Dedicated to Your Physical Transformation
Q: I want to do a weekly rotation of light, medium, and heavy POF. For
A: Your “weekly rotation” sounds like a great idea for adding mass along all pathways. And the variation should keep you stoked…
However, at 49 you are right on the cusp of heavy-training tolerance…
[Read more…]Jim Haislop won the Mr. America in 1968. His incredible symmetry, proportion,
When he competed at 5’11”, he weighed in at around 210 pounds with a 32” waist and true 19” arms…
[Read more…]Check out Arnold in his prime below and his son Joseph, age 21. The resemblance is uncanny. Are genetics important in bodybuilding? Absolutely, as is the case in most sports.
Read moreQ: 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.
[Read more…]Q: If I just do the basic [compound] exercises and continue to get stronger, won’t I get as big as possible as fast as possible?
A: That would seem to be true on the surface, but consider this: Strength equals force, so the stronger you get, the more you will develop size along that specific pathway—fiber size generated by force overload. But, as we’ve pointed out, there are two other key size-development pathways: stretch overload and tension/occlusion…
[Read more…]Q: I’m an avid reader of your e-books as well as your website. I’ve been experimenting recently with a heavy set to failure (approximately 10 reps), adding X-Rep partials to the end. Then I do a second X-Only set, often with added weight. This is an excellent trigger for growth, especially if you warm up using the DXO [Double-X Overload] technique. On the warmup set, I do anywhere from four to five X Reps between [full-range] reps, and the burn is incredible! That [combination] has had such a strong effect on my body, that I now have some stretch marks appearing. I’m definitely getting much more muscular while dropping fat. Another thing I’ve been experimenting with is shortening the stroke of X Reps, to the point where I’m almost doing a static hold. I just pulse out very small partial reps. Which brings me to static holds. Research shows subjects adding a few pounds of muscle after only one workout, but that workout was followed by two weeks of rest. Surely two weeks off between workouts is ridiculous. I was wondering how you stand on recovery time and static holds?
A: Thanks for the feedback and your confidence in our methods. We discuss a lot of what you’re discovering and experimenting with in our X-Rep Update #1 e-book. Former Mr. Olympia Jay Cutler used a lot of X-Only sets, as we discuss in Chapter 5, Mr. O’s Wild X-O Workouts. Notice Cutler’s short stroke on this exercise…
[Read more…]Q: You’ve said that to get the best muscle-size gains, you have to use both power and density to build both sides of the 2A muscle fibers. But in The X-traordinary Size Surge Workout program, it looks like it’s all power with no endurance [density] work. So how could it produce such spectacular results in Jonathan?
A: The Size Surge program does have a dominant power emphasis, especially in phase 1, the anabolic primer segment. But there’s also some density, or endurance, work (and it expands for bigger mass gains, as you’ll see)…
For example, if you use the optimal rep speed, which is about 1.5 seconds up and 3 seconds down, you’ll get about 40 seconds of tension time on the first set of each BIG exercise. That’s because you use a poundage that allows 9 reps on the first set.
If you watch most wannabe-big bodybuilders training, you’ll see sets that last less than 20 seconds—all power, zero density, which is why gains are so slow: they get no density size effects, which the key 2A muscle fibers require…
Also notice that for many muscle groups in the phase 1 Size Surge program, there’s a follow-up continuous-tension isolation exercise included, such as leg extensions for quads, leg curls for hamstrings, pushdowns for triceps, etc…
True, it’s usually for only one set, but that’s all it takes to choke off blood flow from the target muscle for a growth response. That 40 to 50 seconds of total tension/occlusion will do sizable things for the endurance side of the 2As! It’s the perfect chaser to the power-oriented big exercise you do first…
And power in and of itself is a key get-bigger trigger, so always strive to get stronger. As Arthur Jones, the creator of Nautilus machines and the father of high-intensity training, said:
When the actual progress of an individual trainee is carefully charted over a period of a few months, several rather surprising results will become immediately apparent; for example, while strength levels will increase in a series of gentle curves, increases in size of the involved bodyparts—and thus apparent increases in muscular mass—will result in a stair-step pattern.
What Jones is saying is that strength increases are usually fairly steady, fluctuating slightly up and down but on a distinctly upward trajectory, while size increases come in sudden spurts or bursts followed by plateaus—a stair-step pattern. Says Jones,
In effect, size increases permit strength increases—and strength increases force size increases.
At one point, Jones was fanatical about measuring his arms and noted that once they grew almost a full inch overnight. Now that’s a growth spurt!
Jonathan remembers his steady strength increases during the very first Size Surge experiment—and by the end, week 10, he’d packed on 20 pounds of muscle, so he obviously got a few significant stair-step size spurts along the way, just as Jones predicted.
The bottom line is that power is important, but density, or endurance, is a key contributing factor to muscle mass as well. And you do get density during phase 1, as explained above, then to stair-step your size gains, you get even more in phase 2 when you move to full-range Positions of Flexion…
With full-on POF mass training, you attack the midrange-, stretch-, and contracted-position of each target muscle. With that you get density size effects via blood-flow blockage during contracted-position exercises, like concentration curls, to finish off each muscle…
Plus, you also get density size stimulation on stretch-position exercises. Most of those produce occlusion as well as ultimate anabolic stretch overload. Those are exercises like incline curls for biceps and sissy squats for quads…
Whether you’re on Jonathan’s Size Surge program or something else, always be sure you get some longer tension-time sets to pack on extreme mass fast; don’t settle for sluggish gains produced by all lower-rep, short-set workouts.
NOTE: The X-traordinary SIZE SURGE Workout is Jonathan Lawson’s legendary two-phase mass program that packed 20 pounds of muscle on his frame in only 10 weeks. See all the changes he made to the original workouts, transcribed from his training journal and in printable templates so you can duplicate his incredible gains. You also get his eat-to-grow diet, anabolic acceleration methods, and loads of tips and tricks. Plus, an interview with a top-level bodybuilder who trained
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
Testosterone is converted to the female hormone estrogen inside of fat tissues, so the higher amount of body fat you carry, the higher rate of this conversion (resulting in you becoming less of a man).
In addition, we know testosterone is the single greatest factor in muscle growth and fat loss, which is why so many bodybuilders take anabolic steroids.
If your testosterone levels aren’t at an optimal level, any time spent in the gym can be a waste because your body won’t be in the right anabolic environment to build muscle and burn body fat…
Go to the link below to discover the best way to fix this problem and build more muscle quickly.
>>> #1 Way To Boost Testosterone and Build Lean Muscle Mass Fast
Q: I just got The X-traordinary Size Surge Workout that chronicles Jonathan’s gain of 20 pounds of muscle in 10 weeks. Great
A: Hmm. You’re probably right. We stand corrected; however, we like to err on the conservative side, so we’ll say he gained AROUND 20 pounds of muscle (but probably more, as you suggest). You can sort of see his abs in the after shot, and the caliper measurements were lower, so he did lose fat…
Also keep in mind that, like Viator, he was regaining some muscle, which is easier to do than building it from scratch. Nevertheless, he did move well past his best-ever muscle size, so in our estimation, he gained at least 10 pounds of NEW muscle–
In contrast, Viator actually gained back to his ORIGINAL competition weight, so no new mass was built during that four-week experiment. Nevertheless, still quite a feat of packing on beef. [Viator’s Colorado Experiment program is outlined and analyzed in the Size Surge e-book.]
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
Millions of men are struggling with the problems associated with low-T in today’s world, such as extra belly and chest fat, low energy and stamina, lack of sexual desire, ED problems, and loss of muscle.
Sadly, millions of men also turn to Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT) to try to overcome these problems and try to feel like a new man again…BUT there are some VERY concerning problems with TRT that every man NEEDS to know.
After reading the article below, you might want to consider alternate routes of boosting your T levels naturally instead of through something that’s potentially as harmful as TRT…
–> Why Testosterone Replacement Therapy can do more HARM than good (for any ladies reading this, please pass this on to your husband or boyfriend if they are using or have considered using TRT)
Q: In 3D Muscle Building you have incline one-arm laterals or one-arm cable laterals as the stretch move for the side-delt head. Is one better than the other? They feel completely different to me, and I just want big round delts, so which is the best exercise?
A: Both provide resistance on the medial-delt head when the arm is across the front of the torso. You don’t get that with standard lateral raises because of gravity and your arm positioning—at the bottom of the stroke, your arms are perpendicular to the floor with delts resting (zero resistance).
[Read more…]Q: Broad shoulders get girls’ attention, but mine are narrow. And on top of that, my delts are flat. Should I do more presses to round them out? I notice in 3D Muscle Building that you have presses as more of a front-delt midrange exercise. Aren’t they good for side delts, too? BTW, I love 4X mass method and am using it almost exclusively.
A: Overhead presses primarily train the front-delt heads. Plus, they can impinge the shoulder capsule if performed incorrectly. That’s why we generally suggest doing them at the end of our delt routine. A good Positions-of-Flexion full-range shoulder hit, 4X style on every move, would be…
[Read more…]
