Muscle - Bodybuilding magazine free download. IRONMAN

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FAT TO MUSCLE: LOW CARBS, SLOW CARBS OR NO CARBS?
JANUARY 2005 / IRON MAN—REAL BODYBUILDING TRAINING, NUTRITION & SUPPLEMENTATION
MUSCLE
SCIENCE
ROUNDUP
15
New Research
Reports That Can
Up Your Mass!
RIP IT UP
Best Fat-Burning
Exercise
GET BACK
FUTURE SHOCK!
Gene Therapy Doubles
Muscle Size in 3 Weeks
MUSCLE-SCIENCE ROUNDUP
GET BIGGER
FASTER!
Better Glute
Getter
DIET RIGHT
Your Quick-Hit
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JANUARY 2005
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www.ironmanmagazine.com \ APRIL 2006 261
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recently voted Hollywood’s top body.
150 DECEMBER 2009 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com
Get-Big: The Short-and-Sweet
Winter Workout,
January 2005
Vol. 64, No. 1
page 116
Real Bodybuilding Training, Nutrition & Supplementation
FEATURES
74 TRAIN, EAT, GROW 63
Our TEG men are still rolling forward with X Reps and
X-ploding muscle-building myths left and right.
86 MUSCLE: AN ANTICRASH COURSE 2
Massive stumbling blocks you must avoid. Stuart
McRobert has more bodybuilding lessons from his 30
years of training experience.
98 MUSCLE-SCIENCE ROUNDUP
An introspective look at 15 research reports that can
affect your muscle growth and fat loss.
116 GET-BIG: THE SHORT-AND-SWEET
WORKOUT
Here’s your winter mass-building program, a quick routine
that helped Jim Hafer pack on 100 pounds of muscle in
nine months.
132 PROTEIN, MUSCLE
AND ANABOLISM,
PART 2
Train, Eat, Grow,
page 74
An A for Athens,
page 206
Ori Hofmekler continues grilling a
group of respected nutrition
experts in a roundtable discussion
on protein. (Pass the barbecue
sauce.)
142 ONLY THE STRONG
SHALL SURVIVE
MUSCLE
SCIENCE
ROUNDUP
15
New Research
Reports That Can
Up Your Mass!
RIP IT UP
Best Fat-Burning
Exercise
GET BACK
FUTURE SHOCK!
Gene Therapy Doubles
Muscle Size in 3 Weeks
GET BIGGER
FASTER!
Better Glute
Getter
DIET RIGHT
Your Quick-Hit
Winter Mass Blast
(Complete
(Complete Program
Program Inside)
Inside)
Best Low-Carb
Strategy
PLUS:
•Set
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Record at
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•Weightlifting
•Weightlifting From
From the
the Athens
Athens Olympics
Olympics
Craig Titus appears on
this month’s cover. Inset
couple: Clark and Anita
Bartram. Photography by
Michael Neveux.
Shock your muscles and yourself.
Bill Starr tells you how to set a
personal record at every workout.
Call the Guinness Book guys immediately.
164 SUCCESS STORY: GREG ADLER
The lawyer and Met-Rx Body Challenge winner tells how
he gave himself a lighter sentence.
172 GRAPE EXPECTATIONS
This fruit has got it going on, and Jerry Brainum tells why.
Bonus: Wine is fine. A toast to health, wealth and muscle.
Before
After
Success Story,
page 164
182 RESEARCH TEAM
Are you looking for a quick, convenient snack to quash
that hunger attack and feed your muscles? The new
Warrior Bar has the right stuff to grow on.
206 AN A FOR ATHENS
Strength maven Randy Strossen, Ph.D., has a full report
and photos from the Olympic weightlifting events.
212 HEAVY DUTY
John Little continues with excerpts from Mike Mentzer’s
Heavy Duty seminar.
DEPARTMENTS
30 TRAIN TO GAIN
Pyramid power, dumping an old flame (as in joint pain)
and big-arm intentions with extensions.
48 CRITICAL MASS
Steve Holman yells, “No weigh!” Don’t use the scale to
monitor gains. Plus, how to refry your forearms.
54 EAT TO GROW
Muscle-Science
Roundup,
page 98
Answers to the big diet dilemma: Low carb, slow carb
or no carb?
68 NATURALLY HUGE
John Hansen gives you fat-loss fundamentals, as well as
split-altering suggestions for less overtraining stress.
Critical Mass,
page 48
190 NEWS & VIEWS
Lonnie Teper has loads of irresistible items on bodybuilding titans. And speaking of irresistible, Ruth Silverman reports on those fabulous fitness and figure
femmes. Jerry Fredrick’s Hot Shots help keep your abs
in shape with a few sets of yuk-it-ups.
222 MIND/BODY CONNECTION
Randall Strossen, Ph.D., analyzes self-canceling combinations, and Becky Holman tells you why childish behavior
can make you happy. There’s also Bomber Blast with the
legendary Dave Draper and a report from Frank Zane on
the TV biopic about the Austrian Oak, “See Arnold Run.”
232 BODYBUILDING PHARMACOLOGY
It’s future-shock talk with Jerry Brainum. Our number-one
researcher discusses gene therapy that can create freakier physiques—but at what cost? Truly an interesting look
at the possible future of the sport of bodybuilding. Dr.
Frankenstein, are you listening?
News & Views,
page 190
Train to Gain,
page 30
240 READERS WRITE
Pump &
Circumstance,
page 196
WEB ALERT!
For the latest happenings from the
world of bodybuilding and fitness,
click on Hot News at
www.ironmanmagazine.com.
One hot mama who’s over 40 and fabulous, plus success-story commentary and X-factor visionaries.
In the next IRON MAN
Next month we’ve got a very cool interview with
our own ITRC trainer Jonathan Lawson, who discusses the innovative muscle-building technique
that took his physique to a new dimension in ’04.
Using X Reps for only one month, he produced
startling new muscularity and vascularity. This is
must-reading for anyone interested in packing on
mass fast. And if you’re looking for photographic
inspiration, we’ve got some incredible images from
the camera of David Paul (yes, of Barbarian Brothers fame). The man is an artist, and his bodybuilding images will stun, delight and inspire you. We’ll
also have Mr. Olympia coverage, Greg Zulak on
triceps and the return of IM’s Hardbody. Watch for
the X-citing, motivation-lighting February IRON
MAN on newsstands the first week of January.
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John Balik’s
Publisher’s Letter
Founders
1936-1986:
Peary & Mabel Rader
A Love for Lifting
Olympic weightlifting is a sport that’s very
close to my heart. I competed in it from my
teenage years through my early 20s and have
always loved the pure beauty of the lifts. If you
watched the Athens Olympics last summer, you
saw very little of the action, but Randy Strossen
saw it all. In getting back to our roots, IRON MAN
is striving to cover more of the lifting sports, and
thanks to Randy’s work we can all experience
some of the amazing feats of these superlative
athletes. Turn to page 206 to get a taste of Olympic weightlifting.
“Muscle-Science Roundup,” which begins on page 98, highlights 15
of the latest muscle-building, testosterone-enhancing and fat-destroying research discoveries to help you reach your goals faster. Thanks to
IM authors like Jerry Brainum and Steve Holman, you don’t have to read
hundreds of pages of research materials to get at the meat of the results
and find the stuff that works; our staff has done the grunt work. Now it’s
up to you to use it. This is must reading!
One of the magazine’s most popular regular features is the IRON
MAN Success Story. Everyone needs a motivational jolt from time to
time, and I find that reading about the success of others fuels my enthusiasm for my own workouts. Congratulations to Greg Adler for winning
the Met-Rx Body Challenge, and thanks for being an inspiration to us
all. Read Greg’s story on page 164. IRON MAN is always looking for
success stories in which bodybuilding has had a major impact on the
subject’s life. If you have a story to tell, please send it via e-mail to me at
[email protected] with before and after pictures. I look forward to
reading about your success and perhaps featuring you in our pages.
I always enjoy the writing of Stuart McRobert, an author whose byline has appeared in IM for decades. It’s easy to tell that his insights
come from his own hard-won battles in the gym. The information has
the unmistakable feel of authenticity, and his articles never fail to add to
my storehouse of useful training info. Check out his feature “Muscle: An
Anticrash Course,” on page 86, for lessons learned that can keep you
from crashing and burning.
Last summer I trained for three months with my 14-year-old son,
Justin. It had been about 20 years since I coached a young person just
starting out in bodybuilding. Having to teach the techniques of lifting
was a great learning process for me. After all those years everything is
second nature to me, but I had to break apart each lift, explain it,
demonstrate it and impress my training philosophy on Justin. It was a
great time for both of us. He got to benefit from my years of experience,
and I got the pleasure of watching him grow in more ways than just
strength and muscle—and of watching his youthful enthusiasm. Because of his energy, I had some of my best workouts in years. You can
read about my experiences as a coach, along with Justin’s complete
Bodybuilding 101 routine, on page 130.
We’ll have Mr. Olympia coverage in the next issue, but for those who
can’t wait, visit ironmanmagazine.com and click on Contests for reports
and photos. IM
Publisher/Editorial Director: John Balik
Associate Publisher: Warren Wanderer
Design Director: Michael Neveux
Editor in Chief: Stephen Holman
Art Director: T. S. Bratcher
Senior Editor: Ruth Silverman
Editor at Large: Lonnie Teper
Articles Editors: L.A. Perry, Caryne Brown
Assistant Editor: Jonathan Lawson
Assistant Art Director: Christian Martinez
Designer: Emerson Miranda
Ironman Staff:
Denise Cantú, Vuthy Keo, Svetlana Kogan,
Mervin Petralba, David Solorzano
Contributing Authors:
Jerry Brainum, David Chapman, Teagan Clive, Lorenzo
Cornacchia, Daniel Curtis, Dave Draper, Michael
Gündill, Rosemary Hallum, Ph.D., John Hansen, Ron
Harris, Ori Hofmekler, Rod Labbe, Skip La Cour, Jack
LaLanne, Butch Lebowitz, Stuart McRobert, Gene
Mozée, Larry Scott, Jim Shiebler, Roger Schwab, C.S.
Sloan, Bill Starr, Bradley Steiner, Eric Sternlicht, Ph.D.,
Randall Strossen, Ph.D., Richard Winett, Ph.D., and
David Young
Contributing Artists:
Steve Cepello, Larry Eklund
Contributing Photographers:
Jim Amentler, Reg Bradford, Jimmy Caruso, Bill
Comstock, Bill Dobbins, Jerry Fredrick, Irvin Gelb,
J.M. Manion, Gene Mozée, Mitsuru Okabe, Rob Sims,
Leo Stern, Russ Warner
Director of Marketing:
Helen Yu, 1-800-570-IRON, ext. 1
Accounting: Dolores Waterman
Director of Operations: Dean Reyes
Subscriptions Manager:
Sonia Melendez, 1-800-570-IRON, ext. 2
E-mail: [email protected]
Advertising Director: Warren Wanderer
1-800-570-IRON, ext. 1
(518) 743-1696; FAX: (518) 743-1697
Advertising Coordinator:
Jonathan Lawson, (805) 385-3500, ext. 320
Newsstand Consultant:
Angelo Gandino, (516) 796-9848
We reserve the right to reject any advertising at our
discretion without explanation. All manuscripts, art or
other submissions must be accompanied by a selfaddressed, stamped envelope. Send
submissions to IRON MAN, 1701 Ives Avenue,
Oxnard, CA 93033. We are not responsible for
unsolicited material. Writers and photographers
should send for our Guidelines outlining
specifications for submissions. IRON MAN is an open
forum. We also reserve the right to edit any letter or
manuscript as we see fit, and photos submitted have
an implied waiver of copyright.
Please consult a physician before beginning any diet
or exercise program. Use the information published in
IRON MAN at your own risk.
IRON MAN Internet Addresses:
Web Site: www.ironmanmagazine.com
John Balik, Publisher: [email protected]
Steve Holman, Editor in Chief: [email protected]
Ruth Silverman, Senior Editor: [email protected]
T.S. Bratcher, Art Director: [email protected]
Helen Yu, Director of Marketing: [email protected]
Dean Reyes, Dir. of Operations: [email protected]
Jonathan Lawson, Ad Coordinator: [email protected]
Sonia Melendez, Subscriptions: [email protected]
24 JANUARY 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com
SEXY ROCK-HARD ABS FAST
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EXERCISE SCIENCE
Pyramid vs. Reverse Pyramid
extension for nine weeks.1 Both techniques produce
You may not know it, but some of the most common
styles of training have little-known names. For example,
similar results, with neither clearly superior at promoting
the method in which you start light and increase the
muscle increases.
weight on each set is called the DeLorme technique,
In practical terms that means it doesn’t make much
after the researcher who first suggested it in 1945.
difference which technique you favor; you’ll likely get
According to the DeLorme principles, you hold your
the best results from the style that feels the most comreps to fewer than 30 per set, since he found that with
fortable to you.
more than 30 reps, a muscle doesn’t get enough resis—Jerry Brainum
tance to promote growth.
1 Fish, D.E., et al. (2003). Optimal resistance training:
With the DeLorme technique you generally start with
a weight that’s half the amount you can lift for 10 reps.
comparison of DeLorme and Oxford techniques. Am J
On the second set you increase the weight to 75 perPhysic Med Rehab. 82:903-909.
cent of maximum for 10, and on the final set
you do the maximum amount of weight you
Should you add
can lift for 10 reps. When you’ve achieved
weight on each
that goal, you increase the weight on all
subsequent set, or
sets.
start with your
The idea was that the lighter sets helped
heaviest poundage?
prevent excess muscle soreness while
promoting proper exercise form. On the
other hand, when the DeLorme technique
was used by anyone but highly motivated
athletes, people got too fatigued after the
first two sets to reach 10 reps with a maximum weight on the final set.
As a result, another technique was developed, known as the Oxford technique. It
works in the opposite manner—you start
with the heaviest weight for 10 reps and
decrease the weight on each subsequent
set. The idea was to diminish muscle fatigue
while promoting exercise intensity, since you
have to complete the full number of reps for
each set.
Most bodybuilders today use either or
both of of these weight-training techniques.
The DeLorme method is commonly known
as pyramiding, and the Oxford technique is
known as reverse pyramiding. Is one of
them superior for promoting muscular
gains? Researchers examined that question
in a recent study featuring 50 subjects who
used one technique or the other on the leg
Neveux \ Models: Steve McLeod
Neveux \ Model: John Cowgill
Research detemines the best training method—or does it?
HE WANTED TO FIGHTUntil I Crushed His Hand!
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TRAIN TO GAIN
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ANABOLIC ACTIONS
X-citing New Muscle Growth
Every set you do, even if you push it as hard as you can, delivers a lot less
hypertrophic punch than it might because of nervous-system failure. It’s the very
reason bodybuilders do set after set after set and get only small increases in muscle. It has to do with what’s known as the size principle for recruitment of motor
neurons. In a standard set, the type 1 slow-twitch fibers are recruited first, and the
fastest-growing type 2 fibers last, which is why so many bodybuilders consider the
last few reps of a set critical. Usually, however, your nervous system shuts down
before much anabolic stimulation of fast-growing fast-twitch fibers occurs.
We came to this view after looking at the scientific evidence presented by
Steven J. Fleck, Ph.D., and William J. Kraemer, Ph.D., in their book Designing
Resistance Training Programs. They discuss a 1992 study that demonstrated the
activation of knee extensors by the central nervous system during maximum effort.
One of their conclusions was that the CNS “limits force by engaging inhibitory
mechanisms that are protective in nature.”
Fleck and Kraemer say that inhibitory mechanisms appear to be especially
active when large amounts of force are developed, such as maximum force development at slow speeds of movement. That’s precisely what happens toward the
end of a set of eight to 12 reps to failure. They cite studies by Caiozzo, Perrine and
Edgerton in 1981; Dudley, et al., in 1990; and Wickiewicz, et al., in 1984, when
they conclude that “neural protective mechanisms appear to have their greatest
effect in slow-velocity, high-resistance movements.” Once again, that describes
the reps at the end of a set to failure perfectly. So the inhibitory mechanisms of the
CNS are what stop each and every set to failure—it’s the reason you can no longer
do a full-range rep.
The solution is X Reps, which enable you to override nervous-system failure and
make each set more effective than conventional sets at stimulating those highly
anabolic fast-twitch fibers. That’s because X Reps, or extended repetitions, extend
the tension time on those key fibers in the optimal position of an exercise at the
end of a set for a dramatic anabolic surge—the fast-growing fibers keep firing
during those short pulses after your nervous system cries uncle.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
The Ultimate Mass Workout
Editor’s note: For Holman and Lawson’s before and after photos, taken one
month apart during their X-Rep experiment, visit www.x-rep.com. Sign up for
their free e-newsletter at www.ironmanmagazine.com.
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How would you like a surge in
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or triceps but in a group of muscles
known as the rotator cuff.
The rotator cuff muscles stabilize
the shoulder joint. During the bench
press and almost all other upperbody movements these muscles
protect the shoulder joint and
prevent ball-and-socket slippage. If
these muscles are underdeveloped,
they become the weak link in the
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TRAIN TO GAIN
SUCCESS SECRETS
Dumping an Old Flame—the One in Your Joints
One of the great pleasures of attending physique or
trade shows is the chance to spend time with old friends
and share memories and new training ideas. The other day
I got to spend some time with Bill Pearl in Chicago. Quite a
few years ago, when Bill had his health club in Pasadena,
California, he ushered me into the world of forearm training.
Before that I relied entirely on biceps work to build my
forearms. Bill made me realize how much I was limiting my
arm size by ignoring forearm work. No question, it was a
breakthrough for my arm training. It was with great pleasure
that I reminisced with Bill about the good old days.
We were both laughing over some shared event, and
gradually the conversation drifted around to the following:
“Larry, you’ve been training now for a long time. How are
your joints holding up?”
Casually, I replied, “You know, Bill, I don’t have trouble
with any of my joints at all.”
“Really,
that’s amazing.
My shoulders
just kill me. I
can hardly
sleep, they
hurt so bad. I
guess it’s all
those years of
heavy bench
pressing.”
“Bill, I used
to have so
much trouble
with my knees,
I would have to
carry a small
tripod with me
on the airplane
to prop up my legs. It was the only way I could avoid the
pain. They’d ache so bad, I could hardly stand it on long
flights.”
Bill and I are not the only ones who suffer. At a recent
seminar in Hawaii that introduced Bio Phase training, I
asked the following question: “How many here are suffering
from some type of injury? Maybe it’s a sore elbow or aching
knees, or could it be those horrible painful shoulders?”
About 30 percent of the fellows raised their hands, some
with a wry, knowing smile, as if to say, “Yes, that’s the name
of the game.” Most of those who raised their hands had
trained for many years and were carrying good size.
I asked them, “How would you like to get rid of those
aches and pains and make better gains at the same time?”
The wry smiles were immediately replaced by very interested, though somewhat doubtful, expressions.
A wise Greek philosopher, while watching the ancient
Olympics, made this oft-quoted comment: “The human
body is the only machine that works better the more it is
used.”
Where did we go wrong? Why is it that most of the
fellows who have been using their machine for 10 years or
more are all suffering some kind of connective-tissue irrita-
tion? Could it be we have not been using but abusing our
machines? I think that’s the case. Granted, we could all
drop our poundage by 50 percent to avoid the joint failure,
but then our size would also drop. Is there another answer?
How do you infuse some fountain of youth into your sore
joints? The answer is the same one I gave Bill Pearl, which
he’s using right now: Change, change, change.
A tennis racket weighs less than a pound, but it isn’t
long before the serious player performing the same serve
day after day develops tennis elbow. Is it any wonder that
using a heavy-weight workout with little variation begins to
cripple us?
The human machine does work better the more you use
it, but the key is to use it with wide variation. Once you
begin to limit the amount of variation in your program, you
begin to develop residual fatigue. It takes longer and longer
to warm up the joints and poorly oxygenated connective
tissue. Before long the pain leaves the gym with you and
crawls into bed with you at night.
How do we make these changes in our programs? You
might be thinking there just aren’t that many really good
exercises.
I agree that some exercises are better than others, but if
we sprinkle in some of the less effective ones in order to
keep ourselves from suffering from joint inflammation, won’t
that in itself help us make better gains? How many weeks
do we lose nursing a bad elbow—or worse yet, a bad
shoulder? (If you can get a bad shoulder to heal in less than
six months, you’re lucky.) Bad knees? They don’t ever get
any better.
The best thing to do is find exercises that do not cause
pain of any sort. That will help get circulation into the injured
area. Don’t rely on warmup-induced endorphin release to
mask the pain. The injury is still there. Find exercises that
don’t cause pain when you can’t warm up. Those will
accelerate healing. Ice the injured area until it goes numb
each night. Take aspirin, as it’s a mild anti-inflammatory.
Once you’ve rehabilitated your aching joints, treat them
with constant change; they’ll last a lifetime without pain. It
was necessary to warm up for five or 10 minutes on each
bodypart when I was in my 20s and training the old way.
Now that I’m in my 50s and training with Bio Phase, I no
longer need to warm up at all, but I change my workout
program every night. The vectors of stress are constantly
changing. I do occasionally get hurt, but the next workout
on the same bodypart will have me doing entirely different
exercises. So the pain disappears within the week. And on
most exercises I’m using heavier weights than ever.
You can enjoy the same freedom from joint pain if you
learn to use rather than abuse your machine.
—Larry Scott
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TRAIN TO GAIN
SH PI GO HR TI SN M
T EENDSI ICTIYN E
Dips are a
basic exercise.
Many trainees
first did dips in
high school as
part of a program of pullups,
pushups, dips,
situps and
sprints. Some
consider the dip
part of “natural”
training, meaning that it uses
bodyweight as
resistance. For
others the dip
and pushup are
exercises that
lead to the
bench press.
The dip is also a
key movement
for gymnasts.
As millions of
television viewers of the
Olympic gymnastics competitions can attest, gymnasts have very muscular
delts, pecs, triceps, biceps and lats.
The dip has found its way into many trainees’ programs. It’s
often included in chest routines, as it involves the pecs. The
movement trains the pectoralis major, deltoids, triceps and
serratus anterior.
GROWTH GEAR
And other pains on the
parallel bars to watch out for
The traditional dip is performed on parallel bars, and gymnastic-style parallel bars obviously permit only one grip width
for all trainees. Some gyms have V-shaped bars (as opposed
to parallel bars). The V-shape allows for a change in the emphasis. The narrow part of the V lets you increase the emphasis on your triceps and deltoids, and the wider part of the V lets
you place more emphasis on your pecs. You can also use a
moderate grip width on the V bars—similar to the grip width on
the parallel bars—and strap additional weight around your
waist. Some use the dip with bodyweight as a pumping exercise at the end of a chest workout. Many trainees use 35 to 50
pounds for sets of 10, and I once saw Bertil Fox perform dips
with 200 pounds for reps. Zabo Koszewski, the manager of
World Gym in Venice, California, has performed dips with 200,
but the most astonishing dip performance belongs to powerlifter and bodybuilder Marvin Eder, who did dips with 400
pounds at a bodyweight of only 198.
Like any exercise, dips can produce injuries. Trainees who
have injured the acromioclavicular joint usually have pain when
they perform dips. The AC joint, as it’s called, is on the top and
front of the shoulder. The C stands for clavicle, or collarbone.
The A stands for acromion, which is the bony extension of the
shoulder blade. The acromion meets the clavicle and forms the
AC joint, which is similar to two blunt ends of bone meeting
each other. When injured, it often separates slightly. It may hurt
for only a few weeks, but the joint is never tight or snug again.
Dipping stresses the AC joint at the top of the exercise when
the elbows are straight and the arms are down along the side
of the body. In that position the force is being driven up into the
shoulder and can produce a separationlike effect on the AC
joint. Trainees who experience pain in the region of the AC joint
should stop performing dips.
The sternum, or breastbone, serves as a broad origin for the
pectoralis major. Because the bottom position of a dip places a
great stretch on the pecs, tendinitis can occur
along the sternum in the center of the chest. If you
develop that pain during dips, take a few weeks off
from the exercise. Reintroduce it to your workout,
but only do quarter dips for a few weeks. Progress
to half dips and then three-quarter dips for a few
weeks each. You should be ready to perform full
dips after that. When you first start doing full dips,
do only one set. Allow your muscle-tendon and
tendon-bone interface to adapt. Once you have
performed one set of full dips pain free for a few
weeks, add a second set. Every two to three weeks
add another set until you reach the desired number
of sets. Remember, train hard, but train smart.
—Joseph M. Horrigan
Unilateral Contraction Action
It’s a simple idea that can magnify your result
in the gym. The TriPower Handle lets you better
isolate bodyparts with one-arm cable exercises.
One of these handles can give a new twist to
exercises like one-arm cable kickbacks, cable
curls and cable laterals so you can build plenty
of new muscle right where you want it. Just clip
it on, wrap your fingers around the ergonomic
grip, anchor the
bottom of your
hand against the base and rep. You’ll
feel less stress on joints and more
contraction action, which is the key to
packing on muscle.
For more information on the TriPower
Handles, visit www.tripowerhandle.com.
Or you can call (661) 799-5840.
—the Editors
Editor’s note: Visit www
.softtissuecenter.com for reprints of Horrigan’s past
Sportsmedicine columns that have appeared in
IRON MAN. You can order the book Strength,
Conditioning and Injury Prevention for Hockey by
Joseph Horrigan, D.C., and E.J. “Doc” Kreis, D.A.,
from Home Gym Warehouse, (800) 447-0008, or at
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TRAIN TO GAIN
STRENGTH TRAINING
Buckeye Brawn
Allan Johnson was born in Parkersburg, West Virginia, and now lives in
Columbus, Ohio, with his wife, Jan, and
son Adam. He’s been the head strength
coach at Ohio State since 2001, helping
the Buckeyes remain a dominant football
power in the NCAA—they were national
champs in ’02.
IM: How did you get into lifting and strength
coaching?
AJ: I started strength training in high school and kept it
up through college at West Virginia Tech, where I was an allconference offensive lineman. I transferred to Glenville State
College to finish my collegiate football career and was an allconference discus thrower. I was also a powerlifter in the
220-pound class.
I started coaching in 1980 at Federal Hocking High
School in Stewart, Ohio. I then became a graduate-assistant
strength coach at West Virginia University, where I was
under the tutelage of Dave Van Hallanger, who is now at the
University of Georgia. I earned my master’s degree at WVU,
and in ’83 I was hired as the head strength coach there. I
stayed at that position until ’88, and in ’89 I was hired by the
Baltimore Orioles as director of strength and conditioning for
the major-league team and six minor-league teams. I returned to WVU as head strength coach in 1993 and then
was hired by Ohio State as head strength coach in 2001.
IM: You just released a video that you did with
Notre Dame strength coach Mickey Marotti. What’s
it about?
AJ: The video is “Sports Performance Training,” and it
shows proper exercise technique for strength-training exercises and how to properly do agility/foot-speed/change-ofdirection drills. It’s geared to junior high and high school
student athletes.
IM: What’s your lifting program for the Buckeye
football team?
AJ: Our program is based on developing the total athlete.
We won’t sacrifice the athleticism of the athlete. The program has specific goals: 1) increase work capacity, 2) improve mental toughness, 3) improve strength/power using
QUOTABLE QUOTES
Strength coach Allan Johnson helps
build Ohio State gridiron power
progressive overloads, 4) increase competitive attitude, 5)
use ground-based exercises, 6) use triple-extension movements, 7) improve conditioning, 8) incorporate full-range
movements, 9) improve flexibility, 10) increase team speed
and agility and 11) prevent injury.
We use a four-day-split program. On days 1 and 3 we
work legs, back and biceps; on days 2 and 4 we train chest,
shoulders and triceps. Days 1 and 2 are heavy and primarily
focus on bilateral movements. Days 3 and 4 are lighterworkload days, using iso-lateral movements. We use periodization, working down to 85 to 97 percent of a one-rep
max over three to five sets on heavy days. Light days it’s 55
to 70 percent.
We incorporate a dynamic warmup, core training and
postlift stretching on each of our training days. The core
exercises are bench presses, incline presses, squats and
hang cleans. We rotate in a lot of other exercises, however,
including front squats, glute/ham raises, leg curls, band
work [Editor’s note: That’s exercises with rubber bands, not
lifting members of the Buckeye marching band], leg extensions, tire flips, overhead squats, split jerks, push presses,
explosive box jumps, calf work, high pulls, jump
shrugs, pulldowns, dumbbell rows, towel chins,
Hammer Strength low rows and high rows, stability-ball reverse hypers, Romanian deadlifts,
various ab exercises, many types of curls,
shrugs, dips, dumbbell combo presses, plyometric pushups and various neck exercises and
forearm work.
We strive for balance in our strength program.
We aim to work as many different joint angles
and multiple muscle groups as possible. The
bottom line is, we don’t want to do anything that
will compromise movement skills. You can’t block
and tackle what you can’t catch.
—Bruce Citerman
Determination and Success
A winner never quits and a quitter
never wins.
—“CBS Sports Spectacular”
There’s always another chance for
the determined.
—“CBS Sports Spectacular”
Editor’s note: For more on Ohio State football and athletics visit
www.ohiostatebuckeyes.ocsn.com.
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TRAIN TO GAIN
KINESIOLOGY
Extensions and Big-Arm Intentions
Free-weight triceps extensions are much more traumatic
than cable variations because of the very random nature of the
resistance free weights provide. That trauma should translate
into more mass, but it can also lead to elbow injuries.
I find all free-weight triceps exercises very hard on the elbows—lying triceps extensions being the toughest. You should
play it safe with your elbows and triceps, as they’re taxed in
most basic upper-body exercises (chest and shoulder presses
as well as back movements). That frequent use, coupled with
the lack of proper rest, is likely to translate into tender joints.
Avoiding those traumatic exercises might be a good way to
prevent elbow injuries.
Which bar? Some bodybuilders have very straight arms,
while others have some kind of bend starting at elbow level.
Look at yourself in a mirror, arms straight at your sides, with
your palms facing the mirror. Draw an imaginary line going from
your shoulder through the middle of your elbow and down to
your hand. If it crosses the middle of your hand, your arm is
straight. If not, you have a valgus.
There is nothing wrong with that, but it means that you’re
likely to experience problems using a straight bar. The bend of
an EZ-curl bar will help you get a more natural position at the
elbows and wrists. If your valgus is very pronounced, the slight
bend of an EZ-curl bar may not be enough. As a result, you
may experience discomfort in your shoulders, elbows or wrists.
Your only solution is to use dumbbells instead of a bar. The
freedom of movement they permit will help you find a more
natural groove.
The point is, you can’t consider dumbbells, a straight bar or
an EZ-curl bar as variation. It’s very rare that all three fit one
person’s anatomy. Find the one that suits you best and stick
with it. If you force your joints along an unnatural path, injury is
likely.
Your triceps routine. It’s very hard to figure out when to
train triceps, which are strongly recruited during chest and
shoulder presses and to a lesser extent during back exercises.
Of course you don’t want to train them when they’re fatigued
after pec or delt training. By the same token, you don’t want to
If you have a valgus, you’re
likely to experience problems
using a straight bar.
train those two bodyparts when your triceps haven’t fully recovered from their last workout.
Most bodybuilders work tri’s right after chest. In theory,
presses warm up your triceps and potentiate them—meaning
your tri’s get temporarily stronger because they’ve just been
submitted to high tension.
If you’ve performed a lot of sets for your chest, though,
potentiation won’t occur. More than likely your tri’s are exhausted by presses, and it’s not very productive to train them in that
fatigued state. Some bodybuilders like to train their tri’s with
their back and their biceps with pecs. That seems reasonable—for beginners.
For advanced bodybuilders, however, there’s a better solution. In the days following chest presses, weird triceps strength
fluctuations occur. Obviously, the tri’s are weaker due to fatigue
and trauma, but—unexpectedly—a brief, temporary, nervous
overshoot occurs in the middle of the recovery phase.
Lawrence W. Weiss reports in the Journal of Applied Sport
Science Research (1991, Vol. 5, No. 4) that the force of the
stimulated muscle is acutely enhanced 96 hours after exercise.
Strength measured 48, 72 or 120 hours after training does not
show any variation of force. So a rapidly closing window of
opportunity is open 96 hours posteffort.
That means if you train your triceps four days after your
chest workout, your tri’s should benefit from a brief nervous
overshoot. But if you train them two, three or five days after
your chest, you won’t benefit from it.
We also know that because of the delayed soreness or
trauma, most trained muscles will be at their weakest two days
after having been stimulated. So the worst strategy would be
to train your triceps 48 hours after your chest, and the optimal
strategy is to hit them four days after your chest workout.
I’ve found that my triceps strength is at its peak 24 hours
after chest training and at its weakest 48 hours after. So I train
them the day after chest. The problem is at the joint level, as
joints and tendons haven’t recovered. But if I choose the proper combination of exercises, my joints can handle the double
triceps blast.
It’s easy to discover your own pattern of
strength over- and undershoot. Pick a nontraumatic cable exercise—I like one-arm cable extensions—and select a weight that lets you do only
20 reps in very strict form. Perform the exercise
every day for a couple of weeks. On some days
you’ll reach the 20 reps with ease, while at other
times 20 will be impossible. By monitoring your
own strength fluctuations, you’ll discover when
to retrain, and equally important, when not to
work triceps. Both are crucial pieces of information if you want rapid muscular growth.
—Michael Gündill
Illustration by Frédéric Delavier
Editor’s note: Frédéric Delavier is an accomplished powerlifter and the author of the worldwide best-seller Strength Training Anatomy,
available from Home Gym Warehouse, (800)
447-0008, or at
www.home-gym.com.
3-D MUSCLE BLAST
Positions of Flexion Builds Mass Fast!
Critical Mass POF DVD
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©2009 Home-Gym.com
FAT BURN
The Fatter You Are, the Slower It Burns
that most people focus
on—fat stored systemically in fat cells.
Decreased use of
systemic fat by the
obese involves not only
decreased catecholamine release during
exercise but also a
heightened stimulation of
alpha-adrenergic receptors. Unlike beta-adrenergic cell receptors,
which favor the use of
fat, alpha-adrenergic fatcell receptors inhibit fat
use. A preponderance of
alpha-adrenergic receptors in women’s lower
bodies explains why it’s
so difficult for most
women to lose fat in that
area. Interestingly, obese men burn fat much as women do in
their lower bodies—with great difficulty.
Obese men also usually have higher resting
insulin levels. That’s caused by insulin resistance
resulting from larger fat-cell volume. Insulin blocks
the release of fat during exercise, an effect usually
opposed by increased catecholamine secretion.
Catecholamine secretion is blunted in the obese,
however, leading to a vicious metabolic cycle.
The question is how those with higher bodyfat
levels can overcome their considerable fat-oxidation
problems. Ephedrine and mahuang supplements
simulate the effects of catecholamines in the body,
including their effects on bodyfat release. Sadly, it
appears that such supplements will soon be history,
due to inaccurate reports about their so-called
health dangers. Caffeine may also help release
catecholamines to a limited degree, but the effect is
usually transient.
As for the problem of alpha-adrenergic receptors,
a supplement based on yohimbe may block the
effects of those fat-blunting receptors. But yohimbe
must be taken on an empty stomach at a dose of
about 0.2 milligrams per kilogram of bodyweight.
Food obliterates yohimbe’s fat-oxidation properties.
The easiest way to overcome the metabolic fat
oxidation deficit, though, is simply to have patience
and lose the excess fat. When that happens, the
obese are likely to burn fat as easily as their leaner
peers.
—Jerry Brainum
Neveux \ Model: Eric Domer
The fatter you are, the harder it is to tap into bodyfat
stores during exercise. That was confirmed in a study that
measured the fat use of five lean, five overweight and five
obese men during exercise.1 All the subjects exercised for 90
minutes on a stationary cycle. Tracer infusions showing
precisely where and how fat is oxidized, or burned, measured their fat use.
The total increase in fatty acid uptake during exercise was
50 percent lower in obese subjects and 35 percent lower in
overweight men than in the lean subjects. Normally, moderate-intensity exercise leads to a twofold to threefold increase
in the burning of stored fat. Exercise also promotes greater
use of fat stored in muscle, known as intramuscular fat.
That’s due to increased secretion of catecholamines, such as
epinephrine and norepinephrine, from the adrenal glands
during exercise.
With increased bodyfat levels the body secretes lower
levels of catecholamines during exercise, blunting release of
fatty acids from fat cells into the blood. On the other hand,
the study also showed that higher bodyfat levels also led to
increased use of intramuscular fat, so the level of fat oxidation is similar. Still, fatter men release less of the type of fat
1 Mittendorfer, B., et al. (2004). Excess bodyfat in
men decreases plasma fatty acid availability and
oxidation during endurance exercise. Am J Physiol
Endocrinol Metab. 286:E354-62.
COST OF REDEMPTION
Mr. Olympia’s Mind-Numbing Training DVD
This 3-plus-hour DVD is a
masters class on what it’s like
to train without limits. Sit back
and be amazed and inspired
by a man who walks the walk.
Mitsuru Okabe spent 4 days
with Ronnie in 2003 just prior
to his sixth win in a row of the
Mr. Olympia. This DVD is shot
in an absolute “you are there”
style. There are no set ups,
no retakes, nothing but the
real Ronnie Coleman. Ronnie
is absolutely focused on his
goal and he lives his life to
make it happen. You will see
him do 800-pound squats,
75-pound dumbbell curls and
an astounding 2250-pound leg
press—almost every 45-pound
plate in the gym! It’s the stuff
of legends. But more than just
the sets, reps and the nutrition,
you get an insider’s view of
the personality that always
lights up any room he enters.
It hits all the right notes:
instructional, inspirational and
a pleasure to watch a man
at the top of his game. Four
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Coleman DVD
$28.95
©2009 Home-Gym.com
Whatever You Need—Wherever You Train™
Steve Holman’s
Critical Mass
No Weigh!
Q: I weigh around 215 right now. I’m pretty active,
and I have rock-hard legs, but I need a better upper
body. If I want to maintain a fit 190-to-200-pound
bodyweight, should I try to drop all 25 pounds to 190
and then build the muscle, or should I just drop 10
to 15 pounds and use weight training to replace the
fat with lean muscle? I want to be a fairly ripped 190.
A: First, you shouldn’t be so hung up on weighing a
certain amount. In fact, you probably shouldn’t weigh
yourself. Go by how you look. If you’re losing notches on
your belt, you’re losing fat.
When you lose fat and gain muscle, you redistribute your
weight. In other words, you’ll look completely different if
you lose 10 pounds of fat and add 10 pounds of muscle,
but you’ll weigh exactly the same. Think about that,
and let it sink in. Step away from the scale!
Concentrate on working out hard, being consistent and keeping your eating relatively
clean. You’ll be amazed at the changes
your body will make. It may help to
take some photos in a bathing suit and
then take more after about six weeks.
Q: Larry Scott used to do burns
on preacher curls a lot. Are X
Reps similar to those?
the target muscle in a semistretched position between
sets, which can provide benefits similar to those of X Reps.
For example, he liked to grab an upright, bend at the waist
and lean back, flexing and stretching his lats between sets
of chins and rows. That provided unique semistretched
overload for his traps and lats. The Oak’s instincts were
right on the money most of the time, which is why his
physique was so far ahead in development.
Q: I want to try the Get-Ripped Diet in Train, Eat,
Grow (page 132). I’d like to lose about 60 pounds. I
have a few questions: For breakfast you say that you
pour Pro-Fusion over cereal. Is that all you put on
it? Do you mix it in milk? Could I just use whey powder?
A: I use about one scoop of Pro-Fusion in water, stir it
with a spoon in a glass and then pour it over my cereal. It
has a sweetness that adds to my Fiber One/Raisin Bran
combination (us old guys need our fiber). If you can’t
stomach that—my wife and kids gag when they see me
do it—you could use skim milk on your cereal
and have a small protein drink in addition.
Whey powder would work, although a micellar-casein-and-whey combo protein will keep
aminos in your bloodstream longer, due to
the fast/slow protein release.
Also keep in mind that when you
begin a weight-loss diet, you should
gradually reduce calories, which is why
I showed four versions of the GetRipped Diet. Calories taper down over
a number of weeks. If you make a giant
calorie cut all at once, your body is
more apt to hold on to fat because it
shifts into starvation mode. I cover that
in TEG and go into more detail in Fat to
Muscle 2.
A: X Reps are somewhat similar to
burns; however, we’ve taken it a few
steps beyond with an explanation of
why they work and the precise position in the stroke of each exercise
Q: When should I do cardio, bethat’s best for implementing the techfore or after my weight workout?
nique. Burns were more random—no
rhyme or reason about where to perA: A 10-to-15-minute treadmill sesform them. For example, in his feature
sion before you train legs can do wonon Arnold’s training [“I Watched Arnold
ders for warming up your lower body for
Train,” November ’04] John Balik wrote
optimum performance. Many bodybuilders
that on preacher curls Arnold would end
don’t warm up enough, which can reduce
his set with four half reps at the top for
their ability to contract the target muscle.
peak. A number of scientists believe that the
Studies show that a warm muscle can contract
best place for overload to initiate a growth
up to 20 percent better than a cold one, so
response is the semi-stretched position, which
warm up thoroughly.
is near the bottom of the preacher curl, not the
Of course, you don’t have to do cardio on leg
top. While Arnold may have liked
day to warm up. Many top-level bodybuilders
to flex his biceps at the top of
do a few sets of leg extensions before they move
that exercise, he might have
to their heavy compound quad exercises.
been more efficient at triggering
For example, Ronnie Coleman does
growth by doing his burns at
four sets of extensions for up to 20
the bottom, where the bireps apiece before heading to
ceps are in a position to exert
the squat rack. Walking a
the most force and, therefore,
treadmill or riding a stafiber activation.
tionary bike is just
Not to criticize the king! He also did
another warmup
many things exactly right, like doing cable
option.
laterals and incline one-arm
Doing cardio after
laterals to hit the delt’s stretch
your weight-training
Muscle weighs more than fat, so you could conceivably
position, something many bodyworkout has a fatweigh more as you get leaner and more muscular.
builders neglect. He also flexed
burning benefit: Be48 JANUARY 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com
SWIMSUIT SIZZLEFEST
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©2010 Home-Gym.com
Steve Holman’s
Critical Mass
Refry Your Forearms
In the December ’04 Critical Mass I outlined how to
build forearm mass; however, that was before I discovered a new bar that Jonathan Lawson and I have been
using in our workouts. It’s called the Forearm Bar, and it
was sent to us by Monster Bars (www.monsterbars.com).
It’s a uniquely angled short bar, shaped like a wide V, with
a pin in the middle so you can add barbell plates. You
stand gripping the bar at arm’s length and do wrist curls
or reverse wrist curls over a full range. Jonathan and I
have been using it along with X Reps in our forearm
routine, and we’ve gotten some wild new detail in our
lower arms, not to mention vascularity.
Our routine? We superset barbell reverse wrist curls
with dumbbell reverse wrist curls, doing X Reps on both
of them. Then we do barbell wrist curls supersetted with
dumbbell wrist curls, X Reps on both. We follow with
Forearm Bar wrist curls supersetted with X Reps on forearm rockers, doing the X Reps on the inner curling motion. Then we do Forearm Bar reverse wrist curls
supersetted with X Reps on forearm rockers, doing the X
Reps on the outer curling motion.
Using a treadmill is
a good way to burn
fat, especially after
a weight workout
when there’s no
glycogen in your
bloodstream. Doing
it after a leg
workout, however,
may detrimental to
leg growth.
Editor’s note: To order the Forearm Bar, call Home
Gym Warehouse, (800) 447-0008. For more on X-Rep
training visit www.x-reps.com.
The unique shape of the
bar enables you to do
full-range wrist curls
and reverse wrist curls
while standing.
cause your weight workout has used up a lot of glycogen,
especially any circulating in your bloodstream, your body
moves into a fat-burning mode sooner than it would if you
did cardio on a nonworkout day or prior to your workout.
Some researchers believe, however, that doing cardio
immediately after a leg workout can be detrimental to
growth and that you should wait at least 20 minutes.
So the answer is, if you want to use some cardio for a leg
warmup, do it before your leg workout for 10 to 15 minutes, and use only moderate intensity. If you’re looking for
a better fat burn, do it immediately after your upper-body
workout or 20 to 30 minutes after your leg workout. Better
yet, on leg day do it later in the day or not at all.
New! The sharp black POF T-shirt with the original
classic logo emblazoned in gold can give you that muscular look you’re after. See page 179 for details.
Editor’s note: Steve Holman is the author of a number of bodybuilding
best-sellers, including Train,
Eat, Grow: The Positions-ofFlexion Muscle-Training
Manual. For information on
the POF videos and Size Surge
programs, see page 125. For
information on Train, Eat,
Grow, see page 81. Also visit
www.x-rep.com. IM
Neveux
Holman \ Model: Jonathan Lawson
We’ve been using
the Forearm Bar,
from Monster Bars,
along with X Reps,
and our forearms
are getting better
with less volume.
Steve Holman
[email protected]
BODYBUILDING BEAUTIES
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Train ™
\ JULY 2006 181
EAT TO
NUTRITION SCIENCE
Low Carb, Slow Carb or No Carb?
The most frequent criticism of
today’s popular low-carbohydrate
diets is that they’re antithetical to
optimum body chemistry. The idea is
that since carbohydrates are undeniably the most readily available fuel
source, not eating enough carbs
leads to a host of physical and mental impairments, such as fatigue and
a decrease in training intensity.
Most nutrition authorities say that
the ideal diet contains 55 to 60
percent carbohydrate. The preferred
forms have the least effect on insulin
secretion, usually because of their
naturally higher fiber content. One
way to figure out which carbs are
best to eat is to consult a glycemic
index, or GI, chart.
The glycemic index assigns numbers based on how rapidly a carb is
absorbed into the blood compared
with glucose, which is assigned the
number 100. The primary problem
with depending on GI numbers is
that they apply only to carbs eaten
alone, without any protein or fat.
Protein and fat slow down carb
absorption significantly, thus making
GI numbers irrelevant.
With all the admonitions about the
importance of carbohydrate intake,
you would think that carbs are an
essential nutrient. The truth is,
though, that essential carb intake
hasn’t been identified, as it has for
fats and protein, simply because
carbs can be synthesized in the liver
from protein and, to
a lesser degree,
from fat in a process
called gluconeogenesis. Some studies
show that about 57
percent of excess
dietary protein is
converted to glucose, the carb that
circulates in the
blood. Ten percent
of glycerol, the
triglyceride
molecule, converts
to glucose in the
liver. Even by-products of exercise
metabolism, such as
lactate, readily
convert into glucose
in the liver.
What’s really
important about
carb foods is not the
carbohydrate per se but the nutrients found in unprocessed carb
foods, such as fruits, vegetables and
whole grains. They contain fiber and
myriad impressive health-preserving
nutrients that fall under the umbrella
term phytonutrients, such as
flavonoids. Processed carbs, such
as the abomination known as highfructose corn syrup, have zero redeeming characteristics and are a
primary factor in today’s obesity
epidemic.
What would happen if you eliminated carbs from your diet? Surely
that would induce metabolic derangement. Many studies examining
the relationship between exercise
and carbs have demonstrated that
eliminating carbs does indeed lead
to a significant drop in energy and
training intensity. A lot of them are
meaningless, however, because they
were all short-term—often lasting no
more than a week.
People who’ve eaten large
amounts of carbs are sugar burners
and may experience initial fatigue if
their sugar or carb sources are
abruptly removed. The body needs
time to adjust to using another type
of fuel—fat. The metabolic
switchover takes about two to three
weeks, during which most people
feel some level of fatigue and lassitude. If you continue the diet and
take certain precautions, however,
the symptoms disappear.
That the human body is capable
of adapting to a depletion of carbs is
evident from the Inuit, or Eskimo,
people, whose traditional diet contained about 85 percent fat and 15
percent protein. Despite the lack of
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GROW
Nutrition With a Get-Big Mission
contraction and to help
ward off muscle cramps.
The other key to an
optimal low-carb diet for
training is a higher protein
intake. As you reduce
calories or carbs, you
must increase protein.
That buffers you against
nitrogen loss, which would
lead to muscle breakdown, or catabolism. The
body needs the excess
protein converted in the
liver to glucose for brain
and central-nervoussystem operation. Frequent protein meals also
suppress appetite, which
makes dieting easier.
One aspect that must
be considered is the
relationship between carb
intake and glycogen
synthesis. Without carbs, glycogen
synthesis is stymied. Insufficient
glycogen means lack of muscle
pump, decreased recovery and
lack of training intensity, since
anaerobic exercise—such as
bodybuilding workouts—relies on
muscle glycogen stores.
The solution is simple. Get the
majority of your carbs before and
after activity and concentrate on
protein when you’re not active.
That way you burn bodyfat at a
maximum rate while getting the
carbs you need to train hard. Also
be aware that any carbs you get
within the initial two hours after a
workout go straight into glycogen
replenishment. Carbs taken in at
that time do not hinder fat
metabolism, contrary to what
some have stated.
—Jerry Brainum
Neveux \ Model: Derik Farnsworth
carbs—fruits and veggies
aren’t readily available in the
Arctic—they thrived. Their
high intake of fatty fish was
the first found evidence of
the benefits of omega-3
fatty acids, since the Inuit
showed far lower rates of
cardiovascular mortality
than people living in Denmark, where the diet was
more typically Western.
In 1929 an anthropologist
named Vilhjalmur Stefansson returned from living with
the Inuit for more than five
years. To silence scientific
skepticism at the time,
Stefansson and an associate voluntarily committed
themselves to a metabolic
ward at Bellevue hospital in
New York, where they ate
the carb-free Inuit diet for a
year under medical scrutiny. They
showed no adverse effects on the
diet, not even a vitamin C deficiency, which was predicted to occur
after three months.
But what of exercise? It’s one
thing to sit around in a hospital
ward, but what happens if you cut
out carbs and try to train at the
gym? Studies have examined that
aspect of low-carb diets and found
surprisingly few adverse effects, as
long as a few other factors are
accounted for.
The first is time for adaptation,
starting with the two to three
weeks the body needs to switch
over to using fat instead of carbs
as an energy source. Indeed,
including carbs every few days
prevents full metabolic adaptation
to fat as a primary fuel source.
It’s also important to ensure
adequate mineral, or electrolyte,
intake. Low-carb diets are famous
for their diuretic effect. That loss of
water is often attributed to a breakdown of stored glycogen, which is
stored with 2.7 grams of water for
every gram of glycogen. But along
with the water go electrolytes,
such as sodium, magnesium and
potassium, which play vital roles in
nerve transmission. When they’re
lacking, weakness and lassitude
soon follow—along with more
severe and even life-threatening
effects.
Maintaining a high level of electrolytes also helps preserve lean
mass, or muscle. Potassium is
particularly important, but without
magnesium you can’t retain potassium; you need them both. Adding
calcium may also help because the
lack of dairy foods limits calcium
intake. Among other functions,
calcium is required for muscle
www.ironmanmagazine.com \ JANUARY 2005 55
LIFT BIG TO GET BIG
Build Incredible Pressing Power and Bulletproof Shoulders
Unfortunately, shoulder injury
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trainees have to sacrifice
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Eat to Grow
DIETS
When choosing
bread, always
consult the
nutrition label.
Who Stole My
Muscle Mass?
Watch what you eat
after an injury
CARB COUNT
Fiber Won
Rye vs. wheat bread in a low-glycemic battle
There are good carbs and bad carbs (just as there are good witches and bad
witches). So instead of trying to select foods that contain fewer total carbs, look
for ones that contain good carbs, like those in legumes, fresh fruit, vegetables,
nuts and whole grains.
Even some good carbs are better than others. For example, one study compared rye bread to wheat bread and found that even when the dietary fiber
content was the same, the rye bread was digested more slowly, resulting in a
lower insulin response, than the wheat bread.
According to a report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (78:957964, 2003), “These findings suggest that less insulin is required for the regulation
of postmeal blood sugar levels after the consumption of rye breads. The reason
for this may be explained by differences in the structural properties of the two
breads.”
The study did not use typical supermarket rye, which feels as light as air. That
bread is 90 percent or more white flour, with 10 percent or less rye flour. The
study instead used a whole-rye bread, which usually can only be found in a
health food store or German delicatessen. Another way to be sure is to check
the nutrition label. Each slice of rye bread should contain at least two grams of
dietary fiber.
—Daniel Curtis, R.D.
It’s a good idea to lay off training for
a while if you get injured; however, it’s
not a good idea to lay off your nutrition
plan at the same time.
When you injure a muscle, “in a
sense the body panics and sends out
a general breakdown alert. Proteolytic
changes [muscle breakdown] are often
seen in muscles far from the site of the
injury,” according to Nutrition Reviews
(61:34-38, 2003). That protective
mechanism enables the body to release amino acids for use in the tissues and for other functions, but, the
article says, “as much as 26 percent of
muscle protein can be lost within three
days of the injury.”
One suggested solution is to inhibit
muscle breakdown by using medications. That’s not the whole picture,
though. According to the authors,
“nutrition regimes should be developed
to provide the amino acids that would
have normally been provided from the
breakdown of muscle protein following
injury.” That means getting a diet high
in protein, with protein supplements as
needed.
So take a rest from your training till
your injury is healed, but continue to
eat a balanced, high-protein diet so
your body has plenty of amino acids
available and doesn’t have to rob your
muscles.
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Encyclopedia are of enormous
and enduring value to
beginners and experts alike. A
tour de force of bodybuilding
information with stunning
photos of unrivaled quality,
this massive volume covers
every aspect of bodybuilding
with authority and depth.
Included is complete
information on:
•Getting started
•Bodybuilding physiology
•Shoulder training
•Chest training
•Back training
•Arm training
•Abdominal training
•Leg training
•Training for mass
•Training for power
•Mental aspects of training
•Bodybuilding nutrition
With IRON MAN’s Ultimate
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developing shoulder and back
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This massive volume contains
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IM Encyclopedia
$19.95
©2009 Home-Gym.com
Eat to Grow
WARRIOR NUTRITION AND EXERCISE
The Stubborn-Fat Solution
The term stubborn fat refers to fat tissue that
shows high resistance to fat burning. Stubborn-fat gain is often associated with estrogenic activity in the body. Estrogen is a female
hormone with a high affinity for binding to fat,
or adipose tissue, and it essentially promotes
fat gain. Men accumulate stubborn fat
around the belly and the chest; women
around the belly, lower butt and upper legs.
Bodybuilders regard estrogen-related
stubborn fat as a nightmare. Accumulated
stubborn fat around the chest and abdominals takes away any chance of looking
defined. Some companies attempt, or claim,
to offer anti-estrogen—or anti-aromatase—
supplements; however, most products fail to
deliver any leaning-down effect.
So is it possible to remove stubborn fat,
which resists conventional diet and exercise?
The answer is not a simple one. Stubborn-fat gain could be a result of various
metabolic problems, including insulin resistance, stressed liver and toxicity, all of which
need to be addressed. There is, however,
some encouraging news regarding estrogenrelated stubborn fat. Recent studies at Emory University
School of Medicine in Atlanta reveal that conjugated linoleic
acid may help.
CLA is derived from omega-6 linoleic acid. It’s found in dairy
products and meat and has been widely shown to possess
antiobesity and anticarcinogenic activity in test tube and animal
studies. Human-based studies
reveal that mixed CLA isomers
help inhibit breast-cancer cell
growth. The researchers determined that CLA downregulated estrogen receptors and gene expression, thus suppressing
estrogen-related growth of breast-cancer cells.
They concluded that CLA is a natural potent
estrogen suppressor.
That could be great news for active people
who are looking for practical ways to eliminate
stubborn fat. Keep in mind, though, that only
some isomers of CLA have a potent antiestrogenic effect. More research is needed to
determine the exact effect of this fatty compound on the human body.
Even so, because of its potential ability to
break down fat tissues and mobilize fatty acids
to the liver, it’s advisable to take CLA on an
empty stomach while undereating or fasting.
That way the body can more easily convert
fatty acids and triglycerides into energy, thus
preventing accumulation of lipids in the liver
and the blood.
—Ori Hofmekler
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
[email protected], www.warriordiet.com or by phone at
(866) WAR-DIET.
SNACK ATTACK
Bone-Breaking Beverage?
While cola is not a nutritional powerhouse, it may not be the villain it’s been
made out to be. Sure, it contains 150 to 200 empty calories, caffeine and no
vitamins, but more recent evidence indicates that it won’t vacuum all the calcium
out of your bones and leave you with osteoporosis. According to the March ’04
issue of Prevention, “Some rumors refuse to die, such as the one about how
drinking too many colas can leach calcium right out of your bones.” The article
goes on to state that “there is some evidence that phosphorous may hurt bones,
but there’s so little in colas that you’d have to drink a tremendous amount to impact bone.”
So tip back a cola when the thirst for one hits you—if
you can afford the extra calories.
No bones
about it. The
rumors are
not true.
Do cola drinks make
your bones brittle?
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Eat to Grow
ANABOLIC DRIVE
Sex, Highs and Exercise
Illustration by Christian Martinez
Trivia question: What compound, at
a dose of roughly 50 to 100
milligrams, might cause dyspepsia
(also known as indigestion—I just like
the sound of dyspepsia), abnormal
vision, increased nitric oxide release
and increased exercise capacity and
make you rock-hard where it counts?
If you answered arginine alpha-ketoglutarate (AKG) then you’re a complete
nitwit.
The real answer is sildenafil, more
commonly known as Viagra. Besides
giving you enhanced blood flow in the
nether regions, it’s a friggin’ ergogenic
aid! Now, I’m not talking about being
able to do the bump-and-grind for
longer periods. For that you need to
do more core training as well as load
up on creatine (for increased power
output).
Seriously, though, a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine looked at the effects of sildenafil on exercise
capacity. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled
crossover study
was done at the
base camp on
Mount Everest.
The researchers
studied 14
healthy mountaineers and trekkers
who received 50 milligrams or a
placebo of oral sildenafil.
What did they find?
At low altitude, acute hypoxia
reduced arterial oxygen saturation to
72.0 percent at rest and 60.8 percent
at maximum exercise capacity. Sildenafil significantly increased arterial
oxygen saturation during exercise—
meaning more oxygen got to red
blood cells. That’s obviously important when you’re breathing more
heavily than an adolescent boy who’s
just made a prank call to Carmen
Electra.
Sildenafil also increased maximum workload and maximum
cardiac output. It had no effect on arterial oxygen saturation
at rest or during exercise. At high
altitude sildenafil worsened existing
VEGGIES
headaches in two individuals—a
phenomenon many have experienced when taking sildenafil in the
comfort of a hotel room.
Bottom line: Sildenafil, or Viagra,
will enhance exercise capacity at
high altitude. It may even be worth
Spinach and other green leafy vegetables are
trying for those who participate in
rich in folic acid, which can decrease serum
prolonged strenuous endurance
homocysteine levels and thereby reduce the
work such as the Tour de France.
risk of heart disease. They’re also rich in
According to researchers, “Sildenafil
indoles, which are substances that stimuis the first drug shown to increase
late your immune system to fight cancer.
exercise capacity during severe
Now it looks as if green leafy
hypoxia both at sea level and at high
vegetables also fight off another
altitude.”
serious disease: macular degeneraJust an FYI for you sildenafil
tion, which is on the increase. Aclovers: When you take it, it’s rapidly
cording to the March ’04 issue of
absorbed, with maximal plasma
Prevention, “An eye-opening new study of
concentrations attained within 30 to
10,500 people found that age-related macular
120 minutes (median 60 minutes) of
degeneration has skyrocketed in just eight years,
oral dosing in the fasted state. When
from 5 to 27 percent in people over the age of 65.”
I yam what I
Viagra is taken with a high-fat meal,
The damage occurs when sunlight reaches the back
yam: chockful of
the rate of absorption is reduced
of the eye, or the macula, the lens-focusing center.
beta-carotene.
and delayed. My suggestion: If
The carotene content of green leafy vegetables is
you’re with Mrs. Right Now, don’t
what does the trick. Carotenoids appear to concentrate in the macula, where they
eat a high-fat meal. If you’re on a
can absorb the damaging light—and fresh spinach is a top source. One cup conmercy date, eat enough fat to make
tains 1,688 micrograms of beta-carotene.
a moose pass out.
—Jose Antonio, Ph.D.
Eye-Opening Spinach News
It’s a lot more than Popeye power and extra iron
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Eat to Grow
GROW TIME
The Anabolic Diet
How to kick-start your
muscle-building hormones
Neveux \ Model: Jonathan Lawson
Gains in muscular size and
from each group trained using
strength are associated with a
heavy resistance. They kept food
greater release of anabolic hordiaries of everything they ate for
mones, including testosterone
four days prior to the training
and growth hormone. That’s why
sessions.
many athletes and bodybuilders
The results proved surprising in
resort to using anabolic steroids,
light of the usual advice on what
which are based on testosterone,
to eat to gain muscle. Eating
and growth hormone. Another
either insufficient fat or excess
option is to use food suppleprotein led to lower testosterone
ments that increase the levels of
levels. According to the study, the
anabolic hormones in the body,
best types of dietary fat for inincluding pro-hormones and
creasing testosterone are saturatseveral herbal formulas that,
ed and monounsaturated fats.
some studies show, may have a
Polyunsaturated fat, usually conpositive effect on anabolic horsidered the healthiest type—and
mone levels.
the only fat considered essenA lack of either protein or calories
Often overlooked, however, is
tial—had no effect on anabolic
tends to depress growth hormone rethe effect of dietary nutrients on
hormone levels.
lease.
anabolic hormone levels. That
So what are the optimal levels
was the focus of recent research on the dietary patterns of
of protein and fat intake for testosterone release? Research
eight strength-trained and 10 physically active men.1 The
shows that protein intake should be between 1.2 and 1.7
first part of the study examined the mens’ levels of total
grams per kilogram (2.2 pounds) of bodyweight, while fat
testosterone, free testosterone and growth hormone under
intake should never dip below 20 percent of total daily
resting conditions. In the second part of the study five men
calories and should contain saturated and monounsaturated fat sources.
Since monounsaturated fat, found
ALCOHOL
in olive oil and other sources, is far
more healthful than saturated fat, it
In more ways than one would be prudent to focus more on
that than saturated fat. Saturated-fat
By now most people know that red wine is more
intake should never exceed 10 percent
heart healthy than white wine, but not all red wines
of total daily calories.
Even though polyunsaturated fat
are equally protective on the heart scale. Red wine
had
no effect on anabolic hormone
works due to its saponin content. Saponins trap
release, it would be a serious mistake
cholesterol and eliminate it before it can get into
to avoid it. Polyunsaturated fats, such
the bloodstream, and some red wines contain
as the omega-3s found in fatty fish,
more than others. According to the March ’04
are the only type of fat considered
issue of Prevention, zinfandel tops the list with 14
essential in the diet.
milligrams per glass. Pinot noir comes in at seven
As for growth hormone, no particular nutrient pattern had any significant
milligrams, cabernet sauvignon at four
effect. Even so, we know that there’s a
milligrams and merlot also at four. Red
direct relationship between calorie
wines also contain the beneficial
intake and GH release: A lack of proantioxidant resveratrol, which
tein or calories tends to depress
protects arterial walls and may
growth hormone release.
be responsible for raising
—Jerry Brainum
the good HDL cholesterol.
1 Satillinen, J., et al. (2004). RelaIf you don’t drink alcotionship between diet and serum
hol, try dark grape juice or
anabolic hormone responses to heavy
eat grapes.
resistance exercise in men. Int J
Sports Med. 25:1-7.
Wine Is Fine
PERFECT POSTWORKOUT MEAL
TM
To Kick-Start Immediate Muscle Growth After You Train
Breakthrough research in
exercise metabolism now
reveals this fact: What you
consume (or don’t consume)
immediately after training plays
a critical role in determining
your success or failure! That
time period is known as the
“anabolic window” of growth.
The biggest mistake many
bodybuilders make is eating
a meal of chicken breasts,
baked potato or rice and
vegetables after a workout. This
is an approach doomed to fail
because by the time this meal
digests, the anabolic window
has slammed shut.
The best way to produce this
potent anabolic effect is simply
by drinking an amino acidand-carbohydrate supplement
within 15 minutes after training!
RecoverX™ offers the ideal
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RecoverX™ contains 40
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RecoverX
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RecoverX™ is the perfect
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©2009 Home-Gym.com
Mr. Natural Olympia John Hansen’s
Naturally Huge
Fat-Loss
Fundamentals
Neveux
Q: I’m 39 years old and married. I’ve been weighttraining drug-free for 15 years, but I’ve never lost
the huge amount of bodyfat that’s around my waist.
How do I reduce the fat around my waist without
losing any lean-muscle mass? Right now I have a 36inch waist, and I weigh 215 pounds.
A: Losing bodyfat without sacrificing muscle mass requires the right training program combined with an optimum nutrition plan. You are smart to try to lose only
bodyfat while maintaining muscle mass, as that’s the key to
looking lean and muscular. So many people try to lose fat
at any cost and end up losing just as much muscle as fat,
which does little to change the look of the physique.
I recommend that you start by writing down what you
eat every day. Knowing exactly what you’re eating each day
will really help you understand where you are now and
help you get where you want to be. Be sure to figure out
how many calories you’re eating, as well as how many
grams of protein, carbohydrates and fats.
Your diet is the deciding factor when it comes to losing
bodyfat. It’s important to eat at least five meals per day to
keep your metabolism stimulated. You also need to eat
enough calories to maintain the muscle tissue; however,
your calorie intake should be just below what you need to
maintain your bodyweight. It may take a bit of experimentation to figure out what the correct amount is, but if you
keep recording your diet each day, you’ll arrive at the right
number soon.
As far as the optimum ratio of the macronutrients, I
prefer to eat 40 percent protein, 40 to 45 percent carbohydrates and 15 to 20 percent fats. That gives me enough
protein to build muscle tissue, enough energy from the
carbohydrates to train hard and a good amount of essential
fatty acids from omega-3 fats. If I’m eating slightly below
my maintenance level of calories, I slowly lose bodyfat
while maintaining my muscle mass.
Your training routine is
extremely important when
you’re attempting to drop
bodyfat. You need to continue to train heavy and
hard to maintain the muscle tissue. If you train with
light weights or decrease
the intensity, you’ll most
likely lose muscle along
with the fat. Less muscle
tissue equates to a slower
metabolism, which will
make the fat-loss process
even more difficult.
You should attempt to
train your muscles intensely with only a moderate
number of sets. Too much
volume in a workout or
training too many days of
the week will result in
overtraining, which may
lead to sacrificing more
muscle tissue. The possibility of overtraining is greater
when you’re dieting and
reducing your calories.
In addition to your
weight workouts, you can
add cardio to aid in your
fat-loss efforts. Performing
cardio immediately after
You need to eat enough
calories to maintain the
muscle tissue, but your
calorie intake should be
just below what you need
to maintain your
bodyweight.
GRIND OUT THE GROWTH REPS™
Beta-Alanine Gives Your Muscles More Grow Power™
The biggest bodybuilders know that
the last few grueling reps of a set are
the key growth reps. It’s why they fight
through the pain of muscle burn on
every work set-—so they trigger the
mass-building machinery. But sometimes
it’s not enough; the burn is too fierce.
Fortunately, there’s now a potent new
weapon in this massive firefight to help
you get bigger and stronger faster.
Red Dragon is a new beta-alanine
supplement that packs your muscles
with carnosine—up to 60 percent more.
Muscle biopsies show that the largest
bodybuilders have significantly more
carnosine in their fast-twitch muscle
fibers than sedentary individuals for good
reason: Carnosine buffers the burn to give
muscles more “grow power” on every set.
The bigger and stronger a muscle gets,
the more carnosine it needs to perform
at higher intensity levels. You must keep
your muscles loaded with carnosine to
grow larger and stronger. It all boils down
to intensity and the ability to buffer waste
products—hydrogen ions and lactic
acid—so the muscle doesn’t shut down
before growth activation.
Straight carnosine supplements degrade
too rapidly to reach the muscles; however,
more than 20 new studies document that
beta-alanine is converted to carnosine
very efficiently. All it takes is 1 1/2 grams
twice a day, and you’ll see new size in
your muscles and feel the difference in
the gym—you can double or triple your
growth-rep numbers! Imagine how fast
your size and strength will increase when
you ride the Dragon!
Note: Red Dragon™ is the first pure
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Red Dragon
120 capsules
$29.95
©2009 Home-Gym.com
Mr. Natural Olympia John Hansen’s
Naturally Huge
your workout or first thing in the morning on an empty
stomach will help burn more bodyfat. I believe in using
cardio in conjunction with a reduced-calorie diet and an
intense weight-training program. It would be a mistake to
rely only on cardio or only on your diet to lose bodyfat. The
best results will come from a combination of weight training, diet and cardio.
Q. In a recent column you suggested a twice-perweek routine, with chest, back and shoulders at the
first workout and legs and arms at the second. I
took your advice and lift on Monday and Friday. My
only concern is that training my arms on Friday and
then my chest and shoulders on Monday will result
in overtraining my triceps. I’ve been at it seven
weeks now, and I notice that on Mondays my triceps
seem to give out sooner than they should. I guess
my question is, Should I train my triceps on the
same day as I bench-press, or should I flip the days
and give my triceps three days of rest instead of two
before I do my bench presses?
A: I think either of your suggestions would work. Switch
the bodyparts you train to the opposite days. Training your
chest, back and delts on Friday and then working your legs
and arms on Monday may eliminate the overtrained feeling in your triceps. It sounds as if you need the three days
of rest after your triceps workout instead of the other way
around.
If you want to switch the routine around to train your
triceps with your chest, I recommend that you change to a
three-day split. Train chest and arms on the first day and
legs by themselves on the second day. Take a day off, and
finish with delts and back the following day. Take another
day off, and then start the cycle again. That routine provides five days of rest for each bodypart. It’s a more advanced version of the routine you’re now using because
you train the body over three days instead of two and you
get only five days of rest between workouts for each bodypart instead of seven.
If you feel that you need seven days of rest between
bodypart hits but you still want to try the above routine,
simply add more rest days. Train chest and arms on the
first day, take the second day off, train legs on the third day,
take two days off, and then train delts and back on the
sixth day, followed by another day off. Repeat the cycle the
following week. That’s the routine I follow when I begin
training again after a competition. It provides plenty of
recuperation, which enables me to train heavy and build
more size during the off-season.
How much rest you require between training sessions
for each bodypart usually depends on where you are as a
bodybuilder. A beginner has yet to develop the neuromuscular efficiency that’s so important in training the muscles
with intensity. A novice trainer doesn’t have the ability to
train as intensely as an advanced bodybuilder due to the
nerve-to-muscle connection. That’s why a beginner can
train each bodypart three times per week without fear of
overtraining (provided you also keep the sets low).
As bodybuilders advance and become more efficient at
increasing their training intensity, they require more recuperation time between workouts for each bodypart. That’s
why I recommend training each bodypart once every seven
days for an advanced bodybuilder who’s using heavy
poundages and high intensity. An intermediate bodybuilder (someone who’s been training at least one or two
years) will probably need four to five days of rest between
bodyparts. Intermediates will be using heavier poundages
and training the
muscles more intensely than they did
as beginners. Determine where you are,
and set up your training program accordingly.
Editor’s note:
John Hansen has won
the Natural Mr.
Olympia and is a twotime Natural Mr.
Universe winner. Visit
his Web site at www
.naturalolympia
.com. You can write
to him at P.O. Box
3003, Darien, IL
John Hansen
60561, or call toll-free (800)
[email protected]
900-UNIV (8648). IM
Neveux
Neveux \ Model: Tomm Voss
As you advance and become more efficient at
increasing your intensity, you’ll require more
recuperation time between workouts for each
bodypart.
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Train, Eat,
GROW
Muscle-Training Program 63
From the IRON MAN Training & Research Center
Model: Jonathan Lawson
by Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson • Photography by Michael Neveux
tÕs been almost four months
since our photo shoot, which
was the culmination of our XRep experiment. YouÕve probably seen the before and after
photos, either in this magazine or at www.x-rep.com.
WhatÕs amazing is that weÕre still
pretty darn close to our peak conditionÑwe have veins streaking down
our forearms and our muscularity and
detail are very much intact. ThatÕs
rather remarkable considering that
weÕve loosened our diets and scaled
back our cardio and that thereÕs no
sense of urgency in the gym. In past
years it took only about a month after
our photo shoot for us to notice bodyfat piling on and our muscles deflating
somewhat. So whatÕs going on? Is
somebody slipping Dianabol into our
RecoverX shakes?
No, the answer is X Reps. WeÕve
been including them in our routine
since the photo shoot, and theyÕre still
working in a number of ways. WeÕve
talked about how those end-of-set
power partials help you override
nervous system failure and take the
target muscle further into hypertrophy
territory. But itÕs much more than that,
as weÕre not only staying big but
remaining lean as well. That may be
due to the way X Reps can improve
your anabolic hormone profile.
Extending a set with a technique like
X Reps that involves muscle burn can
trigger significant hormone surges, GH
in particular. In a study published in
the Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology (22:244-255; 1997), researchers
showed a correlation between higher
blood lactic-acid levels and GH release from the pituitary gland.
That means the more muscle burn
you can induce, the more growth hormone you can stimulate, which is a
good thing. GH is noted for helping
build muscle and burn fat, not to
mention that it bolsters the immune
system and strengthens bones, ligaments and tendons.
If youÕve tried adding X Reps to the
end of a set, you already know that
you get an intense burn in the target
muscle, whether youÕre trying to or
not. The technique is built-in firepower
for any set. And weÕre sure the
wicked burn is one of the keys to our
staying very close to our summer
photo-shoot condition even though
weÕre not expending as much effort.
Are we saying our workouts are
easy? No, X Reps are intense, and the
burn can induce quick blasts of profanity on some exercises; however, we
donÕt do as many sets (more on that
later). In fact, most of our workouts
now take about an hour, and thatÕs at
a fairly leisurely pace. (We admit it:
We joke around during our workouts
to take the edge off.)
Train, Eat, Grow /Program 63
Because our physiques are so
near peak condition at the moment, we’re motivated to try a few
new things to see whether we can
improve further. Remember the old
saying, if you keep doing what
you’re doing, you’ll keep getting
what you’re getting. Don’t get us
wrong. We like the progress we’ve
made, but like most bodybuilders
we’re not satisfied. We want to see if
we can move forward—take our
size up a notch or two or three—
over the winter, which will require a
change from what we’ve been
doing. The first alteration is a revamped split, a four-day version of
the direct/indirect protocol. (We’ll
get back to X Reps in a moment.)
We’ve explained direct/indirect
workouts before, so we won’t go
into too much detail. [Note: There’s
a section in The Ultimate Mass
Workout e-book that discusses precise X-Rep positions for each exercise.] It’s a very efficient way to train
because it appears as if we’re working each bodypart once a week, but
in reality we’re training each one
twice because of indirect work from
IRONMAN Training & Research Center Muscle-Training Program 63
Workout 1: Delts (indirect upper-trap hit),
Triceps (indirect chest hit),
Biceps (indirect lat hit), Forearms
Superset
Dumbbell upright rows
Rack pulls
Seated laterals (drop set)
Standing Smith-machine presses
Dumbbell W presses
Superset
Incline one-arm laterals
One-arm cable laterals
Superset
Lying extensions
Shoulder-width-grip bench presses
Superset
Overhead cable extensions
Bench dips
Undergrip cable rows
Preacher curls
Concentration curls (drop set)
One-arm spider curls
Superset
Incline reverse wrist curls
Dumbbell reverse wrist curls
Superset
Incline wrist curls
Dumbbell wrist curls
Forearm bar (undergrip)
Forearm bar (overgrip)
2 x 8-10
2 x 8-10
1 x 8(6)
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1x8
1x8
2 x 8-10
2 x 8-10
2x8
2 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
2 x 8-10
1 x 8(6)
1 x 8-10
1 x 12
1 x 10
1 x 12
1 x 10
1 x 10
1 x 10
Workout 2: Quads (indirect hamstring hit),
Gastrocs (indirect soleus hit), Upper Abs
(indirect lower-abs hit), Lower Back
Hack squats (nonlock)
Leg extensions
Feet-forward Smith-machine squats
Leg presses
Sissy squats
Leg press calf raises
Hack-machine calf raises (drop set)
Machine donkey calf raises
Superset
Ab Bench crunches (drop set)
Twisting crunches
Superset
Incline kneeups
Bench V-ups
Low-back machine
2 x 8-10
2 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 10-12
1 x 8-10
2 x 20, 15
1 x 12(8)
1 x 10-12
1 x 8(6)
1 x 10
1 x max
1 x max
1 x 8-12
Workout 3: Chest (indirect triceps hit), Lats
(indirect biceps hit), Upper Traps (indirect delt
hit), Brachialis (indirect biceps/forearm hit)
Smith-machine incline presses
Superset
High-low cable flyes
Incline cable flyes
Wide-grip dips (drop on second set)
Flat-bench flyes
Superset
Cable flyes (middle)
Cable flyes (low)
Pulldowns
Undergrip pulldowns
Superset
Machine pullovers
Machine undergrip rows
Rope rows
Superset
Cable upright rows
Rack shrugs
Superset
Incline hammer curls
Rope hammer curls
2 x 8-10
2 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
2 x 8(6)
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
Workout 4: Hamstrings (indirect quad and
lower-back hit), Midback, Rear Delts,
Soleus (indirect calf hit),
Lower Abs (indirect upper-abs hit)
Modified superset (rest after each set)
High, wide hack squats
Leg curls (drop on second set)
Hyperextensions (drop set)
Machine rows
Bent-arm bent-over laterals
Superset
Bent-over laterals
Stiff-arm kickbacks
Seated calf raises
Superset
Seated calf raises
Machine donkey calf raises
Hanging kneeups
Superset
Hanging kneeups
Incline kneeups
Ab Bench crunches
Bench V-ups
2 x 8-10
2 x 8(6)
2 x 8-10
1 x 8(6)
2 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 10
1 x 10-12
1 x 10-12
1 x 15
1 x 10-12
1 x 8-10
1 x 10-12
1 x 10-12
exercises that target other bodyparts at different workouts.
For example, we use undergrip
chins or pulldowns as part of our lat
routine so biceps get some indirect
work. Then on biceps day we include undergrip rows so our lats get
some indirect work. We’ve used
direct/indirect training with great
success in the past, but we believe it
will be even more effective with X
Reps.
The split we were using simply
divided the body over three workouts, which meant each bodypart
was getting at least three days of
rest. Our new routine uses a fourway split, but a bodypart gets hit
hard with direct work and then gets
hit indirectly with much less vol-
ume two days later. So we’re training each bodypart more frequently
but with a varying degree of volume. And both direct and indirect
hits include X Reps. By the way,
we’re still training five days a week.
Here’s our old split:
Workout 1: Chest, lats, triceps
Workout 2: Quads, hams,
calves, abs
ITRC Program 63, Home-Gym Routine: Monday Through Friday
Workout 1: Delts (indirect upper-trap hit),
Triceps (indirect chest hit),
Biceps (indirect lat hit), Forearms
Superset
Dumbbell upright rows
Rack pulls
Seated laterals (drop set)
Dumbbell W presses
Incline one-arm laterals (drop set)
Superset
Lying extensions
Shoulder-width-grip bench presses
Superset
Overhead cable extensions
Bench dips
Undergrip rows
Preacher curls
Concentration curls
One-arm spider curls
Superset
Incline reverse wrist curls
Dumbbell reverse wrist curls
Superset
Incline wrist curls
Dumbbell wrist curls
Forearm rockers
2 x 8-10
2 x 8-10
1 x 8(6)
2 x 8-10
1 x 8(6)
2 x 8-10
2 x 8-10
2x8
2 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
2 x 8-10
1 x 8(6)
1 x 8-10
1 x 12
1 x 10
1 x 12
1 x 10
1 x max
Workout 2: Quads (indirect hamstring hit),
Gastrocs (indirect soleus hit), Upper Abs
(indirect lower-abs hit), Lower Back
Old-style hack squats (nonlock)
2 x 8-10
Leg extensions or old-style hack squats
with a squeeze at the top
2 x 8-10
Squats
1 x 8-10
Lunges (one leg at a time)
1 x 8-10
Donkey calf raises
2 x 20, 15
One-leg calf raises (drop sets)
2 x 12(8)
Superset
Ab Bench crunches or full-range crunches 1 x 8-12
Twisting crunches
1 x 10
Superset
Incline kneeups
1 x max
Bench V-ups
1 x max
Workout 3: Chest (indirect triceps hit), Lats
(indirect biceps hit), Upper Traps (indirect delt
hit), Brachialis (indirect biceps hit)
Incline presses
Incline flyes (drop set to stage)
2 x 8-10
1 x 8(6)
Wide-grip dips
or decline dumbbell presses
(second set drop to stage)
Flat-bench flyes (drop to stage)
Pulldowns or chins
Undergrip pulldowns or chins
Superset
Pullovers
Undergrip rows
Undergrip rows
Superset
Close-grip upright rows
Rack shrugs
Superset
Incline hammer curls
Hammer curls
2 x 8(6)
1 x 8(6)
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
Workout 4: Hamstrings (indirect quad and
lower-back hit), Midback, Rear Delts,
Soleus (indirect calf hit),
Lower Abs (indirect upper-abs hit)
Modified superset (rest after each set)
Wide-stance old-style hack squats
Leg curls (drop on second set)
Hyperextensions (drop set)
Bent-over rows
Bent-arm bent-over laterals
Superset
Bent-over laterals
Stiff-arm kickbacks
Seated calf raises
Superset
Seated calf raises
Donkey calf raises
Hanging kneeups
Superset
Hanging kneeups
Incline kneeups
Ab Bench crunches or full-range crunches
Bench V-ups
2 x 8-10
2 x 8(6)
2 x 8-10
1 x 8(6)
2 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 8-10
1 x 10
1 x 10-12
1 x 10-12
1 x 15
1 x 10-12
1 x 8-10
1 x 10-12
1 x 10-12
Note: Train Monday through Friday, following the sequence of
workouts as listed. Also, it’s best to have a selectorized dumbbell set,
such as the PowerBlock, if you don’t have a rack of fixed dumbbells
of various weights. If you don’t have a leg extension machine, do
old-style hacks with a two-second contraction at the top of each rep
instead. Use partner resistance, towel around the ankles, if you don’t
have a leg curl machine.
grams confirms the nerve-forcefailure problem. They discuss a
study done by Dudley and Harris in
1992 that demonstrated the activation of knee extensors by the central nervous system during maximal
efforts. One of their conclusions
was that the CNS “limits force by
engaging inhibitory mechanisms
that are protective in nature.”
(There’s more on that research at
our X-Rep Web site in the Q&A
section.)
Our experience has been that it’s
the inhibitory mechanisms of the
CNS that stop each and every set to
failure—when you can no longer do
a full-range rep. But you can continue with X Reps. Of course, if you
do high reps—15 to 20—fatigue
products may cause you to fail
before your CNS, but with sets in
the eight to 10 range it’s usually the
CNS that craps out first.
With X Reps, however, the muscle is taxed much more thoroughly
on any given set. They’re the reason
we made such stunning progress in
only one month prior to our photo
shoot (see our before and after
photos on page 126; there are more
at www.x-rep.com) and the reason
Model: Jonathan Lawson \ Equipment: PowerBlock selectorized dumbbells, 1-800-447-0008
just enough to keep the
muscle from regressing
before the next direct
hit, which occurs two to
three days later.
Okay, enough about
our new split. We explained it so you could
see how we’re approaching our fall training
phase. The more interesting part of all of this is
that X Reps are still
working amazingly well.
One reason is the aforementioned hormone
surge they help produce;
another is that they
enable us to override
nervous system failure
and wring a lot more
growth stimulation out of every set.
Last month we mentioned that
when bodybuilders hit failure at the
end of any given set, it’s the nervous
system that craps out first, not the
muscle. That’s the reason so many
fast-twitch muscle fibers are left
understimulated or unused. It has
to do with the size principle of
muscle-fiber recruitment—it’s like a
domino effect in which the lowthreshold motor units fire first,
followed by the intermediates and
then the high-threshold motor
units. (That domino effect appears
to be necessary for maximum fiber
recruitment. Nevertheless, we may
give X-Rep-only sets a try in the
winter, which may be effective after
a thorough warmup.)
On a normal set, when you get to
those critical final reps for highthreshold, fast-twitch-fiber recruitment, your nervous system shuts
down before much stimulation
occurs. That’s the very reason so
many bodybuilders do set after set
yet build only small amounts of
muscle—each additional set gets
only a few more fast-twitch fibers
involved. X Reps solve the problem
to a great degree by enabling you to
leapfrog nervous system failure and
force the muscle to continue firing
at the optimum point on the exercise’s stroke, which makes each set
much more effective.
Scientific evidence presented by
Steven J. Fleck, Ph.D., and William J.
Kraemer, Ph.D., in their book Designing Resistance Training Pro-
Workout 3: Delts, midback,
biceps, forearms
Here’s our new direct/indirect
split:
Workout 1: Delts (indirect
upper-trap hit), triceps (indirect
chest hit), biceps (indirect lat
hit), forearms
Workout 2: Quads (indirect
hamstring hit), gastrocs (indirect soleus hit), upper abs (indirect lower-abs hit), lower back
Workout 3: Chest (indirect
triceps hit), lats (indirect biceps
hit), upper traps (indirect delt
hit), brachialis (indirect biceps
hit)
Workout 4: Hamstrings (indirect quad and lower-back hit),
midback, rear delts, soleus
(indirect calf hit), lower abs
(indirect upper-abs hit)
As we said, there’s less rest between bodypart hits on our new
split, but the indirect workout
shouldn’t be enough to send us into
the overtraining abyss because it’s
low volume. For example, when we
train traps, it’s indirect delt day
because we include upright rows—
but only one set. We’re starting with
one set of indirect work for most
bodyparts because X Reps are
tacked on to the end. That makes
the one set much more intense,
maybe two to three times as effective as a straight set; however, it
should still work like a light day—
Performing X-reps at the end of a set
near the stretch position enables you
to override nervous system failure
and trigger extreme growth
stimulation.
Model: Steve Holman
When you hit
failure, it’s
your nervous
system that
craps out first.
X Reps are very effective at overcoming limitations, especially for
hardgainers—giving you significantly more fiber stimulation in any
one set so you can keep volume to a minimum.
we’ve stayed close to our peaks
even after four months. (That’s
exciting and motivating!)
We mentioned that most bodybuilders add sets when they get
frustrated (we’ve been down that
road too, and it can work to a degree). What they’re doing is trying
to make up for CNS failure, but in
an inefficient way. CNS failure happens on every set—before much
growth stimulation occurs in the
fast-twitch fibers. So while they do
get some additional stimulation
from the extra sets, that stimulation
is small.
Adding set after set is essentially
major energy expenditure for only
minor activation of the growth
mechanism and a sure recipe for
cortisol overproduction and overtraining. (You may be starting to see
why it’s so difficult to get bigger
with standard training, why so
many bodybuilders resort to
steroids and why X Reps are so
effective at overcoming many limitations, especially for hardgainers—
they give you significantly more
fiber stimulation in any one set, so
you can keep volume to a minimum.)
X Reps help solve the CNS problem, helping you get much more
growth stimulation from any one
set. We saw that as soon as we introduced X Reps into our training.
Once we started using them, we
had to decrease our workload—and
our gains accelerated to an
unprecedented level. In our opinion, and after 40 years of training
experience (collectively), we think
it’s a true breakthrough, as we’ve
never experienced such quick results.
Even now, four months after our
peak, we’re still seeing the benefits
of X Reps. We can’t remember the
last time we were in this kind of
shape in the fall. It’s motivating us
to keep experimenting with X Reps
right through the winter so we can
be bigger and better by spring. Stay
tuned to IRON MAN, subscribe to
Jonathan’s free e-newsletter at
www.ironmanmagazine.com, and
visit our Web site, www.x-rep.com,
often for updates. Stick around. It’s
going to be an X-citing winter!
Editor’s note: For the latest on
the X-Rep muscle-building method,
including X Q&As, X Files (past enewsletters about X Reps and how
to use them) and before and after
photos, visit www.x-rep.com. For
more information on Positions-ofFlexion training videos and Size
Surge programs, see page 141. To
order the new Positions-of-Flexion
training manual Train, Eat, Grow,
call (800) 447-0008, visit
www.home-gym.com, or see the ad
below. IM
8 6
Muscle
An Anticrash Course
Bodybuilding Lessons—Many Learned the Hard
Way—From 30 Years of Experience
Part 2
by Stuart McRobert • Photography by Michael Neveux
L
ast month I discussed
eight key lessons for
bodybuilding success.
Here are eight more
lessons I wish someone had drummed
into me when I started
bodybuilding more than 30
years ago.
1) Don’t Be a
Training-Volume Victim
Low-volume workouts are best
for most bodybuilders. Few
drug-free bodybuilders have
the recovery ability to grow on
high-volume workouts. Bodybuilders who do well on them
are genetically gifted for bodybuilding or drug-assisted or
both.
Use abbreviated training and
do no more than 20 work sets
per workout (not per
bodypart, per workout!).
That’s the upper end of the
spectrum. Many bodybuilders
will be better off in the neighborhood of 10 to 12 work sets
per workout. And some may
need even fewer sets to make
the best gains.
When I got off the volume trip, I
continued to waste workouts because I got into the intensity trip. I
used to believe it wasn’t possible to
train too hard—that it was only
possible to train too long. Now I
know that it’s possible to train too
hard and too long. For several years
I had an intensity mania. I believed
that exercise intensity was the route
to bodybuilding success. But training to failure wasn’t sufficient—I
regularly trained beyond positive
failure, with negative reps and
forced reps. I didn’t gain any muscle
during that period, and many other
bodybuilders also found that the
ultrahigh-intensity approach was
deficient.
You must train hard, but you don’t
have to train beyond failure or even
to positive failure. Most trainees,
however, don’t work out hard
enough, while hardcore bodybuilding enthusiasts often overdo it.
Remember, the strongest muscles
aren’t usually the biggest.
aren’t the strongest, and the
strongest muscles aren’t the biggest.
For most bodybuilders most of the
time, however, gradually increasing
exercise poundages is the best form
of progression.
To make small weight
increments, use microweight plates
of only a quarter or half pound each.
Alternatively, you could substitute
several large washers for each microplate.
Suppose, for example, you’re
stuck at two sets of six reps on the
bench press with 245 pounds. If you
put five pounds on the bar, your
reps would drop, you’d struggle and
probably stagnate. But, if you added
Handling ever-greater exercise
just half a pound, you’d probably
weights isn’t a guaranteed route to
still get your two sets of six reps, and
bigger muscles. The biggest muscles then you could add another half
pound the
following time
and probably
still get your
two sets of six.
Nudge up the
bench press
smidgen by
smidgen, and
over time
you’ll add
substantial
weight to the
bar—and
some muscle
to your chest
and arms.
Apply the
same
approach to all
your exercises.
If you can’t squat safely,
Such small
forget that exercise. There
increments
are comparable ones.
aren’t neces-
3) Lose the
Progression
Obsession
Model: Marvin Montoya
Muscle: An Anticrash Course
2) Avoid the
Intensity Trip
sary for beginners, but they are
invaluable for more advanced
trainees.
How you increase exercise
poundages is critical. An exaggerated focus on progressive weights is
detrimental because it leads to
sloppy exercise technique and loss
of rep-speed control. Never compromise exercise form or rep-speed
control just so you can add more
weight. The watchwords are correct
technique and rep-speed control—
even at the end of a set, when the
reps are hardest!
3) Choose Your Core
Moves Wisely
Different groups of comparable
exercises have the potential for
producing similar results. Find a
group of predominantly multijoint
exercises that you can train with
safely and consistently—and that
you can get progressively stronger
on. Then stick with that group for a
long time. They are your core exercises.
If you can squat safely and progressively, do barbell squats. If you
can’t, forget squats. Try leg presses,
parallel-bar deadlifts or hip-belt
squats instead. They can all produce
terrific results—if you do them safely, consistently and progressively.
If you can bench-press safely and
progressively, then do barbell bench
presses. If you can’t, forget it. Parallel-bar dips, dumbbell bench presses, incline-bench presses and
Hammer Strength machine chest
presses are all good alternatives.
4) Give Free
Weights the Nod
With a barbell and dumbbell set
you can do the same exercises anywhere in the world, with consistency. Free weights are almost universal
in commercial gyms, but good machinery isn’t. The exercise-technique instruction for free-weight
exercises is the same for all brands
of free-weight equipment but not so
for machinery, where, for example,
the instructions for one brand’s
squat machine are different from
another’s. Therefore, try to give
5) Prioritize for
More Size
Don’t train your better bodyparts
first in a workout. Structure your
workouts so that you train your
weakest areas first and your
strongest areas last. For example, if
your hamstrings are flat and weak,
but your quads are full and strong,
do leg curls before squats or leg
presses. And train your weak areas
every bit as seriously as you train
your strong areas.
6) Heat Things Up
Don’t skimp on warmups. Better
to warm up too much than not
enough. Beginners may need only a
Don’t train your
better bodyparts
first in a workout.
Prioritize your
weak areas.
single warmup set per exercise, but
experienced bodybuilders may do
three warmup sets each for squats,
bench presses, leg presses and
other big exercises. Do at least one
warmup set for all other exercises
regardless of where in your routine
you’ve placed a given exercise.
7) If You Keep Doing
What You’re Doing,
You’ll Keep Getting
What You’re Getting
If what you’re doing isn’t working,
change something. More of what
hasn’t done you good over the past
couple of months isn’t going to do
you any good over the next couple
of months.
Compare your training with
what I’ve covered in both parts
of this article. If there are big
differences, perhaps it’s your
training that’s mostly at fault.
If there aren’t big differences,
however, the major problem
may be what you’re doing or
not doing outside of the gym.
Most bodybuilders have
major problems in and out of
the gym. It’s no wonder that
they make little or no progress.
Training is essential, of course,
but most trainees give it exaggerated importance compared
with another pivotal component of success. For example...
Recuperation from training.
If you don’t get your recuperative system in order, you won’t
make good progress with your
bodybuilding. That should be
obvious, but do you really get
at least eight hours of sleep
every night? And do you really
eat every three hours or so—
healthy, protein-rich food
rather than junk that over the
course of the day provides a
slight surplus of calories? Most
bodybuilders don’t, and thus
they hamper their recovery
abilities.
If you want to maximize
your bodybuilding progress,
maximize your recovery machinery. Without it you won’t
progress well, if at all, even if
your gym work is perfect. IM
Model: Mike Morris
Muscle: An Anticrash Course
priority to free weights.
If, however, you have access to
generally good machinery, you can
substitute some machine movements for comparable free-weight
exercises—but tread carefully. Even
some of the better machines can
cause irritations and injuries for
some trainees. (The same, of course,
can be said of free-weight exercises
if you don’t perform them correctly.)
Features of good machinery include the ability to accommodate a
variety of body types (through adjustment of seats, back pads and
movement arms), smoothness of
motion and ease of entry and exit.
Although high-tech machinery
can be useful, it’s not essential for
making progress. Free weights
alone, properly used, have proven to
be tremendously effective.
MuscleScience
Roundup
15 Recent Research Reports
That Can Impact Your
Muscle Growth and Fat Loss
Compiled by Steve Holman • Photography by Michael Neveux
It’s January 2005, the perfect time to look
back at some key findings that we reported
over the past year—interesting stuff you
may have missed if you’re not a subscriber.
(What! You don’t subscribe? Go to page
145 immediately.) Most of the findings here
were submitted by Jerry Brainum, IRON
MAN’s most prolific and reliable researcher. You’ll find plenty of interesting tidbits, most of which can help you get bigger
and stronger faster.
Muscle-Science Roundup
A new study partially illuminates
the relationship between myostatin
and bodyfat levels. It involved six
morbidly obese (a medical
euphemism for “very fat”) subjects
who underwent surgery to shorten
their stomachs, which limited the
amount of food they could eat without feeling full. The surgery is considered extreme and is a last resort
for people with dangerously high
bodyfat levels, people who, for some
reason or other, will not or cannot
diet and exercise. The side effects of
the surgery can include death—but
that’s another story.
As a result of the surgery, the
patients lost 38.9 percent of their
bodyweight. The researchers measured their myostatin levels before
and after the weight loss and found
a significant decline in myostatin, a
muscle-growth limiter, after the
weight loss, which was mostly bodyfat. The scientists suggest that the
drop in myostatin was the body’s
way of preventing the loss of vital
lean mass under rapid and extreme
fat-loss conditions. It also may have
helped the body actually reduce the
size of fat cells, as it does in animals.
Even though bodybuilders don’t
resort to stomach stapling as a fatloss technique, the study has two
implications for them. As you lose
fat, myostatin levels will likely decline, helping you preserve muscle
during a diet. The addition of a
weight-training routine will no
doubt amplify that effect. The other
implication is that having excess
bodyfat probably increases myostatin, making it harder to build
muscle.
Milan, G., et al. (2004). Changes
in muscle myostatin expression in
obese subjects after weight loss. J
Clin Endocrinol Metab. 89:27242727.
Conclusion:
The reduction of myostatin during a precontest diet may be the
reason for an excessive anabolic
rebound after calories are increased.
There’s a lag time between rising
myostatin, which slows muscle
growth, and the anabolism created
Model: Tamer Elshahat
1) Crash Through the
Muscle-Building
Roadblock
Leaning out can help create an anabolic rebound. Lower bodyfat decreases myostatin, a muscle-growth-blocking hormone.
by a calorie surplus and training.
Those points suggest a strategy of
doing six to eight weeks of lowcalorie eating followed by a highercalorie phase several times a year to
get a series of anabolic rebounds, or
growth surges.
2) Keep On Truckin’
and Testosterone
Exhaustion
If you want to keep your estrogen
production in the low range—and
anyone interested in building muscle should—you may want to keep
your distance from trucks on the
highway. New findings suggest that
diesel-fuel exhaust contains chemicals called alkylphenols, which
interact with cellular estrogen receptors to exert potent estrogenic
activity. Diesel exhaust particles
have previously been linked to lung
cancer, allergic rhinitis and asthma.
Furuta, C., et al. (2004). Estrogenic activities of nitrophenols in
diesel exhaust particles. Biol Repr.
70:1527-1533.
Conclusion:
Don’t run or play near the highway if you want to build muscle as
fast as possible. There’s girlieman
exhaust in the air.
3) Hyperextensions:
Lower-Back Whack or
Better Glute Getter?
Lots of trainees do hyperextensions for the spinal erectors, or
lower-back muscles. One study
suggests that the 45 degree hyper
bench, often called a Roman chair,
is not the best equipment for building erector strength. The subjects in
the study who did Roman-chair
hyperextensions for 12 weeks
showed no increases in lumbar
muscle strength. The researchers
concluded that other muscles, such
as the glutes and hamstrings, do
most of the work during Romanchair hypers.
Mayer, J.M., et al. (2003). Effect of
Roman-chair exercise training on
the development of lumbar extension strength. J Strength Cond Res.
17:356-61.
Conclusion:
Use lower-back machines and
deadlifts to build lower-back
strength. You can still include hyperextensions, but make them part
of your glute and hamstring workout. They’ll help sculpt a firm,
round butt.
fect, however: The pain-reduction
effects were less significant among
heavy caffeine users because their
pain receptors had been altered.
Researchers don’t know whether the
caffeine acts on the muscles or the
brain to reduce pain.
Conclusion:
Have a cup of coffee before you
train to up your intensity and focus.
5) Faster Fat Burn:
Treadmill vs. Cycling
Twelve men engaged in exercise
on either a treadmill or an exercise
bike. According to the researchers,
the treadmill produced a higher
level of fat oxidation than cycling,
but the intensity at which fat oxida-
tion was maximized was the same
for both forms of exercise. Maximum fat burning occurred at the
level of 61.2 percent of VO2MAX
during the cycling and 59.2 percent
during the treadmill exercise, which
consisted of uphill walking.
Treadmill exercise leads to a
greater level of fat burning because
while you’re doing it, the adrenal
glands release stress hormones, or
catecholamines, such as
epinephrine and norepinephrine.
The catecholamines mobilize fat
from fat cells through at least two
actions: 1) They suppress insulin
release; and 2) they promote cyclic
AMP, which then begins a cascade
in fat cells that leads to the release
of fat into the blood.
The greater the amount of muscle
mass trained, the greater the level of
4) Coffee for Intensity
According to WebMD Medical
News, coffee can make your workouts less painful. Caffeine appears
to lessen exercise-induced muscle
pain, which means you can push
your sets hard and stimulate more
growth. There’s a desensitizing ef-
Which is better
for fat loss?
Model: Daniel Gwartney
Caffeine has painreduction properties.
Most bodybuilders use the hyperextension for lower-back work, but it’s
really a better glute getter.
catecholamine release and consequent fat oxidation during aerobics.
Standing on the treadmill uses more
muscle mass than the seated cycling, so you burn more fat. It’s as
simple as that.
Achten, J., et al. (2003). Fat oxidation rates are higher during running
compared with cycling over a wide
range of intensities. Metabolism.
52:747-52.
Conclusion:
If you’re interested in the most
fat-burning bang for your energy
buck, choose the treadmill over the
stationary bike.
Here are a few ways to maximize
your testosterone output from
Rehan Jalali, president of the Supplement Research Foundation
(www.tsrf.com):
•Eat plenty of essential fatty
acids, especially monounsaturated fats like natural peanut butter,
flaxseed oil, olive oil and canola
oil. Eating fish, including salmon,
regularly can also help.
•Perform compound exercises
like squats and bench presses,
and use heavy weights for lower
reps. Research shows that those
methods boost testosterone levels
more than other types of exercises.
•Stop drinking alcohol. It can kill
testosterone production.
Alcohol
can curb
testosterone
production.
Model: Rehan Jalali
6) Boost Your
Testosterone Naturally
Make compound exercises the core of your mass-building workouts.
Research shows they are best for stimulating testosterone output.
•Don’t eat too much protein.
Most trainees have been indoctrinated with the idea of eating a
huge amount of protein, but
research indicates that too much
can lower testosterone levels.1
Eating .8 to one gram of protein
per pound of bodyweight does
the trick.
As for testosterone-boosting supplements, one of the best is ZMA, a
special combination of zinc, magnesium and vitamin B6 that improves
athletic performance and boosts
testosterone levels naturally.2 ZMA-T
by Muscle-Link and ZMA™ by
BioTest are quality products. Take
the recommended dose 30 to 45
minutes before bedtime.
1 Volek, J., et al. (1997). Testosterone and cortisol in relationship
to dietary nutrients and resistance
exercise. J Appl Physiol. 82:49-54.
2 Brilla, L.R., and Conte, V. (1999).
Effects of zinc-magnesium formulation increases anabolic hormones
and strength in athletes. Med Sci
Sports Exer. 31:483.
Conclusion:
Testosterone is an important muscle-building hormone. Eat right,
drink alcohol in moderation, train
with the big core exercises and supplement the appropriate minerals to
T up.
7) Creatine
Turbocharger
The nutrient alpha-lipoic acid
may favorably affect creatine uptake.
Sixteen men, aged 18 to 32, used one
of three creatine-loading regimens:
1) 20 grams a day of creatine
monohydrate
2) 20 grams a day of creatine
monohydrate and 100 grams of sucrose (table sugar)
3) 20 grams of creatine, 100 grams
of sucrose, 1,000 milligrams of
alpha-lipoic acid.
All subjects stayed on the regimens for five days. While they all
experienced the same gain in bodyweight, those in the alpha-lipoic acid
group showed a significantly higher
level of creatine storage in muscle
than the others.
Alpha-lipoic acid increases glucose
transport into muscle—its insulinlike
effect—so it seems logical that it
would also favorably affect creatine
uptake. Alpha-lipoic acid is unique in
that it shows activity as both a waterand fat-soluble antioxidant, making
it what some call a universal antioxidant. It helps convert other antioxidants, such as vitamins C and E, from
their oxidized form back to their
antioxidant state. Perhaps the most
interesting aspect of alpha-lipoic
metabolism is that when it’s combined with acetyl L-carnitine, it can
restore mitochondrial function in
aged cells. That would have the effect
of cellular rejuvenation.
Burke, D.G., et al. (2003). Effect of
A-lipoic acid combined with creatine
monohydrate on human skeletal
muscle creatine and phosphagen
concentration. Int J Sports Nutr Exer
Metab. 13:294-302.
8) N.O.’s MuscleBuilding Mechanics
Model: Skip La Cour
Nitric oxide is a very small
molecule—found in the form of a
gas—produced locally in most cells
of your body. It’s gotten a lot of
publicity due to its association with
Viagra, which is, among other
things, a pharmaceutical NO booster.
As for its bodybuilding implications, when NO production in rats is
blocked, there’s a rapid reduction in
the rate of skeletal-muscle protein
synthesis—by almost 15 percent.
Scientists have concluded that NO
“is responsible for maintaining
optimum skeletal-muscle protein
synthesis.”1 In other words, even
though NO is not a hormone, it’s
still a very important anabolic factor.
When researchers apply overload
to the muscles of rats, hypertrophy
occurs after a short time, but if they
block NO production, growth reConclusion:
sponse is impaired. In rats that got a
Add a gram of alpha-lipoic acid to
placebo plus a muscular overload,
your creatine to give it more power.
the size of the targeted muscles
increased by 76 percent
within two weeks.2 In rats
that got an NO blocker, the
Alpha-lipoic acid
increase in muscle size was
increases glucose
only 39 percent.
transport into muscle.
Obviously, NO is not the
only consideration involved
in overload-induced growth,
as its inhibition does not
completely eliminate hypertrophy; however, the study
clearly demonstrates that it
has a major impact on the
muscle-building processes.
NO inhibition reduces the
growth rate by almost 50
percent.
Preedy, V.R. (1997). Does
nitric oxide have a role in
regulating skeletal-muscle
protein synthesis? Clin Sci
(Lond). 92:10.
Conclusion:
You want to optimize NO
production to get the most
anabolism possible—and
possibly a nice uptick in the
bedroom. The amino acid Larginine may help, as well as
other NO–potentiating
supplements.
Research suggests that combining the mineral magnesium with
creatine may increase the effectiveness of creatine in helping to build
muscle and strength. Thirty-five
subjects took a placebo,
creatine combined with
magnesium oxide or
creatine combined
with magnesium
chelate for two weeks.
The doses were 800
milligrams of magnesium and five grams of
creatine, and the
researchers took
various measurements of power,
Cellular
strength and both
energy
intracellular and
booster.
extracellular water.
While both creatine groups
gained weight and peak muscle
torque, only those in the magnesium-chelate group experienced a
decrease in extracellular water and
an increase in intracellular water,
leading to a cellular swelling effect
that acts as an anabolic signal to
initiate upgraded muscle protein
synthesis.
Combining creatine with magnesium makes sense from a biochemical viewpoint, since magnesium is
required to activate cellular enzymes involved in the production of
the most basic source of cellular
energy, adenosine triphosphate.
Creatine works by helping to regenerate ATP, so it’s clear that creatine
and magnesium have synergy.
Adding magnesium to creatine also
appears to emphasize creatine’s
cellular hydration effect, which may
help muscle protein synthesis. The
study shows that the best form of
magnesium for magnifying creatine’s effects is magnesium chelated
with an amino acid such as magnesium aspartate, which is a combination of magnesium and aspartic
acid.
One caveat, however, is that more
is not better when it comes to minerals, and magnesium is no exception. The 800-milligram dose used
in this study is considerably higher
than the 400-milligram USRDA. In
Model: King Kamali
9) More Creatine
Muscle Magic With
Magnesium
Magnesium plus creatine can improve muscle contraction ability.
They repeated the exercise bout
under placebo and carnitine-supplemented conditions. As expected,
immunoreactive growth hormone
and immunofunctional GH
increased above resting levels during the first 30 minutes after exercise, and testosterone increased
during the first 15 minutes, but
Conclusion:
there were no differences between
A magnesium supplement along
the carnitine and placebo groups.
with your creatine may give you
The real difference came in the
better muscle-building effects.
muscle-damage arena: 16 to 23
percent in the carnitine group vs. 29
to 39 percent in the placebo group.
In other studies L-carnitine improved the contractile force in
Carnitine is important
the latissimus dorsi of dogs by
Improves
not only for transporting
34 percent and overall force
muscle force
long-chain fats into the
production by 31 percent.
and recovery.
mitochondria but also for
Kraemer, W.J., et al. (2003).
its ability to help you reThe effects of L-carnitine Lcover from a killer lifting
tartrate supplementation on
session. A study at the
hormonal responses to resisUniversity of Connecticut
tance exercise and recovery. J
had 10 healthy men who
Strength Cond Res. 17:455-462.
were recreational lifters
take two grams of L-carniConclusion:
tine daily (a divided dose
Use two to three grams of Lat breakfast and lunch) for
carnitine for better workouts
three weeks. The subjects
and optimal recovery. One
performed a squat protogram before training and one
col consisting of five sets
gram after may be a good
of 15 to 20 repetitions.
starting dose.
some people taking any more than
800 milligrams is likely to cause
diarrhea.
Brilla, L., et al. (2003). Magnesium-creatine supplementation
effects on body water. Metabolism.
52:1136-40.
10) L-Carnitine: More
Force, Better Recovery
11) Steroidlike
Results?
Scientists reported still another
unexpected effect from
supplementing L-carnitine tartrate.
This study examined the effects of
carnitine on testosterone responses
and androgen receptors after heavy
weight training and a postexercise
carb-and-protein meal. Ten men,
average age 21, took either a placebo or two grams of L-carnitine tartrate for 21 days.
Baseline androgen-receptor content was higher in the carnitine
group. Plasma testosterone levels
dropped after the postworkout meal
and were lower in the carnitine
group. It appears that carnitine
increases the number of androgen
receptors when the body’s at rest.
While it also appears to lower
testosterone, that could merely be a
reflection of the bigger pool of androgen receptors; that is, the testosterone was lower because it was
interacting with the increased number of androgen receptors. Anabolic
steroids increase the number of
androgen receptors, as does exercise.
Kraemer, W.J., et al. (2004). Effects of L-carnitine tartrate supplementation on testosterone and
muscle androgen-receptor content
after resistance exercise. Presented
at Experimental Biology 2004, April
2004, in Washington, D.C.
Conclusion:
Another reason to take L-carnitine.
12) The Water/FatBurn Connection
Researchers conducted a study to
test the thermogenic effect of water;
that is, its conversion of fat calories
into heat. Seven men and seven
women, all healthy, with an average
age of 27, drank 500 milliliters, or
about half a quart, of water. That
caused a metabolic increase of 30
percent over resting levels. The
increase occurred within 10 minutes, reaching a maximum 30 to 40
minutes after the subjects drank the
water. It lasted for more than an
hour, and it led the authors to suggest that drinking 1.5 liters of water
daily (just over a quart) would augment daily energy expenditure by
200 kilojoules.
That’s like taking a
Water helps flush fat, and
dose of 50 milit can also increase your
ligrams of
metabolism.
ephedrine three
times a day, which
results in an increased energy
expenditure of 320
kilojoules. Granted,
that adds up to
only about 100
extra calories
burned daily, but it
does add to weight
loss when coupled
with diet and exercise.
Boschmann, M.,
et al. (2003). Waterinduced thermogenesis. J Clin
Endocrinol Metab.
88:6015-6019.
Conclusion:
Drink as much
water as you can
throughout the day
to augment fat loss.
13) Preworkout Fiber
for Energy to Grow On
Fiber may be useful to
bodybuilders because it can slow
down the absorption of highglycemic carbs. That lowers insulin
Having higher-carb day once a week
can improve the effects of a lowcarb diet and keep muscles full.
Bodybuilders should
practice all types of
contractions, including heavy negatives,
to build as many muscle fibers as possible.
Conclusion:
Add some fiber—like fruit—to
your preworkout protein drink to
keep your blood sugar stable and
your energy high throughout your
training session.
Getting
some fiber
before a
workout can
help keep
blood sugar
levels stable.
Model: Michael O’Hearn
release, which encourages more
rapid bodyfat loss. When athletes
eat a high-soluble-fiber meal before
training, they maintain a more stable blood glucose level throughout
the workout. Adding some fiber to a
protein drink slows gastric emptying, making you feel fuller and less
hungry.
A study of 50 men and 94 women,
aged 30 to 80, compared the effects
of eating low-fiber and high-fiber
breakfasts. Subjects on the highfiber breakfast reported less emotional distress, fewer cognitive
problems and less fatigue. Although
the authors didn’t explain those
effects, the likely mechanism was
better glycemic, or glucose, control.
Smith, A., et al. (2001). High-fiber
breakfast cereals reduce fatigue.
Appetite. 37:249050.
Model: Tommi Thorvildsen
14) Low-Carb-Diet
Caution
Research suggests that attempting to lose bodyfat on a low-carb
diet may lead to muscle loss. Most
scientists feel that you need adequate carbs to power the intense
training required for maintaining
muscle under dieting conditions.
On the other hand, you need increased protein because when you
restrict calories, protein is diverted
to energy pathways. What’s more,
the thermic effect of protein helps
foster bodyfat loss while you’re
dieting.
As you get lean, you need to
make sure you don’t cut calories too
much. That’s a mistake many bodybuilding competitors make. In an
effort to appear as defined as possible, they either do excessive aerobics or cut too many calories or
both. That leads to a stringy,
catabolic appearance that some
refer to as looking flat.
Lambert, C.P., et al. (2004).
Macronutrient considerations for
the sport of bodybuilding. Sports
Medicine. 34Z:317-27.
Conclusions:
Following a low-carb diet helps
reduce bodyfat. To use that strategy
without sacrificing muscle, try having a higher-carb day at least once a
week to replenish any lagging glycogen stores.
One study showed that isometric contractions built more
muscle than shortening (positive) or lengthening (negative)
muscles.
15) Contractions
and X-treme Growth
Reactions
Power partials in a muscle’s
semistretched position may
be a better than isometrics for
force production and muscle
growth. For more see page 74.
Using rats, researchers at the
University of California, Irvine,
compared the effects of eccentric (lengthening), isometric
and concentric (shortening)
contractions on muscle growth.
Interestingly, muscle mass
increased most in isometric
conditions (14 percent), second
most in shortening conditions
(12 percent) and least in lengthening conditions (11 percent).
All three modes of training
stimulated similar increases in
total muscle DNA and RNA.
Models: Jonathan Lawson and Steve Holman
As an experiment Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
used a variety of contraction
modes in order to hit as many
fiber types as possible in their
training at the IRON MAN
Training & Research Center last
summer in preparation for a
photo shoot. It worked, especially during the last month,
when they added near-isometric contractions at the point of
maximum force at the end of
sets on specific exercises and
got an unprecedented acceleration in muscle gains. They
dubbed what they did partialpulse X Reps. Their before and
after photos are a testament to
the effectiveness of targeting all
fiber types as well as the anabolic power of near-isometric
contractions. For more see
“Train, Eat, Grow” on page 74.
To see the before and after
photos, taken one month apart
during their experiment, see
page 126. For more visit the
Web site www.x-rep.com. IM
Model: Mike Morris
Conclusion:
According to Jose Antonio,
Ph.D., those results tell us that it
behooves bodybuilders to practice all types of contractions. So
it’s a good idea to perform, on
occasion, high-load isometric
and eccentric work in addition
to the typical loading schemes.
He also says that for the purposes of bodybuilding, the goal
is to make all fiber types bigger.
Get
Big
Most regular IRON MAN readers are familiar
with the term “abbreviated training.” In fact,
this magazine has featured a number of authors over the years who proclaimed the value
of abbreviated training. IM founder Peary
Rader continually pushed the importance of
limiting your program to just a small number of
basic exercises. Other great authors have
echoed that theme, including Ken Leistner,
Bradley J. Steiner, Stuart McRobert and Arthur
Jones.
When it comes to building size and strength,
abbreviated training works, and it works well.
In my own case it wasn’t until I gave up all the
so-called space-age techniques—like bombing
and blitzing, splitting the split and flushing—
that another weight-training magazine pushed,
and started using abbreviated training, which
Iron Man recommended, that I really started
making progress in my quest to build size and
strength. In fact, my bodyweight went from 158
pounds to 260 pounds in nine months, a gain
of more than 100 pounds.
Obviously, I’m sold on the benefits of abbreviated training. Since I started using it many
years ago, I’ve never deviated from it. It has
worked wonderfully well for me and for many
others whose weight-training programs I’ve
supervised. I’m now 57 years old and still use
abbreviated training.
Model: Jay Cutler
The Short-and-Sweet Winter
Mass-Building Workout That
Helped the Author Pack On 100 Pounds
in Nine Months by Jim Hafer • Photography by Michael Neveux
Get Big
Muscle Magnetism
Winter Mass-Building Workout
Back in the late ’50s many thousands of young men started training with weights, mostly because of
the Hercules movies starring Steve
Reeves. All across America thousands of boys poured out of theaters, determined to build a body
just like Hercules.
All of a sudden, having a muscular body was “in”—and “cool”—and
every boy in America wanted a
barbell set. That was great, but
there was a problem. While many
young men had the desire to build a
muscular body, they didn’t have the
knowledge of how to do it.
To whom could they turn to find
the information they needed in
order to build a body like Steve
Reeves? Their parents? No, their
parents, like the rest of the population, were not familiar with weight
training. Their physical-education
teacher? No, especially not to him,
since in those days most P.E. teachers were totally against weight
training, believing that it would
make people “musclebound” and
slow. To the family doctor? No,
because the medical community
felt that weight training was bad for
the body and would certainly destroy their health in the long run. To
the school counselor? No, as he or
she would likely tell them that only
insecure men with narcissis complexes lifted weights.
So where did all the would-be
Herculeses go to learn how to turn a
skinny body into a large, muscular
one? There were only two sources.
One was the veteran barbell man,
newest issues.
As with the veteran barbell man,
reading a weighttraining magazine
was no guarantee
that you would get
the correct training
information. It depended on the magazine.
Back then there
was only one really
great weight-training
magazine, but when
I started lifting, I
didn’t know it existed. It didn’t have a
broad circulation,
and I never ran
across it in any of the
stores that I
frequented.
The only weighttraining magazines
that you could find at
Steve Reeves, a.k.a. Hercules, the man who got
the drug store, the
the bodybuilding ball rolling in the ’50s.
grocery store or the
someone who was already training
newsstand were Joe Weider’s Muswith weights. Back in the late ’50s
cle Builder and Mr. America.
most of the people who were dediI will probably ruffle a few feathcated to barbell training and its
ers, but I’m being honest when I
benefits trained in garages, basesay that while those magazines
ments or backyards. Even if a
were great for providing inspirayoung man could eventually find
tional pictures of very well-built
someone who trained with weights
bodybuilders, they were sadly
to show him the ropes, there was
lacking in solid, results-producing
no guarantee that the trainer knew
training information. Once in a
how to weight train correctly.
while they might have a worthThe other source was the magawhile article on training, but those
zine rack at local stores stores or,
were few and far between.
perhaps, a big-city newsstand. I
I, along with many others who
remember how fortunate I felt,
followed the training advice in the
when I was in ninth grade, to find a
Weider magazines, made little or
little magazine
no progress. They pushed a volume
store in downtown
approach to training, with the
Phoenix that
average program including two or
actually carried
three exercises for each bodypart
two different
for a total of eight to 12 sets per
muscle magazines.
bodypart. In many cases they had
It was a 10-mile
us training on a split routine, workbike ride from my
ing out six days per week.
house to that store
As a result of all the work, we
and back, but each
were spinning our wheels and
month I made it
getting nowhere. For genetically
joyfully on my
average weight trainees who didn’t
Schwinn Tiger to
and wouldn’t use chemicals to
purchase the
enhance recovery ability and promote growth, that was too much
Iron Man was hard to
exercise. Thousands upon thoufind in the early days,
sands of weight trainees have tried
but it was a gold mine
the volume approach, and most
of information and
have experienced nothing but
motivation.
Get Big
Mozée
Arnold inspires
the masses,
circa 1970.
absolute failure in their quest to
build a big, strong body. The simple fact is, it will not work for 99
percent of all weight trainees. For
each person who does eventually
succeed with the volume
approach, thousands fail dismally.
Many who have come to me for
advice have made the mistake of
adding more sets or more exercises
to their routine when they stopped
making progress. For example, if
they were doing three sets of curls
for biceps yet not gaining any biceps size, they figured that doing
more sets and/or more exercises
for their biceps would make them
start growing.
That’s faulty reasoning. The
solution is not to train more. It’s to
train harder. You can either train
long or you can train hard, but you
cannot do both. The longer you
train, the less intensely you’ll be
able to train.
Let’s compare sprinting with
long-distance running. Condi-
tioned track athletes can run fullbore for a 100-yard dash, but if
they tried to run a mile at that
speed—or intensity—they’d collapse in exhaustion before they got
200 yards. To run a mile, runners
have to pace themselves over the
whole distance so they’ll be able to
complete it, which means running
slower.
It’s the same with weight training. If you’re going to do a lot of
exercises and/or a lot of sets, you’ll
have to pace yourself in order to
complete your workout. You absolutely will not be able to work at a
high level of intensity on each and
every exercise. Instead, you’ll have
to use less intensity in order to
have the energy to complete all the
exercises in your program.
That’s a huge problem. Intensity
of effort is the most important
requirement for an exercise to
produce sufficient growth stimulus. The more intense the effort on
any particular exercise, the more
growth stimulus you get.
Don’t let the knowledge that
volume training doesn’t work discourage you. In fact, it should
motivate you, as you no longer
have to be a slave to long, exhausting training sessions. Now you can
thoroughly enjoy your short training sessions, train only two days
per week, make great gains and
have much more time for other
activities. In other words, it’s a
training program that you can live
with, rather than one you have to
live for. Believe me, there’s a huge
difference between the two, and
with a training program that you
can live with, you’ll be much happier, as will everyone else who lives
with you.
Effective
Abbreviated Training
An abbreviated program is made
up of a few basic—that is, com-
Model: Steven Seagers \ Equipment: Powertec power rack, 1-800-447-0008
pound, or multijoint—exercises. It’s
the opposite of volume training,
which includes both compound
and isolation, or single-joint, exercises.
An ideal abbreviated program
has about six exercises. That’s all
you need to get big and strong. My
trainees and I have proven that over
and over. Six exercises will most
certainly provide all the stimulus
you need to make great gains in size
and strength.
“Wait a minute!” you say. “How
can that be true? There are more
than just six muscle groups.” Correct—there are more than 14 muscle groups: traps, deltoids, pecs,
lats, abs, spinal erectors, glutes,
biceps, triceps, forearm flexors,
forearm extensors, quads, hamstrings and calves. That doesn’t
even take into account the different
areas of the individual muscle
groups—like front delts, side delts,
rear delts, upper pecs, middle pecs,
lower pecs and on and on.
How can you possibly cover all of
those muscle groups with only six
exercises? The answer is that you
choose six compound exercises,
movements that work more than
just one muscle group.
Let me backtrack to the subject
of weight-training magazines. I
mentioned that there was one great
magazine back in the ’50s, but it
didn’t have a wide circulation. I
happened on it by accident in the
early ’60s. As you’ve probably
guessed, it was Iron Man, and as
I’ve said before, it was small in size
but large in information. I bought
it, took it home and read it, and I
fell in love with it. I’ve never lost
that love. Iron Man was by far the
best weight-training magazine back
then, and it’s still the best weighttraining magazine today. Period.
I also came to greatly respect Iron
Man’s publisher, Peary Rader. He
was very honest and sincerely cared
about his readers. He took very
seriously the responsibility of publishing a magazine that thousands
of weight trainees looked to for
guidance and encouragement.
Peary had much to say about
proper weight training, and everything that he said back when I first
started reading Iron Man is still
great advice today. His philosophy
The classic squat
is your lead-off
exercise to get
the anabolic
hormones flowing.
Follow each set
of squats with
dumbbell
pullovers for rib
cage expansion
and metabolic
stimulation.
Model: Jay Cutler
Get Big
was to take a few basic exercises,
work them very hard and then let
your body rest, recuperate and gain
additional muscle size and
strength. Instead of working for a
muscle pump, he encouraged his
readers to strive to keep going up in
poundages. That is extremely
sound advice.
Peary pushed the squat more
than any other exercise. He
believed that the barbell full squat
would do more to help his readers
gain overall muscle size and
strength than any other exercise
they could do. And he was totally
correct on that. The squat will do
more to promote large gains than
any other exercise. Many people
have proven that to be true over the
years.
Performing barbell squats, along
Get Big
with drinking a lot of milk throughout the day, was the undisputed road
to royal size. When I gained the 100
pounds in nine months that I referred to above, I ate six meals a day
(breakfast, lunch and dinner plus
three small meals) and drank a quart
of milk at each. I also worked extremely hard on barbell squats. The
strategy worked for me and for the
fellows who trained with me.
Many men started making gains in
size and strength when they started
specializing on the squat. When
every other weight-training
approach failed to produce the body
they wanted, the barbell squat always came through. It’s the numberone exercise for putting your body in
the gaining mode.
Short and Sweet
Here’s an abbreviated program
that will definitely start you on the
road to greater size and strength. If
you put out the appropriate effort,
these six exercises will get the job
done for you.
1) Barbell squats supersetted with pullovers
Years ago, before squat racks were
invented, trainees who wanted to
perform the squat had to either
clean the weight, jerk it over their
head and let it land on the backs of
their shoulders before squatting
down or upend the barbell, squat
down and lower the
weight into position
from the bottom of
the movement. Or
they could have two
helpers put the
barbell on their
shoulders. With the
invention of squat
racks, size and
strength levels started soaring upward.
There really is no
substitute for
squats. Leg presses
can’t begin to compare when it comes
to producing size
gains. When you
perform squats with
a heavy weight,
you’re exercising
much more than
just your quads. The
squat works the
quads, hamstrings,
glutes, spinal erectors, traps and even
the calves and abs
some. Plus, there are
benefits that go
beyond giving those
Machines can be a
good change of
pace, but they
aren’t necessary
for best results.
Equipment: Powertec squat/calf machine, 1-800-447-0008
muscles growth stimulation.
If you perform enough
reps in each set, squats will
quickly bring you to
breathe more deeply. That’s
because you’re exercising so
many muscles at one
time—and exercising them
severely. As a result, your
body calls for more oxygen.
You need to breathe more
heavily in order to take in
the needed oxygen.
That not only has a positive effect on your cardiovascular conditioning but
also forces your rib cage to
stretch with each deep
breath. When you perform
a set of straight-arm
pullovers after each set of
squats, breathing deeply on
each pullover rep, that
stretches your rib cage even
more. All of this will help
increase the size of your rib
cage, giving you the potential for a
larger chest and upper body.
As I mentioned in “Racking Up
Size” [IRON MAN, October ’04], not
Get Big
everyone believes that deep-breathing exercises will enlarge the rib
cage, but the technique definitely
worked for me. (When I weighed
245 pounds, I wore a size-60 sports
coat.) And it has definitely worked
for many others. Reg Park did
pullovers to expand his chest, as did
Arnold Schwarzenegger, and they
both had enormous chests during
their competition days.
On the squats, perform two or
three lighter sets of five reps for a
warmup and then two work sets of
10 reps. Use a weight on the work
sets that you can barely get 10 reps
per set with. You’ll probably have to
use a lighter weight on the second
one. As discussed, you perform a 20rep set of straight-arm pullovers
while lying across a bench after
each set of squats, breathing in
deeply and stretching your rib cage
on each rep.
2) High pulls
This movement will definitely
add size to your whole back, as well
as working your hamstrings, glutes
Many of you may have been following our experiments with a new
mass-training tactic that we’ve been reporting on in “Train, Eat, Grow” as
well as in the IM e-newsletter (subscribe free at
www.ironmanmagazine.com). We call it X-Rep training, and with it we’ve
experienced some jaw-dropping gains while doing fewer sets than ever
before. The X-Rep technique is basically a way to extend a set after you hit
failure so you can get past nervous system fatigue, a serious gain stopper.
Realize that when you’re forced to terminate a set, it’s because your
nervous system fizzles, not the target muscle. That’s the reason so many
bodybuilders get such a slow growth rate, no matter how many sets they
do. The nervous system stops them before they can tax the key muscle
fibers enough for a hypertrophic response. X Reps solve that problem by
extending the set in the optimal position of the stroke for recruiting and
overloading fast-twitch fibers. You use small movements at the precise
spot at which you can generate maximum force, usually near the exercise’s
sticking point.
If you use the Short-and-Sweet Get-Big Workout outlined by Jim Hafer,
you may want to add X Reps to one set of each exercise, especially if you’re
a more advanced trainee. We’ve found that X Reps can make any set about
three times more effective than
One month!
a conventional set to failure.
When we were preparing for our
photo shoot last summer, we
used X Reps for one month. The
photos speak for themselves.
Our progress even stunned us,
and we’ve got more than 40
years, collectively, of bodybuilding-training experience.
Consider using power pulses,
Jonathan Lawson (above) and Steve
or X Reps, to make your abbreHolman made incredible gains fast using
viated training even more of a
X-Rep training. For more information visit mass-producing experience.
www.x-rep.com.
—Steve Holman
and Jonathan Lawson
One month!
Editor’s note: The new ebook The Ultimate Mass Workout contains a number of
abbreviated routines that use
the best multijoint exercises for
each bodypart and identify the
precise X-Rep position for each.
Visit www.x-rep.com for more
details.
Model: Jonathan Lawson
Abbreviated Training: an X-citing Innovation
High pulls, a great exercise for delt
and back mass.
and biceps. You also hit your calves
hard, since you go up on your toes
at the completion of the pull. High
pulls use the same exercise motion
as power cleans, except that you
only pull the barbell up as high as
it will go, without flipping your
wrists and catching it at your
shoulders. It’s like a partial upright
row with some momentum. Use a
weight that allows you to pull the
barbell to a point that’s about two
to three inches above your bellybutton.
Do not lower the barbell all the
way to the ground between reps.
Just take it to an inch or so below
your kneecaps and start your next
rep from there. That’s called
“pulling from the hang position.”
Do a couple of warmup sets and
then perform two sets of five reps
with the heaviest weight you can
handle.
Very few trainees do any type of
pulling exercise these days. That’s
sad because pulling heavy weights
definitely pays off—with a big,
broad, powerful back.
3) Bench presses
Use a shoulder-width grip so
you’ll develop your pectorals, deltoids and triceps with these. If you
Get Big
regular pulldown, but your palms
are facing you instead of away from
you. Dorian Yates performed his
pulldowns with a curl-grip and had
huge, wide lats and matching biceps. Mike Mentzer said that the
curl-grip pulldown was the best
exercise you can do for the biceps
muscles. It was my main biceps
exercise when my arms measured
21 3/4 inches.
Once again, perform one or two
warmup sets and then two work
sets of eight reps with your heaviest
weight. Grip the bar with your
hands approximately 10 inches
apart.
Model: Cesar Martinez
5) Wide-grip barbell
presses
Bench presses hit the chest, delts and triceps. Go heavy to beef up
your upper body.
study pictures of American weight
trainees from the early 1900s, you’ll
notice that most of them had very
good deltoid development but very
poor pectoral development. That’s
because they did only standing
presses back then. Those, of course,
work the deltoids and triceps and
do nothing for the pecs.
Then someone had the idea of
performing presses while lying on
the floor, and pectorals started
growing. A number of years later
someone came up with the idea of
performing presses while lying on a
bench, and thus the bench press,
which is now the most popular
barbell exercise, was born.
Perform two or three warmup
sets and then two sets of eight reps
with your heaviest weight. Push
hard on these, and you will be rewarded with big, full pectorals,
delts and triceps.
In this case wide means your
hands are about six inches wider
than your shoulder on both sides.
You can perform these either standing or seated—it’s up to you. You
also have the option of doing front
presses or the behind-the-neck
variety. Or you can alternate the
reps, performing one rep in front of
your head and the next rep behind,
as in the Bradford press, named
after Jim Bradford, an American
heavyweight Olympic lifter of many
years ago.
A warning, however: Some
trainees’ shoulders are not made for
behind-the-neck presses, and the
exercise will eventually damage
their shoulders. If you start feeling
any pain in your shoulders when
pressing behind your neck, stop
doing it and use only front presses.
Wide-grip presses will also add
size to your triceps.
Perform one or two warmup sets
and then two sets of eight reps with
your heaviest weight. Push these
hard, and you’ll build big shoulders
and triceps.
4) Undergrip pulldowns
These are great for the upper back
and biceps, and they also strongly
affect your pecs. They’re just like a
6)
Crunches.
The last exercise is the abdominal crunch. Every
program should
Milk can help you
pack on muscle.
It’s the classic
protein elixir.
include an exercise for the midsection. Perform two sets of 25 reps.
When that becomes easy, start
holding barbell plates on your chest
for added resistance.
With those six exercises you work
all 14 muscle groups, and if you
work as hard as you should, you will
give each one of them great stimulation for growth.
What do I mean by “as hard as
you should”? Over the years I’ve
developed what I call the target
system. For each exercise you have
a specific number of reps that
you’re trying to achieve on your
work sets. That’s your target. You
give it all you’ve got to make that
number of reps, and when you
achieve that number, you go up in
weight at the next workout.
Say you’re performing bench
presses, and your target is eight
reps. At your last workout you got
eight reps with 295 pounds. So at
the next workout you attempt to get
eight reps
with 300
pounds, an
increase of
five pounds.
Maybe you
only get six
reps with the
300 pounds.
That’s okay,
as long as
you try your
hardest to
make the
eight reps.
Then at
the next
workout you
make eight
reps with the
300 pounds.
Great! The
next time
you add
another five
pounds,
bringing the
weight up to
305. As soon
as you comUndergrip pullplete eight
downs can kick
reps with it,
up back and arm
you add
mass.
another five
pounds to
the bar, and
so on.
Whenever you achieve the target
reps on any exercise, you add five
pounds at the next workout. This
program calls for two heavy work
sets of each exercise. When you
achieve the target number of reps
on both sets, it’s time to go up in
weight. That’s the whole idea of
progressive-resistance exercise. It
must be continually progressive in
order to keep stimulating your
muscles to keep growing. Once
your training stops being progressive, your gains will also cease.
Keep pushing, and your muscles
will grow to meet the workload
that is placed on them. Big weights
build big muscles. That’s the real
“secret” to building a huge and
strong physique.
Give this abbreviated program a
serious try. You’ll be pleased with
the results as you learn what many
weight trainees over the years have
discovered: Doing less can get you
more. IM
Get Big
Weight Training 101—The Right Start for Your Son or Daughter
by John Balik
The squat is one
of the hardest
exercises to master.
Neveux \ Models: Justin Balik and Savannah Neveux \ Equipment: Powertec power rack, 1-800-447-0008
Over the past 15 years I have worked out mostly at the
ITRC gym here at the IRON MAN offices in Oxnard,
California, and occasionally at my outdoor home gym.
This summer was different, as my 14-year-old son,
Justin, had shown some real interest in bodybuilding
and wanted to make it a summer priority.
We started training together the second week in June,
doing full-body workouts two to three times per week.
We did that for 11 weeks (about 28 workouts), and it was
a lot of fun. It put me back in touch with my own beginnings 48 years ago. The difference was the application of
my experience to his enthusiasm.
I’m a firm believer in creating a solid foundation with
the basic multijoint exercises performed under control
and with perfect form. I never want a trainee to sacrifice
style to handle more weight. Teenage boys want everything now, and Justin was no different. So part of my job
was simply to contain and channel his enthusiasm.
It took about four workouts for him to create a benchpressing groove. He got the deadlift down in about four
workouts too, and it took him about six to be able to
squat deep with a flat back. All beginners have to etch
those neuromuscular pathways before they can make
any real progress in the amount of weight they use. The
process of perfecting form is a continuous one with
young trainees, as their strength increases rapidly. It’s
vitally important that you coach them very carefully to
ensure their safety and progress. Don’t let their desire to
know what they can lift for a single get in the way of the
teaching process. They will test you, but you must teach
the basics first. Our first six workouts looked like this:
•High-bar tucks, 1 x max
He did each kneeup as a smooth, complete rep.
Neveux \ Model: Justin Balik \ Equipment: Powertec power rack, 1-800-447-0008
•Ab Bench crunches, 1 x 12
He used 15 pounds on the Ab Bench. I believe, as Bill
Pearl does, that a little ab work makes a good
warmup.
Deadlifts. Start
light. Perfect form
is essential.
•Squats, 1 x 20
At first Justin would go down to maybe four inches
above parallel, and his heels would rise or he would
start to lose his erect posture. The bar and plates
weighed 66 pounds (we have a metric set), and the
bar was digging into his traps. He used the Manta Ray,
a plastic yoke-type piece that snaps onto the bar, to
help distribute the pressure. That helped get his mind
off the trap pain and concentrate on doing smooth,
deep reps in good form. By workout 12 he was able to
squat without the Manta Ray. (I had him read Randall
Strossen’s IronMind column in the October ’04 IRON
MAN, “Make Friends with Fatigue,” which helped his
mind-set.)
•Bench presses, 1 x 10
He started with 66 pounds and could get the 10 reps
but would sometimes press unevenly or touch the bar
too high or low on his chest. When he got the groove,
it was an “ah” moment.
•Deadlifts, 1 x 10
I had him pull slowly off the floor, with his head up,
and ease into the finished position. He started at 66
pounds.
•One-arm dumbbell rows, 1 x 10
He braced his free arm on a bench and used a nice
smooth, controlled, full movement.
•Seated dumbbell presses, 1 x 10
This was more of a coordination challenge. He used
20-pound dumbbells, and it took a while to get the
sway out of the movement and to press the dumbbells evenly. Once he learned to lock his core muscles
to create a solid base, he was able to concentrate on
getting those dumbbells to go up evenly.
•Seated dumbbell curls, 1 x 10
Justin did these the way I like to do them, starting
with the dumbbells hanging at his sides, thumbs
forward, and rotating his hands to a palms-up position as he curled them up.
Neveux
The workout was less than a half hour, but a lot of
learning took place. It makes no sense to add sets or
weight if the form is faulty. Some trainees will learn that
in fewer workouts, and some will take longer. The main
thing is to move at their pace—they must be comfortable and confident. It’s your job to be sensitive to pain,
discomfort and fear. You’re teaching skills that will last a
lifetime here, and the way you present the information
will either turn them on or turn them off.
After the sixth workout I added sets and an additional
exercise.
The ab-exercise warmup stayed the same, but as
Justin’s 20-rep squat moved above 110 pounds, I added
a warmup set with 66 pounds for six to eight reps. By the
Teenage boys are
motivated to bench
press big.
Neveux
•One-leg calf raises, 1 x max
Chins can be difficult at
first. A little help can
build strength faster.
end of the summer, when he’d built up to squatting 132
pounds for 20, he would do two warmups—66 pounds
for six and 110 for six. We tried doing just the one all-out
set of squats, without warmup sets, but he found that a
warm muscle is stronger.
His bench press went to three sets of descending
reps—10, eight, six—on one day and three sets of six to
eight at the next workout. His best was 132 pounds for
eight reps.
During those 11 weeks his bodyweight went from 120
pounds at 5’4” to 128 pounds at 5’4 1/2”. He is not a big
eater, but I was able to get him to use RecoverX after
most workouts.
The deadlift became a three-set affair, with 10, eight
and six reps. By the 11th week the progression was 143
pounds for 10 reps, 177 pounds for eight reps and 193
pounds for six. I added one all-out set of parallel-grip
chins to the workout, and he got to 11 good reps using a
smooth, even pull, with no leg jerking and no cheating.
His seated dumbbell presses also went to three sets
(10, eight, six), with his best being 35 pounders for six
reps. His one-arm dumbbell rows went to three sets (10,
eight, six) as well, with his best being 55 pounds.
The seated dumbbell curls progressed to 30 pounds
on the final set of six with the same rep scheme.
His one-leg calf raises stayed at one set of as many as
he could do.
Justin is away at school, so it will be interesting to see
the progress he makes over the next months, as he has a
very rigorous academic schedule and other interests
such as music and musical theater. I told him that if he
can do one full-body workout a week, he will hold on to
his gains, and two will bring him progress. IM
Protein,
Muscle&
Anabolism
by Ori Hofmekler
O
Part 2
A
Roundtable
Discussion
on Everything
You Need to
John Parrillo, founder of
Know About Parrillo
Performance and a
Protein specialist in sports nutrition and
ri Hofmekler assembled a respected group of nutrition
experts to discuss protein’s capacity to promote growth.
The panel included:
Dr. Robert Marshal, founder of Premier Research Labs and a specialist in protein sourcing and processing.
Carlon Colker, M.D., CEO and medical director of Peak Wellness and an expert in medical nutrition and protein
research.
protein product manufacturing.
Gerard Dente, founder of MHP (Maximum Human Performance) and an expert
in sports nutrition and product formulations.
Anthony Raissen, founder of
Responsive Nutrition and a specialist in
sports-nutrition marketing and future
trends.
The discussion continues…
Protein, Muscle and Anabolism
“For muscle
gain you need
carbs to support
protein
utilization.”
Everything You Need to Know About Protein
RM: Whey. Unfortunately, the
commercially processed soy proteins are highly heated, and there’s
a significant amount of damaged
protein residues in the final product—tofu or powder. Soy net protein utilization cannot compete
with that of whey protein.
CC: Whey is far superior to soy
protein. Soy is an incomplete protein. It’s deficient in methionine
and lysine and contains phyto
estrogens, which in my opinion
may adversely affect lean muscle
gain.
JP: Whey protein definitely
works a lot better for building muscle than soy protein.
GD: I think that whey and soy
proteins complement each other.
The combination of both yields a
higher BV [biological value] than
each of the individual components.
Soy is quite beneficial because it
has a relatively slow rate of amino
acid release. Furthermore, soyprotein isolate, which is derived
from plants, has a higher stability
with a lower rate of degradation
than animal protein such as whey.
Whey-protein concentrate vs. whey-protein
isolate. Which is better?
RM: I feel the concentrate is far
better than the isolate.
Neveux \ Models: Clark Bartram and Michael O’Hearn
There’s currently a
war between those who
favor whey protein and
those who favor soy.
Which side are you on?
CC: Isolate is a better form because of its high concentration of
amino acids, provided it was microfiltered during processing.
JP: The isolates because they
have less lactose and less fat than
the concentrate.
GD: Isolate has its value for being
lower in fat and lactose free. Nevertheless, I prefer whey concentrate
to whey isolate. The amount of fat
and lactose in concentrate is small,
but whey concentrate is richer in
growth factors that are critical for
getting an anabolic effect. Whey
concentrate tastes better, is less
processed and has a slower rate of
amino acid release, which helps
maintain the overall anabolic state.
that should be supplemented?
RM: If you’re talking about
healthy adults, I would say yes—
lysine.
JP: Amino deficiency clearly
depends on the foods you eat. Vegetarians lack different amino acids
from nonvegetarians.
GD: I believe they are lysine,
methionine, vysteine and taurine.
Are there any essential amino acids missing from people’s diets
“For a bodybuilder it’s almost
impossible to get enough protein from food alone.”
“The overall
meal balance
needs a
minimum of 40
percent carbs.”
Should athletes take
branched-chain amino
acids?
“Carbs are
necessary to
replenish glycogen
reserves, in
particular with
postworkout
recovery products.”
Neveux \ Models: Don Frye and Ken Yasuda
BM: I think there may be certain
people who can benefit from that,
but in general, no.
OH: I don’t believe in supplementing with BCAAs. A goodquality protein such as whey
protein, yogurt, cheese or legumes
could be a great source of BCAAs.
The BCAAs leucine, isoleucine and
valine inhibit muscle breakdown.
That’s why a good recovery meal,
based on quality protein, is so
important.
What are the most
important conditionally
essential amino acids?
[Conditionally essential
amino acids are those
that the body produces
but not in sufficient
amounts or that are
habitually destroyed in
cooking or processing.]
BM: I think glutamine is one of
the most important conditionally
essential amino acids.
JP: For a bodybuilder it would
be the branched-chain amino
acids, which are metabolized in the
muscle. Regardless, bodybuilders
and other athletes should make
sure that they’re getting enough
calories from fat, carbs and proteins before supplementing with
conditionally essential amino
acids.
Do you think people
should take supplemental glutamine?
CC: Glutamine can help prevent
overtraining syndrome; however,
you shouldn’t take more than two
grams per serving.
JP: Overconsumption of glutamine can affect the growth of the
intestine and give you a pregnantstomach look, which is undesirable
for bodybuilders who want to
maintain a narrow waistline.
What are the most
anabolic protein combinations?
CC: In general, I don’t believe
that protein combinations have
any advantages over a single
source of protein for bodybuilders.
Bodybuilders who eat every couple
of hours should simply stick with
whey protein, which, as I said, is
superior to all other proteins.
Athletes who eat less frequently,
however—say, every five to six
hours—should take advantage of
protein combinations such as
whey and casein to slow the absorption of the amino acids and
increase overall protein utilization.
JP: Whey and casein are good
sources of protein. As far as I’m
concerned, you can either combine them or take them separately,
within a gap of two to three hours,
between meals.
GD: My research shows that the
combination of whey-protein
“Without insulin
both GH and IGFs are
quite ineffective.”
136 JANUARY 2005
concentrate with soy isolate and
casein is the ideal blend. First, it
induces a quick release of whey
amino acids for immediate muscle
nourishment. Second, the soy has a
slightly slower rate of amino acid
release, which keeps feeding the
muscles. Third, casein, which also
has a slower amino-acid-release
rate, will help keep the anabolic
state for up to seven hours.
The best food combination incorporates animal food such as
meat with vegetable protein such as
beans and grains.
“Both carbs and fat are important for protein utilization.”
What’s the ideal ratio
of carbs to fat in a meal
designed to support
protein uptake?
RM: Worldwide studies on this
issue done since the 1970s show it
to be 50 to 65 percent of calories
coming from carbs, with most of
that being complex carbs, together
with 30 percent or fewer calories
coming from fat and the remaining
10 to 15 percent from protein.
CC: I don’t believe that there’s an
ideal ratio. I believe that in real life
this factor depends on your goals.
For the purpose of fat loss you
should use a low ratio of carbs to
fat. For the purpose of muscle gain
or performance you should
increase the ratio of carbs to fat.
GD: I just wrote a book on this.
Different purposes need different
ratios. For an immediate
maximum-insulin anabolic impact,
the ratio should be [2-to-1]: 100
grams of simple sugar combined
with 50 grams of protein. However,
in my opinion, people should avoid
overspiking insulin to prevent an
undesirable fat gain. Therefore, the
best percentages are 45 percent
low-glycemic complex carbs, 35
percent protein and 20 percent fats.
Does a low-carb diet
adversely affect protein
use?
RM: Absolutely. I feel that in the
long term, the best health, the best
strength, the best power in an individual are going to come from the
ability to hold glycogen and not just
protein in the muscle. Glycogen
reserves in the muscles depend
directly on the amount of carbohydrates consumed.
CC: For muscle gain you need
carbs to support protein utilization.
If you work out intensely, then a
low-carb diet may not be ideal.
GD: I believe that carbs are necessary for bodybuilders and athletes. The overall meal balance
needs a minimum of 40 percent
carbs to generate insulin activity,
which naturally promotes muscle
gain. Most carbs should come from
low-glycemic sources such as whole
grains or legumes. Extreme carb
restriction forces the body to induce gluconeogenesis, a process in
which it has to catabolize amino
acids from muscle tissue and convert them into glycogen. That causes a constant waste of lean muscle.
Does that mean that
low-carb protein products and shakes are
somewhat counterproductive?
RM: Absolutely.
JP: The low-carb diets were also
popular in the ’70s, when people
were trying to be as lean as possible. However, that method completely failed later on, when the
ideal was to maximize size and gain
muscle mass. You need a certain
amount of carbs to spike insulin,
which is a very anabolic hormone.
They must be the right carbs, however—complex and slow digesting—so you can avoid too much
insulin activity, which can lead to
fat gain. Also, it’s very difficult to
have energy when you’re limiting
your carbs.
As for many of the low-carb protein products, I’m amazed at how
people can tolerate the taste of
them. More amazing is the fact that
some people don’t even mind it. It
reminds me of a time when people
used to mix desiccated liver tabs
with tomato juice and hold their
noses to drink.
GD: The only time to take lowcarb protein products is at night,
when you don’t have to fuel your
muscles as much. As a recovery
meal they are not ideal.
What’s your take on
sugar alcohol and artificial sweeteners?
RM: Well, for the most part,
artificial sweeteners and sugar
alcohols are toxic and increase the
overall metabolic stress on the liver.
CC: Sugar alcohol is a scam. It
causes insulin to spike, and a sugar
alcohol is absolutely a carbohydrate. Net carbs is just a marketing
ploy to sell to the low-carb consumer.
As for artificial sweeteners, I
personally do not mind Sucralose.
JP: Sugar alcohols are considered
to be carbs by the FDA; however,
they don’t raise insulin levels much.
The problem is that sugar alcohol
“In the realm of the bodybuilding
lifestyle, yes, meal replacements
can effectively replace meals.”
draws water into the lower
intestines, and that can cause problems, including bloating and a
severe laxative effect.
GD: I think it’s been a great asset
for the functional-food industry,
but consumers must be aware not
to overconsume them, as they can
cause gastric problems.
What’s the best natural sweetener for protein products?
RM: Rice syrup and malt syrup.
Lo Han Sweet is excellent if you’re
looking for calorie free.
CC: Lo Han is great.
JP: We use rice syrup with a low
dextrose equivalency.
“A postcardio meal should
include a good source of
protein as well as key fatty
acids and complex carbs.”
What are the roles of
carbs and fat in protein
products?
RM: They help with protein
utilization and provide a sense of
satiety.
JP: Carbs are necessary to replenish glycogen reserves, in particular with postworkout recovery
products. Complex carbs from rice
and oats are best.
Fat is necessary as a source of
energy. The best fats to use are
MCT oils. They are a good source
of energy, as they do not convert
easily into bodyfat.
OH: Both carbs and fat are
important for protein utilization.
Complex carbs play a unique role
in enhancing protein’s capacity to
promote growth. Carbs induce an
insulin spike, which is necessary
for the activation of growth factors
(IGFs) and growth hormone. Without insulin, both GH and IGFs are
quite ineffective. That explains the
typical muscle waste that occurs
in people who suffer from diabetes.
This may sound very unpopular—especially nowadays, with
carbs being blamed for the current
epidemic of obesity in this country—however, the truth is that
carbs, in the form of complex
carbs and fructose-free sweeteners
such as rice syrup, malt syrup and
maple syrup, could be the most
effective fuel for enhancing protein BV and overall utilization.
Can a mealreplacement product
replace meals?
RM: Yes, I believe it can
CC: Generally, a meal replacement will not completely replace a
meal, but it may provide the body
with essential amino acids and
some nutrients.
GD: In the realm of the bodybuilding lifestyle the answer is yes;
however, one needs to incorporate
four to five real-food meals with two
to three meal replacements. Due to
a bodybuilder’s high protein requirement, it’s almost impossible to
get enough protein from food alone.
“The best food combination
incorporates animal food such
as meat with vegetable
protein, such as beans and
grains.”
percent from protein and 20 percent from fat.
Are consumers
looking for something
new in terms of protein
bars and shakes?
BM: Consumers are looking for a
new and better protein snack. In
my opinion, it should be made
from a good source of protein, with
an ideal ratio of about 60 percent
carbs to 25 percent fat to 15 percent
protein. It should also provide
lecithin phospholipids such as
phosphatidylcholine and inositol,
which help with recovery.
CC: Definitely. Consumers are
looking for a protein bar that has a
higher degree of good fat, such as
lecithin, which is an excellent
source of phospholipids. Carbs
should be chosen carefully to support protein utilization without
overspiking insulin.
Many protein bars today taste
terrible and need serious improvement in that area.
JP: I have some ideas, but if I tell
you, I will have to kill you. Seriously,
great new sources of raw materials
are coming to the market that will
improve the quality of future protein products.
GD: Consumers are dying for
something new. I believe that the
next step in protein-product design
will prevent typical protein waste.
The future product will have a slowrelease protein with maximum BV.
Protein will be carefully selected to
increase its stability and shelf life. I
cannot state how important it is to
reduce the rate of degradation.
How do you design a
recovery meal?
RM: A postcardio recovery meal
should include a good source of
protein as well as certain key fatty
acids and complex carbohydrates.
GD: A recovery meal should be
one of the biggest meals of the day,
caloriewise, with 45 percent of
calories coming from carbs, 35
“Extreme low-carb diets can
cause severe muscle loss and
health problems.”
“A person’s lifestyle may dictate the ideal ratio of protein,
carbs and fat.”
Future protein products will
incorporate new processing techniques such as microencapsulation,
which will coat the proteins with a
fractioned oil that will significantly
slow down their release. That, in my
opinion, will increase protein synthesis in the muscle in a way that’s
similar to what anabolic steroids do
and constantly supply the body
with protein for anabolic purposes,
maintaining a steady, positive nitrogen balance.
We are currently testing such
technology with athletes, and the
results are outstanding.
AR: Tomorrow’s ideal protein
products should provide basic qualities that are currently missing from
many products, such as good taste,
improved ratio of protein to carbs to
fat and protein that yields maximum BV. These products will be
made with better choices of slowreleasing complex carbs as well as
fat, such as MCT oil, to provide the
body with fuels that can be converted into energy rather than bodyfat.
In a nutshell, the protein products of the future will provide maximum protein utilization and
maximum fueling with minimum
conversion to bodyfat.
Note: For the newest protein bar,
which incorporates much of what
the experts in this article suggest,
see the IM Research Team on page
182. For a different take on low-carb
dieting, see “Low Carb, Slow Carb
or No Carb” on page 54.
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 [email protected],
www.warriordiet.com or by phone
at (866) WAR-DIET. IM
Only the Strong Shall Survive
AP
P.R.
A
.R.atatEvery
Every
Workout
Shock Your muscles—
and Yourself—With
Record-Setting Sessions
by Bill Starr - Photography by Michael Neveux
hen I tell athletes at the start of an off-season strength
program that I expect them to never miss a workout and
that I want them to break a personal record at every session in the weight room, they look at me as if I were
crazy. I know they’re thinking, “What about the bad
days? And what if I get hurt or sick?”
All of my wacky ideas are based on experience. The reason I know that
it’s possible to break a P.R. at every workout for an extended period of
time is that I’ve done it. It was during a time when I wasn’t actively coaching. I was training for strength fitness, usually alone. I wanted something
to make my workouts more interesting—a motivational gimmick. I came
up with the P.R.-at-every-workout idea and put it to the test to see if it was
feasible. For 12 straight months I set at least one P.R. at every session, lifting four times a week.
Model: Skip La Cour
W
A P.R. at Ever y Workout
Model: Rune Nielsen \ Equipment: Powertec power rack, 1-800-447-0008
Since then I’ve challenged my
athletes to do the same, and a great
many have been successful. I
coached one Olympic weightlifter
who continued breaking P.R.s for
two consecutive years. The reason
more lifters don’t is simply that they
don’t think in those terms. They
assume they’re going to have bad
days and are content to have
mediocre workouts when that happens. It doesn’t have to be that way.
When I first decided to see if I
could, in fact, make some sort of
gain every time I lifted, I went at it
as if it were a game—which, in
reality, it was. I approach all my
For 12 straight months
I set at least one
personal record at
every workout, lifting
four times a week.
ways did. The process of solving the
problem was most useful when I
trained alone, adding some zip to
what could have been a dull workout. The most positive benefit of
training this way was that it improved not so much my total workload or top-end numbers but rather
my attitude. After each session I left
the weight room with a sense of
accomplishment. I had won the
battle for that day. Like everyone
else I had off days, yet I was still
able to leave the gym feeling good
about what I’d done because of that
P.R. The positive frame of mind
carried over to my next workout.
Had I not achieved at least one P.R.,
I would have walked out of the gym
in a sour mood, which would negatively influence my next session.
A bit of clarification is necessary.
When I write about breaking a
personal record, I’m not referring to
your all-time best. That’s a different
level of accomplishment. If you’ve
been lifting for many years or are an
older athlete, that just isn’t going to
happen. It would be foolish for me
to think about trying to squat, clean
or bench more than I did when I
was training for competition.
What I’m talking about is making
small improvements at each workout. When football players finish
the season and start back into an
off-season strength program, that’s
when they start using the P.R.-ateach-workout method. People who
train primarily to maintain betterthan-average strength can benefit
from it also, as can strength athletes
who are making consistent progress
and are at the (continued on page 148)
Alcohol is just
an expensive
carbohydrate.
training that way. I want it to be
enjoyable, not a task that I dread.
Trying to figure out how to make a
P.R. four times a week was often a
challenge, especially when things
weren’t clicking. I’d be forced to get
very creative in order to figure out
some way to break a P.R., but I al-
every workout. Concentrate on
improving your primary lifts. On
some days you’ll be able to break
P.R.s on every exercise. Good. Take
them all. Never hold back—for
example, if you know that you
could move up your bench another
five pounds but hold back, thinking
you could do it for a P.R. at your
next workout. Don’t do that. Take
every gain you possibly can.
After a month or two things will
get tougher. Once that happens,
you want to try to gain that P.R.
early in your routine, when you
have the most energy. Eventually,
though, the numbers on all of your
lifts will plateau. In order to continue to break P.R.s, you’ll have to do
some planning. That’s another
reason I like this concept. It helps
you learn how to prepare mentally
for a workout—a skill that can be
applied in all sports.
On the night before your next
workout decide on which lift you’re
going to break a P.R. Let’s say you
select the back squat because it
comes first in your routine and is
also the lift you want to improve the
most. Your (continued on page 152)
(continued from page 144) peak of
their physical maturity.
My point is that you use this
technique to increase your strength
from where you are now, not from
where you used to be. As the saying
goes, “Ol’ man Usta died.” I’m talking particularly to older athletes
who did well on the competitive
stage. While it’s fun to look back at
those glory days, it’s not very smart
to try to match them when you’re 20
or 30 years older. Time requires that
you make adjustments in your
training or pay the price. Of course,
if you should happen to exceed one
or more of your former lifts along
the way, that would be icing on the
cake.
Starting from where you are,
strengthwise, will mean that when
you first incorporate this idea into
your training, you’ll be successful at
On some days you’ll
be able to break
P.R.s on every
exercise.
Concentrate on
improving your
primary lifts.
Model: Chris Cook
It’s about making small
improvements from where
you are now.
Model: Steve McLeod
(continued from page 148) previous
best is 350 for five, and you want to
move it up by five pounds. Write
down all of the warmup sets you
plan to do leading up to that final
attempt with 355. Now picture
yourself performing each rep of
every set, emphasizing the key form
points. Do that several times until
you’re absolutely positive that you’ll
succeed with 355 for five reps. The
next day, when you walk into the
weight room brimming with confidence, half the battle is already
won. The technique is even more
useful if you’re going for a lifetime
personal best. As with any other
discipline, practice improves the
skill. I found it very helpful to repeat the mental drill while driving
Model: Skip La Cour
The night before
your next workout
decide on which
lift you’re going to
break a P.R.
P.R.s are taking a
huge effort. So make
small changes. Instead of hammering
away at the bench,
give priority to the
incline. When that
flattens out, substitute overhead presses
along with some
push presses. After
that make weighted
dips your primary
upper-body exercise
for a month or so.
You can also help
your cause by switching the sequence of
the exercises. If you
always begin with a
leg exercise, start
with pulls for three or
four weeks, and then
move your pressing
exercise to the front
of the line. Some
trainees find that
rotating the
sequence of the three
primary lifts at every
workout is effective.
They do legs first on
Monday, upper body
on Wednesday and
back on Friday or
some variation of
that theme. It doesn’t
have to be a major
change to help you
achieve a P.R. on at
least one exercise,
and that’s what
you’re after.
Be adaptable. Many dedicated
athletes follow their predetermined
routines to the letter at every workout. That’s a good thing because it
builds consistency, which is necessary for long-term progress. At the
same time, however, you may run
into trouble on a bad day unless
you’re flexible. Bad days are the flies
in the ointment when it comes to
making P.R.s at every workout. Regardless of how well you plan ahead,
how well you eat, rest and take care
of yourself, bad days are still part of
the deal. No one can avoid them
completely. Injury, illness, undue
stress, low biorhythm and lack of
sleep are all part of life, and you have
to deal with them in the weight
room.
to the gym.
Change is another way to keep
the P.R.s coming. You may find that
a drastic change works best; for
example, switching from a program
based on the big three to one revolving around the Olympic lifts. So
instead of benching, you do overhead work—presses and jerks.
Instead of back squats, you do front
squats, and you also do more
pulling movements, including the
snatch and clean. Since all, or at
least most, of those lifts will be new
to you, P.R.s will come on a regular
basis for some time.
Maybe you don’t want to make
such a radical change, but you
think you need to do something
because you’re feeling stale and the
When one of those dreaded days
comes along, rather than banging
your head against the wall and
ending up with a terrible workout,
make some adjustments so you can
still achieve your P.R. and leave the
gym feeling a certain degree of
satisfaction. True, you won’t be
nearly as happy as if you’d completed a great session, but a small victory is better than a failure.
As I’ve often said, I don’t believe
that illness and injury are valid
excuses for missing a workout.
Either may necessitate altering your
program, but missing the workout
is not an option. It breeds poor
training habits. If you skip a session
due to a severe cold or a sprained
ankle, it becomes much easier to
miss another when you have a
splitting headache or are dragging
from lack of sleep. The real challenge is to overcome the negatives
and still break a P.R.
How many times, while watching
sports on TV, have you seen an
Model: Allen Sarkiszadeh
The real
challenge is to
overcome the
negatives, like
lack of sleep,
and still break
a P.R.
athlete who’s nursing a case of the
flu turn in a stellar performance?
I’ve seen more than I can remember. I’ve watched Olympic and
powerlifters set American and
world records while they were fighting terrible colds. Whenever that
happens, the announcer always
marvels, “How is he able to score
more points today than he has all
season when he’s been in bed the
last two days with the flu?”
The answer is, when you get sick,
your body responds by pumping
If your regular squats stall,
substitute front squats
for a few week.
Model: Idrise Ward-El
you came in. One other point about
training when you feel punky. The
exercise is therapeutic and will help
you get well faster than you would if
you didn’t train. Movement causes
healing nutrients to flush through
your body, and the enhanced circulation carries away the toxins and
waste material. That’s the reason
you’re always in higher spirits after
a workout than when you started
on those bad days. The exercise
releases endorphins, which have an
analgesic effect.
Model: Berry Kabov
Don’t miss
workouts
because of
injury.
An injury shouldn’t prevent you
from your quest to make a P.R. at
every workout either. It’s just a
matter of how much you want it. I
had two football players at John’s
Hopkins who were so determined
to make P.R.s at every session during the off-season that they came to
the weight room on the day after
they had arthroscopic surgery on
their knees and set P.R.s. One
achieved his by doing dips, and the
other by bettering his previous best
on the low- (continued on page 158)
lots of antibodies through your
system to combat the invading
antigens and toxins. The antibodies
are strength enhancers, especially
when you’re in the early stages of an
illness. Plus, a respiratory malady
isn’t going to adversely affect your
muscular system. You can still lift
heavy weights; that is, if you can
convince yourself that you can do
it. A cold or flu will have a direct
influence on your breathing and
recovery. Knowing that, you train
accordingly by taking longer rests
between sets and shortening your
workout. Drop the back-off sets and
all auxiliary work. You can make
them up later.
This is also a good time to try a
new exercise in order to make a P.R.
Perhaps you’re scheduled to deadlift but can’t talk yourself into doing
something that demanding. Substitute bent-over rows, which you’ve
never tried before. You can stay
relatively light and still gain your
P.R. for the day, leaving the weight
room feeling a tad better than when
If you know that
your coordination
and timing are in
the toilet, change
your routine.
(continued from page 155) incline
press. Another football player who
had a broken ankle set a P.R. at every
workout while he was in a cast—and
he continued doing so once his ankle
mended.
Sound a bit farfetched? It isn’t.
Having a hip, knee or ankle injury is
actually an ideal opportunity to
make improvements in your upper
body or parts of your back. Lat pulls
and seated good mornings work well
for the back, and everyone knows a
wide array of upper-body exercises.
It comes down to a test of character.
If you really want to make steady
progress despite any obstacles, you’ll
find a way to do it.
While I’m on the subject of excuses, I need to mention hangovers.
Drinking is a part of the social life of
nearly every college athlete, so it has
to be dealt with. Having consumed
large quantities of alcohol is often
thought to be a detriment to training
on the following day. I don’t agree. I
tell my athletes that alcohol is just
an expensive carbohydrate. What
they did last night was carb load,
and they should take full advantage
of it. Once they get it in their foggy
brains that their head isn’t actually
going to explode when they squat or
deadlift, they end up having a productive workout. And because the
exercise helps expel the alcohol from
their system, they leave the gym as
part of the living once again. It’s a
win-win situation.
Then there are those days when,
for no apparent reason, you feel like
a cow on ice skates. Olympic lifters
understand exactly what I mean. If
you know that your coordination
and timing are in the toilet, change
your routine. Instead of making
failure after failure on the snatch,
drop snatches and do wide-grip
deadlifts, which are less dependent
Model: Jay Cutler
on athleticism. Bingo, there’s your
P.R. for the day, and the wide-grip
deadlifts will benefit your snatches
in the future. You salvage what
would have been a lousy workout
and leave the weight room in a
positive frame of mind.
You can make your P.R. by doing
more sets with a certain weight. For
example, if you normally do three
sets of three on the power snatch
and have worked up to 175 pounds,
do four sets of three with that
weight, and you’ve set a P.R. Doing
more reps on a back-off set also
counts, and in a pinch you can
break a P.R. on an auxiliary exercise.
Dan Dziadosz, a.k.a. “Monkey
Boy,” was a defensive back and a
member of the Hopkins Olympic
weightlifting team. He was one of
my hardest workers, never missed
a workout and was attempting to
break a P.R. at every session in his
off-season program. During finals
week he came dragging into the
weight room on Friday. He was a
premed student and had stayed up
all night preparing for an especially tough exam. I gave him a couple
of my high-potency B-vitamins
and some strong coffee and told
him to stay with light weights for
higher reps and drop all his backoff sets.
When he finished, he looked like
a whipped hound. I tried to encourage him by saying, “Well, at
least you got through it. Most
would have bailed.”
“But,” he grumbled, “this is the
first workout all spring that I didn’t
break a P.R. I’m pissed.”
It was obvious that he didn’t
have much left in his tank to do
anything strenuous. I asked,
“What’s the most reps you’ve ever
done on back hypers?”
“I do 50 as part of my warmup.”
“Do 55.”
His face lit up as he understood
what I’d said. When he left the
weight room, he was beaming with
delight. He’d kept his P.R. streak
intact, which meant he’d won the
battle that day. As the saying goes,
There’s more than one way to skin
a cat. So it is with breaking a personal record at every workout. Use
your imagination, and you’ll be
able to come up with some creative methods to help you achieve
your goal. Making a P.R. at every
workout is only a game, but it’s
incredibly rewarding to be able to
leave the gym with a positive attitude every time.
Long-term progress in strength
training doesn’t come in giant
leaps. Rather, it’s the result of many
small achievements, sometimes
mere baby steps. Breaking a P.R.
every time you train is one way to
gain those valuable victories that
will eventually lead to success.
Editor’s note: Bill Starr was a
strength and conditioning coach at
Johns Hopkins University from
1989 to 2000. He’s the author of
The Strongest Shall Survive and
Defying Gravity. IM
Success
Story
The Laws of Change
Greg Alder, Met-Rx Body Challenge Winner and
Lawyer, Tells How He Transformed Himself
by Greg Adler
ay 8, 2004, was one of the best days of my life. I
found myself onstage at the Contra Costa Bodybuilding
and Figure Championships receiving a $50,000 check
from Met-Rx rep and IFBB fitness pro Julie Childs for
winning the Met-Rx Body Challenge. I didnÕt think life could get
much better than thatÑbut it did. After I graduated from the University of California, Davis, School of Law on May 22 and took
the California Bar exam, the editors at IRON MAN asked me to
write about my experiences in getting in the best shape of my life
to earn my victory. IÕm honored to have this opportunity to share
the details of how I reached my goal, and I hope my success will
assist you in reaching your goals.
Zach Taylor
Neveux
Before
You will not
change unless
you have a
reason to do so.
After
Motivated or unmotivated? You
will not change unless you have a
reason to do so. In the most general
sense, people decide to change
because they’re unhappy with what
they have become. The hard part is
finding a stable, lasting motivation
to keep you on track as you work
toward your goal of becoming a
happier, healthier person.
Self-motivation works great, but
you must use it carefully because it
can be fleeting. It’s easy to establish
the amorphous goals of “looking
better” or “losing weight.” Your
mood, self-image and enthusiasm
will improve once you decide to do
those things. But what happens if
you fail? It will be far more difficult
to muster even temporary enthusi-
asm, as you remember
that your plan failed the
last time you tried. Thus,
you cannot base your
success on self-motivating
mental tricks and hollow
promises of vaguely defined outcomes. You need
steady, consistent effort
aimed at progressing toward concrete goals.
My motivation came from the
need to honor promises I made to
myself. I was a competitive athlete
all my life. In high school I competed in the decathlon on the national
level. I eventually lost interest in it,
but I still felt the need to remain
active. It was during my junior and
senior years at U.C. Berkeley that
bodybuilding started to fill the void.
I found that unlike decathlon trainZach Taylor
How Do You Plead?
ing, which required several hours
of practice at a set time every day,
bodybuilding was something I
could schedule around my academic commitments, without a
huge investment of time. For me it
was the perfect recreational sport.
Although I never competed, I still
enjoyed bulking up and cutting
down once every year to see what
kind of changes I had made to my
physique.
When I got to law school, I found
myself surrounded by the most
unhealthy, out-of-shape group of
people I had ever met. At first I was
unsure why. I thought maybe we
were just the cream of the nerdy
crop. But as my law school experience progressed, I discovered that
the lawyers were even
worse off than the
students. I was astonished
at how tired, run-down,
disheveled and stressedout the vast majority of
them were. They were so
busy and overworked that
most of them went nearly
the entire day without
eating, stuffed themselves
once or twice a day when
they were too irritable to
concentrate or could no
longer bear the hunger
pangs, then went home
and watched TV until it
was time to get up and do it
all over again.
On the one hand, I knew I
would never let myself get
that way—but then I wondered how many other
people in my position had
thought the same thing
when they started law
school and ended up that
way despite their best
intentions. I started to see
why they called it whitecollar boot camp, and I could tell it
would only get worse. Law school
was preparing us for a time when
we would have more work than we
could possibly finish, and I was
having a difficult time reconciling
that lifestyle with one that valued
health and fitness.
I promised myself two things:
One, that I would never become
one of those out-of-shape lawyers,
and two, that I would always set a
good example for other students
Success Story
after photos based on the amount
of time I had to prepare and a reasonable assessment of my abilities.
Out of Order
A Lighter Sentence
A couple of years into it I’d nearly
broken my promises. My workouts
and diet were inconsistent. I had
not yet succumbed to being a completely frazzled law student, but I
certainly wasn’t setting a good
example. I was afraid that if I failed
to establish good habits while I was
still in school, I might never do it.
That’s when I decided to put my
mental and physical fitness first in
my life by entering the Met-Rx
Challenge.
The next thing I did was to recognize that I was responsible for my
unhappiness with myself. I’ve
learned that success has countless
fathers, but failure is a bastard. We
are often quite willing to take credit
for our success but equally if not
more willing to blame our failures
on someone or something else. It
would have been easy for me to
blame being out of shape on a
combination of law school,
extracurricular activities, my internship, personal issues—the
things that we all deal with. I realized, however, that I would just be
making excuses. Instead, I decided
to do what bodybuilders do: I
looked in the mirror. Once I accepted that I was the only person standing in my way, moving forward
became much easier.
After that the way was paved for
me to set concrete goals. I used to
think that successful people were
just extraordinarily lucky. I no
longer think so. Successful people
get where they are by following a
strategic plan. We all know it takes
a blueprint to build a house, but
we sometimes forget that it takes a
blueprint to build a successful life.
The same applies to building a
better body.
Generally, success is not accidental. People who approach things
with order, conscientiousness and
persistence ultimately succeed.
Knowing that, I developed an exercise, nutrition and supplement
program and followed it consistently. I measured my body composition and set a realistic goal for
how lean I wanted to be for my
Like anything else, starting is
always the most difficult part of any
task. After I started the Met-Rx
Challenge, all I needed to do was
stick with it. But there was a particular way that I stuck with it that
seemed to work really well for me.
We’ve all heard the saying, “Work
hard, and you will be rewarded.” It
sounds simple, right? Too bad it
doesn’t always work that way. Remember what it was like in school?
No matter how many hours some
kids studied, they always got bad
grades. Then there were others who
rarely studied at all and got straight
As. You can go nowhere fast by
working hard but inefficiently, or
you can employ modest efforts
efficiently and reap substantial
rewards. I think my success was due
to a sharp focus on working
smarter, not harder, throughout the
Challenge.
It boils down to a single concept:
purpose. The purpose of following
an exercise and nutrition program
is to make progress, not to burn
yourself out. It will be tough at first,
but eventually your continued
progress will boost your enthusiasm, which will lead to more
progress, more enthusiasm and so
on. Then, as my constitutional law
professor was fond of saying, it’s a
Generally, success is not
accidental. People who
approach things with
order, conscientiousness
and persistence ultimately succeed.
Neveux
and lawyers by staying fit and
healthy, even under the pressures
of a legal career.
Success Story
No-Guilt Transformation
Strategy
Neveux
Diet. My diet is primarily low-carb
(less than 50 grams per day) all year
long. A low-carb diet is best for
losing and keeping off excess bodyfat. That’s largely because of the
relationship between macronutrients and insulin.
Insulin is a hormone created in the
pancreas that moves nutrients out
of the blood and into the cells. Carbohydrate produces a far great
insulin response than protein or fat.
So the more carbs you eat, the more
insulin is released, and,
consequently, the more nutrients
move out of the blood and into the
cells. That’s not a desired result if
your goal is to lose bodyfat because
you need to have nutrients—specifically, stored lipids—moving out of
the cells, not in. Low-carb diets
work so well because they keep
insulin levels low, which encourages
more fat to move out of your cells.
Still, continuous low-carb dieting
leads to depleted glycogen stores,
which inhibits your ability to engage
in strenuous exercise. Activities
such as sprinting and lifting weights
Before
involve the
anaerobic—
meaning without
oxygen—use
of stored carbohydrate. So,
as glycogen
levels dwindle,
After
the body has
little fuel to
use for anaerobic processes.
Consequently,
your ability to
work out hard
tapers off as
well.
My diet combines the best of both
worlds: a generally low-carb plan
with one or two carb-load meals (250
to 300 grams of complex carbs) every
few days. That allows me to keep my
insulin levels low and stay lean the
majority of the time but also occasionally replenishes my glycogen
stores so I can train hard. I never
count calories, and I allow myself
one cheat meal per week, except
during the last four weeks before a
photo shoot.
The only things I change as a photo
shoot draws near are the frequency
of my carb-load meals and the percentage of my total calories coming
from fat. Generally, during the last
four weeks before a
photo shoot I have a
carb-load meal once
every two weeks instead of twice a week. I
also increase my protein intake and reduce
my fat intake to create
a slight calorie deficit.
Training. My training
program during the
Met-Rx Challenge was
pretty basic. I lifted
weights three times a
week, usually Monday,
Wednesday and Saturday. Then I did cardio—20 minutes of
high-intensity interval
training on a treadmill, stair climber or
stationary bike—on
Tuesday, Thursday,
Friday and Saturday
mornings. I also added
low-to-moderate-
I lifted
weights
three
times a
week and
used a
low-carb
diet.
intensity cardio sessions on the stair
climber or stationary
bike on Tuesday,
Thursday and Friday
evenings.
I go to failure on
every set, except
warmups, and generally keep my reps
between six and 12. I
also vary the stress on
my muscles by constantly changing my
routine. I never do
the same workout
twice.
Here’s a variation of
my basic routine:
Monday: Legs
Squats, six sets
Leg presses, 3 sets
Leg extensions, 8 sets
Seated leg curls, 5 sets
Lying leg curls, 5 sets
Seated calf raises, 4 sets
Donkey calf raises, 4 sets
Standing calf raises 4 sets
Tuesday: Cardio (a.m. and p.m.),
abs (circuit training, a.m.)
Wednesday: Chest and back
Dumbbell inclinebench presses, 5 sets
Cable crossovers, 3 sets
Machine flyes, 3 sets
Narrow-grip seated rows, 4 sets
Wide-grip pulldowns, 4 sets
Upright rows, 3 sets
Machine pullovers, 3 sets
Thursday: Cardio (a.m. and p.m.),
calves (a.m.)
Friday: Cardio (a.m. and p.m.), abs
(circuit training, a.m.)
Saturday: Cardio (a.m.); shoulders,
biceps, triceps (p.m.)
Seated dumbbell presses, 4 sets
Machine presses 4 sets
Lateral raises, 4 sets
Rear-delt flyes, 3 sets
Shrugs 3 sets
Standing barbell curls, 4 sets
Seated dumbbell curls, 4 sets
Spider curls, 3 sets
Pressdowns, 4 sets
Reverse-grip pressdowns, 4 sets
Standing overhead
rope extensions, 4 sets
Sunday: Off
Zach Taylor
slippery slope from there. Just be
sure to help others along the way by
sharing the knowledge and wisdom
you gain from what I’m sure will be
a successful experience.
Editor’s note: For more information on the Met-Rx Body Challenge,
visit www.metrx.com. IM
1 7 0
e
p
a
r
G
Expectations
This Fruit Has Got It Going On!
noted scientist once observed that
humans donÕt wear outÑthey rust
out. What he meant was that
many diseases, as well as the aging process itself, are likely related to out-ofcontrol oxidation reactions in the body.
No one argues about the necessity of
oxygen for human life. Try breathing
without it. Oxygen is necessary to power
cellular processes involved in energy production, and without energy, you cannot
live.
The way the body uses oxygen isnÕt a
perfect process. In the course of it noxious by-products known as free radicals
are unavoidably released. Free radicals
go by different names, but theyÕre all
unpaired electrons seeking to pair with
other electrons. When a free radical
finds paired electrons, it locks onto them,
creating cellular havoc. Substances
prone to oxidation are particularly effective at producing free radicals. Polyunsaturated fats, which play structural roles in
various organs and tissues in the body,
including cellular membranes and organs
that are largely composed of fat, such as
the brain, come under that heading.
When attacked by free radicals, susceptible structures break down and fail. That,
in turn, can lead to myriad diseases, including cardiovascular disease and cancer, the two primary killers.
Neveux
• by Jerry Brainum •
Grape Expectations
extract. Studies show that the active
the French paradox. Although the
components of GSE are 20 times
French habitually eat a considermore potent than vitamin C and 50
able amount of saturated fat, the
times more potent than vitamin E
type of fat most linked to cardiovasin antioxidant activity. The funccular disease, they don’t have a high
tions of GSE, however, go beyond
rate of that kind of health problem.
mere antioxidant protection. For
Scientists who’ve studied the effect
example, it inhibits enzymes that
think that their fondness for drinkpromote the release of histamine
ing red wine with most meals is
from cellular mast cells. Histamine
what enables the French to eat
plays a dominant role in
saturated fat with impunity.
Red wine
the symptoms associated
Red wine contains
contains
with allergies and inflamflavonoids called polyphepolyphenols,
mation in the body.
nols. They’re potent antioxwhich can help
Another name for the
idants that can protect
prevent internal active ingredients found in
Luckily, nature and evolution
against cardiovascular
blood clotting GSE is oligomeric proanhave created a built-in defense sysdisease with a number of
that can lead to thocyanidins. OPCs exist
tem against free-radical cellular
mechanisms, including
heart attacks.
terrorism. It consists of various ennaturally in such fruits as
their ability to prevent the
zyme systems that neutralize free
apples, pears and grapes
internal blood clotting that
radicals, often by contributing an
and in chocolate, red
initiates most heart attacks.
electron to stabilize the renegade
wine and tea. In supplePolyphenols also stabilize
free radical. Even so, free radicals
ment form they’re availlow-density lipoprotein, the
are voracious in their appetite for
able as either grape-seed
primary cholesterol carrier
pairing with another electron, and
extract or an extract from
in the blood. That’s signifithousands of attacks occur at any
pine bark known as pyccant because LDL, which is
time. It’s easy for the body to be
nogenol, which is touted
known as the bad cholesoverwhelmed.
as being the superior
terol, is dangerous mainly
Once again, nature provides anti- when oxidized.
source and usually costs
dotes: dietary antioxidants. Vitanearly twice as much as
What if you just don’t
mins C and E are the antioxidants
grape-seed extract.
want to drink wine? Can
familiar to most people, but many
The truth, however, is that most
you get the benefits of its polypheother nutrients provide potent proof the research on the effects of
nol content from any other source?
tection, including the hundreds of
OPCs used grape-seed extract. Even
A good candidate source is grapeflavonoid chemicals found in variJacques Masquelier, credited with
seed extract, which also has powers
ous fruits and vegetables. The frediscovering pycnogenol, says that
above and beyond those found in a
quent recommendation to eat at
grape-seed extract is superior. That’s
fine merlot.
least five servings a day of fruits and
because GSE contains gallic esters
vegetables is largely based on their
not found in pycnogenol that give it
Grape-Seed Power
fiber and antioxidant contents,
greater antioxidant activity. Similar
While common dietary antioxiwhich play definite roles in warding
to what happens with another popdants such as vitamins C and E do
off degenerative diseases.
ular antioxidant, lipoic acid, GSE
offer potent protective effects, they
The power of antioxidant protecworks in both fat and water media,
pale in comparison to grape-seed
tion is reflected in what’s known as
giving it a greater range of protection. In contrast, vitamin C works
only in a water medium, while vitaAn ingredient in grape-seed extract
min E functions only in a fat medimay increase your pumps in the gym.
um.
Most of the studies showing a
beneficial effect, however, were isolated-cell studies, also known as invitro, or test-tube, studies. That’s
significant because flavonoids tend
to be difficult for the human body to
absorb. Studies tracking the fate of
ingested grape-seed extract found
that it was indeed difficult for the
body to absorb the active ingredients, but about 25 percent was absorbed, and since they are potent
antioxidants, it appears to be
enough.
Grape Expectations
As noted above, GSE neutralizes
many of the problems that lead to
cardiovascular disease, including
the oxidation of LDL. It also protects vital organs, such as the liver
and brain. The OPCs in grape-seed
extract have a particular affinity for
vascular and connective tissue.
They inhibit enzymes that would
otherwise degrade those tissues,
and in doing so they maintain the
integrity of various structural proteins of connective tissue and skin,
such as collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid. When those substances
break down in the skin, visible
signs of aging, such as wrinkles,
appear. One study showed that a
topical form of GSE offered protection against the oxidative damage
caused by exposure to the sun.
Pumping Up with GSE
Nitric oxide has been getting extensive publicity lately. Various
supplements have come on the
market that increase the effect of
nitric oxide synthesis. Among other
functions, nitric oxide dilates blood
vessels, which would increase the
sensation of a muscular pump
during training. GSE also increases
nitric oxide synthesis, and it does
so even more effectively than many
of the high-priced supplements
currently available. In addition,
GSE stimulates vascular endothelial growth factor, which plays a
role in wound healing.
A recent study confirmed the
effect of OPCs derived from pycnogenol in helping to alleviate
In one study
a topical
form of GSE
offered skin
protection
from sun
damage.
impotence in men.1 The subjects
took 120 milligrams a day of either
pycnogenol or a placebo for three
months in a double-blind protocol,
meaning that neither the subjects
nor the researchers knew who was
taking what. After three months the
men who got the pycnogenol
showed significant improvement.
The researchers attributed that
result to pycnogenol’s ability to
promote nitric oxide synthesis.
Nitric oxide is required for the
dilation of blood vessels that lead
to an erection. Most of today’s socalled impotence drugs, such as
Viagra, work through the same
mechanism.
GSE may aid workout recovery
by decreasing various chemical
initiators of inflammation in the
body. Hard training leads to a local-
GSE: Immunity Booster
GSE helps protect against various
types of cancer. In isolated-cell
studies it destroyed several types of
cancers, such as those affecting the
breasts, lungs and stomach. GSE
also reduces the side effects of
chemotherapy drugs, which are
designed to destroy cancer cells by
increasing free-radical production
in tumors—an undesirable activity
in normal cells. Other research
shows that GSE inhibits the virus
that causes AIDS, but, once again,
the studies involved were test-tube
studies.
A recent study found that GSE
may offer benefits in the treatment
of advanced prostate cancer, the
number-one killer of men.2 Many
prostate tumors are initially androgen-sensitive; that is, their growth is
stimulated by the presence of testosterone and other androgens. The
treatment is to block androgen production, hoping the tumor will recede. In some cases, however, it
returns, and this time it’s androgenindependent. Advanced prostate
tumors like that are harder to treat
and have a greater tendency to
metastasize, or spread.
In the new study GSE strongly
inhibited advanced prostate tumors. The researchers believe it
accomplished (continued on page 178)
Grape-seed extract helps to
heal muscle inflammation
after intense training.
ized inflammation in muscles, and
muscles cannot fully recover until
it’s doused. The inflammation is
caused by a number of chemicals
associated with immune function,
such as cytokines, interleukins and
tumor necrosis factor-alpha. By
neutralizing their excess activity,
GSE helps to heal muscle inflammation after intense training,
thereby speeding recovery.
Grape Expectations
GSE, with its nitric oxide
precursors, appears to alleviate
impotence in men.
(continued from page 175) that
through at least two mechanisms: It
prevents the release of a chemical
that enables tumors to spread in
the body, and it increases a binding
protein for IGF-1, which promotes
tumor growth. As a result the tumor
winds up killing itself, a process
known as apoptosis.
cutaneous bodyfat, less water retention and less likelihood that
excess-estrogen-related conditions,
such as gynecomastia, or male
breasts, will occur.
GSE also exerts insulinlike activity in aiding glucose uptake into
cells.4 It appears to lower elevated
glucose levels, such as those that
occur in people who have diabetes
and those who use human growth
hormone, as well as increasing the
activity of cellular proteins that aid
in getting glucose into cells, such as
GLUT-4.
Another interesting isolated-cell
study found that a combination of
aged garlic and pycnogenol caused
a potent release of growth hormone.5 The study used skin cells
that had been genetically engineered to react to substances touted
as growth hormone releasers. The
results showed that pycnogenol is
about 1,000 times more potent in
Girlieman Terminator
Another study found that substances in GSE can inhibit aromatase,3 the ubiquitous enzyme that
converts androgens, such as testosterone, into estrogen. From a medical point of view, that means that
GSE may help prevent estrogenrelated cancer. Inhibiting aromatase in men leads to increased
testosterone and lower estrogen—
and lower estrogen equals less sub-
Grape-seed extract can help
reduce estrogen in men.
its ability to promote GH release
than the other substances tested,
including amino acids.
Isolated-cell studies also show
that both GSE and pycnogenol
inhibit enzymes called lipases,
which are required to absorb dietary fat.6,7 Orlistat, a drug that’s
currently used to treat obesity,
works in the same manner, with the
result that about 30 percent less fat
is absorbed during a meal. That
means fewer fat calories taken in,
possibly leading to fat losses.
Safety Issues
What about toxicity? Grape-seed
extract is remarkably safe. It shows
no mutagenic effects—i.e., links to
tumor formation—and has no
known interaction with
drugs. It does, however,
help prevent liver failure
if someone takes too
much acetaminophen
(Tylenol). The best
dosage for health effects
is about one milligram
per kilogram (2.2
pounds) of bodyweight.
So someone weighing
200 pounds should take
about 100 milligrams of
GSE daily. Another
method is to begin with a
loading dose of 300 milligrams a day in divided
doses for about a month,
then switch to the onemilligram-per-kilogramof-bodyweight
maintenance dose.
Someone
weighing
200 pounds
should take
about 100
milligrams
of GSE daily.
References
1 Durackova, Z., et al. (2003).
Lipid metabolism and erectile function improvement by pycnogenol
extract from the bark of Pinus
pinaster in patients suffering from
erectile dysfunction—a pilot study.
Nut Res. 23:1189-98.
2 Singh, R., et al. (2004). Grapeseed extract inhibits advanced
human prostate tumor growth and
angiogenesis and unregulated insulinlike growth factor binding
protein-3. Int J Cancer. 108:733-40.
3 Eng, E.T., et al. (2003). Suppression of estrogen biosynthesis by
procyanidin dimers in red wine and
grape seeds. Cancer Res. 63:8516-22.
4 Pinent, M., et al. (2004). Grapeseed-derived procyanidins have an
antihypoglycemic effect in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats and
insulinomemetic activity in insulinsensitive cell lines. Endocrinology.
In press.
5 Buz’Zard, A., et al. (2002). Kyolic
and pycnogenol increase human
growth hormone secretion in genetically engineered keratinocytes.
Growth hormone and IGF-1 Research. 12:34-40.
6 Moreno, D.A., et al. (2003). Inhibitory effects of grape-seed extract on lipases. Nutrition.
19:876-79.
7 Hasegawa, N. (2000). Inhibition
of lipogenesis by pycnogenol. Phytotherapy Res. 14:472-473. IM
Warrior
Snack Attack
A Revolutionary Protein Bar That Combines
Maximum Net Protein Utilization and Natural
Ingredients With an Amazing Taste
Model: David Yeung \ Equipment: Powertec power rack, 1-800-447-0008
by the Editors • Photography by Michael Neveux
uscle gain is a controversial issue, as is
protein. WhatÕs the
best protein for promoting muscle growth? ThereÕs
an ongoing clash of opinions
among sports nutrition experts
on the subject. Numerous protein products with flashy labels
promise the best results. Unfortunately, most consumers real-
ize that thereÕs a huge gap between what the labels say and
what the products deliver. Consequently, thereÕs disappointment and confusion
among bodybuilders and athletes who are looking for potent protein products that can
meet their daily nutritional requirement and effectively promote growth.
IRON MAN Research Team
delivering amino acids to
starving muscles.
Searching for the
Ideal Protein Bar
Muscle gain is a
process that involves a
surplus of protein
synthesis over protein
waste.
The Principle of
Muscle Gain
The one principle that defines
growth is clear: Muscle gain is a
process that involves a surplus of
protein synthesis over protein
waste. When the rate of protein use
in the muscle tissue is higher than
the rate of protein breakdown, the
muscle gets larger and growth
occurs. Conversely,
regardless of how
much protein
you consume,
if the rate of
protein use is
lower than
the rate of
breakdown, a
catabolic state
occurs and the
muscle tissue
loses mass. No one
can argue those facts.
Anabolic and catabolic processes
occur simultaneously in your body
every split second of your life. The
trick is to take advantage of that
biological makeup and nourish the
body in a way that will give you the
highest percentage of net protein
utilization from food with a minimum of protein waste.
Unfortunately, it’s not always
possible to get enough protein for
net utilization from food alone.
Bodybuilders, whose protein requirements are much higher than
the average Joe’s, must use protein
shakes or bars in addition to whole
food to support their body’s great
demand for amino acids.
There is significant evidence that
food is better used in a solid form
than in a liquid form. Studies reveal
that chewing food rather
than drinking it involves a process
called the saliva
test, which induces critical
actions of the
epidermal
growth factor, a
factor that plays
an important role
in regenerating liver
cells and supports critical immune functions.
Solid food generally has a slower
rate of assimilation than liquid
food. When protein is slowly released, it helps keep the muscle in
an anabolic state for a longer period of time while minimizing amino
acid waste. From that aspect, protein bars are superior to protein
shakes. Properly designed protein
bars can be the best vehicles for
A protein bar should be
a nutritional as well as a
taste treat for people who
are interested in a quick
snack that will satisfy their
protein needs. Ideally, it
should provide quality
protein with bioactive
nutrients that will help
replenish energy reserves,
particularly postworkout,
spare amino acids and
promote maximum net
protein utilization for
growth.
The reality is far from
ideal, however, and many
of today’s protein bars
betray their purpose. Instead of nourishing the
body in a way that supports its anabolic functions, they
often increase the overall metabolic
stress, causing protein waste, indigestion, bloating, water retention
and fatigue, which altogether lead
to a sluggish metabolism and impaired nutrient assimilation.
What’s more, a lot of protein bars
have a funky flavor and a chemical
aftertaste. Bodybuilders and other
athletes who are looking for a quick
protein snack or a fast recovery
meal are often left disappointed, to
say the least.
People need some solid standards by which they can evaluate
protein products, and in particular,
protein bars. An ideal protein bar
should meet the following requirements:
1) It should have the correct
nutrient blend.
2) It should be free of toxins.
3) It should taste delicious.
A correct nutrient blend means
the right amount of quality protein
with the correct percentages of
carbs, fat and protein for promoting
maximum net protein assimilation.
It should also be low in sugar.
Free of toxins means no dangerous chemicals or food additives. It
(continued on page 188)
should not
IRON MAN Research Team
(continued from page 184) contain
low in carbohydrates. Unfortunately, many are high in bad fats such as
hydrogenated or partly hydrogenated oils, all unhealthy. They negatively affect essential metabolic
pathways and are believed to destroy brain cells. Hydrogenated fats
and trans fatty acids are also believed to cause insulin insensitivity
and fat gain. Many low-carb bars
today contain glycerin, a sugar
alcohol, which supplies the body
with empty calories and can cause
bloating. In fact the FDA requires
that sugar alcohol be listed as a
carb on the nutritional-facts panel
but, ironically, allows the bars to be
called low carb. To add insult to
injury, low-carb bars often have
that funky taste and aftertaste mentioned above.
So the ideal protein bar is one
that provides an optimum serving
of high-quality protein that has the
Model: David Yeung
any hydrogenated, partly hydrogenated or rancid oils. It should
also contain no artificial sweeteners
or sugar alcohols, including glycerin, which can cause indigestion
or bloating, signals of overall
metabolic stress.
And it should taste delicious. A
protein bar is food. Therefore, it
should taste and smell like food. It
should have a moist, semisoft texture that easily dissolves in the
mouth—and without any
chemical aftertaste.
It’s hard to find a protein
bar that meets any of those
standards. There are currently two major categories of
protein bars:
High-sugar bars. Some
popular protein bars are high
in carbohydrates, particularly sugars like corn syrup and fructose.
Sometimes known as energy bars,
they usually taste okay; however,
their high sugar content raises
blood insulin levels rapidly. That
leads to blood sugar fluctuation,
which may cause insulin insensitivity and undesirable fat gain.
Low-carbohydrate bars. Some
protein bars are marketed as being
Model: Tamer Elshahat
Bodybuilders must use
protein shakes and bars
to support their greater
demand for amino acids.
highest biological value combined
with bioactive compounds, including good fat and naturally slowreleasing complex carbs. It’s low in
sugar, is made from only top-quality ingredients and has a clean,
delicious taste with no aftertaste.
Introducing:
The Warrior Bar™
The Warrior Bar is a significant
step forward, pioneering a new
generation of protein bars.
It’s specially designed to
nourish the body’s demand for good-quality
protein with the right
combination of whey- and
milk-isolate proteins. The
protein content was designed for maximum biological value. Other bars may need
twice as much protein to provide
the same net protein use, due to
typical protein waste. The Warrior
Bar contains grade-A mediumchain triglyceride (MCT) oil supported by slow-releasing complex
carbs to promote maximum protein
utilization.
Unlike most commercial protein
bars, the Warrior Bar is made only
from natural ingredients. It’s free of
chemical additives, artificial sweeteners, sugar alcohol, glycerin,
hydrolyzed gelatin, hydrogenated
oils and fructose. It’s sweetened
with a proprietary new blend of
natural low-glycemic-index sweeteners.
The Warrior Bar is perfect as a
snack, a recovery meal or simply a
delicious dessert. Bodybuilders can
eat more than one at a time, as the
Warrior Bar supports lean muscle
gain without fat gain. The nutritional composition, in particular
the MCT oil, enhances anabolic
processes without converting into
bodyfat.
With a taste like creamy pumpkin pie, it’s definitely in a league of
its own.
Editor’s note: To get two boxes
(24 count) of the new Warrior Bars
for only $39.95 (you save almost
$20), call (800) 447-0008 and ask
for the IM Research Team Warrior
Bar Special. IM
Lonnie Teper’s
TV
Musclebound Flix: The Inside Story
Must-See
See Arnold run—and
Watch Roland act
Roland Kickinger is a smart man. When offered the lead role as
a young Arnold Schwarzenegger in the TV biopic “See Arnold
Run,” to be aired in January on A&E, the first thing Kickinger did was
to contact the Governator for his approval of the script. “He told me
just to make sure I get paid a lot for the part and to
have fun,” said Kickinger with a laugh.
Filming, which took place in
Passings
San Diego, ended in late September, and the movie was in postproduction when I spoke with
Kickinger in early October.
“It was very exciting to re-create an era that motivated most of us involved with bodyIn this case I’m talkin’ about the original
building—you know, the good old days,” said Kickinger. “I had a blast doing the
Muscle Beach, in Santa Monica, where
Harold Zinkin was among the fitness piomovie. I feel very fortunate to get the part.”
neers, beginning in the 1930s. Zinkin, seen
Much of the film focuses on the years between 1970 and ’80—Bob Cicherillo
here in a recent photo taken with California
plays Lou Ferrigno, Chris Cook is Dave Draper and Mike Ergas is Franco
Governor
Arnold
Columbu. Kickinger says he trained for eight weeks to get in decent shape for
Schwarzenegthose scenes. “The physiques back then were big but not as ripped as today’s
ger, won the
bodybuilders,” he said. “Also, they didn’t get as tanned as they do today. I tried
first Mr. California competition,
to emulate the look
in 1941, and in
Kickinger and Michael
of the times as I
1957 invented
Ergas, as Franco Columbu,
trained for the role.”
the Universal
re-create the Muscle Beach
weight machine.
The 6’2”
days.
He passed
Schwarzenegger
away on
was 235 or so
September 22
at the age of
pounds in his hey82.
day; the 6’4” Kickinger
said he carried about
255 pounds of beef for
the monthlong shoot.
Roland carefully studied the
MR. UNIVERSE AND
emotional side of SchwarzenegMR. CALIFORNIA
ger (“How did he react when his
father passed away?”) and compares the
movie to the “Rocky” flicks. “This is a very motivational
movie,” explained the former “Son of the Beach” star. “Arnold had a master
plan, and he never got sidetracked. I don’t have to tell you just how amazing his life has been.”
No, you don’t, Roland. And you can bet I’ll be glued to the tube to see
how the production turned out. Better yet, invite me to the L.A. premiere,
and I’ll let ya know my analysis at the party.
Photos courtesy of A&E Marketing
Comstock
Add Muscle Beach
AT H L E T I C S U P P O R T E R S
HOT SHOTS
BY JERRY FREDRICK
Perfect Match
Bodybuilding.com and Boise State make great gridiron combo
The Boise State University football
team, under the guidance of head
coach Dan Hawkins, has become one
of the premier collegiate football programs in the nation. In three years at
the helm of the Broncos, Hawkins has
guided them to an incredible 37-6
record (as of October 10), along with
the longest winning streak in the land at
25 and counting. Ranked 15th in 2003
by USA Today/ESPN and sitting at
number 18, the Broncos have obviously
stirred up some excitement in the Idaho
capital.
Among the school’s biggest supporters are the gang at Bodybuilding.com,
led by CEO Ryan DeLuca, V.P. Jeremy DeLuca and their pop, Russ
DeLuca, who appropriately owns the
Coach Hawkins
chases the pump as
title of treasurer. ’Cause Russ is one
well as the title.
generous man. Just ask promoters of
IFBB and NPC shows across the land. In
2004 the company contributed approximately $200,000 in sponsorship money.
For the past three years Bodybuilding.com has sold Boise State team
shirts and donated the funds to the
football program. In ’02 the slogan was,
“Leave No Doubt”; last season it was,
“Just Prove It”; and this year, “Brick by
Brick”—as in slowly but surely building a
Those team-spirited DeLuca dudes (from
national powerhouse.
left): Russ, Ryan and Jeremy.
Bodybuilding.com’s team-spirited
efforts are turning the Internet company into more of a powerhouse as well: The
marketing agreement between the college and the company has led to the Bodybuilding.com logo’s appearing in nationally televised games. Go, Broncos!
Simona as
Pocahontas. Some
sexist
bloke said
he liked
her wigwams, so
she
wrecked
his teepee. He’s
still on the
ground in
pain.
ld’s. We call
Rebecca flexes at Go
, but plenty of
girl
i’
d-b
goo
the
her
good too.
her other parts are
Web Alert!
Check out the all-new contest section at
www.ironmanmagazine.com, the most
entertaining and comprehensive bodybuilding
site on the Internet!
Jerry always manag
es to get a hug
from beauties like Ker
stin—and he
sneaks in a glute che
ck when
there’s an opportuni
ty.
ADD ARNOLD
NPC SHOWS
What could L.T. have been telling Arnold in this conversation, which took place circa 1990 at World Gym in Venice
Beach? Rumor has it he was trying to convince the Big Fella
to make him his campaign manager if Arnold ever ran for
president.
Okay, let’s get
the rules committee together and
starting working on
changing the law
that says no foreign-born person
can be president of
the United States.
It’s been a year
since Arnold
Schwarzenegger became the
governor of Kalifor-nia, and the
man has done a
helluva job. The
polls in October
had his approval
rating at a glittering 65 percent.
As I write this, we’re less than a month away from the latest presidential election, and it’s a race down to the wire. Not because the voters are enamored of
their choices, I think it’s safe to say.
Arnold is a take-charge guy, an icon whose days as a bodybuilding champion
and movie star have earned him worldwide admiration and enormous respect,
which, in turn, have enabled him to start turning things around in California. I think
he would do likewise as the commander-in-chief. President Schwarzenegger. Has
a nice ring to it, huh, gang?
’04 Texas Championships
Houston: July 10
Mauricio
Garza, men’s
bodybuilding.
Star Blaylock,
women’s
bodybuilding.
Promoter
Michael Johnston with figure
winner Tessa
Montelaro.
ADD WEB
Expansion
Bodybuilding.com gents tossing their support into another ring
Those DeLuca dudes just can’t sit still (see the
item on page 191). They recently acquired the rights to
the domain name “Athletes.com,” with the intent of
creating a Web site whose mission is “to provide athletes of any sport, at any level, free sport-specific training and nutrition information integrated with an online
retailer selling nutritional supplements and training aids
that are both safe and effective,” said Ryan DeLuca.
“There are many products that athletes can use to
maximize their training efforts without compromising the
rules of their sport or their own health, and we hope to
provide those products for athletes who want an edge
in their training, whether it’s for a city marathon or an
NFL game.”
One big-time athlete who gained from the Internetbased support system is Jarred Rome, who earned
the Bodybuilding.com Track Club its first national discus
title with a victory at the 2004 Olympia Trials. The 6’4”,
305-pounder, who won the crown with a toss of 215
feet, nine inches, used ZMA, HMB, multivitamins and
lots and lots of protein, according to Russ DeLuca, to help him achieve his success.
“When we started the club, we hoped to have some world-class athletes, but to send three guys to the trials and one to the
Olympics surpasses our expectations.”
Big Jarred Rome
won the discus
throw at the 2004
Olympic Trials.
Photography by Tim Adams
L.T. says the
Governator should
be Pres-onator in ’08
Photo by Ron Chaffins
Rule Change
Eye
Backstage Stories on the Contest Trail
of the Tiger
Collegiate champ overcomes
Kudos to Peter Putnam, not only for copping the overall crown at the Collegiate
Nationals last July but also for overcoming a childhood tragedy. In March 1986, while
playing with some friends in his hometown of Dalton, Georgia, nine-year-old Putnam was
the victim of a drive-by shooting by a couple of thrill-seeking teenagers.
As the perpetrators’ car sped off, Putnam was left holding his bleeding right eye. The
damage was so severe, the eye eventually had to be removed. “I held no hate or bitterness toward my aggressors,” says Putnam. “This was not my way of thinking—I had no
desire to feel sorry for myself. I just wanted to get on living and doing the things that little
boys do, playing with my peers and being the kid that everyone wanted on their team.”
He was always an outstanding athlete, but parties, not workouts, became his thing in
college before bodybuilding put him back on the right track. At 21 Putnam won the
novice middleweight class at the Mr. Atlanta contest, and he was on his way. At the
Collegiates, the Covenant College business management major presented a powerful,
symmetrical 5’6”, 188-pound package that swept the field.
Now he has his
sights set on the ’05
Junior Nationals, and, if
he does well there, it
Former NPC promoter
will be on to the USA. “I
trust I can use the sport
and Gold’s Gym owner
for the betterment of
others and prove that
Marty Demirjian and
we are all put here to
make a difference in
renowned attorney
Peter Putnam put a childhood tragedy
this world,” says Putbehind him—way behind.
nam,
who
recently
Mark Geragos.
signed a contract with Prolab. “Get busy living and get busy
MARK OR MARTY? BETCHA CAN’T TELL WHO THIS IS.
growing!”
Lookalikes M&M Brothers
OFFSPRING
Like Father, Like Son
Teen and Men’s Mr. Pittsburgh on May 5 and the Teen Nationals
in August. In checking out pics of the younger Hawk, the
Swami says the Teen Nationals are his. Don’t let me down, kid!
Chip off the old
cannonballs.
David Forest Hawk (left) matches biceps with his dad, David, the
former USA and World Amateur champion and Masters Olympia
standout.
Liberman
History buffs remember a young David Hawk winning the
USA and World championships in 1985 and competing on the
pro level until 1991, when he hung up his posing trunks. Current followers of the industry know that Hawk returned to the
stage in 2002, at 40, to compete in the Masters Olympia and
finished fourth two years in a row.
These days there’s another Hawk spreading his wings on to
the posing platform. David Forest Hawk, who turned 18 on
July 27, is a good-looking 5’8”, 176-pounder who took the
overall at the NPC Teen Tri-State in September, then followed
up with another overall crown at the Teen Pennsylvania and a
class win in the open division at the Pennsylvania Championships.
The proud pop says David’s next contests will be the ’05
All in the bodybuilding family
Photo courtesy of Peter Putnam
More than midterms to get to the top
Southern
More Shows: Big Time in Florida
States
So huge, they had to hire another hall
More Florida
Photography by Doris Barrilleaux
Women’s Dept.
SOUTHERN PHYSIQUE BELLES
Overall champs (from left): Claudio Santos (men’s fitness), Leslie
Stefano (figure), Rafael Jaramillo (men’s bodybuilding), Annette
Lopez (women’s bodybuilding), Darin Page (masters over 40), Bernie
Kaplan (teen).
Women’s winners (from left): Gina Crum (fitness)
The Southern States Championships has grown so big, it was only a
Jessika Coehlo (teen fitness and figure), copromoter Maria Bellando, Leslie Stefano
matter of time before promoter Peter Potter had to move it to a larger
(figure), Mari Redondo (masters
venue. So the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida,
over-40 figure).
was the site of the 2004, 25th-anniversary edition last August, and as always it was
an outstanding event.
“Like some of the national events, it was held over two days,” says Potter, “with fitness, figure and
masters on Friday and teen, women and open men’s bodybuilding on Saturday.”
Contestants came from 18 states to do battle for the coveted titles. A dozen IFBB pros got their start with a victory at this
show, with the most famous graduate to date being Dexter Jackson.
Congrats to champions Rafael Jaramillo (men’s bodybuilding), Annette Lopez (women’s bodybuilding), Gina Crum
(women’s fitness), Claudio Santos (men’s fitness) and Leslie Stefano (women’s figure).
Potter’s guest posers included Gunter Schlierkamp, Darrem Charles, Richard Jones, Toney Freeman and Kelly
Ryan. A half-hour TV show focusing exclusively on the ’04 event will be available to the 36 million-plus subscribers of the
Sunshine Network.
Potter’s ’05 contest will be held August 5–6. To get the details, contact Peter at [email protected].
SAD NEWS
John Mese, RIP
Add Florida bodybuilding
A postscript from Southern States promoter Peter Potter (see the item above) brought
news of the passing of John Carl Mese, one of the founding members of the NPC, who
died of a heart attack on October 4. He was 66. His résumé with the organization included
NPC and IFBB judge, NPC national chairman, chairman of the Judges Committee and Florida chairman. I emceed the last contest he ever promoted, the ’95 Florida Championships.
John left a wife, Mariella, and two children, Andrea and Johnny, as well as a sister,
Barbie, and his mother, Gladys. A memorial service was held on October 9 in the Miami
Shores Presbyterian church.
Condolences to the Mese family.
The late John Mese with L.T. at the ’95 Florida Championships.
SURVIVORS
DeMilia Update
Life after bodybuilding
As I wrote a few issues back, don’t feel too
sorry for Wayne DeMilia. I was sure that Wayne,
who parted ways with the IFBB a few months
back, wouldn’t be sitting at home twiddling his
thumbs very long.
A press release sent out in August verified that:
DeMilia and his Pro Division Inc. will be putting on
the 2005 Chicago Health, Fitness and Nutrition
Expo at McCormick Place in Chicago on April
23–24.
“By encompassing health, fitness and nutrition,
we hope to attract the total cross section of the
population, making this a diverse, exciting, wellattended event,” DeMilia says. “With our large
advertising budget and celebrity guests, we are
expecting an attendance of over 25,000 people
per day.”
DeMilia was negotiating with Chicago Bears
Look for Wayne’s ’05 Chicastandout linebacker Brian Urlacher, Magic
go Health, Fitness and
Nutrition Expo in April.
Johnson, the WWE, the top Chicago TV fitness
personality and other fitness, health and nutritional
celebrities to “greet fans, sign autographs and give seminars.”
A couple of familiar names are working with DeMilia on this and future projects:
former IFBB promoter Giorgio Tsoukalos and former NPC competitor and judge
John Calascione, who are the sales directors for the West and East coasts,
respectively. For information on the expo or becoming an exhibitor, contact DeMilia
at (845) 638-9290, Tsoukalos at (415) 717-8331 or Calascione at (917)-22505105.
M O R E P R O U D PA PA S ?
James Bivens Jr. (left) made his bodybuilding debut recently at the Cal State
Los Angeles Championships while his father, NPC star James “Shonuff”
Bivens, himself a former CSLA champ, looked on. Okay, I’m pulling your leg;
the picture on the left is from the Cal State L.A. contest, all right, but from
1990, when Bivens, then 21, made his debut as a 218-pounder. The shot on
the right is from the ’03 All-South in St. Augustine, Florida, where Bivens
tipped the scales at 282. He’s put on some size, eh? Look for James to compete at the ’05 USA.
New Books
The Precontest Bible
The gospel according to Larry Pepe
Larry Pepe has been involved in the
bodybuilding and fitness fields for two
decades in virtually every capacity imaginable. He’s been a competitor, a judge
and a consultant to athletes in the areas
of contest prep, competitive decisions
and even business strategies.
Pepe, who pens a monthly column for
MuscleMag International (he also writes
training pieces), has interviewed virtually
every top bodybuilder in the world, so he
was a natural condidate to do a book
about precontest approach.
In fact, he pulled out all stops in his
recently released The Precontest Bible.
More than 475 pages, the book includes
some 700 great photos from bodybuilding’s finest lensmen, including IRON
MAN’s Bill Comstock, IM contributor
Mits Okabe and Jason Mathas. In
the format of Bill Pearl’s legendary
Keys to the Inner Universe, the manual
gives you the straight and narrow from
the game’s biggest stars.
I’m impressed. And the only mistake I
noticed was the listing of Shawn Ray at
5’7 1/2” instead of the 5’6” he stands.
Like, he’s 1 1/2 inches taller than Dexter Jackson? That Shawn, always
ready to lift one’s spirits.
“The Precontest Bible is the most
complete book ever written on bodybuilding contest preparation,” says sixtime Mr. O Ronnie Coleman. “It is
totally unique from anything I’ve read and
is an extremely valuable tool for anyone
who wants to get into incredible shape.”
’Nuff said. To find out more about the
publication, log on to www
.PrecontestBible.com.
Ruth Silverman’s
PUMP & CiRCUMSTANCE
PROS POSE
SOS FIGURE
Show of Strength
Easy Choices
And easy on the eyes
It’s always the quiet ones, who slip by while
you’re looking at those Davana-vs.-Monica-vs.
Jenny shots (one more time), who prove to be the
most surprising. Sure, Jaime
Did Yaxeni Oriquen
Jaime
Franklin has been slowly but
know the minute she
Franklin,
steadily inching her way into the
stepped onstage at the
#2 with a
bullet.
GNC Show of Strength
upper-stratum of figure competiWomen’s Bodybuilding
tors since she was elevated to
competition on October
the pros at the ’03 NPC Figure
8 that she would win?
Nationals—and, yes, she won
Surely, she knew she
the Pittsburgh Pro last May and
looked good and that
has been looking more polished
the lineup was populated
every time she gets onstage.
largely by people she’d
But I have to admit I never
beaten in the past,
thought she could be the one to
notably Betty Pariso,
bust up the above three’s lock
who frequently finishes
on the sport. All that changed at
right behind Oriquen—as
the GNC Show of Strength in
she did at the Ms. InterAtlanta, where Franklin reportnational
and
Night
of
Yaxeni ruled at the
edly gave official notice that she
end-of-regularChampions earlier in the
season conflict.
year. Pariso was in fine
was good enough to do it. So
Time to be known
Needless to say,
shape
too
at
the
threewhile
Figure International champ
for something
she won the overweeks-before-the-Olympia
besides being the Jenny Lynn’s foregone-concluall.
Jaime who spells sion win in Atlanta—and the
affair. It earned her a unaniher name Jaime
mous runner-up score beinstead of Jamie. $5,000 first-place check she
hind Oriquen’s unanimous first. The big win here (other than the prize
earned—were pleasant news,
money) went to third-placer Lisa Aukland, who got an invitation to the
the high point for the intuitive
Ms. Olympia because the other two were already qualified. The large
observer was Franklin’s taking second with her
and well-conditioned Aukland was reportedly in her best shape and
best-ever physique.
looked right at home standing in the callouts with Yaxeni and Betty.
Thirty-one high-toned bodies hit Georgia looking
Dominating the lightweight class was veteran flexer Nancy Lewis,
to
pick
up some end-of-the-regular-season glory at
who drops back into the sport every couple of years all pumped and
the October 8 event, including a number who were
polished symmetry just in time to win a show. British entry Joanna
tuning up their instruments for the Olympia. Here’s
Thomas might have been carrying more mass—and attracting more
the glory: 1) Jenny Lynn, 2) Jaime Franklin, 3)
than a few partisans in the audience—but the panel preferred Lewis’
Amber Littlejohn, 4) Christine Pomponiolines. Both ladies made it to the Olympia on October 29. To find out
how they did, read the Hot News at www.ironmanmagazine.com.
Pate 5) Zena Collins, 6) Shannon Meteraud, 7)
Kim Chizevsky, 8) Elaine Goodlad 9) Tara
Scotti,
10) Starling Steele.
HAPPY NEWS
Comstock
www.billdobbins.com \ www.billdobbins.net
Yaxeni dominates
Photo courtesy of Lena Johannesen
IRON MAN
Hardbody
of the Year
Lena Johannesen
showed her
softer side
on June 5,
when she
married her
They get
longtime
carried
sweetie
over a
Marc Navihuge
dad on a
threshold
beach in
Santa
Barbara, California. “The wedding was small and romantic—with perfect
weather,” reported the pro fitness and figure star, who has known her
new hubby for almost four years. The couple honeymooned in Hawaii and
Johannesen’s native Norway.
Show of Strength Women’s Bodybuilding
Overall
Yaxeni Oriquen
Nancy
Lewis.
Lightweight
1) Nancy Lewis
2) Joanna Thomas
3) Rosemary Jennings
4) Gayle Moher
5) Mary Ellen Doss
Heavyweight
1) Yaxeni Oriquen
2) Betty Pariso
3) Lisa Aukland
4) Christine Roth
5) Annie Rivieccio
Silverman
When Goddesses Get Married
SOS lightweight winner
Nancy Lewis pauses to
catch her breath before
heading to the O.
MORE STRENGTH
HOT SHOTS
BY JERRY FREDRICK
Fitness Atlanta-Style
’Dela had a good day
Bradford
As with the figure contest, the GNC
Show of Strength Fitness competition
was more interesting for who came in
second than who won. Not that I’m
tired of hearing about Adela GarciaFriedmansky winning contests, but
after Kelly Ryan had to drop out due
to a torn calf muscle, this pre-O flipfest was AGF’s to lose. She didn’t, and
by the time you read this, it won’t
matter. Either she’ll have won the
Fitness Olympia, Ryan will have won it,
or someone else will have surprised
everyone.
So who came in second in Atlanta?
None other than Kim Klein, the fastrising schoolteacher from New Jersey
who was seventh at the International
and runner-up in New York earlier in
the season. Mark her just like Jaime
Franklin in the figure show: number
two with a bullet.
The fitness results were full of pleasProfitable venture. First-place check at
ant surprises. AGF won the physique
the fitness follies was $8,000.
rounds easily, but from the photos it
was clear that top-notch routine performers Klein and Jen Hendershott had
finally hit their physique peaks as well. Ditto for ’03 Team Universe champ Teri
Mooney, another performance diva who showed big improvement in the balance
department. Hendershott was third, with Mooney, in fourth, earning the sliding
Olympia qualification.
The show attracted 31 competitors, most of them hoping to do what Mooney
did. Talent in the fitness rounds was, obviously, steep, despite the absence of
routine queen Ryan. As she had at the New York Pro, saucy Aussie Debbie
Czempinski did not let her status as an unknown keep her from getting the
judges’ attention. She won both routine rounds and finished sixth overall. AGF
took second in the long routines and won by a 21-point margin.
Boxers or
briefs?
It’s the
perfect
bodybuilder
showand-tell
question.
Oiled babes in high hee
ls and bikinis
working out. Sounds
like one of our
favorite Web sites. Lor
iana and
Michelle pump and pos
e.
The Amber
Head
Torque.
Jerry says
it will be
completely
worth
wearing a
neck brace
for.
Show of Strength
Fitness
1) Adela Garcia-Friedmansky
2) Kim Klein
3) Jen Hendershott
5) Julie Palmer
6) Debbie Czempinski
7) Anna Level
8) Tracey Greenwood
9) Jenny Hanke
10) Nicole Rollolazo
Czempinski
rocked in the
routines but finished out of the
magic circle. Oh,
well, the 2005
season will be
here before you
know it.
Manion
4) Teri Mooney
to solve camera
Bill and John try
ens
can you say, “L
,
ys
Gu
s.
lem
prob
?
p”
ca
PUMP & CiRCUMSTANCE
ERRORS AND OMISSIONS
PA S S I N G S
Was way more
dramatic
Incredibly sad news
Manion
After the October ’04 issue hit the streets, the P&C mailbox was hit with a note
from Canadian pro Martha Lombardo, who was mentioned in the item about
Sandra Wickham’s performance at the ’04 Canadians. It seems I was incorrect
about Lombardo’s taking forever to achieve pro status. While she had indeed
competed for 10 years, it didn’t
take her that long to earn her
Martha Lombardo, western Canada’s
wild woman of fitness.
card. In fact it was a quick ride to
pro-dom once the certified personal trainer and fitness instructor
from Calgary, Alberta, migrated to
the CBBF/IFBB from another
organization. “I switched over in
1998, and I won my pro card at
the Canadian Nationals in 2000,”
said Lombardo, who under her
married name, Martha Grant,
operates the Fit Over 30 Personal
Training studio
(www.fitover30.com). Out of competition due to injuries since earning her pro card, she’s focused on
business, establishing herself as
“an active leader in the health and
fitness industry.” With clients ranging from regular gals to competitive fitness athletes, Lombardo, who not coincidentally is over 30, offers a full menu of services and seminars, including
one-on-one personal training and women’s fitness master classes and clinics.
Recently, she decided that it was time for the teacher to show she could get back
onstage with the best of them, this time, though, in the figure arena, and she’s
targeting 2005.
Good luck, Martha, and we’ll see you in a lineup soon. With at least one West
Coast pro figure shows on the ’05 schedule—the California State in Culver City—
there’s no reason not to do it.
Marianna Komlos
www.billdobbins.com \ www.billdobbins.net
The Pump Version
SHOWS
That’s Ms. Fitness
To you
States. Allyson Newman and
Tiffany Yee took the second and third
spots, respectively.
Avellina took ninth at the international competition, which was won by Else
Lautala of Finland, with second place
going to Viktoriya Stepanova of
Ukraine and the USA’s Sara Harding
landing in third.
To find the Ms. FItness competitions
on TV, go to www.msfitness.com.
Photos © Matt Shepley 2004 theOCBwebsite.com
Nicole
Avellina.
Else
Lautala.
The grandmother of all fitness organizations, the IFSB, held its ’05 Ms.
Fitness USA and Ms. Fitness World
festivities in Las Vegas on September
10–11. Nicole Avellina of New York
was the big winner at the USA, which
attracted 42 athletes from around the
On September 26 the world of
women’s physique was rocked by the
tragic death of former Canadian competitor Marianna Komlos, who lost a long
battle to breast cancer. The 35-year-old
Komlos, who grew up in a small town in
British Columbia, competed in several
shows in western Canada before coming
to the U.S. in 1997 for the Women’s
Extravaganza, where she won her class.
After that she left competition for other
pursuits, including a stint in the WWF
assaying the role of Mrs. Cleavage.
Komlos was divorced and was the
mother of a 17-year-old daughter, Amanda. Her cancer, which went undetected
until 2002, even after her sister was
diagnosed with the disease in 2000, led
to multiple surgeries, but Komlos remained an indomitable spirit throughout
her ordeal, according to reports. In an
interview published in the online magazine Iron Life in September 2003, when
the disease was in remission, Komlos
talked of how she was training to be a
boxer and joked about her situation. “I
get so gung ho with things and realize I
don’t wear a cape,” she said, laughing.
Regarding the reconstructive surgeries
she’d undergone, she said, “Who would
have guessed that Mrs. Cleavage would
get breast cancer and lose them? There’s
an irony there.”
IM’s deepest condolences go to Komlos’ family and friends.
Pre-Olympia
musings
Neveux \ Model: Rebecca Ryan
Recently, I heard the
eyebrow-raising rumor
that Muscle Elegance,
the magazine published
by pro bodybuilder
Denise Masino and her
husband, Robert, would
be softening its very
particular approach to
the celebration of the
muscular female form.
That would be an interesting development and
significant, too, if it’s
true, since the hardcore photos in M.E. of
many faces familiar to
fans of competitive
women’s bodybuilding
are not of the training
variety. Could it be part
One person’s art is another’s
of a trend? Last year
XXX-rated worst nightmare.
this magazine made a
Some folks might think that this
shot crosses the line. Of course, conscious effort to turn
we at IM don’t.
down the steam valve a
notch on photos of fit
females featured—a marketing as well as a philosophical
decision for my bosses—but we weren’t exactly in the
same market as M.E. Cynic that I am, I find it difficult to
believe that the market for triple-X photos of buff babes is
dwindling. Maybe it’s just more cost-effective to do it on
the Internet. Maybe it’s only a rumor.
Making a note to ask Denise about it at the Olympia, I
can’t help putting that thought together with a recent
observation: A lot of women bodybuilders are royally
pissed at the ladies who pose for those sorts of pictures.
Not just posing buff nekid, but the so-called private
wrestling sessions and all the other dark-underbelly-ofwomen’s-bodybuilding stuff we don’t usually get into
here. It’s a very gray area, since everyone draws the
proverbial line at a different place. Still, the pissed-off
ladies don’t like it when people inevitably assume that
they, too, are “that kind of girl.” It’s an age-old debate:
How can we ask people to respect what we do when we
act like ho’s? vs. How else can we make a living? vs. You
wanna make something of it?
I tend to take a live-and-let-live attitude about these
things (if the little dears really need that sort of stimulation, who are we to deny them?), although I do find it
disconcerting when the subject of the photos is someone I
know. Maybe it’s just a symptom of getting older, but I like
it that all the women are making their points of view
known. Listen, and you can hear them. On the Web bulletin
boards, in chat rooms, in interviews with retiring champions. Since pro women’s bodybuilding is not likely to
become a quit-your-day-job proposition anytime soon—
and since nobody ever went broke pandering to man’s
basest nature (okay, well, somebody probably did)—the
issue is likely to be with us for some time. Keep your eyes
peeled.
Exclusive!
Fox gets life—without weights
by Teagan Clive
Which fate is worse for a
bodybuilding champion: spending
the rest of your life in a wretched
prison on a remote island and
watching your muscles shrink, or
hanging by the neck until you’re
dead? For former Mr. Universe
Bertil Fox, only time will tell.
Convicted in 1998 of murdering
his girlfriend and her mother on
the Caribbean island of St. Kitts,
Fox was sentenced to be
hanged. But recently, just as the
gallows were being groomed for
what was expected to be a dramatic execution, the British Privy There’s not enough iron in
Council, which serves as the
Bertil’s prison diet.
island’s high court, came to Fox’s
rescue and reduced his punishment to two consecutive life sentences. “That means if he dies, he’ll have to come back and serve
another life sentence,” joked Franklin Dorsett, superintendent
of Her Majesty’s Royal Prison, where Fox has been housed since
the day in 1997 he pulled a gun from his fanny pack and shot the
two women in a jealous rage.
Explained Dorsett, “Kill, and be killed; that’s our law.” Obviously, laws change,
And so do reputations. One of the island nation’s most prominent personalities, Fox did endorsements, owned a 5,000 squarefoot gym, had numerous training articles written about him and
competed in several Olympias. Today, however, he’s regarded as
the island’s “Arnold-turned-O.J.,” an embarrassment to a country struggling to attract tourists to its uncrowded shores. And his
behavior in prison is doing little to redeem his reputation. “Fox is
so fussy,” remarked Dorsett. “He complains about everything.
Absolutely everything.” Dorsett agrees that a weight set would
probably bring cheer to the grumpy former champion, “but we
just don’t have the money to get one.”
Editor’s note: Teagan Clive attended both of Fox’s murder
trials for Sports Illustrated. You can contact her at
[email protected].
Teagan Clive
Lower f-stop?
TESTOSTERONE CORNER
Yaz-TV
Speaking of
accomplished women
All’s well in the nation’s capital, at least for
talented trainer Yaz Boyum, who reports
she’s made the small screen in a big way:
her own TV exercise show, “Yaz Fit,” which
airs on Montgomery County (Maryland)
cable Channel 16. “It’s great exposure and
experience,” says the petite-but-powerful
Boyum, whose last trip to the posing platform took place at the ’03 Ms. International. “I’ve pretty much kept
up my muscle mass but toned it down a bit for television.
“Life is good,” says Yaz, who earned her broadcast stripes with a
2 1/2-year stint answering fitness questions on another station in the
Washington, D.C., area. Not only can she be found weeknights at 8
p.m. on Channel 16, but Men’s Journal recently featured her in an
article on the nation’s top trainers.
If anyone can motivate those sluggards in the nation’s capital. it’s
Ms. Yaz.
Silverman
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK
PUMP & CiRCUMSTANCE
MORE MUSINGS
Any Excuse at All
At the
’88 O.
Balik
Neveux
The
online
posters
were
major
Cory
fans, but
the shot
was not
from the
Ms. O
years.
To run pictures of Cory
Trolling the bodybuilding and fitness bulletin
boards for what people are talking about, the
inquisitive reporter often encounters incorrect
information and uninformed opinions being
bandied about. Sometimes the urge to set the
record straight is just too great. So…
To the person who stated, based on a
particular photo of Cory Everson that had
been posted, “Cory couldn’t compete with
the fitness/figure girls today”:
Dude, no way! That awesome Mike
Neveux pic of Cory-the-fitness-celeb was
taken in 1994, five years after she hung up
her posing bikini. At the Ms. O she was awesome—ripped muscle on top of her unbelievable structure and megawatt stage presence.
She was the winner even though there were
women who had more muscle onstage. I
doubt that Juliette Bergmann, when she
won the Olympia in 2001–3, was more conditioned than Everson. Today’s figure top five,
fair as they are, are not dancing in the same
salsa line.
P. S .
HOT SHOTS
BY JERRY FREDRICK
Another #2
Neveux
closeup
rry take a
Lisa lets Je
rool, Jer.
trol that d
peek. Con
Looks like Mon
ica from
“Friends” has
been pumping
some iron. Oh,
that’s Debbie
from Gold’s. Ne
ver mind.
Neveux
Don’t be surprised if
Kim Klein did better
than you might have
thought at the O.
Neveux
We’re not sure
what exercise this
is, but if you need a
spot.…
Silverman
With a Bullett
To contact Lonnie Teper about
material possibly pertinent to
News & Views, write to 1613
Chelsea Road, #266, San
Marino, CA 91108; fax to (626)
289-7949; or send e-mail to
[email protected].
You can contact Ruth Silverman, fitness reporter and
Pump & Circumstance scribe,
in care of IRONMAN, 1701 Ives
Ave., Oxnard, CA 93033; or via
e-mail at [email protected].
You can contact Jerry
Fredrick, ace photographer for
Hot Shots and Hardcore
Training, in care of IRONMAN,
1701 Ives Ave., Oxnard, CA
93033; or via e-mail at
[email protected].
An A for
Athens
Weightlifting at the
Summer Olympics
Gets Stellar Marks
Report and photography by Randall J. Strossen, Ph.D.
An A for Athens
“Can’t do it…late…terrorists…gridlock.…” If you’d
listened to the critics,
you’d have thought the sky
was going to fall in on
Athens just about the time
the Olympic Games were
to begin. With so many
people skittish about what
might or might not happen, you just had to go for
it: Why not arrive in
Athens on Friday the 13th
and go to the opening ceremony, and if you’re still
in one piece at that point,
settle back and enjoy
some over-the-top
weightlifting?
The opening ceremony was
jammed, and since tickets were
going for about $1,000 apiece, you
can believe everyone who attended
really wanted to be there. And what a
show it was—tremendous pageantry
choreographing pieces of ancient
Greek history with modern themes.
The whole thing was capped off with
gallant speeches and the parade of
nations, which left even the well
traveled wondering just where some
of those countries really were, making their participation in the
Olympics even more meaningful.
And, of course, there was the signature moment when the Olympic
flame was lit.
The world had come to Athens to
see the essence of athletic competition—faster, higher, stronger. And
the province of strength is weightlifting. That’s all it’s called in the
Olympics, even if in the United
States most people refer to “Olympic
lifting” or “Olympic-style weightlifting.” Whatever you call it, the sport
involves two lifts: the snatch and the
clean and jerk.
At left: Taner Sagir (Turkey), on the
way back up with a 172.5-kilogram
snatch (about 380 pounds), was
absolutely riveting in his intensity.
The teenager left Athens with a pile
of records, not to mention an
Olympic gold medal.
The snatch isn’t everyone’s cup of tea because along with strength,
it requires balance, coordination, flexibility and speed. Here’s how
you do a snatch: Pull the barbell off the ground to about chest height
and then race to squat under it while catching it overhead on outstretched arms. Try that with a broomstick or an empty bar and then
consider that in the Olympics, the top men who weigh about 200
pounds, will snatch more than 400 pounds. Even the women in the
lightest bodyweight class, 48 kilograms (about 106 pounds) snatch
more than 200 pounds.
The clean and jerk is a two-part lift: First you pull the bar to about
waist height, then race to squat under it so you can catch it across
your chest—in a front squat position—before standing up. That’s the
clean. Next comes the jerk: You dip a few inches and then drive the
bar up so you can split or squat under it to catch the bar overhead on
outstretched arms. The clean and jerk is called the king of the lifts,
and a lot of experts would say that if you want to see how strong
someone really is, look at what he or she can lift from the ground to
arm’s length overhead, which is what the clean and jerk is all about.
Here’s some more quick background on the sport of weightlifting:
Everything is measured in kilos, not pounds, but the conversions are
included here in case you’re not kilo conversant. The women have
seven bodyweight categories, starting at 48 kilograms and going up to
75 kilograms (165 pounds) or more. The men have eight bodyweight
classes, ranging from 52 kilograms (114 pounds) to the superheavyweights, who weigh at least 105 kilograms (about 231 pounds). Each
lifter gets three attempts in the snatch and three attempts in the clean
and jerk. Add the lifter’s best snatch to his or her best clean and jerk
to get a total, and that’s how Olympic medals are decided. In case of a
tie, the medal goes to the lighter lifter.
Just as dynamite comes in small packages, the lightest lifters in
both the men’s and women’s categories provided plenty of excitement
in Athens.
Ladies first: Weighing in at 47.21 kilograms (about 104 pounds),
Nurcan Taylan of Turkey got well on her way to her gold-medal performance
when she
Halil Mutlu (Turkey) earned
snatched 95
his third Olympic gold
kilograms
medal. This shot caught
(about 209
the top of his pull on
pounds) on
his third snatch attempt
her second
(140 kilograms, or
attempt—it
about 308 pounds).
was the first
time a woman
had ever
snatched
double bodyweight, a
staggering
feat. (Many
people feel
you can’t
really call
yourself a
weightlifter,
as opposed to
someone who
lifts weights,
until you can
snatch at least
bodyweight.
Once you try
to do it, you’ll
An A for Athens
Weightlifting at the Summer Olympics
George Asanidze
(Georgia) has lost
a lot of lifts because of his right
arm, but not this
one: The 205kilogram clean and
jerk (about 451
pounds) proved to
be the gold medal
lift.
see why it’s a watershed weight.)
But wait: she came back to hit 97.5
kilograms (about 215 pounds) on
her third attempt.
Not content to let his diminutive
countrywoman be the only Turk to
enjoy the spotlight, Halil Mutlu
opened the men’s competition by
bringing home his third consecutive
Olympic gold medal, a performance
level that puts Mutlu in the highest
echelon of weightlifters, even if he is
barely 4 1/2 feet tall. Mutlu buried
any threat posed by Wu Meijin of
China when he snatched 135 kilograms (about 297 pounds) on his
second attempt and went on to take
an unsuccessful shot at 140 kilograms (about 308 pounds) on his
third attempt. Wu packs a huge
clean and jerk, but when he finished the snatches with 130 kilograms (about 286 pounds), Mutlu
would have had to take a major
stumble in the clean and jerk to
finish in less than gold-medal position.
Mutlu opened with a 160-kilogram (about 352 pounds) clean and
jerk, which put him in the lead. Wu,
who’d opened with a
category. A lot of guys this size
good 157.5 kilowould consider themselves strong if
grams (about 347
they could do an honest squat with
pounds), took 165
what these lifters snatch or deadlift
kilograms (about
what they clean and jerk.
363 pounds) on his
There were some great efforts, big
second attempt,
lifts, close battles and other hightrying to go ahead of
lights in this category, but the whole
Mutlu on bodystory boiled down to the one man
weight. He racked
still standing at the end: a Turkish
the bar but couldn’t
teenager named Taner Sagir, who
stand up with it.
looks like just an athletic guy in
Mutlu missed the
street clothes. When he got on a
jerk with the same
lifting platform, though, he turned
weight on his secinto a werewolf—spotting the juguond attempt, and
lar, going for it and roaring his satisnow things were
faction with a job well done when
really interesting
he demolished one huge weight
because Wu, who
after another: snatching 165, 170
had seemed out of
and 172.5 kilograms (about 363, 374
the gold-medal race,
and 380 pounds, respectively) withwas again in the
out a hitch. Can he clean and jerk
thick of things. Wu
too? How about 200 kilograms
repeated with the
(about 440 pounds) on his opener,
same weight on his
202.5 kilograms (about 446 pounds)
third attempt and
on his second attempt and no need
fought his way up,
to do anything but sit back at that
but he missed the
point because, besides the Olympic
jerk.
gold medal, he had set five junior
At that point
world records and four Olympic
Mutlu had the gold
records and was merely one kilo
medal, but rather
below the senior world record in the
than rest on his
snatch and 2 1/2 kilos below the
laurels, he called for 168.5
senior world record in the clean and
kilograms (about 371 pounds) in a
jerk.
world-record bid. He got under the
At the 1992 Olympics a weightbar but couldn’t stand up. No matlifter from Albania won a gold
ter, though, because this guy is
pure gold in
weightlifting and is
treated as such in
his country.
Fast forward now
to the men’s 77kilogram class
(about 170 pounds),
traditionally one of
the most competitive classes in
weightlifting. These
guys might not be
With the bar
huge, but the
momentarily
weights they lift are:
suspended in
You have to be able
space, Pyrros
to snatch at least
Dimas (Greece)
170 kilograms
races to pull
(about 374 pounds)
himself under it on
and clean and jerk
his final attempt
more than 200
in the clean and
kilograms (about
jerk (207.5 kilo440 pounds) to be
grams, or about
world class in the
457 pounds).
medal, on bodyweight, for his newly
adopted country, Greece. Most of us
who frequent the top international
weightlifting contests had never
heard of him, but that victory ended
the anonymity of Pyrros Dimas, who
has gone on to become a superstar
of magnificent proportions in
Greece. Dimas won his second
Olympic gold medal in Atlanta and a
third in Sydney. Each was an
astounding, peerless performance,
in perfect harmony with a mind-set
so positive and strong that he
seemed to generate a force field
around him and could make other
lifters wilt by his mere presence.
Dimas was going for the impossible, a fourth Olympic gold medal,
and many were hoping for that storybook ending. He snatched 170
kilograms (about 374 pounds) on his
opening attempt, and all could see
that it was a limit lift, without an
added eyelash to spare. Dimas took
175 kilograms (about 385 pounds)
on his second attempt, and we knew
he couldn’t possibly lift it. We were
right. Then, on his
third attempt, he
proved us wrong,
Gold medalist
somehow making
Nurcan Taylan
a weight five kilo(Turkey) became
grams (about 11
the first woman
pounds) over what
in history to
we had seen as his
snatch double
absolute limit.
bodyweight when
Miracles are
she hit this 95possible, and
kilogram snatch
another miracle
(about 209
was unfolding in
pounds).
this class as
George Asanidze
(Republic of Georgia) snatched
172.5 kilograms
(about 380
pounds) and 177.5
kilograms (about
391 pounds) beboy, and it’s never fully straightened
fore missing 180 kilograms (about
out. When you watch him lift, it’s
396 pounds) on his third attempt.
apparent what a handicap that is:
Asanidze broke his right arm as a
Weightlifting at the Summer Olympics
ing into the competition),
the weight and held it overhead with
was holding on to the silverthe joy of a young child entertaining
medal position, which is
himself and his family by holding a
where he ended up, a notch
favorite toy aloft.
above Dimas’ bronze.
What a magnificent job the Athens
The medal ceremony for
Organizing Committee did, producthis class was something for
ing a shining success where many
the ages. Pyrros Dimas rehad predicted disaster—a fabulous
ceived a send-off ovation
setting for a weightlifting competisuch as was never before
tion so special that if it came around
seen in sports—any sport,
more than once every four years,
Hossein
ever. The deafening applause
we’d be reduced to complete numbRezazadeh (Iran)
nailed this 210went on and on and on, as
ness. See you in Beijing in 2008.
kilogram snatch
their hero was thanked and
Editor’s note: Randall J.
(about 462
saluted by the Greek fans
Strossen, Ph.D., is the founder and
pounds), his
who’d packed themselves
president of IronMind Enterprises
second Olympic
into the weightlifting hall.
Inc., a name synonymous with
gold medal and
They cheered, it seemed,
strength around the world. Strossen
the right to call
eternally.
is the author of the books Super
himself the
Fast forward again to the
Squats: How to Gain 30 Pounds of
strongest man
men’s superheavyweight
Muscle in 6 Weeks, Paul Anderson:
in the world.
class, where the kings of the
The Mightiest Minister, and Ironjungle roam. Traditionally,
Mind: Stronger Minds, Stronger Bodthe man who wins the 100ies, as well as the co-author (along
meter dash in the Olympics is
with Joe Kinney and Nathan Holle)
considered the world’s fastest
of Captains of Crush Grippers: What
human, and the man who
They Are and How to Close Them,
wins the superheavyweight
and he is the publisher of the quargold medal in weightlifting is
terly publication MILO: A Journal for
considered the world’s
Serious Strength Athletes. If you are
strongest human.
interested in strength or want to get
Hossein Rezazadeh of Iran
stronger, visit the IronMind Web site
dominates this class, and, in
at www.ironmind.com, or call (530)
a situation reminiscent of
265-6725 for a free catalog of the
Paul Anderson’s arrival at the
leading products for serious strength
The bar always appears to be tilting
1956 Olympics, awarding the gold
athletes. IM
precariously downward and to his
medal seemed to be a mere
right, and his ability to support huge
formality: Rezazadeh, the
weights overhead typically comes
2000 Olympic champion,
down to whether his right arm buckholds all three world
les under the strain.
records in this class.
In the clean and jerk, Dimas and
Not disappointing anyAsanidze both made 202.5 kilograms one, Rezazadeh walked
(about 446 pounds) on their openthrough his snatches—
ers, and then while Dimas pulled
hitting 200, 207.5 and 210
only 205 kilograms (about 451
kilograms (about 440, 457
pounds) on his second attempt,
and 462 pounds, respectiveAsanidze made a good lift with the
ly)—before opening with
weight that would end up giving him 250 kilograms (about 550
the gold medal. Dimas took 207.5
pounds) in the clean and
kilograms (about 457 pounds) on his
jerk. With the gold medal
Just how
third attempt, going for the gold, but
won and everyone else
close was Wu
missed the jerk and then quietly
done, Rezazadeh called for
Meijin (China)
took off his shoes and put them by
263.5 kilograms (about 580
to making his
the side of the platform, signifying
pounds) on his second
165-kilogram
his retirement. The crowd went
attempt, to break his own
(about 363
absolutely nuts, in a prelude to what
world record, but he had to
pounds) jerk?
happened during the medal ceremo- dump the bar off his shoulThis close.
ny.
ders as he stood up with it.
Throughout these battles, Andrei
It looked light but was out
Rybakou (Belarus), who had lifted
of position. Coming back to
earlier in the day in the B session (for the same weight on his third
the lifters who had lower totals comattempt, Rezazadeh nailed
Heavy
Mike MentzerÕs
Heavy Duty Seminar, Part 3
ere are more excerpts from Mike
MentzerÕs electrifying Canadian seminar,
given in November 1981, a year after
the infamous Õ80 Mr. Olympia contest in
Sydney, Australia.
Mike Mentzer: [Writes on chalkboard] We talked about calories; a lot of
bodybuilders are preoccupied with protein. ÒHow
much extra protein will we need to grow 10 pounds
of muscle per year?Ó Earlier, we said we needed
approximately 16 extra calories a day to grow 10
pounds of muscle a year. And that muscle tissue is
composed of approximately 25 percent proteinÑ
actually 22 percent, but for the sake of argument letÕs
say 25 percent. So out of those 16 calories, about
four should be protein.
Now, it just so happens that one gram of protein
contains four calories. So to grow 10 pounds of muscle
a year, we need to consume one gram of protein beyond maintenance need every day. And yet how many
of us eat hundreds and hundreds of grams of protein a
day, thinking we need all that protein to grow muscle
at a faster rate? WeÕve been so brainwashed into believing it. I know a man, a reasonably intelligent man,
who, if he doesnÕt have his hourly protein drink, believes his bench press will go down 50 pounds. And it
doesÑbecause he believes it. ItÕs the placebo effectÑ
the power of suggestion. Or the power of deception.
Neveux \ Model: Markus Reinhardt
¥ by John Little ¥
HEAVY DUTY Ð Part 3
Balik
Mike considered
himself a student of
bodybuilding science.
Audience member: Aren’t
certain foods more growth-promoting than others?
Mike Mentzer: No. They’re all
broken down into the same essential elements: amino acids, glucose,
fatty acids, etc. It doesn’t matter. In
order to be used by the human
body, they’re all broken down into
exactly the same thing.
Audience member: I recently
bought a box of unflavored gelatin,
and it said it was 85 percent protein. Would that be a viable source
of protein?
Mike Mentzer: I think that gelatin is considered an incomplete
protein, in that it doesn’t contain all
eight essential amino acids. If
you’re eating a normal diet otherwise, you could probably get the
rest of the amino acids to complement those and make it a complete
protein, But I wouldn’t eat just
gelatin for protein.
Audience member: What’s
your own maintenance level? What
happens when you do your highintensity-workout thing—how
much more do you have to take in?
Mike Mentzer: Well, high-intensity training—or any kind of
weight training—actually doesn’t
burn that many calories. And the
calories that it does burn are sugar
calories. The worst way to train for
definition—which is a misnomer in
itself—is to lift weights because
weight training has to use sugar as
fuel. It doesn’t matter how you
train—Mike Mentzer’s way or
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s way or
Larry Scott’s way or Robert
Kennedy’s way. Any kind of weight
training is considered a high-intensity activity, and all high-intensity
activities depend entirely on glucose as fuel. I think weight training
is fueled 90 percent by glucose,
whereas aerobic activities use up to
90 percent fat as fuel. So, if you’re
trying to lose weight—or lose fat to
get cut up—weight training is the
worst way to do it.
If you’re looking to get cut up, use
high-intensity weight training—
very brief periods of weight training—to maintain your muscle mass
and spend as much of the rest of
the time as you have doing aerobic
activities to burn fat. That’s not an
opinion; it’s a fact. It could be
backed up by any exercise physiologist, medical doctor, Mike Mentzer.
Audience member: Do you
include aerobic activity when
you’re training for mass?
Mike Mentzer: No. I use aerobics occasionally, just to maintain
cardiovascular fitness. But before a
contest I use a lot of aerobics.
Audience member: Do you
find you get a cardiovascular effect
from your high-intensity training?
Mike Mentzer: Not really. When
you’re doing high-intensity training, you’re training specifically for
muscular mass. You can train specifically for muscular mass or train
specifically for cardiovascular increases—this is where the phrase
“specificity of training” comes in. If
you want to train specifically for
cardiovascular fitness, then you’ve
got to do highly repetitive, low-intensity exercise. High-intensity
training does not build the kind of
cardiovascular fitness that low-intensity training does. You’ve got to
train with low intensity, doing highly repetitive activities like jogging,
bicycling and so forth. So, when you
do high-intensity training, you
develop a certain amount—as opposed to not doing any kind of
activity—but it’s not on the order of
real aerobic training.
You can divide specificity and
train a little bit for building size and
mass and a little bit for cardiovascular, but you won’t improve as rapidly as if you trained specifically for
one or the other. In other words,
you have a certain amount of adaptive ability. You can put it 100 percent toward developing mass or 100
percent toward developing cardiovascular fitness, or you can divide it
in half, but you won’t improve as
rapidly in either area by doing it
“All highintensity
activities
depend
entirely on
glucose as
fuel. Weight
training is
fueled 90
percent by
glucose.”
that way. If you want to develop
If, in fact, your daily maintenance
muscles as fast as you can, then
need of calories is 3,000, then 60
train specifically for size and mass;
percent, or 1,800, should be carboif you want to develop cardiovascuhydrate. That’s quite a bit of carbolar fitness as fast as you can, train
hydrate.
specifically for that.
You will find those quacks and
Okay, what’s the best way to eat
faddists who say eat the majority of
to build muscular mass? Or to build
your calories from protein. In most
a large, muscular body? Simply eat
instances those people also sell
a well-balanced diet. Actually, the
protein. They have a vested interest
most important aspect of eating a
in distorting nutritional reality.
well-balanced diet is that it mainCarbohydrates, next to water, are
tains health. This is something
by far the most important nutrimost of us learned in, I don’t know,
tional element anybody—not just a
eighth-grade biology or 12th-grade
bodybuilder, but anybody—can
health. And it’s something we often
consume. The most important reaforget—that the first requisite for
son being: Our nervous systems,
building a strong, healthy body is
our brains, our spinal chords,
maintaining health—and
our peripheral
the best way to mainnerves derive
tain health is to eat a
99.9 percent of
well-balanced diet.
their nutriAccording to
tion from
the United States
the one
Senate Subcomthing we’ve
mittee on Nutribeen taught
tion and all of
is the worst
your reputable
thing we could
nutritional scieneat—sugar, [or] glutists and physical
cose. It’s the most imporeducators, a welltant thing you could
balanced diet is one
eat—pure, simple sugar.
that is composed of 60 perYour brain derives almost
The brain
cent carbohydrates, 25 per100 percent of its nutrition
cent protein and 15 percent derives most
from sugar. How many in
fats. That means that if your of its energy to here have been on a lowfunction
daily maintenance need of
carbohydrate diet before?
calories is 3,000, 60 percent
efficiently from What’s one of the first
of them should be from
the glucose in things you notice on a lowcarbohydrates, 25 percent
carb diet?
carbs.
protein and 15 percent fats.
Audience member:
Weak.
Audience member: Tired.
Audience member: Tense.
Audience member: Edgy.
Mike Mentzer: Edgy. What else?
Audience member: Can’t seem
to think right.
Mike Mentzer: Can’t seem to
think right. Short-term memory is
impaired; concentration is
impaired; you start dreaming about
chocolate instead of sex [audience
laughs]. It’s the first requisite; you
can’t have sex without carbohydrate—think about it that way!
[Audience laughs] What are these
signals? These signals are your
nervous system sending out for the
one thing it needs most—sugar. If
you’ve ever been around a bodybuilder who has been on a low-carb
diet for four to six weeks, you’ll see
that it also impairs personality. Your
personality’s a function of your
nervous system, and if your nervous system is not getting the fuel it
needs from carbohydrates, your
personality’s going to become deranged—and I mean deranged. I’ve
seen bodybuilders do weird things.
And I often wonder if the weird
things that bodybuilders do aren’t
the result of being on low-carbohydrate diets for too long.
Anybody who’s been in and
around bodybuilding for a long
time, behind the scenes, knows a
lot of bodybuilders are crazy. They
do strange things—and I think it’s
because of the low-carbohydrate
diet; it affects your thinking processes, it affects your personality.
Low blood sugar will definitely
cause an erratic personality. I
mean, it’s in all of the medical journals.
Audience member: What
about simple and complex carbohydrates?
Mike Mentzer: There is no such
thing. A carbohydrate is a carbohydrate. There’s “simple” and “complex” foods or “refined” and
“unrefined.” By the time it gets into
your bloodstream, the carbohydrate
has to be in the form of glucose. It
makes no difference at all whether
it’s from a candy bar, an apple, a
baked potato—it has to be in the
form of glucose for your brain to use
it. What’s “refined” or “unrefined” is
the food it’s contained in; the carbo-
hydrate is the same.
But I know what you’re talking
about; it’s not good to eat too many
refined, or simple, sugars, because
they get into your bloodstream too
fast and cause all kinds of problems. Get your carbohydrates from
as many natural sources as possible, but, if you have a hankering to
eat an occasional candy bar, don’t
think the world’s going to stop
revolving. It’s not going to hurt you.
The reason nutritional experts
advocate that you get your carbohydrates from fruits and vegetables
is because those things also lend
themselves to a well-balanced diet;
they contain vitamins and minerals
and other things that are found in a
well-balanced diet.
And that’s another good point—
how do you get a well-balanced
diet? Very simple: If there’s one
issue in bodybuilding that’s been
confused, it’s this whole thing
about nutrition. Nutrition is really
Excessive
cardio will
deplete your
ability to build
muscle.
so simple; a simple, well-balanced
diet is really nothing but the four
basic food groups. This may seem
simplistic, but it’s the truth of the
matter. Fruits and vegetables, cereals and grains, dairy products and
meat—if you get two portions every
day of each one of them, you will be
getting a well-balanced diet. Even
simpler, I often say, “Eat a little bit
of everything but not too much of
anything,” and you’ll be getting a
well-balanced diet.
Bodybuilding is really very simple: Eat an adequate, well-balanced
diet, train as hard as you can—and
pray occasionally—and you will,
perhaps some day, be a Mr.
Olympia—if you kiss the right ass
[audience laughs].
Editor’s note: For a complete
presentation of Mike Mentzer’s
Heavy Duty training system, consult his books Heavy Duty II and
High Intensity Training the Mike
Mentzer Way, available through the
ad on page 217 of this issue, from
Home Gym Warehouse, (800) 4470008, or by visiting Mentzer’s official Web site,
www.mikementzer.com.
John Little is available for phone
consultation on Mike Mentzer’s
Heavy Duty training system. For
rates and information, contact
Joanne Sharkey at (310) 316-4519 or
at www.mikementzer.com, or see
the ad listed above.
Article copyright © 2004, John
Little. All rights reserved. Mike
Mentzer quotations that appear in
this series provided courtesy of
Joanne Sharkey, © 2004 and used
with permission. IM
IRONMIND
Mind
Self-Canceling Combinations
“I
want to get huge, shredded, strong—I want it all.” It’s
a familiar refrain, and it would seem that with a little
creativity and a lot of effort it’s possible to pull it off. As
you know, however, appearances can be deceiving. As
much as you might like to believe you can have everything,
you can’t. In fact, the best way to get nowhere is to try to get
everywhere at once.
It’s easy to see how you can be led down the path to the
everywhere/nowhere syndrome: Every day images of everything from pro bodybuilding victories to Olympic gold medals
are around to tantalize you. One moment you may be captivated by someone’s winning the World’s Strongest Man
competition, and the next you may be thinking triathlons.
Left, right, up, down: Add them all up and you land just
where you started. That’s the problem with trying to combine
too many things or, more important, things that work in
opposition to each other. It’s those self-canceling combinations that can really block your progress.
Let’s oversimplify things just to illustrate a point. To get
bigger, you need to take in more calories than you burn; to
get leaner, you need to take in fewer calories than you burn.
Thus, when you simultaneously want to get bigger and
leaner, you should eat more calories than you need and eat
fewer calories than you need. That’s a classic self-canceling
combination—whatever you do in one direction is offset by
what you do in the opposite direction. It certainly is possible
to simultaneously increase muscle mass and
decrease fat, but the fact is that some goals are
easier to combine than others, and some goals
are mutually exclusive. It’s the mutually exclusive
goals that you need to learn to manage, not just
for your physical progress but also for your peace
of mind.
At the heart of these conflicting goals is the
unwillingness to make choices—after all, if a
game-show host lets you choose only one of
three possible doors, your decision automatically
requires you to give up the other two. In real life,
with nobody enforcing rules like that, you want to
try to open all three doors—at once, no less. Part
of the problem is just knowing, or not knowing,
what you want most. You can argue that one of
the best ways to figure out the answer to that
question is to give things a try, to see how they
work for you.
The first thing to realize is that no choice is
going to be perfect, and as long as whatever you
choose isn’t lethal, you can probably correct your
course if you want to. Most people stumble in the
first part of the process because it’s too easy to
get fooled when we consider things like potential
goals. Research psychologists talk about “focusing illusion” when people make judgments. You
may focus on something that’s actually inconsequential, or you may exaggerate how much
Body
title. Sometimes you can come pretty close to having it all, but
something will change your life. For example, you may think
only if you pay attention to the timing: Bruce Randall ended up
that if you can add five inches of muscle to your upper arm,
going to some very different places, making his mark in each,
your whole life will change for the better, but what you may
but he did so in a very organized manner, taking the journey
find is that having a bigger upper arm means just that: Your
one step at a time.
arm is several inches bigger than it used to be. You don’t get
In a world that has a lot of compelling choices, sometimes
smarter, better looking, more merciful or anything else that’s
it’s hard to pick one while giving up another. The way out, you
good in the process—your arm just gets bigger. You can
think, is to mix a little of this with a little of that—a reasonable
imagine the cold showers awaiting all the commercially ambiapproach, as long as you avoid self-canceling combinations.
tious Olympic gold medalists who don’t end up on a Wheaties
—Randall Strossen, Ph.D.
box or with a Coke contract.
The point is not to denigrate your goal but to make picking
Editor’s note: Randall Strossen, Ph.D., edits the quarterly
your goal easier and help you realize that nothing is perfect.
magazine MILO. He’s also the author of IronMind: Stronger
Whatever you give up isn’t likely to be the be-all and end-all
Minds, Stronger Bodies; Super Squats: How to Gain 30
any more than whatever you choose is. Once you realize that,
Pounds of Muscle in 6 Weeks and Paul Anderson: The Mightiyou can lighten up on yourself a little and use the breathing
est Minister. For more information call IronMind Enterprises
room to pick one goal or maybe a couple that go together.
Inc. at (530) 265-6725 or Home Gym Warehouse at (800) 447You may decide to train for size and strength, but simultane0008, ext. 1. Visit the IronMind Web site at www
ously trying to gain weight and run a faster marathon won’t
.ironmind.com.
work.
The next part of avoiding self-canceling combinations is to understand that timing really is everything. The example of trying to eat more and
less at the same time may sound idiotic, but a
surprising number of people actually try to do
it. You can, in fact, productively eat more and
less, but it’s a matter of timing.
ccording to the June 17, 2002, issue of
Back in the 1950s a young stalwart named
Newsweek, an owner of a berry farm in
Bruce Randall decided that he wanted to
Oregon remarked, “We almost never sold
become the strongest man in the world.
[black raspberries] to consumers. We used to sell
the bulk of them to processors to make purple
Bruce started off weighing about 200 pounds,
dye—the same dye used to stamp meat ‘USDA
and in the course of his run to the top his
Approved.’” Then a biologist from Ohio State
bodyweight went past 400. As you might
University published a study showing a 60 to 80
guess, Bruce ate a lot of food along the way,
percent reduction in colon tumors in rats fed high
and he used the same progressive techniques
amounts of black raspberries. Suddenly, the berry
at the table that most people reserve for the
farmer in Oregon was “barely able to keep up with
gym: Day by day he consciously ate an extra
the demand on his Web site.” The article went on
chop, drank an extra glass of milk and so
to state that “various kinds of berries may help prevent everything from
forth. By following that program, Bruce gained
cancer and heart disease to age-related brain decline.”
more than 200 pounds and got very strong in
More recently Prevention magazine (January 2004) stated that “bluethe process. After a while he decided that
berries contain an antioxidant that may help you beat a genetic disposibeing so huge wasn’t going to be a way of life
tion to Alzheimer’s disease, a new study from Tufts University has
for him. He changed everything around, profound.” Since there’s no cure for Alzheimer’s at this point, the possibility
gressively reducing the amount of food he ate,
of using diet to overcome a genetic predisposition to the disease is
and 32 weeks later found himself weighing
major news.
183 pounds. Later, Bruce went back up to
about 225 pounds and won the Mr. Universe
Berry Good Brain Booster
A
Bomber Blast
MIND/BODY
Breaking the Mold
h, no, Mister Dave. I don’t want to go to the gym and
get ripped, bombed and blasted. Oh, no, not another
rep! Not every workout has to be a knock-down-dragout battle. I’m all for blasting it and drawing blood, but sometimes it’s just plain good to go to the gym and roll around on
your back like a playful dog.
Neveux \ Model: Will Harris
O
On those curious days when the old mutt in me comes
yapping to the foreground, all paws and unrestrained, either
because I’m way ahead of the game and cool or so far behind
it’s inconsequential, I let myself go and follow my tail. The
results are always the same: a good time accompanied by
relief, learning and growth. Oddly, the workouts develop and
are as intense and unrelenting as the prescribed regimens;
that I don’t anticipate them, that they are spontaneous—the
real deal and not a repeat performance—gives the execution
of the movements freshness and the training a sense of adventure. How long has it been since you associated freshness
and adventure with your workouts?
I’m a proponent of sticking with a workout scheme for six
weeks to achieve the maximum results it can offer. Too little
time with one plan and you don’t dig in deeply enough to excavate its densest core. You don’t overload the muscles repetitively enough with might and discovery to send the
message to the brain that you need a more powerful cellular
structure, more pulsing muscle to accommodate the consistently applied workload. Still, a tail-wagging diversion is often
what’s necessary to put some bark in the routine and bite in
the workouts. Sit, stay, roll over, get huge...good doggie.
Some people talk about regularly surprising the muscles
All of your workouts don’t have to
be knock-down-drag-out affairs
with new routines. Cute. What’s this, a party for frolicking
muscles at the Pizza Hut? I believe you’ve got to relentlessly
pound size, density and shape into your muscular system,
throwing in well-placed intermittent shocks to detonate stubborn mass. That’s when muscle and might reconstruct.
There are those who suggest intense, slow repetitions for
maximum muscle growth, a technique bordering on isometrics and dynamic tension with a twist of language suggesting
it’s a cutting-edge fundamental. Iron imprisonment. Where has
the motion, rhythm and beat gone—the action, the excitement, the vital circulation of blood, oxygen and nutrients, the
revelry and enthusiastic expression? Put me under an Olympic
bar for 10 minutes while I do six reps—whatever—and I’ll
implode. Do it on a regular basis, and any aspiring muscle
builder will last three miserable days to three tortured weeks.
“Short workouts of 45 minutes, three times a week, are the
outer limits for maximum muscle and strength growth.”
That theory’s getting a lot of play from some wise guys who
fear the demons of catabolism and don’t really understand
why anybody would want to go to the gym to get huge or
ripped or strong and healthy. In 45 minutes a decent natural
bodybuilder sporting respectable muscle mass is just getting
warmed up and encouraged. You want time to fly? Throw the
clock out the window. Zoom! You want to grow? Take time to
do some serious saturating and penetrating and exploding.
Boom!
One workout a week per bodypart for beginning and advanced bodybuilders is a recent rule put forth by the big guys
who hang out on the corner near the Rexall drugstore. It
makes sense as long as you’re intertwining and blending and
overlapping exercises in such a brilliant way that every bodypart is receiving its necessary twice-weekly blessing and
bombing after all.
Don’t be stingy. Don’t be cowardly. Don’t be lazy. Don’t be
dumb. Be generous, and be wise. Be directed and committed. Use your common sense and train hard and efficiently,
with good order, crisp pace, absolute focus, keen intelligence
and zeal. Stop listening to the noisy voices out there that
confuse you with the latest ingredient, product, gadget,
methodology, scheme, scam or holistic adventure.
Look in the mirror and be that person you see, your best
friend. Give him or her credit for internal knowledge and understanding. Learn the basics in exercise and nutrition and
practice and apply them eagerly and with confidence. Now
you’re on your way, not their way. You’ll discover and grow
day by day under your own tutoring, care and attention.
The gym is a refuge and fueling station full of good folks
who just love to physically mingle and stimulate and break up
their day. It’s a place to coax the muscles and fill the lungs
and bloodstream with oxygen and goodness. Exercise is not
work; it’s a hearty, productive and freeing diversion, a onehour expression refreshing the spirit, renewing the body and
inspiring the mind.
The moments are yours, adored and priceless. Push that
iron, champion.
—Dave Draper
Web alert: For more from Dave Draper,
visit www.davedraper.com and sign up for
his free newsletter. You can also check out
his amazing Top Squat training tool, classic
photos, workout Q&A and forum.
New Stuff
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—the Editors
Mental Might
Childish Behavior
Can make you
happier and healthier
n article at the Ladies’ Home Journal Web site, “The Simple Secret to
Happiness,” by Susan Korones Gifford, contains some excellent, eyeopening advice on getting happier—and healthier. One key is reliving your
childhood experiences.
That works so well because it’s nostalgia for a time that was free of responsibility and full of discovery. According to Edward Hallowell, M.D., a psychiatrist in
Sudbury, Massachusetts, and author of The Childhood Roots of Adult Happiness (Ballantine, 2003), “Childhood was a time of firsts. Think back: You might
remember the first time you jumped off the high board at the pool; the sleepy
summer afternoons you spent mastering the art of gliding on your bike without
touching the handlebars; or the days at the ocean when your mother, as mine
did, held you in her arms as the incoming waves jostled you up and down.”
Reliving those experiences and behaving “childishly” is not only invigorating,
but it also reminds you how little you need to be happy. “Someone once said
happiness is not having what you want, it’s
wanting what you have,” Dr. Hallowell says.
“Kids are good at this. They can show us that
all you need is to be alive to find all kinds of
excitement.”
Oh, and happiness can lead to healthfulness.
A Duke University Medical Center study found,
after following heart patients for 11 years, that
those who had reported happiness, optimism
and joy were 20 percent more likely to be alive
than those who had frequently reported more
negative feelings. So, certainly, reintegrating joy
into your life can be good for your health.
All of that may explain why my father-in-law
looks so young at age 71—he has a ball with
my kids and his 21st-century whoopee cushion, a remote-control fart machine.
—Becky Holman
Neveux \ Model: Skip La Cour
A
Jacked Up
Preworkout Stretch
MIND/BODY
The energizer
tretches are the best way to warm up your muscle/tendon and joint/ligament structures and invigorate your body. As you do the following exercises, concentrate on stretching with slow, relaxed breathing. Never
bounce—that defeats your purpose. Focus on working against the resistance of
your bodyweight.
Hamstring stretches. You’ll feel this stretch in the back of your leg as well
as in your lower back. Place one foot on a chair at hip level. Then raise your
arms overhead and bend to your toes. Do 10 reps for each leg—deliberately!
Bent-leg raises. On a bench or on the floor, lie down with your head slightly raised. With knees bent, lift your legs as high as you can, pulling them to your
chest. You’ll feel a nice release of lower back tension. Do three sets of 15 reps.
Lying side leg raises. This stretch will loosen tension in your groin and hip
area. Lie on one side, supporting your weight with one elbow. Bend the lower
leg for balance and then lift your upper leg as straight and high as you can.
Lower it slowly without touching the floor. Do three sets of repetitions for each
side.
Arm and chest stretch. Extend your arms a door-width length apart, with
your hands against the sides of a doorway at shoulder height. Walk back a few
feet, and then bend your arms and feel your bodyweight drop forward toward
the doorway
with your
feet still secure. You’ll
feel a stretch
in your
chest. Push
your weight
back to the
starting position, hold,
take a few
deep
breaths, and
repeat for
three sets of
10 reps.
Now
you’re ready
to handle all
that big old
weight!
—Jack
LaLanne
S
Editor’s note: As of September 2004 Jack LaLanne
had lived 90 years, 75 of them steeped in innovative physical training. He was runner-up in the ’54 Mr. America contest and created the longest-running fitness show in
television history. He’s also famous for performing shackled
and handcuffed swimming feats to celebrate key birthdays.
Jack still works out two hours a day. For more information,
check out his Web site, www.jacklalanne.com.
Mass Media
MIND/BODY
Kickinger: The Oak’s on Him
Frank Zane acts as adviser on “See Arnold Run” TV movie
tion office
ast Novemcalled me
ber, Cypress
and left a
Point Promessage
ductions asked
that the
me to be a conalgebra
sultant for the
scene was
A&E movie “See
wrapping.
Arnold Run.” It’s
I’d wanted
about Arnold’s
to be there
campaign for
at the Pacifgovernor and his
ic Beach
bodybuilding
weight pen,
career in the mid
but no one
’70s. I met with
had called. I
the writer-proFrank Zane and Arnold, er
was on the
ducer, Matt Dorf,
um, Roland Kickinger.
set the next
and wrote out an
day, at a
algebra lesson I
little restaurant that resembles
taught Arnold back then. They had
Zucky’s in Santa Monica, where, in
hired Roland Kickinger to play
1974, Arnold often ate breakfast. It
Arnold as both the younger bodywas a scene between Arnold and
builder and older politician.
The producer wanted me to meet his girlfriend at the time, Barbara.
That afternoon I met Nick S. at the
with Roland, so he rode to San
Gold’s Gym the crew had constructDiego on his motorcycle, and we hit
ed in a little building on Voltaire
a leg workout. He liked the Leg
Blaster so much that he bought one. Street. I gave him a harmonica to
We talked about possible casting for practice the song I’d written, “The
Present,” which Paramount has
other characters—who would play
licensed from me for use in the film. I
Franco Columbu, me, Dave Draper,
Lou Ferrigno. I thought Flavio Bachi- met Chris Cook, who was playing
Draper, and hung around the gym
anini would make a good Franco
while several scenes were shot.
and Tom Pia (who was in great
The next evening was a beachshape) would be good for my part.
bonfire shoot on Dog Beach, a few
Both of those guys were close sechundred yards down the road from
onds. Instead, casting chose thickly
the gym, involving a dozen bodymuscled Mike Ergas for the Franco
builders, including “Arnold,” “Franpart and a lean Nick Stellate for my
co,” “Frank Zane” and girlfriends.
part. Both had acting experience.
The movie began shooting in San Arnold announced his plans to
become a movie star and a politician
Diego on July 26 and lasted five
weeks. I recommended either Pacif- and to become wealthy and famous
while I played the harmonica.
ic Beach or Ocean Beach in San
Next month I’ll have more on my
Diego for filming. They have old
experience with the Arnold movie.
charm and resemble Venice Beach
Coming up: the ’74 Mr. Olympia
in the early ’70s.
competition, in which I have a
After reading the script, I learned
cameo part as an IFBB announcer.
that my character is in five scenes:
—Frank Zane
1) on Venice Beach teaching Arnold
algebra (that helped him pass math
Editor’s note: The movie was
at Santa Monica City College in the
early ’70s); 2) at the ’74 Mr. Olympia set to air in January on the A&E
cable network. Check your local
contest at Madison Square Garden
listings. For information about Frank
with Arnold, Franco Columbu and
Zane’s goods and services log on to
Lou Ferrigno; 3) at a posing exhibiwww.frankzane.com. Check out the
tion at the Whitney Museum with
Leg Blaster and read the first five
Arnold; 4) watching a slide show of
Reg Park at Arnold’s apartment; and issues of Frank’s Building the Body
quarterly magazine.
5) in a beach bonfire scene.
Late one afternoon the producPhoto courtesy of Frank Zane
L
Serious Training
MIND/BODY
Laura Coleman
Photography by Jerry Fredrick
Location: Gold’s Gym, Venice, CA
Serious Stats
Weight: 133 Height: 5’7 1/2” Age: 21
Age began training: 13
Bodypart split:
Monday: back, chest, calves; Tuesday: abs,
cardio; Wednesday: shoulders, arms, calves;
Thursday: cardio; Friday: hamstrings, glutes,
quads, adductors, abductors, calves, lower
back, abs; Saturday: cardio
Sample workout (quads):
One-leg squats
4 x 20
Leg presses
4 x 20
Leg extensions
4 x 20
Factoid:
“I’m a marketing intern and a business student at an all-female Catholic college. I’m
also learning how to surf. As a little girl I had
an obsession with ‘Baywatch.’”
Jerry Brainum’s
Bodybuilding Pharmacology
Martin Mesomorph turned on his holoviewer and was
immediately face-to-face with President Arnold
Schwarzenegger, or at least a lifelike holographic image of
the president and erstwhile multi-Mr. Olympia winner.
Schwarzenegger was promising the people that he would
terminate the foreign interests who had used their hefty
oil-based cash flow to buy most of the real estate in the
United States. The former oil barons had to do something,
since their energy stranglehold on the world had ended
with the advent of hydrogen-powered vehicles. Martin
himself owned a hydrogen-powered Hummer.
While watching the news broadcast of President
Schwarzenegger’s speech, Martin looked at a reflection of
himself in a mirror across the room. He marveled at his
own physique, with his 23-inch arms and 22-inch, welldefined calves. At a height of 6’, Martin carried 325 pounds
of solid muscle, with a bodyfat level of a mere 5 percent.
Martin was in the midst of training for the International
Galaxy bodybuilding show, the premier professional bodybuilding contest. The Galaxy contest had superseded the
old Mr. Olympia event that Arnold had won so long ago.
Just a few years earlier Martin had been an average
competitor, hardly good enough to compete in a national
contest, much less an international professional event.
Even though he indulged in the gamut of available anabolic drugs, it seemed he didn’t have the genes to compete
with the big boys at the pro level.
Then Martin discovered gene doping. The first thing he
used was an injected form of the gene for insulinlike
growth factor-1 (IGF-1). Although the therapy had been
developed solely for use in treating muscle-wasting diseases, such as muscular dystrophy, athletes had jumped at
the chance to use gene therapy for athletic enhancement.
In fact, the last Olympic games said to be untainted by
gene doping was way back in 2004, at the Summer Games
in Athens. A short time later gene doping made its way into
sports.
Martin responded spectacularly to the IGF-1 gene therapy. His bodyweight rose from 240 pounds to more than 300,
and the gain was all muscle. He soon added other gene
therapies. One was a highly active cleavage product of IGF1 called mechano-growth factor. Although he wasn’t
blessed with great calf development, when Martin injected
Gene therapy has the
potential to make
physiques freakier than
ever—but at what cost?
Future
Shock
the MGF gene into his calves, they grew to
massive proportions overnight.
Dieting used to be difficult for Martin. Those low-carb plans made him
dream about ice cream and pizza
orgies. The days of hunger, however,
ended with the advent of the new fatburning drugs. One worked by inhibiting the gene for an enzyme
called acetyl coenzyme-A carboxylase, which synthesized another
chemical called malonyl-coenzyme A.
Now Martin burned fat 24 hours a day.
He was burning fat as he listened to
Arnold once again thank everyone for the grass-roots
campaign that had led to the constitutional amendment permitting him to run for president.
Martin’s reverie was broken by the sound of his
phone ringing. His doctor was calling. “Martin, your
tests came back, and I have some bad news for you.”
While the above scenario may seem farfetched,
most scientists who monitor the athletic-drug world
say that gene doping is just around the corner. Drug
use in sports has long been a cat-and-mouse game,
with many athletes seeking performance-boosting
substances that can’t be detected and sports authorities trying to keep pace by developing new
tests to find them. The great concerns about gene
doping are that there isn’t any known way to detect
it and that detection tests won’t be available for the foreseeable future—if ever.
Gene doping involves the insertion of artificial genes
into muscle cells.1 An inserted gene then produces RNA,
which dictates the synthesis of specific proteins by the
cell. At present the most familiar technique for manipulating genes involves a protein, myostatin. Discovered in
1997, myostatin inhibits muscle growth. Animals born
without genes that code for it usually show unprecedented muscular size, with a concomitant lack of bodyfat.
Scientists then tested how myostatin works—in animals—
by breeding special “knockout-gene” rats, in which the
genes that code for myostatin were knocked out. As expected, the rats showed muscles about two to three times
the size of normal rats.
The New England Journal of Medicine recently
described a five-year-old German boy who was born
without myostatin genes. His mother, a track athlete, has
only one gene for myostatin, which makes her look exceptionally muscular. But her son is something else. At the
tender age of five he already shows signs of unusual muscle mass and strength. In all other ways, however, he appears completely normal. Is he a future Mr. Olympia or
some other world-class athlete?
To answer that question, consider how myostatin
Q. How does
a growling
muscle
mouse get
exercise?
A. Any way
he wants.
In one study done with mice the IGF-1 gene
therapy worked perfectly, with the treated mice
experiencing gains in muscle size that amounted to hypertrophy two to three times normal.
Injecting the gene for mechano-growth factor,
which is a derived form of IGF-1, made the
mice double their muscle size in only three
weeks.
works. Special stem
cells called satellite cells are normally recruited after muscle injury (including that induced by
exercise) and contribute nuclei that result in the thickening of existing muscle cells by adding a buffer to them. We
recognize this as added muscle size. The satellite cells are
stimulated primarily by locally produced—that is, produced in the muscle itself—insulinlike growth factor 1
(IGF-1). Myostatin works by blocking satellite-cell function, and that inhibits muscle growth. Get rid of the myostatin, and you get rid of the impediment to muscle
growth.
Some scientists think that the supply of satellite cells is
finite. Indeed, one reason for the weakness and loss of
muscle that accompanies aging is that the body somehow
loses the ability to adequately recruit satellite cells for
muscle recovery. One scientist has suggested that since
the German child produces no myostatin, he may exhaust
all his satellite cells by about age 30. What happens after
that is anyone’s guess.
Several muscle diseases are the result of birth defects
involving the lack of essential muscle proteins, such as
dynorphin in some forms of muscular dystrophy, that lead
to extensive muscle weakness. To combat it, one form of
gene therapy injects an IGF-1 gene directly into muscle. To
get into the muscle, the gene must be packaged with a
vector, or delivery vehicle—typically an inactive virus,
Jerry Brainum’s
Bodybuilding Pharmacology
One advantage of gene therapy involving the IGF-1 gene is that
the injected gene stays localized to the muscle. The problem
with systemic IGF-1 is that it stimulates all types of cellular
growth, including the uncontrolled growth characteristic of
cancer.
which shunts the IGF-1 gene into the
muscle cell. The cell then starts
pumping out IGF-1, which in turn
promotes the activity of satellite cells.
If it all works out, you wind up with
bigger and stronger muscles.
A study with mice showed that IGF1 gene therapy worked perfectly, with
the treated mice experiencing gains in
muscle size that amounted to hypertrophy, or growth, two to three times
normal. Injecting the gene for
mechano-growth factor, which is a
derived form of IGF-1, made the mice
double their muscle size in only three
weeks.
Gene therapy uses a magic bullet
approach to seek and destroy cancer
cells. It may also enable the body to
produce substances that are in short
supply due to illness or aging. For
example, hormones can theoretically
be boosted by gene therapy. People
born with defective genes that
amount to biological time bombs
could perhaps have their defective
genes replaced.
While it all sounds great and one
day will likely change the face of
medicine, it is new, and all of its ramifications are unknown. The possible
dangers of gene therapy became
evident in a case reported in 1998: An
18-year-old patient with a rare type of
liver disorder—not life threatening—
was offered the chance to serve as a
human experiment in gene therapy to
treat the condition. The patient readily agreed, but he died from multiple
organ failure.
Several possible gene therapies
appear attractive to athletes, despite
the dangers. One involves injected
gene-encoded viruses for erythropoi-
etin. EPO increases the volume of red
blood cells, which in turn, increase
oxygen delivery to cells. Blood doping
was based on increasing the number
of red blood cells. It was superseded
by using recombinant-DNA drugs
based on EPO. Use of the technique
was popular with all types of endurance athletes and led to a scandal
at the 1998 Tour de France, when an
entire team was found to be using
EPO-based drugs.
Gene therapy for EPO, however,
cannot be detected. In a 1997 study
mice and monkeys got EPO gene
therapy that resulted in an 81 percent
increase in the level of hemoglobin,
the protein that carries oxygen in the
blood. But the animals’ blood got so
thick from all those new blood cells
that they had to have their blood
diluted to prevent heart failure and
stroke.
One advantage of injecting the
IGF-1 gene is that it stays localized to
the muscle. The problem with systemic IGF-1 is that it stimulates all
types of cellular growth, including
cancer. Keeping it sequestered in
muscle should prevent that problem,
but scientists remain uncertain of the
ramifications of injecting what
amounts to an IGF-1 production
plant in muscle.
Another type of gene therapy with
potential athletic uses is the gene for
vascular endothelial growth factor.
That gene is inserted into the body
with the same virus that causes the
common cold; the activity of the virus
is blocked. VEGF works by promoting
the growth of new blood vessels,
which means increased blood and
oxygen delivery to muscles, lungs,
liver and other tissues. On the other
hand, cancer cells also spread
throughout the body by promoting
the production of new blood vessels.
Will overproducing VEGF promote
cancer? Who knows?
Two other growth factors linked to
increased muscle-satellite-cell activity—fibroblast and hepato—are candidates for gene therapy. Another
therapeutic idea is to manipulate
genes that lead to muscle catabolism,
such as the ones for myostatin and a
protein called ubiquitin. Blocking
them alone would lead to considerable muscular growth. Deleting the
gene for cytosolic phospholipase A-2
also promotes increased muscle
growth.2
Make no mistake: Gene therapy is
the wave of the future in sports doping. You’ll know when it’s here by the
number of world records that fall and
by the appearance of athletes who use
the growth-promoting gene therapies, such as those involving IGF-1
genes. The unanswered question is
the fate of the athletes who turn
themselves into human clinical experiments. Perhaps those contemplating using gene therapy might
pause to consider the classic case of
an experiment gone wrong: Dr. Jekyll
and Mr. Hyde. Or better yet, Mary
Shelley’s Frankenstein.
References
1
Unal, M., et al. (2004). Gene doping in sports. Sports Med. 34:357-62.
2 Haq, S., et al. (2004). Deletion of
cytosolic phospholipase A2 promotes
striated muscle growth. Nature
Medicine. 9:944-51. IM
Readers Write
Keeping It Real
Over 40 and Fabulous
I was recently introduced to IRON MAN by a fellow GNC
employee, and, man, was I blown away! I’ve been reading
some of the popular [bodybuilding and fitness] magazines
for years, and I don’t know how I missed yours. Anyway, my
friend gave me a couple of older issues he had saved so I
could get caught up. You have a new reader for life. Thanks
for all the great stuff and for keeping it real.
Tom Gath
Sarnia, Ontario, Canada
Photo courtesy of Karen Geninatti
Write Stuff
Karen
Geninatti.
I’m a 4’11”, 107-pound 47-year-old national-level competitive bodybuilder and personal trainer. I train clients of
all fitness levels and ages in their homes and also at three
different gyms. Recently I won the overall women’s bodybuilding title at the ’04 NPC Central USA Bodybuilding and
Figure Championships, which was promoted by Adela
Garcia-Friedmansky and Brian Friedmansky. I’m hoping
you can publish one of my photos so that women in my age
range can realize that it’s never too late to take control of
your body and lifestyle.
Karen Geninatti
Carlinville, IL
Editor’s note: Karen is one motivating mama—she has
two kids: Tyson, 24, and Collin, 16. She’s living proof that
weight training is a serious anti-aging tool. If you’d like to
contact her, send e-mail to [email protected].
Success and Willpower
I must give credit where credit is due, and Gary Schadwill deserves great admiration [Success Story, August ’04].
Thank you, IRON MAN, for
giving me the drive and
determination by publishing stories like Gary’s. They
keep me training intensely
and consistently.
Joe Walsh
Whitehall, NY
Gary Schadwill.
X-cellent Results
The October ’04 “Train, Eat, Grow” is simply a quantum
leap forward in training—albeit a refinement of what the
York gang was up to 40 years ago. But cultural historians
are quick to point out that ideas and concepts are perfectly
capable of circulating for decades before someone with
insight
brings
them to a
conclusion
that is a
step forward.
Darwin
comes to
mind. A
full century of speculation on
evolution
came to a
thundering
conclusion with his work in the 1850s. [Steve Holman and
Jonathan Lawson’s X-Rep] concepts have a maturity of real
science forged with experimentation and verifiable results.
When I modified my training [to include X Reps], the gains
began to flow—almost like magic. And I’m 59 years old!
—Ken O’Neill
Wimberley, TX
Editor’s note: For more on X-Rep training, including
photos of Darwin and Einstein, er, um, Jonathan Lawson
and Steve Holman, before and after X-Rep training—taken
one month apart—visit www.x-rep.com.
Photo courtesy of Gary Schadwill
Editor’s note: Considering that he came back
better than ever after a
devastating motorcycle
accident, we’d have to say
Gary put the “will” in
Schadwill.
“Progressive Assistance,” John Balik’s Publisher’s Letter
in the August ’04 issue, seemed as if it was written to me. I
have a small home gym, and often I’d walk out there and
just stand for 10 minutes trying to figure out what to do.
Like it’s really that difficult! Now I keep track of my workouts, measurements and bodyfat. I’ve been doing that for a
month, and my bodyfat is down, and I’ve gained six
pounds of lean muscle. I’m motivated again. Thank you for
the kick in the ass to do things right.
Stephen Hampton
via Internet
Vol. 64, No. 1: 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.,
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