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Kettlebell Minimalist Kettlebell Hypertrophy Program

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North Coast Miller said:
I recall reading that study. It jibes with some of Schoenfeld research that demonstrated similar size increases using a number of load/rep/set approaches, which also jibes with DeLorme seminal work on the topic.

Bottom line is you need nutrition to support hypertrophy. If you're eating more and getting fat, you aren't asking enough of yourself. If you aren't getting bigger you aren't eating enough. And from a very superficial POV, "bodybuilding" and hypertrophy are the exact same thing, at least at a non-competitive level.

The next thing that helps is the shot of growth hormone, metabolite accumulation and glucose depletion from a longer finishing set - that is really all that is needed.

All of these current high volume/low load hypertrophy programs rely on data that shows similar signalling responses, but I have serious doubts about long term comparisons with heavier loading protocols. Plus, if you're going to spend the time, why would you want to want to have a lower limit strength outcome by design?

You can get a very comparable volume equivalent by using Clusters, Rest/Pause, even DropSets as long as the initial load is a very high % of your 1RM. Be advised, these all work by increasing the volume from fewer reps/set at heavier load, over a comparable amount of training minutes to a longer rep count/fewer set approach.

This can be done in a somewhat minimalist format, but not in terms of exercise selection unless you adopt a low frequency approach as well. If you attempt this with the same 3 exercises high frequency all the time you will NOT get a favorable long term response compared to other approaches.

Longer sets that accumulate more metabolic fatigue induce more hypertrophy by method, also require lesser loading and more recovery. Heavier sets that do not induce metabolic fatigue do not trigger similar hypertrophy. It is not difficult to combine the two with a variety of strategies. The rules haven't changed much going back to DeLorme and continuing with approaches like 5/3/1 - the last set is the maker or breaker.
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When you say last set, do you mean the top heavy set, or the final drop sets?

What would be the minimal number of exercises you think would still be effective for hypertrophy?
 
Dayz said:
When you say last set, do you mean the top heavy set, or the final drop sets?
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Yes.

If using DropSet the lead-off set should be a 3-4 rep max taken to a rep shy of failure, then dropped to a maybe an 6-8 rep max taken to a rep shy, finished with an 8-10 rep max. Using a high rep load for the kick off completely defeats the purpose of Drop-setting and by your last "set" puts you in a rep range where contractile force is limited by buildup of inorgnaic phosphate. This is going to have negative downstream implications for tendon remodeling, firing rate, unit recruitment - everything. If you have joint issues or equipment limitations this is still a valid way to train, it just leaves low-hanging fruit unpicked.

You'll get hypertrophy from a lower starting weight but it is all metabolic stress, and your training time more than offsets any longer or additional rest periods used with heavier loads. There may be some benefit for localized endurance as you'll be depleting muscle glucose to a greater extent although using LESS of it! (IIRC Upregulation of the Cori Cycle triggers anabolism) This almost certainly increases uptake/storage capacity over time, but not independent of glucose to contractile protein %. IDK - this gets into "sarcoplasmic hypertrophy" which isn't really supported by much of the research at the muscle fiber level but might be explained by other larger factors - like tendon remodeling.

Rest/Pause taken to a less than failure per, and Clusters are almost identical in application with the only difference being the number of repeats, how you determine the starting number of reps per, and how you do decide when to terminate the Cluster. For notable Hypertrophy there almost certainly has to be some form of fatigue degrade happening - ie "I didn't hit my target reps this repeat", or just drop load and do an immediate run-out set, assuming your initial sets are at a fairly high % of your rep max - per DropSet recommendations.

Rest/Pause and Clusters have a massive advantage in practical terms as they don't require micro-loading. Sets of 5-6 rep repeats seem to work just as well as sets of 2 rep repeats, and allow for a lot more volume than one could otherwise get at those load ranges. Big shout out of thanks to @kennycro@@aol.com for advocating Clusters - I'm sure they can be used with anything but they work brilliantly with my sandbags. If I were eating more I'd probably be pushing my heaviest lean mass ever and at a higher load to bodyweight than even a low rep DeLorme strategy.

Either approach, using the fastest possible concentric rep speed seems to be an additional multiplier for strength with no downside for hypertrophy. Important - this is not the same as intent to move rapidly. The rep speed needs to actually be quick at least for the initial sets. This also means you need to be using a fairly heavy load, frenetic jerking of light weight is NOT the same thing at all.


Dayz said:
What would be the minimal number of exercises you think would still be effective for hypertrophy?
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I'm honestly not sure, if talking about balanced physique and musculature you need minimum horizontal push, horizontal pull, hinge, squat. Trying to build a lot of mass using only four exercises is probably suboptimal but I'm positive it could be made to work.

Coming back to the same movements over and over is going to accelerate the "repeated bouts effect" and probably overload the body's ability to make the best use of post exercise muscle protein synthesis - you NEED downtime just as much as you need a credible stimulation. If you're limiting the number of exercises, then by definition you are not doing anything else on your downtime even though there is capacity to do so - just not another helping of the same.

Extending the horizon for results is a possible way to mitigate this, but is just managing higher density blocks or jumps spread out over more time.

Another factor to consider when going minimalist - the exercises you DO chose need to be high systemic demand compound lifts. These tend to give a big knock-on effect hormonally which is great, but they also tend to need more recovery mentally and physically if used for hypertrophy. You can easily feel this when doing a workout - something like a double front squat will require far more rest than one arm press for similar TUL.


Having 4 primary lifts and another 4 auxiliary lifts is about as minimal as it gets if hypertrophy is a prime or 1:1 objective. This allows for increased frequency, hitting the same muscles but not in the same movement patterns and with other muscles picking up the lion's share of the tension. Alternating use of big compound lifts and secondary (also compound lifts) that are not as demanding is a good way to go. Added advantage of being able to alternate focus, deloading one to increase load or volume on the other.
 
Pete L said:
I had hypertrophy in shoulder girdle from S&S. I put that down to the TGU, not just the anabolic effect of the swings.
Hypertrophy will be relative to the starting point though I guess.
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Since I have a low ceiling I lower the bell at half kneeling, stand up, lunge back, press, and carry on.
 
Nate said:
Schoenfeld has a ton on hypertrophy, but I've lately found Dr. Mike Israetel's work at Renaissance Periodization very clear about applying the principles of hypertrophy. While programs are many, principles are few.
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His “hypertrophy made simple series” on YouTube is the place to start if you are looking for very well put together smart content on it.
 
I’ll start this off with the fact that I’m pretty much a moron... BUT. I’ve definitely been eating in a deficit (based off BMR calculators) for a while but getting 80-150g of protein a day. I’d say my calories on most days top at 2,000 I feel like getting in my ROP sessions and more recently the Giant I can’t imagine for an active 177lb 5’8” male 2k calories couldn’t be a deficit. I started out pretty flat but my chest and arms have definitely filled out my shirts better and my pants continue to get looser. And I’m definitely getting stronger for sure.

I’m convinced that training hard and getting enough protein are the keys. I’m guessing this is contrary to most ideas that you need a surplus to build muscle but in my case it seems to be working. I’m really trying to not gain any body fat at all so a surplus scares me. My idea for now is just run with what’s working til I stop getting stronger then maybe add some calories. Like as little as possible until I start to progress again. I feel like immediately adding a surplus is a recipe to get fatter unnecessarily.
Very open to hearing people’s opinions about this.
 
IMayAgainKnowChris said:
I’ll start this off with the fact that I’m pretty much a moron... BUT. I’ve definitely been eating in a deficit (based off BMR calculators) for a while but getting 80-150g of protein a day. I’d say my calories on most days top at 2,000 I feel like getting in my ROP sessions and more recently the Giant I can’t imagine for an active 177lb 5’8” male 2k calories couldn’t be a deficit. I started out pretty flat but my chest and arms have definitely filled out my shirts better and my pants continue to get looser. And I’m definitely getting stronger for sure.

I’m convinced that training hard and getting enough protein are the keys. I’m guessing this is contrary to most ideas that you need a surplus to build muscle but in my case it seems to be working. I’m really trying to not gain any body fat at all so a surplus scares me. My idea for now is just run with what’s working til I stop getting stronger then maybe add some calories. Like as little as possible until I start to progress again. I feel like immediately adding a surplus is a recipe to get fatter unnecessarily.
Very open to hearing people’s opinions about this.
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I'm not sure if it's backed by science or not, but in Easy Strength Dan John says that immediately adding surplus calories after a deficit is the best way to achieve hypertrophy and he recommends cutting before bulking for this reason. I too am a moron, so take it as you will.
 
IMayAgainKnowChris said:
I’ll start this off with the fact that I’m pretty much a moron... BUT. I’ve definitely been eating in a deficit (based off BMR calculators) for a while but getting 80-150g of protein a day. I’d say my calories on most days top at 2,000 I feel like getting in my ROP sessions and more recently the Giant I can’t imagine for an active 177lb 5’8” male 2k calories couldn’t be a deficit. I started out pretty flat but my chest and arms have definitely filled out my shirts better and my pants continue to get looser. And I’m definitely getting stronger for sure.

I’m convinced that training hard and getting enough protein are the keys. I’m guessing this is contrary to most ideas that you need a surplus to build muscle but in my case it seems to be working. I’m really trying to not gain any body fat at all so a surplus scares me. My idea for now is just run with what’s working til I stop getting stronger then maybe add some calories. Like as little as possible until I start to progress again. I feel like immediately adding a surplus is a recipe to get fatter unnecessarily.
Very open to hearing people’s opinions about this.
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You can gain some muscle while losing fat in a deficit. If your overall weight is going up or holding steady then you are def not in a deficit.

My experience most of the time in a mass gaining mode, my initial cal boost only generates an noticeable drop in RPE at same output and ability to increase at the old higher RPE. A second jolt is then needed to put on lean mass with any sort of alacrity.

My key to prolonging lean mass increase at a surplus is to reduce ingested fat as much as is convenient, keeping protein high.
 
IMayAgainKnowChris said:
I’ll start this off with the fact that I’m pretty much a moron... BUT. I’ve definitely been eating in a deficit (based off BMR calculators) for a while but getting 80-150g of protein a day. I’d say my calories on most days top at 2,000 I feel like getting in my ROP sessions and more recently the Giant I can’t imagine for an active 177lb 5’8” male 2k calories couldn’t be a deficit. I started out pretty flat but my chest and arms have definitely filled out my shirts better and my pants continue to get looser. And I’m definitely getting stronger for sure.

I’m convinced that training hard and getting enough protein are the keys. I’m guessing this is contrary to most ideas that you need a surplus to build muscle but in my case it seems to be working. I’m really trying to not gain any body fat at all so a surplus scares me. My idea for now is just run with what’s working til I stop getting stronger then maybe add some calories. Like as little as possible until I start to progress again. I feel like immediately adding a surplus is a recipe to get fatter unnecessarily.
Very open to hearing people’s opinions about this.
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My understanding is a recomp is scientifically possible. You can gain muscle while losing weight providing your body is drawing the additional calories by burning stored body fat.
BJJ Shawn said:
I'm not sure if it's backed by science or not, but in Easy Strength Dan John says that immediately adding surplus calories after a deficit is the best way to achieve hypertrophy and he recommends cutting before bulking for this reason. I too am a moron, so take it as you will.
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I've personally experienced this recently. After spending ages trying to get as light as possible for cycling, I changed tack and gained the fastest I ever have!
 
North Coast Miller said:
You can gain some muscle while losing fat in a deficit. If your overall weight is going up or holding steady then you are def not in a deficit.

My experience most of the time in a mass gaining mode, my initial cal boost only generates an noticeable drop in RPE at same output and ability to increase at the old higher RPE. A second jolt is then needed to put on lean mass with any sort of alacrity.

My key to prolonging lean mass increase at a surplus is to reduce ingested fat as much as is convenient, keeping protein high.
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If you had to totally guess... basically I’ll eat 1-1.5 (usually 1) lb of strip steak or ground beef a day. About 4-6 eggs. Maybe some cheese and every once in a while some full fat yogurt if I don’t get the eggs in. Maybe 1 and 1/2 cups. Would you guess my calories are higher than I think or would you guess my BRM is just inaccurate? My weight seems to have stalled out recently around 177. For a while it was up around 180 then down to 175 and just floats somewhere between. Maybe once every 2 weeks I’ll go hard on some sweet potatoes and maybe once a month I’ll eat like carbs meal (pizza, pasta, etc... then my weight will go up about 5 lbs but drop back down due to water retention I’m guessing). Maybe I’m just eating more than I think?
 
So is it safe to say s&s can start the muscle building journey and help with some endurance and strength, ROP adds upon the muscle journey and really adds strength, and the myriad of other protocols help with muscle and strength? Gotta build a foundation. I like the idea of s&s getting you ready, ROP getting you stronger, and the rest getting you to where you want. The only downside to ROP is it can take you awhile to finish a session. Especially if you add in the pullups. You could always compress the rest, but then you comprise strength. But, if you're a hardworking guy or gal it could be a bit of a gpp as you'll be building up some strength and not fully recovering. As anyone who works knows you can't tell the boss "I just lifted something heavy so I need three to five minutes to recover before I can do it again". We usually only get a short breather.
 
Besides, in ETK didn't Pavel say "short rest periods or long rest periods, you'll get stronger but for different reasons"?
 
IMayAgainKnowChris said:
If you had to totally guess... basically I’ll eat 1-1.5 (usually 1) lb of strip steak or ground beef a day. About 4-6 eggs. Maybe some cheese and every once in a while some full fat yogurt if I don’t get the eggs in. Maybe 1 and 1/2 cups. Would you guess my calories are higher than I think or would you guess my BRM is just inaccurate? My weight seems to have stalled out recently around 177. For a while it was up around 180 then down to 175 and just floats somewhere between. Maybe once every 2 weeks I’ll go hard on some sweet potatoes and maybe once a month I’ll eat like carbs meal (pizza, pasta, etc... then my weight will go up about 5 lbs but drop back down due to water retention I’m guessing). Maybe I’m just eating more than I think?
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I've given up on trying to calculate a lot of that as a stand-alone value, all of my food calculations are now based on which way my clothes are fitting crossed with what the scale says.

In a surplus one or more of three things has to be happening - pushing heavier loads or using more training volume and bodyweight is more or less steady, gaining lean mass and shirts and pants are getting tighter, or only waistband is getting tighter.

The first one is always a bit of a surprise, pretty much 100% of the times I've set out to gain 5 or 10 lbs lean I increase calories deliberately and within a few days am stronger when training - a difference I can feel every time. Then I sort of "take up the slack" and increase loading or volume. Failing that I'll start to put on fat. This initial phase then needs to be stepped up once again with more calories and that's when the lean mass starts to accumulate.

There are lots of times when body comp will squeeze a little bit in a better or worse direction at the same bodyweight, I suspect this happens a lot for most people who are on a pretty steady natural/instinctive diet. Fluctuations based on how well adapted one is to their training, stress levels, diet macros, etc etc
 
Dayz said:
My understanding is a recomp is scientifically possible. You can gain muscle while losing weight providing your body is drawing the additional calories by burning stored body fat.
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From what I've seen it is one of those things that is technically possible, but not practically significant to mean anything. Outside of obese and new lifters.
 
I’m not huge into the hypertrophy side of training, but I’ve seen some interesting results from just S&S....

My shoulders and arms have already shown great improvement. So has my entire back, including my traps. As well as glute development which had always been a weak point. All this from just swings and get ups.

A couple downsides have been decrease size in my chest and quads. But, looking at the leaps in grip strength, shoulder stability, explosive hips, back health, anti-rotational core strength, cardio, etc... a relatively smaller chest and quads isn’t too bad of a price to pay
 
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