“Muscle Explosion – 28 Days To Maximum Mass” is a very demanding muscle-building program for intermediate to advanced bodybuilders stuck in a plateau who want to break through and start adding muscle mass once more.
It also requires discipline, a strict schedule, and very taxing workout techniques for the best results, so it is not suitable for absolute beginners.
Below a complete review of Nick Nilsson’s program with its pros and cons.
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Who Is This Program For?
The tough training and scientific schedule are the reasons why this program is really not for beginners or even for well-seasoned bodybuilders who are satisfied with what they have and do not desire to put themselves through this extreme protocol.
However, it is really a specific niche program for people with solid training history and also a desire to overcome muscle growth plateaus.
Muscle Explosion was designed with unique workout concepts like “controlled overtraining”, accumulation and intensification as well as with a nutritional strategy based on cycles of carbs deprivation followed by large amounts of carbs and water intake which allegedly induce a super anabolic state and muscle growth.
The program has really a hardcore approach to muscle building, but it does so in a smart way that ultimately is not as hard as spinning your wheels for months or years without progression.
Anything that looks over the top in the program is actually calculated and planned, not a blind attempt to turn your workouts even harder just for the sake of it.
Following his years of dedication and trial and error, Nick Nilsson devised this plan with a clever cycling structure, both for the workouts and the nutrition part.
He basically found a way to shock your body with a strategy of “controlled overtraining” and metabolic acceleration that work hand in hand for optimal results.
The Muscle Explosion Workout Structure
In this program, short periods of planned overtraining are in place to actually build muscle instead of depleting it.
This apparent contradiction is so because the overtraining period does NOT go on forever as it normally happens in regular overtraining.
Normal over-training is about pumping iron month after month in the hope that something will stick to the wall, eventually reaching the burnt-out stage without any results.
Instead, what happens in this program is that the overtraining period is structured into two 2-week phases to be done exactly with a specific sequence for a total of 28 days, which can be carried on as required. These are:
1 – The Accumulation Phase This is the first phase in which you build up a huge training volume to truly overwhelm your body into chronic overtraining.
2 – The Intensification Phase This is the following 2-week second phase where you suddenly decrease the volume while increasing the poundage and rest periods.
What Is The Training Schedule Like?
The workouts vary a lot depending on the phase, just like the nutritional guidelines. For example, initially, there is a mix of regular weight training with cardio between sets with NO rest for the sole purpose of burning fat and deplete all the carbs in your body quickly.
Then you switch to workouts designed to increase lactic acid and growth hormone. This way you will burn fat even faster.
However, the workouts in this phase are really extreme. Basically, you have to do either deadlifts or squats for 5 consecutive days non stop, that is 40 sets a day, no rest days, for a total of 200 sets.
There is a reason for this overkill, it is the overtraining accumulation phase explained above that sets you up for muscle gains later on. Of course, it won’t last forever, just a week.
Special Training Techniques Of Muscle Explosion
In order to consolidate the mass gains from the squat or deadlift phase, you then switch to TUT, or time-under-tension, and go for the pump instead.
With increased time under tension, you need to drop the poundage, which in turn decreases the stress on your nervous system from the squat/deadlift phase, aiding recovery, and muscle gains.
Also, during this TUT phase comes into play a particular technique called “Positions of Flexion 1 & 1/4 Rep Training” or POF.
The technique consists of adding more stress by performing an extra 1/4 rep on any given exercise in the most demanding part of its range.
For example, the hardest part in bench flies is the lower one, when your arms are wide apart and low down. You then add extra stretch tension by doing a 1/4 rep thereafter a regular repetition.
Cable crossovers offer the opposite challenge, so you add an extra 1/4 rep in the squeeze position of the movement range.
By combining all exercises with this technique, you get your muscles challenged from all angles.
Muscle Explosion Nutrition Guidelines
This is a unique program because the demanding overtraining phase has an unexpected consequence of nutrition.
What happens is that the training schedule prepares you in a way that allows you to eat all the nutrients you need without fear of storing fat. However, it must be done correctly and with a precise sequence of different phases. These are:
Metabolic Acceleration Phase
In this phase, you must rely on very low carbs and calories. Such deprivation has the sole purpose of preparing your body for a compensating reaction in the following phase.
This deprivation strategy is designed to increase insulin sensitivity, making it more responsive later on when you completely switch nutritional guidelines, effectively improving your body’s ability to build muscle.
Massive Overload Phase
In this phase, you switch to great amounts of food intake while doing a huge training volume. As a reaction from the previous deprivation phase, your body will absorb all the nutrients, carbs, proteins, and water like a sponge.
Basically, the strategy is for the catabolic first phase to set you up for greater anabolic gains in the second phase.
What Are The Benefits Of Muscle Explosion?
The program offers a detailed blueprint designed to break through plateaus, saving you time and effort in trying to figure out what works and what does not.
Muscle Explosion offers personal support from Nick Nilsson, a bonus not always available in this kind of program. You are not on your own but followed along the way if you need help.
Well planned nutritional guidelines for maximum muscle gain but without extra fat. The deprivation and bulk-up phases are there for a reason.
Detailed workout blueprint which you can also have in video format if you want. Nothing is left to chance and you know exactly what to do and how to perform the exercises.
Useful supplementation guideline to tell you which supplement to use and why, but only if you want as it is optional.
About Nick Nilsson
Nick Nilsson is a former long-distance runner with a skinny frame who thought he could never become a strong bodybuilder because of his alleged poor genetics.
However, he turned things around to became a 215lb athlete of rock-solid muscle from an original 140lb scrawny frame. He is now a personal trainer with a degree in physical education and psychology and runs his own website.
He has also authored many other programs like Mad Scientist Muscle and Metabolic Monster, among others. Muscle Explosion is probably the toughest and most challenging of all as it was designed to break through plateaus for people with a training history foundation, so it may be of interest to intermediate and advanced bodybuilders in this situation.
The bottom line is that Nick Nilsson is a real person and an established fitness expert and coach well qualified to teach people how to pack on muscle. He looks at the business and he is.
Muscle Explosion PDF And Components
The program is entirely digital with a choice of two versions, silver, and gold. They are identical except that the gold version has also mobile-friendly access to over 150 workout demonstration videos so you know exactly how to implement the exercises. Nick Nilsson himself is filmed doing the workouts.
Both the silver and gold versions include 7 other components in PDF manual format which you can print if you like:
The Muscle Explosion Manual – the foundation of the program with all the information about the training and nutritional theory.
Printable Workout Sheets – for your own convenience so you can plan ahead and do exactly what you are supposed to do without skipping a single rep.
Muscle Explosion Exercise Guide – all exercises are explained in detail with many training and technique tips.
Mass-Building Supplement Guide – use of supplements is optional, but should you choose to use them, this manual contains information on the “right” supplement.
Done-For-You Meal Plans – professional meal planning designed by Dr. John Berardi for maximum muscle growth effectiveness.
Free Updates for life if and when they occur.
Personal Support – Nick Nilsson wants his customer to succeed, not just buy his program. It is a big plus that he offers personal assistance if you have any questions or doubts. Not many programs offer this opportunity.
The “Muscle Explosion – 28 Days To Maximum Mass” is an extreme muscle-building blueprint for those with a workout history who are prepared to go the extra mile in order to break through stagnation.
Providing you stick to the guidelines to the letter, it provides a well-designed action plan to spur muscle growth once again. It also offers personal assistance, updates for life an optional video library, making it a good choice for those this program was designed for.
My name is Jay Fielding. I gained an interest in fitness since I was a child, and eventually developed my passion into a career path. I am now a Certified Personal Trainer with a natural ability to program customized body recomposition and motivate people in achieving their goals, be it gaining muscle or losing fat.
