MUSCLE METAMORPHOSIS by lifetime natural bodybuilder and PhD Nutrition-endorsed athlete, Dean Garratt

The programme
Over the last couple of years internet forums have transformed the landscape of UK bodybuilding, creating channels of communication that have brought our diverse community closer together. Pioneering this field, PhD Nutrition director Jason Rickaby’s natural training forum on www.uk-muscle.com has created a fantastic resource for all those willing to learn more about the sport, and it was here, sometime back in 2002, that I crossed virtual paths with internationally certified strength and fitness coach Gavin Laird. A prolific and insightful contributor to Jason’s UK-muscle forum, Gavin has sought to convey his extensive knowledge of periodised training in ways that match with the needs of aspiring and more seasoned bodybuilders alike. Over the last couple of years Gavin’s ideas have become more refined and this has culminated recently in the publication of an e-book entitled Ultimate Hypertrophy Training (www.ultimate-hypertrophy.com), where four specific and interrelated phases of training are set out as a system to enhance muscle growth, improve strength and create the physical environment for optimum condition. This short reflective piece highlights my own experience of employing this system, and provides an outline of the programme that, in just 10 weeks, helped transform my out-of-shape body into a physique that merited 4th place in the U70kg category of the UKBFF finals.

The need for change
After years of training, it is often easier to continue churning out the same old routines on the understanding that doing so will lead towards steady and continuous progress. Yet when this doesn’t happen, many become impatient and ultimately disillusioned. Some drop away from the sport, while others grow more firmly entrenched but increasingly dissatisfied with their overall lack of progress. About two-years ago, from a similar position, I began searching for ways of improving my physique and started to explore a range of alternative methods of training. Previously, I had always used a conventional split programme, training each body part every 5-7 days. However, as I began to survey a variety of different training theories, I was struck by the idea of increasing training frequency, and subsequently considered training each body part every 72 hours, through variations of an upper/lower body split routine. At first this seemed quite radical and in many ways contrary to everything I’d ever understood as ‘tried and tested’, conventional bodybuilding wisdom. Yet personal experience can be mightily powerful, so much so in fact I soon realised my old split programme had significant limitations, especially in terms of improving my condition as I began to prepare for several shows in 2003. A new way forward seemed ever more appealing and, in many ways, absolutely necessary.

The new programme
I needed a programme that would serve both to improve my condition and yet allow me to preserve lean muscle tissue. As soon as I began working with a 2-on/1-off programme, and started to increase the volume of sets in each workout, I noticed considerable improvements in my condition and in the quality and size of each muscle group trained. This approach also enabled me constantly to reinstate my body’s anabolic drive, through a more frequent turnover of workouts and permanently enhanced protein synthesis. More frequent sessions also created a stimulus for the increased output of growth hormone, and this response was further enhanced through the introduction of shorter rest periods between sets and higher rep ranges, utilising moderate weights in order to exploit lactate thresholds and hence prolong the ‘burn’ during training. Obviously, such a programme does not advocate training to absolute failure throughout, but rather deliberately works towards planned phases where mechanical stress, heavier loads and increased intensity are achieved through well-conceived, periodised cycles of training. The programme’s underlying rationale suggests that training more moderately in planned phases can help negate cumulative stress on the central nervous system (CNS) and hence help to avoid burnout. This is because, all things being equal, it is usually only chronic CNS fatigue that interferes with the possibility of regular training. In its absence, it becomes eminently feasible to train more often and yet still recover adequately in order to maintain progress. Later on, a different set of factors are emphasised to ensure that all training variables are covered to allow for continued progress through a dual factor approach. For the purpose of preparing for competition, however, I employed an extended second phase in order to concentrate on increasing the amount of work done over time. Thus, high frequency, high volume and increasingly short rest periods became key features of my reading of Laird’s UHT programme.

The Structure of the programme
My routine revolved around basic core exercises for upper and lower body that in most cases involved flexion around more than one joint and hence the potential to use poundages greater than my total bodyweight. In addition, I added a selection of single joint movements to extend my routine and further introduce elements of local isolation to my programme. In their entirety, all exercises worked across the full range of different planes of motion: vertical, horizontal and hip hinge. Here is a sample combination of exercises for workout one – upper body:

Bench press (horizontal plane): Pull up (vertical plane)
Incline dumbell press (horizontal plane): Bent-over barbell row (horizontal plane)
Hammer Strength press (horizontal plan): Deadlift (hip hinge)
Incline dumbell flyes (single joint movement): Hammer Strength high rows (single joint movement)
Seated dumbbell press (vertical plane): Hammer Strength low rows (single joint movement)
Standing lateral raises (single joint movement): Machine reverse flyes (single joint movement).

These exercises were combined in order to work (in the first instance) antagonist muscle groups i.e. chest and back, and as such were performed alternate style in order progressively to reduce rest periods between individual sets over the course of ten weeks. So, for example, I’d perform a set of bench press, rest 45 seconds then perform a set of chins, rest 45 seconds, before performing another set of bench press and so on. Typically, I’d alternate like this four or five times per exercise pairing before moving on to a different pair of alternate movements. Ultimately, rest periods were reduced to between 20-30 seconds between sets, which is ideal for allowing sufficient recovery of the designated muscle, but also effective in maintaining a highly demanding cardiovascular workout, thus removing the need for additional cardio first thing or post-workout. Obviously a programme of this type generates a lot of sets and it becomes more difficult over time to generate sufficient energy to sustain high levels of volume in a single workout – particularly when calories are continually in deficit. Recognising this, I decided to split my upper body routine into two separate, if not equally divided, units, comprising chest, back and delts in workout one (performed first thing at 6:30am) and then arms and abs in workout two (performed later in the day, typically 4:00pm). Again, this proved effective for a number of different reasons. One is that it allowed me to spread the volume of the workout across two sessions and hence benefit from having a period of recovery in between morning and evening sessions. Secondly, it allowed me to capitalise on two separate anabolic windows, with post-workout nutrients, including l-glutamine, creatine, simple carbs and whey isolate twice daily. Thirdly, it served to stimulate my metabolism at opposite ends of the day, which from a fat-burning perspective, proved to be ideal pre-contest. Fourthly, it allowed me to devote more energy to training my arms, when they would otherwise receive less energy and mental application at the end of an upper body workout. In contrast with the earlier workout, my arm routine typically comprised the following single joint movements:

Barbell curls - Lying EZ tricep extension
Machine Preacher curls – Cable pushdowns

Again, as with the early morning session, I always worked arms with alternate movements, usually taking 20-30 seconds rest in between heavy sets of curls and extensions and then super-setting machine work for the remainder of the workout.

The second day of the programme involved training lower body and this consisted of several basic core movements along with some single joint exercises, for variety and balance across the quad/hamstring area. Beginning with squats, a basic hip hinge movement, I aimed for 5 sets, with the goal of reducing rest periods from about 90 seconds at the beginning of the ten week phase to less than 60 seconds in the final fortnight. This was followed up with 3-4 sets of leg press with shorter rest periods of 30-45 seconds and then extensions, before finishing off my quads with dumbbell lunges (another hip hinge movement). I then utilised a single joint movement with seated leg curls (again taking only 30-45 seconds between sets), before completing the entire leg workout with 4 sets of standing calf raises.

Adapting the programme
This regime was employed from the beginning of the ten week phase up to the point where my fitness and recovery began to improve and I was then able to train upper and lower body on alternate days, without a rest day in between. As my condition improved, however, I decided (with about a month to go) to refine my workout by splitting up my upper body session over two separate days, allowing 72 hours rest in between trained body parts. The modified schedule looked something like this:

Day 1 – Chest and Back – worked as antagonists – alternating exercises.
Day 2 – Delts and Arms – working a multi-joint movement like seated dumbbell press alternately with a single joint movement like standing lateral raises. Biceps and triceps were trained alternate style as before.
Day 3 – Legs
Day 4 – Repeat Day 1 and so on.

Dietary Factors
Throughout the 10 week period my protein intake was kept relatively fixed at between 140-160 grams of protein per day, depending on the number of workouts per day. The remainder of the diet comprised carbohydrates and fats, which were cycled high and low throughout the designated period. Below, are two examples of my diet, comprising, first, a low carbohydrate high fat day and, secondly, a high carbohydrate, low fat day. I was pretty consistent in avoiding any combination of high carbs and high fats, as this has always proven counter-productive in promoting body fat loss:

Aug 23 2005
low carb day (approximately 130 grams of carbs, 75mls of UDOs)
5:45am - 2 peaches
6:30am - one scoop whey Protein with 3 grams of creatine
7:15am - chest and arms (40mins + 20 mins on incline treadmill)
8:15am - 2 bananas, one scoop of whey Protein and 5 grams of creatine
9:15am - 60grams of oats with one scoop of whey protein powder
12:15pm - Homemade organic vegetable thick soup (broccoli, cabbage, tomatoes, onion and low-salt vegetable stock cube) with half a can of tuna and 20mls of UDOs
3:15pm - same as 12:15pm
6:15pm - same as 12:15pm
8:25pm - 25 mins on incline treadmill
9:15pm - 15 mls of UDO with one scoop of whey protein.

4 litres of water.

Sept 20 2005
2:30am 70g oats with one scoop 25g whey Protein
2 apples spaced 1.5 hours apart with 10 grams of glutamine in 5 g doses in between
6:30am - Train - chest and back and abs.
PWO - two large bananas, 25g Whey Protein and 5g creatine
8:30am - 75g whole grain rice (cooked in vegetable stock cube), 150g broccoli 80g turkey (lightly dashed with soy sauce - for sodium)
9:00am - two teaspoons of psyllium husks in water
11:45am - 300g sweet potato, 80g turkey 200mg ALA
12:15pm - two teaspoons of psyllium husks in water
3:30pm - 100g sweet potato, 60g whole grain rice (cooked in vegetable stock cube), 200g broccoli and 80g turkey (lightly dashed with soy sauce for sodium)
6:30pm - 80g turkey and 100g asparagus.

5 litres of water.

As the show approached the less reliant I became on performing separate aerobic sessions, since I was sharp enough to rely exclusively on the manipulation of calories coupled with fast-paced weight training (Please note that fat-burners or thermogenic supplements were not used on this programme – only strong coffee before workouts!. Were I to undertake the same programme this year, I would use Lean Degree™). As can be seen from the radically different exemplars above, during late September I started to consume more carbohydrates compared with the previous month, when I employed a cycle of low carb, high fat days. This change in emphasis prevented me from fully adapting to any one dominant regime and was most effective in stoking my metabolism and hence facilitating steady and continuous fat loss. High levels of carbs allow the body to fill out in the final few weeks and worked especially well for me as I began to utilise a double-split programme.

So powerful was this method, I probably lost little more than 3-4 lbs over the final 5-6 weeks of the diet, yet became noticeably harder and more conditioned with each week that passed. Once again, these experiences provide compelling evidence that body weight (body mass) is merely one measure of physical improvement and appearance over time, and signals that a more accurate measure is often provided by the mirror, which shows changes in appearance, density and body composition over time. A key indicator in this respect involves checking the gluteal area, hamstrings and lower back. For while it is possible to achieve impressive condition from the front this can sometimes be misleading, as the rear of the physique is often found to be flagging behind. When the glutes are striated the body is likely to be fat-free and ‘ready’, and so this area should never be neglected.

A successful outcome
More than previously, this programme was effective in enabling me to retain more muscle tissue during a period of prolonged calorie restriction. Increasing the frequency of workouts allowed for increased growth hormone production, both on a daily basis and sometimes twice daily, when workouts were split between am and pm sessions. Overall, the increase in training frequency facilitated improved fitness and physical conditioning, which further accelerated recovery between workouts and reduced the incidence of profound muscle soreness, sometimes referred to as DOMS. Ultimately though, the success and effectiveness of the programme can be measured in terms of the physical transformation achieved, where in just 10 short weeks I produced my best natural package to date, presenting a physique that was some 7lbs heavier than my 2004 best.