Supersaturation for Serious Muscle Size

Ever heard the saying, Go heavy or go home? Don’t believe it! You don’t have to go heavy at every workout, just every other—and it builds muscle fast. Do a pump session a few days after every heavy one, and you can almost watch the muscles get bigger and more detailed every week because of the all-out anabolic activity, as well as recovery, you’re getting. It’s the light workouts that most people don’t do—and that’s the reason they miss out on so much size stimulation.

Pump, Supersaturation and Muscle Recovery

The first important point about lighter, subfailure workouts done with higher reps is that they fill up the muscles, making them look bigger, denser and more detailed. You do a light workout a few days after an all-out heavy workout. You may recognize that as the way a lot of bodybuilders in the presteroid era of the ’50s and early ’60s trained. Those who used the system correctly got huge—no drugs, no supplements. 

The reason it works is that you damage the muscles with heavy training at one workout and then at the next session give them subfailure pumping sets for supercompensation and supersaturation of glycogen—in other words, higher-rep flushing sets. 

This is not a muscle-building theory. It works, big time! It will pack new size on your frame, just as it did for the bodybuilders of the golden era. Why? One reason is that muscles are more than 70 percent water. What pulls water into muscles to make them big and full? Glycogen from carbs.

Basically, the more glycogen you can force into your muscles, the bigger they’ll get. That’s the reason we suggest you take in 20 to 40 grams of carbs about 45 minutes to an hour before every heavy/light workout, along with about 20 to 30 grams of protein. (You also need even more carbs and protein immediately after you train—60 grams and 40 grams, respectively; it’s best to get them from a postworkout supplement like RecoverX.) No, that won’t make you fat. Research shows that even 100 grams of carbs eaten around the time an intense workout takes place won’t feed fat stores.

A good example of how well this works is the last week of contest prep for bodybuilders. They do a light pumping workout for each bodypart as they ramp up their carbs. That’s the perfect way to get full muscles via complete glycogen replenishment and, possibly, hopefully, supercompensation; that is, higher-than-normal glycogen retention after weeks of lower-carb contest dieting. If everything goes right, they can get considerably bigger and more detailed in that last week, primarily from driving more water into their muscles.

Slow Down to Muscle Up

Another reason light workouts do good things for muscle size is tension time. A recent study showed how well slow, controlled light training works. (Tanimoto, M. J App Physiol. 100:1150-1157; 2006) Three groups used different styles of training:

1) Low intensity, 50 percent of one-rep max (light), with slow movement and tonic force generation, taking three seconds each to raise and lower the weight—no relaxing phase. 

2) High intensity, 80 percent of one-rep max (heavy), taking one second to raise the weight and one second to lower it, with one second of relaxing between reps—the conventional style of training.

3) Low intensity with normal speed (same as 2).

The workout consisted of three sets done three times a week for 12 weeks. The first two groups experienced significant muscle gains, with no gains occurring in group 3. 

That brings to light another key factor of effective light workouts: rep speed. We recommend using slower reps for light workouts—about five seconds per rep instead of the three-second reps done on heavy day. In other words, light workouts are similar to what group 1 did in the study—using the sustained-tension technique and longer muscle activation, which produces the greatest amount of muscle-oxygen deficit. 

Once again light training produced gains similar to what other subjects got when they used heavier weights in the conventional training style. That has huge implications for muscle building—and verifies the heavy/light concept (those old-timers back in the ’50s and ’60s knew what they were doing).

While you get unique muscle stimulation, light, high-rep, slower “feel” sets also increase the release of growth hormone and localized insulinlike growth factor 1. Plus, they trigger nitric oxide production, which stimulates the development of muscle satellite cells—a key to muscle hypertrophy.

For those who are afraid that light training won’t do much for muscle size or will make you shrink, that study should help deprogram you. You’ll build more muscle via the supersaturation of glycogen and amino acids with lighter, slower, continuous-tension workouts and also get the unique longer tension times that build muscle without as much stress as higher-intensity heavy workouts. What’s more, your joints, tendons and ligaments will get more time to recover without sacrificing muscle. Heavy/light programs build mass big time, you just have to follow a few rules:

1) Use all-out intensity on heavy-day sets, with lower reps that you perform like controlled explosions.

2) Use slow, continuous-tension sets on light day, with about 12 reps that last five seconds each.

Supplement Standouts

Something that you can do to enhance the process is to use nitric oxide–precursor supplements, or vasodilators, which open the blood vessels for maximum pump and nutrient delivery during your workout (exactly what you’re striving for in your light workouts). Keep in mind, however, that digestion shuts down during intense activity, like your workout, so you want to get your carbs and aminos 45 minutes to an hour before you hit the gym. They need to be circulating in your bloodstream, ready to be flushed into your muscles during your pump sets.

We also suggest beta-alanine, a.k.a. Red Dragon, as it loads your muscle tissue with carnosine, which helps buffer fatigue so you can crank out more growth reps—hitting the high-threshold motor units via big weights plus X-Rep partials on heavy workouts. In other words, you get longer tension times as you push into the burn zone on light days.

Sample H/L Workout

Okay, enough of the reasons that it works; you probably want a specific example. Here are the biceps and triceps routines from the quick four-days-per-week heavy/light program listed in X-traordinary Muscle-Building Workouts (arms are trained on Monday and Thursday):

Biceps

Heavy
Barbell curls 3 x 5, 8, 9
Incline curls (drop set) 1 x 8(5)
Light
Barbell curls
(subfailure) 2 x 10-15
Concentration curls 
(drop set) 1 x 8(5)

Triceps

Heavy
Decline extensions 3 x 5, 8, 9
Overhead extensions 
(drop set) 1 x 8(5)

Light
Decline extensions
(subfailure) 2 x 10-15
Pushdowns (drop set) 1 x 8(5)

On the heavy day you reduce the poundage on each set of curls and decline extensions so you get the neuromuscular stimulation of a reverse pyramid and tap into as many high-threshold muscle fibers as possible (depleting glycogen stores quickly as well). On light day you do higher reps but not to failure—remember to slow down your reps and feel the muscle working. Lighten the poundage enough that you can get more than 10 reps per set doing it that way.

On the second exercises, concentration curls and pushdowns, you keep your reps slow and do go to failure. Use one drop set—do eight reps to exhaustion, reduce the weight and immediately do about five reps to exhaustion. That creates an extreme pumping effect and forces glycogen into the muscles without depleting it (heavy day is for depletion and damage). You enhance recovery and glycogen deposition, which will result in an eye-popping, full-muscle look.

If you’re familiar with 3D Positions of Flexion, you may have noticed that barbell curls and lying extensions are midrange exercises for biceps and triceps, respectively. On heavy day you follow with incline curls for bi’s and overhead extensions for tri’s, stretch-position exercises; on light day you follow with concentration curls for bi’s and pushdowns for tri’s, contracted-position exercises that will pump the muscle and create occlusion, a blockage of blood flow that’s a big player in building muscle size via capillary expansion and mitochondria development. In other words, you’re training the biceps’ and triceps’ full arcs of flexion, a.k.a. 3D POF—midrange, stretch and contracted—over two workouts. That helps you attack all facets of muscle growth, from max force to stretch overload to continuous tension and occlusion. For the uninitiated, here are overviews of each position, using biceps as the example:

• Midrange position: Barbell curls work the biceps with the upper arms slightly out in front of the torso. You also get synergy, or muscle teamwork, from the front delts. Synergy is a hallmark of most midrange-position exercises because they are the big, compound mass movements.

• Stretch position: Incline curls put your biceps in a complete stretch when your arms are straight, hanging down behind your torso. Stretch overload has been linked to everything from fiber splitting to anabolic receptor proliferation in muscle tissue. (One animal-based study saw a 300 percent mass increase after only one month of progressive-stretch overload. We talk more about that in the last chapter of our e-book X-traordinary Muscle-Building Workouts.)

• Contracted position: Concentration curls train your biceps with your upper arms up and out close to your head. In that position your biceps can fully contract with a cramping flex on every rep. You also get continuous tension and occlusion, as described—blood will rush in at the end of your sets for an incredible flush!

The descriptions of the three positions show why training a muscle at those three points is vitally important for maximizing muscle growth while doing very few sets. Does it work? Jonathan got his arms up over 19 inches using 3D POF, about five sets each for biceps and triceps at each arm workout. Many experts say that shouldn’t be possible because Jonathan’s wrists only measure seven inches. Supposedly, a bone structure that slight shouldn’t be able to support 19-plus-inch arms. Hmm.

So, if you’re after as much muscle as possible with efficient, precise workouts, 3D POF should be a part of your plan. Use it in conjunction with the heavy/light system, and you will supersaturate your muscles from every angle, getting them bigger and more engorged than ever before—with very few sets.

Editor’s note: For two complete printable heavy/light programs, see the  e-book X-traordinary 

Muscle-Building Workouts, available at X-Workouts.com. It also includes many more complete mass-building programs based on the heavy/light concept, including Volume/Intensity Fusion and Traumatic/Nontraumatic (T/NT).  IM

Q: You talk about forcing muscle supercompensation with the heavy/light method. Doing a lighter, subfailure workout a few days after heavy training is supposed to create a pump that forces glycogen [from the carbs you eat prior to the workout] into the muscle for a supersaturation effect. It makes sense, and I already feel bigger using it. My problem is that my pumps aren’t that great. Should I add sets to the light workouts? The program only calls for a few for each bodypart.

A: First, be sure you’re doing the program exactly as prescribed. For example, you said that light workouts are subfailure, but that applies only to the big, more taxing midrange exercise for each bodypart, like squats or curls. On the more isolated exercises, like leg extensions and concentration curls, you still train to exhaustion on each phase of a drop set—hitting failure at eight reps, reducing the weight and immediately repping out again, getting five or six more. Going to failure on those less-taxing-but-more-focused exercises provides the most occlusion and should flush the target muscle—triggering supersaturation, a.k.a. excess glycogen storage. 

Also be sure you are hitting the higher-rep range listed in the program on your big exercises on light day. You want to lighten the weight enough from your heavy-day weight that you get 10 to 15 reps on each set—and each rep should last about five seconds. Rep speed is very important for tension-time hypertrophy as well as muscle engorgement. 

If you still don’t pump up big, try pushing the reps even higher—like 15 to 18. It’s important to engorge the muscles fully at your light workouts. You also may want to try a vasodilator supplement before you train (see the question and answer below).

Q: You mentioned taking about 30 grams of carbs and 30 grams of protein an hour before every workout, and you also mentioned taking a vasodilator. What kind of supplement is that, and why do I need it?

A: Most vasodilators are precursors of nitric oxide, a compound that helps open up blood vessels to give you an incredible pump. Yes, a big pump is motivating, but you’re getting a lot more than that—by opening up the blood vessels, you create an environment for better nutrient delivery in the muscles. Remember, light day is for max flood flow, so you send more glycogen from carbs into those still-recovering muscles. Glycogen helps them hold more water and get huge (muscle is more than 70 percent water, after all). [Note: For more on NO and vasodilators, see “Just Say Yes to NO” by Jerry Brainum, which appeared in the January ’08 IRON MAN.]

Q: I get a lot of crap at my gym when I do the light [subfailure, pump] workouts from your heavy/light program. My friends razz me because I stop short on the big exercises like squats and bench presses. Why can’t I just go to failure on light day too? There aren’t that many sets, so I think I can still recover.

A: If it bothers you that much, you can try it (we always encourage experimentation), but keep in mind that the point of heavy/light is that you don’t burn glycogen from the target muscle on light day; you use subfailure high-rep sets to force more into storage via a big pump. That’s the important supersaturation effect that pulls more water in, making you look bigger and fuller workout after workout—a true size-surge effect.

If you train to failure at both workouts, you’ll short-circuit the supercompensation effect. That’s one of the basic principles behind heavy/light, and it’s a very good one, as bodybuilders in the presteroid era would tell you—they got very big very quickly using it.

Many called the higher-rep, pumping workouts “spinning.” Back in those days there was a big controversy over what worked better to build mass, spinning or grinding (low-rep heavy workouts). Of course, the smartest guys used both, alternating them, much like our heavy/light program. It makes a lot of sense, not only from a recovery standpoint but from a variety perspective as well—you give the muscles something new at every other workout. That will help you grow faster too, rather than doing the same thing every time.

Heavy/Light 101 Program

(Based on the 10-Week Size Surge Phase 1 Program)

Monday
Squats* (H) 2 x 5, 9
Leg extensions (H; drop) 1 x 8(5)
Semi-stiff-legged
deadlifts* (L**) 1 x 10-15
Leg curls* (L; drop) 1 x 8(5)
Bench presses* (H) 2 x 5, 9
Flat-bench flyes
(H; drop) 1 x 8(5)
Incline dumbbell
presses (H) 2 x 5, 9
Chins or
pulldowns* (L**) 2 x 10-15
Bent-over rows* (L**) 2 x 10-15
Dumbbell presses* (H) 2 x 5, 9
Dumbbell upright
rows (H; drop) 1 x 8(5)
Leg press or donkey
calf raises (H) 2 x 9, 12

Wednesday
Deadlifts* 2 x 7-9
Standing calf raises
(L**) 2 x 15-20
Barbell curls* (H) 2 x 5, 9
Concentration curls
(H; drop) 1 x 8(5)
Lying triceps
extensions* (H) 2 x 5, 9
Pushdowns or
kickbacks (H; drop) 1 x 8(5)
Wrist curls 1 x 12-18
Hammer curls 1 x 9-12
Incline kneeups (H) 2 x 8, 12
Ab Bench crunch pulls or
full-range crunches
(H; drop) 1 x 12(8)

Friday
Squats* (L**) 2 x 10-15
Leg extensions (L, drop) 1 x 8(5)
Leg curls (H; drop) 1 x 8(5)
Seated calf raises*
(H/L**) 2 x 8, 15
Bench presses* (L**) 2 x 10-15
Flat-bench flyes
(L, drop) 1 x 8(5)
Incline dumbbell
presses (L**) 2 x 10-15
Chins or pulldowns* (H) 2 x 5, 9
Bent-over rows* (H) 2 x 5, 9
Dumbbell presses*
(L**) 2 x 10-15
Dumbbell upright rows
(L, drop) 1 x 8(5)

*Do one to two light warmup sets with about 50 percent of your work weight on the first and 80 percent on the second prior to your two work sets.

**Subfailure sets—stop one or two reps short of positive failure.

Heavy/Light 101 Program: This is a variation of the first five weeks of the Size Surge program Jonathan used to pack on 20 pounds of muscle in 10 weeks (see his before and after photos at right). One of the get-big keys here is that every workout begins with a big anabolic-acceleration exercise, either squats or deadlifts. Plus, you get a recovery day after every workout, two after the Friday workout.

Notice that you only train arms directly once a week, on Wednesday, and all sets are heavy. That’s because biceps, triceps and forearms get a lot of indirect work on Monday and Friday, when you train chest, back and triceps. Abs also get lots of indirect work on those other two training days, so you only train them directly on Wednesday as well—with heavy work.

Push all exercises to positive failure, except where indicated with a (L**). Stop those sets one to two reps short of failure, as they are higher-rep pump-and-recovery sets intended to help flush the target muscle with nutrients for supersaturation of glycogen to enhance fullness.

This program will work well for almost anyone, but it’s especially good for over-40 bodybuilders who have some training experience, as the heavy/light concept gives you more recovery time and less joint stress than you get while going all out all the time. 

Editor’s note: The second phase of Jonathan’s Size Surge program was an every-other-day 3D Postions-of-Flexion program. For his complete 10-week Size Surge program as well as other 3D Positions-of-Flexion discussions and workouts, see the e-book 3D Muscle Building, available at www.3DMuscleBuilding.com.