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New Calf-Mass Study

Jonathan's flexed calf

Calves can be a bitch to build for many of us. But a new study gives the chicken-legged hope… [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: calf exercises, calf mass, calf training, calves, gastrocnemius, journal of strength conditioning research, Kassiamo, range of motion, stretch position

The Stretch-Partial Mass Workout

Mike Mentzer on stage with arms spread wide

With the latest studies showing stretch-position loading for heightened hypertrophy, as well as a new one finding that stretch-partial reps produced more overall growth than full-range reps, it’s time to tweak our workouts… [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: garbage negatives, negatives, partial reps, range of motion, stretch partials

Is Stretch Loading All You Need for Mass?

Illustration of quadriceps muscle fibers

Yesterday’s newsletter contained an overview of a new study…

“Partial Range of Motion Training Elicits Favorable Improvements In Muscular Adaptations When Carried Out at Long Muscle Lengths.” [Eur J Sports Sci. Pedrosa, et al. 2022] [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: contracted position, contraction, range of motion, stretch exercises, stretch loading, stretch overload, stretch position

Limiting Stretch ROM for More Mass

Jonathan doing incline curls (at the stretch position)

Yesterday I went over the negatives of too many “garbage negatives.” The negative stroke on every rep of a standard set is lighter/easier than the positive; however, it’s the negative that causes the majority of the damage—and without a lot of hypertrophy return…

Doing half of your sets for each muscle with a faster rep speed, like 1.5 seconds per rep, as in the Old Man ,Young Muscle workout, can reduce damage and speed muscle growth… [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: negatives, range of motion, slow negatives, speed reps, stretch, stretch position

New Thoughts on Range of Motion for Mass

Steve with a belly vs. smooth and muscular vs. cut

I’ve been discussing the negatives of too many “garbage negatives.” What does that mean?

When you do a set close to failure, the eccentric, or negative, stroke is still not demanding. But that’s not the problem… [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: actin-myosin strands, eccentric, muscle damage, negatives, range of motion, recovery

How to Add More Mass With Stretch, Part 1

Steve demonstrating stiff-legged deadlifts with dumbbells

Q: You’ve been diving into the growth-promoting potential of movements that emphasize the stretch phase of a muscle’s range of motion. Your science and logic seem pretty solid and correlates with some of the exercises I’ve done that cause significant soreness in a target muscle group. Do you think this could be as much a result of micro-damage from stretching as enhanced fiber recruitment? I could see this micro-trauma also causing hypertrophy, but I was curious if you had an opinion on this. I remember the sorest I’ve ever been was from an overly exuberant dive into stiff-legged deadlifts. I know biomechanics says that it’s almost exclusively a glute movement, but hamstrings do get a significant stretch under load at full extension, which my soreness verified. 

A: Here’s a quote from hypertrophy researcher Brad Schoenfeld, Ph.D., on a human study using stretch only, which produced impressive muscle hypertrophy (from Old Man, Young Muscle)… [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: biomechanics, bird study, Brad Schoenfeld, range of motion, stretch exercises, stretch movements, stretch overload

More Mass With Full-Body “Compound” Workouts?

Jonathan doing decline presses on a Smith machine

Q: Researchers James Steele and James Fisher, based in the UK, claim one to two full-body workouts with compound lifts for one or two sets to failure will get you 98 percent of the results you’re after. They claim the angles of movements, or biomechanics, make little to no difference as long as the muscle reaches failure. What are your thoughts on this? What do you think about the compound lifts?

A: Using specific compound exercises to failure, or close, will of course trigger some hypertrophy.

The best compound exercise would put the target muscle as the prime mover and achieve a full range of motion (ROM) for that muscle. So some are better than others… [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: biomechanics, compound exe, failure, full-body workouts, hypertrophy, James Fisher, James Steele, neuromuscular efficiency, range of motion

Ideal Exercises = Fast Muscle Gains + Slash Gym Time

Doug performing cable lat pull-ins

“What are these ‘ideal exercises‘ of which you speak?”

I get that a lot—maybe not in those exact words; more like, “WTF you talkin’ ‘bout?”

Biomechanics expert and Mr. Universe Doug Brignole lays out 16 factors that exercises should meet to be in the ideal category. [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: bi-lateral deficit, biomechanics, direction of resistance, fast muscle building, ideal exercises, non-target muscle activation, range of motion, resistance curve

Resistance Bands for the Muscleman?

Man doing band chest press

Lately, I’ve been harping on the perfect resistance curve, mostly because I know the key ideal-exercise factors create efficiency of effort in the gym to build muscle quickly…

At my age, I don’t have time to waste with workouts longer than about 40 minutes 3 days a week. The lifetime finish line is looming… [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: partials, range of motion, resistance bands, resistance curve, strength curve, X Reps

Are Deadlifts Worthless?

Picture from an old SNL steroid skit

There’s no question that heavy deadlifts can be dangerous…

I remember seeing a guy try to pull a heavy weight off the floor, and his arms tore off at his shoulders and blood started shooting out of the sockets… [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: Brad Schoenfeld, deadlifts, glutes, jose antonio, powerlifters, quads, range of motion, stretch overload, T-bar rows

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