Q: I got The 4X Mass Workout e-book, and it’s fantastic! I tried it on arms for a few weeks, and they blew up at every workout. I measured, and I gained a quarter-inch in only three weeks. Thank you! They’d been stuck for over a year at just under 17″. I’m convinced and ready to use 4X on all bodyparts. I want to do your full-range Positions of Flexion method for each muscle, 4X on all exercises, but the POF routine in the 4X e-book is a 2-way split. I don’t think I can work legs and chest on the same day. Is there an alternative?
A: Don’t be a wuss! That’s the Phase 2 Size Surge program Jonathan used to pack on 20 pounds of muscle in 10 weeks, so suck it up and just do it…
Kidding! That 2-way split is too taxing for some trainees (not just wusses), which is one reason Jonathan provides a 3-way POF split in his Size Surge e-book (pages 55-57). Here’s how that less-taxing mass plan pans out…
Workout 1: Upper chest, lower chest, triceps
Workout 2: Quads, hamstrings, calves, abs
Workout 3: Lats, midback, delts, biceps
In the Size Surge e-book we suggest you follow the above sequence over Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. So Workout 1 repeats on Friday and then you pick up with Workout 2 on Monday, Workout 3 Tuesday and so on. That second week Workout 2 repeats on Friday and you pick up with Workout 3 on the following Monday….
That works so well for building mass fast because there’s very little muscle-training overlap, even when the two upper-body workouts fall on consecutive days. In other words, when you train chest and tri’s, neither of those bodyparts get blasted when you train back, delts and bi’s the very next day—and vice versa.
Now that 3-way-split program in Size Surge is listed with standard sets, reps, and rests, so you’ll want to plug in 4X and 3X sequences for each exercise instead if you want to use 4X-style training for each position. For example, for delts, try this as a full, 3-way Positions-of-Flexion mass-building attack….
Midrange: Dumbbell upright rows, 4 x 10
Stretch: Incline one-arm laterals, 3 x 10
Contracted: Lateral raises, 4 x 12
Remember, a 4X or 3X sequence is taking a weight with which you can get about 15 reps, but only do the designated number (10 or 12); rest 30 seconds, then do it again—and so on until you complete the listed number of sets. If you get the rep count on the last set, add weight to that exercise at your next workout.
In case you don’t know what an incline one-arm lateral raise is, it’s a stretch move for the medial-delt head, an Arnold favorite. Here’s Jonathan demonstrating…
While the full-range 4X delt workout above looks like a lot of sets, remember that only the last set for each exercise is all out—and with the short 30-second rests you can complete that full POF routine in less than 15 minutes, getting loads of myofibrillar growth as well as sarcoplasmic-size expansion…
So 3-way POF trains the target muscle completely for a triple dose of muscle growth—and with 4X and 3X give you total mass-building success.
NOTE: For those trainees not willing to give up heavy training completely (if you’re over 45, you probably should), the Size Surge 2.0 ebook includes the Phase 2 M4X workouts that have you doing the “big” exercises in standard power-pyramid style. Then you follow with stretch- and contracted-position exercises using M4X (pages 65-67).
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
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