We often look back through our ebooks for motivation and to find mass-boosting techniques we haven’t used in a while. We recently reminded ourselves about Stage Sets from our second e-book, Beyond X-Rep Muscle Building, which also discusses the X-Fade technique, Double-X Overload and X/Pause. When we first used Stage Sets and other X-hybrid techniques within the program outlined in that e-book, we each gained 10 pounds on top of our previous year’s great gains. Definitely something to add back into the mix once in a while when you have a training partner… [Read more…]
Moment of Bodybuilding Zen 59: Mike Mentzer Relaxed Mass
This impressive shot of Mike Mentzer was a poster that Steve had on his wall in his late teens for motivation… [Read more…]
Moment of Bodybuilding Zen 52: Bob Paris Relaxed
This standing-relaxed pic of Bob Paris is one that we cut out of an old Iron Man magazine and put up on our bulletin board for motivation… [Read more…]
New Home-Grown Mass: Slo-Mo vs. High Reps
Q: Your Quick Start Muscle 2.0 has renewed my motivation for home training. I’m stoked and starting the STX workouts next week. You have the first set in both workouts for slow-twitch exhaustion. Do you think that first set is better as a slow-mo set or as a normal speed high-rep set?
A: Either of those methods on the first set accomplishes the same thing: You fatigue the slow-twitch fibers, triggering more fast-twitch-fiber activation on the set or sets that follow… [Read more…]
One-Day Blast for More Mass
Q: I’m not gonna lie… I sometimes get bored with my training or just have random days when my motivation is a bit low. That makes it tough to get to the gym, but I really don’t want to skip a day because of that. What if I took random days here and there to do only one exercise for each muscle. Would that be good for growth, and how often could I do that?
A: Any deviation from the norm will shock new muscle size, especially if it’s something that challenges your growth threshold like 10×10 of only one exercise. [Read more…]
Moment of Bodybuilding Zen 42: Sylvester Stallone’s Forearms
Sylvester Stallone (“Rocky!”) is now 73 years old—and he’s still in awesome shape. While the photo below was taken a few years ago, it’s damn inspiring… [Read more…]
Moment of Bodybuilding Zen 36: The Arnold Stroll
It’s winter, so many of our Zen newsletters these days are motivation oriented. One of the photos that inspired us way back was this one of Arnold walking through the streets of Venice, California… [Read more…]
Moment of Bodybuilding Zen 34: Arnold on the Beach
With the crappy weather outside, we thought a jolt of beach-body motivation was in order. [Read more…]
Top Muscle-Building Breakthrough
Q: I’ve been using [end-of-set] X-Rep partials and making the best gains of my life. It’s got to be the top muscle-building breakthrough I’ve ever used. You guys always seem to be at the cutting edge of mass techniques. Any other secrets you can recommend to boost my gains?
A: Thanks for the kind words regarding X Reps. They were definitely a big muscle-building breakthrough and they’ve done great things for thousands of trainees—and we made the best gains of our lives our first X-Rep year—in only five weeks with them (no steroids, no trick photography—although the lighting is different and we have tans in the afters)… [Read more…]
Warm-up Tactic to Trigger Bigger Muscle Gains
Q: Because of my work schedule, I can only train once a week, on Wednesdays. Can I make any gains with once-a-week training, or is it a lost cause??
A: It’s tough to make gains working out only once a week, but if you stress the muscles enough and you’re consistent, you should gradually see some results. [Read more…]