Something to consider: Anecdotal evidence from bodybuilders over the decades has suggested that higher reps or longer tension times on leg work can add more mass fast on lower-body muscles.

Even Tom Platz, champion bodybuilder who had some of the freakiest leg ever, said, “Reps are where the gold is….weights for high reps.”

Why? Lower-body muscles have a higher number of endurance fibers for obvious reasons…

Therefore, if you’re slow-twitch dominant in most or all muscles throughout your body, emphasizing higher reps and shorter rests between sets, as with STX rest/pause, will work best on just about every body part.

A study I discuss in Never Stop Growing showed that subjects who had the ACE-2 variant, or endurance gene (skinny), responded best to training using 12 to 15 reps. When those subjects used heavier weight that limited reps to around 8, they showed close to zero gains. (Euro J of App Pays. Colakoglu, m., et al. 95(1):20-26. 2005).

In other words, if you’re an ectomorphic slow-twitch type, you may want to rely more on STX rest/pause, with only infrequent use of SSS workouts or power-type training….

Slow-twitch dominant: Emphasize higher reps and/or short rests between sets at most workouts—STX rest/pause

Even mix of slow- and fast-twitch: Alternate STX and SSS or power-type training with longer rest between sets

Fast-twitch dominant (easy gainer): Emphasize long rests between sets and lower reps, less frequent use of STX.

In that same study above, it’s interesting that the researchers also found that subjects who were more anaerobic with the ACE-DD variant (more muscularly inclined), showed similar gains from BOTH types of loads—heavy lower-rep and higher-rep training; however, they made slightly better gains from heavier lower-rep sets.

So every trainee can benefit from higher reps and/or short rest between sets. It’s just a matter of degree. You should emphasize what suits you best.

It took me years, and many injuries from heavy low-rep training, to learn that. I lean significantly slow-twitch, so I finally realized that I need to rely more on higher reps and short rests between sets—STX (thanks, Vince Gironda)…

That allowed me to maximize my muscular potential. No drugs or Photoshop in the above photo—only master photographer Michael Neveux’s excellent studio lighting.

NOTE: For more on combo training—STX + SSS—mass-building tips, workouts and more, see the ebooks below.

Train hard—and smart—for BIG results.

Steve Holman
Former Editor in Chief, Iron Man Magazine
X-Rep.com

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