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Damage Control, Muscle Mass, and Mentzer

Mike Mentzer doing a forced rep on a Nautilus pullover machine

Yesterday I mentioned Mike Mentzer’s training style. While he tended to use a fast Speed Set tempo on his sets, despite saying otherwise, he often ended sets with slow forced reps and pure negatives… [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: anabolic drugs, forced reps, garbage negatives, mass building, mike mentzer, muscle building, muscular damage, pure negatives, speed sets

Mike Mentzer and Speed Sets

Q: You mention Mr. Heavy Duty Mike Mentzer a lot. I know he recommended slow negatives on every rep—like three to four seconds to lower the weight. Wasn’t he doing too much damage, and do you have any idea if he ever used Speed Sets? [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: end-of-set negatives, mike mentzer, pure negatives, slow negatives, speed sets

Ultimate Trick to Get You Big and Ripped

Bench pressing in gym

Q: Many years ago, I tried negative-only sets on most of my exercises. My partners lifted the heavy weight for me, and I lowered it slowly, six seconds on each of six reps. I got some decent strength gains but not much mass at all. That’s what gives me reservations about your negative-accentuated [or X-centric] technique. Will it build muscle for me even though pure negatives didn’t?

A: The heavy, pure-negative sets that you tried are great for building neuromuscular efficiency—the nerve connections that improve strength. You also get some muscle trauma; however, you lose muscular tension between each rep when your partners lift the weight for you… [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: anabolic hormones, big and ripped, constant tension, fat burning, GH, hypertrophy, mass building, muscle building, muscle burn, negative-accentuated, negative-only training, neuromuscular efficiency, pure negatives, tension time, testosterone, x-centric training

Post-Dramatic Mass Syndrome

Cable crossover contraction

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…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: mass boosting, mass building, more mass, negative-accentuated, new mass, pre-ex, pre-ex 3x, pre-exhaustion, pure negatives, speed reps, vascular arms, vascularity, veiny arms, x-centric

Fast or Slow to Grow? Here’s 2 Get-Big Tactics

Q: I had your original 10-Week Size Surge book from many years ago and just picked up the Size Surge 2.0 e-book. Thanks for revising it to include 4X training! I’m 45 now with a lot of joint damage from heavy “lifting,” if you want to call it that. So your [moderate-weight] 4X method is perfect and has me making new muscle gains. Thank you! My question concerns the “finisher” set you recommend in one of the workouts. Do you think pure-negative or negative-accentuated sets are better?

A: For the uninitiated, the Size Surge 2.0 e-book has a few new workouts compared to the original, including an alternate Phase 2 routine that’s Positions of Flexion with a few heavy sets, 4X work, AND a one-exercise mass finisher using an intensity method… [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: 10-week Size Surge, Dr. Dimitrios Stamou, eat the fat off, fast reps, Harvard research, intensity tactics, muscle size, myofibrillar growth, negative-accentuated, negatives, pure negatives, ripped muscle, Size Surge, slow reps, slow-mo, tension time, x-celeration, x-centric

Light-Medium-Heavy Rotation for Muscle-Mass Creation

Big-arm closeup - Fewer Sets on More Moves to Get You HUGE

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…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: biotrust, cycle, downward-progression 4x, dp 4x, free protein, heavy week, jordon williamson, light week, light-medium-heavy rotation, low-carb protein, medium week, muscle mass, over-40, pure negatives, pyramids, rotation, TORQ

Prime the Pump and Go Anabolic

Q: I’ve seen you guys talk about Mass Finishers in the past. Is that a Positions-of-Flexion term, a special exercise, or something to do with the Pope?

A: Lol. It relates to mass—as in muscle size—and you could say that it’s a “special” exercise…

We first outlined this technique in the Size Surge 2.0 e-book—in the chapter on Mass-4X training. You do it after a full-range Position-of-Flexion bodypart routine (there’s a complete sample program there for every muscle group)…

[Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: anabolic, anabolic sleep, build mass, fiber activation, full-range, grow while you sleep, mass acceleration, mass finishers, mass-4x, muscle size, positions of flexion, prime the pump, pure negatives, Size Surge, sleep, slow negatives, special exercise, speed reps, speed sets, steroids, strength, x-centric

Pure Negatives?

Q: I’m getting great results with sets using six-second negatives [on every rep of a negative-accentuated set]. I’m bigger and leaner after one month. My question is, Should I do pure negatives to get even better results since I could increase the weight? My partner can lift the weight for me, and I’ll lower slowly [six seconds] for as many reps as I can get till failure. The heavier weight should cause more trauma and better muscle gains and fat loss, right?

A: That depends on your level of training and your recovery ability (genetics). Pure negatives are extremely traumatic and should be used infrequently…

[Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: bodybuilders, bodyweight training, fat loss, fat-to-muscle workout, frank g. shellock, gains, metabolic momentum, muscle gains, muscle trauma, negative only, negative-accentuated, negatives, positive only, pure negatives, recovery ability, ultimate fat-to-muscle workout

Ultimate Exercises for Mass

Jonathan demonstrating parallel, close-grip v-handle pull-ups

Q: I’m reading your original X-Rep e-book [The Ultimate Mass Workout], and you have the Ultimate Exercises listed for each muscle. For lats, it’s close-, parallel-grip chins. I have a hard time with chins because I weigh around 220 pounds. Can I do them on the pulldown machine instead?

A: Yes, do them on the pulldown machine for now; however, once you’re strong enough, do the chinup-bar version… [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: belly fat burn, fat loss, hammer strength, leverage machines, lose fat, metabolism, myofibrils, negative resistance, positive drag, pure negatives, resistance curve, sarcoplasm, sarcoplasmic expansion, sarcoplasmic growth, size, strength, tension time, ultimate back exercise, ultimate exercises, ultimate lat exercise, Ultimate Mass Workout, weight loss, weight-stack drag, X Reps

Combo-to-Grow Solutions: Make Up for Missing Workouts

Biceps positions-of-flexion images - Combo-to-Grow Solutions: Make Up for Missing Workouts

Q: It seems like every month I have to miss a few workouts because of life, like business trips, family stuff, etc. If I know I’m going to miss like a chest and back workout, should I just add those bodyparts to my last workout? Or should I skip and pick up with that workout when I’m able to? The add-on idea is appealing, but I don’t feel like I do the muscle group justice unless I train it with all three Positions of Flexion. But then the workout is too long and I feel overtrained. What should I do to make up for missing workouts?

A: Even if you’re only going to miss one workout, you’re going to feel as if you’re shrinking in those areas if you don’t work them… [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: belly fat burn, hypertrophy, metabolism, missing workouts, myofibril, myofibrillar expansion, negative-accentuated, positions of flexion, pure negatives, pure-negative, sarcoplasm, sarcoplasmic expansion, tension time, x-centric

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