Dedicated to Your Physical Transformation
In yesterday’s newsletter, I discussed blocking blood flow to the target muscle by doing a continuous-tension exercise first for high reps, then following with the ideal exercise…
For example, you could do a high-rep set of leg extensions before sissy squats, the ideal exercise. Or cable flyes before dumbbell decline presses for chest… [Read more…]
Q: Reading Old Man Young, Muscle and how an initial high-rep set tires the slow-twitch fibers makes sense. But wouldn’t using a continuous-tension exercise be best for that first set? The blood-blocking [or occlusion] on those exercises you talk about in OMYM should tire and shut down the slow-twitch sooner, right?
A: That’s an interesting idea and one I addressed a few newsletters ago: “Occlusion and the Mass-Exercise Shuffle.” It’s great that you’re thinking about making our workouts more efficient rather than just blindly following… [Read more…]
Back in the 1970s, Mike Mentzer’s physique at its peak was shocking. But even by today’s standards, Mentzer’s grainy thickness is jaw dropping. [Read more…]
Mike Mentzer’s beach physique at its peak was shocking. Imagine seeing this on the beach (Gallasch photo). Even today Mentzer’s mass is still jaw dropping… [Read more…]
Mike Mentzer’s physique was thick. Even relaxed he looked Herculean, as in this gym shot from the ’70s. [Read more…]
Q: I’m making my best gains ever with the Power-Density Mass Workout. I’m already up six pounds in four weeks, and I see new muscle somewhere every workout, training just about 40 minutes a session. I have a question about my lagging bodypart, shoulders. Can I add sets to the listed workout, or how should I force my shoulders to grow like my other bodyparts?
A: Most of the bodypart routines in the Basic Power-Density Mass Workout consist of only one Ultimate Exercise per muscle group. That makes for quick, simple workouts: First you pyramid the weight over three sets for max force, or Power; then you reduce the weight and attack tension, or Density with a 10×10-style sequence, but using only four sets… [Read more…]
Here’s another impressive shot of Mike Mentzer taken by Wayne Gallasch in Australia back in the 1970s, a pic we don’t recall every seeing… [Read more…]
Q: Your Pre-Ex 3X Mass Workout is just what I needed. It boosted my mass considerably (about five pounds so far), and my joints feel great. One question, though: Is there a way to intensify it without adding more rounds? Going from three to four might wipe me out too much and cause overtraining.
A: We often suggest altering the LAST set in a Pre-Ex cycle. For example, if you’re doing cable crossovers (isolation) supersetted with bench presses (compound), you could add a rest/pause set to one or both exercises on the last round… [Read more…]
Q: I use Pre-Ex 3X supersets a lot when I can. Removing the weak-link muscle makes so much sense as a way to make the compound exercise more targeted and work harder. The look of my physique has completely changed these with new vascularity since adding these. I recently saw a mention of doing the second exercise in the superset in speed style. Does that work well? I’d love more new veins and size.
A: Yes, for many muscle groups Pre-Ex makes a lot of sense. For example, isolating your chest with cable flyes first, and then immediately moving to dumbbell bench presses helps even out the strength of the now pre-fatigued pecs with your fresh triceps… [Read more…]
Q: I gained 5 pounds of solid muscle when I moved to mostly 4X mass training for every bodypart. Then I shifted to Pre-Ex 3X whenever I could, or modified pre-ex when the gym was crowded, and I put on another three pounds with more vascularity. I’m loving your density methods. What can I do now for another change? I don’t want to go back to heavy training but I will if you think it’s a good idea. I’m just looking to explode with more crazy muscle mass.
A: We’ve got something you can experiment with that we’ve had some excellent success with in the past. It’s a unique DOUBLE modified pre-ex mass builder—you superset the contracted-position exercise with the stretch-position move FIRST, using a 3X sequence. Take 45 seconds between supersets… [Read more…]
