I can remember my first few years of training as a teenager. I was totally obsessed with mass. Okay, I still am, to a degree, but back then I naively inhaled everything I could get my hands that had anything to do with building muscle. My key source of information—and motivation—was the muscle magazines. I'd read how the champs trained, and then reread those articles again and again, looking for hidden secrets.

One thing I noticed was that in almost every article there were descriptions of slow, controlled reps and talk of feeling the muscles working. Ah ha, so that's how it's done (boy, was I naive). Then I'd go to the gym to apply what I'd learned—and get hit in the face with reality: I'd see the biggest, freakiest guys throwing and heaving giant poundages. Rarely did they do those slow, controlled reps described in my sacred bodybuilding publications.

I distinctly remember seeing one ripped gorilla pile 500 pounds on an Olympic bar in a power rack and proceed to do shrugs with it—if you want to call them shrugs. All he really did was pull that massive poundage off the long pins, stand erect and then move his shoulders up and down about three inches with explosive, jerky movements. He never got near full contraction (although he did warm up with a few sets of full-range movements beforehand).

My thoughts were something like, “Poor, deluded fool. He doesn't know how to train.” But something just wasn't right. You see, his traps were absolutely gigantic, swelling up like pythons near his ears. I rationalized: “Oh, of course! Genetics and steroids can overcome bad training.” So I kept doing my strict sets to positive failure and adding a few measly pounds of muscle a year.

Now, more than 10 years later, I've finally discovered that those mass monsters I saw heaving heavy poundages were onto one of the secrets of super size development. Sure, they probably didn't know why their explosive movements near the bottom of a rep were packing their physiques with loads of striated muscle—they just wanted to move more iron any way anyhow. And they got huge fast as a result. Take the gorilla doing shrugs: He was overloading his traps in their semistretched position as he exploded out of the bottom of each rep. He was initiating critical turnaround overload.

You see the big men doing it all the time—exploding out of the hole on heavy squats, blasting out of the bottom of a bench press, heaving up heavy laterals. It ain't pretty—or joint friendly—but with each rep they achieve severe overload when the negative erupts into a positive—100 pounds can suddenly register 300 pounds of force right near the key turnaround position where maximum force occurs—and they grow like crazy because of it.

Of course, many of them get injured severely due to that style of training (some use growth hormone and other drugs to strengthen muscle attachments, but usually even that isn't enough protection). Hey, injury is just a necessary evil of overloading the turnaround position of the big exercises—or is it?

Absolutely not! I've found that you don't have to train with explosive movements to get those mass-monster size effects. All it takes is will power—the drive to extend any set near the key turnaround position after you hit failure. I've been describing the technique in the past few newsletters, and it's a true bodybuilding breakthrough. We call them X Reps because you basically extend a strict set near the turnaround point with power partials. X Reps make it possible for you to get severe overload at that sweet spot of any exercise, no dangerous explosive reps necessary.

With X Reps you now have a truly incredible way to build more mass quickly—and safely—similar to how the big men do it but without the injury potential. In my initial one-month trial with X Reps, I made progress that stunned me. And it was no fluke, as my training partner, Steve Holman, IRON MAN's editor in chief and 45-year-old hardgainer, made similar amazing progress with X Reps—in only one month.

If you're interested in packing your physique with more mass, please give X Reps a try. Remember, they are power partials in the semistretched position at the end of a set to failure. Try them near the bottom of bench presses or chins. With each pulse you'll feel the power that can produce unprecedented muscle gains.

The X-Files are not intended as training advice for everyone. You must consult your physician before beginning any diet or training program. You may forward this email to as many friends as you want, but do not photocopy or reprint this report in any format without the written permission of the copyright holder.

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