This classic shot of Vince Gironda, the legendary Iron Guru, was taken way back in the 1950s. His aesthetic physique, with its symmetry, lines, and rippedness, holds up today. Yep, even now most guys would kill to walk down the beach looking like Vince… [Read more…]
Pros, Drugs, and Juicing Your Own Muscle Gains
Q: You’ve said a lot of pro bodybuilders have used versions of the 4X mass method and made great gains. But weren’t they on drugs? Don’t steroids make a huge difference? Will this type of training really work for me if I don’t use drugs?
A: Several years ago, Steve interviewed a colleague who trained with many of the legendary pros, including the Mentzer brothers, Danny Padilla, and Rory Leidelmeyer to name a few…
[Read more…]Size Principle Reload
Q: I’ve made the best mass gains of my life with your 4X method. I know you guys got new size with it too, so my question is, why Anabolic Reload STX (slow-twitch exhaustion)? I realize that it also does not require heavy weights, but is it better than 4X?
A: First, both methods accomplish the same thing: full-blown fiber hypertrophy with slow-twitch-fiber pre-exhaustion, triggering more high-growth fast-twitch fibers to fire on the last sets.
It’s the Size Principle of Muscle Fiber Recruitment… [Read more…]
Freaky Growth for a High-Rep Hater
Q: I get it. Using a high-rep set to failure in order to fatigue the slow-twitch fibers first gets more fast-twitch fibers to fire on the heavy sets after. I also like the fact the the slow-twitchers get growth stimulation too. I get bigger faster, but I hate that high-rep set. It hurts and it’s boring. I tend to speed it up to get it over with. Is there another way to get freaky growth?
A: Yes, there are two ways. Before we get to those, we want to explain why it works via the Size Principle of Muscle Fiber Recruitment. [Read more…]
STX for Multi-Fiber Hypertrophy and Extreme Mass
Q: Using a high-rep set to failure to fatigue the slow-twitch fibers prior to heavy sets for extreme mass makes sense. My heavy sets have the feeling of deeper activation, and I also like the fact the the slow twitch ones get growth stimulation too, along with more fast-twitch. My problem is that I HATE high reps. Even doing just one set of 20 to 30, I’m sure I’m stopping way early because it’s boring, not to mention it hurts. Is there another way?
A: Yes, there is absolutely another way–and to understand why it works, you need to [Read more…]
Max Force for Major Muscle
Q: In your early e-books, like The Ultimate Mass Workout, you say that generating maximum force is the key to muscle mass. To me, it doesn’t seem like you ever exert max force with 4X training because you are using moderate weights. Do you still think creating maximum force is the way to build the most mass?
A: Yes, we believe force is one of the big keys to packing on muscle mass—but there’s more than one way to get enough… [Read more…]
Easier Training and Big-Muscle Gaining
Q: I’m getting close to 60 years old and have been training with weights for almost 40 years. After trying to use heavier and heavier weights, I have a lot of joint aches and pains and can no longer do many exercises. I just wanted to say thanks for your 4X Mass Workout. I’ve been using it for a month and am seeing new muscle size. I’m amazed. Even many of my joints are feeling better because of the medium weights that must be used for 4X. Thank you—but I wish you’d come out with 4X about 20 years ago. Maybe I’d still be able to do bench presses and military presses.
A: We’re glad the 4X method is working so well for you. We’ve had a lot of feedback from older trainees over the years saying that 4X is a revelation and that they are finally gaining muscle again without much joint stress. Heal-alujah! (For more age-friendly muscle-building madness, check out the Anabolic After-40 info at the bottom of this page.) [Read more…]
Are You Working Out Too Hard?
Q: I train my butt off in the gym. I hit it harder than every other guy in there, but I haven’t gained much muscle in a long time. Is it my genetics? My nutrition is perfect, so I should be growing like crazy, but I’m not. It’s very frustrating… Help?!
A: Yes, your genetics could have something to do with it; HOWEVER, you may have just been working out too hard for too long. It’s time to step back with a new plan…
Even hardgainers start growing at warp speed when they snap to the fact that too much ALL-OUT training stops all muscle gaining flat in its tracks. You need to take new less-stress action for a major mass-building reaction (we’ll outline that exciting change to gain in a moment)…
But isn’t intensity the key to muscle-size results? To a point, yes—but too much triggers nervous system burnout and floods your bloodstream with cortisol. If you don’t know what cortisol is, realize that it’s the devil incarnate when it comes to building muscle (and even burning fat)…
Cortisol is a stress hormone that results from the emergency fight-or-flight response. When you’re in an extreme situation, cortisol spews from your adrenal gland and your body begins using muscle tissue for energy. In other words, your body starts throwing your hard-earned muscle tissue into the energy furnace. NOT GOOD!…
The ironic thing is that the all-out intense workouts you do to build muscle send your cortisol through the roof, especially if you overdo it. Too much and you can actually lose rather than gain muscle. That’s why most high-intensity routines call for only a few all-out sets per exercise…
But even doing only a few all-out sets per exercise results in a CUMULATIVE stress effect that can build to an overtraining cortisol crescendo—muscle gains stop and it’s time to back off. You need an intensity downshift…
In many of our e-books, we’ve mentioned phase training and the need to back down on your intensity after about four weeks of all-out training. We often suggest stopping every set short of failure—but a better MASS-ACCELERATOR is something many pros of yesteryear used to build muscle right up to a contest on low calories…
It’s 4X mass training. With this method, you trade in multiple all-out sets on an exercise for a fast medium-intensity supersaturation sequence. Take pulldowns for example…
Here’s the 4X drill: Take a weight that you could get 15 reps with, but only do 10; rest about 30 seconds and do 10 more; rest 30 seconds and do 10 more—and so on until you do four sets of 10 reps. If you get 10 reps on your last set, add weight at your next workout. It’s quick, simplified muscle supersaturation training for more super-size increases! And you use that 4X mass method for every exercise.
When we first started using a total-4X Mass Workout, we got dramatic muscle-size increases like we’d never experienced during our previous ripping phases. We believe that’s because dieting itself is a cortisol producer. We’d been training TOO HARD during our dieting phases, and that caused us to lose rather than gain muscle mass thanks to excess cortisol…
We believe that’s why so many bodybuilders of yesteryear, like Danny Padilla, used 4X-style workouts for a few months before their competitions—it minimized cortisol output and allowed them to continue to pack on muscle as they dieted away body fat. Check out Padilla’s results and judge for yourself (Note: He didn’t use the exact 4X method above but a tweaked version one of his former training partners discusses in our 4X e-book)…
We won’t say 4X workouts are easy, but your joints, tendons, and ligaments will get much less stress due to the medium poundages you use (great for older trainees). Less joint damage also results in less evil cortisol release…
Plus, each exercise takes you less than five minutes to complete, so you’ll be working hard, but you won’t be working out too hard—and the pump is unreal! Remember, only the last, or fourth, set is all out, and even then the muscle is pre-exhausted from the previous sets. But that’s exactly what allows you to reach the ultimate GROWTH THRESHOLD quickly and efficiently with minimal stress. Exciting stuff!…
Training hard is crucial for making gains, but working out too hard can backfire in a hurry… If you’ve been busting your ass in the gym with slow to no muscle growth, give the 4X Mass Workout a spin—and let your new muscle-mass surge begin!
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