Q: I’ve been reading that testosterone is the key muscle-building hormone, so what is the best way to get it up?
A: “Get it up?”
Anabolic Fasting + Shredded-Muscle After-Effects (pics inside)
Intermittent Fasting is all the rage right now and for good reason—it works! Even jacked movie stars like The Rock, Terry Cruz, and Hugh Jackman use it for shredded muscle.
We’ve used it off and on for years. Check out Steve’s initial results, which were spectacular—and he’s in his 50s…
[Read more…]Muscle-Building Myths—Or Are They? (controversial muscle-building info)
Q: I heard that close-grip bench presses can build the inner pecs. But then a pro bodybuilder said that’s false. He said no exercise can build the “inner” pecs—or “lower” biceps for that matter, and that those are muscle-building myths. Which is correct?
A: While close-grip bench presses won’t direct development to the inner-chest area, some researchers suggest that putting a muscle into elongation, or stretch, against resistance can thicken the fibers at the insertion point. For example, doing flyes for more chest beef near the sternum… [Read more…]
Boost Your T Naturally = Muscle Size Surge
Q: You’ve said high-rep leg work can increase testosterone. Will the first high-rep set on each exercise in the Anabolic Reload STX workouts boost T even more?
A: It appears that reason high-rep leg work boosts testosterone is due to heavy breathing, big-muscle stimulation, growth-fiber activation, and muscle burn… [Read more…]
All-10×10 Program: Good or Bad?
Q: You have an all-10×10 program in your e-book [The Ultimate 10×10 Mass Workout], but I’ve heard that you don’t think total 10×10 routines are that great. I wanted to try it, but now I’m not so sure. Do you still believe that the all-10×10 program is not good?
A: For those unfamiliar with it, 10×10 is taking a weight you can get about 20 reps with, but only doing 10. You rest for 30 seconds, then do 10 more and so on until you complete 10 sets of 10 reps. The first sets are a breeze; the last ones are brutal and create an insane pump and burn.
The beauty of 10×10 is that you do it on one exercise per bodypart, so a muscle is cooked to the bone in about 10 minutes. The problem with the all-10x1o program is that it’s pure DENSITY…
As we’ve said, the dominant fiber type in the biggest bodybuilders is the DUAL-component type-2As. They have both a power and density, or endurance, component. That means you need BOTH power and endurance to build the most muscle size. With 10×10 you’re getting almost pure density. But that can be a good thing…
Total 10×10 training is great if you’ve been doing a program dominated by power-oriented sets—as most bodybuilders do. The majority neglect density almost completely because they are brainwashed into believing that heavy weights build the most muscle. Even we’ve fallen into that trap before. That’s why when we first tried an all-10×10 program, we each packed on more than 5 pounds of muscle. We thought we’d found the Holy Grail of muscle building…
However, gains quickly subsided and began to regress—because now we had been neglecting the POWER component. The moral is that if you use a total-10×10 program like the first program outlined in The Ultimate 10×10 Mass Workout with only the ultimate exercise for each muscle, use it for only 3 to 4 weeks (our gains began to regress after week 4). Then go back to a balanced attack or even a power-oriented workout.
A good, balanced attack is the Heavy/Light 10×10 Mass Workout later in the 10×10 e-book. On that one, you do a heavy, straight-set POF workout for a muscle—power—then the next time you train it, you do only the big exercise for 10×10—a total 10-minute density mass blitz. Balanced power/density for major muscle immensity!
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
Boost Testosterone…
With Cardio?!
If you want to build muscle (of course you do!) and ramp up your testosterone levels while burning a ton of fat at the same time, you need to try this workout if you haven’t already…
–> Use this cutting-edge cardio trick to boost testosterone and muscle growth
Note: This is NOT traditional HIIT or boring steady-state cardio
Freak-Factor Training (new muscle mass guaranteed)
Q: I used the 10-Week Size Surge program years ago and gained almost 10 pounds of muscle on it. I’m now getting close to 40, so I wanted to report how I’ve been using it to add a lot of middle-age muscle. I’ve merged Anabolic Reload and the Phase 1 Size Surge routine like this: On Mondays I use high-to-low-rep Reload [STX] on lower body and standard heavy Size Surge work on upper body. Then Friday I reverse that. Wednesday is arms and abs only, so I just alternate, doing Reload one week and heavy Size Surge sets the next. It’s been two months, and I look better than I did in my 20s.
Devising new mass routines that work for you as an individual is part of the fun of bodybuilding. Of course, packing on loads of new mass and looking awesome from your new freak-factor training is even better. [Read more…]
Legendary Pro Bodybuilder: Packing on mass simple—if you do this (no, not steroids)…
Most of us struggle to add even a few pounds of muscle mass in a year. That’s after the beginner stage, of course…
But legendary pro bodybuilder Lee Labrada says it should NOT be that tough. Hear him… [Read more…]
New Muscle Stress for Freaky Mass
Q: I liked the suggestion of moving from The Anabolic Reload Mass Workout, with a high-rep set first to fatigue slow-twitch fibers (STX), to a workout with a heavy pyramid first followed by STX on a contracted move. After five weeks on that, I’d like to add in stretch-position exercises for more trauma/muscle stress and, I hope, more growth. Is there a workout you can suggest?
That’s how you get more growth, guaranteed. The addition of stretch-position exercises will inflict new muscle stress and a significant spike in muscle mass… [Read more…]
STX + SEX for Massive Muscle Growth
Q: The Anabolic Reload Mass Workout, with a high-rep set first to fatigue slow-twitch fibers (STX), has helped me add six pounds of muscle in four weeks. Now I’m ready to go back to a three-way split, but the STX method worked so well that I want to keep using it, but after my heavy work. I’m in my 20s, so heavy weights is not a problem. Any suggestions? (Title: STX + SEX for Massive Muscle Growth)
A: That’s exactly why we love The Anabolic Reload Mass Workout for a two-to-six-week mass burst… [Read more…]
Your Guide to Freaky Muscle Size
Q: It’s very cool that your 3 Positions of Flexion for each muscle align with Brad Schoenfeld, Ph.D.’s 3 hypertrophy triggers. Do you think it’s best to use all three for each muscle at every workout or to split up the positions over multiple workouts, as in the Anabolic Reload programs‘ guide to freaky muscle size?
A: For the uninitiated, the 3 key hypertrophy triggers you must attack for optimal mass stimulation, according to Schoenfeld, are: [Read more…]