X-REP.COM

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Go Slow to Grow and Burn Fat

Q: I got your Quick-Start Muscle-Building Guide because I haven’t lifted in a few years. Fantastic info and it’s already working for me. On some exercises, you suggest lifting in 3 seconds and lower in 3 to help improve nerve force for strength. I’ve seen in many of your emails that you sometimes lift in 1 second and lower in 6. Should I try that? I think you said it helps burn fat, and I would love to see my abs sooner rather than later.

A: Lifting in 1 second and lowering in 6 is what we call X-centric, or Negative-Accentuated, training. It is a great FAT BURNER as well as MUSCLE BUILDER, but you shouldn’t use it just yet (more on why in a moment).

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Weight confusion and muscle-growth infusion

Q: I’m ready to start the total 4X mass program [moderate-weight, growth threshold training]. How do I know what weight to use on each exercise? Can I base it on my 8-rep max or what?

A: The 4X mass method is density training—so it’s high fatigue. Very different from standard training with longer rests, so we understand the weight confusion, but that’s why for weights you’ll have to guess…

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Try this for a sick muscle-hypertrophy uptick

Q: I have a hard time feeling some of my muscles working, especially short-range ones like abs. Should I go heavier, lighter, slower, or what? I know feeling the target muscle working is very important for the fastest results.

A: You can say that again. Getting in touch with the target muscle on every rep is a big key to muscle hypertrophy…

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2 Quick Ways to Jack Up Muscle Gains

Q: I’m reading the Beyond X-Rep Muscle Building e-book, and I noticed that you have a section on X-centric training. But it’s not the same as what you describe in my X-centric Mass Workout e-book. Is one better than the other?

A: X-centric is our X-Rep vernacular for eccentric, which is the negative stroke of an exercise; that is, the lowering of a weight, like the downward portion of a bench press. [Read more…]

Muscle Mass and Power With Negative Overload

Q: My training partner and I are arguing. He wants to start using heavy negative-only training, but I told him that your e-book [the X-centric Mass Workout] warns against it. He reads your newsletter, so please convince him that it’s not a good idea.

A: In the X-centric e-book we cited a study that showed the extreme damage caused by negative-only training (someone lifts the weight for you, and you lower slowly). Muscle recovery for some of the subjects took weeks; however, most of those subjects were untrained, so they didn’t have the cumulative capacity to handle traumatic loads. If you’ve been training for a year or more, that’s probably not your case… [Read more…]

3 wicked mass tactics for new size (pain to gain)

Q: I like the idea of training quads by doing front squats supersetted with back squats. My quads get almost a pre-ex effect from the strict fronts, then my glutes get better leverage on the backs to drive my quads for more growth. But I’m not very strong on fronts and can get a lot of reps when I immediately go to back squats after. Should I just do high reps on the back squats—say 6 on the fronts and 12-15 on the backs? [Read more…]

Feel It, Fry It, and Grow!

Q: I just got your X-centric Mass Workout. Read it through in one sitting—one of your best e-books by far. My question is, you have a number of workouts, and you always have only one X-centric set [lift in one second, lower in six]—on the last one in a sequence. Can I do more than 2 X-centric sets? And what about doing them first instead of last?

A: An X-centric set is a great way to finish off a 4X sequence. Or to do it as your last set when you’re doing standard sets so you can really feel it, fry it and grow… [Read more…]

More Mass-Building Myths Busted (logic or looniness)

Q: I read where old-school bodybuilders would use lighter weights and higher reps on some exercises before competition to get more muscle detail. That’s total B.S., right?

A: On the surface, yes. But ending a bodypart with higher-rep work—or even doing entire workouts with higher rep work, enhances muscle burn. No, that’s not fat burning—at least not in a strict sense… [Read more…]

Shift Your Anabolic Mass Machine Into Overdrive With Progressive Speed

Q: I love the 4X mass method and am already seeing new size from it after only two weeks. I notice you’ve been recommending different methods on each set sometimes. Does that work better for mass? Should I be doing that?

A: One method we often recommend is the progressive speed tactic. We know one thing about it for certain: The feel is unreal—deep ache with a muscle-expanding pump after only three sets… [Read more…]

Do One Set Slow For New Muscle Growth

Q: I’m having a lot of trouble with delts. I don’t feel any of the exercises, and my delts never get sore. Right now I’m using a [Positions-of-Flexion] routine. Should I add exercises for some new muscle growth in my shoulders?

A: One of the big problems with delts is that they don’t get enough eccentric, or negative stress. And science says that lowering is the most important for muscle growth (the negative is what causes muscle soreness)…

Think about it. On lateral raises, the leverage shift is extreme, with high resistance through the top third of the stroke and almost zero through the bottom third. [Read more…]