With the Gym opening in Fyshwick, Canberra (ACT) at the end of November its time to get cracking with my blog.

Todays ditty is a quick thought or two about how to intermix my hypertrophy training with some strength training.

As stated get big, get strong is the whole aim and IMHO someone who knows how to do this pretty bloody well is Christian Thibaudeau aka Thibs from T-Nation. The man has competed in oly lifting, coaches bodybuilding and writes for a whole bunch of mags. This is his Vin diesel shot -

Anyway Thibs gave 5 points I thought I'd relay and put some thought around:

1. Include a maximum static contraction in the fully contracted portion of isolation movements.
2. Flex your muscles as hard as you can during every single inch of each and every rep.
3. Some of your exercises should include a loaded stretch in the starting position.
4. On your last exercise you should use whatever method you can to get as big a pump as you can.
5. Despite all this advice, still include some heavy lifting in your training plan

So, at point number 5, mixing up my daily routines with strength and hypertrophy training seems the goods. But the other 4 points, the first four, to be blunt seem to be about PAIN! Pain features pretty heavily in my training philosophy but why?

When you look at it muscle pain is your body's way of telling your brain it can't cope with the load, Helloooo thats exactly what we are trying to do. From set 1 rep 1 if its not hurting its not working.

So some of my top pain sets that feature in my hypertrophy days are:

Barbell Curl - 21's

These just create immense burns. Grab a 40lbs barbell, do 7 curls starting hands at the bottom to half way, then do 7 curls starting at half way and going to the top, then do 7 full length curls. As soon as you finish pickup the 35lbs barbell and start the set all over again, work your way down to 15lbs or so. Heres how Big Ronnie does them -

Lean Back Lunge (superset with raised heel squats)

These sound like a girls workout but if you can get through 2 sets without crying like a girl your just not doing it right. Firstly the lunge, do it without weights, just take an overly large step forward drop down, now stand up but kick through your rear leg rather than pushing of the front (This is the important part ensure your standing up straight, it often helps trying to look at the roof which will position your chest above your hips), step forward and repeat it, generally you should lunge out 10 meters or so. When finished go into a bodyweight squat with elevated heels ensure you pause for a 2 count at the bottom, do 20 of these!!! OUCH!!

Video to come.