Q: I’ve followed you over the years. Your Positions-of-Flexion method has given me muscle gains beyond my expectations. Logical and precise. I have your Old Man, New Muscle and am using the full-POF Stretch-First Workout inspired by the great Mike Mentzer. With all the research on stretch-partials being best for growth, can I do the stretch exercise in those workouts with only partials? That exercise is first for each muscle, so it should be high reps. Do I just do 20 partials?
A: First, thank you for following me over the years—as long as you’re not in the bushes outside my house…
Seriously, POF continues to evolve, but its basic premise is still rock-solid for building mass, especially with a stretch move as part of each target muscle’s training trifecta (example coming up).
As you mentioned, more and more studies are confirming that stretch loading is the key piece for triggering hypertrophy—possibly better than full-range work, an exciting finding…
For those unfamiliar, POF uses three exercises, in most cases, to train a muscle through its full range of activation—like this for triceps…
Midrange: Lying extensions (skull crushers)
Stretch: Overhead extensions
Contracted: Pushdowns
You train the triceps through three different areas of fiber activation: arms perpendicular to the torso, arms overhead, and arms down next to the torso.
With the Stretch-First Workout, pages 71-72 of OMYM, you prioritize the stretch move, overhead extensions for triceps, by doing it first for one high-rep set.
And, yes, if you use stretch partials, shoot for 20 to 30 of those on that first set. You follow with the midrange and end with the contracted-position move…
Tomorrow I’ll outline a quick triceps workout with the above criteria—stretch-partials first to give you a new size burst.
GROW like never before: Get the complete Stretch-First POF Pre-Ex Workout as well as the Base-STX Workout, which both include the ideal exercise for each muscle and the best stretch and contracted add-on moves for mass, in Old Man, Young Muscle.
And you still get The Muscle-On, Belly-Gone “Diet” ebook FREE for a limited time when you add Old Man, Young Muscle to your mass-building library. Go HERE.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman
Former Editor in Chief, Iron Magazine
www.X-Rep.com
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