Q: I’m ready to try The Ultimate Fat-to-Muscle Workout, but you have different workouts in that e-book. The first program is four days a week, but each bodypart is worked only once each week. The second program is three days a week, but again you train each bodypart only once. Then in the Q&A chapter, you suggest using the three-days-per-week routine over four days per week [following the 3-day sequence so each muscle is hit more than once a week]. Which way is best?
A: It’s tough to answer which way is best because we don’t know the extent of your recovery ability, stress levels, experience, etc. Remember, the Fat-to-Muscle workouts have negative-accentuated sets, which do great things for a fat-to-muscle metamorphosis during microtear repair, AND heavy power pyramids, which also are very abrasive to muscle fibers. Those two factors may force the need for more recovery—like seven days.
On the other hand, both of us do NOT seem to grow as fast with seven days between bodypart hits. It could be that our nervous system balks before too much damage is done on any given set, or that we quickly recover from the amount of work we do. Keep in mind that we try to keep our time in the gym to a minimum, so we can’t do a lot of volume, plus, we’ve been training for decades.
Our suggestion: If you have four days a week to train, try that first program, hitting every muscle once a week—so you focus on only a couple of bodyparts at each session. That way you can hammer each muscle just enough so extra recovery is necessary. Once you adapt—in three to six weeks—you can try training each bodypart more frequently—as with our Direct/Indirect X-centric Mass Workout, which also incorporates NA sets AND the 4X method.
Also, if you switch exercises in The Ultimate Fat-to-Muscle Workout you choose, do stick with the basic program recommendations. For example, don’t start doing multiple sets in NA style for each muscle because, as we said, negative sets jack up the stress. To keep on gaining, you MUST avoid overtraining!
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.