Dedicated to Your Physical Transformation
Q: Your 4X mass method has 35 to 45 seconds rest between sets. I’ve seen research that longer rests between sets can be better for strength and muscle growth. What’s your take on that?
A: Legendary trainer Vince Gironda, the Iron Guru who trained Mr. Olympias as well as Hollywood stars to build muscle fast, first got us into reducing rest between sets for muscle growth—he called it Density Training…
[Read more…]You know our mantra: You can trigger bigger gains with one small change. But let’s multiply that for even more mass. We’ve got 3 simple things to get you growing immediately… [Read more…]
Q: I have your new ebooks, Anabolic Reload and Stretch Overload. Both are great, and the simple rest/pause add-on for progression has already helped me add new mass. But I overtrain easily, so I can’t keep adding those. Is there anything else I can do to keep my muscle growth moving forward without more volume?
A: First, bodybuilding is called “progressive-resistance” training because adding weight and/or reps to your exercises can increase muscle size… [Read more…]
Q: Your Progressive-Speed 4X method (from The Super-Size Crash Course) sounds like a killer mass method. As Coach Charles Poliquin used to say, changing tempo is a legit way to get new gains in muscle growth. But I’m into heavy training now, so I don’t want to start my work sets with a light [1/6 tempo] X-centric set. Can I do X-centric last?
A: You don’t have to use Progressive-Speed 4X for new gains as we outline—with an X-centric set first (lifting in one second, lowering in six)… [Read more…]
Q: I’ve been using a drop on my last set, and I do speed reps on that lighter drop. It works great for finishing an exercise, but I’m wondering if I should do it on stretch-position movements, like stiff-legged deadlifts for hamstrings or overhead extensions for triceps? It seems like the proven anabolic effects of stretch with the fiber shock of speed reps would be an excellent mass combo.
A: X-celeration, or speed, sets are much more dangerous with stretch-position exercises because the target muscle is fully elongated. That said, we do use it from time to time, but not with a 1.5-second-per-rep tempo. It’s more like a 1/1 or even 1/2—lift in one second and lower in one or two seconds. [Read more…]
