Q&A – Brad Schoenfeld The Hypertrophy Expert

Brad Schoenfeld MSc, CSCS, CSPS, CPT has become known as the hypertrophy expert, he is widely regarded as one of the leading experts in this field. Personally if I have a query regarding approaches to manipulate body composition I go to Brad’s work. He has written many fantastic journals, writes for a number of fitness magazines and is the author of several best-selling fitness books, if you have not checked them out, I advise you do.  Not only is he very educated in the field, he has used this to his advantage as a natural bodybuilder, winning multiple titles.

For those lucky enough to live in the US you have the ability to attend his lectures or workshops. However, I am thrilled to announce that Brad will be in the UK on the 24th and 25th of January to present two lectures! For more details on these and for the opportunity to buy a ticket (I have already got mine) please click on the following link; Maximal Hypertrophy Brad Schoenfeld.

Now to give you a taster of what you could be getting, please see the below Q&A that Luke Johnson held earlier this week, there is some really interesting stuff!

Q) Thoughts on the benefits of very high rep workouts (300+ reps per set) eg. DTP for hypertrophy in natural trainees? 

A) I think high rep sets have a place. I’ve written about this before. But beyond a certain point on the strength-endurance continuum, the threshold for mechanical tension is not reached and very little if any hypertrophy can be achieved from such efforts. There is some evidence that ~30% 1RM is an approximate threshold. I’m actually conducting several studies on this over the coming months.

Q)  ‘Hypertrophy is more down to diet and genetics as opposed to a specific training style’ – what is your opinion.

A) Diet and genetics are certainly very important. So is training. It is not even debatable.

Q) Any truth to some research appearing showing that a slow negative is not necessary for hypertrophy? Anything on that?

A) Yes, that is consistent with research. The most important thing is to control the weight on the descent so that the muscle works against gravity. There is no evidence that performing very slow negatives confers any benefits and some evidence that slightly faster negatives might even be beneficial. I discussed this in a recent podcast with Bret Contreras.

Q) I’m currently including occlusion training in my leg work outs. I wondered what rest period you recommend between say quads and hams? Can you go straight into the next muscle group without taking the bands off or is it better to rest? 

A) There is no had and fast rule here. I generally recommend resting ~30 secs between sets. There is no reason to rest longer and yes you can go straight from one muscle to the next.

Q) Brad, seeing as experienced lifters in their 30’s have limited potential for growing tons of muscle, what would you advise in terms of a duration for decent gains in muscle size (in months) before cutting back down?

A) I’ve worked with numerous lifters in their 30’s and 40’s that grow extremely well. It’s usually not until the 50’s or beyond where growth begins to stagnate at least based on my experience.

Q) What are the reasons, in your experience, for the growth stagnation? Hormonal, neural or habits? Years back there was a study that showed that growth is possible within that age group. Yet there are conflicting statements in that regard.

A) It’s primarily hormonal based on the literature, but there could be other mechanisms at play. One of the issues is that there is virtually no research on life-ling lifters who are in their 50’s and 60’s. The research almost exclusively deals with untrained older individuals, and its difficult to extrapolate these results.

Q) Brad, is a 3 day circuit the best way to start a lifting routine for a beginner lifter, before moving on to a 4 day upper body/lower body split and finally a 5 day individual body part split as stated in this link?

A) I never like to use the word “best”. My general approach with newbies is a total body workout performed on 3 non-consecutive days (M, W, F) focusing on mostly multi-joint movements.

Q) Have you came across any studies in humans on fascia stretching such as Parillo, DC, of FST-7? Also your thoughts, if anecdotal?

A) Purely anecdotal from everything I’ve seen — no real science behind it. Doesn’t mean it might not have merit, but it’s purely speculative at this point.

Q) When we’re dealing with your general population client just looking to “look good”, when/how would you justify using a rep scheme 5-8 vs 10-12 vs 12-15? When would it be appropriate to change the rep scheme? What’s better suited for a new program?

A) I generally don’t go below ~6 reps with the general population sector simply because it reduces risk. But I vary the rep ranges over the span of 6-20 reps or so to optimize the strength-endurance continuum in this range.

Q) I would like to know about training targeting hypertrophy. How to keep progress, especially in advanced lifters?

A) The question is a bit broad to provide specifics. One of the most important things is to periodize training so that volume is progressively increased and interspersed with periods of deloading. There is a clear association between volume and hypertrophy, but constantly training with high volumes leads to overtraining and actually impairs the response.

Q) How do you advise people to approach post workout nutrition?

A) The paper I co-wrote with Alan Aragon provides the basis of my current approach to post-workout nutrition. Nutrient timing revised: is there a post-exercise anabolic window?

Q) What would be your best advice to young teenagers like myself (18) on building functional strength and hypertrophy regards diet and training. 

A) The beginning stages of training should focus on building a good “base”. This is best accomplished by sticking with mostly multi-joint movements and varying the rep range over time. A daily undulating periodized program using a light, moderate, and heavy day each week on a 3-day total body routine works well here, but there are certainly other approaches. As far as functionality, unless there is a specific activity you want to improve (i.e. for a particular sport), then this does not need to be a direct area of focus.

 Q) What are your thoughts on the effectiveness of Layne Norton’s PHAT system for muscle growth in a natural trainee. More optimal approaches around?

A) I know Layne well. He is a true pro. There are numerous approaches to optimize muscle growth and his certainly has proven to be effective. I’ve had great success with my MAX Muscle Plan, which has been honed over many years of experience and research. Many ways to go about it provided you have a grasp of the underlying science.

Q) Fasting for the most part of the day lets say 16 hours and eat for 8 hours. Consuming all the carbs late at night can actually improve my metabolism by spiking insulin levels and growth hormone production during my sleep, after a carb fest late at night or not?

A) There is zero evidence I’ve seen to support such a statement.

Q) Is there any science behind these genetic testing kits such as muscle genes?

A) There is science behind genetic testing, but most of the ones you buy over the internet have little validity from what I’ve seen. It’s buyer beware. I do think the day is coming though that we’ll be able to get genetic testing very inexpensively and thus be able to optimize our nutritional program and perhaps exercise as well.

Q) Regarding your thoughts on macronutrient ratios. There are many theories on when to eat carbohydrates and the amounts. When in a calorie surplus, regular resistance training, when would you suggest is optimal for the intake of carbohydrates? From your expertise, what are your thoughts on how many meals a day to eat? Again, various theories as to whether 6-7 meals or less meals.

A) For maximal hypertrophy, I rarely go below 1 g/lb with carb intake if in a building phase. As far as meals per day, you generally need more frequent meals to get enough calories consumed. But there is no “ideal” frequency despite what some claim.

Q) Which is a better movement to do after barbell rows, chin ups or pull ups? For optimal back development?

A) Either would suffice fine. There is no science behind which movements to do first or second or third. Might even benefit to mix them up as you are able to do each exercise when you are fresh this way.

Q) When preparing a competitor for a contest, do you allow the diet (low carbohydrate versus moderate carbohydrate) to dictate the type of cardio (high or lower intensity) the individual performs or vice-versa? By that I mean, just as an example, High intensity interval training, based on my knowledge of exercise metabolism would not be well supported by a ketogenic type diet and the low glycogen state caused by the keto diet would cause greater rise in AMPK, leading to an exacerbated catabolic state.

A) Good question. First, my general approach is to accomplish the majority of fat loss by caloric restriction — cardio is an adjunct for fine tuning. I also rarely see the need to go keto (i.e. less than 100 g carbs) unless the competitor simply prefers this approach — lower carb does not have to be keto. As far as your points about the signalling effects, this is still a bit hazy. The interplay between AMPK, exercise, and diet is very complex. My general approach is to use HIIT, but I certainly am not averse to using steady state either.

Q) What do you think are the most under-rated and neglected aspects of hypertrophy training?

A) I think the biggest mistake that is made is relying solely on one rep range for training. Hypertrophy is optimized by utilizing the full spectrum of rep ranges, not just the 8-10 range that many often adhere to.

Q) What are your thoughts on Time under tension (TUT) training?

A) TUT certainly enters into the hypertrophic response. I do not necessarily feel there is an ideal TUT, per se. I’ve written at length about the various mechanisms involved in the hypertrophic response, and the topic is far more complex than to provide a cookie-cutter prescription. For example, does TUT have to be consecutive or do multiple short sets add up to similar responses from a TUT standpoint? I’ve just finished a study looking at this topic and will have results to share soon. The findings are very interesting!

Q) I’ve seen you mention in various places that you maintain a very low bf % year round (~%5 if I recall correctly). Given that this is obviously much lower than your native set/settling point, do you feel that the body eventually settles at a new ‘comfort range’ and that maintaining such low bf% is feasible from an overall health and well being perspective provided it is maintained long enough?

A) My BF at this point is probably around 7-8%; I used to carry slightly lower levels but the tradeoff about micromanaging my nutritional intake is not worth it to me at this point. As to your question, I definitely do think that there is a “settling’ point that is achieved when low levels of BF are maintained over time. This is consistent with survival mechanisms: if the body is comfortable that it does not need the extra fat to survive, it will not resist as much to keeping low levels. There is some support in the literature as to the concept as well.

Q) Thoughts on lean muscle gain and slight decrease in fat% if say eating at maintenance at training for hypertrophy is it actually possible?

A) It is possible in newbies and even intermediate trainees. Becomes increasingly more difficult as experience increases. Also depends how lean you are to start. If you are already lean, it is progressively more difficult to accomplish even in early stages. Bottom line is that if you are an experienced lifter with the goal is to *maximize* growth then you should be in a caloric surplus and focus on minimizing fat gains, and if your goal is to *maximize* fat loss, then you should focus on a caloric deficit while maintaining muscle.

Q) Besides the authors you just did your Meta-Analysis with, what other Authors do you recommend researchers/students type into Google scholar and pubmed databases to find a vast array of studies on exercise science and nutritional content related to trained individuals and/or athletes.

A) There are so many great researchers out there. Jacob Wilson and his lab is doing awesome work. Stu Phillips lab is excellent. Dr. Nick Ratamess is one of the tops in the field. Far too many to name. I think what’s more important than the specific author is to become familiar with the body of research in the area(s) that interest you. I see excellent studies done by researchers that I was not previously familiar with all the time.

Thank you Brad and Luke – Maximal Hypertrophy Brad Schoenfeld.