Great video Alex! Always learning from you. Even though I have been training since 1983 and was a nationally ranked competitive drug free powerlifter who has always been pretty studious I still feel like I need to listen to your videos several times to absorb everything you are putting out. It’s like you are paraphrasing an entire book in a few minutes on every topic you speak on. Really great content!
What you said about small muscle groups not necessarily recovering faster really rings true for me. I've always had to rest my biceps a lot and I thought I had something wrong with them
Yeah when people sat "small muscles" they mean like the little muscles of the forearm or like the foot or something haha, biceps can take a lot of damage just like any other muscle, of course they can take time to recover. On top of that, everyone is different, some people just take longer to recover due to genetics or diet, lifestyle, sleep schedule etc etc
I've been spamming RDLs for a decent period now. I do think they've really prepared my lower back for doing bent over rows. And you're totally right, when you go strict on bent over rows with a deep stretch, slow eccentric you can go quite a bit lighter than you might think. 135 can probably work well for a lot of folks (certainly for me). It feels weird using versa grips for rowing a plate per side but I feel my back way better (pull more through my elbows). 🤘
What’s wrong with the idea of pushing sets hard while bulking, and simply increasing the weight when it feels easier on that given rep scheme (i.e 5x6-10) this seems similar to double progression but entails, train hard and eat enough without having to worry too much about programming or RPE.
I did them in this workout ua-cam.com/video/D94I822mZso/v-deo.html&ab_channel=AlexLeonidas To be honest, I much prefer one arm dumbbell rows with my knee on the bench. I feel like I can't breathe with the chest support and the incline bench can be cumbersome.
Currently running your 2 set per exercise regiment, could you expand on that? Do you sometimes do 3 sets? What are mistakes we can avoid doing the regiment/misunderstandings?
When 20%bf for bear mode is achieved should I eat in a slight surplus and keep bulking and do a traditional bulking and cutting phase or should I eat at maintenance and just focus on that? Thank you for all your awesome content keep up the work bother you inspire so many of us and you’ll never know how much we truly appreciate you and everything you do may God bless you
Due a quick rapid intense cut and drop back down to 15% body fat. Like loose 10-12 pounds of fat in 2 weeks. It’s not good to be fat and carry excess weight around period from a health perspective. Being near maintenance with a slight surplus at 20% bf is going to result in much smaller muscle gain and more fat gain compared to doing a rapid cut to 15% bf bulking up 22% with a slow steady bulk. After 20 percent bf when bulking the ratio of fat to muscle for each additional unit of weight gain will have a majority of fat and the percentage of fat will increase per each additional pound of muscle as your body weight increases. So basically you be fat and getting fatter creating less muscle. In addition, trying to lean bulk once at 20% bf or maintain weight at 20% bf takes way less calories then properly bulking from 15-23 and doing short rapid cuts. You’ll get to eat more, build more muscle, feel better than trying to lean bull at 20% bf. After 20 percent bf most people look awful, hormones, cholesterol, sugar levels, blood pressure is all shit. Test drops. Moving around, and actually having energy to lift is lower. Its physically way more taxing on the human body to live, move around at 20 percent bf and higher. So you’ll have less energy to actually work out and push yourself. Joint angles, nerves, muscles get hurt from all the stress of that access fat so injuries and shit happens. So bulk 15-23 bf fuck rapidly. Remember when Alex was bear mode. On a full stomach after eating a big meal he was mid 180’s low 190’s. He cut down to 165 and was like 6-9 percent bf. Probably 8. If you do the math, account for the huge a mount of food in his belly and probably wearing clothes on the scale. He really was only 18 percent bf at the max. Possibly 20 for a short period of time. And he was an advanced lifter. If your a late novice, intermediate, even early advanced I don’t see a reason why you should actually bulk to 20 percent let alone maintain it. So deff cut
Do you like the look? I go from 14 to 18 percent (aproximately) then cut down. Sometimes I maintain depending on how i feel. Think about how it affects your personal goals.
@@silverweights2702 for a natural lifter that’s not advanced it’s quite fat from a medical standpoint. It depends on genetics and anthropometry as well. For example I don’t get fatceps or big arms from being fat. My chin, face, neck, stomach, lower pecks, on top of lats and thighs get it. Some people look swole some look like shit. I look like shit at 20 percent lol. Regardless it is unhealthy and after 20 percent the weight you gain increases is fat percentage wise. Also being heavy make’s programming chin ups, dips hard. Also to slow lean bulk at 20 percent results you eating less and gaining less muscle ten cutting down to 15 percent and bulking properly to 20-22 and repeating. At that bf, if you do some Lyle McDonald diet for like 3 weeks with cardio you’ll be at 15 percent and bulk normal for many months. I’m not talking about the look. I’m talking about building more muscle, being healthier and looking big at the same time.
That 64 kg guy with the 200 kg DL and 180 kg squat... MAN what a beast. He's a fair bit stronger than me on the DL and a LOT (a plate) stronger than me on the squat, and I weighed 205-210 lbs when I set those PRs.
Of course it's impressive, especially at his age too, but he's probably short, meaning ROM is shorter, so he can "move more weight" since it's not moving as far as someone who is 6 foot plus.
@Avareee92 true, but at 64kg he's probably not a big guy like, Alex himself suggested the guy is likely very lean, even if he's short he'd not be thicc at that weight
why are long rope tricep exercises better? - yes, the triceps naturally extend the arm away from midline when isolated, but with a v bar or short rope, ur just using some delt/pec in addition to triceps, which are still the limiting factor.
The fully contracted position of the tricep is actually way behind the body. Tricep isn’t just the elbow joint but also the shoulder joint. The long rope is much better at getting a full contraction. The dumbell tricep kickback is actually perfect for this, except the low tension in the beginning of the movement.
Great exercise for loaded stretched hypertrophy but in terms of ribcage expansion and growing your frame that wont happen unless you’re a teenager/early 20s. If you are a teen this exercise is must do and will literally grow your skeletal frame which no other exercise is known to do.
I think its the infraspinatus and teres muscles if I'm not mistaken. If you include the very top range on pulldowns I don't think you'll benefit that much. If there is a benefit it will by very small :)
Alex, if you do not do a Kratos cosplay, I will unironically fly over to Canada and beat you over the head with an SSB. Seriously though, your physique looks incredible. I think you’re inspiring more natural lifters to embrace the bulk to make real gains in the long term, and that’s absolutely amazing. Will we see you go bloatmode and turn into Kyriakos’ younger brother? Only time will tell!
@@edrickhuge4637 im on an upper lower split. On upper day I do 2 horizontal pulls, 1 vertical pull, 1 horizontal press, 1 incline press, 1 vertical press , lateral raises and rear delt raises (dropset on second set), pushdowns and cable overhead extensions (all for two sets). On lower day I do reverse machine front squats , rdls,leg extensions, laying hamstring curls, preacher curl variation and cable face-away curls (3 sets for compounds 2 for isolation). I throw abs at the end of each workout (crunches or leg raises)
My chest expander finally arrived, and I've been hammering my back with it. Really great stuff, thanks for recommending it! You think you're gonna do more videos in the future with it? Since they have been increasingly more associated with your name
Alex do you have any experience with your left shoulder clicking? I’m double jointed and I’m not sure if I should be worried, cause my elbow joints click all the time but only my left shoulder clicks?
I think I finally did it! I successfully did some assisted dips today without shoulder pain or biceps irritation. I haven't been able to tolerate dips for over 15 years. What I credit for improving my tissue capacity are incline curls, deep stretched DB fly presses and cable flyes, and dedicated anterior delt training. I have realized what held me back was not my joints, but weak supporting muscles and poor tissue capacity for those extended ranges of motion. I'm going to ease into training them by warming up with assistance and then doing sets with body weight. I weigh over 230 lb at the moment so will still be getting a good stimulus. Once I'm used to bodyweight and if things continue to go smoothly, will venture into the world of weighted dips for the first time since about 2004-05 when I was a skinny college kid. Been trying to keep the antifragile mindset. You have to progressively overload range of motion the same way you do volume and intensity. I've known this for years with lower body training, I can Platz squat ATG at 6'2", but haven't applied the same philosophy to my upper body training. Had a left shoulder injury back in high school and have used that as an excuse for all these years. Only recently realized how underdeveloped my left front delt was in comparison to my right, my side and rear delts are in pretty good balance so I guess I never really noticed.
Yo Alex I have a question: When I was at a 3-plate dip, my bench was 220. I increased my dip to 4-plates, and my bench was still at 220. I then decided to increase my bench from 220-270. My dip then increased to 187 without training the dip. Why is there bench➡️dip carryover, but zero dip➡️bench carryover? On the other hand Mathew Zlat (fully natty), can dip 192KG, and he has a 200KG bench without any training. Why did he experience dip➡️bench carryover and I did not? Thank you Alex 🔥
Say you’re truly 20% at 100kg and doing maths correctly you’ll be 10% at 90kg however this is not possible since you’ll be also losing water weight/muscle so ideally perhaps around 85kg you end up 10% ?
I have a home gym like you,and i have no access for a leg extension machine can i replace it with BW sissy squats?or the real question is can i maximize leg growth with only squatting?
I trained that way ALL THE WAY UP to my competition. Zero leg extensions, only sissy squats. Worked great! My routine was Barbell Squat, Good Morning, Belt Squat, ghetto leg curl, sissy squat, and optional reverse hyper (usually skipped).
Like your form on the seated overhead. I’ve been doing them like that for the last few months and the gains have been great, and my shoulders feel great too.
For the next Q&A: What're some of your favorite diet hacks or things to keep you more sane when the cut goes on for a while. As a former fat man, I have a hard time cutting for long periods of time so I often do 1-1 duration diet to diet breaks at maintenance for 1 or 2 months at a time. I've used fruits to fulfill that sweet tooth in me, but what do you do in those instances?
If someone reaches a plateau with a time proven program we know for a fact is effective and works for most people, is diet always going to be the problem? Is the answer then to add calories and the plateau will be broken?
Alex,I Have school essay /project About why most people never become intermediates and get stuck in beginner/novice purgatory? what would be your answer? do you have any ideas that would help me with the project? Love,IF i will get an A i will Definitely buy your Merch
I just smashed a 445 bench press personal record today. I'm on the path to 500lbs natty. Any recommendations on how to program my bench press the higher I climb up?
The best natural Bodybuilding fitness channel on youtube. Period. Amazing exercises recommendations and great focus on bodyweight and weighted calisthenics exercises not just weights. It changed and helped my physique in a great way. Weighted chinups and weighted pull ups are Goat of exercises for me.
Love the channel, long time subscriber. When are we getting another AD strength/hypertrophy book? I’ve gotten so much from naturally enhanced, I can’t help but think a new book would elevate everyone to another level. Cheers!
Wow Alex, I gravitated to this twice a week, three compound exercises, and two or three isolation exercises A little while ago and I feel great. Difference is, I’m doing 3 sets per exercise instead of 2 as it’s calisthenics heavy and my numbers are all smaller than yours- (except height at 5’7”). You are a beast!!
I think it’s fucked up that Alex hasn’t blown up like say ..Sam Sulek. All because he’s natural. It’s fucking sad really. Starting to look like me Big Al!
Juicers will continue gaining traction while real natties who actually bring life changing, high standard, informative content stay in a tight but legit bubble.
What does this split look like with 2 sets per exercise? I understand you’re doing 2x per week frequency, but is it upper/lower? 4 workouts a week, Full body twice a week or PPL?
I’m assuming it would be all sets of 2 Squat Chest press Delt press Side delt movement Tricep Hinge Pullup/pull-down Row movement Rear delt movement Bicep Than repeat that once for a total of 4 days per week.
Hey, Alex! Wondering about how to best program the deadlift as an intermediate lifter. You might be able to help me with squats too. (I highlighted the main question, it's not as long as it looks.) What I used to do was linear periodisation, where I'd alternate between squat and deadlift on Sundays in 4 week periods, and complimentary hypertrophy-focused stuff on wednesdays. (in a 4x/week push/pull-esque split). Specifically, I'd do 4x5 with my 7RM as determined by the previous period's performance, but adding 2 kg per week, 1 if 2 was too much, and then doing roughly my new calculated 2RM for a single to get a PR, followed by some more deadlifting along the same vain. There was typically stuff like rows after the deadlifting or squatting as well. It was a lot of recovery to keep up with, but it felt pretty effective. I've even done a similar thing on bench. I went from a 375 lb deadlift in August of 2022 to a 410 lb deadlift on March 20th 2023 training like this. *Is it redundant to do 4 strength sets for one main exercie in a workout? Would one set to failure be better? Am I getting stronger for doing multiple sets of the same thing?*
Alex my conventional deadlift is already at 405, squat (high bar, ass to grass, torso upright) is at 330, but my bench is at 155 as a 1rm. Also have a crazy yoke but dogshit lats, good biceps and trash triceps. Do you think its worth focusing on/specializing on “weaknesses” this early on? Or should I still keep a general focus on everything equally.
My question for next Q&A: when I try for one rep max, I notice that my grip tends to give out near lockout. But I feel like my actual hip hinge strength can handle the load. Would straps or hook grip help me take care of this problem, or should I add rack pulls to improve my lockout? I guess it’s a question of how to diagnose where my limiting factor is.
If you're talking about deadlifts, the grip will usually limit the load more than your lower body etc, straps will help absolutely, but you could also do some grip work as well, like holding your deadlifts at the top for a few seconds, dead hangs (even weighed dead hangs) etc, but if you're more interested in deadlifting more weight, just buy straps yeah. Hook grip just hurts for me, crushing my thumb isn't exactly a priority for me haha
I have narrow lats and shoulders and traps skinny forearms and spider arms. My chest and back is thick and my triceps lateral head is thick not well defined. I am 5ft7", 170lbs. Can narrow grip barbell incline bench press 170 x 5 reps. My chest take over in pull-ups, chin-ups, and dips no matter what grip i use. Same with push-ups.
I've got a prominent anterior pelvic tilt. This causes poor handstand posture and lower back pain from barbell rows and deadlifts. I've been doing hip thrusts, hip flexor stretches and hollow body holds for 2 months with no visible progress. How do you suggest solving this issue?
Keep training, 2 months isn't really a long time, especially considering the tilt you have took longer than 2 months to develop - perhaps train the abs more from the bottom up to potentially promote the flattening of the lower back. I have a similar issue.
Hey Alex. I'm a novice. Former Athelete. Lifting 4x/wk while cutting for 4 months while gaining strength on SBD. 126lbs, 5'4, 15% bf now no stall on LP yet. SBD 1RM based on 5RM. (265/135/330). Raw, beltless, sumo, high bar. The National Men's Junior record for 115lb in my country is (310/190/355). 130lbs record - (390/225/485) & 145lbs record - (465/325/475). I'll be turning 24 in June, 2026, I want to break a National Record. What should I do after LP ceases. Strength is priority right now.
I don't get it, 6 compound sets/muscle group/workout X 2/week 2 sets/exercise FAILURE because you do "More Exercises" ? More variety ? You do 3 exercises... What variety ? Even if you have different ones the next workout, it's not 4-8 exercises. I really don't get it. I just did (Less than a year experience so no monster tonnage) 18 working sets for chest, TO FAILURE, (can't move the weights up, only half way, etc..) Incline dumbbells, Dips (body weight) Banded chest press/crossover If I increased the weight so I could only do 6 reps/set, sure I'd do less sets, but man, you do Mike Mentzer home edition style or what ? lol
Hello there Alex ! I have a question, about a half a year I am training Bjj 3/4 times a week + still doing Gpp workouts and gym/calisthenics, but my question is what aprosch would you recommend to mix with Bjj ? Compound lifts from gym and calisthenics and how odten would you recommend to pair gym+bjj ? I dont want to give up on calisthenics/gym because thanks to that I lost 46kg and its a love for me + tried Your NH program for about a year and BOY did I got progress like hell! Thank you Alex!
Hi Alex, I'm a big fan from Cyprus. I have a pretty decent physique and strength. I am 27 years old, 176 cm, and 92kg at this point. My bench is 165kg for 1 rep (with pause). I want to increase my bench to 180kg, but I always fail at the lockout. I have been lifting for 6 years now and trained like an old-school bodybuilder, but I never did any powerlifting or strength training. Any tips on how can fix my lockout strength and generally how to approach bench specialist training?
Alex or anyone else reading this. What can I replace Dynamic Effort work with? I've been doing DE work for about 6 months now but I don't feel it's working. For both lower and upper.
Yo Alex what's up? I have a quick question for you. I got my first 10 pullups in a row using grease the groove, now i can do an extra 45 pounds for 1 rep. Ive stalled a little in my 3 sets of 3-6 on heavy days and 3 sets of 6-9 on light days. So i was wondering, what if i dropped all my pull up workouts, and just did grease the groove with 35 lbs, starting from 2 reps per set Monday to Friday (doing a maximum of 3 sets a day) and slowly increasing it to 10. Then starting the normal program again. Would that be a bad thing or should i go for it?
Do you think progressing a harder variation of a movement is a good way to increase strength for that movement while limiting fatigue? For example squatting over 300 pounds every week has becoming taxing and I have instead been progressing zombie squats at low 200s which is less fatiguing, but I’m wondering if it will help my barbell back squat
Hey Alex, ı started doing 3 sets of 6 reps +15kg for inverted rows.At 27.5kg 3sets of 6 ı hit a plateau.If ı increase volume and decrease weight for the same exercise can ı break the plateau? PS:I have been doing inverted rows with weights for 6 weeks.
From the research I've done, I want to implement a weighted vest into my mini-cut. Would a deficit of 150-300 calories under maintenance along with a 25lb - 50lb range be effective for a 4-5 week mini-cut? I've been bulking for 4 months and continue to do so for another 6 months before even considering a min-cut. It's something I want to experiment with just for fun.
For the next Q&A: What do you think the minimum amount of sets to trigger MPS is (per session)? I am doing full body 2-3x per week and I am wondering if just 2 or 3 sets is enough for a muscle (obviously training with a close proximity to failure).
I now do around 2-4 sets for each muscle group, 1 set per exercise to 0 RIR and often to failure. For chest I do dips, incline bench and flat dumbell press. For back I do pullups, chest machine t-bar row and cable row. For shoulders OHP standing and seated dumbell, along with lateral raises and for biceps dumbell curl, cable curl and for triceps dumbell tri ext and pushdown. For legs squats and romanian deadlift. Monday chest and back, then legs on wednesday and friday shoulders and arms. To me the extra frequency and volume never had me grow significantly more, it's all about recovery and getting stronger over many years. We can't speed the process, so I suggest low volume and high intensity along with consistency and not overthinking it.
3-6 is probably enough if you train that muscle more than once a week and your muscle feels fatigued at the end of the workout. You likely need more if you dont hit both of those factors
Yo Alex, after stopping neck training for some years now, I'm starting again. If I don't want to do it at the gym, how far can I go with bodyweight only, or light weight/bands at home? Currently at 14 inch ultra pencil neck, only want to reach 16-16.5 inches then maintain.
Hey Alex, I've just started your novice programme again after a long hiatus from the gym. It worked for me last time, so I'm expecting it to work for me again. My only question is, you made that novice programme what 7/8 years ago? With your 7+ years of experience since then, do you think it's still the ideal programme or would you tweak a few things here and there?
Hey Alex, im wrestler and i wonder how to implement weight training to my workout program. I have 2 days that i can concentrate on weightlifting. How should i structure the workouts?
will you ever release another novice program? tried hopping onto yours but got overuse after 2 months, im pretty skinny (not even 60kg) and didnt reach intermediate strength standard so im still a novice (i think?)
Is the kind of work capacity one builds through low-intensity steady-state cardio (for example chill 10ks taking 52minutes) the same as high rep work in calisthenics /other forms of gpp training? Is one better for the gains than the other?
What is his workout exactly? 12 sets of compounds and 8 sets of isolations per week. I can’t piece it together. He basically already told us his leg, back and chest workout.
As time goes on Alex looks more and more like Kratos
He really should get a photoshoot with Kratos makeup
You right BOY
BRO HOLY SHIT UR RIGHT
that ain’t holy
@@diinu1391 the muscles and yoke boutta finally help him achieve that ghost of Sparta look
Great video Alex! Always learning from you. Even though I have been training since 1983 and was a nationally ranked competitive drug free powerlifter who has always been pretty studious I still feel like I need to listen to your videos several times to absorb everything you are putting out. It’s like you are paraphrasing an entire book in a few minutes on every topic you speak on. Really great content!
What you said about small muscle groups not necessarily recovering faster really rings true for me. I've always had to rest my biceps a lot and I thought I had something wrong with them
Yeah when people sat "small muscles" they mean like the little muscles of the forearm or like the foot or something haha, biceps can take a lot of damage just like any other muscle, of course they can take time to recover. On top of that, everyone is different, some people just take longer to recover due to genetics or diet, lifestyle, sleep schedule etc etc
I've been spamming RDLs for a decent period now. I do think they've really prepared my lower back for doing bent over rows. And you're totally right, when you go strict on bent over rows with a deep stretch, slow eccentric you can go quite a bit lighter than you might think. 135 can probably work well for a lot of folks (certainly for me). It feels weird using versa grips for rowing a plate per side but I feel my back way better (pull more through my elbows). 🤘
9:40 Arms are looking SUCCULENT here, Alex.
Well done Alex! When you reduced the volume...your mass skyrocketed! That s what I am preaching in my new channel too!
Where can we post questions for these Q&As?
Right here bro!
you need to get parallel dip bars so your hands can be closer to your waist. that dip bar is bad, too wide doesn't put you in the strongest position.
What do you think about Alexander Bromley's BullMastiff program?
What’s wrong with the idea of pushing sets hard while bulking, and simply increasing the weight when it feels easier on that given rep scheme (i.e 5x6-10) this seems similar to double progression but entails, train hard and eat enough without having to worry too much about programming or RPE.
Thoughts on the incline bench dumbell row?
I did them in this workout ua-cam.com/video/D94I822mZso/v-deo.html&ab_channel=AlexLeonidas
To be honest, I much prefer one arm dumbbell rows with my knee on the bench. I feel like I can't breathe with the chest support and the incline bench can be cumbersome.
If progressive overload is key, why not only focus on one set per exercise to failure and aim for higher weights overtime?
Great video Alex. Which Chest Expander do you use?
Good enough to watch twice. Which I did
Currently running your 2 set per exercise regiment, could you expand on that? Do you sometimes do 3 sets? What are mistakes we can avoid doing the regiment/misunderstandings?
Charles Bronson has nightmares of this man
Hey Alex, what would you recommend for low volume high intensity leg day
any reason for not doing above the knee rack pulls anymore?
Don't need them. I'm yoked enough and my traps continue improving just from the chest expander and weighted pullups.
Hey Alex I’ve been stuck on 305 bench press for a year do you have any solution how I can get passed it ?
When 20%bf for bear mode is achieved should I eat in a slight surplus and keep bulking and do a traditional bulking and cutting phase or should I eat at maintenance and just focus on that? Thank you for all your awesome content keep up the work bother you inspire so many of us and you’ll never know how much we truly appreciate you and everything you do may God bless you
Try not to go over 20%. Maybe maintain for a bit and then cut down and do it all over again
Due a quick rapid intense cut and drop back down to 15% body fat. Like loose 10-12 pounds of fat in 2 weeks.
It’s not good to be fat and carry excess weight around period from a health perspective.
Being near maintenance with a slight surplus at 20% bf is going to result in much smaller muscle gain and more fat gain compared to doing a rapid cut to 15% bf bulking up 22% with a slow steady bulk. After 20 percent bf when bulking the ratio of fat to muscle for each additional unit of weight gain will have a majority of fat and the percentage of fat will increase per each additional pound of muscle as your body weight increases.
So basically you be fat and getting fatter creating less muscle. In addition, trying to lean bulk once at 20% bf or maintain weight at 20% bf takes way less calories then properly bulking from 15-23 and doing short rapid cuts. You’ll get to eat more, build more muscle, feel better than trying to lean bull at 20% bf.
After 20 percent bf most people look awful, hormones, cholesterol, sugar levels, blood pressure is all shit. Test drops. Moving around, and actually having energy to lift is lower. Its physically way more taxing on the human body to live, move around at 20 percent bf and higher. So you’ll have less energy to actually work out and push yourself.
Joint angles, nerves, muscles get hurt from all the stress of that access fat so injuries and shit happens.
So bulk 15-23 bf fuck rapidly.
Remember when Alex was bear mode. On a full stomach after eating a big meal he was mid 180’s low 190’s. He cut down to 165 and was like 6-9 percent bf. Probably 8. If you do the math, account for the huge a mount of food in his belly and probably wearing clothes on the scale. He really was only 18 percent bf at the max. Possibly 20 for a short period of time. And he was an advanced lifter.
If your a late novice, intermediate, even early advanced I don’t see a reason why you should actually bulk to 20 percent let alone maintain it.
So deff cut
@@nonyobussiness3440i think you believe 20% body fat is way fatter than it actually is
Do you like the look? I go from 14 to 18 percent (aproximately) then cut down. Sometimes I maintain depending on how i feel. Think about how it affects your personal goals.
@@silverweights2702 for a natural lifter that’s not advanced it’s quite fat from a medical standpoint. It depends on genetics and anthropometry as well. For example I don’t get fatceps or big arms from being fat. My chin, face, neck, stomach, lower pecks, on top of lats and thighs get it. Some people look swole some look like shit. I look like shit at 20 percent lol. Regardless it is unhealthy and after 20 percent the weight you gain increases is fat percentage wise. Also being heavy make’s programming chin ups, dips hard.
Also to slow lean bulk at 20 percent results you eating less and gaining less muscle ten cutting down to 15 percent and bulking properly to 20-22 and repeating.
At that bf, if you do some Lyle McDonald diet for like 3 weeks with cardio you’ll be at 15 percent and bulk normal for many months.
I’m not talking about the look. I’m talking about building more muscle, being healthier and looking big at the same time.
Hey Alex, how do you program OHP and bench as an intermediate lifter?
I do Bench + db shoulder press
And BB OHP + Close grip bench the next session.
First one is low reps, second higher reps
@@johannesbentzon thanks
Alhamdulillah.
Should I do fewer sets or less sets?
Fewer, because you can count it with a number, like 2 sets. Less is used for amounts, like using less flour in a baking recipe.
@@RDS_Armwrestling Thanks. I thought we were supposed to make every rep count and not count every rep!
I enjoy the fact you use safety glasses with the chest expander. Gotta stay safe 👍
Mike Mentzer shit
Don't have to pretend to be tough when you're already tough 💪
That 64 kg guy with the 200 kg DL and 180 kg squat... MAN what a beast. He's a fair bit stronger than me on the DL and a LOT (a plate) stronger than me on the squat, and I weighed 205-210 lbs when I set those PRs.
Of course it's impressive, especially at his age too, but he's probably short, meaning ROM is shorter, so he can "move more weight" since it's not moving as far as someone who is 6 foot plus.
@@RDS_Armwrestling Bodyfat and also leverages play a big part too.
@Avareee92 true, but at 64kg he's probably not a big guy like, Alex himself suggested the guy is likely very lean, even if he's short he'd not be thicc at that weight
@@RDS_Armwrestlingif he's 150-155cm, he is thick as fuck.
@@RDS_Armwrestling Tall guys should move more weight because you are literally bigger. stop coping.
why are long rope tricep exercises better? - yes, the triceps naturally extend the arm away from midline when isolated, but with a v bar or short rope, ur just using some delt/pec in addition to triceps, which are still the limiting factor.
For me the intentional arching motion with the long rope recruits more fibres and gets a better range of motion
As with many exercises, I’ve always said just do both
I do both, it feels different with both variations
The fully contracted position of the tricep is actually way behind the body. Tricep isn’t just the elbow joint but also the shoulder joint. The long rope is much better at getting a full contraction. The dumbell tricep kickback is actually perfect for this, except the low tension in the beginning of the movement.
@@ge7581 try with the cable aswell, set it to the bottom, it’s great
man i love that alex talks like a black middle aged woman
Wow finally a q&a after so long...
Also alex the bulk is going insane
Thoughts on Free-weight Pullovers and "Ribcage expansion"? Keep up the good work Alex!
Great idea
Great exercise for loaded stretched hypertrophy but in terms of ribcage expansion and growing your frame that wont happen unless you’re a teenager/early 20s. If you are a teen this exercise is must do and will literally grow your skeletal frame which no other exercise is known to do.
@@mert111there are countless examples of lifters who have in fact expanded their ribcages past their twenties, so your theory is wrong
Natural hypertrophy has a nice vid about pull overs
@@John-cena6483 Perhaps, but to a lesser extent.
Is skipping top range of normal close grip pulldowns equal to diagonal pull? Also if lats are inactive at the top, which muscles are active?
I think its the infraspinatus and teres muscles if I'm not mistaken. If you include the very top range on pulldowns I don't think you'll benefit that much. If there is a benefit it will by very small :)
A yoked thumb 😂
Alex, if you do not do a Kratos cosplay, I will unironically fly over to Canada and beat you over the head with an SSB.
Seriously though, your physique looks incredible. I think you’re inspiring more natural lifters to embrace the bulk to make real gains in the long term, and that’s absolutely amazing. Will we see you go bloatmode and turn into Kyriakos’ younger brother? Only time will tell!
Alex slow down you're gonna start to dwarf the average tren and sarms goblin 💪🏻 you're advice is invaluable and refreshing and clearly paying off
My man Alex, thank you so much!
Believe in jesus and repent. Love
the 2 sets per exercise has been a game changer! Ive been making a steady rep and weight progress and my recovery has never been better!
Can you explain your split?
@@edrickhuge4637 im on an upper lower split. On upper day I do 2 horizontal pulls, 1 vertical pull, 1 horizontal press, 1 incline press, 1 vertical press , lateral raises and rear delt raises (dropset on second set), pushdowns and cable overhead extensions (all for two sets). On lower day I do reverse machine front squats , rdls,leg extensions, laying hamstring curls, preacher curl variation and cable face-away curls (3 sets for compounds 2 for isolation). I throw abs at the end of each workout (crunches or leg raises)
I second this
@@BigRelly Doing arm isolation on lower or "limb" days is as good as having an arm day or arm focused upper body workout
Your name is badass as fuck
Your dedication and consistency are amazing god bless
My chest expander finally arrived, and I've been hammering my back with it. Really great stuff, thanks for recommending it!
You think you're gonna do more videos in the future with it? Since they have been increasingly more associated with your name
Went from 20-50Lb reverse curl
35-55Lb Seated DB Strict Curls
6’4” Lifter but barely any arm improvements, why so?
Eat and remember you have triceps
The beard is looking monstrous bro! Kratos mode unlocked!
Alex do you have any experience with your left shoulder clicking? I’m double jointed and I’m not sure if I should be worried, cause my elbow joints click all the time but only my left shoulder clicks?
I think I finally did it! I successfully did some assisted dips today without shoulder pain or biceps irritation. I haven't been able to tolerate dips for over 15 years.
What I credit for improving my tissue capacity are incline curls, deep stretched DB fly presses and cable flyes, and dedicated anterior delt training. I have realized what held me back was not my joints, but weak supporting muscles and poor tissue capacity for those extended ranges of motion.
I'm going to ease into training them by warming up with assistance and then doing sets with body weight. I weigh over 230 lb at the moment so will still be getting a good stimulus. Once I'm used to bodyweight and if things continue to go smoothly, will venture into the world of weighted dips for the first time since about 2004-05 when I was a skinny college kid.
Been trying to keep the antifragile mindset. You have to progressively overload range of motion the same way you do volume and intensity. I've known this for years with lower body training, I can Platz squat ATG at 6'2", but haven't applied the same philosophy to my upper body training. Had a left shoulder injury back in high school and have used that as an excuse for all these years. Only recently realized how underdeveloped my left front delt was in comparison to my right, my side and rear delts are in pretty good balance so I guess I never really noticed.
Yo Alex I have a question:
When I was at a 3-plate dip, my bench was 220. I increased my dip to 4-plates, and my bench was still at 220. I then decided to increase my bench from 220-270. My dip then increased to 187 without training the dip.
Why is there bench➡️dip carryover, but zero dip➡️bench carryover?
On the other hand Mathew Zlat (fully natty), can dip 192KG, and he has a 200KG bench without any training. Why did he experience dip➡️bench carryover and I did not?
Thank you Alex 🔥
Say you’re truly 20% at 100kg and doing maths correctly you’ll be 10% at 90kg however this is not possible since you’ll be also losing water weight/muscle so ideally perhaps around 85kg you end up 10% ?
alex looking swole af
Hey Alex, where can we find good expanders? All Amazon has are cheap little knockoffs. Is there a private business?
Lol what’s with the safety glasses on the expanders? Great vid
If he somehow loses grip and suddenly lets go he could lose an eyeball
I did *not* realize how early I am.
I appreciate you being here early!
I have a home gym like you,and i have no access for a leg extension machine can i replace it with BW sissy squats?or the real question is can i maximize leg growth with only squatting?
I trained that way ALL THE WAY UP to my competition. Zero leg extensions, only sissy squats. Worked great!
My routine was Barbell Squat, Good Morning, Belt Squat, ghetto leg curl, sissy squat, and optional reverse hyper (usually skipped).
Like your form on the seated overhead. I’ve been doing them like that for the last few months and the gains have been great, and my shoulders feel great too.
For the next Q&A: What're some of your favorite diet hacks or things to keep you more sane when the cut goes on for a while. As a former fat man, I have a hard time cutting for long periods of time so I often do 1-1 duration diet to diet breaks at maintenance for 1 or 2 months at a time. I've used fruits to fulfill that sweet tooth in me, but what do you do in those instances?
Looking like Kratos over here 🔥🔥
Been hearing this a lot lately haha 🔥🔥
@@AlexLeonidas you should cosplay him for fun just to see🗿🗿
If someone reaches a plateau with a time proven program we know for a fact is effective and works for most people, is diet always going to be the problem? Is the answer then to add calories and the plateau will be broken?
Buddy is lookin' more and more like Kratos everytime I see Him. Hollywood pay close Attention.
Always love these raw q&as bro. Keep up all the great work!
I fucking love these Q&A videos! You always answer my questions in these.
Alex,I Have school essay /project About why most people never become intermediates and get stuck in beginner/novice purgatory? what would be your answer? do you have any ideas that would help me with the project? Love,IF i will get an A i will Definitely buy your Merch
I just smashed a 445 bench press personal record today. I'm on the path to 500lbs natty. Any recommendations on how to program my bench press the higher I climb up?
The best natural Bodybuilding fitness channel on youtube. Period.
Amazing exercises recommendations and great focus on bodyweight and weighted calisthenics exercises not just weights. It changed and helped my physique in a great way. Weighted chinups and weighted pull ups are Goat of exercises for me.
Forget leonidas, my man, alex looks like Kratos in that thumbnail!
I noticed the higher amount of editing on this one, sounds and transitions all that. Great stuff dude, I’ve missed these qnas🥂🦬
Took a long time to make this one, after the wait I wanted it to be special! Cheers brother
Love the channel, long time subscriber. When are we getting another AD strength/hypertrophy book? I’ve gotten so much from naturally enhanced, I can’t help but think a new book would elevate everyone to another level. Cheers!
Wow Alex, I gravitated to this twice a week, three compound exercises, and two or three isolation exercises A little while ago and I feel great. Difference is, I’m doing 3 sets per exercise instead of 2 as it’s calisthenics heavy and my numbers are all smaller than yours- (except height at 5’7”). You are a beast!!
I think it’s fucked up that Alex hasn’t blown up like say ..Sam Sulek. All because he’s natural. It’s fucking sad really. Starting to look like me Big Al!
Juicers will continue gaining traction while real natties who actually bring life changing, high standard, informative content stay in a tight but legit bubble.
im the opposite im small with yoked lats
Believe it or not, I used to be like that until around late 2015!
What does this split look like with 2 sets per exercise? I understand you’re doing 2x per week frequency, but is it upper/lower? 4 workouts a week, Full body twice a week or PPL?
Bump
I’m assuming it would be all sets of 2
Squat
Chest press
Delt press
Side delt movement
Tricep
Hinge
Pullup/pull-down
Row movement
Rear delt movement
Bicep
Than repeat that once for a total of 4 days per week.
Alex the goat
Hands down the best natty lifting channel. Bro keeps evolving.
Not much, but thank you for the years of absolute stellar content bro.
Thank you for the donation, Neil. It means a lot and it's my honor to provide this informative content.
Hey, Alex!
Wondering about how to best program the deadlift as an intermediate lifter. You might be able to help me with squats too. (I highlighted the main question, it's not as long as it looks.)
What I used to do was linear periodisation, where I'd alternate between squat and deadlift on Sundays in 4 week periods, and complimentary hypertrophy-focused stuff on wednesdays. (in a 4x/week push/pull-esque split). Specifically, I'd do 4x5 with my 7RM as determined by the previous period's performance, but adding 2 kg per week, 1 if 2 was too much, and then doing roughly my new calculated 2RM for a single to get a PR, followed by some more deadlifting along the same vain. There was typically stuff like rows after the deadlifting or squatting as well. It was a lot of recovery to keep up with, but it felt pretty effective. I've even done a similar thing on bench. I went from a 375 lb deadlift in August of 2022 to a 410 lb deadlift on March 20th 2023 training like this. *Is it redundant to do 4 strength sets for one main exercie in a workout? Would one set to failure be better? Am I getting stronger for doing multiple sets of the same thing?*
Babe wake up! Alex Leonidas posted a new video
Thanks for getting back to my question Alex, I really appreciate it
Thanks for the great question!
Alex my conventional deadlift is already at 405, squat (high bar, ass to grass, torso upright) is at 330, but my bench is at 155 as a 1rm. Also have a crazy yoke but dogshit lats, good biceps and trash triceps. Do you think its worth focusing on/specializing on “weaknesses” this early on? Or should I still keep a general focus on everything equally.
Been training 10 months and im at 170lbs bodyweight at 5’8 forgot to say.
@@mert111 Spam those pull ups and cable work for triceps lmao.
Drop set tricep cable push downs. Game changer for my triceps, which also helped increase my bench a decent amount.
My question for next Q&A: when I try for one rep max, I notice that my grip tends to give out near lockout. But I feel like my actual hip hinge strength can handle the load. Would straps or hook grip help me take care of this problem, or should I add rack pulls to improve my lockout? I guess it’s a question of how to diagnose where my limiting factor is.
If you're talking about deadlifts, the grip will usually limit the load more than your lower body etc, straps will help absolutely, but you could also do some grip work as well, like holding your deadlifts at the top for a few seconds, dead hangs (even weighed dead hangs) etc, but if you're more interested in deadlifting more weight, just buy straps yeah. Hook grip just hurts for me, crushing my thumb isn't exactly a priority for me haha
Bro lookin like a swole carpenter with those glasses
I have narrow lats and shoulders and traps skinny forearms and spider arms. My chest and back is thick and my triceps lateral head is thick not well defined. I am 5ft7", 170lbs. Can narrow grip barbell incline bench press 170 x 5 reps. My chest take over in pull-ups, chin-ups, and dips no matter what grip i use. Same with push-ups.
I've got a prominent anterior pelvic tilt. This causes poor handstand posture and lower back pain from barbell rows and deadlifts. I've been doing hip thrusts, hip flexor stretches and hollow body holds for 2 months with no visible progress. How do you suggest solving this issue?
Keep training, 2 months isn't really a long time, especially considering the tilt you have took longer than 2 months to develop - perhaps train the abs more from the bottom up to potentially promote the flattening of the lower back. I have a similar issue.
Great points. I'll definitely keep going at it and I'll try to hit those lower abs too, Thanks for the feedback@@RDS_Armwrestling
Hey Alex. I'm a novice. Former Athelete. Lifting 4x/wk while cutting for 4 months while gaining strength on SBD. 126lbs, 5'4, 15% bf now no stall on LP yet.
SBD 1RM based on 5RM. (265/135/330). Raw, beltless, sumo, high bar.
The National Men's Junior record for 115lb in my country is (310/190/355). 130lbs record - (390/225/485) & 145lbs record - (465/325/475).
I'll be turning 24 in June, 2026, I want to break a National Record. What should I do after LP ceases. Strength is priority right now.
Do you think 115s for 10 on dumbell press will translate to 300 pound bench? Mabye even more
It could IF it's full range of motion. If it's a half rep like what most lifters do, not a chance.
I don't get it, 6 compound sets/muscle group/workout X 2/week
2 sets/exercise FAILURE because you do "More Exercises" ? More variety ? You do 3 exercises... What variety ? Even if you have different ones the next workout, it's not 4-8 exercises. I really don't get it.
I just did (Less than a year experience so no monster tonnage) 18 working sets for chest, TO FAILURE, (can't move the weights up, only half way, etc..) Incline dumbbells, Dips (body weight) Banded chest press/crossover If I increased the weight so I could only do 6 reps/set, sure I'd do less sets, but man, you do Mike Mentzer home edition style or what ? lol
The construction glasses for the Chest Expander are still hilarious
Safety first, nothing funny about a spring breaking or detaching and lacerating your eyeball, eh?
Alex the goat fr
I appreciate you saying that!
Looking huge in that thumbnail les go 🤜
Hello there Alex ! I have a question, about a half a year I am training Bjj 3/4 times a week + still doing Gpp workouts and gym/calisthenics, but my question is what aprosch would you recommend to mix with Bjj ? Compound lifts from gym and calisthenics and how odten would you recommend to pair gym+bjj ? I dont want to give up on calisthenics/gym because thanks to that I lost 46kg and its a love for me + tried Your NH program for about a year and BOY did I got progress like hell! Thank you Alex!
Hi Alex, I'm a big fan from Cyprus. I have a pretty decent physique and strength. I am 27 years old, 176 cm, and 92kg at this point. My bench is 165kg for 1 rep (with pause). I want to increase my bench to 180kg, but I always fail at the lockout. I have been lifting for 6 years now and trained like an old-school bodybuilder, but I never did any powerlifting or strength training. Any tips on how can fix my lockout strength and generally how to approach bench specialist training?
Keep growing that beard man. It's lookin really thick, and you'd look dope as hell rockin the viking style beard.
Alex or anyone else reading this. What can I replace Dynamic Effort work with? I've been doing DE work for about 6 months now but I don't feel it's working.
For both lower and upper.
Love these Q + A's, youre a beast Alex, heres to all of us in the noble natty community making gains and staying injury free as much as possible
Yo Alex what's up? I have a quick question for you. I got my first 10 pullups in a row using grease the groove, now i can do an extra 45 pounds for 1 rep. Ive stalled a little in my 3 sets of 3-6 on heavy days and 3 sets of 6-9 on light days. So i was wondering, what if i dropped all my pull up workouts, and just did grease the groove with 35 lbs, starting from 2 reps per set Monday to Friday (doing a maximum of 3 sets a day) and slowly increasing it to 10. Then starting the normal program again. Would that be a bad thing or should i go for it?
Do you think progressing a harder variation of a movement is a good way to increase strength for that movement while limiting fatigue? For example squatting over 300 pounds every week has becoming taxing and I have instead been progressing zombie squats at low 200s which is less fatiguing, but I’m wondering if it will help my barbell back squat
Hey Alex, ı started doing 3 sets of 6 reps +15kg for inverted rows.At 27.5kg 3sets of 6 ı hit a plateau.If ı increase volume and decrease weight for the same exercise can ı break the plateau?
PS:I have been doing inverted rows with weights for 6 weeks.
From the research I've done, I want to implement a weighted vest into my mini-cut. Would a deficit of 150-300 calories under maintenance along with a 25lb - 50lb range be effective for a 4-5 week mini-cut?
I've been bulking for 4 months and continue to do so for another 6 months before even considering a min-cut. It's something I want to experiment with just for fun.
For the next Q&A: What do you think the minimum amount of sets to trigger MPS is (per session)? I am doing full body 2-3x per week and I am wondering if just 2 or 3 sets is enough for a muscle (obviously training with a close proximity to failure).
I now do around 2-4 sets for each muscle group, 1 set per exercise to 0 RIR and often to failure. For chest I do dips, incline bench and flat dumbell press. For back I do pullups, chest machine t-bar row and cable row. For shoulders OHP standing and seated dumbell, along with lateral raises and for biceps dumbell curl, cable curl and for triceps dumbell tri ext and pushdown. For legs squats and romanian deadlift. Monday chest and back, then legs on wednesday and friday shoulders and arms. To me the extra frequency and volume never had me grow significantly more, it's all about recovery and getting stronger over many years. We can't speed the process, so I suggest low volume and high intensity along with consistency and not overthinking it.
3-6 is probably enough if you train that muscle more than once a week and your muscle feels fatigued at the end of the workout. You likely need more if you dont hit both of those factors
Yo Alex, after stopping neck training for some years now, I'm starting again. If I don't want to do it at the gym, how far can I go with bodyweight only, or light weight/bands at home? Currently at 14 inch ultra pencil neck, only want to reach 16-16.5 inches then maintain.
Hey Alex, I've just started your novice programme again after a long hiatus from the gym. It worked for me last time, so I'm expecting it to work for me again. My only question is, you made that novice programme what 7/8 years ago? With your 7+ years of experience since then, do you think it's still the ideal programme or would you tweak a few things here and there?
Best natty advice channel so far
Hey Alex, im wrestler and i wonder how to implement weight training to my workout program. I have 2 days that i can concentrate on weightlifting. How should i structure the workouts?
will you ever release another novice program? tried hopping onto yours but got overuse after 2 months, im pretty skinny (not even 60kg) and didnt reach intermediate strength standard so im still a novice (i think?)
Is the kind of work capacity one builds through low-intensity steady-state cardio (for example chill 10ks taking 52minutes) the same as high rep work in calisthenics /other forms of gpp training? Is one better for the gains than the other?
Thank you Alex I am the one who was stuck at 2plates si bulked to 69 kgs till then now my squat is 190 deadlift 225kg and bench 110kg
What is his workout exactly?
12 sets of compounds and 8 sets of isolations per week.
I can’t piece it together. He basically already told us his leg, back and chest workout.