Dedicated to Your Physical Transformation
Q: I’m sick of being soft and blubbery. I really want to see my abs, but I’m not sure where to start. Do I just start working out harder and wait for them to appear? Please h
A: When we get “soft and blubbery,” usually over the winter (Steve’s pic at left below), our first step to getting ripped abs for the warmer weather is to stop eating crap…
[Read more…]Q: I started cleaning up my diet shortly after New Year’s with your X-treme Lean Diet. I lost about 8 pounds of fat, but my losses have stalled. Should I reduce my portions again (I’ve done this twice already)? Or should I do more cardio? Any help would be appreciated. Abs and veins are the goals.
A: Fat loss is a long-term proposition if you want to retain as much muscle as possible. Losing two pounds a week is the most you should shoot for…
[Read more…]Q: My gym always seems to be crowded—and people “camp out” on equipment. It’s hard to work in because I’m using the 4X method and rest only 30 seconds between sets (I love the Positions-of-Flexion version). Should I just lengthen my rest times to work in on a piece of equipment?
A: If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. In other words, you can “camp out” on equipment too—sometimes you can do your entire POF 4X bodypart routine in one spot. For example…
[Read more…]Q: The first day of [meteorological] spring slapped me in the face. My abs are gone and I feel “loose,” as in soft. I need to drop fat, especially around my middle, and add some hard muscle—like right now. How do I get it going and see abs?
A: Don’t panic. You still have about 12 weeks until summer. But because fat-loss is a slow process—if you want to hold and even gain muscle—you need to start NOW.
[Read more…]Q: I’m a man in my late 30s, but I’m very motivated by Becky Holman’s before and after photos and her story. Is the training program she used okay for men to use?
A: Absolutely. Men and women should both strive to build muscle, and that’s what her program does. Women won’t get bulky muscles no matter how hard they train because they don’t have the hormonal profile for that to happen. It’s a testosterone thing—and as you can see in the transformation photos below, Becky (Steve’s wife, who was in her early 40s below) doesn’t have a lot of testosterone…
[Read more…]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…]Q: I’ve read X-treme Lean, and it makes sense to gradually lose fat so that no muscle is lost. Great e-book, excellent diets. But I also have the Super-Size Crash Course that contains The 2-day intermittent fasting diet [12-hour fasts two nonconsecutive days a week]. How can I combine those? Should I use the fasting method first?
A: That’s one way (there’s another way coming up). You can start with one 12-hour fast day a week…
[Read more…]Q: I got your three fat-loss e-books [Triple-Shred Offer], and I’ve read them all. Great information, and I’m soooo ready to start. I like the X-treme Lean High-Definition Workout, but I’d want to incorporate a negative-accentuated set for each muscle [as you discuss and include in The Ultimate Fat-to-Muscle Workout]. Where should I put the NA set in the X-treme Lean Workout? I want to be ripped this summer while I still have time!
A: Excellent question, and we’re glad you’re tailoring the workouts to your needs—to rip up faster. You’re right. Using a negative-accentuated set for each bodypart should make the X-treme Lean High-Def Workout even better, just don’t get carried away (of course, you’ll also need to stick to the diets and eating info in that e-book as well)… [Read more…]
Q: Your Progressive-Speed 4X method (from The Super-Size Crash Course) sounds like a killer mass method. As Coach Charles Poliquin used to say, changing tempo is a legit way to get new gains in muscle growth. But I’m into heavy training now, so I don’t want to start my work sets with a light [1/6 tempo] X-centric set. Can I do X-centric last?
A: You don’t have to use Progressive-Speed 4X for new gains as we outline—with an X-centric set first (lifting in one second, lowering in six)… [Read more…]
Note: The X Factor Interview is an excerpt from Iron Man Magazine.
What if you could pack on a solid five pounds of muscle almost every month? What would you look like one year from now? Are you kidding? Your physique would be outrageous! Radically different and unrecognizable because of so much extra muscle hanging off your joints. Well, in my estimation, Jonathan Lawson added at least five pounds of muscle to his already advanced physique in only one month—not one year, one month—and he’s been training for about 15 years. Add to that the fact that he did it while he was on a a low-calorie diet, and you can see the enormous muscle-building implications for you—especially if you’re not limiting calories, as he was. (Could you add even more, like 10 pounds of muscle, in one month if you followed his lead? Who knows?) [Read more…]
