Dedicated to Your Physical Transformation
Q: In Positions-of-Flexion mass training, how do you identify dips and bench dips for triceps? Are they midrange, stretch, or contracted?
A: While both parallel-bar dips and bench dips have synergy, or muscle teamwork, which is generally a midrange quality, we classify both types of dip as contracted-position exercises. In other words, we like either as a BIG finisher to put more size on your tri’s… [Read more…]
Q: I just started the 4X Mass Workout, and I really like it. I feel bigger already. I still have some fat to lose, so I also got your Ultimate Fat-to-Muscle Workout. Can I incorporate the negative-accentuated sets from that into a total-4X program somehow to get more fat burning?
A: NA sets are one second up for the positive and lowering in six seconds for the negative. That slow, negative-accentuated style triggers more muscle damage, which requires more energy after the workout for repair. And that energy requirement means your metabolism is amped to help you get more fat burning. [Read more…]
Q: The 4X Mass Workout is awesome! I feel and look big and totally pumped all the time, and I love it. I know I’m getting bigger from every workout, but will I get stronger too [using the 4X method]?
A: The 4X Mass Workout is designed to get your muscles as big as possible as quickly as possible. It’s why a number of pro bodybuilders use it or something similar the last weeks before a contest (there’s more on that in the e-book). You will gain some strength, but that’s not the PRIMARY objective of 4X training…
The 4X mass method is a supersaturation size-building program. Use it for four to six weeks as we suggest in the workout and we guarantee you will look big and GROW.
For those not familiar with 4X, you pick a weight with which you can crank out 15 reps, but you only do 10. Rest 30 seconds, then do 10 more, and so on until you complete four sets of 10 reps in less than FIVE MINUTES…
As we mention in the 4X Mass Workout e-book, you get a BALANCE of power and density on the first exercise, but the fatigue is fierce as you move through a bodypart workout. It rapidly turns to a major density hit for the key 2A growth fibers [the 4X e-book explains that, but you may have skipped right to the programs, which is what a lot of trainees do—they can’t wait to hit the gym with the workout.]
If you’re worried about using medium poundages instead of heavy weights, there are a few ways to incorporate power-building sets into the 4X Mass Workout. See the Q&A chapter in that e-book. One way is to do the first BIG exercise as a power pyramid instead of in 4X style.
With or without those pure power sets, 4X will give you a blast of new mass fast!
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: I train my butt off in the gym. I hit it harder than every other guy in there, but I haven’t gained much muscle in a long time. Is it my genetics? My nutrition is perfect, so I should be growing like crazy, but I’m not. It’s very frustrating… Help?!
A: Yes, your genetics could have something to do with it; HOWEVER, you may have just been working out too hard for too long. It’s time to step back with a new plan… [Read more…]
Q: I have almost all of your e-books, and I’ve learned more from them than I have from anywhere else in the 10 years I’ve been training. Thank you. I just got The 4X Mass Workout and had a question: You always say “change to gain,” but you tend to use the same few exercises in a lot of your programs. Shouldn’t I switch moves often to gain mass, like use dumbbells instead of a barbell?
A: While variation is important, you need to focus on the exercises that you feel the most. That’s especially true for weak bodyparts, which tend to lag due to inadequate neuromuscular efficiency, or nerve-to-muscle connections. A good example for us, and most bodybuilders, is upper chest exercises. [Read more…]
Q: In the X-centric Mass Workout you end each bodypart routine with the contracted-position exercises for 4×10 density with minimal rest. But you have quoted studies that show how stretch-position exercises can build muscle very quickly. Can I do the stretch exercise 4×10 last and with the contracted move before it for a standard set or two instead?
A: That’s a great idea. You could use that stretch-overload finisher for a few weeks, and then switch back to a contracted-exercise chaser with 4×10 density. We’ll give you an example in a moment, but first… [Read more…]
Q: I have two of your e-books, The Ultimate Power-Density Mass Workout and the X-centric Mass Workout. They’re both great, and I’m already seeing results applying the methods. My question is, you say that you need both power sets and density sets to get extreme muscle gains quickly, but which is more important? Should I do more of one than the other for fastest muscle gains?
A: If you would’ve asked us that several years ago, we would’ve said power, no question—because, like most bodybuilders, we had been brainwashed into believing that heavy weights and fairly low reps are the keys to maximum mass fast. But according to our recent experiments as well as many done almost 50 years ago, that’s not the case for most, so it’s a big-time muscle-building myth… [Read more…]
Q: I just saw an interview with a top pro bodybuilder, and he said one of the keys to building mass is to explode at the bottom of every rep and attempt to move the positive rep as fast as possible. Are explosive reps a good idea? I’m afraid of getting injured.
A: The big pros are the genetic elite with superhuman muscle-fiber density, as well as ironclad tendons and ligaments. And don’t forget that many use growth hormone, which fortifies cartilage, tendons, and ligaments even more (that’s why many athletes use it—to quickly rehab soft-tissue injuries and prevent others from occurring in the gym and on the field.) [Read more…]
Q: I heard about X Reps from a guy at my gym. He suggested I get one of your X-Rep e-books, but after looking at your site, I realize there are a lot of them. I need help figuring out which X-Rep program to start with.
A: A lot of our newer trainees as us which X-Rep program to start with, so for a good overview of X Reps as well as key X-hybrid techniques, we recommend The X-traordinary X-Rep Workout. It was written a few years after our first X-Rep e-book, The Ultimate Mass Workout, so we’ve included all the critical highlights of what we learned up to that point… [Read more…]
Q: I just finished 8 weeks on your beginning program [in the Quick-Start Muscle-Building Guide]. What muscle attack should I do next?
A: After the beginning programs in the Quick-Start Muscle-Building Guide, try the workout on pages 21-23 of The X-centric Mass Workout. You will still be doing a big midrange exercise and a more isolated contracted-position exercise for each muscle, as you are now, but you’ll use more volume and specific mass-building variations (power + density)… [Read more…]
