Q: I want to experiment with 10×10 on arms to see if I can get another inch of growth. Would you suggest 10×10 combined with Positions of Flexion, or just 10×10 alone on one exercise? One exercise just doesn’t seem like enough angles are worked to hit all the fibers.
A: There are two ways you can approach 10×10 for arm specialization. The first is using 10×10 on one biceps and one triceps exercise at your one arm workout each week. The key to getting the most growth is the bodypart split. For example…
Monday: chest, calves, abs
Tuesday: back, forearms
Wednesday: off
Thursday: quads, hams
Friday: delts, triceps, biceps
Notice that at the beginning of the week, Monday, you get a lot of heavy indirect triceps work with flat- and incline-bench presses for chest. That also trains them at different angles. Then Tuesday you get indirect biceps work with rows, chins, and pulldowns for back. All of that counts as standard heavy training for your arms. So later in the week, Friday, you can do one 10×10 exercise for biceps and triceps…
We recommend decline lying extensions with an EZ-curl bar or dumbbells for triceps and barbell curls for biceps…
Remember, for 10×10 you pick a weight that you can get about 20 reps with, but you only do 10. Rest 30 seconds, then do 10 more, and so on till you complete 10 sets of 10 reps—although the last few sets should be brutal, allowing only eight or nine reps. If you get 10 reps on the 10th set, you need to add weight at your next workout.
Your other option is the Heavy/Light Ultimate 10×10 Mass Workout. That has you hit each bodypart with a full 3-way Positions-of-Flexion workout at one session, and then a few days later you use only one exercise in 10×10 style. You do that for every bodypart, not just arms—although you could do the POF workouts every time you work all other bodyparts and just use the 10×10 rotation for arms. For example, your first triceps workout is full POF…
Midrange: Decline close-grip bench presses or Decline extensions, 3 x 9, 6, 3
Stretch: Overhead extensions, 1-2 x 8-10
Contracted: Pushdowns, 1-2 x 8-10
Four or five days later you hit triceps again, but you use only the first exercise in 10×10 style…
Decline extensions, 10×10
That 10×10 triceps workout will only take you about 10 minutes—now that’s efficiency of effort!
The full POF program is considered the heavy day, while the 10×10 workout is classified as light—but, believe us, even though the poundage is lighter, the last few sets in the 10×10 sequence will not feel light. And the pump and burn you get will be unreal.
Note: For more on 10×10 training, see The Ultimate 10×10 Mass Workout. It includes the complete Heavy/Light 10×10 Workout as well as the Ultimate Exercise 10×10 Workout, using only one big exercise for each muscle so each workout lasts about 35 minutes–great for recovery- and/or time-challenged trainees.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
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