Forty-two days. That’s the amount  of time we’re going to ask you to commit to packing on more muscle to your frame. That’s not a very long time, but by the end of the program, you’ll be begging for mercy.

For six weeks, you’ll follow a six-day (or three, if time is tight) training split that’ll require you to push beyond what your muscles can do alone. You’re also going to have to be comfortable eating far more food than you’re (probably) used to. 

All of this is the brainchild of IFBB Pro League bodybuilder and programming guru John Meadows, C.S.C.S. We’ve included a sample week from his six-week Project Colossus program. The tenets are outlined below, but here’s the gist: You’re going to lift as hard as you can, eat thousands of calories, and let your body guide your progression. When it’s all over, you’ll have the mass to show for it. 

Meadows’ Four Tips for a Successful Bulk-Up

Deloads: “There will be no deloads during this program. So suck it up and push as hard as you can for six weeks. Then you can back off for a bit.”

Progression: “One week you may do a certain number of reps, the next week you’ll add partials to that, and then the next week you may add an isometric hold on top of that.” 

Training split: “This is a push, pull, and leg program with optional pump days for each. That said, I do not expect you to do all six days. (You can if you’re a psycho, but that’s on you.) Instead, do all three main push, pull, and leg days [shown here] and add two pump days. If you want to focus on your upper body, you can tack on the push (pump) and pull (pump) days. Or, if you want to hit legs twice, add that into your routine and pick one of the additional upper-body days.” 

Recovery: “To really unlock your growth potential, make it your mission to reduce your stress outside of the gym (paying your bills on time helps big-time) and get a full night’s sleep. For sleep, my general guidelines are: 1) Get eight hours of sleep. 2) Turn off electronics two hours before bed. 3) Keep your room cool. 4) Don’t nap late in the afternoon.” 

How to Eat for More Mass

Directions: If you want to get big, you need to eat like it. Follow these guidelines as a starting point and adjust as necessary. It’s a lot of food, but you need to push it for six weeks.

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Example: For a 200 Pound Man: 4000 Calories / 250g Protein / 100g Fat/ 525g Carbs

*To find carbs: Multiply 250 x 4 (4 calories in a gram of protein) = 1,000. Then, 100 x 9 (9 calories in a gram of fat) = 900. Add them up (1,900) and subtract that from 4,000 (total calories). You’re left with 2,100. Divide that by 4 (the amount of calories in a carb), and you have your number.

How to Gauge Your Workload With RPE

Your rate of perceived exertion (RPE) determines how hard to work. Here’s how to decipher the RPE numbers listed below. 

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You’ll find combination exercises in plenty of our workout routines because we’re big fans of efficient workouts that maximize muscle gain and fat loss in a timely manner. When performed with an appropriate amount of weight, good combination moves—take the hammer curl to press, dumbbell squat to curl and press, or the reverse lunge to press, for example—target multiple muscle groups in one movement and help you get out of the gym quicker. 

Perhaps that’s the idea Armz Korleone had when he combined a 100kg (220-pound) bench press with situps for five reps. The internet bodybuilder, who has 20,000 YouTube subscribers, managed to do this by keeping his feet grounded with heavy dumbbells. 

Watch him hit chest and abs simultaneously here: 

100kg bench press into sit ups…
Summa round da corner gotta get my abs and chest ready 🤝 pic.twitter.com/BtpTb7KVFN

— A.K ☥ (@ArmzKorleone) February 28, 2020

 

Outlets such as ESPN picked up the video, and thousands have applauded Korleone for the feat of strength. Others, though, have warned he’s only putting himself at risk for serious injuries and aren’t overly impressed. 

Count personal trainer Gareth Sapstead, CSCS, among the latter. The UK-based “Fitness Maverick” says the combination does nothing other than drive up Korleone’s views.

“Neither your bench press nor your abdominal strength would benefit from such an exercise, largely because you’re under-loading one portion of the movement while struggling with the other,” Sapstead notes. Plus, he adds, lifting the bar to an overhead sit-up is “just plain stupidity.” 

Korleone states he’s trying to hit chest and abs with “summa” right around the corner, but Sapstead fears the lifter will only get an injury if he keeps this up. “Sorry to say, but what you might think will give you six pack abs, will more than likely give you a bad back and meaty hip flexors,” he says. “It might impress your gym buddies, but it’s neither a safe nor useful way to use the bench press.”

Instead, Sapstead recommends implementing more traditional supersets to hit abs and chest in the same workout. Just pick a go-to ab move (we have plenty to choose from here) to rep out immediately finishing your set of bench presses, then take a short break and repeat for as many sets as the workout calls for.  

“You can sufficiently load and improve your bench press, while the abdominal exercise won’t interfere with the weight you’re pressing,” he says. “It’s a great way to keep your workout intensity high, burn some extra calories, and save on time too.”

The abdominal plank is a staple in plenty of fitness regimens, but it’s safe to say most people aren’t exactly thrilled when a trainer calls for it during bootcamp class. Just a minute or two of planking will get the average gym goer’s core feeling like it’s on fire, so it’s impossible to imagine how former marine George Hood felt after planking for 8 hours, 15 minutes, and 15 seconds to set a new Guinness World Record. 

It would be an impressive feat at any age, but the fact that Hood set the record for “longest time in the plank position (male)” at 62 years old makes it all the more incredible and proves that age is truly just a number when you prioritize training. And this isn’t the first time he’s done it, either. Hood held the longest plank record back in 2011 after holding the position for an hour and 20 minutes, but he lost it in 2016 in a head-to-head battle with China’s Mao Weidong, who managed to hold a plank for 8 hours and, 1 minute, and 1 second.

 

 

 

 

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Its official and I’m so very proud of this one. Grateful for a TeamHood crew and support from around the world. Many thanks to Lis Begin at @beginproductions for her diligent work with GWR and the media outreach on my behalf. I’ll continue to share this experience as often as I can. With the setting of this particular GWR, I have officially retired the pose as I know it and will move onto other endeavors. This is the link to the GWR page detailing the event and our accomplishment. https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2020/2/a-retired-marine-just-broke-an-8-hour-plank-record-and-hes-62-years-old-609812 @renae.cobley @515fitnessinc @strengthaxle3d @diomariegrace @coffee.karen @beginproductions #pkank #worldrecords #mentalconditioning #teamhood #transformation #NowMattersNow

A post shared by George E. Hood (@hood4663) on Feb 21, 2020 at 6:26am PST

Hood, who has extensive military and law enforcement experience, set out to break the record to support a cause that’s close to him: destigmatizing mental illness and addressing it through fitness and professional help. He completed the record-breaking plank at 515 Fitness, a gym that does just that. 

“When you’re in a combat situation, and even in law enforcement with the agents that I used to work with, we get involved in shootings,” Hood told CNN. “Some people don’t handle it well because they’re burdened with other issues that are running in the background, whether it be marital issues, kid issues or financial problems. Sometimes those things can push people over the edge and they don’t know how to flush it out, how to talk about it.

“But when they walk through the door at 515 Fitness, there’s hope because there’s licensed clinicians there and trainers that will help them get well,” Hood explained. His final time—8 hours, 15 minutes, and 15 seconds—was another way he paid tribute to the gym and its cause. He didn’t need to plank for more than 8 hours, 1 minute, and 1 second, but he opted to keep going to hit a number that included 515 in some way. 

Leading up to his latest record, Hood trained for about 7 hours each day for 18 months, according to CNN. Guinness World Records reported that his training included a total of about 2,100 hours of planking. 

“It’s 4-5 hours a day in the plank pose. Then I do 700 pushups a day, 2,000 situps a day in sets of a hundred, 500 leg squats a day,” Hood, who also runs marathons, told CNN. “For upper body and the arms, I do approximately 300 arm curls a day.” 

With a training routine that rigorous, it’s no surprise that Hood is still breaking fitness world records at 62. 

Now that he’s broken the plank record yet again, Hood says he’s retired—from planking, that is. His next goal is to break the Guinness World Record for most pushups in one hour, which is currently 2,806. If we had to guess, it’s not a matter of if he can, but when we will achieve it. 

Strongman Eddie Hall is no stranger to setting world records. He holds the all-time deadlift record at 500kg (1,102 lbs.); the axle press world record at 476 lbs.; and an unofficial silver dollar deadlift (a deadlift with a barbell double the height of an average one) world record at 1,182 lbs.

And while he may be retired from Strongman competitions, Hall’s apparently not quite done setting world records.

The 2017 World’s Strongest Man recently set the world record for the Isabel CrossFit workout, which consists of 30 snatches with 135 lbs. for time, at the CrossFit European Championships.

Hall didn’t just break the old record of 1:20, previously held by CrossFit legend Rich Froning, he smashed it at 50.9 seconds.

Watch him in action here:

 

 

 

 

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I said I was gonna smash the crossfit world record for the GRACE/ISABEL workout, and here it is 🏋‍♀ Big shout out to @theeuropeanchampionships for hosting me, loved my first crossfit event’ il be back for another 💪 Head to my YouTube channel to watch the full vid’ Link in bio ↖️ #BackUpYourBull #WorldRecord Big Love Team Beast

A post shared by Eddie hall – The Beast (@eddiehallwsm) on Feb 26, 2020 at 11:05am PST

 

He made it look easy, but Hall admits in a YouTube video that the feat actually took quite a lot out of him. “Does it count if you die?” he joked while catching his breath.

CrossFit enthusiasts catch a lot of flack from internet trolls and gym bros, but “The Beast” has nothing but admiration for its athletes. “Like all due respect to CrossFit, that’s tough,” he told the crowd. “Really hard.”  

Hall only announced his intention to try to break the record about a week ago in a YouTube video. While he’s undoubtedly strong, the conditioning needed to hoist 135 lbs. in the air multiple times must have taken some serious training.

And now, he’s challenging anyone who thinks they can beat his new record to give it a shot. “I’ve thrown the gauntlet down,” he says in his YouTube video.  “If anyone in the CrossFit world, or the Strongman world, or powerlifting world thinks they can beat that well then have a go. Cause I guarantee you’ll have a heart attack.”

Who’s going to accept his challenge?

Elite powerlifter Julius Maddox just keeps getting stronger, and he shows no signs of slowing down. For the fourth time in under a year, the Kentuckian has set a new raw bench press world record—this time at 765 pounds. 

The lift is unofficial because it was done at his gym and not during competition, but that doesn’t make it any less impressive. Furthermore, the lift looked insanely easy for Maddox, and there was even a slight pause at the bottom.

Check out the lift here: 

 

 

 

 

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🚨PR ALERT 🚨 (347 kg) 765lbs X 1 “ROAD TO 800lb Raw Benchpress” ————————————————————— The people who tried to bury me didn’t know I was a seed “Be Irregular” ————————————————————— Handoff @fosjosh3 @official_iron_edge_gym @jailhousestrong @tuffwraps➡️Villain Wristwraps / promo Julius87 • @kalamazookeeper next meet / May 30th @mhpstrongusa supplements / irregularstrength @hustlebuttercbdluxe recovery • @revive.your.life • @bandbell • @lockjaw @texaspowerbars @irregular_strengthrob @benquilpierre ————————————————————— #phil413strong #powerlifting #sports #irregularathlete # #powerlifting #weights #strong #beirregular #benchpress #motivation #roadto750lbbenchpress #bodybuilding #muscularlyfat #fitlifestyle #motivate #inspire #hardwork #dedication #fitnessmotivation #trusttheprocess #uplift

A post shared by Julius Maddox (@irregular_strength) on Feb 22, 2020 at 10:44am PST

 

Maddox set his first raw bench world record in August when he pressed 739.6 pounds to break Kirill Sarychev’s world record of 738.5 pounds. Then in November, he benched 744.1 pounds at the Rob Hall Classic in Austin, TX. In January, he set another unofficial record at 755 pounds. 

Maddox is set on becoming the first human to accomplish a raw bench of 800 pounds, and from the looks of how easy 765 was, that feat seems to be a matter of when and not if he can do it. 

An 800-pound bench has only been accomplished with a bench shirt and other equipment—Houstonian Tiny Meeker holds the equipped bench press world record at 1,102 pounds. 

There’s a huge difference between an equipped lift and a raw one, and while Meeker’s record is nothing to scoff at, an 800-pound press by Maddox would be the most mind-boggling bench in recorded history. 

We can’t wait to see when he pulls it off.