Episode Transcript
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Philip Pape (00:01):
Now most lifters
choose between getting strong or
building size.
Today, I'm introducing my newfive-day power building template
, called Resolute, that isintended to do both at the same
time.
You'll learn how three-week reprange rotations can keep you
progressing without plateaus,why starting every session with
your heaviest main liftmaximizes gains, and how
(00:25):
dedicating one full day tospecialization can accelerate
your overall development.
Welcome to Wits and Weights,the show that helps you build a
strong, healthy physique usingevidence, engineering and
(00:45):
efficiency.
I'm your host, philip Pape, andtoday I'm sharing something
that I've been developing for awhile behind the scenes.
It is called Resolute and it ismy new five-day power building
template designed to maximizeboth strength and size or muscle
growth simultaneously.
It's available exclusivelyinside Wits and Weights Physique
University, but today I want tobreak down the principles
(01:06):
behind it and why it works, andhow you can apply these concepts
to your own training.
If you want Resolute, asmentioned, it's available only
inside Physique University,which you can join for just 27 a
month using the link forpodcast listeners in the show
notes, and if you use that link,I'll build out your custom
nutrition plan for free.
You'll be able to grab thetemplate.
(01:30):
Get any of our other templates,learn how to use them and get
support as you make adjustmentsor substitutions or deal with
your own personal limitations,whether it's equipment, physical
or otherwise.
So last month I had a call withsomeone I'm going to call him
Mike.
Mike had been lifting for aboutthree years, so he was kind of
on the intermediate level oftraining and he had been
constantly switching programs,bouncing between programs every
few months or so it wasn't likeevery week, but it was every few
(01:53):
months.
He would go from a powerlifting program and get a bit
stronger with his numbers, butthen he wanted to improve his
physique, so he'd switched tobodybuilding and he built some
muscle there, but then some ofhis main lifts would stagnate.
He didn't feel like he wasreally making overall progress
and I think that problem isn'tunique.
It's the inevitable result ofhow not only how programs are
(02:16):
designed, but how people thinkthey need to apply specific
programs at specific times.
That may not be right for themand what they really want to do
is what you really want to do istreat strength and hypertrophy,
you know, not like oil andwater, like they're completely
separate things, but therethere's a massive overlap.
We talked about this in thestrength versus hypertrophy
(02:36):
episode, and people get stuck intheir head that I'm either
training for strength you know,powerlifting, max numbers, peak
intensity or I'm training forsize, and that you have to pick
a lane every time.
And I think the research showsthat for practical purposes, for
everyday people just trying todo both because we all have, we
tend to have both of thosedesires.
(02:57):
I mean, I will talk to peoplewho just don't care about their
strength whatsoever, but that'srare.
The research shows that theseare not opposing forces and that
if you can get stronger, it'sgoing to give you size.
If you can build some size,it's going to help push up your
strength, and there'speriodization between these.
They're synergistic.
But there's also a way to dothem concurrently.
In many cases, the stronger youare, the more weight you can
(03:20):
use for the hypertrophy work.
So wouldn't it be interesting,if you're getting strong while
also applying that tohypertrophy, the more muscle you
then have, the better yourleverages, the stronger you
become?
Most likely you are probablyeating to gain a bit of weight
as well, and so you can take themuscle size that you're
building and feed it back intoyour main lifts and getting
(03:40):
stronger.
So instead of trying tooptimize them separately, which
for some people, will takelonger, cause more frustration
and also is almost too optimal,if you will, right For the
everyday person who's just goingto work out four days a week,
maybe in their home gym, ormaybe they only have an hour.
You can design one system wherethey enhance the other as you
(04:01):
go along, and I've learned thisfrom some of the best out there,
including my current coach,andy Baker.
We see it in differentapplications of strength
development, including in thepowerlifting world, where they
understand that becomingwell-rounded and hitting your
weak spots then translates tostrength.
So the program I put together isa little bit of a blend of the
best of what I've learned fromsome of these other coaches.
(04:22):
Again, it's called Resolute andin that plan the idea is that
you can go for quite a while andpush your main lifts at
moderate strength levels whilealso making your hypertrophy
work more effective, and thenvice versa, back and forth
virtuous cycle, and the wholething is sustainable because you
(04:43):
rarely need deloads the wayit's designed, with resets and
waves.
So I think it's.
You know, I'll admit it, I'mstanding on the shoulder of
giants here, but I've also putthese things in practice myself
and worked with clients who havetried them, and I'm taking the
best of all these together anddesigning this with a both end
(05:03):
approach.
So we're going to talk aboutthe main pieces of the program,
and these are things you coulddo on your own.
You don't have to join us toget the program or to get the
template, but if you do, it'llbe all prescribed, spelled out
nicely, and I even include inthe template a starter set of
all the lifts.
In other words, you could runthose lifts, as is almost
(05:25):
indefinitely, and I put it intoBoost Camp, so you'll get a link
where, if you want to use BoostCamp, the workout app, it's
preloaded in there for 12 weeks,right?
So the main thing there is thefirst lift of the day.
This is the three-week rep range, and I stole this idea from
concepts like Jim Wendler 531,from Andy Baker's KSC Power
Building, which is an 852.
(05:47):
And what I'm doing here ishaving you work in rep ranges
but also rotate those reps.
So week one You're working inthe six to eight rep range, week
two in the three to five reprange, week three in the two to
three, and I like the ranges inthis case.
It gives you a little bit moreof that auto-regulation, rather
than absolutely having toprogress on a certain rep range.
(06:08):
It gives you someauto-regulation, gives you a
little more flexibility for someof the bumps and bruises and
dings and recovery issues thatwe face.
Also makes it a little biteasier to run during fat loss,
because a lot of our studentsare trying to do this during fat
loss.
So it gives you a little moreallowance to be able to push the
weight up, even if you say,drop a rep as long as you're
(06:29):
still in the rep range andyou're pushing those rep ranges
independently over the threeweeks later.
Right?
So the six to eight rep range,you're gonna push it up three
weeks later.
Right, so the six to eight reprange, you're gonna push it up
three weeks later in terms ofweight, you're gonna keep
pushing it up until you dropbelow the rep range and then
you're gonna do a reset.
That's really it, and you'regonna do that independently for
(06:49):
each rep range.
So if your two to three reps isdriving up but your three to
five reps drops, the three tofive reps gets reset, the two to
three reps keeps going, right,and all of this is explained in
words in the template itself.
Now you might be thinking, okay,that's just periodization, but
I don't think it is.
I think traditionalperiodization moves you through
(07:10):
phases linearly, right.
You spend like four to sixweeks in one rep range and then
you move to another.
I think five, three, one isbuilt on that and part of the
problem there is, by the timeyou cycle back to a rep range or
a specific number of reps, youyou might've lost some of the
training or adaptations that youbuilt there.
Um, and for my client base andthose of you listening, most of
(07:31):
you are beginner, novice,intermediate, late intermediate
as opposed to more advancedtrainees, and I think this kind
of weekly system will progressyou better because you can get
higher frequency.
I hope I'm not losing you guysin explaining all this.
Okay, it's all spelled out inthe template.
If you join Physique University, so if you stop providing a
stimulus to a particular reprange, you're going to slowly
(07:53):
start detraining in that reprange, which is not always a
terrible thing if you're stillgetting the movement pattern in
within other rep ranges.
But this kind of splits thedifference and helps you do both
right.
You do six to eight reps, thenyou do three to five, then you
do two to three and now you'reback to six to eight just three
weeks later, and you've kept themovement pattern going in the
meantime and the different repranges help the other rep ranges
(08:16):
right.
So you are never more than twoweeks away from a rep range,
your adaptations stay fresh,your strength stays kind of
where it needs to be and at thesame time you're building some
size, and I think there'sresearch that shows this kind of
approach is really solid.
Hey, this is Philip, and beforewe continue, I want to talk
about cookware.
We all love to make our ownfood.
(08:36):
I love nonstick pans.
The problem is I've avoidedthem for years because when they
get scratched, when they getheated, they can release
microplastics, pfas smallparticles that can accumulate
over time in the body and somestudies have shown them to be
linked to health issues.
If you're optimizing yournutrition and making lots of
food for you and your family athome, it doesn't make sense to
(08:57):
compromise that withquestionable cookware.
So that's why I was interestedwhen Chef's Foundry, who is
sponsoring this episode, showedme their ceramic cookware.
It's called the P600 and usesSwiss-engineered ceramic coating
which has no Teflon, no PFAS,no plastic components.
It is nonstick.
It works on all stovetops.
(09:18):
It goes straight into the oven.
All the things you need ifyou're trying to cook a lot of
your meals at home.
Right now you can get the P600at 50% off by going to
witsandweightscom slash chefsfoundry.
You'll also get a bunch ofaccessories with that.
There's a whole page thatexplains what you'll get for
that discounted 50% off.
Go to witsandweightscom slashchefs foundry or click the link
(09:40):
in the show notes.
All right, let's get back to theshow.
You know Mike Zordos and theircolleagues showed that
undulating periodization, whichis varying the intensity in
shorter timeframes, is gonnaproduce superior strength gains
compared to a linear progression.
This assumes you've gottenthrough your novice linear
progression.
It also produces betterhypertrophy because you're using
(10:00):
heavier loads more frequently,right?
So it's a combination of theheavier and lighter loads in the
rotation.
Every session in Resolute startswith a big barbell movement.
When you're fresh, squat benchdead overhead.
The four main lifts it's fourdays.
That's four of the five days.
So stay tuned.
I'll explain what the four mainlifts.
It's four days, that's four ofthe five days.
So stay tuned, I'll explainwhat the fifth day is.
And that's kind of anintelligent design to push all
(10:24):
those lifts up and toaccessorize around them.
You have only so much energy,only so much focus and strength
in each session, right?
Some of you are doing thisduring fat loss, so you have
even less, and a lot of programswill scatter this across
multiple exercises where, likethe squat, sandwich between leg
press and lunge, or if you'retalking full body or the bench,
(10:44):
comes after three other pressingmovements and it's again.
It depends on your goal.
If your goal is to work on weakspots and variations, that
might need to come first beforeyou hit the main lift.
But resolute, it's powerbuilding.
So we're prioritizing whatmatters most and that's the most
neurologically demanding liftand that gets your, gets you in
(11:05):
your peak fresh state.
Then you're focused, you'refiring all cylinders.
You could do the warmup withthat lift.
You can develop that movementpattern, attack it right.
It demands the most from yourentire system and it then drives
everything else right.
A stronger squat means you canuse heavier weights on lunges,
for example.
A bigger bench means theaccessory pressing can carry
more load.
The main lift sets the ceilingfor what follows, so it kind of
(11:28):
primes you.
I really love that approach andit's a very traditional
approach because it works Afterthe main lift, resolute
introduces the developmentallift and this is a concept I've
seen in many of the best andthen dropping to a very light
rep flat dumbbell bench.
(12:00):
You're actually dropping theload just a little bit and doing
sets of eight.
So, just to be clear, it's setsof eight, so it's an
interesting rep range, but it'sa fixed number of reps so that
you can focus on progressingexactly that lift with those
reps over time as developmentalvariation.
So, for example, after heavysquats you might do pause squats
(12:20):
.
Right right After bench pressyou might do close grip or
incline.
So it's very similar and itreinforces the main lift without
competing with it, and thathelps also with fatigue and
recovery.
The developmental lift, thewhole point of it, is to address
weaknesses in the main lift butalso add volume in a way that
enhances instead of detractingfrom the primary goal.
(12:40):
Because if, for example, yourbench stalls because of weakness
in your tricep, the close gripbench as your developmental lift
attacks that limitation andthis is where customization can
occur, right, if you're inPhysique University and you're
like you, look, I'm reallytrying to work on this part of
my body Is this the bestdevelopmental lift?
We could say no, why don't youdo this one instead?
Right, why don't you do apaused or a spotto press or a
(13:03):
Larson press instead?
And a lot of programs.
They either skip that approachor they just kind of move on to
completely unrelated variations.
And I'm not saying that's bad.
Again, it depends on your goal.
It depends on your goal.
But I think this is a veryintelligent approach.
We're trying to put in therewhere it's like, instead of a
redundant stress, it's acomplimentary stress, so you get
(13:25):
a little bit extra benefit, notso much fatigue built up, and
you're attacking the main liftand supporting the main lift.
So again, resolute's availableexclusively inside Physique
University, which you can joinusing the podcast listener link
in the show notes.
If you do, it's still 27 amonth, but you'll get a free
custom nutrition plan and thenwhen you jump in free custom
(13:46):
nutrition plan and then when youjump in, I can show you
immediately where to find thattraining template.
So another thing I thinkseparates Resolute from a lot of
the power building programs yousee, is the fifth day is a
specialization day dedicatedentirely to back and arms.
And I think I love focusing onthe back and arms because both
from a physique perspective.
They get neglected and peoplewant to develop them.
(14:07):
And from a health symmetry,supporting your other lifts,
perspective, injury prevention,supporting your shoulders, for
example.
People don't realize that thevalue of the back being strong
to support your shoulders.
So I'm not talking about thebig rope-like back development
you get from deadlifts, I'mtalking about a little bit more
direct work on your lats, yourrhomboids, your rear delts,
(14:30):
right, kind of that mid to upperback area.
And then of course, arms.
We you know men and women alllike to have stronger, bigger
looking arms.
And although you hit arms bothdirectly and indirectly
throughout the week, you thencan specialize on the weekend
and hit them really hard as thevery last part of the session.
You then can specialize on theweekend and hit them really hard
as the very last part of thesession.
And so that's what I wanted todo with the power building here
is really reserve some back andarm specialization for that last
(14:52):
day, but you're still hittingthe back and arms during the
week.
So you're getting a decentamount of volume, but it's
spread out really nicely andthen you get that, you get that
Saturday or you get the the.
You get the Saturday and Sundayoff If you do it five days
straight or you can take a dayoff in the middle.
We have a couple of ways to dothat.
We can show you in the templateitself in Physique University.
If you join, there's not reallya right or wrong because it's
(15:14):
designed with fatigue recoverybuilt in, even if you do them
five days straight.
So the reason I like backstrength is it also translates
to your pressing strength.
Your arm development translatesto everything, also translates
to your physique and we knowthat performance is limited by
your weakest component and it'soften hard to figure out what
(15:36):
that is.
But for a lot of lifters,that's back strength, that's
also their arms right.
So you know, triceps are hugein a lot of movements and they
often get a little bit neglected, even though they come along
for the ride with things likepull-ups and chin-ups and close
grip bench and even rows.
Hitting them directly ishelpful.
So we don't want weak backs.
Strong backs are extremelyhelpful.
(15:58):
Benching is supported by yourlats for stability.
Squat supported by your back.
In terms of you know,especially if you're doing,
let's say, a safety squat bar, alot of you are using that now.
It actually really helps tohave that strong back.
Your upper back can round underload, so really strengthening
that can help.
So we're dedicating an entiresession to back development and
trying to remove that bottleneckand also help with the things
(16:19):
people want, which is that thatlook right.
And then we can't pretend thataesthetics don't matter, because
they do.
Big arms make everything lookbetter, especially triceps.
People think it's the biceps,but it's the triceps and they
help fill out your shirt andthey are the difference between
for some people looking like youlift and not, and so we throw
it in there Again.
You can completely alter thisif you want and say I'm going to
(16:40):
do leg specialization,understanding that there's going
to be a fatigue cost dependingon how you change the program.
So again, I'm trying to do thisintelligently, with a purpose
rather than random.
And one of the things I wantedto think about here was deloads,
because I think there's a lotof misunderstanding about how to
use deloads and how and whenand what they are.
(17:01):
I think a really well-designedprogram is such that you almost
never need to use a deloadunless you feel the fatigue
building up and then I'll sayintuitively, decide that you
need that.
The three-week waves and theresets Make it so that you have
a very good chance ofdissipating fatigue without
(17:22):
needing deloads.
Where the deload might beneeded is if you're in a fat
loss phase, don't have a lot ofresources, you're not getting
enough sleep, you're not eatingenough right, you have too much
stress.
So these are all things thatwould cause a deload, simply
because there are othervariables outside the gym that
are affecting your training.
But also after you run this for,let's say, three or four waves,
so nine or 12 weeks, you mightfind that you need to deload
(17:44):
just because of built-up fatiguefor your personal
recoverability, or because thelifts are getting a little bit
stale and you want to do a reset.
And then you want to switch tosubstitute some of the
variations and accessories oreven the main lifts right, even
the main lifts.
And that's why I think I havewritten in there every nine to
12 weeks if necessary.
And when you do a deload,there's a couple of different
(18:06):
ways to do that beyond the scopeof today's program.
But for a lot of people that'sgonna be dropping the intensity
just a bit and cutting out someaccessory work, right?
Not a wholesale, likeelimination of days, although in
a five-day power buildingprogram that is another option.
You can drop to maybe threedays for that week.
You know, three or four days,just hit the main lifts and a
variation and be done with it.
There's a lot of different waysto do it.
(18:27):
My goal is that you don't evenneed a deload, so we're not
forcing you to take a deload.
I'm not saying you have to takeit.
It's going to depend on are yourecovering well, are you
progressing, are you feelinggood?
Why interrupt the momentum ifall those things are good?
That's my point.
And you'll know when yourperformance stagnates or
declines.
And that's why we measurebiofeedback, we track our lifts.
You know we look at our, makesure the volume is right for us.
(18:50):
Even when you start a programlike this, even if you're fully
resourced and nourished, the wayit's written may be too much
for you or it may not be enough,right.
I think the volume is prettyreasonable for the average
person, but I can definitely see, again in a fat loss phase or
something like that, where youwould need to reduce it.
So the the deload, you know youwant to keep training your
(19:10):
nervous system, keep handlingthose movement patterns, but
you're going to give your tissuea little bit more recovery if
you need it right If you need it.
So I want you to think aboutprogram design here, because
that's this episode is reallyabout the design.
Yes, I'm telling you about atemplate.
I would love to have you inPhysique University because I
know if you join you're going tobe extremely successful and
learn finally how to lift theright way and progress and then
(19:31):
actually get the result you want, which is building muscle and
then losing fat.
But program design-wise, a lotof lifters approach training
like following a recipe.
Right, it's like it's kind ofinteresting.
It's like here is a program andI'm going to follow it and I'm
going to get the result.
But we talk about engineeringsystems all the time and the
best systems here are adaptive.
(19:52):
So all of my training templatesthey're called templates
because they're frameworks.
It's not just here follow thisexact program.
It's here's the template andwhy as a starting point.
Now let's tweak, based on howyou're responding, what you need
, what you like, just like withfood.
It's like if I gave you a mealplan as opposed to a meal
framework.
Right, a meal framework mightbe here's your calories, here's
(20:14):
your macros, here's your microgoals, here's all the foods you
like.
Now you can mix and match theway you want it.
Now, when, when it comes totraining, people like a little
more guidance and a little morestructure right off the bat,
because it's a bit morechallenging to understand from
the overwhelming list ofexercises how to put it together
.
So that's why I think thesetemplates are a good launching
off point and the system does alot of the thinking for you,
(20:35):
which is we kind of need thatfrom a mental fatigue
perspective, but then you, yourthinking, or if we support you
in doing that, is to adapt toyour conditions and your
recoverability.
So it's not this like rigidprotocol that's just going to
break down from day one.
And once you understand theprinciples which, by the way, in
our training templates, one ofthe first sheets in there
describes all the mainprinciples and also some of the
(20:57):
tactical things like warming upthen you comply them to any
template, any goal, right.
If you want to focus more onstrength, you could adjust the
variation selection.
Or you can have more variationsof the same, more variations on
the main lifts in there.
You could have lower rep ranges.
Right.
If you want more size and youwant to modify the rep ranges if
(21:18):
you're dealing with an injury,right, you can swap out lifts.
There's a lot of ways to modifyit.
So it's not just following aprogram.
It's okay.
I'm engineering my trainingaround this template and
building a skill that serves mefor the rest of my lifting
career.
I love this stuff.
Okay, so I'm excited aboutResolute.
It's not just a great programor technically template.
It represents a, an intentionalway of thinking about strength
(21:40):
and size, not as competing goals, but how to collaborate and
putting them together.
And then throw in some of thatfun but helpful specialization
as well and make it adaptive,make it a bit auto-regulated and
help you systematically addressthe things that are lagging but
also allow the things that areprogressing to continue
progressing right.
It's designed for real people,real lifters who have real lives
, who are trying to combineeverything into right.
(22:01):
It's designed for real people,real lifters who have real lives
, who are trying to combineeverything into one in an
intelligent, efficient way.
It might not be the 99.999%optimal for each, but it's 95%
optimal for both.
So if you're looking forefficiency, that's where
Resolute delivers and that'swhat thinking about systems
brings to your training.
And you'll get stronger, you'llbuild size.
(22:23):
You'll get both probably fasterthan you thought possible.
Probably faster than you'vebeen able to in the past.
So if you wanna stop choosingbetween them, if you wanna start
building with a power buildingapproach, resolute is waiting.
We've got it already up andrunning inside Physique
University.
And if someone else is lookingfor a good program or a template
template, text this episode toa friend who's been struggling.
(22:43):
I think they'll thank you, foryou know the ideas, the
programming principles and youguys can probably put together
this program yourself.
I'll be honest.
But we've got it all set up foryou.
So use the link in the shownotes to join, get a free
nutrition plan, come in and getresolute and until next time,
keep using your wits liftingthose weights and remember you
don't have to choose betweenstrong and jacked when you
(23:04):
engineer a system for both.
I'll talk to you next time hereon the Wits and Weights Podcast
.