x-traordinary x-rep workout Archives - Page 2 of 2

X-Reps for X-tra Muscle—Pounds of it

Q: I’m thin and consider myself a hardgainer. I’ve been training with weights for two years and have managed to add only about 10 pounds of muscle. Not very impressive. I recently got your X-traordinary X-Rep Workout [e-book] and started using the X Reps in my workouts. They feel great, and I wanted to report that after using them for only a few weeks, I’ve added five pounds and look much bigger. I’m so thankful I found this technique! Are there any others I should be using? I feel like I’m finally getting the size gains I’ve been looking for.

A: Great progress! As we often say, hardgainers tend to have more of an endurance component to their muscles. You know how calves and forearms tend to respond better to longer tension times? That’s how most of the muscles on a hardgainer’s body are constructed, so they need longer tension times to grow… [Read more…]

Get More Pumped!

Q: I’m using the Basic X-traordinary X-Rep Workout and making pretty good gains. I love that the workouts are quick and that I only use the Ultimate Exercise for each bodypart. My problem is that I think my gains could be even better because I’m not getting a big pump in some bodyparts. I do the density drop set on the Ultimate Exercise at the end, but most muscles just don’t pump like they should. Can I add an exercise to get more pumped? I have time.

A: That’s a common problem because everyone has muscles with low nerve force and/or fewer fast-twitch fibers. That makes getting a pump in those bodyparts more difficult, especially using only a big compound exercise. There are a number of things you can do, such as 10×10 style to end instead of a drop set, but we’ll give you something less time-consuming… [Read more…]

Let’s Get Big

Q: Right now I’m into your idea of using a basic workout to get big, so I’m using The Basic X-traordinary X-Rep Workout [pages 28-30 in that e-book]. I’ve been on it for three weeks, and I already feel bigger. I’m also stronger every time I train. Unreal results for workouts that take an hour. My question is, What can I do or add to that program for my slacker bodyparts? Like my shoulders desperately need extra roundness. Should I just add sets?

A: Simply adding sets to the existing delt workout is one way to go (but there’s another way that we like even better coming up). For example, the delt routine is dumbbell presses, and you pyramid the weight. Your reps should go 9, 7, 5-6, and on the last heaviest set you do X-Rep partials… [Read more…]

Two Moves for More Mass

Q: I just got your X-traordinary X-Rep Workout ebook, printed out the basic routine and took it to the gym. Deep pump and a fast workout. I notice that for some bodyparts you have one big exercise for both the power work and density finish. For others, you have a different exercise for the drop-set finisher. Why didn’t you use two exercises, [one for power and one for density], for every bodypart? It makes sense that you’d train the muscle more completely with two exercises instead of only one.

A: For the most part, it depends on the complexity of the muscle. For example, your deltoid has three heads. While an overhead press trains all of them, it primarily targets the front head with only minor emphasis on the other two. [Read more…]