Q: I have most of your e-books, and every one of them is great. I’ve learned so much from them, and I’m gaining faster than ever. My question is that in The Ultimate Fat-to-Muscle Workout you use power sets, negative-accentuated sets, and then end with high-rep sets to finish off a muscle. But in the X-centric Mass Workout, you have a similar program, but you end each bodypart with 4X instead of high reps. When it comes to the finisher sets, which way is better?
A: Neither is better—just different. Arnold used to use high-rep burnout finisher sets. Those were a good complement to his many heavy power sets. He’d either use them on the last exercise for a muscle or do a high-rep set as the last finisher for almost every exercise. Either way, you end up with a skin-stretching pump…
But 4×10, with 30 seconds of rest between sets, will blow you up big too. It’s just a different form of density for muscle immensity. Some trainees prefer ending each bodypart with 4X because you can use slightly heavier weight than with higher-rep sets—plus, 4X produces a more gradual buildup of fatigue with more volume.
With high-rep sets, the muscle fatigue is immediate and intense from set 1—try a set of 20 reps to exhaustion and you’ll see what we mean. It’s a different density beast!
As you know, our mantra is “change to gain,” so try ending with 4X for a few weeks, then try two higher-rep finisher sets to end each bodypart. Either should trigger a wicked growth pump and ache leaving mega-mass stimulation in its wake!
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
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