Well this is Buff-U. You're in college, you want to lift, want to put on muscle, be a bodybuilder, power lifter, swole..we get it. We're two brothers from southern New Jersey attending school in Pennsylvania and not for any kind of fitness nutrition but we know a decent amount about it and love to have fun with it. These are our stories, reviews, workouts, progress and general help we can provide in order to keep fitness as easy and safe as possible for the collegiate and beyond.
While the world of sports supplementation is as much diverse as the general grocery market it get cluttered with tons of products full of synthetic products that are made to be just as effective but less expensive. Artificial sugars, flavors, colors and man-made extracts that some people would consider unnatural by any means when it comes to food or supplementation.
Enter the world of Magnum Nutraceuticals (heh get it? natural!) where the goal is to seemingly provide you with the best in sports supplementation as but naturally without adding additional stimulants or synthetic products. Recently I decided to snag a sample packed of their "natural" pre-workout booster Opus. Having thought that this kind of product was more of a gag as being "natural" I threw it in my smart shake and casually headed to the gym. I must say that as far as a blue raspberry flavor is concerned, it was one of the most delicious and savory tastes I have ever had. Almost like cotton candy it was mild with no punch and no grit as it all two servings dissolved easily within 10 ounces but I was beginning to think I could be wrong about the casual aspect of it all. About ten minutes later I had started warming up my shoulders and minor pectorals for a relentless chest workout when the Opus came into effect. Like Mike O'hearn's vicious huskies were ready to attack me I felt chills and tingles through my body, a rush of heat pushing through my veins and a hot sweat which I could feel make its way through each and every pore in my body. I was beginning to think this was something more than an ordinary workout.....
He's really a super nice guy.
Energy came fierce and in incredible quantities that it almost scared me although I never felt out of control. Jitters were non-existent (a typical side effect of excessive caffeine) and I felt more primed for a workout having been sick and dieting down than I would have at the peak of my last bulking phase. It's been a long time since I've had the barbaric urge to relentlessly pound my way through any workout without no remorse or concern for my own body that it was almost as if Mr. O'hearn was right in my face screaming at me to push out more reps with fiery chains and his dogs barking, snarling and ready to attack if I didn't make the most of each rep. Muscular strength and endurance also seemed as relentless allowing me to push and truck on, nothing seemed to be quite enough to satisfy this workout. The pump was insane and my chest still feeling quite inflated through and still after a mile run, sauna and shower. All things considered I was quite surprised that something with no creatine or caffeine could deliver such a punch but I wasn't sickly or upset by it's effects. The bottom line is this.... Well.... it's hard to put into words. We're so used to the staples of pre-workouts being caffeine, ginseng or even taurine that this was a complete surprise. Would I consider dropping some money on this anabolic powerhouse at roughly $.80 a servings? Yes
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
Thighs and Hamstrings
Chest and Triceps
Rest Day
Back and Biceps
Shoulders and Calves
Rest
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
While the world of sports supplementation is as much diverse as the general grocery market it get cluttered with tons of products full of synthetic products that are made to be just as effective but less expensive. Artificial sugars, flavors, colors and man-made extracts that some people would consider unnatural by any means when it comes to food or supplementation. 
