Q: I’m using The Ultimate Fat-to-Muscle Workout four days per week, and I’m sore after every workout. Is that good? Does it mean I’m growing? My muscles feel and even look bigger, but can it really work that fast?
A: The reason a sore muscle feels bigger is because you’re more aware of it—when you move and you get that sensation of pain—and also because it probably is actually bigger…
When a muscle is damaged, as with the negative-accentuated sets in The Fat-to-Muscle Workout, inflammation occurs in the muscle. That draws fluid to the tissue to accelerate repair. When that inflammation happens, the muscle can look larger than usual—like you’re pumped up for a few days.
That instant size increase will subside somewhat before you train that specific muscle again, but in a perfect scenario, some of that size will remain due to supercompensation, and you will get somewhat bigger after every workout—and leaner…
How does soreness equal more leanness? Scientists recognize that muscle soreness equates to fat burning due to the same phenomenon that creates the instant size surge—muscle damage. As we discuss in that e-book, muscle trauma requires energy to repair it, and that metabolic uptick is fueled by body fat. How great is that?
So, should you strive for that post-workout pain? While there are no studies that correlate muscle soreness with growth, it makes sense that damaging the muscle enough to make it somewhat sore would force it to rebuild bigger and stronger to prevent future damage—if you allow it to recover completely before you train it again…
But while mild soreness is good, severe soreness is bad, as it indicates too much damage that the body may not be able to repair before your next workout. Research on pure-negative training that we discuss in Fat-to-Muscle, verifies that…
A study performed in the 1990s by Frank G. Shellock, Ph.D., showed the extensive damage pure negatives can do. Subjects performed one set of positive-only curls with one arm and negative-only curls with the other, both sets to failure. Results…
The positive-work-only biceps showed no damage, while the negative-work-only biceps showed damage that peaked five days after exercise. Soreness finally dissipated by the ninth day, but some subjects didn’t regain all of their strength in the pure-negative-trained biceps for six weeks!
That last statement is important. It indicates that pure-negative work damaged the muscle so much that it didn’t recover for six weeks in some subjects—and that was after only one pure-negative set to failure. Yes, most of the test subjects were untrained individuals; nevertheless, you can see how extremely traumatic pure-negative work can be.
We believe that’s true even for experienced bodybuilders. That’s why we prefer the less-severe negative-accentuated (NA) version—lift the weight in 1.5 seconds, then take six seconds to lower. Start with one seven-rep NA set for each bodypart placed somewhere in the workout and you’ll start seeing, and feeling, great things in both muscle and rippedness…
With the right amount of muscle trauma and postworkout soreness, you can be sure that you’re getting a real fat-to-muscle effect that can transform your physique quickly.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
ATTENTION OVER-40 BODYBUILDERS
One of the most interesting read-me pages on Testosterone and other muscle-building hormones we’ve seen is The Truth About Testosterone.
It even talks about a fruit, a specific part, that can up your T naturally. Cranking up your testosterone will not only get you jacked in the gym, but in the bedroom too—not to mention help rip up your midsection as it ignites fat burning. If that interests you, there’s more from our colleague and registered dietician, HERE.