Ultimate Hypertrophy Guide

Preamble

This guide is a summary of my knowledge, research, and experience from being a natural lifter for several years. The focus is how to gain muscle as efficiently, effectively, and practically as possible, but it also discusses how to be physically healthy in general.

General

There is a TON of misinformation surrounding hypertrophy, the science of enlarging and strengthening skeletal muscles. This entry serves to break down what actually works and make it as practical, efficient, effective, reasonable, and sustainable as possible. In addition, this entry will briefly touch on how to be physically healthy in general, although it is focused on hypertrophy.

In general, intensity > form (provided your form isn’t dangerous) and frequency > volume. You won’t gain shit if you aren’t training hard. Your form is important, you will gain more if it is good, and is required to safely execute certain exercises without injury, but intensity is just more important for putting on muscle. Intensity, in this context, means effort relative to failure, basically how close you actually get to the point where you physically cannot complete another rep. Most research shows that sets taken to within 1–2 reps of true failure stimulate nearly identical hypertrophy compared to absolute failure, provided the effort is real. HOWEVER, most people dramatically underestimate how close they are to true failure. Training “hard” means pushing past comfort, not just fatigue, until you literally cannot move the weight anymore.

To make progress over time, progressive overload must be present. Progressive overload means increasing weight, reps, technique, control, tension, or other factors over time. That being said, mechanical tension is the actual driver of growth. The goal is to maximize tension in the target muscle throughout the movement, not simply to lift heavier weights.

In general, more volume = more gains. HOWEVER, the diminishing returns are CONSIDERABLE. Four hard sets a week per muscle group is enough to stimulate noticeable growth. For ideal results, your body will most certainly need more for certain muscles, but in general, it is better to train a muscle more times a week rather than more sets in one session. So it is better to have a lower volume on more days than it is to have higher volume on fewer days. Like two hard sets one day, two hard sets three days later or something similar as a very low volume example. This is simply because the vast majority of muscles for the vast majority of lifters do not require an entire week to recover, so it is more efficient to train them more than one time a week. Low volume works very well provided your sets are intense, you have some sort of recurring frequency, and is also incredibly time efficient. In a similar vein, avoid junk volume. In one workout, per muscle, anything more than 6-8 hard sets will likely not result in any additional gains. This is another reason frequency > volume. And anything over 15 total sets in one workout will start to produce diminishing returns assuming you are training with high intensity. Your body and muscles can only handle so much in one session and need time to recover, although usually not more than a handful of days.

Total volume is best thought of as “effective sets per muscle per week,” which means sets that are taken close to failure with sufficient load and range. According to most hypertrophy research, for most people, 10–20 effective sets per muscle per week is the sweet spot depending on recovery, exercise selection, and experience. HOWEVER, according to more recent research, you can make just as much or more gains with lower volume (no more than 10 sets per muscle a week). It’s a bit complicated, and I’m not an actual scientist, but practically speaking, it is a lot easier to manage lower volume for most people, so just do that unless you’re specifically training to be a bodybuilder. Low volume still does require that you train hard, but everything else about it is easy to manage and is very time efficient. As a personal example, pretty much all of my training nowadays is low volume, and I’m still consistently putting on muscle.

The volume versus intensity versus frequency debate goes very deep, and I’m only just scratching the surface. But if you want an actual answer: your volume does not matter much in isolation. You could be doing 50 sets a week that don’t push you anywhere near failure and make less gains than someone doing 5 who pushes every set to failure. As a golden rule: Train every set with intensity, with full range of motion or partial range prioritizing the stretch, use a low to moderate volume (number of sets), and train as frequently as practical for you based on scheduling, required rest time, and goals. In terms of exercise selection, quality exercise have a big stretch at high tension, are easy to progressively overload, are pushed to true muscular failure, and biomechanically bias a certain muscle in the most ideal way based on your body proportions (angle, path of resistance, that stuff). Now that general stuff is out of the way, I’ll get into the nitty gritty.

Technique and Biomechanics

Biomechanics determine how effectively you’re targeting a muscle. Exercises should align with your individual structure because limb lengths, joint angles, and strength curves all change what’s optimal for you. The “best” exercise on paper is the one that works for your body specifically without joint discomfort or compensatory movement. Feeling alone doesn’t determine the most ideal exercises, but it is a decently reliable indicator that you are training the muscle properly. It’s important to keep an objective viewpoint and not get attached to certain exercises. If you’re stagnating, it is probably time to change exercises, even if it produced great results in the past.

Good technique is about safety and mechanical efficiency. Use a controlled eccentric (1–2 seconds down), full range of motion (or partial range prioritizing the stretch), and pause for a brief moment at the bottom where tension is highest. Current research shows that prioritizing the stretch during training may stimulate more hypertrophy than not doing so, but even if it doesn’t, it’s still a good idea to train your full range of motion for practical reasons, namely significantly reducing the risk of injury.

Additionally, proper technique means the muscle you are training is the limiting factor. For example, if you are doing pullups, you probably want your back or lats to be the limiting factor, since that is primarily what pullups are meant to train. However, if your grip gives out before your back, that means your forearms are the limiting factor, meaning you aren’t stimulating your back as much as you could be. Your back would likely still have a few reps left. Solve this by training the weaker muscle to catch up, choosing different exercises for the time being, or working around it by using something like straps or Versa grips.

Lastly, just to comment: soreness is not a good indicator of whether or not your workout was intense enough. Soreness is not something you can control or stimulate in existence, so don’t take it’s existence (or lack thereof) as evidence of a good workout. That being said, if you NEVER get sore, then you’re probably not training intense enough. Even if soreness is not consistent, it should still happen from time to time, and if it isn’t, then you probably want to evaluate why.

Intensity

While intensity drives hypertrophy, excessive fatigue hinders progression. Your goal is not just to train hard, but to also train smart.

Keep in mind the Stimulus-to-Fatigue Ratio (SFR): choose exercises that deliver the most local muscle stimulus with the least systemic fatigue. A hack squat may annihilate your quads without destroying your lower back, which raises the SFR. But a hack squat also don’t train certain smaller stabilizing muscles that a traditional barbell squat would, so make sure to mix machines (including cables) and free weights. Deadlifts, on the other hand, train many muscles at once and produce a lot of systemic fatigue, which is a low SFR. That’s why some movements, though great for overall strength, are not the most ideal options for hypertrophy. Every exercise has strengths and weaknesses; there is always a tradeoff, so maintain a variety of quality exercises to hit all bases. You should also still include compound exercises in your training. Presses, pullups, rows, squats, and hip hinges are always going to be the most essential movements you can perform, even if they train multiple muscles at once and have a lower SFR, because you can modify these exercises to prioritize the muscles you want to train, raising the SFR and promoting better technique.

Remember that if you want to actually grow muscle, intensity is king. Obviously don’t kill yourself and make sure to keep proper technique, but if you are not training a muscle hard and close to failure, nothing else you do will matter. Your muscles need tension and stimulus to grow, and if you don’t give them sufficient amounts, they simply won’t grow.

Nutrition

Nutrition is extremely important, specifically for hypertrophy, but also for general health reasons. If you’re not getting enough protein (and other nutrients), your gains are going to be excruciatingly slow regardless of what you’re doing in the gym.

For muscle growth, aim for roughly 0.7g of protein per pound of bodyweight daily, a little higher if you want to be safe, spread evenly across a few meals a day. At most, 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight daily. People dramatically overestimate how much protein you actually need, and it’s expensive. Obviously, in general, more protein will help, but the diminishing returns are insane, so just get what you need plus a little more at most. Furthermore, caloric surplus supports hypertrophy, but it doesn’t need to be extreme. 200–300 calories above maintenance (lean bulk) is plenty for lean mass gain and is very sustainable. Normal people really don’t need to do constant bulk-cut cycles if you’re just trying to put on muscle.

For protein sources, lean meats are excellent. Chicken is a staple, but also incorporate beef, turkey, fish, pork, etc. Protein powder (typically whey) is also an effective option for increasing overall protein consumption, but it shouldn’t be your only protein source for health reasons. Protein bars are a quick and easy option, but be mindful of their nutrients and calories, and don’t overpay for them, since a lot are unreasonably expensive. Eggs are also solid when they’re not unreasonably expensive. Greek yogurt and cottage cheese are good too. There are many good sources of protein, but those listed here (and adjacent to them) are ideal. What actually makes a good protein source is the ratio between protein content and caloric content. Chicken has an extremely high protein quantity and very low calories, making it an excellent protein source. Something like peanut butter, on the other hand, while having a lot of protein, also has a lot of calories, making it not as good of a protein source as some argue it is. Furthermore, if you want to put on muscle with any kind of efficiency, you’re kinda going to need to structure your diet around protein. Growing muscle is slow and biologically expensive, which means protein is needed in quantities normal diets would consider pretty excessive. It kinda sucks, but as long as you’re consistently consuming a variety of good protein sources (not shitty fad products advertised as high protein), you’re fine. You don’t need to optimize protein sources, just make sure you’re consuming a decent amount of them.

For carbs, stick to healthy, complex sources. Rice, potatoes, legumes, certain types of pastas, fruit, and vegetables are all good sources, among others. Whole grains (whole wheat, oats, quinoa, etc.) are also good, but they are simple carbs, thus are way less satiating, so be mindful if that’s a concern for you, namely if you’re cutting. People like to fearmonger about carbs a lot, but that’s almost always because they aren’t eating healthy carbs. Carbohydrates are needed to sustain your “short-term” energy levels and there’s nothing inherently wrong with eating a little more than necessary, especially if they’re healthy sources. Any diet that is extremely low in carbs is going to make you feel like shit constantly.

For veggies, more variety is ideal. However, what’s more important is that you actually fucking eat them. Try spinach, kale, broccoli, garlic, onions, bell peppers, carrots, beets, frozen vegetables, there are tons upon tons of options. Find what you like and/or tolerate and consume basically as much as you can. Vegetables are absolutely packed with a variety of nutrients, thus are essential if you want to eat healthy. It also does not matter if you get organic or traditionally produced vegetables. If you want to waste money and feel like you have a conscience, then feel free to buy organic, but for most people, actually eating vegetables is far more important than what “type” of that vegetable you eat.

Healthy fats are easy. You should be getting plenty just as a result of cooking with olive, avocado, or coconut oil, so this usually doesn’t require any additional effort at all. But if you happen to need more, use nuts, seeds, avocado, coconut, fatty fish, and nut/seed butters. People also like to fearmonger about fats, but fats are healthy, you need fats to sustain your “long-term” energy levels. Do not avoid them just because they sound bad. Excess calories are what cause you to gain weight, not exclusively excess fats.

While cooking is obviously required on your end, sometimes you might need more calories and nutrients yet don’t want to cook. In that case, things like greek yogurt, cottage cheese, fruit, nuts, crackers, cheese, jerky, protein bars, Fairlife milk, and even popcorn (with low butter) are all good “snack-like” options in moderation. There are also some frozen meals with pretty decent macros, but similar the snack-like options, these should be the exception, not the norm. In general, if you don’t like cooking, I would suggest meal prepping for maximum efficiency and convenience, but it’s not for everyone, so find what works for you.

Seasonings and sauces are essentially required. For a healthy diet to be sustainable, it needs to taste at least moderately good and have a decent amount of variety. Just keep an eye on how these things (namely sauces) can add more calories than you’re expecting. Also, keep refining your cooking. Things like chicken breast can taste a hell of a lot better if you just learn to cook it properly. Cooking is a skill, so keep working on it, and it will become more sustainable.

Try to have at least one healthy protein, carb, veggie, and fat source for every meal. Variety is generally healthier, but we’re aiming for practicality here. Make your diet as sustainable as possible for yourself. Multivitamins are also a good idea in general, although theoretically if your diet is perfectly optimized (it’s not), they’re unnecessary. As long as you’re eating pretty healthy most of the time, you’re in a very good spot and can absolutely afford to eat crap sometimes. Your diet doesn’t need to be (and shouldn’t be) ridiculously strict unless you’re training for something extremely specific. Prioritize both health and sustainability. I mean seriously, one of the best meals I ever had was when I was on a cut and had a pepperoni Little Caesar’s pizza one night. Eating garbage on occasion is part of a healthy diet because it makes the diet sustainable. Again, moderation is important, so don’t go overboard, but eating something you theoretically shouldn’t does not mean you’ve failed in any respect. Some days will be easier to manage than others. Sometimes you’re going to give in to temptation. That’s all normal, just get right back to it. And sometimes what is healthy for you does not align with what you’re trying to do, sometimes you will want to lose weight but your body holds onto it for health reasons. Ultimately, you need to consider what your personal goals are and if they’re actually healthy or not, because if they’re not, at least you know what you’re getting into. Though I’m sure it goes without saying that I don’t recommend it.

Finally, supplements. If you’re eating healthy, no supplements actually matter unless you personally have a preexisting health condition, which should be discussed with your doctor. Other than that, the only notable supplements are:

• Creatine monohydrate, the most researched sports supplement (not steroid) in existence. It has minor benefits to recovery (among other things) by pulling water into the muscles. Around 25% of people will be non-responders. Every form of creatine except monohydrate is a scam for one reason or another. The effects are nice, but minor. No researched downsides. Completely optional, but useful.
• Anything with caffeine, essentially preworkout. In general, I would recommend staying away from relying on supplements to essentially feel normal, but it doesn’t hurt to take some caffeine on slow, tired days where it would help your performance. Just be mindful of how caffeine affects the rest of your body.

Every other supplement is a scam for one reason or another. And don’t take steroids.

I want to briefly discuss fat loss because it is relevant here. I’m not going to get into the science, but if you want to lose weight, diet is far more important than exercise. If you are in a calorie deficit (eating less calories than you burn), you will lose weight regardless of what you eat. Obviously, for health and satiety/hunger reasons, you should prioritize whole foods, but you could theoretically eat bullshit all day and still lose weight if you’re in a calorie deficit. You’ll probably feel like shit though.

You burn at least 80% of your calories a day by literally just existing. Your body is a remarkably adaptable system that likes to keep maintenance calories roughly the same, so exercise is very ineffective for weight loss because your body will make you hungrier to compensate for the expended energy. Also, genetics of course play a factor, but that is a case by case basis. If you genuinely want to lose weight, take it slow. This forces you to build healthy habits (instead of just not eating, which is not a solution) which will not only help you lose weight, but also keep weight off, and taking cuts slow also makes the cut much more sustainable while you’re in it. Losing weight isn’t necessarily easy and you will be tempted often, but you shouldn’t be actively suffering. Prioritize whole foods that satiate you for as long as possible and have as many nutrients as you need, eat them when you’re genuinely hungry (I default to four small meals a day, one of them just being an afternoon snack), keep an eye on your calories (obviously), and take things slow. And again, don’t be afraid to eat crap sometimes, just keep it heavily within moderation. That’s how you sustainably lose weight. It won’t be super easy, but you shouldn’t be actively suffering.

If you want to lose weight, you have to consume less calories than you burn. That is literally the only objective rule. Everything else discussed here is optional, but it will make the cut significantly easier to manage and significantly healthier. Your health should be a priority too, not just appearance.

Recovery and Long-Term Progression

Muscle grows during recovery, not during training. Sleep, hydration, nutrition, and stress management all have a large impact on how much volume and intensity your body can handle and recover from. If you’re constantly sore, tired, or regressing in strength, your training frequency or recovery strategies likely need adjustment. So instead of asking “how much can I do?” ask “how much can I recover from?” This requires knowing your body pretty well, so it will take some time and adjustment to figure out. At least, have a consistent sleep schedule and get enough quality sleep, drink plenty of water, eat reasonably well most of the time, and do your best to manage your mental health. The very process of attempting these things will force you to learn about your body and mind and what they require to function well.

In general, normal people should be training 2-5 days a week with major muscle groups trained hard 2–3 times weekly. People dramatically overestimate how much volume and frequency you need to put on muscle, but as long as you’re training hard and recovering properly, you can get noticeable gains with pretty low volume. Training the same muscle on consecutive days isn’t ideal unless it’s a smaller muscle that recovers super fast for you, but it’s still not a great idea for proportionality and efficiency reasons.

Rest time between sets during workouts isn’t super important, but if you want to be efficient, it shouldn’t really be above five minutes unless the set was especially fatiguing. In general, the bigger the muscle or the more muscles used + the intensity of the set = the longer the rest required.

Track your lifts, effort levels, and recovery in some form. Either write it down or just have freakishly good memory. Progressively overload, but be patient, hypertrophy takes months or years, not days or weeks. Rotate exercises at least every few weeks. Most of your gains will come from consistent training of a few biomechanically solid movements pushed close to failure with good technique.

Ultimately, what is most important long-term is whatever is sustainable for you long-term. Patience and consistency are required. You won’t see ridiculous improvements in a short period of time (if you’re staying natural, which you should), so you want your routine to be as sustainable as possible above all else. None of the advice here matters if you don’t stick to it. The program that is best for you is the one you can personally sustain, progress, and recover from, even if not every variable is optimized.

Also, just to note: Splits (full body, upper/lower, push/pull/legs, bro split, etc.) largely aren’t important so long as they follow all the principles listed in this entry. My current split is LPPLU (legs, push, pull, lower, upper, rest on weekends) but that’s just what works for me and my schedule.

Expectations

Understanding what progress should look like at different levels of experience is essential for staying motivated and avoiding unrealistic expectations. Hypertrophy and strength progression are not linear, especially if you’re natural. They usually follow a pattern of bursts and plateaus with a long-term trend upwards that is hard to notice while you’re experiencing it. So many people give hypertrophy advice without clarifying the experience stage they’re talking about, which results in a lot of contradiction, confusion, and misunderstood expectations. I am attempting to clarify all of that here. Also, for reference, this entry is written by an intermediate stage lifter (with advanced stage knowledge ;). The timeline below assumes you are natural and remain natural. The time estimates for each stage are also very rough ballparks.

Beginner Stage

Around 0-1.5 years of consistent training.

What To Expect

• Strength increases pretty rapidly, sometimes every single week.
• Muscle growth is visibly noticeable within a few months in most muscles.
• Technique (should) improve dramatically.
• Neural adaptations dominate early progress (your body learns to use existing muscle more efficiently).
• Most lifts feel like they go up, at least a little bit, every time you walk into the gym.
• Most hypertrophy advice is given to this stage, understandably so, but these expectations are not universal across time.

Progressive Overload

• Linear-ish, adding weight or reps and/or improving technique every session is reasonably achievable most of the time.
• Every intense set stimulates growth because the stimulus threshold is comparably low.
• Recovery is generally quick once you’re through the very first weeks of training.

Plateaus

• Usually short (1-3 weeks).
• Usually caused by technique breakdown, undereating protein, inconsistent effort, or poor exercise selection. Fixing these issues often kickstarts progress again.

Intermediate Stage

Around 1.5-5 years of consistent training.

What To Expect

• Strength development slows down quite significantly.
• Most lifts no longer increase weekly, but instead in waves.
• Visible hypertrophy slows but becomes more dense and “aesthetic,” especially at lower body fat percentages.
• Different muscle groups start to progress at noticeably different rates.
• Machines and cables might become easier to progress on than free weights since you can isolate muscles more effectively.
• Plateaus become normal and last longer.

Progressive Overload

• Not linear. You will have bursts of progress lasting 1–3 weeks, followed by 2–6 weeks of stagnation. On average. Generalization. It will most certainly look different for you.
• Compound lifts progress noticeably faster than isolation lifts.
• Smaller muscles start to stagnate significantly (ex. delts/shoulders, biceps, triceps), while larger muscles keep growing fairly regularly (ex. quads, back, hamstrings).
  • Compounds and/or large muscles strengthen maybe +2.5–5 lbs every 2–6 weeks.
  • Isolations and/or small muscles may not strengthen for weeks or even months. Progress comes from the quality of reps, control, stretch, and execution.

Plateaus

• Completely normal and expected.
• Usually last several weeks.
• Burst, plateau, burst cycles are the natural pattern for intermediates.
  • Plateaus in the intermediate stage are common because your body no longer adapts linearly. You’ve (hopefully) built a solid foundation in the beginner phase, but in the intermediate phase, you begin truly pushing your body to what it is capable of, and it takes a lot more time and stimulus for it to adapt.
    • This is also why, if you previously had a lot more muscle, lost it, and later attempt regaining it, it is usually significantly faster than the first time because your body had already adapted previously, so getting it back is comparably much easier for your body.

Advanced Stage

Around 5+ years of consistent training.

What To Expect

• Strength increases extremely slowly.
• Hypertrophy becomes subtle and only visually noticeable over long periods of time, like 6–12 months.
• Progressing every workout becomes practically impossible.
• Fatigue is much higher and recovery starts taking longer due to (comparably) extremely heavy loads, which also means volume must go down if intensity and stimulus remain high.
• Personal exercise selection, technique, scheduling, and nutrition, among other things, should become highly refined. Optimizations matter a lot here.
• Genetic ceilings start becoming clear.

Progressive Overload

• Entirely non-linear and sporadic.
• Quality of reps becomes the primary progression method since weight and reps may stay the same for months.
• Technical refinements often produce more stimulus than load increases.
• Training usually cycles between high intensity and deloads due to (comparably) extremely heavy loads.

Plateaus

• The entire advanced stage is mostly a plateau, or at least feels that way.
• The body is near its adaptive limit thus progress will be small and slow.
• Gains happen in “one rep every few months” type increments.
• Overload is measured in tension, mind-muscle connection, and technique.

Exercise Selection

Anything in this entry marked with a ^ shows strong evidence of being a very solid overall exercise for that muscle specifically. That doesn’t mean to disregard the rest, rather it means to definitely include those exercises if possible.

“Generally avoid” means that if these exercises work for you, great, but there are definitely better options for the vast majority of people. Try them out if you want, but don’t expect much.

“Don’t bother” means what it says. These exercises are a waste of time almost without exception.

Upper Body

Chest

Include a flat or incline press and a chest fly.

• Flat press: Barbell, dumbbell, or machine chest press
• ^Incline press: Barbell, dumbbell, or machine incline press
• Chest fly: Cable, machine, or dumbbell fly (stretched partial reps for dumbbells specifically)
• Dips are decent, bias the chest by leaning forward

Don’t bother: Any close-grip press (emphasizes triceps)

Back

Include a horizontal and vertical pull. In general, horizontal biases mid back and traps while vertical biases lats.

• Horizontal: Any chest supported row, cable and machine rows
• Vertical: Lat pulldowns, pullups, single arm lat pulldowns
• Lat pullovers are also good for isolating lats
• Lat rows are also good if technique is correct
• Bent over barbell/dumbbell rows are a good generalist option

Don’t bother: Deadlifts (emphasizes lower body if technique is good)

Shoulders

Shoulders are arguably the most complicated muscle to train because of how much freedom of motion they have. As a result, unlike every other muscle, there isn’t a single exercise that actually trains every part of them, thus I have split them up based on general deltoid heads as a result.

Shoulders technically have a lot more than the three heads listed below. As a rule of thumb, hold your arms out straight (elbow not bent) and move your arm around in every possible direction. That is your shoulder’s range of motion, and you should try your best to train roughly all of those angles. Keep in mind how rotating your wrist slightly alters your shoulder.

1. Front (anterior) delts

• Supinated cable front raise, flared outwards a little
• Bicep curls but arms stay bent and you press upwards, back on an incline of around 60 degrees (can do with with barbell, dumbbells, or machine if you have one)

Front delts do get hit pretty well from chest training, but it is still a good idea to do isolation work for them since effective chest training biases the chest, not the shoulders.

2. Side delts

• Cable lateral raise, internally rotated arms, scapular plane
• Can also do with dumbbells, but cables are generally better
• Any lateral raise is good but this exercise is biomechanically optimized (trust me bro I can lateral raise 30 pounds right now)

This is the most important deltoid head to isolate given it doesn’t get stimulated by any other notable exercises. It also is the most significant head for aesthetic reasons, giving your shoulders a more rounded look.

3. Rear (posterior) delts

• Low dual-cable rear delt fly
• Single arm low cable rear delt fly
• Reverse pec deck

Rear delts do get hit pretty well from back training, but it is still a good idea to do isolation work for them since effective back training biases the back, not the shoulders.

Generally avoid: Shoulder/overhead press. This is a controversial statement, so take it as such, but let me explain my reasoning. Shoulder/overhead press, while a good movement for overall strength, is not a great driver of hypertrophy. For most people, it kinda hits the side delts and tickles the front delts, alongside involving chest and triceps. So if you ask me, just train all of those muscles directly. Shoulder press is still a decent generalist option, but it should be the exception to your training, not the norm. Again, this is a controversial statement and is based on my current understanding of hypertrophy. You should still learn how to shoulder press, but in my opinion, prioritize the other exercises provided above for shoulder hypertrophy.

Don’t bother: Arnold press, external rotation (biomechanically stupid)

Traps

• Shrugs
• That’s literally it

Try leaning forward at like a 15 degree angle (preferably with a bench to support you) to better emphasize the traps. Also don’t roll your shoulders.

Neck

Not recommended for newer lifters. And most never train neck directly because like… why would you?

• Neck curls
• Neck extensions
• Lateral neck flexion

Important note: Traps and neck isolation work is rarely necessary if you’re training your back and shoulders properly. But if you insist.

Triceps

Ideally include an overhead extension movement and a pressdown movement.

• ^Cable overhead extension
• Skull crushers
• Cable tricep pressdown
• Cable kickbacks
• Dips are decent, bias the triceps by being straight up

Don’t bother: Dumbbell kickbacks (not a great exercise to begin with, zero tension at the stretch, awkward motion)

Biceps

Basically any curl that gives a good stretch.

• Bicep curls
• ^Bayesian cable curls
• Preacher curls
• Incline bicep curls
• Lying dumbbell curls (if you’re weird)
• Face-away cable curls

Generally avoid: Back exercises, cheat curls

Don’t bother: Waiter curls (cuts range of motion significantly in both directions)

Forearms

Note: Reverse bicep curls and hammer curls obviously, being curls, also utilize the bicep. But they primarily stimulate the forearm.

• Wrist curls
• Wrist extensions (reverse wrist curls)
• Reverse bicep curl
• Hammer curls
• Dead hang
• Rice bucket training
• Cable wrist flexor

Generally avoid: Back exercises

Don’t bother: Anything that looks stupid as hell (it ain’t that deep). Forearms control grip and wrist movement, that’s it. Don’t overcomplicate it with bullshit.

Abs and Obliques

• Cable crunches
• Machine crunches
• Decline sit-ups
• Hanging leg/knee raise
• Dragon flags
• Obliques: cable twist. Or really any kind of twist

Generally avoid: Anything not listed here

Don’t bother: Stupid ab workouts/circuits. Abs follow the same principles as every other muscle and their visibility is highly dependent on body fat percentage. Ab circuits are glorified cardio.

Lower Body

Deadlifts work a lot of muscles simultaneously, and for that reason, are generally to be avoided if the goal is hypertrophy. It is too much of a generalist and has the lowest SFR of, like, any exercise that exists. Despite this, you should still learn how to deadlift.

• Conventional form biases hamstrings and glutes
• Sumo form biases quads

What’s important is that you actually fucking hit legs. Please. Those chicken legs make you look stupid, especially if your upper body keeps growing.

Quads

Include a squat and some other leg movement, ideally a leg extension.

Squats that, in general:

• Have knees move forward over toes (most important)
• Keep feet at a comfortable distance apart
• Maintain upright posture or have torso parallel with calves while you squat (whichever is more comfortable)
• Elevate your heels
• Feet angle outwards a bit (whatever angle is comfortable)

Including:

• Smith machine squat
• ^Pendulum squat (if you have one)
• Belt squat (if you have one)
• Hack/V squat
• Sissy squat
• Split squats
• Standard barbell squat

Other leg movements:

• Leg extension that gives a good stretch
• Leg press with low foot position
• Dumbbell walking lunges

And if you have some serious demons to fight:

• Heel-elevated quad-dominant Bulgarian smith split squats

Hamstrings

Include a hamstring curl and hip hinge.

• Hamstring curls: Machine hamstring curl. Preferably seated, but lying also works. Use a dumbbell in between your feet if you don’t have the machine even if it’s a little awkward
• Hip hinge: Romanian deadlift, stiff-leg deadlift, both with barbell or dumbbells. Can also do it on a smith machine or a cable row machine if you learn the technique

Important note: ROMANIAN DEADLIFTS ARE NOT THE SAME AS STANDARD DEADLIFTS. Learn the technique of both and understand why RDLs smash your hamstrings (and glutes) specifically while standard deadlifts hit several muscles simultaneously, poorly.

Calves

Calf raise machine that gives a good stretch. Standing is much better than seated. If no calf raise machine is present, use a hack squat or leg press machine, do single leg calf raises, or do some engineering. Stretch is ESSENTIAL for calves and partial reps are heavily encouraged, much more so than other muscles. Point feet in or out to bias certain heads (pointing feet towards each other biases outer calves, pointing feet away from each other biases inner calves).

That’s literally all you need for calves, but you have to actually hit them. Stop skipping them. They’re so quick and easy.

Glutes

• ^Hip thrusts
• Glute abduction and adduction machines
• Glute cable kickbacks
• Reverse lunges
• Split squats

Important note: Glute isolation work is rarely necessary. If you’re training the rest of your lower body well (with squats and hip hinges), your glutes already get sufficient stimulus. But if you want a fatter dumpy, feel free.