Dedicated to Your Physical Transformation
Doug found higher reps to be much more productive than lower reps, as you’ve seen from his 3-set approach: 30, 20, 12 reps.
This runs counter to much of what hypertrophy researcher Chris Beardsley recommends. Doug’s observations were about himself after decades of training experience, not a blanket recommendation for everyone: [Read more…]
We’ve been dissecting the reasons why a 15-to-20-rep set to failure to begin each muscle group can do great things for hypertrophy… [Read more…]
In yesterday’s newsletter, you saw why a higher-rep set first can do great things for efficient hypertrophy stimulation, not to mention safety… [Read more…]
Here’s Danny Padilla once again featured in our weekly Zen. Thickness and mass perfection onstage in the ’70s.
We’re fans of his physique as well as his training style that amplified his genetic gifts and preserved his joints…
In fact, our workouts evolved in many good way thanks to info on Danny’s training—and Vince Gironda’s methods as well.
Padilla’s workouts were best described as “progressive muscle-fiber exhaustion” using only moderate weights. That means no hammering joints into submission with crazy poundages…
That moderate-poundage style saved our joints and has us still training and gaining into old age—Steve is in his early 60s.
Our 4X Mass Method that we’ve been using for years now, is based on Danny’s training, which was an off-shoot of Gironda’s Density Training…
It consists of moderate weights for four to five quick sets. The method is designed to gradually exhaust the various muscle fiber types due to short rests between sets.
It’s a thorough, efficient, and safer way to get total muscle growth in almost all fiber types.
The 4X method is excellent for younger trainee looking to preserve their joints as they pack on new mass, as well as for older bodybuilders who are training around aches and pains. Oh, and the pump is unreal…
Now is the perfect time to try 4X for major muscle-growth success. For loads of motivating info and programs…
> The 4X Mass Workout 2.0 is available HERE.
Or for our other favorite density method, check out STX growth-threshold tactic in our latest retooled ebook, that includes many mass-building home-gym workouts…
> Quick-Start Muscle-Building Guide 2.0 is available HERE.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
Vince Gironda was the Iron Guru, a bodybuilding legend ahead of his time. His most famous pupil in the bodybuilding world was the very first Mr. Olympia Larry Scott, and he also trained many Hollywood stars back in the day, like Clint Eastwood, and even Arnold consulted with him and was a fan (even though Vince told Arnold that he was a “fat f**k” when he first arrived in the U.S.).
Many of Vince’s mass-building tricks and methods have been forgotten, buried by information and misinformation overload on the Internet, but now you can find them all, his true methods, in this must-have, 330-page Vince Gironda e-book anthology…
You get everything from “Train 21 Rest 7” to 10-8-6-15 to Vince’s Stone Age Nutrition, the 8×8 method and program and much, much more (remember, it’s 330 pages). And it’s on sale at a discount for a limited time: Simply use the code GIRONDA20 at checkout for an extra 20 percent off.
Vince Gironda: Legend & Myth (300-page anthology + many bonus gifts and programs) HERE
We’ve featured Danny Padilla in our Zen installments many times, but he had such a great, well-balanced, and inspiring physique that he’s worth flashing back on again. This is a great twisting-back stage shot that highlights his mass and symmetry, things his training style magnified… [Read more…]
This impressive shot of Mike Mentzer was taken by Wayne Gallasch on a beach in Australia. It really captures Mike’s herculean mass that captivated the bodybuilding world back in the 1970s… [Read more…]
Q: I’ve been working out for a couple of years now pretty hard. I’m feeling frustrated because I’ve been tall and skinny my whole life: 6’2″ and 170 pounds. I just can’t seem to put on any muscle. Is it a possibility that a person just can’t build muscle no matter what they do? I receive your e-zine and read about other people’s gains, so I’m wondering if I’m doing something wrong or maybe I’m genetically incapable of going from twig to big.
A: You will put on muscle—convince yourself of that; however, you’re in the skinny ectomorph boat with Steve, so you must be realistic, not frustrated. He weighed 120 pounds when he started weight training, and it took time for him to twig to big and looking like a bodybuilder—but even now he doesn’t look all that big in clothes. [Read more…]
Q: I totally agree with your Power-Density mass-building ideas. For density work, you’ve suggested multi-rep rest/pause, but 3 heavy sets with only 15 seconds of rest between them really wipes me out, especially on legs. I’m dead for the rest of my workout. Is there something less taxing I can use for density up front?
A: First, we want to applaud you for realizing the importance of DENSITY, or endurance, work. Missing that get-bigger trigger is why most wanna-be-big bodybuilders grow so slow. They think it’s all about training heavy ONLY to gain more size… [Read more…]
Danny Padilla was known for his classic, no-flaws physique. His nickname was “the Giant Killer” because at only 5’2” his perfect mass-symmetry combo allowed him to beat bodybuilders who were much taller and larger than he was. [Read more…]
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…]
