Yesterday I mentioned Mike Mentzer’s training style. While he tended to use a fast Speed Set tempo on his sets, despite saying otherwise, he often ended sets with slow forced reps and pure negatives… [Read more…]
Jolt New Muscle Growth Every Week
Q: In The X-traordinary Size Surge Workout, Jonathan mentions that he used forced reps to gain 20 pounds of muscle [in 10 weeks—see his before and after photos on the Size Surge cover at the end of this newsletter]. Did he just do them randomly, whenever he felt like it, or was there a specific set he used them on?
A: Gradual progression is a BIG key to continuous new muscle growth, so he did more forced reps as phase 1 progressed… [Read more…]
Moment of Bodybuilding Zen 74: Mike Mentzer Beach Mass
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…]
Negative Overload
Q: I’m using the Fat-to-Muscle Workout, and the negative-accentuated technique [one second up/six seconds down] has given me a lot of new muscle, and I’ve noticed that the excess muscle trauma you guys talk about has helped me lose a good amount of fat, too. I’m amazed! Now, however, I feel like my mass gains are slowing down. I think it’s because I’ve adapted to the negative-accentuated sets. How can I intensify them? Or should I switch to a different technique for a while?
A: Don’t drop the NA technique unless your goals have changed for your physique. If you’re still trying to lose fat as you build muscle, a set with one second up and six seconds down on every rep for every large bodypart will help you get there faster… [Read more…]
The Rest/Pause Link to Major Muscle and Strength
Q: I’ve been following your newsletters and noticed you guys talking about rest/pause not too long ago. Can you explain the technique a little more and the reasoning behind it?
A: Rest/pause is basically taking a very short break after you hit exhaustion on a set, and then repping out again with the same weight. The brief rest/pause allows the lactic acid to clear somewhat from the muscle and the nervous system and ATP to regenerate to a degree as well.
[Read more…]Mix Muscle Hits to Get Big and Ripped
Q: Thanks for the X-centric Mass Workout! Mixing heavy work, negative-accentuated sets, and 4X has given me the best gains of my life. My bodyweight increased over 5 pounds, but my abs are sharper with veins in the lower part. I’m stoked, and the ladies seem to like it too. LOL! My question is about NA sets vs. negatives at the end of regular sets. After two heavy sets, you say to reduce the weight on the last set for an NA set on the big exercise [like bench presses]. Couldn’t I just keep the weight heavy and add four to six negatives at the end of that last set? I feel like I need another heavy set. I have a partner, so he could lift and I could lower on the negatives. I think Mike Mentzer recommended this style.
A: In his prime, Mentzer actually recommended a 3-phase set to get big and ripped…
[Read more…]X Reps and the Fat-to-Muscle Hustle
Q: I read your last e-zine on fat-to-muscle tips with great interest. I added your recommendations to my training immediately. My question is, What about X Reps? Do they help? Should I add those in as well?
A: Yes, X Reps are excellent for a faster fat-to-muscle hustle. For the uninitiated, X Reps are eight-inch partials that you add onto a set after you hit exhaustion. You do those end-of-set partials at the point on the stroke at which the target muscle is somewhat stretched—for example, near the bottom of an incline press, bench press, or chinup…
[Read more…]Are X Reps better than forced reps, and if so, why?
A: Yes, X Reps are better because you extend the set at only the precise point in the exercise’s stroke that is key for force production and/or fiber activation. With forced reps, on the other hand, you writhe around as you strain through full range reps with help from your training partner. So while X Reps help you circumvent nervous system failure for an extra hypertrophic surge, forced reps waste a lot of nervous energy as you push through weak areas of the stroke with imprecise unloading (pushing or pulling from your partner). That’s why trainees who use a lot of forced reps tend to get tremors after training—they overstress the nervous system.
A recent study appears to confirm that (International Journal of Sports Medicine, 24:410-418. [2003]). It featured 15 male athletes engaged in either a maximum-reps routine or a forced-reps routine. Both types of training led to considerable increases in serum testosterone, free testosterone, cortisol and growth hormone; however, cortisol, which is a stress hormone that can cannibalize muscle tissue, was higher in the forced-reps group. Forced reps also produced a greater decrease in maximum muscular force, according to the researchers.
The greater loss of muscle power indicates that forced reps overstress the nervous system and the excess cortisol produces catabolism in muscle. In fact, many studies indicate that the biggest cause of overtraining is nervous system stress, and therefore forced reps do a lot to increase that probability—much more than X Reps. In other words, cue to X Reps short stroke, as opposed to full-stroke forced reps, we believe X-Rep training is a superior way to extend a set for a maximum growth response with less recovery and nervous system stress (Journal of Applied Physiology, 85:2352-2359. [1998]).
Train to Failure? Muscle-Building Simplicity
Q: I just got the Size Surge 2.0 e-book. I see the two programs Jonathan used to build 20 pounds of muscle in 2 1/2 months has him using only one or two work sets per exercise, both work sets to failure. What does “failure” mean? Did he used forced reps? Negatives? Or just stop when he could no longer get a full rep?
A: Jonathan trained alone for Phase 1, which was a three-days-a-week mass-exercise anabolic primer. That means he couldn’t do forced reps or negatives… [Read more…]
Train to Failure – Muscle-Building Simplicity
Q: I just got the Size Surge 2.0 e-book. I see the two programs Jonathan used to build 20 pounds of muscle in 2 1/2 months has him using only one or two work sets per exercise, both work sets to failure. What does “train to failure” really mean? Did he use forced reps? Negatives? Or just stop when he could no longer get a full rep?
A: Jonathan trained alone for Phase 1, which was a three-days-a-week mass-exercise anabolic primer. That means he couldn’t do forced reps or negatives… [Read more…]