muscle growth Archives

Heat: The Magic Muscle Maker

Q: This is kind of an odd question, but does hot weather help make muscles grow? I’ve noticed this summer, when it’s been blazing hot outside, I make my best gains. In the winter, my gains are much slower, sometimes nonexistent. Could it be the heat?

A: It could simply be more summer-time motivation—you train harder because you want to look good at the pool, lake, or beach. It could also be leanness and darkness—being more ripped and tan makes you look bigger and better. There’s a good chance that heat and/or sunshine may have something to do with it, along with sweating. Perspiring more sheds water from under the skin, and that means more vascularity more often, which adds to your bigger, more-shredded look. But heat may be the key… [Read more…]

Once-a-Week Workouts and NA Training

Q: I want to thank you for putting together the Freak-Physique e-book. What a blockbuster resource of training information and programs. I’m using the 3D Power Pyramid Program. The quote from the trainee who gained so much muscle and strength in only a few weeks using it got me stoked. My question is, I’m more of a train-each-bodypart-once-a-week guy, so can I use it that way instead of training each bodypart twice a week? If so, how should I adjust it?

A: First, you picked a great program. We get lots of positive feedback on the 3D Power Pyramid because it’s simple Positions-of-Flexion methodology but you add weight over three sets on the big midrange move (pyramid), and do only one set each of the stretch- and contracted-position exercises. It’s basically a POF strength-building workout with a big muscle-size side effect. [Read more…]

Best Chisel-Your-Chest Exercise

Q: I’ve been using cable crossovers as my contracted-position exercise in my 3D Positions-of-Flexion chest routine. I do them last for tension, occlusion, and a final pump, but I’m not getting the right feel and not seeing much of a pump. Do you have any form suggestions to make them better?

A: Cable crossovers are a good contracted-position chisel-your-chest exercise—if you have decent nerve-to-muscle connections in your pec muscles. Those who don’t tend to shift the torso forward and backward during the exercise, to bring in more front delts and even lats. We prefer a similar exercise that forces strictness… [Read more…]

3D HIT Question

Q: In the 3D HIT program [listed in the X-traordinary Arms e-book], you say to end each bodypart with one slow, higher-rep set of an isolation exercise for tension and occlusion. You also mention drop sets for those exercises. Which is better, one higher-rep set or a drop set?

A: Keep in mind that doing a drop set is a volume increase because it’s two sets back to back. For example, on concentration curls for biceps, you do a set of 10 reps to exhaustion, grab a lighter dumbbell, and immediately rep out again, getting about six more reps. Is that better than one set of 12-15 reps? That depends…

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Loosen Up to Unleash Extreme Muscle Growth

Q: Have you heard of FST-7 training, and if so, what do you think of it? It has to do with stretching the muscle fascia from the inside with 7 sets of a big-pump exercise at the end of a bodypart workout.

A: The idea of stretching the muscle fascia, which is the fibrous encasements that surround muscle fibers, has been around a while in many incarnations. The original method had trainees use a rigorous, painful stretching regimen after they trained a bodypart.

For example, after working hamstrings, the trainee would sit on the floor, legs straight and together, and his or her trainer would force the trainee’s torso forward to fully elongate the hamstrings—and it brought tears to the eyes.

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One-Set Triple HIT for Shocking New Muscle Growth

Q: I’m into high-intensity training, doing one all-out work set per exercise. But I just read your 3D Muscle Building e-book and see the logic in Positions-of-Flexion mass training. Do you think I could combine the two and get good mass results doing one work set for each of the three positions for each bodypart? Like, for my quads, I would do squats (midrange), sissy squats (stretch), and leg extensions (contracted), one all-out set for each.

A: That’s an excellent way to get acquainted with the mass-building power of 3D POF. In fact, we’ve used a similar program over the winter years ago with good results. The only problem was that when motivation was low, which it can be when it’s cold outside, gains aren’t so great. To make that 3D triple HIT approach build muscle as quickly as possible, you have to be gung-ho and train every work set like it’s the last set of your life. Summer is probably a better time to lock in that mindset.

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Simple Size Principle for Major Muscle Gains

Q: It’s hard for me to believe that a few partial reps at the end of a set [a.k.a. X Reps] can do anything measurable for muscle gains. Isn’t doing an additional set just as good or better for muscle growth?

A: At first glance, you’d think so; however, once you understand muscle physiology, you see the enormous muscle-building effects that can occur if you extend a set correctly. It all starts with the size principle of muscle fiber recruitment…

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Changes at Every Workout?

Q: I remember from your old daily training blog (which I really miss) that you guys would make changes at every workout (or at least it seemed like it). Should I be doing that, or should I stick to a routine as it’s written for six weeks, then try something new? You’ve also mentioned things like “X-Fade” and “DXO” after some exercises. Do you have an e-book that explains those?

A: The frequency of change your muscles require to keep growing depends on your experience. Beginners and early intermediates don’t need change very often because they’re getting stronger as neuromuscular efficiency, or nerve force, improves. That helps to keep the muscle-growth process moving forward, so changing things every six weeks is about right.

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Gymnasts’ Muscles—Olympic Size-Sculpting Method

If you’ve watched the male gymnasts during the Olympics before, you no doubt noticed their eye-popping upper-body mass. Some have delts, arms, and torsos that resemble competitive bodybuilders’. Very impressive, especially considering that muscle mass isn’t one of their goals; it’s just a side effect of their sport…

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Dumbbell Upright Rows to Grow

Q: I like the idea of doing dumbbell upright rows first as the midrange movement for shoulders [as recommended in the 3D Muscle Building e-book]. I just have trouble feeling the X Reps at the end after I reach exhaustion. Should I just do a drop set instead?

A: As we explained in the last e-zine, drop sets are better for continuous tension/occlusion exercises—contracted-position moves like laterals for delts, leg extensions for quads, etc. You’re looking to maximize force production with the big midrange exercise, so X Reps is the best choice…

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