Your Ultimate Body Transformation Plan

by Nick Mitchell

  The correct answer if you want to go from gym zero to gym hero is that your resistance-training focus should be all about placing maximum stress on your muscle fibres in order to stimulate the most powerful adaptive hypertrophy response. Or in plain English – muscle growth!

  Does this mean that you shouldn’t strive to outperform your last workout? Absolutely not. The principle of progressive overload holds very true and you should always aim to ‘do more than before’. But the old adage that your muscles do not know the number of the weight that you are lifting is also very true. Actual weight lifted is irrelevant for your muscle-building progress; it is all about the stress imposed on the muscle fibres. Of course, part of that stress is caused by the weights that you lift, but maintaining tension on the muscle you are training is of unrivalled importance. Lifting things up and putting things down does not cut it if you want the best results.

  The one single trait that all successful trainees have is the skill to focus on not simply moving the weight from point A to point B, but instead to emphasise the ultra-important necessity of flexing the muscle against the given resistance to achieve the hardest possible muscular contraction.

  When executed properly a biceps curl isn’t simply flexing the elbow to get the wrist to the front shoulder. If that’s the way you currently curl, next time you do it decrease the weight by 75 per cent, close your eyes, and simply focus on contracting your biceps as hard as possible.

  If you are attempting to elicit the strongest possible stimulation then you should always remember that the weight is a mere tool in your hands, and it is how you contract your muscles against that weight that will get you results. To really achieve the best results for all your hard work in the gym you need to learn how to milk every rep of every set for all it’s worth.

  If you lack the neurological connection to a muscle, more commonly known as the mind–muscle connection, do some unilateral (single-limbed) work and place your free hand on the working muscle. This can really help you feel the muscle contract. By way of example, the back muscles are among the hardest to feel working, so if you really struggle here ask a training partner to touch your back in the places that it should be working.

  CHANT YOURSELF A MANTRA. IT IS ALL TOO EASY TO GET CAUGHT UP IN THE NUMBERS

  While I have just emphasised the need to flex your muscle against the weight rather than simply heave and hoist it up, it is an unarguable fact that when you can go from six strict-form chin-ups with your bodyweight to six equally strict chin-ups with 25kg tied around your waist, your biceps and upper back will be larger and thicker.

  So you do need to chase the weight and the repetitions, all while focusing on the right way of lifting.

  I could easily devote half of this book to the art of correct contractions for muscle building – it would need a snappier title than that – but we don’t need to make it too complicated. There are two very simple mechanisms to drill into your head when performing almost every exercise in this book, and if you do have any doubts after looking at the step-by-step guides then pop over to www.UltimateTransformation.Guide or Shazam the images to watch the relevant exercise demo videos.

  On every single repetition of every single set I want you to tell yourself to ‘stretch and squeeze’. As you contract the working muscle what you are actually doing is shortening it. Draw your arms across your chest and you shorten your pectorals. Flex the muscle in your front thigh (quadriceps) and again you shorten that muscle. Giving yourself the mental cue to ‘shorten’ is a bit flat and limp, so instead you should tell yourself to forcefully ‘squeeze’. Top professional bodybuilder Ben Pakulski uses the line ‘squeeze it like it owes you money’. You can never squeeze a muscle too hard.

  We squeeze or shorten the muscle as we flex with what is referred to as a positive or concentric contraction, best envisaged as raising the weight. We stretch or lengthen the muscle as we lower the weight in what is referred to as a negative or eccentric contraction.

  It is imperative that you fully exploit the benefits of both types of muscular contraction, which means a forceful squeeze for the positive rep and a controlled and measured, never ballistic (bouncing), stretch as you lower the weight to the bottom of the given movement’s range of motion, or ROM.

  WARMING UP, PROPER WEIGHT SELECTION AND TEMPO

  Running straight from the changing room into your first set without warming up isn’t only dangerous, it’s also stupid. A proper warm-up not only prepares your muscles for what lies ahead – helping prevent an unnecessary injury – it also fires up your central nervous system (CNS), which means your muscles will contract quicker, making you stronger, when the real workout begins.

  But if you thought that the best way to warm up was five or ten minutes on the treadmill, it’s time to think again. How can a gentle jog prime your muscles for a hard weights session, especially if you’re training your upper body? Here’s what you need to do.

  WARM UP

  The most effective way to warm up your muscles is to perform progressively heavier versions of the moves you are going to be doing. So you’ll start with a few reps at an easy weight, then gradually increase the weight, while keeping the reps low as you want to minimise fatigue, until you work up to your target work-set weight. Here’s the formula you should stick to to ensure you select the right weights for each warm-up set.

  Say the first move of the workout is squats and your target work-set weight is 100kg for 10 reps.

  TEMPO EXPLAINED

  The use of correct lifting tempo – or the speed at which you lift and lower a weight – comes into play here because the proper application of stretching and squeezing on each repetition is what places tension on the muscles. Later on in the book when we get to the actual workout programmes you will find that every single exercise has a prescribed tempo. Don’t get lazy and mess around with the tempo times. They are there for a reason, and the closer you adhere to them the better your results.

  Tempo is detailed by a four-digit code, such as 2010. The first number is the time in seconds that the weight is lowered; the next number is the time in seconds that the move is held at the bottom position; the third number is the time in seconds that the weight is lifted; and the final digit is the time in seconds that the weight is held at the top of the move.

  WARM-UP SETS

  Warm-up set one:

  8 reps at 30 per cent (33kg), minimal rest.

  Warm-up set two:

  5 reps at 50 per cent, 30–60 seconds rest.

  Warm-up set three:

  3 reps at 70 per cent, 45–75 seconds rest.

  Warm-up set four:

  2 reps at 85 per cent, 60–75 seconds rest.

  Warm-up set five:

  1 reps at 95 per cent, 60–75 seconds rest

  Start first work set.

  You only need to do this for the first two moves of your workout. For all subsequent moves for the same or similar body parts select a weight that is about two-thirds that of your work-set rep and perform 4–6 reps to get the motor pattern right, but if you are moving to a totally cold body part do begin this warm-up sequence again – you’ll not just be safer from injuries, you’ll also be stronger. If chin-ups, pull-ups or dips are in the first two moves, then use a resistance machine to warm up instead.

  © Courtesy of the author

  ACTIVATION

  Explosive movements before your initial work sets can further activate your central nervous system (CNS) to elicit greater reaction and force from your muscles. We don’t need to make this complicated: simply think of the exercises you have coming up and try to mimic them with explosive movements. Before pushing exercises you can hurl a medicine ball at the ground as hard as possible, do a couple of clapping press-ups, or even unleash a left and right hook on a heavy bag. For lower body exercises, a hard kick (with each leg, of course) on the heavy bag will do the trick, as will two to four jump squats. The key with nervous system activation is to move as quickly as Joe Warner when it’s time to pay the b
ar bill!

  THE RIGHT WEIGHT SELECTION

  Selecting the appropriate weight for a set is of paramount importance. From time to time I still see personal trainers who can’t seem to select the optimal load for their clients, and guess what, these are the clients who never quite achieve stellar results. Typically, the mistake is that the weight is too light and the set is too easy, but walk into any bodybuilding gym and very often you’ll observe the opposite mistake. They should take my advice: train with ‘the brain of a woman and the heart of a man’.

  For those of you who are offended by that please tuck your vest back into your nappy and understand that all I mean is that most women would benefit from being a bit more aggressive in the gym, and most men would benefit from checking their egos and thinking about what load will allow for the most stimulation of their muscles and not their alleged gym reputation. If you think I am speaking directly about you with this message, then it’s time to change things up. Your results will increase exponentially if you can make better decisions about which weight to use.

  Weight selection determines almost everything you do in a set.

  The main variables in a set are repetitions, tempo, correct lifting form (this shouldn’t be a variable, it should be perfect, but we know form can suffer as a set gets harder), time under tension (TUT) and load, so what is going to happen if you pick the incorrect weight?

  Everything else gets thrown out of the window, that’s what. And then the specific effect that you are seeking from that particular set will be lost. This is one of the most fundamental aspects of your training that you simply can’t afford to get wrong. While I can give you an awesome, spleen-busting, results-producing training programme on paper, if you don’t select the right weight for yourself then it could be a total waste of time.

  I have long held the belief that training with heart and no brains trumps training with brains and no heart, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the interpretation of a written programme.

  There is no point in being a stickler for TUT, reps, rest intervals and tempo if you pick a weight that doesn’t challenge your body. I try to remind my trainees that if you don’t force your body to change then it will fight like a son of a bitch to maintain balance and equilibrium (we call it homeostasis in biology).

  You must pick a weight that makes the proper completion of the set as tough as possible. If you fail to do this, if you fail to provide sufficient stimulation, what possible reason does your body have to adapt and develop?

  Of course, the flip side is falling into the trap of going too heavy and selecting a weight that makes it impossible to even get close to the correct completion of a given set.

  Notice my emphasis on ‘correct completion’. Any fool can load up a barbell and bounce it around to hit the prescribed repetitions, but what about form (crucial for both the right muscular and CNS stimulation, and injury prevention) and tempo? All the programmes in this book have prescribed tempos (which you may have noticed change over the course of a macro-cycle) not just because I like to create extra work for myself, but because each of those four numbers changes the stimulus on your muscles for a specific reason. Get it into your head that absolutely everything that you do during a set will affect the quality and magnitude of your results.

  Weight selection dictates so much of your response to training that if you get it wrong you may as well kiss goodbye to any sort of tangible progress. If you go too heavy you risk injury, wild form, and an inability to stimulate the right muscle groups. If you go too light then the adaptive response just won’t happen because your muscles are not being sufficiently stressed and tested.

  WEIGHT SELECTION SIMPLIFIED

  If this is an aspect of training that you feel you struggle with I am going to keep this very simple for you. In this book if you are prescribed an exercise for three sets of 12 reps these are the options available to you:

  1 The first set is so easy you could have done 20 reps without breaking sweat. This set doesn’t count.

  2 The first set you hit a comfortable 12 reps and could have done 15. Wise up – next time when you are at 6 reps and realise it is a bit too easy, stop the set, rest a minute and then resume with a heavier load.

  3 The first set you hit a hard 12 reps. Stick with that weight for your next set, but make a note in your training diary and at the next workout you must slightly increase (2–5 per cent) the weight on the opening set of that exercise.

  4 You get fewer than 10 reps on your first set – you have started too heavy. Drop the weight by 5–10 per cent for your next set, and consider lightening your starting weight at the next workout, depending on just how heavy that first set felt.

  5 As sets progress, if your reps fall to less than 75 per cent of your target reps then drop the weight if there are following sets of that exercise in that workout.

  HOW TO TRAIN TO GAIN

  If 100,000 people buy this book there will probably be 100,000 different interpretations of how to follow the exercise programme. Some of you will attack each repetition, let alone each workout, with a wild abandon (good for you), whereas others will be infinitely more cautious and timid. We will have the guys who lift weights that are far too heavy, and we will have their polar opposites, the ones who always train so far within themselves that they think the programme is rubbish because they haven’t changed. No sh*t, Sherlock. If you only do what you can already do, how on earth will your body be stimulated to grow?

  One of the key things that distinguishes a successful body transformation is your attitude in the gym. Don’t ever hold back. Intensity of effort – get out of your comfort zone!

  Let’s make one thing clear: it is highly unlikely that you can train as hard as me. That’s because I have been lifting weights since I was 11 years old, which means I have more than 30 years of training experience. Training intensely is a learned skill. You can’t just walk in off the street as a complete beginner and push yourself as hard as a more experienced trainee unless you have a deep and consistent background in physically demanding sports.

  However, never use that as an excuse. The only way to learn to train hard is by doing it. That’s another reason why you might sense the odd bit of scorn from me for the internet warrior who pontificates but doesn’t actually know how to push himself in the gym.

  Nor should you despair if you’re a beginner and reading these words. Perhaps a better way of expressing what is needed is to say that you need to get out of your comfort zone at each and every workout. You also need to be aware that as you push yourself further along your comfort zone expands. What seemed ball-breakingly tough in your first workout will seem like a walk in the park by your sixth. And this means that you need to constantly keep upping the ante and training harder every time.

  STICKING TO THE PLAN

  The workout routine in this book has everything in it for a specific reason. As soon as you deviate from the plan the training effect changes. Admittedly some of the workouts may seem complicated if you are used to the fitness fluff of mainstream magazines. Pay close attention to tempo, rest periods and always good exercise form.

  FOCUS AND CONCENTRATION

  We live in a multimedia age where it is all too easy to be distracted. Even as I write these words I have to resist the pull of social media updates or checking my email. Be smart – don’t take your phone into the gym, take an MP3 player instead. Don’t chat with your mates, read a magazine, or discuss politics. There’s plenty of time to do all that once your hour of training is over.

  Successful muscle-building training is all about establishing a strong neurological connection to your muscles, and that only comes with practice and concentration. Furthermore, the best hypertrophy workouts are ones that are done at pace and ‘kept alive’ with focus and intensity. Keep your eyes on the goal in front of you – it’s only four hours a week of training for 12 weeks. There are no excuses.

  LIFT WITH INTENT

  There are two separate aspects to the meaning of l
ifting with intent.

  First, you don’t need to lift a weight up quickly in order for maximum muscle stimulation. You do, however, need to have the intention of lifting up (the concentric component of the contraction) quickly. I want you to try to think this one through because it goes to the heart of much of the overall training experience.

  Second, you ‘need to lift with intent’ like you are moving a dumbbell and not a fairy wand. What I mean here is that before you execute a movement you should know what muscles are supposed to be working and how. When in doubt start lighter and do a few practice sets so that you are better set up to work the right muscles in the right manner when you get to the work sets. When you’ve got the right set-up and you’re locked and loaded, smash out the set with intent on each and every repetition. Don’t be dreaming of who’s out next in The X Factor or colour-coordinating your gym wardrobe with your significant other. In your head, no matter how intimidated you may feel at first in the gym, I want you to train like you own the gym.

  DISTINGUISH BETWEEN GOOD AND BAD PAIN

  Good training pain is when your muscles shake, your skin feels like it might split because you’re so pumped up, and it feels like there’s a blowtorch burning the inside of your muscles. This is something that you need to embrace.

  Bad pain is sharp joint and/or soft tissue pain that pulls you up short, or a muscle somehow spasming or knotting up so that dysfunction occurs if you carry on. The overwhelming odds are that if you exercise sensibly, always using good form and moving the weight with your muscles and not momentum and leverage, you will never have to experience this.

  KEEP A TRAINING DIARY

  Any serious trainee who fails to keep a training diary is doing himself a grave disservice and missing out on an array of very easily achieved advantages. If you choose to ignore my advice on this then, if I may be so bold, you are a bit of an idiot. Here’s why.