Alternate POF for Legs and Chest

Q: I got the e-book The 4X Mass Workout, and it’s fantastic. I tried it on arms for a few weeks using [Positions of Flexion], and they blew up at every workout. I measured, and I gained a quarter inch in only three weeks. Thank you! They’ve been stuck for over a year at just under 17 inches. I’m convinced and ready to use 4X on all bodyparts. I want to do your full-range Positions-of-Flexion method for each muscle, 4X on all exercises, but the POF routine in 4X is a two-way split. I don’t think I can work legs and chest on the same day. Is there an alternative?

A: Don’t be a wuss! That’s the Phase 2 Size Surge program Jonathan used to pack on 20 pounds of muscle in 10 weeks, so suck it up and just do it. Kidding. That two-way split is too taxing for some trainees—not just wusses—which is one reason Jonathan provides a three-way POF split in his e-book Size Surge (pages 55-57; available at www.SizeSurgeWorkout.com). Here’s how the less-taxing mass plan pans out:

Workout 1: Chest, triceps

Workout 2: Quads, hamstrings, calves, abs

Workout 3: Lats, midback, delts, biceps

In Size Surge we suggest you follow the above sequence over Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. So workout 1 repeats on Friday, and you pick up with workout 2 on Monday, Workout 3 Tuesday and so on. That second week workout 2 repeats on Friday, and you pick up with workout 3 on the following Monday.

That works very well for building mass fast because there’s not much muscle-training overlap, even when the two upper-body workouts fall on consecutive days. 

That three-way-split program in Size Surge is listed with standard sets, reps and rests, so you’ll want to plug in 4X and 3X sequences for each exercise instead. For example, for delts do this—it’s a full, three-way Positions-of-Flexion mass-building attack:

Midrange: Dumbbell upright

   rows 4 x 10

Stretch: Incline one-arm

    laterals 3 x 10

Contracted: Lateral raises 4 x 12

Remember, a 4X or 3X sequence is taking a weight with which you can get about 15 reps but doing only the designated number , which will be 10 or 12; rest 30 seconds, and then do it again—and so on until you complete the listed number of sets. If you get the rep count on the last set, add weight to that exercise at your next workout.

While the full-range 4X delt workout may look like a lot of sets, remember that only the last set for each exercise is all out—and with the short 30-second rests you can complete the full POF routine in less than 15 minutes, getting loads of myofibrillar growth as well as sarcoplasmic size expansion.

Three-way POF trains the target muscle completely for a triple dose of muscle growth—and with 4X and 3X all fibers will be toast.

Editor’s note: Steve Holman is the author of many bodybuilding best-sellers and the creator of Positions-of-Flexion muscle training. For information on the POF DVD and Size Surge programs, see www.Home-Gym.com. Also visit www.X-Rep.com  and X-Workouts.com for info on X-Rep, 4X and 3D POF methods and e-books.  IM