Q: I’m a 65-year-old man who has done some resistance training from adolescence on. I’m pretty strong and fit but have never been able to put on much muscle. Both my parents were very thin, and I do other sports that may interfere with my recovery (mountain biking, rock climbing). Your STX workouts are good, but I need some bodybuilder bulk. Thankfully, a lot of nagging injuries from my past training have disappeared thanks to your reliance on biomechanically safe exercises, but should I be doing something more to get bigger?
A: For some, it’s easy to pack on solid muscle—especially the champion bodybuilders…
Most people don’t realize that they are the genetic top of the heap and attained the majority of their mass before exiting their teen years. Like Mike Mentzer…
He squatted 500 pounds when he was 16. Mike was a strong, fast-twitch mesomorph—a perfect genetic specimen for bodybuilding. And his brother Ray was a Mr. America winner…
An anomaly you say? How about 8-time Mr. Olympia Lee Haney…
How about Arnold at age 19…
You may be getting depressed about the possibility of looking even remotely like a bodybuilder, so let’s look at a champion who was more ectomorphic. Here’s Frank Zane at 17 vs. early 20s vs. 30-ish…
Okay, that didn’t make you feel much better. But overriding your genetics to a degree to get a bodybuilder-esque physique is possible. Case in point: Me…
Those 4 pics show me at age 15, 125 pounds; early 20s, 165 pounds; age 40, 195 pounds; and early 60s, 190 pounds.
Like you, I’ve been a rail most of my life. To be expected: When my parents were married in their early 20s, my dad weighed 125 pounds and my mom 95.
Keep in mind that I achieved a bodybuilder look without drugs, so it took a lot of experimentation. I had to learn how to train to build muscle without the PED booster-rocket.
I’ll give you some key lessons I learned over the decades in the next newsletter. You touched on a big one in your question: Recovery…
You must figure out how you can recover and then supercompensate (grow) before your next workout, or you’ll spin your wheels and gains will never materialize.
Note: There’s more on how to manipulate your recovery, volume, and intensity in my latest ebooks below as well as 3 different workouts you can experiment with: STX (rest/pause) or SSS (supersets), both upper/lower-body splits, or the Full-Body Wave Workout, prioritizing half your body at one workout and the other half at the next.
Train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
Steve Holman
Former Editor in Chief, Iron Man Magazine
X-Rep.com
NEW RELEASE
Never Stop Growing +
The Ultimate Mass Workout Reloaded
These two new muscle-building guides are jam-packed with research and insights so you grow like never before, including…
- Mr. America’s TORQ Training: A look at Drug-Free Mr. Universe and biomechanics expert Doug Brignole’s early muscle-tension method—from an interview I conducted in 2005
- Supercompensation Research for Next-Level Muscle Growth: Over 20 email excerpts between Doug and myself (with progress photos) as our workouts evolved over the two years before his death (we learned—and grew—a lot from the latest science, and you will too)
- Less Volume, More Muscle: The precise amount of training to keep you gaining BIG (is 1 set enough?)
- Size Surge With Less Fatigue: Your secret weapon to tame muscle fatigue and harness high-octane hypertrophy
- The New Never-Stop-Growing Workout: Merges the STX and SSS methods (includes printable full-page photo representation of each 35-minute mass workout)
- Rotation for Recuperation: A forgotten 3-day training tactic developed and used by champion ‘70s bodybuilder Frank Calta—with a Mike Mentzer connection
PLUS: You get The Ultimate Mass Workout Reloaded absolutely FREE with NSG. Includes the Stealth Surge Method, specialize for new size; how to ignite new “grow power” with Dr. Selye’s GAS strategy; and the innovative New Wave Full-Body Mass Workout (40 minutes 3 days a week to reload your physique—readers are saying this workout is worth the entire price).
You’ll never stop growing with these in your muscle-building library. Get yours for only $19 (a $29 value, money-back guarantee).