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3 Fast Fat-to-Muscle Tips to Get You Ripped

If you’re like us, you’re a little concerned. Spring is just a few weeks away and summer will be here before you can say, “Who stole my abs.” When the heat hits, you don’t want to be the victim of an ab-napping. It’s a lot more fun if you peel off your shirt that first warm day at the beach, pool, or lake and your midsection looks like acid-etched granite.

Of course, there is a downside. You have to put up with all the glares, stares, and the questions, like, “Man, how do I get ripped?” or “What workout are you on?” or “Can I touch your abs?” LOL!

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Get More Muscle Detail

Q: I’ve been on one your four-days-a-week Heavy/Light Program, and I’ve put on lots of size. I’m big, but I’m not ripped. I’m ready to get cut, so should I just stay on that program and add cardio? I’d like to try something new, but I don’t want to lose size. I just want to add more muscle detail.

A: First, you need to clean up your diet. If you don’t have a fast metabolism, which it sounds like you don’t, you’ll also need to start doing some cardio if you want to see more muscle detail; however, if you’ve been following our newsletters for a while, you know there are ways you can change your weight workout so that you burn more fat during recovery (and you won’t need as much cardio)…

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Fat-to-Muscle photos – plus, don’t forget this key shredding hormone

With spring right around the corner, it’s time for a lot of us to start thinking about easing into a fat-to-muscle plan—so you’re sure to have an eye-popping look that first warm day you peel off your shirt (you want jaws to hit the dirt)…

[Read more…]

Carb Cycling: The key to shredding your physique (and staying leaner through winter)

Carb Cycling is a simple method we first learned about from the legendary Iron Guru Vince Gironda when he used to visit the Iron Man offices…

Vince always said that to train the body to drop fat, you do 3 to 4 days of low carbs followed by higher-carb “load” days—and Vince was ripped before it was in style. Check out the shred master in his heyday… [Read more…]

All-10×10 Program: Good or Bad?

Q: You have an all-10×10 program in your e-book [The Ultimate 10×10 Mass Workout], but I’ve heard that you don’t think total 10×10 routines are that great. I wanted to try it, but now I’m not so sure. Do you still believe that the all-10×10 program is not good?

A: For those unfamiliar with it, 10×10 is taking a weight you can get about 20 reps with, but only doing 10. You rest for 30 seconds, then do 10 more and so on until you complete 10 sets of 10 reps. The first sets are a breeze; the last ones are brutal and create an insane pump and burn.

The beauty of 10×10 is that you do it on one exercise per bodypart, so a muscle is cooked to the bone in about 10 minutes. The problem with the all-10x1o program is that it’s pure DENSITY…

As we’ve said, the dominant fiber type in the biggest bodybuilders is the DUAL-component type-2As. They have both a power and density, or endurance, component. That means you need BOTH power and endurance to build the most muscle size. With 10×10 you’re getting almost pure density. But that can be a good thing…

Total 10×10 training is great if you’ve been doing a program dominated by power-oriented sets—as most bodybuilders do. The majority neglect density almost completely because they are brainwashed into believing that heavy weights build the most muscle. Even we’ve fallen into that trap before. That’s why when we first tried an all-10×10 program, we each packed on more than 5 pounds of muscle. We thought we’d found the Holy Grail of muscle building…

However, gains quickly subsided and began to regress—because now we had been neglecting the POWER component. The moral is that if you use a total-10×10 program like the first program outlined in The Ultimate 10×10 Mass Workout with only the ultimate exercise for each muscle, use it for only 3 to 4 weeks (our gains began to regress after week 4). Then go back to a balanced attack or even a power-oriented workout.

A good, balanced attack is the Heavy/Light 10×10 Mass Workout later in the 10×10 e-book. On that one, you do a heavy, straight-set POF workout for a muscle—power—then the next time you train it, you do only the big exercise for 10×10—a total 10-minute density mass blitz. Balanced power/density for major muscle immensity!

Jonathan Lawson outside - All 10x10 Program: Good or Bad?

Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.

—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com

Boost Testosterone…
With Cardio?!

If you want to build muscle (of course you do!) and ramp up your testosterone levels while burning a ton of fat at the same time, you need to try this workout if you haven’t already…

–> Use this cutting-edge cardio trick to boost testosterone and muscle growth
Note: This is NOT traditional HIIT or boring steady-state cardio

Drop Fat Like a Bad Habit

Q: I’m looking to drop fat like a bad habit. My question is, what’s the difference between your X-treme Lean e-book and The Ultimate Fat-to-Muscle Workout? Is one better than the other for my goals?

A: The simple answer is that X-treme Lean contains more diet and nutrition info while The Ultimate Fat to Muscle Workout is more about the right type of training to max out fat loss as you gain muscle mass… [Read more…]

Drop the Get-Big Bomb (Muscle Mayhem Method)

Q: I like to train heavy, but I fully understand that tension time, or density, can build size as well. My question is, won’t drop sets accomplish both?

A: The drop-set method is one of the best for getting size in the myofibrils as well as a hypertrophic sarcoplasmic burst. And even new veinage too… [Read more…]

Last-Set Shuffle to Pack On More Muscle

Q: I like the idea of doing something different on the last set of a 4X sequence. You mentioned a drop set, and that works great. What about a heavier pure-negative set? Like on curls my partner would lift it for me, and I would lower [a heavy weight] slowly for six negative reps.

A: That depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. Pure negatives—your partner lifts the weight, and you lower in six seconds—are designed to attack the force-generating myofibrils in the muscle fibers, which means they are primarily for strength building with only minor size effects, so not really building a lot more muscle… [Read more…]

Is Spot Reduction a Myth?

Q: I’m now a believer in negative-accentuated sets for fat loss. I started using a version of your Ultimate Fat-to-Muscle Workout and got leaner and more muscular after only one month. I admit that I did a few more NA [negative-accentuated] sets for areas I really needed to reduce fat. I’ve heard that spot reduction isn’t possible, but I could swear I lost more fat in those areas like my midsection and thighs that I hit with more NA work. I’m seeing abs! So do you think spot reduction is a myth? I’m starting to think not.

A: For those unfamiliar with it, an NA set is one second up on the positive and six seconds down on the negative. For example, on a curl, you would curl the weight at normal speed, then lower slowly to a count of six. The slow negative emphasis increases blood flow to the muscle and also triggers more muscle trauma. Both of those factors are critical to fast fat-to-muscle results… [Read more…]

Get More Fat Burning

Q: I just started the 4X Mass Workout, and I really like it. I feel bigger already. I still have some fat to lose, so I also got your Ultimate Fat-to-Muscle Workout. Can I incorporate the negative-accentuated sets from that into a total-4X program somehow to get more fat burning?

A: NA sets are one second up for the positive and lowering in six seconds for the negative. That slow, negative-accentuated style triggers more muscle damage, which requires more energy after the workout for repair. And that energy requirement means your metabolism is amped to help you get more fat burning.

NA is most effective on the big exercises for large muscle masses—for example, squats, pulldowns, rows, and presses. If you want to use an NA set on those exercises, they can help accelerate the fat-to-muscle process…

On squats, for example, we suggest doing your 4X sequence first. Your quads will be pretty spent after that five-minute mass blast. Rest for about two to three minutes after that, then do an NA set—one second up and six seconds down. You may be able to use the same weight that you used on 4X or you may have to reduce the weight. The poundage should be heavy enough to allow about 7 NA reps.

Do that for every big exercise for your largest bodyparts—squats, stiff-legged deadlifts, pulldowns, wide-grip cable rows and bench presses—and you’ll accelerate your mass gains as your body fat quickly wanes. Soon your abs and muscularity will be blazing! [For more on NA training, see The X-centric Mass Workout as well as The Ultimate Fat-to-Muscle Workout.]

Jonathan Lawson outside in the sun - Get More Fat Burning

Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.

—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com

Boost Testosterone…
With Cardio?!

If you want to build muscle (of course you do!) and ramp up your testosterone levels while burning a ton of fat at the same time, you need to try this workout if you haven’t already…

–> Use this cutting-edge cardio trick to boost testosterone and muscle growth
Note: This is NOT traditional HIIT or boring steady-state cardio