Q: You guys have contributed so much to my ability to build lots of muscle. I want to thank you. X Reps are fantastic. Positions of Flexion is great; I build most of my workouts around that full-range principle. You’ve also created 4X and negative-accentuated [X-centric] training. So what do you think is the best of the bunch, your #1 mass-building discovery over the years?
A: Out of all of our mass-building tactics, X Reps are probably the easiest to apply. Well, maybe “easiest” is the wrong word because when you use them correctly, X-Rep partials at the end of a set are brutal—they hurt, but they work. X Reps make any set three to five times more effective at packing on mass…
For the uninitiated, X Reps are end-of-set partials in the target muscle’s semi-stretch position. For example, when you can no longer do full-range reps on chins, you lower to just before the arm’s-exended position and do bottom-range partial reps, pulling up to almost halfway…
Remember, you do X-Rep partials at the end of a set of full-range reps. Here’s another example: When you stick on incline presses, you lower the bar till it’s a few inches off your chest, then blast the bar up to near the halfway mark. After a few of those explosive partials tacked onto a set, you’ll feel new growth stimulation, guaranteed!
X Reps extend the set for more muscle-building tension time, fire more muscle fibers right at the key activation point and can increase anabolic hormone release. All of that from three to five partial reps through the X Spot added to the end of any set. Amazing! [Note: For more on X Reps and X-hybrid tactics, see The X-traordinary X-Rep Workout e-book, now available for only $7.99, a $22 savings off its original price!]
Ah, but in our opinion, that’s NOT our #1 mass-building discovery…
You mentioned 4X training, and that contributed to our #1 get-BIG find. 4X training proved to us that you don’t need super-heavy poundages to build impressive, eye-popping muscle size. So our #1 mass-building discovery is: YOU CAN BUILD INCREDIBLE MASS WITH MEDIUM WEIGHTS, no joint damage necessary…
That took us a long time to wrap our minds around because of our brainwashing over the years—practically everything you read on weight training says you must lift extremely heavy to get big. We believed that strength equaled size for so long that once we started getting dramatic gains with 4X, we questioned the reality of it all. We decided to throw convention out the window and use a total-4X training program for a few months straight. We had to be sure 4X wasn’t a fake…
It wasn’t. After that first three months with total-4X workouts, our joints were NOT hurting, our lower backs felt great, our muscles were big and full and our bodyweights were at their highs—hovering around 205—with ABS! How could that be?…
In The 4X Mass Workout e-book we explain how a quick 4X sequence provides a balance of both POWER and DENSITY. That’s key because by training both of those constituents, you get maximum growth in the fast-twitch 2A fibers, the most prevalent muscle-fiber type in the biggest, freakiest bodybuilders. That’s why 4X works BIG time! You get exactly what you need to hypertrophy the majority of the growth fibers…
You don’t have to grind out sets with bone-crushing poundages to build muscle. That’s quite an eye-opening find—and there’s no joint-wearing grind. You can achieve a bodybuilder physique without being crippled later in life. Hallelujah! If only we’d known that 20 years earlier—less strain, bigger gains!
For those who don’t know what 4X is, you take a weight with which you can get 15 reps, but you only do 10; rest 30 seconds, then do 10 more—and so on until you complete 4×10. The last set should be to failure—you can even add X Reps. If you get 10 on your last set, add weight to that exercise at your next workout.
Try using 4X on the 3-exercise full-range Positions-of-Flexion routines for each muscle, and you’ll grow like never before. Simple. Well, maybe not “simple” because the last two sets will be painful, but 4X is quick and efficient. Like X Reps, it hurts, but it works, BIG time—and without joint grind! That’s quite a find!
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
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