Dedicated to Your Physical Transformation
A few newsletters back I discussed how pushing sets close, but not quite, to failure is best for optimal mass stimulation…
The rationale is that if you always push to all-out gut-busing failure, you over traumatize your muscles and nervous system, causing slow growth, which eventually triggers systemic exhaustion… [Read more…]
Q: Your less-intense approach to build more mass makes sense from a physiological standpoint. I tried it using the Old Man, Young Muscle workouts, and the pump was still awesome. I felt very energized after. I felt so good, I started wondering if I should be doing more sets. What do you think?
A: Adding sets is tricky because it depends on a lot of factors, particularly your recovery ability…
At my age, which is 63 (birthday this month—gifts welcome), I find three sets to be my limit, although I sometimes do four for stubborn muscles, like chest.
So I’m old, plus I have skinny genetics—which can also limit recovery. It’s a double whammy…
Even so, 2019 Drug-Free Mr. Universe Doug Brignole, who is my age with much better genetics, has also found that for each muscle, three sets is best…
He says he’s growing much faster since cutting back and is so excited that he may compete again—at age 63; however…
For stubborn muscles, like his side-delt heads, Doug will do a couple of drops on his third set…
In other words, he does that last set, immediately reduces the weight, does a few more reps, reduces the weight again, and cranks out one last set.
And he—and I—now stop all sets short of failure, even the drops. No writhing around to try for one last nerve-frying rep…
Those are a few options—either add a set for your stubborn muscles or try drops on your third set.
If you have fairly good recovery, you may get away with doing both for your stragglers—add a fourth set plus drops.
But always monitor your progress. That means to keep your eye on the prize, which is more muscle size.
New: Get the ideal exercise for each muscle, the best 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.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
Millions of men are struggling with the problems associated with low-T in today’s world, such as extra belly and chest fat, low energy and stamina, lack of sexual desire, ED problems, and loss of muscle.
Sadly, millions of men also turn to Testosterone Replacement Therapy (TRT) to try to overcome these problems and try to feel like a new man again…BUT there are some VERY concerning problems with TRT that every man NEEDS to know.
After reading the article below, you might want to consider alternate routes of boosting your T levels naturally instead of through something that’s potentially as harmful as TRT…
–> Why Testosterone Replacement Therapy can do more HARM than good (for any ladies reading this, please pass this on to your husband or boyfriend if they are using or have considered using TRT)
Yesterday I talked about training to failure and how it can have a negative effect on your nervous system, making each set after the first less efficient at stimulating mass.
A hammered nervous system doesn’t allow enough “juice” to engage the high-threshold motor units, which control the fast-twitch growth fibers.
Solution: [Read more…]
I’ve mentioned that going to failure—grinding until you can’t get another rep—can derail mass gains. Too much of that and you can’t recover by your next workout, which cancels out growth…
The reason is usually said to be muscle damage. Hitting failure on multiple sets creates a lot of trauma, but not just to the target muscle… [Read more…]
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…]
Q: I’ve seen Jonathan’s before and after photos and read all the info [at SizeSurgeWorkout.com]. Can you give me more details on why the program works? What makes it different? I think I just need to be convinced that it’s going to work for me.
A: We don’t blame you. If you’re going to invest a full 10 weeks in a program, you want to know the mechanics of how and why it works. The Size Surge program does! It can build loads of muscle if you train hard with it, and there are a number of reasons for that. The primary one is that both phases are dominated by big compound exercises, and the workouts are designed and organized to maximize their size effects. [Read more…]
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…]
Q: I’m loving your 4X mass method. I’ve been using it for only three weeks, and I already feel bigger and look fuller. The scale says I’ve put on three pounds, but it looks like more than that. I feel pumped all the time. Anyway, I’m wondering if I should do a warmup set before I jump into 4X for an exercise. If not on all 3 exercises in Positions of Flexion, maybe just the first one will do the trick since it’s compound [or midrange], like squats.
A: Keep in mind that with 4X mass training, you’re using the same MODERATE weight from the first set to the last. In most cases you shouldn’t need a warmup set because your first in the sequence is fairly easy—you don’t go to failure… [Read more…]
Q: You guys have so many different programs and mass tactics. Should I just pick a routine I like, do it for five weeks, then pick another? For example, I’m thinking about using 4X Mass Workout. Then I could go to Power-Density. Thoughts?
A: That can work very well. As we always say, change to gain. But when we say that, we are primarily talking about tactics, not exercises…
[Read more…]Q: The idea of a few medium-intensity [subfailure] workouts after many weeks of going all out makes perfect sense to me. My question is, Should I reduce my poundages so I can do the same number of reps, or should I stick with my same working poundages and just do fewer reps? Which way is best?
A: We prefer to use the same phase-training approach Jonathan used on the 10-week Size Surge Program when he gained 20 pounds of muscle. For each of his two supercompensation weeks, he used the same work weights and just stopped two reps short of failure—and that worked amazingly well for him. He actually appeared to get bigger during each downshift week as his muscles and nervous system
