Power Pyramid
Power Pyramid
Power Pyramid
I use Xero Limits products to get that extreme edge so I can max out the most insanely heavy lifts for endless repetitions and blast through my monster power training and mass building workouts. Hardcore simply isnt good enough anymore. With Xero Limits, Im getting the most incredible results of my life!
Rodney Raw Power Roller, 630 lb. Raw Bench 5 6, 271 lb. Freak, Team Xero Limits
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HIGH-VOLUME
Do you really want to get HUGE? The key to maximizing your strength training and mass building program lies in a focused approach that combines intense weight lifting and massive caloric intake. The single goal of this regimen is unlimited anabolic muscular growth and incredible increases in strength. But becoming a freak in the gym requires more than haphazard lifting and eating. To get huge, super-strong and massively muscular requires that you follow a detailed and scientic plan. The Human Underground Growth Experiment was created to provide you with the precise tools to help you build strength and size easily. Whether you are a hardgainer, offseason bodybuilder, everyday lifter or competitive athlete, you can achieve your goals with a systematic program that guarantees results. But strap on your lifting belt and get ready to rock the house, because this program is not for the weak or timid! For the next 8 weeks, Xero Limits High-Volume Power Pyramid Training will push you to tremendous increases in muscular size and strength.
Supplementation is an essential key for promoting super-anabolic mass building and youve taken your rst step by picking up the ENGORGE/H.U.G.E. MASS Stack. These revolutionary supplements will fast-forward your mass maximizing program into hyperdrive, allowing you to pack on slabs of thick, solid muscular size faster than you ever thought possible. But as any bodybuilder knows, supplementation is designed to maximize an already nutritious diet. If youre not eating a gluttonous amount of nutritious food, youre losing your weight gain battle right from the start. Dont make the mistake of trying to pack in massive calories from junk food, either, because this will only make you fat and weak. Instead, you must consume tons of clean calories from high quality protein, complex carbohydrates and essential fats in order to gain muscular size and increase strength. This is where ENGORGE will prove to be essential, as it increases your diet to ravenous proportions and enhances your absorption of every calorie you ingest due to its revolutionary Anabolzyme digestive enzyme blend. The nal piece of the puzzle is a no-brainer pump some damn iron! But to really get huge you need a structured lifting program that addresses both muscle building and strength enhancement. The High-Volume Power Pyramid pulverizes your muscles with low and moderately high reps, heavy weights and multiple sets, all taken to total muscular failure. The goal is to cause anabolic muscular hypertrophy to the highest degree, forcing you to get bigger, stronger and more massively powerful. Get ready to get HUGE!
Bottom line: If you want to get bigger and stronger than you ever thought possible, you came to the right place. So what are you waiting for? Get your ass into the gym and start growing!
Xero Limits has created the ultimate weight gain stack with ENGORGE and H.U.G.E. MASS!
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olume is the amount of total work you perform in a given workout. It can apply to specic exercises, body parts or your full training session. It is often referred to as time under load. Increasing volume is one method of making a workout more intense and causing greater overload on the working muscle groups. If you compared a heavy low rep workout with a moderately heavy higher rep session, you would see that set-for-set, the heavier workout would have less overall volume. Its easy to see 3 sets of 3 equals 9 total reps, while 3 sets of 6-10 would yield 18-30 total reps. Simple, right?
Well, high volume alone isnt the answer to anabolic growth to the massive proportions that youre looking for. If it was, you could do 1 set of 30 reps with a light weight and just go home! Yet even the girl working the front desk at your gym knows you have to go heavy sometimes to make your muscles grow. But 3-rep sets day in and day out arent the answer, either. The secret to consistent strength and mass gains is to train both heavy and with higher volume but always in perfect lifting technique. The Power Pyramid does this by combining work sets to near failure in the 60% or 70% range of your 1-rep max. So if you can bench press 300 lbs. at the start of the program, that means you might be doing lots of sets at 180 or 210. Yeah, it doesnt sound like much, but the incremental increases will tax your muscles early on in your workout. Then, in true pyramid fashion, youll move up in weight to 80% or 85% of your max weight (depending on the training session) for as many as 6 reps. So this would mean 240 or 255 for some sets. No more daily singles, doubles or triples! The heavy sets will stress your muscles and cause greater micro-trauma, which will lead to more growth. But the lighter sets will push more blood into the cells and bring nutrients, causing a tremendous pump while helping to clear lactic acid following the set. Thats why each workout ends with a downset for both Prime (compound) or Assistance (typically isolation) exercises. Not a ton of reps, but enough to take you to total muscular failure in the 5-8 repetition range. Overall, youll see that between the carefully prescribed Prime and Assistance exercises and the scientically designed set and rep ranges will cause constant muscle overload leading to growth.
BACKGROUND BASICS
Before you dive into the H.U.G.E. project or the Power Pyramid program, you must understand that this type of super-intense lifting regimen requires a total commitment in order to succeed. This means that you cannot miss workouts, skip meals, forget your daily supplement requirements or enter the gym with anything less than a take no prisoners attitude. Those lifters without a serious mindset may not achieve the goals they set for themselves. Targeting an intense weight gaining cycle in the gym is like anything else in life if you dont commit to it completely, youll fall short of your nal objectives. To really bust your ass and achieve any meaningful strength and mass-building goals, you have to create an overwhelming anabolic environment in your body. Testosterone is key to maximizing the hormonal engine that causes muscular growth. Xero Limits NOVATEST provides a new bio-engineered anti-aromatase technology that cranks up test levels and crushes estrogen. Its exclusive Tri-Methyl-Flavone Complex and QuickTek Transmucosal Delivery System will push your physique to new levels of strength and muscular size than you ever thought possible. And before you hit the gym, you want to be absolutely certain that you wont waste a second under the iron. EPO BLAST provides the power of the blood volume building hormone EPO (erythropoietin) with a nitric oxide blend to push more blood through your vasodilated veins. Its Psychotropic Energizers will blast you into a state of intense focus and energy needed to push heavy iron set after set while the betaalanine and creatine combo will enhance muscle torque and power while speeding recovery. EPO BLAST will ignite and prime your body for this super-intense workout program every day. The goal of any fully functional lifting and conditioning program should be to strengthen your entire body. This should be an all-encompassing routine that targets your least-favorite body parts as much as those prized ones you like to show off. In other words, dont skip legs or blow off calves or abs because youre too focused on increasing your bench or building your arms. Even your weak points must be targeted. And with this high-volume program they are guaranteed to improve. The Power Pyramid program is a complete regimen that must be followed as strictly as possible to ensure massive gains in size and strength. As stated earlier, you must be committed to regularly scheduled food intake and supplementation to make this program work. The worst step you can take is launching into highly intense strength training without matching up the fuel intake required to cover your caloric expenditures and nutritional requirements. The last thing you want is to lose weight and strength at the end of this intense 8-week program because youre not ingesting enough calories and muscle-building nutrition. You will nd more about eating and timing of food and supplements later in this handbook, but remember that your body is a machine that needs premium food to operate efciently.
RECORD KEEPING
Record keeping is a requirement of any structured weight lifting program, especially the Power Pyramid. It is impossible to map out where you are going and the strength and mass gains youre experiencing if you dont know where you started or dont catalog each days progress. So be sure to pick up a spiral notebook and take notes each day or just download the training logs at getXL.com/huge.html. Include sets, reps and resistance used, length of rest periods and how you feel. As you do for your workout regimen, it is critical for you to create separate entries each day for your food and supplement intake. This is essential to ensure that you eat enough. Believe it or not, most weight gain programs are unsuccessful because insufcient food and calories are being taken in. As weve been saying from the start, to Get Big you have to Eat Big!
For your Food Log (shown later in this booklet), be sure to list calories, grams of each macronutrient, meal times, supplements taken and when, and notes on food intake. Here you can typically identify trends, such as if you dont eat on a scheduled basis or you have problems digesting certain foods. However, the use of ENGORGE with its Anabolzyme scientically designed enzyme blend will ensure that your largest capacity meals will be digested easily and the nutrients assimilated completely. It will also guarantee that your appetite stays ravenous and that youre ready to eat again in 2-3 hours, so you keep your anabolic growth going strong. A sample Training Log entry is found below:
EXERCISE, SET #
Flat Bench Press 1 N/A Bar (45) 20 2 50% 165 10 3 70% 225 10 4 75% 245 8 5 80% 275 6 6 80% 275 4 7* 70% 225 6 * With dropset to 135 for max reps Incline Dumbbell Press 1 N/A 45S 12 2 50% 60S 10 3 70% 85S 8 4 75% 90S 6 5* 80% 95S 4 * With dropset to 45s for max reps Cable Crossovers 1 50% 60 9 2 70% 80 8 3 70% 80 6 4 60% 70 7 Cable Ab Crunches 1 50% 60 8 2 70% 80 7 3 75% 90 7 4 60% 60 10 Knee T uck Lifts (dumbbell between feet) 1 50% 20 9 2 70% 30 8 3 75% 40 7 4 50% 20 8 Additional T houghts: Great pump, felt strong, tired after inclines, need to drink more water.
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90 secs 90 secs 90 secs 2 min 2 min 2 . 5 min No rest 5 min 2 min 2 min 3 min 4 min No rest 5 min 60 secs 90 secs 90 secs 3 min 90 secs 90 secs 90 secs 3 min 90 secs 90 secs 90 secs DONE!
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GET HUGE!
BE A PART OF THE
Become a Xero Limits Freak and pack on more size than you ever thought possible with the ENGORGE/H.U.G.E. MASS Stack. Visit GetXL.com or your local retailer to stock up on this revolutionary weight gainer stack. Photograph yourself at the start of your H.U.G.E. bulk-up program (both shirtless start photo and on a scale with your weight clearly shown) and again at the end of an 8-week mass packing program (same two photo choices). Send your digital photos and a short essay about your progress as part of the H.U.G.E. initiative to info@getXL.com. Ten lucky winners with the best progress will be selected and will win a 3-month supply of ENGORGE/H.U.G.E. MASS and some of you may be selected to be featured in Xero Limits ads. Dont delay get started on your mass building experiment now!
When Im not pumping iron or doing strongman lifts, I run a vending machine company and carrying vending machines is a real workout! All the lifting and hard work makes it tough to maintain my weight, much less bulk up. Thats why the H.U.G.E. project was such a great thing for me. Thanks to ENGORGE, my appetite is bigger than ever and Im chowing down tons of great food so I keep growing. And the H.U.G.E. MASS is the best weight gainer Ive ever used. It tastes awesome and is packed with calories so I never have to worry about a missed meal killing my mass building progress. Im the heaviest and strongest Ive ever been and I just keep growing!
Because I work out regularly with Rodney Roller, I cant afford to be small or weak or hell kick my ass. Keeping up with him is priority #1 because thats what it takes for me to maximize my own size and strength. When Rodney started his new mass building push for an IFBB pro card, he invited me to use the same ENGORGE/H.U.G.E. MASS product stack. Right from the start I could feel my muscles swell as I watched the numbers on the scale go up. Im able to eat more food without feeling like a stuffed pig and I take two H.U.G.E. MASS shakes a day to increase my total caloric intake. Im packing on size like never before and now weigh 250 lbs. This is the biggest Ive ever been and theres still room for me to ll out and get stronger. Call me a Freak if you will, but thats a compliment!
H.U.G.E. MASS
ENGORGE
Squats are the king of all exercises. Squatting causes release of anabolic hormones like testosterone and GH, helping your body to grow.
Power Pyramid training is set up with a step-progression technique, which calls for 4-5 increasing weight-load weeks followed by a lighter week for muscular regeneration. Weights used will typically be in the 70-90% of 1RM range, which will increase nerve ring in the muscles, bringing more explosive power. When youre resting after training, the hypertrophy (growth) process will build the size of muscular tissue and make you look bigger and harder. As your training becomes more intense, concentrate on maintaining precise exercise form and count your reps. Be sure to rest for the recommended time periods between sets to adequately recharge muscular energy. On non-training days, stay out of the gym completely. Finally, you will notice that the prescribed exercises change beginning in week 5. This is to guarantee that your mind stays fresh and you can push yourself to the limit for each workout.
Do not skip any workouts and do not alter the weight or repetitions from whats prescribed. Base all lifts on your 1-rep max for every exercise, or the estimated 1RM based on 5RM or 10RM formulas. Take each set to momentary muscular failure, but be sure to use precise form on every rep. If you need assistance, enlist a spotter. If you cannot perform the prescribed reps, adjust the weight slightly for the next set. Allow for 3-4 minutes rest between sets. Do not skimp on your supplement regimen, as these are scientically designed to enhance the lifting program. Mix EPO BLAST in your water bottle and drink prior to workouts for optimal training intensity due to its blood boosting technology and psycho-energizers. Take your nutritional supplements even on non-training days, as this is when recovery and anabolic growth takes place. NOVATESTs bio-engineered anti-aromatase technology will help keep your muscle building testosterone levels high enough to force you to grow, while EPONOXs EPO and nitric oxide matrix will speed recovery due to its vasodilating effects for better nutrient delivery and lactic acid clearing. Your lifting program should also focus on other performance attributes that cannot be identied through appearance or mass gain alone. These include maximizing the integrity and exibility of connective tissue (through full range of motion for each movement), power endurance and cardiovascular endurance.
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Going 110% all the time like I do requires central nervous system rest, so cycling your training is an absolute necessity!
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REPS 10-15 10-15 10-12 10-12 10 4-6 4-6 10 10-12 10 10 6-8 10 10-12 10-12 10 6-10 20 10-12 10-12 8-10
Note: Rodneys 1-rep maximum (1RM) would be 630 lbs., so lifters with a different 1RM can follow his program exactly by calculating percentages of their own max lifts, using the example above. By doing so, you can integrate his exact program into the chest day of your High-Volume Pyramid Program. However, because of his incredible 1-rep max strength, he requires additional warm-up sets just to get to the working sets of his session. So be careful not to overtrain by doing excessive sets. In addition, Rodneys current program involves dropsets from his last weight lifted in order to maximize volume and improve his muscular endurance. Use great care with regard to exercise form if you decide to incorporate dropsets into some of your workouts.
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Total kCal*
3000 3500 4000 4500 5000 5500 6000
CARBS (40-45%)
322 grams 376 grams 430 grams 484 grams 538 grams 591 grams 645 grams
PROTEIN (30-35%)
248 grams 289 grams 330 grams 371 grams 412 grams 454 grams 495 grams
FAT (20-25%)
77 grams 89 grams 102 grams 115 grams 128 grams 141 grams 153 grams
*Total kCal is an estimate and based on certain assumptions including 10-20% body fat, male athlete, 4 days a week of rigorous weight and 2 days cardio training.
BULKING SUPPLEMENTATION
PRODUCT
ENGORGE H.U.G.E. MASS Extra Strength NOVATEST EPONOX EPO BLAST Glutamine Vitamin C Vitamin E BCAAs
DOSAGE / DAY
4 capsules twice daily 1 shake twice daily 1 QuickTek tablet twice daily 3 tablets, 3 times daily 1 Stick Pack before every workout 5-10 grams 1 gram 400 IU 5-10 grams
PURPOSE
Increases macronutrient absorption of large meals, increases stomach volume, improves gastric emptying of food. Provides 50 grams of whey protein and BCAA consumption for growth and increases overall calorie intake in highly bio-available shake for maximum muscle gain. Increases testosterone levels for improved muscular growth and strength improvements during heavy training. Improves nitric oxide levels throughout the day for greater vasodilation and nutrient delivery to growing muscles. Greatly improves intensity of workouts for highly anabolic muscular growth due to its EPO blood volume increase, nitric oxide boost and powerful psycho-energizers. Immune system health, maintains muscle mass. Immune system health, collagen formation, antioxidant. Cardiovascular health, decrease soreness. Prevents fatigue, promotes tissue recovery.
Conclusion
Hardcore lifters pushing mind-blowing tonnage in the gym require signicant amounts of protein, amino acids and complex carbohydrates. The Power Pyramid program takes this into account by prescribing a macronutrient ratio of 40-45% carbs, 3035% protein and 20-25% healthy fats for fast weight gain and maximum progress in the gym. The recommended carbohydrates should come from complex sources such as whole grains, wheat pasta, whole grain rice, sweet potatoes and the like. Protein should come from low fat food sources such as lean cuts of red meat, chicken breast, turkey breast and fresh sh as the recommended food choices. In addition, the H.U.G.E. MASS weight gainer drink provides a whopping 50 grams of highly bio-available whey protein and a specially designed enzyme matrix for optimum utilization. Speaking of fat, the remaining 20-25% of your caloric intake should include healthy fats such as axseed oil, sh oils, MCTs and CLA. These fats are essential for joint health and hormonal balance for continual anabolic growth.
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36 20 56 50 50 96 10 106
6 108 114 85 85 0 94 94
30 12 42 15 15 31.2 0 31.2
50 50 96 10 106
85 85 0 89.6 89.6
DAILY TOTALS:
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60 10 6 76 444
0 94 12 106 573.6
4 0 0 4 142
Ive trained over the No matter how hardeating enough food toyears, I was never been able to break through the 250 lb. plateau. Lets face it get huge is a real challenge. But using ENGORGE gave me a ravenous appetite and helped me pack in all the mass-building food I needed. H.U.G.E. MASS provides 675 calories, 50 grams of anabolic protein and a perfect digestive enzyme blend so I was able to pack on size without any stomach problems or feeling bloated. Armed with the ENGORGE/ H.U.G.E. MASS Stack, I increased my weight to a solid 271 lbs. the biggest Ive ever been! Rodney Raw Power Roller, 630 lb. Raw Bench 5 6, 271 lb. Freak, Team Xero Limits
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FREE DOWNLOADABLE DAILY TRAINING LOGS AND MASS BUILDING DIET PLANS!
Visit www.getXL.com/huge.html daily to download training logs for the Power Pyramid program. Use them to calculate lifting loads based on precise percentages of your 1RM tests and track your daily progress, sets, reps and weights lifted. To get started on an anabolic mass building diet, visit www.getXL.com/eatbigdiet.html to download free diet plans. Youll nd sample 4,000, 6,000, 8,000 and 10,000 calorie diets to help you keep growing huge.
Note: The Xero Limits Power Pyramid Mass Building and Nutrition Guide is based on scientic and research backed principles. However, exercise at your own risk. By using this program booklet and training/diet regimen, you accept full liability for any and all outcomes, no matter what they may be. Xero Limits assumes no liability for your progress or for any injuries or other negative outcomes that may occur as a result of your following this regimen. Consult with your doctor before starting any exercise program. Text by Steve Downs, C.S.C.S. Photography by Powershots Photography, Troy Phillips/Akimitsu Sadoi, Steve Downs and Jason Breeze. Designed by Nicole Grant Edited by Steve Downs and April Matera Copyright 2010 by Xero Limits, 549 A Pompton Avenue, Suite #310, Cedar Grove, NJ 07009 www.getXL.com 1.866.378.4135
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Feel the Power of Maximum Testosterone with EXTRA STRENGTH NOVATEST! PHARMAKINETIC ANTI-AROMATASE TESTOSTERONE MAXIMIZER EXCLUSIVE TRI-METHYL-FLAVONE COMPLEX BIO-ENGINEERED TO INCREASE TESTOSTERONE/LOWER ESTROGEN QUICKTEK TRANSMUCOSAL DELIVERY SYSTEM
www.getXL.com 1.866.378.4135
549 A Pompton Avenue, Suite #310, Cedar Grove, NJ 07009
2010 Xero Limits. All rights reserved. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, cure, treat or prevent any disease. Your results may vary.