The Strength Log

How many sets should you do weekly for the biggest and fastest gains in strength and muscle size?

How many workouts per week?

Is the sky the limit, where more training always leads to more muscle growth?

Today, we cover a new meta-study that hints at what the upper limits of muscle growth, strength gains, and training frequency might be.

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Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star review in your podcast player. And hit that subscribe button!

You can also follow us on Instagram. You’ll find Daniel at @strengthdan, and Philip at @philipwildenstam.

Become a part of our community on Facebook here.

***

This podcast is brought to you by Styrkelabbet AB, Sweden.

To support us, download the world's best gym workout tracker app StrengthLog here. It's completely ad-free and the most generous fitness app on the market, giving you access to unlimited workout logging, lots of workouts and training programs, and much, much more even if you stay a free user for life.

If you want a t-shirt with ”Train hard, eat well, die anyway”, check out our shop here.

In the last episode, we established that you can build more muscle mass while losing fat—even if you’re not a beginner in the gym.

Let’s follow that up with a bunch of great questions on the same topic, sent in by our fantastic listeners!

Timestamps:

• 05:50 – Question 1: I'm trying to be in a caloric deficit to lose body fat and lower my body fat percentage. How long can you be in a deficit of around 500-800 calories daily before the effect diminishes? Does the metabolism decrease by a lot?
• 12:00 – Question 2: How would you structure your strength training during a caloric deficit?
• 17:00 – Question 3: How much does muscle mass affect caloric needs? Can you increase your resting metabolic rate if you build bigger muscles?
• 21:00 – Question 4: How big of a caloric surplus should you be on to build muscle? When does the surplus become unnecessarily big?
• 26:00 – Question 5: If I recall correctly, you mentioned in an earlier episode that you should eat the amount of protein appropriate for your target weight when on a diet. This means that if I weigh 100 kg and want to drop down to 80 kg, and I want to eat 2 g protein/kg, I should count my protein need using 80 kg and not 100 kg. Will I lose more muscle mass if I do that compared to if I would have counted using 100 kg?
• 30:30 – Question 6: I strength train 3-4 days per week, and on the 5th day, I started doing kickboxing cardo, which usually burns around 1,000 calories in an hour. On the kickboxing days, I end up in quite the caloric deficit compared to the rest of the week, where I eat to a maintenance level of around 2,400 calories. My question is: should I make it a point to replace those extra 1,000 calories I burn from kickboxing in order to maintain my muscle growth, or is it not such a big deal since it is just one day a week?

***

Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star review in your podcast player. And hit that subscribe button!

You can also follow us on Instagram. You’ll find Daniel at @strengthdan, and Philip at @philipwildenstam.

Become a part of our community on Facebook here.

***

This podcast is brought to you by Styrkelabbet AB, Sweden.

To support us, download the world's best gym workout tracker app StrengthLog here. It's completely ad-free and the most generous fitness app on the market, giving you access to unlimited workout logging, lots of workouts and training programs, and much, much more even if you stay a free user for life.

If you want a t-shirt with ”Train hard, eat well, die anyway”, check out our shop here.

We’ve already done three episodes on fat loss (see episodes 20, 21, and 22). Now it’s time to tackle the holy grail: How to build more muscle mass while still losing fat!

Most know that this is quite easy for overweight beginners. But what about the rest of us? Can it even be done without cycles of bulking and cutting?

Let’s discuss it! To help guide us, we will also answer a handful of questions on the topic from you guys.

***

Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star review in your podcast player. And hit that subscribe button!

You can also follow us on Instagram. You’ll find Daniel at @strengthdan, and Philip at @philipwildenstam.

Become a part of our community on Facebook here.

***

This podcast is brought to you by Styrkelabbet AB, Sweden.

To support us, download the world's best gym workout tracker app StrengthLog here. It's completely ad-free and the most generous fitness app on the market, giving you access to unlimited workout logging, lots of workouts and training programs, and much, much more even if you stay a free user for life.

If you want a t-shirt with ”Train hard, eat well, die anyway”, check out our shop here.

Do you gain more muscle and strength when you change your exercises regularly, or can you keep doing the same ones all the time?

That’s the topic for today, and to kick the discussion off we have a fun new study on this subject!

The researchers wanted to see if varying exercises (for the same muscle group) are superior to just doing the same exercises all the time, and recruited 90 untrained women to do so.

The results? Expected and surprising at the same time!

***

Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star review in your podcast player. And hit that subscribe button!

You can also follow us on Instagram. You’ll find Daniel at @strengthdan, and Philip at @philipwildenstam.

Become a part of our community on Facebook here.

***

This podcast is brought to you by Styrkelabbet AB, Sweden.

To support us, download the world's best gym workout tracker app StrengthLog here. It's completely ad-free and the most generous fitness app on the market, giving you access to unlimited workout logging, lots of workouts and training programs, and much, much more even if you stay a free user for life.

If you want a t-shirt with ”Train hard, eat well, die anyway”, check out our shop here.

It’s time to wrap up the mini-series on training for bigger arms, with your best questions on how to succeed.

Should you, for instance, train your arms daily for better gains?

And how do you train if one of your arms is in a cast because it’s broken?

You guys had so many good questions today! See the timestamps below. And don’t miss the last one, where we discuss muscle asymmetry between the left and right arm. Having one arm that’s bigger and stronger than the other one, is quite a common worry out there …

Timestamps:

• 03:15—Question 1: Is it counterproductive to train arms every day? By that, I mean to train them hard and with high volume—not just a few reps after the regular training. Some believe that it is not possible to overtrain the arms.
• 09:30 – Questions 2 & 3: What has more visual impact, big biceps or big triceps? And how much of a difference do the shoulders make for the appearance of the arms?
• 12:25 – Question 4:  Please give us some fun and effective exercises for the forearms!
• 17:50 – Question 5: Is it possible to train your arm to prevent tearing the bicep tendon while deadlifting?
• 22:00 – Question 6: How should you train if you have a broken arm?
• 26:40 – Question 7: When doing overhead triceps extensions I get a cramp in my left rotator cuff. Is that because of mobility issues, and will it disappear if I just continue doing this movement?
• 30:30 – Question 8: What is the best exercise method to increase 1RM in barbell bicep curls?
• 35:50 – Question 9: I’m 79 years old and I have, against all odds, managed to build substantial biceps and triceps muscles after 5 years of strength training. The problem is that I got bigger muscles in my left arm. I’m right-handed and can handle more with that arm. Should I do more reps with the right arm to trigger those muscles more?

***

Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star review in your podcast player. And hit that subscribe button!

You can also follow us on Instagram. You’ll find Daniel at @strengthdan, and Philip at @philipwildenstam.

Become a part of our community on Facebook here.

***

This podcast is brought to you by Styrkelabbet AB, Sweden.

To support us, download the world's best gym workout tracker app StrengthLog here. It's completely ad-free and the most generous fitness app on the market, giving you access to unlimited workout logging, lots of workouts and training programs, and much, much more even if you stay a free user for life.

If you want a t-shirt with ”Train hard, eat well, die anyway”, check out our shop here.

The triceps are one of the biggest muscles in the upper body, and for big-looking arms, they are more important than your biceps—making up around two-thirds of the muscular volume in your upper arms!

Training the triceps is not as straightforward as training the biceps, and if you want big, strong triceps, you’ll need to know the tricks of the trade.

In this episode, we give you a quick anatomy lesson, followed by exercise selections and our recommendations for sets and reps.

In the next one, we’ll answer your questions about training for big arms.

If you want to know more about our workout routine Armageddon, read this article.

***

Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star review in your podcast player. And hit that subscribe button!

You can also follow us on Instagram. You’ll find Daniel at @strengthdan, and Philip at @philipwildenstam.

Become a part of our community on Facebook here.

***

This podcast is brought to you by Styrkelabbet AB, Sweden.

To support us, download the world's best gym workout tracker app StrengthLog here. It's completely ad-free and the most generous fitness app on the market, giving you access to unlimited workout logging, lots of workouts and training programs, and much, much more even if you stay a free user for life.

If you want a t-shirt with ”Train hard, eat well, die anyway”, check out our shop here.

Here we have it, every man’s (and quite a few women’s) biggest dream: bigger biceps!

Is it enough to only do pull-ups and rowing exercises for maximum bicep growth, or should you add direct bicep work too?

After a short anatomy lesson, we present you with everything you need to know about building big, juicy upper arms, including exercise selection, training frequency, and different approaches on how to include bicep training in your workout routine.

Next episode, we’ll flip the coin and talk about the other side of your upper arm—your triceps!

Also, we have merch now: check out strengthlog.com/shop for t-shirts and coffee cups. We’ll add more products and prints soon.

***

Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star review in your podcast player. And hit that subscribe button!

You can also follow us on Instagram. You’ll find Daniel at @strengthdan, and Philip at @philipwildenstam.

Become a part of our community on Facebook here.

***

This podcast is brought to you by Styrkelabbet AB, Sweden.

To support us, download the world's best gym workout tracker app StrengthLog here. It's completely ad-free and the most generous fitness app on the market, giving you access to unlimited workout logging, lots of workouts and training programs, and much, much more even if you stay a free user for life.

If you want a t-shirt with ”Train hard, eat well, die anyway”, check out our shop here.

Wow, you guys and gals really sent in a bunch of great listener questions today. Thank you for making this podcast both informative and fun!

How about talking about the concept of progressive overload for older lifters? Or about the often-claimed importance of having a balanced physique to avoid injuries?

See the timestamps below for all listener questions.

Also, we have merch now! Check out strengthlog.com/shop for t-shirts and coffee cups. We’ll add more products and prints soon.

Timestamps:

• 02:10 – Question 1: Is it too long between workouts if I only do full-body workouts every fifth day?
• 06:45 – Question 2: If I’m never going to compete in powerlifting, should I use a lifting belt anyway?
• 11:45 – Question 3: How do I know if my physique is balanced enough?
• 17:10 – Question 4: How do I recover from acute low back pain (lumbago) as fast as possible?
• 23:10 – Question 5: How do I count my working sets?
• 26:00 – Question 6: I have a little ribbon of fat just below my belly button that I’ve been trying to get rid of. I’m 74 years old I go to the gym six days a week and I train an hour to an hour and a half every day.
• 30:10 – Question 7: How do I adjust progressive overload goals when my body is naturally slowly declining because it’s aging?
• 36:00 – Question 8: How important is it to refill with electrolytes after a workout?
• 38:40 – Question 9: I drink a full pot of coffee during my workouts. Am I stupid?

***

Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star review in your podcast player. And hit that subscribe button!

You can also follow us on Instagram. You’ll find Daniel at @strengthdan, and Philip at @philipwildenstam.

Become a part of our community on Facebook here.

***

This podcast is brought to you by Styrkelabbet AB, Sweden.

To support us, download the world's best gym workout tracker app StrengthLog here. It's completely ad-free and the most generous fitness app on the market, giving you access to unlimited workout logging, lots of workouts and training programs, and much, much more even if you stay a free user for life.

If you want a t-shirt with ”Train hard, eat well, die anyway”, check out our shop here.

Last episode covered the three best fitness supplements to spend your money on, and three that might be worth it under special circumstances.

We flip the coin today, talking about the most overhyped supplements for strength and fitness. Either because they have been shown to not live up to the claims of the supplement companies or because they can’t be deemed safe for human consumption yet. 

Does this mean that it might be worth your money if we don’t mention a specific supplement in this episode?

Absolutely not.

The ones in the timestamps below are only the most popular ones, but there’s a lot of crap out there.

Save your money.

Timestamps:

• 04:10 – BCAA
• 09:30 – Turkesterone & ecdysterone
• 15:15 – Testosterone boosters
• 18:30 – Fat burners
• 22:45 – HMB

For a more complete supplement guide in PDF form, sign up for our newsletter here.

***

Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star review in your podcast player. And hit that subscribe button!

You can also follow us on Instagram. You’ll find Daniel at @strengthdan, and Philip at @philipwildenstam.

Become a part of our community on Facebook here.

***

This podcast is brought to you by Styrkelabbet AB, Sweden.

To support us, download the world's best gym workout tracker app StrengthLog here. It's completely ad-free and the most generous fitness app on the market, giving you access to unlimited workout logging, lots of workouts and training programs, and much, much more even if you stay a free user for life.

If you want a t-shirt with ”Train hard, eat well, die anyway”, check out our shop here.

Which supplements are worth your money, and which are not?

In this episode, we’ll examine what the science actually says about fitness and strength-related supplements, to give you our list of the best ones.

When all is said and done, not many supplements remain that are worthy of your money—the opposite of what supplement companies want you to hear. However, we hope you’ll be interested in this knowledge.

But! There are a few that will help you become bigger and stronger. And they are mostly quite inexpensive.

We’ll discuss six different ones (see the timestamps below), how they can improve your training, and to what degree they are worth investing in.

Next week, we’ll cover overhyped supplements to avoid!

Timestamps:

• 07:00 – Protein supplements
• 18:00 – Creatine monohydrate
• 26:00 – Caffeine
• 31:50 – Vitamin D
• 35:40 – Omega 3 fatty acids
• 41:20 – Beta-alanine

For a complete supplement guide in PDF form, sign up for our newsletter here.

***

Do you like what you hear so far? Please leave a five-star review in your podcast player. And hit that subscribe button!

You can also follow us on Instagram. You’ll find Daniel at @strengthdan, and Philip at @philipwildenstam.

Become a part of our community on Facebook here.

***

This podcast is brought to you by Styrkelabbet AB, Sweden.

To support us, download the world's best gym workout tracker app StrengthLog here. It's completely ad-free and the most generous fitness app on the market, giving you access to unlimited workout logging, lots of workouts and training programs, and much, much more even if you stay a free user for life.