kagenonikki
New member
Hello all! Natural masters bikini competitor here, going into my fourth season. I did my last show in August 2021 and decided to try something different going into my off season. I discovered Brig 20 and started it in October and I wanted to share my experiences with it over the last nine months.
BACKGROUND: If you’re not familiar with Brig 20, it was developed by bodybuilding and biomechanics enthusiast Doug Brignole. His method is built on the 20 “most efficient” exercises for each body part, and his philosophy is that you can build muscle doing these efficient isolation exercises. He discourages compound exercises because he thinks they aren’t the most efficient way to work a muscle and they have a high risk of injury.
I’ll admit, I was intrigued by this. As a masters competitor, I do worry about the wear and tear on my joints and connective tissue, and I do want longevity in this sport. Hip thrusts hurt my lower back and I dislike barbell squats, so I was very curious about this program without compounds.
BACK/LATS: Doug recommends Lat Pulls Ins and Scapular Retractions. No pull ups, pull downs, or rows in this program. I really missed my pull ups! After a few months, I really wasn’t seeing much change in my back. In fact, I think I started losing a little size. I stopped the scap retractions and added back my rows. Over time, I have added back some pull ups and straight arm pull downs. I’ve kept the lat pull ins for some variety. I’m starting to see some thickness come back. I will say that I did see some bicep growth with Doug’s exercises…. I no longer do dedicated bicep work.
LEGS: No barbell squats or leg press in this program! Doug likes cable squats, sissy squats, leg extensions and leg curls. I hate barbell squats so this worked out well. I really like the cable squats! I did end up adding some leg press, reverse lunges, sumo deadlifts, and B-stance kettle bell deadlifts in addition to the cable squats, leg extension and curls. I have seen pretty good quad growth, especially the rectus femoris, but not much vastus med or vastus lat growth. I think continuing with the leg press and lunges will help with this.
GLUTES: I enjoy hip thrusts, but they always hurt my lower back and I never saw much change in my glutes with them, so I was excited that Doug’s program didn’t include these. He prefers the rotary hip extension machine and step ups. The rotary hip extension machine at my gym is a little janky, so I switched to the cable machine with a cuff around my lower thigh. This worked well for a while until I started increasing the weight. Then the cuff started cutting into my leg, even with extra padding. And frankly I got sick of doing them. I went back to hip thrusts and found a way to do them without hurting my back. And I’m finally starting to see some glute growth! I also didn’t care for the step ups, so now I do reverse lunges in the Smith machine and I added some B-stance kettlebell deadlifts and hip extension on the 45 degree hyper.
SHOULDERS: I have seen pretty good shoulder growth using Doug’s program. No overhead presses here! My front delts have really responded to Doug’s front presses. I also like his way of doing lateral raises and rear cable crosses. I have added back in more traditional lateral raises and rear delt flies and face pulls, but I’ll continue to incorporate Doug’s exercises.
ARMS/CALVES: As I said above, Doug’s pulling movements have really helped my biceps, so I don’t do any additional bicep work. For tris, I do skull crushers and cable tricep pull downs, which is what Doug recommends. For calves, not much to these except to go up and down on the balls of your feet. I saw some growth by adding in some tibialis raises a la John Meadows, but I’ve since plateaued. I notice I tend to get a little bouncy, so I’ve dropped the weight and am really focusing on a deep stretch between raises.
SUMMARY: Using Doug’s program for the last nine months, I’ve seen decent quad, front delt, and bicep growth. Glutes and lats haven’t seen much growth. As for the “best” exercises, I think the truth (as always) lies somewhere in the middle…..you should incorporate both compound and isolation work, and also find which exercises work best for YOU. I like Doug’s philosophy and a lot of his exercises just make sense, so I’ll keep the ones I feel like are working, and add some compound exercises too.
BACKGROUND: If you’re not familiar with Brig 20, it was developed by bodybuilding and biomechanics enthusiast Doug Brignole. His method is built on the 20 “most efficient” exercises for each body part, and his philosophy is that you can build muscle doing these efficient isolation exercises. He discourages compound exercises because he thinks they aren’t the most efficient way to work a muscle and they have a high risk of injury.
I’ll admit, I was intrigued by this. As a masters competitor, I do worry about the wear and tear on my joints and connective tissue, and I do want longevity in this sport. Hip thrusts hurt my lower back and I dislike barbell squats, so I was very curious about this program without compounds.
BACK/LATS: Doug recommends Lat Pulls Ins and Scapular Retractions. No pull ups, pull downs, or rows in this program. I really missed my pull ups! After a few months, I really wasn’t seeing much change in my back. In fact, I think I started losing a little size. I stopped the scap retractions and added back my rows. Over time, I have added back some pull ups and straight arm pull downs. I’ve kept the lat pull ins for some variety. I’m starting to see some thickness come back. I will say that I did see some bicep growth with Doug’s exercises…. I no longer do dedicated bicep work.
LEGS: No barbell squats or leg press in this program! Doug likes cable squats, sissy squats, leg extensions and leg curls. I hate barbell squats so this worked out well. I really like the cable squats! I did end up adding some leg press, reverse lunges, sumo deadlifts, and B-stance kettle bell deadlifts in addition to the cable squats, leg extension and curls. I have seen pretty good quad growth, especially the rectus femoris, but not much vastus med or vastus lat growth. I think continuing with the leg press and lunges will help with this.
GLUTES: I enjoy hip thrusts, but they always hurt my lower back and I never saw much change in my glutes with them, so I was excited that Doug’s program didn’t include these. He prefers the rotary hip extension machine and step ups. The rotary hip extension machine at my gym is a little janky, so I switched to the cable machine with a cuff around my lower thigh. This worked well for a while until I started increasing the weight. Then the cuff started cutting into my leg, even with extra padding. And frankly I got sick of doing them. I went back to hip thrusts and found a way to do them without hurting my back. And I’m finally starting to see some glute growth! I also didn’t care for the step ups, so now I do reverse lunges in the Smith machine and I added some B-stance kettlebell deadlifts and hip extension on the 45 degree hyper.
SHOULDERS: I have seen pretty good shoulder growth using Doug’s program. No overhead presses here! My front delts have really responded to Doug’s front presses. I also like his way of doing lateral raises and rear cable crosses. I have added back in more traditional lateral raises and rear delt flies and face pulls, but I’ll continue to incorporate Doug’s exercises.
ARMS/CALVES: As I said above, Doug’s pulling movements have really helped my biceps, so I don’t do any additional bicep work. For tris, I do skull crushers and cable tricep pull downs, which is what Doug recommends. For calves, not much to these except to go up and down on the balls of your feet. I saw some growth by adding in some tibialis raises a la John Meadows, but I’ve since plateaued. I notice I tend to get a little bouncy, so I’ve dropped the weight and am really focusing on a deep stretch between raises.
SUMMARY: Using Doug’s program for the last nine months, I’ve seen decent quad, front delt, and bicep growth. Glutes and lats haven’t seen much growth. As for the “best” exercises, I think the truth (as always) lies somewhere in the middle…..you should incorporate both compound and isolation work, and also find which exercises work best for YOU. I like Doug’s philosophy and a lot of his exercises just make sense, so I’ll keep the ones I feel like are working, and add some compound exercises too.
. If not, I believe Doug has said if you reach out to him, he will gladly send you a list. He’s on IG. Good luck to you!