X-REP.COM

Dedicated to Your Physical Transformation

Stretch + Contraction: Double Your Mass Reaction

Q: You include both stretch- and contracted-position exercises in the Old Man, Young Muscle workout. I get why that can build more mass. But since so many studies are showing that stretch loading builds the most muscle, should I rely more on the stretch moves, or maybe even eliminate the contracted exercises most of the time?

A: The jury is still out on whether stretch exercises are “superior” to contracted-position moves. How is that possible since studies clearly show that—for example, overhead extensions beat pushdowns hands down—or in this case, hands up—for triceps mass? [Read more…]

Limiting Stretch ROM for More Mass

Yesterday I went over the negatives of too many “garbage negatives.” The negative stroke on every rep of a standard set is lighter/easier than the positive; however, it’s the negative that causes the majority of the damage—and without a lot of hypertrophy return…

Doing half of your sets for each muscle with a faster rep speed, like 1.5 seconds per rep, as in the Old Man ,Young Muscle workout, can reduce damage and speed muscle growth… [Read more…]

Stretch-Mass Acceleration

Q: Your discussion on Speed Sets has me experimenting. Should I do the second set of each exercise with those 1.5-second reps? That would give me half my sets in regular 1/3 tempo and the other half Speed. It seems like that would help reduce damage overall from negative-stroke work.

A: That will be an interesting experiment to see if you start to add mass faster due to reduced damage from fewer so-called “garbage negatives”…

They’ve been called that because even on sets to failure, at the end the negative stroke is still fairly easy—not enough resistance to tax the muscle much but still doing damage as the actin-myosin pairings drag over one another causing “friction.”

Speed Sets eliminate those garbage negatives as the eccentric stroke is quick—less than a second; however…

One type of exercise I don’t recommend Speed Sets for is most stretch-position moves, like incline curls, dumbbell flyes, etc. (For a complete list of stretch exercises, see the Positions-of-Flexion Exercise Matrix on pages 42 and 43 of Old Man, Young Muscle.)

Jonathan doing incline dumbbell flyes

The reason is that putting the target muscle in a fully elongated state makes it more vulnerable to injury, as in tendon tears, etc. But…

You can do the stretch moves slightly faster than 1/3—for example 1/2 or even 1/1.

Just stay in complete control of the weight—no heaving, jerking or throwing. Remember, 1/1 means lift in “one-thousand one” and lower in “one-thousand one.” That’s still a controlled tempo…

Use your best judgement as to which stretch exercises you feel are the safest for a faster rep speed. For me and my bum shoulder, for example, doing dumbbell pullovers faster than 1/3 is a no-no.

While 1.5-second reps are my ideal choice for Speed Sets, any increase in negative-stroke tempo should produce a reduction in muscle damage with more recovery substrates left for mass accumulation. At least that’s the theory.

Sculpt your perfect physique: Get the ideal exercise for each muscle, the best stretch and contracted add-on moves for ultimate mass, complete 35-minute workouts, exercise start/finish photos, and details on building muscle fast and efficiently in Old Man, Young Muscle.

And you still get The Muscle-On, Belly-Gone “Diet” ebook FREE for a limited time when you add Old Man, Young Muscle to your mass-building library. Go HERE.

New ebook covers - small

Accelerate Your Mass Building in 2023

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

—Steve Holman
Former Editor in Chief, Iron Man Magazine
www.X-Rep.com

Recommended

Veiny Arms All Day

You know that feeling you get right after a great workout? When you look and feel huge with that massive post-workout pump? Imagine feeling like that ALL day…

Frank Rich’s program can help you carry that just-worked-out look all day, and he’s offering it to our readers for almost nothing.

>>> Try Frank’s Massthetic Arms here

It’s one thing to develop big arms, but if when they look solid and have veins streaking all over, that’s when people really notice.

Frank has research showing that arm vascularity (the denseness and veininess) is more desirable to women than 6-pack abs, and if you’ve been following any fitness stuff on social media lately, you know that’s a fact.

We know from our own years of experience with being in various levels of conditioning that we get a LOT more looks when walking through the grocery store or running random errands when we have veins streaking down our arms.

>>> So if you’re ready to create massive arms that are thick and veiny, then click here.

Oh, and Frank’s new arm program (*plus all the bonuses*) is only $9 today, so take advantage while you can.

Build BIG, Vascular Arms!

Squeeze the Muscle for Mass? Maybe Not…

Q: Should I flex and squeeze the target muscle at the top of each rep? I don’t like wasting time in the gym. I want to get the most out of each set.

A: Only on specific exercises should you squeeze at the top of each rep… [Read more…]

How to Add More Mass With Stretch, Part 2

Yesterday you saw the difference between stretching a muscle without contraction vs. stretch-position resistance exercises…

To recap, damage appears to trigger the hypertrophy produced by both; however, growth is usually significantly more with stretch against resistance PLUS contraction, as in stretch-position resistance exercises. [Read more…]