X-REP.COM

Dedicated to Your Physical Transformation

Exciting Muscle-Size Insights

Q: After reading one of your articles that discussed the study where light, longer sets built muscle, I was thinking that maybe that’s why X Reps build so much size. Because they’re partial reps where the muscle is stretched, you block blood flow and get more tension time by making the set last longer. Do you think that’s the case—that X Reps work because they make a set last longer?

A: No doubt that ex-tending the set with X-Reps is one reason those power partials are so effective at building more muscle. As you said, you not only pulse at the target-muscle’s strongest point, where it’s elongated, but you also force the muscle to continue firing for five or more extra seconds—which means a longer tension time on any set with X Reps tacked on. That was the ground-breaking finding of that study—that extending tension time was another way to trigger hypertrophic stimulation…

[Read more…]

10X Muscle Expansion

Q: I just read your X-Rep Update #1 e-book and also your Ultimate 10×10 Mass Workout. I am thoroughly impressed. What great info. I learned a lot and am applying many of your methods. I was especially intrigued by the fascia-expansion workout in X Update. It makes sense to end a bodypart routine by supersetting the contracted-position exercise with a stretch one to make room for extra growth to happen; however, I can’t superset in my crowded gym. What do you think about just ending each bodypart workout with 10×10 on a stretch-position exercise to expand the fascia?

A: Man, we love it when trainees use their heads and come up with a killer idea. That’s an excellent way to use 10×10 to get major muscle expansion, one we hadn’t originally considered. It’s an ideal solution for trainees who want to continue to use heavy weight on the big exercises, but still add on 10×10 to get a BIG bang in muscle gains… [Read more…]