the importance of stress management on our overall health, gym performance, and physical appearance.

In this episode, I sat down with my friend and colleague, Tarek Shuhaibar, to discuss the importance of stress management on our overall health, gym performance, and physical appearance.

Stress is a taboo subject, especially amongst men who want to be seen as the alpha.

We had an open and frank discussion about this. Throughout the episode, we break down the negative impacts of this on overall health and why this could be the limiting factor to achieving the results you want.

Tarek has built a career helping busy executives in London create lasting change in both body and mind.

This sustainable route to physique transformation has required him to become highly skilled at coaching clients in the gym whilst also helping them manage the countless stresses and strains their hectic working lives create.

If you feel like you are often overwhelmed or struggling to fit your training and nutrition in around work, family, and social commitments, then this episode is a must-listen.

It’s packed full of useful, actionable strategies you can implement to get the most out of your day.

If you have any questions or comments about the show, please email me at tom@breakingmuscle.com or drop me a DM on Instagram @tommaccormick.

You can also find this podcast sitting on top of all my other Six Pack of Knowledge podcasts (curated discussions with the greatest hypertrophy experts on the planet).

Or look for Breaking Muscle’s channel and podcasts on the following services: iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, Stitcher, PlayerFM, PodBean.

If you would like to learn more about Tarek’s coaching services or follow him on social media, you can find him on Instagram @the_physique_institute.

The post Stress Management and Hypertrophy appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

In this episode, I’m delighted to be joined by Jamie Lewis to discuss the history of strength training.

In this episode, I’m delighted to be joined by Jamie Lewis to discuss the history of strength training.

Incredibly the origins go back a couple of thousand years, and much of what people were doing back then still holds now. So there undoubtedly are many lessons to be learned by doing your history homework.

Jamie describes himself as a cultural history nerd wrapped in tattoo-covered muscle.

He has a passion for history and holds a BA in History and East Asian Studies from the University of Arizona, an MBA from the Vienna University of Economics, and an iMBA from The University of South Carolina.

This passion for history, combined with his love of lifting (in 2012, he set an all-time, all-federation WR powerlifting total of 1,620 for a 181 pounder, making him the go-to guy when it comes to investigating training history.

During this fascinating interview, Jamie displays a near-encyclopedic knowledge of everything training-related from around 1,600 BC to the modern day.

So often, we can learn so much by looking back. This episode will undoubtedly provide you with jaw-dropping stories of how people used to train, the social, political, and economic pressures that drove physical culture at different stages of humanity, and why, with all the advantages we currently enjoy, it’s a crime so many humans are in such bad health.

I had a ton of fun on this interview and have no doubt Jamie’s infectious personality will grab your attention and inspire you to demand more of yourself.

If you’d like to know more about Jamie, look on his website or Instagram

@plagueofstrength.

If you have any questions or comments about the show, please email me at

tom@breakingmuscle.com or drop me a DM on Instagram @tommaccormick.

You can also find this podcast sitting on top of all my other Six Pack of Knowledge podcasts (curated discussions with the greatest hypertrophy experts on the planet).

Or look for Breaking Muscle’s channel and podcasts on the following services: iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, Stitcher, PlayerFM, PodBean.

The post A Plague of Strength Is the Best Type of Plague appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Our guest, Yunus Barisik, explains exactly what it takes to produce elite-level athletes for ice hockey in this episode.

He particularly highlights the need for increased strength and outlines exactly how he structures his athlete’s training throughout the year to optimize performance and keep them injury-free.

Our guest, Yunus Barisik, explains exactly what it takes to produce elite-level athletes for ice hockey in this episode.

He particularly highlights the need for increased strength and outlines exactly how he structures his athlete’s training throughout the year to optimize performance and keep them injury-free.

Yunus has personally trained and designed strength, speed, and conditioning programs for 500+ athletes at all levels of competitive hockey, including:

• NHL draft picks from ten NHL teams
• Men’s and women’s national teams
• NCAA D1
• The Finnish elite league
• Ten gold medal winners at four different U18 and U20 world championships since 2016

Yunus has written the book on Strength Training for Ice Hockey. I’m not joking; he literally has. You can get a free copy. You can contact Yunus on his website or Instagram @yunusbarisik.

If you have any questions or comments about the show, please email me at

tom@breakingmuscle.com or drop me a DM on Instagram @tommaccormick.

You can also find this podcast sitting on top of all my other Six Pack of Knowledge podcasts (curated discussions with the greatest hypertrophy experts on the planet).

Or look for Breaking Muscle’s channel and podcasts on the following services: iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, Stitcher, PlayerFM, PodBean.

The post Strength Training for Ice Cold Athletes appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Steve Keane is the co-founder of Kraft Coaching, a coaching service specializing in helping regular people develop incredible physiques. I’m a big fan of Steve’s work and think of him as part coach, part fitness philosopher.

Steve Keane is the co-founder of Kraft Coaching, a coaching service specializing in helping regular people develop incredible physiques. I’m a big fan of Steve’s work and think of him as part coach, part fitness philosopher.

Steve’s coaching journey has seen him pivot from coaching competitive physique athletes to helping general population clients.

In this episode, he explains why this change has increased his sense of fulfillment.

He also describes the similarities and differences between training physique competitors and recreational lifters who want to look great.

We cover the differences in:

1. Training
2. Diet
3. Mindset

We also delve into how his coaching practices have evolved and enable him to get the best from his clients.

If you have any questions or comments about the show, please email me at tom@breakingmuscle.com or drop me a DM on Instagram @tommaccormick.

You can find out more about Steve and the Kraft Coaching crew by following him on Instagram @steve.kraftcoaching.

You can also find this podcast sitting on top of all my other Six Pack of Knowledge podcasts (curated discussions with the greatest hypertrophy experts on the planet).

Or look for Breaking Muscle’s channel and podcasts on the following services: iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, Stitcher, PlayerFM, PodBean.

The post Helping Regular People Build Incredible Physiques appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

In this episode, I explain what diet periodization is, why you need it to take your physique to the next level, and the three simple questions you need to answer to design the perfect diet for your goals.

Your training and diet should reflect your goals.

In this episode, I explain what diet periodization is, why you need it to take your physique to the next level, and the three simple questions you need to answer to design the perfect diet for your goals.

Your training and diet should reflect your goals.

Your workouts and nutrition choices should work synergistically to help you reach those goals. It seems obvious, but many people fail to do it.

But with just a bit of planning, you can avoid this common mistake. Synching your diet and training together isn’t complicated. By assessing your goals and what they require, you can set up a successful diet and know how to adjust it as you progress through different training phases.

When it comes to body composition goals, there are three traditional phases of training:

1. Mass Gain—Building
2. Fat Loss—Cutting
3. Maintenance—Solidification

These phases matched up with the right eating plan should maximize your results. Build a diet plan that works synergistically with each phase of training.

Start by asking yourself these three questions:

1. What’s my main goal?
2. What type of training is best for this goal?
3. What type of nutrition plan supports this type of training?

Once you answer these questions, everything begins to crystallize, and a framework of dieting becomes obvious.

From here, it’s just a case of fine-tuning the details to best suit you. Let’s go over each phase.

If you have any questions or comments about the show, please email me at

tom@breakingmuscle.com or drop me a DM on Instagram @tommaccormick.

Please like & share the podcast and feel free to give us a 5-star review (other reviews are available ;))

You can also find this podcast sitting on top of all my other Six Pack of Knowledge podcasts (curated discussions with the greatest hypertrophy experts on the planet).

Or look for Breaking Muscle’s channel and podcasts on the following services: iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, Stitcher, PlayerFM, PodBean.

The post How to Utilize Diet Periodization for Maximum Muscle appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

1. Prepare your body for performance
2. Help prevent pain and injuries

Those are two compelling reasons to put some effort into constructing an effective warm-up routine for each of your workouts.

A good workout starts with a good warm-up. As Breaking Muscle podcast guest Dr. John Rusin says, a warm-up should accomplish two things:

1. Prepare your body for performance
2. Help prevent pain and injuries

Those are two compelling reasons to put some effort into constructing an effective warm-up routine for each of your workouts.

Yet I bet you struggle to muster any enthusiasm about planning a warm-up, let alone going through one. I get it; warm-ups are boring, but warming up properly for your session can reduce your risk of injury and improve the quality of your training.

Better training equals better results.

Focusing on this performance enhancement aspect is key to getting the most from your warm-ups. Let’s be fair; nobody is excited about warming up. It is often treated as an inconvenience, a waste of time, or even completely ignored.

As such, the warm-up often receives a half-assed effort and doesn’t elicit the benefits it should.

After a good warm-up, you should feel alert and primed to give your best performance. It would be best if you were revved up and raring to go.

Instead, I see most people looking sluggish, uninspired, and ill-prepared during and after their warm-up.

Specific Warm-Ups for Specific Workouts

Your warm-up should signpost what you are planning on doing in your training session.

If another coach looked over your warm-up without knowing what the session entailed, they should be able to make some general guesstimations about the session’s goals. They could not predict what you will be doing exactly but, gathering a general sense of what muscle groups/movement patterns or what capacities are being trained should be possible.

If not, then your warm-up probably isn’t specific enough.

Your warm-up should be specific to your workout. Gone are the days of picking a bit of cardio equipment to waste 5-10 minutes on, doing some arm and leg swings, and then attacking your first exercise.

A good warm-up has specific goals and is specific to the workout that follows.

It should also be specific to you. What will prepare you for a good squat workout will be different to me. The principles behind the warm-ups will be the same, but the exact protocol should vary based on your needs. Here are some fundamental principles to consider when planning a warm-up routine.

RAMP Up Your Warm-Up

The RAMP acronym is a pretty good one to have in mind with your warmups.

• R – Raise body temperature, heart rate, and blood flow
• A – Activate specific muscle groups
• M – Mobilize joints
• P – Potentiate performance

Ticking off each element of the RAMP protocol is a good starting point. To further things a bit, you need to consider the demands of the session and your current capacity.

For example, if the goal is to bench press as heavy as possible, specific pre-requisites are needed to maximize performance. In this case, your warm-up should reflect and address these.

Lengthen, activate, and integrate is part of the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) model and is also something I think works well in a warm-up and has a substantial crossover with the RAMP approach.

Some muscles might need more length to help you reach a given range of motion, while others may not be strong or stable enough to provide the stability required to hit the full range. By lengthening and activating those muscles that need it, you can often see rapid improvements in range.

That’s great, but increased range without control is an increased injury risk.

At this point, it is best to integrate them into a fundamental movement pattern to try and ingrain good techniques and reinforce the range you’ve just created. For example, after stretching your hip flexors and performing isometrics for your glutes, a goblet squat would be a good choice.

By assessing your limiting factors and focusing on the parts in an isolated fashion, you can, in theory, then piece them back together in an integrated manner.

For example, a lack of range of motion at the ankle joint may limit your squat depth.

You lack the required dorsiflexion for your shin to travel forward and your knees to pass beyond your toes without your heels lifting.

In this scenario, it is worth looking at both sides of the joint. What muscles might be tight and limiting your range, and which muscles might be too weak to stabilize the joint in extreme ranges? Often if you work on both sides, you get noticeable improvement quite quickly.

A possible solution to this example using the NASM model would be to:

• Lengthen the calf (by static or PNF stretching)
• Activate the anterior tibialis (using isometrics)
• Integrate this into the squatting movement

If range and quality of movement improve, you know that your intervention has worked and that the ankle ROM was a limiting factor.

A detailed, joint-by-joint rundown of this method is beyond the scope of this article. Still, the critical point is the thought process behind piecing together an intervention that targets muscle length, and activation then integrates these into a multi-joint movement.

The multi-joint movement can then act as a feedback tool to the effectiveness of your strategy.

Next-Level Warm-Ups

The above example is a suitable protocol, but an even better one is a layer on a stability challenge. Stability is your ability to resist force. It takes the isolated activation/low-level strength work and makes it more functional.

For example, band lateral walks provide a challenge to strength and an activation drill for your glutes. Still, they don’t carry over that well to the proper function of the glutes (and other muscles) in stabilizing the hip during gross movement.

To target this function, you could add an exercise that challenges your ability to create stability (aka internal stability). A good choice in this example might be a single-leg RDL.

When picking a stability drill, the key is to pitch it at the right level, and it shouldn’t be so difficult you cannot do it.

• Falling flat on your face attempting an advanced stability exercise isn’t going to do anything for you.
• Likewise, something not challenging enough will lead to no progress.
• Something on the edge of your current capability is the place to be.

It requires concentration, you can maintain textbook form, but you constantly have to micro-correct your position to complete the rep. That will improve your stability and be a worthwhile investment of time and effort.

The Warm-Up Should Optimize, Not Be the Workout

Don’t make these stability drills the workout. They are part of a warm-up designed to optimize your workout, not be the workout themselves. They should not create so much fatigue that your training performance suffers.

They should potentiate it. Done correctly, they will allow you to create more internal stability where you need it, allowing the target muscles to showcase more force output.

When adding stability work to your warm-ups, focus on quality, not quantity. A couple of sets done with great form is what you want. It would be best if you weren’t pushing to muscular failure or generating lots of fatigue. This focus on quality is not the time to try and test your 1-rep max single leg deadlift!

The stability drills you choose should progress over time.

Taking the single leg RDL example, you might progress as follows:

Your rate of progression The quality of your reps will determine your rate of progression through these variants at a predetermined rate. When one exercise feels good, and you are confident in your ability to perform it without it representing much of a challenge, then move on to the next and so on.

Integrate—Don’t Separate

At the end of the NASM model, the integrated part is a key element that people so often seem to miss.

Stretching specific muscles, activating others, and mobilizing joints can be helpful, but only if they result in improved training or increased performance.

The way to achieve this is to address specific mobility and or isolated activation work and then incorporate them into a gross motor pattern like squatting, which integrates all the components you’ve just been using.

If the mobility and activation work were effective, you should see an improvement in movement quality on the main movement. This integration is an invaluable and instant feedback tool.

Jordan Shallow has taken the integrate component one step further:

• He is a proponent of integrating the warm-up into the workout.
• Not only does he integrate a multi-joint movement at the end of the warm-up sequence, but he integrates the main lift into the warm-up.
• He places a set of the primary lift for that day at the end of the warm-up sequence.
• You go through your warm-up routine then hit a light set of your main lift for the day.
• Then, you go back through the warm-up sequence and perform a slightly heavier set of the main lift.
• Each time you go through the main movement, it should feel better.
• Each time you get instant feedback on the efficacy of your warm-up protocol.
• The main lift, when done properly, feels crisper, and your working sets are nicely grooved.

Integrating the main lift into your warm-up like this is a great feedback tool. In my experience, it is far superior to the more common approach of separating your warm-up and workout into distinct elements.

You aim for optimal performance on your main lifts in a session, and your warm-up should be preparing you. After every warm-up sequence, a set of the main lift enables you to assess if your warm-up effectively addresses the limiting factors.

Piece Together the Warm-Up Puzzle

There is no one correct way to warm up. The key is to remember it should improve performance and manage injury risk.

To achieve those, it should help you mobilize and stabilize the key joints involved within the workout.

• Achieving this by incorporating the RAMP and the NASM protocols with an added stability drill is my default setting.
• Even within this framework, there is a large scope for variation, and the warm-ups should evolve based on your development.

To help illustrate this point, let’s take one of my clients as an example (this guy is pretty typical of my average in-person client).

Here are some vital bits of info to consider:

• Good athletic background as a kid/early adult
• Worked a desk job for 10-15 years
• He gained some weight and lost mobility and strength through his late twenties and early thirties.
• Got back to training after about ten years out of the gym; During this time, he saw some excellent results (lost fat, gained some muscle) and some bad ones (nagging shoulder pain, lower back pain)
• His goal is to get back in shape – he wants to shift the dadbod and see his abs for the first time in 15 years. Oh, and he wants to bench 225 lbs for five reps again (this is a performance goal that he gets genuinely excited by)
• My primary goal is to help him reach his goals but give him some of what I think he needs.

What I think he and similar clients need:

• Increased thoracic extension
• Excellent shoulder stability and mobility
• Greater upper back strength
• To lose about 15 lbs of body fat

By developing the thoracic extension and shoulder mobility and stability, they will better tolerate bench pressing. Your clients will also set themselves up to be in a better position to display their strength levels.

Thus, performance will improve. Finally, there is a pretty good chance their shoulder pain will clear up if we can improve mobility, stability, and strength around the shoulder.

With that bit of overview, it’s possible to begin painting some broad-brush strokes about their program, and therefore, what their warm-up will include.

Let’s also remember that this is a successful type-A achiever with a high-stress life who doesn’t want to spend too much time flopping around on a foam roller or doing mobility drills. I need to get them a result and show signs of progress quickly to get their buy-in.

This guy wants to get on the bench and start whacking plates on. He remembers how he looked, felt, and performed this as an 18-year old and wants to get back to that. Sadly, he’s in the mid-30s with banged-up shoulders.

Here is the protocol I used with this particular client in his Primer phase.

Repeat through for a total of three times.

After this, he performed a slightly heavier final warm-up set of bench and then followed his planned working sets.

This warm-up protocol addresses the key areas he needed to address and pretty quickly got him doing what he viewed as the main event– benching. If I had done A1-A3 three times through before he got to touch the barbell, I think his interest would have vanished.

Warm-Ups Should Be Progressive

As I mentioned earlier, this guy wasn’t interested in doing a super long warm-up.

He did, however, want to bench. The subjective feedback he got from each warm-up set of bench press feeling better was enough to get his buy-in and commitment to follow the routine for a few weeks.

Nobody wants to be a pro at warming up, though. Pretty quickly, the novelty factor wore off, and he was less enthused about this warm-up. The good news was that the work we did in his warm-ups paid off.

His workouts also capitalized on those warm-ups and reinforced the key attributes we were looking to address.

This feedback meant that the improvements in mobility, stability, and strength around the shoulder became more ingrained. Pretty soon, they were not such an issue. Consequently, they didn’t need so much attention in his warm-ups. We could progress and streamline his warm-ups to get what we needed without wasting any time.

As with anything in training, we progressed this incrementally, but after eight weeks, his warm-up sequence looked like this:

Repeat for a total of three times using progressively heavier sets on the bench.

He had developed adequate thoracic extension, upper back strength and synchronization, and external rotation strength. At this stage, this could all be maintained with one exercise. He didn’t just maintain; it was developed, but we freed up more time to train these qualities in a progressively overloading fashion within the workout.

This progressive overload allowed his rate of progress to accelerate.

Warm-Up and Training Synergy

Your warm-up should prepare you for your workout by following the RAMP method. For many deskbound people, this will revolve around improving mobility.

Once you’ve improved mobility, it is important to retain it. This is done by working through a full-ROM and developing both stability and strength in the end ranges.

Your warm-up reflects what you want to do in your workout, but your workout should also mirror back the key elements that needed addressing in your warm-up.

Use that principle to assess whether your warm-up and training work synergistically. If they do, then very quickly, your need for extensive warm-ups will disappear completely, and you can allocate more time to doing the fun stuff–training.

The post Do World Class Warm-Ups for World Class Performance appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

In this episode, I’m delighted to welcome Rick Howard to the show. Rick is an expert in Long-Term Athletic Development (LTAD). He wrote the paper on the subject by writing the NACA’s position stand in LTAD.

This interview was truly eye-opening, and Rick shattered many of the misconceptions people (myself included) have about LTAD.

Whether you are a parent, work with kids, coach adults, or want to develop and maintain your athleticism throughout your entire life then, this episode is packed with wisdom and principles you can apply.

If you have any questions or comments about the show, please email me at tom@breakingmuscle.com or drop me a DM on Instagram @tommaccormick.

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You can find Rick on social media @rihoward41 and get access to the NACA LTAD SIG Facebook group here at FB/NSCA.YouthSIG.

You can also find this podcast sitting on top of all my other Six Pack of Knowledge podcasts (curated discussions with the greatest hypertrophy experts on the planet).

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