Iron Man magazine 2006 06 - Bodybuilding magazine free

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www.ironmanmagazine.com \ APRIL 2006 261
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150 DECEMBER 2009 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com
June 2006
Vol. 65, No. 6
™
Female Muscle,
page 296
We Know Training
FEATURES
FEATURES
76 TRAIN, EAT, GROW 80
Our TEG men move into their D-bomb ripping phase.
106 BI-LAWS
The verdict is in: Big arms rule—and Eric Broser tells you
how to build them.
126 10 STUPID THINGS BODYBUILDERS
DO TO MESS UP THEIR WINNING
MIND-SET
Skip La Cour goes mental. Get ready for insane gains!
140 IN THE ZONA
David Young interviews national-level bodybuilder Sebastian Zona. (This dude is ripped!)
152 A BODYBUILDER IS BORN 11
Ron Harris learns some hard lessons about conest prep
and fat burning.
160 SUGAR
Jerry Brainum’s got the research. It
may not be so bad after all.
Bi-Laws,
page 106
188 HEAVY DUTY
It’s been five years since Mike and
Ray Mentzer passed away. Here’s
our tribute—with plenty of classic
photos.
206 CARB CYCLING
Tim Wescott reveals the shredding
secret of competitive bodybuillders.
Moe El Moussawi and
Erika Thompson appear
on this month’s cover.
Hair and makeup Yvonne
Ouellette. Photo by
Michael Neveux.
216 RESEARCH TEAM
NxCare’s Methyl Ripped. Prepare to look sliced and diced.
Heavy Duty,
page 188
226 COMBAT CARDIO
Stuart McRobert discusses the new aerobic fat attack.
242 LARRY SCOTT, PART 2
Rod Labbe’s Legends of Bodybuilding: The first Mr. O.
Arnold Classic,
page 274
258 STUBBORN FAT
Ori Hofmekler tells you how to shed the ugly stuff—and
bolster your immune system in the process.
274 IFBB ARNOLD CLASSIC
Giant photos from the big show. (Dexter wowed ’em!)
296 FEMALE MUSCLE
Bill Dobbins’ breathtaking pics of the feminine form.
326 ONLY THE STRONG SHALL SURVIVE
Bill Starr on mind, muscle and might.
Muscle “In” Sites,
page 266
DEPARTMENTS
36 TRAIN TO GAIN
David Henry’s leg program, HIT vs. volume training and
Joe Horrigan’s Sportsmedicine.
54 SMART TRAINING
Top strength coach Charles Poliquin says some rows
don’t help you grow.
62 EAT TO GROW
More to milk than meets the eye, how to instinctively
stop eating too much and the carb-count cut catalyst.
94 CRITICAL MASS
Steve Holman discusses rep speed for fast mass.
Sebastian
Zona,
page 140
100 NATURALLY HUGE
Train to Gain,
page 36
John Hansen wades through the mass confusion.
254 BODYBUILDING PHARMACOLOGY
Jerry Brainum dissects the GH-cancer connection.
266 MUSCLE “IN” SITES
New column! Eric Broser surfs the Web for cool stuff you
can use—and some funny Arnold pics too.
268 NEWS & VIEWS
Lonnie Teper reports on the Arnold Classic—his always
entertaining insider look at what went down.
290 PUMP & CIRCUMSTANCE
Ruth Silverman was in Columbus, too, with camera in
hand. That means hot pics here, gang!
314 MIND/BODY CONNECTION
Randall Strossen, Ph.D., shows you how to think like a
champ, and Dave Draper has a classic Bomber Blast
on our favorite pasttime. Then there’s our photo doublewhammy: Graphic Muscle Stars and Serious Training.
Photograph © 2006 by MuscleTech. All rights reserved
Pump & Circumstance,
page 290
News & Views,
page 268
WEB ALERT!
336 READERS WRITE
Retr-O rocks!—it’s all about Rachel—Dunn deal and the
weightlifting wow factor (lady lifters got it going on!).
In the next IRON MAN
Next month we’ve got an eye-popping interview
with training guru Dante, originator of Doggcrapp,
or DC, training, which has developed a cult following on the Web. Pro bodybuilder David Henry
swears by it, and not since Heavy Duty has a training system created so much buzz. Exciting stuff!
Then Jerry Brainum looks at tanning. Is it safe?
How much is too much? Are our muscles destined
to be covered by a pasty, white shroud? Plus, our
resident registered hypnotist Pete Siegel tells you
now to ratchet up your intensity to Category 5, our
TEG men take you further into the X-treme lean
zone, and we’ll have a titanic triceps workout that
will turn your guns into cannons. Watch for the
so-fly July IRON MAN on newsstands the first week
of June.
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Over 4000 best-selling products online
John Balik’s
Founders
1936-1986:
Peary & Mabel Rader
Publisher’s Letter
We Know Training
Fifty years ago this month I picked up my
first barbell as a 100-pound eighth grader.
Training consisted of simply lifting the barbell. I queried my uncle, whose barbell I was
borrowing, and he said that when he was a
teenager, he and his friends believed that
anything they lifted was good for them. Just
the act of lifting the barbell was seen as productive.
Even then I knew that there was more to
it. Just prior to my starting to lift, my mother
had bought me a copy of Iron Man. I knew by
reading that 1956 issue that there was more
to training than just lifting. I read the other
magazines in the field in an attempt to gather
as much information as possible in my quest to get bigger and stronger.
Though I was only 14, I appreciated the personal touch Peary and
Mabel Rader gave to Iron Man. The people they featured were real; the
information felt authentic and was. Back then Iron Man was about training as defined by the Raders. In many editorials and articles Peary would
talk about the facets of training. For him it was much more than just lifting a barbell. He stressed getting good nutrition, eating six meals a day
and developing consistent personal habits that contributed to the health
benefits of the lifestyle. In fact, he advocated an integrated approach long
before lifestyle entered our vocabulary. He talked about the psychological
and spiritual aspects of training as well.
With the advent of modern food supplements (Rheo Blair Protein and
so on), Peary became an early advocate of what was later tagged sports
nutrition. He was the first to alert the world to the dangers of steroids—in
1963—and always stressed the fact that the so-called champs’ routines
were not necessarily the most effective for us genetically average trainees.
I was hooked on Iron Man, and 30 years later I became the publisher
and owner of the icon that started me on my own lifelong involvement
with training. While the world has changed greatly, the basic tenets of
Peary and Mabel Rader still echo in every issue.
Iron Man has always been about the broader definition of training,
a true lifestyle approach to personal development. It’s aimed at people
who want to be bigger, faster and stronger for themselves. We’re not a fan
magazine, even though we cover some bodybuilding competitions (for
thousands of contest photos go to GraphicMuscle.com). Our focus is on
you and helping you realize your training goals and dreams. When you
scan the table of contents, you’ll see that about 80 percent of the editorial
pages are dedicated to all aspects of training.
For inspiration and motivation we add unusual and/or special pictorials on the art of bodybuilding. They may have a female focus, like our
feature on the work of Bill Dobbins in this issue, or simply be one man’s
sculptural vision of the human body—the photography of David Paul, for
example. They also include our celebration of the winner of our annual
Art Zeller Award for Artistic Excellence. This year’s recipient is Bob Gardner, whose photography will be featured in the July issue. Male or female,
the intrinsic beauty of the human body has moved and inspired humankind throughout history.
We strive to make every issue as packed with information and motivation as possible. Let me know how we’re doing. Send comments or suggestions to me via e-mail at [email protected]. IM
Publisher/Editorial Director: John Balik
Associate Publisher: Warren Wanderer
Design Director: Michael Neveux
Editor in Chief: Stephen Holman
Art Director: T. S. Bratcher
Senior Editor: Ruth Silverman
Editor at Large: Lonnie Teper
Articles Editors: L.A. Perry, Caryne Brown
Assistant Art Director: Aldrich Bonifacio
Designer: Emerson Miranda
IRON MAN Staff:
Vuthy Keo, Mervin Petralba,
David Solorzano, R. Anthony Toscano
Contributing Authors:
Jerry Brainum, Eric Broser, 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,
Charles Poliquin, 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,
Jake Jones
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
Subscriptions Manager:
Sonia Melendez, 1-800-570-IRON, ext. 2
E-mail: [email protected]
Advertising Director: Warren Wanderer
1-800-570-IRON, ext. 1
(518) 743-1696; FAX: (518) 743-1697
Advertising Coordinator:
Jonathan Lawson, (805) 385-3500, ext. 320
Newsstand Consultant:
Angelo Gandino, (516) 796-9848
We reserve the right to reject any advertising at our
discretion without explanation. All manuscripts, art
or other submissions must be accompanied by a selfaddressed, stamped envelope. Send submissions to
IRON MAN, 1701 Ives Avenue, Oxnard, CA 93033.
We are not responsible for unsolicited material.
Writers and photographers should send for our
Guidelines outlining specifications for submissions.
IRON MAN is an open forum. We also reserve the
right to edit any letter or manuscript as we see
fit, and photos submitted have an implied waiver
of copyright. Please consult a physician before
beginning any diet or exercise program. Use the
information published in IRON MAN at your own
risk.
IRON MAN Internet Addresses:
Web Site: www.ironmanmagazine.com
John Balik, Publisher: [email protected]
Steve Holman, Editor in Chief: [email protected]
Ruth Silverman, Senior Editor: [email protected]
T.S. Bratcher, Art Director: [email protected]
Helen Yu, Director of Marketing: [email protected]
Jonathan Lawson, Ad Coordinator: [email protected]
Sonia Melendez, Subscriptions: [email protected]
30 JUNE 2006 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com
SEXY ROCK-HARD ABS FAST
The Secret to Etching your Granite-Carved Abs in 10 Short Minutes
Picture this... you with tight,
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The incredible breakthrough
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The contraction takes place all
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Using the Ab Bench is the
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PRO PROGRAMS
Lambaste Your Legs
Dave Henry is definitely one of pro bodybuilding’s most
exciting up-and-comers. Not only does he represent
those among us not blessed with towering height (he’s
5’5”), but he’s also an athlete who continually improves.
Winning his pro card at the ’02 Nationals weighing 175
pounds, he made his professional debut just 15 months
later at the ’04 IRON MAN Pro with an amazing 20 additional pounds of muscle—while still retaining his 28-inch
waist (most guys who gain that amount of muscle end up
looking pregnant).
The only criticism leveled at him was that his legs
didn’t quite match his upper body. To solve that problem,
he consulted with his trainer, Dante, originator of the
DoggCrapp method of brief, intense training. Dante put
together three leg workouts by varying the order of exercises and the rep schemes to shock Henry’s lower body
and force it to grow. Take a look:
David Henry–style
So if your quads aren’t quite up to par, give Henry’s
strategy a try. The mix of pressing movements and high
and low reps is bound to get your wheels spinning into a
new growth zone.
—Ron Harris
www.RonHarrisMuscle.com
Editor’s note: We’ll have an interview with Dante on
his unique training method in the next issue of IM.
Workout 1
Leg presses 2 x 12-15, 1 x 50
Front squats 1 x 8-10, 1 x 35
Hack squats 1 x 6-8, 1 x 20
Workout 2
Workout 3
As you can see, the rep ranges for the first, second
and third exercises stay the same, but the order of the
exercises rotates. That means that his legs are constantly
barraged by varying types of stimulation. Does it work?
Henry’s stubborn legs grew a full inch, and he went on to
win the Wildcard Showdown at the ’05 Olympia, beating men up to eight inches taller and 80 pounds heavier.
And this year, at the ’06 IM Pro, he placed second to
Lee Priest. (For hundreds of photos from that battle, visit
www.GraphicMuscle.com.)
HE WANTED TO FIGHTUntil I Crushed His Hand!
He was big. He was pissed. And
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TRAIN TO GAIN
MASS MOVES
A Unilateral
Experience
X FACTORS
Color of Intensity
Does seeing red make
you stronger?
Anyone who’s watched the barbaric “sport” of bullfighting is familiar with the
way a matador, who “fights” the unarmed bull, attempts to anger him by waving
a red cape in front of him. That could be where the familiar saying “seeing red”
comes from, if not for one problem: Bulls are color-blind and can’t tell a red cape
from a turquoise one. It’s the waving motion that gets the bull going, not to mention all the banderillas, or darts, that have been thrust into the frenzied creature.
Unlike bulls, most humans aren’t color-blind, and a recent study suggested
that the color red offers advantages in human sport and competition. The researchers noted that athletes who wore red in sports such as boxing, tae kwon
do and wrestling showed a higher probability of winning.
Studies show that red coloration in many animal species is equated with male
dominance and greater testosterone levels. That information transferred to the
gym would imply that training in a red outfit leads to higher testosterone levels
during a workout, thus making the workout more anabolic.
In fact, another recent study sought to confirm the hypothesis.1 Two groups of
highly trained athletes wore either a red or black shirt while engaged in maximumeffort cycling to simulate actual competition. The groups experienced no differences in the levels of testosterone; samples were taken throughout the exercise
session.
The author, while noting that the study does not confirm that red affects testosterone levels, did note a few of its limitations. For one, the participants weren’t
engaged in an actual event that produces winners and losers. They wore only
shirts, not full uniforms. The sample—only 10 men—may not have been enough
to either prove or disprove the red theory.
—Jerry Brainum
1 Hackney, A.C. (2005). Testosterone and human performance: influence of the
color red. Eur J Appl Physiol. 96:330-333.
•The ability to concentrate more
completely on the target muscle, allowing for more intense contractions
and superior pumps
•The use of more muscle fibers and
exhaustion of more motor unit pools
within the target muscle
•Greater stimulation of stabilizer
muscles
•Improvement of strength imbalances between the sides of the body
While many of you have probably
used basic unilateral movements such
as concentration curls and one-arm
dumbbell rows, very few trainees
have taken advantage of such amazing growth-producing movements as
unilateral leg presses, squats, seated
dumbbell presses, dumbbell upright
rows, pulldowns, flyes, etc. You can
perform dozens of exercises one side
at a time while perhaps reaping double
the rewards.
—Eric Broser
Neveux \ Model: John Hansen
Neveux \ Model: Dan Decker
One of the best ways to shock your
muscles into new growth is to force
them to deal with a stress that they’re
not used to. Because the human body
adapts, if you continually perform
the same exercises over and over
again, you’ll eventually plateau in size,
even if you increase your strength.
Incorporating unilateral exercises is a
fantastic method of providing a unique
stimulus to the muscles and nervous
system, the result being a heightened
hypertrophic response. Some of the
advantages of unilateral movements
are as follows:
YOU CAN BENCH BIG
Add 20 Pounds to Your Bench Press Almost Overnight!
How would you like a surge in
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But nine times out of 10 this stall is
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The rotator cuff muscles stabilize
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Bill Wilmore’s Winning Ways
At 251 pounds Bill
Wilmore is one of the
IFBB’s biggest and baddest new pros. (He got
his card after winning the
’05 NPC National Superheavyweight crown with
a perfect score and then
taking the overall.) I got to
sit down with the South
Florida resident to get the
scoop on just how he built
one of the world’s elite
physiques.
EB: How long ago did
you start training?
BW: I started working
out when I was 15 years
old, basically to get
stronger for wrestling.
I’d been wrestling since I
was five, in the 40-pound
weight class. I was tough.
[Laughs]
EB: What bodypart do
you consider your best,
and what’s a typical
workout for it?
BW: My back is my best
bodypart, for sure. Most
of the exercises I do are
the bread-and-butter ones
like bent-over rows, onearm rows, deadlifts and lat
pulldowns. I do four sets
each, 10 to 12 reps. I like
to finish with cable pullovers, and I have a unique way of doing them. I do three sets
with three different angles, and at the peak contraction I hold
for a count of two. That gives me an incredible pump, which I
believe helps stretch the fascia and ultimately helps me grow.
EB: Which bodyparts do you feel lag the most, and
how are you attacking them to try and bring them up to
par?
BW: The bodyparts that I’ve been working on are my arms
and legs, although from some angles my legs appear to be
my best bodypart. I want to continue to improve the symmetry, or, more specifically, the sweep of my thighs. I’m training
legs twice a week and modifying my stance on front squats,
leg presses and standard squats. It’s all about the foot position.
EB: What is your training split?
BW: Sunday: chest and tri’s; Monday: back and bi’s; Tuesday: off; Wednesday: legs; Thursday: shoulders; Friday: arms;
Saturday: legs.
My cardio varies throughout the year, but the Step Mill is
the machine of choice.
EB: Do you prefer heavy weights for low reps or light-
er weights for high
reps?
BW: I actually like
both. As we know, it’s
the fast-twitch muscle
fibers that grow the
most, and to engage
them, you have to go
heavy. However, the
slow-twitch fibers are
also quite prevalent
in the muscle, and by
stimulating them, you
can help the overall look
of the muscle. To engage those, you have to
go light with higher reps,
which is why I do both.
EB: Do you prefer
very strict form, or
do you like to be a bit
looser?
BW: Strict at first,
but at the end of a set I
cheat a bit to absolutely
fatigue the muscle fibers
to the max.
EB: Do you use any
intensity techniques
like forced reps, drop
sets, negatives or
supersets?
BW: Over the years I’ve tried them all, and I continue to
use them all, again with the concept of working both fast- and
slow-twitch muscle fibers and exhausting them to the max.
EB: What is your favorite thing about training?
BW: The pump, definitely! But also the sense of accomplishment—from two perspectives. One is the feeling after the
workout, and the second is the results. That’s also a tip on
motivation. If you’re only motivated by results, it will be tough
to get into the gym every day and put in the effort; however, if
you’re motivated by how you feel after the workout, it makes
going to the gym much easier.
Comstock
TRAIN TO GAIN
CHAMP Q&A
Bill plans to make his professional debut at the Colorado
Pro in May, and he’ll follow that up with the New York Pro a
week later. His goal is to keep the amazing conditioning he
displayed at the Nationals while appearing just a bit fuller. To
quote big Bill, “You can be big, and you can be ripped, but to
be big and ripped—that’s the ultimate!”
—Eric Broser
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Crossovers
Hyperextension Attention
The hyperextension is commonly known as a lower-back
movement, although it affects several muscles besides those
located in the back itself. It can be a wonderful exercise and a
real life and back saver for some people. As with most exer
cises, however, it also carries potential for injury.
Most trainees perform this movement in a much more conservative manner than its name implies. The word hyperextension suggests that you’d arch your back excessively when
doing it. The opposite movement is a flexion of the spine,
and it occurs when you curl up your spine, as in a crunching
movement. Extension occurs when the spine is flattened, or
straightened, as when you’re standing at attention. It refers to
position only and not which muscles make the action happen.
There are two main methods of performing the movement—one in which the back is actually hyperextended, or
arched backward, and one in which it is not. When average
trainees learn to do hyperextensions, they’re usually instructed to raise the body until it’s parallel to the floor and no higher.
The back remains relatively flat, and the majority of the motion occurs in the hip joint. The amount of active extension is
minimal, and the amount of hyperextension is virtually nil.
While there’s very little change in the back position itself,
the hip moves almost 90 degrees. Hyperextensions done
in that manner are principally a movement of hip extension.
The hip extensors, which consist of the gluteus maximus and
the hamstrings, do the bulk of the work. The erector spinae
muscles of the lower back, which are parallel to the spine on
each side, are also involved. However, they perform a relatively isometric contraction (without joint movement) in the back.
The erectors simply keep the back from rounding forward.
With the second method the hyperextension of the lumbar
spine is especially noticeable, as the lower back arches at the
top. The vast majority of trainees don’t need to use the true
hyperextension movement, and very few athletes do it. The
parallel-to-the-floor method puts an adequate workload on
the back, and, of course, the hip extensors get a thorough
workout due to the amount of lengthening and contracting
they do over the 90 degree range of hip motion.
One group that does perform a full hyperextension movement is Olympic weightlifters. Although they’re virtually an
endangered species in the United States, Olympic lifters have
traditionally included that type of training in their routines.
They also add resistance to the movement; in fact, former
superheavyweight world champion Vasily Alexeev reportedly
did hyperextensions while holding a bar loaded to well over
200 pounds behind his neck. That is a superhuman feat, and
it places an incredible stress on the back. Unless you are one
of the few Olympic-style weightlifters left, there is no need to
attempt to push your back to this level.
If you feel the need to use additional resistance on the
more commonly performed hyperextension, begin with a
10-pound plate. In any event you probably won’t have to go
higher than 25 pounds. If the movement is easy for you to
do with 25 pounds and you have a healthy lower back, you
should probably add the deadlift, Romanian deadlift or stifflegged deadlift to your routine to develop your hip and spinal
extensors. Some powerlifters and advanced trainees like to
include a set of hyperextensions as part of their warmups
before doing deadlifts or squats.
When you perform the hyper, don’t initiate the movement
with your lower back. That will make the lower back hyper
extend. Initiate the movement with your glutes and hams.
Let those muscles raise your upper body without arching
your lower back. Simply keep your back flat while letting your
glutes and hams pull you up.
Even parallel-to-the-floor hyperextensions can cause lower
back problems and aggravate other conditions. Nevertheless,
it’s a relatively safe exercise as long as you use common
sense. Don’t attempt it if you feel pain. And if you experience
pain while you’re doing it, stop—no matter what you hear
about how “good” the exercise is supposed to be.
—Joseph M. Horrigan
Editor’s note: Visit www.softtissuecenter.com for reprints
of Horrigan’s past Sportsmedicine columns that have appeared in IRON MAN. You can order the books, Strength,
Conditioning and Injury Prevention for Hockey by Joseph
Horrigan, D.C., and E.J. “Doc” Kreis, D.A., and the 7-Minute
Rotator Cuff Solution by Horrigan and Jerry Robinson from
Home Gym Warehouse, (800) 447-0008 or at www
.Home-Gym.com.
Neveux \ Model: Will Willis
TRAIN TO GAIN
SPORTSMEDICINE
Maintain a
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TRAIN TO GAIN
GENETICS
Do your genes determine the best training system?
We’ve all heard the adage that
championship bodybuilding requires
good genes. You can do the same
training routine, eat the same way
and even use the same drugs—if
that’s your bent—and still not look
like Mr. Olympia, unless you also
possess his genes. Even so, few of
us have undergone the testing to
determine just what genes we have,
so it’s hard to predict the outcome
of training.
Some have reached the pinnacle
of bodybuilding success with what’s
considered bad genetics, such as
narrow shoulders, a wide waist and
other structural flaws. Sheer determination coupled with a certain
degree of savvy, such as knowing
how to disguise obvious flaws by highlighting strong points,
led to their success.
As science marches on, several gene combinations have
been discovered that influence the effects of training programs
or vice versa; that is, training can alter gene expression in the
body. For example, if you regularly do aerobics, which features fat oxidation, or burning, genes that affect fat oxidation
will upgrade in the body after a few workouts. Studies show
that the genes for FAT/CD36, a fatty acid transporter, and for
CPT-1, an enzyme that works with L-carnitine in promoting fat
entry into cellular mitochondria for oxidation, are upgraded by
aerobic exercise.
Another gene, one that controls peroxisome proliferative
activator receptor-gamma, which promotes fat gains, is depressed by aerobics. Exercise is also known to favorably affect
genes related to glucose uptake in muscle. That explains why
exercise may help prevent diseases such as diabetes.
In fact, a new study suggests that training programs should
match gene patterns for best results.1 It also explains why
some people make great gains with high-intensity, low-volume training routines, such as that espoused by the late Mike
Mentzer, while others get better results using more volume and
higher sets and reps.
At issue are inborn variants of the genes for angiotensinconverting enzyme (ACE). The enzyme is usually associated
with blood pressure, since it produces a substance called angiotensin-2, which constricts blood vessels, resulting in higher
blood pressure. Variants of the ACE genes affect the way a
muscle functions. For example, the D-variant (ACE-DD) favorably affects strength training. If you’re born with it, you have a
head start in making rapid bodybuilding gains. That could be
an explanation for those who seem to make gains merely by
thinking about training.
The ACE-D refers to a deletion of part of the gene, which
leads to more ACE being created in the body. ACE is produced in human muscle and is thought to help regulate muscle growth responses. It also has a pathological side, since
people who have the variant are also more prone to cardiac
hypertrophy, which can lead to cardiac failure in later life.
People with the D-variant of ACE show a higher ratio of fasttwitch to slow-twitch muscle fibers, which is more conducive
to acquiring greater muscular size and strength. Athletes possessing it excel in sports requiring short-term, high-intensity
effort, such as sprint swimming and running.
Another variant of the ACE gene, ACE-2, is associated with
greater muscular endurance. Athletes
who have it show greater adaption to
hypoxia, or lack of oxygen, and have
an abundance of slow-twitch muscle
fibers, which are suited to higher oxygen
intake. Thus, you’d expect champions
in sports such as long-distance running
to have this variant. From a weight-training point of view, those with the ACE-2
variant would make better progress by
using a higher-volume, lower-intensity
training system.
In the new study 99 subjects were
randomly assigned to three groups: 1)
single set, 2) multiple set and 3) control.
Both training groups used a periodization system to create variations in training intensity and volume. During the first
three weeks they used loads that were
60 to 70 percent of maximum, which permitted an average of
12 to 15 reps per set. For the next three weeks they upgraded
to using 70 to 80 percent of maximum weight, with a rep
range of eight to 12. For six weeks they trained three times a
week, working nine to 11 muscle groups per session, with the
single-set group doing one set of each exercise and the multiple-set group doing three.
The subjects were genetically tested at the start. Those with
the ACE-2 variant, or the endurance gene, responded best to
the multiple-set system using 12 to 15 reps. When doing the
slightly heavier eight to 12 reps, however, that group showed
no difference in strength.
Those with the ACE-DD variant showed similar gains for
both types of loads and systems. They also made the greatest strength gains—and made the same gains no matter how
they trained. Still, the DD group made the most gains from the
heavier training, implying that they respond best to that kind of
weight work.
The ACE-2 subjects responded to the higher reps more
favorably because of their inherent endurance capacity. Such
people are more likely to also respond to the experimental
“hypoxia training,” during which blood vessels are purposely
occluded, somehow leading to greater gains in muscle size.
People who have the ACE-2 variant get greater tissue oxygenation, which can elevate the contractile properties of heart
and skeletal muscle tissue. They would also show less lactate
buildup, reflecting reduced muscle fatigue.
It would appear that those who make exceptional gains
with high-intensity, heavy training have the ACE-DD variants.
They’d gain from just about any type of training program.
Those with the ACE-2 variant wouldn’t respond favorably to
a workout that features heavy weights and low reps; their
physiology is geared toward endurance. For them a program
that features multiple sets and a rep range of 12 to 15 per set
would produce best results.
From a health perspective, it’s better to have the ACE-2
variant, because, while the ACE-DD leads to bigger muscles, it
also has unfavorable effects on cardiovascular factors, such as
higher blood pressure and increased heart stress long-term.
Thus, with ACE-2 you’ll be smaller but probably live longer.
—Jerry Brainum
Neveux \ Model: Derek Farn-
HIT vs. Volume
1 Colakoglu, M., et al. (2005). ACE genotype may have an
effect on single vs multiple-set preferences in strength training.
Eur J App Physiol. 95(1):20-26.
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Visualize for Size
Very few people consider the role of the mind when it
comes to training effectively. Most trainees make sure they
get their preworkout meal at a specific time, as well as their
glutamine, creatine, BCAAs, NO2 and stimulants. Some make
time for a nap before they train so they can hit the weights
refreshed. Don’t get me wrong—all of those things optimize
your time in the gym; however, if you truly wish to realize your
intensity potential, it’s time you start using visualization. The
technique has been used by many top athletes to bring about
their best performance on game day. You, too, can use it to
bring about your best performance in the gym.
It’s easy, and it only takes a few minutes. I believe that the
best time to use visualization is before you go to sleep at night
(to optimize the following day’s workout) and/or right before
you take a preworkout nap. Visualization can also be used at
the gym, right before you perform a lift that you particularly
want to improve.
You’re probably saying, “So what do I have to do?” Here’s
how I like to approach visualization, but you might find other
ways to enhance the experience.
•Relax. Lie down. Close your eyes. Breathe deeply. Clear
your mind and calm your body.
•Picture yourself in the gym. See the equipment and the
people. Hear the music and smell the sweat.
•See yourself as you wish to be: bigger, more cut, more
vascular, more athletic.
•Think about each lift you’ll be performing and picture the
perfect set. See the weight on the bar that you wish to use
Neveux \ Model: Frank Zane
TRAIN TO GAIN
MENTAL MIGHT
and imagine yourself lifting it with ease, as if it were a feather.
•Experience the incredible pump the workout will give you
and the satisfaction it will bring about.
If you program your mind for success, your body will follow.
Note: For a more comprehensive look at visualization and
relaxation techniques, see Bill Starr’s Only the Strong Shall
Survive on page 326.
—Eric Broser
TRAINING TWEAKS
I’ve been a personal trainer for the past 15 years, and
one of the questions I’m often asked is, “How should I split
up my bodyparts?” Unfortunately, there’s no cookie-cutter
answer to that question, as everything depends on your
goals, time schedule, strengths, weaknesses, recovery
ability and more. I’ve seen many a bodybuilder have great
success training anywhere from two to six days per week,
although I find that most do best on a three-, four- or fiveday split. One interesting method I use in my own training,
as well as that of many of my more serious clients, is something I call the rotating spli— training the entire body over
three days during week 1, over four days during week 2 and
over five days during week 3. Here’s how it might look:
Week 1
Monday: Chest, lats, traps, abs
Wednesday: Quads, hamstrings, lower back, calves
Friday: Shoulders, biceps, triceps, abs
Week 2
Monday: Chest, biceps, abs
Tuesday: Quads, hamstrings, calves
Thursday: Lats, lower back, abs
Friday: Shoulders, traps, triceps, calves
Neveux \ Models: Don Fry & Ken Yasuda
Splitting Pretty
Week 3
Monday: Chest, abs
Tuesday: Quads, hamstrings, calves
Wednesday: Biceps, triceps
Friday: Lats, lower back, abs
Saturday: Shoulders, traps, calves
After week three you rotate back to the first week’s
schedule and continue. It’s an excellent way to keep things
interesting in the gym while rotating recovery time, training
intensity and volume for each bodypart.
—Eric Broser
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Charles Poliquin’s
Smart Training
Row to Grow?
Q: I have not seen you mention barbell rows in
your workouts. Agreed, most people don’t perform
them correctly, but what are your reasons for ignoring a great exercise? Could you provide a quick
primer on barbell rows, just in case I get bored with
chinups?
A: The reason that I don’t mention barbell rows is simply
that I don’t believe they are a great upper-back exercise,
even when performed correctly. Why? Because too much
neural drive is expended in firing the muscles involved in
maintaining proper posture. There’s a great neuromuscular
demand on firing the erector spinae, glutes and hamstrings
at the same time—so much that the level of recruitment
finally left over for the lats is too minimal to be worth it.
I would rather stick with variations of one-arm dumbbell rows. To develop optimal structural balance, I strongly
believe that for every set of chinups, you should do a set of
dumbbell rows (with each arm, of course). One-arm dumbbell rows make for even distribution of the load and great
range of motion (particularly for the scapulae retractors). I
can hear the functionalists already on the soapbox: “What
about function? This is a primary movement.” My answer
to that is, if you already did a good job in the loading parameters for the squat and deadlift exercises, why overtrain
the posterior chain?
Q: I just read that training with weights more
often than one day a week causes overtraining. Is
that right? What do you think is the best frequency
for weight training?
Neveux \ Model: Andre Nielson
A: That makes as much sense as saying eating more than
one meal a day will make you fat. I don’t know how someone can even say that with a straight face. The classic approach in strength training
has been three resistancetraining sessions per week
on alternate days for each
muscle group. Normally, if
muscle soreness interferes
with performance during
the subsequent training
session, the implication
is that the frequency or
intensity of training is too
severe.
Competitive bodybuilders and powerlifters have
multiple training sessions
in a week. They normally
use a split routine (different muscles trained each
day) or a split program
(different exercises for the
same muscle on the same
day or on successive days).
In those high-workload
programs the training
frequency per muscle
group is still limited to a
maximum of three times
per week. Of course, the
consumption of ergogenic
aids is fairly common
among those athletes and
may shorten the time for
adaptive processes to take
place.
More than 17 different training paradigms
apply to the determination of optimal training
frequency. Listing them all
goes beyond the scope of
this column. Here are four
Because of the great neural drive expended in maintaining
important ones:
Principle 1: The greatproper posture, certain rows may not be the best back builders.
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Whatever You Need—Wherever You Train™
Smart Training
A sample varied-frequency periodized program for the torso muscles
(source: Poliquin International Certification Program, Level 2 Theory)
Weeks 1 and 2 (twice a week, twice a day)
A.M.: Monday and Thursday
A1 Close-parallel-grip chinups, 5 x 6-8; cadence: 3/0/1/0; rest: 2 minutes
A2 Incline dumbbell presses, 5 x 6-8; cadence: 3/0/1/0; rest: 2 minutes
B1 Seated cable rows to neck, 3 x 8-10, cadence: 2/0/1/2; rest: 100 seconds
B2 Unrolling incline flyes, 3 x 8-10; cadence: 2/1/1/0; rest: 100 seconds
P.M.: Monday and Thursday
A1 Cambered-bar bench presses, 4 x 8-10; cadence: 3/1/1/0; rest: 90 seconds
A2 One-arm cable rows, 4 x 8-10; cadence: 3/0/1/1; rest: 90 seconds
B1 Incline cable flyes, 3 x 10-12; cadence: 3/0/1/0; rest: 75 seconds
B2 Hammer-machine lat pulldowns, 3 x 6-8; cadence: 3/0/1/3; rest: 75 seconds
Week 3 (twice a week, once a day)
A.M.: Monday and Thursday
A1 Close-parallel-grip chinups, 3 x 6-8; cadence: 3/0/1/0; rest: 2 minutes
A2 Incline dumbbell presses, 3 x 6-8; cadence: 3/0/1/0; rest: 2 minutes
B1 Seated cable rows to neck, 2 x 8-10; cadence: 2/0/1/2; rest: 100 seconds
B2 Unrolling incline flyes, 2 x 8-10; cadence: 2/1/1/0; rest: 100 seconds
Frequency of bodypart
training is one of the most
underused methods of
creating overload.
er the tolerance of training frequency, the greater
the rate of progress. If an athlete is recovering rapidly from workouts, the rate of progress is quite
appreciable. Once strength climbs, each workout
creates far greater demands on the body.
Principle 2: Frequency is underused as a
method of overload. Rather than thinking that
only one frequency will suit you, realize that a variety of frequencies over time will be beneficial—
e.g., twice a day for the same muscle, two days a
week for a one-or-two-week period reduced to
once a day twice a week for a one-or-two-week
period. That form of planned overtraining followed by more conventional training has been
used by top-level Canadian and Finnish athletes,
resulting in appreciable gains. See Table 1 for a
sample program that illustrates this idea.)
Principle 3: The weaker the individual, the
greater the need for training frequency. The
Neveux
Table 1
weaker you are, the more important
training frequency is. So in cases
of rehabilitation, like postsurgery,
training five or six times a week is
well tolerated.
Because of their lower levels of
maximal strength, females initially
need greater frequency of training
to maximize their progress. Once a
female trainee reaches higher levels
of strength, that difference diminishes appreciably. It usually occurs
after two years of solid training.
Even at elite levels, however, women
train more frequently and with
greater volume than men. The very
successful Chinese female national
weightlifters are known to train
more often and with greater volume
than their equally successful male
counterparts.
Principle 4: Frequency should
be the most individualized loading element. Training frequency
has perhaps the greatest range of
possibilities. In strength training,
especially with elite athletes, there
are conflicting schools of thought
on training frequency. For example,
one world-record holder in the
bench press recommends one session per week per muscle group,
while nine to 12 weekly sessions are
common on European weightlifting
teams. The training of hip and knee
extensors has been done in short
sessions for up to five times a day in
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some countries; however, that type of volume is restricted
to brief periods during the year.
This situation is very confusing to the aspiring strength
coach. The solution to the dilemma is fairly simple: Is the
athlete improving? If not, frequency has to go either down
or up. On average, it takes a good strength coach roughly
six to eight weeks to determine what works best for an individual. The Poliquin International Certification Program’s
view is that in most cases, provided that the individual
does honest work, once every five days per bodypart does
the trick.
A misconception perpetuated in strength-training
circles is that you have to train the same muscle every 48
hours or progress will fall short. Quite the contrary; as
numerous world-class bodybuilders and powerlifters are
known to train a bodypart only once weekly. One of the
greatest bench pressers of all time would decide whether
to train that day based on a warmup with a broomstick. If
he felt underrecovered, he would wait more days before
bench-pressing again.
Neveux
in 12 different sports,
including the U.S.
women’s track-andfield team for the 2000
Olympics. He’s spent
years researching
European journals
(he’s fluent in English,
French and German)
and speaking with
other coaches and
scientists in his quest
to optimize training
methods. For more on
his books, seminars
and methods, visit
www.CharlesPoliquin
.net. Also, see his ad
on page 209. IM
Editor’s note: Charles Poliquin
is recognized as one of the world’s
most successful strength coaches,
having coached Olympic medalists
Bradford
Bar placement on squats can have a direct impact on your
development as well as possibly injuring your lower back,
hamstrings and even elbows.
Q: I never see you prescribe
low-bar squatting in any of
your programs. Why is that?
Isn’t it a great way to load up
the bar? Isn’t load necessary for
hypertrophy?
A: In my opinion, low-bar squats
should be used only by powerlifters.
Yes, you can express greater loads,
but you must realize that those lifts
are done with supersuits and lifting
belts. Those accessories are, in my
opinion, crutches, and they shut
down neurologically smaller synergistic muscles that are normally
called into play.
Low-bar squats force the muscles
into a recruitment pattern that
never actually happens in sport, as
the shins are not allowed to travel
forward enough. Also, when analyzing training logs of national-team
athletes, we’ve found that low-bar
squats were associated with greater
incidence of lower-back injuries
and hamstring and groin pulls.
Athletes who centered their training
on high-bar squats, which I recommend, had dramatically lower
injury rates in the lower back and
the lower extremities.
The low-bar position places
enormous torque on the elbows.
More often than not, that translates
into brachialis tendinitis—which
obviously has a negative impact in
any direct elbow flexor work, such
as curls, and upper-back work like
rows and chinups.
Charles Poliquin
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Train ™
\ JULY 2006 181
EAT TO
NUTRITION SCIENCE
More to Milk Than Meets the Eye
In a recent issue I discussed the
hidden nutritional factors that qualify
eggs as a functional food, meaning a
food that contains esoteric elements
that offer health benefits beyond simply meeting nutritional requirements
or preventing deficiencies. Such elements are referred to as nutracueticals because they behave like drugs
but in a highly beneficial way.
any meaningful benefits.
Some scientists think that the
small proteins can survive the formidable digestive barrier. Indeed, some
studies show that absorption rates as
low as 20 percent have considerable
biological activity.
No one argues that the milk
components are easily absorbed by
newborn babies, who require them
for both growth and immunity. Babies
are born with no immune factors
other than some intestinal bacteria.
They rely on mother’s milk to provide the nutrition required for proper
growth and development, as well as
protection from disease. A neonate’s
gastrointestinal tract is far more permeable than an adult’s and permits
the uptake of larger proteins that
would likely be degraded in adults.
Controversy arises in just how
many—if any—of the active milk peptides do survive and get absorbed
by adult humans. Some evidence
shows that at least a few survive and
are active in the body. Milk hormones
include thyrotropin-releasing hormone
(TRH), which controls thyroid activity;
luteinizing-hormone-releasing hormone, which regulates the production
of steroids, such as testosterone and
estrogen; somatostatin, which regulates growth hormone release; insulin;
estrogen and even testosterone.
At least one milk peptide’s activity is apparent. Casein is
Casein peptides have
often characterized as a
been shown to lower
slow-acting protein, since
blood pressure.
it curdles in the stomach,
Besides eggs, milk-derived proteins are the other popular supplement protein source for bodybuilders.
The two primary milk proteins are
casein and whey; however, within
those large protein structures are a
number of smaller proteins, known
as peptides, that have exciting health
and bodybuilding potential.
The controversy in scientific circles
regarding
milk peptides
isn’t whether
they’re active
but whether
the body can
absorb them
intact. Dietary protein
undergoes
a rigorous
digestive
process, during which it
is degraded
into its
constituent
amino acids.
The problem
is that milk’s
peptide proteins depend
on a minimal
level of structural integrity
to provide
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Nutrition With a Get-Big Mission
leading to a release of amino acids
that lasts for up to seven hours. That
activity exerts anticatabolic effects
in muscle, promoting an extended
anabolic effect. Casein lasts so long
because a peptide called casomorphin slows gastrointestinal motility. In
short, it slows down the movement
of food and may be involved in the
curdling effect associated with the
parent protein, casein.
Casomorphins are so named because they mimic the effects of morphine, and as such they are natural
painkillers, or analgesics. Collectively,
they’re known as opioid peptides.
Another casein peptide, casoxin, is
an opioid antagonist. Scientists can
isolate these peptides. When they’re
injected into the blood, they exert
an analgesic and sedative activity.
They’re nothing less than natural
drugs capable of providing a calming
effect.
Some scientists think that the
painkilling peptides are released in
the gut when casein is digested.
Besides slowing the transit time of
food movement, they appear to help
prevent diarrhea.
Another group of casein peptides,
called casein phosphopeptides, may
increase the absorption and uptake
of minerals, such as calcium and
zinc. It assists mineral uptake in the
presence of other food elements
such as the phytate found in wheat
and grain that would otherwise interfere with mineral absorption.
Other casein peptides help lower
blood pressure by inhibiting an enzyme called angiotensin-converting
enzyme. Several ACE inhibitors are
currently used to treat high blood
pressure, but
the casein
peptides may
work just
as well and
have a superior long-term
safety profile.
Since most
of casein’s
natural ACEinhibiting
peptides are
composed
of only three
bonded
amino acids,
they can
easily be
absorbed
without being
degraded.
Another one, casopiastrin, prevents the formation of internal blood
clots by blood platelets. That could
help prevent heart attacks and
strokes, the majority of which are
caused by narrowed blood vessels
that are obstructed by blood clots.
Casein supplies several peptides
with potent immune-enhancing effects. They stimulate the proliferation
and activity of immune cells, such
as killer T cells, that protect against
viruses and tumors. Others are active against various strains of bacteria
(including the ones that cause the
most common types of food poisoning) and yeast.
In addition, the whey fraction of
milk provides a number of potentially
useful peptides. Among them are
alpha-lactorphin, beta-lactorphin,
albutensin-A and beta-lactotensin.
Casein-and-whey supplements
can bring you unique musclebuilding and immune-fortifying
effects.
Animal studies show that whey offers protective effects against various
types of cancer, especially colon
cancer. A whey protein, alpha-lactalbumin, may provide anticancer benefits. In addition, whey offers a host
of antibacterial peptides, such as
lactoferrin, lactoperoxidase, lysozyme
and immunoglobulins.
No doubt continuing research will
shed more light on the activities of
milk protein peptides. In the meantime, look at them as a bonus that
you get with the primary milk proteins, casein and whey.
—Jerry Brainum
www.ironmanmagazine.com \ JUNE 2006 63
LIFT BIG TO GET BIG
Build Incredible Pressing Power and Bulletproof Shoulders
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Eat to Grow
NUTRITION NOTES
Food Facts
Neveux \ Model: Markus Reinhardt
That can affect your
workouts, weight and wellness
WARRIOR NUTRITION AND EXERCISE
How to Instinctively Stop Eating
For those who have large appetites and don’t instinctively know
when to stop eating, here’s my answer: Stop once you feel significantly more thirsty than hungry. That’s when to start drinking. The
time to stop eating isn’t when you count your calories and say, “If I
eat more, I’m going to gain weight.” And it doesn’t come because
somebody told you to count the macro and micro nutrients. Stay
away from all that guilt. But when your body tells you it’s more
thirsty than hungry (and it will tell you more and more as you practice the Warrior Diet), that is the time to stop.
Take a break and drink a glass of water or cup of tea. If after 15
or 20 minutes you still feel hungry, you can eat again. You probably won’t be, but if you are, go ahead. No other diet will give you
that freedom.
—Ori Hofmekler
The Warrior Diet
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.
Chromium
can reduce overeating. A Cornell
University study
showed that 600
micrograms of
chromium picolinate curbed
appetite and
cravings in
subjects who
suffered from
depression.
Cola may
cause high
blood pressure. Harvard
researchers studied
155,000
women for
12 years and
found that
the ones who
drank the most
regular or diet
colas were at
a greater risk of high blood pressure.
Coffee drinkers had no
increased
risk, even at
four or more
cups a day.
Coffee
has antioxidants,
according
to recent
studies,
which may
offset some
of the negative effects of caffeine. That’s a good
thing, because according to the U.S.
Census Bureau, the average American drinks about 24 gallons of it every
year.
Water may be something you want
to consider getting more of. Recent
estimates indicate that 75 percent of
Americans are chronically dehydrated
and that the thirst mechanism is so
weak in most individuals that it’s mistaken for hunger.
—Becky Holman
www.X-tremeLean.com
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The Best of Bodybuilding in the 20th Century
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•Training for power
•Mental aspects of training
•Bodybuilding nutrition
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Eat to Grow
WARNINGS
Bitter Orange—Sweet, Sound Fat Loss?
You often see negative press
stories about bitter orange
(shades of ephedra), yet the
mainstream press often ignore
positive scientific reports. Oh,
yeah: Negative stories sell; positive stories go to the trash bin.
Scientists recently evaluated
the hemodynamic and electrocardiographic effects of a single
dose of commercially available
dried bitter-orange extract.1 In a
randomized double-blind
placebo-controlled
crossover study, 18
healthy volunteers
aged 18 years or
older were given
either a placebo or
bitter-orange extract
in phase 1. After a
washout period of at least
seven days the subjects got the
opposite treatment during phase 2. The rate-corrected QTc
interval (basically the time between the first and second parts
of the “cardiac cycle,” or heartbeat) and blood pressure were
measured before dosing and at
one, three, five and eight hours
after dosing. The researchers
found that bitter-orange extract
did not significantly alter the
QTc interval or blood pressure
after a single dose.
Moral of the story: As with
all things we take orally, dose
and duration are key. Nothing is
inherently good or bad, harmful
or harmless. You could kill yourself by drinking too much wine
or you could drink in moderate
amounts and help your heart’s
health. Same with bitter orange.
Use a proper dose, and you’ll
likely benefit. Abuse it, and
you’ll set yourself up for trouble.
So be smart.
—Jose Antonio, Ph.D.
1 Min, B., et al. (2005). Absence of QTc-interval-prolonging, or hemodynamic, effects
of a single dose of bitter-orange extract in healthy subjects.
Pharmacotherapy. 25:1719-24.
JOINT ANOINT
TOXINS
Ginger Snaps Pain
Microwave Mutations
A Texas Tech University study found that a ginger
supplement can inhibit prostaglandins that cause pain
and swelling in cartilage cells. It also appears to block
certain proteins that cause inflammation.
Advice: To protect your joints or relieve some of your
joint pain, try taking a ginger supplement twice a day.
—Becky Holman
www.X-tremeLean.com
Dioxins can
cause cancer
and are highly
poisonous to
the cells. Dr.
Edward Fujimoto, wellness program
manager at
Castle Hospital
in Kailua, Hawaii, has talked
about dioxins
and their health hazards, but you may be getting them
without realizing it. According to Fujimoto, they can occur
if you heat your food in plastic containers in a microwave
oven, especially foods that contain fat. He says that the
combination of fat, high heat and plastics releases dioxin
into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body.
Instead, use glass, CorningWare or ceramic containers for heating food. And forget the Saran Wrap, which is
just as dangerous when placed over food in a microwave.
Cover with a paper towel instead.
—Becky Holman
www.X-tremeLean.com
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ANABOLIC DRIVE
Muscle Food for the Brain
Saint-John’s-wort, tyrosine, gingko. Those are probably the supplements you think of when it comes
to brain food, or neural enhancers.
Oddly enough, one other supplement may be as good for the brain
as it is for the brawn—creatine.
Yes, my friend, creatine not only
increases muscle mass, muscle fiber
size, muscular strength and power,
but—get this—it can also put you
in a better mood. Maybe a creatineand-caffeine combo is what the
doctor should order.
We all know how crabby we
can get when we don’t get enough
sleep. A recent study looked at sleep deprivation and the
effect of creatine.1 The subjects were divided into a creatine
group and a placebo group. They took five grams of creatine
monohydrate or a placebo, depending on the group, four
times a time a day for seven days immediately prior to the experiment. It was a double-blind study, meaning that neither the
scientists nor the subjects knew who was getting the creatine
or the placebo.
The subjects took tests of random movement generation,
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verbal and
spatial recall, choice
reaction
time, static
balance
and mood
state before
the test and after six, 12 and 24 hours
of sleep deprivation, with intermittent
exercise. They were tested for plasma
concentrations of catecholamines (the
so-called adrenaline hormones) and
cortisol beforehand and at 24 hours.
Here’s what the researchers found:
At 24 hours the creatine group demonstrated significantly less change in performance in random
movement generation, choice reaction time, balance and
mood. There were no significant differences between groups
in plasma concentrations of catecholamines and cortisol.
Thus, following 24 hours of sleep deprivation, creatine supplementation had a positive effect on mood and tasks that place
a heavy stress on the prefrontal cortex. (That’s the front part of
your brain, if you’re wondering.)
So, if you happen to have been up too late at the office,
finishing that presentation that
should have been done a week
ago, take five grams of creatine
daily on a regular basis to help
keep your noggin alert. In addition, if you’re particularly fatigued, that old standby caffeine
will do wonders to help maintain
mental clarity. If you use caffeine
pills, take about 300 to 600 milligrams; if you drink coffee, the
equivalent would be about three
large mugs of the java.
—Jose Antonio, Ph.D.
Carb Count, Cut Catalyst
“So how many grams of carbs do
I need?” The ideal number is activity
dependent—as are the percentages
of protein and fats you should eat.
For example, the body stores 300 to
400 grams of glycogen (carbs). The
amount of carbohydrate you should
eat each day depends on how much
you burn. If you lift weights and/or
perform cardio, you may need to eat up to 200 grams of carb in a 24-hour
period to replenish what you burned and keep your
body functioning normally, but probably no more
than that. Any amount more than what you burn
is considered excess energy and can be stored as
bodyfat.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
X-treme Lean e-book
www.X-tremeLean.com
1 McMorris, T., et al. (2006).
Effect of creatine supplementation and sleep deprivation, with
mild exercise, on cognitive and
psychomotor performance,
mood state, and plasma concentrations of catecholamines
and cortisol. Psychopharmacology (Berl).185:93-103.
Editor’s note: Listen to the
“Performance Nutrition Show”
(www.performancenutritionshow
.com), the only radio Webcast
and podcast on performance nutrition, with hosts Jose Antonio,
Ph.D., and Carla Sanchez.
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Carnosine: Intensity Kerosene?
L-carnosine (not to be confused with L-carnitine) is a
dipeptide, or combination of two amino acids bonded together. Carnosine has earned a reputation as a nutracuetical
because of its potent antioxidant and anti-aging properties.
Some research shows that it may blunt glycation, a process
that deposits sugar in protein structures, which renders them
stiff and weak. Glycation is considered a major cause of the
aging process.
Carnosine acts as an intramuscular buffer. That means
it can reduce the acidity, or burning sensation, that occurs
during and after an intense exercise set, enabling you to train
harder. The increased acidity typical of intense weight training
leads to a blunting activity of the enzymes required for energy
production, the result being fatigue.
As you might expect, regular intense exercise upregulates
the muscle content of carnosine. It’s the body’s way of compensating for the hypoxia, or lack of oxygen, characteristic of
anaerobic exercise. The lack of oxygen causes the buildup of
excess hydrogen ions and fatigue.
Carnosine supplements are now available, but just how
much can be absorbed into muscle is questionable. An
enzyme called carnosinase degrades carnosine into its constituent amino acids, histidine and beta-alanine. On the other
hand, a few studies have recovered carnosine in the urine
following oral intake, pointing to absorption. Others say that
larger doses, such as 1,000 milligrams or more, bypass the
carnosinase barrier to some extent—although smaller doses
are rapidly degraded by the enzyme.
Carnosine concentrates in type 2 muscle fibers, which
makes sense, since type 2 fibers are employed in intense
anaerobic exercise and thus require extra buffering capacity. While carnosine supplements should offer considerable
benefits, such as decreased fatigue and the ability to train
harder, they may not be the most effective way to increase
muscle carnosine.
You could also take the two amino acids that constitute
carnosine, but muscles are already saturated with histidine,
and taking it does nothing to increase muscle carnosine
content. Beta-alanine, however, is another story. One study
showed that providing human subjects with four grams of
beta-alanine for one week, followed by an increase to 6.6
grams daily for a month, led to a 60 percent increase in
muscle carnosine content. Clearly, beta-alanine is the limiting
factor for increasing muscle carnosine levels.
According to another recent study, however, there is
another way to increase muscle carnosine content: Become
a bodybuilder.1 The study compared the muscle carnosine
content of six competitive-level bodybuilders to six untrained
men and found that the bodybuilders had twice as much
carnosine as the untrained men.
The bodybuilders’ levels of carnosine were estimated to
promote a 40 percent increase in muscle-buffering capacity.
Exactly why the bodybuilders showed the higher level wasn’t
clear. One reason could be the exercise itself, since typical
bodybuilding workouts are anaerobic and result in excess
acid production. The increased carnosine may be an adaptation to compensate for the higher acid levels that regularly
occur with training.
Other possibilities include dietary
supplements. The
bodybuilders in the
study all used whey,
glutamine, casein
and branched-chain
amino acid supplements. They also
used various herbs;
however, none of
those supplements is
linked to an increase
of carnosine in the
body.
The bodybuilders also freely admitted to using anabolic
steroids. In a recent animal study, providing a dose of testosterone every other day for two weeks resulted in a 268
percent increase in muscle carnosine levels. How steroids
do that isn’t clear. It may be just a result of increased muscle
mass from steroid use or an increase in the activity of the
enzyme that synthesizes carnosine in muscle. Another explanation is increased muscle amino acid uptake, thus providing
the precursor building blocks of carnosine.
In the same study the bodybuilders showed 38 percent
less taurine than the untrained men. Taurine concentrates
in type 1, or slow-twitch, aerobic muscle fibers. As I noted
recently in IRON MAN [January ’06], taurine offers many possible benefits.
Why the bodybuilders were low on taurine wasn’t clear,
although taurine is known to be excreted more rapidly after
exercise. In addition, since bodybuilding focuses primarily on
type 2 fibers, it may simply reflect an adaptive need of the
body, because type 2 muscles need more carnosine.
Some have suggested that workout efficiency can be
greatly improved by taking large oral doses of carnosine.
That may indeed work, but carnosine isn’t cheap, and the
suggested doses would cost about $5 each. Carnosine can
also be injected, but that’s not a likely option for most of us.
The best carnosine-loading method appears to use an oral
beta-alanine supplement. Interestingly, some preliminary
research shows that combining beta-alanine with creatine
significantly increases the intensity level of bodybuilding training.
If beta-alanine supplements actually reach the marketplace, don’t take them at the same time as taurine supplements. They use the same uptake carrier, and ingesting them
simultaneously will cancel out the effects of taurine.
—Jerry Brainum
1 Tallon, M.J., et al. (2005). The carnosine content of
vastus lateralis is elevated in resistance-trained bodybuilders.
J Strength Cond Res. 19:725-729.
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, Eat, GROW
Train
Muscle-Training Program 80
From the IRON MAN Training & Research Center
Model: Jonathan Lawson
by Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson • Photography by Michael Neveux
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.
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Muscle biopsies show that the largest
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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
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activate the low-threshold
motor units at the beginning
of a set, then the mediums
kick in, and finally, if fatigue
doesn’t stop you early, your
high-threshold motor units
join the party. That’s when
you fire lots of the fast-twitchers that have the most growth
potential. If you do too many reps,
say 15 or more, in succession, the
burn of lactic acid pooling in the
target muscle will force you to stop
the set during medium-threshold
activation. Your highs never engage,
which is not good if you’re looking
to build maximum mass. That also
explains why those who train exclusively with high reps have a stringy
appearance—they’re only training
endurance fibers and the endurance
facets of some of the type 2A fasttwitchers.
We want to train both the anaerobic and endurance components in
as many fast-twitch fibers as possible. That happens with sets that
last about 30 seconds—or a number
of lower-rep sets done back to back;
for example, drop sets and our favorite ripping-phase method, fearfactor double drops, both including
end-of-set X-Rep partials.
Now, with either of those techDetail work with
continuous tension
builds the endurance
components of
the fast-twitch 2A
fibers, such as the
mitochondria, where
fat is burned.
Model: Steve Holman
Well, it’s that time of year
again—time to rip it up!
Warm weather is upon us,
and if too much blubber is
also upon us, we’re in trouble. We usually start tightening up our diets around
March, with a few cardio
days thrown in, as we like to cruise
into summer with abs blazing. We
seem to be on schedule.
This past winter we both got up
to our heaviest bodyweights ever,
Jonathan at just over 220 and Steve
at 217, and it didn’t appear as if we
were any smoother than in years
past. (Jonathan’s arms taped 19 1/4
inches.) We believe that with the
right type of training, we can continue gaining muscle, and, we hope,
peak out at heavier bodyweights
than last year, even considering our
winter obstacles.
In case you haven’t been reading our blog at X-Rep.com, Steve
had eye surgery in November and
then had to have it redone two
times after the initial cut because
his stitches kept ripping loose. He
missed a month of workouts and
then had to cope with the holidays
in conjunction with breaking back
into training.
Jonathan got the flu and missed
about two weeks, not as bad as
Steve’s ordeal but still a setback.
Nevertheless, we both were able to
supersize our physiques—at least
compared to past winters—a miraculous feat, all things considered. But
that’s history; now we gotta rip it up.
So what’s our plan as the weather
starts heating up? You know we’re
big fans of extended-set training.
As we said last month, stressing the
endurance facets of the fast-twitch
type 2 fibers builds the mitochondria of the muscle cells. And guess
where bodyfat is burned? You got
it. That could be why the old-time
bodybuilders swore that higher reps
helped them burn more fat—they
morphed their mitochondria into
more effective fat-frying blast furnaces.
The problem with high reps
is what we’ve termed the fatigue
redline—if you do too many reps,
fatigue products stop you before
you reach fast-twitch overload.
Once again, it boils down to the size
principle of fiber recruitment: You
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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 / Program 80
IRON MAN Training & Research Center Muscle-Training Program 80
Workout 1A: Delts, Midback, Biceps, Forearms
Rack pulls or
dumbbell upright rows (drop set; X Reps) 2 x 8(6)
Seated forward-lean
laterals (double drop; X Reps)
1 x 8(6)(4)
Standing dumbbell presses (drop set; X Reps) 1 x 8(6)
Superset
Dumbbell shrugs (X Reps)
1 x 8-10
Cable upright rows (X Reps)
1 x 8-10
Nautilus rows (X Reps)
1 x 10-12
Superset
1 x 8-10
Cable rows (X Reps)
1 x 8-10
Bent-arm bent-over laterals (drop set; X Reps) 1 x 8(6)
Superset
Behind-the-neck pulldowns (X Reps)
1 x 8-10
Bent-over laterals (drop set; X Reps)
1 x 6(4)
Cable curls (drop set; X Reps)
1 x 8(6)
Superset
Preacher curls (X Reps)
1 x 8-10
Cable curls
1 x 8-10
Concentration curls (double drop; X Reps) 1 x 8(5)(4)
Incline hammer curls (double drop; X Reps)
1 x 8(5)(4)
Dumbbell reverse wrist curls
(double drop; X Reps)
1 x 10(7)(6)
Dumbbell wrist curls
1 x 10(7)(6)
Workout 3A: Chest, Lats, Triceps, Abs
Incline presses (second set is drop; X Reps)
2 x 10, 8(6)
High cable flyes (double drop; X Reps)
1 x 7(5)(4)
Bench presses (X Reps)
1 x 10
Wide-grip dips (drop set; X Reps)
1 x 9(7)
Low/middle cable flyes (double drop; X Reps)
1 x 7(5)(4)
Pulldowns (X Reps)
1 x 10
Superset
Chins (X Reps)
1 x 8-10
Undergrip pulldowns
1 x 6-8
Superset
Machine pullovers (X Reps)
1 x 8-10
Rope rows (drop set; X Reps)
1 x 6(4)
Elbows-flared pushdowns (drop set; X Reps) 1 x 9(5)
Tri-set
Lying extensions
1 x 8-10
Close-grip bench presses (X Reps)
1x6
Lying dumbbell extensions
1x5
Superset
Kickbacks
1 x 8-10
Bench dips (X Reps)
1 x 8-10
Superset
Incline kneeups (drop set; X Reps)
1 x 12(4)
Flat-bench leg raises (X Reps)
1x7
Tri-set
Ab Bench crunches (X Reps)
1x9
Twisting crunches (X Reps)
1x8
Bench V-ups
1x8
Workout 1B: Delts, Midback, Biceps, Forearms
Rack pulls or
dumbbell upright rows (drop set; X Reps) 2 x 8(6)
Superset
Cable laterals (drop set; X Reps)
1 x 8(5)
Incline one-arm laterals (X Reps)
1x7
Dumbbell shrugs (drop set; X Reps)
1 x 10(6)
1 x 10-12
Superset
1 x 8-10
Cable rows (X Reps)
1 x 8-10
One-arm dumbbell rows (X Reps)
1 x 10-12
Superset
Behind-the-neck pulldowns (X Reps)
1 x 8-10
Bent-over laterals (drop set; X Reps)
1 x 6(4)
Cable curls (drop set; X Reps)
1 x 8(6)
Superset
1 x 8-10
Cable curls
1 x 8-10
Incline curls (double drop; X Reps)
1 x 8(5)(4)
Incline hammer curls (double drop; X Reps) 1 x 8(5)(4)
Dumbbell reverse wrist curls
1 x 10(7)(6)
Dumbbell wrist curls
1 x 10(7)(6)
Workout 3B: Chest, Lats, Triceps, Abs
Incline presses (second set is drop; X Reps) 2 x 10, 8(6)
Superset
Incline flyes (drop set; X Reps)
1 x 8(5)
High cable flyes (X Reps)
1x6
Wide-grip dips (drop set; X Reps)
1 x 10(6)
Bench presses (X Reps)
1 x 10
Superset
Flat-bench flyes (drop set; X Reps)
1 x 8(5)
Low cable flyes (X Reps)
1x6
Pulldowns (X Reps)
1 x 10
Superset
Chins (X Reps)
1 x 8-10
Undergrip pulldowns
1 x 6-8
Superset
Dumbbell pullovers (drop set; X Reps)
1 x 8(5)
Rope rows (X Reps)
1x6
Elbows-flared pushdowns (drop set; X Reps) 1 x 9(5)
Tri-set
Lying extensions
1 x 8-10
Close-grip bench presses (X Reps)
1x6
Lying dumbbell extensions
1x5
Superset
Overhead dumbbell extensions
(drop set; X Reps)
1 x 8(5)
Bench dips (X Reps)
1x6
Superset
Incline kneeups (drop set; X Reps)
1 x 9(5)
Flat-bench leg raises (X Reps)
1x8
Tri-set
Ab Bench crunches (X Reps)
1x9
1x8
Bench V-ups
1x8
(continued on page 82)
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niques the fatigue redline can be a
problem. For example, say you’re
doing a drop set and manage 10
reps on the first phase. That’s fine,
but if you drop to a weight that allows another 10 or more on the second phase, your rep total will be too
high, and that second phase won’t
be as productive from an anaerobic
standpoint—you’ll redline too early.
There’s a delicate balance here.
A better sequence would be about
eight reps on the first phase and six
or seven on the second, with X-Rep
partials added to either phase or
both. Now your reps are low enough
on both phases to create anaerobic
overload, and the back-to-back
performance will hit the endurance
components as well. Very efficient.
Double drops are even trickier—that is, two weight reductions
instead of just one. Now your reps
should go something like eight, six,
four. We usually prefer to use X Reps
on the first phase and maybe the
last, if the muscle is still capable of
firing by then.
Remember, on drop sets you get
some rest time between phases as
you change weights, so 18 total reps
on a drop set or double drop isn’t
like doing a straight 18-rep set. On
the drop sets you get not only that
brief fatigue-product-clearance
time but also two high-threshold
stages—the tough reps at the end
of each phase. In effect, you do two
or three lower-rep sets back to back
with a slight rest/pause between
them.
A bonus of fatigue products, like
lactic acid, is that the burn can trigger more growth hormone release. If
you know about
GH, you know
ITRC Program 80 (continued)
it’s a potent fat
burner (another
Workout 2 (Always on Wednesday):
reason why
Quads, Hams, Calves, Low Back
drop sets are a
Smith-machine squats (X Reps)
2 x 8-10 favorite ripping
Superset
tactic for us),
Lunges
1 x 8-10 so the burn is
Low, partial dumbbell squats (X Reps)
1 x 6 good—as long
Superset
as it doesn’t
Leg extensions (drop set; X Reps)
1 x 10(5) get unbearable
Sissy squats (X Reps)
1 x 7 before your
Superset
high-threshold
Leg curls (drop set; X Reps)
1 x 10(5) motor units kick
Hyperextensions (X Reps)
1 x 8 in. When do the
Squats
1 x 10-12 highs activate?
Superset
That usually
Stiff-legged deadlifts (low partials)
1 x 8-10 occurs around
Dumbbell stiff-legged deadlifts (low partials) 1 x 6-8 rep seven or
Reverse hyperextensions
1 x 10 eight of a 10-rep
Leg press calf raises (X Reps)
3 x 15-20 set. If you use
Tri-set
a weight that
Machine donkey calf raises (X Reps)
1 x 10 allows, say, 18
Standing calf raises (X Reps)
1 x 6-8 reps, fatigue
Hack-machine calf raises (X Reps)
1 x 6-8 products will
Seated calf raises (X Reps)
2 x 15-20 start pooling
Low-back machine (X Reps)
1 x 10 around rep nine
and no doubt
Friday: We train the upper-body muscles that we
cause you to
worked on Tuesday, except back, plus legs, but we only
crap out before
use contracted- and/or stretch-position exercises (isoyou reach highlation). See the X-Blog at www.X-Rep.com for detailed
threshold terriworkouts.
tory.
That’s why
Note: Where X-Reps are designated, usually only one
we like to make
set or phase of a drop set is performed with X Reps or
sure our reps
an X-Rep hybrid technique from the Beyond X-Rep
on a drop set
Muscle Building e-book.
or double drop
add up to no
more than 20—slightly more for
endurance-oriented muscles like
calves, abs and forearms. You get
plenty of high-threshold activation,
plenty of tension time for mitochondria and capillary development
and enough muscle burn to trigger GH surges. If we can do more
than 20 reps on drop sets or double
drops, we add weight on one or all
phases the next time. If your rep
total is more than 20 on a drop set
or double drop, don’t get discouraged because you think it wasn’t
as effective as it could’ve been. You
simply trained the endurance components more than the anaerobic
ones—and that’s fine every so often.
But do increase your poundage at
your next workout.
Now for our new ripping-phase
split, which we’re very excited
about. We were training four days a
week using the split-positions approach during the winter. Now we’re
still using split-positions training,
but we’re bumping it up to our usual
five days a week—with a new twist.
Here’s how it pans out:
Week 1
Monday: Chest, lats, triceps, abs
Tuesday: Delts, midback, biceps,
forearms
Wednesday: Legs, lower back
Thursday: Chest, lats, triceps, abs
Friday: Delts, biceps, forearms,
legs—stretch- and/or contractedposition exercises only; no compound movements
Week 2
Monday: Delts, midback, biceps,
forearms
Tuesday: Chest, lats, triceps, abs
Wednesday: Legs, lower back
Thursday: Delts, midback, biceps,
forearms
Friday: Chest, triceps, abs, legs—
stretch- and/or contracted-position exercises only; no compound
movements
Week 3: Repeat week 1
Week 4: Repeat week 2
As we said, we train five days
in a row. Now we know that’s not
ideal; however, we can’t train on the
weekends, so we feel that hitting the
gym five days in a row is a must for
us at this point (we’ve tried numerous other schemes, and nothing
works as well). That’s also why we
put in the freaky Friday isolation
workout—to lessen the stress on
our recovery systems. Note that the
upper-body muscles that get the
isolation treatment on Friday get
hit again on the following Monday.
Interesting—and excellent—unique
variation.
Also notice that the bodyparts we
train on Thursday get hit again on
the following Tuesday, after five days
of recovery, which is good considering both of those sessions are fullblown attacks with compound and
isolation work.
Back to the Friday isolation day:
At the moment we don’t include
ITRC Program 80, Abbreviated Home-Gym Routine
Workout 1A: Delts, Midback, Biceps, Forearms
Dumbbell upright rows
or rack pulls (drop set; X Reps)
2 x 8(5)
Seated forward-lean laterals
1 x 8(5)(3)
Barbell shrugs (drop set; X Reps)
1 x 10(7)
Bent-over barbell rows
2 x 10
Bent-arm bent-over laterals (drop set; X Reps) 1 x 9(6)
Bent-over laterals (double drop; X Reps)
1 x 8(6)(4)
Barbell curls
2 x 10
Concentration curls (double drop; X Reps) 1 x 8(6)(4)
Incline hammer curls (double drop; X Reps)1 x 8(6)(4)
Reverse wrist curls (double drop; X Reps) 1 x 10(8)(6)
Wrist curls (double drop; X Reps)
1 x 10(8)(6)
Workout 3A: Chest, Lats, Triceps, Abs
Incline presses (second set is drop; X Reps)
2 x 10, 8(5)
Incline flyes (double drop; X Reps)
1 x 8(6)(4)
Bench presses (second set is drop); X Reps) 2 x 8-10
Decline flyes (double drop; X Reps)
1 x 8(6)(4)
Chins (X Reps)
2 x 10-12
Undergrip rows (second set is drop; X Reps) 2 x 8-10
Decline extensions (X Reps)
2 x 10
Kickbacks (double drop; X Reps)
1 x 8(6)(4)
Tri-set
Incline kneeups
1 x 10
Bench V-ups
1x8
1 x 10-12
Workout 2 (Always on Wednesday):
Quads, Hams, Calves, Low Back
Squats
2 x 10-15
Superset
Dumbbell lunges
1 x 8-10
Low partial dumbbell squats (X Reps)
1 x 5-8
Superset
Leg extensions or hack squats (X Reps)
1 x 8-10
Sissy squats (drop set; X Reps)
1 x 8(5)
Leg curls (double drop; X Reps)
1 x 8(6)(4)
Front squats (nonlock)
1 x 10
Superset
Stiff-legged deadlifts (bottom-range partials)1x8-10
Dumbbell stiff-legged deadlifts
(bottom-range partials)
1 x 8-10
Hyperextensions (X Reps)
1 x max
One-leg calf raises (drop set; X Reps)
2 x 15(8)
Donkey calf raises (X Reps)
2 x 15-20
Seated calf raises (X Reps)
2 x 15-20
Workout 1B: Delts, Midback, Biceps, Forearms
Dumbbell upright rows,
or rack pulls (drop set; X Reps)
2 x 8(5)
Incline one-arm laterals
1 x 8(6)(4)
Barbell shrugs (drop set; X Reps)
1 x 10(7)
Bent-over barbell rows
2 x 10
One-arm dumbbell rows
1 x 8(6)(4)
Bent-over laterals (double drop; X Reps)
1 x 8(6)(4)
2 x 10
Incline curls (double drop; X Reps)
1 x 8(6)(4)
Incline hammer curls (double drop; X Reps)1 x 8(6)(4)
Reverse wrist curls (double drop; X Reps) 1 x 10(8)(6)
Wrist curls (double drop; X Reps)
1 x 10(8)(6)
Workout 3B: Chest, Lats, Triceps, Abs
Incline presses (second set is drop; X Reps) 2 x 10, 8(5)
Incline flyes (double drop; X Reps)
1 x 8(6)(4)
Wide-grip dips (second set is drop; X Reps)
2 x 10, 8(5)
Flat-bench flyes (double drop; X Reps)
1 x 8(6)(4)
Parallel-grip chins (X Reps)
2 x 8-10
Dumbbell pullovers (double drop; X Reps) 1 x 8(6)(4)
Decline extensions (X Reps)
2 x 10
Overhead extensions (double drop; X Reps)1 x 8(6)(4)
Tri-set
Incline kneeups
1 x 10
Bench V-ups
1x8
1 x 10-12
Friday: Train your upper-body muscles that you
worked on Tuesday, except back, plus legs; however,
use only contracted- and/or stretch-position exercises (isolation). See the X-Blog at www.X-Rep.com
for sample workouts.
Note: Where X-Reps are designated, usually only one
set or phase of a drop set is performed with X Reps or
an X-Rep hybrid technique from the Beyond X-Rep
Muscle Building e-book.
Note: Train Monday through Friday, following the
sequence of workouts as listed but with workout 2,
legs, always on Wednesday only. Also, for drop sets 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, nonlock style. Use partner resistance, towel around the ankles, if you don’t
have a leg curl machine.
back work. Why? Lats and midback get hit Monday, Tuesday and
Thursday. When we work lats, we
get some residual midback work,
and when we work midback, we get
some residual lat work. With all of
those back attacks, we figure we
don’t need more on Friday. We also
try not to do too much biceps work
when biceps fall on Friday because
they get trained indirectly during all
back work.
We tested out this split a few
weeks ago, and it felt great. The back
overlap wasn’t a problem, and the
isolation day was a good change
without being too stressful. It was
actually fun—if you’re into searing
your muscles with contracted- and
stretch-position exercises.
At the moment we’re still using
the split-positions approach outlined in our Beyond X-Rep Muscle
Building e-book. That means at one
workout for a bodypart we use a
big midrange exercise followed by a
stretch-position movement, and the
Model: Jonathan Lawson
In our new split, Friday is
muscle-isolation day.
next time we hit that bodypart we
use the same midrange exercise but
follow it with a contracted-position
movement.
If you’re using a program similar
to ours, we encourage you to visit
www.X-Rep.com and check out our
X-Blog regularly. We describe every
workout and any variations we’ve
incorporated. Plus, we’ll throw in interesting exercise tips when we run
across them. Tune in and rip up!
Editor’s note: For the latest on
the X-Rep muscle-building method,
including X Q&As, X Files (past ezines), our before and after photos
and the new X-Blog training journal,
visit www.X-Rep.com. For more
information on Positions-of-Flexion training videos and Size Surge
programs, see page 229. To order
the Positions-of-Flexion training
manual Train, Eat, Grow, call (800)
447-0008, visit www.Home-Gym
.com, or see the ad below. IM
Steve Holman’s
Critical Mass
Rep Speed for
Fast Mass
Q: In your book Train, Eat, Grow you say to rest
one to 1.5 minutes after every set, but recently
you’ve written that three minutes is best. That’s a
big difference, and it makes a tremendous impact
on the weight I can use on my second set, not to
mention overall workout length. Is three minutes
the new standard? Also, do I need three minutes between exercises? For instance, after I finish squats,
can I run to the leg extension machine before the
allotted rest time is up? What if someone is already
using it? What about between the last set for one
bodypart and the first set for another?
A: The three-minute rest time is based on new research
on muscle-force production that was done on bench
presses. Use that extended rest time on your big, multijoint exercises (squats, presses and so on). Use one to 1.5
minutes of rest on single-joint exercises—such as flyes and
leg extensions—where fewer fibers are involved but where
hitting both the anaerobic and endurance facets of the
fast-twitch fibers is still important.
With that variation you lean more toward
building the anaerobic qualities of the fasttwitch fibers on multijoint exercises while still
stressing the endurance facet somewhat with
half-minute tension times. Then, when you
move to more isolated exercises, you stress the
endurance capacity more and the anaerobic
capacity secondarily. That’s why drop sets are so
good on isolation exercises—you can use lower
reps on each phase, for an anaerobic effect, but
one to two weight reductions keep the fibers firing and attack the endurance facet.
Try not to worry too much about the rest
between squats and leg extensions, for example.
The pattern of fiber recruitment will be different,
so just unload your bar fairly quickly, go to the
leg extension and work in as soon as you can.
Also, rest between bodyparts is insignificant,
except from an overall time standpoint.
Neveux \ Model: Noel Thompson
Q: You’ve written that the ideal rep speed is two
seconds up and two seconds down; however, at your
Web site [www.X-Rep.com] you say that the ideal rep
speed is about 1.5 seconds up and 1.5 seconds down.
On the “Critical Mass POF” DVD the bodybuilders demonstrating the exercises move at a faster
pace. I need clarification. The two-up/two-down
speed seems very slow when I actually do it. I’ve also
heard that bodybuilders should use as much speed
as possible without generating momentum in order
to produce the greatest force and, therefore, the
greatest stress and growth stimulus on the working
muscles. Can you be more specific?
A: Rep speed is tricky. When I say two seconds up and
two seconds down, it’s really a hard one-two count, not a
true two seconds on each part of the stroke. That’s why I
revised it to 1.5 seconds, which is technically the real speed.
I also believe that if you want to activate the most fibers,
a quick twitch at the turnaround, which is the max-force
point, is important before you slow the rep speed somewhat. That can activate more fast-twitch fibers, especially
on stretch-position exercises like overhead extensions for
triceps—but don’t bounce. It’s just a quick reversal.
Whether you do two-, three- or four-second reps, time
under tension for the entire set is key. Try to maintain 30
seconds of tension on the target muscle on most of your
sets without jerking or throwing any of your reps. Adding X
Reps—power partials at the max-force point—after fullrange power is exhausted can extend the tension time and
make any set more productive.
Q: I train alone, so it seems I can’t do X
Reps on a lot of exercises. For example, on
Three minutes of rest after sets of compound moves, like squats,
appears to be best for max force production. When building the
endurance facets of the fast-twitch fibers is a priority, less rest is best
after isolation exercises.
Steve Holman’s
Critical Mass
one that allows you to get at least 10 standard reps prior to
firing out X Reps, or total CNS failure may prohibit X Reps.
You can use your free arm to
help with so called forced X
Reps on one arm movements.
squats there’s simply no way for me to power out X
Reps near the bottom after I reach positive failure.
The same applies to a lot of my exercises, such as
dumbbell bench presses and military presses. On a
lot of single-arm exercises, like biceps curls, I have
to use my free arm to bring the working arm to the
X-Rep position and do forced X Reps. The only solution I can think of is to do drop sets on the exercises
on which I can’t do X Reps, but that would be difficult on squats or deadlifts. Supersets are out of the
question, as I train at a crowded commercial gym.
Any suggestions?
A: On most exercises—not squats, as I’ll explain—if you
can’t do X Reps, you should do a static hold at the X Spot
(max-force point), which is down near the turnaround,
below the middle of the stroke. Because you’re new to X
Reps, you may simply lack the neuromuscular efficiency
to do them on certain exercises. Static holds done at that
point should help you gain the ability. Be sure you’re using
a poundage that allows about 10 standard positive/negative
reps; heavier, low-rep poundages force the nervous system
to crap out early and make pulsing at the X spot impossible
for most people. In other words, using a weight on bench
presses with which you can only get five or six reps means
you won’t have any nervous-system firepower left for X
Reps (which is one reason lower reps build strength without much size—your nervous system completely flakes out
before excess fiber activation occurs, so you mostly stress
tendons, ligaments and your nervous system).
You can also try the rest/pause technique. On an exercise
where there is lockout, such as squats, rest at the top for
five or more seconds after your last full rep, and then move
to the X Spot. Or try the Double-X Overload, one of the
X-hybrid techniques from the e-book Beyond X-Rep Muscle
Building (www.BeyondX-Rep.com). It’s basically performing an X Rep after each standard rep.
Now, about free-bar squats: The X Spot is compromised
by a leverage shift, so true X Reps are only possible on a
Smith or hack machine, and even then they can be difficult.
I’ve done them alone on a Smith machine, hooking the
safety latches when the bar was at the low position after
three or four X Reps. Once again, the poundage should be
A: I was doing this long before I published any books,
so that’s not it. I’m a firm believer in the adage that man is
essentially good and has an inner desire to help his fellow
man. Helping others achieve gives me a good feeling, so in
that regard I guess it could be considered a selfish pursuit,
although in this case I don’t think selfish has a negative
connotation.
Tiger Ellison, who pioneered the run-and-shoot offense
for football back in the 1950s, gave a speech to the National Football Coaches Association that is a good summation
of why a lot of us provide advice to others based on our
knowledge and experience. In response to the question,
“Why coach?” Ellison ended his speech with this poem:
An old man going a lone highway came at the evening
cold and gray
To a chasm vast and deep and wide, through which was
flowing a swollen tide.
The old man crossed in the twilight dim; that swollen
stream held no fears for him.
But he paused when safe on the other side and built a
bridge to span the tide.
“Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim near, “you are wasting
your strength in building here.
“Your journey will end with the ending day. You never
again must pass this way.
“You’ve crossed the chasm deep and wide; why build you
the bridge at the even tide?’’
The builder lifted his old gray head. “Good friend, in the
path I have come...’’ he said.
“There followeth after me today, a youth whose feet must
pass this way.
“This swollen stream which was naught to me, to that
fair-haired youth may a pitfall be.
“He too must cross in the twilight dim. Good friend, I am
building the bridge for him.’’
Note: Thanks to my friend Craig Fields for sending me
that passage in reference to what I do.
The sharp black POF T shirt with the original classic
logo emblazoned in gold can give you that muscular
look you re after (sorry, large size only). See page 251 for
details.
Editor’s note: Steve
Holman is the author many
bodybuilding best sellers,
including Train, Eat, Grow:
The Positions of-Flexion
Muscle Training Manual.
For information on the
POF videos and Size Surge
programs, see page 229. For
information on Train, Eat,
Grow, see page 86. Also visit
www.X Rep.com. IM
Neveux
Neveux \ Model: Jonathan Lawson
Q: I’ve been reading your stuff for many years
now, and I’ve learned a lot and gotten some great
gains by following your advice. X Reps have really
boosted my mass lately! I’ve always wanted to ask
you, What motivates you to keep giving advice to
bodybuilders? Do you do it because it sells your
books, or is it some intrinsic drive?
Steve Holman
[email protected]
Mr. Natural Olympia John Hansen’s
Naturally Huge
Mass
Confusion
Q: I’m an 18-year-old aspiring natural bodybuilder, and I’m always looking for the best way to train.
Most of what I’ve learned is to work each bodypart
once a week and do nine to 16 sets for most muscle
groups. But I’m always confused about the best way
to train. I know that different routines work best
for different people, but I was wondering how you
train. I’m told by some people to train chest with
triceps and back with biceps, and others tell me to
separate them. Should I be training each muscle
group more than once per week? How many sets
should I be doing for each muscle? Does it differ
between muscles like triceps and biceps and larger
muscles like chest, back and legs? Also, how many
repetitions should I be doing if I want to gain mass?
I already have some natural definition, so I’m more
concerned with gaining mass.
A: Here’s my training schedule: chest, triceps and calves
on Monday; abs and legs on Tuesday; take Wednesday off;
delts, traps and calves on Thursday; and abs, back and
biceps on Friday. I train four days per week with three rest
days, and I work each muscle group once a week, with the
exception of abs and calves, which I train twice each week.
That routine works well for me after nearly 30 years of
As Hansen got
older, he found
that he needed
more recovery
time for each
bodypart.
consistent training (I’m 42 years old). As an 18-year-old
aspiring natural bodybuilder, you may be able to train each
bodypart more often and get good results. When I was 20
years old, I trained my body over two days, working each
muscle group twice each week, and I made great gains. In
fact, I bulked up from 205 to 230 pounds at the age of 21
using that routine. As I got older, I realized that I needed
more recuperation, and I switched to training each major
muscle group only once per week.
The way to determine how often you should train each
bodypart is by your progress. If you’re working each muscle
group twice per week and getting stronger and bigger on
a consistent basis, then you’re on the right track; however,
if you’re tired and feel that your strength and muscle mass
are going backward, then you probably need more rest
time.
The way I group the bodyparts together in my routine is
based on what works for my body. I like training chest and
triceps in the same workout and training back and biceps
together because those bodyparts complement each other.
My triceps are slightly pumped after I train chest, and the
same goes for my biceps after a back workout. To me, it
makes sense to train a smaller bodypart that is associated with a larger bodypart because it’s already warmed
up. That cuts down on the risk of injury and gives similar
muscle groups more time to recuperate.
I make sure that the workouts for pushing muscles
(chest, triceps and shoulders) are separated by a few days.
Chest exercises such as bench and incline presses also
involve the deltoids and triceps. If I were to do a shoulder
workout a day before or after training chest and triceps,
one or both of those workouts would be compromised.
I also make sure that I separate the leg and back workouts from each other because of the stress to the lower
back. Leg exercises such as squats, front squats and stifflegged deadlifts significantly involve the lower-back muscles. Back exercises such as barbell rows, T-bar rows, seated
cable rows and deadlifts also use the lower-back muscles.
Doing a leg workout before or after a back workout would
risk straining the lower-back muscles, which usually need
several days to recuperate.
As for the number of sets, I think you’re pretty much on
the right track—the larger the bodypart is, the more sets
you’ll need to fully train it. For example, the back needs
more sets than the biceps. Larger bodyparts are also more
complex—the chest can be divided into lower, upper, outer
and inner sections. No one exercise can simultaneously
work all four areas of the chest; you need at least three or
four.
Choose basic movements that activate the most muscle
groups. I prefer using free weights (barbells and dumbbells) as opposed to machines because free-weight moves
are harder to do and make the muscles respond better.
Using the chest as an example, if you did barbell bench
presses for the lower pecs, incline dumbbell presses for the
upper pecs, flat-bench flyes for the outer pecs and dumbbell pullovers for the inner pecs, you’d have a complete
chest routine.
I try to get the maximum benefit out of an exercise
in three to four sets at most. On bench presses I do two
warmup sets, one moderately heavy set and then one or
two heavy, growth-producing sets. When I move on to
incline dumbbell presses, I’m already warmed up, so I do
one moderately heavy set followed by two heavy sets. For
Mr. Natural Olympia John Hansen’s
Naturally Huge
Neveux
only slightly different for each of those
dumbbell flyes two to three sets is
days. For example, if I ate 350 grams
plenty, and on dumbbell pullovers I
of protein, 200 grams of carbs and 60
only need two good sets to finish off
grams of fats on a training day, that
the pecs. That complete workout only
would amount to 2,740 calories. The
takes 10 to 11 work sets.
breakdown would be approximately 50
I usually use only two exercises for
percent protein, 30 percent carbohybiceps and calves and three exercises
drates and 20 percent fats.
for triceps. I train my biceps with six
On a nontraining day I would eat
sets and my calves with seven. I may
around 300 grams of protein, only 140
use nine or 10 total sets for triceps,
grams of carbs and the same 60 grams
since it’s a slightly bigger muscle
of fat. That’s 2,300 calories. So the
group.
breakdown would be 50 percent proI’ve always believed that the best rep
tein, 27 percent carbohydrates and 23
range for building mass is six to 10. I
percent fat.
begin with a moderately heavy weight
I write down everything that I eat
that enables me to do 10 reps, and I
add weight on each successive set until
when I’m dieting to lose bodyfat. It’s
the only way to make sure that what
I’m pushing maximum resistance for
Your postworkout drink can help you
you’re doing will work. If you just guess
six to eight reps.
cycle carbs.
at the amount of food, calories or carbs
One key to getting bigger is to make
sure that your workouts are progresyou’re consuming, your progress will
sive. If you use 100-pound dumbbells for seven reps in one
most likely be much slower.
workout, try to do eight or nine reps at your next workout
I found that I had to limit my carb intake for my last
before moving up to the 105- or 110-pound dumbbells. You
contest preparation in order to get really ripped. I defineed to push yourself to use more weight and do more reps
nitely don’t believe in a very low-carb diet because having
in order to get your muscles to grow larger.
a sufficient amount of glycogen stored in the muscles is
critical to supplying the energy necessary for intense workQ: I read an article at your Web site (Natural
outs. Carbs are also important for helping the muscles to
Olympia.com) about a client of yours who took in
recuperate and grow after a training session. Natural body2,400 calories on workout days and 1,800 calories
builders sacrifice muscle on a very low- or no-carb diet.
on nontraining days to get his bodyfat down for
I was eating approximately 300 grams of carbohydrates
his transformation contest. I want to use a simion a training day and 250 grams during rest days when I
lar method to get my bodyfat down, but I have a
started my precontest diet. My progress was excruciatingly
few questions. Do you basically keep reducing the
slow until I changed my carb intake, lowering it by 100
starchy carbs and increasing the fats to get your
grams (200 on my training days and 140 on my rest days).
bodyfat down? Did you keep the protein, carb and
When I made that change, I slightly increased my profat percentages the same for the high- and lowtein and fat intake to keep the calories about the same. If I
calorie days and just lower the amounts of the
kept everything the same while lowering my carb intake by
macronutrients equally, or did you keep the protein
100 grams, my calorie intake would have dropped by 400
up and lower the carbs and fats? I know I’ll have to
calories per day, which is too big a drop and would have
experiment, but I need a few guidelines.
most likely resulted in muscle loss, since I was already eatA: I used the same nutrition approach for both my last
ing a restricted-calorie diet.
competition and that of my client. I manipulated the carb
intake to reduce bodyfat. I kept the protein high (1.25 to
Editor’s note:
1.5 grams per pound of bodyweight) and the fat moderate
John Hansen has
(approximately 20 percent of total calories), but I changed
won the Natural
the carbohydrate intake depending on whether I was trainMr. Olympia and is
ing that day.
a two-time Natural
In general, my carbohydrate sources were oatmeal that I
Mr. Universe winner.
ate with breakfast and the sweet potato that I ate at lunch.
Visit his Web site at
The other meals consisted of either protein drinks (made
www
with water, Pro-Fusion protein powder and flaxseed oil) or
.naturalolympia.
lean protein (egg whites, chicken, fish or steak) combined
com. You can write to
with vegetables. Aside from breakfast and lunch, I limited
him at P.O. Box 3003,
my carbohydrate intake to vegetables.
Darien, IL 60561, or
On my training days I used three scoops of RecoverX
call toll-free (800)
immediately after a workout to restore glycogen. Three
900-UNIV (8648). His
scoops of RecoverX contains 60 grams of simple carbs.
new book, Natural
That’s the major difference in my carbohydrate intake from
Bodybuilding, is now
a training and a nontraining day. I kept my carb intake at
available from Home
around 200 grams on the days that I went to the gym and
Gym Warehouse,
restricted myself to about 140 grams on my off days. [For
(800) 447-0008 or
John Hansen
more on RecoverX, visit www.X-Stack.com.]
www.Home-Gym
[email protected]
The percentage distribution of macronutrients was
.com. IM
Bi-Laws
-Laws
The Verdict Is In:
Big Arms Rule and
Heres How to Get Them
by Eric Broser - Photography by Michael Neveux
Sometimes Iʼm completely fascinated with how
badly the average gym dweller craves big arms.
Although I witness these guys training chest, back,
shoulders and legs with formidable intensity and
passion, they seem to jump to another level when
theyʼre attacking their arms. I often hear more
yelling during a set of barbell curls than a set of
squats. Strange but true.
In fact, to illustrate my point about just how
driven most trainees are to be able to flex a
pair of 20-inchers, Iʼll tell you about a small poll
I recently took in the gym. I asked a bunch of
the more serious bodybuilders in my gym this
question: If I could magically give you six inches
of muscle to add anywhere on your body, how
would you distribute it?
The majority said that most of the “magic
inches” would go to their arms. A few of them
mentioned their chest, but the overwhelming
response was arms. A couple of guys even went
so far as to reply, “Iʼd take the entire six inches
and slap three on each biceps!” And, of course,
one joker told me heʼd put 1 1/2 inches on each
arm and the other three somewhere else—and Iʼm
sure you know the bodypart he mentioned.
The really interesting thing about my little
poll was that most of the guys didnʼt even say
that theyʼd add the inches to their arms. More
specifically, they wanted to add to their biceps.
That prompted me to mention that the mass of
the triceps actually contributes to overall arm size
more than the biceps do, but they still held firm
that they wanted bigger, freakier, higher, thicker
biceps.
Now, Iʼm sure that if I were to poll a group
of competitive bodybuilders, who must be more
concerned with the symmetry and proportion
of the physique, the results would be different.
Since the majority of serious lifters out there
have no desire to step onstage, however, I guess
I can entertain their desire for simply building
massive, freaky biceps at the expense of perfect
proportions. And thatʼs exactly what this article
is about—triggering new growth in lagging biceps
using methods and techniques that perhaps youʼve
never tried before.
So if your biceps are not quite where you want
them to be despite your most ferocious efforts in
the gym, read on, and maybe you will run across
a bi-law that will get the job done for you!
One of my favorite things to do
between sets in the gym is to observe other people s form while they
train. I actually do it without even
realizing it—I guess because training clients was all I did for about 13
years. Thus, I am always watching
to see whos doing it right, and whos
doing it wrong. Unfortunately, very
few people use excellent form while
they train.
When it comes to working the
biceps, one of the things I often see
is people initiating their curls using
forearm flexor power rather than
pure biceps power. By the nature of
their function, the forearms must
be involved in every curling move-
ment, but if you actually turn the
beginning of the movement into a
wrist curl, you take away a lot of the
stimulation that you re intending for
your biceps.
Trainees often tell me that when
they work their biceps, their forearms get the more intense pump.
That s not a good thing if you re
looking for bigger guns.
If that sounds like you, then what
you should actually be doing during
most curling movements is bending
your wrists back and holding that
position throughout the set. That
effectively takes the forearm flexors
out of the movement, forcing the
biceps to do almost all of the work.
Yes, it will feel a little odd at
first—and chances are your curling
poundages will drop somewhat—
but trust me when I tell you that you
will actually be hitting your biceps
harder than ever before. Try using
this method on at least one exercise
in each biceps workout (I suggest a
barbell movement), and I bet you ll
see improvements.
Bending your hands
forward as you curl can
give you more leverage,
but bending them back
somewhat can better
activate the biceps.
Model: Skip La Cour
Bend ’Em Back
Bi-Laws
Giant Arms With Sky-High Bi’s
Holman
You have to blast, burn and brutalize a muscle to
trigger extreme mass. And if you want to do it in as few
sets as possible, that includes hitting as many muscle
fibers as possible—with extended-set techniques like X
Reps and drop sets—as well as increasing the capillary
beds in the muscle via occlusion, or blocking of blood
flow. And then there s the fiber-splitting, or hyperplasia,
phenomenon, which may occur as a result of stretch
overload. Cover all of those bases in a few sets, and
you ve got a quick-hit massblast that can t be beat.
Sometimes, however, if you
want to build a muscle—or
at least make it appear larger
than normal—you have to
look beyond attacking only
the target bodypart. What the
heck are we talking about? The
biceps is a perfect example.
There s a muscle that snakes
underneath the biceps, and
when you build it, it pushes
the show muscle skyward. You
may have heard of it, because
Arnold was a big proponent
of training it for arm mass. It s
the brachialis. If you want your
arms to take on new dimensions fast, you gotta build the
brach!
When your upper arm is
up and flexed to show off the
biceps, the brachialis appears as a knotty mass on the
outside of the arm that sits
between the biceps and triceps. And when that sucker is
pumped and plumped, you ll
get a more gnarly, jagged peak
to your biceps that ll have
people s eyes popping out of
their heads every time you
flex. (Your arms will look much
bigger just hanging at your
sides, too, because of the new
thickness and density.)
Here s how to blast the
brachialis to new levels of size, which will get your
biceps jutting to new heights, with a low-set, quick-hit
method.
First, the best exercise: According to MRI studies,
incline hammer curls really light up the brachialis.
Why are they so good? Because lying back on an incline
bench with your arms straight down, angling back behind your torso, and your thumbs facing forward puts
the brachialis in an elongated state. We ve discussed
in our e-books that stretch-position exercises trigger
extreme anabolic responses in muscle tissue and also
have the potential to stimulate fiber splitting. One
study produced a 300 percent muscle mass increase in
a bird s wing muscle with stretch overload—in only one
month.
Even so, getting a muscle bigger faster takes more
than just working it in the stretch position. Remember,
you want capillary bed expansion and maximum fiber
recruitment as well. Here s how to get it all in just two
sets:
Set 1: Use a pair of dumbbells that allow you to get
10 reps in pistonlike fashion—no rest at the top or
bottom, 1 1/2 seconds up
and 1 1/2 seconds down.
Keep tension on the brachialis muscles throughout
the set, and when you
reach nervous system
exhaustion, do X-Rep
pulses from just out of the
full stretch position at the
bottom, which is the maxforce point, to just below
the middle of the stroke.
If you can t pulse, do a
static contraction—hold
the weight steady—at the
max-force point till you
can t stand the burn. Rest
about two minutes and
admire the swelling that s
happening—but it s just
Lawson’s
the beginning. Now for the
19 1/4money set...
inch arm
Set 2: Use less weight
measurement.
here, as you ll be using the
Double-X Overload technique. After each rep do
an X Rep at the max-force
point. When you can t manage another full rep, do X
Reps or a static hold at that
sweet spot for maximum
fiber recruitment.
Even though your arms
are screaming at this point,
you re not done yet. Stand
up and do regular hammer
curls to extend the set. You may only get a couple, but it
will be the muscle-building icing on the cake.
Do this quick-hit torture session after your normal
biceps routine, as biceps curls hit the brachialis with
midrange work. The above brachialis attack will be the
finisher and provide unique fiber activation, occlusion
and extended tension time for capillary bed expansion—and the stretch will kick up anabolic hormone
release and may even trigger some fiber splitting. In
other words, it ll put some freak on your biceps peak!
Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
Keep Your Chin Up
No, I’m not here to give you a pat
on the back and tell you that having puny biceps is perfectly okay
(although it is if you like sharing
your girlfriend s shirts). When I talk
about your chin,” I’m not referring
to the one on your face but the kind
you should be doing in the gym if
you want to pummel those biceps
into growth. Close-grip, underhand
chins are one of the most effective
biceps exercises you can do, yet few
trainees ever use them. Yes, they
also work the back musculature,
but within the construct of a biceps
program, you ll feel them almost
seconds to get to the bottom position.
When you can get 10 to 12 reps
with your bodyweight, add some
extra resistance with a belt designed
to hold plates and/or a dumbbell
around your waist. Once you re
doing clean reps with 50 extra
pounds attached to you, your biceps
will have all the mass you could ever
want—I promise.
entirely in your screaming biceps. I
recommend using close-grip chins
in one of two ways. Either perform
them as the last exercise in your
biceps routine, when your bi’s are
already exhausted, or use them
as the second exercise in a biceps
superset (preacher curls followed by
close-grip chins make an amazing
combo).
To get the most out of your
close-grip chins, make sure you use
perfect form. I recommend spacing
your hands no wider than six inches
apart. Begin the movement at a
dead hang, with your arms completely straight. At the peak of the
concentric portion of the rep your
chin should rise just above the bar
(no half-reps please) as you squeeze
your bi’s hard. Try to lower yourself
very slowly, taking up to four to six
Twice Is Nice
It s very much in vogue these days
to train each bodypart only once
per week, and with good reason:
It works. When you re looking for
some extra growth in a particular
muscle, however, it can be very effective to hit that muscle twice per
week for a time. That works quite
well with the biceps because they
tend to recover from workouts very
efficiently.
The keys to an effective twodays-per-week biceps-prioritization
program are as follows: 1) Make sure
there are at least three days between
workouts, and 2) do two different
types of workouts each week.
Here s a split that you might use
while doing two biceps workouts
per week:
Monday: Chest and biceps
Tuesday: Quads and hams
Thursday: Lats and traps
Friday: Shoulders, biceps
and triceps
Model: Dan Decker
Undergrip chins
done with various
hand spacings
can pack more
mass on your
biceps quickly.
With a program like this, I suggest
you make Monday your main biceps day, using about a third more
volume—that is, sets—than you
use on Friday. It can also be very
effective to use heavier weights
and lower reps in one workout and
lighter weights and higher reps in
the next. Another way I like to vary
the two biceps workouts is to use all
barbell movements the first day and
all dumbbell movements the next.
That s something you can experiment with, as long as there are some
meaningful variations between the
two workouts.
the lift is completed in one second; there s no pause
at the bottom; the concentric, or positive, portion
of the lift is completed in one second; and there is
no pause at the top. At that tempo each rep takes
approximately two seconds to complete, and since
most sets are anywhere from six to 10 reps, the time
under tension will only be 12 to 20 seconds. That s
not enough for those looking to stimulate hypertrophy in a muscle. Studies have shown that the optimal
TUT for gains in muscle size is 40 to 70 seconds per
set. Hmm, think it s time to go into slow-mo?
My suggestion to anyone seeking more size on
them bi’s is a repetition tempo of 3/1/2/1, which will
bring the length of each rep to seven seconds. That
translates to a TUT of 42 to 70 seconds for sets of six
to 12 reps. Perfect!
Will this force you to drop your curling poundage
considerably? Yes. But will you really care when your
biceps are so big, you can t touch your fingers to your
shoulder? Didn t think so.
Grow With Slow-Mo
Model: Gus Malliarodakis
Making a set last more
than 40 seconds can blow
up your bi’s with new size.
Model: Robert Hatch
Whenever I watch the average gym rat training
biceps, I often see more swinging during a single set
than in an entire day at a childrens playground. Yes,
I know it s fun to lift a ton of weight to impress your
friends, fellow gym rats or the girl with the boobs
as big as you want your biceps to be, but all of that
cheating is only cheating you. Using momentum,
leaning back and lifting your elbows while you curl is
not a training technique but a train wreck. If you desire to fill out your shirtsleeves a little better, it s time
to clean up your form and slow things down.
It has been my observation that most guys do their
curls with a tempo of 1/0/1/0. If you re not familiar
with that method of expressing lifting speed, it simply means that the eccentric, or negative, portion of
Less cheat can pack more
meat on your guns and
reduce injuries.
•Instead of doing seated dumbbell
curls, try incline dumbbell curls. If
you already do those, try going for
a steeper angle.
•When doing dumbbell curls of
any kind, try grabbing the ’bells by
either the inside or outside plates
rather than in the middle. That
alone will change how the movement affects the biceps.
•When using a barbell, vary your
grip from wide to narrow.
•When using dumbbells, try either
curling across your body or turning your palms out and curling
away from your body.
•Try sitting at an upper-pulley
cable station and curling a straight
bar back behind your head.
Altering the line of pull
can hit those hard-toreach muscle fibers.
Mode: Eric Domer
Drop the fishing pole, get off the
boat, and take off the funny-looking hat with all those lures attached,
because that s not what I mean by
angling! Think about your biceps
workouts, and tell me if you tend to
do the same exercises over and over.
Barbell curls, preacher curls, seated
dumbbell curls, concentration curls,
etc. Now, if your biceps are grow
ing just fine, then it s obvious that
they’re still thriving on those same
exercises. However, if your biceps
growth is moving as fast as a turtle
with Oprah on its back, then angling
may be just what you need (bro, I
told you, drop the fishing pole!).
By angling I mean changing your
lines of pull, body position and/or
planes of motion in order to stimulate your biceps in ways they aren t
used to. That will change motor
recruitment patterns, wake up the
central nervous system and even
Mode: Noel Thompson
Go Angling
enable you to preferably recruit the
inner or outer biceps head to a greater degree. All good stuff!
Here are some ways to use the
concept of angling in your biceps
workout:
•Instead of curling off of the angled
side of a preacher bench, curl off of
the vertical side.
•Try lying down at a seated cable
row station and doing curls while
flat on your back.
So if your greatest desire is to have
a pair of massive guns hanging from
your shoulders, I hope you ll give
these bi-laws a try. They’ve worked
for dozens before you, enabling them
to reach the land of biceps bliss, and
they can do that for you. Do what
you ve always done, and get what
you ve always gotten. Make a change,
and those tiny biceps will soon be
long forgotten!
To summarize, you want to keep
your chin up and bend ’em back,
even when angling, preferably in slomo, while remembering that twice is
nice. Get my drift? (And don t foget
the brachialis for sky-high bi’s; see
page 110.)
Editor s note: For individualized
programs, online personal training,
nutritional guidance or contest-prep
coaching, contact Eric Broser at
[email protected]. Readers are also
invited to join Broser s bodybuilding
and fitness discussion board at www.
BuildingMass.com. IM
Try using the vertical side
of a preacher bench for
a change—and a wicked
peak contraction.
10
Stupid
Things
Bodybuilders
Do to Mess Up Their Winning
Mind-set
Part 1
by Skip La Cour
Five-Time NPC Team Universe Champion
1) They Don’t Fully
Appreciate Their
Strengths and Are
Easily Discouraged by
Their Weaknesses
Too often, people who are working hard in the gym focus on their
challenges, not on their advantages.
They obsess about any weaknesses
they may have and make their
journey toward developing their
physiques more challenging than
it has to be. Instead of identifying
what’s great about their particular
circumstances, they emphasize
what’s especially difficult for them.
For example: “I can’t build muscle
as easily as others because of my
genetically skinny frame,” or, “I can’t
get as lean as other people because I
have a very slow metabolism.”
Strive to be the very best version
of you possible—regardless of genetic limitations. We all have weaknesses. We have what we have. For
weaknesses we can create a plan of
attack to systematically overcome
them.
Our job is to make the most of
what we’ve been given. If we are not
careful, we can let our perceived
limitations get in the way of our
progress and our enjoyment of
bodybuilding. We must consistently
focus on the gifts we have—not on
the ones we don’t.
Those who complain about challenges could just as easily say, “I’m
so fortunate to have the ability to
lose bodyfat quickly and easily.
When I discover the strategies to
pack on more muscle—watch out!”
or, “Unlike a lot of other people, I
can gain muscle size efficiently. I
may have to diet longer and more
strictly than others—but I can sure
pack on the muscle mass!”
Photography by Michael Neveux
Model: Skip La Cour
S
ome bodybuilders make some
o
sstupid mistakes when it comes
tto the way they think. As I said
llast month in 10 Stupid Things
Bodybuilders
Do to Mess Up Their
B
d b il
Diets stupid might be a little too harsh a
word for some of the mental challenges
bodybuilders commonly face. Even so,
it should get your attention. Mistakes
we make when it comes to the way we
think range from coming to conclusions
too quickly or adopting the negative
opinions of others. So when you see the
word stupid,dont take offense,but do take
action.
Strive to be the very
best version of you
possible—regardless
of genetic limitations.
For weaknesses create
a plan of attack to
overcome them.
Model: Luke Wood
Always expect the best from your efforts. Don’t get discouraged
if you don’t get the results you want as soon as you want them.
Persistence is the most prevalent trait of successful people.
2) They Expect Too
Much Progress Far
Too Soon
Are you exceptional at your job?
Have you mastered a musical instrument? Do you have a brilliant
sense of humor? What are you great
at in your life right now besides
bodybuilding and training?
Now, let me ask you another
question: Did you become great in
just a few weeks or a few months?
You more than likely didn’t. You
probably experienced a normal
learning curve that included just
as many defeats as victories. Your
journey to success had many ups
and downs along the way. You didn’t
become great overnight, did you?
What are some of the mental
skills you displayed on your road to
the greatness in your life? You were
persistent. You were consistent in
your efforts. You were patient with
your progress. You were determined
and flexible, right?
The journey toward developing
an outstanding physique will pose
the same challenges. Succeeding
requires the same mental skills.
Always expect the best from your
efforts. Don’t get discouraged if you
don’t get the results you want as soon
as you want them. Just because you
don’t have them now doesn’t mean
that you won’t experience them later
with more time and effort.
Persistence is the most prevalent
trait of the successful. Often they’re
just people who’ve kept trying long
after average people have given up.
Persistence is believing, no matter how many times you’ve tried and
failed in the past. The next strategy
that you implement could be the
one that takes you to the next level.
Who knows? What seems dreadful
today could turn around with a simple change in your perspective or
with a big break. You’ll never know,
however, if you don’t keep trying.
10 Stupid Things Bodybuilders Do
You must open your mind to new and different strategies if you want better
results than you’re currently getting. Sometimes “right” can feel “wrong.”
3) They Are Willing
to Do Only What They
Are Willing to Do to
Succeed
Some bodybuilders are willing to
do only so much to succeed. Without knowing what success feels like,
they assume they’re already doing
enough to nail the job.
Believing that “this strategy is
overkill” or “that training style
doesn’t make sense” without
enough experience to make such
evaluations limits your progress.
Concluding that “that much focus
isn’t necessary” or “that kind of
detail isn’t necessary” before even
trying the strategy demonstrates
that you put limits on what you’re
willing to do to succeed.
Just because you’re convinced
you’re on the right track doesn’t
mean you really are. Just because
you feel you are giving 100 percent
doesn’t mean that’s enough to get
the job done. Just because you
think you’re a hard worker doesn’t
mean you’re working hard enough
to be successful.
What makes you so certain that
you already know what it takes
to succeed? To be brutally honest, how would you know exactly
what that requires? You haven’t yet
achieved what you want for your
physique.
Many inexperienced bodybuilders make incorrect assumptions
about the best way to train or eat.
Their beliefs become ingrained
convictions that stall progress and
lead to frustration.
You must open your mind to
new and different strategies if you
want better results than you’re
currently getting. Mentors can help
you reach that new level of enlight-
enment. Success leaves clues. If
you do what you’ve always done in
the past, you’ll produce the same
results.
What benefits will you enjoy
by opening your mind to new
bodybuilding information? You
gain a sense of understanding,
confidence and certainty that
provides the mental edge needed
to reach your full genetic potential.
You progress more smoothly and
efficiently. You make significant
improvements in your physique
much sooner. You generate unstoppable momentum that can
produce results that rival those of
someone with much more bodybuilding experience. All in all, you
make the entire bodybuilding
experience more fulfilling.
Sometimes when you are going
for your bodybuilding goals, “right”
can feel “wrong” to you. Remember that.
4) They Spend Too
Much Energy Thinking
About How Steroids
and Other Drugs Could
Make Building Their
Bodies Easier
Model: Skip La Cour
Many bodybuilders want to believe that anyone who has a great
physique must be taking steroids or
illegal drugs—often a gigantic distraction. It’s almost as if they want
to believe that’s true.
Why? Believing that everyone
who has an awesome build takes
drugs makes them feel better about
their own shortcomings. It gives
them an excuse that takes the pressure off them to find the strategies
or do the work necessary to do a
better job of building their own
physiques without drugs.
Seek and you shall find. If you
focus on all the people who have an
easier time than you because they
take drugs to assist them—you’ll
find them. At the same time, if you
look for people who have successfully built their great bodies without
drugs, you’ll find them too.
Most people who train in the gym
don’t want to do “whatever it takes”
to have an outstanding physique if it
means using steroids or other drugs.
If that’s you, great! But don’t stop
there. Ask more of yourself than to
“not use drugs.” Discipline yourself
to create an awesome physique on
your own terms.
Don’t waste time talking or thinking about how much easier a time
people who use drugs have than you
do. Drugs or no drugs, you could
look better than you do right now
if you applied yourself and did the
things you already know you should
do, right? Better training, better
eating, more consistency and more
time doing it properly will make you
better. You need to focus on those
things.
Discipline yourself to
create an awesome
physique on your own
terms. Seek and you
shall find.
Model: Steve McLeod
If you surround yourself with people who train at a higher level of intensity and
efficiency, you’ll become more intense and more efficient.
5) They Are Influenced
by Negative People in
the Gym
“Most people’s lives are a direct
reflection of the standards of the
people around them. Who you
spend time with is who you become,” preaches Anthony Robbins.
If you surround yourself with
people who train at a higher level
of intensity and efficiency, you’ll
become more intense and efficient.
If you hang around people who
are optimistic that their training
endeavors will eventually pay off
if they’re intelligent and patient
enough, you’ll become more optimistic, more intelligent and more
patient too. If your training partners
believe it’s truly possible to build a
respectable physique without the
use of drugs, chances are you’ll
adopt the same belief.
Conversely, if you’re in the company of people who expect very
little from themselves and their
training, you’ll be more apt to be
satisfied with the level of training
you’re currently experiencing. If the
guys in the gym feel that anyone
with a good physique “has to be on
drugs,” you won’t always be able to
suppress that belief when you hit a
plateau in your development.
Look for opportunities at the
gym to train beside those who
have earned good physiques, demonstrate admirable work ethics
and exude positive attitudes. When
you’re in their presence often
enough, you’ll discover it is easier
to duplicate their success. Successful people can help pace you as
you move toward achieving excellence yourself. You can adopt their
winning strategies and powerful
mind-set.
Associate with people who are
like-minded and appreciate your
training objectives. They should be
motivated to succeed in life and
understand your goals. Heck! If
you’re lucky enough to be invited,
train with people who are more
driven than you are to help ignite
your desire.
There you have the first five.
Next month I’ll go over the second
five: lack of concentration, bridled
intensity, being too results oriented, lack of appreciation for previous progress and impatience. I’ll
also have a summary of all 10 stupid
things so you can review to wise up.
Editor’s note: Visit Skip La
Cour’s Web site at www.SkipLaCour
.com. Take your physique to the
next level by ordering his new DVD,
“Packing On Muscle! Max-OT Style.”
The two-disc four-hour training,
instructional and motivational
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video footage of cardiovascular
training, inspirational training segments, assorted detailed and unique
“next level” tips, contest footage
and a one-hour nutrition seminar. If
you want to pack on slabs of muscle
in the shortest time, this DVD is
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In the
Zona
With Inspirational Nationals
Star Sebastian Zona
by David Young
S
am Zona, a.k.a.
Sebastian, is not
a typical guy. As
a bodybuilder
heʼs on his way
to conquering the national
scene. Thatʼs no small feat.
Heʼs also educated and
very articulate and is a
family man with a wife and
son and close ties to his
parents. Heʼs someone
bodybuilders can look
to for inspiration.
I guess you
figured out that
Iʼm impressed
by the guy. I
challenge you
not to be after
you read his
story.
Iʼd met Sam
through a
mutual friend,
IFBB pro Bob Cicherillo,
but I got to know him much
better after a workout at
Jim Rockellʼs Powerhouse
Gym in Rochester, New
York, that took place
when I went home for the
holidays last year. It was a
fortunate meeting because
Iʼve already learned some
valuable lessons from him.
So sit down,
strap yourself
in, and letʼs
hit the road
with Sam
Zona.
In the Zona
Photography © 2006 MuscleTech All rights reserved
Zona
competes
at 215
to 220
pounds.
DY: Let’s start with your stats—
age, height and weight?
SZ: I’m 32 years old and stand a
towering 5’8”. I typically compete
at around 215 to 220 pounds. My
focus this past year was “lighter and
tighter,” so my off-season weight
didn’t go much above 235. I see
too many guys make the mistake
of getting caught up in weight. I’ve
been as heavy as 270 off-season,
but I looked and felt horrible and
ultimately dieted down to nearly
the same contest weight. So one
must ask oneself, Is it really worth
it and at some point does it become
counterproductive to not only your
contest prep but, more important,
your health? At last year’s Nationals
I was my lightest in years—around
215 onstage—and it was definitely
my best conditioning to date.
DY: Exactly how long have you
been training?
SZ: I’ve been hitting the weights
for 20 years now—seems crazy to
say that, but it’s true. I took what
most would consider an unnatural
interest in training at the very tender age of 11. For some reason I just
wanted to be big and strong. My dad
had some of those old plastic sandfilled weights in the basement, and
I started lifting them every night. I
had no idea what I was doing, mind
you, but I was lifting consistently at
that age. No one would believe this,
He’s 5’8”
and 32
years old.
He’s been
training
for 20
years.
except those that know me, but I
have never missed more than a week
of training at a time in the last 20
years. No joke!
DY: Nothing beats commitment
and dedication. It sounds as if you
knew that at a young age.
SZ: It was either some serious
commitment and dedication or I
have a major obsessive compulsive
disorder [laughs].
DY: Or you’re just deranged,
brother. How did you get started in
competitive bodybuilding?
SZ: It’s funny because I never envisioned myself being a competitive
bodybuilder. I just liked to train and
lift heavy weights and wanted to get
as big and strong as I possibly could.
I have always been a bit on the shy
side, so getting up onstage in front
of people and flexing in glorified
underwear wasn’t something I even
considered.
DY: I don’t think any of us really
saw ourselves onstage in our underwear! So what happened?
SZ: In 1997, at the prompting
of a friend, I entered the Mr. Buffalo contest. Much to my surprise, I
won the whole show. If I am honest,
though, I still enjoy the training and
preparation much more than the
contest itself.
do you do for a living?
SZ: I’m a teacher. I teach health
science and physical education in a
small public school in upstate New
York—junior and senior high students, so, basically, 12- to 18-yearolds. I enjoy it. I am also starting a
nutrition-consultation business. I
should have that up and running in
the very near future. You can find
more information at www
.InTheZona.com.
DY: I like the name. Catchy. Do
you have any hobbies or play other
sports?
SZ: I was an avid athlete as a teenager, playing football, basketball
and baseball. I was a natural athlete
but not gifted enough to pursue it at
the collegiate level, unfortunately.
Nowadays, playing sports for me involves a pickup game of basketball
with my son, throwing around the
football with him and his friends or
a no-holds-barred round of miniature golf. Occasionally my wife and
I will challenge him and his friends
to a game of two-on-two basketball
or even two-hand touch. We can still
spank them pretty good. I can still
move surprisingly well—it just hurts
a bit more than it used to.
For hobbies—everyone finds this
funny for some reason, but I love
karaoke. I have a system set up in
our basement—surround sound,
the whole deal. It’s not uncommon
DY: Besides bodybuilding, what
Comstock
In the Zona
In the Zona
In-the-Zona Training
“Self-improvement is
what drives me in all
aspects of my life.”
to hear me rocking the house—the
dogs start barking, cats meowing. I
love it!
DY: [Laughs] I can see it all now.
Up onstage, posing in your underwear and singing “New York, New
York.” Come to think of it, I’d rather
not see it. What keeps you motivated for your training and diet?
SZ: I think the simple fact that I
have not yet achieved my personal
best. Self-improvement is what
drives me in all aspects of my life.
I want to continue to push myself
and see exactly what Sebastian Zona
is capable of.
DY: What are your diet strategies
for on-season and off-season?
SZ: As a bodybuilder your daily
goal, whether on-season or off, is to
gain a little muscle and lose a little
fat. I typically eat mostly the same
foods year-round, but off-season I
increase my carb and fat intake and
drop my protein to a little more than
a gram per pound of bodyweight.
Precontest it’s moderate carb, low
fat and high protein. Very similar to
the approach most other bodybuilders take—nothing radical.
DY: Do you have a cheat day?
SZ: Off-season I allow some
cheating on Saturday and Sunday,
but during the workweek I stick to a
pretty specific plan. This past year,
precontest, I allowed myself one
cheat meal a week right up until five
weeks out. It helps keep your sanity
a bit, and keeping my weight down
I start all workouts with a 10minute warmup on the stationary
bike followed by stretching and
two to three warmup sets of the
first exercise I’m going to do, says
Sebastian Zona. I then go directly
to my heaviest weight for the first
work set.
I like to keep a fast pace so
my rest periods between sets are
45 to 60 seconds. I also train in a
somewhat instinctual manner.
I’ll have a plan of what I am going
to train and what exercises I am
going to perform, but if something
isn t feeling right, I switch it up—
exercise, reps, whatever. Part of my
Train Smarter’ approach.
I generally do three exercises for
three work sets per bodypart, not
including warmup sets, for a total
of nine work sets, and I use three
rep ranges, as I mentioned.
Though I work my other
bodyparts only once a week,
I’ve found that my legs respond
better to two sessions per week.
I also tend to do slightly higher
reps on my leg movements—in
the 15-to-20 range—and perform
all exercises with a very narrow
stance.
Day 1: Chest, triceps
Incline barbell or dumbbell
presses
Incline flyes
Dips
Straight-bar skull crushers
Reverse dips (weighted)
Pushdowns
this past off-season allowed me the
luxury. That hasn’t always been the
case.
DY: Can you give me a sample of
your eating for a day?
SZ: Here is the exact eating program I used four weeks out from the
’05 Nationals:
A.M. supplements
3 capsules Thermo-Shred
1,000 milligrams carnitine
Multivitamin
Multimineral
Cardio: 4:45 a.m.
40 minutes on treadmill
Meal 1: 6 a.m.
3 servings Nitro-Tech
Day 2: Legs
Back squats
Leg presses
Leg extensions
Lying leg curls (dumbbell
between feet)
Stiff-legged deadlifts
Seated calf raises
(up to 10 sets)
Day 3: Back, biceps
Front chins (start with a wide
grip and move in narrower on
each set)
Bent-over rows
Pullovers
Hammer curls
Reclining dumbbell curls
Day 4: Off
Day 5: Legs
Smith-machine front squats
Leg extensions
Lunges (heavy, one leg at a
time—not alternating)
One-leg leg curls
Hyperextensions
Donkey calf raises
Day 6: Delts, traps, arms
Front presses
Single-arm lateral raises
Machine rear-delt flyes
Dumbbell shrugs*
Crunches (three sets to failure)
Reverse crunches (three sets to
failure)
*“I rarely do any direct trap
work—maybe once a month,
which is usually one giant drop
set down the rack.
1 packet plus 2 tablespoons
flavored Cream of Wheat
Meal 2: 8:30 a.m.
9 ounces cooked chicken
1.5 cups rice
1 cup broccoli
2 tablespoons fat-free Italian
dressing
Midmorning supplements
10:30 a.m.
1,000 milligrams carnitine
Meal 3: 11 a.m.
3 servings Nitro-Tech
10 ounces sweet potato
Meal 4: 2:15 p.m.
9 ounces cooked chicken
1.5 cups rice
In the Zona
Zona believes that
bodybuilders must
be self-driven,
intrinsically motivated.
1 cup broccoli
dressing
Preworkout supplements
8 capsules Gakic
5 caplets Pump-Tech
Workout: 4 p.m.
Meal 5: 6 p.m.
1 packet plus 2 tablespoons
Cream of Rice
3 servings whey isolate
Meal 6: 9 p.m.
13 egg whites
1 whole egg
2 cups broccoli
dressing
Totals:
Calories: 3,133
Carbohydrate: 287.5 grams
Protein: 434 grams
Fat: 24.5 grams
DY: You listed several supplements. What are your favorite
supplements?
SZ: At the very top of my supplement list is protein. I use Nitro-Tech
whey protein. I’m not sure how
anyone could do without the convenience and cost effectiveness of this
supplement. One of my new favorites is MuscleTech’s Gakic, which
enables me to maintain my intensity level throughout my workout
by eliminating the waste products
ammonia and lactic acid. I have
gotten great results from it, and it
has become a staple in my supplementation program.
DY: Everyone at one time or another faces training plateaus. How
do you overcome them?
SZ: It is crucial to consistently
change up your training program.
Not just exercise selection or order
but rep scheme, muscle groupings,
time of day, pace, rep speed, etc.
Keep your body guessing.
DY: How did you find what works
for you in the gym?
SZ: With bodybuilding inevitably
it’s trial and error. Something can
sound great on paper, but until you
apply it, you can’t be sure how your
body will respond. The funny thing
is that what worked last year—or
last show—might not work this year
or this show.
DY: What keeps you motivated?
SZ: Most individual sports, especially bodybuilding, demand
that the athlete be intrinsically very
motivated. If you are not self-driven
or you require extrinsic motivators
or someone else to push you, you
ultimately will not be successful. If
you look at the greats throughout
history—Arnold, Haney, Yates, Coleman, Cutler—all of those guys were
and are very self-motivated, very
focused and very driven. They don’t
need someone to call them and get
them out of bed or drag them to
the gym. They don’t need a trainer
screaming in their ear. I would train
alone in my basement in the dark if
that was my only option—come hell
or high water.
DY: That’s awesome. I love it.
What’s your proudest achievement?
SZ: There is one thing that will
always remain at the top of my
achievement list. It has nothing to
do with bodybuilding and certainly
was not accomplished on my own.
It’s my family. My wife, Amy, and
I became parents at a very young
age—16. It obviously was not a
planned thing, and we were two
very terrified kids. We knew the
odds, the statistics, the bleak future,
and we felt the stares and heard the
comments. But despite all of that,
In the Zona
once we held our son Sebastian in
about the massive responsibility we
our arms, we knew there was only
carried. It brings tears to my eyes.
one option. We had to ante up and
It was meant to be, and I would not
tackle this head on.
change a thing. We are better people
We ignored the advice of others
for it.
who were recommending adoption
and who essentially were guaranDY: Wow. There’s much more to
teeing our failure and predicting
Sebastian Zona than just a phya very depressing and hopeless
sique. Your story is a great lesson
future. We took full responsibility
for us all about commitment and
for our actions. We graduated from
doing what’s right. What are your
high school and got married shortly
goals in bodybuilding and fitness?
thereafter at 18 tender years of age.
SZ: I definitely still have unfinWe were just kids. We enrolled in
ished business when it comes to
college and moved away—on our
bodybuilding. As I mentioned earown, far from home and the many
lier, I know I have not yet stepped
naysayers. Nobody
thought we had a
chance. It seemed like
“I know I
us vs. the world for a
have not
good long while. We
yet stepped
never took a handout,
onstage at
never asked for help,
my best.”
never applied for social
service. It was tough,
but we would not accept defeat and become
just another statistic.
We managed to balance work, school and
the responsibilities of
family life. We were so
determined to do it on
our own that we never
even had a baby-sitter. Where we went, so
did he. Class, the gym,
wherever—he was always with one of us.
What’s funny is, I
still through all of that
somehow found time
to train. It might have
been 12 a.m., but I still
made it to the gym. My
wife earned a B.S. in
business and marketing, and I earned a B.S.
in both health science
and physical education
with a teaching certificate. We were both
very fortunate to secure
onstage at my best. I am not going
employment immediately upon
to lie to you: My goal is to win and
graduating.
finally achieve pro status. In order
Just two years ago I finally finto do that, I have to achieve my
ished my master’s in education.
personal best. No more time for
We are coming up on 14 years of
mistakes. I have to train harder, diet
marriage this July. My son is 15 and
harder and be more focused than
such an awesome kid. I can’t even
my competition. If I can do that, I
imagine (nor do I want to) my life
believe I can achieve my goal.
without the two of them. I look
back at pictures in amazement as
DY: That brings me to my next
to how young we were and think
question. What mental or visual
techniques do you use?
SZ: I have always been a big
dreamer. I love movies like “Rocky,”
“The Natural,” “Rudy,” “Cinderella
Man.” When the chips are down
and the odds are against you, but
you overcome it all to be a champion—that’s me. That is the vision in
my mind, being the last one standing, trophy in hand. Overcoming
everything to be victorious. That’s
my vision.
DY: How has all that you’ve been
through shaped your philosophy
about life?
SZ: That is a tough
question, the answer
for which is very
difficult to put into
words. I know this
might seem kind of
corny for a big bodybuilder dude, but I
like to write—yes,
sometimes poems. I
quit trying to be cool
years ago and have
just embraced my
dorkiness. I found this
piece, which I wrote
some time ago. I think
it fits. Dr. Seuss has
nothing on me.
Life is a gift, we get
just one shot.
Some reach for the
stars, others reach
not.
There are many
paths we may choose
to take.
So many choices,
tough decisions to
make.
Some take the right
path, others go wrong.
Life flies by too fast
but for some it seems
long.
It’s all linked together your body and
mind.
So your mind educate and to your
body be kind.
Take time to laugh, to learn and
to love.
Be sure to give thanks to the Good
Lord above.
Sing in the shower and the morning commute.
Get rid of the tie and while at it,
the suit.
In the Zona
Say your prayers, take your vitamins and say no to drugs.
Smile when you can and give lots
of hugs.
Life is too short to hold anger
inside.
You may not succeed but you’ll
know that you tried.
Do not fear failure, it’s a way we
can learn.
Don’t get hung up on how much
money you earn.
Embrace your dreams and strive
to achieve.
Worry not, who else
does believe.
Let all that is great
within you shine
through.
Hold your head high
and to your own self
remain true!
DY: Jeez, a guy with
many talents! What
strategies do you use
for success in bodybuilding that you’re
able to carry into your
life and career?
SZ: Many of the skills
and lessons that I have
developed through
bodybuilding and
sports have carried
over into life, career,
etc. Commitment,
dedication, accountability, discipline, consistency, organization,
self-evaluation—these
are all character traits
that both bodybuilding and life demand in
order to be successful.
DY: I think a lot of
people miss that lesson. But those who
do get it have gotten
invaluable tools from
bodybuilding that stay with them
throughout their lives. What’s your
training philosophy?
SZ: Well, it used to be, “Go heavy
or go home,” but in recent years, due
largely to injuries, I have adopted
the philosophy of my friend Bob
Cicherillo: “Train smarter, not harder.” If only I had adopted that philosophy a few years earlier, I could have
saved myself some agony.
DY: How many weeks out do you
start your contest preparation?
SZ: It varies depending on my offseason condition. I used to require a
full 16 weeks to prepare adequately,
but now find I can do it in eight to
10. I stay in a lot better off-season
shape these days.
and set three the lightest, 10 to 12
reps. I generally perform three different exercises per bodypart—with
some exceptions.
DY: What about your cardio
training?
SZ: I know a lot of guys despise
cardio and see it only as a necessary
DY: How do you organize your
evil come contest time. I actually
training week?
don’t mind it and do at least 20 to
SZ: I generally follow a three-on/
30 minutes five days a week, even
one-off approach. For the 2005 Nain the off-season. Getting oxygen
tionals I split my training like this:
and nutrients to your muscles is
Monday: Quads, hams, calves
crucial to building
muscle. Therefore,
“I have found
the more efficient
that three work your cardiovascular
sets per exercise system, the better.
is ideal for me.” Not to mention the
other health benefits.
Do you really think
walking on a treadmill for 20 minutes is
going to cut into your
muscle gains? Come
on! For the Nationals
last year I upped that
to 40 minutes in the
morning on an empty
stomach, alternating
between the treadmill
and bike.
Tuesday: Chest, triceps, abs
Wednesday: Quads, hams, calves
Thursday: Back, biceps, abs
Friday: Quads, hams, calves
Saturday: Delts, traps, abs
Sunday: Off
DY: What is your
overall philosophy of
bodybuilding?
SZ: Hmm. I would
have to say, “Own it;
don’t let it own you.”
I see so many people
get so wrapped up in
themselves and bodybuilding that they lose
sight of what is truly
important in life. Keep
it in its proper place
and that should not
be at the top of your
priority list. Don’t let it
become you!
Editor’s note: Visit Sebastian
Zona at www.InTheZona.com. For
more on the supplements he uses,
visit MuscleTech at www
.MuscleTech.com. IM
DY: What kind of set-and-rep patterns do you use?
SZ: I’ve found that following a
warmup, three work sets per exercise
is ideal for me. Set one being the
heaviest, six to eight reps; set two
being a little lighter, eight to 10 reps;
A
r
e
d
l
i
u
b
Body
Is
Born
Episode 11:
The Teacher Gets Schooled
F
or the past 10 months
I’ve been telling you all
about my mission to
educate young Randy on
the ways of becoming a
top bodybuilder. The insinuation was that because I’ve
been training for almost 20 years
and competing since 1989, I know
it all, or at least I know everything
worth knowing. But I’ve always
believed that anyone who claims to
know it all is an idiot. There’s always
something more to learn in bodybuilding. We spend years figuring
out how our bodies respond to various types of training and nutrition,
but in reality it’s a lifelong process.
That all came crashing home to
me when I was beaten badly in my
last contest. The worst thing was
that I wasn’t so much beaten by the
other men onstage with me. I kicked
my own ass.
The trouble began with my
scheduling. I planned on shooting
a training video in L.A., shooting
with three magazine photographers the following week, then
competing in California at the end
of that week. But that wasn’t cramming enough into a short time for
me, so I also sent in my entry form
for the New England Championships, which was being held back
here in Boston the following weekend.
When I outlined my plan to
Randy about a month beforehand,
he seemed concerned. “Isn’t that
too much stuff? Aren’t you gonna
be exhausted?”
Was that a challenge to me, the
33-year-old who no longer had the
vigor and endurance of days gone
by? No way. I was Superman and
had five T-shirts with that logo to
prove it. I would have gotten the
tattoo as well if Lee Priest and Mat
DuVall didn’t already have one.
by Ron Harris
Photography by Michael Neveux
“Don’t worry,” I assured him. “I
know what I’m doing,”
Famous last words.
About three weeks before I left for
L.A. I looked the best ever in my life.
I was about 212 pounds and hard as
nails, fuller and rounder and with
even my poor arms looking decent.
I couldn’t see myself competing any
lighter than 205, up from 201 the
year before. Yup, this was my year.
That’s when some psycho switch
went off in my brain and I decided
I wasn’t quite lean enough in the
lower body. Suddenly, it seemed like
a smart idea to do more cardio.
Understand I was already doing
45 minutes of very intense intervalstyle cardio on a Precor elliptical
machine five days a week, burning
700 to 800 calories each time. That
had done an excellent job of taking away the fat, as I’d started at a
doughy 240 with not a cut in sight.
But now I found myself staring at
A Bodybuilder Is Born
Model: D. J. Green
contest photos of guys like Tommi
“Glutezilla” Thorvidsen, who has
striations in his butt muscles so
deep you could swipe a credit card
through them. “Hmm, I think I really need my glutes to look like that
too,” I said. And so the madness
began.
My gym opens at 5 a.m. on weekdays and 7 a.m. on the weekends.
I would snap awake automatically
about an hour before opening every
day and start getting ready to go do
cardio. Forty-five minutes graduated to a full hour within days. After
that I slammed down a protein
shake, went home, showered, had
breakfast and got my kids ready for
school. Then it was time to go to the
gym again for about 90 minutes of
weight training and 40 more minutes of cardio. Yep, I was gonna be
the most shredded man in bodybuilding history now! If I didn’t train
myself into the ground in the process, that is.
It didn’t take long for me to notice
that I was flattening out. That’s a
term bodybuilders use to describe
the way our muscles look when
we’re undercarbed or overtrained.
It’s almost as if we’re big balloons
and someone let some of the air out
of us. When I asked my wife what
she thought, she recognized it as
the bodybuilder’s equivalent to the
common chick question, “Does my
ass look bigger?”
There’s no right answer that won’t
infuriate the person who asked. So
Janet took on an annoyed tone and
said, “I don’t know, I can’t tell.” But
in her own way she tried to steer me
back. She made many comments
about my doing way too much
cardio, but I brushed them all off.
“What does she know?” I said to
myself.
Poor Randy—he didn’t know any
better. Having never seen anyone
diet down before, he was just overwhelmed by the daily changes in my
body. He’d express disbelief at every
new vein and striation that would
reveal itself and helped me ignore
the obvious. I was getting leaner, but
I was losing muscle. It needs to be
said that I was always eating plenty
of calories and never went below
200 grams of carbs a day.
The problem as I see it now was
that I was trying to force my body
to do two things at once that it
Yep, I was going
to be the most
shredded man
in bodybuilding
history now!
couldn’t. I wanted to maintain my
muscle mass while drastically increasing the volume of cardio I was
doing to that of an endurance athlete. My body did what any reasonable body would do when put in the
situation. It said, “Screw you, Ron.”
The week in L.A. did turn out to be
grueling, though I managed to score
second place at the tough Orange
County show. But—and this is a big
but—I’d weighed in at just under the
heavyweight limit. I hadn’t planned
on being a light heavyweight. It got
worse. Possibly because I’d weakened my immune system so badly,
I contracted food poisoning the last
night I was there and couldn’t eat for
about 36 hours. Oh, I tried, but the
instantaneous vomiting that resulted
when I swallowed anything except
water convinced me I just had to ride
it out until the nausea subsided and
my appetite returned.
All that week in Boston, as soon as
I could eat again, I tried to make up
for the lost meals. I was also, however, at the gym twice every day, as
before. I knew I’d lost some muscle
fullness, but I blamed the food poisoning and honestly thought some
extra food in the last couple of days
would get it all back. The final insult
came on Sunday morning, when I
weighed in at 197.5 pounds. I almost
fainted. I hadn’t weighed less than
200 pounds since 1995! Then as I
watched the rest of my class weigh
in, I knew I was done for. I went from
second place in my last four contests
to missing the top five for the first
time since 1992.
After a lot of pizza and ice cream,
things started falling into place, as
I attempted to analyze what had
gone wrong. My wife, Janet, who
also competed that day, was the
example that showed me my main
The contest prep
season taught me a
very valuable lesson:
We have to listen to
our bodies when they
say they need rest.
Model: Derik Farnsworth
error. When family duties came up,
as they often do in a large multigenerational Hispanic family like
hers, she’d often miss a scheduled
weight-training or cardio session. If
she missed a day, it was no big deal.
She didn’t sweat it. Yet she came
into the contest in the figure division looking much better than last
year. I, on the other hand, would
never, ever miss training. It was life
or death! If something demanded
my time in the day, I’d go at night.
If I’d slept poorly, I’d be in the gym
on three hours of sleep, masking my
fatigue with endless cups of coffee.
And lo and behold, I ended up looking worse than last year!
This contest prep season taught
me a very valuable lesson, even if
I had to learn it by failing miserably. We have to listen to our bodies
when they say they need rest.
You should support your body as
Forty-five
minutes
graduated to
a full hour
within days.
best you can with all the right nutrients, but nothing will ever make
up for lack of rest. Competitive
bodybuilding is a unique endeavor
in that we attempt to remain big
and strong while stripping our
physiques of every possible ounce
of fat. In strength sports like powerlifting and strongman contests no
such cross-purposes ever come up
because the athletes know they’re
bigger and stronger with some
bodyfat. So because we bodybuilders are in reality trying to do something quite unnatural, we must be
very careful how we go about it.
There’s a fine line for all of us between doing enough and doing too
much, and crossing that line can
have disastrous consequences.
It wasn’t easy explaining it all to
Randy, as I feared it would undermine my credibility and make him
more likely to question anything I
told him from then on. But he did
understand that I’d been blind to
what was happening.
“Like I used to look in the mirror
and see things that weren’t there
until you pointed them out to me,”
he said. “But you didn’t have anyone to look at you, huh?”
The sad thing was that I’d seen
what was happening but had
gone into a full-blown denial and
ignored it. For those of you dieting down right now, I urge you to
have at least two other sets of experienced “eyes” look at you once
a week. I also urge you to listen
closely to what they say, even if it’s
not what you want to hear. Pay attention to them.
Most important, listen to your
body. Getting into contest condition is brutal in the final stages, and
rest becomes more critical than
ever. Unfortunately, many do as I
did and step up the pace at a time
when they need to be slowing down
a tad. Don’t do as I did and sacrifice
pure muscle that you busted your
ass to build in the first place. It’s a
lot harder for me to not work out
than it is to train, as I suspect it is
for a lot of us. But believe me when
I say that there may come a time
when doing a little less will deliver
the best results.
Editor’s note: Check out Ron
Harris’ Web site, www
.RonHarrisMuscle.com. IM
How Sweet It Is
And Why It May Not Be as Bad for Your
Health and Workout Welfare as You Think
by Jerry Brainum
n August 2005,at a meeting of the
American Sugar Alliance,the group
issued a statement that might surprise
many. The statement said that the link
between eating sugar and getting fat is
a myth. The true culprit in the growing trend
toward increased obesity is actually too
much food,coupled with a lack of exercise.
The group pointed out that sugar intake has
declined to an estimated 63 pounds per
person in 2002 from a previous average of
102 pounds in 1972. Thats sugar consumed
over a year,not in one sitting.
The president of the Sugar Association,
Andrew Briscoe,also had something to
say: We believe in calories in and calories
out. Sugar is not part of obesity issues. He
remarked that most people think a tablespoon
of sugar contains 76 calories,when in fact it
contains only 15 calories.
While Briscoe and his group certainly
have a vested interest in sugar consumption,
Model: Berry Kabov
I
the truth is that the majority of scientifically
published material agrees with him: Sugar
is not the villain that most people think it
is. Although in one form or another sugar
has been linked to such maladies as
cardiovascular disease,cancer and obesity,the
only direct link between sugar and disease
is in the onset of dental caries,or cavities
and even there the evidence is scant. Dental
cavities are related to genetics,diet,oral
acidity levels and other factors not directly
connected to how much sugar you eat.
The one exception to the sugar-as-benignnutrient idea is high fructose corn syrup,a
concoction of glucose and fructose that
appears to be a primary cause of the
increased rates of obesity. HFCS has no
nutritionally redeeming qualities other than
convenience and greater shelf life. Still,
the notion that eating sugar is bad for you
persists.
Sugar
Breast milk is
rich in lactose,
also known
as milk sugar.
Could the early
sweet exposure
be one reason
for our sugar
cravings?
The primary fate of
glucose is either to be
stored as glycogen in
liver and muscle or to
circulate in the blood
for use as energy.
Sugar Basics
Humans are born with a preference for sweetness. In the womb
human fetuses float in a gentle
bath of sweet amniotic fluid. Soon
after being born, most babies get
breast milk as their primary food.
Breast milk is rich in lactose, also
known as milk sugar.
When most people think of
sugar, they think about sucrose, or
table sugar. To a chemist, sugars
are a group of compounds containing carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.
The two main types are monosaccharides, or single sugars, such as
glucose, fructose and galactose,
and disaccharides, which contain
two monosaccharides bonded
together. Sucrose, like lactose and
maltose, is a disaccharide consisting of glucose and fructose.
Digestion of sugar begins in
the mouth, but the majority of
digestion and absorption occurs
in the small intestine, where specific enzymes degrade the sugar
into monosaccharides. Fructose
is absorbed differently from other
sugars—far more slowly. For that
reason, fructose doesn’t promote
an insulin response.
Degraded sugars pass through
the cells of the small intestine
into a capillary portal that takes
them directly to the liver, where a
phosphate atom is added. The only
sugar released into the blood is
glucose, which travels to the brain,
kidneys, muscle cells and fat cells.
Since glucose is the primary fuel
for the brain, 130 grams a day are
required for proper brain function.
That doesn’t mean you need to eat
130 grams of carbohydrate a day;
glucose is also made in the liver
from certain amino acids and the
glycerol from fat.
The primary fate of glucose is
either to be stored as glycogen in
liver and muscle or to circulate
in the blood for use as energy by
various body tissues. The breakdown of glucose to provide energy
is known as glycolysis. Most sugars
degrade during the process into
two pyruvate molecules. Pyruvate
is either completely oxidized in
the primary energy pathway—the
Krebs cycle—and in the electron
transport
Sugar
(continued from page 162) system
Did you know
that the body
converts
carbs into fat
inefficiently?
Model: Berry Kabov
If you eat carbs
and fat together,
the body burns
the carbs first and
stores the fat.
in the cellular mitochondria to
yield the ultimate energy source,
adenosine triphosphate (ATP), or
is converted into lactate. You get
lactate when there’s relatively little
oxygen onboard, such as during
an anaerobic exercise like weight
training. The blood transports
lactate released from muscle during exercise to the liver, where it’s
reconverted into glucose, which
then circulates back to the working muscle as an energy source.
Each gram of glycogen is stored
with 2.7 grams of water. If glycogen stores are filled to capacity
and you take in more carbohydrate, the carbs will convert into
fat. But it’s not that simple.
The body converts carbs into fat
inefficiently. One study found that
it took 68 percent more energy
to convert carbs into fat than to
shuttle fat into fat stores. Those
who criticize low-carb diets often
mention the difficulty of converting carbs into bodyfat. On the
other hand, carbs are the body’s
preferred fuel source. If you eat
fat and carbs together, the body
burns the carbs first and stores the
fat. If you restrict carbs, as during
a typical low-carb diet, the body
switches to using stored fat as its
primary energy source. Other factors also come into play here, such
as insulin output, which is reduced under low-carb conditions.
When insulin release is reduced,
fat is more easily oxidized.
Sugar can elevate blood
triglycerides, but fish oil
can counter that effect.
The body won’t
use protein as an
energy source
unless carbs and fat
aren’t available.
Do Carbs Cause
Heart Disease?
Critics of low-carb diets cite
their higher fat and cholesterol
intake as a cause of cardiovascular
disease. Research conducted in
recent years, however, shows that
CVD is not a danger. If anything,
low-carb diets help prevent CVD by
reducing triglycerides, or fat, in the
blood, and elevating high-density
lipoprotein, the protective blood
cholesterol.
Blood triglycerides were long
thought to play a minimal role in
Model: Luke Wood
Blood triglycerides are
increased mainly by
excessive alcohol and
sugar intake.
Carbohydrates are stored
as glycogen in the liver and
muscles.
CVD, but later research showed that
they weren’t innocent metabolic
bystanders. Excess blood triglycerides are converted in the liver into
very-low-density lipoproteins, then
converted into low-density lipoproteins. LDL is a primary link to CVD,
scientists say; the lower the LDL,
the better.
What increases blood triglycerides? You’d think that would be fat,
but in fact BTs are increased mainly
by excessive alcohol and sugar
intake. Compared to starches, sugars increase BTs by an average of 60
percent. The people most at risk for
elevated BT levels after eating sugar
are those who don’t exercise and
have a lot of fat in the gut area—visceral, or deep-lying, fat. The big
controversy is precisely which type
of sugar is most efficient at raising BT levels. Most of the evidence
points to fructose. Since sucrose or
table sugar is half fructose, it, too, is
implicated in elevated BTs.
Luckily, you’ve got two simple
cures for elevated BTs. One is to
take more fish oil. The fatty acids
in fish oil decrease BT an average
of 60 percent—the other side of the
sugar-intake coin. The other cure
is exercise, which increases the
activity of a fat-cell enzyme called
lipoprotein lipase in removing
excess BTs. The triglyceride is then
oxidized as an energy source for the
exercise.
The higher the exercise intensity, the
greater the glycogen depletion. One
study showed that doing three sets of
curls to failure resulted in a 70 percent
depletion of biceps glycogen stores.
Eating sugar promotes the
release of natural opioids
in the brain that have a
calming effect.
Why Would Sugar
Make You Fat?
Sugar has a number of properties
that tend to blunt its obesity-generating effects. Surprisingly, one has to
do with insulin, the same hormone
that low-carb-diet advocates link to
getting fat.
Among its many functions, insulin turns off the appetite. Many studies have shown that when animals
are given a sugar solution before
eating a meal, they wind up eating
less food. Most likely, that’s the result of an insulin surge produced by
the sugar intake.
Sugar affects brain chemicals
related to appetite control. The urge
to eat sugar is itself the result of an
abundance of neuropeptide Y. Various experimental drugs that blunt
the effects of neuropeptide Y would
have the effect of curtailing the urge
to consume sugar. Many people
tend to overeat carbs because it
induces a feeling of pleasure. That,
too, has a chemical basis.
Eating sugar promotes the release
of natural opioid chemicals in the
brain that have a calming effect.
Eating sugars offers a “feel-good”
effect by interacting with the brain’s
reward centers through the chemical dopamine. Reward centers are
also affected by such drugs as cocaine and alcohol, which explains
why many who use those drugs have
a sweet tooth.
Another reason sugar isn’t all
that fattening is that eating sugars
increases the gene expression for
uncoupling protein-3 in muscle.1
UCP-3 converts fat calories into
heat, a thermogenic effect. Thyroid
hormone is also thought to work
through this protein. So when the
activity of UCP-3 is high, you burn
more fat at rest and during exercise.
The production of UCP-3 is related
to an increase of neuropeptide-Y
gene expression, which is directly
related to sugar intake.
When you eat sugars, a hormone
in the gut called glucagon peptide-1
is increased. GLP-1 is released when
sugars make contact with the cells of
the small intestine. It decreases gastric, or stomach, emptying, which
has the result of making you feel
fuller—which curtails appetite.2
Sugar
Sugar and Training
You can’t train
intensely without
full muscle glycogen
replenishment
from carbs between
workouts.
Fact: Sugar has
a number of
properties that
tend to blunt its
obesity-generating
effects.
The two primary sources of energy for exercise are carbs and fat.
Protein can be used as an energy
source, but it’s inefficient. In addition, the body won’t use protein
as an energy source for a workout
unless the other two sources of energy aren’t available. That pertains
mainly to carbs, since the use of fat
as a rapid energy source is limited by
fatty acid uptake into muscle.
Bodyfat as a sole energy source
would provide enough energy for
seven days of moderate-intensity
exercise. Compare the measly two
hours supplied by stored glycogen
and blood glucose. The problem
with fat is that as exercise intensity
level increases, the body’s reliance
on fat as a fuel source decreases. For
high-intensity exercise, such as typical bodybuilding sessions, carbs are
the primary fuel source.
Carbohydrate is stored as glycogen in liver and muscle, but the
glycogen stored in any particular
muscle can be used only by that
muscle. When muscle glycogen
stores get depleted, fatigue ensues.
Muscles contains 79 percent of the
body’s glycogen, while the liver contains 14 percent. The blood contains
7 percent of the carb as circulating
blood glucose. The higher the exercise intensity, the greater the depletion of muscle glycogen. One study
showed that doing three sets of curls
to failure resulted in a 70 percent
depletion of biceps glycogen stores.
Attempting to train while muscles
are depleted of glycogen is a mistake
for several reasons. For one, muscles
don’t fully recover between workouts
unless glycogen is replenished, with
the primary route being carbohydrate intake. Many sports scientists
suggest that hard-training athletes
get seven grams of carbs per kilogram (2.2 pounds) of bodyweight to
ensure adequate muscle glycogen
replenishment between workouts.
You can’t train intensely without
full muscle glycogen stores. You’ll
find that fatigue sets in early in the
workout, and your degree of muscle
pump will be negligible. In addition,
when you’re low in muscle glycogen,
your chances of injury are greater
due to
Sugar
Taking in carbs
during training can
blunt the release
of the primary
catabolic hormone,
cortisol; however,
fat burning will also
be blunted.
(continued from page 174) depressed
nervous system reactions.
Eating carbs about two hours
prior to training may help restore
some muscle glycogen, since it takes
about 24 to 48 hours to fully replenish a glycogen-depleted muscle. The
preexercise meal, though, increases
blood glucose levels, providing
a greater sense of energy for the
workout. The usual suggestion is to
focus on low-glycemic-index carbs,
or carbs that don’t elicit a significant
insulin release. Eating too many
high-glycemic-index carbs before
training may cause some people to
experience premature fatigue during the workout due to a lowering of
blood glucose as a result of excess
insulin activity.
Eating some protein before a
workout is a good idea if you get
some carbs at the same time. The
branched-chain amino acids leucine, isoleucine and valine oppose
the uptake of another amino acid,
L-tryptophane, into the brain. Carbs
promote that uptake by promoting
insulin release. In the brain, tryptophane converts into serotonin, a
calming neurotransmitter that can
cause workout fatigue, especially
when workouts exceed one hour. By
blocking the uptake of tryptophane,
BCAAs can prevent that effect.
What about taking in carbs during
a workout? Some studies show that
a drink containing no more than 8
percent carbs can decrease subjective feelings of fatigue, leading to
more intense training. Other studies show that taking in carbs during
training blunts the release of the
primary catabolic hormone, cortisol.
On the flip side, consuming carbs
while training blunts fat use during
the workout—a moot point anyway
since a weight workout doesn’t use
much fat. One sugar to avoid during
training is fructose, which can cause
stomach cramps.
After-workout carbs, especially
high-glycemic carbs, are vital for
efficient glycogen replenishment.
The effect is increased by also adding protein in a 3-to-1 ratio of carbs
to protein. Some studies show a 37
percent increase in muscle glycogen
replenishment over taking carbs
alone. The effect is thought to be due
to increased insulin release fostered
by the amino acids in protein. A
quick-acting protein, such as whey,
is best. Many studies show that any
carbs you get within two hours after
a workout are used exclusively for
glycogen replenishment; there’s no
spillover into fat, nor is there any
blunting of fat oxidation.
If you’re still worried about the
effect of eating simple sugars on
health, take a natural eucalyptus
leaf extract. In a recent experiment
using rats as subjects, ELE extract
inhibited the intestinal absorption
of fructose and suppressed fat gain
from eating sucrose.3 The researchers weren’t sure how the extract
blocked fructose, but it seemed to
inhibit the activity of sucrase, the
intestinal enzyme that degrades
sucrose. The rats that got ELE had
lowered liver triglyceride levels too.
Don’t be surprised if it shows up in
a future “fat-burning” supplement.
References
1 Levine, A.S., et al. (2003). Sugars: Hedonic aspects, neuroregulation, and energy balance. Am J Clin
Nutr. 78(Supp):834S-842S.
2 Anderson, G.H., et al. (2003).
Consumption of sugars and the
regulation of short-term satiety
and food intake. Am J Clin Nutr.
78(Supp):843S-849S.
3 Sugimoto, K., et al. (2005).
Eucalyptus leaf extract inhibits
intestinal fructose absorption and
suppresses adiposity due to dietary
sucrose in rats. Brit J Nutr. 93:957963. IM
Heavy
He
H
e vy
Duty
Mike and Ray Mentzer
Five Years Later
• by John Little •
ike and Ray Mentzer. Their very names are
synonymous with power and reason. Ray
was particularly noted for his phenomenal
strength, performing exercises with such
onnage that
th most bodybuilders would have been
tonnage
slack-jawed in witnessing his typical workouts. Mike,
similarly, was renowned for his tremendous strength
of sinew, but he is perhaps better known for having
developed the first fully logical, mind/body-integrated system of bodybuilding science: Heavy Duty.
I’ve always appreciated this quote from Mike:
“The idea should be not to discover who’s right
necessarily but what’s true. What’s the difference who
says it? We all benefit by gaining the truth. The truth is
our best friend.”
I like it particularly because it summarizes the
Mentzer brothers’ approach to life: Make the intellectual effort to find out what is true—and then act
on it. As many people will attest, Mike and Ray were
unswerving in their commitment to advancing the
scientific understanding of exercise. Most of us who
have attempted to do likewise are—whether we care
to admit it or not—merely footnotes to the Mentzers’
legacies.
Given the magnitude of the Mentzer brothers’ im-
© 2006 by Wayne R. Gallasch, www.gmv.com.au
M
pact, it is certainly hard to believe that they’ve been
gone for five years. Mike and Ray so positively affected so many people’s lives that it seems as though
they’re still with us. In certain important respects
they still are, as their writings and teachings continue
to flourish and provide not only a rational, scientific
base for productive bodybuilding exercise but also
an inspiration for tens of thousands of trainees. Their
examples—and their awe-inspiring physiques—motivate all of us to get into the gym and train hard to
realize our full genetic potential, however great or
humble that may be.
Moreover, the Mentzers believed in developing the
mind along with the body, a philosophy that resonates from their legacies. Always, they encouraged
trainees to use their minds, to reason, to think –—and
to apply their knowledge in their training and nutrition efforts.
The following quotes from the Mentzers and testimonials from others on their legacy come from
MikeMentzer.com and are used with the permission
of Joanne Sharkey, Mike’s successor. These are the
men and women who knew the Mentzer brothers
and who continue to lead more enlightened lives as a
result of having crossed their paths.
Heavy Duty
Russ Warner
Mike and Ray Mentzer Five Years Later
Mike and Ray
were unswerving
in their
commitment
to advancing
the scientific
understanding of
exercise.
Thoughts From Mike and
Ray Mentzer
While they were distinct individuals, Mike and Ray both believed
in the superiority of high-intensity training and the fundamental
principles of intensity, duration
and infrequent workouts. Here’s
a sampling of some of their more
significant insights into the science
of bodybuilding:
“About three years ago I wanted
to prove a point. People, particularly
powerlifters, were talking about the
Russian training system and all that.
And I said, ‘That’s a load of B.S.!’ I
trained for six weeks on the barbell
squat, starting at 550 pounds, and
at the end of that time I did two reps
with 905. And I only squatted once
a week, built up to my maximum
and stopped. Just once a week. Just
to prove a point—to show that it’s
not the Russian system; it’s not that
drug, this drug or anything else. It
comes down to your heart, your
soul, your being and what knowledge you have obtained.”
—Ray Mentzer
“Did you ever compare the calves
of a sprinter to the calves of a distance runner? I use this example
all the time, and it’s one of the best
there is. The sprinter always has a
large, muscular calf. The distance
runner always has a stringy little
calf —because he overtrains. He’s
chronically overtraining. And I
would venture to say that the majority of bodybuilders, top bodybuilders today who are training more
than two hours a day, would look
like distance runners if they weren’t
taking steroids. They’re so grossly
overtrained. You just cannot recover
from that much training.”
—Mike Mentzer
“Bodybuilders do this system:
two days on/one day off. I always
ask them what that means. They
have no idea! They say, ‘Well, you’ve
got to get your other bodyparts in!’
When it comes to energy cycles—
the Krebs cycle—your body works as
a unit. It can’t distinguish whether
you’re working the thighs or the
Heavy Duty
Their
examples—and
awe-inspiring
physiques—
motivate all of
us to get into the
gym and train
hard.
“The point is that we
aren’t all that different
physiologically. We’re all
unique as individuals, but
when a young man goes to
medical school—or a young
woman—and studies muscle physiology, whose physiology is
he or she studying? Everybody’s! We
all have the same muscle physiology. The biochemical changes leading
to muscle growth in Mike Mentzer
are the same as those in you. And it
follows that the specific stimulus required to induce those biochemical
changes leading to muscle growth in
you and me is the same.
“What is that stimulus? Highintensity 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. 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 quickly now
or if you’re not gaining at all, you’ll
gain faster when you train more
intensely. You may not gain as rapidly as I do, but then again, you may
© 2006 by Wayne R. Gallasch, www.gmv.com.au
pecs. As for the hormones
that have got to be produced
and the energy cycles that
have got to be produced, it’s
all the same. So you’ve got
to let those things recover. If
you don’t, you’re going backward; you’re spinning your
wheels. So it should be the
other way round; it shouldn’t
be three days on/one day
off; it should be one day
on/two or three days off!”
—Ray Mentzer
gain more rapidly than I do. We all
have different innate adaptabilities
to exercise—age, existing physical
condition, motivation—but even so,
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 them.
We could not have medical science.
The very fact that they could take
the basic principles of physiology
and apply them to the whole human
race is what makes medical science
a viable discipline. Make sense?
Sounds damn good to me.”
—Mike Mentzer
“You can overtrain on twice-aweek training. You’ve always got to
watch that burnout because it’s easy
to do. You’ve got to have enough insight into your own self. That’s why
it’s advisable to keep journals. Once
you start getting stale—which is apt
to be about five weeks—you need a
break. It’s hard to tell bodybuilders
that. I train some bodybuilders now,
and they just don’t want to listen to
it. I have to force them to not train.”
—Ray Mentzer
“There’s a wide range of variation
among individuals I’m seeing with
regards to recovery ability—ability
to tolerate intense exercise. What
the individual has to work with is
the application. Everybody needs
intense contractions to stimulate
growth. What the individual has to
work with is just how much volume
and frequency he can tolerate. I’m
beginning
“We will all
grow faster
when we
train more
intensely.”
(continued from page 192) to suspect
this thing with frequency has a hell
of a lot to do with it. Maybe train
each bodypart once every two
weeks. Why not? Progress should
not be an unpredictable, irregular
phenomenon if you’re training intensely enough to stimulate growth.
Growth is only stimulated during
the workout. If you’re working out
too long and too frequently, you
will short-circuit the recovery and
growth processes. Three sets could
prove too much. I have no doubt—
this is the direction that has to go
in. This high-intensity stuff places a
demand on the body that is unreal.”
—Mike Mentzer
Recollections From the
Champions
The bodybuilding champions
who took the time to get to know
Mike and Ray were affected profoundly by it. These men in particular have made it known how
significant the Mentzer brothers
were to bodybuilding:
“I will personally remember Mike
and Ray as pioneers in the sport,
strong proud men who stood up
for what they believed in and didn’t
worry about going against the grain.
I will miss them!”
—Dorian Yates
“I picked up a few good ideas
from Mike in the early ’80s regarding training methodology, such as
the importance of slow negatives
and a unique one-legged calf raise
technique done on the Nautilus
multi-purpose machine that resulted in over a half inch of calf growth
in one month in 1981. The death of
Mike and Ray was terrible news for
myself and the industry as a whole.”
—Frank Zane
“I was privileged to know and
train with Mike and Ray. We all understood the meaning of training
hard and getting worthwhile gains
in a short period of time. Mike had
insight when it came to helping
people in their training and writing
a multitude of articles that helped
everyone in the industry. He persisted for years. His brother Ray was
also a great asset to the sport, and
his rugged physique set the standard for today’s monsters in bodybuilding.”
—Casey Viator
“The one thing that stands out in
my mind regarding Mike—besides
his just being a great bodybuilder—was his intelligence and a very
high degree of integrity. Mike would
never lie about anything, a rare
commodity in this industry. I enjoyed a lot of the same things Mike
was interested in outside of bodybuilding, including philosophy. His
deep interest in philosophy inspired
me to study it even further. I have
fond memories of just sitting back
and discussing things with him for
hours. Mike was a very kind person
and a good friend.”
—Boyer Coe
Balik
Heavy Duty
Heavy Duty
Heavy Duty
“Everybody
needs intense
muscular
contractions
to stimulate
growth.”
May 10, 2005
Squats: 225 x 7
Deadlifts: 210 x 6
Dips: 165 x 9
Pulldowns: 165 x 7
July 29, 2005
Squats: 405 x 10
Deadlifts: 315 x 8
Dips: 260 x 6
Pulldowns: 255 x 6
I’m now a certified personal trainer, and I can honestly say that Mike
Mentzer was my inspiration. Thanks
to the knowledge I gained from his
teachings and philosophy, my goal
is to train people the best way for
getting optimal results in an optimal
time frame. As far as I’m concerned,
Heavy Duty is the only way to train.
—Stuart Schaefer, Colorado
Comments From Heavy
Duty Trainees
Balik
Balik
Before Heavy Duty
Neck: 16 inches
Chest: 42 inches
A year after graduating from high
school, I entered a bodybuilding
competition, weighing in at 154
pounds. Soon after that I heard the
name of Mike Mentzer and decided
to look him up at www
.MikeMentzer.com. I found a training routine of Mike’s, and my training partner and I couldn’t believe
our eyes. The routine called for
training only 20 minutes once a
week! I said to my friend, “What
have we got to lose? We’ll take our
measurements and see if we lose
any muscle. If we do, we will just
start training more frequently.”
After six months of training Heavy
Duty HIT style, I entered another
competition and weighed in at 168
pounds—a 14-pound gain of new
muscle in six months of training
only once a week. I ordered Mr.
Mentzer’s books to get a better understanding of what was happening
to my body. It made so much sense,
and yet it was so easy to doubt because so many bodybuilders had
recommended high volume. It has
been six months since that last
competition, and I currently weigh
175 pounds (a 21-pound gain in one
year).
I still work out only once a week,
and it is with great excitement that
I describe the details of the gains
I made last summer while using
Mr. Mentzer’s Consolidated
Routine, as outlined in Heavy
Duty II:
I had always followed the traditional volume approach. I trained
hard for five years and achieved
minimal results, suffering numerous
injuries, such as dislocated shoulders and damaged collarbones.
Since using Heavy Duty training,
however, I’ve been growing incredibly! People even ask me if I’m on
steroids, and even I cannot believe
the results. I am definitely advocating Heavy Duty high-intensity
principles to people who are serious
about their training.
Here are my measurements taken
before starting Heavy Duty and after
I’d been using it for three years:
Russ Warner
Heavy Duty
Heavy Duty
The Mentzers
believed in
developing the mind
along with the body,
a philosophy that
resonates from their
legacies.
Arms: 14 inches
Legs: 22 inches
Calves: 13 inches
After three years of Heavy
Duty
Neck: 19 inches
Arms: 18 inches
Legs: 28 inches
Calves: 17 inches
I’m still making incredible gains
using the Heavy Duty methods that
Mentzer advocated. I often read
how popular the Heavy Duty type of
training is becoming, and one can
see through logical deduction and
reasoning that we are able to better
understand our nature, not just in
the gym or in terms of our physical and materialistic selves, but
in terms of our day-to-day living.
Mentzer’s principles are fundamental, as we are able to practice and
apply our logic and reason to improve all areas of our lives, including
our gains in the gym. Hence we can
achieve the things that we strive for
through a logical, rational approach.
—Paul Finlayson
United Kingdom
My name is Doug Harris, and I
was lucky enough to train at Spartan Health Club in Maryland from
1977 to ’79. Spartan was a hardcore gym—not one of the shiny
chrome-and-glass palaces of today
but rather a warehouse where airconditioning was a fan by an open
door next to the squat rack and
intensity was the name of the game!
We were gym rats, and Spartan was
our temple. Mike and Ray were
training there in secret in the early
a.m., developing the most scientifically proven and researched training
method ever. The brothers Mentzer
used a combination of machines
and free weights to create the “bible
of bodybuilding,” and I was there!
Words can’t describe Mike and
Ray Mentzer. I still remember the
first time I watched the two huge,
godlike figures moving inhuman
weights with an intensity I’d never
before seen. Power and intensity—
I’m talking 2,000-pound vertical leg
presses (all the weight in the gym),
1,000-pound bull squats, 105-pound
flye presses supersetted with 405pound inclines, cheat barbell curls
with close to 300 pounds. Abs were
hit with 85 degree incline situps
done with a 100-pound plate supersetted with hanging leg raises done
with a 25-pound dumbbell. Inhuman weights!
Picture this: It’s late December
1978. Mike is now the reigning Mr.
Universe with a perfect score of 300,
and Ray is Mr. USA. Mike is visiting
Ray from L.A. for the holidays—and
Balik
There’s a wide range
of variation among
individuals with
regards to recovery
ability.”
Balik
Heavy Duty
Spartan breathes new life as Mike
and Ray are training together again.
John Balik photographs me while I
am spotting Mike on the Nautilus
pullover machine. (Two of those
awesome pics appear in Mike’s new
book, and they’ve been published
in IRON MAN a number of times.)
At the age of 16, I’m spotting the
heavyweight title winner of the Mr.
Olympia!
It’s now 1979, and Ray is training for the Mr. America at Spartan,
while Mike trains for the Mr. Olympia out in Los Angeles with Casey
Viator. Ray is doing front barbell
raises, and I can see the side striations in his tri’s; just like Mike, he is
confident and huge. I tell him this,
and he replies with a big smile, because he has now grown even larger
than Mike! I spend most of my time
being trained under Ray’s expert
eye, and both Mike and Ray always
treat me with respect and always
have time to answer my questions.
It’s now 1980, the year of Conan,
and Mike and Ray are at the top of
the world, Mike’s favored to win the
Olympia, and Ray’s favored to win
the Universe. Mike loses to Arnold
in one of the most controverisal
Olympias ever. Ray is denied the
Mr. Universe title, a tough pill to
swallow. The brothers Mentzer walk
away—not from competition but
from politics. Their methods are still
proven today, but back then, those
two never got their just due.
I’ve moved some decent weight
for a 180-pound guy: 360-pound
flat bench, 315-pound inclines, dips
with 140 pounds strapped on, widegrip pulldowns with a 300-pound
stack for eight. I’ve learned more
than just how to train my body; I’ve
also learned to train my mind. Mike
used to always say, “Why watch
reruns on TV? Pick up a book and
think!”
I still train today at 41 years of
age, but not at the intensity I had
been doing. I’ll tell you, though,
Heavy Duty rules! It’s the most effective training method ever. If you
work hard, the results are extremely
impressive—but work hard, you
must. They don’t call it Heavy Duty
for nothing!
—Doug Harris
Vienna, VA
I hope that the foregoing quotes
and recollections have given you
a new insight into the lives and
legacies of Mike and Ray Mentzer.
Joanne Sharkey and I would like to
thank the thousands of fans who
have shared and who continue to
share with us their experiences with
Heavy Duty high-intensity training and what they learned from the
teachings of the Mentzer brothers.
The Roman philosopher Seneca
once said, “Life, if thou knowest how
to use it, is long enough.” That the
legacies of Mike and Ray Mentzer
are still going strong, still inspiring
and positively influencing people
from all walks of life, is a testament
to the fact that the lives of the Mentzer brothers, albeit brief in chronological time, were well used indeed.
Editor’s note: For a complete
presentation of Mike Mentzer’s
Heavy Duty training system, consult
his books Heavy Duty II, High Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way
and the newest book, The Wisdom of
Mike Mentzer, all of which are available from 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 on the opposite page.
Article copyright © 2006, John
Little. All rights reserved. Mike Mentzer quotations provided courtesy of
Joanne Sharkey and used with permission. IM
206 JUNE 2006 \ www
CARB
CYCLING
The Competitive Bodybuilder’s
SECRET to GETTING SHREDDED
Layout Design by Aldrich Bonifacio
by Tim Wescott
h dieting
hen
fo
for a bodyb
building contest,
Iu
use an arsenal of
weapons to lose
lo excess bodyfat—the
major one being to cycle my carbs.
The body uses carbohydrates as
energy. They fuel our workouts and
provide ample fuel for use throughout the day. Carbs also replenish
our glucose and glycogen stores to
prevent fatigue. Carb cycling lets
you eat carbs from clean sources
without adding bodyfat and use fat
more efficiently as fuel—as opposed
to burning carbs and hard-earned
muscle tissue for fuel.
carb timing can, however, cause them to
be stored as fat. Carbs have gotten
a bad rap lately because so many
people are jumping on the low-carb
bandwagon to make a buck. A few
years back it was all about bashing
fats, remember? What will it be next
year, protein? Well, that’s not going
to happen in the bodybuilding
world—muscle is protein.
Junk Carbs
Are Carbs the Enemy?
Carbs aren’t the villain some people make them out to be. Improper
Carbohydrates eaten in excess
or at the wrong time of day can add
adipose tissue to the body. They’re
not a bad thing, though, if properly
incorporated
into a diet. Eat
the majority of
your carbs early in the
day and at the postworkout
meal, tapering off on them as the
day goes on. Never eat carbs late
at night—opt for protein instead.
Sugar-laden junk foods are always
bad. They should have no place in a
serious bodybuilder’s diet. If people
eliminated or cut down junk food
alone, they’d lose a lot of weight and
look and feel much better for it. Giving up junk food, however, is usually
too much to ask of most people.
Junk food is just that—calorie-dense
garbage, totally devoid of nutrients.
(Keep telling yourself that!)
When I devise a diet for trainees,
I have them cut back on junk gradually, until it’s totally eliminated from
the diet, except for the occasional
once, it’s
easier to
cheat again
and again.
I know
that from
my early
attempts
at getting
cut up and
from what
I’ve learned
training
my clients.
Remain
steadfast on
your mission to get
lean, and
you most
definitely
will.
treat. Once it’s gone from the diet,
it’s usually not thought about again,
except for the occasional craving.
Cycling Carbs
When I cycle carbs, I follow three
low-carb days with two higher-carb
days, which aid in recovery and replenish glycogen. That provides just
the right amount of carbs for fuel.
Need I remind you to always use
carbs from clean foods, not junk?
The most important thing about
carb cycling, in my opinion, is too
never go too high, except for the
latter stages of the diet, and then
only if necessary. We’ll discuss that
aspect later.
The formula I recommend as a
The Proper Attitude
Neveux \ Model: Bob Donnelly
Carbs themselves
aren’t the villain.
It’s the types of
carbs you eat and
the specific times
that you eat them.
CARB CYCLING
When talking with bodybuilders
and others who want to lose fat or
increase muscular definition for
competition purposes, I often find
that they think they can still eat
taboo foods in moderate portions
while on a diet. Terms like refeed,
cheat meal and cheat day almost
always come up. Those ideas can be
used to your advantage, but, in my
opinion, you should wait until
you’re pretty close to achieving
your desired bodyfat-percentage
goals before even thinking about
them. Yes, folks, I’m old school
and firmly believe that you have
to make some sacrifices and give
up all bad eating habits if you
want to lose fat or win a contest.
I typically diet down for a contest to approximately 3 to 5 percent bodyfat. Did I accomplish
that while cheating and eating
the occasional junk treat? No! I
suffered a bit here and there, but
once I flip the switch in my mind
to eat clean, that’s what I do.
There can be no half measures.
You must get into the proper
mind-set and stay completely
focused on achieving your goals.
If you screw around and cheat
starting
point,
to determine just
how many
carbs you should eat on your
highest day, is one to 1.5 grams of
carbs per pound of bodyweight.
Start out using the higher number
and adjust according to your results.
I believe it’s vital to keep a nutrition
journal so you can chart progress
and make adjustments. That takes
the guesswork out of dieting, and
you can look back on it to see how
your body responded to certain
tactics. It’s an invaluable tool.
Note: Don’t include fibrous
vegetables like broccoli and green
beans in your total carb count for
the day. They’re low in calories and
carbs and are a good source of fiber,
so they don’t count in carb cycling.
Count only starchy complex carbs,
such as those listed at the end of
this article.
Some tweaking will of course be
necessary for most, as some of us
are a bit more carb sensitive than
others. Activity level, training-intensity level, age and sex will determine how much you need to adjust
things, but as a rule 200 grams of
carbs as your highest amount is a
good place to start. After a time you
can decide whether you want
to raise or lower them,
based on your body’s
feedback. It’s good to
(continued from
page 208)
try the technique On your
high-carbs
well in advance
day eat one
of a contest to
to 1.5 grams
learn how your
body responds
of carbs per
to it.
pound of
Below is an
bodyweight.
example of my
five-day carbcycling method, using 200 grams of
carbs as the highest amount:
Day 1: 150 grams
Essentially, what I do is drop 50
grams of carbs over the course of
the first three days, then increase
them by 75 grams for the next two
days. Some people prefer to raise
fat intake on the lower-carb days
or increase fats on their days off
from the gym to make up for the
lost calories on the lower-carb days.
I find that interferes with the fatburning process, as fat is a caloriedense macronutrient.
I also believe that without the
fat increase, you’ll burn more fat
as fuel on the low-carb days, especially when training hard, dieting
and doing cardiovascular workouts.
Besides, protein and carbs aren’t
calorie dense, and you must be in
calorie deficit to lose bodyfat.
Day 2: 100 grams
Day 3: 50 grams
Day 4: 125 grams
Day 5: 200 grams
Repeat cycle throughout the
course of the diet.
On low-carb days
keep your fat intake
down too, and you’ll
burn more bodyfat
during cardio work.
Neveux \ Model: Dr. Dan Gwartney
CARB CYCLING
Reaching a Plateau
Eventually, you’ll more than
likely reach a fat-burning plateau.
That’s the time to tweak the plan.
The body resists change, and it
eventually adapts to any stressors
put upon it, so after a time you may
stop burning fat as fuel.
One way of revving the metabolism is to suddenly have three to
four high-carb days in a row. That
can resurrect the fat-burning process. Or you could go in the other
direction—try zero carbs for three
days and three days only. That can
accomplish the same thing as three
to four high-carb days, but it’s more
radical and works well only for
those who are very carb sensitive.
If you try it, don’t stay at zero carbs
for any longer than three days.
Also, never go below 50 grams of
carbs throughout the entire diet—
except for the occasional three-day
212
Neveux \ Model: David Dorsey
Complex carbs fuel your
workouts, but you may not need
as many grams as you think.
zero-carb period. Any lower, and
your thinking will become cloudy.
The brain needs a certain amount
of carbs to function.
Complex Carbs
These are the best sources of
clean carbs to use when dieting in
general and when cycling carbs:
Sweet potatoes
Brown rice
Oatmeal
Cream of Wheat
Grits
I eat no bread or dairy products
of any kind when dieting. Neither
should you. The only time for simple carbs is the postworkout meal,
when you should take in 50 grams
of dextrose with a
whey-and-protein
shake immediately
after training. You add
the dextrose carbs to
your daily total because even though the
body uses them at the
postworkout feeding,
they’re still carbs and
should count toward
your total for the day.
The only time
to eat simple
carbs is at the
postworkout
meal, when you
should take in
50 grams of
dextrose with
a whey-andprotein shake
immediately
after training.
Don’t be too concerned about the
glycemic index of the foods. Instead, be more concerned with total
carbs you eat for the day. [Editor’s
note: For a complete postworkout
mix designed for maximizing the
anabolic window, see page 219 or
visit www.X-Stack.com.)
I also recommend high-intensity
cardio while dieting [see page 226],
and a high protein intake throughout the diet. That will help you
retain the hard-earned muscle that
you’ve garnered from your training.
Editor’s note: You can visit Tim
Wescott’s Web site at www.geocities
.com/timbuktuweights. His forum
is http://timwescott.proboards18
.com/index.cgi. IM
CARB CYCLING
Don’t be too
concerned about
the glycemic index
of foods. Instead,
be more concerned
with the total carbs
you eat for the
day. [Editor’s note:
For more on carb
cycling and abripping nutrition,
visit www
.X-tremeLean.com.]
Tim Wescott.
IRON MAN Research Team
Bodybuilding’s
Strongest Fat
Burner?
Methyl Ri ppeds Unique Compounds
Can Get You Shredded
by the Editors
he
h release of the new
f burner Methyl
fat
R
Ripped
has stirred up
q
quite
a bit of excitem
ment
among bodyb
builders
and trainers.
T
That’s
probably bec
cause
its highly potent
fat
burning fo
fat-burning
formula is engineered
to work in the same way that many
of the popular (yet illegal) bodybuilding fat-loss drugs are known
to work. As a matter of fact, the
scientists behind the Methyl Ripped
formula studied the mechanisms of
fat-loss drugs—such as clenbuterol,
T3 (thyroid hormone) and DNP (2,4dinitrophenol)—before formulating
this cutting-edge product. Methyl
Ripped has only been on the market a short while, but it’s become
a favorite of bodybuilders across
the country just about as quickly as
it incinerates fat. Many are saying
that it’s bodybuilding’s strongest fat
burner.
T
the fat-burning process and is completely different and independent
from other compounds that only
directly stimulate beta-adrenergic
receptors.
7
Seven Exclusive
Complexes to Enhance Fat
Burning
The blood and guts of the Methyl
Ripped formula is a complex called
Clenadrine, and it’s designed to
work the way clenbuterol and
ephedrine work. The compounds
found in this one-of-a-kind complex
have been scientifically shown to
stimulate the release of noradrenaline.13,14,15,16 The noradrenaline then
binds to beta-adrenergic receptor sites on the surface of fat cells,
which results in a cascade of events
that increases fat burning. Still,
here’s much more to the Methyl
Ripped formula than noradrenaline stimulation because, just like
clenbuterol, Methyl Ripped also has
anticatabolic properties.
CC-Vol, another complex found
in Methyl Ripped, contains compounds known to decrease cortisol
production, and we all know how
cortisol damages muscle.17,18,19,20,21
It’s critical to bodybuilders because
the biggest downfall of dieting is
muscle loss. Bodybuilding is about
building muscle and losing fat—not
losing muscle!
Eight New Fat-Loss
Ingredients Never Before
Seen in Bodybuilding
8
The Methyl Ripped formula
isn’t like anything else available on
the market today. To begin with,
it contains eight new compounds
never before seen in the bodybuilding industry: di-caffeine alphaketoglutarate, di-caffeine malate,
Salix matsudana, isohumulones,
S-allyl-L-cysteine, esterified green
tea extract, amentoflavone-7,4’,4”’trimethyl ether, and 4-(4-hydroxyphenyl) butan-2-one (raspberry
ketone). With the results of several
clinical trials and piles of researchbased literature, there appears to
be overwhelming scientific support
for including these compounds in
the ultimate fat-burning formula.1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11
Take for example 4-(4-hydroxyphenyl) butan-2-one. In a clinical
trial published in the prestigious
journal Life Science, it significantly
increasd norepinephrine-induced
lipolysis associated with the translocation of hormone-sensitive lipase
from the cytosol to lipid droplets
in fat cells.12 Understanding the
physiological mechanism can be
a bit confusing. What’s important
to know is that it’s a critical step in
Yet another complex in the
Methyl Ripped formula, Betadrol,
was included to overcome the
shortcoming of clenbuterol, which
is beta-receptor downgraded. If the
beta-receptors are overstimulated,
receptor downgrade can occur (as
it does with clenbuterol use). The
Betadrol complex in Methyl Ripped,
however, is designed to support
receptor regeneration to help overcome the problem, allowing your
fat-burning signal to be received
and processed until you’re shredded
to the bone.
Bodybuilding’s strongest fat burner also includes the Cytot3 complex,
which is designed to stimulate thyroid hormone production. For years
scientists have touted that as a key
mechanism in increasing metabo-
lism and losing
fat.22,23,24,25,26
Methyl Ripped’s
DNP-X complex is
designed to work
in the same way
as DNP, which has
an uncoupling
effect on oxidative
phosphorylation
in your cells’ mitochondria, thus
allowing energy to be dissipated
as heat (i.e., increased thermogenesis). The major problem with DNP,
however, is that it has no negativefeedback mechanism, which is why
so many people overdosed on it.
Obviously, that’s not a good thing,
as bodybuilders’ core temperatures
became dangerously high. One of
the compounds
found in the DNP-X
complex, S-allyl-Lcysteine, has been
shown in clinical
trials to help increase uncoupling
protein content in
fat tissue as well
as to increase noradrenaline release,
but without the
negative side effects of unregulated
DNP use.27
The cyclo-AMP complex included
in the Methyl Ripped formula
increases cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) to further enhance the fat-burning process.28,29,30
Cyclic AMP is a second messenger
used for intracellular signal trans-
References
1
Dulloo, A.G., et al. (1999). Efficacy of a green tea extract rich in
catechin polyphenols and caffeine in increasing 24-h energy expenditure and fat oxidation in humans. Am J Clin Nutr. 70(6):1040-5.
2 Nagao, T., et al. (2005). Ingestion of a tea rich in catechins leads to
a reduction in body fat and malondialdehyde-modified LDL in men.
Am J Clin Nutr. 81(1):122-9.
3 Arciero, P.J., et al. (1995). Effects of caffeine ingestion on NE kinetics, fat oxidation, and energy expenditure in younger and older men.
Am J Physiol. 268(6):E1192-8.
4 Dulloo, A.G., et al.(1989). Normal caffeine consumption: influence on thermogenesis and daily energy expenditure in lean and
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5 Han, L., et al. (2003). Anti-obesity action of Salix Matsudana
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17:1188-1194
6 Han, L., et al. (2003). Anti-obesity action of Salix matsudana
leaves (part 2). Isolation of anti-obesity effectors from polyphenol
fractions of Salix matsudana. Phytotherapy Research. 17:1195-1198
7 Morimoto, C., et al. (2005). Anti-obese action of raspberry ketone.
Life Science. 77:194-204
8 Yajima, H., et al. (2005). Prevention of diet-induced obesity by
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9 Oi, Y., et al. (1999). Allyl-containing sulfides in garlic increase uncoupling protein content in brown adipose tissue and noradrenaline
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17 Bouic, P.J., et al. (1999). Plant sterols and sterolins: a review of
their immune-modulating properties. Altern Med Rev. 4(3):170-7.
18 Monteleone, P., et al. (1992). Blunting by chronic phosphatidylserine administration of the stress-induced activation of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis in healthy men. Eur J Clin Pharmacol.
42(4):385-8.
19 Archana, R., et al. (1999). Antistressor effect of Withania somnifera. J Ethnopharmacol. 64:91-3.
20 Mishra, L.C., et al. (2000). Scientific basis for the therapeutic
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21 Monteleone, P., et al. (1990). Effects of phosphatidylserine on the
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22 Bobyleva, V., et al. (1997). The effects of the ergosteroid 7-oxodehydroepiandrosterone on mitochondrial membrane potential:
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341(1):122-8.
23 Marwah, P., et al. (2001). Ergosteroids IV: synthesis and biological activity of steroid glucuronosides, ethers, and alkylcarbonates.
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24 Kar, A., et al. (2002). Relative efficacy of three medicinal plant
extracts in the alteration of thyroid hormone concentrations in male
mice. J Ethnopharmacol. 81:281-285.
25 Panda, S., et al. (1999). Gugulu (Commiphora mukul) induces
triiodothyronine production: possible involvement of lipid peroxidation. Life Sci. 65(12):PL137-41.
26 Tripathi, Y.B., et al. (1988). Thyroid stimulatory action of (Z)-guggulsterone: mechanism of action. Planta Med. 54:271-7.
27 Oi, Y., et al. (1999). Allyl-containing sulfides in garlic increase uncoupling protein content in brown adipose tissue and noradrenaline
and adrenaline secretion in rats. J Nutr. 129(2):336-42.
28 Beretz, A., et al. (1986). Inhibition of human platelet cyclic
AMP phosphodiesterase and of platelet aggregation by a hemisynthetic flavonoid, amentoflavone hexaacetate. Biochem Pharmacol.
35(2):257-62.
29 Georgieva, Z.H., et al. (1989). [Study of the effect of sclareol glycol diterpene on the 3’,5’-AMP level] [Article in Bulgarian]. Eksp Med
Morfol. 1989;28(3):1-7.
30 Insel, P.A., et al. (2003). Forskolin as a tool for examining adenylyl cyclase expression, regulation, and G protein signaling. Cell Mol
Neurobiol. 23(3):305-14.
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Cardio
Aerobic Work With a Difference—
Challenging, Satisfying and Radically Effective
by Stuart McRobert Photography by Michael Neveux
I
t a common question: “To combine cardio and weight
t’s
training, what kind of aerobic work should I do, and
how much is enough?” The answer varies, depending
h
oon individual conditioning and fitness, age, recuperative
aabilities, overall lifestyle demands, fitness goals, motivation,
nutritional intake, sleeping habits and more. What can be too
n
much for some people may not be enough for others.
For example, if you’re new to training or coming back after
a long layoff and if you’re more than 40 years old, you’re
going to have a different exercise tolerance from someone of
the same age who’s been training consistently for 25 years.
Just two gentle 45-minute weight-training workouts and
15 minutes twice a week of moderate aerobic work will be
enough to wipe out most 45-year-old novices. Start novices
off very gently on both the weight and aerobic fronts, and
slowly pick up the workload and effort levels over time—
and six months later they’ll be hammering out two intensive
60-minute weight-training workouts and two relatively
vigorous 30-to-40-minute cardio sessions each week. The
human body is wonderfully accommodating and can adapt
to great increases in workload and intensity, but only if the
increases in load and effort are gradual.
What some people interpret as
overtraining is really only a lack of
conditioning. Doing too much too
soon is the classic error in all types
of training. It produces not only a
negative physical reaction but in
most cases a negative mental reaction as well—“This is too much for
me. I can’t continue this.” You need
both physical and mental adaptation from a gradual and progressive
increase in workload.
A basic template of two abbreviated weight-training workouts per
week (usually two different sets
of exercises), along with two or at
most three aerobic sessions each
week, will work for most bodybuilders—once again providing all the
components of recovery are satisfied
and as long as the program is built
up from a gentle start. Naturally, if
you cut corners on the sleep and
nutrition fronts, you’ll be unable to
recover fully from your training, and
overtraining will result.
As far as aerobic training goes,
you don’t have to become a professional or semiprofessional athlete to
improve your cardiovascular fitness
substantially. Two or three sessions
of 30 minutes or so of aerobic work
that keeps you slightly breathless—
during which you can still hold a
conversation, albeit haltingly—is
enough to produce great benefit
and isn’t physically tough to do.
Any duration and frequency much
more than that is training for reasons other than pure cardiovascular
fitness. It will probably seriously
compete with your weight training,
and you risk compromising your
progress in strength and physique.
McRobert’s
Approach to Cardio
The foregoing is in essence the
approach described in my book
Beyond Brawn. It’s a simplified approach. There’s a lot more to aerobic
training, however, than the simplified approach. For most people
most of the time, the simplified
approach is a fine option. That’s not
to say it’s the optimal approach. The
most important factor in aerobic
training is consistency. No matter
how “optimal” an aerobic program
may be, if it’s not done week in and
Model: Adrian Janicke
Combat Cardio
Shorter, more intense cardio
sessions can jack up metabolism.
week out, it’s not going to do you
much good over the long term. So
whichever approach you choose, it
should be one you enjoy and keep
up indefinitely.
Most bodybuilders aren’t interested in achieving very high levels
of aerobic conditioning. In any case
high levels of aerobic conditioning
aren’t necessarily synonymous with
good health. The training involved
in developing a very high level of
conditioning will almost certainly
compromise your strength and physique progress. “Moderate” aerobic
conditioning yields lots of health
benefits.
For healthy bodybuilders who are
mentally and physically up to the
task, the alternative is shorter but
more intensive aerobic work—hard
aerobics. That’s good news for bodybuilders who find lower-intensity,
longer-duration aerobic work so
unchallenging that motivation is
hard to sustain. Another bonus is
that the hard aerobics requires less
time than the less-stress but longerduration approach.
Short-but-hard aerobic work
produces benefits out of proportion
to the limited duration of the work,
due to the increased aerobic capacity it produces. Improved aerobic
capacity appears to be the key to
substantial cardiovascular health
benefits; it’s far more dependent
on intensity of work than duration.
Remember, if your cardio work isn’t
intense enough to cause an adaptive change in the cardiorespiratory system, you won’t produce an
Combat Cardio
Model: Jeff Dwelle
The training involved in
developing a very high level
of conditioning will almost
certainly compromise your
strength and physique
progress. Moderate aerobic
conditioning is best for
bodybuilders.
increase in aerobic capacity—a
fact confirmed by peer-reviewed
research.1
For hard aerobics, after warming up, you need to push yourself hard (at up to 85 percent of
your maximum heart rate) for
only four minutes or so to produce the appropriate stimulus.
You could do continuous work
or interval training—say, alternating 20 seconds of very hard
work with 10 seconds of rest,
perhaps eights “sets” of each.
With a warmup of about five
minutes and a cooldown period
of similar duration, the whole
session could be a mere 14 minutes.
Most people are likely to find
that interval training makes it
tricky to stay at the required
heart rate. Before you try the interval method, spend a couple of
months on the steady approach.
Progressively work up to the
hard aerobics. Start at 70 percent and pick up the intensity
gradually over several weeks
to 80 percent, performing the
aerobic work twice a week. After
a few weeks at 80 percent, go up
to 85 percent. But you must be
free of any risk factors such as
hypertension. If you’re a novice
at exercising and/or in poor
cardiovascular shape, invest
in at least a month or two of
lower-intensity, longer-duration
aerobics to condition your body
for something more rigorous.
You should also get the consent
of your physician before doing
any type of hard aerobics, just
in case you have risk factors
you’re not aware of that would
preclude such a stressful way of
exercising.
What about increasing aerobic fitness? “There doesn’t seem
to be any relationship between
duration of training and increasing fitness,” Richard Winett,
Ph.D., of Virginia Tech’s Center
for Research in Health Behavior
in Blacksburg told me. “Rather,
intensity as defined by percent
of oxygen consumption—more
easily conveyed as a percentage
of maximum heart rate—seems
more important. So there’s really
no reason to start with longer-
duration easier stuff unless you’re
a novice and/or in very poor aerobic condition.”
The commonly used age-adjusted maximum heart rate (220 minus
your age) may not be accurate in
some cases. If you overestimate
your maximum heart rate, the 85
percent level could end up working you too hard, which might be
dangerous. On the other hand, if
you underestimate your maximum
heart rate, you’re unlikely to train
intensively enough to produce big
benefits from brief bouts of aerobic work. You may want to take the
guesswork out of your calculations
and actually discover your maximum heart rate with the help of a
cardiologist or other trained medical professional.
Since working at a specific heart
rate is critical, a reliable heart rate
monitor is essential so you know
precisely and immediately what
rate your heart is beating at. It’s
vital that you know right away if
you’re working too hard or not
hard enough and respond accordingly. You can get a basic heart-rate
monitor for about $50. Considered
as an investment in your health
that you’ll use for many years, it’s a
very small cost.
With lower-level, longer-duration aerobic work, immediate
recognition of your heart rate isn’t
essential. To find out your heart
rate, just stop what you’re doing,
count your heart rate for 15 seconds and then multiply that number by four.
As with weight training, going
beyond a certain level of aerobic
work at a sufficient intensity is not
better and may even be counterproductive. In addition, the volume of work required to stimulate
substantial improvement appears
to be a lot less than the exercise
world commonly leads us to believe. Especially with hard aerobics, two stints per week may be
quite sufficient to produce plenty
of health benefits. Three sessions
could be overkill. If you want a
third session, make it the lower-intensity, longer-duration style.
As your conditioning and fitness
improve, you’ll need to gradually
increase your pace of work (or
resistance)
Combat Cardio
in order to
produce a given percentage of your
maximum heart rate. For example,
after a couple of months or so of
adaptation, the pace or workload
that used to produce your 85 percent rate will become just a transition during your warmup on the
way to the higher level of work that
you need to produce your new 85
percent rate.
You may want to adopt the approach recommended by Dr. Winett
and incorporate hard aerobics
twice a week as your only cardio
training: graded warmup of about
five minutes, the prescriptive four
minutes at 85 percent of maximum
heart rate and a graded cooldown of
at least four minutes.
To quote Dr. Winett:
“Separate this kind of very prescriptive cardiovascular training
[the ‘hard’ aerobics] from leisure
pursuits and recreation for fun and
burning calories. Easy walking,
hiking and swimming, yard work,
sports, etc., fill that bill and have a
lot of physical and psychological
benefits.
“Alternatively, a person could
combine them. For example, somewhere within a 45-minute walk,
systematically do a graded warmup
for several minutes and then walk
stairs or a hill at the designated
prescriptive heart rate for several
minutes; then do a cooldown and
continue the walk.
“I think for a person who does
resistance training, it’s a huge mistake to use cardiovascular training
for calorie expenditure and fat loss.
That really requires long duration,
and the data on fat loss is this:
Without prolonged higher-intensity training there really isn’t much
evidence for fat loss from cardiovascular training—and that kind
of training will surely compromise
strength. A better prescription is
weight training for muscle mass,
brief cardiovascular training for
fitness, modest caloric reduction
[through diet] and more caloric
expenditure through recreation.
“If people want to get a higher
level of fitness, it won’t be in the frequency or duration part; it will depend upon their responsiveness to
cardiovascular training (which has
huge individual differences), how
Model: Dan Decker
(continued from page 231)
Gradually increase your pace as
your conditioning improves.
hard they want to push themselves
and whether they start prioritizing
cardiovascular work over weights.
“Doing some decent cardiovascular training shouldn’t be optional
but part of the exercise equation.
The notion that it will compromise
strength and muscular development
really applies only to long-duration,
very frequent and fairly intensive
training.”
What specific type of aerobic
work you do will be influenced by
how demanding you want the work
to be, how much aerobic fitness you
want, whether you want to burn a
lot of calories and what condition
you’re in at the time. Accurately
assess your current condition, determine your goals, and then take it
from there.
While you shouldn’t underestimate your body’s ability to adapt to
training, don’t expect the impossible. You won’t be able to handle six
two-hour weight-training sessions
a week along with an hour of aerobics daily unless you’re a genetic
marvel. There’s a limit, and for most
hardgainers the basic template of
two abbreviated weight-training
sessions and two or at most three
aerobic sessions each week is a
good rule of thumb. Progress to that
level over time, if you’re a novice,
and fine-tune the weight-training
and aerobic work to suit you.
Whether you perform aerobic
work after your weight work to
minimize your number of training days or perform it on off days
is an individual matter. Try it both
ways, and see which works best for
you—in terms of both results and
convenience. If you perform the
cardio work (continued on page 240)
Combat Cardio
It doesn’t take
a lot of aerobic
work to get
substantial
cardiovascular
benefits.
Do your cardio work
after your weighttraining session.
Especially after a stint of hard
aerobics, be sure to perform a
graded cooldown. Take as long as
you need to wind down gradually
from the high heart rate to a point
where your breathing has returned
to normal. So during the cooldown
you continue to exercise but at a
diminishing intensity over four or
more minutes.
Editor’s note: Excerpted, with
permission, from Further Brawn by
Stuart McRobert, a 320-page book
that includes more than 230 questions and answers on bodybuilding.
McRobert is also the author of the
new book Build Muscle, Lose Fat,
Look Great, available from Home
Gym Warehouse, (800) 447-0008 or
www.Home-Gym.com.
Model: Tamer Elshahat
Reference
after your
weight training, I recommend you
don’t do them back to back but wait
at least 20 minutes or so. That will
help you to do justice to the aerobic
work.
Before each aerobic session always take a few minutes to warm
up, to enable your body to adjust to
the exercise. To do that, start your
chosen aerobic activity at a very
gentle pace and slowly pick up the
effort so that after five minutes or
so you’re right at the level of effort
you’ve planned for that session—
i.e., moderate intensity (that keeps
you only slightly breathless) for 30
minutes or so or much higher intensity for just four minutes.
1 Winett, R.A., and Carpinelli, R.N.
(2000). Examining the validity of exercise guidelines for the prevention
of morbidity and all-cause mortality.
Ann Behav Med. 22:159–178. IM
Doing weights first can help
you tap into fat stores faster
during your cardio.
Model: Tamer Elshahat
(continued from page 236)
Legends of Bodybuilding
The Golden Man, Part 2
by Rod Labbe
n Part I of “The Golden Man,”
Larry Scott reminisced about
bodybuilding in the early
1960s and how it propelled
him from Pocatello, Idaho, to
the ’62 Mr. America competition and international fame.
In the conclusion of this
Legends of Bodybuilding interview,
Larry candidly reveals how success can cut both ways. Though
twice named Mr. Olympia—in 1965
and ’66—and on top of the muscle
world, he heard another voice calling. When he answered, his life—
and ours—were forever changed.
IM: By 1963 you and Joe Weider had formed a tight bond.
LS: Joe’s been instrumental in my
career as well as my life, and I can’t
say enough good things about him.
Once he’s gone, bodybuilding will
have lost its greatest pioneer.
IM: Between ’64 and ’67, Joe
put the focus squarely on Larry
Scott and created a legend. An
exciting time?
LS: Legend is a word open to
interpretation [laughs]. I actually
stood by a busy magazine rack one
day, and not a single person recognized me—even though the newsstand sold Mr. America and Muscle
Builder. So much for legendary!
Illustration by Larry Eklund
IM: While all this craziness
was unfurling, you appeared
with Frankie and Annette as
“Rock” in “Muscle Beach Party.”
How’d that come to pass?
LS: Pure happenstance. Right
place, right time. A call came in to
Vince’s [Gym, owned by Vince Gironda] that American International
Pictures needed bodybuilders for
their next beach-party movie. A
bunch of us went down, and they
asked us to take off our shirts and
pose. End of audition. I spent the
next six weeks on the beach, surrounded by gorgeous ladies, and I
got paid for it. What more could a
young bodybuilder want?
he bestb
IM: You were easily the
’s mu
built guy in Jack Fanny’s
muscle
troupe.
ckles as Jack
LS: Ha, ha! Don Rickles
Fanny! So funny!! We wore pink
g cape
shorts with matching
capes. Ouch!
IM: I liked how you guys
kicked butt during the climactic fight scene.
LS: We didn’t fake any of it! The
surfer boys hated the muscle guys,
so we let off steam with that fight.
Even the director got in a few good
punches!
IM: What lessons did losing
the ’63 Universe to Harold Poole
teach you?
LS: Number one, and I can’t
emphasize this enough, never believe your own publicity. The hype
said I was unbeatable, and I foolishly bought into it. Harold’s victory
taught me to avoid complacency,
especially in bodybuilding. At our
level of competition any of the top
guys could’ve surged ahead—we
were that good.
IM: Did the loss accentuate
your inner doubts?
LS: A better question: What
didn’t accentuate them? I may have
been Mr. America and a Universe
front-runner, but inside I was a
mess—questioning, wondering and
searching. The cycle went on and
on.
IM: In ’64 you bounced back
even stronger.
LS: The beat down is a great motivator. Don’t let anyone tell you
otherwise. It rattled my cage. All
th
through ’64, I worked with one goal
in mind: to win the Universe. I left
no thread hanging—like I’d done for
the America, every angle would be
looked at and carefully scrutinized.
On the big night I waited a while
“Reaching the
top is a strange
feeling, almost
like a hazy
dream.”
after they called my name. Slowly, as
if unsure, I walked out, head down,
pausing before stepping onto the
posing platform. People were yelling, “C’mon, Larry, you can do it!” I
nodded and smiled. It was just them
and me, and I wanted to establish a
connection.
IM: Were you nervous?
LS: Not one bit. I lifted both arms
overhead, body in an S, and looked
up at an angle. The line from head
to body was smooth and fluid. I
listened carefully to the audience;
if they reacted positively to certain
poses, I held them longer. My routine ended with a twisting side pose
that shifted 180 degrees to another
twisting pose. I did a straddle shot,
swung my arms around to a standing position and went back to the
beginning.
IM: A wonderful example of
performance art. It snagged
you the title!
LS: [Grins] I wanted to go out like
gangbusters. Winning the Universe
meant your competitive career was
over, so I gave it my all.
IM: But not quite over—1965
would see one very important
title added to Larry Scott’s muscle résumé.
LS: Mr. Olympia, yes. Entirely
Joe’s concept. He envisioned a kind
of masters contest that would bring
together all the retired Mr. Universe
titleholders. Not everyone liked that
idea. Bill Pearl, I remember, wanted
no part of it.
IM: Who could’ve known? You
were standing on the cusp of
history.
LS: We were blissfully unaware.
To us the Mr. Olympia was just another show.
IM: You went into it as the
front-runner, and once again,
Harold Poole was your numberone challenger.
LS: Harold possessed excellent
Photographs courtesy of Gene Mozée
THE GOLDEN MAN, PART 2
Larry Scott’s Magazine Covers
Larry Scott’s Contest History
1959
Mr. Idaho (AAU)
Muscle Builder, November ’60
Mr. America, September ’61
1960
Mr. California (AAU), Winner
Mr. California (AAU), Most Muscular, 1st
Mr. Los Angeles (AAU), 3rd
Mr. Los Angeles (AAU), Most Muscular, 3rd
Mr. America, February ’62
Mr. America, October ’62
Muscle Builder, December ’62
1961
Mr. Pacific Coast (AAU), Winner
Mr. Pacific Coast (AAU), Most Muscular, 1st
Muscle Builder, June ’63
Mr. America, March ’64
Muscular Development, April ’64
1962
Mr. America (IFBB), Winner
Mr. America (IFBB), Medium, 1st
Mr. America, November ’64
1963
Mr. Universe (IFBB), Medium, 1st
Iron Man, December ’64
Muscle Builder, March ’65
1964
Mr. Universe (IFBB), Winner
Mr. Universe (IFBB), Medium, 1st
Strength & Health, April ’65
Muscular Development, June ’65
1965
Mr. Olympia (IFBB), Winner
Mr. America, August ’65
1966
Mr. Olympia (IFBB), Winner
Muscular Development, July ’66
1979
Canada Diamond Pro Cup (IFBB), 9th
Grand Prix Vancouver (IFBB), Did not place
Muscle Builder, October ’66
Muscle Builder, December ’66
Muscle Builder, July ’67
Muscle Builder, August ’68
Muscle Training Illustrated, February ’69
LS: Thrilled, of course.
Winning does have a
tendency to lift one’s
spirits.
Muscular Development, March ’70
Muscular Development, November ’71
Muscular Development, December ’72
Muscle Builder, August ’78
Muscle & Fitness, November ’82
Muscle & Fitness, May ’88
genetics and knew a thing or two
about balanced muscle. Before we
went onstage, I looked at him, he
looked at me, and I immediately felt
a pang of insecurity. He’d come in
rock hard and ripped!
IM: Yeah, well, Poole might’ve
been a formidable opponent,
but the ’65 Olympia was your
night, Larry. How’d it feel, knowing you’d won?
it was very superficial. I never felt
truly comfortable, really. The people
conducting the interviews weren’t
interested in what my heart felt or
said. They wanted to hear about
IM: Muscle Builder, Mr. America,
Muscular Development and Strength
& Health went ab-
solutely bonkers for
you after that.
LS: Reaching the top
is a strange feeling, almost like a hazy dream.
I did photo shoots and
interviews, made a few
more movies and even started a
small mail-order business. New and
exciting prospects presented themselves almost daily.
IM: When you did those interviews, were you basically playing a part—the dignified Mr.
Olympia, Larry Scott? Or would
you let loose?
LS: Gee, let me think. Yeah. Yeah,
bodybuilding, not feelings.
IM: And now? Is your guard
down?
LS: It’s down. And there’s a good
reason. You and I have worked
together several times, my friend.
We’ve established a strong emotional bond, quite unusual in the
realm of bodybuilding journalism. It
flows from our mutual respect and
admiration, I think. You’re simply a
great guy! Here’s to many more years
of a rewarding relationship.
IM: Ahem! Okay, I’m cool, I’m
cool. Did you plan from the getgo to defend your Olympia title?
LS: Yes, but only once. My winning streak couldn’t go on forever,
and after Joe introduced me to Sergio Oliva backstage, I saw a new era
dawning.
IM: Ever regret the decision to
retire so early?
LS: I’ve never regretted any bodybuilding decision, not even retirement at age 26. Wish I could say the
same thing about life!
IM: Reaction to your retirement ranged from anger to
utter astonishment. I couldn’t
believe it—my hero, gone! Nah,
had to be a rumor.
LS: I’d been competing for 10
years and was feeling the strain.
Bodybuilding stardom is an illusion.
Fame is fleeting. It can’t be touched
or held and won’t console you when
you’re down. I was looking at the
prospect of a good marriage, and
I’m a firm believer that happiness is
found in family.
IM: Is that about when you
struck up your friendship with
Bill McArdle?
LS: What a character! I met him
one day at the beach. He’d just
breezed in from Texas. Bill was a
nice kid, gracious and respectful,
and had a lot on the ball. We hit it
off right away and enjoyed each
other’s company. He was married,
and I was married. Then, I wanted
to break up with my wife, and I—
IM: Hold on! You don’t mean
breaking up with Rachel?
LS: Oh, no. I was married before,
and it’s all because I got my hair cut
by Jay Sebring.
IM: Jay Sebring. Murdered
with Sharon Tate, right?
LS: Right. A tragedy. Jay said I had
a great body, but my hair looked
terrible. So he cut it for nothing, and
the change was amazing! I couldn’t
believe the man in that mirror was
me. I felt like a whole new person.
I went to a party one night and
danced with every available lady
there. A Japanese girl walked up and
said, “Don’t you want to dance with
me?” Well, sure! We danced, and
that’s how it began.
She totally entranced me. Sharp
as a tack and so sexy! But since I was
a virgin, I didn’t know much about
the physical side of things, and—
and wanted an abortion. I couldn’t
have that on my conscience, so we
got married. Before the first week
was out, I realized we’d made a terrific mistake. Both of us were very
immature. Constant fighting and
arguing. She kept telling me to find
somebody better, but it’s hard to
break up with someone you love.
IM: No baby?
LS: Nope. It was all a ruse. After a
tumultuous five years, I finally threw
in the towel.
IM: I think I’m getting a scoop
here.
LS: It wasn’t publicized back then.
Marriage was bad for a bodybuilder’s image.
“I’ve never
regretted any
bodybuilding
decision, not
even retirement
at age 26.”
IM: When did you and Rachel
meet?
LS: Five years later. Our first
encounter was so unusual, most
people find it hard to believe. I was
driving to the gym one day and saw
this beautiful Japanese girl waiting for a bus. Something told me,
“You just passed your future wife.”
I flipped a U-turn and drove up
alongside her, ready to make a good
impression: bleached hair, big arms
and a smile on my tanned face. She
looked over the top of my little red
Porsche and didn’t even notice me.
The bus came, she got on, and that
was it!
IM: I love these stories.
LS: And this one has a happy
ending. On October 29, 1966, Rachel and I were married, and she’s
proved to be worth every ounce of
effort I put forth. Each day, I love her
more and more.
IM: Wait one cotton-pickin’
minute! The world’s most desirable man, known for his boynext-door sex appeal, was still a
virgin?
LS: [Laughs]. Listen, I was far
from worldly. The Mormon faith
preaches abstinence before marriage.
IM: And this girl put a tiger in
your tank?
LS: Wow, she was irresistible! We’d
start to make out, and I’d only go
so far. Then one night she asked,
“Aren’t you a man?” I guess I couldn’t
have my manhood challenged and
did the deed, half-expecting God to
strike me dead with a lightning bolt.
But He spared me, and it became
easier. Soon, I was just enjoying the
intimacy and ignoring the guilt.
IM: Why marriage, though?
Seems like a drastic step.
LS: I fell for one of the oldest
lines: She was supposedly pregnant
IM: What happened to Bill?
LS: He and his wife, Rose, were
having problems and broke up. We
agreed to room together and rented
a place in North Hollywood, a little
ways from Vince’s. I worked, Bill
worked, we trained. It was an equitable, fun arrangement. We even
started going to an acting class.
IM: Bill McArdle is one of
those names from the ’60s that
everybody recognizes but nobody really knows.
LS: Bill had a keen brain and
“I’ve had feelings of,
‘I miss my moment
in the sun.’ But I
also remember why
I stepped down.
Happiness
isn’t found
onstage.”
IM: And the acting thing?
LS: It didn’t interest Bill much,
but I stayed until the teacher threw
me out. [Laughs]
IM: Before or after “Muscle
Beach Party”?
LS: After. Because of that one
movie I thought acting was the best
and easiest way to make money.
I earned more playing an almost
extra than I had in three months on
my engineering job.
IM: You and Bill eventually
parted ways. Was it acrimonious?
LS: No, I wouldn’t say that. We’d
just reached a point where we didn’t
see eye to eye, and he moved out.
Not long after, I met Rachel, and a
whole new chapter opened up in
my life.
IM: Forty years ago this autumn you left the competitive
spotlight. Has there ever been a
moment when you looked back
on it with a modicum of sadness?
LS: Sure, I’ve had feelings of, “I
miss that. I miss my moment in
the sun.” But I also remember why
I stepped down. Happiness isn’t
found onstage. I’d already blown
one marriage, I wasn’t gonna blow
another one. It was time to put
contests and such aside and look to
another, more fulfilling future.
IM: Was your physique a product of its time?
LS: Yes, 100 percent. If I were
competing today, my situation
would be so much different. Frankly,
I don’t think I’d stand much of a
chance!
IM: Well said. And I’d like
to add one more thing: Larry
Scott’s a genuine legend, and
there aren’t too many of those
around in these tired times.
LS: Thanks, Rod. Working with you
is one of life’s joys. And a tip of my
hat to IRON MAN for giving us old
fellas some space!
Editor’s note: Larry Scott’s Web
site is www.LarryScott.com. Also visit
his Yahoo group at http://groups
.yahoo.com/group/larryscott. IM
IM: Was size always the ultimate goal?
LS: Always. We never trained for
aesthetics. I desperately wanted
to pack on beef. My physique was
the result of much experimentation, switching exercise methods
constantly and trying to find the
combination that would produce
optimum results.
IM: Can you sum up your career? What’s the Scott legacy?
LS: My legacy? Gee. I guess it’s
that I was dedicated and determined. I also understood the uplifting power of dreams—how a goal
can encourage and inspire. It saw
me from Pocatello and Mr. America
to the Olympia stage and beyond.
Neveux
wouldn’t let me get away with anything. I’d tell myself little lies, and
he’d call me on every single one of
them. It was very unusual for people
to catch me.
Jerry Brainum’s
Bodybuilding Pharmacology
GH and
the Big C
Neveux \ Model: John Cowgill
temper, and he once challenged the Barbarian Brothers to
meet him in the Gold’s parking lot—and it wasn’t just for a
talk. Lyle looked downright scary when he got mad, with his
face turning crimson and his eyes appearing to be that of a
madman.
But when I last saw him at Gold’s Gym, he was anything
but mean and scary. At 6’3” and 255 pounds, Lyle played 15
seasons as a defensive end for the Denver Broncos, Cleveland Browns and Los Angeles Raiders. He was twice named
Shortly before his death in 1992, Lyle Alzado was a pitiAll-Pro, having compiled 97 sacks in 196 games. Yet, despite
ful figure. I saw Lyle at Gold’s Gym in Venice, California,
that impressive athletic record, what Lyle is best rememnot long before he died, and I was shocked by his appearbered for today is his admission that he used anabolic drugs
ance. He was wearing a bandanna to conceal the total hair
for 30 consecutive years, starting in college to the end of his
loss that resulted from chemotherapy treatment of T cell
playing days. Even more significant than that, however, were
lymphoma, a relatively rare brain tumor. When his eyes
Lyle’s public statements that the long-term drug use was
met mine, I asked him, “How’s it going, Lyle?” A seemingly
responsible for his cancer.
needless question, considering that the man standing beI interviewed and wrote an article about Lyle in 1990. At
fore me was a shadow of his former self. “I’m doing great,”
the time he was envisioning a comeback to professional
he replied. The truth was, however, that Lyle died about
football. The odds seemed against him, since he was 40
two months later.
years old at the time. On the other hand, he physically
Although he had a reputation as a fierce professional
looked to be in the best shape of his life. I witnessed a photo
football player who seemed to relish sacking other players
session for the article, and Lyle looked truly impressive—
with brute force, off the field Lyle was a quiet, gentle guy.
hard and muscular with no fat anywhere.
But not if you crossed him. In his heyday he had a violent
Off-the-record Lyle confided to me his newfound “secret.”
Although he had used anabolic steroids for 30 years, he
had just starting using human
growth hormone, and he felt
that the addition to his drug
regimen was the source of his
impressive body composition.
According to Lyle, it was the
GH that burned off nearly all
his bodyfat. He even felt that
it made the many injuries he’d
sustained playing football
far less painful. To say that
Alzado was optimistic during
our talk would be putting it
mildly.
Fast-forward two years
later. Lyle looks like a man 30
years older than his chronological age. He walks slowly.
Lyle has told the press that
steroids are what did this to
him, and he regrets using
them. He embarks on a journey to spread the word about
the dangers of drugs, hoping
that his example will deter
others from his fate. Privately,
however, Lyle confides that
it was probably the growth
hormone that led to his medical problems, since he’s found
Weight training can
out that GH can activate a
enhance growth hormone
latent tumor. He thinks that
production, but does
it was his more recent GH
that increase the risk of
use that pushed him over the
cancer?
edge, though steroids were by
no means innocent bystanders. He died in May 1992.
Neveux \ Model: Justin Balik
Lyle was convinced that GH was the
primary cause of the cancer that eventually killed him. On the surface that wasn’t
an unreasonable assumption. Medical
texts noted that while GH wasn’t known to
cause cancer, it would likely promote the
growth and spread of an existing tumor,
especially in the brain. So the question
arises: Does growth hormone use lead to
cancer?
The question is particularly pertinent
because insulinlike growth factor 1 (IGF1), another hormone that’s considered
the main anabolic linked to GH use, is
stimulated by GH. GH promotes the synthesis and release of IGF-1 from the liver.
IGF-1, in turn, as the name implies, is
both a growth factor and similar to insulin
in structure, although it differs from insulin in physiological activity, with some
overlap (IGF-1 can interact with insulin
receptors).
Among other functions, IGF-1 promotes cell division. Cancer is a process
involving uncontrolled cellular division.
It stands to reason then that high levels of
IGF-1 and cancer are not a healthy combination. Many scientists have linked high
Consider this: No direct causelevels of IGF-1 to certain types of cancer,
and-effect relationship has ever
including breast, prostate and colon canbeen established between rapid
cer. The big debate in medicine revolves
growth during youth and GH- or
around a medical chicken and egg theory;
that is, does the IGF-1 promote cancer,
or do existing tumors somehow stimulate
IGF-1 synthesis?
Having a high level of IGF-1 would cerand other related problems. While subsequent studies
tainly help cancer cells survive and spread. Among other
disproved the relationship between GH and leukemia in
things, it derails a cellular suicide cascade known collecchildren, other research showed that women who experitively as apoptosis. In the brain that’s a good thing, since
enced rapid growth during adolescence had a 30 percent
IGF-1 aids in the survival of neurons. The same appears to
increased risk of breast cancer when they were young and
be true for cells in the heart. People who become deficient
a 40 percent increased incidence after menopause. Simiin IGF-1 as they age experience increased brain and heart
lar studies exist for men too; men who go through rapid
degeneration. With cancer cells, however, that normally
height increases during their teen years have a higher rate
beneficial aspect of IGF-1 function works against us.
of prostate cancer (20 percent) and colon cancer (20 to 60
By helping to keep cancer cells alive, IGF-1 also propercent).
motes their proliferation and spread, or metastasis. CanOn the other hand, no direct cause-and-effect relationcer, no matter what type or where, is most dangerous when
ship has ever been established between rapid growth
it spreads, explaining the frequent admonitions to detect
during youth and GH- or IGF-1–promoted cancers. Other
cancer in its earliest stages, when it’s most amenable to
factors could also play a role, including increased sex hortreatment. The cell survival aspect provided by IGF-1 is
mone release, which peaks during teen years and is also
so potent that it can even overcome the effects of chemorelated to bone growth. The increased caloric intake typitherapy. Cancer cells are normally highly susceptible to
cal of teen years is still another factor known to positively
apoptosis, but the presence of high localized levels of IGFinfluence height. Indeed, a current controversy involves
1 stops that process.
administering GH to teens who are considered short for
Animal studies show that when cancer cells are detheir ages but aren’t deficient in it. Some people even resort
prived of GH or IGF-1—or when the cellular receptors for
to using GH in the hopes that increased height may lead to
those hormones are blocked—the cells rapidly die. Studies
an NBA career.
involving animals on highly restricted-diets also show far
Lyle Alzado wasn’t the only person who linked GH use
lower rates of cancer, and they are typically deficient in
to cancer. One top bodybuilder a few years ago became ill
IGF-1 and GH.
with leukemia and told many that he considered his GH
Years ago some studies implicated GH therapy in
use to be the cause. He felt sure that his previous use of
causing a higher incidence of leukemia in children. The
anabolic steroids and other drugs played only minor roles,
children involved had been given GH to treat dwarfism
Jerry Brainum’s
Bodybuilding Pharmacology
One problem with the GH-leads-to-cancer theory is
that GH is a potent stimulator of T cells, the same
immune cells that protect against tumors.
Neveux \ Model: Frank Zane
if any. Luckily for this man, he surThe problem with that theory is
have a higher-than-normal rate of
vived his cancer. He may have been
that GH is a potent stimulator of T
colon cancer. Yet they don’t experipartially correct in his assessment in
cells, the same immune cells that proence higher rates of other cancers than
that he probably harbored genes that
tect against tumors. People who are
other people.
set him up for leukemia, and the GH
deficient in GH show a complete rejuThat may be explained by the recent
turned out to be the trigger.
venation effect in their immune funcfinding that high insulin levels apStudies published recently show
tion after undergoing GH therapy.
pear to play a role in promoting colon
no increased incidence of cancer in
In addition, consider what happens
cancer. As noted above, high IGF-1 can
people who undergo GH therapy. But
to older people who are deficient in
interact with insulin receptors in the
note that the goal of such therapy
GH and IGF-1—brain degeneration
colon, stimulating tumor growth or
is to offer GH replacement dosages
and loss of heart function. Those are
possibly converting benign growths in
to people who are deficient in it, as
definite pathological conditions not
the colon to invasive cancers. A drug
determined by their circulating levels
related to the aging process. Thus,
called pegvisomant, which blocks cell
and related symptoms. The hope is
the notion that the body depresses
receptors for GH, wipes out colon canthat when the missing hormone is
GH release as a form of protection is
cer in animals when used in conjuncrestored to proper levels, the sympludicrous.
tion with conventional chemotherapy.
toms will abate and the quality of life
Still, a number of studies show that
So what’s the truth about GH and
will improve.
those who have the highest levels of
cancer? GH does not cause cancer, but
The dosages in the treatment proIGF-1 seem to also show the highthe product of GH, IGF-1, may help
grams were determined by trial and
est incidence of prostate, breast and
existing cancers grow and spread. The
error. Early dose levels proved too
colon cancers. People afflicted with
unanswered question is whether it’s
high, leading to a number of side efacromegaly, which is caused by a
the normal IGF-1 produced in the body
fects, including water retention, joint
small tumor in the pituitary gland
or the kind that’s locally produced by
pain and carpal tunnel syndrome.
that results in excess GH release, do
a tumor that causes the effect. What
The doses today are just
is known is that IGF-1
enough to replace what’s
allows cancer cells to
missing. That avoids the
survive. If you harbor a
side effects for most peodormant tumor someple, though not all. The
where in your body,
big question is whether
and you’re exposed to
it’s wise to return GH
a carcinogen that turns
levels of older people to
the tumor on, IGF-1 in
those that mimic youth
large amounts will help
Some scientists sugthat tumor survive and
gest that a lowering of
spread.
GH with age is a normal
Another thing to
physiological protective
consider is that the
response. The theory is
replacement doses of
that the immune cells
GH do not cause cancer
that normally protect
in any known way. That,
against tumor formahowever, cannot be
tion dissipate with age,
said about the unusuwhich explains why older
ally high doses used by
people have the highest
many bodybuilders and
incidence of cancer. It
other athletes. While
also explains why teens,
even high levels of GH
who show the highest
won’t cause cancer, it
levels of GH and IGF-1,
could possibly ensure
rarely get cancer—their
the survival and spread
immune systems protect
of an existing one.
them. Since GH and
Insulin added to the
IGF-1 are known tumor
brew only makes things
stimulators, it’s believed
worse, since insulin is
that the body lowers their
also an established proGH production declines with age. Is it a protective mechanism
release to protect against
motor of cancer when
to keep cancer at bay, or is it one of nature s ways of
cancer formation and
used in high doses. IM
compromising immunity to ensure our mortality?
spread.
Eric Broser’s
If you find something on the Web that IM readers should know about, send the URL to Eric at [email protected].
>BrinkZone.com
William Brink is one of our industry’s foremost
authorities on diet and supplementation. He’s
been interviewed right here in the pages of IRON
MAN [June and July ’01] and has written such
popular e-books as Priming the Anabolic Environment and Diet Supplements Revealed. But that’s
only the beginning of what you’ll find at this awesome site. Check out Will’s extensive Q&A section, in which he covers such topics as hair loss,
the next breakthrough in fat burning and, umm,
penis enlargement (not that any of us need that).
And if you truly wish to educate yourself on subjects that could have a profound effect on your
training, health and body composition, click on “Online Articles” and feast your eyes on the
discussions Will presents on subjects like “Nutritional Myths That Just Won’t Die” and “The
Simplest Weight-Loss Tips No One Follows.” He has been a personal consultant to many toplevel bodybuilders, helping them get in shape for competitions or gain more mass in the offseason. If you’re interested in getting Will’s help with your own diet and training, there’s info
at the site on how to set up a one-on-one consultation. So, as you can see, where there’s a Will,
there’s a way—to get big and ripped!
>IronManMagazine.com
>BuildingMass.com
With hundreds of bodybuilding and fitness
discussion boards to choose from, it can be
hard to decide which one is best. What sets a
board apart is its members. If you like to post on
boards that have lots of drama, gossip, fighting
and rumors, then BuildingMass.com is not the
place for you. However, if you enjoy a truly supportive, family atmosphere, where everyone is
treated as an equal, no matter what his or her
level, then you may want to settle in here. This
site has all of the common sections found on
most discussion boards (training, nutrition, chat,
Not to be self-serving, but this magazine is doing something on
it’s Web site that is very cool, and you need to know about it. Now
you can find many of its best features, in full color and just as they
appeared in the magazine, as downloadable PDF files. You’ll find the
link to the PDF library on the home page. Click it and before your
eyes you’ll see a page with thumbnail pics of each feature opening,
along with its title and a synopsis of what it’s about. You can even
preview the feature in your browser first, and if you like what you
see and read—dramatic photos, great info—download the full feature to your computer. Collect them, share them with friends and
keep them handy for reference and motivation. What a great idea!
photos), plus some interesting areas. One called
>DavanaMedina.net
>http://forum
.bodybuilding.com/
showthread.php?t=443337
This is the official site of reigning Figure Olympia champ Davana
Medina. If you’re a fan, you’ll definitely want to add it to your favorites
list. On it you will find Davana’s contest history, as well info on her upcoming appearances. She also offers a free gallery with some pretty
sexy pics—although if you want to shell out a little cash and become
a member of her site, you’ll have access to what I’m sure are even
steamier photos of this fitness diva (just don’t let the wife or girlfriend
see the credit card bill). Two of the coolest aspects of the site are the
downloadable wallpapers for your computer and the candid photos
of Davana’s friends and family. I like it when pro athletes show a bit
of their personal side. A couple of
things that I think are missing are
a little more personal info about
Davana and maybe some training
and diet tips from her (that may be
in the works, as the site states that
it’s being updated). Oh, and we
could use a few more free pics (yes,
we are cheap—but very lovable).
One thing’s for sure, however: Just
looking at images of this gorgeous
woman is as effective as any product on the market in raising natural
testosterone levels. DavanaMedina.
net: a replacement for steroids?
Hmm.
Injury and Rehab is moderated by a chiropractor
and physical therapist who works with bodybuilders and athletes from high school age to the
pro level. There’s also a forum devoted entirely to
the Power/Rep Range/Shock training program
that has been featured in IRON MAN. Registration at BuildingMass.com is free, but the wealth
of information you can find there is invaluable.
Every so often I run across a forum filled
with funny or interesting stuff. In this case
both bases are covered. “Bodybuilding Pictures
That Make You Wonder,” found at Body
building.com, has loads of photos submitted
by visitors—a lot of them shots of Arnold that
I’ve never seen before: making ridiculous faces,
in line at the water fountain at the old Gold’s
Gym, face to er, um, face with bare breasts,
and more! Lots of the pictures submitted don’t
involve Arnold, though: an array of synthol-injected lunatics and weird exercises, to name a
couple of categories. Just click on the little jpg
icons, and
I guarantee you’ll
be entertained!
Warning:
Some
photos are
explicit.
IM
Lonnie Teper’s
NEWS &ViEWS
v
’06 Arnold Classic
The Blade
Cuts Up the
Field
Branch
Warren.
Dexter
Jackson.
Warren Is Biggest Surprise
The Blade
and the Oak
talk cuts.
Balik
He says that after a year’s layoff he was at his
all-time best. Don’t know if I can agree with that, but
Dexter Jackson was definitely dazzling enough to
defend his Arnold Classic title, flexing his 5’6 ½”,
205-pound body to a unanimous victory in Columbus, Ohio, and picking up the $100,000 first-place
check, a brand-new Ford Expedition (instead of the
usual Hummer) and another Audemars Piquet watch
worth $20K.
Did I say 205 pounds? That’s how the Blade was
listed for this one, and that’s just about the weight
I’ve argued that he’s carried during the past few
seasons (he said he was 225 to 230 in ’04 and ’05).
Okay, he might have been 212 to 215
onstage, but I will continue to use Shawn
Ray as my point of comparison.
At about the same height, Shawn
always weighed between 205 and 210
pounds and had rounder, fuller muscle
bellies than Dexter; no way was Jackson
Marvelous
ever 15 to 20 pounds heavier than Ray.
Melvin.
So, what does it all mean? Nothing.
Absolutely nothing. It ain’t about the
weight; it’s about the quality, the balance,
the sharpness of the muscles. Giving
Dexter straight ones across the board,
the magistrates left no doubt as to who
they thought the champ was, and the rest of the bodybuilding world could have no
doubt that the Jacksonville, Florida, ace is still
one of the world’s premier physique artists.
Jackson’s victory was
no surprise; Branch
Warren’s runner-up
finish was. Warren was
coming off a splendid
’05 season with backto-back wins at the Europa and Charlotte Pro shows and
an impressive eighth-place finish in his Mr. Olympia debut.
But, with such highly acclaimed vets as Jackson, Gustavo
Balik
Find thousands
of photos from
the Arnold
Classic at
GraphicMuscle.com
Badell (left) and Martinez.
IRON
TALES—
He couldn’t
move it an
Inch.
Page 272
Balik
Emcee
L.T.
Photography by Bill Comstock
Go,
Zydrunas,
go!
SEEING RED—
Why does this
man rate a whole
bevy?
Page 271
Badell, Victor Martinez, Lee
Priest and Melvin Anthony in the
event, a top-six ending seemed like
a solid goal for the Warren.
As it turned out, Buffed Branch
was the only guy in the 15-man
field who brought a vastly improved
package to the stage. At 5’6” and
Lee Haney
240 pounds of granite muscle,
and Arnold.
including some of the wickedest
wheels in the game, Warren will
never be confused with Anthony
or Darrem Charles. But the man was
Pushups,
downright freaky and, the new mandate
Calypsostyle.
that the judges must look for a “prettier”
physique notwithstanding, Warren was
the chief of beef and was rewarded to the
tune of $60,000. Branch was also honored
with the Most Muscular award—and rightly
so—which gave Dexter some anxious moments from the time Warren took possession of the trophy, a large goblet created
by Joska Crystal.
“I won the Most Muscular last year,”
said Jackson, “and the winner of that usually wins the show, so I was a bit nervous
when Branch got the award.” Hey, it’s
good to keep everyone guessing, Blade.
Martinez and Badell followed Warren in
the placings; neither was crisp enough to challenge Jackson for the title. I’d say Victor was five
to seven pounds too heavy, Gustavo at least the
same. The Freakin’ Rican started out slowly at
the judging and got harder as time went on, but
by then it was too late and fourth place was his
eventual fate.
Speaking of Melvin Anthony, this guy has an
Jim Lorimer and
son Bob.
absolutely beautiful physique and could have
challenged for the crown in my book. I know, I
know, many point to his flaws in the calf, chest
and glute areas. Not thick enough. Not wide enough. Hell, I say the overall flow of the man’s total package makes him marvelous, for sure.
Anthony did pocket $22K, though, with his fifth-place finish and as the
repeat winner of the Best Poser award. Can anyone possibly beat Melvin
when it comes to the entertainment round? Do you hear me, Vince Taylor?
Lee Priest, coming off his big win at the IRON MAN two weeks earlier,
was a surprise in sixth; I thought he was in good shape and could have at
least duplicated his fourth-place finish of last year. His Superman costume
at the finals, though, complete with the red boots, earned my award for
Best Wardrobe at the Classic. Of course, Lee had to cut the boots down
the back to fit his monstrous calves into them.
Mustafa Mohammad, who was ticked off about his sixth-place finish
at the IRON MAN, was in an angry mood in Columbus when he found
out he’d just missed an Olympia-qualifying spot by taking seventh (the
top six qualified for the Big Dance). Mustafa is a very good bodybuilder,
with some very impressive bodyparts—like a huge chest, legs and biPhoto courtesy of Classic Productions
Super
Lee.
COVER
STORY—
Who was the
hottest babe
at the Arnold
Expo?
Page 271
ceps—but was not sharp enough in the minds of the judges to land in the
top six. Hang in there, Mustafa, you’ll make the Olympia lineup this year,
I predict.
Darrem Charles (eighth),
Amanda
Toney Freeman (ninth) and Troy
Finn at the
Alves rounded out the top 10.
controls.
(I had Toney higher in the placings with his very balanced 6’2”,
280-pound frame.) David Henry
(11th), Ahmad Haidar (12th),
Johnnie Jackson (13th), Kris
Dim (14th) and Chris Cook
(15th) completed the
field.
Smokin’
A special moment
Joe.
took place when Arnold
came to the podium to
present Lee Haney with
the Arnold Schwarzenegger Lifetime
Achievement Award.
Haney, who retired at
31 with eight consecutive Mr. O crowns to his
name, lives outside of
Atlanta and devotes his
time to helping out young
boys without fathers at his Harvest House. A great man honored with a great award. Congrats, Lee, you’ll always be large
and in charge to us.
Speaking of great—how in the hell do those dudes known
as the Calypso Tumblers do that stuff? I mean, when one
guy wrapped himself up into a ball and starting doing pushups
on the floor—talk about bringing down the house. This one
was filled with nearly 4,000 screaming fans.
It was a fun contest, and I was happy to return to the
podium as emcee after a two-year stint on the pay-per-view
broadcast team. It marked the 10th year I’ve hosted the
Arnold Classic, and getting back in front of the live crowd
reminded me just how much fun it is—and how much I’ve
missed being there.
The Arnold Strongman competition, the final event of which followed
the bodybuilding finals, remains a popular part of the evening. Zydrunas
Savickas of Lithuania won four events to capture his fourth straight title.
Talk about large and in charge!
Hats off once again, natch, to Arnold’s partner in the venture, Jim
Lorimer, and to all of Jim’s staff (way too many for me to mention), who
continue to show the true meaning of a “class act.”
ADD ARNOLD CLASSIC—My award for the Most Creative folks at
the Classic goes to Shawn Loevenguth and his Live Technologies Inc.
crew (including Carrie, Karl, Amanda, Adam, Jocelyn, Steve and
Jamie) for the set design: a movie theater with posters of all the bodybuilding magazine covers lining the backdrop.
Live Technologies, by the way, is involved in or produces more than
800 events annually across the United States, ranging from concerts to
theatrical productions, corporate theater, special events and, natch, the
Arnold Classic. Loevenguth, who has worked with Jim Lorimer for more
than 12 years on various portions of the huge Arnold Fitness weekend
(this was his 10th year in charge of producing the Classic), was the man
in charge with regard to video, lighting, set design and construction,
audio, truck crew for the pay-per-view, show scripting and management.
The team created two complete sets, one for the women’s competitions
on Friday night and one for the Arnold Classic finals on Saturday. During
the year up to 20 set designs are submitted until the final is chosen.
Shawn and
Lon.
Sly and
the
family
Instone.
See page
273
Bev, Balik and
Debbie A.
In addition to the Friday- and Saturday-night shows, Shawn played
a major role producing the first-ever Gracie Fight Championship, held
Friday night at Nationwide Arena. In addition to designing a large
Brazilian-and-Japanese–flavored set, he handled the lighting (more
than 350,000 watts), sound, video, PPV TV crew, event logistics and
management. To my knowledge, this is the first time there have ever
been back-to-back PPV shows at two separate locations at the AFW,
but Loevenguth and his crew were up to the challenge.
The two people I’ve worked the closest with in the past few years
have been Shawn and Carrie Roller, and, let me tell you, they are
cool, calm and collected at all times. That, of course, is a necessity
if you want to be successful in such ventures, which can get kinda
wacky (as in superstressful) at times.
Now, if I can just get Shawn, who won a shape-up challenge I
threw at him a few years back (he lost more than 30 pounds using a
diet featuring Muscle Meals), to spend less
time on building the set and more on slimming down the bod, I’d be much happier
for him. So, Loevenguth, the challenge is
on again. Send me a before pic or two,
and you’ll have 12 weeks to turn into the
new you.
SMOKIN’ BANQUET—I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw who was about
to join my table at the postcontest banquet. It was Smokin’ Joe Frazier, one of
the greatest boxers of all time and, as he
reminded me in a poem minutes after we
introduced ourselves, “‘Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee’; I’m the guy who beat
Muhammad Ali.” Joe then broke into
his version of “Mustang Sally” and gladly
Mervin and the
signed autographs and took pictures with
Rachel cover.
the horde of fans who quickly moved over
to our area when they realized who was
sitting there. Frazier was in town to receive
an award at the Friday night fights and happily
stuck around for the weekend.
Yes, Smokin’ Joe did beat Ali—and we were
but four days from the anniversary of their classic bout, which took place March 8, 1971. (Was
it really 35 years ago?) and which I watched
on a screen from the balcony of the Pasadena
Civic Auditorium.
Of course, Ali came back to defeat Frazier
twice, taking a two-one edge in their series of
classic battles. I met Ali in 1973 at East Los
Angeles College; more than 30 years later I
Another Shawn.
got to spend an hour or so with Smokin’ Joe
in Columbus, Ohio. You just never know who’ll
show up at an event connected with the name Schwarzenegger,
do ya?
L.T. and
Jay.
Dorian
checks it
out.
Ron and his bevy.
UP, DOWN AND ROUND THE ARNOLD EXPO—I could
only get to the expo on Friday, but the place was packed (Saturday is always the biggest day). As always, the scene was a
who’s who in bodybuilding, fitness and figure. I spent four hours,
accompanied by Bill Comstock, interviewing many of the
celebs in attendance; here’s a small look at what was happening: IRON MAN Publisher John Balik and staff member Mervin
Petralba were manning the IM booth, handing out copies of the
April issue, which featured Rachel McLish on the cover. Needless to say, the 8,000 copies they’d brought were gone by the
Lift Studios
end of the day. Balik greeted many of the biggest names in the industry,
including six-time Mr. Olympia Dorian Yates. Bev Francis and Debbie Albert were also among the more recognizable
visitors. On the subject of Rachel, since the interview
was published, I’ve received so many requests for
info about her that those queries can now go directly to McDish instead of me. You can write to her
at [email protected].…
Mega-popular Jay Cutler, going about 290, was
swamped at the MuscleTech booth and showed me
what he’ll do to me “if you don’t pick me in the News
& Views to win to the Olympia.”… Jay’s nemesis,
eight-time Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman, was surA pair of Rons.
rounded by a bevy of beauties in red dresses, and
assured me that not only will he take the crown to
set a new record of nine wins this year, but he’s going
for 10 in a row in ’07 as well. He looked extremely
happy (like, why wouldn’t he be?) and admitted, “It
feels great to be king.”… The Vyo-Tech area had
its share of stars—and babes—with Shawn Ray,
Melvin Anthony and Bill Wilmore hanging out and
figure competitors Mary Jo Cooke and Lisa Bickels drawing second and third looks in their shiny, ah,
form-fitting black outfits. Don Long, the ’95 National
champ, appeared joyful and healthy as he stopped
by to congratulate Wilmore on his Nationals victory,
which came a decade after Don’s. Richard Sandrak
was also in the booth, spreading the word about his
Sandrak flexes.
starring role in the flick “Little Hercules.”… More hot
babes: Gerard Dente was
with one at his MHP booth,
and it just happened to be
Kristen Arntz, the former
wife of pro bodybuilder
Jason Arntz. Kristen has
been competing in figure
for a couple of years now;
keep an eye on this rising
star. Gerard showed me
no respect, though, when
he doubted I could lift the
172-pound Thomas Inch
dumbbell he had on display.
As you can see, it was like
a man playing with toys, a
toy that probably only nine
people in the entire expo
could lift (the circus dumbbell lift—even heavier than
the Inch—was the final event of the strongman contest).…
Dente
Add babes department: Wow, did Sherry Goggin look
and
Arntz.
splendid at her usual post at the Pinnacle booth. Do you
ever age, girl?... On the subject of people who never age,
Vince Taylor was the talk of the town. He’s turning 50
in August but could pass for someone 15 years younger.
Vince the Prince, who returned to the competitive stage
at the Australia event two weeks after the Arnold, did a
good job as the color commentator on the Classic pay-perview.… Lou Ferrigno, joined by daughter Shawna, was
at his usual slot at the Weider booth. I congratulated him on his
new appointment as a Los Angeles County Reserve Deputy Sheriff.… Flex Wheeler, CEO of Flex Wheeler Choppers, was on hand
with one of his beautiful bikes.… Noah Steere, at 6’7” and 375
pounds, was again the largest man in the expo, at least from what
I saw. I tried, for the 10th time, to get Noah to come out of retire-
Bill Wilmore and
Don Long.
Bickels and Cooke.
Vince the
Prince.
Sherry Goggin.
L.T. tackles the
Inch dumbbell.
Lift Studios
Ferrigno.
Ron and
Dina.
Steve Stone and
Pam Betz.
ment, to no avail. Think I’m going to argue with this
guy?… Rich Gaspari’s Gaspari Nutrition booth was
loaded with workers and fans. Rich and his lovely wife,
Liz, added Cathy Le Francois to their team last year,
and the lady with the bluest eyes in the land has done
a great job for them.… Danny Padilla, a lean and
mean 54 years old, still packs some wicked
biceps and was a hit with the fans, who
fondly remember the original Giant Killer.…
Super expediter Steve Stone and standout
promoter Pam Betz were spotted along the
way, probably talking about kicking butt at
this year’s Junior Nationals, which Pam is
putting on.… Franklin Roberson shed his
shirt at the urging of some crazed journalist
and gave the stunned but extremely happy
fans a look at the “new Ripped Roberson”
he plans to display in ’06.… I can’t believe
Padilla’s gun.
people think Ron Avidan, the creator of
GetBig.com, gets too close to
the athletes with his defensive
postings on the site; I mean,
the man wouldn’t even get near
sexy Dina Al Sabah at Jason
Dhir’s big postcontest bash.
And there was even a Ron lookalike in Columbus, complete
with same first name.
Sly Stallone’s
Challenge
Liberman
Noah
Neveux
Rich and Liz Gaspari plus L.T. and Cathy Le Francois.
On February 25, at a gala
dinner at the Loew’s Beverly
Hills Hotel, screen icon and fitness enthusiast Sylvester Stallone honored the 10 Instone LifeChange Challenge finalists for 2005. I tried my
darndest to make it to the event, but a bad cold knocked me out. Yeah, I
ain’t no Rocky Balboa, for sure!
From thousands of contestants, 10 finalists were selected, with the
intention of naming one grand-prize winner. Contestants from all over the
country and from all fitness levels had committed themselves to the competition and carefully monitored their progress.
They submitted pictures taken both before and after the LifeChange
Challenge period, along with descriptions of
their daily meal plans and exercise routines and
essays that related their emotional and physical
changes throughout the contest.
At the dinner it was announced that the
judges had been so impressed with the finalists’
notable physical transformations and inspiring personal accounts that they were unable to
name just one grand-prize winner. Instead, they
declared all 10 finalists as grand-prize winners,
with each receiving a $15,000 contract and other
To contact Lonnie
special prizes, including the opportunity to be
Teper about material
possibly pertinent to
featured in Instone’s 2006 advertising campaign.
News & Views, write
Congrats to Darrin Black, George Castillo,
to 1613 Chelsea
Michael Conley, Ruth Hushour, Tamara
Road, #266, San
McElwee, Henry Pelitire, Don Roberts, Paul
Marino, CA 91108;
Versarge, Bryan Ward and Justin Zahn. And
fax to (626) 289-7949;
for those who want a shot at the 2006 title,
or send e-mail to
registration is already open. Check out the details
[email protected].
at www.InstoneNutrition.com.
Liberman
Flexin’ his
choppers.
Arnold Classic ’06
The Blade Has It Made in the
Shade in Columbus
Photography by John Balik and Bill Comstock
Arnold Classic
FOR HUNDREDS MORE PHOTOS AND
EXTENSIVE CONTEST COVERAGE VISIT
1) Dexter Jackson
2006
2) Branch Warren
3) Victor Martinez
4) Gustavo Badell
5) Melvin Anthony
6) Lee Priest
7) Mustafa
Mohammad
6) Lee
Priest
4) Gustavo
Badell
13) Johnnie
Jackson
8) Darrem Charles
8) Toney Freeman
10) Troy Alves
11) David Henry
12) Ahmad Haidar
11) David Henry
15) Chris
Cook
14) Kris Dim
Ruth Silverman’s
PUMP & CiRCUMSTANCE
MS. INTERNATIONAL
Is back in the winner’s circle
Contest photograpy by Bill Dobbins and Bill Comstock
Kyle-Style Muscle
Columbus top-five flexers (from left): Iris Kyle, Jitka Harazimova, Dayana Cadeau, Yaxeni Oriquen
Frilly hair-dos and open-handed posing were the order of
the day at the ’06 Ms. International competition, which was
held at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium and Greater Columbus (Ohio) Convention Center on March 3, during Arnold
Fitness Weekend, but the judges didn’t let that distract them
from focusing on the muscle. With most of the Olympia finalists from 2005, including Ms. O champ Yaxeni Oriquen,
laying it on the line, the potential for a shakeup was great. The
results produced a shakeup of sorts but not one big enough
to stimulate the kind of change some would like to see in the
sport’s direction.
For the most part, the 14 flexers who snagged the coveted
invites to the women’s pro season opener came in top shape,
starting with ’04 International and Olympia winner Iris Kyle.
Big, full and deeply separated, Kyle was all muscle and flow
personified, with the bodyparts working together in a way they
weren’t at the Olympia, when she lost to Oriquen. Ditto for
Dayana Cadeau, the Ms. O third-placer, who was at her best
with packed muscles and a trim torso. Yaxeni, on the other
hand, was just a bit off compared with her ’05 performance at
both shows, which brings us to Jitka Harazimova, who was
not.
Coming off a smash end-of-season return to competition
after a six-year-hiatus, Harazimova rode her sensational symmetry to a fourth-place finish at the O. At that show—as it had
been during her heyday in the mid-1990s—her conditioning
had been just a smidgen of sharpness short of convincing
the panel to place her any higher than that. In Columbus that
smidgen was in the house, and though it didn’t end up that
way, some observers saw the contest as a two-way bout
between Iris and Jitka, with more than just, Who was the best
bodybuilder onstage that day? at stake. Instead, the pecking
order was Cadeau in the runner-up spot, Oriquen in third and
Harazimova getting the fourth-place check once again, all
unanimous decisions.
One panel member I spoke with suggested that Jitka hadn’t
projected much personality. I would respectfully disagree (see
the photo above). I will admit that the pale blue-gray posing
suit she wore at the finals was not the most flattering choice
for showing off Harazimova’s graceful sum of the muscular
bodyparts, but, fourth? C’mon, guys and gals!
Stage presence abounded at the finals. The pro women
continue to be vastly more entertaining on the posing platform—with better music choices—than the guys, but that
and two bucks will get you a protein bar. Still, the crowd went
wild when Betty Pariso, who recently hit 50, came out on-
BACKSTAGE AT THE VETERANS
Lisa Aukland,
appearing in
her fourth Ms
.
I lineup, gets in
a glamour shot
at the makeup
mirror.
Annie Rivieccio glows with
the confidence
that comes from
knowing you
look good.
Photography by Ruth Silverman
Tonie Norman
enjoys her first
time competing
in Columbus. Bet
it won’t be her
last.
FITNESS I
Hustle and Flow
and Betty Pariso.
stage in her best condition and
posed with a walker. Pariso was
fifth, followed by a finely tuned
Bonny Priest, who, as she had
at the Olympia, landed in sixth.
Annie Rivieccio, in seventh,
was at the top of her game and
also could have finished higher.
Thanks to a new rule involving
the number of Olympia qualifications per contest in seasons
when there aren’t enough contests to produce a lineup, like
this one, all of the above plus
eighth-placer Lisa Aukland
earned tickets to the big show.
Kim Harris, in ninth, and Tonie
Norman looked fine to round
out the top 10.
No wonder Bonny Priest is smiling.
Her abs are in, and all’s right with
the world.
Behold the top
bus favorite
three professional
Hendershott,
fitness athletes in
who came out
the world. Whatin a gown and
ever order they
crown, spoofland in, some
ing herself
fans’ sensibilities
as “queen of
will be offended.
fitness,” before
At the Fitness
ripping off the
International in
dress to rock
Columbus, Ohio,
the house with
on March 3, Adela
another fluidGarcia returned
and-fabulous
to the form that
performance.
had her finishing
Even if the
numero uno at this
panel had
show—and the
seen it my
Olympia—in 2004
way, though, it
and got a return
wouldn’t have
trip to the top of
changed the
the heap. Taking
outcome (see
three out of four
comments
rounds, she ended
on physiques
the evening just
above).
five points ahead
Elsewhere
of second-placer
in the routine
Kim Klein, which
round—and
left last year’s big
giving notice
flipster, Jen Henthat her addershott, dangling
vance pub
in third. Ouch.
was accurate,
As so often
World champ
Klein was smokin’ and JenHen was dressed to kill,
happens at these
Regiane
but Garcia mowed down the competition.
affairs, the die
DaSilva
was cast in the physique rounds, where
grabbed everyone’s attention by performthe always-adept Adela ruled, with Kim
ing a pushup while balanced on one arm.
and her ever-shrinking thighs solidly in
The 5’5 3/4” DaSilva just loves to throw
second, and Hendershott, who’s come a
her body around the stage. The panel
long way, physiquewise, to earn her spot
placed her fourth in the long routines, and
in the first callout, taking third in the twoin a lineup that included sterling perforpiece-suit comparisons and fourth in the
mances from the likes of Julie Childs,
one-piece. Though Jenny aced the manTanji Johnson, Stacy Simons, and
datory routines with a unanimous win, the
pretty much everyone else, that may have
judges liked Garcia’s mafia-themed numbeen her greatest feat.
ber the best in the long programs—but
Fourth overall went to Tracey Greenonly slightly. In fact, the scores were so
wood, whose statuesque physique conclose between the top three—Garcia,
tinues to impress the judges and whose
nine, with Klein and Hendershott tied at
routines are always a personal best.
11—you could hardly call it a consensus.
Childs, fifth, and Johnson, sixth, made
Now, I loved Adela’s new program—
their first trips to the top-show-top-sixher between-pushups tricks included
finish club, with Julie Palmer landing in
dancing on her hands—and the latest
seventh; DaSilva, eighth; Angie Semsch,
version of Kim’s “Smokin’ in the Boys’
ninth; Simons and Mindi O’Brien tied for
Room” had the New Jersey teacher mak10th; and rookies Heidi Fletcher and Aling it look too darned easy once again.
lison Daughtry in the rounding-out-theMy vote, if I’d had one, however, would
lineup-because-someone-had-to slots.
have tipped toward hometown Colum-
Look for IRON MAN’s blowout photo coverage of the Fitness, Figure
and Ms. International competitions in the July issue.
PUMP & CiRCUMSTANCE
MORE BACKSTAGE
MUSINGS
Bootys
Manly Women Or girliemen?
Let’s be honest here. Raise
your hand if you think Iris Kyle
could have won the Arnold Classic. Don’t misunderstand. That’s
not a comment on how much
muscle is too much on the female
form but whether the male ideal
has moved, well, just a tad over
to the feminine side. I mean, no
one ever accused John Grimek
of having an hourglass figure. Or
Arnold Schwarzenegger. And
not even Steve Reeves could
boast a wasp waist—if he’d even
have wanted one. Yet in the modern era of highly evolved physique
development, the bodybuilders
who are considered the most
aesthetically gifted—think Flex
Wheeler—resemble those most
female of descriptions. Perhaps it’s
just a consequence of the increasingly massive physiques being built
by bodybuilders of all genders. The
more mass you put on, proportionately, everywhere but your waist,
Iris’ hourglass was right on time for a peak in
the more you build the hourglass,
er, um, V-taper.
The point could be made that Wheeler, the guy with the “prettiest physique
in the sport,” never won the Mr. Olympia—there was always someone who was
bigger and harder to earn the judges’ favor—while Kyle and her Wheeler-esque
physique have won the Ms. O (as well as the Ms. I) twice.
But could she have won the Arnold, which was in fact won by the known-forhis-aesthetics-as-well-as-his-muscle Dexter Jackson? Top 10—maybe—and I
guarantee you that afterward, if you asked the panel members why she didn’t do
better, you would hear them say, “When I look at her, all I can see is that she’s a
woman.”
CHAMPS
Pose Down
Total
tease. IM’s
photographers
always
manage
to capture
Tracey
Greenwood’s
statuesque
physique
in some
wonderful
routine
shots.
Catch
her flying
through
hicMuscle.com.
the air at Grap
Total talent. Originally from Brazil, Ger
man import Regiane DaSilva, the ’05
World Amateur champ, was a worldclass aerobics competitor before migrating to fitness.
Only in bodybuilding
Frequently, when I photograph women bodybuilders or fitness athletes, I say, “Give me your husband’s
(or boyfriend’s) favorite pose,” and my models obligingly move into their best boudoir-worthy or mockboudoir-worthy posture. Not so Fitness I winner Adela
Garcia. “Give me Lee’s favorite pose,” I called to the
lady, referring to Garcia’s sweetie, Lee Priest, and
what did she do? Hit Priest’s signature hands-overhead, wrists-in triceps shot. Now, that’s love.
Adela, who moved to Austin, Texas, last year, is
now holding weekend boot camps covering “every
aspect of fitness and figure competition, nutrition and
posing.” Says the sport’s number-one chica Latina,
“Whether you are a new or seasoned competitor or
just wants to get into the best shape of your life, come
to Austin and find out what it takes to become your
personal best.” For more information, write to her at
[email protected].
Such a kidder. Picture
her with a Superman
cape.
Total
focus.
Forget
any
rumors
that Jen
is thinking of
retiring.
“I am
fired
up and
want revenge,”
ow.
she said
s after the sh
e a few week
with a twinkl
ess O!
Look out, Fitn
RETURN S
FIGURE I
Tight Race
Feats of Strength
And recovery
One flu over the cuckoo’s nest
It only looks as if C.J. James is sewing
on Mary Elizabeth’s shadow.
When a stomach flu caused threetime Figure International winner Jenny
Lynn to withdraw at the last minute, a
foregone conclusion became an open
competition. I should have known
Mary Elizabeth Lado was going to
beat Mo Brant when I saw how lovely
Lado looked in the blue one-piece
backstage.
For the record, Lado won it in the
one-piece round. She, Brant and thirdplacer Amanda Savell were actually
tied in the two-piece round. Chastity
Sloan, Jane Awad and Christine
Pomponio-Pate rounded out the top
six.
Lynn planned to return to competition at the Pittsburgh Pro in May. More
scenes from the Figure I next month.
Mooney got the screws out of
her foot, but she’s still screwing around.
Teri Mooney demonstrates how she kept off her feet during her long rehab
from a torn lis franc tendon and broken foot suffered at the Emerald Cup a year
ago. “I did a lot of walking on my hands,” admitted Mooney, who was thrilled to
be standing again, not to mention working the Nutrex booth at the Arnold Expo.
One thing she was not thrilled about: that her name and photo had been
used—without her permission—in conjunction with a wanna-be women’s physique organization that was making the news last fall. Due to circumstances
beyond its organizers’ control, the new group never got off the ground, but in
case there were any lingering impressions, she wanted to set the record straight.
Teri, who had more pressing problems, wasn’t exactly thinking about getting on
any stage last fall. Besides, she pointed out, after all the years it took her to make
pro, she was hardly looking to jump ship.
Though competing in fitness was still a long way off for the New Jersey
tumbler, Teri would not rule out getting back onstage. “I do not quit,” she said,
suggesting that she might do a figure show this year just to keep her hands and
feet in. As for her future in fitness, she said, “I may not do flips, but my strength
moves are insane.” No kidding.
S.F. RESULTS
Refigured
Fuel of
champions
Chastity Sloan (right) slurps down a quick dose of
the amazing carb-loading substance that has helped
bring her 5’6” physique into the figure bright lights in
2006. A week after taking fourth at the Figure International, Sloan scored her first pro win in Sacramento,
with these ladies filling out the top five, in order: Gina
Camacho, Andrea Dumon, Zahanna Rotar and
Debbie Leung. Add Camacho and Dumon to the list
of those who’ll make their Olympia debuts in September.
Other Matters and Musings
In Case You Missed It
The IFBB’s 2006 rule book for amateur competition includes chapters on
men’s fitness and a new sport called
“men’s classic bodybuilding.” The
former has been around for a few years
and in fact has inspired the first World
Amateur Men’s Fitness Championships,
which is scheduled for Spain in Sep-
tember along with the Women’s World
Championships.
The latter is in response “to the
increasingly worldwide demand for
competitions for men who prefer, unlike today’s current bodybuilders, to
develop a less muscular yet athletic
and aesthetically pleasing physique,”
according to the new rules, which set
limits on how much a fellow of a certain
height can weigh.
Figure for men, you query? Don’t be
ridiculous. In men’s classic bodybuilding competitors are required to do the
seven mandatory poses as well as
quarter turns.
PUMP & CiRCUMSTANCE
SCENES FROM A CLASSIC WEEKEND
P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y R U T H S I LV E R M A N
Eerie. Iris
Kyle and
Dayana
Cadeau
correctly
predict
that they
will be on
top at the
Ms. International.
Christine Roth
makes a fashion
Athletes’ rep Betty Pariso reports
a new program to make health
insurance available for IFBB pros.
In her ninth appearance on the
Ms. I stage, the veteran flexer
finished fifth.
Blade 3. Michelle
Adams shows what
happens to figure gal
s
who diet for an entire
season.
Tanji Johnson recreates
the moment wh
en she
realized she’d be
taking
home more tha
n just happy
memories: a ch
eck for making the top six.
Speaking of
diva babes with
abs, Julie Childs
was almost
giddy with delight about her
top-five finish in
fitness.
Monica Guerra, ninth in the
Figure I, and Chris “Mother
Hen” Cormier bask in the post
contest glow after the women’s
finals.
Trophy shot. Confidential to Jitka: Next
time pull out all the
stops.
Here’s a new résumé category:
booth babe–fitness
diva. That’s some
set of abs on Stacy
Simons.
It’s hard out here for a pump…
Heidi Fletcher,
Julie Palmer
and Monica
Brant band together backstage. Special
thanks to Mo
for revealing
this sizzling
hot secret of
the fitness
trade.
New fitness pro Sonja Bruce checks
out the competition. Am I the only one
who thinks this very military lady is a
dead ringer for “Sex in the City’s” Kim
Cattrall?
You can contact
Ruth Silverman,
fitness reporter
and Pump & Cir
cumstance scribe,
in care of
IRON MAN, 1701 Ives Ave.,
Oxnard, CA 93033; or via e-mail at
[email protected].
Anna Larsson
Female
Muscle
Photography by Bill Dobbins, www.BillDobbins.com
Over the past few years weve featured Bill Dobbins’photography in
our annual Female Muscle issue, and it never fails to get a response
from readers. In fact, we’ve gotten such rave reviews, we decided
that once a year just isn’t enough. A better idea: How about giving
his images the spotlight every few issues?
So here we go. Once
again we proudly present the
world of female muscle as seen through
Dobbins’ lens. His powerful photographs can evoke
many emotions. They are dramatic, with a unique artistic style—
and his busy shooting schedule ensures that we’ll have more new
and classic shots from the Dobbins collection in a few months. If
you can’t wait till then, visit www.BillDobbins.com.
—The Editors
Female Muscle
Cynthia Bridges
Female Muscle
Dina Al-Sabah
Female Muscle
Kim Lyons
Meriza Goncalves
Female Muscle
Sherry Goggin
Female Muscle
Michiko Nishiwaki
Female Muscle
Lena Johannesen
IRONMIND
Mind
In Charge of Champions
I
magine this: Your mission is to produce a stunning array of
world champions in the highly competitive arena of Olympic-style weightlifting, and you have at your disposal just
about whatever you might want to help reach your goal. For
starters, there’s no need to limit your athlete pool to a scanty
group of scrawny walk-ins better suited to watching slow-pitch
Strossen \ Model: Robin Byrd-Goad
Think like a champion,
and you can become
better today than you
were yesterday.
softball than trying to lift several times their bodyweight from
the ground to arm’s length overhead. You have highly refined
scouting tools, and you’re not kidding about this evaluation
business. You might test 100,000 prospects and identify perhaps 70 as having enough potential to give your program a try.
What you end up with is a group of athletes who have the ability to lift weights most of us can barely
roll across the floor—think of relatively
slender 150-pound guys who can lift
more than 350 pounds from the floor
to overhead, and you’ll get the picture.
Xiong Han Yang, head coach of the
Chinese national men’s weightlifting
team, one of the most fearsome lifting
machines on the planet, thinks the first
key to producing the champions he
wants is selecting the right athletes—
the ones who have the potential to
develop the right stuff to produce gold
medals. As he sees it, the right stuff
has three elements: 1) strength—no
surprise, since we’re talking about
the ability to lift big, big weights; 2)
technique—the Olympic lifts are highly
complex athletic moves that require
speed, flexibility and coordination; and
3) psychological makeup.
Coach Yang says a champion
requires three principal psychological
qualities. First, you have to want to be
a champion. “I want to be a champion,” you say. Yeah, and you’d also
like to drive a Lamborghini. How much
do you really want to become a champion—are you willing to walk over hot
coals to meet your goal, or do you
wimp out at the first sign of distress?
Becoming a champion requires a
level of commitment that most people
simply can’t muster. Ask yourself
some hard questions about how many
workouts you’ve missed in the past
year, whether you tend to overtrain
or undertrain, what kind of limits you
put on your performance and so forth.
Body
Remember, nobody but you will see the answers to those
the day when you’ll be able to handle two 45s on each end of
questions, so you might as well be honest and get the benefit
the bar. “That would really be something,” you say to yourself.
of knowing where you stand.
When the time comes, if you’ve got the right stuff, you’ll blow
The second key, Coach Yang says, is developing the conit up like nobody’s business.
fidence that comes from having a high success rate in trainMost of us wouldn’t rate as the janitor in a highly selective
ing. For example, there are a lot of stories about how few lifts
lifting program, but that shouldn’t deter us from reaping all
three-time Olympic champion Naim Suleymanoglu missed in
the riches good, heavy training produces. It should be very
a year’s training. Even if that’s an exaggeration, you get the
reassuring to know that no matter what your structure, fastpoint. Champions don’t practice missing lifts; they practice
twitch muscle supply or pattern of muscle insertions, you can
making them. How about you? If you’re missing a half dozen
think like a champion and become better today than you were
lifts per workout, you need to rethink your training philosophy
yesterday. That’s not such a bad deal, is it?
because all you’re doing is undermining your confidence.
—Randall Strossen, Ph.D.
If you’re missing a lot of lifts, it’s reasonable to expect that
you’ll miss a lot of future ones. Not exactly the way a chamEditor’s note: Randall Strossen, Ph.D., edits the quarterly
pion should think, is it? Once again, there’s no use in kidding
magazine MILO. He’s also the author of IronMind: Stronger
yourself—if a little self-reflection, coupled with a review of your
Minds, Stronger Bodies; Super Squats: How to Gain 30
trusty training diary, reveals too many misses, it’s time to do
Pounds of Muscle in 6 Weeks and Paul Anderson: The Mightiyourself a favor and come back down to weights you can lift.
est Minister. For more information call IronMind Enterprises
Oddly enough, if you’ve been missing too many lifts, reducInc. at (530) 265-6725 or Home Gym Warehouse at (800)
ing your training weights might be the single best way to get
447-0008, ext. 1. Visit the IronMind Web site at www
stronger. Fast.
.ironmind.com.
Finally, Coach Yang looks for lifters who can apply tremendous focus in competition. Think of athletes who,
under the pressure of a big contest, can walk up
to a weight they’ve never even tried before and
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Bomber Blast
MIND/BODY
About Weight Training
I
Neveux \ Model: Noel Thompson
might miss the training topics vital to you, but at least—here
comes a laughable presumption—I stir up your thoughts. In
hopes of being more specific, let’s begin our brief time together
from another angle. What is it about your training that bothers you
the most? What perplexes you, distresses and disturbs you, disappoints you? What gets in your way, slows you down, prevents you
from making progress—losing weight, building muscle, increasing
strength and gaining shape? How about energy, endurance and
general conditioning?
It’s always those in the front row who raise their hands frantically before the question is completely asked. They say, Guys are
always staring at my butt (train at home, Bob), or the weights are
cold in the morning (wear mittens, Bob), or, I’ve been lifting till I
drop for three weeks and nothing’s happening—nothing, nothing, nothing, I tell you, and I want to scream (Jane, have you met
Bob?)!!!
Having spent considerable time in the gym in the pursuit of
physical development, I’ve paused, scratched my head and
devised a random yet comprehensive list of problems I suspect
represent us all. Perhaps we can whittle them down or reshape
them into little more than annoyance to attend, not problems to
perplex and suppress.
Problem List:
1) Purpose, the lack thereof. You’re lazy. You procrastinate
and you’re unmotivated. Correspondingly, you have no energy, endurance or drive. Beyond that you are without spirit or enthusiasm.
You feel no excitement or desire. Why bother, you say rhetorically.
You just don’t get it.
In the ’60s we said you were a bummer on a bad trip. Today I
say you are without purpose. If your purpose was strong and welldefined, none of the aforementioned negatives would materialize.
What, where, when, how and why
They would not survive. They would, like pesky mosquitoes, be
swatted before they could light.
Laziness is a physical vulgarity. It afflicts those to whom the notion of lifting weights and being strong does not occur. Life without
purpose is not life at all; it’s existence—dead man walking. And
procrastination is a blight no muscle builder dares endure. Putting
off one’s training enters the right ear and exits the left swiftly without tweaking the brain. To skip a workout is blasphemous, illegal,
treasonous and immoral. Thou must not cancel thy workout. No
man or woman who has truly experienced the iron desires to avoid
it. Their purpose is too deep, too high, too wide and too grand.
Motivation is never in question. It never wavers, and it endures
supremely, as long as your purpose is clear. Purpose is the heart
of the matter, the spark, the fuel and the fire. Where there’s fire,
there’s heat and, therefore, energy and force and drive.
We’re not physical beings apart from our spirit, and when purpose is intellectually determined, the spirit is aroused. When the
spirit is aroused, purpose takes on greater dimension and intensity.
The body responds with enthusiasm, excitement and desire. The
package is complete.
Purpose must be held high and strong and in clear view for success day by day. Let it falter and fade, and you fail proportionately.
Without purpose you have nothing.
2) Discipline, the callous taskmaster. I’ll be kind. I won’t
dwell on the topic. Discipline develops by our side, and by its side
we develop. We see discipline in our eyes when we look in the
mirror, and it’s noticed by the way we walk and in our posture.
Mostly, though, it’s observed in our nature. He insists, persists and
perseveres; he’s disciplined. She refuses to give up, makes no
excuses and endures the pain; she’s disciplined. They’re heroes in
a life where freedom has been confused with anything goes, debauchery comes before control and tolerance of weakness before
the development of strength. Love discipline like a brother or sister,
father or mother, spouse or best friend. Without discipline you’re
out of control.
3) Time, the imaginary gatekeeper. What can be said about
time except that we never have enough and can’t manage what
we have. Slightly optimistic adult-life scenario: Have a family, secure the job, grow fat, weak, sickly and ill-spirited and die early.
Poor design. Go back to purpose and review discipline and get out
your little black book. Somewhere under “urgent appointments”
simply write: Work out at the gym for the purpose of good health
and muscle and long life. Engage discipline and perseverance to
perform the heroic physical act. Good! Done!! Do not dilly-dally!
On to the next pressing appointments: Growing and learning,
respect and responsibility.
4) Gym facility, inadequate and inconvenient. Let’s face it.
Where there’s a will, there’s a way. We can work out in a bedroom,
garage, basement, backyard or park—any space where we can do
pushups, dips, chins, dynamic tension, crunches and leg raises.
With purpose, time and discipline we can do it.
But there’s nothing like a great gym just the way you like it. Give
me a clean gym with meaty equipment, sufficient space, enough
people, no jerks, some jolt-free sounds and plenty of air. Around
the corner with my own personal parking space out front would be
nice, but I’ll walk cross-town if I have to.
Anything worthwhile is worth working for. Be strong, be courageous. No wimps allowed. That goes for jerks, too.
Another thing we must face, while we’re facing things: As the
world turns, we’re running out of such marvelous places. Neighborhood gyms have been perverted by the “scene.” They’re being
Neveux \ Model: Chris Cook
replaced by no-heart corporate chains,
facilities with acres of slick late-model
treadmills, trick machines and personal
trainers wearing Pampers. Head ’em up, roll
’em out.
It’s a good day for those who are building
their own home gym. Hang in there!
5) Training knowledge and methodology—what to do, how, when and why.
Once you’re past the fundamentals, there’s
nothing more confounding than determining the proper exercise routine. Once you
survive the frustration of managing intermediate training, how on earth do you design
the workout scheme exactly suited to your
metabolism, genetic makeup and evolving
lifestyle? You read the mags, refer to the
books, ask online and guess. No two answers are the same. The methodologies are
endless, complex and conflicting.
Beware! They might be mythology, not methodology. How about little white lies,
exaggerations, mistakes, car-salesmanship or none-too-rare ego-espousing hype?
Put knowledge aside; it confounds understanding. Let the intellect be still; it inhibits the soul. Think less; it thwarts focus. Be consistent, work hard, apply common
sense, but don’t take night courses in building muscles and power, biochemistry or
nutrition. Eat lots of protein and get plenty of sleep instead.
A personal trainer with muscles, experience, humility, compassion, conviction,
and ears that listen and a mouth that speaks kindly and wisely can be worth his
weight for three one-hour training sessions and an occasional follow-up consultation.
Training’s personal.
Greet yourself with respect and appreciation, the best training partner you’ll ever
have, and the best source of personal information, straight talk and insight this side
of DaveDraper.com. Trust the hearty companion you are and, thereby, impart encouragement to your lockstep mentor—yup, you. As he or she grows, so do you.
Count on it.
He or she is certainly an advocate and, no doubt, wiser than you think.
6) Eating right, or menu, diet and nutrition. About eating: You know what to
do, don’t you? You just don’t want to do it. High protein, medium-to-low-glycemic
carbs, medium essential fatty acids and no bad, greasy fat. Lots of fresh vegetables
and fruit and pure water. Smaller well-balanced meals more frequently (five to six)
throughout the day, starting with breakfast. Be consistent. Supplement sufficiently.
Don’t forget your Bomber Blend and Super Spectrim vitamins.
This is as basic as weightlifting, which doesn’t necessarily make it easy or fun. Go
back to purpose and discipline before you order your next pizza.
Don’t spread graffiti or bite the mailman.
7) Drugs for muscle enhancement. One of the biggest problems with steroids
and their associates is they are there. We’re a weak bunch, and shortcuts are popular in this day and age. Excuse me—shortcuts and instant riches have been popular
since Adam and Eve and apple pie. But before you start downing the pills, injecting
and stacking generously, remember this: They’re illegal; they’re an admission of
weakness; they’re a lie, harmful to the physical system and destructive to the emotional system. They’re financially draining, hard to get. Sources are uncertain, quality
is dubious, gains are temporary, and they’re a monkey on your back. Dependency is
a cruel and unrelenting animal. I inhaled once.
As a user you unconsciously walk in shadows, withhold an uncomfortable secret
in your regular world and unwillingly become part of an ignoble subculture you’d
rather view from a safe distance. They say ’roids make users angry. Maybe it’s their
personal disappointment that makes them angry.
Time is flying, but I’m not. The sun’s gone down, and I haven’t left the runway.
Heads, I take to the sky. Tails, I taxi back to the hangar. Let’s see...where’d I put my
handy two-headed coin?
Go, bombers. Godspeed.
—Dave Draper
www.DaveDraper.com
Gallery of Ironmen
MIND/BODY
Donald Dinnie
Photo courtesy of the David Chapman collection
S
cotland is a hard and stony
land that has always bred
strong, muscular men, but
few Scotsmen have had as great
an impact on the world of strength
and sports as Donald Dinnie. In the
mid-1800s Dinnie was a professional
sportsman, the first man in history to
make a living from his strength and
skill.
The remarkable athlete was born
in 1837 in the heart of the Scottish
highlands. He was a stonemason,
but he enjoyed participating in the
strength events of the Highland
Games. From an early age, Dinnie
had the strength of a champion; that
was proved around 1860, when the
strong lad was at work on a bridge.
He carried two enormous stones, one
weighing 340 pounds and the other
435 pounds, across the bridge for
a distance of five yards. Those Dinnie Steens have become legendary,
and strongmen continue to try their
prowess on them. Thanks to his great
muscular power, Donald Dinnie traveled across Scotland exhibiting his
extraordinary prowess and increasing
his reputation.
Although unquestionably strong,
the young Scotsman was no mere
musclehead. He was constantly
thinking of new and better methods
of performing the traditional strength
feats. Most famously, he figured out a
new way of throwing the hammer by
swinging around his head rather than
using the unwieldy old pendulum
style.
He began to make a regular circuit of Highland Games, and he was
so good at his feats that organizers
started to pay him for performing at
their festivals. As his skills and fame
increased, Dinnie received invitations
to go to North America to exhibit his
strength and skills. He was a rousing success in the U.S. and Canada
among both the expatriate Scots
and their non-Celtic neighbors. He
even took up wrestling and weightlifting and proved just as successful at
those endeavors as he was at the
traditional Scottish sports.
By the early 1880s Dinnie had
worked his way across the continent and performed up and down
the West Coast, but in 1883 he was
invited to compete and exhibit in
New Zealand and Australia. He was
destined to live in the Southern Hemisphere until 1897, when he left on a
tour of South Africa and then went
back to Britain.
Donald Dinnie was a seasoned
and stalwart competitor, and he is
said to have won more than 10,000
awards over his long career. His cash
earnings would be some $2.5 million
in today’s money. Unfortunately, the
Scotsman’s last days were spent in
poverty because he was not very
good with money. He had invested
or given away his earnings, and by
1912 he was in dire straits. Fortunately, the sporting community of
Great Britain had such respect for
the man that many famous athletes
organized a benefit in 1913 and
raised enough money to enable the
destitute Dinnie to live out his final
years in comfort. Dinnie died in 1916
of heart disease. He was 79.
—David Chapman
Inspiration
MIND/BODY
I’m not here to make a living; I’m here to make a
difference.
—Helice Bridges
L
iving a life of purpose will make your life worth
living. All human beings want to know what
they are here to do. Mother Theresa did, Nelson
Mandela did, and Arnold Schwarzenegger did. Look
at Jack LaLanne; he is still fulfilling his life’s work and
living a passionate, purposeful life at 90-plus. Living
on purpose is really living.
In the July ’05 IM I discussed goals. There is a difference, however, between goals and purpose. Your
purpose is the big picture, like a globe of the world.
Goals are the steps along the way, like a local street map. You need the globe
to determine where you want to go in the world, and you need the street map
to zero in on the destination.
Your purpose and goals work exactly the same way, and you need both.
When you plan your everyday goals with a well-defined purpose, you will wake
up every morning champing at the bit because you know what you’re supposed to do, and you’ll go to bed at night fulfilled.
Here are three keys to living a life of purpose:
1) Align your purpose with your passions and natural ability. We all have
God-given gifts; discovering those gifts will unlock your purpose.
2) Be determined. Many people lose their direction in life because they’re
easily distracted or influenced by others. Don’t be easily distracted. Don’t be
what Zig Ziglar calls a wandering generality.
3) Be humble; Zig Ziglar also points out that being humble is not thinking
less of yourself, it is just thinking of yourself less. Live outside yourself. Don’t
let an unhealthy ego destroy your good intention.
You’re designed for greatness. The world needs what you have. Now go
live the life you were meant to live!
—John Rowley
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Cassie Fields
Photography by Jerry Fredrick
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Serious Stats
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delts; Sunday: rest
Factoid: Loves to read novels; attends Bible study
every weekend.
Model: Chris Cook
Only the Strong Shall Survive
M ind,M u scle and M ig ht
The Mental
Factor
by BillSt rr
Photog raphy by M ichaelNeveu x
or athletes to be success
ful in their chosen sports,
they require many attri
butes. Having a high de
gree of athleticism, which
includes such things as coordina
tion, balance, quickness and a sense
of timing during the performance
of a physical skill, is key. Having
a strong body that can endure re
peated impacts in contact sports
as well as the ability to play longer
at a more intense level are genuine
advantages. That’s the physical side
of the coin.
Then there’s the mental side,
which, as many great athletes con
tend, is even more important than
the physical. I happen to agree.
During my competitive years in
Olympic weightlifting, I saw count
less examples of lifters who were
clearly not as strong as their op
ponents emerge the winner due to
their mental superiority.
At the pinnacle of every sport the
difference between the competitors
is minute. All have similar quali
ties in terms of athletic ability and
sport skills, yet invariably one or
two always seem to come out on
top. Lance Armstrong is a perfect
example.
In high-dollar sports, psycholo
F
gists are frequently brought in to
help players who are struggling to
overcome their problems. They ob
viously have all the necessary tools
to excel, but they’re faltering badly.
Hypnosis and other forms of induc
ing a state in which the athletes are
very responsive to suggestion are
used, and in nearly every case it
works. The players snap out of their
funk and return to their previous
champion caliber.
And yet I’m fairly sure that very
few readers have the means to seek
out professional assistance when
their confidence has hit bottom.
They have to figure out how to cor
rect the problem on their own. The
good news is, it can be done and will
not cost you a dime.
Many are of the opinion that hav
ing self-assurance is innate—either
you have it or you don’t. While it’s
true that some do possess a higher
degree of natural confidence than
others, that doesn’t mean the trait
can’t be improved. It’s a skill, and
as with any other skill, the more
you practice it, the more proficient
you will become at using it in your
sports activities, including weight
training.
In team sports an athlete’s confi
dence can be bolstered by coaches
and teammates, but that isn’t quite
the same for individual sports. True,
your coach can encourage you and
provide some form suggestions, but
you are very much alone during the
performance of your event. And
while an athlete in a team sport can
be a member of a championship
squad without playing a significant
role, the individual-sport athlete
relies 100 percent on his or her own
accomplishments. So self-assurance
is more critical to success for those
who go it alone.
Nevertheless, the methods I’m
about to present can also be use
ful to those who play team sports.
They’re not restricted to those who
participate in individual sports
requiring independent action. At
Johns Hopkins, all of the members
of the Olympic weightlifting team
also played football. I taught them
how to mentally prepare for a con
test, and once they learned that
skill, they used it to their benefit
when football season rolled around.
I’ve mentioned that practice is
necessary in order to become bet
ter at this skill, and so is patience.
Some think it’s a magic formula. It’s
not. Time must be spent because
proficiency doesn’t come overnight.
And that’s exactly why the majority
Model: Eric Domer
You can use
mental rehearsal
for a wide range
of activities,
not just your
workouts.
of those who start practicing mental
rehearsal don’t stick with it. A mental skill is harder to achieve because
it has to be done precisely each and
every time. You might get stronger
even though you use poor technique on some exercise, but that’s
not the case with a mental exercise.
It also needs to be understood
that some are able to master this
skill rather easily while others must
spend a longer time working on it.
I’ve observed that those who took
part in a wide range of competitive
sports when they were younger,
and did well in them, have an easier
time dealing with the stress of competition than those who didn’t play
sports when they were young. Success breeds success.
One of the nice bonuses of learning how to use mental rehearsal is
that you can also apply it to dayto-day activities—to help you plan
for an upcoming hectic schedule
or deal with an invasion of in-laws
during a holiday or a bunch of midterms or finals. In other words, it’s
a really good skill to have whether
you’re engaged in a competitive
activity or just desiring a stress-free
life.
I call the process mental rehearsal. Others use similar methods
and give it other names, but a rose
is a rose. As I mentioned, it can be
used for a wide range of activities,
but I’ll restrict this article to how
it can benefit weight training and
competitive lifting. I should mention that I always did a form of mental preparation—even before I got
serous about Olympic lifting. When
I wrestled and boxed, I would review
the fundamentals and try to pump
up my self-esteem prior to going
into the ring or on the mat.
Once I started devoting all my
energy to lifting, I continued to
use this same idea—going over my
intended attempts and thinking
about the keys. I did it in a perfunctory manner, however, and never
set aside a specific period of time to
mentally plan for the contests. I’m
sure it helped some, although I’m
not sure how much. I was missing
lifts that I should have made.
The value of this discipline was
brought into perspective as I was
getting ready to compete in the ’66
North Americans, which were held
in York, Pennsylvania. It was by far
the biggest meet I’d ever qualified
for and I was understandably apprehensive. The month before, Bob
Bednarski, Russ Knipp and I had
driven to Boone, North Carolina, to
take part in a contest. As every lifter
knows, a certain amount of bonding
takes place on a road trip, especially
a long one, so we all got to know one
another and became friends.
The night before the North
Americans, Tommy Suggs, Russ and
I gathered at Bednarski’s trailer at
Brookside Park, only a few miles
from Bob Hoffman’s residence near
Dover. That’s the site of the annual York Barbell Company picnic.
Sometime during the casual affair,
Russ pulled me into a back room
and asked what I planned on lifting the next day. I told him, and he
prompted me to go through the
three lifts step by step from the first
warmup to the final attempt. He
told me to visualize each lift as I
verbalized it and focus on the form
points. I worked my way through
the press and snatch but never got
to the clean and jerk because Barski
insisted we join the rest of the party.
At the contest I felt extremely
confident. I proceeded to make all
my presses and snatches, setting
personal records on both. I was on
a roll. That is, until I got to the clean
and jerks. My high confidence level
disappeared. I only made my opener. There was no doubt in my mind
that if I had rehearsed my clean and
jerks as I had the other two lifts, I
would have succeeded with every
attempt that night.
I was convinced that going
through the lifts and picturing
each one from start to finish was
a tremendous asset, yet I couldn’t
impose on Russ to talk me through
the preparation every time. I had
to figure out how to make it work
on my own. I began mentally going
through my planned attempts and
highlighting the various form points
on the night prior to a meet. It did
help, but not for the significant
contests, like the ’68 Olympic Trials,
where the stakes were so high.
When I tried to go through my intended attempts, I would get so nervous that my pulse rate would soar
and I could feel my muscles tighten.
No matter how hard I tried to relax,
I couldn’t, particularly when I got to
the final lifts. The rehearsals did me
no good at all, because I just wasn’t
able to relax enough to focus on my
lifting.
I knew that I was missing a critical part of the process, but I didn’t
have a clue what it might be. Then
I stumbled across it. I was leafing
through a book on martial arts, hoping to glean enough information to
put together an article for Strength
& Health, when I came across a
chapter on systematic breathing
and relaxation. Bingo, I had found
the piece of the puzzle I was needing to make my mental rehearsals
bear fruit. Or at least I thought I
had. In two weeks there was a meet
Model: Dan Decker
Preworkout
visualization can
help your form
and focus in the
gym.
in Wilmington, Delaware. I would
put the idea to the test. I’d like to say
I did great at the contest. I didn’t.
I was full of confidence, however,
and basically missed some attempts
simply because I was not yet strong
enough. My mind, on the other
hand, was more than prepared
because I was able to go through
almost an hour of mental rehearsal
without getting too nervous to continue.
It was all due to the breathing. As
I began the procedure described in
the book, I felt my body relax. Then
I started my intended attempts,
thinking more of the technique than
the numbers. Whenever I began to
get anxious, I would start the deep
breathing again and stay with it
until I was once again calm. It was
exactly what I was looking for and
was so simple that I wanted to kick
myself for not figuring it out on my
own. But that’s the story of my life.
The reason that the deep breathing enabled me to avoid becoming
anxious is the basic fact that the
mind can only concentrate on one
thing at a time. I learned that in
my college psychology classes but
had never considered it to be instrumental in helping me prepare
for a contest. When I was focusing
on inhaling and exhaling deeply, I
wasn’t able to think about my lifts.
As I said, it’s a skill, and the longer I
practiced it, the easier it was for me
to go through all my intended attempts without getting anxious and
having to stop and start over.
Eventually, I gave little attention
to the numbers and concentrated
on technique. I didn’t even set my
opening attempts firmly but kept
them flexible. I might start with 270
if my warmups went well or 260 if
they didn’t, reminding myself of the
often forgotten truism in competition that it doesn’t matter where you
start, only where you end up. I also
didn’t lock in my second or third
attempt either, so I could change
them according to what my competitors were doing without affecting
my confidence.
I began using the deep breathing during my warmups and before
going on platform. It served two
useful functions. It enabled me to
calm down and conserve my energy
for the upcoming attempt, and it
Mental rehearsal
is a learned skill.
helped me focus on the small form
keys—both most useful when 10
pounds often means the difference
between winning and watching the
victory ceremony from the audience.
So here’s a short course on learning how to relax that anyone can
master if he or she is willing to put
in some practice time. It’s just as
useful for athletes who are primarily interested in improving their
training lifts as it is for competitive
athletes.
Find a quiet place. For some that
poses a problem—like a friend of
mine who has four young children
or an athlete who lives in a frat
house. My advice to both: Go sit in
your car. I prefer a dark or dimly lit
room and want it to be as quiet as
possible. Many people find light
music agreeable, but you should
stay away from anything that distracts from the task at hand. No
radio or TV, and unplug the phone
and fax.
If you can sit on a fat pillow and
assume the lotus position, do so.
That places you in an ideal posture
from which to breathe deeply. The
main thing is to be comfortable,
however. You cannot concentrate on
your breathing when some part of
your body is screaming in pain. So
you can sit in your recliner or even
lie down.
Take a few moments to try to
let your mind go blank. Keep your
back flat, and lift your head slightly.
That will enable you to take deeper
breaths. Slow and steady, draw in air
and while doing so, try and picture
your lungs expanding. When they’re
full, suck in a bit more, then hold
your breath for eight to 10 seconds.
In the beginning you may not be
able to hold the air in for that long,
but with practice you will. Don’t
let the air gush out. Rather, slowly
release it, emitting a soft whooshing sound. When your lungs feel
empty, contract your diaphragm
and squeeze out a tad extra. Do not
inhale for five or six seconds, and
after that you must resist the urge to
suck in huge quantities of air. Instead, inhale slowly, as you did with
your first breath.
The holding times are merely
guidelines. What you are trying to
learn is the rhythm of the exercise.
Model: Skip La Cour
Visualize
yourself as
muscular
and
confident.
Once you accomplish that, you will
be able to extend the amount of
time it takes you to fully inhale and
exhale as well as hold the air in your
lungs during the oxygen-starvation
period. As you breathe in and out,
concentrate on the action of your
diaphragm. Visualize it expanding in
your relaxing abdomen while you’re
inhaling and contracting far up in
your chest cavity when exhaling.
Once you’re totally focused on
your rhythmic breathing and the
motion of your diaphragm, you
won’t be able to think about anything else, and that’s the idea.
After you’ve completed three
cycles, turn your thoughts to your
upcoming workout or competition.
Since I’ve covered a great deal about
contest preparation, I’ll show how
to get ready for the next session in
the weight room. While I said that
I eventually stopped fixing specific
numbers to the various lifts in a
meet, I do want to lock them in for
training. That’s because you’re only
competing against yourself in the
gym and should know exactly what
poundages you’re aiming for at any
given workout.
Write down all your projected
warmups and top-end lifts before
you do your mental rehearsal. That
gives you a tangible game plan.
Otherwise, it’s hit or miss.
Our imaginary strength athlete
this month is a football player who’s
in the final weeks of his off-season
strength program. On Monday he
squatted 450x5, so on Friday he
wants to do 460x3. Here’s how he
plans to work his way up to that
weight: 135x5, 225x5, 315x5, 385x3,
435x3 and 460x3. It’s no trouble for
him to commit these to memory.
On Thursday night he sets aside
30 minutes to do his mental rehearsal. After three cycles of rhythmic breathing, he’s relaxed and
goes through each of his six sets in
deliberate fashion. He visualizes the
bar being loaded, placing his feet
just right, locking his back tightly
and making each lift with power to
spare. He knows he’s strong enough
to handle 460 for a triple since he’s
already done 10 pounds less for five.
The only thing that can keep him
from making his final set is a breakdown in technique.
So he does another cycle of deep
breathing, then proceeds to go
through his squat routine again.
This time he doesn’t focus on the
amount of weight on the bar but
rather concentrates on key form
points. No more than three, however. More than that will only complicate the execution of the lift.
Recalling that he has a tendency
to round his back on the heavy
weights, which often results in failure, he built the potential form flaw
into his preparation. One key for
descending (keep back extremely
tight), one for the initial drive out
Model: Jamo Nezzar
Harness your
mental energy,
and you will
achieve your
goals much faster.
so can you. It’s not magic; it’s
practice.
Even if you have no desire
to lift heavy objects or to compete in any type of strength
event and only want to maintain strength fitness, it’s still
beneficial to do some mental
rehearsal for your training.
It will help you make your
next workout much more
productive. During my hour
commute to Johns Hopkins
I would preview my planned
workout. I didn’t do any
breathing exercises, since I
wasn’t going to be trying any
personal records, although I
certainly could have while I
sat for several minutes waiting
for all the lights to turn green.
When I got to the weight room,
I knew exactly what I had to do
and was ready to do it.
One final note: The rhythmic
breathing is an excellent way to
relax and reduce stress, whether
it’s the physical or mental variety.
For several years I trained in nonair-conditioned gyms in Texas and
Maryland. In both places the temperature often hit 100 degrees with
matching humidity. I had difficulty
getting my pulse and respiratory
rates back down to normal. I dutifully swallowed a fistful of multiple
minerals and vitamin C, but it still
took an hour or longer for my body
to calm down. Then I remembered
the deep breathing. Within five minutes my breathing and pulse rate
had dropped appreciably. As I said,
the simplest solution to a problem is
often overlooked.
So whether you’re trying to hurl
a shot out of the stadium, polevault over a tall building, be the first
human to elevate a half ton overhead or merely enjoy being fit and
strong enough to take long hikes
in the country, start incorporating
some mental rehearsal into your
routines. By harnessing more of
your mental energy, you’ll be able to
achieve your goal much faster. It’s
time well spent.
E dit
ors not
e 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
of the bottom (lift chest up), and a
final one for bringing the bar to the
finish (no hesitation through the
middle). Of course, everyone has
his own set of keys, but this works
for our athlete. I tell my athletes to
imagine that they are taking a video
of themselves and try to picture
themselves doing each and every
rep in perfect form.
When our athlete walks in the
weight room on Friday, he’s extremely confident that he will
succeed with the 460 pounds and
that’s way more than half the battle
already won.
Yuri Vlasov, the great Russian
Olympic lifting heavyweight of the
’50s and ’60s, was also a published
author. He wrote about being able
to center his mental focus on lifting a certain poundage so intently
that he felt as if he were standing in
a circle of bright light, with everything around him blacked out, even
sound. I had no idea what he was
talking about until it happened to
me. It was at the William Penn High
School in York. As I stood over the
bar, it was just as he described. All I
could see was the center of the bar,
and I was standing in a pool of vivid
light. It was a heady, euphoric, almost transcendental sensation that
I dearly wished I could capture more
often. Sadly, I only did so a couple
of times after that. But the point is,
if I could achieve that ideal state,
Readers Write
Retr-O Rocks!
Weightlifting Wow Factor
Neveux
Dunn Deal
The April ’06 IRON MAN with Rachel
McLish on the cover is the feel-good issue of
the year! When I saw our first Ms. Olympia
and how elegant she looks even now, I real
ized why I got into the sport. I had almost
totally lost my desire to be associated with
female bodybuilding. When I see that cover
photo and then think about the product
that is out there now, I wonder what the hell
happened. After I read the interview by Lon
nie Teper, I felt better. When Rachel talked
about walking away from the sport and never looking back,
it really helped me deal with my own issues. Sometimes
the competitive side gets the best of us, and we lose track
of reality. As Lenda Murray said in a recent interview, we
don’t like what we do or how we look, but we want to win. I
am not walking away, but I know I need to give it a break to
focus on what is real in life. Thank you.
Carolyn Bryant
via Internet
Bravo Broser
You’ve published a number of articles by Eric Broser, and
I applaud the addition. I’ve been following Eric’s advice
online at his forum, and he’s very knowledgeable. He knows
how to get results. Please keep the Broser features coming.
Bill Zuniga
Las Vegas, NV
E dit
orsnot
e You’ll be happy to see Eric Broser’s Muscle
“In” Sites in this issue. It’s his new column, which will high
light various bodybuilding-related Web sites every month.
That’s right, every month he’ll wade through the Web and
give you interesting picks and pans. Don’t worry, we’re also
forcing him to continue to write features as well—and we’ll
try not to let the shackles chafe him.
Just a quick note
to let you know how
Robin Byrd-Goad gets airborne
much we have enjoyed
with double her bodyweight.
the recent addition of
Ron Dunn’s illustrated posters [September ’05, October
’05, December ’05]. So much, in fact, that two
of them, framed and signed by the artist, are
proudly displayed at the front of our brandnew gym, Hard Corp Fitness. Thanks so much
to Dunn and IRON MAN for sharing the art of
bodybuilding.
Clay Hutson and Raymee Leitzz
Hard Corp Fitnesss
Roseville, MII
E dit
ors not
e We plan on having Ron do
more in his Legends series. Keep your eyes on
IRON MAN for more of his inspiring illustra
tions.
X Rep at BB.com
Thank you for the X-Rep method. I just started using it
on a couple of exercises, and I’m really excited about train
ing. I’ve gone through years of minimal progress. I might be
crazy, but after only one session with X Reps I feel different.
I did a chest and back workout, and I really felt like I hit the
target muscles with maximum force. Will there be more [XRep] training articles on Bodybuilding.com?
Jim Websterr
via Internett
E dit
ors not
e Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson have
contributed a number of training articles to Bodybuilding
.com, all of which are in the site’s archive. They will contin
ue to do so as time permits. You can also find many of those
articles and others at their site, www.X-Rep.com.
Vol. 65, No. 6: 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 rates—U.S. and its possessions: new 12-issue subscription, $29.97.
Canada, Mexico and other foreign subscriptions: 12 issues, $49.97 sent Second Class.
Foreign orders must be in U.S. dollars. Send subscriptions to IRON MAN, 1701 Ives
Ave., Oxnard, CA 93033. Or call 1-800-570-4766. Copyright © 2006. All rights re
served. No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any manner without written
permission from the publisher. Printed in the USA.
Strossen
I was very impressed with your pictorial “Lady Lifters” in
the April ’06 IM. What
a great way to show
case feminine strength
and beauty. Randall
Strossen’s photos were
magnificent, and most
of the poundages those
ladies were moving
were impressive. A 106pounder driving up
220 pounds, more than
double bodyweight?
Now, that’s incredible!
George Mangelio
Pittsburgh, PA
Rachel
McLish.

Iron Man magazine 2006 06 - Bodybuilding magazine free

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