Q: After completing an initial set to failure, do I go immediately to the X-Rep set or break and return to it after a set time? Also, do I only need two sets, with one being the X-Rep set?

A: You do one set to positive failure, to prime your nervous system for optimal firing with a heavy weight. Rest about two to three minutes if it’s a big compound exercise (multijoint; rest a little less on isolation moves), then perform a second set to nervous system exhaustion with X Reps added to the end—no break; as soon as you can’t do another full-range rep, move to the X spot and crank out partials for max growth stimulation. Your second set, with X Reps, is the money set—that’s where you’ll get the most mass stimulation for your efforts. You’ll feel it happening, believe us!

That being said, we have had reports of great success from some trainees who are doing X Reps on the first set and then using the second as a burnout set with less weight. You may want to experiment with that method as well.

Q: The Ultimate Direct/Indirect Mass Workout 3 [in The Ultimate Mass Workout e-book] looks like a great starting program for me, but I have a few questions. What are the numbers that are listed to the right of the exercise? If it say 2 x 7-10, do I do the X Reps at the end of the second set, or should I do them on all sets? How long should I wait between sets? I also noticed that there are parenthesis around some numbers. What does that mean?

A: The numbers to the right of the sets make up the rep range you should achieve on each set. For example, if it says 2 x 7-9, you should do two sets and get seven to nine full reps on each set. You should only do X Reps on the last set (set number 2 in this case), and you’ll probably only be able to get about four to six of those power partials. You should rest about 2 to 3 minutes between compound (midrange) exercise sets. New studies suggest that three minutes is about right for most compound exercises in order for the muscle to once again generate maximum force output. You’ll probably do best with about two minutes of rest on isolation moves, depending on your conditioning.

The () around a number is the drop set rep range, which is usually included on isolation exercises like concentration curls. For example, if it says 2 x 7(5), on each set you should get about seven reps on the first set, reduce the poundage enough so that you get five more reps without rest. Now you rest for about 2 minutes and do it again. That’s two drop sets.



Q: I just read The Ultimate Mass Workout. Great book! But do you do the X Reps at muscular failure or with a little gas left at the end of each set?

A: You do the X Reps when you can’t get any more full reps—we call that nervous system exhaustion or fatigue. On some exercises X Reps may not be possible, in which case you should do a static hold at the max-force point, or rest for six seconds and then perform as many X Reps as you can. That’s a new X/Pause technique we’ve found very effective. We’re using that during our peaking phase this year, and so far it looks very promising—new mass and detail!

Q: You list your routine during your X-Rep experiment as: Day 1, chest and back; Day 2, legs; Day 3, shoulders and arms. Now do you continue on Day 4 with chest and back again? What about off days?

A: Thanks for the question. We usually continue on Day 4 with the chest and back routine. Day five we do legs. We then take the weekend off and pick up with shoulders and arms on Monday—and continue. However, that’s not ideal because of overlap. We have weekend obligations (Steve has two kids and Jonathan teaches at car-racing schools), so we can’t train on Saturday and Sunday. If we could, we would use the same split, but take a day off after workout 3; then start over with workout 1 after the off day:

Mon., Workout 1; Tues., Workout 2; Wed., Workout 3; Thur., Off; Fri., Workout 1, Sat., Workout 2; Sun., Workout 3

Mon., Off; Tues., Workout 1; Wed., Workout 2; Thur., Workout 3; Fri., Off, Sat., Workout 1; Sun., Workout 2

And so on.

It’s a three-on/one-off routine. That way you don’t train chest and back the very next day after you train delts and arms. We put up with that overlap because we have to have weekends off. [Note: Be sure and check our X-Blog. We recently moved to only one leg workout a week, on Wednesdays, with the upper body split over Monday and Tuesday, then repeated on Thursday and Friday.]

Q: When doing a drop set, why do you go to failure and then do the bottom portion of X-reps first. Wouldn’t it make sense to do your set to failure, do the top contracted position first with X Reps, reduce the weight, and then do full reps to failure followed by X Reps at the bottom.

A: We do a lot of X-Rep variations. We’ve even tried ones similar to that. For example, on leg curls we’ll do a set to failure, get help to the contracted position and pulse there; at X-Rep failure we lower to the midpoint and pulse there. We finish with X-Rep pulses at the max-force point, near the bottom of the stroke. The problem with that (and your version as well) is fatigue. By the time you reach the max-force point, the most effective spot for fiber activation, the muscle will be riddled with lactic acid and not be able to fire effectively. Our preference is to do the first phase of a drop set with X Reps at the max-force, to hit that key sweet spot with as much intensity as possible. That takes full advantage of the size principle of fiber recruitment as explained in The Ultimate Mass Workout. Then we’ll do the second phase of the drop with contracted-position X Reps at the end or an X Fade. If we do a second set, we may experiment with different variation.

So the answer to your question is, we’ve found it’s best to hit the max-force point when fatigue isn’t red-lining. It’s the most important point on the stroke, so give it priority most of the time.

Q: What are your thoughts on the Bowflex? I’m thinking about buying one. Can it deliver a workout good enough to gain muscle and look better?

A: A Bowflex is just okay as a stand-alone home gym. Some exercises are good, others aren’t so good. Plus, you need to consider that the max-force point for most muscles is near the semistretched point—for example, near the start of an incline press when your hands are close to your shoulders. The way the Bowflex is designed, with rods that increase pressure as you extend, there is less resistance at that key point and more at the top of the movements where the rods are maximally flexed. It’s the same with pulldowns and rows on a Bowflex. From that standpoint it’s mandatory to incorporate X Reps at the max force point on this machine when you hit nervous system exhaustion on most sets so you stress the muscle optimally. Otherwise you’ll be getting even less max-force-point overload than you would using standard barbells and dumbbells (because the most force occurs at the top of the stroke on most Bowflex exercises). If you use a Bowflex, do X Reps on almost every set.

If we had to use a bare-bones home gym, we’d get an adjustable bench and the heaviest selectorized dumbbells available (like PowerBlock; http://store.yahoo.com/homegym/propowerblock.html). That gives you the most versatility—although the setup doesn’t look nearly as cool as a Bowflex. The only problem with the dumbbell setup would be leg work, but nonlock dumbbell squats, with the ’bells at your sides, will build your quads. When you get too strong for that exercise, you can try some one-leg squat variation as well as lunges. It’s a very efficient, results-producing home gym setup!

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