Dedicated to Your Physical Transformation
Q: I get confused. Should I try to change exercises at every workout to keep my muscle adapting and growing?
A: The problem is that your body really needs to adapt to a movement pattern over the course of a few workouts before you change exercises—at least that’s the theory… [Read more…]
Q: I heard that close-grip bench presses can build the inner pecs. But then a pro bodybuilder said that’s false. He said no exercise can build the “inner” pecs—or “lower” biceps for that matter, and that those are muscle-building myths. Which is correct?
A: While close-grip bench presses won’t direct development to the inner-chest area, some researchers suggest that putting a muscle into elongation, or stretch, against resistance can thicken the fibers at the insertion point. For example, doing flyes for more chest beef near the sternum… [Read more…]
Q: I do four-week phases of different workouts from your various e-books. That strategy works great for me. I’ve gained 10 pounds of muscle in three months, and that’s after training consistently for 10 years. I’m getting ready to start the Modified Pre-Ex 3X Mass Workout. After all the positive talk about TORQ, I was thinking about using that on the first exercise, the isolation move. Is that a good idea for building new muscle mass?
A: Absolutely. We’ve talked about that before, and we used to use TORQ-ed up modified Pre-Ex as a shock tactic in our old Freaky Friday workouts… [Read more…]
Q: I’ve recently had to cut back my workouts to three days a week and was looking back through many of the X-Rep e-books. I came across the Mass F/X program in 3D Muscle Building that looks fantastic. Just what I’m looking for. But I would like to use TORQ instead of the drop sets and rest/pause on tension-time days. Will that be too much work?
A: Tension-Overload Repetition Quantity is one of the best DENSITY training techniques we’ve found for blowing up the muscle with new sarcoplasmic size… [Read more…]
Q: I tried Arnold’s method of using a high-rep set to end my major exercises, like bench presses, (Ultimate Power-Density Mass Workout e-book, Chapter 1). But I’m just too fatigued to feel the target muscle on that last set. After reading about Doug Brignole’s 50-40-30-20-10 method in Chapter 4, I was thinking about using that on an isolation exercise to feel the target muscle better, like crossovers for chest after bench. Is that a good idea?
A: It could be, but you left a lot of variables out. For example, how experienced are you? That amount of work may be too much. How many days per week are you training each muscle? If it’s once, that amount of volume may work well, if it’s twice, maybe not.
Let’s assume your an intermediate bodybuilder using full-range Positions of Flexion (as explained in Chapter 2). If you pyramid on the big midrange exercise (bench), adding weight over three to four sets, then you do a stretch move for two heavier stretch-overload sets, you’re left with the isolated contracted move—cable crossovers, as you mentioned—or lying cable flyes, pictured below. Should you use Mr. America’s Super-TORQ method (50-40-30-20-10 + drops)?
That would most likely be severe overkill. Remember Brignole is a Mr. America winner, and he only uses it on ONE exercise per muscle—and that’s all he does for that bodypart at that workout. A better idea is to use a streamlined version, our TORQ method (tension-overload repetition quantity)…
We touched on TORQ in the Power-Density e-book Q&A chapter (page 51), but
Why does high-rep, continuous-tension isolation work pack on new muscle tissue so quickly? Here’s what Brad Schoenfeld, Ph.D., respected hypertrophy researcher said:
Research supports that lifting with continuous tension can provide a potent stimulus for muscular hypertrophy, even when relatively light weights are used (Tanimoto, et al., 2008). The true benefit probably has to do with an acute restriction of circulation to the working muscles…. Repetitive muscular contractions cause a compression of blood vessels, impeding both inflow and outflow during exercise and creating a hypoxic intramuscular environment. There’s evidence that the hypoxic effect mediates a hypertrophic response, conceivably by the buildup of metabolites and reduction in pH levels associated with such training.
To put it in simpler terms: Continuous-tension TORQ makes the post-set pump insane—which triggers major mass gains.
Note: In the Super-Size Crash Course e-book the Phase 1 program has you use a heavy Power workout at one session for each target muscle (pyramid and lower-rep sets); then at the next workout for you do a lighter Density workout–using the 4X mass method and ending with TORQ. The Phase 2 workouts are a mix of Power & Density, using Downward-Progression 4X, Progressive-Speed 4X, and a high-rep finisher exercise. Add this best-selling e-book to your mass-building library for ONLY $10 ($24 value). More info HERE.
The Ultimate Power/Density Mass Workout e-book that includes Basic P/D Mass Workout (pyramid + 4X), Positions-of-Flexion P/D Mass Workout (full-range muscle attacks with POF—midrange, stretch, contracted), and Mr. America Doug Brignole’s Super-TORQ method and program is still ONLY $9 ($24 value) HERE.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
One of the most interesting read-me pages on Testosterone and other muscle-building hormones we’ve seen is The Truth About Testosterone.
It even talks about a fruit, a specific part, that can up your T naturally. Cranking up your testosterone will not only get you jacked in the gym, but in the bedroom too—not to mention help rip up your midsection as it ignites fat burning. If that interests you, there’s more from our colleague and registered dietician, HERE.
Q: You offer up the Brazilian study that shows doing a single high-rep set to failure before heavier lower-rep work produced more hypertrophy than standard training (multiple sets at 75% 1RM). But in the Ultimate Power/Density Mass Workout e-book, you mention that Arnold used a high-rep set LAST—a “burn-out” set. So which way is better, high-rep set first or high-rep set to finish?
A: A good observation, but there’s something missing in your description of what Arnold used to do. Go back to the Power-Density e-book and read it again—Arnold typically used a pyramid, adding weight to each set. And on his first set, he used a light weight for 15 reps, then a SLIGHTLY heavier weight for set 2 so he got 12 reps…
According to John Balik, former Iron Man publisher and one of Arnold’s training partners back in the day, Arnold did NOT go to failure on those first few sets. He was essentially fatiguing the slow-twitch fibers so more fast-twitch growth fibers would fire on the heavier sets—6 and 5 reps on the last sets. That is precisely what the Brazilian study replicated, only with just a single higher-rep set of more than 20 reps for slow-twitch fiber fatigue…
Is Arnold’s way better–reps of 15, 12, 10, 7, 5, 20? If you have the time, inclination and recovery capacity for that type of volume on multiple exercises, it can work well; however, the Brazilian study showed significant and EFFICIENT hypertrophic results with just ONE high-rep set prior to heavy work–but would more light sets be better?…
Perhaps. Another wildly effective version of the slow-twitch fiber fatigue method is Mr. America Doug Brignole’s training, which we have christened Super-TORQ (tension-overload repetition quantity). Here is how Doug describes it in the interview that appears in Chapter 4 of the Power/Density e-book…
[I do] one exercise per bodypart per workout. For each exercise I do five sets: 50 reps, 40 reps, 30 reps, 20 reps, and on the final set I start with 10 reps and follow that with two or three drop sets [of around 5 reps each]…
Whoa! Talk about fatiguing the slow-twitch fibers up front—and no doubt getting them to grow too (remember,
His entire routine is laid out after the interview in the P/D e-book. We have our own version there too—Power-TORQ that has you alternate heavy pyramid training for each muscle—TORQ at the other workout.
There are multiple ways to accomplish it, but the bottom line is that Power + Density = Muscle Immensity
The Power/Density Muscle-Hypertrophy Method: The Power/Density System is based on training each muscle along multiple anabolic pathways to achieve extreme growth. The Ultimate Power/Density Mass Workout e-book is packed with complete programs, including Basic P/D Mass Workout (pyramid + 4X), Positions-of-Flexion P/D Mass Workout (full-range muscle attacks with POF–midrange, stretch, contracted), and Mr. America Doug Brignole’s Super-TORQ method and program. Add this best-selling e-book to your mass-building library today for ONLY $9 ($24 value). More info HERE.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
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Q: I notice that you guys often use a double-drop set on the last one when you do TORQ. I love that muscle maker variation, and it appears it’s gotten me bigger in the past few weeks. Do you have any other ways to vary that method?
A: To refresh memories, TORQ is tension-overload repetition quantity… [Read more…]
Q: I’ve been using 4X sequences, 10 reps per set, and your new downward-progression 4X [12-10-8-6, adding weight each set, 45-second rests]. Both have been working great with some obvious mass gains (people have been commenting at the gym and when I’m out around town—love it!). My problem is that on some exercises the heaviest set on DP 4X hurts my joints. Like on bench presses, my shoulder can’t take it. Should I just drop the 6-rep set?
A: When you say bench presses, we assume you mean with a bar and not dumbbells. DBs may not cause pain because of freedom of movement. [Read more…]
Q: I’ve been TORQ-ing the target muscle at the end of my 4X workouts. Great way to end with a massive pump, but I tell people about it and they think I’m saying twerking. Lol. I have two questions: What if I can get more than 30 reps on the first set? What if I get fewer reps than that? Also, in Positions of Flexion, can I use bench dips instead of pushdowns for the finishing contracted position exercise for tri’s?
A: For the uninitiated, TORQ-ing, not twerking, is a 3X sequence of 30-20-15 reps, with 45 seconds between…
If you use it on the big midrange exercise first, like close-grip bench presses for tri’s, you may be able to add weight on each set. If you TORQ on the last exercise, contracted, you probably won’t be able to add weight.
TORQ—or tension-overload repetition quantity—is designed so you get at least a couple of sets within the high-end hypertrophic tension time—which is above 60 seconds. That would be sets 1 and 2 if you keep the rep speed at one second to lift and two to three to lower…
We tend to use the 1/2 tempo on higher-rep sets—but that’s still around 90 seconds on set 1 and 60 seconds on set 2. That high growth tension time is something most bodybuilders never get. Heck, many rarely get more than 25 seconds per set (can you say slow-to-no growth?).
Mr. America Doug Brignole goes even higher with his reps, starting at 50—and he swears it’s the best size-building method he’s ever used (see The Power-Density Mass Workout 2.0 for more on Doug’s Super-TORQ method, an interview with him, and his complete program, which uses only ONE exercise per target muscle).
Now to your first question (finally): What if you get more or fewer reps than 30 on the first set? If you get more, like 35, just continue to get higher reps on each set—35, 25, 18, say—and add weight at your next workout to bring down your reps…
If you get fewer, like 25, that’s fine too. In fact, we like to think of a TORQ sequence as ranges: 25-30, 15-20, 10-15. Even at a 1/2 tempo, you’ll still hit the high-end hypertrophic tension time on set 1—and maybe set 2 as well….
If you get fewer than 25 on the first set, lighten the weight for your second so you get close to matching your first. Your sets may go 22-20-15. Once again, you achieve high-end tension on sets 1 and 2.
Okay, your second question is a simple yes. We love bench dips for the POF contracted-position triceps exercise. While there is some movement at the shoulder, your front delts don’t come into play too much. You’ll torch your tri’s guaranteed.
We like to do the first 30- and 20-rep sets with no lockout, then the last set with a lockout squeeze on each (we usually don’t get 15 on that set—killer!).
Also, if you’re not strong enough to get 30 with your feet on a bench (as pictured above), put them on the floor so you’re using less than bodyweight on all of your TORQ sets…
It’s an excellent TORQ exercise to fry your tri’s for awesome new size.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
