Mentoring and Fitness Training with Saswat

 This post is meant to describe free weight bodybuilding exercises. Especially those done with dumbbells or barbells. However, maybe in theory, it can be used to describe other exercises as well.  The 4 levels are Starter, Novice, Intermediate and Advanced, and within each of these there are sublevels as well. The highest sublevel of one class is the same as the lowest of the next class.  Starter : The defining trait of the starter class is that they do not yet have the skill to do the exercise with good form in a way that is optimally conducive to hypertrophy and strength gain. Depending on the level, their form is either never good from the start, or breaks down when they start to feel fatigue.  sublevel 1: A level one starter is unable to do the exercise with form that is safe to use with heavier weights even when there is virtually no load.  sublevel 2: Level two starters are able to do the exercise proper form under light load, however, their form breaks do...

I will divide these exercises into 5 base categories. Squat, push, pull, hinge and crunch. That doesn't mean you always need to be trying to improve at all 5 at the same time. In fact that is counter productive. but this is a useful list.  Some exercises, such as tuck jumps and burpees, are combo exercises, these are excluded from this list. Remember, if you are not tracking your exercises, you are not training seriously. Don't swap exercises too fast, give each at least 2 months before swapping.  Squat: bodyweight squat goblet squat back squat low bar back squat front squat safety bar squat landmine squat Hindu squat Bulgarian Split Squat Side Split Squat hinge: Conventional Deadlift Sumo deadlift running sprints hip thrust glute raises hack squats back hyperextension good morning reverse hyperextension Pull: pull-ups chin-up neutral pull-ups wide grip pull-up narrow grip all combinations of above bench dumbell rows Kroc rows t bar rows splayed dumbell rows face pulls shrugs ...

H ypertrophy, muscle growth, is the adaptation of your muscles to be capable of handling heavier weights for higher reps and greater range of motion over about a 2 week period. Note, that I said that hypertrophy is meant to make you CAPABLE of more mechanical work. It usually, but not always, requires you to do more work to adapt to.  With this definition, one can figure that increasing loads, increasing reps, greater range of motion, greater frequency of exercise, and less rest in between exercises, can all help drive hypertrophy.  However, there is one more key to hypertrophy, that may not be as obvious, and that is novelty.  See my previous post about exercise levels. It makes it clear that the more advanced you are at an exercise, the more diminished its returns. When it comes to hypertrophy, it is well known that the most hypertrophy is gained in the novice phase of an exercise, as the vast majority of strength gained in the starter phase is from neural adaptations t...

You probably saw me on Quora. Years of writing answers on Quora on physical fitness have told me that a lot of you people need more than just answers to your questions, you need help. Not all help is for the public. Some are better done in private, via voice or video call, or even in person, some of you simply need someone to talk to or a mentor. Some of you need an outright personal trainer or diet planner as well.   A mentor is one of the most valuable things anyone can have. No one ever became great without a mentor. Someone with more experience to help them, guide them, answer their most difficult questions, and stay with them in hard times. Thus, this page is dedicated to my mentoring services. You could ask me questions you want to be kept private, talk to me over the phone or even have me help you with whatever you want fitness related for the whole week or month.   I could charge much more for this, and as a Quora author with nearly 450 thousand views, people...