X-FILES

Q: From what I’ve read recently, IFBB pro bodybuilder Mark Dugdale is using the 10×10 method. Is that true?

A: We know that he’s more of a high-intensity trainer, as he’s said that the two methods of training that most influenced his were Mike Mentzer’s Heavy Duty and Dorian Yates’ Blood and Guts systems.

We’ve seen some of Dugdale’s workouts, and they’re well thought out—very close to what we recommend for most trainees; however, the majority of the workouts we design are based on using full-range Positions of Flexion—midrange, stretch and contracted—to complete the muscle-flexion chain and build mass along three different pathways: max force, stretch overload and tension/occlusion.

Dugdale has also recently incorporated the 10×10 method into his training—you use a weight that gives you about 20 reps, but you only do 10. Then you rest for 30 seconds to a minute and do 10 more. You keep at it till you’ve completed 10 sets. The first few sets are easy; the last few are brutal.

We understand that Dugdale is using it on only one exercise per body­part, but he’s doing standard sets on one or two exercises for each muscle as well. He usually ends a body­part with 10×10, no real rhyme or reason to his exercise choice that we’re aware of.

In fact, for biceps he favors incline curls, an isolated stretch-position exercise. Maybe he’s seen the animal study that produced a 300 percent muscle mass gain after only one month of progressive-stretch overload. Thanks to Dugdale, we’ve just started experimenting with 10×10 on stretch-position exercises in our POF workouts, and it’s a killer—sore to the core.

—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson

Editor’s note: The Ultimate 10×10 Mass Workout is available at www.X-traordinaryWorkouts.com.