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Overtrained? Try This for Instant Muscle Gains—No Layoff Necessary

Q: I’m starting to drag at the gym, and I don’t look forward to my workouts anymore. I’m starting to think I’m overtrained. I haven’t grown in a while, but I DON’T want to take a layoff. Even backing off to low-effort workouts sounds like a bad idea because I don’t want to lose my gains. What should I do?

A: Boy, does that sound familiar. We always tell trainees that they need a break to regenerate and keep the growth process rolling, but they never take one (and neither do we—bad). That’s an easy way to end up overtrained. [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: 10x10, belly fat burn, burn fat, fat burning, fat loss, GH release, john hansen, lose fat, mitochondria, Mr. Natural Olympia, muscle gains, myofibrillar growth, overtrained, overtraining, sarcoplasm, sarcoplasmic growth

Jump Start Your Lean Machine

Q: I’m planning to start the Fat-to-Muscle Workout right after the holidays. I understand the ideas—heavy midrange and stretch for micro trauma in muscle fibers to ramp up metabolism and high reps on contracted exercise for blood flow and growth hormone release. My question is, Can I use the 4X mass method on the contracted-position exercise at the end of each bodypart workout instead of high reps? Won’t 4X do the same thing as the two high-rep sets, but get even more blood flow with more sets?

A: Absolutely. In fact, a great plan to jump start your lean machine is to mix it up—do 4X at some workouts on the ending contracted-position exercises and the two high-rep sets at others. Why? Slightly different stimuli… [Read more…]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: anabolic stimulus, GH release, growth hormone release, holiday weight gain, holidays, hypertrophic tension time, lean muscle, lean-machine, physique, testosterone, testosterone boosting

2 Tricks to Get You Ripped—With More Muscle Too

Q: Looking in the mirror, I see that somehow I’ve gotten very fat. I go to the gym, but I guess my eating has been out of hand for too long. Is there anything I should concentrate on during my workouts to help lose the fat? I plan to do cardio after every weight workout, something you’ve suggested. I desperately want to be ripped enough to see abs!

A: First, get your diet under control. You must start eating clean—cut down the junk—and get on an anabolic-meal schedule. Your best bet will be a typical bodybuilding diet, so eat at least 25 grams of protein at six meals a day. Try to eat every two to three hours, and get some carbs too—enough to refill muscle glycogen stores, which is about 200 grams a day. If you need examples, see X-treme Lean; it contains our complete meal-by-meal diets to help you get ripped…

[Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: 4x sequence, abs, anabolic diet, anabolic hormone reset, anabolic hormones, bigger, bodybuilding, Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology, diet, fat burning, fat-to-muscle, GH, GH release, granite abs, growth hormone release, heavy pyramids, high-reps, lose fat, metabolism, microtears, more muscle, muscle trauma, negative-accentuated, pyramids, ripped, stronger, testosterone, triple-shredded, ultimate fat-to-muscle workout, x-traordinary abs, x-treme lean

X Reps are totally intense. They give my workouts a whole new feel. Muscle burn to the max. I love it. Can I use them on more than one set per exercise?

Jonathan Lawson and Steve Holman flexing abs

 

A: The whole new feel you refer to is the muscle continuing to fire after the nervous system halts full-range movement. That’s what makes X Reps such a powerful muscle-building tool. It’s ultimate intensity and overload. Plus, that muscle burn is one of the best ways to get surges in growth hormone.

In a study published in the Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology (22:244-255; 1997), researchers showed that there’s a direct correlation between higher blood lactic acid levels and GH release from the pituitary gland. That means the more muscle burn you can induce, the more growth hormone you can stimulate—up to a point. And growth hormone does everything from help you build muscle and burn fat to bolster your immune system and strengthen bones, ligaments and tendons. Talk about bodybuilding bonus points!

Because X Reps are so intense, most trainees will get best results by doing one straight set to failure followed by another straight set to failure with X Reps. The first straight set to failure is more of an extension of the warmup. A warm muscle can contract up to 20 percent better than a cold one, so having the muscle primed for your X Rep set is very important. (Most bodybuilders don’t warm up sufficiently, which can significantly limit progress.) The first heavy set to failure extends the warmup sets you do prior to your first work set, and it also pumps up nervous system reaction time so your X set is X-ponentially more effective.

If you have an above-average recovery ability, you may benefit from doing both sets with X Reps; however, if you try it and start feeling lathargic and lose your enthusiasm for training, back off. That’s overtraining trying to step in and stomp on your progress. Don’t let that happen. We recently tried doing a straight set, and then two X-Rep sets, but we felt too drained and backed off to one. The bright side is shorter workouts and better results. X Reps work, but you can’t abuse them.

JL & SH Abs

Bodybuilding bonus: While X Reps force more muscle-fiber activation, they also can trigger growth hormone surges via muscle burn. GH does everything from help you build muscle and burn fat to bolster your immune system and strengthen bones, ligaments and tendons.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology, GH release, growth hormone, muscle burn, X Reps

More Key Fat-to-Muscle Tips

Jonathan on stationary bike - More Key Fat-to-Muscle Tips

Q: In The Ultimate Fat-to-Muscle Workout routines, you have short cardio sessions as optional after the workouts. Can I do the quick cardio before my weight-training workout to warm up instead of after?

A: You must’ve jumped right to the workouts without reading the text. No problem. We realize lots of trainees do that because they’re anxious to get started; however, there are important points in the text that can help you understand and get the best results from the workouts. The optional postworkout cardio session is a good example… [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: blood ph, blood pressure, blood sugar, cardio, Charles Poliquin, fat burner, fat loss, fat-to-muscle, fat-to-muscle tips, GH, GH release, growth hormone, growth hormone release, journal of applied physiology, lactic acid, microtrauma, muscle microtrauma, post-workout, pre-workout, weight loss

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