I fondly remember when Vince Gironda used to come into the IRON MAN offices and go into his tirades about various muscle-building exercises and concepts. One was what he called density training, doing more work in less time for muscle-size increases.

Those memories coupled with a question I got in an e-mail about pre-exhaustion training got me thinking: What about Pre-Ex 4X?

Pre-exhaustion is simply supersetting an isolation exercise with a compound move, so on the second, ancillary muscles can help push the target further into the growth threshold. For example, you do a set of cable crossovers, then you immediately attack a set of bench presses, an exercise which bring in the triceps and front delts to assist your pecs in getting more wrecked than usual.

The concept is credited to the late Bob Kennedy. My hat’s off to Bob. In fact, I was screaming, “Thanks a lot, Bob!” as I massaged my throbbing, pumped pecs at a recent Pre-Ex 4X workout. Actually, it was so freaking painful that I pulled it back to Pre-Ex 3X. That’s a better rhyme anyway. Here’s an example:

Cable flyes, 3 x 12

Low-incline DB presses, 3 x 10

So you do a set of cable flyes, then immediately move to low-incline dumbbell presses. The first round is not to failure, as you are still using your 15RM on both moves. Rest 40 seconds, then hit it again.

The second round will be very close to failure, and your entire chest will feel as if it’s being blasted with a blowtorch. Oh, and you’ll be breathing fairly rapidly as well. Rest only 40 seconds again, then struggle through one more round.

Your third cycle will be pretty brutal, as you go to failure on both exercises. You can even add one or two rest/pause sets to the end of the inclines if you’re feeling really hardcore (or is that masochistic?). When you hit failure, put down the weight, count to 10, then rep out again.

I followed the above using the same Pre-Ex 3X cycle of low cable flyes and decline DB presses. Then I did a standard 3X sequence of flat-bench flyes. My chest was toasted, roasted and pumped to the max in 15 minutes—and the weights were very moderate, which means very little joint stress, and muscle-eating cortisol release was also kept low—which means more testosterone is left to help you grow.

If you’re looking for a new muscle size, give Pre-Ex 3X a try.

Stay tuned, train smart and be Built for Life.

Note: The 4X Mass Workout is available at X-Workouts.com. Jonathan’s X-traordinary Size Surge Workout e-book is available at SizeSurgeWorkout.com. It has complete workouts, alternate 3-way POF split Phase 2 program, the diet he used and much more.

It was back in the late 1990s when I was working on a blockbuster (I hoped) mass-building program that would help trainees pack on mass quickly. It was a two-phase approach, five weeks with each different routine.

The first was three days a week with big, basic exercises, two work sets each. It was a unique split, with arms trained directly only once a week–but they got plenty of indirect work at the other two workouts with bench presses, chins, etc. Also, the first exercise at each of the three sessions was either squats or deadlifts. That’s why it was dubbed the Anabolic Primer phase–it was designed to get strength and anabolic hormones soaring.

Phase 2 was a two-way split, training four days a week, preferably every other day to allow for better recovery. The program was full-range Positions of Flexion; that is, a midrange, stretch and contracted position for each target muscle. For example, triceps was close-grip bench presses (midrange), overhead extensions (stretch) and pushdowns (contracted).

As fate would have it, we hired a young guy named Jonathan Lawson at IRON MAN, and a few days after he started work, I noticed him going through the training motions in our warehouse gym. He told me he had competed in bodybuilding, but never did very well, and he was pretty much just training to maintain. He actually had let himself go and didn’t even look like he lifted. Such is the frustration of bodybuilding when gains are extremely slow.

I figured he was the perfect beta-test subject for the 10-Week Size Surge. Boy, was he ever. After I explained it to him, how and why it would work, he was extremely excited. He threw himself into the workouts with passion and effort and got on a regimented eating schedule.

Those of you who have been reading IRON MAN for a few years know the rest of the story–he gained a whopping 20 pounds of muscle along with loads of strength (see his results chart at www.SizeSurgeWorkout.com).

After his amazing transformation, he was accused of using steroids of course; however, he is natural for life. Even me, the creator of the program, was skeptical. I had to ask him a few times. He said no way–not worth the risks. He’s an honest guy, and I believed him. I’ve known him now for almost 20 years, and I can assure anyone and everyone that he is a natural-for-life bodybuilder–with pretty darned good genetics.

Keep in mind that he was regaining some of that muscle. Muscle mass is much easier to add the second time around; however, he also gained at least 10 pounds of new muscle. He had never experienced the full-range training that POF provides, and that’s where his real gains emerged–in Phase 2. That’s because in additions to full-range stimulation and stretch overload, he was getting both myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic stimulation. Heavy weights on the big midrange and stretch moves produced plenty of myofibrillar size and strength, while the continuous-tension contracted-position exercises forced sarcoplasmic expansion–at least enough to blow up his muscles to impressive size.

Could his results have been even better? I believe yes–with more sarcoplasmic stimulation. If we were doing it all over again, I would keep Phase 1, the Anabolic Primer, as is; however, Phase 2 would’ve been different: Perhaps heavy work on the big midrange move and the 4X mass method on the stretch- and contracted-position exercises.

I also would’ve had him use a three-way split. While that alternate split is provided in Jonathan’s updated Size Surge e-book, the above 4X recommendations are not. We discovered 4X after it was written–but we now know it works incredibly well to build muscle size, especially at the sarcoplasmic level.

Jonathan is now getting close to 40, and he’s experimenting with the above Size Surge Rebirth protocol for Phase 2. While he’s healing from three broken toes at the moment, he can train his upper body with plenty of intensity–and he’s motivated to give the combo-to-grow protocol a go. It will be interesting to see how he progresses. I’ll have an update in a future blog. Till then…

Stay tuned, train smart and be Built for Life.

Note: The 4X Mass Workout is available at X-Workouts.com. Jonathan’s X-traordinary Size Surge Workout e-book is available at SizeSurgeWorkout.com. It has complete workouts, alternate 3-way POF split Phase 2 program, the diet he used and much more.

Ever since I adopted a moderate-weight, high-fatigue mass-building protocol, I’ve gotten lots of feedback—some of it resistance to the idea that anything but ultra heavy poundages can build muscle. Hey, I understand.

It took me a few years before I got brave enough to give the 4X method a go—and then some time after that before I went all in and started training with a total-4X-style program.

As I’ve said, younger guys love training heavy, and that’s great—if they’re careful. Strength is fairly important in the overall size-building scheme of things. Once you get up into your 40s, however, joint health and staying out of the emergency and/or operating rooms become priorities—and an all-4X program is the answer to looking like a bodybuilder without all the aches and pains.

But for those who want to get as big as possible while building strength on top of mass, there is a simple solution: Do all or most of your big midrange exercises in power-pyramid fashion. A midrange exercise is the first move in full-range Positions-of-Flexion mass training. It’s usually a multi-joint exercise like squats, bench presses, rows and so on. So your POF triceps routine would be…

Midrange: Close-grip bench presses (pyramid), 3 x 8, 6, 4

Stretch: Overhead extensions (4X style), 3 x 10

Contracted: Pushdowns (4X style), 4 x 12

You can use any type of power scheme on our first big exercise—like 5 x 5, popularized by strength coach Bill Starr. Heavy, lower-rep sets will build the force-generating myofibrils, the actin and myosin strand in the muscle fibers, while the 3X and 4X sequences will focus more on expanding the sarcoplasmic energy fluid due to the short rests between sets.

For those unfamiliar, 4X is taking a weight with which you can get 15 reps, but you only do 10 (or 12); rest 35 seconds, then do it again—and so on until you do four sets. On the fourth set you go all out to crash through the growth threshold. If you get 10, you increase the weight at your next workout.

A key point: Lift in one second and lower in three seconds on every rep. That will give you at least 40 seconds of tension time, important for sarcoplasmic-size increases. (Studies show that it’s also the ideal cadence for power reps as well.)

Here’s another POF example for middle/lower chest:

Midrange: Bench presses (pyramid), 4 x 8, 6, 4, 3

Stretch: Flyes (4X style), 3 x 10

Contracted: Cable crossovers (4X style), 4 x 12

On the pyramid you rest two to three minutes between sets, so the above will take you longer than if you were training all 4X.

Of course, the next question is, Should you go heavy at every workout? That may require experimentation. You might like the heavy/moderate approach if you train each muscle twice a week. So at the first workout you’d do the power pyramid on the midrange exercise, then the second workout you’d do 4X. Your all-4X workout is obviously your moderate-weight day; however, you will still build both myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic size.

So if you feel you need heavy training for ultimate gaining, try the above combo—and prepare to grow.

Stay tuned, train smart and be Built for Life.

Note: The 4X Mass Workout is available at X-Workouts.com, as are the two 4X companion e-books with heavy-plus-4X workouts, The X-centric Mass Workout and The Power-Density Mass Workout. All contain full-range Positions-of-Flexion programs.

Remember the bodybuilders of yesteryear who would often shift their workouts to high reps for cuts? Oh, brother [roll eyes]. I guess back in the dark ages they didn’t know that you can’t etch in cuts with higher reps—or can you?

If you’ve ever done a set of longer-tension-time leg extensions, you’d swear you were searing in lines of definition and blasting off fat with every rep—especially near the end of the set, when the burn was so fierce you almost punched your training partner in the neck to stop him from telling you to get another rep. But science tells us that you can’t “burn in” detail—ah, but you can affect fat-burning hormones with higher reps—or, more accurately, longer tension times….

Studies show that growth hormone, a potent fat burner, significantly increases due to muscle burn. Lactic acid and other fatigue products have been shown to boost GH as well as testosterone. T is another power-packed fat burners, and both help you pack on muscle mass too. Canadian researchers discovered the muscle burn-GH connection back in 1997. (Can J Appl Physio. 22:244-255; 1997)

More recently IRON MAN’s resident Ph.D.s, Gabriel and Jacob Wilson, discovered that fatigue also triggers testosterone increases:

“Researchers found large changes in testosterone following a moderate-intensity protocol [70% 1RM, multiple subfailure sets], and no significant increases were found after numerous sets performed at 100 percent intensity [1RM]. This suggests that bodybuilders may benefit from lifting in a moderate repetition range of eight to 12.

“It appears the greater rise in testosterone may be the result of greater metabolic stress, such as increases in lactic acid following moderate-intensity, rather than maximal-intensity, training. Moderate intensity, high-volume exercise—eight to 12 reps and more than four sets—leads to greater increases in testosterone than low-volume, maximal-intensity exercise.” (Med Sci Sports Exerc. 36(9):1499-1506. 2004.; J Appl Physiol. 74(2):882-887. 1993.)

So the better testosterone boost was caused by volume—more sets—with most sets being subfailure. Interesting. That is very similar to the 4X mass-training method I’ve adopted (and am always barking about).

For those unfamiliar with 4X, you take a weight with which you can get 15 reps, but you only do 10; rest 35 seconds, and then do it again—and so on for four sets. On the fourth set you go all out. If you get 10 or more, you add weight at your next workout. The short rests cause cumulative fatigue pooling and a searing burn by the end, which is when you crash through the growth threshold.

Remember, it’s all about tension time, not necessarily rep count. For example, f you do 10 reps, lifting in one second and lowering in three, you will get 40 seconds of tension time on every set (10 reps times 4 seconds). Whereas if you do 15 rapid-fire reps, you may only get 20 seconds of tension time. The 10-rep set will do a better torching job.

So tension time is the more accurate fat-to-muscle trigger here. And it’s why I recommend four-second reps on almost every set of a 4X sequence. (Note: There are exceptions, which I will cover in a future blog; for example, X-celeration sets, 1.5 seconds per rep, can activate more and dormant fibers.)

So maybe the bodybuilders of yesteryear weren’t wrong after all. Longer tension times for more muscle burn would increase growth hormone and testosterone, which in turn would get them leaner faster for more muscle and rippedness. If you’re trying to build muscle and get leaner at the same time, you may want to try 4X, at least on an exercise or two for each bodypart.

I’ve been using it exclusively for almost two years straight—no superheavy training, only moderate weights—and I’m amazed at how my lean muscularity has stayed intact through the winter months, even with my looser diet (plus, I’m 52 years old!). Plus, my joints no longer wake me up at night.

Another reason 4X works so well at burning fat and building muscle is less cortisol release. Extreme weights traumatize joints and connective tissue, which means more stress hormones, which tend to eat muscle tissue and impair proper recovery. Excess cortisol also derails growth hormone output, so in that respect it may hamper your fat-loss efforts. Interesting.

That may be one reason Danny Padilla, one of the greatest short bodybuilders of all time back in the late ’70s and early ’80s often went to 5×12 with about 45 seconds between sets on every exercise for months before a contest. He did about four exercises for each muscle, and his workouts were quick.

His 5X did not overstress his joints, so he was keeping cortisol down, jacking up GH and testosterone and blasting through the growth threshold for maximum muscle development without overtraining. And he got built-in cardio too. No wonder he was renowned for getting big and ripped quick!

So 4X is not new. It’s actually an old-school ripping tool that packs on plenty of muscle too.

Stay tuned, train smart and be Built for Life.

Note: The 4X Mass Workout is available at X-Workouts.com, as are the two 4X companion e-books with heavy-plus-4X workouts, The X-centric Mass Workout and The Power-Density Mass Workout. All contain full-range Positions-of-Flexion programs.

Considering my recent rants, some have asked if I’m against heavy training. Not at all. I loved it in my youth; however, being over 50, I’m no longer interested; however, looking back at my experience as well as current research, I’m beginning to wonder if bodybuilders go heavy on too many sets too often…with negative muscle-growth consequences.

The name Mike Mentzer stirs a lot of controversy when it comes to bodybuilding workouts, but he contributed a lot to sensible training—even though I disagree with some of his beliefs. Nevertheless, if we look back at what he found and how he came to his conclusions, even if some were somewhat askew, we can get closer to a few truths that may make your own size-and-strength building efforts much more effective.

Basically, Mentzer believed in short, intense workouts. After he retired from competition, his beliefs went even further in that direction. He became a trainer and eventually had his clients perform only one all-out set per exercise and usually one move per muscle. He also recommended infrequent workouts, often to the point of seeming ridiculous—like every 10 days—but what if Mentzer was right?

He may not have been correct from a maximum-muscle-building standpoint, but perhaps his recommendations were optimal for strength development—that is, building and fortifying the myofibrils in the muscle fibers.

Remember, the myofibrils are force-generating actin and myosin strands in the muscle fibers. The theory is that if they are overly traumatized, for example with slow negatives and heavier resistance, longer recovery is mandatory for complete regeneration. Mentzer’s slow-cadence, heavy all-out sets emphasized the negative stroke, which causes damage to the myofibrils.

Myofibrillar stress may be why his workouts produced exceptional strength increases, even when trainees worked a muscle only once every two weeks—there was optimal recovery of the myofibrils and nervous system. Most of the people he trained got very strong very quickly.

That said, muscle-size gains were less than stellar on Mentzer’s system for most. Could that be because his workouts didn’t provide enough stimulus to the sarcoplasm, the energy fluid in the muscles that can expand via longer tension times and short rests between a number of sets (more volume)? I think yes.

For most trainees the sarcoplasmic fluid, and getting it to expand, is the dominant hypertrophic factor. It’s the “side” of the muscle fiber that is responsible for the most mass. While the myofibrils do contribute to mass, they appear to be more of a strength arbiter than a size producer.

I’ve said that one of the biggest mistakes in bodybuilding is equating strength with size. While strength increases suggest a boost in myofibrillar cross-sectional area, in most trainees it’s not enough to produce extreme hypertrophy. There must be a sarcoplasmic-expansion component—and for most bodybuilders that is what should be emphasized for maximum size.

Taking Mentzer’s theories and results into account, perhaps getting in a myofibrillar-dominant workout every 10-to-14 days would be sufficient for strength and the resulting size in those strands. In between those heavy strength hits should be workouts that produce sarcoplasmic expansion, like the 4X mass method. Those workouts don’t take as long to recover from and also don’t produce as much cortisol, a muscle-eating stress hormone that causes people training too heavy too often to just spin their wheels. Less cortisol is one reason 4X allows more growth.

For those unfamiliar, a 4X sequence is picking a weight with which you can get 15 reps, but you only do 10; rest 35 seconds, then do it again. Continue until you complete four sets, with the fourth set to failure. If you get 10, add a small amount of weight to that exercise at your next workout.

That’s moderate-weight, high-fatigue muscle building that I’ve used almost exclusively now for two years. My muscle size and ability to stay lean are excellent. Would I make better gains using a heavy, myofibrillar-stress-dominant workout every 10 days or so for each muscle?

I don’t know, and I’m not interested in putting my 53-year-old joints to the test. But younger trainees might consider it. I think more strength would be the result—perhaps loads of it, if Mentzer was correct. And you may also get some blips in muscle size; however, I still believe that the sarcoplasm is the biggest contributor to hypertrophy.

Stay tuned, train smart and be Built for Life.

Note: The 4X Mass Workout is available at X-Workouts.com, as are the two 4X companion e-books with heavy-plus-4X workouts, The X-centric Mass Workout and The Power-Density Mass Workout. All contain full-range Positions-of-Flexion programs.

Why do you work out? Or, better yet, who are you working out for? If you look around the gym, it seems as if a lot of trainees are there to “lift” impressive poundages so other people look on in awe. (“Lift” is in quotes because it’s often throwing or heaving instead of lifting.)

Now, I am not talking about competitors. Most of them are lifting for themselves–with winning a meet or contest as their goal. That’s great and keeps motivation high. But if you’re not a competitive athlete, why are you training? Your answer should be: “For myself.”

You should be lifting for your health, well-being and to look and feel great—yes, building bigger muscles is a big part of that. But if you’re being awakened in the middle of the night with aching shoulders and/or sharp back pain, you’re not training for yourself–or you’re doing something terribly wrong.

Keep reminding yourself that you’re not hitting the weights for others–you’re working out for you. If you’ve forgotten that, then it’s time to take your workouts back. How would you train if it were just you alone in the gym? You wouldn’t be going for those heavy singles, would you?

They say we get wiser as we get older–and sometimes it’s not till you hit middle age or later that you start training smarter. Ego falls by the wayside, and you suddenly realize that spine-mushing, joint-crushing poundages are not necessary for your goals–it’s all about being relatively strong, looking very muscular and, most importantly, feeling incredible. That does not require extreme weights…

I honestly now believe that the 4X method or something similar is absolutely the best way for most people to train most of the time. That’s taking a moderate poundage, one with which you could get 15 reps, but you only do 10; rest 35 seconds, then do it again. Go all out on set 4; if you get 10, add some weight to the exercise at your next workout or go for 4×11.

That accomplishes so much in so little time–from training both “sides” of the muscle fibers (myofibrils and sarcoplasm) to getting some aerobic benefits to driving up anabolic hormones (growth hormone and testosterone) to fully pumping up blood flow to even stimulating the metabolism and increasing fat burn. And the best part is, your joints will heal and you’ll feel fantastic (in fact, lately I’ve been calling 4X the Fantastic 4 or F4 training).

And if you use 3-way Positions-of-Flexion mass training—working the midrange, stretch and contracted position—you get full-range work for every muscle and complete development. A good example is triceps: close-grip bench presses for midrange work, overhead extensions for stretch and pushdowns for a contracted-position sequence.

Ron Harris, renowned bodybuilding scribe and competitor, is now experimenting with 4X training. He recently wrote about it in IRON MAN and praised its muscle-building abilities (by the way, it’s not a max-strength building system-—powerlifters absolutely must train heavy). His concluding comment was that he only wishes he would’ve found it earlier—before his shoulder surgery.

Mr. America winner Doug Brignole recently began using a version of 4X—with drop sets on some of the sets in a 4X sequence and NOT going to failure on any sets. He said that when he turned 50, he thought he could no longer build muscle, but he’s ecstatic as he gets bigger and leaner with 4X—and he’s feeling great.

The Built-for-Life bottom line: Take your workouts back—train for your well being and build muscle and health in the process. Don’t wait for age and/or injury to smack some smarts into your brain. Start training for yourself and you’ll be amazed at your gains.

Stay tuned, train smart and be Built for Life.

Note: The 4X Mass Workout is available at X-Workouts.com, as are the two 4X companion e-books, The X-centric Mass Workout and The Power-Density Mass Workout. All contain full-range Positions-of-Flexion programs.

When it comes to adding or subtracting body fat, scientists used to believe it was simply a matter of calorie control. Now they are realizing it’s not that simple; there is a major hormonal connection, namely insulin. You can eat below your maintenance-level of calories, but if you’re spiking insulin continuously, you still get fat. That explains why obesity is rampant, even in poverty stricken areas–bad food choices, like processed high-glycemic carbs, that continually spike insulin, which stuffs the fat cells.

As for building muscle, we’ve known of the hypertrophic-hormonal connection for decades–it’s the reason anabolic steroids work. It’s also the reason those of us who don’t use need to pay close attention to spiking our anabolic hormones naturally if we want to add the most muscle possible. Just like insulin produces excess fat packing, testosterone and growth hormone jack up muscle building. And to make that happen we’re told to train hard–all out–with heavy weights. You blast your body to force anabolic hormone release, right? Hmm.

True, shocking your body with heavy weights can up your anabolic hormones, but it produces significant stress–and that causes your body to release cortisol. That’s the fight-or-flight hormone that can chuck loads of muscle into your energy furnace. Oh, it’s also a nemesis to testosterone and growth hormone–in other words, it smothers those anabolic hormones like a wet blanket on a camp fire.

So going crazy in the gym too often can be like spinning your wheels–you do everything possible to trigger T and GH release with heavy balls-to-the-wall sets, but the cortisol kicks in and reduces or even reverses muscle growth. Every workout becomes a muscle beat-down. It may be exactly why your gains are so painfully slow or nonexistent. And the older you get, the more this scenario is magnified. That’s because you have less T and GH to begin with.

If you love training heavy and going all-out on a lot of sets, you should employ the phase-training model. That’s using back-off phases every four to six weeks. Stopping all sets two reps short of failure and/or going lighter will help realign your anabolic drive–T and GH will be revitalized. You’ll probably even get a muscle-size increase during the healing phase.

If you’re not that ego driven in the gym and you’re looking for more muscle, you may want to consider the 4X mass-building method. I’ve explained it here before, but for the uninitiated, it’s taking a weight with which you can get 15 reps, but you only do 10; rest 35 seconds, then do it again–and so on until you complete four sets. On the fourth set you go all out, and if you get 10 reps, you add weight to that exercise at your next workout.

Right away you can see that 4X is a moderate-weight, high-fatigue size-building method. That means…

1) You get less joint stress, which results in less cortisol release–so you don’t short-circuit your anabolic hormones.

2) You train both “sides” of the key growth fibers–the force-generating myofibril strands and the sarcoplasm energy fluid (major muscle pump).

3) You build to a muscle-searing crescendo–studies show that lactic acid burn leads to more growth hormone release.

4) You get cumulative muscle fatigue, crashing through the growth threshold over four sets, which results in testosterone release.

But wait! Don’t we need heavy all-out sets to up our T the most? Not according to recent studies. Here’s what our resident Ph.D.s at IRON MAN, Gabriel and Jacob Wilson, discovered:

“Researchers found large changes in testosterone following a moderate-intensity protocol [70% 1RM, multiple subfailure sets], and no significant increases were found after numerous sets performed at 100 percent intensity [1RM]. This suggests that bodybuilders may benefit from lifting in a moderate repetition range of eight to 12. It appears the greater rise in testosterone may be the result of greater metabolic stress, such as increases in lactic acid following moderate-intensity, rather than maximal-intensity, training. Moderate intensity, high-volume exercise—eight to 12 reps and more than four sets—leads to greater increases in testosterone than low-volume, maximal-intensity exercise.” (Med Sci Sports Exerc. 36(9):1499-1506. 2004.; J Appl Physiol. 74(2):882-887. 1993.)

Bottom line: If you’re going for strength with a size side effect, train heavy—just be sure to use lower-intensity phases every few weeks. On the other hand, if you’re more interested in building size–triggering major muscle growth with a strength side effect–use moderate-weight, high-fatigue training like 4X most of the time. You will be less stressed and primed for mass-building success.

Stay tuned, train smart and be Built for Life.

Note: The 4X Mass Workout is available at X-Workouts.com, as are the two 4X companion e-books, The X-centric Mass Workout and The Power-Density Mass Workout. They show you how to mix heavy training with moderate-weight 4X.

It was a few years ago when I was sitting with IM photographer Mike Neveux at his studio in Gardena, California. It was lunch and we were talking training. I piped up with pride that this was the year I squatted 500 pounds for reps—finally! Mike’s deadpan response: “Why?”

Because…um…to say I did it? After all, my goal—after my brief powerlifting stint in my early 20s—was muscle growth, not strength. But I’d always equated getting stronger with getting bigger—and I’d suffered numerous injuries because of that belief, from a bum shoulder (thanks, heavy bench presses) to a back that frequently goes out, a direct result of that heavy squat goal.

As it turns out, getting stronger can get you bigger, but primarily in the myofibrils, the force-generating actin and myosin strands in the fibers. Researchers believe the most growth occurs in the majority of trainees via the sarcoplasm.

The sarcoplasm is the energy fluid in the fibers. You expand that muscle “juice” by using higher reps, longer-tension-time sets and/or shorter rests between sets—like 30 seconds. It’s why the 4X mass method works so well—you take your 15RM, but you only do 10; rest 35 seconds, then do it again. Continue for four sets, and on the last one go all out; if you get 10, add weight at your next workout.

4X is a great way to get at both the myofibrils, which respond to moderate weights when fatigue is high, and the sarcoplasm, which gets taxed via the higher reps, 10, and the short rests between sets, 35 seconds. Plus, you don’t pound your joints into the ground, so cortisol is lower and anabolic hormones are higher.

I’m recalling all of this because I  have hopes that my lesson trickles down to a lot of younger trainees. If you want muscle growth, you don’t have to pound your joints to dust and have hip replacement surgery in your 50s—or shoulder reconstruction or knee scoping.

Yes, you can build major mass with moderate-weight, high-fatigue training most of the time. Use Positions of Flexion to help you formulate your workouts so you train each muscle through its full range for optimal, more complete development (for example, for triceps it’s close-grip bench presses, overhead extensions, pushdowns—that’s midrange, stretch and contracted).

Of course, if you’re a powerlifter, you’ll have to cope with being jarred awake in the middle of the night by aching shoulders, throbbing spine, etc. But if bodybuilding is your game, you don’t have to put up with major joint pain. You want to squat 500? Why? (P.S.: Mr. Olympia winner Jay Cutler never goes over 400 for squats—and usually uses less.)

Stay tuned, train smart and be Built for Life.

Note: The 4X Mass Workout is available at X-Workouts.com, as are the two 4X companion e-books, The X-centric Mass Workout and The Power-Density Mass Workout.

Pounding the body—muscles, tendons, ligaments and nervous system—with bone-crushing weights for multiple sets has produced a training evolution of sorts. It seems almost everyone is working each target muscle only once a week. Very convenient—but that can make for sluggish gains. Why? Muscles and the nervous system recover at different rates. So muscle recovery may occur in five days while the nervous system takes seven. That two-day gap can result in muscle atrophy, or shrinkage—possibly even back to square one (unless you’re taking steroids).

Training body parts only once a week doesn’t translate to the 4X mass method because it’s a moderate-weight, high-fatigue hypertrophy trigger—there’s less overall stress and muscles and the nervous system recover at almost the same rate—and relatively quickly.

For the uninitiated, 4X is taking a weight with which you can get 15 reps, but you only do 10; rest 35 seconds, then do it again. On set four, you go all out. If you get 10, add weight to the exercise at your next workout. That takes about five minutes per exercise…

To repeat, the weight is moderate. That means there is very little joint trauma, the nervous system is NOT stressed to within an inch of its life and cortisol output is minimal (cortisol is a stress hormone that can cannibalize muscle tissue). In other words, you will recover much more quickly with 4X training—and that can equate to bigger, faster muscle gaining if you do it correctly.

If you use 4X exclusively for all muscle groups, you should train them more frequently. Say you’re using 3-exercise Positions of Flexion for each body part and a 3X or 4X sequence on each exercise. Most trainees make amazing size gains with that direct full-range attack twice a week for most body parts. Once again, your nervous system, joint structures and endocrine system aren’t beaten to a pulp, so you’re ready to roll after only a couple of days, target muscles feeling bigger and fuller. For example, a POF lat routine would be…

Midrange: Pulldowns, 4 x 10

Stretch: Pullovers, 3 x 10

Contracted: Stiff-arm pulldowns, 3 x 10

That’s 10 sets, but only the last one or two sets of each sequence is to failure—and, once again, the big key is that the poundages are moderate. The sequence is such that you optimally stress the force-generating myofibrils while you also expands the sarcoplasm, the energy fluid in the fibers—a double dose of growth.

What made me write this blog is that someone told me they weren’t growing much with 4X. Most people rave about it, saying it produces visible muscle growth almost from the very first workout. Once I dug deeper with this individual, I found he was training each body part once a week. Sorry, not going to work with that split for most people due to the reasons above. (You can post questions at the X-Rep Facebook page.)

If you can handle going against convention, you can often build muscles to extraordinary new dimensions. Give 4X a try for serious size—just be sure to hit each muscle often enough to keep growth surging.

Stay tuned, train smart and be Built for Life.

Note: The 4X Mass Workout is available at X-Workouts.com, as are the two 4X companion e-books, The X-centric Mass Workout and The Power-Density Mass Workout.

I received a message on the X-Rep Facebook page from a guy who was surprised when he timed his sets. He thought he was easily hitting the 40-second hypertrophy mark—but he was missing the boat on many exercises.

His solution: Go for 12 reps on exercises that don’t make it. Those are usually shorter-range moves like calf raises, concentration curls, pushdowns and a few others.

Me? I make a concerted effort to slow down my negatives, so I know all of my TUTs are fine—or so I thought. Just for grins I timed my calf raises. Oops! Only 30 seconds. Apparently pain can make time slow to a crawl—you think you’ve been struggling longer than you really have. Calf raises hurt—a lot—and most of us want them to be overwith as quickly as possible. I decided to suck it up and push my reps to 12—and I think it’s a good idea to use 15  reps with a one-up-three-down cadence on my 4X sequences every so often.

Another place you may be time tricked is between sets. With the 4X mass method you should be resting 30 to 40 seconds between sets. If you’re not timing it with a sweeping second hand on a clock or a timer on your iPhone, I can guarantee you’re resting longer than you should. Oh, and I’ve tried staring at the clock to slow down the seconds–it doesn’t work.

Once again, it’s the pain factor that can have you cheat up your rest times. Your rests between sets need to be short because of a few things…

1) Growth hormone release. Shorter rests mean more muscle burn, and that searing effect is directly related to a GH surge, a potent muscle builder and fat burner.

2) Muscle fiber activation. The first set or two is relatively easy in a 4X sequence because you’re fatiguing a lot of slow-twitch as well as fast-twitch 2A fibers. As the sequence progresses and fatigue builds, the muscle is forced to bring in more and more fast-twitch fibers to get the job done. By the last set to failure, you’re cranking on all cylinders.

3) Cardio/fat burning. Increasing your heart rate throughout the duration of your workout will mean better fat burning as well as cardiovascular benefits. Your breathing should be elevated throughout your workout—not sucking air, but elevated. Circulatory improvements will make the muscle eaiser to nourish with growth factors. Plus, if you’re lean enough, you’ll get jacked vascularity.

Bottom line: Work out wearing a watch or with your iPhone on timer and make sure you’re not cheating yourself out of results. In other words, time to grow!

Stay tuned, train smart and be Built for Life.

Note: The 4X Mass Workout e-book is available at X-Workouts.com. The two companion 4X e-books, The X-centric Mass Workout and The Power-Density Mass Workout are there also–at a limited-time discount price.