Our friend and colleague Doug Brignole just won the 2019 Drug-Free Mr. Universe Open division at age 59. Very impressive [photo courtesy of Doug Brignole ]…
What’s even more impressive, and the reason we’re featuring him in Zen, is his training. He uses high-rep sets to failure to begin each muscle, a very unorthodox approach. A few years ago we dubbed his method Super-TORQ, which stands for Tension-Overload Repetition Quantity. Here’s why…
He starts with a set of anywhere from 30 to 50 repetitionss to failure—yes, 30 to 50 reps. Then he adds weight over the course of a few sets down to a six-to-10-rep set to failure. [For his complete Super-TORQ program and an eye-opening training interview with Doug from a few years ago, see Chapter 4 in Power-Density Mass Workout 2.0 ebook.]
It builds mass fast because he attacks multiple muscle-fiber types for TOTAL growth. Plus, his high-rep-sets-first approach fatigues the slow-twitch fibers up front, which allows better fast-twitch, high-growth-fiber activation on the heavier sets that follow…
Even more important, those end-of-sequence heavier sets are NOT with joint-crushing poundages.
We know what many of you are thinking: You can’t build muscle with lighter weights and higher reps. Well, new research says that is completely false. Look at Doug. In fact, the higher-rep sets build muscle as well as or better than heavy low-rep sets—and without the injury potential—or later-in-life aches, pains, and possible joint surgery.
Check out this graphic from a recent study in the European Journal of Sports Science (Brad Schoenfeld, Ph.D., a scientist we highly respect, is one of the researchers)…
Notice that 40 percent of a one-rep-max (1RM) weight got the same or better hypertrophy results compared with an 80 percent 1RM weight. In other words, if you can curl 100 pounds for one rep, doing 40 pounds for 20-plus reps gets you the same mass gains as using 80 pounds for six reps. Notice that 20 pounds for 70 reps is just too light to trigger much growth, so there is a threshold…
The take-home mass-building message is that lighter, higher-rep training, as performed by Doug Brignole on his first few sets, is incredibly effective—and no doubt building some different fiber types compared to his lower-rep sets. He’s getting a double dose of muscle growth by using both higher- and lower-rep sets, but sparing his joints by hitting the higher reps first.
Bottom line: You should use both power and density to build maximum muscle immensity.
For more on Power/Density training and TORQ, including drug-free Mr. Universe Doug Brignole’s Super-TORQ program, grab a copy of The Ultimate Power-Density Mass Workout 2.0, only $10 HERE
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
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