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Moment of Bodybuilding Zen 192: Zane vs. Arnold

Arnold and Frank Zane in tank tops

Here’s a vintage shot of Arnold and Frank Zane during Tank Top Week at the original Gold’s Gym. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed at the gym during Tiara Week. [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: 1968, arnold, arnold schwarzenegger, bodybuilding zen, frank zane, john balik, mr. universe, vince gironda

How Arnold Trained (it’s not how you think)…

Arnold on the beach in 1974, photo by John Balik

Q: What’s your opinion of Arnold training six days a week? I read that he worked each muscle three times every seven days with 20 sets per body part at each workout. I know he used steroids, but that much training seems excessive. How could someone recover from that and grow? [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: anabolic steroids, arnold, arnold schwarzenegger, john balik

Moment of Bodybuilding Zen 161: Arnold’s Superman Pose

Arnold doing a Superman pose with a woman behind him

Not many people know this, but women used to pay Arnold to sit behind him and watch him rhythmically flex his buttocks. [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: aesthetic, arnold, arnold schwarzenegger, bodybuilding zen, fast-twitch, john balik, STX, stx method

Moment of Bodybuilding Zen 155: Arnold’s Underwear Flex

Apparently if Arnold has a dream about showing up somewhere in his underwear, it’s no problemo—just start posing. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: arnold schwarzenegger, arnold's biceps, art zeller, bodybuilding zen, Gene Mozee, john balik, legend, the oak, venice

Is that Muscle Guru Screwing You?

Muscle Builder Magazine cover with Arnold on it

When I started bodybuilding in high school with my best friend, Bill, we would devour the muscle magazines cover to cover, over and over. They were hard to find in our small town…

We’d often walk to every store that had a magazine rack, searching. It was a treasure hunt for the latest Muscle Builder/Power or Iron Man or Muscle Training Illustrated… [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: anabolic steroids, arnold schwarzenegger, dianabol, drugs, hormones, iron man magazine, john balik, Muscle Builder magazine, Muscle Builder/Power, Muscle Training Illustrated, social media, testosterone, the oak

Match Your Motivation, Build More Muscle

Arnold at the beach - Look Bigger with One Simple Exercise

Q: I always have a problem making gains in the winter. It starts around Halloween, when the weather starts getting cooler and the bowls of candy start taunting me. Then it’s Thanksgiving, pumpkin pie, and it’s even colder outside. I lose the motivation to hit the gym, and my muscles usually shrink and get shrouded with a layer of fat. Is this just something I should accept, or do you have any solutions?

A: Definitely do not accept it—at least not completely—because if you regress in the winter and then start training hard in the spring, you waste a lot of workouts just getting back to where you were the previous year. (We speak from experience—it’s happened to us on more than one occasion). [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: 20 pounds of muscle, 3d muscle building, 3d power pyramid, arnold schwarzenegger, build muscle, continuous tension, freak-physique, holidays, john balik, mass building, master trainer, max force, metabolic momentum, motivation, occlusion, pyramiding, stretch-overload, vince gironda, winter motivation, winter training, winter workout

Double Your Muscle Growth With X-Factor Firepower

Incline barbell presses

Q: I’ve had phenomenal muscle-size gains and strength increases since switching over to X Reps. I gained five pounds my first month with them! My question is, Do those build more of the myofibril strands or sarcoplasm fluid [in the muscle fibers] that you guys have been talking about? And can I use X Reps on 4X sequences?

A: For the uninitiated, X Reps are eight-inch partials you do in the semi-stretch position at the end of a set to failure. For example, when no more full-range reps are possible on incline presses, you lower the bar to about two inches off your chest and fire up to just below the halfway point for about three to four controled X-Rep explosions… [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: 20 pounds of muscle, 4X, dormant fibers, john balik, Mike Semanoff, muscle gains, myofibrillar growth, myofibrillar mass, protect your family, sarcoplasmic growth, sarcoplasmic size, self defense, testimonial, X Factor, X Reps, x-traordinary x-rep workout

Moment of Bodybuilding Zen 55: Arnold Rocks

Here’s a fantastic shot of Arnold at Muscle Rock. We asked John Balik if he took it, and he said he believes it’s a Gene Mozee photo. [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: anabolic, anabolic amplifier, arnold, arnold schwarzenegger, austrian oak, bodybuilding zen, focus, frank rich, Gene Mozee, hypertrophic, john balik, massthetic arms, mind-muscle connection, multi-angular training, muscle feel, Muscle Rock, powerblock, quick-start muscle building, the oak, veiny arms

Moment of Bodybuilding Zen 49: Mike Mentzer, Beach Freak

This John Balik photo of Mike Mentzer is insane—serious freak on the beach and one of the best pics of Mike we’ve ever seen… [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: arnold, beach, beach body, bodybuilding zen, frank zane, heavy duty, iron man magazine, john balik, legend & myth, mike mentzer, Mr. America, mr. olympia, mr. universe, Muscle-Building Quick Start, quick-start muscle building, ray mentzer, vince gironda, Weider

Moment of Bodybuilding Zen 43: Arnold’s Mass

We’ve mentioned in previous newsletters how Arnold had an instinct for training every muscle from the three critical angles—midrange, stretch, and contracted, what we call POF.

And it’s why he built one of the most massive physiques of his era.

 Arnold, most muscular pose on stage

Loaded stretch exercises may have been the biggest key to his mass. Check out this quote from respected researcher Brad Schoenfeld, Ph.D. on a recent stretch study [“Stretch training induces unequal adaptation in muscle fascicles and thickness in medial and lateral gatrocnemii,” Scand J Med Sci Sports, Jan 30, 2017]…

Studies in animals have shown that loaded stretch is a potent stimulus for muscle growth, most notably shown by the early work of Jose Antonio…. [But] this is the first study I’m aware to show that a relatively modest loaded stretching protocol produces significant hypertrophy in humans.

Notice the words “modest loaded stretching” and “significant hypertrophy.” Exciting stuff!

Arnold made it a point to do pain-inducing stretch-position moves for almost every muscle—like biceps…

Arnold doing incline curls

Stretch-position exercises are the most neglected in the gym because they can hurt—but they work…

It’s clear that muscle stretch is one of the 3 hypertrophy keys that you should attack for freaky muscle growth. And many researchers think stretch is the ultimate get-bigger trigger. For you, that means in the gym…

Do loaded muscle elongation for super-size stimulation! Here’s how to do it…

The Freak-Physique Stretch-Overload Workout contains mass-building research, stretch exercises for EVERY muscle plus multiple workouts supercharged with anabolic stretch, including 3D Power Pyramid (Positions of Flexion) and Pure-Positions STX (slow-twitch exhaustion). This may be the most important mass-building information you’ve ever read, and for a limited time you can add it to your mass-building library, a $19 value, for ONLY $9 HERE.

Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.

—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com


“[Arnold’s] just a fat f#@k” — say what?

Iron Man Publisher John Balik worked at Vince’s Gym in Studio City back in the ’60s. He has great memories—and funny stories—like when Arnold walked in for the first time…

“I am Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mr. Universe,” the Oak proclaimed proudly…

Vince looked up over his glasses, paused and said, “You look like just a fat f#@k to me.” And looked back down.

It brought Arnold down to earth and made him realize he needed to be more polished, more ripped, to be the greatest of all time…

And that’s what he did, winning the Mr.Olympia seven times…

We can say from experience that Vince was unique in his approach to both people and training…

We’ve got the over-300-page e-book anthology on Vince and all of his methods, and it’s a treasure trove of mass-building, physique-etching info. You’ll definitely want this in your mass-building library for sure…

–> Check out Vince Gironda: Legend & Myth HERE

It will blow your mind and blow up our muscles—everything from Train 21 Rest 7 to 10-8-6-15 to Vince’s Stone Age Nutrition to Failure vs. 60-80 and much, much more (remember, it’s over 300 pages!). 

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: arnold, arnold schwarzenegger, Brad Schoenfeld, fat fuck, freak physique, john balik, legend & myth, physique, stretch-overload workout, STX, vince gironda, vince's gym

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