http://imbodybuilding.com/free/manual/2005-06 by Iron Man

TEEN MUSCLE â&#x20AC;¢ CREATINE K-BOOM! â&#x20AC;¢ THE FEMALE FORM AS ART JUNE 2005 / IRON MANâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;REAL BODYBUILDING TRAINING, NUTRITION & SUPPLEMENTATION FEMALE MUSCLE â&#x20AC;&#x2122;05

â&#x20AC;¢Female Muscle â&#x20AC;&#x2122;05 â&#x20AC;¢Creatine K-Boom! â&#x20AC;¢10 Tips for Building Gigantic Arms â&#x20AC;¢Teen Workout â&#x20AC;¢Get Big on a Budget â&#x20AC;¢Arnold Classic â&#x20AC;¢Ms. International JUNE 2005 LQ &DQDGD

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MUSCLE GROWTH Drive Creatine Straight Into Your Muscle Cells The LOW-CARB Way Did you know that delivery is critical when it comes to creatine… critical! Creatine can’t get into your bloodstream and muscle cells unless it is FULLY dissolved in the water that carries it into your muscle cells. And that delivery better be free of excess carbs and sugars if you want to avoid added bodyfat.

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To Order Call 1-800-667-4626 More info at www.muscle-link.com These statements have not been evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Send check or U.S. money order to: Muscle-Link, 1701 Ives Ave., Oxnard, CA 93033. Fax (805) 385-3515. All major credit cards accepted. Call for foreign prices. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Results using this product vary from individual to individual. For optimal results consult your physician and follow a balanced diet and exercise program.

www.ironmanmagazine.com \ APRIL 2006 261

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Available at Home-gym.com and Ironmanmagazine.com This DVD features Greg Plitt, one of the top ﬁtness models in the country and up-and-coming Hollywood actor. Seeing Greg’s muscles in motion will motivate you, as he demonstrates the techniques to sculpt your own impressive physique. Greg is a former Army Ranger and was recently voted Hollywood’s top body.

150 DECEMBER 2009 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

June 2005

Vol. 64, No. 6

Female Muscle, page 150

Real Bodybuilding Training, Nutrition & Supplementation

FEATURES

72 TRAIN, EAT, GROW 68 The TEG men shift to phase one of their ripping cycle with a new twist: X-Rep pyramid power. X-cruciating drop sets are here too.

80 YOUR TRICEPS WILL NEVER GROW! Unless you follow these 10 titanic tips for torching your tri’s from Ron Harris.

94 KRAIG FELDMAN He won the Teenage Nationals in ’03, so you know he’s got the muscle-building mojo down. All you young, aspiring bodybuilders, listen up. Kraig’s got plenty of tips to get you growing.

110 RESEARCH TEAM Creatine K-boom! Supplement scientist Jeff Golini analyzes creatine and explains why Kre-Alkalyn may be the latest and greatest C-bomb ever.

120 HEAVY DUTY John Little channels Mike Mentzer in an intense Q&A session. He covers everything from goal setting to innate Pauline Nordine appears adaptability to monitoring gains—and on this month’s cover. intensity, of course. Photo by Bill Dobbins.

134 THE RED ZONE Russian Pavel Tsatsouline’s unique perspectives on muscle building, strength and kettlebell training. Bonus: Mike Mahler’s kettlebell power programs are included for you to try.

150 FEMALE MUSCLE ’05

Red Zone, page 134 Arnold Classic, page 166

Kraig Feldman, page 94

It’s our annual female muscle pictorial, with dramatic, sensual shots of the feminine form from ace photographer Bill Dobbins.

166 IFBB ARNOLD CLASSIC The gov. never fails to put on a fantastic physique extravaganza. Many of the best bodies in the business were onstage doing that flex-for-checks thing. Who won it all? Lonnie Teper’s got the big story, along with loads of great photos.

204 IFBB MS. INTERNATIONAL Talk about female muscle! Even with the new muscularity standards in place, these gals had it going on—as in brawn and beauty. Ruth Silverman reports on how it all came together in Columbus.

228 ONLY THE STRONG SHALL SURVIVE Bill Starr tells you how to get big on a budget. If you can afford supplements, great, but you can get by without them and continue to grow with the flow. Here’s how.

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10 Rules for Titanic Triceps, page 80

DEPARTMENTS

32 TRAIN TO GAIN Lateral raises vs. lateral throws (X Files analysis), carpal tunnel toll and how much rest is best?

48 NATURALLY HUGE Another expanded column from John Hansen. This month he chronicles the diet that helped him move back into the winner’s circle.

58 EAT TO GROW Battle-of-the-bulge diet comparisons, immune system boosters and busters and new research on how pushing hard can burn off the lard.

90 CRITICAL MASS Mind/Body, page 218

Critical Mass, page 90

Drop dead? Steve Holman analyzes drop sets and why they should be alive and well in your size-building program. Plus, champ training and X-Rep results.

190 NEWS & VIEWS Lonnie Teper and Ruth Silverman snapped some great photos and snapped up plenty of inside info at the IM and Arnold Fitness weekends. Plus, Jerry Fredrick’s Hot Shots are here, along with booth pics from the FitExpo.

210 BODYBUILDING PHARMACOLOGY Jerry Brainum has a special report on what many people are calling the new ephedrine. Does it work? Are there side effects? Jerry’s got the latest research.

218 MIND/BODY CONNECTION Randall Strossen, Ph.D., explains how to blow by bad workouts, and Dave Draper drops a few bombs. There’s also motivation from alcoholic-turned-muscular marvel Tim Wescott. Jack LaLanne, Gallery of Ironmen and hot Caitlin Jones’ Serious Training photos are here too. Whew!

240 READERS WRITE News & Views, page 190

WEB ALERT

IRON MAN FitExpo, page 201

from the world of For the latest happenings read the Hot bodybuilding and fitness, zine.com and News at www.ironmanmaga om. e.c scl mu www.graphic

Excellent expo and IM Pro, veteran muscle (a letter from Iraq) and X-traordinary interview—a.k.a., the X-Rep rap.

In the next IRON MAN Next month we have an out-of-whack ab attack that will get your midsection sliced and diced. Steve Holman leads you to the granite-abs promised land with an X-Rep chaser. If you’re not seeing gut ruts yet, you will with this program—if you can stand the burn and lay off the Twinkies. Plus, we’ll have the second part of our wild interview with Pavel Tsatsouline, the Russian trainer and kettlebell master. Then we powerize your bench press prowess with some positional-isometric training. It’s a new twist on an old technique that’ll have you sending that loaded bar skyward with authority. Not to forget nutrition, Jerry Brainum gives you the latest on so called artificial dangers, as in apartame and sucralose. Oh, and, of course, we’ll have Fitness and Figure International coverage. Watch for the fly July IRON MAN on newsstands the first week of June.

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John Balik’s

Publisher’s Letter

Founders 1936-1986:

Peary & Mabel Rader

The Ideal Physique My friend, the late Art Zeller, who was a legendary physique photographer and the possessor of an excellent physique, had a very clear idea of what his ideal physique was. Sometimes his judgment coincided with the contest judges, and sometime it didn’t. He was not restricted to points or posing or any written rules, as the judges are, and he was picking out just one, so his task was easier. His rule was quite simple: Of the guys onstage, which physique would I like to have? The ideal physique in bodybuilding terms has evolved as we’ve glimpsed what’s possible. As a strength athlete and bodybuilder, John Grimek ruled from before World War II to the advent of Steve Reeves, whose physique represented a completely new look. Steve’s wide shoulders, small waist and great calves were the embodiment of classical statues but with the added size that only bodybuilding can create. In the Hercules movies he combined a very handsome face and that new look, taking the ideal from the pages of bodybuilding magazines to the huge movie audience. Suddenly, muscles were a good thing, and bodybuilding became a specialized activity in which the main goal was symmetrical development, not strength. IRON MAN is here to help you create your ideal physique. What type of physique has the greatest appeal to you? In Art Zeller’s words, whose physique would you like to have? That really is the ultimate question. Over the years the physiques of bodybuilding-contest winners have continued to evolve. At one time avid bodybuilders wanted to emulate their look. Is that still true today? I know that 95 percent of our readers don’t aspire to compete, but how do the physiques of today’s champions influence you? Do they inspire you? Do you want to look like them? Over the next several months we will explore these questions at ironmanmagazine.com with visual and verbal questionnaires. The first round will involve simply applying the Art Zeller rule: In a perfect world, which physique would you like to inhabit 24/7/365? The purpose of the questionnaires is to help us create an IRON MAN that truly reflects the needs of our readers. While I believe that IRON MAN has the best writers and photographers in the business, they still represent a very small number compared to our readership. Without your input via polls and e-mail, we’re just guessing at what you need to reach your goals. I read every e-mail message that’s sent to me, so let me know how you feel about the content, what you want to see more of and less of and how we can make IRON MAN better fit your needs. You can write to me at ironleader@aol.com. And don’t forget to go to our Web site and answer that all-important question. 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

26 JUNE 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. The incredible breakthrough design of the pad on the Ab Bench pre-stretches the targeted muscles prior to contraction, giving you a full-range movement, making each exercise up to 200% more effective. The Ab Bench takes the physiology of your spine into consideration with its design like nothing else on the market. The contraction takes place all the way into the pelvis where the abdominals actually rotate the spine, forcing the abdominals to completely contract... from the upper abs to the lower abs. Using the Ab Bench is the “sure-ﬁre” guarantee for you to get those attention-grabbing washboard abs. From full stretch to complete contraction—in total comfort. The Ab Bench is the most complete midsection exercise in existence. You’ll feel the incredible difference from your very ﬁrst rep.

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With lateral raises the bottom part of the stroke, not the top, may be the most important for stimulating extraordinary growth.

32 JUNE 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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X FILES

Lateral Raises vs. Lateral Throws heaving giant dumbbells. The better way to overload that Contrary to popular belief, the bottom, semistretch important semistretched position is with X Reps. When position of a lateral raise is a key to growth stimulation. you can’t get anymore fairly strict laterals, grab a pair of That’s where the medial-delt head is semistretched and heavy dumbbells and do partial upright rows, pulling the the most force generation occurs. So wouldn’t it make dumbbells out and up to about bellybutton height. Or do sense to severely overload the bottom part of the exerheavy rack pulls in a power rack. Better yet, ditch the cise’s stroke, at least on some sets, if you want extreme laterals and do heavy dumbbell upright rows, ending with delt growth? Yes, and that’s exactly what the biggest bodybuilders do when they grab heavy-as-hell dumbbells X Reps. Your delts will get rounder and fuller because you’ll be hitting the lateral heads’ sweet spot with heavy and use body movement to crank them up and out. weight immediately after full-range reps. Larry Scott, the first Mr. Olympia, was a master at so—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson called heavy cheat laterals, turning the exercise into a www.X-Rep.com modified dumbbell upright row that overloaded his medial-delt heads, mostly near the bottom of the stroke. It Editor’s note: The above is an excerpt from the IM was almost as if he were doing power high pulls—but it’s e-zine. You can get one delivered to your e-mail box exactly what helped him overcome his narrow clavicles every week free: Visit www.X-Rep.com and click on X and build incredible melon-size shoulders despite his Files. Go to any of the past installments and click on the genetic shortcomings. subscribe link at the bottom. Rarely do you see bodybuilders with cannonball delts using lighter weights so they can slowly arc the dumbbells up to complete contraction with straight arms. To do that they have to use dumbbells that are Strict laterals require a weight way too light for that’s much too light to stress semistretch overthe delts at the bottom. load at the bottom. The big-delt dudes usually do laterals with excessive weight—would you believe 90-pound dumbbells?—with their upper arms never getting very close to parallel to the floor—at least not on the majority of sets. That’s not to say you should be

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Neveux

Neveux \ Model: Allen Sarkiszadeh

The best delt developer may not be what you’ve been raised to believe

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. If you’re after huge forearms with the crushing power of an industrial vise, get the Super Gripper. It’s the ultimate forearmand grip-building tool on the market because it provides your muscles with the two essential requirements they demand for awesome size and strength: speciﬁcity (mimics gripping action) and progressive resistance. You’ll develop a bone-crushing grip fast by adding one or a number of power coils for that critical progressive-resistance effect. Remember, when you wear short sleeves, it’s the lower arms that are exposed for all to see. You’ll want your forearms to be huge and vascular to match your thick, beefy upper arms—and now they will.

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Neveux \ Model: Skip La Cour \ Equipment: Powertec power rack, 1-800-447-0008

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INNOVATIONS

Good Strength Vibrations Whole-body vibrators enhance power Not to be confused with what you find in your local Hustler store (I always drive by it; I never stop, I swear), whole-body vibrators may indeed have ergogenic effects. A recent study compared the performance-enhancing effects of squats done on a vibration platform with squats performed conventionally in 14 male recreational weight trainees. The subjects trained for five weeks. After the initial testing they were randomly assigned to either the “squat whole-body vibration” (SWBV) group, which performed squats in a Smith machine on a vibration platform, or the “squat” (S) group, which performed conventional squats in a Smith machine with no vibrations. At the beginning and the end of the study the researchers performed tests consisting of one-repetition maximums (1RMs) on the squat and vertical jump. Vertical-jump numbers increased significantly only in the SWBV group; however, both groups showed significant increases in 1RM performance on squats. There was a trend toward greater relative strength increase in the SWBV group. According to the authors, “The preliminary results of this study point toward a tendency of superiority of squats performed on a vibration platform compared with squats without vibrations regarding maximum strength and explosive power as long as the external load is similar in recreationally resistance-trained men.”1 My conclusion: If your goal is to achieve maximum performance, use every training tool possible. Whole-body vibration seems to be one of those tools that will get your body working like a finely tuned machine. —Jose Antonio, Ph.D.

For better gains Athletes and bodybuilders are always searching for something that can increase athletic proficiency or muscle. One technique that may prove useful, according to a recent study, is acupuncture.1 In acupuncture the skin is punctured with stainless-steel needles in specific zones. Studies show that it can alleviate muscle tension, improve local blood flow, increase pain threshold and moderate the autonomic nervous system. In a new study two groups of female soccer players were either given acupuncture treatment or not after intense competition. Those in the acupuncture group did not experience the drop in salivary immunoglobulin A that usually results from intense exercise. Immunoglobulin A is an antibody that is thought to help prevent various upper-respiratory infections. Instead, those in the acupuncture group showed decreased levels of salivary cortisol after exercise. Cortisol is the primary catabolic hormone in the body, meaning that it promotes the breakdown of muscle. Anything that blunts cortisol increase after exercise would favor a stronger response of anabolic hormones, such as testosterone and growth hormone. Cortisol also suppresses the immune response, leading to a greater chance of illness. The acupuncture subjects had less muscle fatigue and tension than the control athletes. They also reported feeling better and generally were in better moods, experiencing less depression and fatigue. Precisely how acupuncture produces those effects remains a matter of conjecture. Practitioners frequently say that stimulating certain parts of the body through acupuncture positively affects the body’s autonomic and endocrine systems, which has overlapping effects on other systems, such as immune response. Acupuncture isn’t suitable for selftreatment. Anyone contemplating trying it needs to consult with an experienced practitioner. Get the point? —Jerry Brainum

1 Ronnestad, B.R. (2004). Comparing the performance-enhancing effects of squats on a vibration platform with conventional squats in recreationally resistance-trained men. J Strength Cond Res. 18:839-45.

Editor’s note: Jose Antonio, Ph.D., is the chief science officer of Javalution (www.javafit.com) and the president of the International Society of Sports Nutrition (www.sportsnutritionsociety.org).

34 JUNE 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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1 Akimoto, T., et al. (2003). Acupuncture and responses of immunologic and endocrine markers during competition. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 35:1296-1302.

YOU CAN BENCH BIG Add 20 Pounds to Your Bench Press Almost Overnight! How would you like a surge in upper-body power and a bigger bench press—say, 20 extra pounds on the bar—after only a couple of workouts? Sure, adding 20 pounds to your bench in two or three training sessions may sound crazy, especially if your bench press poundage has been stuck in neutral for a while. But nine times out of 10 this stall is due to an easily correctible muscle weakness—not in the pecs, delts or triceps but in a group of muscles known as the rotator cuff. The rotator cuff muscles stabilize the shoulder joint. During the bench press and almost all other upperbody movements these muscles protect the shoulder joint and prevent ball-and-socket slippage. If these muscles are underdeveloped, they become the weak link in the action and your pressing strength suffers, or worse, you injure your shoulder. One of the best ways to strengthen this area and create an upper-body power surge is with direct rotator cuff exercise. Once you start using the ShoulderHorn for two or three sets twice a week, your pressing poundages will skyrocket. This device allows you to train your rotator cuff muscles in complete comfort and with precise strengthening action. After a few weeks you’ll be amazed at your new benching power. There have been reports of 20-to-30-pound increases in a matter of days. A big, impressive bench press can be yours. Get the ShoulderHorn, start working your rotator cuff muscles, and feel the power as you start piling on plates and driving up heavy iron.

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Why It’s So Simple To get in terrific condition and stay there (and why you never read about it), part 2 Injuries can ruin most of your progress. So what you have to do is stay injury free or at least find a way to minimize injuries. One way is by changing exercises at every workout because most injuries come from using the same exercises week after week, with increasing weights as the stress factor. That wipes out joints and leaves you with injured elbows, shoulders and knees. But if injuries do occur, your workout has to speed healing. You can accomplish that by being very sensitive to any pain whatsoever and then quickly changing the exercise to one that is totally pain free—I mean, no pain at all. Once you’re sure you have a pain-free exercise that works the same area, go to town with it (see the five-set strategy I described in the May ’05 IRON MAN). The next step is to flood the injured area with fresh blood, pumping it so full of healing nutrients that the blood will almost hydrolyze any bad guys lurking in there. Believe me, it works. You also have to work each bodypart at least every 72 hours or it starts to shrink—you know, atrophy. But you’re going to do a lot better than that. You’re going to work each bodypart every 36 hours. That way you hit it again while the muscle still has residual pump. What about overtraining? No problem. Each time you hit a bodypart, you only do one exercise—not the four or five you do when you get to rest about 60 hours before you have to get it back together again. Next, your workout must have an element of fun. That’s very important, but it’s almost totally disregarded—unless I design the workout, that is. Oh, I know it seems I’m patting myself on the back. Well, what the heck. Let me tell you why it’s so important. I learned from Charles Coonradt, who wrote a book called The Game of Work, that the reason people like to play is that they always know whether they’re winning or losing. With work you just plug along day after day, and you never know if you’re getting ahead. That’s the trouble with most of our workouts. We just kind of wander through them because we believe it’s good for us, but we never have any goals, so we’ll never know when we get the prize. How do we set goals that will help us bring fun into our workouts? Well, you have to know a little bit about yourself. With our clients, we know how much they can lift on several reference lifts. We know that if they can bench-press 200 pounds one time, they should be able to bench-press 170 for six reps. The same is true for lat pulldowns and so on. That gives them something to shoot for. It’s like sinking a putt or hitting a home run: When you know the weight you’re supposed to use, you Bob Kennedy, MuscleMag International

TRAIN TO GAIN

SUCCESS SECRETS

Doing the same exercise for extended periods of time causes a lot of injuries. Change it up to stay injury free.

give it your all, and when you make it, it’s a good feeling. It’s like a game. It’s a challenge, and we all love challenges. Time to talk about workout environment. If you’re having a hard time training regularly and you train at home, I suggest you join a gym. It will help a lot. Your home is just not the place to put on a T-shirt and hit the weights. When you get home each night, your home says, “What a day you’ve had. It’s time to sit back, pick up the paper, relax. You deserve it.” It never says, “Okay, let’s hit it.” Ever noticed how heavy a 10-pound plate feels in your home? It’s so hard to get off the floor—as if it could tear your fingernails off. In the gym it’s a Frisbee. If you insist on training at home and you’re looking at a SoloFlex or a NordicTrack or something like that, don’t buy it from the manufacturer. Look in the classified ads. There are dozens of hardly used ones for sale. Get my point? Now let’s talk about zone exercises—a whole book in itself. If you want to really make some shocking progress, you need to include as many zone exercises as possible. What do I mean by “zone” exercises? Let me list a few. Smith-machine bench presses with the palms turned at a 45-degree angle, dips with the palms reversed, Scott preacher curls, kneeling triceps exercises, donkey calf raises with pulley and belt, scapula-rotating chins and pulldowns. Some exercises are filled with magic. They have a zone that can yield many times the results of other exercises. They almost seem to have a special purity. By the way, the zone feeling isn’t unique to me. I’ve run hundreds of clients through these exercises, and the reaction is always the same. I’ll have more muscle-building stuff next month. —Larry Scott Editor’s note: Get All 33 of Larry Scott’s reports. Thousands of words of pure training inspiration—a treasure! The collection includes a three-ring binder and table of contents for easy reference, all for the low cost of $87. Mention that you saw the offer in IRON MAN and receive, free, the “Larry Scott’s Peak Biceps” DVD. Call (800) 225-9752 to order.

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(Ouch!) It’s All in the Wrist Carpal tunnel syndrome is a common repetitive-work-related injury. It’s often seen in those who work on computers for many hours (keyboard or mouse) or perform repeated fine motor movements (tasks requiring grasping, pinching, gripping and so on). What does that have to do with weight training? Certain exercises aggravate carpal tunnel syndrome, which is now prevalent due to the computer’s prominence in the workplace. Carpal tunnel syndrome is the name given to the irritation and compression of the median nerve in the wrist. The nerve travels down the arm and enters the top of the forearm, where it can also be compressed. From there it travels down between the forearm muscles and into the “carpal tunnel.” The floor of the tunnel is made up of carpal, or wrist, bones, and its roof is made of the transverse carpal ligament, which is part of a connective-tissue structure. The tendons of the forearm muscles, or wrist flexors, are also located in the carpal tunnel. Some in health care claim they know why carpal tunnel occurs, but we really don’t know. We do know what happens when it occurs, however. The median nerve begins to become inflamed and dysfunctional. Nerve pathology is known as a neuropathy, which makes the accurate term for the condition median neuropathy at the carpal tunnel, but carpal tunnel syndrome, or CTS, is easier for most to remember. The median neuropathy may be more than a simple compression. It may be a neurological overuse problem—too much stimulation of the nerve. Once the nerve is inflamed, it can be further aggravated by being pulled against the roof or floor of the tunnel for any length of time. One activity that commonly aggravates CTS is pulling blankets up to your neck at night and keeping your wrists bent or flexed for hours. People often wake up with numb fingers and hands (usually thumb, index finger and middle finger). Doctors prescribe splints to keep the wrist straight at night. That keeps the nerve more centrally located in the tunnel, away from the roof and floor. Some exercises aggravate an inflamed median nerve. Reverse-grip bench presses are a great alternative to the regular bench press in that they reduce stress on the shoulder. The bar rests against a branch of the median nerve in the thumb area of the hand, however, and can significantly increase numbness and tingling in the hand by the next morning. The regular-grip bench press can do the same, but it seems to be reported less often. Some trainees may not feel those symptoms. They may have very thick hands, and that branch of the nerve may not be compressed to the same extent. Anthony Clark is 5’7” and 335 pounds. He performed an 804-pound reverse-grip bench press. The late legendary Paul Anderson was 5’9” and 360 pounds. He could deadlift only 820 pounds and blamed that on his “meaty, thick hands,” which prevented him from gripping the bar well. When he used hooks on the deadlift, Anderson reportedly performed 800

Carpal tunnel syndrome

Neveux

TRAIN TO GAIN

SPORTSMEDICINE

pounds for reps on the stiff-legged deadlift. The point is, hand thickness may protect some trainees. The famed Barbarian Brothers used to hold the bar with foam pads on reverse-grip bench presses. Wrist curl and reverse wrist curl can stretch the median nerve against the roof or floor of the carpal tunnel. That may be enough to aggravate the nerve, especially if you do multiple sets of high reps. Also, if the flexor tendons are inflamed and thickened, they can irritate the median nerve in the tunnel. Again, some trainees may not feel those symptoms. I’ve heard of bodybuilders who develop carpal tunnel syndrome if they have a rapid and significant weight gain after a competition. When competitors gain 30 pounds in a few weeks, there are often complaints of tingling hands. I’m not saying those exercises cause carpal tunnel syndrome but, rather, that your body may not tolerate them well once CTS has developed. If you’re experiencing symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome, have a special test performed known as a nerve conduction velocity. The test can be ordered after an orthopedist, chiropractor, neurologist or medical doctor has examined you. —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.home-gym.com.

40 JUNE 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Age-Old Muscle Migration

Use it or lose it

You lose strength and muscle size with age if you do nothing to avoid it. Scientists have a name for age-related loss of lean mass: sarcopenia. Eventually, if nothing is done to forestall the loss of muscle, people can’t take care of themselves. But what about elite athletes? What toll does age take on them? A recent study examined the effects of aging in male and female elite weightlifters and powerlifters.1 Earlier studies used static exercise, with subjects not actually moving muscles but just exerting pressure, such as in isometric exercise. In the new study, though, dynamic forms of exercise, specifically Olympic-style weightlifting and powerlifting, were the focus. The study showed a decline in functional muscular capacity in both men and women, beginning in early middle age, which is younger than in past studies. The rate of decline in performance proved greater in the weightlifters, due to the need for a greater level of skills, including balance and speed, than in the relatively simple forms of lifting typical of powerlifting. While prior research showed that lower-body strength dissipated before upper-body strength, this study found no differences. The female athletes showed a greater rate of decline in weightlifting than the male athletes, though no sex-related differences occurred in the powerlifting group.

Neveux \ Model: Jeff Hammond

TRAIN TO GAIN

ANTI-AGING

WOMEN

Dumbbells for the Ages While many women will admit to having gone out with a dumbbell or two, most haven’t considered the benefits of trying the iron kind. Those dumbbells can be especially beneficial to older women. Recently, a group of perimenopausal and newly menopausal women pumped iron for eight weeks in a strength-training program at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. Thirty-three percent boosted their energy and sex drive, 40 percent felt less anxious, and 50 percent said they were less achy and irritable. You would be too if you had fewer hot flashes and headaches—not to mention less painful intercourse. How did pumping iron do all that? The researcher said, “Simple: Lifting cuts stress.” —Daniel Curtis, R.D. 42 JUNE 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

As for what causes the decline even in athletes, one suggestion is a downgrade with age of neuromuscular function and coordination. In practical terms, that means aging causes a loss of the ability to fully activate muscular structures, leading to a loss of strength. Another explanation, provided by the researchers, doesn’t make much sense. They mention that with age comes a loss of type 2 muscle fibers, which are most associated with strength, and a greater ratio of the fast-twitch type 1 fibers, which produce less force. While that pattern occurs in people who don’t exercise, continued exercise maintains the type 2 fibers. A more likely explanation involves the loss of neuromuscular communication, which could relate to certain hormonal factors. Fortunately, men and women who continue lifting can maintain much of their functional strength, thereby preventing some of the physical horrors linked to the aging process, such as debilitating loss of bone and muscle. —Jerry Brainum 1 Anton, M.M., et al. (2004). Age-related declines in anaerobic muscular performance: weightlifting and powerlifting. Med Sci Sports Exer. 36:143-147.

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TRAIN WITH ZANE

How Much Rest Is Best?

Efficient recovery ability is the question

There’s no doubt in my mind that training less frequently as one gets older works better. Since you don’t work out as often, you have more desire and stamina to train harder. With the hormone slowdown that occurs with age, called andropause, recuperation from hard workouts takes longer and longer. In my teens and 20s I trained six days a week, working upper body one day and lower body the next. I felt fine, recuperated well and was strong for every workout. In my mid-20s I began training back, biceps, forearms, thighs, calves and abs at one workout and chest, shoulders, triceps and abs at the other. I remember training that way when I lived in Florida—and each workout lasted up to three hours. Upon moving to Southern California in 1969, I fell into pace with Arnold’s workout at Gold’s Gym, as many did in those days. It was now a three-way split done six days a week: chest and back on Mondays and Thursdays, legs on Tuesdays and Fridays and delts and arms on Wednesdays and Saturdays. We trained abs at the end of each workout. It worked well at first, especially for Arnold, whose nine-to-five job was going to the gym and then the beach, and it worked for me too, especially when I had summers off from teaching school. But training with heavy weights for the ’72 London Mr. Universe left me so drained by the end of the week

that I usually had to take the weekend off, squeezing my workout into five consecutive days. After winning my second Mr. Olympia title in ’78, I switched to a new three-way-split routine, on which I trained three days in a row and rested the fourth day: back, biceps, forearms, abs on day one; thighs, calves, abs on day two; chest, shoulders, triceps on day three; rest on day four. It was the classic three-days-on/one-day-off cycle, or the four-day cycle, as I now call it. It worked well, providing me with a little more rest, and I gained a solid eight pounds of muscle by 1979. I won the Mr. Olympia that year weighing almost 195 in my best ever condition. I continued to train in that fashion— three days on/one off—taking an extra day off when I needed it right up until a few years ago. I found that my shoulders needed more rest, so I switched to back, delts, chest on day one; abs, thighs, calves on day two; and triceps, biceps, forearms, abs on day three. The only time I do this program three days in a row is when I train with clients as part of my Zane Experience program. After that I take two days off instead of one. What seems to work best for me now, as I approach my 63rd birthday, is to spread this new three-way split over five days: day one, torso; day two, rest; day MUSCLE SCIENCE three, legs; day four, arms; day five, rest; day 6, begin cycle again. If I Hyperplasia for more size feel a bit overtrained, I’ll take two days off after While muscle-fiber splitting, or hyperplasia, hasn’t been shown conclusively to occur in completing the three humans, animal studies have proved that it does happen within muscle structures. For examworkouts, thereby ple, in one study the hyperplasia in rats was the result of stretch overload, which leads me to training each bodypart believe that if it does occur in humans, stretching and stretch-position exercises—like stiff(except abs) only once legged deadlifts for hamstrings, flyes for pecs and incline curls for biceps—can contribute to in six days. It’s all on the phenomenon, resulting in the potential for larger and larger muscles. We already know that my “Train With Zane” stretch-position movements can increase the anabolic receptors on muscle tissue, so the video, a very detailed, informative demonstrapossibility of fiber splitting is yet another reason to use stretch-position exercises for each tion of all the exercises bodypart. and stretches I do —Steve Holman arranged according to Train, Eat, Grow this most productive three-way-split routine. Editor’s note: The Try it, you’ll like it. X-Rep power-partial —Frank Zane technique stresses the Three-time Mr. target muscle in its Olympia

Neveux \ Model: Mike Morris

Split and Grow Massive

semistretched position at the end of any set. That may trigger fiber splitting and new size gains. For more information visit www .X-Rep.com.

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Making an Ice of Yourself In the early 1970s, during an extended stay in my hometown of Brooklyn, New York, I worked in a health foods store owned by Vic Boff. Vic was a longtime health and strength enthusiast, and we often had lively discussions about the current status of the iron world. The one thing about Vic I’ll always remember, besides his warm and engaging personality, was his love of swimming in the ocean. But not just any swimming. Vic was a member in good standing of a group known as the Polar Bear Club, which met once a week during the winter months at the icy shore of the Atlantic and happily frolicked in the icy sea. Vic and his colleagues believed that swimming in those frigid waters provided health benefits. Whether that’s true depends on the individual.1 To those unaccustomed to it, swimming in icy waters can be life threatening. In some cases exposure to cold water causes a type of thickening of the blood that leads to blood clots in the coronary arteries. In common terms, that causes a heart attack. In other cases the heart rhythm is disturbed, sometimes fatally. From a hormonal point of view, levels of norepinephrine, a catecholamine hormone known to stimulate the heart, increases fourfold, resulting in nonshivering thermogenesis. Other hormones, including ACTH from the pituitary, which controls cortisol release; thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH); and cortisol, all rise during exposure to cold water. If exposure exceeds 30 minutes, core body temperatures can decrease enough to cause death. That all changes when people swim in cold water regularly. Just as muscles get accustomed to regular exercise, so too does the body to regular cold-water exposure. The body’s thermogenesis reactions upgrade, while the circulatory system adapts to cold, preventing the dangerous effects that would ordinarily occur. The metabolic adaptation prevents a dramatic drop in body core temperature that could lead to cardiovascular collapse. Regular cold-water swimmers show increased beta-adrenergic stimulation of skeletal muscle that doesn’t result from increased catecholamine release. Normally, exercise increases the release of catecholamines such as epinephrine and norepinephrine, which interact with beta-adrenergic fat cell receptors to promote fat release. The same event occurs during

Is winter swimming good for your health?

cold-water swimming minus the presence of catecholamines. Scientists think that the exposure to cold water may increase beta-adrenergic receptor sensitivity. That has implications for fat-burning during regular exercise on dry land. The sensitivity of beta-adrenergic receptors determines how efficiently you burn fat during exercise. Theoretically, if coldwater swimming increases this sensitivity, you may tap into fat stores easier during standard exercise sessions. Cold-water swimmers also show skin adaptations. They get less blood flow to their skin, which acts as a thermal insulation. That results from the lower heart rate that occurs after regular coldwater exposure. The question is whether any real health benefits are associated with icy swims. One study found a whopping 50 percent reduction in insulin levels at the end of 2 1/2 months of winter swimming compared to baseline, or starting, levels. Lowering insulin provides a number of beneficial health effects, including decreased risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Excess insulin is also linked to increased bodyfat and decreased longevity. Other studies show that cold-water swimming galvanizes immune system response. Although it does raise cortisol levels, which are linked to immune-system suppression, it compensates by promoting the release of cytokines, chemicals that prime and promote immune responses in the body. One study showed that regular winter swimmers had a 40 percent decrease in the incidence of respiratory-tract infections. Cold-water swimming may also increase the body’s antioxidant protection. Apparently, regular cold-water exposure acts as an oxidant stressor, causing the body to upgrade its antioxidant defense system. Because swimming in cold water can be dangerous, it’s best to get used to it gradually—if you choose to indulge. I can still recall Vic Boff walking into his Brooklyn store, the ice still in his hair. At the time, I thought he was a bit eccentric, but now I understand the method behind Vic’s winter madness. —Jerry Brainum 1 Kolettisss, T.M., et al. (2003). Winter swimming: healthy or hazardous? Evidence and hypothesis. Medical Hypotheses. 61:654-656.

46 JUNE 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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Nutrition With a Mission

Neveux \ Model: John Hansen

Your nutrition program is absolutely vital to achieving peak condition and attaining a ripped physique. Unfortunately, the diet that worked for you once may no longer be applicable as you age. Like it or not, your metabolism slows down when you reach middle age. Fat accumulates much more easily, and the hard-earned muscle mass that you work so diligently to achieve finds little reason to stick around. More fat and less muscle do not equate to the ideal bodybuilding physique. I experienced that changing-physique phenomenon over the past few years as I attempted to reach peak condition for the natural bodybuilding competitions I entered from 2001 to ’04, which I discussed in last month’s column. After trying and failing two years in a row—’01 and ’02—I knew I needed to make adjustments to my precontest diet to achieve my goal.

Having won the Natural Mr. Universe contest twice (’92 and ’96), as well as taken first place in the Natural Olympia (’98) and achieved victory in many local and regional competitions, I thought I had the dieting thing down. Then, after tearing my biceps in 2000, I had a very difficult time getting back to the type of condition I once displayed. The fact is, my body started changing right around the time I turned 35, which was in 1998. My Natural Mr. Universe precontest diet contained a high percentage of complex carbohydrates, moderate protein and very little fat—approximately 60 percent carbs, 30 percent protein and 10 percent fat. To prepare for the Natural Olympia, I decided to make some slight changes. I kept my precontest calories the same—approximately 2,800 to 3,000—but I increased fats while slightly decreasing carbs. The breakdown of that diet was 38 percent protein, 47 percent carb and 16 percent fat. Both of those diets worked great for me. I followed both for 12 to 16 weeks and was able to compete in ripped condition, and I won first place in both competitions. When I came back to competition in 2001, after a threeyear layoff, I decided to follow the same diet that had brought me such great results in ’98. I wasn’t buying into the low-carb craze that everyone seemed to be following because I knew what had worked for me in the past. I believed that a bodybuilder needed to eat a certain amount of carbohydrates to conserve muscle tissue. Carbs are said to be protein sparing, which means that the body uses them for energy. That leaves more protein for rebuilding muscle. During a low-carbohydrate diet the body may be forced to break down protein to use as an energy source after its carbs have become depleted. I knew bodybuilders who successfully followed a low-carb diet for competitions, and they looked fantastic, but they were all using steroids. The drugs enabled them to maintain muscle tissue no matter how few carbs they consumed. I believed that as a natural bodybuilder I would surely sacrifice muscle tissue following a diet like that. So what happened? When I competed in 2001 and 2002, my results were disappointing, to say the least. The fat came off much more slowly, and I failed to reach peak condition in time for the competitions despite the fact that I gave myself 20 weeks. Injuries forced me to forgo competing in ’03, but I decided to make another attempt at reaching peak condition again in ’04. This time I purposely avoided bulking up in the

Keeping an open mind as he experimented with his diet helped John Hansen finally reach peak condition once again.

48 JUNE 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Naturally Huge As you get older, your body changes. In order to lose bodyfat, you may need to shift macronutrient percentages; for example, reducing carbs and increasing protein.

off-season so I wouldn’t have as much fat to lose. I began my precontest diet on May 1, a full 24 weeks before my first competition, which was scheduled for October 23. I weighed 230 pounds, and I planned on competing at approximately 205. If I lost only one pound a week, I would weigh 206 pounds for the contest. Here’s how my menu looked when I began my precontest diet: Meal 1: 1 egg, 9 egg whites, 1 cup oatmeal, half cup blueberries Meal 2 (protein drink): 2 servings Pro-Fusion protein powder in water, 70 grams banana, 1 tablespoon flaxseed oil Meal 3: 5 ounces extra-lean turkey, half cup brown rice, 3 tablespoons salsa, 1 cup turkey chili Meal 4 (preworkout drink): 1 serving whey protein, 1 serving creatine Meal 5 (postworkout drink): 3 scoops RecoverX in water Meal 6 (protein drink): Muscle Meals meal replacement, 90 grams banana, half cup oat bran, half cup blueberries Meal 7: 7 ounces round steak, 1 cup green beans Totals: 3,133 calories, 323 grams protein, 313 grams carbohydrate, 63 grams fat Breakdown: 41 percent protein, 40 percent carb, 19 percent fat

I was now eating a diet consisting of more protein and fat but slightly fewer carbohydrates. I kept my calories between 2,800 and 3,100 per day—more on workout days— for a weekly average of 2,950 calories. My carbohydrate consumption averaged approximately 300 grams per day. I ate a little more than 300 grams of carbs on my weighttraining days and 250 grams on my days off. Despite my strict adherence to the diet, my fat loss was very slow and frustrating. I measured my progress by the circumference of my waist along with my bodyweight, both of which I recorded first thing every morning. I knew my weight wasn’t as important as what I looked like, so I was more concerned with my waist measurement than I was my bodyweight. I also knew from my previous wins at the Natural Universe and Natural Olympia that a waist measurement of 32 to 33 inches was ideal for my physique. At 230 pounds I had a bulky 37-inch waist, which meant that I’d need to lose a minimum of four inches before I was ready to step onstage. I decided to give myself a little more time than the minimum of 16 weeks, just in case I needed it. On August 14, 2004, after 15 weeks of dieting, my bodyweight was down to 215 pounds, and my waist was at 35 inches. I’d lost 15 pounds and two inches off my waist. I only had nine weeks left, and I still needed to lose a minimum of two more inches off my waist. My weekly average of calories per day was now at 2,800, and my carbohydrate average had dropped to 270 grams per day. When I was only six weeks away from my first contest, I decided to make some changes to my diet. I went to my friend and fellow competitor Joe Silzer. Joe competes on the national level and is obviously aware of what the judges look for. At that point my bodyweight was down to 213.5 pounds with a 34-inch waist. My progress had been very slow, and my waist had not lost any fat for the past three weeks. I had Joe take some pictures of me that day, and we both had the same view. I needed to get much harder—and quick!—or I would not be ready in time. My first solution was to increase my cardio. I’d been doing cardio three to four days a week, so I decided to increase it to a minimum of six days per week to accelerate the fat loss. After four days of nonstop cardio, my waist stubbornly remained at 34 inches, and my body(continued on page 54)

Two scoops of Pro-Fusion contain half the carbs that a packet of Muscle Meals does (only six grams of carbs compared to 12 in the Muscle Meals).

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\ JULY 2006 181

Mr. Natural Olympia John Hansen’s

Naturally Huge You can’t allow your calories to fall too low, or your weight workouts will cause you to lose muscle, not gain or even retain it.

(continued from page 50)

Neveux \ Model: John Hansen

weight also refused to budge. I called Joe up, and we went over my diet, meal by meal. Joe advised me to drop my carbohydrate intake even lower in order to get harder. Here are the changes we decided to make: Meal 1: same Meal 2: eliminate the banana Meal 3: change to 6ounce chicken breast, 120 grams sweet potato, 3 ounces broccoli or asparagus Instead of extra-lean turkey, I began eating chicken breast, which is a little bit higher in fat and calories. I dropped the half cup of brown rice and replaced it with a small sweet potato, which has a lower glycemicindex number than the brown rice. I also eliminated the turkey chili, which was high in fiber and contained no sugar but was too high in carbs. I substituted very lowcalorie broccoli or asparagus, which was also high in fiber but contained a fraction of the carbohydrate. Meal 4: same Meal 5: same Meal 6 (protein drink): 2 servings Pro-Fusion, 1 tablespoon natural peanut butter I also drastically changed this meal, which I had about 30 minutes following my RecoverX drink. Instead of the Muscle Meals shake with a banana, I used two scoops of Pro-Fusion and no banana. That contains half the carbs of a packet of Muscle Meals (only six grams of carbs compared to 12 in the Muscle Meals), and cutting out the banana reduced my total carbohydrate intake even further. I also eliminated the oat bran and blueberries, using a tablespoon of natural peanut butter instead. Meal 7: same Meal 8 (protein drink): 2 scoops of Pro-Fusion with 1 tablespoon flaxseed oil. The flaxseed oil supplied more essential fatty acids and helped slow down the digestion of the protein drink. Since

I wouldn’t be eating anything until the next morning, it was important to keep the muscle cells saturated with the growth-producing amino acids from the protein drink. Taking in a fastacting form of protein such as whey before retiring would have been a mistake. The diet provided me with approximately 2,800 calories, 340 to 350 grams of protein, 200 grams of carb and 65 to 70 grams of fat. Although the calories were the same as the diet that I’d been following for the previous 18 weeks, the macronutrient percentages were different. My carbohydrate intake dropped by 100 grams per day. Instead of getting 250 to 300 grams of carbs, I dropped to 150 to 200. To keep the calories the same, I slightly increased my protein from 320 to 350 grams per day, and I also increased my fat from approximately 55 grams per day to 70. It was necessary to get more fat because of the carb decrease. I knew I’d risk losing muscle size and fullness if I reduced the carbs but kept the fat the same. The added flaxseed oil and the tablespoon or two of natural peanut butter a day helped me maintain my muscle mass while I was eliminating bodyfat. So how did my experiment work? Like a charm! I started losing fat almost immediately. I changed my diet on a Wednesday; by that Saturday my waist had dropped half an inch, and my bodyweight was down by two pounds. Even better, my progress from that point was consistent. I lost 1.5 to two pounds each week, and my waist got smaller.

Instead of taking in 250 to 300 grams of carbs, I reduced them to 150 to 200 per day. 54 JUNE 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Mr. Natural Olympia John Hansen’s

Naturally Huge My previous beliefs regarding the importance of carbohydrates in a precontest diet drastically changed. I now believe that it’s possible to eat fewer carbs and still maintain your muscle mass and strength, even if you’re a natural bodybuilder. getting more fats and protein just as a higher carb intake demands a much lower fat intake. If you’re attempting to get lean and feel that it’s no longer possible because you’re not as young as you were, don’t give up and head for the couch. You may just need to change the percentages of protein, carbs and fats that you’re getting in order to get results. Record your diet in a journal each day, and keep experimenting until your body responds. Once you find the right diet, a ripped physique may be right around the corner. Editor’s note: John Hansen has won the Natural Mr. Olympia and is a two-time Natural Mr. Universe winner. Visit his Web site at www .naturalolympia.com. You can write to him at P.O. Box 3003, Darien, IL 60561, or call toll-free (800) 900-UNIV (8648). His new book, Natural Bodybuilding, is now available from Human Kinetics Publishing. IM

Neveux

By the time my competition arrived, I was in the best shape I’d been since taking the Natural Olympia in ’98. Six years is a long time between winnings, but that was how long I had to wait. On October 23, 2004, my drought finally ended as I took the overall at the Natural America’s Cup competition. My bodyweight was at 205 pounds, and my waist was down to 33 inches, very close to peak condition. Four weeks later, on November 21, 2004, I’d reduced my bodyfat even more. I competed in the Natural Mr. Universe weighing 200 pounds. It was the best I’d looked in more than five years, and it was a far cry from the lackluster physique I’d displayed in the previous few years. What was amazing about this new, improved version of my diet was that I was able to retain all of my muscle mass while losing the fat. My beliefs regarding the importance of carbohydrates in a precontest diet drastically changed. I now believe that it’s possible to eat fewer carbs and maintain your muscle mass and strength, even if you’re a natural bodybuilder. The key to my diet was finding the right number of calories I needed to lose weight and keeping that calorie intake the same while changing the percentages of the macronutrients. When I decided to reduce my carbohydrates by 100 grams per day, I simultaneously had to increase my protein and fats so my calories didn’t drop. If they had by a significant amount, I no doubt would have sacrificed muscle tissue due to the heavy weight-training workouts and the four to five sessions of cardio per week. When you’re a natural bodybuilder, your energy has to come from somewhere. Eating fewer carbs necessitates 56 JUNE 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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John Hansen John@NaturalOlympia.com

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Battle of the Bulge If you look at any list of best-selling books, you’re likely to find at least one on weight loss. That isn’t surprising, considering that one-third of Americans are clinically obese and that the figure is rising. While excess fat may be undesirable from an aesthetic viewpoint, carrying it around places a severe burden on the body that’s linked to many degenerative diseases, including cardiovascular disease and cancer. Fat isn’t the inert storage site that many thought it was. Instead, fat is extensively active, releasing chemicals that have farranging effects on health. The question is, What’s the best way to lose excess bodyfat via diet-

Scientists study popular diets: Who wins the war on weight loss?

ing? Scientists say that you must increase activity and eat fewer calories than you burn in activity. That solution isn’t attractive to many people, as most seek an easier, less painful method of shedding excess pounds. If you can present a diet plan that appears to help people effectively lose fat yet somehow avoid food deprivation or hunger, you’ve got a best-seller in the making. Some of the most popular diet plans include the Atkins low-carb diet; the Zone diet advocated by biochemist Barry Sears; the Weight Watchers diet, a plan usually favored by women; and the Ornish low-fat plan. Which one is best? A recent study didn’t seek to determine the superiority of any particular diet but instead focused on the health and adherence aspects of the plans, as well as their cardiovascular benefits—or lack of same.1 One hundred sixty subjects, age range 22 to 72, were randomly assigned to one of the four popular diet plans. All subjects had at least one cardiovascular risk factor,

such as high blood pressure or elevated blood cholesterol. They were monitored for a year. Those in the Atkins group began with a carb intake of only 20 grams a day, gradually increased to 50 grams. They got relatively large amounts of fat and protein. Those in the Zone group followed the Zone precepts of carb, fat and protein percentages of 40, 30 and 30, respectively. The Weight Watchers group could eat any food but counted points, with each point averaging 50 calories. The Ornish diet, developed by cardiologist Dean Ornish, limits fat intake to no more than 10 percent of total calories. The participants were told to exercise about an hour a day and maintain a food diary. The first finding that stood out was the lack of adherence to any of the diets. Only 58 percent of the subjects maintained their diets for one year. The greatest dropout rates occurred

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GROW Nutrition With a Get-Big Mission in the Atkins and Ornish groups, which were considered the most restrictive of the diet plans. But even those who stuck with their diets cheated more as time went on. Those who persevered lost between 4.6 and 7.3 pounds over a year. One aspect of this study that didn’t make sense was advice given to the participants that they could adjust the diets any way they wanted after two months. Those in the Atkins low-carb group increased their carb intake to 190 grams by the six-month mark, which means they were no longer on the Atkins or any other lowcarb plan. Even those in the Ornish lowfat group were eating an average of 30 percent fat by the end of the study, or three times the maximum suggested. The diets varied in their effects on cardiovascular risk factors. All the

diets except the low-fat Ornish plan led to a higher level of protective high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol. The lower-carb diets, such as the Atkins and Zone plans, showed greater reductions in blood triglyceride (fat), diastolic blood pressure and insulin. The authors say their results don’t support the notion that low-carb diets are superior to standard diets in terms of weight loss or cardiovascular benefits—a notion disputed by other recent studies. Besides, as noted above, those in the low-carb group had abandoned their low-carb diets by the study’s halfway point. The authors also suggest that the best diet is the one that you stick with. Adherence is a major problem with most diets, especially among those who aren’t highly motivated. That’s rarely a factor with

bodybuilders, who are highly motivated to improve their appearance and lose fat, though many don’t consider the health aspects of dieting. The study didn’t examine the effects of what are probably the best diets overall with respect to promoting health and fitness, the Mediterranean diet and the so-called Paleolithic, or Stone Age, diet. Both are moderate in carbs but feature a lot of the nutrients and food factors known to prevent most degenerative diseases. They’re the best long-term diets to follow, without a doubt. —Jerry Brainum 1 Dansinger, M.L., et al. (2005). Comparison of the Atkins, Ornish, Weight Watchers and Zone diets for weight loss and heart disease risk reduction. JAMA. 293:43-53.

EATING OUT

Best Fast Food Fare

Sometimes you get more than you bargained for—like loads of fat! Pounder with cheese has 540 calories, 29 grams of fat •Better: McDonald’s Chicken McGrill (hold the mayo) has 350 calories, 7 grams of fat •Bad: Wendy’s Big Bacon Classic hamburger has 580 calories, 29 grams of fat •Better: Wendy’s grilled chicken sandwich with honey-mustard sauce has 300 calories, 6 grams of fat. —Becky Holman www.X-tremeLean.com

Sometimes you have to eat fast food, but that doesn’t mean you have to obliterate your diet—if you make the right choice. Here’s how some of the more popular burgers and sandwiches stack up (you’ll be amazed at the totals): •Bad: Burger King Whopper with cheese has 800 calories, 50 grams of fat •Better: Burger King Santa Fe-grilled chicken baguette has 350 calories, 5 grams of fat •Bad: McDonald’s Quarter

www.ironmanmagazine.com \ JUNE 2005 59

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Neveux \ Model: Todd Smith

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ANABOLIC DRIVE

Low-Dose Creatine Jolt To load or not to load? How about this: All you need is about half a teaspoon of creatine to get some results. That’s right, 2.5 grams. In a recent investigation scientists compared the effects of the supplement in three groups: one receiving a placebo, one receiving creatine and one receiving Mg(2+)-Cr. All the subjects were weight-trained men who got a placebo, 2.5 grams of creatine or 2.5 grams of Mg(2+)-Cr daily. Follow-up tests were completed after 10 days, and both the creatine and the Mg(2+)-Cr groups had significantly larger increases in work, both absolutely and relatively, when compared with the placebo group. The creatine and Mg(2+)-Cr groups had similar results in both performance tests—1RM bench press or work done at 70 percent of 1RM—suggesting that the Mg(2+)-Cr’s mechanism of entry is no better than the conventional method at performing work when the dose is 2.5 grams of creatine. The study shows that you really don’t need that much creatine to give your muscles a little bit more firepower. [Note: If you’re interested in maximum results from creatine supplementation, see IM Research Team on page 110.] —Jose Antonio, Ph.D. 1 Selsby, J.T., DiSilvestro, R.A., and Devor, S.T. (2004). Mg2+-creatine chelate and a low-dose creatine supplementation regimen improve exercise performance. J Strength Cond Res. 18:311-15.

Editor’s note: Jose Antonio, Ph.D., is the chief science officer of Javalution (www.javafit.com) and the president of the International Society of Sports Nutrition (www.sportsnutritionsociety.org).

Killer bacteria and viruses are everywhere. So what keeps the human race from dying out? Our spectacular immune systems, the protectors of our health— and our species. Considering all the junk we feed ourselves, it’s no wonder our immune systems get sluggish and we get sick (some even say that cancer is a direct result of a faltering immune system). The worst immune-system busters include alcohol, high-sugar foods (diseasecausing bacteria feed on sugar, especially the refined type in table sugar, candy and alcohol), cured meats—like bacon that’s loaded with nitrosamines—and trans fats, or fats that are mutated through manmade means. To avoid trans fats, look for the words hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated on food labels; if you see them, don’t eat that food. Even if you avoid all of the above, you’re still exposed to plenty of bugs that can take you down and force you to miss workouts. To help marshal your defenses against them, try to boost your immune system through your diet. Here are some excellent immune-system boosters: Berries. Cranberries, blackberries, blueberries and even strawberries contain anthocyanidins and other immune-system-friendly flavonoids. Plus, they contain dietary fiber and vitamin C. Cruciferous veggies. Broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts and cabbage contain phytochemicals that can protect against many types of cancer. [Note: If you have trouble getting enough of these, you can try adding Miracle Greens powder to your protein drinks. It’s available at www.home-gym.com and is a must for low-carb dieters.] Green tea. It contains polyphenols, which are antioxidant compounds that can squash the formation of cancer-causing compounds produced in the stomach. Bonus: Green tea also ramps up the metabolism and increases fat burning. Soy foods. Eating tofu, soy milk or a soy-protein bar every few days can do wonders for your immune system—and, no, it won’t stop you from building muscle. You’d have to eat loads of it every day to get its estrogenmimicking effects. Taken in moderation, soy can reduce your risk for many diseases, including prostate cancer, due to its many antioxidants and phytochemicals. —Becky Holman www.X-tremeLean.com

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Fat Mop or Supplement Flop? Chitosan is promoted as a fat “trapper,” or blocker. It’s a derivative of chitin, a fibrous substance that forms the cornerstone of shellfish exoskeletons. The initial claims for chitosan came from studies that showed it effectively mopped up fatlike industrialwaste products by forming an insoluble bond with them. That was followed by in vitro, or test-tube, studies, in which chitosan was placed in a beaker with a buffer and fat. The liquid was then stirred, and the resultant fat clumping was measured. Under those conditions, chitosan seemed to work. But as with many other substances, what works outside the body isn’t necessarily duplicated inside. Various studies that have tested the effects of chitosan on fat absorption in human subjects show that it has negligible effects. The latest research examining the fat-blocking characteristics of chitosan featured both male and female human subjects.1 FOOD FACTS

The 12 men and 12 women were told to follow specific diet plans that averaged five meals a day for 12 days. Participants took two capsules of a commercial chitosan supplement before each meal. The total daily doses averaged 2.5 grams. The extent of fat malabsorption induced by chitosan was measured by examining the subjects’ fecal output. The fat intake per dose of chitosan averaged 10 to 76 grams in the male subjects and 10 to 60 grams in the women. The 2.5 grams of chitosan per day increased the fecal excretion of fat by 1.8 grams a day in men and zero in women. Why the female subjects didn’t get the effect wasn’t clear, but the amount of fat excreted by the men was inconsequential. It would take more than seven months for them to lose one pound of fat due to chitosan. —Jerry Brainum 1 Gades, M.D., et al. (2005). Chitosan supplementation and fat absorption in men and women. J Am Dietetic Assoc. 105:72-77.

FOOD FACTS

Tomato Rooter Spry Sprouts Did you know that the yellow jellylike substance that surrounds tomato seeds can make your blood less sticky, which helps limit the formation of blood clots? Researchers are scrambling to develop a drug containing the key compound in that substance to help break up clots and prevent heart attacks. In the meantime the discovery just magnifies the importance of eating more tomatoes. —Becky Holman www.X-tremeLean.com

Did you know that broccoli sprouts have far more cancer-fighting sulforaphane than adult broccoli? One gram of sprouts contains as much of the cancer fighter as 25 grams of adult broccoli. Try broccoli sprouts in salads or sandwiches. —Becky Holman www.X-tremeLean.com Broccoli is good, but sprouts may be better.

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PERFECT POSTWORKOUT MEAL

To Kick-Start Immediate Muscle Growth After You Train Breakthrough research in exercise metabolism now reveals this fact: What you consume (or don’t consume) immediately after training plays a critical role in determining your success or failure! That time period is known as the “anabolic window” of growth. The biggest mistake many bodybuilders make is eating a meal of chicken breasts, baked potato or rice and vegetables after a workout. This is an approach doomed to fail because by the time this meal digests, the anabolic window has slammed shut. The best way to produce this potent anabolic effect is simply by drinking an amino acidand-carbohydrate supplement within 15 minutes after training! RecoverX™ offers the ideal combination and provides the perfect blend of nutrients for postworkout anabolic acceleration. RecoverX™ contains 40 grams of the quickest-acting bio-available protein from hydrolyzed whey—extremely fast protein for immediate delivery—whey protein concentrate, glutamine peptides, arginine and 60 grams of carbohydrate to give you the necessary insulin spike.

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Anoint Your Joints

Glucosamine can do the trick, but how safe is it?

glucosamine reaches only 20 perGlucosamine is a combination cent of injection levels, and the of an amino acid and a simple suggested oral dose of glucosasugar, known as an amino mine for human use is 23.1 milmonosaccharide.The body syntheligrams per kilogram of bodyweight, sizes glucosamine at a rate of four or 0.25 percent of the amount that to 20 grams a day, with an avermade trouble for glucose metabolage of 12. Its supplemental form is ism. Even huge oral doses of gluderived from chitin, the exoskelecosamine—as much as 2,149 ton, or shells, of marine invertemilligrams per kilogram of bodybrates. Chitosan, a popular weight—have not been found to supplement often included in fataffect glucose metabolism in animal loss products, is derived from the subjects. same source. Other research pointing to possiGlucosamine is available in ble toxic effects of glucosamine several supplemental forms, such involved isolated-cell, or in vitro, as glucosamine hydrochloride, protocols. The doses used in those glucosamine sulfate and N-acetylstudies averaged 100 to 200 times glucosamine. The most studied higher than blood serum levels and popular of the three forms is expected with oral use of the sulfate. glucosamine. Glucosamine exerts The purpose of glucosamine Injury prevention and rehab: Glucosamine is a no mutagenic, or cancer-promotsupplementation is to prevent and base element that helps form and strengthen ing, effects in cells. That’s signifitreat joint and connective-tissue connective tissue, ligaments, skin, tendons cant because the huge doses used problems, including arthritis. Gluand cartilage. in isolated-cell studies often damcosamine is a base element of age cellular DNA, which is a cause glycosaminoglycans (GAG), which of cell mutations that result in cancer. in turn forms the basic structure of connective tissue, ligaIn some studies glucosamine was infused in human subments, skin, tendons and cartilage. Unlike common over-thejects, and they experienced no negative effects of either incounter drugs, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories, sulin or glucose metabolism. That’s important because which mask pain but do not help regenerate joints or connecinfusions, like injections, bypass liver metabolism, resulting in tive tissue, glucosamine may help heal damaged tissue befar higher concentrations of the substance in the blood than cause it provides the raw material for the body’s synthesis of you get with an oral dose. The odds that glucosamine will GAG. adversely affect either insulin or glucose metabolism are reAnimal- and human-based studies show that glucosamine mote at best. A recent review of glucosamine safety and is highly absorbable, averaging 90 percent with oral doses. But as is the case with everything you take orally, glucosamine efficiency found that the tolerable daily dose of glucosamine was 184 milligrams per kilogram of bodyweight.1 That is processed in the liver before it enters the blood, degrading much of it. Studies show that oral glucosamine has only 26 amounts to 16,560 milligrams a day in a 200-pound man. In percent of the bioavailability its intravenously administered contrast, the usual suggested daily oral dose of glucosamine counterpart has. Still, enough of the substance survives to is 1,500 milligrams, or 23.1 milligrams per kilogram of bodypeak in the blood eight hours after an oral dose. Studies using weight. radioactively tagged glucosamine show that it takes a direct Studies comparing glucosamine supplementation to variroute to cartilage and connective tissue. ous over-the-counter or prescription pain relievers found that Although those with allergies to shellfish should avoid pain reduction was comparable between the drugs and gluglucosamine supplements, it’s safe for everyone else. Even cosamine. The drugs, however, are considerably more hazso, some warnings have been voiced concerning a possible ardous. Statistics show that more than 16,000 people die glucosamine-induced interference with glucose and insulin yearly directly as a result of using prescription pain relievers for metabolism. A closer look at the studies those warnings came joint pain. That’s particularly noteworthy in light of the recent from reveals that, as Shakespeare might have said, “It’s much controversy involving a class of prescription drugs known as ado about nothing.” COX-2 inhibitors. Such drugs are now associated with serious Animal-based toxicity studies show that glucosamine cardiovascular complications in some people, a scenario that doses as large as 15,000 milligrams per kilogram (2.2 pounds) doesn’t exist with natural remedies like glucosamine. are well tolerated with no apparent toxic effects. Such studies —Jerry Brainum have included rats, mice, rabbits, dogs and horses as sub1 Anderson, J.W., et al. (2005). Glucosamine effects in jects, and some proved that parenteral administration, or injection, led to possible negative effects on glucose humans: a review of effects on glucose metabolism, side metabolism. The doses used in those studies, though—about effects, safety considerations and efficacy. Food Chem 9,035 milligrams per kilogram of bodyweight—aren’t compaToxicol. 43:187-201. rable to any suggested dose for humans. An oral dose of

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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.

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Eat to Grow WARRIOR NUTRITION AND EXERCISE

Muscle Pain and the Fat-Burning Chain “No pain, no gain” is a motto Intense exercise that has historically guided athcauses pain but letes in their quest for superior also spurs fat burn. performance. Recent discoveries have demonstrated that the oldfashioned approach may also work very well for individuals who wish to lose fat, including the most stubborn kind. Recent studies at the school of medicine at RMIT University in Bundoora, Victoria, Australia, revealed that muscle pain during exercise may be an important indicator of a profound fatburning effect. The researcher found that working muscles release a certain chemical that increases fat burning, or lipolysis, during intense exercise. The chemical, called interleukin-6 (IL6), belongs to a family of proinflammatory immuno-compounds known as cytokines. They are released during muscle inflammation, which is also associated with muscle pain. Previous studies established that IL6 induces lipolysis when administrated to humans. That led scientists to believe that it’s released from skeletal muscles during intense exercise to act in a hormonelike manner and increase lipolysis from fat tissue to supply the

FOOD FACTS

Doughy Dementia

“Deep-fried fritters and a half order of craziness to go!”

Miia Kivipelto, M.D., reports in Bottom Line Health that obese people are twice as likely to develop dementia. Why? Obesity is linked to cardiovascular disease, and that may reduce blood flow to the brain. Lose your fat, or lose your mind. Another reason being fat can drive you crazy. —Becky Holman www.X-tremeLean.com

Neveux \ Model: Tamer Elshahat

Pushing hard can burn off the lard

muscles with fat fuel. Scientists found that the increased plasma level of IL6 stimulated fat burning even when fat burning was intentionally suppressed by drugs. The studies show that suppressing lipolysis and a subsequent fatty acid release during exercise by administering high doses of niacin (10 milligrams per kilogram of bodyweight) before exercise resulted in a compensatory eightfold elevation of IL6. In theory, that can work as a potential stimulator for delayed but explosive fat burning, and indeed it may help break down stubborn fat tissue. So another training truism may be “no pain, no fat burn.” For that matter, incorporating high intensity along with higher volume—that is, doing many heavy, low-rep sets—and taking minimum rest between sets may be painful, but it may also be the most effective way to increase muscle swelling and stimulate massive fat burning without aerobics. Note that taking high doses of niacin may cause unpleasant symptoms, such as hot flashes and tingling sensations in the skin. Though niacin, also known as vitamin B3, is widely used with a relatively high rate of safety, it’s best to ask your physician before taking a high dose. —Ori Hofmekler Editor’s note: Ori Hofmekler is the author of the books The Warrior Diet and Maximum Muscle & Minimum Fat, published by Dragon Door Publications (www.dragondoor.com). For more information or for a consultation, contact him at ori@warriordiet.com, www.warriordiet.com or by phone at (866) WAR-DIET.

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From the IRON MAN PRO Style Store

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(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...

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

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

Train, Eat,

GROW Muscle-Training Program 68

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DSSOLHG LW WR RXU TXDG URXWLQH $IWHU ZDUPLQJ XS ZHÂ±G EHJLQ ZLWK RXU ILUVW ZRUN VHW RI KDFN VTXDWV IRU HLJKW WR UHSV WR IDLOXUH $IWHU D UHVW ZHÂ±G GR WR UHSV RQ OHJ H[WHQ VLRQVÂWLOO WKH EXUQ VWRSSHG XV GHDG LQ RXU WUDFNV 7KDWÂ±V WKH RFFOXVLRQ SDUW 6HDULQJ SDLQ LV LQYROYHG EXW \RX JHW D PDMRU UXVK RI EORRG WR WKH TXDGV DIWHU WKH KLJK UHS FRQWLQXRXV WHQVLRQ VHW $IWHU DQRWKHU EULHI UHVW WR FOHDU IDWLJXH SURGXFWVÂ ZKLFK LV YHU\ LPSRUWDQW DV \RXÂ±OO VHH LQ D PRPHQWÂZHÂ±G JR EDFN WR WKH KDFN PDFKLQH DQG GR DQRWKHU VHW RI HLJKW WR UHSV ZLWK WKH VDPH ZHLJKW DQG DGG ; 5HS SRZHU SDUWLDOV WR WKH HQG RI WKH VHW

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Model: Steve Holman

by Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson â&#x20AC;¢ Photography by Michael Neveux

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7UDLQ (DW Grow / 3URJUDP 68

That proved to be an awesome strength-building sequenceâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;but donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mistake it for preexhaustion, as some people have. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not big on the preexhaustion technique, at least not early in a bodypart routine, for one big reason: fatigue. Now, fatigue can be a good thing toward the end of a bodypart workout, but not in the beginning, when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re focusing on the big exercises, the midrange movements that are the best for hitting the majority of fast-twitch fibers and packing on mass. The human body is designed to produce the most force when a number of muscles work together, like when you squat or press. To weaken your force-production

ability on those muscle-teamwork exercises by doing an inferior isolation exercise immediately before it is not the best size-building strategy. For example, if you do leg extensions and then immediately run over and do leg presses or squats, fatigue is going to stop you on the more important exercise, squats, before you get a lot of key fiber activation. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not theory or conjecture. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a recent study that verified it, reported on in the January â&#x20AC;&#x2122;04 Train to Gain section by Jerry Brainum (Augustsson, J., et al. [2003]. Effect of preexhaustion exercise on lower-extremity muscle activation during a leg press exercise. J Strength Cond Res. 17:411-

16): â&#x20AC;&#x153;The results showed that activation of the front-thigh muscles was significantly less during preexhaustion compared to doing a single exercise.â&#x20AC;? So doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t our leg extension set between our hack squat sets create the same problem? No, for a couple of reasons: 1) We rest long enough to dissipate the fatigue products in the target muscle, so our performance on the second set of hack squats isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t compromised. 2) The influx of blood during the rest interval after the leg extensions primes the target muscle for optimum performance on the second set of hacks. Rest is the key elementâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;long

IRON MAN Training & Research Center Muscle-Training Program 68 Workout 1: Chest, Back, Abs Smith-machine incline presses (X Reps on the last set) Incline cable flyes (drop set; X Reps) Bench presses Superset Cable flyes (low; drop set; X Reps) Wide-grip dips (X Reps) Flyes (X Reps in bench press position) Pulldowns (X Reps on the last set) Superset Stiff-arm pulldowns Undergrip rope rows (X Reps) Machine pullovers (X Reps) Machine rows (X Reps on the last set) Behind-the-neck pulldowns (X Reps) Superset Bent-arm bent-over laterals Bent-over dumbbell rows (X Reps) Bent-over laterals (drop set; X Reps) Hanging kneeups (X Reps) Superset Hanging kneeups Incline kneeups Tri-set Ab Bench crunches (drop set; X Reps) Twisting crunches Bench V-ups

3 x 10, 8, 6 1 x 10(8) 2 x 10, 8 1 x 10(8) 1 x 8-10 1 x 8-10 3 x 10, 8, 6 1 x 8-10 1 x 8-10 1 x 8-10 3 x 10, 8, 6 1 x 8-10 1 x 8-10 1 x 8-10 1 x 10(8) 1 x 15 1 x 10 1x8 1 x 8(6) 1 x 10 1 x max

Workout 2: Quads, Hams, Gastrocs Hack squats (X Reps on the last set) Squats (nonlock) Leg extensions (drop set; X Reps) Sissy squats (X Reps) Leg presses (X Reps on the last set) Leg curls (drop set; X Reps) Superset Stiff-legged deadlifts Hyperextensions (X Reps)

2 x 10, 8 1 x 10-12 1 x 10(6) 1 x 8-10 2 x 10, 8 1 x 10(6) 1x9 1 x max

Leg press calf raises (X Reps on the last set) 3 x 20, 15, 10 Hack-machine calf raises (drop set; X Reps) 1 x 12(8) Superset Seated calf raises (X Reps) 2 x 12 Machine donkey calf raises (X Reps) 2 x 12 Low-back machine (X Reps) 1 x 8-12

Workout 3: Delts, Traps, Triceps, Biceps, Forearms Rack upright rows or seated laterals (X Reps on the last set) 3 x 10, 8, 6 Forward-lean laterals (drop set; X Reps) 1 x 10(8) Superset Dumbbell W presses (X Reps) 1 x 8-10 Dumbbell presses (X Reps) 1 x 8-10 One-arm cable laterals (drop set; X Reps) 1 x 10(8) Shrugs (drop set; X Reps) 1 x 10(8) Lying extensions (X Reps on the last set in press position) 3 x 10, 8, 6 Tri-set Kickbacks 1 x 8-10 Reverse pushdowns 1 x 8-10 Bench dips (nonlock; X Reps at the top) 1 x 8-10 Cable pushouts (drop set) 1 x 10(8) Cable curls (X Reps on the last set) 3 x 10, 8, 6 Concentration curls (drop set; X Reps) 1 x 8(6) One-arm dumbbell spider curls (X Reps) 1x9 Incline curls 1 x 8-10 Superset Reverse wrist curls 1 x 10 Dumbbell reverse wrist curls (X Reps) 1x8 Wrist curls 1 x 15 Aftershock superset Wrist curls 1 x 10 Dumbbell wrist curls (X Reps) 1x8 Rockers 1 x max Cable reverse curls (drop set; X Reps) 1 x 10(6)

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7UDLQ (DW Grow / 3URJUDP 68

Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re testing the old pyramid scheme with X Reps on the last set.

Model: Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson \ Equipment: PowerBlock selectorized dumbbells, 1-800-447-0008

enough to dissipate the fatigue products. IRON MAN contributor Michael GĂźndill calls the compound-isolation-compound sequence postactivation, and it works. But donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mistake it for preexhaustion. It actually does the opposite, giving you more power, not less, on the second set of your compound exercise, thanks to a surge of oxygen- and nutrient-rich blood to the target muscle during the rest interval. Now, after all that discussion about the occlusion techniqueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s power, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll tell you that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve abandoned it (if you looked at the routine on page 74, you might have realized that ). Did our gains stop? In fact theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d already started to tail off after about five weeks, but the real reason we shifted routines is that it was time to begin phase one of our summer ripping programâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; and we were craving heavier poundages on contracted-position movements. Even though single-joint movements are inferior to compound exercises as mass builders, you can still add some size with them. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve found that the best way to get an amplified mass effect from contracted-position exercises is by combining heavy weight, drop sets and X Reps. Notice that we included drop setsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;which involve doing a set to failure, immediately reducing the weight and continuing to failure. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a form of occlusion when you apply it to continuous tension contracted-position exercises, so weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re still getting the benefits of the bodypart blood bath that comes from occlusion. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re just getting it a different way. Our new strategy: We do a drop set on the contractedposition exercise, but we do it after we complete three sets of a midrange movement, pyramiding the weight. For example, for upper chest we do a warmup set on Smith-machine incline presses, and then we do our first work set for 10 reps, going to failure or at least close (we really consider it part of the warmup, so we may stop short of failure). For our second set we add weight and get seven to nine reps. We add weight again for the third set and

shoot for six to eight repsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and at the end of that third set we tack on X Reps to leapfrog nervous system failure and tax as many pure fasttwitch fibers as possible, right at the max-force point (for inclines thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s below the middle of the stroke). We havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t used the old pyramid scheme in a while, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s perfect for our first phase of spring training. Why? Because we want to use the strength we developed over the winter to build as much muscle as possible while our calories are still high enough for us to make size gains more easily. Once we take our calories down a notch or two and begin ramping up cardio activity, muscle will be harder to build (although X Reps did a fantastic job of packing mass on our frames last year, when our calories were at their lowest; see the photos at our Web site). The pyramid program will pump up lots of different fiber types, and our new strength should make it even more effective. As we said, we follow the midrange pyramid with a drop set

on a contracted-position exercise. For upper pecs that means incline cable flyes. We use a weight that forces failure at around 10 reps. Then we quickly reduce the weight for another six to eight repsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and we usually add X Reps. Fatigue is a good thing here because weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve hammered a lot of fast-twitch fibers during the compound exercise. Now weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re finishing off the target muscle, blasting it with continuous tension and occlusion while still getting at some fast-twitch fibers. And letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not forget chasing that important muscle burn, which youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll notice immediately unless you were born without nerve endings. The burn can jack up growth hormone release (which is especially important to old dudes like Steve). If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve read some of the material at our Web site, you know that the pros get massive by taking advantage of many different layers of hypertrophyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;max-force point overload, occlusion, endurancefiber work, capillary expansion,

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7UDLQ (DW Grow / 3URJUDP 68

anabolic hormone surges and hyperplasia, or fiber splitting. Pyramiding on the big exercises with the addition of X Reps provides maxforce-point overload, with some inroads into the other layers of hypertrophy as well (X Reps provide occlusion at the end of a set, no matter what exercise youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re using). But then we add a drop set on a contracted-position exercise, like incline cable flyes for upper pecs or leg extensions for quads to get at a few more fast-twitch fibers as well as zero in on occlusion, get some endurance-fiber work and expand the capillary beds. Then, to complete the full-range chain, according to Positions-ofFlexion protocol, we end each bodypart routine with a stretchposition exercise. For pecs thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s flyes; for quads itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sissy squats. We try to do X Reps when possible, as stretch overload has been linked to hyperplasia, and what bodybuilder

doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want more muscle fibers? (Warning: Be very careful with X Reps on stretch-position exercises; you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want any ballistic bouncing. If you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t do controlled X Reps near the bottom position at the end of a set, opt for a static contraction insteadâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;just hold the weight near the bottom position till failure.) Of course, X Reps, performed in the semistretched position on any exercise, have the possibility of triggering fiber splitting, but we believe itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s amplified on stretchposition movements because the stretch overload is more severe. Plus, stretch-position exercises can activate the myotatic reflex, an emergency response that can activate dormant fibers, getting them on the road to growth. As you can see, our new program attacks every possible layer of hypertrophy, and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re trying to make it as efficient as possible to avoid

overtraining. Are we doing too much? Are we not doing enough? Can we make it even more efficient? Stay tuned as the program evolves and our ripping phase shifts into high gear in the coming months. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll have updates almost daily at www.X-Rep.com in the X Blog training journal section. Editorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;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 or www.X-tremeLean.com. For more information on Positions-ofFlexion training videos and Size Surge programs, see page 171. To order the Positions-of-Flexion training manual Train, Eat, Grow, call (800) 447-0008, visit www.home-gym.com, or see the ad below. IM

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Titanic Triceps

You’ll Never Have

Triceps Unless You Follow These 10 Commandments

hen we were kids, we thought the biceps were the only muscles in the human body. Of course we assumed that, since that’s what we flexed whenever we were commanded to make a muscle. Those of us who developed an interest in serious training soon found out that there were plenty more. And what a surprise to learn that even in the upper arm, the biceps wasn’t really the star of the show. That honor went to the threeheaded Cerberus called the triceps. If you wanted huge arms, you had to have huge triceps, no two ways about it. Big biceps

By Ron Harris Photography by Michael Neveux

without tri’s to match made you look like a chimpanzee, not a bodybuilding champion. How many people own tri’s that hang off their arm bones like a couple of pot roasts—you know, triceps that stretch the sleeves so tight, the fabric cries out for mercy? My guess is, not too many. Great genetics combined with hard training always help, but all trainees can make substantial improvements if they do things the right way and avoid the common pitfalls that prevent growth. With that in mind, let’s discuss the 10 commandments of triceps training. www.ironmanmagazine.com \ JUNE 2005 81

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Titanic Triceps

Squeeze those triceps hard on at least a few sets. Feel the target muscle contract.

Model: Tamer Elshahat

Focus on Contractions

their triceps hard. An onlooker can see the big horseshoe muscle in bold relief against the upper arm. If you don’t think that flexing the muscle makes a difference and forces the muscle to work harder, then you just don’t get it. Joe Weider was really on to something when he categorized various training factors and dubbed one his Peak Contraction Principle. Great development of the triceps requires great contractions, not just bouncing out of the end position of the rep. It’s the difference between merely lifting weights and training a muscle.

I know I say this no matter what muscle group I’m discussing, but that’s because it’s so critical to understand and apply. The major difference between bodybuilders and people who lift weights, of which there are millions, is the mind/muscle connection. Anybody can move a weight from point A to point B; if the lifter keeps increasing the weights, he or she will get bigger. Still, there’s no way to achieve the physique of a bodybuilder without putting emphasis on squeezing the muscle you’re working and working hard to get the most complete contractions possible. At the end position of a cable pushdown, dip or skull crusher, bodybuilders will flex

Include Compound Movements

There’s a huge variety of extension movements that you can do with dumbbells, barbells and cables, including skull crushers— a.k.a. lying extensions—overhead dumbbell extensions, kickbacks and pushdowns. Unfortunately, many trainees do those movements exclusively and so miss out on a lot of potential growth. Why? Because they fail to include compound movements in their triceps workouts. Exercises like dips, bench dips and close-grip bench presses enable you to use far more weight than extension movements due to

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Model: Cesar Martinez

Include compound movements.

Model: Will Harris

Follow These 10 Rules

You get more overload with multijoint exercises.

Titanic Triceps the fact that the larger and more powerful pectorals and front delts are assisting. What do you think will contribute more toward triceps mass, a set of close-grip bench presses done with 315 pounds or skull crushers performed with a 120-pound barbell? Of course, you want to include both types of movements when you train, but I believe that a workout should commence with your compound exercise, while you’re fresh and at your strongest. Here are a couple tips that have proved useful for me. Close-grip bench presses feel best for me when I do them on a Smith machine and use a decline bench rather than a flat bench. The pressing angle feels more natural, and I can really zap the tri’s. With weighted dips I’ve found that there are some days when I just don’t have the coordination. That’s when you substitute a dip machine (I like the feel of the Hammer Strength version more than any selector-stack machine I’ve tried). If you have real difficulty isolating your triceps in compound movements and inevitably get more of a chest workout from them, either save them until the end of the workout for a bit of a preexhaust effect, or go directly for full-on preexhaust by supersetting an extension movement with a close-grip press or a dip.

Posing can etch in muscular detail.

only possible when you have healthy joints and connective tissues.

Beware of Overtraining

You run a much greater risk of overtraining your triceps than you do your biceps. While the biceps assist in most back exercises, the triceps join in during both chest and shoulder work. If you train both those bodyparts on different days and hit triceps on still another day, look out Warm up sufficiently and avoid for that overtraining dragon movements that cause tendon pain. breathing down your neck because essentially you’re working your triceps three times a week. I don’t feel that it’s a good idea to train chest and shoulders in the Some of you are like me and live same session unless those muscle in perpetual pain from inflamed groups are overdeveloped or at least elbow tendons. Actually, my elbows grow very easily. For most lifters the have rarely bothered me in recent best strategy is to pair triceps with years, but that’s only because I one of them. That said, I’ve found avoid the exercises that aggravate that working arms on a day all their them—which unfortunately include own can often spur new growth nearly every type of triceps exteneven after years of stagnation. There sion performed with free weights. are no hard-and-fast rules here, so Once you acquire tendinitis of the use your best judgment and strucelbow, your elbows are never quite ture your training to ensure that the the same again. To avoid that districeps recover. heartening state of affairs, take extra One simple solution is to specialcare to prevent injury. ize on triceps for periods of four to Never jump right into heavy eight weeks. During that time comtraining for any of the pushing musbine your chest and triceps workcles: chest, shoulders or triceps. outs on one training day and work With triceps in particular, warm up triceps and biceps on arm day, thoroughly with at least two or three which you schedule at least 48—and 15-to-25-rep sets of cable pushpreferably 72—hours, before or after downs before starting work sets. the chest-and-triceps session. AnNever bounce, or rebound, out of other idea is to do a double split on the bottom of a rep to cheat a couthe day you train triceps, working ple more reps or even use more either chest or shoulders in the resistance. You may want to considmorning and then returning to the er wearing neoprene elbow sleeves, gym that afternoon or evening to hit available at any sporting goods triceps. Obviously that’s not an store, to keep your elbows warm option for most of us, but if your and tightly supported. Just don’t buy schedule permits, it can definitely them too tight or wear them too put a new spark in your triceps long, or you’ll find your hands going workout. numb from blocked circulation! In Also, be aware of overall volume. all seriousness, though, take good Drug-free trainees probably don’t care of your elbows and never need more than 10 or 12 work sets skimp on warmups. A key factor in total, and even those who are loadgetting bigger triceps is your ability ed up on gear should be able to get to train them heavy with a wide the job done in 15 sets. Unlike the variety of movements, something back or legs, it’s not a very complex

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Titanic Triceps

muscle group. The only situation in which it makes sense to work the triceps directly twice a week is if you were specializing on arms, as discussed, and were hitting everything else in just two other workouts, with reduced volume. For example: Monday: Arms Tuesday: Legs and back Thursday: Chest and shoulders Saturday: Arms

Model: Jonathan Lawson

A final note on triceps and recovery. Always try to avoid working triceps on the day before or the day after you train chest or delts. Always keep 48 hours or more between the workouts for those bodyparts unless you’re hitting them in the same workout or later on the same day as part of a double split.

Treat Tri’s to Both Low and High Reps

It may seem like a golden rule that the muscle groups of the upper body grow best on sets of eight to 12 reps, but as the dialogue in many a bad-action-film street fight goes, “The rules are: There are no rules.” Power movements like weighted dips can and should occasionally be done in sets as low as three to five reps, if not once in every workout. Likewise, if you only do sets of eight to 12 reps, you may never experience the pump and burn and subsequent DOMS in your tri’s that you can get from drop sets and supersets, which can entail as many as 30 continuous reps at once (cables are especially suited to these). The point is, your muscles get used to any rep range if you treat them to it often enough. To keep the muscles struggling to adapt, mix up the rep ranges, either within the same workout or from week to week, in the time-honored heavy/light tradition.

Pose and Stretch Those Suckers

If you think weight training is the only way to contribute to bigger and more detailed triceps, you haven’t tried posing and stretching them

Cables enable you to use different grip positions with ease. between sets with the weights. The posing improves mind/muscle control and helps increase the separation between muscle groups, and stretching aggressively (but cautiously!) may actually help bring more muscle growth by breaking up the connective tissue, called fascia, that encases the muscle. John Parrillo came up with that theory around the time Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” album hit the charts, and it has gained credence with many bodybuilders since then.

Be a Cable Guy

Free weights are fabulous tools for training, but in the case of triceps, cables add a whole new dimension of continuous tension (try and say that five times, fast). They offer several advantages, such as the ability to change the resistance rapidly, the option of using many different grip attachments, which give you different hand positions, and the ability to extend from various angles not possible with free weights. Exercises performed with

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Titanic Triceps

9 Model: Eric Domer

Chest work trains triceps too. Keep that in mind when you determine your arm-training volume.

An EZ-curl bar can ease the stress on your joints.

Follow These 10 Rules

Become Strong on Chest and Shoulder Pressing

We know that the triceps are heavily involved in chest and shoulder pressing, and it’s no coincidence that men who can put up outrageous numbers in those lifts usually tend to have thick, meaty, full triceps. You don’t bench-press 500 or do military presses with 315 without a lot of help from a set of powerful triceps. In fact, I have known powerlifters and weightlifting purists who did little to no direct triceps work yet had monster tri’s as a side effect

We covered this pretty well last month while discussing biceps training, but it bears repeating. Not all of us are structurally compatible with straight bars, especially when it comes to arm training. If your wrists hurt when you use a straight bar for skull crushers or close-grip presses, you should switch to using an EZcurl bar. The same goes for cablepulley attachments. A cambered bar, V-shaped bar or rope attachment is often a better choice than a short straight bar. Or, if you’re doing an exercise like one-arm reverse-grip pushdowns (palm up), you may find you get better results by using either one end of a rope attachment or no attachment at all and grabbing the rubber ball stopper. That way you can extend down with a hammer grip, shifting to palm up as you continue the rep. If shifting your hand position suddenly eliminates joint strain, take heed and do the exercise that way. Part of productive exercise is tweaking the finer points to fit your own body. We are not all created equal.

Model: Tito Raymond

barbells and dumbbells are always limited by the perfect vertical downward pull of gravity. I’ve written a couple of hundred articles on the arm training of pros and top amateurs over the years, and nearly all of them combine free weights and cables when they hit triceps. The two tools complement each other perfectly. And should you join the doomed ranks of those who have elbow tendinitis, you may have no choice but to turn to cables when all free-weight extension movements start causing you excruciating agony. They sure saved my ass and allowed me to keep improving my triceps.

Only Use Straight Bars If They Suit You

of heavy bench pressing, military pressing and weighted dips. So realize that your triceps training and your opportunity to spur growth in them is not limited to the days you do your skull crushers and cable pushdowns. Chest and shoulder day, though indirectly so, is a very important workout for your triceps. Many writers and gurus over the years have pointed out that by getting very strong on the basic, compound lifts, you grow all over. Thus, odds are that if you spend most of your training time pumping away on isolation movements for your arms and neglect your training for the bigger muscle groups, your arms will never grow to their full potential. Ironic, isn’t it?

Keep Surprising Your Tri’s

Finally, as with any muscle group, the triceps need things to be switched around on a regular basis. Luckily, if you read IRON MAN, you’re privy to routines and techniques to try every month—things like Positions of Flexion, X Reps and many more. Whatever you do, don’t do the same exact triceps workout forever—unless you’re determined to keep them looking exactly as they do now until the day you die. Those are the 10 rules for titanic tri’s, and that also wraps up the upper body. Next month we tackle the wild and wacky quadriceps, a muscle group many of us love to hate training. But if you want those babies billowing with thick mass, tune in next time. Editor’s note: Check Ron Harris’ Web site, www.ronharrismuscle .com. IM

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Steve Holman’s

Critical Mass

Drop Dead? Q: I read in Mike Mentzer’s Heavy Duty column that he wasn’t a big fan of drop sets as an intensity technique. You include them in The Ultimate Mass Workout e-book programs. What’s your reasoning? A: Mike didn’t like drop sets because when you hit failure and then reduce the poundage, the next rep isn’t a maximum effort—your intensity drops off. Of course, it does build as you continue with the reduced-weight set. I think Mike believed that there was a lot of wasted effort in those initial reps, and he had a point—if you’re trying to tax only the pure fast-twitch fibers. I believe bodybuilders shouldn’t think in that narrow range, however. They need to tax a number of different fiber types to max out muscle mass, especially hardgainers, who don’t have a lot of pure fasttwitch fibers to begin with. To grasp what I’m saying, you have to understand the size principle of fiber recruitment. During a normal set to failure the low-threshold motor units, or slow-twitch fibers, fire first; then the medium-threshold motor units fire, followed by the high-threshold motor units, or pure fasttwitch fibers, at the end of the set. Yes, pure fast-twitch fibers have a lot of potential for growth, but so do the fasttwitch fibers that have somewhat of an endurance capacity and are fired during medium-threshold reps. So with a drop set you run the gamut on the first set—

low to medium to high. Then, when you drop the weight and continue, you primarily stress the mediums and then some highs again. You may get a slightly different recruitment pattern, which means a few more fast-twitch fibers respond from the medium and high categories than on the first set. That extra stress and tension time on the target muscle are very important for growth in the intermediary fast-twitch fibers (medium threshold), and, as I said, if you’re a hardgainer, you have lots of those. Hardgainers tend to have many more endurance-oriented, slow-twitch fibers, but the majority of their fasttwitch fibers also have some endurance capacity. That’s why drop sets are so effective for hardgainers—they have an endurance component tailor-made for building intermediary fast-twitch fibers. To hit the pure fast-twitch fibers, the best technique is X Reps. Those are simply power partials done at the end of a full-range set to failure. You move the resistance to the strongest part of the stroke and continue to rep out with partials. It keeps those important high-threshold motor units firing right at the max-force-generation point, a key spot for growth stimulation. I have a feeling Mentzer would have embraced the technique with open arms, as it extends any set with fast-twitch-fiber recruitment, making the set two to five times more effective than a standard set to failure, much better and more efficient than forced reps could ever be. [For more visit www.X-Rep.com.] Q: What’s the deal with soreness? I work out one day, I’m sore the next—and it’s even worse on day two. As a beginner, and a hardgainer, should I avoid working out again if I’m sore? Or is it okay to train after two days of rest if I’m only slightly sore?

Neveux \ Model: Jay Cutler

A: Soreness is muscle damage; however, it’s probably okay to hit a muscle when it’s slightly sore (there are even studies that say it’s beneficial to train a muscle two days in a row, but I’m not a big fan of that idea). Nevertheless, you shouldn’t be getting sore after every workout. What could be happening is that you’re not hitting your muscles frequently enough. That means they’re regressing before you train them again—they supercompensate, stagnate and then revert to status quo before you hit them again. It’s as if you’re starting from scratch every time, which explains the soreness. It’s the perfect example of the phrase “spinning your wheels.” Try training muscle groups more frequently, like twice a week or once every five days. To do that, divide your body over two workouts—maybe three—and then plug it into a seven-day week. By the way, there are no studies connecting soreness to muscle growth, so don’t think you need to get sore to grow.

Drop sets may be inefficient at hitting pure fast-twitch fibers but very effective at firing intermediary fast-twitch fibers, which is important for anyone interested in pushing the size of a muscle to extraordinary levels. If you want to be the biggest you can be, you’ve got to develop more than just one fiber type.

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Steve Holman’s

Critical Mass if you stop at positive failure. It’s the best way to move past nervous system failure and fatigue to get more fasttwitch fiber action. You also create some postfailure occlusion with X Reps because partial pulses keep tension on the target muscle. You can almost feel the blood being squeezed out with each pulsing action. You also get some stretch overload with X Reps, which may have a connection to hyperplasia, or musclefiber splitting. Remember, you do X Reps at a semistretched point, so they severely stress the muscle when it’s in an elongated state, which may help initiate hyperplasia. Come to think of it, my champtraining analysis also gave credence to the Positions-of-Flexion musclebuilding method—working a muscle with midrange-, stretch- and contracted-position exercises. You can trigger the most fiber activation with compound, or midrange, exercises like presses, especially when you add X Reps to the end of a set. Then you can get the best occlusion effects with continuous-tension contractedposition exercises, like crossovers. Add X Reps to those, and you increase occlusion time and its size- and strength-building effects. Finally, you can use stretch-position exercises for even more occlusion, dormant-fiber activation (thanks to the myotatic reflex, an emergency response triggered by full stretch against resistance) and perhaps more fiber-splitting action. Exciting stuff! I’m not saying I’ve found the answer, although POF plus X Reps may be the training Holy Grail for a number of bodybuilders, but I would say I’ve pieced together a huge section of the mass-building puzzle. We’re getting closer to finding the final pieces as we keep experimenting and learning. As usual, I’ll keep you posted on new discoveries in the pages of IM. [For more on X Reps, visit www .X-Rep.com and see The Ultimate Mass Workout e-book.] Neveux \ Model: Ron Harris

Overloading the max-force point on an exercise’s stroke may trigger a different type of growth than blocking blood flow with continuoustension exercises. You want to get both to max out your growth.

A: I know what you’re getting at, as Rob Thoburn alluded to it in his “Scientific Muscle Building 2” feature in the April ’05 issue. Overloading the max-force generation point of an exercise may provide unique fast-twitch-fiber activation, while occlusion may do things like pump up fluid volume and increase capillary beds—two separate layers of growth. Plus, with its influx of blood, occlusion may cause endurance fibers to take more of the initial load during a set of an exercise, so you get more growth in those fibers as well as fast-twitch hypertrophy. That’s another mass layer. It appears that the champs get big by maximizing a number of growth factors, or layers, which is what I tried to get across in “Mass Hysteria.” I explained that adding X Reps, or power partials, to the ends of sets of certain exercises is a much more efficient means of attaining pro-style mass than simply doing set after set on multiple exercises. For example, by adding X Reps to incline presses, you take the pecs past failure at the key max-force generation point, getting much more fast-twitch-fiber activation than

New! The sharp black POF T-shirt with the original classic logo emblazoned in gold can give you that muscular look you’re after. See page 179 for details. Editor’s note: Steve Holman is the author of a number of bodybuilding best-sellers, including Train, Eat, Grow: The Positions-ofFlexion Muscle-Training Manual. For information on the POF videos and Size Surge programs, see page 171. For information on Train, Eat, Grow, see page 77. Also visit www.X-Rep.com. IM

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Neveux

Q: I read your article that analyzed champ training [“Mass Hysteria,” May ’05]. Wow! I was blown away. It opened my eyes to so many things I’ve been puzzled about, like why the big guys cheat with explosive reps and grow so much because of it. Your explanation of how [that style of training] hammers the max-force point of the exercise makes total sense. And so did your discussion on blocking blood flow and how they use it on isolation exercises for pump. My question is, Does overloading the max-force point of an exercise create a different type of growth from what you get by blocking blood flow?

Steve Holman ironchief@aol.com

Kraig

Feldman Little Brother Steps Out—and Up to the Top of Teen Bodybuilding by Rod Labbe

Comstock

ecipe for success: Take one part dark good looks, add a healthy dollop of charisma, mix well with 100 percent pure aesthetic appeal, and what do you get? An ideal Presidential candidate? The next governor of California? Close, friends, but no cigar. Try Kraig Feldman, ’03 Teen National champ and bodybuilding’s next evolutionary ideal. At least that’s the premise. Face it, competitive bodybuilding is terrifically misunderstood. Until the ascent of Ah-nold, men who sculpted their bodies were considered mentally wanting, light in the loafers or narcissistic to an alarming degree. An athletic physique was fine, but big muscles needed functionality. Strong arms were necessary for baseball, and powerful legs came in handy for running touchdowns or skating after a puck. Bodybuilders, shockingly enough, built mighty biceps and thighs to show off, intimidate and incite lust. Tsk-tsk! Normal, morally upstanding people just did not do stuff like that. We can be thankful that such

antiquated notions are behind us today—though the general public hasn’t quite totally embraced bodybuilding and its various philosophies. Even within our own ranks we find division and needless derision: Amateurs hate amateurs, pros tear apart their peers, natural bodybuilders vs. the not so natural. Everybody else against teens. Wait, did I say teens? And you thought silly perceptions like that had been abandoned to time. Think again. Teen bodybuilders are still too wild for refined company. They’re spoken of in hushed whispers, pointed at from afar, dismissed as “not ready,” “immature,” “undeveloped” and “lacking potential.” Weight-training programs are accepted components of organized high school athletics worldwide, but any kid going further opens up Pandora’s locker room. The leap into bodybuilding—especially on a competitive level—often leads to obscurity or worse: burnout by 20, bouncing in clubs at 30, recovering drug addict and/or alcoholic by 40. And by 50? Brrr! Yet, a few rise above the fray— Mr. Kraig Feldman, among them.

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Photo by Pat Lee courtesy of Strengthnet.com

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Photo by Pat Lee courtesy of Strengthnet.com

Kraig Feldman

Teen Bodybuilding

Brother to teenage prodigy—and ’00 Teen National champ—Brett Feldman, collegiate wrestler, aggressive bodybuilder, model and allaround good guy, Kraig has his genetics, focus and potential firmly in place. A recipe for success, you ask? Hell, yeah. Let’s talk to him to find out more. RL: Oh, man, this must be so frustrating for you, Kraig—all that sharp teen muscle, and your magazine exposure has come in dribs and drabs. What’s the deal? KF: Hell if I know! Maybe there’s a mind-set where people think a teenager can’t pack on beef. Good a reason as any, I suppose. RL: They obviously haven’t laid eyes on the sculpted Feldman bod! KF: [Grins] I’m devoted to bodybuilding, and reaching any goal requires 110 percent labor-intensive dedication. It’s cool to be recognized for my efforts, but fame’s really a

fleeting thing. RL: Have you always been well built? KF: Before bodybuilding? As an athlete? Yes, I’ve always been well built. It’s weird, but I was born with big calves. RL: Both you and Brett are revolutionizing teen muscle. How’d all this craziness start? KF: My dad had a small lifting set in our basement, and Brett and I would play around with the weights—to be just like Pop. Every night we’d do pullups and crunches and curls, over and over, like little madmen! That’s basically our start. Wish I could make it more dramatic for you. RL: Is Dad still a jacked guy? KF: He’s superbly built. Our gene pool is swimming with potential. RL: No doubt. Brett’s a frickin’ house. Did he pave the way for you?

KF: Without his help and guidance, I wouldn’t be in the bodybuilding game, period. Brett always thought I had potential to be a contender, although at first wrestling prevented me from pursuing a bodybuilding career. Once I had the chance, I jumped on it! I even lived with him while he trained me for the Teen Nationals. RL: Your big bro lent some quality inspiration, then? KF: Beyond quality! The lessons Brett taught me directly and indirectly have proved invaluable. He was my inspiration to wake up and diet another day. If he could do it, then, heck, so could I. Brett’s the best. When we trained, I couldn’t have asked more out of anyone. He went way beyond his duty as my sibling. RL: Whatever fire Brett lit under your ass, it produced an exceptional bodybuilder. KF: Thanks, but I have a ways to go before I’m truly exceptional.

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time isn’t a priority, I don’t think it should be forced. RL: But your physique tells a different tale. KF: Bodybuilding’s a path given to me, and I do like the feeling of being in shape. No way would I go to the gym unless I enjoyed it! Since I’m an athlete with a lot of years under my belt, working the weights is almost second nature. RL: What’s your training schedule at present? KF: The off-season split goes something like this: Monday: chest and bi’s; Tuesday: legs; Wednesday: delts and tri’s; Thursday: back and light bi’s; and Friday: light chest, light tri’s and abs.

Teen Bodybuilding

Photo by Pat Lee courtesy of Strengthnet.com

RL: Most bodybuilders go a little nuts during the off-season. Are you seriously chowin’? KF: Uh-uh! Moderation is key. I gotta maintain abs in case I’m called for an appearance. Otherwise, gimme food! I eat to grow, but if I see something delicious, I’ll devour it.

RL: How long did your wrestling thing last? KF: I played soccer until I was a sophomore in high school and quit to focus on wrestling. I wrestled at Rutgers University my first semester and then quit that too—for bodybuilding. I originally started lifting in ninth grade to increase mat strength. At Rutgers I wrestled as a freshman but slowly found myself falling out of love with the sport. RL: And, brutha, when that love’s gone, there ain’t no gettin’ it back! KF: You said it! What I dreaded most was wasting a whole day in a stuffy gym for a tournament. My

body and mind felt entirely worn down. After the first semester I quit wrestling and changed my discipline to bodybuilding. Brett set up all my summer lifting routines, so trainingwise, very little changed. The big difference had to do with dieting. Because I was a division 1 collegiate wrestler, I thought I’d hang with bodybuilding, no sweat. Whoa, major mistake! Dieting’s everything to a bodybuilder. RL: If you hadn’t already been a top-flight athlete, would you have chosen bodybuilding? KF: Probably not. I love to eat and have a little fun, and if gym

RL: Brett’s played an instrumental part in your bodybuilding career. Has he prepped you from day one? KF: Yep, beginning with my first contest, the Philadelphia Classic, a Teen Nationals qualifier. I’d dieted very little and only cut water. The Teen Nationals was 10 weeks away, and I didn’t want to peak and mess up my chances. RL: A madhouse backstage? KF: No, actually everyone seemed open, friendly and accommodating. The pump room was a small high school gym, with people crowded around, all doing their own thing. Nobody copped an attitude or anything. We were very laid back. RL: But it had to be a nervewracker—especially onstage. KF: More in anticipation. I’d been onstage in front of people before, so large crowds don’t bother me. My adrenaline and self-confidence spiked, and the fans were supportive. Considering how bodybuilding competitions work, I’m grateful my first one went well.

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Kraig Feldman RL: You’re the ’03 Teen National champ. Stakes were higher, and I assume the pump room atmosphere wasn’t exactly convivial. KF: Things felt different, yeah. A bit tense and edgy. No one talked unless it was to ask for help with oil or to use some weights. I’m a friendly guy, but even I kept a low profile.

RL: Are you and Brett collaborating on any special projects? KF: Something’s always in the works. Brett and I have calendars and a just-finished video, and we’re both doing a lot of writing, discussing training, dieting and other aspects of bodybuilding. Every time I turn around, there’s a new project.

RL: Is that when reality hit? KF: Wow, did it! And what a rush! I was at the Teen Nationals, competing against America’s finest. I was psyched. Considering my brother won the title in 2000, people had high expectations of me. I tried not to think about it.

RL: Tell us about the StrengthNet gig. KF: I met Adam Silver, president of Strengthnet.com, at the Teen Nationals in Pittsburgh. He was representing Repetrope and asked if I’d like to do a photo shoot for Strengthnet. An excellent opportunity, so I grabbed it.

RL: The feel going in—frantic or confident? KF: Confident. And relaxed. But I didn’t have any solid plan, you know? Now that I’m looking at future contests, I’ll be mentally prepared as well as physically ready, and I won’t perform any worse than my very best. There’s an ebb and flow with every sport; I just have to get acclimated enough to find it in bodybuilding. RL: Was it a given that you’d win the overall? KF: Not for me. I didn’t go into it thinking I’d take the show hands down, but I had confidence for a small victory. That’s how I approach all my sporting events. Otherwise, what’s the point? RL: Training with Brett must’ve given you an edge. KF: Of course! Brett knows my body because it’s similar to his. With the knowledge he’s accumulated via competing and schooling, Brett was able to elevate me above the pack. RL: Any postcontest fallout? KF: All kinds, and it’s still happening. I signed with StrengthNet as one of their models. There’s our Web site and personal appearances and my Yahoo group too. RL: I can tell you’re lovin’ every minute of this. Good for you. KF: Hell, why shouldn’t I? It’s awesome! When I stop to take a breath and think about what’s goin’ on, I freak!

RL: Ever consider runway fashion stuff? KF: At 5’7”, I’m too short. With my height and physique I’m more suited to doing physique studies. RL: Details on the video with Brett? KF: Ah, the video. There’s an accomplishment. We had more than 500 minutes to chisel down to a usable amount. It covers my precontest training, including posing, and discussions with Brett about diet, supplementation and mindset. An excellent video for young and upcoming bodybuilders or the bodybuilding enthusiast. RL: Are you designing your bodybuilding career or taking things one step at a time? KF: It’s not easy to plan a bodybuilding career when you’re in college. My studies come first. That doesn’t mean I won’t be competing, time permitting. Where all this takes me, who can say? It’s early in the game. RL: Competitive bodybuilding isn’t a cheap endeavor. Do you have a sponsor? KF: My folks, bless their hearts, have been graciously helping me out. Otherwise, I’d have to quit school and find a good job. No sponsor yet, but I’m actively looking for one. RL: The grocery bills alone must be astronomical. KF: Oh, man, don’t go there! I www.ironmanmagazine.com \ JUNE 2005 99

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Kraig Feldman

Kraig Feldman’s Training

Comstock

Monday: Chest, Biceps Bench presses (pyramid) Incline presses Flat-bench flyes Dips Cable crossovers Dumbbell curls Cable hammer curls Preacher curls

can’t expect Mom and Dad to keep footing the bill; if any sponsors are reading this, please, drop me a line. RL: How would you deal with this scenario: I’m a 15-year-old guy with dreams of becoming a bodybuilder. My only experience in the weight room has been lifting for football. What else should I do? KF: The most important thing any young athlete can do is eat— healthy stuff, not junk. Never be hungry! Being hungry means you’re not eating enough. Beyond that I’d say augment your regular football training regimen and develop it into a bodybuilder’s program. Then you’ll be training not only for strength and endurance but for muscle proportion, mass and aesthetics as well.

Teen Bodybuilding

RL: Excellent advice. KF: It’s a basic plan, and the results can be golden. RL: Speaking of golden, before you began making waves, Brett blazed the bodybuilding trail. What did your parents think of their son becoming one with the iron? KF: Our parents support us in whatever we do, but when Brett decided to try bodybuilding, it was more or less as a default sport. He’d had some injuries, and they set him back. Brett’s someone who loves athletics, and not being able to play bothered him tremendously. Bodybuilding has provided a good outlet for his drive and determination. Understanding my brother as well

as I do, it’s no wonder he’s successful. That’s the kind of guy he is— a powerhouse. RL: And when you gave up wrestling for bodybuilding, were your folks happy? KF: No-o-o, not at first. It was a little more difficult for them; my dad still wishes I’d stayed with wrestling. Just the same, they’re both proud of their boys and wouldn’t change our accomplishments for anything. RL: Brett’s been such an influence, and you guys have an incredible relationship. That’s cool to see bros supporting one another. KF: I respect Brett. He’s a better person because of bodybuilding, and I hope to evolve the same way. Remember, he’s had injuries, and that adversity has

Tuesday: Legs Squats (pyramid) Leg presses Stiff-legged deadlifts Walking lunges

5 x 15-2 4 x 7-9 4 x 7-9 4 x max 4 x 25 4 x 7-9 4 x 7-9 4 x 7-9 5 x 15-2 4 x 7-9 4 x 10-15 3 x 50 yards

Wednesday: Delts, Triceps Behind-the-neck presses (pyramid) 5 x 15-2 Lateral raises (drop sets) 3 x 10(10)(10) Machine rear-delt laterals 4 x 7-9 Bent-over laterals 4 x 7-9 Lying extensions 4 x 7-9 Pushdowns 4 x 7-9 Standing cable extensions 4 x 7-9 Thursday: Back, Biceps (light) Pullups (warmup) Deadlifts (pyramid) Pulldowns Seated cable rows One-arm dumbbell rows Double-biceps cable curl flexions Cable curls Preacher curls Friday: Delts (light), Triceps (light) Machine presses Machine lateral raises Machine rear-delt laterals Machine extensions Machine pushdowns Cable pushdowns Abs (three times a week) Decline crunches Leg raises Weightless twists Calves (three times a week) Donkey calf raises Standing calf raises

3x8 5 x 15-2 4 x 7-9 4 x 7-9 4 x 7-9 3 x 15 3 x 15 3 x 15 3 x 15 3 x 15 3 x 15 3 x 15 3 x 15 3 x 15 3 x max 3 x max 3 x 100 4 x 10 4 x 10

Other exercises Kraig also tries to do six sets of pullups six times a week to failure, three sets of back extensions for his lower back three times a week and three sets of incline rows three times a week. Note: All exercises and rep ranges depend on what he did the prior week and what bodyparts he feels are lacking.

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Kraig Feldman allowed me to see him in a different light. There’s no one like my brother—no one. RL: Word is you also think highly of Jay Cutler. KF: Jay’s the bomb! He’s never out of shape and has brought bodybuilding to a whole new level. That’s what makes an innovator.

Comstock

RL: You’ve advanced from unknown to contender in an infinitesimal amount of time. Do you ever think, cripes, am I lucky or what? KF: Luck has nothing to do with it. Instead, I consider myself genetically gifted—with a good work ethic. I use my talents to their full ability. Luck is for guys who don’t cover the bases. And you just gotta bust your ass. No matter what it takes, I’ll continue to tackle bodybuilding—and life—with determination. RL: Where’d you grow up? KF: Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Still home, sweet home. RL: Athletics and the Feldmans go hand in hand. Can you remember a time when you weren’t involved? KF: Well, I wasn’t shooting baskets as an infant, but we’re a sportsminded family. My favorite childhood activities were soccer and wrestling. I began organized soccer at four and played until my sophomore year in high school.

Teen Bodybuilding

RL: And wrestling? KF: I first hit the mat at age six. RL: My senses tell me you were a rambunctious kid. KF: Goofy is more like it. And also very independent. I wore bright clothes and loved the whole ’80s style. My first singlet was yellow with small blue flowers, and I thought it was the meanest looking thing! I’d pace back and forth and smack my head to psyche out my opponent [laughs]. A six-year-old punk! It helps to have an outgoing personality when you’re trying to make headway in sports. Nurturing a fan base is part of public relations.

RL: You’ve been blessed with outstanding aesthetics; no wonder you’re into modeling. KF: Aesthetics entered the picture as I trained bodybuilding specific. I lift to keep my body symmetrical and proportioned, something both contest-worthy and marketable.

bodybuilder in their midst? KF: I’ll split it into two reactions. Group 1 isn’t quite sure what bodybuilding entails and thinks it’s just a cool thing. They like me for who I am instead of what I do. Group 2 consists of the guys who are more about bodybuilding, so they appreciate my accomplishments, especially since I’ve begun competing. As my size has become more noticeable, it’s had an unusual effect—people are afraid of me. I’m an amiable fellow and like nothing better than talking about the sport, but in social situations and such, strangers keep their distance.

RL: So why did you choose Rutgers? KF: Because of its excellent wrestling program. A lot of colleges were interested in me, and Rutgers offered the most. They’re perfect for my academic needs. Plus, the campus is close to home.

RL: Are you a good judge of your own physique? KF: I try. Oh, man, do I try. But it makes me crazy ’cause there’s always something I want to improve. It’s a typical bodybuilding lament. You’ve heard the drill. As a competitor, an athlete, you must be aware of weaknesses before your opponent capitalizes on them. I study my faults like Sherlock Holmes—nothing escapes me.

RL: Is your major exerciserelated? KF: [Chuckles] How’d you guess? It’s exercise science. I’ll either go to physical therapy school or some kind of graduate school for sportsmedicine.

RL: Are you as critical about your modeling photos? KF: I have a greater sense of appreciation when I see my modeling shots. The StrengthNet pics were outrageous. Funny, whenever I look in the mirror, I don’t see that guy.

RL: You’re earning a degree and not throwing caution to the four winds. I dig that. KF: It was my choice, and I’m not knocking those who choose a different path. Success can be found in sundry ways.

RL: Who do you see, then? KF: A happy and proud individual. Someone self-confident and aware. I’m improving. What I like most about myself is the ability to see things as they are and not merely how I wish they’d be.

RL: College isn’t all books and classes—there’s the party scene, too, an important part of a balanced education. KF: Who doesn’t hang loose every now and again? I’m no different. But partying doesn’t build muscle. My thoughts are never far from the gym; that’s where I like to hang loose.

RL: We touched a little on your having an open personality. Are you also an accepting person? KF: Without question! I think of myself as open-minded, sociable, inclusive and friendly. I love meeting people in the bodybuilding and fitness worlds. Since I have the natural instincts of an athlete, I tend to drift toward that crowd. Just the same, some of my best friends haven’t played a sport since middle

RL: How does your posse feel about having a title-winning

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Kraig Feldman

Kraig Feldman’s Diet Breakfast 12 egg whites 1 cup oatmeal Meals 2, 3, 4, 5 1 cup broccoli 1 whole sweet potato 1/2 pound chicken or fish Meal 6 1/2 pound fish 1 cup broccoli Note: His diet changes from week to week, depending on his conditioning. For example, he may add steak, reduce his carb intake and so on.

Photo by Pat Lee courtesy of Strengthnet.com

“It’s not easy to plan a bodybuilding career when you’re in college.”

Teen Bodybuilding

school. I tend to enjoy simpler things, like the company of family and friends. I’m in my best mood when the weather’s nice. Ice cream can snap me out of a bad mood instantly. Frozen yogurt, custard, banana splits, whatever—they all work for me. One thing that does irk me is when people isolate themselves in worlds defined by ignorance, without bothering to broaden horizons. That’s why there’s prejudice and hatred—it’s ignorance and an inability to comprehend the other guy’s point of view. RL: Well said. You could also be describing competitive bodybuilding. KF: The sport’s something of a microcosm, encompassing all types of personalities. RL: Bodybuilding’s also a political landscape, and unless you score contracts or are in with the mags, you’re at a disadvantage. It can even hurt at contest time. Has politics affected you?

KF: I’d be naive to think it hasn’t. Brett won the Teen Nationals in 2000, so my name moved through the bodybuilding circuit pretty fast. Not so much that it helped me win, per se, but I was on a lot of people’s minds. When push came to shove, I had to compete on my own merits as a bodybuilder. RL: Is bodybuilding a healthy endeavor? KF: Yes and no. Whenever competition is discussed, health is tossed out the window. Your body experiences agonizing stress, and precontest is unreal. Any sport at a high competitive level loses health aspects, whether it’s bodybuilding, wrestling or soccer. Off-season, on the other hand, bodybuilding can be very healthy, as long as you’re eating quality calories and essential nutrients. RL: Does it bother you that camaraderie has been lost in the iron world? KF: I know where you’re going with this—you’re referring to the “Pumping Iron” days, when Arnold

and his crew all lifted together. People always cite “Pumping Iron” as an example of how terribly bodybuilding has changed, but it hasn’t—not really. Whenever I meet a competitor, there’s instant camaraderie between us. Prepping for a contest and all the shit that goes along with it is a baptism of fire. Hardcore bodybuilders tend to stick together, making for a stronger sport. Successful bodybuilding isn’t a cakewalk, and I have immense respect for any competitor. RL: You’re contemplating a high-profile bodybuilding future. Is a pro card part of the scenario? KF: Before I can project or predict, I’ve got to put my academics in order. I love bodybuilding, and a pro card would be wonderful, but if I concentrate too much on what’s gonna happen, I forget what is happening, you know? RL: Besides the benefits of fitness, what has bodybuilding given you? KF: A chance to help others and share what I’ve learned. Pro bodybuilders guided me as I worked my way up—and I’ve never forgotten their kindnesses. Now I plan to do my bit. Editor’s note: For more on Kraig and his brother Brett, visit www.brettfeldman.com. IM

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Supplement Scientist Jeff Golini Analyzes Creatine and Explains Why Kre-Alkalyn May Be the Latest and Greatest C-Bomb Ever Neveux \ Photo illustration by Christian Martinez \ Model: Jonathan Lawson

â&#x20AC;˘ by Steve Holman â&#x20AC;˘ o question that creatine has stood the test of time in the fickle bodybuilding world. While size-and-strength supplements come and go faster than J.Lo can say, I do Remember chromium?creatine burst on the scene in the late 80s and is still going strong in various incarnations. Most bodybuilders wouldnt think of training without it. (After hearing claims of 10 rock-hard, steroid-free pounds of muscle gained in less than a month, who can blame them?) The latest creatine innovation, Kre-Alkalyn, has the potential to make creatine even more of a supple-

ment powerhouse than ever. Why? Because it solves a problem thats been a closely guarded secret in the creatine industry: Creatine is highly unstable in liquid and can rapidly convert to useless creatinine before your body can assimilate very much of it. You have to take loads of standard creatine to get even small amounts into your muscles, as a lot, if not most, of it converts to creatinine before it reaches that final destination. In fact, creatinine is the cause of all the side effects of creatine supplements, not creatine itself. If your creatine gives you stomach distress, its because too much is converted to useless creatinine. www.ironmanmagazine.com \ JUNE 2005 111

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IRON MAN Research Team

Jeff Golini helped perfect and then introduce Near-Infared Analysis to the supplement and nutraceutical industry.

Scientists will tell you that all creatine breaks down into creatinine. In fact, it’s what remains after your muscles use creatine for energy, a natural exhaust, so to speak. That should only happen after your muscles get the explosive benefits, not before—which is where Kre-Alkalyn comes in. It obliterates early creatinine conversion, sending 100 percent of its creatine payload to your muscles, according to its creator, bodybuilder-turned-scientist Jeff Golini. Let’s quiz him on how he unlocked the mystery behind creatine’s instability in liquid and what his new creatine solution can do for your muscle gains. IM: So, according to my research, you’re not a pencil-neck scientist trying to tell bodybuilders how to get bigger. You actually have lots of in-the-trenches experience.

JG: Yes, at one point I carried more than 270 pounds on my frame in hard condition. I competed in quite a few contests and won the ’88 Mr. Natural California ProAm. IM: What led you to creatine and a desire to make it better? JG: I started using creatine in 1988 and got good results—but I also got some unpleasant side effects. IM: So your stomach led you into supplement science? JG: [Laughs] Yes, I guess you could say that. I wanted to solve those problems and make creatine better. It started when I noticed that all creatine-purity tests were performed on dry samples. I thought it would be much more advantageous to see what actually happens to creatine products once they’re activated with fluid. IM: And you used your NIR testing technology to do that? JG: Yes, I helped perfect and then introduce NearInfrared Analysis to the supplement and nutraceutical industry. It’s now also used extensively in the pharmaceutical industry for purity testing. It’s fast and amazingly accurate. It will test and certify every single molecule in a compound. IM: Impressive. So NIR testing was a breakthrough because it allows scientists to more precisely analyze a compound in the form in which it’s used by the body? JG: Correct. IM: And what did NIR show when you tested various creatine products? JG: A lot of them had very little creatine left once prepared and ingested. Most of it had converted to creatinine, a useless by-product.

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IRON MAN Research Team

Golini in his competition days. He won the ’88 Mr. Natural California Pro-Am.

IM: That would explain why some people, so-called nonresponders, get very few results from creatine—it almost all converts before it makes it to the muscles. In fact, I’ve heard of some bodybuilders taking up to 25 grams a day. JG: Some people have to take that much to get enough pure creatine to the muscles for even a small size-and-strength response. That’s because the majority of it is converted to creatinine. I can only imagine the stomach distress caused by that much creatinine. IM: So you figured out a way to stop or reduce that conversion? JG: After extensive testing, I found the reason creatine is so unstable and converts to creatinine in liquid. The problem is creatine’s low pH level. I developed a method of taking creatine’s pH to 12, and miraculously the conversion to creatinine stopped dead in its tracks. IM: And the result was a much more potent creatine without side effects? JG: Exactly, a 100 percent stable creatine. It’s even patented as pHCorrect technology [#6,399,661]. The various testing results are available at our Web site, www .getkre-alkalyn.com. You’ll see the results of everything from standard powdered creatine to the effervescent varieties. All of the creatinineconversion values are shown. IM: Back to bodybuilders who take, say, five grams a day and get results. If so much creatinine conversion is happening, why are people able to make any gains at all on regular creatine? JG: Your body naturally produces about two grams of creatine a day. When you supplement with five grams, or 5,000 milligrams, you’ll likely only get the benefit of 200 to 400 milligrams of actual creatine— and about 4,600 milligrams of useless, potentially toxic creatinine. Most of the creatine is degraded when it’s added to liquid, and then even more is broken down as it passes through your acidic stomach. Nevertheless, the 200 to 400 milligrams that do make it through

provides you with a 10 to 20 percent increase in your available creatine pool. That’s why you may still experience some results with standard creatine. IM: So your Kre-Alkalyn creatine, in a sense, provides a much more concentrated form of creatine. JG: Right—because very little, if any, is degraded to creatinine. I guess you could call it creatine concentrate. IM: Would you say it’s five to 10 times more effective than standard creatine? JG: It depends on how you look at it. If unbuffered creatine degrades by 90 percent in liquid and/or stomach acid, then KreAlkalyn would be 10 times more effective because it remains 100 percent stable. That’s 10 percent vs. 100 percent, or 10 times. IM: Do you believe your product is the end of the line— the best creatine product that is possible? JG: Well, look at it this way: If someone figures out a way to stabilize creatine other than manipulating its pH levels, would it work any better than Kre-Alkalyn? The key word is better. Kre-Alkalyn is already 100 percent stable—and you can’t do any better than 100 percent. Also, once you’ve saturated your cells with creatine, they simply won’t take in any more, regardless of the form or type. IM: I’ve made good gains with creatine and haven’t had any of the side effects. Tell me why I should try Kre-Alkalyn. JG: Three important reasons: 1) The single biggest reason to use creatine is to achieve results. But if the majority of each dose you take is converting to creatinine, can you really be 100 percent sure you’re getting the most from your current brand? Or are you actually just getting by and short-changing yourself? 2) When your creatine converts to creatinine, it means you’re ultimately wasting good money. Like most people, I’m sure you work way too hard to make that money in the first place. 3) Even if your brand only converts to creatinine by a mere 1 per-

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IRON MAN Research Team

“If unbuffered creatine degrades by 90 percent in liquid and/or stomach acid, then Kre-Alkalyn would be 10 times more effective because it remains 100 percent stable. That’s 10 percent vs. 100 percent, or 10 times.”

cent, do you really want even that much extra toxin in your body? While I certainly don’t want to resort to using scare tactics to make my point, consider the fact that even though many studies show using traditional creatine supplements to be fairly safe short term, we simply don’t know what the long-term effects of excess creatinine are. In fact, evidence is quickly emerging that may link long-term creatinine exposure to kidney failure and other ailments. But only time will tell which studies are correct. The bottom line is, why take chances and waste good money when you don’t have to? IM: Good points. So when is the best time to take KreAlkalyne creatine?

JG: I recommend taking the entire dose first thing in the morning. Here’s why: When it comes to getting the most benefit from creatine, consistency is the key. So if someone takes their dose first thing, they won’t forget to take it later. Most people believe they have to take it just before their workout, but in reality all you’re trying to do when using creatine is maximize your stores for maximum performance. So when your stores are topped off, the tank is full. Therefore, you’ll get the benefit from KreAlkalyn whenever you work out—much the way your car sits with gas in the tank, ready to go when you turn the key. Even so, we do have many users who report to us that they’re getting good results by taking half a dose before training and the other half after. I also recommend that people use the same amount each day, whether they’re training or not. And no need to load or cycle ever. By the way, this technology is available to any company that wants to upgrade its own creatine technology. We’re not interested in keeping it all to ourselves, and we hope other companies don’t see Kre-Alkalyn as another competing product. Since we’ll make it available to anyone, we hope they see it as a breakthrough, rather than just a threat to their bottom-line. Basically, it’s like going from a VCR to a DVD. IM: I’m certainly willing to give it a test drive. Editor’s note: Get two 120-capsule bottles of KreAlkalyn creatine for only $49.95 plus shipping (you save $30!). Call Home Gym Warehouse at (800) 447-0008 and ask for the Creatine K-Boom Kre-Alkalyn Special. Or visit www.home-gym.com to order. IM

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Heavy Duty Heavy Duty Heavy Duty Heavy Duty Heavy Duty

Heavy Duty Mentzerian Q & A by John Little The Role of Realistic Goals Q: I’m a newcomer to bodybuilding and am keen to gain as much muscle as I can over the next year using Mike’s Heavy Duty program. How much muscle can I realistically hope to gain? A: The answer to your question depends on several factors: your age, training history and, of course, your genetics. Mike had clients who gained 20 to 30 pounds in several months, but most of them were grossly underweight to begin with. As they adjusted to having the proper training stress and getting the right nutrition, their bodyweight stabilized. Those who’ve been engaged in serious bodybuilding for more than a year have probably noticed that their gains have slowed down. That can be attributed to several factors, primarily that they’ve adapted to a certain level of training intensity. It will take an increase in your training intensity—and corresponding decreases in your training volume and frequency—for your body to grow more muscle. While I’ve never seen the results of studies that might reveal exactly how many pounds the average bodybuilder gains in the course of one year of hard training, I think that most experienced bodybuilders would agree that a five-pound gain of pure muscle tissue—as opposed to five pounds of bodyweight—would be a considerable achievement. (continued on page 124) 120 JUNE 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Model: Mike Mentzer

Heavy Duty Heavy Duty Heavy Duty Heavy Duty Heavy Duty

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HHeavy e a v yDuty Duty Heavy Duty Heavy Duty Heavy Duty Heavy Duty Your training results will be largely determined by genetics.

average gain being 4 1/2 pounds. Those figures may offer hope to trainees who are disappointed with similar gains.” Your results will be largely determined by genetics as well as the amount of effort you put into your training and whether you get sufficient recovery time between your intense workouts.

Innate Adaptability

(continued from page 120) Five pounds of muscle tissue may not sound very impressive, but if you could sustain that rate of growth for five years, you’d end up some 25 pounds of muscle heavier. As Mike once pointed out: “If you could envision that much beefsteak laid out in front of you on the dinner table, you’d then get some idea of just how much meat 25 pounds of muscle is—enough to transform the average 155-pound American male into a veritable Hercules at 180 pounds of solid, cutup muscle. “Remember, too, that of the average American male’s 155 pounds of bodyweight, the actual muscle component is roughly 20 pounds, with the remainder being bone, water, fat and waste materials. Given that fact, a muscle-weight gain of 25 pounds over five years would represent a transformation that would more than double his existing muscle mass.” Mike was fond of pointing out that one of the most massively muscled bodybuilders from the late

1970s and ’80s was Danny Padilla, a man who won the Mr. Universe title in Nimes, France, weighing a very muscular and cut-up 165 pounds. Mike once wrote about Padilla: “I recall Danny telling me that 10 years prior to that contest, when he first began training, he weighed a meager 120 pounds. That represents a gain of 45 pounds spanning a 10year training career, with the yearly

A: The answer in two words is innate adaptability. According to Mentzer: “We’ve all witnessed the Sisyphean efforts of the zealot who seems to train harder than anyone yet never shows any visible signs of improvement or situations in which two individuals follow the same training protocol but while one makes good progress, gaining seemingly at every workout, the other appears to make no progress at all. Since genetically determined traits such as height, sunlight-stress tolerance and intelligence are expressed across a broad continuum, it occurred to me several years back that the ability of the human body to (continued on page 128) tolerate the

“A muscle-weight gain of 25 pounds over five years would represent a transformation that would more than double the average American male’s muscle mass.”

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Neveux \ Model: Greg Adler

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Neveux \ Model: Randy Vogelzang

Q: Why is it that some people in my gym seem to grow bigger each week, while others who are doing essentially the same workout are continually struggling?

HHeavy e a v yDuty Duty Heavy Duty Heavy Duty Heavy Duty Heavy Duty that can only be accustress of exercise—parrately assessed in retroticularly high-intensity spect, you’ll never exercise—would likewise really know what you be expressed across a might achieve unless broad continuum. you train hard and go “Even a casual obseron to realize that povation will reveal that, tential. Arnold with regard to height, Schwarzenegger had there are tall people at no way of knowing, one extreme and small when he started trainpeople at the other; with ing at age 15, what his regard to sunlight-stress future held. It was an tolerance, there are unrelenting drive and light-skinned people ambition that made who burn easily (includhim achieve so much ing those genetic in the sport of bodyanomalies known as building.” albinos) and darkIn other words, train skinned people who can hard, get adequate rest Exercise is a form of spend hours in direct and train with an eye stress to the body. sunlight with little to no toward making burning at all. Similarly, progress at each workthere are those who have out, and you’ll have low, almost nonexistent done all you can to IQs at one extreme and optimize your innate genius IQs at the other. adaptability to exercise. And, of course, there are Editor’s note: For a almost as many variants complete presentation within the gradation of of Mike Mentzer’s high to low as there are Heavy Duty training individuals.” system, consult his A similar situation books Heavy Duty II exists with regard to and High Intensity one’s genetic ability to Training the Mike tolerate and respond to Mentzer Way, available the stress of exercise. through the ad on page Exercise is a form of 168 of this issue, from stress to the body, just as Home Gym Warehouse, ultraviolet light is a (800) 447-0008, or by stress. Just where in the Your ability visiting Mentzer’s officontinuum of innate cial Web site, adaptability to exercise to adapt to www.mike stress you fall is deterstress is mentzer.com. mined by your genetic largely John Little is availpredisposition for tolergenetic. able for phone consulating and adapting to it. tation on Mike If you can adapt quickly, you’ll have the opportuni- “You’ll never really know what you Mentzer’s Heavy Duty training system. For ty to train a little more might achieve unless you train rates and information, frequently. (Whether it hard and go on to realize your contact Joanne Sharkey would be desirable, howat (310) 316-4519 or at ever, is another question.) potential.“ If you fall somewhere on www.mikementzer.com, or see the the other side of the continuum, to keep in mind that limits will ad mentioned above. however, it will be impossible for always exist, and, as these limits are Article copyright © 2005, John you to tolerate and adapt to freprobably of a genetic nature, there Little. All rights reserved. Mike quent training sessions and you’d is little we can do to alter them. So, Mentzer quotations that appear in be better advised to take such stress if you have made an honest assessthis series provided courtesy of in moderate doses and infrequently. ment of your potential and realize Joanne Sharkey, © 2005 and used As Mike once pointed out: that you are limited, don’t despair. with permission. IM “For the moment it is important As a person’s potential is something

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Neveux \ Model: Mike Dragna

Neveux \ Model: Steven Segers

(continued from page 124)

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e a vimbodybuilding.com y Duty Heavy Duty Free download H from

Heavy Duty

Illustration by Larry Eklund

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Red Zone The

Russian Pavel Tsatsouline’s Unique Perspective on Muscle Building, Strength and Kettlebell Training by Ori Hofmekler • Photography by Michael Neveux

avel Tsatsouline is a former Soviet Special Forces physicaltraining instructor, currently an SME (subject matter expert) for the United States Marine Corps, the National Nuclear Security Administration/U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Secret Service. Pavel brought to the U.S. a traditional Russian training method that historically produced some of the toughest and strongest men on earth. He makes his “low-tech/high-concept” fitness programs available to civilians through his best-selling books that include

Power to the People! and The Russian Kettlebell Challenge (Dragon Door Publications, dragondoor.com). Pavel’s approach, in particular his kettlebell training, has been considered by many sports and strength experts to be brutal and effective. The following discussion presents ideas that may be controversial or even revolutionary. Nevertheless, bodybuilders who are looking for alternative training methods to help break plateaus or gain strength will most likely find this information quite intriguing and useful. www.ironmanmagazine.com \ JUNE 2005 135

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Red Zone

Muscle Building, Strength and Kettlebell Training

OH: What is a kettlebell? PT: A kettlebell is a cannonball with a handle. It’s an extreme handheld gym. Kettlebell training is like saying: “I’m sick of your metrosexual gyms! I’m a man, and I’ll train like a man!” Lifting a kettlebell is liberating, and it’s as aggressive as broadsword play. It’s a manifestation of your warrior instinct. Traditionally, guys name their kettlebells the way warriors used to name their weapons. They paint them with their unit’s coat of arms. They get tattoos of kettlebells. The Russian kettlebell is the Harley-Davidson of weights.

from 766 to 832 in less than a year. One of my students, Steve Knapstein, ran a marathon without practicing running. OH: How can you explain those benefits?

OH: With such a passionate definition of kettlebells, can you tell me the benefits of kettlebell training? PT: Kettlebell training can deliver extreme all-around fitness, all-purpose strength, staying power, flexibility and “A kettlebell is a fat loss without the cannonball with dishonor of aerobics. a handle. It’s an All these benefits extreme handcould be accomplished in no held gym.” more than one to two hours of weekly training—all done with one compact and virtually indestructible tool that can be used anywhere. On top of that, there’s an expression among gireviks, or kettlebell lifters, called the what-thehell effect. WTH is about getting better at things you have not practiced. My PT: I can’t explain how such students powerlift heavier, hit hardseemingly nonspecific training er, run faster, bend nails and so on made this happen. But in our brothjust from lifting kettlebells. erhood we don’t wait for explanaPowerlifter Donnie Thompson tion. If it works, we do it. If the stopped deadlifting and started WTH effect is the best explanation kettlebelling. He took his deadlift there is, so be it.

The what-the-hell effect notwithstanding, as a rule you’ll do your best by mixing kettlebell training with specific practice of the exercise you want to excel in. To use a martial arts analogy, you will never be able to express all your strength in a punch if you do not work with a heavy bag. OH: Is it possible to gain substantial muscle mass with kettlebells? PT: Yes, you can get outstanding muscle mass gains, provided your training protocol is designed accordingly and you throw enough protein and calories down the hatch. As a rule of thumb, to build beef, one should do slow kettlebell exercises (grinds), fives (five reps) or quick lifts of 10s (10 reps). Keep your rest periods minimal either way. OH: Define “minimal rest periods.” PT: As short as you can handle. Russian researchers in this area concluded that training against the clock is significantly more effective than selfpaced training with near complete recovery between sets. Note that the study involved strengthendurance and conditioning, not one-rep-maximum strength. Charles Staley has the best technique for compressing the bodybuilding rest periods just right. His site is EDTSecrets.com. OH: Do you know of people who gained substantial muscle mass with kettlebells?

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Red Zone

Muscle Building, Strength and Kettlebell Training

Model: Mike Mahler

“Save for your pecs and tri’s, the swing is a total-body workout and a conditioner second to none.”

PT: Thompson gained 26 pounds in three months on a routine of approximately 10x10 of kettlebell swings and snatches. His training partner Haney, a 51-year-old former college champion shot-putter, added 15 pounds of muscle on the same routine. Retired powerlifter Phil Workman, who already carried more muscle mass than a human body has the right to, started doing multiple sets of clean and jerks with a pair of kettlebells. His shoulders swelled up to the point where he was accused of taking steroids. Note that I’m talking about elite athletes who are not spring chickens here. If it works for them, it should work just as well for a beginner. OH: What is “sustained strength”? PT: Sustained strength is a conditioning concept that describes the strength to hit hard in the 10th round, not just in the first. Repetition kettlebell swings and snatches crank up an elite wrestler’s heart rate to 200 in seconds. There is no better conditioning method, period. Just to get an idea of how tough it can get, the U.S. Secret Service Counter Assault Team developed a special gut-check test for its operators: 10 minutes of one-arm snatches with a 53-pound kettlebell. You may switch hands anytime you

want, and the total of both arms is recorded. The team’s record exceeds 250 reps, and if you can’t put up 180 to 190, you’re nobody. OH: In a related matter, kettlebell training has shown how a relatively light weight can be great for flexibility and overall conditioning, but what about brute strength? PT: Inventive gireviks don’t need a heavy barbell to provide progressive resistance. One of my senior instructors, full-contact champ Steve Cotter, built a pair of legs as strong as any with a grand total of 140 pounds of weight. How can it be? Cotter does rock-bottom onelegged squats, or pistols, with two 70-pound kettlebells. And yes, kettlebell strength has a great transfer to other applications. The man flipped an 850-pound tire the first time he tried it. OH: Given your special-ops background, it seems odd that you are biased toward strength rather than endurance. Please explain yourself. PT: A warrior needs both, but he can’t afford to ignore strength. Because the demands of military service are so endurance oriented, it’s easy to focus on conditioning 100 percent. The point that most sol-

dier-of-fortune types miss is that without a base of strength they become very injury prone. It’s no secret that by the time a special operator hits 40, his body is wrecked. A friend of mine got a medical discharge from the U.S. Navy Seals after a severe back injury. Today he’s as good as new, thanks to a mix of kettlebell lifts, deadlifts and Olympic lifts. Note that unlike other strength tools, the kettlebell develops strength along many planes and angles and in the extremes of the range of motion. This “in-between strength,” as Marty Gallagher has called it, makes kettlebell practitioners unusually resilient. And if you’ve had injuries, you’ll snap back a lot faster once you start kettlebelling. My senior instructor, Jeff Martone, teaches physical training, close-quarter combat and a few other things at a federal agency. To say the man has lived hard is an understatement. Jeff has had at least 20 nose fractures, his knees and shoulders have more zippers than a biker jacket—you get the idea. Four years ago Martone was contemplating a different line of work as his mileage was catching up to him. Today he can do things he could never do many years and injuries ago—thanks to the Russian kettlebell and our special techniques. Jeff’s story is typical.

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Red Zone

Model: Mike Mahler

Muscle Building, Strength and Kettlebell Training

“The one-arm kettlebell military press is the Russian ego lift, akin to the bench in the U.S.”

OH: Can kettlebells be integrated with dumbbells or barbells for strength training? PT: There are two ways to train with the Russian kettlebell. One is to do it in the context of a sophisticated program that implements other strength tools. That’s appropriate for athletes and coaches who have the education, the experience and the hardware. Ethan Reeve’s strength program at Wakeforest University is a powerful example of that approach. Special operators, martial artists and other minimalists prefer to use the kettlebell as a stand-alone tool. The kettlebell can do anything a dumbbell can do at least as well and with some technical advantages. For example, the kettlebell provides an unsurpassed range of motion on the

military press: It doesn’t restrict your shoulder on the bottom, and it stretches it on the top. Hang a kettlebell on your foot, Russian specops style, and you don’t need a belt for weighted dips or pull-ups. As the Philadelphia Kettlebell Club’s credo goes, “We train with kettlebells in case civilization is temporary— don’t rely on anything you can’t carry.” OH: How do you define a minimalist? Does it mean one who wishes to get maximum impact from minimum exercise? PT: You have only so much time and energy for training. If you’re pursuing multiple goals at once, find exercises that enable you to kill two or more birds with one stone. For instance, if your goals are im-

proving your deadlift and your grip, the one-arm deadlift is an exercise that serves both of your needs. If you want to build up your bench and your biceps, the maximum powerlifting legal width bench press would address both of your goals. OH: What are the top kettlebell exercises? PT: The swing is the foundation of Russian kettlebell training. It’s exactly what its name implies: a swing of a kettlebell from between your legs up to your chest level. The arm stays straight and loose, and the power is generated by the hips. The motion is akin to the standing vertical jump, except the energy is projected into the kettlebell rather than being used to lift

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Red Zone

Muscle Building, Strength and Kettlebell Training

Pavel’s books are available at www. dragon door.com.

the body. Save for your pecs and tri’s, the swing is a total-body workout and a conditioner second to none. You must experience the swing to appreciate its power. The one-arm kettlebell military press is the Russian ego lift, akin to the bench in the U.S. The rules are simple: the fist must be lower than the chin at the start of the press, and the knees must remain locked. That’s a lot harder than it sounds. An overwhelming majority of the bodybuilders who took our 88pound kettlebell military press challenge at Arnold’s expo could not do it. OH: What kind of physique should one get from kettlebell training? PT: The kettlebell swing plus the Russian-style military press make up a great program for an aggressive minimalist who wants to be ready for whatever life throws at him and who chooses a doer’s physique along the lines of antique statues—broad shoulders with just a hint of pecs, back muscles standing out in bold relief, wiry arms, rugged forearms, a cut-up midsection and strong legs without a hint of squatter’s chafing. OH: Can you give an example of a basic training routine? PT: Here’s the routine: 5x5 presses per arm, 5x10 swings per arm, wrap up with another 5x5 presses. It’s up to you whether you want to clean the kettlebell once for each

set of presses or once before each rep. Don’t fail. If you can’t make the prescribed reps, do more sets of fewer reps to make up the total; for example 3x5, 1x4, 2x3 for a total of 25. Rest as little as you can between sets. Start with a lot lower numbers and build up slowly. Train three times a week. Stretch. Eat a cow. Every fourth week take it easy—this means do half the reps on all your sets. OH: What about variety? PT: If you want variety, no problem. The kettlebell’s design, namely a thick, smooth handle removed from a compact center of mass, enables you to do a great variety of powerful exercises. You can swing it between your legs without worrying about taking your knees out. You can hold it like a regular dumbbell or bottomup for a grip challenge, or you can palm it like a medicine ball. The position of the handle allows dynamic passing of the kettlebell from hand to hand for a great variety of powerful juggling-type exercises. Those drills develop dynamic strength and make the body injuryproof along many planes, unlike conventional linear exercise. The kettlebell will give you an infinite freedom of lifting. It has been said that kettlebells are to traditional free weights what barbells and dumbbells are to machines. OH: What’s the difference between your RKC system and other modern styles of kettlebell training? PT: As in martial arts, there are hard and soft styles of kettlebell training. The traditional Russian soft style is characterized by maximum efficiency; keeping the unused muscles relaxed; circular, wavy movements. It evolved into girevoy sport, the sport of repetition kettlebell lifting. I was nationally ranked in G.S. in the 1980s. My RKC is a hard style of kettlebell training born in the spec ops of the Soviet Union. Hard style refers to high muscular tension, forceful breathing and crisp, linear movements. RKC was designed as

According to Pavel, “The kettlebell will give you an infinite freedom of lifting.”

a strength and conditioning system for combative applications. If traditional kettlebell training is akin to aikido, RKC relates to karate. A U.S. Secret Service instructor described the RKC system as “simple and sinister.” Today RKC is a school of strength. I have a top-notch team of eight senior instructors who have developed their own branches of the RKC system and helped me refine the foundation. These Americans are advancing Russian kettlebell training as the Brazilians have done for Japanese jujitsu. OH: How can one get started in kettlebell training? PT: Our site, RussianKettlebell.com is your onestop shop. Books, DVDs, a directory of certified instructors, free training articles, a forum, it’s all there. See what you’re made of. Editor’s note: Next month Pavel discusses fat burning, strength vs. muscle, breaking training plateaus and his favorite training program. Ori Hofmekler is the author of the books The Warrior Diet and Maximum Muscle & Minimum Fat, published by Dragon Door Publications (www.dragondoor.com). For more information or for a consultation, contact him at ori@warriordiet.com, www.warriordiet.com or by phone at (866) WAR-DIET. IM

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Red Zone

The Kettlebell Solution for Solid Gains in Size and Strength by Mike Mahler During the past few years an old-school form of weight training called kettlebell lifting has made a comeback in a big way. That’s largely due to the efforts of top strength coach Pavel Tsatsouline, author of The Russian Kettlebell Challenge, who imported this exotic form of strength training from his homeland, where it’s actually practiced as a sport. I know what you’re thinking: “What the hell is a kettlebell anyway?” Imagine a cannonball with a suitcase handle on the top, and you get the idea. Kettlebells come as light as eight pounds and as heavy as 88 pounds. They have thick handles, and due to the way they’re built, the weight is always off center, which helps activate loads of stabilizer muscles. Thousands of people have experienced the cardiovascular and muscular-endurance benefits of ballistic kettlebell exercises, such as the clean and jerk and the snatch. Those are exercises that teach your body to work as one unit; they take muscular-endurance training to the next level. Imagine doing several sprints at full power, and you get an idea of what a high-rep set of kettlebell snatches feels like. In addition to the cardio benefits, many people have benefited from the tremendous fat-burning effects of hard kettlebell workouts. I’ve had clients lose 30 pounds of fat in two months of hard kettlebell training. While anyone who’s done a high-rep set of snatches can attest to the cardio component of kettlebells, few trainees realize that kettlebell training is an excellent way to increase strength and size.

Model: Mike Mahler

Add Kettlebells to Your Gym Workout One very simple way is to replace all dumbbell work with kettlebells. For example, instead of doing military presses with two dumbbells, use two kettlebells. Instead of doing curls with a dumbbell, use a kettlebell. What have kettlebells got that dumbbells don’t have? Good question. Kettlebells have thick handles, which turns just about every exercise into a grip exercise. As a result, you get bigger forearms. The thicker handles also force you to contract all of your muscles harder to stabilize the kettlebell and hold on to it. Expect more of a mind/muscle connection with kettlebell training than you get with dumbbell training. What’s more, because the weight of a kettlebell is off center, your body is forced to recruit more stabilizer muscles to get the job done. The displaced weight is constantly trying to pull you out, and you have to fight back on every exercise to control it. While kettlebell curls and other isolation exercises can be beneficial, that’s not where the real benefit of kettlebell training lies. The real benefit comes with ballistic exercises such as snatches, swings and clean and presses. In addition to working the hamstrings tremendously, those work the lower back, traps and, in the case of the clean and press, they work the shoulders as well. Such ballistic exercises also teach body synergy—in other words, they teach you how to use several muscle groups at once—which has obvious benefits for athletics. For bodybuilders it will ramp up your growth hormone levels the way that heavy squats do. In addition to kettlebell ballistic drills, kettlebell core exercises such as the Turkish get-up and windmill build a rock-solid midsection in addition to developing major shoulder stability and flexibility. Bodybuilders always complain about shoulder problems, and now you have a method of building stronger and more stable shoulders that will carry over to improve your gym workouts tremendously. I suggest you add one kettlebell ballistic exercise to each of your gym workouts as well as one kettlebell core exercise. Here’s an example of a sample routine with a few kettlebell drills: Monday and Thursday (upper body) A-1: Barbell bench presses A-2: Kettlebell bent-over rows B-1: Kettlebell military presses B-2: Weighted pullups

5x5 5x5 5x5 5x5

Do each pair in antagonistic fashion. In other words, do one set of A-1, wait 90 seconds, and then do a set of A-2. Wait another 90 seconds and then do another set of A-1. Go back and forth until you’ve done five sets of five on both exercises. Then take a two-minute break and do B-1 and B-2 in the same fashion. Take a oneminute break, and wrap up with:

Muscle Building, Strength and Kettlebell Training

Kettlebell bent-over rows.

Here are some ideas that work.

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Red Zone Turkish get-ups (per side) Alternate kettlebell curls (per side) One-arm kettlebell snatches (per side) Wednesday and Saturday (lower body) A-1: Barbell squats A-2: Double kettlebell swings

2x5 2x5 1 x 15 5x5 5x5

Follow the directions discussed for the upper-body workout. Take a two-minute break after you’ve completed all sets of A-1 and A-2 and then wrap up with: Kettlebell windmills (per side) Double-kettlebell clean and push presses

2x5 1 x 10

There you have it: a functional size and strength program that will address your weak links, build your shoulder stability as well as your lower back and add some functional strength to your program.

Kettlebell-Only Workout

Day 1: Upper-body focus PR Zone 1: 15 minutes A-1: Double-kettlebell floor presses A-2: Double-kettlebell bent-over rows Start off doing five to six reps per set and go back and forth between the exercises, taking as little rest as possible. As fatigue kicks in, lower the reps and take longer breaks. Your goal is to do as many total reps of each exercise in the designated personal record, or P.R., zone as you can. Record the total number of reps at the end of each workout. Your goal at the next workout is to do

PR Zone 2: 15 minutes B-1: Alternate kettlebell military presses B-2: Kettlebell biceps curls Follow the same instructions as described for PR Zone 1. Take a two-minute break after PR Zone 2 and then do: One-arm windmills (per side)

2x5

Day 2: Lower-body focus PR Zone 1: 20 Minutes A-1: Double-kettlebell front squats A-2: Double-kettlebell swings Follow the directions for the previous workout. Once you’ve completed the PR Zone, wrap up with; Turkish get-ups (per side)

3x5

Try the above program for one month, and give it everything you have. Expect to have bigger and more developed shoulders, a strong lower back, thicker hamstrings and forearms that look like Popeye’s. Are kettlebells necessary for getting bigger and stronger? Of course not! Kettlebells are not magical tools that will transform you from a skinny runt to a mighty man. Variety is the spice of life, however, and in order to maintain training longevity, you have to keep things fun and interesting. I have yet to meet someone who doesn’t think that kettlebell training is a blast. Many of the exercises are dramatically different from anything you’ve done before. As a result, you’ll be working muscles that you never knew you had and addressing areas of your physique that have been neglected. Whether you’re a professional bodybuilder or just interested in staying in shape, there’s no doubt that you’ll benefit from kettlebell training. Editor’s note: Mike Mahler is a strength coach and senior kettlebell instructor based in Los Angeles. He’s working on the upcoming book The Kettlebell Solution to Massive Gains in Size and Strength. For more info visit Mike’s Web site, www.mikemahler.com. IM

Double-kettlebell floor presses.

Model: Mike Mahler

Muscle Building, Strength and Kettlebell Training

Another option that works very well is to do a kettlebell-only workout for a month. It’s a great way to switch up your workouts and shock your body. Plus you can do them anywhere. You can do them at home or do what I like to do: Take two kettlebells to a park for a great outdoor workout. It’s a terrific alternative for times when you’re too busy to make it to the gym. A kettlebell-only program that has worked very well for my clients is the EDT/kettlebell combo. EDT (Escalating Density Training) is the brain child of top strength coach Charles Staley. The goal is to do more volume in less time, increasing intensity and volume, two critical components of getting stronger and bigger. Here’s a sample EDT/kettlebell regimen:

more reps. For example, if you did 25 total reps on each exercise at workout one, strive to do 26 reps at the next session. Take a five-minute break after doing PR Zone 1 and then proceed to PR Zone 2:

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FEMALE MUSCLE ’05 Photography by Bill Dobbins

Once again we’re proud to present a pictorial of female muscle from the works of photographer Bill Dobbins. His images of the female form in all of its incarnations never fail to evoke emotion, so be prepared. From the heavily muscled to the sensually toned, Dobbins’ subjects are fascinating—his photos dramatic, unique and inspiring. Feast your eyes on these examples of his art, and let us know what you think. For more of Dobbins’ photography, visit www.BillDobbins.com. —the Editors ©2005 www.BillDobbins.com All rights reserved.

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LENDA MURRAY

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VALENTINA CHEPIGA

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EVA STEVENS Free download from imbodybuilding.com

LEIGH ANNA ROSS

LENDA MURRAY

KAREN SMITH

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NICOLE ROLLOLOZO

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COLETTE NELSON

YAMILE MARRERO

DINA AL-SABAH

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VIVIANA SOLDANO

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’05 IFBB Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic

Blade RUNNER

Jackson Mows Down the Competition

by Lonnie Teper Photography by Bill Comstock COLUMBUS, Ohio—Three wins in a row sufficed for Jay Cutler. Ronnie Coleman, who took the crown in 2001, said once was enough. Flex Wheeler, the champ in 2000, retired two years ago. So, without a returning titleholder in the 15-man lineup, the 2005 version of the Arnold Classic would be especially exciting. Quite appropriate, since the gala affair would mark the 30th year that California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his partner, Jim Lorimer, have teamed to put on bodybuilding events in Lorimer’s Columbus home base (the Arnold Classic was first held in 1989). Who would enter the event as the fave this time around? It was pretty clear that the winner would come from the terrific trio of Dexter Jackson, Chris Cormier and Gustavo Badell. Gustavo had slipped past Jackson and into third place (costing Dexter 10K) at the ’04 Mr. Olympia after the controversial challenge round was initiated. And, following his win at the IRON MAN Pro two weeks before the ASC, the Freakin’ Rican had to rank among the top contenders to take home the $100,000 first-place prize money, along with a new Hummer and an Audemars Piquet timepiece priced at 25K. 166 JUNE 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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1) Dexter JACKSON

Jackson, still fuming over his loss to Badell last October, told me in Columbus that he was at his alltime best, and he wanted to place a bet on whether he was really carrying the 228 pounds he claimed fit snugly on his 5’6 1/2” frame. For those who haven’t followed my long-running debate with Dex on this matter, I’ve always said Jackson’s figures were generous, to the tune of at least 10 pounds. We had a chance to settle it at the press conference at the ’04 IRON MAN, but Jackson never stepped on the scale, citing a photo shoot with MuscleTech as the legit reason for passing on the opportunity. In Ohio he asked if I wanted to see him on a

’05 Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic 1) Dexter Jackson*’ 2) Chris Cormier* 3) Gustavo Badell* 4) Lee Priest* 5) Melvin Anthony* 6) Darrem Charles 7) Victor Martinez 8) Troy Alves 9) Mark Dugdale 10) Toney Freeman 11) Shari “King” Kamali 12) David Henry 13) Frank Roberson 14) Art Atwood 15) Idrise Ward-El *Qualifies for the Mr. Olympia. www.ironmanmagazine.com \ JUNE 2005 167

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’05 IFBB Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic scale. I said, “Of course. Do you have one in your room?” The Blade stunned me with a “no,” and so the great debate continues. If anyone really cares, that is, other than Dex and me. Cormier has given new meaning to the word enigma. With Jackson— and Badell of late—you know what you’re gonna get. Chris should be in the “Forrest Gump” sequel, ’cause

we never know what we’re gonna get when the 37-year-old hits the stage. Sometimes he’s terrific, sometimes disappointing. The former was the case at the ’04 ASC, where he, controversially, finished a single digit behind Cutler and had to settle for his fifth consecutive runner-up landing. The latter was the case at last season’s Olympia, where his seventh-place finish was

1) Dexter JACKSON

I’m still dubious about his veracity regarding the 228 pounds, but the man looked terrific.

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’05 IFBB Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic

2) Chris CORMIER

3) Gustavo BADELL

considered very generous by most. So the stage was set. Place your bet. At the prejudging Jackson and Cormier looked exceptional; let’s call it a coin toss. Chris, at 5’11” and about 255 pounds, has few flaws and, when in outstanding shape, is hard to beat—unless Coleman and, perhaps, Cutler are in the lineup. He looked awfully good when he first stepped foot onstage at the noon judging on March 5. If he wasn’t at his best, he was pretty close. Would this be the year Cormier gave up his always-agroomsman, never-a-groom status? Jackson was on the money. Now, I’m still dubious about his veracity regarding the 228 pounds, but the man looked terrific, perhaps bigger than we’ve seen him in the past and just as sharp. Blade Runner, indeed. I was leaning toward Jackson as the men dueled it out on the Veterans

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7) Victor MARTINEZ

5) Melvin ANTHONY

4) Lee PRIEST 6) Darrem CHARLES 172 JUNE 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Memorial stage but felt the evening’s final two rounds would provide the drama’s outcome. Badell, about 15 pounds heavier than last year, when he placed seventh, moved into the elite group when it came to the early callouts. Gustavo was thicker than either Jackson or Cormier— check out his amazing chest and hams—and his guns shone, as always, but as his shape doesn’t have the aesthetic lines of his two main opponents, he looked to be positioned in third. From where I sat, the biggest surprise was Lee Priest. Lee is no stranger to big-time success, for sure, but after his secondplace finish to Badell at the IRON MAN, most didn’t believe he would contend with the abovementioned trio. And, according to the callouts, he seemed to be battling Melvin Anthony and Darrem Charles for a top five, not a top-three, slot. But on this cold winter evening in Columbus Priest was sparkling; much drier than he’d been two weeks prior and vastly superior in the thigh and hamstring area. His detractors declared that his lower body wasn’t as hard as his upper body. They said his chest looked small compared to those outrageous delts. They also pointed to a lack of back detail and soft glutes. I’ve comment-

8) Troy ALVES

9) Mark DUGDALE

’05 IFBB Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic

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ed on the same blemishes more than once. However, everybody has flaws. I’ve pointed them out on every bodybuilder I’ve ever seen compete. Look at what the Blond Myth has compared to others, not just what is substandard on his physique. Who had calves or arms as good as Priest’s in this lineup? Who has ever had better all-around arm development? Who had better delts? Who was in better condition? Priest’s overall package might have been his best, and that’s saying a mouthful considering his sublime 10-year-plus tenure as a professional. As for Anthony and Charles, Melvin looked a bit tighter than he did at the IM Pro; Charles always looks great to me, but I thought he might have been five to seven pounds too heavy to be at his best. And I know why he did it: When he was placed 10th at last year’s Olympia—a decision I didn’t agree with—Charles was told he was shredded but too small. So the man put on some (continued on page 178)

(continued from page 174) size and

10) Toney FREEMAN

11) Shari “King” KAMALI

10) Toney FREEMAN

wasn’t quite as conditioned as he’s been in the past. As Darrem pointed out, and I totally agree, he shouldn’t be compared to his last look onstage, just to those competing against him at the moment. Melvin had better lines, set off by a 27-inch waist; Charles was much harder, with those freaky biceps setting the tone. A tough call, to say the least. Troy Alves, (continued on page 186)

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Jackson was exceptionally sharp at the finals, taking the two night rounds unanimously and scoring a surprisingly easy 20-point victory.

(continued from page 178) coming off

a strong third-place showing at the IM Pro, didn’t appear to be quite as sharp as he’d been two weeks earlier and, based on the callouts, was going to be hard-pressed to land in the top five, his goal in Columbus. Victor Martinez, the ’04 Show of Strength champ and ninth-place finisher at the ’04 Olympia, is a big, thick New Yorker who said he weighed 260 (at 5’9”) two days before the show. Unfortunately, Victor showed up about 10 pounds too heavy and, like Alves, didn’t appear to be destined for a top-five landing. Mark Dugdale, eighth at the IM in his pro debut, actually seemed even tighter than he had two weeks past and looked to be a shoo-in to crack the top 10. Toney Freeman, in his first ASC, also was sharp and seemed to have a shot at the elite 10. Freeman, the ’02 NPC National overall champion, has a beautiful physique, but at 6’2”, with long limbs, he still needs to add a bit more size to his 260-pound frame to move up in the lineup. Shari “King” Kamali, who was impressive when he finished fifth at the IM, did not look nearly as good

Jack LaLanne shows his enthusiasm as he receives the Arnold Classic Lifetime Achievement Award.

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’05 IFBB Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic

12) David HENRY

13) Frank ROBERSON 15) Idrise WARD-EL

sharp but lacks the size to give the bigger names in the game a run for their money—at least at this point in his career. Atwood was the largest man on stage at 5’11” and 280 pounds but doesn’t have the lines the judges were looking for to be a contender. Roberson needed more size and conditioning; Ward-El, suffering from a bad cold, was not nearly in his top form.

14) Art ATWOOD

in Ohio. Kamali was a lot smoother, and he had a large bruise on his right biceps. Some people were suggesting that he must have torn it; I’m not sure what caused the discoloration, but it was definitely noticeable and added to his off night. Also competing—but not getting top callouts—were David Henry, Idrise Ward-El, Art Atwood and Franklin Roberson. Henry is always

So much for the judging. In the hours leading up to the finals that night, the consensus among media and fans was that it would be a battle between Cormier and Jackson for first, with Badell, Anthony, Priest and Charles fighting for a top-five berth. Jackson kept his condition and was exceptionally sharp at the finals; Cormier had smoothed out a bit, was holding water in his back and appeared to have lost any shot he had at finally getting the monkey off his back as a perennial runner-up. Having seen how the judging went down, Cormier supporters were surprised (I was taken aback a bit myself) to find out their guy was in second all along, 10 points behind Jackson—who had gotten perfect scores—after the first two rounds. That trend continued with Dexter taking the two night rounds unanimously and scoring a surprisingly easy 20-point victory. Badell placed third, Priest fourth, Anthony fifth and Charles sixth, with Martinez (seventh), Alves (eighth), Dugdale (ninth) and Freeman rounding out the top 10. Amazingly, Priest was in fifth, one slot behind Anthony, going into the posedown. I would have had him battling Badell for third, not Anthony for fourth in that final round. It took a seven-point advantage over Marvelous in the posedown for Lee to move up to fourth. I also might have had Charles in fifth, although, as mentioned above, choosing between Darrem and Anthony ain’t easy. Jackson also picked up a beautiful Koska-Crystal vase for being named Most Muscular competitor. Anthony did get some solace when he was— as he had been at the IM Pro—unanimously selected to win the Best Presentation award, which in this case came with a $10,000 check. As always, the contest played to a full house of about 4,000 fans. The Governator excited the crowd with his usual appearance, handing out the first-place award to Jackson and taking a few minutes to chat with the fans from the podium. He’s always said, “I’ll be back.” And despite a mind-boggling schedule, he was true to his word once again. IM

For hundreds of contest photos, visit www.GraphicMuscle.com.

188 JUNE 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Lonnie Teper’s

Press Conference: Stage-Eye View

Season Opener

Along the weigh to the IM Pro Friday-afternoon affair Gets the show on the road It worked so well last year that we brought back the press conference and weigh-in to the IRON MAN Pro men’s bodybuilding competition. Again, we held it the afternoon before the show, but this time we moved it to the main hall at the IM FitExpo, where the gang walked down a red carpet and came onstage one by one to meet their pal, John More Balik’s digital scale. Press Conference Also like last year: It was pouring outside— this time in recordsetting amounts. THE TEXAS TORNADO CHALLENGES MARVELOUS: Raindrops were falling on our heads, but that didn’t keep a goodsize group of fans from gathering to meet the lineup. Of the 24 competitors who weighed in (with shoes and clothes, so subtract three to four pounds for each), Ed Van Amsterdam from—where else?— Amsterdam was the heaviest at 305 pounds. Jocelyn Pelletier, the 57-yearold Canadian who just can’t hang up the posing trunks, was the lightest at 153. The “HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?” eventual champ, Gustavo Badell, had put on 16 pounds since last season, jumping from 234 in ’04 to 250 this time around. The fun really started when the Freakin’ Rican did an encore of last year’s press conference and took off his sweats; Troy Alves didn’t waste much time before joining him. Both looked to be in great shape, and they went pose for pose, setting up what would turn out to be a great battle the following evening. After that we had a dance-down between Melvin Anthony and Franklin Roberson, who got as low as you could go. Both claimed they’d be winning the Vince Gironda Award for Best Presentation the following evening. Marvelous Melvin proved to be correct, as he took that honor unanimously—and promptly donated the $1,000 prize to the sixth-placer, who turned out to be Craig Titus. As the emcee of the event, I told the crowd that the only title I won last year was “Jackass of the Month,” which is what Shari “King” Kamali named me on his Web site twice in a row. Even Kamali, who had his game face on for the show, cracked a smile at that one. Comstock

Dance Fever

Comstock

Troy Alves (left) and Gustavo Badell didn’t wait for the contest to officially begin, strutting their stuff in front of the fans at the Friday-afternoon press conference and weigh-in.

Comstock

Ed Van Amsterdam at 305 pounds won the title Heaviest Dude.

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ADD PRIEST

IRON MAN PRO photography by Michael Neveux and Savannah Neveux

Four Score

Badell’s victory pushed Priest into second at the IRON MAN for the fourth time, but Lee and his outrageous arms have helped make the IM an outstanding contest over the years.

Lee is groomsman again Lee Priest is to the IRON MAN what Chris Cormier is to the Arnold Classic: the guy who’s mired in second place. Priest has been one of the premier performers at the IM for years, and he’s recorded three second-place finishes along the way. He was hoping this would be his season to slide into the top slot. It didn’t happen. The man with the best all-around arm development in the history of the game (Ronnie Coleman debated me on that subject; you can guess who his pick was) looked impressive but was not quite at his best. And it would have taken his best to win the battle with Badell, last season’s third-place finisher at

the Mr. Olympia. Still, the Blond Myth is one of the main reasons that the IM has been such a great competition over the years, and we hope to get him back again next time. The fans love the guy; he always lights up the stage—and the audience. Hang in there, Lee. It ain’t over till it’s over!

F l a s h S c o re s ’05 Arnold er Classic Schwarzenegg son* 1) Dexter Jack r* 2) Chris Cormie dell* Ba o av st Gu 3) 4) Lee Priest* ony* 5) Melvin Anth les 6) Darrem Char ez tin ar M or ct Vi 7) s ve Al oy 8) Tr e 9) Mark Dugdal man 10) Toney Free

vid ” Kamali, 12) Da 11) Shari “King Art Roberson, 14) k an Fr ) 13 y, Henr rd-El Wa ise Idr ) 15 Atwood,

*Qualifies for the Mr. Olympia.

’05 San Franci Bodybuilding Ch sco Pro ampionship

1) Chris Cormie r* 2) Dexter Jack son* 3) Melvin Anth ony* 4) Troy Alves 5) Victor Martin ez 6) Mark Dugdal e 7) David Henry 8) Jaroslav Ho rvat 9) Bob Cicherill h o 10) Art Atwood

11) Mike Morri s 12) Shari “K ing” Kamali, 13) Valentine Ja bes, 14) Heiko Kalbach, 15) Jojo Ntiforo , 16) Rusty Jeffe rs, 16) Derik Farnswor th, 16) Miguel Oliverio De Jesus Filho, 16 ) Christian Loba rade, 16) Thomas Stellan der

A D D A LV E S

Troy-mendous Promise of ’03 was no fluke Troy Alves was my Rookie of the Year in 2003, when he took eighth at the Olympia. He was my Disappointment of the Year in 2004, when, after taking fifth at the Show of Strength, he dropped Taking third at the IRON MAN, all the way Alves qualified for the Olympia right out of the box. to 15th at the O. The 38-year-old from Phoenix has one of the most pleasing physiques in the game; I’ve often referred to him as a modern-day Frank Zane. Alves is too fierce a competitor to be happy about ending last year on such a sour note. In December he decided he would start the year with a statement at the IRON MAN. That he did. At the press conference it was clear that he was at the top of his game. He carried that condition to a third-place finish, although more than a few media members and fans felt he could have been second—and wouldn’t have minded if he’d won it altogether. Troy wasn’t angry about his placing, just a tad disappointed. But even so, two great things came out of the Pro IRON MAN for Troymendous: He qualified for the Olympia and, more important, proved he hasn’t lost a thing.

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WATCH OUT FOR

ADD IRON MAN

On the Mark

Dugdale fares well in pro debut

JoJo Ntiforo Shapemaster on the rise

Comstock

One of the stories of the IM Pro was the debut of Mark Dugdale, last year’s USA Overall champ. The 5’6” father of three (Mark has the prettiest guru of them all, six-year-old daughter Maddie, to keep him in line) came in about 10 pounds heavier than the 196 he weighed last July and still displayed the sharp conditioning he’s known for. Sure, he wasn’t thrilled with his eighth-place finish, and I’m one of many who thought the Wood-

Mark Dugdale (left) placed eighth at the IM in his pro debut, but more than a few supporters—like daughter Maddie—thought he deserved better.

STILL MORE IM PRO

David Henry dropped a placing from last year, finishing seventh, but he looked so sensational that Jim Lorimer, in town to receive the Peary and Mabel Rader Lifetime Achievement Award, promptly gave the 5’5”, 190-pound little big man an invite to the Arnold Classic.

Craig Titus slipped out of the top five but was the most sought-after bodybuilder in the house, at least by the NBC camera crew, which followed Craig around all weekend in preparation for an upcoming TV special.

JoJo Ntiforo could only place 11th at the IRON MAN, but he’s got a lotta potential. Below: winning the heavyweights at the ’02 Nationals.

This Albuquerque, New Mexico, resident first caught my eye in 2002, when he made a stunning leap from a 12th-place finish in the heavyweight class at the USA to first—yup, first—in his division at the Nationals. And, of course, he earned a berth in the pro ranks as a result. Though he finished 11th at the IM, I still predict big things for Ntiforo (pronounced En-ti-foro). The 5’10” JoJo is slowly getting back to top form after suffering a bad thigh injury during his first year in the pros. He carried 225 pounds on his symmetrically pleasing bod in Pasadena; if he can add another 10, improve on the calves and get the wheels a tad larger from the side, Ntiforo will be a man on the go. He’s got the shape, and he kinda reminds me of a guy who did pretty well on the pro level—Flex Wheeler. I want JoJo back in the IM lineup next year—don’t be surprised if he steals the show.

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Okabe

inville, Washington, resident could have been a couple of slots higher. Still, he held his own in a strong lineup, placing not withstanding. Dugdale turned 30 in December and will be getting better with each contest—a great addition to the IFBB. I said when he turned pro that he would be a good one, and he’s already proven me correct, which ain’t easy. Welcome to the big leagues, guy.

Posers Dept.

The Greatest? Trying to pick the very best Without dissin’ the rest

Congrats!

I love Melvin Anthony’s

Kudos to L.T. says Marvelous Melvin Anthony is posing routine; thus, the the 10 swamisthe greatest poser of all time. moniker “Marvelous” in-training who given to him in 1994. I correctly picked the love Vince Taylor’s top 10 at the ’05 posing routine; thus, the moniker “Vince IRON MAN Pro, in the the Prince.” I love order of their final Darrem Charles’ placings, for our “You routine; thus, the Be the Judge” conmoniker “Dazzling test. Even bigger Darrem.” kudos to the three Shari Kamali’s grand-prize winners, routine at the IRON selected at random MAN had less dancfrom that group, ing, more posing; I each of whom received a year’s supply of Muscleliked it. And, of course, Franklin Roberson’s Tech supplements and two VIP tickets to the ’06 performance wasn’t too IM Pro: Jake Yarberry of Henderson, Nevada; shabby, either; kudos to Eddie Trevino of Fresno, California; and whoever nicknamed him the Cesar Arce of Carlsbad, California. “Texas Tornado.” That’s three guys we know Now, I know some people—especially photographers and we’ll see next year. old-time-muscle devotees—who ain’t nuts about the jazzed-up performances of today’s physique artists. I disagree, and I say the greatest of them all is…Marvelous Melvin by a whisker over the Prince. Both of them begin their shtick with slow, classic posing and then shift into electrifying moves. Who will ever forget Taylor’s Terminator bit? (By the way, the word is, we may be seeing it again in the near future.) But Melvin can do that, and he’s the king when it comes to pop locking, electric slide, the shake and bake, or whatever the hell it is he does. What’s more, both Taylor and Anthony were mentored by the great John Brown—gee, how can I leave J.B. out of this discussion? Brown, Taylor and Anthony. Hell, that’s like picking between Halle Berry, Shania Twain and Salma Hayek. Who’s idea was it, anyway, to tackle this impossible task?

Zimmerman

Arizona figure standouts Angie Fernwault and Colette Flack said they had a wonderful time working Colette’s BodyHobby booth at the IM FitExpo. To learn more about Colette’s new business venture—or learn out more about Colette— contact her at www.coletteflack.com.

Neveux

Ian L. Sitren, SecondFocus

AT T H E I M F I T E X P O

Or did he say Vince Taylor (left)? Or John Brown? Okay, we’ll settle for a threeway tie. But wait, is that Franklin Roberson flexing into view? www.ironmanmagazine.com \ JUNE 2005 193

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FitExpo Tales: Calling Coleman

Million Dollar Baby Mr. O to make first So Cal

Who Let the

Dogs Out?

Guest-posing appearance

Ian L. Sitren, SecondFocus

Comstock

Five minutes into Ronnie Coleman’s seminar on the Ronfinal day of the IM FitExpo I nie asked the Big Nasty a Coleman question from the back of may be the crowded room. Ten big and seconds into his reply, his nasty, cell phone went off. And especially in the he answered it. “Hey, gym, but what’s up? I’m out here in his true Pasadena, giving a semicolors WOOF! WOOF! nar…yeah…okay, I’ll call appeared on the last day of the IM FitExpo when he was you back later, dude.” Then, introduced to the Mighty Malteses, Oliver Timmy without missing a beat, Teper (left) and Rio Escobar Teper, at the Weider Coleman set his eyes on me booth. Don’t let this picture fool ya—it took five Was Ronnie awaiting big and said, “What were you minutes to get Ronnie, who was fearful of what news from his broker? the two ferocious attack dogs (14 pounds asking, Lonnie?” total) might do to him, to focus on the Funniest moment of the entire lens. Time for a new moniker, weekend. Never did find out who was on the other end of the line, but after learnRonnie. ing that Coleman recently left Weider to sign with BSN, reportedly for a two-year, $1.1 million deal, I think it might have been his investment banker. Congrats on the mega-deal, Ronnie. West Coast fans will get another opportunity to shake Coleman’s hand—and see him in action—when Ronnie makes his first-ever Southern California guest-posing appearance at my NPC Junior California Championships, to be held at Pasadena City College on June 25. Jay Cutler and Timea Majorova will be onstage as well, not to mention other celebs. Need I say more? Be there or be square, gang. (For complete details about the NPC Junior California Bodybuilding and Figure Championships, go to www.graphicmuscle.com.)

D I S TA N C E A WA R D D E P T

The Longest Yard

They loved us; they really loved us Wayne Gallasch probably flew the longest distance to the IM Pro/FitExpo—14 hours from Australia—but since he was on assignment to videotape the contest, as usual, he doesn’t count. Not so the husband and wife team of Albert and Marie Stubbington, who endured a 13 1/2-hour flight from Auckland, New Zealand, just to take in my seminar on “Be the Boss in Fat Loss.” Okay, so they really came to see the expo, made a wrong turn and ended up in my room by mistake. But Ron Avidan

they enjoyed the talk nevertheless, they claimed. Or they were

Albert and Marie Stubbington flew all the way from New Zealand to check out L.T.’s seminar. Okay, that wasn’t the only reason they made the near 14-hour flight, but it sounds good, eh?

just too jet-lagged to really know what they were saying. Albert and Marie said they had a wonderful time over the weekend and, according to Ron Avidan of Getbig.com, are planning to open up a nutrition store back home. Great to have you, Albert and Marie. See ya next year.

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L . T. ’ S

’05 IRON MAN PRO AWA R D S Gustavo Badell.

Best Chest: Gustavo Badell Best Arms: Lee Priest Best Back: David Henry Best Quadriceps: Mike Morris Best Hamstrings: (tie): Gustavo Badell and Mark Dugdale Best Calves: Mike Morris Most Improved: Troy Alves Classiest Physique: Melvin Anthony Most Overlooked: David Henry Best Costume: Franklin Roberson

HOT SHOTS BY JERRY FREDRICK Ronnie signs Terry’s belt. Hey, Terry, one good, sweaty set with that on, and all the ink is gonna run into your shorts. Oh, that’s part of the motivation? Whatever keeps you pumpin’.

Some people will use anything handy to strangle L.T . Sonia prefers to wring his neck with an IM Pro T-shirt.

Even with Monica screaming for securi ty, Steve refuses to let her leave the IM booth. At least he has exquisite taste.

Sometimes we get the urge to help competitors smooth out their oil. Whew!

Mike Morris. Mervin gets posing instruction from the great Frank Zane. Don’t try his vacuum pose, Merv. It almost killed us.

WHOOPS!

N&V Erratum

(Not erotic—so get your mind out of the gutter)

In the February issue I wrote about the Banned Substances Control Group (page 208), with Ryan Connolly guiding the ship as the company’s director of business affairs. Unfortunately, I left out a little something from the company’s contact information, which has led to big confusion for those trying to get a hold of Connolly and Co. So here it is again—the right way: Go to www.bscgi.org, or send e-mail to info@bscgi.org.

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Ruth Silverman’s

3803 &L5&8067$1&(

PROS SHOWS

IM to AFW

Let the games begin

Fredrick

And those were some games. The double-dollop of excitement provided by the IRON MAN Pro and FitExpo Weekend followed by another magical mystery tour of Columbus, Ohio, courtesy of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jim Lorimer was almost more than a humble reporter could take. See the News & Views on page 190 and the expo pics at the end of this column for more on the Pasadena proceedings that bear this magazine’s name. As for the ever-popular Arnold Fitness Weekend, the amazing, ever-increasing in scope of the four-day festivities—in tandem with the even more amazing metamorphoses of copromoter Schwarzenegger from box-office superstar to superstar governor of California—have turned our annual pilgrimage to central Ohio into an even more outrageous adventure than it was when I started attending back in the early ’90s. Last year we had the pleasure of watching the outside world discover this more-athletes-than-the-Olympics extravaganza, heretofore The yellow-brick road. John Balik (left), IRON MAN publisher our private property, as the governor’s hugely luminescent and promoter of the IM Pro/FitExpo, and Jim Lorimer, promoter presence seemed to be everywhere. This time we were too of the Arnold Fitness Weekend, escort me into the 2005 season. Where are the Scarecrow and Toto? wrapped up in the unfolding dramas inside the AFW to remember that the world was watching. I arrived home to numerous phone and e-mail messages: “You must be at that Arnold thing.” Then I saw the news. Media from coast to coast were quoting the governor’s statements on various topics made during the weekend, including those about steroids and drug testing delivered onstage at the finals of the Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic World Bodybuilding Championship. (“Schwarzenegger Wants Bodybuilding Crackdown,” screamed the AP headline filed minutes after the contest was over on Saturday night, March 5. But I’m getting ahead of myself.) When you’re doing the Doubletree Hotel-to-convention center-to-Veterans shuffle, “outside world” means the restaurant where you dine after the show. Each year I swear I’m going to enjoy some of the other attractions of the AFW, and each year I get so caught up in covering the three spectacular women’s shows and being brought up to date on everybody’s doings that there’s barely time to grill the judges at lunch. So, while I still haven’t seen the gymnastics competition (or the cheerleading, archery or fencing), I had a swell time, as always. The 2005 doings were so eventful—and so busy—I barely noticed when the honorable Arnold and his entourage made their annual march through the expo hall. Here are some of the faces and places that made the trip to Columbus so magical.

R E S U LT S • • • • • • >

UNSUNG HONORS

Humming Birds

Comstock

Quote of the weekend And the trophy goes to Yaxeni Oriquen of Venezuela, who won her third Ms. International title and shared her third moment in the spotlight with Arnold. When Schwarzenegger asked if she had anything to say, Oriquen quipped, “Where’s my Hummer?” Second place goes to Schwarzenegger, of course, who, under his breath (but loud enough to be heard in row K), returned, “Oh, you’ll get your Hummer.” Although Oriquen had previously told her host that her English had improved a lot since their last meeting, it’s unclear whether she’d gotten to double entendre yet.

In case you’re wondering. What did the Big Fella reply when Yaxeni told him that her English was improving? “How vould I know?”

Hendershott was dressed to kill. See the item opposite.

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DRESSING ROOM TALES

M O R E R E S U LT S — F I G U R E I

Pulchritude A’plenty And their bodies ain’t bad, either

Spread ’em.

Top row from left: Mary Elizabeth Lado, Christine Pomponio-Pate, Zena Collins and Jenny Lynn. Front row from left: Shannon Meteraud and Elaine Goodlad.

Photography by Ruth Silverman

Lightweight champ Brenda Raganot get s a last minute touchup before the Ms. International finals . Should she have won the overall? See pag e 204.

rnational ’05 FigurechIn4,te2005

The Figure International lineup got high marks from my boss, IM’s John Balik, who raved about the veritable cornucopia of beautiful faces coming across his lens. As this cornucopiac backstage huddle shows, the boss is never wrong. As for the score card, no shockers in this outcome: Jenny Lynn beat Mo Brant again. Ho hum. Check out the Web coverage at IM’s Graphicmuscle.com, and look for a full Figure I contest report next month.

Mar

* 1) Jenny Lynn t-Peckham* 2) Monica Bran Lado* th be iza 3) Mary El mponio-Pate* 4) Christine Po er* 5) Latisha Wild n oh ej ttl Li r be 6) Am 7) Jane Awad lad 8) Elaine Good ns lli Co na Ze 9) eteraud 10) Shannon M tie Ahearne at Be ey 11) Lyns less ok 12) Allison Bo ey rtl Ha n Je ) 13

ia.

e Figure Olymp

*Qualifies for th

FITNESS I

Shocker What exactly was Jen Hendershott hiding under the blingalicious coat and cap backstage at the Fitness International (opposite page)? The total package, what else? Rolling onstage in a miniature Hummer (probably the one the governor plans to give to Yaxeni), she rode right past defending champ and current Fitness Olympia champ Adela Garcia-Friedmansky to score her first ever pro victory. Look for a complete report in the July issue, and in case the placings pose questions you can’t wait to have answered, check out my online coverage—and the Fitness I photo gallery—at Iron Man’s Graphicmuscle.com.

Spring colors.

. Though Lisa Aukland looks nifty in pink the heavyshe had to settle for fourth in honors in weights, she took runner-up item on beauty and femininity. See the page 199.

Speaking of Hummers

Teeheehee.

’05 Fitness Inte rn March 4, 2005

ational

1) Jen Hender shot 2) Adela Garcia t* -Friedmansky* 3) Kim Klein* 4) Kelly Ryan* 5) Stacy Hylto n* 6) Julie Palmer 7) Tracey Gree nw 8) Debbie Czem ood pi 9) Tanji Johnso nski n 10) Mindi O’Br ien 11) Carla Sanc hez 12) Kirsten Nice warner

*Qualifies for th

e Fitness Olymp

ia.

Betty Viana has a hard time focusing after the first attempt to get this shot puts the fella who’s oiling her up in a very compromising position. Don’t worry, Betty. This is a family magazine.

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3803 &L5&8067$1&( T E S T O S T E R O N E C O R N E R — L I T E R A L LY

Hold Up, Girl!

Did I really say Schwarzenegger and steroids in the same sentence?

Comstock

national spokesman on the evils of Indeed I did—but he said it first. In steroids.” remarks made from the podium to the Between the day he gave that inter3,900 or so roaring fans at the finals view and showtime on March 5, the of the men’s professional bodybuilding gov. obviously did some deep thinking. competition that bears his name and Perhaps he was persuaded by the to untold legions watching the event arguments of some of the aforemenon PPV, California Governor Arnold tioned official voices of bodybuilding— Schwarzenegger vowed to battle representatives of the IFBB Pro Division steroid use in bodybuilding and sugand some of the major bodybuilding gested that some serious drug testing publications, including this one—who might well be coming to the sport. reportedly did a lot of ruminating during Talk about your shockers. While the Arnold Fitness Weekend. (Just because world of major-league sports has they’d been quiet on the subject been for months awash in steroiddoesn’t mean they weren’t ruminating.) related scandals and legal proceedThe governor’s statement from the ings, a few even involving physique podium was the first thing I ever heard athletes, the official voices of bodyhim say onstage that didn’t get a 10 on building had been relatively quiet on the applause meter. Instead, it received the subject—officially. As for the govpolite clapping punctuated by grumbling ernor, although he’s long admitted to whispers from some of the fans who his own steroid use during his comhad shelled out good bucks to see petitive years—under legal circumNutrition reform. At the Arnold Classic, inhumanly huge creatures pose down. stances and a doctor’s care—he had Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called for Was he serious? Was he kidding? Was his hands full keeping the spin from a crackdown on steriods in bodybuilding, he sullying the sanctity of the Arnold the steroid issue from distracting him and the next day he declared a crackdown on junk food in California schools. Classic by using it to make political from his total package of legislative hay? agenda. Consider this from an article Of course, there were plenty who were thrilled that the Big titled, “Governor Says He Won’t Flex Muscle to Curb Fella was speaking up. Not everyone has forgotten the deaths Steroids,” published at the Sacramento Bee online on March of Mohammed Benaziza in 1992 and Andreas Munzer in 4, the day before the Arnold: “But while he said he’d like to see bodybuilding clean up its ’96, both famously brought on by the extreme physiqueenhancing measures they used in their contest prep. Not overall image, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger insisted in a everyone is enthralled when viewing the bloated midsections recent interview with The Bee that he’s not about to become that turn up so frequently in men’s pro lineups. Now, with Arnold on board and on the record, BACK STORIES maybe some of the ideas championed by IRON MAN publisher John Balik and others over the years can be implemented. “We have to step up the testing procedures, and Carla Sanchez was absolutely thrilled find other ways, and be more aggressive with it,” to get the call to Columbus this year. The 35-year-old choreographer and coach from said Schwarzenegger, who gave an interview on Colorado had already decided to call it quits the subject to reporters earlier in the day. Accordin terms of competition. Enough of performing to the AP, he “also recommended changing the way bodybuilding is judged so that demonstration ing with her leg in a brace—since tearing and display count more than muscle size.” her ACL a third time, in 2002. “It’s time to Will Arnold be rolling up his sleeves and getting focus on business and clients,” she said. involved in the new drug-testing procedures? PulWhen the invite to the Fitness International eeze—that sound bite has passed. But mark his came, she was glad of the opportunity to go out with a bang at one of the best com- words: Change is coming. The good news is, for a whole lot of reasons people are finally getting topetitions. gether to say the time has come to do something The Rocky Mountain high priestess of about the rampant use of pharmaceuticals in fitness won’t really be leaving the scene completely, though. Already a familiar figure physique competition. Bodybuilding might be a Snow bunny. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but mere mosquito on the biceps of the wide world of backstage at shows in which her clients snow started falling in compete, Sanchez also promotes the Carla sports, but it’s not below the radar of the prosecuColumbus just a couple of Sanchez Fitness Fiesta, which is scheduled tors and journalists who investigate these matters. hours after Carla tore up for May 21 in Wheatridge, Colorado. Besides, it’s the right thing to do. the stage in this get-up.

Carla’s Swan Song

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AWARDS

COMERS

Six-pack and a six-shooter. Susanne took fourth at the Ms. I, but some folks are hoping that was fourth with a bullet.

Speaking of a new style for women’s bodybuilding Arguments could be made that Susanne Niederhauser has it. The 34-year-old from Wels, Austria, hit the pro ranks in 2002, when she won the lightweights at the Southwest USA Pro and then finished dead last at the Olympia. Now that the emphasis in women’s bodybuilding is presumably swinging away from hu-u-uge, she’s ready, willing and able to come into her own. “When I started to train almost 18 years ago, I knew I would like to look like Cory Everson and Anja Langer,” says Niederhauser, who works at a daily newspaper. She misses the presence of athletes like those in the muscle magazines and hopes to be able to fill that void. “I think I could represent the ideal in feminine muscularity for the lightweight class,” she says. The IM team couldn’t agree more.

Femininity Redefined Last month this column reported on a campaign by bodybuilder Carolyn Bryant to reward women pros She got grace. Mah-Ann who Mendoza, with Kevin Todd of exemPremier Nutrition, accepts the plify TBN award—and check. grace, beauty and femininity—or words to that effect. The bottom line came in at $1,000, which Bryant and her Total Body Network presented to Ms. I Lightweight runner-up Mah-Ann Mendoza at the expo on the day after the contest. Mendoza was tied with heavyweight Lisa Aukland—until Bryant cast the tie-breaking vote. Regarding Mendoza, who was tied with Lightweight winner Brenda Raganot going into round four of the bodybuilding, Bryant said, “I like the fact that our winner could have also won the show, which means that our judging was not suspect.” Next time, she added, there will be awards for a winner in both classes.

Mervin Petralba

Intriguing Package

EXPO ENCOUNTERS Wow, that was fast. Wasn’t it yesterday we published that beautiful wedding-onthe-beach photo of fitness star Lena Johanneson? Now she’s back, and marriage obviously agrees with her.

Fresh face. I can’t think of when I last saw Tracy Traskos—it might have been when she earned her pro card at the Team Universe Fitness Championships in 2002. The 5’2” personal trainer from Michigan will get her next blast of pro competition in the fall.

Thrilled to be here. A difficult travel day getting to Columbus couldn’t dim Sara Flom’s excitement about being a booth babe at the Arnold. The So Cal fitness hopeful is looking at the California Championships in May as the next stop on her ’05 competition itinerary.

Speaking of tough travel days. During her journey back home to Slovakia over the holidays, Timea Majorova got more than a blast of the freezing storms that were also visiting Europe. That’s the downside of living in Southern California, T. Once you’ve been there a few years, ice and snow seem even colder than they used to.

Familiar face. Texas talent Michelle Greer was a winner in bodybuilding and figure last season. This year, reluctantly, she’ll stick with figure. Says Greer, “I really love bodybuilding and love displaying my muscle with posing.” Pose your muscle for the camera, Michelle.

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3803 &L5&8067$1&( LATE-NIGHT VIEWS

Party Girls and Guys The lobby of the Doubletree Hotel during the onset of the wee hours on the night of the Arnold Classic is a great time to catch the physique stars in one of their between times: Between the banquet and official afterparties and the unofficial ordering of the pizza in the room. Behold the after-hour candids of 2005.

And if the music man is ready, pose down. Jenny Lynn (left) and Monica Brant-Peckham and their hubbies arrive in the next wave. “Can I cut in?” Ron Lavelle grabs a quick one, then dances his wife to the elevator. Does anyone know the number for Pizza Hut?

Columbus comer Latisha Wilder, overlooked no more thanks to her fifth-place finish at the Figure International, drifts in with a group of friends.

Also drifting in are bodybuilding’s really biggest fella, Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman, and Ronnie’s biggest fan, fitness pro Alti Bautista, who comes over to say hello.

More news and notes from the Arnold Fitness Weekend next month.

S T I L L N O M O R E S U LT S

Same as the first

’05 San Francisco Pro Figure

8) Allison Bookless 9) Christine Wan 10) Colette Flack 11) Marcy Porter

To the enthusiastic reader who sent the following e-mail note: “I owe you an apology. I have probably been as guilty as the rest in saying that the women don’t get any coverage in the mags. That is so not true. I was reading the IRON MAN Pump & Circumstance in the grocery store, and it was like, you really do a great job covering all angles of our side in the amount of space they give you.” Aw, shucks to the compliments. We do what we can here at P&C. But, like, wow. You read it in the grocery store? Is that any way to support people who support women’s bodybuilding? Buy the damn mag, girlfriend, or, better yet, get a subscription. These pages don’t grow on trees, ya know.

FINAL NOTE

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Neveux

*Qualifies for the Figure Olympia. The fourth-placer gets the sliding qualification.

Neveux

1) Jenny Lynn* 2) Monica Brant-Peckham* 3) Christine Pomponio-Pate* 4) Chastity Slone* 5) Rhonda Riley 6) Gina Comacho 7) Trish Mayberry

March 12, 2005 Neveux

Second Verse

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.

IRON MAN FitExpo Photography by Mervin

2 3

1) MuscleTech was the premier sponsor of the â&#x20AC;&#x2122;05 IM Pro. Jay Cutler and Martin Pillmajer look pleased with the turnout.

2) Special thanks to Weider Publications. Some of the best bodybuilders in the world, like Mr. O Ronnie Coleman, appeared courtesy of Weider. 3) Bodybuilding.com made a lastminute addition to the IM Pro prize money. These folks really support the sport! 4) Our favorite Arnold look-alike (and sound-alike), Roland Kickinger, was in the houseâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;at the Champion Nutrition booth. 5) Obusforme, sponsor of the NPC IRON MAN Figure competition. 6) ErgoPharm, performance-nutrition technology at its best. 7) Java Fit kept everybody revved. 8) Egg Whites International.

JUNE 2005 201

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1 3

1) Bio-Engineered Supplements & Nutrition. 2) SAN Corporation. 3) PharmagenX. 4) Stan McQuay at the Prolab booth. 5) Labrada Nutrition. 6) Ultimate Nutrition.

7) Aqua Pro. 8) VPX. 9) Subway (no, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not Jarrod). 10) Tibetan Tea. 11) Promax. 12) Amend for Arnold.

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10 12

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12) Compex. 13) 24 Hour Fitness Solutions. 14) Met-Rx.

15) Gaspari Nutrition.

16) Brazil Workout. 17) 97.1 FM interviews Coleman and his giant arms. 18) All American Pharmaceutical Natural Foods Corporation.

19) LifeSource water systems. 20) Country Power Inc. 21) Planet Body activewear.

22) Monster Energy.

20 22

23) Danza.

24) Worldwide.

25) Targit. 26) Sparkletts. 27) Living Air Purifiers. 28) Vital Choice.

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203

1) Heavyweight and Overall

Yaxeni Oriquen

1-Lightweight

Brenda Raganot

â&#x20AC;&#x2122;05 IFBB Ms. International

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Yaxenatin’ Rhythm

You Got ’Em on the Go; Yaxenatin’ Rhythm, They’re All Atwitter by Ruth Silverman Photography by John Balik and Bill Comstock

COLUMBUS, Ohio—Okay, so the title’s a slight exaggeration, but you’ve got to admit, Yaxeni Oriquen pulled off one amazing sleight-oftriceps onstage at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium on March 4, when she basically demolished the competition and walked off with her third Ms. International title. Soft on the outside, striated in the center, she posed her 5’8” of flowing muscularity with majestic grace, earning fives across the board from the judges—that is, a perfect score—in the heavyweight class before posing down lightweight winner Brenda Raganot for the overall. Even more impressive, the Venezuelan vixen posed down the notorious 20 percent rule and came up the victor. A little background is in order: The six lightweights and six heavyweights hit the stage subject to the IFBB Pro Division’s recent advisory notice that female pro bodybuilders, as well as pro fitness and figure athletes, should “decrease muscularity by a factor of 20 percent.” Followers of the women’s physique sports saw it as the latest in a series of so far unsuccessful attempts to stem the tide of biggerharder-and-more-ripped physiques and get the women to look more

feminine—read, more acceptable to a mainstream audience—although the notice actually said, “for aesthics and health reasons.” Questions about the fairness, subjectivity and gender bias of the new rule— not to mention whether it was holding women back from reaching their potential—fomented all winter. Also at issue: Would the judges heed their own advisory notice? Based on what we saw at the Ms. International, the answer is a qualified yes, despite the complaining you might be hearing from some quarters. The women were pretty much across the board smaller and less extreme in their conditioning, with varying degrees of success in pulling off the look to perfection.

Heavyweight If bodybuilding is indeed an art of illusion, then Yaxeni is one built David Copperfield. The fact that she was the favorite to win in no way diminishes her achievement. Technically speaking, she wasn’t smaller—she weighed in at 170—but the illusion created by her long, flowing bodyparts and long, flowing hair moving eloquently as she flexed made the judges believers. She definitely presented a more femi-

nine package. For those who’ve watched her transformation since she lunged into the pro ranks in 1994, it was a revelation. One point to keep in mind: Last year, as the two-time winner and defending champ, Oriquen lost in the heavyweights to Iris Kyle, a woman whose physique was and is, arguably, more muscular and more extremely conditioned than hers has ever been. The battle for second in the heavyweights brought a certain amount of

’05 IFBB Ms. International Overall Yaxeni Oriquen Lightweight 1) Brenda Raganot* 2) Mah-Ann Mendoza* 3) Desiree Ellis* 4) Susanne Niederhauser 5) Angela Debatin 6) Fannie Barrios Heavyweight 1) Yaxeni Oriquen* 2) Betty Viana* 3) Betty Pariso* 4) Lisa Aukland 5) Christine Roth *Qualifies for the Ms. Olympia. Withdrew: Pauliina Talus

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2) Betty Viana

1) Yaxeni Oriquen

’05 IFBB Ms. International

upward mobility. Lisa Aukland has turned in a personal best at every competition she’s entered in the past couple of years, and this one saw her classy presentation earn fourth-place honors. Christine Roth displayed plenty of muscular bodyparts but not the balance to finish higher than fifth here, while Pauliina Talus, who was in sixth after the judging, with-

5) Christine Roth

observers interpreted the call as Betty P’s losing points because she was “smaller,” it’s more likely that Betty V’s increased polish brought her superior lines front and center in the judges’ line of vision. I’ve always said that Viana, a.k.a. the other Venezuelan vixen, has the genetics to seriously challenge for an Olympia title someday. Could be the current campaign is her opportunity for

4) Lisa Aukland

3) Betty Pariso

suspense to the proceedings, although the judges were unanimous in their decisions. For once it was not business as usual, as the sensationally symmetrical Betty Viana, her 5’6”, 155-pound body accentuated by round, full muscle and tuned more finely than it’s been at any top-tier show, pumped past old-schoolmuscle veteran Betty Pariso to take the runner-up check. Though some

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drew due to injury.

2) Mah-Ann Mendoza 4) Susanne Niederhauser

6) Fannie Barrios

5) Angela Debatin

3) Desiree Ellis

1) Brenda Raganot

Lightweight Two women known for their total-package symmetry rather than extreme muscularity shot to the fore in the 135-and-under lineup. MahAnn Mendoza and Brenda Raganot were tied going into round four, the 5’2” Mendoza being one athlete who, arguably, didn’t need to lose 20 percent of her muscle, and the 5’3” Raganot, who won this class in 2000, being living proof that moving up to the heavies is not a good idea. Was it Brenda’s thicker musculature or her slightly superior flow-ofbodyparts—or both—that tipped the panel in the final comparisons? She ended the evening with a fivepoint victory in the class, which raised the question among some observers as to whether the panel had missed an opportunity to make a statement vis-à-vis women and muscle size. It’s all a matter of perspective, of course. The judges probably thought they had made a statement—by placing Canada’s Desiree Ellis, third at the Olympia, in that spot here as well. At 5’1” Ellis looked to have more conditioned muscle poured over her bodyparts than anyone else in the class—too much for the current standards— and the point could be made that 20 percent less wide would do wonders for the illusion she creates onstage. No disrespect to Ellis, who is a good bodybuilder and had a stellar season in 2004, but if the rules have indeed changed, she was the least successful in terms of achieving 20 percent less. Still, in some views the real statement would have been to place Austria’s Susanne Niederhauser higher than fourth. The 5’4 1/2”, 125-pound office worker from Wels, who won her class at the ’02 Southwest USA Pro Cup, has one of the most promising aesthetic-type packages to come along in years— with a waist so tiny, she could have worn Scarlett O’Hara’s gowns. Gorgeous lines and enough muscle that she won’t be mistaken for a figure contestant: This gal has so much promise, some pundits could even have seen her winning the class. That may be a bit premature. (Baby www.ironmanmagazine.com \ JUNE 2005 207

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Heavyweights (from left): Aukland, Pariso, Oriquen, Viana and Roth.

Oriquen and Raganot pose down.

steps. We’re taking baby steps.) But I’d be willing to bet that having her hair and makeup professionally done— and some coaching on the best ways to present her physique in the relaxed and mandatory poses—would do a lot more for her placings than adding muscle. Ms. International veteran Fannie Barrios tried to be smaller and smoother, but maybe just a bit smoother would have done it. That goes for Angela Debatin as well, but to a lesser degree. Both women’s physiques lacked their usual balance. Debatin was fifth and Barrios sixth.

Overall Did the judges miss yet another chance to make a statement when

they chose Yaxeni over the more aesthetically gifted Raganot? Maybe they, too, were just caught in the spell of her Yaxenatin’ rhythm. Oriquen picked up $7,000 for the class win plus $10,000 for winning the overall, by far the largest slice of the $50,000 total purse. The top three in each class qualified for the ’05 Ms. Olympia.

Epilogue It’s all well and good to applaud the baby steps, but what happens at the Ms. O, where Brenda and Yaxeni will face defending champs Dayana Cadeau and Iris Kyle, a pair who make them look like the second-placers at the Cal when it comes to hard-and-shredded muscle? How the current Olympia champs—and former Ms. O Lenda Murray—present their interpretations of 20 percent decreased muscle and how the judges react will let us know whether that baby’s ever going to walk. However they phrase it, more than “femininity” is at stake this time. At the Arnold Classic on Saturday night, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, California head of state and copromoter, with Jim Lorimer, of the weekend that bears his name, announced to a packed house at the Veterans that drug testing is coming to bodybuilding. We’ll find out shortly exactly what that means, but rest assured, it’ll be one perk the women won’t be missing out on. IM

208 JUNE 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Jerry Brainum’s

Bodybuilding Pharmacology

The New Ephedrine? When the Food and Drug Administration banned the sale of ephedrine and mahuang food supplements on April 12, 2004, companies selling those products knew they had a problem. It wasn’t the bogus lawsuits that burgeoned both before and after the ruling but what to do to maintain sales of their various fat-loss products, most of which were based on ephedrine or mahuang, often accompanied by a natural caffeine source, such as kola nut or guarana. The products produced millions in revenue. Unlike many other food supplements, fat-loss products have a huge crossover appeal, not only to bodybuilders and other athletes but also to anyone who wants to drop a few pounds. Considering that at least one-third of all Americans are clinically obese, the market for fat-loss supplements is enormous.

That’s particularly true when you consider what’s available in drug form for those purposes. Most products are molecular descendants of amphetamine, or speed, targeted at promoting fat loss through appetite suppression. The one exception is Xenical, or olestra, which is a fat blocker. None of those drugs works very well. Studies comparing them to the ephedrine-and-caffeine combo have found that the latter produced better results. That, ultimately, led to the demise of ephedrine, since both the drug companies and the FDA had a vested interest in maintaining weightloss drug sales. Ephedrine worked better than currently available prescription fat-loss drugs simply because it was far more inclusive than they were. Not only did ephedrine reduce appetite, but it also promoted mechanisms of increased fat oxidation. Ephedrine worked that way because it was chemically similar to catecholamines made in the body, such as epinephrine and norepinephrine, which promote fat mobilization. Ephedrine mimicked many of their actions. So the problem facing supplement companies following the ephedrine ban was finding a suitable, legal substitute. Several candidates have emerged, such as green tea and hydroxycitrate. The substance most nearly resembling ephedrine that’s still legal—though it may not be for long—is Citrus aurantium, also known as Seville orange and Chinese bitter orange. In herbal form it has various names, depending on the culture in which it’s used. Thus, in China it’s called zhi shi, and the Japanese call it kijitsu, while to Koreans it’s chisil. Like mahuang, the parent plant from which ephedrine was derived, Citrus aurantium, or CA, has been used for thousands of years, though never for fat-loss purposes. Instead, it’s been used as a condiment and an ingredient in beer and eaten as a rather bitter fruit. The amounts used, however, never approached the concentration of active ingredients in fat-loss supplements. Analysis of CA shows that the primary active ingredients that promote fat loss are synephrine and octopamine.1 Synephrine bears a close chemical resemblance to ephedrine, while octopamine looks a lot like norepinephrine. Not only are the two substances produced in plants, but they’re also made in the human body, which likely explains why they’re still legal. Neither substance works precisely like ephedrine, despite claims to the contrary.

Is the next best fat-loss compound synephrine?

210 JUNE 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Synephrine has alpha-adrenergic effects, as did ephedrine, but unlike ephedrine it interacts only with beta-3 adrenergic receptors. Ephedrine interacted with beta-1, beta-2 and beta-3 receptors, with most of the fat-mobilizing effects occurring from its interaction with the beta-2s. The overlap with beta1 receptors is what led to ephedrine’s side effects, such as excessive cardiovascular stimulation. In reality, that posed a problem only with those who overdosed on ephedrine or had known medical contraindications, such as cardiovascular disease, or CVD. Octopamine is a selective beta-3 agonist, meaning it interacts exclusively with beta-3 adrenergic receptors. Some ads have implied that this offers distinct advantages. Activating beta-1 and -2 cell receptors unavoidably also increases cardiovascular stress. Beta-3 adrenergic receptors, however, are found only in fat. It sounds good until you realize what type of fat those receptors are found in. The type of fat that contains beta-3 adrenergic is known as brown adipose tissue, or BAT. It’s loaded with both blood vessels and mitochondria, a portion of cells where fat is directly oxidized, or burned. That explains BAT’s redbrown color. Those attributes also mean that BAT is highly thermoSome scientists believe that some people can eat whatever they genic, capable of converting fat please without getting fat because they have more brown adipose calories into heat. BAT, in essence, tissue, which burns off excess calories as heat. is a built-in radiator. Some scientists previously attributed the ability of some humans to eat whatever they pleased without be expected to decrease fat oxidation. getting fat to BAT activity. Another frequently mentioned advantage of CA over More research, however, showed that BAT is far more ephedrine is the lack of apparent cardiovascular sympactive in babies and animals than it is in adults. In fact, toms, such as fast heartbeat or the shakiness that some BAT has little or no activity in adults because most adults ephedrine users experienced. They were related to the have little or no BAT. A few scientists still insist that some activation of beta-1 receptors by ephedrine, which doesn’t humans are born with more BAT activity than normal and occur with CA. Unfortunately, another cardiovascular side maintain its heightened activity into adulthood. Others say effect often attributed to ephedrine is shared with CA— that those who seem able to eat anything with impunity hypertension, or elevated blood pressure. owe their capacity to something else—for instance, inCatecholamines, such as epinephrine and norepinephcreased activity of the body’s thermogenic proteins, such rine, promote vasoconstriction, or a tightening of arterial as uncoupling protein-3, which by the way exists in both blood vessels that results in elevation of blood pressure. brown and white fat. Since ephedrine was similar in structure to But getting back to CA, if the main ingredients in the catecholamines, it also led to a slight increase in blood supplement work primarily by activating beta-3 receptors, pressure, which didn’t pose a problem for most people. it wouldn’t be an effective fat burner for most people. In Synephrine and octopamine are structurally similar to addition, the two primary active ingredients in CA— catecholamines, and they can also increase blood pressynephrine and octopamine—inhibit the production of sure. cyclic AMP.2 Cyclic AMP, produced from the body’s ATP, is What about the evidence that CA does stimulate fat loss? Unlike the evidence for ephedrine, it’s thus far the first chemical in the metabolic cascade that results in sparse.3 Animal studies do show significant fat loss with fat oxidation. A substance that inhibits cyclic AMP could www.ironmanmagazine.com \ JUNE 2005 211

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Jerry Brainum’s

Bodybuilding Pharmacology

Citrus aurantium interacts with beta-3 receptors, not the beta-2 receptors that are the main player in human fat loss. CA, but animals such as rats, hamsters and dogs have far more active beta-3 receptors than humans. Those studies also show that octopamine is far more potent than synephrine in promoting fat loss but far less potent than norepinephrine. Octopamine worked well for rats, hamsters and dogs but produced no fat-mobilizing effect whatever in humans and guinea pigs. Synephrine does promote fat loss in humans but only when used at levels high enough to also significantly increase blood pressure. CA shares a property with grapefruit juice that doesn’t exist with ephedrine: It contains at least two substances that inhibit the cytochrome P450 enzyme system in the liver. That particular system metabolizes more than 25 percent of available drugs, and inhibiting it could lead to dangerously high concentrations of drugs in the body. CA is even more potent than grapefruit juice in that regard. Case studies of CA’s side effects are starting to appear in medical journals. Like the cases that involved ephedrine, however, they show little or no direct cause-and-effect relationship to use of CA. One case involved a 52-year-old woman who experienced unremitted tachycardia (rapid heartbeat) after taking 500 milligrams of a CA supplement containing 6 percent synephrine, or 30 milligrams.4 She’d been taking thyroid medication for 10 years, however, and the doctors reporting her case suspected an interaction between thyroid hormone and CA. That makes sense considering that natural catecholamines produced in the body can result in a similar effect when used with thyroid medication. Another case involved a 55-yearold woman who had used a supplement containing CA.5 She had a heart attack, which her examining physi-

cians attributed to the CA. She had no apparent cardiovascular risk factors, such as elevated blood cholesterol or lipids, high blood pressure and so on. On the other hand, she was a heavy smoker, and smoking can independently lead to a heart attack. Again, no true cause and effect to indict CA. Even if CA proved to be less “dangerous” than ephedrine, it still wouldn’t compare in effectiveness to ephedrine. That’s mainly because CA interacts with beta-3 receptors, not the beta-2 receptors that are the main player in human fat loss. Even worse, CA has the same potential for causing an increase in blood pressure that was linked to ephedrine, and it inhibits the liver’s vital drug-detoxifying system. Food-supplement purveyors will have to come up with something better than CA if they want to keep their Mercedes.

References 1 Fugh-Berman, A., et al. (2004). Citrus aurantium, an ingredient of dietary supplements marketed for weight loss: Current status of clinical and basic research. Exp Biol Med. 229:698-704. 2 Airriess, C.N. (1997). Selective inhibition of adenyl cyclase by octopamine via a cloned A2A-adrenoceptor. Br J Pharmacol. 122:191-98. 3 Bent, S., et al. (2004). Safety and efficacy of Citrus aurantium for weight loss. Am J Cardiol. 94:13591361. 4 Firenzuoli, F., et al. (2005). Adverse reaction to an adrenergic herbal extract (Citrus aurantium). Phytomedicine. In press. 5 Nykamp, D.L., et al. (2004). Possible association of acute lateral-wall myocardial infarction and bitter orange supplement. Ann Pharmacotherp. 38:812-16. IM

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Blowing by Bad Workouts ow many times has this happened to you: You’re all ready to have a terrific workout, and what you get is a bust. Perhaps you came in raring to go because your last training session made you think that you were on your way to becoming a living legend. Perhaps nothing dramatic has happened lately, but at least you seemed to be solidly plodding along toward your goals. Or perhaps you had a rough go of it the past several times you hit the gym, and despite your best intentions, this latest workout, just like its predecessors, was a flat tire. What you do next is crucial not only to your immediate progress but also to how much progress you’ll ultimately make in the sport. In fact, the way you handle the situation may be representative of the way you handle potentially discouraging situations in life. There really are just two fundamental reactions: You can keep going, or you can quit. Let’s see what determines which way you go and lay out a strategy for blowing by bad workouts.

How you handle bad workouts is crucial to your progress.

Neveux \ Model: Michael Ergas

IRONMIND

Mind

Let ’em go and you will grow

The typical advice for managing bad workouts focuses on physical things. For example, the usual explanation is that you’ve been overtraining and should back off, that your diet is poor or that you need to use a certain supplement. To be sure, a host of physical factors powerfully influence the quality of your training, but if you really want to understand the heart of the issue, look to the psychological, not the physical, world. Consider two very different reactions to a bad workout. In one approach you conclude that you always have bad workouts and that every routine you’ve tried has been a failure. You can expect nothing else, since you’re genetically challenged. In another approach you conclude that even if this last workout wasn’t so hot, you’ve been cooking with gas lately, or even if you stank on one part of it, other parts actually went very well. Research psychologist Martin Seligman and his colleagues have been exploring the reasons some people quit and others continue to march forward in the face of adversity. Why, they asked, when faced with a discouraging situation, do some people just treat it like a bad-hair day and continue taking care of business while others are completely devastated? To help explain such phenomena, Seligman’s group suggested three critical dimensions: permanence, pervasiveness and personalization. When you have a lousy workout, do you view it as something that always happens or as something that just happens from time to time? That’s what permanence is all about, and it’s key to the way you deal with misfortune: People who throw in the towel believe that permanent causes underlie their problems, while people who keep on trucking believe that their problems are temporary. The quitter’s view of a bad workout is that he or she always has bad workouts. Conversely, the person who sees the bad workout as an occasional thing can take it in stride. Pervasiveness has to do with whether you regard your unfortunate situation as specific or general. For example, one person might say that he or she has tried everything and nothing has worked, but another might say, “I gain a lot better on abbreviated whole-body routines than I do on six-day splits.” People who quit see negative situations in broad, universal terms, while people who keep plugging away put limits around the negative situation, controlling the damage rather than letting it flood into other areas. Personalization has to do with whether you explain things by what’s called an internal or external locus of control. For example, if you explain a bad workout by talking about your

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Body limited potential, that’s an internal perspective—you look inside yourself for the cause of the problem. On the other hand, if you explain a bad workout by noting that you simply had a bad day, nothing more and nothing less, you’re using an external perspective. The next step is to use those dimensions to help frame a productive response the next time you’re faced with a bad workout or any other discouraging situation. First, be sure to view the problem in the narrow frame it deserves—for example, think in terms of this workout, not training in general. That will help you look at the occasional bad workout as just that: occasional and not something to get discouraged about. Second, when one part of your workout goes south, it’s tempting to throw in the towel, but don’t. In fact, if you quit at that stage, you’re digging your own grave. Reduce your weights and/or reps or even change your routine, but keep going, and chances are you’ll leave the gym with a feeling of success, even if one aspect of your workout didn’t turn out as planned. Third, look outside yourself for explanations of why things went wrong, rather than trying to attribute them to your internal characteristics. Of course, that doesn’t mean you should avoid taking responsibility where appropriate. It does mean that you shouldn’t call yourself hopeless when, for example, a bad workout might easily be due to a particularly stressful day at work. When you’re in it for the long haul, bad workouts come with the territory. The way you handle them, however, is up to you: Either they can leave you broken down and in despair, or you can learn to blow right by them. —Randall Strossen, Ph.D. Editor’s note: Randall Strossen, Ph.D., edits the quarterly magazine MILO. He’s also the author of IronMind: Stronger Minds, Stronger Bodies; Super Squats: How to Gain 30 Pounds of Muscle in 6 Weeks and Paul Anderson: The Mightiest Minister. For more information call IronMind Enterprises Inc. at (530) 265-6725 or Home Gym Warehouse at (800) 447-0008, ext. 1. Visit the IronMind Web site at www.ironmind.com.

Muscle Lifestyle

I Love the Nightlife

Sometimes you gotta cut loose

hen it comes to partying, bodybuilders seem to have only two extremes. There are those who don’t let bodybuilding slow them down—they go out as often as they like, staying out until the early morning and abusing alcohol and/or drugs. Then there are those who believe that they must never, under any circumstances, go to a party or a nightclub, lest they destroy their physiques and set their gains back a decade. Whatever happened to moderation? Partying as if it’s 1999 every weekend will definitely have a negative impact on your bodybuilding success, but you can still go out every once in a while and enjoy yourself. Just limit your late-night excursions to no more often than once a month, and go very easy on the alcohol (drugs are also obviously something you don’t want to indulge in heavily, if at all). You might even find it’s kind of amusing to be one of the few sober people in a club or at a party, as you get to sit back and observe the effects of intoxication on others. You don’t need to stay out until dawn every time either. Two or three in the morning is plenty late. Try to arrange your schedule so that you can make up for lost sleep the following day, and be sure to eat a bit more the next day to make up for any meals you may have missed while painting the town red. You don’t have to live like a monk to get bigger and stronger, so don’t deny yourself the pleasure of occasionally going out and cutting loose. —Ron Harris

Editor’s note: Visit Ron’s web site, www.ronharrismuscle.com.

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Bomber Blast

MIND/BODY

Training Is Our Thing ou’ve gotta love it. Training is our sport, our diversion and our entertainment. It’s a refuge and private place for thinking, calming and healing. It’s our instructor and disciplinarian, our buddy and our boss. Training is a source of daily fulfillment and spiritual centering, our joy and our pain. Training is

Neveux \ Models: Brenda Kelly and Kat Meyers

the taskmaster that molds us and sets us free. Training, the act and action, is rigid and stands out like a warrior or champion athlete in the mind of the ordinary man. Training suggests instruction, practice and preparation in a worthy endeavor. In bodybuilding it means tough exercise, smart eating and wholesome living. Training means commitment. Training means diligence. Training means business, let there be no doubt about it. Left to our own devices, left to choose between exercising and not exercising, the latter, for the overwhelming majority, is the popular choice. Eating right, meanwhile, is accidental or pure luck. Though common sense, experience and scientific evidence confirm that a trained body lives longer and with better quality, mankind is repelled by the effort it requires. Entertain me, feed me, give me comfort, security and happiness, but, oh, don’t make me exert myself. I’ll labor for wages because I must, but don’t expect me to strain or withhold my appetites in my free time. Haven’t you noticed, don’t you see?—I prefer to sit and nibble and watch TV. Since training is not mechanical—configured into our involuntary neuromuscular system, like breathing and the beating of the heart—we must make it happen, regularly. We must will it to happen, or it will not. We must want it to happen, wish and need it to happen; then and only then, happen it will. Training must become a habit, a passionate habit. Social activity is for the most part a collection of habits, sometimes known as traditions. Cultures are defined by their habits. Who we are individually—good or not so good, charming or alarming, pleasant or annoying, productive or of little value—is reflected in and attributed to our habits. He who accurately assesses himself and rids himself of weak habits becomes a sturdier, more agreeable person. He who develops and adds wholesome habits to his regimen becomes a powerful and more complete person. It’s up to us. Achievement is directly dependent upon the individual, his courage and understanding. Why do so few men and women choose the golden practices of training—exercise and right eating—to support their life and well-being? Further, why do we

neglect, even spurn, those precious disciplines worth more than gold? Looking back to our fathers and great-grandfathers, unless they were royalty, we see that labor—hard work—contributed to their muscle and hardiness. They walked or saddled up. They ate sufficiently. Today we eat inefficiently and in abundance, here, there and everywhere. We gobble up truckloads of sugar, tubs of bad fat and scary chemicals by the barrel. And what about nights and weekends without TV? I suspect they did things or enjoyed well-deserved rest. Modern man has been run down by the speeding train of progress. We built our towns and cities, escalators and SUVs, governments and schools and failed to comprehensively care for our most fundamental needs, the strength and health of our physical bodies. We have reading, writing and arithmetic in our classrooms, not to mention computers, but where are the basics of nutrition and eating right? Are they not central subjects of study for man’s personal strengthening, advancement and social welfare? We have art, mythology and social sciences, yet I don’t see vigorous physical training on the curriculum. Shouldn’t regular periods of fitness instruction be added to those subjects essential to progressive living? Did we forget? Are they too exhausting, too much trouble, too demanding and time-consuming? Are they considered embarrassing, primitive, harsh and repressive— socially and politically incorrect? They are vital to humankind and should be routinely taught, and it’s a grave mistake they are not. Let’s riot. Where did we go wrong? We failed to educate, and we remain ignorant. In the past year we’ve seen a flurry of media reporting and national concern. But only a handful of people have heard the good word—train, exercise and eat right—and of that handful, only a pinch understand and apply its principles. You’d think I was expounding on the philosophical themes of life stored in the obscure minds of haunted scholars, unfathomable and untouchable. Get outta town. I’m talking about invigorating exercise three or four times a week for an hour and sensibly watching our food intake. I don’t like to think of my training as a habit. Lifting weights and getting appropriate amounts of nutritious food is to me a privilege and determination of will, a centering and ordering of the mind and spirit, a forceful yet desirable struggle that vents stresses from the mind and toxins from the body; a playful release, a living, breathing, moving creative expression, a statement about who I am, a fix. Training separates me from enslaving guilt and provides generous portions of physical and mental fulfillment. Training is not worship, but it is an act of appreciation and thankfulness. It doesn’t decide where you’re going, but it does improve your destination and surely helps you get there. It doesn’t reveal the future, but it does clear the way ahead and help you understand the past. It might not tell you who you are, but a really good workout will lead you to your soul. Let’s promote exercise and eating right to those who don’t. For the unconditioned and uninitiated such an undertaking is a boon, a deliverance, a life-changing activity. Training is a novelty that might survive as a habit and grow into a lifestyle. We don’t know where that will take them, but it has to be good. —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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Motivation

Mastering Self Through Bodybuilding Tim Wescott went from alcoholic to muscular marvel im Wescott is a 49-year-old bodybuilder who’s been lifting—on and off—for 25 years. He missed about 11 years of training due to alcoholism and drug abuse, but once he pulled it together, bodybuilding pulled him out of the gutter and into the winner’s circle. In 1995 Tim won the over-35 division of the prestigious Southern States Bodybuilding Championships. He’s won that class on three different occasions and placed twice in his class at the NPC Masters Nationals, the largest amateur contest in the United States for bodybuilders over 40. He’s amassed 46 trophies. He puts it in perspective: “I went from someone who was a serious, depressed alcoholic who didn’t want to live to someone who’s now enjoying every day and is living the dream.” Q: What does your diet consist of? TW: Precontest I eat the usual diet fare: egg whites, chicken breasts, tuna and other fish, lean beef, oatmeal, yams, potatoes, brown rice, veggies and salads. In the off-season it’s the same things, although I include dairy, fruits and breads—with much more beef and lots of pasta. Q: What’s your advice for beginning, intermediate and advanced bodybuilders? TW: Beginners: Be patient and consistent.

Photos courtesy of Tim Wescott

Intermediates: Set goals and be determined to reach and surpass them. Advanced: Be meticulous in your training, eating and posing, as there are so many competitors who may be training and prepping far harder than you are, even though you think you’re spot-on. Q: What motivated you to become a bodybuilder? TW: I was a small, frail kid, and there were two national-level bodybuilders living in my area. Once I saw them at the local YMCA, that was all the impetus I needed to start my journey to a superior physique. Q: What’s your favorite bodybuilding moment? TW: Placing in the Masters Nationals and winning my class in the Southern States for the first time, when everyone said I couldn’t do it after years of not training and abusing my body with booze and drugs. Oh, I was also in the movie “Pumping Iron”—in an audience scene. Q: What makes the difference between a champion and an average Joe? TW: A champion has a will of iron and doesn’t let adversity stop him from reaching his goals. The average Joe is content to be just that—average. Average is easy. Just look around. Average or below-average people abound. —Ben Tatar

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Jacked Up

MIND/BODY

Muscularize Your Tri’s he triceps muscle is particularly troublesome for women, but a lot of men also need to tone the back parts of their upper arms. You use your triceps for pushing and pulling, so having strength there will not only make you look fit but also help prevent injury. Triceps pushups. Grab a chair and sit on the edge with your hands holding onto the front of the seat, palms to the back. Stretch your legs out straight and position yourself so your back is almost touching the front of the chair. Bend your arms to slowly lower your body till your rear end almost touches the floor, and then push yourself up until your arms are straight and your elbows are locked. You can do a similar movement, lifting your bodyweight, on parallel bars. If you use parallel bars, keep your legs hanging straight down under your torso. Killer! Triceps pushdowns. Now sit on the chair and grab it at the sides of the seat, stretching your legs out and locking your elbows. Slide your butt off the chair and lower yourself as far as you can, then push down to raise yourself back up. Triceps extensions. Stand or sit with a dumbbell in one hand. Straighten your arm so the dumbbell is overhead. Bend your elbow so your forearm moves behind your head, inhaling as you move. Then press the dumbbell up as you exhale. You can also do this exercise with a dumbbell in each hand, raising them simultaneously. Try to keep your upper arms stationary, next to your head; don’t move anything except your forearms. Do two to three sets of 10 to 15 reps of these exercises. —Jack LaLanne

Editor’s note: As of September 2004 Jack LaLanne had lived 90 years, 75 of them steeped in innovative physical training. He was the 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.

New Stuff

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ummer is upon us, and any welldefined bodybuilder will want his or her cuts as visible as possible. That means shaving down so the fur doesn’t blur your muscularity. A new line of shaving gels from Edge will make your task—and your body—less hairy thanks to skin-conditioning ingredients that deliver the most refreshing shave ever. Here are a few of the new products from S.C. Johnson: Edge Advanced Gel Sensitive Skin features a nonirritating formula that contains added aloe for a soothing shave (reduces nicks and cuts). Edge Active Care Advanced Gel Clean is a super-rich gel containing a special blend of facial cleansers. It helps lift dirt and oil from the skin’s surface to cleanse while you shave. Edge Advanced Gel Extra Moisturizing contains vitamin E to leave your face—and other areas—smooth and moisturized with every shave. Great for dry or sensitive skin. Edge Active Care Advanced Gel Ultra Sensitive contains no dyes or fragrances to irritate the skin and is tailored for men who have the most sensitive skin. Its special formula won’t block pores. This gel minimizes irritation and actually helps to fight razor bumps, a problem especially prevalent in African-American men. Edge Active Care Advanced Gel Soothing Aloe contains extra aloe vera and is designed to deliver a close and comfortable shave, leaving your face feeling soothed and moisturized. Edge Active Care Advanced Gel Natural Cool is a unique formula with natural extracts of eucalyptus to help minimize razor burn and soothe your skin. Edge Advanced Gel products are available in all mass-merchandise outlets, including drugstores and supermarkets nationwide. For more information visit www.InsideEdge.com.

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Gallery of Ironmen

MIND/BODY

Pain Into Power M any athletes have to confront medical problems in their careers, but Steve Stanko was forced to overcome a leg ailment so severe, it would have sidelined a lesser person. He was born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, in 1918 to parents of Hungarian extraction. Although Stanko began with a tall, thin physique, his drive and desire gave him the makings of a true champion. Stanko began to lift weights after he saw the legendary John Grimek win the 1936 Senior Nationals. Grimek was also a Perth Amboy native and unquestionably a worthy model for Steve’s youthful enthusiasm. Stanko worked hard at his new sport, and he made such rapid progress that in less than two years it was Stanko who stood on the winner’s platform at the Nationals. By April 1941 Stanko’s lifting prowess had achieved even greater success. He broke the 1,000-pound total in an official contest. Few realized that despite his impressive performance, Steve had performed his lifts in great pain. He suffered from phlebitis, which caused painful blood clots to form in his legs, and shortly after the contest he was forced to spend many months in bed. It was not until the summer of 1942 that he was finally able to do some exercises for his upper body, but because of the forced bed rest, his weight had dropped from 237 to 176 pounds. Still, the athlete persevered. If he could no longer be a weightlifter, he would switch to bodybuilding. Stanko began to work out once

Photos courtesy of David Chapman

Steve Stanko overcame illness to win the Mr. America and Mr. Universe titles

more with ever-increasing intensity. He’d long been known for his marathon workouts—something quite unheard of in the mid-1940s. Grimek told of one extra-long session that started at 12:30 in the afternoon and didn’t stop until 6:30 in the evening. The men were reportedly so pumped that they could hardly get their clothes on. Thanks to heavy exercise and his boundless determination, Stanko developed a mighty physique once more, and in a couple of years his bodyweight was back up to 210. He even won a number of bodybuilding contests. His competitive career reached its apex in 1944, when he was victorious at the prestigious Mr. America contest; then in 1947 another honor came to him when Stanko won the very first Mr. Universe competition. Stanko stayed in good shape until the 1960s, but eventually his condition worsened. Clots the size of pancakes formed in his abdomen and big lumps in his arms and legs. Despite everything the doctors could do, the great athlete grew weaker and weaker. Eventually, clots formed in his lungs, and he lost his battle for life. Steve Stanko passed away peacefully on New Year’s Eve, 1978. —David Chapman

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Serious Training

MIND/BODY

Caitlin Johnson Photography by Jerry Fredrick Location: Goldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Gym, Venice, CA

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Serious Stats Weight: 115 Height: 5’3” Age: 23 Age began training: 19 Bodypart split: Monday: back; Tuesday: quads and hamstrings; Wednesday: shoulders; Friday: chest and arms Sample workout (quads): Leg extensions 4 x 10 Smith-machine lunges 4 x 15 Squats 4 x 10 Factoid: “I’d lost 70 pounds of fat by the time I stepped onstage.” Aspirations: To compete in the IFBB Figure Olympia Web site: www.CatsAllThat.com

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Only the Strong Shall Survive

Big on a

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Only the Strong Shall Survive

for a can of whey protein, $35 for a can of creatine or $40 for a bottle of aminos is simply out of the question. I know because I was in that boat. When I worked for the YMCA, I’d save my change, and when I had enough I’d splurge and buy a can of Hoffman’s protein powder. I always got the standard brand, which cost $1.50, and rationed it out over a couple of months. It contained such a low amount of useful protein that its benefits were most likely more mental than physical. When I went to York to be interviewed for the position of assistant editor of Strength & Health, Tommy Suggs gave me a canister of Super Hi-Proteen, the top of the line. I’d only dreamed of having that level of protein powder; it cost five dollars. Back in Marion, Indiana, I called all my follow lifters, and we had a protein milk shake party. It was a grand occasion, for none of us had ever tasted the luxury product before. We were just like a group of gourmands at the finest French restaurant.

I think perhaps the best way for me to relate how to go about gaining useful bodyweight when money is tight is to tell the story of the athletes at the University of Hawaii in the early ’70s. The ones who lived in Hale Anuenue, the athletic dorm, faced the problem of securing enough food to survive several times a year—and do so with very little money. That’s because when there weren’t any classes, the school cafeteria shut down. Those who couldn’t afford a plane ticket to fly to the mainland had to purchase their own food at Thanksgiving, Christmas and semester and spring breaks. Most, but not all, received some allowance from home, and their scholarships provided them with a meager amount for laundry, but money was tight—very tight. The breaks were perfect opportunities

for them to train hard with the weights, since there were no classes or practices. They couldn’t be expected to make any strength gains, however, unless they ate well. I’d just moved into the dorm when semester break came along and stranded two dozen football players. They came to me for advice. The first thing I did was find out how much money they had to spend. I calculated that they’d have to be able to eat on five dollars a day—no easy feat since Honolulu has never been a city known for buying food on the cheap. With their problem in mind I visited a local food market, checked prices and came up with a plan. I told the three most affluent students—a relative term because none of them had much money—to buy a refrigerator, blender and hot

The teenage male desperately wants to grow and get strong, but it seems no matter how much food he eats, he doesn’t get any bigger.

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Neveux \ Model: Justin Balik \ Equipment: PowerBlock selectorized dumbbells, 1-800-447-0008

The college-age male typically faces another problem in that regard: a lack of funds to buy the foods and supplements he needs to pack on muscular bodyweight. In most cases the food in the university cafeteria is high in calories and carbs, with little protein. So if a guy does gain bodyweight, it’s often the undesirable kind. Young men raising a family also cannot budget money to buy the much-heralded but costly supplements that help put on muscular bodyweight. When a person has three young children, laying out $30

Only the Strong Shall Survive

plate at the used-appliance store near the campus. I’d gone there earlier and knew those items could be bought inexpensively. Later I bought a refrigerator for $20. I convinced them that they could easily get their money back by selling the appliances to other athletes when they left school. Here’s what I told them to purchase at the market: eggs, skim or

whole milk, depending on taste, tuna, bread, a head of lettuce or sprouts, whichever was the cheapest, a box of powdered milk and salt. Optional items were ice cream or ice milk, honey, yogurt and pepper. I also sent them to a health foods store owned by Buster Nagao that was a short walk from the dorm. Buster was a most generous

Neveux \ Model: Tomm Voss

Young athletes, like college-age bodybuilders, rarely have the funds for supplements.

patron of the football program. I wanted the athletes to buy honey and peanut butter from him for a couple of reasons. He’d sell the products to them wholesale, and I wanted the guys to have unprocessed peanut butter and honey. You might notice the absence of fruit on the list. Keith Gibson took care of that. I knew of a banana grove behind a state mental facility near Kaneohe. The bananas were never picked and generally went to waste—but no longer. We drove over the mountain and filled the back of his station wagon with the nutritious fruit. I contributed some pots, pans and a skillet that I’d purchased when I first moved to Oahu six months before, so they wouldn’t have to spend any precious food money on those items. It was a communal affair. Those who were in better financial shape bought the optional foods and shared them with their more impoverished teammates. Now they were in business. They hard-boiled the eggs at my suggestion. They ate the tuna straight from the can or made salads with it. Sometimes they combined hard-boiled eggs, tuna and lettuce for a great salad. They made banana, peanut butter and honey sandwiches and drank lots of protein milk shakes. Their diets were really quite complete. They took in plenty of high-quality protein and good fat in the milk, tuna, eggs and peanut butter. There were plenty of carbs in the milk, breads, bananas and honey. They were also getting a vast amount of vitamins and minerals. Some found that they couldn’t digest the milk or yogurt and started making their shakes with fruit juice. They still added powdered milk and had no problem with that. (I believe many who think they’re lactose intolerant are really allergic to the milk fat, not the lactose.) At first those who were used to more variety and spicy foods grumbled about the monotonous diet, but not for long. It’s amazing what genuine

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Only the Strong Shall Survive

Peanut butter and milk make a great protein meal, and sardines are also high in protein and rich in calcium. hunger does for a picky eater. Kids who’d turned up their noses at the idea of tuna salads and peanut butter-and-banana sandwiches were soon wolfing them down. They reminded me of a story about two hunters. One told the other that he fed his dogs turnips only. The man replied, “Why, my dogs would never eat turnips.” The first hunter said, “Mine wouldn’t either for the first 10 days.” They all thrived on the Spartan diet. Occasionally, they’d substitute canned salmon for tuna if they found it on sale. I told them that if they wanted another inexpensive change to buy sardines. Sardines have a bit less protein than tuna but

a great deal more calcium, phosphorus and potassium, and they were cheaper than tuna. Sardines became their snack food. Those who wanted to add more bodyweight started drinking a protein shake after they trained and another at bedtime. They had an abundance of energy from the fats and carbs and were recovering from their workouts because of all the protein they were getting. A positive side of their dire economic situation was that they learned to be very selective when they went shopping. With only a few dollars in their pockets, they didn’t bother looking at junk foods, colas, candy or pastries. Beer and pizza were also out of the question. Since they couldn’t afford to go out to nightclubs, they ended up getting plenty of rest. That was a plus for their lifting. They’d watch TV, listen to music, visit one another and play countless games of Pong in the dorm. They’d rigged the machine so they wouldn’t have to pay and played far into the night. While it may not have been very exciting, it was a healthy lifestyle. The leaner players started packing on more muscle, and the chubby ones, who didn’t drink a milk

shake at bedtime, began shedding unwanted pounds. That’s because they were no longer stuffing themselves with the high-carb foods from the cafeteria or snacking on junk food at night. Now they were using their stored fat. They had more energy and were feeling much better about their new physiques. Even as they lost weight, they got stronger. When school resumed, the athletes who’d been on the low-budget diet changed the way they ate at the cafeteria. They avoided the starches and loaded up on salads and foods high in protein. They continued to eat hard-boiled eggs and tuna and drank protein milk shakes at night. They liked the results they were getting from the extra protein. That diet was the one that most of the top bodybuilders used before the miracle weight-gaining supplements burst on the market. They drank gallons of milk shakes, ate truckloads of tuna and raked in mountains of hard-boiled eggs. I traveled with Bill St. John to a contest in Virginia when he was at the peak of his competitive career. He carried a bag of hard-boiled eggs with him, and every so often I’d hear him cracking one. He ate them regularly to maintain a positive nitrogen balance, much in the manner of eating amino acid www.ironmanmagazine.com \ JUNE 2005 233

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Only the Strong Shall Survive

tablets. You can buy lots of eggs with what you’d spend on a bottle of aminos. It wasn’t uncommon for some bodybuilders to eat two dozen eggs a day. Whenever I tell a young man about the value of eating lots of eggs, he always comes back with the cholesterol problem. The cholesterol scare involving eggs seems to run in 20-year cycles. Currently, eggs aren’t regarded as a cause of high cholesterol, which is

good, because they aren’t. The cholesterol in eggs is the kind the body needs to form hormones, including the sex hormones, create bile and feed brain function. Cholesterol is a vital part of cellular membranes. Still, many argue that eating a large quantity of eggs will put too much cholesterol in the system and cause trouble. That doesn’t happen because eggs also contain a built-in safeguard, lecithin, an emulsifying

One good thing about being low on funds: You don’t have money to waste on junk food, stuff that can hurt your gains.

agent that literally moves excess cholesterol out of the body. Not only that, those who throw away the yolks are foolish. The yellow contains valuable nutrients: the Bvitamins in balance, A, D, plus essential minerals such as iron, selenium and hard-to-obtain sulfur. There are, however, a few things you need to know about eggs to safeguard your health. Keep them in the refrigerator, and cook them thoroughly. The practice of throwing raw eggs in a blender that you saw in the movie “Rocky” isn’t a good idea. In fact, it’s dangerous. In the ’50s, Adelle Davis wrote in Let’s Eat Right to Keep Fit that eating raw eggs was a health risk. If the eggs aren’t cooked, a substance in them called avidin keeps an important Bvitamin, biotin, from reaching the bloodstream. A deficiency in biotin results in fatigue, drying of the skin and mental depression. There’s another, more critical reason to cook eggs: food poisoning. You may have read about outbreaks of serious illnesses caused by Salmonella enteritidis, a bacteria carried in chicken, pork, turkey, beef and egg yolks. The May ’02

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Neveux \ Model: Marvin Montoya

Only the Strong Shall Survive

If you can’t afford protein shakes, hard-boiled eggs can be your aminopacked snack—and don’t throw out the yolks. issue of National Geographic reported a 1994 incident in which trucks carrying the premix for Schwan’s, a nationally distributed brand of ice cream, “carried traces of raw eggs contaminated with Salmonella enteritidis. The outbreak sickened an estimated 224,000 people in 48 states.” Scary? The good news is that when you cook the yolks thoroughly, the salmonella is destroyed, which makes hard-boiled eggs even more attractive. There’s nothing complicated or messy about preparing them. Boil them for 20 minutes, let them cool, and then stick them in the fridge. Cook them at night, and you have a ready source of high-quality protein at your disposal. And they’re still cheap. You can pay less than a dollar for a dozen jumbo size—a good quantity of nutrition for a buck. If you decide to try this diet or part of it, it’s important that you purchase the best. Even if funds are tight, don’t buy low-grade tuna or peanut butter or white bread. Natural peanut butter is so much more nutritious than the processed kind, it is worth the few extra pennies. It also provides a good plant protein, with all the amino acids in balance, a variety of the B-vitamins and

minerals used for cell rebuilding. The same goes for honey: Get the good stuff, and use a little less. Don’t even consider white bread— it’s nutritionally worthless. The cornerstone of the gainweight diet on a budget is the protein milk shake. I’ve been preaching the merits of making protein milk shakes from powdered milk for a long time. I first tried it when I was nearly broke and found that it worked just as well as the much more costly commercial protein powders. I do like some of the products on the market now and often buy them. But when I run out, I go back to the powdered milk. Sure, commercial protein powders and meal replacements are better, but powdered milk can work in a pinch. Here’s a tip on making a delicious milk shake. Don’t put in so many ingredients that it resembles mud. While all the ingredients may be good for you, thick shakes get old in a hurry. Keep it smooth enough so that you can drink it down and not have to chew it. Here’s the formula I like: a cup of powdered milk; eight ounces of whole or skim milk (skim milk has more protein per ounce than whole milk); a half cup of blueberry yogurt (it jacks up the taste, and the yogurt helps diges-

tion); a scoop of strawberry ice cream or ice milk (ice milk has more protein than ice cream, but use what tastes best because you already have lots of protein). You end up with 50 grams of highly digestible protein. Which brings me to my next point. It’s been said numerous times but bears repeating: It’s better to eat many small meals than a few large ones. Your digestive tract can assimilate only about 50 grams of protein at one time. If you overload, you pass off the excess, which means you’re in effect wasting money. Gaining functional bodyweight is more difficult than losing unwanted pounds, so be consistent with your eating and the milk shakes. Eat small amounts throughout the day, and drink a shake after training and another at bedtime. If you do that religiously, you’ll get bigger, and if you’re also training hard, you’ll get stronger as well. 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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Neveux

Excellent Expo and IM Pro

I want to pass on my highest kudos for the fantastic IRON MAN Fitness Weekend in Pasadena. Everything was truly top-notch and greatly exceeded my already high expectations. The expo is the perfect mix of health-and-fitness booths, strongman events and informative seminars. This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bodybuilding contest had to be one of the best IRON MAN Pros ever. The level of competition was fantastic, and Melvin Anthonyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s posing performance was the best display Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve ever seen. My favorite part was the VIP breakfast buffet. All the bodybuilders were very friendly and personable, and the food was great (Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s probably the only time I will ever follow Ronnie Coleman in the omelette line and be able to say, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll have what Mr. Olympia is having!â&#x20AC;?). The seminars were great too. My wife may need minor knee surgery and was thrilled with Joseph Horriganâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s seminar and personal advice. Now if you guys could just figure out a way to get rid of the rain. Ron Dunn via Internet

as well as nonallied countries. This war will be costly because the enemy walks among us; however, the seeds of democracy have been planted in Iraq, and we need to nurture them to maturity. I am stationed in Iraq, and its people and military thank us for being here. They lived in fear of death and torture for a very long time. Some of them have expressed concern that we will pull out before the job is complete. That cannot happen, for the cost will be even greater down the road. We have to get the job done this time. The Iraqi people deserve their freedom; they have been paying for it with their blood, sweat and tears. Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s help those who are here to get the job done. With that in mind, I am asking veterans, in cooperation with Physique Bodyware (www.PhysiqueBodywareUSA .com), to write to those serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. Let them know how you dealt with being away from home, loss of comrades, personal feelings about war and so on. That will help to build morale. Physique Bodyware will include your letters with the care packages of exercise equipment the company is sending to the troops. Exercising helps us relieve the stress that we experience in a combat environment. I wish I had had this opportunity when I was serving in Desert Shield/Storm. It would have made a world of difference. SFC Bartholomew T. Garner via Internet Editorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s note: Send letters to our troops via e-mail to info@physiquebodywareusa.com.

X-traordinary Interview

Editorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s note: The weather was about the only thing that didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t go well, and even that didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t keep the fitness fanatics away. It was a full house all three days. See page 201 for photos from the expo. If you missed our contest coverage last month, go to www.graphicmuscle.com for hundreds of photos from the show.

Veteran Muscle I want to begin by thanking each veteran for his or her service to our great country. It may have its problems, but the United States is still the best country to live in and to serve in its military forces. Whether you served in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines or Coast Guard, we are all brothers- and sisters-in-arms defending our freedom. That freedom was shaken in the horrific attacks that took place on September 11, 2001. I will always remember where I was on that day when those cowardly terrorists committed their evil acts against the United States and the world. I wonder how many of my fellow Americans understand what it means to be at war against this type of enemyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;to wear the uniform and fight to protect its very existence and all the rights that come with being an American citizen. Do they understand the price of freedom? The war on terrorism we are now fighting in Iraq has no distinct enemy. The terrorists/insurgents come from allied 240 JUNE 2005 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

Jonathan Lawsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interview in the March â&#x20AC;&#x2122;05 IRON MAN on X Reps and his X Diet was outstanding. Unfortunately, I missed part 1. Is it online? Kyle McGill via Internet Editorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s note: Yes, both parts of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;X Factorâ&#x20AC;? interview are posted at www.X-Rep.com. Go to the X Q&A section and click on interview. 9RO 1R ,521 0$1 ,661 LV SXEOLVKHG PRQWKO\ E\ ,521 0$1 3XEOLVK LQJ ,YHV $YH 2[QDUG &$ 3HULRGLFDO 0DLO LV SDLG DW 2[QDUG &$ DQG DW DGGL WLRQDO PDLOLQJ RIILFHV 32670$67(5 6HQG DGGUHVV FKDQJHV WR ,521 0$1 ,YHV $YH 2[QDUG &$ 3OHDVH DOORZ VL[ WR HLJKW ZHHNV IRU FKDQJH WR WDNH HIIHFW 6XEVFULSWLRQ UDWHVÂ8 6 DQG LWV SRVVHVVLRQV QHZ LVVXH VXEVFULSWLRQ &DQDGD 0H[LFR DQG RWKHU IRUHLJQ VXEVFULSWLRQV LVVXHV VHQW 6HFRQG &ODVV )RUHLJQ RUGHUV PXVW EH LQ 8 6 GRO ODUV 6HQG VXEVFULSWLRQV WR ,521 0$1 ,YHV $YH 2[QDUG &$ 2U FDOO &RS\ULJKW Â&#x2039; $OO ULJKWV UHVHUYHG 1R SDUW RI WKLV PDJD]LQH PD\ EH UHSURGXFHG LQ DQ\ PDQQHU ZLWKRXW ZULWWHQ SHUPLVVLRQ IURP WKH SXEOLVKHU 3ULQWHG LQ WKH 86$

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