All protocols
5,340 protocols across every category, most recommended first.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsUse Mind-Muscle Connection to Make Final Reps Harder
Use weights as a tool to generate adaptation, not just to complete reps. As sets get hard, make the final two or three reps harder through stricter execution and muscle targeting rather than easier through momentum; near failure, stop counting reps and focus intensely on form and execution.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsTrain With Quality Execution
Do repetitions in really good form and isolate or properly execute the target movement.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsTrain Glutes Three Times Per Week if Prioritizing Them
For glute specialization, twice weekly may be sufficient and is the safer bet, but three times weekly can be useful if recovery and exercise selection are managed appropriately.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsSeated Hip Abduction
Recommended as an additional glute exercise; leaning forward or staying upright may emphasize upper gluteus maximus.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsHip Thrust
For glute hypertrophy, include this exercise up to twice per week if you already squat and deadlift, using full range of motion and full hip extension rather than short partial reps. Avoid lumbar hyperextension, adjust bar placement to your anatomy, start with bodyweight or a light barbell, and increase load only as long as form and range of motion stay strict.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsGlute-Dominant 45-Degree Hyperextensions
Recommended as a glute exercise and as an alternative if hip thrusts are uncomfortable. Perform by rounding the back and flaring the feet slightly to reduce erector involvement and use the glutes to pull up.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsPrioritize Lagging Muscle Groups
Honestly assess which body parts lag aesthetically or functionally and prioritize them. Add another training day or more volume for the lagging part while reducing volume elsewhere; you cannot just hammer everything. Use short specialization blocks of about four to six weeks, then throttle back other muscle groups without panicking about losing all your development.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsTrain Neck Muscles Directly
Neck muscles do not grow adequately from deadlifts, shrugs, or rows alone and should be trained directly. Host states he trains his neck twice per week.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsTrain Delts More Frequently With More Variety
Host describes successfully growing delts by increasing frequency and volume and using more variety, including cables, machines, dumbbells, bands, and lengthened partials.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsUse Lengthened Partials
Host describes using lengthened partials for delt growth and later recommends them for calves in the stretched position.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsTrain Movement Patterns Rather Than Specific Lifts Year-Round
Do not feel tied to specific lifts all year. If an exercise causes pain, stop doing it for a while and find a suitable alternative. Pick one exercise from the movement pattern and trust that you will maintain most of your strength.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsUse Hip Thrusts, Kickbacks, and Abduction to Grow Glutes Without Growing Legs
If the goal is glute growth without leg growth, minimize squats, lunges, and stiff-leg deadlifts and focus on more isolation-oriented lifts such as hip thrusts, kickbacks, 45-degree hypers, and abduction. A suggested setup is hip thrusts, kickbacks, and abduction three times per week, with four sets of each because they do not create as much soreness.
- ▶ 1DietCaloric Deficit for Fat Loss
To lose body fat, create a caloric deficit by eating less, moving more, or combining both; abdominal fat loss is not spot-reduced but comes from overall fat loss.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsMove More to Lose Fat
Fat loss comes from a caloric deficit created by eating less, moving more, or both.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsTrain Abs
Ab training does not spot-reduce fat, but it can build muscle and is still worth doing. Abs tend to look best when you are leanest, not when you train them the most.
- ▶ 1DietMini Bulks and Cuts
If using a bulk/cut approach, favor small cycles rather than aggressive phases: gain about 5 pounds and then lose about 5 pounds.
- ▶ 1DietMaintenance Calories Plus a Couple Hundred Extra
Prefer eating around maintenance calories with a small surplus of a couple hundred extra calories instead of doing huge bulks.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsRecomping
Host and guest endorse body recomposition—gaining muscle while losing fat—rather than large bulk/cut cycles for many people.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsLifting
Explicitly recommended over Pilates for strength training.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsStanding Calf Raises
Recommended over seated calf raises for calf growth, emphasizing the stretch position. Use full-range standing calf raises, and after full-range reps you may benefit from extended partials in the bottom half for an additional 3-5 reps focused on stretch.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsTrain During Pregnancy if You Already Lift
If you are already an avid lifter and become pregnant, continue training with modifications as needed. If you have not been lifting, pregnancy may not be the time to start. Examples discussed as often tolerated include sumo squats, Smith machine hip thrusts with the bar kept on the upper thighs and reduced depth, leg press if tolerated, and generally staying moving and fit.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsTrain With One Set to Failure Per Body Part
A highly time-efficient strategy is to train the whole body after a sufficient warm-up with one set to failure for each body part. This can be done one, two, or three times per week; twice-weekly full-body is highlighted, with about six to ten exercises per session and workouts finished in roughly 45 minutes. Shuffle exercise order and variations over time rather than repeating the same lifts indefinitely.
- ▶ 1ToolsTechnologies that control sleep-environment temperature
Technologies that control the temperature of the sleep environment and room environment to support sleep optimization.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsUse action video games to train visual processing and inference speed
Playing action video games can improve low-level visual processing such as contrast sensitivity and speed probabilistic inference; a specific protocol mentioned was 40 hours of Call of Duty in self-identified non-gamers, with effects persisting up to a year later.
- ▶ 1ToolsUse sensors on the calves to measure acceleration and velocity
Sensors placed on the calves to measure acceleration and velocity in real time and provide feedback during gamified training.
- ▶ 1ToolsPerplexity Labs
Online resource suggested for helping build custom computer-vision apps for performance analysis.
- ▶ 1ToolsReplit
Online resource suggested for helping build custom computer-vision apps for performance analysis.
- ▶ 1ToolsUse mobile phone video for movement analysis
Use a mobile phone camera as the capture device for stroke, gait, or other movement analysis.
- ▶ 1ToolsUse GPS when needed
Use GPS as a navigation aid when speed and efficiency matter, replacing the need to rely entirely on internal navigation skills.
- ▶ 1Tools8 Sleep mattress
Smart mattress used for dynamic temperature adjustments across the night using updating sensors; host reports it improves REM sleep and deep sleep.