As an advanced strength athlete, it becomes increasingly difficult to build muscle mass and strength. But there are gains to be made by optimizing every aspect of the process: training, nutrition and recovery. It then increasingly comes down to details and some of these are discussed in a podcast by coach Adam Peeler, who interviews coach and author Menno Henselmans. You can read the most interesting questions and answers below.

WHY ARE YOU IN FAVOR OF HIGH TRAINING FREQUENCIES? (1:05)

I think a high training frequency is superior if you have a high training volume. For example, if you do 10 sets per week for a muscle group, it makes little difference whether you do them in one or more sessions. But more experienced strength athletes who do 15 sets or more, for example, benefit from spreading them over two or more sessions.

A higher training frequency offers several advantages. You can do more volume in the first place. The maximum volume per workout that you can benefit from is about 10 sets per muscle group. So if you train a muscle group only once a week, you can actually only do 10 sets, the rest is junk volume. Secondly, the quality of the sets is better. Suppose you do 6 sets of squats in one workout. You then achieve a higher quality (more reps) when you divide it into 2 x 3 sets over the week. Third, some studies suggest that you recover better if you use a higher training frequency. The latter is different than you might expect. It probably has to do with a better testosterone-to-cortisol ratio, reduced muscle damage per session and better sleep quality (because training improves sleep).

I also look purely at the scientific literature. Numerous studies on exercise frequency and muscle growth have been conducted. The vast majority show no differences between a low and high frequency, but that is because the participants, mostly recreational strength athletes, use low volumes. However, there are also a handful of studies, six I believe, that do show a benefit of a high training frequency. And that’s interesting enough for experienced strength athletes who want to optimize everything.

WHAT IS THE IDEAL TRAINING-REST RATIO? AND IS IT OKAY TO TRAIN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK? (8:36)

We already saw that the benefit of training frequency is largely in line with training volume: there is a limit to how much productive volume you can do per session (about 10 sets per muscle group), so the more volume you want to do in total, the more you benefit from spreading that volume. For experienced strength athletes with high training volumes, this can even mean training seven days a week. Something that should be possible if your training program, diet and rest are in order.

It is logical that we organize our training according to the structure of the Gregorian calendar. Keep in mind, however, that there is nothing magical about a week, day or hour from the training point of view. You can train daily and only take a rest day if you feel that your body is ready for it. Likewise, you don’t have to rest on the same day or days every week. You can also determine that based on how you feel and what your daily life allows.

And there is not really an ideal ratio between training and rest. It depends on many personal factors and it also depends on how you look at that ratio. If you train daily, the ratio in days is 7:0, but in hours per day 1:23 (if you train one hour a day). The latter is still a lot less than, for example, with Olympic athletes, who train several hours a day.

In short, as a strength athlete you can handle quite something. Overtraining isn’t a myth, but it doesn’t happen that quickly.

HOW IMPORTANT IS CALORIE CYCLING? (14:14)

Unfortunately, no direct research has yet been conducted into calorie cycling, which means that you use a lower calorie intake on rest days than on training days. But I think there is some logic behind doing this.

After training, the so-called anabolic window opens, in which muscle growth takes place. That window can stay open for up to 48 hours or more. However, the peak is in the first hours after training. And there are some studies showing that concentrating your calorie intake between exercise and nighttime sleep gives you a better distribution of nutrients (more nutrition goes to muscle growth). This suggests that you arrive with fewer calories in a later phase of the anabolic window. For that reason, you could consume fewer calories on rest days. And if you have two consecutive rest days, you can even handle a significant calorie deficit on the second rest day, provided you keep your protein intake high.

Moreover, if you don’t use calorie cycling, you even achieve the opposite: on rest days you burn fewer calories (perhaps 500 kcal less because you do not train) and so you end up with an equal calorie intake than on training days. For that reason alone, it is not optimal if you use the same calorie level every day.

Calorie cycling is typically something that is especially important for advanced users. This is partly because advanced users have a narrower anabolic window than beginners.

HOW IMPORTANT ARE NUTRIENT TIMING AND MEAL FREQUENCY? (21:33)

Certainly not as important as total calorie and protein intake. Research does suggest that three to four meals a day is better than two. In addition, it is advisable to plan your training exactly between two meals. In the bulk, you may need more meals, up to six a day, if you have a high calorie intake and eat a mostly healthy diet.

WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT DIGESTIVE PROBLEMS? (26:09)

Consistency plays a role in this: use a fixed meal frequency and eat at fixed times. But the most important thing is your food choices: your body tolerates some foods better than others. To find out if a food is causing problems, you need to eliminate it from your diet for at least a week and then see what effect that has.

By the way, remember that consistency in food choices can also contribute to good digestion: if you eat a food often, your body gets used to it and can process it better. That way you can, for example, build up more tolerance to gluten.

Digestive problems are often caused by plant foods, not protein, as is commonly believed.

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BULKING AS A NATURAL AND AS A USER OF STEROIDS? (32:17)

When bulking, the trick is to find the sweet spot where you build maximum muscle mass without increasing fat mass. After all, studies show that from a certain point you build up little or no muscle mass and instead almost exclusively fat mass. For example, with an energy surplus of 5% you build muscle mass without fat, and with a surplus of 15% you hardly have more muscle mass and therefore only fat for the rest.

There is also such a sweet spot with steroids users, but it is much higher than with naturals. Moreover, the muscle-fat ratio is more favourable: even beyond the sweet spot you still build a relatively large amount of muscle mass.

For steroids users, everything has to be much more aggressive: the bulking, the training volume, the training intensity and so on. This is the only way to make optimal use of the steroids.

WHAT IS THE CONSTRAINED ENERGY EXPENDITURE MODEL AND DO YOU THINK IT IS CORRECT? (37:19)

In the constrained energy expenditure model, the body adapts to increased physical activity by reducing the energy spent on other physiological activities. In other words, more physical activity (e.g. cardio) means more energy expenditure, but from a certain point the extra energy expenditure becomes less and less. As a result, you burn fewer calories in total than you might think.

There are many studies, both animal and human studies, that confirm the correctness of this model. The question is which physiological activities the body will cut back on. I think that ‘s NEAT: Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis, the whole of spontaneous, often unconscious movements. So it is probably the same mechanism that occurs when you start cutting: the body adapts your metabolism by cutting back on NEAT, so that your total energy consumption goes down.

Usually you don’t have to worry too much about the constrained energy expenditure model. The principle mainly occurs in people who are already quite lean and who do a lot of cardio, especially LISS (Low Intensity Steady State).

WHAT DOES HAVING ‘GOOD GENES’ MEAN FOR ACHIEVING A CERTAIN BODY COMPOSITION? (48:32)

‘Good genes’ is in itself a very abstract concept. It is very difficult to determine purely on the basis of genes how quickly and how much muscle mass a person can build. It is something that must be shown in practice: after six months of strength training you can say something about someone’s genetic potential.

Striking: how muscular someone is by nature says nothing about how much muscle mass that person can build. Intuitively, many people think otherwise, but studies have confirmed this time and again. And the pace at which muscle mass is built up does not always say something about the muscle growth potential. For example, I have a client who builds muscle mass very slowly, but after five years of training he still makes gains and therefore still has not reached his natural potential.

ISN’T IT MAINLY ABOUT CONSISTENCY AND MINDSET IF YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE SUCCESS AND NOT SO MUCH ABOUT GOOD OR BAD GENES? (52:12)

Absolute. Motivation and commitment are much more important than genetics.

But even great effort in itself is not always sufficient. At some point in your training career, you also have to do things right: the right training program with the right training volume, the right amount of nutrition and so on. This is especially true for more experienced strength athletes: as a beginner you can get away with a lot thanks to a high training sensitivity.

I don’t believe in hard gainers or non-responders either. Often they can indeed build muscle mass, but the training program is simply not suitable for them. For example, they have to do more or less volume.