At the moment I am wrapping up the final workout program of the Metabolic Masterpiece Renaissance Phase where the inspiration for each program came from some of the classic physique artists that have impacted me over the years. The current 4-week program from the Renaissance Phase was inspired by Arnold Schwarzenegger. He was my very first role model when I began training in my parents basement at the age of 14. I had posters of him everywhere.
One thing that caught my attention back then, was seeing Arnold posing and flexing between sets and after his workout. I still hit the rewind button when watching Pumping Iron to see his muscles ballooning up as he flexed between sets. Obviously this is not something unique to Arnold, but he was the first person who I had heard this advice from. One of the ideas behind flexing between sets is to bring out the striations in your muscles and make them pop out with incredible definition.
I’m a little too modest to flex between sets while working out at the gym, but I try to do a little flexing, that’s not so obvious to others around me. What I have been doing is spending 5-minutes flexing after my workout. Because I do body part split routines, I can just focus on a single body part and really squeeze everything out of it. The first few times that I tried this I couldn’t hold a pose longer than 3 seconds without shaking like crazy. Now, I’m getting much better and the results are beginning to show.
Try This Trick At The End Of Your Workout
As I thought about the benefits of flexing between sets and at the end of the workout, I began to wonder what kind of an impact it would make if I was flexing while holding a weight at the peak contraction and how I could incorporate this into my workouts. I decided that the last exercise for each body part would be the ideal place to capitalize on this trick. This is similar to a Focused Intensity Training approach that Shawn Phillips talks about. Here’s the idea of how it would work…
Let’s say that today you’re split includes chest and biceps. After performing the all the sets for your main chest workout, you would finish off by performing some low cable pulley’s (while standing). Here’s the trick… when you come up to the full contraction you will hold it for a 10 count. Actually… you aren’t just going to hold it… You’re going to squeeze the heck out of your pecs. Lower the weight at a normal pace, then repeat 4 more times for a total of 5 repetitions. Three sets should be more than enough to gain the maximum benefit of this strategy. The weight that you select will be fairly light, but not so light that you can do more than 5 reps while squeezing the heck out of your muscles. By the 5th rep your muscles should be shaking like crazy, especially on the 3rd set.
Then you would move onto your biceps routine, performing the main exercises for the workout and finishing off with something like hammer curls where you squeeze at the peak contraction for a 10 count, completing 5 reps in 3 sets.
This is a great practice in Mind-Muscle Connection! If you go too heavy and try to hold, you will find that other muscle will begin to come into play and you won’t get the same kind of INTENSE contraction as you would with the lighter weight. Remember… it’s not just a “hold”… you want to squeeze the heck out of the muscle that you’re working.
Examples of other exercises would be…
Leg extensions, leg curls, reverse triceps pressdowns, bent over raises, cable crunches, and wide grip pulldowns. Here’s a video demonstration where I am performing the wide grip pulldown and holding it for a 10-count.
Check out those muscles popping out 😉
In a recent post Sculpting Impressive Back Muscles I mentioned that people were walking off the treadmills from 20 feet away to tell me that they couldn’t believe the definition in my back and how impressed they were with the muscles that they saw popping out. It’s amazing what a visual impact it can make when you begin to see this kind of definition. I’m glad that I had my training partner take a snap shot because I had no idea of the progress that I was making with my back development.
Here I am performing the lower cable pulley’s at the end of my chest workout…
If you have experimented with a similar strategy I would love to hear about your experiences with it. Also, if you decide to give this trick a try, please take a moment to share your feedback in the comment box below.
Sculpt a Masterpiece,
Scott Tousignant
PS In order to get “Eye Popping” definition, you really need to dial in your diet. The program that I follow and that has influenced me the most is Tom Venuto’s Holy Grail Body Transformation Program. It’s advanced strategies to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time.
Scott Tousignant, BHK, is a Certified Fitness Consultant with a passion for transforming fitness enthusiasts into physique artists. His most recent program, Metabolic Masterpiece guides you through the process of sculpting your body into a work of art, by applying what Scott has coined, “The A.T.T.R.A.C.T. Formula. His detailed approach and variety of workouts makes fitness challenging, fun and effective!
