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 am making solid gains with the Pure Positions routine in the Stretch Overload ebook. Training the midrange exercise at one workout, contracted at the second, and stretch at the third is some killer change to gain each week. My question is, you have STX [high-rep set followed by a lower-rep set and rest/pause set] for every exercise. Your most impressive ebook, IMO, is Super-Size Crash Course, with TORQ, Progressive-Speed 4X, and, my favorite, Downward-Progression 4X. Can I use those instead of STX every so often for even more variation?
A: Absolutely—in fact, we encourage it because all of those are amazing unique mass methods. Remember, something in your workout must change if you want to continue to gain…
Switching to different mass attacks is the best way. Why? Because it’s [Read more…]
Q: I’ve been training for about 20 years now (I’m 44), and I am getting my 14-year-old son into it. He’s been working out about four months, breaking in, but I still do NOT want him to go “heavy.” I have him using your 4X method, which is great at his stage. I was thinking about the Progressive-Speed 4X version as well, specifically the speed set in order to help build the power fibers. Is that a good idea at his age, or should he use with caution?
A: First, what you have him doing now is perfect. Moderate-weight growth-threshold 4X is fantastic for young teens getting into lifting. Heavy weights may damage young joints early on, so it’s a good idea to get neophytes gradually acclimated… [Read more…]
If you’ve been with us for a while, you know we harp on “change to gain” a lot, especially for those who want insane hypertrophy…
It pays BIG muscle dividends to periodically alter your workouts—sometimes radically. And, yes, even we get stuck in ruts and forget to rotate in some new hypertrophy smart bombs… [Read more…]
So, yeah… I’ve broken my own rules and slacked off on my training blog posts, but I have been keeping up with my workouts. You’d think it would be easy to quickly jot down some training notes, but MAN is life busy. That’s not a complaint, though…
[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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