before and after photos Archives

X-Rep Lies: Before and After Photos

Q: The before and after photos at your X-Rep site are pretty unbelievable. I mean, come on, four weeks to get those changes? You must’ve either lied about the time it took or manipulated the photos. You should be ashamed of yourselves. There’s too much of that deceptive crap on the Internet.

A: Ashamed? Actually, we’re very proud. Those photos are 100 percent authentic and accurate—no photo alterations, no steroids, and they were taken about four weeks apart. (The key technique that made it happen and a step-by-step how-to is coming up.)

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Progressive Mass

Q: I’ve read almost everything at your site [X-Rep.com], and I’m ready to get started. I’m 17 years old, 5’11” and 175 pounds. I’ve been training for two years. My question is, Which program should I start with? Should I do Jonathan’s 20-pounds-of-muscle-in-10-weeks program [3D Muscle Building e-book] or go straight to your X-Rep Mass-Detail Workout [in the Ultimate Mass Workout e-book]? Your X-Rep program gave you freaky results fast, so I’m thinking I should go with that one.

A: Either would work well for you at this point. At 17, you are in your prime growing years. And you already have some experience. So if you continue to train hard and sensibly, you should build stellar progressive mass with whichever routine you choose.

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Photos and Freakiness

Q: I saw your before and after photos from your first X-Rep year contrasted with the following year when you gained 10 more pounds of muscle [with X-hybrid techniques]. Personally, I don’t think you look better. You both look bigger, but I think your physiques are more impressive the X-Rep year.

A: Well, that’s not a question, but it’s a relevant opinion—bigger is not necessarily better. In Jonathan’s case, you are seeing his most-muscular pose, and when you gain more muscle, your physique can look more “crowded” in that pose. You could argue that his muscles are starting to look too big for his frame. Steve, on the other hand, is in a semi-relaxed pose in the X-Rep photo, and a twisting ab shot in his Beyond-X photo. He looks considerably bigger in the “after” photo, but it’s a different pose, which makes it difficult to judge.

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Transformation Photos: Girls vs. Guys

Q: I’m a man in my late 30s, but I’m very motivated by Becky Holman’s before and after photos and her story. Is the training program she used okay for men to use?

A: Absolutely. Men and women should both strive to build muscle, and that’s what her program does. Women won’t get bulky muscles no matter how hard they train because they don’t have the hormonal profile for that to happen. It’s a testosterone thing—and as you can see in the transformation photos below, Becky (Steve’s wife, who was in her early 40s below) doesn’t have a lot of testosterone…

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Anabolic Fasting + Shredded-Muscle After-Effects (pics inside)

Intermittent Fasting is all the rage right now and for good reason—it works! Even jacked movie stars like The Rock, Terry Cruz, and Hugh Jackman use it for shredded muscle.

We’ve used it off and on for years. Check out Steve’s initial results, which were spectacular—and he’s in his 50s…

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I want to do everything I can to make the fastest muscle gains possible with X-Rep training. Do you have any suggestions on how to check my progress, other than weighing myself every week?

A: First, don’t weigh yourself every week. You can make muscle gains as you lose fat, so your weight may stay the same or you may even gain weight while getting more muscular (muscle weighs more than fat, by the way). About the only way to really track progress is to take photos every four weeks or so. You should hit a variety of poses at your first session, keeping a list of the shots you took and the camera settings you used. Four to six week later, take photos again, and use the same poses and camera settings (put the camera on a tripod, if possible, at about waist height). Also—and this is important—be sure the lighting is the same. Take the pictures in a room with a fairly bright overhead light and don’t use a flash, or it will wash out your muscularity.

We had a specific spot in the IRON MAN Training & Research Center where we took our photos. Below are a few of our before and after shots that were taken one month apart in the same lighting. The befores were taken at the end of May, right as we began using X-Rep training. The after shots were taken July 2, about a month later. These shots, taken under the same light, convinced us that X-Rep training works better than anything we’ve tried in the past!

Steve Holman before and after chest

Jonathan Lawson before and after chest

Jonathan Lawson before and after hamstrings and calves

Be sure to take your progress-monitoring shots under the same lighting conditions. We took these at the same spot in the IRON MAN Training & Research Center about one month apart during our X-Rep experiment. They proved to us that X Reps can produce drastic changes in size and muscularity fast! We’ve never made such amazing progress in such a short period of time in our training careers.

Which X-Rep Program to Start With

Q: I heard about X Reps from a guy at my gym. He suggested I get one of your X-Rep e-books, but after looking at your site, I realize there are a lot of them. I need help figuring out which X-Rep program to start with.

A: A lot of our newer trainees as us which X-Rep program to start with, so for a good overview of X Reps as well as key X-hybrid techniques, we recommend The X-traordinary X-Rep Workout. It was written a few years after our first X-Rep e-book, The Ultimate Mass Workout, so we’ve included all the critical highlights of what we learned up to that point… [Read more…]

How to Keep the Size Surging

Q: I’m insanely stoked using the Size Surge program. Phase 1 is insanely good for me, and I’m gaining like crazy. My gains have been so good that I don’t want to go to phase 2 yet. Can I stick on phase 1 for another month or so, till I feel like my gains have stalled out?

A: Everyone has different genetics, so nothing is written in stone. The Size Surge program listed is what worked for Jonathan—he gained 20 pounds in 10 weeks using it as written: phase 1 for five high-intensity weeks, stuck with it for a sixth downshift week, then did the phase 2 Positions-of-Flexion program for the last four weeks. [Read more…]

What routine should I do next?

Q: I have a few questions: 1) After the beginner’s guide [Quick-Start Muscle Building] what routine should I do next? 2) Is it unusual to “feel” bigger as you go [through the Quick-Start programs]? It’s like an awareness of my muscles that I’ve never had—strange but nice. 3) I’m unclear on what to do if I’m sore and it’s time to work that muscle again—like my chest is still really sore, it’s chest day again tomorrow, so do I work it or skip?

A: Great questions. We suggest you follow up with the 3D Muscle Building e-book after the beginner’s guide (Quick-Start). There is a 10-week program in it that Jonathan used to add a lot of muscle quickly (see his before and after photos below). You can try it as it’s listed, the exact way he used it, or the retooled version with X Reps. If you just started lifting, however, we recommend his first non-X-Rep version in Chapter 1 until you have about six months of training under your belt… [Read more…]

Instant Muscle-Building Motivation

Q: I really, really want a muscular physique like you guys have. I just can’t seem to stick with it. I’ve read books on motivation, but nothing seems to help. Any words of wisdom? Am I just a dreamer who will never get up and go after it?

A: Dreaming is the first step to getting what you’re after, but lack of motivation is the number-one goal killer. Even if you do manage to get to the gym regularly, if you’re not motivated to push hard and surpass previous bests, you won’t get results. You need to light a fire and keep it lit. (That’s one reason we put out daily newsletters—to try and keep our readers stoked.)

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