Q: I’m making my best gains ever with the Power-Density Mass Workout. I’m already up six pounds in four weeks, and I see new muscle somewhere every workout, training just about 40 minutes a session. I have a question about my lagging bodypart, shoulders. Can I add sets to the listed workout, or how should I force my shoulders to grow like my other bodyparts?
A: Most of the bodypart routines in the Basic Power-Density Mass Workout consist of only one Ultimate Exercise per muscle group. That makes for quick, simple workouts: First you pyramid the weight over three sets for max force, or Power; then you reduce the weight and attack tension, or Density with a 10×10-style sequence, but using only four sets…
For shoulders, however, you use two exercises, one for Power, dumbbell presses, and one for Density, dumbbell upright rows. You pyramid on dumbbell presses—add weight so your reps go 9, 7, 5. That’s for the Power component of your key 2A fast-twitch fibers.
For Density, you move to dumbbell upright rows for 4X…
Take a weight you can get 15 reps with, but only do 10; rest 30 seconds and do 10 more, and so on until you complete 4 sets. The last set should be tough. In fact, if you get 10 on the fourth set, you need to go up. You should only get eight or nine on the last set.
Now, to specialize for more size, try pre-exhaustion instead of 4X for a new twist on Density. Yes, we know studies show that pre-ex, or supersetting an isolation exercise with a compound move for the same target muscle, is not a good max force (Power) generator—but that’s not what you’re going to use it for here…
That study, which used leg extensions supersetted with leg presses, looked at pre-exhaution through the max-force, or Power, end of the telescope. Muscular force was greater when leg presses were performed solo as opposed to doing them immediately after leg extensions; however from the Density, or endurance, end of the telescope pre-ex is very close to the top of the list…
It builds muscle more through the endurance-specific pathways, as it jams a lot of work into a short period of time. Plus, that work involves a big compound exercise in a fatigued state, so it’s almost like pushing the target muscle past failure. You get considerable fiber activation, along with a growth hormone surge, capillary bed expansion (which can lead to more vascularity, by the way), and mitochondria development.
So after your Power pyramid on dumbbell presses, you’ve covered the force component. Now use a pre-ex superset of lateral raises and dumbbell upright rows. By isolating the medial head with laterals, you pre-fatigue them…
Then you immediately move to dumbbell upright rows, which bring your arms into the action to force the side head to continue working to capacity. You’ll feel the burn and get a big pump, the two hallmarks of a well-executed Density tactic.
Two or three of those pre-ex rounds, with a two-minute rest between superset cycles, will give you an amazing pump and a new shoulder size surge. You can try substituting pre-ex for the 4×10 sequence on any bodypart in The Basic Power-Density Mass Workout.
In fact, we’ve found that the muscles adapt to a specific Density tactic quickly, so rotating from 4×10 to pre-ex to double-drop sets to high-rep burnout sets every so often is a good strategy to keep muscle growth coming at a furious pace. In other words, rotate methods for Density to trigger new muscle immensity.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
The “New” Perfect Physique
You’ve probably believed that women go crazy over huge muscles. You’ve probably even aspired to look like Arnold at some point.
The picture of the perfect physique seems to have changed over the years…
There were several years when it seemed women preferred a leaner and smaller physique like Brad Pitt’s in Fight Club.
Luckily, that seems to have just been a fad, and a more muscular look has become more desired again. Not pro bodybuilder big, but something in between with good muscularity and chiseled detail…
Alain Gonzales refers to it as the “Athletic-Aesthetic” physique, and women go wild over it.
Check out Alain’s 12-week program here: