Q: I’m 53 and have decided to try the three-days-per week Size Surge program. Using a high-rep set first for every muscle (MMX) sounds perfect for me, as I won’t be using extremely heavy weights on the lower-rep sets after. Better for my joints. I know you recommend a heavy day with standard lower-rep sets on Friday, with the high-rep-set-first method on Monday’s workout. Since I’m older, can I get good gains and new mass using the high-rep-set-first method at all workouts?
Yes–and we highly recommend it, even for younger hardgainers. That’s how Steve is training now–at age 57, making excellent progress with no joint pain whatsoever. For the uninitiated, here’s the Phase 1 SS program split…
Monday: legs, chest, back, delts
Wednesday: deadlifts, calves, arms, abs
Friday: legs, chest, back, delts
For each muscle you do one or two exercises, one or two sets each. That’s two to four sets total for each muscle group.
And on the first exercise for each muscle, you will use MMX, followed by one to two standard sets on a second move–for example…
Bench presses, 1 x 20, 1 x 8 R/P 4
Flyes, 2 x 7-9
We mentioned using different exercises on Monday and Friday. In this case you could do dips and machine flyes on Friday–but you can do something even better…
Reverse the order for a modified pre-exhaustion effect…
Machine flyes, 1 x 20, 1 x 8 R/P 4
Wide-grip dips or incline DB bench presses, 2 x 7-9
You’ll feel that big midrange move much more doing it second, after isolating the chest, and you’ll fire more growth fibers for more new mass.
So rework Friday’s routine with an isolation exercise first for every major muscle first and you’ll stimulate more mass with change to gain–not to mention a pump that’s off the chain.
SIZE SURGE: For variations as well as the complete original program Jonathan used to pack on 20 pounds of muscle in 10 weeks, grab a copy of The X-traordinary Size Surge Workout 2.0–a perfect hyper-growth routine for winter.
For more on MMX high-low to grow method and many innovative, quick size routines, tips and tricks, see the MMX Fast Mega-Mass Workouts e-book.
Till next time, train hard–and smart–for BIG results.
–Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com