Ironman Magazine 2005-02

FEBRUARY 2005 / IRON MANREAL BODYBUILDING TRAINING, NUTRITION & SUPPLEMENTATION

SEE

NEW ARNOLD MOVIE • BIG-ARM BLASTS • X REPS • MR. O

ARNOLD

RUN

Behind the Scenes of Blockbuster Biopic Page 182

XFACTOR

Amazing One-Month Before and After!

Page Page 132 132

SEE ARNOLD RUN MOVIE

10

RULES FOR POWER PACKED PECS Page Page 86 86

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www.ironmanmagazine.com \ APRIL 2006 261

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150 DECEMBER 2009 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

February 2005

Vol. 64, No. 2

“See Arnold Run,” page 182

Real Bodybuilding Training, Nutrition & Supplementation

FEATURES

68 TRAIN, EAT, GROW 64 It’s going to be an X-ceptional winter for mass building.

Check out our X-Men’s new direct/semidirect program.

78 ONLY THE STRONG SHALL SURVIVE You gotta overtrain if you want to gain. So says Bill Starr and his decades of experience.

86 YOUR CHEST WILL NEVER GROW! Unless you follow these 10 tips for powerful pecs from Ron Harris, our man in the training trenches.

98 TRIPLE-SIZE TRI’S Build your arms to monster proportions! Greg Zulak has all the ins, outs, ups and downs of triceps torching.

NEW ARNOLD MOVIE • BIG-ARM BLASTS • X REPS • MR. O

SEE

118 PROTEIN WASTE Ori Hofmekler tells you how to ARNOLD the Scenes of RUN Behind Blockbuster Biopic avoid spent amino ammo. LowFACTOR X carb/high-carb-rotation-diet tips for Amazing One-Month Before and After! critical mass are here too.

Page 182

Page Page 132 132

132 THE X FACTOR

One-month results!

The X Factor, page 132

X-Rep innovator Jonathan Lawson takes you through the mass Xtravaganza that detonated his one-month transformation.

Incredible!

146 HARDBODY

10

RULES FOR POWER PACKED PECS Page Page 86 86

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Arnold Schwarzenegger appears on this month’s cover. Illustration by Ron Dunn, www.rondunn illustration.com.

It’s the return of every red-blooded American male’s favorite IM feature. This month living doll Shay Lyn gets your blood boiling.

156 RESEARCH TEAM It’s billed as the Ultimate Stack, and with its ArgiNOne and F-16, your gains will fly skyward at the speed of sound.

164 HEAVY DUTY Mike Mentzer’s Heavy Duty seminar continues.

182 “SEE ARNOLD RUN” IFBB Mr. Olympia, page 220

A behind-the-scenes look at the A&E Arnold biopic starring Roland Kickinger as the Austrian Oak.

190 DAVID PAUL Looking for photographic inspiration? Behold these amazing images by David Paul—yes, that David Paul.

220 IFBB MR. OLYMPIA It was a Sin City showdown of massive proportions.

228 VENI, VIDI, VENICE Teagan Clive tours points of interest in Southern California’s quirkiest community—just in time for your FitExpo visit. (What a coincidence.)

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DEPARTMENTS

30 TRAIN TO GAIN Awesome arm assault, dead-on results, inner-pec check with dumbbells and training tips, tricks and tweaks from Mr. Olympia Larry Scott.

48 CRITICAL MASS Steve Holman answers questions about love-handle loathing and split-positions training.

Veni, Vidi, Venice, page 228

54 EAT TO GROW Grapes, cortisol and sex. (There’s a fat-loss tie-in there somewhere.)

170 NATURALLY HUGE Hardbody, page 146

John Hansen gets you back into bodybuilding. Plus, he takes you through a racy rep-range review. (Nice set, babe!)

204 NEWS & VIEWS

Nationals Flash, page 215

WEB ALERT! For the latest happenings from the world of bodybuilding and fitness, read the Hot News at IRON MAN’s www.graphicmuscle.com.

Lonnie Teper and Ruth Silverman made the trek to Las Vegas for Olympia weekend, so rest assured, this section is bustin’ with bodybuilding, fitness and figure festivities. Jerry Fredrick’s Hot Shots are popping up all over as well. No craps here; it’s all lat-flarin’, body-barin’ fun.

236 MIND/BODY CONNECTION Randall Strossen, Ph.D., shows you how to grapple with the gratification gremlins, and Dave Draper asks, “Are we there yet?” in his Bomber Blast column. Frank Zane has more musings on the Arnold flick, and Jack LaLanne is here, too, with a freehand pec pumper you won’t forget.

246 BODYBUILDING PHARMACOLOGY Jerry Brainum discusses oral hex—as in why oral steroids can curse your liver liveliness. There’s also cool info about growth hormone and its connection to anabolic actions, fat burning and joint healing.

Train to Gain, page 30

Pump & Circumstance, page 210

254 READERS WRITE Success is best! One female reader gets her adipose afterburners in gear with IM’s help, and another reveals bodybuilding’s best-kept secret (and it’s free!).

In the next IRON MAN Next month it’s back to Vegas with Ruth Silverman, of P&C fame, and her reports on the Olympia’s fit femmes and muscle maidens. These gals will awe, inspire and pump you up! We’ve also got the conclusion of our interview with Jonathan Lawson, who outlines his X-treme Lean diet and discusses new experiments with the X-Overload technique.

What, you want more training? Okay, how about Ron Harris’ 10 righteous rules for a big, broad back. (Hey, was that an eclipse, or did you just hit a lat spread?) Watch for the mass-igniting March IRON MAN on newsstands the first week of February.

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John Balik’s

Publisher’s Letter

Founders 1936-1986:

Peary & Mabel Rader

Cover Material This is the first issue of IRON MAN, since we purchased it from Peary and Mabel Rader in 1986, to have an illustration on the cover—although it’s not the first Iron Man cover to feature an illustration. Volume 1, Number 1, published in 1936, holds that distinction, although it was called Super Physique for that one issue. Thanks to the talent of Ron Dunn, we present on this month’s cover a unique piece of art that captures Arnold Schwarzenegger in a way that no photograph could. It’s our lead-in to a preview of the A&E biopic “See Arnold Run” starring Roland Kickinger. The behind-the-scenes look starts on page 182.

Another visual first for us is the showcase of photographs by David Paul that begins on page 190. I’ve known David for more than 20 years, from when he was one of the Barbarian Brothers, and it’s with great pleasure that I welcome him to our pages, along with a story on him by Teagan Clive. David’s vision is unique. I believe it comes from the very strength of his physique and years of heavy no-limits training. His images convey the power of art in a way that transcends the subject, as the bodies become more that just muscle and bone. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. This is truly a merger of art and bodybuilding.

Our survey results tell us that IRON MAN readers depend on the training info they get from each issue to bring them better results in the gym. Beginning on page 132, we focus on the latest mass-building innovation in “The X Factor.” It’s an interview with Jonathan Lawson about his adventures with X-Rep training. X Reps are the single most important muscle-building concept to come along in years, and you have to try them. I’m happy to say that Steve Holman and Jonathan developed the technique at the IRON MAN Training & Research Center last summer. X Reps have the potential to seriously jump-start your progress, and feedback from the hundreds of early X-Rep adopters has been nothing short of astonishing. If you’re tired of the same old same old, this is a must read. (To get more info as well as past issues of Jonathan’s newsletter, visit www.x-rep.com.)

The Mr. Olympia is the pinnacle of IFBB pro bodybuilding. Ronnie Coleman came to dominate, and dominate he did. We have full coverage of the competition starting on page 220, but don’t forget to visit our Web site to get the greatly expanded story, including hundreds of images plus audio interviews by Lonnie Teper and Ruth Silverman. Go to www.ironmanmagazine.com or to www.graphicmuscle.com. The Internet enables us to expand our coverage in a way that’s not possible on a printed page. You’ll find video clips and up-to-the-minute breaking news plus slide shows and Flash features like Lonnie’s “Swami Predicts.”

Visit the new and improved ironmanmagazine.com—and IRON MAN’s graphicmuscle.com—and see and hear what the Web can do.

Then let me know what you think. Send e-mail to me at ironleader@aol.com. 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, Ron Dunn

Contributing Photographers: Jim Amentler, Reg Bradford, Jimmy Caruso, Bill Comstock, Bill Dobbins, Jerry Fredrick, Irvin Gelb, J.M. Manion, Gene Mozée, Mitsuru Okabe, Rob Sims, Leo Stern, Russ Warner

Director of Marketing: Helen Yu, 1-800-570-IRON, ext. 1 Accounting: Dolores Waterman Director of Operations: Dean Reyes Subscriptions Manager: Sonia Melendez, 1-800-570-IRON, ext. 2 E-mail: soniazm@aol.com 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: ironleader@aol.com Steve Holman, Editor in Chief: ironchief@aol.com Ruth Silverman, Senior Editor: ironwman@aol.com T.S. Bratcher, Art Director: ironartz@aol.com Helen Yu, Director of Marketing: irongrrrl@aol.com Dean Reyes, Dir. of Operations: ironreyes@aol.com Jonathan Lawson, Ad Coordinator: ironjdl@aol.com Sonia Melendez, Subscriptions: soniazm@aol.com

24 FEBRUARY 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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30 FEBRUARY 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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BIGGER BODYPARTS

As someone who’s supposed to know better, I’m embarrassed to admit this, but for years I knew of a way to improve my arms—the only real weak point of my physique—yet foolishly never gave it a fair trial. “Work arms by themselves” was the message I stubbornly ignored. I figured that if my biceps and triceps weren’t growing, my average genetics were at fault.

Being of little faith, I continued to train biceps and triceps after chest or shoulders. Before you get the impression that I’m discounting the role of genetics in muscle growth, let me assure you I’m not. Many of us have to train a decade or more just to get arms that are respectable. Meanwhile, we see guys walking into a gym for the first time with arms already as good as ours that quickly blow up into limbs that can legitimately be called “guns.”

While we average guys struggle to break the 17- or 18-inch barrier, the more gifted types often move past the 20-inch mark within just a couple years of lifting weights. It’s easy to wallow in self-pity—believe me, I know—and shut your mind to anything that could possibly help.

Recently a wave of intense dissatisfaction overtook me as I evaluated my overall physique. My arms really pissed me off. I refused to believe they were as good as they would ever get, even if I had been working on them for a full 20 years. Screw that!

That type of anger is a blessing for bodybuilders because it spurs us to action. I decided to give training arms on a day all their own a chance. What did I have to lose? Obviously, the way I was going about arm training wasn’t working. Here’s the split I adopted: Monday: Back Tuesday: Shoulders Thursday: Biceps, Triceps, Forearms Friday: Legs Saturday: Chest Although that increased from four to five the number of days I trained a week, the overall time in the gym was roughly the same. The difference was that now my arms would be hit fresh and truly get the attention they need-

ed, rather than being worked after a grueling chest or shoulder session. Another bonus was that for the first time I’d be working forearms every week instead of once every couple of months, whenever I felt like it.

I’m not going to lie and claim that my arms instantly expanded to the point where Lee Priest would be envious, but they’ve already improved. Those small but noticeable improvements from week to week should add up to something substantial very soon. My forearms are looking fuller and thicker, and for the first time I am actually looking forward to training arms.

So if your arms aren’t what you wish they were—and I know there are a lot of you out there in that boat—do yourself a huge favor and devote a training day to bi’s and tri’s. I can’t promise you 20-inch guns, but it’s very likely that there’s still some potential for arm growth waiting for the right catalyst to unleash it.

—Ron Harris Editor’s note: Check out Ron Harris’ Web site, www.ronharrismuscle.com.

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Neveux \ Model: Will Harris

Awesome Arm Assault

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You’ll develop a bone-crushing grip fast by adding one or a number of power coils for that critical progressive-resistance effect. Remember, when you wear short sleeves, it’s the lower arms that are exposed for all to see.

You’ll want your forearms to be huge and vascular to match your thick, beefy upper arms—and now they will.

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TRAIN TO GAIN

U LT I M AT E M A S S

E X E R C I S E A N A LY S I S

Dead-On

X Files The muscle-building truth is out there Many researchers believe that the key to muscle growth is force output.

The more force you can get your muscles to generate, the more growth you stimulate. That’s one reason compound, or multijoint, exercises produce more mass gains than isolation moves: You use more weight and you can increase the poundage more easily over time. That’s progressive overload.

“Yeah, yeah. More weight on the big, compound exercises like squats,” you may be saying. “So what else is new?” Plenty!

For example, many researchers believe that the real growth trigger is the turnaround on certain exercises, when you move from the negative stroke to the positive. That’s where the most force occurs. Think about it. At the bottom of an incline press, when the bar shifts directions, there’s an extreme force overload because your pecs must stop the bar and then reverse it. But there’s a problem. Many scientists say that the pecs can’t exert maximal force at the very bottom of the movement when there’s too much stretch on them; the key max-force point is below the middle of the stroke, but not all the way at the bottom, stretch position. So if you can somehow overload that position, you can increase the anabolic power of any set.

The way to do it is with power partials, or X Reps. They extend a set at the sweet spot, so you get extreme anabolic overload at the end of a strict set. When you can’t get another full rep, you use X Reps to extend the set and overload the fast-twitch fibers at the precise sweet spot—anabolic overload right where the muscle needs it most.

—Jonathan Lawson IM e-zine Neveux \ Model: George Farah

Neveux \ Model: Mike Morris

Full deadlifts create big gains all over.

Results

For several years now I’ve been an advocate of half, or rack, deadlifts. I first learned of that variation from Mike Francois, one of the best pros of the mid ’90s, who was known for having a back that rivaled Dorian Yates’ in width and thickness.

Done either in a power rack or on a deadlift platform, they were nothing more than deadlifts in which you lowered only to the knees rather than all the way to the floor.

Theoretically, doing them that way took the legs and lower back mostly out of the exercise and turned it into a power movement for the lats and traps. A major attraction for those of us with fragile egos was the fact that you could also handle a lot more weight. I don’t think I ever pulled more than 405 off the floor for a few reps, but there was a time when I could do a good set of five or six reps with 675 in the rack deadlift.

I convinced myself that it was a better exercise and did them for years. Then a series of events led me to begin questioning the wisdom of doing just half the range of motion.

First was seeing the Ronnie Coleman training video “The Unbelievable.” Ronnie, who has the best back in bodybuilding right now and possibly of all time, does several sets of heavy deadlifts from the floor, culminating in more than 800 pounds on the bar for two full reps to lockout. Then I began talking with a few of the newer pro bodybuilders like Victor Martinez and Johnnie Jackson, who make deadlifts a staple in their back training. They both have outstanding back development—especially 220-pound Johnnie, who pulled an official 814 pounds in powerlifting competition. Neither would ever consider doing just half a deadlift.

After all that, I realized my poor technique on full deadlifts had caused me to mistakenly assume they weren’t working my back as well as the half deads. I used to simply squat down with a fully upright torso, in effect doing a squat movement but holding on to the bar rather than having it on my back. I’d switch to pulling with my back only after the bar passed my knees. Johnnie explained to me that the correct way to start the lift is with your torso bent over so that you pull with both your lower and upper body simultaneously.

Lo and behold, I gave it a try, and it finally felt right. To my surprise, I actually found myself looking forward to back day just to do them. My ego has taken a huge hit because the weight I’m using is nothing compared to what I was doing before, but I don’t worry because now I know I’m doing the exercise right and reaping its full rewards.

I would never have done half bench presses or half squats, but for some reason I let myself think that half deadlifts were fine. Now I know better, and I hope you learn from my experience too. I have a feeling we have some serious back thickness waiting to sprout.

—Ron Harris

Editor’s note: You can get an IM e-zine in your e-mail box every week free. Subscribe at www .ironmanmagazine.com. For the latest installments covering X Reps, visit www.x-rep.com and click on X Files.

32 FEBRUARY 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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YOU CAN BENCH BIG Add 20 Pounds to Your Bench Press Almost Overnight!

How would you like a surge in upper-body power and a bigger bench press—say, 20 extra pounds on the bar—after only a couple of workouts? Sure, adding 20 pounds to your bench in two or three training sessions may sound crazy, especially if your bench press poundage has been stuck in neutral for a while.

But nine times out of 10 this stall is due to an easily correctible muscle weakness—not in the pecs, delts or triceps but in a group of muscles known as the rotator cuff.

The rotator cuff muscles stabilize the shoulder joint. During the bench press and almost all other upperbody movements these muscles protect the shoulder joint and prevent ball-and-socket slippage. If these muscles are underdeveloped, they become the weak link in the action and your pressing strength suffers, or worse, you injure your shoulder. One of the best ways to strengthen this area and create an upper-body power surge is with direct rotator cuff exercise.

Once you start using the ShoulderHorn for two or three sets twice a week, your pressing poundages will skyrocket. This device allows you to train your rotator cuff muscles in complete comfort and with precise strengthening action. After a few weeks you’ll be amazed at your new benching power. There have been reports of 20-to-30-pound increases in a matter of days.

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TRAIN TO GAIN

SUCCESS SECRETS

Neveux \ Model: Craig Titus

more growth Training Tips, Tricks and Tweaks, Part 1 Get from every workout Why do all that work in the gym if you’re not going to make any progress? What’s the point?

I see guys training around me all the time, doing the same old things. Their bodies never change—not much anyway.

Frankly, it amazes me. If I put out that much effort and didn’t look any better, I’d give it up.

On second thought, I wouldn’t give it up; I’d find out why I wasn’t looking better and then try to do something about it. If you’re out fishing, and you’re not catching anything, you go over and ask the other guys what bait they’re using. It doesn’t take a great brain to figure that out—but it does take a little humility.

I don’t know everything, but if they’d just copy what I’m doing, they’d make so much better progress that they’d be amazed. But I still see them...

•Using tiny weights on onearm kickbacks with superstrict form—as if strict form is somehow going to magically build huge triceps.

•Using a revolving bar on lat pulldowns with their thumbs wrapped around the bar.

•Doing calf raises with their shoes on.

•Doing lateral raises and lifting the dumbbells all the way over their heads and banging them together.

•Doing Scott preacher-bench curls seated rather than standing.

•Doing wrist curls off their knees with their thumbs on the wrong side of the bar.

•Grinding out set after set of EZ-curl bar curls for biceps.

•Trying to hang onto the chinning bar without using straps.

•Doing squats with the bar way up on the neck so they need to use a pad and a block to stand on to keep their balance.

Those are just some of the things I see day after day in the gym where I train. Don’t get me wrong: I understand that

you can’t learn everything at once, but if you really listen to your body, it’s going to tell you a lot of this stuff. Then again, what does “Listen to your body” mean?

I guess it isn’t that easy to do—it’s even hard to describe.

You’re trying to get your mouth and mind to agree on words that only your body knows. So I’m not even going to try to tell you what it means to listen to your body. It makes more sense to get a grip on how you can progress.

One-arm kickbacks. Everybody does this exercise with about a 25-pound dumbbell when they should be using an 80-pounder. Yeah, that’s right, 80 pounds. It’s not supposed to be done superstrict. You’re supposed to be trying to build muscle. There’s nothing sacred about strict movements. It’s just another way of training. You do strict movements only if that builds better than anything else. You’ve got to use some big iron if you’re going to build big arms.

A while back I was heading into Gold’s Gym in Venice to meet Francis Benfatto for a training session. I got out of my car and noticed Jim Quinn heading in my direction. He was massive, wearing a pair of cutoffs and a tank top. The veins were standing out on his thighs like worms, and he had to be weighing at least 260. He was quite a sight.

“You’re looking huge, Jim. How much you weighing?”

“I don’t know, but, man, I’m getting strong. I used 160 on one-arm triceps kickbacks today,” he volunteered, right out of the blue, obviously impressed with himself.

“You gotta be kidding—160! That’s a lot of weight,” I said.

We chatted a bit, said our good-byes, and Jim headed west for the beach. I went into the gym thinking, “Man, 160 pounds. That guy’s an animal. Then I thought to myself, “Wait a minute, I use 120, and I only weigh 185.”

So you see, you need to use big stuff if you want to get big. Especially on this exercise. Forget about those little sissy weights. They just aren’t going to cut it.

Let me tell you another story. At a Bio-Phase workshop with my clients here in Salt Lake City, I wanted to make the heavy-weight point clear to everyone. So I brought an 80and a 120-pound dumbbell to the workshop to show everybody how strong I was—and make an impression on everyone about just how much weight you can use on this exercise.

You know what? I was the one who was impressed. At least two dozen guys used the 80 and about five guys used the 120. Everyone was amazed—including me. I thought I might get a few guys to use the 80, but I didn’t think anyone was going to tackle the 120. It’s all a matter of belief. Once they saw I could do it, they realized they could too.

Now, remember, this wasn’t done strict—we did a lot of cheating. But we were using big iron because we all wanted big arms.

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On Your Nerves The ulnar nerve is found in the upper extremities. It has two common sites of entrapment, or compression. The most common site is the elbow, and next most common is the wrist.

Symptoms of ulnar nerve pathology, or ulnar neuropathy, include tingling, numbness, pinsand-needles sensation, weakness of the hand or any combination of those. They all occur in the nerve area.

To locate the ulnar nerve, hold your hand out in front of you with your palm up. It’s on the back inner portion of your elbow and travels down the little-finger side of your forearm, supplying the little finger and ring finger with sensation. The ulnar nerve supplies the hand muscles that spread the fingers apart and squeeze them together.

Patients commonly describe ulnar neuropathy as the tingling in the forearm or little finger and ring finger that occurs if

QUOTABLE QUOTES

Ulnar nerve problems from training

they hold the phone to their ear too long, wash or dry their hair, brush their teeth or wash their face. Leaning the elbow against a car armrest or the arm of a desk chair can compress the nerve and cause or aggravate the problem. When the symptoms occur that easily, the nerve is inflamed, and your training needs modification.

Certain exercises can aggravate an ulnar problem and may actually contribute to its inflammation. Exercises that cause an increased stretch of the nerve, including curls and triceps movements, can increase symptoms. The dumbbell curl stretches and compresses the ulnar nerve at the top of the curl. The pushdown does the same when the elbow is fully bent. Those exercises tend to bend, or flex, the elbow the most. Some trainees report similar symptoms after bench presses.

You may have to drop curls and triceps exercises, particularly the pushdown, for a few weeks or until the nerve calms down. That’s difficult for most trainees. Your first step could be to limit the range on your curls and pushdowns. Don’t curl all the way up, and don’t let the pushdown bar come all the way up. Don’t perform close-grip bench presses during this time either. If your symptoms don’t subside enough, then drop the curls, pushdowns and triceps extensions. See what still causes symptoms, and stop those activities or exercises.

If the symptoms seem to occur after arm or chest training, you should see a chiropractor who’s certified in sportsmedicine, an orthopedic surgeon or a neurologist, preferably someone who’s familiar with weight training. A test known as a nerve conduction velocity (NCV) is used to confirm the diagnosis after an examination. A doctor may prescribe treatment consisting of any combination of the following: anti-inflammatory medication, ultrasound, interferential stimulation, ice packs (there are mixed opinions on that), rest and vitamin Bcomplex supplementation.

There are mild, moderate and severe cases.

Fortunately, severe cases are not common; they may require surgery to move or transpose the nerve to reduce the force of stretch and compression.

If you’re having these symptoms, particularly in your left arm, along with chest pain, upper back or midback pain, neck or jaw pain and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, you need to report to an emergency room. Those can be symptoms of a pending or beginning heart attack. If the symptoms are new and come on suddenly, call 911.

—Joseph M. Horrigan

Neveux \ Model: Tom Platz

“The squat rack became like the altar, where life and death would pass in front of my eyes, and I looked forward to every squat workout.”

—Tom Platz IRONMAN’s Ultimate Bodybuilding Encyclopedia

Editor’s note: Visit www .softtissuecenter.com for reprints of Horrigan’s past Sportsmedicine columns that have appeared in IRONMAN. You can order the book, Strength, Conditioning and Injury Prevention for Hockey by Joseph Horrigan, D.C., and E.J. “Doc” Kreis, D.A., from Home Gym Warehouse, (800) 4470008 or at www.home-gym.com.

36 FEBRUARY 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Weight Training: a Real Heart-Breaker?

In the past many physicians advised their patients not to lift weights because it “strained” the heart. That advice was no doubt largely based on firsthand observation of men lifting heavy weights, with all the signs of stress and strain apparent in the lifters’ bloodengorged faces. Lifting heavy weights, the reasoning went, dangerously increased blood pressure, thereby placing undue stress on the heart.

More recent research shows that a well-designed weighttraining program not only isn’t bad for most hearts but also provides benefits previously ascribed to aerobic exercise.

Weight training, like aerobics, can increase the levels of highdensity lipoprotein, the protective cholesterol carrier in the blood. Lifting weights also increases insulin sensitivity, and increased insulin control is beneficial for cardiovascular protection.

It’s true that lifting heavy weights, particularly in positions that promote increased pressure on the vascular system, such as squats and leg presses, does significantly increase blood pressure. That increase, though, occurs only during the actual lift. Studies show that your body adjusts to the temporary rise in blood pressure by producing changes in the blood vessels that result in a lower resting blood pressure. So it all evens out.

There are, however, exceptions to the rule—for example, in the case of medical conditions that involve structural weaknesses of blood vessel walls. If you have an aneurysm in any of your blood vessels, increasing blood pressure may cause it to explode, with possibly calamitous results. (An aneurysm is dilation of a blood vessel wall that causes a weakness in that portion of the wall. When it blows, it’s comparable to a tire blowing out.)

In a recent letter to the Journal of the American Medical Association, several Yale University School of Medicine physicians reported on the incidence of a rupture of the aorta, the main artery leading out of the heart, in five patients.1 The medical diagnosis was acute dissection of the ascending aorta. In plain English that means that these people experienced aorta tearing from the inside, likely the result of an undiagnosed aneurysm. That’s the condition that caused the sudden death of comedian John Ritter.

While dissection of the aorta is usually found in people over 40 with a long history of hypertension, or high blood pressure, the cases reported in JAMA involved five patients ranging in

Does lifting heavy strain your heart?

Neveux \ Model: Derik Farnsworth

TRAIN TO GAIN

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age from 19 to 53 with no previously diagnosed aneurysm or high blood pressure. None of them had Marfan’s syndrome, a congenital weakness of connective tissue in which aortic dissection often occurs. A top-level female volleyball player died a few years ago after her aorta exploded suddenly from Marfan’s syndrome. Some doctors think that, based on his body structure, Abraham Lincoln suffered from that disease, which would have likely killed him if Booth’s bullet hadn’t gotten to him first in April 1865.

The common denominator in the five patients cited in the JAMA letter was that all were engaged in some type of heavy lifting when their symptoms became apparent. Two of them were lifting weights, one was trying to move a heavy stone structure, and the other two were doing pushups.

No one knows for sure what causes this weakness in the wall of blood vessels. The symptoms feel like a heart attack, with the exception of a ripping sensation deep in the chest. Some suggest that an increased accumulation of plaque deposits in the arteries (atherosclerosis) weakens the wall. Others think the aneurysm is just there to begin with, a sort of birth defect that becomes apparent only when sufficient pressure is exerted on it—as can occur

with lifting heavy weights.

The doctors who wrote the JAMA letter suggest that those at risk include people with known aneurysms or connective tissue disease (such as Marfan’s syndrome), a family history of aneurysms or dissection, high blood pressure and people middle-aged or older; the aorta becomes stiffer with age, thus predisposing it to increased pressure and blowout. One study found that garlic appears to decrease age-related aortic stiffness.

The way to deal with this is by having a medical scan of your aorta if you fall into any of the risk-factor patterns. Doctors also advise you not to lift more than your bodyweight, since doing so raises the blood pressure to high levels that could precipitate an aortic dissection. That last suggestion is likely to fall on deaf ears in hardcore bodybuilders, who want to lift heavy for strength and muscle gains. So it’s especially vital to undergo medical tests if you have any history of the conditions linked to aortic dissection.

—Jerry Brainum 1 Elefteriades, J.A., et al. (2003). Weight lifting and rupture of silent aortic aneurysms. JAMA. 290:2803.

38 FEBRUARY 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Inner-Pec Check With Dumbbells The main advantage of the dumbbell flat-bench press over the barbell press is that the range of motion can be far greater with dumbbells—but don’t overdo it. Going too low can overstretch your muscles, tendons and ligaments.

Dumbbells also enable you to get a much better contraction at the top of the movement, and that lets you put much more emphasis on the center of your chest.

Unfortunately, most gyms don’t have dumbbells heavy enough for average and advanced bodybuilders. Another disadvantage: Heavy dumbbells are cumbersome and difficult to get into position. Balancing the weights during the exercise is also difficult. (Many people argue that free weights recruit more muscle fibers than machines. Not when it comes to chest. What good is it for you to hit failure due to weak balancing muscles, such as the infraspinatus?

Plate-loaded machines can be a good alternative to dumbbells.)

Can you really target the inner chest? Many people believe that you can’t specifically target a segment of muscle, because you can only work a muscle as a whole. Yet many natural bodybuilders suffer from a deficit of mass in the center of their chests. If their chest muscles were working as a whole, the weakness would not exist or at least it would be less common. It certainly couldn’t be remedied.

Most people assume that a muscle fiber crosses the whole muscle from its origin to its insertion. The striations we see across the chests of the pros lead us to that erroneous conclusion.

Rather, muscle cells are hooked up to form a kind of chain traveling across the muscle from its origin to its insertion. There are both type 1 and type 2 fibers in the chain.

We know that a single motoneuron innervates either type 1 or 2 fibers but never both at the same time.

So there’s no way we can work a muscle from its origin to its insertion; we have to work, more or less, on specific compartments within the muscles. As one research study notes about muscular compartmentalization: “The histochemical fiber type composition of a single muscle was not uniform throughout.”1 The nonuniform distribution of muscle cells means that using a different rep pattern for a single exercise will change the regions recruited within the muscle group. If you’ve been

using the eight-to-10-rep range for a while, shifting to higher reps will give the muscle a slightly different shape and look.

If you fail to develop your inner chest with dumbbell presses using a certain rep range, experiment with others until you find the rep range that specifically targets the muscle cells located at the center of your pecs.

Muscular compartmentalization helps explain why the more you shorten your pec muscles, the more you recruit the central fibers. That’s why narrow-grip bench presses are said to benefit the inner chest more than wide-grip bench presses. The problem with using a narrow grip is that your triceps are likely to fail before your chest, partially derailing your efforts to trigger local growth. Dumbbell presses can be a good alternative to narrow-grip presses. You end up with a narrower grip at the top of the exercise, and you deemphasize your triceps at the start of the movement by holding the grip wider at the bottom of the stroke.

Crossing your hands in front of you during cable crossovers can also help you bring up your inner chest.

Supersetting is a good idea. You can preexhaust your inner chest with crossovers and immediately move to dumbbell or narrow-grip bench presses. Personally, I don’t like that kind of superset, as I feel my triceps, not my chest, working during the press. If your chest muscles are exhausted by the crossovers, they’ll be very weak for the presses. Your fresh triceps will take over and do most of the work. I like the opposite strategy—the postfatigue superset. Start with the press, and then at failure move directly to crossovers to deplete whatever strength remains in your chest.

—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.

1 English, A.W., et al. (1993). Compartmentalization of muscles and their motor nuclei: the partitioning hypothesis.

Physical Therapy, 73(12):857-67.

40 FEBRUARY 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Heavy Duty Commentary Although I respect Mike Mentzer, his training theory has several flaws. He claims that his methods are the only truly scientific way to train and that when properly applied will yield the best results in everyone. Then he says that there’s great variation in people’s recovery ability and uses the analogy of recovery geniuses vs. recovery morons to cover the broad spectrum. That basically undermines his whole training philosophy. If “some people recover much better than others,” why would he have recovery geniuses train in a fashion that limits their gains? Mentzer has helped many people analyze the volume and intensity of their training, but to limit everyone to one training regimen is foolish and unscientific.

Mentzer claims that you can reach your genetic potential within one year by using Heavy Duty. Just how does he define “genetic potential”? I don’t think that can be accurately quantified. In high school I ate well and worked out, yet I was stuck at 145 pounds. I got a little older and got up to 165. I stayed there for two years, even though I continued to train hard, and I assumed that was my limit. Then I surged to 185. Again I stayed there for years despite hard training, good eating habits and supplement use, and I felt that was my limit. But I’ve gotten up to 215 and was just as lean as when I was 165, so again I’ve gained after years of nothing. Had I listened to Mentzer when I was 21, I would have considered my potential to be 185 pounds and cut my training back to one set of squats and incline presses every nine days, and I never would have gotten any larger. There’s an upper limit of size, but I don’t think it can be measured by any normal means—certainly not in a matter of a year.

A third flaw in Mentzer’s theory is the lack of variety in the exercises he recommends. We know compound exercises work, but we also know that the human body is very complex.

Heavy Duty is supposed to be a program for bodybuilders, yet it lacks the variety needed to adequately train the whole body from all angles. Mentzer’s regimen is more of a strengthtraining program, but bodybuilders need the multiangle approach.

A final problem with Heavy Duty training is the attack on volume. To Mentzer, volume training is a sin. But let’s look at it in the context of one of Mentzer’s favorite analogies: the

Is Mentzer’s method flawed?

process of suntanning. He points out that tanning is an expression of the general adaptation syndrome developed by Hans Selye and that the stimulus of the sun triggers the response of the tan, just as the stimulus of training triggers muscle growth. While that’s a great analogy, he leaves it at that and doesn’t bother mentioning that there are different ways of getting a tan.

I liken Heavy Duty training to using a tanning bed—you go for short, intense bouts of radiation HARDGAINER HINTS and then go back in a few days. That gives most people a tan. Then there are outdoor athletes like surfers and lifeguards, who don’t get that style of radiation exposure yet also have dark tans. They’re in the sun all day long and protect themselves by While hardgainers can benefit from abbreviusing sunscreen. Well, being in the sun all day is ated routines, they also need phases of volsimilar to high-volume training and the use of sunume-oriented training to improve their screen is similar to lowering the intensity. So putting neuromuscular efficiency [the nerve-to-muscle the two together gives you low-intensity, highconnections], as doing more sets conditions volume training. Does it work? How many pale the body to fire more fibers. Remember, there’s surfers have you seen? They don’t get horribly nothing you can do to alter fiber density [the burned (overtrained); they just get tan. percentage of a specific fiber type in a muscle], As tanning and training are both responses to but you can significantly improve your neuromuscular efficiency. In stressors, training would have to follow the same other words, stints of medium-intensity volume training—along with principles as tanning, and low-intensity, high-voltraining a muscle through its full range of motion [with Positions of ume training would have to build muscle. Mentzer Flexion]—will help make your muscles more responsive to short, highstated that they work on the same adaptation intensity workouts. principles. By that logic he’d have to admit there’s —Steve Holman no “one true method” to training.

—Colin A. Eliot Hardgainer Size Surge Neveux \ Model: Steve Holman

Volume vs. Intensity

42 FEBRUARY 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Love-Handle Loathing

right. Here are a few tips: •Gradually reduce your calories. Start at 3,500 per day in the winter, and move down to around 2,000 over the course of three months.

Q: I’m 52 and have worked out on and off since I was a teen. Every time I try to put on mass, it all goes to my midsection. My arms and chest seem to show only small amounts of growth, but my shoulders gain size a little more easily. I’ve been working out seriously five days a week for the past seven months and have lost a lot of bodyfat. I have about 200 pounds of solid muscle on my 225-pound frame. My midsection started at 45 inches, went down to 37 and then blew back up to 41 when I tried to add some muscle size. The results are always the same, whether I’m eating 2,000 calories a day or 4,000.

Help!

A: I’ve noticed that as I’ve gotten older (45), it’s become much harder to lose bodyfat, especially around my midsection. That’s the last place it leaves. Since our metabolisms have slowed, it’s most important for us to do everything

•Weight training is the best metabolic stimulator, so training five days a week is best. In the winter, however, you may want to reduce it to three or four so you’re sure to recover optimally and build more muscle while you have a calorie surplus. (The more muscle you can build, the more calories your body burns at rest.)

•Be sure you’re eating six times a day, small meals with about 20 grams of protein in each one.

•In the spring gradually ramp up your cardio. I like walking. I start at one day a week, running or walking about 1 1/2 miles. By the time summer arrives, I’m walking or running about 2 1/2 miles four or five days a week.

•When your calories get to around 2,500, be sure to increase your carb intake one day a week . That helps keep leptin levels stable so you continue to burn fat and don’t get uncontrollable cravings. For example, I like to up my carbs slightly on Wednesday, then up them even more on one weekend day, usually Sunday. (There’s more on leptin and proper ripping cycles in Fat to Muscle 2 and the new e-book X-treme Lean, available at www .x-rep.com.)

Q: I’m currently taking a week off from training before I start one of the X-Rep programs in The Ultimate Mass Workout e-book [www.x-rep.com].

I’m a little confused as to which one may be the best for me at this stage. Here’s my situation: For five months I was on [another] program, but I lost a lot of muscle size. I stopped that and started training each bodypart heavy twice a week, working out six days a week with the seventh day off.

I’ve been growing a little, but it’s been slow—I’m sure I’m overtraining. I’m 38 years old and weigh 185, and I’d describe myself as a cross between an ectomorph [thin] and a mesomorph [athletic/muscular]. So which of the three Basic Ultimate Mass Workouts should I use? I want to start with one of the basic workouts because I really like the idea of using only the single best exercise for each bodypart with X Reps.

A: Considering your experience (you’re definitely not a beginner) and your body type, I think you should start with the Basic Ultimate Mass Workout 3: Split Version. It’s a four-days-a-week routine and should give you some great gains considering what you’ve been doing. [For more insight on program choice, see X Q&A at www.x-rep.com.]

One other thing: If you have a bodyAttaining a ripped midsection gets harder and harder as you get older. The part that doesn’t respond well or that love handles, or oblique-area fat deposits, are usually the last to go. you simply would like to specialize on

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Critical Mass hour before. You can also bump up the amount of cardio you do to 45 minutes; just don’t make it very intense. If you can’t carry on a conversation during your cardio, you’re probably working too hard and dipping into muscle glycogen stores rather than bodyfat.

Keep in mind that cardio isn’t only for burning bodyfat during the activity. It also creates an overall calorie deficit, which forces your body to burn bodyfat for daily energy needs.

Q: How can you mimic full-range abdominal work without an Ab Bench?

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Steve Holman ironchief@aol.com

Neveux

Neveux \ Model: Darrell Terrell

A: You can do full-range crunches on a bench-press bench. Lie with your head at the end opposite the uprights so that your upper back hangs off the end. Have a bar across the uprights and put your feet up on it. Now you can crunch from a stretch position and curl up to a complete contraction.

Another option is cable crunches. Place a low preacher bench facing away from a high cable. Sit on the preacher bench facing away from the cable setup, hold the cable handle behind your head—or, if you use a rope, hold it on your upper chest—and use the preacher pad as low-back support so you can arch back If you’re using one of the Basic Ultimate Mass Workouts, which are over it prior to each crunch. dominated by compound exercises, it’s okay to add an isolation Those exercises aren’t quite as effective as an movement for stubborn bodyparts.

Ab Bench because they aren’t as comfortable, and adding weight is more difficult. If you keep your form immaculate, though, you can still get efficient (like arms), you can add a set of an isolation exercise after full-range ab work with them. the compound movement. For example, you can do a set of concentration curls after undergrip chins for biceps and Q: The left side of my body is weaker and smaller pushdowns after dips for triceps. Use the X-Rep protocol— than my right. What should I do so my left side can end-of-set power partials—suggested for those exercises as reach the size and strength of my right side? well as on the “ultimate” exercises in the program.

A: Everyone has that problem to a degree. Even Arnold’s Q: I got Fat to Muscle 2, and the training rouright biceps was much more pronounced than his left, tines are great. I can easily modify them. My queswhich is why he always favored his right arm in arm poses. tion is about cardio. Currently I do four 30-minute If your problem is severe, you can do one-arm and onesessions, one on Saturday, one on Sunday and a leg work, an extra set for each bodypart. For example, onesession on each of my leg days. Everyone I talk to arm dumbbell rows for your less-dominant side and says I should increase the number of minutes so I one-leg leg presses, leg curls, extensions and so on. can get into burning bodyfat for energy. Should I do If you keep training hard and maintain good form, your longer sessions? body should get more balanced, even if you don’t include the single-appendage work.

A: A lot of studies say that fat burning during cardio doesn’t begin till about 30 minutes in; however, you can speed that up by 1) not eating any carbs a few hours prior New! The sharp black POF T-shirt with the original to your session (have a small protein shake about an hour classic logo emblazoned in gold can give you that musbefore to prevent muscle breakdown); 2) having a cup of cular look you’re after. See page 179 for details. coffee before (or something else that contains about 100 milligrams of caffeine), as caffeine increases the use of fat Editor’s note: Steve Holsubstrates for energy; 3) doing your cardio after a weightman is the author of a numtraining workout, as the lifting will deplete your bloodber of bodybuilding stream of glucose and prime your body to shift to fat for best-sellers, including Train, energy during the low-intensity cardio that follows.

Eat, Grow: The Positions-ofYou say you do cardio on leg days. New research suggests Flexion Muscle-Training that’s not a good idea because it can interrupt leg-muscle Manual. For information on recovery if you do it after your workout. A better plan is to the POF videos and Size Surge do it on the same day, but do it at low intensity before the programs, see page 113. For workout as a warmup. Or you can do it after if you wait at information on Train, Eat, least 30 minutes—later in the day would be even better.

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EAT TO ANABOLIC DRIVE

Grapes, Cortisol and Sex Everyone wants to get lean— except sumo wrestlers and maybe those guys with the big beer guts who take their shirts off in the middle of college football games and yell their team’s fight song. So here’s a tale of two ways to lose fat. The supporting characters are grapes and cortisol. (You can probably guess which is the villain.)

Is cortisol related to fatness?

We do know this: Insulin resistance occurs both in obesity and

in Cushing’s syndrome, which would indicate that cortisol plays a role in insulin-resistant obese people.

One study showed that cortisol was moderately increased in insulinresistant obese children and related to insulin resistance. If the subjects lost bodyweight, that led to a decrease in cortisol and insulin resistance. What’s more, a greater rise in cortisol immediately after awakening may be an indicator that a person has an increased risk of developing seri-

There’s a fat-loss tie-in there somewhere

ous diseases. It might also cause him or her to have greater bodyfat levels.

Well, if cortisol truly is related to bodyfat—meaning, the more you have, the fatter the gut—then maybe the solution is to have sex! Yes, sex to lose weight. Okay, you’re thinking I’m off my rocker, and maybe I am. But if science is your deity, check out this study. Researchers looked at the relationship between age of first sexual intercourse and salivary cortisol stress reactivity in healthy subjects (43 females and 36 males, aged 19 to 38). According to the study summary, “Women reporting earlier first intercourse had less intense cortisol increases in response to the stressor (a nonsignificant trend was observed for males) and faster recovery from the stressor.”

So in English that means if you’d lost your virginity earlier, you’d be less stressed, and that might show up as a lesser cortisol response to stress.

Not that I’m suggesting that the next weight-loss secret is sex at a young age.

Something that does have promise is grapeseed extract, an amazing compound that has been shown to increase bone quality and strength. It also possesses strong antioxidant properties, protects against ischemic neuronal damage in the brain by inhibiting attacks on DNA there and may have anti-cancer effects.

Even more exciting is the potential for grapeseed extract to promote fat loss. There’s evidence that it stimu-

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AMINO AMMO

Protein: More or Less?

lates lipolysis, or fat breakdown, in test tubes and reduces food intake in rats.

What about humans? In a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind crossover study, 51 subjects (aged 18 to 65 years old) ate their choice of lunch and dinner in the university restaurant for three days. The subjects got standard breakfasts and snacks and took the grapeseed extract supplement (or placebo) 30 to 60 minutes before each meal.

Results? Grapeseed reduced 24hour energy intake. So according to these science types, in normal to overweight people on unrestricted diets, grapeseed could “play a significant role in bodyweight management.”

So what’s the next big thing for losing bodyweight? Take a grapeseedextract pill and hop in the sack with your girlfriend, wife or both.

—Jose Antonio, Ph.D.

Neveux \ Model: Marvin Montoya

More sex, less stress?

Researchers from McMaster University in Canada examined the protein intake needs of those engaged in resistance training.1 The subjects were eight young men (average age 22), all of whom trained with weights five days a week for 12 weeks. The men underwent various body-composition and biochemical testing throughout the study. At Resistance the end of the study training their bench press makes your strength increased by body more 40 percent; leg press proteinefficient. strength increased by 50 percent. Fat-free mass increased in all subjects. Their protein intake remained constant throughout the study, although their total calorie intake increased.

The study showed that resistance training led to a decrease in whole-body protein turnover, with reductions in both protein synthesis and protein breakdown—but with an improved net protein balance, favoring anabolic effects in muscle.

The increase in protein balance fosters a decrease in dietary protein intake, according to the authors. In short, as you train, your body becomes more efficient at using and conserving protein.

[Note: For information on preventing protein waste, see page 56.]

—Jerry Brainum 1 Hartman, J.W., et al. (2004). Resistance training reduces protein turnover and improves net protein utilization in young males. (Presented at Experimental Biology 2004, April 2004, in Washington, D.C.)

www.ironmanmagazine.com \ FEBRUARY 2005 55

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LIFT BIG TO GET BIG Build Incredible Pressing Power and Bulletproof Shoulders Unfortunately, shoulder injury is one of the major reasons trainees have to sacrifice gains on many of the most important strength- and mass-building exercises— from bench presses to chins to pulldowns. You’ll be amazed at how much better your shoulders feel and how much more weight you can hoist once you start training your rotator cuff muscles regularly and properly with the powerful info in The 7Minute Rotator Cuff Solution.

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RECOVER RX

Glutamine for Grow Power?

Is the amino acid a good supplement for athletes?

Studies of hospital patients show that glutamine is useful for countering the catabolic state that leads to loss of lean tissue, mainly muscle. Although glutamine is synthesized in the body from other amino acids, such as the branchedchain aminos, sick people may not be able to produce enough glutamine, so it makes sense to give them the amino acid.

The picture isn’t as clear with healthy, young, active people. Some studies show that glutamine may offset some aspects of overtraining. Specifically, overtraining leads to a blunting of immune response, which predisposes people to getting sick if they’re exposed to disease-causing organisms. Since some immune cells use glutamine as a primary fuel source, glutamine may improve immune response by providing energy to immune cells.

Still, glutamine’s true effect on those who exercise is subject to debate.

Research presented last year at a meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine examined whether it aids exercise recovery.1 Twelve men, aged 19 to 30, engaged in cycling routines with varying intensity levels during the sixday study. One group received a carbohydrate drink that contained 0.3 grams of L-glutamine per kilogram of bodyweight, while the other group got a straight carbohydrate drink.

Those drinking the glutamine withstood exhaustion significantly longer than those who drank the carb-only beverage. The authors suggest that glutamine does indeed appear to aid recovery from exhaustive exercise.

—Jerry Brainum 1 Piattoly,

T., et al. (2004). L-glutamine supplementation: effects on recovery from exercise. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 36:(Supp)S127.

You see it all the time if you attend bodybuilding shows, especially the bigger ones like the Arnold or Olympia.

A good percentage of the guys (and some girls too) look downright overweight. If you were to ask them, most would readily admit they’re in a “bulking” phase, with adding muscular bodyweight the priority. I know because I’ve been there, done that.

At last year’s Olympia I was trolling the expo halls at 240, with the beginnings of a double chin and an ass so big I could have been smuggling two toddlers in the back of my jeans. My mistake was in thinking that bulking up was a free pass to eat anything I wanted, including the worst kinds of junk— pizza, fried foods, ice cream, sugary cereals and muffins. As a result, much of the weight I gained was not muscle at all but plain old lard. I realized that when I dieted down for a contest and all the muscle I thought I’d built wasn’t there.

Since then I’ve resolved to keep junk food to very occasional treats, whether I’m leaning down or bulking up. Arnold used to say that if you could no longer see your serratus, you were no longer a bodybuilder, and that makes a lot of sense. Junk food has no place in the nutrition plan of a serious bodybuilder. Just eat more clean food when you want to add quality muscular bodyweight.

One last thing: Don’t get caught up in seeing numbers on the scale.

Our sport is based entirely on appearance, so weighing 210 and looking lean is always more impressive than being a 240-pound slob without a hint of a cut to be found.

—Ron Harris Editor’s note: Check out Ron Harris’ Web site, www .ronharrismuscle.com.

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KNOWLEDGE IS POWER The Best of Bodybuilding in the 20th Century Here in one definitive, information-packed volume, you have the best that IRON MAN has to offer. The articles and photos reprinted in IRON MAN’s Ultimate Bodybuilding 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.

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Eat to Grow FAT BURN

Can Soy Mess Up Metabolism?

How soy affects thyroid function in men One frequent criticism of soy products is that they interfere with thyroid function. Isoflavones, which are found in soy, are known to adversely affect thyroid-gland function in animals by inhibiting an important enzyme called thyroid peroxidase. Researchers from Canada and Seattle teamed to explore the effects of soy intake on thyroid functioning in young men.1 Thirty-five healthy men, average age 27, supplemented their diets with one of the following: 1) Milk protein isolate 2) Low-isoflavone soy protein isolate 3) High-isoflavone soy protein isolate They used the supplements for 57 days, separated by four-week washout periods when they took no supplements. The results: None of the soy-based supplements had any adverse effect on any measure of thyroid hormone activity.

—Jerry Brainum 1 Dillingham, B.L., et al. (2004). Soy isoflavone consumption does not influence serum thyroid hormones in young men. (Presented at Experimental Biology 2004, April 2004, in Washington, D.C.)

Research shows soy has no negative effect on thyroid function.

LIBATIONS

Beer and Your Bones According to the September issue of Bottom Line Health, “Dietary silicon, found in whole grains and their products, like beer, reduces bone loss and promotes bone formation.” Beer is mentioned because it’s an especially good source that’s readily absorbed.

Hmm. Maybe that’s why so many beer drinkers look big boned.

—Becky Holman

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Eat to Grow MINERALS

Selenium Sabotage Selenium is a trace mineral and antioxidant that’s a popular supplement, but some studies have found that increasing selenium intake to five times the recommended allowance, which is 55 micrograms, led to a modest weight gain in men. A new study shows that the effect likely stems from selenium’s role in thyroid hormone metabolism.1 Selenium promotes the activity of enzymes called deiodinases, which convert the relatively inactive T4 thyroid hormone into the five times more active T3 form. In the study men living in a metabolic ward for four months were given foods either naturally high or low in selenium. During the initial 21 days all the subjects got 47 micrograms a day of selenium, or just below the minimum suggested intake of 55 micrograms. After that the men were divided into two groups, with one group getting only 14 micrograms of selenium a day and the others getting a whopping 297 micrograms. That part of the experiment lasted 99 days.

At the 45-day mark those in the low-selenium group showed a 14 percent increase in T3, while those in the highselenium group experienced a 23 percent drop. The men in the high-selenium group also showed an increase in thyroidstimulating hormone (TSH), which is secreted by the pituitary gland in the brain and controls thyroid output. The TSH increased in the high-selenium group because the body was attempting to compensate for the lower T3 levels.

By the 64th day the men in the high-selenium group began

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Mind Grind

Can too much of a good mineral derail weight loss?

to gain weight, while those in the low-selenium group lost it. The authors suggest that the highselenium group had a subclinical hypothyroid, or low thyroid, which explained the weight gain. Just the opposite occurred in the men in the low-selenium group, who showed increases in blood fat and loss of bodyfat, pointing to hyperthyroidism, or thyroid-gland overactivity. Despite the rise in thyroid activity, none of the men in the low-selenium group lost any lean tissue, or muscle, which often accompanies an elevated thyroid state.

One question not answered in the study was why selenium has these effects on thyroid metabolism. It may be that while a certain amount of selenium activates the deiodinase enzymes, past a certain point the mineral may have a paradoxical, inhibiting, effect. Hydrogen peroxidase is required for thyroid hormone synthesis, and it may be that selenium neutralizes the hydrogen peroxide found in the gland as part of glutathione peroxidase, which would interfere with thyroid hormone production. That effect, by the way, is one of the positive features of free radicals, along with helping immune cells kill invading organisms. It’s a type of “smart bomb.”

Does that mean you should limit selenium intake as a means of promoting thyroid activity? The researchers suggest that eventually the body adjusts to the increased selenium intake and that thyroid hormone levels return to normal. I can attest to that, since I’ve taken at least 500 micrograms of selenium daily for more than a decade yet have never shown any low thyroid lab values.

Considering the vital role that selenium plays in preventing the onset of the major killers cancer and cardiovascular disease, it would be sheer folly to limit selenium intake as a means of promoting thyroid activity.

On the other hand, since taking more than 1,000 micrograms daily over an extended time can prove toxic, leading to such unpleasant effects as garlic breath and loss of nails and hair, it’s prudent to monitor your doses of this trace mineral.

—Jerry Brainum

According to the September issue of Bottom Line Health, “For reasons that are not completely understood, drinking 24 or more ounces (three eight-ounce cups) of coffee daily decreases the risk for Parkinson’s disease by about 40 percent and the risk for Alzheimer’s disease by about 20 percent.”

You’ll be mentally charged to think of more stuff to do, and sleeping won’t be one of them.

—Becky Holman

1 Hawkes, W.C., et al. (2003).

Dietary selenium intake modulates thyroid hormone and energy metabolism in men. J Nutr.

133:3443-3448.

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Eat to Grow SUPPLEMENT SCIENCE

Get Lean With L-Carnitine?

Is it a useful fat-burning supplement?

L-carnitine is classified as an amino Without carnitine, fats acid by-product because it can be syncannot enter the cell thesized in the body if certain nutrients to be oxidized. are present. The primary aminos needed are lysine and methionine, although several other nutrients, including vitamin C and iron, are also required.

The primary function of carnitine is to help ferry long-chain fatty acids into the portion of the cell called mitochondria.

Once in the mitochondria, fats are oxidized in a process known as beta-oxidation. Without carnitine, fats cannot enter the cell, and so no fat can be oxidized, or burned. That explains carnitine’s reputation as a fat-burner supplement.

The problem with advocating carnitine as a fat burner is that most people synthesize enough of it in their bodies to support fat oxidation, and obese people tend to produce even higher levels of carnitine than their leaner peers. That’s likely because of an obese person’s need to process more fat.

Carnitine was first discovered in meat extracts in 1905. It’s stored mainly in muscle, which has 50 to 200 times more carnitine than blood plasma has. The best dietary sources of carnitine are meat and dairy foods. Losses of carnitine in urine and bile average 60 milligrams a day and drop to less than 20 milligrams when people don’t eat any meat or dairy foods. Some evidence shows that choline, similar in chemical structure to carnitine, appears to help conserve it in the body.

Whether supplemental carnitine actually helps increase fat oxidation is a matter of debate, but the promoted by carnitine in muscle cells. Carnitine also helps to nutrient has other, lesser decrease the effects of free radicals, by-products of oxygen known, features that can metabolism that induce muscle inflammation and delay full improve training efficiency.1 muscular recovery.

Hard training tends to temporarily depress the immune Carnitine helps decrease system. When that occurs, you’re more vulnerable to infeclactate levels during intense tion. Carnitine appears to help stabilize and promote immuneexercise, which may lead to system competence after training. It also helps promote the less fatigue and greater development of new red blood cells, which increases oxygen endurance. Several studies delivery to muscles. have shown that carnitine The lethal dose of carnitine is about 630 grams a day, but promotes recovery after the chances of anyone’s taking so much is remote. You can intense training. Subjects get diarrhea from taking a dose of six grams. A reasonable who took three grams of daily intake of carnitine is two to four grams in divided doses. carnitine daily for three Taking two grams after a workout will aid recovery and help weeks experienced less prevent excessive muscle soreness. muscle soreness following —Jerry Brainum training and lower levels of a muscle enzyme associated 1 Karlic, H., et al. (2004). Supplementation of L-carnitine in with muscle damage. The effect is thought to occur athletes: does it make sense? Nutrition. 20:709-15. through increased cellular membrane stabilization

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GROW Muscle-Training Program 64

From the IRON MAN Training & Research Center

by Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson • Photography by Michael Neveux keep gains coming.) Our quads, for instance, were doing fine, but delts, one of our weakest bodyparts, were flattening out. Panic set in because when our delts begin to shrink, we start looking narrow. We had to do something quick. The answer: semidirect work.

Okay, we call it semidirect, but what weÕre doing is simply adding isolation work for the bodypart that gets an indirect hit. We outline the semidirect strategy in The Ultimate Mass Workout e-book, so what it boils down to is that weÕre taking our own advice. (Sometimes weÕre not too good at thatÑlike when we should be backing off the intensity every few months.) WeÕre already seeing significant improvements in our weak areas thanks to semidirect salvation.

For a specific example, letÕs stay with delts, which we train indirectly with upper traps. The old routine was

as follows: Cable upright rows Barbell shrugs

1 x 8-10 1 x 8-10

Okay, so we may have been a little delusional to think that one set of delt work was going to keep our medialhead mass moving along till our next direct shoulder workout; however, keep in mind that we included heavy X-Rep power partials at the end of that one set of upright rows. We thought the higher intensity, even though it was just on one set, would be enough. It wasnÕt (sorry, Mike Mentzer). HereÕs our new directtrap/indirect-delt workout: Superset Cable upright rows Barbell shrugs Superset Forward-lean laterals (drop set) Rack pulls

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1 x 8-10 1 x 8-10

1 x 8(6) 1 x 8-10

Model: Steve Holman \ Equipment: Powertec power rack, 1-800-447-0008

ast month we outlined our new direct/indirect split, a great recovery-oriented routine that weÕve built mass with in the past. If you missed it, that routine has you train a bodypart directly, and then a few days later you work it indirectly when you train another bodypart. For example, you train delts and incorporate upright rows for indirect trap work (actually, laterals and presses hit traps too). When you train traps a few days later, you use upright rows as one of the exercises again, perhaps with a closer grip, to get indirect delt work.

After using it for a few weeks, we realized that the routine, as we laid it out last month, required modification.

The mirror screamed that at us about two weeks in, when we saw some bodyparts responding and some going downhill. (Always pay attention to Mr. Mirror and make adjustmentsÑ to your routine, not the mirrorÑto

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That second superset is the semidirect work. (We know: It looks pretty damned direct, but humor us in our semantic spin on program design.)

Here are the changes we made for most bodyparts: 1) Added a drop set of an isolation exercise—like laterals—to indirect day.

2) Removed isolation work from direct day.

3) Added an extra set of compound-movement work on direct day—for example, three sets of upright rows, the leadoff exercise for delts, instead of two. We do only one X-Rep set, however.

That may sound complicated, but you’ll understand it better when you take a look at the program on page 70.

We admit that delts are a special case because they are particularly stubborn for us, so we break the rules there. As you see above, on indirect day we do a drop set on an isolation exercise, forward-lean laterals, but we intensify it by supersetting the laterals with a heavy compound move, rack pulls. If we were following the rules, we’d only do the drop set of laterals so that the indirect delt hit would only include the upright rows, with X Reps, and the laterals, with a drop set (as in the home-gym routine on page 74). For example, we followed the rules on chest, moving cable flyes to the end of our triceps workout, which is indirect-pec day. (Whew!)

We continue to break the rules on direct delt day by including some isolation work.

Once again, that’s not the case for most bodyparts, like quads. We moved leg extensions from direct day to indirect day, which is the hamstrings workout. The

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It’s a big blast of workout information, motivation and muscle-building science in your e-mail box every week—and it’s all free! Tons of practical training tips, analysis and size tactics are jam-packed into this e-zine from the IRON MAN Training & Research Center, where there’s more than 50 years of training experience to get you growing fast! Here are a few of the latest editions’ titles (online now):

Train, Eat, Grow /Program

same goes for leg curls—we do them only on indirect hamstring day—at the end of our quad routine. Yes, it’s weird doing extensions after hamstrings and leg curls after quads, but it’s working—probably because we’re getting better, more frequent bodypart hits now.

Back to delts and rack pulls: We discovered the pulls when we were trying to determine the best point in the stroke of upright rows for doing X Reps. We knew it had to be near the bottom, as that’s where max-force generation occurs, so we figured, Why not try heavy partials

in that range? Rack pulls filled the bill.

We load up an Olympic bar, which is set at upper-thigh height in the power rack. With a slightly wider-than-shoulder-width grip and a slight forward lean, we pull the bar up (continued on page 74)

IRON MAN Training & Research Center Muscle-Training Program 64 Workout 1: Delts (indirect trap hit), Triceps (indirect chest hit), Biceps (indirect lat hit), Forearms Dumbbell upright rows Superset Dumbbell upright rows Rack pulls Dumbbell W presses Standing Smith-machine presses (X only) Superset Incline one-arm laterals One-arm cable laterals Bent-arm bent-over laterals (drop set) Superset Lying extensions Shoulder-width-grip bench presses Superset Overhead cable extensions (drop set) Bench dips (stage set) High-low cable flyes (drop set) Preacher curls Superset Preacher curls Undergrip cable rows Concentration curls (drop set) One-arm spider curls Machine pullovers (drop set) Tri-set Incline reverse wrist curls Forearm bar (overgrip) Dumbbell reverse wrist curls Tri-set Incline wrist curls Forearm bar (undergrip) Dumbbell wrist curls

1 x 8-10 2 x 8-10 2 x 8-10 1 x 8-10 1 x 5-7 1x8 1x8 1 x 8(6) 2 x 8-10 2 x 8-10 1 x 8(6) 1 x 8-10 1 x 8(6) 1 x 8-10 1 x 8-10 1 x 8-10 1 x 8(6) 1 x 8-10 1 x 8(6) 1 x 12 1x8 1x6 1 x 12 1x8 1x6

Workout 2: Quads (indirect hamstring hit), Gastrocs (indirect soleus hit), Upper Abs (indirect lower-abs hit), Lower Back Hack squats (nonlocking) Feet-forward Smith-machine squats Leg presses Sissy squats Leg curls (drop set) Leg press calf raises Hack-machine calf raises (drop set) Machine donkey calf raises Seated calf raises (drop set) Superset Ab Bench crunches (drop set) Twisting crunches

3 x 8-10 1 x 8-10 1 x 10-12 1 x 8-10 1 x 10(6) 2 x 20, 15 1 x 12(8) 1 x 10-12 1 x 12(8) 1 x 8(6) 1 x 10

Superset Incline kneeups Bench V-ups Low-back machine

1 x max 1 x max 1 x 8-12

Workout 3: Chest (indirect triceps hit), Lats (indirect biceps hit), Upper Traps (indirect delt hit), Brachialis (indirect biceps/forearm hit) Smith-machine incline presses Wide-grip dips (third set is a drop set) Superset Flat-bench flyes Dumbbell bench presses (X only) Pushdowns (drop set) Pulldowns Undergrip rows Superset Cable upright rows Rack shrugs Superset Forward-lean laterals (drop set) Rack pulls Superset Incline hammer curls Rope hammer curls Cable curls (drop set) Forearm bar (undergrip) Forearm bar (overgrip)

3 x 8-10 3 x 8-10(6) 1 x 8-10 1 x 8-10 1 x 8(6) 3 x 8-10 3 x 8-10 1 x 8-10 1 x 8-10 1 x 8(6) 1 x 8-10 1 x 8-10 1 x 8-10 1 x 8(6) 1 x 10 1 x 10

Workout 4: Hamstrings (indirect quad and lower-back hit), Midback, Rear Delts, Soleus (indirect calf hit), Lower Abs (indirect upper-abs hit) High, wide hack squats Stiff-legged deadlifts Hyperextensions (drop set) Leg extensions (drop set) Machine rows Behind-the-neck pulldowns Superset Bent-over laterals Stiff-arm kickbacks Seated calf raises Superset Seated calf raises Machine donkey calf raises Hanging kneeups Superset Hanging kneeups Incline kneeups Ab Bench crunches Bench V-ups

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2 x 8-10 3 x 8-10 1 x 8(6) 1 x 10(6) 3 x 8-10 1 x 10 1 x 8-10 1 x 8-10 1 x 10-12 1 x 10-12 1 x 10-12 1 x 15 1 x 10-12 1 x 8-10 1 x 10-12 1 x 10-12

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Train, Eat, Grow /Program

(continued from page 70) just past navel level. These are like exaggerated X Reps, so they give our delts a killer jolt. We include them on both direct and indirect days.

And while we’re on the subject of exaggerated X Reps, we also made a

change in the way we perform stifflegged deadlifts. We’ve both had back problems in the past (probably from squatting with 500 pounds years ago—idiots!), so stiff-legged deadlifts often make us pee with fright. Okay, we’re overstating the

reaction, but you get the idea. After thinking about it—and analyzing X Reps and the importance of stretchposition overload—we thought, “Hey, why not lighten the weight somewhat and just do the bottom two-thirds of the stroke on stiff-

ITRC Program 64, Home-Gym Routine: Monday Through Friday Workout 1: Delts (indirect upper-trap hit), Triceps (indirect chest hit), Biceps (indirect lat hit), Forearms Dumbbell upright rows or rack pulls Dumbbell W presses Incline one-arm laterals (drop set) Bent-arm bent-over laterals (drop set) Superset Lying extensions Shoulder-width-grip bench presses Superset Overhead extensions (drop set) Bench dips Flat-bench flyes (drop set) Superset Preacher curls Undergrip rows Concentration curls (drop set) One-arm spider curls Dumbbell pullovers (drop set) Superset Incline reverse wrist curls Dumbbell reverse wrist curls Forearm rockers (out only) Superset Incline wrist curls Dumbbell wrist curls Forearm rockers (in only)

3 x 8-10 2 x 8-10 1 x 8(6) 1 x 8(6) 2 x 8-10 2 x 8-10 1 x 8(6) 1 x 8-10 1 x 8(6) 1 x 8-10 1 x 8-10 1 x 8(6) 1 x 8-10 1 x 8(6) 1 x 12 1 x 10 1 x max 1 x 12 1 x 10 1 x max

Workout 2: Quads (indirect hamstring hit), Gastrocs (indirect soleus hit), Upper Abs (indirect lower-abs hit), Lower Back Old-style hack squats (nonlocking) 3 x 8-10 Squats 1 x 8-10 Lunges (one leg at a time) 1 x 8-10 Leg curls (drop set) 1 x 8(6) Donkey calf raises 2 x 20, 15 One-leg calf raises (drop set) 2 x 12(8) Seated calf raises (drop set) 1 x 10(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

3 x 8-10

Wide-grip dips or decline dumbbell presses (third set is a set drop set) Superset Flat-bench flyes Dumbbell bench presses Kickbacks (drop set) Pulldowns or chins Undergrip rows Superset Close-grip upright rows Rack shrugs Lateral raises (drop set) Superset Incline hammer curls Hammer curls Barbell or dumbbell curls (drop set) Reverse wrist curls (drop set) Wrist curls (drop set)

3 x 8-10(6) 1 x 8-10 1 x 8-10 1 x 8(6) 3 x 8-10 3 x 8-10 1 x 8-10 1 x 8-10 1 x 8(6) 1 x 8-10 1 x 8-10 1 x 8(6) 1 x 10(6) 1 x 10(6)

Workout 4: Hamstrings (indirect quad and lower-back hit), Midback, Rear Delts, Soleus (indirect calf hit), Lower Abs (indirect upper-abs hit) Wide-stance old-style hack squats Stiff-legged deadlifts Hyperextensions (drop set) Leg extensions or old-style hack squats with a squeeze at the top (drop set) Bent-over rows Bent-over laterals (drop set) Seated calf raises Superset Seated calf raises Machine donkey calf raises Hanging kneeups Superset Hanging kneeups Incline kneeups Ab Bench crunches or full-range crunches Bench V-ups

2 x 8-10 3 x 8-10 1 x 8(6) 1 x 8(6) 3 x 8-10 1 x 8(6) 1 x 10 1 x 10-12 1 x 10-12 1 x 15 1 x 10-12 1 x 8-10 1 x 10-12 1 x 10-12

Note: Train Monday through Friday, following the sequence of workouts as listed. Also, it’s best to have a selectorized dumbbell set, such as the PowerBlock, if you don’t have a rack of fixed dumbbells of various weights. If you don’t have a leg extension machine, do old-style hacks with a twosecond contraction at the top of each rep instead. Use partner resistance, towel around the ankles, if you don’t have a leg curl machine.

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Train, Eat, Grow /Program

legs?” That’s similar to the way Arnold used to do his flyes, a stretch-position exercise for chest.

He’d only do the bottom half or so of the stroke.

We gave it a try, and, oh, what a feeling! Our hamstrings screamed more than ever before due to the constant tension and the stretchoverload attention. They’ve been sore after almost every hamstring workout.

That proved to us one more time the critical importance of stretch overload. In fact, our stiff-leggeddeadlift revelation and its relationship to Arnold and his partial-rep flye technique really got our minds churning. We realized that a lot of past bodybuilders who emphasized stretch overload got incredible mass.

For example, Tom Platz, who had some of the most incredible quads ever, used to do all kinds of wacky

partials near the bottom of his hack squats after he hit failure. Boyer Coe was a fanatic about overloading his calves when they were stretched—or very close to it—and his calves were unbelievable, perhaps the best of his era. And, of course, there’s Arnold, with his partial flyes and impeccable pecs.

Here’s something to really get your thought processes flowing and your excitement growing—not to mention your muscles: Did you know that a study on hyperplasia, or muscle-fiber splitting, showed that it can be caused by stretch overload? Could it be that those legendary bodybuilders got outrageous development in their best bodyparts, at least in part, due to fiber splitting that occurred after they consistently performed workouts that included stretch overload?

Hmm. It’s definitely something to think

about and try in the gym. That may be one of the reasons we made such incredible progress in only one month with X Reps (our before and after photos are posted at www .x-rep.com). As we’ve explained, X Reps emphasize stretch and semistretch overload, which could, according to some scientists, even ignite some hyperplasia. Heck, we’ll take all the new muscle fibers we can get.

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 113. To order the new Positions-of-Flexion training manual Train, Eat, Grow, call (800) 447-0008, visit www.homegym.com, or see the ad below. IM

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Only the Strong Shall Survive

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You Gotta

Overtrain If You Want Big Gains

by Bill Starr - Photography by Michael Neveux vertraining is typically taboo in strengthtraining and bodybuilding circles. When athletes are overtrained, all progress grinds to a halt and they’re much more susceptible to injury. If their program consists of several high-skill movements, such as full snatches or cleans, their form suffers. Pushing the body beyond its limits for an extended period can also lead to many kinds of illnesses.

So why do I say that you gotta overtrain? Insanity in my family history? The fact is, if you’re trying to get stronger, you must extend your workload and intensity. If you always remain in a comfortable range, you may never overtrain, but you won’t gain any significant strength either.

The only way to make your muscles and corresponding attachments—the tendons and ligaments— stronger is to work them harder than before. In other words, you only gain strength when you push your body beyond normal limits. That’s how Lance Armstrong and Michael Phelps are able to perform at such superhuman levels. They can handle more work than their opponents. And that’s what makes superior strength athletes—the ability to do more and more in the weight room and recover from the effort. Recover is the key word there. Unless you can recover sufficiently from your workouts, you’ll fall into the trap called overtraining.

The point here is that it’s okay to be overtrained for a short period. The only real way for you to know that you’re doing too much is to push into uncharted territory. Otherwise, it’s just guesswork. That’s my reason for telling you to overtrain.

The trick to making the process work is to expand your workload continually, push the top-end num-

Model: Lee Priest

O

bers up until you move into a state of overtraining and then pull back. Experience will help you recognize when you’re doing too much, as opposed to other factors that might be influencing your training.

Many athletes believe that they’re overtrained when they’re not. They’re simply tired because they’re not getting the rest they need. That occurs during midterms and finals at every college. Tiredness must be dealt with, of course, although not in the same manner as you’d deal with genuine overtraining. For example, with tired athletes you can simply shift them to a less demanding workout on the days they are dragging or drop all auxiliary exercises for those sessions.

Along the same lines, being stale is also not the same as being overtrained. Those who do the same routine and use the same poundages month after month fall into that category. They lack enthusiasm for their programs and gain very little benefit from the time spent in the weight room, not because they’re doing too much work but because they’re bored with their routines. The obvious remedy to that situation is some type of change.

Another point: Having a couple of crappy sessions back to back doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re overtrained. There may be other factors influencing your training, such as drastic shifts in the weather, low biorhythms or undue stress. Very few things affect athletic performance as much as worrying about a personal problem.

One of my hardest-working football players at Hopkins started regressing on all of his lifts, and his form went from near perfect to terrible. I asked him if he was getting enough rest and eating right. He assured me he was but elaborated no further. From his www.ironmanmagazine.com \ FEBRUARY 2005 79

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Only the Strong Shall Survive

Model: Jammo Nezzar

“How can I tell for sure whether I’m overtrained or just in a temporary rut?” When I was training at York Barbell Club, I learned from a contact I had in the USSR that the European weightlifters were having their blood tested after each day of training to help determine if they were overworking. The test was primarily to show if the lactic acid produced during the workout—or, in some cases, workouts—was being dispelled or was building up in the body. If it was accumulating, changes were made and the workload lowered to prevent overtraining.

Since no one I know has the capacity to test his or her blood after a workout, we have to resort to less-scientific methods to determine whether we might be doing a tad too much. The signs I believe to be valid include inability to rest properly, loss of appetite, lack of energy and a sudden emergence of joint pain. Other signs occur when athletes remain sore after a workout for much longer than normal or are unusually grouchy. Yes, I know that some people are always grouchy, but note that I said unusually so.

For me the very best indicator that I’m doing too much for certain muscles is joint pain, particularly in my upper body, which can’t take nearly as much work as my back and legs. Whenever I get overly ambitious or start experimenting, I end up overworking my shoulders or arms. Those two muscle groups report in quickly, and should I be foolish and ignore the first warning signs, I’m set straight during or immediately after my next session.

Then I’m forced to alter my program drastically. Had I been smart enough to pull back when the pain in my elbows started, I’d have been way ahead. Instead, it takes me three to four weeks to regain my former level of strength due to a setback.

somber mood it was clear that something was amiss that he didn’t want to talk about, so I went to the team captain to find out what was

For me the very best indicator that I’m doing too much for certain muscles is joint pain. going on. “His mother’s dying of cancer,” I was told. I had recently lost my mother and understood the toll it takes on mind and body, especially in a young man. Knowing that exercise was excellent therapy during such a stressful time, I gave him a new program. It still required him to work diligently—but not with heavy weights—and I eliminated all complicated movements.

His training began to improve once again. It wasn’t his physical plant that was overtrained; it was his mental one, and the result was the same.

The question often comes up:

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Only the Strong Shall Survive

As I mentioned, it’s permissible to overtrain a muscle or an area of your body, but you absolutely must not continue to do that when it’s clear that you’re doing more harm than good. That brings me to a point about overtraining that many are unaware of. Just because one bodypart is suffering from being overworked doesn’t mean you’re overtrained. There’s such a thing as localized overtraining. Most weight

trainees do far too much for their upper bodies in the quest for bigger

Just because one bodypart is suffering from being overworked doesn’t mean you’re overtrained.

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Model: Mike Morris \ Equipment: PowerBlock selectorized dumbbells, 1-800-447-0008

You Gotta Overtrain

Keep in mind that the various bodyparts handle stress in different ways.

arms and thicker chests. That frequently results in those bodyparts becoming overtrained. Their legs and back may be fine, however, and they can continue to hit them hard while making the necessary adjustments to their upper-body routine.

If you’re easing up on your upper body, you can spend more energy on other bodyparts, especially those that are relatively weak.

It’s a perfect way to turn a potential negative into a positive. I’ve known some who stopped training altogether because their shoulders and elbows were aching due to all the pressing and specialized triceps work they’d been doing. The result was that they lost all of their hard-earned gains. They missed a golden opportunity to spend that time improving strength in other areas. It’s no different from the strategy of continuing to train while injured.

Working your lower back and legs while you’re mending from a shoulder injury will pay huge dividends in the long run. What you do during those trying periods says a great deal about your overall motivation.

Keep in mind that the various bodyparts handle stress in different ways, and it varies from individual to individual. That’s the reason you should never compare yourself to your training partner just because you’re the same age and size. I’ve always been able to abuse my back and see it respond to the work, but when I attempt to do a similar amount of work with my legs or upper body, I run into trouble.

The key is to pay attention to

Don’t miss workouts because of injury.

surprise and delight, he’d increased his bench and incline by five pounds each. Now he wanted to know how to improve his upperbody workload again without running into trouble.

I advised him to stick with his current routine for another few weeks to, keep accurate records so he could determine exactly how much total work he was doing and then to increase it by only 10 percent a month after that. I’ve received no response yet, but no news is usually good news in regards to training letters.

Those who read my articles know that I took the 10 percent a month idea from distance runners. What mileage is to runners, workload is to weight lifters. Both have to be increased slowly so that the body has ample opportunity to adapt to

the new stress. Any overzealous pursuit of making fast gains invariably leads to overtraining—and the older you are, the truer that is.

Many younger athletes can get

What mileage is to runners, workload is to weight lifters.

Both have to be increased slowly. away with doing too much too fast, but in the end they’ll pay the same price as their older counterparts.

So what’s the best way to edge up the workload without getting stuck in an overtrained state for an extended period? One method I’ve

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You Gotta Overtrain

what you’re doing for the three main parts of your body: shoulder girdle, back and hips and legs That’s one of the reasons I encourage my athletes to keep a written record of what they’re doing each day in the gym. The numbers don’t lie. If you don’t have any hard numbers to look at and rely solely on memory, you’re flying blind.

Recently, an older athlete wrote to me asking if I could look over his program. He believed he needed to make some changes because he had chronic pain in his right shoulder and both elbows. It had gotten so bad that he’d resorted to getting cortisone shots. The trouble was, they only helped for a short time.

Despite the pain, though, he was determined to keep training.

He was my kind of guy, so I examined his workout. It only took a quick glance for me to understand why his shoulder and elbows hurt, but I waited until I did the math before being certain of my conclusions. I found two reasons for his aches: He was doing more work for his upper body than he was for his legs and back combined, and he was using French presses, a snappy triceps movement that’s traumatic to the elbows and, consequently, is one of my taboo exercises.

I wrote to him and suggested that he eliminate French presses forever and do only one primary and one auxiliary exercise for his upper body at each workout for the next three or four weeks. That should allow enough time for the shoulder and elbows to heal, I said. I also told him I thought it would be helpful to add more exercises for his upper back and rear delts. I recommended bent-over rows with dumbbells, high pulls and shrugs. I explained that the traps and rear delts played an important role in every exercise that involves the shoulders, which, of course, includes all pressing movements.

A month later I received another message from him, and he was quite happy with the way things were going. He agreed that the French presses had been the cause of his elbow distress and that the combination of doing less upperbody work and adding those upper back and rear-delt exercises took care of his aching shoulder. To his

Neveux / Model: Humberto Morandell / Markus Reindhart

Only the Strong Shall Survive

Only the Strong Shall Survive

You Gotta Overtrain

Overtraining is a necessity and is only detrimental when you fail to recognize it and continue to pound away.

found to be effective for almost everyone at any strength level is to follow an extremely heavy week with a lighter one. Overtrain for a week, and then pull back. I’ve known a few trainees who kept close track of their workouts and who extended that concept to heavy week, light week and then medium week. It’s not that the exercises you perform in the lighter weeks are less demanding; it’s that the poundages used are considerably lighter and your body can recuperate much more easily than with the heavier loads.

As an example, do push-presses in your heavy week and the following week substitute military presses or dumbbell presses. Another example: do deadlifts during your heavy week, bent-over rows during your light week and so on. In addition, during the lighter week you may want to drop one or two auxiliary movements, especially if you feel the groups they hit are a bit overtrained.

I’ve also had athletes who charted the workload for each of the three major groups. They’d run up the load on only one of them—the shoulder girdle, back or hips and legs—for two or three weeks, then shift the primary emphasis to another area. That’s what most of the

Olympic lifters at York did when I trained there. They’d concentrate on the weakest of the three contested lifts—at that time, the press,

In order to get stronger, you have to increase the amount of physical work you do. It’s a physical law. snatch or clean and jerk—for a period of time while trying to hold their strength levels on the other two. Once that weaker lift had improved, they moved on to the one that needed more attention and in that manner made consistent gains on all their lifts, which meant they improved their totals, the most important number of all in that sport.

In order to get stronger, you have to increase the amount of physical work you do. That’s true from infancy to old age. It’s a physical law that no one has ever found a way around. Even those who tell me that they’re only interested in maintaining the strength they now have still have to work harder every so

often. Otherwise they won’t remain at that same strength level but will fall back.

The bottom line is that there’s no way to know if you’re working a certain muscle group or your entire body too hard unless you actually do so. Overtraining is a necessity and is only detrimental when you fail to recognize that you’ve really reached that state and continue to pound away.

That means you have to listen to your body. It’s trite but true. If your body is sending clear signals that you’re working it too hard, make adjustments. Otherwise, you’ll pay the price for your neglect. When you’re in the process of running up your workload, you can help your cause by making sure you eat plenty of protein, take extra vitamins and minerals and get the rest you need. Those things will aid in the recovery process so you’ll be ready for the next session in the weight room. The rewards are well worth the effort.

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

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Your

Chest Will Never

Grow!

Unless You Follow These 10 Rules for Powerful Pecs

by Ron Harris • Photography by Michael Neveux

Model: Flex Wheeler

W

henever I see a bodybuilder with big arms, big shoulders and a flat chest instead of pectorals that are as thick and full as the rest of his upper body, I find it very disappointing.

Rude bastard that I am, I’ll occasionally ask the guy about it, and usually I hear one of two things. The most common explanation is that he has “tried everything” and “worked the shit out of it,” but it refuses to respond. The other excuse is that he just has bad genetics for building a big chest.

Not that I usually say anything when I hear those excuses, but they’re both a bunch of crap. A lot of bodybuilders confuse hard work with smart work and think

that as long as they’re training hard, they must be training effectively. Not so. As for genetics, only in very rare cases is it a legitimate limiting factor in chest development. It’s true that some men are predisposed to building big, beefy pecs without doing anything special to make it happen, but just about anyone should be able to slap enough meat on either side of his sternum to fill out a T-shirt. I might buy the genetics line when someone is talking about high-inserted calves, but not when it comes to the chest.

Here are my 10 basic rules for developing your chest to its fullest potential. The more of them you violate, the lower your chances of building the best chest possible become. www.ironmanmagazine.com \ FEBRUARY 2005 87

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Your Chest Will Never Grow!

Decline Presses

Rule 2: Make Your Chest Do the Work—Not as Easy as It Sounds.

I used to train with a big guy named Edwin who had these enormous round shoulders and arms. He also could bench-press 405 for eight

reps any old time. Oddly, he had very little thickness in his chest.

Eventually, we figured out that his front delts and triceps were doing almost all the work, which explained how they had grown to such immense proportions and left his pecs in the dust.

What separates genuine bodybuilders from run-of-the-mill weightlifters is their ability to feel the target muscle working during a set, that mind/muscle connection that eludes so many. John Parrillo and Greg Zulak have written extensively over the years about setting up the torso and arms properly to facilitate chest recruitment: Pinch the shoulder blades together, rotate your shoulders back and downward and arch your back slightly. I’ll add that you should do the reps fairly

slowly, close to the old Nautilus guidelines of two seconds up/four seconds down. Using a slower rep speed enables you to focus better on the feeling inside your pecs as you force them to stretch and contract.

You may need to start from scratch with lighter weights to master this feeling, but the weights will come back up soon enough. When they do, your chest will be on the road to magnificence.

Rule 3: Do Free-Weight Presses First.

I believe that a mix of free weights and machines delivers the best overall results when it comes to the chest—and most muscle groups, for that matter. Because you need sig-

Ninth grade is over, and nobody gives a rat’s ass how much you can bench-press. Work your chest, not your ego.

Model: Will Harris

10 Rules for Powerful Pecs

Bench Presses

Use a slower rep cadence so you can feel your pecs working.

Incline Presses

Model: Randi Vogelzand

It’s time to grow up, you knuckleheads. Ninth grade is over, and unless you’re a competitive powerlifter, nobody gives a rat’s ass how much weight you can bench-press.

While it’s a good idea to do sets in the pure strength range of one to five reps occasionally (see rule 8), you should perform most of your work sets with a weight that limits you to six to 12 reps. That means reps you can do on your own. If your so-called spotter is getting a wicked lat pump from doing bent-over rows to help you get the weight up, you’re fooling yourself into thinking that you’re actually bench-pressing. It’s a sign that you need to use less resistance. I’m always far more impressed when I watch a guy bench-press 225 pounds in good form and see his chest do the work than when some nitwit is cheating his ass off and relying on spotters to get a few pathetic reps with 315 or more. Antics like that will ensure that your chest will forever suck.

Perform your free-weight presses first in your routine.

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Model: Milos Sarcev

Rule 1: Swallow Your Pride and Ditch the Megaheavy Weights.

Your Chest Will Never Grow! nificantly more balance and coordination to handle heavy free weights than you need for their machine counterparts, you’re always better off performing your free-weight presses first in your routine. Otherwise, your balance will be off, and you won’t be able to use as much weight on the free-weight movement, regardless of how much strength you actually have left. Your motor control diminishes as the workout goes on, often at a faster rate than the one at which your strength fades. So if you blast out four heavy sets of Hammer Strength machine presses and then proceed to dumbbell incline presses, you’ll find yourself wobbling with the ’bells, a frustrating experience.

Don’t compromise your results by having to use a lot less weight than you should. Just do the free-weight presses first, and then move on to machines.

Rule 4: Avoid Redundancy.

While we’re on the subject of presses, it’s time for a word about redundancy. You should work your chest from a variety of angles, but you should never hit an angle more than once in a single workout. I’ve seen some guys slog through marathon chest workouts of flatbench barbell presses, followed by flat-bench dumbbell presses, followed by inclines done with dumbbells and then in a Smith machine, followed by decline presses, and

Model: Marvin Montoya

Smith Machine Incline Presses

Avoid redundancy.

If you do dumbbell inclines, don’t do barbell inclines at the same workout.

then they finish off with cable crossovers and dips. That violates rule 10, as you’ll shortly see, but more important, it represents wasted effort. Pick one type of flat press, one type of incline press and one flye movement. That should cover all the bases. If you’re specializing on chest or are just having one of those days when you’re fired up and want to do more, throw in a couple sets of decline presses or dips—but that’s it! Work hard on just a few exercises and save the extra energy for growth and recovery. You’ll thank me later.

Rule 5: Always Include a Flye Movement.

Presses are certainly the most important exercises for building chest size, and the majority of your effort on chest day should be devoted to them, but you also need to include a flye. If you don’t, you’ll neglect another function of the pectoralis major muscle, horizontal adduction of the arms, a.k.a. the hugging motion. For years I’ve endured all the nonsense about flyes, machine flyes and cable crossovers being “shaping” or “defining” exercises and watched so many misguided souls perform them with light weights and high reps. Man, are they missing out.

Do your flyes heavy, with weights that limit you to eight to 12 reps.

You can wait until after all your presses are done, or do as I often do and sandwich them between pressing exercises to give your triceps and front delts a few more minutes to recover. I find it goes a long way toward ensuring that the weak links don’t crap out on you before your chest is thoroughly thrashed. www.ironmanmagazine.com \ FEBRUARY 2005 89

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10 Rules for Powerful Pecs

Rule 6: Emphasize the Contraction.

This will probably come across as arrogant (not that I care), but my chest is pretty damned good. I could stand next to just about anyone, even most pro bodybuilders, and not feel insecure about my pectoral development. I attribute most of my chest growth to the fact that I purposely emphasized the contraction on every rep of every set I’ve done for my chest over the past 20 years.

Here’s how I do it: At the conclusion of every rep I forcefully flex my chest as hard as I can. That means the weight stops moving for a moment. Perhaps I can’t use as much weight as I could if I just pumped the reps out fast and never paused, but I’m sure that my way has resulted in far more overall pec mass. I’m convinced that if you haven’t been doing that, your chest isn’t as thick and full as it could possibly be. It’s also a surefire way to get a hellacious pump going (see rule 9).

Rule 7: Prioritize Upper Chest.

Far too many guys have what almost look like boobs instead of pecs. That’s because they’ve been slaves to the flat-bench press for years. Ironically, most of them know they should be starting off with

should switch immediately to doing inclines at least half the time, but inclines only. Don’t even try to argue they’re mortified at the thought of with the logic behind that—you doing the flat-benches after know I’m right. inclines—they might not be able to bench as much weight as usual, and their training partners, Rocco and Rule 8: Big Tony, might ridicule them!

Mix Up the Reps.

There are few things uglier than a The longer you have been trainchest that has muscle hanging in ing, the more difficult it is to coax the middle and lower regions and any further growth out of your musvirtually nothing up top near the clavicles. The bodybuilders who had cles, the chest included. You can mix up the exercises you do and the the best chests ever—guys like order in which you do them, but you Arnold Schwarzenegger, Steve should also vary the reps. Don’t get Reeves and Lee Haney—all had caught in the rut of always doing plenty of meat from top to bottom. eight to 12 reps for chest. Try other Those old photos of Arnold hitting a side chest shot, where it looks as if you could Emphasize set a couple of big pec contracbeer steins on his tion as much pecs, turn up in the as possible. magazines all the time because even today, 30 years later, you rarely see such complete development.

If your pecs aren’t bottom-heavy yet, start with doing inclines at every other chest workout to make sure it doesn’t happen to you. And if you’re already sporting saggy pecs that look as if you’ll soon Cable Crossovers need a bra, you

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Model: Rune Nielsen

Always include a flye movement in your chest program.

Model: Shawn Ray

Dumbbell Flyes

Your Chest Will Never Grow! ranges: three to five, four to six or even go on the high side with 12 to 20 once in a while.

You can do different rep schemes within the same workout or plan cycles where you use certain ranges for given lengths of time (but be sure to pay extra attention to warming up when using very low reps). For example, many advanced bodybuilders devote the winter months to power cycles in which they use only basic exercises performed for three to six reps. That’s a very effective way to add mass, especially since they usually see even more growth when they increase the reps to six to 10 for the spring cycle and then 10 to 15 for the summer. Those are just suggestions. You’re free to come up with your own plan for mixing up your repetition ranges.

Rule 9: Always Finish with a Pump.

There is a great deal of anecdotal evidence that achieving a pump in the target muscles during training is part of the process of muscular hypertrophy. Many bodybuilders make a habit of making sure that their final set of an exercise delivers a nice tight pump in the target muscle. You can use higher reps, preexhaust, supersets or giant sets to accomplish it. Beyond any actually physiological effects the pump may have on muscle growth, it’s satisfying and so keeps your confidence and enthusiasm for training high. If you don’t have those two

mental attributes, all the best training knowledge in the world won’t do you much good.

Rule 10: Limit Overall Volume.

Overtraining is a very real phenomenon, despite what you often hear about its being a myth.

“There’s no such thing as overtraining, only undereating and undersleeping.” That statement’s been published a thousand times, but I happen to believe that it’s directed at steroid users, who have added recovery ability when they’re on a cycle. Generally, there is no reason a drug-free lifter should do more than 12, or at the very most 15, work sets for chest in any given workout. And that’s assuming that you train your chest once every seven days.

If you’re drug-free and following a split that has you training chest more frequently than that, you should adjust the volume downward. Three or four exercises for three or four work sets each is more than sufficient to stimulate growth if you apply the proper intensity to all sets. Anything beyond that won’t stimulate further growth, but it will start eating into your chest’s ability to recover and grow. I’ll also add that no matter how heavy a steroid dose you’re on, there’s no reason to ever do much more than 20 sets total for chest.

Editor’s note: Check out Ron’s Web site, www.ronharrismuscle .com. IM

Machine Presses

Model: Jonathan Lawson

Make sure you finish the workout with a big pec pump.

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Triple-Size

Tri’s Build Your Triceps to Monster Greg Zulak Proportions byPhotography

by Michael Neveux

I

f you’ve got flat, puny triceps, your arms won’t look impressive, no matter how well developed your biceps and torso muscles are. To quote my friend Gunnar Sikk: “Thick triceps are to an upper body what wide tires are to a race car. They impart a powerful and serious look when viewed from the front. Almost mean. When viewed from the side, they balance out pec thickness and make the waist appear smaller.”

Genetics, as always, plays a role in what kind of triceps you can eventually develop. If you have short—or high—triceps, you’re handicapped because you can’t develop muscle where there are no muscle cells. Just about every big-armed champion over the past 60 years has had long, full triceps, especially the long head, the head of the triceps that hangs down under the biceps when you hit a front double-biceps pose. Sergio Oliva’s are so lengthy that they actually appear to attach a couple of inches below his elbows. Unbelievable!

On the other hand, my own long heads stop several inches above my elbows, which severely restricts how large I can ever get my triceps. It’s a sad fact of life—just as it is for bodybuilders who have short, high calves and will never be able to build impressive lower legs.

Don’t throw in the pushdown rope just yet.

You can build very impressive triceps even if your long heads are a bit short. Albert Beckles has short triceps long heads as well as short biceps, but that didn’t stop him from developing an incredible pair of guns, with ice cream cone peaks for biceps and massive horseshoe triceps.

You may also have problems building big arms if you’re an ectomorph—tall, long and skinny with a scarcity of muscle cells in your upper arms. Nevertheless, it can be done.

Three-time Mr. Olympia Frank Zane, an ectomesomorph, had arms that probably didn’t measure 18 inches, but he had wicked triceps, especially the rear and lateral heads. He beat men who outweighed him by as much as 50 pounds and whose arms measured two or three inches more than his because his arms were beautifully shaped and developed and his physique was so symmetrical and wellbalanced.

As Larry Scott, the first Mr. Olympia and owner of one of the greatest pairs of arms ever, says, it’s not enough to build big arms. If you want to look impressive, you have to develop beautiful big arms—arms that make the beholder gasp with amazement and turn green with envy.

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Triple-Size Tri’s

Not many bodybuilders are aware that there’s a direct relationship between the size of their legs and the size of their arms. Vince Gironda, the famous Iron Guru, maintained that 15 percent of arm size comes from leg training. To understand why that’s so, you have to understand the idea of indirect effect. Simply put, when one muscle group in the body grows, the rest of the body grows too. The bigger the muscle, the bigger the indirect effect, and since the legs contain the biggest muscles in the body, the bigger they get, the more influence they have on the size of your arms. Just as a large rock creates a bigger splash and waves than a tiny pebble when thrown into a pool of water, hard leg training will bring you big waves of upper-arm growth.

Even if all that weren’t true, you’d work your legs to develop the most symmetrical and proportional physique you can. Having big arms with skinny legs just doesn’t cut it in the impress-the-ladies department anymore. You have to have the whole package.

Monster Proportions

Triceps Physiology As its name suggests, the triceps is a three-headed muscle. Its three sections are 1) the long, or scapular, head; 2) the external, or long humeral, head; and 3) the internal, or short humeral, head. Just as bodybuilders refer to upper pecs and lower pecs to describe their chest muscles when, in fact, it’s all one muscle, the pectoralis major, they also refer to upper and lower triceps, inner and outer heads, or lateral and rear heads. Although those are anatomically incorrect, the terms are part of the bodybuilding language because some sections of particular heads may grow faster or slower than other sections.

They belong to the same head but react as if they were different heads—or even different muscles.

For example, your lower triceps (on the long head) may grow slower than your upper triceps (also on the long head), so you can choose exer-

The legs contain the biggest muscles in the body, so the bigger they get, the more size influence they have on your arms. cises that target the upper or lower parts of the long head.

Generally, you work two triceps heads with any given compound movement, but one head more strongly than the other. So it takes more than one exercise to fully develop your triceps. Many basic triceps movements mostly target the long head, which is a good thing: The long head is the one on the underside of the upper arm that when developed properly hangs down like the belly of a wellfed great white shark. Even so, you must keep a careful eye on your development so you build the three heads evenly.

When triceps lack size or shape, it’s usually not because they’re underworked. On the contrary, the triceps are used in so many upperbody exercises—bench presses, inclines, declines, dumbbell presses, behind-the-neck presses, dips, cross-bench pullovers and bentarm barbell pullovers—that we know volume alone isn’t the answer to beautiful, shapely and massively muscular triceps. In fact, many champion bodybuilders do so

much work for their pecs, delts, traps and lats, that they train arms directly only once a week. Ronnie Coleman does that in the off-season, and his guns aren’t exactly hurting for size.

Heavy vs. Light Training Some people say you must train your triceps with heavy weights if you hope to develop size. Heavy and light are relative words, however. If you use 300 pounds for 15 repetitions on close-grip bench presses, that can hardly be described as light training. I generally advise bodybuilders to train in a heavy/light style; that is, one or two exercises with heavy weights for sets of six to 12 repetitions combined with some type of high-rep technique—supersets, tri-sets, drop sets, extended sets or single high-rep sets of 12 to 20. That way you work a variety of fiber types and promote good triceps innervation and a great pump to take ad-

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Model: George Farah \ Equipment: Powertec power rack, 1-800-447-0008

Indirect Effect and Its Relation to Big Arms

vantage of the blood principle: The better a muscle pumps, the faster and easier it grows.

One of the obstacles to trying to work the triceps really heavy is joint problems, especially problems with the elbows. Bouncing the weight and cheating excessively can cause major joint trauma. Heed the warning: There are no awards given to the guys who use the most weight on triceps exercises, and the gyms are full of guys whose elbows are wrecked from their using too much weight in loose style. Tendinitis can ruin your ability to train for years and can impede not just triceps development but your chest, shoulder and upper-arm development as well. It may even force you to stop training altogether.

Failing to warm up the triceps is another reason people don’t get the most from their training. Most top bodybuilders who work biceps and triceps together in a workout nearly always train biceps first, even though it’s the smaller muscle. The reason is that all the blood brought into the biceps heats up the triceps and prepares them for the work to come. Larry Scott trains biceps first and says that when he starts to do his lying triceps extensions and close-grip bench presses, having pumped biceps is almost like hav-

ing little soft pillows near the elbows that protect his triceps. The triceps is an extremely strong muscle group, but you must be choosy about where you decide to use that strength. You want to do exercises that work your triceps hard without excessively stressing the elbows.

You want to place your arms in a position that puts the biomechanical overload on the triceps muscles and not the joints because while a weight may not be too much for the triceps, but it might be too much for the joint. As a rule, always err on the side of caution. Be a little conservative in your poundage increases. Never do fewer than six reps on triceps exercises, and eight to 12 is nearly always better, especially for extension movements, on which your elbows are in a precarious position.

Here are some of the safest triceps exercises: •Close-grip bench presses •Reverse-grip Smith-machine bench presses •Pushdowns (pushing straight down and away from your body, not in a semicircle, or arc) •Weighted dips •Bench dips •Behind-the-back pushdowns •Lying triceps extensions (pressing straight up, not in an arc) •Kneeling long-cable extensions using the pedestal bench •Kickbacks These are some of the triceps exercises that can cause the most joint pain:

The best exercises for triceps mass include these: •Close-grip bench presses •Reverse-grip Smith-machine bench presses •Weighted dips •Bench dips •Power pushdowns (pushing the bar straight down and away from your body, not in an arc) •Flat, incline or decline power lying triceps extensions (lowering the bar to your throat and pushing the bar straight up, not in an arc) •One-arm dumbbell French presses Heavy bench presses and other forms of pressing will add to your triceps’ strength and mass as well.

There are also several manufacturers who make good triceps-building machines that target the important long head (the head that gives the most mass).

Incidentally, the cross-bench dumbbell pullover is a fantastic exercise that works pecs, lats and triceps. If you use it as part of your chest workout along with bench presses, incline presses and dips, your triceps get a great workout before you do a single set of triceps work. Many bodybuilders train chest and triceps in the same workout, so for them it isn’t necessary to do too many sets for triceps.

Be cautious with overhead extensions.

•One-arm dumbbell extensions •Lying, incline and decline triceps extensions (moving the weight in an arc) •Pushdowns (moving your arms in an arc) •Overhead triceps extensions (done with an EZ-curl bar or straight bar)

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Model: Markus Reindhart and Humberto Morandell

Monster Proportions

Keep your elbows back on dips, not flared out.

Model: Andre Nielsen \ Powertec power rack, 1-800-447-0008

Triple-Size Tri’s

Too Lock Out or Not? Many bodybuilders struggle with that question. Some champions swear by locking out, while others say it allows the triceps to rest and reduces muscular tension. Frank Zane, for example, didn’t believe in locking out on any triceps exercises, not even on kickbacks, where nearly all the work of the triceps takes place at or near lockout.

Both methods are effective. You can work different sections of the triceps by the way you do each triceps exercise. For example, when doing triceps dips between benches, you can work the high part of the triceps by going to lockout and leaning back to force the triceps to support your body. Or you can do them in partial style, stopping short of lockout. That works the lower section of the triceps harder.

Pullovers affect the long head of the triceps as well as the lats and pecs.

Model: Marvin Montoya

Triple-Size Tri’s

Monster Proportions

Partial or Full Reps Reps?

Do you like to do shorter, constant-tension/continuous-motion reps or full-range-of-motion reps to lockout? From what I’ve observed over the years, most champions stop short of lockout except on a few exercises, such as kickbacks.

They definitely don’t stop the

weight at the bottom or top of the rep. The weight just keeps moving continuously until fatigue forces them to end the set. Champs such as Frank Zane and Sergio Oliva do partial reps and stop short of lockout, but by choosing exercises that together work all the sections of the triceps, they can train the entire muscle fully and more efficiently.

For example, if you do lying triceps extensions, which work the

Model: Jonathan Lawson

Cable extensions are easier on the elbows and a good alternative to overhead barbell extensions. belly, or middle, of the triceps, and overhead French presses, which work the fully stretched position of the triceps, followed by kickbacks, which work the fully contracted position, then you’ve worked the entire triceps with only three exercises. That’s what Steve Holman calls Positions-of-Flexion training— training a muscle through its full range of motion. [Editor’s note: The book Train, Eat, Grow: The Posi-

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Bench dips are great for working the high part of the triceps.

tive. Push the bar down and away from your body until you hit lockout—or just short of lockout. If you’re doing full-lockout pushdowns, hold the lockout for a second or two and slowly return the bar to the top position. If you’re doing pushdowns in constanttension/continuous-motion style, reverse direction as soon as you get near lockout, and head back to the starting position for another rep.

Behind-the-back triceps pushdowns are a great triceps-mass builder, but you need a training partner to pull the bar down for you until you can grip it and to take the bar from you at the end of the set.

Behind-the-back pushdowns are similar to dips between benches, except you can get a longer range of motion and a better lockout at the completion of each rep with the cable. You can actually use more weight with the bar behind you than you can when it’s in front. The Blond Bomber, Dave Draper, favored this type of pushdown for building his 20-inch guns.

Scott calls racing the pump; that is, resting 45 seconds to one minute between sets, supersets, tri-sets or whatever. Larry says to try to get the greatest pump with the fewest sets.

It’s intense!

Exercise Info There are countless variations of pushdowns, pushups, dips and extension exercises for the triceps.

Consult Bill Pearl’s Keys to the Inner Universe for illustrations of a lot of them. It’s a great reference for bodybuilders.

I don’t have the room to go into that kind of detail, but here are some tips that should get you on the right track for triceps growth:

Pushdowns. When doing pushdowns, grip the bar so it rests in the meat of your palms, not in your fingers. Many people wrap their fingers around the bar, and that makes pushing down more difficult and the exercise less effec-

Kickbacks give the tri’s a hard peak contraction.

Model: Tamer Elshahat

tions-of-Flexion Muscle-Training Manual applies POF to all bodyparts. See page 76.]

When I was in Chicago in 1984 to watch Oliva train, I saw him do multiple sets of numerous partial exercises, and when I say partial, I mean really partial. Sometimes the bar only moved about six inches, but he would keep the tension on that one spot until it was burning with fatigue and flooded with blood. It was especially effective on one-arm pushdowns, one-arm reverse pushdowns and numerous angled one-armed extensions.

Sergio’s philosophy was, Why not just move the bar over a very short range of motion and keep the tension exactly where he wanted it? He did that with five or six different exercises that together worked the entire triceps muscle, all three heads, well.

Obviously, you have to try both full-range and partial exercises to find out which work better for your triceps. You may find that some movements feel better when you do them over a full range to complete lockout, while others feel better when you do them in constanttension style—no lockout.

It comes down to innervating the muscle group and pumping the hell out of it. When you’re doing heavy sets of bench presses, bent-over rows, squats, deadlifts and so on, it may be necessary to rest three minutes between sets to recover properly. With arms, however, you shouldn’t rest that long because you risk losing your pump. I recommend a style of training that Larry

Model: Jonathan Lawson \ Equipment: PowerBlock selectorized dumbbell

Triple-Size Tri’s

Dips. Bench dips and parallelbar dips are great for working the high part of the triceps as well as the rear head. On both movements the triceps lock out harder when you lean back at the top. To contract your triceps to the absolute max, come up as high as you can and then lean back and brace your body with triceps strength alone.

Hold for a count of two, and return to the starting position. If you’re doing constant-tension/continuous-motion reps, just pump up and down like a piston until fatigue forces you to stop.

When dipping for triceps, it’s not

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Monster Proportions

necessary to go all the way down to full stretch, as it is if you’re dipping for pecs. Lower yourself until the biceps make contact with the forearms, and then, if your goal is to work the high, or top, part of the triceps, come all the way up till lockout, with your arms straight. As with the bench dips, it’s vital to lean back and brace your bodyweight with your triceps. As you descend, use John Parrillo’s method of pulling the body down with the strength of your biceps, as that places the triceps under greater tension as you begin the next rep.

Another tip about dipping for triceps: Your elbows should stay tight to your sides and point backward, not out.

Extensions. When performing lying extensions with an EZ-curl bar, you’ll get a superior triceps contraction if you push the bar up and back, away from your head, rather than just up. Pushing backward places the elbows in a precarious position, however, so it’s wise to use less weight when doing extensions in that style. Keep in mind that muscle stimulation and exhaustion are more important than sheer weight. You should feel a cramping contraction at the completion of each rep, which helps carve out those much-sought-after horseshoes.

Most people do lying triceps extensions in a way that moves the bar in an arc while their upper arms remain motionless and their elbows point to the ceiling. If you use too much weight or cheat too much, it can be an elbow wrecker rather than a triceps builder. Parrillo advocates doing lying triceps extensions so that the bar moves in a straight line rather than an arc.

Scott also does his extensions that way. Try it for yourself. Use an EZcurl bar but lower the bar to your throat and push the weight straight up, very much like a close-grip bench press except you can allow your elbows to flare out to the sides. You can use heavier weights when doing extensions with this technique, and it’s better for pure triceps mass.

Close-grip bench presses.

Whether you use a barbell, a Smith

Model: John Hansen

Triple-Size Tri’s

When performing lying extensions, you’ll get a superior triceps contraction if you push the bar up and slightly back, away from your head.

machine or an EZ-curl bar, your triceps contract harder when you push the bar up and slightly toward your feet. Use a narrow grip—thumbs about six to 12 inches apart—lower the bar to a low point on your pecs, and then push it up and forward, toward your feet, an inch or two. It helps to grip the bar with your thumbs on the same side as your fingers. You also want to try to keep your elbows flared out to the sides. The little tilt toward your feet places more stress on the outside head of the triceps, as well as the meaty long head. You can accentuate that by putting a two-by-four or a couple of barbell plates under the end of the bench so you’re on a 10 degree decline.

Overhead extensions. Regarding one-arm extensions, I used to be more adamant about keeping the working arm tight against the side of my head and my elbow pointing straight up (at 12 o’clock) to guard against cheating. I’ve found that you can move more weight and innervate the triceps a little better on some sets if you allow your arm to move a few inches away from your head, with the elbow pointing somewhere between 10 and 11 o’clock for the right arm and 1 to 2 o’clock for the left. Another tip is to reach across your face and grab your working triceps with your free hand, which enables you to better feel the triceps working.

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Triple-Size Tri’s

Model: David Yeung

Monster Proportions

Rope pushdowns can provide more outer-triceps-head development.

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Triple-Size Tri’s

Model: Marvin Montoya

It helps to grip the bar with your thumbs on the same side as your fingers.

Dumbbell kickbacks. Although you can do this exercise with two dumbbells simultaneously, it’s more concentrated when you work one arm at a time. It’s a good one for carving the triceps so they look full and impressive even when your arms are hanging straight down.

Experiment with different grips.

While most people do kickbacks with a hammer grip—thumb on the bottom—you can work the muscle a little differently if you use a curl grip, with your knuckles facing forward and your palms facing back.

If you’re looking for more constant tension, you can do kickbacks on the low pulley of a cable crossover machine or a seated rowing station.

Push the bar up and slightly toward your feet on closegrip bench presses.

Obviously, you can also use the curl grip on pushdowns and onearm pushdowns to work more of the lower- and inner-triceps areas.

A good rear-head exercise is front pulley extensions, a.k.a. forward-lunge cable extensions.

Use a rope extension or an angled triceps bar. Face away from the lat machine, and grip the rope or bar.

Lean forward from your waist and then, using triceps strength alone, extend your arms forcibly out over your head. Get a good contraction on each rep—unless you discover you can feel constanttension/continuous-motion reps better.

These are similar to a Larry Scott favorite, kneeling long-cable extensions performed on a twinpedestal bench. Try supersetting them with kickbacks to work your rear heads hard.

The triceps respond very well to supersets, tri-sets, drop sets, downthe-racks and extended sets of any kind. Keep that in mind as you check out a few of my favorite routines.

Heavy/Light Big-Pump Routine EZ-curl-bar decline extensions 4 x 8-12 Close-grip bench presses (last set is a drop set) 4 x 6-15 Tri-set Kneeling rope extensions or one-dumbbell extensions 4 x 10 Pushdowns 4 x 8-10 Bench dips 4 x max Take no rest between exercises in the tri-set and a maximum of one minute’s rest between tri-sets. Also take just one minute’s rest between the decline extensions and the close-grip bench presses.

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Monster Proportions

Something else to try is to use a curl grip on one-arm extensions.

Vince Gironda advocated that for developing the inner head of the triceps as well as the lower part of the long head.

You can also try using a curl grip on lying dumbbell extensions, a favorite bulk builder of the Iron Guru. Start with dumbbells over your chest and touching, hands facing each other. Keeping your elbows high and still, lower the dumbbells behind your head, rotating your arms inward so your knuckles are pointing away from your head at the bottom, with your arms holding the dumbbells as if you were doing curls. Raise the ’bells in the reverse movement, with your arms rotating outward into a hammer curl position, with the thumbs up, until the ’bells meet over your chest.

Make sure the weights touch at the top of each rep.

Triceps Training

Superset Pushdowns Dips Superset EZ-curl-bar decline extensions Close-grip bench presses Superset (for rear head) Two-dumbbell kickbacks Reverse-grip bench presses

3 x 8-10 3 x 8-10

3 x 8-12 3 x 8-12

3 x 8-12 3 x 8-12

The Pure Mass Routine

One-arm work can provide better focus and contraction.

Lying dumbbell extensions with a neutral grip can provide more range of motion and may give you better long-head mass.

Model: Marvin Montoya

Monster Proportions

Superset Power EZ-curl bar lying extensions (move bar in straight line) 4 x 10 Close-grip bench presses 4 x 8-12 Superset Seated one-dumbbell French presses 4 x 10 Power pushdowns (push straight down and away from body, elbows flaring) 4 x 8- 10 Superset Weighted dips 4 x 8-10 Bench dips 4 x double drop

Take no rest between movements and only one minute’s rest between supersets.

If the volume is too great for proper recovery, reduce the supersets to three instead of four.

The triceps is one of the most impressive bodyparts and is the key to having massive—and beautiful—arms. I’ve gone way overboard on details here, but I’m confident that if you apply this stuff in the gym, you’ll improve your triceps by monster proportions in the next few months.

IM

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Preexhaust Triceps Routine

Model: Todd Smith

Triple-Size Tri’s

Protein

Waste

How to Prevent It So You Reach Critical Muscle Mass he current popularity of the low-carb way of life marks a significant dietary shift from carbohydrate to protein food. The idea that carbs make you fat has people living almost solely on protein. Why? Because itﾃ不 been theorized that without carbs, the body is forced to use other fuels such as fat and protein while minimizing insulinﾃ不 fat-gaining effect.

Things arenﾃ付 always as simple as they appear, however. In fact, many people

who follow extreme low-carb diets reach a fat-loss plateauﾃ奏hey fail to lose additional bodyfat in spite of maintaining carb restriction. Even worse, there are those who initially lose weight on a lowcarb diet and then, ironically, gain it all back, even though they stick with the same diet. Then there are the bodybuilders who fail to gain muscle mass or strength while following lowcarb diets. It may all revolve around fueling problems and protein waste.

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Photo Illustration by Christian Martinez

by Ori Hofmekler

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Protein Waste

Fuel’s Gold A dietary fuel is an organic compound that the body can oxidize to release energy. The most basic fuel in the body is the monosaccaride glucose phosphate, which can be immediately broken down for energy. Free glucose, however, isn’t common in the primal diet of humans.

We get our calories from carbs, fats and proteins.

Because it needs to endure food-supply and environmental changes to survive, the human body has evolved so that it uses all food groups as fuels to make adenosine triphosphate, or ATP. While fat and carb fuels are effective in producing energy and promoting growth, protein fuel is not.

When there’s excess protein, it may actually suppress growth—not a good thing for bodybuilders.

High-Octane Fuel The body is most efficient at using carbs and fat for energy. In the digestive tract starch breaks down into glucose, which then generates ATP through glycolysis and the Krebs cycle, an energyproducing mechanism. Similarly, glycogen converts to glucose in times of increased energy. A wide variety of carbohydrates induce glycolysis, which breaks sugar into two molecules of pyruvate while releasing energy. Because of its

critical fueling functions, carb is stored as glycogen reserves for fast release.

Long before it started using carbs, specifically those in grain, as a main fuel, the human body adapted to using fat as its prime fuel.

Nuts and seeds appeared much earlier than grains in the evolution of the food chain.

Fats are the best source of energy because they contain more hydrogen ions than carbs or proteins do. Fat releases twice as much energy as carbs, and since fat is the best source of energy, the body has the capacity to store many more calories from fat than carbs.

Even so, the body can store both carb and fat fuel in muscle and liver cells as glycogen or triglycerides.

When energy demand is high, such as during exercise, the body can break down carb and fat stores for immediate release.

foods, then muscle breakdown may not occur, but protein waste will as you use protein for energy. When that happens, your body has to do something with those protein byproducts. Can you guess where they go? Right to your fat cells. The body still regards an amino acid excess as more fuel than it needs. So after it breaks it down, it’s immediately shuttled into fat storage.

Toxic Waste Besides increasing the risk for fat gain, excess protein causes toxicity.

The Downside of Protein Fuel

While fat and carb fuels are efficient, protein fuel is not. That may explain why the body has no efficient way of storing it—the body knows its priorities. Protein serves mostly as a building block for tissues, enzymes, hormones, nucleotides and immuno Nuts and seeds appeared much earlier than compounds. If there’s a desgrains in the evolution of the food chain. perate need for energy, such as in moments of extreme physical stress, along with a lack of carb or fat fuel, the body is forced to use protein for energy. Guess where it comes from?—circulating amino acids and your muscle tissue.

The body breaks protein into by-products such as pyruvate, acetyl-coA or ketoglutaric acid, all of which are intermediate compounds of energy production in the Krebs cycle. If you’re getting sufficient calories, mostly from protein

The body still regards an amino acid excess as more fuel than it needs.

The breakdown of amino acids as fuel involves a process called deamination. That’s when the amino group is removed from the amino acid molecule. The nitrogenous waste is then converted to ammonia, which is toxic. It causes muscle fatigue and generates urea and other waste products. Those amino acid metabolites increase the overall metabolic stress on muscle and the liver, thus adversely affecting performance.

The Slow-Grow Syndrome Too much protein, along with not enough carbs and fats, can promote fat gain and increase waste toxins.

As if that weren’t enough, excess protein fuel may also suppress

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Protein reaches maximum net use for growth when your calories are about 30 percent above your calorie expenditure.

muscle growth. But doesn’t more protein build more muscle? Not necessarily. The cell doesn’t waste energy. An excess of a certain amino acid shuts down the anabolic pathway to its synthesis. The most common anabolic-control mechanism is called feedback inhibition, and inhibition of even one anabolic pathway may cause suppression of other anabolic processes that synthesize larger peptide molecules, known as proteins.

Hence slower growth.

Avoiding High-Protein Pitfalls Growth requires energy. In other words, an anabolic environment requires calorie surplus. Protein reaches maximum net use for growth when your calories are about 30 percent above your calorie expenditure. While growth requires high-energy turnover with high levels of cellular ATP, the protein you get must come in an optimum amount, and you should eat it with carbs or fat. That spares amino acids for growth, and your body doesn’t have to use protein for energy.

Here are some additional suggestions for getting the most out of your protein consumption: •High biological value. Strive to get protein with high BV so you maximize protein use and minimize its waste. Proteins that have inferior BVs can cause protein deficiencies and accumulation of amino acids, which then leads to amino acid waste.

A protein that has a low amino

Neveux \ Model: Marvin Montoya \ Equipment: PowerBlock selectorized dumbbells, 1-800-447-0008

Protein Waste

score is deficient in one or more essential amino acids. The body can use only a certain balance of essential amino acids. A deficiency of even one essential amino forces your body to waste other amino acids until it corrects biological balance.

•Food combinations. Combine two foods that are proteindeficient in themselves but complement one another. A mixture of grain and beans, for exam-

Eating protein with carbs helps spare protein for growth.

ple, yields a complete protein with a high amino score. Great protein food combinations include meat and nuts, eggs and beans, fish and lentils, meat and grains, dairy and eggs, beans and grains, dairy and legumes.

•Amino acid supplementation. Unfortunately, your diet is probably deficient in certain amino acids, which cooking or processing often destroys. Methionin, cystein, taurine, lysine and carnitine are most often missing. Supplementing those in a free form can help prevent protein waste.

•Carb consumption. Carbs play a critical role in protein utilization by spiking insulin, which is a potent anabolic hormone. Insulin is necessary for effectively processing growth hormone and insulinlike growth factor. In fact, insulin and IGF actions are almost identical, promoting use of amino acids for increasing muscle protein synthesis and sparing them from waste.

•Slow-released amino acids.

Most whole protein foods are slow

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Protein Waste

New Slow-Release Protein Product

Neveux \ Model: John Hansen \ Equipment: Powertec power rack, 1-800-447-0008

Type 2 fast-twitch muscle fibers prefer carb fuel, and type 1 slow-twitch muscle fibers prefer fat fuel.

to digest and release their amino acids gradually. The human body has adapted to whole foods, which release proteins at a much slower rate than processed-protein products, whether shakes or bars. In their natural state all protein foods are combined with fat, carbs or fiber, all of which slow the rate of

protein absorption. Human beings haven’t adapted to fast assimilation of large amounts of fast-releasing processed proteins. That’s why ricotta cheese or plain cottage cheese have superior utilization compared to processed protein powder. Whole foods as well as certain slow-released proteins, such

Whole protein foods are best when eaten with carbs or fat; for growth, meat and potatoes work better than meat alone.

A groundbreaking technique of microencapsulation called Microfeed™ may help to further slow the rate of protein release and thereby improve your overall net protein utilization. A product of extensive research, it’s a serious attempt to launch a new slowreleasing protein product specifically designed to provide top-quality protein with an optimum rate of release for maximum utilization and minimum waste.

According to the manufacturer, the product marks the next step in protein improvement and contains a proprietary blend of high-BV protein and encapsulated slow-release protein that yields maximum anabolic impact for up to 12 hours. That could mean more anabolism for bodybuilders.

For more information visit www.probolic.com, or call (888) 783-8844.

—O.H.

as casein, are handled well by the body. The slow-release effect of amino acids prevents accumulation and waste of excess amino acids.

You can eat large servings of high-protein whole foods because the body absorbs them slowly. The natural slow release of amino acids from such foods as meats, eggs or fish means your body can take them even in large amounts: You can pig out on meat or fish and still do well.

Protein whole foods are best when eaten with carbs or fat; for growth, meat and potatoes work better than meat alone.

Take a Powder?

Does that mean you shouldn’t use protein powders? Not at all, but choose carefully. Combinations of different protein sources generally yield a higher BV and amino score than a single protein source. Mixtures such as whey, casein and egg protein or whey and milk protein are superior to whey or milk protein alone.

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Protein Waste

Low-Carb/High-Carb-Rotation Diet After reading “Protein Waste,” I posed a few questions to Ori Hofmekler that I thought had been left unanswered. He obliged, providing some straight-up answers and in the process outlining a sensible lowcarb/high-carb-rotation strategy that is tailor-made for adding mass and minimizing fat deposition.

Q: To minimize protein waste, what’s the ideal amount of protein a bodybuilder should get per day?

A: For anabolic purposes the minimum daily protein intake should be one gram per pound of lean bodyweight—assuming that overall calorie intake is about 20 percent above maintenance. That’s where it should be for muscle growth. Any drop in calories from reductions in fat and carbs, however, will require an increase in protein intake to compensate for the missing calories. That can lead to protein waste.

For example, let’s look at a 190-pound bodybuilder with about 160 pounds of lean bodyweight and a basal metabolic rate of about 2,000 calories. That’s his maintenance level of calories. He requires a minimum daily protein intake of 160 grams and an overall daily intake of 2,400 to 3,000 calories, depending on his activity level.

Deduct the daily protein calories (160 x 4 = 640) from the overall minimum daily calorie intake (2,400). That leaves 1,760 calories that should come from fat and carbs.

If his daily calorie intake from fat and carbs drops to 1,000 calories, then his protein intake should increase by 760 calories (about 200 grams) to compensate for the loss of fat and carb calories. When he gets only 1,000 calories per day from fat and carbs, he needs a staggering 360 grams of protein per day—only in that case 200 grams of protein will be used, or wasted, for fueling instead of being used for muscle building.

Q: So that 640 calories from protein is about 30 percent of 2,400 calories. That leaves about 35 percent for carbs and 35 percent for fat. That’s pretty much an even split. Are those the best macronutrient percentages?

A: No one carb-fat-protein ratio fits all people at all times. In fact, for anabolic purposes bodybuilders should rotate between days of high fat and days of high carbs: •High-fat day: 10 percent carbs, 50 percent fat, 40 percent protein •High-carb day: 60 percent carbs, 10 percent fat, 30 percent protein Notice that on high-carb days protein intake can be slightly lower because eating higher carbs produces a protein-sparing effect. Incidentally, type 2 fast-twitch muscle fibers prefer carb fuel, and type 1 slowtwitch muscle fibers prefer fat fuel. That’s why I highly recommend increasing carb consumption after an intense weight-training workout.

Q: Interesting. That rotation is similar to cheating every few days on a low-carb diet, the high-fat day being low carb and the high-carb day being a so-called cheat day. So you’re not a big fan of sticking to a high-fat, or ketogenic, diet for extended periods?

A: In my opinion, that diet is not based on any solid biological principles. Bodybuilders require glycogen replacement and optimum insulin activity to nourish fast-twitch fibers and induce maximum anabolic stimulation. The high-fat, no-carb ketogenic diet isn’t as anabolic as it claims to be. In fact, it may increase the overall stress on the liver and cause myriad unnecessary metabolic setbacks, adversely affecting the body’s capacity to perform, not to mention protein waste.

The rotation between high-fat and high-carb days requires some experimentation from an individual standpoint because it’s not a one-sizefits-all strategy. There are limits, however. For example, I believe that five days per week of extreme carb deprivation doesn’t make any sense, especially for bodybuilders.

—Steve Holman

Mixtures such as whey, casein and egg protein or whey and milk protein are superior to whey or milk protein alone. which help improve protein metabolism. Look for specially designed slow-releasing protein products that incorporate quality proteins and bioactive oils or protein blends that incorporate microencapsulated super-slow-release proteins for a longer-lasting anabolic effect. That makes the powders react more like real food.

Behind the complexity of fuel use lies a simple principle: survival.

That dictates everything your body does, including building muscles and losing fat. When things make sense to our bodies from a survival standpoint, we feel energetic and alert and have high self-esteem.

Our bodies also get harder and leaner. Conversely, when we betray our biological destiny, our bodies become slow, sluggish and fat.

That’s what happens if you use protein as your long-term primary fuel.

Note: The box on this page gives you specifics on how to manipulate macronutrients to minimize protein waste and maximize anabolic processes.

Editor’s note: Ori Hofmekler is the author of The Warrior Diet and Maximum Muscle & Minimum Fat, published by Dragon Door Publications. For more information or for Warrior Diet products visit www.warriordiet.com, call (866) WAR-DIET (toll free), or send email to ori@warriordiet.com. IM

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The

Factor

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ost readers know Jonathan Lawson as the younger half of IRON MAN’s “Train, Eat, Grow” crew—he’s 31, and his geriatric training partner, Steve Holman, IM’s editor in chief, is 45. These cats have been blasting readers with killer training info in their “TEG” series for more than five years—and they’ve been hitting the iron together for more than 10 in the IRON MAN Training & Research Center. Their motivation? It appears to be devising new methods of iron-based torture for us diehard bodybuilders to inflict on ourselves—from doubledrop sets to stage sets to Hypercontraction.

They experiment with a lot of techniques, enthusiastically passing along what they find via the pages Before X Reps: of IM. Why? May 21, ’04 To help readers build more muscle—and also to make sure we are screaming obscenities in gyms everywhere right along with them.

M

How Jonathan Lawson Took His Size and Muscularity to a New Dimension— Without Drugs Free download from imbodybuilding.com

After X Reps: July 1, ’04

The X Factor Jonathan gained about five pounds of muscle in one month using X Reps—and that was on a low-calorie diet.

Recently they stumbled onto a new training concept that took their muscle size, shape and density to new dimensions—X Reps. You may have seen the before and after photos. Let’s just say that the muscular transformation it helped them achieve in only one month is crazy.

(I just started using it, and I’m already noticing gains—and more obscenities.)

After perusing their Web site, www.x-rep.com, I decided I needed to know the inside story. Since Steve got pissed at me after I told him he was a wuss for not benching heavy anymore, I decided to hit Jonathan up with the big Q&A.

BL: You guys call it X Reps.

Isn’t that false advertising? I had visions of training with hot porn stars.

New Dimension—Without Drugs

JL: [Laughs] That could be fun, but very distracting. Actually, Steve came up with the name X Reps as an abbreviation for extended reps. He coined that term years ago when we tacked on an all-out static-contraction rep to the end of a set of isolation exercises. You know, just hold and squeeze at the top when you can’t get any more full reps. He mentions that version of X Reps in Size Surge 2. That technique recently evolved into a much more effective version.

BL: Before we get to that new and improved version, tell me about the static thing at the end of a set. It didn’t work?

JL: Well, a static contraction at the end of a set has its benefits—it’s pretty good at increasing the nerveto-muscle pathways [neuromuscular efficiency]—but we never found it to be all that productive for building muscle.

BL: So why do you think more muscle didn’t happen with static contractions?

JL: For one, we used it on contracted-position exercises at the peak-contracted point of the stroke—for example, at the bottom of a cable crossover, when the pecs

are fully flexed. According to a lot of research, that’s the weakest point in a muscle’s range. Some articles in IM on isometric training got us thinking about the concept again.

That’s when we decided that X Reps should really be at the strongest part of the stroke for more force production and more overload. We also decided that maybe we’d get better gains doing those static reps on the big, multijoint exercises, like squats or bench presses. After all, you get more muscle synchronization with compound exercises and therefore more overload. Compound exercises train the muscles the way they’re designed to function—as part of a team.

BL: I get it. So instead of using a static contraction at the end of a set of crossovers, you decided to put it at the end of bench presses.

JL: Right, but then we had to figure out the best spot in the range of motion to do the static holds. For the big exercises we wanted the spot where we could get the most force generation possible from the target muscle. Most researchers believe force is the key growth trigger, so we wanted to overload that spot in the range for as much mass stimulation as we could get.

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The X Factor

New Dimension—Without Drugs

JL: A good guess, but no. On bench presses the top is almost all triceps. You’re right— that’s where the pecs are closer to full contraction, near the top of the stroke, but as I said, the contracted position is one of the weakest points in the range.

Scientists say that’s because the muscle fibers are too bunched up to fire properly in the fully contracted position. That’s why it’s so difficult to get the handles down to the bottom of a crossover toward the end of a set—you’re stronger at the start of the movement, when there’s some stretch in your pec fibers. You could keep doing reps in that stretch position after full-range failure because it’s the strongest point in the range.

That extra strength is due to the fibers being lengthened and perfectly aligned. Some stretch in the muscle is best for maximum force production.

BL: Hey, I just thought of something. That means you do your X Reps for squats at the bottom, after a set to failure. Are you clinically insane?

JL: No, actually, we do X Reps on squats just above the middle of the stroke. There’s a leverage shift at the bottom of a squat, which makes that position the wrong one for maximum force production. Every exercise has its own sweet spot that’s best for X Reps, so you have to analyze each one individually. You can’t really generalize, although near the bottom of the stroke on most is a good place to start.

hadn’t decided to try something new. We started the X-Rep program right after we took those shots at the end of May. We reduced our sets slightly because of the extra X-Rep intensity, and—Bang!— our bodies started changing incredibly fast.

To say we were shocked is an understatement, especially when we took photos a month later. X Reps work—at least they did for us—in a big way. I keep telling anyone who will listen that they have to try the technique if they’re looking for more size.

Oh, you asked about bodyweight. I weighed about the same in both pictures, around 205, but as you can see, I added a lot of muscle and dropped fat during that X-Rep-training month. If I had to estimate, I’d say I gained more than five pounds of muscle and lost an equal amount of bodyfat—and that was on a reduced-calorie diet.

Models: Jonathan Lawson and Steve Holman

BL: Stop! Let me guess: For the bench press you put the X near the top, where you can get the hardest pec contraction. Right?

Unlike what happens with most compound exercises, on squats the best X spot is above, rather than below, the midpoint of the stroke due to a leverage shift.

BL: I saw your before and after shots. You say they were taken one month apart, before you started X-ing and then one month later. It looks like you put on 15 pounds of muscle. How much did you really gain, and what drugs were you on?

JL: I’ve never taken steroids in my life. Both Steve and I were completely clean, although we were using a variety of supplements.

That’s one reason we were both a little skeptical when we started our experiment—a lot of intensity techniques only work for drug users.

Also, we only experienced small mass gains when we used static contractions in the past, but we decided to give it one more go.

Luckily, we documented our progress up to our photo shoot last year—we took photos at about onemonth intervals, beginning in March. The so-called before photos at the end of May were just part of our progress monitoring. We would’ve taken them even if we

BL: Five pounds of muscle in a month—on low calories?

And you’ve been training for how long?

JL: About 15 years—10 years with Steve at the IRON MAN Training & Research Center.

BL: That’s pretty damned impressive. So tell me how to use X Reps on bench presses, and then explain the science behind them—why the technique works.

JL: Ah, Steve said the bench press is your favorite exercise. We don’t do it at the moment because we’re wusses, according to some people.

[Laughs.] Here’s what you do: First you rep out— (continued on page 140)

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The X Factor (continued from page 136)

getting close to failure.

When you reach the top on your last rep, you lower the bar to just below the midpoint of the stroke and do partial pulses, firing off a group of minireps.

Oh, by the way, your pecs will burn, so be prepared.

And, obviously, if you don’t have a spotter, do them in a power rack because after your X reps, the bar is going down.

JL: Yes, and we did those power partials at the end of a regular set on a number of certain big, compound exercises—the mass moves.

We experimented with them on isolation exercises also, which we discuss in the e-book, but I think the X Reps on multijoint exercises gave us the majority of our quick gains.

BL: I saw your explanation about why you do regular reps first, before you do X Reps. It was on your Web site’s home page. Can you refresh my memory, ’cause I got an itch to do heavy X Reps all by themselves.

JL: The reason we do regular reps first, before we move into X Reps, has to do with the size principle of muscle fiber (continued on page 144)

BL: What the hell is a minirep? Sounds like you’re working out with Dr. Evil’s midget double.

New Dimension—Without Drugs

month because you used movement instead of a hold at the right spot?

The peakcontracted point is a muscle’s weakest position.

JL: [Laughs] I describe them as minireps because we went to partials instead of static X Reps almost immediately. Holds didn’t feel right, and as we’d experienced in the past, they didn’t seem to be very effective at building muscle. The new powerpartial version, moving the bar a few inches up and down, is what worked so well for us. The science behind that makes sense: Muscles are used to movement, not static contraction, so to get the most out of the sweet spot of any exercise, you need some dynamic action for the best fiber activation. On some exercises it may be impossible to pulse at the sweet spot, so you can do a static hold—but try to pulse.

BL: You said sweet spot again—and dynamic action.

Are you sure there are no porn actresses involved in this training method?

JL: Oh, I’m sure.

I am more excited about training than ever thanks to X Reps, but that would take the Xcitement to a whole new level.

And our e-book would be called The Joy of X instead of The Ultimate Mass Workout.

BL: [Laughs] So you think X Reps worked so well during that

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The best spot for X Reps is near a muscle’s max-force-generation point.

New Dimension—Without Drugs

Equipment: Powertec power rack, 1-800-447-0008

The X Factor

X Reps done at the end of a set near the turnaround point can make the set much more effective at building muscle. (continued from page 140) recruitment. It’s a domino effect: The lowthreshold motor units fire first, followed by the intermediates, followed by the high-threshold motor units. So the early, easier reps prime more fast-twitch fibers to fire toward the end of a set. Those early reps act as a kind of built-in warmup as well as training different fibers.

When you can’t get another rep, that’s nervous-system failure. Unfortunately, that’s right when key fast-twitch fibers start to come into play. It’s the reason bodybuilders do set after set after set—in an attempt to make up for that nervous-system roadblock. They add volume in an attempt to get more growth stimulation. But just doing more sets usually results in only small increases—and depletes too much energy. So to keep gaining with that method, you almost have to use steroids.

If you move into X Reps at the failure point, however, you continue to get fast-twitch fiber activation, and you don’t have to use nearly as much volume to flip on the growth switch. We proved that on ourselves.

As I said, when we started using X Reps, we gradually reduced our sets because we could tell it was intense work and giving the muscle a unique stress. After that it was fast-track gains—we got more muscular at almost every workout. In fact, our progress came so quickly, we were forced to move up our photo-shoot date by an entire month. It all really cranked up our motivation. We were so excited every time we walked into the gym that our intensity snowballed.

BL: So let me get this straight. What you’re saying is that regular reps prime the muscle for X Reps so you can get more fast-twitch fibers to work at the end of a set?

JL: Yes. And another reason for doing the full reps first is that you train many more fiber types that way, which can help build maximum muscle size. You may even get some slow-twitch fibers in there on the first rep or two. The more fibers you can beef up, the more mass you’ll develop. Heavy X Reps alone would

train only the pure fast-twitch fibers.

I’ve seen research that lists more than five different fast-twitch types, so despite what some people say, making the fastest mass gains depends on developing all fiber types, not just the pure-strength fast-twitch ones. Supersets, drop sets and X Reps all contribute to that effort, and from our experience X Reps appear to be the most powerful of the bunch. We may have even stumbled onto a more productive version, X Overload. We’re experimenting with it now, and our results have been impressive.

Editor’s note: Next month Lawson elaborates on X-Overload training. He also outlines his ripping diet and discusses how to increase GH and testosterone production in the gym, forced reps vs. X Reps and how stretch overload may induce hyperplasia, or fiber splitting.

For more on X-Rep training, including before and after photos, Q&As and past X-File e-zines, visit www.x-rep.com. To subscribe to Lawson’s free training e-zine, go to the bottom of any of the past installments posted in the X Files section at www.x-rep.com. IM

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IRON MAN Hardbody

Barbell

Barbie Shay Lyn Is Fitness’ Living Doll

by Jonathan Lawson Photography by Michael Neveux

S

ure, Shay Lyn was on the October ’04 IRON MAN cover, and her picture graces a lot of the promotional material for the IRON MAN FitExpo, but she’s really not a model IM readers are too familiar with. That will soon change. Shay Lyn has been a very popular SPLATGirl in our sister publication, the paintball magazine SPLAT, and she’s done a lot of promotional work for big companies such as Optimum Nutrition, Benchwarmer Trading Cards, Pirelli Tires and Hawaiian Tropic.

She’s worked for Mattel, representing Barbie, which makes a lot of sense, considering her good looks and incredible physique. In fact, Shay Lyn was so convincing as Barbie that many of the young girls in attendance asked, “Where’s Ken?” I had the pleasure of working with her once, and I can verify that wherever Ken is, he’s one lucky guy.

Editor’s note: To contact Shay Lyn, send e-mail to shaylyn2@hotmail.com, or visit her Web site, www.shay-lyn.com.

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“I work out at the best gym in the world—Gold’s Gym in Venice, California. I love the atmosphere there. Even if you don’t feel like working out, you walk in, and it is really motivating just to be there.”

Sample Bodypart: Shoulders Dumbbell presses Lateral raises Front raises Rear-delt flyes

4 x 15 4 x 15 4 x 15 4 x 12

“I train four days per week. I work abs every other day. For cardio I like to walk for at least 45 minutes to an hour.

I try to do that every day.”

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Height: 5’4” Weight: 103 Current residence: Marina del Rey, CA Hometown: “I was born in St. Andrews, Scotland but spent my childhood in Michigan and Texas.

I consider my real hometown to be Sturgis, Michigan. That’s where my family still lives.”

Occupation: Model Favorite foods: Healthy: “I’m a steak-and-potatoes kind of girl.

Nothing’s better than a mediumrare filet. I love sushi, and yellowtail sashimi is my favorite.”

Non-healthy: “I get these crazy cravings for pizza rolls with ranch dressing. I absolutely love mashed potatoes. I couldn’t live without them.”

Beauty/anti-aging secret: “My biggest beauty secret is beauty sleep. However, I also have a great dermatologist who helps me take care of my skin, and his line of products is simply amazing (J. Jim Ye Personal Products— for information call [626] 288-4840). His cleanser is the best!”

Factoid: “I have a degree in broadcasting and cinematic arts from Central Michigan University.”

Web site: www.shay-lyn.com

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The

Ultimate

Stack

Bodybuilding Products of Tomorrow Are Here Today ¥ by the Editors ¥

U

ltimate Nutrition is a respected supplement company thatÕs always ahead of the curve. Its president, Gerard Dente, has more than 15 years of experience in bodybuilding and nutrition, and heÕs a former top-ranked competitor, which means heÕs very in touch with the in-the-trenches requirements of those seeking more muscle.

HeÕs also a nutritional consultant to many professional athletes and bodybuilders. That experience alone should give you confidence in Ultimate NutritionÕs products, but in addition, the companyÕs

supplements are based on sound science. Just have a look at three U.N. innovations that are synergistically effective in the muscle-building process.

ArgiNOne. Fueled by a compound called L-arginine alpha-ketoglutarate, this supplement boosts nitric oxide levels in skeletal muscle. Arginine alpha-ketoglutarate, composed of two arginine molecules attached to one alpha-ketoglutarate, is a precursor of the amino acid glutamine. Research shows that L-arginine, also an amino acid, increases growth hormone levels and drives NO

synthesis. Studies also show that taking arginine in supplement form appears to enhance NO production during wound healing and oxidative stress.

Your body requires nitric oxide for key physiological processes. The fact that NO increases blood flow makes it of interest to bodybuilders, who need more nutrients delivered to their muscles so they will become larger when under workout stress. Also important is the fact that nitric oxide reduces inflammation and the pain associated with extreme muscle stress.

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IRON MAN Research Team

High carnosine levels are associated with heightened athletic performance, especially anaerobic performance.

ArgiNOne’s formulation is unique. It combines arginine alpha-ketoglutarate and Ultimate Nutrition’s GlutaPure L-glutamine with L-citrulline and L-malic acid.

Those last two substances power production of ATP, a major energy source for muscles, and eliminate metabolic pollutants such as lactic acid and ammonia from the blood.

Citrulline stimulates energy, boosts the immune system and metabolizes as L-arginine, thus regulating nitric oxide production and detoxifying ammonia, which damages living cells. While the citrulline increases NO and eliminates performance-inhibiting metabolic toxins, malic acid keeps the body’s energy cycle going.

Citrulline and malic acid aid muscle recovery by stimulating phosphocreatine production. The more of that substance your muscles have, the stronger they’ll be.

Creatine phosphate levels go down after exercise, and it takes some time for them to come up again. By boosting postexercise phosphocreatine recovery, citrulline and malic acid promote faster recuperation between workouts and create muscles that are primed for growth and ready for your next training session.

In addition, Citrulline and malic acid: •Help the body eliminate amino acid by-products of protein metabolism.

•Help eliminate the burn associated with lactic acid buildup.

•Reduce the negative effects that ammonia and bacterial endotoxins have on performance.

new formula combines Ultimate Nutrition’s B-Power and V-Power formulations with 100 percent pure creatine monohydrate in a delicious, easy-to-use drink.

B-Power contains a proprietary blend of carnosine, along with beta alanine and L-histidine, the two precursors of carnosine. High carnosine levels are associated with heightened athletic performance, especially anaerobic performance.

Exercise produces lactic acid in muscle tissue, which creates an acidic condition called acidosis that causes muscle loss. Carnosine, which is found in human skeletal muscle, directly influences muscle strength by buffering lactic acid buildup.

Since creatine only works within a very limited pH range, carnosine’s powerful buffering action facilitates optimum creatine effectiveness.

Carnosine also aids in the volumizing effect of creatine, creating fuller muscles, and it enhances the calcium response in muscle cells, particularly in the the heart, which enables the heart to contract more efficiently.

Creatine itself not only improves physical performance but also reduces mental fatigue and improves mental performance. It helps make more “fuel” available to the muscle in the form of ATP, and the extra energy supply ensures

•Increase aerobic energy production.

L-glutamine is the most abundant free-form amino acid in muscle tissue. Like other aminos, it plays a vital role in protein metabolism and muscle recovery. It’s used not only by muscle tissue but also, in large quantities, by both the immune and digestive systems. During periods of intense training its levels can decline, and your body may not be able to make enough of it. Depleted Lglutamine levels in the muscles lead to muscletissue breakdown.

F-16: The fifth-generation creatine supplement. This supplement’s

L-glutamine plays a vital role in protein metabolism and muscle recovery.

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IRON MAN Research Team

that the muscle works faster and longer and recovers faster after intense exercise or sustained physical activity.

Creatine is more than just an ergogenic nutrient, though. It makes muscle look larger—the volumizing effect discussed above.

More important, it improves muscular strength and energy for highintensity training.

V-Power contains taurine, a conditionally essential amino acid.

When you subject yourself to increased effort or stress, taurine becomes essential in maintaining your body’s healthy functioning.

Because exercise significantly reduces taurine levels in skeletal muscles, supplemental taurine improves exercise performance and muscle’s electrical and contractile properties.

Taurine is vital for the body’s proper use of sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium. It works a little like creatine in that it helps muscle cells hold more water, thus increasing cell volume. For a hardcore weightlifter or bodybuilder, that’s significant because hydrated muscle cells can result in a higher rate of protein synthesis.

ATP is the body’s energy source for the relaxationcontraction cycle of muscle.

Since the body produces it as long as oxygen is present in the cycle, optimizing oxygen use can enhance ATP production.

That’s where the other component of V-Power plays its most important role. Inositol hexaphosphate appears to improve tissue oxygenation by changing the dynamics of hemoglobin, which delivers oxygen to the working muscles. IP6 may also enhance the amount of phosphate taken up by a muscle cell, helping creatine form the high-energy compound creatine phosphate. It’s the only antioxidant that both chelates iron and other heavy metals and incorporates itself into red blood cells.

IP-6 enhances the oxygen binding and releasing ability of hemoglobin, thus controlling both oxygen and iron radicals and making more oxygen available to the

tissues. When oxygen-rich blood can be readily released to the tissues, the heart is less stressed.

The Stack: ArgiNOne and F16. Every athlete knows it’s important to protect the body before, during and after a workout. Stacking ArgiNOne and F-16 can offer benefits for each of those stages.

Here’s what you get with that stack: •Creatine turbocharger. High levels of carnosine are linked to an increase in physical performance, especially anaerobic performance.

Carnosine helps you realize creatine’s full potential by buffering lactic acid.

•More muscle fuel. The creatine in F-16 helps make more ATP so your muscles work faster and longer and recover more quickly after intense exercise.

•More stamina. The inositol hexaphosphate in F-16 appears to improve tissue oxygenation by changing the dynamics of hemoglobin, which delivers oxygen to muscles.

•GH and NO potentiation. Larginine’s potential to increase growth hormone levels is well known. Arginine, in the

form found in ArgiNOne (arginine alpha-ketoglutarate), also plays a key role in the production of nitric oxide. NO creates an anabolic environment in your body by increasing blood flow to promote muscle growth, increase strength and more easily deliver needed nutrients.

•Detoxification. The Lcitrulline and L-malic acid in ArgiNOne power ATP production and eliminate metabolic pollutants such as lactic acid and ammonia from the blood. Citrulline stimulates energy and boosts the immune system. It metabolizes to

If your muscles become too acidic due to lactic acid buildup, creatine won’t show its full potential. form L-arginine, regulating nitric oxide production and detoxifying ammonia in the body.

Muscle fullness. Taurine, found in F-16, regulates the body’s sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium levels. Like creatine it helps muscle cells hold more water and increase in volume, resulting in a higher rate of protein synthesis.

Are you tired of getting ripped off by supplement companies that have big advertisements and even bigger claims for products that don’t work? Ultimate Nutrition’s ArgiNOne and F-16 are coming on the market only after eight years of tireless research and development. Within the next few weeks they will be available everywhere and will enable you to achieve the results you dream of.

In addition, if you’re looking for a protein product to go along with this stack, please consider Ultimate Nutrition’s Muscle Juice 2544, now available in four amazing-tasting flavors. visit www.ultimate nutrition.com for more information on ArgiNOne, F-16 and Muscle Juice 2544. These products are also available from Home Gym Warehouse, (800) 447-0008 or visit www.home-gym.com. IM

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Heavy

Duty Mike Mentzer’s Heavy Duty Seminar

E

• Part 4 • • by John Little •

xcerpted here are some more of the forward-looking insights Mike Mentzer brought to a seminar he gave in Canada in November 1981, a year after the infamous ’80 Mr. Olympia contest in Sydney, Australia. www.ironmanmagazine.com \ FEBRUARY 2005 165

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Seminar Part 4

Clarence Bass says to stay lean all year and try to build muscle. You don’t have to get fat.

Audience Member: What about food combinations?

Mike Mentzer: That seems to be the most prevalent question lately— food combinations. I don’t know a damned thing about it. I’ve been combining foods haphazardly my whole life, and I haven’t suffered that badly yet. A lot of nutrition, it seems to me, is splitting hairs. People get so involved with their nutrition—which is okay; I mean, I’m not judging that. But it’s a lot simpler just to eat a little bit of everything and not too much of anything. Train hard. And don’t split hairs unless you get off on it. It’s up to you. Does anybody here know about food combinations?

AM: You shouldn’t eat fruit and vegetables together.

MM: Pardon?

AM: You shouldn’t eat fruit and vegetables together.

MM: You shouldn’t?

AM: No. MM: (facetiously) It can be a problem. Okay—a well-balanced diet. The question inevitably comes up: Where do supplements fit in? If

you’re eating a well-balanced diet, then theoretically you don’t need supplements because you’re getting all the vitamins, minerals, proteins, carbohydrates, fats and water you need to maintain health. However, it’s often not possible to get a well-balanced diet due to time pressures, family pressures, job pressures—we have to skip meals here. If you suspect that you’re not getting a wellbalanced diet, then by all means, include an all-around vitamin-andmineral tablet and/or protein supplement. But don’t waste hundreds of dollars a month on useless vitamins and minerals that you’re just going to piss out anyway. And you can see it; if you take too much vitamin B, it turns your urine yellow; you’re literally pissing away your money. Take supplements when you think you may not be getting a well-balanced diet.

I do take supplements when I’m training very hard before a contest and I’m on a low-calorie diet because once your calories reach a certain low level, you can’t get a well-balanced diet. Nutritional scientists say once you go below 1,500 calories, then it’s impossible to get all the vitamins, proteins, minerals and so forth that you need to maintain proper health and, of course, build a big, muscular, beautiful physique, which is why we’re all here. We all want to be big musclemen.

AM: Are you training more efficiently at a lower fat level?

MM: Carbohydrates are the most efficient fuel for high-intensity training or any kind of anaerobic training.

Anaerobic activity, which is what

weight training is, demands sugar as fuel. The worst way to get cut up is to lift weights, because weight training does not burn fat as fuel. It’s a simple medical fact that’s not even open to debate—weight training burns sugar. And if you’re not getting sugar from fruits, vegetables, cereals or grains, where is your muscle going to get sugar in order to continue contracting?

John Little: What was all the hype in the magazines a while back saying that if you eat sugar, it would actually weaken your muscles.

MM: Answer my question first: If you’re not getting dietary carbohydrate and you require sugar for high-intensity contraction, where is your body going to get sugar to continue contracting?

AM: From your muscles.

MM: From your own muscle!

There’s an amino acid contained in your muscle tissue called alanine that is broken down and sent to your liver and turned into glucose.

That’s why carbohydrates are called “protein sparing.” Carbs spare your protein from being used for energy.

And you can always tell when you start using muscle for energy. I pointed out earlier that one pound of muscle tissue contains 600 calories. One pound of fat contains how many calories?

AM: Thirty-five hundred.

MM: Okay. Now, if you were to start burning muscle for energy, how many pounds of muscle would you have to burn to get the same energy yield from one pound of fat?

AM: About six.

MM: Almost six pounds! You will know when you’re starting to use muscle for energy because you will start losing weight very rapidly— like two, three, four or five pounds a day. Look at the discrepancy and disparity there—one pound of muscle contains 600 calories; one pound of fat contains 3,500 calories. To get the energy yield from muscle that you would from fat, you’d have to burn six pounds of muscle! So it’s ridiculous to go on low-carbohydrate diets to get cut up, because you will, inevitably, lose some muscle.

The best way to get cut up is to reduce your daily calorie intake to below your maintenance need of calories. Again, if you need 3,000

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Heavy Duty calories a day to maintain yourself—you need 3,000 calories a day not to gain weight, not to lose weight, but to maintain yourself— and, all of a sudden, you reduce your daily calorie intake to 2,000, then you’re going to be 1,000 calories deficient. Where’s that 1,000 calories going to come from?

AM: Your fat.

MM: Your bodyfat. That’s, what bodyfat is: stored energy. Now these 2,000 calories can be 2,000 calories of pure table sugar, and you’ll still get ripped.

Theoretically, you can become highly defined eating nothing but ice cream—as long as your daily total calorie intake is below your maintenance need of calories. Then you have to resort to bodyfat for energy. I’m not advocating that because it’s not a well-balanced diet. Eat a well-balanced diet—60 percent carbohydrates, 25 percent proteins and 15 percent fat—but eat a reduced number of calories. It doesn’t have to be all protein.

I know the majority of my fellow Mr. Olympia competitors woke up every morning during their training period grumpy bastards because all they had to look forward to was tuna fish and water. I woke up in the morning always looking forward to breakfast because I had bran muffins and often cake and cookies, fruits and vegetables.

I ate a wide assortment of carbohydrates; often I would have just carrot cake and coffee for breakfast because I knew I needed that sugar for the workout. But I didn’t do it recklessly; I knew what my daily maintenance need of calories was and as long as I stayed below that every day—I kept a daily record of my calorie intake—I could eat that cake with impunity and not get fat. I was getting ripped, as a matter of fact.

I was eating ice cream at least four days a week before the Mr. Olympia contest—again, not recklessly. I knew that I had to get under 2,500 calories a day. I was averaging about 1,800. So I was burning about 700 calories a day in fat. And I was actually burning more than that because I was so active. I was riding my bicycle up to 40 miles a day. And I was getting cut up before my very eyes. Every day I would wake up and

“It’s ridiculous eating nothing but protein to get cut up.”

see more definition—and the night before I had just had an ice cream cone. I mean, it’s ridiculous eating nothing but protein or tuna fish and water to get cut up. Not only is it not healthy and no fun, it’s just ridiculous.

AM: What bodyfat percentage would you recommend for normal training—not for competition?

MM: I’m in the process of losing bodyfat now, and I’m going to try and keep my bodyfat at 4 to 5 percent during the year, and then be-

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Tom Platz ate around 400 grams of carbs a day before a contest, and he still got ripped.

“Anaerobic activity, which is what weight training is, demands sugar as fuel.”

fore a contest try to get down to 2.5.

It’s much easier staying lean—as opposed to getting fat between shows and then having to drastically reduce your diet and kill yourself and lose muscle mass.

When you’ve got to diet severely, you invariably also lose some muscle mass. It’s better to do what Clarence Bass suggests: stay lean all year and try to build muscle—you don’t have to add fat to build muscle, by the way—and then zero in six to eight weeks before each contest. I’m not sure what the proper number is—maybe 6 or 7 percent. But it can be done. Get the bodyfat off and then eat an adequate, well-balanced diet that contains a maintenance number of calories, and you can do it. The worst thing to do is to get 40 pounds overweight, then go on a drastically reduced-calorie diet— down to, you know, one baked potato and one egg a day—which inevitably results in a splurge after the contest and the adding of the 40 pounds of bodyweight.

Look at any bodybuilder who goes on a zero-carbohydrate diet for a contest—what happens afterward?

AM: They get fat.

JL: They get fat. It’s inevitable; it’s a protective mechanism. The body doesn’t want you to lose all its bodyfat. As far as the body is concerned, it’s starving, dying. And it’s going to protect itself again in the future from that same process by getting fat, putting on as much fat as possible.

The best thing is to get lean slowly, and then maintain that lower bodyfat level sanely by eating a wellbalanced diet. This going up and down all the time puts stress on your nervous system. Stay lean, and then zero in for a contest.

MM: But don’t you find you’re stronger at a higher bodyfat level?

MM: No. Absolutely not. Bodyfat does nothing in the way of offering an advantage to body strength. It hinders body strength. They have found that intramuscular fat—fat between muscle fiber—actually hinders contraction, makes you weaker. The leaner you are, the stronger you’ll be. You should stay lean as much of the time as possible.

JL: What about the stories that were being bandied about that track athletes would eat a candy bar in order to give themselves a quick

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Heavy Duty energy boost before a race? Is that still true?

MM: No. JL: Or does it bring you down to a lower level than before you ate it?

MM: Well, not a candy bar, because a candy bar actually contains more fat than sugar. In part, the speed with which the sugar is taken up into the bloodstream is slowed down by the fat it’s contained in.

But sugar does not give you a quick energy rush. The energy you’re actually living off is your stored glycogen. In fact, it’s your stored glycogen that is responsible for the water—remember it’s 70 percent of your muscle’s composition—staying in your muscles. How does that water stay in the muscle? Stored glycogen, which is sugar, contains three grams of stored water. Now, during a period of about three days on a low-carbohydrate diet, as you’re continuing your weight training and burning up that stored sugar for energy, what happens to that sugar once it’s used up for energy? It leaves the muscle. But— remembering the chemical bond between sugar and water—once the stored sugar leaves the muscle, what happens to the water that was stored with it?

JL: It leaves also.

MM: The first couple of days on a low-carb diet you’ll notice that you go to the bathroom a lot. That water is not coming from fat. Fat is only 15 percent water; muscle is 70 percent water—you’re actually losing your muscle mass on a low-carbohydrate diet. And I have a theory that that’s the reason bodybuilders have gotten so heavily into steroids—because of this diuretic effect of a low-carbohydrate diet.

If you look back about 10 years ago to the advent of the low-carbohydrate diet on the bodybuilding scene, it very closely parallels the emergence of steroids on the bodybuilding scene. And I think what bodybuilders were doing, unwittingly, was using steroids—which retained water—to offset the diuretic effect of the low-carbohydrate diet. The bodybuilder was doing his curls and not getting a pump because he was getting no carbohydrates. And he found out when he took two more Dianabol pills, he retained that much more water and

he could still get a pump. It’s just a theory, but it’s a plausible one.

You’ve got to have carbohydrates to build muscle, and you’ve got to have carbohydrates to maintain muscle. If you’re looking to build mass, you’ve got to have a large amount of carbohydrates in your diet. Not an untold number—again, 60 percent of your daily maintenance need of calories. And, when you’re trying to lose fat and maintain muscle, you need sugar in your diet. As long as you’re eating a reduced calorie diet, you can eat as many carbs as you want and still get ripped.

Theoretically, you can eat pure table sugar and be as ripped as a Mohamed Makkawy. I’ve gone beyond the 60 percent that I mentioned. Before the Olympia I was eating almost 80 to 90 percent carbohydrates. Tom Platz, who looked unbelievable at this year’s Mr. Olympia—he was probably around 2 percent bodyfat. In the last three days before the contest he stayed at my home in Palm Springs to get some sun, and I couldn’t believe my eyeballs when I saw him: His skin was like tissue paper!

He was eating 400 grams of carbohydrates a day, but he was performing a lot of aerobics, and he was getting fewer calories than he needed to maintain himself. It can be done.

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 173 of this issue, from Home Gym Warehouse, (800) 447008, or by visiting Mentzer’s official Web site, www.mikementzer.com.

John Little is available for phone consultation on Mike Mentzer’s Heavy Duty training system. For rates and information, contact Joanne Sharkey at (310) 316-4519 or at www.mikementzer.com, or see the ad mentioned above.

Article copyright © 2004 by John Little. All rights reserved. Mike Mentzer quotations that appear in this series provided courtesy of Joanne Sharkey, © 2004 and used with permission. IM www.ironmanmagazine.com \ FEBRUARY 2005 169

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Mr. Natural Olympia John Hansen’s

Naturally Huge

Back Into Bodybuilding Q: I enjoy your articles, especially your recent over-40 training insights. I’m 39 and have trained sporadically for the past 20 years. I’m recovering from rotator cuff surgery at the moment, but as soon as I’m able to start training, I’d like to get in my best shape. Considering my age, should I split my workout so I train each muscle group every six or seven days, or should I start with a three-day split, using a two-on/one-off routine?

A: If you’ve been away from training for a while, you should probably begin with a limited number of exercises and train each muscle group twice a week using a twoon/one-off routine. It’s always better to start out slowly when coming back from a layoff. Your body will respond best to a limited amount of training.

After a few months of training consistently on that schedule, you could spread your training over three days as opposed to two. Try a two-days-on/one-day-off/one-dayon/one-day-off schedule. That gives you five days of rest between workouts for each bodypart. You’ll need that extra

rest because you’ll be training each muscle group much harder and with more sets than you did during the first routine. Here’s one example of how you could divide your muscle groups for that training split: Day 1: Chest, arms, calves Day 2: Abs, legs Day 3: Rest Day 4: Shoulders, back, calves Day 5: Rest Stay with that routine as long as you feel you’re getting results. If your training intensity increases to the point that you don’t feel you’re getting the recuperation you need, schedule more rest days. You could take a day off after each training session, which would increase your days off between workouts for each bodypart to six days instead of five.

Another option is to divide your bodyparts over four days instead of three. You could train two days in a row, followed by a day off, and then repeat that cycle until you cover your whole body. Here’s one example that gives you six days of rest for each bodypart: Day 1: Chest, triceps, calves Day 2: Abs, upper legs Day 3: Rest Day 4: Shoulders, calves Day 5: Back, biceps, abs Day 6: Rest Begin slowly and train each bodypart twice per week. As your poundages go up and your intensity increases, begin dividing your body over three days, and increase the amount of rest between workouts for each bodypart to five days. Stick with each routine as long as it produces results.

After six months of consistent training, you can increase your rest between workouts for each bodypart to six days if you feel you need it.

Q: I’m 17 years old, and I have two questions. I’ve been searching the Web for answers for about three weeks. Everyone has something different to say—and most of them are on steroids. Some people are telling me I should just take prohormones. I know drugs aren’t the way to go, so here are my questions: 1) What’s the best rep range for building muscle size? 2) What are the best supplements?

Neveux / Sebastian Segal

Get back into training after a layoff with limited work.

Use a few sets on the basic exercises and train each muscle group twice a week.

A: The best range of repetitions for building muscle is typically between six and 10. That range has been shown to thicken the muscle fibers and increase the size of the muscles while also pumping blood into the muscle tissues.

After your warmup sets with lighter weights and higher reps, use a weight that limits your reps to six to 10. The reps should be very difficult to perform. If you can do 12 to 15 reps by really pushing it, then you need to use more weight for maximum muscle growth.

Lower repetitions—one to four—will build more strength than muscle mass. That’s because the tendons and ligaments take over

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Mr. Natural Olympia John Hansen’s

more of the load. Powerlifters and other athletes primarily aiming to increase their strength often do sets with a resistance that limits their reps to between one and five. A higher rep range—six to 10—gives you more of a pump in your muscles, which is a big factor in muscle tissue growth.

Going in the other direction and doing very high repetitions—15 to 20—doesn’t provide enough resistance to thicken muscle fibers. A set performed with low resistance and higher reps will definitely pump up the muscle, but you need heavier loads to build muscle fibers.

Some muscle groups may respond better to more or fewer reps than the recommended six to 10. The calf muscles, for example, seem to respond better to a resistance that permits anywhere from 12 to 30 reps. I like using both high and moderate reps for calves, as the higher-rep sets pump more growth-producing blood into the muscle, which helps them grow.

The quadriceps also appear to respond to slightly higher reps. The leg muscles can handle a lot of work, more than some of the smaller muscles in the upper body. I’ve found that it’s beneficial to train the legs with both heavy weights and high reps—12 to 15. It’s a brutal combination that can produce growth for bodybuilders who have a difficult time developing quads.

As for your second question, I recommend that before you stock up on supplements, you make sure your diet is sound. You should be eating at least six meals per day with enough of the three macronutrients—protein, carbohydrates and fats—to promote growth.

The first supplement I recommend is a good protein powder and/or meal replacement. To keep your muscles in a positive nitrogen balance, you need to eat protein every 2 1/2 to three hours. That gives you the amino acids your muscles require to grow. Since it’s highly impractical to eat a whole-food meal every three hours, protein and mealreplacement drinks help you fit in those meals more conveniently. I normally drink at least three protein or meal-replacement shakes each day.

I use Muscle-Link’s Pro-Fusion protein powder and Muscle Meals meal replacement. The reason I prefer that

Powerlifters and other athletes primarily aiming to increase their strength often do sets with a resistance that limits their reps to between one and five.

brand over others is its formulation of micellar casein along with whey and egg proteins. That superior combination makes for a slower amino acid release, giving the muscles a continuous flow of the building blocks they need.

I also highly recommend a postworkout drink to speed your recovery as well as aid in muscle growth. I take RecoverX, which has 40 grams of whey protein—fast-acting protein, so it’s quickly absorbed by the muscle cells—along with 60 grams of simple carbs. That’s the perfect combination for feeding your depleted muscles the nutrients they crave right after a hard training session.

The other two supplements that I highly recommend are creatine and glutamine. Creatine is a great supplement to keep your strength and energy levels high during a heavy training session. I take a serving of Muscle-Link’s CreaSol titrated creatine before and after my workouts. Glutamine is invaluable in building the immune system and helping with recuperation and muscle growth. When I’m in heavy precompetition training, I take five grams of glutamine when I wake up, before and after my workout and immediately before bed.

Note: For a great discount offer on RecoverX and CreaSol, visit www .x-rep.com/xdiet.htm.

Editor’s note: John Hansen has won the Natural Mr. Olympia and is a two-time Natural Mr. Universe winner. Visit his Web site at www .naturalolympia .com. You can write to him at P.O. Box 3003, Darien, IL 60561, or call toll-free (800) 900UNIV (8648). IM Neveux

Lower repetitionswill build more strength than muscle mass.

Neveux \ Model: Eric Domer

Naturally Huge

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John Hansen John@NaturalOlympia.com

See Arnold Run A&E Presents a Biopic Son on BodybuildingÕs Favorite by the Editors • Photos courtesy of A&E

kay, first we gotta explain that biopic isnÕt a photo of ArnoldÕs best arm shot that makes you go, ÒOhhh!Ó (That would be bi-oh-pic.) ItÕs an actual TV movie about ArnoldÕs lifeÑbio, as in biography, and pic as in picture, or flick.

Did you get that? ItÕs more than one picture; itÕs an entire movie! Be excited, be very excited. The A&E television network will be airing the two-hour biography in January, so youÕll want to check your local listings, set your VCR and/or program your TiVo. This oneÕs going to be a keeper.

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See Arnold Run

IRON MAN Magazine Archives

Kickinger hits an Oak-like lat spread onstage during a contest segment.

The May ’94 IRONMAN cover comparing Roland and Arnold (Are we psychic or what?). Below: Arnold, er, um, Roland in the gym supinating his dumbbell curls.

Amazing: Even a lot of Roland’s muscle shapes are similar to Arnold’s.

You may be asking, “Who could possibly play Arnold?” If you’re a bodybuilding fan—or you used to watch “Son of a Beach,” a cable-TV “Baywatch” parody—you know the answer: Roland Kickinger, an Austrian bodybuilder who appears to have been born to play the role. In fact, IRON MAN had him on its cover next to a shot of the Oak way back in May 1994 with the line, “Is This the Next Arnold?” Apparently, the answer is yes. (We IM folk are insightful sons of a gun, aren’t we?)

At 6’4” Kickinger is two inches taller than Arnold—pretty darn close to Oak height. Other similari-

ties are uncanny—from similarshaped bodyparts to facial expressions to that thick Deutschland accent. (Next thing you know, he’ll be marrying into the Kennedy family.)

To top it off, like most bodybuilders, Roland has the utmost respect for Arnold and his accomplishments. Heck, you don’t have to be a bodybuilder to see that Arnold’s got it going on and then some. He commands respect, remarkable in today’s political arena.

Kickinger knows that as well as anyone, so he called up the California governor and asked whether he

should accept the part—whether Arnold would give it his blessing.

We’re pretty sure Arnold said something like, “Yah, jos be sure you git paid lots ov money, because remember, Ah’ll be bock.” Of course, Roland said he did it to honor the king, not for the cash, of which there probably wasn’t a whole lot, seeing as how it’s cable and all (just in case the IRS is reading).

Former Mr. Olympia Frank Zane got in on the action, playing a TV commentator and advising on the film. He also wrote a song that will be featured. It must’ve been eerie for Frank to revisit that period of his

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See Arnold Run

life through the magic of motion pictures—almost like taking a ride in a time machine. Nick Stellate played Zane. (For more on Frank’s perspective of the movie, see page 242 and last month’s Mind/Body section.)

Other actors/bodybuilders in the flick include Bob Cicherillo as Lou Ferrigno, Chris Cook as Dave Draper and Michael Ergas as Franco Columbu. Filming took place in San Diego under the watchful eye of director J.B. Rogers, who also directed “American Pie 2.” (We’re not sure if that means there will be lots of innuendo involving Austrian oaks; however, we’re sure that Stifler isn’t playing Ken Waller.)

Are you excited yet? The behind-the-scenes shots included in this preview should have you more than ready to microwave some popcorn and check out “See Arnold Run.” If you’re an Arnold fan, as we are, you’ll want to visit www.aande.com to find out exactly when it airs. Then be sure to contact A&E afterward to say how much you liked it. While you’re at it,

Former Mr. Olympia Frank Zane got in on the action, playing a TV commentator and advising on the film.

Lights, camera, posing oil.

Okay, so Arnold’s doublebiceps shot was better, but you get the idea. Check out the silhouette in the pic above right. Uncanny! tell the network to produce some spots about abolishing that American-born-president stipulation in the Constitution because a lot of us

really do want to see Arnold run— in about four years. Forget that last line. I’m so excited about the flick, I got carried away. IM

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Photo by Teagan Clive

Close to His

Creator David Paul, Former Barbarian, Refocuses on the Art World

by Teagan Clive Photography by David Paul he world’s most muscular multimedia artist isn’t big on talk.

A grunt from him can mean a whole conversation. No doubt about it, David Paul is rather quiet. Until he has something to say, that is. When he does, his vocabulary explodes from his hands. Whether they’re wielding a camera or a guitar, a paint brush or a hammer, his hands do most of the talking.

Paul’s body, all 230 traffic-stop-

T

ping pounds of it, might sometimes appear to be little more than a life-support system for his 10 great and grubby fingers and paint-blotched palms.

Right now he’s using them to part the tangled woods behind his Topanga Canyon home, where he intends to pee.

“I built this house myself, so I figure I can take a leak outside once in a while,” he explains, in a voice so deep it could be connected directly to his heart.

Later, as we walk back up the stone staircase that embraces his home—a magnificent wood-lined lodge, artist loft and gallery—Paul pauses on the threshold and announces, “I’m going to do something big in my life.”

For most folks, Paul’s already done enough. While wrestling in college, he earned a degree in kinesiology. “My father was an elite athlete and an inventor, and my mother was an athlete and a teacher,” he says, “so strength

All photos © 2004 by David Paul. All rights reserved.

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Will Harris Š 2004 by David Paul. All right s reserved.

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and creativity run in my blood.”

After college, David and his twin brother, Peter, moved to Venice.

Calling themselves the Barbarian Brothers, they starred in a fistful of movies, including “D.C. Cab,” directed by Joel Schumacher, who recalls that the brothers were, “great fun to work with.” Artistic differences eventually caused the burly brothers to part professional ways. They remain close on a personal level.

When he was 13—about the same time he began bodybuilding—David started taking pictures with a camera his mother gave him. “I was always shooting the dog too,” he recalls. The experience paid off. In the past five years he’s shot many of the print ads and covers for the fitness industry’s magazines.

“You immediately know a David Paul picture when you see one,” notes John Balik, IRON MAN’s publisher and an accomplished

physique photographer himself.

“David has a powerful style and an arresting point of view. He can transform the mundane into fine art.” Paul’s work is also being sought by the general public. At a recent $2,500-perplate charity dinner sponsored

by MusicCares, his collection quickly sold out.

But despite all that, the role of photographer isn’t enough for the restless giant. He’s yearning to be a respected painter like

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Tommi Thorvildsen © 2004 by David Paul. All rights reserved.

Lee Priest © 2004 by David Paul. All rights reserved.

Van Gogh and a singer and songwriter like Leonard Cohen.

“I can’t stop creating,” he admits. “Whether it’s painting, photography or writing a song, creating brings me closer to my creator.”

He steps down into his living room-cum-studio and closes the door. Suddenly several sparrows fly across the room and land atop a brick fireplace.

“They’re wild, but I let them live here,” he says. He points to his

“When you’re taking pictures with David, there’s no telling where you’re going to shoot,” says model Lee Priest. “He’s very willing to take chances and try something different.”

latest work, a large dark abstract with a white drip running down the center. He asks me if I like it.

I tell him that I really like the drip. “That’s not supposed to be there,” he says, “That’s birdshit.” The next day he calls to say he’s worked the droppings into the painting.

Paul’s spontaneous approach to art resembles his approach to photography. “When you’re taking pictures with David, there’s no telling where you’re

going to shoot,” says Lee Priest.

“He’s very willing to take chances and try something different.” According to Paul, the location chooses him. “I just follow the light,” he explains.

We leave his house and head for a restaurant in Santa Monica that serves raw organic foods. (“The cleaner you eat, the higher your spirit will fly,” he promises, flashing a smile.)

Once seated, he opens his lap(continued on page 196) top and

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Aaron Baker Š 2004 by David Paul. All rights reserved.

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Flex Wheeler © 2004 by David Paul. All rights reserved.

“David’s fearless,” says his photography agent of six years, Joanne Fierstein. “He’ll do anything for a special shot. The real beauty of it,” she muses, “is that he doesn’t really know what he’s doing.”

shows me a photo he recently took for Newsweek magazine: A middleaged woman is walking along the ledge of a skyscraper, her arms held straight up, the wind blowing hard against her hair and clothing. “She’s a leading candidate to design the new World Trade Center,” he says softly.

I tell him I’m eager to shoot a picture of him, and he passes me a Polaroid camera and walks

(continued from page 193)

outside. In a shaft of light, Paul stands erect and tweaks his beret. I click the shutter. “The light’s perfect over there,” he says, indicating the middle of a busy street. Ignoring traffic, he lies flat on his back on the warm asphalt. He looks like Gulliver, about to be tethered by Lilliputians. I straddle him and take aim. Seconds later a police officer drives up and orders us off the street. Undaunted, Paul tells me to take the shot.

“David’s fearless,” says his photography agent of six years, Joanne Fierstein. “He’ll do anything for a special shot. The real beauty of it,” she muses, “is that he doesn’t really know what he’s doing. He has no technical training whatsoever.”

Partners in crime, we return to our table in the restaurant.

Paul takes the Polaroid camera and pulls the film. He then separates it and dunks the negative into a glass (continued on page 200)

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Tema © 2004 by David Paul. All rights reserved.

“And then when I actually met him, I was surprised that a guy who looks like a construction worker could also be such a sensitive and gifted artist.”

(continued from page 197) of water and watches the black gel roll off the film. Pleased with the results, he picks up his guitar and strums an antiwar ballad titled “Dear Mr. President”: “Dear Mr. President My son is asking me Daddy, why are we going to war?

I didn’t know what to say So I repeated what was told to me We have to take their weapons Away.

He looked at me With those puppy-dog eyes, and said, Daddy, don’t we have weapons too?

CHORUS That’s when I realized how wrong we are.

(Daddy, why are we going to war?)

That’s when I realized how far we’ve gone.

(Daddy, why are we going to war?)”

When music distributor Marco Garibaldi heard that song, he instantly knew he wanted Paul to sign with his Internet company, K-OZ.FM. “At first, I was intrigued by his super baritone voice—no one can sing like him,” says Garibaldi. “And then when I actually met him, I was surprised that a guy who looks like a construction worker could also be such a sensitive and gifted artist.

There’s no mistaking him for someone else; he’s absolutely

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Ronnie Coleman © 2004 by David Paul. All rights reserved.

“I recognize the angels in my life,” notes Paul, who’s endured his share of hardship, including the death of an older brother followed by a divorce from his wife of six years.

unique.”

“I recognize the angels in my life,” notes Paul, who’s endured his share of hardship, including the death of an older brother, followed by a divorce from his wife of six years. “When my wife left me, taking my son with her, I was so unhappy I went on Prozac for a month,” he recalls.

According to Paul, however, there are no mistakes in life.

“The wrong road is the right one,” he says.

Paul’s life took a pivotal turn around the time publisher Bob Kennedy asked him to shoot for MuscleMag International.

“Bob’s support of my photography enabled me to pursue my art.” For Kennedy, the decision was a no-brainer. “The bodybuilders totally trust him,” says Kennedy. “In exchange, he makes them look absolutely terrific.”

But why has it taken David Paul—now 47—so long to dis-

cover his artistic genius? Are some people just late bloomers?

Or was there something in him that slowed the process? “It’s all in God’s time,” he concludes.

“Besides, I didn’t have anything to say back then.”

Editor’s note: You can hear David Paul’s music online at KOZ.fm, or contact him directly at ArtfulDodger7@verizon.net.

Teagan Clive can be reached at teaganclive@earthlink.net. IM

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Lonnie Teper’s

Olympia Reflections

The Dominator Is Ronnie the greatest Flexer of them all?

He overcame the field, not to mention the newly installed challenge round, to record his seventh consecutive Mr. Olympia win. Then he muscled his way to overpowering victories at the Russian, British and Holland grand prix events the following weekend, surpassing Vince Taylor as the all-time IFBB record holder with 25 conquests. At 40 years of age, no less. So, does that end any argument about Ronnie Coleman’s being the greatest bodybuilder of all time?

I’ve always said that it’s too hard to compare athletes of different eras; Arnold was the best of his time; ditto for Frank Zane, Lee Haney and Dorian Yates.

Still, it’s hard to imagine that anybody who’s ever stepped on a bodybuilding stage could have beaten Coleman the way the Big Nasty has looked for the past two years. I mean, how in the hell can a human being carry that much muscle?

He’s under 6’ yet weighed in the mid-280s in 2003, and he was nearly 10 pounds heavier this time around. In FREAKAZOIDS pretty darn good shape to boot. And year after year he continues to defeat lineMarkus ups that are the deepest in the history of the game—Flex Markus Ruhl (below) and Darrem Charles Wheeler, Jay Cutler (this both left Las Vegas with an extra 10 grand in man, like the late Rodney hand. Ruhl won Muscular Development’s Dangerfield, does not get Freakathe respect he deserves), zoid Chris Cormier, Kevin award, for Levrone, Shawn Ray, Dexter Jackson, et al. obvious So I reserve the right reasons. As to change my mind on for Charles, this one. No offense to see the item the rest of the champs— at the far you were/are all truly right. amazing physique athletes—but Coleman has really taken it to the next level, as all magnificent conquerors do. I fully expect him to win two more Olympias, surpassing Haney’s record of eight.

He’ll be 42 at that point. Too old?

Yeah, so is Sharon Stone.

Nastiest of all time?

L.T. says the Big Nasty, who carried more than 290 pounds of hardcore beef on his 5’11” frame on the way to his seventh Mr. O win, is the best.

Ruhls

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A D D O LY M P I A

Photography by Lonnie Teper \ Mr. Olympia photography by Bill Comstock

If It Ain’t Broke…

About that challenge round

After David Pecker, CEO of America Media Inc., purchased the Olympia from Ben Weider, one of AMI’s first acts was to bring David Zelon on board, putting him in charge of stage design. Zelon, who left the world of bodybuilding promotion more than a decade back to work as a film Gustavo Badell (left) challenged his way into third place ahead of Dexter producer, did a heck Jackson, who was third going into King Coleman carried a 15-point lead into the challenge round, of a job with the the new round 4. but it all came down to one pose. Did Ronnie sneak in an illegal overall look of the set. abs shot between challenges? Host Triple H says, No foul.

I thoroughly enjoyed the video on the history of the contest, featuring all former Mr. O champions, and I thought the idea of showing footage of each competitor training just prior to his posing routine at the finals was an ingenious addition to the program. Didn’t surprise me that he came up with features like that—“Z” isn’t in the movie business due to a lack of artistic talent.

I’ve also heard that the new challenge round was David’s brainchild, and on that subject I must protest. Oh, Zelon’s intentions were praiseworthy: trying to inject some excitement into the event, to take the sport to a new echelon. Plus it was the first time they tried it, and I’m sure that if AMI and company do it again, it will be tweaked and improved (see my contest report on page 220 for a description of how the challenge round actually worked). Despite all that, I say, Pass on it all together and go back to the posedown for round 4.

Why? Because this so-called new level people are always trying to take bodybuilding to just doesn’t exist. We’re a niche SMOOTH MOVERS sport—and there’s nothing wrong with that. It is what it is—people buy tickets to see muscle, pure and simple. You won’t get me to the opera, no matter how many bells and whistles you add to the production, and having Jay Cutler talking to the crowd won’t bring any bodybuilding fans to the Met. Sure, adding some entertainment is great. I try to have some fun things at my Junior Cal every year. Is there anybody who doesn’t appreciate the skill of, say, the Alexis Brothers, who’ve performed at the Arnold Classic on numerous occasions? On the other hand, having real-life celebs (other than Arnold) onstage doesn’t enhance the event. Especially at the box office, where it really counts.

We’ve been there, done that. Remember Dana Carvey?

Sinbad? Supertalented, yes, but they were the wrong players at the wrong time for the wrong game. And to pay them exorbitant appearance fees that dwarf what most of the competitors make in Darrem Charles—who else?—was honored with the the biggest contest in the world is grossly unfair. Oh, did I mention Best Presentation award at the Shawn Ray Seminar on Vince McMahon and the World Bodybuilding Federation? the day after the Olympia.

Again, I appreciate the effort, but it’s an impossible task.

Darrem Dazzles

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To the Rescue

Starsky and Hutch of bodybuilding save the day in S.F.

Dynamic promoters Steve O’Brien (left) and Jon Lindsay, with Kevin Levrone, a.k.a. Huggy Bear.

For a moment there it looked like the San Francisco Pro event, produced the past four years

by Giorgio Tsoukalos, might be history. But along came Jaguar Jon Lindsay and Super Steve O’Brien

to save the day.

The pair already team up to produce the California Championships as well as the Contra Costa and San Francisco amateur shows. Now they’re partnering to produce the GNC ’05 IFBB San Francisco Men’s Pro Bodybuilding and Pro Figure Championships on March 12 at the Palace of Fine Arts Theater, located at 3301 Lyon Street in San Francisco. And I’ll be working with them as the emcee, as I do at the above-mentioned competitions.

Lindsay, whose list of contest promotions is longer than my back (for a complete list log on to www.musclecontest.com), has also announced that he’s adding a pro-figure contest to his annual Tournament of Champions amateur event on September 24. Lindsay introduced pro figure at the Cal last year, and he—and the figure pros—will do it again at the’05 California Championships on May 28.

The San Fran Pro will, once again, be the third men’s contest of the season, following the IRON MAN Pro on February 19 and the Arnold Classic on March 5.

Lindsay and O’Brien are among the finest NPC promoters in the country; their landing a pro men’s show has been long overdue. Congrats, guys.

HOT SHOTS

BY JERRY FREDRICK

ay nde jokes. Put aw Okay, no more blo . ne an the guns, Jo

Look-alikes

Dennis Quaid.

Marc Missioreck, producer of the IRON MAN FitExpo, and actor Dennis Quaid.

Marc Missioreck.

Fredrick

GAM SAVERS

Hey, how'd this hardgainer group photo get in here?

Pax Beale is a garden ing maniac. Here he tra ins to wheel-barrow massi ve amounts of yard gar bage.

206 FEBRUARY 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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willing Christian is always an to help a gal unstick atomic wedgie.

Pasadena

Calling

Priest, Anthony and Dugdale Commit early to season opener

Although it’s too early in the game (mid-November as I write this) to know who will end up onstage at the Pasadena (California) Civic Auditorium for the 16th edition of the IRON MAN Pro on February 19, some verbal commitments ensure that the show will be a dandy, as always.

Lee Priest and Melvin Anthony both passed on the Olympia to concentrate on the IRON MAN. That will be an WEST COAST FLEXIN’ FROM LEE AND MELVIN. interesting scenario. Both guys say they’ve had enough of the Lee Priest and Melvin Anthony both passed on the runner-up stuff and plan to leave the ’04 Olympia to concentrate on the season-opening IRON MAN Pro, which is set for February 19 auditorium with the championship at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. trophy. More on that in the next next issue. Mark Dugdale, last year’s USA Also heading for Pasadena is last year’s USA champion, says he’ll make his pro debut there. champ, Mark Dugdale, who told me during Olympia Weekend that he’s planning on making his pro debut at the IRON MAN. Dugdale also noted that he’s taking his wife, Christina, and their three daughters to Hawaii for a family vacation in December. Sound crazy? Not if you know about Dugdale’s focus. I imagine Mark won’t be enjoying the fun in the sun—or the buffets— the way the rest of his family will.

Other standouts who’ve said they plan on competing include Ahmad “Abzilla” Haidar; David Henry, the surprise of the ’04 IM Pro; Toney Freeman, who has one of the most pleasing physiques in the game; and Derik Farnsworth, who’ll be joining Dugdale as a first-time pro. Derik won’t be the biggest dude in the field, but he’ll hold his own, trust me. I love the guy’s stage presence as well. A real crowd pleaser.

Dexter Jackson, last year’s IM Pro champ, told Publisher John Balik a few months back that he’ll be returning for an encore performance, and four-time IM champ Chris Cormier said backstage at last year’s Arnold Classic that he’ll be coming back again. Since nothing’s official at this point, I’m holding on any formal announcement about those two superstars.

For more information about the IRON MAN Pro, as well as the three-day IRON MAN FitExpo, go to www.ironmanmagazine.com.

Hottest Site in Town Have you seen IRON MAN’s new graphic muscle.com?

Talk about cutting edge: Audio and video interviews, Swami www.ironmanmagazine.com predictions www.graphicmuscle.com (featuring flash animation and slide shows), features like “Watch Out For, “Success Stories” and “Street Talk” plus Mits Okabe’s video productions and Michael Neveux’s classic photography, just for starters. We also hope to bring you extensive coverage of NPC/IFBB events from around the globe. Check it out; I think you’ll be pleased.

Press Conference Follies Things started pretty slowly at the annual press conference, held Thursday afternoon, but heated up when Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman decided to strip down and show fans and foes alike what he brought to the table. That got the ball rolling, and clothes started flying here, there and everywhere.

Coleman shows Gustavo Badell how it’s done.

Free download from imbodybuilding.com

Comstock

More IM Players

’05 IRON MAN Pro: Inside Story

Reunions: Long Time No See

Unbreak able Former national champion Stays focused on life

More Don

At the Olympia

Ran into Don Long during the Olympia Weekend, and, even though the ’95 NPC National champ looked happy and healthy, it turns out that his past five years have been horrific.

I knew that Long’s damaged kidney had Muscular Development correspondent Flex Wheeler, who forced him to underwent a kidney transplant in 2003, interviews Don. JUST A COUPLE OF NATIONAL CHAMPS undergo dialysis PLAYING WITH GUNS back in 1999 and that he’d received a kidney transplant in 2002 and was living in Miami, seemingly enjoying a successful life after bodybuilding. What I Lee Labrada (right), who won the middidn’t know was that the transplant lasted only a year and a half. Or that Don’s dleweight class at the ’85 NPC Nationals, admires the guns displayed by sister, whose donation of her own kidney two years ago enabled Long to move to Don Long, the ’95 overall winner. the top of the recipients list, came to Florida and took him back to her Warrensburg, They don’t call him King Kong Missouri, home. For the past year, Long, now 38, has been back on dialysis, three days Long for nothing. a week, four hours per day.

“You never know how long it [the transplant] is going to last,” he said. “It can be for six months, 10 years, whatever. I was always sick after the transplant—I had pneumonia five times. The drugs I had to take daily, which suppressed the immune system, were very harsh.

“I’m trying not to dwell on this whole thing. I work out six days a week, eat six meals a day, still live the bodybuilding lifestyle. I have four clients I train on a regular basis. I’m stronger, more energetic now than after I had the transplant.… I still may consider another transplant in the future when there’s more of a guarantee.

“Presently, I’m doing everything I possibly can to stay healthy. The regimentation of being a bodybuilder has helped me stay focused—I’m the best built man on dialysis in the country.”

From what I saw, King Kong Long is better built than most of us who aren’t on dialysis. The man has been through hell and back. Drop him a line at mydogkato@aol.com. I’m sure he’d love to hear from you.

Hang in there, Don. And keep smiling.

N E W C O M PA N I E S

Interesting Proposition Banned-substances control Banned Substances Control Group was founded by members of an IOC/WADA–accredited laboratory in Los Angeles to address the concern that banned substances are being found in dietary supplements, even when those substances aren’t listed on the label.

“When consumers purchase a dietary supplement that bears the BSCG logo,” says Ryan Connolly, the company’s director of business affairs, “they gain extra confidence in knowing that a manufacturer is taking steps to ensure that the product is free of potentially harmful banned substances. Athletes have extra assurance that the supplements they use will not cause a positive drug test. The BSCG program represents a

Ryan Connolly says, if you want to make sure your supplements don’t contain banned substances, check out BSCG.

208 FEBRUARY 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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joint effort on behalf of supplement manufacturers and those who promote drug-free athletes to help ensure the integrity of responsibly produced dietary supplements.”

For more info on this highly interesting company, visit www.bscg.org, or send e-mail to info@bscg.org.

U P, D O W N A N D R O U N D T H E ’ 0 4 O L Y M P I A W E E K E N D

things oth a glimpse of the fans at his bo recorded his third Jay Cutler gave ef Be ate im Ult er the to come; a day lat an. to Ronnie Colem runner-up finish

Rich Gaspari and fiancée Elizabeth Nassry.

Liberman

PHOTOGRAPHY BY LONNIE TEPER Mervin Petralba and Sonia Melendez remind expogoers that Lee Priest will be among the stars competing in the IRON MAN Pro, to be held in co tion with the njun IM the Pasadena FitExpo on February 19 cat Civic Audito rium.

Liberman

Kris Dim was ripped and ready for his Olympia debut.

loween. GNC’s Just in time for Hal here with NPC Greg Henry, shown helle Flake, figure competitor Mic ther” imitadoes his best “Godfa tion.

L.T. always seems to locate the best-looking babes in the building, and Sherry Goggin certainly qualifies, wouldn’t you agree?

Slick Hany Rambod and girlfr iend Sara B. dress to the nines. Hany says he’ll let L.T. borrow the threads for the Arnold Classic.

Liberman

of nerve saying Robinson and People have a lot Kerry Kayes, Simon t-Mr. O dinner at the Dorian Yates lly nno Co l that Irv Gelb’s pos Phi e-Mosby, was a date, Katie Munro Approved booth. real dog.

L.T. took in the Blue Man Group at the Luxor Hotel and Casino Cynthia and gave the amazing producBridges tion a thumbs-up. shows off her Quincy Taylor was the doting spanking father at the expo, bringing new along son Jamahl, 12. Wait a engageminute. Isn’t that Shawn Ray ment holding the Precontest ring, Bible? Can’t be—Shawn courtesy swears he’s 5’7”, but this of Todd young man is at least a foot Satshorter than the 6’4” Taylor. alowich.

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Huge Noah Steere, 6’8”, 350 pounds and an arm that’s bigger

Larry Scott, the first Mr. Olympia, shows off his guns and his new low-carb pasta.

Ruth Silverman’s

PUMP & CiRCUMSTANCE BIG O, THE WOMEN

Upset or Redemption?

Another perfectly good prediction down the drain

Good thing I didn’t put money on my prediction that it would be Lenda Murray no matter what at the ’04 Ms. Olympia. I should have remembered that Lenda had been beaten before, in 1996, when she lost the title to a more ripped and muscular Kim Chizevsky. Plus, Iris Kyle, who was the reigning Ms. Olympia heavyweight champ when Lenda came out of retirement in 2002, had two years of frustration to motivate her to excel.

I think I knew the night before, when I saw both Kyle and eight-time Ms. O Murray with their pupiks hanging out at the Meet the Athletes reception, that Iris would have the best physique onstage in the morning. It was just a feeling I had as I meandered among the masses who had Iris and Lenda meet the fans on Ms. O eve. “My time has come,” said Iris. Turns out come to Las Vegas to witness the spectashe was right. See the score card below. cle of the greatest physique shows on earth and were now standing in line to get their picture taken with the stars. But I shrugged it off because, well, the ubiquitous they were never going to let Iris win it, right? As long as Lenda looked as good onstage as she appeared here, she’d be the one, right? After all, they both had abs front and center.

For sure they both had hordes of admirers at the annual fanfest, although Murray the queen had one of the longest lines in the hall—she and Ronnie Coleman were meeting and greeting the public for quite some time after the event’s official closing time at 10 p.m. In an audio interview with Lonnie Teper done after the show—it’s posted at IRON MAN’s graphicmuscle.com—Lenda talked of retiring, for good this time. Will she do it? L.T. got her to drop it to a maybe, so we’ll have to see. I’ve absolutely given up making predictions about this fantastic athlete and champion, maybe.

Lenda Murray.

Iris Kyle.

Olympia Score Card

WINNERS

It Wasn’t Just

The curls

Lightweight Ms. O Dayana Cadeau insisted that the only thing she did differently to prepare for the contest this time was to start her diet three weeks earlier, but I wonder. You know what a cute new hairdo can do for a girl’s attitude.

Cadeau came to Las Vegas with a body that was sharper than a serpent’s tooth. The ’03 runner-up, as well as the lightweight victor at the ’04 Ms. International, she came to the O as the favorite, the heiress apparent to Juliette Bergmann, who retired after three years at the top of the class. Bergmann had been very supportive, said Cadeau. “She said that she had been watching me, as a judge, for years…that now was my time.”

Now, there’s a prediction that was right on the money.

Obviously, Dayana did presses and extensions as well.

Ms. Olympia Overall Iris Kyle

Lightweight 1) Dayana Cadeau* 2) Denise Masino* 3) Marja Lehtonen* 4) Nancy Lewis 5) Desiree Ellis 6) Mah Ann Mendoza 7) Joanna Thomas 8) Valentina Chepiga 9) Vilma Caez

Fitness Olympia 1) Adela GarciaFriedmansky* 2) Jen Hendershott* 3) Kelly Ryan* 4) Kim Klein* 5) Tracey GreenwoodKrakowiak* 6) Julie Palmer 7) Stacy Hylton 8) Tanji Johnson 9) Mindi O’Brien 10) Anna Level

Heavyweight 1) Iris Kyle* 2) Lenda Murray* 3) Yaxeni Oriquen* 4) Betty Pariso 5) Betty Viana 6) Lisa Aukland 7) Bonny Priest

Figure Olympia 1) Davana Medina* 2) Jenny Lynn* 3) Monica Brant* 4) Jaime Franklin* 5) Amber Littlejohn* 6) Christine Pomponio-Pate 7) Marie KudlaDonnelly 8) Elaine Goodlad 9) Zena Collins 10) Aleksandra Kobielak *Qualifies for the ’05 Olympia.

We’ll have contest reports on the Ms., Fitness and Figure Olympia competitions in the March issue. In the meantime check out the contest gallery and the Hot News reports at IRON MAN’s graphicmuscle.com.

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PUMP SHOTS

TESTOSTERONE CORNER

Expo Delights

So What Did You think?

u thought an. And yo m o w d e g a C ct. s was extin this specie

Comstock

That was the question on everyone’s tongue the minute the new, improved press conference ended on Thursday, October 28. Having attended numerous Olympia press conferences—and having once actually asked a question—I’m eminently qualified to answer.

Producer Dave First off I’ll admit that I was enterZelon tained, eventually. Things got off to a choreslow start, but once hosts Triple H, ographs Bob Cicherillo and Joe Amato got the opening the guys talkin’ smack and takin’ their dance clothes off, it picked up. The women number always get the lesser focus, just by the at the fact that more fans pile into the ManOlympia press dalay Bay Events Center to see the confermen seated at long tables with microence. phones and name plates like delegates to the U.N. than come for the gals. I was about to get up and ask a question when it became evident that the triple hosts weren’t waiting for questions from the peanut gallery. Since the dudes had done their homework—and since they tried to bring the women into it—I decided to sit back and enjoy the show. (It wasn’t their fault they couldn’t get the ladies to stop being ladies; see the item on page 212.)

Press conference has always been a misnomer for this event, anyway; it’s a fan event, and the questions came overwhelmingly from the fans. To that extent producer David Zelon and the crew at Weider who ground their glutes to put on a good show all weekend may have found the right direction for this part of it.

These guys—a.k.a. the athletes—are on the bulletin boards all year rippin’ each other apart—why not make ’em say it face to face?

There were slow spots, as mentioned, and a particularly leaden skit with Cicherillo and King Kamali. (Bob has potential, but both of those guys, with their booming personalities, could benefit from some classes in improvisational theater.) Triple H, on the other hand, had a polished stage presence, and things were interesting all weekend whenever he was on the stage.

Ultimately, what you thought about the press conference echoed how you feel about the concept of bodybuilding as a WWF-style circus. A famous newspaperman once said that “no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public,” but there’s a first time for everything. I’ll be waiting to see what happens next.

COUPLES

Photography by Ruth Silverman

Fairy Tale Romance Craig Titus was like a kid in a candy store when he found out his puss would be gracing the cover of the January ’05 IRON MAN. He and Kelly Ryan were all smiles on the night before the women’s shows. They said they hoped to give their “Beauty and the Beast” seminar at the IM FitExpo in February. Now, that would be worth driving to Pasadena for. (For info on the FitExpo, go to wwwthefitexpo.com.)

White Laura Davis (left) and Monica t work the Satori booth. Just wha rgy ene ds: nee r goe expo ry wea every bars.

The producers of Muscle Milk pulled off one of the cleverest product campaigns of the weekend, featuring old-fashioned dairy trucks and milk maids like Allison Williams pushing carts of the not-just-like-mother’s growth formula around the expo floor.

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PUMP & CiRCUMSTANCE TA L K I N ’ S M A C K

COMERS

Bad Asses

Poised

But not badasses

Speaking of the press conference: What was up with those chiquitas in the fitness and figure lineups?

Didn’t they get the memo about unleashing your inner bitch? (Didn’t they know they’d get very little stage time if they didn’t feed the machismo machine that was driving the all-new Olympia?)

At least the women bodybuilders—Iris Kyle, Lenda Murray and Yaxeni Oriquen—were willing to stand up (figure of speech) and say they were going to beat the pants off each other. Not so the fitness crew: Triple H to Adela Garcia-Friedmansky (snarls): “Are you going to wipe the floor with Kelly Ryan, or what?”

AGF (smiles): “I’m so happy so be onstage with all these talented girls.”

Bob Cicherillo to Ryan (fiercely): “Don’t you want revenge for the Fitness International?”

KR (smiles): “I want world peace, Bob.” Okay, so that wasn’t an exact re-creation, but it was close—and the figure gals weren’t much better. Backstage at the finals the bodybuilders got into the spirit for the TV cameras—that Yaxeni may have a real future in reality TV—but not so the F ’n’ F athletes. They wouldn’t talk smack no matter who asked.

“We’re just too nice,” purred one highly placed fitness athlete, and she’s not kidding. A quick review of the post-Olympia bulletin boards indicates a supportive sisterhood backstage at the top shows. That’s what happens when the stakes are so low, I guess. If it weren’t for their spouses and significant others, we’d never know who was complaining about what.

The decision to not present themselves like a pack of mud wrestlers was probably a good one for the muscular-but-not-too-muscular types, but they’ll have to figure out some way to do more than sit there during next year’s press conference. Perhaps new athletes reps to the Pro Division Ryan and Jenny Lynn, in figure, could work on that.

For flight

Talk about window dressing. These girls need to tune in to Soapnet and watch some “Dynasty” reruns.

NEWS

Promoters

Y’all come to Dallas

In addition to taking fourth in the Ms. Olympia heavyweight class, Texas institution Betty Pariso was pleased to report that the Southwest USA Pro Cup was indeed on the IFBB schedule for 2005—and that there would be more than fitness and figure competitions to shout about. Thanks to the generosity of Europa Sports, which came onboard for the prize money, the event has morphed into the Europa Super Show, including a full compliment of pro competitions—men’s and women’s bodybuilding, fitness and figure. The weekend is September 16–17. For information call (817) 498-3631.

Betty Pariso wrapped up the season by picking up a medal—and a major sponsor.

Alicia will flutter her wings in the 2006 Fit Wings Calendar. For info go to www.fitwings.com.

It’s no surprise that Alicia Denson won the Ms. Muscle Beach contest that was part of the Big O weekend in Vegas.

Just look at her. The former University of Connecticut cheerleader and onetime runway model has been turning heads since she was 12, when someone suggested the 5’8 1/2” eighth grader should try modeling. The now 5’9 1/2”, 131pound Denson, who has a degree in psychology and neuroscience, has done runway shows around the world for designers like Versace, Vivienne Westwood, Pamela Dennis and Todd Oldham. At the Olympia expo she was wearing wings, to publicize the upcoming 2006 edition of the Fit Wings Calendar, in which she will appear. Denson had long been interested in fitness competitions, but it wasn’t until she settled down in a behind-the-camera job at MTV that she found the time to enter one. For the past couple of years she’s been honing her muscle bellies on the Fitness/Bikini America circuit and did very well in the figure shows, but she recently moved into fitness and NPC competition. With her background as a cheerleader—plus years of dance lessons—she should be a natural.

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INJURIES

WINNERS

Hot and Holy

A routine that was anything but

Comstock

Oh, that Jenny Hendershott and her ever-so-edgy fitness routines. Last year at the Olympia she parodied the Madonna–Britney Spears girl-on-girl liplock that had recently taken place on the “MTV Video Music Awards.”

This time she tumbled onstage in a Jesus-themed number that started with Jen dressed in a nun’s habit and quickly moved into the kind of rockin’ high-skill display the Columbus, Ohio, highwire usually wins ’em over with.

The routine was Hendershott’s way of expressing the spiritual journey she’s traveled over the past couple of Nun-sensical. Would Jen years. After experiencing the get onstage and do the death of five friends within a same old thing? short time, she went through a dark period, questioning the faith in God she’d had all her life. With the help of grief counseling, she worked things out and came through her journey with her faith restored. The routine was her way of professing that renewed belief in God—and maybe in herself. At the ’03 Olympia, Jen was thrilled that she had found her focus and was able to make the top five. Third at the Fitness International at the beginning of the season and at the Show of Strength at the end, she arrived in Vegas the odds-on favorite to make it three thirds for three. After taking second to Kelly Ryan in both routine rounds—and thanks to a leaned-down, put-together personal-best physique—however, she slid past Ryan into second, the first time that’s ever happened.

In talking with her right before the judging, I got the sense that Hendershott already felt like a winner. Afterward, she was thrilled to have finished second and equally thrilled that her friend Adela Garcia-Friedmansky had won. (I tell you, those fitness girls are just too nice; see the item at the far left.)

Joisey Goils in Jeopardy Film at 11

It was the most injurycentric Fitness Olympia ever if you count the fact that Kelly Ryan was still nursing the torn calf that kept her out of the Show of Strength three weeks earlier and that Tracey GreenwoodKrakowiak’s shoulder injury, incurred at the previous contest, almost kept her out of the show. Those were in addition to two owies suffered during the the Fitness O competition by Mooney may not have won Stacy Simons and Teri the Fitness O, but she was Mooney. Simons sprained the winner of the give-mean ankle during the judging, your-sexiest-pose contest. although not onstage. That nightmare-come-true was reserved for Olympia rookie Mooney, who tore a hamstring during her two-minute routine and limped offstage in pain—live on pay per view. Maybe it’s just a coincidence that they’re both from New Jersey—and in fact are close friends (Simons helps choreograph Mooney’s routines). Conspiracy theorists might suggest that fellow Jerseyan Kim Klein should keep a close eye on her muscle groups.

All four of the damaged damsels performed like the pros they are in Vegas, and Ryan won both routine rounds, as usual. Simons did her routine with flare, including 3 1/2 perfect Semple pushups, if not 100 percent of her usual energy, and not everyone would have placed her as low as the panel did in the round. Mooney, with the help of several other competitors, made it back into her bathing suit and Stacy was still smiling heels in time for the final lineup. Let on the day after the the rehabs begin, and we’ll see contest. What’s a goil to do? them all next year.

ODD OLYMPIA AWARDS Best use of the IFBB insignia.

Retired (again) and back on the judging panel, Juliette Bergmann still looks like a queen.

Funniest thing I heard all weekend.

After Kim Chizevsky finished seventh at the Show of Strength, judges told her she looked too small.

Best opportunity not lost. Danish flexer Helle Nielsen had to pull out of the Show of Strength due to illness. Still in awesome shape at Olympia time, she attracted such attention at the Meet the Athletes reception that she finally commandeered an empty table, pulled out some photos and started greeting fans.

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PUMP & CiRCUMSTANCE Author-ity

MORE NOTES

From a Weekend in Vegas

Comstock

Comstock

Déjà vu all over again.

Stopped in an elevator at the Mandalay Bay Hotel by a reader (“Are you Ruth?”) who introduced herself as Amber Littlejohn’s mom, I realized that the last time a reader stopped me in an elevator, it was Amber—at the ’03 Olympia in that very hotel. Amber was the reigning Figure Nationals champ and hadn’t had much publicity then, but she was no Amber Littlejohn and Mom, a couple of outgoing personalities. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. shrinking violet on or off the stage (at 5’8” tall she might find that difficult). It’s no surprise to this observer that she made it to the Figure O top five in her first year as a pro.

More Promotions

A N D , F I N A L LY

Will It Float?

A word about the guys’ show

Here’s a prediction: If the challenge round comes back in 2005, they’ll find a foolproof method of making sure the results don’t really change. I’m not going to debate the entertainment value of this innovation, but you have to admit, it did a lot for the suspense factor: Was there a person in the Events Center who didn’t drop his or her Dasani bottle when Gustavo Badell muscled Dexter Jackson out of third place?

Beth Horn looked right at home signing copies of The Natural Way: The Holistic Guide to Total Mind-Body Health & Fitness, which she wrote with Jim Rosenthal, at the Olympia Expo—and she looked as though she knew something about the subject. Since she hadn’t been seen in a pro lineup during the 2004 season, the inquiring reporter wondered what she’d been up to. “I’m getting married,” said fitness’ very own Chicago Cubbie. In fact, Horn and fiancé Bruce Butler are planning to tie the knot in October at the top of one of Chicago’s most famous landmarks, the Sears Tower. Now, that’s what I call having high hopes. To learn about A Natural Way, go to v

HOT SHOTS

BY JERRY FREDRICK

What are the Gold’s Gym crew—Oscar, Jaime, David and Joe—doing here? Why, taking a pole, of course.

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Neveux

Sheilae Bro wn. Is there any doubt why ba ck shots are best in our book?

Neveux

Neveux

Figure competitor Renee Downy.

We hope she's looking for a training partner.

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 tepernews@aol.com.

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 ironwman@aol.com.

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 jerryfredrick@aol.com.

’04 NPC NATIONALS FLASH Dallas, TX November 18 Photography by Bill Comstock FITNESS Short 1) Jennifer Becerra* 2) Kendra Elias* 3) Angi Jackson

Chris Cook, Men’s Overall.

MEN’S BODYBUILDING Bantamweight 1) Steven Burke* 2) Randy Jackson Sr. 3) Heath Warren

Medium 1) Deana Lee* 2) Sandi Ward* 3) Brooke D. Paulin Tall 1) Summer Montabone* 2) Julie Lohre* 3) Laticia Jackson Overall: Deana Lee Best Routine: Julie Lohre

Lightweight 1) Patrick Richardson* 2) Perry McRae 3) Leonardo Ortiz

*Earned pro card.

Gina Davis, Women’s Overall.

WOMEN’S BODYBUILDING Lightweight 1) Pam Kusar* 2) Tera Guzman 3) Jamie Troxel Middleweight 1) Emery Miller* 2) Michelle Morrison 3) Alissa Jones

Middleweight 1) Eryk Bui* 2) Stan McQuay 3) Anthony Watkins

Light Heavyweight 1) Cindy Gonzales* 2) Elena Seiple 3) Kim Perez

Light Heavyweight 1) Rashid “Roc” Shabazz* 2) Aaron Garza 3) Randolph Chaney II

Heavyweight 1) Gina Davis* 2) Lora Ottenad 3) Leighsa Bailey

Heavyweight 1) Capriese Murray* 2) Grigori Atoyan 3) Tee Jay Hewitt

Overall: Gina Davis *Earned pro card.

Men’s Posedown

Superheavyweight 1) Chris Cook* 2) Bill Wilmore 3) Marcus Haley Overall: Chris Cook

Deana Lee, Fitness Overall.

*Earned pro card.

www.ironmanmagazine.com \ FEBRUARY 2005 215

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’04 IFBB Mr. Olympia

BACK TO THE FUTURE Coleman’s Lights-Out, Game-Over Rear Lat Spread Takes Cutler Down, Brings Him Seventh Crown

by Lonnie Teper Photography by John Balik and Bill Comstock

LAS VEGAS—The Governator was there, as promised.

Ditto for Sylvester Stallone, Triple H and Tom Arnold. But in the end the biggest star onstage on October 30 at the initial American Media Inc. production of the Mr. Olympia was—once again—Ronnie Coleman, who “backed” his way into an Arnold Schwarzenegger–tying seventh Mr. Olympia title Yup, the Big Nasty, coming in even bigger than he did in 2003, when he carried 286 pounds on his 5’11” frame, didn’t let anyone—or anything (like the new challenge round)—stand in his way.

According to his nutritional adviser, Chad Nicholls, the 40-year-old Arlington, Texas, resident weighed 291 on the morning of the prejudging and, after eating two meals before hitting the Mandalay Bay Events Center stage, “was probably around 295.”

Appropriately, it was also Halloween weekend, so having this freak of nature onstage fit in perfectly with the holiday ambience. Was he as sharp as last year? Not quite, I’d say. But at nearly 10 pounds heavier—an achievement quite difficult to comprehend—he was good enough to deposit another $120,000 first-place check into his bulging bank account. Way good enough.

Although Coleman dominated the first three rounds of the showdown, holding a 15-point lead over Jay Cutler, the new challenge round wiped out what normally would have been an insurmountable lead and eventually brought the contest down to Ronnie vs. Jay in one final pose, winner take all.

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Dexter Jackson and Gustavo Badell.

Ronnie Coleman and Gustavo Badell.

New challenge round: Each of the top six competitors got to challenge the other five, one at a time, to a pose.

Ronnie Coleman and Markus Ruhl. www.ironmanmagazine.com \ FEBRUARY 2005 221

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Coleman, who owns perhaps the best back in the history of bodybuilding, called for a “lights-out, game-over rear lat spread.” Five seconds later, when the buzzer sounded, bringing the posing to an end, Coleman, as expected, was voted the winner of the pose—and the contest.

Now I’ll explain the rules and regulations of the groundbreaking challenge round, but have some Motrin handy. With the scorecard wiped clean after the first three rounds (a huge inequity, in my opinion), each of the top six competitors got to challenge the other five, one at a time, to a pose. Each guy could call the same pose only twice. The winner of each challenge pose got two points.

They had five seconds to hit their best shots. A buzzer went off at the beginning and end of each posing time, and the judges scored the pose immediately, with the winner’s name flashed on an electronic scoreboard. Five challenges times six finalists meant we watched 30 challenge poses before it was over.

As it turned out, Coleman trailed Cutler by seven points when it was finally his turn to take on opponents—which he did successfully, of course, to end up with a threepoint margin of victory.

The round cost Dexter Jackson 10 grand. Jackson was a solid third after the first three rounds, holding an eight-point advantage over the ’04 season’s biggest surprise, Gustavo Badell. In the challenge round, which replaced the posedown as round 4, Jackson was on the losing end of a 13-12 decision and had to switch places with Badell in the final standings. To make matters worse, co-emcee Joe Amato, who was unable to see the scoreboard, announced Badell in fourth instead of Jackson, then had to correct the error.

Jackson was fuming, and so were the disgruntled fans, most of whom felt he could have been second to Coleman—and should have taken third at the very worst.

The two German giants, Markus Ruhl and Gunter Schlierkamp, finished fifth and sixth, respectively; I doubt Gunter will be voting for a return of the challenge round next year. He was an odd choice for the top six in the first place (most peo-

Ronnie Coleman and Jay Cutler.

1) Ronnie Coleman.

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ple felt the four guys who placed behind him—Chris Cormier, Dennis James, Victor Martinez and Darrem Charles—were better), and he got thumped by everyone in the challenges, a point that Amato and co-emcee Triple H brought up to him onstage.

I’ll have more to say about the challenge round in the News & Views (see page 205). Let’s get back to the real contest.

1) Ronnie Coleman. Talk about large and in charge. As mentioned above, he might not have been quite as sharp as last year, but Coleman was still terrific. His chest, arms and legs were enormous. And, although many people felt Coleman’s abs-and-thighs shot in the challenge round was weak (the only pose at which Ronnie was beaten

by Jackson and Cutler), I beg to differ. His abs weren’t great in the pose, but they weren’t bad, either, especially for someone whose weight was nearing 300 pounds.

And how can you overlook his colossal wheels? Size does matter, folks, in this game.

How any human can carry that amount of weight and still be as tight and detailed as Coleman was onstage is mind-boggling. The fact that he’s not slowing down a bit at the age of 40 should qualify him for a 30-minute segment on “That’s Incredible!” Ronnie is now one win shy of Lee Haney’s all-time record of eight victories. Can he win two

more and, at 42, become the new king of the industry? Two years ago I said he could, and there’s less reason than ever to change my prediction.

2) Jay Cutler. Although Cutler had to settle for his third runner-up slot to Coleman in the past four years (Jay sat out the ’02 contest), he’s a real champion. The Ultimate Beef took a lot of heat in the past year, even though he was second at the Olympia, second to Jackson at the Show of Strength and won his third straight Arnold Classic last March. Cutler’s a power bodybuilder—big, full and round.

He’s a guy who wins on size (widest shoulders in the land, wide back, hefty legs and calves combined with good shape), but he dieted down way too far for last year’s Olympia and SOS and went even further for the ’04 Arnold Classic, where he had to have come in at less than 250 pounds.

Jay was back to his normal self here, probably around 270 or so, and looked good. He was hard from the front, a bit soft from the back. I would have liked to have seen him about 10 pounds lighter. Then again, would it have made a difference against Coleman? Anyway, welcome back, Jay. 3) Gustavo Badell. Badell opened the year by qualifying for the Olympia with a third-place finish at the IRON MAN Pro. Prior to the Olympia I was calling him the

2) Jay Cutler.

3) Gustavo Badell.

’04 Mr. Olympia Scorecard Place 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

Name

1

2

3

Ronnie Coleman* Jay Cutler* Gustavo Badell* Dexter Jackson* Markus Ruhl* Gunter Schlierkamp* Chris Cormier Dennis James Victor Martinez Darrem Charles Pavol Jablonicky Kris Dim Ahmad Haidar Johnnie Jackson Troy Alves Craig Richardson Mustafa Mohammad Richard Jones Claude Groulx

5 10 21 15 40 28 36 33 37 50 57 60 67 79 72 71 85 91 93

5 10 16 19 28 43 34 37 35 49 63 61 60 70 71 82 85 91 91

5 10 20 15 25 30 39 42 46 43 58 63 64 69 76 82 84 89 95

Total Challenge Prize 15 30 57 49 93 101 109 112 118 142 178 184 191 218 219 235 254 271 279

24 21 13 12 10 1

$120,000 $75,000 $50,000 $40,000 $30,000 $25,000 $15,000 $14,000 $12,000 $10,000 $1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $1,000 $1,000

*Qualifies for the ’05 Mr. Olympia.

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4) Dexter Jackson.

5) Markus Ruhl.

6) Gunter Schlierkamp and Coleman.

7) Chris Cormier.

8) Dennis James.

Most Underrated Bodybuilder in the world; now, let me introduce you to the Freakin’ Rican. Yes, this 5’7”, 242-pounder from Puerto Rico (he weighed 234 at the IRON MAN Pro press conference last February) displayed one thick, shredded physique onstage and deserved his fourth-place standing after three rounds. After becoming the only athlete to benefit from the challenge round, moving ahead of Jackson into third, Badell can be sure his days as a “surprise” are over.

4) Dexter Jackson. Dexter appeared to be a tad fuller but still sporting his trademark great conditioning. I won’t go so far as to say that he weighed the 225 pounds (at 5’6 1/2”) he usually claims, but I’ll concede he was more than the 210 or so I think he’s weighed in past contests. No matter. The weight factor means little to me, and the 34-year-old from Jacksonville, Florida, looked terrific. Great shape, hard as nails and thicker than usual. Dexter and Ahmad “Abzilla” Haidar had the best midsections in the contest. If you listen to my postjudging audio reports at IRON MAN’s graphicmuscle.com, you’ll find that most people had Dexter nestled in second behind Coleman.

Unfortunately for Jackson’s bank account, the challenge round took care of any discussion about that— but let’s talk about it anyway.

Should the Blade have beaten the Beef for the number-two slot? It’s an apples and oranges scenario with those two—Jay is a much bigger man, and Dexter’s more conditioned from the rear. Take your pick, they’re both at the top of their game. And what happened to Dexter was a shame.

5) Markus Ruhl. The 5’11”, 285pounder matched Coleman biceps for biceps and front lats for front lats. Need I say more? And was it any surprise that Ruhl, who had to miss last year’s contest because of triceps surgery, won the $10,000 “Freakazoid” award given by Muscular Development—especially as Coleman was not eligible because of his victory?

Like Cutler, though, Ruhl looked better from the front than the back, and he doesn’t display the separation that some of the men who placed ahead of him do. Still, it was his highest Olympia finish, and

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10) Darrem Charles.

with all that beef Markus remains a fan favorite. Chants of “R-u-u-uhl!” filled the auditorium every time he came onstage.

6) Gunter Schlierkamp. Another popular guy, but the decision to place Gunter ahead of some of his contemporaries in the top 10 had many in the audience puzzled.

At 6’2” and an announced 300 pounds, Schlierkamp is a large man, but he needs to be spot-on to have any shot against the more genetically gifted competitors that surface at some of the higher-quality pro shows. He was far from spoton at this one. I actually felt bad for the man—a nice, classy guy—when he was getting beaten over and over again during the challenge round.

7) Chris Cormier. A year ago

sheets, though, he couldn’t dazzle the judges for more than a 10thplace finish, as he ended up 24 points behind Martinez.

Charles did dazzle the committee that convened the next day at the Shawn Ray Seminar to decide the winner of the “Best Presentation” award, worth 10 grand.

Finishing just out of the top 10 were veteran Pavol Jablonicky, the oldest man in the field at 43, and Kris Dim, who placed 12th in his Olympia debut. Pavol was in great condition, as always, and while Dim’s upper body was torn up, his legs didn’t nearly match up.

Rounding out the 19-man field were Haidar (13th), Johnnie Jackson (14th), Troy Alves (15th), Craig Richardson (16th), Mustafa Mohammad (17th), Richard Jones (18th) and Claude Groulx (19th).

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, despite campaigning for President Bush in Ohio the day before, flew into Las Vegas to hand the Sandow to Coleman. Stallone, who appeared at the Olympia Expo to rep his Instone product line, came to the podium at the finals to talk about the challenge round. Tom Arnold, who teamed with Schwarzenegger a decade back in “True Lies” and is currently a host on Fox Sports’ successful “Best Damn Sports Show Period,” hit the stage for a few jokes as well.

John Balik, IRON MAN Rafael Santonja, Ben Weider publish- and John Balik, IRON MAN er, was publisher. Balik was honored one of with the IFBB Gold Medal. three to receive special awards from IFBB President Ben Weider at the night show. He was honored with the IFBB Gold Medal; David Pecker, CEO of AMI, received the IFBB Gold Order, and Rafael Santonja was given the IFBB Achievement Medal.

Editor’s note: To hear L.T.’s audio report on the ’04 Mr. Olympia contest, go to IRON MAN’s www.graphicmuscle.com.

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Bob Gardner

9) Victor Martinez.

Cormier dropped out of the lineup, claiming the flu had ravaged his body during the week of the contest. Although I didn’t see Chris prior to this show, I heard he was behind in his conditioning and was a possible dropout again. That was never verified by a reliable source, however.

The 37-year-old Cormier obviously did not drop out but was in fact behind in his conditioning— although he rarely shows up with a shredded look. Still, his beautiful shape, featuring an almost flawless body, could have gotten him at least a top-six placing.

Cormier looked much better when he suffered a one-point loss to Cutler at the ’04 Arnold Classic, and I’m wondering if having earned his fifth consecutive runner-up finish at that show has taken some of the competitive fire out of Cormier’s furnace. Time will tell.

8) Dennis James. As always, the precontest reports out of Gold’s Gym, Venice, had the Thailandbased James looking “phenomenal.” Big, thick and round. With the exception of last year, however, when Dennis put it together en route to a fourth-place finish, what we’ve seen onstage hasn’t matched the gym body. This time he was at least 10 pounds too heavy, and it showed mostly in the lack of hamstring and back detail. At his best, James could have battled for a topthree finish. At this show many were still surprised that he finished out of the top six.

9) Victor Martinez. Coming off his big victory at the SOS three weeks before, Martinez displayed oodles of potential. He could be a top-three guy eventually, but he needs to be much sharper to make that happen. The New Yorker has the goods to be a great one—check out his back double-bi, already among the best in the game. He’ll be back.

10) Darrem Charles. Who of the guys finishing seventh through 10th most deserved a top-six finish?

Darrem gets my vote. Sure, his is not among the biggest physiques onstage. He’s got his flaws—don’t they all? But the man always shows up ripped and ready, and this time was no exception. He dazzled the crowd with his bod; he dazzled them with his wonderful posing routine. According to the score

Veni, Vidi,

Venice The Best Places for Bodybuilders to Visit in Southern California’s Quirkiest Community Story and Photos by Teagan Clive

The Pit at Muscle Beach Venice.

W

hen it’s time to invest in myself, when my cup runneth empty and my spirit needs a spark, when I’m so weak you can knock me over with a feather, I go to Venice, California. Venice has the power to restore; it puts out plenty. Here you’ll find wide sunny beaches and a network of canals that sport all manner of flesh and faces—often pierced, branded or surgically modified—along with the best gyms and some of the most celebrated minds,

muscles and personalities in the world.

Add to that lots of restaurants that cater to a bodybuilder’s need for extra protein, and you’ll see that in heaven there’s paradise, and on earth, there’s Venice.

Venice—the end of the New World, the final frontier, where the hot, flaky desert meets the sleek blue sea and where folks come to saunter, skate, bake, cycle or just plain chill to the sounds of the crashing surf and scores of street musicians. It’s where bodybuilding was born and contin-

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ues to grow, where the father of Gold’s Gym, the late Joe Gold, requested his ashes be sprinkled in the waters. This is Muscle Beach.

Want to heighten your senses, lower your defenses and get a little more global? Take a walk on the wild side on the Boardwalk, the Venice Beach side, where old-money L.A. types in boat shoes mingle with bohemians in worn-out flip-flops and gangstas shop for new tattoos alongside mothers pushing newborns in jog-strollers.

Like any big-city attraction, Venice can get a little rough after dark, but don’t let that stop you. Pack a light bag, book a cheap room and come—preferably for the IRON MAN Pro bodybuilding contest to be held on February 19, 2005, in nearby Pasadena in conjunction with the FitExpo. (Warning: Experiencing the posedown in Pasadena, along with a visit to Venice, is a one-two punch that can hit your training button so hard you might never want to leave.) www.ironmanmagazine.com \ FEBRUARY 2005 229

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Veni, Vidi, Venice Fitness Facilities Muscle Beach Venice 1800 Ocean Front Walk Venice, CA 90291 (310) 399-2775 Hours: 8 a.m.–about an hour before sunset Monday–Sunday; closed during bad weather Slap on the sunblock, pull up your shorts and hit the beach. Not to be confused with the original Muscle Beach, which is in nearby Santa Monica, Muscle Beach Venice is a modern outdoor playground offering an abundance of adult attractions: heavy-duty weights neatly arranged in the rubbermatted area muscleheads call The Pit; a medley of bars, rings, beams and climbing ropes mounted in a great sandbox; and a hodgepodge of courts for handball, paddleball and basketball. There’s even a wall where you can practice your tennis strokes while watching the sun set.

The Pit itself charges $5 for a day pass. All the rest is free. Like any gym, The Pit has its rules, so be sure to read them and bring a towel and closed-toe shoes with you. On many holiday weekends promoter Joe Wheatley stages bodybuilding and powerlifting events on an impressive cement stage. The events include the Strong Man and Mr. and Ms. Muscle Beach competitions.

Muscle Beach Venice.

Derek Barton, senior vice-president of marketing, who’s been working to make the chain “a classic” since 1985.

Those who love Gold’s love it absolutely. I lived in Venice for more than a decade, mostly out of fondness for Gold’s. It’s an all-youcan-lift smorgasbord that inspires you to shape your soft tissues. Besides every possible piece of weight-training equipment, Gold’s has a staff of instructors who lead body conditioning classes like yoga, Pilates, salsa dancing, boxing, karate—you name it. The butt stops here.

World Gym 3223 Washington Blvd.

Marina del Rey, CA 90292 (310) 306-9912

Hours: Monday–Friday, 6 a.m.–10 p.m.; Saturday, 6 a.m.–8 p.m.; Sunday, 7 a.m.–8 p.m.

Cost: Tell them Teagan from IRON MAN sent you, and your first day’s free.

If Gold’s is a Harley, then World Gym is a smooth, quiet and efficient BMW. Both were founded by the late Joe Gold, but World is where you want go when you need to train without distractions. No overflow crowds or loud music will divert your focus.

World is about pure, solid weights, stable benches and the finest handmade cable pulleys. Mike Uretz, World Gym

Mike Uretz, World Gym CEO.

The Best Places for Bodybuilders

Gold’s Gym 360 Hampton Drive Gold’s Gym. Venice, CA 90291 (310) 392-6004 Hours: Monday–Friday, 5 a.m.–10 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 7 a.m.–8 p.m.

Cost: $15 for the day; includes free parking.

Circus, zoo, freak show: Call it what you will, pal, it doesn’t give a rat’s rump, as long as you think of it come training time. Gold’s Gym is the largest coed gym chain in the world, now 3 million members strong. The fact that the flagship gym is located on the fringe of gangsta territory further amplifies its rage-against-the-machine image. “We’re the Harley-Davidson of the fitness industry, and we’re not going to go away,” promises 230 FEBRUARY 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

Actor and member of Gold’s Gym, Aaron Brumfield.

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Veni, Vidi, Venice ant experience. Gold’s Gym members receive special corporate rates and even better rates between the months of January and April. Call well in advance if you want to book during the summer.

Rooms for Rent For longer stays check the local paper, The Argonaut, for a current listing of rental and lease accommodations.

Food and Drink

The Venice Beach Boardwalk.

CEO, who franchised the gym and since Joe Gold’s recent passing has also managed it, is always seeking ways of improving his ever-changing flagship. “We’ve got a big rep to uphold,” he explains. Although you won’t see paparazzi, many celebs do train here, including Lou Ferrigno.

Even Arnold pops in to shoot the breeze and catch a little cardio with friends. Expect to get a bit distracted after all.

Across the street from the Marina Pacific, on the corner of Windward and Pacific avenues, you’ll find Café Collage (1518 Pacific Avenue, Venice), a popular coffee shop with outdoor seating. Behind it is Windward Farms (105 Windward Avenue, Venice), an organic-food market. A few yards south of that bustling intersection, nestled between vintage clothing shops and tattoo parlors, is Mao’s Kitchen (1512 Pacific Avenue, Venice), a rustic little eatery that serves mountainous platters of “proletarian” Chinese food. Here you can pick your own protein (beef, pork, white meat chicken, shrimp, sole or smoked tofu) to create supersized vegetable-based dishes for less than $10. On weekends the kitchen closes at 3 a.m.

After training at Gold’s, you can follow the trail of bodybuilders to The Firehouse at the corner of Main and Rose (213 Rose Avenue, Venice), a no-frills café-bar best known for its breakfast-of-champions: six egg

The Best Western Marina Pacific Hotel.

Hotels Best Western Marina Pacific Hotel & Suites 1697 Pacific Avenue Venice, CA 90291 (310) 452-1111 $89–$189 per night; includes continental breakfast $9 per night parking Just steps from the sea and the Boardwalk, the Marina Pacific Hotel is a bargain. It’s clean, relatively quiet and very well managed. Re-

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The Firehouse Cafe.

The Best Places for Bodybuilders

cently remodeled, the rooms are a pretty pale yellow, and all have miniterraces overlooking a variety of views (if you’re a light sleeper, choose the south side of the top floor to avoid street noise).

Amenities abound, including high-speed Internet access and a laundry room with coin-operated machines. The suites are positively humongous, with fully equipped kitchens. The staff is courteous and helpful. Free coffee is always available downstairs. There’s even underground gated parking—a rarity in Venice. I’ve spent months at a time at this place, and it’s always been a very pleas-

Veni, Vidi, Venice

The Best Places for Bodybuilders

whites, three pancakes or oatmeal and a six-ounce chicken breast or steak for $10.25. If you’re on a tight budget, you might do better at KooKoo-Roo, just across the street from The Firehouse (255 Main Street, Venice), crowned by a giant sculpture that indeed looks like Muscle Beach Venice.

Pinocchio in a tutu.

The Rose Café (corner of Rose and Hampton) is a superb choice What to Bring for light bites. Here you can have a Here’s your Venice vacation bowl of oatmeal, a side of fruit and a checklist: fat-free muffin for breakfast. Follow it with a poached salmon salad for •Weight belt, gloves, straps lunch. The coffee and croissants are •Training clothes and gym legendary, as is the art-and-music shoes ambience. A word of caution: “Rose” •Swimsuit and beach towel pastries are the real deal and almost •Flip-flops and walking shoes irresistible. They’re made from •Visor or hat scratch using pure butter, eggs and •Sunscreen sugar. If you want to sit with Holly•Sunglasses wood types, you’ve got to get a table •Dinner jacket (optional) in the restaurant area in back. Buck •Protein powder and shaker up and watch them eat tiramisù.

•Tuna, in cans During your obligatory stroll through the artsy-craftsy-kooky part •Can opener of Venice, be sure to stop at Hal’s •Fork Bar & Grill (1349 Abbot Kinney •Vitamins Blvd., Venice) for an American meal •Moist towelettes, individually to remember. The hamburger and wrapped fries here are flawless, as is the Cobb •Water bottle salad.

•Camera Smokers will appreciate dining at •Autograph book Schatzi (3110 Main Street, Santa •Map Monica), where smoking is encouraged on the picturesque patio. Prefer cigars? Try to reserve a table for Cigar Night, when owner Charly Temmel designs dishes like baconwrapped filet mignon of wild boar.

The prix fixe menu includes two cigars, live entertainment and shoe shines (just in case you dropped some ashes).

Finally, a must-see for caffeine lovers is Groundwork Coffee Company (671 Rose Avenue, Venice), a tasting room for hundreds of different coffees. Barrels and gunnysacks filled with roasted beans line the walls of this rustic warehouse. Just inhaling the aroma of so many brews gets you feeling kind of bouncy. If not, try a cup of Bitches Brew or Black Gold. Also consider taking home a bottle of Java Juice, 100 percent coffee concentrate, to spike the drinks of, say, a listless training partner.

Editor’s note: The IRON MAN Pro and FitExpo take place February

18, 19 and 20 in Pasadena, California. Venice is just a stone’s throw away, so make your vacation plans now for a get-fit getaway you won’t forget.

Teagan Clive helped make Venice

Cycle and Skate Venice Bike and Skates 21 Washington Blvd.

Venice (310) 301-4011 A paved path winds along the beach, inviting all nonmotorists to enjoy more than 20 miles of uninterrupted cardio. The bike path starts north of Venice, at Temescal Canyon, passes LAX and Manhattan and Redondo Beaches and ends somewhere in Palos Verdes to the south. You can rent your choice of wheels from Richard and Carolyn Ballard. They’ve been in business for 35 years and still offer the lowest rates on all kinds of cycles and skates. Beach cruisers rent for about $6 per hour/$18 per day, and skates for about $5 per hour/$15 per day. Bicycle locks and baskets are free. Call for winter hours.

Beach famous by flexing in the music video “California Girls” with David Lee Roth. She likes visiting the Boardwalk on Sundays. Write her at teaganclive@earthlink.net.

IM

The Venice canals.

How to Find the Canals From Pacific Avenue, turn east onto East Venice Blvd. If you’re driving, park in the public lot on your immediate left). Pass Strongs Blvd. (on your right). Just before the bridge with the white fence, you’ll see access to the canals on the south side.

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Grappling With Gratification Gremlins uppose you’re fairly typical when you start lifting weights: You weigh less than 150 pounds, your arms are about 12 inches, your chest is about 34 inches, and if you tried to squat 135 pounds, we’d be calling 911. From those humble beginnings you plan to do some big things: Maybe you want to be a professional bodybuilder or win the World’s Strongest Man contest, or perhaps you’ve set your sights on an Olympic gold medal or two. Whatever your long-term goals, chances are better than good that there’s a vast piece of territory between where you are now and where you want to end up—and all along the way there will be a series of nasty little gremlins whose mission is to lure you off your chosen path.

Psychologists talk about “delay of gratification,” which is the process of giving up a smaller reward right now for a bigger reward in the future. Just think of it as choosing between a small cookie now or waiting for two big cookies later. The cookie example is actually a pretty good one. As infants and little children we’re challenged to learn how to

S

delay gratification. Some people are better at it than others, but successful people in all walks of life tend to have developed their skills in that area. If you want to get the most from your training, you should too.

Nearly all of us face a gap between where we are and where we’d like to be. That gap is what sets the stage for us to be tempted by those gremlins.

Ever notice how the one piece of a doctor’s advice everyone is quick to accept relates to lifting heavy things— actually, not lifting heavy things? Maybe someone’s an overweight, junk-food-eating, cigarette-smoking couch potato, but, by golly, as much as he’d like to help you move that piece of furniture, he’ll solemnly tell you, “My doctor said not to lift anything heavy.” It’s a good thing remote controls are so light. And here you are, caught up in an activity that’s all about lifting heavy objects.

“So what?” you say. “I like lifting weights, and, besides, I have a goal.” Even so, it’s easy for the gremlins to lure you off your path. For example, don’t you think there’s a big avoidance factor in a lot of injuries? After all, how can anyone expect you to train if you’re hurt? Having an injury is a legitimate reason to skip training. More subtle, but part of the same process, is all the attention paid to the dangers of overtraining: Not only is it the rationale for training less, but you can also walk around feeling like an enlightened being. Whatever the exact nature of the temptation not to train, the effect is the same: You take a smaller short-term Neveux \ Model: Allen Sarkiszadeh

IRONMIND

Mind

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Body reward (e.g., going to a movie) instead of holding out for a larger long-term reward (e.g., moving a step closer to that state title).

To an extent, it’s true that sticking with your training is just a matter of toughing it out, but some basic strategies gleaned from psychological research can make your task easier.

When research psychologists test (torment?) little children with delay-of-gratification research, one of the most prevalent findings is that keeping the temptation out of sight is a powerful aid to keeping the kids on track. Put cookies in a five-yearold’s face and see how long most can wait, compared to putting the cookies in the next room. The same principle works with big kids too. Try to distance yourself from whatever is bedeviling you when you should be training. It’s not as simple as physically moving the tray of cookies, so you need to develop additional skills. Foremost among them is distraction—anything that keeps your mind off whatever is tempting you not to train. For example, many people like to listen to music while they train because it can help quash the little voices whispering, “Let’s go to the beach...my back is sore...I really need another rest day.” Some people like to count each rep as intently as possible for similar benefits, and others like to feel the muscles working as fully as possible. Others see themselves in their mind’s eye winning world championships and breaking world records with each set.

Another basic approach to stifling the gremlins is to make the temptation more abstract and less tangible. A little kid might not be able to get beyond the mouth-watering sweetness of a chocolate chip cookie, but you should be able to consider it a source of empty calories coming from a small pile of bleached flour with some dyes and artificial flavors thrown in. Similarly, instead of thinking about how pleasantly you could be spending your time instead of sweating away in the gym, think about the alternative activities in bland, neutral terms. For instance, instead of thinking of yourself as being entertained by a hit sitcom, try thinking of being bombarded with electrons as you waste your time, your life, on the contemporary opiate of the masses.

At the same time work the flip side of the equation. For starters, focus on short-term goals as the way to fulfill your long-term aspirations. Thus, instead of focusing completely on that world record you plan to break, take satisfaction from the way each set you do today moves you a little closer to that overall goal. Instead of getting caught up in your hoped-for results, try to focus on the act itself. For instance, don’t fantasize about being interviewed on network TV following your Olympic victory; instead, develop a sense of satisfaction from

Think of each workout as getting you closer to a long-term goal—like ripped abs.

actually doing your lifts.

Once upon a time, someone got the notion that all we needed to do to achieve happiness was eliminate our inhibitions, and that progressed to the idea of just letting it all hang out. Now it’s practically taken as gospel that if we could only achieve total spontaneity, not only would our true selves emerge, but we would also fully realize our capabilities. The funny thing is that one of the cardinal characteristics of successful people, in just about any pursuit, is that they have developed the ability to control their impulses—they’ve learned how to manage the delay-of-gratification gremlins, gladly trading a Camaro today for a Corvette tomorrow.

—Randall Strossen, Ph.D. Editor’s note: Randall Strossen, Ph.D., edits the quarterly magazine MILO. He’s also the author of IronMind: Stronger Minds, Stronger Bodies; Super Squats: How to Gain 30 Pounds of Muscle in 6 Weeks and Paul Anderson: The Mightiest Minister. For more information call IronMind Enterprises Inc. at (530) 265-6725 or Home Gym Warehouse at (800) 447-0008, ext. 1. Visit the IronMind Web site at www .ironmind.com.

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Bomber Blast

Are We There Yet? o you ever get the feeling that life is about to begin? I mean, yes, it’s happening now and everything, but we’re more or less just hanging around, and life will really, really start as soon as one or two major things are complete. As soon as the escrow closes or when the annual sales meeting at the end of the month is finally out of the way; as soon as we lose 20 more useless pounds or when we’re at last married, divorced, graduated, healed, promoted, respected, recognized or huge, then life will be in our hands.

In the meantime we wait with bated breath, our brow creased with uncertainty and our back afire with the sting of anticipation. Our focus is fixed on the obstacles, the things— the two or more big things—wedged between us and all else.

So we set about preparing ourselves and arranging our surroundings and securing our relationships. We consider how life should be, put things in their proper order and fix what’s broken. The sooner this is accomplished, the quicker we can get on with life and all its promise.

Hurry, jump, run...gasp...hurdle...pant...are we there yet?

Rush, dash, dodge....

Fact is, this is it. Life is here, now, unfolding before our eyes. Wake up; rise and shine; look and see; touch and feel.

Breathe in the sweet fragrance—now, lest the flower wilt, wither and die.

Planning is good, organization is important, and order makes a lot of sense. Goals are absolutely essential. Set them wisely and reach for them daily. Life without them is a maze.

But our days are too often spent elsewhere—in anticipation, preparation and tentative pursuit—and not here, now, this moment, in the action of real life, the act of being.

I believe that in trying to get there—the place where life and its promises begin—we discover there is no such place. We’re not here, now—the only place. We’re there, later—an imaginary place. We must make a determined effort to be aware of what we do as we do it and to do it well. Otherwise, I suspect, it will happen poorly, without our realizing it and in vain.

I’m not referring to the ordinary things of life, iron workers.

I’m talking about the more consequential undertakings like working out, training hard and eating right. Great workouts are defined by the might displayed in the exercises and the energy sustained throughout the training session. The pump achieved and the burn endured are factors of no less importance when describing workout superiority. Your attitude, desire and condition decide the input and output.

The greatest workouts put you in the zone, where you flow, where you’re involved in each set and rep, exercise after exercise, uninterrupted, unquestioning, concentrated, experiencing, discovering, engaging, warm and loose.

Got a minute? My best workouts are achieved when…

Internally...

•I maintain my mental focus from start to finish.

•I am determined, even-paced yet unhurried. I achieve a rhythm.

•I am comfortable and at ease without compromising the intense training edge. That indicates confidence and the calm that accompanies it.

•With each movement I carefully assume my preexercise body position and intuitively powerize (psych) and oxygenize to assure maximum output. This represents the start and revving of the engine, like a stock car in critical preparation to come off the line in racing trials.

•The sets and reps are important, but they’re not a matter

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of life and death. They’re a matter of quality and performance.

•I approach each set with high regard and appreciation.

Every set has its own brilliant environment, casting light in a dark place.

•I acknowledge, understand, almost study each repetition and finally record it in the system forever. Each rep has its own character and role, the good, the bad and the ugly.

•The workout, entirely or any part of it, is a thing to be accomplished, achieved, attained and aspired toward, not a thing to be gotten out of the way or done with. It’s a sure investment, another step, one more concrete block in place.

•I apply discipline yet maintain freedom from depressing training restrictions: Concentrate, don’t castigate. Look, listen, live...and talk rarely (hi, how are ya, I’m okay, you’re okay, end of conversation).

And externally...

•I have no other immediate responsibilities or distractions and no rigid time limit.

•I train regularly within the same relative timeframe.

•I fuel with a protein shake (16 ounces reduced-fat milk, two scoops Bomber Blend, banana and two raw eggs, ice), creatine and BCAAs. •I am accompanied on the gym floor by a thermogenics drink, a liter of water and essential wraps.

•I am wearing a favorite ugly, snug and neckless T-shirt.

(Snugness supports the weakling within.)

•The gym floor has a dozen cool lifters going about their business.

•The music is not blasting and obnoxious, like, “My baby left me for a convicted serial killer and I feel like drowning in a bucket of warm beer.”

Make sense? You recognize similar choices or patterns or methodology in your training? I think sharing thoughts and experiences is as close to being here and now as we can get, other than applying them with zeal and certainty.

—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.

238 FEBRUARY 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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New Stuff

Grow With the Flow New N.O. transducer can give you mind-blowing pumps raining hard is all about getting the pump. You’re cranking out the reps, the blood is flowing, and your muscles are feeling full.

There’s nothing better!

Or is there? Now there’s a supplement that can amplify that full feeling. Pump-Tech is a supplement like no other. Mind-boggling muscle pumps and crazy vascularity are two things you can expect, and you’ll keep those effects for hours after your workout.

Nitric oxide (NO) was introduced to bodybuilders by MuscleTech researchers in 1999.

Since then the company has been delving deeper into the effects various nutrients can have on NO levels in the body. Their goal was to develop a supplement that would harness the power of NO. Pump-Tech is the result of their research.

Unlike other NO products, Pump-

T

Tech jacks up nitric oxide levels and increases pumps and vascular response through four pathways. It contains two proprietary blends that will have your muscles blown up like balloons: Vaso-Tech and AAKGTech. Pump-Tech also contains tri-creatine malate, for increased muscle size and strength gains, and pycnogenol.

Pump-Tech helps you increase your strength, grow more muscle and improve recovery in and out of the gym. It also improves nutrient delivery to, and waste removal from, your muscles.

Pump-Tech will have you looking forward to hardcore workouts that will pump up your muscles to shirt-splitting size. Regardless of how good your pumps are now, they’re about to become out of this world with PumpTech—and they’ll last a whole lot longer.

Weight Watch

Fat: Infection Connection? ccording to Peter Jaret in “Beating the Urge to Eat” [Reader’s Digest, July ’04], “Scientists have known for two decades that certain viruses can cause birds or mammals to become fat. Now Nikhil V. Dhurandhar, a nutritional biochemist at Wayne State University in Detroit, thinks he’s tracked down a bug that can cause obesity in people.”

In a study published in ’02, Dhurandhar showed that when this particular virus is injected into monkeys, it causes dramatic weight gain—in some cases bodyweight tripled. The scientist and his colleagues then analyzed 1,000 people.

Those who had the virus antibodies, which indicates they’ve been infected, were significantly more likely to be overweight.

“I’m not saying all obesity is caused by a virus,” Dhurandhar said. “Genes, metabolism, habits all play a role, but at least one other possibility appears to be infection.”

If he’s right, that means someday there could be an antifat vaccine. If you’ve got a big belly, think of it as a pot shot.

—Becky Holman

A

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Jacked Up

Freehand Pec Pump

MIND/BODY Chisel your chest at home or on vacation

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If you can’t make it to the gym, the next best thing is a quick pec-pounding workout at home. After you’ve stretched to warm up, your body is ready for pushups, the classic resistance exercise for the chest, triceps and deltoids. Either lie belly-down flat on the floor or set yourself up between two chairs that are about shoulder width apart, hands on the seats, with a third chair behind you for your feet. The higher your feet from hand level, the harder your pushups will be.

Once you’re in position, push up with your arms and lock your elbows. Keep your back straight and your stomach muscles taut. Now lower yourself so that your chest touches the floor or dips down between the chairs. Do three sets of 10 or more reps. To make the movement easier as you tire, put your knees on the floor. If you’re up on chairs, move your feet from a chair to the floor. Oh, and you can always try pushups on the floor with one arm.

Another great chest developer is flyes. Lie on your back on a bench or the floor with your feet flat on the ground. Grab two equally weighted objects (like two jumbo cans of soup or your twin chihuahuas). With the weights in your hands above your chest, arms slightly bent, lower the weights in an arc till they’re on the same plane as your chest. Then return them, tracing the same arc, to that starting position. Inhale down, and exhale up, working toward a full stretch until failure.

Now return to one of the chairs for counter pushups. Stand with your feet about eight inches apart and your toes three feet back from the chair back. Move back farther to make the exercise harder. Place your hands about 18 inches apart on the chair back, with your elbows pointing sideways, and lower yourself toward the chair. Concentrate on your pecs. Lower yourself slowly until you barely touch the edge of the chair back. Then push back to the beginning position.

Your chest will love the pump! You could try these three exercise as a tri-set too.

—Jack LaLanne

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.

240 FEBRUARY 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Mass Media

MIND/BODY

Kickinger: The Oak’s Part 2: F.Z. as emcee on Him att Dorf, the writer-producer of “See Arnold Run,” liked one of my poems in my book Mind Body Spirit, so I rewrote it as a song, “The Present,” in 12-bar blues format for the Venice Beach party sequence.

I had a cameo in the film as an IFBB announcer at the ’74 Mr. Olympia compeFrank Zane portrays an IFBB announcer for the tition. The phone call posedown between Arnold (Roland Kickinger) from casting came at and Louie (Bob Cicherillo) in “See Arnold Run.” 10 o’clock WednesIt airs on A&E in January. day night. “Your call with great thighs and calves (must be is at 6:42 a.m., downtown San Diego his Leg Blaster) and abs better than at the Spreckles Auditorium.”

Arnold’s. His upper body was ripped, I arrived at my trailer, which had a and when he posed, he looked a great sign on the door that read “F.Z. as deal like Arnold, especially in the twistIFBB announcer.” Slicking back my ing back shots. Cicherillo was a good hair, darkening my sideburns and choice for Louie, even though Bob is dressing in my blue IFBB blazer, I six inches shorter than Roland. Bob was already beginning to feel back in has charisma, although he wasn’t in the ’70s—but not as myself. It’s Olympia condition. He must have strange acting as someone else while weighed 250, and he was smooth. another person is pretending to be Given all the posing, however, I you. That’s what that day was all noticed each guy getting leaner and about, the ’74 Mr. Olympia contest at more muscular as the day went on— Madison Square Garden in New York and there was lots of posing. After I left City. at 7 p.m., Roland posed late into the In reality there were only four night for the ’75 and ’80 Mr. Olympia competitors, and we were never scenes. “It’s worth it because of all the compared all together. After Arnold people this film will influence,” he told placed ahead of Lou Ferrigno and me.

Franco beat me (I was dumbfoundIndeed. Making movies is a lot of ed; how could that possibly hapwork. I must have delivered my lines pen?), Arnold and Franco posed more than 20 times and nailed them together, much as they used to do in every time. It took lots of focus and their exhibitions, Franco posing at energy. When an assistant finally told Arnold’s feet doing all his lunging and me I was finished, I changed clothes in kneeling shots. But in the scene my trailer, signed all the necessary there were six guys onstage: Arnold, papers and drove home. Wow, I was in the movie played by Roland tired. I just lay around the entire next Kickinger, who was in great shape; day, thinking about the adventure I’d Serge (I guess they meant Sergio had.

Oliva), played by a much shorter —Frank Zane black guy; next was F.Z., played by Nick Stellate; Lou Ferrigno, played by Editor’s note: Visit Bob Cicherillo; Franco Colombu, www.FrankZane.com for Frank’s played by Mike Ergas; and a namegoods and services. Subscribe to his less sixth contestant.

32-page magazine, Building the Body.

Roland was in the best shape,

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A&E Public Relations

M

MIND/BODY

Serious Training

John Cutri Photography by Jerry Fredrick

Location: Gold’s Gym, Venice, CA

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Serious Stats Weight: 235 Height: 5’8” Age: 41 Age began training: 11 (“I read a Charles Atlas ad. I wanted to get big so I’d never get sand kicked in my face.”)

Bodypart split: Day 1: chest, triceps; day 2: back, biceps; day 3: hamstrings, shoulders; day 4: quads; day 5: off; day 6: repeat Sample workout (chest): Bench presses 5 sets Incline presses 4 sets Machine flyes 3 sets Cable crossovers 3 sets Dips 2-3 sets Factoid: “I love to golf.”

Favorite supplements: Champion Nutrition whey protein, Ultimate Nutrition aminos and Glutapro www.ironmanmagazine.com \ FEBRUARY 2005 245

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Jerry Brainum’s

Bodybuilding Pharmacology

Oral Hex Most oral versions of anabolic steroids have the reputation of being toxic to the liver when taken in comparatively large doses or for extended times. A primary function of the liver is detoxifying substances the body takes in, and hormones are no exception. The liver quickly degrades oral testosterone to a water-soluble, inert form for excretion. To prevent rapid breakdown by the liver, scientists tweaked the basic testosterone structure.

All oral anabolic steroids have the same tweak, known as 17-alpha alkylation, which enables them to escape firstpass deactivation by the liver and accumulate there. Many scientists feel that the buildup leads to the eventual de-

struction of liver cells. Studies show various problems in the liver related to oral steroid use, including a type of hepatitis, or inflammation, that blocks the normal flow of bile through the liver, an action called cholestasis.

If people take oral steroids in large doses or for extended times, they may experience actual destruction of the liver.

In some cases that involves bloody pockets of liver tissue, known as peliosis hepatis. Such cases are rare in athletes; instead they show up in hospitalized patients who took oral steroids as therapy for five consecutive years or more.

That practice no longer occurs, since doctors now treat those patients with other drugs.

When most athletes use oral steroids, the stress on their livers is reflected in increased liver enzyme levels. Generally the levels don’t become critical, which has led doctors to think that the steroids cause minor damage, if any. In addi-

Winstrol has a reputation among bodybuilders for promoting a harder-looking physique.

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Steroids blocked the synthesis and release of certain cellular protective proteins, leaving liver cells open to destruction by rampant free-radical attacks. tion, the liver is one of the body’s tougher organs and can take a lot of abuse before it finally quits. That’s because liver enzymes rapidly return to normal when a person stops using anabolic steroids.

Even so, no one knows why or how oral anabolic steroids induce liver damage. A new animal study, using both sedentary and exercising rats as subjects, offers some plausible answers.1 The drug that the rats were on for eight weeks was stanozolol, more familiarly known by its trade name, Winstrol.

Winstrol is available in both oral and injectable forms.

The injectable version gained worldwide notoriety when sprinter Ben Johnson was stripped of his ’88 Olympic gold medal after testing positive for Winstrol-V. It’s a DHT derivative, which means it can’t be converted into estrogen—so there’s no water retention or other estrogenrelated side effects, like gynecomastia, or male breast formation.

Winstrol has long had a reputation among bodybuilders for promoting a harder-looking physique. It also appears to significantly increase strength levels. Some suggest that Winstrol displaces the primary androgen protein carrier in the blood, sex-hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), which would reinforce the effectiveness of any other steroids used with Winstrol. The average oral dose is about 25 milligrams daily, with up to 50 milligrams a day for the injectable version.

The drawbacks of Winstrol are similar to those of other oral steroids. Since Winstrol features the 17-alpha alkylation, it is potentially toxic to the liver. The injectable versions also feature the liver tweak, which means they, too, are possibly liver toxic. The DHT feature of the drug makes it a poor choice for those concerned about male-pattern baldness. While DHT-derived drugs also often promote acne, that’s a lesser problem with Winstrol.

The liver is subjected to a huge amount of oxidative stress, during which large amounts of cell-damaging free radicals are released. The liver has its own augmented antioxidant defense system to offset oxidative onslaught.

In the rat-based study, however, the rats getting Winstrol showed a significant increase in internal liver oxidation that overwhelmed the usual defenses.

The liver has a second line of defense should its oxidative protection be overwhelmed. It involves the rapid production of antistress substances known as heat shock proteins, which potently preserve cell integrity. In the rats

Liver vasculature.

that exercised but didn’t get Winstrol, the heat shock proteins were upgraded. In fact, the protection lasted for 48 hours after exercise. The steroid rats, though, didn’t even produce the protein. Steroids blocked its synthesis and release, leaving the liver cells open to attack and destruction by rampant free radicals.

None of those activities shows up in normal liver-function tests. In other words, anabolic steroid users can appear to be undergoing little or no liver damage when in fact uncontrolled oxidation is destroying their liver. While the liver shows remarkable regenerative ability, it’s not difficult to see how long-term or excessive oral steroid use may promote a subtle level of liver damage that’s all the worse for not being immediately apparent.

It’s vital for anyone contemplating the use of any type of oral anabolic steroid to also use antioxidant supplements.

Since glutathione is the major liver antioxidant, nutrients that boost glutathione—such as silymarin (milk thistle), NAC, lipoic acid and whey protein—may be especially useful in helping the liver deal with the extensive oxidation that results from oral steroid use.

The Molecular Key to Growth Hormone Benefits Growth hormone is popular with athletes because of its potent anabolic effects. Most studies examining the impact of GH in athletes, however, have found that it has little or no effect in increasing muscular size and strength.

On the other hand, most studies also support the fatmobilizing effects of growth hormone. So even if GH isn’t the miraculous anabolic drug it’s reputed to be, its fat-

Anabolic steroid users can appear to be undergoing little or no liver damage when in fact uncontrolled oxidation is destroying their liver. Long-term or excessive oral steroid use may promote a subtle level of liver damage that’s all the worse for not being immediately apparent. www.ironmanmagazine.com \ FEBRUARY 2005 247

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Jerry Brainum’s

Bodybuilding Pharmacology

Growth hormone is thought to protect and speed the healing of both muscles and connective-tissue injuries, a major problem in those engaged in intense training. mobilizing effects alone make it attractive.

Other attributes make GH alluring to athletes as well. Research shows that it helps maintain muscle during stringent dieting, thus enabling athletes to retain hard-earned muscle mass that they might otherwise sacrifice. In addition, scientists believe that it both protects and speeds the healing of muscle and connectivetissue injuries.

Recent studies have shown how GH promotes healing, and the implications are highly relevant to the aging process. In fact, they explain why it has acquired its reputation as a fountain-of-youth drug.

GH apparently promotes tissue healing by turning on a gene called the Forkhead Box m1B gene (Foxm1B) that is a critical component of cellular

function, controlling cell regeneration and rebuilding. During youth, the gene is active, which helps explain why younger people heal more rapidly than older people do. As people age, the gene becomes less active, which causes cell disruption and eventually tissue and organ breakdown.

As GH levels decline with age, so does the Fox1mB gene, which depends on GH for its activation. Cells become less effective at repairing damage. That was illustrated by a study of liver regeneration in old and young rats.2 In the past studies showed that when the human Fox1mB gene was inserted into rat liver cells, the cells regenerated at a pace typically seen in young rats. In the new study, scientists focused on the relationship

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GH may be useful as short-term therapy to increase healing and promote faster recovery from surgical procedures, especially in the aged. From an athletic perspective, it is very effective at promoting healing, particularly of injured connective tissue. between GH and the Fox1mB gene.

When they partially removed the rats’ livers and gave them GH, Fox1mB activity dramatically increased. That led to a level of cell regeneration seen in much younger rats. In older rats not given GH, the cells regenerated far more slowly and more in keeping with the rats’ age.

The scientists then disabled the Fox1mB gene in other rats. When those animals got GH, nothing happened, indicating that GH works through the Fox1mB gene. The gene is required for normal cell repair, and GH stimulates its activity. If GH declines, as it does in older people, the activity of the gene likewise declines.

That results in slower cellular repair, increasing the chances of cell mutations, which, in turn, lead to a number of diseases linked to aging, such as cancer, organ failure, infections, dementia, skin wrinkling and muscle loss.

One of the scientists involved in the study suggests that GH may be useful as short-term therapy for increasing healing and promoting faster recovery from surgical procedures, especially in the aged. From an athletic perspective, the findings explain why GH seems so effective in promoting healing, particularly of injured connective tissue, which takes longer to heal because it’s not well supplied with blood. GH may overcome that deficit and speed the healing process.

References 1 Pey, A., et al. (2003). Effects of prolonged stanozolol treatment on antioxidant enzyme activities, oxidative stress markers, and heat shock protein HSP72 levels in the rat liver. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 87:269-77.

2 Krupczak, K., et al. (2003). Growth hormone stimulates proliferation of old-aged regenerating liver through Forkhead Box m1B. Hepatology.

38:1552-1562. IM

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Readers Write Success Is Best

tion and exercise during the past three years. I’m so motivated, I’m thinking about raising the bar again and trying for 10 more pounds of muscle. Thank you for the inspiration.

Jeff Hammond via Internet Editor’s note: We’ll have an update on Jeff and his training in our upcoming annual over-40-bodybuilding issue.

Um, Okay Please send me some ironman photo age 49 to 59. I have some friend they want it. Thank you very must.

Mike via Internet Editor’s note: Ure feedbag is apprenticated. Keep forking your musculos with waits.

Free Stuff In the January ’04 IRON MAN there was a success story on Becky Holman that changed my life. After I read it, I realized that I could relate to a lot of the things she said, especially being a 37-year-old woman. I thought I had to learn to live with the body I had because it wasn’t getting any better. At that time I was doing some free-weight exercises a couple of days a week and assisting karate classes with my husband and son, but I couldn’t get rid of the inches of belly fat. After reading Becky’s story, I decided to take it seriously. I followed her Phase 2 workout. I also started jogging three miles twice a week and went on a lowcarb/high-protein diet. I just turned 38, and much to my surprise I’ve gone from 123 pounds to 115 and from a size seven to a size five. I feel stronger and healthier than ever before. Thank you very much, Becky, for sharing your story, your workout and all those wonderful tips. I just hope I can be an inspiration to others as you have been for me.

Mayra E. Martinez Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico Editor’s note: Becky’s story and update will appear in the new e-book X-treme Lean, along with Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson’s ripping techniques and diets. Watch for it at www.x-rep.com.

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Jeff Hammond.

Editor’s note: The last few IM e-zines, including the ones on Arnold’s training, are posted at www .x-rep.com/xfiles.htm. You can subscribe free by clicking the link at the bottom of any of the posted newsletters and providing your e-mail address.

Discrimination I’ve noticed that all the muscle magazines discriminate. Muscular black women are never featured. The swimsuit issues are the worst.

They all feature skinny white women! name not provided Editor’s note: We’re looking back at our last swimsuit issue, February ’04. Yep, there are lots of white women, but they look healthy to us, not too skinny. And then there’s Roneique Banks—neither frail nor pale. Whew!

Fit at 50 I want to thank IRON MAN for the opportunity to shoot with Michael Neveux again. My story, “Love at First Lift,” appeared in the December ’02 issue, and it was quite a thrill. I’m now 50 years old and better than ever. I weighed 185 for that photo shoot in ’02, and for my latest shoot I was a solid 200. My muscles are fuller and more vascular, as I’ve learned a lot about nutri-

I just want to thank Jonathan Lawson for his IM e-zine.

He’s really taken it up a few notches lately, and I’m more motivated to train every time I get the newest one in my email box. The ones he did on Arnold’s training are particularly good. Keep them coming!

Stephen Lankersham via Internet

Roneique Banks, just another skinny white woman? We don’t think so—not frail, not pale.

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Becky Holman.

Vol. 64, No. 2: IRON MAN (ISSN #0047-1496) is published monthly by IRON MAN Publishing, 1701 Ives Ave., Oxnard, CA 93033. Periodical Mail is paid at Oxnard, CA, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to IRON MAN, 1701 Ives Ave., Oxnard, CA 93033. Please allow six to eight weeks for change to take effect. Subscription ratesÑU.S. and its possessions: new 12-issue subscription, $29.97. Canada, Mexico and other foreign subscriptions: 12 issues, $49.97 sent Second Class. Foreign orders must be in U.S. dollars. Send subscriptions to IRON MAN, 1701 Ives Ave., Oxnard, CA 93033. Or call 1-800570-4766. Copyright © 2005. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any manner without written permission from the publisher. Printed in the USA.

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