women Archives - X-REP.COM

Curls for the Girls: Size Matters!

Q: I’ve been dating someone for about six months, so my training has been off and on. My arms shrink the fastest, but I’m starting to wonder if muscles even matter. I’ve been at this smaller size since I met her, and she says she’d rather I not work out and spend more time with her. Should I just train every so often to maintain what little size I have left? Any insight?

A: Not to sound like sexist pigs, but sometimes (most of the time) women don’t say what they mean—or maybe they just say what they think is nicer for your to hear. When it comes to girls and muscles, Steve has a story that’s similar to yours—but with a surprising end that may help you with your dilemma… [Read more…]

Quick Starter Workout

Q: I’m interested in building up my body. I’ve been visiting some workout forums, and lots of people are recommending your quick starter workout. Can you explain why it’s so good? Will it work for me? I want a new body, but I don’t want to look like the Incredible Hulk or anything. Maybe Captain America or Thor, though. Lol.

A: The quick starter workout you’re referring to is our Quick-Start Muscle-Building Guide, and it has you begin with a two-week break-in program, using the basic exercises, like squats, bench presses, etc., one to two sets each (all exercises are fully explained with printable start-and-finish-position illustrations).

It’s a full-body workout that takes about an hour on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and it’s geared to upregulate your nervous system and coordination quickly so you can start building muscle immediately after this two-week “learning” phase. Then you move to something more unique to accelerate gains…

[Read more…]

I recently started training my girlfriend with Positions of Flexion (the full-range POF system that Steve developed). I have two questions: 1) Can women use X Reps, and 2) which exercises target the glutes [butt muscles] most effectively?

By all means women can and should use X Reps once they are out of the early beginner stages. Because X Reps extend the tension time of any set and provide a significant intensity uptick, they will trigger faster results with fewer sets (as they did for us). And while you may know this, please remind her not to worry about “getting too big.” Women don’t have to be concerned with building too much muscle thanks to their female hormone balance—more estrogen, very little testosterone. Your girlfriend should train just as hard as you do and use weight training with X Reps to sculpt her body. If she thinks a bodypart is getting too muscular, she can reduce the intensity (no X Reps) and/or the number of sets for that muscle group.

As for your second question, the best glute exercise is the free-bar squat. Have her go deep, no bouncing, so the glutes get maximally involved—and have her add X Reps to supercharge one set at every workout. Another exercise many trainees don’t realize is a great glute getter is hyperextensions. Do them after squats or as part of a hamstring workout, and squeeze those glutes hard at the top of each rep. If she does deadlifts or stiff-legged deadlifts, she can add X Reps on the hyperextension bench immediately after one set of of either of those. Trainees shouldn’t do X Reps on deadlifts or stiff-legged deadlifts due to possible injury from lower-back fatigue—but you can move immediately to hyperextensions and perform X Reps. That will do great things for the glutes as well as hamstrings.

If your girlfriend has an aversion to free-bar squats (most women hate them, and if you hate something too much you’ll more than likely quit), she can use the Smith machine. She may want to try one set of Smith machine squats, with X Reps, lighten the weight and after a brief rest do one set of step-back lunges on the Smith machine. That’s like a one-legged squat that hits the glutes hard. Have her add a set or two of hyperextensions, either as stand-alone sets or as part of her deadlift workout as outlined above, and you, er um, she will be ecstatic with her new posterior roundness.

“Steve and Jonathan’s training techniques worked wonders. I transformed myself working out three days a week with their program.”
—Becky Holman
(Note: For Becky’s complete diet and training, see X-treme Lean )