Q: I’m ready to start the Super-Size Crash Course, but I have a question: Do I do any warm-up sets before I do 4X on an exercise? You have warmups listed for the regular sets and pyramids, but none for 4X, or the other 4X-based sets.
A: First, warm-up sets are very important. In the 3D Muscle Building e-book, we have an entire chapter on it (“Prelude to Mass”) with various ways to do it for extra size and strength gains—partials, neuromuscular priming, etc. But the general warm-up protocol is simple…
Before your first HEAVY work set, do at least two progressively heavier warm-up sets, usually 60 and 80 percent of that first work-set weight…
So if you’re going to bench press 225 x 7, warm up with 135 x 10 and 185 x 8. Simple. And as we explain in 3D MB, you may want to do the first half of the set with full-range reps and the second half with partials to heighten blood flow…
That’s because studies we discuss in 3D MB show that a proper warmup that gets sufficient blood flow to the muscle can increase muscular contraction by 20 percent or more. That means significantly better muscle stimulation for more mass creation…
BUT a 4X sequence is NOT ultra-heavy training—you use the same moderate weight all the way through….
For 4X you start with your 15-rep-max weight, but you only do 10 reps. Rest 40 seconds, then do 10 more—and so on for four sets. Only the last TWO sets FEEL heavy and are close to failure…
So really the first two sets are acting as warmups, with the last two being the money sets. Very efficient—you automatically prime the target muscle for optimum fiber activation with the first two sub-failure sets…
And the short rests between sets means no joint-jolting poundages required on the work sets—you use the same weight all the way through.
Even when you add weight to each set of a 4X sequence, as with Downward-Progression 4X, the first two sets act as moderately heavy warmups…
And on Progressive-Speed 4X, the first set is X-centric–you lift in one second and lower in six on every rep. That can be an even better warmup than two moderate sets. That’s because the slow tempo really gets you in touch with the target muscle, and the long tension time pushes a lot of blood into it with only one set.
Now, on some more demanding exercises like squats, we will do one light warm-up set before we launch into a 4X, DP 4X, or PS 4X sequence—but it’s more to nail down the proper groove of the exercise (and we need to get our old-man hips primed—Lol).
There’s no doubt that proper warm-up sets can help you build more mass fast—but with 4X you’ve got built-in warm-up sets for mass-building success.
Note: The Super-Size Crash Course includes Jordon Williamson’s 18-pounds-of-muscle-in 12-weeks program plus alternate workouts (moderate-weight for older trainees). It also includes the Progressive-Speed 4X mass method and Steve’s radical 2-Days-On, Muscle-Up, Fat-Gone Diet. Add it to your mass-building library today <==
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
Testosterone prescriptions do more HARM than good for older men
Millions of men are struggling with the problems associated with low-T in today’s world, such as extra belly and chest fat, low energy and stamina, lack of sexual desire, ED problems, and loss of muscle.
Sadly, millions of men also turn to Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT) to try to overcome these problems and try to feel like a new man again…BUT there are some VERY concerning problems with TRT that every man NEEDS to know.
After reading the article below, you might want to consider alternate routes of boosting your T levels naturally instead of through something that’s potentially as harmful as TRT…
–> Why Testosterone Replacement Therapy can do more HARM than good (for any ladies reading this, please pass this on to your husband or boyfriend if they are using or have considered using TRT)