Q: I just turned 55 and am a hardgainer type like you. I’ve read with interest your take on Speed Sets. Aren’t you afraid of getting injured doing plyometric reps at your age? I’m afraid to try them.
A: First, Speed Sets are not plyometric, which are explosive. They are controlled 1.5-second reps—no throwing or heaving…
So if you perform them correctly, injury potential should be at a minimum, especially on the ideal exercises. Those put your joints in the most biomechanically advantageous position…
That near-perfect line of force also engages the most muscle fibers (see the 5 Ideal-Exercise Factors in OMYM).
I recommend Speed Sets on about half of your sets for each muscle. But if you only do one, make it your second, right after your standard 1/3-tempo 20-rep set…
That way you’ll amplify fast-twitch fiber recruitment—from the very beginning of your Speed Set….
You also do less damage by de-emphasizing the eccentric, or lowering stroke, of each rep, which I call “garbage negatives.”
Those easy negatives in a standard set don’t do much for growth, but they do lots of damage. That excess trauma sucks recovery from the growth process after training.
And finally, the slightly more abrupt turnaround on Speed Sets, from positive to negative, helps trigger the myotatic reflex, another fast-twitch activator. And, yes, that does cause some damage, but any productive workout causes some trauma…
After years of criticizing the big bodybuilders who do many sets with a fast cadence, I’ve finally realized the need for some semi-speed.
Your Efficient Mass-Building Handbook: For complete mass workouts that include Speed Sets, the ideal exercise for each muscle, and the best stretch and contracted add-on moves, get your copy of 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 and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
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