More Muscle: A New Beginning

You know Ron Harris. He’s a been a hardcore bodybuilder for 20-plus years, he writes for IRON MAN and other physique magazines, and he recently had his shoulder “scoped” due to the cumulative effects of heavy training—like dumbbell presses with the 100s. He told me about his surgery and said that his heavy training days are over. I could tell he was down about it—but maybe he shouldn’t be. Perhaps it’s a new beginning and a chance to discover how to add even more muscle.

We are all brainwashed—or misinformed—that training heavy is the only way to new mass—that we have to suffer serious cumulative joint damage to get bigger. I’ve finally discovered that that’s not true. I told Ron my recent experience with moderate-weight/high-fatigue methods as well as about how many others brave enough to go against the grain and try it had immediate size-building success—like Doug Brignole.

Doug is a Mr. America and Mr. Universe winner and a true student of exercise physiology and kinesiology. He saw my article in IM, “Ultimate Size: The Real Muscle-Growth Secret” and gave it a read. Doug is over 50 and, to his credit, an open-minded guy—plus he’d been having trouble adding new muscle for a long, long time. Frustrated? Absolutely. But that article gave him new hope and ideas and convinced him to try the moderate-weight/high-fatigue method. He did, and after only one month was shocked at his progress. He fired off an excited e-mail to me:

“Since 1991 I was convinced that heavy weights/low reps was the best way to develop muscle mass. However, I’ve recently been disappointed with my apparent inability to build much mass compared to how well I was able to do it in my 30s. So after reading your article, I thought I would give the moderate-weight/high-fatigue method another shot. Wow!! In just one month of using your 4X method, I’ve been amazed at my rate of growth…. I am pleasantly surprised to be growing muscle again—fast! Chalk this up to teaching an old dog a new trick.”

He’s so stoked, in fact, that he’s writing an article about it for IRON MAN. I’ve been writing about it for awhile now after experimenting with 4X training for more than a year now with great results—and my joints and spine feel fine, better than ever in my 35 years of training. And my muscles are bigger and fuller.

Everyone always wants visual proof, so I’m including a picture that John Balik, IM publisher, snapped of me in the gym a few months ago around my 52nd birthday. I train four days a week for about an hour per workout…

Moderate-weight/high-fatigue mass training works—and I’ll discuss why right here  in my next blog.

Stay tuned, train smart and be Built For Life.