Q: I’ve been using all-heavy training (6-8 reps) on everything up until now. I just started using your 4X method, and I swear I can already feel new growth happening. It’s also a relief on my tattered joints. I want to try it exclusively for a month or two. Will my weights increase or should I add sets? Just looking for the best “change to gain.”
A: Since this is your first time using the 4X mass method, you’ll get stronger as your muscle grow more adept at DENSITY training…
For the uninitiated, 4X is taking your 15-rep max, but only doing 10. Rest 35 seconds, then do 10 more—and so on for four sets. You go all out on your last set, and if you get 10 reps, you add weight to that exercise at your next workout.
As you probably know, we like a Positions-of-Flexion mass-training protocol for each target muscle. That’s hitting it from 3 unique “positions,” or angles of pull, for optimal growth-fiber activation—midrange, stretch, and contracted…
For example, your POF 3X/4X triceps routine might be this….
Midrange: Decline close-grip bench presses, 4 x 10
Stretch: Overhead extensions, 3 x 10
Contracted: Pushdowns, 3 x 12
Do each exercise as a 3X or 4X sequence as indicated above. Now for the CHANGE TO GAIN…
After a few workouts, move the stretch exercise to the first position and TORQ it…
Stretch: Overhead extensions, 3 x 30, 20, 15
Midrange: Decline close-grip bench presses, 4 x 10
Contracted: Pushdowns, 3 x 12
TORQ is tension-overload repetition quantity—you take your 30-rep max and do 30; rest 45 seconds, then try to get 20; rest 45 seconds and attempt to get 15…
That will give you high-end hypertrophy—a time under tension of over a minute on each set. That’s a growth stimulus most bodybuilders never get, and it can produce explosive new growth…
After a few workouts with that new attack, go back to the first workout above, but TORQ the last exercise, pushdowns, 3 x 30, 20, 15. Talk about ending with a mega pump—and new veins will start to erupt…
You get the idea. If you want a complete 9-week Density-for-Immensity Phase Training Itinerary that outlines specifically how to do this, check out The 4X Mass Workout 2.0 e-book (page 52).
It’s serious, methodical change to gain—rotation for new mass creation.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
ANABOLIC HORMONE RESET SOLUTION
Yes, it is possible to simultaneously build muscle while losing fat…
The right form of intermittent fasting will help you gain more muscle while you burn fat…
That’s because it supercharges your anabolic environment, including testosterone and growth hormone production.
According to Dr. Michael Mosley, it results in “better metabolic adaptations, improved muscle-protein synthesis and a higher anabolic response to post-exercise feedings.” [J App Phys., Jan. 2011: 236-45]
Proper fasting will NOT have you burning muscle—just the opposite as your body fat decreases and your testosterone and growth hormone increase. [Webber, J., et al. (1994). Br J Nutr.]
Still on the fence? Our friend Shaun Hadsall used an approach similar to how The Rock does it, which is explained in the new 1-Day Hormone Reset protocol, developed specifically for the over-40 crowd (women use it too, as you’ll see). Check out his results at the link below…
–> Your anabolic hormone RESET to melt fat, build muscle, and slow aging