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Six Simple Steps to Make Hypertrophy Training Functional Again | atlaspowershrugged | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: Six Simple Steps to Make Hypertrophy Training Functional Again
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what's up YouTube natural hypertrophy
just put up a very good video where he
addressed push back against hypertrophy
training but also acknowledged that
there are some very good reasons for why
hypertrophy training has been a target
for criticism recently and I wanted to
weigh in on this because the interplay
of hypertrophy and functional training
is one of my main focuses um in fact he
echoed a lot of the points that I made
in my recent Instagram essay how muscle
Builders ruin bodybuilding I know a lot
of you guys don't read those but they're
actually surprisingly successful on
Instagram a lot of people really like
them so I try to you know spread my
content here and there but anyway it
explains how the combination of
unhealthy dysfunctionality of modern
mass monster prob bodybuilding combines
with anti- function rhetoric from some
hypertrophy purist to give all the other
Fitness clicks and excuse to avoid
hypertrophy training and do a bunch of D
all nonsense instead and it also gites
bodybuilders into avoiding types of
training that would actually help with
their bodybuilding as well as just make
their exercise more functional so I do
have a couple of quibbles with what NH
said but I'll try to get those out of
the way quickly and then build on both
his points from the video and my own and
make some really simple concrete loow
hanging fruit suggestions on how modern
bodybuilding and hypertrophy training
can become much more functional while
enhancing or at the very minimum not
impairing hypertrophy results because I
think that's what's missing from this
debate the fact that it really wouldn't
take much to really make bodybuilding
training much more unambiguously
functional so real quick let's just look
at his intro heyo YouTube you might have
noticed that there's a lot of push back
against bodybuilding training nowadays
people who train purely for hypertrophy
seem to have gained this reputation of
being small science nerds who
neurotically obsess over optimal
training and when you compare that to
the much cooler methods of strength
athletes for example who just horse
weight around with complete and total
disregard for muscle growth or the
hybrid athletes who can move their
bodies in tons of fun ways it does seem
that body building now looks cringe and
lame in comparison and as someone whose
name is natural hypertrophy this is not
something that I enjoy seeing but I must
admit that the critics have a point it
does seem that bodybuilding training has
lost its way and so if we want more
people to get into natural bodybuilding
it's our responsibility as those who
train purely for hypertrophy to
understand exactly why what happened to
get to that point and it's exactly what
I want to do in this video I'm going to
try and figure out what exactly made
hypertrophy training so lame in the
first place which should logically also
lead us to a discussion of what
constitutes effective bodybuilding
training so what I don't get is why
someone whose name is natural
hypertrophy who's usually the Raging
attack dog of natural bodybuilders isn't
taking the opportunity to put the blame
for this where it belongs on steroid
abuse maybe he's thinking about this
purely in the context of natural lifting
and that's a nice thing to be able to do
there actually is enough of natural
Community now that you can kind of do
that but the reality is in the broader
Fitness space the vast majority of the
Damage Done to the reputation of hyperv
training and pure bodybuilding has been
done by enhanced bodybuilders taking
wild cycles of God knows what as Escape
go and say oh whatever I'm doing right
now that looks like I'm a monkey on
crack is actually great because that way
you won't end up like a bodybuilder you
won't end up with useless muscles like
I've seen some people say useless muscle
a muscle is a muscle if you through a
function it will fulfill that function
it starts and ends there nah dude there
is totally such a thing as dysfunctional
muscle these Mass monsters are pulling
their muscles off the tendon all the
time on silly little exercises we're
seeing you know PEC tears just all sorts
of stuff even on isolation exercises
we're seeing you know crazy injuries
that just should not be happening and
that's a you know a huge part of why
modern hypy training emphasizes the safe
exercises you know stimulus to fatigue
ratio it's just because mass monster
steroid muscle is dysfunctional you know
a muscle is not functional if you can't
use it safely without it ripping off the
bone it's not that the muscle is
dysfunctional it's that you know the
rest of the structure can't support it
and that unfortunately is a consequence
of using excessive steroids and God
knows what else these people are on to
build just massive amounts of muscle
beyond what the frame could ever
possibly handle that is dysfunctional
you know you and I think a lot of people
are starting to realize now that these
giant roted up bodybuilders really can't
do that much with their muscle safely
without getting injured or stroking out
or having a heart attack and so on you
know I mean these people are dropping
dead at you know in the 30s even their
20s so hell I mean even if you're
dropping dead in your 50s or late 40s
that that shouldn't be the case you
shouldn't be having heart attacks and
dying at that age you know especially
not if you're a healthy Fitness
Enthusiast let alone in your 20s which
is happening all too often right um so
it's it it's very clear that some of
this actually is in fact legitimately
dysfunctional and that provides a great
excuse for a lot of other clicks and
fitness to avoid hypertrophy training
now you know the I I don't care at all
about function I only care about
hypertrophy ideological Purity spiraling
from people like natural
hypertrophy uh you know probably played
some role in the reputational damage to
training for hypertrophy but I think
it's fairly minor I mean let's be real a
lot of folks don't even know that
natural bodybuilding exists but a ton of
people now are very aware of the fact
that you know mass monster level
bodybuilders are not actually functional
right so I think well you know it's it's
cool for inage to try to you know
perhaps have natural bodybuilders take a
little bit of ownership for the fact
that hypy training has gotten a bad W I
think that's kind of a drop in the
bucket compared to the damage that the
enhanced Mass monsters have done to it
now there's one more little thing that I
take issue with real quick and I know
that this argument of certain movements
being simply better than others for
muscle growth is often rejected by
people who counter it by saying that the
bronze era bodybuilders also happen to
be strongman and that their training for
the two practices didn't differ that
much and these people have a point but
they have to keep in mind that what
they're discussing took place 100 years
ago we now in the future and isn't the
entire point of the fitness industry to
evolve the methods I think that if we
were all still training exactly the same
way we were 100 years ago it would just
mean that we failed we felt that the one
thing we were supposed to do which is to
advance the game I would also think that
our glorious ancestors the strong man of
old would be highly disappointed to see
that we did nothing but Twitter or thumb
for 100 years the cerebral and
technological advancement of lifting is
directly responsible for the better
physiques and the higher strengths that
we see nowadays because yes we are
stronger and bigger than we used to be
without drugs okay I'm talking about the
natural Community here and so I don't
think anyone looking at it objectively
would say that the bronze ear was the
Pinnacle of bodybuilding strength yes
absolutely in some ways definitely but
if we're talking but pure natural
bodybuilding it would be the silver a
right and if we're talking about enhan
it would be the golden ER what I don't
think anyone would say is that it's the
modern ER of bodybuilding right while
there were some great bodybuilders in
the bronze era definitely it's clear
that the fields a whole Advanced through
the mid 20th century but it's also
fairly clear that it declined into the
21st century now there are definitely
some natural bodybuilders today who are
on par with or even surpass many of the
silver ear crates right now that's
absolutely true but they also tend to be
very very critical of the Contemporary
training that guys and many of the very
most impressive specimens from our era
like VA Viking hovak Alex leonitis
explicitly train in a manner that's far
more akin to the silver era than our own
they'll specifically tell you that
they're using silver era techniques and
you know following silver principles so
we should definitely be trying to
advance the craft innovate make things
better right we should not be trying to
do historical reenactment I totally
agree and the guys that I mentioned are
innovators and I try to do the same
thing but let's build on a solid
Foundation I think the Zeitgeist to the
silver era is a much better foundation
for natural bodybuilders to build on and
innovate from than modern steroid
derived optimal training and that's why
the techniques that I experiment with
and try to improve upon maybe not
improve upon objectively but try to find
you know better ways for me to use them
and maybe better ways for other people
to use them than what you might see in
historical books that's why most of
these techniques I'm you know basing
these on Silver techniques right like I
just posted an upright row variation to
Instagram that I found a lot more usable
than the traditional Elite row you know
but I I tend to go to the silver for
inspiration for what I'm going to try to
innovate with rather than you know
modern optimal training and I think inh
increase is me based on this next
statement here to not be caught in the
fitness zist of hype we simply have to
disregard this and look at the
characteristics that define every single
movement and once you do that you'll
realize that every single movement that
is now deemed good for hypertrophy all
share the same characteristics they're
all hyperstable and they all focus on
stimulus to fatigue ratio which explains
why a lot of heavy compound movements
are nowadays deemed bad for hypertrophy
because they're too fatiguing and they
instead have been replaced by movements
who give you maximal stimulus with
minimal accessory fatigue and this is
exactly the problem with modern
hypertrophy training because this
approach while effective and important
only works to a point but if you take it
too far you end up with a caricature of
what proper hypotrophy training should
be yeah I completely agree with this but
there's a dirty little secret behind
this emphasis on risk reduction and
stimulus to fatigue ratio that's found
in what's now known as optimal training
something can't just be optimal in the
abstract that doesn't mean anything it
has to be optimal for a particular
purpose right so what is optimal
training optimal for hypertree right
well okay but that's not specific enough
the part they don't tell you is the
population and the population is number
one participants in studies which means
unserious beginners because no serious
lifter would stop their own training
participate some study right but
secondly that population is steroid
users who are at much more risk of
injury and also don't need nearly as
much stimulus to grow and thus benefit
from safe easy exercises keep that
information in mind it'll come in handy
in a bit as I the point of this video
which is to propose some loow hanging
fruit to make hyper training more
functional for Naturals so this part is
going to be building off what NH said in
his video as you'll see if you've
watched it he already touched on a lot
of what I have to say and he's even
anticipating some of the suggestions
that I'm about to make but I want to
build on his points in my own and make
some concrete recommendations as to how
to make hypertophy training into
something that no one can look at and
say that's not functional unless they're
you know a bunch of crazy delusional D's
like the functional patterns guys right
Natty agular and all that obviously
we're the goal here is not just to not
get criticized the goal is more to
actually have healthy functional bodies
that are good for stuff and all but you
know addressing the criticism is part of
that right anyway you guys get where I'm
coming from first suggestion is to train
loaded flexion I'm sure a lot of you
guys expected that and of course I'm
saying that this is the lowest of low
hanging fruit because this will 100%
enhance hypertrophy as well as improving
range of motion and resistance to injury
in one of the areas that most commonly
Sidelines bodybuilders athletes regular
people from all walks of life right the
low back low back injuries are
incredibly common right
bodybuilders tend not to care as much
about spinal Erectors as other muscles
sure but they look really cool and
welldeveloped this is also an area where
with proper training Naturals can
compare really favorably with enhanced
athletes especially those who train
optimally for hypertrophy I'm being
sarcastic there very few bodybuilders
today compare favorably with the likes
of John grimek and even I get happy when
a lot of enhanced guys post their backs
because frankly the comparison is a nice
ego boost for me so my general
recommendation as to how to implement
this is to Simply sub substitute Zer
deadlifts for your conventionals or
sumos conventional deadlifts and
especially Sumo aren't great for
hypertrophy so why not use a movement
with way more range of motion in upper
back stimulus just purely from a
hypertrophy perspective zdl are a major
upgrade on those pulls from the floor
and if you don't see how they might have
functional benefits I think you're being
deliberately obtuse don't just go there
and do like you know one rep max Zer
your deadlift though not at all number
one make sure you can do them safely
obviously if you have any sort of spinal
injury get that checked out first and as
a rule of thumb you should be able to
hook your elbows under the bar
comfortably before you push them with
any intensity so if you can't do that
you have to work on Mobility first for
that I recommend light Jefferson curls
anyway you shouldn't be doing one rep
Maxes for hypertrophy anyway so don't do
one rep max zerra deadlifts expecting
hypertrophy right I mean I recommend
somewhere in the 5 to 15 rep range just
like any other hypertrophy movement
you'll get a better stimulus with less
risk of injury but aren't those
dangerous no not any more than a
conventional if you have the mobility
for them it's much
it's much lighter and that compensates
for the increased range so just use an
appropriate weight you'll be fine when
and doubt push the Reps more so than the
weight right okay moving on the next
thing you can do to make bodybuilding
training more functional is simply to
train deep knee angles knees over toes
guys has brought attention to the
importance of training deep knee angles
for injury prevention athleticism and
you know definitely as a small as a
father of small children I can tell you
firsthand that it's really awesome to
have my knees getting better with age
instead of worse but
this type of training can also be an
awesome hypertrophy option consider the
[ __ ] Squad which natural hypertrophy
mentioned in this video you know not
only does it have a bunch of functional
benefits Mobility balance foot training
all that good stuff it also has more
hypertrophy potential than a leg
extension for example because it puts
the rec fim under stretch from both ends
not just one and it all it allows deeper
knee angles than would be possible on a
machine since the machine just
physically gets in the way of your knee
flexing right obviously you should not
jump straight into these cold or you
will absolutely Jack your knees up how
to how to actually get into [ __ ] squats
would be too long for this video it
would need its own video um you can look
in my book uh which details exactly how
to get into [ __ ] squats safely scale
into them safely I'm going to be putting
this into my upcoming program parking
lot bodybuilding I'm going to have a
great video on exactly how to scale into
that but I've also posted it on
Instagram so if you're willing to just
look through you can find the
information on the internet for free but
tldr just warm up really well and EAS in
really really gently all right moving on
another factor that we can do to make
bodybuilding training way more
functional is to train your abs with
spinal extension now natural hypertrophy
is a big proponent of direct AB training
and I completely agree with him on this
his concern is more for Aesthetics just
the appearance of ABS mine is a little
bit more functional you know everybody
knows spinal flexion is a vector for
injury but spinal extension often gets
slipped on and that can be equally
dangerous for the unprepared spine but
it can also be equally safe for a
prepared spine and an easy way to get
some training for that is you know to
acclimate the spine to extension while
also killing two birds with one stone
and getting some hypertrophy training
some really good hypertrophy training by
the way just look at CrossFit athletes
if you don't believe me they abs are
amazing and you'll see what I'm about to
recommend anyway it's simply to perform
ab work that involves spinal extension
and the easiest way to do that probably
if you have a gym that has one is the
ghd setup remember how I said CR
CrossFit athletes amazing abs and they
also get spinal extension training now
if you don't have a ghd setup available
just do what I'm showing here cross
bench setups same basic idea now when
doing this be extremely cautious and
conservative and working in progress
through range of motion very gradually
don't push too hard at first you got to
be just as cautious about extension as
with flexion but you can't avoid it
right so just get into it slowly but
eventually you can push your yourself
and you'll get great AB development as
well as being a lot more resistant to
injury all right so again completely
agreeing with natural hypertrophy
pullovers are another way that we can
get a lot of functional benefit out of
bodybuilding pullovers are arguably the
best way to build the teres majors and
they also promote shoulder Health which
is another one of the most common
injuries that Sidelines bodybuilders and
other athletes right there's a reason
that the silver ear guys we talked about
earlier were able to get away with tons
of heavy pressing even behind the neck
pressing whereas we tend not to be able
to do that today you know and they also
had fantastic back details so once again
we see a bang for your buck way of
increasing both your functionality and
your hypertrophy they go together okay
side bending this is I think a natural
hypertrophy would also agree with me
that direct oblique training is
underrated today in bodybuilding I think
what we disagree on is how to accomplish
it you know standard side bends are good
but I think overhead side bending works
such as windmills bent breasts or the
side press that we saw in you know
Manuel piscar video offers a lot more
because it provides additional stimulus
for the shoulders and lats as well as
rotational training for the spine and
you know based on his reaction to the
video that Emanuel Kari posted and I
just want to note here that Emanuel is
an extremely impressive athlete great
combination of brute strength and
mobility and visual size I mean he
combines those about as well as anyone
he's also an extremely well-educated U
humble athlete very impressive person
but anyway yeah NH didn't seem to see
the value of the side press but I'll
vouch for it I think the side pressing
is underrated for shoulder development
since we hardly ever use that plane of
motion anymore I think I think it can
help to Target the side delts with an
actual press a little bit more than we
see in the you know conventional
pressing variations but anyway I'll
leave that at that that's a that's topic
for another video anyway whether you use
conventional side bins or old school
overhead movements bending and twisting
through the side is extremely good for
your back health and compensating for
all the movement that we do in Sagal
plan it's an excellent addition to your
hypertrophy routine so I think the
simple addition of these five movement
types would significantly enhance the
functionality of modern hyper programs
which typically leave them out even if
you're still doing iliac Rose or smith
machine JM press or whatever I don't
think anyone who isn't a d cultist would
see your training isn't ridiculously
functional once you throw them in now
that's not to say the pro that the
program would not have been functional
before building muscle is almost always
going to be functional as long as you
aren't using a ton of drugs to build
more muscle than you can safely use but
they're definitely greater and lesser
degrees right it's on a
Continuum these movements lead to a
better range for the muscles that you do
build to work through better joints for
them to work via and in some cases just
more muscle period and all of these are
more functional so it's higher on the
Continuum right as a final bonus
suggestion for making modern
bodybuilding routines more
functional I'd recommend using the cut
like your calorie deficit period as
something of an offseason from dedicated
hypy training muscle loss on Cuts is
mostly a myth provided that you aren't
cutting to like stri glutes levels of
single- Digit body fat conditioning so
you don't have to stick to the same kind
of full-on hypertrophy routine that
you'd use to put on muscle during a
surplus the cut is an excellent time to
make room in your program for work that
isn't hypertrophy specific while a lot
of work for mobility and joint health
can double as hypertrophy work some
can't so the cut is an excellent time to
do more in-depth and timec consuming
work on improving the health of a
problematic joint or increasing a
limited range of motion on the opposite
end of the spectrum can also also be
used to do heavier strength work that
might not be the most optimal way to
take advantage of a calorie Surplus for
muscle growth but can increase your
ability to use the muscle that you have
more effectively or you could use that
time to learn new exercises maybe
something outside your current
wheelhouse like you know calisthenics or
something uh that would take way too
much skill practice to implement
immediately into a bulking program and
expect muscular gains but could down the
line lead to either muscular gains
increase ability to use those gains in a
variety of situations or both now here's
a Hint by the way I mentioned uh assist
squats earlier the cut would be the
perfect time to practice them acclimate
to them so you have time to gradually
acclimate without the pressure to make
them something that immediately produces
muscular gains right anyway taking
advantage of the final tip would require
getting out of the mindset of I only
care about hypertrophy I don't care
about anything else right not caring
about or even mostly about hypertophy is
bad I mean I'm not saying it's bad at
all right I think it's a good thing if
you had to pick between being jacked and
stiff or D and mobile with good joints
probably still say to be Jack but you
don't it's so simple to make hypertophy
training even more valuable and
functional they're just a little bit of
consideration for other training
modalities that I'd like to see more
people start to pick up these low
hanging fruits you know I get that for a
while there was this need to defend
against the influence of the dreaded
power Builders but I think it's okay to
allow a little bit of open-mindedness
and curiosity about exercises outside
the current side Guist of what's
considered to be hyper training you know
we can we can let a little bit of that
back in you won't immediately become a d
Mobility Guru or a strength coping power
Builder and you might end up with better
joints better capabilities and even
visible gains you know all right I hope
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