I’m back to quoting Dr. James DiNicolantonio (@drjamesdinic on IG). It’s a simple simple statement that hits home for bodybuilders… [Read more…]
She Won’t Touch the Weights
Q: I bought myself and my wife gym memberships, and I started on your Quick-Start Muscle Building program. I’m getting good results already, but my wife will only do aerobics classes. She won’t touch the weights because she says she doesn’t want big muscles. What can I tell her? She’s more concerned with losing fat.
A: If she won’t touch the weights for fear of building too much muscle, tell her not to worry. That attitude is from the dark ages. A little more muscle will actually help her look better and get leaner faster. In fact, most medical doctors now suggest that their patients, male and female, lift weights—and many say that lifting is more important than cardio. Here’s a quote from our X-treme Lean e-book that may help convince your wife:
Many women think ‘muscle’ is a dirty word. Not true. It gives the female body a metabolic boost and more curves in the right places. Women don’t have to be concerned with building too much muscle thanks to their female hormone balance—more estrogen, very little testosterone. Women should train just as hard as men do, using weight training to sculpt their bodies.
The overly muscled women bodybuilders take male hormones to get that way. If your wife isn’t taking those, she doesn’t have to worry. She can use weight training followed by some cardio to transform her body quickly, as Becky Holman, Steve’s wife, did…
Show your wife those photos and emphasize that Becky trained to build muscle first and foremost—and it worked fast, boosting her metabolism through the roof! It’s done wonders for men too, so you may want to consider her direct/indirect POF workouts [on pages 50-52 in X-treme Lean] as your next step after the Quick-Start program.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
Over-40 or struggling with T levels?
You Need This!
One of the most interesting read-me pages on Testosterone and other muscle-building hormones we’ve seen is The Truth About Testosterone.
It even talks about a fruit, a specific part, that can up your T naturally. Cranking up your testosterone will not only get you jacked in the gym, but in the bedroom too—not to mention help rip up your midsection as it ignites fat burning. If that interests you, there’s more from our colleague and registered dietician, HERE.
Great Gains—What now?
Q: I have about 15 years of lifting experience, and I’m also a certified personal trainer. I’ve worked out with high intensity for all of my years, but I’ve never done the type of training I’m now using with your routines. I’m currently at week 3 in the 3D Power Pyramid [from the Freak-Physique e-book]. Great gains so far! I run each routine for six weeks, and once I finish the Power Pyramid, I want to move to The Ultimate Power-Density Mass Workout. I love each program so far, and I push myself each and every workout. Is it okay if I go from workout to workout, or should I do something less intense between them? So far, I don’t feel overtrained. What’s your advice?
A: Thanks for the question and your confidence in our programs. First realize that overtraining is cumulative, so we suggest that you use the first week of each new program as a break-in period… [Read more…]
3D Power Pyramid Workout: A fast-blast favorite
Q: I like the standard two-way split, working each muscle group twice a week, as in the 3D Power Pyramid Program in Freak-Physique Stretch-Overload e-book—that’s my favorite routine so far. Could I use that as an HIT program and just do one work set per exercise?
A: Yes, you can apply the HIT one-work-set-per-exercise idea to almost any of the programs in that e-book. In fact, we’ve had a few trainees say that the 3D Power Pyramid feels like too much work to them (hardgainer types), in which case we suggest simply spacing out the workouts a bit—use them in the sequence they are presented, but train on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday instead of Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.
That way, the bodyparts that get hit on Wednesday of the first week get trained only once that week, but they get hit twice the following week (Monday and Friday). That’s known as Rotation for Recuperation, and it works well for recovery-challenged trainees. [Read more…]
Should I Do More?
Q: I’ve noticed in a lot of your e-book routines that you often recommend just two work sets for an exercise Why? Should I do more? I’ve read that most bodybuilders do four or five sets per exercise.
A: As Arthur Jones, the creator of Nautilus machines said: “You can train hard or you can train long, but you can’t do both.” Short and hard or long and not so hard both work. Despite what some die-hard high-intensity trainers say, gradually increasing volume is a form of overload that can result in more muscle—if you don’t overdo intensity. It’s a balancing act. Us? Regardless of whether it’s one of our low-set workouts or high tension time workouts, we’re about
Bigger, Rounder Attention-Grabbing Shoulders
Q: Broad shoulders get girls’ attention, but mine are narrow. And on top of that, my delts are flat. Should I do more presses to round them out? I notice in 3D Muscle Building that you have presses as more of a front-delt midrange exercise. Aren’t they good for side delts, too? BTW, I love 4X mass method and am using it almost exclusively.
A: Overhead presses primarily train the front-delt heads. Plus, they can impinge the shoulder capsule if performed incorrectly. That’s why we generally suggest doing them at the end of our delt routine. A good Positions-of-Flexion full-range shoulder hit, 4X style on every move, would be…
[Read more…]High Reps, Supersets, and Super-Size Success (un-TORQ-ing-believable)
Q: I just started the first workouts from The Ultimate Super-Size Crash Course after reading yesterday’s newsletter. First
A: Don’t be a wuss; grit your teeth and tough it out, Gertrude. LOL! Seriously, higher-rep supersets could work, but there are two glitches that might prevent full-on success…
[Read more…]Boost Your T Naturally = Muscle Size Surge
Q: You’ve said high-rep leg work can increase testosterone. Will the first high-rep set on each exercise in the Anabolic Reload STX workouts boost T even more?
A: It appears that reason high-rep leg work boosts testosterone is due to heavy breathing, big-muscle stimulation, growth-fiber activation, and muscle burn… [Read more…]