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Illustration of a bodybuilder doing hypertrophy training to gain muscle mass.

The Hypertrophy Training Guide: How to Lift for Muscle Size

Hypertrophy training is designed specifically for stimulating muscle growth. It’s by far the best style of training for building muscle. Bodybuilders use it to build more aesthetic physiques. Powerlifters use it to build bigger muscles with greater strength potential. When Marco was coaching professional and Olympic athletes, he’d use it to help them gain functional muscle mass.

Hypertrophy training can’t be bent into the shape of any muscle-building goal. You can use it to get bigger, look better, gain strength, improve your athletic performance, or improve your health.

In this guide, we’ll teach you the main principles of building muscle, then how to min-max every variable of your workout routine, including how often to work out, which exercises to focus on, how many reps and sets to do, how hard to train, and how long to rest. By the end, you’ll know exactly how to train for muscle growth.

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Illustration of a bodybuilder doing lying dumbbell biceps curls.

How to Do Lying Dumbbell Biceps Curls

The lying biceps curl is a variation of the dumbbell curl. The difference is that it works your biceps through a deeper range of motion, challenging your biceps under a greater stretch, thus stimulating more muscle growth.

I’ll teach you how to do them, then explain why they’re so powerful. The research is fascinating. And just wait until you try them. You’ll feel the difference right away.

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Illustration of a bodybuilder doing a 4-day workout split routine to gain muscle mass.

The Best 4-Day Workout Splits for Building Muscle

4-day workout splits are my favourite for intermediate lifters. 3-day splits are almost always better for beginners, but once you get to an intermediate level, adding a fourth day makes your workouts easier and stimulates more muscle growth.

When Marco was coaching professional and Olympic athletes, he would put them on 4-day splits during their offseason to help them bulk up. These people had the highest-performing bodies in the world, and they would lift 4 days per week.

You’ve got a few options. You could do a bodybuilder’s “Bro Split,” an athlete’s Upper/Lower Split, or you could try a slightly more unusual approach I’ve been using for the past 4 years with clients.

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Illustration of a lifter doing a 5-day workout split to build more muscle.

The Best 5-Day Workout Splits for Building Muscle

5-day workout splits can be incredibly good for building muscle if you program them properly. When you’re training this often, it’s easy to beat up your hands, tire out your back, or accumulate nagging aches. Fortunately, there are simple methods for avoiding all those problems, which we’ll delve into in a moment.

My two favourite 5-day workout splits are the Bro Split and the Outlift Split. Both are similarly good for building muscle, but I have a soft spot for the Outlift split. We’ll break down both splits in detail.

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Illustration of a bodybuilder doing dips to build bigger chest muscles.

What Muscles Do Dips Work?

Dips are an underrated exercise, and there’s some fascinating research to cover. They’re one of the best exercises for building muscle in your chest and shoulders—arguably even better than push-ups and bench presses.

I’ve been doing dips for over a decade, and I credit them for helping me build a big chest. They also helped me bench 315 pounds, even though I rarely do the bench press.

So, what muscles do dips work? Why are they so powerful?

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Illustration of a man doing Blood Flow Restriction training (BFR) to build bigger biceps.

The Beginner’s Guide to Blood Flow Restriction (BFR) Training

Blood Flow Restriction (BFR) Training is a niche bodybuilding technique that occasionally muscles its way into the mainstream. When you restrict blood flow, blood can still reach your muscles, but it has trouble escaping, resulting in terrifying muscle pumps. This is thought to stimulate the production of growth factors and other anabolic hormones, improving muscle growth.

BFR sounds strange and dangerous, and many people are scared of it. Surprisingly, it’s actually one of the safest ways to stimulate muscle growth. In fact, outside of bodybuilding, it’s most commonly used in rehab and with older lifters.

So, does BFR work? should you add it to your workout routine? And if so, how should you do it?

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Illustration of a muscular bodybuilder climbing through the mythical anabolic window.

The Anabolic Window: Both Fact & Fiction

The “anabolic window” is an old bodybuilding term. A few years ago, it was pilloried by the evidence-based fitness community, and perhaps rightfully so—the requirements were woefully strict.

As so often happens, the backlash was overly harsh. There’s some merit to the idea of the anabolic window. The truth is that most people can benefit from taking advantage of it. That’s even more true for naturally thinner people.

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And illustration of a beginner going rucking to improve his cardiovascular fitness.

How to Ruck—The Complete Beginner Guide

Rucking is walking with a loaded backpack, also known as a “rucksack,” hence the term “rucking.” The term comes from military training, but its origins go back far further. We’ve been carrying heavy loads over long distances throughout all of human history.

Hunter-gatherers carried spears and shields and baskets full of forage. Men would lug large game home after successful hunts. Women would carry their young children strapped to their backs. We’ve always been rucking, just without the rucksacks.

Rucking is still popular. It remains one of the best ways to improve cardiovascular fitness and muscular endurance. Here’s our beginner guide explaining how to do it.

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