 Alright guys, what is going on, Jacob here, back with another question and answer video. Today's question is, what is the optimal way to train in the gym to build muscle? Now I'm going to talk from personal experience, I'm making a disclaimer right now that you can quite all the studies you want, you can look at numbers, whatever you want, there's nothing like personal experience, there really isn't and that is what this channel is all about, 100% transparency, it's me giving you the information that I believe is true and hopefully you can make some gains. So anyways, the most efficient, the most optimal way of training your muscles to build muscle now. I'm going to talk about hypertrophy based training today, there's strength training, there's hypertrophy based, there's dynamic sort of training, fucking martial arts, sports, there's all sorts of training but as far as building muscle, I have stuck to a few basic principles as far as hypertrophy based training and it's worked for me. So early on I just used to think about the total volume, I just wanted to lift that weight this many times and that was it. I didn't care about form, I didn't care about rep, you know, tempo, time under tension, all I cared about was lifting that weight and you still see a lot of people that do that but what I came to realise is that if you want to really contract that muscle and feel that muscle group working, you're going to have to drop the weight, check your ego at the door and start using some good form and you know, time under tension based training is that's how I train now, that's how I train for every single muscle group, whether it be legs, back, chest, shoulders, arms, blah, blah, blah, that's time under tension based and usually I will use a rep range of around about 10 to 15 reps. We're talking, you know, four, five, six, even seven sets on that one exercise because another, you know, major key with my training is if I'm on a movement and I'm feeling it and it feels really, really good and you know, I'm getting a wicked pump, awesome contraction, why the hell would I stop at three or four sets on that exercise and go over to something else when I'm really, really feeling it. I mean, the back is the back, all right. Yes, I might use a machine row and I might use a bent over row but it's up to me what parts of the back I'm going to be contracting. So once you get that, once you get that mind muscle connection, you can use anything to train that particular muscle group. The way that you contract that muscle and the way that you keep the tension on the muscle whilst doing the reps, you know, regardless of whatever machine you're using is the key. So time under tension, the rep range I do is 10 to 15 reps. Usually let's say I'm going in to hit a muscle group, I'm going to say back, I'm going to do three exercises, okay, no more than that because I do believe that as I said before, more sets on less exercises is the way to go. So I'll probably go, you know, I think around about 20 sets per body part is good. So depending on whether that be, you know, your four sets on five exercises or seven sets on three exercises, the volume is still going to be, you know, around about the same. So I like to sit on that one machine, get the most out of it. I mean, basically treat that exercise as a workout in itself, have a nice warm-up on that exercise, get used to the movement, then hit my four to five working sets, balls to the wall, get all I can out of that movement and then move on to the next one. So, you know, that's a really fundamental principle that I stick by. Three exercises maximum per body part. The first couple of sets on each exercise are going to be warm-ups. You know, I'm literally going to do a 30 set, a 30 rep warm-up as my first set. People might look at me on the machine. I'm on there for like a minute and a half, but I'm just going nice and slow. Whatever the movement is, nice and slow, just really, you know, getting that blood into the muscle. The last thing you want to do is go smash a heavy weight without warming up properly. It's completely detrimental. You're probably going to injure yourself and it's just absolutely ridiculous. I like to spend a good five, 10 minutes warming up on that particular muscle group and, you know, it puts me in good stead for a good workout. So, those balls to the wall sets, the working sets that I'm talking about after you've warmed up, you know, I'm going to failure. I'm going to failure on every set. Usually I'm training by myself, so I don't go past failure. But, you know, if I get to seven reps and I'm meant to be hitting 10 to 12, I will stop. And this comes back to, you know, having good form and not pushing it. So, rather than hit those last three reps with shit form and like half reps, I'll stop, I'll regroup, you know, it might be 10, 20 seconds, I'll get my breath back and then I'll hit those last three reps with good form. And hey, I might even hit five. So, it's actually more than what I thought. So, you know, the set might take a little bit longer, but you get more out of it, I'm telling you. Now, as far as training frequency goes, you know, time and attention is great, but if you're training too often, it's still going to be detrimental to your progress. So, what I like to do and, you know, your body will tell you when you're training too much, but for me, it's worked best that I leave three to four days, three or four days between hitting that same muscle group again. Like I said, you will feel it if you do too much. My elbows will be a good indicator of whether I'm doing too much, you know, triceps, chest and shoulder work at once. You know, I might, if I, if I hit chest twice a week and then I go and try and hit triceps twice a week, my elbows are going to be under a bit of stress, you know what I mean? So, effectively, a better way to approach that would be chest and triceps together on one day and then have one particular day in the rest of the week for chest and one for triceps. So, you're doing it three times rather than four. Even reduce that down to two times a week hitting your elbows because, you know, they are something you want to keep healthy. If you start getting niggly pains in your elbows, it's going to affect everything and, you know, it comes back to that nice, slow time under tension reps. If you're doing tricep, if you're doing tricep, fucking push down, really like locking out your elbows. And I see guys way too heavy and they're going like this and then they lock it out like that. That's not fucking good for your elbows, man. You just want a really nice controlled slight pause at the bottom of the movement, slight pause, bring it back up, keeping the tension on the tricep the whole entire time. I'm keeping it there. I'm bringing it up. I'm not taking any tension off. The tension's still there, okay? I could come like that and all the tension would go, but I'm keeping it there. Squeeze up, keeping tension. Squeeze for a second up, keeping tension. One second down, two seconds up, one second down. So, that's how I train. That is how I train. As well as that, you're going to need adequate rest and recovery as far as sleep goes. You're going to need to maintain a great diet. You're going to need adequate protein. As many carbs as you need, you're going to want to base your carbs around your training time to make sure you get that performance in the gym. The last thing you want to do is go and try and smash a good session in the gym, but not take in the nutrition needed beforehand. It's just stupid. So, you know, this lifestyle, this building muscle, bodybuilding lifestyle, there's so many factors to it, but that is how I train and that is the most optimal way to train, to build muscle, to get in that hypertrophy-based training. Strength training, something completely different. You know, your seven, five, three, and one rep sets. That's something I don't fuck with. I do it a no best, which is hypertrophy. It's what's worked best for me. You always get an amazing pump. And, you know, as Arnie said, there ain't nothing like the pump, and you're definitely going to get it with this sort of training. So, I hope you learned something, guys. You know, I'm not saying this is for everyone, but it's the way I train. It's something I get asked a lot. So, I thought I'd cover it. I hope you guys enjoyed. Until next time. Peace.