Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
com Presents
THE
X-traordinary
4X
MASS
W O R KOUT
Fast
Simplified
Supersaturation
Training for X-treme Muscle Size
by Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
Homepage
www.X-traordinaryWorkouts.com
Workout programs in printable PDF format
Other e-books are available at
www.X-Rep.com/xshop.htm
CONTENTS
Introduction............................................................4
Chapter 1Power-Density Fusion:
Mass Workout..................................16
4X Mass Workout.............................22
4X Mass Workout.............................28
Introduction
We're all about training hardall-out
sets that force the most growth fibers
into action. But sometimes you have
to ease up to keep growing.
Physiology tells us that pushing
to the limit for long periods can
cause systemic rebellion and muscle
regression. It's a case of diminishing
returnsdrive your body too hard for
too long and muscle tissue begins to
waste away due to excess stress.
Your job, if you want every one of your muscle groups
to be as big, full and impressive as possible, is to mediate
stress so hypertrophy stays on an upward trajectory.
Our mantra has always been one small change can trigger
bigger gains, and total-4X training is definitely a big switch
from what you're used to. It also eases up on the stress
accelerator, balancing it with more volume.
Whoa! Don't let that last statement scare you. This isn't
about adopting the marathon workouts of the over-drugged
present-day pro bodybuilders. It's about doing more work in
less time, but with slightly less intensity.
But isn't intensity the key to muscle gains? Yes, up to a
point; however, it's a proven fact that less-intense sets can
also trigger muscle-size increases. The reason is the all-ornone principle...
All or none simply means that a muscle fiber fires
CHAPTER 1
Power-Density Fusion
10X, 8X, 4X, 3X
We've discussed the importance of power and density
in many of our most recent e-books, like The Ultimate
Power-Density Mass Workout. Power is basically heavier
lower-rep work with longer rests, while density is longer
tension times, or doing more work in less time (short rests
between sets to compress the workload, as in 10x10
more on that in a moment).
Both power and density are
important if you're after maximum
muscle mass. That's because
recent research has discovered
that the dominant fiber type
in the biggest bodybuilders is
fast-twitch type 2A. Those are
dual-capacity fibers with both a
power and endurance, or density,
component.
Unfortunately, bodybuilders
have been brainwashed into
thinking that they must use
heavy-weight, lower-rep sets (power) for growth all the
time. That's a fallacy and one of the big reasons muscle
gains are very slow for the majority. It's also the reason
that when they add something like the 10-sets-of-10-reps
method (10x10), they get a massive growth spurt. Why?
Density
100%
50/50
Power
100%
0
x1
x8
10
x1
So while 10x10
is almost 100%
density, 4x10 is
more balanced
as far as power
and density are
concernedand
that's what
makes it such a
potent, efficient
get-bigger trigger!
Danny
Padilla.
CHAPTER 2
Anabolic Re-ignition
Stress and the Growth Threshold
As we mentioned in the
introduction, the best time to use
4X mass training is after a month
or so of extensive high-intensity
workoutssuch as a program
with six to 10 all-out sets per
bodypartor during a ripping
phase, when low-calorie dieting is
cranking up your stress level. It's
the reason champs of the past,
like Danny Padilla and Arnold,
often implemented 4X-style
training during precontest phases.
The 4X method reduces stress
levels, which helps control cortisol
release. What's so bad about
cortisol? It forces your body to
hold onto fat and burn muscle tissue for energy. Say what?
You read that right. That nasty stress hormone can cause
you to shrink no matter how hard you're training. In fact,
all-out hard training causes cortisol to skyrocket, one more
reason it's so difficult to build extreme muscle size.
The solution is to lower the intensity of most of your
sets, while increasing the volume. That reduces cortisol,
derails muscle catabolism and encourages anabolic drive.
10
Cortisol reduction
also improves one of your key muscle-building hormones,
testosterone.
Cortisol is a testosterone antagonist. In other words,
when cortisol is high, testosterone is lowered; if your
cortisol is low, your free, or active, testosterone is higher.
So keeping cortisol at bay means you're automatically in
the muscle-building money big timeyou've hit the getjacked jackpot! (Note: One big reason anabolic steroids
work so well is that they tie up cortisol receptors.)
Cortisol is also the reason your diet is an important
anabolic or catabolic factor: When you're dieting, your
cortisol is spiking often; the starvation mechanism is a
cortisol trigger, and that makes it hard to hold onto muscle
tissue, much less build it. On the other hand, when you're
eating loads of nutritious muscle-building calories, you
can afford to train with more all-out sets. A higher-carb
intake helps reduce cortisol output, which is why you can
train longer and harder in the winter. You've got a calorie
surplus with plenty of carbohydrates to beat back the
cortisol cannibals.
The 4X Mass Workout
11
After three to
five weeks of
all-out training
your body
needs a backoff
phase to avoid
exhaustion.
Dr. Hans
Selye called this
stress-coping
mechanism
the General
Adaptation
Syndrome, stating that when your body encounters a
repeated stress, like high-intensity weight training, it goes
through three levels of response:
1) Alarm. During the first one to two weeks of
training, your body begins adjusting its defenses as
it prepares to compensate for the new stress.
2) Resistance. During weeks three to five your
body actually adapts to the stress by getting bigger.
3) Exhaustion. At about week six your body hits
a wall, or plateau, and your gains stall; a state of
overtraining sets in, and regression can occur.
12
13
Lee Labrada.
14
The growth
threshold is the
point at which the
level of fatigue
in the muscle is
high enough that
a growth response
is elicited. Your
goal during a
workout should
be to fatigue the
target muscles you
are training more
and more with
each succeeding
set. In other
words, you want
the muscles to
15
CHAPTER 3
16
A variation on
4X training is a 3X
sequence, which
you will also see
in the upcoming
programs. It's the
same protocol, only
Crossups
you do three sets
for chest.
instead of four. You'll
start with a weight
that you can get around 12 or 13 reps with, but only do 10.
Often, if we reach 10 reps on the last set fairly easily, we
will do another set after a 30-to-40-second rest. You can
keep adding sets until you fail at less than 10 reps. So you
could conceivably do 5x10 or even 6x10 on some exercises;
however, keep in mind that your last set will have you fail
at under 10 reps. That's the signal that you've reached the
growth threshold and it's time to move to another exercise.
So if you want to be absolutely sure you've flipped the
anabolic switch, continue doing sets until you can no longer
get 10 reps with good form.
What about warmup sets? Because the first and second
set are fairly easy, they act as warmups; however, on some
of the more dangerous exercises we like to do one lighter
warmup set prior to launching into the 4X sequence.
Some exercises like squats, some types of presses
and many stretch-position exercises, like incline curls for
The 4X Mass Workout
17
Biceps
stretch:
incline
curls.
Poundage
Bench presses*, 4 x 10
Cable crossovers, 3 x 12
Incline presses*, 4 x 10
Dumbbell upright rows* or
Rack pulls, 4 x 10
Dumbbell presses*, 3 x 10
Lateral raises, 3 x 12
Lying extensions*, 4 x 10
Pushdowns, 3 x 12
* Do one light warmup set with 50 to 70 percent of the weight you will
use for your 4X or 3X sequence.
4 x 10, 3 x 10 and 3 x 12 means to do the exercise in 10x10
styleuse a weight that you can get 15 reps with, but only do 10;
rest 30 seconds, then do 10 more. Continue until you complete the
designated number of sets (3 or 4). If you get 10 reps (or 12 in a 3x12
sequence) on the last set, add weight at your next workout.
19
Poundage
Leg presses*
or Squats*, 4 x 10
Leg extensions, 3 x 12
Hyperextensions
(flat back), 4 x 10
Leg curls, 3 x 10
Knee-extension
leg press calf
raises*, 4 x 15
Standing calf raises, 3 x 12
* Do one light warmup set with 50 to 70 percent of the weight you will
use for your 4X or 3X sequence.
4 x 10, 3 x 10 and 3 x 12 means to do the exercise in 10x10
styleuse a weight that you can get 15 reps with, but only do 10;
rest 30 seconds, then do 10 more. Continue until you complete the
designated number of sets (3 or 4). If you get 10 reps (or 12 in a 3x12
sequence) on your last set, add weight at your next workout.
20
Poundage
Pulldowns*
or Chins*, 4 x 10
Stiff-arm pulldowns, 3 x 12
Bent-over rows*, 4 x 10
Bent-arm bent-over
laterals, 3 x 12
Barbell or dumbbell curls*,
4 x 10
Concentration curls
or Spider curls, 3 x 12
Incline kneeups, 4 x 12
Full-range crunches, 4 x 15
* Do one light warmup set with 50 to 70 percent of the weight you will
use for your 4X or 3X sequence.
4 x 10, 3 x 10 and 3 x 12 means to do the exercise in 10x10
styleuse a weight that you can get 15 reps with, but only do 10;
rest 30 seconds, then do 10 more. Continue until you complete the
designated number of sets (3 or 4). If you get 10 reps (or 12 in a 3x12
sequence) on your last set, add weight at your next workout.
21
CHAPTER 4
The Positions-of-Flexion
4X Mass Workout
The following explanation of Positions of Flexion may
be a review for you, as we've been staunch proponents
of POF for more than 20 years and include it in all of our
e-books. POF is simply using specific exercises that
together train each muscle through a complete range of
motionmidrange, stretch and contracted.
A good example is triceps. The midrange exercise is
close-grip bench presses, the stretch-position exercise is
overhead extensions and the contracted-position move is
pushdowns, as pictured below. Here's a POF overview:
Synergy. This is muscle teamwork, and its the reason
the big multi-joint exercises like squats are so effective
at packing on mass. A number of muscle structures work
together so you can drive up heavy poundages. For
example, during bench presses, the pectorals, triceps
and deltoids work as a teamthey combine to generate
Midrange
22
Stretch
Contracted
23
Poundage
25
Poundage
M: Pulldowns*, 4 x 10
S: DB pullovers*, 3 x 10
C: Stiff-arm pulldowns, 3 x 12
M&S: Bent-over DB rows*, 4 x 10
C: Bent-arm bent-over
laterals, 3 x 12
M: Dumbbell upright rows*, 4 x 10
M: Dumbbell presses*, 3 x 10
S: Incline one-arm laterals, 3 x 10
C: Lateral raises, 3 x 12
M: Barbell curls*, 4 x 10
S: Incline curls*, 3 x 10
C: Concentration curls, 3 x 12
M: Incline kneeups, 4 x 12
S&C: Full-range crunches, 4 x 15
* Do one light warmup set with 50 to 70 percent of the weight you will
use for your 4X or 3X sequence.
4 x 10, 3 x 10 and 3 x 12 means to do the exercise in 10x10
styleuse a weight that you can get 15 reps with, but only do 10;
rest 30 seconds, then do 10 more. Continue until you complete the
designated number of sets (3 or 4). If you get 10 reps (or 12 in a 3x12
sequence) on the last set, add weight at your next workout.
26
This
Positions-ofFlexion 4X
Mass Workout
is listed as a
two-way split,
and you train
Bent-arm
bent-over
on Monday,
laterals for
Tuesday,
midback.
Thursday
and Friday
Workout 1 on Monday and Thursday, Workout 2 on
Tuesday and Friday.
The two-way-split design is just a template, one we
have been successful with, as have many of our trainees;
however, Workout 1 can take 1 1/2 to two hours. Keep
in mind that the POF bodypart routines can easily be
extracted so that you can create your own split. Or you
could use the Basic 4X Mass Workout design in the
previous chapter and do full-range POF for each bodypart.
Workout 1: Chest, delts, triceps
Workout 2: Quads, hamstrings, calves
Workout 3: Back, biceps, abs
There's a full-range mass program with those paramters
outlined in the Q&A chapter on pages 46-48.
Note: In the listed program, M = Midrange, S = Stretch
and C = Contracted. For example, bent-arm bent-over
laterals pictured above is a C (contracted-position) exercise
for the midback.
The 4X Mass Workout
27
CHAPTER 5
The Direct/Indirect
4X Mass Workout
Now it's time for a completely different take on splitting
up your 4X workout, a variation we've found extremely
productive because of the frequency of bodypart hits
(remember, the bodybuilders of yesteryear, like Arnold and
Frank Zane, trained each bodypart three times a week).
With this innovative routine, however, you don't realize
youre indirectly training a bodypart.
What the heck are we babbling about? It's direct/
indirect work, which is why the bodypart split in the
program coming up is different from the one in the
previous chapters. You get ancillary bodypart blood flow
and stimulation during exercises for other musclesfor
example, your triceps get
stimulated for hypertrophy
during pressing exercises
on chest day.
29
Poundage
Bench presses, 4 x 10
Wide-grip dips, 3 x 10
Crossovers, 3 x 12
Incline DB presses, 3 x 10
Incline cable flyes, 3 x 12
Pulldowns, 3 x 10
DB pullovers, 3 x 10
Undergrip cable rows
or Rope rows, 3 x 12
Machine rows, 3 x 10
Bent-arm bent-over
laterals, 3 x 12
Cable upright rows, 4 x 10
Incline kneeups, 4 x 12
Ab Bench crunches
or full-range crunches, 4 x 15
* We take only 30 to 40 seconds of rest between sets whether we're
using a 4X or 3X sequence.
30
Poundage
Machine hack
squats, 4 x 10
Deadlifts, 3 x 10
Sissy squats, 3 x 12
Leg extensions, 3 x 12
Hyperextensions
(flat back), 4 x 10
Leg curls, 3 x 10
Knee-extension leg press
calf raises, 4 x 12
Machine donkey, 3 x 12
Machine calf raises, 3 x 12
* We take only 30 to 40 seconds of rest between sets whether we're
using a 4X or 3X sequence.
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Poundage
Rack pulls, 4 x 10
Dumbbell presses, 3 x 10
Seated forward-lean
laterals, 4 x 12
Bent-over laterals, 3 x 12
Decline close-grip
bench presses, 4 x 10
Cable pushouts, 3 x 10
Bench dips, 3 x 12
Undergrip
pulldowns, 3 x 10
Incline curls, 3 x 10
Spider curls, 3 x 12
Incline hammer curls, 3 x 10
DB wrist curls or
Rockers, 3 x 12
Reverse wrist curls 3 x 12
* We take only 30 to 40 seconds of rest between sets whether we're
using a 4X or 3X sequence.
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33
Ab Bench crunches
Rope rows
Sissy squats
34
Pushouts
Rockers
Spider curls
35
CHAPTER 5
and sets four and five were a fight to get the 12 reps if at
all. Once he could get 12 reps on all five sets, he would
increase the weight at the next workout.
This was a method written about in the magazines
back in the 50s. Danny thrived on it and told me he got
it from Arnold and Sergio. He often equated the sets to
knocking off the soldiers [fast-twitch fibers] one by one
with each rep of each set.
Q: Do you think a 4x10 routine is a good place
to start for a beginner?
A: We recommend pulling back to 3x10 on every
exercise for beginners. You could start with the Basic 4X
Mass Workout on pages 19-21, which is a split routine.
If you prefer full-body workouts, use one exercise for
each major muscle and train them in this order: Quads,
hamstrings, calves, chest, lats, midback, delts (no direct
arm moves because bi's and tri's will get plenty of work
from presses, rows, etc.). Here's an example, the Break-In
Program from our Quick-Start Muscle-Building Guide:
Squats
Leg curls
Machine standing calf raises
Bench presses
Pulldowns
Undergrip pulldowns
Machine rows
Overhead presses
Dumbbell upright rows
The 4X Mass Workout
37
38
X-Rep chinup,
bottom third of
the stroke.
39
Those adjustments
have been made in the
programs in this e-book,
including fewer training
days a week and fewer
sets per bodypart.
The question then
becomes volume vs.
intensity. How long
should you use a total4X routine and how
long should you use
40
41
43
Arnold's
favorite
full-range
POF biceps
program.
Lat stretch:
Dumbbell pullovers
45
Poundage
Bench presses*, 4 x 10
S: Flat-bench flyes, 4 x 10
Cable crossovers, 4 x 12
Incline presses*, 4 x 10
Dumbbell upright rows* or
Rack pulls, 4 x 10
Dumbbell presses*, 4 x 10
S: One-arm cable laterals, 4 x 10
Lateral raises, 4 x 12
Lying extensions*, 4 x 10
S: Overhead extensions, 4 x 10
Pushdowns, 4 x 12
* Do one light warmup set with 50 to 70 percent of the weight you will
use for your 4X or 3X sequence.
4 x 10 and 4 x 12 means to do the exercise in 10x10 styleuse
a weight that you can get 15 reps with, but only do 10 (or 12);
rest 30 seconds, then do 10 more. Continue until you complete
the designated number of sets. If you get 10 reps (or 12 in a 4x12
sequence) on the last set, add weight at your next workout.
46
Poundage
Leg presses*
or Squats*, 4 x 10
S: Sissy squats, 4 x 12
Leg extensions, 4 x 12
Hyperextensions
(flat back), 4 x 10
Leg curls, 4 x 10
Knee-extension
leg press calf
raises*, 4 x 15
S: Donkey calf raises, 4 x 12
Standing calf raises, 4 x 12
* Do one light warmup set with 50 to 70 percent of the weight you will
use for your 4X or 3X sequence.
4 x 10 and 4 x 12 means to do the exercise in 10x10 styleuse
a weight that you can get 15 reps with, but only do 10 (or 12);
rest 30 seconds, then do 10 more. Continue until you complete
the designated number of sets. If you get 10 reps (or 12 in a 4x12
sequence) on the last set, add weight at your next workout.
47
Poundage
Pulldowns*, 4 x 10
S: Pullovers*, 4 x 10
Stiff-arm pulldowns, 4 x 12
Bent-over rows*, 4 x 10
Bent-arm bent-over
laterals, 4 x 12
Barbell or dumbbell curls*,
4 x 10
S: Incline curls, 4 x 10
Concentration curls
or Spider curls, 4 x 12
Incline kneeups, 4 x 12
Full-range crunches, 4 x 15
* Do one light warmup set with 50 to 70 percent of the weight you will
use for your 4X or 3X sequence.
4 x 10 and 4 x 12 means to do the exercise in 10x10 styleuse
a weight that you can get 15 reps with, but only do 10 (or 12);
rest 30 seconds, then do 10 more. Continue until you complete
the designated number of sets. If you get 10 reps (or 12 in a 4x12
sequence) on the last set, add weight at your next workout.
48
49
how you slice it, using both power and density will build
your muscle immensity so you fill out your T-shirts with
vascularity-streaked mass fast.
50
51