Waqas Hassn
thirtydayexperiment.com
THIS UNCOMMON GUIDE
IS GOING TO CHANGE
YOUR LIFE.
LITERALLY. NO BULLSHIT.
WHO AM I?
I'm Waqas Hassn and I'm your human guinea
pig. I do self-experiments and write about my
experiences in deconstructing skills and habits
to help you learn anything and increase per-
hour output 10x.
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I was 25. On a diving boat off the coast of the Philippines. It was my
first diving expedition. As we sailed further into the ocean and the
island of Boracay sunk into the distance, I thought to myself that life
couldn’t be better.
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As we anchored at the diving site, everyone started taking their tank
tops and T-shirts off to get into the swim suits. And underneath those
tops and T-shirts were the perfect beach bodies: muscular and ripped.
In that instance, I almost recoiled, closing myself up, feeling even
smaller than I have ever had.
If you are a skinny guy, you know how I felt. You know what I’m
talking about.
You might have gone to a beach several times, and found yourself
gawking at men more than women. Insecure of taking your shirt off,
you’ve found yourself wishing that you were more muscular.
Or even more so, every time you look at yourself in the mirror in that
S-size T-shirt, you find that the circumference of the sleeves is larger
than your arms. You hate how thin your arms look dangling from the
rim of the T-shirt.
To be fair, you might have even tried. More than once, maybe.
You might have bought the protein shake, made a gym schedule, and
even spent a month or two lifting weights before giving up every time
because of lack of progress.
You concluded that your genes are not ideal to get bulky, and it would
take you 1-2 years of dedicated effort: 1 hour in the gym, 5 days
week. So once you are done with your exams or the all important work
project, you will start again.
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Well, not entirely. You are 50% right. Your genes are different. You
are, what science calls, an Ectomorph. Popularly known as hard-
gainers or skinny guys.
But the thought that it will take you 1-2 years of dedicated effort with
an hour everyday for 5 days a week couldn’t be further from the truth.
If you follow this uncommon workout routine, let's call it the TDX
Workout routine, it will take you 30-Days with just 30-min in the
gym, twice a week. And you will gain between 6-7 Kg of Muscle.
If you continue with this TDX Workout routine for 3 months, you will
gain around 11-12 Kg. Unreal, right?
I started with a body weight of 69 Kg. After 30 Days, I was at 75.3 Kg,
and within 3 months, I reached 81 Kg.
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Before
I spent most of my youth as a skinny guy. Till the age of 25, I weighed
a mere 62 Kg (136 Lbs) at 180 cm (5 ft 11).
Not that I was starving myself. Far from it. I ate everything. All the
time - including McDonald’s Big Mac meal 15 times a week while in
university.
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On the other hand, I was fit and sporty as well. Training with half a
dozen different sports teams. These trainings included calisthenics and
what not.
During the university years, I joined the gym twice, but after a month
of banging my head against the machines without any progress, I
made the classic excuse of exams and left it, telling myself that I will
return more determined. We all know how that works!
But 2 years after graduation, on the diving boat, off the coast of the
Philippines, I made the resolution that I would transform myself.
For each of the days, I had 4-5 exercises with 3-5 sets of 10-12 reps
each. It used to take about 90 minutes in the gym for each session.
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For example, on the Chest Day, there were exercises like bench press,
incline bench press, decline bench press, fly, and dips.
I was not going to leave any stone unturned… or more like, any
muscle unworked.
To be fair, a lot of people think that’s how much you should expect to
gain. That is true - but only after you have already reached 90% of
your muscle building capacity, you will experience diminishing returns.
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Different routines produced different results, with HST showing better
results than the others.
At 69 Kg in May 2016
At this stage, I burned out and gave up on the idea of working out
altogether. I was disappointed with my uninspiring and very average
progress.
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After
At the end of 2016, as I was finalizing the idea of starting the
ThirtyDayExperiment brand, I stumbled upon the ever-famous quote
by Mark Twain, which has brought me back, several times since, out of
the grinding mindset.
I thought to myself that I've tried every routine under the sun, but
I've not really tried to understand the biology of muscle gain, and
break it down to its first principles.
From the research papers to books. I even went out and spoke to a
dozen fitness trainers. You’d be surprised to know how much
conflicting information is out there. Most of it is passed on
as conventional wisdom.
It is true that if you stick to any one routine, you will gain a lot of
muscle in 2-3 years, and probably even become a professional
bodybuilder in 4-5 years.
But that’s not what I was looking for. I was searching for the fastest
way to build muscle for an Ectomorph body type.
I was looking for the strategies and principles that will produce the
disproportionate results.
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What I uncovered formed the basis of my transformation.
“The last three or four reps is what makes the muscle grow” - Arnold
Schwarzenegger
Next time you visit gym, look around you. How many people are
actually reaching failure? Probably less than 10% in your gym. More
importantly, what is failure?
Failure is when you are unable to carry the weight anymore, and it
falls over.
Most people put the weight back in the rack, just before reaching
failure, out of the fear that it will fall on them.
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Even worse, many people use trainer buddies to assist them during
those last few reps. Having a buddy means that you will never hit a
failure.
Failure is a stage when your muscle fibres have broken enough that
you can't keep holding the weight, or you can't lift the weight up once
it's on the rack.
For the fastest muscle growth, you need to hit the failure in each of
the compound exercises in each gym session.
I’ve shared the compound exercises and how to perform them below.
Each next workout session should have higher load than the previous
one.
Muscles are anti-fragile, meaning that when you break them, they
repair to be stronger than before.
It is very easy to see Before and After pictures, and say to yourself
that you’ve come a long way. But when you are in the process of
building muscles, you don’t notice the difference much as you are
accustomed to looking at your body everyday.
If you are able to lift heavier weights in the next session or the next
week, then you’ve gained more muscle.
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Imagine how would your performance change in sports once your
strength is doubled, seemingly overnight? I saw my bowling speed (in
cricket) or racket speed (in squash) increase almost magically.
Probably the single most important principle. You need to take at least
3 days gap. By going to gym everyday, you hinder your muscle’s fast
growth.
And you can test it. If you reach failure in, for example, Chest Press
one day, you will not be able to lift the same weight for the similar
reps next day or even the day after.
But 3 days later, you will be able to lift an even heavier weight for
Chest Press.
Training every day is great for endurance, and burning fat to get
ripped. But you are not in that stage yet. You need to first pack a large
amount of muscle, and break your decades long struggle with being a
skinny guy.
An ideal schedule for you could be training just twice a week (Mon &
Thurs, or Tues & Fri), for roughly 30 minutes each (only 5 compound
exercises to failure).
We are not going for Dirty Bulking, which loosely defined is 50% fat
and 50% muscle.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t eat carbs. You need carbs (rice, dairy,
etc.) to replenish Glycogen in your muscles that would be depleted
after each workout session.
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And you need to eat A LOT.
Each meal would be your standard portion with proteins, fats, and
carbs.
Avoid empty junk calories like fast food or nachos. They are worthless
and will only lead to fat gain.
With these 5 Principles, let’s get into the TDX Workout routine that
helped me pack 6.3 Kg of Muscle in 30 Days and 12 Kg in 3 Months.
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THE TDX
WORKOUT
ROUTINE
In fact, if you don’t leave the gym feeling totally depleted and
satisfied, you have not pushed it to the limits.
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The Exercises
The 5 compound exercises you are going to do in each session are (in
this order preferably):
1. Deadlift
2. Chest Press
3. Leg Press
4. Shoulder Press
5. Reverse Bicep Curl
The trick here is to use Machines for Chest Press, Shoulder Press, and
Leg Press.
The machines are designed in a way that the weight doesn’t fall on you
(diagrams below).
In order to avoid falling over, people put them back in the rack before
reaching failure, or use a trainer buddy to assist them. Both these
approaches mean you give up a few seconds before the actual failure.
The Protocol
For each of the exercises, you are going to do only 2 sets.
First set with heavy enough weights that you should only be able to do
a maximum of 7 reps before getting tired out.
In practice, you will be using the first gym session to test out and form
your baseline. Your baseline is the weight you can carry for a
maximum of 7 reps.
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After the set of 7 reps, take a 1-minute break.
Then you will increase the weight by 2-5 Kg for all the exercises.
Usually, for the bigger muscles groups, e.g. chest and back, the
increments can be of 5 Kg, while for the other 3 exercises, increase
the weight by 2-2.5 Kg.
With the heavier weight, you will do only 3 reps, and hold the last of
those 3 reps in mid-air until your muscle completely fails, and you are
not able to help the weight from falling.
Key here is to do each of the reps in both the sets with zero
momentum. Take 4 seconds to go up, and 4 seconds to come down.
You will notice that a lot of beginners in the gym are swinging their
arms with momentum, rather than controlling both the upwards and
downwards motion precisely.
After each exercise, take 3 minutes rest, before moving on to the next.
When you return after 3 days for your second workout for the week,
do all the same exercises, but start with higher weight for each of the
exercises.
You will notice that towards the end, for some exercises, I was not
able to increase weights in every gym session, and had to do both 7-
reps set and a 3-reps set with the same weight.
This is typical. As your muscle size grows, you will start seeing
diminishing returns. The law of diminishing returns applies to
everything in life.
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The growth will be explosive initially and will slow down later.
[Click to enlarge]
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Details of Performing The 5
Exercises
DEADLIFT
Notice that in the diagram, the Deadlift is starting from the knee
height, rather than from the ground. This modification makes sure that
the primary muscles being trained in this exercise are the back
muscles.
Most often when you are starting out, your leg muscles aren’t
developed to lift heavy weights from the ground. Since the barbell is
raised off the floor, you can use more weight than you can with the
traditional Deadlift.
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Performing Deadlift
1. Place the barbell on the safety pins of the power rack, or any
raised platform. The barbell should be just under the knee
height.
2. Load the barbell with your starting weight.
3. Stand with your legs close to the barbell, and your feet shoulder-
width apart.
4. Grasp the barbell with an overhand grip, with your hands
shoulder-width apart.
5. While bent, keep your back straight and look forward.
6. Keeping your head looking forward and your back and arms
straight, exhale as you lift slowly (taking 4 seconds).
7. When lifting, push your hips forward and drag the barbell up the
front of your legs until you are fully standing.
8. At the top of the lift, squeeze your hips and pull your shoulders
back.
9. Stay there for 2 seconds.
10. Inhale as you slowly (~4 seconds) lower the barbell down the
front of your legs to the safety rack in a controlled manner.
11. Repeat.
• When lifting very heavy, hold your breath as you make the lift.
This helps to stabilize your body. Exhale when at the top.
• If your grip starts to fail when lifting heavy, use one hand in
overhead grip and the other in underhand grip.
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CHEST PRESS
There are various types of Chest Press machines in the gyms. Choose
one (either incline, decline, or straight back) and stick to it for 30
Days.
Note down the height of the seat in your first gym session, and keep it
consistent. Make sure that all the variables are constant in every gym
session, and you only change the weights.
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Performing Chest Press
Tips
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LEG PRESS
For Leg Press, use the machine that has safety bars in your hand
grips. This is absolutely critical when reaching failure in the 2nd set.
• As you lower the platform, do not allow your lower back to curl
up. Keep it in firm contact with the support.
• Do not lock your knees at the fully stretched position. That will
take the pressure off your leg muscles.
SHOULDER PRESS
Note down the height of the seat in your first gym session, and keep it
consistent. Make sure that all the variables are constant in every gym
session, and you only change the weights.
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Performing Shoulder Press
Tips
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REVERSE BICEP CURL
During this exercise, you will face the tension in both your forearms
and biceps. That's what makes it the most holistic arms exercise.
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6. At the lowest position, hold for 1 second. Keep it controlled,
instead of letting it dangle freely using your shoulders.
7. Repeat.
Tips
• Keep your body still and arms a bit outside (see starting picture
above).
• Do not swing the barbell with momentum.
• When starting out, you can use the barbell without any extra
weight.
--
Your total time in the gym will be 20% of what most people spend,
and your gains will be 80% more than those of average people.
There are few key strategies that are crucial for this TDX
Workout routine to work wonders for you. Especially, these 3
strategies:
And once you go the uncommon route, people will try to berate
you with their conventional wisdom. Avoid listening to anyone
for 30 Days, and then blow their expectations with your results.
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2. Collect data and tabulate it in the Progress Table in every gym
session. We overestimate our ability to remember.
Over time, you will start getting a grip on the nuances of diet,
discipline, hitting failure, and other variables. Keep an open
mind, and keep learning.
So what's it gonna be? Are you going to stay at the level you currently
are? Or are you going to transform yourself in 30 Days?
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Dude, this 30 Day Experiment sounds really cool. I will
start with it right over. Do you have more cool stuff?
© 30 DAY EXPERIMENT
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