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She Won’t Touch the Weights

Q: I bought myself and my wife gym memberships, and I started on your Quick-Start Muscle Building program. I’m getting good results already, but my wife will only do aerobics classes. She won’t touch the weights because she says she doesn’t want big muscles. What can I tell her? She’s more concerned with losing fat.

A: If she won’t touch the weights for fear of building too much muscle, tell her not to worry. That attitude is from the dark ages. A little more muscle will actually help her look better and get leaner faster. In fact, most medical doctors now suggest that their patients, male and female, lift weights—and many say that lifting is more important than cardio. Here’s a quote from our X-treme Lean e-book that may help convince your wife:

Many women think ‘muscle’ is a dirty word. Not true. It gives the female body a metabolic boost and more curves in the right places. Women don’t have to be concerned with building too much muscle thanks to their female hormone balance—more estrogen, very little testosterone. Women should train just as hard as men do, using weight training to sculpt their bodies.

The overly muscled women bodybuilders take male hormones to get that way. If your wife isn’t taking those, she doesn’t have to worry. She can use weight training followed by some cardio to transform her body quickly, as Becky Holman, Steve’s wife, did…

Becky Holman before, during and after X-treme Lean

Show your wife those photos and emphasize that Becky trained to build muscle first and foremost—and it worked fast, boosting her metabolism through the roof! It’s done wonders for men too, so you may want to consider her direct/indirect POF workouts [on pages 50-52 in X-treme Lean] as your next step after the Quick-Start program.

Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.

—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com

Over-40 or struggling with T levels?
You Need This!

One of the most interesting read-me pages on Testosterone and other muscle-building hormones we’ve seen is The Truth About Testosterone.

It even talks about a fruit, a specific part, that can up your T naturally. Cranking up your testosterone will not only get you jacked in the gym, but in the bedroom too—not to mention help rip up your midsection as it ignites fat burning. If that interests you, there’s more from our colleague and registered dietician, HERE.

Are Behind-the-Neck Pulldowns Safe?

Q: I’m in the first phase of the Size Surge Workout, and it’s incredible! I’ve already gained 4 pounds in three weeks. That’s more than I’ve gained in the past year. I’m super psyched for the next step, so I was looking over phase 2 and noticed behind-the-neck pulldowns. I’ve read those are dangerous. Can I substitute something else?

A: Behind-the-neck pulldowns should be safe for most trainees in the phase 2 Size Surge program because of 3 reasons: [Read more…]

Your 3-Week Mass Blast—Big Bursts of Muscle Mass Fast

Q: Being drug-free, I was very interested in The 4X Mass Workout. Considering the colleague you mention in that e-book who has trained with a lot of pros while he was using drugs and that he also trained drug-free, his advice is priceless. For drug-free guys, he says he likes 3 weeks of high-intensity-style power training alternated with 3 weeks of lower-intensity, slightly higher-volume workouts. What do you think about this for a big mass blast: 3 weeks of total-10×10 training, followed by 3 weeks of total-4X workouts, followed by 3 weeks of the 3D Power Pyramid [a straight-set lower-rep Positions-of-Flexion workout listed in The Freak Physique e-book]?

A: That looks like a great mass-building, progress-yielding progression. You shift gears every 3 weeks for plenty of muscle-stimulation tweaks… [Read more…]

Light-Medium-Heavy Rotation for Muscle-Mass Creation

Q: I want to do a weekly rotation of light, medium, and heavy POF. For light week, I’ll use TORQ on all exercises (30-20-15). For medium week, it’ll be all 4X or 3X sequences. I’m 49, so I wonder if heavy is even a good idea at all. Should I chance it and do POF pyramid training, adding weight on each set? Or should I skip the heavy stuff all together?

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…]

Safer Power-Density for Muscle Immensity

Q: I just got your Super-Size Crash Course. Great programs in it! I’m older (48) and have been training for almost 20 years. Thinking about using Phase 2 with Downward-Progression 4X, but I’ll alternate with TORQ for “lighter” training days. Do you think that’s a good plan?

A: We think it’s a great plan, and one we’ve used for excellent change—and good pain—to gain. For the uninitiated, here are the two methods to alternate:

Downward-Progression 4X

Pick a weight with which you can get 15 reps, but only do 12. Rest 45 seconds as you add weight, then do 10. Rest 45 seconds as you add weight, then do 8. Rest 45 seconds as you add weight, then try to get 6.

So your reps look like this: 4 x 12, 10, 8, 6, adding weight on each set.

Vascular arm doing dumbbell curls - Safer Power-Density for Muscle Immensity

You could call that semi-heavy training, and it’s perfect for older trainees–or anyone who doesn’t want to hammer their joints with ultra-heavy poundages. The short rests between sets prevent that…

At your next workout, you’ll do lighter DENSITY training with TORQ—tension-overload repetition quantity.

TORQ

Take your 30-rep max weight and go to failure. Yes, 30 REPS. Rest 45 seconds, then go to failure again, shooting for 20. Rest 45 seconds, then go to failure one last time for 10 to 15 reps. You get high-end hypertrophic tension times…

Alternating those two methods from workout to workout is great for SAFER power work alternated with lighter, sarcoplasmic-expansion hits.

It’s really a less-joint-stress version of Power-Density for new muscle immensity.

Note: DP 4X and TORQ, as well as Progressive-Speed 4X and pyramid training, are explained—and included in the programs—in The Super-Size Crash Course e-book.

Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.

—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com

7-Minute “Miracle Fix” for Stubborn Belly Fat

Researchers from The Proceedings of The Nutrition Society are suggesting this “blood flow hack” is the fastest way to melt off frozen belly fat with minimal effort.

So if you want to switch on your fat burning switch in just 7 minutes—without going to the gym or running on the treadmill, then check this out:

7 Minutes “Miracle Fix” for Stubborn Belly Fat

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…

[Read more…]

Arnold’s X-Rep Mass Connection

Q: In the description of your new e-book [The X-traordinary X-Rep Workout], you mention that Arnold used X Reps. How is that even possible? He was training [at his peak] way back in the 1970s, and X Reps didn’t come around till the 2000s. What’s the deal?

A: We coined the X-Rep term about fifteen years ago, but partial-rep training has been around for ages in various forms. What we did was take the most recent research on semi-stretch-point fiber activation and zero in on the BEST spot on the stroke for end-of-set partials, or X Reps…

That key point on an exercise’s stroke is where the muscle can generate the most force, and you therefore activate the most muscle fibers for incredible growth stimulation…

In other words, at the end of a set, when you can no longer do full-range reps, you move the resistance to that key point and do short-range partials—for example near the bottom of a chinup, from just out of the arms-straight position up to just before the halfway point. Here’s Jonathan demonstrating X Reps on chins…

Jonathan Lawson demonstrating X Reps on chin ups - Arnold's X-Rep Mass Connection

Now, if X Reps are so effective, why not do some all-X-Rep sets, or X-Only, for max-force overload? X-cellent size-building strategy, and that’s one way Arnold used this partial-range mass method and why we credit him with being such an innovator in the gym…

Arnold would often hang weight around his waist, enough so he could do maybe two or three full reps, but instead, he would only do the bottom third of the range, a short-stroke X-Rep move in the range Jonathan is demonstrating above. It was a heavy, shock attack for his lats, getting an inordinate number of muscle fibers to fire against a big load. That did some pretty good things for his V-taper, lat width and sweep…

Arnold double biceps - Arnold's X-Rep Mass Connection

In the X-traordinary X-Rep e-book, we also discuss how he used stretch-position exercises, a key component of Positions-of-Flexion mass training, for most of his bodyparts, and how he also used the X-Only technique on those max-muscle-elongation movements every so often–he used some unique exercises too. Then there’s the Flex-X technique, which Arnold called “burns.”

Luckily, the former publisher of IRON MAN magazine and our good friend, John Balik, lived and trained with Arnold back in his heyday, so we have John’s memory of that incredible time in bodybuilding history to draw from. His recollections are very motivating, not to mention informative from a training standpoint. Here’s another shot John snapped of Arnold on the beach in Santa Monica, California, in the ’70s…

Arnold relaxed on beach, John Balik photo - Arnold's X-Rep Mass Connection

No doubt that Arnold was way ahead of his time in the muscle department, and with John’s help we learned why: Arnold had an incredible instinct for doing the right things in the gym, methods that science is now verifying as precision muscle-size stimulators—like stretch- and semi-stretch-point overload. Follow his lead and you too will grow like never before!

Note: For more details on Arnold’s X-Rep methods, see the X-traordinary X-Rep Workout. This exciting e-guide merges the top X-Rep techniques and info with muscle-building research into two power-packed X-Rep workouts—the basic X program only takes about 35 minutes. For more info, go HERE

X-traordinary X-Rep Workout cover

Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.

—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com

Recommended:

ATTENTION OVER-40 BODYBUILDERS

One of the most interesting read-me pages on Testosterone and other muscle-building hormones we’ve seen is The Truth About Testosterone.

It even talks about a fruit, a specific part, that can up your T naturally. Cranking up your testosterone will not only get you jacked in the gym, but in the bedroom too—not to mention help rip up your midsection as it ignites fat burning. If that interests you, there’s more from our colleague and registered dietician, HERE.

Try This Odd Mass Attack for Wide Delts and a Broad Back

One of Arnold’s favorite mass-building methods was antagonist-muscle supersets—chest/midback, bi’s/tri’s, etc.

Alternating two opposing muscle groups can do good things for anabolic drive, muscle stimulation, and even fat-burning metabolism. The problem is, it’s hard to superset in a crowded gym.

[Read more…]

Anabolic Hormone Reset for Fast Freak Physique Results

We’ve discussed our “iFast” method for simultaneous hypertrophy and fat loss (yes, it is possible)…

It’s basically a 12-hour protocol done only two non-consecutive days during the week…

We were apprehensive at first, but it works. Here are Steve’s results—and he’s in his 50s… [Read more…]

The Ultimate 2-Times-a-Week MASS Workout

Q: I don’t always have time to go to the gym three times a week. That means I can’t always get in three full-body workouts, which I’ve heard is the best for muscle mass. Should I just do two full-body workouts with the big, basics, like squats, bench, etc. on weeks I can’t make it three times? Do you guys have an ebook with a 2-times-a-week program like that? I want to look like a bodybuilder, but time is hard to come by for me right now.

A: Three full-body workouts a week is the old-school standard for mass, but hitting each muscle only twice a week may be even better for many bodybuilders. According to Brad Schoenfeld, Ph.D., one of the elite hypertrophy researchers… [Read more…]