speed reps Archives

Home-Grown Muscle: The Speed Factor

Q: I’m training at home like everyone else, but I don’t have a lot of weight. In fact, on many exercises, like dumbbell bench presses, the weight is way too light. Is there anything I can do to keep my muscle growth moving forward without going heavier?

A: First, bodybuilding is called “progressive-resistance” training because adding weight and/or reps to your exercises can increase muscle size…

We say “can” because getting stronger does not always mean getting bigger. Strength may also be the result of neuromuscular adaptation—nervous system efficiency—or better coordination/leverage. [Read more…]

How to Speed Up Your Mass Results with X-celeration

Q: I’ve seen speed reps in some of your routines. What are those, and how do they work to add more mass?

A: We call this mass tactic X-celeration, and it can pack on new mass FAST because of extra fiber activation, and it’s a technique that lends itself well to home-gym training… [Read more…]

New Muscle Size With Speed and Progression

Q: I am almost 50 and making incredible gains with the 4X method. I was reading that top trainer Charles Glass believes new muscle growth can be created with this style, thickening new fibers as well as expanding the sarcoplasm. However, he says you should still go “heavy” every so often. Every time I do that, my joints ache for days. Should I just put up with it and pile on the poundage every couple of weeks?

A: If you like going mega heavy, do it—but you’ll suffer the consequences. Glass says to train heavy every so often in order to keep the type 2B power fibers growing… [Read more…]

Get a Double Dose of Muscle Growth

Q: I noticed in one of your recent newsletters about the Super-Size Crash Course that you mentioned doing an X-centric set followed immediately by speed reps. I’ve read that e-book twice, but I don’t remember seeing that anywhere. Am I missing something?

A: To clarify what we said, you take your 15-rep-max weight and do an X-centric set—lift in one second and lower in six on EVERY rep. [Read more…]

Warp-Speed Mass Gains: Old Trick, New Twist

Q: I use Pre-Ex 3X supersets a lot when I can. Removing the weak-link muscle makes so much sense as a way to make the compound exercise more targeted and work harder. The look of my physique has completely changed these with new vascularity since adding these. I recently saw a mention of doing the second exercise in the superset in speed style. Does that work well? I’d love more new veins and size.

A: Yes, for many muscle groups Pre-Ex makes a lot of sense. For example, isolating your chest with cable flyes first, and then immediately moving to dumbbell bench presses helps even out the strength of the now pre-fatigued pecs with your fresh triceps… [Read more…]

Prime the Pump and Go Anabolic

Q: I’ve seen you guys talk about Mass Finishers in the past. Is that a Positions-of-Flexion term, a special exercise, or something to do with the Pope?

A: Lol. It relates to mass—as in muscle size—and you could say that it’s a “special” exercise…

We first outlined this technique in the Size Surge 2.0 e-book—in the chapter on Mass-4X training. You do it after a full-range Position-of-Flexion bodypart routine (there’s a complete sample program there for every muscle group)…

[Read more…]

Fast Moves to Get You Huge?

Q: I was reading one of your newsletters I saved, and you were talking about how bad it was to see people using fast moves with ballistic reps in the gym. But I’m pretty sure I’ve seen you guys recommend fast reps recently. What’s the deal—are they good or bad?

A: There is research showing that a faster tempo can help engage more fast-twitch growth fibers; however, our speed, or X-celeration, method is not throwing the weights… [Read more…]

Speed Reps—Quick Mass-Training Tip

Q: What’s your opinion of loosening exercise form at the end of a set to get a few more reps? Like on curls I keep the reps strict for the first six or seven, then I use some upper-body motion to complete two to three more reps. I’m using the 4X method, so the weight [throughout the 4 sets] is only moderate, not heavy. I’m only using momentum to fight the fatigue buildup at the end of the fourth set. Is that okay, or should I keep my reps strict through the entire 4X sequence?

A: Because the poundage is moderate on a 4X sequence, that’s all the more reason to keep it strict all the way through. Momentum will only take the tension off the target muscle. A very SLIGHT form alteration is acceptable, but keep it as strict as possible to the end of the fourth set… [Read more…]

Last-Set Roulette for new Freak on Your Physique

Many bodybuilders embrace our change-to-gain hypertrophy concept. They just aren’t exactly sure how to apply it.

Do they change exercises, change intensity methods, or what?

Well, there’s a way to jack some major growth at every workout, and it’s simple to apply on only one set. We call it Last-Set Roulette. [Read more…]

Speed-Stretch for Ultimate Mass?

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…]