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Why Your Growth is Slow—and How to Make it Explode

Muscle fiber growth illustration

Q: I pound away at my workouts, but I’ve only gained about three pounds of muscle in nine months. I’ve gotten stronger, but where’s the size?! I don’t know what to do. I add weight to my exercises whenever I can, but that doesn’t seem to help. I want big, full muscles that will fill out my T-shirts.

A: Are you doing your work sets in the eight-to-10 rep range? Are you resting about 2 minutes between sets? Are your sets lasting about 25 seconds? Are you doing that on all of your exercises? If so, THAT’S WHY YOU’RE NOT GROWING. [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: 2a fibers, actin-myosin strands, atp, belly fat burn, bodybuilders, dual-capacity fibers, European Journal of Applied Physiology, explode, glycogen, high reps, jerry brainum, miracle fix, mitochondria, muscle growth, muscle pump, muscle size, myofibrillar, myofibrils, sarcoplasm, sarcoplasmic expansion, size, slow to grow, slow-mo, speed reps, strength

The Forgotten Size Concept for Ultimate Mass

Mentzer side triceps - Arnold vs. Mentzer—No-Cardio Fat-to-Muscle Training

Q: I’ve read a lot of Mike Mentzer’s high-intensity info, and he said that the pump didn’t matter as far as muscle growth is concerned. He said a lot of the biggest powerlifters never get a pump yet carry a lot of mass. So shouldn’t heavy sets be the core of a mass-building routine?

A: Mentzer was partially right—but leaning more toward being mostly wrong. You don’t need a pump IF you’re only after primarily myofibrillar growth (strength). The myofibrils are the strands of actin and myosin inside the muscle fiber. Those grab onto each other to generate force. Training heavy increases their size and your strength—but science is finding that they are more about producing strength with less-than-stellar effects on muscle size… [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: actin, biotrust protein, force generation, forgotten size concept, free protein, free supplements, heavy duty, hypertrophy, Joe Luther, mass building, mass-building routine, mike mentzer, mr. olympia, mr. universe, muscle building, muscle pump, muscle size, myofibrillar growth, myosin, powerlifters, sarcoplasm, sarcoplasmic expansion, strength, ultimate mass

More Muscle Size: One-Set Wonders

Q: I just got your X-traordinary Arms e-book. Killer information, and I’m ready to use it to build mine into 19-inchers like Jonathan’s. My question is about the 3D HIT program in which you incorporate the arm-specialization routines. One work set for each exercise? You list a few more sets for arms, but I just can’t comprehend how one set could be enough for the other bodyparts. Can I add sets?

A: You can do anything you want, but be careful and monitor your progress. Building muscular size is all about experimentation. In fact, the 3D HIT program is our experiment into one-set-per-exercise intensity training. We’ve seen lots of research validating one-set training for building strength; however, as we explain in our e-books, packing on extreme muscle size is a different animal than merely building strength and a few fast-twitch fibers. There are different layers to attack when size is the goal. [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: arm specialization, big arms, bodyweight training, continuous tension, fast-twitch fibers, max force, MPS, muscle protein synthesis, muscle size, strength, strength building, stretch overload, super saturation, x arms

Muscle-Growth-Threshold Training for Fat Loss

Q: I know you suggest one second to lift and three seconds to lower. Do you ever use a slower lifting cadence, like lifting in three or four seconds instead of only one? Wouldn’t that produce more tension time for unique muscle-growth stimulation?

A: Yes, it can be a great variation for more mass creation as well as a fat-burning catalyst. But the big reason to slow down on the lifting stroke is for more strength. [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: fat burner, fat loss, frank rich, GH, growth hormone, growth threshold, lactic acid, muscle burn, muscle-building, quick start, quick-start muscle building, rep cadence, strength, vascular arms, vascularity, veiny arms

Feel Your Muscles Grow

Q: Your 4X training is fantastic. It has me growing again, and it’s perfect with 3-way POF. My question is about muscle feel. How important is it to feel your muscles working for size increases? I ask because I have trouble feeling some body parts, like shoulders and chest.

A: We believe it’s EXTREMELY important to feel your muscles working; if you don’t, you may be using other muscle groups to move the weight or simply not innervating enough muscle fibers for a big anabolic response. [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: 4x training, anabolic response, bodyweight training, feel your muscles, growth fibers, Jim Stoppani, mike mentzer, muscle growth, muscle-protein synthesis, POF, ray mentzer, strength, time under tension, tut, x-centric

Pyramid Power: Secret to Mega Mass and Strength

Q: I just got The Ultimate Power-Density Mass Workout and The X-traordinary X-Rep Workout. Tremendous. I’ve already read them both twice. Undoubtedly the best bodybuilding info I’ve ever seen. I noticed that in the programs in both e-books, you rely a lot on pyramiding the weight on the compound exercises. Is that better than just using the same poundage on all work sets and going to exhaustion?

A: With the type of training we list in those e-books, we believe adding weight to each work set so that the rep count decreases—9, 7, 5, for instance—is ideal to build BOTH mega mass and strength for three reasons… [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: 2a fibers, bodybuilding, fiber activation, fiber recruitment, fiber type, freak physique, intensity, mass and strength, mega mass, nervous system, neural drive, power-density, power-pyramid, pyramid power, stamina, strength, stretch overload, testosterone, testosterone replacement therapy, trt, Truth About Testosterone, x-rep workout

Build Attention-Grabbing Forearms

Forearm rockers finish

Q: I’m using your X-Rep version of the Power/Rep Range/Shock Workout. It’s great so far, and doing something different each week is making things interesting and getting me sore. But I’ve been skipping the exercise listed as Rockers because I don’t know what that is. Can you explain it?

A: It’s simply holding a dumbbell in each hand at arm’s length at the sides of your thighs. You curl your hands in and up to contract the forearm flexors (underside of the forearms); then you lower and curl them out and up to contract the forearm extensors (top of the forearms). You just rock back and forth in a controlled fashion… [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: 3d muscle building, attention-grabbing forearms, biotrust, eric broser, extensors, flexors, forearm exercises, forearm rockers, forearm workout, forearms, free protein, low-carb protein, p/rr/s, power/rep range/shock, rockers, strength, strong forearms, ultimate fat-to-muscle workout, whey protein

How to Fix Flat Shoulders

Jonathan Lawson delts abs

Q: I have flat shoulders. I do lots of sets of dumbbell presses, but they aren’t helping. Should I try doing lateral raises first in my shoulder workout?

A: We both have to fight and do everything right to sculpt our delts into round mounds of muscle so we don’t suffer from flat shoulders. One thing we’ve learned is that overhead presses—for us, anyway—tend to put almost all of the stress on our front deltoids, and those front heads don’t add to the roundness you’re after… [Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: 3d positions of flexion, confidence, delt exercises, delt routine, delt workout, delts, flat shoulders, how to fix flat shoulders, lemons, manhood, masculinity, round delts, round shoulders, sex, shoulder exercises, shoulder routine, shoulder workout, strength, testosterone, Truth About Testosterone, wide delts, wide shoulders

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…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: anabolic, anabolic sleep, build mass, fiber activation, full-range, grow while you sleep, mass acceleration, mass finishers, mass-4x, muscle size, positions of flexion, prime the pump, pure negatives, Size Surge, sleep, slow negatives, special exercise, speed reps, speed sets, steroids, strength, x-centric

Convert New Muscle Strength to Serious Muscle Size

3D Triceps Positions

Q: I’ve been using the Power Pyramid Program (Chapter 2 in the Freak-Physique Stretch-Overload Workout e-book) for six weeks. I’m getting incredibly strong, but I’ve only gained about four pounds of muscle. I realize it’s a muscle strength workout with a size side effect, but now I’m ready to use my new strength to go for major muscle mass. I also want to get leaner. I’m 5’10” and weigh 200 pounds with 14 percent bodyfat. What type of routine should I follow? I really like using Positions of Flexion in the Power Pyramid Program. Can I just alter that routine somehow for my new goals? 

A: Ah, so now that you’re strong like an ox, you want to get even bigger with some leanness to boot. Sounds good, and it can and will happen. You just need to take your new power in a slightly different direction—still using the multi-angular attack of POF, but altered so you pack on the most muscle size—complete development from origin to insertion. 

[Read more…]

Filed Under: X Files Tagged With: anabolic fasting, animal study, bodybuilders, brad pilon, eat stop eat, exhaustion, fast-twitch fibers, fat burning, freak physique, freak-physique stretch-overload workout, get lean, GH, growth hormone, hypertrophic, intermittent fasting, muscle size, muscle strength, muscle-building, POF, positions of flexion, power pyramids, size, static holds, strength, strength building, stretch overload, STX, t/nt, tension time, testosterone, traumatic/non-traumatic, X Reps

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