muscle-building Archives - Page 6 of 6

Triple-Size Your Muscles With Tri-Angle Workouts

Q: I’ve been reading up on your POF mass-training system, and I think I understand it. I’m just not sure how training a muscle with only two sets on two or three exercises can produce serious muscle growth. Most pros do four or five exercises for four or five sets for each bodypart or more.

A: Positions of Flexion is one of the most efficient mass-building workout styles out there. We’ll explain why in a moment. First, we feel the need for a reality check: All the pros are taking significant amounts of drugs that jack up their recovery and muscle-building abilities. That’s on top of their already superior genetics. [Read more…]

What Are Stage Sets? (Hint: They Work!)

Q: I read in one of your previous articles where you mentioned that you sometimes do Stage Sets. What are Stage Sets, and is that a good mass technique for me?

A: Many years ago, even before we developed X-Rep partials, we noticed that every time we introduced Stage Sets to our workouts, we got sudden muscularity and vascularity increases—and now we know why: The technique is essentially a unique type of X overload—an intense out-of-the-blocks blast right at the max-force point where the target muscle is semi-stretched, like near the bottom of an incline press… [Read more…]

Fast Mass Tactic: 10X for Muscle Size Effects

Q: I’m using The Ultimate Fat-to-Muscle Workout and making great progress. I’m bigger, with veins, and my abs are coming in. I just picked up The Ultimate 10×10 Mass Workout for something different, so I want to go to that program next. My question concerns muscle damage. Getting trauma from slow negative-accentuated sets is what makes the Fat-to-Muscle Workout work so well, so when I switch to the 10×10 Workout, won’t I be getting less muscle damage and therefore less fat burning? I still need to get leaner, so should I add NA sets somewhere when I go to the 10×10 Workout?

A: You could add an NA set for each bodypart. We discuss how and where to do that in the 10×10 Q&A section; however, it’s not necessary for trainees who are doing 10×10 at every workout. Believe us, you’ll realize that fact after you try the 10-sets-of-10 method. The muscle soreness you get will tell you that your microtrauma goal has been met. [Read more…]

Muscle-Building Dangers

Q: Is there a danger to ligaments and tendons with Negative-Accentuated sets [from The Ultimate Fat-to-Muscle Workout]? I’ve gotten fantastic results with NA sets [normal positives followed by slow, six-second negatives], but I recently shared that with a friend who tore a muscle in his shoulder doing heavy bench presses. He said that his orthopedist discourages the use of eccentric loading because of the stress on tendons and ligaments. I’m wondering if NA sets are safe, and can my friend who had prior shoulder injury ever incorporate NA sets to experience the great results I’ve gotten with it?

A: What the orthopedist is talking about is heavy pure-negative sets—where you overload the muscle with about 20 percent more than your normal weight. Someone helps you raise the extremely heavy poundage, and you lower slowly, fighting the overload through the negative stroke. [Read more…]

Instant Muscle-Building Motivation

Q: I really, really want a muscular physique like you guys have. I just can’t seem to stick with it. I’ve read books on motivation, but nothing seems to help. Any words of wisdom? Am I just a dreamer who will never get up and go after it?

A: Dreaming is the first step to getting what you’re after, but lack of motivation is the number-one goal killer. Even if you do manage to get to the gym regularly, if you’re not motivated to push hard and surpass previous bests, you won’t get results. You need to light a fire and keep it lit. (That’s one reason we put out daily newsletters—to try and keep our readers stoked.)

[Read more…]