Q: I’m on The Ultimate Power-Density Mass Workout [pages 25-28 of that e-program], and I look and feel much bigger already. Thank you! My problem is that on some of the last isolated exercises I lose touch with the muscle, like on concentration curls for biceps. Arms have always been a problem area for me. Should I do a second double-drop Density set for that exercise?
A: Interesting that you should mention concentration curls, as we’ve found that getting the best Density effect on the contracted-position exercise for many muscles, like biceps, works best with a cable move.
What? Aren’t free weights best because they have more negative resistance due to zero weight-stack drag? Well, free weights are usually best for the big midrange exercises that trigger the max-force mass-building component—like presses and rows…
Free weights are also best for the fat-to-muscle negative-accentuated technique—one second up and six seconds down—which causes more muscle microtrauma that can lead to enhanced fat burning and muscle detail. It’s the slow negative that works the muscularity magic, so you don’t want weight-stack drag to make it lighter and the positive stroke harder.
But for the final Density attack on a bodypart, you’re striving for ultimate tension and occlusion, or blood-flow blockage. If you can get the muscle in a total stranglehold for consecutive back-to-back sets, an intense, immense pump will follow—and you’ll know you’ve triggered a major Density size effect.
So to specifically solve your problem at the end of your Power-Density Workout biceps routine, we suggest you do a superset, if possible (there’s an alternate solution coming up)…
Take a dumbbell over to the low-cable setup. Now, do a set of dumbbell concentration curls first; the weight should have you failing on about rep nine.
At exhaustion, put down the dumbbell and grab the low-cable handle and immediately do one-arm cable curls, with your arm moving across your body, as Jonathan is demonstrating below. At exhaustion, reduce the poundage and rep out one last time on cable curls.
So that’s three quick Density sets: Concentration curls followed by a cable-curl drop set for each arm. That should have your biceps looking bigger than ever with a throbbing skin-stretching pump. And if you’re lean, the vascularity should be streaky and freaky!
You can use the same protocol for triceps. Try one-arm kickbacks supersetted with one-arm pushdowns, a drop set on that second exercise, your Density cable move.
Incidentally, if you can’t do a superset because of crowded conditions at your gym, just do a double drop on the cable curls or one-arm pushdowns for triceps. That is, do a set, reduce the weight, immediately do another set, reduce the weight again and do a third set—three progressively lighter sets back to back.
You can also emphasize different heads of the biceps by altering your arm position. In the cable-curl photo above, Jonathan’s arm is “in,” like a concentration curl. That hits the outer head for peak…
If you angle your arm “out,” away from your body’s center line, you focus on the inner head for more biceps thickness.
Finishing a bodypart with ultimate Density will create new muscular immensity guaranteed. Prepare to grow!
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
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