Men's Health Huge in a Hurry: Get Bigger, Stronger, and Leaner in Record Time with the New Science of Strength Training

370 Pages·2008·13.5 MB·English

by  Chad Waterbury

Men'sHealth
INA
Get Bigger, Stronger, and Leaner in Record Time
with the New Science of Strength Training
CHAD WATERBURY
ltJ.
RODALE
NOTICE
The information in this book is meant to supplement, not replace, proper exercise training.
All forms of exercise pose some inherent risks. The editors and publisher advise readers to take full
responsibility for their safety and know their limits. Before practicing the exercises in this book, be sure that your
equipment is well maintained, and do not take risks beyond your level of experience, aptitude, training, and fitness.
The exercise and dietary programs in this book are not intended as a substitute for any exercise routine or dietary
regimen that may have been prescribed by your doctor. As with all exercise and
dietary programs, you should get your doctor's approval before beginning.
Mention of specific companies, organizations, or authorities in this book does not imply endorsement
by the author or publisher, nor does mention of specific companies, organizations, or authorities
imply that they endorse this book, its author, or the publisher.
Internet addresses and telephone numbers given in this book were accurate at the time it went to press.
© 2008 by Rodale Inc.
Interior photographs © Rodale Images
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or
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storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.
Rodale books may be purchased for business or promotional use or for special sales.
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Men's Health is a registered trademark of Rod ale Inc.
Printed in the United States of America
e,
Rodale Inc. makes every effort to use acid-free recycled paper@.
INTERIOR PHOTOGRAPHS BY Mitch Mandel/Rodale Images and Brad Buckman (page viii only)
ILLUSTRATIONS BY Scott Halloday
BOOK DESIGN BY Susan Eugster
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Waterbury, Chad.
Men's health Huge in a hurry: get bigger, stronger, and leaner in record time
with the new science of building muscle I by Chad Waterbury.
p. cm.
I nel udes index.
ISBN-13978-1-59486-954-9 direct mail hardcover
ISBN-IO 1-59486-954-5 direct mail hardcover
ISBN-I3978-1-60529-934-1 paperback
ISBN-IO 1-60529-934-0 paperback
I. Bodybuilding. 2. Weight training. I. Title. II. Title: Huge in a hurry.
GV546.5W38 2008
613.7'I- dc22 2008029457
Distributed to the trade by Macmillan
2468 109753 I direct mail hardcover
2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 I paperback
[JI
I
RODALE
LIVE YOUR WHOLE LIFE~
We inspire and enable people to improve their lives and the world around them
For more of our products visit rodalestore.com or call 800-848-4735
We aLL have someone in our lives who affects us immeasurably.
Maybe that person is a parent, teacher, or friend.
Maybe that person gave us just enough encouragement at a critical moment,
even if at the time we didn't think it was enough.
Or maybe that person didn't always have our best interests in mind,
but instead acted in ways that forced us to learn the rules of life.
Maybe what that person didn't give us made us who we are today.
This book is dedicated to my late father.
He's the reason I'm here.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii
INTRODUCTION:
THE NERVE OF THIS GUY! ix
PART 1: THE BRAINS
CH 1: HIGHWAY TO HUGENESS 3
CH 2: THE SIZE PRINCIPLES 11
CH 3: KNOWLEDGE IS POWER ...
AS LONG AS IT'S ACCURATE 21
PART 2: THE BRAWN
CH 4: TOTAL-BODY TRAINING 39
CH 5: HIGH-FREQUENCY TRAINING 48
CH 6: EIGHT KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL
WORKOUTS 56
CH 7: WARMING UP AND
COOLING DOWN 66
CH 8: HOW TO USE THE PROGRAMS 90
PART 3: THE PLANS
CH 9: GET READY 101
CH 10: GET BIG 104
CH 11: GET EVEN BIGGER 118
CH 12: GET STRONG 149
CH 13: GET EVEN STRONGER 164
CH 14: GET LEAN 184
PART 4: THE EXERCISES
CH 15: UPPER-BODY PULLS 205
CH 16: UPPER-BODY PUSHES 221
CH 17: SQUATS AND SQUAT VARIATIONS 239
CH 18: DEADLIFTS AND DEAD LIFT VARIATIONS 253
CH 19: POWER EXERCISES 261
CH 20: ABDOMINAL EXERCISES 269
CH 21: SPECIALTY AND SINGLE-JOINT EXERCISES 279
PART 5: THE FUEL
CH 22: FEEDING YOUR MUSCLES ... AND YOUR BRAIN 303
CH 23: WHAT TO EAT AND WHEN TO EAT IT 313
CH 24: GETTING READY FOR YOUR CLOSE-UP 329
INDEX 335
Cl\f\JOWLEDGrV1E TS
irst and foremost, I want to thank God for keeping me strong and healthy.
My mother is a close second. Thanks for your love.
Next up is the rest of my fami ly: Lisa, for your abundance of joy, support, love,
and even more support to top it off; Todd, for your wisdom and encouragement and
for being unwavering in your honesty and integrity; Gary, for being as solid as a
rock and for being such an incredible provider when I was a kid.
I want to thank my three best friends- Orbie, Stacey, and Telly- for the laughs and the beers.
Thanks to TC, Tim, and Chris at T-Nation for your continued support; to Debbie for your encour
agement; and to Bill Hartman for your help with the mobility and flexibility information. My
sincere appreciation goes out to Rodale for the opportunity to write this book. I want to thank
Lou Schuler, without whom this book would never have been possible. It was my honor and
privilege to work with you. Last, I want to thank Leslie for your love and your incredible spirit.
vii

INTRODUCTION
THE NERVE OF THIS GUY!
fyou saw me walking down the street, your first thought wouldn't be, "Hey, that guy
looks like a neurophysiologist." You'd probably guess that I'm a musclehead, which is fine.
That's exactly what I am. And if you guessed that I make my living using my brawn as
much as my brain, I'd still take it as a compliment. I used to work as a nightclub bouncer,
asking belligerent drunks to leave the premises and not taking "no" for an answer. It's a
tough job, and I feel fortunate to have gotten out with minimal scar tissue.
But I'm also a science geek who has a master's degree from the University of Arizona, with a
focus on neurophysiology, the study of how the nervous system works in conjunction with the
muscles to enable movement and improve human performance. My interest in the subject isn't
remotely academic: I want to know everything I can about making the human body bigger,
stronger, faster, and leaner. As soon as I think I've come across information that applies to those
goals, I try it out in my own workouts. If it works for me, I try it with the clients and athletes I
train for a living. And if it works for them, I write about it.
I've been writing for T-Nation, an online bodybuilding magazine, since 2000. If you had
heard of me before you came across this book, that's probably why. Each article I write is typi
cally seen by tens of thousands of readers, and some articles have generated hundreds of com
ments, as well as discussions that spill over to other sites that aren't affiliated with T-Nation.
Those discussions can get heated, and some even turn vicious. But I've been around long enough
to realize that heat and hate always accompany a genuine paradigm shift, even in something as
apolitical as strength training.
When one of my articles gains traction, it's usually because I've challenged a long-practiced
and long-accepted idea. A few years ago, for example, everyone agreed that the best way to build
muscle mass was with sets of 8 to 12 repetitions of each exercise in your workout program. If you
did fewer repetitions, you were building strength at the expense of muscle size. I flipped that
around, showing readers that working with heavy weights and relatively low repetitions-
3 to 5 per set-would build size and strength simultaneously. In fact, I argued, heavy weights are
the best tool for building muscle mass.
Ix
INTRODUCTION
That's not just my opinion; it's one of the of your business, an area that the previous
most basic rules of exercise science. You can't owner had neglected. When you give them
pass a course in exercise physiology without work to do in that area, your business immedi
knowing this rule. Yet, almost every trainer ately generates more revenue, at the same cost.
and strength coach ignores it as soon as he After all, you were paying the workers any
leaves the classroom. way. Now you're paying them and getting
It's called the size principle, which I something in return.
explain in detail in Chapter 2. The executive The admonition to use heavy weights
summary is this: Muscle fibers come in with low reps proved to be both popular and
different sizes and have different roles. But effective. For many lifters, the one thing they
your body always uses them in the same order, hadn't tried was working with heavier
with the smallest fibers going first and the weights. I've heard this from more readers
biggest fibers only going into action when you than I could ever count. They'd been told for
absolutely need to generate all-out strength decades that lifting near-maximum weights
and power for a single, isolated action. was both dangerous and ineffective for
So I questioned the idea that the best way building muscle.
to build bigger muscles is with techniques that Why were they told that? The standard
couldn't possibly employ all the fibers within explanation- that heavy weights would make
those muscles. their muscles stronger but not bigger- is a
Here's an analogy: truly breathtaking misunderstanding of basic
Imagine that you've bought a company, exercise science. Why wouldn't stronger
only to discover that a percentage of your muscles also be bigger, all else being equal?
employees sit around all day with nothing to Or, put another way, why would muscles get
do. And imagine that the previous owner of bigger unless they needed to get stronger? Why
the company had done this deliberately, would your body add muscle tissue unless
thinking it was a good idea to employ people there's a functional reason for it to be there?
who didn't have any actual work to perform. If I wasn't the first lifter to see the light, of
you wanted to make that company succeed, the course. Not even close. Coaches and trainers
first thing you'd do is ... well, to be realistic, and athletes have observed throughout history
most business owners would layoff all those that lifting heavy things makes humans bigger
workers. But you're smarter than most, and and stronger. If the Neanderthals had invented
when you look at those workers, you realize gyms before they went extinct, they might very
they're incredibly skilled in one particular area well have figured it out before humans did. '
x