IRON MAN E-Zine: Issue #564: How Pros Use Stretch Partials for Amazing Mass Gains

Subject:
IRON MAN E-Zine: Issue #564:
How Pros Use Stretch Partials for Amazing Mass Gains

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TRY THIS AT YOUR NEXT WORKOUT
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How Pros Use Stretch Partials for Amazing Mass Gains

Q: Your end-of-set X-Rep partials have helped me add a lot of muscle over the past two months. I’m sold. What do you think about heavier X-Rep-only sets–just doing X Reps with no full reps? I was thinking about bumping the weight up on my last set of an exercise and doing only the 10-inch partials in the semi-stretch position for eight X Reps.

A: We discuss a number of X-hybrid tactics in our X-Rep Update #1 e-book, including X-Only sets. Here’s some that info…

"If the turnaround [where you shift from the positive to a negative stroke, like the bottom of an incline press] is the best spot on an exercise’s stroke for fiber activation, why do any full-range reps at all? Good question. In fact, a lot of the biggest bodybuilders use X-Only sets to develop extreme mass…

"For example, Jay Cutler, the current Mr. Olympia, begins his chest workout with a press on a Hammer machine—and each of his sets is a series of X Reps, no full-range reps at all; however, he does 12 or more reps per set. Why? To keep the tension time on his chest long enough to trip the hypertrophic switch."

Now that’s not to say that lower-rep X-Only sets would have no benefit. As we’ve said, training with heavy weight and lower reps builds the myofibrils, the actin and myosin pairings in the fibers. In fact, top researchers Stephen Fleck, Ph.D., and William Kraemer, Ph.D., state that the semi-stretch position is where those actin and myosin pairings line up best. You get ideal size stimulation. That means X-Only is the PERFECT way to blast the myofibrils into NEW growth…

One top bodybuilder who uses that rep style is Jason Huh. He uses a heavy-weight X-Only method on most of his sets. Here’s a pic of him from a 2010 amateur show before adopting that partial-reps training style…

Now here’s a shot by Isaac Hinds from the Bodybuilding.com Web site that was taken at 2011 New York Pro–Huh is much bigger, and he says a lot of that new size is due to more stretch-partial sets in his training…

Here’s how he describes his unconventional style: "The key point to remember is that you are striving for continuous, controlled tension in the stretch position of the exercise with as much weight as possible for a MINIMUM of eight reps. There is absolutely no bouncing or jerking, and avoid a 100 percent stretch position to keep stress off your tendons."

For example, he will do pulldowns, starting with the arms slightly bent and pulling only halfway down; then control it back up to almost full-arm extension–but not quite–then back down to the halfway mark again.

There’s no question that a lot of research shows that overloading the muscle when it’s close to its stretch position is a key to jolting new muscle size. Remember the animal study we discuss in X-Rep Update #1 (pages 33-34) that produced a 300 percent increase in muscle mass after only one month of stretch overload as the ONLY stimulus. That’s a triple-size muscle increase–and there was very little movement involved!

So HEAVY lower-rep X-Only sets can build size–but, as we’ve explained, it’s primarily myofibrillar growth. If you want ULTIMATE muscle size you should also strive to expand the sarcoplasm–the energy fluid in the fibers…

You can get that done by including some higher-rep, full-range sets, 4X sequences, drop sets or X-centric sets, to name a few. Even higher-rep X-Only sets can build sarcoplasmic size. They’ve helped make Jay Cutler Mr. Olympia. Try some X-O to grow…

Note: X-Rep Update #1 is now only $24.95. It includes chapters on X-Only, Static Contractions and Rest/Pause as well as an entire chapter on Jay Cutler’s training, "Mr. O’s Wild X-O Workouts." Best X Offer: Get ALL 3 original X-Rep e-books–Update #1 as well as The Ultimate Mass Workout and Beyond X-Rep Muscle Building–HERE for only $49.99 for a LIMITED TIME (you save $55).

Till next time, train hard–and smart–for BIG results.

–Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson

www.X-Rep.com

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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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