335 ‒ The science of resistance training, building muscle, and anabolic steroid use in bodybuilding

KEYPOINTS

• 01

  Most of the health benefit takes 1–3 hours a week

  Israetel says the best return for most people is about 30 minutes of hard resistance training twice a week, for example Monday and Thursday. Even full-time bodybuilders top out around 8–10 hours a week. Lifting works through high force and fatigue, so it has no real equivalent of zone 2 cardio. Each session causes so much disruption that more volume quickly becomes something you can't recover from.

• 02

  Fatigue rises steeply with force

  Using a whiffle ball versus a .50-cal round as his comparison, Israetel says damage climbs exponentially as force rises. Fast-twitch fibers take more damage, have less blood supply and heal slower. Nerves fatigue too: ion pumps and channel proteins wear down and neurotransmitter stores run low. Strength can take hours to days to return. Much of that fatigue is local, so you can train back the day after a hard chest session.

• 03

  More sets give smaller and smaller gains

  Israetel's rough figures: one all-out set per muscle per week gives about 30% of the growth that five sets would. Three sets give clearly more than one but not three times as much, and 7–8 sets in one session add little statistically. About 14–15 hard sets per muscle per week (roughly what Dorian Yates did) gets perhaps 70–85% of a muscle's potential. Specializing in a few muscles can push those to 25–35+ sets if you cut back elsewhere.

• 04

  Stop 1–2 reps short of failure most of the time

  In studies, sets ending 1–2 reps from failure grow about as much muscle as sets to true failure. That last stretch costs about 10 units of fatigue for each unit of stimulus, compared with 1:1 to 5:1 earlier in the set, and it raises injury risk. You need roughly 30 sets at 4 reps short, 22 at 1–2 short, or 20 to failure for similar growth. He says people who always train to failure 'emoted their way' into it.

• 05

  A twice-weekly beginner plan

  Train the whole body each session, spaced evenly. Use compound lifts: rows and pulldowns, close-grip bench or push-ups, overhead presses, upright rows, squats, leg presses or lunges, and RDLs, which work the spinal erectors, glutes, hamstrings and more. Spend the first sessions practicing technique with light weights (3–4 easy sets per lift). Add load and reps over 3–4 weeks, then build from one to 3–6 working sets per lift. He says beginners should never max out.

• 06

  Pairing lifts gives you cardio as well

  Alternate lifts that use unrelated muscles, such as a seated dumbbell press with goblet squats or deadlifts, or close-grip bench with rows, resting only 5–10 seconds between them. Use 15–30 working sets per session in the 10–30 rep range, staying below your 10-rep max. Add two zone 2–3 cardio sessions and you're getting about 2–3 hours a week of hard activity. He's honest that it 'is going to hurt.'

• 07

  To get past a plateau, work through a checklist

  Pick exercises that match your goal: bigger arms need curls and extensions, not only pull-ups. Use technique that puts muscles under high force at long lengths. Push hard enough, because people regularly leave 4 reps in the tank. Use logged numbers instead of feel, adding a rep or 2.5–5 lb each week until you actually fail. Below 5–10 sets per muscle per week is too little. Above 20, if you're always sore and stalling, is probably too much.

• 08

  Take a deload every 6–8 weeks

  Recovery between sessions may be only about 90–95%, so fatigue builds up (0.95 multiplied over many weeks). Take one easy week every two months and two full weeks off once a year. When you return, start back at 2–3 sets because your muscles will respond more strongly again.

• 09

  Age, genetics and life circumstances limit results more than the plan does

  Gains slow sharply over time: if three years got you 10 lb of muscle, the next three might get you 5. He has told 150 lb clients in their sixties that their goal of reaching the 200s was impossible without drugs. Nutrition is simple: about 1 g of protein per pound of body weight across 3–4 meals, and gain about 0.5 lb a week when building. Consistency is the usual problem: good weekdays followed by a weekend 'throwing up a lot in the toilet' will cancel the effort.

• 10

  Bodybuilding steroid doses are far beyond replacement

  Peter's TRT doses typically run about 80 mg a week, never above about 140. Israetel describes bodybuilders taking 250–1,000+ mg of testosterone a week, often with primobolan or masteron to manage estrogen instead of aromatase inhibitors, which he calls very toxic. Side effects he lists: less empathy and fluent communication, more irritability and focus on status, water retention, and erectile dysfunction from nandrolone. He reached just over 2,000 mg a week and got about the same gains at 1,000. Above 1,500 he felt 'mentally insane.'

• 11

  Muscle gained on steroids partly stays, and the health costs are real

  Israetel estimates he would be about 200 lb rather than 230–235 without steroids, and would keep about half of that extra muscle if he came off, because the added myonuclei appear to stay. He thinks drug-tested federations should ban anyone who has ever used. He controls his blood pressure with medication and reports total cholesterol around 79, but believes he has thickened his left ventricle, lost some fluid intelligence, and probably cut 5–20 years from his life. He is betting on AI-driven biology in the 2030s. Peter is far more skeptical and prefers to stay as healthy as possible in the meantime.