Some of the most motivating photos to us are those featuring a top bodybuilder out in the general public—when they’re in decent shape, that is (LOL). In Zen 36 we featured Arnold walking through the streets of Venice, California.
This one is Tom Platz walking the path at Venice Beach, a classic photo from one of the best physique photographers of all time, Michael Neveux….
Tom was the 1980 Mr. Universe and had a pair of the freakiest legs bodybuilding had ever seen at the time. Yes, the man was blessed with incredible lower-body genetics, but he succeeded in making a great body part totally ungodly by attacking it with no-pain-no-gain stretch moves like sissy squats…
Platz believed that elongating a muscle against resistance significantly enhanced hypertrophy—and science is verifying that.
An older study by Jose Antonio, Ph.D., et al., produced a 334 muscle-size increase in a bird’s wing with about a month’s worth of stretch-only “workouts.”
A more recent study also verifies stretch-overload as a significant get-bigger trigger [Scand J Med Sci Sports, Jan 30, 2017]. Muscle thickness increased by 5.6% in six weeks. And that was with ONLY stretch stimulation…
No other hypertrophic triggers were used, not even full-range movement—yet the muscles still grew quickly in just over a month’s time…
Back to Platz. He eventually emphasized stretch moves for his upper body to push everything from his chest to back to triceps and biceps to new levels of development to help match his incredible legs. For example, incline curls, overhead extensions, DB flyes…
It’s clear that muscle stretch is a key hypertrophy trigger, and one you can use in your home gym, even with moderate weights. In other words…
Whether you train in a commercial gym or home gym, include loaded muscle elongation for super-size stimulation!
NOTE: The Freak-Physique Stretch-Overload Workout contains mass-building research, stretch exercises for every muscle plus multiple workouts supercharged with anabolic stretch, including 3D Power Pyramid (POF) and Pure-Positions STX (slow-twitch exhaustion).
And the Pure-Positions Stretch Workout on page 36 is bare-bones home-gym ready with just a couple of minor exercise tweaks. For a limited time you can add it to your mass-building library for ONLY $9 (a $19 value) HERE
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
NEW 2.0 Release (with big, updated Home-Training Section)
We’ve just updated our Quick-Start Muscle-Building Guide 2.0. There’s a big new section with complete home workouts that include STX, slo-mo sets, speed reps, and stretch moves—all tailored for a bare-bones home gym (ours is only selectorized dumbbells and an adjustable bench, and we’re getting impressive results with these workouts)…
There’s even a weight-free workout using some of the aforementioned methods, no equipment necessary.
We’ve got it at a limited new-release price of ONLY $9—Click the cover above or HERE.