I do a lot of pondering—usually about my training and how to make it better. That doesn’t make great conversation at parties.
But it does allow me to reflect on my past training and efficiency-of-effort factors I missed. For example… [Read more…]
This Will Blow Your Mind: 2X Muscle Growth
I’ve been reporting on Doug “Mr. America & Mr. Universe” Brignole’s latest training in which he does four sets per muscle on only one ideal exercise. His reps are: 30, 20, 15, 10.
He said that his muscle growth has been spectacular by training each muscle twice a week, four sets per workout. In fact, his gains have been so stellar, he’s thinking about coming out of retirement and competing again at age 63… [Read more…]
Heavy/Light for Mass/Strength?
Q: I remember working muscles twice a week, and we used the heavy/light method. Do you ever do that? Do you think it helps the muscle-building process? [Read more…]
Work Harder, Grow Bigger? Nope
For years I believed that if I worked harder in the gym—to failure and beyond—I would grow bigger. I had no doubt that soon my muscles would expand beyond belief…
Hard work and patience, right? Nope. It didn’t happen. Why? I was working hard, but I wasn’t working smart—at least, not as smart as I could have been… [Read more…]
Forgotten Fact About Muscle Growth
I won’t keep you in suspense: It’s range of motion. But the forgotten fact is why it’s important…
If you’ve ever watched a very lean bodybuilder doing leg extensions—lean enough so you can see fibers firing—you’ll notice twitching “explosions” all over the quad muscles as the lower leg extends and retracts. [Read more…]
Best Set Total to Unleash Fastest Muscle Growth
Q: After reading your new page, I’m not sure 35-minute workouts three days a week can build muscle. Wouldn’t it take more time and more than a couple of sets per muscle to get the fastest gains possible?
A: According to Richard Winett, Ph.D., a recent joining together of experts from multiple countries looked at empirical studies and systematic reviews on muscle hypertrophy… [Read more…]
Eye-Popping Mass: Ideal Exercises + Scientific Muscle-Fiber Loading
Take the single best mass-building exercise for each muscle…
Add in a proven scientific muscle-fiber loading method…
And your muscle growth suddenly surges. People compliment you, but maybe they’re just being nice… [Read more…]
Moment of Bodybuilding Zen 109: Danny Padilla Onstage Mass
Here’s Danny Padilla once again featured in our weekly Zen. Thickness and mass perfection onstage in the ’70s.
We’re fans of his physique as well as his training style that amplified his genetic gifts and preserved his joints…
In fact, our workouts evolved in many good way thanks to info on Danny’s training—and Vince Gironda’s methods as well.
Padilla’s workouts were best described as “progressive muscle-fiber exhaustion” using only moderate weights. That means no hammering joints into submission with crazy poundages…
That moderate-poundage style saved our joints and has us still training and gaining into old age—Steve is in his early 60s.
Our 4X Mass Method that we’ve been using for years now, is based on Danny’s training, which was an off-shoot of Gironda’s Density Training…
It consists of moderate weights for four to five quick sets. The method is designed to gradually exhaust the various muscle fiber types due to short rests between sets.
It’s a thorough, efficient, and safer way to get total muscle growth in almost all fiber types.
The 4X method is excellent for younger trainee looking to preserve their joints as they pack on new mass, as well as for older bodybuilders who are training around aches and pains. Oh, and the pump is unreal…
Now is the perfect time to try 4X for major muscle-growth success. For loads of motivating info and programs…
> The 4X Mass Workout 2.0 is available HERE.
Or for our other favorite density method, check out STX growth-threshold tactic in our latest retooled ebook, that includes many mass-building home-gym workouts…
> Quick-Start Muscle-Building Guide 2.0 is available HERE.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
Mass-Building Lessons From the Master Trainer
Vince Gironda was the Iron Guru, a bodybuilding legend ahead of his time. His most famous pupil in the bodybuilding world was the very first Mr. Olympia Larry Scott, and he also trained many Hollywood stars back in the day, like Clint Eastwood, and even Arnold consulted with him and was a fan (even though Vince told Arnold that he was a “fat f**k” when he first arrived in the U.S.).
Many of Vince’s mass-building tricks and methods have been forgotten, buried by information and misinformation overload on the Internet, but now you can find them all, his true methods, in this must-have, 330-page Vince Gironda e-book anthology…
You get everything from “Train 21 Rest 7” to 10-8-6-15 to Vince’s Stone Age Nutrition, the 8×8 method and program and much, much more (remember, it’s 330 pages). And it’s on sale at a discount for a limited time: Simply use the code GIRONDA20 at checkout for an extra 20 percent off.
Vince Gironda: Legend & Myth (300-page anthology + many bonus gifts and programs) HERE
Moment of Bodybuilding Zen 76: Steve Reeves Double Biceps
This photo taken in the ’50s shows the classic lines of Steve Reeves that made him a perfect movie Hercules. The man had excellent genetics, and not just in the looks department. Check out at his wide V taper, small waist and long calves… [Read more…]
Why Your Growth is Slow—and How to Make it Explode
Q: I pound away at my workouts, but I’ve only gained about three pounds of muscle in nine months. I’ve gotten stronger, but where’s the size?! I don’t know what to do. I add weight to my exercises whenever I can, but that doesn’t seem to help. I want big, full muscles that will fill out my T-shirts.
A: Are you doing your work sets in the eight-to-10 rep range? Are you resting about 2 minutes between sets? Are your sets lasting about 25 seconds? Are you doing that on all of your exercises? If so, THAT’S WHY YOU’RE NOT GROWING. [Read more…]
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