work set is to push more blood into the target muscle. It’s like
an extended warmup that primes your nervous system for
optimal force later—on your X Rep set. (Note: More forc e
equals more growth stimulation. See The Ultimate Mass
Workoute-book for more detailed information.)
Rest one minute, then go to the leg extension for some
serious occlusion. Do 15 to 20 reps, with each one squeezing
blood out of your quads. It should burn like crazy at the end of
the set as your quads are empty and screaming for oxygen (if it
doesn’t burn, add weight). Extreme burn means occlusion has
occurred. Now to take advantage of it...
Rest another minute, feel the blood rushing in, and then go
back to the hack machine. Crank out as many reps as you can.
When you can’t get another full rep, do X Reps, or part i a l
pulses, at about the midpoint of the stroke (that will give you
key fast-twitch fiber activation—and some occlusion as well). If
you pushed even close to failure on those three sets, you’ll feel
an incredible rush and fullness in your quads. (It’s that massive
wave of blood we mentioned earl ier.) You a lso will have
stimulated a substantial number of muscle fibers and GH.
Finish with sissy squats or feet-forw a rd Smith machine
squats, with X Reps, and you will have completes the full-range
chain for quads—midrange (hacks), contracted (leg extensions)
and stretch (sissy squats). That’s Positions-of-Flexion training,
a full-range muscle-training method we’ve been using for years
(see page 80 for more information).
Incidentally, Ronnie Coleman, the current Mr. Olympia, does
high-rep sets of leg extensions prior to launching into his heavy
compound quad work. He’ll do 20 reps on each blood-wringing
set. Is he using extensions for occlusion to achieve more
muscle and strength with a fat-burning aftere ffect? We think
he’s onto something.
Let’s look at the program. (Note that we’ve put each workout
on a separate page so you can print it out and take it to the
gym. Write your work-set poundages to the right of each
exercise. We use a small clipboard with a pencil attached.)
frankie
(Frankie)
#1