Training guides
Volume, proximity to failure, progression, protein and sleep. No hype, sources in plain sight.
33 guides
Hypertrophy 22 guides
What decides whether you grow: sets, proximity to failure, progression and exercise choice.
How many sets a muscle needs per week
The number that decides whether you grow. Not four, not forty.
Hypertrophy4 min readClose to failure, not always to failure
What RIR is, why you leave one or two reps in the tank, and when to push.
Hypertrophy3 min readProgress without stalling: double progression
When to add weight, when to add reps, and why not both at once.
Hypertrophy3 min readHow long to rest between sets
Two minutes is not a quirk: it is the reps on your next set.
Hypertrophy3 min readOnce a week per muscle is not enough
Why splitting your volume over two or three days beats one hammering.
Hypertrophy3 min readProtein: how much and how to spread it
The daily total is what matters. The exact timing, far less than you hear.
Hypertrophy3 min readStalled: what to check before switching routines
It is almost never the routine. Five things to check first.
Hypertrophy4 min readHeavy or light? The rep range that builds muscle
Between 5 and 30 reps you grow much the same. What changes is the price each set charges you.
Hypertrophy4 min readPartial reps where the muscle is long
A badly chosen half rep is a wasted half rep. In the right place, it is one of the few things that genuinely adds something.
Hypertrophy4 min readHow fast to move the weight
No yanking, no slow motion. A controlled way down and intent on the way up.
Hypertrophy3 min readFree weights, machines and cables: how to choose
There are no magic exercises and no forbidden ones. There are exercises you can do well today.
Hypertrophy4 min readSupersets: when they save time and when they cost you
They are for fitting the same work into less time. Not for fitting in more work.
Hypertrophy3 min readWarming up for a heavy set
Five minutes and three ramp-up sets. Neither twenty minutes of stretching nor walking in cold.
Hypertrophy3 min readIs training forearms worth it?
If your grip stops your pulls, yes. If not, it is the first thing to cut.
Hypertrophy3 min readThe lower back: train it instead of guarding it
Your lower back is not made of glass. It is muscle, and it answers to load like the rest.
Hypertrophy4 min readLat pulldown to the chest or behind the neck
One you can load heavy for life. The other needs a shoulder almost nobody has.
Hypertrophy3 min readShould women train differently?
Muscle answers the same way. What changes is the goal, the starting point and recovery between sets.
Hypertrophy4 min readThree-day full body: the programme almost nobody needs to improve
Three sessions, the whole body in each, and near-three weekly frequency per muscle without living in the gym.
Hypertrophy4 min readFour days at frequency two: how to split it
Upper and lower twice each. The best result-per-day structure there is.
Hypertrophy4 min readHow much muscle you can actually gain
The honest numbers: per month, per year, and why year two looks nothing like year one.
Hypertrophy4 min readWhat age can you start lifting?
Earlier than the legend says, and with less danger than the story suggests.
Hypertrophy3 min readOne set to absolute failure: what holds up from HIT
One-set-per-exercise programmes with long rests did work. What does not hold is the “and it is optimal” part.
Hypertrophy4 min readRecovery and niggles 5 guides
Sleeping, deloading, and telling a niggle from an injury.
Muscle is built while you sleep
Training is the signal; sleep is when the work actually gets done.
Recovery and niggles3 min readSoreness or injury: when to keep going and when to stop
Telling soreness from a warning, and what to do with each.
Recovery and niggles3 min readThe deload week: when and how
Not a holiday and not a magazine fad. It is lowering the dose so the next one works again.
Recovery and niggles3 min readHow long a muscle takes to recover
One to three days, depending on what you did to it. Soreness is not the clock.
Recovery and niggles3 min readShoulders: warming up the cuff without wasting the day
Four small muscles holding the most mobile joint in the body. Two sets are enough.
Recovery and niggles3 min readHow the app works 6 guides
The Novastra manual, screen by screen.
The first five minutes
Pick a plan, train, see what happens at the end. That is all.
How the app works2 min readInside the workout screen
The one you will use most, and the one hiding the most.
How the app works3 min readRoutines, programs and other people
What each one is, where they come from, what sharing actually sends.
How the app works3 min readWhat each chart is looking at
Progress has six things and each answers a different question.
How the app works3 min readCosmos: what is shared and what is not
Box by box, and what never leaves even if you tick everything.
How the app works2 min readYour data: cloud, backups and importing
Where your history lives, how to get it out, how to bring it in.
How the app works3 min readNo guide matches that. Try “volume”, “sleep”, or clear the filter.
Supplements: what has evidence and what doesn't
This is general information written from the training literature, not medical advice or a personalised plan. If you take medication, have a health condition or something genuinely hurts, the person to ask is a healthcare professional.