In Pursuit of the Perfect Workout [Insider Preview]

My good friend John Rowley was here in Southern California from the East Coast, and when I met with him, he mentioned that he was going to be seeing Doug Brignole, a former Mr. America who had been using a version of my 4X mass method with excellent results. "Great, ask him how his training is going."

When I got the report, I was stunned. Doug had taken it to a whole new level—both higher and lower at the same time. By that I mean he had cranked his reps up—to 50 on some sets—but he was only doing one exercise per muscle group.

“When I superset between chest and back, or biceps and triceps, or quads and hamstrings, I go continuously. I don’t rush per se, but I don’t delay.”

"You’re kidding?" I prodded. "Nope," John said, "and he looks bigger than ever. Everybody is asking him what he’s doing in the gym to get those results—at age 53 no less."

Well, yeah! I wanted to know too, so I fired off an e-mail to Doug asking for the details. The response I got back amped up my excitement even more. It started like this:

"Okay, I guess my little secret is out of the bag. I’ve nailed it—the Holy Grail. This is the best workout program I’ve ever used. Period.

"My weight is the highest it’s ever been, and I’m gaining steadily—creeping up on 220 for the first time in my life. I’m gaining two to three pounds per month."

Now I was really hooked—and so are you, I imagine—if you’re looking to build muscle size as quickly as possible. So for your benefit as well as mine, I interrogated Doug for all the details.

IM: In the past you and I have discussed the fact that higher tension time builds muscle size, but you’ve taken it to a new level with high reps. And you do only one exercise per bodypart?

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