The Six Pack of Knowledge: Thought Leaders in Hypertrophy

Find Our Podcasts: iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, YouTube, Stitcher, PlayerFM, PodBean

This is a set of interviews with some of the leading minds and thought leaders working in the industry today. I am your host, Tom MacCormick, a personal trainer and online coach. A few things make these podcasts unique, and I hope enjoyable and inspiring: I am trying to curate the greatest hypertrophy experts on the planet. I think we have gotten off to a good start with the experts below.

Secondly, I am constantly working with clients in the gym and online, people who face challenges that are unique to them but all with the common goal of being fit, healthy, and showing those results in their physiques. So, I have plenty of questions and experiences to bear on the conversations in these podcasts.

All these podcasts, taken individually or together, represent the cutting edge in human performance and hypertrophy training. It’s based on solid research, extensive expertise, and knowledge gained through real-world training practices.

How to Grow Like a New Lifter After Lockdown

Calvin Huynh is a trainer, online coach, and writer. He is the founder of Awesome Fitness Science. Calvin’s delves deep into the scientific research and then distils the information into easy to understand and actionable guidelines.

His articles teach you everything you need to know to look good naked, live healthy, and perform like a beast.

In this special episode, we discuss the best way to approach your training post-lockdown. Get a pen and paper handy to take notes as you’ll learn how to determine the number of days you should train, how many exercises to do, what intensity to work at, and how many sets to do.

Calvin also identifies the surprising opportunities presented from time away from the gym and how to capitalise on these to make newbie-like gains.

If you’ve been out of the gym for a while and relying on bodyweight workouts or minimal equipment during lockdown then you don’t want to miss this!

Nerding Out on Muscle Growth, Strength, and Rep Schemes

Greg Nuckols is a record-holding powerlifter, fitness writer, podcaster, and all-round training nerd owner of Stronger by Science. He aims to help lifters and coaches to train smarter.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The predictors of muscular potential
• Training guidelines for hypertrophy
• The role of strength in hypertrophy
• Why he’s not drinking the effective reps Kool-Aid

Muscle Dysmorphia and Building a World-Class Set of Legs

Adam Bisek is a coach equally at home in person or online. He describes his job as the chance to change lives. To that end, he also believes that personal training should be just as described, personal.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How muscle dysmorphia shaped Adam’s fitness journey
• How he got perspective and found that his struggles were actually a blessing in disguise
• The importance of intention if you want to achieve success
• How to build a world-class set of legs

The Underpinning Reason That Stops You From Building Muscle

Luke Leaman is a coach, fitness educator and founder of Muscle Nerds, the company he formed after becoming disgruntled with the industry and the lack of empathy and science in it.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The underpinning reason that stops people from building muscle
• How to measure your overall health and stress status with three simple metrics
• Why leas mode is a secret to unlocking your beast mode and a whole lot more

Getting Bigger, Getting Stronger, Getting Smarter

Daniel DeBrocke is a strength and conditioning coach who primarily works with powerlifters and is an educator who works hard to share his knowledge without asking for anything in return. As a competitive powerlifter, he holds a 1700 lbs raw total. DeBrocke has also written Is Lifting Heavy Weight Important For Building Muscle Size? among other great articles on Breaking Muscle.

In this episode we discuss:

• How he took himself from 165 to 286 pounds
• How beginners can gain muscle most efficiently
• How advanced lifters should sequence their training for optimal progress
• Pivot blocks, strategic variation, developing work capacity, and a whole lot more

Controlling the Chaos of Training in CrossFit

James Fitzgerald has over 20 years of experience as a strength coach. He was also the CrossFit games champion in 2007 and is the founder of OPEX, the education provider for coaches seeking career success, longevity, and fulfillment.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Controlling the chaos of training for CrossFit
• Why you should not do energy systems work if you want to build muscle
• The importance of the gut in gaining muscle and strength
• Why a cyclical approach to your trading and diet is wise

The Role of Cardio in Hypertrophy and Why Are CrossFitters So Jacked

Kyle Hunt started out his fitness journey as an 85-pound kid who wanted to wrestle and now runs an online strength and conditioning consulting business. He prides himself on helping people to reach their goals in the most time-efficient way possible.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The role of cardio in hypertrophy
• Why CrossFitters are so jacked
• How to program cardio if you want muscle mass without getting out of breath, tying your shoelaces
• How to periodize both your training and diet for maximum results
• The forgotten phase of training that so many people miss out on

Training Frequency and Stubborn Muscle Groups

Juma Iraki is the founder of Iraki nutrition, a Norwegian company that consists of exercise scientists, sports, nutritionists and researchers that provide training, nutrition, education, and consultation related services to businesses and athletes.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Training frequency for size and why it’s a variable. A lot of people get wrong specialization phases for stubborn muscle groups
• How many calories you need to gain lean muscle
• How quickly you should gain weight when bulking
• The two supplements that work and the other two that might work

Three Simple Changes for Strength and Growth

Wolfgang Unsoeld of the Your Personal Strength Institute is a coach based in Stuttgart, Germany, who has worked with elite athletes from 20 different sports. The vast majority of his business, however, is spent working with general population clients with whom he’s developed a reputation as a world leader in body transformations.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The similarities and differences between gen pop and elite athletes
• The key measurement tools he utilizes to track progress
• The three simple changes he makes to every single one of his clients’ training, diet and lifestyle habits
• And a popular new fad fitness trend, which is a little more than an illusion designed to sell programs

Keystone Habits of a Lean Physique

Our guest for this episode is Abel Csabai. Abel got into the nutrition and training game as a part of his quest for personal growth. He started the Sustainable Self-Development podcast. Through hundreds of hours of podcasting and his own fitness journey, Abel got the chance to be mentored and educated by some of the best of the industry which has allowed him to collate all these philosophies to create his unique take on things.

In this episode we discuss:

• The harsh lessons he has learned whilst trying to get big and shredded
• The keystone habits for sustaining a lean physique
• The power of mindfulness
• And realistic body fat percentages for cutting and bulking

Building Muscle Whether You Have Elite Genetics or Not

Our guest for this episode is Menno Henselmans. Menno is an online physique coach, scientific researcher, and fitness educator who traded his company car to follow his passion for fitness.

In this episode, go in-depth on:

• If hard gainers really exist
• How to predict your genetic potential for muscle growth
• Realistic rates of muscle gain
• How to establish your ideal training volumes and frequencies
• The fact that Menno stopped counting how many countries he’d lived in at 50! Yes, 50!

Getting Your Head in the Game for Muscle Gain

Our guest for this episode is Valentin Tambosi. Valentin is a Natural Pro Bodybuilder, Prep Coach, and Educator through the Intelligent Strength Coach Program.

His passion for training shines through on this episode and you can really feel that he gets a kick out of helping people to reach their fitness goals.

In this episode, we go in-depth on:

• The required mindset for muscle gain
• The intensity of effort required
• Creating the ideal training environment
• The power of visualization
• And we go into detail on the nitty-gritty of programming training to maximize growth. Specifically, identifying the 3 key pillars of muscle gain

We then round the show off with some key training strategies for the chest, biceps, and back.

Maximizing Your Return on Investment in the Gym

Borge Fagerli’s background as an engineer and later on as an entrepreneur and CEO has enabled him to put his methods into a step-by-step system that can transform your health, appearance and your performance – both mentally and physically.

Borge has been in the industry for over 20 years and is the creator of “Myo-reps” – one of the most time-efficient and effective training strategies to build muscle.

As a 45-year-old father and business owner, Borge is an expert on how busy guys can achieve exceptional results without having to sacrifice their lifestyle.

In this episode, we go in-depth on:

• What causes muscle to grow
• Effective reps
• Junk volume
• Maximizing your return on investment with training
• Myo-reps

And a shocking revelation about him!

Staying Open-Minded but, Sceptical to Achieve Elite Performance

Our guest for this episode is Dr. Andy Galpin. Andy is a tenured Professor in the Center for Sports Performance at CSU Fullerton. He is a pioneer in the field of human performance education and has his finger on the pulse of all the cutting-edge modalities you can use to level up in your athletic pursuits.

In this episode, we dive deep on all things muscle building. Andy channels both his inner-bro and inner-nerd to give you a host of golden nuggets you can take away and apply to improve your results.

The Number 1 Factor That Dictates If You Build Muscle, Strength, and Power

Dr. John Rusin is one of the fitness and sports performance industry’s leading experts in the pain-free performance training model that blends the world of strength and conditioning with clinical movement based diagnostic medicine to provide the ultimate results based methods.

In this episode, we discuss, red flags that might be holding you back, the 6 foundational movement patterns and how to develop strength in them, how to bulletproof your body, and why strength is never a weakness.

The Difference between Discipline and Motivation with JC Deen

Our guest for this episode is JC Deen. JC has been involved in athletics for over a decade, and now works as a fitness consultant to fitness enthusiasts and athletes all across the globe.

He whips people into shape and helps them learn how to make fitness complement their lives, as opposed to ruling it.

In this episode, we discuss the importance of having a mentor. The psychology of achieving your goals. The lessons he learned getting ripped for the first time. How to develop positive habits and rituals, a surprising fact about his past, and a whole lot more.

Increasing the ROI on Your Diet and Training with Eric Bach

Eric Bach describes himself as a bacon, bourbon, coffee connoisseur, and overly invested sports fan. For a decade has helped high school, college, and pro athletes. Helps guys to build confident, strong, athletic bodies. Works both in-person and online.

Eric has tried all the industry BS gimmicks. Discovered they didn’t work and has boiled his training down to the following motto… “Success lies in the relentless pursuit of the basics.”

In the episode, we discuss the basics of building an athletic and aesthetic physique, the key muscle building habits you need to know, common mistakes most lifters are making, how fast you can realistically build muscle, and a whole bunch more.

The Skinny Advantage with Brad Borland

Starting out as a scrawny 125lb kid at six feet, two inches, Brad Borland took up weight training at the tender age of fourteen and ended up a 220lb competitive, drug-free, natural bodybuilder several years later. Now, armed with both knowledge and muscle, he has helped countless individuals domestically and abroad.

Brad is also a University Lecturer with a Master’s degree in Kinesiology and a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) with the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA).

We discuss a wide range of subjects including, why people use genetics as an excuse, realistic rates of gain for a natural lifter, how to filter the information overload the modern lifter is bombarded with, and Brad’s favorite way to train if you want to build muscle as quickly as possible.

Strategies That Can Take You from Good to Great in the Gym

Our guest for this episode is Dr. Joel Seedman. With over 15 years of personal and team training, strength coaching, and nutritional counseling experience, Joel works with a wide variety of clientele.

To maximize performance and health, Joel focuses on improving his clients’ muscle function and movement mechanics. By doing this, all characteristics of performance, fitness, and health improve-no matter the athlete or training goal.

In this episode, we dive deep on what causes muscle to grow, the role of genetics on muscle and strength gains, the benefits of eccentric isometrics, factors that might inhibit your progress, and that Joel is the most interesting man on the planet.

Re-Kindling the Passion – Lessons from a World Champion

Our guest for this episode is Damian Lees. Damian is a Personal Trainer, Online Prep Coach, and WNBF Pro Natural Bodybuilder. He placed second at the world championships. In the interview, we go in-depth on how you can apply the principles and strategies he’s learned, from years as a top-level competitive natural bodybuilder to your own training. These tips will help you to maximize your results.

We discuss the mistakes he’s made in the past, how to balance family, work, and social life with elite performance, what holds people back from making the progress they are capable of, kitting out a home gym and much, much more!

How to Become Ruthlessly Efficient in the Gym

Our guest for this episode is Michael Goulden. Michael is a personal trainer and he founded his training facility, Integra way back in 1997. Since then he has been integrating exercise mechanics with neuromuscular preparation to create a uniquely sustainable approach to health, fitness, and performance. On top of this, he has gone on to become one of the leading fitness educators in the UK.

In this episode, we take a deep dive into all things exercise mechanics. Within the conversation we discuss:

• The importance of exercise mechanics on training efficiency
• Considerations for individualizing the process
• Active V Passive
• Matching exercises and programs to goals
• And providing a full contractile range challenge to muscles

Feedback Welcome

If you enjoyed these podcasts and took value from them, please rate and review to help us spread the word to motivate and inspire others to take their performance to the next level.

If you are interested in working with me or finding out more about my approach then follow me on Instagram @tommaccormick or visit my website tommaccormick.com.