Thread: 10 Hypertrophy Tips from Charles Poliquin

These are basic but really good especially the drops sets and advice of 3 week cycles. I think we all tend to train linearly or over do it.

1. One of the main reasons why people don’t get big (pack on muscle) is that they are too weak to put on size. So for people like this a short cycle of 3 week phase of strength training is advisable – a 10×3 programme would work well for this and then progress to higher reps(hypertrophy training)

2. Drop sets are excellent for building size – dropping weight every 5 reps til you hit 25 reps on your last set each workout works extremely well. Watch yourself pack on size with this.

3. Never increase quantity at the expense of quality. If you have big drop off rates (20% or more) in a hypertrophy phase then you should stop that set and move on.

4. Total body training is not good for hypertrophy. Total body training works well for fat loss and weight loss or football/rugby players who are IN season but not for hypertrophy.

5. Bodybuilders or people looking to increase size should not follow a strict paleo diet and need to incorperate carbs(often carbs which are seen as bad carbs) to help them grow. Calories need to be high and insulin needs to be utilised to add on size. Charles likes to use a refuel day with 50% more calories on this day from carbs to increase size. Insulin is the most anabolic hormone

6. If you are not lean you should not follow the above as you will just get fatter. Lean is below 10% in men and 16% in women. If you are fatter than this you need to work on making yourself more insulin sensitive.

7. Recovery is very important to grow and some good recovery techniques are stretching (a lot), massage, sex!, infra red sauna – these are some of the excellent recovery methods to help you grow

8. Cortisol is the energy hormone and needs to be high BEFORE training and you need to bring it down straight AFTER training.

9. There is not as much emphasis on fats as if you were in a fat loss phase but you should still make sure you get some especially real butter, coconut oil and mct oil.

10. If you have NO food tolerances at all then grains can be good for you on your over eating day as a carb source

Good read!.

#8---> What is the best way to reduce cortisol AFTER the workout?.

Originally Posted by JohnMcc

Most efficient cheap way i know of is ice bath/very cold shower to lower core body temperature quickly. Other than that drugs by prescription or smoking weed but those aren't options for everyone.

Never heard of weed doing this. Supposedly (weed) it will increase E but never knew it would reduce cortisol. What script drug are u referring too, bro?

Back in the day weed would cause me to eat like its my last meal

Originally Posted by JohnMcc

Most efficient cheap way i know of is ice bath/very cold shower to lower core body temperature quickly. Other than that drugs by prescription or smoking weed but those aren't options for everyone.

Cold will actually spike it, adrenaline response.

Originally Posted by NewMember

Good read!.

#8---> What is the best way to reduce cortisol AFTER the workout?.

Post workout shake: protein and carbs
Breath-work like basic nose breathing for 5min

Originally Posted by JohnMcc

Wouldn't the net effect be lower cortisol? I understand the acute spike in adrenaline but that would pass within minutes. The lower core temperature would likely last hours after and in turn lower cortisol and other inflammatory markers? Not arguing genuinely curious.

No. Cold is a stress, same with Wim Hoff breathing. Brings you up into a more sympathetic state to withstand the stress. Ow if you did cold bath then breathwork post (all nose breathing) to restore parasympathetic state, sure

I just posted a new thread by CP on post workout nutrition and how to lower cortisol.