In this episode of Hypertrophy Past & Present, Jake and Chris discuss how to build the biggest arms possible. The episode begins with a Golden Era arm routine from Chuck Sipes, before assessing the best exercises for both minimalist and maximalist arm programming.

Key topics include:

• Chuck Sipes’ Golden Era arm routine (biceps and triceps)
• How different exercises bias the brachialis, brachioradialis, and biceps brachii
• Why chin-ups are not actually a great biceps exercise
• Voluntary activation deficits and why exercise variety matters
• The difference between minimalist and maximalist programming
• Why arm muscles fatigue and damage more easily than most people think

In this episode of Hypertrophy Past & Present, Jake and Chris dive into whether more volume is always better. The episode opens in the late Silver Era with Sergio Oliva’s high-volume split, then pivots into a brand-new study that compares “high” vs “super high” volumes in trained lifters.

Key topics include:

• Sergio Oliva’s late-Silver Era routine
• New study 18 vs ~32 sets per week
• Why “more volume” didn’t produce more hypertrophy
• Damage as “resource drain” vs damage as fatigue
• No fascicle length changes in trained lifters (and what that implies about sarcomerogenesis)
• Practical programming tip, reframing “rest days” as repair days

In this episode of Hypertrophy Past & Present, Jake and Chris unpack a new hypertrophy study that illustrates how fatigue doesn’t just make training harder but can directly reduce the hypertrophic stimulus by lowering single-fibre mechanical tension. The episode opens in the Silver Era again with Henry Paschal’s 1950 “busy person” program then pivots into the core discussion: why fatigue mechanisms (CNS and calcium-ion related) dampen muscle growth, and what this implies for exercise order, rep ranges, and advanced training methods.

Key topics include:

• Henry Paschal’s 1950 routine
• A new “repetition duration” study
• How CNS fatigue and calcium-ion fatigue both serve the same function
• Why max effort and slow velocity don’t always equal max recruitment and max tension
• Programming implications: exercise order, rep ranges, RIR, clusters, and isometrics