Hey everyone! Maybe a bit of an oddball post but I am quite healthy, biohack, eat well, do some peptides, and have had a somewhat perplexing health issue pop up. Occassionally when I do extremely hard cardio (all out 5k's, play hockey, did a workout class today that was ~500 calories in 40 minutes HIIT type) I get chest pain right where my heart is. It is like a low level discomfort and the pain increases slightly when I take a deep breath. The closest thing I could describe it as is it feels almost like a bruise on my heart. Following up on this I went to the doctor, one thing led to another, I've had a calcium score, CT angiogram, and ultrasound. Thankfully all came back clear with no plaque of any sort, and a non concerning 'athletes heart' (slightly enlarged left ventricle) diagnosis on the ultrasound. At this point I feel like I need to chase down the pulmonary side... perhaps my lungs are inflammed and since the heart is crammed in there I feel the pain when breathing? Going to go down the route of a doctor, but curious if anyone here has heard of, experienced similar, or has any ideas? Thanks in advance!

Not all muscle is created equal. And not all hypertrophy gets you closer to your goal. Most programs are built around chasing the pump or soreness, but that’s only one slice of the hypertrophy pie. To build a physique that performs, ages well, and adapts intelligently—you need to train across multiple cellular pathways, not just chase fatigue. This post is heavily inspired by the brilliant work of Kilo Strength Society and N1 Education, both of which are world-class resources for understanding the nuance of program design and refining your coaching skills at the cellular and biomechanical level. Let’s break it down. 1. Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy — The Storage WarehousePathway: mTORC1 → glycolysis-driven volume → increased sarcoplasmic fluid and glycogenMechanism: Repeated submaximal effort depletes glycogen and increases cell volume. The muscle adapts by expanding the sarcoplasm (fluid + fuel space).Why this happens: Your body sees repeated energy demand and says, “I need more room to store fuel.” - Reps/Sets: 10–15 reps, 3–5 sets - Tempo: 2-0-2-0 - Rest: 30–60 sec - RIR: 0–1 - Special Methods: Myo-reps, drop sets, supersets Analogy: Think of this as upgrading the size of your warehouse—not the machinery inside. It looks big, but it doesn’t necessarily lift more. When to use it: Early hypertrophy phases, deloads, or during high-carb phases to enhance insulin sensitivity. 2. Myofibrillar Hypertrophy — The Machinery ItselfPathway: mTORC1 + satellite cell activation → increased actin/myosin densityMechanism: Heavy loads and high tension cause structural damage to contractile fibers, forcing the body to reinforce them with more protein.Why this happens: “This load is threatening structural integrity. Reinforce the scaffolding.” - Reps/Sets: 4–8 reps, 3–6 sets - Tempo: 3-1-X-1 - Rest: 2–3 min - RIR: 2–3 - Special Methods: Cluster sets, rest-pause, wave loading Analogy: This is upgrading the actual engines on your ship. It doesn’t look much bigger, but it pulls harder, faster, and longer.

Let me tell you a story about the most important muscle in your body that almost nobody trains, almost nobody understands, and almost everybody is slowly losing. The diaphragm is not just a breathing muscle. That description is like calling the brain a “thinking organ.” It’s technically true, but it misses the point so badly that it becomes misleading. The diaphragm is a living interface between structure and signal, between chemistry and physics, between voluntary and involuntary control. It is a biological transistor. A gatekeeper. A conductor that coordinates pressure, charge, rhythm, and information across the entire organism. If you understand the diaphragm, you understand how the body integrates itself. If you lose the diaphragm, the body fragments. Let’s start simply, then go deep very deep. At the most basic level, the diaphragm is a dome-shaped sheet of muscle that separates the thoracic cavity from the abdominal cavity. When it contracts, it descends. When it relaxes, it recoils upward. This movement changes pressure in the chest and abdomen and drives airflow in and out of the lungs. That’s the textbook version. It’s also the least interesting. The diaphragm is the only skeletal muscle in the body that is both voluntary and involuntary. You can control it, but it doesn’t need you. That alone should make you suspicious that it sits at a crossroads no other muscle occupies. Embedded in and passing through the diaphragm are some of the most important structures in the body: the inferior vena cava, the esophagus, the aorta, lymphatic channels, and dense autonomic nerve plexuses. Every breath mechanically massages blood, lymph, and nerves. This is not a side effect. This is the design. Each diaphragmatic contraction creates a pressure wave. That wave propagates through fluid-filled tissues, fascia, and organs. Pressure waves in biological tissue are not just mechanical events. They are information-bearing phenomena. They alter ion channel behavior, membrane tension, protein conformation, and mitochondrial function.

As the year comes to an end, I wanted to share some progress with the community. From February 2025 to June 2025, I focused on doing things the right way carb cycling, a consistent Push / Pull / Legs split, hormone optimization, and strategically applied peptide protocols. Over that time, I went from 215 lbs to 188 lbs, recomping throughout the process while improving overall conditioning and muscle definition. In July, I unfortunately had to undergo back surgery, which cost me some momentum and a bit of size but it didn’t take away the foundation that was built. I’m already not far off from where I was, and more importantly, I’m back to pushing forward. This is just a pause, not a setback. 2026 is the real target and it’s going to be even better. Appreciate the knowledge, support, and accountability this community brings. Any questions don’t hesitate to ask!

Most lifters chase numbers. A heavier squat, an extra plate on the press, another rep on the pull-up bar. But chasing numbers alone doesn’t guarantee growth. True progress comes from mastery from owning every inch of the rep, from creating conditions where the muscle has no choice but to adapt. That’s where Death by 5’s enters the picture. At its core, Death by 5’s is brutally simple: a single set broken into three phases that hit all the major triggers of hypertrophy in sequence. In just one extended effort, you layer mechanical tension, stretch-mediated signaling, and metabolic stress the three pillars of muscle growth. Think of it as condensing a week’s worth of stimuli into a single block of time. The Set Structure A Death by 5’s set unfolds like this: 1. Five Paused Reps with Slow Eccentrics – a 5-second pause at mid-range, then an explosive concentric, followed by a 5-second eccentric. This primes the muscle with mechanical tension, the most reliable driver of hypertrophy. 2. Five One-and-a-Half Reps – working the stretched position with partials and controlled eccentrics. Here you tap into stretch-mediated hypertrophy, loading titin and amplifying signaling pathways that only activate under elongation stress. 3. Rep-Out to Failure – normal tempo reps until you can’t move the weight. This phase maximizes metabolic stress, flooding the muscle with metabolites and ensuring full motor unit recruitment. By the end, every fiber has been called into play, every growth signal has been fired, and the muscle has been pushed through all three hypertrophy mechanisms in one sequence. Why It Works What makes Death by 5’s so powerful is its time efficiency. Traditional programs might spread tension work, stretch emphasis, and pump training across multiple sets or even multiple sessions. Death by 5’s compresses all of it into one structured attack. It’s not just about saving time; it’s about stacking stimuli so the muscle can’t hide, adapt, or coast through the set.