If you want to pack on the most mass with efficiency of effort, the Size Principle of Muscle Fiber Recruitment is key…
The principle says that [Read more…]
2 Techniques to Transform Your Physique
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…]
The Great Gains Experiment
Q: I’ve read that training all out [to failure] is not the best way to grow muscle. The argument I read said that it causes nervous system and adrenal burnout as well as higher levels of muscle-eating cortisol [stress hormone]. Don’t you think bodybuilders will grow better if they use more sets, stopping short of failure to avoid those problems?
A: No doubt about it, training all out is traumatic. It’s brutal on the body, but that’s what makes it so effective—if you use it correctly… [Read more…]
3D HIT Question
Q: In the 3D HIT program [listed in the X-traordinary Arms e-book], you say to end each bodypart with one slow, higher-rep set of an isolation exercise for tension and occlusion. You also mention drop sets for those exercises. Which is better, one higher-rep set or a drop set?
A: Keep in mind that doing a drop set is a volume increase because it’s two sets back to back. For example, on concentration curls for biceps, you do a set of 10 reps to exhaustion, grab a lighter dumbbell, and immediately rep out again, getting about six more reps. Is that better than one set of 12-15 reps? That depends…
[Read more…]Simple Size Principle for Major Muscle Gains
Q: It’s hard for me to believe that a few partial reps at the end of a set [a.k.a. X Reps] can do anything measurable for muscle gains. Isn’t doing an additional set just as good or better for muscle growth?
A: At first glance, you’d think so; however, once you understand muscle physiology, you see the enormous muscle-building effects that can occur if you extend a set correctly. It all starts with the size principle of muscle fiber recruitment…
[Read more…]Workout Density for Muscle Immensity
Q: I’ve been intrigued by your explanation of workout density being the reason your 10×10 program builds mass. Do you think that’s the reason drop sets are also so effective?
A: Workout density is Vince Gironda’s term to express getting more work done in a given time frame. For example, most trainees do a set, rest for two to three minutes, do another set, and so on. In 10 minutes you only do two or three sets…
[Read more…]How Warmup Sets Build Muscle, Plus Pyramid Power
Q: A friend of mine e-mailed me about your 3D Power Pyramid Program. He said he’s making great gains with it in both muscle size and strength. He explained it, but I wanted to come to the source to see if you think it’s right for me. I’ve been training for about 3 years, and I weigh about 160 pounds. My genetics are closer to Steve’s [smaller ectomorph] than Jonathan’s [more of a mesomorph]. Should I go for it?
A: That is an excellent program and one of our most popular because it’s balanced for both size and strength. It’s a simple two-way split that has you train four days a week—with Wednesdays and weekends off. Plus, you cover all of the 3D Positions of Flexion for each target muscle…
[Read more…]Size Principle Reload
Q: I’ve made the best mass gains of my life with your 4X method. I know you guys got new size with it too, so my question is, why Anabolic Reload STX (slow-twitch exhaustion)? I realize that it also does not require heavy weights, but is it better than 4X?
A: First, both methods accomplish the same thing: full-blown fiber hypertrophy with slow-twitch-fiber pre-exhaustion, triggering more high-growth fast-twitch fibers to fire on the last sets.
It’s the Size Principle of Muscle Fiber Recruitment… [Read more…]
X-Reps for X-tra Muscle—Pounds of it
Q: I’m thin and consider myself a hardgainer. I’ve been training with weights for two years and have managed to add only about 10 pounds of muscle. Not very impressive. I recently got your X-traordinary X-Rep Workout [e-book] and started using the X Reps in my workouts. They feel great, and I wanted to report that after using them for only a few weeks, I’ve added five pounds and look much bigger. I’m so thankful I found this technique! Are there any others I should be using? I feel like I’m finally getting the size gains I’ve been looking for.
A: Great progress! As we often say, hardgainers tend to have more of an endurance component to their muscles. You know how calves and forearms tend to respond better to longer tension times? That’s how most of the muscles on a hardgainer’s body are constructed, so they need longer tension times to grow… [Read more…]
The Power of 10
Q: I’m a bodybuilder and very interested in trying the 10-sets-of-10 method you’ve been writing about. I’m worried because using lighter weights and short rests [between sets] would appear to build primarily the slow-twitch and the fast-twitch endurance fibers [2As], and neglect the power fast-twitch 2Bs. Shouldn’t I be using heavy weights to get at the key 2B fibers?
A: You’re right, the 10×10 method primarily builds the type-2A fibers, those fast-twitchers with an endurance component (that’s why it works so quickly, as you’ll see in a moment). You don’t entirely neglect the 2Bs, however… [Read more…]