Subject:
IRON MAN E-Zine: Issue #395:
Prime Grow Time, Arnold Style
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TRY THIS AT YOUR NEXT WORKOUT
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Prime Grow Time, Arnold Style
We say it often: Workout change promotes muscle gains–and that’s precisely how you can make winter your prime grow time (just like Arnold did, as you’ll see)…
Unfortunately, for most trainees winter means low temperatures AND low motivation. The mind says, “Who needs peaked-out, tweaked-out mass when you’re all bundled up and no one can see your results?”…
Don’t fall for that or you’ll miss a BIG opportunity. Arnold considered winter the Season for Size, which called for his special winter-workout strategy. And that resulted in him looking awesome when summer arrived. Imagine having this physique as you stroll down the beach…
Arnold kicked off his first mass-building phase around November. According to IRON MAN Publisher John Balik, who stayed with the Oak in Santa Monica, California, in 1974 (and took the photo above), “At this point in his training he was using relatively few exercises but working them very hard.”
Yep, the back-to-basics approach we’ve been discussing the past few e-zines. As winter moved in, Arnold adopted a streamlined program, using only the key exercises that work the major muscle groups…
We call them the Ultimate Exercises. We identify and organize them in quick, basic programs in our 3 latest e-book offerings. Each basic program is a three-way split–three different workouts, so you hit different bodyparts at each. You can train three or four days a week–your choice (that flexibility is important, especially around holidays)…
1) The X-traordinary X-Rep Workout outlines the Basic XX Workout. You use only the Ultimate Exercise for each muscle group–a power pyramid first, with X Reps on key sets, followed by a density drop set. (Note: There’s also a more extensive Positions-of-Flexion X-Rep Workout included, with the best X-hybrid technique for each position, if you want a more thorough multi-angular POF attack–but #3 below has POF does as well.)
2) The Ultimate Power-Density Mass Workout has the Basic P-D Mass Workout. Once again, you attack only the Ultimate Exercise for each muscle group with power followed by a density blast, using a 10×10 variation for serious muscle inflation!
3) The Ultimate 10×10 Mass Workout has the Heavy/Light 10×10 Mass Workout–at one session for a muscle you use heavy full-range Positions of Flexion; then at the next workout for that bodypart you use ONLY the Ultimate Exercise in full 10×10 style–the weight is lighter, but the sets get intense and the pump is immense! (You’re getting power at one workout and density at the next–a unique focused-split approach.)
Notice how all of the above workouts have crossover–from X Reps to Power-Density to 10×10 to POF–and they build on one another (that’s why we’re offering all three as a Winter-Workout Motivation Special–more on that below to help you grow). Here’s how to use all three in a solid size strategy:
Weeks 1 and 2: The Basic X-traordinary X-Rep Workout
Weeks 3 and 4: The Basic Power-Density Mass Workout
Week 5: DOWNSHIFT week–use the same poundages, but stop all work sets short of failure
Weeks 6, 7, 8, 9: The Heavy/Light 10×10 Mass Workout–POF on heavy day alternated with 10 sets of 10 reps on “light” day (or it’s the perfect time for Jonathan’s X-traordinary Size Surge Workout, with built-in downshifts; it will be available in the coming weeks).
IMPORTANT: Do not skip the Week 5 medium-intensity phase. That downshift is when you cruise to get huge. NOT going to exhaustion that week allows your muscles and nervous system to fully recover, or supercompensate, from the previous weeks of all-out big, basic training.
Of course, you can construct your own workouts. Just use the right tools and follow a few rules:
1) Use the key exercises for each bodypart, as Arnold did.
2) Be sure to cover both power and density so you build both sides of the mass-building fast-twitch 2A fibers that are dominant in the biggest bodybuilders. Heavy straight sets for power; higher-rep sets, drop sets, supersets, 10×10 style, etc., for density. Simple, quick, efficient workouts.
3) Move to a medium-intensity downshift week after every four to six weeks of all-out training.
No question that now’s the time for a workout redesign. A winter calorie surplus means it’s much easier for your body to pack on muscle than it is when you’re on a summer ripping diet. Turn those extra calories into pure muscle mass (imagine 15 pounds of extra beef filling out your frame!)…
If you want to be bigger than ever this spring and summer, take advantage of prime grow time, which is NOW. You’ll pack on muscle like crazy into the new year and beyond. Happy holidays, indeed!
Till next time, train hard–and smart–for BIG results.
Note: We’re offering The Winter-Workout Motivation Special to get you growing immediately. It includes The X-traordinary X-Rep Workout, The Ultimate Power-Density Mass Workout and The Ultimate 10×10 Mass Workout, our three most popular e-books for a limited-time discount price. Click here to check it out. Or you can get each individual e-program there as well. Now is prime grow time!
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
NEW: The new X-traordinary X-Rep Workout e-guide merges all the top X-Rep techniques and info with the latest muscle-building research into two new power-packed X-Rep workouts–the basic X program only takes about 35 minutes. It also includes a look at Arnold’s X-training tactics as well a how current Mr. Olympia contenders use them to pack on extreme muscle mass. For more info and chapter listings visit www.X-traordinaryWorkouts.com.
Latest e-book release:
•The Ultimate Power-Density Mass Workout includes the latest eye-opening data on the key muscle fibers that have the most potential for growth (it’s rewriting physiology textbooks) and the best mass-building rep tempo. See how one legendary Austrian bodybuilder used Power-Density to build dominant, dramatic muscle mass, his combo-to-grow methods included. You also get four complete, printable workouts–one that takes only about 30 minutes per session–plus X Reps, POF and more. More details.
•Eric Broser’s Power/Rep Range/Shock Workout gives you everything you need to apply his max-mass system for incredible new gains–including all 12 printable workouts and a big Q&A section. More details.
•The Ultimate 10×10 Mass Workout contains a four-days-per-week, one-ultimate-exercise-per-bodypart program and also a heavy/light version, with heavy POF alternated with a one-exercise 10×10 routine. More details.
•The Ultimate Fat-to-Muscle Workout is based on the latest metabolic research so you can get bigger and leaner fast without long, mind-numbing cardio–you’ll burn fat and build muscle 24/7 with customized mass-building weight workouts. More details.
Click on the e-books for more information:
Newbies: If you’re a beginning bodybuilder, coming back from a layoff or a trainer who trains beginners, our new e-book, Quick-Start Muscle-Building Guide, is for you.
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To follow the ITRC training program in “Train, Eat, Grow,” get a copy of the latest issue of IRON MAN.
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This Special Report was submitted by Jonathan Lawson and Steve Holman.
The IRON MAN Training & Research Team
www.ironmanmagazine.com
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