In this episode of Hypertrophy: Past and Present, Jake Doleschal and Chris Beardsley examine Clancy Ross’ 1940s split set routine - an early experiment in dividing upper and lower body training that predated modern training splits. They break down how Ross evolved his training by splitting full-body workouts into AM/PM upper/lower sessions and discuss what this teaches us about fatigue management, muscle damage, and cardiovascular recovery.

Key topics:

• How Clancy Ross experimented with splitting his full body sessions into upper/lower
• The two types of supraspinal CNS fatigue (intra-workout vs. post-workout)
• How cardiovascular fitness governs your session capacity
• Why some lifters respond better to either full-body 3x per week or upper/lower 6x per week

In this second episode, Jake Doleschal and Chris Beardsley break down the York Barbell Mr America Course, a program from 1951 that evolved from the earlier Milo Barbell plan. They explore what changed in the decades following the first mass-produced bodybuilding programs, including the introduction of sets, improved exercise selection, and targeted variations. They then connect these historical shifts to modern muscle physiology, focusing on how long the hypertrophy stimulus lasts after a workout, and why full-body training remains superior.

Key topics:

• How the York Barbell Course built on the Milo plan
• Why the shift from reps to sets was a turning point
• How to interpret MPS/MYOPS data without confusing stimulus and damage
• Why most hypertrophy occurs within 24–36 hours of a session
• How this insight changes everything about training frequency

In this debut episode, Jake Doleschal and Chris Beardsley dissect the very first mass-produced bodybuilding program: the Milo Barbell Course. They explore how early bodybuilders trained before steroids existed and what their exercise choices reveal about muscle understanding. They then connect these historical methods to modern muscle physiology, focusing on the stimulating reps model and the critical role of training frequency. You'll learn why full-body training 3x per week was not just a product of the time, but may still be the optimal approach for natural hypertrophy today.

Key topics:

• What the Milo Barbell Course included (and what it left out)
• How pre-steroid era training evolved
• How early lifters intuitively selected exercises based on regional hypertrophy
• Why high-frequency training (e.g. 3x per week) is physiologically superior (even without factoring in atrophy!)
• The nonlinear dose-response of training volume: why first sets matter most