Ironman Magazine 2005-03

TOP-10 TOP-10 EATING EATING TIPS TIPS •• X-FACTOR X-FACTOR DIET DIET ••

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MARCH 2005 / IRON MAN—REAL BODYBUILDING TRAINING, NUTRITION & SUPPLEMENTATION

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www.ironmanmagazine.com \ APRIL 2006 261

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150 DECEMBER 2009 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

March 2005

Vol. 64, No. 3

Real Bodybuilding Training, Nutrition & Supplementation

FEATURES

78 TRAIN, EAT, GROW 65 More X-ceptional musings from our TEG men. Hyperplasia? It could happen—with the right type of training.

88 ONLY THE STRONG SHALL SURVIVE Bill Starr says you should be a slug one day a week. Laziness can help you build muscle. Pass the remote and unplug the phone. A “Gilligan’s Island” marathon is on!

98 YOUR BACK WILL NEVER GROW! Unless you follow these 10 tips for bigness and broadness from Ron Harris, our man in the training trenches.

108 SUCCESS STORY Tom Doyle won Twinlab’s Live Like a Pro contest. Here’s how he did it. Prepare for incredible motivation!

116 THE X FACTOR 2 Jonathan Lawson continues his XRep mass-building X-ploits.

Check out his before and after leg shots. Sheesh! Loads of mass and detail in only one month. Oh, his X-Factor diet is here too.

Hardbody, page 198

TOP-10 EATING TIPS • X-FACTOR DIET •

X REPS

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Munch Master, page 132

The X Factor 2, page 116

132 MUNCH MASTER Skip La Cour gives you 10 tips for controlling your eating. You can master the munchies, mister!

142 HEAVY DUTY Mike Mentzer’s Heavy Duty seminar continues. This month it’s all about training and the Colorado Experiment.

TIPS FOR MASTERING YOUR DIET DOMAIN

PLUS: •IM Pro/Arnold Classic Previews •Ms., Fitness and Figure Olympia Coverage

Jonathan Lawson and Bobbie Sue Luther appear on this month’s cover. Hair & Makeup Kimberly Carlson. Photo

by Michael Neveux. Inset photo of Fitness Olympia winner Adela GarciaFriedmansky by Bill Comstock.

154 GUSTAVO BADELL He surprised everyone with a top-three finish at the Mr. Olympia. David Young finds out how he did it and how he plans to be even better this year.

182 IFBB MS. OLYMPIA, FITNESS OLYMPIA AND FIGURE OLYMPIA IFBB Fitness Olympia, page 188

Ruth Silverman’s got the good stuff from Vegas—from fitness femmes to muscle maidens.

198 HARDBODY This month DeeAnn Donovan shows why a fitness lifestyle and the right attitude can be a girl’s best friend.

206 IM PRO/ARNOLD CLASSIC PREVIEW Lonnie Teper is our man on the inside. If you’re a pro bodybuilding fan, you gotta check out his sneak peak at the first two shows of the season.

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10 Rules for a Big, Broad Back, page 98

DEPARTMENTS

30 TRAIN TO GAIN Flex, highs and videotape. Plus, ball-and-socket sensibilities and blubber burners.

52 CRITICAL MASS Steve Holman delves into time-bomb training—and he’s also got advice on X Reps for beginners and beyond.

58 NATURALLY HUGE John Hansen’s advice on how to realize more size. He’s got a complete training program just for you.

62 EAT TO GROW Creatine high-test, heavy D and low-carb leftovers.

Gustavo Badell, page 154

IM Pro/Arnold Classic Preview, page 206

166 NEWS & VIEWS Lonnie Teper and Ruth Silverman go behind the scenes with all the bodybuilding and fitness kings and queens.

And Jerry Fredrick’s Hot Shots are here too, to jack your funny bone through and through. (Poetry in a bodybuilding magazine? P.U.!)

220 MIND/BODY CONNECTION Randall Strossen, Ph.D., shows you how to get ahead with a little help from your friends (peer pressure isn’t just about forced reps). Dave Draper says, “Take me to the iron,” in his Bomber Blast column, and Jack LaLanne helps you add size to your bi’s at home. Oh, and your Gallery of Ironmen history lesson is here too.

230 BODYBUILDING PHARMACOLOGY Jerry Brainum analyzes a new Japanese study in which researchers gave rats massive doses of some popular steroids. Did they get huge muscles? Did they go bald?

Did their testicles shrink to the size of flea turds? J.B. has the answers as well as some interesting news on growth hormone and fat burning.

Train to Gain, page 30

Pump & Circumstance, page 172

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WEB ALERT world of

ings from the For the latest happen ess, read the Hot fitn d bodybuilding an magazine.com and News at www.ironman cle.com. www.graphicmus

238 READERS WRITE First up is our favorite letter of all time (because it puts us up on a pedestal). And then there are those who question the naturalness of some of our favorite bodybuilders. We knew the compliments couldn’t last.

In the next IRON MAN Next month we take a hard look at getting hard in your old age. No, we’re not talking about Viagra; we’re talking about over-40 bodybuilding. It’s our annual analysis of what the older, bolder generation can do to build a top-notch, ripped and ready physique. Masters Mr. O competitor Lee Apperson tells you how. Then Ron Harris continues his bodypart-by-bodypart blockbuster bonanza with a section on delts. You’ll be splitting the seams on your shirt in no time after you follow his right-on rules and regulations. We’ll also have more musclebuilding science from Rob Thoburn, info on X-Rep training and a Hardbody pictorial that will knock your block off. Watch for the awe-inspiring April IRON MAN on newsstands the first week of March.

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John Balik’s

Publisher’s Letter

Founders 1936-1986:

Peary & Mabel Rader

Dealing With Reality This morning I had a long conversation with a friend of mine about the perception of reality and how it relates to accomplishment. Your perception is strongly influenced by how you feel about your ability to make changes in your life. If you feel helpless, you won’t be able to see the possibility of change.

Even deeper is the realization that you are ultimately responsible for who you are and what you achieve. Knowing that and being able to act on it to bring about positive changes are vastly different. One exists only in the mind, and the other is where the rubber meets the road.

We all deal with the rationalizations of others, and we all rationalize. Take the word apart and you see the oxymoron: rational-lies. If you can accept that rationalization is lying to yourself, you’ll be ready for the next step—an inner dialog. You must become aware that every time your rationalizing self and your rational self are in conflict, there will be consequences of what you decide. The unshakable reality is that you’re responsible for a lot of what happens.

That simple but profound fact governs how your life plays out.

We are the sum total of our decisions. The quality of those decisions is connected to how truthful we are with ourselves. Some would call that character, and it affects everything from workouts to personal relationships.

Your view of life should be both micro and macro. The same rules of decisions, consequences and reality work for all aspects of life, but let’s use bodybuilding goals as a macro starting point. I talk with a lot people who want to be leaner or gain muscle, and many say that diets don’t work for them or they have lousy genetics or they don’t have time to train and so on.

Everyone has a different set of gifts. That’s a reality you need to face. So you have two choices: Make the changes that will lead you to becoming leaner and/or more muscular—or don’t. One builds character; the other depletes it. Each decision has a consequence.

We’ve all seen the “One Day at a Time” bumper stickers—they’re about making change and taking control of and responsibility for your actions. I find, however, that a day is much too macro a frame of reference. I look at it in terms of every decision: Every decision makes your character either stronger or weaker. That goes for life and death issues as well as the far less critical decisions like going for one last rep or taking the easy way out.

The stronger your character, the stronger you’ll be in dealing with rationalization. That strength will enable you to take charge and reach your goals. Every little victory empowers you. Being true to yourself is one of life’s most important and difficult lessons—and one you never stop learning. IM

Publisher/Editorial Director: John Balik Associate Publisher: Warren Wanderer Design Director: Michael Neveux Editor in Chief: Stephen Holman Art Director: T. S. Bratcher Senior Editor: Ruth Silverman Editor at Large: Lonnie Teper Articles Editors: L.A. Perry, Caryne Brown Assistant Editor: Jonathan Lawson Assistant Art Director: Christian Martinez Designer: Emerson Miranda Ironman Staff: Denise Cantú, Vuthy Keo, Mervin Petralba, David Solorzano Contributing Authors: Jerry Brainum, David Chapman, Teagan Clive, Lorenzo Cornacchia, Daniel Curtis, Dave Draper, Michael Gündill, Rosemary Hallum, Ph.D., John Hansen, Ron Harris, Ori Hofmekler, Rod Labbe, Skip La Cour, Jack LaLanne, Butch Lebowitz, Stuart McRobert, Gene Mozée, Larry Scott, Jim Shiebler, Roger Schwab, C.S. Sloan, Bill Starr, Bradley Steiner, Eric Sternlicht, Ph.D., Randall Strossen, Ph.D., Richard Winett, Ph.D., and David Young

Contributing Artists: Steve Cepello, Larry Eklund, Ron Dunn

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

Director of Marketing: Helen Yu, 1-800-570-IRON, ext. 1 Accounting: Dolores Waterman Director of Operations: Dean Reyes Subscriptions Manager: Sonia Melendez, 1-800-570-IRON, ext. 2 E-mail: 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 MARCH 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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SEXY ROCK-HARD ABS FAST The Secret to Etching your Granite-Carved Abs in 10 Short Minutes Picture this... you with tight, shredded abs, serratus and intercostals all sharp, sliced and visible from across the room or on the sun-glared beach! And from the rear, lower lumbars that look like two thick steel girders supporting your muscle-studded back. Imagine looking like a Greek god... in street clothes... in the gym... or anywhere.

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30 MARCH 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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MOTIVATION

Flex, Highs and Videotape

Comstock \ Model: Ronnie Coleman

Information, motivation and muscle sensations abound on tapes and DVDs If you don’t own any of the many training videos available these days, you could really be missing out.

They can be tremendously motivating. Two of the most inspirational videos I’ve ever seen are Dorian Yates’ “Blood and Guts” and Ronnie Coleman’s “The Unbelievable.” It doesn’t matter that most of us will never approach the size of those men or use anywhere near the weights they do. Just watching men with such extreme muscular development pushing the limits of intensity and breaking past the barriers of normal human tolerance for pain is astonishing. When the bodybuilder happens to be close to contest condition, it’s almost like an anatomy lesson—you can clearly observe the actions of each individual muscle during training. Who needs an MRI? Some of the videos show not only training but also a day or more in the life of the athlete. It’s neat to see that these giants eat, sleep, relax and hang out with friends and family just like the rest of us mortals. Ronnie Coleman’s latest DVD, “The Cost of Redemption,” really gives you an insight into how much food is required to feed a man who packs more 300 lean pounds on his frame and who trains as brutally hard and frequently as he does. It follows Ronnie over the course of four consecutive days, not only at the gym but also in his kitchen and his two favorite restaurants as he puts away what can only be described as obscene amounts of egg whites, grits, chicken, steak, potatoes, french fries and corn bread.

The tapes and DVDs, though, are more than just inspirational and entertaining; you can actually learn something from them. The champions have their own style of training and their own little twists on the standard exercises that you can try out for yourself. For example, Ronnie trains with a very explosive style that harks back to his years as a competitive powerlifter. In contrast, Jay Cutler, in his “New, Improved, and Beyond” DVD, uses much stricter form, with peak contractions and slow, controlled negatives. It proves that

there’s indeed more than one way to build muscle.

Watching just a few minutes of a training video before heading off to the gym can amp up your workouts, so I consider them a wise investment for all serious bodybuilders.

—Ron Harris Editor’s note: To order any of the videos or DVDs mentioned, visit www.home-gym.com, or call (800) 447-0008. Ronnie Coleman’s “Redemption” is the current best-seller.

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HE WANTED TO FIGHTUntil I Crushed His Hand!

He was big. He was pissed. And he wanted to kick my butt. There was no way out, so I extended my arm for the opening hand shake— and then I crushed his hand like a Dorito. Fight over thanks to the Super Gripper.

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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.

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Whatever You Need—Wherever You Train ™

TRAIN TO GAIN

RECOVER RX

Snooze or Lose Sleep deprivation can crush anabolic hormones

U LT I M AT E M A S S

X-Files Increase the grow power of any set The turnaround—where the weight changes directions—is the key spot for most compound, or multijoint, exercises. It’s where the target muscles generate maximum force. Take overhead presses. The bar comes down to your chin and your front delts are in a semistretched position. If you explode out of that position (don’t do it; there’s a better, safer way), you get extreme overload right where the front delts need it most. In fact, force-plate studies connected to an oscilloscope show that a 60-pound barbell suddenly jerked from that position can exert a force of several hundred pounds. Think of the overload a pro bodybuilder gets when he explodes with 200 pounds out of that semistretched position. Of course, his joints, tendons and ligaments may explode, too, which is why the champs’ way is not the best way to overload that key sweet spot. In fact, it’s downright dangerous. (Remember, a number of pro bodybuilders use growth hormone, which strengthens joints and tendons, so at least they have some protection—although sometimes not enough!)

So what should you do? The X-Rep technique embraces the latest research on isometric contraction, semistretch overload and nervous system activation to give you a powerful, new size-building technique with minimal sets. It’s a twist on partial pulses at the end of a set to failure at or near the precise max-force point in the range of motion (at least that’s where it is on many multijoint exercises). By extending a set with X Reps, you do an end run around nervous system failure and get an exponential increase in growth stimulation, which means you don’t have to do a lot of sets. That’s exciting stuff if you’re after more muscle.

For example, the sweet spot on chins is down close to where your arms almost lock out at the bottom. It’s not at full extension—that’s shoulder-injury territory— but up a little between the very bottom and midpoint of the stroke. Try this: Do your chins fairly slowly and strictly for eight reps. When you can’t get another full rep, lower to about halfway between the midpoint and full stretch and do partials till failure. Feel the tension build in your lats at that max-force point, cranking out as many X Reps as you can. Now you’ve jolted your lats with max-force overload.

That should make the set anywhere from two to four times more effective at triggering hypertrophy.

—Jonathan Lawson IM e-zine

1 Everson, C.A., et al. (2004). Reductions in circulating anabolic hormones induced by sustained sleep deprivation in rats. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 286:E1060-E1070.

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

32 MARCH 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Neveux \ Model: Joe DeAngelis

Neveux

You can generate the most force when the target muscle is in a semistretched position.

Emphasize that point in the stroke because more force generation can equal more growth stimulation.

While exercise is the primary catalyst for muscular growth, all such growth occurs when you’re at rest. That’s why adequate recovery is so vital for making muscular gains. Studies show that if you don’t get enough sleep, your testosterone levels may plummet as much as 40 percent. The body secretes maximum levels of growth hormone during sleep.

A new study using lab rats as subjects tested the hormonal effects of sleep deprivation.1 In previous studies animals deprived of sleep showed lower levels of thyroid hormones and a blunted immune response. Since the low level of thyroid output occurred in the hypothalamus, the researchers wanted to see how other hormones secreted in the same area of the brain were affected by sleep.

The experimenters found that sleep deprivation in the rats resulted in a suppression of other hormones, including growth hormone, insulinlike growth hormone 1 (IGF-1), prolactin and leptin.

Corticosterone, the rodent version of cortisol, was unaffected by lack of sleep. That hormonal milieu favors a depression in anabolic reactions in the body, with an upgrading of catabolic effects, including possible muscle loss.

Don’t take sleep for granted if any type of muscular progress is your goal.

—Jerry Brainum

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

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

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

The rotator cuff muscles stabilize the shoulder joint. During the bench press and almost all other upperbody movements these muscles protect the shoulder joint and prevent ball-and-socket slippage. If these muscles are underdeveloped, 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.

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Training Tips, Tricks and Tweaks, Part 2

Get more growth from every workout

My heavy-iron diatribe was last month. Now I’ll continue scapula into adduction—in and out. That’s why a revolving with some specifics. bar is totally wrong for lat pulldowns. You’re trying to keep Revolving bar for lat pulldowns. I don’t know if you’d your palms high on the bar. If it revolves, it dumps your palms ever learn this by just listening to your body. I didn’t. I had to right off the bar. learn it from Lou Degni. He told me, “In order to get proper That’s why you have to use chinning straps and a nonrescapula rotations while doing pullups, you have to get your volving bar. If you don’t have them, your hands get tired, and hands high up on the the next thing you know, your palms slip off the bar, with your thumb bar and you’re hanging by your fingers. That Try shoeless calf raises for more complete on the same side of means you’re working biceps, not back. development. the bar as your finCalf raises with shoes on. Calves are gers.” stubborn monkeys. They don’t obey anything, Let me explain. so you have to be really clever to get them to When you’re doing do what you tell them to. One thing’s certain: pullups, you have to They’re not going to grow unless you do someget the scapula to thing they’re not accustomed to. You can get a rotate through the full little bit of size by using huge weights and little range of abduction bouncy reps, but not much. Remember, they’re and adduction so you doing partial reps all the time as you walk can build lats. In fact, around. Not only that, but they’re also used to that’s what makes the doing one-leg reps. back grow—it’s not the If you want them to grow, you have to get pulling up and down. serious. It takes full—I mean full—extension Plus, if you can get and complete contraction to get their attention. your hands high on the You’ve got to get all the way up and all the way bar with your palms down. That’s where the shoes come in—or, wrapped all the way rather, that’s where the shoes come off. You over the bar, your just can’t get all the way up and down with scapula will be in shoes on. The problem is, if you take your abduction—where it’s shoes off, it hurts the bottoms of your feet. That supposed to be to means you need more padding on the block. start the pullup.

All the way up means all the way to bone Then you pull up to support, and all the way down is hitting the the bar, bringing the heels on the ground when you’re standing on a four-inch block.

ENERGY Total movement—all the way up and all the way down. That will force your calves to grow —Larry Scott Feeling tired? DragEditor’s note: Get ging at the All 33 of Larry Scott’s gym? Find reports. Thousands of some cold words of pure training water—say, at the water fountain or inspiration—a treafrom a fridge. No, don’t slosh it all sure! It includes a over your face (although that could three-ring binder and help too). Gargle with it. That’s right, table of contents for do the Listerine thing with ice-cold easy reference, all for H2O. Why? The nerves in your throat the low cost of $87. are very sensitive, so shocking them Mention that you saw with frigid liquid will stimulate a rush this offer in IRON MAN of blood to your noggin. You’ll feel and receive, free, the much more alert. Then you can send “Larry Scott’s Peak that blood back to where it Biceps” DVD. Call belongs—into your working muscles (800) 225-9752 to to create an awesome pump. order.

—Becky Holman

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Ball-and-Socket Sensibilities Shoulder instability You use your shoulders during chest, back and, of course, shoulder training and even on some leg exercises. The shoulder joint is unique. Its shallow, bony socket makes for a great range of motion, but loading that joint during extreme ranges of motion can lead to many common shoulder injuries. [Note: Horrigan also discussed shoulder instability in the November ’95 and April ’96 Sportsmedicine columns; both are available at www.softtissuecenter .com.]

The shoulder is surrounded by ligaments, which attach bone to bone.

The ligaments are actually connected and form the joint capsule. Think of the joint capsule as an organic Saran Wrap. Two shoulder movements make the ball move forward in the socket: the throwing motion and a pushup or bench-press movement. The front of the capsule becomes overstretched because the ball continually moves forward. Years of bench presses, incline presses, flyes, cable crossovers and pullovers can stretch the capsule too much and cause shoulder pain.

One year ago new research shed light on the process.

The shoulder instability caused by an overstretched capsule is usually found in athletes older than 30. When such instability appears in younger athletes, it’s believed to be due to tightness in the back of the capsule and a tear of the cartilage around the bony socket of the shoulder joint.

The tightness of the back capsule lets the ball pivot and rotate too much. A throwing athlete can appear to have too much external rotation and too little internal rotation but actually may not be unstable. The tight posterior capsule will drive the ball upward and can tear the cartilage ring.

The problem is known as a SLAP lesion, which stands for the Latin terms that describe the location of the tear— superior labrum anterior posterior. The action may explain why many rotator cuff tears occur on the bottom of the cuff instead of the top from movement against the roof of the shoulder. The torn cartilage ring often creates clicking in the shoulder, which may or may not cause pain.

I’ve written much about the tightness of the shoulder in weight-trained athletes—that they needed to increase their external rotation. That’s still the case for many trainees.

Some are tight in both internal and external rotation and should stretch in both directions. Some trainees participated in other sports while growing up (baseball, football, etc.) and have some degree of the problem already. Bench presses, incline presses, behind-the-neck presses, flyes

No, it’s not your partner snapping his fingers to the gym tunes. A torn cartilage ring in your shoulder can cause clicking on some exercises.

Neveux \ Model: Jay Cutler

TRAIN TO GAIN

SPORTSMEDICINE

and pullovers increase the problem.

Patients who have SLAP lesions, too much external rotation and limited internal rotation need to stretch the posterior capsule and strengthen the rotator cuff muscles.

Often that’s enough to make the shoulder problems manageable. If external rotation is also limited (maybe you can’t do behind-the-neck presses or hold a barbell for squats), then the front capsule and muscles must be stretched too.

Patients who have SLAP lesions often have biceps tendon pain. Biceps tendinitis doesn’t occur by itself. The biceps tendon may be compressed, or impinged, between the ball and the roof, or it may be a symptom of the SLAP lesion. What you need to realize is that half of the biceps’ origin is on the bony socket of the shoulder, and half attaches into the cartilage ring. If the SLAP lesion is torn at the site of biceps tendon attachment, the biceps tendon is often painful.

I’ll describe exercises to help improve that situation in the next issue of IRON MAN. —Joseph M. Horrigan Editor’s note: Visit www.softtissuecenter.com for reprints of Horrigan’s past Sportsmedicine columns that have appeared in IRON MAN. You can order the book Strength, Conditioning and Injury Prevention for Hockey by Joseph Horrigan, D.C., and E.J. “Doc” Kreis, D.A., from Home Gym Warehouse, (800) 447-0008 or at www.homegym.com.

38 MARCH 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Better Blood Flow Burns Blubber Many bodybuilders have noticed that it’s easier to burn upper-body fat than lower-body fat. That situation occurs in women and a large percentage of male athletes. Various theories have been proposed to explain the apparent differences between upper- and lower-body fat stores.

In women, lower-body fat acts as an emergency calorie reserve, a precaution designed to ensure perpetuation of the species. Since it takes about 80,000 calories to produce a human baby, nature wants to make sure that expectant mothers get the calories they need, even in times of famine. That’s why women preferentially store fat in their upper thighs, hips

Why high reps can help you drop fat

between upper- and lower-body fat.1 Previous studies have measured the appearance of glycerol, which makes up onethird of a triglyceride, or fat, molecule. Trouble is, that’s an indirect measurement and could be inaccurate in regard to the actual speed of the body’s fat use. In the new study British and French scientists teamed to come up with a technique to measure direct fat use, and they applied the newer technique to upper- and lower-body fat release in six lean male subjects aged 22 to 43.

What they found was that gluteal fat tissue shows a 67 percent lower level of blood flow than upper-body fat. It also has an 87 percent lower rate of activity of hormonesensitive lipase, an enzyme that catalyzes fat release from fat cells, than abdominal-fat cells.

One theory is that the body stores fat in the lower body to protect against high levels of free fatty acids in the blood. A high level of FFAs interferes with glucose uptake in cells, which in turn leads to insulin resistance and diseases linked to insulin resistance, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The body shuttles excess fatty acids directly to lower-body fat stores, where they are “locked in,” which buffers the effect of high levels of fat in the blood.

The fact that lower-body fat may protect against potentially deadly diseases offers little solace to definition-minded bodybuilders. The body won’t use lower-body fat until nearly all upper body fat is oxidized through exercise and diet. So the ultimate answer to eliminating lower-body fat involves persistence and patience. Continuing to exercise and diet will eventually enable you to make progress in getting rid of lower-body fat.

For those in a hurry, some evidence shows that using an alpha-2 adrenergic blocker can also enable bodybuilders to tap into lower-body fat stores.

The fat cells in the lower body, unlike those in the upper body, have a preponderance of alpha-2 adrenergic cell receptors. (Upper-body fat cells have a preponderance of beta-adrenergic cell receptors, which permit more rapid release of fat.)

One natural alpha-adrenergic blocker is yohimbe at a dose of 0.2 milligrams per kilogram (2.2 pounds) of bodyweight. It must be taken on an empty stomach, however, since any release of insulin totally negates its fat-mobilizing effects.

From a training standpoint, if your goal is increased definition, it may be a good idea to use higher reps, in the range of 15 and up, for lowerbody training. Higher reps may increase blood flow, giving you a greater mobilization of lower-body fat.

One other thing to consider is that overtraining the legs can lead to a type of localized stress reaction in which you retain water subcutaneously, or just under the skin, obscuring muscular definition. In their zeal to get more cut, bodybuilders often overtrain their legs prior to a contest, leading to water retention. More experienced bodybuilders often curtail leg training, including aerobics, at least a week before a contest to prevent that effect.

—Jerry Brainum Neveux \ Model: Lee Apperson

TRAIN TO GAIN

FAT FIGHTERS

and buttocks. Some anthropologists also suggest that female fat storage, especially in the hip and buttocks areas, acts as a sex signal to males, indicating fertility.

Still, that doesn’t explain why many men also have trouble losing fat in their lower bodies. Anyone who’s ever attended a bodybuilding contest has probably noticed male competitors who show razor-sharp muscular definition in the upper body, yet have nary a cut on their legs. Some men ascribe that to “localized water retention” and “excessive estrogen secretion.”

While estrogen has potent water-retaining effects and promotes bodyfat accumulation, that’s not the true explanation.

A new study pinpoints the differences in fat mobilization

1 Tan, G.D., et al. (2004). Upper and lower body adipose tissue function: A direct comparison of fat mobilization in humans. Obesity Res. 12:114-118.

40 MARCH 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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The Finishing Touches Many people who read bodybuilding magazines believe that the athletes pictured are always in top shape. They’re not aware that, except for training shots, physique photos are taken within a bodybuilder’s two-to-fourweek peaking period, usually right before or after a competition. Magazines want to publish only the most impressive physique photos.

Consequently, many of the people I’ve Zane, as he appeared in his last spoken with think competition, with all the finishing they need to be in touches. top shape all the time. Well, I don’t know of anyone who is.

In my 48 years of training I’ve been out of shape as often as I’ve been in top condition. Every year my goal is to reach a physical peak relative to my condition the rest of the year. I did that during my 22 years of competition, and I still do it to some extent these days. In effect, I start from scratch every year.

After I reach my peak, I go into a maintenance-training phase for a few months, cutting down on my workouts but paying special attention to my weak points. My goal is to improve weak points so that when I start training harder again (usually in the spring), strong points and weaker areas are more evenly matched—and I’ve improved proportion.

Not that I ever get that far out of shape. I’ve learned that if I reach an absolute peak during a year, it’s best to compensate by training less intensely in the off-season. That enables me to

Physique refinements for peaking properly

put more into my workouts when it counts most. What differentiates peak training from regular training is my focus on finishing touches, which means getting more definition and bringing out all the little muscles without losing muscle mass. It happens gradually during the three months preceding competition or my peaking date. The factors most important for this are: 1) Not trying to lift heavier weights all the time but rather cutting down on rest periods between sets. Normally I rest long enough after a set to be strong for the next set—usually about three minutes. When peaking, I cut that down to about 30 to 60 seconds. If I’m training with a partner, it’s just long enough to let my partner do his set. More work in less time spells intensity and develops definition.

2) Stretching and posing between sets. Immediately after I finish my set, I hold a stretch for 15 seconds and then tense the muscles for 15 seconds. The stretches and tensing involve the muscles I’m working. If I stretch between sets, but I don’t tense the muscles or pose between sets, I’ve noticed less definition because of that. Do both if you want to get ripped.

3) Practice holding poses for progressively longer periods at some time during the day. Training with Arnold in the ’70s, we got together for “posing clinics” after workouts when a competition was near. We’d critique each other’s posing routines and learn the best body positions and sequence of poses, always opening and finishing with our best shots. I’d start with an arms-overhead pose and finish with the stomach vacuum.

We’d always do as many photo sessions as possible before a competition because that brought out muscularity. The last two weeks prior to the contest I’d pose at least an hour a day, and that made all the difference. The last week’s workouts weren’t as important as practicing posing. Think about it: Bodybuilding competition is about posing, not working out. Sure, you gotta train, but that’s not what you do onstage. Most competitors don’t practice posing enough. They leave it to the last minute, and it shows. Try working up to holding each pose for one minute and see how your body changes. (The Summer ’03 issue of my Building the Body newsletter is filled with hints on posing to prepare for competition.)

4) My aerobics program usually consisted of running 1 1/2 miles a day. But the last month I discontinued aerobics (aerobics does harden you up, but bodybuilding competition isn’t about aerobics) and MENTAL MIGHT devoted that time to posing. Also, I gradually upped my total reps on abs. The last month I’d go to the gym a second time during the day and do a thousand nonstop reps on abs. That generally took me a little over a half hour. I’d do something like crunches supersetted with leg raises, four sets of 50 reps Most fit people know this already, but it’s often each; Roman-chair situps supersetted with hanging good to be reminded, especially in the winter, kneeups, four sets of 50; and 200 seated twists. when it’s easy to skip the gym. If you’re feeling Though I no longer do that, my abs always improved low, down or depressed, a quick workout may be when I worked them every training day with a miniall it takes to lift your spirits. A Duke Univeristy mum of 200 total reps. study proved that. The researchers had 156 Diet, of course, is paramount, but that’s a topic for depressed men and women, aged 50 and older, another issue. There’s a lot of free information at my take the antidepressant sertraline (Zoloft) or participate in an aerobicWeb site (www.frankzane.com/newsletter.htm). In exercise program or do both. After 16 weeks the three groups had addition, my “Train with Zane” video is packed with similar, significant improvements in symptoms. exercises and stretches so you can start developing So a brisk walk or a quick weight workout may be all it takes to get those finishing touches.

—Frank Zane you out of the doldrums. One more reason a bare-bones home gym is a great idea—for physical and mental health. (Get a PowerBlock set and an adjustable bench immediately.)

—Becky Holman

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Neveux \ Model: Marvin Montoya

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44 MARCH 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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CARDIO

Exercise Bike: Morning, Noon or Night?

What time is best for your aerobics assault?

I’m frequently asked by those seeking to shed bodyfat (and that’s a lot of people, especially in the warmer months) about the best time of day to do cardio. The general consensus is that performing cardio the first thing in the morning on an empty stomach yields the best results, but not everyone can or wants to do that. If you’re trying to figure out this not-sosimple issue, let’s look at the pros and cons of doing cardio either apart from your weight-training sessions or immediately after.

Cardio in the morning •Pros: The benefits of doing cardio upon waking are well known. With no stored glycogen in your bloodstream, your body taps into its bodyfat reserves for fuel right from the getgo. It’s energizing to start the day off with exercise—and it lets you focus completely on your weight workout later in the day without having to cram all that exercise into one long session or having to pace yourself so you have energy left over for one

“Man, this is so much better than the indoor stationary bike. Uh-oh, open trench!”

or the other. Seriously, what kind of human mule wouldn’t be ready to collapse after an hour and a half of leg training followed by 45 minutes of cardio?

•Cons: The main downside of doing your cardio separately from your weight training is that for most people it means more trips to the gym. Even something as trivial as having to take an additional shower needs to be considered, as we are all dealing with just 24 hours in a day to get everything done.

One option is to buy your own cardio equipment for use at home, which, depending on how close to commercial-gym quality it is, can run you anywhere from a hundred to a couple of thousand dollars. Another thing to think about is that some of us just aren’t morning people. Though eventually anybody can adapt to early-morning exercise, the first couple of weeks are pure torture for some. A final factor is that some people, due to their schedules, may have to sacrifice an hour or more of their sleep to squeeze morning cardio into their day. The ramifications of that are not to be taken lightly, as we all need our rest, particularly those of us still trying to get bigger and stronger.

Cardio after weight training •Pros: The first positive aspect of doing your cardio after your weight training is consolidation and convenience. You’re already at the gym, and if you trained hard enough with the weights, your glycogen should be just about as depleted as it would have been in the morning on an empty stomach. You’re going to soak only one set of clothes with sweat and need to take just one shower. You’re also saving time because you’re doing all your exercise at once.

•Cons: There are several possible negatives. The first thing you need to think about is catabolism.

Unless you train in a fairly abbreviated style, odds are you spend about an hour or more hitting the weights at a shot. To continue with 30 to 60 minutes of cardio can be too much for your body. A lot of lifters have some branched-chain amino acids or a little whey protein right after the weight work and before the cardio to prevent the body from tapping into the muscles for energy.

Another issue is simply the time involved. An hour of weights and up to an hour of cardio add up to a long time at the gym, and few among us have so much spare time. Work and family responsibilities have to take priority over exercise for the majority.

Finally, do you have enough energy and endurance to do justice to both weights and cardio in one workout? If you find yourself slogging through cardio after weights, chances are you’d do much better and burn a lot more calories if you split up the two activities.

Now, based on your own particular needs, situation and preference, do your cardio at the time that’s right for you.

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

46 MARCH 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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COST OF REDEMPTION Mr. Olympia’s Mind-Numbing Training DVD This 3-plus-hour DVD is a masters class on what it’s like to train without limits. Sit back and be amazed and inspired by a man who walks the walk.

Mitsuru Okabe spent 4 days with Ronnie in 2003 just prior to his sixth win in a row of the Mr. Olympia. This DVD is shot in an absolute “you are there” style. There are no set ups, no retakes, nothing but the real Ronnie Coleman. Ronnie is absolutely focused on his goal and he lives his life to make it happen. You will see him do 800-pound squats, 75-pound dumbbell curls and an astounding 2250-pound leg press—almost every 45-pound plate in the gym! It’s the stuff of legends. But more than just the sets, reps and the nutrition, you get an insider’s view of the personality that always lights up any room he enters.

It hits all the right notes: instructional, inspirational and a pleasure to watch a man at the top of his game. Four Stars.

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Steve Holman’s

Critical Mass

Time Bomb Q: I’ve been weight training four to five days a week for the past year. I’ve made slow gains, but I’ve gotten a lot stronger. To increase my muscle mass, I got a copy of your book, Train, Eat, Grow. I totally understand and believe in the full-range POF concept, but I don’t want to be a competitive bodybuilder and I don’t have time to spend two hours a day in the gym doing full-on POF workouts for every bodypart. I work full time for the state of Michigan, and I also work at my church, which is almost a full-time job in itself. I can only stay in the gym for about 45 minutes at the absolute most. How I can use POF but be out of the gym in less than an hour without sacrificing all of my muscle gain?

A: Thanks for the comments and your confidence in POF. I totally understand your predicament, as the time factor is a problem most people face, me included.

One option is to use a split-positions approach; that is, do two to three sets of a midrange exercise followed by one set of a stretch-position movement; then at the next workout do two sets of a midrange exercise followed by one set of a contracted-position movement. That’s similar to the Phase 3 routine on pages 106 and 107 of TEG. It’s a very efficient method, which is the reason I call it time-bomb training.

Another option is the POF Hardgainer Routine on pages 185 and 186 of the book. That’s also a split-positions approach, but you train only two days per week with only one

set per exercise. Those are full-body workouts, however, which is why the sets are so low. Nevertheless, a program like that can work for some people, especially if you add X Reps (more on that in a moment). You could even try it on a Monday-Wednesday-Friday rotation.

For readers who aren’t familiar with the split-positions concept, here’s a sample lower-chest routine: Workout 1 Decline presses (midrange) Decline flyes (stretch, drop set)

2-3 x 6-10 1 x 8(5)

Workout 2 Decline presses (midrange) Cable crossovers (contracted, drop set)

2-3 x 6-10 1 x 8(5)

While I don’t want to push another book on you, you may want to get a copy of our new e-book, The Ultimate Mass Workout, down the road. It contains an analysis of each bodypart and determines the single best exercise for each. We then construct a number of very efficient programs with only those exercises. There are POF programs in the book as well, and every routine includes the new centerpiece of our workouts, X Reps.

I’m very excited about that concept, which is power partials done at the end of a set. Performing X Reps at the right spot along the stroke of an exercise can do everything from improving neuromuscular efficiency to stimulating more muscle-fiber activation to triggering a greater release of anabolic hormones, such as testosterone and growth hormone. X Reps appear to make each set about three times as effective as a conventional set, so if you apply it to one set of decline presses in each of the above workouts, you could make even better gains with only one or two sets.

If you’re interested, you can visit www.x-rep.com for

and the contracted position at the next.

Then you work the midrange-position exercise, such as bench presses for chest, at both workouts.

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Neveux \ Model: David Yeung

Neveux \ Model: Marvin Montoya

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Steve Holman’s

Critical Mass mone production (very important for us old guys).

GH can help muscle growth, and it’s also a potent fat burner. That may be one reason old-time bodybuilders considered high reps and supersets “cutting” methods—because of the GH increase and resulting fat-burning effect.

Q: I’m a beginning bodybuilder, and X Reps sound like just what I need. The gains you and Jonathan Lawson made with them are impressive. My question is, Can a beginner like me use X Reps?

Neveux \ Models: Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson

A: There’s a section for beginners in the The Ultimate Mass Workout e-book, which suggests a breakin period of gradual intensity upticks before a beginner starts experimenting with X Reps (the ebook provides week-by-week instructions). The gradual upticks are necessary because it’s a good idea to have your nervous system up to par—as in learning an exercise—before you start adding intensity techniques. While it’s true that X Reps are very safe, much safer than forced reps because you’re pulsing a few inches as opposed to straining and writhing through the full stroke, beginners need to acquire nervous system coordination to maintain control in a fatigued state (at the end of a set of fullrange reps).

If you’ve been training consistently for a few months, you should try X Reps on some of your exercises. They can make a set exponentially more effective. They’ll help to further increase your neuromuscular efficiency, or nerve-to-muscle connections, so you get stronger, as well as give your muscle X Reps can improve neuromuscular efficiency to help you fibers a new anabolic stimulus. That means faster build more strength, as well as give your muscles a new growth—if you don’t go overboard.

I’ve found that beginners are usually extremely anabolic stimulus. enthusiastic and can burn out quickly. That said, don’t use X-Rep partials at the end of more than one set of more information. You’ll also find before and after photos one exercise for each bodypart (see the workouts in documenting our one-month X-Rep experiment.

UMW). For example, if you do one exercise per bodypart Q: I’m just starting the Basic Ultimate Mass Workfor two sets, use X Reps on the second set only. They are out 3 in your new e-book, and so far it feels great! I intense. Also, be sure to use them at the correct point along plan to graduate to more specialized routines such the stroke of each exercise; for example, just below the as the ones you list in the “Train, Eat, Grow” series in midpoint of an incline or decline press. For more informaIRON MAN, but some of the listings are confusing. tion visit www.x-rep.com.

For example, how should I perform the following?

Seated laterals Upright rows Dumbbell presses Bent-over laterals

2 x 8-10 2 x 8-10 1 x 8-10 1 x 8-10

Do I perform the four sets in a row, rest and then do a set of seated laterals and upright rows?

A: The supersets appear to be confusing you. Here’s how you perform the routine you listed: First you do seated laterals, immediately followed by a set of upright rows. Rest about a minute, and then do another superset of those two exercises. After your second superset round, you rest again, and then do one set of dumbbell presses, rest, then do one set of bent-over laterals. Those last two exercises aren’t part of a superset; they’re straight sets.

Supersets are important because they enable you to hit a number of different fibers quickly. They also increase muscle burn, which has been shown to enhance growth hor-

New! Check out Jonathan Lawson looking sharp in the classic black POF T-shirt with the original logo emblazoned in gold. It’s designed to give you that muscular look you’re after. See page 179 for details.

Editor’s note: Steve Holman is the author of a number of bodybuilding best-sellers, including Train, Eat, Grow: The Positions-ofFlexion Muscle-Training Manual. For information on the POF videos and Size Surge programs, see page 137. For information on Train, Eat, Grow, see page 83. Also visit www.x-rep.com. IM

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Steve Holman ironchief@aol.com

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Mr. Natural Olympia John Hansen’s

Naturally Huge

Realize More Size Q: I’m 34 years old, looking to make my last push at putting on some real size. I’m 6’, weigh 220 pounds and probably at 20 percent bodyfat. I’m currently deployed overseas on a civilian contract with the Air Force. I picked up a copy of the September ’04 IRON MAN and read the Quick-Hit Mass Split routine in your Naturally Huge column. I noticed it was written for a 15-year-old football player with a limited amount of training time. I have plenty of time, but the routine looked pretty good. I have a few nagging injuries but nothing prohibiting me from doing squats or deadlifts. Would you recommend that routine to me?

A: The routine I recommended to the 15-year-old football player was a great one for putting mass on an intermediate bodybuilder. It involved training each bodypart twice per week, focusing on the basic exercises that are so effective at building size and strength.

If training each muscle group twice per week suits you, you can use that routine. Many advanced bodybuilders feel they need more recuperation and train each bodypart only once every six or seven days. When you’re young and still developing muscle size and strength, your body can handle more work and doesn’t need as much recuperation. After you’ve reached a more advanced stage, you need more time

Basic exercises, sound nutrition— including plenty of carbs, protein and good fat—and enough recuperation time will get you growing fast.

to recuperate in order to grow. Advanced bodybuilders use more resistance in their training along with greater intensity, which usually increases the need for rest.

If building size is your primary focus, you want to train each muscle group with as much resistance as possible and with the basic movements, which involve several bodyparts. Using basic exercises with the maximum amount of weight for the recommended six to 10 reps will force the muscles to grow bigger and stronger. If you’re using the right exercises with enough intensity and getting enough rest between workouts, then you should be on your way to developing maximum muscle.

If you’re past the intermediate stage but still want a training program that will focus on building more mass, you can use a two-days-on/one-day-off/one-day-on/twodays-off split routine. Here’s an example: Day 1: Chest, arms Day 2: Abs, legs Day 3: Rest Day 4: Delts, back Days 5 and 6: Rest Day 7: Cycle begins again.

That rotation of bodyparts gives you six days of rest for each. You train your whole body over three days, but you take three days of rest before repeating the routine. That provides plenty of recuperation, which the muscles will need if you’re training them heavy and hard enough. Here’s an example of a program that fits that split: Day 1 Bench presses Incline dumbbell presses Flyes Pushdowns Decline extensions Incline curls Barbell curls Day 2 Hanging knee raises Crunches Squats Hack squats Leg curls Stiff-legged deadlifts Seated calf raises Donkey calf raises

4 x 6-10 3 x 6-8 2-3 x 6-10 3 x 6-10 3 x 6-8 3 x 6-10 2-3 x 6-8 3 x 20-30 3 x 30-40 4-5 x 6-12 3-4 x 8-12 3 x 6-10 3 x 8-10 3 x 12-15 3 x 15-25

Day 3: Rest Day 4 Seated military presses Upright rows Bent-over laterals Barbell shrugs Wide-grip chins Barbell rows Deadlifts

4 x 6-10 3 x 6-10 3 x 6-10 4 x 6-12 3 x 8-10 4 x 6-10 3 x 6-10

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Day 5 and 6: Rest In addition to using the best training routine, you’ll also need to work on your diet. You said that you’re at 20 percent bodyfat, which is pretty high. I don’t know the method you’re using to measure it, but if you believe that

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Mr. Natural Olympia John Hansen’s

Naturally Huge I recommend a diet consisting of 40 percent of calories coming from protein, 40 percent from carbohydrates and 20 percent from fats. workout. (For more information see page 120.)

Finally, don’t forget to eat enough essential fatty acids. Monounsaturated fats that contain omega-3 fatty acids will make the muscle cells more insulin sensitive, which will attract carbohydrates to enter them instead of the fat cells. Good sources include flaxseed oil and salmon. Research also indicates that having a little bit of saturated fat in the diet increases testosterone, so include some whole eggs and red meat in your menu as well.

To sum up: Eat a minimum of six meals per day and include plenty of protein and complex carbohydrates along with essential fatty acids. I recommend a diet consisting of 40 percent of calories coming from protein, 40 percent from carbohydrates and 20 percent from fats.

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

IM

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you’re too fat, you can change that.

Make sure you eat plenty of protein to help rebuild the muscle tissue you’ll be tearing down during your workouts. I suggest a minimum of six meals per day, with a substantial amount of protein in each. I try to eat three whole-food meals a day and three protein drinks. That lets me fit all my meals into my work schedule and get plenty of muscle-building protein.

Eat complete-protein foods, such as eggs, egg whites, chicken, fish, tuna, turkey, steak and lean red meat for your whole-food meals. I typically have egg whites for breakfast, chicken for lunch and steak or fish for dinner.

Between those meals have a protein drink. Use a high-quality protein powder that includes whey, casein and egg proteins. That combination provides a slow release of amino acids into the bloodstream, which continuously feeds the muscles the nutrients they need to grow. (Muscle Meals is a good meal replacement; see page 140.)

You also need to eat enough carbohydrates so you have energy for your workouts as well as for recuperation.

The glycogen from carbohydrate not only is stored in the muscle cells for energy for your workouts but also helps to prevent muscle-tissue breakdown by replenishing the muscles’ glycogen stores after each training session.

Concentrate on complex carbohydrates that will break down slowly, thus preventing any big fluctuations in your blood sugar level. Oatmeal, sweet potatoes, beans and brown rice are the best choices. Vegetables are also excellent sources, so you want to eat plenty of them as well.

You also need a postworkout drink such as Muscle-Link’s RecoverX to feed the muscle cells the protein and carbohydrates they crave immediately following a workout. Taking advantage of that window of opportunity will enable you to rebuild muscle tissue quicker and create an anabolic edge for developing mass. I take three scoops of RecoverX mixed in water after each

John Hansen John@NaturalOlympia.com

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EAT TO SUPPLEMENT SCIENCE

Creatine High-Test most eat considerable amounts of red meat and other foods naturally rich in creatine, so they have already gradually loaded their muscles with it.

Creatine is a natural substance made in the body from three amino acids: arginine, methionine and glycine. It’s primarily synthesized in the liver, secondarily in the kidneys and pancreas. The body synthesizes an average of one gram of it a day and gets another gram from food sources. All commercial creatine is synthetic.

The research on the benefits of creatine is impressive. One study looked at all existing studies pertaining to effective food supplements for those engaged in strength training and concluded that only two had enough solid data to prove that they worked.

One was creatine; the other was an amino acid derivative called HMB. Lately, a number of studies have discovered potential medical uses for creatine, such as in the treatment of certain neurological diseases, and even as a type of nootropic, or brain booster, in normal people. I Neveux \ Model: Marvin Montoya

Among the multitude of food supplements on the market, none can match the research data associated with creatine. Since its introduction in the late ’80s, countless articles have appeared in science journals extolling its benefits. Not all studies have shown that creatine is clearly beneficial for athletic and exercise purposes, but the vast majority have.

Based on those studies, the consensus is that supplemental creatine will produce a good response in about 70 percent of those who use it. Of the 30 percent who don’t respond,

There’s a new form of creatine to fill up your muscle tank try to stay current on all the published research on creatine, so I was recently nonplussed to hear about a form of creatine that I had no knowledge of.

It’s called creatine ethyl ester. You may notice that a number of advertisements are touting this new form as being superior to the more common creatine monohydrate.

The ads say that creatine ester is much more efficient than other forms of creatine.

Other claims are that it’s more soluble in water and doesn’t degrade in solution, as do other forms, and that because of its heightened absorption characteristics, you need to take far less. That, in turn, results in a total absence of side effects often attributed to other forms of creatine, such as bloating, gastrointestinal distress, muscle cramps and so on.

So what is the truth about creatine ester supplements? To answer that question, you must first understand what the ester part of creatine does. To produce a creatine ester, creatine monohydrate reacts with alcohol in an acidic environment. That removes the water attachment to creatine and changes its absorption effects. Generally, esters are more soluble in fat, including the fat contained in cellular membranes. That’s the reason long-acting injectable anabolic steroids are often esters. The ester attachment increases the dispersion and absorption of the drug in the body and extends its activity level.

You’d think that with all the claims being made about this new form of supplemental creatine, there’d be an impressive array of studies to back them up. At present writing, however, there are precisely zero published studies—although I did find a patent application pertaining to creatine ester.

According to that application, creatine ester was developed by two men from

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GROW Nutrition With a Get-Big Mission Omaha. In stating the reasons they were applying for a patent, they noted that other forms of creatine are poorly absorbed in a water solution, averaging only 1 to 14 percent absorption. Consequently, users have to take large amounts of creatine, starting with five grams, or about a teaspoon. The larger doses often lead to the commonly reported side effects mentioned above.

The patent application further says that other forms of creatine have poor membrane solubility, meaning that they cannot readily penetrate lipid barriers—such as cell membranes. The acidity of the stomach also presents a formidable natural barrier, rendering much of the creatine dose into useless creatinine.

The scenario changes with creatine ester, say the inventors.

The ester protects creatine from degradation in the harsh acid environment of the stomach. Once it gets past there, enzymes in the intestinal lining and in the blood called esterases liberate the creatine from the ester, producing bioactive creatine, which then travels to the muscle. Far more creatine is absorbed, so considerably smaller doses of creatine ester can pack a greater metabolic punch than what you get with normal creatine supplements. The authors call creatine ester a pronutrient because of its absorption characteristics.

Thanks to the greater absorption, the average dose drops to only two grams, and users don’t have to do a loading phase, say the inventors. It all sounds good, so I decided to ask a renowned creatine researcher who has no commercial ties to any company selling crea-

tine. This scientist didn’t think that increased lipid solubility made a difference with creatine, since its uptake in muscle is limited by the creatine transporter protein in muscle, which is mainly powered by sodium. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t work; all it means is that more research is needed.

In other words, it’s too soon to tell if creatine ester is superior. I’d like to see some studies that directly compare creatine esters with the old-fashioned creatine monohydrate supplements. You may want to experiment with it and see what kind of results you get.

The inventors of creatine ester also applied for another patent related to creatine ester. It involves using creatine ester as an antiinflammatory substance. They say that creatine reduces inflammation in a manner different from the usual drugs used for that purpose—and unlike those drugs, creatine ester causes no side effects. The best guess as to how creatine ester does that is through an antioxidant activity that leads to a reduction of inflammatory mediators in the body. Creatine has never been used for that purpose

because it would take huge amounts. Because of the alleged greater uptake of creatine ester, however, that problem is eliminated.

Remember, all present creatine forms rapidly degrade into creatinine. If creatine ester remained stable in liquids, though, it could be used in the formulas for ready-made drinks and other liquid products.

There’s lots of promise there.

Rumors are circulating that the Food and Drug Administration is already taking a hard look at creatine esters. Some in the FDA think that the ester characteristic of the supplement comes a bit too close to having drug activity. If that proves true, any emerging popularity of creatine ester may spell its doom, since the FDA would likely order the product removed from sale to “protect” consumers. If you’re going to give it a shot, do so soon or you may never get the chance.

—Jerry Brainum

www.ironmanmagazine.com \ MARCH 2005 63

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DIETS

Low-Carb Leftovers Leaving out fruits and vegetables can spoil your health

VITAMINS

Heavy D

The sunshine vitamin is more important than we thought

Your parents or grandparents probably remember getting a disgusting dose of cod liver oil during the winter months to supply their vitamin D if they lived anywhere other than California, Nevada, Arizona or Florida. When multivitamins became more readily available, scientists felt most of us were getting all the vitamin D we needed, especially considering that it was being added to cereals and milk. It soon became the forgotten vitamin.

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That doesn’t mean stay out till you burn. As little as seven to 10 minutes of exposure to hands, face, arms and, if possible, legs does the trick.

And do take a daily multivitamin that includes up to 1,000 I.U. of vitamin D. —Daniel Curtis, R.D.

While nutritionists advise eating a variety of fruits and vegetables, recent studies have zeroed in on the fruits, vegetables, grains and nuts that have the highest antioxidant contents. Antioxidants protect the body against free radicals, which are substances that can damage healthy cells, causing a host of diseases, including heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.

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Eat to Grow SUPPLEMENT SCIENCE

ATP Energy

Do the new ATP supplements work?

enzyme encounters ATP, it breaks off the phosphate bonds prematurely, leaving you with free adenosine and phosphate—and no energy. On the other hand, animal-based studies show that the phosphate and adenosine taken in concentrate in liver ATP pools, contributing to them by supplying raw material for ATP synthesis.

One possible way around those formidable problems is to allow ATP to bypass the enzymes that may degrade it. An enteric coating would let the ATP reach the intestines, where it could be absorbed intact.

A new study tested the idea that an enteric-coated ATP supplement may act as an ergogenic aid for exercise and athletic usage.1 Twenty-seven men were randomly assigned to a high-ATP group (225 milligrams), a low-ATP group (150 milligrams) or a placebo group. The study lasted 14 days. Subjects completed a Wingate anaerobic test to determine any changes in muscular power and a bench press test to determine any strength changes as a result of using the supplement.

None of the groups showed any significant changes in ATP blood levels. No changes occurred during the power test, but a few of the men taking the high-dose ATP demonstrated minor increases in muscular strength. The authors suggest that even high doses of ATP would be unlikely to affect strength or power, considering that the total body pool of ATP amounts to 80 grams. They also feel that the ATP molecule is just too large FLAB FLAMBÉ to be effectively absorbed through any oral route.

On the other hand, men who took the larger dose of ATP reported feeling better. That would be consistent with increased ATP uptake, since According to the December ’04 Bottom Line Health newsletter, you should ATP positively affects several brain never skip breakfast if you’re trying to drop excess fat. Why? A healthful, high-fiber neurotransmitters known to control morning meal that includes some protein, such as yogurt, makes it easier to resist mood. fatty, sugary foods throughout the day.

So do ATP supplements work or Another good tip: Completely swearing off foods you really love don’t they? They did appear to work won’t do much for your weight-loss for a few of the participants, who efforts. You’ll eventually cave in to showed some strength gains and your cravings. Instead, comproreported feeling better. Clearly, the mise. Eat half of something you door isn’t ready to close on ATP crave, and do it on your one supplements just yet. cheat day a week. If you feel a —Jerry Brainum craving for sweets when it’s not your cheat day, have a 1 Jordan, A.N., et al. (2004). Efpiece of hard candy to satisfy the urge. Hot chocolate is another fects of oral ATP supplementation on good alternative, with one cup having anaerobic power and muscular only about 120 calories. strength. Med Sci Sports Exerc.

—Becky Holman 36:983-990.

Men who took the larger dose of ATP reported feeling better.

Neveux

Adenosine triphosphate is the immediate energy currency of cells. What that means is that all energy-producing nutrients eventually become ATP through processes within cells, specifically in their mitochondria. Some of the most popular sports food supplements, such as creatine, ribose and citrulline malate, aide the production of ATP in some way.

ATP produces energy by giving up one of its three phosphate groups through enzymatic action. The breaking of the actual phosphate bond is what produces the energy. Creatine comes into play because it donates a phosphate so that ATP can be rapidly regenerated. Ribose contributes to the physical structure of ATP, since ATP is classified as a purine nucleotide.

So the obvious question is, Why not cut to the biochemical chase and provide straight ATP supplements instead of accessory supplements such as creatine or ribose? One reason ATP supplements have not appeared on the market until recently is that ATP has a molecular weight of more than 500, so attempting to have a cell absorb an oral ATP supplement is tantamount to trying to squeeze an elephant through a keyhole. In contrast, creatine weighs a paltry 140 and is easily absorbed.

Furthermore, it must be absorbed intact to be effective. But the presence of phosphatase enzymes in the gut and in the blood makes that unlikely. As the name implies, phosphatase enzymes function by breaking off phosphate bonds. If the

To Lose Weight, Eat Breakfast

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PERFECT POSTWORKOUT MEAL

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To Kick-Start Immediate Muscle Growth After You Train Breakthrough research in exercise metabolism now reveals this fact: What you consume (or don’t consume) immediately after training plays a critical role in determining your success or failure! That time period is known as the “anabolic window” of growth.

The biggest mistake many bodybuilders make is eating a meal of chicken breasts, baked potato or rice and vegetables after a workout. This is an approach doomed to fail because by the time this meal digests, the anabolic window has slammed shut.

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Eat to Grow H E A R T H E A LT H

Cardio Combo

Plant sterols and exercise can synergize for heart protection

Plants do not synthesize cholesterol. The plant versions of cholesterol are substances collectively known as plant sterols, such as lathosterol, campesterol and beta-sitosterol. They’re structurally similar to cholesterol, and studies show that they can displace cholesterol in the human body.

So taking them in will promote the excretion of the cholesterol you get from food, which would have the effect of reducing cardiovascular disease.

What if you combined plant-sterol intake with aerobic exercise, which also has established credentials for cardiovascular protection? Would the combination be more effective than either alone?

That was the focus of a recent study.1 It lasted eight weeks and featured 84 human subjects randomly assigned to one of four groups: 1) combination of sterols and exercise; 2) exercise; 3) sterols alone; 4) control, no exercise or sterols. The sterols-alone group decreased total blood cholesterol by 8.2 percent compared to starting measurements. The plant sterols also lowered low-density-lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, elevated levels of which are a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

Exercise alone increased beneficial high-density-lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol by 7.5 percent, while decreasing blood triglycerides, or fat, by 13.3 percent from baseline.

Bodyfat levels in those subjects also declined an average of 3.9 percent from the aerobic exercise after eight weeks.

The big news, however, is that the combination of plant sterols and aerobic exercise worked better in lowering all cardiovascular risk factors than either intervention alone.

Plant sterols were at one time promoted as “testosterone precursors.” That was based on two things. First, the raw material for testosterone synthesis in the body is choles-

FOOD FACTS

In the Raw? We usually think that eating vegetables in their most natural state—raw—is the most healthful, but that’s not always true. For example, in a study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, antioxidant levels increased more than 34 percent after carrots were cooked in one study. According to scientists, heating softens carrot tissue, which allows the release of antioxidants attached to cell walls.

—Becky Holman

The combination of plant sterols and exercise worked better than either intervention alone.

terol, which is converted through several enzymatic steps into testosterone. But the human body cannot do the same conversion for plant sterols because it lacks the necessary enzyme. It can, however, be done under lab conditions.

The second reason for promoting plant sterols as testosterone boosters was the similarity in name between “sterols” and “steroids.” In reality, that similarity was all the two substances had in common, other than being similar in structure to cholesterol.

Besides being useful for the prevention of cardiovascular disease, plant sterols can help prevent prostate gland enlargement. In fact, the active ingredients in saw palmetto, which is often used to prevent prostate problems, Are uncooked veggies are various plant sterols. better for you?

On the negative side animal-based studies and a few human studies have linked a heavy intake of plant sterols to lowered testosterone levels. That likely has something to do with displacing cholesterol in reactions where cholesterol is used to synthesize testosterone in the body.

The good news, though, is that you would need to ingest megadoses of plant sterols to induce any type of testosterone-inhibiting activity.

—Jerry Brainum Heating softens carrots, which releases antioxidants.

1 Varady, K.A., et al. (2004). Plant sterols and endurance training combine to favorably alter plasma lipid profiles in previously sedentary hypercholesterolemic adults after eight weeks. Am J Clin Nutr. 80:1159-66.

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GRIND OUT THE GROWTH REPS™ Beta-Alanine Gives Your Muscles More Grow Power™ The biggest bodybuilders know that the last few grueling reps of a set are the key growth reps. It’s why they fight through the pain of muscle burn on every work set-—so they trigger the mass-building machinery. But sometimes it’s not enough; the burn is too fierce.

Fortunately, there’s now a potent new weapon in this massive firefight to help you get bigger and stronger faster.

Red Dragon is a new beta-alanine supplement that packs your muscles with carnosine—up to 60 percent more.

Muscle biopsies show that the largest bodybuilders have significantly more carnosine in their fast-twitch muscle fibers than sedentary individuals for good reason: Carnosine buffers the burn to give muscles more “grow power” on every set.

The bigger and stronger a muscle gets, the more carnosine it needs to perform at higher intensity levels. You must keep your muscles loaded with carnosine to grow larger and stronger. It all boils down to intensity and the ability to buffer waste products—hydrogen ions and lactic acid—so the muscle doesn’t shut down before growth activation.

Straight carnosine supplements degrade too rapidly to reach the muscles; however, more than 20 new studies document that beta-alanine is converted to carnosine very efficiently. All it takes is 1 1/2 grams twice a day, and you’ll see new size in your muscles and feel the difference in the gym—you can double or triple your growth-rep numbers! Imagine how fast your size and strength will increase when you ride the Dragon!

Note: Red Dragon™ is the first pure carnosine synthesizer—so powerful it’s patented. It contains beta-alanine, the amino acid that supercharges muscle cells with carnosine.

Red Dragon 120 capsules

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Whatever You Need—Wherever You Train ™

Train, Eat,

GROW Muscle-Training Program 65 From the IRONMAN Training & Research Center

ven after 30 years of training (yes, Steve has been hitting the iron that long), you can discover something that works almost like muscle-building magic and wonder why you didnÕt think of it before. It may seem so damn obvious, you smack yourself in the forehead like youÕre in a V8 commercial. If youÕve been reading this series over the past few months, you know weÕre alluding to X Reps, a technique thatÕs given us lots of mass gains lately as well as shame because itÕs taken so

long for the lightbulb to go on (weÕve both got bruises right between the eyes).

X Reps are power partials performed at the end of a set, usually at the point of maximum-force generationÑlike right below the middle of an incline press. That helps you get past the nervous system failure that causes you to end most sets. Even if you donÕt agree that nervous system failure is the reason you canÕt keep doing reps, it makes sense to move to the strongest point in the range and continue doing partials. That will take the mus-

cle much farther toward an anabolic reaction than merely stopping when you canÕt get any more full-range reps.

Now, we know that X Reps workÑin a big way. We proved that with our one-month X-periment last summer. (Visit www.x-rep.com and check out our before and after photos, which still make us shake our heads in disbelief.) The question is, Why do X Reps work so well and so quickly? We keep stumbling across reasons they build mass fast (and so we keep reinjuring our foreheads).

HereÕs what we know so far.

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Illustration by Chris Martinez \ Models: Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson

by Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson • Photography by Michael Neveux

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•How the Pros Pack on Extreme Mass •Arnold’s Size-Stretching X-ploits •The Forgotten High-Intensity Growth Trigger •A Muscle-Building Mystery Solved •Pounds of Muscle in Days •Bodypart Bloodbath for Super Size •Monster Arms: Torching Your Tri’s •Time-Bomb Training •Lean-Machine Ignition •Drop the D Bomb for Bigger Bodyparts •Pre-Ex vs. the Post-X Mass Jack •Less Training, Big Gaining: The Truth

(You can check out those past editions free at www.XRep.com in the X Files section.)

It’s exciting stuff! You’ve gotta subscribe Learn how to make curls three times more effecitve at building eye-popping bi’s. See issue 03/04/05. today so you can start building the muscle size you deserve for your sweat and effort in the gym. You’ve got nothing to lose and plenty of raw muscle to gain! Here’s what to do...

Subscribe free at www.IronManMagazine.com To read free sample issues, visit www.X-Rep.com and click on X Files

w w w. I ro n M a n M a g a z i n e . c o m

© 2005 IRON MAN Magazine

It’s a big blast of workout information, motivation and muscle-building science in your e-mail box every week—and it’s all free! Tons of practical training tips, analysis and size tactics are jam-packed into this e-zine from the IRON MAN Training & 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):

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Train, Eat, Grow / Program 65

More muscle-fiber activation.

The size principle of muscle-fiber recruitment says that the lowthreshold motor units fire first, followed by the mediums and then the highs. If your pain tolerance is low or your nervous system craps out early, you’re not going to get at

too many of the high-threshold motor units in any one set. You simply terminate a set too early, leaving much of the muscle underor unstimulated. X Reps enable you to push the high-threshold units further into the growth zone so you can stimulate more fibers better.

Is that the only way to get those high-threshold motor units to fire?

No. A lot of the biggest bodybuilders explode with heavy weights at the point of maximum force, which is usually near the turnaround from negative to positive. The target muscle is semi-

IRONMAN Training & Research Center Muscle-Training Program 65 Workout 1: Delts (indirect upper-trap hit), Triceps (indirect chest hit), Biceps (indirect lat hit), Forearms Dumbbell upright rows Superset Dumbbell upright rows Rack pulls Dumbbell W presses Standing Smith-machine presses (X only) Superset Incline one-arm laterals One-arm cable laterals Bent-arm bent-over laterals (drop set) Superset Lying extensions Shoulder-width-grip bench presses Superset Overhead cable extensions (drop set) Bench dips (stage set) High-low cable flyes (drop set) Preacher curls Superset Preacher curls Undergrip cable rows Concentration curls (drop set) One-arm spider curls Machine pullovers (drop set) Tri-set Incline reverse wrist curls Forearm bar (overgrip) Dumbbell reverse wrist curls Tri-set Incline wrist curls Forearm bar (undergrip) Dumbbell wrist curls

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

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

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

Superset Incline kneeups Bench V-ups Low-back machine

1 x max 1 x max 1 x 8-12

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

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

Workout 4: Hamstrings (indirect quad and lower-back hit), Midback, Rear Delts, Soleus (indirect calf hit), Lower Abs (indirect upper-abs hit) High, wide hack squats 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

Model: Jonathan Lawson \ Equipment: PowerBlock selectorized dumbbells

stretched at that point. For example, on chins they’ll drop down through the negative phase until their arms are almost straight and then blast back to the top. It’s a rapid-fire, pistonlike action. Or on incline presses they’ll quickly explode out of the bottom, before the bar touches their chest (some even bounce the bar off their chest).

All that exploding, jerking and heaving is hell on the joints and will eventually cause injury if you’re not built for it—a.k.a. a genetic superman—or you don’t give your connective tissue some pharmaceutical help (remember, a lot of the biggest bodybuilders use growth hormone, which fortifies connective tissue).

Using X Reps at the end of a set is a better, safer way to overload that

dous size-building, fat-burning effectiveness than more musclefiber activation—a serious GH surge. And tacking them on to the big, compound exercises, like squats, does even more—doubling or tripling the firepower. Why? Elevated testosterone levels on top of extra GH. Most bodybuilders know that it’s the heavy compound exercises that are best for boosting testosterone.

Unfortunately, it’s hard to get a GHjolting burn in the target muscle on multijoint movements, but that’s not a problem when you include X Reps at the end of a set. They make the big exercises even better with an anabolic hormone doublewhammy—more T and GH, not to mention extreme fiber activation.

Stretch overload has been linked to hyperplasia, or muscle-fiber splitting.

maximum-force point and get at the high-threshold motor units without risking torn muscles or torqued joints. Plus, you get loads of other muscle-building benefits.

Growth hormone release.

We’ve talked about the relationship between muscle burn and GH release before. It’s one reason drop sets and supersets are so effective. In a study published in the Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology (22:244-255; 1997), researchers showed a correlation between higher blood lactic acid levels (muscle burn) and GH release. If you’ve tried X Reps, you know they create a firestorm at the end of any set, like a GH smart bomb that scorches the target muscle.

So there’s more to X Reps’ tremen-

(No wonder we’ve been able to stay full and ripped despite scaling back our efforts.)

Hyperplasia. What if you could double the number of fibers in your muscles? That would make it a lot easier to grow. Fiber splitting, or hyperplasia, has been shown to occur in animals, but it only happened after stretch overload. Hmm, that sounds a lot like what you get with X Reps—stressing the target muscle with high force in a semistretched or stretched position.

Now, we’re not saying it absolutely, positively happens, but it is something to consider. Remember Tom Platz and his enormous quads? He used to do a lot of stretch-overload training, performwww.ironmanmagazine.com \ MARCH 2005 81

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Train, Eat, Grow / Program 65 ing partial reps near the bottom of his hack squats at the end of a set.

And what about Arnold’s heavy partial flyes, moving the dumbbells through only the stretched and semistretched positions, at the bottom? Then there’s Larry Scott and what he called burns at the

bottom of his preacher curls. Yeah, he had pretty darn good biceps— very full and very dense. Could it be that using stretch overload on a consistent basis triggered at least some fiber splitting in those bodybuilding stars?

While some scientists still believe

that hyperplasia is fantasy, the animal studies and the above observations from the bodybuilding world do make you go, Hmm. Could X Reps in the semistretched position trigger fiber splitting? And could it be one of the reasons that Steve, when he was developing

ITRC Program 65, Home-Gym Routine: Monday Through Friday Workout 1: Delts (indirect upper-trap hit), Triceps (indirect chest hit), Biceps (indirect lat hit), Forearms Dumbbell upright rows or rack pulls Dumbbell W presses Incline one-arm laterals (drop set) Bent-arm bent-over laterals (drop set) Superset Lying extensions Shoulder-width-grip bench presses Superset Overhead extensions (drop set) Bench dips Flat-bench flyes (drop set) Superset Preacher curls Undergrip rows Concentration curls (drop set) One-arm spider curls Dumbbell pullovers (drop set) Superset Incline reverse wrist curls Dumbbell reverse wrist curls Forearm rockers (out only) Superset Incline wrist curls Dumbbell wrist curls Forearm rockers (in only)

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

Workout 2: Quads (indirect hamstring hit), Gastrocs (indirect soleus hit), Upper Abs (indirect lower-abs hit), Lower Back Old-style hack squats (nonlock) 3 x 8-10 Squats 1 x 8-10 Lunges (one leg at a time) 1 x 8-10 Leg curls (drop set) 1 x 8(6) Donkey calf raises 2 x 20, 15 One-leg calf raises (drop sets) 2 x 12(8) Seated calf raises (drop set) 1 x 10(8) Superset Ab Bench crunches or full-range crunches1 x 8-12 Twisting crunches 1 x 10 Superset Incline kneeups 1 x max Bench V-ups 1 x max

Workout 3: Chest (indirect triceps hit), Lats (indirect biceps hit), Upper Traps (indirect delt hit), Brachialis (indirect biceps hit) Incline presses

3 x 8-10

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

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

Workout 4: Hamstrings (indirect quad and lower-back hit), Midback, Rear Delts, Soleus (indirect calf hit), Lower Abs (indirect upper-abs hit) Wide-stance old-style hack squats 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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Positions of Flexion, always got a significant growth spurt in trainees when he introduced stretch-position exercises to their routines? The possibilities are exciting.

Fiber swelling. Japanese researchers recently discovered that training a muscle with a tourniquet blocking blood flow to the muscle created significantly better size and strength gains than normal training—growth that usually took four months only took two weeks. When blood flow is blocked during muscular effort, the rush of blood back into the muscle after the work is over appears to produce unusual anabolic actions. (Rob Thoburn will have more on that occlusion technique in a future issue.) X-Rep partials keep tension on the muscle as the muscle contracts over a short range. That blocks or severely limits blood flow, which may be another reason that X Reps produce such rapid gains.

Balik

Train, Eat, Grow / Program 65

Tom Platz’s quads. Could they be the result of muscle-fiber replication?

All of those reasons have us still furiously experimenting with X Reps. We’re doing only one X set per exercise, and it’s usually the second of two work sets. The first we do as a straight set for an extended warmup. A warm muscle contracts

much more effectively than a cold one, and we really want the muscle to be ready for X Reps from both nervous system and temperature standpoints.

We urge you to try X Reps immediately. You’ve got nothing to lose and plenty of raw muscle mass to gain. Plus, you’ll save yourself from damaging your forehead down the road (“Darn, I should’ve been doing X Reps all along!”).

Editor’s note: For the latest on the X-Rep muscle-building method, including X Q&As, X Files (past enewsletters about X Reps and how to use them) and before and after photos, visit www.x-rep.com. For more information on Positions-ofFlexion training videos and Size Surge programs, see page 137. To order the new Positions-of-Flexion training manual Train, Eat, Grow, call (800) 447-0008, visit www.home-gym.com, or see the ad below. IM

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Only The Strong Shall Survive

Slug

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And Other Valuable

by Bill Starr Recovery Aids Photography by Michael Neveux

I

’ve written in this space about pushing your workload higher and higher—even to the point of becoming overtrained for a short period. I’ve also advised you to pull back, then gradually move forward once again. Making consistent improvement depends entirely on your ability to recover sufficiently from the hard work you’ve done in the gym.

88 MARCH 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Model: Berry DeMey

Recovery is closely linked to diet and rest. As there are many excellent pieces on diet in IRON MAN each month, I won’t address that subject except to say that I think it’s smart to follow what Peary Rader called “the shovel method” when taking supplements such as protein, vitamins, and minerals. In other words, taking more is better than taking less when you’re hitting the weights heavy.

Your body can’t recuperate from any strenuous exercise unless you get enough rest. What enough means is an individual matter. The notion that everyone can get along just fine with eight hours of sleep a night is ridiculous. Some people can operate well with just six or seven hours, whereas others require more.

When I increased my workload to any great degree, such as when preparing for a national contest, my sleep requirements soared. I needed at least two more hours each night, or I was in deficit. So if you’re dragging in the morning after sleeping eight hours, start going to bed an hour earlier.

Extra sleep costs you nothing and can make a huge difference in your training. There’s more to recovery, however, than sleeping longer. If your body’s going to recuperate fully and be primed for more work in the week ahead, you need to reserve a day, or at least part of a day, for making rest and relaxation the only items on your agenda. That will give your mental and physical resources a chance to regroup. Quite often, it’s mental weariness more than physical fatigue that holds back your progress in the weight room.

Your day of unadulterated hedonism enables you to recover from the mental and physical stresses of the week and sets you up to improve all your lifts the following week.

These pleasurable days are imperative. Missing them, whatever the reason, adversely affects your progress.

I call them slug days because if you handle them right, you’ll resemble a slow-moving gastropod. It doesn’t matter what day of the week you select as your slug day, just so you slug on one out of seven. A friend of mine makes Wednesday his slug day; the break in the middle of the week is perfect for his busy schedule.

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Only The Strong Shall Survive

My slug day has always been Saturday—not for religious reasons but because it fits my needs. I start my training and work week on Sunday, and by Friday my brain is fried and my body weary. I have to do lots of talking to myself to get through the final workout of the week.

Knowing that the next day is my slug day helps a great deal.

Slug days aren’t luxuries; they’re necessities. I must have them if I want to continue to train at my present level and stay productive with my work.

Slugging is certainly not an original concept. It’s been around for a long time. I suspect it began when a cave man first brought home that hunk of mastodon, after he and his associates had battled it for the greater part of the day, then quietly slipped to the back of the cave for an extended period of inactivity.

One of the finest examples of pure slug behavior is the character Ensign Frank T. Pulver, as portrayed

by Jack Lemmon in the movie “Mr. Roberts.” He elevated slugging to an art form, going so far as to employ a reaching stick to open his locker and take whatever he wanted out of it without leaving his bunk. He slugged 16 hours a day and was so successful at avoiding any form of activity that he was onboard ship for 14 months before he finally met the

for an extended period to get this thoughts straight.

Now that you have the full backing of higher powers, you can stop feeling guilty about giving yourself some genuine pleasure and factor the concept of the slug day into your weekly routine. Light exercise is the balm that soothes some people. That’s fine. Just remember, on an honest-to-goodness slug day your activities have to be mild, not demanding, in nature. Otherwise they don’t fit. Walking is okay; jogging is not. A leisurely drive is relaxing; driving 300 miles is not.

As a devout slugger for some 20 years, I feel that I’m well qualified to advise you how to achieve the ideal day of rest and relaxation. The following guidelines are aimed at the individual who’s serious about becoming more proficient in the art of slugging. They’re also for those of you who want to do some pure slugging. They don’t much apply to the more active set. That group can modify the rules to fit their lifestyles.

Rule Number One: Be prepared. You must make sure that you have ample provisions on hand for your designated slug day (DSD).

You don’t want to have to go to all

Leisurely bike rides can be fun—unless vicious dogs chew off the bottom of your pants.

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Model: Danny Hester

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If you stroll through bad areas, carry protection.

captain. Now, that’s slugging.

Slug days aren’t just for prolonged lounging, napping or consuming mass quantities of food, though they may include all those things.

Slug days can take many forms. For some, the perfect way to relax and energize is to take a scenic drive or stroll through a wooded park. Others find fishing to be recreational.

Keep in mind that the word recreation means to re-create, so whatever activities bring you pleasure and lift your spirits are the ones for you.

A slug day is for rejuvenation, a time for recycling and recharging—a day to amass energy for future use—and no one needs that more than the hard-training strength athlete.

People have told me that they don’t engage in slugging because it makes them feel guilty—with all that needs to be done around the house. The fact is, there’s always something that needs to be done.

Even in my modest apartment that’s true. The trick is, don’t look.

Let me ease your conscience about slugging with some theological support. Every religion I know of encourages one day of rest during the week. Some insist on a day of nonactivity, setting definite limits on which activities are allowed.

Slug days not only enhance your physical and mental states but also benefit you spiritually. How do we know? Check out the Ten Commandments: “Six days shalt thou labor, and do all that thou hast to do; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt do no manner of work” (Exod. 20.9-10). But wait! There’s more: “And on the seventh day God finished his work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all which he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all His work which He had done in creation” (Gen. 2.2-3).

The scriptures of Christians and Jews aren’t alone in advocating a day of slugging. One of my favorite religious philosophers, Lao-Tzu, teaches his followers to “retire when the work is done. This is the way of heaven.” Additionally, every disciple of the Buddha knows that he enjoyed a slug day at regular intervals, often lounging under a bodhi tree

Only The Strong Shall Survive

Model: Amy Lynn

Girl watching is A-okay.

Just don’t give chase.

That’s too strenuous.

Recovery Aids

Model: Mike Morris

the trouble of getting dressed, driving to the nearest supermarket or convenience store, standing in a long line and driving home and unpacking. When that happens, you’ve already blown the perfect slug day. It’s a real bummer to discover that you’re out of eggs, bread, milk, beer or whatever else you planned to indulge in on your DSD. Your mood immediately alters from mellow to irritated. I do all my food and liquid-refreshment shopping on Friday, along with any necessary errands, so that there’s nothing I have to do on my DSD. On the other hand, should I decide to drive to Havre de Grace and meander along the Promenade and perhaps stop at Goll’s Bakery and pick up some cheesecake, it’s a horse of a different color. That’s something I want to do, not have to

do. The choice determines whether I maintain the pleasant attitude that underlies the DSD. So a successful slug day requires planning; it doesn’t just happen. Or, I should say, it rarely happens without some prior thought.

Rule Number Two: Less is preferred over more in terms of activity.

For example, never walk when you can ride, never stand when you can sit, and never sit when you can lie down, or at least recline. You get the idea. Slugging requires that you expend as little energy as possible.

While you do have to eat, keep your DSD meals simple—unless you enjoy cooking. Otherwise, spend as little time in the kitchen as possible.

Often I fix my meals for my DSD ahead of time. Leftovers fill the bill nicely, as do sandwiches, soups and omelettes. Since I’m not using up many calories on my DSD, I don’t require much in the way of nourishment. Even though I’m not a great fan of frozen dinners, I occasionally pop some fried chicken in the oven.

Going out to eat and ordering delivery also work, but both have financial implications.

Rule Number Three (this is a biggie): Never, ever take on an assignment on your SD. Be extremely wary of any statement that begins with, “Would you mind...?” or “Could I get you to...?” or anything remotely similar. The simplest task can and usually does completely destroy a well-planned DSD. Recall when your wife insisted that you go to the airport to pick up Aunt Molly?

Harmless enough, right? It’s only 15 minutes away. Her flight was two hours late, you got ticketed by the

Sure, you can sleep as much as you want on slug days—but not at the gym!

No iron visits allowed.

airport police, and you had a flat on the way home. As a result your plans for a restful day were shot. To add insult to injury, you missed a semifinal game of NCAA basketball.

Family functions are notorious for disrupting DSDs. I never allow family pressure to stand in the way of my DSD. Unless the relative is a close one, I skip weddings, anniversaries, birthdays and funerals. If a distant cousin is being dropped in the ground on my intended DSD, I don’t agree to go, no matter how much anyone tries to persuade me out of guilt or family obligation. I merely send flowers. Trust me—the deceased isn’t going to care whether I showed up. When an event involves someone I’m quite fond of, however, I do attend and move my DSD to another day of the week.

Rule Number Four: Unplug your phone. The telephone is the most annoying, intrusive device invented by man. Can you ever remember anyone calling you to give you something? Callers always want something. Usually it’s money, although sometimes a friend just wants to unburden his or her soul for a half hour or more. Meanwhile, the football game is in overtime, and you’re missing it. Or the countrymusic award show has just started and Shania is the opening act. I’m often advised to get a cell phone.

Then, I’m informed, I can watch TV while I talk. I have an even better idea—turn the ringer off the phone I already own. Whenever I do have the urge to speak with someone, I can make the call and sign off when I feel I’ve talked long enough.

Lastly, I want to mention sex on the DSD. The rules concerning that satisfying act aren’t cut and dried.

Sex is permissible on DSDs only if it doesn’t entail a great deal of time and trouble. In the words of the great Casey Stengel, “It isn’t sex that wrecks these guys, it’s staying up all night looking for it.” Same holds true of sex on DSDs. If your entire day revolves around getting lucky or you spend hours engaged in what amounts to sexual combat, then you’re defeating the purpose of the DSD. On the other hand, if the missus just received a set of lingerie from Victoria’s Secret

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Only The Strong Shall Survive

Models: Michael O’Hearn and Clark Bartram

That means get your butt out of the gym on your slug day. Out!

and wants to see what effect it will have on you, seize the opportunity.

Or if a loose leg unexpectedly shows up at your door, don’t pass it up.

From what most of my lifting friends’ wives and girlfriends tell me, the sex act with their partners is so brief in duration that it can’t remotely be considered physically demanding. So sex is okay, as is anything else you enjoy that doesn’t tap your mental and physical reservoirs too deeply.

While gardening or tinkering with your old Ford truck might be relaxing for you, they both reek of work in my world. I much prefer watching TV and country videos, or reading or drawing. The point: Whatever fits your personality is what you should do.

Many of you may be at a stage of life where you’re simply too busy to consider having a DSD. Family and/or work obligations are so demanding that to set

aside a day for total relaxation is out of the question. I’ve been there.

During those periods of life, partial slug days (PSDs) can serve as welcome breaks. Just a few hours spent at your hobby can help recharge your emotional and physical resources and set you up for a more productive week ahead.

Then there are the times of life when finding even a few free hours for self-indulgent activities is difficult. When I lived in Oahu, I worked two jobs: as the strength coach at the University of Hawaii during the day and as a bouncer at Hula’s Bar and Lei Stand at night. At one stretch I worked 100 consecutive days without a break. I did manage to slip in a few PSDs, but not many.

Naps were my salvation. To me, naps are gifts from the gods. Between jobs I’d fall asleep for 20 or 30 minutes and wake up revived and invigorated. The brief respite enabled me to stay active until 3 or 4

Recovery Aids

One relaxing option: Show God what you did with what he gave you.

(Nice work for a mortal.)

a.m. I was good at finding places to nap. When I worked for the YMCA, I used the massage room. When I was unable to come up with a couch or vacant floor indoors, I resorted to the backseat of my car. Naps have always renewed me and form a part of my daily routine.

Naps frequently get a bad rap in our society. Those who nap regularly are considered lazy. I don’t agree.

Some of the most productive people in American history were nappers.

Thomas Edison was said to nap on anything, anywhere and at any time.

Eleanor Roosevelt had similar talents, often napping while sitting in a chair. Benjamin Franklin liked to nap in the morning, while Winston Churchill preferred early afternoon.

Ronald Reagan was known to slip in several naps throughout the day.

Sleep psychologists have found that, far from being counterproductive, as many believe, napping has a positive effect on mood, mental functioning and workplace performance. Researcher Dr. Frederick Evans discovered that there’s a brief lull after waking from a nap but that once you’re past that, both motor and cognitive skills are much better for the duration of the day. “There is a general feeling of well-being,” says Evans, “and a feeling of being alert enough to do difficult mental tasks.”

Dr. John Taub, former director of the Sleep and Performance Lab at St. Louis University, reports that habitual nappers feel increased relaxation, decreased anxiety, an increase in euphoria and a decrease in fatigue. Sure sounds good to me, and I think it’s high time we gave naps the respect they deserve.

Recovery is based on rest more than any other variable. Get the sleep you need every night and start incorporating DSDs and naps into your weekly schedule. When you’re fully recuperated, the weights suddenly feel lighter, and nothing feels better than that to a serious strength athlete.

Editor’s note: Bill Starr was a strength and conditioning coach at Johns Hopkins University from 1989 to 2000. He’s the author of The Strongest Shall Survive and Defying Gravity. IM

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You’ll Never Have a

Great Back Unless You Follow These 10 Rules

98 MARCH 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

by Ron Harris Photography by Michael Neveux

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Great Back

I

Model: Steve Kummer \ Equipment: PowerBlock selectorized dumbbells, 1-800-447-0008

t’s kind of funny how much time and energy most bodybuilders and serious weight trainers put into training their chests while they relegate their backs—located on the very same torso—to second-class status. I see it all the time at nightclubs: young muscle studs proudly strutting around in their painted-on Lycra T-shirts and puffing out their chests like some species of bird trying to attract a mate (and that analogy isn’t far from the truth, when you get down to it).

Usually they have a little bit of thickness in the chest, shoulders and arms, but if you see them from behind, nine times out of 10 it looks as if they totally forgot about back training.

1

Depending on where you train, you may have access to an almost dizzying array of fantastic back machines. One fitness club (I hesitate to call it a gym) of which I was a member had no less than two dozen pieces from Cybex, Hammer Strength, Icarian, Body Masters, Nautilus and Life Fitness. You could train your back every week for a year using different combinations of

pulling a 315-pound bar into your waist is a hell of a lot harder than sitting down on a nice cushy rowing machine with the pin set at 300 pounds. If you want a back that bulges with shapely knots of muscle, make it a point to do at least half of your back exercises with free weights rather than machines or cables.

2

Don’t substitute lat pulldowns for chins.

That echoes rule 1, but it’s important enough to warrant its own discussion. Chinups are an absolute must-do exercise for the back. They are extremely difficult to execute properly, and I’d estimate that perhaps only 10 percent of the bodybuilders who do chins are getting the most out of them. A quality chinup requires that you pull up all the way until your upper chest is just a couple inches from the bar, at which point you must pause for a moment, squeeze your shoulder blades together and flex your upper-back muscles hard. Following that, you must slowly lower until your arms are nearly, but not quite, straight—always keep tension on the lats—and repeat.

It’s not too hard to mimic that form with a lat pulldown Chinups bar, but that’s my point. I see are an abtons of guys who can use good solute form at the cable station with must-do the stack set at their own exercise for bodyweight or more, but they the back. rarely have backs worth looking twice at. Show me a man machines and cables. Sadly, at the who can do a strict set of 10 reps of end of that year your back wouldn’t wide-grip chinups with a 45-pound look a whole lot different from the plate hanging from his waist, and I way it did in the first place. bet that dude has one jacked back.

Machine work is a great suppleMany trainees avoid chins bement to the core free-weight lifts, cause they can’t do many. That’s but if you don’t do at least a couple precisely the reason that they should heavy free-weight movements on be chinning at every back workout. back day, you’ll never stimulate an Everyone can improve on chins if he appreciable amount of growth in or she diligently persists in doing your upper back and lats. Free them rather than succumbing to the weights are just plain harder to use. siren song of that damned lat pullAs the sage Arthur Jones was fond of down station. I give you my word saying, the key is to constantly strive that if you master the chinup and to make the exercises harder, not become very strong on it, your back easier. And bending over and will show it clearly. www.ironmanmagazine.com \ MARCH 2005 99

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Follow These 10 Rules

It’s too bad, because in my book a true bodybuilder always strives for proportionate development in all muscle groups. Without a rugged, thickly developed back, you’re nothing more than some knucklehead doing a halfassed job of training your body, focusing only on the muscles you can see in the bathroom mirror. Those guys would be demolished in bodybuilding competition, because back development has taken on a great deal more significance since Dorian Yates and Ronnie Coleman redefined what’s possible given enough heavy weights and ferocious training.

The fact is, of course, even among bodybuilders who train to build a great back, few seem to succeed.

Nevertheless, I’m convinced that just about everyone is capable of building an impressive back, if he or she would only follow these 10 rules:

Perform at least half of your exercises with free weights.

Great Back

Follow These 10 Rules

3

Squeeze your back and feel it work.

You may be able to get away with never quite feeling some muscle groups work but still getting them to grow—good examples being the arms and legs—but the back is not so easy. If you never feel your back working during various vertical and horizontal pulling movements, there’s a good chance that your biceps and rear delts are actually doing most of the work.

I knew a bodybuilder named Steve who had biceps and shoulders that were almost too big for his body, but his back was flat as the Nebraska plains. Of course, whenever I saw him training back, his biceps were pumped up like balloons. Like so many others, he never developed a strong mind/muscle connection with his back. I found it useful when I was a personal trainer to have clients say the words squeeze and stretch in their head as they did the positive and negative strokes of each rep.

You may need to use less weight to really feel your back doing the work—at least until you develop the

skill—and that’s fine. For if you never have the ability to feel your back work and actually get a pump in it, the chances are it will never be anything special to look at.

4

Don’t be a yanker.

5

Hit all the angles.

The back is by far the most complex muscle group you’ll ever train.

Biceps are simple—all you have to do is some type of curl. With back you really need to hit it with at least one vertical pulling movement (such as chins), one horizontal pulling movement (a row) as well as with pullovers, shrugs and hyperextensions to cover all the various areas and functions. Advanced trainees also need to use different grip widths on their pulling exercises to reach different parts of the back muscles. So it’s important that

You see trainees using bad form with all muscle groups, but I happen to think the worst examples involve back training.

Specifically, too many people have a tendency to yank the weight in a ballistic fashion on pulling movements. Take one-arm dumbbell rows. Very few men can use more than 100 pounds on them in good form, controlling the weight at all times over a full range of motion and getting a good contraction at the top. However, every jackass and his Always brother-in-law can take 120 keep a to 150 pounds and do some slight arch spastic jerking motion that in your looks like they’re trying to lower back, start a lawn mower. especially I have a great deal of reon good mornings. spect for Ronnie Coleman,

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Model: Idrise Ward-El

Swallow your pride and use a weight you can actually handle properly.

Model: Skip LaCour

but he sets a terrible example in his video “The Unbelievable,” in which he performs barbell rows with 495 pounds. His form sucks, sucks, sucks. Ronnie yanks the bar up and bounces it off his torso before rebounding it out of the bottom. With that type of form, very little tension is ever placed on the lats, while the joints and connective tissues take a beating. At best, yanking the weight will keep your back from growing; at worst, you’ll severely injure your lower back or tear a biceps and lose who knows how much training time.

Swallow your pride and use a weight you can actually handle properly.

Your other option is to keep screwing around with more weight than you have any business using and have nothing to show for all your effort.

Great Back you not do just rowing movements or pulldown-type movements but make a conscious effort to work the back from each angle it needs in every workout.

Mind-numbing back development comes from attention to detail.

8

Keep your lower back injury-free.

Injuries are always a hindrance, but should you incur a serious lower-back injury, certain productive exercises for the back will no longer be possible. You can forget about deadlifts, any type of freeweight row and heavy shrugs for the traps—not to mention squats and overhead presses. The first step toward keeping your lower back strong and healthy is to never round it, especially during exercises like bent-over rows, deadlifts and stiff-legged deadlifts. Always keep a slight arch in your lower back, and that goes for all exercises.

That’s the position where the lower back is most stable and least vulnerable to injury.

The second step is to strengthen your lower back as an insurance policy. Work hard on hyperextensions and good mornings, making an effort to use more weight over time.

Once you get to the point where you can do a good set of 10 hyperextensions while holding 100 or more extra Don’t do pounds, your lower back will the same be pretty solid. back workFinally, it doesn’t hurt to out for have regular adjustments by a more than chiropractor just to keep your three or spine in proper alignment. four weeks.

Change your back routines regularly.

Don’t do the same workout for more than three or four weeks at most. Use different exercises, different grips and hand widths, different rep ranges and rep speeds, and shuffle the order of your exercises.

Hell, even switch your training split every few months so you train your back on a different day of the week

Gradually add weight to your hyperextensions to keep your lower back bulletproof.

Model: Steve Holman

7

Model: Jeff Hammond

Follow These 10 Rules

Part of building a wide wingspan is getting your scapulae out away from your spine. Stretching the lats between sets greatly facilitates that.

Grab a vertical upright with one arm, bend forward, with your head down by your arm, and push your butt back, stretching until you feel a full stretch of the lat on that side.

Hold for five seconds before switching sides. Some in the fitness industry, such as John Parrillo, also believe that aggressive stretching like that while the muscle is pumped helps break up the muscle fascia and allows for more growth. Fascia is a very tough connective tissue that encases skeletal muscles, much like steel belting on automobile tires. To my knowledge, no formal studies have ever been conducted to prove or disprove the theory, but thousands of bodybuilders who have followed Parrillo’s advice swear by it.

Comstock \ Model: Ronnie Coleman

6

Stretch between sets.

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Great Back or with different bodyparts (though you never want to hit back the day after you train biceps, as they will be too damaged to properly assist on back work). Just remember this axiom: If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always gotten.

9

Do some type of deadlift.

Franco Columbu was a big fan of the deadlift and credits much of his thick development to that exercise.

Just about every bodybuilder who has superb back development credits deadlifts with playing a critical role in its development. Ronnie Coleman and Johnnie O. Jackson are two notable examples from the current crop of IFBB champions, but ’90s back kings like Mike Francois and even Dorian Yates regularly incorporated heavy deads in their training. Going back further, ’70s and ’80s stars Franco Columbu and Samir Bannout were big fans of the lift, and they had the best backs of their day.

I don’t believe that you necessarily have to pull from the floor to reap the benefits of the deadlift. Partial, or rack, deadlifts, from the knees up to lockout, can also force a lot of growth. In fact, I happen to favor partial deadlifts, as I feel they’re

Zeller

You don’t necessarily have to pull from the floor to reap the benefits of deadlifts.

Care about the strength and development of your back.

Model: Derik Farnsworth

10

The most important factor in building a great back is to really want one. Too many guys are ob-

sessed with adding an inch to their arms or beefing up their chests while not giving their backs a thought. It’s safe to say that if they were as concerned about getting wider and thicker lats, they’d have a lot more development back there.

Just because you can’t see your back doesn’t mean others can’t—or that you shouldn’t care about it.

Next month I’ll talk about what it takes to build shoulders so wide and round that people will assume you’re wearing shoulder pads under all your shirts.

Editor’s note: Check out Ron Harris’ Web site, www.ronharris muscle.com. IM www.ironmanmagazine.com \ MARCH 2005 103

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Follow These 10 Rules

more of a pure back exercise, in contrast to regular deadlifts, which work the lower body just as hard as the back. Whichever variation you choose, it would behoove you to make deadlifts a mainstay of your back-training arsenal. Too many people have found success with deadlifts to ignore their benefits.

How Tom Doyle Won the Twinlab Live Like a Pro With Lee Priest Challenge

Success

Story

by David Young - Photography courtesy of Twinlab Free download from imbodybuilding.com

Success Story

L

DY: What’s your diet strategy—on- and off-season?

TD: I eat clean all the time. When I’m not preparing for a contest, I eat good and I eat a lot. I might cheat a little more—although even on my cheat days I don’t totally freak out. I absolutely love oatmeal cookies and carrot cake. Oh, and when I visit my mother during the holidays, I get coconut cake with Philadelphia cream cheese icing. It is unbelievable.

“The contest wasn’t about taking a guy pro. We said, ‘Show us you have what it takes to live like a pro, and Twinlab will support you with a contract for one year.’ We were looking for people who could prove that they had the focus, dedication, commitment, physique and knowledge to be supported and trained by Twinlab and myself.

“Tom Doyle was our pick because, for a guy who’s 49 years old, he looks fantastic, and he has the right attitude.”

Doyle’s prizes included personaltraining sessions with Priest, publicity, a $50,000 check from Twinlab and a year’s supply of Twinlab products. Months later, during the Olympia weekend, he picked up another prestigious honor. Twinlab and Flex magazine established a bodybuilding hall of fame, inducting Arnold Schwarzenegger, Larry Scott, Sergio Oliva, Lou Ferrigno, Cory Everson and Lenda Murray.

Doyle was the first amateur to be inducted.

Tom is just a cool guy to talk with. I was particularly impressed by his enthusiasm for bodybuilding, his knowledge of supplementation and his Southern charm.

DY: Tell me one of your secrets to success?

TD: On- and off-season I always prepare my meals for the entire week on Sundays. I make enough chicken, turkey or steak for the week. I also have salads or other veggies ready, raw or steamed. And I always try to have a little fruit and some nuts during the day. That’s a very easy way for me to eat properly because it’s already there. I just heat up and go.

And I gotta have peanut butter and jelly. I buy the jelly with no sugar and have it on stone-ground or multigrain bread or crackers. I must have my carbs! They fuel the heavy workouts and contribute to proper body function, including the brain—and in that department I’ll take all the help I can get.

DY: Let’s hear your stats.

TD: I’m 49 years young, 5’11” tall, and my weight is 225. In the offseason I’m about 235 pounds. At my last contest I weighed in at 210.

DY: How many years have you been training seriously?

TD: I’ve been training consistently for 19 years, but seriously, in my opinion, means training for contests, and that’s been seven years.

DY: Tell me about something you’re really proud of?

TD: I’m very pleased and proud about my achievements in bodybuilding—and also about the encouragement I get from my family and friends. They have been wonderful to me. When I get down, they’re there. Most of all I’m proud that I have the wherewithal to know that I’m a blessed man, and I’m so very, very thankful. Not a day goes by that I don’t give thanks to God for everything I have.

DY: How do you overcome plateaus?

TD: My answer is to keep training: Train harder, and you will, as Jim Morrison sang, “break on through to the other side.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger once said, “With faith there is no anxiety, no doubt—just absolute confidence.” www.ironmanmagazine.com \ MARCH 2005 109

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Live Like a Pro Challenge

ee Priest and Twinlab announced the winner of their first Live Like a Pro Challenge during the ’04 Arnold Fitness Weekend. Here’s what Lee had to say about why Tom Doyle got the nod:

Success Story “Make hard times, setbacks and suffering your friends, not your enemies.”

and striations.

After I cut out the junk for a few weeks, I set up my first eating phase like this:

Meal 1 1 scoop Twinlab AM Protein Fuel in shake 10 egg whites with 2 whole eggs 1 bowl oatmeal 1 tablet Twinlab Andro Nitrate3 Twinlab Tribulus Fuel Extreme

Meal 2 1 packet Twinlab MRP Nitrate3 Fuel mixed in cold water with ice 1 teaspoon flaxseed oil Twinlab Glutamine Fuel 1 multivitamin

Live Like a Pro Challenge

Meal 3 DY: What tricks do you use to motivate yourself?

TD: I read a lot about people who have beaten the odds and who never gave up. If you look, you’ll find motivation all around you— sometimes in the strangest places.

Just last week in a local paper I read the story of a blind man, Jerry Nealey, who participates in triathlons. He said, “Proving myself seems to be a way of life. But having a disability can be a blessing. We can overcome [the disability], and it will only make us stronger. My blindness is a metaphor for progress.” When I read words like those, I go after life with a vengeance.

Make hard times, setbacks and suffering your friends, not your enemies. That takes constant work and practice. It’s not easy, but it’s essential for reaching and creating the next level of your physique, not to mention life.

DY: What are your goals now?

TD: My next one is to win the heavyweight over-50 class at the Master’s Nationals.

DY: Excellent! What mental principles do you use?

TD: I use visualization when I’m training. I visualize the bodypart that I’m working as looking like the end product I’m striving to achieve.

Not always bigger, but more pro-

nounced, defined. Also, I sometimes see myself standing onstage as the winner. I can’t do that all of the time, but when my mind is clear and stress is not a problem, I can focus on the vision of winning. It’s something that takes a lot of practice. It’s actually Zen-like, I suppose.

DY: That’s some deep sh*t!

[Both crack up] Okay, Mr. Zen Man, what’s your philosophy of life?

TD: I live by many sayings that mean a lot to me, but the most important is: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

One other one I’m fond of is: “Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors.

Try to be better than yourself.”

William Faulkner said that.

DY: More deep sh*t! [More laughter] How many weeks out do you start your contest prep?

TD: When I first began competing, I started 19 weeks out, but now I find it is easier to watch my weight and not gain more than 20 to 25 pounds. That allows me to start my contest preparation about 12 weeks out. It just seems to be easier on my body. I try to gain around five pounds of lean mass per year and concentrate more on refining the muscle, creating more separation

2 chicken breasts sauteed in 2 tablespoons olive oil and garlic 1 cup brown rice Soy sauce (light) Cracked pepper 2 capsules Twinlab Ripped Fuel

Meal 4 Flank steak Steamed broccoli Peas Twinlab Tribulus Fuel Extreme

Meal 5 Grilled turkey breast on a bed of leafy greens with balsamic vinegar Steamed asparagus 1 packet Twinlab MRP Nitrate3 Fuel

Meal 6 1 scoop Twinlab PM Protein Fuel in shake 1 teaspoon flaxseed oil Steamed asparagus Vitamins E and C

Before Bed 1 scoop Twinlab PM Protein Fuel in shake I might follow that up to the last four to six weeks before a contest.

Then in the final precontest phase I step it up a bit.

DY: Do you use supersets, forced reps or other intensity techniques?

TD: I train to failure for the most part. Because I train by myself a lot

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Success Story of the time, I don’t use forced reps, but I do incorporate supersets for my major bodyparts.

DY: How many days a week do you train?

TD: I always train five days per week in the off-season.

DY: What about cardio?

TD: In the off-season I do cardio at least twice a week. When I’m preparing for a contest, it’s usually 30 minutes every morning. I don’t do as much cardio as most guys because I lose size in my legs.

DY: Which exercises do you use, and as you’re over 40, which exercises do you avoid due to joint pain?

TD: Here’s a general guide:

Quads: I do leg extensions and close-stance squats or close-stance leg presses. I don’t use the hacksquat machine. It’s rough on my knees. As for the close stance, it’s really helped my quad development.

Hams: I do leg curls and stifflegged deadlifts. I don’t use the standing leg curl. I just don’t feel it.

Calves: Seated calf raises and standing calf raises make up my routine. I use heavy weight for both.

I think if you’re doing light weights and high reps for calf size, you’re wasting your time.

Abs: I like crunches, rope crunches and hanging leg raises. My advice is to stay away from boot-camp situps.

They’re bad for your back, neck and buttissimo.

Back: Here it’s chins, bent-over barbell rows, pulldowns to the front, seated cable rows and deadlifts. I don’t do behind-the-neck pulldowns. It’s an unnatural movement and sets the stage for neck injuries.

Chest: I like cable crossovers, incline dumbbell presses, flat-bench flyes, dumbbell bench presses and dips. I don’t do decline presses. I feel that my lower pecs get enough work from flat-bench work.

Delts: I do rear-delt flyes, dumbbell presses, dumbbell laterals, military presses and shrugs. I stay away from behind-the-neck presses. Once again, the movement feels unnatural.

Biceps: I use barbell curls, incline dumbbell curls, preacher curls and cable curls, but I stay away from heavy swinging barbell curls.

Strength and size come from being able to handle the weight with control. Swinging is a good way to get injured.

Triceps: For this muscle group it’s pushdowns, weighted dips, closegrip bench presses and overhead dumbbell extensions.

Forearms: I use standing wrist curls for both the front and rear parts of the forearms. I don’t like hanging my hands off of the end of a bench. That can damage the wrist. I hold a bar behind my back while standing and do wrist curls.

DY: How many sets do you do per bodypart?

TD: Here’s a rundown:

Chest: 20 to 25 once a week Back: 20 to 25 once a week Deltoids: 12 to 15 once a week Traps: 5 to 7 once a week Calves: 5 to 7 four to five times a week

Biceps: 12 to 15 once a week Triceps: 12 to 15 once a week Legs: 20 to 25 twice a week Abs: 5 to 7 every other day DY: What’s your overall bodybuilding philosophy?

TD: Before my bodybuilding adventure began, I never really gave thought to having a structured life. It was get up, work, then whatever. Not anymore, I’m overjoyed to say. Bodybuilding has provided me with self-worth, self-confidence and self-discipline. Countless times I’m asked to have lunch or go out after work with the guys. I politely decline, stating that I bring all of my food and that after work you can find me in the gym. They may not admit it, but I know they respect me.

I recommend weight training for everyone. It helps create a structured life. You don’t have to participate in bodybuilding competitions.

When you train hard, you deal with adversity much more easily and life seems fruitful.

Editor’s note: You can find out more about the Twinlab Live Like a Pro With Lee Priest Challenge II at www.twinlab.com or www .livelikeapro.com. IM

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Live Like a Pro Challenge

“My next goal is to win the heavyweight over-50 class at the Master’s Nationals.”

I’m a firm believer in full range of motion. Lying triceps extensions don’t give you a full range of motion. Overhead extensions do.

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The

How Jonathan Lawson Took His Size and Muscularity to a New Dimension—Without Drugs

Part 2

Factor

by Butch Lebowitz Photography by Michael Neveux hat if you could pack on a solid five pounds of muscle almost every month? What would you look like one year from now? Are you kidding? Your physique would be outrageous! Radically different and unrecognizable because of so much extra muscle hanging off your joints. Well, in my estimation, Jonathan Lawson added at least five pounds of muscle to his already advanced physique in only one month—not one year, one month—and he’s been training for about 15 years.

Add to that the fact that he did it while he was on a a low-calorie diet, and you can see the enormous muscle-building implications for you—especially if you’re not limiting calories, as he was. (Could you add even more, like 10 pounds of muscle, in one month if you followed his lead? Who knows?)

Lawson says the big key to his amazing transformation was X Reps, a power-partial technique he uses on specific exercises.

This idea has a lot of science behind it. If you missed the first part of my interview with him, which discusses a lot of the research, visit www.x-rep.com to get your muscle-building mojo moving. Now, to continue with the intense interrogation…

W BEFORE

AFTER This photo and the one at left were taken one month after the before shot.

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The X Factor

New Dimension—Without Drugs - Part 2

“The bottom line as far as bodybuilding goes is that the more fibers and fiber types you can hit, the better your size increases will be.”

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BL: So you do X-Rep power partials at the end of a set at a point where you think the muscle can fire with maximum-force generation—like near the bottom of an incline press.

Why not just go right to the X Reps—you know, do heavy stand-alone X-Rep sets? Why not pack on the poundage, lower the weight to the X spot and blast out partials, and forget the regular full-range reps?

Wouldn’t that be much more intense?

JL: Superheavy partials will hit the pure-strength muscle fibers, sure. And it could be a good addition to a full-range set or two. But bodybuilders need to train more than just one or two fiber types for full development. As I said earlier, scientists list more than five different types of fast-twitch fibers, which is the reason bodybuilders need to do sets with multiple reps—to build as many fiber types as possible. The size principle of fiber recruitment says that the low-threshold motor units fire first, followed by the mediums and then the high-threshold motor units. I think performing fullrange reps makes that happen more efficiently—you get at more fiber types in one set. Then you move in for the kill with X Reps.

BL: Couldn’t you just do 10 to 12 X Reps and get the size-principle thing to happen?

JL: That’s an interesting idea and worth some experimentation. In fact, we’ve been doing that on some stretch-position exercises like stifflegged deadlifts and flyes. Arnold used to do his flyes that way—just the bottom part of the stroke, which is like exaggerated X Reps. That seems to work best on stretch-position exercises where there’s no resistance at the top. Sissy squats would be another good one. Don’t come up more than halfway.

For most exercises, though, I think you should do full-range reps, or close to lockout, on at least a set or two to get more fibers involved. I think that’s especially true for contracted-position exercises like leg extensions, where you can flex the muscles against resistance. That will also help strengthen joints and ligaments through the full range to prevent injury. And you get more of a metabolic effect from full-range reps.

I think the bottom line as far as bodybuilding goes is that the more fibers and fiber types you can hit, the better your size increases will be. It’s the reason we do six to eight reps but mix in supersets and drop sets—and now X Reps, which seems to be the most effective of all. Trying to hit as many fibers as possible just makes sense from an overall muscle-density standpoint. You wouldn’t want to pump up only one section of an air mattress. All the sections need to be full to achieve maximum size. The same goes for the muscles. You won’t look your full, muscular best if muscle groups are partially deflated.

Since you brought it up, though, I will tell you that we’ve been experimenting with a version of what you’re describing. We do a straight set to failure and then immediately add weight for X Reps. We only rest long enough to get the weight on the bar—about 10 seconds. That gives us fatigue-product clearance.

It’s kind of like Mike Mentzer’s rest/pause, only we’re using two different types of sets, a regular sixto-eight-rep set to failure followed almost immediately by a heavier XRep-only set. We up the weight enough that we can get about six ultraheavy X Reps.

BL: And what have you noticed? Any new gains?

JL: It’s still early, but I gotta say that four months after our photo shoot, using X Reps and those superheavy X Reps on a few exercises, with some drop sets and supersets thrown in for even more growth hormone production, has enabled [me and IM editor in chief Steve Holman] to stay very close to peak condition. (continued on page 122) www.ironmanmagazine.com \ MARCH 2005 119

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The X Factor get past nervous system failure and continue to stress the muscle at its point of maximum-force generation. More GH is a bonus—and I’m sure it’s what’s helping us stay lean.

GH has been shown to be a potent fat burner. I gotta say, though, that it’s weird to see veins in my forearms when it’s cold outside. I’m used to being pretty smooth in the winter.

AFTER

BEFORE

Holman

HAMSTRINGS AND CALF

One-month results

JL: Yes. We have research on that posted in the X Q&A section at our Web site. The research on the growth hormone connection is there too. I’ve seen some studies that say that the reason you end a set isn’t nervous system failure, but in either case you should still move to the point of maximum force generation and extend the set with partials to stress as many fibers as possible.

AFTER

New Dimension—Without Drugs - Part 2

Holman

QUADS

BEFORE

Jonathan’s hamstrings and quads filled out and took on new vascularity and detail in only one month with X-Rep training. These photos were taken in the same spot under the same light in the IRON MAN Training & Research Center. (continued from page 119) And without a whole lot of volume. That’s pretty unbelievable considering that there’s no sense of urgency—no photo shoot looming—and we’re not eating nearly as strictly. We’ve both still got lots of veins crawling down our forearms and plenty of size and separation. That’s very exciting because in past years we were both flat and way off our best shapes two months after our photo shoot.

BL: You mentioned more GH production. Do you think that’s one reason X Reps work so well—because they

BL: So you use the partials at the end of a set to get past nervous system failure and keep the muscle firing, right?

jack up growth hormone?

JL: Absolutely. Research has shown that muscle burn changes the pH of the blood, which can cause GH to surge. And, believe me, X Reps burn. If you think about it, it’s very difficult to get muscle burn on compound exercises just by going to failure. Add X Reps, though, and you set the target muscle on fire with one set, which helps pump up GH production. And if you do X Reps on those big exercises, which are also the best testosterone boosters, you get a double shot of anabolic hormones.

Still, I think the main reason X Reps work is that they enable you to

BL: Well, if nervous system failure is what stops a set, how do the pros get so big?

Wouldn’t every set they do be ineffective at building more muscle?

JL: Not ineffective, just inefficient. They do set after set in an attempt to get enough stimulation to grow. They may get a slightly different fiber recruitment pattern on each set by adding volume, so they may get at a little more of the muscle, a few different fibers perhaps. Growth does happen, but it’s slow, and in order to do all of that work, they have to take anabolic steroids to enhance their recovery abilities and speed things up.

Drug-free bodybuilders can also do multiple sets up to a point, but eventually they will overtrain and go nowhere fast. Using X Reps makes it unnecessary to do an excessive number of sets, so you have more energy left for recovery. It’s much more efficient.

Of course, you still have to work and sweat. I’m not saying that X

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The X Factor also got stuff about a possible connection to hyperplasia, or fiber splitting, posted.

Is that really solid info?

New Dimension—Without Drugs - Part 2

Research shows that muscle burn can cause a GH surge. And X Reps can cause a firestorm!

Reps will let you get away with those B.S. once-a-month 10-minute workouts that are all over the Internet these days. If it’s muscle you’re after, those routines are flat-out ridiculous.

One other point about the pros: Many of them use loose form, blasting the weight out of the turnaround—at the bottom of a press or a barbell curl. Watch Ronnie Coleman’s training DVD and you’ll see what I mean. Creating an explosive movement near the maxforce-generation point does produce critical overload right where the muscle needs it for more growth stimulation, but it’s very dangerous to train with explosive moves. Using X Reps accomplishes the same thing without the danger of joint injury or muscle tear. You stress that critical point in an exercise’s stroke, only you do it at the end of the set, no joint jarring necessary.

BL: Won’t forced reps do the same thing as X Reps—get you past nervous system failure?

JL: No. Once again it’s an efficiency thing. You waste a lot of nervous energy when your partner helps you through the full range. Plus, his help

isn’t very precise, so it’s hard to tell how much work you’re doing and how much he’s doing. Oh, and your strength varies throughout the full stroke, so that adds to the difficulty.

But the biggest problem is that you’re not taxing the muscle much at the X spot—the max-force point that’s so critical to growth stimulation.

BL: There you go again with the double Xes. You’ve got X spots, X Reps, full strokes.

Dude, you gotta start training porn stars.

JL: You know, you may want to skip X Reps. Your testosterone is off the charts already. [Laughs] Anyway, instead of forced reps, it’s much more effective to do power pulses at the X spot at the end of a set. That way you increase the tension time on the most fibers at the precise maximum-force point. Remember, more force generation triggers more growth. With X Reps there’s no wasted effort; with forced reps most of the effort is wasted. There’s research on that at the site as well.

BL: Yeah, I read your reference materials there. You’ve

JL: Well, hyperplasia is still a controversial topic, but animal-based research has shown that it occurred as a result of stretch overload. What’s interesting is that a lot of the biggest bodybuilders use what we call X Reps to get stretch overload. For example, Tom Platz, who had some of the freakiest legs ever, did a lot of partials in the stretch position of specific quad exercises. One of his favorite spots was near the bottom of a hack squat, pulsing at the end of a set of full-range reps till he couldn’t stand the burn. Could that stretch overload have caused fiber splitting in his quads, and could it explain why he got such mind-numbing development? It could be partly responsible.

The same goes for Arnold Schwarzenegger and those heavy partial flyes he used to do for his chest. By only moving through the bottom of the stroke, he created stretch overload—slightly exaggerated X Reps on a stretch-position exercise.

BL: Yeah, and Larry Scott used to do burns near the stretch point on preacher curls, kind of like X Reps.

Maybe he was increasing his biceps’ size potential with fiber splitting every time he bottomed out with those partials. This is interesting stuff.

I’m totally amped! Hey, are you still using Positions of Flexion training?

JL: Yes, that’s a given. POF fullrange training is a must for full-muscle development, although we recently started splitting the positions over two workouts. For example, on quads we do midrange work, like hack squats, and stretch work, like sissy squats, at one workout.

Then, the next time we work quads, we do hacks again for the midrange movement but this time combined with contracted-position work, like leg extensions.

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The X Factor

IRON MAN Research Team: X Stack X-Rep training is intense, and it works big time. If you want to get the most mass out of X Reps, you must make sure your muscles are loaded with energy substrates for maximum firepower. The key is to get fast protein and enough glycogen from fast carbs right after you train. That jacks up the supercompensation effect. You start building more muscle immediately and refill spent fuel stores so you’re fully loaded for your next workout. That combination also spikes insulin, the hormone that sends nutrients rocketing to your muscles.

Insulin is a good thing right after you train because that’s when your muscles are extremely receptive. It’s the time when carbs will not go to fat cells—the time to load up so your muscles fill out. Is it a good time to add creatine to the mix? You bet it is! Creatine will heighten ATP regeneration to fuel future muscle contractions and fill out your muscle structures even more.

Here’s the famous X Stack that Jonathan Lawson and Steve Holman used after every workout during their one-month X-Rep transformation experiment (their before and after photos are posted at www.x-rep.com):

RecoverX: A fast-protein-and-fast-carb powder you mix

New Dimension—Without Drugs - Part 2

in water. It contains hydrolyzed whey, the fastest protein available; glutamine peptides (glutamine is the most prevalent amino acid in muscle tissue); L-arginine (an amino acid—and nitric oxide precursor—that promotes glycogen replenishment in muscle tissue, growth hormone release and, thanks to its vasodilation properties, increased blood flow) and no aspartame. Each serving gives you 40 grams of fast protein and 60 grams of fast carbs, the perfect ratio for turbocharging anabolic uptake. It’s absolutely the best supplement for this critical muscle-building and glycogen-refueling meal.

CreaSol: A titrated creatine that completely dissolves, so there’s no residue—and almost 100 percent can flow to your muscles. Like glycogen from carbs, creatine is a key element in getting your muscles to fire during X Reps, as it improves ATP production and regeneration for enhanced muscle-power output. Put a scoop in your postworkout RecoverX drink. Tastes great, more muscle filling.

That’s the core X Stack for superior X-Rep gains, and you can get it at a Research Team discount: three big canisters of RecoverX (48 servings in all—almost 12 pounds!) and one bottle of CreaSol (40 servings) for only $99.95 (plus shipping and handling). It’s a retail value of $149.80, so you save almost $50.

Use three scoops of RecoverX and one scoop of CreaSol in water after every workout, and watch your muscles swell to capacity. You’ll run out of CreaSol first, as the special includes only 40 servings as opposed to 48 RecoverX servings, but that’s good. Going off creatine for a few days can help regenerate receptors, which downregulate with continuous creatine use. Taking a week or so off every so often works wonders. Keep using RecoverX alone till you run out, and then start a new X Stack, reintroducing creatine into your regimen.

It’s a simple, fairly inexpensive way to supercharge every one of your X-Rep workouts and give those muscles the exact nutrients they crave right when they need them most. You’ll use the X Stack only on training days, so that means if you train three days a week, your supply will last more than three months. Now, that’s a muscle-building bargain!

Editor’s note: To get your anabolic-window supercharger, call (800) 4470008 and ask for the IRON MAN Research Team X Stack. You get three giant canisters of RecoverX and one bottle of CreaSol for the low price of only $99.95, a $149.80 value. (You save almost $50!)

That’s something else we’re experimenting with over the winter. During our summer ripping phase, however, we did all the positions in one workout, and we did X Reps on one set of almost every exercise. We’re still using X Reps on most exercises—and those superheavy X Reps I mentioned earlier. Those can be a bit scary, like on incline presses. Your upper chest feels shot, but you jump off the bench, add weight and then lower the bar to the X spot for partials anyway. I have to admit, though, they really hammer the muscle.

BL: Now that I’m part of the X-Men militia, do you have any specific diet recommendations?

JL: You don’t want to restrict your carbs too much. Even when Steve and I were in the last week before our photo shoot, our carbs never went below 140 grams per day. You need glycogen-and-creatine-loaded muscle to get them to fire as effectively as possible at the X spot. Otherwise, they’ll crap out early, limiting your gains.

BL: So the key X-Rep supplement is pancake syrup?

JL: [Laughs] Only if you use it immediately after you train— poured over whey-and-creatine flapjacks.

Seriously, right after the workout is prime nutrition time, the anabolic window, so you want to get plenty of fast carbs and fast protein to feed your depleted muscles. There are postworkout powders designed specifically for that time. Throw some creatine into the mix, and you’ve got the perfect meal for your most important feeding of the day.

Loading your muscles with glycogen and creatine will give your X Reps maximum firepower.

BL: Can you outline the diet you used during the month when you made the transformation with X Reps?

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The X Factor JL: Sure. Keep in mind that this is my lowest calorie level—around 2,400. I also did lots of cardio as the shoot got closer.

Meal 1 (after cardio) 1 cup egg whites, scrambled 1 serving Cream of Rice 1 tablespoon peanut butter 1 scoop Pro-Fusion in water

Meal 2 (before training) 2 scoops Pro-Fusion in water

Meal 3: (after training)

BL: My abs have been in hibernation for a while, so I’ll be checking your site for that—and may I suggest a gallery of X starlets using X Reps? That would certainly add to your Internet presence.

JL: Because there’s a severe shortage of pornography on the Web, right?

BL: Just trying to help.

Editor’s note: For more on XRep training, including before and after photos, Q&As and past X-File e-zines, visit www.x-rep.com. To subscribe to Jonathan Lawson’s free training e-zine, scroll to the bottom of any of the past installments posted in the X-Files section at www.x-rep.com. The Ultimate Mass Workout e-book is there too.

IM

X Stack shake (in water) 3 scoops RecoverX 1 scoop CreaSol [Note: The X Stack is available at a special discount price. See page 126.]

Meal 4 Chicken breast 1 cup broccoli 1 scoop Pro-Fusion in water

Meal 5 Protein shake (in water) 1 packet Muscle Meals 1/2 scoop Pro-Fusion

Meal 6 (two hours before cardio) 2 scoops Pro-Fusion in water

Meal 7 (after cardio) 1 cup egg whites scrambled with 1 whole egg 1 handful cashews and almonds 1 scoop Pro-Fusion in water

BL: So that’s your rockbottom lowest calorie level?

JL: Yes. When I start dieting, usually around late March, my calories are more than 3,000. I make a couple of calorie reductions, working in higher-carb days along the way to keep leptin levels stable and to stay sane. I also gradually increase my activities to create a calorie deficit so I burn more bodyfat. Our new diet e-book, Xtreme Lean, outlines all the specifics about leptin, cheat days, macronutrient ratios and so on.

We’ve been experimenting with ripping diets for five years running, so we’ve learned quite a few important things along the way. Getting in ripped condition isn’t nearly as difficult as it used to be. www.ironmanmagazine.com \ MARCH 2005 127

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Munch Master 10 Tips for Controlling the Way You Eat kip La Cour is a five-time NPC Team Universe champion, including two overall victories. The following are his 10 strategies for taking control of your eating. Whether your goal is to win a bodybuilding contest or just to lose some bodyfat for a leaner, healthier appearance, these insights will help you get there.

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Neveux / Model: Skip La Cour

• by Skip La Cour •

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1) Burn more calories than you eat. That’s the basic rule of weight management. If you want to lose weight, you must burn more calories than you take in each day, each week and each month. It doesn’t matter if all the food you eat is healthy, wholesome or “clean.”

The total calories from all the food you eat—no matter what kind of food it is—must add up to fewer calories than your body efficiently burns each day.

Unfortunately, you can’t just stop eating and expect to lose bodyfat and you can’t just start eating like crazy in order to build muscle. If you want to gain quality weight, you must eat strategically.

2) Take the necessary steps to control your metabolism. Another key to effective weight management is regulating your metabolism. No matter what your physical challenges, you can do a better job of managing and regulating your metabolism. You must do the best with the gifts—and the challenges—you’re presented with.

Eating small meals throughout the day will help keep your metabolism operating at a steady rate. You should schedule meals every two to three hours throughout the entire day. Of course, weight training and cardiovascular training will also help regulate your

metabolism.

By following through with strategically timed small meals, weight training workouts and cardiovascular sessions for a series of days, weeks and months, you’ll improve your body over time.

3) Stop searching for the perfect diet. People are often distracted by the idea that there’s an easier diet somewhere that requires less discipline than the one they’re on. If the diet doesn’t work as quickly or effectively as they expect, they blame the diet—and not their standards or expectations.

Diets appeal to different people for different reasons besides their level of effectiveness. The Atkins diet, for example, may seem great to some people because they love to eat meat. The Zone diet may seem ideal to others because they love salads and vegetables. Even a strict, bland bodybuilding diet may appear to be the best option to some people because they like not having to make decisions on a continual basis or because they really enjoy the taste of meal replacements (like AST Sports Science’s Ny-Tro PRO 40).

4) Keep your diet simple. Do you know people who always ask themselves, “What am I going to eat for dinner tonight?” Some people put a lot of effort effort into thinking about their meals. In my opinion, that makes the eating process far too complicated. The more complicated you make your nutritional program, the more difficult it will be to follow through.

During the week I intentionally keep my meals plain and simple.

My main purpose in eating during that time is to grow muscle and keep my bodyfat levels manageable. If I decide to relax at all, it will be during the weekends.

When it comes to feeding yourself properly, the less thinking and planning you have to do, the better.

Try to look at eating as merely a method of building quality muscle, fueling great workouts and keeping your body lean and looking good, instead of as a source of recreation, pleasure and a way of connecting with your family and friends.

I realize that fine dining is one of

Neveux

Illustration by Chris Martinez

Munch Master

life’s great pleasures, but try adjusting your thinking to that of an efficient muscle-building eater as much as possible. Simple meals will help you stay consistent with your eating habits.

5) Give the diet you’ve chosen your full attention. Just about any diet, when implemented on a consistent basis, will work for you, but you must have confidence in the one you choose. Otherwise, you won’t be able to give it your complete focus.

With all the diets available, it’s easy to get confused—and almost impossible to have 100 percent certainty about the diet you’ve chosen. Just when you think you’re on the right path, you’ll hear or read about a new “miracle” diet.

Just when you’re ready to dig in and get going on a structured eating program, someone you know will tell you about all the amazing results he’s had with a diet that seems very different from yours. Heck,

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Neveux

Munch Master bird and gain weight!” The route you have to take may not seem as easy as that of someone else, but there is indeed a way to overcome your challenges.

Realize that the decisions you make reflect the quality of the physique you really want—and the one you get. Everything worth having has some sort of price tag on it.

Usually, the more desirable something is, the higher the price. Maybe you don’t want to pay the price for having the physique you thought you wanted. That’s fine, but you must accept the consequences of that decision. Don’t blame your lack of knowledge; blame your lack of desire. Don’t blame your genetics or personal conditions; blame the fact that you decided not to overcome those challenges at this time.

7) If you’re not getting the results you want, you’ll need to raise your standards. You either need to do a little more of this or a little less of that. Food selection, food quantities, meal frequency, meal timing, cardiovascular-training intensity and frequency, weighttraining intensity and frequency are all factors that are 100 percent in your control. Focus on finding the combination of those factors that

Think of eating as a means to an end—building more rock-hard muscle and burning more cutblurring bodyfat—not as a social activity. out what it takes—is what must be overcome.

People often blame their circumstances or genetic conditions for their lack of progress. If you are truly committed, you’ll eventually find a way around any of your physical or emotional challenges to reach for your goals.

People also sometimes unfairly compare themselves to others.

“She can eat anything she wants and still look good, while I eat like a

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even if your diet is working, you’ll sometimes doubt if it’s working well or fast enough.

Instead of focusing on the differences, try to discover how the diets are similar. That way you’ll know you’re already on the right track.

6) Take 100 percent responsibility for your success and failure. In other words, if you’re not getting the results you want, it’s you and not necessarily your diet that’s letting you down. It’s not your challenging situation, genetic limitations or time-management dilemmas that are preventing you from reaching your goals. Your inability to do what it takes—or find 136 MARCH 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Munch Master If you’re not getting the results you want, you’ll have to raise your standards.

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works best for you: what you must do more of and what you must do less of to reach your body goals.

It’s your body, and no one will ever care about it more than you.

Never rely on anyone else to solve your challenges for you. Take full responsibility for the task of finding what’s best for you and your body.

8) Don’t waste time talking to people about your eating, metabolic and genetic challenges. Are those others really going to challenge your beliefs anyway? Do they really care? All the talk about how difficult it is for you to lose bodyfat (or build muscle) reinforces your disempowering beliefs about what you can and cannot accomplish. By cutting out the negative talk, you reach your goals that much faster.

9) Learn how to manage the emotional relationship you have with your current eating habits. Schedule your cheat meals in advance, and schedule your cheat days—those days when you plan to indulge in delicious, not-sohealthful meals—in advance as well. Use those cheat meals or cheat days as special rewards for being disciplined all week long or putting together a series of weeks of

good eating habits.

Don’t use food as a reward for accomplishments in other areas of your life, however. You don’t want to create or strengthen an emotional link between success and fattening

Don’t waste time talking to people about your eating, metabolic and genetic challenges.

They don’t really care, and it reinforces your shortcomings.

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“I’m having a tough time getting my serratus to show.”

food. You also don’t want to use delicious, not-so-healthful food to mask emotional pain that you might be feeling due to challenges in other areas of your life. In other words, don’t eat to make yourself feel better.

10) Never try to make up for poor eating habits with more exercise. Up to 80 percent of the way you look will be determined by the way you feed your body—not by your training habits. You may mistakenly believe that you can make up for poor eating with a little extra exercise; however, the exchange rate between eating and exercise is not a fair exchange at all!

Editor’s note: Visit Skip La Cour’s Web site, www.skiplacour.com. Order Skip La Cour’s new training and instructional video, Mass Machine II (two tapes; two hours’ running time) for only $49.99 plus $7.50 for shipping and handling, a total of $56.49.

International orders add $15 for shipping, a total of $64.99. Order online at www.skiplacour.com, or to order with a credit card by phone, call (800) 655-0986. IM

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Heavy

Duty Free download from imbodybuilding.com

H

ere are more excerpts from the thoughtprovoking seminar Mike Mentzer gave in Canada in November 1981, a year after the infamous ’80 Mr. Olympia contest in Sydney, Australia.

Mike Mentzer’s Heavy Duty Seminar >> Part 5 << > by John Little <

Mike Mentzer: How many people here have heard of the Colorado Experiment? Raise your hands. [Mentzer returns to the chalkboard] In 1973 the Exercise Physiology Department at Fort Collins University conducted an experiment with a number of individuals, the most famous of whom was Casey Viator.

The nature of the experiment was to find out how rapidly individuals could gain muscle on a highintensity-training program. Since Casey was the most famous—and also because his results were the most outstanding—we’ll talk about him. Let’s talk about how much muscle he gained in 28 days on a high-intensity program.

On May 1, 1973, Casey weighed 166 pounds. I’m not trying to mislead you; that was an underweight condition for Casey. When he won the Mr. America title, he weighed around 212 or 215, so he was underweight to begin with. In four weeks, on May 29, 1973—the same month, the same year—after training 30 minutes a day, three days a week, Casey weighed 212 pounds.

In other words, in exactly 28 days, Casey gained what demonstrably seemed to be 46 pounds.

Now, you don’t know if that’s 46 pounds of muscle, 46 pounds of fat or a combination of fat and muscle.

But the Exercise Physiology Department conducted a very sophisticated bodyfat test, called a radio isotope assay test, that showed that Casey had lost 17 pounds of bodywww.ironmanmagazine.com \ MARCH 2005 143

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Seminar Part 5

Heavy Duty fat during that 28-day period. So all the weight he gained was pure muscle tissue. And it wasn’t 46 pounds—since Casey lost 17 pounds of fat at the same time, he actually gained 63 pounds of muscle. Again, however, it was muscle that he had previously held, and all bodybuilders know that it’s easier to get bigger the second time around.

If you lose mass, it’s easier to gain it the second time. The problem is the acquisition of new muscle mass— but it’s still an incredible achievement. He had gained more than two pounds of muscle a day!

How did he do it? He averaged 30 minutes of training three days a week. That comes out to a total of an hour and half training per week times four weeks—that’s six hours of training. It took Casey six hours of training to stimulate 63 pounds of muscle growth—an unbelievable achievement. Incredible! Whether it was new mass, old mass, whatever, it’s still an incredible achievement.

I want to contrast that with something our friend Mr. Schwarzenegger did. You may recall that in July 1975 he finished making a movie, “Stay Hungry,” and resumed—not resumed but began— his training for the 1975 Mr. Olympia at a bodyweight of 210. He was also underweight—he’d been forced to reduce his bodyweight for the movie—and he looked rather emaciated at 210.

As a matter of fact, I was in Gold’s Gym that day—a very naive, young Mike Mentzer seeing Arnold Schwarzenegger—when he did his first workout in preparation for the ’75 Mr. Olympia, which he won in November, four months later. He claims that he weighed 225 pounds when he won that contest, so Arnold gained 15 pounds, at least, of muscle in that four-month period.

This was not a sophisticated study, so we don’t know if Arnold lost any fat during that period. Probably he did.

How did he do it? Well, he’s gone on record several times that he trained four hours a day, six days a week, for four months. If you’re real fast with your arithmetic, you’ll find out that that comes to a total of 288 hours spent in the gym. It took Arnold 288 hours in the gym to stimulate 15 pounds of muscular growth. And he was not successful

In 1973, Casey Viator gained an astonishing 63 pounds of muscle in four weeks using high-intensity training during the Colorado Experiment.

in regaining all the mass he’d previously held because, in 1974, when he was at his best Mr. Olympia condition, he weighed 237.

He was just awesomely huge—it was his heaviest ever Mr. Olympia weight. I asked Arnold a couple of years ago, “Why were you so light in South Africa? Why did you not go back up to 237?” He said, “I simply didn’t have the time.”

He had four months to gain back 27 pounds, and he did not succeed. Casey gained 63 pounds in one month. How do you account for the discrepancy in achievement? All we have to go on, according to this, is the amount of time they spent training. That’s the only variable we can compare. [Editor’s note: Keep in mind that Arnold was on a contest diet, training for the Mr. Olympia, while Casey was eating anything and everything he wanted. Stringent contest dieting can limit muscular gains, which obviously had an effect on the amount of muscle Arnold gained in that period.]

They were both underweight to begin with. It’s true that Casey was even more underweight, so he had the opportunity to gain more weight back, but at least Casey was successful in gaining back all the weight he had previously held.

Arnold had four times as much time but still could not regain all the mass he had previously held. So, actually, Casey’s task was harder.

Arnold had four months to gain

back 27 pounds and could not do it.

Casey had one month to gain back 63 pounds—what he weighed at the Mr. America contest—and he succeeded in doing it. Why couldn’t Arnold do it? What’s the answer? Or what’s the answer you think I’m looking for?

Audience member: The intensity of his exercise was not as high.

Mike Mentzer: Right. There are two factors: Arnold overtrained so long, he grossly overtrained so much, that he could not train with the intensity required to stimulate that much muscular growth. And even if he did train with the intensity required, he didn’t allow enough time to recover and enough time for the growth to manifest itself.

When you talk about an exercise session, one isolated, single exercise session, there are two factors to consider: the intensity factor and the duration factor. Duration is the

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Heavy Duty mass. You’ve got to train for short periods so you can train intensely.

That’s the nature of the relationship; you can either train hard or you can train long, but you can’t train hard and long. It’s impossible—not because I say it is, but because it’s impossible. Is there anybody here who can sprint for a mile? What’s the longest sprint in Olympic competition? Anybody know? The 400 meters. Why isn’t there an 800meter sprint—or a mile sprint?

Audience member: It’s laughable.

Mike Mentzer: It’s laughable, yeah, because it’s ridiculous. It’s impossible, just like it’s impossible to train hard for two hours. Nobody can train really hard—and when I’m talking about hard I mean a maximal, all-out effort—for two hours. If you train as hard as you possibly can on each and every set, the majority of you in here won’t be able to train for 30 minutes. I’m talking about as hard as you possibly can, every set to total failure, with mini-

mal rest between sets. You take just enough rest between sets that you can go to your next set, resume training and go to muscular failure, as opposed to cardiovascular failure; that is, you don’t rush so fast that your cardiovascular system becomes the limiting system. You want to go to muscular failure. If you do that, you probably won’t be able to train even 30 minutes.

Audience member: How long between exercises—30 seconds?

Mike Mentzer: It doesn’t matter.

It’s going to vary from muscle group to muscle group because of the demands placed on the cardiovascular system. You rest just long enough between sets so you can resume the next set and go to muscular failure—as opposed to cardiovascular failure. If you’re doing your legs, and the second set terminates because you’re breathing so hard, as opposed to true muscular failure in the legs, then you didn’t rest long enough.

Did you ever compare the calves

Seminar Part 5

amount of time spent training, and intensity refers to the percentage of momentary effort. That last concept tends to be misunderstood. Some people think that by increasing the duration of their workouts they’re increasing the intensity, which is ridiculous. Just the opposite is true: Every time you increase the duration, you have to decrease the intensity. The two things exist inversely to each other. They’re mutually exclusive; you can’t have a lot of one and a lot of the other.

A very simple inverse ratio graph demonstrates the universal relationship between intensity and duration. This is not a brainchild of Mike Mentzer. It’s a basic law of physics, a universal principle that applies to all activity, not just weight training—chopping down trees, studying books, sex, whatever. Whenever the intensity increases a little bit, the duration has to decrease a lot. And if you want to build big muscles fast, you have to train as intensely as possible, because that is the one factor most responsible for building

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Heavy Duty

Seminar Part 5

Audience member: Recovery.

Mike Mentzer: Recovery. If you allow enough time for recovery, then you have to allow enough time for growth. If you do those three things: number one, stimulate growth; then allow enough time for recovery—it does take time, up to 48 hours in some cases, depending upon both the severity and volume of the exercise; and then, three, allow another block of time for that growth to manifest itself. Growth never precedes recovery—recovery always comes first.

You don’t need a 21-inch arm to survive, but you do need to continually recover and replace your precious physical resources and reserves. If you didn’t continually recover from exercise, obviously you’d die very rapidly.

You’ve got to stimulate growth first, through high-intensity training, allow enough time for recovery and then allow enough time for growth. If you train again before recovery takes place, then the growth process can’t take place because now you’ve got to recover from that next workout again. If you allow enough time for recovery to take place, but not enough time for growth to take place you still won’t grow.

So I’m saying you should rest anywhere from 48 to 72 hours be-

tween workouts. Six-days-a-week training is always a mistake for the purpose of building muscular mass.

If you want to create definition, then you can’t be active enough.

Train every day, all day, whatever you want to do.

as you say, obviously that’s not intense enough to stimulate growth, so how would it be intense enough to tax the reserves?

Mike Mentzer: It’s not. Not his strength reserves, anyway.

John Little: If it’s that low in intensity, would it do anything?

Mike Mentzer: If it’s that low intensity, it would build endurance.

This refers to the specificity of training effect. If you want to train specifically for building muscular size and mass, then you train in a specific manner. If you want to train for endurance, then you train in another fashion.

The guys who are training 20 sets a bodypart are dividing specificity; they may be inducing a little bit of growth stimulation, but not that much because parts of their adaptive reserves are going to cardiovascular training.

Audience member: What if you’re allowing more time off—say, on a split routine, where you train chest one day, back the next and so on?

Mike Mentzer: Yeah. I’m not talking here about localized muscular recovery; I’m talking about the recovery of the physical system as a whole. Localized muscle recovery actually takes place very rapidly. But if you do 10 sets of very, very heavy squats on Monday, your legs may recover by Tuesday, but try to do a heavy back workout! You won’t feel the inclination—because your whole system has been called upon.

Demands have been made upon all your body’s recuperative subsystems—not just the legs. You’ve got to allow the whole body to recover.

John Little: Let’s say a person trains with 20 sets a bodypart. Now,

Editor’s note: For a complete presentation of Mike Mentzer’s Heavy Duty training system, consult his books Heavy Duty II and High Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way, available through the ad on page 145 of this issue, from Home Gym Warehouse, (800) 447-008, or by visiting Mentzer’s official Web site, www.mikementzer.com.

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

Article copyright © 2005, John Little. All rights reserved. Mike Mentzer quotations that appear in this series provided courtesy of Joanne Sharkey, © 2005 and used with permission. IM

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of a sprinter to the calves of a distance runner? I use this example all the time, and it’s one of the best there is. The sprinter always has a large, muscular calf.

The distance runner always has a stringy little calf—because he overtrains. He’s chronically overtraining. And I would venture to say that the majority of bodybuilders, top bodybuilders today, who are training more than two hours a day, are so grossly overtrained, they’d look like distance runners if they weren’t taking steroids. You just cannot recover from that much training.

We talked about it earlier.

What’s the first thing your body has to do after a workout? You stimulate growth first—hopefully, if you train hard enough and stimulated growth, you will grow—but what has to happen first?

If you train before recovery takes place, then growth won’t occur.

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Take

That!

Gustavo Badell Went From Third-Tier to Top-Level Pro and Thumbed His Nose at the Skeptics

by David Young

Well, guys, I hate to say I told you so. Actually, that’s not true. I don’t mind saying it at all. I told you Gus-

tavo had the stuff. With the help of Milos Sarcev and a nice sponsorship contract with MuscleTech, Gustavo turned his entire bodybuilding career around and thumbed his nose at the skeptics.

I’ve always said that you should never judge bodybuilders by their past showings. A person can look the same for years and then make some changes in diet, training and/or attitude, and presto. He or she is like a whole different person.

By now everyone with access to the Internet knows that Gustavo placed third at the ’04 IRON MAN Pro, where he qualified for the Olympia, but the fierce competitor didn’t stop there. He placed seventh at the Arnold and an amazing third at the Olympia, beating some of the hugest names in the sport.

He’s had his pictures in every magazine and on many Web sites, including IRON MAN’s graphicmuscle.com and flexonline.com, and he’s been discussed on some of the biggest bulletin boards, including getbig.com, musclemayhem.com, ironage.us

and bodybuilding.com.

With all he’s accomplished, Gustavo’s most impressive quality is that he absolutely loves life. He loves his family and loves training and competing. It’s wonderful to see that kind of enthusiasm in a pro these days. Many lose the hunger after earning their cards. Not Gustavo. You can feel it when he speaks.

DY: Where were you born, and where do you live now?

GB: I was born on November 3, 1972, in Venezuela. Now I live in Carolina, Puerto Rico, with my wife, Jessica, and our two children, Gustavo Jr., 11, and Barbie Ann, two. They are my biggest fans!

DY: What are your height and weight, and how long have you been training and competing?

GB: I’m 5’8” tall. My competition weight is 236 pounds, and my offseason weight is 255 to 260. I began training when I was 18 years old.

My first competition was the 1990 Junior Caribbean Championships, which I won.

DY: So you’ve been training for nearly 15 years? www.ironmanmagazine.com \ MARCH 2005 155

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Top-Level Pro

Reprinted with permission from Iovate Health Science Marketing Inc.

I

f you were going to hand out a trophy for the Most Improved Bodybuilder of 2004, it would have to go to Gustavo Badell. A few years ago I was having lunch with friends who were also IFBB pro bodybuilders, and Gustavo’s name came up.

The guy has a great physique, I said. He just needs to get his conditioning down and work on bringing up a few lagging bodyparts. “No, David,” one man argued, “the guy will never be a top contender. He placed 13th at the IRON MAN Pro and 24th at the Olympia.” I kept quiet, but I knew I was right.

Top-Level Pro

“My arms started growing like crazy, and all I was doing were chinups, pushups and dips.”

GB: And loving it!

DY: How did you get started in bodybuilding?

GB: When I was young, I always liked contact sports like boxing and kickboxing. When I was 16 or 17, I started amateur boxing, but I was skinny. My trainer told me to start lifting to put on weight and build up my arms because you get hit on the arms a lot, and it helps if they’re bigger.

I started training and, as it would turn out, I have good genetics for

Comstock

Gustavo Badell

bodybuilding. My arms started growing like crazy, and all I was doing were chinups, pushups and dips.

People started asking me if I was training for bodybuilding, but I said, “No, I’m just boxing.” They would say, “Wow! Your arms are huge for your body!” So then I started lifting weights, and I bought some books and magazines to learn about training and dieting. I began to really like it, and after six months I entered and won my first show. Now I love it. I’m so happy to be a bodybuilder!

DY: Besides being a pro bodybuilder, what do you do for a living?

GB: I’m a personal trainer in Puerto Rico. Most of my clients are top-level business executives and bankers and lawyers.

DY: Do you participate in other sports?

GB: I like aquatic sports like snorkeling, and I go shrimping sometimes.

DY: What motivates you to train and diet?

GB: Well, I love bodybuilding, and I love training, so diet is part of my life. In the past I really didn’t know the proper way to diet for competitions, but I’ve always been very disciplined with my diet because I want to do well. I’m very motivated—very motivated! I never complain about my diet. My wife is supportive, and that helps. Milos Sarcev has been great at giving me the knowledge about training and diet that I needed. Milos is so knowledgeable, and he’s become a good friend.

I’m motivated by being better at every competition. I love bodybuilding and want to do it all my life. The only time when I’m going to stop is when I die. I love the sport. Seriously!

DY: Your passion and enthusiasm really come through, and they’re contagious. How does your diet vary from off-season to precontest?

GB: In the off-season I eat more complex carbohydrates like potatoes, rice and oatmeal. I also eat more red meat. Before a contest I restrict carbohydrates and eat more chicken and fish. It’s all part of the plan to improve every time I compete.

DY: Do you have a cheat day?

GB: No, never in contest season.

I’m very disciplined. No one has to push me. I want it badly.

DY: Tell me about something you’ve done that you’re proud of.

GB: My nephew, Charlie, has Down’s syndrome. I wanted to take him to the gym and show him how to train. Everyone at the gym said, “Why are you even trying?” They didn’t think he could do anything.

Sometimes I couldn’t communicate with him with words, but I’d show him (continued on page 160)

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Gustavo Badell Hydroxycut before each cardio session.

DY: Can you describe a typical day of contest dieting?

GB: Okay.

Meal 1 2 cups oatmeal 15 egg whites Water

Meal 2 Muscletech Meso-Tech shake 4 weeks before a contest switch to 2 chicken breasts Steamed broccoli

Meal 3 White fish Baked potato Steamed broccoli

Meal 4 Muscletech Meso-Tech shake 4 weeks before a contest switch to 2 chicken breasts Steamed asparagus

“I don’t want to get bigger, just always better.”

Top-Level Pro

Comstock

Meal 5

(continued from page 156) how to do things by example: breathing, form, contracting up and down. Then he started to like it, and he’s gotten really good at it. He uses great form and everything. It makes me feel so good to see how happy it makes him! I love him very much, and he’s my number-one fan—he has all the magazines I’ve ever been in.

DY: Do you have any role models?

GB: Shawn Ray was the guy I most wanted to be like. He’s not too big, but he’s not too small. He’s just perfect. Plus, I like his attitude. He would always smile, he’s well-spoken, and he was also a great poser.

So when I first started bodybuilding, I said to myself, I want to be like him.

Now my role model is Milos Sarcev. He’s my trainer and my friend. He’s like a big brother to me, and he’s taught me so much, not just about training and dieting but also how to enjoy bodybuilding no matter what the result of a contest.

I’m just so happy to be competing and doing what I love, and he’s the

same way. He’s a real inspiration to me, and I feel fortunate to know him and his family.

DY: What are your goals?

GB: I want to be the best bodybuilder I can be—not to win contests, but for me. It would be great to be Mr. Olympia, but I can’t say, “I’m going to win,” or “I’m going to be in the top five.” You never know what the judges think. I want to show everyone how good I can be, and I want to always get better. I don’t want to get bigger, just always better.

DY: How many weeks out do you start your preparation?

GB: I start at 12 to 18 weeks, but I’m already eating clean and staying lean at that point.

DY: What do you do for cardio?

GB: Cardio is 30 minutes in the morning first thing, working up to 45 minutes, and another session at night.

DY: What supplements do you use?

GB: Muscletech Meso-Tech shake. Muscletech Cell Tech and the

Steak Baked potato Steamed broccoli Before evening cardio Muscletech Hydroxycut

Meal 6 Muscletech Meso-Tech shake with Crystal Light 4 weeks before a contest switch to White fish Steamed broccoli

Meal 7 15 egg white whites Steamed broccoli DY: How do you overcome plateaus?

GB: First, I just take a break for a week or two. Then I come back and change it up a little. Do that, and eventually, you’ll start growing again.

DY: What’s your training philosophy?

GB: I listen to my body. I thrive on high-volume workouts.

DY: Can you outline your training routine?

GB: Sure, I train each bodypart one time a week all year, even before a contest. Most exercises get four sets, and I like high repetitions—in the 12 to 15 range—with heavy weight.

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Gustavo Badell Monday: Chest, biceps and abs Incline presses Bench presses Machine vertical bench presses Flyes Dumbbell curls Standing barbell curls Preacher curls One-arm cable curls Standing cable curls Reverse curls Wrist curls Various ab exercises

Reprinted with permission from Iovate Health Science Marketing Inc.

“I train each bodypart one time a week all year.”

Tuesday: Back, triceps and abs Chins Pulldowns Barbell rows Dumbbell rows Lying extensions Dips Pushdowns Various ab exercises Wednesday: Shoulders and abs Dumbbell presses Hammer Strength machine presses Dumbbell laterals Upright rows Rear-delt machine Dumbbell bent-over laterals Shrugs Various ab exercises

Reprinted with permission from Iovate Health Science Marketing Inc.

Top-Level Pro

Thursday: Quads and hamstrings Front squats Squats Hack squats Leg presses Lunges Leg extensions Leg curls Deadlifts

“I like high repetitions—in the 12-to-15 range.”

Friday: Calves and abs Smith-machine standing calf raises Standing calf machine Seated calf raises I work abs four times a week in contest season, usually supersetting these exercises: Crunches Cable crunches Leg raises Cable serratus pulls DY: What are some of the challenges you’ve faced as a pro bodybuilder?

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Gustavo Badell GB: Being noticed and judged all the time. When you’re a baseball player, unless you’re really famous, nobody notices you. You don’t stand out. As a bodybuilder you are so much bigger than everyone that you stand out. Wherever you go—to the bank or to the supermarket—people notice you. Some people tell you how good you look, but others start talking about steroids.

It bothered me when my son came home from school and said, “Papa, a bunch of boys from school

said the only reason you got big is because of steroids.” So I said to him, “Well, what do you think?” And he said, “You eat six or seven times a day, and you train so hard every day and you take a lot of protein.” It bothers me when people tell my son that they don’t respect what his father does. They respect baseball players, but bodybuilding is harder than baseball. Baseball is about having a talent and playing a game.

But with bodybuilding you have to train and diet and get enough sleep

Gustavo Badell’s Contest History •’97 IFBB World Amateur Championships, 10th heavyweight •’98 IFBB Grand Prix Germany, 9th •’99 IFBB Grand Prix England, 17th •’99 IFBB Night of Champions, did not place •’99 IFBB World Pro Championship, did not place •’00 IFBB IRON MAN Pro, 18th •’00 IFBB Night of Champions, did not place •’00 IFBB Toronto Pro Invitational, did not place •’00 IFBB World Pro Championship, 11th •’01 IFBB Grand Prix England, did not place •’01 IFBB IRON MAN Pro, 16th •’01 IFBB San Francisco Pro Invitational, 11th •’02 IFBB IRON MAN Pro, 13th •’02 IFBB Toronto Pro Invitational, 3rd •’02 IFBB Night of Champions, 10th •’02 IFBB Southwest Pro Cup, 6th •’02 IFBB Mr. Olympia, 24th •’04 IFBB IRON MAN Pro, 3rd •’04 IFBB Arnold Classic, 7th •’04 IFBB San Francisco Pro Invitational, 4th •’04 IFBB Show of Strength Pro Championship, 3rd •’04 IFBB Mr. Olympia, 3rd

Top-Level Pro

and take supplements and do cardio. Bodybuilding is not just a sport—it’s a lifestyle. You have to live it all the time.

DY: Name something you love about bodybuilding.

GB: The people you meet as a bodybuilder and the respect bodybuilders have for each other. Everyone is so supportive within the community; it’s a great feeling.

Editor’s note: Visit Gustavo Badell’s Web site, www.gustavobadell.com. Visit his sponsor’s Web site at www .muscletech.com, and visit his contest adviser’s Web site at www .milossarcev.com. IM 164 MARCH 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Lonnie Teper’s

Teper’s Picks

2004 Awards Ro-o-o-nie!

Ro-o-o-nie!

Bodybuilder of the Year

Comeback

Comstock

(Guess who)

Coleman nailed his 25th win.

of the Year

Ronnie Coleman, who else? The Gustavo Badell, who else? After being just Big Nasty recorded his seventh cona guy filling out the lineup for years (he was secutive Mr. Olympia win, tying him 16th at the ’01 IRON MAN Pro, 13th in 2002), with the Governator, and three Puerto Rico’s Badell has earned a new moniker, victories at the grand prix of the Freakin’ Rican. He stunned the crowd at last Russia, England and Holland season’s IRON MAN during the weekend after the O, with a powerful thirdfor a career total of 25, making place showing behind Coleman numero uno in the Dexter Jackson and Lee all-time-total-wins department.

Priest. That qualified All that at 40 years of age. him for the Olympia, Just when you thought the where he promptly Arlington, Texas, physique-astunned the crowd again freak was slowing down, he with another shocking showed up—in prime form, to third-place finish—this boot—at 286 pounds in 2003 time behind only Ronand 290-plus this season. Case nie Coleman and Jay closed.

NEW GUYS

THREADS

Cutler. Muy bueno, Gustavo.

Kris Dim, who else? Okay, so I didn’t have a lot to choose from here, with Richard Jones losing the magic he possessed when he won the USA in 2003. Still, Dim’s star shined brightly.

Kris qualified for the Olympia in his first try, at the San Francisco Pro, besting Gustavo Badell and Ahmad Haidar; placed 12th at the O and then finished fifth, fourth and third at the Russian, Dutch and English grand prix, respectively, to complete a banner season. And he Kris beat a chap named Markus Ruhl Dim. twice while he was at it.

What makes it all that much more impressive is that Dim fractured his ankle while training about 10 weeks out from the Olympia, then tore cartilage in his knee while filming a training video less than three weeks out. No rookie performance there.

THE FREAKIN’ RICAN

Dressed

Comstock

Comstock

R o o k i e o f t h e Ye a r Best Kenny Jones, who else? No baggies or sweats for this smoothwalkin’, sweet-talkin’ New Yorker.

Or is it Floridian now? Doesn’t matter. Jones proved once again that clothes do make the man. Kenny says he loves to entertain the fans during his routine, but his ever-slick, ever-changing wardrobe brings him cheers offstage too. No Men’s Warehouse for this cat.

166 MARCH 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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MORE AWARDS

Postmaster of the Year

Illustration by Larry Eklund

Shawn Ray, who else? Talk about endurance! Shawn put up an amazing 4,015 posts on getbig.com alone during the 2004 season, including 2,890 pictures of himself to give his messages visual effect. And we thought Lee Haney’s record of eight Mr. O titles was untouchable.

YOUNG BLOOD

Grappler

Movie queen and fitn ess king. Jane Russell and Jack LaL anne at Jack’s 90th birthday party.

h his tickleJack takes Liz throug We can tell it’s sculpt ab program. . working—for Liz too

of the Year

Manion

Photography by Lonnie Teper

Tyler Manion lets his half nelson do the talking.

HOT SHOTS

BY JERRY FREDRICK

In an industry with a lot of smack talk but no smacking, it’s nice to see someone who actually speaks softly but carries a big stick. Or in this case, a big half nelson. Tyler Manion, the 10year-old son of J.M. Manion and grandson of NPC Prez Jim, is a phenom who, on December 4, not only won the Pine-Richland Open Wrestling Tournament in Gibsonia, Pennsylvania, but, for the second time this year, was unscored upon. The 75-pounder is 9–2 for the season, which gives him 11 more bouts than any loudbarking bodybuilder in the industry engaged in last year.

Lonnie’s tip for getting hot babes like Elsa: Sneak up from behind.

www.ironmanmagazine.com \ MARCH 2005 167

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NPC NATIONALS

M O R E N AT I O N A L S

An Open Letter

Oldies but Goodies

to Chris Cook

Comstock

Liberman

www.Repetrope.com

First of all, congratulations on winning the ’04 Nationals and moving on to the When L.T. first met Chris Cook at the pro ’00 Nationals (above), his advice to ranks.

Chris was to pursue modeling. Four You years—and an overall National crown weren’t later (left)—Cook made him a believer. set back by those two setbacks at the USA, when you won the supers but not the overall, and that tenacity deserves the highest commendation.

I’m also impressed by your memory. You remembered that, when I first met you in your room at the ’00 Nationals in New York, I gave you a couple of compliments.

Was impressed with the big calves. And the nice smile.

But, I said, at 5’11” and 216 pounds, you were better off shooting for a contract with Calvin Klein than a bodybuilding-related company. Privately, I told your guru at the time, Hany Rambod, that, although you were only 24, I didn’t see a topfive finish at the national level in your future. I wasn’t just referring to that year.

Hey, I’ve been wrong before. Ask Jay Cutler. You got it right in Dallas, and with your frame you can eventually add about 20 pounds to the 248 you weighed there, I think. If you can get thicker in the chest and back—and keep the conditioning you displayed in Dallas—you just might have some splendid times at the pro level.

Of course your wife, Denise, still thinks the Calvin Klein idea is a great one. Not me. You’ve proved you were wearing the right genes all along.

Sincerely, Lonnie Teper

Steve Burke (left) and Randy Jackson Sr. have 91 years on the earth between them.

The bantamweight class is often the most overlooked at any contest, but the battle at the Nationals was a terrific one.

Steve Burke, Randy Jackson Sr. and Heath Warren fought down to the wire, with Burke scoring a one-point decision—thanks to a tie-breaker with Jackson—to beat two standout competitors.

Kudos to Burke, who also won the bantams at the ’03 USA; thumbs-up to both Burke and Jackson for proving— again—that age is just a number. Ohio’s Burke is 46 years young, and according to sources, Iowa’s Jackson is but one year his junior. I hope they take off their shirts at their upcoming 30-year high school reunions.

ADD NATIONALS

Not Middle of the Road

Bui leads the way in a brilliant class

Comstock

Although Chris Cook was a deserving overall winner, he had to pose down a batch of excellent class winners. Hats off to heavyweight champ Caprice Murray, light-heavy winner “Don’t Knock the” Roc Shabazz, middleweight victor Eric Bui, lightweight leader Patrick Richardson and bantamweight champ Steve Burke for earning pro status. Bill Wilmore, who was second to Cook, and Aaron Garza, who lost to Shabazz by a single digit, also left The ’04 NPC National champions (from left): Steve Burke (bantamweight), lasting impressions.

Patrick Richardson (lightweight), Eric Bui (middleweight), Roc Shabazz (light Murray and Bui, in particular, drew immediate attenheavyweight), Caprice Murray (heavyweight) and Chris Cook (superheavytion with their superthick physiques. Bui led the way in a weight and overall). middleweight class that will go down as one of the best It will be interesting to see how the 5’5”, 173-pound Bui in the history of the contest, with the always impressive Stan does as a pro. He says his first show will be the ’06 IRON McQuay having to settle for second again.

MAN, where he plans to compete at 195 to 200 pounds Anthony Watkins, who may have the best arms on a without sacrificing condition. David Henry, another National middleweight since Vince Comerford, was third, with an allmiddleweight winner, has proven to be a little big man. Look time-best Tricky Jackson in fourth and Garrett Allin, the for Eric to do the same. ’04 USA champ, landing in fifth.

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Texas

Journey to Colemanville: The Inside Story

Road Trip A visit to Mr. O’s pad

Heavy Medal

Drives a pair of fans mad

After the Friday night judging at the ’04 Nationals, which were held in Dallas, Dave Liberman and I BIG RON’S MANTLEPIECE jumped into Ronnie ColeL.T. tries to get up close and man’s Hummer, personal with a Sandow.

L.T. and Dave Liberman got a deluxe tour of Ronnie Coleman’s Texas which the Big Nasty digs. Liberman was so excited, he forced L.T. to exercise in Ronnie’s had lent to Hany Ram- home gym, while Ronnie did some crunching—number crunching. bod for the weekend. Before heading out for a visit to Coleman’s pad in nearby Arlington, we stopped at the local Outback Steakhouse for a late dinner.

We were joined at the table by two of Coleman’s sometime training partners who were competing in Dallas—General Robert “E.” Lee and Gus “the Bus” Carter. After the normal chitchat, things got real entertaining—on the television, that is—where clips of the now infamous Detroit Piston–Indiana Pacer brawl were being flashed on ESPN, causing all of us to make a mad dash for the tube. Nearly a month later I’m still stunned by that sports event.

Almost as stunned as Liberman was when we finally made it to Ronnie’s house, around 12:30 a.m. Talk about a kid in a candy story. Dave had me snapping pictures of him in front of every trophy case in the house, which means I had to take a lot of pictures. Liberman was so jacked up about the experience, he called several of his friends back home in Mentor, Ohio, on his cell phone—that’s 4 a.m., Ohio time—and then forced me to join him for a workout on the stair climber in Coleman’s home gym. Not that we couldn’t have used the exercise, mind you. And what was Ronnie doing during at time? What else?—working on his laptop in the kitchen, making online deposits.

Okay, I admit I posed for a picture or two in the place as well. My favorite is the one of me standing in front of the Big Nasty’s seven Sandows. It’s certainly as close as I’ll ever get to one.

Thanks for the hospitality, Ronnie. By the way, with the Christmas spirit in mind, do you really need all seven?

N E W B O O K S D E P T.

CEO MUSCLE

Jay shows his literary bent

Want to find out what makes Jay Cutler tick? Pick up a copy of his new book, CEO Muscle: Jay Cutler’s No-Nonsense Guide to Successful Bodybuilding. It takes you from Cutler’s early years in Sterling, Massachusetts, to his current life in Summerlin, Nevada, as one of the most successful bodybuilding entrepreneurs in the history of the industry.

His success hasn’t happened by accident. Jay took an accountant’s approach to the sport.

He planned every workout, every meal, recording them in his journal and evaluating the results.

“I approach bodybuilding as a business: both the training and the financial end of it,” Cutler writes. “You have to be prepared to roll with the disappointments, appreciate the wins and learn from the losses. For me bodybuilding and business are almost synonymous. They both require a plan and a system. I’m always working to be the best I can be in both worlds.”

It’s a good, fun read, and the pictures from Cutler’s youth will make you smile, including the early shots of Jay and wife Kerry. Also check out Jay’s counsel for beginning, intermediate, advanced and competitive training; his section on nutrition is well done and enlightening.

And check out his results: The 31-year-old has more contracts out than the late John Gotti.

To find out more about the book—or what’s going on with Jay—log on to www.jaycutler.com.

Cutler always has a leg up on the competition.

www.ironmanmagazine.com \ MARCH 2005 169

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Stunts Web

Way to Go

Backstage story: Manny Perry

Unlimited

Former standout credits his career Success to bodybuilding

Two-time Mr. America Manny Perry is back in the limelight again. After a highly successful career as a bodybuilder, the former Mr. USA is now a muchsought-after stunt coordinator, second-unit director and stuntman with the premier Los Angeles stunt organization, Stunts Unlimited (www.stunts Doubling for Lou Ferrigno on unlimited.com).

CHRIS COOK The 6’2”, 240“The Hulk” (above) and striking pound Perry, a native a pose during the Mr. America To view more than 1,000 of Plymouth, Masyears. inspiring Bill Comstock sachusetts, came out of nowhere to win the Mr. USA in ’76, then followed up with photos from the Nationback-to-back wins at the Mr. America competition in the next als, go to two years. www.ironman Perry spent five years as a stunt double for Lou Ferrigno on magazine.com.

“The Incredible Hulk” and three years with Mr. T on “The A-Team,” and he continues to lend his body to such film and TV projects as “Taking Lives,” “Kangaroo Jack,” “Daddy Day Care,” “Cold Case,” “Punked” and “Pacific Blue.”

“Without a doubt, the fierce dedication and no-holds-barred spirit required for competition in the sport of bodybuilding prepared me for my success with Stunts Unlimited,” says Perry. “The camaraderie and quest for perfection that exists among bodybuilders is similar to what I experience in my current stunt family.”

Perry will appear in an upcoming HBO film starring Outkast titled “My Life in Idlewood” and in numerous other commercial, film and television projects. He’ll also appear as me at my next high school reunion. Easiest job prep of all time, huh, Manny?

ADD NEW BOOKS \ Bob Delmonteque has long been a hero of mine. And it’s not just because the 84-year-old looks better than most dudes 30 to 40 years his junior. I mean, how many guys do you know who got to pose in a swimming pool Bob with a bikini-clad Marilyn Monroe? with Delmonteque’s seventh book, LifeBrooke long Fitness, 2004, written with Dr. Burns.

Tony Quinn, is an impressive publication that includes 12 chapters on such topics as common myths about aging and fitness; Quinn and the Educo System; the benefits of proper breathing; stamina and endurance; injury prevention and nutrition and longevity. Oh, and they also

Lifelong Fitness, 2004

include, natch, how to improve your sex life.

The gregarious Delmonteque, a former bodybuilder and owner-operator of more than 500 health clubs worldwide, trained the original Apollo astronauts and has trained such Hollywood legends as John Wayne, Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, Monroe and Matt Dillon. He’s truly an amazing specimen and an inspiration to all who want to grow younger as they grow older.

“You have choices in life,” says Delmonteque. “One is to look good, feel good and enjoy life to the fullest. The other choice is to look bad, feel bad and be miserable. It’s in your hands to make the right decision.”

After checking out his book, I’d say the right decision would be to get a copy and get with the program. Log on to www.bobdelmonteque.com to order it and to learn more about this amazing 84-year-old kid.

170 MARCH 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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U P, D O W N A N D R O U N D T H E ’ 0 4 N P C N A T I O N A L S PHOTOGRAPHY BY LONNIE TEPER What, me worry? Lauren Polk, a 19-year-old from Germantown, Indiana, shows no sign of nerves as she prepares to take the stage in her first national show.

p after gives a thumbs-u Steve Weinberger ment to comire ret of t ou r Pro Champulling Vince Taylo w New York Men’s pete in Steve’s ne ca Performing be Tri the at ld pionship, to be he ve’s trying y 21. Okay, so Ste Arts Center on Ma say go for it, We nt. me ire ret of t to pull Taylor ou onstage.

Vince. We miss ya

What’s J.M. Manion show ing these fit petitors in th ness come Must be som latest edition of the NP C News? ething really funny.

NPC Wheelchair champ Tony Hawes was at his usual post at the Nationals, handling check-ins.

Robert “Bobby Biceps” Klein an d his better half, pro fitness star Kim Klein, gave expediter delux e Steve Stone the ir usual outstanding backsta ge help.

Liza Hughes stands at attention to hear the expediters’ instructions.

4 cerra, the ’0 Jennifer Be p, am ch s es tn Texas Fi nal title— added a Natio to her — rd ca o and a pr a victory in résumé with ort, divish the A, a.k.a. of her homesion in front . ns town fa Steve Wennerstrom and Nekole Hamrick prepare for their starring roles “Face/Off, the Sequel.”

The face behind the pictures: IM shutterbug Big Bill Comstock spent more time in a dark room than Bela Lugosi. In Bill’s case he was posting pix and audio stuff online—and getting his nutrition from room service.

Pro bodybuilder Ton ie Norman was looking spiffy, as alw ays—and awfully happy. The ’02 Team Universe champ recently graduated from the Nurse Science program at Marcus Oklahoma State Haley meets University. Congrats. one of his idols, Al George Bundy, from Farah “Married says the With Chilkey to his dren.” Wait biceps a minute— developthat’s not ment is Al. It’s the 100Floridarep cell based phone trainer Joe protocol.

McNeil.

Bodybuilders get a last-second pump backstage; fitness competitors get a lift— a leg lift, that is.

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Ruth Silverman’s

PUMP & CiRCUMSTANCE JUST BECAUSE

N E W S WAT C H

Big Doings

And even bigger rumors

You’ll find the ’04 Figure Olympia report on page 194, but here’s a shot of champ Davana Medina in something besides a lineup.

Manion

Model: Julie Lohre

A sincere thank-you to the NPC, the IFBB and the folks at Weider/AMI for giving me something to write about this month. Having missed the Nationals (darn that IRON MAN production Rumors of a split in the women’s O shows? schedule), I was looking at a fairly empty in-basket, but the flurry of official announcements, revised announcements and rumors in early December changed all that. Taking them in the order in which See one can take them seriouspage 173. ly, let’s start with new Pro Division regulations about women’s muscularity (see below).

NEW RULES

The 20 Percent

What’s a muscle girl to do?

Solution

biggest, baddest babes were The “advisory notice” posted at the IFBB Web not the ones who moved on site was dated December 6, but newly named Pro to the pros. Everything is Division head Jim Manion and his staff had been relative, of course, but if you talking about it for some time: “For aesthetics and build softer, kinder, gentler health reasons, the IFBB Professional Division pro ranks, the softer, kinder, requests that female athletes in bodybuilding, gentler amateur physiques fitness and figure decrease the amount of muscumaybe won’t get creamed larity by a factor of 20 percent.… All professional once they get there. judges have been advised of the proper criteria for To those who would give assessing female physiques.”

Mr. Manion a hard time for For a minute it was déjà vu all over again. Didn’t his efforts with a frequently we go through this in 2000 with the so-called new heard refrain: No, it’s not the judging standards for women’s bodybuilding? That same as telling Marion effort brought weight classes, a move designed to Jones not to run too fast. keep the shorter girls from getting “too big”— On the other hand, maybe although mostly what it did was get Juliette that’s not such a bad analoBergmann out of retirement. Extreme muscularity gy. In a time when in fact was no stranger at the ’04 Ms. Olympia contest No secret: Around the IRON MAN office, Jones’ accomplishments are (see page 182). In the pros, it seems, nothing folks think it wouldn’t be a bad idea if forbeing questioned because of much has changed—except that now the regs mer winner Valentina Chepiga, looking as what is essentially the elemost specifically cite fitness and figure athletes as she did at the ’04 Olympia, was the ideal phant in the room here, it well. Whoops. instead of eighth in her class. doesn’t take a peer-reviewed Naturally, the squawking hasn’t stopped. It’s study to see that this is good for all the women’s physique unfair, it’s arbitrary, it’s subjective, it’s trying to tell a female sports—for a lot more than “aesthetics and health” reasons. athlete not to be all she can be. And besides, it’s too late to That goes for the guys too, but that’s a whole other conversachange their preparation plans for the Arnold Fitness Weektion. end competitions. Plus, isn’t it just more of the same old, For those who would say that the 20-percent-less decree same old? doesn’t go far enough, that there should be (Dare I say it?)

Maybe—and maybe not. After all, there’s a new sheriff in drug testing to back it up: Maybe, but it’s a start. Despite the town, and anyone who doesn’t think Mr. Manion means it various protestations, no one with 20/20 vision is in the dark doesn’t know Big Jim. In the amateur NPC, of which he’s the about who will need to bring it down a big notch and who president, those New Standards of 2000 have not been forlooks fine the way she is. The athletes and their trainers will gotten. Log on to www.ironmanmagazine.com, go to the figure out how to alter their contest prep. That’s why they’re contest section, and take a look at the women who earned professionals. If the judges show that they mean it this time, pro cards at the ’04 Nationals. Then look at the women who this could be the start of something not so big. finished after them. Once again at an NPC national show, the 172 MARCH 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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RUMORS

Ms. O No Go?

Who sez so?

Notwithstanding all points made in the item at the far left, Can we talk about the number of conversations among men regarding what women should do with their bodies that have been taking place lately? Although it’s tough to I.D. a time in the history of women’s physique competition when that was not a common occurrence (from those who can’t handle how they look to the ones who want to worship at their larger-than-is-humanlypossible bodyparts), the bump in numbers came courtesy of a rumor.

According to “a highly placed source,” Weider/AMI CEO David Pecker was whacking the women flexers from the 2005 program. That led to further speculation that the Fitness O was an endangered species as well. As the story Endangered species? Denise Masino moved from one Web bulletin board to would be the first to tell you that another faster than you can say urban women’s pro bodybuilding is a don’tlegend, the folks who usually stick up for quit-your-day-job proposition. the bodybuilding establishment were quick to say it was not the real-deal 411. Longtime observers were taking a waitand-see attitude, however.

It’s hard to imagine that some things along those lines haven’t been discussed at Olympia central. Do they really want to reduce it to the Mr. O and a T&A contest, as the word on the street has it? Well, duh. Pecker is a mass-media mogul who’s looking grow the O into something the people out in not-so-massive land could go for. No way does the extreme sport of women’s bodybuilding advance those goals.

By the time this issue hits the stands, we’ll know if the story has legs. If it does, someone is bound to be unhappy whatever the outcome. There’s a common misconception that the AMI head, who is co-owner of the Olympia competitions, now owns the IFBB. It’s not true, of course. Which is why you can probably bank on the fact that the Pro Division will be crowning some lucky woman bodybuilder queen of the hop at the end of the year, one way or the other.

HOT SHOTS

BY JERRY FREDRICK

Comstock

Tito, Amy and Mike at Gold’s Gym. Hey, do you smell vodka and plastic? Okay, what's in the jug?

LENSMEN

Grand Old Guys

Of women’s physique photography

your Tara dials it in. (You’re hoping ’t aren , now ut abo t righ s phone ring you?)

Ruby kicks up her heels.

www.billdobbins.com

Contest photography by Bill Comstock

The alternate subtitle of this historic photo is: Everyone but Nafpliotis is how old?

These are the men who have devoted their careers to the pursuit of promoting the pulchritude of the fit female physique—in other words, the grand masters of women’s physique photography (from left): Ralph DeHaan, Barry Brooks, Reg Bradford, Steve Wennerstrom, John Nafpliotis and Bill Dobbins.

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PUMP & CiRCUMSTANCE WEDDING NOTES

Dirty Dancing Speaking of the Pro Division

That austere body made a lot of nitty-gritty rule changes in the procedures for pro fitness competition at the semiannual meeting that was held during Olympia weekend. Most of them involve details like who wears high heels when and how many Olympia Flapper scrapper— qualifications for Klaudia rocked the which shows. You house (see page can find them 188). posted at www.ifbb.com. One did intrigue me. In the two-minute fitness routines the women are now allowed to use “one or more pieces of music” instead of being required to make two music changes at specific points. Great idea—so the women can be even more flexible.

I’m for anything if it’ll get us more show tunes. Klaudia Kinska’s rousing medley that ended with “They Both Reached for the Gun,” from Chicago was my favorite at the O last year because she told a story, fluidly, letting her feats of fitness punctuate the lyrics. (She also did some strength moves on a chair, which is hard, but the judges don’t usually give extra points for that.) Show tunes let you do those kinds of things. Chicago is hot right now—because of the Oscarwinning movie version—but there are many sources of such material to be found in Tin Pan Alley. Hip-hop routines are fun, too, but you have to be as skilled as Stacy Hylton or Tanji Johnson to make the moves—and transitions—look as slick as they should.

As wonderful as Kinska’s gun-toting-flapper number was, she could only manage eighth place in a field that included outstanding entertainment from almost every competitor. Kelly Ryan won the round, with, in order, Jen Hendershott, Adela Garcia-Friedmansky, Kim Klein, Hylton, Kinska, Johnson and Mindy O’Brien leading the pack behind her. Brava, ladies! Brava!

OTHER SHOWS

Did someone say

Nationals?

Summer Montebone.

Having missed the trip to Dallas to catch the ’04 NPC National Bodybuilding and Fitness Championships in the ripped and semiripped flesh, I was thrilled to be able to view all the hot bods at the newly revamped www .ironmanmagazine.com and see what the judges had in mind. One standout decision: tallclass winner Summer Montebone (left), a Midwest flower who blossomed into a winner at Dave Liberman’s Natural Northern USA in 2003 and took the Ohio Championships in ’04 before lassoing a pro card in Texas.

You’ll find tons of body heat (Get it—hot bods/body heat?) from the Nationals in our contest gallery: Hundreds of live-action shots

by IM’s Bill Comstock are just a click away. It’s sort of almost like being there.

Blessed Peckham can sure pick ’em

Photo courtesy of Monica Brant-Peckham

MORE NEW RULES

Mo and Scott said their vows in a beachfront ceremony but kept the flip-flops out of the camera’s eye.

The wooing began when he brought her in to appear at a health fair at his Powerhouse Gym in Connecticut and continued when he came down to Maryland with a friend to help out at her contest. Cute, huh?

After a spell of long-distance dating—she’s from Texas but lives in Southern California—fitness star Monica Brant and lucky guy Scott Peckham tied the knot on a beautiful beach in Rhode Island in September. “It was an amazing day,” reported Brant, “perfect temperature, with the sun and wind blowing enough to keep the guys cool in their tuxes! I was barefoot, and Scott had on flip flops!” The couple has purchased four acres in Austin, Texas, and is building a house, said Mo, but they weren’t sure when they’d actually get to settle there.

Despite her drop to third at the Figure Olympia, the blushing bride had nothing but praise for rivals Davana Medina and Jenny Lynn (“They are both beautiful ladies, and I have enjoyed getting to know them”) and a list of things to be thankful for.

“I had seven photo shoots lined up after the O,” said Brant, whose first magazine cover was the ’94 issue of Muscle & Fitness. “I don’t think I’m doing too badly as an elder in the sport.” She chuckled when she said that and then added, “Seriously, I couldn’t be happier with my life. I have been very blessed and now have an amazing man to dream, plan and proceed to the future with! God has been very good to me!”

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MORE CLASSIC NEWS

PROS SHOWS

Arnold Classic time

T.C. Chang \ www.fitwings.com

The most exclusive invites in the physique world went out just in time to put a damper on holiday chowing down, as promoter Jim Lorimer announced the lucky gals who will be flexing, flipping and falling in line at the Ms., Fitness and Figure International competitions on March 4 in Columbus, Ohio. Adela Garcia-Friedmansky and Jenny Lynn are coming back to defend their Fitness and Figure International titles, respectively, along with some familiar faces and a few challengers who may be able to crack the inner circle.

The fitness show could well be a repeat of 2004, with ’00 winner Kelly Ryan and local heroine Jen Hendershott, second and third in ’04, onboard to give AGF a run for her money. With Adela winning the Olympia, where Ryan dropped to third behind runnerJenny Lynn is such an angel that up Hendershott, however, a fair amount is she was invited to defend her title at riding on this matchup besides the actual the Figure International. $50,000 total prize money.

Other faces familiar to aficionados of the colossal Columbus weekend include Tracey Greenwood, Stacy Hylton, Tanji Johnson, Kim Klein and Julie Palmer. In terms of the unfamiliar, Lorimer and his partner, California big kahuna Arnold Schwarzenegger, have extended their hospitality to a pair of freshman sensations from the 2004 season, Mindy O’Brien of Canada and Debbie Czempinski of Australia. Plus, Aleksandra Kobielak will making her return to fitness, and Carla Sanchez will be making her Fitness I debut.

On the Figure invite list, Lynn is now a two-time winner, while Monica Brant (now billing herself Brant-Peckham; see the item at left) is the two-time runner-up.

They’ll be joined by a slew of sleek physique artists, including Columbus vets Jamie Franklin, Elaine Goodlad, Shannon Meteraud and Amber Littlejohn as well as new-to-International faces like Zena Collins, Christine Pomponio-Pate, Latisha Wilder and Lynsey Beattie Ahearne and new pros Jane Awad, Mary Elizabeth Lado and Jen Hartley.

The Arnold Fitness Weekend is so big, we’d need another hundred pages just to list all the different sports competitions Messrs. Lorimer and Schwarzenegger put on during their three-day homage to all things fit. Seriously, it is the most fun work can be, at least in this industry, and I never met a fan, competitor or exhibitor from any of the many athletic worlds that meet there who wasn’t having a fabulous time. If you’re even thinking about joining in, check it out at www.arnoldclassic.com.

ARMAMENTS Battle of the Sexes?

No, it’s just a couple of pro bodybuilders who ran into each other at

Bradford

the Nationals: Tonie Norman (left) and Dexter Jackson.

Women’s Bodybuilding Is alive and well in Columbus Having achieved her heart’s desire and won the overall Ms. Olympia title at last, Iris Kyle decided to skip the season opener this year, leaving the door wide open for ’02 Betty Viana. and ’03 International winner Yaxeni Oriquen to recoup the title.

Yaxeni, who just loves standing in the spotlight with Arnold, probably won’t bother to knock. She’ll face stiff competition in the heavyweights from the likes of Helle Nelson, Lisa Aukland, Betty Pariso, Betty Viana, Christine Roth, Pauliina Talus and, in her pro debut, ’04 World Amateur champ Colette Nelson.

Since reigning lightweight champ Dayana Cadeau also decided to take a day off after winning at the ’04 Ms. O, the under-135-pound class could be a real opportunity for some lucky flexer. The list of those shooting for the moon includes Nancy Lewis, Desiree Ellis, Fannie Barrios, Angel Debatin, Mah-Ann Mendoza and Brenda Raganot, another former class winner at this show.

Vis-à-vis the 20 percent rule, perhaps we’ll finally get to find out whether there’s any truth to that old adage: Even if they ate a lot less protein powder, the champs would still be the champs.

MORE NATIONAL

CHAMPS Meet Team Gina Birthday greetings! Houston’s Gina Davis shares a moment in the spotlight with her trainer, Howie Huddleston.

The 5’5”, 156-pound Davis turned 37 about three weeks after becoming the ’04 National Heavyweight and Overall champ.

Bradford

International Flavor

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PUMP & CiRCUMSTANCE Scribblings

SAD NEWS R.I.P.

Nevarez

Her friends in the fitness world were absolutely floored to hear of the passing of Ursula Buckanes Henry due to breast cancer. A live wire from the Motor City, Ursula had energy enough to fill a dozen lineups and just the biggest heart. Pump & Circumstance first caught her act at the ’96 Galaxy and followed her to the NPC. A professional dancer and choreographer, she turned pro after winning the ’96 North American Championships and competed in the ’99 Fitness Olympia at the age of 39. In 2000, thanks to her long résumé of volunteer work with the Special Olympics and other organizations, Buckanes Henry was selected by the United At the ’00 Fitness Olympia, Ursula Way as a Community Hero and got to carry choreographed and created the the Olympic torch during its Detroit run costume for her routine, a tribute before the Summer Games. Fellow Detroiter to Josephine Baker.

Melissa Frabbiele was onstage—taking second—the night Ursula won the NAC. “She loved this sport so much,” said Frabbiele. “She told no one except her husband. I did not even know, despite the fact that we judge all of the local shows here together.” At a contest in September, Buckanes Henry brushed off concerns that she wasn’t looking well. Said Frabbiele, “It was not like her to show emotion, and that day she was breaking down here and there. Now I know she was there to say good-bye.”

Good-bye, Ursula, we’re glad we knew you. IM’s deepest sympathies to Ursula’s husband, Virgil Henry, and all her family and friends.

HOT SHOTSˆ

BY JERRY FREDRICK

Couldn’t help but notice She seemed like such a nice girl.

Pro figure luminary—and MBA graduate—Dina Al-Sabah is having a ball hosting a sexual-advice bulletin board at getbig.com and from all accounts is handling it very well. Boy, the things you don’t know about people.

Oh, pu-leeze.

Kelly Ryan, who performed with a torn calf muscle, took flak from the Mondaymorning quarterbacks for having done a routine at the Olympia that she’d used before. Yeah, but she was even better this time, despite the injury.

And he sews too. Rumor has it that Musclemag International and Oxygen publisher Robert Kennedy is into women’s exercise shorts. Mind out of the gutter there. I’m talking about Faremon, his five-year-old line of active and leisure wear.

The stuff is cute, and according to a press release, it’s highperformance, lowmaintenance and designed to “honor the curves of the woman.”

It sure honors the curves of cover model Lisa Ray. To see the spring collection, go to www.faremon .com.

Don't you wish you could hypnotize women too?

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Neveux

George says , “Welcome to Meral's gun show.”

Neveux

Neveux

Abby has a right to be sassy.

Look at that weighttrained bod!

Silverman

Ursula Buckanes Henry

To contact Lonnie Teper about material possibly pertinent to News & Views, write to 1613 Chelsea Road, #266, San Marino, CA 91108; fax to (626) 289-7949; or send e-mail to 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.

Olympia Weekend Booth Action Photography by Mervin Petralba

Rich Iannone and Jennifer Searles pump up Prolab.

Pink power. Kirsten Nicewarner, Julie Palmer, Greg Henry, Adela Friedmansky and Michelle Adams at the GNC booth.

Jeff Golini.

Beautiful people populated the WorldSize booth.

Dean Caputo, Rebecca Ryann and Pete Palvalfi.

Pharm-er’s daughter’s ? Cynthia Quinn Sutton, Renee McGee and Paul Bridges Michihara. and Grace Rivera at the ErgoPharm booth.

Liz Massry and Rich Gaspari (yes, that Rich Gaspari!).

Mike Lovels, Candice Houston and Dan Amato.

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Jason Brown and Paul Abeyta.

Laura Davis and Monica White.

Renee Hoppe and Chef Jay.

Milk maids all in a row. Allison Williams, Kerry Yates and Phil ConnolMichelle Troll, Srashance, Julie Komanowski, ly—with Dorian peering over Stephanie Collins and Jodi Miller. their shoulders.

Dave Rose and Marissa Extreme Sciences: Russ Greenberg, Debbie Leung, Garin Patrick, Thompson (notice the Carmen Dupree and Guy Regalado. “iss” in her first name).

Sorry, ladies, we’re just trying to read the labels. Sherry Goggin and Flo Jalin.

VPX’s bevy of beauties never fails to impress.

Tim Doyle, Carmen Garcia, Jim Erica Davis, Lainey Todd and Joe Satalowich Mies. and Tiffany Jawitz.

Davana Medina, Greg Adler Lots of familiar faces—and bod- and Gina ies—at the MuscleTech booth: Tomaseski.

Justin Brooks, Kim Lyons, Carol Grow and Christian Boeving.

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Bodybuilding .com has got it going on.

Ă&#x2022;04 Ms. Olympia

Iris K. Has Her Day Hell Has Frozen Over, Eh?

by Ruth Silverman

Photography by Bill Comstock

Free download from imbodybuilding.com

Overall: Iris Kyle Lightweight 1) Dayana Cadeau* 2) Denise Masino* 3) Marja Lehtonen* 4) Nancy Lewis 5) Desiree Ellis 6) Mah-Ann Mendoza 7) Joanna Thomas 8) Valentina Chepiga 9) Vilma Caez Heavyweight 1) Iris Kyle* 2) Lenda Murray* 3) Yaxeni Oriquen* 4) Betty Pariso 5) Betty Viana 6) Lisa Aukland 7) Bonny Priest *Qualifies for the ’05 Ms. Olympia.

lightweight champ Dayana Cadeau for the overall to become the new queen of women’s bodybuilding.

Nine lightweights and seven heavies hit the stage flexing at the judging, and there wasn’t a seriously mistimed peak in the bunch. As with the Mr. O proceedings, a new format had the women posing individually at the judging before

Heavyweight 3) Yaxeni Oriquen

Overall: Iris Kyle

Õ04 IFBB Ms. Olympia

Heavyweight 1) Iris Kyle

Heavyweight 2) Lenda Murray

LAS VEGAS—They said it wouldn’t be done— that the IFBB pro judging panel would never pick Iris Kyle over defending and eight-time champ Lenda Murray in the heavyweight class at the Ms. Olympia competition. That Murray’s superior intangibles— lines, looks and the ability to exude charisma while just standing in the lineup—would carry the day even though Kyle, arguably, had the more complete body. They obviously forgot that the adage about Olympia champs having to be knocked out cold to lose the title doesn’t apply to the women. Or maybe youknow-what has finally frozen over. Kyle scored a solid class victory over Murray at the ’04 IFBB Ms. O competition, which was held on October 29 at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, then easily beat

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Õ04 Ms. Olympia all of the above. Once again, both ladies were laden with muscle— and ripped. Once again, Kyle’s thigh sweep and calf development were to many eyes superior. This time the panel thought so too. The judges had her winning the symmetry round unanimously, with Murray taking the muscularity round by

they lined up for the panel. Unlike the format at the men’s show, there was no challenge round to spice things up for the fans. Even without it the ladies were bad—and bursting with protein-powder-powered muscle.

Heavyweight. I confess I was blown away when Iris won. To these eyes the two women’s physiques looked closer than they’d been last year. Murray was a little better, I thought; Iris was sporting the same excellent package. So if Lenda didn’t lose her title last time, when, arguably, Kyle also had the more complete physique, why would she lose this time?

Did the panel members think that the 5’5” Murray was not as

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Lightweight 2) Denise Masino

Lightweight 1) Dayana Cadeau

Lightweight 1) Dayana Cadeau

Heavyweight 5) Betty Viana

Lightweight 3) Marja Lehtonen

Heavyweight 4) Betty Pariso

good as last year? That the taller-bytwo-inches Kyle was a little better?

That Murray had “won enough times,” as she quoted one judge in an interview with Lonnie Teper at IRON MAN’s graphicmuscle.com.

That if she won a historic ninth title, she would beat Lee Haney’s (read: a man’s) record? My guess is,

a single point and a noteven-close final score of 23 to 37.

Though Kyle won the posing round (an odd choice— yes, I know it’s about the muscle, but she barely posed), the best display of mass on the move came from Yaxeni Oriquen, who had to settle for third for the third time in her career. With her 5’8” physique at its biggest and fullest, Oriquen made the first callout in both rounds, but conditionwise, she wasn’t in the same contest as the other two women.

She ended the day with unanimous third-place scores, earning the last automatic qualification for next year’s Olympia in this topthree-per-weight-class qualifier.

A pair of Bettys landed only three points apart to earn the next couple of placings. Veteran Betty Pariso

tional lightweight title, Cadeau came to Las Vegas the heiress apparent—and with her homework done. By far Canada’s top bodybuilder, man or woman, Dayana was shapely and full, bringing her best V-taper plus some killer cuts to the table. I thought she had the class cold, but the panel gave her only a small margin of victory.

As she’d been last year, Denise Masino was next in the flexing order. The 5’3” magazine publisher from Florida was dripping muscle, and like Cadeau she has an elegant presentation, but she lacked the sharpness Dayana displayed. The panel liked her look enough to

score her only a point behind Cadeau in the symmetry and posing rounds, however, and six points behind overall to place her in the runner-up slot.

After that it seemed that mass took precedence over aesthetics. At 5’2”, Marja Lehtonen of Finland

Lightweight 5) Desiree Ellis

Lightweight 4) Nancy Lewis

brought her patented package of thick, separated muscularity to the posing platform to take fourth, while Oriquen’s fellow Venezuelan Betty Viana, in fifth, had the prettiest physique short of Murray’s in the class. Lisa Aukland took sixth with another personalbest appearance, while Bonny Priest with her excellent package landed in seventh because somebody had to.

Lightweight. Second to Juliette Bergmann at the ’03 Olympia and the winner of the ’04 Ms. Interna-

wasn’t the shortest bodybuilder onstage—that honor went to Canada’s Desiree Ellis, 5’1”—but she was, inch for inch, the most muscular.

Veteran Nancy Lewis, holding her shape from her Show of Strength win three weeks before, beat Lehtonen in the symmetry round. It wasn’t good enough to get her the third-place check or the third automatic qualification for next year’s Olympia. They went to Lehtonen, a decision that goes to the heart of the debate about the ideal women’s-bodybuilding physique.

The 5’3” Lewis had symmetry, flowing lines and spot-on conditioning, but the bottom line was the shorter

but more massive Lehtonen bringing home the bacon.

One reason Lewis didn’t get a clear shot at those third-place goodies was some strong competition for the panel’s attention from another Canadian flexer who had pleasant contours and muscle pouring over her body, Desiree Ellis.

The end of the evening saw Ellis just four points behind Lewis, in fifth.

Highly aesthetic physiques filled the next two slots. Mah-Ann Mendoza, never the most ripped woman onstage, was just sharp enough to take sixth, with British entry Joanna Thomas muscling her way into seventh ahead of one-time Ms. O heavyweight winner Valentina Chepiga. Chepiga, who had the most entertaining posing routine in either class, kind of reminded me of Cory Everson as she brought down the house with an all-flexing and all-dancing rendition of “All That Jazz” from Chicago. She’s clearly stopped playing the size game but with her structure might have done better if she’d been a little more defined. Vilma Caez looked good but had to settle for ninth in this company.

Overall. So, as it had been at the Ms. International last March, Cadeau looked marvelous until she stood next to Kyle in the battle for the overall. And Iris, who was even bigger, even fuller, even more statuesque than Dayana, had her day at last. We’ll have to wait and see what effect that has on the climate.

The total purse for this contest was $50,000, with Iris picking up 10 grand for the class win and another $10,000 for taking the overall. For the first time ever the women’s Olympia competitions were broadcast on pay-per-view. IM

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Õ04 Fitness Olympia

Toreadorable

Judges Say OlŽ at Mandalay Bay

by Ruth Silverman

LAS VEGAS—Adela Garcia-Friedmansky won the ’04 IFBB Fitness Olympia title with a spirited matador-themed routine and the best darned body onstage at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on October 29, ending a year of speculation about who would replace retiring champ Susie Curry as queen of the sport. The 24-point margin of victory AGF earned here—following her squeak-by win

over ’03 Fitness O runner-up Kelly Ryan at the Ms. International last winter—left no doubt. It was Adela all the way.

The much-anticipated rematch between Garcia-Friedmansky and Ryan was lost in the physique rounds. AGF, displaying her customary crispness over excellent symmetry and proportion, aced them both. Flyin’ Ryan, who’s been the runner-up at this shindig four

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1) Adela Garcia-Friedmansky

Photography by Bill Comstock

Õ04 Fitness Olympia

*Qualifies for the ’05 Fitness Olympia.

times in the past five years, mostly to Curry, won the routine rounds hands down, but she was not in her best shape, and the final scores weren’t even close. Ryan finished not second but third thanks to the vastly improved physique numbers earned by Columbus comet Jen Hendershott, who catapulted into the runnerup slot all the way from fifth last year.

Tracey Greenwood, now billing herself as Greenwood-Krakowiak, landed in fourth despite a shoulder injury that almost kept her from competing. As the show was a topfive qualifier for the ’05 Olympia, that should take some of the pressure off. Kim Klein, 11th in 2003, continued the upward trajectory she’s been on all year by picking up the last of the top-five automatic qualifications.

Here’s the lowdown on the dozen plus two of pro fitness’ finest who came to quarter-turn, twist and tumble at the Mandalay Bay: The physiques. AGF and TGK were not alone in the first callout of both body rounds, but the judges quickly retired them from having to do any more quarter-turns; so it was no big surprise that they earned unanimous scores in first and second, respectively.

Hendershott’s slimmed muscle and better lines represented the biggest transformation in the lineup. Word is the judges thought that she’d improved even from her personal-best presenta-

2) Jen Hendershott

1) Adela Garcia-Friedmansky* 2) Jen Hendershott* 3) Kelly Ryan* 4) Kim Klein* 5) Tracey GreenwoodKrakowiak* 6) Julie Palmer 7) Stacy Hylton 8) Tanji Johnson 9) Mindi O’Brien 10) Anna Level 11) Klaudia Kinska 12) Stacy Simons 13) Jennifer Hanke 14) Teri Mooney

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Õ04 Fitness Olympia location conspired to keep the women out of view at the finals of all three women’s shows. (A platform eliminated the problem at the Mr. O, but that wouldn’t have been possible here because of the fitness routines.) Having to depend on three huge video screens that were flashing the onstage action from different angles, I could only gather impressions of the performances.

That said…

You’d never have known that Ryan was flyin’ with a torn calf muscle. Her Janet Jackson routine was letter perfect—not as much aerial action as usual, but the judges didn’t seem to mind. They scored her unanimously in first.

Hendershott chose some clever nun-sense that started with the Lord’s Pray and Jen in a habit and ended with her rocking out with some splits, holds and wiggles. The panel liked her second best, unanimously, with AGF just a couple of points behind her in third. I’m not sure I agree with that last call—it wasn’t my favorite of Adela’s recent

tion three weeks before at the Show of Strength, where she took third overall. Here she was third in the two-piece round and fifth in the one-piece, her best numbers ever at the O. Klein’s numbers were even better.

The judges just love her symmetry, particularly the shoulder-to-waist ratio. I love it that they reward her even though she doesn’t have quite the degree of conditioning some of the women display. When you subtotal the physique scores, she had the third-best body in the bunch, with Julie Palmer, her own fine proportions nicely conditioned, not far behind.

The routines. I can’t say I agree with the exact order in which the

4) Kim Klein

3) Kelly Ryan

45-second mandatory fitness routines were placed—Ryan, Hendershott, AGF, Stacy Hylton and Klein were first through fifth— but those five ladies did give the strongest performances.

As for the long routines, I must divulge that I really couldn’t see them. Though I had an excellent seat in the press pit, ironically, the height of the Mandalay Bay Events Center stage and the line of vision from our ground-floor

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7) Stacy Hylton

5) Tracey Greenwood-Krakowiak 6) Julie Palmer

routines—but, as I said, I couldn’t actually see it. Klein, who was scored just three points behind Adela, gave a top-notch performance with her elegant style of tumbling, and an excellent highenergy effort by Hylton was judged fifth best.

The panel placed my favorite routine, performed by Klaudia Kinska, sixth. Avoiding the hip-hop rhythms so pervasive at fitness events, Kinska tossed off a Charleston, doing her strength moves on a chair and making the Events Center rafters ring with a rousing—and cleverly choreographed—rendition of “They Both Reached for the Gun” from Chicago.

Tanji Johnson’s flying Catwoman routine was a few points behind Kinska, followed by Mindi O’Brien,

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becomes competitive in the mandatory

the much-touted Canadian rookie who knocked their sports socks off at the Southwest USA Pro Cup last summer. O’Brien made a strong impression in her Olympia debut and will be even stronger when she

test was broadcast on pay-per-view TV. The numbers should be interesting; however, since the folks putting on the show didn’t do much advance publicity for it—not nearly as much as the hype for the broadcast of the Mr. O—I’m not expecting they’ll be big.

For her efforts, Adela took home $20,000 of the $50,000 purse. Is she on her way to dominating the sport the way Curry did, winning multiple Olympia and International crowns and holding both titles concurrently for several years? She could, as no one else has the combination of talent to win in the numbers game right now. Kelly Ryan may have something to say about that prediction, as may Hendershott—who, although she’s now dialed it in physiquewise, would still have to beat Ryan in the routines to be a contender. We’ll see what happens when the group gets together in Columbus, Ohio, on March 4 to kick off the 2005 season.

IM 12) Stacy Simons

10) Anna Level

11) Klaudia Kinska

8) Tanji Johnson

9) Mindi O’Brien

Õ04 Fitness Olympia

strength moves.

It was the most injury-plagued Fitness O ever. In addition to Ryan’s calf and Greenwood’s shoulder, Stacy Simons sprained an ankle at the judging—although not onstage—and still performed at the finals. Olympia rookie Teri Mooney was not so lucky and had to leave the stage with a pulled hamstring— and a TV camera following her— during the two-minute routines.

Along with the other two women’s Olympia events, this con-

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Õ04 Figure Olympia

Davana, DarlinÕ Medina Gets the Medallion One More Time

by Ruth Silverman Photography by Bill Comstock

LAS VEGAS—You know what they say about apples and oranges? Well, at the ’04 IFBB Figure Olympia competition, which was held on October 29 at the Mandalay Bay Resort, it was a question of apples

vs. oranges vs. cantaloupes, and the judges went for the cantaloupes, metaphorically speaking, selecting sitting champ Davana Medina for a repeat victory. Based on the noisy chorus of yeas and nays that erupt-

ed from the fans in attendance as, in turn, Monica Brant was announced in third, Jenny Lynn in second and Medina in first, there were a lot of folks who preferred apples or oranges. In this case I

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â&#x20AC;&#x2122;04 IFBB Figure Olympia 1) Davana Medina* 2) Jenny Lynn* 3) Monica Brant* 4) Jaime Franklin* 5) Amber Littlejohn* 6) Christine Pomponio-Pate 7) Marie Kudla-Donnelly 8) Elaine Goodlad 9) Zena Collins 10) Aleksandra Kobielak 11) Melissa Frabbiele 12) Shannon Meteraud 13) Dina Al-Sabah 14) Jaana Kotkansalo 15) Lisbeth Halikka

2) Jenny Lynn

1) Davana Medina

*Qualifies for the â&#x20AC;&#x2122;05 Figure Olympia.

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have to agree with them.

Now, before you argue that I have never liked Davana’s physique and was mad when she beat Monica at the firstever Figure O last year, that’s not actually true: I like cantaloupe just fine, but I like it to be ripe.

Fifteen of the world’s ripest fruits—er, fittest female physique athletes—lined up for the prejudging at the Olympia Expo. Both the onepiece and then the two-piecesuit comparisons were judged at the afternoon session, with a third round of callouts performed “for show” at the finals. Here’s how the bodies stacked up: Davana looked very good, and I liked her gold one-piece suit, which was a bone of contention in the postcontest Internet chat. (Ladies, with her coloring, she can wear that color.) Medina is growing into her role as champion, and she sparkles much more now than she did a year and a half ago. At the New York Pro last August she was at her very best. This time her put-it-alltogether intangibles were not quite so perfect—or maybe it was just that she hadn’t been standing next to Lynn and Brant in New York.

With Jenny it’s simply a question of whether she’s on peak or off, and, fresh from her win at the Show of Strength three weeks earlier, she was at her very best in Vegas. All bodyparts were polished in all the right places.

Monica, who’s been playing the harder-softer/biggersmaller game almost since fitness was invented, was a bit softer than she’d been at the Figure International at the beginning of the ’04 season— or so it seemed at the judging.

In the one-piece suits, at least to these eyes, Jenny and Monica had better balance than Davana. In the two-piece suits they had sharper midsections. Brant always looks more muscular in the photos

4) Jaime Franklin

3) Monica Brant

Õ04 Figure Olympia

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5) Amber Littlejohn

than she does onstage, but even so, she had the best overall shape of the three.

That’s where the apples-and-oranges thing comes in. I thought the contest was between Jenny and Monica, with Mo not likely to be the panel’s choice, based on recent history.

Based on the fact that the panel had retired Medina and Lynn— but not Mo—after the first round of quarter turns, Brant wasn’t likely to finish higher than third. That meant that Lynn would win, right? Go figure those judges.

They gave Medina a six-point margin of victory, with Brant solidly in third. Am I mad about the outcome? Nah—there’s not enough money at stake—but I probably wouldn’t go produce shopping with those guys.

The next few slots went to some very deserving competitors. Pittsburgh Pro champ Jaime Franklin’s polished presentation saw her standing in the first callout with the above

three women and looking like she belonged there. She capped a terrific year by moving into fourth, up from seventh in 2003. Also strolling the stage in fine form was ’03 NPC National champ Amber Littlejohn, who, after an 11th-place pro debut at the Figure International, also spent the year competing and getting better. Pulling together her 5’8” of imposing bodyparts, she made the top five at her first Olympia.

At the other end of the measuring tape was Christine Pomponio-Pate, who was also making the scene at her first Figure O. No rookie—she turned pro in 2001—Christine took her time finding the right balance for her 5’1” physique. She found it just in time to take sixth here.

Not that the women who finished below those three weren’t deserving as well. Fit, full and fair, Mari KudlaDonnelly, Elaine Goodlad, Zena Collins and Aleksandra Kobielak finished seventh through 10th, respectively. Fitness veteran Melissa Frabbiele landed in 11th, Shannon Meteraud took 12th, Dina Al-Sabah was scored 13th (What was that about?), and Finnish entries Jaana Kotansalo and Lisbeth Halikka occupied the final two placings with nothing to be ashamed of.

Was justice—or injustice—done, figurewise, at the pro-season’s end finale in Vegas? Time for you to be the judge. Feast your eyes on the accompanying photos and make up your own sweet mind.

Editor’s note: You’ll find hundreds of photos from all the Olympia competitions at www .ironmanmagazine.com. IM

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IRON MAN Hardbody

Farmer’s Daughter DeeAnn Donovan Harvests Health and Hotness With the Fitness Lifestyle

by Jonathan Lawson Photography by Michael Neveux

L

Hair and Make-Up Carrie Dacunto

ooking at DeeAnn Donovan, your first impression might be that she’s in her late 20s, drives a small, fast luxury car and certainly has no kids. You’d be dead wrong on all counts. Believe it or not, she’s in her late 30s, has three children—her oldest is 13—and, get this, drives a 7,000-pound pickup truck with a six-inch lift. Oh, and did I mention she’s a knockout? DeeAnn is living proof that a fit lifestyle, a go-for-it attitude and a little country living thrown in for good measure make an unbeatable antiaging combination. Okay, enough banter. You can go back to looking at DeeAnn.

Editor’s note: To contact DeeAnn, send e-mail to DeeAnnModel@aol.com, or visit www.DeeAnnModel.com. Her lifecoaching Web site is www.DeeAnnsDayDreamBeliever.com. DeeAnn personally answers all of her e-mail. You can also write to her at P.O. Box 248, Brewster, NY 10509-0248. IM 198 MARCH 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Workout: â&#x20AC;&#x153;I alternate three days of strength training and three days of cardio. I have a cardio-core routine that I designed myself. I keep my heart rate up by hitting every bodypart. I do that three days a week and vary my workout by using many different types of training equipment, such as agility ladders, stretch bands, medicine balls, balance pillows and stability balls.â&#x20AC;?

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Height: 5’3” Weight: 120 Age: 37 Current residence: Brewster, New York Hometown: Iowa City, Iowa Occupation: Full-time fitness and swimwear model, entrepreneur and television personality Favorite foods: All-American apple pie (and don’t forget the vanilla ice cream) Beauty/antiaging secret: “There are no secret potions in my medicine cabinet. Every day I repeat to myself, ‘Young at heart, young at mind.’”

Factoids: “I have an associate’s degree in fashion merchandising. I’ve been married for 15 years and have three children: Danny, 13, Nicholas, 12, and Jessica, 10.”

Web site: www.DeeAnnModel.com

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Pro Season Preview

The IRON MAN Pro and Arnold Classic Kick Off

First

2005

by Lonnie Teper

T

Chris Cormier

here’ll be whole a lot of streaking going on at the ’05 IRON MAN Pro come February 19, starting with Chris Cormier.

The Real Deal, who put together a streak of four consecutive victories at the contest, from 1999 to 2002, before taking a two-year break from the action, says he’ll be back in 2005. Cormier has more than the $10,000 first-place prize money in mind—a fifth win would tie him with Ken “Flex” Wheeler, the all-time record holder for the annual IFBB season opener.

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Pro Season Preview

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Pro Season Preview

IRON MAN Pro and Arnold Classic

Both Lee Priest and Marvelous Melvin Anthony say their streaks of doing well but never winning the IM Pro must come to an end. (Priest has been second on three occasions, including 2004; Anthony has been runner-up twice.)

Other standouts—like Troy Alves, my ’03 Rookie of the Year; Mark Dugdale, the ’04 USA champion, who’ll be making his pro debut; former National champion Toney Freeman; and the biggest surprise at last year’s contest, sixth-placer David Henry—have all indicated that they’ll be onstage at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. The 16th edition of the IM Pro should be another outstanding battle.

There’s also a chance that Gustavo Badell will return to the contest that put his name on the map in ’04.

“I really like the IRON MAN, but at this point I’m not sure if I will do the contest again or just concentrate on the Arnold Classic,” Badell said in early December. “But I just may

Melvin Anthony

show up and surprise you.” Yes, Gustavo, surprise me. And what a nice surprise it would be—although you’re no longer a surprise (see News & Views on page 166).

Cormier is coming off a disappointing seventh-place landing at the ’04 Olympia, although he did end the season with runner-up finishes to Ronnie Coleman at the English and Dutch grand prix. He blames his poor showing at the Olympia on a bout of depression.

“I couldn’t get my mind off another second-place finish at the Arnold Classic,” said Chris, who has finished second a record five times in a row at the ASC, of his controversial one point loss to Jay Cutler in 2004.

“It kept lingering, and I could never really get the right mind-set to focus on the Olympia.

“I’m past that now,” he continued. “I’m 37 years old and don’t have the time to not give it my all in contests anymore. I was encouraged by my look at the grand prix shows, and I plan to improve on that conditioning for the IRON MAN. I won that show four times in a row, and I plan to make it five wins.”

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Pro Season Preview Priest and Anthony both passed on the Olympia last fall to concentrate on the IRON MAN. Priest recorded his third second-place finish at the IM Pro last year, losing only to Dexter Jackson but besting Badell and Ahmad Haidar. The 5’5” Australian, who weighed 198 last year and went down to 192 for the San Francisco Pro a few weeks later, when he again finished second to Jackson, plans on hitting the stage a bit larger this time. “I think I may end up at around 207 to 210,” he said. “That gives me a bigger, fuller look, and I can be just as hard as I normally am.”

Anthony, who finished second to Jay Cutler at the ’03 IRON MAN and scored his first victory as a pro at last year’s Night of Champions, is coming into the event brimming with confidence. “I don’t care who does the show; I’m gonna win it,” he said buoyantly.

Alves finished eighth in his Olympia debut in 2003 but slipped to 15th in ’04. He was not concerned, he said. With a physique that features one of the most aesthetic looks in the game, the 5’9”,

Jay Cutler

Lee Priest

IRON MAN Pro and Arnold Classic

Ahmad Haidar

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Gustavo Badell

Pro Season Preview down to business, and he expects to show up in Pasadena displaying the condition he brought to Las Vegas on the night he turned pro.

Perhaps the most interesting scenario will be the return of Shari “King” Kamali to the contest where he made his pro debut in 2001, taking third behind Cormier and Anthony, and, in my opinion, where he looked his all-time best. Kamali, who won the $10,000 award for Best Presentation at last year’s Arnold

Classic, knows how to stir up a crowd, both with his routines and his precontest predictions.

Joe Nitiforo, the ’02 NPC National Heavyweight champ, also says he’s doing the show. Bouncing back from a torn quad suffered in October 2003, he made his pro debut at the Show of Strength a year later.

Admittedly too heavy there, he plans to carry “around 230 pounds” on his 5’10” frame at the IRON MAN.

Mark Dugdale 215-pounder from Phoenix said it was just a matter of miscalculation in his precontest prep—and that the real Alves will return for the ’05 season.

All eyes will be focused on Dugdale, as the 5’6”, 200-pounder will be stepping onstage for the first time after his unanimous victory at the USA. Dugdale will never be the biggest guy in the lineup, but he’s always one of the most polished, and it’s time to see if he can go pose to pose at the next level.

Henry, the ’03 National middleweight champ, proved last year that he could do it. The 5’5”, 190-pounder finished just out of the money, and most observers thought that Dynamic Dave should have been in the top five. He was eighth at the San Francisco show, but this year, he said, he’s ready to move up a few slots.

Another fella looking for respect in the new year is ’02 USA Overall champ Idrise Ward-El, who hasn’t reached the level of success as a pro that he—and many of his supporters—assumed he would.

After not making the top 15 at the ’03 NOC, the 5’11”, 250-pound Ward-El took ninth at the ’04 IRON MAN but slipped to 14th at the Florida Pro. He said it’s time to get

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Pro Season Preview

IRON MAN Pro and Arnold Classic

NPC Figure—Plus Awards Galore Promoters John Balik and Michael Neveux will team the IRON MAN Pro with an amateur figure competition. If history repeats itself, the winner of the NPC IRON MAN Figure show will have an edge in the turning-pro department, not to mention the honor of posing for a photo shoot with Neveux.

Hannah Park, the original IM Figure champion, in 2003, earned pro status by winning the Junior USA a couple of months later; Abby Duncan, the ’04 winner, got her card at the Junior Nationals. Marcy Porter, last year’s medium-class winner, also moved on to the pro ranks, along with Nancy Hirsch, third in her class at the ’03 IM, when they went one-two in their class at the Figure Nationals.

Two icons of the industry, Jim Lorimer and Albert Busek, will be honored at the IRON MAN, with Lorimer receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award and Busek coming all the way from Germany to pick up the Art Zeller Award for Artistic Excellence.

Said IRON MAN publisher Balik, “Jim has promoted Olympic weightlifting and bodybuilding in the Columbus, Ohio, area since the late 1950s, and now has created the largest sporting event in the world outside of the Olympics with more than 14,000 athletes participating in the Arnold Fitness Weekend.

“Albert Busek founded the landmark German bodybuilding magazine Sport Revue in the early 1960s and has been photographing the sport ever since. He’s especially renowned for his archive of 20,000plus photos of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Albert was the first person to recognize Arnold’s potential and was instrumental in getting him to the United States.”

Abby Duncan

On to the Arnold After flying to Pasadena to receive his prestigious decoration, Lorimer will be hopping right back on a plane to Columbus to work on the final details for the ’05 Arnold Fitness Weekend, which, natch, includes the Arnold Classic, set for

Jim Lorimer

Albert Busek

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Pro Season Preview March 5 at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium. We don’t yet know who will get the invites, but it’s a good guess most of the names will be familiar.

Three-time ASC champ Jay Cutler has indicated that he’ll be passing on the contest this year, but that won’t keep it from being a dandy.

Most of the top-level performers at the IRON MAN hope to be onstage in Columbus, and, when you add Badell, Dexter Jackson, Gunter Schlierkamp, Markus Ruhl and Victor Martinez to the mix, well, you get the picture. Call it the Big Picture.

Cormier insisted this is the year he’ll leave the Veterans with the $100,000 first-place prize money, the new Hummer and the $20,000 watch that has gone to Cutler the past three seasons. After his onepoint loss last time, Cormier, needless to say, has had his fill of being second on the bill. “Jay got the nod, but I got the bod,” he said.

If Cormier does win the ASC, don’t look for it to be a cakewalk.

Jackson has emerged as one of the premier flexers in the world and was a controversial third in Ohio last year. He was also on the receiving

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Markus Ruhl

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Pro Season Preview

IRON MAN Pro and Arnold Classic

end of an unpopular bump in placement at the Olympia, dropping from third to fourth—and bumping Badell from fourth to third—thanks to the challenge round.

The 5’6” Jackson swears he’ll step onstage this year at around 235 and has no qualms about standing toe to toe with anybody in the industry, big or small. This is a man who always shows up in prime condition, so count him in the championship mix, for sure.

The battle for the top six at the ASC could be the most competitive in years: Jackson, Cormier, Badell, Schlierkamp, Ruhl, Priest, Anthony, Alves—not to mention another two or three big names who are likely to get invites.

As Lorimer always says, “Fitness is fun.” With that potential lineup, the ASC should be too.

Editor’s note: For updates on the IM Pro and the Arnold Classic contests, log on to www .ironmanmagazine.com. IM

Gunter Schlierkamp

Troy Alves

Dexter Jackson

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With a Little Help From Your Friends raining, diet, attitude and genetics are the primary factors that determine just how far you’ll get in your quest for muscular size and strength. What’s nice is that all but the last are under your control. What’s even nicer is that with a little help from your friends you can improve your performance in each of those areas, producing maximum progress. “Muscles from Mike?” you’re thinking, wondering how your best friend can possibly influence how big your biceps get or how much you bench-press. Here’s how it works.

Friends have enormous influence: They give us a frame of reference. They make us feel like successes or failures; they can just plain make us feel good or bad. Further, they give us our ideas about what’s good, bad and in between. Some

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Consider how much easier things would be if your friends shared your passion for training.

psychologists suspect that our overall personalities are largely the result of our friends’ influences, which can have a dramatic impact on where we go in our lifting careers and just how fast we get there.

Peer pressure, a fundamental way your friends affect your thoughts and behavior, is powerful, but because it surrounds you, it’s easy to overlook. When you flip through old family photos and see how oddly everyone dressed 30 years ago, just remember that all those people with the bell bottoms and the Nehru jackets were making fashion choices based on what their friends accepted and rejected at the time. Those same social influences are still at work today, though it’s harder to see them while you’re in their midst.

We constantly get cues of approval and disapproval from the people around us, and nearly all of us shape our behavior accordingly. Early research in social psychology attempted to demonstrate that the way we describe how we feel is largely dictated by what we can infer from the people around us. Other research in social psychology demonstrated the amazing degree to which most people conform to the group opinion, even when that opinion is sheer folly in the face of simple physical evidence. (So much for the idea that we’re free spirits who independently blaze trails to our individual goals of glory.)

When you add to those influences the idea that your friends, much more than your family, might shape your overall personality, it’s easy to see that the friends factor is something that can work either for you or against you, in an extremely powerful way.

If you remember that your friends shape your physique, you’ve got a potent tool and can put it to good use. Forewarned is forearmed, so you’re already ahead of the game just by having the knowledge that the crowd you hang out with influences your lifting. Suppose your best friends live on greasy burgers, fries and soft drinks and wouldn’t consider getting their calories from any other sources. You may be able to build some mighty muscle on that diet, Neveux \ Model: Michael O’Hearn and Clark Bartram

IRONMIND

Mind

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Body Neveux \ Model: Randy Vogelzang

but it’s going to be tough. Similarly, suppose your friends like to stay out all night, couldn’t find the local gym if their lives depended on it and think bodybuilding, weightlifting and all associated activities are strictly for the birds.

Sure, you can succeed in that social environment, but you’ve loaded the dice against yourself. Consider how much easier things would be for you if your friends shared your passion for training, walked around with thermoses filled with protein drinks and considered their workouts a veritable institution in their lives, like going to church on Sunday morning.

In that sort of social setting you could concentrate on the difficult business of lifting.

It’s even better if your friends share the key attitudes or personality characteristics you need for success in lifting or any other activity. Ideally, your pals set goals, are willing to work long and hard to reach them and aren’t unduly discouraged in the face of setbacks. They neither indulge in endless whining and hand-wringing nor pat each other on the back for the most mundane of achievements.

Imagine a guy who could be a world champion in at least a couple of strength sports—he’s got all the physical equipment for the task and the basic mental hardware as well. The only thing missing is the emotional glue that makes everything stick together. If you ask people who’ve known him a long time why he hasn’t risen to greatness, they’ll explain that he learned to set his sights low from those around him and has always had an excuse for why things went awry—as they inevitably did. It’s sad. You can find real-life examples of that repeated time and again.

If your friends just aren’t into this lifting thing, are you doomed? No. Success in any venture requires individual effort, so it’s always going to be up to you to make it to the gym or not, put in a good effort or not, eat right or not and so forth. You may not be able to count on your friends to directly support your efforts, but if they don’t disapprove of what you’re doing, you’re way ahead of the game. And if they pursue a passion of their own with the same zeal that you have for your lifting, you can support each other by modeling the personality factors that lead to success.

People have risen to all kinds of glory, personal and public, from the most unlikely settings. What they’ve usually done, however, is stuck to their course. They’ve also put themselves into a more favorable environment. For you that environment starts with your friends. Even if things aren’t perfect right now,

keep your eyes on your goals, ever alert to fellow travelers who help or hinder your quest.

—Randall Strossen, Ph.D. Editor’s note: Randall Strossen, Ph.D., edits the quarterly magazine MILO. He’s also the author of IronMind: Stronger Minds, Stronger Bodies; Super Squats: How to Gain 30 Pounds of Muscle in 6 Weeks and Paul Anderson: The Mightiest Minister. For more information call IronMind Enterprises Inc. at (530) 265-6725 or Home Gym Warehouse at (800) 447-0008. Visit the IronMind Web site at www.ironmind.com.

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Bomber Blast

MIND/BODY

Take Me to the Iron he key slides into the ignition and cranks over the engine, signaling that part one of the day is over—no small deed.

You feel free for a moment, the tether that binds you given slack by the forward lurch of your vehicle, the private space that moves you to your next objective. This small interlude provides time to collect your thoughts, converse with yourself and otherwise glean the wheat from the chaff.

What’s your plan, where are you headed and what’s on your mind as the first mile rolls away? Folks across the fields and fences and city streets are headed home to couch, fridge and TV. Good to kick off the shoes and let the hair down.

Some need to take a deep breath and wrestle with a second job or a long list of unending chores. An anxious handful, to be sure, moves quickly to strategically placed watering holes.

Whatever it takes, I guess, to move the pieces across the board.

But wait a minute. There exists a rare breed unaccounted for in the above cast of characters. In a certain place where the air is full of oxygen, the navigator of his or her vehicle steers clear of the traffic and heads to the gym. Thoughts are on grander things—life, love and the pursuit of happiness, or, as interpreted on another level, discipline, patience and the pursuit of pain.

The rare breed is you.

And the time you spend before entering the gym, be it on Main Street or in the garage, is rare as well. As the gym is a refuge and an area for productive work, so is the mind. A solid, bold and mighty workout is established in one’s head before entering the inner sanctum of the gym.

Compromise, sacrifice and long suffering call out; no one said the task was easy. The groundwork begins in the mind, is effected in the body, transferred to the gym floor and consummated in the iron with the fortitude, courage and heart of the pursuer. Tough stuff, this muscle building.

That doesn’t mean we don’t love it; even when we hate it, we love it. How can you hate that which is so elevating and beneficial and, more often than not, fun and fulfilling?

Anticipating of your training with a brief, yet energetic, Neveux \ Model: Lee Priest

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review of its benefits—improved health and strength, the mental and physical purge, the afterglow—and a positive overview of your exercise scheme are all you need. Fill your mind with these magnificent thoughts, and there’s no room for those grim enemies, doubt and apathy.

Stopping by the gym on the way home for a 20-minute quickie is commendable—in this day and age it’s remarkable.

But, to be profitable and long lasting, a workout must be more. As you must not let training and its anticipation dominate your life, so is it unwise to squeeze it in like a wedge of lemon in a cup of tea. Unfold and review that imaginary list of the Top 10 Most Important Things in Your Life, and you’ll note exercising for your health is among the top five, not a cozy cup of Constant Comment in your easy chair.

Ninety minutes, four days a week—from the time you park your car to the time you pull away rejuvenated. The diligent work in the focused and unrushed minutes between defines the physical investment. The rest of the week and the rest of your life are yours to give generously to whomever and whatever you please. Perhaps you’re like me; I’m nowhere to be found for a good two hours because I get lost in the wilds of the iron and steel. Sometimes I don’t emerge for three hours, bleary eyed and grinning.

The well-organized individual makes sure his energy and muscle-building stores are supplied in advance. Sufficient food and water must be part of the simple plan. A substantial portion of protein powder in a plastic container ready for mixing with water or juice before your workout is a splendid idea. So simple, so smart, so effective…so do it.

The gym is down the highway and on my mind. Though it’s the weekend, I’ll probably go in to make up for a workout I missed during the week due to some emergency—an attack of warships from the planet Catabolica or an 8.9 earthquake…whatever. These unscheduled training sessions often turn out to be some of the best. I’m drawn to the iron by desire, not obligation. I don’t have to lift; I want to. There’s no pressure, no rush, no ground lost, no ground to recover, just the playground where time floats rather than flies.

What do I want to do, what stirs me, what would I like to perfect or investigate, create or devise? The field is open.

Letting the workout evolve is a relief and can be most instructive. Sufficient spontaneity is needed to provide freedom in one’s training without allowing it to become random and unproductive in the long term. Here I may wallow in my favorite exercise combinations, try a personal best, switch to high repetitions for pump, burn and euphoria, or I might exact a dumbbell movement to work that part of my deltoid no standard exercise does. A little creativity and thinking on one’s feet go a long way toward adding to one’s self-esteem, training maturity and workout excellence.

Another day, another workout, another notch on the gun…make that another gouge on the iron. —Dave Draper

Web alert: For more from Dave Draper, visit www.davedraper.com and sign up for his free newsletter. You can also check out his amazing Top Squat training tool, classic photos, workout Q&A and forum.

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New Stuff

250™ from Gaspari Nutrition Blow Up Big SuperPump s serious bodybuilders have discovered, when you take a Gaspari Nutrition product, you’re definitely going to know it.The new SuperPump250 looks to be the king of them all in terms of

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dramatic effects.

In a recent independent clinical trial, increases in lean muscle mass nearly tripled with just one dose of SuperPump250. If that weren’t enough, bodyfat percentages simultaneously dropped.

Factor in the explosive energy and strength you get, and you can see that it’s not your little brother’s nitric oxide.

For more information, contact Gaspari Nutrition at (888) 7427727, or visit ww.richgaspari.com.

Competition

Where Do You Belong? any men and women who weight train seriously eventually consider entering some sort of competition to test their strength and/or have their physiques judged. The main contest options are in bodybuilding, powerlifting, fitness, figure and strongman competitions. Some individuals have diverse enough attributes and abilities to compete successfully in more than one of those areas, but most are far better suited to one more than the others. To help you decide which one might be for you, I’ll briefly outline what makes for a champion in each.

Let’s start with bodybuilding. Ask yourself a few questions. Do people frequently comment on your muscularity? Do you build muscle size and lose fat easily? Do you have a physical shape and structure similar to champion bodybuilders—wide shoulders and a small waist, a round look to your muscles and fairly proportionate development from head to toe, with no glaring weak points?

If you want to be a good bodybuilder, you should be able to answer yes to most of those questions.

Powerlifting is all about brute power and strength. If you’re exceptionally strong relative to your size, particularly in the squat, deadlift and bench press, odds are you could be collecting trophies and perhaps setting records in that sport.

Strongman competitions are for those who can demonstrate incredible strength lifting odd objects and who usually also have a viselike grip. If you’re the guy everyone calls before moving day because you have no trouble wrestling refrigerators and bureaus up and down stairs or you’re legendary in your hometown for pushing your broken-down car out of a ditch late one stormy night, I bet those events would be a great match for you.

Finally we come to fitness and figure competitions for women. Both require facial beauty and a body that looks athletic and feminine, as well as qualities like poise and grace. Fitness features routines, for which a background in gymnastics and dance would be a bonus.

Of course, you should compete in any type of competition your heart desires. Just know that there’s probably one in which you truly belong and will have a much better chance to shine.

—Ron Harris

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Jacked Up

MIND/BODY

Size for Your Bi’s at Home he muscle most of us think represents our strength to others is the biceps. Who doesn’t want to amaze others with a double-biceps pose? You don’t want to overwork yours at the expense of your body’s symmetry, but you do want them to peak up nicely. Here are three exercises that will produce gorgeous biceps—and you can do them at home if you have a dumbbell set and an adjustable bench.

Dumbbell curls. Stand with a dumbbell in each hand, palms facing forward. Press your upper arms against your sides and curl the weights, moving only your forearms, until the weights touch the top of your chest. Exhale as you lift, and inhale as you lower the weight. One or two sets, and you’ll be warmed up for a more strenuous, focused curl.

Concentration curls. Take a dumbbell in one hand and get into position by sitting on the end of a bench or chair and spreading your legs apart. Bend forward and brace your working arm against the inside of your leg. Curl the dumbbell, keeping your arm vertical. Lift the dumbbell with focused concentration on your biceps for 15 repetitions. Reverse your position and perform the same work for your other arm. Alternate arms for at least three sets.

Incline dumbbell curls. To hit a different angle, lie on an incline bench with the dumbbells hanging down at arm’s length. Exhale as you curl them, keeping your upper arms stationary. Then inhale deeply as you lower the dumbbells back to your starting position. One or two sets should do the trick. By the way, Steve Reeves said incline dumbbell curls were responsible for his Herculean arms.

Focus all your attention on rich, oxygenated blood flowing into your biceps.

Breathe properly and move with correct form until you can lift no more.

—Jack LaLanne

Dumbbell curls.

Editor’s note: As of September 2004 Jack LaLanne had lived 90 years, 75 of them steeped in innovative physical training. He was runner-up in the ’54 Mr. America contest and created the longest-running fitness show in television history. He’s also famous for performing shackled and handcuffed swimming feats to celebrate key birthdays. Jack still works out two hours a day. For more information, check out his Web site, www.jacklalanne.com.

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

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Gallery of Ironmen

MIND/BODY

Italy’s Lifting Lawyer taly’s first Olympic medal in weightlifting was won by an extraordinary young man in Athens in 1906. Tullio Camilotti was born in the northern Italian town of Sacile into an uppermiddle-class family on January 29, 1880. He began his athletic career as a gymnast and wrestler, but he soon switched to weightlifting; that was unusual because weightlifting was considered a workingclass activity. Pumping iron was difficult and dangerous, hence not an acceptable recreation for people of quality; apparently it was too much like real work for most aristocrats. Camilotti, however, wasn’t ashamed to lift weights or participate in a sport that was considered socially beneath him.

Camilotti discovered weight training while he was a law student at the University of Padua. He joined an athletic club and competed as a weightlifter in several contests. He was so dedicated to the sport that he journeyed to Germany, where he trained for a while with the famous coach Theodor Siebert [Gallery of Ironmen, July ’04]. That must have been a great advantage for him because the young man qualified for Italy’s Olympic team in 1906. At the

Tullio Camilotti was a lawyer— and an Olympic medalist

Photo courtesy of David Chapman

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Photo courtesy of David Chapman

Games, Camilotti earned a silver medal in the one-hand snatch and thus brought glory to himself and his nation—all the more remarkable because Italy’s sporting movement was in its infancy. Camilotti’s success inspired others to take up weights.

In 1907 the Italian national weightlifting championships were held in Venice, and Camilotti managed to win that great competition. Ironically, it would be the athlete’s last triumph.

Camillott’s many victories led to offers from vaudeville and pro-sports promoters, but he resisted those calls. After completing his education, he became a lawyer and left competition. He did, however, encourage others to exploit their sporting talents. He was revered in the Italian sporting world, and despite his extremely short lifting career, Camilotti was always considered a paragon of Italian strength and nobility. One commentator confirmed his manly bearing and inspirational behavior in 1911: Camilotti “was highly cultured, a great expert in athletic sports and an impassioned lover of the same; he helped not a little to increase the number of amateur athletes, inculcating the love of physical strength by word and deed in his many travels.”

Tullio Camilotti died in his native Sacile on February 21, 1958.

—David Chapman

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Serious Training

MIND/BODY

Darrell Terrell Photography by Jerry Fredrick Location: Goldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Gym, Venice, CA

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Serious Stats Weight: 250 Height: 5’5” Age: 33 Age began training: 19 Bodypart split: Monday: chest, shoulders; Tuesday: cardio; Wednesday: legs; Thursday: cardio; Friday: back, rear delts; Saturday: cardio; Sunday: biceps, triceps Note: He works calves and abs on cardio days Sample workout (chest): Dumbbell flyes 3-4 x 10 Dumbbell bench presses 4 x 10-15 Incline presses 4 x 10-12 Factoid: “I own The Total Package, a personal-training and nutrition business, and I speak at local schools about health and fitness.”

Contests: ’03 NPC Nationals, 4th heavyweight

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Jerry Brainum’s

Bodybuilding Pharmacology

Toxic Haste?

While a lot of research has pointed to undesirable side effects associated with anabolic steroid use, a good deal of it is flawed. Case studies, for instance, often examine the experiences of a few or even one person. They don’t prove much, since the adverse reactions of just a few people could be idiosyncratic, involving an individual sensitivity to the drugs used or a medical condition that became evident only after the drug use.

Another problem is that researchers don’t work with realistic doses of the drugs in their studies. Scientists consider it unethical to administer the drug regimens used by many athletes today. They note that no published precedents prove the safety of such regimens, so using them constitutes bad medicine.

That’s led some scientists to observe athletes who get the drugs for themselves and use dosages and/or combinations that no doctor would advise. While risky from a health standpoint, such studies are nonetheless more realistic. Still, there’s no way to verify whether the doses and combinations reported by the athletes are accurate.

That leaves animal studies. The most obvious limitation of extrapolating animal research to human physiology is that humans may not react to drugs exactly as animals do.

In an effort to replicate real-world use of anabolic steroids by athletes, Japanese scientists gave massive doses of popular anabolic steroids to 37 rats that were divided into different groups.1 The first group got nandrolone decanoate, a popular injectable anabolic steroid with the trade name Deca-Durabolin; methenolone acetate, better known as Primobolan; and drostanolone, trade name Masteron. Group two got just Deca-Durabolin and saline, or salt, injections; group three, the control group got only saline injections.

All of the steroids were injected for six weeks. The medications were then stopped for four weeks and resumed for another six. Given the short life span of a rat, that is comparable to a few years for a human. The interesting part of the study was the dosages. The authors used a 132-pound reference human (people in Japan tend to be a bit smaller than in the West) and figured out doses that amounted to 100 times the suggested therapeutic ones. In order for the rats to to get the equivalent of the massive dose schedule used by athletes, that amount was extrapolated to the animals’ considerably smaller size. The authors believed that only that level of steroid use would produce pathological effects.

The study yielded few surprises.

As expected, the rats in the steroid groups showed higher levels of both testosterone and its by-product, dihydrotestosterone, than the control group. The drug rats also showed higher estrogen levels,

likely from the high doses of Deca-Durabolin, 20 percent of which can convert into estrogen. The other drugs in the study were DHT-based and could not convert into estrogen.

The rodents’ organs showed severe damage to the hearts, testes and adrenal glands. The animals’ prostate glands showed enlargement but no evidence of cancer. In the testes, both Sertoli cells (where sperm cells are made) and Leydig cells (where testosterone is synthesized) were reduced in number. The animals’ natural secretion of testosterone was completely inhibited. Commenting on that, the authors noted, “Although students and athletes readily use anabolic steroid drugs, this finding is very shocking, and steroid users would most likely be quite alarmed if they knew of these pathological effects on the testes.”

That last observation shows how out of touch those researchers were with reality. Athletes have known of the hormone-suppressing effects of anabolic steroids for years.

They attempt to counter the effects by using other drugs, such as estrogen blockers like Nolvadex or various aromatase blockers, which prevent the conversion of androgens into estrogens. Many also use HCG, an injectable drug with a structure similar to that of luteinizing hormone, the hormone that maintains testosterone synthesis.

In the section discussing how the steroid regimen in the rats led to inflammation in the heart, the authors suggest that former Olympic gold medal track star Florence “Flo-Jo” Joyner may have died from cardiac complications of anabolic steroid use. Joyner’s official cause of death was related to a seizure.

The damage to the adrenal glands was explained by the presence of androgen receptors there. The authors think that some kind of hormonal negative-feedback mechanism may have caused the adrenal damage. But what about giving the animals dosages equivalent to 100 times the therapeutic dose based on weight? Wouldn’t that impose enough stress on the rodents to burn out their adrenal glands?

A major problem with the study is the doses used. They are excessive. An example is the dose used for DecaDurabolin. The authors think that some athletes are injecting 20,000 milligrams of Deca? Heck, even with a drug that has the reputation of being relatively mild, such as Deca, that would be a near-fatal dose.

Does that mean the steroid regimens used by athletes and bodybuilders are safe? Unlikely. While athletes may not use doses comparable to those given to the rats in this study, they do use a lot more than what would ever be used therapeutically

Japanese scientists recently published a study in which they gave massive doses of popular anabolic steroids to 37 rats. Examination of the rodents’ organs showed severe damage to the hearts, testes and adrenal glands.

230 MARCH 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Jerry Brainum’s

Bodybuilding Pharmacology

Illustration by Christian Martinez

People who are deficient in GH always show significant improvement in body composition when given GH therapy.

Excessive Bodyfat: A Growth Hormone Deficiency?

Most people are fat because they eat too much and exercise too little.

They don’t burn enough calories through their daily activity. That’s the simple equation of obesity, but as scientific discovery marches on, the body-composition equation becomes increasingly complex.

An example is the success of lowcarbohydrate dieting. Many recent studies that have compared low-carb to other types of diets, such as lowfat, show that low-carb diets work better for most obese people. That’s true even when the competing diets contain an equal number of daily calories and a similar level of physical activity among study subjects.

The usual explanation for the apparent superiority of low-carb diets relates to hormones. A primary objective of low-carb dieting is insulin control. Most people with excess bodyfat levels oversecrete insulin, a storage hormone that works mainly to help store bodyfat. Thus, by limiting carbohydrates, the food element that promotes the greatest release of insulin, obese people are able to tap into and oxidize excess fat stores.

Other hormones also play prominent roles in body composition. Thyroid hormone controls basal, or resting, metabolic rate, so a person’s thyroid gland must be functioning optimally to promote fat loss. On the

other hand, taking excessive doses of pharmaceutical forms of thyroid hormone can have a pronounced catabolic effect in lean tissue. Most obese people have normal thyroid function, and the body responds to a drastic reduction in calories by lowering active thyroid output as a means of preserving vital tissue. Known as the dieting plateau, the effect can be overcome in many cases with small doses of thyroid hormone. That should always be medically supervised to avoid side effects.

Growth hormone has a reputation as a fat burner, which explains the plethora of GH-promoting food supplements that are touted as helping lower bodyfat. Whether it’s of any use in treating obesity or lowering bodyfat is a subject of contention among scientists. On the other hand, people who are deficient in GH always show significant body-composition improvement when given the hormone, including decreased bodyfat and increased lean mass.

The problem with using growth hormone as a fat-loss therapy involves not only the considerable expense of the drug itself, as well as the availability, but also possible side effects.

When people are given amounts of GH greater than the doses used to treat GH deficiency, they commonly experience side effects, including edema, or water retention. Edema occurs because GH promotes the release of aldosterone, an adrenal hormone that retains sodium and water in the body. Joint pain, another common side effect, is likely related to GH’s influence on connective-tissue growth. Excessive connective-tissue growth leads to effects such as carpal tunnel syndrome, a painful nerve impingement at the wrist that may require surgical correction. In other cases GH is associated with hypertension and glucose intolerance, even gynecomastia, a condition of excess glandular tissue in male breasts.

A kind of GH that exists only in experimental form appears to offer the fat-lowering effects of growth hormone without the side effects. It won’t be available for many years, however. In the meantime, is there a dose that will effectively lower bodyfat without side effects?

According to a recent double-blind study, there is.2 Fifty-nine obese men and women were randomly assigned to either a GH group or a placebo group. The study lasted six months, and the subjects initially injected themselves with either 200 micrograms of GH or a placebo. After a month the dose was increased to 400 micrograms for men and 600 for women. The women got more because women are less sensitive to GH than men. After that, all groups got off the GH, and the researchers followed them for another three months.

Those in the GH group lost 2.4 kilograms—a modest amount, but it was composed entirely of bodyfat.

They lost no lean tissue, or muscle, at all. That’s consistent with the known effects of GH: maintaining lean mass while promoting use of fat as a fuel source. Precisely how the GH promoted the fat loss isn’t known.

None of the usual side effects linked to GH showed up in any of the subjects, an effect attributed to the low doses used in the study. Those using the real GH did show normalized levels of IGF-1, a product of GH release produced in the liver. The GH group also had a 19 percent increase in high-density lipoprotein, a cardiacprotective cholesterol carrier in the blood.

The authors suggest that in people who have excessive bodyfat, lower GH and IGF-1 levels may help perpetuate obesity. Adding small doses of GH to compensate for the apparent deficiency could promote a selective loss of bodyfat while preserving or promoting a gain in lean tissue that would help increase resting metabolic rate, thus maintaining lower bodyfat levels.

References 1 Takahashi, M., et al. (2004). Endocrinological and pathological effects of anabolic-androgenic steroid in male rats. Endocrine Journal.

51:425-34.

2 Albert, S.G., et al. (2004). Lowdose recombinant human growth hormone as adjuvant therapy to lifestyle modifications in the management of obesity. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 89:695-701. IM

232 MARCH 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Readers Write Top of the List I was sitting on my couch this morning thinking about weight training magazines.

I’ve been reading them since the late ’50s, and I’ve purchased many from the mid’40s on to add to my collection. I’ve seen them come and go, and some are still around. There was Your Physique, Mr. America, Muscle Builder/Power, Muscle & Fitness and Flex, all by Joe Weider. There was Walt Marcyan’s Power. There was Dan Lurie’s Muscle Training Illustrated, Bob Hoffman’s Strength & Health and Muscular Development, which was run by John Grimek.

There was Robert Kennedy’s MuscleMag International.

There was also Muscle Digest, Britain’s Health & Strength, Muscle Media and Vince McMahon’s short-lived bodybuilding magazine. And then there was Iron Man. IM really has stood head and shoulders above all of the rest. It has always been the best, with incredible amounts of information.

I remember when I first heard that John Balik was going to buy Peary Rader’s Iron Man back in the ’80s. I was very concerned about its future, as I imagine many other longtime readers were. Was it going to be the end of Iron Man as we knew it—by far the most honest, sincere, knowledgable and interesting publication in the entire weight-training field?

The most noticeable change was the new size of IRON MAN, and then of course it became monthly instead of bimonthly. And it was no longer all black and white—color photos started popping up on almost every page.

Nearly 20 years later I can honestly say that IRON MAN is still incredible and, beyond any question, still the very best magazine in the field. I appreciate that IRON MAN continues to presents more than one viewpoint on training. Even if there were one best way to train, not everyone is of the same temperament and might not enjoy training that way. I would never say that the way I choose to train is the best way for everyone—or the most effective—but I enjoy it, and it has worked wonderfully for me, and has kept me training regularly for more than 45 years.

Jim Hafer via Internet Editor’s note: Thanks, Jim. We needed that.

Get Real I very much disagree with the letter in the December ’04 Readers Write that put down Steve Holman’s physique. The guy who wrote that is the real twerp. Very few people have any desire to look like the pro bodybuilders he named in his letter. Holman has a solid build, one many readers aspire to, including myself. He has a balance of size, shape and sym238 MARCH 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

metry. There are far more guys who want a real physique.

Most find the mass-monster-type of build a turnoff. In fact, if you took a survey of a large group of women, almost all would vote for the Holman physique over any pro bodybuilder’s.

Ed Bresock Ashland, OH Holman responds: I appreciate your comments—and I’ll be on the lookout for that large group of women.

Natural—at What Cost?

I’m really confused. In the August ’04 IRON MAN there’s an article on drug-free pro bodybuilder Jeff Willet [“Super Natural”] by David Young. I read that he’s 100 percent natural, but on pages 235 and 236 his supplement list looks like it came from a pharmaceutical lab. That’s not natural! And how much money per month does he spend on all that stuff?

My idea of natural is vitamins, minerals and a protein drink or two—with fruit— Jeff Willet. along with lots of good wholesome food. Things have gotten too complicated.

Todd J. Brady Las Vegas, NV Editor’s note: Willet works for AST, a supplement company, so we’re pretty sure he gets a deal on all the items on his list. Does taking all of those supplements make him unnatural? That’s debatable. Perhaps we should have titled the feature “Drug-Free, Supplement-Fortified.”

Doubting Thomas Come on, you’re kidding me. I saw [Jonathan Lawson’s and Steve Holman’s] before and after photos [that are posted at www.x-rep.com]. One month? No drugs? You guys look like you put on about 20 pounds. There’s no way you could do that without steroids.

Thomas Martinez via Internet Editor’s note: Those photos are the real deal. John Balik, IM publisher, can verify that fact. No drugs were involved, and there was no photo retouching. They hit on a perfect routine for them at that time with a technique that works, X Reps. As Lawson put it, “Even we were stunned by the photos. We still shake our heads in disbelief when we look at them, so we understand the skepticism. We try to take the drug accusations as backhanded compliments.”

For more on Lawson, see page 116.

Vol. 64, No. 3: IRON MAN (ISSN #0047-1496) is published monthly by IRON MAN Publishing, 1701 Ives Ave., Oxnard, CA 93033. Periodical Mail is paid at Oxnard, CA, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to IRON MAN, 1701 Ives Ave., Oxnard, CA 93033. Please allow six to eight weeks for change to take effect. Subscription ratesÑU.S. and its possessions: new 12-issue subscription, $29.97. Canada, Mexico and other foreign subscriptions: 12 issues, $49.97 sent Second Class. Foreign orders must be in U.S. dollars. Send subscriptions to IRON MAN, 1701 Ives Ave., Oxnard, CA 93033. Or call 1-800570-4766. Copyright © 2005. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any manner without written permission from the publisher. Printed in the USA.

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