X-REP.COM

Dedicated to Your Physical Transformation

X-Rep Lies: Before and After Photos

Q: The before and after photos at your X-Rep site are pretty unbelievable. I mean, come on, four weeks to get those changes? You must’ve either lied about the time it took or manipulated the photos. You should be ashamed of yourselves. There’s too much of that deceptive crap on the Internet.

A: Ashamed? Actually, we’re very proud. Those photos are 100 percent authentic and accurate—no photo alterations, no steroids, and they were taken about four weeks apart. (The key technique that made it happen and a step-by-step how-to is coming up.)

[Read more…]

Muscle-Building Myths—Or Are They? (controversial muscle-building info)

Q: I heard that close-grip bench presses can build the inner pecs. But then a pro bodybuilder said that’s false. He said no exercise can build the “inner” pecs—or “lower” biceps for that matter, and that those are muscle-building myths. Which is correct?

A: While close-grip bench presses won’t direct development to the inner-chest area, some researchers suggest that putting a muscle into elongation, or stretch, against resistance can thicken the fibers at the insertion point. For example, doing flyes for more chest beef near the sternum… [Read more…]

New Study: Sarcomeres — your key to freaky muscle size

In many of our programs, including the new Anabolic Reload Mass Workout, we emphasize stretch movements. Fiber elongation against resistance is one of the keys to freaky muscle size due to the addition of sarcomeres in series…

We often reference the bird-wing study by Jose Antonio, Ph.D., et al., that produced incredible muscle size increases. For the uninitiated, here’s what he said about it:  [Read more…]

Chisel in Freaky Muscle Size and Detail

Q: I’ve been using X Reps for about a month now, and I’m noticing new muscle in places like my inner chest and lower lats. Even my lower biceps are higher and fuller. Is that normal? I love X Reps!

A: While X Reps—end-of-set partials at the semi-stretch point of an exercise—are excellent at keeping tension on the muscle and activating dormant muscle fibers, they can bring out size and detail with new muscle density at the insertion point, such as the inner pecs…

Jonathan Lawson inner chest detail - Chisel in Freaky Muscle Size and Detail

Here’s a quote from Jacob Wilson, Ph.D., that we used in our X-Rep Update #1, that explains:

Partial-range reps in the lower range of a muscle [a.k.a. X Reps], can actually add sarcomeres to a muscle fiber, which would fill out the area of a muscle where it is inserted.

We believe that’s part of the reason we made such dramatic progress so quickly that first year we integrated X-Rep partials at the end of some of our sets—adding sarcomeres to muscle fibers creates much more muscle size and detail, and it obviously did that for us in only five weeks with the X technique (no drugs, not trick photography)…

Jonathan Lawson and Steve Holman before and after X Reps - Chisel in Freaky Muscle Size and Detail

A good example of X Reps is at the end of a set of chinups. When you can no longer do full-range reps, you lower to near the arm’s-extended position, and pulse up to near the halfway point, doing as many of those low-end partials as possible.

That area of the stroke, where the target muscle is semi-stretched, is where you activate the most muscle fibers. So at the end of a set, you get at many more growth fibers by gritting your teeth and grinding out partials in that key area…

In a study reported in the 1988 issue of the Journal of Applied Physiology, three groups of men performed isometric exercise for their biceps:

Group 1: trained their biceps isometrically at 25 degrees (the X Spot—0 degrees is full extension)

Group 2: trained their biceps isometrically at 80 degrees—just below the halfway point

Group 3: trained their biceps isometrically at 120 degrees—near full contraction

While all subjects showed strength increases throughout the range of motion—not just in the position trained—the group that attained the highest increase throughout the range of motion was Group 1. That’s the group that was doing a static X-Rep at the semi-stretch position…

That shows the extreme muscle-fiber-activating power of the X Spot and why adding end-of-set X Reps can make any set three to five times more powerful at building muscle mass for more size and detail. And that’s why we love X Reps, too!

Note: For more info on the info above, see the X-Rep Update #1 e-book, and for our massively successful original X-Rep experiment, see The Ultimate Mass Workout.

Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.

—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com

ATTENTION OVER-40 BODYBUILDERS

One of the most interesting read-me pages on Testosterone and other muscle-building hormones we’ve seen is The Truth About Testosterone.

It even talks about a fruit, a specific part, that can up your T naturally. Cranking up your testosterone will not only get you jacked in the gym, but in the bedroom too—not to mention help rip up your midsection as it ignites fat burning. If that interests you, there’s more from our colleague and registered dietician, HERE.