Dedicated to Your Physical Transformation
People often ask why I use some “inferior” exercises along with the ideals…
“If the ideal exercises are so great, why not just use those and not waste time with less-ideal moves?”
Sounds good on paper, but there’s that variation-in-fiber-recruitment thing that I harp on a lot… [Read more…]
If you’ve read Old Man, Young Muscle, you know that the mass workouts are based on variation of fiber recruitment (Fleck, Kraemer, et al.).
In other words, while the ideal exercise is the best choice for optimal muscle stimulation, certain add-on moves help you achieve different angles, resistance paths and/or degrees of stretch/contraction for unique fiber activation. [Read more…]
A few weeks ago I discussed area-specific muscle growth and if it is real. More and more researchers are saying yes, and a recent study suggests why and that exercise variation can affect it (Costa, et al. Int J Sports Med, 2021)…
The study looked at using a single exercise vs. multiple exercises… [Read more…]
Like a kid screaming “candy” at the grocery checkout over and over, I constantly harp on “change to gain”…
What does that mean? That there has to be something new in your workout for the muscular adaptation of growth to occur… [Read more…]
Q: I’ve made some of the best gains ever with your 4X training, but I may be going stale. I can’t seem to go up in weight any longer. Don’t I need to get stronger to get bigger?
A: If you get stronger, you MAY get bigger—but you can get bigger WITHOUT getting stronger. In other words, size and strength are NOT directly intertwined. Check out this quote from Peary Rader, founder of IRON MAN magazine, who was doing size and strength research more than 50 years ago… [Read more…]
Q: I’m not gonna lie… I sometimes get bored with my training or just have random days when my motivation is a bit low. That makes it tough to get to the gym, but I really don’t want to skip a day because of that. What if I took random days here and there to do only one exercise for each muscle. Would that be good for growth, and how often could I do that?
A: Any deviation from the norm will shock new muscle size, especially if it’s something that challenges your growth threshold like 10×10 of only one exercise. [Read more…]
Q: I’m loving the 4X Mass program, so when I’m done with it, should I, at my young age of 50, just keep doing that and increase weight when possible, or try your newer STX or XRX methods? I’m actually super intrigued by your Super-Size Crash Course, but I’m thinking there’s some serious weight involved with that, and my old-man joints probably won’t stand for that. Lol
A: The Super-Size Crash Course is NOT about lifting
Q: I’m using Jonathan’s 10-Week Size Surge Workout [in the 3D Muscle Building e-book], and for shoulders, it has dumbbell upright rows as the first exercise for midrange work; then I do incline one-arm laterals for stretch, and then standing laterals [contracted]. I added two sets of dumbbell presses after that for more shoulder size, as you’ve suggested, for some overhead shoulder work. My question is, Why do you sometimes recommend presses first? Aren’t those dangerous for your shoulder joints?
A: We only do behind-the-neck presses first if we use a technique that allows lighter weight, such as negative-accentuated (six-second lowering), 4X, 10×10, TORQ, etc. As you said, in the quest for shoulder size, heavy weights on behind-the-neck exercises can wreck your rotator cuffs.
For heavy pressing at the start of a shoulder workout, we use either Smith machine military presses (to the front) or dumbbell presses…
[Read more…]Q: I’m using your 10×10 method after all the great feedback I’ve read, and I love it. Because the poundages are lighter, my joint problems are disappearing, and I’m already seeing new muscle after only three weeks. I love the enormous pumps too! My question is, I feel 10×10 on every exercise, but the intensity varies a lot. Do you guys ever recommend increasing the reps, like 10 sets of 12 reps?
A: For those who aren’t familiar with it, 10×10 is taking a weight with which you could get 20 reps, but you only do 10; rest for 30 seconds, then do another 10 reps—and so on until you complete 10 sets of 10 reps. The first few sets are easy; the last few are brutal. [Read more…]
Q: The end-of-set static hold that Jonathan used on most sets during his Size Surge transformation work great. I feel the muscle much better when I add that. Thanks for that great tip. Are there any other things he did that improved his gains?
A: He ate like a horse. But you probably mean in the gym. Let us think…
Oh, one subtle thing he did was slightly vary each set when possible – small change for big-muscle gains. What do we mean by that? Hand spacing, foot spacing, hand angle, etc. [Read more…]
