Q: You’ve said that training each muscle only once a week doesn’t work for most people. But I just got the Fat-to-Muscle Workout (thank you for the sale price!), and both the four-day and three-day workouts train each muscle only once a week. Am I missing something?
A: You’re not missing anything; we’re just insane. Seriously, in the Q&A section of The Ultimate Fat-to-Muscle Workout we mention a study on negative-style training and the need it creates for much MORE RECOVERY. That’s the answer…
On either the four-day or three-day Fat-to-Muscle workout, you’re doing negative-accentuated sets; that is, lifting in one second and lowering in six. You do that on the last set of your big midrange exercises, like bench presses, as well as one set of your stretch-position moves, like flyes.
Research shows that by emphasizing the negative, you create much more muscle-fiber TRAUMA—small microtears in the myofibrillar strands. That produces tissue remodeling—growth—as well as a fierce fat-burning effect.
As your body repairs the microtears over many days, you burn more fat. Why? Because your body must mobilize energy for the fix to happen—and you get major metabolic momentum. You’re dropping ugly body fat 24/7. (Yes, you will get more sore, but it’s worth it—more muscle and rippedness).
So with all the trauma you’re inflicting on each muscle, you need extra recovery time for complete regeneration and muscle size via supercompensation. Training each bodypart only every 7 days, you should see yourself getting leaner and more muscular each week.
Also, the higher-rep sets on your last exercise, the contracted-position move, will kick-start the repair process—and your fat-burning success. It’s about major blood flow so you lean out and grow. (Plus, you’ll increase growth hormone, which is a potent fat burner and anabolic trigger).
As we said in a previous e-zine, you can use the 4X mass method instead of those two high-rep sets on your LAST exercises—like leg extensions, leg curls, cable crossovers, shrugs, etc. It’s a great way to increase density for immensity as you burn off loads of fat. (And it’s even better at GH release.)
For 4X you take your 15RM, but only do 10; rest 35 seconds, then do it again—and so on for four quick sets, going all out on your last. Killer pump and GH-surging burn. We like 4X at one workout and high reps at the next, alternating methods on your last contracted-position exercise…
If you want to try more hits per muscle each week, you can always plug the Fat-to-Muscle methods into the Direct/Indirect 4X Mass Workout (pages 30-32 of that e-book). It’s also Positions of Flexion—midrange, stretch and contracted moves for each muscle—but you attack each more frequently with direct AND indirect work.
Remember, the Fat-to-Muscle protocol has you do negative-accentuated work on the last set of your big, heavy midrange move as well as on the last set of your stretch exercise. You’ll train each muscle only once a week because that’s highly traumatic—but the fat-to-muscle effects will be dramatic…
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.