PRINCIPLES OF OFF SEASON MASS TRAINING
Musclemag knows there are a lot of trainers out there with good reputations and sound background. Many have achieved
almost guru status for being the trainers of top pros and amateurs alike. Among those trainers there are fewer with solid
educational background and training experience and even fewer still who look the part of being able "to practice what they
preach". But to find a trainer to write an article on Off Season Mass Training is even more difficult. Training pros once they
have already achieved their bulk and made their way in the sport does not guarantee that a trainer knows anything about
mass training for the rest of us, who slave to make good quality gains in the course of a year. Is there a trainer out there with
the reputation of being able to build physiques from zero to hero regardless of genetics? Indeed there is one. Scott Abel of
Abel Bodies Fitness not only has a reputation of bringing clients into contests in incredible condition, but Scott also has the
reputation of being "THE" trainer who has mastered the off season mass training periods. Scott is known to have put slabs
of beef on previous no "bodies" and made champion Abel Bodies of them in Canada, the U.S. and abroad. Known also for
his strong educational background, and talented writing skills, not to mention his 270 lb, contest- ready physique, it seemed
a good call to get Scott to pen an article on Off Season Mass Training. As usual he had a lot to say on the subject.
One of the mistakes commonly made by wannabe champs is that they blindly follow routines and diets of the champions
they see printed in the various magazines. This is wrong for several reasons. One, that routine may only be suited to the
champ they are reading about and no one else. Two, that person may be doing the routine for a specific reason at a specific
time, totally negating its use for the rest of us. Most importantly copying a routine out of a magazine is a waste because it is
a routine only and not the whole program. Smart athletes follow programs of which routines are only component parts. So
copying a routine out of a magazine leaves the copier without a complete picture of the whole program and its intent. I've
always contended that eating and training to maintain muscle mass is a lot easier than eating or training to GAIN muscle
mass. The two are entirely different and distinct and require a completely different approach in order to achieve results. I
often smile at bodybuilders who contend to take a year off from competing to come back bigger. Yet, they have no plan for
their off-season mass training. Yet they expect to just be bigger and better because time has past! How ridiculous is that.
There is an old notion that repeating the same behavior and expecting a different result is "the definition of insanity"
Readers familiar with my Innervation Training Methodology know that is composed of two parts. Those parts are body part
training and Structural training. Body part training can be applied both off-season and of course before a contest but
Structural Training is the common thread of all my off-season mass building programs.
Innervation Training
Most bodybuilders get overwhelmingly concerned with strength training in the off-season thinking that strength corresponds
to muscle gains. This is not true and in fact the two are poorly correlated in research. I've always said that if it were true that
strength was directly connected to mass gains then every power lifter and every weight lifter would be bigger than every
bodybuilder, but we know that is not the case. Innervation Training is based on concepts and ideas surrounding research in
the area of the neurological effect of training on muscles, and of the neurological control of muscles. Because Innervation
Training is a departure from the usual research aimed at musculoskeletal concerns only, it yields some very different ideas
about training for both on season, and off season mass training.
Innervation Training is built around the ideas of very specific neurological patterns of working muscles and how they are
controlled or affected by the nervous system. Central to this then, are the concepts of intensity, and ranges, and planes of
motion that muscles function within.
Structural Training and Intensity
Structural training of the nervous system means that certain muscles function best as agonist in very specific ranges and
planes of motion. In order to train at higher intensities and get the most out of your workouts it is important to inundate the
body with an overload set around how the muscle functions. Form always follows function. To do this we employ what is
called weight constant training, in a range of success, in order to increase intensity in the off season and thereby establish
greater muscle gains, especially muscle maturity and thickness, so sought after in the lower ranks.
Weight Constant Training
Weight constant training means selecting an exercise and doing repeated sets of that exercise at a repeated rep scheme.
For instance, 8 sets of 5 reps on an incline barbell. It is important that for the duration of the working sets the athlete train in
what's called a "range of success" Range of success means selecting a weight that is challenging, but still achievable for the
duration of the sets involved. These sets do not demand training to absolute or relative failure, so the athlete does not use
out of date training rituals like forced reps, or negatives. Forced reps and negatives have no part to play in an athlete's
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training regimen because they by nature take the body beyond its performance level and therefore beyond its capacity to
adapt to that stimulus. These rituals just destroy muscle tissue and waste energy, and make it impossible to recuperate
between workouts.
Imagine doing 8 sets of 5reps barbell incline press and how fatigued the muscle gets by the last few sets. The reason to
work in the "range of success" training mode is because physiologically the body does not sense or know the difference
between 80% intensity and 100% intensity. So I ask you, what do you think achieves more overload, one or two sets at
100% intensity, or eight sets at 80% intensity. The latter is the obvious answer. You see the goal of off-season mass training
and Structural Training under the Innervation Training umbrella is simple. You need to inundate the body with the same high
intensity load under the same neurological pattern to achieve the most overload.
Then what happens is that when you resume body part training programs you are actually training at a higher intensity level
than you were previously and then 100 % intensity carries less risk and is more productive.
Target Training
Combined with the above set and rep proper schemata, picking the right exercise and doing it the right way with proper
technique and form is crucial for success in the off season mass training program. Innervation Training is all about using
internal cues from the body to gauge feedback rather than faulty external cues like strength levels etc. The old folklore would
have us all believe that off season is just a matter of selecting basic exercises and "training heavy" I'm here to tell you both
concepts are totally ancient and non applicable for real gains, real fast. If it was that simple there would be no need to write
this article at all. You see in target training you want to select an exercise or exercises that put the working muscle at it most
disadvantageous leverage positions. This allows the muscle to achieve the most overload. So for instance if you have a
stalky build with short limbs then bench-pressing in the off-season is probably a good idea for you (of course working in the
range of success as indicated above). But for anyone with normal muscle attachments or who may have longer limbs then
bench pressing is the worst exercise to select, because the pecs are not even prime movers in that exercise, let alone are
they put in a disadvantageous leverage position. That is another reason for proper exercise selection as well. Worshipping
strength for its own sake does not equal muscle gains. We've all been there. What you should be attempting to do is isolate
a muscle as an agonist, (or the muscle doing the most work) and then insure that that muscle and only that muscle is doing
the most work. That way you get away from just measuring what is on the bar, (an external cue) and you can start to "feel"
the effect the movement has on the muscle. Indeed this whole kindergarten mentality of "just do basic exercises and train
heavy" misses the whole point. In Innervation Training, you "train the muscle and not the movement," Read that again ten
times. This whole idea of training the muscle and not the movement gets you away from ludicrous ideas like recording how
much you lift. When you target train, how much is on the bar is secondary to" where do I feel this working" That is the most
important variable and then you can measure strength increases week to week. Doing a movement like press behind the
head and using 5 or 6 different muscle groups inefficiently to get the reps, is a lot less productive than doing say a side
lateral, using only medial delts to lift the weight for say 8 sets of 8 reps.
Now you can see that "heavy" becomes a relative term and less important to your overall training strategy. Training hard is
what matters, heavy is elusive and usually involves training the ego rather than the muscle.
In the off season it is possible to train longer as long as food intake is substantial. The worse thing an athlete could ever do
is train against the clock. Rest as long as it takes between sets for your breathing to return to normal, and for you to assess
whether you are ready to do another set with the same weight at the same intensity, keeping in the "range of success".
Sometimes, you may need to rest up to several minutes before resuming a set. This again is using the internal cues of the
body rather than external cues like the clock in order to properly gauge workout parameters.
Off-season mass training programs should continue for no more than twelve weeks before a week to ten days off training
are due. Refer to my Slingshot Training Article for reasons why regular time off is so essential for growth and repair. After a
ten-day period, another off-season program can be done, but no more than two in a row before Structural Training should be
substituted for Body Part Training. And a period of rest should follow each and every program.
There is literally a ton more that could be written and said of Structural Training and Off Season Mass Training but there is
only so much room in an article format. Suffice it to say that it should be obvious that if your off season mass training centers
around age old concepts like basic exercises and just training "heavy" then you are probably wasting your time and you
need to reassess your training protocol or have a professional do it for you.
Just to give you an idea the following are a couple of examples of off-season Structural Training Workouts. Now keep in
mind these are just sample workouts and not the whole program. In order to work completely a training routine must be part
of a training program. But if you are in your off season you could still give these workouts a try and assess for yourself how
they feel.
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Workout 1 Chest and Bi's
1) Incline barbell press pyramid warm ups then 6 sets X's 6 reps*
2) Flat dumbbell press (feet up on bench) 6 sets X's 8 reps*
3) Machine flyes 2 sets X"s 10-12 reps
4) Seated machine press 1 strip set
5) Concentration dumbbell curl pyramid warm-ups then 4 sets X"s 8-10 reps
6) Machine preacher curl 4 sets X's 10-12 reps
7) One arm zottman curls 3 sets X's 10-12 reps
Workout 2 Legs
1) Full squats (barbell) pyramid warm-ups then 8 sets X's 12 reps*
2) Lying leg curls 4 sets X's 12-15 reps
3) Hack squats or leg press 6 sets X's 15 reps*
4) Leg extensions 1 strip set
* All sets are weight constant unless indicated by a rep range. Imagine having the whole program to complete the picture.
Eating for Off Season Mass Gains
As I said earlier eating and training to gain mass is a completely different thing than is eating and training to maintain mass.
If you are serious about gaining mass than you have to put the mirror away and let it happen. As I always say in my
seminars " you can't sculpt a pebble." And bodybuilding is just that. It is sculpting. You need to start with lots of muscle in
order to be able to sculpt it. If staying lean is your most important criterion, then don't whine and complain that you can't
make any gains. Rather just be satisfied that you made a choice to stay lean, and live with the reality you probably won't
gain much more size that way. Too many times bodybuilders and want to be champs live mentally in the opposite place of
where they are and it kills their progress. Too many times in the off season they pine till when they can diet and look good,
and then when they are dieting they pine away for when the can eat again and put on some beef.
Mentally, you must live in the moment. If off-season mass is your goal then keep your headspace there. Eat big to be big.
Diets can be either anabolic or anti-catabolic in nature. When in a controlled calories situation as in a pre-contest mode,
there is an anti-catabolic effect of diet. (When done properly) But this effect does not last long and soon the body starts
losing muscle and energy.
Conversely, diet can be an extremely anabolic thing if done properly. Many times I get calls from new clients who can't
believe the gains they make just by going to an off season diet, training and supplement program. They just never realized
that "food" can be so very anabolic when a diet is applied correctly.
There really need not be any magic formula for off-season dieting, but a quick rule of thumb is this. Try to eat at least 20
times your body weight in calories in food per day divided fairly evenly in each meal. Also pay closer attention to getting
protein sparing nutrients like carbs and fats in the off-season, and let protein take care of itself, by just making sure there is
ample protein at each meal. Therefore if I was to choose an off-season calories level I would aim for a minimum of 5,400
calories. (270 X's 20). That's a minimum. Often people will ask me what are the best foods to eat and how many meals per
day should they have? Well indeed there is far greater food selection in the off-season and some really good calories dense
and nutrient dense foods to choose from. My two favorites would have to be peanut butter and beans, as in beans in tomato
sauce, baked beans that kind of thing. Not only are these foods cheaper, but also they are loaded with good nutrients, and
have great amino acid profiles. Let's not forget as well, that the off-season is a good place to use supplements to make
greater gains as well. Adding whey protein to each meal increases protein content and absorption at very nominal cost. It's
kind of like insurance. As far as how many meals to eat per day, you must remember that fat slows intestinal motility so the
higher the fat content the slower will be digestion and therefore fewer meals can be consumed. But this is not a bad thing.
Slower digestion insures better assimilation, and absorption of nutrients, and as stated earlier allows protein to be spared
and used for its real purpose, which is to
restore and build tissue. Often times it will be difficult in the off-season to eat more
than 5 times a day unless you have a fantastic metabolism. My client, Sasha Jocic is one of those clients his off-season
menu is included below. Sasha has gained almost forty pounds of muscle doing off-season Structural Training with me, as
well as eating correctly, and supplementing wisely. At age twenty-four he has taken his physique from that of a fairly tall kid,
with an athletic look, to a physique that is big and thick, and symmetrical, and not fat. Below is his diet, which took him from
230 lbs to over 270 lbs.
Meal 1: 6 whole eggs with cheese, large bowl of oatmeal with raisins, 2 pop tarts, 1 tablespoon flaxseed oil, 2 scoops
Nitrotech
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Meal 2: 12 oz. Flank steak, 3 pieces large farmer's rye bread, 1tablespoon olive oil
Meal 3: 10 oz ground beef, 1 cup brown rice, 1 tablespoon flaxseed oil, 2 scoops Nitrotech
Meal 4: 1 500 gram container cottage cheese, 2 large jars baby food
Meal 5: (post workout) 2 scoops Nitrotech, Cell Tech as directed, 150 grams Carb powder
Meal 6: 2 cheeseburgers, large fries,
ice cream
Meal 7: 2 scoops Nitrotech with skim milk, 1 tablespoon flax
That is just one off-season menu sample from a client who has enjoyed tremendous gains. Here is another of my off-season
sample menus.
Meal 1: 6 whole eggs, 2-4 eggo waffles with syrup, bowl of oatmeal with raisins
Meal 2: 250 grams ground beef, 1 ½ cups of rice with
peas, fruit
Meal 3: 2 grilled chicken sandwiches, bowl of baked beans, cottage cheese
Meal 4: repeat meal 2
Meal 5: 2 peanut butter and honey sandwiches, 500 ml skim milk
Meal 6: 300 chicken, large bowl pasta with sauce
Meal 7: two scoops Nitrotech in skim milk, 3 giant bran muffins
* Nitrotech also added to meal 2, and meal 4.
As you can well see eating big to get big is no myth. If you have trouble increasing the volume of your food intake then just
go to non-fat meals for four out of six meals. Remember no fat speeds digestion so you will get hungrier faster. As your
hunger increases, then add one of these meals and just keep following that format till you are hungry enough to eat all offseason
meals. Never force feed yourself and eat if you are not hungry. You will just get fat that way. And remember, your
appetite, and metabolism are a direct result of your work ethic in the gym. Train like an animal and you can eat like one.
Train like a wuss, and just keep ordering your garden salad, with dressing on the side, for your after training meals.
Seriously, food works best when it is most needed, just like supplements.
Supplements
As I've said over and over we now live in an era where supplements are real and can do wonders to enhance performance,
aid recovery, and aid muscle growth. The macro nutrients are special unto themselves and are taken for their quality and
convenience, but all other supplements work best when they are depleted in the body so its best to start using them after the
body is well trained, and bordering on over training.
Nitrotech
The benefits of taking whey protein are well documented, but Nitrotech Whey by Muscletech takes whey protein into a whole
new realm of supplementation benefits.
I like to add whey to two to three meals per day in the off-season, not only for protein insurance but to leave room for more
calories from fat and carbs at the same meal and during the same day. Nitrotech is the superior whey, and has been proven
in research to be 24 X's better than just regular whey. It's added ingredients to insure the best delivery system for absorption
and assimilation make it the clear choice of real champions or those who are sincere about reaching their goals. There are
no substitutes. Many of my clients have achieved even better success using Nitrotech, rather than normal whey. One client
who I am sure you will be reading about in the future gained about 15 lbs of muscle mass, and all his weight constants
exercises increased dramatically. When proper technique and form are employed and then these kinds of increases are
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made this is serious stuff. Even as I mentioned about my client Sasha Jocic, his gains are to this date a solid 40 lbs. Anyone
can put on 20 lbs of fat and call it muscle but when you are my client and I am assessing you, I know the real deal when I
see it and Sasha is one such case.
Taking Nitrotech two to three times per day off-season with meals makes good sense for the above-mentioned reasons, but
it can also be taken with Cell Tech for even more benefits. The new Ready To Drink Formula's of Chocolate, Strawberry,
and Vanilla, not only add choice but the convience of being ready when you are or you meal is, no extra preparation
required.
Cell Tech
Once the body gets near that over trained state using creatine makes good sense. Creatine as an energy substrate can be
depleted quickly in muscles working day in and day out. The added benefit of the extra creatine storage besides cell
volumization is the increase in tissue leverage around the joints which also equates to higher working poundages, with less
wear and tear and the joint structure. The problem is getting quality creatine, which is readily absorbed and does not cause
too much intestinal discomfort. Again, Muscletech leads the way with the ingredients ALA, and dextrose in the precise
amount, scientifically proven to increase creatine retention in the muscles. There are many ways to take creatine for
optimum results. Some are top secret. The standard loading for five days and then taking maintenance levels makes great
sense. After 6-8 weeks depending on the feel of your workouts it may be necessary to reload again, provided you are
training high volume and high intensity as I outlined above. The gains that can be made cannot be overstated. IFBB pro
Aaron Madron reports gaining 10lbs in 7 days. I myself on this past Muscletech stack gained over 15 lbs in even less time
and kept it on during my training regimen. The various flavors, Fruit Punch, Orange, Grape, Lemon lime, allow to take in a
different flavor all the time without getting bored of the same old same old. As stated above, if you take Nitrotech shake right
after training with Cell Tech you get a one/two kind of benefit. Cell Tech provides you with the extra ingredients to work
longer and harder and lift heavier, while Nitrotech, because of its high quality allows you to recover from these harder
workouts faster. If you read my transformation article, you know my net gain from the stack was 45lbs, when you factor in fat
loss. Another one of my clients, Frank Budelewski, from New York has gained about 20lbs in eight weeks using the
Muscletech stack along with his proper off-season eating regimen, and a Structural Training program designed just for him.
Already winning the Buffalo New York Championships last year, as well as a "big guns contest", Frank is now aiming higher
and higher because of his competitive gains.
Acetabolan 2
Anyone familiar with my dissertations on supplements knows that Acetabolan 2 by Muscletech is my favorite supplement
and can be used pre-contest or off-season. It is especially applicable in the off-season. The right combination of Tribullus
and Acetyl-l-carnitine, not only give your body a short term testosterone burst, but this also staves off the normal drop in
testosterone levels which often occurs during training. And in the off-season when the serious and hungry athlete may be
training beyond that critical 80-90 minutes mark, this effect of Acetabolan is crucial to continuing to make gains. For more
information on Acetabolan 2, see my article in issue (---) of Musclemag.
Conclusion
Well there you have it. This article should make one thing obvious to you about your off-season commitment to mass gains.
Training in the off-season (unless you are a seasoned pro) demands a different mindset and thinking toward your workouts,
your diet strategy, and your supplementation. You are the lucky ones to be reading this article. In my day, of slaving for
mass gains I would have killed to be privy to the knowledge base that now exists in training science, nutrition science, and
the science of supplementation. To have tried and proven products available to aid in workouts, recovery, and growth has
never been better than it is right now. But making gains does require thought, expertise, and planning. Hopefully by reading
this article you are well beyond such simplistic thinking as just train heavy with basic exercises in the off-season and you are
doing all you can.
No, only by applying sound training practices and programs, appropriate diet strategy, and the prodigious use of good
supplements will you make serious inroads toward reaching your goal of gaining off-season mass and thickness.
