BEST EXERCISES FOR MYOFIBRILLAR & SARCOPLASMIC HYPERTROPHY FOR EACH MUSCLE GROUP
Since I’ve been blabbering about SQUATS & DEADLIFTS ALL GODDAMN DAY— I'll leave them out for this one— they’re the best though, FOR EVERYTHING— aside from maybe some variation, but before we thread further, let's revise FOUR VERY IMPORTANT CORE CONCEPTS FOR MUSCLE BUILDING.
Muscles only grow if you introduce A BIGGER STIMULUS OVER TIME— you need to lift more over time, or you don’t grow— the primary ways to introduce more stimulus are adding more weight, more reps, and more sets— PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD.
MYOFIBRILLAR HYPERTROPHY— happens primarily when you introduce progressive overload using a rep range of 4 to 12 —what happens here is that your muscle cells effectively build more contractile protein structures— MUSCLE FIBERS— that can potentially be used to produce force.
SARCOPLASMIC HYPERTROPHY— happens primarily when you introduce progressive overload using a rep range of 12+ —what happens here is that your muscle cells accumulate tons of metabolites, blood, and all sorts of nasty stuff intracellularly— CELL SWELLING— that can potentially be used to fuel more contractions and expand the muscle capacity for expressing strength over time— AKA STRENGTH ENDURANCE.
CONSISTENCY— you need to do this FOR A LONG TIME to get results, YEARS AND YEARS where you'll develop an intimate relationship with the iron, you're simply not going to be big and strong as a natural if the Iron doesn't become your therapist and your best friend.
OH, and eat protein— LOTS OF PROTEIN.
These are all DIFFERENT MECHANISMS— they STACK UPON EACH OTHER, you shouldn't PICK ONE, but USE THEM ALL— you shouldn't only add weight, never adding reps & sets, shouldn't only add reps & sets, and never add weight, you shouldn't only train at 8-12 reps, or 4-6 reps, or never ever hit 20-30 reps, you need A WIDE VARIETY OF STIMULI TO MILK THE MOST POSSIBLE GAINZ.
That's what you need, and that's why I'm always ranting that these numbnuts are all arguing about diets and fads, wasting too much fucking time counting macros, and THEY NEVER EVEN LEARNED HOW TO TRAIN PROPERLY AND INTRODUCE THE BEST STIMULUS.
It drives me fucking nuts, bruh... seriously, people that obsess about the amazing benefits of their diets, yet can't bench, jump, squat, jog, or sprint to save themselves— PERFORMANCE? nowhere to be seen.
Anyways, let's get to that exercise list, and LET'S MAKE THIS REAL GOOOOD.
BEST EXERCISES FOR BIG BICEPS!
Overload your biceps to get MYOFIBRILLAR HYPERTROPHY with CHIN-UPS— use 3-5 sets— progressively overload by adding reps until you can do 12 STRICT REPS, this means going all the way down, pausing for a second giving a big stretch to your lats, and then going all the way up until the bar is in line with at least your clavicle squeezing the bar as hard as possible to feel the biceps working, after you're nailing 12 reps in all 5 sets, start adding weight.
Pump the fuck out of your biceps to get SARCOPLASMIC HYPERTROPHY with WHICHEVER CURL VARIATION THAT DOESN'T BOTHER YOUR WRISTS— progressively overload it by adding reps until you can do 25 reps, and after that, DROPSET and do MORE REPS, and when you can't do more reps, DO CHEAT REPS, cheat to get more stimulus in, and when you can't DO PARTIAL REPS, it's all about setting those biceps on fire, and only when you managed to drive yourself into the depths of hell, only then, you add A LITTLE BIT OF WEIGHT.
BEST EXERCISES FOR BIG SHOULDERS!
To add SERIOUS slabs of lean beef to them shoulders— THAT MYOFIBRILLAR HYPERTROPHY— all you've gotta do is STANDING OVERHEAD PRESS— use 4-6 repetitions for 3-5 sets— progressively overload by adding weight to the bar— BUT DON'T RUSH THINGS— improving this lift TAKES A TON OF TIME, all you've gotta do is stick to it, and to really reap the most benefit, on those last sets when you're REACHING FAILURE, instead pretending you're a contortionist and hyperextending your back into and herniated mess to complete the ugliest rep in the entire universe— just ADD LEG DRIVE to switch to a PUSH PRESS MID LIFT— THIS TECHNIQUE IS CALLED A MECHANICAL DROPSET— you make the switch mid-lift to an easier variation and go to your target of 6 reps, and IF it's the last set, do as many reps as possible.
To get them shoulders SWOLEN and looking like freaking basketballs you've gotta introduce TONS of SARCOPLASMIC HYPERTROPHY— to do so it's all about DUMBBELL LATERAL RAISES— both inclined and the standard ones— hit 3 sets for each variation— pick the heaviest weight you can do at least 15 reps with, but aim at 30 reps each set, if you didn't get 30 reps, then DROPSET, put the weight down, and immediately pick a lighter one and hit the reps that were missing.
BEST EXERCISES FOR A BIG CHEST!
Cable Crossovers are just the best exercise for MYOFIBRILLAR HYPERTROPHY— Sptthhhhahaha🤣🤣HAHA🤣— IT'S THAT MOTHERFUCKING BENCH PRESS SON, best chest builder in the entire animal kingdom— Barbells? They work— but DUMBBELLS? THEY'RE NASTY— 3-5 sets— 6-12 reps— progressively overload by adding weight, and there are ZERO MYSTERIES HERE, it's easy to progress, all you've gotta do is learn how to not be SCARED of the weight, use FULL RANGE OF MOTION bringing your elbows in line or even below your lats depending on your mobility, and give a big squeeze at the top to get those pecs on fire, if you somehow managed to plateau on the bench press, then just spend a couple of months doing 3-5 sets for 2-4 reps with the heaviest weights you can move to focus on building strength, and you'll progress when you go back to your bodybuilding rep ranges.
For that SUPERSONIC SARCOPLASMIC HYPERTROPHY— let's go back to the basics— PUSH UPS— 3 sets of as many reps as possible right after you finished your bench pressing, each set after you reach failure, drop on your knees and hit AS MANY REPS AS POSSIBLE— once again, MECHANICAL DROPSET, which by the way, it's one of THE BEST special intensity techniques you can ever introduce to your lifts in my books.
BEST EXERCISES FOR A BIG UPPER BACK!
To build some MYOFIBRILLAR HYPERTROPHY and get your upper back looking like a freaking MOUNTAIN RANGE use the single arm dumbbell rows variation called THE KROC ROW, the thing is you need THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE INTENSITY 'cause in general, the back is just TOO STRONG so the best stimulus for it has to match its powerful design, so doing some tai-chi shit with pink dumbbells will get you nowhere REALLY FAST, so let's apply some Mike Mentzer HIT philosophy to this— give me 2 sets with the heaviest weight you can possibly row FOR AS MANY REPS AS POSSIBLE and 8 reps minimum— USE YOUR ENTIRE BODY— I literally want you to cheat throughout the exercise— use momentum— be explosive— use body english— just don't TURN YOUR CORE TOO MUCH like you're trying to elbow someone that's standing behind you— progressively overload by adding reps until you're hitting 2 sets of 25 reps, and then add more weight.
For that SARCOPLASMIC HYPERTROPHY it's going to be SEATED CABLE ROWS, but now our mindset is completely opposite, I want STRICT FORM, not light, still as heavy as you can, BUT STRICT, here we're going to go for TIME UNDER TENSION, I want you to relax your hands and focus on bringing your elbows behind your back explosively, once they're there SQUEEZE THE UPPER BACK for 1-2 seconds trying to "touch your elbows" behind your back, move super slow in the eccentric portion of the lift give me 3-5 sets of 12 on these fuckers.
BEST EXERCISES FOR A BIG LATS!
First, place your hand on a desk and press it down, when you do so YOU NEED TO FEEL YOUR LATS, if you don't have enough mind-muscle connection to feel them it's simply borderline impossible for you to train your lats properly 'cause others muscles will just take over— So practice this trick of placing the hand on the table until it's just impossible for you to not feel your lats whenever your hands stand on top of something, mastering this trick will also help you LOOK LIKE A BADASS right before you're setting up for some squats.
Overload your biceps to get MYOFIBRILLAR HYPERTROPHY with PULL-UPS— use 3-5 sets— NO-NO, no need for that WIDE WIDE grip, just slightly wider than shoulder width is 100% perfect, progressively overload by adding reps until you can do 12 STRICT REPS, this means going all the way down, pausing for a second giving a big stretch to your lats, and then going all the way up until the bar is in line with at least your clavicle squeezing the bar as hard as possible to feel the biceps working, after you're nailing 12 reps in all 5 sets, start adding weight.
For that SARCOPLASMIC HYPERTROPHY it's going to be SINGLE-ARM LAT PULLDOWNS— 3-5 SETS— the most exaggerated range of motion you can possibly execute to the point being even silly— THE GOAL HERE IS THE STRETCH— you need to feel the lats stretching the fuck up on the top of the range of motion and pull the handle all the way down to your abs— use a handle that allows your wrists to rotate and hit 8-12 reps— progressively overload by adding weight.
BEST EXERCISES FOR BIG TRICEPS!
To build that HORSESHOE FIBROUS triceps you need a fuckton of myofibrillar hypertrophy, the good news is that all you need for that is good ol'CLOSE GRIP BARBELL BENCH PRESS— and yo, listen to this VERY CAREFULLY, close grip IS SHOULDER WIDTH, there are ABSOLUTELY ZERO REASONS to place your hands narrower than shoulder width, that's not "close-grip", that's just a disaster on the making that will make your shoulders explode out of the socket hahaha— give me 4-8 SETS OF 4-8 REPS— progressively overload by first adding reps up to 8, then adding sets up to 8, then adding weight up to 800lbs.
Now the SARCOPLASMIC portion of building big triceps requires you to pay attention to its structure, the triceps has 3 heads, the medial head is already toasted from a close grip bench and requires nothing else, but the lateral head, and the long head, needs to be TARGETED after being overloaded— so give me 3 sets of 12-25 reps of OVERHEAD TRICEPS EXTENSIONS for the lateral head supersetted with and 3 sets of 8-15 reps TRICEPS KICKBACK.
BEST EXERCISES FOR BIG QUADS!
To generate MYOFIBRILAR HYPERTROPHY the same notion applied to the back translates perfectly to the quads— THESE GUYS ARE JUST TOO STRONG FOR YOU TO BUILD THEM WITH SISSY WEIGHTS— training your quads needs to be GRIP WORK— that's right, grip, 'cause you need to be carrying several 45lbs plates around and reracking them like a real gentleman— it's all about moving the heaviest thing you can, and for that, no other exercise does a better job of boosting your ego by allowing you to stack plate, over plate, over plate, than THE LEG PRESS— give me 3-5 sets— 8-12 reps— place your feet at shoulder width and slightly below the center of the foot plate and use FULL RANGE OF MOTION— if you have bad knees be careful at the lockout, if not go BERZERKER— progressively overload by adding weights, zero need to overthink sets and reps here 'cause it's ridiculously easy to consistently add at least 5-10lbs to your leg press, and by the time you start stalling, your legs will already be HUGE.
Now, for the SARCOPLASMIC HYPERTROPHY— you want me to say leg extensions right?— but no, I absolutely HATE leg extensions 'cause they get my otherwise remarkably healthy pair of knees all funky and clicky every time my dumbness convinces me to go back to doing them— here we're going to do SISSY SQUATS MACHINE— and be careful, I'm not talking that Matrix shit called "sissy squat" that although look cool it's ridiculously ineffective at building anything— you need the sissy squat machine— do 3 sets to finish you quad workout— 15-30 repetitions— progressively overload by adding reps until you reach 30, and then add weight by holding a dumbbell in front of you like in a globet squat.
BEST EXERCISES FOR BIG HAMMIES!
Building MYOFIBRILLAR HYPERTROPHY on the Hamstrings IS ALL ABOUT STRETCHING UNDER TENSION, you need to stretch the fuck out of your hamstrings with the heaviest loads you can use— BUT BE CAREFUL— properly training your hamstrings for the first time will ABSOLUTELY CRIPPLE YOU FOR DAYS— 'cause the odds are, you've never ever even hit them hammies hard a single day in your life— for this I want you to use DEFICIT STIFF-LEGGED DEADLIFTS— 3-5 sets of 4-8 reps— it's a deadlift variation, so all the cues aforementioned for the deadlift applies here, but this time I want you to focus on keeping your legs just slightly flex— NEVER FULLY LOCKED OUT— and just focus on pointing your asshole to the ceiling —HAHAHA it's always really weird to give this cue face-to-face hahaha I need to say shit like "Imagine you're a skunk, and the ceiling is a predator" hahaha— anyways, the goal here is feeling your hamstrings stretch like you would when, well, STRETCHING, exactly like they would feel if you were trying to touch your toes to stretch the hamstrings— start ridiculously light, seriously, any weight will already demolish you, and then progressively overload your way up to big boy weights.
That's borderline everything you need to build hamstrings, and the 'cause the next muscle we're going to cover will already contribute to pump the shit out of our hammies.
BEST EXERCISES FOR BIG GLUTES!
The glute is the strongest muscle in the human body, the glute is the biggest muscle in the human body, the glute is the most stared muscle on pornhub, the glute is the most revered muscle in the human body— BIG GLUTES ARE AWESOME— you wanna get rid of your love handles? BUILD GLUTES— and to overload and get some sweet sweet MYOFIBRILLAR HYPERTROPHY with PRECISION AND ABSOLUTE DESTRUCTION the best weapon in the arsenal is HIP THRUSTS— 3-5 sets of 4-8 repetitions— at lockout imagine you're in prison and pretend that you're trying to send a message in the showers that you're NOT AVAILABLE by clenching your buttcheeks as hard as you can— progressively overload by adding weights, tons of weights, don't be scared, don't be half-ass this shit— pun intended— GO AS HARD AS YOU CAN.
Now to REAAALLY build a GRAVITY DEFYING BOOTY via tons of SARCOPLASMIC HYPERTROPHY the secret to success is WALKING LUNGES— 3 SETS OF 30-50 STEPS— no need to go heavy, no need to feel anything special, just focus on moving with grace and athleticism, precise steps of about 1.2 yards or 1.2 meters, go all the way down until your knees almost touch the floor— progressively overload by adding steps until you hit 50 and then adding weight by picking up some dumbbells each hand, but remember— PRECISION— fluid movement, if your body is still trying to figure out how to balance during lunges stick to bodyweight before overloading the exercise.
BEST EXERCISES FOR BIG ABS?
HAHAHA I guess you don't want big abs, if you're already doing all that heavy lifting if you diet down you'll already have a nice mid-section, but in case you're OBSESSED with abs.
Oh god, I'm tired.
MYOFIBRILLAR HYPERTROPHY: Declined sit-ups— 5 sets— 6-10 reps— add weight for progressive overload.
SARCOPLASMIC HYPERTROPHY: Hanging Leg Raises— 5 sets— AMRAP— progressively overload by amraping forever and ever.
BEST EXERCISES FOR BIG CALVES!
Are you a PROFESSIONAL BODYBUILDER? If yes, you don't know how to fucking train? GO HIRE A COACH DUDE, WTF.
If not, WHY THE FUCK DO YOU WANT TO TRAIN CALVES!?!?!?
Here's an idea, bulk up to 600lbs, stay there for 10 years, and BOOOM, biggest calves you would ever build.
Training calves is absolutely stupid, NOBODY GIVES A FUCK ABOUT YOUR CALVES.
BEST EXERCISES FOR BIG FOREARMS!
Don't use straps.
Re-rack your weights.
Grip the bars and handles in every single exercise mentioned in this answer as hard as you possibly can, and voilá— you'll build big forearms— AND TRAIN HEAVIER, 'cause the hands are the scouts of the nervous system, they sound the alarm and let the rest of the body know that it's time to generate some FORCE, MY BRUDDAH!
Yeaaaah buddy, THIS ONE WAS HARD WORK.
If you managed to survive all the way down here PRAISE ALMIGHTY BRODIN in the comment section to let me know YOU'RE THE MAN BRUH, thank you so very goddamn much for being here, and please upvote this answer to support my efforts of giving out free info about how to bang some heavy-ass iron.
GET ABSOLUTELY FREAKING HUGE OR DIE TRYING MY BRUDDAH!
STAY ON THE IRON PATH!
Big KISS
THE POTATO MAN
B..bb..but I love my calves 🤣
Thanks for the content Potato Man!