Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology Archives

2 Tricks to Get You Ripped—With More Muscle Too

Q: Looking in the mirror, I see that somehow I’ve gotten very fat. I go to the gym, but I guess my eating has been out of hand for too long. Is there anything I should concentrate on during my workouts to help lose the fat? I plan to do cardio after every weight workout, something you’ve suggested. I desperately want to be ripped enough to see abs!

A: First, get your diet under control. You must start eating clean—cut down the junk—and get on an anabolic-meal schedule. Your best bet will be a typical bodybuilding diet, so eat at least 25 grams of protein at six meals a day. Try to eat every two to three hours, and get some carbs too—enough to refill muscle glycogen stores, which is about 200 grams a day. If you need examples, see X-treme Lean; it contains our complete meal-by-meal diets to help you get ripped…

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Eye-Popping Muscle Detail with High Reps?

Q: I heard that you guys prescribe high-rep sets to etch in muscle cuts. That’s wrong. I’m a certified personal trainer, and I learned that high reps do not make a muscle more defined. You can only do that with diet to thin your skin.

A: You’re correct that higher-rep sets don’t “etch in muscle cuts” per se; however, as we discuss in our Fat-to-Muscle e-book, high-rep sets, 15 to 20, do heighten muscle burn, and that lactic acid surge can increase growth hormone output. [Can J App Phys. 22:244-255. 1997.] GH has been shown in research studies to be an extremely potent fat burner. In other words, it thins the skin by reducing subcutaneous fat—and that eventually gives you more muscle detail.

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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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X Reps are totally intense. They give my workouts a whole new feel. Muscle burn to the max. I love it. Can I use them on more than one set per exercise?

A: The whole new feel you refer to is the muscle continuing to fire after the nervous system halts full-range movement. That’s what makes X Reps such a powerful muscle-building tool. It’s ultimate intensity and overload. Plus, that muscle burn is one of the best ways to get surges in growth hormone.

In a study published in the Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology (22:244-255; 1997), researchers showed that there’s a direct correlation between higher blood lactic acid levels and GH release from the pituitary gland. That means the more muscle burn you can induce, the more growth hormone you can stimulate—up to a point. And growth hormone does everything from help you build muscle and burn fat to bolster your immune system and strengthen bones, ligaments and tendons. Talk about bodybuilding bonus points!

Because X Reps are so intense, most trainees will get best results by doing one straight set to failure followed by another straight set to failure with X Reps. The first straight set to failure is more of an extension of the warmup. A warm muscle can contract up to 20 percent better than a cold one, so having the muscle primed for your X Rep set is very important. (Most bodybuilders don’t warm up sufficiently, which can significantly limit progress.) The first heavy set to failure extends the warmup sets you do prior to your first work set, and it also pumps up nervous system reaction time so your X set is X-ponentially more effective.

If you have an above-average recovery ability, you may benefit from doing both sets with X Reps; however, if you try it and start feeling lathargic and lose your enthusiasm for training, back off. That’s overtraining trying to step in and stomp on your progress. Don’t let that happen. We recently tried doing a straight set, and then two X-Rep sets, but we felt too drained and backed off to one. The bright side is shorter workouts and better results. X Reps work, but you can’t abuse them.

Bodybuilding bonus: While X Reps force more muscle-fiber activation, they also can trigger growth hormone surges via muscle burn. GH does everything from help you build muscle and burn fat to bolster your immune system and strengthen bones, ligaments and tendons.

Muscle Mash-Up: Good for Growth?

Q: I did all of my most recent workout with negative-accentuated sets as you suggested, and I’m very, very sore. Is that good for muscle growth?

A: Whoa! We never suggested doing an entire workout, every work set, in negative-accentuated (NA) style—that is, one second up on the positive and six seconds down on the negative. If you do all work sets that way, you will induce a lot of muscular trauma due to EXCESSIVE negative emphasis. The negative stroke induces the most soreness, so it will take many days to repair… [Read more…]

The Most Important Muscle-Building Exercises

Q: I know the big midrange exercises, like squats and presses, are most important for mass, but after that, do you think the stretch-position exercise or the contracted-position exercise is the best followup for extra muscle growth? The reason I ask is that I don’t have a lot of time to train, so I’m going to do the Ultimate Exercise for each bodypart [identified in The Ultimate Mass Workout e-book] and one more, either stretch or contracted, whichever you say will give me the most growth.

A: Interesting dilemma, but both the stretch- and contracted-position exercises are important for different reasons. Each triggers growth along different pathways (but there is an easy solution to your problem, as you’ll see)… [Read more…]