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QUICK START GUIDE:

WHAT IS HRT(Z)ONE?
I had a lot of fun coming up with the
name for this unique protocol. HRT(z)
ONE is a single set (hence ONE) of
Hypertrophy Recomposition Training
(HRT; meaning this protocol releases
hormones that help build muscle and
burn fat), that puts you into the HURT
ZONE in record time.
A whole-body lactic acid maximization protocol. HRT(z)ONE is a single

set that you will do for 60, 90, or 120

seconds (for fast, mixed, and slow
fiber-type guys, respectively) before
every workout to maximize lactic acid
and growth hormone.
This is an ALL-OUT set for time
youll pick one of several exercises
provided and go til ya blow! We
chose these exercises because they
engage a lot of musculature which

means more lactic acid, more growth

hormone, and more results!
Just like Gollums preciousss, HRT(z)
ONE is the one set to rule them all,
making you lord and master over
YOUR gains domain. And dont be surprised if your friends start calling you
Gandalf (or, more accurately, Gaindalf),
because these sets work like magic.

NO NONSENSE MUSCLE BUILDING 2.0

HRT(z)ONE

WHY IS HRT(Z)
ONE SO
EFFECTIVE?
HRT(z)ONE is specifically designed to
maximize the output of lactic acid
and thus maximize growth hormone1to help build muscle and burn
fat (i.e., recomp your physique).
I designed the HRT(z)ONE protocol
to heavily tax your bodys glycolytic
energy system, the system where you
produce the greatest amount of lactic
acid2 which leads to the increasingly
painful burning sensation in the working muscles.
The harder you work during this allout set, the bigger the burn. And the
bigger the burn, the better! In fact, we
know that growth hormone levels are
very closely correlated with acidity
(i.e., that lactic acid burn) in the muscles. And growth hormone helps you
build muscle and strength3 in addition
to burning fat4.
Simply put, the deeper you dive into
the hurt zone, the better your results
will be. This is the perfect example of
that old adage, no pain, no gain.

In addition to these physiological

benefits, HRT(z)ONE will provide a
massive psychological boost at the
beginning of every single training
sessionjust when you need it most
so you can fully capitalize on each
and every rep, set and workout in your
No-Nonsense Muscle Building 2.0
program.
What better way to mentally prepare
yourself for the workout ahead than to
work your ass off before that workout
officially begins? HRT(z)ONE will force
you to discover a new threshold for
discomfort, whether you like it or not.
Get ready to break a sweat before
your main workout even begins, and
prepare to maintain that same level of intensity throughout the entire
workout. I guarantee, after youve
gone through a couple workouts and
a couple HRT(z)ONE sets, youre going
to find new gears on more than a few
exercises and think, Man, Ive really
been sandbagging it on a lot of my
sets.
In short, finding these new gears is
going to lead to new growth as youll
be squeezing more out of every single
sessionall because of a SINGLE set
done at the beginning of each workout!

HOW HRT(Z)ONE
IS DONE
Detailed directions are provided below,
but heres the gist: choose an exercise
from the menu below, use a weight/
resistance where youll fail at the very
end of the set, focus on performing as
many quality concentric contractions
as possible, and try your best to do
more work on each exercise every
time you use it.
1) After completing your usual warmup routine, prepare for your HRT(z)ONE
set by performing as many warm-up/
rehearsal sets as you need to maximize your performance on the all-out
set.
The goal here is to get some blood
into the working muscles and feel
completely confident with the movement without doing so much that you
prematurely fatigue the muscles.
Note that since fast-twitch guys are
going to lift the heaviest weights,
theyll typically require more warm-up
sets.

Just like your main NNMB 2.0 workout, your specific HRT(z)ONE set duration
is determined by your primary musclefiber type:

PRIMARY MUSCLE FIBER TYPE

HRT(z)ONE Duration

FAST TWITCH

MIXED FIBER

SLOW TWITCH

60 secs

90 secs

120 secs

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HRT(z)ONE

2) Choose a weight or resistance level

that will allow you to achieve muscular failure at the very end of your
set (initially, this will require some trial
and error).
Using a fast-twitch guy doing the exercise bike as an example, he should
aim to have his legs lock up from lactic acid to the extent that any further
pedaling becomes impossible right at
that 60-second mark.
In another example, a slow-twitch guy
on the leg press should fail (i.e., be
completely unable to perform another
concentric rep) as the timer reaches
120 seconds.
3. Focus on performing the most
controlled concentric contractions
possible in the time allotted. While
I normally prescribe relatively slow,
controlled eccentrics, concentric
contractions generate the most lactic

acid5. As such, your goal is to perform

the most (quality) concentric contractions possible. Therefore, youll spend
as little time on the eccentric as
possible. At the same time, dont go
wildly out of controlwe want it to
hurt as a result of metabolic stress,
not joint stress from uncontrolled
movements.
4. Do your best to increase the
density of your HRT(z)ONE sets each
time you repeat an exercise. Density
equals the total work performed divided by the amount of time you spent
performing that work (d = work/time).
Since the time stays constant from
workout to workout, this means youll
simply need to do more work to
increase density. You can use more
weight/resistance, perform more reps/
steps/revolutions, or both, to increase
density.

Helpful Hints
1) When choosing your initial weight
or resistance level, think go big or go
home. Its better to choose something thats a bit too challenging and
squeeze out partial reps to complete
the set (or even just fail completely
before the timer goes off) than to pick
something thats on the lighter side
and end up with reps in the tank at the
end of the set.
2) Dont pace yourself. HRT(z)ONE is
an all-out, maximum effort set from
start to finish. Take your balls out of
your purse and put every ounce of
effort into this set. I guarantee you can
work harder than you think you can.
3) As always, be sure to track your
performance so you know what you
have to beat the next time you rotate
around to that exercise. What gets
measured gets managed; and what
gets managed gets multiplied!

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HRT(z)ONE

HRT(Z)ONE
EXERCISE MENU
Simply rotate between the following
movements:

1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18184755
2. https://books.google.com/books?id=rk3SX8G5Qp0C

Stairmaster
Treadmill with incline (8 to 12

3. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22628373

Exercise Bike (with clips/straps

5. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11472073

degrees)

securing feet to pedals)

Battle Ropes
Leg Press
Leg Extension
Lying Leg Curl
Bent Over Barbell Row (use

lifting straps if grip strength

hinders your performance)

Supinated Lat Pulldown (use

lifting straps if grip strength
hinders your performance)

REFERENCES:

NO NONSENSE MUSCLE BUILDING 2.0

HRT(z)ONE

4. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19240267

EVERYTHING

YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE SCIENCE

BEHIND THE HRT(Z)ONE PROTOCOL
When you train, you have mechanical
stress (i.e., muscle tension) and metabolic stressthe infamous painful,
burning sensation you experience
(especially from relatively longer sets
with constant tension on the target
muscles).
The burning sensation is a result of
increasing acidity in the muscles due
to hydrogen (H+) ions (and while not
technically correct, this is commonly
referred to as lactic acid, and well use
that terminology for the remainder of
this article) that are produced by your

bodys glycolytic energy system1.

The longer we sustain exercise,
especially with constant tension on
the target muscle, the more lactic acid
accumulates in the muscle cells, and
the cells become increasingly acidic.
In the gym, we experience this as an
increasingly intense burning, painful
sensation, that eventually makes it
impossible to continue working.

In fact, high levels of lactic acid can

lead to increases in muscle size and
strength as well as fat metabolism.
The graphs on the next pagefrom
a study where researchers measured
muscle growth and strength in response to increasing acidity in muscle
cellsprovide a great visual to drive
this point home.

So why do we care about lactic acid?

Well, as it turns out, the old saying
no pain, no gain is quite accurate.

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HRT(z)ONE

As we can see, there is a very strong

relationship between acidity and the
change in participants muscle cross
sectional area (i.e., increased muscle
size), and a fairly strong relationship
between acidity and the change in
participants one-rep max (i.e., maximal strength)2.
In addition to this correlational study,
we have direct evidence which shows
lactic acid plays a key role in muscle
growth. In an in vitro study, researchers took muscle cells and added lactic
acid to them. As a result, protein synthesis (the major process that makes
muscle grow) increased3. In short,
more lactic acid equals more muscle!
So whats going on here? How does
that massive burning sensation you
experience lead to better gains? As
it turns out, there is a high correlation between lactic acid and growth

hormone (i.e., more lactic acid means

more growth hormone), thus lactic
acid plays a major role in the exercise-induced growth hormone response in humans4.
Growth hormone is a powerful
chemical that helps build muscle
and strength5 in addition to releasing greater amount of free fatty
acids for energy6 (thus increasing
your fat-burning potential). Lactic
acid, then, rather than being directly
responsible for boosting your gains, is
simply a means to an end, playing a
supporting role to growth hormone.
Even so, we cant have growth hormone without lactic acid, and lactic
acid gives us a powerful feedback
system to determine how much
growth hormone were producing.
Specifically, if your muscles are burning like a five-alarm fire, you know

NO NONSENSE MUSCLE BUILDING 2.0

HRT(z)ONE

youre skyrocketing growth hormone.

Whats more, growth hormone doesnt
just assist the specific muscles youre
working, but has a systemic (total-body) effect7. It circulates through
your bloodstream to all of your muscles, boosting the muscle-building and
fat-burning potential of your entire
body.
Armed with the knowledge about the
power of growth hormone for promoting favorable body composition
changes, I couldnt help but wonder
how can I harness this phenomenon to
get more out of every workout? Specifically, I wanted to find a way to flood
my muscle cells with growth hormone
BEFORE the workout even begins.

INTRODUCING
HRT(Z)ONE SETS
I had a lot of fun coming up with the
name for this unique protocol. HRT(z)
ONE is a single set (hence ONE) of
Hypertrophy Recomposition Training
(HRT; meaning this protocol releases
hormones that help build muscle and
burn fat), that puts you into the HURT
ZONE in record time.
The HRT(z)ONE protocol allows you
to achieve a big surge of growth
hormone at the beginning of every
workout in order to boost the muscle-building and fat-burning potential
of every rep and set of your No-Nonsense Muscle Building 2.0 program.
To develop the HRT(z)ONE protocol
I set out to determine what training
mechanisms produce the greatest
amount of growth hormone. I examined several different training variables, including exercise selection,
loading, repetition range (i.e., time
under tension), and contraction type
(eccentric vs. concentric).

Exercise Selection

simply trained arms on their own9.

Remember, the growth hormone
elevation you achieve is going to
have a trickle-down effect on the
smaller muscles. As such, and somewhat counter-intuitively, sticking
with movements that engage a lot of
musculature is going to help smaller
muscles grow to a greater extent than
using movements that isolate those
particular muscles. In other words,
using this technique on the leg press
will give you a bigger boost to your
biceps growth compared to using it
with barbell curls.
Based on these findings, the exercises
I selected for your HRT(z)ONE sets (see
the Quick Start Guide) are those that
engage a significant amount of musculature, with a particular focus on the
large muscles of your back and legs.

Rep Range (Time

Under Tension)
Youve probably heard about different
rep ranges and the different theoretical adaptations that each produces.
Five or less reps builds strength, six
to twelve reps builds muscle, and
anything more than that enhances
endurance. While these rep ranges
oversimplify things, there is a lot of
truth to them. At the same time, there
is considerable overlap between ranges, and all of them actually contribute
to muscle growth.

When it comes to lactic acid and

growth hormone production, size matters. Researchers compared guys who
trained only their arm muscles with
guys who trained leg muscles in addition to arms and found that the latter
group produced significantly more
growth hormone and also achieved a
While its common to discuss the pogreater increase in isometric strength8. tential for strength work to boost your
muscle-building capabilities, we dont
In a similar study, researchers found
often discuss endurance training. Even
that guys who trained their arms after
so, it turns out that endurance training
training their legs achieved greater inis quite the unsung hypertrophy hero!
creases in muscle size than guys who

Research shows that endurance

protocols (higher repetitions and
thus longer times under tension) are
superior to hypertrophy or strength
work when it comes to increasing
growth hormone. In fact, an endurance
protocol resulted in a growth hormone
response 30 times greater than baseline levelsmore than twice as much
growth hormone than a hypertrophy
protocol and six times as much growth
hormone as the strength protocol10.
We can boil the increased effectiveness of endurance training down to
one simple variable: volume. The goal
of HRT(z)ONE training is to accumulate
the greatest amount of volume during
the time allotted. The amount of work
(volume) you perform in a specific
amount of time is known as density
(density = work/time, where work =
resistance x repetitions).
The set lengths (that range from one
to two minutes, according to your
primary muscle fiber type) are specifically chosen to facilitate maximum
density. As you progress through your
NNMB 2.0 program, your goal will be
to increase the density of your HRT(z)
ONE sets, resulting in even more
growth hormone output.
It all comes down to this:
Better Density = More Lactic Acid =
More Growth Hormone = Faster Gains

NO NONSENSE MUSCLE BUILDING 2.0

HRT(z)ONE

Loading
In our quest to maximize lactic acid
and growth hormone, remember to
go big or go home. If you have
anything left in the tank at the end of
your HRT(z)ONE set, you didnt choose
a challenging enough weight (for the
lifting exercises) or resistance level
(for cardio machine exercises).
Researchers had participants perform
sets of ten repetitions and found that
maximal loading (using a weight that
allowed them to barely squeeze out
that tenth rep) trumped submaximal
loading (finishing the set with reps left
in the tank) and resulted in a much
greater concentration of lactic acid
and growth hormone11.
So, given our need to with a maximal
load, the goal is to choose a weight or
resistance level that allows us to perform quality work through the entire
duration of our set, but no longer. In
other words, when that timer beeps,
your tank should be totally empty.
This is easier said than doneif you
chose a challenging enough weight,
youre going to want to use your
safe word (rapamycin?) long before
that timer goes off. Youll think, Ive
worked as hard as I can, I dont have
anything left to give. Leave that BS
attitude at home, take your balls out of
your purse, and prepare to set a new
personal best every time you enter the
HRT(z)ONE.

Contraction Type
Focus on performing the most controlled concentric contractions possible in the time allotted. While I normal-

10

ly prescribe relatively slow, controlled

eccentrics, concentric contractions
generate significantly more lactic
acid12. As such, your goal is to perform the greatest amount of (quality)
concentric contractions possible.
Therefore, youll spend as little time
in the eccentric phase as possible. At
the same time, dont go wildly out of
controlwe want it to hurt as a result
of metabolic stress, not joint stress
from uncontrolled movements.

The Perfect
Protocol:
Summarizing The
Science
The HRT(z)ONE protocol maximizes
lactic acid and growth hormone at the
beginning of each and every workoutthus increasing your potential to
make gains from each and every rep
and set you performby adhering to
our science-based guidelines:
1. Choose exercises that engage the
greatest amount of musculature.
The exercises provided in the
Quick Start Guide all engage the
large muscles of the legs or back.
2. Choose a rep range/time under
tension that challenges endurance
and facilitates maximum density.
As youll see in the Quick Start
Guide, the duration of your particular set depends on your primary
muscle fiber type (since, unsurprisingly, guys with more slowtwitchi.e., endurancefibers
can work longer before fatiguing).

NO NONSENSE MUSCLE BUILDING 2.0

HRT(z)ONE

3. Maximal loading is criticalif

you havent chosen a weight or
resistance level that makes you
think about quitting long before
the set ends and barely allows you
to finish the set, youre doing it
wrong. When in doubt, challenge
yourself; youll be surprised how
much work you can do when you
put everything youve got into a
single set.
4. Concentric contractions are king.
For now, forget about slow, controlled negatives and simply perform as many quality concentric
contractions (focusing on moving
the weight with the working
muscle, not just going through the
motions) as possible. Just make
sure you dont go through the
eccentric so quickly that youre
risking injury or bouncing the
weight off the bottom through any
of the concentric portion.

READY FOR
ACTION
To sum it all up, weve delved deep
into the science, discovered that
lactic acid is a powerful stimulator
of exercise-induced growth hormone
response, and found that no pain, no
gain isnt just a catchy saying.
We scoured the research to find the
exact variables that affect lactic acid
and growth hormone levels, and
developed the perfect protocol
HRT(z)ONEto maximize the levels
of these powerful chemicals at the
beginning of each and every workout,
such that every rep and set we
perform becomes more effective in
our quest to Build Faster.
But, keep in mind that just knowing
these things wont get you anywhere.
Your next step is to head over to the
Quick Start Guide where youll find
more detailed instructions and helpful
hints to make the most of your HRT(z)
ONE sets and, most importantly, start
using HRT(z)ONE at the start of your
next workout, and every workout
thereafter!

REFERENCES:

1. https://books.google.com/books?id=rk3SX8G5Qp0C
2. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22628373
3. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15947720
4. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18184755
5. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22628373
6. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19240267
7. http://jap.physiology.org/content/88/1/61.long
8. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11782267
9. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21327794
10. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12391130
11. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16095404
12. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11472073

NO NONSENSE MUSCLE BUILDING 2.0

HRT(z)ONE

11