Subject:
IRON MAN E-Zine: Issue #591:
New Shocking Size: Change You Can Use to Get Huge
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TRY THIS AT YOUR NEXT WORKOUT
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New Shocking Size: Change You Can Use to Get Huge
Q: After trying 4X training for two months, I’m convinced: You don’t need heavy weights to get big. I’ve put on six pounds of new muscle after being stuck at 195 for years. I’m finally over 200 with abs. My question is, will I go stale on 4X? I assume yes, so how can I alter it or what other style of training can I go to that isn’t too heavy but will still build mass? My joints feel great and I’m growing. I will never go back to extreme heavy lifting. Thank you!
A: That’s the great thing about 4X mass training: You don’t have to stick to four sets or 30 seconds of rest. If you want a bit more emphasis on the myofibrils, the force-generating actin and myosin strands in the muscle fibers, pull it down to 3X and increase your rests between sets to 40 to 50 seconds…
Fewer sets and slightly longer rests will allow you to use more weight–but nothing excessive. The rests are still short enough to keep your poundages moderate–but slightly heavier than standard 4X. It’s an excellent change-to-gain strategy…
Remember, 4X is picking a weight with which you can get 15 reps, but you only do 10; rest 30 to 40 seconds, then do 10 more–and so on until you complete 4 sets. You go all out on the fourth, and if you get 10 reps, you add weight to that exercise at your next workout…
With 3X and longer rests, you’d pick a weight with which you can get 12, not 15–so you’ll be moving a slightly heavier load. That’s why it leans a bit more toward myofibrillar growth–but keep in mind that there’s more to getting extreme muscle size, as in sarcoplasmic expansion…
At the other end is 10×10. It’s just like 4X only you start with a weight with which you can get 20 reps, but you only do 10–and you only use one exercise for each muscle. That emphasizes–you guessed it–expansion of the sarcoplasm, the energy fluid in the muscle fibers that houses the mitochondria, glycogen and ATP. With 10×10 you activate new mass in about 10 minutes–but the time depends on what rest between sets you use…
As we outline in the 10×10 Mass Workout e-book, coach Charles Poliquin suggests 90 seconds of rest between sets and lower reps for more myofibrillar stress (strength and power). For example, you pick a weight with which you can do 10 reps, but you only do 5–for 10 sets of 5. [Note: Poliquin’s 10-set bench press progression is outlined on page 23 of the 10×10 e-book, a method he says can boost your bench by 30 pounds or more in 10 weeks.)
That’s in stark contrast to Vince Gironda. He used 8×8 to whip people into shape–everyone from professional bodybuilders to Hollywood actors. His secret was shorter rests–20 to 30 seconds between sets for a supersaturation of blood volume, incredible sarcoplasmic expansion and growth hormone production, which burns fat AND builds muscle. It worked for almost every trainee who tried it, including Vince himself…
A current pro bodybuilder who has gotten great gains with 10×10-style training is Mark Dugdale. He prefers 8 sets, but with 50 to 60 seconds of rest. He follows the 8X exercise with two standard all-out sets on another move for that muscle. For example, he’ll do 8×10 on incline presses and 2×8-10 on pec-deck flyes, going all out on those two isolation sets with two minutes rest. That combo has given him some incredible new size…
The point we’re trying to make is that you don’t have to stick to strict 4X mass-training, with it’s 30 to 40 seconds between sets. You can do 3X with 30 to 40 seconds rest, 3X with 50 to 60 seconds rest, 10X with 30 to 40 seconds rest, 10X with 90 seconds rest, 8X with 60 seconds rest, and so on. It takes a small change to trigger bigger mass gains….
As we also discuss in The 4X Mass Workout e-book, one of the greatest short bodybuilders of all time, Danny Padilla preferred 5×12 with 45 to 60 seconds between sets. That’s another 4X variation, and he said it got him big and ripped fast. Apparently it worked for every bodypart because the man had no weaknesses…
So there are lots of ways to use the 4X method to get huge. Recently we tried 8×10 with 50 seconds of rest between sets as a shock week–similar to Dugdale’s hybrid method above. We got big pumps and new soreness, indicators of new mass upticks.
One last point: Whether you choose 3X, 4X, 5X, 8X or 10×10, you can adapt your choice to any of our programs. For example, if you’re a bit stale on one of the 4X Mass Workout programs in that e-book, you can shift to the three-days-per-week Size Surge phase 1. That’s two exercises per muscle, but you don’t have to use standard 4X…
You could do the big exercise as a 3X sequence with 50 to 60 seconds of rest for myofibrillar emphasis; then do the more isolated exercise as a 3×12 with 30 seconds of rest between sets for sarcoplasmic-size effects…
Or do straight heavy sets on the big exercise and a quick 5X on the iso move. All you have to do is choose–then prepare to get huge.
Till next time, train hard–and smart–for BIG results.
ONLY $19.99: Your choice of The 4X Mass Workout, The 10×10 Mass Workout or Jonathan’s classic X Size Surge Workout. All contain complete workouts as well as loads of mass-building information and motivation.
–Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
LIMITED-TIME $19.99 BEST-SELLERS: We’re offering each of these at their lowest price ever to get you big and ripped by spring. Click on the title you’re interested in for more info…
1) The 4X Mass Workout–fast, simplified supersaturation training for X-treme size
2) The X-traordinary X-Rep Workout–the latest update to our original X e-book
3) The X-centric Mass Workout–the negative-accentuated training manual
4) The Ultimate Fat-to-Muscle Workout–total body transformation training
5) X-traordinary Muscle-Building Workouts–10 complete mass programs
6) X-traordinary Arms–includes the 3D HIT workout system with big-arms routines
7) 3D Muscle Building–the original Positions-of-Flexion mass-training manual
8) X-treme Lean—Fat-Burning and Nutrition Guide (with training too)
9) The Ultimate Power-Density Mass Workout
10) The X-traordinary Size Surge Workout
11) The Ultimate 10×10 Mass Workout
12) Eric Broser’s FD/FS Mass-Shock Workout
Latest release: The 4X Mass Workout—Fast Simplified Supersaturation Training for X-treme Muscle Size. It’s how many pro bodybuilders get big AND ripped as fast as possible for contests and photo shoots. You can use it for a blast of new mass in only a few weeks–and the workouts are quick. Guaranteed or your money back. Limited-time discount offer HERE.
MASS-BUILDING E-BOOKS…
X-SHOP: Find our original X-Rep e-book, as well as X Updates and Positions-of-Flexion mass-training guides…
X-WORKOUTS: Find specialized e-workout programs, including Power-Density, 10×10 and Eric Broser’s Power/Rep Range/Shock….
NEW: The X-traordinary SIZE SURGE Workout, Jonathan Lawson’s legendary two-phase mass program that packed 20 pounds of muscle on his frame in only 10 weeks. See all the changes he made to the original workouts, transcribed from his training journal. In printable templates so you can duplicate his incredible gains. You also get his eat-to-grow diet and streamlined no-frills supplement schedule, anabolic acceleration methods and loads of tips and tricks. Plus, an interview with a top-level bodybuilder who trains Size Surge style for incredible growth.
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.
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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