Can A Men's Health Staffer Gain 5kg Of Lean Muscle in 10 Weeks?

Week 8

A realisation I’ve come to as I approach the finishing line in this challenge: when it comes to getting the most out of a workout, the mind-muscle connection is paramount. Too often, I’ve been so caught up in the numbers of weights, reps, sets that I’ve failed to focus – and I mean really focus – on the muscle I’m supposed to be hitting.

This is what my trainer, Cam Byrnes, means when he talks about “inhabiting the muscle”. In order to get the most out of, say, a set of bench press, you don’t need to just slam out the prescribed reps, then get back to texting your mates. You need to get inside your pecs and feel the clench, feel the muscles filling with blood. It’s not easy – it takes focus and concentration; it means leaving your phone in your locker – but it can produce stunning results.

For me, this realisation dawned midway through an arms session. I was knocking out biceps curls on the cable machine, sets of 15. I slammed out the first set in quick time, focusing on the motion of the cables. For the second set, Byrnes had me slow the movement down and narrow all my attention onto squeezing my biceps at the top of each movement. Well, I only made it to seven reps before my arms failed. But I tell you, those seven reps were a hundred times more impactful than the preceeding 15.

Arms Workout
Standing barbell curl (3 sets of 8 reps)
Cable triceps extension (3 sets of 20 reps – performed as a superset with the barbell curl)
Wide-grip chin-ups (3 sets of 12 reps)
Cable biceps curls (3 sets of 15)
Reverse-grip triceps extension (3 sets of 20 reps – performed as a superset with the cable curls)
Single-arm triceps extension (3 sets of 10 reps on each arm completed without break)
Seated dumbbell biceps curl (3 sets of 15 reps)

Week 7

The highlight of this week’s endeavours was the discovery of a simple tip that has magically bolstered my ability to hone the focus of an exercise onto the desired muscle group. Sounds dull, right? Trust me – this can make a big difference when you’re hoisting iron.

The tip (courtesy of my trainer, Cameron Byrnes): flex the desired muscle group and hold until the muscle starts to burn, then release and immediately dive into your reps. So, punching out a set of biceps curls? Position yourself in front of a mirror and flex your guns until the lactic starts to pump. Yes, you may feel like a wanker, but flexing before knocking out reps “turns on” the desired muscle group, ensuring it’s activated and ready to fire.

For me, this tip worked a treat on lunges. I was doing the exercise off the back of the leg-press machine with the aim of torching my glutes. My quads, however, had other ideas, promptly taking over the movement while my glutes slumbered quietly through my opening set. A 10-second arse clench before my second set and my glutes were firing. When I finally racked the bar after four sets, I could barely sit down. Mission accomplished.

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Week 6

At the end of week 6, perhaps sensing my failing enthusiasm, my trainer Cameron Byrnes decided to shake things up. And so, on our early-morning Saturday session, we worked through pairs of high-intensity supersets, lifting the rep count for each exercise to 20. It was a sparkling workout that wreaked havoc on my body while – somewhat bizarrely – reinvigorating my flagging mind. I stumbled out of the gym streaked with sweat and glowing with endorphins.
Stuck in a tedious rut of low-rep-high-weight sessions in the pursuit of serious bulk? Shuffle this session into your routine. And remember to pack a towel – you will sweat.

1A)* Leg press (4 sets of 20 reps)
2A) Lat pull-down (4 sets of 20 reps)
3A) Push-ups (4 sets of 15 reps)

4B) Cable triceps extension (4 sets of 20 reps)
5B) Seated row (4 sets of 20 reps)

6C) Cable flys (4 sets of 20)
7C) Cable seated row (4 sets of 20)

• The letters A, B and C = superset

GALLERY: Watch 10 workouts that take less than 10 minutes

Week 5

Well, we’ve hit the half way mark of the challenge and I think I’m finally starting to see the method in my trainer’s madness (and when you’re squeezing out the 20th rep of an Arnold press, it really does feel like madness). Cameron Byrnes has mastered the art of taking a single muscle group and using every weapon in his arsenal – exercises, reps, sets, tempo, pauses, pulses – to hit that muscle group from every conceivable angle.

Want to torch the triceps? Then Byrnes will have you pumping out four sets of ten highly controlled dips, with two pulses at the bottom of the movement, followed by three sets of 20 reps of triceps extension on the cable machine with second-long pauses at the extension of the movement. The first four sets on the dip bars tear the muscle fibres and work the surrounding muscles in the shoulders and chest; the final three sets narrow the focus to the triceps, with the higher rep count bringing on a furious lactic burn and an impressive pump.

Want to apply the same theory to your back? Then try this brutal session Byrnes ran me through at the start of week five. All you need is a cable machine, a chin bar and a willing spotter – because, believe me, you should be pushing to failure on the chin-up reps.

1) Seated cable row (4 sets of 12 reps)
2) Wide-grip chin-ups (4 sets of 6 reps – performed as a superset with the rows)
3) Reverse cable flys (4 sets of 10 reps)
4) Reverse close-grip chin-ups (4 sets of 6 reps – performed as a superset with the flys)

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Week 4

Week four of my transformation challenge has seen my trainer, Cam Byrnes, debunk one of the more enduring weights-room myths, namely: to build muscle you need to keep your rep-count low. Nothing but muddleheaded bro science, according to Byrnes, propagated by juiced up bodybuilders.

To prove his point – and possibly to break up the three-sets-of-10 rut I’ve been falling into – Byrnes shook things up this week with a series of brutal sessions that saw me snapping out four sets of 20 reps on the lat pull-down machine, or four sets of 25 reps on the leg press machine, supersetted with sets of 15 reps on the leg extension machine (the resulting lactic burn falls beyond my descriptive powers).

I’d always assumed that such volume was great for muscular endurance but terrible for growth. Seems I was wrong. The gains from these high-rep sessions have stunned me. I’m pushing significantly higher weights (admittedly I started from a low base) while my shirts are definitely feeling tighter across my chest and shoulders.

It’s a salutary lesson for anyone looking to stack on a bit of brawn. Mix things up; vary your rep counts; don’t wed yourself to the high-weight-low-rep philosophy. The results will surprise you.

Volume Session
Leg press (4 sets of 25 reps)
Leg extension (4 sets of 15 reps – performed as a superset with the leg press)
Reverse-grip military press (3 sets of 20 reps)
Dumbbell lunges (4 sets of 24 reps, 12 on each leg)
Seated bent-over flys (3 sets of 20 reps)
Leg curl (4 sets of 20 reps)

Week 3

Well, it was always going to happen. Three weeks in and I feel like I’m starting to run out of juice. The more intense, “grunt” sessions that Cam and I have been punching out have worn my body to the nub. I’m not talking about the DOMS that made the first 10 days so torturous; I’m talking about a deep, full-body ache that leaves me grimacing when I get out of a chair or wincing when I hoist my work bag onto my shoulder.

Now, I’m not trying to make excuses here but, hey, I feel like things are starting turn against me. My 11-month-old has developed her first-ever head cold, which has made a solid stretch of sleep a distant memory. Last night I was woken at 11:34pm, 1:16am, 3:02am and finally 4:35am, upon which time I simply stayed awake, staring at the ceiling while a snail-trail of drool dribbled down my chin.

Beyond that, I’ve also developed an arthritic pain in my left shoulder that throbs when I lie on it and occasionally flares into a red-hot jolt of pain when I hoist a dumbbell the wrong way. So yeah, right now, the final seven weeks are stretching before me like a highway to Hell.

Postscript: this blog post was written before my morning double-shot coffee, bolstered by a pre-workout chaser of creatine and taurine. After these pick-me-ups, the fog lifted from my mind and my left shoulder miraculously loosened. I positively skipped through the front door of the gym before powering through a thumper of a shoulder/arms session. Moral of the story: use legal stimulants when your energy ebbs.

Shoulder/Arms Workout
1)Seated Arnold press (4 sets of 12 reps)
2)Seated biceps curls (4 sets of 5 reps – performed as a superset with the Arnold press)
3)Overhead press on Smith machine (4 sets of 6-8 reps)
4)Leg extension (4 sets of 15 reps – shoulders and biceps badly needed a break!)
5)Standing biceps barbell curl (3 sets of 21 reps – 7 bottom half, 7 top half, seven full)
6)Overhead dumbbell press (3 sets of 8 reps)
7)Cable biceps curl (3 sets of 10 reps)

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Week 2

The second week of my scrawny-to-brawny transformation challenge (I prefer lean-to-mean but was promptly overruled) ended with a somewhat deflating exchange. As I stripped off for the shower, I straightened my back, squared my shoulders, and asked my wife if she noticed any changes. “Umm…” She stared at me critically for a beat. “Nah, I don’t think so.” Thanks, darling.

While I reckon I can detect a bit of extra meat around my shoulders, chest and upper back, I don’t dare jump on a set of scales. Discovering that my weight has stubbornly refused to budge after two weeks of solid toil in the gym would be too defeating to contemplate.

Training-wise, I’ve noticed a slight shift in focus over the past few days. While my early sessions with my trainer, Cam Byrnes, were all about using form, control and fiendishly placed pauses to bring on a “pump”, the trend is increasingly towards shunting heavier weights and pushing to failure. Sure, impeccable technique is still our focus, but more often than not the final reps of every set have me snorting like a stuck pig while Cam hauls the bar off my stricken torso (bonus: he gets an arm workout, too).

It’s fun – in a masochistic kind of way – and brings on a lip-chewing endorphin rush, but it better be doing something impressive to my “scrawny” frame.

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Week 1

Okay, I’m sorry. To all those bodybuilding gym junkies out there, I apologise. See, I’m a cardio guy from way back. I like running, I like boxing, I like interval sessions that leave me dripping with sweat. As such, I’ve always quietly derided muscle builders who spend 45 minutes hunched over the preacher-curl bench, then retire to the lockers to down a three-litre protein shake. I thought they were taking the easy path. I thought they were soft. And I was wrong.

A week into my 10-week transformation – goal: build serious muscle – and I now realise that there’s nothing soft about weight training with the aesthetic goal of building muscle. Three sets of biceps curls leave me gasping for breath; four supersets of cable flies into wide-grip push-ups have me bent double in agony. And the DOMS! My God, the DOMS. After my first session, focusing on chest and arms, I could barely operate my keyboard.

Thus far, however, I’m pleasantly surprised by how my body’s adapted. The post- workout soreness has dissipated and I’m beginning to feel more comfortable under the iron. The goal of these opening weeks, according to my trainer Cam Byrnes, is to introduce my body to the sensations and movement patterns of shifting weights.

We’re keeping the weights relatively low and instead focusing on controlled movements and torturous pauses at the bottom of each movement. It’s a technique that brings on a furious burn and an astonishing pump – after four sets of preacher curls in session five, I thought my biceps were about to explode out of my arms like that slimy creature in Alien.

This pump, according to Byrnes, is precisely what I’m after. Years of endurance cardio training have thinned my muscle fibres, meaning they’re effective at going long and slow, but not so efficient at going short and hard. This pump indicates my fibres are thickening, becoming more adept at exerting serious power in concentrated bursts. And this, Byrnes assures me, will lay the groundwork for some rugged sessions down the track.

I’m (tentatively) excited.

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