Lee Labrada never won the Mr. Olympia, but he got close due to his incredible symmetry, proportions, and muscle size. An Iron Man editor (Steve) gave him the monicker “Mass With Class” back in the ‘80s for good reason—his physique was a work of art (photo by Per Bernal)…
His secret? He was from the Lee Haney school of “stimulate don’t annihilate” your muscles during workouts; however, he fused that with the Mike Mentzer shorter workouts to failure—but with only moderate poundages.
He was all about “growth threshold” training. Here’s how Labrada defined it…
The growth threshold is the point at which the level of fatigue in the muscle is high enough that a growth response is elicited. Your goal during a workout should be to fatigue the target muscles you are training more and more with each succeeding set. In other words, you want the muscles to progressively get more and more tired out, until you reach a point where the muscles are functionally ‘worn out.’ Signals are sent to the brain that set up the compensation, or growth, process during the post workout period, so that in future workouts, you can handle it.
That’s similar to Vince Gironda’s Density Training in that you try to load and fatigue the muscle in a short period of time using shorter rests between sets.
We like anywhere from 10 to 30 seconds between sets…
That also allows you to get the most from only moderate poundages instead of joint-crushing loads, which will extend your muscle-building efforts into your golden years…
Take Labrada. He’s now in his 60s and still looks incredible. GTS (Google That Sh#t)
And if you’re going to use the growth-threshold attack, the ideal exercise for a target muscle is the best choice to pack on the most mass fast. Those are identified and infused into complete growth-threshold workouts in our new offering Old Man, Young Muscle.
So if you want mass with class, get off your ass and step on the gas during your workouts.
Growth-threshold training is the key to faster muscle-building success—no joint stress.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
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