Positions-of-Flexion, X-Rep and 4X proponent Aron Noble contacted us on our Facebook page and gave us his interesting variation on 4X. First, here's a pic of Aron onstage followed by a little background:

“I'm a high school teacher in New Zealand and have about 50 members in the weight room each year. I've been teaching my students about sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar training to maximize gains. Also POF, X Reps, DXO, X-centric sets and the ultimate exercises for each muscle group. I've been using your training ideas with the kids since 2006, so that's quite a few students who are aware of your effective training protocols for natural athletes.

"Your methods are not only effective but ideal for students, as the goal is not always to load the bar up with maximum poundages. It also gives them the agency to think for themselves in regards to the many different ways in which muscle strength and growth can occur. One of my students was recently selected for New Zealand rep honors where he competed in the Asia Pacific Bodybuilding Championships--he won first in the teenage division."

Needless to say, Aron's words made our day. He's not only teaching our training ideas, but getting young people interested in sensible weight training to better their health, self-confidence and physical abilities--very commendable. We need more people like Aron out there.

Okay, now for Aron's take on the 4X mass-building method…

Instead of taking a weight with which he can get 15 reps and only doing 10, he maxes out and shoots for 20 reps on set 1. In other words, he takes the first set to failure with high reps and a long time under tension--more than 40 seconds.

After a brief rest of 20 to 30 seconds, he goes to failure again, usually hitting exhaustion around rep 10. After another short rest, he does set 3.

For sets 3 and 4 he usually gets around five reps: "Sets 3 & 4 can be either to failure or subfailure depending on several factors: how strong I feel, making sure I beat last weeks numbers and how close I am to reaching my 40-rep goal. Some weeks I can reach 40 reps with 2 sets going to failure and the other 2 sets are only subfailure."

If he reaches his 40-rep goal over the 4 sets, he adds weight at his next workout. He says he likes having a goal--"one extra rep over four sets is progress"--and that's helped him make better size and strength gains with a bigger pump at each workout…

"My central nervous system, joints and muscles all recover at about the same rate now, whereas in the past when I tried to get stronger and bigger with heavy weights and lower reps, my joints and nervous system recovered much slower than my muscles."

Now he says his progress is off the charts--and he does use POF but often splits up the positions over two workouts.

So he's going to failure on his first two sets, whereas with standard 4X sequences you go to failure on the LAST set only. Interesting twist…

Bonus: "With the short rest periods between 4X sets, I don't have to do any cardio! And I'm lean all year round, winning shows. (I won the last five shows I entered.)"

Thanks, Aron, for one more 4X variation for more muscle-mass creation.

Till next time, train hard--and smart--for BIG results.

Note: You can get all of the e-books mentioned in this e-zine individually at new discount prices. Just click on the highlighted words above for more info. Also, see the latest end-of-year Super Discount Offer on 4X, 3D (POF) and Size Surge HERE. It ends January 2, 2012, so go check it out.

--Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com