Q: I am committing to the three-days-per-week Size Surge routine this winter. Shorter but more-frequent muscle hits makes sense, and it’s a good change to gain for me. But with the latest findings that slow-twitch fibers have more growth potential than previously thought, I want to merge SS with the MMX method of a high-rep set first. Should I do that first high-rep set on every exercise at each Size Surge workout for faster muscle growth?
We suggest you use an initial high-rep set on only the first exercise for a muscle group. For example, back work consists of two exercises, pulldowns and bent-over rows…
While pulldowns focus on lats and bent-over rows emphasize mid-back, both exercises train both muscle groups to a degree. So an initial high-rep set of pulldowns will pre-fatigue slow twitch fibers in BOTH your lats and mid-back.
That means you get growth in those slow-twitch fibers AND you now activate more fast-twitch growth fibers on your heavy sets of both exercises…
So do your first set of pulldowns for 20 reps, add weight, rest just under a minute, then do a heavy set of 8 or 9. Then move to bent-over rows–do two sets of 7-9 reps.
That initial high-rep set on only the first exercise for each muscle goes for all bodyparts. For chest that means your first set of bench presses will be for 20 reps. You follow with a lower-rep set or two, then move to the next exercise, flyes, for one to two heavier sets of 7 to 9 reps.
As we said, that first high-rep set is important. You get slow-twitch-fiber growth stimulation, and you also pre-fatigue those “endurance” fibers so you activate more higher-growth-potential fast-twitch fibers on the heavier sets. That is MMX, which is based on a Brazilian study published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology
Study Shows Faster Muscle Growth
In the study the researchers had one group do a preliminary set of leg extensions with 20 percent of their one-rep-max before moving to heavier sets. The other group did only standard sets with 75 percent of their 1RM. Rests between sets for both groups were 30 seconds to one minute. Here are the results from the researchers…
“The men who started their workout with the light set built up more muscle strength than the men who trained their legs in the traditional way. The scans also showed that doing a set to failure with light weights resulted in a bigger increase in MUSCLE MASS.”
There you go–MMX is a proven way for faster muscle growth.
For more on MMX high-low to grow method and many innovative, quick size routines, see the MMX Fast Mega-Mass Workouts e-book.
SIZE SURGE: For variations as well as the complete original program Jonathan used to pack on 20 pounds of muscle in 10 weeks, grab a copy of The X-traordinary Size Surge Workout 2.0–a perfect hyper-growth routine for winter.
Till next time, train hard–and smart–for BIG results.
–Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com