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Why Your Growth is Slow—and How to Make it Explode

Muscle fiber growth illustration

Q: I pound away at my workouts, but I’ve only gained about three pounds of muscle in nine months. I’ve gotten stronger, but where’s the size?! I don’t know what to do. I add weight to my exercises whenever I can, but that doesn’t seem to help. I want big, full muscles that will fill out my T-shirts.

A: Are you doing your work sets in the eight-to-10 rep range? Are you resting about 2 minutes between sets? Are your sets lasting about 25 seconds? Are you doing that on all of your exercises? If so, THAT’S WHY YOU’RE NOT GROWING. [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: 2a fibers, actin-myosin strands, atp, belly fat burn, bodybuilders, dual-capacity fibers, European Journal of Applied Physiology, explode, glycogen, high reps, jerry brainum, miracle fix, mitochondria, muscle growth, muscle pump, muscle size, myofibrillar, myofibrils, sarcoplasm, sarcoplasmic expansion, size, slow to grow, slow-mo, speed reps, strength

Scientific Training: Look Like a Bodybuilder

Jay Cutler doing spider curls

Q: After being involved in weight training for many years, and after working with many people as their instructor at home and at gyms, I think the main reason, and by far the most important one, that lifters get big and strong is because of their own personal genetics. How they train doesn’t make much difference. High reps, low reps, whatever. If they put even a little amount of effort in, they get big. Of course, drugs help immensely, but the actual type of training system they use is of little consequence, as long as it’s reasonably sound. I built 22-inch arms without drugs, and I performed a standing press with 400 pounds. I honestly do not believe it was because I trained scientifically. I did train hard, but it was because of my genetics that I gained so well and got so strong.

A: You are correct, but most trainees who are genetically gifted probably aren’t reading this. That’s too bad because by experimenting with science-based training, most of them could be so much better; however, because they gain easily, they think they’re doing things right and they keep plugging away with mediocre methods and never reach their full potential. [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: 7-minute fix, actin-myosin strands, belly fat burn, fat burning, genetic potential, genetics, get lean, high reps, Jay Cutler, look like a bodybuilder, low reps, mr. olympia, myofibrils, occlusion, physique, POF, positions of flexion, sarcoplasm, sarcoplasmic expansion, scientific training, training for teenagers

Overtrained? Try This for Instant Muscle Gains—No Layoff Necessary

Q: I’m starting to drag at the gym, and I don’t look forward to my workouts anymore. I’m starting to think I’m overtrained. I haven’t grown in a while, but I DON’T want to take a layoff. Even backing off to low-effort workouts sounds like a bad idea because I don’t want to lose my gains. What should I do?

A: Boy, does that sound familiar. We always tell trainees that they need a break to regenerate and keep the growth process rolling, but they never take one (and neither do we—bad). That’s an easy way to end up overtrained. [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: 10x10, belly fat burn, burn fat, fat burning, fat loss, GH release, john hansen, lose fat, mitochondria, Mr. Natural Olympia, muscle gains, myofibrillar growth, overtrained, overtraining, sarcoplasm, sarcoplasmic growth

Upper-Body Move for Size or Worthless Exercise?

Q: I like the heavy/light approach you lay out in the Ultimate Power-Density Mass Workout 2.0. I also do [Mr. America] Doug Brignole’s Super TORQ for only one exercise per muscle every few workouts. Great change to gain! My question is, when I do TORQ, shouldn’t I use overhead presses for delts? In your TORQ routines and Brignole’s Super TORQ program, the shoulder exercise of choice is one-arm cable laterals. But you have heavy presses in the Power-Density programs, which aggravate my shoulder joint sometimes. Still, shouldn’t I do presses in my TORQ workouts? It’s the best shoulder exercise, right?

A: We have a love-hate relationship with presses—and Brignole’s is mostly hate (as we’ll explain)… [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: belly fat burn, burn fat, delt workout, Doug Brignole, heavy-light, Mr. America, muscle size, shoulder exercises, shoulder routine, TORQ, upper-body mass

Moment of Bodybuilding Zen 37: Frank Zane’s Perfection Progression

In our Zen 33 newsletter, we had before and after pictures of Frank Zane. We found a few others in our archive that show his progression from skinny teen, age 17, to bulky 20-year-old to Olympia physique perfection… [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: 3d muscle building, 7-minute fix, after-40, after-40 muscle building, belly fat burn, bodybuilding zen, Brad Schoenfeld, burn fat, fat burning, frank zane, mechanical tension, metabolic stress, muscle damage, perfect physique, perfection, physique, proportion, symmetry, young Frank Zane

Research: Grow More Muscle With Simplified 2-Way Workouts

Q: You guys have opened my eyes to new ways to grow muscle. Your explanation of the myofibrils (force generation) and sarcoplasm (energy fluid) and how they both contribute to size is excellent. To build both of those fast, I want a simple, no-bells-and-whistles heavy-light program. What would you suggest?

A: Ah, the no-frills approach. It’s always good to go back to basics every so often, focusing on the force-generating myofibrils with a heavy workout and sarcoplasmic expansion with lighter DENSITY at the next… [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: 10x10, belly fat burn, density, energy fluid, force-generation, growth threshold, heavy-light, muscle-protein synthesis, myofibrils, research, sarcoplasm

Get a Double Dose of Muscle Growth

Dumbbell flyes/stretch - Stretch Overload: Your Mass Gains Will Explode

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…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: belly fat burn, blood flow hack, double dose, speed reps, super-size, super-size crash course, x-centric

Ultimate Mass Finisher: One Extra Growth Set

Undergrip pulldowns

Q: Your Positions-of-Flexion mass training has added 7 pounds of muscle to my body in two months! I’ve been using my favorite variations, like modified Pre-Ex and Pre-Ex 3X when possible. Change to gain, as you guys say. Great stuff. What about adding a ultimate mass finisher set? Is that something I should do to increase my size gains?

A: Yes, and we’ll give you one of the best ultimate mass finisher techniques we’ve discovered. But first a quick review—to build the suspense… [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: belly fat burn, growth, innervation, modified pre-ex, occlusion, POF, positions of flexion, pre-ex 3x, size building, stretch overload, synergy, ultimate mass finisher

Twig to Big: Pack Some Freak on Your Car-Antenna Physique

Q: I’ve been working out for a couple of years now pretty hard. I’m feeling frustrated because I’ve been tall and skinny my whole life: 6’2″ and 170 pounds. I just can’t seem to put on any muscle. Is it a possibility that a person just can’t build muscle no matter what they do? I receive your e-zine and read about other people’s gains, so I’m wondering if I’m doing something wrong or maybe I’m genetically incapable of going from twig to big.

A: You will put on muscle—convince yourself of that; however, you’re in the skinny ectomorph boat with Steve, so you must be realistic, not frustrated. He weighed 120 pounds when he started weight training, and it took time for him to twig to big and looking like a bodybuilder—but even now he doesn’t look all that big in clothes. [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: belly fat burn, density, fat loss, fiber types, frank zane, freak physique, growth fibers, hardgainer, hormone trick, jonathan lawson, mr. olympia, Power, ripped, Steve Holman, twig to big

Gain Even More

Size Surge before and after 10 weeks

Q: I’ve been using Jonathan’s Size Surge Workout, and I gained a half-inch on my arms in four weeks. I want to gain even more in phase 2. Any suggestions to make that most effective for me?

A: You got excellent results in Phase 1! That’s a 3-days-per-week program with lots of big, basic moves on an innovative split. The Wednesday deadlift-arms-abs workout is a good metabolic-momentum driver midweek, a nice complement to the more extensive Monday and Friday workouts where you train quads, hams, chest, back, and delts. [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: belly fat burn, gain even more, gains, genetics, lagging muscle groups, lose 17 pounds, metabolic momentum, recovery, Size Surge, size surge workout

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