Q: Your 4X training is fantastic. It has me growing again, and it’s perfect with 3-way POF. My question is about muscle feel. How important is it to feel your muscles working for size increases? I ask because I have trouble feeling some body parts, like shoulders and chest.
A: We believe it’s EXTREMELY important to feel your muscles working; if you don’t, you may be using other muscle groups to move the weight or simply not innervating enough muscle fibers for a big anabolic response.
One thing we can’t stress enough is getting adequate size-triggering time under tension. If your sets don’t last long enough, you won’t feel your muscles working, and you’ll be cheating yourself out of significant size increases…
Strength and muscle-building expert Jim Stoppani, Ph.D., explains: “The best TUT [time-under-tension] range for strength is about four to 20 seconds per set and about 40 to 60 seconds per set for muscle growth.”
So you want every set in your 4X sequence for every exercise to last at least 40 seconds…
For 4X you pick a weight with which you can get 15 reps, but you only do 10; rest 35 seconds, then do it again. Go to failure on the last set, and if you get 10, add weight to the exercise at your next workout or try 4×11. Simple (but the last set or two hurts—especially with a longer TUT).
So you’re doing 10 reps per set, and each rep should last four seconds—four seconds times 10 reps is 40 seconds. We recommend a one-second positive and a three-second negative ON EVERY REP. The semi-explosive positive has been shown to activate more growth fibers—and that means more potential hypertrophy from each rep.
Remember, use that rep tempo on ALL exercise—including lateral raises. You must do the downward stroke slow and controlled; don’t just drop the dumbbells through to the bottom…
You may have to reduce your weights, but so what? You need to feel your muscles working to get them growing. Make a conscious effort to “fight” the weight down, even if it feels light. Ray Mentzer, a Mr. America winner and Mike Mentzer’s brother, said that he could make a 25-pound dumbbell feel like 60 pounds. That’s the idea…
We also like an X-centric set every so often—like at the beginning or end of a 4X sequence. X-centric is raising the weight in one second, but lowering in SIX SECONDS per rep. If you get eight of those, you’re up around 60 seconds of tension time. Excellent variation for more mass creation. X-centric training also has fat-loss implications, so it can give you more muscle striations.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
Build MASS with Bodyweight Training
One way you’re guaranteed to pack on stacks of muscle is through a process called muscle protein synthesis (MPS), which more than doubles 24 hours after an intense workout…
Until recently, MPS was only elevated when trainees would lift 70-90% of their one-rep max…
That’s not only dangerous for your joints, but it also sets you up for high injury risk every time you exercise…
It used to be believed that training with your own bodyweight couldn’t get you the same results as training with your 70-90% one rep max… Until NOW.