J3 University – Applied Hypertrophy Optimization

This is the classroom teaching on the nuts and bolts to programming for hypertrophy prior to us heading into the gym. We teach what is the main driver of hypertrophy on the fiber level and how that impacts what we do in the gym outlining the main tenants for a well designed hypertrophy program (sets, reps, split, etc) and get into a framework of why a body part is weak and what we will do about it.

Luke and I both hear many issues around Pec training, from not feeling the pecs to injuries and so much of this can be solved with proper alignment and setting what is YOUR active range of motion. We will lay out how to assess a client’s rib cage structure and expansion to give the right pressing angles for the entire curricular and sternal pec fibers.

Every division, male or female, needs some level of cannonball capped delts. The shoulder is complex with such a large range of mobility and function. We take you through overhead pressing, lateral raises, and rear delt work to fully develop all heads of the delts. Some common issues addressed are lack of mobility, military pressing overhead, shoulder impingement, and traps taking over laterals, we got you covered here.

We teach how to set up a squat for output and biasing quad involvement. Also, we cover when to move to variations such as safety bar, smith, pendulum and hack squat along with common problems arising in squat patterns. We take you through detailed instructions for all the major quad exercises and  how to get the most quad bias for maximum hypertrophy.

Whether it’s a seated or lying leg curl we teach how to get in position to generate the most tension stimulus in your hamstrings and take out the lower back from taking over. Then we tackle the big question, of which hip hinge to do? Sumo Deadlift, Conventional Deadlift, Stiff Leg Deadlift or Romanian Deadlift we break them all down and give you the application you need.

Whether the goal is an apple bottom or striated walnut ass, you better know how to set up for glute training. Many don’t achieve those striated glutes, not from lack of conditioning, but lack of development. We dive into our main stays for glute programming and take you through to get the most out of your hip thrust variation and how to squat and hip hinge for glutes.

(TERES MAJOR, TRAPS, RHOMBOIDS, REAR DELTS) The upper back is a huge focal point in a rear double bicep, we want thick mountain-like 3D muscularity that jumps out at the judges. Many issues we see is that clients are unaware of which row or pull down is training which part of the back. In the gym lecture, we walk through row and pull down patterns to focus on the upper back along with a shrug pattern different from most we see utilized in programming.

In lat training, alignment and appropriate exercise selection are going to be the keys to success when it comes to developing barn door backs with lats that sweep the floor. In this module, we teach you where we will be able to drive the most tension through the lat, what exercise choices allow most bodybuilders to best drive mechanical tension, and common problems we see arise in lat based patterns. From pull downs, to rows, to pullovers, we walk you through how to set up, execute, and progress your lat training over time.

Biceps are such a defining muscle group for muscularity “how big are your biceps?!” We all strive to surpass the 20” python mark, but we must first nail down the curls with the biggest bang for the buck. We walk through traditional dumbbell curls, preacher curls, and cable curls, but use alignment, execution techniques that optimize each set you do and best of all keep your joints healthy.

We cover push downs, dips, skull crusher variations, and pressing variations to make that happen. We both have struggled with nagging wrist and elbow pain, which can be resolved by finding the right positions to work in and using set up that keep the joints from reaching compromising end ranges.

Calves just like any muscle group respond to the same tenants of hypertrophy and in this lecture we go through how to align and give you the right cues to bring up calves. We also don’t neglect the ever so forgotten anterior tibialis muscle giving you a set up for a fully equipped lower limb.

A well chiseled midsection is not only made in the kitchen, but many of us require hypertrophy to occur for the rectus abdominis muscles. We also want to train the functional aspect of bracing and force transfer to get more out of all our other exercises. We breakdown some common misconceptions around abdominal training and go through upper and lower abdominal work.