Q: So from what I can surmise, it sounds like I need both heavy, lower-rep sets and higher-rep, longer tension-time sets to build the ultimat muscle size. Is that right?
A: That’s a simple way to put it, but yes, most trainees need both types of training to attain extreme development as quickly as possible. Let’s review the late, great Olympic coach and strength/muscle-building expert Charles Poliquin’s input…
Although years of emphasis on training just the type 2B fibers [with heavy, lower-rep sets] can certainly produce remarkable muscular development, for MAXIMUM muscular development you must also use protocols that will work the type 2A fibers.
So tension time is important—40 to 90 seconds of time under tension can get the sarcoplasmic-size job done. You can also use shorter rests between sets. Back to Charles Poliquin…
A weightlifter or strength athlete must emphasize complete recovery [long rests between sets], but a bodybuilder has two choices when selecting the rest interval: nearly complete recovery or incomplete recovery.
Poliquin uses a 60-second rest between sets as an example. That is “nearly complete recovery” of the muscle but not quite—which helps “plump up” the type 2A fibers [sarcoplasmic expansion].
So how does all of this translate into an ideal ultimate muscle-building workout? Power-Density. That is, a power-oriented workout alternated with a density-oriented workout—it’s the combo to grow massive….
A good example is pyramids and lower-rep sets at one session followed by 4X and/or TORQ at another. The 4X mass method has you use your 15-rep-max, but you only do 10. Perform 4 sets with 35 seconds of rest between. Go to failure on the last set….
TORQ is tension-overload repetition quantity. You get high-end hypertrophy—60 to 90 seconds of tension time per set. Take your 30-rep-max weight and do 30—go to failure. Rest 45 seconds, then try to get 20. Rest 45 seconds, then try to get 15…
That’s three high-rep sets to failure, each with a unique high-end tension time…
Or try Mr. America Doug Brignole’s Super TORQ method–50-40-30-20-10—on one key exercise only—he adds weight to each set. Then at the next workout you do a standard heavy POF workout for that muscle group. It works!
You’ll find that workout, Brignole’s complete Super TORQ program as well as many other Power-Density variations, in The Power-Density Mass Workout 2.0, plus an in-depth interview with Brignole on exercise choice and his Super-TORQ mass method.
As we always say, it takes both power and density for ULTIMATE muscle immensity.
SPECIAL: The Ultimate Power-Density Mass Workout 2.0, with 6 complete workouts and an interview with Mr. America Doug Brignole on Super-TORQ, is now only $9!
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
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