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www.ironmanmagazine.com \ APRIL 2006 261

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150 DECEMBER 2009 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

May 2006

Vol. 65, No. 5 ™

Real Bodybuilding Training, Nutrition & Supplementation

FEATURES FEATURES

72 TRAIN, EAT, GROW 79 Our TEG men sift through delusion and confusion about muscle fibers: How to build 2As and 2Bs to get too huge.

104 10 STUPID THINGS BODYBUILDERS DO TO MESS UP THEIR DIETS Skip La Cour analyzes the biggest mistakes and tells you how to gain control of your eating.

130 A BODYBUILDER IS BORN 10 Ron Harris explains how to deal with injury—no missed workouts.

138 RESEARCH TEAM

M-A-S-S With H.I.T.,

Muscle soreness can be a bodybuilder’s worst enemy. Clayton South explains why and introduces the remedy, Sorenzyme.

page 162

152 HEAVY DUTY John Little channels Mike Mentzer on the growth mechanism, arm size and new exercises.

Growth Guidelines, page 182

IM Pro winner Lee Priest and Figure champ Halcyon Duarte appear on this month’s cover. Photos by Michael Neveux.

162 M-A-S-S WITH H.I.T. Jerry Robinson gives you the skinny on building extreme size and muscularity.

182 BIG-7 GROWTH GUIDELINES Eric Broser takes you through his big-time checklist to keep you on the road to Massville.

206 POWERLIFTER TO PHYSIQUE STAR David Young delves into Jose Raymond’s metamorphosis.

Plus, Raymond’s complete arm routine.

Hardbody, page 298

228 1/6 METHOD FOR MONSTER MIGHT Christopher Pennington’s low-rep shock routine can build scary strength with a freaky size side effect.

238 A FISH STORY IRON MAN PRO, page 280

Jerry Brainum’s scale tale can get you bigger, stronger and healthier.

254 LARRY SCOTT Rod Labbe’s Legends of Bodybuilding returns to spotlight the first Mr. Olympia.

280 IFBB IRON MAN PRO In-your-face photos of the electrifying season opener.

298 HARDBODY Presenting ’06 IRON MAN Figure champ Halcyon Duarte.

324 ONLY THE STRONG SHALL SURVIVE Bill Starr’s heavy-light-medium strength-training program.

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Jose Raymond, page 206

DEPARTMENTS

30 TRAIN TO GAIN Full deadlifts, Freakin’ Rican style, and Mark Henry’s power profile. Plus, Joe Horrigan’s Sportsmedicine.

50 SMART TRAINING Top strength coach Charles Poliquin answers questions on fish oil, building arm size and muscle fibers.

60 EAT TO GROW Egg-citing news, lipase loading to burn fat and nutritionbook review.

90 CRITICAL MASS Steve Holman discusses exercise substitution and execution. Plus, a critical-supplement commentary.

Mind/Body Connection, page 314

Train to Gain, page 30

98 NATURALLY HUGE John Hansen on beer binges and bodybuilding. His muscle-maker diet is here too.

266 BODYBUILDING PHARMACOLOGY Jerry Brainum on myostatin and muscle mutants.

270 NEWS & VIEWS Lonnie Teper reports on the IM Pro—backstage, onstage and up close. FitExpo coverage is here too, starting on page 276.

292 PUMP & CIRCUMSTANCE Ruth Silverman continues her look back at ’05, with plenty of hot licks and female pics—plus, a peek at ’06 with photos from the IM Pro after party.

314 MIND/BODY CONNECTION Randall Strossen, Ph.D., tells you how to grind out gains, and Dave Draper discusses what bodybuilding means to him in his Bomber Blast. Then there’s Gallery of Ironmen, New Stuff and Graphic Muscle Stars.

336 READERS WRITE

News & Views, page 270

Playmate who hits the weights, old-fart fact and fiction and lots of mass with a big ass.

Pump & Circumstance, page 292

WEB ALERT!

In the next IRON MAN Next month we’ve got an exciting new department: It’s Eric Broser’s Muscle “In” Sites, a selection of tantalizing Web sites, forums and news groups that are loaded with cool bodybuilding stuff. Broser sifts through the mess and gives you the best. It’s your monthly Internet muscle menu. And with summer right around the corner, we’ll have Stuart McRobert’s look at interval cardio, probably the fastest way to drop the winter layer that’s hiding your abs.

Along the same line we have Ori Hofmekler, of Warrior Diet fame, analyzing stubborn fat and listing the best ways of altering your diet to excise it. Plus, we give the Arnold Classic our full-page-poster treatment, hear more from the legendary Larry Scott and go mental for more mass with Skip La Cour. Watch for the eye-popping, jaw-dropping June IRON MAN on newsstands the first week of May.

from the world For the latest happenings ess, set your fitn and of bodybuilding agazine.com nM ma ron w.I ww for er brows . e.com scl Mu hic rap Freeand download from imbodybuilding.com www.G

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Publisher’s Letter

A Glimpse at the Future IRON MAN was the first of the bodybuilding publications to go online. We saw the Web as a way to expand our readership and publicize the bodybuilding lifestyle to the world, and in 1997 we started to put up previously published articles, indexed so that people could find what they needed. The digital age was upon us.

Our contest coverage went digital with the ’00 USA, and because of the new technology we were able to get thousands of photos from the show on IronManMagazine.com within hours. The Kodak digital camera that I rented was two mega-pixels and cost $500 for the weekend (the price of the camera was more than $20,000). The photos were uploaded on a hotel dial-up modem (thanks again, Helen, for around-theclock work).

All that sounds like ancient history now, considering that a two-mega-pixel camera is a cell phone. The progress in the world of digital photography was so rapid that within one year the whole magazine was being produced in the digital domain. The digital revolution made it obvious that conventional contest reporting was obsolete, and to answer the need for instant contest reporting and news, we acquired GraphicMuscle.com and retooled it. IRON MAN, as a hard-copy magazine, would still cover the major events but in a different way, more to highlight our instant Web coverage.

We are fortunate to have the best contest reporter and emcee in the business, Lonnie Teper, onboard, as well as dedicated contest photographer Bill Comstock. Because of them we can deliver as no other magazine can. When you go to the Graphic Muscle site, you not only see Bill’s great images but you can also hear what Lonnie has to say about the event and be only one click away from listening to his interview with the winner or other celebrities. Ah, the magic of the Web. Remember, this isn’t next week but on the same weekend that the event happens. Another IRON MAN first—and we’ve just had yet another.

The 17th annual IFBB IRON MAN Pro bodybuilding competition was held on February 18, 2006. We coventured with Russ DeLuca of Bodybuilding.com and Travis Chapman, and for the first time the judging and the finals were available live as a Webcast. Just as I thought that the Web was the best way of presenting bodybuilding to the fans, I also believe that the fans worldwide have no other way of actually seeing their heroes compete. Of course, nothing replaces being there, but for every fan in the seats there are thousands around the world who can view the Webcast. That’s the future of competitive bodybuilding as I see it. If you missed it live, go to GraphicMuscle.com and enjoy.

Let me know how you like our latest innovation that’s designed to bring you the best coverage in the fastest possible way. Send comments via e-mail to me at ironleader@aol.com. For our miniposter coverage of the IRON MAN Pro, please turn to page 280 and let me know what you think of that as well. IM

Publisher/Editorial Director: John Balik Associate Publisher: Warren Wanderer Design Director: Michael Neveux Editor in Chief: Stephen Holman Art Director: T. S. Bratcher Senior Editor: Ruth Silverman Editor at Large: Lonnie Teper Articles Editors: L.A. Perry, Caryne Brown Assistant Art Director: Aldrich Bonifacio Designer: Emerson Miranda IRON MAN Staff: Vuthy Keo, Mervin Petralba, David Solorzano, R. Anthony Toscano Contributing Authors: Jerry Brainum, Eric Broser, David Chapman, Teagan Clive, Lorenzo Cornacchia, Daniel Curtis, Dave Draper, Michael Gündill, Rosemary Hallum, Ph.D., John Hansen, Ron Harris, Ori Hofmekler, Rod Labbe, Skip La Cour, Jack LaLanne, Butch Lebowitz, Stuart McRobert, Gene Mozée, Charles Poliquin, Larry Scott, Jim Shiebler, Roger Schwab, C.S. Sloan, Bill Starr, Bradley Steiner, Eric Sternlicht, Ph.D., Randall Strossen, Ph.D., Richard Winett, Ph.D., and David Young Contributing Artists: Steve Cepello, Larry Eklund, Ron Dunn, Jake Jones Contributing Photographers: Jim Amentler, Reg Bradford, Jimmy Caruso, Bill Comstock, Bill Dobbins, Jerry Fredrick, Irvin Gelb, J.M. Manion, Gene Mozée, Mitsuru Okabe, Rob Sims, Leo Stern, Russ Warner

Director of Marketing: Helen Yu, 1-800-570-IRON, ext. 1 Accounting: Dolores Waterman Subscriptions Manager: Sonia Melendez, 1-800-570-IRON, ext. 2 E-mail: 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 Jonathan Lawson, Ad Coordinator: ironjdl@aol.com Sonia Melendez, Subscriptions: soniazm@aol.com

26 MAY 2006 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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30 MAY 2006 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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D E A D - O N R E S U LT S

Gustavo Badell is one of a handful of men alive who have a legitimate chance to seize the Mr. Olympia throne that has been occupied for eight years by Ronnie Coleman. Two of his greatest weapons in his siege on Mount Olympus are his huge, hanging hamstrings and his rugged back. The Freakin’ Rican credits the development of both of those stunning bodyparts in large part to one exercise—deadlifts.

That’s not a big surprise, except that big bad Badell doesn’t do them the way other masters of pull, like Ronnie and Johnnie Jackson, do. “Those guys both have powerlifting backgrounds, so they pull from the floor,” he explains.

“I do my deadlifts standing on a deadlift platform so I can get a much deeper stretch and a better range of motion.”

Doing deads that way means Gustavo can handle “only” about 455 pounds, as opposed to the 600 to 700 pounds the other guys pull. He stands by his way, though, as the superior approach.

“I’m involving the hamstrings and lower back so much more, and it shows in my physique,” he notes.

Freakin’ Rican style

Another key difference is that Gustavo always pulls for higher reps. “The magic number for me is 12,” he says.

“You’ll never find me doing just two or three reps like Ronnie and Johnnie. I’m a bodybuilder, so it wouldn’t make sense for me to train like that.”

Do you want to reap the full benefits of the deadlift? If so, try lightening your normal load by about a third and standing either on a platform or on stacked 45-pound plates. After all, if that form was good enough to help Gustavo beat Coleman in the challenge round at the Mr. O, think what it can do for you!

—Ron Harris

Comstock \ Model: Gustavo Badell

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TRAIN TO GAIN

X-FILES

ANABOLIC DRIVE

Split to Be Sized

Bodybuilders’ muscles appear to grow via fiber enlargement and fiber splitting

The extreme muscle size attained by bodybuilders today makes yesterday’s bodybuilders look like high school football players. In other words, there’s no friggin’ comparison. Muscle physiologists have long been fascinated with what those who have taken muscularity to extreme heights look like at the cellular level.1 In a study published in the Journal of Physiology, researchers took needle biopsy samples from the outer-quad muscles of five male bodybuilders, average age 27, who’d been performing heavy resistance exercise for at least two years, and from five male active but untrained control subjects, average age 30.2 In the bodybuilders there was a preferential hypertrophy of fast-twitch fibers, which was to be expected, but there was more.

The very large hypertrophy of the outer-quad muscles could not be fully accounted for by single-muscle fiber hypertrophy. In fact, the cross-sectional area of the muscle was 54 percent larger in the bodybuilding group than in the control group, whereas mean fiber area was only 14 percent larger in the bodybuilding group. What does that mean? That it’s likely that bodybuilders had to increase their muscle fiber numbers in order to account for the much larger total size of the muscle.

You know those magic words, muscle fiber hyperplasia. It appears that the increase in muscle fiber numbers, or hyperplasia, may account to some degree for the extreme muscle size the bodybuilders attained.

—Jose Antonio, Ph.D. Antonio, J., and Gonyea, W.J. (1993). Skeletal muscle fiber hyperplasia.

Med Sci Sports Exerc. 25:1333-45.

2 D’Antona, G., et al. (2005). Skeletal muscle hypertrophy and structure and function of skeletal muscle fibres in male bodybuilders. J. Physiol.

570:611-627.

1

Jose Antonio, Ph.D., is a proponent of the muscle-fiber-splitting theory of hypertrophy. In other words, he believes hyperplasia occurs. The question is, How does it occur?

In a study he was involved with, he achieved a 300 percent mass increase in the latissimus muscle of a chicken via stretch overload. That triple-mass increase ocurred after only 30 days of stretch overload, with appropriate rest days, and was accounted for by a 90 percent increase in muscle fibers.

That’s impressive stuff!

It leads us to believe that if hyperplasia exists and it can be triggered with progressive-resistance exercise, the obvious way to do that would be with stretch-position exercises, such as stiff-legged deadlifts for hamstrings, flyes for pecs and overhead extensions for triceps. Just doing those exercises, however, may not be enough; you may need to overload the stretch position.

You can do that with X Reps performed at exhaustion; that is, move to the stretch position and pulse, using a short stroke of a few inches. You can also try the Double-X Overload method, favored by Jay Cutler. With DXO you do an X-Rep partial after each rep,

like 1 1/4 movements, with the quarter occurring at the stretch point.

—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson www.X-Rep.com Editor’s note: For more on hyperplasia, X Reps and DXO, see the Beyond X-Rep Muscle Building e-book.

32 MAY 2006 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Neveux \ Model: Jay Cutler

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Mark Henry

Brute-strength freak of nature—at 6’2” and 400 pounds, he can dunk a basketball!

Mark Henry is a wonder of the world, considered the monster of all strength monsters. But Mark, even as a kid, was a different breed of monster—he could do things in the gym that none of the other genetic freaks could do.

As a youngster Mark wasn’t just any ordinary kid. At the age of 10 he was 5’1” and weighed 215 pounds. His mother gave Mark a weight set around that time, and Henry noticed that what was heavy for everyone else was easy for him.

And as he grew, he got stronger.

In 1993 Henry shattered the high school squat world record with an amazing 933-pound lift.

While he was still in high school, he also set a record in the deadlift, driving up 903 pounds, which is only 20 pounds below the greatest deadlift ever, performed a decade later by Andy Bolten.

By 1996 Henry wasn’t just the best powerlifter in America, he was also the captain of the Olympic team in the clean and jerk.

Amazingly, he could clean nearly 500 pounds, and he was making headlines in the weightlifting world.

From the Olympics to wrestling. Henry felt lonely at the top of powerlifting, and as a result he entered the World Wrestling Federation. Wrestling, however, was no longer the land of the giants, as it had been in the late ’80s. Now it was the WWE, or World Wrestling Entertainment, and that meant Henry had to lose some weight so he could meet the requirements of wrestling’s new era. Technical skills and proficiency at the mike mattered more than strength.

Well, Henry started to eat very clean, and he began losing his bulk. That was great for conditioning, health and an aesthetic appearance, but he lost his strength. He transformed himself into nothing more than a big-boned, thick pretty boy—which was okay for his wrestling persona, but... his world’s-strongest-man status evaporated quickly.

Could Henry ever be a world champion lifter again? Oh, hell no! most would say. Even Henry himself doubted that he could ever be the world’s strongest man again, but then…

Henry’s mom died. That event changed Mark’s life. She had loved and supported him throughout his toughest days and also shared his successes with him. He stepped away from wrestling. It was the saddest and worst time of his life.

Something happened, though. Henry had a spiritual moment. He decided that he needed to win the strongest man contest that is held every year at the Arnold Classic for her. The monster had awak-

ened, and his training for the ’02 event was on!

How could Henry possibly win?

World-record deadlift champion Andy Bolten was competing. So was the Swedish strongman Sven Karlsen, one of the strongest men ever to walk the planet. Henry had no strongman-competition experience and had been out of action for years.

Still, Henry trained his ass off in the gym. And unlike losing weight, which was a considerable challenge for him, his genetics took over. Before he knew it, it was March, Arnold Classic time.

The ’02 Arnold Strongest Man contest. Henry walked onto the platform like a machine.

The place quieted, the cameras flashed, everyone was ready. And Henry was ready to put on a show.

The toughest event, the Apollon’s wheel, was first. He approached the wheel and then did something that had never been seen before: He clean and jerked it three times!

Then it was time for the deadlift. The poundage went from 675 to 715 to 775 and, finally, to 845. Then Henry, the monster, came up. The bar was loaded to 885. Henry latched onto the bar and pulled 885 for two easy reps. The audience began screaming his name.

Andy Bolten, the deadlift specialist, seeing the crowd cheering for Henry, unleashed his own inner monster. Bolten grabbed the 885 and got three reps. History had been made, but the greatest strength show ever was not over.

In subsequent events Henry pushed a Hummer to the finish line, then carried an 800-plus frame of timber to the finish line with ease. When the dust settled and the contest came to a close, the winner of the Arnold Strongest Man competition was—Mark Henry.

Henry freaked out all the freaks in the world and was being spoken of as greater than Bill Kazmaier, greater than Paul Anderson. What Henry achieved at the ’02 Arnold proved to the world that in the sport of strongman, anything can happen. It also proved that Mark Henry has the greatest brute strength of any man who has ever lived.

Postscript: Today Henry is back in the WWE, at a svelte 380 pounds, and is a top contender for the World Heavyweight Championship.

—Ben Tatar Photos courtesy of Mark Henry

TRAIN TO GAIN

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34 MAY 2006 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Forearm Pains and Strains The brachioradialis originates, or attaches, at the lower humerus (upper arm bone) and inserts on one of the forearm bones (radius) at the wrist on the thumb side. The muscle has two main functions: It can flex the elbow, and it is a semi-supinator and semi-pronator. The latter part means that if you have your hand out in front of your body with the palm up (supination), the brachioradialis will turn your thumb upward (semi-pronation), but it doesn’t work to turn the palm to face the floor (full pronation). Also, if your hand is out in front of you with the palm facing the floor, the brachioradialis can turn the thumb upward (semi-supination), but other muscles take over to finish the movement (full supination).

The brachioradialis muscle works strongly during all pulldown movements, all rowing motions and all curling motions. You see it jump out when it’s loaded during a pulling movement. Next time you’re in the gym, stand behind someone performing pulldowns, and you’ll see what I’m describing.

For most trainees the brachioradialis is developed enough by pulldowns and rows. Some trainees need, or like, added development. Arm and wrist wrestlers obviously want all of their forearm muscles developed for their sport. Bodybuilders want a well-developed forearm to complete the appearance of a great arm.

Surprisingly, many powerlifters want more brachioradialis development and strength because they feel it provides support during heavy bench presses. I heard that in 1974 from then-132-pound world champion Enrique Hernandez.

I read it in the 1980s in Bill Kazmaier’s articles. I’ve heard it in recent lectures by elite bench press competitors. It’s a long-standing theme. Yet powerlifters who work in the health care profession say the concept is nonsense.

The most direct way to develop the brachioradialis is with hammer curls. You do them with your palms facing each other, thumb sides up. The slight change in wrist position places more emphasis on the brachioradialis than the biceps and improves its strength and size.

Once the brachioradialis is strained, the problem seems to persist more than other common muscle strains (hamstrings, calves, quads, biceps, pecs).

The pain is usually located in the middle of the muscle. It’s often tender to deep touch and hurts when you perform pulldowns, rows and (especially) hammer curls. A common way of straining or reinjuring the muscle is to carry luggage for a long distance. If the muscle was already strained, carrying luggage will strain it again. You may have to give your pulling movements a break for several weeks if you experience a brachioradialis strain.

—Joseph M. Horrigan

Neveux \ Model: Mike Morris

TRAIN TO GAIN

SPORTSMEDICINE

Editor’s note: To obtain reprints of Horrigan’s past Sportsmedicine columns that have appeared in IRON MAN, visit www.softtissuecenter.com. You can order the books Strength, Conditioning and Injury Prevention for Hockey by Joseph Horrigan, D.C., and E.J. “Doc” Kreis, D.A., and the 7-Minute Rotator Cuff Solution by Horrigan and Jerry Robinson from Home Gym Warehouse, (800) 447-0008 or at www.home-gym.com.

Hammer curls—one of the best exercises for strengthening the brachioradialis on top of the forearm.

36 MAY 2006 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Leg Extension Contensions The leg extension is considered an isolation exercise Seat back angle because it targets mainly and foot posithe front-thigh muscles, with tion make a big minimal hip, glute or hamstring difference. involvement. It’s often used as a warmup before heavier, more complex exercises, such as squats and leg presses. The advantage is that leg extensions not only warm up the thighs but also get the knees ready for the heavy exercise that follows. You have to use caution, though. Done improperly, leg extensions can cause severe knee damage. The damage is often subtle, occurring over an extended time.

How do you cause knee damage while doing leg extensions? In the starting position the angle of your lower legs to your upper legs should be no less than 90 degrees. If your lower leg moves back too far, you’re hyperextending the knee joint. That causes a shearing effect in the knee that produces gradual damage to cartilage and connective tissue. Eventually, you can wear down the cartilage enough to produce severe arthritis. Many people are under the mistaken impression that lifting heavy weights always results in arthritis. The truth is that lifting heavy produces joint damage or arthritis only when the joint is placed at an unnatural or hyperextended angle.

Another common mistake is using too much weight. I’ve seen bodybuilders at Gold’s Gym, Venice, use the entire weight stack plus 45-to-100-pound plates added. That makes no sense at all. In the complex exercises such as squats and leg presses, the weight is distributed across your entire body, and less stress is placed on the knees. The proper and safer way to do leg extensions is to use moderate weight, or a weight that enables you to do at least 12 reps per set. Leave the heavy weights to the exercises that are meant to be done heavy—squats and leg presses.

Also, don’t lock your knees at the top position. Leg extensions are often used as a rehab exercise in the treatment of injuries—but it’s always done with light weights and partial reps.

The knees are not the only part of the body that can be harmed by leg extensions.1 Most leg extension machines come with an adjustable seat back, so people of various heights can use the machine effectively. According to a recent analysis, though, the wrong seat back angle can place severe stress on the lower back, which can result in injury. That’s an overlooked aspect of the exercise, as many people just sit on a leg extension machine and begin doing reps without making any adjustment in the seat back.

The study referenced above examined the effects of three different seat back angles on the activity of the lower-back muscles and the front quads. The goal was to determine the angle that would provide the least stress to the lower back while maximizing the involvement of the quads.

The researchers determined that the best angle for that purpose was 90 degrees, or with the seat straight. When the

Are you getting the most out of this popular thigh exercise?

back is set at an angle more acute than 90 degrees, such as 100 or 110 degrees, the stress on the lower back increases, while quad involvement decreases. The report also cites a previous study that showed you get greater muscle activation when doing extensions with both legs simultaneously than when doing them one leg at a time. That makes leg extensions different from other exercises, in which doing singlelimbed movements increases muscular activation more than doing the same exercise bilaterally.

Another study examined whether alternating foot position during leg extensions affected different portions of the front-thigh muscles.2 The excellent book Muscle Meets Magnet by well-known exercise physiologists Per Tesch and Gary Dudley, published in 1993, examined many popular bodybuilding exercises. The bodybuilders did them while undergoing magnetic resonance imaging, which provides an unprecedented cross-sectional view of working muscles. The book showed which muscles were actually most involved in the various exercises.

Tesch and Dudley proved the long-held contention that turning the feet either in or out when doing leg extensions affects different portions of the front thigh: A toes-in stance shifted the emphasis to the vastus lateralis, or outer portion of the thigh, which would promote the thigh’s outer sweep. With the toes out, the main muscles worked were the rectus femoris, vastus medialis and vastus intermedius.

The new study confirms the findings of Tesch and Dudley, although it relied on an electromyograph (EMG), in which electrodes are attached to working muscles and the degree of activity is measured by electrical data emanating from them.

The authors explain that the differences in muscle activation occur because when you shift your feet in or out, you cause an internal rotation of the hips and muscle stretching that shift the exercise emphasis from one part of the thigh to another.

In practical terms, it’s probably a better idea to use both foot positions, as well as the neutral, or feet-straight, position, to affect all parts of the front thighs. Tesch and Dudley found that doing extensions with the feet straight maximally worked all four muscles equally. So if you have limited time, you should probably just do the exercise with toes facing straight, unless other areas of the thigh are weak points.

—Jerry Brainum Neveux \ Model: Steve McLeod

TRAIN TO GAIN

EXERCISE SCIENCE

References 1 Gomez,

T.R., et al. (2005). The impact of seat back angle on electromyographical activity of the lower back and quadriceps muscles during bilateral knee extension. J Strength Cond Res. 19:908-917.

2 Stoutenberg, M., et al. (2005). The impact of foot position on the electromyographical activity of the superficial quadriceps muscles during leg extension. J Strength Cond Res. 19:931-38.

38 MAY 2006 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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How the Blade Slashes Frequency IRON MAN has always done its best to spread the Dexter Jackson. message that the pros are a superb source of inspiration, but those of us not as genetically gifted or on the same, er, um, supplement regimens should probably not emulate their training styles. The genetically average, drug-free man or woman would almost certainly overtrain if he or she worked out with weights six times a week and hit every bodypart twice in that time, à la Ronnie Coleman. That point is driven home when one of the sport’s very best athletes decides to cut back on his training frequency and volume.

That was the case with Dexter “the Blade” Jackson, who revamped his workouts before beginning his preparation for this year’s Arnold Classic, where he was looking to win his second consecutive title. His trainer, Florida’s Joe McNeil, who’s worked with superstars like Flex Wheeler and Paul Dillett, convinced him that the six days a week he’d been blasting iron in the gym constituted sheer overkill. “Joe’s motto is, Anything over four days a week is overtraining, no

To cut overtraining

matter who you are,” Dexter says.

With that in mind, Jackson set out on a new four-day split that put the emphasis on recovery, as well as avoiding consecutive-day overlap in related muscle groups: Monday: Chest, biceps Tuesday: Quads, calves Wednesday: Off Thursday: Shoulders, triceps, calves Friday: Back, hams Saturday and Sunday: Off That’s a nearly ideal bodypart split. If you suspect you’re overtraining, take a full week off and then get on it. There are no guarantees you’ll end up looking like Dexter Jackson unless you’re his long-lost twin or science has made staggering advances in gene therapy, but it will ensure that your muscles and nervous system have adequate time to recuperate so you can keep the gains cruising right along.

—Ron Harris www.RonHarrisMuscle.com

WARMUPS

Elbow tendinitis is nothing new for most bodybuilders who have been hitting the heavy iron for a decade or more. Many simply accept it as a price they have to pay for owning exceptionally muscular bodies. They live with the pain and manage it with anti-inflammatory medications like Ibuprofen and regular ice-pack applications. But tendinitis is more than just pain. It’s a condition Omar Deckard. that can not only severely limit how heavy you can train but can also make favorite exercises a distant memory. It’s very tough to make improvements in size and strength when you can’t perform many of the best exercises.

NPC Superheavyweight competitor Omar Deckard may have the solution. When he started experiencing elbow pain a few years ago in his late 20s, Omar decided to make his warmups on arm day a lot more extensive than most of us would ever consider necessary. Whether he’s training biceps or triceps, the entire first half of his workout consists of very high reps.

That is, if he is doing 12 sets for triceps, the first six sets are 30 to 50 reps apiece. That’s a great deal more than the standard warmup of two sets of about 15 reps most bodybuilders do. “It pumps up the muscle like crazy and brings a ton of blood into the whole area,” Deckard says, “and if it takes away a little bit from the weight I use on the heavier sets, it’s a fair trade-off.”

Omar hasn’t had any elbow pain for years, he isn’t prevented from doing any exercises at all, and his arms now tape out at 22 inches cold. So if your elbows aren’t exactly pain-free, this should have you asking yourself whether they’re warm enough before you start training heavy.

—Ron Harris www.RonHarrisMuscle.com

42 MAY 2006 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Smart Training antioxidant properties.

Krill oil’s omega-3 content is bound to phospholipids, which makes it more effective at the cell membrane level.

That highly facilitates the passage of fatty acids through the GI tract, increases its bioavailability and ultimately improves the ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids.

One of the advantages of taking krill oil is that its EPA/ DHA is in a form that is faster and incorporated into the brain tissue faster because less energy is involved in its metabolism, according to nutritionist Christiana Paul.

Bodybuilders and strength athletes will benefit from taking Q: Krill oil is getting more and more publicity krill oil for a variety of reasons: in the bodybuilding supplement world. It’s been •It improves blood lipid profiles dramatically by workbranded as fish oil on steroids. What are your ing at the small-intestine level, which distinguishes this oil thoughts on it? Is it worth the money? from other lipid-lowering supplements. It lowers bad blood A: Krill oil is a low-temperature extract of the very abunlipids and at much lower dosages than other marine lipids. dant Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba), a zooplankton Therapeutically, you use two to three grams to reduce chocrustacean rich in phospholipids that is a staple of whales’ lesterol, but a single daily dose of 500 milligrams has been diet. It has a very high content of antioxidants, such as shown to maintain those blood-lipid-lowering effects. vitamins A and E and astaxanthin, and some unique fla•Krill oil is molecularly distilled to remove heavy metals, vonoids. Krill oil has a superior ORAC value of 378 (greater which makes it a safer marine-lipid form. than 300 times vitamins A and E and 48 times greater than •It regulates neurotransmitter production, which gives most fish oils). In other words, it’s an excellent fish oil with you better focus and drive in the gym. Often clients who complain of lack of energy in the gym quickly fix it by increasing their omega3 intake. For example, omega-3 content influences production and storage of dopamine, the motivation neurotransmitter, in at least nine different ways.

•It reduces inflammation markedly; your joints will thank you for it.

•It protects against ultraviolet radiation. If you like to maintain a year-round tan, krill oil helps protect you from skin cancers and wrinkling because of its high carotenoid content. In fact, one of the major properties of astaxanthin is skin-aging prevention, says expert Nicholas Perricone, author of The Wrinkle Cure.

•It has a high content of phosphatidyl-choline, which helps brain function.

Krill got the tag line “fish oil on steroids” because it alleviates medical symptoms at much lower dosages than other marine lipids do, but it offers other advantages, such as high shelf stability Oils high in omega-3 fatty acids can improve your (because of its inherent antioxidant content), and concentration and performance in the gym.

Neveux \ Model: Dan Decker

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Smart Training Instead of keeping your wrists neutral during biceps work, as in the photo at left, try cocking your hands back. You’ll increase the overload on the elbow flexors, which is what you really want.

Neveux \ Model: Will Harris

ing fatigue. (That has the effect of reducing the resistance on the arm, which improves your leverage.) Since some of the load is being taken by the forearm flexors, however, the burden on the elbow flexors diminishes.

If you keep your wrists down and back, you increase the overload on the elbow flexors, which is what you really want when you do curling exercises.

Your next question may be, Doesn’t that increase the stress on the wrists? No. In the past 24 years none of the trainees or seminar attendees I’ve shared this tip with have ever reported wrist pain or forearm strain from it. Even so, you should extend your wrists down and back only during supinated, or palms-up, curls. When doing reverse curls or hammer curls, you should keep your wrists in a neutral position.

Another advantage of that style of curling is that you can extend set duration simply by cocking your wrist inward during the concentric action and then lowering the weight with your wrist extended.

Since you’re about 15 to 20 percent stronger with your wrist curled up, it’s like having a partner applying enough pressure to yield a forced rep. In other words, it’s like a negative-accentuated rep.

Don’t worry if your curling poundages go down. The levels of growth in your elbow flexors will compensate for the decrease in load. Because of the better overload, you should be handling your previous poundages in no time.

clients report no reflux with it, as opposed to other marine lipids.

Q: I’m enjoying the results of the programs you outlined in your book Winning the Arms Race.

Why do you recommend cocking the wrists back and down during curls?

A: That trick was shown to me by bodybuilding trainer and nutritionist Bill MacDonald of Fresno, California, 24 years ago. Bill had trained a host of Mr. America contestants, including Gary Leonard, who later became an IFBB pro. MacDonald was way ahead of his time in terms of nutrition and training. Too bad the bodybuilding media never discovered him. He showed it to me as we were discussing the effect of tempo on muscle hypertrophy.

Most people unconsciously initiate the curling action by curling the wrist in, or they will curl it in when approach-

Q: How do I find out if I have more slow-twitch or fast-twitch muscle fibers? I am 6’, weigh 162 pounds and have been strength training for 18 months.

I’ve been using mostly low reps, hovering between three and six at fast tempos, both in the concentric and eccentric ranges. It seems to work well for me.

I’ve gained more strength than anyone I know who trains at my gym. I’ve tried high-rep patterns, and

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Bradford

Neveux

I’ve ever seen someone do on top of his threerep max is 25 percent more.

He was an NFL wide receiver who could have very well been an Olympic medalist in sprinting. That’s the range that the top-seven worldclass Olympic lifters do. The same goes for top-level discus throwers and hammer throwers. Yet, I have seen an Olympic silver medalist in weightlifting do only 10 percent more, which is the average score. The current world champion in shot put, Are you a slow-twitch or fastAdam Nelson, twitch individual? Certain had the same tests can help you find out. range, which is rather odd.

Keep in mind my high-rep performance sucks. that maximal strength levels are not dependent just on A: Based on what you’re saying, it sounds as though you fast-twitch levels but a variety of other factors, such as have more fast-twitch fibers than slow-twitch. But keep in nutrition and, of course, quality of training. Nevertheless, if mind that the reality could be very different. For example, you can do only 2 percent more on the one-rep max in that I’ve seen individuals improve the number of reps they little test, take up rowing.

Editor’s note: Charles Poliquin is recognized as one can do at a high percentage of max (e.g., 90 percent) once of the world’s most successful strength coaches, havthey correct a mineral deficiency. That’s why at all Poliquin ing coached Olympic medalists in 12 different sports, Performance Centers we conduct extensive biochemical including the U.S. nutritional profiles, so nutritional deficiencies don’t hinder women’s trackthe training process. and-field team for Your height and weight tell me that your muscle mass the 2000 Olympics. is fairly low; typically, fast-twitch individuals have greater He’s spent years ponderal indexes, which refers to the weight-to-height researching Eurorelationship. Also, if your meat intake is very low, so is your pean journals (he’s creatine intake. That compromises your ability to do reps fluent in English, at a high percentage of maximum.

French and GerOutside of very intrusive muscle biopsies, which aren’t man) and speaking that valid anyway, the best tests for fiber makeup are done with other coaches in biomechanics labs, where time-to-peak force is meaand scientists in his sured. Getting tested by a track coach in a track-and-field quest to optimize quadrathlon could give you a fair idea of your fiber maketraining methods. up. Undergoing the three-weighted-ball caber-toss test For more on his is also another great way to measure fiber makeup. With books, seminars and that test alone I was able to demonstrate to a national law methods, visit www. enforcement agency which officers would make the best CharlesPoliquin SWAT team members. .net. Also, see his ad Another way is to test your three-rep maximum and Charles Poliquin on page 209. IM then wait five minutes and test for one-rep max. The most w w w. C h a r l e s P o l i q u i n . n e t

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\ JULY 2006 181

EAT TO NUTRITION SCIENCE

Welcome to New Yolk In recent years two new nutrition terms have appeared. A functional food is said to provide health benefits that extend beyond merely the nutrients that prevent deficiencies. Such foods contain nutritional elements that help maintain health and prevent disease. Some of those elements aren’t yet classified as essential to human health, but many studies have shown that they offer potent health benefits. Others interact with genes and cellular processes, which means they act like drugs and which is why they’re known as nutraceuticals.

Fruits and vegetables contain many nutraceuticals, which explains why eating them helps prevent major degenerative diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. Nutraceuticals in plants are usually known as phytonutrients. While fruits and vegetables are the major sources, other foods have nutraceuticals in abundance and could therefore be called functional foods—for example, eggs.

Before the advent of high-tech milk

Whole eggs have many wholesome benefits.

Forget the cholesterol scare. It’s unfounded.

proteins, such as casein-and-whey combinations, eggs were considered the premier source of protein among animal-based foods. The biological value of eggs is 93.7, compared to 84.5 percent for milk, 76 percent for fish and 74.3 percent for beef. Eggs secured their lofty BV because of their nearly ideal amino acid content and balance, which come closer than any other protein source to matching human requirements. In recent years, the biological value of eggs has been superseded by that of whey, which has a BV of 105.

Eggs—and many misconceptions about them—have always played an important role in bodybuilding diets.

One example is the common bodybuilding practice of discarding the yolk in favor of whites because yolks contain all the fat and whites are nearly pure protein. The fact is, a large whole egg contains 6.25 grams of protein, which is divided into 3.6 grams in the white, 2.7 grams in the yolk. So discarding the yolk means you also throw away half the protein.

Even worse, most of an egg’s vitamins and minerals are in the yolk. Eggs are a superior source of choline—251 milligrams—which is vital for brain health and is a precursor of acetylcholine, the chemical that permits muscular contraction. Choline also helps muscle retain L-carnitine, which can aid in fat oxidation during exercise.

Recent studies reveal that eggs are the best food source of a carotenoid nutrient called lutein, which is vital for eye health and helps prevent a form of blindness called macular degeneration. It’s also a potent antioxidant that helps prevent cardiovascular disease and cancer. The new studies show that

More egg-citing news egg lutein is absorbed three times more efficiently than lutein from spinach, the second most abundant food source.

Egg yolks have an undeserved reputation for being high in fat. In fact, they contain about 1.5 percent saturated fat, and most of that has little or no effect on either bodyfat accretion or cardiovascular disease. Even so, the American Heart Association continues to insist that all Americans eat no more than one egg a day.

While an egg yolk contains 213 milligrams of cholesterol (the AHA sets the daily limit at 300 milligrams), 167 studies involving more than 3,500 people show that 100 milligrams of food cholesterol increases blood cholesterol by only 2.3 milligrams, not a significant rise. The more cholesterol you get in foods, the less the liver synthesizes.

Besides, the true villains in cardiovascular disease aren’t cholesterol but rather saturated fat and trans fat. The idea that cholesterol is the major cause of cardiovascular disease is a hot topic in medicine of late, and many studies show little or no relationship.1,2 On the other hand, one-third of the population is characterized as being “hyperresponders” to cholesterol because they have two genes for apolipoprotein-E, which makes them more cholesterol-sensitive. Hyperresponders show an average 3.9-milligram increase in blood cholesterol after taking in 100 milligrams of food cholesterol, compared to a 1.4-milligram rise in normally sensitive people. When they eat cholesterol-rich foods, their levels of lowdensity-lipoprotein cholesterol increase, and LDL is linked to cardiovascular disease. After you eat eggs, though, the levels of high-density lipoprotein also

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GROW Nutrition With a Get-Big Mission increase, which protects against cardiovascular disease, balancing the rise in LDL. That probably explains why eating egg yolks results in little or no change in blood cholesterol levels.

Studies show that eating egg yolks leads to a preponderance of typeA LDL cholesterol, which is a large, buoyant type that is less atherogenic (cardiovascular disease-causing) than the small, dense type-B pattern.3 TypeB LDL is associated with a threefold increase in cardiovascular disease, likely because it more easily enters arterial walls and oxidizes more rapidly than the more stable type-A form. Decades of research conducted as part of an ongoing study of cardiovascular risk factors in Framingham, Massachusetts, shows no relationship between eating eggs and either plasma cholesterol levels or cardiovascular risk.4 Egg whites and yolks both contain a good portion of nutraceuticals. Egg whites, which make up 60 percent of the total egg, have several antimicrobial properties. Lysozyme, for example, destroys several types of bacteria. Its effectiveness is apparent from its inclusion in such products as toothpaste, mouthwash and even chewing gum, since it kills the bacteria that cause gum disease, the major cause of tooth loss.

Lysozyme blocks viral activity and can prevent herpes infections, including chicken pox. It shows antitumor effects and increases the effectiveness of chemotherapy. Some studies show that it also blocks the activity of the HIV virus.

Albumins are egg-white proteins, and there are several kinds. Peptides, or small proteins derived from the enzymatic digestion of ovalbumin, are effective against several strains of bacteria and yeast. Ovalbumin contains at least two natural ACE-inhibiting enzyme substances, which also help lower elevated blood pressure. It stimulates

the release of cytokines, chemicals that, like lysozyme, activate the immune system. Ovakinin, which forms part of ovalbumin, helps relax blood vessels and may be a future treatment for hypertension.

Ovotransferrin works like the milk protein factor lactoferrin in that it binds to iron. Since bacteria require iron to replicate, the lack of iron weakens bacteria, making them more susceptible to the body’s immune responses.

Avidin is another egg white protein that has a bad reputation because it binds to the B-complex vitamin biotin and renders it useless. Cooking or heating, however, inactivates avidin; besides, you’d have to eat 24 raw egg whites a day to get enough avidin to bind with biotin. On the other hand, since some bacteria and yeast also require biotin, avidin helps keep those invaders from doing their dirty work.

Two other egg-white proteins, ovomucin and ovomucin-derived peptides, target several types of viruses, including the one that causes influenza.

The egg white protein cystatins increases nitric oxide synthesis and retards inflammation, the underlying basis of most degenerative diseases. Recently isolated egg white peptides show potent antioxidant activity. Ovomucoid, by inhibiting digestive enzymes, lets such peptide hormones as insulin and growth hormone survive digestion, thus diminishing the need for injections.

While the egg white is the major first line of defense against invading microorganisms, the yolk contains a good share of protective elements.

Among them are immunoglobulin Y. Yolk substances also prevent bacterial adhesion, or attachment to body tissues. Unless the bacteria can adhere to surfaces, they are swept out of the body rapidly, making them harmless.

Phosvitin is a potent egg yolk antioxi-

dant that chelates, or locks onto iron, preventing damage from iron oxidation, which is linked to cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Egg yolks contain lecithin, which keeps the fats and cholesterol in the yolk in solution and therefore far safer for the body. The recent observation of omega-3 fatty acids in eggs makes them even better as a functional food and offers an option for those who refuse to eat large amounts of fatty fish.

—Jerry Brainum

References 1 Pietinen, P., et al. (1997). Intake of fatty acids and the risk of coronary heart disease in a cohort of Finnish men—the alpha tocopherol, beta-carotene cancer prevention study. Am J Epidemiol. 45:876-887.

2 McNamara, et al. (2000). Dietary cholesterol and atherosclerosis. Biochem Biophysic Acta. 1529:310-320.

3 Herron, K., et al. (2004). High intake of cholesterol results in less atherogenic low-density-lipoprotein particles in men and women independent of response classification. Metabolism.

53:823-830.

4 Dawber, T.R., et al. (1982). Eggs, serum cholesterol, and coronary heart disease. Am J Clin Nutr. 36:617-625.

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

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Eat to Grow NUTRITION NOTES

Food Facts That can affect your workouts, weight and wellness

WARRIOR NUTRITION AND EXERCISE

Lipase Loading

To burn more fat

Research has shown that there’s a link between a lipase deficiency (enzymes that break down fat) and obesity. Loading your body with lipase derived from food—like avocados, raw nuts and raw seeds—is one way to ensure proper fat metabolism and accelerate fat loss.

Don’t listen to those who tell you to avoid avocados or nuts because of their high-calorie, high-fat content.

Quite the opposite. Those foods in their raw state will help accelerate fat burning.

—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.

Dried fruit has nearly double the antioxidant content, ounce for ounce, of its undried counterpart. Keep in mind that it has about twice the number of calories too.

Canned fruit, packed in its own juice rather than sugary syrup, has almost exactly the same nutritional content as fresh and frozen produce.

Cantaloupe is a great source of potassium, which is necessary for proper heart function and preventing muscle cramps.

About one cup has 547 milligrams. One banana has about 450 milligrams.

Leucine is a key muscle-building amino acid. According to the January ’06 issue of Prevention, “Recent studies show that leucine can promote muscle building when overall calories are low.” One great source is cottage cheese, which has almost 1,500 milligrams per half cup.

—Becky Holman www.X-tremeLean.com

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KNOWLEDGE IS POWER The Best of Bodybuilding in the 20th Century Here in one definitive, information-packed volume, you have the best that IRON MAN has to offer. The articles and photos reprinted in IRON MAN’s Ultimate Bodybuilding Encyclopedia are of enormous and enduring value to beginners and experts alike. A tour de force of bodybuilding information with stunning photos of unrivaled quality, this massive volume covers every aspect of bodybuilding with authority and depth.

Included is complete information on: •Getting started •Bodybuilding physiology •Shoulder training •Chest training •Back training •Arm training •Abdominal training •Leg training •Training for mass •Training for power •Mental aspects of training •Bodybuilding nutrition With IRON MAN’s Ultimate Bodybuilding Encyclopedia, you will learn Arnold Schwarzenegger’s insights on developing shoulder and back muscles, along with many other champions’ routines.

This massive volume contains 440 pages and over 350 photographs.

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Eat to Grow CHUB CLUB

How to Know When You’re Too Fat When trying to gain muscle mass during the off-season, you’ll inevitably accumulate a little extra bodyfat along the way. But how will you know when you’re starting to cross the line into tubby territory? Believe me when I say that you can’t rely on the mirror. Few of us have the ability to be truly objective when gazing at our own reflection. We even seek out certain mirrors in certain rooms or in specific areas of the gym that make us look leaner due to tricks of light. Don’t tell me you haven’t done that.

There is a set of mirrors by the back parking lot in the first room in Gold’s Gym, Venice, that every name bodybuilder has posed in front of at one time or another. The lighting there is so complimentary, particularly in the early morning and late afternoon, that just about anybody with a decent physique and some abs showing looks like Mr. America. I ought to know; I’ve posed there myself. Many of Jerry Fredrick’s shots in IRON MAN of bodybuilders flexing at Gold’s were taken in the same spot.

So if the mirror can’t be trusted, what do you trust? For one thing, you can trust photos, especially those taken with

Sometimes it’s not obvious

a flash so that shadows don’t have a chance to enhance your appearance and give the illusion that you’re leaner than you actually are. Pictures, unless they’ve been retouched, of course, don’t lie. Many a time I’ve been shocked at how fat I look in a picture, and it’s been enough to scare me back into eating cleaner and adding a little more cardio to my routine.

The other reliable indicator that you’re getting too hefty is your significant other. My wife, Janet, is brutally honest with me, and it’s for my own good. “Baby,” she’ll deadpan, “your face is getting fat, and your gut and your ass are huge.” Ouch! That’s all I need to hear. I certainly don’t want my woman being turned off by my chunky ass.

Just remember, guys, it’s not wise to tell your wife or girlfriend that she’s gaining too much weight for your liking.

And if she asks if her butt is getting too big, there’s only one correct response—pretend you don’t hear her, then change the subject!

—Ron Harris www.RonHarrisMuscle.com

SWEET BEAT

Fruct-Up Fat German scientists gave mice either plain or fructose-sweetened water for 10 weeks. The researchers made sure that the mice that got the fructose ate fewer calories from food. Nevertheless, the fructose group gained almost 30 percent more bodyfat than the group drinking plain water. The researchers suggested that because fructose doesn’t need insulin to transport it into cells, it’s rapidly stored as bodyfat. It appears to be particularly effective at packing on fat when it’s in liquid form, as it’s digested more quickly.

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Eat to Grow BOOK REVIEW

Sports and Fitness Nutriton If you’re confused about nutrition, you’re not alone. Despite the plethora of articles and Web sites devoted to sports nutrition, the sad truth is that much of it is based on opinion and hearsay, with little or no basis in scientific fact. It is easy to become the victim of fraud, buying dubious food supplements based on bogus-but-impressivesounding “scientific” ads.

Is there an antidote to such misinformation? The answer is yes, and it is self-education. You must read accurate information, written by those who aren’t trying to sell you anything and whose primary purpose is to inform. One such source is a textbook called Sports and Fitness Nutrition written by Robert Wildman and Barry Miller (Thomson/Wadsworth, 2004). Both men have taught advanced nutrition at the college level and are eminently qualified to write this type of book.

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the truth about protein, carbs, fats and how much to eat for best results, and the extensive coverage of all nutrients and sports supplements includes a discussion of drugs common in athletics and bodybuilding.

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Even bodybuilding is covered in that section, which

DIET DANGERS

Poison Protein?

Eggs can be good for you, but cook them up before you scarf them down

So research is showing that eggs have lots of great health and muscle-building benefits—but keep in mind that it’s always a good idea to eat only cooked eggs.1 That way, you have less chance of contracting salmonella food poisoning (which by the way, is found only in egg whites— not yolks), though in reality, the odds of acquiring salmonella from eggs is remote.

Only one out of every 20,000 eggs may contain salmonella, or, to put it another way, you have a 0.005 percent chance of eating an egg containing the bacteria. Statistically, that means you’re likely to eat a salmonella-infested egg every 84 years.

The other reason to eat cooked eggs only is that cooked eggs are 90.9 percent digestible, compared with the 51.3 percent digestibility of raw eggs. Cooked eggs will also help you lose fat by eating less, according to a recent study that compared two breakfasts, one based on carbohydrates (bagels), the other on protein (eggs). While both meals contained the same number of calories, those who ate the eggs experienced less hunger and took in fewer daily calories afterward.

—Jerry Brainum 1 Vander, J.S., et al. (2005). Short-term effect of eggs on satiety in overweight and obese subjects. J Amer Coll Nutr. 24:510-515.

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—Jerry Brainum Editor’s note: Sports and Fitnesss Nutrition is available from Home Gym Warehouse, (800) 4470008 or www.Home-Gym. com.

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Eat to Grow GOOD FATS

Just the Flax

Flaxseed oil update—it may not be as good as you think

to block the conversion of ALA. Many studies show a conversion rate of 1 to 10 percent for ALA into EPA, with negligible rates of conversion for DHA. Women experience a greater conversion rate than men, likely due to due to an estrogenic effect.

Vegans also show a greater conversion rate, due to a lack of preformed omega3 in their diets. But a recent study shows that flaxseed oil can somehow surmount those formidable barriers and be converted into EPA. The study consisted of 49 women and seven men, all African-American, who were obese and suffering from chronic health problems, such as diabetes and high blood pressure. They took three grams a day AMINO AMMO of either flaxseed oil or olive oil (which doesn’t convert to omega-3) in capsule form. The study followed a double-blind protocol, which meant even the researchers didn’t know who was getting which supplement.

Researchers at the University of Washington found After 12 weeks those on the flaxseed that a diet that’s 30 percent protein helped a group oil showed a 60 percent increase in blood of overweight subjects lose more fat—an average of EPA levels, and those on the olive oil caps eight pounds each showed no increase. No change occurred in in three months. It DHA levels in either group. The participants turns out that the followed no special diet and did not restrict protein helped supintake of foods that might interfere with ALA press appetite. The conversion. Still, they showed a respectable subjects ate about 60 percent rise in one of the omega-3 fatty 440 fewer calories acids.

While the study shows that flaxseed oil is a per day thanks to useful source of EPA, its lack of DHA producan increase in protion is a problem. Vital for brain health, DHA tein. That could be is thought to be the omega-3 fat that helps one more reason a lower-carb, higher-protein diet prevent depression. So for maximum health works so well at helping the body shed fat. and fitness benefits, it’s best to rely on fish or —Becky Holman fish oil supplements for your omega-3s. www.X-tremeLean.com —Jerry Brainum

Certain types of fatty fish, such as mackerel, herring and sardines, are the best food sources of omega-3 fatty acids. The type of omega-3 fat in fish consists of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Those who refuse to eat fish for reasons of either distaste or fear of contaminants (such as methyl mercury) often use fish oil supplements, which don’t contain toxins. Others, however, refuse to have anything to do with either fish or fish oil supplements. They’re often advised to supplement their diets with a rich source of alpha linoleic acid (ALA), which is the precursor of EPA and DHA. A popular ALA food supplement is flaxseed oil, which contains about 57 percent ALA. Converting it to EPA and DHA in the body requires the activity of an enzyme called delta-6 desaturase, but that process isn’t as efficient as many believe because it’s downgraded by a high intake of omega-6 fatty acids. The linoleic acid in vegetable oils, for example, competes with ALA for use of the enzyme. Even another source of omega-3, such as fish oil, inhibits the conversion of ALA into EPA/DHA. Some protein foods contain minute amounts of EPA/ DHA—not enough to provide health benefits but enough

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Train, Eat,GROW Muscle-Training Program 79 From the IRON MAN Training & Research Center

by Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson • Photography by Michael Neveux

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Whatever You Need—Wherever You Train ™

A

lot of people who train wi with weights are confu fused about fiber. No, no not the kind that keeps yo you regular—muscle ffiber. fi b In one article you fas read that the fast-twitch type 2B, or power, fibers are the best to target for muscle growth. Then you read that the fast-twitch type 2As, which have power and endurance qualities, are the ones you should focus on. Which is it, and how do you target those best fast-twitch fibers in order to build freaky size?

We’ve done a lot of research and also have experimented in the gym—with more than 40 years’ of experimentation between us—but even so, it’s tough to separate fact from fiction when it comes to muscle fibers. For example, it was generally accepted that the fast-twitch type 2Bs were best for growth. They are pure anaerobic fibers. New information seems to say otherwise, however, pointing to the type 2As—the fibers that are fast-twitch, or anaerobic, but also have an endurance component. Here’s a quote from Designing Resistance Training Programs by Steven J. Fleck, Ph.D., and William J. Kraemer, Ph.D., that will help clear up some of the confusion on that point: “Several subtypes of type 2 fibers have been discovered. Type 2A fibers possess good aerobic and anaerobic characteristics, whereas type 2B fibers possess good anaerobic characteristics but poor aerobic characteristics.”

Fleck and Kraemer take the subject a little further, however: “It now appears that the type 2B fibers may in fact be just a pool of unused fibers (with low oxidative ability) that on recruitment start a transformation process to the type 2A fiber type. Dramatic reductions in type 2B fibers occur with heavy resistance training.”

Here’s how they depict that transformation process:

Well, fiber-transformation research suggests that 2As are king. With low-rep training, all of those 2As don’t develop to their full capacity because they aren’t being stressed enough from an endurance standpoint. They only get anaerobic stress. Excess development from endurance-oriented stress doesn’t occur unless you keep tension time, the length of a set, up around 30 seconds.

In other words, with lower reps you’re only getting half the 2As’ growth potential—the anaerobic part—not to mention that low reps tend to stress the tendons and ligaments more and also cause the nervous system to crap out earlier

than medium-rep-range sets.

The 2As have both endurance and anaerobic capabilities, so it makes sense that they have the most potential for growth—you can stress both facets of the muscle cell for a double-layered size effect. Does that mean low reps don’t build muscle?

No, they will build muscle, but the growth will be limited till the endurance capacities of the fast-twitch fibers are developed.

So on most sets you should strive for 10 reps, to get a tension time of about 30 seconds—if it’s maximum muscle size you’re after. That’s assuming an average rep speed of three seconds—1.5 up and 1.5 down. A half minute of tension will

Steve’s more enduranceoriented fiber types respond well to extended-set techniques like drop sets.

Model: Steve Holman

2Bs to 2aBs to 2ABs to 2Abs to 2As Interesting—and it explains a lot of things we’ve discovered through training experience here at the ITRC. For example, low reps don’t build a lot of muscle for us.

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

Train, Eat, Grow / Program 79 trigger the size principle of fiber recruitment—low-threshold motor units recruited first, followed by the mediums, followed by the highs.

That will train many fiber types, but, more important, as the fast-twitchers kick in, mostly at the end of a set, they will be forced to rely on

some aerobic capacity. And therein lies the key to more size.

It also explains why X Reps—endof-set partials at the max-force point on the stroke—are so effective. (You knew we’d get to X Reps.)

When you reach exhaustion on a set of, say, nine reps, and you extend

the set with X Reps, you can activate more fast-twitch 2As, build more endurance capacity in the ones that are already firing and, therefore, make the set even more effective.

We’ve said that X Reps can make a set two to four times more powerful at initiating a (continued on page 78)

IRON MAN Training & Research Center Muscle-Training Program 79 Workout 1A: Delts, Midback, Biceps, Forearms Rack pulls (X Reps) 2-3 x 8-10 Seated forward-lean laterals (X Reps) 2 x 8-10 Standing dumbbell presses (X Reps) 2 x 8-10 Barbell shrugs (X Reps) 2 x 10-12 Cable upright rows (X Reps) 1 x 10-12 Nautilus rows (X Reps) 2-3 x 8-10 Bent-arm bent-over laterals (X Reps) 2 x 10-12 Behind-the-neck pulldowns (X Reps) 1 x 10-12 Bent-over laterals 1 x 8-10 Cable curls (X Reps) 2-3 x 8-10 Concentration curls (X Reps) 2 x 8-10 Rope hammer curls (X Reps) 1 x 8-10 Barbell reverse wrist curls (X Reps; drop set) 1 x 15 Barbell wrist curls (X Reps, drop set) 1 x 15 Rockers 1 x 15 Workout 2: Quads, Hams, Gastrocs, Low Back Smith-machine squats (X Reps) 1 x 8-10 Lunges 2 x 8-10 Leg extensions (X Reps) 2 x 8-10 Sissy squats (drop set; X Reps) 1 x 8(6) Leg curls (X Reps) 2 x 8-10 Squats 2 x 8-10 Stiff-legged deadlifts (partials) 2 x 8-10 Hyperextensions (X Reps) 1 x max Reverse hyperextensions 1 x 10 Leg press calf raises (X Reps) 3 x 15-20 Hack-machine calf raises (X Reps) 2 x 12-15 Standing calf raises (X Reps) 2 x 8-10 Machine donkey calf raises (X Reps) 1 x 12 Seated calf raises 2 x 15-20 Low-back machine 1 x 8-12 Workout 3A: Chest, Lats, Triceps, Abs Incline presses (X Reps) 2-3 x 8-10 High cable flyes (X Reps) 2 x 8-12 Bench presses (X Reps) 2 x 8-10 Low cable flyes (X Reps) 1 x 8-12 Middle cable flyes (X Reps) 1 x 8-12 Pulldowns (X Reps) 1 x 8-10 Undergrip pulldowns (X Reps) 1 x 8-10 Chins (X Reps) 1-2 x 8-12 Machine pullovers (X Reps) 2 x 8-10 Dumbbell close-grip bench presses (X Reps) 2 x 8-10 Pushdowns 2 x 8-10 Superset Incline kneeups 2 x 10 Bench V-ups 2x8

Twisting crunches

2 x 10-12

Workout 1B: Delts, Midback, Biceps, Forearms Rack pulls (X Reps) 2 x 8-10 Dumbbell upright rows (X Reps) 1 x 8-10 Superset Cable laterals (X Reps) 1 x 8-10 Incline one-arm laterals (X Reps) 1 x 8-10 Dumbbell presses (X Reps) 2 x 8-10 Dumbbell shrugs (X Reps) 2 x 10-12 Rack pulls (X Reps) 1 x 10-12 Nautilus rows (X Reps) 2-3 x 8-10 One-arm dumbbell rows (X Reps) 1 x 10-12 Behind-the-neck pulldowns (X Reps) 1 x 10-12 Uncrossovers (X Reps) 1 x 8-10 Preacher curls (X Reps or staged) 2-3 x 8-10 Incline curls (X Reps) 2 x 8-10 Incline hammer curls 1 x 8-10 Dumbbell reverse wrist curls (X Reps; drop set) 1 x 15 Dumbbell wrist curls (X Reps; drop set) 1 x 15 Rockers 1 x 15 Workout 3B: Chest, Lats, Triceps, Abs Incline presses (X Reps) 2-3 x 8-10 Incline flyes (X Reps) 2 x 8-12 Wide-grip dips (X Reps; drop set) 2 x 8-10 Decline flyes (X Reps) 1 x 8-12 Flat-bench flyes 1 x 8-12 Pulldowns (X Reps) 1 x 8-10 Undergrip pulldowns (X Reps) 1 x 8-10 Chins (X Reps) 1-2 x 8-12 Dumbbell pullovers 2 x 8-10 Decline close-grip bench presses (X Reps) 2-3 x 8-10 Cable pushouts 1 x 8-10 Dumbbell overhead extensions (X Reps) 2 x 8-10 Superset Incline kneeups 2 x 10 Bench V-ups 2x8 Ab Bench crunches 2 x 10-12 Add to Friday’s workout Seated calf raises (X Reps) Standing calf raises or machine donkey calf raises (X Reps)

2 x 9-12 1 x 20-25

Note: Where X-Reps are designated, usually only one set is performed with X Reps or an X-Rep hybrid technique. For an up-to-date look at our program, see the X-Blog section at www.X-Rep.com.

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Train, Eat, Grow / Program 79

(continued from page 74) mass in-

crease, and that’s why.

So what about rep ranges of more than 15? For most muscles a tension time that long causes too much accumulation of fatigue products, which derails high-threshold, fast-

twitch recruitment too early. (A few muscles, like calves, appear to be exceptions in most people because they have adapted to such highendurance demands over time.)

That would explain why trainees who train exclusively with high

reps tend to have a more stringy appearance—they aren’t getting at enough fast-twitch 2As to stimulate appreciable size increases, and they lean more toward aerobically conditioned muscle. Longer rep ranges don’t stress the anaerobic capacity

ITRC Program 79, Abbreviated Home-Gym Routine Workout 1A: Delts, Midback, Biceps, Forearms Dumbbell upright rows, seated laterals or rack pulls (X Reps) 2 x 8-10 Seated forward-lean laterals (X Reps) 2 x 8-10 Standing dumbbell presses (X Reps) 2 x 8-10 Barbell shrugs (X Reps) 2 x 10-12 Bent-over barbell rows 2 x 8-10 Bent-arm bent-over laterals (X Reps) 2 x 10-12 Bent-over laterals (X Reps) 2 x 8-10 Barbell curls 2 x 8-10 Concentration curls (X Reps) 2 x 8-10 Hammer curls (drop set) 1 x 8-10 Barbell reverse wrist curls (X Reps; drop set) 1 x 15 Barbell wrist curls (X Reps, drop set) 1 x 15 Rockers 1 x 15 Workout 2: Quads, Hams, Gastrocs, Low Back Squats (last set staged) 1 x 8-10 Lunges 2 x 8-10 Leg extensions or hack squats (X Reps) 2 x 8-10 Sissy squats (X Reps) 1 x 10-12 Leg curls (X Reps) 2 x 8-10 Hack squats or squats (nonlock) 1 x 8-10 Stiff-legged deadlifts (bottom-range partials) 2 x 8-10 Hyperextensions (X Reps) 1 x max Donkey calf raises, standing calf raises or one-leg calf raises (X Reps) 4 x 15-20 Seated calf raises (X Reps) 2 x 15-20 Workout 3A: Chest, Lats, Triceps, Abs Incline presses (X Reps) 2-3 x 8-10 Incline flyes (squeeze at the top of each rep) 2 x 8-12 Bench presses (X Reps) 2 x 8-10 Decline flyes (squeeze at the top of each rep 1 x 8-12 Flat-bench flyes (squeeze at the top of each rep) 1 x 8-12 Chins (X Reps) 1 x 8-12 Undergrip chins (X Reps) 2 x 8-10 Undergrip rows 2 x 8-10 Decline extensions (X Reps) 2 x 8-10 Kickbacks 2 x 8-10 Superset Incline kneeups 2 x 10 Bench V-ups 2x8 Twisting crunches 2 x 10-12 Workout 1B: Delts, Midback, Biceps, Forearms Dumbbell upright rows, seated laterals or rack pulls (X Reps) 2 x 8-10

Incline one-arm laterals (X Reps) 2 x 8-10 Standing dumbbell presses (X Reps) 2 x 8-10 Rack pulls (X Reps) 2 x 10-12 Bent-over barbell rows 2 x 8-10 One-arm dumbbell rows (X Reps) 2 x 10-12 Bent-over laterals (X Reps) 2 x 8-10 Preacher curls (X Reps) 2-3 x 8-10 Incline curls (X Reps) 2 x 8-10 Incline hammer curls (drop set) 1 x 8-10 Dumbbell reverse wrist curls (X Reps; drop set) 2 x 15 Dumbbell wrist curls (X Reps, drop set) 2 x 15 Rockers 1 x 15 Workout 3B: Chest, Lats, Triceps, Abs Incline presses (X Reps) 2 x 8-10 Incline flyes (X Reps) 2 x 8-12 Wide-grip dips (X Reps) 2 x 8-10 Decline flyes (X Reps) 1 x 8-12 Flat-bench flyes (X Reps) 1 x 8-12 Parallel-grip chins (X Reps) 2 x 8-10 Chins (X Reps) 1 x 8-12 Dumbbell pullovers 2 x 8-10 Decline extensions (X Reps) x2 x 8-10 Overhead extensions (X Reps) 2 x 8-10 Superset Incline kneeups 2 x 10 Bench V-ups 2x8 Ab Bench crunches 2 x 10-12 Add to Friday’s workout Seated calf raises (X Reps) Standing calf raises

2 x 9-12 1 x 20-25

Note: Where X-Reps are designated, usually only one set is performed with X Reps or an X-Rep hybrid technique. For an up-to-date look at our program, see the X-Blog section at www.X-Rep.com.

Note: Train Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, following the sequence of workouts as listed but with workout 2, legs, always on Tuesday only.

Also, it’s best to have a selectorized dumbbell set, such as the PowerBlock, if you don’t have a rack of fixed dumbbells of various weights. If you don’t have a leg extension machine, do old-style hacks with a two-second contraction at the top of each rep instead. Use partner resistance, towel around the ankles, if you don’t have a leg curl machine.

Free download from imbodybuilding.com

Train, Eat, Grow / Program 79

Model: Jonathan Lawson

2As and the 2Bs. Remember, drop sets also contain an endurance component because you work two sets back to back, so 2As can get their endurancegrowth requirement as well. Double drops with lower rep ranges can also be beneficial—six reps, reduce the poundage, five reps, reduce the poundage, three or four reps.

Add X Reps into that mix, and you really have a potent mass-building sequence—if you can stand the pain.

Two sets done with those parameters—a straight set with X Reps and a drop set or doubledrop set—appear to cover all of the facets of muscle growth and hit a variety of fiber types. That’s the bare-bones minimum for bodybuilders who have a time crunch (30-minute Training a muscle from mass-building workouts different angles can activate are possible). If you have more fibers, but you may be time, however, we strongly recommend adding eiable to get most of the sizether a stretch-position building benefits from only or a contracted-position one key exercise. exercise or both for each bodypart. If you have time for that, you can do of the 2As, plus, because of fatigue miss, however, in that lots of low-rep a couple of straight sets on your products, the muscle craps out sets stress the endurance capacity multijoint exercise and use the early, before the high-threshold 2As somewhat but not enough to max drop-set sequence on your isolaget in on the action. You just don’t out that facet of growth in the 2As. tion exercise instead. get enough fast-twitch stimulation.

And, anyway, if you do a lot of heavy We won’t go into the PositionsSo low reps—six and below— sets, you run a much higher risk of of-Flexion philosophy here, as don’t stress the fast-twitch fibers overtraining and being in the gym we’ve been dissecting it for years much aerobically, and high reps for hours. in this magazine and in the book cause the muscle to flake out early That’s why for drug-free bodyTrain, Eat, Grow (for information, without enough fast-twitch involvebuilders we usually recommend an see the note at the end of this arment. Medium-rep sets of about average of two sets of nine-to-12 ticle). The more-isolated exercises nine to 15 appear to be best for reps per multijoint exercise done that have continuous tension and/ bodybuilding, depending on rep in continuous-tension—that is, or full stretch are very special and cadence. nonlock—style with at least one of can enhance muscle growth—esBut here’s another question to those sets extended with X Reps. We pecially if you use drop sets and X ponder: Can you get the same rate also recommend that one of those Reps—but they are in a sense icing of fiber morphing and/or developsets be a drop set, with each phase on the size-building cake. We bement with low-rep sets if you use of the drop set being a lower-rep lieve, as most bodybuilders know, more volume? It would make sense set—five to eight. (For example, on that the midrange, or multijoint, that the more sets you do, the more our second set of incline presses we exercises are the ultimate ones the target muscle would need to do seven or eight reps, reduce the for overall size stimulation, and if kick in some endurance capacity— weight and immediately do five or you’re pressed for time, you can especially if you reduce rest times six reps.) That type of drop set will get a lot of the size-building effects between sets. It may be hit Free and download involve the anaerobic facets of the from two sets of them if you perfrom imbodybuilding.com

Free download from imbodybuilding.com

Isolation exercises are icing on the sizebuilding cake. Multijoint moves are the ultimate mass-building exercises.

Model: Jonathan Lawson

Train, Eat, Grow / Program 79 form them as described here.

Another interesting side effect of building the type 2As—with longer tension times, X Reps and drop sets—is that with endurance stress you build the mitochondria of the muscle cells, the energy structures that can burn bodyfat for fuel. (Were the oldtimers right about higher reps increasing muscle definition?

Hmm. Stay tuned.) Bigger and leaner. Now we’re talking!

Editor’s note: For the latest on the X-Rep muscle-building method, including X Q&As, X Files (past e-zines), our before and after photos and the new XBlog training journal, visit www .X-Rep.com. For more information on Positions-of-Flexion training videos and Size Surge programs, see page 127. 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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Steve Holman s

Critical Mass

Substitution and Execution Q: First, can I incorporate Gironda dips into your Train, Eat, Grow ITRC routines for pecs? Next, when doing incline presses, do I always have to keep my elbows back, without letting my upper arms move forward? And lastly, I’m having trouble getting heavier dumbbells in position for upright rows. The 50-pounders are so big and bulky that they’re awkward. What can I substitute?

A: Yes, wide-grip Gironda dips are excellent for pecs. We prefer to work upper chest first, with incline presses and incline cable flyes. Then we move to middle/lower chest work with wide-grip dips, chin on chest, followed by cable flyes or crossovers. Sometimes we superset bench presses and dips.

As for inclines, many of the upper-chest fibers run from the lower-front delt at an angle up to the collarbone. The upward angle suggests a line of force that’s best attacked

with your elbows angled away from your torso but not pulled all the way back. The same goes for incline flyes— don’t pull your elbows back toward your head. They should come down angled toward your lower lats. Using a higher incline may give you better upper-chest development if you tend to arch your lower back on those moves.

A good substitute for upright rows is rack pulls, athough you don’t have to do them in a power rack. Hold a bar at arm’s length at your thighs with a grip that’s wider than shoulder width. Now pull the bar up as if you were doing an upright row, but reverse the movement when the bar gets to just above your belly button. That hits your delts in the important low position, near the semistretched point, which is key for max fiber recruitment, and without shoulder impingement.

One of the problems with rack pulls is that at the bottom of the stroke the tension is off the delts. It’s similar to a lockout on bench presses or squats. We’ve found that the Double-X Overload technique helps remedy that situation somewhat. After each full rep do a short X-Rep hitch at the bottom, no pause. Doing a full rep and then a quarter rep, right at the max-force point where fiber activation is best, keeps the bar moving and tension on your delts.

Q: I’ve had consistent progress following the X-blog program and suggestions at X-Rep.com. As you suggested in one of your e-zines, I take a week off after every three weeks of intense training. I’m now in the best shape of my life. I know that on certain programs you’ve recommended a slight volume uptick after several weeks before scaling back the intensity.

What about structuring the three-week cycle to increase the volume a little each week so that even greater supercompensation can be realized during the layoff week? Maybe something like this: Week 1 (volume reduction): ultimate exercises only; each bodypart hit twice except upper legs.

Week 2 (add exercises; about 25 sets per workout); I use the Split-Positions program outlined in the Beyond X-Rep Muscle Building e-book.

Neveux \ Model: Berry Kabov

Wide-grip upright rows can do great things for delt development, but there are variations that are safer.

Week 3 (volume increase): same program as week 2, but increase volume with extra workouts or extra sets or both. (How crazy to get during this week is the big question.)

Week 4: Off I’m thinking of trying something like that to see what happens. Do you foresee any pitfalls? By the way, I greatly enjoy all of the nuances in the blog.

Free download from imbodybuilding.com

Steve Holman s

Q: I’ve been using close-grip bench presses as my

Research Team Commentary This month the IRON MAN Research Team features Sorenzyme by Labrada Nutrition (see page 138). I believe it’s a breakthrough Downward, or decline, pushing supplement for many bodybuilders. The reamovements, like elbows-flared son: inflammation and cumulative trauma. pushdowns, engage the triceps better for In The Perricone Weight-Loss Diet, Nicholas most trainees than over-the-chest pushing Perricone, M.D. discusses inflammation and exercises like close-grip bench presses. its horrific effects on the body: “I became abThe reason may be better leverage for solutely convinced that microinflammation was causing driving with more triceps power. serious and perhaps irreversible damage to our cells.

What was particularly alarming was the fact that we cannot feel this microinflammation, nor can we see it big triceps exercise, but I’m just not feeling them. Is with the naked eye. Yet it goes on, day after day, in all of there another exercise I can use? our organ systems, heart, brain and skin. This damage is A: I recently did the same thing—I started using closecumulative, eventually leading to a host of diseases and grip dumbbell bench presses as my initial triceps exercise, and something just didn’t feel right. Then I was looking chronic degenerative conditions.” over The Ultimate Mass Workout e-book and saw that the Muscle soreness is trauma and inflammation in the ultimate exercise for triceps was close-grip bench presses muscle cells. In fact, it can be more severe than the on a decline. Can one small detail like that make a differmicroinflammation Dr. Perricone is talking about—and ence? You bet! usually we can feel it. Even once you’re accustomed to I started doing elbows-flared triceps pushdowns, to exercise, you’re still causing damage during your workmimic decline close-grip bench presses, and I got an imouts. It just may not be so severe that you feel sore. The mediate uptick in triceps mass. By the way, the elbowsproblem is, if you’re not completely recovering, you may flared pushdown is a favorite of Jay Cutler’s. Try it. be getting cumulative damage, and that may be one of the big reasons your muscle gains are so slow. The lack The sharp black POF T-shirt with the original of recovery—and excess cumulative damage—may be classic logo emblazoned in gold can give you that even more severe in the winter, when your diet is less muscular look you’re after (sorry, large size only). See strict and you’re eating and drinking the things Dr. Perpage 251 for details. ricone discusses in his book that cause unhealthy microinflammation—sugar, alcohol, saturated fat, trans fat Editor’s note: Steve and so on. (Those toxins also encourage fat gain.)

Holman is the author many But even in the spring and summer, when your diet is bodybuilding best-sellers, clean, you’re training hard, perhaps harder than in the including Train, Eat, Grow: winter. That means your muscle may not be recoverThe Positions-of-Flexion ing completely. Sorenzyme can help repair damaged Muscle-Training Manual. muscles, increase healing time and speed up your gains.

For information on the In other words, Sorenzyme won’t prevent the damage to POF videos and Size Surge programs, see page 127. For your muscles that can trigger growth, but it can signifiinformation on Train, Eat, cantly enhance the recovery process so you grow as fast Grow, see page 82. Also visit as your genetics will allow, unimpeded by cumulative www.X-Rep.com. IM microtrauma.

—S.H. Free download from imbodybuilding.com

Neveux

A: I think that’s an excellent extrapolation of phase training. Give it a try and let me know how it goes. Considering that you take week 4 completely off, I think week 3 can be fairly crazy, but don’t outrun your individual recovery ability. Knowing that you won’t be in the gym for a solid week will have you pulling out all the stops during week 3—and you should be able to supercompensate from the slighty overwork the following down week.

I usually recommend that week 4 be a lower-intensity week—you still train, but you don’t go to failure. That way your nervous system stays primed and your strength stays up. Is it better than a complete layoff? As with everything else, it depends on your individual metabolism and recovery process—and how crazy you go during week 3, of course.

Model: Jay Cutler, “Jay Cutler Ripped to Shreds” © 2005 Mitsuru Okabe Co.

Critical Mass

Mr. Natural Olympia John Hansen’s

Naturally Huge

and Bodybuilding Q: Ten months ago I decided I wanted to become a bodybuilder. I lost weight, going from 215 to 196, and that’s where I am now. My body changed, but lately it just won’t go anywhere else. I’m stronger, but I don’t see the muscles. My stomach is still flabby, and I can’t get any harder. At the beginning of the year I went on a low-carb, high-protein diet. It really worked, but my body hasn’t changed since. A week ago I decided to start a new plan and add more carbs while getting the same amount of protein.

Here’s my diet: 6 a.m.: Protein shake (32 grams protein, 13 grams carbs) 8 a.m.: Protein shake (24 grams protein, 50 grams carbs) 10 a.m.: GoLean cereal with 1 boiled egg and a banana (20 grams protein) 12:30 p.m.: Fish, chicken or beef with vegetables or pasta 3 p.m.: Protein bar (30 grams protein) 6 p.m.: Dinner, same as lunch 9 p.m.: Protein shake (24 grams protein) I work out six days a week—Saturday at 6 p.m.— but I break all the rules. I go out and have fun. On Sundays I take the day off, and I drink beer. I love it! The truth is, on Sundays I probably drink more

No matter how strict you are during the week, weekend binges can stop your gains dead in their tracks. The key is moderation.

Neveux \ Model: Jose

Beer Binges

than a six-pack, but it’s my day off. In the gym I don’t stress myself. I work out for 45 minutes to one hour, one or two bodyparts per workout. Sleeping is not my big pro-training friend. Sometimes I get to sleep at 11 or later, and the next morning I have to push myself to get up and go. I need advice big-time.

A: I think you know the reasons you’re not making the progress you’re after. The weekend bingeing is doing nothing but keeping you from moving forward. I don’t care how well you eat or how hard you train during the week, you’re blowing all your hard work by going crazy and drinking so much on Saturday and Sunday.

The first thing you should do is to set limits on “breaking all the rules” during the weekend. Why don’t you cut back to only having one cheat meal during the weekend? You can have it on either Saturday or Sunday, and you should restrict yourself to a maximum of two beers with it. One meal won’t make that big a difference in your physique; however, bingeing all weekend long is definitely going to stop you from seeing any progress. You’ll have to decide which is more important to you, getting leaner and building a great physique or drinking all the beer you want on the weekend.

As for your diet, it looks pretty good, but I think you could improve it by adding some more quality food to the menu. You’re drinking protein drinks three times a day and having a protein bar for one of your meals. That’s fine, but you can add more food to your other three meals.

For your third meal, why don’t you have six to eight egg whites along with your GoLean cereal? That will increase your protein intake with the carbs from the cereal. On your fourth meal you could have a sweet potato, one cup of rice or a small amount of pasta with the fish, chicken or beef. Do the same thing for dinner, but keep the carbs a little lower at that meal because it’s later in the day and you don’t need them then.

You also mentioned that you’re not getting enough sleep. Although sleep needs vary among individuals, you sound as if you need more than you’re getting. Try to get at least seven hours a night. If you’re dragging yourself out of bed each morning, chances are you’re not getting enough sleep. That will affect the quality of your workouts as well as your recuperation between training sessions. I know that I can’t give 100 percent to a workout if I’m too tired.

Just make those slight modifications in your diet, get some more sleep each night, and definitely cut way back on the beer drinking on the weekends. I think you’ll see a lot more progress for all the effort you’re putting in during the week.

Q: My age is 23, and I’m 5’2” in height. My weight is 63 kilograms [about 140 pounds], and I started exercising last year. I’m gaining weight and muscle mass, but my biggest problem is my stomach. It’s also growing, so I need to know what to do for good abs. I train twice a day, 40 minutes in the morning and again (continued onI page 102) in the evening.

One day do heavy exercises, and the other day I just do light exercises. Here is my training routine: Monday

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(continued on page 102)

Mr. Natural Olympia John Hansen’s

Naturally Huge Morning: triceps (heavy); evening: chest (heavy)

Tuesday Morning: cardio; evening: biceps and back (light) Wednesday Morning: legs and abs (heavy); evening: shoulders and traps (heavy) Thursday Morning: cardio; evening: chest and triceps (light) Friday Morning: biceps (heavy); evening: back (heavy) Saturday Morning: cardio and abs; evening: shoulders and traps (light) Sunday Rest day I’ve also included my diet. Please advise me what changes I should make to my routine.

A: Let’s talk about your training first. Six days a week of consecutive workouts is too much for building muscle mass. In addition, you’re training twice a day on most of those days. That’s also unnecessary. You could make much more progress by cutting your training in half.

I notice that you schedule both light and heavy training days in your routine. You should use weights that allow you to do only six to 10 repetitions in a set. Doing a light day, in which you could perform 12 to 20 reps in a set, is counterproductive for building muscle mass. If you can do that many reps in a set, the resistance is not heavy enough to force the muscle fibers to grow. Don’t waste your time doing light workouts. Instead, use weight that will force your muscles to respond, and then take enough time off between workouts so your muscles will recuperate and grow.

Another change that will help you to build more size is to stop training twice a day and combine those two daily workouts into one session. If you are constantly in the gym training, then your muscles don’t have time to rest and recover. Even if you’re training different bodyparts, you’re still stressing your system as a whole every time you work out. If you don’t give your body some days off, you’ll never properly recuperate and your muscles will have a very difficult time getting bigger.

That’s especially true if you’re training hard and heavy at each workout. Pushing yourself to use maximum resistance for six to 10 reps on the basic exercises (squats, deadlifts, barbell rows, bench presses, incline presses, military presses and so on) will require rest. If you’re able to train six days a week, twice a day, and don’t feel absolutely exhausted after two to three weeks, then you’re definitely not training hard enough.

Begin by cutting back to only four workouts a week. You can train chest, front and side delts and triceps on Monday and abs and legs on Tuesday. Take Wednesday off, and then finish off with back, rear delts, traps and biceps on Thursday. Take Friday off, do the first workout (chest, delts and triceps) on Saturday, and then rest on Sunday. On Monday, you’d begin with the leg workout and keep going with the schedule. Here’s how the rotation works: Week 1 Monday: Chest, delts, triceps Free

Tuesday: Abs, legs Wednesday: Rest Thursday: Back, traps, biceps Friday: Rest Saturday: Chest, delts, triceps Sunday: Rest Week 2 Monday: Abs, legs Tuesday: Back, traps, biceps Wednesday: Rest Thursday: Chest, delts, triceps Friday: Rest Saturday: Abs, legs Sunday: Rest Week 3 Monday: Back, traps, biceps Tuesday: Chest, delts, triceps Wednesday: Rest Thursday: Abs, legs Friday: Rest Saturday: Back, traps, biceps Sunday: Rest Now, let’s talk about your diet. I think the reason you’re having so much trouble getting leaner is that you’re eating so many carbs, including a lot of bread and fruit. You need to eat more protein, which will help you build more muscle, while at the same time cutting way back on the carb intake. Eating complete-protein foods (eggs, egg whites, chicken, turkey, fish, lean beef and steak) will give you the amount of protein you need to build more lean muscle.

So I’d begin by eliminating all the bread in your diet.

While you’re at it, you can also take out all the fruit, which contains too many simple sugars. The processed carbs in bread and the simple carbs in fruit are working against your goal of losing bodyfat and reducing your waistline.

Those two changes alone will make a huge difference in your physique. Add the protein, and you’ve got a diet that will eliminate excess bodyfat while helping build more muscle mass. If you find that you’re losing weight too fast or you need more calories to build muscle, slowly add some more carbs like oatmeal or sweet potatoes. You can also try to fit in another meal during the day.

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 Home Gym Warehouse, (800) 447-0008 or www .Home-Gymcom. IM Neveux

(continued from page 98)

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John Hansen

10

B

Stupid Things

Bodybuilders Do to Mess Up Their

Diets

Avoid These Mistakes and Gain Control of Your Eating Habits

by Skip La Cour,

Five-Time NPC Team Universe Champion o odybuilders sure do make some d sstupid mistakes when it comes to w 1) Stupid Order of ttheir eating habits! Awareness + Effective Strategies + Commitment = Results Priorities Okay, I admit that stupid First, be aware of what you’re Some bodybuilders put almost might be a little too harsh currently doing. How can you posall of their focus and effort into the to describe some of the sibly make improvements if you way they train in the gym—and very most common eating chal- don’t know where your efforts are little into the way they eat. being compromised?

Many of the Do you see people who train like lenges bodybuilders face. ineffective strategies you’ve been animals in the gym but don’t have Often the nutrition mis- taught have been passed along physiques that reflect their efforts the way they should? When it comes from bodybuilder to bodybuilder, takes we make—and the from training partner to training to weight training, they’ve learned compromised results we and applied all of the most effecpartner, and even from Internet get—are simply the result message board to Internet message tive training programs, theories in board—all of whose originators exercise execution and repetition of bad information. There had the best intentions when they ranges. They even know what the are, however, easy-to-foloffered their advice. best exercise equipment is and why. low eating tips that can If you are on a regular training When it comes to nutrition, howand eating program, you’re probever, they openly admit that they launch your development ably already committed to becomdon’t know as much as they should into a new level of growth. ing the very best bodybuilder you and don’t even follow through with can be. Making the commitment what they do know. Is that because Here’s a simple equation to follow the effective strategies they assume they can make up for that will take you from the outlined is a critical component of poor eating habits with superhuphysique you’re settling for the equation. It’s also important man training efforts in the gym? to avoid common mistakes many If you want to produce hightoday to the amazing one bodybuilders make when it comes quality muscle and maintain lower you’re determined to earn to their eating habits: bodyfat levels, you must feed in the future: yourself properly. Your nutritional Free download from imbodybuilding.com

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Control of Your Eating Habits habits—not how you train in the gym—have the greatest impact on the development of your physique.

Many experts feel that the way you eat accounts for as much as 80 percent of the way you look. Faced with the dilemma of choosing between training or eating properly as my only vehicle for looking and feeling my very best, I’d choose to eat properly. Sound nutrition is that important to your bodybuilding efforts.

2) Stupid Misunderstanding of Simple Arithmetic Bodybuilders must understand that when they want to lose bodyfat, they have to burn more calories than they take in every day.

It doesn’t matter if all the food is

Many experts feel that the way you eat accounts for as much as 80 percent of the way you look.

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Control of Your Eating Habits

healthy, wholesome or “clean.” The total number of calories you eat must always be less than the number of calories your body efficiently burns.

On the other hand, if you want to build more muscle and gain quality weight, you must strategically eat more food than you burn off each day. Unfortunately, you can’t just stop eating and expect to lose bodyfat, just as you can’t start eating like crazy if you want to gain quality weight.

You must eat the right number of calories spread evenly through the day. If you want to build muscle and lose bodyfat, those calories must be allocated to smaller, more frequent meals that properly distribute protein, carbohydrates and fat. You must follow these basic eating principles on a consistent basis to produce results.

3) Stupid Quests to Find the “Perfect” Diet This mistake occurs when bodybuilders don’t commit to an eating program because they’re always looking for the “perfect” diet. Stop (continued on page 112) searching.

The total number of calories you eat must be fewer than the number of calories your body efficiently burns each day.

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Control of Your Eating Habits

Skip’s Diet Do’s and Don’ts 1) If you want to take your physique to the next level, place a high priority on the way you eat. The way you eat is far more important than the way you train. You’re in the gym for about an hour a day. It’s what you do during the other 23 hours that are going to make the biggest impact on your progress.

2) If you want to lose bodyfat, burn more calories than you eat. It doesn’t matter if almost all of the food you eat is good, healthy food.

You must burn more than you eat, or you’ll get fat.

3) Stop looking for the “perfect” diet. Nothing worth having in life comes without some sacrifice. Eating the way you must to build the body you want will be no exception. In the long run it’s the challenges that we face that make what we have rewarding. How enjoyable would life be if everything was easy? When you start adhering to a particular eating regimen, anticipate the discipline, sacrifice and discomfort that come with the pursuit of any worthwhile goal.

4) Keep your diet simple. That way you’ll give yourself a better chance to follow through and ultimately achieve successful results. If you must make your diet more complex, do so on the weekends only.

5) Eat smaller, more frequent and well-balanced meals spaced evenly throughout the day. Your body will use the nutrients in your food more efficiently. You’ll build more muscle and prevent bodyfat.

6) If you want to make sure you preserve as much muscle mass as possible, start eating a small protein-based meal with high-glycemic carbohydrates before every one of your weight-training and cardiovascular sessions.

7) Eat a small meal composed of a high-quality protein source and high-glycemic carbohydrates immediately after your weight-training and cardiovascular-training workouts. Doing so will protect the muscle you’ve already earned and immediately kick the massively important recovery process into gear.

(continued from page 108) People are

often distracted looking for a diet that requires less discipline than the eating program they are currently on. If the diet doesn’t work as quickly or effectively as they expected, they blame the diet—and not their standards or expectations.

Diets appeal to people for reasons besides their level of effectiveness. The Atkins diet, for example, may seem great to some people because they love to eat meat. The Zone diet may seem ideal to other people because they love salads and vegetables. A strict, bland bodybuilding diet may appear to be the best option to people who like the fact that they aren’t required to

If you’ve accumulated excess bodyfat, you have to pay the price. There will be some sacrifice.

8) Carbohydrates are an essential part of the muscle-building process. Instead of trying to eliminate carbohydrates altogether, make sure you’re eating the right types of carbohydrates at the right times.

High-glycemic carbohydrates (potatoes, simple sugars) are best before and after your workouts; low-glycemic carbohydrates like vegetables are great throughout the rest of the day.

make decisions for themselves on a continual basis or because they really enjoy the taste of meal replacements.

The “perfect” diet tastes good, 9) Be patient. If you’re not getting lets you eat plenty of food, helps the results you want with your you shed bodyfat and build musdiet, you’ll need to raise your stancle—quickly and painlessly. Also, dards. You either need to do a little the perfect diet must not be so more of this or a little less of that. strict that you can’t go off it every You may also need to make these changes for a longer period of time. once in a while, or whenever you want, for that matter, without im10) Don’t blame your diet when peding your amazing progress. It you aren’t getting the results you doesn’t exist. want. Take 100 percent responsiIf you’ve accumulated excess bility for your success or failure. bodyfat, you have to pay the Just about any eating program can price—spending a little more time be effective—if you follow though sweating on a treadmill, feeling on a consistent basis. If you aren’t hungry on occasion, skipping a getting the results you want, asfew “cheat” meals you’ve budgeted sume that the problem is in your into your eating regimen or all of approach. the above. Whatever method you Remember, you won’t start getting choose, some sacrifice, discipline big until you start thinking big! and pain will be involved in the dieting process.

—Skip La Cour (continued on page 116) If you download from imbodybuilding.com

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Control of Your Eating Habits (continued from page 112) aren’t burn-

ing enough calories, aren’t dieting long enough or are not incorporating a combination of those factors, your diet isn’t going to work. It’s not because you haven’t found the “right” diet for your body yet and it’s not because you’ve got an incredibly slow metabolism. If you are carrying more bodyfat than you’d like, the problem is that you’re eating too much—period. You must either eat less food or lower your expectations.

To build high-quality muscle, you must eat the right number of calories spread evenly through the day in smaller, more frequent meals that have the proper ratio of protein to carbohydrates to fat. You must follow these basic eating principles consistently to produce results.

4) Stupid Eating Plans That Are Too Difficult to Follow You’ll see this with bodybuilders who make their diets so compli-

cated that they often don’t follow through. Some people put a lot of thought and effort into deciding what foods they’re going to enjoy at a future meal. In my opinion, that makes the eating process far too complicated, and the more complicated your nutritional program, the more difficult it’ll be to follow through with.

Just because a diet is simple doesn’t mean its not effective. During the week I intentionally keep my meals plain and simple. If I decide to relax at all with my habits, it’s on the weekends.

The less thinking and extra planning you have to do to feed yourself properly, the better. Try to look at eating as merely a method of building quality muscle, fueling great workouts and keeping your body lean and looking good—at least during your work or school week. If you

need more variety or flexibility, have it on the weekends only.

5) Stupid Food Distribution Some bodybuilders gorge themselves on a couple of large meals during day. The meals are so large and infrequent that their bodies can’t process all the calories efficiently.

One of the most important keys to building muscle, losing bodyfat and feeling energetic throughout the day is controlling your metabolism. Metabolism is the rate at which the nutrients in your food are processed, meaning absorbed by the body, converted and used for energy or excreted as waste.

Eating meals throughout the day at specific times helps you engineer

The more complicated your diet, the more difficult it’ll be to follow.

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Control of Your Eating Habits

If I decide to relax at all with my habits, it’s on the weekends. a more effective metabolism. If you forces the protein into your raventake a couple of weeks for your can increase the efficiency of your ous muscles. metabolism to speed up to the metabolism, you’ll have a better efficiency it should be operating at chance of packing on more muscle to meet your bodybuilding goals. If and fending off bodyfat over time. you are persistent, it will eventually The “mass” you eat will have a betadjust. The amount you are eating ter chance to turn into “mass” on may make you feel full right now, your body in the form of high-qualbut soon you’ll actually be hungry ity muscle instead of fat. and anticipate when it’s time to eat The human body’s “famine your next scheduled meal. defense mechanism” keeps some bodyfat as a safety reserve at all times. If you can increase the efYou need to eat immediately ficiency of your metabolism, your after your workouts. For the same body will become conditioned to reasons that you must eat properly lower levels of bodyfat. before you train, you must eat a Depending on how efficiently small meal composed of highyou feed your body, you will either quality protein and high-glycemic increase its metabolic rate to supcarbohydrates after your workouts. ply you with more energy throughDoing so will protect the muscle out your day or slow it down to Intense training drains the limyou’ve already earned and immediconserve what little energy it has ited protein stores your muscles ately kick the massively important left. If your body isn’t supplied with carry. Within a very short period recovery process into gear. a steady stream of nutrients to after you start training, you’ll be If you tear it up in the gym the use as energy, it will start shutting running on empty. That’s incredway you like to do during your down by giving itself less and less ibly detrimental to muscle growth workouts, your muscles are likely to energy to work with. and repair. Those harmful effects be depleted of their valuable proWhatever challenges your life or are magnified the more intensely tein stores—even if you eat before job schedule may create, a workthe workout. Your blood sugar able eating plan is possible. You just you train. It’s important to have a source of protein that your body levels will be lowered as well, which need to make sure you begin each can quickly access during your means the muscles will have diffiday with a specific plan. culty getting the protein they need Not feeling hungry when it’s time workouts. The protein source should also be taken with a highto maintain their size. to eat doesn’t necessarily mean glycemic source of carbohydrates.

I used to believe that you you’re eating too much. Many Training in general, whether carshouldn’t eat anything for a period people who begin a well-structured diovascular or with weights, lowers of time after doing cardiovascular diet consisting of the proper numyour blood sugar levels. When that training. I must have read someber of calories often feel they’re happens, muscles have difficulty where that doing so would cause eating too much. When you haven’t getting the protein they need to the body to stop using stored bodyeaten enough food to meet your maintain their size. Taking in highfat as fuel. Instead, you’d start using body’s requirements, your metaboglycemic carbohydrates along with the food you just made available as lism begins to run less efficiently. your high-quality protein spikes fuel.

Stick with your regimen of eatyour blood sugar and actually Even so, you don’t burn enough ing five to seven meals a day.

It may Free download from imbodybuilding.com

6) Stupid Preworkout Eating Plans That Leave the Muscles Starving for the Nutrients They Need to Grow

7) Stupid Postworkout Eating Plans That Don’t Start the Recovery Process When It’s Most Needed

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Control of Your Eating Habits

fat at the time you train or immediately afterward to justify not protecting your starving muscles from damage caused by training.

Effectively burning bodyfat has far more to do with the number of calories you take in vs. the number you burn throughout the entire day.

8) Stupid Carbohydrate Avoidance Many bodybuilders who are trying to lose bodyfat go on extremely low-carbohydrate diets.

Low-carb diets can help you shed bodyfat. No doubt about it, they create a deficit between the calories you eat and the calories you burn every day. That’s the key to losing bodyweight (see mistake 2).

Part of the weight you lose on a low-carbohydrate diet, though, is some of the muscle you’ve worked so hard to put on. I used to be a big advocate of low-carbohydrate diets. They helped me get ripped, but they didn’t help protect the muscle I had—and you can forget about them helping effectively build more muscle.

Instead of trying to eliminate carbohydrates altogether, you should make sure you’re eating the right types of carbohydrates at the right times of day. When I started getting high-glycemic carbohydrates before and immediately after my workouts, I began to build and preserve more muscle. Eating high-glycemic, glucose carbohydrates at those times spiked my insulin levels and helped force the much-needed protein I ate with them into the muscles.

When you’re three hours outside your workouts, then you want to limit your carbohydrates to the ones that fall into the lowglycemic-index category. Vegetables are a great source of those types of carbohydrates, and you can eat as much as you want. If I had anything close to resembling

It’s important to have a source of protein that your body can quickly access during your workouts.

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Control of Your Eating Habits

a “secret weapon” that I could offer in terms of nutritional practices, it would be to eat as many vegetables as possible every day.

Besides providing an excellent, sustained source of energy, these fibrous carbohydrates enable me to eat a larger amount of food by volume than if I were eating starchy carbohydrates (such as rice, pasta, potatoes, etc.) while getting fewer calories. Just about all the calories in the vegetables you eat are negated by the work your body does to digest them. The opposite is true of starchy carbohydrates.

Because of the low-glycemic value of vegetables, my insulin levels are managed much more efficiently than when I eat starchy carbohydrates. That means fewer ups and downs in my energy levels, fewer mood swings and less chance for excess calories I may eat to be stored as unwanted bodyfat.

Eating vegetables also slows down the digestive process, which will ensure that my body efficiently utilizes the precious protein I eat and depend on to repair and build muscle tissue.

Although some people believe fresh vegetables are best for you,

don’t be afraid to take advantage of the convenience of frozen vegetables. There is only a slight difference in the nutritional values of frozen and fresh vegetables.

9) Stupid Unrealistic Expectations You must give the diet you have chosen your full attention to get the best results. Just about any diet, when implemented on a consistent basis, will work for you. You must have confidence in your diet, however, and that can be a challenge.

Just when you think you are on the right path, you will hear or read about a new “miracle” diet.

Even if your diet is working, you will sometimes doubt if it is working well or fast enough. So instead of focusing on the differences, try to discover how the diets are similar. You need to ask yourself what the diets have in common.

Food selection, food quantities, meal frequency, meal timing, cardiovascular-training intensity and frequency, weight training and frequency are all factors that are 100 percent in your own control.

Focus on finding the combination of factors that works best for you.

10) Stupid Blame Game It’s a slip-up when bodybuilders blame their nutritional plan or poor genetics because they don’t see the results they wanted.

Take 100 percent responsibility for your success and failure. If you’re not getting the results you want, it’s you and not necessarily your diet that’s letting you down.

It’s not your challenging situation, genetic limitations or time management dilemmas that are preventing you from reaching your goals. Your inability to do what it takes (or find out what it takes) to overcome your challenging situation, genetic limitations or time management dilemmas is what must be addressed—and overcome.

People sometimes unfairly compare themselves to other people.

“They can eat anything they want and still look good while I eat like a bird and gain weight!” The route you take may not seem as easy as it is for some- (continued on page 126)

Instead of trying to eliminate carbohydrates altogether, you should make sure you’re eating the right types of carbs at the right times of day.

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Control of Your Eating Habits (continued from page 122) one else,

but you can overcome your challenges.

You must realize that you are determining the quality of your physique with the decisions you make.

Maybe you don’t want to pay the price for the physique you thought you wanted. If you don’t want to pay the price, that’s fine. But you must accept the decision that you’ve made. Don’t blame your lack of knowledge—blame your lack of desire. Don’t blame your genetics or personal conditions—blame the fact that you decided not to overcome those challenges at this time.

If you don’t like how things are going, you must commit yourself to finding a way to make them better.

However, this won’t happen until you accept ultimate responsibility.

Editor’s note: Visit Skip La Cour’s Web site at www.SkipLaCour .com. Take your physique to the next level by ordering Skip La Cour’s new DVD “Packing On Muscle! Max-OT Style.” The two-disc four-hour training, instructional and motivational DVD includes a complete week of training (explained in great detail and jampacked with perceptive insights), exercises not included in the training week, instruction and video footage of cardiovascular training, inspirational training segments, assorted detailed and unique “next

Excess Estrogen and Stubborn Fat According to Ori Hofmekler, author of The Warrior Diet, “We live in an overestrogenic world. Never before has the human body been exposed to such an overwhelming amount of estrogen chemicals in the environment and food supply.”

What’s so bad about the hormone estrogen? From a health standpoint, an overabundance of it can set the stage for serious illness, including cancer, and it also promotes fat gain and makes bodyfat much harder to lose.

Excess estrogen can make you fat, and the more fat you have, the more your body will aromatize testosterone into estrogen. It’s a vicious circle, and a big reason that it’s so hard to lose bodyfat, especially stubborn fat that is highly sensitive to estrogen.

What can you do to reduce excess estrogen in your body and make your fat-loss diet more efficient? Hofmekler suggests increasing your intake of cruciferous vegetables, like broccoli and cauliflower; increasing your intake of omega-3 oils from fatty fish like salmon and halibut; minimizing your consumption of alcohol and supplementing with an estrogen inhibitor.

The latest estrogen inhibitor is EstroX, which contains a number of natural aromatase inhibitors derived from herbs and cruciferous vegetables. Recent studies verify that the estrogen-inhibiting compounds in EstroX have a significant impact on health and fat-burning activity. For the latest information on this new breakthrough product, visit Home Gym Warehouse, www.Home-Gym.com. level” tips, contest footage and a one-hour nutrition seminar. If you want to pack on slabs of muscle in the shortest time, this DVD is for you. It’s only $49.99 (plus $8.50 for shipping and handling—total $58.49; international orders add

$17.50 for shipping and handling— total $67.49). Order online at www.

SkipLaCour.com. Credit card orders call (800) 655-0986. Or send check or money order to Skip La Cour, 712 Bancroft Road #259, Walnut Creek, CA 94598. IM

If you’re not getting the results you want, it’s you and not necessarily your diet that’s letting you down.

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by Ron Harris Photography by MichaelFree Neveux download

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Model: Derik Farnsworth

A Bodybuilder Is Born

A

r e d l i u b y d Bo Is

Born Episode 10:

Dealing With Injury

saw it coming, but it was too late. As I started to warn Randy that he was rounding his back, something snapped, and he screamed like a little girl. I would like to say that everyone in the gym stopped to see what had happened, but the truth is, they were so used to my inflicting pain on Randy that it drew only a couple of casual glances. Just those two bodybuilder knuckleheads at it again.

The barbell loaded to 185 pounds was dropped like a hot potato, landing with a clang of metal that reverberated throughout the gym.

Randy had been doing his second work set of stiff-legged deadlifts, our second exercise after squats on leg day. I knew that the workout was over.

“My back, ow, my f–ing back!” he yelped, his face a grimace of agony. It was a momentous occasion, though not one to celebrate.

Randy had just suffered his very first training injury. And as he was about to learn from the master of getting hurt, the injury itself isn’t the issue. It’s how you manage and deal with it that truly dictates the outcome.

My chiropractor got a new patient that day, and luckily for Randy, he was able to see him within the hour. Another stroke of good fortune was that Randy hadn’t done anything as serious as herniating a disk.

The diagnosis was a muscle strain in the lumbar area on his left side, which could be treated with several daily ice-pack applications along with every-other-day adjustments and massage therapy. It was a good thing Randy’s health insurance covered all that, or he might have had to choose between healing his back injury or getting the Mustang GT convertible he was planning on for the summer. I had a feeling the Mustang would have won too.

I called him at home that night to check on his injury and, more important, to see how it was affecting his attitude. His back problem was going to have an impact Free on his training, but the level of that impact download from imbodybuilding.com

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A Bodybuilder Is Born

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Strict, seated movements put was really up to him. less pressure on the lower-back “How are you feeling, Junior?” I muscles—as long as you don’t said with as much cheer as I could muster. start heaving up the weight.

“Awful,” Randy whined. “It hurts even when I take off my shoes and socks.”

“Well, if you were married, like I was at your age, you would have a wife to do that for you. That’s what you get for still being a player, studmuffin.” Normally Randy got a little ego boost when I reminded him of how popular he was with the young ladies, but I could tell from the silence on the other end that he was dwelling on the ache in his back.

“How long do I need to take off from training, do you think?” he asked solemnly. “A couple weeks, a month?”

“Be there tomorrow at the usual time,” I responded.

“What? Are you trying to kill me?

My back is all messed up.”

“Don’t worry,” I cut him off. “Just trust me. I won’t let you hurt yourself any more. I’ve been in your exact situation many times.”

“I don’t know, Ron. I think I’d be better off just resting for a few days,” he said, a bit of pleading in his voice.

“Nine o’clock,” was all I said, and I hung up on him.

The following morning I found him sitting on a flat bench, glowering, with his gym bag beside him, ready to leave if I wasn’t able to convince him that my intentions were good.

Perhaps he thought jealousy had finally overtaken me, and I was taking the opportunity to put him out of commission for good before he grew I shook my head.

When I was a kid, I used to go out into the great bodybuilder he was “Kid, I hurt my lower back for and bark at the full moon because destined to be. I would be lying if I I thought it would make me turn said I wasn’t a little envious of Randy’s the first time when I was 18, and in into a werewolf so I could attack all potential. With my help he was going the 15 years since then I’ve probably hurt it another 30 or 40 times. the bullies at school. But I wasn’t to go much further in bodybuilding crazy when I trained with a hurt competition and at a markedly faster Sometimes it was so bad, I had to get in and out of bed like a robot, lower back. The fact is, you can train rate than I had. Plus, he was much keeping my body perfectly straight. around almost any injury if you better looking and was destined to know how to.” get a lot more publicity. But he should Out of all those times, how much training do you think I missed alto“I’m listening,” Randy said, fihave known that I considered him a gether?” nally, with a hint of optimism. I little brother and would never do a Randy shrugged. “I don’t know, a knew that left to his own devices, thing to hurt him—unless it was the few months?” he’d wallow in self-pity, as most constructive type of pain that would “Try none. I was always right back bodybuilders do when they get hurt. make him bigger and stronger. in the gym the next day I was supMy wife, Janet, used to hate when “Ready for some shoulders and posed to train.”

I was injured, not so much out of biceps?” I chimed pleasantly.

“You’re crazy,” he said, shaking loving concern but because she was “You’re kidding me, right? Is this his head. the one stuck listening to me bitch some kind of test to see if I’m too “That may be true in general. and moan about it. And I’m sorry to dumb to know when to takeFree a break?” download from imbodybuilding.com

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Using different exercises—like preacher curls instead of standing curls—can let you train around lower-back injuries.

You may even stimulate new growth. say that if they had an Olympics for head, we started with seated latcomplaining, I would have brought eral raises to preexhaust his delts, home the gold several times. Even with his back safely supported by the formidable Russian team would the seat back on the bench. From have crumbled before my incessant there we did seated front presses whining. on a Smith machine, and again he “Instead of telling you how to kept his back pressed flat against train around this, let me show you.” the seat back to prevent him from Everything we did in the following arching and putting pressure on hour was designed to work Randy’s the strained muscles. The weight shoulders and biceps hard without was moderate, and I had him slow putting his back at risk for any furthe reps and pause in the bottom ther damage. So that he wouldn’t position to make it feel even heavihave to press heavy weights overer thanfrom it was. imbodybuilding.com Free download

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We worked rear delts with dumbbells while lying facedown on an incline bench, and everything we did for biceps took place on the preacher bench or a machine. To show him how involved the lower back is as a stabilizer in almost every exercise, I had him do a light set of standing alternate dumbbell curls. Just a few reps in he winced in pain.

“You felt it, right?” He nodded.

“Until you hurt your lower back, you have no idea how huge a role it plays in nearly everything you do in the gym. But now you know.”

“Ignorance was bliss,” Randy quipped.

“But you see what I mean? You can train around this until your back is feeling better again. You just have to be creative and very careful.

Look, the way we train as bodybuilders, there is always an inherent risk. If you want to play it safe, slap on a headband and do the machine circuit with baby weights three

Allowing your hips to roll up off the back pad on leg presses can damage your lower back.

Model: Marvin Montoya

A Bodybuilder Is Born

times a week. I very much doubt this will be the last time you get hurt. But you are learning now how to deal with it when it happens.

It’s how you handle yourself when things go wrong that really separates the winners from the losers.”

And don’t arch your lower back excessively on any type of bench press.

“Quitters never win and winners never quit,” he replied.

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A Bodybuilder Is Born

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Hyperextensions can help rehab a lower-back injury and keep your lumbars strong.

“Man, we just sound like a bunch of bumper sticker slogans today, don’t we?” I joked. But Randy didn’t look too happy.

“I don’t know how I’m going to squat now,” he said sulkily.

“You won’t squat for a little while, you’ll just do leg presses instead.

Hey, I won’t tell your legs if you don’t.”

“How long do you think this is going to take to get better?”

“I can’t say. You’re young and resilient, and as long as you keep getting it treated and are careful, you’ll probably be back to the old Randy in under a month.” That brightened him up. “And I tell you what else: Don’t be too surprised if the modified way of training ends up delivering some new gains. It’s completely different from what you’ve been doing these past few months.”

Finally, he seemed to lift out of his gloom and smile.

“That would be cool.”

“Ready for something else you would see on a bumper sticker or a T-shirt? When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” Randy groaned, and I didn’t blame him.

As it turned out, Randy’s back was free from pain in a little more than two weeks. We started doing weighted hyperextensions twice a week instead of once to strengthen his lumbar muscles as insurance against reinjury. And did our young hero shrivel up to nothing in that time? Quite the opposite—he gained three pounds. Had he taken two weeks off from training, as he’d originally planned, he probably would have lost at least five pounds, especially with his metabolism.

Yes, there was no stopping litFreemydownload

tle grasshopper now. He had shown that nothing was going to stop him, and that is exactly the type of mental toughness that will keep him going when most of the others have given up. This one wasn’t going to let me down.

Editor’s note: Visit Ron Harris’ Web site, www.RonHarrisMuscle. com. IM

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IRON MAN Research Team

DOMS Every Bodybuilder’s Worst Enemy

by Clayton South • Photography by Michael Neveux When combined with proper nutrition and supplementation, exercise builds muscle, burns fat, improves cardiovascular health, strengthens the heart, improves quality of life and reduces our chances of getting various diseases like cancer, diabetes and obesity. It’s a fact: Exercise saves lives.

Unfortunately, hard exercise is extremely hard on the body. Weightlifting is especially so because it works the muscles and central nervous system to their limits and forces the body to use all of its recovery systems to adapt and grow stronger.

A muscle lifting a weight is subjected to incredible stresses, all of which damage the muscle as the length of the set increases and as the muscle works ever closer to energy depletion and failure. Although taxing, that process is essential for muscle building.

Unfortunately, the techniques used to trigger muscle growth can induce overtraining and DOMS— delayed-onset muscle soreness.

strength. While younger and less conditioned athletes are all likely to experience DOMS at some point in the beginning phase of their bodybuilding careers, older and more experienced athletes are equally susceptible, despite their muscular maturity and excellent conditioning.

DOMS Onset It used to be thought that delayed-onset muscle soreness was caused by the buildup of lactic acid in muscle tissue; however, new research disputes that idea. Although it’s not yet totally clear how DOMS occurs, scientists today know that

When DOMS Strikes Delayed-onset muscle soreness is an enemy familiar to new and seasoned athletes. Whereas normal muscle soreness immediately follows exercise and usually lasts for less than two days, DOMS is a debilitating and painful condition that sets in several days after a hardtraining session. Sometimes, DOMS can last for up to one week.

It’s especially harmful because, unlike normal training soreness, DOMS dramatically reduces immune system function, stunts muscle growth and decreases muscle Free download

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DOMS Treatment and Prevention

its onset is influenced by three variables: 1) Athletic conditioning, age and the skeletomuscular system

Model: Lee Labrada

Whereas it’s relatively simple to repair structural damage to skeletal muscles by nutritional 2) Structural damage means, controlling or to muscle tissue and reducing the inflamtendons matory response to exercise and preventing 3) The inflammatory or reducing the pain is response system more complicated.

Athletic condiTraditional treatment tioning, age and the options for muscular skeletomuscular inflammation have until system. Weight trainnow consisted of ining damages muscle creasing calorie intake structures and trigfrom proteins and fats, gers adaptation, or and self-medicating growth. The degree of with nonsteroidal antimicrotrauma inflicted inflammatory drugs on skeletal-muscle (NSAIDS) like ibuprofen tissue and the speed or acetaminophen. many also fail to stretch or exercise and efficiency of the While increasing correctly. Many young athletes adaptive growth response depend calorie intake from unsaturated fats employ advanced lifting techniques, and complete proteins may modon the age and conditioning of the or they exercise excessively in the athlete who’s doing the work and erately speed recovery in certain hope of triggering “extreme muscle the condition of the muscle being cases, the inflammatory response growth,” which can lead to excessive to exercise is primarily enzymatic worked—that is, how strong and big muscle tissue and tendon damthe muscle is and how resistant it is in nature and, within the context of age—and DOMS. to damage because of past adaptaalready existing sound nutritional But, paradoxically, research tions in response to weightlifting practices, an energy increase from shows that although DOMS folstimulus. fats and proteins will generally yield lows hard-training sessions, the Whereas muscular microtrauma no measurable recovery benefit. severity of it isn’t an indication of is easily inflicted on unconditioned And, while ibuprofen and acetthe structural damage inflicted on muscles, highly conditioned and aminophen do temporarily reduce muscle tissue and tendons. Instead, highly adapted muscles must be inflammation symptoms, these research shows that its severity is an “shocked” into growth by advanced over-the-counter painkillers stunt indicator of the inflammatory rebodybuilding techniques. Condimuscle growth and can damage the tioned muscle tissues that are highly sponse that follows exercise.1 liver.2 The inflammatory response Beginning and advanced athletes adapted to resistance training are system. The exercise process trighave an equal chance of experiencmore difficult to damage and to gers the inflammatory response ing DOMS. In the case of beginners, induce to grow. system and the activaDOMS sets in because Older and highly adapted athtion of pro-inflammathey lack muscular conletes, however, are, for different tory cytokinases and ditioning and because reasons, just as likely to experience PGE2, or prostaglandin the pro-inflammatory DOMS as their younger and lessE2. That draws water to response system that’s conditioned counterparts. the damaged bodypart, triggered by exercise Structural damage to muscle leading to edema, and is overactive and not tissue and tendons. Inflicting increases pain sensitivadjusted to their traindamage to a highly adapted muscle ity to exercise. ing volume. By contrast, is difficult, and for that reason older Simply put, DOMS advanced athletes are and highly conditioned and adapted occurs because of the likely to experience athletes are less likely to experiinflammatory response DOMS not because they ence DOMS as a result of structural that’s triggered by lack muscular condidamage to muscles and tendons. exercise—and DOMS tioning but because Instead, older athletes are likely to increases in severity their enzyme levels experience DOMS because of enzyas the inflammatory and their inflammatory matic deficiencies. response extends for response systems are Unconditioned athletes, by conlong periods. slower and less efficient trast, are at risk for DOMS because due to age. they not only lack conditioning, but Free download from imbodybuilding.com

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IRON MAN Research Team In either case—beginner or advanced, young or old—the inflammation process and exercise-triggered response system are enzymatically based, and managing or preventing DOMS is possible only through enzymatic means.

Enzyme Science

faster recovery and a decreased chance of DOMS onset.11,12,13,14 Sitosterols. Sitosterols are plant sterols, and they’re especially good at combating DOMS because they can increase T cell and CD4 activity while simultaneously decreasing levels of interleukin 6—an inflam-

matory chemical that increases in response to exercise.15,16 Sitosterols also reduce cortisol levels and improve cortisol-to-DHEA ratios and have indirect muscle-building effects.17

Why Regular Digestive Enzymes Don’t Work

The concept of using enzymes to Regular digestive enzymes are References 1 combat DOMS is well established. great for food digestion and nutrient Nosaka, K., et al. (2002). Delayed-onset muscle soreness does not reflect the magnitude of A 1957 study showed that protease absorption, but they can’t control eccentric exercise-induced muscle damage. Scand enzyme supplementation may have the exercise-induced inflammatory J Med Sci Sports. 12(6):337-346. anti-inflammatory effects.3 Unforresponse or combat DOMS. Only 2 Trappe, T. A., et al. (2002). Effect of ibuprofen tunately, absorption issues and the a special, scientifically proven forand acetaminophen on postexercise muscle destruction of enzymes in the gut mulation of protease/proteolytic protein synthesis. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab.

282:E551-E556. have severely limited the effectiveenzymes, along with sitosterols, can 3 Innerfield, I. (1957). The anti-inflammatory ness of traditional anti-DOMS enexert the systemic effects needed to effect of parenterally administered proteases. Ann zyme therapy. effectively combat DOMS. N Y Acad Sci. 68(1):167-176.

4 Typically, the absorption rate of Sorenzyme by Labrada NutriMiller, P.C., et al. (2004). The effects of protease supplementation on skeletal muscle function orally ingested enzymes is low— tion was developed by a leading and D.O.M.S. following downhill running. J Sports with protease enzymes’ absorption nutritional biochemist, and only Sciences. 22:365-372. rates ranging between 40 percent Sorenzyme uses clinically proven 5 Kelly, G.S. (1997). Sports nutrition: A review of for bromelain and greater for mixed anti-inflammatory, anti-DOMS selected nutritional supplements for bodybuilders and strength athletes. Alt Med Rev. 2:184–201. protease products, and a rate of enzymes.15 6 Atal, C.K., Zutshi, U., and Rao, P.G. (1981).

Sorenzyme is a safe, all-natural about 5 percent absorption for Scientific evidence on the role of Ayurvedic herband clinically proven anti-DOMS orally ingested sitosterols.4,5 als on bioavailability of drugs. J Ethnopharmacol.

To solve the absorption difficulformula, and studies show that its 4(2):229-232.

7 Velpandian, T., et al. (2001). Piperine in food: ties, scientists added the ingredient ingredients can reduce postworkout interference in the pharmacokinetics of phenytoin. piperine to enzyme mixtures. An muscle inflammation by up to 63 Eur J Drug Metab Pharmacokinet. 26(4):241-247. ingredient extracted from pepper, percent.4 Not only that, but Soren8 Woolf, R.M., et al. (1965). Resolution of an arzyme is real-world tested—athletes piperine increased enzyme absorptificially induced hematoma and the influence of a using it 60 to 90 minutes before tion by up to 60 percent.6,7 proteolytic enzyme. J Trauma. 5:491-493.

9 Vellini, M., et al. (1986). Possible involvement The current advances in science, exercise suffered less injury from of eicosanoids in the pharmacological action of human nutrition and dietary-supexercise and noticed anti-DOMS bromelain. Drug Res. 36:110-112. plement technologies now enable benefits for up to six months after 10 Taussig, S.J., and Batkin, S. (1988). Bromeus to successfully study the effecusing it. lain, the enzyme complex of pineapple and its clinical application. J Ethnopharm. 22:191-203. tiveness of oral doses of protease 11 Donaho, C., and Rylander, C. (1962). Proteoand sitosterol enzymes on the exerFinal Thoughts lytic enzymes in athletic injuries: A double-blind cise-induced inflammatory process study of a new anti-inflammatory agent. Del Med It’s true that exercise is good for that causes DOMS. The results are J. 34:168-170.

12 Cirelli, M.G. (1964). Clinical experience your health—it builds muscle, burns provocative. with bromelains in proteolytic enzyme therapy of fat and improves cardiovascular Protease enzymes. Protease inflammation and edema. Med Times. 92(9):919health—but DOMS is a debilitating enzymes are essential because they 922.

13 and extremely painful condition play an especially important role Deitrick, R.E. (1965). Oral proteolytic enzymes in the treatment of athletic injuries: A that stops your results cold. By adin the exercise-induced muscular double-blind study. Pa Med J. 68:35-37. dressing the underlying enzymeinflammation process that causes 14 Remuzzi, G., et al. (1978). Haemolyticbased inflammatory process that DOMS. uraemic syndrome: deficiency of plasma faccauses DOMS, you’ll lessen the Protease enzymes include tryptor(s) regulating prostacyclin activity? Lancet. effects of DOMS or prevent its onset sin, bromelain, chymotrypsin and 2(8095):871-872.

15 Taussig, S.J. (1980). The mechanism of the altogether. papain, and they help cleanse physiological action of bromelain. Med Hypothyour blood of excess proteins and eses. 6:99-104.

Editor’s note: We want you to prevent invading organisms from 16 Keller, C., et al. (2005). Effect of exercise, try this amazing new supplement, attacking your immune system. training, and glycogen availability on IL-6 receptor expression in human skeletal muscle. J Appl so we’ve got a rock-bottom ITRC They’re scientifically proven to Physiol. 99(6):2075-2079. price. Get two bottles of Labrada’s inhibit the pro-inflammatory re17 Bouic, P.J.D., et al. (1999). The effects of b-sitoSorenzyme for only $79.95 (you save sponse that leads to DOMS.8, 9,10 In sterol (BSS) and b-sitosterol glycoside (BSSG) mixaddition, protease enzymes inhibit $20). Call (800) 447-0008 and ask ture on selected immune parameters of marathon runners: Inhibition of post marathon immune the action of PGE2 and stimulate for the ITRC Sorenzyme Special. suppression and inflammation. Int J Sports Med. anti-inflammatory agents—leading IM 20:258-262. to less muscle pain fromFree exercise, download from imbodybuilding.com

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Heavy He e vy

Duty Serving the Needs of the

Growth Mechanism • by John Little •

I I’ve been following the Ideal Routine ffrom High Intensity Training the Mike M Mentzer Way (Contemporary B Books, Chicago). I started by trainiing once every 96 hours (four days), as Mike e su sug gg suggests, and I made great strength gains for four months. At that point my progress slowed considerably. Then I followed Mike’s advice and took a three-week layoff before reducing my training to once every seven days. Now my strength increases are spectacular compared to anything I’ve ever experienced. Despite my strength gains, however, I’ve gained little bodyweight. I’m not much of an eater, and taking in the extra calories that Mike recommends in his books makes me quite uncomfortable. What do I do?

A: Since you’ve been training according to Mike’s directions in High Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way—i.e., training to at least positive failure—I’ve no doubt that you’re engaging the growth mechanism of the body and that a change is occurring in your musculature. Even so, as Mike pointed out, you require more calories so that the growth mechanism has the nutri-

tional raw materials to build the new mass your training has stimulated. As he once said: “I’m not speaking metaphorically when I refer to a ‘growth mechanism.’ It involves a series of specific, logically sequenced biochemical changes. The workout itself doesn’t produce muscle growth; it’s merely a stimulus that produces a change within the body. (Exercise is capable of producing two kinds of results: a positive change, which occurs when you exercise properly, training with sufficient intensity and not overtraining, or a negative change, which occurs when you train improperly.) In other words, it’s the body that produces the growth—but only if two requirements are met: adequate rest, so the body has the time it requires to respond to the training stimulus via full recovery and completion of the growth process, and enough calories beyond maintenance needs so it has sufficient nutritional raw materials to meet the needs of the growth mechanism.”

Your strength increases indicate that you’re stimulating more growth than you’re getting. I understand that some people find it uncomfortable to eat more than maintenance levels of food. Nevertheless, I’d echo Mike’s advice to eat up to 500 calories beyond your maintenance level a day. Don’t make it unduly tortur-

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Heavy Duty To optimize muscle growth, eat up to 500 calories beyond your maintenance levels a day. day and mix it with whole or skim milk.

Drink intermittently through the day in small doses—as little as half a glass at a time, if necessary—and you’ll be getting close to the exact number of extra calories and nutrients required, with little or no discomfort.”

Arm Yourself: Less Is Often More

ous, however. For as many days as you can tolerate, eat the additional calories, which you can do rather easily. I’m not suggesting that you indiscriminately eat excess amounts of food; that will only make you fat.

Rather, do it methodically: Keep a nutrition journal for several days and establish your present daily calorie-intake average, which in your case will roughly be your maintenance level. Then increase your calories. Let’s give Mike the final word on the matter: “Eat the additional food for as many days as you can tolerate, then back off, reducing your calories for a couple of days to maintenance level.

Once you’re comfortable, up the calories again for as long as you can possibly tolerate it. Continue increasing and lowering your calories, and over time you’ll find that your metabolism will change and the additional food won’t bother you. The easiest way to increase your food intake is to take a packet of one of the very good protein products each

Q: I’m having trouble getting my arms to grow.

I believe I’m training them with the right exercises—four for biceps, four for triceps, for a total of 16 sets each. I train my arms three times a week, but they’re still not growing! Should I be doing more sets? I’m hoping that you can point out something I’m doing wrong that will get me back on the path of muscular progress again.

A: Yes, I can point out something you’re doing wrong—everything! You’re performing way too many sets of way too many exercises, way too many times per week. Mike trained more than 2,000 clients during his years as a personal trainer and never—never—did he find that his clients required more than one set per exercise and never more than two sets per muscle group to stimulate maximum growth. Oh, yes—and he never had them train their arms directly more than once every 12 days. Indeed, during a recent visit to Mike’s official Web site, I reviewed the “Tips” section,

which contains pointers and tips from Mike and is updated regularly.

One of Mike’s tips might prove of interest to you: “For some, even one set for certain bodyparts may prove more than the individual can tolerate or even need. For instance, over the years, I’ve had training clients who informed me at the start that they couldn’t stimulate growth in their calves, whether they were training them with 12 sets three times a week or just one set once a week. They took my advice, acknowledging the possibility that even one set may be too much, then ceased training their calves entirely. These individuals reported to me on a regular basis, claiming calf increases of 3/4” to 1 1/2” in several months. Similarly, I’ve had clients who gained quite well overall, with their greatest circumference increase in the neck.

Those examples prove the reality (continued on page 158) of ‘indirect “For some, even one set for certain bodyparts may prove more than the individual can tolerate or even need.”

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Heavy Duty (continued from page 154) effect.’ That

is, when growth is stimulated in one muscle, it’s stimulated through your entire musculature—though to a lesser degree; and the larger the muscle being worked, the greater the degree of indirect effect.

“Conclusion: If you have a lagging bodypart, stop training that part entirely for a few weeks, then resume with a lesser number of sets, or, with calves and neck, stop training them entirely.”

You’re presently training with so many sets and exercises that even if you stimulated growth from such workouts, your body wouldn’t have the time (or resources) to produce growth. Mike never advocated performing more than one set for the biceps and two (maximum) for the triceps, owing to the fact that the two muscle groups are strongly involved in most of the exercises for the muscles of the torso and thus can be overtrained very easily.

If you are serious about making maximum progress, I’d strongly recommend that you read Mike’s “Use a lighter weight than usual, and perform your leg presses so that it takes seven to 10 seconds to lower the foot plate. Don’t lower into the full, rock-bottom position, in which your pelvis starts to curl off the back support. That places your lower back in a weak position, making an injury a very real possibility.”

books, particularly the chapters detailing the fundamental principles of productive bodybuilding “If you have a lagging bodypart, stop training it entirely for a few weeks, then resume with a lesser number of sets, or, with calves and neck, stop training them entirely.”

exercise—intensity, volume and frequency. I believe that you’ll find this indispensable in formulating a very productive training routine that will serve you well for the remainder of your training career.

Exercise Substitutions Q: I read in The Wisdom of Mike Mentzer (McGraw-Hill) that deadlifts and squats are by far the greatest overall growth stimulators. Unfortunately, I have a nerve problem in my lower back that makes it impossible for me to perform those exercises without discomfort.

Did Mike recommend any substitutions for them?

A: Indeed. Mike understood

something about the nature of lower-back injuries, as he owned a MedX lower-back rehab clinic at one time. Severe lower-back problems can cripple you and may necessitate surgery. More than 125 million Americans suffer severe, chronic lower-back pain—and from what I understand, surgery is not always successful. Mike would concur that you should by no means attempt squats or deadlifts if you have a lower-back problem.Some bodybuilders ignore injuries or take large doses of medication that mask the pain and then perform exercises that directly affect the injured area, which only ends up making the problem much worse.

Mike had personal-training clients who had the same injury as yours. In most cases the problem was due to a profound weakness of the lower-lumbar muscles.

I would suggest that you substitute leg presses for squats and slow, controlled hyperextensions and shrugs for the deadlifts.

Here’s what Mike had to say about using those exercises: “Leg presses are effective overall growth stimulators, and though they’re much safer than squats, you must still be careful. Use a lighter weight than usual, and perform your leg presses so that it takes seven to 10 seconds to lower the foot plate. Don’t lower into the full, rock-bottom position, in which your pelvis starts to curl off the back support. That places your lower back in a weak position, making an injury a very real possibility. Lower your thighs three-quarters of the full distance that you’re capable of covering, keeping your hands on your upper thighs in case you reach failure halfway up and need assistance.

Just don’t use the strength of your arms to assist throughout the set.

“The spinal erectors and traps are the muscles most activated by the deadlift. They’re also the muscles you focus on when you do hyperextensions and shrugs. As with leg

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Heavy Duty “Keep in mind that you’re a bodybuilder, not a weightlifter.

Your primary concern is not to hoist the heaviest weights possible but to achieve maximum contractions of the muscles in order to induce full growth stimulation. Lifting lighter weights with a slower speed is not only more productive, but it’s also a hell of a lot safer.” head up, almost in deadlift style.

Use lighter dumbbells than what you’d use for a standard set and perform the reps slowly. When you have the dumbbells as high as you think you can get them, hitch them up another inch, then pause, lower under control and repeat. When you do shrugs, make certain that you’re standing straight, with your head up and your chest thrust forward slightly. Keep in mind that you’re a bodybuilder, not a weightlifter. Your primary concern is not to hoist the heaviest weights possible but to achieve maximum contractions of the muscles in order to induce full growth stimulation. Lifting lighter weights with a slower speed is not only more productive, but it’s also a hell of a lot safer. Safety should be of paramount concern to all who lift weights, as, presumably, you regard training as a healthy, rewarding activity you’d like to continue throughout your life.” presses, perform the hypers slowly—seven to 10 seconds—making absolutely certain that your torso rises no higher than parallel to the ground. Once you’re in the top position, hold for three or four seconds, then lower under control; repeat in the same manner. Using lighter weights and slower reps requires a certain mind-set. After years of training the old-fashioned way, you may take a little time to achieve it. Review my advice a number of times, especially right before starting each workout, so it goes deep into your subconscious. I’m very serious here, as any worsening of your injury could cripple you to the point where you’d be unable to exercise.”

The slower rep speed eliminates momentum, which can amplify the total force imposed on the muscles,

tendons and ligaments and so increase the likelihood of injury. Mike typically advised his clients to perform shrugs on a machine designed for that purpose (such as the Nautilus Neck and Shoulder machine or the Hammer shrug machine) or to use a bench press machine (such as a Universal bench press machine).

Stand in the middle of the machine with the handles set so you can grab them on both sides at a level just below where you’d reach the fully extended position of a shrug. When neither of these machines were available, Mike recommended using dumbbells. If you do, be careful, particularly if you have a history of back trouble: “Begin by placing the dumbbells carefully on a bench, lifting them with your back flat and your

Editor’s note: For a complete presentation of Mike Mentzer’s Heavy Duty training system, consult his books Heavy Duty II, High Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way and the newest book, The Wisdom of Mike Mentzer, all of which are available from Mentzer’s official Web site, www.MikeMentzer.com.

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

Article copyright © 2006, John Little. All rights reserved. Mike Mentzer quotations provided courtesy of Joanne Sharkey and used with permission. IM

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Model: Joe DeAngelis

M-A-S-S With H.I.T.

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M-A-S-S .

T .

I .

H h t Wi W

How High-Intensity Training Can Get You Bigger Than Ever

by Jerry Robinson Photography by Michael Neveux

The gym is hot, humid. Your shoulders stick to the bench as you struggle through a hard third set. Sweat drips into your ears. Your pecs burn. Then, your concentration breaks, and fatigue flows into your arms like sand....

Just then your partner leans over and yells, “Push!” Your mind snaps to attention, and you crank out two more clean reps.

If one concept embodies the essence of bodybuilding success, it’s intensity. High-intensity training, or HIT, is essential if you want maximum results in minimum time. Let’s look at the specific differences high-intensity training makes and how anything less is basically a waste of time.

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M-A-S-S With H.I.T.

All or None Each muscle fiber in the body is stimulated by a nerve. When the nerve fires, the fiber contracts completely; there’s no such thing as a partially contracted fiber. Physiologists refer to this as the All or None Law. Obviously, not all jobs require the same degree of force. The same muscles that play the piano or perform surgery sometimes are asked to move refrigerators or do 500-pound deadlifts. To make that possible, your central nervous system regulates the activation of muscle fibers, triggering only as many as are needed.

Heavier jobs employ more fibers; lighter jobs, fewer fibers.

Training, though, is a special case. The quest for gains demands maximum fiber involvement—a goal that can only be achieved through a deliberate mental effort. You’ve seen your strength suddenly increase when your partner shouts, “Push it!” That sort of cue helps you to focus. You can almost always lift, press or push more than you think.

Especially for the advanced lifter, only an all-out mental effort is sufficient to engage this strength reserve and provide the stimulus necessary for continued growth.

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Model: David Yeung

A muscle fiber contracts completely; there’s no such thing as a partially contracted fiber.

M-A-S-S With H.I.T.

Model: Peter Putman

High-intensity training can raise the central nervous system– imposed limit on your peak performance.

Extending Your Limit High-intensity training also affects your progress in a second way.

Located in the tendons of each muscle, there are a number of tiny sensory mechanisms called Golgi tendon organs. They keep the nervous system informed about contractions of the muscle as a whole.

When the overall tension level equals or exceeds the central nervous system’s “memory” of the level at which that muscle failed the last time it was pushed, the CNS tells the muscle to shut down.

In other words, if you don’t really go for it, your muscles fail at a level below their peak. As a result, your CNS is reprogrammed to think that the lower level is your peak. Repeated high-intensity training can push back the level at which the Golgi tendon organs send their warning messages, raising the CNS-imposed limit on your peak performance.

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M-A-S-S With H.I.T.

Submaximal S b i l Loads L d HIT can also improve your performance on submaximal loads—such as doing sets of six to eight reps while lifting moderately heavy weights. The limiting factor here is not the Golgi threshold but the accumulation within the muscle cells of waste products—chiefly lactic acid, which causes the familiar burn. (For the record, there is some dispute whether it’s actually lactic acid or some other by-product of the muscular energy production process that interferes with continued muscle metabolism.)

When you push on through the pain, ultimately you enhance your performance in two ways: You improve your body’s ability to get rid of the by-products of muscle metabolism quickly, and you train the muscles to continue past the point at which those by-products used to make them fail.

Not-So-Small Differences But is it really necessary to go all out? How about still pushing hard but backing off just a little? To put

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Model: Jose Raymond

HIT can help you push past wasteproduct thresholds for better muscle stimulation.

M-A-S-S With H.I.T. be measured with an electromyograph, or EMG, a machine that measures electrical activity in muscles. Amount of electrical activity is related to muscular power and to workout intensity.

In a study reported in the European Journal of Applied Physiology, 13 elite male weightlifters, all with five to nine years’ experience, were followed through one year of training.

All subjects were Finnish champions and/or national-record holders in various weight categories.

The one-year experiment was divided into three four-month periods. The subjects followed individualized programs designed by their own coaches and trained an average of five times per week. Training included standard Olympic and power lifts, as well as supplementary bodybuilding exercises, including squats.

The subjects trained at an average intensity of 79 percent of one-rep max for the first four-month period,

at a slightly lower intensity (averaging 7 percent of one-rep max) for the second four-month period and then returned to the initial intensity (79 percent of one-rep max) for the final four-month period.

At zero, four, eight and 12 months researchers measured maximum strength and EMG response for a number of muscle groups. From the first to the second four-month period, when intensity dropped an average of 2 percent, electrical activity in leg muscle dropped a whopping 16 percent. From the second to the third four-month period, when the intensity increased by the same 2 percent, electrical activity in leg muscle increased by the same 16 percent.

Individual changes in workout intensity were paralleled by statistically significant changes in muscular strength. That strongly supports the hypothesis that training intensity plays an important role in determining the nervous system’s ability to stimulate muscle.

The bottom line: Small differences in training intensity can translate into big differences in muscle fiber stimulation, strength and gains!

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Model: Kyoichiro Morinaga

those questions in more technical terms, how much of a difference in muscle electrical activity does a slight decrease in workout intensity make?

Muscle electrical activity refers to the electrical processes occurring in a muscle during a contraction. As mentioned before, muscle fibers are given the signal to contract by electrical impulses from nerves.

With training, nerves stimulate a greater number of muscle fibers, resulting in greater muscular power.

(That effect is more pronounced in beginning lifters and is the reason beginners realize greater gains early on.)

The amount of stimulation can

M-A-S-S With H.I.T.

Just the Facts To review, repeated highintensity training does the following: •Triggers as many muscle fibers as possible, leading to overall greater development.

•Pushes back the level at which the Golgi tendon organs send warning messages to the central nervous system and the central nervous system sends inhibitory signals to the muscle.

•Increases the efficiency with which your body gets rid of lactic acid and other byproducts of muscle metabolism.

•Enables your muscles to tolerate higher levels of lactic acid and other by-products of muscle metabolism before failing.

•Gurantees maximum strength and the fastest gains.

Note: For the ultimate intensity method of mass building, see page 221.

Model: David Dorsey

Editor’s note: Jerry Robinson is the founder of Health For Life, a research and publishing company, and is the co-author of The 7Minute Rotator Cuff Solution, available for $29.95 plus shipping and handling from Home Gym Warehouse, (800) 447-0008 or visit www.Home-Gym.com. IM

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Big-7 Growth Guidelines Keep Your Anabolism on Track With This Big-Time Checklist

by Eric Broser Photography by Michael Neveux

Model: Berry Kabov

O

ne of my favorite things about bodybuilding is that it’s purely an individual endeavor. Your degree of success or failure is contingent on your own efforts and not those of your teammates or friends. You cannot pass the ball or call in a relief pitcher; you must fight to the finish line completely under your own power. When things are not going your way, you can’t argue with an umpire, check the replay or yell at a referee. You have to sit down and figure out exactly why you’re not getting where you want to be and then determine precisely how you can get back on track. Since there is no official rulebook in bodybuilding, it’s up to you to write your own set of rules. You must decide when to train, how to train, what foods to eat, how much to eat, which supplements to take and, most important, just how consistent in and dedicated to all of these factors you’ll be.

Now, just because it’s totally up to you to make all of the final decisions in your approach to bodybuilding doesn’t mean you cannot seek out as much information

as possible from more experienced and/or educated sources than yourself. There are people who have made it their life’s work to fully understand, coordinate, properly apply and teach the basic principles of achieving optimal muscle mass and strength. All trainees should take full advantage of what those people have to offer, as it will minimize guesswork and put them on a much clearer and quicker path to their goals.

In my 20 years of bodybuilding and my 15plus years of personal training and coaching, I’ve managed to put together what is not so much a rulebook as a set of guidelines that seem to work for just about everyone. They helped me go from a skinny 125 pounds to a hard 255, my off-season bodyweight. Of course, individuals differ in terms of genetics, fiber types, metabolism, somatotype, recovery ability and so on, and those differences will certainly affect how well and how efficiently each of us can develop his or her physique. Even so, I feel there are certain truths that apply to everyone. I like to call them the Growth Guidelines.

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Guideline 1

Base the majority of your training on compound movements.

While I have nothing against machines and cables, there’s no doubt that the greatest muscle builders are free-weight compound exercises.

In the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s huge physiques were built with little more than barbells and dumbbells. Fancy machinery was just not around back then, but regardless, many herculean physiques were. The balance and concentration it takes to lift free weights activates more muscles (including the target, synergists and stabilizers) and more muscle fibers and “excites” the nervous system (which can enhance the adaptive response) more than machines or cables do.

In addition, heavy compound movements induce a greater release of the muscle-building hormones— testosterone and GH. If you talk with the biggest guys around, they’ll more than likely tell you that they built most of their mass with basic exercises like bench presses, deadlifts, squats, military presses, bentover rows, barbell curls and lying triceps extensions. There’s nothing wrong with using machines or cables, but if you want to get huge, make free weights the cornerstone of your program.

Heavy compound movements induce a greater release of the muscle-building hormones.

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Model: Berry Kabov

1

Growth Guidelines

2

Growth Guidelines

Guideline 2

Use strict form.

Strive to stimulate the target muscle.

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Model: Gus Malliarodakis

Using strict form on all of your exercises will assure that you’re stimulating the target muscle.

Those who throw the weights up when doing lateral raises or barbell curls, for example, are only cheating themselves out of growth. The primary reason that people do this is to create the illusion that they’re stronger than they really are. Yes, moving more weight might impress the uneducated in the gym, but the result will be less-than-optimal progress and, eventually, injury. Take trainees who can cheat-curl 150 pounds and make them do the movement strictly, and you will find that they’ll barely be able to curl 110 pounds in good form.

Interestingly, strictly curling 110 pounds for six reps stimulates much more biceps growth than swinging up 150 pounds for six reps. Once you reach failure using strict form, then it’s okay to use a reasonable degree of momentum to try to extend your set a bit further.

3

Growth Guidelines

Workouts should last no more than 75 to 90 minutes.

Model: Jonathan Lawson

you overtrain—that is, train too long and/or too often—you dig a hole that’s too large to fill, which means you will never have the opportunity to pile dirt on top. No extra dirt means no extra muscle.

Here are a few subguidelines to keep you from overdoing it: •Train no more than four days per week. There’s simply no need for more. People with poor recovery ability might actually be better off with only three training days per week. Remember, we stimulate muscle growth in the gym, but we do our actual growing while at rest.

•Do not train more than two days in a row without taking a full day off from the gym. Over the years I’ve tried every training program imaginable—three-on/ one-off, five-on/two-off, fouron/one-off, etc. Although I did make very nice progress on them, my best bodybuilding gains came from either every-other-day training or the program I currently use, a two-on/one-off/two-on/two-off cycle. As a natural bodybuilder I have found that after two days of intense training my mind and body are always ready for a day or two off. Whenever other commitments force me to train three days in a row, I find myself to be sluggish and unmotivated on that third workout day. I have seen the same with most of my clients as well. Additionally, I have observed that when most people train on three or four days in a row, their immune systems become comstrength, it’s also precisely what promised, making them more taps deep into the system’s ability susceptible to illness or injury to recover. That affects not only the •Workouts should last no more muscles but also the central nervous than 75 to 90 minutes. The scienThe body has limited a amount of system. tific evidence indicates that tesrecovery ability, as well as a limited In addition to repairing the mitosterone levels begin to drop and amount of energy to put toward crotrauma that occurs to the muscle cortisol begins to rise dramatically building new muscle tissue. In fact, fibers during training, the body after that, which will drag your human physiology prefers homeomust also restore hormonal and body down by making it more stasis—maintaining the status neurotransmitter balance, reboot difficult to achieve an anabolic, or quo—and cares little about getting the immune system and clear free growth-inducing, state once the huge. The best stimulus for building radicals from the system. And it workout is over. Besides, there’s muscle is intense weight training in must accomplish all of that before it no reason a workout should take which each set is taken to absolute has the chance to build new muscle longer than that. If it does, chancor near-absolute failure, meaning tissue. es are you’re doing too many sets the point at which another strict Think of a workout as digging a and/or exercises, or you’re being repetition cannot be performed. large hole in the ground, complete far too social in the gym. If you’re While intense training is exactly recovery as filling the hole and musserious about getting big, get in what sets in motion the adaptacle growth as creating a mound of the gym, do what you have to, and tions necessary for gainingFree size and dirt on top of the filled hole.

When get out. download from imbodybuilding.com

Guideline 3

Don’t overdo it.

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Growth Guidelines

Guideline 4

Use smaller, more frequent feedings.

You want your protein to go to your muscle cells, not to the toilet bowl.

Eat your protein!

Model:

This is perhaps the most important advice I can offer. Muscle is protein. The body requires protein to build and repair muscle tissue. Not eating enough can hinder your gains no matter how well thought out your training and supplementation programs are. How much protein is enough?

Most trainees must get at least one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight daily. That’s a minimum, however. It’s my experience that trainees achieve faster gains in size and strength when their protein intake is closer to 1.5 to two grams per pound of bodyweight.

It’s also important to get your protein over six to eight daily meals rather than two or three. That way your body will have amino acids available throughout the day for growth and repair. Also, you can more efficiently digest smaller, more frequent protein feedings than overly large portions. You want your protein to go to your muscle cells, not the toilet bowl.

The protein sources you choose will depend on your taste, your budget and what’s readily available.

Some of the best sources are chicken, turkey, red meat, eggs, fish, buffalo, venison, ostrich, milk and cottage cheese. You may wish to purchase one of the many high-quality mealreplacement or protein powders that are now available. Two or three meals per day can come from the powders; at certain times (like pre- and postworkout) they’re even more advantageous than whole-food pro192) teins. (continued on page Free download

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4

Growth Guidelines

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Model: Lee Priest

During an intense workout you drain your muscles of

Growth Guidelines

Guideline 5

Take advantage of the postworkout anabolic window.

Model: Cesar Martinez

The opportunity for aiding your muscle-building efforts in the 60 minutes that follow a workout is so important, I don’t know why anyone would fail to take full advantage of it. In fact, next to breakfast, the postworkout meal is without a doubt the most essential feeding of the day for all bodybuilders or other athletes. Not only are your muscles starving for protein and carbohydrates, but also your entire metabol-

ic machinery is in a state where a tremendous amount of nutrients can be preferentially shuttled directly toward muscle cells and away from fat cells. The best thing you can do at this time is to whip up and drink a shake containing 30 to 60 grams of fast-acting protein and 60 to 120 grams of highglycemic carbs (the exact amounts will depend on your bodyweight and goals). Since whey (especially hydrolysate) is absorbed more quickly than any other protein, it would be the optimal source at this time. The carbs should also be fast acting in order to create an insulin spike. High insulin levels are important postworkout, as insulin is responsible for transporting

5

carbohydrates, amino acids and creatine directly into muscle cells.

A perfect postworkout carb source would be dextrose or maltodextrin powder mixed with the whey.

And if you’re truly serious about getting huge, you’ll drink another whey and dextrose or maltodextrin mixture approximately one hour later. Studies—and tons of anecdotal evidence—have shown that this approach to postworkout nutrition is optimal for gains in size and strength. [Editor’s note: For a perfect postworkout mix, visit www.X-Stack.com.]

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(continued on page 196)

After training, you should replenish with plenty of highglycemic carbs

6

Growth Guidelines

Guideline 6

Use the right supplements.

While it’s not 100 percent necessary to use supplements to make progress, they certainly can hasten results. The world of nuyour tritional supplementation can be body quite confusing. Sifting through from falling the fantastic claims made by into a catabolic manufacturers can be very excitstate and enable the ing, but you need to know what’s repairr process to take for real and what’s just marketplace at full force while you e. [Editor’s note: For inforing hype. There are a plethora of snooze. n on Muscle Meals, a quality excellent products out there that mation ed-protein meal replacecan certainly help you add muscle blended-protein duce 216 ] appetite and lose fat, but for every one that ment, see page 216.] appetite, works there are probably two or Next is creatine—perhaps the which is of three whose only effect is to thin most well-researched of all suppletremendous use your wallet. ments currently on the market. It during a calorie-restricted diet.

Here are several items that has proven itself time and again in Some studies have shown that I believe belong on everyone’s both the lab and the gym. Among BCAAs can also aid in fat burning must-use list. These time-tested creatine’s benefits are increased and keep focus, energy and stamisupplements have proved their strength, enhanced nitrogen retenna elevated during intense training worth over and over again to tion, cell volumization and lactic when taken immediately before a thousands and thousands of acid buffering. It has proven safe workout. users. and effective for almost everyone Finally, there’s my personal The first is a quality protein who uses it. Some people have favorite—glutamine. I use large powder. As mentioned above, complained that it causes them amounts of glutamine year-around whey is essential as a quick-acting stomach upset, but there are now and recommend it to anyone protein source after your workout. many different forms of creatine who trains regularly. Among it’s It’s also quite valuable before you available, and I am sure that one myriad benefits are enhanced train. Having a whey shake about of them will agree with you. One immune function (I never get sick 30 to 45 minutes before your other comment that I often hear anymore!), increased glycogen workout will ensure that amino about creatine is that all of the storage, increased production of acids are coursing through your weight gained is simply water. glutathione (one of the body’s most veins as you train, which will help What people do not realize, howpowerful antioxidants), enhanced prevent muscle tissue from being ever, is that creatine draws water gut health, cell volumization and broken down as an energy source directly into muscle cells, and the natural growth hormone release. during the latter portion of your more hydrated a muscle cell is, the It’s rare to find a supplement that workout. Before bed or at any more “anabolic” it is. Having wellhas so many positive effects. other time of day that you can’t volumized muscle cells is a very The key to glutamine suppleeat a whole-food meal, however, a powerful trigger for growth. mentation is to take enough of it protein blend of casein, whey and Branched-chain amino acids are and take it at the right times. Sigegg albumin is best. another powerhouse supplement nificant effects are seen when users While whey is absorbed very that should be in every serious consistently take between 15 and rapidly, protein blends containbodybuilder’s cupboard. BCAAs 30 grams per day, the best times ing casein and egg have a sort of enhance nitrogen retention and being 30 minutes before breakfast, timed-release effect. That’s benprotein synthesis and also reduce your pretraining meal, your posteficial in the hours between meals muscle breakdown. That makes training meal and your final meal and especially before you retire them both anabolic and anticataof the day. [Editor’s note: That MRP for the night, when you’re basibolic (a characteristic they share on page 216 also has loads of glucally fasting for six to eight hours. with anabolic steroids). Taken tamine peptides, the most potent The trickle-feed effect willFree keep download between from meals, BCAAs can help reform of glutamine available.] imbodybuilding.com

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Model: Peter Putman

Growth Guidelines

Intense workout stimulate growth, but the building processs occurs when you rest.Free download from imbodybuilding.com

7 Your body repairs damaged muscles while you sleep. Are you getting enough?

Guideline 7

Get your sleep Going to the gym and putting in intense workouts day after day is what acts as the stimulus for gains in muscle size and strength. Proper nutrition will give you the building blocks to actually pack new lean tissue on your frame. That will be meaningless, however, if you don’t give your body the time to work this magical process. When does your body do 99 percent of its building and repair work? When you sleep.

During sleep all other body processes slow down, and intense recovery takes place. The conscious mind is allowed to chill, and the subconscious keeps us entertained.

The central nervous system slows down, along with the heart, digestive system and your injured muscles and joints. Think of sleep as your body’s eight-hour musclebuilding work shift, and if you can put in a little overtime, expect some extra compensation in the form of more muscle.

One of the biggest reasons trainees fail to make the progress they desire is because they simply neglect their sleep. I understand the

desire to have fun, party a little and occasionally enjoy life into the wee hours, but if you make it a regular habit, you can kiss serious gains in muscle size good-bye. Try to sleep at least seven to nine hours per night, and if you have time for a short midday nap, take one! Dream big to get big.

So there you have it. Seven growth guidelines that can lead to more size, more strength and less bodyfat. Serious bodybuilding is hard work, and you deserve to get the most out of the time you spend in the gym. If you’re already making great progress, more power to you; however, if you feel that your gains are slow in coming, put these hints to work for you. As I said, they worked for me and have helped all of my clients. There’s no reason they can’t help you.

So what are you waiting for? See you at the gym!

Editor’s note: For individualized programs, online personal training, nutritional guidance or contest-prep coaching, contact Eric Broser at bodyfx2@aol.com. Readers are also invited to join Broser’s bodybuilding and fitness discussion board at www .BuildingMass.com. IM

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From

Powerlifter Physique Star to

Jose Raymond Talks Bodybuilding and Arm Blasting

by David Young • Photography by Michael Neveux

hen Steve Holman, IRON MAN‘s editor in chief, asked me to interview a top bodybuilder, I said, “Yeah, yeah, yeah!” I could tell Steve was excited too: “David, you have to see this guy. It’s Jose Raymond, and the pictures Mike Neveux took of him are absolutely stunning.”

I remembered Jose. He’s good—really good. I was training in Redondo Beach, California, a few years ago and witnessed a photo shoot he was doing with Mitsuru Okabe. He was impressive then, but this year Jose took his bodybuilding accomplishments to a new level. How many guys who are training will ever qualify to turn pro? If you’ve been paying attention, you know the answer is, Not too fricken many!

So what do you think of a guy who took his class at three pro qualifiers, won the overall at one of them and qualified for a pro card twice—in one year. Jeez! And he says he’s drug-free for life. Whatever the guy is doing I wanted to from know.

So will you.

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Jose Raymond’s Contest History ’93 Teen New England, Overall ’94 NPC Teen Nationals, 2nd, Lightweight ’98 Musclemania, 5th, Lightweight ’98 NPC Team Universe Championships, 1st, Lightweight ’99 Musclemania, 1st, Lightweight ’99 NPC Team Universe Championships, 2nd, Lightweight ’00 NPC Team Universe Championships, 2nd, Lightweight ’00 NPC USA Championships, 1st, Lightweight ’01 NPC Nationals, 1st, Lightweight ’01 NPC Team Universe Championships, 2nd, Welterweight ’01 NPC USA Championships, 8th, Middleweight ’02 NPC USA Championships, 4th, Middleweight ’03 NPC Nationals, 4th, Middleweight ’03 NPC Team Universe Championships, 2nd, Welterweight ’04 NPC Team Universe Championships, 1st, Welterweight ’05 NPC Nationals, 1st, Welterweight ’05 NPC Team Universe Championships, Overall ’05 NPC Team Universe Championships, 1st, Welterweight and Overall

Jose Raymond’s Heavy Artillery Arm Blast Week 1 Close-grip bench presses warmup x 3-4 3-4 x 6-10 work sets Alternate dumbbell curls warmup x3 work sets 3-4 x 6-10 Skull crushers 3-4 x 6-10 Preacher curls 3-4 x 6-10 Weighted dips 3-4 x 6-10 Barbell curls 3-4 x 6-10 Week 2 Close-grip bench presses warmup x 3-4 work sets 3-4 x 6-10 Weighted dips 3-4 x 6-10 Skull crushers 3-4 x 6-10 Barbell curls warmup x3 work sets 3-4 x 6-10 Dumbbell curls 3-4 x 6-10 Preachers curls 3-4 x 6-10 Week 3 Barbell curls warmup work sets Close-grip bench presses Dumbbell curls Weighted dips warmup work sets Dumbbell curls Skull crushers

x 3-4 3-4 x 6-10 3-4 x 6-10 3-4 x 6-10 x3 3-4 x 6-10 3-4 x 6-10 3-4 x 6-10

’05 IFBB World Amateur Championships, 8th, Welterweight

an artist and a sculptor. a glass of wine with dinner while on DY: Beside bodybuilding, do DY: So you use visualization my diet. you play other sports? to see the final result?

DY: Can you give us a typical JR: Golf, skiing, snowboarding.

JR: You bet. You have to know day of eating on your preconDY: I thing the best bodywhere you’re going; otherwise, you’ll test diet? builders are the ones who have end up somewhere but maybe not JR: Sure. athletic backgrounds. where you wanted.

5 a.m.: 10 egg whites and a bowl JR: Yes, I think the speed, agilDY: How does your diet vary of grits with a tablespoon of peanut ity and coordination that you get on-season vs. off-season? butter and Splenda from athletics helps. Athletes seem JR: On-season I maintain a high8 a.m.: a protein shake to have a better mental acuity for protein, low-carb, lowfat diet. Offbeing focused when they train than season I eat whatever I feel like.

Noon: 10 egg whites and two rice those who get into bodybuilding DY: Do you have a cheat day? cakes through fitness without an athletic JR: The whole off-season. While 3:30 p.m.: a can of tuna and two background. dieting, very few, if ever. Maybe rice cakes DY: What motivates you in a protein bar once in a while ontraining and diet? season; I consider that a “cheat.”

JR: The final outcome. I Free feel likedownload Althoughfrom I do have imbodybuilding.com

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Pullquote placement: Please place pullquote here for “Jose Raymond,” working out those Blasting Arms.

Thank you.

tively. I listen to what my body is telling me, and I use those messages to determine what’s next. For example, if I deadlift on Monday night, and my lower back is really sore, I may not squat on Tuesday or Wednesday as scheduled. I may wait until Friday. So my workout varies from week to week.

It may be something like this: Monday: back and calves Tuesday: arms Wednesday morning: shoulders Wednesday evening: quads Thursday: hamstrings and calves Friday: chest DY: How many working sets

6 p.m.: a protein shake

friends who have become good parents. One day I’d like to be known as a good father, not just a good bodybuilder.

11 p.m.: protein pudding DY: What are your goals?

DY: What accomplishments JR: To be the best at whatare you most proud of? ever I choose to do and to start JR: Always being an underdog a family of my own soon. and coming out on top. I’m proud DY: What mental or viof competing successfully at the sual techniques do you use highest level as a lifetime drug-free in your training? bodybuilder. I am also proud of the JR: I always visualize the fact that I recently purchased and physique I want to have, slowly renovated my first home. adding a little more size to DY: Who are your role moddifferent areas of my body, all els? while keeping the symmetry in JR: My brother Tito and some of proportion. my clients who have been able to DY: How do you organize balance their lives and maintain your training week? a family life. I also look up to my download JR: I train instincFree from imbodybuilding.com 8 p.m.: chicken breast, ground turkey or steak and brown rice

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do you perform per bodypart?

JR: On average I do three to four exercises for three to four sets, but on the big power movements like deadlifts I do a lot more warming up, so I do about eight sets total before going on to the rest of my back movements. The same with squats.

DY: What supplements do you use?

JR: Believe it or not, I have yet to use anything other than protein powder. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

DY: What about cardio?

JR: Remember, I compete at 165, and I get up to 215. I like to start my contest prep at 16 weeks out so I can be in shape ahead of time and make adjustments if I need to. In season I do lots of cardio. Upward of two hours a day broken up into two or three sessions.

DY: Wow! Can you take us through one of your arm workouts.?

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

JR: I usually train biceps and triceps together. I feel that the overall increase of blood flow helps increase overall arm size, as opposed to doing biceps or triceps on their own. I alternate the order of exercises from week to week. One week I start with heavy alternate dumbbell curls followed by close-grip bench presses. Then I do preacher bar curls followed by dumbbell skull crushers. Then it’s EZ-bar 21s, and I finish with rope extensions.

The next week I do all the triceps movements for all the sets and then all the biceps work. The following

week I do all the biceps movements first, and so on. Once I hit my working sets, the reps range from six to 10.

DY: What about forearms?

JR: Well my forearms grow pretty easily so— DY: Don’t tell me you’re one of those a$$h*les who don’t have to train forearms. I hate guys like you!

JR: [Laughs] Well, all those heavy deadlifts help too!

DY: What are the key elements of training, nutrition, supplementation and cardio that lead to building a great body?

JR: Consistency, determination, education.

DY: What are some of the challenges

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Working out on those Blasting Arms...

Thank you.

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Flexing out on those Blasting Arms...

Thank you.

you’ve faced as a competitive and no one to blame. And I also get twice and the Team Universe twice. bodybuilder? all the credit.

I’ve qualified for pro status three JR: The main challenges are DY: Let’s talk about your contimes. going up against the best in the test history.

DY: Impressive. Thanks for a country as a drug-free bodybuilder.

JR: I’ve competed for more than great interview, Jose. Now I have My gains come much slower. I’m 10 years, in more than 30 different to go train my forearms. often smaller than the guys I beat. competitions, starting at the 1993 Editor’s note: For more on Jose DY: What do you love about Teen New England. I won that, and Raymond visit www.JoseRaymond. bodybuilding?

I’ve been hooked ever since. I’ve com. IM JR: It’s all me! I have no coach, no won six national titles: the USA trainer, no cheerleaders, noFree funding twice, thefrom Nationals download imbodybuilding.com

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1/6 Method for

Condition Your Nervous System to Blast Up Size-Surging Poundages by Christopher Pennington Photography by Michael Neveux

Model: Jonathan Lawson

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re you ready for a program max or a 6RM weight on the first sparingly, so good for bodybuildthat will build ridiculous few sets, but, rather, you work up ers? Because it builds both strength increases in strength and to them and hit them on the third and muscle by alternating low- and add size to your frame at or fourth pair of sets. moderate-rep ranges performed an unprecedented rate? Then you’re A good rule of thumb is, if you’re with heavy and moderately heavy ready for Eastern European–style going to alternate one- and sixweights. In fact, the only shortcomstrength training. rep sets four times—including the ing of the program is that you’re I know many of you are thinking, seventh and eighth sets—don’t constantly changing the weights.

“Oh, no, not another overhyped seplan on doing anything else afterHere’s the basic rep scheme: cret training method from some forward. If you only alternate the rep mer communist country.” Well, put scheme three times, you can do a Set 1: 1 rep aside your preconceptions because couple of sets of accessory work Set 2: 6 reps this method is the real thing. Keep afterward. reading, and you’ll understand why.

This routine is so demanding Set 3: 1 rep This system was first brought to that you want to be careful about Set 4: 6 reps the United States by Olympic weighthow much you use it. My triallifting coach Dragomir Ciroslan, who and-error–based suggestion: If Set 5: 1 rep was the National Coaching Direcyou decide to go for sets seven Set 6: 6 reps tor for the Romanian Weightlifting and eight, you should use the 1/6 Set 7: 1 rep* Federation (1984–1990). As a lifter he method on one main exercise only, participated in seven world champiespecially when you’re working Set 8: 6 reps* onships, eight European championyour lower body. For upper-body ships and three Olympic Games. I training, switch between a heavy The two sets marked with an could list all the medals he’s won and compound movement and singleasterick (*) are optional. So you basi- joint exercise, as illustrated below. his coaching qualifications, but let’s just say he knows how to make lifters cally alternate a one-rep set with a First, here’s a detailed squat six-rep set three to four times. The strong. workout that will pack your thighs trick is,from you don’t use a true one-rep- with size and strength: Why is this method, when used Free download imbodybuilding.com

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Monster Might 1/6 Method for Squat Strength and Size Set 1: 1 rep Rest 3-4 minutes Set 2: 6 reps Rest 3-4 minutes Set 3: 1 rep Rest 3-4 minutes Set 4: 6 reps Rest 3-4 minutes Set 5: 1 rep Rest 3-4 minutes Set 6: 6 reps Finish with calf and abdominal work of your choice Make sure you warm up adequately for the first one-rep set.

Many people want to rush the warmup to get going on the workout, but that’s an invitation to injury.

Another important point: The weight should be progressively increased; if you start off with a true one-rep max on your first set, you won’t be able to increase the weight on the next couple of sets.

As you progress through the workout, however, you’ll find that the reps will feel easier as your nervous and muscular systems adapt to the rep scheme.

One reason this system works so well is that the heavy singles trick your nervous system into heavy-rep mode. When you follow that up with a set of six, those reps are much easier to complete because your body is geared up to handle another 1RM or near-1RM load. Then, when you move back to the 1RM load, your body is still prepped for it. In other words, you’re supercharging your nervous system with 1RM or near-1RM loads to more easily handle the 6RM loads. The great thing about this is, by the end of the workout you should be using heavier

weights on the six-rep sets than you would be using if you did, say, a standard three sets of six.

Be advised that you have to work into this method slowly because it’ll be a jolt to the system. If your body is used to handling sets with similar rep totals in succession, the radical rep swings will take some getting used to.

Note also that you need longerthan-normal rest periods between sets. A lot of people get bored sitting around waiting three to four minutes to perform the next set. If that’s the case, you can do a light set of wrist curls or something similar between sets. Whatever you do, though, don’t rush the rest periods and don’t do any other exercises between your squat sets that will weaken your legs or lower back. If you can’t wait the prescribed time between sets, skip this workout and do something else, because you’ll negate both the strength- and muscle-building effects of the 1/6 system. You have been warned!

The only shortcoming of this program is that you’re constantly changing the weights.

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Monster Might

For example, switch between barbell curls and bench presses, using five reps per set for curls and the 1/6 technique on bench presses.

Although the basic framework is the same, you approach upper-body training a bit differently. The main distinction is that you can use the 1/6 technique on two bodyparts in a workout. You alternate bodyparts as well as rep ranges, working sets of the second muscle group into the rotation. You can either follow the 1/6 method for both muscle groups, or attack the second muscle group with sets of five reps. Here’s an example of the latter variation:

Model: Darrell Terrell

Bench Press and Biceps Training

Model: Skip La Cour

You can alternate bodyparts as well as rep ranges on each successive set.

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Monster Might 1/6 Method for Chest and Biceps Set 1: Bench presses, 1 rep Rest 2 minutes Set 2: Barbell curls, 5 reps Rest 2 minutes Set 3: Bench presses, 6 reps Rest 2 minutes Set 4: Barbell curls, 5 reps Rest 2 minutes Set 5: Bench presses, 1 rep Rest 2 minutes Set 6: Barbell curls, 5 reps Rest 2 minutes Set 7: Bench presses, 6 reps Rest 2 minutes Set 8: Barbell curls, 5 reps Rest 2 minutes Set 9: Bench presses, 1 rep Rest 3-5 minutes Set 10: Barbell curls, 5 reps Rest 2 minutes Set 11: Bench presses, 6 reps

Model: Gus Malliarodakis

A good rule of thumb is, if you’re going to alternate one- and sixrep sets four times—including the seventh and eighth sets—don’t plan on doing anything else afterward. Free download from imbodybuilding.com

Monster Might

Model: Lee Apperson

Model: Aaron Brumfield

Don’t start with a true one-rep max on your first set; progressively increase the weight.

Use the 1/6 method for about three intense workouts, and then move on. Remember, it’s effective yet taxing.

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Monster Might

Model: Jay Cutler

This method is a surefire way to radically increase strength and size simultaneously.

You perform straight sets of five for the barbell curls because doing a 1RM on that exercise is awkward and puts incredible stress on the wrist joints. Plus, for most people moderate-to-higher rep schemes work best for increasing biceps mass. Another distinction is the slightly shorter rest periods between exercises. Since you are switching between chest and biceps, you can shorten the rest periods a bit.

You can see why this method is a surefire way to radically increase strength and size simultaneously.

A note of caution, however: Use it sparingly, as it can quickly lead to overtraining. Another important consideration is to work into the program slowly. The first workout you perform should be more of a feeler than an all-out attempt. Once your body is adjusted, you can step it up a notch and push yourself.

Another note of caution: This method is designed to build strength and mass, but don’t kill the goose that lays the golden egg. Once your body acclimates to it, use the 1/6 method for about three intense workouts, and then move on. It’s effective yet taxing, and the best way to maximize its effects is to use it for brief periods throughout the year. IM

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A

h FiStory One That Could Make You Bigger, Healthier and Stronger

Model: Chris Cormier

by Jerry Brainum Protein is a staple of all bodybuilding diets, and bodybuilders have a variety of protein sources to choose from. The best for building muscle are those with a high biological value, meaning that they have a greater percentage of the essential amino acids that promote muscular recovery and size gains.

Proteins of high biological value are animal proteins—meat, eggs, dairy products, poultry and fish.

When many bodybuilders want to add muscle size, they focus on protein sources from red meat and milk and eggs. That’s because they’re not only rich in protein but also higher in fat, and thus contain the calories that support weight gain.

Because the goal is to lose bodyfat and acquire increased muscular definition, the typical protein sources in a bodybuilding diet emphasize lower fat. That means switching from red meat and whole milk to skinned poultry, egg whites and fish. Of those protein sources, fish has the best ratio of protein to fat. In fact, some of the most muscular bodybuilders of recent years have used fish as their primary protein source during their precontest preparation.

Fish has also acquired a reputation as a health food for everyone, not just athletes, mainly because of the high omega-3 fatty acid content of some types of fish. Omega-3 fatty acids, specifically EPA and DHA, are found in such fatty fish as halibut, herring, mackerel and sardines. Omega-3s offer a plethora of health benefits and are a major reason that fish is good for you.

On the other hand, some fish favored by bodybuilders is low in fat and not rich in omega-3s—orange roughy and cod. Canned tuna does contain omega-3 fats but in far smaller amounts than fattier fish. That’s ironic, since omega-3 fats have properties conducive to fat loss, including increased insulin sensitivity, lowered fat synthesis and greater rates of fat oxidation. So it’s senseless to avoid fattier fish in favor of the leaner versions. (The opposite is true of red meat, which is a lot lower in omega-3s.)

Studies show that eating fish helps prevent a large number of diseases. Fish intake is linked to a lower incidence of stroke, heart attack, dementia, asthma, kidney disease and diabetes.

Recent publicity about contaminants in fish has made many people wary of eating it. The two primary contaminants are methylmercury (MM) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), which come from industrial waste seeping into water. The big debate is whether to avoid eating fish because of the contaminants. Unless you take an omega-3 fat supplement, the odds are high that if you avoid eating fish you’ll eventually suffer a deficiency of omega-3 fatty acids. That can lead to effects as bad as or worse than taking in MM or PCB. Some people, such as biochemist and entrepreneur Barry Sears, best known for his espousal of the Zone diet, have Free publicly said that most commercial fish oil supplements are loaded with the same download from imbodybuilding.com

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Neveux \ Model: Daryl Gee

The omega-3 fats found in fatty fish have properties conducive to fat loss, including insulin sensitivity, lowered fat synthesis and greater rates of fat oxidation.

a high-fat diet.2 High-fat diets procation of the study is that eating fish duce severe skeletal muscle insulin can prevent diseases linked to inadance, and that’s preci h eq sulin or glucose disposal resistance, precisely what equate insulin nm e, such as diabetes. The happened to the rats who g gott ssoy in muscle, he rats on o the cod, co stud o suggests why bo and casein. In the study also bodybuildl resistance ance ocers have favored avored lowfa no muscle insulin lowfat fish, such as wed a higher rate cod, prior to contests—because the curred. They showed ose disposal than the d insulin sensitivity fosters of muscle glucose increased e other proteins. rats on the more efficient fat e cod-protein effect The loss. as observed with no was loss of weight or fat in the rrats. While omega-3 fatty acids are known to increase insulin sensitivity, cod contains only trace amounts.

Health Benefits of The effect Eating Fish was traced While omega-3 fatty acids are to the central to the health benefits of amino acid fish, fish itself offers benefits indecontent of the pendent of its omega-3 fat content. fish, which difOne study compared three types of fered significantly proteins—cod, soy and casein from from that of the soy milk—fed to three groups of rats on and casein.

One imbodybuilding.com impliFree download from

A F I S H S T O RY

toxins found in fish, such as PCBs. Sears’ solution to the “problem” is his proprietary, “phamaceuticalgrade,” purified fish oil supplement, at a cost of about $85 a bottle.

Sears seems to be confusing cod liver oil with fish oil. A primary function of the liver is detoxification, so toxins tend to concentrate in the liver. For that reason, it’s possible that some commercial cod liver oil may contain small levels of environmental contaminants. But e marall commercial fish oils on the ket are processed from fish h muscle, mu not liver. In additi l n addition, distillation hnique further furthe reduce any retechniques mpurit in the oil. Most maining impurities al fish oil supplements s commercial arly tested teste for impurities, s are regularly ignifica amounts are ever and no significant found.1

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Neveux \ Model: Gus Malliarodakis

18 to 126 perce percent of the suggeste suggested ounts off omegaamounts 3 fatty acids for a egnant or lactating pregnant man.4 woman.

Researchers have und that eating fish favorfavor also found y affects the size of lipoprote ably lipoprotein articles, such as low-density densit liparticles, poprot ortant for poprotein.5 That’s important cardiovascular disease prevention because LDL is the type

Some of the most muscular bodybuilders of recent years have used fish as their primary protein source during their precontest preparation.

A F I S H S T O RY

In a study published in 2005 that featured 4,775 adults aged 65 or over, researchers wanted to see what foods prevented the occurrence der of strokes.3 They found that older people who eat tuna and broiled oiled ed a lower risk of ischemic mic fish showed e, but tthat at those thos who eat fried ed stroke, sandw fish and fish sandwiches have a re higher risk. Another recent study found that eating on one or two fish es per week w sandwiches might give gram p a 60-kilogram person 2 to 40 th reference dose of percent off the mercury but would also provide Free download

of cholesterol carrier most often associated with CVD. Eating fish, according to this study, would result in a less atherogenic blood profile, which equals a decreased risk of CVD. In a study published in the July 20, 2004, issue of the International Journal of Cardiology, Greek researchers reported that eating even small amounts of fish protects against the onset of heart attack and acute coronary syndrome. Fish intake of as little as five ounces a week was associated with a 38 percent decreased risk of ACS. Another study compared a fishbased diet to a diet containing various sources, such as beef, pork, veal and eggs. Eating fish led to smaller, fewer LDL particles and higher levels of beneficial high-density lipoprotein, or HDL. The fish diet also produced higher levels of sexhormone-binding globulin, which binds to sex hormones, such as estrogen and testosterone, in the blood. That effect was thought to be due to a lowered resting insulin level promoted by eating fish, since insulin lowers SHBG. While SHBG ties osterone, the effect from fish up testosterone, n likely kely to negatively affect blood k isn’t st e levels. leve testosterone Sev studies have found that Several eating fish regularly may prevent pre the onset on degenerat of degenerative brain diseas disease, such as Alzheimer’s. That m nse for at least two reasons. makes sense T st is th The first that one of the omega-3 cids fo fatty acids found in fish, DHA, is o constituent ns a major of the brain, and those with brain diseases often have low levels of DHA. The other reason relates to the low saturated-fat content of fish. Saturated fat is the major precursor of cholesterol

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Several studies have found that eating fish regularly may prevent the onset of degenerative brain disease, such as Alzheimer’s.

A F I S H S T O RY

synthesis, and a high level of blood cholesterol is associated with a higher level of beta-amyloid, a protein considered a major player in degenerative brain disease. On the other hand, a recent study found that the brain disease-preventing effects of fish were stronger for those without a genetic predisposition for Alzheimer’s and similar diseases.6 A high fish intake is thought to help prevent various types of cancer, especially breast and prostate cancers. That property may be due to the alteration of chemicals in the body made from fat called eicosanoids. The omega-3 fats interfere with the transformation of arachidonic acid into inflammatory eicoers by sanoids that promote cancers impeding the bo mun funcbody’s immune tion. Omega-3 Om fa reven fats also help prevent ncer tthrough ough other mechanisms, nisms, cancer y modifying mod n into such as by estrogen hat doesn’t promote breast as a form that er estrog c and other estrogen-related cancers. e fatty fish is rich in easily Since ed fat oxidized fats that promote cancer ther diseases, wouldn’t that and other nullify the beneficial effect of eating it? Research examining the issue found that antioxidants in fish, such as selenium, help block the effects of oxidation.7

types of fish seem not to pose such risk, including flounder, rainbow trout, sole, anchovies and farmed clams and shrimp. Cod, farmed catfish, mahi mahi, wild salmon, tilapia and canned chunk tuna may contain some toxins and therefore are recommended in moderation, perhaps once a week.

You may recall the Mad Hatter from Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice in Wonderland. Carroll patterned the character on the crazed behavior of 19th-century hat makers, who used open vats of mercury in the manuring process. Far more mo serious o facturing hat ocand real was the outbreak that amata Bay ay in Japan in curred in Minamata 1950. ed the outbreak Scientists called ly killed 3,000 people that eventually ta disease, but it was known kn Minamata oquially as the “grinning death” dea colloquially g disease because of the sardonic grin f marking the faces of the dying. At gators couldn’t first health investigators e of the th disease, figure out the cause but it was later traced to a manu-

facturing plant that had dumped industrial waste—including mercury—into the bay.

The waste was then incorporated into the bay’s ecosystem. Marine plants were eaten by small fish, which in turn were eaten by larger fish, which led to an accumlation of mercury in fish that humans caught and ate. The marine plants converted inorganic mercury into MM, a highly absorbable form that takes about three months to pass out of the body. Those who didn’t die from Minamata disease were left mindless from brain damage or crippled for life.

American industries use more than 5 1/2 million pounds of mercury a year to produce paper, plastics, paint, pesticides and fertilizer, and as a result waters in more than oneiird of the U.S. show high levels third o toxic mercury. Mercury is found of sh in such larger fish species as shark, tun and nd halibut. It’s also found in tuna oy rabs clams—even clam oysters, crabs, ducks.

Fis store and concentrate mercury Fish d combine om and it with protein in their dies— bodies—meaning that it’s primarily red in n muscle. stored M u lasts in water for about a Mercury century, and the millions of pounds of it in our waters can’t be flushed out. It resists breakdown and collects in human and animal tissue,

Fish Toxins

Several types of fish, such as swordfish, tuna steaks, Chilean sea bass and farmed salmon, have been linked to neurological defects, cancer, autoimmune diseases, hormonal aberrations and cardiovascular problems. The risks stem from the MM and PCBs in fish. Other Free download

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A F I S H S T O RY

nerves and cells. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration establishes safe fish mercury content at one part per million. The FDA also suggests that a 240-pound person take in no more than 77 micrograms of mercury a week, yet a mere sixounce serving of swordfish contains 200 micrograms.

MM ingestion leads to a number of serious health problems: tremor, lack of concentration, vision problems, numbness and tingling.

Mercury poisoning can also lead to muscular weakness, fatigue, muscle wasting and cramps. In one study done with rats, the muscle weakness associated with mercury intake was traced to mercury’s effect on mitoining amino ino acid kw onsidered comparable risk was considered chondrial enzyme activity.8 That’s the sulfur-containing hat h ens, the to smoking. sm g. One of the rese significant because the mitochonresearchers cysteine. When that happens, ks a lot even suggested d th drial portion of cells is where energy MM/cysteine complex looks thatt tthe effect was bad en as ATP is produced in the electron enough to cancel the beneficial like an essential amino acid called e transport system and where fat is effects of om omega-3 intake in premethionine and passes through the lective and protective v g card oxidized during beta-oxidation. venting cardiovascular disease. normally selective brain barrier; the brain think d yet m The weakening effect of mercury And many people seem to blood-brain thinks h fish with impunity, is more likely to affect type 1, or eat MM MM-rich it’s getting methionine, an essential amino acid. Th slow-twitch, fibers—the endurance chiefly though not solely because The good news is that ent other amino acids compete mpete with fibers—which have a richer content of selenium’s antioxidant properplex ffor entry of mitochondria. ties. The abundant amino acids in the MM/cysteine complex gh supply fish al The highest levels of MM are also interfere with uptake and into the brain. When a high n the th kidneys, kidney where it anspo of mercury in the body. found in transport of amino acids (such as from fish creat ine levels, lev e lso pres Glutathione, a natural antioxidant raisess creatinine indicative ingestion) is also present, the toxic mage. It can ca an also cross ter th rain and is found in the b dy that is a complex of kidney damage. body combo cannot ent enter the brain rain barrier, barrie leading he bod y9 of three amin the blood-brain amino acids, is know known to excreted from the body. dis A study in Finland inlan found d that th rem ercu from the body. to various brain disorders, rangremove mercury memor impairment to W u men whose bodies had higher mering from memory While oral glutathione supplements a. Methylmercury Met cury levels showed twice the risk of dementia. sneaks are not well absorbed, nutritional brai like a Trojan horse. developing heart disease than men into the brain precursors of glutathione, such as 10 The with lower mercury levels.

In the blood it complexes with whey and N-acetyl cysteine, can efFree download from imbodybuilding.com

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Neveux \ Model: Bob Donnelly

Mercury poisoning can lead to muscular weakness, fatigue, muscle wasting and cramps. The weakening effect of mercury is more likely to affect type 1, or slow-twitch, muscle fibers, which have a richer content of mitochondria.

One study showed that a dosage of 15 grams a day of modified citrus pectin (MCP) eliminated 68 percent of stored mercury in human subjects.

fectively raise glutathione e levels in the body.

So does lipoic acid, which independently removes mercury by forming a complex, or chelate, that is excreted from the body. Dietary fiber works in a similar manner, but you’d need to eat the fiber at the same time as the mercury source for that to work effectively. Cilantro also helps remove mercury from the body.

A special form of fiber, called

modified citrus pectin (MCP), consists of smaller chains of the fiber found in fruit. The special form of pectin is more water-soluble and easily absorbed than most pectin found in food. Studies show that it helps prevent the spread of cancer in the body, especially breast and prostate cancers. MCP, like lipoic acid, forms a chelate with mercury that he same the body excretes. It does the thing with other toxic heavy metals, such as arsenic and cadmium.

People who have taken in a lot of MM with their fish for an extended perio period are advised to take 15 grams a day of MCP M for nine to 12 month onth months.

For those with ith a moderate intake ake of fish, fis five grams ra a day of MCP h na mercury. One study helps eliminate showed that a dosage of 15 grams a day of MCP eliminated 68 percent of stored mercury in human subjects.

Still another barrier to methylmercury uptake occurs in the intestine. Any MM absorbed from food intake is first sent to the liver.

Substantial amounts of MM are secreted into bile, which then travels to the small intestine, where it normally helps lower the surface area of fats for more efficient fat digestion.

Intestinal bacteria detect the MM in the bile and separate the methyl group from the mercury, thereby converting MM back to its original form of inorganic mercury. Because inorganic mercury is poorly absorbed, the body rapidly excretes it. h h ps explain wh p That helps why people who eat MM ded fish often d MM-laded don’t show any sym toms of mercury to symptoms toxicity.

The protective pr tive system, however, can rwh be o overwhelmed by huge amounts ercur u of mercury-containing fish, or in t less protection against those with mercury uptake, such as in children or pregnant women.

PCBs were developed in 1929 and banned in 1979, but they’re still ubiquitous in the environment, showing up even in the bodies of polar bears and fish from the most remote parts of the world. PCBs consist of 209 related chemicals,

AD

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you lose fat through dieting and e. They normally take about exercise. ht years to exit the body. eight believ to enter nte water PCBs are believed sources after being deposited posite o in sediment as a result of industrial runoff or dumping. Even PCBs that

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F I S H S T O RY Y

and for 50 years they were used in numerous industrial processes, such as in solvents, sealants, hydraulic fluids, adhesives, lubricants, heat transfer fluids and many other o applications. PCBs are linked to cancer, learning disa ch disabilities in chilen, hormonal disturbances dist ey dren, (they ere with wi h thyroid thyro metabolism m interfere stroge in the body)) and act like estrogens CBs accumulate accum and CVD. PCBs in d are one of the toxins bodyfat and hen released when

entered the waterways years ago still exist because they have low solubility. Farmed salmon, which are fed PCB-rich ground-up fish, are a particularly rich source. Studies show that eating more than eight ounces of farmed salmon a month constitutes an “unacceptable risk of acquiring cancer.”

Since PCBs concentrate in the ions of fish, it’s prudent to fat portions ve as much fat as possible, by remove m he belly, back and dark removing the eat from fish prior to cooking. meat A llowi the he fish fat to drain also Allowing make ocea fish, such makes sense. Lean ocean as cod cod, flounder and haddock, are least li y to be contaminated with likely P ecau PCBs PCBs. Because lower vitam vitamin A e levels in the body, taking

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Neveux \ Model: Derik Farnsworth

Neveux \ Model: Henrik Thamasian

Fish offers many advantages to bodybuilders, and the toxin issue shouldn’t dissuade anyone interested in developing a lean, healthy body from eating fish. Just follow the guidelines discussed here.

Neveux \ Model: Todd Smith

Unless you take an omega-3 fat supplement, the odds are high that if you avoid eating fish, you’ll eventually suffer a deficiency of omega-3 fatty acids.

A F I S H S T O RY

a dose of that vitamin plus B-complex vitamins may block their negative impact. Still,, er to it’s better avoid the them in the first place.

Fish offers many advantagess to bodybuilders, and ssue shouldn’t dissuade the toxin issue anyone interested in developing a lean, healthy body from eating fish.

Just follow the guidelines discussed here. If you refuse to eat fish, at least take a quality omega-3 fish oil supplement to maintain maximum health benefits.

References nc 1 Melanson, n, S.F., et al. (2005). ement of organochlorines in Measurement mercial over-the-counter fis commercial fish ho Lab. oil preparations. A Arch Pathol 129:74-7 129:74-77.

2 Lavigne, C., et al. (2001).

001). Prevention of skeletal muscle in insulin resistance by dietary cod protein in high fat-fed rats. Am J Physiol. 281: E62-E71.

3 Mozaffarian, D., et al. (2005).

Fish consumption and stroke risk in elderly individuals. Arch Int Med. 165:200-206.

4 Shim, S.M., et al. (2005). Mercury and omega-3 fatty acids in retail fish sandwiches. J

Food Prot. 68:633-635.

5 Zhengling, L., et al. (2004). Fish consumption shifts lipoprotein subfractions to a less atherogenic pattern in humans. J Nutr. 134:1724-28.

6 Haung, T.L., et al. (2005). Benefits of fatty fish on dementia risk are stronger for those without APOE-4.

Neurology. 8:1409-14.

7 Anttolainen, M., et al. (1996).

Effect of extreme fish consumption on dietary and plasma antioxidant nd fatty acid composition. levels and Clin Nutr. 50:741-46.

Eur J C 8U Usuki, F., et al. (1998). The effect mercury on skeletal mus of me methylmercury muscle in tthe rat: at: A histopatholog histopathological study. Toxicoll Lett Lett. 94:22 94:227-32.

9 Cla Clarkson, T.W. (1995). Environm al contaminants in vironmental th the food chai chain. Am J Clin Nutr. pl):68 8 61(suppl):682S-686S. 10 Virtanen, irt n J.K., et al. (2005).

Mercury, fish oils, and risk of acute coronary events and cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, and all-cause mortality in men in eastern Finland. Aterioscl, Thrombos, Vascular Biol. 25:228-233.

11 Smith, A.G., et al. (2002). Organochlorine chemicals in seafood: Occurrence and health concerns.

Food and Chemical Toxicol. 40:767779. IM

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Legends of Bodybuilding

Larry Scott Photographs provided by Gene Mozée

The Golden Man, Part 1

by Rod Labbe recious childhood memories rarely fade. That’s why I can still recall, with startling clarity, the moment I first saw Larry Scott.

It was 1962, a month or so before my 10th birthday. Dad and I had gone to Joe’s Smoke Shop, a small newspaper, magazine and tobacco emporium located on Main Street in Waterville, Maine. As I stood holding his millroughened hand, my gaze traveled dreamily across the magazine racks and settled on a copy of Joe Weider’s Mr. America.

“Would you like something to read?” Dad asked, ruffling my hair. “There are lots of funny books.”

“Can I have a magazine, instead?”

“Sure. Which one?”

“Um, Mr. America. Over there.”

He pulled it from the racks without comment. “How about a candy bar too?”

“Yeah, okay. Reese’s, please.”

When we returned to our car, I sat quietly in the back seat, while Mom and Dad discussed mundane grown-up things. My attention was riveted on the magazine I held, or more specifically, its cover. Smiling back at me was someone who would become my lifelong hero and eventual friend: Larry Scott, bodybuilding’s golden man.

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THE GOLDEN MAN, PT. 1 Scott’s arms were fully developed from elbow to wrist. Check out the biceps mass and sweeping triceps.

LARRY SCOTT

If I close my eyes, I can easily conjure up that remarkable, inspiring photograph—Larry flexing on the sands, a bikinied beach bunny lightly touching his bulging left shoulder. He had yet to become Mr. Olympia or even Mr. America, but Larry was bodybuilding personified, circa 1962, and it showed in the ebullient smile on his handsome, youthful California-sun tanned face.

Other stars made covers and had photo spreads—Chuck Sipes, Freddy Ortiz, Harold Poole, Don Howorth and Dave Draper, among them—but they seemed content to graciously stand aside, allowing Larry the full spotlight. Even among his rivals, this amazing athlete commanded loving respect.

Who really knew him? Aside from Bill McArdle, Larry apparently eschewed close friendships in the sport. The public image obscured everything. His trademarked poses

were copied ad infinitum; he sat for interviews and casually discussed his early life in Pocatello, Idaho, where his hopes of one day winning the Mr. America title kept him motivated through a dull farm existence.

Those chats gave us brief glimpses of the real Larry, but no journalist ever cut through his glossy shell— until now.

It’s somehow fitting that I should tell Larry’s true story. Because of his inspiration on that long ago autumn afternoon, I became a bodybuilding journalist and have had the privilege of working with many fine individuals.

Precious childhood memories rarely fade—and some, well, they just get better with age.

IM: Man, I just gotta say it—when I was a kid, Larry Scott ruled! And today your photos, courses and magazine covers are hot collectibles, command-

ing mucho bucks on eBay. How’s it feel to be a living legend?

LS: Better than being a deceased one [laughs]. Honestly, I don’t know what to make of this upsurge in interest. It’s been close to 40 years since I retired. Nostalgia’s obviously a very powerful force.

IM: You’ve described growing up in Pocatello as a Huckleberry Finn existence, which, to me, sparks images of big rivers, adventure and mischief. Far from the mark?

LS: Not at all. Childhood’s a glorious time, really. I miss the freedom of exploring and doing whatever comes to mind.

IM: Even then the camera loved you. Your early photos speak volumes.

LS: Whenever I look at those, I see a kid who wanted, more than anything, to be big and strong—but he was small, skinny and self-conscious.

IM: Tell us how you and the iron met.

LS: Between my junior and senior years in high school, I stumbled across a picture of bodybuilder George Paine. His example inspired me greatly. George was a smaller guy, like me, but thanks to weight training, he’d packed on considerable muscle, enough to win contests.

IM: You’d never seen a bodybuilder before?

LS: Actually, I had. George Eiferman visited our high school to do a presentation on strength, and I remember thinking his pecs looked unreal, like hot water bottles [laughs]. A very impressive man— but Eiferman’s physique was beyond me. I couldn’t get fired up. He seemed almost superhuman, and I wanted to be a regular guy. Except with muscles.

IM: A young lad in Idaho, you went on to a legendary body-

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THE GOLDEN MAN, PT. 1

LARRY SCOTT

Geat a Grip On It

by Larry Scott Taking the proper grip on a bar can make a huge difference in the gains you make from the exercise. You may wonder, How can something as basic as my grip make that much difference? Here are a few examples.

Lat pulldowns. Always use a false grip, which means that your thumbs are on the same side of the bar as your fingers. Why? Because the more you wrap your fingers as well as your thumbs over the bar, the more you place the emphasis on your lats rather than your biceps. That grip causes the lats to adduct, or pull in, at the bottom of the movement, enabling you to fully abduct, or spread, the scapula at the top. In other words, it gives your lats a greater range of motion. And the more the grip slips down to your fingers, the less stress on the lats and the more on the biceps.

Bicep curls. The thumb has power, so don’t waste it and certainly don’t let it work against you. I used to wrap my thmbs around the bar (as in the photo), but I learned that placing it on the same side as the fingers is better. Use a false grip while doing any kind of peaking movement, like curls performed on a spider bench or the vertical side of a preacher bench. There’s a huge difference between doing spider curls with a false grip or without one. Also, no one would ever think of doing lat machine curls behind the neck, a peaking movement, with his or her thumbs wrapped around the bar.

Lying dumbbell triceps presses. These can fill in the triceps around the elbow. Lie on your back, dumbbells held at arm’s length overhead, the butt of your palms jammed against the front plates. Slowly lower the dumbbells down to your shoulders with only the little fingers holding on to the bar. The key is to keep your elbows “in” and the dumbbells “way out”—almost letting them hang from the backs of your hands.

Lower the dumbbells until they’re resting on the fronts of your shoulders.

Without cheating at all, raise the dumbbells. Use all the power you have by going even slower on the negative.

Wrist curls. You can build some great forearms as follows: When doing palms-up wrist curls, use your thumbs to help you curl the weights by placing them under the bar along with your fingers. Don’t wrap your thumb around the bar. This is another case where keeping your thumb in the wrong place actually works against you.

Bench presses. When you do bench presses, your chest and triceps do the work. The key is to disconnect the triceps and make the pecs do all the work. Here’s how: Use a false grip and press with the outside bottoms of the palms. In addition, try to focus on squeezing your arms closer together as you press the weight upward rather than driving with your triceps. It places all the tension on your pecs rather than your arms.

Dumbbell bench presses. Lower the dumbbells as far out as possible but keep the little-finger sides of the dumbbells higher than the thumb sides. It focuses much more on the pecs than triceps.

Standing dumbbell presses. The same is true when you do dumbbell presses for the shoulders. Tilt the dumbbells so the little finger sides are higher than the thumb sides—press with the little finger sides of the hands. That places all the stress on the deltoids rather the triceps. This is not just slightly important; it’s the difference between a so-so exercise and a great one.

I’ve cited just a few examples of how to make better gains with a better grip. Play around and test out different grips, and you’ll find better ways to train and make better gains—and that’s always fun.

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Photograph by Robert Kennedy

building career. Horatio Alger couldn’t have imagined a better scenario.

LS: Lots can be done when you’re dedicated and a little hardheaded, which pretty much described me.

The summer I found George’s photo, I put together a makeshift incline bench and worked only arms, because big arms meant you were built. Once I saw muscle growing, I experimented with other exercises and other bodyparts.

IM: A daring endeavor, considering bodybuilding was still such an oddity.

LS: In my day, if you filled out your shirt, people assumed you played football or wrestled. The term bodybuilding had more to do with cars than lifting weights. I viewed bodybuilding as a personal philosophy: I was improving myself in every way, readjusting my physique and making it better.

IM: Your peers must’ve noticed the physical changes.

LS: Yeah, and not everyone’s reaction was positive. Some were downright ornery! One buddy asked me why I was building so much muscle.

His attitude was condescending, as if I needed a reason for getting bigger and healthier. But in his mind I did need a reason. I replied that I planned to be Mr. America someday, and this unleashed a barrage of laughter. He shook his head and said I’d never make it as Mr. America because my shoulders were too small.

His remarks got me going; they cut me to the core! I decided to show him—I’d be Mr. America, come hell or high water. It would take work, but I was hungry, and I’d never miss a workout. The gym became my second home.

IM: So your passion for lifting became an all-encompassing pursuit?

LS: It consumed me like an inferno.

IM: But you didn’t compete right out of high school.

LS: Not right away, no. I was still training, but after graduation I entered Idaho State University and majored in sports officiating. A bad idea. I didn’t want to coach; I want-

day, and I’d never been around so many built people before.

Suddenly, I found myself shrinking [laughs].

IM: Pounding metal at Goodrich’s also got you your first magazine: Tomorrow’s Man. LS: That was an unexpected opportunity. Bob Delmontique, who worked for Weider, walked into Goodrich’s one day and asked a few of us if we wanted our pictures taken. I’d had some amateur shots done, but nothing special, so I went for it. We stood outside on a rooftop next door and posed, with me wearing leopard print briefs [laughs]! The photos ended up in Tomorrow’s Man. I was a bit embarrassed, but I couldn’t help feeling thrilled too!

Scott and Vince Gironda. Vince IM: That’s when you began your long associahelped Larry reach his full tion with photographer Pat Milo. bodybuilding potential.

LS: Having a good photographer in your camp is always a plus, and Pat was the best. I got ed to be Mr. America! comfortable in front of a camera IM: And you couldn’t do that lens and honed my posing skills. in Idaho?

Opportunities came fast and furiLS: Heck, no! I felt terrifically ously. Besides Milo, I worked with stifled there. I needed more. One Bruce of Los Angeles, Don Whitman day I opened a pack of matches of the Western Photography Guild and saw an advertisement about and Russ Warner. In between, I did studying electronics in California. It everything I could to further my gave me a brainstorm: If I could just bodybuilding career—but living in convince my parents to let me go, I’d California was expensive. I soon ran study and pursue my bodybuilding out of money and had to hightail it interests at the same time. home, a prospect I didn’t relish.

IM: Why California?

IM: And back home is where LS: It was simply the place to be. you won the 1959 Mr. Idaho, They had great gyms, and I wanted your very first contest! to bring my development to the LS: Mr. Idaho was sponsored by next level. a little gym called Silhouette Health IM: A big move for a young, Studios. We held the contest in a relatively naïve kid. movie theater, during a matinee.

LS: Yup, I was young and naïve.

And there were only eight conI didn’t know squat! testants. In those days bodyIM: What’s the first thing building you did after your move? conLS: I enrolled in California Air tests College and bought a memberwere far ship at Goodrich’s Health from the Club. What an norm. No eye-opener! red-blooded The gym was American male packed every would be

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“California would be where I realized my dreams. I found an apartment, a job repairing bicycles and hit Vince’s Gym, run by the great Vince Gironda.”

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caught dead wearing oil and a pair of skimpy underpants and posing.

Jerry Englebert, a powerlifter, totally impressed me, and I thought for sure he was going to win.

It honestly blew my mind when I won over Jerry. I even had that little trophy inscribed, the one and only time I ever did such a thing.

IM: Winning gave you validation?

LS: And I needed it! As soon as I’d saved enough money, I rushed back to California. I couldn’t stay in Idaho; California would be where I’d realize my dreams, and Mr. Idaho made those desires even more realistic. I found an apartment, a job repairing bicycles and hit Vince’s Gym, run by the great Vince Gironda.

IM: No more Goodrich’s?

LS: They’d closed by then, and Vince’s was the new mecca. I planned to compete in the 1960 Mr. Los Angeles contest and was singleminded in my goal. Vince took me under his wing and showed me how to create a distinctive presence.

There’s a trick to looking your best

Scott and Freddy Ortiz draw their guns in the early ’60s. onstage and in photos, and Vince was a master at it.

IM: How did he help you with the L.A.?

LS: We talked endlessly about the most effective posing routines, and I mean endlessly! Vince emphasized looking natural and comfortable, even if you’re sweating bullets.

That’s not easy.

Thanks to his advice, I came in third at the L.A. and couldn’t have been happier. Vince taught me an essential posing technique called the S formation. Ever hear of it?

IM: Is that where you twist your upper body slightly away from the lower?

LS: You know about the S formation? I’m impressed. Here’s the best way to explain it: When doing a side pose, plant your feet first and hold your waist sideways while twisting your upper body toward the camera

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THE GOLDEN MAN, PT. 1

“There’s a trick to looking your best onstage and in photos.… You twist your upper body toward the audience or camera.”

or audience. It’s an illusion designed to minimize flaws. Because my proportions weren’t the best, I’d steer away from doing any straight-on poses. With the S I looked bigger; it appeared as if I had mass and much better proportions.

IM: Don Howorth [Legends of Bodybuilding, May ’03] has some interesting memories of the Iron Guru, not all of them fit for publication!

LS: Vince was rough around the edges, but at least you knew where you stood with him. He couldn’t tolerate bull and was disdainful of a lot of things when it came to training.

Vince’s own physique was incredible, and he stayed devoted to lifting well into old age. An era passed away when we lost Vince Gironda. I miss him tremendously.

IM: A unique character, no doubt.

LS: Yes, sir. We sure could use more of those in bodybuilding today.

IM: Thinking objectively, what was the secret of your appeal, Larry?

LS: I’ve oftentimes tried to figure that out. My rise was very quick, and I really have no explanation for any of it. Milo told me I had a boy-nextdoor, all-American look. He always encouraged me to smile because my face took very naturally to it. That, combined with my desire to succeed, propelled me to the top.

IM: You always looked happy, as if you were having a ball.

LS: In my early contests I didn’t smile much. When you’re concentrating on nailing poses correctly and fluidly, smiling is the last thing you feel like doing. You’ve probably noticed that some smiles at contests look forced. The opposite was true for me. As I gained more experience, I actually had to concentrate on not smiling.

IM: Hmm, more than a few of your contemporaries had that all-American thing goin’, but not one enjoyed the fan frenzy that swirled around you.

LS: Well, winning usually translates into a good following and excellent press. I was doing magazine covers and bodybuilding articles ga-

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lore, but none of it meant anything to the “regular” world. Even after I’d won Mr. America.

IM: Inside bodybuilding, though, Larry Scott was the man!

LS: There’s a dark side to achieving so fast—it’s very easy to believe what people write and say about you. In my case, I began thinking of Larry Scott as bigger than life. A flattering article can boost the old ego. Once I studied the situation objectively, I realized those articles were written to sell magazines, covers are meant to sell magazines, and nobody cares about the flesh-andblood human behind them. I had to discover who he was.

IM: And did you?

LS: Yes, but that discovery proved a difficult process. I fell back on my faith in God and the Mormon church. Glorifying the physical isn’t always healthy; we’ve got to remember it’s only a shell. Our soul is more important. And what’s in our heart.

IM: You’ve found an inner kind of mellowness, then.

Maybe even a peace?

LS: Sometimes peace can be elusive; I’ve spent my entire life trying to find it. Still, not a day goes by where I don’t thank God for everything He’s given me. Even with the valleys—and there have been many—I’ve had a good run.

IM: Mr. California, another Scott milestone, followed the LA. in 1960. That was an important year for you, wasn’t it?

LS: Winning the California was a major step toward realizing my dream. If an unknown kid from little old Pocatello could beat out wellknown guys from California, then becoming Mr. America didn’t seem so impossible.

IM: Larry fever had its very first glimmer right about then.

The mags were noticing you in a very big way.

LS: Whoever thought up “Larry fever” coined a good phrase. It definitely helped me [laughs]. I had no control over my own publicity; we were at the mercy of editors and writers, and they pulled whatever strings needed to be pulled. It’s different today. Athletes are under

contracts, and there are actual P.R. people planning out campaigns. We had none of that stuff.

IM: What about your family?

Did all this winning convince them bodybuilding was the career for you?

LS: I wish I could say yes, but my folks were from a different generation. They held different standards and experienced severe monetary hardships. Perhaps if I’d owned a

gym, mom and dad would’ve been happier.

IM: In the end you were justified.

LS: I can’t complain. Bodybuilding’s been good to me. When I was competing, the contests never paid much, if anything. For the second Olympia I was given $1,000, the most I’ve ever brought home from a contest. We competed for personal satisfaction and love of our chosen

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THE GOLDEN MAN, PT. 1

“Sometimes peace can be elusive; I’ve spent my entire life trying to find it.”

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sport.

IM: Was the California a lifealtering change?

LS: My life did change. Fans expected more of me and not just on a small scale.

IM: You mean, Mr. America?

LS: Yes. But I didn’t mind. Pressure kept me motivated, which I liked. I won the Mr. Pacific Coast competition in 1961 and then focused on Mr. America. All my dreams and aspirations were coming together, pouring into this one big chance. Vince helped me on my posing, and I also looked at every aspect of presentation—including tan, hair, teeth, color and cut of my briefs, the music, you name it. I didn’t want anything left to chance.

IM: Man, the ’62 America— what an unforgettable night!

Your killer routine demonstrated exactly why Larry Scott was bodybuilding’s crown prince.

LS: I’ve had many career high points, but none can compare to that one. As I swept into my first pose, an almost tangible wave of applause swamped me. All the while I’m hearing what my buddy said to me so long ago: “You’ll never be Mr. America.” And I won. I became Mr. America!

IM: But there was more going on in your life than collecting trophies.

LS: Oh, yeah, a heckava lot more!

Afterward, I went to my hotel room alone and put my trophy on the bureau. It was beautiful, a symbol of professional triumph, but I felt strangely empty. Then I looked in the mirror.

I saw an athlete who’d achieved outward perfection: tanned, muscular, seemingly confident and charming—and he was spiritually dead.

My dreams, what I’d once thought so important, meant nothing. But what could I do? I was Mr. America and had to set a good example.

Turning my back and walking away wasn’t an option.

IM: Did you tell anyone about those misgivings?

LS: No. On the outside I acted sure of myself, and nobody suspected. Besides, there was a busy year ahead of me, including my first Mr.

Universe competition. I’d little time for introspection.

IM: The ’63 Universe—where your ego took a beating.

LS: Ha! You said it. I went into it fully confident that I’d win and ended up losing to Harold Poole—a slice of humble pie that went down hard. Hunger in bodybuilding is what it’s all about, and I’d let mine slide. Harold was simply the better athlete, and he trounced me.

Next month Larry discusses Joe Weider, “Muscle Beach Party,” the first Mr. Olympia competition and size vs. aesthetics.

Editor’s note: Check out Larry’s Web site at www.LarryScott.com and his Yahoo group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group /larryscott. IM

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Jerry Brainum’s

Bodybuilding Pharmacology

Myostatin literally means “muscle stopping,” and that precisely describes the activity of a protein first isolated by scientists at the Johns Hopkins University in 1997. The discovery of the protein explained several unusual attributes that had been observed in animals. Some animals, mainly cattle, were known for their “double-muscled” appearance, meaning that they showed twice as much muscle as other cattle had—and less bodyfat too. Subsequent examination of those muscular bovines revealed that their appearance was due to a birth defect: They were born minus the genes that code for myostatin.

The animal experiments that followed that observation involved purposely blocking the genes for myostatin in rats and mice. Sure enough, “myostatin knockout” rodents also displayed bodies brimming with muscle. Another series of experiments showed that inhibiting myostatin

Blocking myostatin makes for monster muscle mass and inhibits bodyfat synthesis as well.

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Neveux

Myostatin and Muscle Mutants

could increase muscle mass in adult animals.

The question of whether a lack of myostatin produces similar effects in humans was answered in a 2004 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, in which a 4 1/2-year-old German boy is described. The boy was born to a mother, a former sprinter, who lacked a gene for myostatin. While the mother was never described physically, other than as appearing moderately muscular, the child was a mini-Hercules who had muscles twice the size of other children his age, with strength to match. He could hold out 6.5 pounds horizontally (similar to lateral raises done with dumbbells), compared to the one-pound lifted by other children his age. The difference was that he was born lacking the genes that produce myostatin.

Myostatin limits muscle growth by inhibiting the proliferation and development of myoblasts, a type of muscle stem cell that is stimulated by insulinlike growth factor-1 (IGF-1).

These satellite cells, as they are also called, fuse with existing muscle fibers, increasing the cross-sectional diameter of the cells, which translates into increased muscular growth.

Myostatin blocks that process.

Myostatin itself is a type of protein known as a cytokine, or cell-signaling substance. Levels of myostatin increase under conditions involving muscle atrophy, as in certain muscle-wasting diseases, such as HIV, and in the course of genetic muscle diseases, such as muscular dystrophy.

One effect of exercise, especially weight training, may be to downgrade the production of myostatin. Other studies, however, show that weight training may increase the release of myostatin because of the muscle damage or the increased release of catabolic hormones, such as cortisol, produced during exercise.

As research on myostatin continued, several natural myostatin blockers, or inhibitors, emerged in the body, including follistatin, mutant activin type-2 receptors and myostatin propeptide. Scientists also developed an antibody that specifically targets myostatin, blocking its effects.

When given to lab animals, the blocking agents produced unprecedented muscular growth. Later studies showed that blocking myostatin also inhibits bodyfat synthesis and that providing human growth hormone interferes with the synthesis of myostatin, which explains at least one of the anabolic attributes of GH. In fact, the latter effect persisted for a year after the subjects stopped getting the drug.

Neveux

Such spectacular effects didn’t go unnoticed by food supplement manufacturers. The publication in an obscure medical journal of a study on the effects of a type of brown seaweed led to several products touted as “myostatin blockers.”

The problem was that the initial study showed that the seaweed, Cystosiera canariensis, bound to myostatin in a test-tube environment; no proof existed that it worked in human bodies.

That small fact was never mentioned in the ads for commercial myostatin-blocking food supplements.

In a 12-week study published last year, researchers gave myostatin-blocking supplements to 22 untrained men who were engaged in a weight-training program. Another group got a placebo. At the end of the study there were no differences in muscle size, strength or bodyfat between the two groups. The authors speculate that the supplement failed because the seaweed substance that constituted the active ingredient in the supplement may have decreased the activity of another substance that blocked myostatin, cancelling out any effects from the supplement.

A new myostatin-blocking The most recent news about myostatin is that drug produced a 61 percent the same group of researchers who discovered increase in triceps size— it have now developed a true myostatin-blockwithout a single triceps ing drug, code name ACVR2B.1 It interferes with extension. the cell-docking site for myostatin (activin-2 receptors). After two weekly injections, the drug produced a 60 percent increase in muscle size is what the long-term consequences of using such a potent in mice. When the drug was given to mice that drug will be. As of now, that question remains unanswered. lacked the genes for myostatin—already bigger and more muscular than other mice—the mighty mice developed muscles that were 24 percent larger than similar mice that didn’t get the new drug. Based on that, the researchers suspect that other proteins besides myostatin are involved Perhaps the most public scandal ever involving the use in the inhibition of muscle growth, and the new drug of drugs in sports occurred recently, the BALCO scandal. works on them too. Female mice given the drug showed a “BALCO” refers to a Northern California organization 39 percent increase in calf muscle size and a whopping 61 headed by Victor Conte, who was found guilty of distributpercent size increase in their triceps—without even doing ing anabolic drugs to world-class athletes, including many a single triceps extension. prominent professional baseball players and Olympic track The scientists also noted that the full effects of the pochampions. The investigation of BALCO commenced when tent and fast-acting new drug aren’t known. They don’t a nearly empty syringe containing an unknown substance know if it affects other processes that could result in negawas sent to the World Doping Agency. Eventually, tests tive effects long-term. Of course, that warning would probshowed that the mystery substance was a designer steroid, ably not be heeded by athletes looking for a quick route to specially made to avoid detection during routine drug increased muscular size and strength. tests.

Other scientists note that certain substances that inhibit The steroid, which Conte and his associates called “the enzymes called metalloproteases also appear to block clear,” was tetrahydrogestrinone (THG), composed of prothe effects of myostatin. They are secreted by tumors as a gestin and other additives. The drug was said to resemble means of producing new blood vessels, which are needed trenbolone, one of the more powerful anabolic steroids for cancers to spread, and they literally dissolve connective used by athletes. Thus, the initial reports on THG charactissue. Some drugs, such as Marimastat and Batimastat, terized it as a potent anabolic steroid. inhibit these enzymes and are currently being evaluated According to a more recent analysis, however, reports as cancer treatments. The drugs can produce serious side of the potency of THG are greatly exaggerated.2 According effects, however, and the fear is that some athletes will use to the new report, THG is 100 times less potent than dihythem in an effort to boost muscle size. Whether the drugs drotestosterone (DHT), but that may refer to androgen-rewill accomplish that goal isn’t known, but the side effects, ceptor binding. While DHT binds to the androgen receptor including severe joint pain, would limit their use anyway. with a far greater affinity than even testosterone itself, it There’s little doubt that the actual myostatin-blocking has no anabolic activity in muscle. Indeed, DHT is considdrug will reach the athletic community. The real question

THG Update

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Jerry Brainum s

Bodybuilding Pharmacology

Researchers have suggested that THG is even more stressful to liver function than other anabolic steroids that have long-standing reputations of being liver toxic, such as Anadrol and Halotestin. ered more of a liability than anything appear to label THG as a mediocre in drug-free wrestlers and anabolic else, since it’s involved in such steroid drug at best. steroid–using bodybuilders.3 The bodybuilders had used varying combinaside effects as male pattern baldtions of steroids at least six months ness, acne and prostate enlargement. prior to the study, including testosterTestosterone is converted into DHT The aorta is the main artery leading one, nandrolone, Anadrol, Winstrol through the actions of the enzyme out of the heart, emptying blood into and Dianabol.

5-alpha reductase and is inactivated The bodybuilders had higher in muscle by other enzymes, blood pressure and a lower level which explains its lack of anaof elasticity in their aortas than bolic activity. Many anabolic the drug-free wrestlers. That steroids, however, are derivacould be a sign of serious cardiotives of DHT, and because they vascular problems up the road have been structurally modifor the drug users. fied, do have potent anabolic As to what causes the loss of effects. elasticity, anabolic steroids are The new THG study showed known to selectively reduce the that it is a nonspecific androproduction of nitric oxide in the gen-receptor-binding drug, aorta. Interestingly, the producwhich means that it also binds tion of NO in other blood vessels to receptors associated with isn’t adversely affected, though other steroid hormones, includthe potential for forming daning progesterone and aldostegerous blood clots that obstruct rone. That means it could still blood vessels is higher. Steroids produce estrogenlike effects, inhibit NO production in the although that’s unlikely to occur aorta by blocking the local synin most male users. thesis of cyclic GMP, a substance THG shows androgenic required to produce NO. Why effects similar to those of that occurs only in the aorta isn’t testosterone propionate, so known, but it may have somepeople who use it could also thing to do with the higher blood experience testosteronelike side pressure in the aorta. effects. The binding to aldosteWould ingesting substances rone receptors could possibly that increase NO and cyclic GMP, lead to water retention, but the such as L-arginine and the Bauthors say it isn’t likely. complex vitamin biotin, help in They also suggest that bethis scenario? The answer awaits cause THG appears to interfere Anabolic steroids have been shown to reduce future research. with cortisol-receptor binding, the production of nitric oxide in the aorta, it could present problems. That which can lead to heart problems. would inhibit cortisol activity, which, oddly enough, is con1 Lee, S.J., et al. (2005). Regulation the left ventricle of the heart, where sidered a feature of many anabolic of muscle growth by multiple ligands the blood is pumped to the rest of steroids, since cortisol is the primary signaling through activin type-2 recepthe body. Several studies have linked catabolic steroid. tors. PNAS. 102:18117-18122. stiffness of the aorta to impending But the authors also think that 2 Friedel, A., et al. (In press). Tetcardiovascular disease. Most athletes THG is hard on the liver. Others have rahydrogestrinone is a potent but show increased arterial compliance, suggested that THG is even more unselective binding steroid and affects which protects against cardiovascular stressful to liver function than other glucocorticocoid signalling in the liver. disease. The increased arterial funcanabolic steroids that have longToxol Letters. tion in athletes is related to increased standing reputations of being liver 3 Kasikcioglu, E., et al. (In press). production of nitric oxide in blood toxic, such as Anadrol and Halotestin.

Aortic elastic properties in athletes vessel walls.

That, coupled with the finding that using anabolic-androgenic steroids. Int A recent study compared the difthe anabolic effects of THG are not ferences in the elasticity of the aorta superior to existing steroids, would J Cardiol. IM

Steroids and the Aorta

References

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Lonnie Teper’s

NEWS & ViEWS v

Priest Serves Mass

’06 IRON MAN Pro

Runner-up No More His first IRON MAN Pro was back in 1994, when, as a 21year-old, he finished fourth. Nine tries later—with four secondplace landings on his résumé—Lee Priest finally copped the crown. But not before some nervous moments—at least on the part of the promoter and Priests’ fans.

Two weeks before the 2006 contest, which was held on February 18 at the Pasadena (California) Civic Auditorium, Priest posted on a couple of bodybuilding Web sites that he was retiring and would be devoting all of his time to driving race cars. That Lee—always good for a joke or two. Especially when he’s dieting. Of course, considering the way he dropped out of the ’05 Mr. Olympia after signing his contract, we really couldn’t know for sure, could we?

No, the 5’4” 1/2”, 200-pounder didn’t retire, and he did King finally win the show, becoming the eighth person to earn Lee. the IM Pro title in the 17-year history of the event, when he bested a feisty David Henry and the rest of the 28-man field in the latest version of the longest running pro contest on the West Coast. The 33-year-old from Down Under, who currently calls Austin, Texas, his home, joined a celebrated list of champions: Flex Wheeler (five wins), Chris Cormier Find thousands (four), Vince Taylor (two), Shawn Ray, J.J. Marsh, of photos from Gustavo Badell, Jay Cutler and Dexter Jackson.

He also became the first IM Pro champ ever to take the IRON MAN home 15K, since IM Publisher John Balik upped the Pro and the first-place ante by five grand (and the overall purse from $20,000 to $30,000) this season.

FitExpo at Throw in a few more bucks for Priest as well—another GraphicMuscle.com grand from Balik for winning the Vince Gironda Award for Posing Presentation and a like amount from Bodybuilding.com for being the Fan’s Choice, the voting for which took place during the live Webcast of the IM Pro that was produced by the Boise, Idaho–based supplement company.

On the subject of posing, how about this for opposite ends of the spectrum—Priest’s slow, methodical performance vs. the hip-hop, get-low gyrations of last year’s posing winner, Marvelous Melvin Anthony? (Melvin, always willing to display his bod, took off his shirt onstage after handing out an award and gave us a few seconds of his dynamic routine.)

Of course, there was the usual dissension about the decision, with Henry having more than his share of supporters. Don’t feel sorry for David, though. He was happy as hell—to pick up the 6K reward for finishing second and, more important, to no longer be known as the

Henry.

Alves.

From left: Mohammad, Dim and Dugdale.

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CREVICES— Who has the deepest quad sep?

Page 272

UNDER WRAPS— Who was that masked man?

Page 273

Photography by Michael Neveux, Bill Comstock, Armando Sanchez and T.S. Bratcher

John Balik and Jim Manion.

Bui.

Haidar.

Cook.

Carol Bratcher.

INTERVIEWS— What did Shawn and Bob grill Jose about?

Page 274

Rodney Dangerfield of bodybuilding.

Henry ended ’05 with a bang, winning the first (and final, thank goodness) Wildcard Showdown during the Olympia Weekend and landing on the Mr. O stage a day later. He opened up the ’06 season letting everybody know he ain’t no fluke.

Expect Oh Henry to be as big as the candy bar that bears his name.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the IM was that the smaller bodybuilders, at least smaller in weight, had the judges’ attention. Note the weights of the eventual top five, as recorded at the press conference/weigh-in the day before. Just take off five to 10 pounds for shoes, sweatshirts, fanny packs and everything else the guys had on when they stepped on the scale.

Priest weighed 209 but quickly admitted he was closer to 200. Henry weighed 196 but probably would have been 190 sans the clothing. The Freeman. point is, when the magistrates are deciding where you’ll place, it doesn’t matter what the scale says.

It’s all about how you look.

Eventual third-place finisher Troy Alves was stuck at the Phoenix airport and was forced to miss the weigh-in, but I’d put his weight at around 220 to 222. Kris Dim, who placed fourth, tipped the scale at 200, while fifth-placer Mark Dugdale’s weight was noted at 211. Not only that, but there were no distended guts in that group, which is vastly more important.

The 5’ 8 1/2” Alves, who’s at his best at around 215, was not as tight in the glutes and hams department as he was in ’05, when a lot of people thought Troy, not Badell, should have worn the crown. Did the stress of the travel delay play a role in Alves’ lack of conditioning in those areas? Perhaps a tad, but more likely it was due to his being a few pounds too heavy.

Dim was tight (Henry, Dim and Eryk Bui were the best conditioned competitors in the lineup) and was not a happy camper when he was announced in fourth behind Alves. With the top three earning Mr. O qualifying slots, that was understandable, but Kris’ legs do not match the size and quality of his upper torso, and that had to be the defining moment in the latest AlvesDim matchup.

Dugdale, like Alves, came in a bit larger than he was last year at the IM, when he made his pro debut and finished eighth, but also like Alves, he wasn’t quite as detailed. If he had been, Mark might have landed in an Olympia-qualifying slot.

Now, if you’ve been following this game for any time at all, you know that most competitors feel they should have finished higher than the judges placed them. As Arnold said way back when, “I didn’t go to any postcontest parties because I was the only one there not complaining about the results.”

One guy who was extremely upset with his finish was sixthplaced Mustafa Mohammad, whose disenchantment was blatant as he walked offstage. Yes, Mustafa is a large man, with freaky wheels, and finished an impressive 10th at last year’s Olympia, but he was not in top condition at the IRON MAN. Then again, there was no shortage of opinions in the house as to who should have finished where. www.ironmanmagazine.com \ MAY 2006 271

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MY THOUGHTS ON THE RESULTS?—Priest won the show fairly, and Henry was a close second. Could David have won? Perhaps. It could have gone either way was a popular theme among the pundits in the house.

Sure, Henry was superior to Priest when they turned to the back, with wider lats and a tighter lower back, and in overall conditioning too. But Priest had more muscle and had the edge in the calf, thigh, hamstring, delt and arm departments. Lee was also in good shape, albeit not quite as sharp as Henry.

I had no problem with Alves taking third, despite the lack of sharpness, because his overall balance is so good. After that it was all over the place. Heck, some people felt that Bui, who placed eighth, should have been as high as third. Such is the nature of this game.

I really like Toney Freeman’s 6’2”, 275-pound frame (he weighed in at 282). This is a large man with a small waist and really nice lines—and no distended belly. He finished seventh.

As for Bui, frankly, I was concerned about how he would show up after seeing pics of him three weeks out. He was smooth and flat as a pancake. Then, at the press conference, presto! He peeled off his shirt and displayed a deeply conditioned upper body that earned him that eighth-place spot.

Lee Labrada told me many years ago that three weeks out is an eternity, so don’t judge anybody that far from a contest. Now I see what you were talkin’ about, Lee. The real message here? Look out for past NPC National Middleweight champions. Henry won that class in ’02, Bui in ’04 (and Labrada in ’85, for that matter). So much for being too small to compete at a high level in the pros.

Ahmad Haidar, usually sharper than a Rush Limbaugh rant, was about 10 pounds too heavy and landed in ninth. The man with the mind-blowing midsection was considered by most to be a definite candidate for top-five finisher and was a disappointment in Pasadena.

Chris Cook, who’s out to prove that he can be a force on the pro level after below-par finishes in New York and Toronto in his rookie year, took 10th, the same placing he got last year in Canada.

The athletes who finished 11 through 15 brought a real international flavor to the event: Armin Scholtz (11th) is from Germany; Martin Kjellstrom (12th) and Oliver Adzievski (13th) are from Sweden; Moe El Moussawi (14th) is from New Zealand and Nathan Wonsley (15th) hails from the good old USA, specifically Florida.

The nonfinalists—Mo Anouti, Tamer Elshahat, Derik Farnsworth, Kai Greene, Heiko Kallbach, Evgeny Mishin, Dragan Paunovic, Heinz Senior, Rodney St. Cloud, Emmanuel Tzinidis, Hidetada Yamagishi and Ntuk Ntuk—all got to pose. Highlighting that portion of the event was the performance of Greene and St. Cloud, who posed in tandem. Both guys are exotic dancers in New York, and they got a bit more time to do their thing than the 30 seconds allotted the others who didn’t make the top 15.

Greene appeared onstage first, wearing a cape and Phantom of the Opera mask; St. Cloud came on moments later in matching attire.

A lot of fans I talked with felt the duo should have won the excellence-in-posing award, especially since Greene, in

Green and St. Cloud.

Farnsworth.

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Marvelous Melvin.

Balik and Bob Gardner.

Dugdale.

particular, does a lot of bodybuilding poses in the performance.

If you haven’t done so yet, check out the Webcast of the contest on GraphicMuscle.com and let me know your feelings: thumbs-up or thumbs-down?

ON THE SUBJECT OF AWARDS—Two very deserving men were honored at the event, Bob Gardner and Jim Manion. Gardner, one of the premier photographers in the business over the years, won the Art Zeller Award for Artistic Excellence; Manion, NPC president, IFBB North American vice president and chairman of the IFBB Professional League, received the Peary and Mabel Radar Lifetime Achievement Award.

Also deserving of an award were IRON MAN Creative Director Michael Neveux and his crew, who provided another magnificent stage setup, featuring what most bodybuilders agree is the best lighting of any contest in the world. IM Art Director Terry Bratcher is another behind-the-scenes wizard, making sure everything runs well and swell, which it did. And for the second year in a row Terry’s bride, Carol Bratcher, presented a beautiful rendition of the national anthem following a color guard presentation by the Junior ROTC from Pasadena High School.

After the bodybuilding contest was over, many fans stuck around to watch powerlifting megastar Scot Mendelson officially set a new world record in the bench press with a 1,008 first lift. Scot, who owns and operates F.I.T. (Fitness Individual Training) in Sherman Oaks, California, with his wife, Maricelle, is the first man to bench more than 800 and is a two-time national and world champion. The 6’1”, 340-pounder then upped the bar to 1,030, then 1,049 but was unsuccessful in elevating the record to even greater heights. I’d say benching more than 1,000 pounds was good enough, Scot. Congrats.

Scot Mendelson.

Priest confesses.

Press Conference/Weigh-In As always, this event provided some amusing moments. The competitors (minus Troy Alves) marched into the expo hall at 4 p.m. on Friday, February 17, and I continued the three-year tradition of weighing them in.

I let them leave on their clothes, including their shoes, for two reasons: They wouldn’t do it if their true weights were announced, and it would take much too long. As it was, Kai Greene needed a couple of minutes to peel off the many layers of clothes he’d bundled up in.

Only one contestant, Chris Cook, was disturbed by his reading on the scale. I called out, “Two hundred sixty-eight,” and Chris jumped on it immediately. “I’m not 268, I’m 255,” he said in exasperation, fearing a judge might be in the audience and think he was, ah, too big for his britches.

I brought them up in alphabetical order, and since Alves was scheduled to follow Oliver Adzievski, I tried to get GetBig .com’s Big Ron Avidan to step on the scale in his place. Big Ron backed down, claiming he had to take pictures for his Web site, but we all know the reason he declined. Since I was right on the money in guessing the weights of seven of the competitors (that was the count according to Big Ron), I’ll give him 255 pounds of pure, unadulterated, er, muscle on his 6’1” frame.

It’s nice that the guys participate when they’d much rather be lying in bed, watching television, carbing up, shaving their chest, back, legs or head, practicing their posing, sitting on the throne, etc.

Fortunately for us, many of them actually look forward to it—Greene even stood on his head for the crowd after Rodney St. Cloud joined him for a get-down, swirl-around preview of their routine.

Anthony, who bested Franklin Roberson in IM’s Terry Bratcher a “dance down” at last season’s press conference,

Kai cuts up.

with L.T. Mohammad.

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was in the front row, watching Greene and St. Cloud do their thing. “I got nothing to worry about [regarding his position as the best poser in the game],” Melvin said, shaking his head between bites of chicken and rice.

The heaviest guy in the field was Mo Anouti, who at 6’3” weighed in at 285 pounds. The lightest, natch, was Derik Farnsworth at 5’2”, 164.

I mentioned to the crowd that Lee Priest had been second four times in the past. Later, Lee showed some good sportsmanship when I asked him if he had any predictions on the outcome. “Second,” he quipped, walking back to his chair to the laughter of many in the crowd.

I asked Lee about his alleged retirement, which had the messge boards buzzing the previous week. “Naw, I’m too stupid to retire,” he said. ”I’ll probably do this another two years or so.”

The funniest moments of the afternoon came when I asked for questions from the audience. After one guy asked Greece’s Emmanuel Tzinidis, “How’s the weather?” the queries improved.

“Who’s the tallest guy up there?” asked one lady.

I had Anouti stand up. “Is he single?” she asked. A stunned Anouti pointed to his wife, who was sitting across the aisle from the interested party. Oops.

“Anybody else interest you?” I asked. “Somebody tall—over six feet,” she replied. “How about Lee Priest?” I returned. Even the Blond Myth, depleted as he was, had to break up at that one. Hey, what’s six or seven inches? In height, I mean.

The Anouti fan asked Mo to shed some clothes; Mo looked me right in the eye and said, “Lonnie, I’m disappointed you haven’t asked me to take off my clothes.”

I’m not often at a loss for words, but I came close there. Told Anouti to take it off for me. He had to stop after shedding his top due to a lack of underwear under his sweat suit.

Can’t weight until next year.

Emmanuel Tzinidis.

L.T. and Mo Anouti.

The FitExpo For the first time in the three years since we moved the IRON MAN to Pasadena and added the FitExpo, it didn’t rain cats and dogs. Oh, we did get a few showers here and there, but overall the climate was fine.

Bill Fiege, Brenda Kelly, Lenda Murray Shawn Ray and Kevin Levrone and the U.S. Army. led the way of the celebs seen at the Friday scene, which was 3 to 9 p.m. Bob Cicherillo was at his usual post at the Bodybuilding.com booth, as were Brenda Kelly and Bridget Campbell, Russ DeLuca’s lovely lady.

Bob also joined Dan Solomon, who flew in from his Florida abode, in broadcasting “Pro Bodybuilding Weekly” from the booth.

As always, their guest list was right out of Who’s Who in Bodybuilding.

Bodybuilding icons—and now supplement icons—Rich Gaspari and Lee Labrada were at their respective booths. Retired (again) eight-time Ms. Olympia Lenda Murray was one of many appearinig at the Private Trainers Association table.

The place was packed on Saturday, with too many stars to name.

On Sunday Oliver Timmy Teper and Rio Escobar Teper, the Mighty Maltese, played expo greeters and had everyone—especially the ladies—falling all over them.

Although I didn’t see him, I heard that Jose Canseco made his way into the arena, and that Bob and Dan coaxed the baseball 274 MAY 2006 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Russ DeLuca, Elsa Escobar, L.T. and the Mighty Maltese.

Ray, Conseco, Cicherillo and those leather pants.

The Big Nasty’s big seminar.

Neveux

great—and the guy mainly responsible for the new steroid-testing laws in the sport—into doing an interview on their show. Reportedly, Bob was extremely impressed with Canseco’s threads, asking him where he got the leather outfit.

I did get to meet the winners of the Fittest Couple competition.

Zach and Lana Titus (no relation) are a lovely pair from Montana who scooped up a whopping $2,500 from Subway for taking the crown. Congrats, kids. Dinner at Ruth’s Chris on you?

On the final day, as I always do, I went to Ronnie Coleman’s seminar. Before it got under way, I ran into Michael Ergas, who has seemingly gotten past the major disappointment of narrowly losing the heavyweight class at the Nationals to Jonathan Rowe. And, of course, the pro card that would have gone with it. Michael says he’ll get that card at the USA this summer. If not, there’s always another turn as Franco Columbu in the “See Arnold Run” sequel. (Are you up to that one, Roland?)

The room was packed, per usual, for Ronnie’s happening. If you haven’t been to one of the Big Nasty’s seminars, you’re really missing something. He told the crowd about his humble beginnings: a Louisiana boy who earned a degree (cum laude) in accounting at Grambling University, where he also started as an outside linebacker on the football team.

Upon graduating, Coleman moved to Texas, but he could not get a job in his field. Now, wouldn’t you want a fella like that at your side during an audit? Instead of moping around, whining about his lack of good fortune, the man took a job at Domino’s Pizza. That’s right. Domino’s Pizza. He made them, delivered them—and ate them.

Down the road he picked up another job to help pay the rent. Delivering newspapers. He also got a third job working in security.

Frequently, Coleman would see ads in the newspaper about openings in the police department. “Since this seemed to be the only profession that would hire me without prior experience, I joined up,” as he tells it.

When Brian Dobson, owner of Metro Flex Gym in Arlington, told Ronnie he’d give him a free membership if he competed in the Mr. Texas contest (this was back in 1990), Coleman jumped at the opportunity to save a few bucks. He won the show, and, as they say, the rest is history.

It’s easy to see why the eight-time Mr. O remains so popular, even at the advanced age of 41. He’s friendly, he’s funny and he’s confident. He’s also rich, due to his having won the most pro contests by any athlete in IFBB history (28), tied for the most O victories and signed that monster deal with BSN a year ago. Okay, he was rich before then.

He’s richer now. (In fact, he’s so popular that at an appearance at the ProSource Supplememt Store in Toms River, New Jersey, in January, he attracted a crowd of fans and bodybuilding celebs so large, he stayed two hours beyond the apRodney and Kai, Ergas and L.T. pointed time to greet everyone.) one more time.

Thanks for coming out again, Ronnie. You’re well appreciated, ProSource Power (from left): Kevin Levrone, Bill Grant, Rich Gasas I’m sure you know. By the way, pari, Coleman, Victor Martinez and Gerard Dente.

I loved the way you handled the question, “Will you keep competing if, hypothetically, you lose to either Jay Cutler or Gustavo Badell at To contact Lonnie the Olympia?”

Teper about material So how did Ronnie respond? As possibly pertinent to only this small-town Louisiana dude News & Views, write could, with that ear-to-ear grin: “No to 1613 Chelsea need to think about hypothetical; Road, #266, San it ain’t real, so don’t have to worry Marino, CA 91108; about it.” fax to (626) 289-7949; You are da man! or send e-mail to tepernews@aol.com.

www.ironmanmagazine.com \ MAY 2006 275

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Photography by Mervin

Timea Majorova signs photos at the IRON MAN Booth.

At the Gaspari Nutrition booth, Rich Gaspari talks supplements with GetBig.com’s Ron Avidan.

Bodybuilding.com sportscasters Dan Solomon and Bob Cicherillo are streaming from the expo. If you missed their live Webcast of the IM Pro, catch it at www .Bodybuilding.com.

Melvin Anthony beats the drums for Vyo Tech, one of the main sponsors.

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Monica Brant looks elegant at the BSN booth.

The Expo is a safer place with the L.A. City Fire Department on hand. (But we bodybuilders go for the burn, guys.)

Speaking of BSN, the company’s number-one man, Ronnie Coleman, gets snagged for a Q&A.

The zipfizz folks have loads of energy for Brenda Kelly and her mike.

The EFX men are excited. Must be that KreAlkalyn creatine coursing through their veins.

Labrada Nutrition has one of the busiest booths, but where is the big boss, Lee Labrada?

Oh, there’s Lee talking to Kenny Kassel about his new book, The Lean Body Promise.

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Sherry Goggin has people flocking to the Pinnacle booth.

Where do you get great training tips?

At the Private Trainers Association booth—from Will Harris and other pros.

Angeliina Tautz spreads the XRep philosophy at the IM booth.

Ab-ulous Meals has the goods to get people ripped.

Get Tight. Where?

At the SAN booth, of course.

You gotta flex with Met-Rx.

Vital Choice Seafood keeps the omega fats flowing.

Allmax Nutrition knows protein.

Go ahead, ask.

Even Kenny Kassel is speechless in Timea’s presence.

Worldwide Sport Nutritional Supplements’ Pure Protein bars go fast.

Promax’s Oat-Rageous bars are perfectly named. Mmm!

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2006 IRON MAN PRO

Priest Out-Guns Henry in Pasadena

Photography by Michael Neveux, Armando Sanchez and Keith Berson

2) DAVID HENRY

Mo’ money: Priest also nabbed the Vince Gironda presentation award for posing and Bodybuilding.com’s online-poll award.

FOR HUNDREDS MORE PHOTOS AND EXTENSIVE CONTEST COVERAGE VISIT

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1) LEE PRIEST

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2006 IRON MAN PRO

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FOR HUNDREDS MORE PHOTOS AND EXTENSIVE CONTEST COVERAGE VISIT

www.IronmanMagazine.com

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2006 IRON MAN PRO

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2006 IRON MAN PRO

2) DAVID HENRYFree download from imbodybuilding.com

6) MUSTAFA MOHAMMAD

10) CHRIS COOK Free download from imbodybuilding.com

2006 IRON MAN PRO

4) KRIS DIM

8) Free download from imbodybuilding.com

ERYK BUI

5) MARK DUGDALE

11) ARMIN SCHOLZ

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3) TROY ALVES

2006 IRON MAN PRO

7) TONEY FREEMAN

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12) MARTIN KJELLSTROM

9) AHMAD HAIDAR

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Ruth Silverman’s

PUMP & CiRCUMSTANCE ’05 ROUNDUP, PART 2: THE AMATEURS

Figure Power

But don’t count out the flexers and the flipsters

Comstock

The year that enthusiasm for was was a big which these one for womwomen have en’s physique taken to quarcompetition on ter-turning. the NPC circuit.

(Point of fact, If nothing else, all physique the competiathletes, male tor numbers at and female, do national-level the quartershows showed turn-to-thethat all three right tango sports were when they doing fine hit the stage, in 2005. Of even though course, figure is the figure still the juggercompetitors naut. Someone are the ones told me recently who don’t that there are do anything more figure else.) Some competitors people say than any other figure “saved classification the NPC,” It’s all in the figures. The USA B-class top five share their moment in the spotlight (from left): Karen Mallarkey, Brooke Paulin, Michelle Flake, Jeanette Freed and Grace Riviera. of athlete in but that’s Flake, USA overall winner, earned her pro card. the National silly—and Physique Comsimplistic—the mittee. I haven’t confirmed that, but look at the body count obvious question being, Saved it from what? from the top three shows: 102 male bodybuilders, 55 female The fact is, though, that the figure babes and their sisters in bodybuilders and 135 figure athletes at the USA Championthe pump-up room bring a fair amount of muscle to the botships; 132 male bodybuilders, 65 female bodybuilders and 49 tom line as well as the stage. Perhaps it’s not a coincidence fitness athletes at the Nationals; and 70 male bodybuilders, 25 that there were more pro qualifiers for figure than for any of the female bodybuilders and 68 figure competitors at the North other divisions, including men’s bodybuilding last year.

American Championships. The bottom line: More women than The card count for the class of ‘05 comes to 29 figure men competing in the top pro qualifiers times whatever the champs, seven female flexers and 12 fitness athletes graduatentry fees are and times however many friends and family buy ing to the pros, with sufficient hot bodies and crowd-pleasing tickets to watch them. routines among them to ensure that some members will still And then there are the trainers, supplements makers and be getting mention in columns like this one a year from now. posing-suit seamstresses whose income is increased by the

PUMP SHOTS: FACES OF 2005

Joyful.

Janelle Briggs of Georgia, back for a second try at the Team U Bodybuilding Championships, moved up to third.

smile at the T.U. divettes stop for a The Arizona fitness ick and Nita Marrm Co Mc Bell, Lisa (from left): Lucianna of xylophone keys? nk thi me s shot make quez. Why does thi

North Carolina’s Deborah Dunn, who’s 44 and the mother of three grown children, was delighted to be coming back to competition after a 2 1/2-year layoff due to a herniated disk— and thrilled to finish fifth in her class at the Figure Nationals.

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STILL MORE AMATEURS

STILL MORE FIGURE

Stampede to the Pros

Rookies

’05 NPC/IFBB Figure Champions*

Of the year

Junior USA, April 16, Laura Sutter Junior Nationals, June 17, Valerie Waugaman Masters Nationals, July 23, Sherie Salvadori USA, July 29–30, Figure Nationals, August 5–6, Danielle Hollenshade Comstock

North Americans, September 2–3, Nina Luchka *All earned pro cards.

Pluggers. Danielle Hollenshade hit the Junior USA, Junior Nationals and USA before clicking with the judging panel at the Figure Nationals last summer. She’ll make her pro debut at the Figure I.

Photography by Ruth Silverman

The virtues of less.

Norma Nieves, under cover at the USA, finished seventh in the ligh t heavies. Coming in to the Nationals as a middleweight, she picked up a pro card.

More less. “I feel like I have curves in all the right places,” declared USA heavyweight Mary Elizabeth Hobbs, who moved up a notch from 2004 to seventh. “My trainer trained me like a figure gal for a while.” Well, M.E., it must have worked.

Valerie Waugaman.

Comstock

Comstock

Michelle Flake

Some members of the figure class of 2005 were such fast movers, they made it to the Olympia by year’s end.

Amanda Savall, a class Amanda Savall. winner at the USA, won the Southwest Pro, beating second-placed Valerie Waugaman, who got her card at the Junior Nationals. Then Waugaman finished seventh at the O, one place ahead of Savell, and beat Mo Brant to earn the runner-up spot at the Sacramento Pro. They’ll meet again at the Figure International on March 3. To see how that fracas came out, check out IRON MAN’s colossal coverage of the Arnold Fitness Weekend at www.Graphic Muscle.com.

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PUMP & CiRCUMSTANCE MORE AMATEURS

FLEXIN’ FEMMES

’05 NPC/IFBB Bodybuilding Champs

Makeup and Muscle

Dobbins \ www.BillDobbins.com

In case you haven’t caught on to the theme, less was more for the women bodybuilders of the NPC in 2005, with a number of aesthetically gifted contenders flexing into the pros. For the most part the judging panels stuck closely to the rulebook—“A woman bodybuilder should have female-looking muscles.… When a judge looks at a female bodybuilder, he or she must have no doubt in their minds they are looking at a woman”—and the amateur ladies have gotten the message.

In pump-up rooms across the continent the air was punctuated by stories of how I brought my legs down or my waist down or changed my body composition, and many have added makeup consultation to the contest-prep checklist.

Case in point of an athlete who finally found success: Heavyweight Heather Policky, a favorite of those who favor female muscularity in the extreme, had Light heavies three (from left): Elena Seiple, Debi Laszewski and earned top-five honors but never the top Dena Westerfield flex prettily at trophy. Bringing things down a bit at the the Nationals. They finished third through first, with Westerfield earn- USA did nothing to detract from her very ing a pro card as well as the biggest pleasing shape, and she won her class. trophy.

Even so, Policky lost the overall to one of those aesthetically gifted contenders mentioned above, light-heavyweight champ Amanda Dunbar, a former gymnast with Cory Everson-esque lines who in years gone by might have finished second with the advice that she should put on more size.

Not that folks didn’t have plenty to say about that decision—some folks, that is. At the Nationals, a similar buzz was generated in the hotly contested lightheavyweight battle, where the gal with the most polished, developed package did not get the call.

The old saying proves true once again: The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Liberman

An unbeatable combination

Kim Perez, one of the highly aesthetic athletes who earned their pro cards last year. Will they be the stars of tomorrow or the girls most likely to finish last at the ’07 Ms. International?

Junior USA, April 16, Jody Coy, M&O Junior Nationals, June 17, Shannon Young, M&O Masters Nationals, July 23, Robin Parker, H&O* USA, July 30, Amanda Dunbar, LH&O* Team Universe, August 6, Debbie Patton, H&O* North Americans, September 3, Kim Perez, H&O* Nationals, November 19, Mimi Jabalee, H&O* *Earned pro card.

CONTENDERS

Pretty Woman

And she can dance too

It’s a noteworthy achievement when a face and form can stand out backstage at the Figure Nationals—which is also swarming with the athletes of the Team Universe Bodybuilding and Fitness Championships and the New York Pro Figure show. These caught my eye even before I recalled that I’d liked the lady’s fitness routine or discovered that she had a familiar name.

Valerie Brown Stephens has been catching eyes and putting on an impressive show for some time now. The one-time Atlanta Falcons cheerleader’s résumé includes

being chosen as an NCA All-American cheerleader in 1989 and the first runner-up at the ’95 Ms. African American Pageant. She was also the big winner in 2003 of a contest whose initials are F.A.P. Brown Stephens, who holds a degree in justice studies from Georgia Southern University, is a senior parole officer for the State of Georgia, as well as a fitness trainer and leader of a fitness troup, Divas Unite. She broke into NPC competition with an overall win at the Shannon Meteraud Fitness Classic but got almost no notice from the panel at her first pro qualifier. If that remains the case, someone should do time.

Valerie Brown Stephens. Too bad they don’t give an award for best cheekbones.

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MORE FLIPSTERS

FLIPSTERS

The Future

Champs of 2005

Comstock

Dobbins \ www.BillDobbins.com

In their rookie year in the pros, the fitness class of ’04 has so far failed to make much of an impression on the guys and gals in the blue IFBB blazers.

The class of ’05, though, includes one or two who may be able to squeeze into the hallowed-butcrowded grounds dominated by Jen Hendershott, Kim Klein, Adela Garcia, Tracey Greenwood, Julie Palmer and, until recently, Kelly Ryan.

A good routine and a body that’s

NPC Fitness

Of Fitness

Will Heidi Fletcher (left) or Bethany Gainey be the one to break through the tough army of fitness veterans and grab the spotlight?

good enough is often the key. In particular, the three Team Universe champs, Allison Daughtry, Bethany Gainey and Bridgette Murray, made strong impressions on this reporter, as did Heidi Fletcher, third at the T.U., who won the Nationals.

M O R E T R O PH Y W IN N ERS

Show and Tell Kids’ world When Mary Jo Cooke, a junior-high P.E. teacher from Cypress, California, won the overall at the ’05 California Figure Championships last May, her students thought it was just great. “Especially when I brought my trophy to class. They’re very supportive,” says Cooke, who’s competed in figure for five years. “They bring me cookies and candy after shows.”

Aw, that’s sweet.

Mary Jo picked up more bling for Cooke’s night out. Mary Jo took fourth at the USA. show-and-tell at the USA, a fourthplace trophy in the tall class, but no pro card—yet. With school in session, competition was out of the question for her during the rest of the last season, so we’ll have to wait till summer to see where she matriculates in 2006.

A good routine and a body that’s good enough. Bridgette Murray brings 13 years’ experience as a gymnast to the fitness arena. She earned her rep as a routine diva on the rise at the Junior Nationals and got her pro card at the Team Universe.

Junior USA, April 16, Katie Szep Junior Nationals, June 17, Bridgette Murray Team Universe, August 6, Allison Daughtry* Nationals, November 18– 19, Heidi Fletcher* *Earned pro card.

Find thousands of photos from Arnold Fitness Weekend and the Ms., Fitness and Figure International competitions at GraphicMuscle .com. www.ironmanmagazine.com \ MAY 2006 295

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PUMP & CiRCUMSTANCE AND THE NEW SEASON BEGINS

Halcyon’s Day

’06 IRON MAN NPC Figure Championships The third edition of IM’s foray into amateur figure competition attracted 29 top athletes from around the country.

That 19 of them would be in the shortest class was a development no one could have anticipated. The winner of that class, Halcyon Duarte, got the nod for the overall—and won a photo shoot with Michael Neveux—despite some stiff competition from medium-class victor Jamie Fisher and tall champ Avis Ware.

From left: Melvin Anthony, Fisher, Ware, Duarte and Bob Cicherillo do the Trophy Shot Polka.

To see what happened when Neveux and Halcyon got together, see page 298.

P R I VAT E T R A I N E R S A S S O C I AT I O N I R O N M A N P R O A F T E R PA RT Y FEBRUARY 18, 2006 • TWIN PALMS • PASADENA, CALIFORNIA

Sherry GogginGiardina and Nasser El Sonbaty party on.

Quincy Taylor shows Ashley Mayer how to pose.

Claude and Nevine Groulx are expecting a baby Groulx in May.

Alexis and David Ellis.

The ’05 IM Figure winner passed the torch to Halcyon Duarte.

The IM Figure Championships was Tamee Marie’s first time competing against national-level athletes. Third in her class was not too shabby, says Tamee.

Lenda Murray and hubby Urel McGill are both enjoying her most recent retirement from competition.

“We’ll be back!” say Jason Duke and Lee Probst of BSN.

Bob Cicherillo of Bodybuilding.com has an arm the ladies love to hold on to.

IM’s Marc Missioreck chats up Greg Wilson of VPX Sports.

You can contact Ruth Silverman, fitness reporter and Pump & Circumstance scribe, in care of IRON MAN, 1701 Ives Ave., Oxnard, CA 93033; or via e-mail at ironwman@aol.com.

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Free download from imbodybuilding.com

Halcyon

Duarte

Photography by Michael Neveux

’06 IRON MAN

Figure Winner Free download from imbodybuilding.com

Free download from imbodybuilding.com

’06 IRON MAN

Figure Winner

Height: 5’ 2 1/4” Weight: 122

Age: 25

Hometown: Upland, CA Current Residence: Laguna Niguel, CA Occupation: Law student, personal trainer, fitness model and national-level figure competitor Marital Status: Single

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Workout Schedule: Sunday: Cardio, Delts, Abs Monday: Cardio, Back Tuesday: Cardio, Chest, Abs Wednesday: Cardio, Abs Thursday: Cardio, Legs Friday: Cardio, Delts, Back Saturday: Off or Cardio

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’06 IRON MAN

Figure Winner

Sample Bodypart Workout (Delts): Seated Dumbbell Presses - 3 x 20; Lateral Raises - 3 x 20; Barbell Upright Rows - 3 x 20; Cable Shoulder Presses - 3 x 20; Bent-over Laterals - 3 x 20; Cable Bent-Over Laterals - 3 x 20

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’06 IRON MAN

Figure Winner

Favorite foods: “I eat a healthful diet all year long, thanks to my nutritionist and trainer, Kim Oddo. When I’m dieting for a competition or photo shoot, my favorite healthful food is plain rice cakes with peanut butter.

When I’m not dieting, my favorite cheat foods include freshly baked bread, ice cream and anything chocolate.”

Factoid: “My name, Halcyon, means ‘peace and tranquility’ or ‘eye of the storm.’ I’m fluent in Spanish and French, and I spent a year studying and traveling in France and another year doing the same in Argentina.”

Contact Info and Web Site: www.HalcyonDuarte.com

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Mind

IRONMIND

MIND/BODY

Grinders

Train your mind to grind out gains

T

he iron game has a dirty little secret—it’s the real key to most people’s progress. It alone will transform a bag of bones or a tub of lard into something approaching an authentic husky. The secret isn’t anything illegal, and it isn’t linked in any obvious way to your DNA patterns. For all its wondrous benefits, there’s no place you can buy more of it. It is, however, equally available to all, and it’s just as useful whether you’re a lifter or a bodybuilder. In fact, it transfers extremely well to all parts of your life. If you could put it in a bottle, you might think of it as something that enhances good fortune because the results that follow are nearly always positive and often so stunning that you would think the stuff should be banned.

Neveux \ Model: Skip La Cour

Grinders work like nothing else on earth, but at a price: the currency of hard work.

We call the secret “grinders.”

To back up a little, it’s no secret that the movements that produce the most dramatic gains are the time-honored basic lifts. They’re done with free weights, the poundages are substantial, and they’re the types of exercises on which making your eyeballs pop out leads to another rep or two or 10. And that’s the essence—you grind out more than you comfortably can; you stretch beyond what’s easy; you stick doggedly with it way beyond what most people would consider reasonable.

Grinders call for having a quit switch that’s set somewhere around the red line.

Grinders aren’t flashy, they’re never fashionable, and most people avoid them like the plague. Sure, they work like nothing else on earth, but at a price: You pay for grinders in the currency of hard work. If you want to succeed, you might as well learn about grinders as soon as possible so you can reap the benefits.

Consider the average person who lifts weights. For starters, he or she probably chooses a gym for all the wrong reasons. Maybe the aerobics class looks good, or all the machines are strictly the latest generation; maybe the color scheme makes it easier to coordinate training clothes. Once in the gym the person picks a training routine that offers the course of least resistance: lots of machine work; most movements done sitting down; training frequency and intensity reduced; multijoint, basic movements avoided. That’s not a good attitude for grinders.

Grinders tend to fit in places that are a bit primitive. It might be that primitive surroundings inspire brutal efforts, but at least your focus is locked on the rep you’re struggling to complete, not the color or condition of the vinyl.

One of the most famous lifting gyms in the U.S. had holes in the floor and a locker room that was so disgusting, the municipal health department told the owner to redo the whole thing or be shut down. The lifters barely noticed the surroundings, and nothing they saw deterred them from training there. Down the street was a slick gym with a nice this and an even nicer that; the lifters there were strictly local and regional level. The lifters from the first gym frequented the Olympics and the world championships.

One of the best setups I’ve ever seen for grinders was in China. World-record holders, world champions and Olympic champions were more common there than 300-pound bench pressers in any chain gym. How could athletes of that caliber be expected to produce their

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Body world-class results in anything less than a world-class environ- as anyone who’s been lifting weights for a while can tell you, ment, right? the results of such programs are mind-boggling.

Consider the facts: For starters, the squat racks were the Some people fail on grinders because they try to go too old-fashioned design that looks something like a pair of barfast, too soon, meaning they try to attack a weight that’s too stools. Many were made from wood, none were adjustable, big for them. Because you have to be able to lift the weight in and they were the wrong height for almost everyone. Short order to grind out reps, it’s important to start with something lifters had to pile up plates on the platform, under the bar, so within your ability. Always remember that when it comes to they could reach it. Tall lifters had to stack plates on top of the grinding, it’s the size of the effort, not the size of the weight, rack and then balance the barbell on the stack to raise the that’s important. If you do them properly, grinders will reveal bar enough to get under it. Some put plates under the legs of their magical properties: Little grinders today lead to big grindthe racks to prop up the whole affair. The things were shaky ers tomorrow, and that’s the path to progress. at best, and more than once the bar fell off the racks or lifters —Randall Strossen, Ph.D. nearly ate it going up and down from their improvised step under the bar. Even though the local lifters kept the lifting area Editor’s note: Randall Strossen, Ph.D., edits the quarterly neat and tidy, rats greeted me in the bathroom—not exactly magazine MILO. He’s also the author of IronMind: Stronger an advertiser’s dream. Nonetheless, there was nary a whimper Minds, Stronger Bodies; Super Squats: How to Gain 30 from the lifters.

Pounds of Muscle in 6 Weeks and Paul Anderson: The MightiBecause the lifters were unfazed by their surroundings, est Minister. For more information call IronMind Enterprises grinding through their training regardless of what went on Inc. at (530) 265-6725 or Home Gym Warehouse at (800) around them, they produced elite performances. That gym 447-0008, ext. 1. Visit the IronMind Web site at www witnessed some of the hardest training on the face of the .ironmind.com. earth, and the next year many of those lifters were competing in the Atlanta Olympics.

A grinder is any set that has at least one rep you could easily have failed to make, and a world-class New Stuff grinder consistently gets rep after rep, lift after lift, workout after workout—each step marked by reps We’re putting it through that might never have been born. Grinders might the grinder at the ITRC take the form of a world champion missing a huge weight a few times before making it or a beginner e’ve got the combined traingritting his teeth to make his full set of squats with ing experience of more than 200 pounds.

40 years, so when we’re able Some movements are better suited to grindto achieve faster gains than normal, we ers than others. For example, quick lifts, such as take notice. MuscleTech recently asked snatches or power cleans, are executed with great speed, so you can’t really grind through a dubious us to try its new Anator P70 postworkrep, although you might have to grind through a out mix. The company said that it’s the series of misses before finally hitting a successful only clinically proven supplement with snatch with a heavy weight. Isolation movements the ability to “immediately manipulate and just about anything on a machine can be master genetic muscle regulators, attacked in grinder fashion, and the results will be triggering rapid and dramatic muscle good—although the leg extension machine is not growth.” well suited to grinders because of possible knee That sounds exciting, but does it work? After using it for three injury. Best of all, however, is grinding through the weeks, Jonathan reached an all-time-high bodyweight of 220, and big free-weight movements. None rivals the corSteve achieved his highest at 215. Was it the Anator or our X-Rep nerstone of them all: the squat. In fact, the squat is so well suited to grinders that in classic 20-rep training? We think it was a combination. (By the way, we receive no squat programs the tough guys end up grinding compensation from MuscleTech; this is a purely objective observaout 20 reps with their usual 10-rep weights—and tion.) We’ll keep using it and report on our results. Stay tuned to

Anator P70

W

and the Train, Eat, Grow column in this magazine.

Free download fromX-Rep.com imbodybuilding.com —Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson

Bomber Blast

MIND/BODY

What Bodybuilding Means to Me

I

’m standing in the crowded downtown mall plotting my course when someone from behind taps my shoulder and asks, “Are you a bodybuilder?” Instinctively, I drop to my knees, seize the attacker by the ankles and apply a lifethreatening Brazilian submission hold. I demand the reason for the stealthy maneuver and incriminating question, and after an agonizing moment the half-crazed person admits it’s something in the way I look. I release my stranglehold, and, as the lady retrieves her walker, which had skidded across the refreshment area, she expresses regret for her aggressiveness and her damning and insensitive inquiry. I charitably accept, and we go our separate ways.

I hate those embarrassing episodes, those audible suggestions in public that I’m a bodybuilder. A 63-year-old bodybuilder? How goofy. And what do you do for a living, mister?

I construct deeply striated pectorals. I add sensual curves to the three heads of the triceps while seeking width to the back. I attend its thickness and rolling musculature. And do not think for one moment, madam, that I neglect the sweep of the thigh.

Who coined the loopy and feeble term bodybuilder years ago, anyway? Curses. It contains within its four syllables every deplorable ingredient of vanity and self-centeredness one could possess. Hi, I’m a bodybuilder. Wanna feel my big, strong, adorable muscles?

I never heard the word till I tripped over a glossy Weider magazine at 17. At 5’10”, 175 pounds with 16-inch arms, I

Neveux \ Model: Dave Draper

An exercise isn’t just an exercise to be done and you move on. It’s a setby-set, rep-by-rep experience.

A love story

thought the word sounded weak, insufficient and objectionable. “See that mess on the floor. It’s iron—cold, rusty iron. I lift the unforgiving heap to be big, strong and bad. I ain’t no stinkin’ bodybuilder.”

Right about now I’ve lost half the neighborhood. There are more than a few readers who love to identify with bodybuilding and bodybuilders. Dorian Yates is a bodybuilder. So are Lee Haney, Jay Cutler and Larry Scott. What about “Pumping Iron,” Draper? And, lest we forget, my own Brother Iron Sister Steel. Hmm. Bodybuilders graced the sands of Muscle Beach in the ’50s and studded the wall charts hanging in YMCA weight rooms across the nation.

Yeah, yeah. They were called physical culturists and physique stars, which isn’t a whole lot better than bodybuilders.

And I think musclehead was the reference preferred by hip lifters ages ahead of the demeaning spectators who created and applied the rude term. “Yes, we are authentic muscleheads.

Now get lost before we tweak your nose.”

Muscles were, for many of us starting out years ago, the ticket to strength, ability and respect. If you had muscles or regularly sought them, you were regarded as hard and becoming harder. Few people hoofed the same road; you were private, curious and out of the ordinary—nonconforming. How cool is that?

Muscles looked formidable and convincing, and for good reason: They were. They were protective and functional; they indicated serious hard work, sacrifice and personal and private dedication and self-reliance. Possessing and seeking strong muscles displayed inner and outer strength, provoked wonder and respect from onlookers, and, because nobody had them, they looked good, really good.

Nothing’s changed for a lot of us, though the flocks, herds and mobs have disguised the originality and original purpose of muscles and muscle building. Imitations of the real thing are called bodybuilders, and their muscles are for show at any cost. Seldom are they used for real work.

Give me a pile of weights and a heap of Bomber Blend, and I’ll join you on the floor for this week’s standing barbell curls and other expanded muscle- and power-making movements. Let’s go; let’s grow.

Straight bar or bent bar, your choice. They both work if you do. I like to choose the bar minutes before I plunge into the biceps workout. You never know what urge might come over you, what longing or premonition or what twinge in the wrist or forearm. I do know this: Choose a thick bar, bombers, and the sparks will fly! The difference is night and day.

How many times—too many to count—do I see a guy or gal pick up a bar and perform six or eight repetitions of the curl as if they’d just read the Sears program pamphlet. The bar goes up and down robotically; they wince and pout, and they put the bar back in its starting place. What was that all about? Another guy grabs the bar as if it’s a venomous snake, tosses the reps with robust cheating motions and drops it where he found it. Hiss! Oh, my back, but I didn’t get bit.

A curl is a curl is a curl. Not exactly!

Throughout five sets of the standing barbell curl I suggest you start with a comfortable, moderate weight and work your way up to a decent and controllable meaningful heavy weight.

You get my drift? Bodybuilders use different lingo from powerlifters when describing weights used, like girls who refer to things under the hood of a car as thingamajigs.

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Now, the first set can approach 12 to 15 reps, depending on zeal and freshness, and those reps should engage different areas and ranges of involved muscle. I take a close-footed stance, which provides a small footprint and thus requires a more vigorous struggle for balance and control. That apparent exercise disadvantage is a system builder in disguise—more energy and muscle at work while tuning the body’s ability to stabilize.

I pull the first three or four reps high to the forehead with flat wrists, accentuating the ball of the biceps (whatever you call it), and I wear out fast. Next, I mimic the Sears bodybuilding student by tilting forward slightly at the waist and bringing the bar upward in a most isolated fashion. Feels good all over, clean and correct. A+. Finally, as pink cheeks turn to crimson, deep breathing to gasping, I resort to mild body thrusts, which nudge the bar to a most gratifying position and enable me to edge the bar upward to completion one dynamic inch at a time. The negative of the last rep, as the negative of the first rep, is fought for dearly. The bar is replaced with honor, and it’s time for the next set, a triceps exercise—make that a “movement”—part two of a bi-tri superset.

A well-designed and executed barbell curl builds big biceps better than any other movement. It also works the whole system of muscles from head to toe, especially when you realize this fact and apply it with intentional gusto. Flex those integrated muscles with appreciation—more output for the input.

Get the picture, bombers? An exercise isn’t just an exercise to be done and you move on. It’s a set-by-set, rep-by-rep experience in which every particle of mind, muscle and might, like gold dust, are panned, sifted, gathered, calculated and invested. Only then do you grow rich day by day.

There you go again, Draper. You talk too much when you should be pushing air beneath your wings.

Let’s reach for the sky while the sun’s warm and bright and overhead. You go first, I’m not far behind. Count on it.

—Dave Draper Editor’s note: 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.

www.Home-Gym.com Best Sellers Books: 1) The 7-Minute Rotator Cuff Solution

by Joseph Horrigan, D.C., and Jerry Robinson 2) Fat to Muscle 2 by IRON MAN Publishing 3) Train, Eat, Grow—The Positionsof-Flexion Muscle-Training Manual by Steve Holman 4) 10-Week Size Surge by IRON MAN Publishing 5) The Precontest Bible by Larry Pepe DVDs/Videos: 1) “IRON MAN’s Bodybuilding Beauties” 2) “Jay Cutler’s Ripped to Shreds”

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Gallery of Ironmen

MIND/BODY MIND/BODY

Billy Hill

ad

Photo courtesy of the David Chapman collection

M

ontreal in the 1950s and ’60s was a great place for bodybuilders. Canada’s French-speaking province had long been considered by its inhabitants to be “the cradle of strength” because it had been the home of supremely powerful men like Louis Cyr, Victor Delamarre and the Baillargeon brothers (see Gallery of Ironmen, April ’03 and December ’04). In the 1940s a new group of men appeared in Quebec, and they were determined to morph weightlifting into bodybuilding.

Foremost among them were Joe and Ben Weider. They encouraged others to build their muscles and to open gyms in the area, and one of the men who did both was Billy Hill.

Hill’s father owned a successful Montreal restaurant, and Billy claimed that he was so weak and painfully shy that he could hardly bring himself to work with customers. Then in April 1950, on the advice of Joe Weider, the young man began to work out at Allan Paivio’s gymnasium. Even the gym owner wondered if he could help the skinny young man at first.

“I couldn’t see any meat on him anywhere,” exclaimed Paivio, “ribs, shoulder blades, joints stuck out all over.”

Fortunately, Hill was determined to become shapely and strong. It was only a matter of time before he started entering bodybuilding con-

tests, and in 1952 the 24-year-old athlete won his first competition when he became Mr. Montreal. That must have encouraged him to continue his muscle-building regimen because two years later he’d packed on an incredible 70 pounds of muscle, which enabled him to emerge as 1954’s Mr. Canada.

After winning Canada’s most prestigious physique title, Billy decided to cash in on his brains and talents, and he opened a gymnasium in Montreal.

It was a success, and he joined forces with several local investors, including Ben Weider, to open one of the finest bodybuilding gymnasiums in North America.

Soon Billy Hill’s face and physique were appearing in many magazines, and his articles showed up regularly in publications. During the late ’50s and early ’60s Hill was one of the most popular physique models in the world; Allen Stone, the renowned physique photographer, took hundreds of photos that appeared in magazines of the day. As he grew older, Hill continued to train, and his body acquired new thickness and bulk.

Unfortunately, the champion athlete had a few hidden health problems, and in 1979 he died at the age of 51. The cause of death was given as a heart attack.

Canada’s great champion had succumbed at a tragically young age.

—David Chapman

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Health Tips

MIND/BODY

Cough Off

A

Pursuit of Happiness

The Content Life

I

n the February ’06 Prevention, Martin E.P. Leligman, Ph.D., reveals the three routes to achieving happiness: “One is the pleasant life, full of pleasure, joy and good times. The second is the engaged life, in which you lose yourself in some passion or activity, experiencing what psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Ph.D., calls flow. And the third is the meaningful life: It may not have many high moments or blissful immersions, but it is packed with purpose.”

Advice: Find something you’re passionate about, pursue it, and share it with others. You’ll be a happier person.

—Becky Holman www.X-tremeLean.com

New Stuff

Get Shredded, Keep the Muscle And get a free R.I.P.P.E.D. book

R

ipped System is NxCare’s most powerful, fastest fat-burning and diuretic stack. It begins with Methyl Ripped, bodybuilding’s strongest fat burner, and the world’s first anticatabolic fat burner that helps spare muscle while getting you ripped, fast. To keep the fat burning 24/7, NxCare engineered the nighttime fat burner Methyl Lean to promote nighttime thermogenesis. That means it helps keep your metabolism on high without stimulants that could keep you up. Then there’s Methyl Dry, the competition strength diuretic that takes your conditioning beyond tight by helping to pump up your vascularity. It contains an anticramping complex to help decrease water retention without seizing up. You’ll also get a limited-edition book, R.I.P.P.E.D., which covers training, diets, supplementation—and how to put it all together to help get you shredded in record time. Ripped System is available at GNC. IRON MAN readers are eligible to receive a free R.I.P.P.E.D. book (while supplies last) by calling (866) 692-2731 (please allow $5 for shipping and handling). For complete product details, call (866) 692-2731 or go online to nxcare.com.

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Neveux \ Model: Clark and Anita Bar-

ccording to the Bottom Line Health newsletter, “a compound found in cocoa was more effective at calming coughs than codeine, the active ingredient in many overthe-counter and prescription cough medicines.”

Advice: When you have a cough, instead of rushing for a drug-laced cough syrup, you may want to try a cup of hot chocolate first—and do your darnedest not to cough when you’re sipping it.

—Becky Holman www.X-tremeLean.com

MIND/BODY

The Bodybuilding Stars of Tomorrow Here Today!

Ron Pereira’s Stats Weight: 245 contest; 285 off-season Height: 6’1” Age: 34 Occupation: Chemical coating operator Residence: Wood Haven, Michigan Factoid: ’05 Junior National Superheavyweight winner

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Photography by Bill Comstock To see more great photos of upcoming physique stars, visit

www.GraphicMuscle.com

Desmond Miller’s Stats Weight: 251 Height: 6’ Age: 32 Occupation: Health club general manager Residence: Forest Hills, New York Factoid: Has a one-year-old daughter, Desmari

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Only the Strong Shall Survive

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Light Medium

Taking the Confusion Out of the H-L-M Program

by Bill Starr

Photgraphy by Michael Neveux

Model: Robert Hatch

I

receive more inquiries concerning how to organize a strength program using the heavy, light and medium concept than any other topic. Although I’ve written on the subject previously, it seems I didn’t sufficiently cover some of the finer points of the system. That’s my intent now.

It’s important to understand how to build a routine around this concept. Those who fail to do so might make lots of gains in the beginning, but they invariably become overtrained. When that occurs, all progress comes to an abrupt halt. Or worse, the numbers on the various exercises start slipping backward. Worse yet, in an attempt to get things moving forward once again,

they continue to work heavier at every session and sustain an injury that forces them to stop lifting altogether.

Incorporating the heavy, light and medium system into your program isn’t a luxury; it’s a necessity for long-term progress. Mark Berry is responsible for bringing that useful concept into mainstream physical culture in the mid-1930s. He explained how to use it in his book Physical Training Simplified.

Later, such publications as Strength & Health and Iron Man dealt with the subject, so the information has been available for a long time. Yet many strength athletes, especially younger ones, aren’t aware of the value of this training tool.

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Only the Strong Shall Survive

The system is based on the commonsense idea that a less demanding workout should always follow a strenuous one.

Model: Berry Kabov Model: Steven Segers

On Monday you work to max, on Wednesday you do less, and on Friday you handle weights somewhere in between.

The system is based on the commonsense idea that a less demanding workout should always follow a strenuous one so your body gets the opportunity to recover properly.

When I began lifting, I knew nothing about that notion and lifted for two years before I saw my first fitness magazine. I’m sure a lot of older athletes were in the same boat. I believed that when I went to the weight room, I needed to work to my absolute limit on every exercise.

Three times a week I went as heavy as possible. Finally, out of necessity, I began to use lighter weights at least once a week and found that my lifts began to move up again.

That’s how I continued to train until Sid Henry took me under his wing at the Dallas YMCA. He understood all about the heavy, light and medium system and taught me how to use it as I became more advanced. Since then, it’s been an integral part of my training.

The majority of those who lift weights are aware of the concept, although they’re not always sure just how heavy they should go on their light and medium days. The heavy day is rather easy to figure out. You go to the limit on all of the primary exercises. That holds true for the rank beginner and the very advanced alike. The other two days are what give athletes trouble trying to calculate the top-end numbers.

Since I want to touch all the bases in explaining this system, I’ll start at the beginning and go on from there. The light and medium days go through transitions along the way.

My strength programs start out with the Big Three, and it doesn’t matter what sport the athlete participates in. The bench press, back squat and power clean are my exercises of choice and have been since the mid-’60s, when Tommy Suggs and I devised the basic routine.

The athletes lift three days a week.

More at this stage is not advisable.

A training day is followed by a day of rest—critical in the beginning for recuperation. The same set-and-rep sequence, five times five, is used at every session.

Since Monday, Wednesday and Friday are the days on which so many people train, I tag them with the heavy, light and medium captions. On Monday the athletes work imbodybuilding.com

Free download from imbodybuilding.com

Model: Mike Dragna

beginner to learn correct form on the basic exercises while steadily improving his strength. As a general rule, I have beginners stay with the program outlined for a month or six weeks, though some are ready for a more demanding routine much sooner than that. It boils down to the individual, and the observant coach can tell when it’s time to move to the next level.

I’ve known coaches at high schools and small colleges who kept their athletes on the Big Three exclusively during the off-season conditioning program. They’ve told me that they’re quite pleased with the results.

I’ve also used this simple routine for a couple of weeks on teams that were starting their off-season strength programs. I did it because For variety there’s often a tendency for athletes switch to front who’ve gone through the program squats instead previously to attempt to regain of standard their former strength levels on all of back squats. Use the primary exercises too quickly.

Since they’ve handled big numbers about 70 percent before, their minds are ready to of your backtake them on again, but their bodsquat weight. ies need time to adapt to the new physical demands. Some need more to max; Wednesday, they do less, than others. Trying to get back to the heavy day—255. He works up to and Friday finds them handling those former weights too fast can that poundage in these increments: weights somewhere in between be risky, since there’s always at least 135, 185, 215, 235 and 255. the weights of those two days. How one muscle group that lags behind, That method greatly simplifies much less and where in between and pushing it can result in an inthe process of weight selection, and present problems to lots of athletes. jury that stops all progress. the athletes can easily do the calMany coaches like to break the In all my years of strength coachculations themselves, so the coach poundage of the various days into ing, I’ve seen only one athlete injure can spend more of his time helping exact percentages, which is fine in himself doing good mornings. I them with their form. As the last set the initial stages of training. Heavy start trainees off conservatively and on the heavy day moves up, so will is 100 percent, light is 70 to 80 perincrease the poundage in direct the preceding sets, which changes cent, and medium 80 to 90 percent, relationship to their squats. When the final sets on the other two days. depending on who’s laying out the that’s done, all is well. When there The reasoning behind doing routine. are 40-plus athletes training, I’m only three primary exercises, rather That works, but if you’re responnot always able to observe every than four, five or six, is that once sible for dealing with 50 or 60 memone of them. One of our linebackers the athletes perfect their form on bers of a team, calculating all the at Hopkins was a serious strength the exercises, it’s much easier for numbers is a huge pain in the butt. athlete and had achieved a high them to learn all the other strength And unnecessary. I use a very simple movements. For example, after they level of success the year before. At method of determining the top-end his first Wednesday back, he was master the technique for the power poundage for the three workouts, determined to do a good morning clean, they can move with ease to instead of grappling with percentag- power snatches, full cleans, full very close to his former best, which es. Say an athlete uses these weights was 220x8. At 185, he pulled his snatches, high pulls and shrugs. for the back squat on his heavy day: right lumbar, and the injury affected While some programs are made 135, 185, 225, 255 and 275, all for his entire off-season. The lesson: up of different exercises or more five reps. On the light day he goes Whether you’re a rank beginner or than three, they adhere to the same only up to what he handled on his an advanced strength athlete startguidelines just presented and althird set on the heavy day—225. His ing back on a program, make haste ways incorporate the heavy, light progression would be 135, 175, 195, slowly. You’ll be much better off in and medium concept if they’re 215 and 225. The final set on his me- going to be productive. the long run. dium day will be the fourthFree set on download After the base is established and The break-in period enables the from imbodybuilding.com

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After a warmup your weight on good mornings should be about 50 percent of what you squat for five reps.

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the athletes change from doing only three primary exercises and start adding others to build variety into the routine and give specific groups more attention, they can become confused over the light and medium days. Where should they put the new exercises, and how heavy should they be? The first thing to recognize is that when the strength program is elevated to a higher level, percentages get thrown out the window. The light and medium days are mostly determined by the exercises done on those days. The exercises are selected with these factors in mind: degree of difficulty, amount of weight used and total workload.

Light day first. Many equate light with easy. That’s because in the beginning program the Wednesday workout was rather easy. It isn’t, though, once you start expanding the routine. Every workout is tough, including the light day. The good morning is the exercise I like for the

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Only the Strong Shall Survive

Model: Daryl Gee

the way, I’ve got work cut out for him to make his the rest of the week final set of front squats with 285, whipped.” I feel the so it fits perfectly into the light-day same way. concept.

For the shoulder I said to throw out percentages, girdle on the light and here’s why. If we strictly adhere day, I use overhead to percentages, our athlete is represses or inclines, quired to handle only 70 percent of depending on the his best back squat for five on his athlete’s goals. Footlight day. So our 350-pound squatball players want big ter will have to use only 245x5 on benches, so I have the light day, and even if he goes them do inclines for 80 percent, he’ll squat with only on Wednesday and 280x5. That’s not enough. It’s okay bench on Monday in the formative stages, but certainand Friday. For the ly not sufficient to help the athlete other sports teams get stronger as he becomes more Most football players want a big bench, so I insert overhead advanced. they should do inclines on Wednesday and presses on the light Instead of percentages, I have bench presses on Monday and Friday. day and inclines on athletes use a weight on the final the medium day. Eiset that’s taxing but not so extreme ther upper-body exer- that it adversely affects the Friday back on the light day. I consider it cise fits the light-day requirements. workout. As a rule of thumb, I have one of the most beneficial of exEven when inclines or overhead them do 50 pounds less than what ercises for any strength athletes. presses are pushed to the limit, as they handled on Monday, for five Without strong lumbars, heavy they should be, the weights used are reps. That comes to 300 for our pulls and squats aren’t possible. considerably less than the pound350-pound squatter. As his strength They always require a concentrated age on the flat bench on Monday. An base expands even further, I use effort, and since the athlete has athlete who can bench 350 will be the formula to push up his poundto keep them in proportion to his hard pressed to use 275 on the inage while keeping the weights back squat, they eventually becline or 200 on the overhead press. manageable, with two warmup sets come a test of will as much as pure For the legs I include either back followed by three sets at the work strength. My guideline is that the squats done with lighter weights or weight. For example, our squatter good morning needs to be 50 perfront squats done full out to max. would do: 135 and 225, then jump cent of what the athlete is squatting Athletes who want to try Olympic to 300 for three sets of five. That’s for five reps. You do good mornings lifting or merely want more variety still a relatively light session and in eights, which makes them, if not in their leg routine can do front adds nicely to the volume for the the most demanding exercise in the squats, three sets of five, then three week. entire program, at least in the top heavy work sets of three. Our 350One other note on the light day. three. pound back squatter will have his I never have lifters do back-off sets, So how do good mornings fit and I keep into the light day? It has to do with their auxiliary Shoulder-girdle work is important. Use either the amount of weight used and the exercises to incline presses or overhead presses. total workload in comparison with only a couple what was done for the back on the for two sets heavy day. For example, on Monday of relatively the athlete did power cleans, five higher reps, sets of five, followed by three sets of 15s to 20s. high pulls, all to limit. He worked There’s one up to 215 on the power cleans and other variable 275 for the high pulls. On Wednesto be considday he ended up with 175x8 on the ered when good mornings because he’d backsetting up the squatted 350x5 on Monday. That’s heavy, light a huge difference in both intensity and medium and total amount of workload. system, and Until an athlete becomes very that’s time advanced, I include only one gruspent in the eling exercise on the light day. weight room.

The other two lifts aren’t nearly as The light day arduous as good mornings. As my should use the Hopkins athletes always declared, shortest time, “Once good mornings are Free out of download from imbodybuilding.com the medium

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gas in the tank to go heavy on three running low on fuel, I let them pull primary exercises, they’ll be able back a bit and drop the back-off to extend themselves on one—the set. If the final set is tough, they’re squat. Not only do I expect them to going to get stronger in the long work heavy, but I also expect them run. Those wanting to bench twice to handle a heavier weight on their a week will do four sets of eight on final set than they used on the preFriday. That ups their workload vious Monday. Rather than doing without overtraining their attachfive sets of five, however, they do ments, so they’ll be ready for heavy two sets of five followed by three weights on Monday. As they become heavy triples, and the weight on that more advanced, I add one set of last set will exceed what they used doubles after the eights, and when for their final set on Monday by five they’re able to recover from that pounds. amount of work, I throw in one Doesn’t that abuse the medium more set of two. concept? No. While the intensity is Those who are completely spent Shrugs build strong traps, on a par with the max five on Monat the end of the Friday workout are day, the workload is quite a bit less. instructed to get plenty of rest and which help stabilize the The workout is meant as a setup eat mass quantities of food over the upper spine. day for the upcoming heavy day, weekend in order to be fresh and when they use the same weight they full of energy for the heavy session day more, and the heavy day the finished with on Friday and do five on Monday. most. That’s one reason I drop the reps. That way, the squats will climb back-off sets on Wednesday and steadily upward. The majority of Use the Big Three on a heavyrestrict the number of auxiliary my athletes can make the increase light-medium program for exercises. for a dozen consecutive weeks. At time-sensitive, strengthFrequently, athletes zip through that point I adjust their programs to building workouts. their assigned exercises as they’re further expand their workloads. instructed to do, then find that they On the other two primary exercishave plenty of energy left. So they es I’m flexible. I want lifters to apply start doing more auxiliary work their effort on them, but I’m not that and end up training longer than interested in how heavy they go. If they did on their heavy day. Even they’re extra weary, they may end though the poundages being used up doing less than the week before. on the various exercises are relaThat’s okay, as long as they exert tively light, when all the sets, reps, themselves and give 100 percent and poundages used are added up, The shrug is my back exercise for the total amount of work will be Friday. Done properly, shrugs build greater than on the medium day, strong traps, which help stabilize and that defeats the purpose of the the upper spine, a major considerlight day. ation of any athlete engaging in a The medium day is the most contact sport. I want athletes to go troublesome to those who are tryas heavy as possible as long as they Should you be on a schedule ing to set up a program for themmaintain good technique. If they where you train four days per week, selves or a group of athletes. Keep work to limit on that particular day, follow this sequence: heavy, lightest, two things in mind about the Frithey’re going to get stronger. light and medium. Then, once you day workout. First, it comes at the Wait a second, you may be thinkreach an advanced level of training, tail end of the training week, which ing. When I shrug 450 or 500, doesn’t do heavy, light, medium, medium. means the athletes are more tired, that conflict with the medium If all this only adds to your confuboth physically and mentally, than concept? Not really. It’s a partial sion about the heavy, light and methey were on Monday and Wednesmovement. At some stage the bar dium concept, just make sure you day. Second, they have two days to may move only a few inches, so it’s always follow a strenuous workout recuperate before their heavy day not nearly as difficult as any fullwith a lighter one. Finish the week on Monday. range exercise. It ranks low on the with a session that sets you up for a Knowing that, I want my athletes demanding scale as well. High pulls, strong heavy day, and you’ll continto train hard but not so hard that good mornings, bent-over rows, ue to make steady improvement. it taps into their heavy day. I do deadlifts and power cleans all rethat with exercise selection. Plus, I quire a more intense effort.

Editor’s note: Bill Starr was a observe the athletes, and if I deterFor the shoulder girdle, the athstrength and conditioning coach mine they’re fatigued, I cut back on letes can choose between inclines at Johns Hopkins University from their workloads by dropping a few or flat benches. If they decide on 1989 to 2000. He’s the author of The sets and all auxiliary exercises. inclines, I have them max out on Strongest Shall Survive and Defying While they may not have enough threes or fives.

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Readers Write Playmate Who Hits the Weights Karen McDougal.

the state of so-called bodybuilding. How I long for the days of the Academy of Music in Brooklyn and the shows Dan Lurie and Joe Weider used to put on. I wouldn’t pay a dime to see the freak show that is the Mr. Olympia now. Ronnie Coleman is the nightmare Vince Gironda used to talk about—just a lot of mass with a big ass and no classic lines at all. And that goes for Jay Cutler as well. And that Marcus Ruhl should be shot into orbit. Maybe if they pick Dexter Jackson as the new Mr. O, I’ll once again become interested Reginald D. Ashe San Antonio, TX Editor’s note: It’s for guys like you that we’re bringing back our Legends of Bodybuilding interviews. This month we feature Larry Scott, a Gironda pupil. Check it out on page 254.

Neveux

Un-covered

Thank you very much for featuring Karen McDougal as your Hardbody in the January issue [“Playmate Power”].

She’s the best example of a Playboy model who’s made a successful switch to fitness modeling. Karen is a truly earthbound angel with a hard body. I really enjoyed the pictures and hope to see more of her in your great magazine in the future.

Michael J. Beal St. Louis, MO Editor’s note: Yes, Karen is certainly a hardbody now.

She was so lean that she had vascularity in her midsection.

Wow! You won’t see that in Playboy.

Old Fart Fact and Fiction As an old fart—almost 75—bodybuilder (and Olympic/powerlifter in my glory days), I only recently tried Mike Mentzer’s Heavy Duty workouts. Awesome! Factually, older people lose strength, but with Heavy Duty I’m regaining much of what I’ve lost. Even so, I like to use it sparingly, when I reach a plateau. I still believe regular workouts of longer duration with plenty of sets, reps and short rest times are the healthiest, due to the so-called pump. Too much exertion followed by too much rest is detrimental to one’s health.

Ze-ev Amzalem Henderson, NV Editor’s note: Thanks for the comments and for showing us that it’s okay for old farts to use the word awesome.

Lots of Mass With a Big Ass? I’ve really been enjoying John Balik’s Publisher’s Letter on

I enjoy reading IRON MAN from cover to cover every month, but you lose it when it comes to your covers. Two suggestions: First, do away with women on your cover. Second, get rid of the pretty-boy models. Put more hardcore bodybuilders on the front. Your best cover was Jay Cutler [in black and white; December ’05]. Also, enough with Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson and X Reps. We did those more than 20 years ago, but we called them forced reps.

James Magliulo Selden, NY Holman responds: Your cover feedback is much appreciated, James, but as for X Reps, they are not forced reps. Maybe you’re thinking of burns; however, burns were usually performed in the contracted position; X Reps are performed at the max-force point, or semistretched position, on the stroke—and there’s science behind that. So why do we keep writing about X Reps? Because we continue to discover exciting ways to apply the information, new X-Rep techniques and ties to how the biggest bodybuilders use similar tactics to get bigger. Most readers applaud that and find it interesting and applicable to their workouts. Oh, and X Reps work, as evidenced by the letters we receive, like the following…

Beyond X-cited Beyond X-Rep Muscle Building—Wow! What an e-book! I had to reply because I gained 10 pounds of muscle [with the info in it]. The Double-X Overload technique had an incredible effect on my body. I’m now an official X-Rep fan.

Daniel Vardi Tel Aviv, Israel Vol. 65, No. 5: IRON MAN (ISSN #0047-1496) is published monthly by IRON MAN Publishing, 1701 Ives Ave., Oxnard, CA 93033. Periodical Mail is paid at Oxnard, CA, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to IRON MAN, 1701 Ives Ave., Oxnard, CA 93033. Please allow six to eight weeks for change to take effect. Subscription rates—U.S. and its possessions: new 12-issue subscription, $29.97.

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Foreign orders must be in U.S. dollars. Send subscriptions to IRON MAN, 1701 Ives Ave., Oxnard, CA 93033. Or call 1-800-570-4766. Copyright © 2006. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any manner without written

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