#2: "The Five-Pound Rule"

Q: Hello Guy,

I believe that training without drugs is quite a bit different than training with them. How do you structure your training to make gains naturally?

...Tyler

A: We've all seen it before: some nobody waltzing into the gym and within a year putting on 30 or more pounds of muscle bulk and looking like a pro wrestler; magazine covers boasting that if you follow their routine it will make your arms an inch bigger in a month; and supplement companies telling you that using their products for 12 weeks will turn you from a couch potato into a competitive bodybuilder. Are these results achievable for a natural bodybuilder? Frankly, no.

So what can a natural expect as far as results go? And how quickly?  In all honesty, that is dependent on a number of factors. In this installment, I will share my secret with you with regard to optimizing muscle development in a natural athlete. It's called "The Five-Pound Rule." But first, we need to cover the basics.

The three prime factors for developing muscle tissue are nutrition, rest/recovery, and, of course, training. I will not go into detail on nutrition here, saving it for a future article if there is interest. What I will say on this topic for now is that you have to start treating your body like an organic machine, and provide it with enough of the proper fuel. In the muscle-building stage, you need to ingest more calories than you are burning. Eat six to seven small meals a day, each meal to include at least 30g of high-quality protein (e.g., milk products, eggs, fish, poultry, meat). Stay away from high-fat, high-sugar, or high-salt foods. And taking a multi-vitamin/mineral and a vitamin C supplement at this stage is a good idea to ensure that you are not running at a deficit in your diet.

With regard to training, I am a big believer in training the body once a day over the course of the five weekdays and taking the weekend off. A natural athlete simply cannot recover as fast as a drug user. The reason these drugs were produced in the first place was to improve recovery. The major muscle groups get hit once a week, and minor muscles like abs and calves that do better with high rep training get worked three times a week. If you are not very active, I would recommend three half-hour-long cardio sessions a week as well during this stage.

As for training philosophy, you have all heard the adage "go heavy or go home." This statement rings especially true for the natural bodybuilder. You simply cannot make the gains you need to be competitive by using light weight and high reps. Your natural physiology will not allow it. The other important factor here is intensity. You get what you put into it. Working out at anything less than 100% intensity will slow your progress and result in disappointment later on.

So how does one gauge progress? Some try to use the scale, but the scale does not distinguish between muscle and fat. The same goes for the tape measure. A mirror is an important tool for the pre-contest bodybuilder, but does not paint a very clear picture in the off-season when you are sporting a higher percentage of bodyfat. So what's left?

Pure and simple: STRENGTH! For the natural bodybuilder, increased strength equals increased muscle mass. This is where "The Five-Pound Rule" comes in. It ties together the principles of heavy training, intensity training, and strength training in an easily quantifiable method. Here is how it works.

The first thing you will need is a diary – I cannot stress this enough. Referring to your previous workouts in your diary during each subsequent workout will clearly spell out what you need to do this time around in order to ensure progress. You simply cannot go with how you feel on a given day, especially when training bodyparts that may not be your favorites. Your diary will help motivate you when your body is betraying you. Your body will continually try to convince your mind to stop when the going gets a little tough. Again, treat your body like the organic machine that it is and smash through these barriers!

Week 1 will set your baseline starting point. You will want to include the major strength-building exercises in your workout (e.g., squats, deadlifts, bent-over rows, chins, decline bench press, incline bench press, military press, French press, bicep curls, shrugs).  Follow a workout schedule such as follows: day 1, chest; day 2, shoulders; day 3, back; day 4, arms; day 5, legs; days 6 and 7, rest. Don't forget your abs, calves and cardio three times a week.

Start off with a couple of warm-up sets at 30% and 60% of your first heavy set weight for a given exercise, followed by three heavy sets of between five to eight repetitions. The weight for each heavy set should be adjusted accordingly to keep in this rep range. Write down everything as you go along and be honest in your record keeping.

In week 2, add five pounds to each of your exercises on the first heavy set and keep the reps in the five to eight range. In week 3, add five pounds again. And so on. Keep adjusting your second and third heavy sets to stay in the rep range. Continue adding five pounds a week until you can perform only four reps on your first heavy set. When this happens, drop the weight 10 to 20 pounds for your first heavy set on the next workout and start the process over. This see-sawing technique will help you get past your sticking points as smaller muscle groups and joint strength catches up.  Always refer to your previous workout to challenge yourself and keep yourself motivated.

In order for "The Five-Pound Rule" to work, two other key factors are vital: nutrition and rest/recovery. You should be trying to get eight hours of sleep a night to sustain this heavy training, and remember to provide your body with the fuel it needs to grow! Deficiencies in either area will impact your performance in the gym. If you struggle during a workout, ask yourself, "Have I been getting enough sleep and eating properly?" Most often, the answer will be no.

Following "The Five-Pound Rule" will work for you. I have employed it with 100% success on both young and old athletes that I have trained. And, best of all, you will be able to see exactly how far you have come by referring back in your diary and seeing how much strength, and therefore muscle, you have gained! No false promises here, just cold, hard facts.

Admittedly, this is a tough regimen and is not for the faint of heart. So ask yourself: "Do you have what it takes?"

...Guy Bourgon, Canadian Champion 2006

If you would like to ask Guy a question, please e-mail: askguy@seriousaboutmuscle.com.

SeriousAboutMuscle.com contributor Guy Bourgon is from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and is the winner of the Tall class in the Classic Bodybuilding division at the 2006 CBBF National World Qualifier. Guy is currently training for the 2006 IFBB World Bodybuilding Championships to be held in Ostrava, Czech Republic.