Q: Your comments regarding your testosterone dropping when you increased your workout volume is similar to my experience. I’m 55, and had my T checked a few years ago. It was 350, which is on the low side. I had been hitting the gym five days a week for an hour or more. Lots of compound exercises. I thought I might be overtraining, so I switched to the Old Man Young Muscle workout. I wasn’t sure 35 minutes three day a week would do much, but I was wrong. I began gaining muscle again, and my testosterone measured 603. Wanted to say thank you. At this point for me, the OMYM workout is magic. [Read more…]
Moment of Bodybuilding Zen 52: Bob Paris Relaxed
This standing-relaxed pic of Bob Paris is one that we cut out of an old Iron Man magazine and put up on our bulletin board for motivation… [Read more…]
Jump Start Your Lean Machine
Q: I’m planning to start the Fat-to-Muscle Workout right after the holidays. I understand the ideas—heavy midrange and stretch for micro trauma in muscle fibers to ramp up metabolism and high reps on contracted exercise for blood flow and growth hormone release. My question is, Can I use the 4X mass method on the contracted-position exercise at the end of each bodypart workout instead of high reps? Won’t 4X do the same thing as the two high-rep sets, but get even more blood flow with more sets?
A: Absolutely. In fact, a great plan to jump start your lean machine is to mix it up—do 4X at some workouts on the ending contracted-position exercises and the two high-rep sets at others. Why? Slightly different stimuli… [Read more…]
Top Muscle-Building Breakthrough
Q: I’ve been using [end-of-set] X-Rep partials and making the best gains of my life. It’s got to be the top muscle-building breakthrough I’ve ever used. You guys always seem to be at the cutting edge of mass techniques. Any other secrets you can recommend to boost my gains?
A: Thanks for the kind words regarding X Reps. They were definitely a big muscle-building breakthrough and they’ve done great things for thousands of trainees—and we made the best gains of our lives our first X-Rep year—in only five weeks with them (no steroids, no trick photography—although the lighting is different and we have tans in the afters)… [Read more…]
Bigger Muscles Now: 4X FirePower
Q: I’ve read about your 4X mass-building method in a few of your newsletters. I find it hard to believe that I can build bigger muscles doing only one exercise per bodypart for four quick sets with only the last set to failure. Will that really work?
A: You misunderstood the concept—we probably should’ve been more clear. Unless you’re a beginner, you should do more than one exercise in 4X style per bodypart. We mistakenly assumed that readers know we use Positions-of-Flexion mass training, which works a muscle through its midrange, stretch, and contracted positions. That usually requires THREE exercises per bodypart… [Read more…]
Stretch-Position Exercises
Q: I’m using the three-position training of POF [as outlined in the 3D Muscle Building e-book] and have made excellent gains with it. I recently purchased your Quick-Start Muscle Building Guide for my nephew. It’s excellent, and I can already see changes in his muscles after three weeks, but I wonder why you don’t include stretch-position exercises, like incline curls for biceps, in the workouts. I’m sure stretch exercises are one reason I’ve added so much muscle with POF, so if beginners are to make the fastest gains possible, I would think they should use full 3D POF programs. No?
A: The reason we don’t include stretch-position exercises in the Quick-Start program is that they are more dangerous for beginners. Joe Horrigan, D.C., of the Soft Tissue Center, uses the often-injured lower-back as an example: [Read more…]
Best Chisel-Your-Chest Exercise
Q: I’ve been using cable crossovers as my contracted-position exercise in my 3D Positions-of-Flexion chest routine. I do them last for tension, occlusion, and a final pump, but I’m not getting the right feel and not seeing much of a pump. Do you have any form suggestions to make them better?
A: Cable crossovers are a good contracted-position chisel-your-chest exercise—if you have decent nerve-to-muscle connections in your pec muscles. Those who don’t tend to shift the torso forward and backward during the exercise, to bring in more front delts and even lats. We prefer a similar exercise that forces strictness… [Read more…]