Y3T: What it is and why you NEED to be doing it now!!

When it comes to building yourself up for mass, strength or definition it becomes essential to bring all of the different muscle fibers into play for the most comprehensive growth as possible.  It also is just as important to incorporate proper rest in order to allow the muscle fibers to heal and grow to fully function.  Neil Hill is a pretty cool guy when it comes to this.  He doesn't afraid of anything and is considered one of the best natural body builders overseas from the U.K.  He mostly trains now days including fellow Welsh, Flex Lewis (recently crowned Mr. Olympia 212 division and is now a Smart Shaker.)  Through Hill's experience he has mastered his training into the Yoda 3 Training (Y3T for short) for ultimate size and power.  Before we get into my personal experience from it, a little bit of science.

Flex Lewis at the 2012 Olympia
(Placed 1st in the 212 Division)
*dem feathers*

Your muscles consist of the two different kinds of muscular fibers with the fascia surrounding them.  Simply put, pumping up causes the intense blood flow to tear these fibers and fascia which allows them to heal and grow back stronger.  Seems legit. 

Different exercise repetition ranges and varying weights effect the different muscle fibers as such:

• Type 1 Fibers - Respond to longer intensities accompanying lower weights and stresses
• Type 2b Fibers - Respond to heavy burst style of lifting
• Type 2a Fibers - More so the middle man who can handle more intensity at higher weight but not quite as much as the Type 1 Fibers

In order to build mass, all of these fibers must come into play and Y3T aims to please.

 Y3T is a four day split broken up into three weeks... wait what?  Each week of the program has it typical body part splits including

1. Thighs and Hamstrings
2. Chest and Triceps
3. Rest Day
4. Back and Biceps
5. Shoulders and Calves
6. Rest
7. Rest

What makes this even sweeter?  The fact that it's a three week cycle with varying rep ranges as such:

• Week 1 is the heaviest with rep ranges from 8-10 repetitions
• Week 2 gets lighter but the volume increases to 12-16 depending on day
• Week 3 get at some gnarly drop sets, 20+ or 40-50 rep ranges depending on the day

 My first week was meant to establish how much weight would be fitting for each exercise.  This is easily found as Hill has left plenty of room to incorporate warm-up sets and stretching before the actual workout begins.  I used this in order to not only warm the muscle and start the blood flowing but it helps determine which weight will be my working weight through the sets. 

Flex Lewis getting his ass handed to him under
the supervision of Neil Hill and Y3T

Hill stresses the importance of using rest-pauses in your training throughout this program and they do become essential.  There is no rushing any of these routines as your target rep ranges are meant to be met through absolute and utter failure through an emphasis on contraction and proper form.  The thought process is that you are building muscle mass instead of throwing weight around, and gains they came.

Already within the first week of learning to push myself through proper forms and incorporating rest pauses I found that my heaviest working weight in the first week (8-10) reps became working weight for the next week (12-16 rep ranges).  The third week threw me through chaos and even further muscle destruction and then guess what?  You come full circle back into week one ready to lift heavy and turn some heads in the gym.  With initial weights established it was more apparent to me that my conditioning had improved along with my consistency to handle the heavier weights while maintaining form.

In the past few weeks (roughly 6) I may have put on a solid 4-5lbs (about 191 lbs and 195 lbs between 10%-12% b/f) of solid, powerful mass not limited to better leg definition, upper chest size, arm detail and incredible thickness in my back.  Strength gains are through the roof as well in just one cycle.

Week 1:8-10 reps (first time through)

• Squats 290lbs-315lbs
• Rack Pulls 390lbs-410lbs
• Incline Dumbell Press 75lb-80lb each
• Push Press (recovering shoulder in mind) 95lbs-100lbs

Week 1: 8-10 reps (second time through)

• Squats 315lbs-335lbs
• Rack Pulls 415lbs-435lbs
• Incline Dumbell Press 80lb-85lb each
• Push Press (recovering shoulder in mind) 110lbs-120lbs

This is a four week cycle so far and can only wait to see what more results yield.  Strength has increased, conditioning and consistency has persevered as well through due to hitting more muscle fibers effectively. 

Y3T is a program that works and is no joke.  The leg workout is the longest while the others are relatively shorter but if they are done properly using rest pauses to incorporate total failure within the recommended repetition ranges, gains will come and they will be sweet.  This can be done in any gym and equipment substituted so long as the principles are maintained making this an easily accessible program as well. 

Without ranting on and on about how awesome it all is, give it a shot.  If need be, grab a partner (preferably someone who knows the ins and outs of this program) and give it everything you have.  Weight and strength will come in time so do not be discouraged about what weight is being used to work your muscles so long as they are properly worked and fatigued. 

If you are around the Philly Mainline area or on St. Joseph's University campus you can catch me obliterating this routine and will be more than happy to educate anyone on the benefits pertaining to any goal and how to execute this program for maximum gains. 

Eat right, Train hard and ensure plenty of Rest and your body will take care of itself.

The entire program with videos and workouts can be found here at BodyBuilding.com

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/y3t-neil-hill-9-week-hardcore-video-trainer.html


-PQ