Q: After reading some of your previous newsletters, I’ve been thinking about trying your 10×10 method. It sounds good, except I can’t get myself to accept using such a light weight. Will that really build muscle? I bench 300 pounds for a single, so that means I should use 180 pounds for 10×10. Man, how can that work?
A: You’re falling for the old the-heavier-you-go-the-more-you-grow myth. It’s been ingrained in all of us, but once you understand how muscle mass is created, you’ll know that you can build a lot of size with more moderate poundages and short rests—like with 10×10 or 4X…
For the uninitiated, the myofibrils are the actin and myosin strands in muscle fibers that pull across each other to produce force. You develop those by training heavy and getting stronger…
The sarcoplasm is the energy fluid in the muscle fiber, made up of glycogen, ATP, and non-contractile proteins. You expand that fluid by using short rests between sets and/or longer tension times…
The 10×10 method emphasizes sarcoplasmic size via short rests between sets—and it only takes about 10 MINUTES for each exercise (you do only ONE BIG move for each muscle—the ULTIMATE size exercise for each muscle is included in the 10×10 Mass Workout)…
You take a weight with which you can get 20 reps, but you only do 10; rest 30 seconds, then do it again. Continue until you complete 10 sets. Sounds easy? It’s not! You won’t get 10 all the way through. Yes, the first few sets will feel easy, but the last few will be wicked tough—and you’ll be lucky to get 8. Plus, the pump and muscle feel will be unreal—It will look like your skin is ready to split (don’t worry, it won’t)…
As we said, the sarcoplasm is what expands most with 10×10 training. And if your workouts have been heavy-weight dominant for a while—as most are, then you’ve been neglecting the sarcoplasm, and we guarantee you’ll get a SHOCKING SIZE SURGE with 10×10.
However, we recommend you use it EXCLUSIVELY for only three-to-four-week shock phases. If you want to use it for longer stretches, use it within a heavy/light program, LIGHT day being 10×10 on one big exercise for each muscle and HEAVY day being 3-exercise Positions-of-Flexion mass training for more myofibril size stimulation. That workout is outlined in The 10×10 Mass Workout as is a TOTAL-10×10 shock program.
Does it work? Here’s what John Hansen, Mr. Natural Olympia, said about 10×10 after trying it for his quads:
The results were well worth the hard work [using 10×10 on squats]. I took measurements of my legs before and after starting the 10-sets program to accurately record the results. I was overjoyed to find out that, at the end of the seven-week program, my legs had grown almost two inches. That’s an amazing gain [for an advanced bodybuilder].
Hansen was using 10×10 to specialize on just one bodypart, his quads, so he used it for an extended period—seven weeks. That’s another way to harness the size-building power of this method—on only one exercise while you train everything else in standard style. However, keep in mind that quads are a more endurance-oriented muscle group, so 10×10 can work for longer phases.
Could this quick-shock mass method add a half-inch or more to your arms in only a few workouts? It’s very possible. Try 10×10 exclusively for three weeks—and we guarantee you’ll pack new size on your physique!
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
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