Paul Becker - Muscles in Minutes

This is my write up of a training/supplement program I was on. The total program lasted 9 weeks and in that time I actually gained 20 lbs! I went from 174 to 194, now I have in the past weighed 188 and some of this was regained muscle, but on top of that I put on a fresh new 6 pounds.

Ok, some background on how I thought up this program, as you may already know, suggested programs for hardgainers are short and infrequent. I got to thinking that “what if you trained even shorter workouts and did them more often?”. I was on a busy schedule and still wanted to train so I decided to try this to see how it worked.

I knew pre exhaust workouts were a very effective method, but in the past I had only done it here and there for one or another body part and I had never done it for every muscle group for weeks at a time. Below is the routine I used, most workouts lasted 5 minutes or less.

Workout 1 (Chest)
Dumbbell Fly
With no rest do Bench Press

Workout 2 (Back)
Dumbbell Pullover
With no rest do Row

Workout 3 (Shoulders)
Lateral Raise
With no rest do Press Behind Neck

Workout 4 (Legs)
Leg Curl
Leg Extension
With no rest do Barbell Squat

Workout 5 (Arms)
1 Rep Chin (Go very slow, 30 seconds up and 30 seconds down)
With no rest do Standing Barbell Curl

1 Rep Dip (Go very slow, 30 seconds down and 30 seconds up)
With no rest do Tricep Exertions

I did do a warm up of a lighter set of the compound exercise then I did just one hard work set as listed above. I tired to add weight to the exercises each and every workout and I stayed in the 6 to 9 rep range, except on the chin and dip which is done for a painfully slow 1 rep.

The first 2 weeks I worked out Monday through Friday and took the weekends off, each muscle group was being hit once a week, but the soreness from the last workout was interfering with the next workout and I switched to training every other day. After 3 weeks I gained 11 pounds and then the gains seemed to slow down.

Starting week 4 I began taking a hormone precursor supplement and my gains started up again, I gained another 9 pounds over the next 6 weeks!

On diet I followed a zone type plan (40% Carbs, 30% protein and 30% fat) and I ate up to 7 to 8 times a day.

This program is very different then any you will see in the glossy muscle magazines but it sure does work, and if any one is feeling he can’t train because he “doesn’t have the time”, I’m sure you can squeeze in 5 mins every other day to make some great gains!