Dedicated to Your Physical Transformation
Q: Holy crap! I just bought your Pre-Ex 3X e-book, and Jonathan’s back on the cover looks like Arnold’s. How did he build all that muscle? Did he use pre-ex? I want a back like that. What do I need to do?
A: Jonathan used pre-ex, X Reps, drop sets, and more. We’ve experimented a lot over the years—and of course we subscribe to the change-to-gain mantra: Do something different to trigger new adaptations and extra growth. [Read more…]
To be fair, the Frank Zane before picture on the left was taken after a few years of training. And you can see his genetic predisposition for bodybuilding. Heck, many guys at our gyms would kill to look like his “before” pic. LOL. [Read more…]
Q: I know you suggest one second to lift and three seconds to lower. Do you ever use a slower lifting cadence, like lifting in three or four seconds instead of only one? Wouldn’t that produce more tension time for unique muscle-growth stimulation?
A: Yes, it can be a great variation for more mass creation as well as a fat-burning catalyst. But the big reason to slow down on the lifting stroke is for more strength. [Read more…]
Q: I’m making great strides in muscle gains with the 4X mass method from your newsletters. I do 10 to 12 reps per set, but I’ve seen that you sometimes recommend up to 30 reps. What’s up with that, and does that actually work for you guys?
A: We often use higher reps within the 4X-sequence framework, and it’s done amazing things for us and many of our trainees. [Read more…]
Q: I’ve been bulking the past few months, and now I need to start cutting since the new year is upon us. I want to get an early start so I have sharp abs by spring. Should I change my workout? I’ve been training mostly heavy but with some 4X added in.
A: Well, the first thing we suggest is cleaning up your diet. No more junk food—if you’ve been scarfing up too much of that, you’ve got too much body fat.
Also, if you haven’t been doing cardio, add 20 to 30 minutes AFTER two of your upper-body workouts each week. That will stimulate your metabolism and fat-burning mechanism.
Notice that those are subtle changes. You want to gradually move toward leanness—nothing drastic. That way you retain and even build muscle as you drop that ugly body fat…
As for your workouts, now is the time to introduce an X-centric set for each bodypart. And we suggest you do that on the last set of each big midrange exercise—squats, pulldowns, rows, bench presses, etc.
X-centric is using a slightly lighter weight than your normal 10-rep weight and raising it in one second and lowering in six on every rep. And it’s an almost magical fat-to-muscle method. Why?
Research shows that lowering slowly throughout the negative stroke causes more micro-trauma in muscle fibers. To repair those microtears, your body uses stored fat for energy.
So you burn off more fat 24/7 as you regenerate and pack on muscle. Nice…
Also, doing a set of seven or eight X-centric reps, at 7 seconds each, gives you a muscle-tension time of almost a minute. That helps expand the sarcoplasm in muscle tissue for new size and fullness, AND it produces intense muscle burn for growth hormone release…
GH is a very potent fat burner. So X-centric training is major acceleration for your body transformation.
NOTE: For more on using X-centric training as well as other methods and tactics to transform your physique from lean to mean, get The Ultimate Fat-to-Muscle Workout, HERE.
If you already have the Fat-to-Muscle Workout, get The X-centric Mass Workout for more ways to use this amazing method for dropping fat and packing on serious muscle mass fast HERE.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
One way you’re guaranteed to pack on stacks of muscle is through a process called muscle protein synthesis (MPS), which more than doubles 24 hours after an intense workout…
Until recently, MPS was only elevated when trainees would lift 70-90% of their one-rep max…
That’s not only dangerous for your joints, but it also sets you up for high injury risk every time you exercise…
It used to be believed that training with your own bodyweight couldn’t get you the same results as training with your 70-90% one rep max… Until NOW.
Q: I noticed in one of your recent newsletters about the Super-Size Crash Course that you mentioned doing an X-centric set followed immediately by speed reps. I’ve read that e-book twice, but I don’t remember seeing that anywhere. Am I missing something?
A: To clarify what we said, you take your 15-rep-max weight and do an X-centric set—lift in one second and lower in six on EVERY rep. [Read more…]
A few Zens back, we mentioned that our friend and colleague Doug Brignole recently won the 2019 Drug-Free Mr. Universe Open division at age 59.
He’s not a mass monster, but rather cut from the aesthetic-physique mold. Nevertheless, even in a T-shirt, his physique is very impressive, as you can see from this flexing pic [photo courtesy of Doug Brignole]… [Read more…]
Q: I remember back from your old daily training blog that Steve often did Downward-Progression 4X with only three sets. If I remember correctly, he would add weight so his reps were 12, 10, 8. I like the idea of three sets because I do more than one compound exercise for each muscle. Do you think adding more weight to each set so my reps are 12, 8, 5 will work? I like to go heavier.
A: The reason Steve kept his last set at around eight reps is because he’s old. LOL! However, if you’re a bit younger and like to take your reps down lower, we’d give you the thumbs-up on your idea… [Read more…]
Q: Steve’s “roller-coaster size-shreds” diet [in the Super Size Crash Course] has me rethinking my plan. The results he got with it are spectacular, but I have a few questions. He lists his two ultra-strict diet days a week, but how did he eat on the other five days? Also, how was he training, and what was his cardio schedule?
A: Yes, his results were fairly “spectacular,” as the pics below show (there are more in the e-book; apologies for the crummy old iPhone images—old man needs a new phone. Lol). These results were after about 8 weeks on the new diet. [Read more…]
Back in 1973, Arthur Jones, the creator of Nautilus machines and considered the “father of high-intensity training,” decided to prove to the world that his short, intense muscle-building methods worked… [Read more…]
