train to gain - Bodybuilding magazine free download. IRONMAN

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MACROBOLIC MOMENTUM: BETTER THAN LOW-CARB DIETS?
APRIL 2005 / IRON MAN—REAL BODYBUILDING TRAINING, NUTRITION & SUPPLEMENTATION
OVER-
Lee Apperson, 46,
and Jennifer
Micheli, 41
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www.ironmanmagazine.com \ APRIL 2006 261
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150 DECEMBER 2009 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com
Condition
Magician,
page 112
April 2005
Vol. 64, No. 4
Real Bodybuilding Training, Nutrition & Supplementation
FEATURES
78 TRAIN, EAT, GROW 66
The TEG men are building more mass and detail with
X Reps and POF. And they won’t stop till they use every
letter of the alphabet.
84 SCIENTIFIC MUSCLE BUILDING 2
Rob Thoburn gets the goods on growth from key scientists and researchers around the globe. No brain, no gain.
Lots of interesting stuff here, gang.
102 YOUR SHOULDERS WILL NEVER
GROW!
Unless you follow these 10 tips for detonating new delt
dimensions from Ron Harris.
112 LEE APPERSON
The condition magician is moving
toward 50 and looking better
than ever. Here’s how he does it
(and how you can do it too).
126 OVER-40 MUSCLEAND-HEALTH DIET
Jerry Brainum has the eating plan
that will help you build more muscle through middle age and beyond.
Hardbody,
page 184
142 HEAVY DUTY
Lee Apperson and
Jennifer Micheli appear
on this month’s cover.
Hair and Makeup
Kimberly Carlson. Photo
by Michael Neveux.
Mike Mentzer’s Heavy Duty seminar continues, and it’s all
about training and gaining—and intensity, of course.
154 ONLY THE STRONG SHALL SURVIVE
Bill Starr outlines his Big Three simplicity workout. Yep,
three exercises are all it takes to make spectacular gains in
every muscle group. It’s as easy as one, two, three.
Over-40
Muscle-and-Health
Diet,
page 126
Only the Strong
Shall Survive,
page 154
166 MACROBOLIC MOMENTUM
Gerard Dente, former competitive bodybuilder and
president of Maximum Human Performance, tells you how
to get lean without getting mean—and build plenty of
muscle in the process.
184 HARDBODY
This month Kimberly Page shows why women are flocking
to gyms to pump iron. Hot body in the house!
210 IM RESEARCH TEAM
You may have seen it in The Precontest Bible. Or you may
have read all the positive buzz on the Web. Larry Pepe’s
SprayFlex innovation is taking bodybuilding by storm, and
some big-name pros are behind it. Check it out and pump
it up!
DEPARTMENTS
30 TRAIN TO GAIN
10 Rules for
Delectable Delts,
page 102
Partial power, new hope for old muscles, T time and the
training secret that’s better than steroids. (That got your
attention.)
52 CRITICAL MASS
Steve Holman discusses rowing and growing. Plus, info
on Arnold, cheat curls and X-Rep results.
58 NATURALLY HUGE
John Hansen’s advice on going from blah to built.
There’s lifting advice for fighters here too.
62 EAT TO GROW
Mind/Body,
page 220
Carb blocking (is it possible?), sweet salvation, remade
Gatorade and testing creatine’s credibility.
194 NEWS & VIEWS
Lonnie Teper and Ruth Silverman keep you up on what’s
going down behind the bodybuilding and fitness scenes.
And Jerry Fredrick’s Hot Shots are here too. (Yes, laughing is a good ab workout.)
220 MIND/BODY CONNECTION
Randall Strossen, Ph.D., says, “Don’t worry—work out!”
Well said. Dave Draper’s Bomber Blast insight is here too,
as is Jack LaLanne’s at-home calf attack. Oh, and Gallery
of Ironmen’s title is “Guns and Personality Ammo.” Can
you guess who it’s about?
Critical Mass,
page 52
230 BODYBUILDING PHARMACOLOGY
Jerry Brainum brews up some controversy in his diatribe
on the world’s most popular drug—no, it’s not Dianabol.
Think upper. He also discusses the pro-hormone ban and
a possible alternative to those popular pseudo-drugs.
238 READERS WRITE
Train to Gain,
page 30
Pump &
Circumstance,
page 200
WEB ALERT
from the world
For the latest happenings , read the Hot
ess
fitn
and
of bodybuilding
zine.com and
News at www.ironmanmagae.com.
www.graphicmuscl
Cover kudos (must be for that killer Arnold cartoon by
Ron Dunn), a Heavy Duty dis and another disbeliever
comments on X, lies and measuring tape.
In the next IRON MAN
Next month we take a trip to the gym and analyze
exactly how the champs train to gain. Yes, we
reveal all of their secrets—well, almost all of them.
Perfect form? Come on, they lie and cheat too.
You’ve seen the videos. We’ll tell you why what
they do works and how you can make it work for
you—without a truckload of ’roids. Then Pete
Siegel is going to blow your mind and blow up your
body with mental-muscle development. Sharpen
your mind, shape your muscles. Ron Harris will be
back too, with a big-biceps blueprint for getting
your peaks jutting skyward and your sleeves splitting at the seams. Oh, and, of course, we’ll have
killer coverage from the pro-season opener, the
IFBB IRON MAN Pro, and another Hardbody pictorial
that will give your eyes a workout they’ll never
forget. Watch for the magnificent May IRON MAN on
newsstands the first week of April.
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Standing calf raises
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Over 4000 best-selling products online
John Balik’s
Publisher’s Letter
Founders
1936-1986:
Peary & Mabel Rader
Prime-Time Muscle
Longevity was an obsession long before
Ponce De Leon searched the world for the
fountain of youth in the early 16th century.
And we’re still searching for it, although
some would argue that the bodybuilding
lifestyle is the closest thing to it. If we take
our shared love of the bodybuilding lifestyle
through to its logical evolution, we end up
understanding that health, both mental and
physical, is the true result of a lifelong addiction to exercise, good nutrition and intelligent supplementation.
This is IRON MAN’s fourth annual over-40-bodybuilding issue,
and it’s dedicated to providing the latest information to help you in
your quest for the fountain of youth. We’ve gotten an amazing
amount of interest from our middle-aged and beyond readers. And
for our younger readers—who are rightly focused on getting bigger,
stronger and leaner—it’s a window on the future.
We live in a time of new discovery and insight into the maximization of our dynamic longevity. If you add myriad medical tests to
your overall bodybuilding lifestyle, you can create chemical benchmarks to monitor the inevitable changes that occur. Please refer to
the November and December ’03 and the January and May ’04
issues of IRON MAN for Jerry Brainum’s “Blood Simple” series on
the blood tests that should be a part of everyone’s overall program.
You need to be proactive; the medical system in the United States
isn’t geared toward prevention and anti-aging but rather toward
sickness. The system’s idea of health is the absence of clinical disease. The IRON MAN definition is not about being barely alive but
totally alive.
Last month I wrote about taking charge and being responsible.
Only you can do the things necessary for ensuring your longest
possible dynamic life span. You have a responsibility to yourself and
to those whom you love and are responsible for to live in a way that
honors both you and them. The goal is to take the middle years—40
plus—and change the peak into plateau with a gentle decline. All
you have to do is look around, and you’ll see what denial and neglect do to the human body.
This month, as usual, Jerry Brainum brings a wealth of information to the pages of IRON MAN with his “Over-40 Muscle-andHealth Diet,” which begins on page 126. Also, the ageless Lee
Apperson, at 46, gives us all inspiration and the info to get the most
out of our workouts, nutrition and supplementation. David Young’s
interview with him, “Condition Magician,” begins on page 112.
Two things I know for sure: 1) that the bodybuilding lifestyle
augmented by preventive/anti-aging medicine is the closest we can
get to the fountain of youth and 2) that you’re the only one who can
make it happen. No excuses, just do it!
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]
Editor’s note: To contact John Balik, send e-mail to
[email protected]. Visit www.ironmanmagazine.com for the
latest bodybuilding news, contest results and training and nutrition
information.
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]
26 APRIL 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com
SEXY ROCK-HARD ABS FAST
The Secret to Etching your Granite-Carved Abs in 10 Short Minutes
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The incredible breakthrough
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ANABOLIC ACTIONS
Neveux \ Model: Jay Cutler
Partial Power!
I still remember the first time someone tried to sell
me on the value of partial repetitions, or partials. It was
in 1992 at Joe Gold’s World Gym on Main Street in
Venice, two legends of the sport that will be dearly
missed. The man trying to convince me was yet another bodybuilding icon, Don “the Ripper” Ross. I’d observed him on the Hammer Strength behind-the-neck
press machine on the outside deck doing what looked
like less than half reps and asked him what the deal
was. Don explained that partials performed at the
strongest point on an exercise’s stroke let you overload
the muscle and stimulate growth. I gave that fair consideration for about half a second before dismissing it
as hogwash. I knew that “only a full range of motion is
productive for building muscle.” After all, I was 22 years
old and had been published in bodybuilding magazines;
therefore, I knew everything there was to know already.
They say there’s no fool like an old fool, but in my case,
at that age I took the cake.
Once I started heading toward my mid-30s, I became far more open to fresh ideas, always operating on
the principle that they had potential merit unless proved
otherwise. Not long ago I was on the phone with pro
bodybuilder Art Atwood, who was excited about new
growth in his arms. Even though you won’t find many
specimens on this earth as massive as Atwood, he’s
always struggled to bring his arms up to par with his
overwhelming chest, shoulders and back. Art attributed
his new gains to doing a set of heavy partials after his
three standard work sets of each exercise. Immediately
something clicked. All those years I’d been writing off
partials, but part of my subconscious always had some
curiosity about their worth. Now that Art was talking
about doing partials not exclusively but after regular
sets with a full range of motion, I was at last willing to
give them a try.
I tried them, and guess what? My ass is sore from
kicking myself so much. My pigheadedness made me
miss out on a training technique that probably could
have helped me put on substantially more muscle than I
have.
I knew it the first day I tried heavy partials on EZ-curlbar curls (a third of the way from the bottom up) and
also on cable pushdowns. I could feel the different type
of stimulation the heavier-than-normal weight, lifted
Short movements are
creating big gains
through just the strongest segment of the range of
motion, was providing, and instantly I sensed it would
lead to muscle growth. So for any of you who may have
heard all about partials but have never given them a try,
here’s your go-ahead. Test-drive them the next time you
train. You’ll be glad you did. And, Ripper, if you can
hear me up there, you were right and I was wrong.
Sorry I doubted you.
—Ron Harris
Editor’s note: Power partials are also known as X
Reps. For more information, as well as photos taken
one month apart during a recent X-Rep training experiment, visit www.x-rep.com.
HE WANTED TO FIGHTUntil I Crushed His Hand!
He was big. He was pissed. And
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TRAIN TO GAIN
ANABOLIC HORMONES
T Time
OLD ON HOLD
New Hope for Old Muscles
Muscle loss with age is not inevitable
A new study examined the effects of endurance training on
muscle maintenance with advancing age.1 What’s particularly
interesting about it is that it involved endurance exercise, which
isn’t usually associated with maintaining much muscle.
Previous studies have found that in most people, leg strength
peaks at age 30, then remains stable until about age 50. At that
point strength decreases at a rate of about 12 to 15 percent
per decade. Older people show average strength levels of 20 to
40 percent less than people in their 30s. The decline in strength
is linked to a loss of muscle due to inactivity.
In the new study of endurance athletes, master runners, aged
40 to 88, showed no decline in leg strength until after age 70.
Those in their 70s had strength levels similar to runners in their
30s. Most impressive was the finding that the older runners
showed no loss of type 2 fast-twitch muscle fibers—the type
most associated with muscle strength and the type of muscle
fiber usually lost with advanced age—until they were in their
80s.
—Jerry Brainum
Studies show that manipulating
the volume of exercise has a transient effect on plasma testosterone
levels. What isn’t known is how
exercise affects the 24-hour secretion of testosterone. To correct that
deficiency, a study followed eight
men who completed three training
sessions separated by at least a
month.1 The groups consisted of a
nonexercising control group, a moderate-volume group doing 25 sets
total and a high-volume group doing
50 sets per workout. The actual
workout consisted of squats, bench
presses, leg presses and lat pulldowns. Subjects rested 90 to 120
seconds between sets. Rep range
was five to 10 per set. The men had
their testosterone levels measured
every hour for 24 hours after each
session.
The high-volume group showed a
marked suppression of testosterone
levels over a 24-hour period. They
trained for an average of two hours
per session. The moderate-volume
group trained for one hour and
showed no adverse effects on
testosterone over the course of 24
hours. The results indicate that
there’s a threshold of training beyond
which testosterone levels drop precipitously. In practical terms, they
mean that those who advocate
marathon workouts are probably
wasting their time. —Jerry Brainum
1 Alemany, J.A., et al. (2004). 24hour serum testosterone concentrations following acute moderate and
high-volume resistance exercise.
Med Sci Sports Exerc. 36:S238.
1
Tarpenning, K.L., et al. (2004). Endurance training delays
age of decline in leg strength and muscle morphology. Med Sci
Sports Exer. 36:74-78.
Neveux \ Model: Darrell Terrell
Neveux \ Model: Frank Zane
How exercise volume affects
your testosterone
YOU CAN BENCH BIG
Add 20 Pounds to Your Bench Press Almost Overnight!
How would you like a surge in
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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,
they become the weak link in the
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TRAIN TO GAIN
SUCCESS SECRETS
The Training Secret That’s Better Than Steroids
I believe that there are
certain ways of performing
exercises that will provide
you with better and certainly
more lasting progress than
you get with steroids—
“secrets” that can save you
years of wasted effort. Most
of them are for hardgainers.
If you’re making good
progress from conventional
exercises, then you don't
need these ideas. If you’re a
stubborn gainer like me,
you’re in for a treat.
Let’s talk about pecs,
which have always been
very stubborn for me. Most
conventional exercises just
don’t give me results. I don’t
Dipping for
care how many articles the
triceps
champs have written about
mass is
the value of heavy bench
much difpresses—that exercise
ferent than
leaves my pecs cold.
dipping for
I’ve found a few exercispec size.
es, however, that can bring
out the most pec development. A couple of the ideas came right from Vince Gironda.
You’ll need a Smith machine (bench press with vertical
guides) and V-shaped dipping bars.
The key to the process is that your elbows must move
through their maximum arc during the exercise. So the more
you can employ movement that directly affects the elbows,
the more you’re going to activate the pecs.
The first exercise in my stubborn pecs program is Smithmachine bench presses. Set the stops on the machine so
the bar rests just on your neck. If the machine has preset
stops that leave the bar an inch off your neck, place a board
under the bench to achieve the neck touch. (That’s important.)
Once you’re under the bar, raise your feet off the floor and
keep them over your midsection. It’s a natural relaxed position that keeps your lower back flat on the bench and requires that all the work comes from your pecs rather than
pressing from the floor with your legs.
Grip the bar with your hands slightly wider than shoulder
width. You’re going to keep your elbows as close to your
head as possible during this exercise, so you’ll need to rotate
your palms on the bar.
Slowly lower the bar until it touches your neck. Keep your
elbows as high as possible. It’s an unnatural position for the
arms, but it’s necessary to ignite the clavicular pecs. Do six
reps without letting your elbows stray down toward your
torso. Force them to stay back.
The bar will start to slow down as you get tired, and the
pain will tempt you to let your elbows drift downward. Don’t
do it. You want your pecs to do all the work. They’ll come
smoking out of their hiding place. After six full reps finish off
the set with six burns right down on your neck. Push the bar
up about six inches and let it come down on your neck
again. Remember, the machine stop will keep the bar from
crushing your Adam’s apple.
When you finish your last burn rep, you won’t have
enough strength to do anything but crawl out from
under the bar. If you don’t
select a stop that sets the
bar actually touching your
neck, you’ll bang against the
machine stop during the
burns. You don’t want that;
you want the stop to be
provided by the tension on
the clavicular pectoral tie-in.
That’s the secret.
Do a set of six reps and
six burns with a weight. Now
comes the bad news. With
little rest, decrease the
weight by 10 to 20 percent
and do another set exactly
like the first. Decrease the
weight again by 10 to 20
percent and do a third set.
You won’t believe the pump
you’ll get in your upper pecs.
Now for the lower pecs.
Move over to the dipping
bars. Unfortunately, this
won’t work very well if your
dipping bars are parallel. You
really need to have V-shaped bars like those Vince had in his
club. They start about one foot apart and end up three feet
apart. It makes a perfect apparatus for igniting growth in the
lower pecs. (If you don’t have access to V-shaped bars,
wide-grip dips will have to suffice.)
Like the first exercise, this one has to be done in a specific
way in order to get the most from it. You reverse your palms
so you get a movement very similar to the one you got on the
Smith machine. The key again is to get those elbows moving.
Your palms aren’t completely reversed but sort of diagonal
across the bar so your elbows are out and away from your
torso. Hold your feet forward under your face. Your back is
rounded, not arched. Slowly lower to the very bottom of the
range. Don’t cheat by doing half reps. As you lower your
body, let your elbows travel forward, not to the rear. Once
you hit bottom, slowly push your body back to the top while
keeping your elbows in the forward position.
All right, here’s the key to making this exercise really effective: Don’t go to full lockout and try to pull your arms together. You’re trying to use the pecs-biceps connection more
than the pec-triceps connection.
Admittedly, this movement is unusual, but that’s what
makes it so effective. Try to keep your arms together. Nothing
can pull those elbows straight but your pecs. Your triceps will
want to press your arms straight, but don’t let them.
If you force the pecs to work in this fashion, you won’t
believe how effective it is.
—Larry Scott
Editor’s note: Get All 33 of Larry Scott’s reports. Thousands of words of pure training inspiration—a treasure! It
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Crossovers
More Ball-and-Socket Sensibilities
Shoulder pain is one of the most
common problems in the gym, along
with low-back pain, knee pain and
elbow pain. There are many causes of
shoulder pain. Shoulder instability is
certainly a major cause.
Overstretched ligaments become
more uncomfortable during key movements such as bench presses, pecs
deck flyes, dumbbell flyes and behind-the-neck presses. Pain can be
generated from the stress on the
capsule and from the excessive work
of the rotator cuff, which is trying to
keep the ball centrally located in the
socket so it can move properly. There
can also be a tear of the cartilage ring
around the socket, which is known as
a SLAP or Bankart tear. That cartilage
ring serves several purposes: It deepens the shallow socket a bit, and it
serves as an additional anchor point
Overstretched ligaments become more uncomfortable during key movefor the capsule and biceps tendon.
ments like dumbbell flyes.
You may be thinking, “That’s internearly straight arm up at the ceiling. Lower your arm across
esting, but what do I do about it?” First, if your shoulder is
your chest, and then raise it to the starting position. (That’s also
painful, you need to see a physician. Go to an orthopedic
known as a lying flye.)
surgeon (preferably one with sportsmedicine experience) or a
For the next exercise, lie on your side again, but this time
board-certified sportsmedicine-trained chiropractor (preferably
keep your upper arm against your side with your elbow bent at
one with shoulder and weight-training clinical experience).
90 degrees. Hold a light dumbbell. Start with your forearm
There are many causes of shoulder pain, and you need a
against your abdomen and then try to raise the dumbbell while
diagnosis to determine if you require additional tests or treatkeeping your upper arm anchored. Your forearm won’t rise very
ment before you resume training.
far, as it’s limited by the shoulder anatomy. Return the weight to
Once you return to training, you must strengthen the rotator
the starting position.
cuff muscles, stretch the posterior capsule (back of the shoulFor the third exercise put your arm down against your side
der) and strengthen the muscles around the scapula. The
rotator cuff consists of four muscles that originate on the shoul- as if you were trying to place your palm against the outside of
your thigh. Keeping your elbow straight, raise your arm a quarder blade (scapula) and insert onto the upper-arm bone
ter of the way (45 degrees), as if you were performing half of a
(humerus). Their function is to pull the ball down away from the
lateral raise. Once you reach the halfway point, lower your arm
roof of the shoulder (acromion) to provide enough room for the
back to your side.
ball to move. They also pull the ball to the center of the socket
Perform three sets of 10 reps and add weight on each
for optimum movement of the shoulder. If the rotator cuff is
exercise every two weeks or so. It’s not necessary to do high
strong, the ball slides forward less, and it can also help protect
reps. As you become stronger, you will actually lower the reps
the ball from stretching and pushing against the cartilage ring.
to six to eight. The rotator needs to be strong. It is often misSometimes, just strengthening the rotator cuff alone is enough
takenly said that it needs endurance. The cuff needs to be able
to enable a trainee to keep training without surgery.
to contract powerfully (for a small muscle group) at the time of
You can easily strengthen your rotator cuff with a few key
demand on the shoulder.
exercises. All three can be performed by lying on your side on
I’ll have more on shoulder rehabilitation, including stretching
a bench. The first is a rear-delt exercise. While lying on your
for weight trainees, in future columns. —Joseph M. Horrigan
side and holding a light dumbbell in your free hand, point your
Neveux \ Model: Michael Turcotte
If your shoulder is painful when you bench,
you need to see a physician.
Neveux \ Model: John Cowgill
TRAIN TO GAIN
SPORTSMEDICINE
Editor’s note: Visit
www.softtissuecenter.com for
reprints of Horrigan’s past
Sportsmedicine columns that
have appeared in IRONMAN.
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
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Catabolic Conclusions
Researchers have arrived at
contradictory conclusions concerning the effect of combining
aerobic exercise and weight
training. Most studies, however,
show that using a program that
features both types of exercise
results in blunted muscular
strength and size gains. The
reason: Aerobics and weight
training lead to physiological
changes in muscle structure that
more or less cancel each other
out.
For example, weight training
leads to increased muscle contractile protein synthesis, resulting in greater strength gains.
Aerobic exercise blocks that
effect. Weight training doesn’t
affect mitochondria, the structures in cells where energy is
produced and fat is oxidized.
Aerobics increases both blood
delivery to muscle (providing
oxygen to spark energy production) and mitochondrial activity.
To develop maximum fitness
and a favorable body composition, you need to do both kinds
Does bodyfat affect
muscle gains?
Does having excess bodyfat adversely affect muscular gains?
That was the focus of a recent study featuring 140 normal-weight
and 81 overweight men and women who hadn’t trained in more
than a year.1 They began training twice a week for 12 weeks, doing
one-arm biceps curls. The researchers adjusted the training responses for bodyweight and initial
values and found that the normalweight group had made better
gains than the overweight
group. That led them to
conclude that there’s
something about being
fat that hinders muscular
gains. —Jerry Brainum
1 Kelsey, B., et al.
(2004). Adiposity alters
muscle strength and
size responses to resistance training in healthy
men and women. Med
Sci Sports Exerc.
36:S352.
of exercise. The question is how to incorporate aerobics with weight training without sacrificing hardearned muscle.
A new study provides some hints.1 It featured 16
men who were divided into two groups, each employing a different style of aerobic exercise. One
group did high-intensity interval training, characterized by alternating periods of high- and low-intensity
exercise. The other group did the usual style of
steady-state aerobics, using the same level of intensity throughout the workout. The aerobic sessions
lasted about 40 minutes.
After completing the aerobic exercise, the subjects
did a weight workout consisting of bench presses
and leg presses, four sets of each with a weight equal
to 75 percent of their one-rep maximums. The men
rested various lengths of time after the aerobics—
four, eight or 24 hours. Leg press strength was compromised four and eight hours after aerobics but not
24 hours. Since the aerobics consisted of stationary
cycling, only lower-body strength was affected.
The study confirms conventional bodybuilding
practice that training legs on the same day you do
any type of aerobics affecting the leg muscles will
adversely affect leg strength. The obvious solution is
to wait a day after doing aerobics to train your legs.
—Jerry Brainum
1 Sporer, B.C., et al. (2003). Effects of aerobic
exercise on strength performance following various
periods of recovery. J Strength Cond Res. 17:638-44.
Neveux \ Model: David Dorsey \ Equipment: Powertec power rack, 1-800-447-0008
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Neveux \ Model: Tamer Elshahat
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More Wicked Muscle Size and Serious Blast-Off Power On Every Set
TRAIN TO GAIN
TRAIN WITH ZANE
Building the Body Proportion and symmetry over size
In the autumn of 1998 I began publishing
Building the Body Quarterly. It started as a
newsletter (you can read the first five issues
online at www.frankzane.com/newsletter.htm)
and has expanded into a small magazine, sort
of like the original Iron Man but without paid
advertising. I write the entire publication myself, with perhaps one or two articles by
people who know what they’re talking about.
It’s filled with information about training, nutrition and bodybuilding psychology—what you
might call a grass-roots publication—and
addresses the question: How can I develop a
Zane-like physique?
I consider my claim to fame to be twofold:
1) I’m the leanest guy ever to win the Mr.
Olympia (190 pounds at 5’9”); and 2) I’m one
of the few people ever to beat Arnold
Schwarzenegger (at the ’68 IFBB Mr. Universe). It’s precisely
because of those two facts that people come to San Diego to
train with me in my Zane Experience program. They can’t
identify with the 250-pound-plus physiques that fill the pages
of today’s muscle mags. My clients relate to the look I made
famous. Maybe they think it’s easier to attain (it ain’t), but it’s
certainly more healthful and more appealing to the general
public.
Now, if you’re looking to get big in a hurry, read no further.
I’m not going to tell you how to do that, and neither is my
publication. A quality physique takes a lifetime of training.
Quickly acquired muscle mass has no time to plan its precise
location on the body, and proportion can go quickly askew.
Some of today’s top competitors have made it to the international level in a half dozen years. I won the Mr. Olympia after 17
years of competing and at nearly the same
bodyweight I reached in my early 20s. What
changed were my proportions, definition and
body lines achieved by paying attention to little
details. My quarterly publication is all about
how I did that.
Building the Body is about how to train for
your entire lifetime. As I get older and continue
to train, I learn more about how to do it. I’ve
learned from the mistakes I’ve made. A theory
in psychology called Harlow’s error factor says
that every action you take is a mistake. It’s just
that successful behavior result in fewer errors
than behavior that produces undesirable results. One-trial learning is relatively error free.
The trial and error of everyday life and training
are filled with wrong choices, which, if we’re
smart, we learn from and so avoid the same
mistakes next time around.
I don’t know everything about training, but I know a hell of a
lot because I’ve been doing this for a long time. I know lots
about injuries because I’ve suffered many of them and have
learned how to treat and live and train with them. It pains me
to read some of the dangerous training techniques advocated
in the muscle magazines. I know where that leads because I’ve
been there. It’s gratifying to lift heavy poundages, to succeed
with more weight, but in the long run where does it lead? Many
of the strength athletes of the past have ended up with crippling injuries.
True, some bodybuilders are better equipped for heavy
training than others. Guys like Mike Mentzer and Casey Viator
were naturally strong, but even they suffered injuries. Others,
like Ronnie Coleman and Jay Cutler, keep getting stronger and
bigger. But the body does have a limit, and if you
continually use heavier and heavier weights, you’ll
PREVENTION
learn where that limit is. And it will be accompanied
by injury. Ask Dorian Yates—a great physique forced
into retirement by severe injury. Training to failure isn’t
a formula for success.
The truth, I’ve discovered, is that you don’t have to
Prostate cancer is the number-two killer of men, just after lung
lift enormous weights to grow muscle. By stretching
cancer. Several studies have shown that exercise appears to offer
between sets and using stricter form and slower
preventive effects against the disease. Most studies attribute that to a
negatives, I get an incredible pump. Numbers are an
decrease in testosterone induced by exercise (usually endurance
abstraction, especially to muscles. Your body doesn’t
training). Although the finding is still controversial, testosterone is in
know the absolute weight of what you lift; it recogfact linked to prostate cancer. Some scientists believe that testosnizes only how heavy it feels. Beginners and aging
terone itself isn’t the villain but rather dihydrotestosterone (DHT), the
bodybuilders need to realize how dangerous heavy
testosterone by-product linked to acne and male pattern baldness.
lifting in nonstrict form can be. Chances are you’ll
A recent study has identified another mechanism.1 Researchers
never look like the top contenders in today’s Mr.
found that exercise enhances the function of a gene in the body called
Olympia. Of course you can improve, but be realistic
P53, which is known to “kill” cancer cells by arresting the growth of
and train with intelligence. If that makes sense to you,
tumors and promoting their suicide, a process called apoptosis. When
consider subscribing to
the blood serum after exercise was analyzed,
Building the Body
apoptosis in prostate cancer cells increased by
Quarterly. And if it
371 percent, and P53 protein increased by 100
doesn’t make sense
percent. Thus, exercise can help prevent prostate
now, it will later.
cancer by upgrading the body’s innate defense
—Frank Zane
system against tumor formation.
—Jerry Brainum
Editor’s note:
1 Pak-Shan, L., et al. (2004). Exercise alters the
Learn more about
Zane’s unique goods
IGF axis in vivo and increases P53 protein in
and services by visiting
prostate tumor cells in vitro. J App Physiol. 96:450www.frankzane.com.
54.
Neveux \ Model: David Dorsey
Exercise and Cancer Answers
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©2009 Home-Gym.com
Growth Factors and Muscle Subtractors
Myostatin, IGF-1 and your workouts
on myostatin, the authors figured that myostatin levels would
decrease.
Both programs led to significant increases in muscular
growth of the biceps, but neither group showed any changes
in IGF-1. The researchers were measuring systemic release of
IGF-1, but it’s also produced locally in muscle, which appears
to account for its anabolic effects in muscle. The fact that
both groups showed significant decreases in myostatin levels
underscores other findings indicating that weight training is an
effective natural myostatin inhibitor. Interestingly, both
groups—those doing the isolated biceps exercises and those
training their entire bodies—had about the same decrease in
systemic myostatin.
Another study, involving rats as subjects, found that a highprotein diet leads to a greater production of myostatin.2 At the
same time that myostatin is increasing, so is another factor,
called myogenin, that would normally promote muscle
growth. The increase in myostatin cancels
the effects of myogenin. Does that mean
that those who seek more muscle growth
are working against themselves if they’re on
Heavier weights
a high-protein diet?
increase IGF-1
Not at all. The increase in myostatin is
release, and
only a small part of the picture. Other horthat’s a key
mones also increase. Exercise generates
growth factor.
localized production of IGF-1 in the muscle,
which would cancel myostatin’s inhibition of
muscular growth. In fact, protein is the
primary nutrient that regulates IGF-1 production.
Another study looked at two types of
exercise to figure out which produced the
greatest response of IGF-1 release.3 Twenty-four male subjects divided into two
groups exercised three days a week for six
weeks. The first group used pure strength
training with maximum muscular contractions. The second used a combination
program involving maximum contractions
and ballistic and stretch exercises.
Those in the strength-only group
showed a 475 percent increase in IGF-1
mRNA, while those in the combo group
showed a 135 percent increase. Since the
combo group used lighter weights, this
study shows that a primary impetus to
increased IGF-1 release is exercising with
heavier weights.
—Jerry Brainum
Myostatin, a protein discovered by scientists at Johns
Hopkins Medical School in 1997, prevents muscular growth.
It also works in concert with cortisol and thyroid hormones to
increase muscle catabolism, or the breakdown of muscular
tissue. Insulinlike growth factor 1 (IGF-1), so named because
it has a structure similar to that of insulin, provides potent
anabolic effects in muscle, just as insulin does. A condition
that favors a decrease in myostatin with an increase in IGF-1
should result in increased muscular growth—shouldn’t it?
A recent study examined the relationship between myostatin, IGF-1 and muscular growth.1 The study featured two
groups of men. Group one trained all the major muscles of the
body, while group two trained only their biceps. The subjects
trained twice a week for 10 weeks. The hypothesis was that
training a larger percentage of muscles would lead to greater
levels of growth-promoting hormones, in this case IGF-1. In
light of recent studies examining the effect of weight training
Neveux \ Model: David Dorsey
TRAIN TO GAIN
EXERCISE SCIENCE
1 Walker, K.S., et al. (2004). Resistance
training alters plasma myostatin but not
IGF-1 in healthy men. Med Sci Sports
Exerc. 36:787-93.
2 Koichi, N., et al. (2004). A high-protein
diet stimulates myostatin mRNA expression
in rat skeletal muscles. Med Sci Sports
Exer. 36:S193-S194.
3 Necker, A., et al. (2004). IGF-1
responses in human muscle to strength
training. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 36:S184.
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Whatever You Need—Wherever You Train™
Steve Holman’s
Critical Mass
dumbbell row puts the resistance at your torso’s midline
when your arm is straight. That’s the stretch position for
your midback. With a barbell your hands are fixed at
greater than shoulder width, so you never get a complete
stretch in your midback.
The fixed hand position on barbell rows lets you get a
complete contraction at the top of the movement if your
arms are angled away from your torso and you squeeze
your shoulder blades together. That’s hard to make happen on one-arm dumbbell rows because the unilateral
movement prevents complete midback contraction at the
top. Your torso rolls away from the dumbbell as you lift it
toward your torso.
Got all that? It’s a lot to grasp, so don’t feel bad if you
don’t. Let’s review. One-arm dumbbell rows are classified
as a stretch-position movement for the midback. Start with
your arm extended and your palm facing in; rotate your
hand so your palm faces back at the top. That should keep
your upper arm away from your torso and keep your midback muscles engaged rather than your lat. Bent-over
barbell rows are a contracted-position exercise for the
midback even though you get muscle synergy from the biceps. (You can use it as a midrange exercise as well.) Once
again, keep your arms angled away from your torso so you
can contract the midback muscles at the top.
To get the best of both worlds—stretch and contraction—
in one movement, you can do two-arm dumbbell rows with
your chest supported. You must, however, use a resistance
that lets you turn your hands to a palms-facing position at
the bottom and then rotate them to a palms-back position
at the top as you pull the ’bells out to your sides, forcing
your arms out and away from your torso and squeezing
your scapulae together. That can be hard to coordinate for
some trainees, so it may be best for those with weak backs
to do one exercise for stretch and one for contraction. Or
check the machine selection at your gym. Some rowing
machines, like Hammer Strength, start with the handles
narrow, and they move apart as you pull. That makes for a
great stretch-and-contracted-position combo exercise—
more controlled than the two-arm dumbbell row.
To help clarify, here’s a good full-range POF back routine that works each position with one exercise. (Note: S =
stretch, M = midrange and C = contracted.)
Rowing and
Growing
Q: Is the rowing exercise—barbell or dumbbell—a
contracted-, stretch- or midrange-position movement for the back?
A: Positions-of-Flexion protocol classifies one-arm
dumbbell rows (arm angled away from the torso) as a
stretch-position exercise for the midback. Your palm
should face in at the bottom of the rep, with the weight at
the centerline of your body for maximum stretch. Rotate
your hand so your palm faces back as you pull the dumbbell up, with your arm angled slightly away from your side.
If you row with your arm close to your torso, palm facing in,
it becomes more of a contracted-position exercise for the
lats, similar to undergrip rows or undergrip pulldowns.
Rotating your hand to a palm-back position at the top
should help prevent that.
Bent-over barbell rows place the midback in its contracted position; however, it’s a contracted-position exercise
with muscle synergy—biceps and lats help—so you could
classify it as either a midrange- or contracted-position exercise for the midback. (Confused? The routine that follows
should help clear it up.) Once again, your arms should be
angled away from your torso. If you pull your arms in or do
the movement with an undergrip, it becomes a contractedposition exercise for your lats.
You may be wondering why one-arm dumbbell rows can
be a midback stretch-position exercise but bent-over barbell rows can’t. Aren’t they pretty much the same movement? Yes, with one major exception: The one-arm
Lats
Wide-grip chins or pulldowns (M)
Dumbbell pullovers (S)
Undergrip rows (C)
2 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
2 x 8-10
Midback
Bent-over barbell rows (M)
One-arm dumbbell rows (S)
Bent-arm bent-over laterals (C)
2 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
2 x 8-10
Upper traps
Keep your arm angled away from your torso for more
midback stimulation. If your arm moves close to your
torso, your lats get in on the action.
Neveux \ Model: Lee Apperson
Forward-lean shrugs (S&C)
2 x 8-10
Some people can do behind-the-neck pulldowns without problem, which is what I used to recommend as a
midrange exercise for midback; however, that exercise can
cause rotator-cuff impingement in some. The bent-over
barbell row is a safer alternative for most—and even better
is a row machine with chest support. As mentioned above,
barbell rows do place the midback in its contracted position, but there’s also muscle synergy, so it can work as a
midrange movement too.
If your back isn’t a weak point, you can eliminate bent-
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Steve Holman’s
Critical Mass
Extending a set via X Reps and/or drop sets is the best
way to get at those fast-twitch fibers with more of an
endurance component.
over barbell rows from the above routine, as your midback
does get midrange work during lat exercises like pulldowns
and chins. Here’s an example of a streamlined back routine
for those who don’t need special focus on that area:
Lats
Wide-grip chins or pulldowns (M)
Machine pullovers (S&C)
2 x 8-10
2 x 8-10
Midback
Midrange covered with lat work
Chest-supported bent-over
dumbbell rows (S&C)
2 x 8-10
Upper traps
Forward-lean shrugs (S&C)
2 x 8-10
Q: I’m really impressed with the gains you and
Jonathan [Lawson] made using X Reps. My question
is, Will X Reps work for a superhardgainer like me?
A: If my results are any indication, the answer is yes. Remember, I’m a hardgainer, and X Reps did excellent things
for my size and muscularity in only one month—and that’s
after 30 years of training. Realize that the biggest reasons
someone is a hardgainer include low neuromuscular efficiency (below average nerve-to-muscle connections) and
endurance-oriented muscle structures (even many of the
fast-twitch fibers have more endurance). X Reps can improve both of those deficiencies significantly.
X Reps extend any set, so in that regard they provide a
slight endurance component, which is exactly what
hardgainers’ endurance-oriented muscles need. A standard
eight-rep set to failure, using a one-second-up/one-second-down rep speed, lasts 16 seconds (eight reps times two
seconds). That’s not enough tension time to trigger growth
in endurance-oriented muscles; however, you can extend
that by five to eight seconds with X Reps, taking the total
tension time of the set past the important 20-second mark.
Twenty seconds is considered by many scientists to be an
ideal time for maximum hypertrophic stimulation in any
one set. Why not just lighten the weight and do more reps
Q: I want to use X Reps on barbell curls, but I can’t
figure out the best spot. Where should I put the X
Reps when I can’t get any more full reps?
A: Barbell curls are tricky because there isn’t a whole lot
of resistance at the point where your biceps can generate
maximum force, which is just above the arms-extended
position. You want to pull the bar up to between the point
at which your arms are straight and the one at which
they’re bent at 90 degrees. The leverage shift due to the arc
on which the bar travels makes that awkward, perhaps
impossible.
I suggest you do cable curls with a straight bar. You can
do one set of barbell or dumbbell curls to failure, rest a
minute, then go to the low cable and rep out with curls
there. When you can’t get another rep, curl the bar up to
the X spot and pulse in about a five-inch range. It will be
much easier to incorporate X Reps on cable curls because
the cable provides continuous tension and better leverage
near that max-force-generation point.
Incidentially, that X spot, below the middle of the stroke,
is the point most stressed when you do cheat barbell curls.
A backward lean with a heave puts the pressure right
where the biceps are strongest. That may be the reason
Arnold got such great gains from cheat curls—he was overloading that critical sweet spot where maximum force generation occurs. X Reps enable you to do that without the
danger of heaving or jerking heavy weights. Visit www
.x-rep.com for more information, Q&As and e-newsletters.
New! The sharp black POF T-shirt with the original
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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 173. For
information on Train, Eat,
Grow, see page 83. Also visit
www.x-rep.com. IM
Neveux
Neveux
so you reach 20 seconds? Because that wouldn’t overload
the optimal spot in the exercise’s stroke for fast-twitchfiber overload. That’s why X Reps are so important. Short
pulses at that key spot force the muscle to continue firing,
even after nervous system fatigue. So X Reps extend the
tension time on your muscles—past the 20-second mark—
and gradually build better nerve-force capabilities, or
neuromuscular efficiency. You’ve just hurdled your way
past two hardgainer roadblocks to more mass with X Reps.
And if you combine drop sets with X Reps, you can get
an even better hardgainer-specific workout—extending
the set up to 40 seconds without overtaxing recovery ability, something hardgainers tend to have less of than average
trainees. We include X-Rep drop sets in many of the programs in The Ultimate Mass Workout for that very reason,
usually on contracted-position exercises. It’s a good, solid
muscle-building strategy, whether you’re a hardgainer or
not.
Steve Holman
[email protected]
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\ JULY 2006 181
Mr. Natural Olympia John Hansen’s
Naturally Huge
Blah to Built
Illustration by Chris Martinez \ Model: Tamer Elshahat
Q: My wife and I are big fans of the fitness world,
and we have some questions. How do normally built
people (male and female) go from slightly
overweight and out of shape to cut? Now, remember,
we have limited incomes, not a lot of time and four
children; however, my wife and I are in dire need of
more energy and better health. Can you offer some
advice? Also, for a male, are there any safe steroids?
I’ve been working out for years but can’t put on
mass. Now that I’m in my early 30s, I’m gaining
weight rapidly but in the wrong areas.
A: Changing your appearance through exercise and
nutrition is usually a gradual change as opposed to a drastic
one. The first step is to begin a program that focuses primarily on weight-resistance training so you develop muscle
tissue. That applies to both men and women. When you
add some appreciable muscle to your frame, you’ll dramati-
cally change the look of your physique, as well as your
metabolism, for the better.
In addition to your training program, you need to examine your nutrition. If you’ve been eating like the average
person, you need to make some big changes for maximum
gains. The diet you follow, even more than the training,
affects your appearance. You mentioned that you have a
busy lifestyle, but eating correctly and following a serious
training program don’t have to be life-altering. You just
have to become more organized. You’ll make the best
progress by eating six small meals per day as opposed to
two to three big meals. I always recommend eating three
whole-food meals along with three protein or meal replacement drinks. That’s the most convenient for most
people. It will probably be a big change for you, but you’ll
adjust fairly quickly if you’re consistent.
As for your training program, you can make outstanding
progress by training three or four days a week for 60 to 90
minutes each time. You mentioned that you’ve been working out for years but can’t put on any mass. The key is to
make each workout progressive. Push yourself to use more
weight, do more repetitions or make the workout harder in
some way. If you don’t demand more from your muscles at
each and every workout, they won’t respond and won’t
grow. The body doesn’t want to
change; it prefers to stay the same. If
you want bigger muscles or more
strength, you need to demand it
from your body.
In regard to your question about
safe steroids, there really is no such
thing. Anabolic steroids are powerful drugs, and, like all drugs, they
carry the possibility of side effects.
You’re only in your early 30s, which
is not old at all, especially in the
world of bodybuilding. Using the
right training and nutrition programs will let you get into fantastic
shape and continue looking great
throughout your lifetime—and you
won’t need any drugs. Don’t buy into
the notion that you’re getting old
just because you’re over 30. Chronological age is only a number, and
you’ll discover that following a
fitness lifestyle will dramatically
push back the clock when it comes
to changing your appearance.
You must demand more from
your muscles on a regular
basis, or they won’t change.
Q: I’m an amateur fighter
who wants to get stronger so
that my wrestling game will
improve, and I also want to look
good. Is it best to work each
muscle three times a week or
two times a week but more
thoroughly? I don’t see how I
can get big only working each
bodypart once a week, but if
you say it works, I’ll try it. I also
need to do other things while
training, since I’m an amateur
fighter. At the moment I do
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Mr. Natural Olympia John Hansen’s
Naturally Huge
eight to nine sets per bodypart—
four exercises, two sets each, or
three exercises, three sets each. I
use the most weight I can for
eight to 12 reps. I train each
bodypart once Monday through
Thursday and concentrate on
building strength and size. Then
on Saturday I do one exercise for
each bodypart, but I do that set to
failure while dropping the weight
until I can’t do any more. That’s
more for stamina and definition.
I’m working each bodypart two
times a week, but my muscles
aren’t getting extremely sore. Do
you have any advice for me?
Day 1: Chest and arms
Day 2: Thighs and calves
Day 3: Shoulders and back
Day 4: Rest
You also asked about why you’re
not getting sore from your weighttraining sessions. That tells me your
muscles have adapted to your workouts. If you increase the intensity
(more weight or more reps with the
same weight) each time you train,
you’ll probably get sore; however, you
may not wish to get too sore due to
your other activities. I have a friend
who competes in judo, and he had to
cut back on the intensity of his weight
training because he can’t practice
judo when his muscles are extremely
sore.
Remember to take all of your training into account when you design a
weight workout. Even if you’re getting
enough rest for each bodypart, you
have to look at the stress that you’re
putting on your body in your daily
workouts. The martial arts training
and the cardio cut into your recuperation, so you might have to weight
train less often than I’ve recommended here. Give it a try and see how it
works.
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
A: It sounds as if you’ve got a pretty
busy schedule with your martial arts
training and cardio in addition to the
weight work. You must take that into
account when designing a bodybuilding program.
You mentioned that you’re training
for strength and size during the week
and for stamina and definition on the
weekend. You can’t train for muscle
definition, as that depends on the
amount of bodyfat over the muscles.
Definition comes from a good nutrition plan. As for muscle stamina, you
can achieve it through weight training, but I’m sure you’re developing
muscular endurance (as well as overall stamina) through your extensive
martial arts training.
I was a big Bruce Lee fan when I
was younger, and I remember that he
used weight training in his workout
program. Bruce weight trained for
more practical purposes than developing his muscles. He was concerned
with building strength and power to
increase his martial arts skills.
Lee did a limited number of basic
exercises, using weights to strengthen
the areas of his body that would make
him more powerful when he punched
or kicked an opponent. He was careful
not to overdevelop his muscles because he didn’t want to limit his range
of motion or flexibility. He did a lot of
isometric exercises with weights to
develop his tendons and power.
If you’re using weight training to
build more muscle mass and strength,
you can probably train each bodypart
more often than once a week. A good
routine would be a three-dayson/one-day-off schedule. Since you’re
using a limited number of sets for
each bodypart, I think the workout
sessions can still be fairly short, and
you should develop more muscle
mass and strength with that program.
Here’s how I suggest you split your
body:
John Hansen
[email protected]
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EAT TO
LOW-CARB DIET
Carb Blocking
Although still a matter of fierce
contention among scientists, lowcarbohydrate diets appear to be the
most effective eating plan for the majority of people seeking to lose excess bodyfat. The consensus, based
on most recent studies, is that on a
calorie-by-calorie basis, people lose
more fat when they eat fewer carbs
than they do on either lowfat or reduced-calorie diet plans. On the
other hand, recent long-term studies,
lasting more than six months, show
that the weight loss on various diets
is similar.
Frequent dieters say that low-carb
diets are easier to follow, since they
feature more fat and protein, which
are potent appetite suppressors.
From a bodybuilding standpoint,
getting more protein helps prevent
lean-tissue loss.
Even low-carb diets require
willpower,
A hill of beans? Not so fast; new studies
suggest they may work—for certain carbs
however. What would make low-carb
dieting easier is some kind of substance that enabled you to eat more
food with relative impunity.
Some research shows that supplements known as carb blockers may
fill the bill. Back in the 1940s scientists discovered that white kidney
beans contained a protein that
blocked the activity of alpha-amylase,
a digestive enzyme that breaks down
starchy carbohydrate foods, such as
bread, pasta, potatoes, rice—even
beans.
Alpha-amylase begins to work in
the mouth, where parotid glands secrete salivary alpha-amylase in response to starchy carbs. It converts
the longer-chained starch into the
simple sugar maltose. But since food
remains in the mouth only briefly, that
initial process accounts for only about
5 percent of total starch digestion.
The major digestive activity occurs
in the upper intestine, where pancreatic cells squirt far larger
amounts of
alphaamylase. By
the time
starch
reaches
the lower
portions of
the small
intestine, it’s
been converted into glucose,
the most elemental sugar and the
only type that circulates
in the blood. The idea
behind carb blockers,
originally known as starch blockers (a
more accurate term, since they only
work on starch), was to nullify the
effect of alpha-amylase, thereby
inhibiting the absorption and uptake
of starch-based carbs.
Starch-blocking supplements first
appeared on the commercial market
in the early 1970s but soon fell out of
favor. They did work as advertised
outside the body, in a test-tube environment, but they were too weak to
show any kind of effectiveness in the
human body. Researchers at the
Mayo Clinic synthesized a far more
potent version. It was stable in the
hostile environment of the gastric and
intestinal areas, which enabled it to
reach the site where alpha-amylase
degrades starch in the upper intestines.
The Food and Drug Administration
ordered the removal of starch blockers from commercial sales in 1983,
based on research indicating that the
products didn’t work as advertised.
Recently, though, the Mayo Clinic
work of nearly 30 years ago resurfaced, a result of the renewed popularity of low-carb diets, and the more
potent bean extracts again appeared
on the market.
An initial study of the new carb
blockers showed that 1,000 milligrams of the extract could block
2,250 starch calories, an amount
equal to a pound of pasta or an entire
loaf of bread. The new extract survived passage through the formidable
barriers of the gastrointestinal tract,
retaining 70 to 80 percent of full
potency. It acted only on alphaamylase, not affecting any other
digestive enzymes.
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GROW
Nutrition With a Get-Big Mission
Subsequent studies, nearly all of
which were sponsored by the primary
company distributing the improved
bean extract, had impressive results.
In one experiment human subjects on
the carb blocker showed 57 percent
less starch absorption than those
taking a placebo or inactive substance. Other studies indicated a
lower glucose response, pointing to
decreased carb uptake from starchbased meals.
It appeared that the carb blockers
had finally been perfected, but the
supplements still provoked serious
criticism. Some pointed out that
starch-based carbs aren’t the primary
cause of obesity; the true culprit is
simple sugars, which provoke a huge
insulin release, particularly when not
packaged with some form of fiber.
Excess insulin not only promotes
bodyfat synthesis but also inhibits fat
oxidation while promoting hunger,
leading to a vicious cycle of more
calorie intake.
Starch-based carbs were formerly
thought to be just like other complex
carbs, which were considered the
healthiest carb form because their
structure required longer digestion
time and provoked far less insulin
release. While that’s true for most
forms of complex carbs, the advent
of the glycemic index—a measure of
how rapidly foods reach the blood—
showed that not all of them act the
same way in the body. The faster the
carb gets into the blood, the greater
the release of insulin.
The glycemic index exposed some
complex carbs as nothing more than
disguised forms of simple sugars,
entering the blood as rapidly as
simple carbs. Among those that
turned out to be high-glycemic, or
rapidly absorbed, were pasta, baked
potatoes, bread and white rice. Tak-
ing a carb-blocking supplement prior to eating such
foods should blunt the high
insulin response that would
normally follow. The net effect
should be greater fat loss.
That’s precisely what a few
initial studies confirmed. The
problem was that most did
not get published in reputable
medical journals, and they
were sponsored by marketers
of carb-blocking supplements. That didn’t mean that
the studies were tainted, just
that they didn’t meet scientific
standards.
Adding to the problem were
inflated claims for the new carb
blockers. Some ads didn’t mention
that the supplements blocked only
starch-based carbs, leading unwary
consumers to believe that they
blocked all carbs. Since that wasn’t
true, those who stuffed themselves
with simple-sugar foods after using
carb blockers would conclude that
the supplement was just another
ripoff.
The hyperbole eventually attracted the attention of the FDA. On
October 22, 2004, the FDA sent
warning letters to several companies that market carb blockers,
cautioning against the inflated
claims for the products and indicating that no proof of effectiveness
backed up such claims. The wording of the letters suggests that the
FDA is basing its warning on the
original starch blockers of the
1970s—which didn’t work as
advertised.
The solution is simple. The companies that make and distribute the
new bean-based carb blockers
need to sponsor a double-blind,
placebo-controlled study and
The companies that make and
distribute the new bean-based
carb blockers need to sponsor a
double-blind, placebo-controlled
study and publish in a reputable
medical journal.
publish in a reputable medical journal.
If the study shows that the carb
blockers work as advertised, that
should get the FDA off their backs. It
may also behoove the companies to
revert to the former name, “starch
blockers,” which more accurately
reflects the function of the supplements.
In order to work properly, carb
blockers must be taken 10 to 15
minutes prior to a meal containing
starch or during the meal itself. The
supplements are specific for the
alpha-amylase enzyme and won’t
adversely affect the uptake of other
nutrients. By the way, undigested
starch is a favorite delicacy of intestinal bacteria. You’ll recognize that by
the increased level of intestinal gas.
Eating additional sources of fiber,
however, should keep things moving
along nicely.
—Jerry Brainum
BOOKS
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(#266) by Dick
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181 pgs
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More than 850 photos and anatomical
line drawings.
800 pgs
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Real stories in
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119 pgs
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163 pgs.
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Technique and training for athletic muscular training.
A HOME-GYM
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335 pgs
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Eat to Grow
C H E AT DAY
Sweet
Salvation
Calcium builds bones
and enhances muscular
contraction.
ANTI-AGING
Swallow Your Pride
Certain vitamins and minerals can make you stand taller and age gracefully
It’s no secret that our food supply contains fewer vitamins and
minerals due to depleted soil and the use of pesticides. Cooking also
destroys vital vitamins and minerals. That’s especially critical to our
middle-aged and older population, as the immune system weakens
with age. Here are a few specific supplements you
may want to consider if you’re 50 or older:
Calcium. Get at least 1,200 milligrams a day.
It prevents bone loss and lessens the chance of
fractures. (Bonus: It’s a big player in muscle
contraction.)
Vitamin D. The recommended daily intake
was recently raised to 1,000 international
units per day. That amount is especially important for people 50 to 70, as it’s also essential for bone health. Lack of vitamin D has also
been linked to cancer, diabetes and heart
disease.
Vitamin B12. About one-fourth of the people 60 to 69 years of age have some B12
deficiency. It’s important for energy and a
healthy metabolism
—Becky Holman
Feed your sweet tooth and
get ripped too
Dieting can be a challenge to those
of us with a sweet tooth—which includes just about everyone. You can
get through only so many meals of
chicken or fish and broccoli before you
start salivating at the thought of candy,
cookies, ice cream and other foods
that will surely sabotage your fat-loss
goals. Normally, your two choices
would be to suck it up and deal with
the suffering or give in to temptation,
satiate your need for sugar and immediately wallow in guilt. Thanks to the
miracles of modern artificial sweeteners like Splenda and Nutrasweet, we
now have a third option.
In the freezer section of your grocery story you can find sugar-free Popsicles and Italian ices, even ice cream.
There’s sugar-free hard candy—even
chocolates that taste like the real thing,
only without all the insulin-spiking
sugar. If you must have a cookie or a
brownie, you can find sugar-free versions of those too. Two things to keep
in mind, of course, as you indulge in
these seemingly guilt-free treats, are
fat content and overall calories. Some
of them, particularly the ice cream and
cookies, may be devoid of sugar yet
packed
with fat.
And all
calories
count,
which
means
that if
you eat
more
calories
than
your
body
needs,
the
excess will be stored as fat. As long as
you’re conscious of those key points,
however, feel free to cheat with artificially sweetened goodies.
—Ron Harris
Editor’s note: Check out Ron
Harris’ Web site, www
.ronharrismuscle.com.
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226 pgs
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Complete shoulder rehab and
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140 pgs
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Summary of three
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224 pgs
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The story of Bill
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291 pgs
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© 2009 Home-Gym Warehouse
Eat to Grow
EATER’S DIGEST
Keep Bugging Me
Important critters in your digestive
tract for less stomach irritation
Life can be miserable for people who
suffer from irritable-bowel syndrome, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, urinary
tract infections or eczema. Medications
help some, but in addition, probiotics
can help. Probiotics are the good bacteria, such as L. acidophilus and B.
bifidum, found in yogurt.
To get the most probiotics and the
least sugar and fat, check yogurt and
cultured-milk labels. In general, calorie
levels of 90 to 100 per six-to-eightounce serving means minimal carbs and
fat and maximum probiotics.
—Daniel Curtis, R.D.
WOMEN
EMS for PMS
Vitamins and minerals can
provide emergency monthly relief
As most women will tell you (sometimes
loudly), PMS symptoms aren’t something to
look forward to. Good news: Nutrients including calcium, magnesium and vitamin B6
can ease them. In one study of 500 PMSprone women, taking 1,200 milligrams of
calcium a day helped decrease mood
swings, depression, irritability and bloating
by 50 percent. Taking 200 milligrams of
magnesium a day helped relieve water retention and mood swings, according to several
British studies. Vitamin B6 can alleviate
PMS-related depression, especially if it’s
taken in combination with magnesium. To
avoid serious side effects, take no more than
50 to 100 milligrams of B6 a day.
—Daniel Curtis, R.D.
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
grams of the quickest-acting
bio-available protein from
hydrolyzed whey—extremely
fast protein for immediate
delivery—whey protein
concentrate, glutamine
peptides, arginine and 60
grams of carbohydrate to give
you the necessary insulin spike.
RecoverX
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RecoverX™ is the perfect
postworkout meal to kick your
muscle growth into overdrive!
©2009 Home-Gym.com
Eat to Grow
WARRIOR NUTRITION AND EXERCISE
Creatine Cred
Testing creatine’s credibility:
Why people react differently to it
in a metabolic pathway known as the
creatine/phosphocreatine shuttle system.
When under extremely high demand for
immediate energy, however, such as
during heavy resistance exercise, the
body is unable to operate that pathway
fast enough. Desperate for more energy,
the muscle is forced to accelerate glycolysis, which is the breakdown of
glucose. If the situation continues, lactic
acid, a by-product of carb metabolism,
will accumulate in the muscle tissues,
leading to immediate muscle fatigue.
Fast-twitch muscle fibers function
and grow differently from slow-twitch
muscle fibers. Type 2 fibers are stronger
and grow larger than type 1 fibers;
however, type 1 fibers are more efficient
at performing endurance exercise.
Because they depend on creatine
and carb fuel, type 2 muscle fibers are
programmed to use glycogen and
creatine more efficiently than slowtwitch ones, which can resist fatigue
without any dependence on creatine or
carbs.
Endurance athletes and beginning bodybuilders who wish
to benefit from creatine supplementation should first perform a
few weeks of heavy resistance training or any exercise that
involves high intensity, such as wrestling, boxing or sprinting.
After six to eight weeks of intense
training the body adapts, thereby
increasing its capacity for using creatine.
The hue of your fruits and
Keep in mind that creatine works in
vegetables is important
synergy with carbs. While carbs
enhance creatine assimilation (via
insulin activity), creatine spares glycogen reserves in the muscle. What that
means in practical terms is that taking
creatine with carbs will more likely
help boost performance more than
creatine alone.
—Ori Hofmekler
It’s widely known that different people react
differently to creatine supplementation.
Creatine helps improve muscle mass and
strength in some individuals but not in
others.
Recent studies reveal that creatine’s
varying effects aren’t just coincidental. In
Canada, researchers at the University of
Alberta, found that people who have a high
percentage of type 2 muscle fibers, such
as bodybuilders, respond better to creatine
loading than those with a low percentage,
such as long-distance runners.
Type 2, or fast-twitch, muscle fibers,
are responsible for physical activities that
involve strength, speed and velocity. People who have a high percentage of type 2
muscle fibers generally do better in sports
that involve anaerobic exercise such as
heavy resistance training.
Creatine availability profoundly affects
the performance of fast-twitch muscle
fibers. Phosphocreatine, the active form of
cellular creatine, can generate ATP much
faster than any other energy-releasing
pathways can work, including glycolysis or
oxidative phosphorylation. Evidently, cellular creatine plays a
critical role in providing the instant energy required for fast and
strong muscle actions.
Under normal conditions the body recycles its own creatine
FOOD FIGHT
Color Me Healthy
Rule of thumb: The more
colorful the produce, the
more antioxidants and phytonutrients it will contain.
That means more cancer
protection. Go for dark,
leafy greens, like spinach.
Choose romaine lettuce
instead of the iceberg variety. Carrots are better than
celery, and yams are better than white potatoes.
—Becky Holman
Editor’s note: Ori Hofmekler is
the author of the books The Warrior
Diet and Maximum Muscle & Minimum Fat, published by Dragon Door
Publications (www.dragondoor.com).
For more information or for a consultation, contact him at ori
@warriordiet.com,
www.warriordiet.com or by phone at
(866) WAR-DIET.
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
amino acid that supercharges muscle
cells with carnosine.
Red Dragon
120 capsules
$29.95
©2009 Home-Gym.com
Eat to Grow
ANABOLIC DRIVE
Remade Gatorade?
Added ingredients make a better sports drink
You know the great rivalries: the Yankees versus the Red Sox, the Cowboys
vs. the Redskins, the Democrats vs. the
Republicans and Gatorade vs.—wait,
Gatorade really hasn’t had any competition. Until now. In the sports-drink category, it’s basically a bunch of me-too
products that tout the same old cocktail:
water, sugar, sodium, potassium. Good
stuff—definitely better than water—but
they’ve had their day. Now it’s a new day.
Enter the world of sports drinks with
protein. Yes, in a head-to-head contest,
Gatorade was bested by the competition.
It happened in a study done by James
Madison University scientists. They compared Gatorade with protein-filled rival
Accelerade. They determined whether
Reformulated sports
endurance-cycling performance and
drinks are making
postexercise muscle damage were
exercise waves.
changed when the subjects drank a carbohydrate-and-protein beverage or a
carbohydrate-only beverage.
Fifteen male cyclists rode to exhaustion,
the second ride subjects performed 40 percent longer with
followed 12 to 15 hours later by a second ride to exhausthe protein beverage than with the carb beverage—44
tion. The subjects drank the beverages every 15 minutes
minutes vs. 31. Peak postexercise plasma CPK levels, a
during exercise and then immediately after exercise. The
measure of muscle damage, were 83 percent lower among
beverages had the same carbohydrate content, but there
those who received the protein drink.
were 20 percent fewer calories in Gatorade.
If the Gatorade people were smart, they’d have a
What happened?
Gatorade plus protein version. But I guess that might kill the
In the first ride subjects rode 29 percent longer with the
brand identity. My suggestion? Go with the sports drink with
protein beverage than the carbohydrate-only beverage. In
protein.
—Jose Antonio, Ph.D.
FOOD FACTS
RECOVER RX
Micro-Wave
Say bye-bye
to nutrients
One study showed that microwaving broccoli decreased its nutrition components more than 97 percent,
and it lost about 40 percent of its vitamin C. If you have
to microwave, do it at the lowest possible temperature
and for shorter periods of time. Better yet, steam your
veggies. That reduces nutrients by only 10 percent.
—Becky Holman
Deep Sleep
For better recovery
Quite often athletes tell
me that they have a
difficult time falling asleep
when they’re training
extra hard. They’re simply
wired from a stimulating
workout. I often suggest
purchasing a bottle of
magnesium-calcium
tablets (usually called
mag-cal) that have a ratio of twice as much calcium as
magnesium and a bottle of 1,000-milligram vitamin C
tablets. About 40 minutes before bed take two mag-cal
tablets and one 1,000-milligram C—and a multimineral
capsule, too, if you have them. (Minerals do good things
for your body while you’re asleep.) The mag-cal will
facilitate sleep and the C will fill your night with dreams.
Since dreaming is believed to be therapeutic, you’ll wake
up mentally and physically refreshed.
—Bill Starr
From the IRON MAN PRO Style Store
20th ANNIVERSARY
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This is the
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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
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•Bodypart Bloodbath for Super Size
•Monster Arms: Torching Your Tri’s
•Time-Bomb Training
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•Drop the D Bomb for Bigger Bodyparts
•Pre-Ex vs. the Post-X Mass Jack
•Less Training, Big Gaining: The Truth
(You can
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It’s exciting
stuff! You’ve
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at building eye-popping bi’s. See issue 03/04/05.
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To read free sample issues, visit
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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 &
Research Center, where there’s more than 50 years of
training experience to get you growing fast! Here are a
few of the latest editions’ titles (online now):
Train, Eat,
GROW
Muscle-Training Program 66
From the IRON MAN Training & Research Center
It was back in the April Õ02 issue of IRON
MAN that Jerry Brainum reported on a
study we all shouldÕve taken note of. It
showed that blocking blood flow to a muscle increased strength dramatically (Journal of
Strength and Conditioning Research, 15:362366; 2001). The researchers applied occlusion
to the subjectsÕ forearms by placing a bloodpressure cuff on their upper arms for two minutes. The cuff was then removed, and the
subjects did wrist curls. Results: Those who had
their blood flow impaired prior to exercise
showed a 20 percent strength increase over the
subjects who didnÕt use the blood-pressure cuff.
Yes, 20 percent! (On a bench press thatÕs like
going from 300 to 360 in one workout.)
Now we get word from Rob Thoburn, an
IRON MAN contributor and muscle-science researcher, that heÕs been corresponding with
Japanese scientists who have been experimenting with occlusion techniques and getting dramatic size increasesÑas in big muscle gains. In
ÒScientific Muscle Building 2, which begins on
page 84, Thoburn reports that Takashi Abe,
Ph.D., got a 7 percent increase in cross-sectional area of the quadriceps in four months with
standard training, but when he used occlusion,
he got an 8 percent increase in cross-sectional
areaÑin only two weeks! ThatÕs right, slightly
better results but in one-eighth the timeÑtwo
weeks as opposed to 16 weeks. Wow!
LetÕs do the mathÑand be conservative. An 8
percent increase in quad size each monthÑ
rather than every two weeks, which is what the
researchers gotÑtimes 12 months, and you
could almost double your quad mass in one
year. The downside is that youÕd have to throw
out all your pants.
Model: Steve Holman
by Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson • Photography by Michael Neveux
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Why does blocking blood flow
produce such spectacular increases
in muscle size and strength? It’s got
to be from the incredible rush of
blood to the bodypart once flow
resumes. According to Brainum’s
report, scientists have suggested
that the huge rush of blood can
produce everything from upgraded
release of heat shock proteins to
alterations in muscle calcium
metabolism, which enhances contraction, to greater recruitment of
fast-twitch muscle fibers.
Needless to say, all of that got us
very excited, until we realized that
using a blood-pressure cuff or a
tourniquet above the working muscle isn’t very practical (how are you
going to stop blood flow to your
pecs?). Then we realized something
that got us excited all over again:
Similar, safer occlusion effects can
occur with standard exercises.
Think continuous tension. Ah-ha!
Perhaps we can get close to replicating some of those amazing gains
without putting rubber bands all
over our bodies.
Keep in mind that when you
contract a muscle, you force blood
out of it little by little. So if you keep
the muscle engaged long enough as
you pump out continuous-tension
reps, you’re essentially occluding
blood flow, especially near the end
of a set, when the blood is flushed
out. You know that burn you get on
the last few reps of leg extensions?
It’s partly because the quad muscles
are screaming for blood (oxygen)
because they’re in a constant state
of tension during that exercise—
blood is getting squeezed out of the
muscles on every rep.
You may be thinking, “But most
people use leg extensions in their
quad routines, so why aren’t they
getting 8 percent increases in size
every two weeks?” Answer: Part of
the reason is that right when the
most occlusion is occurring—near
the end of a set—they stop. It’s a
simple case of terminating sets too
soon—when you can’t get any more
complete reps—and that severely
limits occlusion effects. Remember,
each rep forces a little more blood
out of the muscle, so the most occlusion occurs at the end of the set.
That’s one reason X Reps, or
power partials at the end of a set,
Train, Eat, Grow / Program 66
work so well at creating new mass
and strength—they increase occlusion, even on the big compound
exercises like bench presses. In fact,
here’s something to think about:
You’ve probably read about properly
setting up for bench presses by
squeezing your shoulder blades
together as you thrust your rib cage
up. The reason that works so well is
that it can create continuous tension on your pecs, if you do it right,
and occlude blood flow to the muscles. If you don’t set up properly,
your front delts take most of the
stress off your chest near lockout,
as your chest sort of caves in and
you lose pec tension and occlusion.
The result: less size and strength
stimulation for your pecs. Interesting!
And how about the
occlusion/warmup connection?
Most bodybuilders use a fairly
quick cadence on warmup sets, not
locking out completely. In other
words, they use continuous-tension
warmup sets, which occlude blood
flow. That causes more blood to
pool in the target after each
warmup set. Studies show that a
warm muscle can contract better
than a cold one—up to 20 percent
better, in fact (hey, isn’t that the
exact amount of strength increase
researchers got in the first occlusion
study we mentioned?). So occlusion
during warmup sets may be key in
getting as much blood in the target
muscle prior to your work sets as
possible. Proper warmup sets, with
occlusion, help induce maximum
size and strength stimulation on
your work sets. (The pieces of the
mass-building puzzle are really
IRONMAN Training & Research Center Muscle-Training Program 66
Workout 1: Chest, Lats, Triceps, Abs
Smith-machine incline presses
Incline cable flyes
Superset
Smith-machine incline presses (X Reps)
Incline dumbbell presses
Wide-grip dips
Cable flyes (middle)
Wide-grip dips (X Reps)
Flyes (X Reps in bench-press position)
Pulldowns
Machine pullovers
Chins (X Reps)
Undergrip machine rows
Undergrip rope rows (X Reps)
Lying extensions
Pushdowns
Superset
Lying extensions
Close-grip bench presses (X Reps)
Superset
Cable pushouts (drop set)
Hyper dips (nonlock, then X Reps)
Hanging kneeups
Superset
Hanging kneeups
Incline kneeups
Tri-set
Ab Bench crunches (drop set)
Twisting crunches
Bench V-ups
1 x 8-10
1 x 20
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 20
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 20
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 20
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 15
1 x 10
1x8
1 x 8(6)
1 x 10
1 x max
Workout 2: Quads, Hams, Gastrocs, Abs
Hack squats
Leg extensions
Hack squats (X Reps)
Sissy squats (X Reps)
Smith-machine squats or leg presses
Leg curls
Smith-machine squats or leg presses
Superset
1 x 8-10
1 x 20
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 20
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1x9
Hyperextensions (X Reps)
Leg press calf raises (X Reps)
Hack-machine calf raises (drop set;
X Reps)
Superset
Seated calf raises (X Reps)
Machine donkey calf raises (X Reps)
Low-back machine
1 x max
2 x 20, 15
1 x 12(8)
2 x 12
2 x 12
1 x 8-12
Workout 3: Delts, Midback, Biceps, Forearms
Dumbbell upright rows
Forward-lean laterals
Superset
Rack pulls (X Reps)
Dumbbell W presses (X Reps)
Superset
Incline one-arm laterals (X Reps)
One-arm cable laterals (X Reps)
Bent-over laterals (drop set)
Nautilus rows
Bent-arm bent-over laterals
Nautilus rows (X Reps)
Behind-the-neck pulldowns (X Reps)
Barbell shrugs
Cable upright rows (X Reps)
Dumbbell curls
Cable curls
Cable curls (X Reps)
Concentration curls (drop set)
One-arm dumbbell spider curls (X Reps)
Superset
Incline hammer curls
Rope hammer curls (X Reps)
Forearm bar (overgrip)
Superset
Reverse wrist curls (X Reps)
Dumbbell reverse wrist curls (X Reps)
Forearm bar (undergrip)
Aftershock superset
Wrist curls (X Reps)
Behind-the-back wrist curls or
dumbbell wrist curls (X Reps)
1 x 8-10
1 x 20
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8(6)
1 x 8-10
1 x 20
1 x 8-10
1 x 10
1 x 20
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 20
1 x 8-10
1 x 8(6)
1x9
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 20
1 x 12
1x8
1 x 20
1 x 12
1x8
most compound exercises,
the first as a straight set and
the second with X Reps
tacked onto the end. We’ve
stuck with that because that’s
how we got the amazing
gains during our one-month
X-periment. You’ve no doubt
seen our before and after
photos. (In fact, you may be
sick of seeing them.) If you
haven’t, go to www
.x-rep.com, and you’ll see
why we’re such fanatical
believers in X Reps. We’re
hoping this new wrinkle will do
even bigger and better things for
our physiques.
We’ve decided to try placing a
high-rep set of an isolation exercise,
or contracted-position movement,
between those two sets so we get an
occlusion uptick before our X-Rep
set. Obviously, the high-rep exercise
Models: Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
Cable curls can
provide biceps
occlusion for a
blast of new size
and strength.
starting to snap together now.)
All of that research and dot connecting has spurred us to completely revamp our routine for some
exciting occlusion experimentation—and, from what we’re experiencing already, some spectacular
new gains. As you saw last month,
we’ve been doing two work sets for
must have continuous tension for
heightened occlusion.
Let’s take upper chest as an example. We use Smith-machine
incline presses as our compound
exercise and incline cable flyes as
our contracted-position, continuous-tension (occlusion) upper-pec
movement. First, warm up on your
big exercise with two progressively
heavier sets. Do them nonlock style
if you want to produce some occlusion before your first work set.
Now it’s time to get busy. Do one
heavy all-out set of Smith-machine
inclines for eight to 10 reps. Drive to
full lockout, as this is not for occlusion. It’s more to prime your nervous system for optimal force
later—on your X Rep set. (Note: On
the abbreviated routine on this
page we have one or two sets listed
for this first exercise; if you think
you have low neuromuscular effi-
ITRC Program 66, Abbreviated Home-Gym Routine: Monday Through Friday
Workout 1: Chest, Lats, Triceps, Abs
Incline presses
1-2 x 8-10
Incline flyes (bottom two-thirds of stroke only) 1 x 20
Incline presses (X Reps)
1 x 8-10
Wide-grip dips or bench presses
1-2 x 8-10
Flyes (bottom two-thirds of stroke only)
1 x 20
Wide-grip dips or bench presses (X Reps)
1 x 8-10
Chins
1-2 x 8-10
Dumbbell pullovers (bottom two-thirds of
stroke only)
1 x 20
Chins (X Reps)
1 x 8-10
Close-grip bench presses
1-2 x 8-10
Kickbacks (top two-thirds of stroke only)
1 x 20
Close-grip bench presses (X Reps)
1 x 8-10
Hanging kneeups
1-2 x 10-15
Ab Bench crunches or full-range crunches
1 x 20
Incline kneeups (X Reps)
1 x 10-15
Workout 2: Quads, Hams, Gastrocs, Abs
Squats
Leg extensions or nonlock hack squats
Squats (X Reps)
Sissy squats (X Reps)
Leg curls
Superset
Hyperextensions (X reps)
Seated calf raises
Hyperextensions (X Reps)
1-2 x 8-10
1 x 20
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1-2 x 8-10
1 x 20
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1-2 x 15
1 x 25
1 x 15
1 x 8-12
Workout 3: Delts, Midback, Biceps, Forearms
Forward-lean laterals
Dumbbell upright rows (X Reps)
Dumbbell presses (drop set; X Reps)
Bent-over laterals (drop set; X Reps)
Bent-over rows or chest-supported
dumbbell rows
Bent-arm bent-over laterals
Bent-over rows or chest-supported
dumbbell rows (X Reps)
Barbell shrugs
Close-grip upright rows (X Reps)
Barbell or dumbbell curls
Spider curls
Barbell or dumbbell curls
Concentration curls (X Reps)
Incline hammer curls
Reverse curls
Reverse wrist curls
Dumbbell reverse wrist curls (X Reps)
Wrist curls
Dumbbell wrist curls (X Reps)
1-2 x 8-10
1 x 20
1 x 8-10
1 x 8(6)
1 x 8(6)
1-2 x 8-10
1 x 20
1-2 x 8-10
1 x 20
1 x 8-10
1-2 x 8-10
1 x 20
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 20
1 x 8-10
1 x 20
1 x 10-12
1 x 20
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.
ciency, you may get better results
doing two initial sets.)
Rest one minute, or as long as it
takes your partner to do his or her
set, and then go to the cable
crossover machine for some serious
occlusion on incline cable flyes.
(You could also use a pec deck
machine with your arms high on
the pads.) Take a weight that makes
you hit failure between 15 and 20
reps, each one squeezing more
blood out of your pecs. Keep tension on your pecs throughout the
set. You must maintain tightness in
the target muscle. It should burn
like crazy at the end of the set as
your upper pecs are running on
empty—and screaming for oxygen.
That’s a good indication that occlusion has occurred. Now to take
advantage of it.
Rest another minute, feel the
blood rushing in, and then go back
to the Smith machine. Crank out as
many reps as you can on the inclines with the same weight you
used on your first set. When you
can’t get another full rep, do X Reps,
or partial pulses, just below the
midpoint of the stroke (that will
give you key fast-twitch fiber activation—and some extra occlusion).
If you push even close to failure
on those three or four sets, you’ll
feel a throbbing fullness in your
pecs. You also will have stimulated
an incredible number of muscle
fibers. You upped the anabolic
stimulation with occlusion and the
X Reps added to that exponentially—from more fast-twitch fiber
activation to semistretch overload,
which has been linked to hyperplasia, or fiber splitting.
We think occlusion has a lot of
potential for both size and strength
increases. Apparently, Ronnie Coleman, the current Mr. Olympia, does
too—or at least he has a gut feeling
that continuous tension before big
compound moves does something
special. Check out his quad routine.
He does high-rep sets of leg extensions prior to launching into his
heavy compound quad work, 20 to
30 reps on each blood-wringing set.
Is he using extensions for occlusion
to achieve even more freaky mass
and strength? We think he’s on to
something.
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 173. 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
Scientific
MUSCLE
Building 2
From the Lab to Your Workouts
ob Thoburn enjoys pestering
scientists all over the world with
questions on the muscle-building process. HeÕll call them,
send e-mail, send a carrier pigeonÑ
whatever it takes to get answers to his
questions. And we encourage him by
showcasing what he learns in IRON
MAN. If youÕre like us, youÕll be riveted
by what the sharpest minds on the
planet have to say about hypertrophy
(see, we know scientific words too).
Illustration by Christian Martinez
by Rob Thoburn • Photography by Michael Neveux
Scientific MUSCLE
Model: John Cowgill
Is a lot of
muscle size
caused by
water
retention
that comes
from
increasing
the blood
flow? Even if
it’s only
partially
responsible,
that makes
the pump an
important
element
during masstraining
cycles.
Scientific MUSCLE Building 2
Force vs. the Pump
If your muscles couldn’t generate
force, you wouldn’t be able to lift
weights. In fact, you’d be about as
mobile as a cucumber.
The more force your muscles
generate, the more weight you can
lift. Further, many scientists feel
that force generation (a.k.a. tension) per se plays a critical role in
stimulating your muscles to hypertrophy; that is, the more force you
make your muscles generate, the
more likely they are to grow.
But not all scientists feel that
way. Some say metabolic factors are
involved; others talk about hormonal factors; still others refer to a
combination of factors.
Then there is the world you and I
live in, the gym. Check out the
training styles of legendary Serge
Nubret, who did 40 sets for chest, or
massive Jay Cutler, for example. Or
just think about how long bodybuilders have praised the musclebuilding virtues of the pump.
Yes, there’s a good deal of realworld evidence to suggest that if
you pump your muscles with as
much blood as possible during your
workouts, they’ll get bigger.
Could there be different kinds of
hypertrophy? Maybe certain types
of training (e.g., where the objective
is to generate very high levels of
force) produce one type of hypertrophy, while other types of training
(e.g., where the objective is to
achieve the best pump) produce
another type. Or maybe different
training methods can produce the
same type of hypertrophy via different biological mechanisms?
Or maybe I’ve been smoking
something. Boy, this muscle-building stuff can be confusing. Let’s go
to the scientists:
“You have sparked an interesting
conversation here,” said Troy Hornberger, Ph.D., of the Department of
Bioengineering at the University of
California, San Diego. (Hornberger
worked in the lab of muscle hypertrophy expert Karyn Esser, Ph.D., at
the University of Illinois; Esser is
now at the University of Kentucky.)
“In my opinion, there are two types
of growth-promoting stimuli. One
we probably all agree on is tension;
however, I also think that there is a
metabolic component to the
growth-promoting stimulus of
resistance exercise. My basis for
that argument comes simply from
comparing the physiques of powerlifters to bodybuilders.”
The fact of the matter is that I
haven’t been smoking funny
cigarettes. My brain is just crowded
with muscle-building-related
queries, most of them unanswered.
That’s why I try to unload them on
scientists all over the world, something I talked about in the first
installment of “Scientific Muscle
Building” [December ’04].
Gary Kamen, Ph.D., a professor
in the Department of Exercise Science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, recently published a
great review article on neuromuscular aspects of strength development in Research Quarterly for
Exercise & Sport. I asked him about
the observation that many bodybuilders seem to be able to build
bigger muscles by doing the following, a reliable method of getting a
great pump:
•Lift moderate loads to the point
of temporary muscular failure.
•Perform multiple sets for each
muscle or muscle group.
•Rest relatively briefly between
sets.
He replied in a personal communication:
“If you take a look at the mass of
articles on the effects of resistance
training on muscular strength, I
think you’ll begin to see the impact
of large forces.
“I believe the reason moderate
loads are effective in increasing size
is due to the effect on capillarization, rather than hypertrophic effects. There certainly is
considerable hypertrophy with
moderate loads, but most of muscle
size is water from the blood flow,
and muscle has great capacity to
increase blood flow. I believe this
accounts for the muscle size increases you see with moderate
forces.
“Remember, too, that when moderate forces are lifted to failure,
you're eventually lifting very high
loads at failure, and these very high
Model: Derik Farnsworth
Scientific MUSCLE
Some scientists believe the stimulus for hypertrophy is high force production with fatigue;
others believe it’s high force production while minimizing fatigue. It may be a combination.
loads certainly have an impact on
muscle fiber size and number.
Perhaps fiber splitting (to increase
muscle fiber size) is increased with
moderate loads. I’m afraid we know
very little about that.”
Time Under Tension vs.
Time Under Pump?
Water or not, a pumped muscle
looks good. I wish my muscles
could stay pumped all the time,
don’t you? But a pump may represent more than a short-lived cosmetic perk.
A pump is basically a muscle
swollen with blood. As your muscle
cells generate force, or contract,
during a set, blood vessels supplying the muscle are squeezed shut.
At the end of the set the muscle
relaxes and the blood vessels open
up wider than before. That allows
blood to enter the muscle more
quickly. If you lift a heavy enough
weight and don’t rest too long between sets, blood will eventually
accumulate inside the contracting
muscles. That causes them to become fuller in appearance.
Some of the water in the blood
leaves the blood vessels and enters
the space between muscle cells. It
also enters the muscle cells themselves, causing them to swell.
Swelling may serve as a
hypertrophic signal. Or it may not.
Back to the scientists:
“Muscle [cell] swelling by osmotically active agents is also linked to
hypertrophy. Amino acid transport
is definitely linked to muscle swelling, at least in culture. Peter Taylor,
who works downstairs, has published a number of articles on this.
Therefore, the swelling (and thus
the pump) might be beneficial.”
Henning Wackerhage, Ph.D.,
Lecturer in Molecular Exercise
Physiology,
University of Dundee,
Dundee, Scotland
“Unique features of high-volume
training would be greater glycogen
storage and capillary neoformation.
Glycogen is stored with water, so
increased glycogen storage can add
to muscle bulk. New capillaries
would add little bulk, particularly
when they are collapsed when the
muscle is inactive.”
Digby Sale, Ph.D.,
Professor of Kinesiology,
McMaster University,
Hamilton, Ontario,
Canada
“An interesting question. I do
always wonder what the stimulus
for muscle hypertrophy is…and
whether it is the need for high
force production with fatigue or
more force production while minimizing fatigue that works better—
in other words, if you are able to
support a muscle’s force-producing
capacity and maintenance by providing it with adequate blood flow
vs. creating an ischemic lowblood-flow environment under
which the muscle is asked to generate force. In the latter, the force
production will rapidly decay, and
it will require recruitment of more
motor units to lift the same
weight.… I think that having to tap
into those motor units is definitely
an essential requirement for hypertrophy, especially since those
are the fast fatiguable fibers that
get recruited last. Whether a lack of
oxygen and removal of metabolic
by-products enhances the stimulus
for muscle hypertrophy, I don't
know, but I would guess that a
critical question to ask is this:
Under which of the two conditions
does muscle hypertrophy occur to
a greater extent or faster…high
blood flow during the lifting and
after, only after or neither during
Scientific MUSCLE
nor after?”
Michael Tschakovsky, Ph.D.,
Associate Professor,
School of Physical and Health
Education,
Queen’s University,
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Model: Tamer Elshahat
“The molecular mechanisms
triggering and maintaining muscle
hypertrophy are not clear. There is
scientific evidence for stretching
and tension. Likely, metabolic byproducts also have a role. There is
experimental animal evidence of
free radicals as inducers of muscle
adaptation (maybe also for hypertrophy). This will also explain the
findings with ischemic exercise and
the need to accumulate sets without much rest in between. I also
agree with your idea about fiber
swelling (it works to induce muscle
glycogen synthesis); it could work
by causing stretching.”
Jose Calbet, Ph.D.,
Department of Physical
Education,
University of Las Palmas de
Gran Canaria,
Canary Island, Spain
An increase in blood flow to working muscles may
cause greater hypertrophy due to more exposure of
anabolic hormones to their receptors on muscle fibers.
“I think that a very important
consideration in muscle growth is
blood flow. During exercise,
blood vessels within the
muscle dilate to allow
greater blood flow
through the muscle
in order to meet the
oxygen and glycogen demands of the
active fibers. This
increase in blood
flow is the pump
phenomenon that
lifters experience when
performing multiple sets
at a sufficiently high intensity
with short rest periods.
Now, my own personal opinion is
that the increase in blood flow may
cause greater hypertrophy due to
more exposure of anabolic hormones to their receptors on muscle
fibers. It is known, however, that the
anabolic hormones are extremely
potent (i.e., a very small amount of
hormone released into the bloodstream can have dramatic effects
on the target tissue). Thus, the time
of exposure of the hormone to its
Scientific MUSCLE
Model: Will Harris
Increasing
the number
of capillaries
in the muscle
may play a
role in
anabolism.
More
vascularity
means more
efficient
fueling and
function
during
intense work.
receptor is very crucial. If there is
an increase in blood flow through
the muscle, then the hormone has
more exposure time to its receptor,
and that could result in more hormone-receptor binding.
“Furthermore, we have consistently found that the delayed-onset
muscle soreness that is a characteristic of a large volume of eccentric
muscle actions is not necessary for
muscle fiber hypertrophy. DOMS is
due to microtrauma and is largely
caused by the eccentric component
of exercise. We have found the same
amounts of hypertrophy coming
from exercise that involves only
concentric movement, during
which there is very little microtrauma. Thus, hypertrophy is not a
function of muscle damage.”
Travis Beck, Ph.D. candidate,
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
“I am not a bodybuilder myself,
but it was my understanding that
there has been a change of training
methods, from long sets (10 to 15
reps) toward far shorter sets (four to
six reps). In terms of increasing
muscle mass, that makes sense to
me. Moreover, long, fatiguing sets
are ineffective because only the last
(most difficult) reps probably will
provide an adequate stimulus. That
said, bodybuilding is not only about
size. The number of blood vessels
in the muscle (capillarization) may
also be important because the more
small blood vessels there are in a
muscle, the better possibilities you
have to pump up the volume during competition. I can very well
imagine that for the improvement
of capillarization, it may be beneficial to do somewhat longer sets
(eight to 10 reps).”
C.J. (Jo) de Ruiter, Ph.D.,
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam,
Faculteit der
Bewegingswetenschappen
Occlusion Training and
the Pump
As I explained above, when you
lift weights, your muscles generate
so much force that they frequently
squeeze shut, or occlude, their own
blood vessels. When the muscles
relax, the blood vessels open up
even wider, causing blood to rush
in.
Dr. Takashi Abe is a professor at
Tokyo Metropolitan University’s
Department of Exercise and Sport
Science. He has conducted several
studies on occlusion, or Kaatsu,
training, which involves cutting off
blood flow to the working muscle
by application of a pressure cuff. He
has found this method of training
to be remarkably effective for increasing muscle size, both personally and with his study subjects.
Here’s what Dr. Abe had to say
(remember, English isn’t his first
language):
“Now, I am writing a Kaatsu resistance-training paper that I present
at ACSM 2004. I would like publishing it shortly.
In my experience, Kaatsu training is most effective technique for
stimulating muscle hypertrophy.
Using a classical resistance-training
method (80 percent of 1RM, three
sets, three times a week), my
quadriceps muscle cross-sectional
area increased 7 percent following
four months.
On the other hand, my quadriceps muscle CSA increased 8 percent following two weeks of Kaatsu
training (20 percent of 1RM, three
sets, two times a day). I hope you
will read this paper shortly.”
How does occlusion training
increase muscle size? One scientist
suggested to me that the application of a pressure cuff to the muscle
provides additional mechanical
tension that results in greater hypertrophy. Others postulate that
occlusion causes greater recruitment of fast-twitch cells, the muscles cells that have the greatest
potential for hypertrophy.
There’s another possibility. The
occlusion caused by the pressure
cuff may produce a greater pump,
ultimately leading to more muscle
cell swelling. I proposed this idea to
Dr. Abe, who commented:
“I am thinking about plasma
Scientific MUSCLE
Some scientists say that the pump may play a causal role in hypertrophy. A rush of
blood may heighten muscle energetics for more fiber activation.
volume shift from circulating blood
to active muscle. After Kaatsutraining session midthigh (or arm)
girth increased over two centimeters—just 10 minutes of training. Of
course, hematocrit increased after
training (43 percent to 50 percent).
This girth change is equal to 8 to 9
percent increase in thigh-muscle
CSA. I think the acute size change is
one of the important stimuli for
synthesis of contractile protein. We
have to do more research.”
Taking Science Into
the Gym
I’ve spent a considerable amount
of time corresponding with many of
the world’s leading research scientists on matters related to building
bigger muscles. One thing I can tell
you with certainty is that the mechanism(s) by which lifting weights
makes muscles hypertrophy is (are)
anything but clear.
Some scientists say that the
pump may play a causal role in
hypertrophy; the bulk of those I’ve
spoken with, however, feel that it
plays no such role.
But I’m stubborn—and, arguably,
a little ignorant too. I’ve seen too
many massive muscles built with
methods that seek to maximize
time under pump (as opposed to
the commonly cited time under
tension) to believe that the pump
has no role in muscle growth. And
what about those studies by Dr. Abe
and his colleagues? Thus, I bring
this article to a conclusion with
some suggestions for how you can
put some of the pump science
discussed here to powerful musclebuilding use in your own workouts.
R.O.B. Training. Occlusion
training is impractical and, in my
experience, rather painful. William
Kraemer, Ph.D., of the University of
Connecticut tells me that you can
get a similar effect simply by keeping rest periods brief, something I
espouse in R.O.B. (Rest Only Briefly)
training (see www.robthoburn.com
for details).
One of my favorite variations of
R.O.B. training is as follows: After
warming up thoroughly, increase
the load to 80 percent of your onerepetition maximum for the selected exercise. Complete as many reps
as you can. Upon reaching—or
coming within one rep of—failure,
pause just long enough that you
can squeeze out another one to
three reps. Repeat the process until
one minute has elapsed. After one
week increase it to two minutes. If
you’re not used to training like that,
one such set per muscle or muscle
group will be fine to start with.
The method I just described
makes your muscles generate high
forces in frequent bursts while
taking only very short “breaths” in
between. It produces a tremendous
pump and very pleasing increases
in muscle mass and muscle hardness.
Dr. Nao Ishii’s method. Dr. Nao
Ishii of the University of Tokyo has
studied occlusion training with Dr.
Abe. He’s also studied other methods. Here are his comments on
R.O.B. training, occlusion training
and his own method. Give it a try.
“Yes, I quite agree with you
where multiset exercises with short
interset rest period and middle
weight strongly stimulate muscular
hypertrophy. About this point,
please read Takarada, Y., and Ishii,
N., ‘Muscular Hypertrophy Induced
by Low-Intensity Resistance Training With Short Rest Period in Aged
Women’ (J. Str. Cond. Res. 16 123128: 2002).
“Many factors involved in resistance-exercise training may be
related to muscular hypertrophy.
These include mechanical stress,
metabolic stress, oxygen environment (reduction/oxidation stress),
changes in blood circulation within
muscle, heat stress, etc.
“We researchers do not yet know
(continued on page 98)
what is the
Model: Ronnie Coleman
Scientific MUSCLE
Ronnie Coleman’s mass training is a good example of occlusion and partial-range movement. For more on powerpartial training, visit www.X-Rep.com.
(continued from page 94) most impor-
tant among those factors for gaining
muscular size effectively and efficiently. My group, including Dr.
Takashi Abe, has studied occlusive
training for many years, and found
that moderate suppression of muscular blood flow during resistance
exercise with light load (even 20
percent 1RM) causes marked increase in muscle size. Probably
normal training with short rest
period shares some mechanism
with the occlusive training in that
muscular contraction stronger than
~40 percent MVC (maximal isometric force) suppresses the blood circulation within muscle, and
combination of such type of contraction and brief rest period causes
accumulation of metabolic subproduct such as lactate within muscle, enhanced secretion of growth
hormone and activation of local
growth factors such as IGF-I and
hepatic growth factor.
“Also, slow lifting exercise may
have a similar effect, at least to
some extent, for gaining muscular
size. On the other hand, isometric
exercise may be less effective in
production and accumulation of
metabolic subproduct than exercises with actual movements. These
notions are written in Ishii, N.:
Factors Involved in the ResistanceExercise Stimulus and Their Relations to Muscular Hypertrophy (in
Nose, H., et al., eds. Exercise, Nutrition and Environmental Stress.
Cooper, MI. 119-138; 2002).
“What is the best exercise method for gaining muscle size? would
be a kind of enormous question. It
may depend on age, training career
and genetic background.… In general, middle intensity, large volume
and short interset rest period are
essential, as you have suggested.
“Among other things, however,
the so-called descending method—
i.e., successive RM bouts with grad-
ually decreased weight are repeated
with interval of ~30s—is effective
for both beginners and competitors. One typical way is: Start with
85 percent of 1RM and go to failure,
and then use 70 percent of 1RM,
then 50 percent of 1RM. We have
shown that such a method is highly
effective in stimulating growth hormone secretion and gaining muscular size in the Journal of Strength
and Conditioning Research article
mentioned above. From my own
experience, it is true.”
X-Rep training. Have you
ever seen Ronnie Coleman
train? He moves the
weight up and down in
an abbreviated, or partial, range of motion
that hovers about the
point of peak tension.
By focusing on that portion of each movement
wherein the muscle is squeezing the hardest (both on itself
and its blood vessels) he achieves a
very pump-friendly workout and
trains key muscle fibers hard.
IRON MAN Editor in Chief Steve
Holman and Jonathan Lawson train
at the IRON MAN Training & Research Center, where they recently
developed X Reps, a method of
training that also employs abbreviated reps and specially selected
exercises. The X-Rep technique
provides a powerful occlusion effect, or blood-flow stoppage, like
the one that the Japanese
researchers found so effective. So
with X Reps you get a lot of hypertrophic components in any one set.
Check out the method at www
.x-rep.com. You’ll see the results in
Steve’s and Jonathan’s before and
after photos, taken one month
apart during the X-Rep-development experiment. As science is
proving, occlusion methods like X
Reps have a lot of potential to significantly increase muscle mass
quickly. (There is a complete occlusion workout that includes X Reps
and growth hormone activation in
the new e-book X-treme Lean, available at www.X-tremeLean.com.)
Editor’s note: Read plenty of
free articles, purchase Rob’s ebooks and join the R.O.B. Club
forum at www.robthoburn.com. IM
You’ll Never
Have
Great
Unless You Follow
These 10 Rules
I
t’s odd the way shoulders are something of an
afterthought for many bodybuilders. I think it has
a lot to do with the fact that the muscles used in
shoulder pressing are so similar to the ones used
in chest pressing that they play second fiddle. In fact,
I’ve seen many bodybuilders and serious weight
trainees work their chests and shoulders on the same
day, devoting an inordinate amount of their time and
energy to the pecs, then rushing through a few quick
Shoulders
by Ron Harris
Photography by Michael Neveux
sets for delts. Nothing looks sillier than a guy with a
big chest, decent arms and little width and thickness
to his shoulders. It’s a narrow, girlish look. Without
wide, round shoulders it’s impossible to have an exceptional physique. None of the bodybuilding greats,
from Grimek, Reeves, Park, Scott, Oliva, Arnold,
Haney, Yates to Coleman, would have appeared so impressive without powerful cannonball delts that captured the eye in nearly every pose.
Great Shoulders
absolute toughest to handle, requiring every last ounce of balance and
coordination. Two, I feel they do the
best job of distributing the weight
evenly between the three heads of
the deltoid muscle. Pressing a bar to
the front tends to involve more front
delts. Pressing behind the neck is
better but carries a risk of rotator
cuff damage over time. You can’t go
wrong with heavy seated dumbbell
presses in good form.
2
Overhead Presses
The ideal basic shape of a bodybuilder is the V-taper. And the top of
that V must include a manly set of
rugged shoulders along with wide
lats. Unless you’re going to wear
shoulder pads for the rest of your
life, you need to pack some meat on
those clavicles if you want to be
considered a real muscle man. It’s
not so tough to do. Just follow these
rules.
Become strong at
free-weight overhead presses.
Follow These 10 Rules
1
For big legs you squat. A big chest
comes from pressing and a monster
back from pulling a ton of weight.
And the shoulders also have one
simple movement that is the key to
overall mass: the overhead press.
Show me a man who can press 1.5
times his bodyweight overhead for
six to eight good reps, and I guarantee that that man will have big
shoulders. Trying to add size to your
shoulders without doing presses is
like trying to drive cross-country
with your emergency brake on. In
other words, it will take you forever,
and you’ll end up kicking yourself in
the ass for being so stupid. There
are many useful machines for
pressing, but I recommend that
you use them only occasionally for
variety or when preexhausting.
Free weights are the hardest tool to
use, which you should know by
now translates into greater effectiveness and faster results. Machines also give you a false sense of
strength. Pushing up a weight stack
of 300 pounds may make you feel
powerful, but it pales in comparison to the true power of pressing a
300-pound Olympic bar or a pair of
150-pound dumbbells. The former
puts you in the category of pretty
strong for an average gym rat; the
latter sets you in an elite group of
truly strong men.
My preference is dumbbells, for
several reasons. One, they’re the
Model: Darrell Terrell
Freeweight
presses
build
shoulder
mass.
Don’t turn
overhead presses
into inclines.
One very common form error you
see all the time with overhead pressing is an excessive backward lean. A
slight lean back is permissible, but
take it too far, and you effectively
turn your shoulder press into an
incline press for upper chest. Theoretically, you’re already doing those
when you train your chest. You want
the weight to be traveling in a
straight vertical line up from the
shoulder joint so that the delts do
the work. Leaning back puts the
resistance over your upper chest.
The reason for this form flaw in
nearly every case is that the lifter is
using more weight than he or she
can actually handle. The shoulders
aren’t strong enough to move the
weight on their own power, so lifters
unconsciously recruit the powerful
pecs to assist. Since it’s pretty tough
to see that lean when looking at
yourself straight on in a mirror, be
aware of where your butt is. It
should be touching or almost
touching the seat back behind you.
Or, if you’re lucky enough to have a
form-Nazi wife, as I do, you can just
listen for her to say, “What is that
sh*t? Sit up straight, and do it right!”
(Love ya, babe!)
Lateral Raises
Preexhaust your
delts every so often
by doing laterals
before presses.
Great Shoulders
I’ve mentioned that many bodybuilders train chest after shoulders.
Unless you’re one of those genetically blessed specimens whose
shoulders are great no matter what
they do or don’t do for them, that’s a
bad idea. The argument supporting
the chest-with-shoulders grouping
usually goes something like, “It’s
good because your shoulders are
already warmed up from chest, and
you don’t need to go so heavy.” That
argument sucks ass, in my not-veryhumble opinion.
Your shoulders aren’t warmed up
after you train chest; they’re
knocked out! Heavy flat, incline and
decline presses all take a significant
toll on the anterior delts and triceps,
fatiguing them just as much as they
tire the pecs. It’s not that you don’t
need to go heavy on shoulders after
chest; it’s more like you can’t. And as
we established in rule 1, you must
get strong on overhead presses to
build shoulder mass.
The answer is to prioritize shoulders by training them first on a
different day from when you train
chest (more on that in the next
rule). You can pair them with biceps, triceps, both bi’s and tri’s, or
odds and ends muscle groups like
calves and abs. By training your
delts when you’re fresh, you enable
yourself to use more weight, apply
greater intensity and, I assure you,
glean far better results than you
have been.
Smith-Machine Presses
Cables provide
continuous tension
and a new dimension
to your delt routine.
Cable Lateral Raises
Model: Will Harris
3
Prioritize shoulder training.
Upright rows are
an absolute mustdo exercise.
Barbell Upright Rows
4
Allow your shoulders to recover.
The shoulders are involved in
practically every exercise you do for
your upper body, and they’re easy to
overtrain. Think about it: The rear
delts get hammered indirectly on
back day, the front delts take a beating on chest day, and even biceps
and triceps work needs the support
of the deltoids. That’s why it’s important that you try to take 48 hours
between your shoulder and chest
workouts in particular and also
between shoulder and back workouts (the traps are involved in most
back exercises and shoulder move-
ments too). Hitting shoulders the
day before or after chest is especially counterproductive to gains. As
The Offspring sang a few years ago,
“You gotta keep ’em separated!”
Also, be conscious of overall volume; keep your total overall work
sets to no more than 12 to 15. If you
can’t get the job done with that, you
need to train heavier and harder.
5
Learn how to
perform lateral
raises correctly.
The lateral, or side, raise is a killer
movement for developing round
caps on your medial deltoids but
only if you do it right. Most people
Don’t lean back on overhead
presses; keep your torso upright.
Seated forwardlean laterals
may help keep
your form strict.
Model: Jay Cutler
Model: Jonathan Lawson
Seated Lateral Raises
Great Shoulders
Barbell Upright Rows
Overhead Barbbell Presses
Chinups are an
absolute mustdo exercise for
the back.
Neveux / Model: Dennis Newman
Neveux
Chinups are an absolute
must-do exercise for the back.
Great Shoulders
Bent-Over Lateral Raises
Model: Derik Farnsworth
Don’t
neglect your
rear delts.
They create
shoulder
roundness.
don’t. Usually you see guys heaving
and throwing the weights up like
they’re trying to flap their wings and
fly. Most times it’s because they’re
using dumbbells that are too heavy
for them. I have watched thousands
of bodybuilders train over the past 20
years, and I can count on one hand
the number I’ve seen who could use
perfect form with dumbbells weighing 50 pounds or more. Yet I see men
all the time using that much weight
with horrible form, and they’re crazy
enough to think that they’re actually
working their side delts hard.
The two-second solution is to
reduce the weight. You should be
able to raise the weight under control
and pause for a brief second at the
top to contract your side delts before
lowering slowly, slower than the
speed with which you raised the
’bells. No other part of your body
should be moving. If you’re doing a
little jump or hip thrust, your form
blows, and you need to fix it.
6
Preexhaust at
every fourth
workout, at least.
Pressing first in your shoulder
workout is a good strategy. It lets you
use the most weight on the most
important exercise. Eventually,
though, many lifters find that their
front delts and triceps are growing
ahead of their side delts. I suggest
that at least every fourth workout—
7
and more often if
your side delts are
really lagging—you
preexhaust the side
delts either by doing
your lateral raises
first before moving
on to presses or
performing preexhaust supersets of
laterals immediately
followed by overhead presses. You
might want to use
machine presses in
preexhaust supersets, as your ability
to balance heavy
weight overhead
will be temporarily
impaired.
Develop your rear
delts.
The posterior, or rear, delts are
without doubt the red-headed
stepchild of the shoulder complex.
Many lifters don’t train them at all,
or if they do, it’s usually a few halfeffort sets before heading to the
locker room at the end of the workout. It’s no surprise that very few
men have good development in the
rear delts. The solution is simply to
train them, and train them hard.
Either include three or four good
sets of rear, or bent-over, laterals
performed with dumbbells, cables or
a machine on shoulder day or at the
end of back day. They will grow if
you just train them regularly and
properly. If you look in the mirror
sideways and you’re lurching forward like a Neanderthal, you may
need to train your rear delts first on
shoulder day for a few months so
that they can catch up and also to
improve your Paleolithic posture.
8
Strengthen your
rotator cuff
muscles.
Nothing will derail your training
of both chest and shoulders like a
rotator cuff injury, as many of you
have unhappily learned firsthand.
Whether it’s happened to you once,
or you have yet to experience that
agony and frustration, the best cure
is prevention. Once or, preferably,
twice a week do rotator cuff exercises. Yes, the weight is light, the reps
are high, and it’s about as exciting as
waiting in line at Costco on a Friday
night, but it will strengthen those
critical muscles and help keep you
injury-free.
9
Change workouts
regularly.
I’ve written at least 200 shouldertraining articles based on the routines of the pros and top amateur
bodybuilders over the years, and I
have to confess they are almost
numbingly similar. Most of them do
some type of overhead press, lateral
raises and rear laterals for three to
four sets each of eight to 12 reps.
While that’s a pretty solid routine,
you can only follow it for so long
before your shoulders adapt to it and
no amount of further effort will bring
more growth. Change your exercises,
the order in which you do them, the
rep ranges you use and the speed
with which you perform your reps
from time to time. Keep your shoulders guessing, and they’ll continue
to have to fight to adapt, which will
result in growth.
10
Perform upright
rows.
I always had good shoulders, but
until I started incorporating upright
rows into my workouts about four
years ago, I never had those ridiculously round delts that almost don’t
look real. Upright rows done with
dumbbells (a favorite of Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson in their
X-Rep program) are extremely effective, as are upright rows performed
with a barbell and a slightly widerthan-shoulder-width grip. Do them
in addition to lateral raises—or in
place of them—every second or third
workout. If you haven’t been, you
don’t know how much round, full,
side-delt mass you’ve been missing
out on.
Next month I’ll lay down the rules
you need to know if bigger biceps are
on your wish list.
Editor’s note: Check out Ron
Harris’ Web site,
www.ronharrismuscle.com. IM
Condition
Magician
46-Year-Old Lee Apperson Reveals
How the Average Joe Can Transform
Himself at Any Age by David Young - Photography by Michael Neveux
ee Apperson has a reputation as one
of the most conditioned athletes in
bodybuilding. That’s pretty impressive
by itself, but when you consider his
age and his competitive history, it’s offthe-hook amazing!
That’s why I jumped all over the chance to
interview him for IRON MAN. As I’d just
turned 50 and had plans of getting in my
best shape ever for spring, I guessed that
Lee would be a great source of helpful
tips and inspiration. My guess was
flat-out accurate. Of course, I
already knew that he’s 46,
weighs 253 at 6’2”—and is
usually ripped.
L
46-Year-Old Lee Apperson
Condition Magician
“The conditioning
cycle requires lots of
sets and reps with
moderate weights.”
Lee Apperson’s Contest History
’84 AAU Mr. Auburndale, 2nd
’85 NPC Mr. Space Coast, 1st
’85 NPC Mr. Manatee County, 2nd
’86 NPC Central Florida, 2nd
’86 NPC Mr. Daytona, 1st
’87 NPC Seminole Classic, 1st
’87 NPC Mr. Florida, 8th
’87 AAU Mr. Tampa, 1st
’88 NPC Southern Natural, 1st
’88 NPC Southern Gold Cup, 6th
’88 NPC Southeastern Gold Cup, 2nd
’89 NPC Birmingham Championships, 1st
’89 Southeastern USA, 3rd
’89 Southeast Regionals, 1st
’90 Musclemania, San Diego, 5th
’91 NPC Junior USA, 2nd
’91 NPC Nationals, 15th
’92 NPC Junior Nationals, 10th
’92 NPC Ironman, 6th
’92 NPC Nationals, 15th
’93 AAU Mr. America, 2nd
’94 AAU Mr. America, 1st
’95 AAU Mr. America, 1st
’96 NABBA USA, 1st
’96 NABBA Universe, 8th
’97 NABBA Universe, 7th
’98 NPC Masters Nationals, 1st
’99 IFBB Masters Mr. Olympia, 9th
“Each year
you attempt
to hit a peak
of strength.”
DY: Can you help me,
Lee?
LA: In my 25 years of competition I’ve experimented with
different types of workouts,
and I’ve developed many ideas
that can help you take your
body to the next level.
DY: Sounds good, but
let’s start at the beginning. In developing a
physique for bodybuilding, how long does it
takes to build the foundation?
LA: Three to five years—
sometimes longer. In those
years you concentrate on the
basic exercises with free
weights. After that you should
cycle your yearly training.
DY: How does that
work?
LA: In a nutshell you train
three to four months focusing
on conditioning and basic
strength. Then you go three
months doing all strength
training. Next you go to a full
precontest bodybuilding routine for three to four months to
really shape up. Then you repeat the cycle, year after year.
Each year you attempt to hit a
peak of strength during the
power phase and a peak of
looking great during the precontest phase and a peak of
cardio fitness during the conditioning-and-basic-strength
phase. Years ago during that
phase I did 33 chins in a set.
On the second set I did 26. My
conditioning was superb at
that time.
DY: I’d say so. Tell me
about size and strength
training.
LA: That’s a long cycle purely because you want to go for
strength and size over an extended period. You stay on it
for months or years till you
max out on gains and go completely stale. You make very
small weight additions to the
bar on basic exercises like
squats and deadlifts, training
once or twice a week. I’m talking about very small increments—eight ounces to a
pound at most—so small, the
Condition Magician
There’s no doubt that once you get past 40, you have to pay more
attention to detail if you want to build muscle—things like better nutrition, joint care and energy conservation. No, I’m not talking about buying an electric car. I’m talking about making every set count toward
building muscle so you have more energy left for growth.
For example, extended sets are very important for the over-40 bodybuilder, as Lee Apperson says in his interview. He rests very little between sets and sometimes groups many exercises for the same
bodypart in a giant set, getting more work done in less time and going
for the burn. Searing the muscle with that type of training is key for us
old guys because research has shown that muscle burn can cause
growth hormone surges. After you hit 40, growth hormone is on a
downward spiral, so anything you can do to increase it will improve
your muscle-building and fat-burning potential. (Put away the blowtorch; I’m talking about an internal burn caused by lactic acid buildup
and oxygen deprivation.)
While Apperson’s techniques get the job done, I’ve found that a better, more efficient way to extend a set for me is with X Reps, a powerpartial technique we’re experimenting with here at the IRON MAN
Training & Research Center. By doing short five-to-10-inch movements
at the end of a set, right at the spot on the stroke where maximum force
generation is possible, you can get more fast-twitch-fiber activation;
semistretch overload, which has been linked to hyperplasia, or fiber
splitting; and muscle burn. (For more info visit www.x-rep.com.)
For example, on incline presses, when you can’t get another full rep,
lower the bar to a point between the midpoint of the stroke and the
bottom position. Now pulse and feel your upper chest firing for all its
worth. You should be able to do about six of those, which will trigger
some incredible
firepower. It’s usually
difficult to get a good
One month.
burn on compound
exercises, but X Reps
make that important
phenomenon happen whenever you
want it to.
The technique
works. It did amazing things for me in
Steve Holman, age 44, got incredible results in only only one month, and
I’m in my mid-40s.
one month after he started extending his sets with
No matter what
a burn-inducing power-partial technique.
your age, you should
give X Reps a test run on at least one set of a few exercises. You’ll be
amazed at the muscle-building, fat-burning results you get in a very
short period. I’m still stunned at the results I got with them.
—Steve Holman
Neveux
Lawson
Over-40 Muscle Building
Editor’s note: For more information on X Reps, including X Q&As
and past ITRC e-newsletters, visit www.x-rep.com.
“My all-time-favorite technique is
the extended set. I recommend it
over forced reps.”
change in weight is often imperceptible. After you break into this
schedule, you will find yourself
training at your maximum weights
for quite a period of time.
Let’s say you started at a 200pound bench for six reps. In six
months you’d be at a 230-plus
bench for six reps or more. In a year
you’d have a 300 bench. You can
really build up training like that, but
you have to recover fully between
workouts, or you won’t grow.
Sometimes you need a week of
rest after workouts. If you’re squatting hundreds of pounds for reps,
you’ll need that much time to recover and grow. Many people return to
the gym before growth happens.
That type of training is fun and
productive, but it’s very hard work
because you train with your max
weights and add eight ounces to a
pound each week for as long as the
cycle lasts.
DY: Can you be a little
more specific about the
training techniques used?
LA: Sure. Each month you start
off using weights that are moderate
for you. Train hard for the first week
with those weights but not to the
ragged edge. In week two increase
the weight and use techniques to
raise the intensity. Your reps should
be in the four-to-eight range. You
still hold back, and then in week
three you blast away.
Give the workout 100 percent!
Train till you drop. Train with all-out
focus and push hard! Those should
be the gut-busting workouts of the
month. If you can’t use heavier
weights, use techniques to raise the
intensity. In week four back off and
either rest totally or train moderately for four to seven days.
During this cycle you perform
basic exercises using heavy weights
and high intensity, resting two to
three days or more between workouts. Generally, you train each
bodypart twice every seven to eight
days.
The workout is designed around
these basic exercises: squats, deadlifts, rows, bench presses and barbell shoulder presses.
DY: What happens during
the conditioning cycle?
LA: That type of training requires
lots of sets and reps using moderate
Equipment: Powertec power rack, 1-800-447-0008
“The power cycle is built
around basic exercises.”
weights. You do two to five exercises
for each bodypart with lots of sets—
and do cardio daily, pacing yourself.
Then once a week you do cardio
twice in a day and really push yourself.
I don’t have a set training schedule during this phase or during the
precontest phase. I go into the gym,
and I train whichever bodypart I
feel like training. I never do the
same exercises for a bodypart
again—at least not in the same
order. For example, if I do dumbbell
incline presses during today’s chest
workout, I might not do them for
another month.
DY: What about the precontest phase? You’re known
for your tremendous condition onstage. What’s the first
consideration?
LA: Calories. The number of
calories you burn each day varies
depending on bodyweight, body
composition, metabolism and activity level.
More important than how many
calories you take in is what you eat.
You can’t carry muscle and get
ripped while eating junk food. If you
don’t eat clean for a long period of
time—months—you won’t lose the
fat and become truly ripped.
Many people have no idea how
many calories they require simply
to maintain their weight, and as a
result they tend to cut calories too
much when they attempt to lose
bodyfat. There’s a rule of thumb for
estimating how many calories you
burn at rest. For men: Add a zero to
your weight and then add twice
your weight. For women: Add a zero
to your weight and then add your
weight.
So if you weigh 175 pounds, your
expected resting calorie needs are
2,100 a day (175 becomes 1,750, and
Condition Magician
“More
important
than how
many calories
you take in is
what you eat.”
to that add two times 175, or 350,
for a total of 2,100).
That’s an estimate of what it
would take to maintain your weight
if you did nothing but vegetate. To
determine total calorie needs, you
have to add calories for general
activity and exercise. With your desk
job and workouts, you probably
burn half of your resting needs, or
1,050. That gives you a total of 3,150
calories (2,100 plus 1,050 equals
3,150). If you were engaged in a
regular aerobic exercise program,
you would require more calories. On
the average, walking or jogging a
mile takes about 100 calories.
As a general frame of reference,
you’ll be interested to know that,
according to the National Research
Council, the average woman (5’4”,
medium frame, not too thin, not too
fat) who does not exercise needs
1,600 to 2,400 calories a day to maintain bodyweight. The average man
requires 2,300 to 3,000 calories a day.
Find your calorie level, and maintain an eating journal, counting
your calories carefully. Start off with
a slight calorie deficit of 200 and
work with that as long as possible.
Several months of daily aerobics
and that slight calorie-deficit diet
will take off the bodyfat.
DY: How does your contest
diet work?
LA: Plan to diet for four to eight
months. Eat 30 grams of protein
every three hours, five or more
times every day. You should get
about one to two grams of protein
for each pound you weigh each day
over a minimum of five protein
meals throughout the day. Try to eat
three times before noon. Protein
shakes can help you achieve your
daily protein requirement.
Everything else you eat should be
clean complex carbs, such as brown
rice, corn, vegetables, whole-grain
oatmeal, pasta and fruit.
Drink water all day. It’s the best
fat burner I know. Drink, drink,
drink!
Eliminate dairy products in the
final months or weeks and replace
them with other protein sources
that are free of carbs and fats.
Limit your carbs to two to four
servings of 100 grams per day; that
is, between 200 and 400 total grams
of carbs a day. Eat all your carbs
before 3 p.m., getting the majority of
them early in the day. Make breakfast, midmorning and lunch—to a
lesser degree—the biggest carb
meals of the day.
I eat a lot. I don’t like being hungry. I’d rather eat an extra 500 calories a day and do an aerobic session
to burn it than be hungry. Amazingly, the more you eat clean, the more
bodyfat you’ll lose. The body does
not hoard fat when you’re eating a
lot and being active.
Keep fats as low as you can go.
There are fats in meats, nuts and
dairy products and many other
foods, so you have to be aware of
how much fat you’re taking in. I
recommend 50 to 100 grams a day.
And always take a protein-andcarb meal or drink within 30 minutes after you train—even if it’s at
night.
Eat salads and fibrous carbs daily.
They have almost no calories and
help your body stay healthy. You can
eat salads containing carrots, lettuce, spinach, cucumber, radish,
tomato, celery and other raw vegetables and even cooked green
vegetables in large quantities without any negative effects. Consider
them zero calories.
DY: Do you recommend
restricting certain foods or
food groups?
LA: Absolutely. Avoid juice, bread,
pasta and other simple sugars and
carbs. Fruit is okay with breakfast
(like a banana, orange or melon),
but I might eliminate it completely
during the last weeks and replace it
with a more complex carb like oatmeal. If you eat breads and pastas,
try to eliminate them the last month
(at least) before a show and switch
to other carb sources.
During the last month or weeks
eliminate sauces like ketchup, mustard, dressings, fake butters, flavored rices and so on as well. Also
eliminate protein shakes and replace them with solid-protein foods
like chicken or fish.
DY: Please describe a typical day of eating.
LA: Sure. This diet has 425 grams
of protein, 179 grams of carbs and
70 grams of fat:
Meal 1
“Do straight sets at one workout; then
the next time do all supersets.”
Egg whites
Oatmeal
Fruit
Protein shake
Meal 2
Filet mignon
Potato
Whole-wheat toast
Meal 3
Egg whites
Green salad
Protein shake
Meal 4
Grilled fish
Brown rice
Green vegetable
Meal 5
Egg whites
Oatmeal
Protein shake
Condition Magician
Meal 6
Grilled chicken
Egg whites
DY: Lee, do you have any
other tips?
LA: Yes. I mentioned this earlier,
but you need mix up the order of the
exercises. Do exercises that you aren’t
used to but that are similar to movements you currently perform. If you
usually do slant-board leg raises for
abs, switch to hanging leg raises.
You’ll feel a burn like it was your first
day in the gym.
Line up four exercises or more,
either all for the same bodypart or
different ones. Then go at it. Do one
exercise after another with no rest. I
love to train that way, and about 75
percent of all my training is some
version of the no-rest routine. Why
rest? I get bored waiting for a bodypart to recover enough for me to
work it again. I like to pound on a
part like legs by performing squats,
straight-legged deadlifts and leg
extensions as one giant set until my
legs are toast.
Another favorite is to do abs between sets of everything I do that
day. I’ll do 20 chins and rest my back
while I perform 25 hanging leg raises
in the Aborigional hanging sling
device. Then it’s back for 15 chins,
and so on. By the end of the training
session my abs are beaten like a rug.
Do straight sets at one workout;
then the next time do all supersets
with one exercise after another. Even
tiny changes will cause the body to
respond favorably.
DY: Do you have any other
favorite techniques?
LA: My all-time-favorite technique
is the extended set. It works great
because it can be used at any condition level during any phase of a cycle.
Let’s say you’re working leg curls. The
first five reps are easy, reps six
through 10 hurt, and rep 11 is almost
impossible. To avoid training to
failure—unless it’s your all-out peak
week—you stop your set and pause
for 20 to 60 seconds. Now continue
the set. Three reps go very easily. If
you’re not in good shape, stop. The
next three reps hurt, and if it’s not
peak week, stop there. If on the next
two reps your legs are screaming,
you stop. You can continue that way
for some time—extending the set.
One of my most painful routines
using that favorite technique involves shoulder presses. Do 15 reps,
then lower the weight to your waist
and switch to an undergrip and
perform 10 curls with that same
weight. Switch grips, get it up to your
shoulders, and press it 13 times. Your
arms will be burning now. Lower it
again and do 10 more curls and then
eight to 10 more shoulder presses.
Your arms will be on fire! I go as long
as I need to. If it’s an easy week, I still
do extended sets, I just don’t push it
as far. If it’s a hard week, I blast away.
I recommend this technique over,
say, forced reps, which I have always
found to be risky from an injury
standpoint.
DY: You are an animal, Lee!
Editor’s note: To learn more
about Lee Apperson’s training, visit
www.leeapperson.com. IM
Over-40
Muscle-and-Health Diet
Build Your Body
Through Middle Age
and Beyond
by Jerry Brainum
Over-40 Muscle-and-Health Diet
O
Those advantages may lead you
to conclude that bodybuilding
should be left to the young, but
nothing could be further from the
truth. The real advantages of lifting
weights occur as you age. While the
search for the fountain of youth
continues, most scientists agree that
the closest things to it are exercise
and diet. The human body operates
on a “use it or lose it” principle.
Aging people who don’t present
themselves with mental challenges
often wind up with the more serious
cases of mental degeneration. Those
who don’t exercise their muscles
may lose their ability to move.
The body can tolerate an impressive degree of insult, such as lack of
exercise and poor diet, until about
age 40. That’s when all the physical
and mental neglect begins to surface. Those who are out of shape at
40 often say they feel older than
their chronological age. The reverse
is true for those who engage in judicious exercise and diet. For them
the aging process seems to slow to a
crawl.
A key aspect of maintaining fitness and health with the passing
years is optimal nutrition. The same
principles that apply when you’re
young also apply when you’re middle-aged or older. You still need to
eat all required nutrients and avoid
foods that promote disease and
degeneration. If you ask scientists
who study aging about the best
nutritional technique for delaying
the aging process, many will tell you
calorie restriction. That’s proved
effective in a number of animal
species, where reducing calories led
to a slowed rate of aging and protection against most diseases associated with aging, including
cardiovascular disease and cancer.
The experts usually advise reducing
daily calories by 30 percent or more.
Despite the apparent success of
calorie restriction in animals, there’s
little evidence that such a stringent
eating plan works in human beings.
The first hurdle is that curbing calories to the extent demanded by a
typical low-calorie plan is apt to
lead to long-term failure, or what
medical pros call lack of compliance, in all but the most highly
motivated dieters. On the other
hand, proponents of calorie restriction bristle when it’s called a starvation diet, noting that while calories
are restricted, nutrients are not.
Reducing required nutrients along
with calories would lead to a shorter
life span.
From an exercise and bodybuilding perspective, restricted-calorie
dieting is a negative. That’s readily
apparent when you take a look at
those who have opted for the calorie-restriction lifestyle. Without
exception, they appear catabolic
and painfully thin. One proud proponent of the calorie-restriction
system flexes his arm in a Web site
photo, evidently unaware that his
biceps resembles a pea on a plate.
Some aspects of calorie restriction that are said to help delay the
aging process aren’t suitable to
successful muscle building at any
age. Restricting calories can decrease anabolic hormones, except
maybe growth hormone—but GH
alone isn’t associated with muscle
size. Prolonged calorie restriction
usually elevates cortisol, the primary catabolic hormone, and you don’t
get enough protein and fat to support anabolic hormone function
and muscular growth.
Recent studies show that the lifespan-related benefits of calorie
Build Your Body
Neveux \ Model: Clark Bartram
ne of the great
things about bodybuilding is that it’s
never too late to
begin. Recent studies show
that while the majority of
sports have physiologybased age limitations, you
can build and maintain
muscle with advancing
age. That’s not to say that
adding muscle isn’t easier
when you’re young. Those
who train in their 20s or
younger are at a distinct
advantage when it comes
to bodybuilding progress.
They have a more potent
release of anabolic
hormones, more complete
and rapid recovery from
workouts and the ability to
get stronger with less
chance of injury.
Build Your Body
A major advantage of keeping a close eye on carb
intake is that the aging process may largely be
based on resting insulin levels.
restriction accrue from decreased
cellular oxidation, especially in the
mitochondria, a part of the cell that
produces energy. The other beneficial aspect is less bodyfat, which
leads to less whole-body inflammation. That’s noteworthy because
most degenerative diseases of aging
have an inflammatory component.
Far from being the passive tissue it
was thought to be in the past, bodyfat acts like an endocrine organ,
releasing numerous substances that
have potent effects on health and
longevity. So the less bodyfat you
have, the greater your chances of
living to an advanced age.
If you’re over 40 and want to build
or keep your muscle, your primary
focus should be on maintaining
health and preventing diseases that
start in the middle years. That’s
clearly what differentiates older
bodybuilders from their younger
peers. The young often show little
concern for preventing disease. At
the height of their physical prowess,
they frequently turn a blind eye
toward the future. All that changes
when you turn 40. Even if you
choose to ignore the effects of aging,
they’ll soon become apparent.
Good nutrition, however, can
diminish or even slow many of the
effects associated with aging. That’s
why you need to know how to eat to
maintain and build muscle, as well
as provide a hedge against the physical and mental degeneration that
would otherwise inevitably ensue.
Start by taking stock of your present condition and setting your
goals from that perspective. For
example, if you have a close family
member who has type 2 diabetes,
your diet plan should focus on reducing bodyfat and getting nutrients that will promote insulin
sensitivity, including chromium,
biotin and most other vitamins and
minerals. You should avoid processed carbs and other simple sugars and focus on low-glycemicindex carbs that elicit the least release of insulin.
An exception to that rule would
be the intake of high-glycemic carbs
just after a workout. Research shows
that taking in a carb-protein ratio of
about 3-to-1 just after a workout
heightens insulin release, which
promotes anabolic action in muscle.
The greater insulin release not only
stimulates amino acid uptake in
muscle for increased muscle protein
synthesis but also activates the ratelimiting enzyme for muscle glycogen replenishment, which aids
workout recovery considerably.
A major advantage of keeping a
close eye on carb intake is that the
aging process may largely be based
on resting insulin levels. Too many
carbs, especially processed carbs
and bad sugars, such as high-fructose corn syrup, promote not only
an excessive insulin release and
subsequent bodyfat but also a pro-
cess called glycation, which increases deposition of sugars in connective tissue and other body proteins.
Most scientists think that’s what
causes the increased stiffness associated with aging. In diseases such
as diabetes, which involves disordered insulin metabolism and elevated blood sugar, the process is
more rapid, which is why poorly
treated diabetics age at a rate three
to five times faster than normal.
A few nutrients can retard or
blunt the glycation process, including lipoic acid, green tea, vitamins
C, E and B6, niacin and L-carnosine,
a complex consisting of a double
bond of the amino acid histidine.
Small amounts of alcohol also retard glycation. In fact, drinking a
glass or two of red wine, which
contains potent antioxidants called
polyphenols, has many health benefits.
One recent study showed that a
nutrient in red wine, resveratrol, not
only works against cancer and cardiovascular disease but also seems
to retard calorie-restriction-induced
aging. Before you go out and down a
bottle of wine, though, be aware
that the effect has thus far been
noted in yeast only. Also, excess
Alpha-linoleic acid
[in flaxseed oil] is an
overrated source of
omega-3s. Fish oils
are better.
alcohol intake leads to toxic effects
on all muscles in the body—including the heart.
Reaching age 40 also demands
that you eat the best-quality protein, including the usual bodybuilding staples of fish, chicken, lean
beef and eggs. Emphasize fatty-fish
sources, such as mackerel, salmon,
herring and halibut, which have a
higher content of omega-3 fatty
acids. Omega-3 fatty acids provide
numerous health benefits and also
appear to modulate the body’s inflammatory processes. Recent studies also show that a regular intake of
omega-3s helps maintain brain
function with age, and people with
the highest levels of omega-3 fats
during middle age show the least
amount of brain degeneration as
they get older.
The other type of essential fat,
omega-6, offers some health benefits and is a direct precursor of substances that build and maintain
muscle, such as prostaglandin F2A.
It’s available in relative abundance
in typical diets, but omega-3 is
considerably scarcer. That explains
the focus on omega-3 fat.
Those who cannot eat fish can get
supplemental sources of omega-3
fats. Some advocate the use of
flaxseed oil, which contains alphalinoleic acid, a precursor of the
active omega-3 fats EPA and DHA.
Research, however, shows low conversion rates of alpha-linoleic acid
into EPA and DHA, making it an
overrated source of omega-3. The
preferred supplemental form is fish
oils, which are higher in EPA and
DHA.
Saturated fat, found in meat and
other animal protein sources, is
often linked to cardiovascular disease. It doesn’t oxidize in the body,
but it acts as a substrate for the
increased production of low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol in the
blood. On the other hand, studies
show that only two types of dietary
fat help maintain testosterone levels
in the body: saturated and monounsaturated fat. Keep saturated fat
intake to no more than 10 percent of
total daily calories.
Far worse than saturated fat from
a health and longevity standpoint
are trans fats—fats that have been
structurally manipulated to extend
shelf life and prevent premature
Build Your Body
Scientists believe that some vitamins, like C, can help alleviate
joint problems caused by a process
called glycation.
spoilage. The body handles them
more or less as it does saturated fat;
however, unlike saturated fat, trans
fat lowers levels of protective factors
in the body, such as high-density
lipoprotein, which is a primary
factor in preventing cardiovascular
disease. Trans fats also promote
cancer and lead to muscle breakdown by interfering with the synthesis of normal eicosanoids
(substances made from fatty acids).
Trans fats, found in such processed
foods as margarine, shortening and
commercial baked goods, are usually identified on food labels as “partially hydrogenated oils.”
Monounsaturated fat, found in
olive oil and many types of nuts, is
considered a neutral fat in that it
doesn’t adversely affect cardiovascular health or synthesis of
prostaglandins, which are
hormonelike acids that have farranging effects in the body. If anything, food sources of
monounsaturated fat contain potent phenol compounds that provide antioxidant activity. That
explains why monounsaturated fat
is a cornerstone of diets linked to
increased longevity and freedom
from degenerative disease, such as
the Mediterranean diet. That diet,
by the way, along with the Paleolithic, or Stone Age, diet—both of which
Avoid trans fats. They
lower levels of
protective factors in
the body, such as highdensity lipoprotein.
have been discussed in IRON
MAN—constitute the two best yearround eating plans for maintaining
health and muscle. [Note: Watch for
an extensive feature on the Mediterranean diet in a future issue of IM.]
Studies of men over 40 engaged in
weight training clearly show a superiority of animal to vegetable protein sources. Animal protein has a
better amino acid balance and is
easier for the body to process, an
important consideration for those
over 40. For that reason, supplemental protein products should also
feature the highest quality sources:
a combination of the milk proteins
casein and whey.
Casein is a slow-acting protein
that promotes a gradual release of
amino acids over a seven-hour
period. That timed release sets off
an anticatabolic effect in muscle
that’s particularly pronounced if you
get the protein before sleep. The
other milk protein, whey, is a more
rapidly absorbed protein that peaks
in the blood and is gone after about
90 minutes. The rapid absorption
characteristics of whey lead to a
rapid release of amino acids that
favors increased muscle protein
synthesis. That’s especially useful if
you get the whey in a postworkout
or even a preworkout drink.
Protein synthesis becomes more
difficult as the body ages. Studies
that have compared eating several
small meals to one or two meals
show that eating smaller protein
meals at regular intervals, such as
Build Your Body
Neveux \ Model: Jeff Hammond
every 2 1/2 to three hours, promotes
increased muscle protein synthesis
in younger men and women. Studies of those over 40 show that eating
one or two larger protein meals
seems to work better than eating
smaller meals more often. Scientists
think the larger meals release a
greater amount of amino acids in
older people, and amino acids are
the key to promoting muscle protein synthesis. Unfortunately, the
subjects of the studies were sedentary people not engaged in resistance exercise. So the information
may not apply to those actively
involved in weight training.
Controversy surrounds the question of whether those over 40
should use soy products. Soy protein is inferior to animal protein
sources, such as casein and whey,
and acts like whey in that it’s rapidly
absorbed and metabolized. Studies
comparing the effects of soy and
milk proteins show little difference
from an anabolic standpoint. Soy
protein, however, has a greater
antioxidant effect after exercise
than whey does.
Ignore all the dire
warnings about the
alleged dangers of a
high-protein diet.
Small amounts of a soy protein product—say, 25 grams
a day—may discourage
prostate cancer and cardiovascular disease. Too much,
however, can mimic the undesirable effects of estrogen.
Soy contains active ingredients
collectively known as isoflavones,
which have many beneficial health
properties. In Asian countries, where
soy products are in wide use, people
average a daily isoflavone intake of
40 to 60 milligrams. Some studies
Recent studies show that
a regular intake of
omega-3s helps maintain
brain function with age.
show that soy guards against breast
and prostate cancer. On the other
hand, soy isoflavones are also known
as phytoestrogens because of their
structural similarity to estrogen.
That’s where the controversy kicks
in. While small amounts of a soy
protein product—say, 25 grams a
day—may discourage prostate cancer and cardiovascular disease, too
much begins to mimic the undesirable effects of estrogen, such as
water retention.
Ignore all the dire warnings about
the alleged dangers of a high-protein diet. A search of the medical literature regarding problems linked
to high protein reveals that all cases
involved people who had existing
kidney problems. Since the kidneys—along with the liver—are the
main organs that process protein, a
high-protein diet can cause trouble
when they’re not functioning properly. That doesn’t apply to those with
normally functioning kidneys. If
anything, one amino acid, L-arginine, may prevent the deterioration
in kidney function that often occurs
with advanced age. One theory is
that arginine helps maintain local
Neveux \ Model: Clark Bartram
Build Your Body
nitric oxide production in the kidneys, thereby maintaining optimal
blood flow.
Those over 40 typically complain
of joint pain resulting from exercise.
It may be due to arthritic changes in
joints over the years or from glycation. Nutritional supplements may
offer help: glucosamine sulfate
(1,500 milligrams daily) and chondroitin sulfate (800 milligrams
daily); MSM, 4,000 to 6,000 milligrams daily; and turmeric or curcumin, 3,000 milligrams daily. Like
the COX-2 inhibitor drugs that have
gained such a notorious reputation,
curcumin offers potent anti-inflammatory effects; unlike them, curcumin isn’t linked to heart attacks.
Curcumin also promotes the conversion of relatively inactive T4
thyroid hormone into the five times
more active T3 version, which helps
maintain metabolism and better
body composition, meaning less fat.
Flavonoids naturally found in
grapeseed extract inhibit the enzymes that degrade joint proteins.
Omega-3 fats also offer relief
through decreased production of
inflammatory mediators in joints.
Neveux \ Model: Skip La Cour
Build Your Body
About 75 percent of
Americans don’t eat
the recommended five
servings a day of
fruits and vegetables.
Green tea provides some joint protection through its antioxidant effect, known to be more than 50
times more potent than that of
vitamin E.
Perhaps the most vital component of nutrition for those over 40 is
eating functional foods and neutracueticals; that is, foods that contain such elements as flavonoids,
which help protect against degenerative diseases. One example is lycopene, a carotenoid found in
tomatoes and other red fruits and
vegetables. Studies show that lycopene works against prostate cancer and cardiovascular disease.
The foods that offer the most protection are fruits and vegetables.
The nutrients they provide include
fiber, flavonoids and polyphenols,
which are difficult or impossible to
get from supplemental sources.
The usual recommendation is to
eat at least five servings a day of
fruits and vegetables, with nine or
more servings being ideal. But
studies show that 75 percent of
Americans don’t eat even the minimal five servings a day.
Small wonder that cardiovascular disease and cancer continue to
be the major killers of Americans.
The only true antidote to such
diseases is to exercise and eat fruits
and vegetables. The older you are,
the more important it is, since the
onset of these diseases begins in
earnest at about age 40. The processes that initiate them, however,
start even earlier. As an example of
just how protective such foods can
be, a recent study showed that
eating the following in one meal,
termed a “polymeal,” can reduce
the risk of cardiovascular disease
by 76 percent:1
A little wine each day
can augment a healthy
diet. It contains antioxidants that have been
shown to reduce the risk
of cardiovascular disease.
Wine, 150 milliliters a day
Fish, 114 grams, four
times a week
Dark chocolate, 100
grams a day
Fruits and vegetables, 400
grams a day
Garlic, 2.7 grams a day
Almonds, 68 grams a day
Following the nutrition principles outlined here ensures many
years of successful training and
health maintenance for those past
40 and beyond. The aging process is
inexorable, but the quality of life is
largely under individual control,
with good nutrition and exercise
being the keys to a higher quality of
living.
1 Franco, O.H., et al. (2004). The
polymeal: a more natural, safer and
probably tastier (than the polypill)
strategy to reduce cardiovascular
disease more than 75%. Brit Med J.
329:1447-1450. IM
Heavy
Mike Mentzer’s
Heavy Duty Seminar
Part 6
Duty
>>> by John Little <<<
H
ere are more excerpts from the thought-provoking seminar Mike
Mentzer gave in Canada in November 1981. The audience included
fans as well as media representatives like Musclemag International publisher
Robert Kennedy and photographer Chris Lund.
Mike Mentzer: Intensity refers to the percentage of momentary muscular effort.
Anything that reduces momentary muscular effort reduces intensity and, thereby, reduces
results. What you want to do is increase muscular involvement, not diminish itÑanything that
you can do to make the exercise harder, thereby increasing muscular involvement. Again, thatÕs
the name of the game; itÕs so damn obvious!
(continued on page 146)
Illustration by Christian Martinez
Neveux \ Model: Eric Domer
Heavy Duty
Seminar Part 6
“The harder you train, the faster you grow—but the harder
you train, the less time you can spend training.”
(continued from page 143) Think
about it this way: We all said in the
very beginning that growth does
not come easily. Anybody want to
challenge that? Has anybody grown
too fast this year? No, we all know
that growth doesn’t come easily.
You, literally, have to force it. Now,
you tell me how you force growth
with light weights, mild exertion,
easy workouts. The harder you
train, the faster you grow—but the
harder you train, the less time you
can spend training. It’s as simple as
that.
Again, the intensity and duration
relationship is a universal one. It
doesn’t exist just for Mike Mentzer.
There were some people who were
fond of saying, “It works for Mike
Mentzer, it works for Casey Viator, it
works for Ray Mentzer, but it works
for no one else in the world.” Or,
“We all have vastly different requirements.” And yet those same
people all train alike: Arnold does
20 sets, six days a week; Franco
does 20 sets, six days a week; Frank
Zane does 20 sets, six days a week.
If they’re all so different, why do
they train exactly alike?
The point is that we aren’t all that
different physiologically. We’re all
unique as individuals, but when a
young man—or a young woman—
goes to medical school and studies
muscle physiology, whose physiology is he or she studying?
Audience member: Everybody’s.
Mike Mentzer: Everybody’s! We
all have the same muscle physiology. The biochemical changes leading to muscle growth in Mike
Mentzer are the same in Robert
Kennedy, Chris Lund and you. And
it follows from that, that the specific
stimulus required to induce those
biochemical changes leading to
muscle growth in Robert Kennedy,
and you and me is the same. What
is that stimulus? High-intensity
muscular contraction! It’s universal;
it’s a medical fact—not subject to
debate.
It’s as simple as that. What is
true—and this is where the confusion comes in—is that we all grow
at different rates of speed. I might
grow faster as a result of high-intensity training, but we all will grow
faster when we train more intensely. If you’re not gaining fast now—or
if you’re not gaining at all—you’ll
gain faster when you train
more intensely. Chris Lund
will gain more rapidly when
he trains more intensely. He
may not gain as rapidly as
me, but then again, he might
gain more rapidly than me.
Audience member: Why
is that?
Mike Mentzer: Because of
innate adaptability. We all
have different innate adaptabilities to exercise—age,
existing physical condition,
motivation, a lot of different
factors. But the underlying
muscle physiology is the
same. The people who say,
“We all have different training
requirements,” are entirely
wrong. They’re ignorant of
the basic facts regarding
muscle physiology. If we all
had different physiologies,
medical science could not
exist. A doctor would have to
study each individual as a
separate physiological entity
and then learn all the intricacies of his physiology and
devise medicine around him. The
very fact that they could take the
basic principles of physiology and
apply it to the whole human race is
what makes medical science a
viable discipline. Make sense?
Sounds damn good to me. [Audience laughs]
I can’t make it any simpler than
that. I mean all the theoretic and
academic bullshit aside, it just
follows from common sense: The
harder you train, the faster you
grow. But it’s also true, you can’t
forget, that the harder you train, the
less time you can spend training.
Just like the faster you run, the less
distance you can run. Sure, you can
train as hard as possible for 30
minutes and then diminish the
intensity and train for eight hours
after that. But that’s not going to
result in anything except reduced
progress.
Robert Kennedy: Hasn’t the
best progress made in the past year
been that of Platz, following those
principles?
Mike Mentzer: Yes, absolutely.
We were just talking about that.
Tom trained extremely hard all year
for the IFBB Mr. Olympia. He was
Heavy Duty
going to become defined. Thigh
extensions don’t burn anywhere
near the number of calories heavy
squatting does. Why would thigh
extensions lead to the creation of
definition as opposed to squatting?
What am I missing there? Can anybody explain it to me?
Another one is—we’ve talked
about it before—wide-grip chins.
It’s a long-held belief—to quote the
so-called science of bodybuilding—
that if you want to widen your lats,
stretch your shoulder girdle, whatever, do wide-grip chins. That’s
supposed to build wider lats. But,
again, just the opposite is true.
Picture your lat, or any muscle,
as a rubber band stretched between
two points. Your lat attaches under
the triceps and inserts down on
your lower back. Where are those
two points furthest apart? And
when is that rubber band stretched
the greatest? When your arm is
straight overhead in a close-grip
position. That’s 180 degrees. When
you go to a wide-grip, look what
happens to the angle: it’s closer and
closer to a 90 degree angle, and the
stretch is reduced. If you want to
stretch your lats, Christ, do closegrip chins, not wide-grip.
What’s some more of the conventional wisdom? EZ-curl bars for
building biceps. They’re the worst
thing in the world you can do for
building biceps. Again, we’ve talked
about it before. The primary function of the biceps is not to flex the
forearm, it’s to what?
Audience member: To
supinate.
Mike Mentzer: To supinate. You
can prove it to yourself by putting
your hand in a goose-neck position
and pulling your arm back. Put your
other finger on your biceps and
you’ll feel that it’s not even tense—
it’s soft. Now supinate the hand and
see what happens. An EZ-curl bar
pronates the hand and takes the
tension off the biceps. It works the
brachialis and forearms; it doesn’t
work the biceps almost at all. What
you want to do is hypersupinate the
hand. You’ve got to use at least a
straight bar to work the biceps.
And, again, this is conventional
bodybuilding wisdom.
Audience member: With your
intensity training it sounds as if it’s
Neveux \ Model: Tom Platz
Tom Platz
was one of
the hardest
training
bodybuilders
ever, and his
all-out
intensity
helped him
bring up his
torso and
arms to
match his
incredible
legs.
Seminar Part 6
the one guy I saw in Gold’s Gym all
winter long who just went to failure
on every single set. And I remember saying to my brother, Ray, “This
guy’s serious!” I had no idea what
he looked like underneath his
sweat suit because he was always
covered up. So when I saw him at
the pool two weeks ago, I just
couldn’t believe my eyes. He’d put
12 pounds of pure muscle on his
upper body alone. Now his delts,
pecs and back almost match his
legs, which are among the greatest
medical phenomena I’ve ever seen!
All the academics aside, what
really counts is that you get your
ass in the gym and train hard. And
if you’re training six to eight hours
a day, you’re not training hard. It’s
laudable from one standpoint;
you’re devoted, you’re willing to
diligently put in a lot of work, but
that has nothing to do with
progress.
Sure, you can point to a guy like
Roy Callender, who’s got one of the
most heavily muscled physiques in
the world and who trains eight
hours a day. You try training eight
hours a day, and see what happens!
You’ll end up looking like a jockey!
A skinny little runt. If these guys
weren’t taking steroids, they would
look like jockeys.
And you’ve got to look back to
the early part of their careers. Really. Like Arnold—Arnold was a powerlifter in Austria. He had just
about as much muscle mass when
he trained in America as he did
when he was in Germany. What he
succeeded in doing when he got
here was getting rid of all the baby
fat, which he did through sheer
dint of physical activity. If you do
anything for four hours a day on a
reduced-calorie diet—chopping
down trees, jumping up and down,
what have you—you’re going to get
ripped. You don’t have to lift
weights to get ripped. I’ve seen
ripped athletes who never lifted
weights, and just because of their
high metabolic rates and reduced
food intake, or whatever, they had
no subcutaneous fat.
It’s the burning of calories beyond what you take in, in the form
of food, that leads to the creation of
definition. The more calories you
expend, the more likely you’re
Heavy Duty
Seminar Part 6
Once you stimulate growth in the gym, leave,
relax and allow your muscles to grow.
almost impossible to work out
alone, without a partner.
Mike Mentzer: Not at all. I keep
getting that in my seminars. I don’t
know why. People think they have
to have a training partner to train
hard.
Audience member: Well, it
would help! You can’t push yourself
hard without a partner.
Mike Mentzer: There are certain exercises where you obviously
can’t do forced reps or perhaps
negatives without a training partner. But with the vast majority of
exercises, if you use a little innovation, you can devise ways of doing
forced reps. For example, on dips
you stand on a chair, go into the top
position and continue to lower
yourself or use your feet as an aid. If
you don’t have a training partner
and you want to do forced reps for
your arms, do concentration curls
using the free hand to assist. If
you’re doing dumbbell laterals, and
you want to continue doing negative or forced reps, when you can’t
do any more positive reps, curl the
weight to here [the shoulders],
extend the arms out, and lower
slowly under control. It’s very simple.
There are lots of things you can
do. In chinning, just step up on a
chair—or on the Nautilus machine
walk up the steps—and get into the
top position. But even if you can’t
do those things, you can still train
as hard as you can—you at least go
to positive failure.
It may be that you don’t have to
train with 100 percent intensity. It’s
never been proven conclusively
that you have to train with 100
percent intensity to induce maximum growth stimulation. Maybe
it’s only 85 percent. But there is
definitely a threshold of intensity
you’ve got to pass beyond to stimulate muscular growth. Maybe it’s
only 85 percent—but I ask you the
question: How do you accurately
measure 85 percent intensity?
There are only two intensity
levels you can measure accurately:
0 percent and 100 percent. When
you’re not exerting yourself at all,
that’s 0 percent intensity. And when
you’re exerting yourself maximally,
as hard as you possibly can—you
can’t push any harder—then you
know you’re pushing 100 percent.
And when you’re pushing 100 percent, you know that you’ve passed
beyond the threshold of intensity.
How can you go beyond 100 percent? It’s impossible. Maybe you
only needed 90 percent, but as long
as you pass over 90 percent, you’re
safe; you know you’ve stimulated
growth. So by going to failure every
time, you’re safe.
And there are some people who
simply don’t want to train this way.
It’s only recommended for those
who want to stimulate maximal
increases in size and strength. It’s
not for the casual enthusiast; it’s
for the serious bodybuilder—the
obsessive nut.
You’ve got to be a little crazy.
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 149 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
The
Big
Keep It Simple to
Build Your Temple
by Bill Starr
D
3
1
2
Model: Greg Blount
uring the past year
I’ve received a
pile of requests
from IRON MAN
readers and
friends to look over
their programs.
They’re all stuck and want some
advice on how to move forward
again. In every instance I find the
same problem—they’re trying to
do far too much, either for their
current strength level, their age
or both. I look over a list of exercises that would make top competitive weightlifters and
bodybuilders cringe.
Model: David Yeung
Bench Presses
Power Cleans
Squats
Model: Chris Cook
Only The Strong Shall Survive
1
Concentration Curls
Chins
Build Your Temple
When a program includes a
dozen or so exercises, you
end up spreading your energy too thin.
Even so, when I suggest that they
should eliminate at least half of the
exercises, they insist that they need
to do them all if they want a complete full-body workout. Well, I
reply, if you’re preparing for the Mr.
Olympia contest or the Olympic
lifting Nationals, then perhaps you
do need to hit all those groups individually. That is, if you have a couple
of hours a day in which to train,
have a surplus of funds to buy all
the supplements you’ll need to aid
your recovery and don’t have to
worry about earning an income.
Otherwise, you’re doing too much.
When a program includes a
dozen or so exercises, you end up
spreading your energy too thin to
allow you to make substantial gains.
You can’t recuperate from the long
sessions in the gym, and since
you’re not giving enough attention
to any one muscle group, everything
stays the same. Or worse. In many
cases the numbers start slipping
backward.
Keep in mind that I’m referring to
beginners and intermediates. Advanced strength athletes can do a
great deal more work in the gym
and recover from it. That’s due to
the fact that over an extended period of diligent training they’ve established a wide, firm foundation of
strength. Most trainees who will
read this are not in that category.
The notion of simplicity in
strength training has gotten lost in
recent years. Currently, any program
worth its salt must include lots of
exercises done on specialized machines, and, of course, there have to
be a few gimmicks such as large
balls and chains thrown in for good
measure. After all, that’s what the
modern athlete needs to be competitive—which is pure bullshit.
The truth of the matter is, gyms
that feature only the most rudimentary equipment—like those found in
basements and garages—where the
athletes build their routines around
a few primary movements, turn out
stronger men than the multiexercise
programs in la-di-da facilities.
Another primary reason that so
many programs have so many exercises in them is the influence of
articles that appear in fitness magazines. I look at programs that fill an
entire page and shake my head,
However, there are a few good
ancillary exercises you can
add to The Big Three program
without sacrificing your gains.
wondering, What is a beginner to
think? Most likely that the authors
are experts and know what they’re
talking about. If they say that I need
to do 15 exercises in a session, that’s
what I’ll do. And since the gym is
filled with machines, it only makes
sense to use all of them.
So, instead of hammering away
on full squats, our beginner moves
from machine to machine, working
his legs in a variety of fashions. It’s a
good idea on paper, but it doesn’t
get the results that attacking a primary exercise and using a couple of
machines for auxiliary work does.
There’s also the point that few like to
admit: Working on a machine is
easier than doing free-weight exercises.
Understand that your body only
has so much energy for training,
and once you’ve tapped that supply,
you’re not going to make any further
progress on that day. When you
continue to pound away, even on
the smaller muscle groups, all you’re
doing is fatiguing the muscles and
attachments, which will adversely
affect your next workout. In other
words, you’re overtraining.
Model: Tamer Elshahat
3
Model: Eric Domer
2
1
Squats
2
To gain strength, you need
one primary exercise for the
three major muscle groups.
Model: Marvin Montoya \ Equipment: Powertec power rack, 1-800-447-0008 or www.home-gym.com
Build Your Temple
3
Power Cleans
Bench Presses
More shoulder girdle
work with
chest and
triceps.
To gain strength, you need to do
one primary exercise for each of the
three major muscle groups: shoulder girdle, back and hips and legs.
Then add a few auxiliary
movements for the smaller groups,
and leave the gym.
Whenever a beginner follows that
course, gains come consistently—
and there’s no doubt in my mind
that the greatest motivator in the
weight room is making regular
progress. Nothing—well, almost
nothing—feels as great as improving
one of your primary lifts. Achieving
a personal record makes you eager
to get back in the gym for your next
session. In contrast, if you’re stuck
on every lift, you’ll be inclined to
skip the next workout, flop on the
couch and watch TV.
I should mention that using too
many exercises in a program is not a
new development. I pointed a finger
at machines for being partly responsible, but in truth trainees started
doing it long before the machines
came on the market. In the late
1960s strength training for athletes
made a huge leap forward due
largely to the articles published in
Strength & Health and Iron Man
about sports teams and individual
athletes using heavy weights to
improve their performances.
Football led the way. The San
Diego Chargers, under strength
coach Alvin Roy, had a tremendous
influence on the mind-sets of college and high school coaches. If the
pros lifted weights, we should too,
was the thinking. Tommy Suggs and
I took it upon ourselves to go forth
and preach the gospel of strength
training to the masses. We were in
ideal positions to be considered
authorities on the subject: Tommy
was the managing editor of Strength
& Health, and I was his assistant.
We’d both won national titles in
Olympia lifting and had represented
the York Barbell Club, the nationalteam champion. That gave us an in,
and we began putting on demonstrations and clinics at high schools
and colleges in the area. Bob Hoffman understood the financial implications of what we were doing and
backed us 100 percent—although, I
should add, we never received anything extra in our paychecks for our
efforts. Even so, we surged on. We
were on a mission.
1
2
3
Build Your Temple
Model: Will Harris
Model: Greg Blount
These work
your shoulder girdle
and back
hard.
1
Machine Squats
3
Machines can’t completely
replace free-bar exercises.
Model: Cesar Martinez
2
Few like to admit that working on a machine is easier.
Model: Noel Thompson
Build Your Temple
Smith Machine Squats
One of the biggest gatherings for
football coaches in the east was a
convention held in the Shoreham
Hotel in Washington, D.C. We secured a booth for York Barbell,
lugged in weights, a bench and a
power rack, boxes of magazines
plus an array of Hoffman’s nutritional products to put on display.
For 2 1/2 days we talked with
coaches and taught them how to do
lifts that we thought would be beneficial for their athletes, and we told
them of the value of protein milkshakes to help their kids pack on
muscular bodyweight.
While we gave them information,
we also learned a great deal from
them. Those dedicated men were
doing their utmost to put together
functional routines for their athletes with a minimum of equipment and know-how. Unlike what
happens today, there were no resources they could turn to for help
in formulating a strength program.
For the most part it was hit and
miss. What they all had in common
was, they had very little in the way
of equipment, usually just a bar or
two and some plates, and not much
time in which to train the athletes.
Many of the students had to catch
the bus after school.
On the drive back to York,
Tommy and I analyzed all the input
we’d received from the coaches. We
determined that what they needed
was a very simple program that
could be done in a limited space
with a small amount of equipment
and in a short period of time. Plus,
the exercises had to be easy to
learn.
We concluded that three exercises would be enough to get the job
done. It goes without saying that
our selection of three exercises
rather than four, five or six was
based on our background in
Olympic lifting. Bodybuilders often
did multiple movements in their
routines, but weightlifters did only
three: one for the back, one for the
legs and one for the shoulders, all
with the competitive lifts in mind—
military press, snatch and clean
and jerk.
The best exercise for the legs was
a no-brainer. Nothing can compare
with full squats. For back we toyed
with the deadlift but decided that
since these were athletes, the power
clean would be more useful, as it
actually enhances athletic
attributes while improving back
strength. For the upper body we
believed that the incline-bench
press was a better exercise for athletes than the flat-bench press
because it put more emphasis on
the shoulders. We also knew, however, that the coaches didn’t have
incline benches at their disposal.
Some didn’t even have flat benches.
One coach told us he had his players do their bench presses on the
benches in the locker room. So we
chose the flat-bench press—easy to
teach, and it did work all the groups
in the upper body thoroughly.
Research revealed that the best
formula for developing strength
was to do four to six sets of four to
six reps. Knowing that many of the
coaches would be dealing with 40
or more kids, we kept the program
simple as well. Five sets of five fit
the guidelines and would make
calculation much easier. Three days
a week would get the job done, with
the athletes using the heavy-lightand-medium system.
By the time we got back to York,
we felt confident that we’d come up
with a good program. We called it
The Big Three. Still, it was only a
theory. We needed test subjects,
and we got them. Whenever we
went to a high school to put on an
exhibition, we handed out the program. We also wrote about it in the
magazine and sent copies to interested parties.
The real boost came the following year, when we went back to the
Washington convention. We gave
out copies of The Big Three to every
coach who came to our booth,
which was all of them. We also put
on a demonstration to show how to
do the lifts correctly, allowing the
coaches to try them as well. Many
wanted to know what auxiliary
exercises they might include in the
routine. We gave them some ideas,
suggesting ones that required no
extra equipment, such as straightarm pullovers and curls with the
bar, freestanding calf raises and
chins. You can do chins almost
anywhere—if you use your imagination. I’ve done them off rafters
and garage door frames. We advised
the coaches to keep the auxiliary
work to a minimum, no more than
Incline Presses
You can use incline presses
in place of bench presses
for more shoulder emphasis and variety.
1
Models: Michael O’Hearn and Clark Bartram
2
Build Your Temple
3
two sets of fairly high reps, 15 to 20.
A month later we got a call from
Captain Ed Schantz, who was in
charge of strength conditioning at
the United States Naval Academy.
He asked us to assist him in organizing his program.
When the Marine captain showed
us the program he was using,
Tommy and I looked at one another
and chuckled. Tommy informed
him that he was doing too many
exercises, and the captain explained
that he was trying to include one
exercise for each bodypart. “You’ve
done a fine job of selecting exercises
to work the entire body,” I said, “but
it’s too much of a good thing.” Then
Tommy and I gave him the reasons
why we believed that condensing a
workout into three exercises rather
than spreading it out over 16 was
more productive.
The captain grasped the concept
and agreed to give it a try—that is, if
we’d teach him and his athletes how
to power clean. And that’s what we
did, along with helping them with
form points on the squat and
bench. The following afternoon we
received a call from the captain. He
told us happily that he’d gotten so
sore from doing power cleans that
he could barely get out of bed that
morning. He was a believer.
While the feedback we were getting from those using The Big Three
routine was positive, it wasn’t until
we returned to the coaches convention in D.C. that we knew for certain
that we’d formulated a good program. The coaches poured into our
booth with glowing reports of their
successes. Their players were much
bigger and stronger than before,
which resulted in a much better
season.
The most impressive account
came from a junior varsity coach in
Virginia. The previous year his team
had gone 1–9, and he was on the
brink of being replaced. He installed
The Big Three after talking with
Tommy and me and encouraged his
team to start drinking lots of protein milkshakes. With pride he
informed us that he’d just concluded an undefeated season. His players had gained so much
bodyweight that he was accused of
giving them steroids—a fact that
delighted him to no end. Since that
time I’ve used The Big Three with
athletes in every sport you can
think of, and it works for all of t
hem. A good program is one that
produces results, and the best are
plain and simple, not drawn out
and complicated. Putting all your
energy into just a few primary lifts
is certainly not a new idea in
strength training. It’s the way all the
great Olympic lifters trained. Most
only did the three lifts and squats.
Hell, Milo only did one exercise and
became a legend.
I’d guess that every reader knows
the story of when Arnold loaded a
barbell and some plates in his car
and drove with some lifting buddies into the country, where they
spent the day doing full squats.
Now, that’s specialized training,
and it got the results they were
seeking. The concentrated work
jarred their legs into another level
of strength and growth. Had they
gone to a gym and spent the same
amount of time doing a variety of
leg exercises, they’d never have
achieved the same benefits.
Keeping your program simple
doesn’t mean you have to do the
same exercises at every workout.
Even The Big Three graduates to
more advanced movements, although the principle of only working three primary exercises per
session remains intact. So you
might do power cleans, squats and
benches at one workout; deadlifts,
lunges and inclines at the next and
finish up the week with squats,
military presses and shrugs—or
any variation of that idea.
At the extreme end of the simplicity scale there are those who
thrived on doing only one exercise
per workout. At one point a few of
my former Hopkins athletes contacted me. They were so busy
with their jobs—always in the
financial field—that they couldn’t
find the time to go to the gym
three days a week and train for an
hour and a half. I suggested that
they go to the gym as often as
possible, perhaps during lunch
hour, and do just one exercise for
30 minutes. If they could manage
to get in four or five sessions a
week, they would at least be able
to stay in decent shape.
A few advanced strength athletes have taken this idea of one
exercise per workout to a more
radical level. George Hecter is a
homegrown product who started
training with me when he was in
high school. After several years of
training he did a routine in which
he concentrated on one of the
contested powerlifts for the entire
workout, more than an hour and
a half. They were extremely demanding sessions and not for the
fainthearted, but they paid huge
dividends for him. He went on to
win the heavyweight title in powerlifting and competed in the
World’s Strongest Man competition.
A perfect example of the type
of program I’m talking about can
be found in the January ’05 IRON
MAN. John Balik laid out a routine for his 15-year-old son,
Justin, that consisted of three core
exercises—deadlift, squat and
bench press—along with four
mild auxiliary movements and
some ab work. The workload was
low, which is an important consideration for any beginner. This
is an ideal routine for any beginner, young and old.
So if you’ve hit a wall in your
training, try simplifying your
program. It may mean dropping
several exercises or shifting them
around to enable you to apply
your full energy to a few primary
movements. Do that, and I assure
you that you’ll start making gains
once again.
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
Macrobolic
Momentum
Gerard Dente, Former Competitive Bodybuilder
and President of Maximum Human Performance,
Demystifies Diet
E
verybody and his brother has an opinion
on the proper way to train—if they lift,
that is. All you have to do is head to the
gym and bring up the subject. You’ll get
at least five people joining in on the conversation, all convinced they know the best way to
train. When it comes to diet, however, the eyes of
those same people will usually glaze over, giving
them a look reminiscent of Robert Blake’s attorney.
They may have an opinion, but it’s cloudy, and
they’ll probably spout something that’s way off
base (“So, an all-bacon diet may just work!”).
One man who’s not confused in the least is Gerard Dente. A former competitive bodybuilder
with more than 15 years of in-the-trenches experience, he’s devoted his life to nutrition
research. He’s the president of Maximum
Human Performance, a respected sportsnutrition company, and the author of
Macrobolic Nutrition, which he wrote
with Keven Hopkins.
Dente also serves as a consultant to
many professional athletes and bodybuilders. If you want diet answers, he’s
your man. Let’s go to the audiotape.
by Steve Holman
Macrobolic Momentum
IM: Low-carb diets are the
rage right now. How low is
too low, and why is a lowcarb diet not the way to go
for fat loss, especially for
bodybuilders?
Demystifies Diet
GD: The fact
that the lowcarb diet is
so popular is
a
great
indication of
how people
can be influenced by the media
and trends. That’s understandable for mainstream America
because most people don’t have
extensive knowledge of diet and
nutrition—but how low carb ever
got so popular in sports nutrition is
disturbing and confusing.
I say that because if you look at all
the research on performance nutrition, the importance of carbs is very
clear. A major study in the Strength
Conditioning Journal found that
“diets containing less than 42 percent carbohydrates do not meet the
energy demands or provide adequate glycogen for bodybuilders
and their intense workouts.” That’s
only one of many studies showing
that your diet should provide a
minimum of 40 percent carbs. So,
it’s hard to understand why the lowcarb fad caught on and even got
some accolades in fitness publications.
IM: But people lose weight
on low-carb diets.
GD: Don’t get me wrong, you can
absolutely lose weight on low carbs.
Perhaps that’s why the diet spread
like wildfire. But make no mistake:
Following a low-carb diet will hinder performance, your health and
your ability to increase
muscle mass. If
you balance
and portion
your
macronutrients properly,
you can get the
same fat-burning benefits
that a low-carb diet provides without compromising performance
and muscle building.
The fundamental principle of a
low-carb diet is that by restricting
the intake of carbs, you control two
very important hormones that
influence fat storage and fat burning: insulin and glucagon. A lowcarb diet keeps blood sugar levels
low and causes a shift in those
hormones by lowering the fat storing hormone, insulin, and raising
the fat-burning hormone,
glucagon. That shift gives you increased fat burning.
In the absence of carbs, however,
your body reverts to a catabolic
process known as gluconeogenesis
in an effort to make the blood sugar
it needs not only to perform but to
live. Gluconeogenesis is a process
in which your body converts amino
acids from either food or muscle
tissue into blood sugar. It’s not an
efficient process and can be extremely detrimental, especially to
athletes and bodybuilders.
As I already pointed out, bodybuilders and other people who
work out have a much greater need
for carbs (a minimum of 40
percent of their total
calorie intake)
than the
average
person.
So, if
“In the absence of carbs your
body reverts to a catabolic process
known as gluconeogenesis in an
effort to make the blood sugar it
needs not only to perform but to live.”
Macrobolic Momentum
you follow a low-carb diet, your
body will continually be in gluconeogenesis, a muscle-wasting, or
catabolic, state. Why would bodybuilders want to jeopardize their
hard-earned muscle when they
could achieve the same degree of
fat loss—while actually gaining
muscle—simply by eating smarter?
IM: So your Macrobolic Nutrition plan is more
balanced?
guidelines, you can lower insulin
and raise glucagon for maximum fat
burning in a similar fashion to the
way a low-carb diet works while
actually improving the anabolic
process of building muscle and
optimizing
performance.
Forty-five
percent of
your
calories
GD: I’ve done extensive research
on performance nutrition and
developed a diet backed by science.
I’ve been using it on a number of
world-class athletes for the past
few years with amazing results.
Macrobolic Nutrition prescribes
macronutrient percentages of
45/35/20 from select sources of
carbohydrates, proteins and fats,
respectively. The key is to eat the
right foods—and the right percentages of macronutrients.
If you follow Macrobolic
Nutrition
blend
of various protein
sources—such
as whey, casein and
soy—rather than a single
source. That will ensure that the
supplement contains adequate
levels of key amino acids and provides a steady supply of them.
Fat intake should be around 20
percent. Fat is important for hormonal production and regulation,
slowing down digestion and keeping blood sugar stable, anti-inflammation and as a secondary energy
source. Your dietary fat should
come from what occurs naturally in
your protein, with the rest coming
from EFAs, such as olive oil or borage oil.
should
come from
low-to-medium-glycemic carbohydrates—slow carbs,
meaning they should be from
sources that slowly raise blood
sugar, as opposed to high-glycemic
carbs, which raise blood sugar
IM: But won’t eating fat
along with all those carbohydrates provide an energy
surplus and/or stop the use
of stored bodyfat for energy?
GD: Absolutely not! I’m glad you
asked that—you use the term “energy surplus.” Let’s expand upon that
because it’s a key component of
Demystifies Diet
“Forty-five percent of your calories should come from low-to-medium-glycemic carbohydrates—slow
carbs.”
quickly. Good examples of slow
carbs include sweet potatoes, oatmeal and brown rice.
Protein should make up 35 percent of your diet—lean beef, chicken, turkey, eggs, egg whites and
fish. As for protein
supplements,
look for products that
contain
a
Demystifies Diet
Macrobolic Momentum
Macrobolic Nutrition—or
any diet, for that matter.
The bottom line
with any diet is that if
you eat more calories than you expend, you’ll be in
an energy surplus
and your body
will store fat. That
can even occur
on a low-carb
diet. On any diet
you have to monitor your calorie
intake—and the
Macrobolic diet is
no different. There’s a
chapter in my book on
the importance of calorie intake, and I provide a
useful calorie calculator so
you can easily determine your
calorie needs for your goal. [Note:
You can find the calorie calculator online at www.macro
bolicnutrition.com.]
What’s different about
Macrobolic Nutrition is
that by eating in the
45/35/20 range and
creating the ideal
hormonal and
metabolic environment, you end
up having a much
higher calorie
intake than with
any other diet for
several reasons:
Macrobolic meals
have a high thermic effect—meaning they boost
metabolism, they shift
hormones to favor fat
burning and muscle
building and over time
increase lean body mass,
which actually increases your
need for more calories. I refer to that
as Macrobolic momentum, in which
your body chemistry gets more and
more efficient at building muscle
and burning bodyfat and requires
more calories. How many diets do
you know that can do that?
IM: Sounds interesting.
Here’s another common
question: The body only
stores 300 to 400 grams of
glycogen from
carbohydrates. A typical 90minute bodybuilding workout, training, say, three
bodyparts, can’t reduce
those stores by more than
about 100 grams. Why do
you need to take in 300 to
400 grams of carbs a day?
GD: That’s a very logical ques-
tion, but when designing a meal, you have
to look at the sum of
the whole and not
its parts. The same
question can be
asked of a person
on a high-protein,
low-carb diet
who’s eating 500
grams of protein.
Does he or she
really need that
much protein?
The premise behind Macrobolic
Nutrition is to eat the
proper amount of each
macronutrient for the
purpose in which it was
intended—carbs to supply
glucose for energy, not only for
vital body functions but for
maximum performance and
to prevent muscle wasting;
proteins to supply your
body with the amino
acids it needs to build
and repair enzymes,
hormones, organs
and, of course,
muscle tissue; and
fats for the formation of hormones
and
prostaglandins
and to fight infection, regulate
growth and assist
in digestion.
As for your question of whether the
body needs 300 to 400
grams of carbs, that
would totally depend on a
number of variables: the
person’s size, activity level,
fitness or performance goals, total
calories consumed for the day and so
on. As you point out, a 90-minute
workout may use 100 grams of carbs,
but the body also needs roughly 100
grams per day with no activity just to
ensure adequate blood sugar levels
and adequately supply the brain.
Add to that other daily activities, and
also keep in mind that the more
muscle mass a person carries, the
greater the need for glycogen and
carbs for optimum performance.
The key is to plan your total daily
Macrobolic Momentum
calorie intake and break it down into
balanced 45/35/20 meals throughout the day. Then for your last meal
you should ideally take a supplement high in protein, low in carbs
and with moderate fat. That type of
eating schedule will provide the best
hormonal profile for maximum
muscle building and fat burning.
Macrobolic meals are designed to
keep your body running optimally
for approximately three hours. When
you follow the Macrobolic Nutrition
program during the day, you can
expect:
ing hours with a meal high in protein and low in carbs. MHP’s
Probolic-SR Protein uses a patented
technology to sustain the release of
amino acids for up to 12 hours to
ensure that you maintain a positive
nitrogen balance. From that Macrobolic Nutrition nighttime formula
your body gets:
“Macrobolic meals are designed to
keep your body running optimally for
approximately three hours. That
makes meal frequency very
important.”
• Sufficient supply of carbohydrates to meet energy demands.
• Controlled insulin release to
prevent the formation of triglycerides into bodyfat.
• Controlled insulin release to
shuttle amino acids and glucose
to muscle tissue.
• Raised glucagon to increase fat
burning.
• Lowered cortisol to prevent
muscle tissue breakdown.
• A steady supply of amino acids
from quality protein sources to
maintain positive nitrogen balance.
• A supply of fat and essential fatty
acids (EFAs) to support hormone
production, prevent inflammation
and slow digestion to control
blood sugar and amino acid release.
Demystifies Diet
• Maximized thermogenic effect of
food; that is, the calories used to
digest a meal.
All of those great things are going
on at once after a Macrobolic meal.
Your body is running optimally and
efficiently. That’s where meal frequency becomes important. A Macrobolic meal is only going to fuel
your body for so long. Eat every
three to four hours during the day to
keep your hormone levels, blood
sugar levels and nitrogen retention
optimal. If your busy schedule
doesn’t allow you to eat that often,
Macrobolic-MRP and Macrobolic
bars are a great way to get the frequent nutrition you need.
Nighttime is a different story. You
need to keep insulin low and nitrogen high during the nighttime fast172 APRIL 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com
Macrobolic Momentum
“On nonworkout days
you should eat
fewer carbs
and less
protein
and fat.”
•A
steady
supply of five
critical amino
acids from sustained-release protein
to maintain nitrogen balance during sleep.
hurt you one
bit, especially
once you’ve been
on the Macrobolic
diet for a while and
you’re in fairly good shape.
• Stable insulin levels due to the
very low carbohydrate and essential fatty acid content of the shake.
• Elevated growth hormone due to
low insulin levels.
Demystifies Diet
• Increased fat burning due to
raised glucagon and the thermic
effect of digestion.
IM: Do you recommend reducing carb intake on nonworkout days?
GD: Yes and no. Now, before you
shake your head and tell me I’m nuts,
hear me out. I believe you still need
to eat balanced meals of 45/35/20
throughout the day to create the ideal
hormonal environment and optimum nutrition for building muscle
and burning fat—but your total calo-
ries should be lower. So on nonworkout days you should eat fewer
carbs and less protein and fat.
Remember, your calorie requirements are lower on nonworkout
days, but you still want to supply
the proper nutrition for growth and
recovery.
IM: Do you recommend
cheat days—with higher
carb and/or fat intake—to
satisfy cravings?
GD: On a Macrobolic diet you
don’t really get sugar cravings because you aren’t depriving yourself
of carbs, but you do keep insulin
low. I think everyone deserves an
occasional cheat day or meal.
Going off your diet for a day won’t
IM: You say in your book that
people don’t need cardio to
burn bodyfat, but isn’t it necessary to create a calorie
deficit to tap into bodyfat
stores, especially if
someone’s taking in 300
grams of carb a day?
GD: You only need to do cardio to
create a calorie deficit if you’re eating
more calories than you’re using. If
you want to maximize muscle
growth, you are much better off monitoring your calories to create a
deficit than doing cardio. Why eat
more food just to have to get on a
treadmill and run like a gerbil to burn
it off? Performing cardio can compromise muscle tissue if you aren’t careful. On your training days you want
to preserve as much energy as possible to work out hard and heavy, and
Macrobolic Momentum
“Performing cardio
can compromise
muscle tissue
if you aren’t
careful.”
IM: Can you list a couple of
Macrobolic Nutrition meals
that are balanced?
A: Here’s a good Macrobolic
breakfast:
Omelet (include five large-egg
whites, one large whole egg,
chopped sweet green pepper,
chopped sweet red pepper, raw
onion, lowfat cheddar cheese—
no more than one ounce)
Oatmeal
1 cup Skim Milk Plus
That’s got about 556 calories, 61
grams of carbs, 50 grams of protein
and 11 grams of fat. Percentages:
44/36/20.
You can even have a burger for
lunch or dinner:
7 ounces lean ground beef
1 large whole-wheat hamburger
bun
2 leaves raw lettuce
2 slices tomato
That’s got about 629 calories, 65
grams of carbs, 53 grams of protein
and 12 grams of fat. Percentages:
45/36/19.
And, of
course, I recommend MHP’s Up Your
Mass shake. Four scoops
has 510 calories, 58 grams of
carbs, 46 grams of protein and 11
grams of fat. Also the Macrobolic
MRP—one packet has 350 calories,
39 grams of carbs, 32 grams of protein and seven grams of fat. Those
meet the target percentages. Keep
in mind that slight variations are
okay—and that protein and carbs
are equally important.
By the way, beef is a great protein
source for bodybuilders. If you
choose lean cuts like top round,
you can eat it four to five times a
week without worrying about any
health risk associated with cholesterol. I often eat it more frequently
than that, and my cholesterol
counts are always good.
IM: Why should or shouldn’t
bodybuilders rely on a
straight whey protein powder for (continued on page 178)
Demystifies Diet
on your off
days you
want to rest
your body so you
can recover for your
next workout.
I’m not an advocate of cardio. The only exception would be if
you’re carrying a lot of bodyfat and
want to jump-start fat burning—
even though you will compromise
some muscle. Or if you’re an athlete
and need cardiovascular conditioning to perform your sport or if you’re
in a precontest phase to get ultra
shredded. But even while preparing
for a show, you need to make sure
not to overdo cardio. If you don’t get
too far out of shape in the offseason,
a few weeks of 30-minute cardio
sessions should dial you in.
Macrobolic Momentum
extra amino acids?
GD: A combination protein source is definitely
better. Whey is a good
source of BCAAs, but it’s a
very fast-releasing protein
and only supplies aminos
for a short length of time.
That can cause you to go
into a catabolic state soon
after. Combining whey with
other protein sources, such
as casein and soy, however,
prolongs the release of aminos
and also improves the amino acid
profile. That, in turn, dramatically
improves the anabolic/anticatabolic
effects of protein—a critical component of building new muscle fibers
24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The new protein that I’ve developed, Probolic-SR, addresses those
very issues (www.probolic.com). It
not only contains whey for immediate release, but it also has soy and
casein to provide medium and slow
amino acid release into your bloodstream. That by itself would make it
a top-quality protein, but my R&D
staff has taken it a step further,
adding a sustained-release component to the protein granules. That
makes Probolic-SR the first protein
to feed your muscles for 12 hours
straight. It truly is the most bioefficient protein available; you’ll always
remain in an anabolic state and
never slip into catabolism.
Demystifies Diet
IM: Is there any way to increase testosterone via diet?
GD: There isn’t much research
showing that any specific diet increases testosterone production;
however, there is research showing
that diets low in fat can lower testosterone. One study showed that your
diet should consist of a minimum of
20 percent fat in order to allow for
optimum testosterone levels. Hormones are formed from cholesterol,
so you do need some saturated fat
and cholesterol in your diet. That
doesn’t mean that eating a high-fat
diet will cause surges in
testosterone, though.
IM: You mentioned the thermic effect of food. Can you
explain it and describe how
best to use the information
to burn more bodyfat?
GD: The thermic effect of food is
the amount of energy, or calories, it
takes to digest a particular food or
meal. Each nutrient—carb, protein
and fat—has a different thermic
effect. Additionally, different types of
carbs, proteins and fats have different thermic effects. Basically, the
harder the food is to digest, the
higher its thermic effect. A Macrobolic meal has a very high thermic
effect due to its low-glycemic carb,
protein, fat and fiber contents. A
Macrobolic meal requires more
calories to digest than most meals.
they contain cheap ingredients that are harmful to a
bodybuilding lifestyle. Most
have maltodextrin as the
main carb source—one of
the worst sources of carbs
you can choose for your
body. It has a glycemic index
of 107, which is even higher
than table sugar! New advances
in manufacturing practices have
enabled me and my team to formulate the perfect MRP with highquality ingredients specifically for
the bodybuilding community. It’s
called Macrobolic-MRP (www
.macrobolicnutrition
.com), and yes, it’s formulated to the
45/35/20 percentages. It has quality
low-glycemic carbs like oats and
barley and the advanced Probolic
Protein blend I discussed above,
consisting of whey, casein and soy.
To top it off, I added an EFA blend to
help with hormone production,
insulin stabilization and a host of
other important bodybuilding functions. I’ve found that although essential fatty acids are critical for
bodybuilders; most MRPs ignore
them.
IM: Lots of bodybuilders
have trouble getting up for a
workout. Is there anything
you can recommend for increasing energy prior to
training?
IM: If you could recommend
one specialty supplement
for building muscle, what
would it be?
GD: Since ephedra has been taken
off the market, everyone is looking
for something to get them amped
up. I have put together an extremely
powerful formula, TakeOFF. It’s loaded with caffeine and other energizing herbs, plus it contains three
times more synephrine than any of
the other top energy products—two
tablets of this stuff is like drinking a
six-pack of Red Bull.
GD: A quality MRP and protein
powder are the core of a supplement
program, but, if I had to recommend
a specialty supplement for building
muscle, it would be MHPs TRAC. It’s a
patented time-released creatine-andnitric-oxide formula that continually
replenishes ATP and increases blood
flow during and after workouts. You
get incredible pumps while you train
and then increased blood flow afterward, which helps with growth and
recovery.
IM: I’m in. Send me some of
that immediately. What are
the key ingredients bodybuilders should look for in a
meal-replacement powder?
IM: Sounds like a winner.
Nitric oxide supplements are
hot right now. Send me some
of that too.
GD: Definitely check out what the
carbohydrate and protein sources
are. It’s ironic, but the problem with
most MRPs on the market is that
Editor’s note: Macrobolic Nutrition is available from Home Gym
Warehouse. Call (800) 447-0008, or
visit www.home-gym.com. IM
IRON MAN Hardbody
Mindand
Body
Kimberly Page Has Beauty—and Brains
by Jonathan Lawson
W
e all want to believe that we’re smart and good looking, but more
often than not, people have one gift or the other. Not so with Kimberly Page. Yes, you first notice her looks—they hit you right
between the eyes—and then you notice her jaw-dropping physique.
What? She has smarts too? Incredible! Looking at Michael Neveux’s
spectacular shots of Kimberly, you’d never guess that she started
primary school at age four with an I.Q. of 145 and that she was the youngest student ever to receive a master of science degree in advertising at Northwestern University, a record that still stands. She was also in the top 20 percent of her class.
If Kimberly looks familiar, it may be because you recognize her as one of
wrestling’s Nitro Girls. By the way, she developed that whole concept. Smart gal.
She’s also appeared on the covers of IRON MAN and other magazines and is now
set to take the entertainment world by storm. I guess the only question is, Does
she have a sister?
Editor’s note: Kimberly’s Web site is www.kimberlypage.com. IM
Hair and Make-Up Yvonne Ouellette
186 APRILH 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com
Workout: “My weight-training workout changes every time I go to the gym.
I enjoy training legs, but I never do the
same routine twice. I usually include
lunges; high-rep, unweighted squats;
leg extensions and leg presses or hack
squats. I keep it aerobic with lots of
reps, and I stretch between sets. I train
four days per week, do three days of
yoga and do cardio six days per week.”
Future plans: “I will be attending the
premier of ‘Monarch of the Moon’ in
Austin, Texas. It’s an independent sci-fi
feature film that spoofs the old 1940s
serials. I play Dragonfly, the hero’s
nemesis. I also have a part in ‘The 40Year-Old Virgin,’ starring Steve Carell,
which should also premier this year.”
[Check out Kimberly’s Web site for
updates on her film and television
appearances.]
Height: 5’9”
Weight: 137
Age: 32
Current residence: Marina del
Rey, CA
Hometown: Fort Myers, FL
Occupation: Actress, model and
spokesperson
Favorite foods: “If I could eat only
one thing for the rest of my life, it
would be breakfast cereal. I’m not
kidding! I like to mix cereals—like Jerry
Seinfeld. But I also enjoy salads.”
Beauty/anti-aging secret: “There
are no secret potions in my medicine
cabinet. Every day I repeat to myself,
‘Young at heart, young at mind.’”
Factoids: B.A. in journalism from
Auburn University, M.S. in advertising from Northwestern University,
no children, two spoiled cats, Sophie
and Spooki
Web site: www.KimberlyPage.com
Lonnie Teper’s
Preview: ’05 Arnold Fitness Weekend
Terms of Endearment
ASC marks three decades of
Partnership for Jim and Ah-nold
Somehow, someway, the Arnold Fitness Weekend expands as consistently as
most of our waistlines after a holiday feast. This season’s mega-event—March 4–6—
marks the 30th year that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jim Lorimer
have teamed to promote bodybuilding and fitness in Columbus, Ohio, and neither of
the boys is slowing down.
“For the first time ever the expo was sold out by December 1,” beamed the always-energetic Lorimer, who’s the former mayer of Worthington, Ohio. “We’re going
to have 20 different sports, with more than 14,000 athletes. There’ll be 4,000 athletes
in the cheerleading and martial arts competitions and 3,500 in gymnastics.”
The Gov and His Honor, in tandem as always.
As usual, some new activities will make their debuts. The Youth DanceSport Classic is expected to draw 1,000 entrants, from six years old through college age, who’ll strut their stuff in ballroom and Latin-dance
challenges. Archery, another addition, joins the pump and run, powerlifting, table tennis, arm-wrestling, fencing, Olympic-weightlifting,
strength and yoga events and the hugely popular Strongest Man battle on the schedule.
Of course, there’s always the grade-A physique lineups in the Arnold Classic, Ms. International, Fitness International and Figure
International competitions. And don’t forget the Arnold Fitness Training Seminar, given by the Governator himself. (For a complete list
of those who’ll be flexing and posing on the Veterans Memorial stage, log on to www.arnoldclassic.com.)
“We’re reaching out strongly to China,” said Lorimer. “They won 76 medals at the ’04 Olympic Games, and with the 2008 Games
being held in Beijing, I think the added Chinese presence is terrific.…
“In celebration of 30 years of fitness we will see hundreds of young athletes who are actively engaged in a wide array of individual
sports on a year-round basis,” said Lorimer. “The 2005 Arnold Fitness Weekend is an exceptional opportunity for aspiring champions
to witness the talents of world greats in their specific sport. There is truly something for everyone.”
Couldn’t have said it better myself, Jim. Let the games begin.
ADD DYNAMIC DUOS
Add N.C.
Teen Queen
Teper
Tag Team Hot time training in the gym
Shawn Crump gets a spot from training partner Greg Jones during a
torrid workout session at Gold’s Gym in Salisbury, North Carolina.
Above right: Jones took fourth heavyweight at the Nationals.
Man, they sure churn out the champs in this
North Carolina steel factory. Before Shawn Crump
took his crown at the state championships last year,
teen sensation Britt Miller, also a Gold’s, Salisbury,
member, did the same in the women’s division. Britt, a
student in the nursing program at East Carolina University, was 19.
The pretty 5’4”, 120pounder then followed in
Crump’s footsteps by placing
second in her class at the
Junior Nationals and will be
taking her physique to a proqualifying stage in ’05, most
likely in Las Vegas, at the
USA.
North Carolina has had its
share of outstanding
competitors throughout
the years, and thanks to
folks like Crump, Greg
Jones and Miller, the
beat goes on.
Crump, after
his win at the
North Carolina Championships in
May ’04.
Culver City, California, December 5, 2004
Overall winners (from left): Kris Schuldt (men’s bodybuilding), Gwendolyn Malone
(women’s bodybuilding) and Jennifer Kight (figure).
Teper
Photography by Bill Comstock
Teper
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jim Lorimer have proven to be
quite a pair when it comes to putting on world-class events. Shawn
“He Ain’t No Chump” Crump and Greg Jones are demonstrating their
BRITT MILLER
talent as a team as well, pushing each other to the limit as training partners at
Gold’s Gym in Salisbury, North Carolina. Judging by their results onstage, this team is a
dream.
I met Crump in Raleigh last May, when I was emceeing the North Carolina Championships; his impressive 5’7”, 198-pound
package of size, symmetry and conditioning carried him to the overall crown. After his unanimous victory at the Mike and Pat
Valentino production, the 27-year-old Crump went on to place second in the light heavies at the Junior Nationals, finishing
only behind the incredible 44-year-old Lance Johnson.
At the state contest Crump had not only the biggest muscles (well, at least the most impressive) but also the most fans in
the seats. Based on the size of that cheering section, they should rename the auditorium Crump Towers. Among the fans was
Jones, whom I met six months later at the Nationals. Like Crump, the 5’9”, 215-pound Jones made a very good first impression. In only his third contest the 27NPC SHOWS \ ’05 EXCALIBUR CHAMPIONSHIPS
year-old firefighter placed fourth in the
heavyweight class and, like his training
partner, will move into the ’05 season
as one of the fellas to watch out for at
the Nationals, which are set for Atlanta
in November.
WINNERS
MOVERS
Robert Siudak, who lost his leg to
bone cancer in 1992, hasn’t let that
setback set him back in his drive to
achieve in bodybuilding. At the ’04
Excalibur last December he brought
down the house.
Robert Siudak
Talk about inspiration! Robert Siudak lost his left leg to bone cancer in
1992 but hasn’t let that setback deprive him of his dream to one day step
on a pro-bodybuilding stage.
“I plan on qualifying for a national
show this year,” said Siudak from his
Las Vegas residence a month after a
moving performance earned him a
sixth-place finish in the light-heavyweight class at the ’04 Excalibur. That’s
no small potatoes—the Excalibur,
which is held annually in Culver City,
California, during the first weekend of
December, is one of the NPC’s premier
non-national-level events.
The 30-year-old Siudak carried 192
pounds on his 5’10” frame at the Excalibur and says he hopes to put on
another 10 to 20 pounds this year. “If
the judging would ever allow me to turn
pro, that would be great—I would need
another 30 to 40 pounds eventually.”
Siudak, originally from Chicago, entered his first contest, the Nevada State,
in 2000. Then, before competing at the
Excalibur, he took part in the Illinois
Championships.
Robert trains his right leg with leg
presses, leg curls, leg extensions and
hack squats. “I just use my prosthesis for
balance on hack squats,” he said. “I
press with one leg on the leg presses.”
Well, guy, you’ve certainly im-pressed
me. And everyone else who’s seen you
perform. You may have finished sixth in
your class, but to everyone in the house
you were a true champion.
Access Hollywood
Levrone Update
Teper
Success Story
Levrone, here with NPC fitness competitor Nita Marquez, finally made the
move west in 2004. Is there a new
sheriff—or action hero—in town?
Kevin Levrone’s been telling me for
a few years that he was going Hollywood. Guess he meant it this time. The
irrespressible Levrone phoned me in
December with a few hot tips: that he’s
no longer under contract to Weider and
is now repping a company called Maxoderm (www.maxoderm.com); that he’s
officially retired as a competitor and that
he’s living part-time in Los Angeles’
Sherman Oaks area and part-time in
Maryland.
“Tell ’em a new action hero is on the
way,” said Kevin, who was in Cincinnati
doing a shoot for his new company. He
also said he’s about 215 pounds and is
excited about his new venture.
Welcome to Hollywood, Kev. And
good luck.
HOT SHOTS
BY JERRY FREDRICK
Riddle: What do you
call a bodybuilder
without a mirror? Ans
wer: Lonely.
empts to get
No cake! Brittany att
contest diet for
Lisa to stick to her
one more day.
We know Jack's into
health food, but we
're pretty
sure he won't eat this
entire arrangement
at one
sitting. Elsa’s ready
to watch him try.
Add Pro News: Quick Exit
Down sizing
Shawn goes back to
Check Mates
Repping in the gym
Teper
Mike Lackner
Shawn Ray started the
new year with two resolutions: to get back into the
gym and to get out of his
position as IFBB athletes’
representative. He did
the former on January 3,
the latter a day earlier. In
his resignation letter, Ray
announced he was
“removing” himself from
the position because he
PASSING THE BUCKS
felt he was “unable to
At the Natural Northern USA the generous group of
effectively have the issues
(from left) Todd Pember, Dave Liberman, Maureen
What did IFBB VP Jim Manion think of
addressed that needed
Dunphy of the American Cancer Society, Geoff
Shawn Ray’s suggestions? They say a
immediate attention by the
DelGrosso, Jason Modic and Dan Sammon
picture is worth 1,000 words. Seriously, Ray
proudly display checks totaling $2,600 for
federation to aid and assist the resigned from his position as athletes’ rep
the ACS. See the story below.
in early January.
athletes.”
The announcement brought immediate hopes by Ray fans of a possible return to the stage; I say no way. Ray’s venture
into the gym after New Year’s was his first in about eight months, and he certainly hasn’t had
a problem since his last competition (the ’01 Mr. Olympia) of passing on the “eat well, live well” credo
offered by nutritionists around the world. Hey, “Fat Albert” was Ray’s favorite holiday flick, okay? Plus, the guy is well on his way
to his 40th birthday (September 9, for those who want to send a gift), and the drive—and the energy—to be the best in the world
just can’t be there anymore.
Yes, Ray was fabulous in his day, but now it’s his time to let the man play. As he has been the past 3 1/2 years.
ADD NPC CONTESTS
Giving is the theme at the Natural Northern USA
Some things never change, especially at Dave Liberman and Todd Pember productions. Outstanding lineups of competitors, big-time guest posers—and a donation to the
American Cancer Society from the big-hearted promoters and the sponsors. At the ’04
Natural Northern USA, which was held on October 2 at the Lakewood (Ohio) Civic Auditorium, the ante was raised to $2,600. Dave and Todd started things off with $1,000, and sponsors chipped in the rest. Host sponsor Geoff DelGrosso, owner of Titan’s 24 Hour Gym,
Fitness and Tanning Center in Mentor, Ohio, donated $1,200, with contributing sponsors
Dan Sammon, owner of Land Sharks Excavating, and Jason Modic, owner of Agua Pros
Swimming Pool Construction, chipping in $250 and $150, respectively. Additionally, guest
poser Adela Garcia-Friedmansky donated her services. Of course, the dazzling Adela
did get to pick up some change four weeks later with her victory at the Fitness Olympia.
Roland Kickinger also guest posed and, according to Liberman, did an amazing routine
Overall winners (from left): Maria
reminiscent of Arnold Schwarzenegger. “Roland went above the call of duty by flying in
Bonomolo, Shiloe Steinmetz and
on the red-eye so he could make an appearance on WMMS (100.7FM), on the hottest radio Tammy Pies.
show in Cleveland, to help promote the contest.”
The show produced an exceptional list of champions, with nearly 100 contestants onstage, as always: Shiloe “When I Was
Young” Steinmetz in men’s bodybuilding, Maria Bonomolo in women’s bodybuilding and Tammy “I Didn’t Eat Any” Pies in
figure. Nice job.
The next Liberman-Pember production, the ’05 Natural Ohio, is set for April 2 at the same venue. I’ll be at the podium for that
one, with pro bodybuilding fave Gunter Schlierkamp and Figure Olympia champ Davana Medina joining former Natural Ohio
overall winner Justin Wilcox as guest posers for what should be another great show. For more information contact Liberman at
(444) 942-5634 or Pember at (444) 984-2762.
Mike Lackner
Generosity
Tw i n
Add Previews: NPC Junior Cal
To w e r s
Coleman ’n’ Cutler - Together again
More
Junior Cal
Neveux
I’ve been hoping for years
to bring Ronnie Coleman in
to guest pose at the NPC
event I promote, and this
year my wish becomes a
reality. Yup, the seven-time
Mr. Olympia, a guy regarded by many as the
greatest bodybuilder of
all time, will be making
his first ever guestposing appearance in
Southern California when
he comes to Pasadena
City College on June 25
for my Junior California
Bodybuilding and Figure
Championships. In return, I’ll be emceeing his
The two best bodybuilders in the world, Ronnie Coleannual Ronnie Coleman
man and Jay Cutler, will flex it out again—this time at
Classic on April 23. Think I
L.T.’s Junior California Championships on June 25 in
got the better end of this
CHEESECAKE FACTOR
Pasadena. A Coleman-Cutler posedown ended the
trade-off, huh, gang?
night at the ’04 Mr. Olympia, where Coleman earned
Pro fitness star/model
As if the Big Nasty’s apanother Sandow.
Timea Majorova will
pearance weren’t enough,
Ronnie’s biggest rival for the Mr. O crown, Jay Cutler, who’s rocked the house at PCC’s
add some beauty to
Sexson Auditorium for the past two years, will be returning as well. You saw Coleman and Cutler
the battle of the
pose down for the Mr. Olympia crown last October, with Coleman getting the nod once again; now
beasts.
you can see them go at it up close and personal at PCC.
In addition, the lovely Timea Majorova has signed on to perform her fitness routine, so there will be
plenty of beauty among the beasts at this one.
The contest, which started as the California Collegiate Championships in 1999, has evolved into its present identity as the
Junior Cal. It’s open to all residents of California and includes a collegiate division.
For more information on tickets, entry forms, contest rules, etc., log on to www.ironmanmagazine.com.
WORTHY EFFORTS
Muscle Beach Hall of Fame
Sign this petition
I received a letter from Smokin’ Joe Wheatley, the promoter of the Muscle Beach events, in Venice, California—and the
guy who should have been cast as Sergio Oliva in “See Arnold Run”—who’s looking for support in his efforts to establish a
Muscle Beach Bodybuilding Hall of Fame.
Sergio, er, Smokin’ Joe wants your help.
“I’d like to encourage everyone to sign the petition for the development of
the Hall of Fame,” says Wheatley. “By logging on to
www.petitiononline.com/MBHOF?petition.html, you will be able to place your
support signature for the Hall of Fame petition. Recognition of those individuals
who have blazed the trail of our sport is long overdue.
“I am currently working with the Venice Parks Advisory Council, who are in
full support of this project. By signing the petition, you’ll support the next vital
phase of the project, which is fund-raising.”
Wheatley is carrying on the longtime tradition of staging bodybuilding and
figure events at Muscle Beach on Memorial Day, July 4 and Labor Day.
ADD GENEROSITY
Neveux
Giving Back
Everyone at IRON MAN wishes a complete recovery to Mike Matarazzo, who
underwent triple bypass surgery in
December after being diagnosed with
conjunctive heart failure. Matarazzo
returned to his Modesto, California,
home five days after the surgery and, at
last report, was in good spirits and
healing well.
A legend never forgets his roots
Former pro bodybuilding star Bill
Grant remembers fondly hitting the
weights for the first time at 14 years of
age in Orange, New Jersey, and competing in his first contest at the YMCA
when he was 17. So, when the folks at
the Newark YMCA asked if Grant would
join a list of celebrities in speaking to kids
about staying in school and out of
gangs, he jumped at the chance.
Last year 40 athletes visited 35
schools and hospitals in Newark and
Sports legends at the gala (from left):
surrounding towns on November 29 and Olympic sprint champion John Carlos,
30, reaching out to hundreds of kids. On Newark YMCA President and CEO Milton
Harrison, Hall of Fame football star Carl
Tuesday evening, November 30, the Y
Eller and bodybuilding icon Bill Grant.
hosted its annual Sports Legends Gala, a
black-tie fund-raiser, and awarded college scholarships to 11 student-athletes from
area high schools.
Joining Grant, who currently owns Bill Grant Nutrition, at the gala were such icons
as Carl Eller, Bobby Bell and Larry Little, three NFL Hall of Famers; ex-NBA
superstar Connie Hawkins and Joetta Clark-Diggs, a member of four U.S.
Olympic track and field teams.
It’s great to see that people like Bill remember where they came from. Keep up the
great work.
L . T. ’ S ’ 0 4 N AT I O N A L S H A L L O F F A M E
Best Arms:
Anthony
Watkins (left)
and Phil
McDowell.
Most
Improved:
Aaron
Garza.
Best
Back: Bill
Wilmore.
Most Symmetrical:
Jerome
Ferguson.
Best
Abs:
Stan
McQuay.
Best Legs:
Caprice
Murray.
Best
Calves:
Chris
Cook.
Photo courtesy of Bill Grant
GET WELL SOON
Ruth Silverman’s
PUMP & CiRCUMSTANCE
FEBRUARY FUN
’04 ROUNDUP
Top Story of the Year
Sweetheart
No coup like an old coup
Neveux
Teper
Silverman
The top story of 2004 in
the world of physique
competition—men’s and
women’s—just had to be
the attempt by then-IFBB
Vice President and Olympia
promoter Wayne DeMilia
to take the Pro Division out
on its own and the sale by
IFBB President Ben Weider of a half interest in Joe
Weider’s Olympia Weekend to David Pecker of
America Media Inc. I say
story, singular, because the
two tales quickly merged
into one, with Pecker deciding to dance with the gal
what brung him (an old
expression; a disturbing
visual), DeMilia exiting IFBB
management altogether
and NPC President Jim
Manion being pressed into
service to run the Pro
Shuffling the pro deck (clockwise from upper
Division.
left): David Pecker, Wayne DeMilia, Jim Manion
While the big-stakes
and Ben Weider.
game was going on in the
boardroom, the ebb and flow of women’s bodybuilding, fitness and figure competition
went on, as usual. Champs were crowned, pros were made, and the bottom line has
been a smooth transition, with the athletes in all three women’s sports facing the
same challenges they were facing before the change in command. In other words, a
new round of players asking the eternal question: “What was she thinking when she
built her biceps that big?”
Here’s the P&C roundup of the year that was.
Abby Duncan wins the
second annual NPC IRON
MAN Figure contest and a
photo session with
Michael Neveux. Within
four months she wins a
pro card (see June).
MARCH MADNESS
Prom Queen
AGF takes over
March 5: Sudser. Can anyone replace
March 4–7: With our host, Arnold
Susie Curry as the queen of fitness?
Schwarzenegger, now the governor
The judges at the Fitness International
of California, the annual trip to Columgive the nod to Adela Garcia-Friedbus, Ohio, for Arnold Fitness Weekend
mansky over Olympia runner-up Kelly
takes on a whole new meaning. As
Ryan. AGF wins by only three points,
never before, Arnold and his aura are
with Jen Hendershott finishing solidly
everywhere, including the front pages of
in third, but I have a funny feeling that the
the Los Angeles Times and the ColumAdela leaps ahead in the race to fill Susie
die for the Olympia is cast. Whatever else
bus Dispatch. My seat mate on the
Curry’s shoes. Time to take off the mask.
is true, Adela has the best body. Sobbing
flight out of Columbus, a chiropractor,
for joy, the new champ is too overcome to banter with the
glowingly describes the governor’s pep talk to the attendees
governor. Maybe next year.
of a chiropractic conference held in conjunction with AFW.
Run for cover.
MORE AWARDS
MORE MARCH
March 27: Full of surprises. Julie
Palmer gets her first-place check at the
New York Pro. It’s the closest pro fitness show ever, with the top three only
a point apart. Kim Klein continues
experiencing upward mobility, tightening her physique just enough to earn
top-three scores in the physique rounds
and take second, and Anna Level
gets the third Olympia qualification. Two
freshmen make their marks in the routine rounds: ’03 NPC National champ
Teri Mooney, who aces the 45-second mandatories, and Australian Debbie Czempinski, who’s a sensation in
the long routines.
Fast learner. Kim Klein goes from P&C
’03 Rookie of the Year to Most Likely to
Crack the Olympia Top Five in ’04.
Even More March
Contest photography by Bill Comstock
March 5: Ascensions. The lat spread officially
joins the ranks of mandatory poses for women’s
bodybuilding at the Ms. International. Top-seeded
Iris Kyle and Dayana Cadeau, both of whom
look great in a lat spread, time their peaks perfectly
and ascend to the heavyweight and lightweight
thrones, respectively. Kyle takes the overall, and I
wish I had money on this race. Denise Masino
and Yaxeni Oriquen are the runners-up, another
couple of missed betting opportunities.
March 5: Affirmation. The second annual Figure
International competition is a repeat of the first:
Beautiful Jenny Lynn beats beautiful Monica
Brant, and emcee Clint Richards chastises the
audience for booing. And they say no one is passionate about figure. Lynn beats even Fitness
Olympia champ Susie Curry, who lands in third in
her first pro figure contest. Ironies all around. Two
years ago, at the Fitness I, Curry conquered the
physique rounds and Jenny was not a factor.
APRIL AWARDS
Silverman
And other Big Apple sites
Best locker-room shot. Dina and
Mo before the O. See October.
Fitness Rookie
of the Year.
And more queens
Balancing act. Up-and-coming
diva Mindi O’Brien wins all four
rounds at the SW USA Pro Cup.
Rookie Runner-up.
Royal triceps. Cadeau at the
Ms. I.
And Trends
Teri Mooney says, “Anything you
can do.…” The routine rounds in
fitness have never been more
competitive.
Tara Scotti is the jewel in
the Junior USA crown
March–April: Shhh. Persistent rumors from the mill that started sometime after Arnold Fitness
Weekend suggest we’re in for some changes. Is the Olympia for sale? (Is nothing sacred?) And
what’s Wayne DeMilia up to? A hush settles over those who track down rumors.
April 17–18: Recession? Competitor numbers are way down in the women’s ranks at the NPC
Junior USA, except in figure, of course, which is a pro qualifier. Fifty-five fit femmes flock to New
Haven, Connecticut, to vie for the one card up for grabs. It goes to New Jersey jewel Tara Scotti,
who wins the overall and makes good on her goal of moving up to the big time as quickly as possible in 2004. In fitness the top trophy goes to Kristi Wills.
April 18: Good idea. The light-heavyweight class returns to amateur women’s bodybuilding after
a 16-year absence, and the overall trophy at the Junior USA goes to light-heavyweight winner Heidi
Gay.
Silverman
Deli Delights
PUMP & CiRCUMSTANCE
M O R E M AY- H E M
M AY F L O W E R S
The Early Bird
Catches the big check
Silverman
First in the
Steel City.
May 1: Speaking of Jim Manion.
His Pittsburgh Pro Figure brings 26
iron-trained bods to the Steel City.
Jaime Franklin, looking good, gets
the nod to score her first pro win.
Shannon Meteraud makes a successful transition to figure with a runner-up finish, and Elaine Goodlad—
on her 40th birthday—takes third, with
all three getting their Olympia invitations out of the way early in the year.
What a cutie! Jaime is on the figure fast
track.
No stop is left un-pulled-out. Dayana
Cadeau displays arresting development in
the NOC’s farewell opening skit.
May 29: Cauli-fornia’s finest.
Elaine Goodlad (right) gets her
first quarter-turn-for-quarters
win at the California Pro Figure.
Rookies Zena Collins and
Amber Littlejohn, in second and
third, earn tickets to the O as
well.
Silverman
A L S O I N M AY
JUNE TUNE
Diversification
Plus four new figure pros
Joana Kotkansalo and
June 5: Just a little
Lisbeth Halikka, roundrespect. Tenth at the
ing out the top three.
Fitness International in
June 18–19: Big numMarch, Stacy Simons
bers. The Junior Nationals
takes her underrated
attract a whopping 213
package to the Hungarian
female athletes, including
Pro Fitness competition
healthy fields in fitness and
and gets her props, beatwomen’s bodybuilding.
ing Klaudia Kinska
Once again the overall
there for the second year
bodybuilding champ is the
in a row. Tanji Johnson
light-heavyweight winner,
lands in third, and all three
Christine Szabo.
set their courses StateGo, Stacy!
In fitness, Kristina
side for the O. The HunHenn gets the nod, but
garian Pro Figure event
figure queen Chastity Sloan and her
brings three Europeans to the year-end
class-winning court, Abby Duncan,
lineup: Olympia vet Aleksandra KoWaleska Granger and Jennifer
bielak of Poland leads the pack, with
Peyton all get pro cards.
a fine-looking pair of Finnish lasses,
Silverman
Fireworks
May 20: Say what? A joint announcement by the IFBB and AMI makes it clear:
Wayne DeMilia is out and David Pecker
has big plans for the Olympia. Bring on
the dancing girls.
May 20: More announcements. Citing
the organizational changes at the IFBB
and “factors that are not clearly identified,” Jan Tana cancels the J.T. Classic, a
mainstay of the pro-women’s physique
circuit, for 2004. As if folks didn’t have
enough to buzz about.
May 21: Kaboom! After 25 previous
editions DeMilia and his promoting partner, Charles Blake, put on what will
probably be the last Night of Champions.
Decorum, long thrown out the window at
the raucous New York muscle show, is
reportedly stomped to death in the opening skit, which features an off-season
Diana Cadeau in a policewoman’s uniform, among other delights. In the second—and last—annual NOC women’s
bodybuilding battle the judges make the
hardcore fans happy and go for ripped
Vilma Caez in the lightweights and mass
mistress Yaxeni Oriquen in the heavies,
with Oriquen getting the overall award.
Second-placers Marja Lehtonen and
Betty Pariso aren’t exactly short on fasttwitch fibers either.
AUGUST ANTICS
J U LY J O L L I E S
Return to Vegas
Part 1
She loves
New York.
Christine
PomponioPate got her
pro card
during
Team U
weekend in
2001. The
same weekend, three
years later,
she gets
her first
prize money
on the very
same stage.
Silverman
July 16–17: Keep on pluggin’. Oklahoma’s
Bethani Terrell caps a long career in the amateurs
by snagging the overall trophy at the USA Fitness
Championships. Five other new pros, including class
winners Sabrina Gibson and Kristina Henn,
move on to the dialing-it-in-for-dollars division. The
routines are outstanding, better than they’ve been
for a while at a national-level show, and observers
are encouraged to think that fitness will be around
for a while. NPC execs decide to institute a best
routine award and award it to energetic L.A. dancer
Shiva Bagheri.
July 17: The Oklahoma firegals factor. A pair of
firefighters—and training partners—from the Sooner
State, Carri Ledford Baldwin and Sherry
Smith, battle for the overall at the USA Women’s
Bodybuilding Championships. Making it three for
three at national-level shows, the judges bestow the
Seven come 11. Terrell rolls
title—and in this case a pro card—on the light
the dice one more time.
heavyweight, Ledford Baldwin, over heavyweight
victor Smith, middleweight winner Christina Moore and lightweight champ Tera
Guzman.
Buff Overload
Blazing bodies from Taxus to New Yawk
MORE AUGUST—PLUS SEPTEMBER
Abundance of Bods
Photo courtesy of Colette Nelson
August 6–7: Ironic, ain’t it? Another
birthday weekend spent watching goodlooking women in bikinis and high heels
parade onstage. There are 98 entries in
the Figure Nationals to contend with (not
to mention the pro figure lineup—see the
item at right). The women are divided
into six classes, with pro cards going to
the top two in each. Mary Elizabeth
Lado, winner of the ubertall division,
gets the nod for the overall over class
Hopes of a nation. U.S. flexers Vicki Nixon,
champs, in descending heights, JenCollette Nelson and Debbie Patton at the
nifer Searles, Marcy Porter, Gina
World Championships.
Comacho, Kate Shelby and Carina
Dupree.
August 6–7: Got her on condition. No one is more surprised than Vicki Nixon
when promoter Bev Francis announces that the 114-pound lightweight has won
the Team Universe Overall Women’s Bodybuilding title over heavyweight winner
Colette Nelson, a local star with a powerful rep who’s won her class at the USA
twice. Debbie Patton takes middleweight honors for the second year in a row at
the NPC’s tryouts for the drug-tested IFBB World Amateur Championships. Nixon
earns the right to turn pro, although it remains to be seen whether she’ll go for it.
For Nelson it’s the third near-miss in that department. Good thing this isn’t baseball.
September 4: Enough with the dues already. The decision to stop playing the
size game pays off for Colette. At the North American Championships she breaks
the curse: This time the overall—and the pro card—are hers. One streak not broken: At this contest Colette is a light heavy. Jane Awad gets the pro card in figure.
September 16–17: Speaking of breaking curses. Colette wins the World
Championships, becoming the first U.S. class winner since Peggy Schoolcraft in
1997, the first heavyweight winner since Yolanda Hughes in ’92 and the first
overall winner ever. It caps a hell of a year for the 30-year-old New Yorker. NPC
athletes make their best showing in years at the contest, with lightweight Vicki
Nixon and figure competitor Kate Shelby taking home fourth-place trophies.
August 6–7: Cuts ’n’ stuff. Bonnie
Priest outconditions Betty Viana by
a single point in the heavyweights at
the Southwest USA Pro Cup, an event
promoted in Arlington, Texas, by competitor—and athletes’ rep—Betty
Pariso. Lightweight winner Mah Ann
Mendoza is no match for Priest in the
overall balloting. All three, plus
lightweight runner-up Desiree Ellis,
get Olympia invites.
Pariso and her husband, Ed
Pariso, have gone out on a limb to
continue staging women’s pro
physique events. It’s hard not to wonder why such a relatively few competitors—seven lightweights and four
heavies—came on down to support it.
August 6–7: A star is born. Canadian champ Mindi O’Brien rides into
Texas with both barrels blazing, winning all four rounds at the SW USA Pro
Fitness Cup. Tracey Greenwood and
Jennie Hanke land the other two
money slots in the 23-woman lineup.
Once again Debbie Czempinski and
Teri Mooney get everyone’s attention
in the routines.
August 6–7: Homegirl. Meanwhile
back on the East Coast, Olympia
champ Davana Medina rides in from
Jersey to ride all over the 28-woman
lineup at the New York Pro Figure,
which takes place during the NPC
Team Universe/Figure Nationals festivities. Runner-up Christine
Pomponio-Pate earns a trip to the
big show at last, while former fitness
pro Melissa Frabbiele, in third, earns
a return journey.
PUMP & CiRCUMSTANCE
November/December
November 19–20:
Kudos. New pros
coming out of the
NPC Women’s
Bodybuilding
Nationals include
Gina Davis, overall
champ, as well as
class winners Pam
Kusar, Emery
Miller and Cindy
Gonzales.
November
19–20. Flexibility.
Deanna Lee wins
the overall at the
Fitness Nationals.
Deanna
Five more leaping
Lee.
ladies, including
class winners
Jennifer Becerra
and Summer
Montabone, make
it to the pros along with her.
December 7: Whoops. An “advisory
notice” from the Pro Division “requests
that female athletes in bodybuilding,
fitness and figure decrease the amount
of muscularity by a factor of 20 percent.”
I heard that.
Early December: Rumors that AMI’s
David Pecker wants to dump the Ms.
Olympia run rampant on the Internet and
beyond. So far there appears to be no
truth to them, which is fascinating in
itself. Who would want to spread such
stories?
So we head into 2005 with the establishment suggesting that women’s
physiques have gotten too big and too
hard, and the rumor mill suggesting that
women’s pro bodybuilding is toast. And
the beat goes on….
Silverman
October 8: Yaxinatin’ rhythm.
Yaxeni Oriquen adds another
notch to her lifting belt with an
overall victory at the GNC Show of
Strength in Atlanta. Nancy Lewis
comes back after another layoff to
take the lightweights. Lightweight
runner-up Joanna Thomas and
heavyweight third-placer (behind
Betty Pariso) Marja Lehtonen
pick up Olympia invites as well.
Promoters of this show take some
flak for lowering the prize money
for the women’s shows from the
relatively large purses that were
originally advertised.
October 8: Signs. Kelly
Ryan bows out of the SOS Fitness due to a torn calf, postponing her rematch with Adela
With a vengeance. Iris conquers all
Garcia-Friedmansky. Needless
to become the new queen of pro
to say, AGF wins here—by 21
bodybuilding.
points. Kim Klein moves into
second, ahead of Jen Hendershott, and fourth-placer Teri Mooney gets the
ticket to the O she’s been toiling for all season.
October 8: Pretty woman. Jenny Lynn has an easy win at the SOS Figure
competition, with Jaime Franklin in second and Amber Littlejohn, third.
October 28: Cheers. The new and improved AMI-produced Olympia Weekend gets started with the new and improved press conference. Mixed reviews for
the smack-talkin’ WWF-style approach, but I get a kick out of Triple H.
October 29: Iris is right on. If the judges think Iris Kyle’s physique is too
extreme for a lady, they overlook it. Iris wins three rounds with perfect scores and
loses the muscularity round, of all things, to Lenda Murray by a single point,
with Yaxeni inevitably having to settle for third. Lightweights Dayana Cadeau
and Denise Masino have a closer contest, with Cadeau getting the nod and the
very muscular Lehtonen taking third. The
battle for the overall is a replay of the Ms.
International: Dayana is no match for Iris’
completely developed package. Not unexpectedly, many in the audience are
shocked—shocked—that Kyle has become Ms. Olympia, although Murray does,
arguably, fall into the same pie wedge as
Iris on the size and conditioning chart.
October 29: Slick. Davana Medina,
Jenny Lynn and Monica Brant are all
at the top of their game. The panel picks
Medina again—and breaks Brant’s runnerup streak by dropping her to third behind
Lynn. Boos on all the calls from the fans,
but Mo, who recently got married, proba- October 28: Maybe not such a
bly has other things on her mind.
surprise. AGF wins the Figure
Top-five who’s in: Jaime Franklin,
Olympia, and Jen Hendershott slides ahead of Kelly
fourth, and Amber Littlejohn. Top-five
Ryan for the runner-up slot.
who’s out: Mari Kudla-Donnelly, sevKim Klein is fourth, and
enth, and Dina Al-Sabah, 13th.
It ain’t over yet
Tracey Greenwood rounds out
the magical top five.
Neveux
Plus
SOS
Neveux
Return to Vegas, Part 2
Neveux
OCTOBER FEST
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].
Jack LaLanne’s 90th
J
Photography by Jerry Fredrick and Bill Comstock
ane Russell, David Carradine and Lou
Ferrigno were among the Hollywood stars
celebrating Jack LaLanne’s 90th birthday
with his family and friends at the Hotel Casa Del
Mar in Santa Monica, California, on October 23,
2004. The party was hosted by John Balik and
IRON MAN magazine, Rick Suzuki, Befit Enterprises and the LaLanne family. Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger, Clint Eastwood, Andy Williams,
Red Buttons, Phyllis Diller, Ed McMahon, Randy
Travis and Richard Simmons sent videotaped
greetings.
Rick Suzuki, Jack and actress Lindsey Brooks.
Jack’s son Jon and his wife Lora.
Wife Elaine praises the man of the hour.
Jane Russell and Jack.
David
Carradine wins
a Jack LaLanne
Juicer. Jack’s
juicers have
sold more than
1.5 million units
worldwide.
Lonnie Teper interviews Dan Doyle,
Jack’s son.
Dave and Laree Draper.
Jack LaLanne’s 90th
Elaine with a
classic shot from
Jack’s TV show.
Jack tests Pax Beale’s grip
strength.
Patricia Bragg, Ph.D., is the
daughter of Paul C. Bragg, the
originator of health food stores
and the man who got Jack on the
health-and-fitness trail.
Leo Stern, Jimmy Payne and
Bob Delmonteque.
IRON MAN Publisher John Balik, World Gym CEO Mike
Uretz and Mike’s wife, Claudia.
MuscleMag Publisher Bob Kennedy and
his wife, Tosca.
Jimmy (center) was one of Jack’s acrobatic partners.
Jerry Brainum, Elsa Escobar
and L.T.
IM Art Director Terry Bratcher
delivers a punch line.
With Carla and
Lou Ferrigno.
Legendary photographers Stern and
Gene Mozée.
With Jim and Debbie Manion.
Russ Warner: 1917-2004
by Gene Mozée
Legendary physique photographer
Russ Warner passed away October
21, 2004, in his home in Escondido,
California, at the age of 87. He was
buried at Fort Rosecrans, a military
cemetery in San Diego, with full
honors.
Warner’s innovative and beautiful bodybuilding photography
earned him universal acknowledgement as the number-one physique
photographer in the world. He was
a competitive bodybuilder in the
late ’40s, and his quick eye saw that
the photographs of the top stars of
the era were lacking in excitement.
He soon moved to the other side of
the camera.
Instead of merely taking photos,
Warner created fantasies. His photos of Steve Reeves posed on a
mountaintop with a sword, Clancy
Ross on a sailboat flexing against
the rigging and Vince Gironda at
Vasquez Rocks (to name just a few)
sparked an interest in physique
photography outside the realm of
sports. He was the first to use
Hawaii as a location for physique
photography.
When Russ posed bodybuilder
Dick Dubois with the lovely Betty
Weider, he created a trend of posing
male bodybuilders with beautiful
women that’s still popular today.
In his studio work, though, he
wanted to capture a starker look.
His “rim lighting” technique, which
involves placing the subject against
a black background then positioning five floodlights to highlight the
body, produces breathtaking results.
Every modern-day physique
photographer owes Russ Warner a
debt of gratitude for his innovative
lighting techniques, camera angles
and the top-quality physique photography that was his trademark.
A list of Warner’s subjects reads
like a Who’s Who of bodybuilding:
Steve Reeves, Clancy Ross, Mike
Mentzer, Zabo Koszewski, Reg Park,
Dave Draper, Chris Dickerson,
Vince Gironda, Leo Robert, Robby
Robinson, Freddie Ortiz, Armand
Tanny, Jack LaLanne, Arnold
Schwarzenegger—the list goes on
and on.
Between 1949—when his first
photograph (of Steve Reeves) was
published—and 1975 Warner’s
work appeared on more than 150
magazine covers. He took more
than 25,000 photos, and his total
published photographs numbered
5,000.
Warner received IRON MAN
magazine’s prestigious Art Zeller
Award for Artistic Achievement in
2000, and he was one of the elite
photographers who founded
Graphic Muscle in 2001, along with
Jimmy Caruso, Gene Mozée and Joe
Valdez.
From John Brown
With Art Zeller (left) and John Balik.
Russ Warner’s passing was a very
sad thing. He was a real gentleman—a very gentle man with a
personality bigger than life. What
Picasso and Van Gogh were to
painting, Russ was to physique
photography. It’s not easy to take
good pictures of a body, but Russ
did it as an art form.
When I entered the sport, I remember how impressed I was with
Russ’ photographs of Arnold, Sergio
and others. Then in Hawaii he took
pictures of me. I couldn’t believe it.
Russ was a great guy and a great
friend to bodybuilding. Thank you,
kind soul, and rest in peace.
From Mits Kawashima
I’m not a literary man or a man of
words, but I can tell you that Russ
Warner is probably up in heaven
now, lining up the angels to take
their picture. I was shocked at his
passing. He had such great enthusiasm and such a happy, outgoing
nature. He was famous for his personality—and for picture-taking
too. We miss you, Russ.
From Russ Testo
With Jack LaLanne.
Russ Warner was great to work
with and wonderful to be around.
He was always pleasant and never
intimidating—he made you feel
comfortable. Russ was a terrific
bodybuilding photographer, one of
the finest ever, and also a top show
Russ Warner:
producer and lighting specialist. Yet
he made you feel like you were the
star. He truly was a man of many
talents, but I believe that the secret
of his success could be stated in
one word: respect. He had true
respect for the athletes he worked
with, and they in turn had sincere
respect for him.
Rest in peace, Russ. You were
very special, one of a kind.
Editor’s note: Special thanks to
Rosemary Hallum, Ph.D., for the
additional statements.
A small sample of
Russ Warner’s photography skills and those
who stepped in front
of his camera. Clockwise from top left,
Arnold, Steve Reeves,
Reg Park, Dave Draper
and Armand Tanny.
AD
Will Harris, AFTER
Will Harris, IFBB Pro BEFORE
Spray
Flex
ItÕs a Secret Top Bodybuilders Around the World Are Using to
Get Huge, Shredded MuscleÑand ItÕs Not a Pro-hormone
by Larry Pepe
f youÕre interested in adding pounds of
pure rock-hard muscle in the next month,
keep reading. The next five minutes can
make the difference between getting 100
percent out of your efforts in the gym and
continuing to waste your time with nothing
to show for it. The vital info that follows is the difference between having the body you truly want and
deserve and wishing you looked like someone else.
You owe yourself five minutes to find out.
Who the Hell Am I?
First things first. LetÕs get acquainted. My name is
Larry Pepe, and IÕve been involved in bodybuilding
on virtually every level for the past 20 years. IÕve
competed and finished in the top five at the drugfree USA, National and Universe championships. IÕve
been an NPC national bodybuilding judge for 10
years, and IÕve advised some top bodybuilding personalities and superstars about their training, diet
and supplementation.
IÕve had the opportunity to go one-on-one with
the best bodybuilders on the planetÑfrom Mr.
Olympias to national-level competitors and virtually
any top professional Flexer you can name. To say
that IÕve learned a lot about the reality of getting
crazy muscularity interviewing these guys would be
an understatement.
Before photos courtesy of the author. All on-stage contest photos by Bill Comstock
IRON MAN Research Team
I Know How You Feel and
What You Want
But remember one thing: My
passion for bodybuilding comes
from my own desire to get big,
shredded muscle. Trust me, I was
just like you. I wanted to get bigger,
stronger and shredded all at the
same time. And I wanted it to happen as fast as possible—every
bodybuilder’s dream. I trained my
ass off and ate enough protein to
feed a family of five. I made some
improvements, but I just didn’t feel
that I was getting the results I deserved. I tried tons of products that
promised to do all sorts of things,
and most of them did absolutely
nothing except upset my stomach
and drain my wallet.
A Surgery That Caused
the Birth of a Muscular
Revolution
Then I had a 10-hour surgery
back in 1999 that changed my
bodybuilding life forever. I had a
very progressive surgeon who knew
that the recuperation could be
really tough, so he put me on a
regimen of homeopathic formulas
to help. I’d heard of such products,
but all I knew was that they’re the
most popular supplements available without a prescription in Europe. After years of using worthless
natural products, though, I figured
they were worthless too. The doctor
felt strongly about it, however, and
since I was so eager to recuperate, I
was willing to try anything.
I Was Shocked, and So
Was My Doctor
My rapid recovery was staggering. The very next day, after 10
hours of surgery, I walked—yes
walked—into my doctor’s office
with everyone looking at me in
amazement. “No one has ever
walked upright the day after what
you went through. How are you
walking?” Nine days later I was
back in the gym getting back to
business.
Now that I was healthy, my first
thought was that if homeopathics
could help with recuperation, I
should be able to use homeopathic
formulas to get big and ripped fast.
After that surgery I needed immediate help because I didn’t look too
good.
It made total sense to me. After
all, anabolic steroids weren’t initially designed to develop bodybuilding physiques but to assist people
who were sick and weak and
couldn’t stop losing weight and
strength. Because they were so
effective, though, bodybuilders
soon began using them to get huge
and muscular. So my logic regarding using homeopathics designed
for recuperation to build muscle,
shed fat and increase strength is the
same logic that brought performance-enhancing drugs to bodybuilders in the first place.
I extensively researched homeopathics on the Internet and in medical libraries and books and found
out that they’ve been around for
more than 200 years—the real deal.
In fact, a study published in the
Journal of Human and Experimen212 APRIL 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com
tal Toxicology analyzed 135 studies
on the amazing substances and
concluded that the data were undeniable: Homeopathics have very
real and positive effects.
Bad News, Good News
The bad news was that no one
had designed homeopathics specifically for the needs of bodybuilders.
The good news for you, though, is
that my experience was so convincing, I was determined to formulate
the perfect anabolic homeopathics
myself.
I took everything I knew about
bodybuilding, supplementation
and even the combinations of different prescription drugs that many
of the top pros use. I knew the key
to building muscle mass and burning bodyfat revolved around manipulating and controlling
testosterone, growth hormone and
thyroid. I researched long and hard
to create a legal steroid product
combination that would do just
that. I consulted with doctors,
homeopathic experts and one of
the largest labs in North America.
There’s even a medically supervised
clinical study on one of the compo-
nents of the stack, the Extreme GH
formula, the results of which show
that it can significantly boost GH
levels in less than two months.
Finally, after two years of
painstaking effort, research and
testing, I came up with the three
products that make up the
SprayFlex Extreme Anabolic Stack:
Extreme TEST™
Extreme GH™
Extreme THYROPRO™
Now It Was Time to Put
the Stack to the Test
Where It Mattered...the
Gym and the Mirror
I anxiously started using the
products myself. The results were
staggering. In the first month I
peeled away 10 pounds of fat,
added a few pounds of muscle and
got stronger. And the results just
kept coming. In one year I went
from being fat and out of shape—
way out of shape—to having a rockhard, muscular physique. Odds are,
you’re in much better shape than I
was, so if it did that for me, imagine
what it can do for you.
Okay, so far so good, but I know
WILL HARRIS
BEFORE Sprayflex:
AFTER Sprayflex:
Weight: 285
Weight: 235
Bodyfat: 25 percent
Bodyfat: 3.2 percent
Lean body mass: 214
Lean body mass: 227
IRON MAN Research Team
what you’re thinking. I own the
company, so of course I’m gonna
say the SprayFlex Stack works. So I
gave the products to other top
athletes, trainers and other guys
who just work out for themselves to
see what kind of results they would
get. They were skeptical, as I had
been, but said they would give it a
fair try.
A week later my phone started
ringing off the hook.
“How soon can you send me
some more so that I don’t run out?”
“This stuff is incredible. I’ve
never been this impressed with
anything.”
Can you believe it? The evidence
was in. The anabolic stack of homeopathics I’d created really worked.
Some of the top bodybuilders in the
world, guys who’ve tried everything
for gaining incredible muscle mass
and destroying bodyfat, were calling me to say that the SprayFlex
Extreme line of products were the
most amazing bodybuilding formulas they’d ever used.
The best example of how powerful and physique-altering the
SprayFlex Anabolic Extreme Stack
really is can be seen in the amazing
transformation of ’04 Heavyweight
USA Champ and new IFBB Pro Will
“World” Harris. I’ll let him tell you
what SprayFlex did for him, in his
own words:
“I’ve always been the guy with
amazing potential who couldn’t
quite pull it together. I’m part
Samoan, and getting my weight
down to contest shape has always
been a challenge. In fact, I couldn’t
qualify for national competition for years because of it.
“Then I went on the
SprayFlex Extreme Anabolic
Stack. I started at 285 pounds
and 25 percent bodyfat. Big,
but really smooth. Okay, fat. I
immediately noticed that my
strength levels and muscular endurance jumped up,
making it easier to do cardio
and intensify my workouts.
I also noticed that I was
getting wicked pumps. By
my second month everyone
was asking what I was
doing.
“When it came time to
get ready for the ’04 season,
SprayFlex Power!
When you train hard, eat right
and use the SprayFlex Extreme
Anabolic Stack, you can transform
your physique into a mass of hardcore muscle and have the look men
envy and women lust after. Here are
some of the benefits you can expect:
•Dramatically increased muscle
mass and strength as your body
starts producing GH and testosterone like a muscle-building
factory
•Obliteration of bodyfat and a
shredded condition with turbocharged metabolism
•Boosted energy for greater
stamina and endurance and kickass training sessions
•Greatly enhanced sexual performance and drive
•Improved protein synthesis,
assimilation and digestion in
converting the food you eat into
rock-hard muscle
•Reduced carbohydrate cravings
and binge overeating
•Improved circulation for mindblowing pumps in the gym
Mark Dugdale,
new IFBB pro
and SprayFlex
user.
•Reduced fluid retention, with
every vein and striation in your
new muscle visible
•Improved skin tone and elasticity
I was excited because I was already
leaner than I’d ever been when
starting to prep for a show. A few
months later I showed up at the Los
Angeles Championships at 235
shredded pounds and 3.2 percent bodyfat. I won the overall,
just as fellow Team SprayFlex
member, Mark Dugdale, had
the year before. I’d lost more
than 60 pounds of bodyfat
while gaining more than 13
pounds of pure muscle mass,
and it was almost easy.
“The next week I went to
the USA Championships,
won my class and got my pro
card. SprayFlex is the missing
link that helped me transform my physique from a
‘guy with potential who is just
too heavy’ to an IFBB professional bodybuilder. I’ve tried
everything to unlock my potential,
but SprayFlex is, by far, the most
cutting-edge stuff you can use. This
stuff will revolutionize bodybuilding forever and make building muscle and getting shredded easier and
safer.”
That’s when I knew it was time to
share these products with the rest
of the guys out there who want to
have the best, most muscular and
ripped physique possible—fast—
without having to use illegal drugs.
You owe it to yourself to try
SprayFlex, and now you can
through a special IRON MAN Research Team offer. Call (800) 4470008 and ask for the SprayFlex
Special. You’ll get Extreme Test,
GH and Thyro-Pro (three bottles)
for only $129 (you save $70!). It’s
time to get big, muscular and inside-out shredded. IM
IRONMIND
Mind
Don’t Worry—Work Out!
t’s a gnawing sensation in your gut, and even if you can’t put
your finger on exactly what’s causing it, you know the results:
You’re uneasy, agitated and apprehensive. You can’t concentrate; you can’t relax; you can’t seem to do much but
worry. Welcome to the club—you’re anxious.
Fear is a familiar idea. For example, you’re dangling off a
cliff by your fingertips; a hulking Rottweiler is growling and
coming toward you; you’re alone late at night deep in the
I
woods and you hear a strange sound—what else are you
going to do in those situations but be afraid? Fear, unlike
anxiety, has a specific external source. Anxiety, on the other
hand, might have its roots in something specific like taking a
test in school, getting bad news at work or reading about one
world crisis or another, but the overriding characteristic of
anxiety is that it’s general and not tied directly to a single
source. Psychologists often refer to anxiety as “free floating.”
Another characteristic of anxiety is that it’s
widespread—everyone is afflicted, from teenagers
with concerns about self-image and social acceptance to middle-aged executives pondering the
meaning of their lives. Everyone is subject to bouts
of anxiety, and have no doubt about it, anxiety can
be very uncomfortable.
Anxiety is often seen as the result of stress, and
what’s important to realize is that this emotional
response is at least partially under our control. For
starters, we all need to understand that our emotions and our behavior are related. Some people
might cry in response to anxiety, and others might
overeat. Some, the smartest of them all, hit the
weights.
In classical psychological theories, anxiety was
seen as a “drive,” which meant the affected person was aroused and primed to do something.
Unlike a depressed person, who slides into lethargy, anxious people are wound up—they might
pace, talk incessantly or fidget. Rather than just
letting the nervous energy deplete your resources
and make you feel lousy, why not channel it into a
constructive activity, like working out? Seize it as
an opportunity—consider it bonus fuel for a training session.
Even if you accept the idea as sound, it’s sometimes hard to implement. Here are some suggestions to help you make it a success. First, make
sure that you begin your workout with easy movements and easy weights—it’s not the time to decide you want to learn how to do squat snatches
or go for a P.R. in the clean and jerk. It is, however,
a great time to do spot-perfect squats, curls or just
about anything else you like. Aerobic exercise is
also very well suited to periods of anxiety.
Pick an initial movement that you like. Try to
block out everything but training, and consciously
Neveux \ Model: Michael O’Hearn
Take out your
anger on the
iron—and watch
your results
skyrocket.
You’ll feel better and
look better too
Body
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, ext. 1. Visit the IronMind Web site
at www.ironmind.com.
Motivation
Check Out the New Guy
ne very easy way to shake the
monotony of your training is to
visit a new gym. It’s not so much
the different environment that makes the
move so productive as the psychological
phenomenon—the pressure to perform
as the new guy. If you’ve traveled to different gyms, you’ve surely noticed this,
especially if you’re bigger and stronger
than your garden-variety gym rat. From
the minute you walk in, you get scoped
out by both the men and the women.
The men want to see how big and
strong you are and how hard you train.
The women are usually just checking
you out because they’re curious (pull up
in a Porsche, and they’ll be extra curious).
I don’t know about you, but some of
my all-time best workouts have been when I was the new guy. That was
my first and possibly only chance to make my best impression on the
other members of a foreign iron den, and I made the most of it. I wanted
everyone who’d seen me to think, “Damn, that son of a bitch trains
hard!” But let’s face it: How many of us have the time to be driving
around to different gyms? It’s tough enough sometimes just getting to
your own gym on the days you’re supposed to. I happened upon a
rather easy solution one day. I was forced to train in the late afternoon
rather than my customary morning time at my gym.
My gym, like all gyms, has completely different morning and night
crowds. The night crowd tends to be younger. Since I never train at
night, nobody on the crowded floor knew who I was. That wasn’t long
after I’d competed in an NPC national qualifier, and I was still in very
good condition at more than 220 pounds. As it happened, it was my
arm day. I could feel the eyes boring into me the whole time. Little packs
of guys were huddled and talking, glancing over at me.
I couldn’t believe it—I was the new guy at a gym I’d been going to for
three years! And you know what? When my training is getting a little
stale and I find my motivation ebbing, I may just drop by the gym at 5
p.m. There’s nothing like having something to prove to bring out the
best in you.
—Ron Harris
O
Neveux \ Model: Joe DeAngelis
move slowly through a warmup routine that’s even
more systematic than the one you usually use.
Actively cultivate a sense of measured purpose—
you may be in the world’s rattiest gym, but try to get
in the frame of mind you’d assume in a great cathedral.
If you do things right, your mood will improve
quickly, but don’t think about it; instead, just focus
on your training and let your thoughts and feelings
take care of themselves. As you start to feel better,
you can hit the gas a little harder and let your workout evolve toward heavier weights and tougher
movements, but don’t push it. What’s vital is that
you start gradually and end by notching up a rocksolid workout that leaves you feeling better and
more energetic. If you’re more of a lifter than a
bodybuilder, remember that missed lifts make you
feel bad and successes make you feel good. So be
sure to choose weights that will give you virtually
100 percent success; save your misses for another
day.
Be sure to finish the workout by reinforcing what
just happened. Acknowledge how good you feel,
what a good workout you had and that the good
feeling is the result of the good workout. Have your
favorite protein drink, knowing that you’ll be bigger
and better tomorrow.
When the United States surgeon general officially
tells the world that exercise “appears to relieve
symptoms of…anxiety and improve mood,” you can
bet that the idea is no longer the exclusive domain
of the lunatic fringe. So the next time you’re anxious, do yourself a favor and hit the gym—tap the
nervous energy, and focus it on your training.
Chances are better than good that your mood will
improve almost immediately, and the longer term
results of your training will make you feel even better. Don’t worry: Work out!
—Randall Strossen, Ph.D.
Editor’s note: Check out Ron Harris’ Web site,
www.ronharrismuscle.com.
Bomber Blast
MIND/BODY
We’re Just Kids
Neveux \ Model: Dave Draper
Some of you are in
your teens or 20
something, and to you
the number of years
you’ve gathered here
on earth is remarkably
incidental. Collecting
years is no more on
your mind than collecting string.
Yeah, well, live it up.
Turning 30 will probably get your attention
(Who am I, where am I
going, and why ain’t I
there yet?). And the
big 4-O is always good
for a few wisecracks,
nervous laughs and at
least six months of
restlessness and doubt
(Where did my life
go?).
Not everyone embraces the 40s with open arms (they hide in
the closet), and those truly wonderful years can cause a good
man or woman to do some really strange things—they submit to
nips ’n’ tucks, buy a sports car and chase the opposite sex.
There’s consuming introspection and, not infrequently, the bottle
nestled in the bottom of the laundry basket.
Of all our pathetic blunders, the strangest and most disturbing
is losing those priceless years trying to save them. We need not
resist the passing of time, as if life were slipping by and we were
diminishing. That is to support the misperception of aging, to feed
it, fear it and become its victim. Big mistake—like allowing a child
to kick and scream to get his way. Discipline the spoiled brat.
My plea: Go to the gym with renewed purpose and passion;
eat right, for cryin’ out loud, and the youth that left will reappear.
To spectators, I say, start exercising and discover real discipline
and fulfillment. Get rid of the sugar and eat protein and give your
beloved body something to feed on and live for. Stop grumbling
and chasing midlife daydreams. Grasp authentic strength, health
and action with willing hands. Stand up. Be strong. Today!
Things don’t go from bad to worse. They go from better-thanyou-think to terrific. The years of your life add up, yes, but you
can add years to your life. Youth isn’t wasted on the young, nor
are the 40s and 50s wasted on the middle-aged. You’re in control
at the prime of your life with all you need to know. Fix what’s
broke and soup up what’s workin’. Zoom, zoom. We got places
to go and things to do.
I have a special affection for those middle years, 40 to 50, because I beat my 30s, that season of princes and princesses, repeatedly with a blunt object, yet was reborn in the 10 years that
followed. I was 42, to be exact, when I got to my feet, dusted myself off, surveyed the burned-out territory upon which I stood and
started walking forward, one step at a time. The point, please, O
sorrowful, fallen victim: The 40s are really good for that sort of
thing, making magnificent strides over craggy surfaces, lifeless
wastelands and beast-ridden mountainsides. The 50s work very
well also, but you’ve got to be like Jack, nimble and quick, alert
and ready. While I’m at it, the 60s, it seems, take a nickel from
one pocket and put a dime in the other. You don’t know whether
In bodies that need our help
to say, hey, hands off, or thank you, thank you, thank you.
During the early years, when we were growing up, we ate what
we ate because it was there and did what we did because we
were told to. Later, as we got older, we imitated our surroundings,
what we viewed on the big screen, TV and in the media. Most of it
wasn’t very good. Today, with the passing of time, the good has
diminished, and the bad has increased. We eat like horses and
act like hogs; we do what’s easy and as little as we can.
I’ve been weight training for a long time, more or less in pursuit
of muscles and strength since I was a kid. Even when I was bad
and messin’ up, I was training and eating tuna. The last 20 years
have been as straight as an arrow, and I’ve been attentive to life
around me, the days gone by and the days ahead. How to keep
the stone rolling and free of moss has become my hobby. Keeping you periodically informed of my observations encourages me
to observe more keenly.
So what’s the latest? Remember, dear reader, whose eyes
have yet to require magnifying glasses to read this article, this stuff
is for all ages and levels, breeds, makes and models. Listen and
learn.
I have only positive news to report. Last spring I added certain
exercises that I had ignored for 40 years (didn’t like ’em) to my
workout to replace those exercises that were overused, worn out,
abused and not withstanding the years. The additions included
low-incline flyes for pecs, reverse cable crossovers for the back
and rear delts, bent-over triceps kickbacks, wide-grip pulldowns,
behind-the-neck and medium-wide parallel-grip pulldowns. Dig in
your worn junk pile.
These have proven to be effective and productive, and my
strength in each movement has increased considerably. That’s
great news when inflammation and nerve pain due to repeat
trauma—exercise redundancy—start to limit one’s plane of resistance, repertoire of exercise and joy of performance. Little things
started to happen and continue to happen here and there: fullness, tightness, hardness, expanded capability, comfort and
reduction of “bad” pain in critical areas. The direction remains
forward and upward, in spite of the wrinkles and aches time
insists we bear to keep us humble and forever grateful.
Maximum muscle intensity in difficult regions is approachable
through warmup, focused reps, periodic forced slow reps and the
odd accommodating position. Pressing on is successful; development is possible. That’s the point of my story, hopeful bombers,
not me and my clay-footed pursuits.
We train for muscle and power, health, fun, expression, stress
repression and because, once bitten, we must. When I train for
maximum response—that is, muscle growth, definition, density,
strength and intensity in performance—I train with ultimate focus
and concentration. My attention does not veer from the work
before me. To the extent it does, my workout is compromised.
The physical and the mental and the emotional become entwined,
tightly strung. I love my training most when it’s at that level. Only
then is it really training. Other times it’s play—which isn’t altogether bad.
—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.
New Stuff
You Have to Try These Bars!
Chef Jay: Your taste buds will yell hooray
(and your muscles will love them too)
ay Littmann, executive chef,
founder and CEO of Chef Jay’s
Food Products, has created a
bevy of delectable food bars. He calls
them Tri-O-Plex bars, and they’re
packed with protein.
They’re
J
made
with whole oats and
isolated soy and whey proteins, which
build muscle and fortify heart health.
You get 30 grams of isolated proteins
derived from three sources, along
with a reasonable amount of carbs.
Oh, and did we mention they taste out
of this world? Check out these outstanding flavors:
cookie dough
chocolate chip,
caramel apple,
chocolate coconut, peanut
butter chocolate
chip, s’mores,
peanut butter
banana, cinnamon
raisin roll. (Bet that got your mouth
watering.) Also look for the company’s
new Peanut Butter Rage bar. Protein
and oatmeal never tasted this good!
For more information visit www
.trioplex.com or call (866) 869-5226.
—The editors
New Stuff
Super Charge Your Workouts!
uper Charge by Labrada Nutrition is a new
nitric oxide preworkout drink mix in three
delicious flavors: grape, fruit punch and
orange. It’s designed for the athlete who wants to
experience immediate mental alertness, muscle
pump, increased energy, greater strength, more
endurance and speedier workout recovery.
“I wish this product had existed when I was competing as a professional bodybuilder,” says Lee
Labrada, president and CEO of Labrada Nutrition.
“After taking Super Charge 15 minutes before your
workout, you’ll experience razor-sharp, aggressive
mental focus,
increased strength
and a noticeable pump in your muscles. It’s
unlike anything I’ve tried before!”
The ingredients in Super Charge include
methylxanthines (energy and focus compounds), nitrous malate (superior form of
arginine), taurine (muscle-cell volumizer and
nerve stimulator), N-acetyl-L-glutamine,
2CM di-creatine malate (a new ionic-bound
compound of creatine and malic acid),
GuaniPro—guanidinopropionic acid (creatine precursor)—betapure betaine anhydrous (choline metabolite) and humanofort
(testosterone precursor).
Super Charge is available at fine health
retail outlets. For more information call
(800) 832-9948 or visit www.labrada.com.
S
Jacked Up
MIND/BODY
Build Your Calves at Home
Or even in a hotel, motel or jail cell
ere’s a sweetheart of an exercise group to create gorgeous heart-shaped
calves no matter where you are. Calves are stubborn because of the
difficulty of getting blood circulating in the lower legs. You have to work
the hell out of them by stretching, jumping and lifting.
My favorite calf raise is springing up and down on one leg. Go up on the ball
of your foot—your tiptoes—lower and repeat till failure and then switch to the
other foot. It’s a killer exercise.
You can do calf raises in a number of ways—with your toes pointing in, then
with toes out. That helps stimulate all the calf muscle fibers. To do calf raises at
home, stand on a chair with your toes on the edge of the seat and your hands
supporting you on the back of the chair. If that doesn’t work or is too clumsy,
find a high block or step. Now lower your heels as far as you can, and then rise
up as high as you can. Repeat that up and down motion till the burn is too
much.
You can also do donkey calf raises, the killer of them all. Use a calf block,
and find a sturdy high
surface to rest your
forearms on. Then find
someone of comparable
size to sit on your lower
back. Stand on the calf
block on the balls of your
feet, with your heels
hanging off the edge, and
bend over to 90 degrees,
resting your forearms on
the surface. Have your
partner get on your
back, and you’re ready.
Rise up and down. Keep
your knees straight and
inhale as you descend as
low as you can without
letting your heels touch
the floor. Exhale as you
rise on your toes as high
as possible.
Those three exercises
will have your calf muscles shaking with exhaustion, but that’s exactly
how you construct showstopping calves. Do two
or three rounds, taking as
little rest between exercises as possible.
—Jack LaLanne
H
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.
Gallery of Ironmen
MIND/BODY
Guns and Personality Ammo
Leroy Colbert: bodybuilding’s well-armed motivator
e had massive arms, a huge
chest and a winning personality, but Leroy Colbert’s
bodybuilding career was cut short
before he could triumph in major
competitions. Fate had decreed
instead that he would go on to
become one of bodybuilding’s most
influential judges and nutritionists—
but even more important was the
role he played as an inspiration to
an entire generation of young
physique athletes.
Colbert was born on May 9,
1933, in New York City. After completing high school, the young man
began to work for Joe Weider’s
organization; he was employed in
the warehouse of the Union City,
New Jersey, business. Bodybuilding
was nowhere as popular or profitable in the early 1950s as it is now,
and the future champ recalls making barely enough money to get by
each week. But on the positive side
he absorbed a lot of the cuttingedge experimentation that was
going on at Weider’s offices. Gradually, Leroy built a fine physique with
full, beautiful biceps—the first to
measure 20 inches.
The young man began competing at the age of 18, when he entered the ’51 Mr. Eastern America.
Colbert placed sixth. By the next
year he’d won first place at the Mr.
New York City contest, a great
honor for a mere teenager. He
wasn’t so lucky when he tried for
Photos courtesy of David Chapman
H
the ’52 AAU Mr. America, a notoriously difficult contest for AfricanAmericans to win; Colbert came in
17th, but he did win the Best Arms
award.
By 1954 he was in the running to
be one of bodybuilding’s greatest
stars, but then something happened
that would end the young man’s
career. He was riding a motorcycle
near Laconia, New Jersey, when he
was forced to swerve out of the path
of an oncoming car. His right foot
was caught under the car’s bumper
and nearly severed. Colbert survived,
but he would never compete again.
Despite his misfortune, Colbert persevered. His picture
appeared in many training articles in Weider publications, and
given his experience in shipping
supplements, he decided to
open his own health food business. Later he moved to California, where he opened another
business. No matter where he
went, Colbert inspired others.
One of his greatest fans at the
time was Dave Draper. The
Blond Bomber remembered
Colbert’s arms as being “over
20 inches cold, with biceps like
grapefruits and triceps like giant
horseshoes. For arms like those,
I thought, I’d train night and day
forever.” That inspiration is
Colbert’s greatest legacy to the
sport.
—David Chapman
Review
MIND/BODY
Lifelong Fitness 2004
ob Delmonteque is America's premier senior fitness
consultant, a former star
bodybuilder and acclaimed
physique photographer. Along
with his partners, he opened 500
health clubs worldwide. He’s
trained the original Apollo astronauts, Hollywood movie legends
John Wayne, Errol Flynn, Marilyn
Monroe and Clark Gable and
contemporary stars like Matt
Dillon and Eric Braeden. A longtime member of the Weider Research Clinic and special
consultant to Muscle & Fitness
magazine, he is also a feature
writer for Longevity magazine. He has authored seven books
and hundreds of articles on fitness and health.
Bob practices what he preaches, which is evident by the
fact that he is arguably the best-built man in the world over 80
years of age. In his lifelong devotion to physical culture he
may well have discovered the anti-aging secrets of the 21st
century. He’s sculpted a body that would be the envy of any
average man in his 20s. Three photos on the back cover of
Lifelong Fitness 2004 show that he looks better at 80 than he
did at age 27.
Caught up in their accomplishments and championship
physiques, many competitive bodybuilders never give thought
to the day they will hang up their posing trunks. Some maintain a good physique with regular exercise, while many go the
way of most ex-athletes—with expanding waistlines and
accumulating excess bodyfat due to lack of exercise and poor
nutrition.
Delmonteque presents scientific fitness procedures based
on his more than 60 years as a bodybuilder/physical culturist
B
A new book by lifetime bodybuilder Bob
Delmonteque—who’s 84 years young
that can
help everyone stay
healthy
and fit. We
can all
learn from
the master.
Think
about it—
do you
know
anyone
else in his
80s who
runs
marathons,
cycles 120
miles, can
benchpress 250
pounds
and has a
terrific
physique
as well?
Lifelong
Fitness
Delmonteque with Brooke Burns.
2004 is a
book that everyone—regardless of age—should have for its
extremely valuable information on maintaining excellent health
and fitness and a well-toned, shapely physique. You may think
you don't need Delmonteque’s information now, but it can
help you avoid mistakes that can come back with a
vengeance to damage your health when you reach age 50, 60
or more. Delmonteque presents a detailed guide to help
everyone grow younger as he or she grows older. He outlines complete exercise programs for men and women
and reveals health secrets and nutritional procedures
that will help you attain and maintain optimum health,
fitness and longevity. Many of the 140 photographs in
the book were taken by noted
physique photographers Robert
Reiff, Chris Lund and Bill Dobbins.
There are hundreds of books
on every aspect of muscle building, but this one stands alone in
promoting anti-aging and lasting
good health and fitness. Always
remember, “To lose wealth is to
lose much; to lose health is to
lose all.”
—Gene Mozée
Meditation Sedation
study performed at the University
of Wisconsin used brain-imaging
technology to show that subjects
who meditated for eight weeks had increased activity of the brain’s frontal
region, which is associated with positive
emotions. Subjects also reported less
anger, anxiety and other negative emotions. A control group registered no
changes in those areas. Those who
meditated also showed heightened immune response.
Who knows? Meditation may allow
people to get rid of their blood pressure
medication. Try it: Just shut up and
trance.
—Becky Holman
A
Editor’s note: Lifelong
Fitness 2004 is available from
Home Gym Warehouse. Call
(800) 447-0008 or visit
www.home-gym.com. Also visit
www.Bobdelmonteque.com.
Built Bods
Photography by Mervin
Eva Stevens
Weight: 130 Height: 5’6”
Occupation: actress, personal trainer
Favorite movie:
“Sweet November” (“Keanu Reeves is hot.”)
Training:
She trains with weights five days per week. She
likes to pyramid the weight over three to five sets
of eight to 12 reps per exercise. She also does
cardio and boxing two to three days a week.
Factoid:
“My mother is in great shape, and she has been
her entire life. She is still a top track and field
trainer back home [in Lithuania].”
Role Model: “Arnold. I am motivated by his
ability to immigrate to the U.S. and start from a
humble beginning and reach for the stars.”
Jerry Brainum’s
Bodybuilding Pharmacology
World’s Most
Popular Drug
Here’s a quick quiz for you: What’s the most popular
drug among bodybuilders? It isn’t any type of anabolic
steroid or growth hormone, nor does it involve thyroid,
beta agonists or any other anabolic substance. The most
popular drug among bodybuilders is also the most popular
drug world-wide: caffeine.
In the United States about four out of five Americans eat,
drink or swallow a product that contains caffeine. Caffeine
is ubiquitous in nature, existing in more than 60 known
plants. About 75 percent of the caffeine consumed comes
from coffee, with the other 25 percent mainly from tea and
cocoa. Coffee, at an average 100 milligrams of caffeine per
cup, contains twice as much caffeine as tea. A 12-ounce
Recent studies suggest
that caffeine can
increase muscular
endurance and decrease
fatigue. It can also help
you burn fat—just don’t
go overboard with it.
bottle of cola contains between 35 and 55 milligrams of
caffeine.
Most people use caffeine to obtain benefits associated
with it, including increased mental alertness, faster
thought processes and reduced fatigue. Other effects—not
specifically sought by most people—include stimulation of
the heart, increased secretion of stomach acid and
increased urine output.
Caffeine is thought to be an ergogenic aid in that it can
enhance athletic performance. A study examined some of
the fat-burning properties of caffeine under resting conditions and found that it increased energy expenditure 13
percent.1 Other effects included 24 percent increased fat
oxidation, with 76 percent being recycled, likely due to the
resting conditions in the study. Most of the effects were
attributed to increased sympathetic nervous system activity, or the release of sympathetic hormones, such as
epinephrine and norepinephrine, after the subjects took
caffeine.
Caffeine-induced fatty acid release can interfere with
insulin activity, leading to insulin insensitivity; however,
research shows that exercise relieves that
particular problem. Indeed, one recent
study showed that drinking coffee offers
protection against type 2 diabetes and
suggested that nutrients besides caffeine,
such as magnesium, may be the protective
factors in coffee.2
Another recent study found that caffeine
protects against Alzheimer’s disease by
reducing the toxic effects of a protein called
beta-amyloid on brain neurons3; buildup
of beta-amyloid is considered a primary
event in the onset of Alzheimer’s.
Since caffeine promotes the release of
sympathetic hormones that stimulate body
processes, it’s not surprising that it can
induce severe anxiety in some people.
Indeed, “caffeineism” is so distressing that
an estimated 20 percent of people cannot
tolerate anything containing caffeine. One
study, however, found that exercise can
relieve anxiety brought on by high doses of
caffeine.4
The release of sympathetic hormones by
caffeine can stimulate the heart and increase blood pressure. Some drugs prescribed to treat cardiovascular disease,
known as beta-blockers, block the effects of
sympathetic hormones on the cardiovascular system. Caffeine would appear to be a
problem because of the way it affects the
cardiovascular system, but most studies
have found no significant adverse effects
except when excess intake is involved.
For example, one study examined the
effects of caffeine on the body’s homocysteine levels.5 A toxic by-product of the
metabolism of the essential amino acid
methionine, homocysteine is linked to
cardiovascular and other diseases. Healthy
volunteers drank a liter a day of coffee for a
Some world-class cyclists were said to have used
caffeine suppositories (which gives new meaning
to the phrase, “Get your ass in gear”).
month, and 24 of the 25 participants showed significant
elevations of homocysteine in the blood. Vitamin B12, folic
acid and vitamin B6 neutralize the effects of homocysteine, converting it into an innocuous substance that’s
excreted from the body.
Another recent study found that drinking four cups of
filtered coffee a day for one month increased cholesterol
levels.6 Previous studies had shown that drinking unfiltered coffee increased cholesterol, an effect scientists
traced to elements in coffee called diterpenes. Coffee
filters captured the chemicals, making filtered coffee
safe—or so they thought. Even so, the increase in cholesterol from coffee is significant only to those who already
have elevated cholesterol. To others the effect is insignificant.
Drinking more than about five cups of coffee daily—
particularly at night—can lead to insomnia. Besides caffeine coffee contains other substances, such as
theophylline, a drug commonly used to treat bronchial
asthma because it dilates the bronchial tubes. Coffee does
that too. Another coffee ingredient, theobromine, was
recently found to have cough-suppressant power superior
to that in over-the-counter cough medications. Caffeine
isn’t linked to any organ damage and peaks in the blood
about two hours following ingestion. It’s metabolized by
the liver, then excreted by the kidneys.
Coffee is believed to stimulate the brain by blocking
brain receptors for a chemical called adenosine, which
slows the activity of the brain’s working cells, or neurons.
By blocking adenosine, caffeine fosters a feeling of mental
clarity and focus. On the other hand, it also constricts
blood vessels in the brain, which would decrease blood
flow and lower metabolic activity.
Since caffeine is a drug, you might expect to pay a price
if you quit cold turkey. The effects of withdrawal include
headache, drowsiness and fatigue, mainly due to an increase in adenosine receptors in the brain.
As with other drugs, caffeine’s physiological effects
depend on the dosage. The amount in an average cup of
coffee—100 to 200 milligrams—leads to increased mental
alertness and reduced fatigue. At the one-gram level
symptoms of caffeineism, such as anxiety, mild heartrhythm disturbances and gastrointestinal disturbances,
appear. If for some crazy reason you were to ingest 10
grams of caffeine—the amount in 100 cups of coffee—at
one time, you’d die.
Many of the popular so-called fat-burning supplements
on the market contain some form of caffeine. Typical
ingredients include guarana, an herb from Brazil that
contains 7 percent caffeine—compared to the 2 percent
found in coffee. A popular stimulant sold in the 1970s
called Zoom was composed entirely of guarana, and its
activity matched its name. Another form found in supplements is mate, also from South America.
The addition of caffeine to fat-burning supplements
makes sense, since it promotes the release of sympathetic
hormones, such as epinephrine and norepinephrine,
which induce a biochemical cascade of fat from fat cells.
The combination of ephedrine, which also promotes
sympathetic-hormone release, and caffeine was considered the most effective natural fat-burning combination.
Adverse publicity about ephedrine, however, eventually
led to its being banned by the FDA. Could the fact that
head-to-head comparisons found the ephedrine-andcaffeine combo to be superior to popular prescription diet
pills have anything to do with the ban on ephedrine? You
bet it could.
Caffeine was considered so ergogenic that the Olympics
banned it above a certain quantity in the blood. The assumption was that the only way to reach that level of
caffeine was to use it purposely as a means of improving
performance. Some world-class cyclists were said to even
use caffeine suppositories.
Caffeine is described as ergogenic because it releases
greater amounts of fat in the blood, which spares limited
glycogen stores in muscle. That helps increase muscular
endurance, and studies involving endurance athletes have
consistently proved boosting power of caffeine. The evidence for any effect on anaerobic exercise, such as bodybuilding, has been less clear. Recent studies, however,
show that under anaerobic exercise conditions, caffeine
ingestion appears to increase muscular endurance and
decrease fatigue. An important point about these studies
is that they all involved the use of pure caffeine, not food
products containing caffeine, such as coffee. The effects of
pure caffeine are considered more reliable.
An Alternative to
Pro-hormones?
In late October 2004, President George W. Bush signed
the 2004 Anabolic Steroid Control Act, an amendment to
earlier legislation that had made anabolic steroid distribution illegal. The new law covers nearly all over-the-counter
Jerry Brainum’s
Bodybuilding Pharmacology
New research shows that when men watch romance movies, their
testosterone plummets. Bring on “Scarface.”
pro-hormone supplements and discourages the development of new
pro-hormone supplements designed
to circumvent the new law.
An interesting aspect of the law is
that few, if any, complaints about
adverse health effects of pro-hormones had been reported to the Food
and Drug Administration. The philosophy behind the new law is “protective” because pro-hormone
supplements are considered to be
full-fledged anabolic steroids.
Companies were able to sell various pro-hormone formulas thanks to
provisions in the Food Supplement
Act of 1994, which diverted proof of
danger of any particular supplement
from the manufacturer to the FDA.
The law also said that if a supplement
existed naturally, it was by definition
a food, not a drug, and therefore not
subject to the stringent rules that
affect drugs. The new law changes all
that.
In fact, the recent banning of
ephedrine for dubious reasons, plus
the new mandate recently announced
by the Federal Trade Commission to
“vigorously pursue misleading claims
in the supplement industry” may
spell the beginning of the end for
many other supplements that the
FDA will consider fraudulent or of
dubious value to consumers. In
essence, the agency is saying that
most Americans are brain defective
and cannot protect themselves, so the
big brother FDA will do it for the poor
fools. That, by the way, includes you
and me.
Since pro-hormone supplements
will be gone on January 23, 2005, we
need to look at other ways of naturally
increasing anabolic hormone levels.
One way that is beyond the reach of
even the FDA is movies. No, not porno
movies, although they may be useful
for other purposes. (I think I just gave
away the fact that I didn’t vote for
Bush.)
According to new research from the
University of Michigan, watching
certain movies can affect hormone
levels in the body. Watching romance
movies increases progesterone levels
in women by 10 percent. When men
watch such movies, their testosterone
levels plummet.
Participants watched three different 30-minute film excerpts. The first
was a romantic film called “The
Bridges of Madison County.” The next
group watched “The Godfather, Part
2.” The third group watched a documentary on the rain forest. All sub-
jects had their hormone levels tested before, immediately before and
45 minutes following the films.
No changes occurred in the rain
forest group. Women watching
“Bridges” showed a 10 percent rise
in progesterone, with no change in
testosterone. Men watching the
same film showed lower testosterone levels. With “Godfather,”
which involved a violent scene, men
showed a 30 percent rise in testosterone levels. Women with high
testosterone levels showed a drop in
that hormone while watching the
scene, and those with low testosterone levels got “uncomfortable”
during the scene.
An implication of the study is that
by inducing an elevated progesterone level in women, romantic
films increase their feelings of affiliation to men. In men progesterone
increases anxiety and has a blunting
effect on testosterone. Which makes
one consider that profound statement made by one Rodney King,
whose 15 minutes of fame resulted
from being at the epicenter of the
incident that started the Los Angeles
riots of 1991: “Can’t we all just get
along?”
References
1 Acheson, K.J., et al. (2004).
Metabolic effects of caffeine in humans: lipid oxidation or futile cycling?
Am J Clin Nutr. 79:40-46.
2 Salazar-Martinez, E., et al. (2004).
Coffee consumption and risk for type2 diabetes mellitus. Ann Intern Med.
140:1-8.
3 Dall’lgna, O., et al. (2003). Neuroprotection by caffeine and adenosine
A-2 receptor blockade of beta-Amyloid neurotoxicity. Brit J Pharm.
138:1207-09.
4 Youngstedt, S.D., et al. (1998).
Acute exercise reduces caffeine-induced anxiogenesis. Med Sci Sports
Exer. 30:740-45.
5 Urgert, R., et al. (2000). Heavy
coffee consumption and plasma
homocysteine: a randomized controlled trial on healthy volunteers. Am
J Clin Nutr. 72:1107-10.
6 Strandhagen, E., et al. (2003).
Filtered coffee raises serum cholesterol: results from a controlled study.
Eur J Clin Nutr. 57:1164-68. IM
Readers Write
Cover Kudos
mass most bodybuilders are looking for. It may build some
strength and give your muscles some hardness—if you’re a
60-year-old beginner.
Sammy Tiara
Austin, TX
I was knocked for a
loop when I got my
February ’05 IRON MAN
in the mail. It was
Arnold, but not the
same old tired shots
we’ve seen over and
over. It was a fresh,
powerful caricature that
should be a poster.
Those of us who are
fans of Arnold would
love that hanging on
our gym walls. By the
way, I went out and
bought a second copy.
I’m keeping one in a
plastic sleeve with my other collectibles.
Editor’s note: Heavy Duty has worked for a number of
trainees, and the system has a lot of followers. As we told
Mike Mentzer before he passed away, IRON MAN is an
open forum, a place where all training theories are presented. We encourage experimentation in the gym. If you
tried Heavy Duty and it didn’t work for you, you learned
something. That’s what it’s all about: Learning and embracing what works for you and discarding the rest.
X, Lies and Measuring Tape
Joe Armada
via Internet
Editor’s note: Thanks for the compliment, Joe. The
illustration was created by Ron Dunn. You can see more of
his work at www.rondunnillustration.com.
Site for More Size
The Graphic Muscle site you guys created is downright
awesome [www.graphicmuscle.com]. I love the slide shows
and the contest reports, and Lonnie [Teper] is a hoot. I also
like the Watch Out For features and the babes, of course.
Keep up the great work!
Jagger Tallman
Cleveland, OH
Editor’s note: The Graphic Muscle site is growing
quickly and evolving. Be sure to check out our extensive
photo coverage of the major bodybuilding contests there.
We can showcase many more photos of each event than we
can in the pages of IM. If you follow bodybuilding,
www.graphicmuscle.com belongs on your favorites tool
bar.
Heavy Duty Dis
How much longer is IRON MAN going to run Mike
Mentzer’s Heavy Doody [sic]. It’s the same crap and a waste
of space. I
totally agree
with Colin
Eliot, who said
in his commentary [in
the February
’05 Train to
Gain section],
“Mentzer’s
training theory
has several
flaws.” I’d like
to add to that:
Heavy Duty
doesn’t work.
At least it
doesn’t build
Mike Mentzer.
the muscular
I’ve been reading IRON MAN for one heck of a long
time. It’s one of my favorite magazines. But I was upset
over the [before and after] pictures of Jonathan Lawson
and Steve Holman [on page 126 of the January ’05 issue].
You’re saying those pictures are one month apart? The
photos of Jonathan are at least 10 years apart, and the
ones of Steve a good 20 years. You both have such great
builds. Why would you want to lie? I’ve been exercising
for almost 50 years, and I’m now 70. Thanks for letting me
blow off some steam.
Jack H. Wagoner
Orchard Park, NY
Holman and Lawson respond: To repeat, we aren’t
lying. Those photos were absolutely taken one month
apart. John Balik, IM publisher, can verify that fact. While
the after shots you’re referring to were taken under different lighting at Mike Neveux’s studio, there are other before-and-afters at www.x-rep.com in the X Q&A section
that were taken under exactly the same light. And there are
many more in The Ultimate Mass Workout e-book. X Reps
worked for us in a big way. We just hope they’re not aging
us 10 years for every month we use them.
Errata
In the February ’05 installment of the IRON MAN
Research Team feature, Gerard Dente was identified as
being affiliated with Ultimate Nutrition. He is not; he is
with Maximum Human Performance (see his interview
on page 166). Brian Rubino is with Ultimate Nutrition
and should have been named in place of Dente in that
feature. Our apologies to both men for our mistake.
In the January ’05 Readers Write we included a photo
of Karen Geninatti without a credit. The shot was taken
by George Legeros. Our apologies for the omission.
Vol. 64, No. 4: 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 (800) 570-4766. Copyright © 2004. All rights reserved. No part of this
magazine may be reproduced in any manner without written permission from the publisher. Printed in the USA.

train to gain - Bodybuilding magazine free download. IRONMAN

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