Q: I’m using the Basic Ultimate Mass Workout 1 [on page 56 of The Ultimate Mass Workout e-book]. I like using the Ultimate Exercise for each bodypart with X-Rep partials, but I’m having trouble with X Reps on some of them, like incline hammer curls. When I hit exhaustion, I can’t budge the dumbbells. Should I grab lighter dumbbells and do a drop set instead of X Reps?

A: As you read in that e-book, the research suggests that movement is necessary for optimal nervous system activation, which means more muscle fibers get in on the action with X-Rep partials at the end of a set. There are some exercises, like incline curls and lying extensions, on which the addition of X Reps are difficult or nearly impossible. For those X-Rep-proof moves, and for any exercise that gives you trouble with X Reps, we suggest a Static X instead…

Q: I recently read that fascia stretching is important to allow muscles to grow. If you don’t do some form of it, your muscle size will be stunted, and if you do it often, your muscles grow faster. Do you think stretch-position exercises in your 3D POF programs stretch the fascia enough to get that extra growth to happen?

A: For the uninitiated, the fascia is the fibrous encasement around a muscle—much like the outside of a sausage that holds in the meat. The contention is that the fascia constricts the muscle tissue so much that it holds back maximum growth. The degree to which that happens probably depends on individual (genetic) tissue density, but the fascia-stretching theory makes sense.

Okay, there were technically no snow deadlifts, but I was deadlifting and it was snowing outside, so that’s pretty much the same thing – only different. Great workout, but I can tell I’m definitely sitting at my desk way too much during the day. My neck is all sorts of sore, and my back felt like it got more work than normal from the deadlifts. Gotta get away from the keyboard more often… [Read more…]

I went in thinking I would do Progressive-Speed 3X for each exercise–but I decided on my normal Xcen-Xcel set PLUS a standard-set add-on. Much better and quicker that three sets with rest. Here’s how it went… [Read more…]