Dedicated to Your Physical Transformation
Most obsessed muscle-heads are laser focused on training to the max and not missing workouts. That’s because we can’t bear to lose an ounce of muscle…
That goes double for those of us who are drug-free. Muscle is much harder to accumulate when you’re clean, not to mention old and genetically challenged. [Read more…]
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…]
I mentioned that hypertrophy researcher Chris Beardsley has said that a muscle recovers after only 48 hours. That’s two days. So does that mean we should train each muscle three times a week: M-W-F, for example?
There are considerations, such as intensity, muscle damage, and supercompensation… [Read more…]
Q: I read with interest your comments on using a drop-set workout when you feel overtrained. I tried it, and it felt great. I was more energized after than when I started the workout. My question is, Can I use two drops instead of one? Some muscles didn’t get much of a pump.
A: My first reaction would be no, it’s not necessary or recommended to use two drops instead of one; however… [Read more…]
Q: In Old Man, Young Muscle you say that you sometimes skip a workout when you feel drained or sore. How often does that happen? Is it something I should build into my month-long workout schedule?
A: That’s a great question, one that’s very important because of the obsessive-compulsive bodybuilding mindset. After 45 years of training, I still struggle with it… [Read more…]
In recent newsletters I’ve laid out some new theories on training to failure—basically that it can slow hypertrophy.
Not always, but too much creates severe damage, which saps recovery and growth. Doing only one set to failure while stopping others a rep or two short appears to be a better way to stimulate massive amounts of fast-twitch growth fibers (more on that below). [Read more…]
This is the continuation of a story Arthur Jones, inventor of Nautilus machines, relayed on the subject of muscle gain, overtraining, and recovery in the February/March 1972 issue of Muscle Training Illustrated. [Read more…]
In yesterday’s newsletter I discussed muscle damage and how it can impair growth. And that damage is not just a result of too many sets; it can also be the result of excessive intensity—and many times both. [Read more…]
I mention genetics a lot. It’s not an excuse, but a bodybuilding reality—and an arbiter in other athletic endeavors as well.
I’ve been training for over four decades and tried just about everything. At 5’10 1/2” I never weighed over 200 in fairly ripped condition—190 was my best. [Read more…]
Q: I’m 42 years old, on the thin side, and have been training for several years. I want to know if I’ll overtrain by taking my work sets to failure and then adding X-Rep partials to the end. Some experts seem say it will cause burnout and that you have to be juiced to stand that style of training. I’m natural, so I wonder how it would affect me. I want to buy your new X-Rep Update #1 ebook, but I don’t want the program and methods to be too much for me to handle.
A: Steve is over 60 years old and still making great gains with X Reps and X-hybrid tactics. He’s been thin all his life—his starting bodyweight was less than 120 pounds; however, with 3D Positions of Flexion training he restructured his physique—and by adding X Reps and X-hybrid techniques in his 40s, his muscles have gotten bigger and better (no steroids)… [Read more…]
