build muscle Archives

Match Your Motivation, Build More Muscle

Q: I always have a problem making gains in the winter. It starts around Halloween, when the weather starts getting cooler and the bowls of candy start taunting me. Then it’s Thanksgiving, pumpkin pie, and it’s even colder outside. I lose the motivation to hit the gym, and my muscles usually shrink and get shrouded with a layer of fat. Is this just something I should accept, or do you have any solutions?

A: Definitely do not accept it—at least not completely—because if you regress in the winter and then start training hard in the spring, you waste a lot of workouts just getting back to where you were the previous year. (We speak from experience—it’s happened to us on more than one occasion). [Read more…]

Do This 1 Thing to Get Lean (and Build Muscle!)

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 [Read more…]

Great Gains—What now?

Q: I have about 15 years of lifting experience, and I’m also a certified personal trainer. I’ve worked out with high intensity for all of my years, but I’ve never done the type of training I’m now using with your routines. I’m currently at week 3 in the 3D Power Pyramid [from the Freak-Physique e-book]. Great gains so far! I run each routine for six weeks, and once I finish the Power Pyramid, I want to move to The Ultimate Power-Density Mass Workout. I love each program so far, and I push myself each and every workout. Is it okay if I go from workout to workout, or should I do something less intense between them? So far, I don’t feel overtrained. What’s your advice?

A: Thanks for the question and your confidence in our programs. First realize that overtraining is cumulative, so we suggest that you use the first week of each new program as a break-in period… [Read more…]

Shorter Workouts and More Muscle Mass

Q: I’m putting in more hours at work to make ends meet, so I don’t have a lot of time to train. I can get to the gym three days a week. I really want to start The Ultimate 10×10 Mass Workout [that uses only the Ultimate Exercise for each muscle group]. My problem is that I’m not convinced the 10×10 method will work. As much as I want to try the routine, I’m not sure I’m convinced that using lighter weights can really build muscle.

A: For the uninitiated, 10×10 is taking a weight you can get 20 reps with, but you only do 10. You rest for 30 seconds, then you do 10 more and so on until you complete 10 sets of 10 reps. The first sets are easy—almost too easy—but the last few sets are severe, and the pump is unreal. [Read more…]

Mass Merger—10X Power/Rep Range/Shock

Q: Great timing on your recent P/RR/S newsletter! I’m using the X-Rep Power/Rep Range/Shock Workout [on pages 103-114 in the 3D Muscle Building e-book], and my size and strength are totally thriving on the variation, like nothing I’ve ever tried before. What a great concept! Now I’m reading The Ultimate 10×10 Mass Workout, and I want to put that method into the mix, using mass merger techniques. Where should I use it, Power, Rep Range or Shock week? And on which exercises?

A: First, we must give credit where credit is due: a big thumbs-up to Eric Broser for creating the Power/Rep Range/Shock protocol. We simply altered it to include full-range Positions of Flexion and X Reps. To put it in simple terms, Power week you do all low reps; Rep Range week you do one exercise in the 7-9 range, another for 10-12 and the last for 13-15; Shock week is supersets, drop sets and other intensity techniques to totally thrash the muscles. [Read more…]

Can a Wimp Build Muscle? + Testo Murder!

Q: I feel like a wimp. There is no way I can hold the weight in the stretch position for 30 seconds after a set as you’ve recommended before. On some exercises, I can get maybe 15 seconds, but on many, I can’t even get 10 seconds. Should I just forget bodybuilding and take up speed walking (kidding)?

A: Everyone’s pain tolerance is different. And, if you notice, most trainees will opt for methods that hurt least. It’s why most prefer heavy, low-rep training. Higher reps hurt like hell—and adding a stretch-hold at the end of even a 10-rep set can be excruciating. But, as you said, the stretch-hold is easier on some exercises, like incline curls where your arms just hang, as opposed to overhead extensions where you have to keep upward pressure on the weight to prevent elbow trauma…

[Read more…]

The Best Workout Program for Building Muscle

Q: I just want the best workout program for building muscle. Please simplify all the rhetoric and just tell me which one is the absolute best.

A: That’s easy. There is no best routine. It’s the nature of how the human body adapts. We always say it takes change to trigger bigger gains, and some experts suggest that the body is fully adapted after only four workouts.

That’s the reason our own programs are constantly evolving—a new exercise, a new X-hybrid tactic, a drop set, etc. And after 10 weeks or so, we often move to a new program from one of our e-books (Jonathan recently went all the way back to our first X-Rep transformation program, with a few new alterations).

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What program should I go to next?

Q: I’ve been going to the gym off and on for about a year, but I decided to get serious. I got your Quick-Start Muscle-Building Guide to get off on the right foot, and it’s absolutely great. It answers all of my questions, and the programs are working fast. I can already see my body changing, and the sleeves on my T-shirts are getting tight. My question is, What program should I go to next? I know you recommend the 3D Muscle Building e-book and a full-on Positions-of-Flexion routine, but there are like 5 different programs in [that one e-book]. Which one should I use?

A: Not every program is ideal for all trainees, so we like to provide choices by providing a few programs in each e-book. (Plus, we’d rather you be a little overwhelmed with all the info rather than disappointed).

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Round Delts: Best Exercise

Q: In 3D Muscle Building you have incline one-arm laterals or one-arm cable laterals as the stretch move for the side-delt head. Is one better than the other? They feel completely different to me, and I just want big round delts, so which is the best exercise?

A: Both provide resistance on the medial-delt head when the arm is across the front of the torso. You don’t get that with standard lateral raises because of gravity and your arm positioning—at the bottom of the stroke, your arms are perpendicular to the floor with delts resting (zero resistance).

[Read more…]

More Muscle Mass With a Fat-Loss Blast

Q: I’ve added a lot of muscle using Pre-Ex 3X and modified pre-ex. I must commend you for coming up with it. One problem I have is with leg extensions. They hurt my knees when I do them first. Funny that squats don’t hurt me. Leg extensions are the only quad isolator. What should I do first instead?

A: We didn’t come up with pre-exhaustion. That honor goes to the late Bob Kennedy, publisher of MuscleMag…

[Read more…]