Hi crew and welcome to an edition of Elite Sarms INTEL – where we break down the science of training, nutrition and supplementation so you can optimise your results with Elite Sarms products.
In this blog we are going to cover – The Science of Building Lean Muscle.
Perhaps we’ll just be reminding you of some straight forwards facts in these areas, although there may be something new here you can apply. Either way, these Elite Sarms INTEL blogs are designed to cut straight to chase, so that all effort put into nutrition, training and supplementation can lead directly to your goal outcome.
So we understand what the end goal is here, let’s define lean muscle. There is actually no such thing as building ‘lean muscle’, the fact is, one either has low muscle mass up to high muscle mass combined with either high body fat levels or low body fat levels.
So in truth, in order to create ‘lean muscle’ we must focus on building new muscle and reducing body fat levels. This is how the ‘lean muscle’ look is created. With that in mind, let’s look into some hacks we can do in the way of training to stimulate the body into growing new fat free muscle. We’ve put together a simple, yet very effective way to increase your Strength across the major lifts that creates big results toward physique and performance across the: bench press, squat, deadlift and press.
TRAINING : FOR LEAN MUSCLE (FORCED GROWTH CYCLE)
There is a common myth when it comes to weight training, that in order to build the ‘lean muscle’ appearance, that one needs to train in the high repetition range. As we have stated above the ‘lean muscle’ look comes from building new muscle and then reducing body fat levels so the muscle definition can be seen.
When we lift weights in the lower rep ranges 1 – 5 repetitions, done with intensity and focus, we create a strong release of the endogenous (internally produced) hormone – Human Growth Hormone or HGH. If we stick to training only in high repetition ranges too often, there’s a great deal of natural hormone we can rob our bodies from receiving.
Therefore, adding in a 5 x 5 set (5 repetitions at 5 sets with rest between sets to achieve maximum lift each set) of each of the major lifts (bench press, squat, deadlift or overhead press) into your training routine each week sets a solid foundation for new muscle growth.
When we train with a moderate to heavy weight and complete a higher repetition range (12 – 15 reps) the body produces lactic acid and this repetition range is most physiologically suitable for a natural release of testosterone (in both males and females, females however produce around 1/10 of what males naturally produce).
In the training example below we are going to combine both the explosive power and strength of the 5 x 5 rep range with the lactic acid producing 12 – 15 rep range with the movements bench press and dumbbell/cable fly – as an example.
Note: With this training cycle, the major lift can be substituted with either; back squat, front squat, deadlift, barbell press or the bench press. The major lift is supersetted with a second exercise that targets the same muscle group directly, in the lactic acid repetition range. The training cycle goes for a total of 4 weeks.
For Example:
– Deadlift could be suppersetted with Hamstring curls
– Squat could be supersetted with Dumbbell or Barbell Lunges, and;
– Overhead Press could be supersetted with Dumbbell Lateral Fly’s or even Handstand Pushups depending on your skill levels
The point is, to perform the heavy lift to product a strong GH release and then exhaust the muscle into fatigue through the secondary movement/lift creating a strong natural testosterone release.
Method: Warm up with a few sets of light bench press and light dumbbell fly or cable fly. Complete 12 -15 reps each set for both movements until you have oxygenated the body and warmed up the joints. Pick your 5 repetition max weight for the bench and for the dumbbell/cable fly pick a weight where 10 reps is heavy as we are going to push out to 15 reps to create lactic acid in the muscles.
When ready, complete one set of 5 reps of Bench Press. Try and have a spotter so you can do your absolute maximum lift in each set. Without rest, move straight into the dumbell/cable fly and complete 15 repetitions (you will need to really focus on the getting a further 5 reps).
Rest only until you know you can complete the next set, then begin. This is repeated for a total of 5 sets.
This will make up only a section of your training session. It should not take that long, however really focus on each set. The goal here is to increase your 5 rep max lift to 8 repetitions over the 4 weeks and create new muscle growth as well as increasing your strength – which also leads to new muscle.
As mentioned, the training cycle runs for 4 weeks, completed at least once per week and used across any of the major lifts. Conditioned athletes could complete this same cycle 2 x per week on each muscle group.
On the 2nd week you do everything exactly the same and keep the bench press weight the same, except you increase by 1 repetition on the bench press to 6 reps, the 3rd week – 7 reps and finally on the 4th week – 8 reps. Each week you do try and increase the weight on the dumbbell/cable fly, while keeping the rep range at 15 reps. See the table below for an example of the exercise split.
ELITE SARMS – FORCED GROWTH CYCLE
Ensure you record the weight you complete each week so when you go to complete this 4 week cycle again your goal is to lift heavier than the last Forced Growth Cycle.
To get the best result with this training cycle – there are two of our products that stand-out in the creation of new muscle in our range: Elite Sarms Decavar (MK-2866) and GH Pep (MK-677). These two are powerful products just on their own, but when stacked together they create an even more powerful synergistic effect on lean muscle creation.
Elite Sarms – Decavar (MK-2866) amplifies the speed of repair of muscle cells as well as increasing nitrogen and flushing fresh blood and nutrients into the muscles, creating a perfect environment for new muscle growth. Whereas, Elite Sarms – GH Pep (MK-677) triggers the endogenous release of your bodies own growth hormone which leads to an increase in protein synthesis throughout the entire body resulting in improvements in: skin, eyes, hair, nails, muscle, connective tissue and bones, while simultaneously reducing body fat levels.
Stay tuned for the next Elite Sarms article where we dive into more science Hacks for Lean Muscle Growth.
– ES Team
