train to gain - Bodybuilding magazine free download. IRONMAN

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TOP-10
TOP-10 EATING
EATING TIPS
TIPS •• X-FACTOR
X-FACTOR DIET
DIET ••
XX REPS
REPS
MARCH 2005 / IRON MAN—REAL BODYBUILDING TRAINING, NUTRITION & SUPPLEMENTATION
-REP
RESULTS!
X
RESULTS!
Wild One-Month
Transformation!
RULES FOR
A BIG, BROAD
BACK
X-REP RESULTS!
10
10
SLUG DAYS
Lazy Way to Muscle Gains
TIPS FOR
MASTERING
YOUR DIET
MARCH 2005
DOMAIN
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www.ironmanmagazine.com \ APRIL 2006 261
Build Your
Body
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you, as he demonstrates the techniques
to sculpt your own impressive physique.
Greg is a former Army Ranger and was
recently voted Hollywood’s top body.
150 DECEMBER 2009 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com
March 2005
Vol. 64, No. 3
Real Bodybuilding Training, Nutrition & Supplementation
FEATURES
78 TRAIN, EAT, GROW 65
More X-ceptional musings from our TEG men. Hyperplasia? It could happen—with the right type of training.
88 ONLY THE STRONG SHALL SURVIVE
Bill Starr says you should be a slug one day a week. Laziness can help you build muscle. Pass the remote and
unplug the phone. A “Gilligan’s Island” marathon is on!
98 YOUR BACK WILL NEVER GROW!
Unless you follow these 10 tips for bigness and broadness
from Ron Harris, our man in the training trenches.
108 SUCCESS STORY
Tom Doyle won Twinlab’s Live Like a Pro contest. Here’s
how he did it. Prepare for incredible motivation!
116 THE X FACTOR 2
Jonathan Lawson continues his XRep mass-building X-ploits.
Check out his before and after leg
shots. Sheesh! Loads of mass
and detail in only one month. Oh,
his X-Factor diet is here too.
Hardbody,
page 198
TOP-10 EATING TIPS • X-FACTOR DIET •
X REPS
X-REP
RESULTS!
Wild One-Month
Transformation!
RULES FOR
A BIG, BROAD
BACK
10
10
SLUG DAYS
Munch
Master,
page 132
The X Factor 2,
page 116
132 MUNCH MASTER
Skip La Cour gives you 10 tips for
controlling your eating. You can
master the munchies, mister!
142 HEAVY DUTY
Mike Mentzer’s Heavy Duty
seminar continues. This month it’s
all about training and the Colorado
Experiment.
TIPS FOR
MASTERING
YOUR DIET
DOMAIN
PLUS:
•IM Pro/Arnold Classic Previews
•Ms., Fitness and Figure Olympia Coverage
Jonathan Lawson and
Bobbie Sue Luther
appear on this month’s
cover. Hair & Makeup
Kimberly Carlson. Photo
by Michael Neveux. Inset
photo of Fitness Olympia
winner Adela GarciaFriedmansky by Bill
Comstock.
154 GUSTAVO BADELL
He surprised everyone with a top-three finish at the Mr.
Olympia. David Young finds out how he did it and how he
plans to be even better this year.
182 IFBB MS. OLYMPIA, FITNESS
OLYMPIA AND FIGURE OLYMPIA
IFBB Fitness
Olympia,
page 188
Ruth Silverman’s got the good stuff from Vegas—from
fitness femmes to muscle maidens.
198 HARDBODY
This month DeeAnn Donovan shows why a fitness lifestyle
and the right attitude can be a girl’s best friend.
206 IM PRO/ARNOLD CLASSIC PREVIEW
Lonnie Teper is our man on the inside. If you’re a pro
bodybuilding fan, you gotta check out his sneak peak at
the first two shows of the season.
Free download from imbodybuilding.com
10 Rules for a Big,
Broad Back,
page 98
DEPARTMENTS
30 TRAIN TO GAIN
Flex, highs and videotape. Plus, ball-and-socket sensibilities and blubber burners.
52 CRITICAL MASS
Steve Holman delves into time-bomb training—and he’s
also got advice on X Reps for beginners and beyond.
58 NATURALLY HUGE
John Hansen’s advice on how to realize more size. He’s
got a complete training program just for you.
62 EAT TO GROW
Creatine high-test, heavy D and low-carb leftovers.
Gustavo
Badell,
page 154
IM Pro/Arnold Classic
Preview,
page 206
166 NEWS & VIEWS
Lonnie Teper and Ruth Silverman go behind the scenes
with all the bodybuilding and fitness kings and queens.
And Jerry Fredrick’s Hot Shots are here too, to jack your
funny bone through and through. (Poetry in a bodybuilding magazine? P.U.!)
220 MIND/BODY CONNECTION
Randall Strossen, Ph.D., shows you how to get ahead
with a little help from your friends (peer pressure isn’t just
about forced reps). Dave Draper says, “Take me to the
iron,” in his Bomber Blast column, and Jack LaLanne
helps you add size to your bi’s at home. Oh, and your
Gallery of Ironmen history lesson is here too.
230 BODYBUILDING PHARMACOLOGY
Jerry Brainum analyzes a new Japanese study in which
researchers gave rats massive doses of some popular
steroids. Did they get huge muscles? Did they go bald?
Did their testicles shrink to the size of flea turds? J.B. has
the answers as well as some interesting news on growth
hormone and fat burning.
Train to Gain,
page 30
Pump &
Circumstance,
page 172
!
WEB ALERT world of
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For the latest happen
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238 READERS WRITE
First up is our favorite letter of all time (because it puts
us up on a pedestal). And then there are those who
question the naturalness of some of our favorite bodybuilders. We knew the compliments couldn’t last.
In the next IRON MAN
Next month we take a hard look at getting hard in
your old age. No, we’re not talking about Viagra;
we’re talking about over-40 bodybuilding. It’s our
annual analysis of what the older, bolder generation can do to build a top-notch, ripped and ready
physique. Masters Mr. O competitor Lee Apperson
tells you how. Then Ron Harris continues his bodypart-by-bodypart blockbuster bonanza with a
section on delts. You’ll be splitting the seams on
your shirt in no time after you follow his right-on
rules and regulations. We’ll also have more musclebuilding science from Rob Thoburn, info on X-Rep
training and a Hardbody pictorial that will knock
your block off. Watch for the awe-inspiring April
IRON MAN on newsstands the first week of March.
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©2009 Home-Gym.com
Visit us at Home-Gym.com or call 800-447-0008
Over 4000 best-selling products online
John Balik’s
Publisher’s Letter
Founders
1936-1986:
Peary & Mabel Rader
Dealing With Reality
This morning I had a long conversation with
a friend of mine about the perception of reality
and how it relates to accomplishment. Your
perception is strongly influenced by how you
feel about your ability to make changes in your
life. If you feel helpless, you won’t be able to
see the possibility of change.
Even deeper is the realization that you are
ultimately responsible for who you are and
what you achieve. Knowing that and being able to act on it to bring
about positive changes are vastly different. One exists only in the
mind, and the other is where the rubber meets the road.
We all deal with the rationalizations of others, and we all rationalize. Take the word apart and you see the oxymoron: rational-lies. If
you can accept that rationalization is lying to yourself, you’ll be
ready for the next step—an inner dialog. You must become aware
that every time your rationalizing self and your rational self are in
conflict, there will be consequences of what you decide. The unshakable reality is that you’re responsible for a lot of what happens.
That simple but profound fact governs how your life plays out.
We are the sum total of our decisions. The quality of those decisions
is connected to how truthful we are with ourselves. Some would call
that character, and it affects everything from workouts to personal
relationships.
Your view of life should be both micro and macro. The same rules
of decisions, consequences and reality work for all aspects of life,
but let’s use bodybuilding goals as a macro starting point. I talk with
a lot people who want to be leaner or gain muscle, and many say
that diets don’t work for them or they have lousy genetics or they
don’t have time to train and so on.
Everyone has a different set of gifts. That’s a reality you need to
face. So you have two choices: Make the changes that will lead you
to becoming leaner and/or more muscular—or don’t. One builds
character; the other depletes it. Each decision has a consequence.
We’ve all seen the “One Day at a Time” bumper stickers—they’re
about making change and taking control of and responsibility for
your actions. I find, however, that a day is much too macro a frame
of reference. I look at it in terms of every decision: Every decision
makes your character either stronger or weaker. That goes for life
and death issues as well as the far less critical decisions like going
for one last rep or taking the easy way out.
The stronger your character, the stronger you’ll be in dealing with
rationalization. That strength will enable you to take charge and
reach your goals. Every little victory empowers you. Being true to
yourself is one of life’s most important and difficult lessons—and
one you never stop learning. IM
Publisher/Editorial Director: John Balik
Associate Publisher: Warren Wanderer
Design Director: Michael Neveux
Editor in Chief: Stephen Holman
Art Director: T. S. Bratcher
Senior Editor: Ruth Silverman
Editor at Large: Lonnie Teper
Articles Editors: L.A. Perry, Caryne Brown
Assistant Editor: Jonathan Lawson
Assistant Art Director: Christian Martinez
Designer: Emerson Miranda
Ironman Staff:
Denise Cantú, Vuthy Keo, Mervin Petralba,
David Solorzano
Contributing Authors:
Jerry Brainum, David Chapman, Teagan Clive, Lorenzo
Cornacchia, Daniel Curtis, Dave Draper, Michael
Gündill, Rosemary Hallum, Ph.D., John Hansen, Ron
Harris, Ori Hofmekler, Rod Labbe, Skip La Cour, Jack
LaLanne, Butch Lebowitz, Stuart McRobert, Gene
Mozée, Larry Scott, Jim Shiebler, Roger Schwab, C.S.
Sloan, Bill Starr, Bradley Steiner, Eric Sternlicht, Ph.D.,
Randall Strossen, Ph.D., Richard Winett, Ph.D., and
David Young
Contributing Artists:
Steve Cepello, Larry Eklund, Ron Dunn
Contributing Photographers:
Jim Amentler, Reg Bradford, Jimmy Caruso, Bill
Comstock, Bill Dobbins, Jerry Fredrick, Irvin Gelb,
J.M. Manion, Gene Mozée, Mitsuru Okabe, Rob Sims,
Leo Stern, Russ Warner
Director of Marketing:
Helen Yu, 1-800-570-IRON, ext. 1
Accounting: Dolores Waterman
Director of Operations: Dean Reyes
Subscriptions Manager:
Sonia Melendez, 1-800-570-IRON, ext. 2
E-mail: [email protected]
Advertising Director: Warren Wanderer
1-800-570-IRON, ext. 1
(518) 743-1696; FAX: (518) 743-1697
Advertising Coordinator:
Jonathan Lawson, (805) 385-3500, ext. 320
Newsstand Consultant:
Angelo Gandino, (516) 796-9848
We reserve the right to reject any advertising at our
discretion without explanation. All manuscripts, art or
other submissions must be accompanied by a selfaddressed, stamped envelope. Send
submissions to IRON MAN, 1701 Ives Avenue,
Oxnard, CA 93033. We are not responsible for
unsolicited material. Writers and photographers
should send for our Guidelines outlining
specifications for submissions. IRON MAN is an open
forum. We also reserve the right to edit any letter or
manuscript as we see fit, and photos submitted have
an implied waiver of copyright.
Please consult a physician before beginning any diet
or exercise program. Use the information published in
IRON MAN at your own risk.
IRON MAN Internet Addresses:
Web Site: www.ironmanmagazine.com
John Balik, Publisher: [email protected]
Steve Holman, Editor in Chief: [email protected]
Ruth Silverman, Senior Editor: [email protected]
T.S. Bratcher, Art Director: [email protected]
Helen Yu, Director of Marketing: [email protected]
Dean Reyes, Dir. of Operations: [email protected]
Jonathan Lawson, Ad Coordinator: [email protected]
Sonia Melendez, Subscriptions: [email protected]
24 MARCH 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com
SEXY ROCK-HARD ABS FAST
The Secret to Etching your Granite-Carved Abs in 10 Short Minutes
Picture this... you with tight,
shredded abs, serratus and
intercostals all sharp, sliced and
visible from across the room or
on the sun-glared beach! And
from the rear, lower lumbars that
look like two thick steel girders
supporting your muscle-studded
back. Imagine looking like a Greek
god... in street clothes... in the
gym... or anywhere.
The incredible breakthrough
design of the pad on the Ab
Bench pre-stretches the targeted
muscles prior to contraction,
giving you a full-range movement,
making each exercise up to 200%
more effective. The Ab Bench
takes the physiology of your spine
into consideration with its design
like nothing else on the market.
The contraction takes place all
the way into the pelvis where the
abdominals actually rotate the
spine, forcing the abdominals to
completely contract... from the
upper abs to the lower abs.
Using the Ab Bench is the
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get those attention-grabbing
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From full stretch
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MOTIVATION
Flex, Highs and Videotape
Comstock \ Model: Ronnie Coleman
Information, motivation and muscle sensations abound on tapes and DVDs
If you don’t own any of the many training videos
available these days, you could really be missing out.
They can be tremendously motivating. Two of the most
inspirational videos I’ve ever seen are Dorian Yates’
“Blood and Guts” and Ronnie Coleman’s “The Unbelievable.” It doesn’t matter that most of us will never
approach the size of those men or use anywhere near
the weights they do. Just watching men with such
extreme muscular development pushing the limits of
intensity and breaking past the barriers of normal
human tolerance for pain is astonishing. When the
bodybuilder happens to be close to contest condition,
it’s almost like an anatomy lesson—you can clearly
observe the actions of each individual muscle during
training. Who needs an MRI?
Some of the videos show not only training but also a
day or more in the life of the athlete. It’s neat to see that
these giants eat, sleep, relax and hang out with friends
and family just like the rest of us mortals. Ronnie Coleman’s latest DVD, “The Cost of Redemption,” really
gives you an insight into how much food is required to
feed a man who packs more 300 lean pounds on his
frame and who trains as brutally hard and frequently as
he does. It follows Ronnie over the course of four consecutive days, not only at the gym but also in his
kitchen and his two favorite restaurants as he puts
away what can only be described as obscene amounts
of egg whites, grits, chicken, steak, potatoes, french
fries and corn bread.
The tapes and DVDs, though, are more than just
inspirational and entertaining; you can actually learn
something from them. The champions have their own
style of training and their own little twists on the standard exercises that you can try out for yourself. For
example, Ronnie trains with a very explosive style that
harks back to his years as a competitive powerlifter. In
contrast, Jay Cutler, in his “New, Improved, and Beyond” DVD, uses much stricter form, with peak contractions and slow, controlled negatives. It proves that
there’s indeed more than one way to build muscle.
Watching just a few minutes of a training video before
heading off to the gym can amp up your workouts, so I
consider them a wise investment for all serious bodybuilders.
—Ron Harris
Editor’s note: To order any of the videos or DVDs
mentioned, visit www.home-gym.com, or call (800)
447-0008. Ronnie Coleman’s “Redemption” is the
current best-seller.
HE WANTED TO FIGHTUntil I Crushed His Hand!
He was big. He was pissed. And
he wanted to kick my butt. There
was no way out, so I extended my
arm for the opening hand shake—
and then I crushed his hand like
a Dorito. Fight over thanks to the
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If you’re after huge forearms
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You’ll develop a bone-crushing
grip fast by adding one or a
number of power coils for that
critical progressive-resistance
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that are exposed for all to see.
You’ll want your forearms to be
huge and vascular to match your
thick, beefy upper arms—and now
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©2010w Home-Gym.com
TRAIN TO GAIN
RECOVER RX
Snooze
or Lose
Sleep deprivation can crush
anabolic hormones
U LT I M AT E M A S S
X-Files Increase the grow power of any set
The turnaround—where the weight changes directions—is the key spot for
most compound, or multijoint, exercises. It’s where the target muscles generate
maximum force. Take overhead presses. The bar comes down to your chin and
your front delts are in a semistretched position. If you explode out of that position
(don’t do it; there’s a better, safer way), you get extreme overload right where the
front delts need it most. In fact, force-plate studies connected to an oscilloscope
show that a 60-pound barbell suddenly jerked from that position can exert a force
of several hundred pounds. Think of the overload a pro bodybuilder gets when he
explodes with 200 pounds out of that semistretched position. Of course, his
joints, tendons and ligaments may explode, too, which is why the champs’ way is
not the best way to overload that key sweet spot. In fact, it’s downright dangerous. (Remember, a number of pro bodybuilders use growth hormone, which
strengthens joints and tendons, so at least they have some protection—although
sometimes not enough!)
So what should you do? The X-Rep technique embraces the latest research on
isometric contraction, semistretch overload and nervous system activation to give
you a powerful, new size-building technique with minimal sets. It’s a twist on
partial pulses at the end of a set to failure at or near the precise max-force point in
the range of motion (at least that’s where it is on many multijoint exercises). By
extending a set with X Reps, you do an end run around nervous system failure
and get an exponential increase in growth stimulation, which means you don’t
have to do a lot of sets. That’s exciting stuff if you’re after more muscle.
For example, the sweet spot on chins is down close to where your arms almost
lock out at the bottom. It’s not at full extension—that’s shoulder-injury territory—
but up a little between the very bottom and midpoint of the stroke. Try this: Do
your chins fairly slowly and strictly for eight reps. When you can’t get another full
rep, lower to about halfway between the midpoint and full stretch and do partials
till failure. Feel the tension build in your lats at that max-force point, cranking out
as many X Reps as you can. Now you’ve jolted your lats with max-force overload.
That should make the set anywhere from two to four times more effective at triggering hypertrophy.
—Jonathan Lawson
IM e-zine
1 Everson, C.A., et al. (2004). Reductions in circulating anabolic hormones induced by sustained sleep
deprivation in rats. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 286:E1060-E1070.
Editor’s note: You can get an IM e-zine in your e-mail box almost every week
free. Subscribe at www.ironmanmagazine.com. For the latest installments covering X Reps, visit www.x-rep.com and click on X-Files.
Neveux \ Model: Joe DeAngelis
Neveux
You can generate the
most force when the
target muscle is in a
semistretched position.
Emphasize that point
in the stroke because
more force generation
can equal more growth
stimulation.
While exercise is the primary catalyst
for muscular growth, all such growth
occurs when you’re at rest. That’s why
adequate recovery is so vital for making muscular gains. Studies show that
if you don’t get enough sleep, your
testosterone levels may plummet as
much as 40 percent. The body secretes maximum levels of growth hormone during sleep.
A new study using lab rats as subjects tested the hormonal effects of
sleep deprivation.1 In previous studies
animals deprived of sleep showed
lower levels of thyroid hormones and a
blunted immune response. Since the
low level of thyroid output occurred in
the hypothalamus, the researchers
wanted to see how other hormones
secreted in the same area of the brain
were affected by sleep.
The experimenters found that sleep
deprivation in the rats resulted in a
suppression of other hormones, including growth hormone, insulinlike growth
hormone 1 (IGF-1), prolactin and leptin.
Corticosterone, the rodent version of
cortisol, was unaffected by lack of
sleep. That hormonal milieu favors a
depression in anabolic reactions in the
body, with an upgrading of catabolic
effects, including possible muscle loss.
Don’t take sleep for granted if any type
of muscular progress is your goal.
—Jerry Brainum
YOU CAN BENCH BIG
Add 20 Pounds to Your Bench Press Almost Overnight!
How would you like a surge in
upper-body power and a bigger
bench press—say, 20 extra pounds
on the bar—after only a couple of
workouts? Sure, adding 20 pounds
to your bench in two or three training
sessions may sound crazy, especially
if your bench press poundage has
been stuck in neutral for a while.
But nine times out of 10 this stall is
due to an easily correctible muscle
weakness—not in the pecs, delts
or triceps but in a group of muscles
known as the rotator cuff.
The rotator cuff muscles stabilize
the shoulder joint. During the bench
press and almost all other upperbody movements these muscles
protect the shoulder joint and
prevent ball-and-socket slippage. If
these muscles are underdeveloped,
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©2010 Home-Gym.com
Training Tips, Tricks and Tweaks, Part 2
Get more growth from
every workout
My heavy-iron diatribe was last month. Now I’ll continue
scapula into adduction—in and out. That’s why a revolving
with some specifics.
bar is totally wrong for lat pulldowns. You’re trying to keep
Revolving bar for lat pulldowns. I don’t know if you’d
your palms high on the bar. If it revolves, it dumps your palms
ever learn this by just listening to your body. I didn’t. I had to
right off the bar.
learn it from Lou Degni. He told me, “In order to get proper
That’s why you have to use chinning straps and a nonrescapula rotations while doing pullups, you have to get your
volving bar. If you don’t have them, your hands get tired, and
hands high up on the
the next thing you know, your palms slip off the
bar, with your thumb
bar and you’re hanging by your fingers. That
Try shoeless calf raises
for more complete
on the same side of
means you’re working biceps, not back.
development.
the bar as your finCalf raises with shoes on. Calves are
gers.”
stubborn monkeys. They don’t obey anything,
Let me explain.
so you have to be really clever to get them to
When you’re doing
do what you tell them to. One thing’s certain:
pullups, you have to
They’re not going to grow unless you do someget the scapula to
thing they’re not accustomed to. You can get a
rotate through the full
little bit of size by using huge weights and little
range of abduction
bouncy reps, but not much. Remember, they’re
and adduction so you
doing partial reps all the time as you walk
can build lats. In fact,
around. Not only that, but they’re also used to
that’s what makes the
doing one-leg reps.
back grow—it’s not the
If you want them to grow, you have to get
pulling up and down.
serious. It takes full—I mean full—extension
Plus, if you can get
and complete contraction to get their attention.
your hands high on the
You’ve got to get all the way up and all the way
bar with your palms
down. That’s where the shoes come in—or,
wrapped all the way
rather, that’s where the shoes come off. You
over the bar, your
just can’t get all the way up and down with
scapula will be in
shoes on. The problem is, if you take your
abduction—where it’s
shoes off, it hurts the bottoms of your feet. That
supposed to be to
means you need more padding on the block.
start the pullup.
All the way up means all the way to bone
Then you pull up to
support, and all the way down is hitting the
the bar, bringing the
heels on the ground
when you’re standing
on a four-inch block.
ENERGY
Total movement—all
the way up and all the
way down. That will
force your calves to
grow —Larry Scott
Feeling
tired? DragEditor’s note: Get
ging at the
All 33 of Larry Scott’s
gym? Find
reports. Thousands of
some cold
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water—say, at the water fountain or
inspiration—a treafrom a fridge. No, don’t slosh it all
sure! It includes a
over your face (although that could
three-ring binder and
help too). Gargle with it. That’s right,
table of contents for
do the Listerine thing with ice-cold
easy reference, all for
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the low cost of $87.
are very sensitive, so shocking them
Mention that you saw
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Gargle for Go Power
Neveux / Model: Rehan Jalali
TRAIN TO GAIN
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Crossovers
Ball-and-Socket Sensibilities Shoulder
instability
You use your shoulders during
chest, back and, of course, shoulder
training and even on some leg exercises. The shoulder joint is unique. Its
shallow, bony socket makes for a
great range of motion, but loading that
joint during extreme ranges of motion
can lead to many common shoulder
injuries. [Note: Horrigan also
discussed shoulder instability in the
November ’95 and April ’96
Sportsmedicine columns; both are
available at www.softtissuecenter
.com.]
The shoulder is surrounded by
ligaments, which attach bone to bone.
The ligaments are actually connected
and form the joint capsule. Think of
the joint capsule as an organic Saran
Wrap. Two shoulder movements make
the ball move forward in the socket:
the throwing motion and a pushup or
bench-press movement. The front of
the capsule becomes overstretched
because the ball continually moves
forward. Years of bench presses,
incline presses, flyes, cable
crossovers and pullovers can stretch
the capsule too much and cause
shoulder pain.
One year ago new research shed light on the process.
The shoulder instability caused by an overstretched capsule
is usually found in athletes older than 30. When such instability appears in younger athletes, it’s believed to be due to
tightness in the back of the capsule and a tear of the cartilage around the bony socket of the shoulder joint.
The tightness of the back capsule lets the ball pivot and
rotate too much. A throwing athlete can appear to have too
much external rotation and too little internal rotation but
actually may not be unstable. The tight posterior capsule
will drive the ball upward and can tear the cartilage ring.
The problem is known as a SLAP lesion, which stands for
the Latin terms that describe the location of the tear—
superior labrum anterior posterior. The action may explain
why many rotator cuff tears occur on the bottom of the cuff
instead of the top from movement against the roof of the
shoulder. The torn cartilage ring often creates clicking in the
shoulder, which may or may not cause pain.
I’ve written much about the tightness of the shoulder in
weight-trained athletes—that they needed to increase their
external rotation. That’s still the case for many trainees.
Some are tight in both internal and external rotation and
should stretch in both directions. Some trainees participated in other sports while growing up (baseball, football, etc.)
and have some degree of the problem already. Bench
presses, incline presses, behind-the-neck presses, flyes
No, it’s not
your partner
snapping his
fingers to the
gym tunes. A
torn cartilage
ring in your
shoulder can
cause clicking
on some exercises.
Neveux \ Model: Jay Cutler
TRAIN TO GAIN
SPORTSMEDICINE
and pullovers increase the problem.
Patients who have SLAP lesions, too much external
rotation and limited internal rotation need to stretch the
posterior capsule and strengthen the rotator cuff muscles.
Often that’s enough to make the shoulder problems manageable. If external rotation is also limited (maybe you can’t
do behind-the-neck presses or hold a barbell for squats),
then the front capsule and muscles must be stretched too.
Patients who have SLAP lesions often have biceps tendon pain. Biceps tendinitis doesn’t occur by itself. The
biceps tendon may be compressed, or impinged, between
the ball and the roof, or it may be a symptom of the SLAP
lesion. What you need to realize is that half of the biceps’
origin is on the bony socket of the shoulder, and half attaches into the cartilage ring. If the SLAP lesion is torn at
the site of biceps tendon attachment, the biceps tendon is
often painful.
I’ll describe exercises to help improve that situation in the
next issue of IRON MAN.
—Joseph M. Horrigan
Editor’s note: Visit www.softtissuecenter.com for
reprints of Horrigan’s past Sportsmedicine columns that
have appeared in IRON MAN. You can order the book
Strength, Conditioning and Injury Prevention for Hockey by
Joseph Horrigan, D.C., and E.J. “Doc” Kreis, D.A., from
Home Gym Warehouse, (800) 447-0008 or at www.homegym.com.
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Better Blood Flow Burns Blubber
Many bodybuilders have noticed that it’s easier to burn
upper-body fat than lower-body fat. That situation occurs in
women and a large percentage of male athletes. Various
theories have been proposed to explain the apparent differences between upper- and lower-body fat stores.
In women, lower-body fat acts as an emergency calorie
reserve, a precaution designed to ensure perpetuation of the
species. Since it takes about 80,000 calories to produce a
human baby, nature wants to make sure that expectant mothers get the calories they need, even in times of famine. That’s
why women preferentially store fat in their upper thighs, hips
Why high reps can
help you drop fat
between upper- and lower-body fat.1 Previous studies have
measured the appearance of glycerol, which makes up onethird of a triglyceride, or fat, molecule. Trouble is, that’s an
indirect measurement and could be inaccurate in regard to the
actual speed of the body’s fat use. In the new study British
and French scientists teamed to come up with a technique to
measure direct fat use, and they applied the newer technique
to upper- and lower-body fat release in six lean male subjects
aged 22 to 43.
What they found was that gluteal fat tissue shows a 67
percent lower level of blood flow than upper-body fat. It also
has an 87 percent lower rate of activity of hormonesensitive lipase, an enzyme that catalyzes fat release from fat cells, than abdominal-fat cells.
One theory is that the body stores fat in the
lower body to protect against high levels of free
fatty acids in the blood. A high level of FFAs interferes with glucose uptake in cells, which in turn
leads to insulin resistance and diseases linked to
insulin resistance, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The body shuttles excess fatty acids
directly to lower-body fat stores, where they are
“locked in,” which buffers the effect of high levels of
fat in the blood.
The fact that lower-body fat may protect against
potentially deadly diseases offers little solace to
definition-minded bodybuilders. The body won’t
use lower-body fat until nearly all upper body fat is
oxidized through exercise and diet. So the ultimate
answer to eliminating lower-body fat involves persistence and patience. Continuing to exercise and
diet will eventually enable you to make progress in
getting rid of lower-body fat.
For those in a hurry, some evidence shows that
using an alpha-2 adrenergic blocker can also enable bodybuilders to tap into lower-body fat stores.
The fat cells in the lower body, unlike those in the
upper body, have a preponderance of alpha-2
adrenergic cell receptors. (Upper-body fat cells
have a preponderance of beta-adrenergic cell
receptors, which permit more rapid release of fat.)
One natural alpha-adrenergic blocker is yohimbe
at a dose of 0.2 milligrams per kilogram (2.2
pounds) of bodyweight. It must be taken on an
empty stomach, however, since any release of
insulin totally negates its fat-mobilizing effects.
From a training standpoint, if your goal is increased definition, it may be a good idea to use
higher reps, in the range of 15 and up, for lowerbody training. Higher reps may increase blood flow,
giving you a greater mobilization of lower-body fat.
One other thing to consider is that overtraining the legs can
lead to a type of localized stress reaction in which you retain
water subcutaneously, or just under the skin, obscuring muscular definition. In their zeal to get more cut, bodybuilders
often overtrain their legs prior to a contest, leading to water
retention. More experienced bodybuilders often curtail leg
training, including aerobics, at least a week before a contest
to prevent that effect.
—Jerry Brainum
Neveux \ Model: Lee Apperson
TRAIN TO GAIN
FAT FIGHTERS
and buttocks. Some anthropologists also suggest that female
fat storage, especially in the hip and buttocks areas, acts as a
sex signal to males, indicating fertility.
Still, that doesn’t explain why many men also have trouble
losing fat in their lower bodies. Anyone who’s ever attended a
bodybuilding contest has probably noticed male competitors
who show razor-sharp muscular definition in the upper body,
yet have nary a cut on their legs. Some men ascribe that to
“localized water retention” and “excessive estrogen secretion.”
While estrogen has potent water-retaining effects and promotes bodyfat accumulation, that’s not the true explanation.
A new study pinpoints the differences in fat mobilization
1 Tan, G.D., et al. (2004). Upper and lower body adipose
tissue function: A direct comparison of fat mobilization in
humans. Obesity Res. 12:114-118.
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More Wicked Muscle Size and Serious Blast-Off Power On Every Set
The Finishing Touches
Many people who
read bodybuilding
magazines believe
that the athletes
pictured are always
in top shape. They’re
not aware that,
except for training
shots, physique
photos are taken
within a bodybuilder’s two-to-fourweek peaking
period, usually right
before or after a
competition. Magazines want to publish
only the most impressive physique
photos.
Consequently, many
of the people I’ve
Zane, as he appeared in his last
spoken with think
competition, with all the finishing
they need to be in
touches.
top shape all the
time. Well, I don’t know of anyone who is.
In my 48 years of training I’ve been out of shape as often as
I’ve been in top condition. Every year my goal is to reach a
physical peak relative to my condition the rest of the year. I did
that during my 22 years of competition, and I still do it to some
extent these days. In effect, I start from scratch every year.
After I reach my peak, I go into a maintenance-training phase
for a few months, cutting down on my workouts but paying
special attention to my weak points. My goal is to improve
weak points so that when I start training harder again (usually
in the spring), strong points and weaker areas are more evenly
matched—and I’ve improved proportion.
Not that I ever get that far out of shape. I’ve
learned that if I reach an absolute peak during a
year, it’s best to compensate by training less
intensely in the off-season. That enables me to
Physique refinements
for peaking properly
put more into my workouts when it counts most. What differentiates peak training from regular training is my focus on finishing
touches, which means getting more definition and bringing out
all the little muscles without losing muscle mass. It happens
gradually during the three months preceding competition or my
peaking date. The factors most important for this are:
1) Not trying to lift heavier weights all the time but rather
cutting down on rest periods between sets. Normally I rest long
enough after a set to be strong for the next set—usually about
three minutes. When peaking, I cut that down to about 30 to
60 seconds. If I’m training with a partner, it’s just long enough
to let my partner do his set. More work in less time spells
intensity and develops definition.
2) Stretching and posing between sets. Immediately after I
finish my set, I hold a stretch for 15 seconds and then tense
the muscles for 15 seconds. The stretches and tensing involve
the muscles I’m working. If I stretch between sets, but I don’t
tense the muscles or pose between sets, I’ve noticed less
definition because of that. Do both if you want to get ripped.
3) Practice holding poses for progressively longer periods at
some time during the day. Training with Arnold in the ’70s, we
got together for “posing clinics” after workouts when a competition was near. We’d critique each other’s posing routines and
learn the best body positions and sequence of poses, always
opening and finishing with our best shots. I’d start with an
arms-overhead pose and finish with the stomach vacuum.
We’d always do as many photo sessions as possible before a
competition because that brought out muscularity. The last two
weeks prior to the contest I’d pose at least an hour a day, and
that made all the difference. The last week’s workouts weren’t
as important as practicing posing. Think about it: Bodybuilding
competition is about posing, not working out. Sure, you gotta
train, but that’s not what you do onstage. Most competitors
don’t practice posing enough. They leave it to the last minute,
and it shows. Try working up to holding each pose for one
minute and see how your body changes. (The Summer ’03
issue of my Building the Body newsletter is filled with hints on
posing to prepare for competition.)
4) My aerobics program usually consisted of running 1 1/2 miles a day. But the last month I discontinued aerobics (aerobics does harden you up, but
bodybuilding competition isn’t about aerobics) and
MENTAL MIGHT
devoted that time to posing. Also, I gradually upped
my total reps on abs. The last month I’d go to the
gym a second time during the day and do a thousand nonstop reps on abs. That generally took me a
little over a half hour. I’d do something like crunches
supersetted with leg raises, four sets of 50 reps
Most fit people know this already, but it’s often
each; Roman-chair situps supersetted with hanging
good to be reminded, especially in the winter,
kneeups, four sets of 50; and 200 seated twists.
when it’s easy to skip the gym. If you’re feeling
Though I no longer do that, my abs always improved
low, down or depressed, a quick workout may be
when I worked them every training day with a miniall it takes to lift your spirits. A Duke Univeristy
mum of 200 total reps.
study proved that. The researchers had 156
Diet, of course, is paramount, but that’s a topic for
depressed men and women, aged 50 and older,
another issue. There’s a lot of free information at my
take the antidepressant sertraline (Zoloft) or participate in an aerobicWeb site (www.frankzane.com/newsletter.htm). In
exercise program or do both. After 16 weeks the three groups had
addition, my “Train with Zane” video is packed with
similar, significant improvements in symptoms.
exercises and stretches so you can start developing
So a brisk walk or a quick weight workout may be all it takes to get
those finishing touches.
—Frank Zane
you out of the doldrums. One more reason a bare-bones home gym is
a great idea—for physical and mental health. (Get a PowerBlock set
and an adjustable bench immediately.)
—Becky Holman
Depressed? Work Out!
Neveux \ Model: Marvin Montoya
TRAIN TO GAIN
TRAIN WITH ZANE
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©2009 Home-Gym.com
TRAIN TO GAIN
CARDIO
Exercise Bike: Morning, Noon or Night?
What time is best for your aerobics assault?
I’m frequently asked by those seeking to shed bodyfat (and
that’s a lot of people, especially in the warmer months) about
the best time of day to do cardio. The general consensus is
that performing cardio the first thing in the morning on an
empty stomach yields the best results, but not everyone can
or wants to do that. If you’re trying to figure out this not-sosimple issue, let’s look at the pros and cons of doing cardio
either apart from your weight-training sessions or immediately
after.
Cardio in the morning
•Pros: The benefits of doing cardio upon waking are well
known. With no stored glycogen in your bloodstream, your
body taps into its bodyfat reserves for fuel right from the getgo. It’s energizing to start the day off with exercise—and it lets
you focus completely on your weight workout later in the day
without having to cram all that exercise into one long session
or having to pace yourself so you have energy left over for one
“Man, this is so much
better than the indoor
stationary bike. Uh-oh,
open trench!”
or the other. Seriously, what kind of human mule wouldn’t be
ready to collapse after an hour and a half of leg training followed by 45 minutes of cardio?
•Cons: The main downside of doing your cardio separately
from your weight training is that for most people it means
more trips to the gym. Even something as trivial as having to
take an additional shower needs to be considered, as we are
all dealing with just 24 hours in a day to get everything done.
One option is to buy your own cardio equipment for use at
home, which, depending on how close to commercial-gym
quality it is, can run you anywhere from a hundred to a couple
of thousand dollars. Another thing to think about is that some
of us just aren’t morning people. Though eventually anybody
can adapt to early-morning exercise, the first couple of weeks
are pure torture for some. A final factor is that some people,
due to their schedules, may have to sacrifice an hour or more
of their sleep to squeeze morning cardio into their day. The
ramifications of that are not to be taken lightly, as we
all need our rest, particularly those of us still trying to
get bigger and stronger.
Cardio after weight training
•Pros: The first positive aspect of doing your
cardio after your weight training is consolidation and
convenience. You’re already at the gym, and if you
trained hard enough with the weights, your glycogen
should be just about as depleted as it would have
been in the morning on an empty stomach. You’re
going to soak only one set of clothes with sweat and
need to take just one shower. You’re also saving time
because you’re doing all your exercise at once.
•Cons: There are several possible negatives. The
first thing you need to think about is catabolism.
Unless you train in a fairly abbreviated style, odds are
you spend about an hour or more hitting the weights
at a shot. To continue with 30 to 60 minutes of cardio
can be too much for your body. A lot of lifters have
some branched-chain amino acids or a little whey
protein right after the weight work and before the
cardio to prevent the body from tapping into the
muscles for energy.
Another issue is simply the time involved. An hour
of weights and up to an hour of cardio add up to a
long time at the gym, and few among us have so
much spare time. Work and family responsibilities
have to take priority over exercise for the majority.
Finally, do you have enough energy and endurance
to do justice to both weights and cardio in one workout? If you find yourself slogging through cardio after
weights, chances are you’d do much better and burn
a lot more calories if you split up the two activities.
Now, based on your own particular needs, situation and preference, do your cardio at the time that’s
right for you.
—Ron Harris
Editor’s note: Check out Ron Harris’ Web site,
www.ronharrismuscle.com.
COST OF REDEMPTION
Mr. Olympia’s Mind-Numbing Training DVD
This 3-plus-hour DVD is a
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It hits all the right notes:
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Whatever You Need—Wherever You Train™
Steve Holman’s
Critical Mass
Time Bomb
Q: I’ve been weight training four to five days a
week for the past year. I’ve made slow gains, but I’ve
gotten a lot stronger. To increase my muscle mass, I
got a copy of your book, Train, Eat, Grow. I totally
understand and believe in the full-range POF concept, but I don’t want to be a competitive
bodybuilder and I don’t have time to spend two
hours a day in the gym doing full-on POF workouts
for every bodypart. I work full time for the state of
Michigan, and I also work at my church, which is
almost a full-time job in itself. I can only stay in the
gym for about 45 minutes at the absolute most. How
I can use POF but be out of the gym in less than an
hour without sacrificing all of my muscle gain?
A: Thanks for the comments and your confidence in
POF. I totally understand your predicament, as the time
factor is a problem most people face, me included.
One option is to use a split-positions approach; that is,
do two to three sets of a midrange exercise followed by one
set of a stretch-position movement; then at the next workout do two sets of a midrange exercise followed by one set
of a contracted-position movement. That’s similar to the
Phase 3 routine on pages 106 and 107 of TEG. It’s a very
efficient method, which is the reason I call it time-bomb
training.
Another option is the POF Hardgainer Routine on pages
185 and 186 of the book. That’s also a split-positions approach, but you train only two days per week with only one
set per exercise. Those are full-body workouts, however,
which is why the sets are so low. Nevertheless, a program
like that can work for some people, especially if you add X
Reps (more on that in a moment). You could even try it on
a Monday-Wednesday-Friday rotation.
For readers who aren’t familiar with the split-positions
concept, here’s a sample lower-chest routine:
Workout 1
Decline presses (midrange)
Decline flyes (stretch, drop set)
2-3 x 6-10
1 x 8(5)
Workout 2
Decline presses (midrange)
Cable crossovers (contracted, drop set)
2-3 x 6-10
1 x 8(5)
While I don’t want to push another book on you, you
may want to get a copy of our new e-book, The Ultimate
Mass Workout, down the road. It contains an analysis of
each bodypart and determines the single best exercise for
each. We then construct a number of very efficient programs with only those exercises. There are POF programs
in the book as well, and every routine includes the new
centerpiece of our workouts, X Reps.
I’m very excited about that concept, which is power
partials done at the end of a set. Performing X Reps at the
right spot along the stroke of an exercise can do everything
from improving neuromuscular efficiency to stimulating
more muscle-fiber activation to triggering a greater release
of anabolic hormones, such as testosterone and growth
hormone. X Reps appear to make each set about three
times as effective as a conventional set, so if you apply it to
one set of decline presses in each of the above workouts,
you could make even better gains with only one or two
sets.
If you’re interested, you can visit www.x-rep.com for
and the contracted
position at the
next.
Then you work the midrange-position exercise, such as bench presses for chest, at both workouts.
Neveux \ Model: David Yeung
To shorten
workouts, you
can train the
stretch position
of a muscle at
one workout…
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Steve Holman’s
Critical Mass
mone production (very important for us old guys).
GH can help muscle growth, and it’s also a potent fat
burner. That may be one reason old-time bodybuilders considered high reps and supersets “cutting” methods—because of the GH increase and
resulting fat-burning effect.
Q: I’m a beginning bodybuilder, and X Reps
sound like just what I need. The gains you and
Jonathan Lawson made with them are impressive. My question is, Can a beginner like me
use X Reps?
Neveux \ Models: Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
A: There’s a section for beginners in the The Ultimate Mass Workout e-book, which suggests a breakin period of gradual intensity upticks before a
beginner starts experimenting with X Reps (the ebook provides week-by-week instructions). The
gradual upticks are necessary because it’s a good
idea to have your nervous system up to par—as in
learning an exercise—before you start adding intensity techniques. While it’s true that X Reps are very
safe, much safer than forced reps because you’re
pulsing a few inches as opposed to straining and
writhing through the full stroke, beginners need to
acquire nervous system coordination to maintain
control in a fatigued state (at the end of a set of fullrange reps).
If you’ve been training consistently for a few
months, you should try X Reps on some of your
exercises. They can make a set exponentially more
effective. They’ll help to further increase your neuromuscular efficiency, or nerve-to-muscle connections, so you get stronger, as well as give your muscle
X Reps can improve neuromuscular efficiency to help you fibers a new anabolic stimulus. That means faster
build more strength, as well as give your muscles a new
growth—if you don’t go overboard.
I’ve found that beginners are usually extremely
anabolic stimulus.
enthusiastic and can burn out quickly. That said,
don’t use X-Rep partials at the end of more than one set of
more information. You’ll also find before and after photos
one exercise for each bodypart (see the workouts in
documenting our one-month X-Rep experiment.
UMW). For example, if you do one exercise per bodypart
Q: I’m just starting the Basic Ultimate Mass Workfor two sets, use X Reps on the second set only. They are
out 3 in your new e-book, and so far it feels great! I
intense. Also, be sure to use them at the correct point along
plan to graduate to more specialized routines such
the stroke of each exercise; for example, just below the
as the ones you list in the “Train, Eat, Grow” series in
midpoint of an incline or decline press. For more informaIRON MAN, but some of the listings are confusing.
tion visit www.x-rep.com.
For example, how should I perform the following?
Seated laterals
Upright rows
Dumbbell presses
Bent-over laterals
2 x 8-10
2 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
Do I perform the four sets in a row, rest and then
do a set of seated laterals and upright rows?
A: The supersets appear to be confusing you. Here’s how
you perform the routine you listed: First you do seated
laterals, immediately followed by a set of upright rows. Rest
about a minute, and then do another superset of those two
exercises. After your second superset round, you rest again,
and then do one set of dumbbell presses, rest, then do one
set of bent-over laterals. Those last two exercises aren’t part
of a superset; they’re straight sets.
Supersets are important because they enable you to hit a
number of different fibers quickly. They also increase muscle burn, which has been shown to enhance growth hor-
New! Check out Jonathan Lawson looking sharp in the
classic black POF T-shirt with the original logo emblazoned in gold. It’s designed to give you that muscular look
you’re after. See page 179 for details.
Editor’s note: Steve Holman is the author of a number of bodybuilding
best-sellers, including Train,
Eat, Grow: The Positions-ofFlexion Muscle-Training
Manual. For information on
the POF videos and Size Surge
programs, see page 137. For
information on Train, Eat,
Grow, see page 83. Also visit
www.x-rep.com. IM
Neveux
Superset:
Steve Holman
[email protected]
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Train ™
\ JULY 2006 181
Mr. Natural Olympia John Hansen’s
Naturally Huge
Realize More
Size
Q: I’m 34 years old, looking to make my last push
at putting on some real size. I’m 6’, weigh 220
pounds and probably at 20 percent bodyfat. I’m
currently deployed overseas on a civilian contract
with the Air Force. I picked up a copy of the September ’04 IRON MAN and read the Quick-Hit Mass
Split routine in your Naturally Huge column. I noticed it was written for a 15-year-old football player
with a limited amount of training time. I have plenty
of time, but the routine looked pretty good. I have a
few nagging injuries but nothing prohibiting me
from doing squats or deadlifts. Would you recommend that routine to me?
A: The routine I recommended to the 15-year-old football player was a great one for putting mass on an intermediate bodybuilder. It involved training each bodypart twice
per week, focusing on the basic exercises that are so effective at building size and strength.
If training each muscle group twice per week suits you,
you can use that routine. Many advanced bodybuilders feel
they need more recuperation and train each bodypart only
once every six or seven days. When you’re young and still
developing muscle size and strength, your body can handle
more work and doesn’t need as much recuperation. After
you’ve reached a more advanced stage, you need more time
Basic exercises, sound nutrition—
including plenty of carbs, protein and
good fat—and enough recuperation
time will get you growing fast.
to recuperate in order to grow. Advanced bodybuilders use
more resistance in their training along with greater intensity, which usually increases the need for rest.
If building size is your primary focus, you want to train
each muscle group with as much resistance as possible and
with the basic movements, which involve several bodyparts. Using basic exercises with the maximum amount of
weight for the recommended six to 10 reps will force the
muscles to grow bigger and stronger. If you’re using the
right exercises with enough intensity and getting enough
rest between workouts, then you should be on your way to
developing maximum muscle.
If you’re past the intermediate stage but still want a
training program that will focus on building more mass,
you can use a two-days-on/one-day-off/one-day-on/twodays-off split routine. Here’s an example:
Day 1: Chest, arms
Day 2: Abs, legs
Day 3: Rest
Day 4: Delts, back
Days 5 and 6: Rest
Day 7: Cycle begins again.
That rotation of bodyparts gives you six days of rest for
each. You train your whole body over three days, but you
take three days of rest before repeating the routine. That
provides plenty of recuperation, which the muscles will
need if you’re training them heavy and hard enough. Here’s
an example of a program that fits that split:
Day 1
Bench presses
Incline dumbbell presses
Flyes
Pushdowns
Decline extensions
Incline curls
Barbell curls
Day 2
Hanging knee raises
Crunches
Squats
Hack squats
Leg curls
Seated calf raises
Donkey calf raises
4 x 6-10
3 x 6-8
2-3 x 6-10
3 x 6-10
3 x 6-8
3 x 6-10
2-3 x 6-8
3 x 20-30
3 x 30-40
4-5 x 6-12
3-4 x 8-12
3 x 6-10
3 x 8-10
3 x 12-15
3 x 15-25
Day 3: Rest
Day 4
Seated military presses
Upright rows
Bent-over laterals
Barbell shrugs
Wide-grip chins
Barbell rows
Deadlifts
4 x 6-10
3 x 6-10
3 x 6-10
4 x 6-12
3 x 8-10
4 x 6-10
3 x 6-10
Neveux
Day 5 and 6: Rest
In addition to using the best training routine,
you’ll also need to work on your diet. You said
that you’re at 20 percent bodyfat, which is
pretty high. I don’t know the method you’re
using to measure it, but if you believe that
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Mr. Natural Olympia John Hansen’s
Naturally Huge
I recommend a diet consisting of 40 percent
of calories coming from protein, 40 percent
from carbohydrates and 20 percent from fats.
workout. (For more information see
page 120.)
Finally, don’t forget to eat enough
essential fatty acids. Monounsaturated fats that contain omega-3 fatty
acids will make the muscle cells more
insulin sensitive, which will attract
carbohydrates to enter them instead
of the fat cells. Good sources include
flaxseed oil and salmon. Research also
indicates that having a little bit of
saturated fat in the diet increases
testosterone, so include some whole
eggs and red meat in your menu as
well.
To sum up: Eat a minimum of six
meals per day and include plenty of
protein and complex carbohydrates
along with essential fatty acids. I
recommend a diet consisting of 40
percent of calories coming from protein, 40 percent from carbohydrates
and 20 percent from fats.
Editor’s note: John Hansen has
won the Natural Mr. Olympia and is a
two-time Natural Mr. Universe winner. Visit his Web site at www
.naturalolympia
.com. You can write to him at P.O. Box
3003, Darien, IL 60561, or call toll-free
(800) 900-UNIV (8648). His new book,
Natural Bodybuilding, is now available from Human Kinetics Publishing.
IM
Neveux
you’re too fat, you can change that.
Make sure you eat plenty of protein
to help rebuild the muscle tissue you’ll
be tearing down during your workouts. I suggest a minimum of six meals
per day, with a substantial amount of
protein in each. I try to eat three
whole-food meals a day and three
protein drinks. That lets me fit all my
meals into my work schedule and get
plenty of muscle-building protein.
Eat complete-protein foods, such as
eggs, egg whites, chicken, fish, tuna,
turkey, steak and lean red meat for
your whole-food meals. I typically
have egg whites for breakfast, chicken
for lunch and steak or fish for dinner.
Between those meals have a protein
drink. Use a high-quality protein
powder that includes whey, casein and
egg proteins. That combination provides a slow release of amino acids
into the bloodstream, which continuously feeds the muscles the nutrients
they need to grow. (Muscle Meals is a
good meal replacement; see page
140.)
You also need to eat enough carbohydrates so you have energy for your
workouts as well as for recuperation.
The glycogen from carbohydrate not
only is stored in the muscle cells for
energy for your workouts but also
helps to prevent muscle-tissue breakdown by replenishing the muscles’
glycogen stores after each training
session.
Concentrate on complex carbohydrates that will break down
slowly, thus preventing any big
fluctuations in your blood sugar
level. Oatmeal, sweet potatoes,
beans and brown rice are the best
choices. Vegetables are also excellent sources, so you want to eat
plenty of them as well.
You also need a postworkout
drink such as Muscle-Link’s RecoverX to feed the muscle cells the
protein and carbohydrates they
crave immediately following a
workout. Taking advantage of that
window of opportunity will enable
you to rebuild muscle tissue quicker and create an anabolic edge for
developing mass. I take three scoops
of RecoverX mixed in water after each
John Hansen
[email protected]
www.ironmanmagazine.com \ MARCH 2005 61
LIFT BIG TO GET BIG
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EAT TO
SUPPLEMENT SCIENCE
Creatine High-Test
most eat considerable amounts of red
meat and other foods naturally rich in
creatine, so they have already gradually
loaded their muscles with it.
Creatine is a natural substance made
in the body from three amino acids:
arginine, methionine and glycine. It’s
primarily synthesized in the liver, secondarily in the kidneys and pancreas. The
body synthesizes an average of one
gram of it a day and gets another gram
from food sources. All commercial creatine is synthetic.
The research on the benefits of creatine is impressive. One study looked at
all existing studies pertaining to
effective food
supplements for
those engaged in
strength training
and concluded
that only two had
enough solid
data to prove
that they worked.
One was creatine; the other
was an amino
acid derivative
called HMB.
Lately, a number of studies
have discovered
potential medical
uses for creatine,
such as in the
treatment of
certain neurological diseases, and
even as a type of
nootropic, or
brain booster, in
normal people. I
Among the multitude of food
supplements on the market, none
can match the research data associated with creatine. Since its introduction in the late ’80s, countless articles
have appeared in science journals
extolling its benefits. Not all studies
have shown that creatine is clearly
beneficial for athletic and exercise
purposes, but the vast majority have.
Based on those studies, the consensus is that supplemental creatine will
produce a good response in about
70 percent of those who use it. Of
the 30 percent who don’t respond,
There’s a new form of creatine
to fill up your muscle tank
try to stay current on all the published
research on creatine, so I was recently
nonplussed to hear about a form of creatine that I had no knowledge of.
It’s called creatine ethyl ester. You may
notice that a number of advertisements are
touting this new form as being superior to
the more common creatine monohydrate.
The ads say that creatine ester is much
more efficient than other forms of creatine.
Other claims are that it’s more soluble in
water and doesn’t degrade in solution, as
do other forms, and that because of its
heightened absorption characteristics, you
need to take far less. That, in turn, results
in a total absence of side effects often
attributed to other forms of creatine, such
as bloating, gastrointestinal distress, muscle cramps and so on.
So what is the truth about creatine ester
supplements? To answer that question,
you must first understand what the ester
part of creatine does. To produce a creatine ester, creatine monohydrate reacts
with alcohol in an acidic environment. That
removes the water attachment to creatine
and changes its absorption effects. Generally, esters are more soluble in fat, including the fat contained in cellular
membranes. That’s the reason long-acting
injectable anabolic steroids are often esters. The ester attachment increases the
dispersion and absorption of the drug in
the body and extends its activity level.
You’d think that with all the claims being
made about this new form of supplemental
creatine, there’d be an impressive array of
studies to back them up. At present writing, however, there are precisely zero
published studies—although I did find a
patent application pertaining to creatine
ester.
According to that application, creatine
ester was developed by two men from
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GROW
Nutrition With a Get-Big Mission
Omaha. In stating the reasons they
were applying for a patent, they
noted that other forms of creatine
are poorly absorbed in a water
solution, averaging only 1 to 14
percent absorption. Consequently,
users have to take large amounts of
creatine, starting with five grams, or
about a teaspoon. The larger doses
often lead to the commonly reported side effects mentioned above.
The patent application further
says that other forms of creatine
have poor membrane solubility,
meaning that they cannot readily
penetrate lipid barriers—such as
cell membranes. The acidity of the
stomach also presents a formidable
natural barrier, rendering much of
the creatine dose into useless
creatinine.
The scenario changes with
creatine ester, say the inventors.
The ester protects creatine from
degradation in the harsh acid environment of the stomach. Once it
gets past there, enzymes in the
intestinal lining and in the blood
called esterases liberate the creatine from the ester, producing
bioactive creatine, which then
travels to the muscle. Far more
creatine is absorbed, so considerably smaller doses of creatine ester
can pack a greater metabolic
punch than what you get with
normal creatine supplements. The
authors call creatine ester a pronutrient because of its absorption
characteristics.
Thanks to the greater absorption, the average dose drops to
only two grams, and users don’t
have to do a loading phase, say the
inventors. It all sounds good, so I
decided to ask a renowned creatine
researcher who has no commercial
ties to any company selling crea-
tine. This
scientist didn’t
think that
increased lipid
solubility made
a difference
with creatine,
since its uptake in muscle
is limited by
the creatine
transporter
protein in
muscle, which
is mainly powered by sodium. But that
doesn’t mean
it doesn’t
work; all it
means is that
more research
is needed.
In other words, it’s too soon to
tell if creatine ester is superior. I’d
like to see some studies that
directly compare creatine esters
with the old-fashioned creatine
monohydrate supplements. You
may want to experiment with it
and see what kind of results you
get.
The inventors of creatine ester
also applied for another patent
related to creatine ester. It involves
using creatine ester as an antiinflammatory substance. They say
that creatine reduces inflammation
in a manner different from the
usual drugs used for that purpose—and unlike those drugs,
creatine ester causes no side
effects. The best guess as to how
creatine ester does that is through
an antioxidant activity that leads to
a reduction of inflammatory mediators in the body. Creatine has
never been used for that purpose
because it would take huge
amounts. Because of the alleged
greater uptake of creatine ester,
however, that problem is eliminated.
Remember, all present creatine
forms rapidly degrade into creatinine. If creatine ester remained
stable in liquids, though, it could be
used in the formulas for ready-made
drinks and other liquid products.
There’s lots of promise there.
Rumors are circulating that the
Food and Drug Administration is
already taking a hard look at creatine
esters. Some in the FDA think that
the ester characteristic of the supplement comes a bit too close to
having drug activity. If that proves
true, any emerging popularity of
creatine ester may spell its doom,
since the FDA would likely order the
product removed from sale to “protect” consumers. If you’re going to
give it a shot, do so soon or you
may never get the chance.
—Jerry Brainum
BOOKS
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Eat to Grow
As little as seven to 10
minutes give you a healthful
dose of sun.
DIETS
Low-Carb
Leftovers
Leaving out fruits and vegetables
can spoil your health
VITAMINS
Heavy D
The sunshine vitamin is more
important than we thought
Your parents or grandparents probably remember getting a disgusting dose of
cod liver oil during the winter months to supply their vitamin D if they lived anywhere other than California, Nevada, Arizona or Florida. When multivitamins
became more readily available, scientists felt most of us were getting all the
vitamin D we needed, especially considering that it was being added to cereals
and milk. It soon became the forgotten vitamin.
As often happens in the field of nutrition, right when we think we have things
figured out, a new study pops up and changes everything. Researchers now
think that few of us actually get all the vitamin D we need, unless we’re in the sun
a lot. Having too little vitamin D has been linked to “a higher risk of cancer, diabetes, heart disease and osteoporosis,” according to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The article states that the RDA for vitamin D,
which is currently set at 400 I.U. per day, is
inadequate. In fact, if there’s an absence of
exposure to sunlight, a minimum of 1,000 I.U.
per day is required to maintain a healthy concentration of the vitamin in the blood.
The article also says that, if possible, people
should get daily exposure to the sun without sun
block or clothing that shields all of the body.
That doesn’t mean stay out till you burn. As little
as seven to 10 minutes of exposure to hands,
face, arms and, if possible, legs does the trick.
And do take a daily multivitamin that includes up
to 1,000 I.U. of vitamin D.
—Daniel Curtis, R.D.
While nutritionists advise eating a
variety of fruits and vegetables,
recent studies have zeroed in on the
fruits, vegetables, grains and nuts
that have the highest antioxidant
contents. Antioxidants protect the
body against free radicals, which are
substances that can damage
healthy cells, causing a host of
diseases, including heart disease,
cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.
Experts worry that the low-carb
fanatics who exclude fruit from their
diets in an effort to lose weight miss
out on the antioxidants they could
be getting.
According to the June 9 Journal
of Agriculture and Food Chemistry,
leading the list of antioxidant-rich
foods are small red beans, wild
blueberries, red kidney beans, pinto
beans, cultivated blueberries, cranberries, cooked artichoke hearts,
blackberries, prunes and raspberries. Top nuts were pecans, walnuts
and hazelnuts. Top grains were
whole-grain
cold cereals.
If you
cannot eat
five servings
each of fruits
and vegetables per day,
then eating
one or two
servings of
those rated in
the top 10 for antioxidants will certainly benefit you. For those who like
fruits and vegetables and already
eat ample servings, imagine eight to
10 servings of the top-rated ones in
your diet on a daily basis. You’ll go
from great nutrition to supernutrition!
—Daniel Curtis, R.D.
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Eat to Grow
SUPPLEMENT SCIENCE
ATP Energy
Do the new ATP supplements work?
enzyme encounters ATP, it breaks
off the phosphate bonds prematurely, leaving you with free adenosine
and phosphate—and no energy. On
the other hand, animal-based studies show that the phosphate and
adenosine taken in concentrate in
liver ATP pools, contributing to them
by supplying raw material for ATP
synthesis.
One possible way around those
formidable problems is to allow ATP
to bypass the enzymes that may
degrade it. An enteric coating would
let the ATP reach the intestines,
where it could be absorbed intact.
A new study tested the idea that
an enteric-coated ATP supplement
may act as an ergogenic aid for
exercise and athletic usage.1 Twenty-seven men were randomly assigned to a high-ATP group (225
milligrams), a low-ATP group (150 milligrams) or a placebo
group. The study lasted 14 days. Subjects completed a
Wingate anaerobic test to determine any changes in muscular
power and a bench press test to determine any strength
changes as a result of using the supplement.
None of the groups showed any significant changes in ATP
blood levels. No changes occurred during the power test, but
a few of the men taking the high-dose ATP demonstrated
minor increases in muscular strength. The authors suggest
that even high doses of ATP would be unlikely to affect
strength or power, considering that the total body pool of ATP
amounts to 80 grams. They also feel
that the ATP molecule is just too large
FLAB FLAMBÉ
to be effectively absorbed through
any oral route.
On the other hand, men who took
the larger dose of ATP reported
feeling better. That would be consistent with increased ATP uptake, since
According to the December ’04 Bottom Line Health newsletter, you should
ATP positively affects several brain
never skip breakfast if you’re trying to drop excess fat. Why? A healthful, high-fiber
neurotransmitters known to control
morning meal that includes some protein, such as yogurt, makes it easier to resist
mood.
fatty, sugary foods throughout the day.
So do ATP supplements work or
Another good tip: Completely swearing off foods you really love
don’t they? They did appear to work
won’t do much for your weight-loss
for a few of the participants, who
efforts. You’ll eventually cave in to
showed some strength gains and
your cravings. Instead, comproreported feeling better. Clearly, the
mise. Eat half of something you
door isn’t ready to close on ATP
crave, and do it on your one
supplements just yet.
cheat day a week. If you feel a
—Jerry Brainum
craving for sweets when it’s
not your cheat day, have a
1 Jordan, A.N., et al. (2004). Efpiece of hard candy to satisfy the
urge. Hot chocolate is another
fects of oral ATP supplementation on
good alternative, with one cup having
anaerobic power and muscular
only about 120 calories.
strength. Med Sci Sports Exerc.
—Becky Holman
36:983-990.
Men who
took the
larger dose
of ATP
reported
feeling
better.
Neveux
Adenosine triphosphate is the immediate energy currency of cells. What that
means is that all energy-producing nutrients eventually become ATP through
processes within cells, specifically in their
mitochondria. Some of the most popular
sports food supplements, such as creatine, ribose and citrulline malate, aide the
production of ATP in some way.
ATP produces energy by giving up one
of its three phosphate groups through
enzymatic action. The breaking of the
actual phosphate bond is what produces
the energy. Creatine comes into play
because it donates a phosphate so that
ATP can be rapidly regenerated. Ribose
contributes to the physical structure of
ATP, since ATP is classified as a purine
nucleotide.
So the obvious question is, Why not
cut to the biochemical chase and provide
straight ATP supplements instead of
accessory supplements such as creatine or ribose? One
reason ATP supplements have not appeared on the market
until recently is that ATP has a molecular weight of more than
500, so attempting to have a cell absorb an oral ATP supplement is tantamount to trying to squeeze an elephant through
a keyhole. In contrast, creatine weighs a paltry 140 and is
easily absorbed.
Furthermore, it must be absorbed intact to be effective. But
the presence of phosphatase enzymes in the gut and in the
blood makes that unlikely. As the name implies, phosphatase
enzymes function by breaking off phosphate bonds. If the
To Lose Weight, Eat Breakfast
PERFECT POSTWORKOUT MEAL
TM
To Kick-Start Immediate Muscle Growth After You Train
Breakthrough research in
exercise metabolism now
reveals this fact: What you
consume (or don’t consume)
immediately after training plays
a critical role in determining
your success or failure! That
time period is known as the
“anabolic window” of growth.
The biggest mistake many
bodybuilders make is eating
a meal of chicken breasts,
baked potato or rice and
vegetables after a workout. This
is an approach doomed to fail
because by the time this meal
digests, the anabolic window
has slammed shut.
The best way to produce this
potent anabolic effect is simply
by drinking an amino acidand-carbohydrate supplement
within 15 minutes after training!
RecoverX™ offers the ideal
combination and provides
the perfect blend of nutrients
for postworkout anabolic
acceleration.
RecoverX™ contains 40
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RecoverX
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RecoverX™ is the perfect
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©2009 Home-Gym.com
Eat to Grow
H E A R T H E A LT H
Cardio Combo
Plant sterols and exercise can synergize for heart protection
Plants do not synthesize cholesterol. The plant versions
of cholesterol are substances collectively known as plant
sterols, such as lathosterol, campesterol and beta-sitosterol. They’re structurally similar to cholesterol, and studies
show that they can displace cholesterol in the human body.
So taking them in will promote the excretion of the cholesterol you get from food, which would have the effect of
reducing cardiovascular disease.
What if you combined plant-sterol intake with aerobic
exercise, which also has established credentials for cardiovascular protection? Would the combination be more effective than either alone?
That was the focus of a recent study.1 It lasted eight
weeks and featured 84 human subjects randomly assigned
to one of four groups: 1) combination of sterols and exercise; 2) exercise; 3) sterols alone; 4) control, no exercise or
sterols. The sterols-alone group decreased total blood
cholesterol by 8.2 percent compared to starting measurements. The plant sterols also lowered low-density-lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, elevated levels of which are a risk
factor for cardiovascular disease.
Exercise alone increased beneficial high-density-lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol by 7.5 percent, while decreasing
blood triglycerides, or fat, by 13.3 percent from baseline.
Bodyfat levels in those subjects also declined an average of
3.9 percent from the aerobic exercise after eight weeks.
The big news, however, is that the combination of plant
sterols and aerobic exercise worked better in lowering all
cardiovascular risk factors than either intervention alone.
Plant sterols were at one time promoted as “testosterone
precursors.” That was based on two things. First, the raw
material for testosterone synthesis in the body is choles-
FOOD FACTS
In the Raw?
We usually think that eating
vegetables in their most
natural state—raw—is the
most healthful, but that’s
not always true. For example, in a study published in
the Journal of Agricultural
and Food Chemistry, antioxidant levels increased more than
34 percent after carrots were
cooked in one study. According to
scientists, heating softens carrot
tissue, which allows the release of
antioxidants attached to cell walls.
—Becky Holman
The combination of
plant sterols and
exercise worked
better than either
intervention alone.
terol, which is converted through several enzymatic steps
into testosterone. But the human body cannot do the same
conversion for plant sterols because it lacks the necessary
enzyme. It can, however, be done under lab conditions.
The second reason for promoting plant sterols as testosterone boosters was the similarity in name between
“sterols” and “steroids.” In reality, that similarity was all the
two substances had in common, other than being similar in
structure to cholesterol.
Besides being useful for the prevention of cardiovascular
disease, plant sterols can help prevent prostate gland
enlargement. In fact, the active ingredients in saw palmetto, which is often
used to prevent prostate problems,
Are uncooked veggies are
various plant sterols.
better for you?
On the negative side animal-based
studies and a few human studies have
linked a heavy intake of plant
sterols to lowered testosterone
levels. That likely has something to
do with displacing cholesterol in
reactions where cholesterol is used to
synthesize testosterone in the body.
The good news, though, is that you
would need to ingest megadoses of
plant sterols to induce any type of
testosterone-inhibiting activity.
—Jerry Brainum
Heating
softens
carrots,
which
releases
antioxidants.
1 Varady, K.A., et al. (2004). Plant
sterols and endurance training combine to favorably alter plasma lipid
profiles in previously sedentary hypercholesterolemic adults after eight
weeks. Am J Clin Nutr. 80:1159-66.
GRIND OUT THE GROWTH REPS™
Beta-Alanine Gives Your Muscles More Grow Power™
The biggest bodybuilders know that
the last few grueling reps of a set are
the key growth reps. It’s why they fight
through the pain of muscle burn on
every work set-—so they trigger the
mass-building machinery. But sometimes
it’s not enough; the burn is too fierce.
Fortunately, there’s now a potent new
weapon in this massive firefight to help
you get bigger and stronger faster.
Red Dragon is a new beta-alanine
supplement that packs your muscles
with carnosine—up to 60 percent more.
Muscle biopsies show that the largest
bodybuilders have significantly more
carnosine in their fast-twitch muscle
fibers than sedentary individuals for good
reason: Carnosine buffers the burn to give
muscles more “grow power” on every set.
The bigger and stronger a muscle gets,
the more carnosine it needs to perform
at higher intensity levels. You must keep
your muscles loaded with carnosine to
grow larger and stronger. It all boils down
to intensity and the ability to buffer waste
products—hydrogen ions and lactic
acid—so the muscle doesn’t shut down
before growth activation.
Straight carnosine supplements degrade
too rapidly to reach the muscles; however,
more than 20 new studies document that
beta-alanine is converted to carnosine
very efficiently. All it takes is 1 1/2 grams
twice a day, and you’ll see new size in
your muscles and feel the difference in
the gym—you can double or triple your
growth-rep numbers! Imagine how fast
your size and strength will increase when
you ride the Dragon!
Note: Red Dragon™ is the first pure
carnosine synthesizer—so powerful it’s
patented. It contains beta-alanine, the
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cells with carnosine.
Red Dragon
120 capsules
$29.95
©2009 Home-Gym.com
Train, Eat,
GROW
Muscle-Training Program 65
From the IRONMAN Training & Research Center
ven after 30 years of
training (yes, Steve has
been hitting the iron
that long), you can
discover something
that works almost like
muscle-building magic and
wonder why you didnÕt think of
it before. It may seem so damn
obvious, you smack yourself in
the forehead like youÕre in a
V8 commercial. If youÕve been
reading this series over the
past few months, you know
weÕre alluding to X Reps, a
technique thatÕs given us lots of
mass gains lately as well as
shame because itÕs taken so
long for the lightbulb to go on
(weÕve both got bruises right
between the eyes).
X Reps are power partials
performed at the end of a set,
usually at the point of maximum-force generationÑlike
right below the middle of an
incline press. That helps you get
past the nervous system failure
that causes you to end most
sets. Even if you donÕt agree
that nervous system failure is
the reason you canÕt keep
doing reps, it makes sense to
move to the strongest point in
the range and continue doing
partials. That will take the mus-
cle much farther toward an
anabolic reaction than merely
stopping when you canÕt get
any more full-range reps.
Now, we know that X Reps
workÑin a big way. We
proved that with our one-month
X-periment last summer. (Visit
www.x-rep.com and check out
our before and after photos,
which still make us shake our
heads in disbelief.) The question
is, Why do X Reps work so well
and so quickly? We keep stumbling across reasons they build
mass fast (and so we keep
reinjuring our foreheads).
HereÕs what we know so far.
Illustration by Chris Martinez \ Models: Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
by Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson • Photography by Michael Neveux
From the IRON MAN PRO Style Store
20th ANNIVERSARY
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FREE Mass-Packing Secrets to Get You Growing!
ITRC Muscle-Building Tactics Delivered to You Every Week—FREE!
•How the Pros Pack on Extreme Mass
•Arnold’s Size-Stretching X-ploits
•The Forgotten High-Intensity Growth Trigger
•A Muscle-Building Mystery Solved
•Pounds of Muscle in Days
•Bodypart Bloodbath for Super Size
•Monster Arms: Torching Your Tri’s
•Time-Bomb Training
•Lean-Machine Ignition
•Drop the D Bomb for Bigger Bodyparts
•Pre-Ex vs. the Post-X Mass Jack
•Less Training, Big Gaining: The Truth
(You can
check out those
past editions
free at www.XRep.com in the
X Files section.)
It’s exciting
stuff! You’ve
gotta subscribe Learn how to make curls three times more effecitve
at building eye-popping bi’s. See issue 03/04/05.
today so you
can start building the muscle size you deserve for your
sweat and effort in the gym. You’ve got nothing to lose
and plenty of raw muscle to gain! Here’s what to do...
Subscribe free at
www.IronManMagazine.com
To read free sample issues, visit
www.X-Rep.com and click on X Files
w w w. I ro n M a n M a g a z i n e . c o m
© 2005 IRON MAN Magazine
It’s a big blast of workout information, motivation and muscle-building science in your e-mail
box every week—and it’s all free! Tons of practical
training tips, analysis and size tactics are jam-packed
into this e-zine from the IRON MAN Training &
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training experience to get you growing fast! Here are a
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Train, Eat, Grow / Program 65
More muscle-fiber activation.
The size principle of muscle-fiber
recruitment says that the lowthreshold motor units fire first,
followed by the mediums and then
the highs. If your pain tolerance is
low or your nervous system craps
out early, you’re not going to get at
too many of the high-threshold
motor units in any one set. You
simply terminate a set too early,
leaving much of the muscle underor unstimulated. X Reps enable you
to push the high-threshold units
further into the growth zone so you
can stimulate more fibers better.
Is that the only way to get those
high-threshold motor units to fire?
No. A lot of the biggest
bodybuilders explode with heavy
weights at the point of maximum
force, which is usually near the
turnaround from negative to positive. The target muscle is semi-
IRONMAN Training & Research Center Muscle-Training Program 65
Workout 1: Delts (indirect upper-trap hit),
Triceps (indirect chest hit),
Biceps (indirect lat hit), Forearms
Dumbbell upright rows
Superset
Dumbbell upright rows
Rack pulls
Dumbbell W presses
Standing Smith-machine presses (X only)
Superset
Incline one-arm laterals
One-arm cable laterals
Bent-arm bent-over laterals (drop set)
Superset
Lying extensions
Shoulder-width-grip bench presses
Superset
Overhead cable extensions (drop set)
Bench dips (stage set)
High-low cable flyes (drop set)
Preacher curls
Superset
Preacher curls
Undergrip cable rows
Concentration curls (drop set)
One-arm spider curls
Machine pullovers (drop set)
Tri-set
Incline reverse wrist curls
Forearm bar (overgrip)
Dumbbell reverse wrist curls
Tri-set
Incline wrist curls
Forearm bar (undergrip)
Dumbbell wrist curls
1 x 8-10
2 x 8-10
2 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 5-7
1x8
1x8
1 x 8(6)
2 x 8-10
2 x 8-10
1 x 8(6)
1 x 8-10
1 x 8(6)
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8(6)
1 x 8-10
1 x 8(6)
1 x 12
1x8
1x6
1 x 12
1x8
1x6
Workout 2: Quads (indirect hamstring hit),
Gastrocs (indirect soleus hit), Upper Abs
(indirect lower-abs hit), Lower Back
Hack squats (nonlock)
Feet-forward Smith-machine squats
Leg presses
Sissy squats
Leg curls (drop set)
Leg press calf raises
Hack-machine calf raises (drop set)
Machine donkey calf raises
Seated calf raises (drop set)
Superset
Ab Bench crunches (drop set)
Twisting crunches
3 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 10-12
1 x 8-10
1 x 10(6)
2 x 20, 15
1 x 12(8)
1 x 10-12
1 x 12(8)
1 x 8(6)
1 x 10
Superset
Incline kneeups
Bench V-ups
Low-back machine
1 x max
1 x max
1 x 8-12
Workout 3: Chest (indirect triceps hit), Lats
(indirect biceps hit), Upper Traps (indirect delt
hit), Brachialis (indirect biceps/forearm hit)
Smith-machine incline presses
Wide-grip dips (third set is a drop set)
Superset
Flat-bench flyes
Dumbbell bench presses (X only)
Pushdowns (drop set)
Pulldowns
Undergrip rows
Superset
Cable upright rows
Rack shrugs
Superset
Forward-lean laterals (drop set)
Rack pulls
Superset
Incline hammer curls
Rope hammer curls
Cable curls (drop set)
Forearm bar (undergrip)
Forearm bar (overgrip)
3 x 8-10
3 x 8-10(6)
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8(6)
3 x 8-10
3 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8(6)
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8(6)
1 x 10
1 x 10
Workout 4: Hamstrings (indirect quad and
lower-back hit), Midback, Rear Delts,
Soleus (indirect calf hit),
Lower Abs (indirect upper-abs hit)
High, wide hack squats
Hyperextensions (drop set)
Leg extensions (drop set)
Machine rows
Behind-the-neck pulldowns
Superset
Bent-over laterals
Stiff-arm kickbacks
Seated calf raises
Superset
Seated calf raises
Hanging kneeups
Superset
Hanging kneeups
Incline kneeups
Ab Bench crunches
Bench V-ups
2 x 8-10
3 x 8-10
1 x 8(6)
1 x 10(6)
3 x 8-10
1 x 10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 10-12
1 x 10-12
1 x 10-12
1 x 15
1 x 10-12
1 x 8-10
1 x 10-12
1 x 10-12
Model: Jonathan Lawson \ Equipment: PowerBlock selectorized dumbbells
stretched at that point. For example,
on chins they’ll drop down through
the negative phase until their arms
are almost straight and then blast
back to the top. It’s a rapid-fire,
pistonlike action. Or on incline
presses they’ll quickly explode out
of the bottom, before the bar touches their chest (some even bounce
the bar off their chest).
All that exploding, jerking and
heaving is hell on the joints and will
eventually cause injury if you’re not
built for it—a.k.a. a genetic superman—or you don’t give your connective tissue some pharmaceutical
help (remember, a lot of the biggest
bodybuilders use growth hormone,
which fortifies connective tissue).
Using X Reps at the end of a set is a
better, safer way to overload that
dous size-building, fat-burning
effectiveness than more musclefiber activation—a serious GH
surge. And tacking them on to the
big, compound exercises, like
squats, does even more—doubling
or tripling the firepower. Why?
Elevated testosterone levels on top
of extra GH.
Most bodybuilders know that it’s
the heavy compound exercises that
are best for boosting testosterone.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to get a GHjolting burn in the target muscle on
multijoint movements, but that’s
not a problem when you include X
Reps at the end of a set. They make
the big exercises even better with
an anabolic hormone doublewhammy—more T and GH, not to
mention extreme fiber activation.
Stretch overload has been linked to
hyperplasia, or muscle-fiber splitting.
maximum-force point and get at the
high-threshold motor units without
risking torn muscles or torqued
joints. Plus, you get loads of other
muscle-building benefits.
Growth hormone release.
We’ve talked about the relationship
between muscle burn and GH release before. It’s one reason drop
sets and supersets are so effective. In
a study published in the Canadian
Journal of Applied Physiology
(22:244-255; 1997), researchers
showed a correlation between higher blood lactic acid levels (muscle
burn) and GH release. If you’ve tried
X Reps, you know they create a
firestorm at the end of any set, like a
GH smart bomb that scorches the
target muscle.
So there’s more to X Reps’ tremen-
(No wonder we’ve been able to stay
full and ripped despite scaling back
our efforts.)
Hyperplasia. What if you could
double the number of fibers in your
muscles? That would make it a lot
easier to grow. Fiber splitting, or
hyperplasia, has been shown to
occur in animals, but it only happened after stretch overload. Hmm,
that sounds a lot like what you get
with X Reps—stressing the target
muscle with high force in a
semistretched or stretched position.
Now, we’re not saying it absolutely, positively happens, but it is
something to consider. Remember
Tom Platz and his enormous
quads? He used to do a lot of
stretch-overload training, performwww.ironmanmagazine.com \ MARCH 2005 81
ing partial reps near the bottom of
his hack squats at the end of a set.
And what about Arnold’s heavy
partial flyes, moving the dumbbells
through only the stretched and
semistretched positions, at the
bottom? Then there’s Larry Scott
and what he called burns at the
bottom of his preacher curls. Yeah,
he had pretty darn good biceps—
very full and very dense. Could it be
that using stretch overload on a
consistent basis triggered at least
some fiber splitting in those bodybuilding stars?
While some scientists still believe
that hyperplasia is fantasy, the
animal studies and the above observations from the bodybuilding
world do make you go, Hmm.
Could X Reps in the semistretched
position trigger fiber splitting? And
could it be one of the reasons that
Steve, when he was developing
ITRC Program 65, Home-Gym Routine: Monday Through Friday
Workout 1: Delts (indirect upper-trap hit),
Triceps (indirect chest hit),
Biceps (indirect lat hit), Forearms
Dumbbell upright rows or rack pulls
Dumbbell W presses
Incline one-arm laterals (drop set)
Bent-arm bent-over laterals (drop set)
Superset
Lying extensions
Shoulder-width-grip bench presses
Superset
Overhead extensions (drop set)
Bench dips
Flat-bench flyes (drop set)
Superset
Preacher curls
Undergrip rows
Concentration curls (drop set)
One-arm spider curls
Dumbbell pullovers (drop set)
Superset
Incline reverse wrist curls
Dumbbell reverse wrist curls
Forearm rockers (out only)
Superset
Incline wrist curls
Dumbbell wrist curls
Forearm rockers (in only)
3 x 8-10
2 x 8-10
1 x 8(6)
1 x 8(6)
2 x 8-10
2 x 8-10
1 x 8(6)
1 x 8-10
1 x 8(6)
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8(6)
1 x 8-10
1 x 8(6)
1 x 12
1 x 10
1 x max
1 x 12
1 x 10
1 x max
Workout 2: Quads (indirect hamstring hit),
Gastrocs (indirect soleus hit), Upper Abs
(indirect lower-abs hit), Lower Back
Old-style hack squats (nonlock)
3 x 8-10
Squats
1 x 8-10
Lunges (one leg at a time)
1 x 8-10
Leg curls (drop set)
1 x 8(6)
Donkey calf raises
2 x 20, 15
One-leg calf raises (drop sets)
2 x 12(8)
Seated calf raises (drop set)
1 x 10(8)
Superset
Ab Bench crunches or full-range crunches1 x 8-12
Twisting crunches
1 x 10
Superset
Incline kneeups
1 x max
Bench V-ups
1 x max
Workout 3: Chest (indirect triceps hit), Lats
(indirect biceps hit), Upper Traps (indirect delt
hit), Brachialis (indirect biceps hit)
Incline presses
3 x 8-10
Wide-grip dips
or decline dumbbell presses
(third set is a drop)
Superset
Flat-bench flyes
Dumbbell bench presses
Kickbacks (drop set)
Pulldowns or chins
Undergrip rows
Superset
Close-grip upright rows
Rack shrugs
Lateral raises (drop set)
Superset
Incline hammer curls
Hammer curls
Barbell or dumbbell curls (drop set)
Reverse wrist curls (drop set)
Wrist curls (drop set)
3 x 8-10(6)
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8(6)
3 x 8-10
3 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8(6)
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8(6)
1 x 10(6)
1 x 10(6)
Workout 4: Hamstrings (indirect quad and
lower-back hit), Midback, Rear Delts,
Soleus (indirect calf hit),
Lower Abs (indirect upper-abs hit)
Wide-stance old-style hack squats
Hyperextensions (drop set)
Leg extensions or old-style hack squats
with a squeeze at the top (drop set)
Bent-over rows
Bent-over laterals (drop set)
Seated calf raises
Superset
Seated calf raises
Hanging kneeups
Superset
Hanging kneeups
Incline kneeups
Ab Bench crunches or full-range crunches
Bench V-ups
2 x 8-10
3 x 8-10
1 x 8(6)
1 x 8(6)
3 x 8-10
1 x 8(6)
1 x 10
1 x 10-12
1 x 10-12
1 x 15
1 x 10-12
1 x 8-10
1 x 10-12
1 x 10-12
Note: Train Monday through Friday, following the sequence
of workouts as listed. Also, it’s best to have a selectorized
dumbbell set, such as the PowerBlock, if you don’t have a
rack of fixed dumbbells of various weights. If you don’t have
a leg extension machine, do old-style hacks with a twosecond contraction at the top of each rep instead. Use
partner resistance, towel around the ankles, if you don’t
have a leg curl machine.
Positions of Flexion, always got a
significant growth spurt in trainees
when he introduced stretch-position exercises to their routines? The
possibilities are exciting.
Fiber swelling. Japanese researchers recently discovered that
training a muscle with a tourniquet
blocking blood flow to the muscle
created significantly better size and
strength gains than normal training—growth that usually took four
months only took two weeks. When
blood flow is blocked during muscular effort, the rush of blood back
into the muscle after the work is
over appears to produce unusual
anabolic actions. (Rob Thoburn will
have more on that occlusion technique in a future issue.) X-Rep
partials keep tension on the muscle
as the muscle contracts over a short
range. That blocks or severely limits
blood flow, which may be another
reason that X Reps produce such
rapid gains.
Balik
Tom Platz’s quads. Could they be the result of
muscle-fiber replication?
All of those reasons have us still
furiously experimenting with X
Reps. We’re doing only one X set per
exercise, and it’s usually the second
of two work sets. The first we do as
a straight set for an extended
warmup. A warm muscle contracts
much more effectively than a cold
one, and we really want the muscle
to be ready for X Reps from both
nervous system and temperature
standpoints.
We urge you to try X Reps immediately. You’ve got nothing to lose
and plenty of raw muscle mass to
gain. Plus, you’ll save yourself from
damaging your forehead down the
road (“Darn, I should’ve been doing
X Reps all along!”).
Editor’s note: For the latest on
the X-Rep muscle-building method,
including X Q&As, X Files (past enewsletters about X Reps and how
to use them) and before and after
photos, visit www.x-rep.com. For
more information on Positions-ofFlexion training videos and Size
Surge programs, see page 137. To
order the new Positions-of-Flexion
training manual Train, Eat, Grow,
call (800) 447-0008, visit
www.home-gym.com, or see the ad
below. IM
Only The Strong Shall Survive
Slug
Days
And Other Valuable
by Bill Starr
Recovery Aids
Photography by Michael Neveux
I
’ve written in this space about
pushing your workload higher and higher—even to the
point of becoming
overtrained for a short period. I’ve also advised you to
pull back, then gradually move forward once again. Making consistent improvement depends entirely
on your ability to recover sufficiently from the hard work you’ve done
in the gym.
Model: Berry DeMey
Recovery is closely linked to diet
and rest. As there are many excellent pieces on diet in IRON MAN
each month, I won’t address that
subject except to say that I think it’s
smart to follow what Peary Rader
called “the shovel method” when
taking supplements such as protein,
vitamins, and minerals. In other
words, taking more is better than
taking less when you’re hitting the
weights heavy.
Your body can’t recuperate from
any strenuous exercise unless you
get enough rest. What enough
means is an individual matter. The
notion that everyone can get along
just fine with eight hours of sleep a
night is ridiculous. Some people can
operate well with just six or seven
hours, whereas others require more.
When I increased my workload to
any great degree, such as when
preparing for a national contest, my
sleep requirements soared. I needed
at least two more hours each night,
or I was in deficit. So if you’re dragging in the morning after sleeping
eight hours, start going to bed an
hour earlier.
Extra sleep costs you nothing and
can make a huge difference in your
training. There’s more to recovery,
however, than sleeping longer. If
your body’s going to recuperate fully
and be primed for more work in the
week ahead, you need to reserve a
day, or at least part of a day, for
making rest and relaxation the only
items on your agenda. That will give
your mental and physical resources
a chance to regroup. Quite often, it’s
mental weariness more than physical fatigue that holds back your
progress in the weight room.
Your day of unadulterated hedonism enables you to recover from
the mental and physical stresses of
the week and sets you up to improve
all your lifts the following week.
These pleasurable days are imperative. Missing them, whatever the
reason, adversely affects your
progress.
I call them slug days because if
you handle them right, you’ll resemble a slow-moving gastropod. It
doesn’t matter what day of the week
you select as your slug day, just so
you slug on one out of seven. A
friend of mine makes Wednesday
his slug day; the break in the middle
of the week is perfect for his busy
schedule.
My slug day has always been
Saturday—not for religious reasons
but because it fits my needs. I start
my training and work week on Sunday, and by Friday my brain is fried
and my body weary. I have to do lots
of talking to myself to get through
the final workout of the week.
Knowing that the next day is my
slug day helps a great deal.
Slug days aren’t luxuries; they’re
necessities. I must have them if I
want to continue to train at my
present level and stay productive
with my work.
Slugging is certainly not an original concept. It’s been around for a
long time. I suspect it began when a
cave man first brought home that
hunk of mastodon, after he and his
associates had battled it for the
greater part of the day, then quietly
slipped to the back of the cave for
an extended period of inactivity.
One of the finest examples of
pure slug behavior is the character
Ensign Frank T. Pulver, as portrayed
by Jack Lemmon in the movie “Mr.
Roberts.” He elevated slugging to an
art form, going so far as to employ a
reaching stick to open his locker
and take whatever he wanted out of
it without leaving his bunk. He
slugged 16 hours a day and was so
successful at avoiding any form of
activity that he was onboard ship for
14 months before he finally met the
for an extended period
to get this thoughts
straight.
Now that you
have the full backing
of higher powers, you can stop feeling guilty about giving yourself
some genuine pleasure and factor
the concept of the slug day into
your weekly routine. Light exercise
is the balm that soothes some people. That’s fine. Just remember, on
an honest-to-goodness slug day
your activities have to be mild, not
demanding, in nature. Otherwise
they don’t fit. Walking is okay; jogging is not. A leisurely drive is relaxing; driving 300 miles is not.
As a devout slugger for some 20
years, I feel that I’m well qualified to
advise you how to achieve the ideal
day of rest and relaxation. The following guidelines are aimed at the
individual who’s serious about becoming more proficient in the art of
slugging. They’re also for those of
you who want to do some pure
slugging. They don’t much apply to
the more active set. That group can
modify the rules to fit their
lifestyles.
Rule Number One: Be
prepared. You must make sure that
you have ample provisions on hand
for your designated slug day (DSD).
You don’t want to have to go to all
Leisurely bike rides can be
fun—unless vicious dogs chew
off the bottom of your pants.
Model: Danny Hester
Recovery Aids
If you stroll through bad
areas, carry protection.
captain. Now, that’s slugging.
Slug days aren’t just for prolonged
lounging, napping or consuming
mass quantities of food, though
they may include all those things.
Slug days can take many forms. For
some, the perfect way to relax and
energize is to take a scenic drive or
stroll through a wooded park. Others find fishing to be recreational.
Keep in mind that the word recreation means to re-create, so whatever activities bring you pleasure and
lift your spirits are the ones for you.
A slug day is for rejuvenation, a time
for recycling and recharging—a day
to amass energy for future use—and
no one needs that more than the
hard-training strength athlete.
People have told me that they
don’t engage in slugging because it
makes them feel guilty—with all
that needs to be done around the
house. The fact is, there’s always
something that needs to be done.
Even in my modest apartment that’s
true. The trick is, don’t look.
Let me ease your conscience
about slugging with some theological support. Every religion I know of
encourages one day of rest during
the week. Some insist on a day of
nonactivity, setting definite limits
on which activities are allowed.
Slug days not only enhance your
physical and mental states but also
benefit you spiritually. How do we
know? Check out the Ten
Commandments: “Six days shalt
thou labor, and do all that thou hast
to do; but the seventh day is the
Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it
thou shalt do no manner of work”
(Exod. 20.9-10). But wait! There’s
more: “And on the seventh day God
finished his work which He had
done, and He rested on the seventh
day from all which he had done. So
God blessed the seventh day and
hallowed it, because on it God rested from all His work which He had
done in creation” (Gen. 2.2-3).
The scriptures of Christians and
Jews aren’t alone in advocating a day
of slugging. One of my favorite religious philosophers, Lao-Tzu, teaches his followers to “retire when the
work is done. This is the way of
heaven.” Additionally, every disciple
of the Buddha knows that he enjoyed a slug day at regular intervals,
often lounging under a bodhi tree
Model: Amy Lynn
Girl
watching
is A-okay.
Just don’t
give
chase.
That’s too
strenuous.
Recovery Aids
Model: Mike Morris
the trouble of getting dressed, driving to the nearest supermarket or
convenience store, standing in a
long line and driving home and
unpacking. When that happens,
you’ve already blown the perfect
slug day. It’s a real bummer to discover that you’re out of eggs, bread,
milk, beer or whatever else you
planned to indulge in on your DSD.
Your mood immediately alters from
mellow to irritated. I do all my food
and liquid-refreshment shopping
on Friday, along with any necessary
errands, so that there’s nothing I
have to do on my DSD.
On the other hand, should I decide to drive to Havre de Grace and
meander along the Promenade and
perhaps stop at Goll’s Bakery and
pick up some cheesecake, it’s a
horse of a different color. That’s
something I want to do, not have to
do. The choice determines whether
I maintain the pleasant attitude that
underlies the DSD. So a successful
slug day requires planning; it
doesn’t just happen. Or, I should say,
it rarely happens without some
prior thought.
Rule Number Two: Less is preferred over more in terms of activity.
For example, never walk when you
can ride, never stand when you can
sit, and never sit when you can lie
down, or at least recline. You get the
idea. Slugging requires that you
expend as little energy as possible.
While you do have to eat, keep your
DSD meals simple—unless you
enjoy cooking. Otherwise, spend as
little time in the kitchen as possible.
Often I fix my meals for my DSD
ahead of time. Leftovers fill the bill
nicely, as do sandwiches, soups and
omelettes. Since I’m not using up
many calories on my DSD, I don’t
require much in the way of nourishment. Even though I’m not a great
fan of frozen dinners, I occasionally
pop some fried chicken in the oven.
Going out to eat and ordering delivery also work, but both have financial implications.
Rule Number Three (this is a
biggie): Never, ever take on an
assignment on your SD. Be extremely wary of any statement that begins
with, “Would you mind...?” or
“Could I get you to...?” or anything
remotely similar. The simplest task
can and usually does completely
destroy a well-planned DSD. Recall
when your wife insisted that you go
to the airport to pick up Aunt Molly?
Harmless enough, right? It’s only 15
minutes away. Her flight was two
hours late, you got ticketed by the
Sure, you can sleep as
much as you want on slug
days—but not at the gym!
No iron visits allowed.
airport police, and you had a flat on
the way home. As a result your plans
for a restful day were shot. To add
insult to injury, you missed a semifinal game of NCAA basketball.
Family functions are notorious
for disrupting DSDs. I never allow
family pressure to stand in the way
of my DSD. Unless the relative is a
close one, I skip weddings, anniversaries, birthdays and funerals. If a
distant cousin is being dropped in
the ground on my intended DSD, I
don’t agree to go, no matter how
much anyone tries to persuade me
out of guilt or family obligation. I
merely send flowers. Trust me—the
deceased isn’t going to care whether
I showed up. When an event involves someone I’m quite fond of,
however, I do attend and move my
DSD to another day of the week.
Rule Number Four: Unplug
your phone. The telephone is the
most annoying, intrusive device
invented by man. Can you ever
remember anyone calling you to
give you something? Callers always
want something. Usually it’s money,
although sometimes a friend just
wants to unburden his or her soul
for a half hour or more. Meanwhile,
the football game is in overtime, and
you’re missing it. Or the countrymusic award show has just started
and Shania is the opening act. I’m
often advised to get a cell phone.
Then, I’m informed, I can watch TV
while I talk. I have an even better
idea—turn the ringer off the phone I
already own. Whenever I do have
the urge to speak with someone, I
can make the call and sign off when
I feel I’ve talked long enough.
Lastly, I want to mention sex on
the DSD. The rules concerning that
satisfying act aren’t cut and dried.
Sex is permissible on DSDs only if it
doesn’t entail a great deal of time
and trouble. In the words of the
great Casey Stengel, “It isn’t sex that
wrecks these guys, it’s staying up all
night looking for it.” Same holds
true of sex on DSDs. If your entire
day revolves around getting lucky or
you spend hours engaged in what
amounts to sexual combat, then
you’re defeating the purpose
of the DSD. On the other
hand, if the missus just
received a set of
lingerie from
Victoria’s Secret
Models: Michael O’Hearn and Clark Bartram
That means get your
butt out of the gym on
your slug day. Out!
and wants to see what effect it will
have on you, seize the opportunity.
Or if a loose leg unexpectedly shows
up at your door, don’t pass it up.
From what most of my lifting
friends’ wives and girlfriends tell
me, the sex act with their partners is
so brief in duration that it can’t
remotely be considered physically
demanding. So sex is okay, as is
anything else you enjoy that doesn’t
tap your mental and physical reservoirs too deeply.
While gardening or tinkering with
your old Ford truck might be relaxing for you, they both reek of work
in my world. I much prefer watching
TV and country videos, or reading or
drawing. The point: Whatever fits
your personality is what you should
do.
Many of you may be at a stage of
life where you’re simply too busy
to consider having a DSD. Family and/or work obligations are
so demanding that to set
aside a day for total relaxation is out
of the question. I’ve been there.
During those periods of life, partial
slug days (PSDs) can serve as welcome breaks. Just a few hours spent
at your hobby can help recharge
your emotional and physical resources and set you up for a more
productive week ahead.
Then there are the times of life
when finding even a few free hours
for self-indulgent activities is difficult. When I lived in Oahu, I worked
two jobs: as the strength coach at
the University of Hawaii during the
day and as a bouncer at Hula’s Bar
and Lei Stand at night. At one
stretch I worked 100 consecutive
days without a break. I did manage
to slip in a few PSDs, but not many.
Naps were my salvation. To me,
naps are gifts from the gods. Between jobs I’d fall asleep for 20 or 30
minutes and wake up revived and
invigorated. The brief respite enabled me to stay active until 3 or 4
Recovery Aids
One relaxing option:
Show God what you did
with what he gave you.
(Nice work for a mortal.)
a.m. I was good at finding places to
nap. When I worked for the YMCA, I
used the massage room. When I was
unable to come up with a couch or
vacant floor indoors, I resorted to
the backseat of my car. Naps have
always renewed me and form a part
of my daily routine.
Naps frequently get a bad rap in
our society. Those who nap regularly
are considered lazy. I don’t agree.
Some of the most productive people
in American history were nappers.
Thomas Edison was said to nap on
anything, anywhere and at any time.
Eleanor Roosevelt had similar talents, often napping while sitting in a
chair. Benjamin Franklin liked to
nap in the morning, while Winston
Churchill preferred early afternoon.
Ronald Reagan was known to slip in
several naps throughout the day.
Sleep psychologists have found
that, far from being counterproductive, as many believe, napping has a
positive effect on mood, mental
functioning and workplace performance. Researcher Dr. Frederick
Evans discovered that there’s a brief
lull after waking from a nap but that
once you’re past that, both motor
and cognitive skills are much better
for the duration of the day. “There is
a general feeling of well-being,” says
Evans, “and a feeling of being alert
enough to do difficult mental tasks.”
Dr. John Taub, former director of
the Sleep and Performance Lab at St.
Louis University, reports that habitual nappers feel increased relaxation, decreased anxiety, an increase
in euphoria and a decrease in fatigue. Sure sounds good to me, and I
think it’s high time we gave naps the
respect they deserve.
Recovery is based on rest more
than any other variable. Get the
sleep you need every night and start
incorporating DSDs and naps into
your weekly schedule. When you’re
fully recuperated, the weights suddenly feel lighter, and nothing feels
better than that to a serious strength
athlete.
Editor’s note: Bill Starr was a
strength and conditioning coach at
Johns Hopkins University from 1989
to 2000. He’s the author of The
Strongest Shall Survive and Defying
Gravity. IM
You’ll Never Have a
Great Back
Unless You Follow These 10 Rules
by Ron Harris
Great Back
I
Model: Steve Kummer \ Equipment: PowerBlock selectorized dumbbells, 1-800-447-0008
t’s kind of funny how
much time and energy
most bodybuilders and
serious weight trainers
put into training their
chests while they relegate
their backs—located on
the very same torso—to
second-class status. I see it
all the time at nightclubs:
young muscle studs proudly strutting around in their
painted-on Lycra T-shirts
and puffing out their
chests like some
species of bird trying
to attract a mate (and
that analogy isn’t far
from the truth, when
you get down to it).
Usually they have a
little bit of thickness in
the chest, shoulders
and arms, but if you
see them from behind,
nine times out of 10 it
looks as if they totally
forgot about back
training.
1
Depending on where you train,
you may have access to an almost
dizzying array of fantastic back
machines. One fitness club (I hesitate to call it a gym) of which I was a
member had no less than two dozen
pieces from Cybex, Hammer
Strength, Icarian, Body Masters,
Nautilus and Life Fitness. You could
train your back every week for a year
using different combinations of
pulling a 315-pound bar into your
waist is a hell of a lot harder than
sitting down on a nice cushy rowing
machine with the pin set at 300
pounds. If you want a back that
bulges with shapely knots of muscle,
make it a point to do at least half of
your back exercises with free weights
rather than machines or cables.
2
Don’t substitute
lat pulldowns for
chins.
That echoes rule 1, but it’s important enough to warrant its own discussion. Chinups are an
absolute must-do exercise for
the back. They are extremely
difficult to execute properly,
and I’d estimate that perhaps
only 10 percent of the bodybuilders who do chins are
getting the most out of them. A
quality chinup requires that
you pull up all the way until
your upper chest is just a couple inches from the bar, at
which point you must pause
for a moment, squeeze your
shoulder blades together and
flex your upper-back muscles
hard. Following that, you must
slowly lower until your arms
are nearly, but not quite,
straight—always keep tension
on the lats—and repeat.
It’s not too hard to mimic
that form with a lat pulldown
Chinups
bar, but that’s my point. I see
are an abtons of guys who can use good
solute
form at the cable station with
must-do
the stack set at their own
exercise for
bodyweight or more, but they
the back.
rarely have backs worth looking twice at. Show me a man
machines and cables. Sadly, at the
who can do a strict set of 10 reps of
end of that year your back wouldn’t
wide-grip chinups with a 45-pound
look a whole lot different from the
plate hanging from his waist, and I
way it did in the first place.
bet that dude has one jacked back.
Machine work is a great suppleMany trainees avoid chins bement to the core free-weight lifts,
cause they can’t do many. That’s
but if you don’t do at least a couple
precisely the reason that they should
heavy free-weight movements on
be chinning at every back workout.
back day, you’ll never stimulate an
Everyone can improve on chins if he
appreciable amount of growth in
or she diligently persists in doing
your upper back and lats. Free
them rather than succumbing to the
weights are just plain harder to use.
siren song of that damned lat pullAs the sage Arthur Jones was fond of down station. I give you my word
saying, the key is to constantly strive that if you master the chinup and
to make the exercises harder, not
become very strong on it, your back
easier. And bending over and
will show it clearly.
Follow These 10 Rules
It’s too bad, because in my
book a true bodybuilder always strives for proportionate
development in all muscle
groups. Without a rugged,
thickly developed back, you’re
nothing more than some
knucklehead doing a halfassed job of training your
body, focusing only on the
muscles you can see in the
bathroom mirror. Those guys would
be demolished in bodybuilding
competition, because back development has taken on a great deal more
significance since Dorian Yates and
Ronnie Coleman redefined what’s
possible given enough heavy
weights and ferocious training.
The fact is, of course, even among
bodybuilders who train to build a
great back, few seem to succeed.
Nevertheless, I’m convinced that
just about everyone is capable of
building an impressive back, if he or
she would only follow these 10
rules:
Perform at least
half of your
exercises with free
weights.
Great Back
3
Squeeze your back
and feel it work.
You may be able to get away with
never quite feeling some muscle
groups work but still getting them
to grow—good examples being the
arms and legs—but the back is not
so easy. If you never feel your back
working during various vertical and
horizontal pulling movements,
there’s a good chance that your
biceps and rear delts are actually
doing most of the work.
I knew a bodybuilder named
Steve who had biceps and shoulders that were almost too big for his
body, but his back was flat as the
Nebraska plains. Of course, whenever I saw him training back, his
biceps were pumped up like balloons. Like so many others, he
never developed a strong
mind/muscle connection with his
back. I found it useful when I was a
personal trainer to have clients say
the words squeeze and stretch in
their head as they did the positive
and negative strokes of each rep.
You may need to use less weight to
really feel your back doing the
work—at least until you develop the
skill—and that’s fine. For if you
never have the ability to feel your
back work and actually get a pump
in it, the chances are it will never be
anything special to look at.
4
Don’t be a yanker.
5
Hit all the angles.
The back is by far the most complex muscle group you’ll ever train.
Biceps are simple—all you have to
do is some type of curl. With back
you really need to hit it with at least
one vertical pulling movement
(such as chins), one horizontal
pulling movement (a row) as well as
with pullovers, shrugs and hyperextensions to cover all the various
areas and functions. Advanced
trainees also need to use different
grip widths on their pulling exercises to reach different parts of the
back muscles. So it’s important that
You see trainees using bad form
with all muscle groups, but I happen to think the worst examples involve back training.
Specifically, too many people have a tendency to yank
the weight in a ballistic
fashion on pulling movements. Take one-arm dumbbell rows. Very few men can
use more than 100 pounds
on them in good form, controlling the weight at all
times over a full range of
motion and getting a good
contraction at the top. However, every jackass and his
Always
brother-in-law can take 120
keep a
to 150 pounds and do some
slight arch
spastic jerking motion that
in your
looks like they’re trying to
lower back,
start a lawn mower.
especially
I have a great deal of reon good
mornings.
spect for Ronnie Coleman,
Model: Idrise Ward-El
Swallow your pride
and use a weight
you can actually
handle properly.
Model: Skip LaCour
but he sets a terrible example in his
video “The Unbelievable,” in which
he performs barbell rows with 495
pounds. His form sucks, sucks,
sucks. Ronnie yanks the bar up and
bounces it off his torso before rebounding it out of the bottom. With
that type of form, very little tension
is ever placed on the lats, while the
joints and connective tissues take a
beating. At best, yanking the weight
will keep your back from growing; at
worst, you’ll severely injure your
lower back or tear a biceps and lose
who knows how much training time.
Swallow your pride and use a weight
you can actually handle properly.
Your other option is to keep screwing around with more weight than
you have any business using and
have nothing to show for all your
effort.
Great Back
you not do just rowing movements
or pulldown-type movements but
make a conscious effort to work the
back from each angle it needs in
every workout.
Mind-numbing
back development
comes from
attention to detail.
8
Keep your lower
back injury-free.
Injuries are always a hindrance,
but should you incur a serious
lower-back injury, certain productive exercises for the back will no
longer be possible. You can forget
about deadlifts, any type of freeweight row and heavy shrugs for the
traps—not to mention squats and
overhead presses. The first
step toward keeping your
lower back strong and healthy
is to never round it, especially
during exercises like bent-over
rows, deadlifts and stiff-legged
deadlifts. Always keep a slight
arch in your lower back, and
that goes for all exercises.
That’s the position where the
lower back is most stable and
least vulnerable to injury.
The second step is to
strengthen your lower back as
an insurance policy. Work hard
on hyperextensions and good
mornings, making an effort to
use more weight over time.
Once you get to the point
where you can do a good set of
10 hyperextensions while
holding 100 or more extra
Don’t do
pounds, your lower back will
the same
be pretty solid.
back workFinally, it doesn’t hurt to
out for
have regular adjustments by a
more than
chiropractor just to keep your
three or
spine in proper alignment.
four weeks.
Change your back
routines regularly.
Don’t do the same workout for
more than three or four weeks at
most. Use different exercises, different grips and hand widths, different
rep ranges and rep speeds, and
shuffle the order of your exercises.
Hell, even switch your training split
every few months so you train your
back on a different day of the week
Gradually
add weight
to your
hyperextensions to
keep your
lower back
bulletproof.
Model: Steve Holman
7
Model: Jeff Hammond
Part of building a wide wingspan
is getting your scapulae out away
from your spine. Stretching the lats
between sets greatly facilitates that.
Grab a vertical upright with one
arm, bend forward, with your head
down by your arm, and push your
butt back, stretching until you feel a
full stretch of the lat on that side.
Hold for five seconds before switching sides. Some in the fitness industry, such as John Parrillo, also believe
that aggressive stretching like that
while the muscle is pumped helps
break up the muscle fascia and allows for more growth. Fascia is a
very tough connective tissue that
encases skeletal muscles, much like
steel belting on automobile tires. To
my knowledge, no formal studies
have ever been conducted to prove
or disprove the theory, but thousands of bodybuilders who have
followed Parrillo’s advice swear by it.
Comstock \ Model: Ronnie Coleman
6
Stretch between
sets.
Great Back
or with different bodyparts (though
you never want to hit back the day
after you train biceps, as they will be
too damaged to properly assist on
back work). Just remember this
axiom: If you keep doing what
you’ve always done, you’ll keep
getting what you’ve always gotten.
9
Do some type of
deadlift.
Franco
Columbu was
a big fan of
the deadlift
and credits
much of his
thick
development
to that
exercise.
Just about every bodybuilder who
has superb back development credits deadlifts with playing a critical
role in its development. Ronnie
Coleman and Johnnie O. Jackson are
two notable examples from the
current crop of IFBB champions,
but ’90s back kings like Mike Francois and even Dorian Yates regularly
incorporated heavy deads in their
training. Going back further, ’70s
and ’80s stars Franco Columbu and
Samir Bannout were big fans of the
lift, and they had the best backs of
their day.
I don’t believe that you necessarily have to pull from the floor to reap
the benefits of the deadlift. Partial,
or rack, deadlifts, from the knees up
to lockout, can also force a lot of
growth. In fact, I happen to favor
partial deadlifts, as I feel they’re
Zeller
You don’t
necessarily
have to pull
from the
floor to
reap the
benefits of
deadlifts.
Care about the
strength and
development of
your back.
Model: Derik Farnsworth
10
The most important factor in
building a great back is to really
want one. Too many guys are ob-
sessed with adding an inch to their
arms or beefing up their chests
while not giving their backs a
thought. It’s safe to say that if they
were as concerned about getting
wider and thicker lats, they’d have a
lot more development back there.
Just because you can’t see your
back doesn’t mean others can’t—or
that you shouldn’t care about it.
Next month I’ll talk about what it
takes to build shoulders so wide
and round that people will assume
you’re wearing shoulder pads
under all your shirts.
Editor’s note: Check out Ron
Harris’ Web site, www.ronharris
muscle.com. IM
more of a pure back exercise, in
contrast to regular deadlifts, which
work the lower body just as hard as
the back. Whichever variation you
choose, it would behoove you to
make deadlifts a mainstay of your
back-training arsenal. Too many
people have found success with
deadlifts to ignore their benefits.
How Tom Doyle Won the
Twinlab Live Like a Pro
With Lee Priest Challenge
Success
Story
by David Young - Photography courtesy of Twinlab
Success Story
L
DY: What’s your diet strategy—on- and off-season?
TD: I eat clean all the time. When
I’m not preparing for a contest, I eat
good and I eat a lot. I might cheat a
little more—although even on my
cheat days I don’t totally freak out. I
absolutely love oatmeal cookies and
carrot cake. Oh, and when I visit my
mother during the holidays, I get
coconut cake with Philadelphia
cream cheese icing. It is unbelievable.
“The contest wasn’t about taking
a guy pro. We said, ‘Show us you
have what it takes to live like a pro,
and Twinlab will support you with a
contract for one year.’ We were
looking for people who could prove
that they had the focus, dedication,
commitment, physique and knowledge to be supported and trained by
Twinlab and myself.
“Tom Doyle was our pick
because, for a guy who’s 49 years
old, he looks fantastic, and he has
the right attitude.”
Doyle’s prizes included personaltraining sessions with Priest, publicity, a $50,000 check from Twinlab
and a year’s supply of Twinlab products. Months later, during the
Olympia weekend, he picked up
another prestigious honor. Twinlab
and Flex magazine established a
bodybuilding hall of fame, inducting Arnold Schwarzenegger, Larry
Scott, Sergio Oliva, Lou
Ferrigno, Cory Everson
and Lenda Murray.
Doyle was the first
amateur to be inducted.
Tom is just a cool
guy to talk with. I was
particularly impressed by his
enthusiasm for bodybuilding,
his knowledge of supplementation and his Southern charm.
DY: Tell me one of your secrets to success?
TD: On- and off-season I always
prepare my meals for the entire
week on Sundays. I make enough
chicken, turkey or steak for the
week. I also have salads or other
veggies ready, raw or steamed. And I
always try to have a little fruit and
some nuts during the day. That’s a
very easy way for me to eat properly
because it’s already there. I just heat
up and go.
And I gotta have peanut butter
and jelly. I buy the jelly with no
sugar and have it on stone-ground
or multigrain bread or crackers. I
must have my carbs! They fuel the
heavy workouts and contribute to
proper body function, including the
brain—and in that department I’ll
take all the help I can get.
DY: Let’s hear your stats.
TD: I’m 49 years young, 5’11” tall,
and my weight is 225. In the offseason I’m about 235 pounds. At my
last contest I weighed in at 210.
DY: How many years have you
been training seriously?
TD: I’ve been training consistently for 19 years, but seriously, in my
opinion, means training for contests, and that’s been seven years.
DY: Tell me about something
you’re really proud of?
TD: I’m very pleased and proud
about my achievements in bodybuilding—and also about the encouragement I get from my family
and friends. They have been wonderful to me. When I get down,
they’re there. Most of all I’m proud
that I have the wherewithal to know
that I’m a blessed man, and I’m so
very, very thankful. Not a day goes
by that I don’t give thanks to God for
everything I have.
DY: How do you overcome
plateaus?
TD: My answer is to keep training: Train harder, and you will, as
Jim Morrison sang, “break on
through to the other side.”
Arnold Schwarzenegger once
said, “With faith there is no anxiety,
no doubt—just absolute
confidence.”
Live Like a Pro Challenge
ee Priest and Twinlab announced the
winner of their
first Live Like a Pro
Challenge during the
’04 Arnold Fitness
Weekend. Here’s what
Lee had to say about
why Tom Doyle got the
nod:
Success Story
“Make hard
times, setbacks
and suffering
your friends, not
your enemies.”
and striations.
After I cut out the junk for a few
weeks, I set up my first eating phase
like this:
Meal 1
1 scoop Twinlab AM Protein Fuel
in shake
10 egg whites
with 2 whole eggs
1 bowl oatmeal
1 tablet Twinlab Andro Nitrate3
Twinlab Tribulus Fuel Extreme
Meal 2
1 packet Twinlab MRP Nitrate3
Fuel mixed in cold water with
ice
1 teaspoon flaxseed oil
Twinlab Glutamine Fuel
1 multivitamin
Meal 3
DY: What tricks do you use to
motivate yourself?
TD: I read a lot about people who
have beaten the odds and who
never gave up. If you look, you’ll
find motivation all around you—
sometimes in the strangest places.
Just last week in a local paper I read
the story of a blind man, Jerry
Nealey, who participates in
triathlons. He said, “Proving myself
seems to be a way of life. But having
a disability can be a blessing. We
can overcome [the disability], and it
will only make us stronger. My
blindness is a metaphor for
progress.” When I read words like
those, I go after life with a
vengeance.
Make hard times, setbacks and
suffering your friends, not your
enemies. That takes constant work
and practice. It’s not easy, but it’s
essential for reaching and creating
the next level of your physique, not
to mention life.
DY: What are your goals now?
TD: My next one is to win the
heavyweight over-50 class at the
Master’s Nationals.
DY: Excellent! What mental
principles do you use?
TD: I use visualization when I’m
training. I visualize the bodypart
that I’m working as looking like the
end product I’m striving to achieve.
Not always bigger, but more pro-
nounced, defined. Also, I sometimes
see myself standing onstage as the
winner. I can’t do that all of the
time, but when my mind is clear
and stress is not a problem, I can
focus on the vision of winning. It’s
something that takes a lot of practice. It’s actually Zen-like, I suppose.
DY: That’s some deep sh*t!
[Both crack up] Okay, Mr. Zen
Man, what’s your philosophy of
life?
TD: I live by many sayings that
mean a lot to me, but the most
important is: Do unto others as you
would have them do unto you.
One other one I’m fond of is:
“Always dream and shoot higher
than you know you can do. Don’t
bother just to be better than your
contemporaries or predecessors.
Try to be better than yourself.”
William Faulkner said that.
DY: More deep sh*t! [More
laughter] How many weeks out
do you start your contest prep?
TD: When I first began competing, I started 19 weeks out, but now
I find it is easier to watch my weight
and not gain more than 20 to 25
pounds. That allows me to start my
contest preparation about 12 weeks
out. It just seems to be easier on my
body. I try to gain around five
pounds of lean mass per year and
concentrate more on refining the
muscle, creating more separation
2 chicken breasts
sauteed in 2 tablespoons olive
oil and garlic
1 cup brown rice
Soy sauce (light)
Cracked pepper
2 capsules Twinlab Ripped Fuel
Meal 4
Flank steak
Steamed broccoli
Peas
Twinlab Tribulus Fuel Extreme
Meal 5
Grilled turkey breast
on a bed of leafy greens with
balsamic vinegar
Steamed asparagus
1 packet Twinlab MRP Nitrate3
Fuel
Meal 6
1 scoop Twinlab PM Protein Fuel
in shake
1 teaspoon flaxseed oil
Steamed asparagus
Vitamins E and C
Before Bed
1 scoop Twinlab PM Protein Fuel
in shake
I might follow that up to the last
four to six weeks before a contest.
Then in the final precontest phase I
step it up a bit.
DY: Do you use supersets,
forced reps or other intensity
techniques?
TD: I train to failure for the most
part. Because I train by myself a lot
Success Story
of the time, I don’t use forced reps,
but I do incorporate supersets for
my major bodyparts.
DY: How many days a week do
you train?
TD: I always train five days per
week in the off-season.
DY: What about cardio?
TD: In the off-season I do cardio
at least twice a week. When I’m
preparing for a contest, it’s usually
30 minutes every morning. I don’t
do as much cardio as most guys
because I lose size in my legs.
DY: Which exercises do you
use, and as you’re over 40,
which exercises do you avoid
due to joint pain?
TD: Here’s a general guide:
Quads: I do leg extensions and
close-stance squats or close-stance
leg presses. I don’t use the hacksquat machine. It’s rough on my
knees. As for the close stance, it’s
really helped my quad development.
Hams: I do leg curls and stifflegged deadlifts. I don’t use the
standing leg curl. I just don’t feel it.
Calves: Seated calf raises and
standing calf raises make up my
routine. I use heavy weight for both.
I think if you’re doing light weights
and high reps for calf size, you’re
wasting your time.
Abs: I like crunches, rope crunches
and hanging leg raises. My advice is
to stay away from boot-camp situps.
They’re bad for your back, neck and
buttissimo.
Back: Here it’s chins, bent-over
barbell rows, pulldowns to the front,
seated cable rows and deadlifts. I
don’t do behind-the-neck
pulldowns. It’s an unnatural movement and sets the stage for neck
injuries.
Chest: I like cable crossovers, incline dumbbell presses, flat-bench
flyes, dumbbell bench presses and
dips. I don’t do decline presses. I feel
that my lower pecs get enough work
from flat-bench work.
Delts: I do rear-delt flyes, dumbbell
presses, dumbbell laterals, military
presses and shrugs. I stay away from
behind-the-neck presses. Once
again, the movement feels unnatural.
Biceps: I use barbell curls, incline
dumbbell curls, preacher curls and
cable curls, but I stay away from
heavy swinging barbell curls.
Strength and size come from being
able to handle the weight with control. Swinging is a good way to get
injured.
Triceps: For this muscle group it’s
pushdowns, weighted dips, closegrip bench presses and overhead
dumbbell extensions.
Forearms: I use standing wrist
curls for both the front and rear
parts of the forearms. I don’t like
hanging my hands off of the end of
a bench. That can damage the
wrist. I hold a bar behind my back
while standing and do wrist curls.
DY: How many sets do you do
per bodypart?
TD: Here’s a rundown:
Chest: 20 to 25 once a week
Back: 20 to 25 once a week
Deltoids: 12 to 15 once a week
Traps: 5 to 7 once a week
Calves: 5 to 7 four to five times
a week
Biceps: 12 to 15 once a week
Triceps: 12 to 15 once a week
Legs: 20 to 25 twice a week
Abs: 5 to 7 every other day
DY: What’s your overall bodybuilding philosophy?
TD: Before my bodybuilding
adventure began, I never really
gave thought to having a structured
life. It was get up, work, then whatever. Not anymore, I’m overjoyed to
say. Bodybuilding has provided me
with self-worth, self-confidence
and self-discipline. Countless times
I’m asked to have lunch or go out
after work with the guys. I politely
decline, stating that I bring all of
my food and that after work you
can find me in the gym. They may
not admit it, but I know they respect me.
I recommend weight training for
everyone. It helps create a structured life. You don’t have to participate in bodybuilding competitions.
When you train hard, you deal with
adversity much more easily and life
seems fruitful.
Editor’s note: You can find out
more about the Twinlab Live Like a
Pro With Lee Priest Challenge II at
www.twinlab.com or www
.livelikeapro.com. IM
“My next goal
is to win the
heavyweight
over-50 class
at the Master’s
Nationals.”
I’m a firm believer in full range of
motion. Lying triceps extensions
don’t give you a full range of motion. Overhead extensions do.
The
How Jonathan Lawson Took His
Size and Muscularity to a New
Dimension—Without Drugs
Part 2
Factor
by Butch Lebowitz
hat if you could pack on a solid five pounds of muscle almost every month? What would you look like one year
from now? Are you kidding? Your physique would be
outrageous! Radically different and unrecognizable because of
so much extra muscle hanging off your joints. Well, in my estimation, Jonathan Lawson added at least five pounds of muscle
to his already advanced physique in only one month—not one
year, one month—and he’s been training for about 15 years.
Add to that the fact that he did it while he was on a a low-calorie diet, and you can see the enormous muscle-building implications for you—especially if you’re not limiting calories, as he
was. (Could you add even more, like 10 pounds of muscle, in
one month if you followed his lead? Who knows?)
Lawson says the big key to his amazing transformation was X
Reps, a power-partial technique he uses on specific exercises.
This idea has a lot of science behind it. If you missed the first
part of my interview with him, which discusses a lot of the research, visit www.x-rep.com to get your muscle-building mojo
moving. Now, to continue with the intense interrogation…
W
BEFORE
AFTER
This photo and
the one at left
were taken one
month after the
before shot.
The X Factor
New Dimension—Without Drugs - Part 2
“The bottom line as
far as bodybuilding
goes is that the more
fibers and fiber types
you can hit, the
better your size
increases will be.”
BL: So you do X-Rep power
partials at the end of a set
at a point where you think
the muscle can fire with
maximum-force
generation—like near the
bottom of an incline press.
Why not just go right to the
X Reps—you know, do
heavy stand-alone X-Rep
sets? Why not pack on the
poundage, lower the weight
to the X spot and blast out
partials, and forget the regular full-range reps?
Wouldn’t that be much more
intense?
JL: Superheavy partials will hit
the pure-strength muscle fibers,
sure. And it could be a good addition to a full-range set or two. But
bodybuilders need to train more
than just one or two fiber types for
full development. As I said earlier,
scientists list more than five different types of fast-twitch fibers, which
is the reason bodybuilders need to
do sets with multiple reps—to build
as many fiber types as possible. The
size principle of fiber recruitment
says that the low-threshold motor
units fire first, followed by the mediums and then the high-threshold
motor units. I think performing fullrange reps makes that happen more
efficiently—you get at more fiber
types in one set. Then you move in
for the kill with X Reps.
BL: Couldn’t you just do 10
to 12 X Reps and get the
size-principle thing to happen?
JL: That’s an interesting idea and
worth some experimentation. In
fact, we’ve been doing that on some
stretch-position exercises like stifflegged deadlifts and flyes. Arnold
used to do his flyes that way—just
the bottom part of the stroke, which
is like exaggerated X Reps. That
seems to work best on stretch-position exercises where there’s no resistance at the top. Sissy squats would
be another good one. Don’t come up
more than halfway.
For most exercises, though, I
think you should do full-range reps,
or close to lockout, on at least a set
or two to get more fibers involved. I
think that’s especially true for contracted-position exercises like leg
extensions, where you can flex the
muscles against resistance. That will
also help strengthen joints and
ligaments through the full range to
prevent injury. And you get more of
a metabolic effect from full-range
reps.
I think the bottom line as far as
bodybuilding goes is that the more
fibers and fiber types you can hit,
the better your size increases will
be. It’s the reason we do six to eight
reps but mix in supersets and drop
sets—and now X Reps, which seems
to be the most effective of all. Trying
to hit as many fibers as possible just
makes sense from an overall muscle-density standpoint. You
wouldn’t want to pump up only one
section of an air mattress. All the
sections need to be full to achieve
maximum size. The same goes for
the muscles. You won’t look your
full, muscular best if muscle groups
are partially deflated.
Since you brought it up, though, I
will tell you that we’ve been experimenting with a version of what
you’re describing. We do a straight
set to failure and then immediately
add weight for X Reps. We only rest
long enough to get the weight on
the bar—about 10 seconds. That
gives us fatigue-product clearance.
It’s kind of like Mike Mentzer’s
rest/pause, only we’re using two
different types of sets, a regular sixto-eight-rep set to failure followed
almost immediately by a heavier XRep-only set. We up the weight
enough that we can get about six
ultraheavy X Reps.
BL: And what have you noticed? Any new gains?
JL: It’s still early, but I gotta say
that four months after our photo
shoot, using X Reps and those superheavy X Reps on a few exercises,
with some drop sets and supersets
thrown in for even more growth
hormone production, has enabled
[me and IM editor in chief Steve
Holman] to stay very close to peak
condition.
(continued on page 122)
The X Factor
get past nervous system failure and
continue to stress the muscle at its
point of maximum-force generation. More GH is a bonus—and I’m
sure it’s what’s helping us stay lean.
GH has been shown to be a potent
fat burner. I gotta say, though, that
it’s weird to see veins in my forearms when it’s cold outside. I’m
used to being pretty smooth in the
winter.
AFTER
BEFORE
Holman
HAMSTRINGS
AND CALF
One-month results
JL: Yes. We have research on that
posted in the X Q&A section at our
Web site. The research on the
growth hormone connection is
there too. I’ve seen some studies
that say that the reason you end a
set isn’t nervous system failure, but
in either case you should still move
to the point of maximum force
generation and extend the set with
partials to stress as many fibers as
possible.
AFTER
Holman
QUADS
BEFORE
Jonathan’s hamstrings and quads filled out and took on new vascularity and detail in only one month with X-Rep training. These photos were
taken in the same spot under the same light in the IRON MAN Training &
Research Center.
(continued from page 119) And without a whole lot of volume. That’s
pretty unbelievable considering that
there’s no sense of urgency—no
photo shoot looming—and we’re
not eating nearly as strictly. We’ve
both still got lots of veins crawling
down our forearms and plenty of
size and separation. That’s very
exciting because in past years we
were both flat and way off our best
shapes two months after our photo
shoot.
BL: You mentioned more GH
production. Do you think
that’s one reason X Reps
work so well—because they
BL: So you use the partials
at the end of a set to get
past nervous system failure
and keep the muscle firing,
right?
jack up growth hormone?
JL: Absolutely. Research has
shown that muscle burn changes
the pH of the blood, which can
cause GH to surge. And, believe me,
X Reps burn. If you think about it,
it’s very difficult to get muscle burn
on compound exercises just by
going to failure. Add X Reps, though,
and you set the target muscle on fire
with one set, which helps pump up
GH production. And if you do X
Reps on those big exercises, which
are also the best testosterone boosters, you get a double shot of anabolic hormones.
Still, I think the main reason X
Reps work is that they enable you to
BL: Well, if nervous system
failure is what stops a set,
how do the pros get so big?
Wouldn’t every set they do
be ineffective at building
more muscle?
JL: Not ineffective, just inefficient. They do set after set in an
attempt to get enough stimulation
to grow. They may get a slightly
different fiber recruitment pattern
on each set by adding volume, so
they may get at a little more of the
muscle, a few different fibers perhaps. Growth does happen, but it’s
slow, and in order to do all of that
work, they have to take anabolic
steroids to enhance their recovery
abilities and speed things up.
Drug-free bodybuilders can also
do multiple sets up to a point, but
eventually they will overtrain and go
nowhere fast. Using X Reps makes it
unnecessary to do an excessive
number of sets, so you have more
energy left for recovery. It’s much
more efficient.
Of course, you still have to work
and sweat. I’m not saying that X
The X Factor
also got stuff about a possible connection to hyperplasia, or fiber splitting, posted.
Is that really solid info?
Research shows
that muscle burn
can cause a GH
surge. And X
Reps can cause a
firestorm!
Reps will let you get away with those
B.S. once-a-month 10-minute workouts that are all over the Internet
these days. If it’s muscle you’re after,
those routines are flat-out ridiculous.
One other point about the pros:
Many of them use loose form, blasting the weight out of the
turnaround—at the bottom of a
press or a barbell curl. Watch Ronnie Coleman’s training DVD and
you’ll see what I mean. Creating an
explosive movement near the maxforce-generation point does produce critical overload right where
the muscle needs it for more growth
stimulation, but it’s very dangerous
to train with explosive moves. Using
X Reps accomplishes the same thing
without the danger of joint injury or
muscle tear. You stress that critical
point in an exercise’s stroke, only
you do it at the end of the set, no
joint jarring necessary.
BL: Won’t forced reps do the
same thing as X Reps—get
you past nervous system
failure?
JL: No. Once again it’s an efficiency thing. You waste a lot of nervous
energy when your partner helps you
through the full range. Plus, his help
isn’t very precise, so it’s hard to tell
how much work you’re doing and
how much he’s doing. Oh, and your
strength varies throughout the full
stroke, so that adds to the difficulty.
But the biggest problem is that
you’re not taxing the muscle much
at the X spot—the max-force point
that’s so critical to growth stimulation.
BL: There you go again with
the double Xes. You’ve got X
spots, X Reps, full strokes.
Dude, you gotta start training porn stars.
JL: You know, you may want to
skip X Reps. Your testosterone is off
the charts already. [Laughs] Anyway,
instead of forced reps, it’s much
more effective to do power pulses at
the X spot at the end of a set. That
way you increase the tension time
on the most fibers at the precise
maximum-force point. Remember,
more force generation triggers more
growth. With X Reps there’s no wasted effort; with forced reps most of
the effort is wasted. There’s research
on that at the site as well.
BL: Yeah, I read your reference materials there. You’ve
JL: Well, hyperplasia is still a controversial topic, but animal-based
research has shown that it occurred
as a result of stretch overload. What’s
interesting is that a lot of the biggest
bodybuilders use what we call X Reps
to get stretch overload. For example,
Tom Platz, who had some of the
freakiest legs ever, did a lot of partials
in the stretch position of specific
quad exercises. One of his favorite
spots was near the bottom of a hack
squat, pulsing at the end of a set of
full-range reps till he couldn’t stand
the burn. Could that stretch overload
have caused fiber splitting in his
quads, and could it explain why he
got such mind-numbing development? It could be partly responsible.
The same goes for Arnold
Schwarzenegger and those heavy
partial flyes he used to do for his
chest. By only moving through the
bottom of the stroke, he created
stretch overload—slightly exaggerated X Reps on a stretch-position exercise.
BL: Yeah, and Larry Scott
used to do burns near the
stretch point on preacher
curls, kind of like X Reps.
Maybe he was increasing his
biceps’ size potential with
fiber splitting every time he
bottomed out with those partials. This is interesting stuff.
I’m totally amped! Hey, are
you still using Positions of
Flexion training?
JL: Yes, that’s a given. POF fullrange training is a must for full-muscle development, although we
recently started splitting the positions over two workouts. For example, on quads we do midrange work,
like hack squats, and stretch work,
like sissy squats, at one workout.
Then, the next time we work quads,
we do hacks again for the midrange
movement but this time combined
with contracted-position work, like
leg extensions.
The X Factor
IRON MAN Research Team: X Stack
X-Rep training is intense, and it works big time. If you want to get the most
mass out of X Reps, you must make sure your muscles are loaded with energy
substrates for maximum firepower. The key is to get fast protein and enough
glycogen from fast carbs right after you train. That jacks up the supercompensation effect. You start building more muscle immediately and refill spent fuel
stores so you’re fully loaded for your next workout. That combination also
spikes insulin, the hormone that sends nutrients rocketing to your muscles.
Insulin is a good thing right after you train because that’s when your muscles
are extremely receptive. It’s the time when carbs will not go to fat cells—the
time to load up so your muscles fill out. Is it a good time to add creatine to the
mix? You bet it is! Creatine will heighten ATP regeneration to fuel future muscle
contractions and fill out your muscle structures even more.
Here’s the famous X Stack that Jonathan Lawson and Steve Holman used
after every workout during their one-month X-Rep transformation experiment
(their before and after photos are posted at www.x-rep.com):
RecoverX: A fast-protein-and-fast-carb powder you mix
in water. It contains hydrolyzed whey, the fastest protein
available; glutamine peptides (glutamine is the most prevalent amino acid in muscle tissue); L-arginine (an amino
acid—and nitric oxide precursor—that promotes glycogen
replenishment in muscle tissue, growth hormone release
and, thanks to its vasodilation properties, increased blood
flow) and no aspartame. Each serving gives you 40 grams of
fast protein and 60 grams of fast carbs, the perfect ratio for
turbocharging anabolic uptake. It’s absolutely the best supplement for this critical muscle-building and glycogen-refueling meal.
CreaSol: A titrated creatine that completely dissolves, so there’s no
residue—and almost 100 percent can flow to your muscles. Like glycogen from
carbs, creatine is a key element in getting your muscles to fire during X Reps, as
it improves ATP production and regeneration for enhanced muscle-power
output. Put a scoop in your postworkout RecoverX drink. Tastes great, more
muscle filling.
That’s the core X Stack for superior X-Rep gains, and you
can get it at a Research Team discount: three big canisters of
RecoverX (48 servings in all—almost 12 pounds!) and one
bottle of CreaSol (40 servings) for only $99.95 (plus shipping
and handling). It’s a retail value of $149.80, so you save almost
$50.
Use three scoops of RecoverX and one scoop of CreaSol in
water after every workout, and watch your muscles swell to
capacity. You’ll run out of CreaSol first, as the special includes
only 40 servings as opposed to 48 RecoverX servings, but
that’s good. Going off creatine for a few days can help regenerate receptors, which downregulate with continuous creatine use. Taking a week or so off every so often works wonders. Keep using
RecoverX alone till you run out, and then start a new X Stack, reintroducing
creatine into your regimen.
It’s a simple, fairly inexpensive way to supercharge every one of your X-Rep
workouts and give those muscles the exact nutrients they crave right when
they need them most. You’ll use the X Stack only on training days, so that
means if you train three days a week, your supply will last more than three
months. Now, that’s a muscle-building bargain!
Editor’s note: To get your anabolic-window supercharger, call (800) 4470008 and ask for the IRON MAN Research Team X Stack. You get three giant
canisters of RecoverX and one bottle of CreaSol for the low price of only
$99.95, a $149.80 value. (You save almost $50!)
That’s something else we’re
experimenting with over the winter. During our summer ripping
phase, however, we did all the
positions in one workout, and we
did X Reps on one set of almost
every exercise. We’re still using X
Reps on most exercises—and those
superheavy X Reps I mentioned
earlier. Those can be a bit scary,
like on incline presses. Your upper
chest feels shot, but you jump off
the bench, add weight and then
lower the bar to the X spot for partials anyway. I have to admit,
though, they really hammer the
muscle.
BL: Now that I’m part of the
X-Men militia, do you have
any specific diet recommendations?
JL: You don’t want to restrict
your carbs too much. Even when
Steve and I were in the last week
before our photo shoot, our carbs
never went below 140 grams per
day. You need glycogen-and-creatine-loaded muscle to get them to
fire as effectively as possible at the
X spot. Otherwise, they’ll crap out
early, limiting your gains.
BL: So the key X-Rep supplement is pancake syrup?
JL: [Laughs] Only if you use it
immediately after you train—
poured over whey-and-creatine
flapjacks.
Seriously, right after the workout
is prime nutrition time, the anabolic window, so you want to get plenty of fast carbs and fast protein to
feed your depleted muscles. There
are postworkout powders designed
specifically for that time. Throw
some creatine into the mix, and
you’ve got the perfect meal for your
most important feeding of the day.
Loading your muscles with glycogen and creatine will give your X
Reps maximum firepower.
BL: Can you outline the diet
you used during the month
when you made the transformation with X Reps?
The X Factor
JL: Sure. Keep in mind that this
is my lowest calorie level—around
2,400. I also did lots of cardio as the
shoot got closer.
Meal 1 (after cardio)
1 cup egg whites, scrambled
1 serving Cream of Rice
1 tablespoon peanut butter
1 scoop Pro-Fusion in water
Meal 2 (before training)
2 scoops Pro-Fusion in water
Meal 3: (after training)
BL: My abs have been in
hibernation for a while, so
I’ll be checking your site for
that—and may I suggest a
gallery of X starlets using X
Reps? That would certainly
add to your Internet presence.
JL: Because there’s a severe
shortage of pornography on the
Web, right?
BL: Just trying to help.
Editor’s note: For more on XRep training, including before and
after photos, Q&As and past X-File
e-zines, visit www.x-rep.com. To
subscribe to Jonathan Lawson’s
free training e-zine, scroll to the
bottom of any of the past installments posted in the X-Files section
at www.x-rep.com. The Ultimate
Mass Workout e-book is there too.
IM
X Stack shake (in water)
3 scoops RecoverX
1 scoop CreaSol
[Note: The X Stack is available at
a special discount price. See
page 126.]
Meal 4
Chicken breast
1 cup broccoli
Meal 5
Protein shake (in water)
1 packet Muscle Meals
1/2 scoop Pro-Fusion
Meal 6 (two hours before
cardio)
2 scoops Pro-Fusion in water
Meal 7 (after cardio)
1 cup egg whites
scrambled with 1 whole egg
1 handful cashews and almonds
BL: So that’s your rockbottom lowest calorie
level?
JL: Yes. When I start dieting,
usually around late March, my
calories are more than 3,000. I
make a couple of calorie reductions, working in higher-carb days
along the way to keep leptin levels
stable and to stay sane. I also gradually increase my activities to create a calorie deficit so I burn more
bodyfat. Our new diet e-book, Xtreme Lean, outlines all the
specifics about leptin, cheat days,
macronutrient ratios and so on.
We’ve been experimenting with
ripping diets for five years running,
so we’ve learned quite a few important things along the way. Getting
in ripped condition isn’t nearly as
difficult as it used to be.
Munch
Master
10 Tips for Controlling
the Way You Eat
kip La Cour is a five-time NPC Team
Universe champion, including two overall
victories. The following are his 10 strategies
for taking control of your eating. Whether
your goal is to win a bodybuilding contest or
just to lose some bodyfat for a leaner, healthier
appearance, these insights will help you get there.
132 AUGUST 2004 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com
Neveux / Model: Skip La Cour
• by Skip La Cour •
1) Burn more calories than
you eat. That’s the basic rule of
weight management. If you want to
lose weight, you must burn more
calories than you take in each day,
each week and each month. It
doesn’t matter if all the food you eat
is healthy, wholesome or “clean.”
The total calories from all the food
you eat—no matter what kind of
food it is—must add up to fewer
calories than your body efficiently
burns each day.
Unfortunately, you can’t just stop
eating and expect to lose bodyfat
and you can’t just start eating like
crazy in order to build muscle. If
you want to gain quality weight,
you must eat strategically.
2) Take the necessary steps to
control your metabolism. Another key to effective weight management is regulating your
metabolism. No matter what your
physical challenges, you can do a
better job of managing and regulating your metabolism. You must do
the best with the gifts—and the
challenges—you’re presented with.
Eating small meals throughout
the day will help keep your
metabolism operating at a steady
rate. You should schedule meals
every two to three hours throughout the entire day. Of course, weight
training and cardiovascular training
will also help regulate your
metabolism.
By following through with strategically timed small meals, weight
training workouts and cardiovascular sessions for a series of days,
weeks and months, you’ll improve
your body over time.
3) Stop searching for the
perfect diet. People are often
distracted by the idea that there’s an
easier diet somewhere that requires
less discipline than the one they’re
on. If the diet doesn’t work as
quickly or effectively as they expect,
they blame the diet—and not their
standards or expectations.
Diets appeal to different people
for different reasons besides their
level of effectiveness. The Atkins
diet, for example, may seem great
to some people because they love
to eat meat. The Zone diet may
seem ideal to others because they
love salads and vegetables. Even a
strict, bland bodybuilding diet may
appear to be the best option to
some people because they like not
having to make decisions on a
continual basis or because they
really enjoy the taste of meal replacements (like AST Sports Science’s Ny-Tro PRO 40).
4) Keep your diet simple. Do
you know people who always ask
themselves, “What am I going to eat
for dinner tonight?” Some people
put a lot of effort effort into thinking about their meals. In my opinion, that makes the eating process
far too complicated. The more
complicated you make your nutritional program, the more difficult it
will be to follow through.
During the week I intentionally
keep my meals plain and simple.
My main purpose in eating during
that time is to grow muscle and
keep my bodyfat levels manageable. If I decide to relax at all, it will
be during the weekends.
When it comes to feeding yourself properly, the less thinking and
planning you have to do, the better.
Try to look at eating as merely a
method of building quality muscle,
fueling great workouts and keeping
your body lean and looking good,
instead of as a source of recreation,
pleasure and a way of connecting
with your family and friends.
I realize that fine dining is one of
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Illustration by Chris Martinez
Munch Master
life’s great pleasures, but try adjusting your thinking to that of an efficient muscle-building eater as
much as possible. Simple meals will
help you stay consistent with your
eating habits.
5) Give the diet you’ve chosen
your full attention. Just about
any diet, when implemented on a
consistent basis, will work for you,
but you must have confidence in
the one you choose. Otherwise, you
won’t be able to give it your complete focus.
With all the diets available, it’s
easy to get confused—and almost
impossible to have 100 percent
certainty about the diet you’ve
chosen. Just when you think you’re
on the right path, you’ll hear or
read about a new “miracle” diet.
Just when you’re ready to dig in and
get going on a structured eating
program, someone you know will
tell you about all the amazing results he’s had with a diet that seems
very different from yours. Heck,
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Munch Master
bird and gain weight!” The route
you have to take may not seem as
easy as that of someone else, but
there is indeed a way to overcome
your challenges.
Realize that the decisions you
make reflect the quality of the
physique you really want—and the
one you get. Everything worth having has some sort of price tag on it.
Usually, the more desirable something is, the higher the price. Maybe
you don’t want to pay the price for
having the physique you thought
you wanted. That’s fine, but you
must accept the consequences of
that decision. Don’t blame your lack
of knowledge; blame your lack of
desire. Don’t blame your genetics or
personal conditions; blame the fact
that you decided not to overcome
those challenges at this time.
7) If you’re not getting the
results you want, you’ll need to
raise your standards. You either
need to do a little more of this or a
little less of that. Food selection,
food quantities, meal frequency,
meal timing, cardiovascular-training intensity and frequency, weighttraining intensity and frequency are
all factors that are 100 percent in
your control. Focus on finding the
combination of those factors that
Think of eating as a means to an end—building
more rock-hard muscle and burning more cutblurring bodyfat—not as a social activity.
out what it takes—is
what must be overcome.
People often blame
their circumstances or
genetic conditions for
their lack of progress. If
you are truly committed,
you’ll eventually find a
way around any of your
physical or emotional
challenges to reach for
your goals.
People also sometimes unfairly compare
themselves to others.
“She can eat anything
she wants and still look
good, while I eat like a
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even if your diet is working, you’ll
sometimes doubt if it’s working well
or fast enough.
Instead of focusing on the differences, try to discover how the diets
are similar. That way you’ll know
you’re already on the right track.
6) Take 100 percent responsibility for your success and failure. In other words, if you’re not
getting the results you want, it’s you
and not necessarily your diet that’s
letting you down. It’s not your challenging situation, genetic limitations or time-management
dilemmas that are preventing you
from reaching your goals. Your
inability to do what it takes—or find
Munch Master
If you’re not getting the results you want,
you’ll have to raise your standards.
Neveux
works best for you: what you must
do more of and what you must do
less of to reach your body goals.
It’s your body, and no one will
ever care about it more than you.
Never rely on anyone else to solve
your challenges for you. Take full
responsibility for the task of finding
what’s best for you and your body.
8) Don’t waste time talking to
people about your eating,
metabolic and genetic challenges. Are those others really
going to challenge your beliefs
anyway? Do they really care? All the
talk about how difficult it is for you
to lose bodyfat (or build muscle)
reinforces your disempowering
beliefs about what you can and
cannot accomplish. By cutting out
the negative talk, you reach your
goals that much faster.
9) Learn how to manage the
emotional relationship you
have with your current eating
habits. Schedule your cheat meals
in advance, and schedule your
cheat days—those days when you
plan to indulge in delicious, not-sohealthful meals—in advance as
well. Use those cheat meals or
cheat days as special rewards for
being disciplined all week long or
putting together a series of weeks of
good eating habits.
Don’t use food as a reward for
accomplishments in other areas of
your life, however. You don’t want to
create or strengthen an emotional
link between success and fattening
Don’t waste
time talking to
people about
your eating,
metabolic and
genetic
challenges.
They don’t
really care,
and it
reinforces your
shortcomings.
Neveux
“I’m having
a tough
time
getting my
serratus to
show.”
food. You also don’t want to use
delicious, not-so-healthful food to
mask emotional pain that you
might be feeling due to challenges
in other areas of your life. In other
words, don’t eat to make yourself
feel better.
10) Never try to make up for
poor eating habits with more
exercise. Up to 80 percent of the
way you look will be determined by
the way you feed your body—not by
your training habits. You may mistakenly believe that you can make
up for poor eating with a little extra
exercise; however, the exchange
rate between eating and exercise is
not a fair exchange at all!
Editor’s note: Visit Skip La
Cour’s Web site,
www.skiplacour.com. Order Skip La
Cour’s new training and instructional video, Mass Machine II (two
tapes; two hours’ running time) for
only $49.99 plus $7.50 for shipping
and handling, a total of $56.49.
International orders add $15 for
shipping, a total of $64.99. Order
online at www.skiplacour.com, or
to order with a credit card by
phone, call (800) 655-0986. IM
Heavy
Duty
H
ere are
more excerpts
from the
thoughtprovoking
seminar Mike Mentzer
gave in Canada in
November 1981, a
year after the infamous
’80 Mr. Olympia contest in Sydney,
Australia.
Mike Mentzer’s
Heavy Duty Seminar
>> Part 5 <<
> by John Little <
Mike Mentzer: How many
people here have heard of the Colorado Experiment? Raise your
hands. [Mentzer returns to the
chalkboard] In 1973 the Exercise
Physiology Department at Fort
Collins University conducted an
experiment with a number of individuals, the most famous of whom
was Casey Viator.
The nature of the experiment
was to find out how rapidly individuals could gain muscle on a highintensity-training program. Since
Casey was the most famous—and
also because his results were the
most outstanding—we’ll talk about
him. Let’s talk about how much
muscle he gained in 28 days on a
high-intensity program.
On May 1, 1973, Casey weighed
166 pounds. I’m not trying to mislead you; that was an underweight
condition for Casey. When he won
the Mr. America title, he weighed
around 212 or 215, so he was underweight to begin with. In four
weeks, on May 29, 1973—the same
month, the same year—after training 30 minutes a day, three days a
week, Casey weighed 212 pounds.
In other words, in exactly 28 days,
Casey gained what demonstrably
seemed to be 46 pounds.
Now, you don’t know if that’s 46
pounds of muscle, 46 pounds of fat
or a combination of fat and muscle.
But the Exercise Physiology Department conducted a very sophisticated bodyfat test, called a radio
isotope assay test, that showed that
Casey had lost 17 pounds of bodywww.ironmanmagazine.com \ MARCH 2005 143
Seminar Part 5
Heavy Duty
fat during that 28-day period. So all
the weight he gained was pure
muscle tissue. And it wasn’t 46
pounds—since Casey lost 17
pounds of fat at the same time, he
actually gained 63 pounds of muscle. Again, however, it was muscle
that he had previously held, and all
bodybuilders know that it’s easier to
get bigger the second time around.
If you lose mass, it’s easier to gain it
the second time. The problem is the
acquisition of new muscle mass—
but it’s still an incredible achievement. He had gained more than
two pounds of muscle a day!
How did he do it? He averaged 30
minutes of training three days a
week. That comes out to a total of
an hour and half training per week
times four weeks—that’s six hours of
training. It took Casey six hours of
training to stimulate 63 pounds of
muscle growth—an unbelievable
achievement. Incredible! Whether it
was new mass, old mass, whatever,
it’s still an incredible achievement.
I want to contrast that with something our friend Mr. Schwarzenegger did. You may recall that in July
1975 he finished making a movie,
“Stay Hungry,” and resumed—not
resumed but began— his training
for the 1975 Mr. Olympia at a bodyweight of 210. He was also underweight—he’d been forced to reduce
his bodyweight for the movie—and
he looked rather emaciated at 210.
As a matter of fact, I was in Gold’s
Gym that day—a very naive, young
Mike Mentzer seeing Arnold
Schwarzenegger—when he did his
first workout in preparation for the
’75 Mr. Olympia, which he won in
November, four months later. He
claims that he weighed 225 pounds
when he won that contest, so
Arnold gained 15 pounds, at least, of
muscle in that four-month period.
This was not a sophisticated study,
so we don’t know if Arnold lost any
fat during that period. Probably he
did.
How did he do it? Well, he’s gone
on record several times that he
trained four hours a day, six days a
week, for four months. If you’re real
fast with your arithmetic, you’ll find
out that that comes to a total of 288
hours spent in the gym. It took
Arnold 288 hours in the gym to
stimulate 15 pounds of muscular
growth. And he was not successful
In 1973, Casey Viator gained
an astonishing 63 pounds of
muscle in four weeks using
high-intensity training during
the Colorado Experiment.
in regaining all the mass he’d
previously held because, in
1974, when he was at his best
Mr. Olympia condition, he
weighed 237.
He was just awesomely
huge—it was his heaviest ever
Mr. Olympia weight. I asked
Arnold a couple of years ago,
“Why were you so light in South
Africa? Why did you not go back
up to 237?” He said, “I simply
didn’t have the time.”
He had four months to gain
back 27 pounds, and he did not
succeed. Casey gained 63
pounds in one month. How do
you account for the discrepancy in
achievement? All we have to go on,
according to this, is the amount of
time they spent training. That’s the
only variable we can compare. [Editor’s note: Keep in mind that Arnold
was on a contest diet, training for
the Mr. Olympia, while Casey was
eating anything and everything he
wanted. Stringent contest dieting
can limit muscular gains, which
obviously had an effect on the
amount of muscle Arnold gained in
that period.]
They were both underweight to
begin with. It’s true that Casey was
even more underweight, so he had
the opportunity to gain more weight
back, but at least Casey was successful in gaining back all the
weight he had previously held.
Arnold had four times as much time
but still could not regain all the
mass he had previously held. So,
actually, Casey’s task was harder.
Arnold had four months to gain
back 27 pounds and could not do it.
Casey had one month to gain back
63 pounds—what he weighed at the
Mr. America contest—and he succeeded in doing it. Why couldn’t
Arnold do it? What’s the answer? Or
what’s the answer you think I’m
looking for?
Audience member: The intensity of his exercise was not as high.
Mike Mentzer: Right. There are
two factors: Arnold overtrained so
long, he grossly overtrained so
much, that he could not train with
the intensity required to stimulate
that much muscular growth. And
even if he did train with the intensity required, he didn’t allow enough
time to recover and enough time for
the growth to manifest itself.
When you talk about an exercise
session, one isolated, single exercise
session, there are two factors to
consider: the intensity factor and
the duration factor. Duration is the
Heavy Duty
mass. You’ve got to train for short
periods so you can train intensely.
That’s the nature of the relationship;
you can either train hard or you can
train long, but you can’t train hard
and long. It’s impossible—not because I say it is, but because it’s
impossible. Is there anybody here
who can sprint for a mile? What’s
the longest sprint in Olympic competition? Anybody know? The 400
meters. Why isn’t there an 800meter sprint—or a mile sprint?
Audience member: It’s laughable.
Mike Mentzer: It’s laughable,
yeah, because it’s ridiculous. It’s
impossible, just like it’s impossible
to train hard for two hours. Nobody
can train really hard—and when I’m
talking about hard I mean a maximal, all-out effort—for two hours. If
you train as hard as you possibly
can on each and every set, the majority of you in here won’t be able to
train for 30 minutes. I’m talking
about as hard as you possibly can,
every set to total failure, with mini-
mal rest between sets. You take just
enough rest between sets that you
can go to your next set, resume
training and go to muscular failure,
as opposed to cardiovascular failure;
that is, you don’t rush so fast that
your cardiovascular system
becomes the limiting system. You
want to go to muscular failure. If
you do that, you probably won’t be
able to train even 30 minutes.
Audience member: How long
between exercises—30 seconds?
Mike Mentzer: It doesn’t matter.
It’s going to vary from muscle group
to muscle group because of the
demands placed on the cardiovascular system. You rest just long
enough between sets so you can
resume the next set and go to muscular failure—as opposed to cardiovascular failure. If you’re doing your
legs, and the second set terminates
because you’re breathing so hard, as
opposed to true muscular failure in
the legs, then you didn’t rest long
enough.
Did you ever compare the calves
Seminar Part 5
amount of time spent training, and
intensity refers to the percentage of
momentary effort. That last concept
tends to be misunderstood. Some
people think that by increasing the
duration of their workouts they’re
increasing the intensity, which is
ridiculous. Just the opposite is true:
Every time you increase the duration, you have to decrease the intensity. The two things exist inversely to
each other. They’re mutually exclusive; you can’t have a lot of one and
a lot of the other.
A very simple inverse ratio graph
demonstrates the universal relationship between intensity and duration. This is not a brainchild of Mike
Mentzer. It’s a basic law of physics, a
universal principle that applies to
all activity, not just weight training—chopping down trees, studying
books, sex, whatever. Whenever the
intensity increases a little bit, the
duration has to decrease a lot. And if
you want to build big muscles fast,
you have to train as intensely as
possible, because that is the one
factor most responsible for building
Heavy Duty
Seminar Part 5
Audience member: Recovery.
Mike Mentzer: Recovery. If
you allow enough time for recovery, then you have to allow
enough time for growth. If you
do those three things: number
one, stimulate growth; then allow
enough time for recovery—it does
take time, up to 48 hours in some
cases, depending upon both the
severity and volume of the exercise;
and then, three, allow another block
of time for that growth to manifest
itself. Growth never precedes recovery—recovery always comes first.
You don’t need a 21-inch arm to
survive, but you do need to continually recover and replace your precious physical resources and
reserves. If you didn’t continually
recover from exercise, obviously
you’d die very rapidly.
You’ve got to stimulate growth
first, through high-intensity training, allow enough time for recovery
and then allow enough time for
growth. If you train again before
recovery takes place, then the
growth process can’t take place
because now you’ve got to recover
from that next workout again. If you
allow enough time for recovery to
take place, but not enough time for
growth to take place you still won’t
grow.
So I’m saying you should rest
anywhere from 48 to 72 hours be-
tween workouts. Six-days-a-week
training is always a mistake for the
purpose of building muscular mass.
If you want to create definition,
then you can’t be active enough.
Train every day, all day, whatever
you want to do.
as you say, obviously that’s not
intense enough to
stimulate growth,
so how would it be
intense enough to
tax the reserves?
Mike Mentzer:
It’s not. Not his
strength reserves,
anyway.
John Little: If
it’s that low in
intensity, would it
do anything?
Mike Mentzer:
If it’s that low intensity, it would
build endurance.
This refers to the
specificity of training effect. If you
want to train
specifically for
building muscular
size and mass,
then you train in a
specific manner. If
you want to train
for endurance,
then you train in
another fashion.
The guys who are
training 20 sets a bodypart are dividing specificity; they may be inducing a little bit of growth
stimulation, but not that much
because parts of their adaptive
reserves are going to cardiovascular
training.
Audience member: What if
you’re allowing more time off—say,
on a split routine, where you train
chest one day, back the next and so
on?
Mike Mentzer: Yeah. I’m not
talking here about localized muscular recovery; I’m talking about the
recovery of the physical system as a
whole. Localized muscle recovery
actually takes place very rapidly. But
if you do 10 sets of very, very heavy
squats on Monday, your legs may
recover by Tuesday, but try to do a
heavy back workout! You won’t feel
the inclination—because your
whole system has been called upon.
Demands have been made upon all
your body’s recuperative subsystems—not just the legs. You’ve got
to allow the whole body to recover.
John Little: Let’s say a person
trains with 20 sets a bodypart. Now,
Editor’s note: For a complete
presentation of Mike Mentzer’s
Heavy Duty training system, consult
his books Heavy Duty II and High
Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer
Way, available through the ad on
page 145 of this issue, from Home
Gym Warehouse, (800) 447-008, or
by visiting Mentzer’s official Web
site, www.mikementzer.com.
John Little is available for phone
consultation on Mike Mentzer’s
Heavy Duty training system. For
rates and information, contact
Joanne Sharkey at (310) 316-4519 or
at www.mikementzer.com, or see
the ad mentioned above.
Article copyright © 2005, John
Little. All rights reserved. Mike
Mentzer quotations that appear in
this series provided courtesy of
Joanne Sharkey, © 2005 and used
with permission. IM
Neveux \ Model: Chris Cook
of a sprinter to the calves of a
distance runner? I use this example all the time, and it’s one of
the best there is. The sprinter
always has a large, muscular calf.
The distance runner always has a
stringy little calf—because he
overtrains. He’s chronically overtraining. And I would venture to
say that the majority of bodybuilders, top bodybuilders today,
who are training more than two
hours a day, are so grossly overtrained, they’d look like distance
runners if they weren’t taking
steroids. You just cannot recover
from that much training.
We talked about it earlier.
What’s the first thing your body
has to do after a workout? You
stimulate growth first—hopefully, if you train hard enough and
stimulated growth, you will
grow—but what has to happen
first?
If you train
before recovery
takes place,
then growth
won’t occur.
Take
That!
Gustavo Badell Went From Third-Tier to Top-Level
Pro and Thumbed His Nose at the Skeptics
by David Young
Well, guys, I hate to say I told you
so. Actually, that’s not true. I don’t
mind saying it at all. I told you Gus-
tavo had the stuff. With the help of
Milos Sarcev and a nice sponsorship contract with MuscleTech,
Gustavo turned his entire bodybuilding career around and
thumbed his nose at the skeptics.
I’ve always said that you should
never judge bodybuilders by their
past showings. A person can look
the same for years and then make
some changes in diet, training
and/or attitude, and presto. He or
she is like a whole different person.
By now everyone with access to
the Internet knows that Gustavo
placed third at the ’04 IRON MAN
Pro, where he qualified for the
Olympia, but the fierce competitor
didn’t stop there. He placed seventh
at the Arnold and an amazing third
at the Olympia, beating some of the
hugest names in the sport.
He’s had his pictures in every
magazine and on many Web sites,
including IRON MAN’s graphicmuscle.com and flexonline.com,
and he’s been discussed on some of
the biggest bulletin boards, including getbig.com,
musclemayhem.com, ironage.us
and bodybuilding.com.
With all he’s accomplished, Gustavo’s most impressive quality is
that he absolutely loves life. He
loves his family and loves training
and competing. It’s wonderful to see
that kind of enthusiasm in a pro
these days. Many lose the hunger
after earning their cards. Not Gustavo. You can feel it when he speaks.
DY: Where were you born,
and where do you live now?
GB: I was born on November 3,
1972, in Venezuela. Now I live in
Carolina, Puerto Rico, with my
wife, Jessica, and our two children,
Gustavo Jr., 11, and Barbie Ann,
two. They are my biggest fans!
DY: What are your height and
weight, and how long have you
been training and competing?
GB: I’m 5’8” tall. My competition
weight is 236 pounds, and my offseason weight is 255 to 260. I began
training when I was 18 years old.
My first competition was the 1990
Junior Caribbean Championships,
which I won.
DY: So you’ve been training
for nearly 15 years?
Top-Level Pro
Reprinted with permission from Iovate Health Science Marketing Inc.
I
f you were going to hand
out a trophy for the Most
Improved Bodybuilder of
2004, it would have to go
to Gustavo Badell. A few
years ago I was having lunch
with friends who were also
IFBB pro bodybuilders, and
Gustavo’s name came up.
The guy has a great physique,
I said. He just needs to get his
conditioning down and work
on bringing up a few lagging
bodyparts. “No, David,” one
man argued, “the guy will
never be a top contender. He
placed 13th at the IRON MAN
Pro and 24th at the
Olympia.” I kept quiet, but I
knew I was right.
Top-Level Pro
“My arms started growing like
crazy, and all I was doing were
chinups, pushups and dips.”
GB: And loving it!
DY: How did you get started in
bodybuilding?
GB: When I was young, I always
liked contact sports like boxing and
kickboxing. When I was 16 or 17, I
started amateur boxing, but I was
skinny. My trainer told me to start
lifting to put on weight and build
up my arms because you get hit on
the arms a lot, and it helps if they’re
bigger.
I started training and, as it would
turn out, I have good genetics for
Comstock
Gustavo Badell
bodybuilding. My arms started growing like crazy, and all I was doing
were chinups, pushups and dips.
People started asking me if I was
training for bodybuilding, but I said,
“No, I’m just boxing.” They would
say, “Wow! Your arms are huge for
your body!” So then I started lifting
weights, and I bought some books
and magazines to learn about training and dieting. I began to really like
it, and after six months I entered and
won my first show. Now I love it. I’m
so happy to be a bodybuilder!
DY: Besides being a pro bodybuilder, what do you do for a
living?
GB: I’m a personal trainer in
Puerto Rico. Most of my clients are
top-level business executives and
bankers and lawyers.
DY: Do you participate in
other sports?
GB: I like aquatic sports like
snorkeling, and I go shrimping
sometimes.
DY: What motivates you to
train and diet?
GB: Well, I love bodybuilding,
and I love training, so diet is part of
my life. In the past I really didn’t
know the proper way to diet for
competitions, but I’ve always been
very disciplined with my diet because I want to do well. I’m very
motivated—very motivated! I never
complain about my diet. My wife is
supportive, and that helps. Milos
Sarcev has been great at giving me
the knowledge about training and
diet that I needed. Milos is so
knowledgeable, and he’s become a
good friend.
I’m motivated by being better at
every competition. I love bodybuilding and want to do it all my life. The
only time when I’m going to stop is
when I die. I love the sport. Seriously!
DY: Your passion and enthusiasm really come through, and
they’re contagious. How does
your diet vary from off-season
to precontest?
GB: In the off-season I eat more
complex carbohydrates like potatoes, rice and oatmeal. I also eat
more red meat. Before a contest I
restrict carbohydrates and eat more
chicken and fish. It’s all part of the
plan to improve every time I compete.
DY: Do you have a cheat day?
GB: No, never in contest season.
I’m very disciplined. No one has to
push me. I want it badly.
DY: Tell me about something
you’ve done that you’re proud of.
GB: My nephew, Charlie, has
Down’s syndrome. I wanted to take
him to the gym and show him how
to train. Everyone at the gym said,
“Why are you even trying?” They
didn’t think he could do anything.
Sometimes I couldn’t communicate with him with words, but I’d
show him
(continued on page 160)
Gustavo Badell
Hydroxycut before each cardio
session.
DY: Can you describe a typical day of contest dieting?
GB: Okay.
Meal 1
2 cups oatmeal
15 egg whites
Water
Meal 2
Muscletech Meso-Tech shake
4 weeks before a contest switch to
2 chicken breasts
Steamed broccoli
Meal 3
White fish
Baked potato
Steamed broccoli
Meal 4
2 chicken breasts
Steamed asparagus
“I don’t
want to get
bigger, just
always
better.”
Top-Level Pro
Comstock
Meal 5
(continued from page 156) how to do
things by example: breathing, form,
contracting up and down. Then he
started to like it, and he’s gotten
really good at it. He uses great form
and everything. It makes me feel so
good to see how happy it makes
him! I love him very much, and he’s
my number-one fan—he has all the
magazines I’ve ever been in.
DY: Do you have any role
models?
GB: Shawn Ray was the guy I
most wanted to be like. He’s not too
big, but he’s not too small. He’s just
perfect. Plus, I like his attitude. He
would always smile, he’s well-spoken, and he was also a great poser.
So when I first started bodybuilding,
I said to myself, I want to be like
him.
Now my role model is Milos
Sarcev. He’s my trainer and my
friend. He’s like a big brother to me,
and he’s taught me so much, not
just about training and dieting but
also how to enjoy bodybuilding no
matter what the result of a contest.
I’m just so happy to be competing
and doing what I love, and he’s the
same way. He’s a real inspiration to
me, and I feel fortunate to know him
and his family.
DY: What are your goals?
GB: I want to be the best bodybuilder I can be—not to win contests, but for me. It would be great to
be Mr. Olympia, but I can’t say, “I’m
going to win,” or “I’m going to be in
the top five.” You never know what
the judges think. I want to show
everyone how good I can be, and I
want to always get better. I don’t
want to get bigger, just always better.
DY: How many weeks out do
you start your preparation?
GB: I start at 12 to 18 weeks, but
I’m already eating clean and staying
lean at that point.
DY: What do you do for cardio?
GB: Cardio is 30 minutes in the
morning first thing, working up to
45 minutes, and another session at
night.
DY: What supplements do you
use?
GB: Muscletech Meso-Tech
shake. Muscletech Cell Tech and the
Steak
Baked potato
Steamed broccoli
Before evening cardio
Muscletech Hydroxycut
Meal 6
with Crystal Light
White fish
Steamed broccoli
Meal 7
15 egg white whites
Steamed broccoli
DY: How do you overcome
plateaus?
GB: First, I just take a break for a
week or two. Then I come back and
change it up a little. Do that, and
eventually, you’ll start growing
again.
DY: What’s your training philosophy?
GB: I listen to my body. I thrive
on high-volume workouts.
DY: Can you outline your
training routine?
GB: Sure, I train each bodypart
one time a week all year, even before a contest. Most exercises get
four sets, and I like high repetitions—in the 12 to 15 range—with
heavy weight.
Gustavo Badell
Monday: Chest, biceps and
abs
Incline presses
Bench presses
Machine vertical bench presses
Flyes
Dumbbell curls
Standing barbell curls
Preacher curls
One-arm cable curls
Standing cable curls
Reverse curls
Wrist curls
Various ab exercises
“I train each
bodypart one
time a week all
year.”
Tuesday: Back, triceps and
abs
Chins
Pulldowns
Barbell rows
Dumbbell rows
Lying extensions
Dips
Pushdowns
Wednesday: Shoulders and
abs
Dumbbell presses
Hammer Strength machine
presses
Dumbbell laterals
Upright rows
Rear-delt machine
Dumbbell bent-over laterals
Shrugs
Top-Level Pro
Thursday: Quads and hamstrings
Front squats
Squats
Hack squats
Leg presses
Lunges
Leg extensions
Leg curls
Deadlifts
“I like high repetitions—in the
12-to-15 range.”
Friday: Calves and abs
Smith-machine standing calf
raises
Standing calf machine
Seated calf raises
I work abs four times a week in
contest season, usually supersetting
these exercises:
Crunches
Cable crunches
Leg raises
Cable serratus pulls
DY: What are some of the
challenges you’ve faced as a pro
bodybuilder?
Gustavo Badell
GB: Being noticed and judged all
the time. When you’re a baseball
player, unless you’re really famous,
nobody notices you. You don’t stand
out. As a bodybuilder you are so
much bigger than everyone that you
stand out. Wherever you go—to the
bank or to the supermarket—people
notice you. Some people tell you
how good you look, but others start
talking about steroids.
It bothered me when my son
came home from school and said,
“Papa, a bunch of boys from school
said the only reason you got big is
because of steroids.” So I said to
him, “Well, what do you think?” And
he said, “You eat six or seven times
a day, and you train so hard every
day and you take a lot of protein.” It
bothers me when people tell my
son that they don’t respect what his
father does. They respect baseball
players, but bodybuilding is harder
than baseball. Baseball is about
having a talent and playing a game.
But with bodybuilding you have to
train and diet and get enough sleep
Gustavo Badell’s
Contest History
•’97 IFBB World Amateur Championships, 10th heavyweight
•’98 IFBB Grand Prix Germany,
9th
•’99 IFBB Grand Prix England,
17th
•’99 IFBB Night of Champions,
did not place
•’99 IFBB World Pro Championship, did not place
•’00 IFBB IRON MAN Pro, 18th
did not place
•’00 IFBB Toronto Pro Invitational, did not place
•’00 IFBB World Pro Championship, 11th
•’01 IFBB Grand Prix England, did
not place
•’01 IFBB San Francisco Pro Invitational, 11th
•’02 IFBB Toronto Pro Invitational, 3rd
10th
•’02 IFBB Southwest Pro Cup, 6th
•’02 IFBB Mr. Olympia, 24th
•’04 IFBB IRON MAN Pro, 3rd
•’04 IFBB Arnold Classic, 7th
•’04 IFBB San Francisco Pro Invitational, 4th
•’04 IFBB Show of Strength Pro
Championship, 3rd
•’04 IFBB Mr. Olympia, 3rd
Top-Level Pro
and take supplements and do cardio. Bodybuilding is not just a
sport—it’s a lifestyle. You have to
live it all the time.
DY: Name something you love
about bodybuilding.
GB: The people you meet as a
bodybuilder and the respect bodybuilders have for each other. Everyone is so supportive within the
community; it’s a great feeling.
Editor’s note: Visit Gustavo
Badell’s Web site,
www.gustavobadell.com. Visit his
sponsor’s Web site at www
.muscletech.com, and visit his contest adviser’s Web site at www
.milossarcev.com. IM
Lonnie Teper’s
Teper’s Picks
2004 Awards
Ro-o-o-nie!
Ro-o-o-nie!
Bodybuilder of the Year
Comeback
Comstock
(Guess who)
Coleman nailed his 25th win.
of the Year
Ronnie Coleman, who else? The
Gustavo Badell, who else? After being just
Big Nasty recorded his seventh cona guy filling out the lineup for years (he was
secutive Mr. Olympia win, tying him
16th at the ’01 IRON MAN Pro, 13th in 2002),
with the Governator, and three
Puerto Rico’s Badell has earned a new moniker,
victories at the grand prix of
the Freakin’ Rican. He stunned the crowd at last
Russia, England and Holland
season’s IRON MAN
during the weekend after the O,
with a powerful thirdfor a career total of 25, making
place showing behind
Coleman numero uno in the
Dexter Jackson and Lee
all-time-total-wins department.
Priest. That qualified
All that at 40 years of age.
him for the Olympia,
Just when you thought the
where he promptly
Arlington, Texas, physique-astunned the crowd again
freak was slowing down, he
with another shocking
showed up—in prime form, to
third-place finish—this
boot—at 286 pounds in 2003
time behind only Ronand 290-plus this season. Case
nie Coleman and Jay
closed.
NEW GUYS
THREADS
Cutler. Muy bueno,
Gustavo.
Kris Dim, who else? Okay, so I
didn’t have a lot to choose from
here, with Richard Jones losing the
magic he possessed when he won
the USA in 2003. Still, Dim’s star
shined brightly.
Kris qualified for the Olympia in
his first try, at the San Francisco
Pro, besting Gustavo Badell and
Ahmad Haidar; placed 12th at the O
and then finished fifth, fourth and
third at the Russian, Dutch and
English grand prix, respectively, to
complete a banner season. And he
Kris
beat a chap named Markus Ruhl
Dim.
twice while he was at it.
What makes it all that much more
impressive is that Dim fractured his
ankle while training about 10 weeks out from the Olympia, then
tore cartilage in his knee while filming a training video less than
three weeks out. No rookie performance there.
THE FREAKIN’ RICAN
Dressed
Comstock
Comstock
R o o k i e o f t h e Ye a r Best
Kenny Jones, who else? No
baggies or sweats for this smoothwalkin’, sweet-talkin’ New Yorker.
Or is it Floridian now? Doesn’t matter. Jones proved once again that
clothes do make the man. Kenny
says he loves to entertain the fans
during his routine, but his ever-slick,
ever-changing wardrobe brings him
cheers offstage too. No Men’s
Warehouse for this cat.
MORE AWARDS
Postmaster of the Year
Illustration by Larry Eklund
Shawn Ray, who else? Talk about
endurance! Shawn put up an amazing 4,015
posts on
getbig.com alone
during the 2004
season, including 2,890
pictures of
himself to give
his messages
visual effect. And we
thought Lee
Haney’s
record of eight
Mr. O titles was
untouchable.
YOUNG BLOOD
Grappler
Movie queen and fitn
ess king. Jane
Russell and Jack LaL
anne at Jack’s
90th birthday party.
h his tickleJack takes Liz throug
We can tell it’s
sculpt ab program.
.
working—for Liz too
of the Year
Manion
Photography by Lonnie Teper
Tyler Manion
lets his half
nelson do the
talking.
HOT SHOTS
BY JERRY FREDRICK
In an industry with a lot of smack talk but no
smacking, it’s nice to see someone who actually
speaks softly but carries a big stick. Or in this
case, a big half nelson. Tyler Manion, the 10year-old son of J.M. Manion and grandson of
NPC Prez Jim, is a phenom who, on December
4, not only won the Pine-Richland Open
Wrestling Tournament in Gibsonia, Pennsylvania,
but, for the second time this year, was unscored
upon. The 75-pounder is 9–2 for the season,
which gives him 11 more bouts than any loudbarking bodybuilder in the industry engaged in
last year.
Lonnie’s tip for getting
hot babes like
Elsa: Sneak up from
behind.
NPC NATIONALS
M O R E N AT I O N A L S
An Open Letter
Oldies but Goodies
to Chris Cook
Comstock
Liberman
www.Repetrope.com
First
of all,
congratulations
on
winning
the ’04
Nationals and
moving
on to the
When L.T. first met Chris Cook at the
pro
’00 Nationals (above), his advice to
ranks.
Chris was to pursue modeling. Four
You
years—and an overall National crown
weren’t
later (left)—Cook made him a believer.
set back
by those
two setbacks at the USA, when you won the
supers but not the overall, and that tenacity
deserves the highest commendation.
I’m also impressed by your memory. You remembered that, when I first met you
in your room at the ’00 Nationals in New York, I gave you a couple of compliments.
Was impressed with the big calves. And the nice smile.
But, I said, at 5’11” and 216 pounds, you were better off shooting for a contract
with Calvin Klein than a bodybuilding-related company. Privately, I told your guru
at the time, Hany Rambod, that, although you were only 24, I didn’t see a topfive finish at the national level in your future. I wasn’t just referring to that year.
Hey, I’ve been wrong before. Ask Jay Cutler. You got it right in Dallas, and
with your frame you can eventually add about 20 pounds to the 248 you weighed
there, I think. If you can get thicker in the chest and back—and keep the conditioning you displayed in Dallas—you just might have some splendid times at the
pro level.
Of course your wife, Denise, still thinks the Calvin Klein idea is a great one. Not
me. You’ve proved you were wearing the right genes all along.
Sincerely,
Lonnie Teper
Steve Burke (left) and Randy Jackson
Sr. have 91 years on the earth between
them.
The bantamweight class is often the
most overlooked at any contest, but the
battle at the Nationals was a terrific one.
Steve Burke, Randy Jackson Sr.
and Heath Warren fought down to the
wire, with Burke scoring a one-point
decision—thanks to a tie-breaker with
Jackson—to beat two standout competitors.
Kudos to Burke, who also won the
bantams at the ’03 USA; thumbs-up to
both Burke and Jackson for proving—
again—that age is just a number. Ohio’s
Burke is 46 years young, and according
to sources, Iowa’s Jackson is but one
year his junior. I hope they take off their
shirts at their upcoming 30-year high
school reunions.
ADD NATIONALS
Not Middle of the Road
Bui leads the way in a brilliant class
Comstock
Although Chris Cook was a deserving overall
winner, he had to pose down a batch of excellent class
winners. Hats off to heavyweight champ Caprice
Murray, light-heavy winner “Don’t Knock the” Roc
Shabazz, middleweight victor Eric Bui, lightweight
leader Patrick Richardson and bantamweight
champ Steve Burke for earning pro status. Bill
Wilmore, who was second to Cook, and Aaron
Garza, who lost to Shabazz by a single digit, also left
The ’04 NPC National champions (from left): Steve Burke (bantamweight),
lasting impressions.
Patrick Richardson (lightweight), Eric Bui (middleweight), Roc Shabazz (light
Murray and Bui, in particular, drew immediate attenheavyweight), Caprice Murray (heavyweight) and Chris Cook (superheavytion with their superthick physiques. Bui led the way in a weight and overall).
middleweight class that will go down as one of the best
It will be interesting to see how the 5’5”, 173-pound Bui
in the history of the contest, with the always impressive Stan
does as a pro. He says his first show will be the ’06 IRON
McQuay having to settle for second again.
MAN, where he plans to compete at 195 to 200 pounds
Anthony Watkins, who may have the best arms on a
without sacrificing condition. David Henry, another National
middleweight since Vince Comerford, was third, with an allmiddleweight winner, has proven to be a little big man. Look
time-best Tricky Jackson in fourth and Garrett Allin, the
for Eric to do the same.
’04 USA champ, landing in fifth.
Texas
Journey to Colemanville: The Inside Story
Road Trip
A visit to Mr. O’s pad
Heavy Medal
Drives a pair of fans mad
After the
Friday night
judging at
the ’04
Nationals,
which
were held
in Dallas,
Dave
Liberman
and I
BIG RON’S MANTLEPIECE
jumped into
Ronnie ColeL.T. tries to get up close and
man’s Hummer,
personal with a Sandow.
L.T. and Dave Liberman got a deluxe tour of Ronnie Coleman’s Texas
which the Big Nasty digs. Liberman was so excited, he forced L.T. to exercise in Ronnie’s
had lent to Hany Ram- home gym, while Ronnie did some crunching—number crunching.
bod for the weekend. Before
heading out for a visit to Coleman’s pad in
nearby Arlington, we stopped at the local Outback Steakhouse for a late dinner.
We were joined at the table by two of Coleman’s sometime training partners who were competing in Dallas—General Robert
“E.” Lee and Gus “the Bus” Carter. After the normal chitchat, things got real entertaining—on the television, that is—where clips
of the now infamous Detroit Piston–Indiana Pacer brawl were being flashed on ESPN, causing all of us to make a mad dash for
the tube. Nearly a month later I’m still stunned by that sports event.
Almost as stunned as Liberman was when we finally made it to Ronnie’s house, around 12:30 a.m. Talk about a kid in a candy
story. Dave had me snapping pictures of him in front of every trophy case in the house, which means I had to take a lot of pictures. Liberman was so jacked up about the experience, he called several of his friends back home in Mentor, Ohio, on his cell
phone—that’s 4 a.m., Ohio time—and then forced me to join him for a workout on the stair climber in Coleman’s home gym. Not
that we couldn’t have used the exercise, mind you. And what was Ronnie doing during at time? What else?—working on his
laptop in the kitchen, making online deposits.
Okay, I admit I posed for a picture or two in the place as well. My favorite is the one of me standing in front of the Big Nasty’s
seven Sandows. It’s certainly as close as I’ll ever get to one.
Thanks for the hospitality, Ronnie. By the way, with the Christmas spirit in mind, do you really need all seven?
N E W B O O K S D E P T.
CEO MUSCLE
Jay shows his literary bent
Want to find out what makes Jay Cutler tick? Pick up a copy of his new book, CEO Muscle:
Jay Cutler’s No-Nonsense Guide to Successful Bodybuilding. It takes you from Cutler’s early
years in Sterling, Massachusetts, to his current life in Summerlin, Nevada, as one of the most
successful bodybuilding entrepreneurs in the history of the industry.
His success hasn’t happened by accident. Jay took an accountant’s approach to the sport.
He planned every workout, every meal, recording them in his journal and evaluating the results.
“I approach bodybuilding as a business: both the training and the financial end of it,” Cutler
writes. “You have to be prepared to roll with the disappointments, appreciate the wins and learn
from the losses. For me bodybuilding and business are almost synonymous. They both require a
plan and a system. I’m always working to be the best I can be in both worlds.”
It’s a good, fun read, and the pictures from Cutler’s youth will make you smile, including the
early shots of Jay and wife Kerry. Also check out Jay’s counsel for beginning, intermediate,
advanced and competitive training; his section on nutrition is well done and enlightening.
And check out his results: The 31-year-old has more contracts out than the late John Gotti.
To find out more about the book—or what’s going on with Jay—log on to www.jaycutler.com.
Cutler always has a leg up on
the competition.
Stunts
Web
Way to Go
Backstage story: Manny Perry
Unlimited
Former standout credits his career
Success to bodybuilding
Two-time Mr. America Manny Perry is
back in the limelight
again. After a highly
successful career as
a bodybuilder, the
former Mr. USA is
now a muchsought-after stunt
coordinator, second-unit director
and stuntman with
the premier Los
Angeles stunt
organization,
Stunts Unlimited
(www.stunts
Doubling for Lou Ferrigno on
unlimited.com).
CHRIS COOK
The 6’2”, 240“The Hulk” (above) and striking
pound Perry, a native a pose during the Mr. America
To view more than 1,000
of Plymouth, Masyears.
inspiring Bill Comstock
sachusetts, came out
of nowhere to win the Mr. USA in ’76, then followed up with
photos from the Nationback-to-back wins at the Mr. America competition in the next
als, go to
two years.
www.ironman
Perry spent five years as a stunt double for Lou Ferrigno on
magazine.com.
“The Incredible Hulk” and three years with Mr. T on “The A-Team,” and he continues to lend his body
to such film and TV projects as “Taking Lives,” “Kangaroo Jack,” “Daddy Day Care,” “Cold Case,”
“Punked” and “Pacific Blue.”
“Without a doubt, the fierce dedication and no-holds-barred spirit required for competition in the sport of bodybuilding prepared me for my success with Stunts Unlimited,” says Perry. “The camaraderie and quest for perfection that
exists among bodybuilders is similar to what I experience in my current stunt family.”
Perry will appear in an upcoming HBO film starring Outkast titled “My Life in Idlewood” and in numerous other commercial,
film and television projects. He’ll also appear as me at my next high school reunion. Easiest job prep of all time, huh, Manny?
ADD NEW BOOKS \
Bob Delmonteque has long been
a hero of mine. And it’s not just because the 84-year-old looks better than
most dudes 30 to 40 years his junior. I
mean, how many guys do you know
who got to pose in a swimming pool
Bob
with a bikini-clad Marilyn Monroe?
with
Delmonteque’s seventh book, LifeBrooke
long
Fitness, 2004, written with Dr.
Burns.
Tony Quinn, is an impressive publication that includes 12 chapters on such
topics as common myths about aging
and fitness; Quinn and the Educo
System; the benefits of proper breathing; stamina and endurance; injury
prevention and nutrition and longevity. Oh, and they also
Lifelong Fitness, 2004
include, natch, how to improve your sex life.
The gregarious Delmonteque, a former bodybuilder and
owner-operator of more than 500 health clubs worldwide,
trained the original Apollo astronauts and has trained such
Hollywood legends as John Wayne, Errol Flynn, Clark
Gable, Monroe and Matt Dillon. He’s truly an amazing
specimen and an inspiration to all who want to grow younger
as they grow older.
“You have choices in life,” says Delmonteque. “One is to
look good, feel good and enjoy life to the fullest. The other
choice is to look bad, feel bad and be miserable. It’s in your
hands to make the right decision.”
After checking out his book, I’d say the right decision
would be to get a copy and get with the program. Log on to
www.bobdelmonteque.com to order it and to learn more
about this amazing 84-year-old kid.
U P, D O W N A N D R O U N D T H E ’ 0 4 N P C N A T I O N A L S
PHOTOGRAPHY BY LONNIE TEPER
What, me worry? Lauren Polk,
a 19-year-old from Germantown, Indiana, shows no sign
of nerves as she prepares to
take the stage in her first
national show.
p after
gives a thumbs-u
Steve Weinberger
ment to comire
ret
of
t
ou
r
Pro Champulling Vince Taylo
w New York Men’s
pete in Steve’s ne
ca Performing
be
Tri
the
at
ld
pionship, to be he
ve’s trying
y 21. Okay, so Ste
Arts Center on Ma
say go for it,
We
nt.
me
ire
ret
of
t
to pull Taylor ou
onstage.
Vince. We miss ya
What’s J.M.
Manion show
ing these fit
petitors in th
ness come
Must be som latest edition of the NP
C News?
ething really
funny.
NPC
Wheelchair
champ Tony
Hawes was
at his usual
post at the
Nationals,
handling
check-ins.
Robert “Bobby
Biceps” Klein an
d
his better half,
pro fitness star
Kim Klein, gave
expediter delux
e
Steve Stone the
ir usual outstanding backsta
ge help.
Liza
Hughes
stands
at attention to
hear the
expediters’
instructions.
4
cerra, the ’0
Jennifer Be
p,
am
ch
s
es
tn
Texas Fi
nal title—
added a Natio to her
—
rd
ca
o
and a pr
a victory in
résumé with ort, divish
the A, a.k.a.
of her homesion in front
.
ns
town fa
Steve Wennerstrom
and Nekole
Hamrick
prepare for
their starring roles
“Face/Off,
the Sequel.”
The face behind the
pictures: IM
shutterbug Big Bill
Comstock
spent more time in
a dark room
than Bela Lugosi. In
Bill’s case he
was posting pix and
audio stuff
online—and getting
his nutrition
from room service.
Pro bodybuilder Ton
ie Norman was
looking spiffy, as alw
ays—and awfully
happy. The ’02 Team
Universe champ
recently graduated
from the Nurse
Science program at
Marcus
Oklahoma State
Haley meets University. Congrats.
one of his
idols, Al
George
Bundy, from
Farah
“Married
says the
With Chilkey to his
dren.” Wait
biceps
a minute—
developthat’s not
ment is
Al. It’s
the 100Floridarep cell
based
phone
trainer Joe
protocol.
McNeil.
Bodybuilders get a
last-second pump
backstage; fitness
competitors get a lift—
a leg lift, that is.
Ruth Silverman’s
PUMP & CiRCUMSTANCE
JUST BECAUSE
N E W S WAT C H
Big Doings
And even
bigger rumors
You’ll find the ’04 Figure Olympia
report on page 194, but here’s a shot
of champ Davana Medina in something besides a lineup.
Manion
Model: Julie Lohre
A sincere thank-you to the NPC, the IFBB and the folks at Weider/AMI for giving
me something to write about this month. Having missed the Nationals (darn that
IRON MAN production
Rumors of a split in the women’s O shows?
schedule), I was looking at
a fairly empty in-basket, but
the flurry of official
announcements, revised
announcements and rumors in early December
changed all that. Taking
them in the order in which
See
one can take them seriouspage 173.
ly, let’s start with new Pro
Division regulations about
women’s muscularity (see
below).
NEW RULES
The 20 Percent
What’s a
muscle girl
to do?
Solution
biggest, baddest babes were
The “advisory notice” posted at the IFBB Web
not the ones who moved on
site was dated December 6, but newly named Pro
to the pros. Everything is
Division head Jim Manion and his staff had been
relative, of course, but if you
talking about it for some time: “For aesthetics and
build softer, kinder, gentler
health reasons, the IFBB Professional Division
pro ranks, the softer, kinder,
requests that female athletes in bodybuilding,
gentler amateur physiques
fitness and figure decrease the amount of muscumaybe won’t get creamed
larity by a factor of 20 percent.… All professional
once they get there.
judges have been advised of the proper criteria for
To those who would give
assessing female physiques.”
Mr. Manion a hard time for
For a minute it was déjà vu all over again. Didn’t
his efforts with a frequently
we go through this in 2000 with the so-called new
heard refrain: No, it’s not the
judging standards for women’s bodybuilding? That
same as telling Marion
effort brought weight classes, a move designed to
Jones not to run too fast.
keep the shorter girls from getting “too big”—
On the other hand, maybe
although mostly what it did was get Juliette
that’s not such a bad analoBergmann out of retirement. Extreme muscularity
gy. In a time when in fact
was no stranger at the ’04 Ms. Olympia contest
No secret: Around the IRON MAN office,
Jones’ accomplishments are
(see page 182). In the pros, it seems, nothing
folks think it wouldn’t be a bad idea if forbeing questioned because of
much has changed—except that now the regs
mer winner Valentina Chepiga, looking as
what is essentially the elemost specifically cite fitness and figure athletes as
she did at the ’04 Olympia, was the ideal
phant in the room here, it
well. Whoops.
instead of eighth in her class.
doesn’t take a peer-reviewed
Naturally, the squawking hasn’t stopped. It’s
study to see that this is good for all the women’s physique
unfair, it’s arbitrary, it’s subjective, it’s trying to tell a female
sports—for a lot more than “aesthetics and health” reasons.
athlete not to be all she can be. And besides, it’s too late to
That goes for the guys too, but that’s a whole other conversachange their preparation plans for the Arnold Fitness Weektion.
end competitions. Plus, isn’t it just more of the same old,
For those who would say that the 20-percent-less decree
same old?
doesn’t go far enough, that there should be (Dare I say it?)
Maybe—and maybe not. After all, there’s a new sheriff in
drug testing to back it up: Maybe, but it’s a start. Despite the
town, and anyone who doesn’t think Mr. Manion means it
various protestations, no one with 20/20 vision is in the dark
doesn’t know Big Jim. In the amateur NPC, of which he’s the
about who will need to bring it down a big notch and who
president, those New Standards of 2000 have not been forlooks fine the way she is. The athletes and their trainers will
gotten. Log on to www.ironmanmagazine.com, go to the
figure out how to alter their contest prep. That’s why they’re
contest section, and take a look at the women who earned
professionals. If the judges show that they mean it this time,
pro cards at the ’04 Nationals. Then look at the women who
this could be the start of something not so big.
finished after them. Once again at an NPC national show, the
RUMORS
Ms. O No Go?
Who sez so?
Notwithstanding all points made in the
item at the far left, Can we talk about the
number of conversations among men
regarding what women should do with
their bodies that have been taking place
lately? Although it’s tough to I.D. a time in
the history of women’s physique competition when that was not a common
occurrence (from those who can’t handle
how they look to the ones who want to
worship at their larger-than-is-humanlypossible bodyparts), the bump in numbers came courtesy of a rumor.
According to “a highly placed source,”
Weider/AMI CEO David Pecker was
whacking the women flexers from the
2005 program. That led to further speculation that the Fitness O was an endangered species as well. As the story
Endangered species? Denise Masino
moved from one Web bulletin board to
would be the first to tell you that
another faster than you can say urban
women’s pro bodybuilding is a don’tlegend, the folks who usually stick up for
quit-your-day-job proposition.
the bodybuilding establishment were
quick to say it was not the real-deal 411. Longtime observers were taking a waitand-see attitude, however.
It’s hard to imagine that some things along those lines haven’t been discussed
at Olympia central. Do they really want to reduce it to the Mr. O and a T&A contest, as the word on the street has it? Well, duh. Pecker is a mass-media mogul
who’s looking grow the O into something the people out in not-so-massive land
could go for. No way does the extreme sport of women’s bodybuilding advance
those goals.
By the time this issue hits the stands, we’ll know if the story has legs. If it does,
someone is bound to be unhappy whatever the outcome. There’s a common
misconception that the AMI head, who is co-owner of the Olympia competitions,
now owns the IFBB. It’s not true, of course. Which is why you can probably bank
on the fact that the Pro Division will be crowning some lucky woman bodybuilder
queen of the hop at the end of the year, one way or the other.
HOT SHOTS
BY JERRY FREDRICK
Comstock
Tito, Amy and Mike
at Gold’s Gym.
Hey, do you smell
vodka and plastic? Okay, what's
in the jug?
LENSMEN
Grand Old Guys
Of women’s physique photography
your
Tara dials it in. (You’re hoping
’t
aren
,
now
ut
abo
t
righ
s
phone ring
you?)
Ruby
kicks
up
her
heels.
www.billdobbins.com
Contest photography by Bill Comstock
The alternate subtitle of this historic photo is: Everyone but Nafpliotis is how old?
These are the men who have devoted their careers to the pursuit of promoting the
pulchritude of the fit female physique—in other words, the grand masters of women’s
physique photography (from left): Ralph DeHaan, Barry Brooks, Reg Bradford, Steve
Wennerstrom, John Nafpliotis and Bill Dobbins.
PUMP & CiRCUMSTANCE
WEDDING NOTES
Dirty Dancing
Speaking of the Pro Division
That austere
body made a lot of
nitty-gritty rule
changes in the
procedures for pro
fitness competition
at the semiannual
meeting that was
held during Olympia
weekend. Most of
them involve details
like who wears high
heels when and
how many Olympia
Flapper scrapper—
qualifications for
Klaudia rocked the
which shows. You
house (see page
can find them
188).
posted at
www.ifbb.com. One did intrigue me. In the two-minute fitness routines the
women are now allowed to use “one or more pieces of music” instead of being
required to make two music changes at specific points. Great idea—so the
women can be even more flexible.
I’m for anything if it’ll get us more show tunes. Klaudia Kinska’s rousing
medley that ended with “They Both Reached for the Gun,” from Chicago was my
favorite at the O last year because she told a story, fluidly, letting her feats of
fitness punctuate the lyrics. (She also did some strength moves on a chair, which
is hard, but the judges don’t usually give extra points for that.) Show tunes let
you do those kinds of things. Chicago is hot right now—because of the Oscarwinning movie version—but there are many sources of such material to be found
in Tin Pan Alley. Hip-hop routines are fun, too, but you have to be as skilled as
Stacy Hylton or Tanji Johnson to make the moves—and transitions—look as
slick as they should.
As wonderful as Kinska’s gun-toting-flapper number was, she could only
manage eighth place in a field that included outstanding entertainment from
almost every competitor. Kelly Ryan won the round, with, in order, Jen Hendershott, Adela Garcia-Friedmansky, Kim Klein, Hylton, Kinska, Johnson
and Mindy O’Brien leading the pack behind her. Brava, ladies! Brava!
OTHER SHOWS
Did someone say
Nationals?
Summer
Montebone.
Having missed the trip to Dallas to catch the
’04 NPC National Bodybuilding and Fitness
Championships in the ripped and semiripped
flesh, I was thrilled to be able to view all the
hot bods at the newly revamped www
.ironmanmagazine.com and see what the
judges had in mind. One standout decision: tallclass winner Summer Montebone (left), a Midwest flower who blossomed into a winner at
Dave Liberman’s Natural Northern USA in 2003
and took the Ohio Championships in ’04 before
lassoing a pro card in Texas.
You’ll find tons of body heat (Get it—hot
bods/body heat?) from the Nationals in our
contest gallery: Hundreds of live-action shots
by IM’s Bill Comstock are just a click away. It’s
sort of almost like being there.
Blessed
Peckham can sure pick ’em
Photo courtesy of Monica Brant-Peckham
MORE NEW RULES
Mo and Scott said their vows in a beachfront ceremony but kept the flip-flops out
of the camera’s eye.
The wooing began when he brought her
in to appear at a health fair at his Powerhouse Gym in Connecticut and continued
when he came down to Maryland with a
friend to help out at her contest. Cute, huh?
After a spell of long-distance dating—she’s
from Texas but lives in Southern California—fitness star Monica Brant and lucky
guy Scott Peckham tied the knot on a beautiful beach in Rhode Island in September. “It
was an amazing day,” reported Brant,
“perfect temperature, with the sun and
wind blowing enough to keep the guys cool
in their tuxes! I was barefoot, and Scott had
on flip flops!” The couple has purchased
four acres in Austin, Texas, and is building a
house, said Mo, but they weren’t sure when
they’d actually get to settle there.
Despite her drop to third at the Figure
Olympia, the blushing bride had nothing but
praise for rivals Davana Medina and Jenny
Lynn (“They are both beautiful ladies, and I
have enjoyed getting to know them”) and a
list of things to be thankful for.
“I had seven photo shoots lined up after
the O,” said Brant, whose first magazine
cover was the ’94 issue of Muscle &
Fitness. “I don’t think I’m doing too badly as
an elder in the sport.” She chuckled when
she said that and then added, “Seriously, I
couldn’t be happier with my life. I have been
very blessed and now have an amazing man
to dream, plan and proceed to the future
with! God has been very good to me!”
MORE CLASSIC NEWS
PROS SHOWS
Arnold
Classic time
T.C. Chang \ www.fitwings.com
The most exclusive invites in the physique
world went out just in time to put a damper
on holiday chowing down, as promoter Jim
Lorimer announced the lucky gals who will
be flexing, flipping and falling in line at the
Ms., Fitness and Figure International competitions on March 4 in Columbus, Ohio. Adela
Garcia-Friedmansky and Jenny Lynn
are coming back to defend their Fitness and
Figure International titles, respectively, along
with some familiar faces and a few challengers who may be able to crack the inner
circle.
The fitness show could well be a repeat of
2004, with ’00 winner Kelly Ryan and local
heroine Jen Hendershott, second and
third in ’04, onboard to give AGF a run for
her money. With Adela winning the Olympia,
where Ryan dropped to third behind runnerJenny Lynn is such an angel that
up Hendershott, however, a fair amount is
she was invited to defend her title at
riding on this matchup besides the actual
the Figure International.
$50,000 total prize money.
Other faces familiar to aficionados of the colossal Columbus weekend include
Tracey Greenwood, Stacy Hylton, Tanji Johnson, Kim Klein and Julie
Palmer. In terms of the unfamiliar, Lorimer and his partner, California big kahuna
Arnold Schwarzenegger, have extended their hospitality to a pair of freshman
sensations from the 2004 season, Mindy O’Brien of Canada and Debbie
Czempinski of Australia. Plus, Aleksandra Kobielak will making her return to
fitness, and Carla Sanchez will be making her Fitness I debut.
On the Figure invite list, Lynn is now a two-time winner, while Monica Brant
(now billing herself Brant-Peckham; see the item at left) is the two-time runner-up.
They’ll be joined by a slew of sleek physique artists, including Columbus vets
Jamie Franklin, Elaine Goodlad, Shannon Meteraud and Amber Littlejohn as well as new-to-International faces like Zena Collins, Christine Pomponio-Pate, Latisha Wilder and Lynsey Beattie Ahearne and new pros
Jane Awad, Mary Elizabeth Lado and Jen Hartley.
The Arnold Fitness Weekend is so big, we’d need another hundred pages just
to list all the different sports competitions Messrs. Lorimer and Schwarzenegger
put on during their three-day homage to all things fit. Seriously, it is the most fun
work can be, at least in this industry, and I never met a fan, competitor or exhibitor
from any of the many athletic worlds that meet there who wasn’t having a fabulous
time. If you’re even thinking about joining in, check it out at
www.arnoldclassic.com.
ARMAMENTS
Battle of
the Sexes?
No, it’s just a couple of
pro bodybuilders who
ran into each other at
Bradford
the Nationals: Tonie
Norman (left) and Dexter Jackson.
Women’s Bodybuilding
Is alive and well in Columbus
Having
achieved her
heart’s desire
and won the
overall Ms.
Olympia title
at last, Iris
Kyle decided
to skip the
season opener this year,
leaving the
door wide
open for ’02
Betty Viana.
and ’03 International winner
Yaxeni Oriquen to recoup the title.
Yaxeni, who just loves standing in the
spotlight with Arnold, probably won’t
bother to knock. She’ll face stiff competition in the heavyweights from the
likes of Helle Nelson, Lisa Aukland, Betty Pariso, Betty Viana,
Christine Roth, Pauliina Talus
and, in her pro debut, ’04 World Amateur champ Colette Nelson.
Since reigning lightweight champ
Dayana Cadeau also decided to
take a day off after winning at the ’04
Ms. O, the under-135-pound class
could be a real opportunity for some
lucky flexer. The list of those shooting
for the moon includes Nancy Lewis,
Desiree Ellis, Fannie Barrios,
Angel Debatin, Mah-Ann Mendoza and Brenda Raganot, another
former class winner at this show.
Vis-à-vis the 20 percent rule, perhaps we’ll finally get to find out
whether there’s any truth to that old
adage: Even if they ate a lot less protein powder, the champs would still be
the champs.
MORE NATIONAL
CHAMPS
Meet Team Gina
Birthday greetings! Houston’s
Gina Davis shares a moment
in the spotlight with her
trainer, Howie Huddleston.
The 5’5”, 156-pound Davis
turned 37 about three weeks
after becoming the ’04 National Heavyweight and Overall champ.
Bradford
International Flavor
PUMP & CiRCUMSTANCE
Scribblings
SAD NEWS
R.I.P.
Nevarez
Her friends in the fitness world were
absolutely floored to hear of the passing of
Ursula Buckanes Henry due to breast
cancer. A live wire from the Motor City, Ursula had energy enough to fill a dozen lineups
and just the biggest heart. Pump & Circumstance first caught her act at the ’96 Galaxy
and followed her to the NPC. A professional
dancer and choreographer, she turned pro
after winning the ’96 North American Championships and competed in the ’99 Fitness
Olympia at the age of 39. In 2000, thanks to
her long résumé of volunteer work with the
Special Olympics and other organizations,
Buckanes Henry was selected by the United
At the ’00 Fitness Olympia, Ursula
Way as a Community Hero and got to carry
choreographed and created the
the Olympic torch during its Detroit run
costume for her routine, a tribute
before the Summer Games. Fellow Detroiter
to Josephine Baker.
Melissa Frabbiele was onstage—taking
second—the night Ursula won the NAC.
“She loved this sport so much,” said Frabbiele. “She told no one except her
husband. I did not even know, despite the fact that we judge all of the local
shows here together.” At a contest in September, Buckanes Henry brushed off
concerns that she wasn’t looking well. Said Frabbiele, “It was not like her to show
emotion, and that day she was breaking down here and there. Now I know she
was there to say good-bye.”
Good-bye, Ursula, we’re glad we knew you. IM’s deepest sympathies to Ursula’s husband, Virgil Henry, and all her family and friends.
HOT SHOTSˆ
BY JERRY FREDRICK
Couldn’t help but notice
She seemed like
such a nice girl.
Pro figure luminary—and MBA
graduate—Dina
Al-Sabah is having a ball hosting
a sexual-advice
bulletin board at
getbig.com and
from all accounts
is handling it very
well. Boy, the
things you don’t
know about people.
Oh, pu-leeze.
Kelly Ryan, who performed with a torn
calf muscle, took flak from the Mondaymorning quarterbacks for having done a
routine at the Olympia that she’d used
before. Yeah, but she was even better
this time, despite the injury.
And he sews too. Rumor has it that
Musclemag International and Oxygen
publisher Robert Kennedy is into
women’s exercise shorts. Mind out of the
gutter there. I’m talking about Faremon,
his five-year-old line of
active and leisure wear.
The stuff is cute, and
according to a press
release, it’s highperformance, lowmaintenance and
designed to “honor the
curves of the woman.”
It sure honors the
curves of cover model
Lisa Ray. To see the
spring collection, go to
www.faremon
.com.
Don't you wish
you could hypnotize women
too?
Neveux
George says
,
“Welcome to
Meral's gun
show.”
Neveux
Neveux
Abby
has a
right to
be
sassy.
Look at
that
weighttrained
bod!
Silverman
Ursula Buckanes Henry
To contact Lonnie Teper about
material possibly pertinent to
News & Views, write to 1613
Chelsea Road, #266, San
Marino, CA 91108; fax to (626)
289-7949; or send e-mail to
[email protected].
You can contact Ruth Silverman, fitness reporter and
Pump & Circumstance scribe,
in care of IRONMAN, 1701 Ives
Ave., Oxnard, CA 93033; or via
e-mail at [email protected].
You can contact Jerry
Fredrick, ace photographer for
Hot Shots and Hardcore
Training, in care of IRONMAN,
1701 Ives Ave., Oxnard, CA
93033; or via e-mail at
[email protected].
Olympia Weekend Booth Action
Photography by Mervin Petralba
Rich Iannone and Jennifer Searles
pump up Prolab.
Pink power. Kirsten Nicewarner, Julie Palmer, Greg Henry, Adela
Friedmansky and Michelle Adams at the GNC booth.
Jeff Golini.
Beautiful people populated the
WorldSize booth.
Dean Caputo, Rebecca
Ryann and Pete Palvalfi.
Pharm-er’s
daughter’s
? Cynthia
Quinn Sutton, Renee McGee and Paul
Bridges
Michihara.
and Grace
Rivera at
the
ErgoPharm
booth.
Liz Massry and Rich Gaspari
(yes, that Rich Gaspari!).
Mike
Lovels,
Candice
Houston
and Dan
Amato.
Champion Nutrition’s Steve Ward and
Samantha Bullington.
Jason Brown and Paul Abeyta.
Laura Davis and Monica White.
Renee Hoppe and Chef Jay.
Milk maids all in a row. Allison Williams,
Kerry Yates and Phil ConnolMichelle Troll, Srashance, Julie Komanowski, ly—with Dorian peering over
Stephanie Collins and Jodi Miller.
their shoulders.
Dave Rose and Marissa
Extreme Sciences: Russ Greenberg, Debbie Leung, Garin Patrick, Thompson (notice the
Carmen Dupree and Guy Regalado. “iss” in her first name).
Sorry, ladies, we’re just trying
to read the labels. Sherry Goggin and Flo Jalin.
VPX’s bevy of beauties never fails to impress.
Tim
Doyle,
Carmen
Garcia,
Jim
Erica Davis, Lainey
Todd
and Joe
Satalowich Mies.
and Tiffany
Jawitz.
Davana
Medina,
Greg Adler
Lots of familiar faces—and bod- and Gina
ies—at the MuscleTech booth:
Tomaseski.
Justin Brooks, Kim Lyons, Carol
Grow and Christian Boeving.
Bodybuilding
.com has got
it going on.
Õ04 Ms. Olympia
Iris K. Has Her Day
Hell Has Frozen
Over, Eh?
by Ruth Silverman
Photography by Bill Comstock
Overall: Iris Kyle
Lightweight
1) Dayana Cadeau*
2) Denise Masino*
3) Marja Lehtonen*
4) Nancy Lewis
5) Desiree Ellis
6) Mah-Ann Mendoza
7) Joanna Thomas
8) Valentina Chepiga
9) Vilma Caez
Heavyweight
1) Iris Kyle*
2) Lenda Murray*
3) Yaxeni Oriquen*
4) Betty Pariso
5) Betty Viana
6) Lisa Aukland
7) Bonny Priest
*Qualifies for the ’05 Ms. Olympia.
lightweight champ Dayana Cadeau
for the overall to become the new
queen of women’s bodybuilding.
Nine lightweights and seven
heavies hit the stage flexing at the
judging, and there wasn’t a seriously mistimed peak in the bunch. As
with the Mr. O proceedings, a new
format had the women posing
individually at the judging before
Heavyweight
3) Yaxeni Oriquen
Overall: Iris Kyle
Õ04 IFBB Ms. Olympia
Heavyweight
1) Iris Kyle
Heavyweight
2) Lenda Murray
LAS VEGAS—They said
it wouldn’t be done—
that the IFBB pro judging panel would never
pick Iris Kyle over defending and eight-time
champ Lenda Murray in
the heavyweight class at
the Ms. Olympia competition. That Murray’s
superior intangibles—
lines, looks and the
ability to exude charisma while just standing
in the lineup—would
carry the day even
though Kyle, arguably,
had the more complete
body. They obviously
forgot that the adage
about Olympia champs
having to be knocked
out cold to lose the title
doesn’t apply to the
women. Or maybe youknow-what has finally
frozen over. Kyle scored
a solid class victory over
Murray at the ’04 IFBB
Ms. O competition,
which was held on October 29 at the Mandalay
Bay Resort and Casino,
then easily beat
Õ04 Ms. Olympia
all of the above. Once again, both
ladies were laden with muscle—
and ripped. Once again, Kyle’s thigh
sweep and calf development were
to many eyes superior. This time
the panel thought so too. The
judges had her winning the symmetry round unanimously, with Murray taking the muscularity round by
they lined up for the panel. Unlike
the format at the men’s show, there
was no challenge round to spice
things up for the fans. Even without
it the ladies were bad—and bursting with protein-powder-powered
muscle.
Heavyweight. I confess I was
blown away when Iris won. To these
eyes the two women’s physiques
looked closer than they’d been last
year. Murray was a little better, I
thought; Iris was sporting the same
excellent package. So if Lenda didn’t
lose her title last time, when, arguably, Kyle also had the more
complete physique, why would she
lose this time?
Did the panel members think
that the 5’5” Murray was not as
Lightweight
2) Denise Masino
Lightweight
1) Dayana Cadeau
Lightweight
1) Dayana Cadeau
Heavyweight
5) Betty Viana
Lightweight
3) Marja Lehtonen
Heavyweight
4) Betty Pariso
good as last year? That the taller-bytwo-inches Kyle was a little better?
That Murray had “won enough
times,” as she quoted one judge in
an interview with Lonnie Teper at
IRON MAN’s graphicmuscle.com.
That if she won a historic ninth
title, she would beat Lee Haney’s
(read: a man’s) record? My guess is,
a single point and a noteven-close final score of 23 to
37.
Though Kyle won the posing round (an odd choice—
yes, I know it’s about the
muscle, but she barely
posed), the best display of
mass on the move came from
Yaxeni Oriquen, who had to
settle for third for the third
time in her career. With her
5’8” physique at its biggest
and fullest, Oriquen made
the first callout in both
rounds, but conditionwise,
she wasn’t in the same contest as the other two women.
She ended the day with
unanimous third-place
scores, earning the last automatic qualification for next
year’s Olympia in this topthree-per-weight-class qualifier.
A pair of Bettys landed
only three points apart to
earn the next couple of placings. Veteran Betty Pariso
tional lightweight title, Cadeau
came to Las Vegas the heiress apparent—and with her homework
done. By far Canada’s top bodybuilder, man or woman, Dayana
was shapely and full, bringing her
best V-taper plus some killer cuts to
the table. I thought she had the
class cold, but the panel gave her
only a small margin of victory.
As she’d been last year, Denise
Masino was next in the flexing
order. The 5’3” magazine publisher
from Florida was dripping muscle,
and like Cadeau she has an elegant
presentation, but she lacked the
sharpness Dayana displayed. The
panel liked her look enough to
score her only a point behind
Cadeau in the symmetry and posing rounds, however, and six points
behind overall to place her in the
runner-up slot.
After that it seemed that mass
took precedence over aesthetics. At
5’2”, Marja Lehtonen of Finland
Lightweight
5) Desiree Ellis
Lightweight
4) Nancy Lewis
brought her patented package of thick,
separated muscularity to the posing
platform to take
fourth, while
Oriquen’s fellow
Venezuelan Betty
Viana, in fifth, had
the prettiest
physique short of
Murray’s in the
class. Lisa Aukland
took sixth with another personalbest appearance, while Bonny
Priest with her excellent package
landed in seventh because somebody had to.
Lightweight. Second to Juliette
Bergmann at the ’03 Olympia and
the winner of the ’04 Ms. Interna-
wasn’t the shortest bodybuilder
onstage—that honor went to Canada’s Desiree Ellis, 5’1”—but she was,
inch for inch, the most muscular.
Veteran Nancy Lewis, holding her
shape from her Show of Strength
win three weeks before, beat Lehtonen in the symmetry round. It
wasn’t good enough to get her the
third-place check or the third automatic qualification for next year’s
Olympia. They went to Lehtonen, a
decision that goes to the heart of
the debate about the ideal
women’s-bodybuilding physique.
The 5’3” Lewis had symmetry, flowing lines and spot-on conditioning,
but the bottom line was the shorter
but more massive Lehtonen bringing home the bacon.
One reason Lewis didn’t get a
clear shot at those third-place
goodies was some strong competition for the panel’s attention from
another Canadian flexer who had
pleasant contours and muscle
pouring over her body, Desiree Ellis.
The end of the evening saw Ellis
just four points behind Lewis, in
fifth.
Highly aesthetic physiques filled
the next two slots. Mah-Ann Mendoza, never the most ripped
woman onstage, was just sharp
enough to take sixth, with British
entry Joanna Thomas muscling her
way into seventh ahead of one-time
Ms. O heavyweight winner Valentina Chepiga. Chepiga, who had the
most entertaining posing routine in
either class, kind of reminded me of
Cory Everson as she brought down
the house with an all-flexing and
all-dancing rendition of “All That
Jazz” from Chicago. She’s clearly
stopped playing the size game but
with her structure might have done
better if she’d been a little more
defined. Vilma Caez looked good
but had to settle for ninth in this
company.
Overall. So, as it had been at the
Ms. International last March,
Cadeau looked marvelous until she
stood next to Kyle in the battle for
the overall. And Iris, who was even
bigger, even fuller, even more statuesque than Dayana, had her day at
last. We’ll have to wait and see what
effect that has on the climate.
The total purse for this contest
was $50,000, with Iris picking up 10
grand for the class win and another
$10,000 for taking the overall. For
the first time ever the women’s
Olympia competitions were broadcast on pay-per-view. IM
Õ04 Fitness Olympia
Toreadorable
Judges Say OlŽ at
Mandalay Bay
by Ruth Silverman
LAS VEGAS—Adela Garcia-Friedmansky won the ’04 IFBB Fitness
Olympia title with a spirited matador-themed routine and the best
darned body onstage at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on
October 29, ending a year of speculation about who would replace
retiring champ Susie Curry as
queen of the sport. The 24-point
margin of victory AGF earned
here—following her squeak-by win
over ’03 Fitness O runner-up Kelly
Ryan at the Ms. International last
winter—left no doubt. It was Adela
all the way.
The much-anticipated rematch
between Garcia-Friedmansky and
Ryan was lost in the physique
rounds. AGF, displaying her customary crispness over excellent
symmetry and proportion, aced
them both. Flyin’ Ryan, who’s been
the runner-up at this shindig four
1) Adela Garcia-Friedmansky
*Qualifies for the ’05 Fitness
Olympia.
times in the past five years, mostly
to Curry, won the routine rounds
hands down, but she was not in
her best shape, and the final
scores weren’t even close. Ryan
finished not second but third
thanks to the vastly improved
physique numbers earned by
Columbus comet Jen Hendershott,
who catapulted into the runnerup slot all the way from fifth last
year.
Tracey Greenwood, now billing
herself as Greenwood-Krakowiak,
landed in fourth despite a shoulder
injury that almost kept her from
competing. As the show was a topfive qualifier for the ’05 Olympia,
that should take some of the pressure off. Kim Klein, 11th in 2003,
continued the upward trajectory
she’s been on all year by picking up
the last of the top-five automatic
qualifications.
Here’s the lowdown on the dozen
plus two of pro fitness’ finest who
came to quarter-turn, twist and
tumble at the Mandalay Bay:
The physiques. AGF and TGK
were not alone in the
first callout of both
body rounds, but the
judges quickly retired them from
having to do any
more quarter-turns;
so it was no big surprise that they
earned unanimous
scores in first and
second, respectively.
Hendershott’s
slimmed muscle and
better lines represented the biggest
transformation in
the lineup. Word is
the judges thought
that she’d improved
even from her personal-best presenta-
2) Jen Hendershott
1) Adela Garcia-Friedmansky*
2) Jen Hendershott*
3) Kelly Ryan*
4) Kim Klein*
5) Tracey GreenwoodKrakowiak*
6) Julie Palmer
7) Stacy Hylton
8) Tanji Johnson
9) Mindi O’Brien
10) Anna Level
11) Klaudia Kinska
12) Stacy Simons
13) Jennifer Hanke
14) Teri Mooney
location conspired to keep the
women out of view at the finals of
all three women’s shows. (A platform eliminated the problem at the
Mr. O, but that wouldn’t have been
possible here because of the fitness
routines.) Having to depend on
three huge video screens that were
flashing the onstage action from
different angles, I could only gather
impressions of the performances.
That said…
You’d never have known that
Ryan was flyin’ with a torn calf
muscle. Her Janet Jackson routine
was letter perfect—not as much
aerial action as usual, but the
judges didn’t seem to mind. They
scored her unanimously in first.
Hendershott chose some clever
nun-sense that started with the
Lord’s Pray and Jen in a habit and
ended with her rocking out with
some splits, holds and wiggles. The
panel liked her second best, unanimously, with AGF just a couple of
points behind her in third. I’m not
sure I agree with that last call—it
wasn’t my favorite of Adela’s recent
tion three weeks before at the Show
of Strength, where she took third
overall. Here she was third in the
two-piece round and fifth in the
one-piece, her best numbers ever at
the O.
Klein’s numbers were even better.
The judges just love her symmetry,
particularly the shoulder-to-waist
ratio. I love it that they reward her
even though she doesn’t have quite
the degree of conditioning some of
the women display. When you
subtotal the physique scores, she
had the third-best body in the
bunch, with Julie Palmer, her own
fine proportions nicely
conditioned, not far behind.
The routines. I can’t say I agree
with the exact order in which the
4) Kim Klein
3) Kelly Ryan
45-second
mandatory
fitness routines were
placed—Ryan,
Hendershott,
AGF, Stacy
Hylton and
Klein were first
through fifth—
but those five
ladies did give
the strongest
performances.
As for the long
routines, I
must divulge
that I really
couldn’t see
them. Though
I had an excellent
seat in the press
pit, ironically, the
height of the
Mandalay Bay
Events Center
stage and the line
of vision from our
ground-floor
7) Stacy Hylton
5) Tracey Greenwood-Krakowiak
6) Julie Palmer
routines—but, as I said, I couldn’t
actually see it. Klein, who was
scored just three points behind
Adela, gave a top-notch performance with her elegant style of
tumbling, and an excellent highenergy effort by Hylton was judged
fifth best.
The panel placed my favorite
routine, performed by Klaudia
Kinska, sixth. Avoiding the hip-hop
rhythms so pervasive at fitness
events, Kinska tossed off a
Charleston, doing her strength
moves on a chair and making the
Events Center rafters ring with a
rousing—and cleverly choreographed—rendition of “They Both
Reached for the Gun” from Chicago.
Tanji Johnson’s flying Catwoman
routine was a few points behind
Kinska, followed by Mindi O’Brien,
becomes competitive in the
mandatory
the much-touted Canadian rookie
who knocked their sports socks off
at the Southwest USA Pro Cup last
summer. O’Brien made a strong
impression in her Olympia debut
and will be even stronger when she
test was broadcast on
pay-per-view TV. The
numbers should be
interesting; however,
since the folks
putting on the show
didn’t do much advance publicity for
it—not nearly as
much as the hype for
the broadcast of the
Mr. O—I’m not expecting they’ll be big.
For her efforts,
Adela took home
$20,000 of the
$50,000 purse. Is she
on her way to dominating the sport the way Curry did,
winning multiple Olympia and
International crowns and holding
both titles concurrently for several
years? She could, as no one else has
the combination of talent to win in
the numbers game right now. Kelly
Ryan may have something to say
about that prediction, as may Hendershott—who, although she’s now
dialed it in physiquewise, would
still have to beat Ryan in the routines to be a contender. We’ll see
what happens when the group gets
together in Columbus, Ohio, on
March 4 to kick off the 2005 season.
IM
12) Stacy Simons
10) Anna Level
11) Klaudia Kinska
8) Tanji Johnson
9) Mindi O’Brien
strength moves.
It was the most injury-plagued
Fitness O ever. In addition to Ryan’s
calf and Greenwood’s shoulder,
Stacy Simons sprained an ankle at
the judging—although not
onstage—and still performed at the
finals. Olympia rookie Teri Mooney
was not so lucky and had to leave
the stage with a pulled hamstring—
and a TV camera following her—
during the two-minute routines.
Along with the other two
women’s Olympia events, this con-
Õ04 Figure Olympia
Davana, DarlinÕ
Medina Gets the
Medallion One
More Time
by Ruth Silverman
LAS VEGAS—You know what they
say about apples and oranges? Well,
at the ’04 IFBB Figure Olympia
competition, which was held on
October 29 at the Mandalay Bay
Resort, it was a question of apples
vs. oranges vs. cantaloupes, and the
judges went for the cantaloupes,
metaphorically speaking, selecting
sitting champ Davana Medina for a
repeat victory. Based on the noisy
chorus of yeas and nays that erupt-
ed from the fans in attendance as,
in turn, Monica Brant was
announced in third, Jenny Lynn in
second and Medina in first, there
were a lot of folks who preferred
apples or oranges. In this case I
’04 IFBB Figure
Olympia
1) Davana Medina*
2) Jenny Lynn*
3) Monica Brant*
4) Jaime Franklin*
5) Amber Littlejohn*
6) Christine Pomponio-Pate
7) Marie Kudla-Donnelly
8) Elaine Goodlad
9) Zena Collins
10) Aleksandra Kobielak
11) Melissa Frabbiele
12) Shannon Meteraud
13) Dina Al-Sabah
14) Jaana Kotkansalo
15) Lisbeth Halikka
2) Jenny Lynn
1) Davana Medina
*Qualifies for the ’05 Figure Olympia.
have to agree with them.
Now, before you argue that I
have never liked Davana’s
physique and was mad when
she beat Monica at the firstever Figure O last year, that’s
not actually true: I like cantaloupe just fine, but I like it to
be ripe.
Fifteen of the world’s ripest
fruits—er, fittest female
physique athletes—lined up
for the prejudging at the
Olympia Expo. Both the onepiece and then the two-piecesuit comparisons were judged
at the afternoon session, with
a third round of callouts performed “for show” at the finals. Here’s how the bodies
stacked up:
Davana looked very good,
and I liked her gold one-piece
suit, which was a bone of
contention in the postcontest
Internet chat. (Ladies, with
her coloring, she can wear
that color.) Medina is growing
into her role as champion,
and she sparkles much more
now than she did a year and a
half ago. At the New York Pro
last August she was at her very
best. This time her put-it-alltogether intangibles were not
quite so perfect—or maybe it
was just that she hadn’t been
standing next to Lynn and
Brant in New York.
With Jenny it’s simply a
question of whether she’s on
peak or off, and, fresh from
her win at the Show of
Strength three weeks earlier,
she was at her very best in
Vegas. All bodyparts were
polished in all the right places.
Monica, who’s been playing
the harder-softer/biggersmaller game almost since
fitness was invented, was a bit
softer than she’d been at the
Figure International at the
beginning of the ’04 season—
or so it seemed at the judging.
In the one-piece suits, at
least to these eyes, Jenny and
Monica had better balance
than Davana. In the two-piece
suits they had sharper midsections. Brant always looks
more muscular in the photos
4) Jaime Franklin
3) Monica Brant
Õ04 Figure Olympia
5) Amber Littlejohn
than she does onstage, but even so, she
had the best overall
shape of the three.
That’s where the apples-and-oranges
thing comes in. I
thought the contest
was between Jenny
and Monica, with Mo
not likely to be the
panel’s choice, based
on recent history.
Based on the fact that
the panel had retired
Medina and Lynn—
but not Mo—after the
first round of quarter
turns, Brant wasn’t
likely to finish higher
than third. That
meant that Lynn
would win, right? Go
figure those judges.
They gave Medina a
six-point margin of
victory, with Brant
solidly in third. Am I
mad about the outcome? Nah—there’s
not enough money at
stake—but I probably
wouldn’t go produce
shopping with those
guys.
The next few slots
went to some very
deserving competitors. Pittsburgh Pro
champ Jaime
Franklin’s polished
presentation saw her
standing in the first
callout with the above
three women and looking like she
belonged there. She capped a terrific year by moving into fourth, up
from seventh in 2003. Also strolling
the stage in fine form was ’03 NPC
National champ Amber Littlejohn,
who, after an 11th-place pro debut
at the Figure International, also
spent the year competing and getting better. Pulling together her 5’8”
of imposing bodyparts, she made
the top five at her first Olympia.
At the other end of the measuring
tape was Christine Pomponio-Pate,
who was also making the scene at
her first Figure O. No rookie—she
turned pro in 2001—Christine took
her time finding the right balance
for her 5’1” physique. She found it
just in time to take sixth here.
Not that the women who finished
below those three weren’t deserving
as well. Fit, full and fair, Mari KudlaDonnelly, Elaine Goodlad, Zena
Collins and Aleksandra Kobielak
finished seventh through 10th,
respectively. Fitness veteran Melissa
Frabbiele landed in 11th, Shannon
Meteraud took 12th, Dina Al-Sabah
was scored 13th (What was that
about?), and Finnish entries Jaana
Kotansalo and Lisbeth Halikka
occupied the final two placings
with nothing to be ashamed of.
Was justice—or injustice—done,
figurewise, at the pro-season’s end
finale in Vegas? Time for you to be
the judge. Feast your eyes on the
accompanying photos and make up
your own sweet mind.
Editor’s note: You’ll find hundreds of photos from all the
Olympia competitions at www
.ironmanmagazine.com. IM
IRON MAN Hardbody
Farmer’s
Daughter
DeeAnn Donovan
Harvests Health
and Hotness
With the Fitness
Lifestyle
by Jonathan Lawson
L
Hair and Make-Up Carrie Dacunto
ooking at DeeAnn Donovan, your
first impression might be that she’s in
her late 20s, drives a small, fast luxury car
and certainly has no kids. You’d be dead wrong
on all counts. Believe it or not, she’s in her late 30s,
has three children—her oldest is 13—and, get this, drives
a 7,000-pound pickup truck with a six-inch lift. Oh, and
did I mention she’s a knockout? DeeAnn is living proof
that a fit lifestyle, a go-for-it attitude and a little country
living thrown in for good measure make an unbeatable
antiaging combination. Okay, enough banter. You can go
back to looking at DeeAnn.
Editor’s note: To contact DeeAnn, send e-mail to
[email protected], or visit www.DeeAnnModel.com. Her lifecoaching Web site is www.DeeAnnsDayDreamBeliever.com. DeeAnn
personally answers all of her e-mail. You can also write to her at
P.O. Box 248, Brewster, NY 10509-0248. IM
Workout: “I alternate three
days of strength training and
three days of cardio. I have a
cardio-core routine that I
designed myself. I keep my
heart rate up by hitting every
bodypart. I do that three days
a week and vary my workout
by using many different
types of training equipment,
such as agility ladders,
stretch bands, medicine
balls, balance pillows and
stability balls.”
Height: 5’3”
Weight: 120
Age: 37
Current residence: Brewster,
New York
Hometown: Iowa City, Iowa
Occupation: Full-time fitness and
swimwear model, entrepreneur and
television personality
Favorite foods: All-American apple
pie (and don’t forget the vanilla ice
cream)
Beauty/antiaging secret: “There
are no secret potions in my medicine
cabinet. Every day I repeat to myself,
‘Young at heart, young at mind.’”
Factoids: “I have an associate’s
degree in fashion merchandising. I’ve
been married for 15 years and have
three children: Danny, 13, Nicholas,
12, and Jessica, 10.”
Web site: www.DeeAnnModel.com
Pro Season Preview
The IRON MAN
Pro and Arnold
Classic Kick Off
First
2005
by Lonnie Teper
T
Chris Cormier
here’ll be whole a
lot of streaking
going on at the ’05
IRON MAN Pro
come February 19, starting with Chris Cormier.
The Real Deal, who put
together a streak of four
consecutive victories at
the contest, from 1999 to
2002, before taking a
two-year break from the
action, says he’ll be back
in 2005. Cormier has
more than the $10,000
first-place prize money in
mind—a fifth win would
tie him with Ken “Flex”
Wheeler, the all-time
record holder for the annual IFBB season opener.
Pro Season Preview
and10
Pro Season Preview
IRON MAN Pro and Arnold Classic
Both Lee Priest and Marvelous
Melvin Anthony say their streaks of
doing well but never winning the IM
Pro must come to an end. (Priest
has been second on three occasions,
including 2004; Anthony has been
runner-up twice.)
Other standouts—like Troy Alves,
my ’03 Rookie of the Year; Mark
Dugdale, the ’04 USA champion,
who’ll be making his pro debut;
former National champion Toney
Freeman; and the biggest surprise at
last year’s contest, sixth-placer
David Henry—have all indicated
that they’ll be onstage at the
Pasadena Civic Auditorium. The
16th edition of the IM Pro should be
another outstanding battle.
There’s also a chance that Gustavo Badell will return to the contest
that put his name on the map in ’04.
“I really like the IRON MAN, but at
this point I’m not sure if I will do the
contest again or just concentrate on
the Arnold Classic,” Badell said in
early December. “But I just may
Melvin Anthony
show up and surprise you.” Yes,
Gustavo, surprise me. And what a
nice surprise it would be—although
you’re no longer a surprise (see
News & Views on page 166).
Cormier is coming off a disappointing seventh-place landing at
the ’04 Olympia, although he did
end the season with runner-up
finishes to Ronnie Coleman at the
English and Dutch grand prix. He
blames his poor showing at the
Olympia on a bout of depression.
“I couldn’t get my mind off another second-place finish at the Arnold
Classic,” said Chris, who has finished second a record five times in a
row at the ASC, of his controversial
one point loss to Jay Cutler in 2004.
“It kept lingering, and I could never
really get the right mind-set to focus
on the Olympia.
“I’m past that now,” he continued. “I’m 37 years old and don’t
have the time to not give it my all in
contests anymore. I was encouraged
by my look at the grand prix shows,
and I plan to improve on that conditioning for the IRON MAN. I won
that show four times in a row, and I
plan to make it five wins.”
Gustavo Badell
Pro Season Preview
Priest and Anthony both passed
on the Olympia last fall to concentrate on the IRON MAN. Priest
recorded his third second-place
finish at the IM Pro last year, losing
only to Dexter Jackson but besting
Badell and Ahmad Haidar. The 5’5”
Australian, who weighed 198 last
year and went down to 192 for the
San Francisco Pro a few weeks later,
when he again finished second to
Jackson, plans on hitting the stage a
bit larger this time. “I think I may
end up at around 207 to 210,” he
said. “That gives me a bigger, fuller
look, and I can be just as hard as I
normally am.”
Anthony, who finished second to
Jay Cutler at the ’03 IRON MAN and
scored his first victory as a pro at
last year’s Night of Champions, is
coming into the event brimming
with confidence. “I don’t care who
does the show; I’m gonna win it,” he
said buoyantly.
Alves finished eighth in his
Olympia debut in 2003 but slipped
to 15th in ’04. He was not
concerned, he said. With a physique
that features one of the most aesthetic looks in the game, the 5’9”,
Jay Cutler
Lee Priest
Ahmad Haidar
Gustavo Badell
Pro Season Preview
down to business, and he expects to
show up in Pasadena displaying the
condition he brought to Las Vegas
on the night he turned pro.
Perhaps the most interesting
scenario will be the return of Shari
“King” Kamali to the contest where
he made his pro debut in 2001,
taking third behind Cormier and
Anthony, and, in my opinion, where
he looked his all-time best. Kamali,
who won the $10,000 award for Best
Presentation at last year’s Arnold
Classic, knows how to stir up a
crowd, both with his routines and
his precontest predictions.
Joe Nitiforo, the ’02 NPC National
Heavyweight champ, also says he’s
doing the show. Bouncing back
from a torn quad suffered in October 2003, he made his pro debut at
the Show of Strength a year later.
Admittedly too heavy there, he
plans to carry “around 230 pounds”
on his 5’10” frame at the IRON
MAN.
Mark Dugdale
215-pounder from Phoenix said it
was just a matter of miscalculation
in his precontest prep—and that the
real Alves will return for the ’05
season.
All eyes will be focused on Dugdale, as the 5’6”, 200-pounder will
be stepping onstage for the first
time after his unanimous victory at
the USA. Dugdale will never be the
biggest guy in the lineup, but he’s
always one of the most polished,
and it’s time to see if he can go pose
to pose at the next level.
Henry, the ’03 National
middleweight champ, proved last
year that he could do it. The 5’5”,
190-pounder finished just out of the
money, and most observers thought
that Dynamic Dave should have
been in the top five. He was eighth
at the San Francisco show, but this
year, he said, he’s ready to move up
a few slots.
Another fella looking for respect
in the new year is ’02 USA Overall
champ Idrise Ward-El, who hasn’t
reached the level of success as a pro
that he—and many of his supporters—assumed he would.
After not making the top 15 at the
’03 NOC, the 5’11”, 250-pound
Ward-El took ninth at the ’04 IRON
MAN but slipped to 14th at the
Florida Pro. He said it’s time to get
Ad
Pro Season Preview
NPC Figure—Plus
Awards Galore
Promoters John Balik and
Michael Neveux will team the IRON
MAN Pro with an amateur figure
competition. If history repeats itself,
the winner of the NPC IRON MAN
Figure show will have an edge in the
turning-pro department, not to
mention the honor of posing for a
photo shoot with Neveux.
Hannah Park, the original IM
Figure champion, in 2003, earned
pro status by winning the Junior
USA a couple of months later; Abby
Duncan, the ’04 winner, got her card
at the Junior Nationals. Marcy
Porter, last year’s medium-class
winner, also moved on to the pro
ranks, along with Nancy Hirsch,
third in her class at the ’03 IM, when
they went one-two in their class at
the Figure Nationals.
Two icons of the industry, Jim
Lorimer and Albert Busek, will be
honored at the IRON MAN, with
Lorimer receiving the Lifetime
Achievement Award and Busek
coming all the way from Germany
to pick up the Art Zeller Award for
Artistic Excellence.
Said IRON MAN publisher Balik,
“Jim has promoted Olympic
weightlifting and bodybuilding in
the Columbus, Ohio, area since the
late 1950s, and now has created the
largest sporting event in the world
outside of the Olympics with more
than 14,000 athletes participating in
the Arnold Fitness Weekend.
“Albert Busek founded the landmark German bodybuilding magazine Sport Revue in the early 1960s
and has been photographing the
sport ever since. He’s especially
renowned for his archive of 20,000plus photos of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Albert was the first person to
recognize Arnold’s potential and
was instrumental in getting him to
the United States.”
Abby Duncan
On to the Arnold
After flying to Pasadena to receive
his prestigious decoration, Lorimer
will be hopping right back on a
plane to Columbus to work on the
final details for the ’05 Arnold Fitness Weekend, which, natch, includes the Arnold Classic, set for
Jim Lorimer
Albert Busek
Pro Season Preview
March 5 at the Veterans Memorial
Auditorium. We don’t yet know who
will get the invites, but it’s a good
guess most of the names will be
familiar.
Three-time ASC champ Jay Cutler
has indicated that he’ll be passing
on the contest this year, but that
won’t keep it from being a dandy.
Most of the top-level performers at
the IRON MAN hope to be onstage
in Columbus, and, when you add
Badell, Dexter Jackson, Gunter
Schlierkamp, Markus Ruhl and Victor Martinez to the mix, well, you get
the picture. Call it the Big Picture.
Cormier insisted this is the year
he’ll leave the Veterans with the
$100,000 first-place prize money,
the new Hummer and the $20,000
watch that has gone to Cutler the
past three seasons. After his onepoint loss last time, Cormier, needless to say, has had his fill of being
second on the bill. “Jay got the nod,
but I got the bod,” he said.
If Cormier does win the ASC,
don’t look for it to be a cakewalk.
Jackson has emerged as one of the
premier flexers in the world and was
a controversial third in Ohio last
year. He was also on the receiving
Ad
Markus Ruhl
Pro Season Preview
end of an unpopular bump in placement at the Olympia, dropping from
third to fourth—and bumping
Badell from fourth to third—thanks
to the challenge round.
The 5’6” Jackson swears he’ll step
onstage this year at around 235 and
has no qualms about standing toe to
toe with anybody in the industry,
big or small. This is a man who
always shows up in prime condition, so count him in the championship mix, for sure.
The battle for the top six at the
ASC could be the most competitive
in years: Jackson, Cormier, Badell,
Schlierkamp, Ruhl, Priest, Anthony,
Alves—not to mention another two
or three big names who are likely to
get invites.
As Lorimer always says, “Fitness
is fun.” With that potential lineup,
the ASC should be too.
Editor’s note: For updates on
the IM Pro and the Arnold Classic
contests, log on to www
.ironmanmagazine.com. IM
Gunter Schlierkamp
Troy Alves
Dexter Jackson
With a Little Help From Your Friends
raining, diet, attitude and genetics are the primary factors
that determine just how far you’ll get in your quest for
muscular size and strength. What’s nice is that all but the
last are under your control. What’s even nicer is that with a little
help from your friends you can improve your performance in
each of those areas, producing maximum progress. “Muscles
from Mike?” you’re thinking, wondering how your best friend
can possibly influence how big your biceps get or how much
you bench-press. Here’s how it works.
Friends have enormous influence: They give us a frame of
reference. They make us feel like successes or failures; they
can just plain make us feel good or bad. Further, they give us
our ideas about what’s good, bad and in between. Some
T
Consider how much
easier things would be
if your friends shared
your passion for training.
psychologists suspect that our overall personalities are largely
the result of our friends’ influences, which can have a dramatic
impact on where we go in our lifting careers and just how fast
we get there.
Peer pressure, a fundamental way your friends affect your
thoughts and behavior, is powerful, but because it surrounds
you, it’s easy to overlook. When you flip through old family
photos and see how oddly everyone dressed 30 years ago,
just remember that all those people with the bell bottoms and
the Nehru jackets were making fashion choices based on what
their friends accepted and rejected at the time. Those same
social influences are still at work today, though it’s harder to
see them while you’re in their midst.
We constantly get cues of approval and
disapproval from the people around us,
and nearly all of us shape our behavior
accordingly. Early research in social psychology attempted to demonstrate that the
way we describe how we feel is largely
dictated by what we can infer from the
people around us. Other research in social
psychology demonstrated the amazing
degree to which most people conform to
the group opinion, even when that opinion
is sheer folly in the face of simple physical
evidence. (So much for the idea that we’re
free spirits who independently blaze trails
to our individual goals of glory.)
When you add to those influences the
idea that your friends, much more than
your family, might shape your overall personality, it’s easy to see that the friends
factor is something that can work either for
you or against you, in an extremely powerful way.
If you remember that your friends shape
your physique, you’ve got a potent tool and
can put it to good use. Forewarned is
forearmed, so you’re already ahead of the
game just by having the knowledge that
the crowd you hang out with influences
your lifting. Suppose your best friends live
on greasy burgers, fries and soft drinks and
wouldn’t consider getting their calories
from any other sources. You may be able
to build some mighty muscle on that diet,
Neveux \ Model: Michael O’Hearn and Clark Bartram
IRONMIND
Mind
Body
Neveux \ Model: Randy Vogelzang
but it’s going to be tough. Similarly, suppose your
friends like to stay out all night, couldn’t find the local
gym if their lives depended on it and think bodybuilding, weightlifting and all associated activities are
strictly for the birds.
Sure, you can succeed in that social environment,
but you’ve loaded the dice against yourself. Consider
how much easier things would be for you if your
friends shared your passion for training, walked
around with thermoses filled with protein drinks and
considered their workouts a veritable institution in
their lives, like going to church on Sunday morning.
In that sort of social setting you could concentrate on
the difficult business of lifting.
It’s even better if your friends share the key attitudes or personality characteristics you need for
success in lifting or any other activity. Ideally, your
pals set goals, are willing to work long and hard to
reach them and aren’t unduly discouraged in the face
of setbacks. They neither indulge in endless whining
and hand-wringing nor pat each other on the back
for the most mundane of achievements.
Imagine a guy who could be a world champion in
at least a couple of strength sports—he’s got all the
physical equipment for the task and the basic mental
hardware as well. The only thing missing is the emotional glue that makes everything stick together. If
you ask people who’ve known him a long time why
he hasn’t risen to greatness, they’ll explain that he
learned to set his sights low from those around him
and has always had an excuse for why things went
awry—as they inevitably did. It’s sad. You can find
real-life examples of that repeated time and again.
If your friends just aren’t into this lifting thing, are
you doomed? No. Success in any venture requires
individual effort, so it’s always going to be up to you
to make it to the gym or not, put in a good effort or
not, eat right or not and so forth. You may not be
able to count on your friends to directly support your efforts,
but if they don’t disapprove of what you’re doing, you’re way
ahead of the game. And if they pursue a passion of their own
with the same zeal that you have for your lifting, you can
support each other by modeling the personality factors that
lead to success.
People have risen to all kinds of glory, personal and public,
from the most unlikely settings. What they’ve usually done,
however, is stuck to their course. They’ve also put themselves
into a more favorable environment. For you that environment
starts with your friends. Even if things aren’t perfect right now,
keep your eyes on your goals, ever alert to fellow travelers
who help or hinder your quest.
—Randall Strossen, Ph.D.
Editor’s note: Randall Strossen, Ph.D., edits the quarterly
magazine MILO. He’s also the author of IronMind: Stronger
Minds, Stronger Bodies; Super Squats: How to Gain 30
Pounds of Muscle in 6 Weeks and Paul Anderson: The Mightiest Minister. For more information call IronMind Enterprises
Inc. at (530) 265-6725 or Home Gym Warehouse at (800)
447-0008. Visit the IronMind Web site at www.ironmind.com.
Bomber Blast
MIND/BODY
Take Me to the Iron
he
key
slides
into the
ignition and
cranks over
the engine,
signaling
that part
one of the
day is
over—no
small deed.
You feel
free for a
moment,
the tether
that binds
you given
slack by the
forward lurch
of your vehicle,
the private space that moves you to your next objective. This
small interlude provides time to collect your thoughts, converse with yourself and otherwise glean the wheat from the
chaff.
What’s your plan, where are you headed and what’s on
your mind as the first mile rolls away? Folks across the fields
and fences and city streets are headed home to couch, fridge
and TV. Good to kick off the shoes and let the hair down.
Some need to take a deep breath and wrestle with a second
job or a long list of unending chores. An anxious handful, to
be sure, moves quickly to strategically placed watering holes.
Whatever it takes, I guess, to move the pieces across the
board.
But wait a minute. There exists a rare breed unaccounted
for in the above cast of characters. In a certain place where
the air is full of oxygen, the navigator of his or her vehicle
steers clear of the traffic and heads to the gym. Thoughts are
on grander things—life, love and the pursuit of happiness, or,
as interpreted on another level, discipline, patience and the
pursuit of pain.
The rare breed is you.
And the time you spend before entering the gym, be it on
Main Street or in the garage, is rare as well. As the gym is a
refuge and an area for productive work, so is the mind. A
solid, bold and mighty workout is established in one’s head
before entering the inner sanctum of the gym.
Compromise, sacrifice and long suffering call out; no one
said the task was easy. The groundwork begins in the mind, is
effected in the body, transferred to the gym floor and consummated in the iron with the fortitude, courage and heart of the
pursuer. Tough stuff, this muscle building.
That doesn’t mean we don’t love it; even when we hate it,
we love it. How can you hate that which is so elevating and
beneficial and, more often than not, fun and fulfilling?
Anticipating of your training with a brief, yet energetic,
Neveux \ Model: Lee Priest
T
review of its benefits—improved health and strength, the
mental and physical purge, the afterglow—and a positive
overview of your exercise scheme are all you need. Fill your
mind with these magnificent thoughts, and there’s no room for
those grim enemies, doubt and apathy.
Stopping by the gym on the way home for a 20-minute
quickie is commendable—in this day and age it’s remarkable.
But, to be profitable and long lasting, a workout must be
more. As you must not let training and its anticipation dominate your life, so is it unwise to squeeze it in like a wedge of
lemon in a cup of tea. Unfold and review that imaginary list of
the Top 10 Most Important Things in Your Life, and you’ll note
exercising for your health is among the top five, not a cozy
cup of Constant Comment in your easy chair.
Ninety minutes, four days a week—from the time you park
your car to the time you pull away rejuvenated. The diligent
work in the focused and unrushed minutes between defines
the physical investment. The rest of the week and the rest of
your life are yours to give generously to whomever and whatever you please. Perhaps you’re like me; I’m nowhere to be
found for a good two hours because I get lost in the wilds of
the iron and steel. Sometimes I don’t emerge for three hours,
bleary eyed and grinning.
The well-organized individual makes sure his energy and
muscle-building stores are supplied in advance. Sufficient
food and water must be part of the simple plan. A substantial
portion of protein powder in a plastic container ready for
mixing with water or juice before your workout is a splendid
idea. So simple, so smart, so effective…so do it.
The gym is down the highway and on my mind. Though it’s
the weekend, I’ll probably go in to make up for a workout I
missed during the week due to some emergency—an attack
of warships from the planet Catabolica or an 8.9
earthquake…whatever. These unscheduled training sessions
often turn out to be some of the best. I’m drawn to the iron by
desire, not obligation. I don’t have to lift; I want to. There’s no
pressure, no rush, no ground lost, no ground to recover, just
the playground where time floats rather than flies.
What do I want to do, what stirs me, what would I like to
perfect or investigate, create or devise? The field is open.
Letting the workout evolve is a relief and can be most instructive. Sufficient spontaneity is needed to provide freedom in
one’s training without allowing it to become random and
unproductive in the long term. Here I may wallow in my favorite exercise combinations, try a personal best, switch to
high repetitions for pump, burn and euphoria, or I might exact
a dumbbell movement to work that part of my deltoid no
standard exercise does. A little creativity and thinking on one’s
feet go a long way toward adding to one’s self-esteem, training maturity and workout excellence.
Another day, another workout, another notch on the
gun…make that another gouge on the iron. —Dave Draper
Web alert: For more from Dave Draper,
visit www.davedraper.com and sign up for
his free newsletter. You can also check out
his amazing Top Squat training tool, classic
photos, workout Q&A and forum.
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Gaspari Nutrition at (888) 7427727, or visit ww.richgaspari.com.
Competition
Where Do You Belong?
any men and women who weight train seriously eventually consider
entering some sort of competition to test their strength and/or have their
physiques judged. The main contest options are in bodybuilding, powerlifting, fitness, figure and strongman competitions. Some individuals have diverse enough attributes and abilities to compete successfully in more than one
of those areas, but most are far better suited to one more than the others. To
help you decide which one might be for you, I’ll briefly outline what makes for a
champion in each.
Let’s start with bodybuilding. Ask yourself a few questions. Do people frequently comment on your muscularity? Do you build muscle size and lose fat
easily? Do you have a physical shape and structure similar to champion bodybuilders—wide shoulders and a small waist, a round look to your muscles and
fairly proportionate development from head to toe, with no glaring weak points?
If you want to be a good bodybuilder, you should be able to answer yes to most
of those questions.
Powerlifting is all about brute power and strength. If you’re exceptionally
strong relative to your size, particularly in the squat, deadlift and bench press,
odds are you could be collecting trophies and perhaps setting records in that
sport.
Strongman competitions are for those who can demonstrate incredible
strength lifting odd objects and who usually also have a viselike grip. If you’re
the guy everyone calls before moving day because you have no trouble
wrestling refrigerators and bureaus up and down stairs or you’re legendary in
your hometown for pushing your broken-down car out of a ditch late one
stormy night, I bet those events would be a great
match for you.
Finally we come to fitness and figure competitions
for women. Both require facial beauty and a body that
looks athletic and feminine, as well as qualities like
poise and grace. Fitness features routines, for which a
background in gymnastics and dance would be a
bonus.
Of course, you should compete in any type of
competition your heart desires. Just know that there’s
probably one in which you truly belong and will have a
much better chance to shine.
—Ron Harris
M
Jacked Up
MIND/BODY
Size for Your Bi’s at Home
he muscle most of us think represents our strength to others is the biceps. Who doesn’t want to amaze others with a double-biceps pose? You
don’t want to overwork yours at the expense of your body’s symmetry, but
you do want them to peak up nicely. Here are three exercises that will produce
gorgeous biceps—and you can do them at home if you have a dumbbell set
and an adjustable bench.
Dumbbell curls. Stand with a dumbbell in each hand, palms facing forward. Press your upper arms against your sides and curl the weights, moving
only your forearms, until the weights touch the top of your chest. Exhale as you
lift, and inhale as you lower the weight. One or two sets, and you’ll be warmed
up for a more strenuous, focused curl.
Concentration curls. Take a dumbbell in one hand and get into position
by sitting on the end of a bench or chair and spreading your legs apart. Bend
forward and brace your working arm against the inside of your leg. Curl the
dumbbell, keeping your arm vertical. Lift the dumbbell with focused concentration on your biceps for 15 repetitions. Reverse your position and perform the
same work for your other arm. Alternate arms for at least three sets.
Incline dumbbell curls. To hit a different angle, lie on an incline bench with
the dumbbells hanging down at arm’s length. Exhale as you curl them, keeping
your upper arms stationary. Then inhale deeply as you lower the dumbbells
back to your starting position. One or two sets should do the trick. By the way,
Steve Reeves said incline dumbbell curls were responsible for his Herculean
arms.
Focus all your attention on rich, oxygenated blood flowing into your biceps.
Breathe properly and move with correct form until you can lift no more.
—Jack LaLanne
Dumbbell curls.
Editor’s note: As of September 2004 Jack LaLanne had
lived 90 years, 75 of them steeped in innovative physical
training. He was runner-up in the ’54 Mr. America contest
and created the longest-running fitness show in television
history. He’s also famous for performing shackled and handcuffed swimming feats to celebrate key birthdays. Jack still
works out two hours a day. For more information, check out
his Web site, www.jacklalanne.com.
Neveux \ Model: Mike Morris \ Equipment: PowerBlock selectorized dumbbells, 1-800-447-0008
T
Gallery of Ironmen
MIND/BODY
Italy’s Lifting Lawyer
taly’s first Olympic
medal in weightlifting
was won by an extraordinary young man in
Athens in 1906. Tullio
Camilotti was born in the
northern Italian town of
Sacile into an uppermiddle-class family on
January 29, 1880. He
began his athletic career
as a gymnast and
wrestler, but he soon
switched to weightlifting;
that was unusual because weightlifting was
considered a workingclass activity. Pumping
iron was difficult and
dangerous, hence not an
acceptable recreation for
people of quality; apparently it was too much like
real work for most aristocrats. Camilotti, however,
wasn’t ashamed to lift weights or
participate in a sport that was considered socially beneath him.
Camilotti discovered weight training while he was a law student at the
University of Padua. He joined an
athletic club and competed as a
weightlifter in several contests. He
was so dedicated to the sport that
he journeyed to Germany, where he
trained for a while with the famous
coach Theodor Siebert [Gallery of
Ironmen, July ’04]. That must have
been a great advantage for him
because the young man qualified for
Italy’s Olympic team in 1906. At the
Tullio Camilotti was a lawyer—
and an Olympic medalist
Photo courtesy of David Chapman
I
Photo courtesy of David Chapman
Games, Camilotti earned a silver
medal in the one-hand snatch and
thus brought glory to himself and his
nation—all the more remarkable
because Italy’s sporting movement
was in its infancy. Camilotti’s success
inspired others to take up weights.
In 1907 the Italian national
weightlifting championships were held
in Venice, and Camilotti managed to
win that great competition. Ironically, it
would be the athlete’s last triumph.
Camillott’s many victories led to
offers from vaudeville and pro-sports
promoters, but he resisted those
calls. After completing his education,
he became a lawyer and left competition. He did, however, encourage
others to exploit their sporting talents. He was revered in the Italian
sporting world, and despite his
extremely short lifting career,
Camilotti was always considered a
paragon of Italian strength and nobility. One commentator confirmed his
manly bearing and inspirational
behavior in 1911: Camilotti “was
highly cultured, a great expert in
athletic sports and an impassioned
lover of the same; he helped not a
little to increase the number of amateur athletes, inculcating the love of
physical strength by word and deed
in his many travels.”
Tullio Camilotti died in his native
Sacile on February 21, 1958.
—David Chapman
Serious Training
MIND/BODY
Darrell Terrell
Photography by Jerry Fredrick
Location: Gold’s Gym, Venice, CA
Serious Stats
Weight: 250 Height: 5’5” Age: 33
Age began training: 19
Bodypart split:
Monday: chest, shoulders; Tuesday: cardio;
Wednesday: legs; Thursday: cardio; Friday:
back, rear delts; Saturday: cardio; Sunday:
biceps, triceps
Note: He works calves and abs on cardio days
Sample workout (chest):
Dumbbell flyes
3-4 x 10
Dumbbell bench presses
4 x 10-15
Incline presses
4 x 10-12
Factoid:
“I own The Total Package, a personal-training
and nutrition business, and I speak at local
schools about health and fitness.”
Contests: ’03 NPC Nationals, 4th
heavyweight
Jerry Brainum’s
Bodybuilding Pharmacology
Toxic Haste?
While a lot of research has pointed to undesirable side
effects associated with anabolic steroid use, a good deal of
it is flawed. Case studies, for instance, often examine the
experiences of a few or even one person. They don’t prove
much, since the adverse reactions of just a few people
could be idiosyncratic, involving an individual sensitivity
to the drugs used or a medical condition that became
evident only after the drug use.
Another problem is that researchers don’t work with
realistic doses of the drugs in their studies. Scientists consider it unethical to administer the drug regimens used by
many athletes today. They note that no published precedents prove the safety of such regimens, so using them
constitutes bad medicine.
That’s led some scientists to observe athletes who get
the drugs for themselves and use dosages and/or combinations that no doctor would advise. While risky from a
health standpoint, such studies are nonetheless more
realistic. Still, there’s no way to verify whether the doses
and combinations reported by the athletes are accurate.
That leaves animal studies. The most obvious limitation
of extrapolating animal research to human physiology is
that humans may not react to drugs exactly as animals do.
In an effort to replicate real-world use of anabolic
steroids by athletes, Japanese scientists gave massive doses
of popular anabolic steroids to 37 rats that were divided
into different groups.1 The first group got nandrolone
decanoate, a popular injectable anabolic steroid with the
trade name Deca-Durabolin; methenolone acetate, better
known as Primobolan; and drostanolone, trade name
Masteron. Group two got just Deca-Durabolin and saline,
or salt, injections; group three, the control group got only
saline injections.
All of the steroids were injected for six weeks. The medications were then stopped for four weeks and resumed for
another six. Given the short life span of a rat,
that is comparable to a few years for a
human. The interesting part of the study
was the dosages. The authors used a
132-pound reference human (people in Japan tend to be a bit smaller than in the West) and figured
out doses that amounted to 100
times the suggested therapeutic ones. In order for the rats to
to get the equivalent of the
massive dose schedule used by
athletes, that amount was
extrapolated to the animals’
considerably smaller size. The
authors believed that only that
level of steroid use would produce pathological effects.
The study yielded few surprises.
As expected, the rats in the steroid
groups showed higher levels of both
testosterone and its by-product, dihydrotestosterone, than the control group. The
drug rats also showed higher estrogen levels,
likely from the high doses of Deca-Durabolin, 20 percent of
which can convert into estrogen. The other drugs in the
study were DHT-based and could not convert into estrogen.
The rodents’ organs showed severe damage to the hearts,
testes and adrenal glands. The animals’ prostate glands
showed enlargement but no evidence of cancer. In the
testes, both Sertoli cells (where sperm cells are made) and
Leydig cells (where testosterone is synthesized) were reduced in number. The animals’ natural secretion of testosterone was completely inhibited. Commenting on that, the
authors noted, “Although students and athletes readily use
anabolic steroid drugs, this finding is very shocking, and
steroid users would most likely be quite alarmed if they
knew of these pathological effects on the testes.”
That last observation shows how out of touch those
researchers were with reality. Athletes have known of the
hormone-suppressing effects of anabolic steroids for years.
They attempt to counter the effects by using other drugs,
such as estrogen blockers like Nolvadex or various aromatase blockers, which prevent the conversion of androgens into estrogens. Many also use HCG, an injectable drug
with a structure similar to that of luteinizing hormone, the
hormone that maintains testosterone synthesis.
In the section discussing how the steroid regimen in the
rats led to inflammation in the heart, the authors suggest
that former Olympic gold medal track star Florence “Flo-Jo”
Joyner may have died from cardiac complications of anabolic steroid use. Joyner’s official cause of death was related to a seizure.
The damage to the adrenal glands was explained by the
presence of androgen receptors there. The authors think
that some kind of hormonal negative-feedback mechanism
may have caused the adrenal damage. But what about
giving the animals dosages equivalent to 100 times the
therapeutic dose based on weight? Wouldn’t that impose
enough stress on the rodents to burn out their adrenal
glands?
A major problem with the study is the doses used. They
are excessive. An example is the dose used for DecaDurabolin. The authors think that some athletes are
injecting 20,000 milligrams of Deca? Heck, even
with a drug that has the reputation of
being relatively mild, such as Deca,
that would be a near-fatal dose.
Does that mean the steroid regimens
used by athletes and bodybuilders are
safe? Unlikely. While athletes may not
use doses comparable to those given to
the rats in this study, they do use a lot
more than what would ever be used therapeutically
Japanese scientists recently
published a study in which they
gave massive doses of popular
anabolic steroids to 37 rats. Examination of the rodents’ organs
showed severe damage to the
hearts, testes and adrenal
glands.
Jerry Brainum’s
Bodybuilding Pharmacology
Illustration by Christian Martinez
People who are deficient in GH always show significant improvement in body composition when given GH therapy.
Excessive Bodyfat:
A Growth Hormone
Deficiency?
Most people are fat because they
eat too much and exercise too little.
They don’t burn enough calories
through their daily activity. That’s the
simple equation of obesity, but as
scientific discovery marches on, the
body-composition equation becomes
increasingly complex.
An example is the success of lowcarbohydrate dieting. Many recent
studies that have compared low-carb
to other types of diets, such as lowfat,
show that low-carb diets work better
for most obese people. That’s true
even when the competing diets contain an equal number of daily calories
and a similar level of physical activity
among study subjects.
The usual explanation for the apparent superiority of low-carb diets
relates to hormones. A primary objective of low-carb dieting is insulin
control. Most people with excess
bodyfat levels oversecrete insulin, a
storage hormone that works mainly to
help store bodyfat. Thus, by limiting
carbohydrates, the food element that
promotes the greatest release of insulin, obese people are able to tap into
and oxidize excess fat stores.
Other hormones also play prominent roles in body composition. Thyroid hormone controls basal, or
resting, metabolic rate, so a person’s
thyroid gland must be functioning
optimally to promote fat loss. On the
other hand, taking excessive doses of
pharmaceutical forms of thyroid
hormone can have a pronounced
catabolic effect in lean tissue. Most
obese people have normal thyroid
function, and the body responds to a
drastic reduction in calories by lowering active thyroid output as a means
of preserving vital tissue. Known as
the dieting plateau, the effect can be
overcome in many cases with small
doses of thyroid hormone. That
should always be medically supervised to avoid side effects.
Growth hormone has a reputation
as a fat burner, which explains the
plethora of GH-promoting food supplements that are touted as helping
lower bodyfat. Whether it’s of any use
in treating obesity or lowering bodyfat
is a subject of contention among
scientists. On the other hand, people
who are deficient in GH always show
significant body-composition improvement when given the hormone,
including decreased bodyfat and
increased lean mass.
The problem with using growth
hormone as a fat-loss therapy involves
not only the considerable expense of
the drug itself, as well as the availability, but also possible side effects.
When people are given amounts of
GH greater than the doses used to
treat GH deficiency, they commonly
experience side effects, including
edema, or water retention. Edema
occurs because GH promotes the
release of aldosterone, an adrenal
hormone that retains sodium and
water in the body. Joint pain, another
common side effect, is likely related to
GH’s influence on connective-tissue
growth. Excessive connective-tissue
growth leads to effects such as carpal
tunnel syndrome, a painful nerve
impingement at the wrist that may
require surgical correction. In other
cases GH is associated with hypertension and glucose intolerance, even
gynecomastia, a condition of excess
glandular tissue in male breasts.
A kind of GH that exists only in
experimental form appears to offer
the fat-lowering effects of growth
hormone without the side effects. It
won’t be available for many years,
however. In the meantime, is there a
dose that will effectively lower bodyfat
without side effects?
According to a recent double-blind
study, there is.2 Fifty-nine obese men
and women were randomly assigned
to either a GH group or a placebo
group. The study lasted six months,
and the subjects initially injected
themselves with either 200 micrograms of GH or a placebo. After a
month the dose was increased to 400
micrograms for men and 600 for
women. The women got more because women are less sensitive to GH
than men. After that, all groups got off
the GH, and the researchers followed
them for another three months.
Those in the GH group lost 2.4
kilograms—a modest amount, but it
was composed entirely of bodyfat.
They lost no lean tissue, or muscle, at
all. That’s consistent with the known
effects of GH: maintaining lean mass
while promoting use of fat as a fuel
source. Precisely how the GH promoted the fat loss isn’t known.
None of the usual side effects
linked to GH showed up in any of the
subjects, an effect attributed to the
low doses used in the study. Those
using the real GH did show normalized levels of IGF-1, a product of GH
release produced in the liver. The GH
group also had a 19 percent increase
in high-density lipoprotein, a cardiacprotective cholesterol carrier in the
blood.
The authors suggest that in people
who have excessive bodyfat, lower GH
and IGF-1 levels may help perpetuate
obesity. Adding small doses of GH to
compensate for the apparent deficiency could promote a selective loss
of bodyfat while preserving or promoting a gain in lean tissue that
would help increase resting metabolic
rate, thus maintaining lower bodyfat
levels.
References
1 Takahashi, M., et al. (2004). Endocrinological and pathological effects of anabolic-androgenic steroid
in male rats. Endocrine Journal.
51:425-34.
2 Albert, S.G., et al. (2004). Lowdose recombinant human growth
hormone as adjuvant therapy to
lifestyle modifications in the management of obesity. J Clin Endocrinol
Metab. 89:695-701. IM
Readers Write
Top of the List
I was sitting on my couch
this morning thinking about
weight training magazines.
I’ve been reading them since
the late ’50s, and I’ve purchased many from the mid’40s on to add to my
collection. I’ve seen them
come and go, and some are
still around. There was Your
Physique, Mr. America, Muscle Builder/Power, Muscle &
Fitness and Flex, all by Joe
Weider. There was Walt
Marcyan’s Power. There was
Dan Lurie’s Muscle Training
Illustrated, Bob Hoffman’s
Strength & Health and Muscular Development, which
was run by John Grimek.
There was Robert Kennedy’s
MuscleMag International.
There was also Muscle Digest,
Britain’s Health & Strength,
Muscle Media and Vince
McMahon’s short-lived bodybuilding magazine. And then
there was Iron Man. IM really
has stood head and shoulders above all of the rest. It
has always been the best,
with incredible amounts of
information.
I remember when I first heard that John Balik was going
to buy Peary Rader’s Iron Man back in the ’80s. I was very
concerned about its future, as I imagine many other longtime readers were. Was it going to be the end of Iron Man as
we knew it—by far the most honest, sincere, knowledgable
and interesting publication in the entire weight-training
field?
The most noticeable change was the new size of IRON
MAN, and then of course it became monthly instead of bimonthly. And it was no longer all black and white—color
photos started popping up on almost every page.
Nearly 20 years later I can honestly say that IRON MAN is
still incredible and, beyond any question, still the very best
magazine in the field. I appreciate that IRON MAN continues to presents more than one viewpoint on training. Even
if there were one best way to train, not everyone is of the
same temperament and might not enjoy training that way. I
would never say that the way I choose to train is the best
way for everyone—or the most effective—but I enjoy it, and
it has worked wonderfully for me, and has kept me training
regularly for more than 45 years.
Jim Hafer
via Internet
Editor’s note: Thanks, Jim. We needed that.
Get Real
I very much disagree with the letter in the December ’04
Readers Write that put down Steve Holman’s physique. The
guy who wrote that is the real twerp. Very few people have
any desire to look like the pro bodybuilders he named in his
letter. Holman has a solid build, one many readers aspire to,
including myself. He has a balance of size, shape and sym238 MARCH 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com
metry. There are far more guys who want a real physique.
Most find the mass-monster-type of build a turnoff. In fact,
if you took a survey of a large group of women, almost all
would vote for the Holman physique over any pro bodybuilder’s.
Ed Bresock
Ashland, OH
Holman responds: I appreciate your comments—and
I’ll be on the lookout for that large group of women.
Natural—at What Cost?
I’m really confused. In the
August ’04 IRON MAN there’s
an article on drug-free pro
bodybuilder Jeff Willet
[“Super Natural”] by David
Young. I read that he’s 100
percent natural, but on
pages 235 and 236 his supplement list looks like it
came from a pharmaceutical
lab. That’s not natural! And
how much money per month
does he spend on all that
stuff?
My idea of natural is vitamins, minerals and a protein
drink or two—with fruit—
Jeff Willet.
along with lots of good
wholesome food. Things have gotten too complicated.
Todd J. Brady
Las Vegas, NV
Editor’s note: Willet works for AST, a supplement company, so we’re pretty sure he gets a deal on all the items on
his list. Does taking all of those supplements make him
unnatural? That’s debatable. Perhaps we should have titled
the feature “Drug-Free, Supplement-Fortified.”
Doubting Thomas
Come on, you’re kidding me. I saw [Jonathan Lawson’s
and Steve Holman’s] before and after photos [that are
posted at www.x-rep.com]. One month? No drugs? You
guys look like you put on about 20 pounds. There’s no way
you could do that without steroids.
Thomas Martinez
via Internet
Editor’s note: Those photos are the real deal. John
Balik, IM publisher, can verify that fact. No drugs were
involved, and there was no photo retouching. They hit on a
perfect routine for them at that time with a technique that
works, X Reps. As Lawson put it, “Even we were stunned by
the photos. We still shake our heads in disbelief when we
look at them, so we understand the skepticism. We try to
take the drug accusations as backhanded compliments.”
For more on Lawson, see page 116.
Vol. 64, No. 3: IRON MAN (ISSN #0047-1496) is published monthly by IRON MAN Publishing, 1701 Ives Ave., Oxnard, CA 93033. Periodical Mail is paid at Oxnard, CA, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to IRON MAN, 1701 Ives Ave.,
Oxnard, CA 93033. Please allow six to eight weeks for change to take effect. Subscription
ratesÑU.S. and its possessions: new 12-issue subscription, $29.97. Canada, Mexico and other
foreign subscriptions: 12 issues, $49.97 sent Second Class. Foreign orders must be in U.S. dollars. Send subscriptions to IRON MAN, 1701 Ives Ave., Oxnard, CA 93033. Or call 1-800570-4766. Copyright © 2005. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be
reproduced in any manner without written permission from the publisher. Printed in the USA.

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