Way back in the 1970s, an Iron Man author named Dennis DuBreuil explained his Blood Theory…
Basically, he said that there is a direct relationship between how well a muscle pumps and how well it grows…
If you think about it, that makes sense. If you have a body part that responds and grows easily, it probably pumps easily as well (Michael Neveux photo).
Before Dennis and his Blood Theory, there was the Iron Guru, master trainer Vince Gironda, who said that a big pump was necessary for fastest growth.
And he suggested getting a pump as quickly as possible, which was part of his “Density” training method. He would gradually pare down rests between sets to 15 seconds.
He often told me that to build maximum muscle size fast, you should do the most work possible in the shortest time—short rests between sets…
In the new ebook, I explain why I like doing a high-rep set first with 20 seconds between all sets.
If your cardiovascular conditioning isn’t great, you may want to start at 40 to 50 seconds and gradually reduce it.
Short rests between sets leads to faster blood pooling and lactic acid accumulation, which are key mass builders….
And with brief rests between sets, like 20 seconds, it’s almost like doing one long extended set—which is a true hypertrophic trigger. As Brad Schoenfeld, Ph.D., has found…
Repetitive muscular contractions cause a compression of blood vessels, impeding both inflow and outflow during exercise and creating a hypoxic intramuscular environment. There’s evidence that the hypoxic effect mediates a hypertrophic response, conceivably by the buildup of metabolites and reduction in pH levels associated with such training.
Blood flow restriction and burn from lactic acid occur during each set, then you get frantic blood pooling during the short rests between sets and finally a massive influx after you complete all sets.
It’s why using short rests between sets is the efficient way to pack on mass—you get a muscle-building blood bath.
Get the ideal exercise for each muscle, my complete workouts, exercise start/finish photos, and details on building muscle fast and efficiently in Old Man, Young Muscle.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
Steve Holman
Former Editor in Chief, Iron Man Magazine
www.X-Rep.com
Mass-Building Lessons From the Master Trainer
Vince Gironda was the Iron Guru, a bodybuilding legend ahead of his time. His most famous pupil in the bodybuilding world was the very first Mr. Olympia Larry Scott, and he also trained many Hollywood stars back in the day, like Clint Eastwood, and even Arnold consulted with him and was a fan (even though Vince told Arnold that he was a “fat f**k” when he first arrived in the U.S.).
Many of Vince’s mass-building tricks and methods have been forgotten, buried by information and misinformation overload on the Internet, but now you can find them all, his true methods, in this must-have, 330-page Vince Gironda ebook anthology…
You get everything from “Train 21 Rest 7” to 10-8-6-15 to Vince’s Stone Age Nutrition, the 8×8 method and program and much, much more (remember, it’s 330 pages). And it’s on sale at a discount for a limited time: Simply use the code GIRONDA20 at checkout for an extra 20 percent off.
Vince Gironda: Legend & Myth (300-page anthology + many bonus gifts and programs) HERE