
May 18, 2022
1808: How to Build Bigger Arms, the Truth About Muscle Confusion, the Correct Way to Train to Failure & More | Mind Pump
Check out the Mind Pump episode page
Key Takeaways
- Always eat your proteins first
- You will naturally eat fewer calories; protein is the most satiating macronutrient
- What to do when a muscle group is lagging:
- Don’t add more sets to your routine; instead, redistribute your sets to accommodate
- Bring the muscle group to the front of your workout—you get the most muscle gain out of the workouts you do first
- “The worst myths in the health and fitness space have some truth in them” – Mind Pump
- Muscle Confusion: a delicate balance between trying to master a lift and creating enough variation to avoid plateauing
- Failure training provides short term results that fade quickly
- “For the average lifter, avoiding it is probably a good idea” – Mind Pump
- The body tax and risk for injury simply aren’t worth the benefits
Intro
- Mind Pump consists of Sal Di Stefano (IG: @mindpumpsal), Adam Schafer (IG: @mindpumpadam), and Justin Andrews (IG: @mindpumpjustin)
- The Mind Pump crew discusses the best time to eat protein, how to target lacking muscle groups, why failure training is bad, and more!
Save the Best for First
- Always eat your proteins first
- You will naturally eat fewer calories; protein is the most satiating macronutrient. You’ll leave more of the empty calories on your plate when you eat your proteins first.
- Restaurants trick you into eating more by bringing salad, chips, or bread out first
- This will also help stabilize glucose levels
- Proteins are essential, so prioritize them
- This inherently gets you to eat your fat sources first as well—fats are typically combined with your proteins
- “We are behavior-driven…what can I do to promote the types of behaviors that lead to the things I want to accomplish…eating protein first is a simple step” – Mind Pump
Regulations on Soda?
- There have been rumors about soda/pop companies needing to put regulatory safety warnings on their packaging, like cigarettes
- A Harvard study found that warning labels (teeth decay, diabetes, etc.) do deter sugary drink consumption
- Mind Pump thinks the consumer will just find a new medium to consume sugar if one sector is regulated
- Commercials for Mtn. Dew and Pepsi (for example) send an overwhelmingly positive and misleading message
- “I think that we’ve lost sight of consequences” – Mind Pump
Targeting a Lacking Muscle Group
- When a body part is lagging, don’t add more sets to your routine; instead, redistribute your sets to accommodate
- Simply throwing more volume on top can be counterproductive
- Dial down the sets on your stronger body parts and increase the sets on the lagging body part
- Bring the weaker muscle group to the front of the workout
- You get the most muscle gain out of the workouts you do first
- Apply this for any lacking muscle group
- Full range of motion > volume/intensity
- Elbow positioning is crucial to arm growth
Myths of Muscle Confusion
- “The worst myths in the health and fitness space have some truth in them” – Mind Pump
- Theoretically, muscle confusion simply states that you shouldn’t repeat the same exercises over and over again. But, the oversimplification is incorrect.
- Muscle confusion decreases your ability to master or become efficient at specific lifts
- You can do the same lifts, but make sure to change up reps and tempo
- There is a delicate balance between trying to master a lift and creating enough variation to avoid plateauing
Failure Training
- Failure training provides short term results that fade quickly
- “For the average lifter, avoiding it is probably a good idea” – Mind Pump
- You’ll often feel less fatigued from 5-10 good sets than 1 all-out failure set
- The body tax and risk for injury simply aren’t worth the benefits
- Very few people fit failure training into their routine properly
- Many other variables, like sleep and diet schedule, have to be dialed in to reap the maximum benefits of failure training
- “You can build the most amazing physique and never train to failure”– Mind Pump