How to Build Muscle (Step-by-Step) | Dan John

[@jacques3402]

I had never considered density until I heard you talk about it in several of your videos. It has really helped my presses. Thanks.

[@DanJohnStrengthCoach]

I'm so glad!

[@FinC1_]

Did the busy dad program for a few months last year and that's all about density and it is BRUTAL. Density training really is underrated, especially with pull-ups, getting X reps in 7 sets down to 4 sets always feels like an accomplishment.

[@DanJohnStrengthCoach]

Thank you for sharing this truth. It's hard to convince people that density is a under valued tool.

[@edwatson4997]

Excellent advice as always. Thank you sir.

[@DanJohnStrengthCoach]

Very welcome

[@SaucedOso]

This is quite possibly the best explanation of density training that I've heard. So easy to understand and set up for yourself. Thank you Dan

[@DanJohnStrengthCoach]

Glad it was helpful!

[@stevehall4130]

Thank you for the intelligent commentary. Very helpful information. As a 53 year old life long male athlete, I am still enjoying progress in my kettlebell lifts, but Man is it slow! However, I’m grateful…gains are gains! Be well!

[@DanJohnStrengthCoach]

Glad it was helpful!

[@DanJohnStrengthCoach]

Slow is okay

[@farstrider79]

I have always had a tendency to add weight too quickly, leading to burnout or injury. Over the last few months, I've only been adding weight after I achieve a certain amount mount of reps/sets four times. That way i know I didn't just have one random good day. Im trying to start thinking about where i want to be next year instead of rushing to next week.

[@DanJohnStrengthCoach]

That's wisdom here...

[@GPMicro24]

I love density training and have used it frequently in my training over the 15 years for several reasons. It helps a lot of things, and accelerates strength and work capacity gains after an injury. It's also great if you have equipment/gym access limitations, and saves time if you're busy. However, it is CRITICAL to pay attention to total load, especially when you increase weight. A lifter can increase weight by 5lbs or 10lbs thinking he/she has conquered something and moved up, but actually he/she may be moving less weight in terms of total volume when the reps reset down for greater weight. You have to be quick with math as you're training, and be able to accomodate things on the fly to get the most out of it.

[@DanJohnStrengthCoach]

That's an excellent summary.

[@patrickokeeffe4787]

I'm doing the ABC and I did 30 rounds EMON which is a nice workout in 30 mins which I like. So instead of going up in weight, I can cut back on time instead and let's say start over again and do my lifts every 50 seconds and aim for 30 rounds again and keep dropping in time?. So that's tweaking density and a form of progressive overload?

[@DanJohnStrengthCoach]

Absolutely

[@emilymount6007]

I like this

[@patrickokeeffe4787]

@@emilymount6007 Me too. You can run the program longer with the same weight. It's takes me about 20 secs to perform the exercises with 40 secs of rest. Hopefully I can knock a bit of time off of that as i get more proficient as i will need it as the rest shortens. When I can get to 30secs a round, I'll bump it up to 16kgs and back to EMON again and cycle that weight down

[@emilymount6007]

Thanks@@patrickokeeffe4787 , this is useful

[@gordon3988]

Some excellent advice here…I’d never really considered adjusting density as a viable option. Also it seems like an excellent way to reduce likelihood of injury…important for someone in their sixties like me.

[@DanJohnStrengthCoach]

Thank you...

[@gordon3988]

@@DanJohnStrengthCoach recent sub by the way…as I age I looking to stay strong and well conditioned. Your work will help!

[@stluciestrength]

Would this type of training work with deadlift? I’m currently doing a Power To The People type program, 5 reps but I usually do 3 sets instead of 2, at least while the weight is lower. Currently I’m adding 5 lbs each workout and will be up to 175 lbs next workout. So should I try to do 8+ sets of 5 reps at 165 or 170 lbs? Thanks

[@DanJohnStrengthCoach]

I've read, on the old Dragondoor forum, that "yes" some people really get this with deadlifts. Five pounds each workout? That will last a while I would imagine but you need to make sure you lighten up on some workouts. Progress is not a rocket launch.

[@user-xt2qr4ty1b]

Hey Dan, do you have any experience working with people who have ulnar/cubital nerve entrapment, and what exercises I can do to help me recover from it? It's been a couple months, and even though it improved I haven't been able to do any pressing without re-aggravating the nerve, so I've been avoiding that. Right now The exercises I do are Swings, Getups, and Pullups at lower reps ranges and with rings, but I really want to go back to pressing again. All physios generally keep recommending me the same tired old blueprint of stretches that don't really do much beyond momentary relief.

[@DanJohnStrengthCoach]

I’m sorry, I don’t know what that is. Also, I’m never comfortable giving medical advice.

[@slapndbass]

I love your method but I recently went back to doing a high intensity training routine. Low volume about 9 sets per body part 1x a week high intensity and boy has it been a revival for me. I got a bad knee injury a year ago. I'm still on workers comp. Blew out my knee and many rounds of cortisone shots and physical therapy. I refuse to use the cane I was given. I was allowed to return to working out upper body only. I can't do my kettlebell workout currently. I can't carry weights without excruciating pain. I'm currently awaiting surgery for knee reconstruction and cartlidge transplant. I also tore my quad and a bit of my hamstring. That has somewhat healed. About to get my first prp treatment this coming week. Since I couldn't train like I usually do I decided to give bodybuilding a try like I did in my late teens and early 20s(currently 37) at 23 I switched to powerlifting and strength training in general and got heavily into kettlebells the past few years as I find it the most optimal but with this injury sitting on my ass for a year I had to make a change and since I'm limited to using machines out of safety I went to my old journals and completely forgot I never did high volume or high amounts of sets. And I had switch from high volume to high intensity at 21 and recorded all my workouts in those 2 years before powerlifting. I was progressively overloading every 2 weeks. I called it locking in the gains. I think training optimetly 1x a week and resting that body part really helped me recover. I know it did it was in my logs. I also daveled into DC training which was kind of the same training but higher frequency. So I had an A and a B routine. Á upper body B lower body. So I do A Monday and Friday and B on Wednesday. Next week I'd do B on Monday and Friday and A on Wednesday. And I did that for 8 weeks with Saturday h.i.i.t. cardio quick 15 minutes and stretching. On the B week I'd do slow and steady incline treadmill for 30 minute or some bag work for cardio. I also wrote down never ever do this again for 12 weeks! I had s lot of physical fatigue and I took 2 weeks off. I'm glad my mom never threw that old box in my parents garage. I'll probably never squat over 700lbs again but I want to go back to looking like I still can.

[@DanJohnStrengthCoach]

Sounds good

[@diang1984]

So actually you talk about work production aka tonnage.

[@DanJohnStrengthCoach]

It’s one of several factors that we use in training. Volume, density and intensity.