Yesterday I discussed how neglecting stretch loading is perhaps the biggest muscle-building mistake you can make.
Too many bodybuilders focus on flex contractions, like the top of a leg extension. That isn’t nearly as good as stretch to trigger a growth reaction…
So emphasizing the ideal exercises, which have loaded stretch and less-loaded contraction, like dumbbell decline presses and dumbbell curls, is your first mass-building fix—plus, adding specific stretch-position exercises (see Old Man, Young Muscle for ideal and stretch exercises included in efficient workouts).
Your second fast-mass fix is to reduce workout damage…
Remember, damage must be repaired before supercompensation, or growth, can happen. If you do too much damage, the repair process leeches energy away from growth.
In fact, most bodybuilders do so much damage at each workout that they are training muscles again before complete repair—and way before supercompensation occurs…
Could that explain why muscle growth is so damn slow? I think so. A few training missteps contribute to this excess damage…
- Too much volume
- Too many positive-failure sets
- Too many garbage negatives
The first two are fairly easy to tweak and fix. But in case you’re new here, garbage negatives refer to the eccentric, or lowering, on each rep you do.
If you lower a weight in two to three seconds during a set, every one of those negatives is causing damage, despite that they are easy—much easier than the positive stroke. And those easy negatives don’t do much for stimulating hypertrophy, but they do lots of damage…
Too many of those slow negatives, and you’ve created an overabundance of muscle trauma your body must repair before you grow…
One or two sets with a 1/3 tempo—lifting in one second and lowering in three—appears to be all most trainees need to get the growth factors associated with slower negatives…
But that’s it. On the rest of your sets you should pay less attention to slow lowering. Still stay in control, but use faster reps, a.k.a. Speed Sets.
These are reps lasting 1.5 seconds each, which means less emphasis on the eccentric. So fewer garbage negatives, less cumulative damage and faster hypertrophy.
Note: For a full explanation of Speed Sets and how to use them in your workouts, see Old Man, Young Muscle.
Sculpt your perfect physique: Get the ideal exercise for each muscle, the best stretch and contracted add-on moves for ultimate mass, complete 35-minute workouts, exercise start/finish photos, and details on building muscle fast and efficiently 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 Man Magazine
www.X-Rep.com
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