What follows is a sample from Dan John’s newest book, Mass Made Simple: A Six-Week Journey Into Bulking, which can be purchased here.

Pardon me; we seem to have an elephant in the room. Perhaps, we can call its other name, the 800-pound gorilla in the room. If you are not up on your delightful English idioms, this is another name for an obvious problem no one wants to address. But, if you want to be a strength coach, you had better come to grips with this issue.

The issue? Bodybuilding. Body Culture. Muscle Spinning. Pumping the guns. Pumping Iron. Blast, Blitz and Bomb your pecs. Something nefarious has been happening in strength coaching for a long time and it comes under many guises and disguises. Honestly, have a group of young athletes do any serious movement that involves peak concentration, perfection of technique, well maintained equipment and developed skills and one of these fine young people will ask: “What muscle does it build?” Shake your head, shake your hand to the sky in rage and wrath, or come to grips with all of this stuff.

For the record, we have two standard answers to “what muscle does it build?” when the athlete is snatching, cleaning or swinging. First: “You know when you leap up in the end zone and snag the ball between two defenders and win the state championship? Yes? Well, it is that muscle.”

Second answer: “Let’s just keep doing snatches for another hour and we will ask you tomorrow as a pop quiz?” Both answers are excellent, but the second one is really more fun for the coach.

The Role of Hypertrophy remains the boogeyman in the field of strength and conditioning. The fear that the reaper of death is dressed in a black Speedo with a doo rag, screaming "It's all you, Bro" and demanding supersets of skull crushers and standing outside the hallway of every weight room remains the nightmare image of most strength coaches. It would be hard to find a strength coach, or a sport coach who hasn't had to deal with an athlete arguing that "Mr. Greater Galaxy does this so I should, too!" In the past fifty years, bodybuilding has gone from an underground activity to a period where it literally defined the barbell sports to its odd role today as the starting point for most people's understanding of how to train with weights. Hypertrophy, or simply "gaining muscle mass," is doubtless an important part of the training for many athletes. The key is discerning "how much" and "how often" in the training mix. Moreover, the role of hypertrophy training changes as the athlete moves through life and is a key to the longevity of the active or retired competitor.

Bodybuilding is interested in two qualities: hypertrophy and fat loss. The artistic elements of symmetry and stage performance that are the keys to superior placing in a bodybuilding contest are beyond the scope of this work. It is important to take a moment to note that excellent lighting, intelligent use of tanning or coloring, AND no fear of the publishers of magazines in altering the final photos in the darkrooms or computer screen can do wonders for a subject's body. A good tan in the right lighting can completely change the perception of one's body in seconds. The composition of the body won't change, just the "look."

Hypertrophy and fat loss are qualities that can have impact in sports. In contact sports, hypertrophy can provide two qualities worthy of discussion:

1. Armor. In fact, an appropriate way to title a hypertrophy phase for an athlete is "Armor building." In American football, a bigger forearm is a weapon, larger arms can (it is argued by my athletes) protect the ball better, and basic size is a tool late in a game. As the saying goes: "I've seen athletes slow down in a game, but I've never seen one get smaller." In the fourth quarter, the accumulation of banging against a larger, heavier team does add up on the field.

2. Confidence. There is a wonderful term called "peacocking." Love it or hate it, athletes like to look good. On the extreme end, we also have that wonderful phrase: "Looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane." There is nothing harder for a young coach to get used to and that’s the error of judging the athlete by how the athlete looks physically. "You can't judge a book by its cover" is absolutely true when it comes to determining competitive performance. Having said this, athletes will always stay a few extra minutes, no matter how difficult the training, to work the show muscles of biceps, pecs, and abs. Of course, these body parts tend to be "all show and no go!"

Although there has been an ongoing, perhaps two century, discussion on "weight loss," fat loss is the quality to impress upon athletes. Certainly, combat sports and weightlifting have weight categories for competition, but there are dozens of methods of rapid weight loss that vary from practical to deadly. Fat loss continues to mystify everyone who can't understand these four words: Eat Less, Move More. Without a doubt, that is an oversimplification, but along the same lines as "Buy low, sell high," it's hard to argue that much of the weight loss industry is filled with quick fix gimmicks. Harvard nutritionist Jean Mayer said years ago: "To attribute obesity to 'overeating' is as meaningful as to account for alcoholism by ascribing it to ‘overdrinking.’" True fat loss can improve test results varying from jumping and sprinting marks to flexibility standards. If there was a single magic wand to wave to "instantly" improve performance in most sports, it would make fat disappear. The challenge, of course, is maintaining the dietary rigor to force fat loss while training the other qualities needed in performance.

And that is the key. The reason that bodybuilders can go on extremely difficult fat loss regimes is because they only deal with two qualities. Tanning or skin coloring is not the same as mastering an opponent's offensive schemes. Once a bodybuilder, ideally blessed with natural symmetry and muscle insertions that gift one towards the sport, shifts from pure hypertrophy work to final preparations for a contest, the single concern is fat loss. Any other athlete in any other sport MUST juggle multiple qualities.

It brings us back to the wonderful quote by Art DeVany that seemed to upset some people. Answering the question: "What's the best way to lose fat?" DeVany answered: "Don't get fat in the first place." Given the advice back in the 1970s that, to overstate the case, "all carbs are bad," it is a wonder obesity is "only" in one-quarter of our population as we write this sentence. "Don't get fat" literally means to swim against a lot of cultural norms over a long period of time for our modern athlete. School lunches added to lack of required physical education plus the proliferation of every sugary substance imaginable at every practice and athletic event for the kid involved in club activities make it very difficult for even a well-informed child to stay lean. Add the lack of honest "play" and we have the recipe for obesity.

So, the athlete needs a long-term perspective when dealing with fat loss. Certainly, over a ten-year period, there can be an honest commitment not to "get fat in the first place." However, a good strength and conditioning coach also needs some built-in programs to deal with an athlete who has let his or her overall condition slide. Addressing body composition needs to be done with some compassion and probably an eye to not leading the athlete into areas of eating disorders. It is a balancing act that not everyone has the skills to accomplish. And let's add one further issue: losing fat may have little effect on performance. True, maybe (or maybe not) a leaner athlete will be healthier, but sports rewards those who do a task the best. Shave off your body hair, dye the hair on you head, and wear as much glitter as you want, sports are a cruel mistress: they reward the one who does the task the best, not the one who looks the best.

And this has been the problem for decades. What is the proper role and impact of hypertrophy and fat loss on performance? The answer actually comes from studying master athletes; those men and women who are at least beyond 35 years of age, but often continue to compete at a high level well into their 70s, 80s, and 90s. Years ago, in conversations with master hammer thrower George Matthews, he noted the issue of massive muscle loss that seems to infect master athletes, usually after 55 years of age. Many of them are empty nesters and have enough financial resources to train and travel extensively. Sadly, it seems that the muscles just vanish overnight.

For the master athlete, assuming an understanding of efficient techniques in the sport of choice probably needs to move back to the basic rules of hypertrophy training: getting as much reps under load in as little time as possible. The master athlete reminds of us of the critical need for hypertrophy for athletes far away from the posing dais. So, there is a role for hypertrophy and it follows a very clear path.

Early in the training career, simply doing pushups, pull-ups and general exercises seems to lead to some muscle gain. For young athletes, especially those enjoying the growths spurts of adolescence, practically any training program will work wonders in terms of bodybuilding. Anyone coming into weight training seems to enjoy this early growth spurt and any exposure seems to work. For a coach dealing in athletes from the basic levels of training, you can't go wrong with practically any kind of program from basic boot camp training to exposure to traditional lifting sports (Olympic, Power or Kettlebell lifting). Machine training might also be a perfect option here as there is a very low level of technical training and large groups can be herded through in relatively short amounts of time.

Hypertrophy then follows the same path as the athlete in the early training curve. Hypertrophy will climb the same gentle slope that basic technical training and all the other qualities of either a specific sport or simple exposure to sports. As the skill levels grow, the athlete will literally grow along with it. For most athletes, the hypertrophy needs will rise along with the level of sport until the athlete completes their career, usually in the late teenage years. That's why basic bodybuilding can be so useful for a high school football program; it meets the immediate needs of nearly every member of the program. Without a doubt, it is also the reason that probably any training program can support wins and losses in team sports. Many parents will spend a lot of money on paraprofessional coaching programs that promise improvements in agility, acceleration and other qualities that probably would improve just as quickly by doing a few circuits on the rusting Universal Gym at the local YMCA.

There seems to be about an four to six year period where pure hypertrophy work with simple exposure to explosive training might be all the athlete needs to succeed. Especially in the area of armor building, a certain honest assessment needs to be made: if the athlete isn't ready for professional or elite performance by, at the very latest, 22 years, it is safe to assume the athlete will never be ready. If a 23-year old football player or basketball player is still working on basic skills, the game will have passed them by. There may be exceptions in individual sports, but it would be fun to name the athletes who have attained elite status by making enormous gains after 23. I will wait.

After the initial "hill" of hypertrophy, approximately four to six years into training, the importance of this quality quickly drops down for the next few years of elite performance. It certainly doesn't disappear, but the importance of other qualities must take over. An important warning: this discussion is about the Role of Hypertrophy, so don't read or understand this in a vacuum. Hypertrophy, bodybuilding, is the elephant in the room in sport training: it is an obvious issue that no one wants to talk about very much. Its role is not nearly as important as technique, game preparation, tactics, injury prevention, recruiting or perhaps dozens of other qualities, but bodybuilding sits in the weight room and has to be discussed.

The elite athlete who is still worried about modeling for photo shoots probably only has a season or two left in the game.

Just a few years ago, a professional football player in a speed position became obsessed with bodybuilding. As he got larger and larger, his game skills evaporated, as he was now too large to make efficient movements on the field. After being the cover on a bodybuilding magazine, his skills diminished until he was out of the league in a year. His bodyweight increases, although laudable for the "look," ended his playing career.

Bill Walsh, the late great football coach who led the San Francisco 49ers to several Super Bowls, was often credited with purposely not gathering athletes that simply looked good. He famously looked for players with a winning competitive mindset and seemed, according to some observers, to avoid athletes with any tendencies towards narcissism. The elite athlete in the prime of their career needs to focus nearly blindly on the goal and avoid too much work on looking good in the part.

Hypertrophy's role has a few years of little importance. Towards the end of a career, there probably will be a rise in the role, especially in sports that have a long career such as the throwing sports. After retirement, it would be wise to transition for a few years with basic bodybuilding in the truest sense of the word: repairing the sport related injuries and adjusting and adapting the body from all the overwork of the specific training.

Literally, as one ages, one begins the "fight for life." There is no truer indicator of actual age than the amount of lean body mass. An undermuscled and overfat body is not only unappealing but also unhealthy. As one moves into the last decades of life, time spent in the gym might improve the quality of life geometrically.

The shape of the Role of Hypertrophy resembles a reverse, fallen down S curve. It starts up a gradual curve, comes back down (but not to zero!) and then continues in "importance" literally until death. Keeping lean body mass as long as one can is the fountain of youth.

The problem with standard hypertrophy programs, beside their built-in boredom (at least for the strength or power athlete), is their inability to jack up intensity. We tend to let accumulated fatigue, which is good in the case of high rep squats, to limit the load. By breaking apart the sets just a little bit, you can add more weight to the bar and actually cut rest periods between what we traditionally called "sets."

For example, I have shared an interesting way to do the German Volume Training, the ten sets of ten, workouts. Rather than letting reps 60-100 dictate the load, we play with this rep scheme: 2-3-5-10. We use the same weight each "set" and rep and strive to do a total of five of these clusters. It adds up to 100 reps, with only five sets being that rep reducing tough set of ten. What is amazing about this program is that you often find that you put the bar down or in the rack and almost immediately do the double because that set of ten was hard but "anybody" can do two. Oddly, the triple is done quite quickly and, as I often think, "might as well do the five, too. So, between those hellacious tens, you nail ten more reps with surprising little rest.

If hypertrophy honestly is "time under load" or "time under tension," it logically follows that more load (because you are NOT doing ten sets of ten and roasting yourself in the process) in less time would lead to greater muscle mass. Now, you don't have to do 100 reps. Oddly, I have found that doing three clusters (2-3-5-10-2-3-5-10-2-3-5-10) seems to be enough for any athlete. It is better to leave a little in the tank, especially for a drug-free athlete, than to go to the edge with this magic 100-rep barrier.

What is actually more exciting is a very interesting variation on the five by five workout. The reps simply drop out the last set of ten, so we have 2-3-5. There are two very innovative changes that seem to really work well in the 'big lifts,' the Bench Press, the Military Press, the Squat (all its variations) and the Deadlift. As I noted in other settings, writings and workshops about "five sets of five,” the big issue is, of course, what do "you" mean by 5 x 5? Since writing an article about five sets of five, I am even more confused about the dozens of variations of what I used to consider the simplest workout for bulk and power.

Here are the two innovations: first, stick with one weight throughout the workout. Of course, you know that, but with this rep scheme of 2-3-5-2-3-5-2-3, you can handle far more load than the traditional five sets of five. You are not held back by that heavy last set of five that often forces one to take a lighter first four sets. Certainly, some of the options, like the Wave, have value, but this has been an issue for many of us for years. Yes, I realize that someone is going to a comment something like "I thought 5 x 5 was obvious," then add a whole new variation that no one has ever seen before.

With this first option, the lifter only has to deal with two big sets of five. So, try to find a weight that forces you to give it all (obvious note: get a good spotter on the Bench and Squat) on that second set of five. The same odd rest issue shows up: for whatever reason, and I am sure the science guys know the biology behind this, it is a quick recovery to get that double in after the heavy set of five. And, once again, since you have nothing better to do, that triple often happens out of breath. I would suggest only timing the whole duration of this variation and see how fast all 25 reps are finished. Honestly, it goes fast even with a serious load. Small reminder: this is not a powerlifting workout! It is intended for the use of our audience interested in a nice mix of power and bulk. Again, if you have more plates on the bar and the workout finishes faster, isn't that hypertrophy training?

The second option is really opening my athletes’ eyes. It is so simple of an adjustment, many will dismiss it and note that "I've been there, done that." Well, good for you. Let's review the second option.

First Cluster: 2-3-5
Now, ADD weight!
Second Cluster: 2-3-5
Add more weight.
Third Cluster: 2-3-5
Challenge Cluster
Add more weight.
2-3-5

You can use the first Cluster as a warm up of sorts and what is funny is that the program begins to take on the one of the earliest recognized programs in lifting, the DeLorme Workout.

This second variation can reflect those numbers except we focus on the five-rep max (a number in many people's experience that rewards bodybuilding training more than higher reps). Try this variation in a simple workout after any kind of intelligent workout. I have been training my athletes with the second variation (40 total reps, three plate changes) with the Front Squat, Bench Press and Power Clean (or Power Curl, a curl grip clean using the legs) mixed with some Hurdle Walkovers and some Farmer Bar Walks. This is not a fancy workout, but the load really impacts the athletes. If you can do some kind of Hurdle Walkover or hip mobility work during a training session that has a squat and deadlift or clean variation, I strongly recommend it. I also like to finish this workout with a Farmer Walk, but keep it within reason.

If you want to build “Armor,” not just simply a little more muscle for the beach season, focus on two things. First, always emphasize the muscles that “people only see when you are walking away.” Fear the athlete with big glutes, big calves, big hamstrings, big spinal erectors, big traps and big delts. This athlete is built to win. Biceps and Pecs might make for good photos, or as Strength Coach Casey Sutera chants about these muscles: “If you Tri to get Bi, you’ll get Trapped by these guns.” (Triceps, Biceps, Trapezius and a Most Muscular shot!)

The exercises that seem to build Armor the best are:

With a Barbell:
Zercher Squats
Suitcase Deadlifts
Snatch Grip Deadlifts
Bench Press
Curls (Try doing them with a Thick Bar!)

The Kettlebell can surprise you. On the Armor building, the Zercher Squat is an appropriate barbell lift. A "better" choice might be the Double Kettlebell Clean and Front Squat. It is an exercise best worked in ladders:

1 Clean and 1 Front Squat
2 Cleans and 2 Front Squats
3 Cleans and 3 Front Squats

Doing this up to five is an excellent way to understand the intensity needed for hypertrophy. A fun "test" is to do this up to ten reps (55 Front Squats without putting the weights down?), but that might be a once in a lifetime training test. The next day, enjoy finding your Rhomboids, Traps, Obliques, Thighs and Abs. Then you can ask what muscle this builds!