The "big ideas" behind these two programs really changed my understanding of how the human body works to build muscle and strength...how it responds to training and nutrition.

Really, these two programs gave me the "keys to the kingdom."

1. The Secret to Effective Muscle-Building Training

From the training side of things, I'm talking about Bulgarian Burst Training by Leo Costa.

This program taught me the value of alternating phases of high-volume, high-frequency purposeful overtraining with phases of low-volume, low-frequency undertraining in order to force adaptation from your body as a SYSTEM rather than just treating it as a collection of bodyparts.

If you've used any of my programs, you've likely recognize this concept...first you ramp up, then you back off.

I used this training style during my first year of training and it helped me gain an additional 40 lbs of bodyweight in 4 months.

This was beyond the 32 lbs of "beginner gainz" I had already put on in my first 5 months of training (I went from 145 lbs to 217 lbs in 8 months when I started serious training).

Now, you'll notice that I said bodyweight....I didn't say it was all muscle (a good portion, but not all).

2. The Secret to Effective Muscle-Building Nutrition

Once I had the TRAINING down cold, what was missing was the NUTRITIONAL approach that would allow me to add muscle without piling on all the fat as well.

I had to wait an additional SIX YEARS to discover the secret to that.

And that secret came in the form of ABCDE...Anabolic Burst Cycling of Diet and Exercise.

I first read about this concept in the Muscle Media magazine...and when I did, the nutrition side of things just clicked for me.

Essentially, you're alternating cycles of low-calorie eating and fat-loss focused training with high-calorie eating and mass-focused training.

This fit perfectly in line with the cyclic way that I knew the body worked when it came to training...and now I could apply it to my nutrition as well.

At the time, I was working on cruise ships and believe me, food was everywhere.

If you think you can gain weight on a 10 day cruise, try working on a ship for 10 MONTHS and not put on a ton of fat.

This ABCDE framework was literally PERFECT for what I needed to build muscle and keep lean in a "target rich food environment."

I stayed on this calorie cycling approach for several years straight and maintained a peak bodyweight of around 210 lbs +/-, while staying at 10-12% bodyfat.

Putting it all together for maximum growth...

Naturally, being insane the way I am, I was constantly experimenting with ways to make it even better.

The results were my Metabolic Surge program (for fat loss), my Mad Scientist Muscle program (for sustained growth), and the peak of insanity...my Muscle Explosion program (if you've tried it, you know what I'm talking about :).

I still have that copy of Muscle Media with the original article in it.

Now...what I've got for you today is an amazing 14-day program put together by my good friend Dennis Weis (the "Yukon Hercules") based on that exact ABCDE concept.

I've known Dennis personally for more than 20 years. He's a living legend in the strength and bodybuilding field.

He knows more about bodybuilding than anybody I know...he was even trained by (and trained with) some of the biggest names in Golden Age bodybuilding (John Grimek was one that stands out).

Dennis' ABCDE-based program will help you gain SERIOUS mass without the extra fat that comes from bulking cycles.

As far as I'm concerned, this whole concept is GOLD and it should be used at least once by every serious trainer wanting to build muscle, it's that good.

Nick Nilsson
The Mad Scientist of Muscle