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10 Secrets to Insane Size

JANUARY 09, 2012 ADMIN

Check out these 10 secrets to SUPER SIZE!

SIZE SECRET #1 High Reps for Big Legs FOUAD ABIAD: The most important change in my career came in 2010, when I decided that lifting really heavy for legs was mostly for my ego. Throughout my career, lagging quads and hams have always held me back. Not enough sweep, people would say about my legs, or not thick enough all around. So I decided to make some changes in my quad training. Instead of lifting heavy for sets of 68 reps like I did for the first 10 years of my career, I decided 1520 reps was the way to go. As soon as I increased my rep ranges, I noticed a rounder, fuller look to my legs. Now, I mix the two training philosophies. On leg presses, I go as heavy as I can for 20 reps, and on hack squats, I go as heavy as I can for 1012. I dont do any sets for my legs under 10 reps anymore; I just dont get the size from it.

ABIADS SAMPLE LEG WORKOUT Exercise Lying leg curls Squats Leg presses Stiff-leg deadlifts Hack squats

Sets 5 5 6 4* 3

Reps 20-10* 20-10* 20 10 10

* Increase weight each set, starting out with 20 reps with the lightest weight and finishing with 10 reps with the heaviest weight.

SIZE SECRET #2 Super Slow Reps DENNIS JAMES: When something doesnt work or I hit a plateau in my training, I always implement very, very slow reps. Im talking super slow, as in 510 seconds up and 510 seconds down on every rep using 30%50% of the weight youd normally use. And you dont have to limit this to just one exercise in your workout; you can do it for every exercise. It takes you much longer to get through the set, but I guarantee one set will make up for 56 regular sets. You can either do slow reps for, say, a month, or you can do slow reps one week and go back to normal reps the next. Doing your reps very slowly is much more intense, creates more of a burn and the chance of injury while doing it is almost zero. And even

though youre going a lot lighter, it feels heavier. Because youre going so slow, you can make one plate feel like its four, so I typically keep the reps between 3 and 6. And I guarantee you, if you try it, you will walk away with the best pump you ever had. JAMES SAMPLE TRICEPS WORKOUT Exercise Pushdowns Lying Extensions One-arm reverse-grip pushdowns Sets 3-4 3-4 3-4 Reps 3-6* 3-6* 3-6*

* Perform every rep with a speed of 510 seconds on the concentric portion and 510 seconds on the eccentric.

SIZE SECRET #3 Dont Overthink It KAI GREENE: You should always aim to reduce everything to its lowest common denominator to keep things very simple. A lot of times we make things more complicated than they need to be, and as a result we make it harder to hear the common sense and universal wisdom thats always lurking and is often quite obvious. We tend to think, It cant be that simple. Its got to be something more complex. If you want to put on muscle, be very clear about that goal. When were being very clear about the goal, well find that we dont need to ask 50 different people the same question. Truth is, I dont have to get lost in minutiae because that just makes things more complicated than they need to be. Keeping things very simple will help anyone who aspires to be better at something. For example, if you want to add size to your legs, you should do squats. Its very simple advice, but it works.

GREENES SAMPLE BACK WORKOUT

Exercise Wide-grip pullups Lat pulldowns Barbell rows T-bar rows Seated cable rows

Sets 4 4 4 4 4

Reps 8-15 8-15 6-15 6-15 8-15

SIZE SECRET #4 Shorten Your Range of Motion ED NUNN: When I had to bring up my upper chest and pec tie-ins to the front delts, I focused a lot on the basic incline barbell bench press, and I got a lot stronger and more powerful on that move. I always make sure to lower the weight slowly, and I also do a pretty brutal drop set on my last set, where I start with 405 pounds and work down to 135. But one technique that really helped me, especially on inclines, was to stay in a certain window of the range of motion. I dont lock out my elbows at the top of the rep and I dont come down all the way and touch my chest at the bottom. I stop just short of full range of motion on both

ends to keep constant tension on the muscles. I think that has really helped my upper-chest development. NUNNS SAMPLE CHEST WORKOUT Exercise Standing dumbell flyes (warm up) Flat-bench dumbell presses Incline barbell presses Pec-deck flyes Cable flyes Sets 2-3 4-5 4 4 7** Reps 10-12 10-12 8-10* 12 10

* On the last set, Nunn does a drop set where he tries to get 10 reps with each of the following weights (pounds): 405, 315, 275, 225, 185, 135. ** Following Hany Rambods FST-7 technique, resting 3045 seconds between each set.

SIZE SECRET #5 Neurological Overload Set BEN PAKULSKI: Neurological overload set training is something I do that contributes to muscle growth and overcoming plateaus. On the fourth and final set of a given exercise usually for each exercise in a workout I perform four consecutive drop sets in 20% increments and try to knock off at least 56 reps with each weight. I find this to be a great way to overload the muscle, as well as overload the nervous system to force adaptation. An example of NOS would be lateral raises for shoulders. I choose to do laterals seated because it removes one variable of cheating. My typical NOS set for laterals would look something like this: 70-pound dumbbells for 68 reps, then 55s for 68, 40s for 68 and finally 30s for 10 reps. (Check out Pakulskis upcoming DVD to see NOS in action at benpakulski.com.) PAKULSKIS SAMPLE SHOULDER WORKOUT Exercise Bent-over lateral raises Seated lateral raises Machine overhead presses Reverse pec decks Cable lateral raises Upright Rows Sets 5 5 5 4 3 4 Reps 12* 8* 10 10 15 10*

* Perform an NOS set (four drop sets where the weight is decreased 20% each time) on the last set.

SIZE SECRET #6 Train Each Muscle Group Twice a Week

PHIL HEATH: For me, legs were always a bodypart that I felt could be better. I found that training them twice a week, every three or four days, worked out best for adding size and detail. Many guys tend to think you only need to train a specific area once per week, feeling it leads to more growth. I disagree, as when it comes to bringing up lagging areas, training them twice per week will not only yield gains in size but also in detail, especially during contest prep. Eight-time Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman trained everything twice a week for the majority of his career, so its kind of hard to debate against someone who carries his muscle mass. HEATHS SAMPLE QUAD WORKOUT WORKOUT A Exercise Leg extensions Front squats Vertical leg presses Hack squats Walking lunges WORKOUT B Exercise Plate-loaded squats Unilateral leg presses Leg extensions Hack squats Sets 3 3 3 7* Reps 12-15 12-15 12-15 12-15

Sets 7* 3 3 3 1

Reps 10 15 15 12-15 50-100 yards

SIZE SECRET #7 Unilateral Static Holds TONEY FREEMAN: This is a technique I use on nearly every unilateral exercise dumbbell presses for shoulders, dumbbell curls for biceps, unilateral triceps exercises, leg extensions, leg curls. On dumbbell presses, for example, Ill leave one dumbbell in the top position while the other arm is doing reps. Ill do five reps like that, then switch arms and repeat, then switch back and do four reps with each arm, then three, two and one. So its 15 reps, but the time under tension is equivalent to 30 reps on each arm. I kind of let go of the standard banging out sets of 10 or 12 reps. Doing unilateral reps with the static holds incorporates more muscle fibers than standard sets because of the greater time under tension and helps stimulate more growth. TONEYS SAMPLE CHEST WORKOUT Exercise Incline dumbell presses Flat-bench dumbell presses Sets 2-3 2-3 Reps 15 per arm + static hold* 15 per arm + static hold*

Cable Crossovers

2-3

15 per arm + static hold*

* Each set consists of one arm remaining in the top position while the other arm does reps of 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1. The right arm does five reps with the left arm in the top position, then the left arm does five reps with the right arm in the top position, and so on.

SIZE SECRET #8 Leave Your Comfort Zone EDUARDO CORREA: Most people do their exercises and sets inside a comfort zone meaning the workouts dont require any extra concentration, effort or pain to execute them. When you stay in your comfort zone, its difficult, if not impossible, to see significant gains in size and strength. Leaving your comfort zone can entail anything from doing more difficult exercises, adding more weight to your exercises, doing more reps or adding intensity techniques to your workouts. I left my comfort zone when I started doing the same workouts with the same exercises, only heavier. Its difficult because it requires more concentration and focus, but if youre motivated it becomes an exciting and rewarding challenge for your body. You can do the same routine but with heavier weights and great execution, leading your muscles to exhaustion. It works best if you have a spotter to help you through the tough sets. CORREAS SAMPLE BICEPS WORKOUT Exercise Alternating dumbell curls Concentration curls Machine preacher curls Cable hammer curls Sets 3 3 3 3 Reps 10-12 12 10-12 15

NOTE: On every set, use as much weight as possible while still using strict form and hitting the prescribed rep counts.

SIZE SECRET #9 Giant Sets for Giant Guns DEXTER JACKSON:I found that training arms [bis and tris] on their own, in one work- out, worked best for me and allowed for maximum growth. Training arms on their own not with a larger bodypart like chest, back or shoulders allows you to focus all your attention on them and lift the heaviest weights possible. The specific technique I used that brought on the most growth in my arms was giant sets. I would do one giant set for biceps and one for triceps, and do that four times through. Giant sets give you a great pump and are effective at shocking a stub- born muscle group into growing. JACKSONS SAMPLE TRICEPS WORKOUT Exercise Sets Reps

Pushdowns Dips Lying extensions Overhead rope extensions

4 4 4 4

8-10 8-10 8-10 8-10

SIZE SECRET #10 Isolate to Stimulate STAN EFFERDING: Ive always struggled to build enough arm mass to compensate for my shoulders, which tend to overpower my arms. Even after working up to 225 pounds on straight bar curls for reps or 100-pound dumbbell curls, my arms still lagged behind. When I trained with Flex Wheeler, we tried a different approach and isolated the biceps by taking the shoulders out of the movement and increasing the rep range to put more blood in the muscle. When performing standing barbell curls, the bar no longer curled away from the body. Instead, we pulled the elbows back and the bar traveled straight up my body, perpendicular to the floor. This eliminated the shoulders from the movement and created a better squeeze. Dumbbell curls were changed to seated and performed the same way elbows back and the weight traveling straight up instead of out in front of me. We also added a lot of one-arm machine preacher curls to isolate the biceps and squeeze each contraction without rocking the weight. This workout added size to my arms. Theyre over 21 inches in the offseason now and growing. ABIADS SAMPLE LEG WORKOUT Exercise Standing barbell curls Seated dumbell curls One-arm preacher curls Sets 4 4 4 Reps 20 20 21*

* The first seven reps are performed through only the bottom half of the range of motion; the second seven reps are performed through only the top half of ROM; and the last seven reps are full ROM. source: flexonline.com