Ronnie has some hip issues,.and it's altered his squat mechanics, and when we started squatting again it wasn't great, but we've changed some shit, had him using wedges, goblet squatting, forcing his ass out, and now, just a few months later, he's added like a hundred pounds in weight and he's been able to get the crux of his hips almost beneath the plane of his knees. Howd we do that? We ignored the numbers and focused on mechanics, RoM, mobility, depth etc. If your focusing on hypertrophy, your strength, ultimately, is useless. Literally. It means nothing. Your one rep max is not, and never has been, the sole metric by which we measure muscularity, hypertrophy, health, or athleticism. A bigger squat doesn't mean better glutes. A bigger bench isn't a better chest. A bigger deadlift doesn't mean 10 % body fat. Bigger lifts dont automatically mean better shape, more endurance, mobility health, or longevity. The point is your strength ultimately should be a way to track progress and rate of improvement. If you're trying to build a physique, your 1 rep max strength just doesn't matter. Comparing your 1 rep max to others is useless. If you want a good physique. Chase mobility. Chase endurance. Chase consistency. Chase progress. Not numbers.

Down two pounds last nite because I tracked my food as always, but I lost extra weight because I didn't stop moving for 24 hours. My weight fluctuates entirely depending on how well I track my calories, how much I worked out, how much I did around the yard etc. my weight is a direct reflection of what I do on a daily basis. My activity level and my food intake is directly correlated to my weight because there is one thing in this universe responsible for your weight.... YOU. Now, that doesn't mean everyone starts from the same place. Some people have faster metabolisms, some people have slower metabolisms. Some struggle with hunger, medications, stress, hormones, injuries, or genetics that make staying lean far more difficult than it is for others. I get that, and those things do matter because they explain why the journey is harder for some people than others. What that does not change is the fundamental reality of how body weight works. At the end of the day, your body can only gain weight from the energy you consume. No medication, no hormone, no genetic trait, and no medical condition can bypass the laws of thermodynamics. They can influence your appetite, your activity level, your metabolism, and how difficult the process feels... but they cannot remove your responsibility from the equation. The only reason your weight is out of control is because of you. Your circumstances may not be your fault, but they are still your responsibility. The minute you stop looking for excuses and start looking for solutions is the moment progress becomes not just possible, but inevitable. Take responsibility then take action.

I think one of the biggestt mistakes people make is thinking reps only determine muscle growth. The truth is that almost any rep range can build muscle if the set is taken close to failure. What changes dramatically is everything else you get from that set . 5 reps - Strength, force production, neural efficiency, ....And hypertrophy..... 10 reps -Strength coordination, technical proficiency...And hypertrophy... 15 reps - , metabolic stress, work capacity, and muscular endurance... And hypertrophy... 20+ reps - Muscular endurance, cardiovascular conditioning, mobility through repeated loaded movement, mental toughnesness...... AND hypertrophy.... Can all of these rep ranges build muscle? Absolutely. But if all hypertrophy were equal, powerlifters, bodybuilders, crossfit athletes, oympic lifters, strongmen, and endurance athletes would all train the same way....but they don't. The weight room isn't just about building muscle. It's about building specific adaptations. Strength is specific. Endurance is specific. Coordination is specific. Work capacity is specific. That's why a good program doesn't live in one rep range forever. Different rep ranges build different qualities, and those qualities combine to create a better, stronger, more capable human. Train specifically for the adaptation you want, and you'll get it. 💪

Here's two back workouts that are pretty standard. Reverse grip pull downs, and barbell pullovers. If this was part of your workout day you might see it labeled as 6 total working sets for back...which it is... But have you ever considered labeling it as, 6 total working sets for back, 1.5 total working sets for biceps 1.5 total working sets for triceps 1.5 total working sets for chest Probably not... Let me explain.... This method is called Fractional/Indirect Model, or probably other names too I don't know... This is an advanced method but it's really just about tracking muscles that are working as synergist or secondary muscles during compound movements as a half a set. I have a set might seem preposterous at first until you think about anytime you've ever done a heavy barbell row and you feel it in your biceps the next day. Well when you do pullovers like I am here and you feel them in your triceps the next day. Secondary, or synergist muscle groups, the smaller muscle groups helping the big muscle groups like a bicep in a row, or your tricep during a press, are ABSOLUTELY working! You could debate about the level of contribution they provide during the actual movement, put a smaller workload doesn't make them unnecessary. You might be sitting on one side of the chair, but all four of those legs are equally necessary. Counting fractional or indirect work as half steps allows you to have just a bit more accuracy when totaling how much work you're doing promising group and when you're trying to bleed out every ounce of potential gains, specifics matter. Count your sets, track your progress, atch your growth.

Why is this the world's longest setup for a leg press, and what the hell are those things under my feet? Let me explain... These are yoga blocks. Most people use them to modify poses. I use them to increase range of motion. One of the most important, and simultaneously overlooked principles in muscle building is not your range of reps. It's your range of motion. Too many people obsess about to weight on the bar or about how many reps their doing while completely ignoring whether they're actually moving through a full range of motion. They load the weight up, shorten the move and spend the entire set working in the easiest part of the exercise. Good job you just wasted all that time and energy for nothing. The problem? The bottom portion of most lifts is where the target muscle is under the greatest stretch and often where it is at its greatest mechanical disadvantage. It's also happens to be where the strongest hypertrophy signals come from. A muscle loaded while lengthened is forced to produce force from a weaker position. That's hard. That's uncomfortable, and that's exactly why so many people avoid it. Instead, they add weight and turn full reps into half reps. If your lateral raise only comes halfway down, your squat never reaches depth, your bench press stops three inches short of your chest, or your curls never fully extend at the bottom, you're sacrificing the very portion of the movement that may be driving the most growth. Before you add weight, ask yourself, am I doing the full rep, what am I doing an entire set full of half reps just so I can hit my target rep count? Check your ego. Lower the weight. Control the stretch. Use full range of motion. Then progressively overload from there. Because a half rep isn't a rep. Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. 💪