2009-06 by Iron Man

JUNE 2009 / IRON MAN MAGAZINE—WE KNOW TRAINING™

JURASSIC SPARK: 10 x 10 = FAST MASS

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to Win BIG! Hot BodySpace Champs Sean Harley and Allison Ethier Tell You How

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• Arnold Classic—Giant Pics of Insane Muscle • Motivation Mojo—Grab Your Goals to Gain • Secure Your Shoulders for New Size and Strength Free download from imbodybuilding.com

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www.ironmanmagazine.com \ APRIL 2006 261

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150 DECEMBER 2009 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

IRON MAN MAGAZINE WE KNOW TRAINING IRON MAN MAGAZINE WE KNOW TRAINING IRON MAN MAGAZINE WE KNOW TRAINING IRON MAN MAGAZINE WE KNOW TRAINING IRON MAN MAGAZINE IRON MAN MAGAZ

WE KNOW TRAINING™

June 2009

CONTENTS CONTENTS CONTENTS CONTENTS CONTENTS CONTENTS CONTENTS CONTENTS CONTENTS CONTENTS CONTENTS CONTENTS CONTENTS CONTENTS C

FEATURES

78 TRAIN, EAT, GROW 116 The TEG men explore the power of 10—as in 10 sets of 10 reps—with a unique variation for adding size.

112 A BODYBUILDER IS BORN 47 Ron Harris describes how to restart gains by getting creative.

122 SEAN HARLEY The IM/BodySpace Model Search champ thinks fit to win.

136

136 ALLISON ETHIER How she turned up the heat to win the IM/BodySpace Model Search women’s division.

ALLISON ETHIER

154 HEAVY DUTY John Little has Mike Mentzer’s takes on rep cadence and negative training.

158 PROOF BEFORE PROMISES, PART 2 Jerry Brainum interviews top nutrition scientist Anthony Almada.

168 TRICEPS TORCHER Mark Perry explains how to brutalize your tri’s in the gym.

182 GOALS TO GAIN The Wilson brothers discuss ways to envision success.

194 IFBB ARNOLD CLASSIC The best bodies in the world storm Columbus—and the winner is...

222 POWER SURGE Sean Katterle talks with bench press powerhouse Ray Hickman.

256 PROFILE: ABBAS KHATAMI How he’s training, eating and planning to break into the pro ranks.

168

266 FEMME PHYSIQUE New series: IFBB Women’s Historian Steve Wennerstrom provides perspective on women’s bodybuilding past and present.

MARK PERRY’S TRICEPS TORCHER

282 ONLY THE STRONG SHALL SURVIVE Coach Bill Starr helps you build stronger, more secure shoulders.

Sean Harley and Allison Ethier appear on this month’s cover. Hair and makeup Teri Groves. Photo by Michael Neveux.

JURASSIC SPARK: 10 x 10 = FAST MASS

Work Out

™

to Win BIG! Hot BodySpace Champs Sean Harley and Allison Ethier Tell You How

Triceps Torcher Toast Your Tri’s for Super Size

Power Surge Blast Off to a Bigger Bench

194

282

JUNE 2009 $5.99

PLUS:

Vol. 68, No. 6

Free download from imbodybuilding.com

www.IronManMagazine.com

Please display until 6/3/09

• Arnold Classic—Giant Pics of Insane Muscle • Motivation Mojo—Grab Your Goals to Gain • Secure Your Shoulders for New Size and Strength

CONTENTS CONTENTS CONTENTS CONTENTS CONTENTS CONTENTS CONTENTS CONTENTS CONTENTS CONTENTS CONTENTS CONTENTS CONTENTS CONTENTS CO

DEPARTMENTS

36 TRAIN TO GAIN Bi’ size, squat stance and Joe Horrigan’s Sportsmedicine column.

50 SMART TRAINING Coach Charles Poliquin talks Romanian deadlifts and hardgainer tactics.

60 EAT TO GROW Anabolic limits of protein, new beta-alanine research and an easy way to shorten workouts and make better gains.

92 NATURALLY HUGE John Hansen has a blueprint for losing fat, not muscle.

100 SHREDDED MUSCLE

260

Dave Goodin gets into motivation and first-contest strategies.

104 CRITICAL MASS

PUMP & CIRCUMSTANCE Curvature and conditioning

Steve Holman on the Jurassic spark known as X Reps.

232 MUSCLE “IN” SITES Eric Broser checks out legendary bodybuilder Berry DeMey’s site—with surprising results—plus, he reviews Chris Faildo’s new DVD.

240 NEWS & VIEWS Lonnie Teper’s all over the Arnold Classic, and he’s got Rising Stars too.

TRAIN TO GAIN

260 PUMP & CIRCUMSTANCE Ruth Silverman checks out the female-physique fest at the Arnold.

274 BODYBUILDING PHARMACOLOGY Jerry Brainum’s concluding commentary on natural testosterone boosters.

292 MIND/BODY CONNECTION Take me to your dumbbells, surf your brain waves and germ warfare.

304 READERS WRITE Women with muscle, IM throwback and back-attack believer.

ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLINE ONLIN

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COVERAGE Get the latest, greatest results, photos, video and blogs from the biggest events.

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Next month we’ll have a Q&A with former NPC Team Universe champ Skip La Cour—his bodybuilding goals may have changed, but he’s still going to war with the weights five days a week. He’s also a motivational speaker, so be prepared to be inspired. Then the Wilsons outline how to fight off muscle loss, Jerry Brainum looks at resveratrol, and we’ll have a Body by Science book excerpt. Also, Hawaiian bodybuilding sensation Shavis Higa lays out his winning workout and diet. Find the July issue on newsstands the first week of June.

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PUBLISHER’S LETTER PUBLISHER’S LETTER PUBLISHER’S LETTER PUBLISHER’S LETTER PUBLISHER’S LETTER PUBLISHER’S LETTER PUBLISHER’S LETTER PUBLISHER’S LETTER PUBLISHER’S LETTER PUBLISHER’S LETTER PUBLISHER’S

Publisher’s Letter by John Balik

The Future of Bodybuilding

When we first started using the trademarked phrase “The Future of Bodybuilding” in January 1989, my vision was to enhance the bodybuilding environment by emphasizing the positive and growing the awareness of bodybuilding as the foundation of a healthful lifestyle. Our editorial content has always reflected that commitment—bodybuilding isn’t meant to be a quick fix but rather a realignment of priorities, a positive addiction. The reality is that 80 percent of the people who start training drop out within five years, never graduating to the level where bodybuilding becomes embedded in their lives. As I said, bodybuilding is the cornerstone of a strong, healthful lifestyle. Without it at the center of your long-range commitment to your physical self, diet, supplements and nutrition have greatly reduced impact. I got into this business essentially because I was and am an evangelist for bodybuilding—I believe it’s good for every body. For me the future of bodybuilding is both personal and universal. The Web has revolutionized the universal aspect. Last year we brought the idea of a covermodel search to Bodybuilding.com—a contest that would be at once a model search for the magazine and a spokesperson search for Bodybuilding.com. Through the BodySpace community at Bodybuilding.com we were able to engage hundreds of thousands of men and women who are the future of bodybuilding. This month’s cover models are the winners of the inaugural event. What I especially like about the contest is that the people are chosen by their peers and the whole process engenders inspiration and recognition. Very few of us start out to make bodybuilding a lifestyle—that happens with time, and so many drop out before they get to where they enjoy its multifaceted benefits. I believe that cover-model recognition will draw many to bodybuilding and that the accomplishments of others will be a beacon of inspiration to everyone involved. The 2010 model search will be greatly expanded, growing our grass roots competition into an exciting contest with national scope. Allison Ethier and Sean Harley, our cover models, are “next stage” bodybuilders. Allison combines a background in gymnastics and cheerleading with a life that includes being a math teacher, mom, fitness competitor and gym rat—in short, a graduate lifestyle bodybuilder. Sean is similar in that he’s taken his own love of bodybuilding and turned it into a personal-training business—again a lifestyle choice. Both have the physical development that reflects their commitment. In the end, the only way to live the lifestyle is to enjoy the process that leads to the results, and it’s obvious from the interviews that begin on pages 122 and 136 that they do. Congratulations! IM

Founders 1936-1986: Peary & Mabel Rader 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: Brett R. Miller Staff Designer: Fernando Carmona IRON MAN Staff: Mary Gasca, Vuthy Keo, Mervin Petralba 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, John Little, 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, Ron Avidan, Roland Balik, Reg Bradford, Jimmy Caruso, Bill Dobbins, Jerry Fredrick, Irvin Gelb, Isaac Hinds, Dave Liberman, J.M. Manion, Merv, Gene Mozée, Mitsuru Okabe, Rob Sims, Ian Sitren, Leo Stern

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: helen@ironmanmagazine.com Jonathan Lawson, Ad Coordinator: ironjdl@aol.com Sonia Melendez, Subscriptions: soniazm@aol.com

28 JUNE 2009 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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SEXY ROCK-HARD ABS FAST The Secret to Etching your Granite-Carved Abs in 10 Short Minutes Picture this... you with tight, shredded abs, serratus and intercostals all sharp, sliced and visible from across the room or on the sun-glared beach! And from the rear, lower lumbars that look like two thick steel girders supporting your muscle-studded back. Imagine looking like a Greek god... in street clothes... in the gym... or anywhere. The incredible breakthrough design of the pad on the Ab Bench pre-stretches the targeted muscles prior to contraction, giving you a full-range movement, making each exercise up to 200% more effective. The Ab Bench takes the physiology of your spine into consideration with its design like nothing else on the market. The contraction takes place all the way into the pelvis where the abdominals actually rotate the spine, forcing the abdominals to completely contract... from the upper abs to the lower abs. Using the Ab Bench is the “sure-ﬁre” guarantee for you to get those attention-grabbing washboard abs. From full stretch to complete contraction—in total comfort. The Ab Bench is the most complete midsection exercise in existence. You’ll feel the incredible difference from your very ﬁrst rep.

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TRAIN TO GAIN Hidetada Yamagishi had a biceps-building breakthough when he began using less weight and feeling the muscle contract.

36 JUNE 2009 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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PRO ADVICE

Neveux

Bi’s Twice the Size If you’ve been paying attention to the IRON MAN Pro over the past few years, you know about the rapidly improving Hidetada Yamagishi from Japan. At his first two outings at the event, in Southern California, Hide didn’t even place. He did, however, earn his second trip to the Mr. Olympia contest by taking fourth at the ’09 edition of the show. Hide is the only bodybuilder from Japan, a nation of 128 million people, ever to qualify for pro bodybuilding’s ultimate championship. His densely packed physique has been compared favorably to those of other bodybuilders of short stature, like Lee Priest. Part of what brings Lee, the ’06 IRON MAN Pro winner, to my mind is Hide’s outstanding biceps development. I can’t lie—arms were never a stubborn bodypart for this 5’5” guy with 22-inch guns. Yet he did experience a frustrating period of about two years in his amateur days when his biceps refused to grow. Like most bodybuilders, he assumed the answer to the problem was to simply train his biceps heavier. Eventually, Hide was throwing up 225-pound cheat curls, which at the time was a good 25 pounds more than he weighed. “It looked more like a snatch you’d see in Olympic weightlifting than a curl,” he admits. As months went by and his biceps refused to budge the tape measure, he opted for another tactic. Using less weight, he tightened up his form and shifted his focus to trying to feel the biceps contracting as completely as possible on each rep. To his surprise and great relief, his biceps started beefing up once more. The experience taught him a valuable lesson about how often the relationship between the weight you use and the results you get isn’t what you would assume it to be; that is, more is not better. “Going too heavy and not squeezing the muscle is what keeps so many guys from ever having bigger arms,” says Hide. These days he uses half the weight, and his arms appear to be twice the size. “Any heavier than 135 and I feel it all in my tendons,” he says. If you haven’t seen any growth in your biceps for a

Using half the weight

very long time, you have nothing to lose. Why not try lightening up on the weight and tightening up your form? See what happens. —Ron Harris Editor’s note: Ron Harris is the author of Real Bodybuilding, available at www.RonHarrisMuscle .com.

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HE WANTED TO FIGHTUntil I Crushed His Hand! He was big. He was pissed. And he wanted to kick my butt. There was no way out, so I extended my arm for the opening hand shake— and then I crushed his hand like a Dorito. Fight over thanks to the Super Gripper. If you’re after huge forearms with the crushing power of an industrial vise, get the Super Gripper. It’s the ultimate forearmand grip-building tool on the market because it provides your muscles with the two essential requirements they demand for awesome size and strength: speciﬁcity (mimics gripping action) and progressive resistance. You’ll develop a bone-crushing grip fast by adding one or a number of power coils for that critical progressive-resistance effect. Remember, when you wear short sleeves, it’s the lower arms that are exposed for all to see. You’ll want your forearms to be huge and vascular to match your thick, beefy upper arms—and now they will.

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Train to Gain / PREVENTION THIGH SIZE

Less Drag, More Cuts Cable and machine exercises are great, and often there is no substitute—as with leg extensions—but some techniques are best suited to free weights. In the e-book The Ultimate Fat-to-Muscle Workout we explain how using negative-accentuated sets can set the stage for more fat burning. By raising the weight in 1.5 seconds and lowering in six, you emphasize the negative stroke and cause more muscle damage. During the postworkout repair process, your metabolism is higher, and bodyfat is the preferred fuel for muscle-tear repair. Using cables and machines, however, can make those negative-accentuated sets less effective. Any machine with a weight stack has drag due to friction—no matter how much it’s greased. On cable curls, for example, as you curl up, the stack is dragging on the guide rods, which makes the positive stroke harder. Then on the negative, or lowering, the drag actually makes the weight lighter—not what you want if you’re looking for more fat-to-muscle microtrauma. When you do negative-accentuated sets on cable curls, positive failure occurs early due to weight-stack drag. That means you get fewer negative reps. Also, each slow negative is lighter than it should be because of the drag. Your biceps lose out on two fronts. We love machines, but if you want to produce more fat-burning microtrauma, do your negative-accentuated sets with free weights. —Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson www.X-Rep.com

Some bits of training wisdom are universally accepted as gospel, mainly because experience has proved them true for most people. When it comes to foot stance on barbell squats, we’re told from day one that shoulder width is best for bodybuilders. That directs more stress to the quads than a wider stance, which invariably involves glutes and inner thighs more. IFBB pro Evan Centopani certainly subscribed to that maxim. The problem is, some people actually could stand to have a lot more mass in those areas. Evan was one, though he didn’t realize it until he lost his first bid at the Nationals to Desmond Miller, a man with truly freaky wheels. “I started training with a guy named Justin Miller twice a month for legs,” Evan said. “Justin had me open up my stance on squats, and almost right away I could feel I was on to something.” A year later—sporting much btter legs—Evan won the Nationals. Then he took an entire year to grow and improve before making his pro debut. Now his legs match his immense upper body—no easy feat, considering the massive shoulders, arms and back he’s known for. He now knows that even the most commonly accepted tenets of training aren’t written in stone. When it comes to something as basic as squats, we all need to find what works best for us. “Shoulder width is what you always hear, but a lot of guys would be better off opening up their stance a little more, especially taller bodybuilders,” he says. —Ron Harris www.RonHarrisMuscle.com

38 JUNE 2009 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Neveux \ Model: Derik Farnsworth

Neveux \ Model: Moe El Moussawi

Shoulder-Width Squat Stance Not Best for All

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Train to Gain / MATURE MUSCLE

Dieting, Aging and Muscle Mass

Neveux

Q: Your article [in the May ’09 ATP, you must first produce an O2 free issue] about getting bigger on a limitradical. Under normal circumstances, you ed diet was very interesting, but how have only enough ATP to last about 10 is it possible in physiological terms? seconds before your body must make Do other bodybuilders also believe more—which requires more free-radithis? Is there evidence, or were you cal production. That’s why my particular just talking about your body? way of training works to increase your A: I thought that it was just my body that capacity for producing ATP. As ATP is reacted that way. Turns out, after we hit our used—no matter how you train—lactic late 40s to early 50s, we all have to deal with acid is released into the fatigued muscle, pretty much the same problems. Drug-free thus inhibiting its continued use. That is bodybuilder Dave Goodin told me that he normal. From a biological standpoint, you never gets more than six to eight pounds should train with weights to build muscle away from competition weight. and increase strength in short bursts of Let me explain it in biological terms. Cells all-out effort, allowing just enough rest Dave Goodin. die by four biological aging mechanisms: between sets for your body to make excessive insulin, excessive cortisol, excesmore ATP. sive free radicals and advanced glycosylated Although you need free radicals to proend products, called AGEs. Once cells begin to age, it beduce ATP, approximately 6 percent of all free radicals become comes harder and harder to keep them forming muscle fibers “rogue” free radicals. Unpaired, they begin looking for a mate and easier and easier to launch some nutrients into fat cells and attach themselves to neighboring molecules in an effort to because of insulin and cortisol. become whole. If the neighbor happens to be protein, DNA or Insulin is primarily a storage hormone. You need adequate fat, the new molecule in turn becomes a new free radical. insulin in order to ensure proper feeding of your cells for Consequently, to reduce free-radical formation and cell muscle growth and other organic functions. Without insulin, death, you should avoid overeating and overexercising. If all cells would suffer a rather quick death; however, it’s not cellular defense enzymes and antioxidants are not present or only a growth factor but an aging factor as well, and too much successfully made, the newly formed free radicals can crossof it speeds aging and brings about death more quickly than link with other free radicals to form polymerized products, almost any other biological process. which contribute to rapid cellular degeneration and aging. Excess insulin is produced when target cells no longer AGEs are the most recently discovered of the mechanisms permit insulin to store nutrients within the cell. So blood gluof aging and are responsible for the cross-linking of glucose, cose remains in the blood, and a feedback signal is sent to or carbohydrate, and protein. AGEs slow muscle recovery the hypothalamus, which in turn instructs the pancreas to and have a very strong impact on aging and the development secrete more insulin. The affected cells become more rigid of degenerative illnesses. Anytime blood glucose is elevated, with each secretion, which means the insulin begins to lose its cross-linking of protein and carbohydrates is likely. That is, ability to penetrate cells and store nutrients. Glucose remains every time you overeat, especially high-glycemic-index carbohigh, potentially damaging brain cells and nerves, because hydrates, cross-linking occurs, thereby doubling the speed of penetration into cells is nearly impossible. If the insulin and your aging process. other hormone resistance becomes bad enough, the adrenal So it’s best to eat the least amount of food that you can glands try to regulate blood glucose with cortisol. The cells create muscle with. Every time you try to bulk up, you’re aging remain impenetrable, soon blocking the absorption of other your cells much faster than if you were to stay on a steady hormones, and cell death begins. Forget muscle mass; you diet. Muscles need protein and fuel. Hormones need good could be in big trouble. fats in small quantities, but overeating for the sake of gaining Free radicals and AGEs come from the air we breathe and muscle, especially after you hit 40, is not only counterproducthe food we eat. According to scientists, air is mostly inert tive but is downright dangerous to your health. Eat what gives gassy molecules. Unless the body extracts an electron from you just enough energy for the workout and the day, taking in an oxygen atom—O2—to form a free radical, it can’t react with adequate protein and small amounts of monounsaturated fats. other molecules to maintain the body’s processes. Once the Personally, I think that’s the best way to go. electron is extracted, a free radical forms, and aerobic life can —Paul Burke begin. Life on Earth was anaerobic for its first 3 billion years; phoEditor’s note: To contact Paul Burke, write to pbptb@ tosynthesis had not yet begun, and the planet’s single-celled aol.com. Burke has a master’s degree in microorganisms did not require oxygen. Only with the emerintegrated studies from Cambridge College gence of photosynthetic organisms approximately 3.5 to 2.75 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He’s been billion years ago did oxygen begin accumulating in the atmoa champion bodybuilder and arm wrestler, sphere, and aerobic organisms developed to take advantage and he’s considered a leader in the field of of the new oxygen-rich environment. over-40 fitness training. You can purchase These early aerobic organisms devised ways to convert his book, Burke’s Law—a New Fitness oxygen into water and, in due course, create energy, a conParadigm for the Mature Male, from Home cept in the background of ATP production and the forces that Gym Warehouse. Call (800) 447-0008, or govern muscles during weight training. The body constantly visit www.Home-Gym.com. His “Burke’s produces ATP to provide for short bursts of energy. To make Law” training DVD is also now available. 42 JUNE 2009 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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At the Gym This Week At the gym this week was a young man whose excellent progress I’ve observed for a couple of years. Because I’d kept an eye on Tassos, he hadn’t done much wrong over that time, and he’d always been receptive to my input. A couple of months ago his wife gave birth to their first child, and he told me his progress was totally shot. You, too, will experience circumstances that threaten your training—it could be a baby in your household, long hours at work or starting your own business. Your bodybuilding progress could be devastated as a result unless you take the appropriate corrective action. Tassos’ experience reminded me of when my daughters were babies. My sleep was greatly reduced, and the demands on my time were greatly increased. Because I made some adjustments, however, I managed to make progress. Tassos had been alternating two workouts—lower body and upper body. He did six exercises per workout, one exercise per bodypart, alternating workouts over three training days each week: upper body on Monday, lower body on Wednesday, upper body on Friday, lower body on Monday and so on. He did warmups plus two or three hard work sets per exercise. His training was abbreviated compared to the overtraining that’s standard among most bodybuilders, and that’s why Tassos was making terrific progress, naturally. Now, though, with reduced ability to recuperate due to impaired sleep, even abbreviated training had become excessive. I urged him to adopt an emergency program—a mere five exercises three times every two weeks: Monday, Friday, Wednesday, Monday and so on. He would do squats, dips, chins, crunches and lower abs—warmups plus two work sets for each. Nothing else. With a reduced volume of training, he should be able to recuperate. While you can mask some effects of insufficient sleep by having a few cups of coffee each day, that won’t compensate for the impairment of your recuperative abilities. You must get your sleep for that. Sleeping well doesn’t just benefit your training. It’s vital for your long-term health and your day-to-day alertness, creativity and attentiveness. Fatigue, low energy, boredom, inattentiveness and inability to train hard are often nothing other than the effects of sleep debt. Even getting tons of sleep won’t help your bodybuilding if you’re not training effectively, however. When I was in my late teens and early 20s, I was at the zenith of my bodybuilding fervor. I pulverized myself in the gym. I trained just two times a week, on low-volume workouts; but even with 10 hours of quality sleep each night and lots of good food, I couldn’t recover fully from my over-the-top workouts. Most bodybuilders overtrain because of excessive volume rather than excessive intensity. One reason youngsters often make better progress than older bodybuilders is that the youngsters usually sleep better. Reproduce the slumber you had when you were younger to improve your recuperative ability today. I gave Tassos some tips for improving the quality of his slum-

New baby, less sleep, no gains

ber. While he’s unable to do all of them now because of Tassos Junior, he will when things settle at home. 1) Establish regular sleeping habits. Going to sleep at 10 p.m. one night and 1 a.m. the next isn’t regularity. It’s better to sleep from 10:30 p.m. to 7 a.m. on a regular basis, for example. 2) Avoid napping if it disrupts your nighttime sleeping patterns. 3) Sleep on a comfortable mattress. It’s not necessarily true that a firm mattress is best or a soft mattress is undesirable. It depends on the individual, the mattress, the base of the bed and the position you sleep in. 4) Use a comfortable pillow. 5) Sleep in a pitch-black room—use shutters or blackout curtains. 6) Put a night-light in your bathroom so that you don’t have to turn a light on if you use the toilet during the night. 7) Eliminate as much noise as possible. The hum from a fan or an air-conditioning unit can mask external noise, as can a device that generates white noise. 8) Use an extra blanket in the winter. If you’re too warm or too cool, it could disturb your sleep even if you don’t feel you’re too warm or too cool. And wear socks while you sleep. 9) Don’t take sedatives or sleeping pills, as they tend to mask sleeping problems and make them worse over time. Plus, the medication can be addictive. 10) Don’t have a computer in your bedroom, or anything else associated with work. Maintain a work-free sleeping environment. 11) Don’t drink coffee or any other stimulant for at least several hours before bedtime. 12) Don’t train with weights late in the day if that has a negative effect on your sleep—train earlier. 13) To diminish the need to urinate during the night, finish your final meal two hours before retiring, avoid juicy fruit and vegetables at that meal, and minimize liquid consumption between then and bedtime. Do have a high-protein, low-liquid snack just before retiring. Catch up on liquids each morning. 14) Have a small cup of chamomile tea about two hours before bedtime. Chamomile is a well-known traditional sleeping aid. 15) Don’t watch anything that stirs your emotions in the evening; don’t deal with financial matters; don’t check your e-mail or voice mail; don’t get into any arguments; and don’t tackle any complex projects. 16) Immediately before sleep read something that relaxes you. 17) Avoid alcohol within three hours of bedtime. Alcohol is a sedative, and while it may help put you to sleep, it disrupts sleep patterns and mars sleep quality. —Stuart McRobert www.Hardgainer.com Editor’s note: Stuart McRobert’s first byline in IRON MAN appeared in 1981. He’s the author of the new 638page opus on bodybuilding Build Muscle, Lose Fat, Look Great, available from Home Gym Warehouse, (800) 447-0008, or www.Home-Gym.com.

44 JUNE 2009 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Kneecap Pain and Squat Depth

Neveux

The squat has received much praise and much criticism over the past 50 years. Leaders in the iron game, including Peary Rader, Bob Hoffman, Joe Weider, Joe Gold, John Balik, Steve Holman, countless Olympic weightlifting coaches and champions and champion bodybuilders have recommended squats in the the quest for strength, power and size.

Studies show that deeper squats are safer for the knees than stopping your reps short.

There was a period in the 1960s when many doctors said that squats would ruin knees. Regrettably, that opinion was given a great deal of credibility but simply reflected the personal bias of doctors who’d never weight-trained. Today—fortunately—many in health care and sports sciences aren’t willing to accept mere opinions. We’re in a prove-it era. Sean Flanagan, Ph.D., ATC, a biomechanics professor at California State University, Northridge, recently lectured on patellofemoral biomechanics—movement of the kneecap, or patella. He covered two key areas. The one I will address in this installment is the thinking that squats place stress on the kneecap. Dr. Flanagan addressed a common topic of debate: Are full squats or half squats the best choice for the kneecap? Gym folklore has it that half squats are easier on the kneecap. Most Olympic weightlifters have very little pain under their kneecaps. If they have knee pain, it may be tendinitis from the many hours each week spent in hard training. We see the same thing with the shoulder from bench press enthusiasts. Dr. Flanagan cited an article by Chris Powers, Ph.D.,

P.T., published in the Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy in 1998. Dr. Powers noted that as the squat is performed, the trainee bends the knee, which distributes the forces from the squat across a broader surface area of the patella as it contacts the femur, or thigh bone. A shallow squat has less contact with the patella’s surface area, increasing the force on a small area. So the deeper squat has greater contact area on the patella than a shallow squat. Another point that I have addressed in this column is the depth of the cartilage on the back of the kneecap. It is not uniform in thickness. It is thinner at the top and bottom and thicker in the middle. The thickest point lines up against the femur at the maximum stress on the patella during a squat. Maximum force of the squat on the patella lines up with the thickest cartilage to disperse the force. If we flip the concept and look at the leg extension, we find that leg extension puts the maximum stress on the patella at full knee extension. Full knee extension on a leg extension machine places the most stress on the thinnest portion of the cartilage. Trainees can have kneecap pain for other reasons. Not all kneecaps are the same shape. The groove in the thigh bone is not always the same depth. Some trainees have had knee injuries from other sports, including wear and tear of the cartilage, abnormal movement of the patella and dislocations of the patella. Such factors also come into play in the decision about how a trainee should perform squats. (Actually, the hip can have a much bigger impact on squatting, but that’s a topic for another column.) If you’d like to try a full squat, lighten the weight initially, and learn proper technique. Give yourself time to become acclimated to the new squatting technique. Suppose you’d always performed bench presses only halfway down. Would you suddenly lower the same weight all the way to your chest? Of course not. You’d use less weight. The same applies to the squat. Science and the gym do intersect, despite what some trainees think. Let’s use the best of both worlds to help you to have less pain and get better results. —Joseph M. Horrigan Editor’s note: Visit www.SoftTissueCenter.com for reprints of Horrigan’s past Sportsmedicine columns that have appeared in IRON MAN. You can order the 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.

46 JUNE 2009 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Hormonal Ebb and Flow How does training style affect anabolic and catabolic hormones? That was the primary focus of a recently published study whose 10 male subjects, average age 21, all had at least two years of training experience and were proficient in squats. The subjects engaged in three different styles of training: 1) Hypertrophy: four sets of 10 reps on the squat, using a weight equal to 75 percent of one-rep maximum, resting 90 seconds between sets. That’s the mode of training most bodybuilders use to increase muscle size. 2) Strength: 11 sets of three reps on the squat, using 90 percent of one-rep maximum. 3) Power: Eight sets of six reps of jumping squats, using no weight, with three-minute rests between sets. Numerous studies have demonstrated that the hypertrophy style of training brings on acute increases in testosterone, cortisol, sex-hormone-binding globulin and lactate. Key to hormone release with that type of training are the shorter rest periods, ranging from under a minute to 90 seconds. The strength style of training usually involves heavy weights, lower reps and longer rest times between sets, averaging three minutes or more. The longer rest periods make for greater recuperation through replenishment of ATP, but at the cost of a significant anabolic-hormone release.

With different types of training Those styles also promote different types of fatigue, again related to the rest periods and amount of weight used. The primary form of fatigue during hypertrophy workouts is called peripheral fatigue and results from a buildup of acidic substances within muscle that inhibit energy reactions. Bodybuilders use supplements to combat the early fatigue during training, including creatine, which helps replenish depleted ATP stores in muscle, and beta-alanine, which is the precursor of carnosine, a primary intramuscular buffer that helps lower the metabolic acidity that results from intense exercise. In heavy strength training the dominant form of fatigue is termed central fatigue. It occurs in the central nervous system and is the result of activation of motor units that are required for lifting heavier weights. Central fatigue increases release of the brain neurotransmitter serotonin, which is produced in the brain from the essential amino acid L-tryptophane. Some studies suggest that taking amino acids that compete with tryptophane for entry into the brain, particularly branched-chain amino acids, can help inhibit central fatigue. In the new study researchers measured testosterone, cortisol and sex-hormone-binding globulin before training, immediately afterward and at the 60-minute, 24-hour and 48-hour marks following. Only the hypertrophy workout led to significant rises in hormones. What precisely caused the increases isn’t clear, but one hypothesis is that higher lactate increased blood acidity and led to the release of catecholamines, such as epinephrine and norepinephrine, which in turn aided the release of testosterone. While cortisol, a catabolic hormone, is also released during training, its activity is countered by the higher testosterone, which tips the balance toward anabolic effects in muscle. The strength workout led to blunted hormone release, likely a function of the extended rest times between sets. The longer rests also resulted in less lactate accumulation, which in turn resulted in less muscle activity following training than occurred with the hypertrophy workout. The power workout, involving no resistance, led to negligible hormone release. The authors comment that traditional hypertrophy training, as used by most bodybuilders, “may create an internal muscular environment which is similar to that of vascular occlusion models and may optimize motor unit recruitment to that of high-intensity resistance exercise.” Translation: The accepted style of bodybuilding training, with moderate weight, a rep range of eight to 10 and short rests between sets, is the most efficient way to build muscle. Many believe that using heavy weight and lower reps is the way to gain muscle size. That style of training is best for building strength but may not be the optimum method for producing more rapid gains in mass. —Jerry Brainum

Neveux

McCaulley, G.O., et al. (2009). Acute hormonal and neuromuscular responses to hypertrophy, strength and power type resistance exercise. Eu J Appl Physiol. In press.

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Romanian Deadlifts

at the time, the newly appointed United States national weightlifting coach. Dragomir went on to coach World Championship silver medalist Wes Barnett. Of course, the exercise was around before it was popularized by Dragomir. It used to have names like Keystone Cop deadlifts but had been somewhat forgotten. The weightlifting performances of athletes like Nicu Vlad drew fresh attention to its effectiveness. Q: What’s your opinion of Romanian deadlifts? Besides prescribing Romanian deadlifts for strengthA: I was first introduced to Romanian deadlifts by former ening the posterior chain, I like to use them to improve Romanian weightlifting star Dragomir Cioroslan, who was, dynamic flexibility. In that case, I instruct the athlete to decelerate in the last few inches of the eccentric, or negative, range and concentrate on improving the range. I use a variety of loading parameters, but I don’t see the use of going lower than three repetitions per set. It’s one of those exercises on which form can easily be lost; that’s why I want a minimum of three reps. Also, I prefer at least three seconds for the eccentric-range tempo. It’s of paramount importance to control the load. I recommend that you stretch your hip flexors between sets, as they tend to tighten up. Many trainees overthink the exercise, especially when first learning it. Starting-position setup. Your grip on the bar should be pronated and just slightly wider than shoulder width. Bend your knees about 25 degrees to relieve pressure on the iliotibial band. If you’re going to do more than three reps per set, I suggest you use a pair of quality straps like the ones made by Schiek. Descent. Go down until you’re about to lose your lordotic curve. The glutes should shoot backward during the descent to compensate for the shift in center of gravity. Most trainees won’t be able to go lower than midshin without losing their lordotic curve in the eccentric range; however, I’ve seen exceptional athletes, such as alpine skier Cary Mullen, have to perform it on a bench to keep the barbell plates A three-second from hitting the ground. lowering on Ascent. Lift your trunk. Do not round your upper back to initiate Romanian deadlifts is key to the movement. Safety concerns. getting the most 1) Do not hyperextend your cervifrom the exercise. cal spine at any point. Neveux \ Model: Eric Domer

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Smart Training 2) Do not bend your knees more than the angle set in the startup position.

Plenty of sleep is essential to disarming the hardgainer’s catabolic bomb.

Q: How do you handle the concept of hardgaining? A: Hardgaining is mainly a mental issue. Over the years, gaining muscle mass has been a challenge for me. Not in terms of program design— that was the easy part. It was more in terms of consistency in nutritional intake and simple lifestyle changes. I had to come up with some tricks. Here are my six best tips for solving the problem. 1) The liquid meal quick start. Start the day with 40 to 60 grams of unsweetened plain high-quality whey, such as Whey Stronger. Add 20 grams of glutamine and five grams of creatine monohydrate, and take it with three grams of the carnitine of your choice. I prefer acetyl-L-carnitine for its specific positive effects on the brain and testosterone. An hour later you should have another meal, a solid one, such as steak and eggs. Whenever I lose muscle mass because of extensive traveling, I go back to that habit. It usually translates into regaining five pounds in less than five days. 2) The “ding-ding” time-to-eat trick. In my life I’ve always found that taking the time to eat is key to gaining mass. Sounds simple, but when you run a business, write articles, coach, train, have a family and so on, skipping meals becomes an issue. Use an electronic watch or some other electronic timekeeping device to monitor when you should eat next. Once you’ve had a meal, set it so it ring 2.5 hours later, indicating that it’s time to eat again. My good friend Angus Cooper was a bronze medalist in hammer throwing at the Commonwealth Games. He used to find me wherever I was and, with some high-calorie food in hand, yell, “Charlie, eat!” With his help I finally got from 192 to 200 pounds for the first time—and it took just two weeks of the Kiwi’s food-coaching antics. 3) The power of napping. Nap as often as possible. The more naps I took, the more I grew. Publisher Robert Kennedy is also a big proponent of napping for muscle growth. A good nap should be between 20 to 60 minutes. When I teach in Sweden, at the Eleiko Education Center, I always tend to gain mass very easily. Why? I’ve found the perfect hiding place to take a nap after lunch. I usually snooze for 60 minutes, then get up and teach for the rest of the day. I am the type of guy who can

nap on a clothesline, a busy shooting range, at a nursery for newborns—no amount of noise or postural discomfort will prevent me from sleeping. What a gift. Obviously not everyone has the luxury of catching a quick snooze at work, but even if you only do it on the weekends, it will make a significant difference in how much muscle you can gain.

4) The 150 percent caloriesplurge day. From former world powerlifting champion Mauro Di Pasquale, M.D., I learned to increase the calories of my clients by 50 percent above what they regularly eat once every five days. Works like magic. Are all the calories clean? Hell, no! The key is to avoid trans fats, such as the ones you’d find in crappy protein bars. I prefer protein pancakes with maple butter, organic oatmeal cookies and the like. To determine your calorie needs, multiply your weight by 16. If you weigh 200 pounds, you need 3,200 calories to maintain weight. On your 150 percent day, eat 4,800 calories spread out over six or seven meals. Make sure that the hypercalorie day is an off day from training. 5) The branched-chain amino acids bottle trick. Always carry a bottle of BCAAs with you. If a meal is going to get delayed once your watch goes off, get some water and take 10 to 20 capsules. That will prevent catabolism until you get to eat. 6) The secret high-calorie jar. In one of my cabinets at the office I keep the “secret high-calorie jar.” It’s basically a mixture of nuts and dried fruits. If a meal is delayed, I take two handfuls from the mix. The bottle contains dried apricots, dried blueberries, Thompson raisins, dried figs, pistachios, cashews, walnuts, dates, pecans, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts, dried cherries, dried mango slices, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds and macadamia nuts. It keeps my blood sugar constant and prevents me from going psycho. When my blood sugar gets too low, I’m about as pleasant as Charles Manson on PCP with a toothache. I sometimes add amino acid caps to further the anabolic process. Besides providing you with a load of quality calories, the mixture gives you many valuable nutrients such as selenium from the Brazil nuts, magnesium from the cashews, antioxidants from the dried fruits and so on.

52 JUNE 2009 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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A: Pullups and chins are the kings of lat-building exercises. Unfortunately, they’re rarely performed properly. Here are the do’s and don’ts of proper chinup performance.

Pullups and chins are the kings of the lat-building exercises—but you have to perform them properly to get the most muscle stimulation.

Do’s: • Keep your head neutral or with your chin slightly elevated throughout the entire repetition cycle. • Keep your legs in line with your torso. • Concentrate on driving your elbows down as you pull up. • Inhale on the way up. • Exhale on the way down. • Concentrate on the working muscles, not on the load you’re pulling. Research is clear on that last concept. If you focus on the muscles, you produce more force than if you focus on the load. Don’ts: • No swinging and flexing of the hips to gain momentum. It’s called kipping in gymnastics circles; you want to focus your mind on the pulling muscles of the upper body, not on the hip flexors. • No excessive arching of the lower back. • No rounding off of the shoulders at the top. That means you’re relying too much on the subscapularis to complete the range of motion, which will eventually lead to shoulder impingement.

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Editor’s note: Charles Poliquin is recognized as one of the world’s most successful strength coaches, having coached Olympic medalists in 12 different sports, including the U.S. women’s trackand-field team for the 2000 Olympics. He’s spent years researching European journals (he’s fluent in English, French and German) and speaking with other coaches and scientists in his quest to optimize training methods. For more on his books, seminars and methods, visit www.CharlesPoliquin.net. Also, see his ad on page 205. IM

Q: What’s the correct way to perform pullups?

54 JUNE 2009 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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\ JULY 2006 181

Nutrition With a Get-Big Mission NUTRITION SCIENCE

Anabolic Protein Limits An unwritten rule of bodybuilding nutrition is that you should limit protein to no more than 30 grams per meal. So if a 200-pound bodybuilder should ideally get 1.7 grams of protein per kilogram (2.2 pounds) of bodyweight, that amounts to a suggested daily protein intake of 153 grams. In reality, most bodybuilders who weigh 200 pounds get considerably more than that. The recommendation is based on research that monitored protein use and absorption in a weight-training popu-

lation. Despite that, you hear and read about champion bodybuilders who take in 300 grams or more protein a day. Many dietitians and other health professionals who aren’t as well-versed in nutrition as their academic backgrounds would indicate espouse the idea that eating a large amount of protein can be problematic or even hazardous to health. They warn that it stresses the liver and kidneys, which at first glance seems to be true, as the liver

and kidneys are the primary organs that metabolize protein in the body. Even so, normal liver and kidney functions are more than sufficient to handle the nitrogen-based waste products that result from eating a huge amount of protein. Having diseased kidneys or liver may require some changes in protein intake, but that doesn’t apply to an otherwise healthy population. Other so-called expert claim that excess protein can make you fat, since a gram of protein does contain four calories and since too many calories eaten from any source can eventually wind up as bodyfat. Here again, however, is an example of scientific ignorance, perhaps duplicity. In active people the fate of excess protein is not storage but rather oxidation, mainly in the liver. Again, the question arises: Is there an actual limit to how much protein you should eat if you’re trying to build muscle? Although the 30gram rule has been around for decades, its source is not clear. Recent studies seem to confirm that there is indeed a limit to how much protein you can use at one time. For example, an intake of only six grams of essential amino acids maximizes muscle protein synthesis after weight training. Other studies narrow it even further, suggesting that just one essential amino acid—leucine—is the key to effective muscle protein synthesis after weight training. Another theory is that getting excess protein spurs the synthesis of a major blood protein called albumin. Basically, the albumin is thought to act as a storage vehicle for Neveux

EAT TO GROW EAT TO GROW EAT TO GROW EAT TO GROW EAT TO GROW EAT TO GROW EAT TO GROW EAT TO GROW EAT TO GROW EAT TO GROW EAT TO GROW EAT TO GROW EA

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protein, to be used when required for muscle and whole-body protein synthesis. Amino acids stored with albumin are protected from oxidation. Until recently, no one had bothered to test the notion that 30 grams of protein or less is about all the body can handle after weight training. A new study tackled that issue in particular. Six healthy young men, average age 22, on five separate occasions reported to a lab, where they did intense leg exercise. After training, the men received drinks containing zero, five, 10, 20 or 40 grams of whole-egg powder. The researchers measured protein synthesis and oxidation over a four-hour period after the training ended by tracing tagged leucine. They also monitored factors involved in muscle protein synthesis that are affected by amino acid intake, particularly the branched-chain amino acids, such as leucine. The factors become activated when phosphate groups are attached to them; however, in this study they weren’t affected by any amount of protein intake. The authors suggest that the exercise itself may have maximally stimulated the factors, which would obscure the effect produced by amino acids. The study did find that both muscle protein and serum albumin synthesis were maximally stimulated with protein intakes under 20 grams at one sitting. Eating more than 20 grams of protein at a time results in increased protein oxidation with no further increase in muscle protein synthesis. The 20 grams contain 8.6 grams of essential amino acids, which is about the same amount that has proved effective in boosting muscle protein synthesis following weight training. Maximal protein synthesis at rest requires only 10 grams of protein per meal. As for the lack of muscle-proteinsynthesis-factor stimulation, adding carbohydrate to the protein would likely have favored more stimulation due to a greater insulin release. The authors

note, however, that the exerciseinduced increase in essential amino acid delivery into muscle results in upgraded muscle protein synthesis after weight training. While some people advocate taking supplemental amino acids to spark muscle protein synthesis, in reality, having a constantly high level of aminos in the blood makes muscle resistant to protein synthesis. The excess amino acids are simply oxidized. According to the authors of this study, maximal protein synthesis can be achieved with 20 grams of protein per meal, eaten five to six times daily. Any more than that results in oxidation of the excess protein, with no further increase in muscle protein. In short, the excess protein is just wasted. The authors also warn that eating huge amounts or protein regularly causes the body to oxidize less of it. That may actually result in a protein deficit, although I doubt whether it’s likely with most bodybuilders. What is certain is that many bodybuilders are eating much more protein than they need for building muscle. Those 300-to-600-gram daily intakes that you hear about may not be causing health problems, but they aren’t helping to build muscle or strength, either. I contacted one of the authors of the new study. Stuart M. Phillips, Ph.D., is an associate professor of kinesiology at

McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He’s published many articles about sports nutrition and muscle physiology in numerous professional journals. Phillips said that the recommendation of 1.7 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight is based on old, imprecise examinations of nitrogen balance. In contrast, his study measured actual muscle protein synthesis, a far more reliable method of determining protein use in relation to exercise. He notes, “The bottom line is that nobody has any idea how much protein you need to consume to maximize muscle growth, but based on our work, we see it as being much lower than anyone has previously speculated. This makes a lot of sense, since the rate of muscle growth is so slow in even the biggest guy that it can’t be much more protein, if any.” —Jerry Brainum Moore, D.R., et al. (2009). Ingested protein dose response of muscle and albumin protein synthesis after resistance exercise in young men. Am J Clin Nutr. In press. www.ironmanmagazine.com \ JUNE 2009 61

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to Grow NUTRITION NOTES

Food Facts That can affect your workouts, weight and wellness

DEFICIENCIES

Multilevel Targeting Many educated dietitians believe that you should get all of the nutrients your body needs from the food you eat. They continually tell clients that supplements aren’t necessary if you eat right. That may or may not be true, depending on the person, but many of us just don’t eat right. When was the last time you had six to nine servings of fruits and vegetables in one day? Then there’s the problem of our depleted soil, chemical-laden water supply and polluted atmosphere, all of which add to nutrient deficiencies, even if you do eat right most of the time. Here are a few facts from the January/February ’09 issue of Well Being Journal that show how important taking a multivitamin and -mineral supplement can be: • The Journal of the American Dietetic Association found that 75 percent of Americans fail to get the recommended daily allowance of copper. • The RDA for vitamin E is 30 I.U., but the average American gets only nine I.U. • Denham Harman, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Nebraska Medical School, says, “Some 90 percent of the population consumes diets deficient in zinc.” • A study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition found that a typical diet provides less than two-thirds the RDA for magnesium. Remember, the RDA is for survival, not optimal health. Athletes need even more. —Becky Holman

Older adults are nutrient deficient. New research suggests that more than half of Americans over age 50 don’t get enough essential nutrients. Supplements are necessary. Tea can calm you. A study out of London found that tea drinkers had a 47 percent reduction in the stress hormone cortisol within an hour of completing a stressful assignment, while those given fake tea had only a 27 percent drop. Blueberries beat more than 25 other fruits in antioxidant power—even pomegranates and grapes. Plus, one cup of blueberries has a whopping six grams of fiber. Soup, if it has fiber, can help you eat fewer calories at a meal if you eat the soup prior to your entree. Try chicken and vegetable—skip the noodles. Chewing gum can suppress your craving for sweets. If you’re in a trance thinking about pie, break out a stick of gum—sugar-free, of course. Popcorn, which is mostly air, is a good snack choice for those looking to get ripped. Have a 100-calorie microwave pack with your protein shake to feel fuller. —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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Maximum Muscle, Minimum Fat

by Ori Hofmekler

“We live in an age of fraudulent fitness.” With that first line you know there will be some eye-opening controversy in the pages that follow. Hofmekler’s previous book, The Warrior Diet, discussed undereating and fasting as a way to stimulate the anabolic processes. That sounds counterintuitive, but he goes into more detail in this book and makes a case for periodic fasting, as well as overeating, to spur anabolic drive. Hofmekler also explains how undereating and/or fasting can help you detoxify your liver, which is a primary organ in building muscle and losing fat, and also how cleansing can rev your metabolism so you can eat more without adding bodyfat. As for his exercise protocol, he subscribes to the shortrest-between-sets model: “Any exercise method that forces development of muscle with high mitochondrial density will naturally increase the body’s capacity to absorb and spend energy. Again, improvements in fat and cholesterol utilization by virtue of improved energy utilization will most likely help sustain peak steroidal activity.” Think drop sets and supersets to boost your anabolic-hormone profile. The book is packed with insightful information on cholesterol, cortisol, good fats and bad fats—both are anabolic—food for sex and muscles, growth hormone and IGF-1. While some of the discussion is scientific, Hofmekler makes most of it fairly easy to understand. Toward the end of the first part of this book he comes

to the section “SuperMuscle: How to Develop Muscle with Superior Biological Capabilities.” It’s basically about building maximum strength and endurance at the same time, and Hofmekler makes specific training recommendations for achieving that goal—or at least getting very close to it. He calls it super-muscle training, and it encompasses interesting concepts and theories. You’ll think long and hard about your current workouts after reading his suggestions. In the fat-loss section he covers biological principles, carb restriction, subcutaneous and visceral fat, insulin resistance, toxicity and how to cope with each to get lean. He provides step-by-step actions as well as ways to target stubborn fat. You will learn a lot from Maximum Muscle, Minimum Fat and come away with new ammunition to retool your lean, muscular condition. A great book, but be prepared for a controversial ride—with info that’s far outside the realm of typical bodybuilding dogma. —Becky Holman

MOOD FOOD

H E A R T H E A LT H

Carbs Aren’t All Bad

The Fiber Factor

Do extreme lowcarb diets make you grumpy? Here’s one reason, other than you can’t eat ice cream: lack of serotonin, a key neurotransmitter in the brain that’s linked to positive feelings. The brain uses tryptophan, an amino acid, to produce serotonin, but to cross the blood-brain barrier, tryptophan has to compete against other amino acids. Carbs tie up other aminos so more tryptophan gets through, your brain produces more serotonin, and you’re a happy camper, er, um, pumper. —Becky Holman

Do you get enough fiber in your diet? If you’re on a low-carb diet, chances are you don’t, and that can be bad for your regularity and health. According to recent research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, just an extra 10 grams of fiber a day can reduce your risk of coronary heart disease by 17 percent. Shoot for around 30 grams of fiber a day. Try a bran cereal for breakfast and eat an apple or two during the day. One medium apple has five grams of fiber and only 80 calories. —Becky Holman

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An Easy Way to Shorter Workouts and More Gains Many “experts” write off the significant gains made by supplement users as the result of either training itself or the placebo effect. A recent study compared training and taking a high-calorie, high-protein supplement to training without taking one. The subjects were untrained men, randomly assigned to one of the following groups: 1) Performed three sets of weight training and took a high-calorie, highprotein food supplement 2) Performed five sets of weight training and took a placebo that lacked the protein and other nutrients but contained the same number of calories as the supplement in group 1

The goal was to examine the effects of the protocols on bodyweight, percentage of bodyfat, fat weight, fat-free weight, one-rep-maximum leg extension, maximum-endurance leg extension—how many reps could be completed—one-rep-maximum bench press and maximum-endurance bench press. The exercises were done three days a week for eight weeks, using 80 percent of one-rep-maximum weights. The study found that those doing three sets and using the genuine supplement experienced the same strength and weight gains as those who did five sets with the placebo and five sets without any supplement. The results imply that using a supplement high in calories and protein enables you to make muscle gains that would otherwise require a greater volume of training. —Jerry Brainum Mielke, M., et al. (2008). The effects of a calorie dense, high protein supplement on exercise performance and body composition during resistance training. J Str Cond Res. 22:29.

REVIEW

Exercise and Sports Nutrition I’m frequently asked to recommend an authoritative source of scientific information about sports nutrition. While there are many such sources, most are just too technical for those who just seek solid but comprehensible information. Finally there’s a book that bridges the gap between textbooks and scientifically unsound commercial diet books: Exercise and Sports Nutrition by Richard B. Krieder, Brian Leutholtz and Victor and Frank Katch. The subtitle of the book is The Ultimate Training and Nutrition Guide to Optimal Health, Fitness and Performance, and that’s an accurate description. The information is comprehensive but easily understandable, with a minimum of scientific jargon. The authors are all eminently qualified, and Richard Kreider is one of the leading researchers in the field of ergogenic aids and sports supplements, having published numerous studies. In the 560-page book the authors explain how to evaluate the science behind supplements, basic exercise physiology and training principles and nutrient timing. Individual chapters examine all the available research on creatine, protein, amino acids, fats, vitamins and minerals, water intake, herbs and plant extracts, pro-hormones and other

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Beta-Alanine: No Age Limit

Neveux \ Model: Terry Baldwin

What causes muscle fatigue? One theory holds that a rise in the acid produced in muscle during exercise interferes with the normal production of energy. The body combats it by releasing natural buffers. In muscle the two primary natural buffers are phosphate and carnosine. Carnosine is a dipeptide, meaning that it’s composed of two bonded amino acids, in this case histidine and beta-alanine. Muscle contains more than enough histidine to synthesize carnosine, so the limiting factor for carnosine synthesis in muscle is betaalanine. The body can get it from two sources: a breakdown of uracil, a primary component of RNA, in the liver; and from the degradation of carnosine itself, usually eaten in meat. That natural source is, however, limited. Many studies that I’ve discussed in past issues of IRON MAN show that taking four to six grams of supplemental beta-alanine a day increases muscle carnosine by as much as 60 percent after only 28 days of supplementation. Taking the beta-alanine for another 35 days boosts carnosine another 20 percent. When supplied to young adults, age range 18 to 30, at a dose of 6.4 grams daily, beta-alanine increased work capacity before fatigue by 12 to 15 percent after 28 days. What about older people? Would carnosine lower muscle fatigue for them too? Many older people don’t eat a lot of the richest natural source of carnosine, red meat. In addition, enzymes rapidly degrade most of the carnosine from food—which does liberate some beta-alanine in the body. Nonetheless, one study of older people found that their type 2 muscle fibers—where carnosine concentrates, since they’re highly prone to increased acid production— contained 47 percent less carnosine than those of younger people. Increased carnosine in older people would lower the muscle-fatigue threshold, making exercise easier and

More effective workouts for the geriatric generation

more effective. In a recent study researchers gave 800 milligrams of beta-alanine—less than that usually supplied to younger people—three times a day for 90 days to 26 men and women, aged 55 to 92. Others received a placebo. Those in the beta-alanine group were able to exercise 28.6 percent more intensely before becoming fatigued. The exercise was done on a special type of stationary cycle. Those in the placebo group showed no changes. While athletes and bodybuilders show increased muscle carnosine from the exercise alone, the older subjects were untrained, thus pointing to beta-alanine supplementation as the source of their increased resistance to fatigue. The implications is that beta-alanine is particularly useful for older people, since it makes it easier for them to engage in exercise. Exercise, in turn, is effective in helping to maintain physical and mental health and preventing the muscle frailty that is often the harbinger of mortality. —Jerry Brainum Stout, J., et al. (2008). The effect of beta-alanine supplementation on neuromuscular fatigue in elderly (55-92 years): A double-blind study. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 5:21.

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PERFECT POSTWORKOUT MEAL

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Train, Eat,

Grow From the IRON MAN Training & Research Center

Muscle-Training Program 116 by Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson Photography by Michael Neveux

“When gains slow down, you gotta switch things up.” It’s a motto we train by, and we’ve recently made a big change that we believe will ignite some big gains—it’s already making for some insane pain, believe us! We’re still using a variation of Eric Broser’s Power/Rep Range/Shock Max-Mass System, so let’s review the various weeks’ formats for the uninitiated: Power: Straight sets with heavy weights, four to six reps per work set. Rep Range: On the first exercise the rep range is seven to nine, on the second it’s 10 to 12, and on the third it’s 13 to 15—or higher. Shock: The rep range is eight to 12 on most exercises but with intensity techniques like drop sets, DC training, X Reps and X-hybrid techniques to shock new growth. We’re still training four days a week, and our current split is as follows: Monday: Chest, calves, abs Wednesday: Quads, hamstrings Thursday: Off Friday: Delts, triceps, biceps Yes, we realize that to make the split better, we should really take Wednesday off and work quads and hams on 78 JUNE 2009 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Model: Jonathan Lawson

Tuesday: Back, forearms

GRIND OUT THE GROWTH REPS™ Beta-Alanine Gives Your Muscles More Grow Power™ The biggest bodybuilders know that the last few grueling reps of a set are the key growth reps. It’s why they fight through the pain of muscle burn on every work set-—so they trigger the mass-building machinery. But sometimes it’s not enough; the burn is too fierce. Fortunately, there’s now a potent new weapon in this massive firefight to help you get bigger and stronger faster. Red Dragon is a new beta-alanine supplement that packs your muscles with carnosine—up to 60 percent more. Muscle biopsies show that the largest bodybuilders have significantly more carnosine in their fast-twitch muscle fibers than sedentary individuals for good reason: Carnosine buffers the burn to give muscles more “grow power” on every set. The bigger and stronger a muscle gets, the more carnosine it needs to perform at higher intensity levels. You must keep your muscles loaded with carnosine to grow larger and stronger. It all boils down to intensity and the ability to buffer waste products—hydrogen ions and lactic acid—so the muscle doesn’t shut down before growth activation. Straight carnosine supplements degrade too rapidly to reach the muscles; however, more than 20 new studies document that beta-alanine is converted to carnosine very efficiently. All it takes is 1 1/2 grams twice a day, and you’ll see new size in your muscles and feel the difference in the gym—you can double or triple your growth-rep numbers! Imagine how fast your size and strength will increase when you ride the Dragon! Note: Red Dragon™ is the first pure carnosine synthesizer—so powerful it’s patented. It contains beta-alanine, the amino acid that supercharges muscle cells with carnosine.

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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

The 10x10 tactic on the finishing contracted-position exercise, like stiffarm pulldowns for lats, is a great way to integrate the method.

Thursday so we don’t train three days in row, but our split fits our work schedule better. Okay, let’s discuss the major change that’s already getting us some spectacular gains.

The mental gears started grinding when we were prepping the March ’09 IRON MAN. There was a short item by Ron Harris on page 42 about his experiment with 10x10, sometimes known as German Volume Training, popularized by Charles Poliquin and similar to Vince Gironda’s 8x8 system. Ron said he tried it on one exercise for chest and biceps and couldn’t believe the extreme burn and pump he got—and the weight he used was relatively light. He said for EZ-curlbar curls he used two 10s on each side—a tad too heavy, which meant he had to cheat to complete 10 reps on the last two sets. The next day his biceps were sore to the touch. The reason lighter weights are mandatory is that you use the same

Model: Jonathan Lawson

The Power of 10

poundage throughout the 10 sets. You pick a weight that you could get around 20 reps with if you had to, but you do only 10; and you keep performing 10 reps for 10 sets, taking only about 30 seconds’ rest after each. It’s deceptive because you think the weight is way too light on the

first set. It feels as if the only thing you’re stimulating is minor blood flow; however, the sets get harder and harder. By sets eight, nine and 10 you should be barely able to get 10 reps—as profanities race through your mind along with sheer amazement at the incredible pump you’ve achieved in about 10 minutes.

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Train, Eat,

Grow

10x10 Placement

If you take a look at our split, you’ll see that we train chest and back early in the week and then arms later, on Friday. What we noticed on our normal program is that our biceps and triceps were remaining sore till Thursday and sometimes Friday from our intense torso work on Monday and Tuesday. So we figured that using 10x10 on arms would be a logical place to start. After all, the poundage is fairly light, so the trauma shouldn’t be severe, right? Wrong! In fact, the first time we tried 10x10 on decline extensions, our triceps were sore for three days— yep, still sore when Monday’s chest workout rolled around. Biceps got sore too—from 10x10 on barbell curls—but only for two days. Interesting. Luckily, our bi’s were recovered by Tuesday’s back workout. Because of those recovery parameters, as well as muscle performance, we stuck with the 10x10 method for biceps but pulled back to 8x10 for triceps since we would have to work chest on Monday. We also decided to do only one exercise for tri’s and one for bi’s. While performing only one exercise for each feels foreign, we wanted to at least give it a few weeks so we could observe the results. We recalled that a few years ago we tried Vince Gironda’s 8x8 method on the ending, contracted-position exercise for every bodypart and made some good gains—but we also remember that it took some time for those gains to kick in. Muscular adaptation takes more than just a few workouts with a particular technique or method. You must give it time.

10x10 to the Next Level

106408dr

After two weeks of using 10x10 for arms, we were so excited that we had to expand the experiment. We could tell that we were getting exceptional growth stimulation with the technique and wanted to apply it to all muscles. As we mentioned, we’d tried 8x8 as a finisher years ago with good results, so why not go back to that but with 10x10? That made a lot of sense, especially since Hany Rambod’s FST-7

technique finishes with a volume attack using one isolation move and short rests. Eric Broser’s Fiber Damage/Fiber Saturation is similar. Plus, we’re partial to the late Vince Gironda, as we fondly remember when he used to come to the IRON MAN offices and regale us with his training knowledge and anti-’roid rants. He really knew his stuff—way ahead of his time—and he always said 8x8 was his go-to “honest workout.” So 10x10 at the end became our new mass tactic of choice. For example, our first Rep Range week quad routine was: Leg presses Squats Sissy squats Leg extensions

2 x 7-9 2 x 10-12 1 x 10-12 10 x 10

Retooling 10x10 After a few workouts we found that some muscles, like quads, responded better to higher reps. For those bodyparts we moved to 8x12 instead of 10x10. And on calves and forearms, notorious high-rep muscles, we found 8x15 to be optimal. Vince actually recommended 8x20 for calves, but we have trouble sustaining reps that high for eight sets, no matter how light the weight. Speaking of muscles crapping out, for hamstrings we had to go to 8x8. Our fiber makeup there is such that we were having to reduce the weight using 10x10 or even 8x10. Our hams seemed to settle in better with 8x8. Seeing as how everyone can have different fiber mixes in every bodypart, you may have to experiment with different schemes for different muscles, as we’re doing. Your hamstrings may do fine with 10x10; ours don’t. We also pulled back the sets on lats and midback to 8x10. The reason is that there’s a lot of crossover between those two areas—when you train lats, the trapezius acts as a synergist and vice versa. We train lats and midback on the same day, so it makes sense to pull back the volume for each. As for upper traps, we have yet to do shrugs with 10x10, as we get sore after doing only two standard sets. No need to make it debilitat-

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Train, Eat,

Grow

Models: Mike and Holly Semanoff

Ending your chest routine with 10x10 on cable crossovers will make sure you saturate the muscles with blood for a skinstretching pump.

IRON MAN Training & Research Center Muscle-Training Program 116 Workout 1: Chest, Calves, Abs (Rep Range) Smith-machine low-incline presses (X Reps) 2 x 7-9 Bench presses 1 x 7-9 Wide-grip dips (X Reps) 2 x 10-12 Middle cable flyes 10 x 10 Leg press calf raises 2 x 10-12 Knee-extension leg press calf raises (X Reps) 1 x 10-12 Machine donkey calf raises (X Reps) 1 x 13-15 Standing calf raises 8 x 15 Seated calf raises (X Reps) 1 x 16-20 Incline kneeups (X Reps) 2 x 10-12 Ab Bench crunches 8 x 12

Workout 2: Back, Forearms (Rep Range) Chins (X Reps) Wide-grip pulldowns (X Reps) Undergrip pulldowns (X Reps) Machine pullovers Bent-over dumbbell rows (X Reps) Bent-arm bent-over laterals Behind-the-neck pulldowns (X Reps) Shrugs (X Reps) Close-grip upright rows (X Reps) Cable reverse curls Dumbbell reverse wrist curls Barbell wrist curls

2 x 7-9 2 x 7-9 1 x 7-9 8 x 10 3 x 7-9 8 x 10 1 x 13-15 2 x 7-9 1 x 13-15 2 x 7-9 8 x 15 8 x 15

Workout 3: Quads, Hamstrings, Lower Back (Rep Range) Leg extensions (warmup) Leg presses (X Reps) Squats (first set with slow negatives) Sissy squats (X Reps) Leg extensions Stiff-legged deadlifts Hyperextensions (X Reps) Leg curls

1 x 18-20 2 x 7-9 2 x 8, 10 1 x 10-12 8 x 12 2 x 7-9 1 x 13-15 8x8

Workout 4: Delts, Triceps, Biceps (Rep Range) Smith-machine presses (X Reps) Dumbbell upright rows (X Reps) Incline one-arm lateral raises (X Reps) Forward-lean lateral raises Bent-over lateral raises (X Reps) Bent-over lateral raises Decline extensions Barbell curls Cable hammer curls (X Reps)

2 x 7-9 1 x 7-9 2 x 10-12 10 x 10 1 x 7-9 1 x 13-15 8 x 10 10 x 10 1 x 10-12

Note: For our complete version of Eric Broserâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Power/ Rep Range/Shock program, see the e-book 3D Muscle Building, available at the X-Shop at www.X-Rep.com.

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Train, Eat,

On some fast-fatiguing muscle groups like hamstrings, we’ve had to alter the 10x10 to 8x8, which was Vince Gironda’s favorite mass-training formula.

IRON MAN Training & Research Center Home-Gym Program 116 Workout 1: Chest, Calves, Abs (Rep Range) Low-incline presses (X Reps) 2 x 7-9 Bench presses or wide-grip dips 1 x 7-9 Flat-bench flyes 10 x 10 Knee-extension donkey calf raises (X Reps) 3 x 10-12 One-leg calf raises 8 x 15 Seated calf raises (X Reps) 1 x 15-20 Incline kneeups (X Reps) 2 x10-12 Full-range crunches 8 x12

Workout 3: Quads, Hamstrings, Lower Back (Rep Range) Leg extensions (warmup) Old-style hack squats Squats Sissy squats (X Reps) Leg extensions Stiff-legged deadlifts Hyperextensions (X Reps) Leg curls

1 x 20 2 x 7-9 2 x 10-12 1 x 10-12 8 x 12 2 x 7-9 1 x 10-12 8x8

Workout 2: Back, Forearms (Rep Range)

Workout 4: Delts, Triceps, Biceps (Rep Range)

Chins (X Reps) 3 x 7-9 Undergrip chins (X Reps) 2 x 7-9 Stiff-arm pulldowns or undergrip rows 8 x 10 Bent-over barbell or dumbbell rows 2 x 7-9 One-arm dumbbell rows 1 x 10-12 Bent-arm bent-over laterals 8 x 10 Shrugs (X Reps) 1 x 10-12, 1 x 13-15 Reverse curls 2 x 7-9 Reverse wrist curls 8 x 15 Wrist curls 8 x 15

Barbell or dumbbell presses (X Reps) 2 x 7-9 Dumbbell upright rows (X Reps) 1 x 7-9 Incline one-arm laterals (X Reps) 1 x 10-12 Forward-lean laterals 10 x 10 Bent-over laterals (X Reps) 1 x 7-9, 1 x 13-15 Decline extensions 8 x 10 Barbell curls 10 x 10 Incline hammer curls 1 x 10-12 Note: If you don’t have a leg extension machine, do oldstyle hacks, nonlock style. Use partner resistance, towel around the ankles, if you don’t have a leg curl machine.

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Model: Jonathan Lawson

Grow

ing—if we did 10x10, we’d probably have to skip squats the following day because we wouldn’t be able to tolerate the bar digging into our inflamed traps, even for light warmup sets.

Rep Range Repeat Earlier we said that we’re still using a version of Broser’s Power/ Rep Range/Shock program. That’s only partly true. For our 10x10 experiment we’ve been holding on the Rep Range week. As Eric has said, the Rep Range week is most conducive to size gains because of the across-theboard array of muscle fibers that are stressed when you do lower and higher reps. As we illustrated earlier, we start at seven to nine reps on the big, midrange exercise, and then we do 10 to 12 on the stretch-position move. For a high-rep attack we think 10x10 gets the job done because we use short rests, about 30

seconds—just long enough for the other person to finish his set. Needless to say, the lactic acid burn and pump are better than the couple of sets of higher reps we were doing previously on standard Rep Range workouts. Another way to go would be to stick with the Power/Rep Range/ Shock rotation but use 10x10 only on Shock week. You could still do it on the last exercise or, for a real jolt, do it on the midrange move—although 10x10 on squats will take some courage. We’ve just started a run at the big exercises with 10x10, and we’re already seeing results. We’ll have more on 10x10 in our next TEG installment. The 10x10 method is working so well so far that we’re documenting everything and plan to have an e-workout program available by the time you read this. We’ve decided to include a simple 10x10 workout using only one exercise for each bodypart—the ultimate exercise

we’ve found to be the most ergonomically correct for most trainees. That means you work each muscle to the max in only 10 minutes, then move on. There will also be a second program built on the heavy/light protocol. It will use straight Positions of Flexion for the heavy workout, pyramiding on the big, midrange move; then the next workout for that bodypart will call for only 10x10 on the ultimate exercise. So it’s POF for heavy day alternated with oneexercise 10x10 for light day. Check our Web site for more information. If you’d like to see exactly what we’re doing in the gym with regard to 10x10 and everything else, see our X-Blog at X-Rep.com. Editor’s note: For the latest on X Reps, X e-books and the X-Blog training and supplement journals, visit www.X-Rep.com. The latest workout e-book is shown below. IM

Unleash the New Bigger, Leaner You Quick Fat-Hacking, Muscle-Packing Weight Workouts, Minimal Cardio Required Fact: It takes you six hours of fast-paced cardio to burn one measly pound of fat. There’s a better way, courtesy of the bodybuilders of yesteryear— you’ll be frying fat 24/7. You can use weight training to speed fat transport and muscle up the fat-burning “machine” in your cells; plus, you’ll enhance the primary fat-burning hormone by more than 200 percent as you build muscle (you’ll get granite abs sooner, not later).

Give your physique that “wow” factor with fieldtested, science-based methods that will get you bigger and leaner faster; you’ll be proud to peel off your shirt at the beach, lake or pool to reveal the new bigger, leaner you. Choose the three-days-perweek Fat-to-Muscle Workout or the four-days-per-week version in this e-book; print it out, hit the gym, and get it done in about an hour.

Instant E-book Download at X-REP.com Free download from imbodybuilding.com

by John Hansen, Mr. Natural Olympia

Lose Fat, Not Muscle Q: Can you please guide me in striking a balance between cardio and weight training? A few months back I wanted to add more muscle size. In order to do that, I ate too many calories, and, as a result, I’ve gained some fat. Now I want to lose those few extra pounds without losing my hard-earned muscles. How much cardio leads to muscle loss? I’ve been jogging about three kilometers daily right after my workout—my workouts last no more than 45 minutes. I’ve lost five pounds in 15 days, but I wonder whether I lost muscle or fat. Am I doing it right? Is 15 minutes of high-intensity cardio better than 30 minutes of slow jogging? A: If you read my column regularly, you know that I’m not a big fan of doing cardio to lose bodyfat. Cardiovascular exercise can be a helpful addition for losing fat when you’re following the right diet. If you depend solely on cardio to lose fat, you usually won’t make much progress, and you could lose muscle along with the fat.

Neveux

NATURALLY HUGE NATURALLY HUGE NATURALLY HUGE NATURALLY HUGE NATURALLY HUGE NATURALLY HUGE NATURALLY HUGE NATURALLY HUGE NATURALLY HUGE NATURALLY HUGE NATURALLY HUGE NATURALLY H

Naturally Huge The standard rule for burning fat is to use moderate intensity, as that puts the body in a fat-burning, as opposed to a sugar-burning, mode. The problem is that the body adapts to cardio by becoming more efficient. As the heart and lungs get in better shape, cardio exercise doesn’t have the same impact that it did initially. That means you must do more cardio to get the same results. If you started out doing 20 minutes of cardio three days a week and you were getting results, you’ll probably need to increase both the duration and frequency of your cardio to get the same results. You could end up doing cardio six days a week for 45 to 60 minutes a session to keep the fat-burning process going. My suggestion would be to clean up your diet a little and see if you can lose some fat that way. I’m not sure how many calories you’re getting now, but by cutting back on your calories and carbohydrate intake, you should be able to lose the extra bodyfat without doing cardio—or by doing less cardio. That would be a better method of preserving your muscle tissue while still losing the extra fat. If you want to use cardio as an adjunct to losing bodyfat, cut back to only three days a week. By taking a day off between cardio sessions, you’ll lessen the chance of losing muscle tissue. Your current routine of running every day may be burning up some muscle. The best time for performing cardio is first thing in the morning on an empty stomach or right after your weighttraining workout. That way you burn stored bodyfat, as opposed to sugar, for energy, because your body doesn’t have any sugar available as an immediate source of energy. It will have to tap into the stored bodyfat for energy. That will reduce your bodyfat, which is the reason you’re doing cardio in the first place. Your cardio can be very intense or more moderate in intensity. The standard rule for burning fat is to use moderate intensity, as that puts the body in a fat-burning, as opposed to a sugar-burning, mode. When I do cardio, I try to make it moderately intense so I burn the most bodyfat possible. If I’m using the treadmill, for example, I walk fast, using a speed of 3.3 to 3.4 on a steep—8 or 9 grade—incline. I use my arms and don’t hold onto the machine. That makes the exerciseon harder. If I do (continued page 102) that for 30 to 45 minutes, I bring my heart rate up and give myself a good cardiovascular workout. Still, I’m not pushing myself so hard that I’m out of breath and using sugar for energy. I’d suggest slow jogging for 30 minutes as opposed to a

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NATURALLY HUGE NATURALLY HUGE NATURALLY HUGE NATURALLY HUGE NATURALLY HUGE NATURALLY HUGE NATURALLY HUGE NATURALLY HUGE NATURALLY HUGE NATURALLY HUGE NATURALLY HUGE NATURALLY H

Naturally Huge Performing less-intense cardio is better for burning bodyfat immediately after your weight workout.

fast run for 15 minutes. The less intense form of exercise would be better for burning bodyfat after your weighttraining workout than the more intense running. Many bodybuilders ran for their cardio exercise in the 1970s. Tom Platz was warning bodybuilders about possibly losing muscle tissue from running too much back in 1977. He added a lot of running to his precontest workout regimen that year and lost a lot of muscle before he competed in the ’77 AAU Mr. America contest. The following year Tom didn’t do any running before the Mr. America, and he competed about 15 pounds heavier and just as cut. He took a close second in the short class, but he won a spot on the United States team that would compete in the Mr. Universe competition. He ended up winning the middleweights at the Universe and started his career as a pro bodybuilder. Use cardio sparingly, along with a slight reduction in your calories and carbohydrates. Otherwise you could end up losing some of that valuable muscle tissue. Q: I’m looking for some advice on bulking, something that, as a runner, has always been difficult for me. I recently finished cutting from my last bulk, which was somewhat successful. I started out at 3 to 4 percent bodyfat, and after a month ended up at around 7 to 8 percent, which I was proud of since it was in the middle of my daily winter track training. After cutting, I’ve finally gotten back to my original bodyfat percentage and am about 8 pounds heavier and looking bigger. My problem is that all the veteran runners, including one runner/bodybuilder I know, say that runners should never bulk up more than once every four months. Personally, I’m ready for my next bulk, but I don’t know if I should. What’s

your opinion, and if I should, what bodyfat percentage should I aim for? One more quick question: How did you get your arms so big? In one of your columns you said you managed to have 20-inch arms at one point. That’s insane for someone on steroids and absolutely amazing for someone who’s natural. My main query about arms is how to get my triceps up to size. I’ve had trouble with triceps lately and have gone through tons of workouts, none of which seem to give me that good burn, and the lack of progress shows. Right now I’m doing some weighted diamond pushups with my arms farther up than they would normally be, and I’ve been making slow progress, but I can’t find anything else. If you could suggest some triceps workouts, that’d be awesome. A: It’s interesting that you incorporate bulking cycles into your running program. The bulking I did as a bodybuilder was obviously much different because my bodyfat percentage was much higher, both when I started the bulking program and after I finished. You said you finished your bulking cycle at 7 to 8 percent bodyfat, which is still very low. Because you start it at 3 to 4 percent, you’re very lean even after you finish bulking up. If you ended up eight pounds heavier after cutting back down and returning to your original bodyfat percentage, I’d say that was a very successful program. I suggest you ignore the advice of the other runners and keep doing what you’re doing. It’s obviously working for you, and you probably have a better understanding of the training and diet program that works for your body. As long

I like doing lying triceps extensions—a.k.a. skull crushers—on a decline bench for a better stretch. I also like doing overhead extensions on a very slight incline to really feel the stretch in the long head of the muscle.

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Neveux \ Model: Omar Deckard

NATURALLY HUGE NATURALLY HUGE NATURALLY HUGE NATURALLY HUGE NATURALLY HUGE NATURALLY HUGE NATURALLY HUGE NATURALLY HUGE NATURALLY HUGE NATURALLY HUGE NATURALLY HUGE NATURALLY H

Naturally Huge

Multijoint moves like close-grip bench presses and weighted parallel-bar dips will activate the most triceps fibers for the best growth stimulation. as the additional weight doesn’t interfere with your running time, you’re on the right track. As for your question about training arms, I was always pretty lucky in that my arms responded very easily. When I was in the eighth grade, my nickname in school was “Popeye” because I already had a natural peak to my biceps. When I started training with weights, my biceps grew instantly. At one point I wouldn’t even train them for most of the year because they grew so fast. I trained them only the last three months before my contest. My triceps, however, did not respond as quickly. I always had to work my triceps very hard to get them into proportion to my biceps. I discovered that the key to getting my triceps to grow was to use the right exercises for the different heads of the muscle and to use both low and slightly higher repetitions. I always include a mass-building exercise in my triceps routine. Close-grip bench presses and parallel-bar dips are triceps movements that also use the front delts and, to a smaller degree, the pecs. As with any basic exercise you can use lots of weight on them, so they stimulate the greatest number of muscle fibers for more mass and size. It’s important to work the long head of the triceps, which is so important in making the triceps look impressive. The rear double-biceps pose and the side triceps pose rely on the long head for that. The best exercises for working the long head of the triceps are extensions where the triceps get a great stretch. I like doing lying triceps extensions—a.k.a. skull crushers— on a decline bench for a better stretch. I also like doing overhead extensions on a very slight incline to really feel the stretch in the long head of the muscle. I’ve found it beneficial to extend the time the muscle is under tension by doing drop sets and 1 1/2 reps. As Steve

Holman has mentioned many times, a muscle group that resists growth may have a somewhat greater proportion of red muscle fibers as opposed to white muscle fibers. The reds have a greater endurance capacity and benefit from a longer tension time than the typical six to eight reps. By using 1 1/2 reps and drop sets on some of my triceps exercises, I’m hitting the red muscle fibers and getting a better pump in the muscle. I’ve noticed that stubborn muscle groups seem to respond better when they get a better pump. Here are two routines that I use for the triceps: Routine 1 Pushdowns (1 1/2 reps) Decline extensions Weighted parallel-bar dips Routine 2 Close-grip bench presses Incline extensions Bench dips (drop set)

3 x 8-10 3 x 6-10 3 x 6-10

3 x 6-10 3 x 8-10 3 x 10-15

Editor’s note: John Hansen has won the Mr. Natural Olympia and is a two-time Natural Mr. Universe winner. Check out his Web site at www.NaturalOlympia.com, or send questions or comments to him at John@Natural Olympia.com. Look for John’s DVD, “Natural Bodybuilding Seminar and Competitions,” along with his book, Natural Bodybuilding, and his training DVD, “Real Muscle,” at his Web site or at Home Gym Warehouse, www.Home-Gym .com. Listen to John’s new radio show, Natural Bodybuilding Radio, at www.NaturalBodybuildingRadio.com. You can send written correspondence to John Hansen, P.O. Box 3003, Darien, IL 60561. IM

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USCLE SHREDDED MUSCLE SHREDDED MUSCLE SHREDDED MUSCLE SHREDDED MUSCLE SHREDDED MUSCLE SHREDDED MUSCLE SHREDDED MUSCLE SHREDDED MUSCLE SHREDDED MUSCLE SHREDDED MUSCLE SHREDDED MUSCLE S

Shredded Muscle by Dave Goodin

First Contest Q: I’ve been training pretty seriously for about five years. A number of people at the gym have told me that I should compete. It’s something that I’ve had in the back of my mind for many years, but now I’m giving it serious consideration. I have several issues. First, I’ve never been to a bodybuilding contest. I understand that there’s usually a morning show and a night show, but how exactly does it work? Second, I read IRON MAN and several other bodybuilding magazines. I don’t see myself in the same ballpark as the IFBB pros. Am I wasting my time trying to compete? And finally, to be very honest, my diet is horrible. I take supplements and make sure I get plenty of protein, but I eat a lot of fast food, pizza and sweets—a lot of junk. I’ve tried the “bodybuilding diet” several times and couldn’t hang with it. Do you have any advice for someone like me? A: Ahhh. You’re giving me flashbacks to when I was getting ready for my first contest. Man, that was an exciting time. I, too, had people telling me I should compete. And, bodybuilding was something that I had always admired. When I joined my first gym, the Texas Bodybuilding Gym in Stafford, Texas, in 1982 and got serious about weight training, I thought maybe someday I could be muscular enough to step onstage and not look out of place. Little did I know that making a commitment to compete in the ’83 NPC Texas Timberland Classic in Nacogdoches, would set my life on a course that would land me on the cover of IRON MAN on the cusp of my 50th birthday.

The first thing that you should do is attend a show. You can go to IronManMagazine.com, click on contests, and then click NPC Men under 2009 schedules. Another good place to look for an amateur contest in your area is on Bodybuilding.com. Find a contest and attend both the prejudging and the night show. You might want to check with the promoters to see whether they allow noncompetitors at the weigh-in. If they do, go to the weigh-in and watch and listen. You’ll be much more at ease for your first show if you know what to expect at the weigh-in. Seeing what the competitors look like offstage may also be very encouraging to you. At a bodybuilding contest most of the judging occurs during the prejudging. Although rounds of judging vary a bit from one organization to another, NPC contests are very uniform in the way the prejudging is conducted. The first round is symmetry. All of the contestants in a weight class come out onstage and perform quarter turns. The judges are looking for balance, proportion and the size and shape of the muscles. After the judges have seen enough, the contestants leave the stage. The second round is free posing. Each athlete comes out individually and performs a 60-second posing routine that should showcase the strengths of his or her physique. After each contestant has performed an individual posing routine, the whole weight class comes back onstage to be compared doing the mandatory poses. That’s called the muscularity round. When that’s completed in an amateur contest, the judges give each athlete a final placement. At that point the scores are tallied, and the judging for that weight class is essentially finished. In some cases, such as when a class is tied or is extremely close, the judges may rescore the class at the night show, but it’s not very com-

Nothing will motivate you to stay on a strict diet like committing yourself to a physique competition.

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Merv

mon. At the night show, also known as the finals, athletes perform individual posing routines to music of their choice. In amateur shows the routines aren’t judged, although many contests give a “best poser” award to encourage competitors to put a lot of work and imagination into their routines. At some of the larger shows the posing routines at the finals may be limited to only the top five competitors in each weight class. The first show you attend can be quite a learning experience. Watch how the good competitors stand in the symmetry round, how they move in the free posing and how they display their physiques in the muscularity round. Take note of what wins. I had the good fortune of seeing Lee Labrada onstage at the first show that I attended. Lee was an amateur at that point, but he had a fantastic physique, and his posing was already true artistry. At that particular contest—the ’83 NPC Southwest Classic—Lee wasn’t lean enough. He lost to Jay Bonnet, who was ripped to shreds. I saw not only great posing and stage presence but also what it takes to win. I watched all of the open classes as well as the novice classes. I came away thinking, “I might not be the biggest guy up there, but I can come in ripped.” It gave me the confidence to commit 100 percent to competing in my first show. I also saw some great posing routines at the night show. I made notes of poses that I wanted to try to put into my routine and how the good posers moved from one pose to the next. Although I wasn’t very big, by any stretch of the imagination, I was determined to emulate the best. Another thing that I learned at the ’83 Southwest Classic was the difference between amateur competitors and IFBB pros. Samir Bannout guest-posed at the show. I’d never seen so much muscle on a human being. It was shocking. There were some very very good athletes in that contest—four went on to win the NPC Texas Championships—and Samir dwarfed everybody. Not only was he huge, but he was also in fantastic condition. After he posed, he stepped to the microphone and apologized for not being in better shape. I was blown away. My point is, don’t compare yourself to the IFBB pros you see in the magazines. In contests below the NPC national-qualifier level there will almost never be anyone with the size of an IFBB pro competing. Even at the national-qualifier level it’s very uncommon to see a bodybuilder

that good. That’s another reason you should attend a local show. You need to see what normal amateur competitors look like. And keep in mind that athletes usually look considerably bigger onstage—another reason that you should try to attend the weigh-in. You don’t have to look like Dexter Jackson to be able to compete in a novice contest. Now, on to your final issue: the diet. I know exactly what you’re talking about. I grew up eating Southern fried food, drinking sweetened iced tea and having dessert with every meal. I ate hamburgers like they were going out of style. I loved pizza, sugar-laden soft drinks and candy. Fortunately for me, I had a fast metabolism and I was always so physically active that I was very lean throughout high school and college. Having a real job slowed me down, and I actually had to diet for my first bodybuilding show. It was 180 degrees from my normal eating habits—excruciating. What kept me on the straight and narrow was the idea that I was going to step onstage in a little pair of posing trunks next to a bunch of guys who were carrying more muscle than I was. It wasn’t going to be like taking your shirt off at the beach. Those guys were going to be in great shape. I knew that to have a chance to place, I had to be shredded. I’d seen Jay Bonnet beat Lee Labrada at the Southwest Classic. I’d seen what it took to win, and it wasn’t just muscle size. I’m telling you right now that nothing will motivate you to stay on a strict diet like committing yourself to a physique competition. Over the years I’ve seen so many people who I didn’t think had any business competing in a show commit to the contest, get in the best shape of their lives and place well, perhaps win. You can do it. Get your NPC membership, and send in your entry form and fee for the contest you want to compete in. Then tell all of your friends and family. You’ll probably have some haters. People who think they know bodybuilding may even laugh in your face—that happened to one of my clients, but she got the last laugh. Just do not be deterred. Do everything in your power to be 100 percent prepared for your competitive debut—and let me know if you have any more questions. Editor’s note: See Dave Goodin’s blog at www.IronManMagazine .com. Click on the blog selection in the top menu bar. To contact Dave directly, send e-mail to TXShredder@ aol.com. IM

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by Steve Holman

Jurassic Spark: X-Rep Partials

Q: I discovered your mass-training concepts in

IRON MAN and saw that drug-free bodybuilder Mike Semanoff had gotten great gains using X Reps. I worked them into my program, but I wasn’t sure if I did them right. I tried them at the end of my fourth set of presses and a few other exercises. When I got to failure, I did intervals of about 10-inch reps, as many as I could—usually three to five. Is that correct? Do you recommend doing X Reps at the end of all sets? I did feel unique muscle stimulation with them, like more fibers firing. Is that the reason X Reps work?

A: It sounds as if you have the right idea concerning proper X-Rep performance, although different exercises have different optimal ranges, or X Spots, in which you should perform the end-of-set partial reps. On incline presses, for example, when you can’t possibly get any more full reps, you move the bar down to a few inches off your chest and drive up to just below the halfway mark; immediately lower to just off your chest and drive up again. Do as many of those low-end X-Rep partials as possible. They should feel like controlled explosive quarter reps. By hitting that range, you’re extending the set at the point at which the target muscle is semistretched. Research

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Neveux \ Model: Moe El Moussawi

CRITICAL MASS CRITICAL MASS CRITICAL MASS CRITICAL MASS CRITICAL MASS CRITICAL MASS CRITICAL MASS CRITICAL MASS CRITICAL MASS CRITICAL MASS CRITICAL MASS CRITICAL MASS CRITICAL MASS CRITICAL M

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shows that when a muscle is somewhat stretched, it can produce the most force and fiber activation and, therefore, optimal, growth stimulation. Because the target muscle still has strength in that range, you can get bigger size-building effects by extending the set there. One of the main reasons X Reps work is the size principle of muscle-fiber recruitment. It states that on the first few reps of a set you use mostly the low-threshold motor units, on the middle reps of the set you bring in the mediumthreshold motor units, and then on the hardest reps at the end you bring in the high-threshold motor units, which activate the key fast-twitch growth fibers. Adding X Reps after full-range exhaustion brings in even more of those hard-toreach growth fibers, which helps you trigger bigger gains. In addition, by extending a set with X Reps, you produce more muscle burn, which can increase growth hormone and testosterone release. In other words, you create a more anabolic hormone profile. The X-Rep technique is a simple yet powerful mass builder, but don’t get carried away with it. I recommend performing X Reps on only the last work set for the big exercises—chins, presses, rows, etc. Always begin X Reps at the point at which the target muscle is semistretched. We mentioned doing them near the bottom of an incline press. Another example is near the bottom of a chinup. Start X Reps at the point right before your arms are fully extended, pulsing up to just below the halfway point before lowering again for another X Rep. Do as many low-end partials as possible. On isolation moves, like leg extensions, leg curls and concentration curls, you can do X Reps near the bottom, where the target muscle is semistretched, or at the top, flexed position, a.k.a. the Flex-X technique. Topend-squeezes help force more occlusion, or blood-flow blockage, which is a key to the size-building power of contracted-position exercises. X Reps performed near the bottom, where the target muscle is semistretched, are more for maximum fiber recruitment, although that somewhat helps occlusion in the muscle as well. A good strategy for continuous-tension isolation exercises is to perform semistretch-point X Reps on the first work set and the Flex-X technique on the second. Mike Semanoff is an excellent drug-free bodybuilder

Neveux

You can do top-end X Reps, a.k.a. the Flex-X technique, on continuous-tension contracted-position exercises to enhance mass-promoting occlusion.

who experimented with X Reps during a mass-building phase: “I gained 20 pounds of muscle in two months. I’ve been training for a long time, so I knew that I had to provide my muscles with a totally unique stimulus to really kick-start growth. I found my answer when I started reading about X Reps. I was very intrigued. The whole concept of attacking the semistretched point of the muscle really opened up a whole new world of training potential. Once I got the hang of X Reps, I started adding poundage fast. Like clockwork the gains just keep coming. In fact, I won the heavyweight division at the Mr. Utah, and I took the overall at the Northwest Regional Natural Bodybuilding Championships.” That was a few years ago, right after the original X-Rep ebook, The Ultimate Mass Workout, was released. For more information, look for X-Rep articles and Q&As at www .X-Rep.com. Warning: X Reps aren’t easy, but they’re a simple, exciting technique that can pack mass onto your physique. Just don’t abuse them.

X Reps helped drug-free bodybuilder Mike Semanoff add 20 pounds of muscle in two months.

Neveux

Q: On my decline-bench presses—midrange position for chest—I got 10 reps on my first work set and eight on the second. I tried to do X-Rep partials at the end of the second set, pulsing below the midpoint, but I was too weak. I didn’t have any strength left to do X Reps. Is there something I’m doing wrong? Why am I weak at that point? Also, on some exercises I fail at 10 reps on the first set and then can barely do six reps on the second. Is that normal? A: X Reps are difficult for different people on different exercises. It depends on individual neuromuscular efficiency in each target muscle. You may have that type of weakness in your pecs or one of the synergist muscles—for example, triceps or front delts on pressing moves. If you can’t pulse with X Reps, do a single static hold at the X Spot for as long as possible—six to 10 seconds. That’s the next best thing. Is a significant rep differential on set two normal? It can be. Once again, it depends on the neuromuscular efficiency and fiber makeup of the particular muscle or muscles you’re training. On some exercises your reps may go 10, 6; www.ironmanmagazine.com \ JUNE 2009 105

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pensation, and you’ll get somewhat bigger—and leaner—after every workout. How does soreness equal more leanness? Scientists now recognize that muscle soreness equates to fat burning because of the same phenomenon that creates the instant size surge you’ve experienced—muscle damage. Muscle trauma requires energy to repair it, and the metabolic uptick is fueled by bodyfat. How great is that? So should you strive for that familiar postworkout pain? While there are no studies that correlate muscle soreness with growth, it makes sense that damaging the muscle enough to make it somewhat sore would force it to rebuild bigger and stronger to prevent future damage—if you let it recover completely before you train it again. While mild soreness is good, severe Heavy pure-negative sets are too damaging to use often. The soreness is not so good, as it indicates negative-accentuated set—raising the weight in 1.5 seconds and so much damage that the body may lowering in six seconds—is a better choice. not be able to repair it before your next workout. Research on pure-negative training, which we discuss in the e-book, verifies that. Here’s a passage from the e-book that explains: on others they may go 10, 9. Some people get more reps on “A study performed in the 1990s by Frank G. Shellock, their second set than the first. Ph.D., showed the extensive damage pure negatives can do. For example, Jonathan, my training partner, sometimes Subjects performed one set of positive-only curls with one gets eight reps on his first work set and then 10 on his arm and negative-only curls with the other, both sets to second on some exercises—probably because his fastfailure. Results... twitch-fiber-oriented muscles need that first work set as “The positive-work-only biceps showed no damage, additional warmup and nervous system priming to fire while the negative-work-only biceps showed damage that properly. When that happens, he usually does a third work peaked five days after exercise. Soreness finally dissipated set for growth-fiber-activation insurance. by the ninth day, but some subjects didn’t regain all of their You’ll get the best results if you simply do as many reps strength in the pure-negative-trained biceps for six weeks!” as you can on each work set, with X Reps or a static hold on That last statement is important. It indicates that purethe last set only. If the drop on the second set is too severe, negative work damaged the muscle so much that it didn’t you may want to reduce the weight to stay in the hyperrecover for six weeks in some subjects—and that was after trophic zone, which is nine to 12 reps—although if you get only one pure-negative set to failure. Yes, most of the test only, say, seven but can do enough X Reps, you’ll extend the subjects were untrained individuals; nevertheless, you can tension time to more than 25 seconds, which is enough to see how extremely traumatic pure-negative work can be. reach that hypertrophic zone. We believe that’s true even for experienced bodybuilders. That’s why we prefer the less-severe negative-acQ: I’m using the Ultimate Fat-to-Muscle Workout centuated version most of the time—lift the weight in 1.5 [from the e-book of the same name] four days per seconds, then take six seconds to lower. Start with one week, and I’m sore after every workout. Is that good? seven-rep negative-accentuated set on a multijoint exerDoes it mean I’m growing? My muscles feel and even cise for each bodypart, and you’ll start seeing and feeling look bigger. Can the program really work that fast? great things in both muscle and rippedness. With the right amount of muscle trauma and postworkout soreness, you A: The reason a sore muscle feels bigger is because can be sure that you’re getting a real fat-to-muscle effect you’re more aware of it—when you move and you get that that can transform your physique quickly. sensation of pain—and also because it probably is actually bigger. When a muscle is damaged, as occurs with the negativeEditor’s note: Steve Holman is the author of many accentuated sets in the Ultimate Fat-to-Muscle Workout, bodybuilding best-sellers and the creator of Positionsinflammation develops. That draws fluid to the tissue to of-Flexion muscle training. For information on the POF accelerate repair, so it can actually look larger than usual— videos and Size Surge programs, see the ad sections like you’re pumped up—for a few days. beginning on pages 118 and 280, respectively. Also visit The instant size increase will subside somewhat bewww.X-Rep.com for information on X-Rep and 3D fore you train that specific muscle again, but in a perfect POF methods and e-books. IM scenario some of the size will remain due to supercomNeveux \ Models: Danny Hester and Joe Tong

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A Bodybuilder

Is Born Episode 47

Get Creative to Solve Problems by Ron Harris Photography by Michael Neveux

Model: Jose Raymond

andy’s training and gaining were going very well as we neared the alltoo-brief Massachusetts summer. In late May we had just come through the worst rains and flooding in more than 70 years, and we were ready for some sunshine. Of course, my aging mom, who was eight years old at the time of the last flood, dismissed our recent deluges as mere drizzle compared to the Great Flood of ’36. “Oh, really?” I challenged her, expecting a story of a great ark with two animals of every type aboard landing atop Mount Ararat. “The cities were all deep under water, evil pirates in an old oil tanker raided the peaceful settlers of Waterworld’s floating towns, and our only hope was a man with gills that looked a lot like Kevin Costner.” Perhaps I should explain that my mother has Alzheimer’s disease and watches cable TV for roughly 16 hours a day. She sold my childhood home about 10 years ago because she was seriously concerned that living alone in a large house put her at an increased risk of being abducted by aliens. Alien abduction hasn’t been a large problem in suburban Boston for some time (I understand it was pretty bad in the ’70s, though that may have been due to bad acid trips), but I suppose one can never be too careful. All I know is that those pesky aliens won’t have my dear old mom to poke and probe. Anyway, back to Randy, our man with the plan to win the novice division of a local show being held this

fall. He had indeed reached his goal weight of 225 pounds; however, as I’m always pointing out, weight in and of itself is meaningless. Bodybuilders are judged visually, based on size but also shape, symmetry, proportion and condition. In Randy’s case there was still a proportion issue that needed to be addressed before I would be satisfied that he was ready to compete again. Specifically, his biceps were lagging. Because his shoulders and triceps were pretty good and had improved, his biceps looked even worse in comparison. The last thing I wanted was for him to do what so many other unsuccessful bodybuilders had before him, which was to keep building up his strong bodyparts while the weak points remained mired in mediocrity. Those are the guys you hear dissed at contests for having no legs, no back, no calves, etc. They’re usually the same ones who like to bitch about how much better their strong parts were than anyone else’s, ignoring the fact that they look like human jigsaw puzzles. (Not to confuse them with the Jigsaw Killer of “Saw” fame, whose catchphrases are, “I’d like to play a game,” and, “Oh, yes, there will be blood.”) “I’m starting to worry about your biceps,” I began, words I knew would instantly put him into defensive mode. He didn’t let me down. “What are you talking about?” he blurted. “They aren’t that bad.” To prove his point, he hit a front double-biceps pose. I’m sure that in his mind those biceps were popping

out of his tank top like mountain peaks, but they were actually more like gently rolling hills. “Tell that to the judges in September and see if the Jedi mind trick really works,” I deadpanned. “They’re not that good, Randy.” “Yeah, well, yours aren’t that great, either,” he replied, pouting. “I didn’t say they were, but stop trying to change the subject. This isn’t about me; it’s about you, and I’m only trying to help. Do you want my help or not?” “I guess, yeah, sorry,” he said, sulking. He was good at sulking. “Okay, listen up, because I have a plan to get your biceps growing. I know it will work because I’ve been using it training with Janet, and my bi’s have—get this—grown.” I let that settle in for a moment and waited for his reaction. He knew how doggedly resistant to growth my arms are. Hearing that my arms had grown was like learning that Verne Troyer (Mini-Me in the Austin Powers movies) was becoming taller. Suddenly, he was all ears. “It’s all about being creative and coming up with totally new methods,” I explained. “Remember when you hurt your lower back and we managed to train around it?” He nodded. “Yeah, I didn’t miss one workout, and I actually put on a little size from all the different things we were doing, like the seated movements and the slower rep speeds.” “Exactly. We got creative and switched up your training completely. And another time you were www.ironmanmagazine.com \ JUNE 2009 113

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100308mva

on—I can go heavier than that.” “Talk to me in a few minutes,” I responded. He got through the first set of 36 reps without tremendous effort, though the lactic acid burn toward the end was rough. Randy shifted his grimace to a smile and pronounced, “Nice pump, but it wasn’t that hard.” He was still breathing hard. “I know, I know. Do it again. Now!” He knit his brows but picked up the bar off the floor and

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Model: Greg Smyers

pletely. And another time you were having a problem eating enough protein every day. What did we do?” “You started having me drink a small shake of a scoop of protein powder with every meal.” “Right. That was being creative, because most people think you have to either have a solid meal or a shake—but not both at the same time. Now we are going to do some crazy things for your biceps every week for the next four weeks, and I am sure they will shock your bi’s so much that they will have no choice but to grow. For two weeks after the crazy workouts you’ll go back to standard fare—three or four straight sets of three exercises for eight to 10 reps. That way your biceps won’t fully adjust to the shocker workouts. Are you ready for something different?” “Sure, why not,” he replied with all the enthusiasm of Paris Hilton at a convention of stamp collectors. He knew he was in for some pain. The first exercise was a creative riff on 21s, the old curling trick where you do seven reps in each of three different segments of the range of motion: bottom half, top half and full reps. In this variation you use an EZ-curl bar for 36 reps, with your hand spacing changing throughout the set. You do the first 12 reps with your hands all the way out to the edges of the bar, up against the collars; the second 12 with a standard grip and the final 12 with your hands together in the middle of the bar. I handed Randy a 50-pound fixed bar. “You must be joking,” he smirked. “Come

Three days later I had him tape his cold, flexed arm, and to his astonishment, it was up just over an eighth of an inch. That may not sound like much, but if he can duplicate that tiny gain a few more times, guess what? His biceps will have grown significantly.

Episode 47

grinned. “Oh, no, little studpuppet, the fun isn’t over yet!” He groaned and muttered a phrase I can’t repeat here, but I will say that my mother and I have never had that type of a relationship. The next “set” was incline dumbbell hammer curls, working both arms at a time for 10 reps. Then I quickly pulled the seat back to a vertical position for 10 reps of alternate dumbbell curls. Finally, I had him stand up and do 10 more reps of hammer curls, both arms together, to failure, and then alternate arms to failure. He tried to use 30s but didn’t make it all the way through. By the third go-round Randy was lifting weights so light they could have been covered in pink rubber and used in an aerobics class. I assure you, however, they felt like Chevy engine blocks to those fried biceps of Randy’s. The next day Randy’s biceps were so sore that he was cer-

Model: Jose Raymond

did another round. This time I had to hold the bar for him to move his hands in because they were shaking so badly. The last few reps with his hands together had him cussing, and he had to swing them up pretty sloppily. I let him rest for about a minute before it was time to run though this killer twist on curls for the third and final time. I had to help him get a few of the reps toward the middle; then he had to drop the bar and use a 40-pound bar to finish the last 12 reps. Randy was sweating and sat down on a nearby bench. His arms were still locked in a curling position, as he couldn’t straighten them out. “Okay,” he conceded, “those were insane. That was a good biceps routine, thanks.” “Oh, you think we’re done?” I

The next “set” was incline dumbbell hammer curls, working both arms at a time for 10 reps. Then I quickly pulled the seat back to a vertical position for 10 reps of alternate dumbbell curls. Finally, I had him stand up and do 10 more reps of hammer curls, both arms together, to failure, and then alternate arms to failure. tain he’d torn something. I had made sure his brutalized biceps were being supplied with all the nutrients they needed to recover and grow from the abuse they’d undergone. The next week we did it all over again with some more crazy exercises and techniques I dreamed up. Three days later I had him tape his cold, flexed arm, and to his astonishment, it was up just over an eighth of an inch. That may not sound like much, but if he can duplicate that tiny gain a few more times, guess what? His biceps will have grown significantly. Forget about all those bullshit ads that promise an inch on your arms in one day—as long as you train them 12 times in that day and have an equal amount of the advertiser’s high-priced creatine (loaded with sugar) and whey protein shakes. Small gains are nothing to sneeze at because they all add up. The moral of the story is that getting creative is often the only solution when you’re stuck at a plateau. One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again yet expecting a different response. It’s like a trapped bird that keeps trying to escape a room by flying into a glass window. Either that window needs to open, or that bird needs to start looking for another way out of the room. Don’t be afraid to come up with creative solutions to make progress. It’s often the ridiculoussounding idea that turns out to be so crazy, it just might work! Uh-oh, is that rain I hear starting up outside? Editor’s note: Ron Harris’ new book Real Bodybuilding is available at www.RonHarrisMuscle.com. IM

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I Think”

“

Fit! Sean Harley IRON MAN & Bodybuilding.com BodySpace Model Search Winner

by David Young Photography by Michael Neveux

Former college athlete Sean Harley knows how to take on challenges. As a fitness model, Sean has been featured in many workout magazines and has graced the covers of international publications. He’s also counseled many people on supplementation and nutrition for weight loss and muscle growth, as well as overall health. Now Sean is here to share all of his insights, advice and secrets with you! DY: First of all, congratulations on winning the IRON MAN/Bodybuilding.com Bodyspace Model Search. How do you feel? SH: The entire weekend competition was a thrill, and when I heard my name called for the trophy, I was on top of the world! All my hard work has really paid off, and I’m excited to work with Bodybuilding .com and represent the ever-growing population on Bodyspace. DY: I know it took a lot of discipline and hard work to accomplish that goal. Is this the best condition you’ve achieved to date? SH: It’s probably the most muscle mass that I’ve displayed publicly as a fitness model, but I was far from my leanest. The contest was in January, which for me was in the middle of my winter mass-building stage. That means allowing a little extra junk in the trunk caused by

a calorie excess (or you could say holiday eating) that lets me put on some new muscle. When I found out that I was in the top five, I had eight days to cut up and be onstage! I managed to drop about nine pounds, probably sacrificing a little muscle, but I came in with decent cuts. Another week or two of prep and I could have been a lot leaner. DY: So you might say that the real competition was with yourself more than onstage with the other competitors. SH: My main competition was with myself to see how lean I could get in that short amount of time without sacrificing too much hardearned muscle. I knew that the other competitors were in the same boat and would be handling their business and that I had no control over that. What I could control was my own effort and discipline in getting my body ready for a show. DY: What were the mental challenges you faced leading up to the competition, and how did you overcome them to achieve your condition? SH: My main mental challenge

came from switching from a massbuilding diet to a strict precompetition diet over the course of a day. My body was used to the calorie surplus, and it’s tough to go right into depletion after that. Getting over those carb cravings can be a bit agitating. DY: So what’s next for your fitness career? SH: There are many people trying to convince me otherwise, but right now I have no plans for stepping onstage for a bodybuilding show. I will be spokes-modeling for Bodybuilding.com and representing my company, www.ithinkfit. com, as well as Sensei Nutrition, throughout the year. I’m currently in talks with a few well-known photographers for some upcoming projects and doing a few guest spots for fitness topics on a couple of talk shows. DY: How did you design the nutrition program that you followed for the competition? SH: I used a diet that I learned from my old trainer, IFBB pro Derik Farnsworth, when I used to train at World Gym in San Diego. When www.ironmanmagazine.com \ JUNE 2009 123

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Sean Harley you’re all natural, you need every advantage you can get from your diet, and Derik is a master at carb manipulation to change your body on demand. DY: I interviewed Derik a few years ago. I remember his carb-

“I used a diet that I learned from my old trainer, IFBB pro Derik Farnsworth. Being all natural means you need every advantage you can get from your diet.”

manipulation program. How did you apply it for the competition? SH: I did a carb rotation that I typically don’t like doing for more than two weeks. Usually less, depending on how much I need to cut before a shoot date. It’s two days of no carb, with the exception of some green vegetables and pure fiber, followed by a third day of carb loading. On the carb day I cut off carbs at around 5 p.m. and end the day with a cardio session to burn out any remaining blood sugar that might be stored as fat overnight. That second day of no carbs can be agitating, but the results are always worth the sacrifice. DY: Can you describe a sample day of eating, meal by meal? SH: Sure. Low-Carb Depletion Day: 7 a.m.: 2 scoops whey 10 a.m.: 6 egg whites with lean beef or chicken 12 noon: 8 ounces chicken breast, handful almonds 3 p.m.: (preworkout) 2 scoops whey 4:30 p.m.: 2 scoops whey 5 p.m.: 1 can low-oil tuna, lettuce 8 p.m.: 6 ounces lean steak, 6 stalks asparagus 10 p.m.: 5 hardboiled egg whites Higher-Carb Day: 7 a.m.: 1 cup oatmeal with 2 scoops whey 10 a.m.: 2 whole eggs, 4 egg whites, 1 piece wheat toast 12 noon: 6 ounces chicken breast, 1 piece fruit 2 p.m.: (preworkout) 1 scoop whey, 1 medium sweet potato 4 p.m.: (postworkout) 2 scoops whey, 12 ounces Gatorade 6 p.m.: 1 can tuna, 2 stalks celery 9 p.m.: 6 ounces lean steak, lettuce, green beans or other green vegetable DY: Do you work with a training partner, and is he an important

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Sean Harley part of the preparation process? SH: I train with my business partner Heath Murray, who usually joins me and takes the opportunity to lean out. It’s great having that support, since we have to spend a lot of hours around each other throughout the day. I usually pick up my cardio a little harder than he likes to, so much of that requires my own motivation. I’ll also join my personal-training clients in our “300”-style group workout (popularized from the workouts used by the actors in the movie “300”). It’s a lot more fun trying to burn 1,000 calories that way than it is jumping on a piece of cardio. DY: How would you describe your training style, and has it changed much over the past few years? SH: I’d describe my training style as strict and smart. I’m a stickler for form, and if I’m isolating a muscle, I want to make sure that it’s getting as little help from the others as possible. As for my basic weight-training split, it hasn’t changed a whole lot over the last couple of years other than adding the “300”-style training—we call it Leonidas—on top of what I was already doing. That’s made my core much stronger and has helped increase my overall strength as well. I’m stronger than I’ve ever been on my basic weighttraining lifts. DY: Which bodyparts respond easily, and which one or ones have been more challenging? SH: I’d say that my delts are my strong point. They’ve always responded very well, and when I’m mass building, they seem to be the first part to grow. My frustrating muscle is my calves. They’ve always had a nice split and good vascularity, but I have the hardest time adding size to them. DY: What are your favorite exercises? SH: Anything on arm day! I love the feeling of a good arm pump and look forward to it all week. My favorite biceps exercise is a superset. I do one-arm reverse preacher curls, then stand up and grab a lighter dumbbell for a set of standing onearm curls. DY: Are there any exercises

“Adding the “300”-style training—we call it Leonidas—on top of what I was already doing has made my core much stronger and has helped increase my overall strength. I’m stronger than I’ve ever been.”

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Sean Harley you’re unusually strong on? SH: Since starting the Leonidas training, I’m finding all kinds of new strengths. I’ve recently found out that I can do a one-arm clean and press with a 135-pound barbell. DY: What does your training week look like? SH: Monday: Back and calves in the morning and Leonidas in the evening Tuesday: Chest and HIIT cardio Wednesday: Legs in the morning and Leonidas in the evening Thursday: Shoulders, calves Friday: Arms, HIIT cardio Saturday and Sunday: Cardio if needed DY: Describe a typical week of your training program, bodypart by bodypart. SH: Sure.

“I’d describe my training style as strict and smart. I’m a stickler for form, and if I’m isolating a muscle I want to make sure that it’s getting as little help from the others as possible.

Chest Flat-bench presses 4 x 8-10 Incline dumbbell presses 3 x 10 Cable flyes Low 2 x 10 Medium 2 x 10 High 2 x 10 Back Neutral-grip pullups 3 x failure Half deadlifts 3x8 Pulldowns 3 x 10

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Sean Harley

Hammer-machine pulldowns Dumbbell rows

3 x 10 3 x 10

Shoulders Dumbbell presses 4 x 10 Smith-machine upright rows (drop sets) 3 x 10(10) Lateral raises 3 x 10 Rear-delt flyes 3 x 10 Biceps Incline dumbbell curls 3 x 10 EZ-curl-bar standing curls 3 x 8-10 Hammer curls 3 x 10 Superset One-arm reverse preacher curls 3 x 10 One-arm curls 3 x 8-10 Triceps Rope pushdowns 4 x 10 Close-grip presses 3 x 8-10 Skull crushers 3 x 10 Cable overhead extensions 3 x 10 Weighted bench dips 3 x failure

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Sean Harley Quads Squats 4 x 10-8 Leg presses or hack squats 4 x 10 Leg extensions 3 x 10 Hamstrings Standing cable leg curls Seated leg curls Stiff-legged deadlifts

3 x 10 3 x 10 3 x 10

Calves Standing calf raises 4 x 10-15 Seated calf raises 4 x 10-15 Rotary calf machine 3 x 8-12 Abs Crunches on foam roller 4 x failure Roman-chair twists 3 x 20 Leg raises 3 x failure DY: What’s your height, and what was your weight for this competition? SH: I’m 5’10” and I was 190. DY: Who inspired you in your fitness career? SH: When I was starting, I was inspired by every fitness model I saw in the bodybuilding magazines. I thought, “I could do that,” and set out to do so. I worked briefly with Derik Farnsworth early on, and he was a great inspiration. I learned so much in a short time, and I still use a lot of it religiously to this day. DY: Which nutritional products do you find useful? SH: A good whey protein is the one product that I could not do without. Beta-alanine—Black Betas from Eight Ball Nutrition—works great in helping push the lactic acid out of muscles. When I’m cutting, I use ChiKara from Sensei Nutrition; I find the energy keeps me going on fewer calories, and the appetite control helps keep my diet in check. Depending on which phase of my training I’m in, there are a few other products I throw in as well. DY: Do you have a favorite product, and, if so, why? SH: My favorite is ChiKara. I use it every time I need to cut and feel it gets me there faster. I love the energy it gives me even when I’m doing low carb, and it controls my appetite and sugar cravings to help me stay honest. DY: You get all of your prod-

ucts from Body building.com, correct? SH: You bet. DY: Let’s get a little history on you. What sports did you play growing up? SH: I dabbled in a lot of sports. I played baseball until I realized that I suck at it and got tired of warming the bench. I loved basketball and would play in my driveway until all hours of the night until my mother dragged me inside. I tried wrestling my senior year of high school and loved it. I was best at football, which was my favorite, and went on to play all four years in college. I was recruited as a linebacker but was quickly moved to the other side of the ball as a running back. As I began to put on mass in college, they moved me to the fullback spot, which I loved playing. DY: What kinds of mistakes did you make early on with your training and nutrition, and how did you change them to end up with the program you incorporate today? SH: I used to think that a family-size can of baked beans was an excellent protein source and that mac and cheese was a “good carb.” I started lifting for football, and the motto was, “the heavier the better,” so I would really sacrifice form to move more weight. I started lifting right before I learned how to eat right. I learned a lot on how to better isolate the muscles and develop each muscle individually from reading workout magazines. Now I use strict form in all lifts, and I don’t stack on more weight until I can reach my desired number of reps without cheating. I didn’t really start eating right until after college. I began working in the fitness industry and learned what and when I needed to eat to get my body to look the way I wanted. Every year

I get to know my body a little better and how it responds to my diet and workout, so I’m still learning what works best for me. DY: Who of the past and present exemplify your ideal type of physique? SH: If we stick to bodybuilders, I think the ideal bodybulder physique from the past would be Bob Paris. He had amazing symmetry and the perfect X-frame. Today, I’m more appreciative of the Stan McQuay– type physique. DY: What have been your biggest challenges in life and in your bodybuilding career? How did you overcome them? SH: My biggest challenges in life have just been overcoming my fears about going out and getting what I want in life. If I had never conjured up the courage to get out of Nebraska and move to California, who knows what I’d be doing now? Staying self-employed has been challenging, but for me the payoffs keep me driving toward success internationally. My biggest challenge in bodybuilding is keeping motivated—to keep taking that extra step that can keep me ahead of the competition. Even if it means eating another chicken breast while my friends are eating pizza and drinking beer. Editor’s note: Visit Sean at www.IThinkFit.com. IM

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Turning Up the

HEAT IRON MAN & Bodybuilding.com BodySpace Model Search Winner

Allison Ethier by David Young Photography by Michael Neveux

After winning the IFBB Arnold Amateur Fitness event in 2008, she revamped her training and diet strategy to go heavier and add more muscle, with plans of earning her pro card this year. In the interim she learned that she’d qualified for the finals of the Bodybuilding.com Bodyspace Model Search, presented by IRON MAN, that was to be held at the IRON MAN Pro only 10 days away—the pressure was on. Listen up and learn how she did it! DY: Congratulations on your win. Nicely done! AE: I’m honored and humbled to have won. I threw my name in the hat in order to gain more exposure in the industry—a few more clicks on either my Bodyspace profile or my Web site, www.AllisonEthier .com. I never considered that I’d actually win. I did set out to do well— perhaps make it as a top-15 finalist, but I was stunned to have made it to

the finals. It was a real treat. DY: I know it took a lot of discipline and hard work to accomplish your goal. Is this the best condition you’ve achieved to date? AE: As a model I felt I had a good look, but since I also compete in fitness, it would have been nice to have been leaner. I don’t diet like everyone else. I diet only for around six to seven weeks before a show. I cannot handle dieting for a long period of time. I don’t know how girls who diet for 12 to 16 weeks can do that. I would be an emotional wreck. I started dieting around January 1, just cleaning things up a bit, as I was in

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Hair and makeup by Teri Groves

A former gymnast and cheerleader, Allison Ethier is a math teacher, department head, mom, fitness competitor and gym rat. She’s learned a lot about discipline and making it happen when the pressure is on.

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Allison

prep for this year’s Arnold Amateur. I found out that I was selected as a top-five finalists only 10 days before the show. This show motivated me earlier in the competitive season to get into stage shape. DY: So with only 10 days to get ready, I guess the main competition was with your mind-set rather than with the other competitors? AE: The whole weekend we were in L.A., I’m sure none of the competitors lost sight that it was a competition. One girl ended up getting sick, and so my odds got better. There were various parts to the weekend: a photo shoot with Michael Neveux, interviews, booth work with Bodybuilding.com, public interaction and the night show at the IRON MAN Pro with posing and an impromptu interview by Bob Cicherillo. I tried to come in the best shape I could given the time I had to prepare. I always try to do my best and then let the judges decide. I’ve been doing this for so long that you learn not to let the results of a show define who you are. I knew that it was a great opportunity for me to network and get my name out there, as I have many goals this year. Either way, win or lose, to be among the top five meant that I’d already won in my mind. DY: I agree. You have to win in your own mind before you can win anywhere else. AE: I’ve been a fitness competitor for 10 years. I’ve done many shows. Being onstage and not having to do a routine—that was easy for me. I understood what was expected of me for the weekend, as I’d done interviews and booth work in the past. All that experience helped me. DY: What’s next for your fitness career? AE: The Arnold Amateur is coming up. I won the fitness show in 2008. I’ll also be working the Bodybuilidng.com booth at the Arnold and Olympia. After the Arnold I have the Natural Physique in Laval, Quebec (formerly known 138 JUNE 2009 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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as the World Qualifier), and then the Canadian Fitness and Figure Championships in August. I want to win my IFBB pro card in fitness this year and try to make it to the Olympia stage. Why wait? There’s excellent talent in Canada, and the competition is fierce. I know I can represent Canada well in the pros. I just would like a chance to do that. DY: It sounds like a wellthought-out plan. How did you go about designing the nutrition program that you followed for the competition? AE: When I started competing, there was no one around who did what I wanted to do—that is, compete. So I used the Internet and various magazines to learn about nutrition. Since then I’ve done everything myself. Last year I connected with Erik Ledin of Lean Bodies Consulting for training and nutritional advice. It’s nice to have someone do your thinking for you and trust it is the right decision. DY: Does Erik have you reduce calories or carbs in your preparations? AE: Both. I generally start with a certain meal plan, and then if I’m not losing, I make changes. I cannot go as low carb as some people do. Fewer than 1,400 calories or fewer than 100 grams of carbs is too low for me. I do a fitness routine and/or workout, stand on my feet all day moving and teaching mathematics, and I still have to come home and look after my son, all while keeping my emotions in check. I feel my diet is balanced for what I need it to do and do not have rebounds postcompetition. DY: Can you describe a sample day of eating, meal by meal?

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AE:

Preworkout: SlimQuick Extreme drink sachet Breakfast: 1 cup liquid egg whites, 1/2 cup oatmeal, fat-free yogurt Snack: protein shake Lunch: 4-5 ounces chicken, sweet potato, broccoli, dill pickles, soda water Snack: protein shake, banana and water with SlimQuick Extreme drink sachet

Supper: omelet with 5-6 egg whites and 1 yolk, lots of veggies, cottage cheese, soda water Snack: protein shake or yogurt and banana

DY: Which nutritional products do you find useful? AE: SlimQuick Extreme drink sachets, and they have these new Energy Shots that I love. DY: You get them all at Bodybuilding.com, right? AE: Of course, where else? My favorite is the SlimQuick Extreme—it works, and no crash. DY: Does Erik also train you, and is having a trainer an important part of the preparation process? AE: Erik is my trainer. About a year AE ago I felt a lull in the gym and was not motivated by my workouts. They weren’t challenging enough. I didn’t lift heavy enough, and I needed to gain some size. I prefer to work out alone at 4:30 a.m. I have the run of the machines and weights and cardio equipment without any wait times. DY: My girlfriend tried to murder me with a 5:30 a.m. workout. How would you describe your

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Allison

training style? Has it changed much over the past few years? AE: I was doing the same workout for five or six years before I met Erik. I am NSCA-CPT certified; however, since working with Erik, I do upperbody and lower-body workouts four days per week. DY: Which bodyparts respond easily for you, and which have been more challenging? AE: Legs are easy, as I was a gymnast and cheerleader for many years. Upper body took some more time to develop. I balance my look for the modeling jobs, as I really enjoy that side of the industry. I’ve made significant changes in the last year with my size. Everyone is like, “What have you been doing?” I just tell them I lift heavier. I’m smaller in the offseason and get leaner for a show. DY: What are your favorite exercises? AE: Triceps dips. I can do as many as you need. Or work my ass off to get the number you say—if you want 50, I will try 50. Pullups make me feel very strong. I like the challenge. I’ve always loved working shoulders too. DY: Cool. How do you break out your training week? AE: Four days of weights and cardio and two days of routine practice. If it’s off-season, five days of training and two rest days. I put the rest days where I need them. Or if I’m not feeling motivated or if I’m tired, I just don’t go to the gym that day. DY: What’s your height, and what was your weight for this competition? AE: 5’4” and 127 pounds. For competition I can get down to 116 on the day of the show, but I think I look best at 125. DY: What improvements did

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Allison

you make during your preparation? AE: I worked more on bringing up my upper body and tightening up my lower body, to really make my muscles pop. I had to practice my posing more. I used to do the model walk, but in the NPC/CBBF you have to do the quarterturn posing. It’s very different. It is a nice change, as it makes me more body aware. DY: Who inspired you in your fitness career? AE: I love watching all the girls’ fitness routines, their bodies, the quarter turns. I think everyone brings something unique to the industry. I love getting to know the girls and seeing what makes them tick. It just shows me how similar we all really are and go through the same things during any kind of preparation. I might be a competitor, but I am a huge fan of the girls as well. DY: Who of the past and present exemplify your ideal physique type? AE: I liked the look of the figure girls when they were hard and lean. This new softer look I am not sure I like. Not sure who is my favorite, as I think they all have something unique to bring to the table. I prefer to remain PC and let the judges to make that call. Editor’s note: To contact Allison visit: www.AllisonEthier.com. IM

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Heavy Duty The The Wisdom Wisdom of of Mike Mike Mentzer Mentzer by John Little Rep Cadence Q: What were Mike Mentzer’s thoughts regarding the optimal speed of repetitions? A: Mike’s biggest belief about repetition speed was that each rep should be performed under strict control, thus removing any chance of momentum or outside forces stepping in and unloading the musculature. He didn’t advocate speed reps, nor—to the surprise of some in the high-intensity community—did he recommend ultraslow reps. As he put it: “For the best results, perform all of the exercises through a full range of motion in a reasonably strict manner. Initiate each rep deliberately, with no sudden jerking or yanking, proceed under strict muscular control through the positive range of motion, pause and lower under control. The two major exceptions here are bent-over barbell rows and dumbbell laterals. Because of the physics involved—disadvantageous leverage factors—use a slight hitch, or snap, to get the weight moving, but muscle it thereafter. A slight hitch, or cheat, may also be employed on the last rep or two when doing barbell curls. With the vast majority of exercises, the rule of thumb is lift, hold and lower under control.” Mike’s preferred rep cadence for single-joint, or isolation, exercises was four seconds on the lifting, or positive portion of the rep, two seconds holding in the position of full contraction, and then four seconds for the lowering, or negative portion of the repetition. With compound exercises such as dips or squats, since the bones unload the musculature at full contraction—support the weight at lockout—he didn’t advocate a hold of any kind. For

those exercises, a four-seconds-up/ four-seconds-down cadence was optimal. Again, control is the key. Indeed, the first name Mike came up with for what became his Heavy Duty system was the Contraction Control method.

Weight Guidelines Q: I’m new to bodybuilding and am curious as to how I determine what weights I should use in my Heavy Duty workouts. Did Mike Mentzer have a general weight guideline for each exercise? A: To my knowledge Mike did not have a general poundage guideline for his clients. He did, however, have a repetition guideline, which amounts to something similar. According to Mike: “I recommend that you select a weight for each exercise that enables you to perform six to 10 reps on all exercises, with the exception of the following: Dips, three to five reps Incline presses, one to three reps Standing calf raises, 12 to 20 reps Quad and hamstring exercises, eight to 15 reps “All reps should be performed under strict control, and never should a set be terminated because a prescribed number of reps have been completed. The range of six to 10 is merely a guideline; doing fewer than six won’t tax your reserves sufficiently unless they’re performed as the second exercise of a preexhaustion sequence, and doing more than 10, with the exception of leg work, could cause you to terminate your set prematurely because of cardiorespiratory insufficiency before you reached muscular failure.”

Positive or Negative? Q: I want to get as big and strong as possible. I’ve read that Mike trained some clients with positive-failure only and others with negative-only work, as well as rest/pause. Which of these Heavy Duty training techniques should I use? A: Mike would vary the training protocol depending on the needs of the client. For those unfamiliar with some of the terms you are using, a brief refresher might be in order. Skeletal muscles have three levels of functional ability, positive, static and negative. As Mike pointed out: “It is not cast in stone that one must merely ‘lift’ weights (positives). A bodybuilder can mix positive training with static training and negative training. Or he may do one to the exclusion of the other two. The type of rep modality a bodybuilder chooses will depend on a number of factors, including age, existing condition, time or history spent training, and his or her goals.” Mike’s recommendation was that newcomers to Heavy Duty training or beginners to bodybuilding start with what he termed a bare-bones, baseline program, using the Ideal Routine from High Intensity Training the Mike Mentzer Way, carrying each exercise to a point of positive failure, then ceasing the set. If you’re keeping a good training journal, you will be able to properly analyze your progress, and if strength gains continue, there’s no need to change your routine or add advanced techniques. Down the road, when you become an advanced bodybuilder, you’ll be able to consider adding static or negative training as outlined in his books. They’re not for everyone, however, and, most important, you shouldn’t rush into advanced techniques in the early www.ironmanmagazine.com \ JUNE 2009 155

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Heavy Duty stages. Please note that where Mike recommends a spotter to assist you, it is to your benefit and to ensure safety. Here’s what Mike had to say about using such techniques for more advanced bodybuilders:

Terminate the set one or two reps shy of failure. I have found with my clients that including forced and/or negative reps at the end of every positive set leads quickly to overtraining. So I have my clients use them on a random basis. On some

nontheoretical volume approach.” 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

Neveux \ Model: Brian Yersky

Mike’s biggest belief about repetition speed is that each rep should be performed with complete control. In fact, the first name Mike came up with for what became Heavy Duty was the Contraction Control method.

“Advanced bodybuilders may consider adding some ‘negativeonly’ training on some exercises. Forgoing the positive and static work entirely, they start the exercise in the contracted position. With the help of spotters, raise a weight into the contracted position that is about 25 to 40 percent heavier than you could handle for six to 10 reps to positive failure. At the top have them transfer the weight carefully so you don’t injure yourself; then lower slowly to full extension. The lowering should take about six seconds, and don’t perform more than five or six reps. “Be careful, however, and don’t attempt to go to full negative failure.

sets they’ll do one or so forced reps or static holds at the end of a set of positives. They’re best employed when you’re feeling particularly well rested—with motivation and energy at a peak. “Don’t forget that static and negative training are more productive than positive training precisely because of the greater inroad they make in a muscle’s functional ability; however, the greater the inroad into functionality, the greater the inroad made into recovery ability, making overtraining more likely. Use such techniques with care, and don’t make the stupid mistake of attempting to integrate static and negative training with the blind,

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 © 2009, John Little. All rights reserved. Mike Mentzer quotations are provided courtesy of Joanne Sharkey and are used with permission. IM

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Nutrition Scientist Anthony Almada Talks Supplementation, Building Muscle and Losing Bodyfat Part 2

by Jerry Brainum This month we continue our interview with Anthony Almada, nutrition scientist, founder of EAS and founding partner of GENr8 (www.Genr8Speed. com). JB: Branched-chain amino acids are said to be particularly important for those seeking added muscle size and strength. Do you agree? AA: A recent study directly compared the effects of 15 grams of whey to 15 grams of essential amino acids, which includes the branched-chain amino acids, in older subjects. They produced identical anabolic effects. I’m aware of no published research that shows long-term muscle gains from using amino acid supplements.

One highly touted amino acid derivative, HMB, just doesn’t work at all in advanced trainees, although it may help beginners and older people. If HMB did provide a significant anabolic effect, it would be at least as popular as creatine, which does encourage long-term muscle gains. As with other supplements, HMB came in with a bang, then promptly went out with a fizzle based largely on consumer reports of lack of effectiveness. JB: Are there any true safety issues and longterm dangers of using creatine supplements? AA: Infants and children with neurological diseases have been given more than double the suggested loading dose of creatine for more than 10 continuous years, with the only side effect being harmless creatine crystals in the urine. Creatine did prove effective in the treatment of the children’s neurological deficits, however. I would suggest that if such huge doses are well tolerated by children for over a decade, it bodes well for creatine’s long-term safety. JB: Let’s talk about dietary fat sources for bodybuilders. What’s best?

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AA: Wild fish—not farmed—almonds, walnuts, macadamia nuts and organic extra-virgin olive oil are all excellent fat sources for both health and bodybuilding purposes. Fish oil supplements vary enormously and include persistent organic pollutants that are passed up the food chain. People should buy only the highest-quality commercial fish oil supplements, preferably those that have been certified free of contaminants by an organization called International Fish Oil Standards. JB: Carbohydrate intake is a controversial topic in bodybuilding, with some suggesting that it’s been overplayed. What’s your belief? AA: You must consider various factors in determining bodybuilders’ carbohydrate needs—exercise intensity, training volume and how often you train. If you’re in the gym for 90 minutes and actually training rather than socializing, you may exhaust your liver glycogen, which maintains blood glucose during training. You’d burn 800 to 1,000 calories an hour while training, and most of them would be derived from carbs. That amounts to depleting about 250 grams of carbs by the end of your workout. Consider also that most bodybuilding workouts involve training various muscle groups, which lowers local muscle glycogen content in the exercised muscles. JB: What happens if bodybuilders completely cuts carbs out of their diets? AA: Their training intensity would take a nosedive, since it’s difficult to maintain training intensity without taking in carbs. While the brain can run on various fuels, it prefers glucose, which goes down with a consistent lack of carb intake. That translates into a feeling of persistent fatigue and lack of concentration during training. Recent studies also show that a lack of carb in the diets of advanced resistance trainees blunts the release of anabolic sig-

naling factors, which would hamper gains in muscle size and strength. JB: What are the ideal percentages of protein, fat and carbs for those seeking added muscle mass? AA: If you go by percentages alone, you can fall short of optimal nutrient intake, particularly protein. While there’s much talk about carbs making you fat, it’s rare to find an athlete who got fat from eating a high-carb diet. You get fat from overeating, period. When you gain weight, you gain not only fat but

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“Using Vitargo after training will raise insulin twice as high and twice as fast as simple sugars—in only 10 minutes. Increasing insulin after the workout immediately stops muscle protein breakdown.”

also muscle. That’s the response to overeating. About half the weight you gain, assuming you’re not using anabolic drugs, is muscle. That’s true even if you do nothing more strenuous than lie on a couch all day. JB: Is there a preferred diet for boosting fat loss in bodybuilders? AA: The old standard dieting technique among bodybuilders was to bulk up with excess calories, followed by strict dieting to achieve muscular definition. It’s possible to

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lose 30 percent of your bodyweight in three months, but you lose fat and a considerable amount of muscle. I don’t believe it’s necessary to get fat to gain muscle. It’s better to monitor calorie intake and adjust calories according to the way you look in the mirror. Pay special attention to areas that tend to accrue fat more rapidly, such as the abdominals and lower body, and then adjust total intake accordingly—and possibly increase aerobic training. You don’t need to do hours of aerobics, either. New studies show that relatively short bouts of interval training are far more effective at reducing bodyfat and require much less time than conventional steady-state aerobics. JB: How much pure bodyfat can a person lose in a week? AA: Starvation studies, in which no food at all is eaten, show a twoto-three-pound loss of fat in a week. JB: What’s the major dieting

“The increased insulin released as a result of Vitargo use gives you a pronounced blood vessel dilation independent of arginine or nitric oxide release. That translates into a superior muscle pump and blood perfusion in the muscle.” error made by bodybuilders? AA: Too much protein, too few carbs. JB: What is Vitargo, and where did it come from? AA: Vitargo was originally developed at the request of elite Swedish endurance athletes who wanted a superior carbohydrate recovery source. The initial Vitargo products were extracted from potato starch that was specially processed. The original formula was awarded four international patents. The first studies examining the effects of Vitargo were published by the same group of Swedish scientists who developed the carbohydrate-loading technique in 1966. They showed that you will get 1.7 times faster muscle glycogen recovery when you take Vitargo after exhaustive endurance training. The next study found that Vitargo was absorbed twice as rapidly as maltodextrin and sugar. Vitargo was introduced without fanfare into products back in the 1970s. An EAS product contained Vitargo more than a decade ago. The original

“You don’t need to do hours of aerobics, either. New studies show that relatively short bouts of interval training are far more effective at reducing bodyfat and require much less time than conventional steadystate aerobics.”

potato-starch extract used in Vitargo was hard to manage. It tended to turn into a rock-hard mass if used incorrectly. The next formula featured waxy maize starch, but it could also be made from other carb sources—rice starch, corn starch and wheat starch. The current version contains barley starch. JB: Many products contain waxy maize starch, and a lot of people think it’s the same thing as Vitargo. What exactly is waxy maize starch, and how does it differ from the ingredients used in Vitargo? AA: Waxy maize starch was originally developed in China in the early 1900s, then shipped to the United States. It’s a type of corn starch that derives its name from its waxy appearance when viewed under a microscope, although it doesn’t contain any more wax than other starches. Around 2002 the Nutrex company obtained the rights to combine Vitargo with creatine. Later pro bodybuilder Art Atwood acquired the rights to distribute Vitargo in various flavors. The company that I’m now associated with became the sole distributor of Vitargo after 2006. Other companies are selling waxy maize products and making Vitargo claims for them, but waxy maize starch is

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not Vitargo, and the claims being made for waxy maize are complete lies. If anything, the properties of waxy maize are the opposite of Vitargo’s. For example, unlike Vitargo, waxy maize is not effective at rapidly increasing insulin, does not rapidly increase glucose, and so on. What makes Vitargo special is its rapid uptake. Waxy maize is slowly digested and is not efficient at rapid glycogen replenishment or boosting insulin the way Vitargo is. JB: Based on the history of its use and development, it sounds as if Vitargo is more suitable for endurance athletes. Is that correct? AA: Again, it depends on how hard you train and how much recovery you require from intense training. JB: How can Vitargo aid the recovery from typical bodybuilding training? AA: We don’t have any published studies related to Vitargo use for strength-training recovery. On the other hand, the increased insulin released as a result of Vitargo gives you a pronounced blood vessel dilation independent of arginine or nitric oxide release. That translates into a superior muscle pump and blood perfusion in the muscle. JB: I would think that Vitargo would be an excellent supplement for those interested in precontest carbloading techniques. AA: A number of top bodybuilders do use Vitargo for precontest preparation. Since they

often restrict fluids shortly before a contest, they add small amounts of water to Vitargo and make it into a gel or pudding form. That lets them increase muscle glycogen stores without having to drink a lot of fluids and produces a “drier,” more defined appearance. Vitargo produces no bloating, as many other carb sources do. JB: Who shouldn’t use Vitargo? AA: Those who don’t train hard enough to make inroads into glycogen stores should avoid using Vitargo. Interestingly, because of its superior absorption characteristics, Vitargo is excellent for use by diabetics. We have not yet, however, compared using Vitargo to glucose for diabetics. JB: Is there is a best method of using Vitargo? AA: On heavy training days take a full dose—two scoops—of Vitargo 30 minutes prior to the workout. Or take half a dose before the workout, then sip the rest throughout your training session. That will maintain optimal energy without indigestion or bloating. After the workout mix two scoops of Vitargo with your favorite protein supplement, meal or shake. Using Vitargo after training will raise insulin twice as high and twice as fast as simple sugars—in only 10 minutes. Increasing insulin after the workout immediately stops muscle protein breakdown. JB: Are there any gender differences in the effects of Vitargo? AA: We haven’t examined that aspect yet. JB: What about Vitargo for older bodybuilders? AA: Insulin resistance increases with age but less in athletes. So I’d expect any results obtained with Vitargo use to be similar, regardless of age. JB: Since Vitargo is a concentrated carb

source and does significantly boost insulin, is there a danger of gaining bodyfat from its use? AA: To answer that question, consider that some people get more than 70 percent of their daily calories as carbs and eat as many as 12,000 calories a day yet show no signs of excess bodyfat. One example is Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps and the athletes who compete in the Tour de France. Do they look fat? Phelps’ diet is, frankly, gross and unhealthful, taking no apparent account of long-term health effects. The point is that insulin promotes fat storage only when accompanied by overeating and inactivity. JB: Are there any interesting developments in sports nutrition? AA: Emerging studies show that combining Vitargo and carnitine has amazing effects. When you take carnitine supplements, blood carnitine rises, but little of it is absorbed into muscle. When a sufficient amount of carnitine is loaded into muscle, however, carb burning is replaced by pronounced fat oxidation. The muscle uses 40 percent less lactate at rest, and carbs are directly shunted into muscle glycogen rather than stored as fat. It turns out that your body needs a lot of insulin for carnitine entry into muscle, and Vitargo is ideal for that purpose. I predict some interesting benefits will emerge when Vitargo is combined with carnitine. JB: That reminds me of a study I read that discovered that an enzyme that works with carnitine in shuttling fat into cell mitochondria was upgraded in rats. Those special rats could eat anything they wanted yet never gained any fat whatsoever. I look forward to when something like that is produced in humans. Then I can put pizza back into my diet. IM

“On heavy training days take two scoops of Vitargo 30 minutes prior to the workout. Or take a half dose before the workout and sip the rest throughout your training session.” www.ironmanmagazine.com \ JUNE 2009 163

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Triceps Brutalize Your Tri’s With

by Cory Crow Photography by Michael Neveux

Mark Perry

In Part 1 of my talk with Mark Perry about arm training, we focused on the biceps, the glamour muscle of the upper body [March ’09]. While it’s true that the ability to produce a cannonball on your upper arm on demand is a neat parlor trick, true bodybuilding practitioners understand that the key to building a truly great set of guns is to develop the triceps. That makes perfect sense if you think about it. After all, the triceps make up two-thirds of upper-arm mass. Ignore training them at your peril. A failure to build an impressive set of horseshoes is a failure to build a truly great pair of arms. Like most bodybuilders Mark started his arm training by emulating the routines of bodybuilders that he found in magazines like this one. Reading about such greats as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lee Haney and Lee Labrada inspired him to learn more about training and to master the discipline necessary to build championship-quality arms. It wasn’t until he met bodybuilding great Vince Taylor, however, that Mark unlocked the training secret that led his arms to explode. “I met Vince at a show in Illinois where he was guest posing,” Mark

says. He asked how Vince had developed his championship arms, and the answer surprised him. “He told me all he does is rope extensions and pushdowns.” For Mark, hearing someone like Vince Taylor tell him that skullcrushers and close-grip bench presses weren’t necessary was a dream come true. “They hurt my elbows,” Perry admits. Around five years ago Mark’s arms were lagging. “My lower body was miles ahead of my upper body,” hesays. “It wasn’t until I really started paying attention to my upper body that growth happened.” In other words, focus was the key. If you don’t work to build your arms, you’re going to end up with an underdeveloped bodypart—a weakness, not a strength— and no amount of wishing will change that for you.

Mark Perry’s Off-Season Training Split Monday: Chest, triceps Tuesday: Legs Wednesday: Off Thursday: Back, biceps Friday: Off Saturday: Shoulders, calves Sunday: Off He likes to reserve at least one day per week for a makeup workout—in case life gets in the way.

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Triceps

Train Tri’s With Chest Like many competitors, Mark couples triceps and chest training, working his chest first. The reason is that the triceps get a lot of residual work during chest exercises. Amazingly, he doesn’t spend a lot of time focusing on triceps any more than he does on biceps, but the time he does devote is intense—each and every fiber is stimulated, and the muscles are engorged with blood. Mark’s approach to training stresses keeping an open mind. “My philosophy is that if it’s working for someone, I’ll try it,” he says. “If it works, keep doing it; if it doesn’t, chalk it up as a learning experience and move on. Don’t dwell on your failures, concentrate on your successes.” Now for the exercises. Cambered-bar pushdowns. To perform these, Mark attaches a cambered bar to a high pulley and does four sets with ascending weight: 10 x 100, 120, 140 and 160 pounds. Because he’s already trained chest, his triceps are preexhausted, so he needs less work to bring them to failure. While it’s okay to cheat on these sets, Mark preaches control. “I’m not doing huge, swinging cheats, just a little bit of back arch to complete the set.” For the most part you want to focus on moving the bar up with your triceps, keeping your back out of play. 170 JUNE 2009 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Triceps

“The first two exercises are all about the squeeze; the last two are about the pump.”

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Triceps “The key here is to bring your hands out as you reach the bottom of the movement.”

Rope pushdowns. Mark recommends setting up on a high pulley, facing the apparatus and bringing your lower arms to parallel to the floor to start. The key here is to bring your hands out as you reach the bottom of the movement; it not only ensures a full range of motion but also gives you a strong muscle squeeze at the bottom. Superset: Dumbbell kickbacks and bench dips. Now that his triceps are really feeling it, Mark thrashes them to the fullest extent by alternating sets of the two exercises, with no rest in between. He shoots for three sets of 10 to 12 on the kickbacks, but on the dips he performs each set to absolute failure, usually 20 to 25 reps. It’s important to note that Mark doesn’t add weight on the dips, mainly because his bodyweight is sufficient to bring him to failure in a reasonable time. High-pulley concentration extensions. These are an unusual finishing movement that he loves because of the high level of focus they bring to the table. He attaches a rope extension to a high pulley, grabs both ends in one hand and then pulls the handle across his body 174 JUNE 2009 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Triceps either diagonally or horizontally, depending on how he feels. He’ll complete three to four sets to failure, adding power partials at the end to increase the amount of blood volume he can get into the muscle. “The important thing to remember is that the first two exercises are all about the squeeze; the last two are about the pump,” Mark explains. His training philosophy is to toast the muscle early and then extend the pump as long as possible by moving large amounts of blood into the targeted area.

The One Key After all of the workouts, all of the squeeze and all of the blood volume he’s pumped, Mark vows that the single greatest key to growth isn’t how you work out, but how you fuel your body. “I was at a seminar taught by Lee Labrada some years back, and he quieted the room by promising to reveal the most anabolic substance in the world. When he said, ‘Good, nutritious food,’ you could have heard a pin drop.” Even so, Mark took Lee’s advice to heart. “It’s not enough to work out, eat pizza and have an occasional protein shake,” he warns. “You need to eat well and cover your nutritional bases, and then you can have a slice of pizza or something if you want it. Bodybuilding is a lifestyle; you can’t live it halfway. If you want the best gains possible, then you have to be willing to go all the way.” Going all the way with bodybuilding doesn’t mean giving up the rest of your life, according to Mark. Having big arms and having fun aren’t mutually exclusive. It’s possible to be a bodybuilder and be socially well-adjusted. There are the guys who isolate themselves in a corner of the gym and never live life, and there are competitors like Mark Perry, who live full lives while working every day to build their physiques to their peak potential. Editor’s note: To contact Mark Perry for serious sponsorship and guest-posing inquiries, write to TotalFitness@voyager.net. IM 176 JUNE 2009 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Goals to Gain Envisioning Success for a Winning Physique

by Gabriel J. Wilson, M.S., CSCS, and Jacob M. Wilson, M.S., CSCS Photography by Michael Neveux

It’s been said by the wise that having no plan at all is really planning to fail. That statement is supported by decades of research showing that goal setting improves performance, self-confidence, intrinsic motivation, persistence and learning. It also saves time and effort. Thus the question isn’t really whether you should be setting goals but how you should set them. Performance Goals vs. Competitive Goals Competitive, or outcome-oriented, goals, as you might expect, focus your attention on defeating others—for instance, winning a bodybuilding show or outlifting a friend. Conversely, performance, or mastery, goals focus on your individual accomplishments, regardless of how others do—adding five pounds of muscle, losing 10 pounds of fat or increasing your www.ironmanmagazine.com \ JUNE 2009 183 squats by 40 Freepounds. download from imbodybuilding.com

Much of the literature has focused on comparing the effectiveness of those goals and how to implement them in sport. We suggest that an optimal goal-setting program should prioritize performance goals. As we’ve stressed before, however, rarely should you completely dismiss a technique. So you should also use competitive goals. A proper combination of the two will give you the direction and motivation to achieve your goals faster than ever before.

tion to examine the goal perspectives and motivational responses of 171 elite junior weightlifters.2 Forty-eight females and 123 males were asked to fill out a survey while competing in the ’95 National Junior Weightlifting Championships and the ’96 Junior Olympics. The survey analyzed several variables, including goal orientations, enjoyment, effort, perceived

knowing how to impress the coach.3 Athletes high in mastery orientation believed that effort was a vital factor for success in sport and did not believe that external factors, such as equipment, cheating or being able to deceive the coach, contributed to being successful at tennis. Research shows that believing that effort rather than natural ability or cheating is the cause of your success will result in greater sport success because effort is in the athlete’s control. If athletes perceive that they have

Goal Orientations John Nicholls’ research focused on developing a model to predict motivation.1 He proposed the achievement motivation theory, which suggests that people have two different types of goal orientations. Individuals who are performance oriented define success by mastering skills, effort and improvement over time, while people who are competitively oriented define success as defeating their competition. The latter would also be less concerned with improvement and effort. Nicholls hypothesized that a mastery orientation would encourage persistence and effort and enhance performance and enjoyment, and that mastery-oriented individuals would seek out more challenges, all of which would enhance motivation. Outcome orientations, particularly when the individual has a low capacity for activity, would discourage persistence, effort, performance and enjoyment and lead people to avoid challenges—all of which would decrease motivation. It’s important to understand that goal orientations are just one factor of performance. Nicholls suggested that a person’s ability, whether high or low, would be maximized if he or she adopted a mastery orientation. Nicholls’ theory has been investigated thoroughly and is well supported by research. Scientists used the theory of achievement motiva-

The subjects in the combined performance and competitive group had the highest persistence during training, trained almost twice as much as the other participants and had greater intrinsic motivation. Their performance tended to increase to a greater extent, probably due to greater motivation and practice.

ability and physical self-worth. It turned out that females had significantly higher performance orientations than males, and they correspondingly tended to have greater enjoyment than males. A performance goal orientation was positively and significantly correlated to the athletes’ perception of enjoyment and effort. Conversely, a high competitive orientation coupled with a low mastery orientation was significantly correlated with low effort and less physical self-worth. A study of elite young tennis players found that athletes high in competitive orientation believed that the major cause for success in their sport was being gifted or

a low ability, they may quit. Similar results were found with elite downhill skiers.4 Additional studies likewise indicate that mastery-oriented people engage more in problem solving during stressful events.5 Numerous other studies have shown that a performance goal orientation results in increased effort, intrinsic motivation, enjoyment, performance, persistence and seeking more challenging activities.6, 7, 8 Conversely, studies indicate that outcome orientations lead to numerous adverse behaviors that decrease motivation, such as a decline in concentration. Mentality commonly fosters unsportsmanlike conduct, including purposely harm-

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ing others and cheating.9, 10, 11

Motivational Climate (Coaches and Personal Trainers) The other factor in Nicholls’ theory is the motivational climate, which is established by coaches, peers and adults. A performance-oriented climate occurs when coaches reward athletes for effort, improving skills and cooperation. A competitive-ori-

ented climate occurs when coaches reward winning and competition. In that context, researchers showed that athletes who perceived they were in a performance-motivational climate had greater enjoyment and satisfaction, a greater desire to learn during practice and a greater appreciation for developing skills.12 Athletes who perceived they were in a competitive-motivational climate were not as interested in having fun or being satisfied and believed

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Research shows that believing that effort rather than natural ability or cheating is the cause of your success will result in greater sport success because effort is in the athlete’s control.

Multiple Goals and Motivational Climates

no goal—the control group. Participants practiced golf putting for 18 sessions over six weeks. Those in the performance group were given the goal of improving by 5 percent each week on a mini golf task and a target putting task. Those in the competitive condition were given the goal of winning at least 50 percent of solo best ball games and 50 percent of the team best ball games played. Those in the mastery and competitive group were given the goal of achieving one performance goal

Up to now we’ve discussed goal orientations and motivational climates as if they are dichotomous entities. Achievement motivation theory, however, suggests that people can have multiple goal orientations and motivational climates. Therefore, before altogether dismissing a competitive orientation, it’s important to analyze the effectiveness of using both goals. A study of goal orientations in young basketball players found that athletes who had both mastery and outcome goal orientations had greater levels of enjoyment and competence than athletes who had only a single orientation.13 A separate study found that athletes from various sports who had both goal orientations had greater perceived sport competence and enjoyment than athletes who adopted only mastery or outcome goals.14 Other studies have found that athletes with both mastery and outcome goal orientations persist longer in sports and report the greatest years of participation.15, 16 Studies also suggest that athletes with both kinds Multiple goals of goals have higher inmay allow for trinsic motivation.14, 13 motivational In perhaps the most comprehensive excoping strategies, periment ever done on or enhanced achievement motivaadaptability tion theory, 72 college to various students enrolled in a 17 beginning golf class. situations. The motivational climate was a performance/ competitive situation. Participants were assigned to four conditions: combined performance and competitive goal, mastery, competitive and

and one competitive goal. The subjects in the combined performance and competitive group had the highest persistence during training, trained almost twice as much as the other participants and had greater intrinsic motivation. Their performance tended to increase to a greater extent, probably due to greater motivation and practice. The author suggests that “a person who stresses both goal perspectives has two sources of success and

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Model: Nathan Detracy

sport should facilitate a better social status.

mance and competitive goals, we want to give a brief review of some basic concepts for goal setting. The acronym SMART sums it up nicely: S - specific M - measurable A - achievable R - relevant T - time-based Here are examples of bad goals: • I want to win a contest. • I want to lose weight. • I want to be huge.

Here are examples of SMART goals: • I want to lose 16 pounds (specific, measurable) in four months (achievable, time-based) so my clothing can fit better (relevant). • I want to increase my deadlift by 40 pounds in six months, in time for a powerlifting competition I would like to enter. Here are our recommendations on how to implement both performance and competitive goals in your program:

Practical Applications— Setting SMART Goals Before making recommendations on perfor-

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BMiller/Model: John Norcott ( Concret Athlete from Arnold Weekend) )event

several reasons to continue participation in the activity” and that multiple goal orientation “provides the participant with mastery standards to fall back on if he or she is not the best at a specific task.”16 Another group of researchers have been so bold as to suggest that someone with both goal orientations cannot fail to be satisfied.17 One analyst suggests that people who enter into a climate that conflicts with their motivational goals may perceive conflict in motivations, leading to decreased motivation. For example, if an athlete has a competitive-oriented goal and the motivational climate is mastery oriented, that may discourage his or her motivation. Multiple goals may allow for motivational coping strategies or enhanced adaptability to various situations. In a real-world setting that has practical significance, as sports often entail using both goal orientations. For instance, an athlete may first begin a sporting career by focusing on performance goals, then focusing on competitive goals, then going back to performance goals. Adaptability is imperative. An analysis of multiple goal orientations concludes that “the optimal achievement strategy would be one that not only focuses on opportunities for growth and development [performance goals], but also allows for recognition of a normative basis [outcome goals]. Such a strategy should make an individual better equipped to cope with the task at hand and, therefore, provide the best possibility for attaining athletic excellence.”

Emphasize performance goals, as research clearly demonstrates that they result in greater performance and motivation when compared to competitive goals. Evidence, however, suggests that having two goals—performance and competitive—results in even greater performance and motivation than having one goal. We suggest that you focus on performance goals. Coaches and personal trainers should foster a performance-oriented motivational climate. You should not be dogmatic with these practices, however, and ignore competitive goals. You should set and acknowledge completed goals and reinforce them when they are accomplished. For example, if you win a bodybuilding show, you’d better celebrate. If you lose, you can always fall back on your performance goals: Did you give it your all? Are you better than last year? In reality, that is all you can ask for and all that is in your control. If you added 10 pounds of solid muscle and came in better condition than your previous contest, you still might lose to a freak who just looked better than you. That combination of goal setting should optimize incentive motivation, persistence, reinforcement opportunities, intrinsic motivation and performance. No plan at all, as we said, is really a plan to fail. Conversely, by following the plans set out in this article, you will give yourself a chance for success. We strongly advise that you immediately analyze your program and outline your goals. Then check them off one by one as you accomplish them. Editor’s note: Gabriel Wilson is completing his Ph.D. in nutrition with an emphasis on optimal protein requirements for muscle growth and is a researcher in the Division of Nutritional Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana. He is vice president of the Web site ABCBodybuilding .com. Jacob Wilson is a skeletalmuscle physiologist and researcher in the Department of Nutrition, Food, and Exercise Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee. He is president of the Web site ABCBodybuilding.com.

Performance goal orientation was positively and significantly correlated to the athletes’ perception of enjoyment and effort. Conversely, a high competitive orientation coupled with a low mastery orientation was significantly correlated with low effort and less physical self-worth.

References 1 Nicholls, J.G. (1989). The Competitive Ethos and Democratic Education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 2 Fry, M.D., and Fry, A.C. (1999). Goal perspectives and motivational responses of elite junior weightlifters. J Str Cond Res. 13(4):311–317. 3 Newton, M.L., and Duda, J.L. (1993). Elite adolescent athletes’ achievement goals and beliefs concerning success in tennis. J Sport Exerc Psychol. 15:322–341. 4 Duda, J.L., and White, S.A. (1992). Goal orientations and beliefs about the causes of sport success among elite skiers. Sport Psychol. 6:334–343. 5 Pensgaard, A.M., and Roberts, G.C. Competing at the Olympics: Achievement goal orientations and coping with stress. IXth European Congress on Sport Psychology Proceedings: Integrating Laboratory and Field Studies. FEPSAC, Brussels, Part II. 701–708. 6 Duda, J.L., et al.(1992). Children’s achievement goals and beliefs about success in sport. Br J Educ Psychol. 62:313–323. 7 Duda, J.L., and Nicholls, J.G.

(1992). Dimensions of achievement motivation in schoolwork and sport. J Educ Psychol. 84:290–299. 8 Solmon, M.A., and Boone, J. (1993). The impact of student goal orientation in physical education classes. Res Q Exerc Sport. 64:418– 424. 9 Duda, J.L., et al. (1996). The relationship of task and ego orientation to sportsmanship attitudes and the perceived legitimacy of injurious acts. Res Q Exerc Sport. 62:79–87. 10 Newton, M.L., and Duda, J.L. (1993). Relationship of task and ego orientation to performance-cognitive content, affect, and attributions in bowling. J Sport Behav. 16:209– 220. 11 White, S.A., and Zellner, S. (1996). The relationship between goal orientation, beliefs about the causes of sport success, and trait anxiety among high school, intercollegiate, and recreational sport participants. Sport Psy. 10:58. 12 Ommundsen, Y., et al. (1998). Perceived motivational climate and cognitive and affective correlates among Norwegian athletes. J Sports Sci. 16:153–164. 13 Hom, H. L., et al. (1993). Correlates of goal orientations among young athletes. Ped Exer Sci. 5:168176. 14 Fox, K., et al. (1994). Children’s task and ego goal profiles in sport. Br J Educ Psych. 64:253- 261. 15 Duda, J. L. (1988). The relationship between goal perspectives, persistence and behavioral intensity among male and female recreational sport participants. Leisure Sci. 10:95106. 16 Duda, J. L. (1989). Goal perspectives, participation, and persistence in sport. Int J Sport Psych. 20:42-5 6. 17 Swain, A.J., and Harwood, C.G. (1996). Antecedents of state goals in age-group swimmers: An interactionist perspective. J Sports Sci. 14, 111-124. 18 Roberts, G.C. (1992). Motivation in sport and exercise: Conceptual constraints and convergence. In G. Roberts (Ed.), Motivation in Sport and Exercise (pp. 3-31). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. 19 Steinberg, C., Singer, R.N., and Murphey, M. (2000). The benefits to sport achievement when a multiple goal orientation is emphasized. J Sport Behav. 4, 407-23. IM

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ARNOLD CLASSIC March 7, 2009 Columbus, Ohio 1) Kai Greene 2) Victor Martinez 3) Branch Warren 4) Toney Freeman 5) Silvio Samuel 6) Moe El Moussawi 7) Dennis James 8) Sergey Shelestov 9) Johnnie Jackson 10) Ronny Rockel

1) Kai Greene

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Kai Changes the Bodybuilding Climate at the Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic

The Greene-ing of Columbus

2) Victor Martinez

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3) Branch Warren

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4) Toney Freeman

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5) Silvio Samuel

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6) Moe El Moussawi

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7) Dennis James

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8) Sergey Shelestov

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9) Johnnie Jackson

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10) Ronny Rockel

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PRESENTS

Power

Surge by Sean Katterle

Ray Hickman:

A Renaissance Man of Ancient Sport

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f you stroll through the crowd at King of the Cage matches or any Ultimate Fighting Championships or mixed martial arts event, you’ll hear the same conversation again and again. “Dude, if I trained for a while, I could do really well as a pro fighter.” Or, “I used to fight a lot when I was younger. I want to start going to the gym more and then get in there and see what I can do.” Ray Hickman is not one of those guys. He did, however, get swept from his seat into the ring at one momentous event, going toe to toe and fist to fist with a top-ranked fighter, and it makes a heck of a story. Ray has spent most of his postcollege life tucked away in the scenic town of Joseph, Oregon, which is named after Nez Perce Chief Joseph. It’s home to just over a thousand people, and as it’s a five-plus-hour drive from anywhere, it’s about as isolated as you can get within the lower 48 states. Every once in a

while Ray loads up his family and takes a trip to the big city, and Portland is usually their city of choice. On one occasion Ray’s dad came along for the weekend getaway. The plan was that Ray and his pops would attend Matt Lindland’s pro MMA show, SportFight, while Ray’s wife went shopping. About halfway through the evening, Ray left his seat to get a Mountain Dew at the main floor bar and was approached by the promoter, Matt Lindland of Team Quest fame. One of the fighters had recognized Ray from the Northwest bench contest scene and also recalled that he’d been a topflight wrestler in his earlier days. Steve Burkwell, the informant, was right on the money. Hickman began wrestling in grade school at age five like many other kids in rural towns, but his ability and affinity for it were quickly recognized, and his coaches soon began grooming him for a college scholarship. The hard work

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Power paid off, and Ray made the Division I team at Boise State as a true freshman, meaning an athlete who actually plays during his freshman year—which is a very uncommon accomplishment. Hickman made a mark for himself by placing fifth at the Pac 10 conference that first year on the squad. The following season he was redshirted, meaning that he was

counseled to not compete but instead to spend the entire season training and improving for a run at a national championship in his third year. Life doesn’t always move along as planned, however. Ray met his wife, Tracy, during his sophomore summer, and soon wedding bells were chiming, his son was on the way, and his competition days on the mat were over. Ray started looking for another sport to compete in. He’d always done well in the weight room during the off-season, so he started focusing on his bench press while he apprenticed with journeymen electricians. Within a few years he was going up against—and losing to—Joe Luther in the WABDL, the World Association of Benchers and Deadlifters. A true competitor is rarely satisfied with a string of second-place finishes, so once his status in the electricians union was secured, Ray was able to focus even more on pressing heavy iron. To keep him-

Board presses are an integral part of Hickman’s benching regimen. They helped him drive up 435 pounds, raw, at a 168-pound bodyweight.

self in fighting shape, he also began coaching wrestling at Joseph’s only high school. Soon he was able to outdistance Luther on the bench, thanks in part to Ray’s having mastered the bench shirt (Joe had never really spent much time training in one). Hickman went on to win three WABDL open division world championships and even to beat Mike Hara. At his one meeting with Hara, Ray took the

WABDL open record from him—for a time—with a competition 536 in the 165-pound class. In fact, Ray became so dominant in that class that promoter Gus Rethwisch put him and Hara in their own “elite” division so people wouldn’t shy away from paying to compete in the open category in fear that they’d never get anything better than third. (Heaven forbid that someone in powerlifting doesn’t get a first-place trophy at

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Power Hickman was swept out of his seat as an audience member to fill in and fight in a mixed martial arts battle with a top-ranked contender.

every outing.) Now, unless someone was just dying for attention, pretty much anyone would balk at the idea of putting down his drink and stepping into the cage to fight in a co-main MMA event on 30 minutes’ notice, but not Ray. He downed his Dew and went backstage to warm up while a member of the production crew ran to Wal-Mart to buy him a mouthpiece. One of the other fighters loaned Ray a pair of trunks, and he was ready to go. When the opening bell rang, Ray closed with the striker quickly and took him down. Knowing that the guy had an 8-1 pro record, Ray was focused on keeping him pinned to the mat on his back. When he got his base established, he began driving head butts down into the other guy’s face à la Mark “the Hammer” Coleman, but the ref jumped in a stopped the action, as head butts are illegal in SportFight (Ray had come to the show as a spectator and hadn’t attended the rules meeting). Ray turned to using the Darth Vader choke (referred to by UFC commentator Joe Rogan as the “rape choke”). It was a good move, as it

pretty good,” Hickman recalls. “I don’t remember getting hit, but I must have been because the next day my head was pretty sore. They said he hit me when I shot in to take him down.” As for the outcome, says Hickman. “He beat me at the end of round two by getting me in a guillotine choke. I was so used to wrestling that I was focused on holding him on his back. My natural instinct was to just hold him on his back. I had my head down so he was able to secure the choke from his back. “I’d like to spend some more time working on MMA,” says Ray. “The fight wasn’t very hard, but you definitely need to have sport-specific skills. I think with some training that MMA would be a really good sport for me, but you definitely have to know the moves. “My buddy Steve Burkman says that the guy I took on doesn’t fight anymore. I’m sure it was pretty tough on him to have some guy come out of the crowd and take it to him like that. Imagine coming into

enabled him to shove his thumb into the other guy’s windpipe and cause a lot of discomfort, in addition to limiting his air supply. Problem was, that move was also not allowed in this fight federation, so Ray finished up the round defending triangle chokes by picking up his opponent, power slamming him to the mat and then winging punches into his rib cage. When round two started, Ray took the kicker down again and spent the next two minutes busting up the guy’s ribs. “The second round I took him down again, and I was beating him

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Power a bout with an 8-1 record and being the favorite to get the next title shot, and then some guy out of the crowd puts down his Mountain Dew and pizza and without any notice or mixed martial arts training ends up taking you to the mat repeatedly for five minutes of grounding and pounding. That was probably a bit unnerving.”

A Conversation With Ray Hickman

In the following routine the formula is poundage x reps, and if he does more than one set, it’s poundage x reps x sets. So 135 x 10 x 2 means 135 pounds for 10 reps for two sets.

Ray Hickman’s Heavy Bench Day Notes Version A Exercise 1 Bench press (5 minutes’ rest between sets) 135 x 10 225 x 18-25 x 2 315 x 3 420 x 2 x 5 (add weight if a set is too easy)

Exercise 2 SK: If you’re working with a power 3-board bench press bencher who wants to become 405 x 3 x 5 more competitive by dropping a (add weight at each successive workout until the bar weight weight class without losing any of gets to 600 pounds) his or her pressing power, what would be your training advice? After reaching 600 x 3 off a 3 board, switch to: RH: I would shorten the rest time 2-board bench press between sets. We’d train heavy bench 405 x 3 x 5 press normally once per week, but then (add weight at each successive workout until the bar weight with every other exercise we’d reduce gets to 55 pounds) the rest periods to one to two minutes so their intensity would increase greatly. After reaching 550 x 3 reps off a 2 board, switch to: Also, everyone should be training some 1-board bench press version of cardio just to be in shape. 405 x 3 x 5 When I wrestle, I’m actually a better (add weight at each successive workout until the bar weight power bencher. I feel stronger and more gets to 500 and Ray can hit 1-3 reps with a pause on the boards prepared when my cardio ability is up. on each rep) In addition to grappling, I also work This eight-month mega cycle is leading up to a 500-pound the heavy bag. I go as hard as I can for raw contest bench from a starting point of a 435-pound cona minute and then I rest for a minute. I test bench, at a bodyweight of 175.) repeat the two-minute cycle nine times in a row every morning. Slugging away Exercise 3 at a heavy bag for nine minutes out of an Incline bench 18-minute period is more difficult than (5 minutes’ rest between sets) it sounds. 225 x 6-8 SK: Since you’re almost as good 315 x 2 x 5 a wrestler as you are a bencher, (add weight if a set is too easy) what would be the flip side of your advice? How would you The Following Day Version B train prom(before DOMS sets in) (two-day alternative workout) ising grapplers who (5 minute breaks between sets on all exExercise 1 are looking Bench press ercises) to increase (5 minutes’ rest between sets) Exercise 1 their abso135 x 10 Dumbbell kickbacks 25-pound lute strength 225 x 18-25 x 2 dumbbells x 12 per arm x 4 without com365 x 5 x 5 promising (add weight if a set is too easy and, as Exercise 2 their abilithe contest time draws closer, lower Skull crushers with EZ-curl bar ties on the the number of reps per set but sticking (to the forehead) mat? with 5 work sets) 115 x 6 RH: In the 165 x 6 x 3 Exercise 2 off-season (add weight if a set is too easy) EZ Curl-bar close-grip my wrestling decline bench team trains Exercise 3 (5 minutes’ rest between sets) two bodyparts Full-range bodyweight dips 315 x 4-6 x 3 per day and Bodyweight x 50 x 2 (add weight if a set is too easy) three different 228 JUNE 2009 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Power exercises per bodypart. Of those three exercises, two are heavy and one is light. During the season we rely more on circuit training. We work a whole-body circuit if we’re lifting twice a week. We also focus on a lot of bodyweight-resistance exercises during the season. Lots of pullups and pushups to condition the arms, chest and back and a lot of leg lifts, crunches and resistance work on the mat for core strength. SK: You manage to keep within 90 percent of contest condition year-round, and you’re one of those rare lifters who can stay ultralean and yet retain and build on their strength. What does your nutritional program look like? RH: When I first wake up, I have a breakfast that’s high in protein. I’ll drink an MHP Trac Extreme, followed immediately by an MHP Probolic protein shake and maybe a bowl of oatmeal and some eggs. The protein shake and eggs give me the amino acids I need after being asleep for eight hours (which tends to put a person in a catabolic state). The Trac Extreme and oatmeal give me the energy rush and carbs to sustain me through my workout. I don’t have to drink coffee in the morning since I started using Trac Extreme because it really gets me amped up. Right after training I drink an MHP Dark Matter recovery drink. It gives me everything I need to recover from my lifting and heavybag punching—creatine, more aminos—and it’s got an ingredient called waxy maize that spikes my insulin. Then I start my day working as an electrician. I keep a container of MHP Probolic and a box of MHP Macrobolic protein bars in my truck. That way, if I need a snack while I’m working, I know what I’m drinking is high in protein and doesn’t contain junk. I eat a huge lunch every day that’s loaded with protein, carbs and healthy fats. We don’t have any fastfood restaurants out here in Joseph, Oregon, so it’s pretty easy to eat a high-calorie meal that’s not garbage.

Board presses have also helped him bench his bodyweight, 165, for 72 full-range reps! After work I make sure and have either an MHP protein shake or a protein bar, and then I go and coach my wrestling team. When I get home from practice, I eat a lighter dinner, which is usually a salad and a good source of animal protein, and then I drink one more Probolic shake just before bedtime so I can better recover from my crazy schedule while I sleep. It’s really a very basic but effective diet. Lots of protein shakes, protein bars, animal proteins, quality carbs, quality fats for lunch, creatine and some preworkout energy supplements. The other side of the coin is that I avoid tobacco products, I only drink a couple of times a year, I abstain completely from any kind of recreational drugs, I never eat at fast-food restaurants, and I keep my simple carbs and saturated fats intake very low. I also consume a medium amount of calories in the morning, a lot of calories in the afternoon and a light number of calories at night; most of my evening calories come from protein sources. SK: How did you get started working with MHP? RH: The only bencher I haven’t been able to beat at a contest yet is Joe Mazza. I took second place to him at Bench America 3 and at the second MHP Kings of the Bench. Joe’s been an MHP-sponsored lifter for years now, so I decided to get set up with the same supplement line he’s connected to. To date my best contest raw bench is a 435 at 168. Next April, at Kings of the Bench III, I’m on track to hit a 475 to 500 at 175. Also, I’m going to be calling up Ken Anderson and getting myself a

double-ply Katana so I can go after a 600-pound shirted bench. I’d like to get up there with Mazza in the shirted-bench game too. I’ve gone as high as 536 in the 165-pound class with a single-ply F6 so I think I can get at least a hundred pounds heavier if I train in a double-ply Katana. • • • • • In competition Ray Hickman has benched his bodyweight, 165 pounds, for 72 full-range reps; he’s posted a 435-pound raw bench at 168 pounds bodyweight and a 536pound shirted bench under singleply gear and drug-tested conditions. In the gym Ray’s also pressed 225 pounds for 42 full-range reps at 170 pounds bodyweight. As he said, Hickman plans to return to MHP’s Kings of the Bench III. Ray was the runner-up at the second Kings of the Bench, losing to Joe Mazza by 10 pounds, so he’s looking to break through the 500pound raw-bench barrier. MHP’s Kings of the Bench III will take place at the NPC Ronnie Coleman Classic, which will be held at the Mesquite Convention Center just outside Dallas on Saturday, April 18. Ray Hickman is currently sponsored by MHP (www.MaxPerformance.com), House of Pain Ironwear (www .HouseOfPain.com) and Ken Anderson of Titan Support Systems (www.AndersonPowerlifting.com). For more information on Kings of the Bench III contact Sean Katterle at (503) 221-2238, SeanZilla@ HardcorePowerlifting.com or www .HardcorePowerlifting.com. IM

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MUSCLE “IN” SITES MUSCLE “IN” SITES MUSCLE ‘IN’ SITES MUSCLE “IN” SITES MUSCLE “IN” SITES MUSCLE ‘IN’ SITES MUSCLE “IN” SITES MUSCLE “IN” SITES MUSCLE ‘IN’ SITES MUSCLE “IN” SITES MUSCLE “IN” SITES MUS

Eric Broser’s

Muscle “In” Sites If you ﬁnd something on the Web that IM readers should know about, send the URL to Eric at bodyfx2@aol.com.

>www.BerrydeMey.com The first time I saw Berry de Mey compete was in 1984 at the World Amateur Championships. I was only 16 years old at the time and had just discovered the sport of bodybuilding. Back then ESPN aired many of the bigger competitions, and although I hadn’t even touched a weight yet, I’d sit with eyes glued to the TV whenever a contest was on. Berry’s physique stood out—he was tall, beautifully proportioned, highly symmetrical, while at the same time also big and well conditioned. To me, he was like a living piece of artwork—near perfection of the male form. He was, obviously, one of my early idols in the sport. The high point of his bodybuilding career was in 1988, when he turned up at the Mr. Olympia in his all-time-best shape, ripped to the bone and a serious threat for the title. In the end he placed third, behind Lee Haney and Rich Gaspari, nevertheless establishing himself as one of the best ever big men to grace the pro stage. Berry competed a few more times, but he hasn’t been heard from in nearly a decade. Recently, I received an e-mail from IM’s multitasking editor Steve Holman telling me that Berry has a new Web site. Honestly, I expected to open it up and see something related to his pro bodybuilding career—perhaps with contest pics, personaltraining services, DVDs, etc. To my surprise the site has nothing to do with bodybuilding; rather, it’s dedicated entirely to Berry’s new passion: Berry de Mey on the cover of photography. IRON MAN in the late ’80s.

That’s right, the man who was the subject of hundreds of photo shoots and plastered on the cover of dozens of magazines is now spending his time behind the camera instead of in front of it. Interestingly, Berry learned a lot about photography from those many photo shoots, but he took things to the next level by graduating from the premiere photographic academy in the Netherlands in 2004. Since then he’s been working as a professional photographer and has produced a wealth of incredible images, many of which you can view on the site. As someone who truly appreciates art, I find his work to be quite profound and somewhat cerebral. I spent a good bit of time looking at each photograph. Each photo has its own personality, which is what makes his images really jump off the screen. For the bodybuilding fan in you, there are some amazing photos of Berry in top condition available for purchase, a few of which made me long for the look of the physiques displayed in the 1980s and early ’90s—you know, tiny waists, shredded abs, dry and striated muscle everywhere— but I digress. Please do yourself a favor and check out www.BerrydeMey.com and see what one of the best bodybuilders the sport has ever seen is doing these days, not by lifting weights but with his trusty camera.

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>DVD Review: “Chris Faildo—Hurricane Warning” Whoever was responsible for giving Chris Faildo the nickname the “Hawaiian Hurricane” was without a doubt right on point. A hurricane is a force of nature, filled with immeasurable power, energy and aggression—and so is the star of this DVD: Chris Faildo. In fact, in the world of bodybuilding it would be safe to say that Chris is a Category 5 hurricane, but instead of destroying homes, buildings and property, Chris destroys other competitors’ chances of winning the second he walks onstage. While watching the DVD, I could not help but notice that Chris approaches everything he does in life with inspirational intensity, whether it’s his workouts, his posing, his job as a personal trainer or even his food preparation. The man truly lives with passion, and the energy he emanates affects not only everyone around him but the viewer as well—at least it did me. Filmed from October 2 to October 8, 2007, “Hurricane Warning” gives you an in-depth look at the life of Chris Faildo as he prepares for the IFBB World Amateur Championships, only three weeks away at the time. It takes you through each day, from the moment Chris arises at 5 a.m. and devours his breakfast until the time he comes home from a long day and devours his final meal. I use the word devour because Chris eats his food with the same ferocity that he uses to push through his insane workouts and nonstop posing sessions. Along the way we meet Chris’ wife, two adorable dogs that must have clean feet in the house, his training partners, contest prep coach, niece, business partner (co-owner of the Hurricane Café) and several of his personal-training clients—all of whom have only wonderful things to say about him. I’ve reviewed many DVDs in this column, but I have to say that the training sequences in “Hurricane Warning” held my interest more than any I’ve seen since watching Ronnie Cole-

>Broser’s

Net Results Q&A

The Power/Rep Range/Shock innovator answers your questions on training and nutrition.

Q: I’m confused about cardio. Some say to train at low intensity but with longer duration. Others recommend high-intensity cardio but for shorter periods. Still others feel that HIIT is the most effective. If I want to get ripped, what type of cardio is best?

man throw down (“Ain’t nuthin but a peanut!”). When Chris trains, he’s like a man on fire, pushing, pulling, stretching and squeezing each rep as if his life depends on it. He seems to be willing his muscles to grow and become more separated, dense, striated and hard. Even his posing sessions are exhausting to watch, as each shot looks like a miniworkout in and of itself. Chris’ personality is extremely engaging, and his laughter and positive attitude are contagious. Watching him tear through the gym made me want to toss around some heavy iron, even if I’d already trained that day. I believe that the goal of DVDs such as this should be to not only entertain but also inspire the viewer—and in both respects “Hurricane Warning” is a winner.

some variety is often best. The human body is amazingly adaptable and will give you diminishing returns when you use just one method, especially if you do only one type—say, bike or treadmill. I suggest that you vary your cardio by perhaps doing it first thing in the morning on an empty stomach at a slower pace for longer duration on some days; then on other days perform your cardio after weight training

A: Let me make it clear that slower, long-duration cardio; high-intensity, short-duration cardio; and high-intensity interval training, or HIIT, all work. Studies support each method, and each has been used by thousands of trainees with great success. The question is, Which one should you choose? Some of that depends on preference (what you can tolerate), time of day (totally empty stomach or later, after meals), overall nutritional regimen (higher or lower carb) and even how your legs respond (if you have trouble holding leg size, high-intensity cardio done too often can overtrain them and even cause atrophy). When it comes to cardio, as with weight training, www.ironmanmagazine.com \ JUNE 2009 233

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Net Results and/or in the evening but with either high intensity or the HIIT method for less time. Switch from the treadmill to the bike to the stair climber to the elliptical trainer and so on if those machines are available to you. Outdoor cardio—weather permitting—such as walking, jogging, stair climbing and hiking, is a wonderful way to create variation and stimulate the fat-burning process. So to answer your question, I don’t believe there is a single best method of cardio, just as there’s no single best method of weight training when you’re looking to build muscle. The key lies in consistency of work, with a variety of protocols. Q. I have sort of an odd problem. The shoulder, biceps and triceps on my right side are larger than they are on my left side. My left side is actually stronger than my right in almost all movements, however. How can I possibly even out the size of my left and right sides without causing a further strength imbalance?

Neveux

A. While it’s not uncommon to hear someone complain that a muscle group or two are larger on one side of their body than the other—even Jay Cutler won two Mr. Olympia titles with a far bulkier left than right quad—it’s rarer that the smaller muscle group is actually stronger. Luckily for you, several years ago I had a client—a national-level bodybuilder—who had a problem very similar to yours. He attempted to fix it by simply adding a few extra sets for the less developed muscle groups, but he found no improvement. After discussing the situation with him and ruling out major nerve or alignment problems, I came up with a program that I called unilateral precision training, or UPT. You train your body in a largely unilateral fashion, but you use a different rep scheme for each side that more One-arm exercises done for different rep ranges on each side precisely can help even out strength and targets the development. physiologi-

cal adaptations you’re looking for—for example, hypertrophy vs. strength. Here is what I suggest: When training your biceps, triceps and shoulders, pick three movements for each muscle group. The first exercise should be one in which you use both arms at once—barbell curls, lying EZ-curl-bar extensions, barbell presses—while the next two exercises should be unilateral, meaning you train one side at a time. For the right deltoid, biceps and triceps, choose weights that give you only five to six repetitions to failure in good form. For the left side choose weights that give you 10 to 12 repetitions to failure in good form. Why? Because heavier weights for lower reps are most efficient at recruiting the type 2B muscle fibers and stimulating the nervous system, which will in turn bring about rapid strength gains without much in the way of hypertrophy. Lower weights for higher repetitions—shooting for a time under tension of about 40 seconds—will target the type 2A muscle fibers, which have the greatest potential for growth. The higher reps will produce a greater pump and growth hormone response, both of which can help stimulate more hypertrophy. The following are examples of UPT programs I’ve used for disparities between the biceps, triceps and shoulders: Biceps Barbell curls Unilateral low-cable curls right arm left arm Unilateral dumbbell preacher curls right arm left arm

3 x 8-10 3 x 5-6 3 x 10-12 3 x 5-6 3 x 10-12

Triceps Lying EZ-curl-bar extensions 3 x 8-10 Unilateral seated overhead dumbbell extensions right arm 3 x 5-6 left arm 3 x 10-12 Unilateral rope pushdowns right arm 3 x 5-6 left arm 3 x 10-12 Shoulders Seated rear-delt-machine flyes Unilateral standing dumbbell presses right arm left arm Unilateral dumbbell upright rows right arm left arm

3 x 8-10 3 x 5-6 3 x 10-12 3 x 5-6 3 x 10-12

Try this program for six to eight weeks, and I bet you will see a significant improvement between your right and left sides. It might take longer or shorter periods of time, however, to completely correct the problem. Good luck. Editor’s note: Eric Broser’s “Power/Rep Range/ Shock Max-Mass Training System” DVD is available at Home-Gym.com or call 1-800-447-0008. IM

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LONNIE TEPER’S

Victor Martinez.

2009 Arnold Classic

“I Did It Kai Way” Greene Wins Hands Down Even if Rip Van Winkle is your role model, you know by now that Kai Greene, who one Internet source reported on the day before the ’09 Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic might be dropping out, not only showed up onstage at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Columbus, Ohio, on March 7 but also left with checks worth a neat $140,000. The first 130K was for his convincing victory over Victor Martinez and crew Kai in the ASC, and the final 10 grand was for perGreene. forming the Most Entertaining Posing Routine, in which Kai proved he will stand on his head, if necessary, to make a point. And let’s not forget the $20,000 Audemars Piquet watch that’s handed out annually at the event, which is produced by Jim Lorimer and Governator Schwarzenegger. Greene, like Martinez and Branch Warren, was coming off a surgery—knee surgery for Victor, triceps for Branch and hernia for Kai—but he was sharper than the doctor’s scalpel. Kai was trying to convince me he tipped the scales at 257, at 5’8”, on the morning of the prejudging; that means he was around 245. Sorry, Kai, you know my feelings about the validity of the weights competitors claim. Also the fact that it doesn’t matter anyway. Since I had duties at the expo during the men’s prejudging (see below), I didn’t view the comparisons in person. In seeing Greene’s shape at the finals, though, I find it hard to imagine that he was actually four points behind Victor after the first two rounds, but that’s what the score sheet says. No matter; the end is all that counts, and the man with the crazy thighs, back, hams and glutes (his other bodyparts aren’t chopped liver, either) combined his greatest condition ever with what even the Governator termed “the best, most creative posing routine I’ve ever seen” to wind up 10 points ahead of Martinez and 20 points in front of third-place finisher Warren at the evening’s end. An emotional Greene broke down onstage when I announced him as the winner. I bet Robin Chang, who promotes the Olympia Weekend, was doing likewise in his seat. This year’s Mr. O match-up

Branch Warren.

Toney Freeman.

Moe El Moussawi.

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TALL STORY What Roland’s gonna tell when this issue hits newsstands. Page 244

OLD FRIENDS Dr. Franco gets his due. Page 242

Silvio Samuel.

Johnnie Jackson.

Photography by Roland Balik and Merv

Ronny Rockel.

CASH BAR? A good time was had by all in Columbus Page 245.

was already being hailed as the deepest in years before Greene scored his victory. Now, when you’re making like the Swami and looking into your crystal ball, you must include Kai Greene among the potential Sandow winners, along with defending champ Dexter Jackson, two-time winner Jay Cutler, Martinez and Phil Heath. Based on the pictures, I didn’t see Victor leading after the judging (most folks I talked with who were there had Greene winning, with Dennis several supporting Warren), but I take my hat off to Martinez, James. who I picked to win (as did Yogi Avidan), for his terrific comeback after not having stepped onstage for a year and a half due to his surgery. His conditioning was a tad off, but considering the circumstances, his return was a major success, and he should be applauded, not faulted. In fact, his performance should reassure Martinez fanatics that their fave physique star still has the goods to capture the Mr. O crown—a crown that, before his injury, many felt would be his. I understand the disappointment—and perhaps confusion—that Warren must have felt when his name was announced in third. The cat was filthy, bouncing back from his medical problems to once again carry the most muscle, pound for pound, onstage. After nabbing the Most Muscular award for the third time (Branch won it in 2006 and ’08 as well), the 5’6 1/2”, 245-pound Texan proved that he, too, can go pose for pose with anyone in the sport. I’m not going to chastise Isaac Hinds for giving Toney Freeman the precontest nod in his predictions, not even after Toney Terrific showed up flat at the prejudging en route to a Sergey Shelestov. fourth-place finish. Lifter showed some courage in not going with the favorite, and even when Freeman’s not at his best, the 6’2”, 270-pounder has one of the most balanced bodies in the game. Toney shocked me with his controversial fifth-place landing at last year’s Olympia, so I’m not going to rule out the amazing 43-yearold’s chances in any contest he enters. Speaking of amazing, that’s exactly what I termed Silvio Samuel’s conditioning. As I’ve wondered several times over, How does this cat seem to get better every time out? He was even superior to the shape he displayed when he took the IRON MAN Pro six weeks earlier, but though it was Silvio’s 34th birthday, it wasn’t a happy one. He landed one slot behind Freeman—a position he felt was at least two places short of what he deserved. In fact, Samuel had told me two weeks earlier that he was going to retire after the Australia pro show due to what he considered some inequities in his business life. Of course, El Matador will delight his followers by being in mind-boggling shape when he steps on the Olympia stage at the end of September. Book it. Moe El Moussawi continued his ascent into the upper echelon of the sport by moving up from 11th in ’08 to sixth. Last month’s IRON MAN cover boy was vastly improved over his condition at the IM Pro and was the judges’ solid pick for sixth, with Dennis James, Sergey Shelestov, Johnnie Jackson and Ronny Rockel, in order, rounding out the top 10.

ADD SHELESTOV—Moe El Moussawi was an easy choice for Most Improved Bodybuilder in my 2008 end-of-year awards a few issues back. At this point, 6’, 275-pound Sergey Shelestov is the easy choice for www.ironmanmagazine.com \ JUNE 2009 241

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Arnold and

that honor in ’09. In fact, Sergey received the Franco. ultimate honor—a nickname from me—as the words “Moscow Monster” flew from my lips when I introduced him at the finals. I admit I did inform Sergey’s interpreter that I wanted to endow Shelestov with that moniker on the bus ride from the hotel to the auditorium and was told Sergey said thumbs-up. I’m still tinkering with it, so if you can think of something more creative (which shouldn’t be difficult), let me know. While you’re at it, maybe you can think up one for Moe. When I did the cover story on him last month, he revealed that he’s been waiting patiently—for years—for me to give him a nickname. I came up with the “Beirut Beast.” He said most people didn’t know where Beirut was, so he rejected my nice gesture. Your turn, gang.

Rafael Santonja.

Diamond Dave, L.T. and Ruthless. Watch “The Replacements” at IronManMagazine.com.

FANTASTIC FRANCO—Arnold’s lifelong buddy Franco Columbu received the Arnold Classic Lifetime Achievement Award. Do I need to tell you what a worthy honoree the bodybuilding legend—who’s been a practicing chiropractor in Los Angeles for many years—was? Columbu is one of the grand bodybuilders of all time, but it was his feats of strength that made me go, “Wow!” way back when. I think it was 1975 when I first saw him step into the weight pen at Muscle Beach. I remember vividly how he effortlessly banged out 15 reps with 315 on the bench. Hey, I did 15 as well that day—with 135.

MORE GREENE—A week after his huge success in Columbus, Kai posted another victory at the Australian Grand Prix. The show also produced another great prediction by the Swami: A day before the show I told Issac Hinds that Silvio Samuel would finish second, one spot ahead of Toney Freeman. Local physique star Michalis Kefalianos, who competed at the Arnold Amateur in Ohio, finished fourth (he must have received pro status in the week between the shows). Ivan Sadek rounded out the top five.

Tyler Manion.

Isaac Hinds.

Here Come The Replacements

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J.M.’s crop.

Find IM’s complete coverage of the Arnold Sports Festival at www.IronMan Magazine.com

Answer to Guess Who: John Balik and Jim Manion.

I threw Isaac Hinds and Ron Avidan off ”The Experts” in Columbus and replaced them with Diamond Dave Liberman and Ruthless Ruth Silverman for our Arnold Classic wrapup video. Isaac was banned for having picked Toney Freeman to win the show; Yogi was scratched because he missed the starting time while he was out searching for an eatery that served orange chicken. Just joshin’—Lifter had to shoot the UFC event, and Yogi was busy backstage taking pix for Bodybuilding.com. Although Dave got so excited when he spotted another possible sponsor for his Natural Ohio event that he gave me the wrong info about Kai Greene’s victory (Dave looked at the scores for the final two rounds only and thought Kai had won unanimously), Liberman and Silverman did an admirable job filling in. Ruthless, I must admit, had about 30 seconds’ warning before joining the latest version of the Terrific Trio. She was warmed up and ready to go, though, as earlier she’d teamed with Nancy Di Nino of “Living Beautiful Radio” for IM’s wrap-up videos on the Ms., Fitness and Figure International contests.

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Rulove Winklaar.

Arnold Amateur

Elena Shportun.

Ali Sonoma.

So what was keeping me busy when the Arnold Classic prejudging was taking place? I was emceeing the finals of the IFBB Arnold Amateur. Nearly 300 athletes, representing 40 countries, competed in the event, which continues to grow every year. My work actually began on Thursday evening, when I zipped over to the Veterans to emcee the prejudging of the fitness and figure contests, as well as the prejudging and finals of the IFBB’s first-ever bikini competition. Isaac Hinds had featured Ali Sonoma at Hardbody .com and predicted that she’d nab the bikini crown. He was right on that one: The 24-year-old former UFC ring girl out of St. Louis, now living in San Diego, toppled the field in the tall class and bested short-class champ Gia Allemond to take the overall. I was back at the mic at 9 a.m. on Friday for the men’s and women’s bodybuilding prejudging, and the finals were held the following day. Superheavyweight champ Rulove Winklaar from the Netherlands won the overall in the men’s competition, with the elegant Elena Shportun, formerly of Russia and now living in Germany, taking the middleweight and overall in the women’s show. A pair of Canadians—Sylvia Tremblay and Jayme Galloway—won the overall titles in fitness and figure, respectively. The Governator stopped by in time to join new IFBB President Rafael Luo Lan and Santonja in presenting their awards Gao Yuan of to Winklaar and Shportun. China’s Zunyi The place was jammed, as always, Acrobats made which gave me an opportunity I’ve altheir ﬁrst ways longed for—to sing in front of as appearance many fans as the Rolling Stones. I was on the Arnold forced into action in front an audience Classic stage. of…must have been 10,000 to 15,000. Or at least it looked that way. When the music failed for one of the female bodybuilders, I came to the rescue with a few bars of an Elvis tune. Later, when the same problem occurred for one of the superheavyweights, I promptly announced, “I’m not singing to you.” Congrats to all the winners, and especially to coJayme promoters Bob Lorimer and Mike Davies and the Galloway. team behind the scenes.

Line of the Week That honor goes to either Bill Comstock or myself, depending on your point of view. The ace Muscular Development photog and I were inching our way out of the expo after the amateur finals when we crossed paths with J.M. Manion, who was weaving across the floor in the opposite direction. “I’d kill to have a head of hair like J.M. has,” snapped Comstock, who in fact has way more follicles than the guy he was walking with. “You can,” I replied. Sylvia Tremblay.

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I then explained that J.M.’s crop was really a mop and was created by Hireleman’s Hair Club for Men in Pittsburgh. Comstock was stunned, questioning my credibility. When I pointed out that J.M. is now 46, yet his hairline is still the image of two decades back, he got the picture.

Roland and Alexis Skye.

ADD MANION—Tyler Manion, J.M.’s son (and Jim Manion’s grandson), has been to youth wrestling what Hugh Hefner is to old guys still hoping to score with young babes. Dominating the scene. In February the 14-year-old’s record on the mat was 31-3, and he was less than 15 wins away from 400. Ironically, Tyler’s three defeats might be more impressive than his win total: At 5’4” and competing in the 117-pound category, he suffered all three losses at the hands of high school seniors. In a span of five weeks during the current season, Tyler won three national tournaments: the Brute Dixie National Wrestling Championships in Atlanta, the Cliff Keen Tulsa National Wrestling Championships and the Brute Northeast National Wrestling Championships in York, Pennsylvania. At the Tulsa event, with 44 kids in his division, he won despite an injury to his left hand in the semifinals; at the Northeast competition, Tyler pinned his opponent in 40 seconds. So, as I asked Jim Manion in February, in a matchup between Tyler and Randy “the Ram” Robinson, who wins?

Merv and not-so-tall Melissa Richardson.

BELATED HONORS DEPT—I forgot to include one item in my annual awards column a few months back, but better late than never. If you’ll recall, IRON MAN lensman Roland Balik was cited as having made the Bonehead Pick of the Year for his awful Mr. Olympia predictions. This one goes to our other ace picture taker, Merv, who earned my Bonehead Question of the Year award. Merv and Yogi Avidan joined celebrated NPC promoter Jaguar Jon Don Figarelli, John Hansen and John Lindsay and I at Hamburger Hamlet for lunch in Pasadena after the preFigarelli. judging at the Junior Cal Championships last June. We start chatting about future contests, and Merv said to Jaguar, “Are you going to the USA next month?” Merv wasn’t joking. I was laughing so hard, I never got around to telling him it was Lindsay’s contest. Gotta admit one thing, Merv: No one’s going wrest that title away from you easily. ADD ROLAND B.—The introspective 5’7” fella from Delaware has a dry sense of humor, so I assumed he was joking when he said that he’s always had a thing for much taller women. The gag’s on me. As you can see by the photo above, the Skye’s the limit for Roland—as in Alexis Skye. What are you looking for in the newspaper, Roland, available housing in Arizona, Ali’s current residence?

MORE HONORS—On March 15, a week after the Arnold Sports Festival, Jim Lorimer and IRON MAN columnist John Hansen were among the 2009 inductees into the National Fitness Hall of Fame. The ceremony took place at the Glendale Lakes Golf Club in Glendale Heights, Illinois. Don and John Figarelli, who created the National Fitness Hall of Fame and Museum in Sycamore, Illinois, presented the awards to a group that also included Joe Bonomo, Jan Todd, Bob Richards and Phil Bernstein. Ageless Bob Delmontique received the Lifetime Achievement Award. Congrats to all.

Guess Who This photo was taken in Denver, Colorado back in 1983. The subjects are still very much involved in the industry—in management. Answer on page 242. IM 244 JUNE 2009 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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Do you know these guys?

UP, DOWN AND ROUND THE ARNOLD SPORTS FESTIVAL Photography by Merv and Ron Avidan

4 7

5 6

9 1) Liza “Show Me the Money” Kampstra. 2) Triple H. 3) Ronnie and Christine Coleman. 4) The Arnold Fencing Classic. 5) Dr. Bob Goldman with Governor Schwarzenegger and California First Lady Maria Schriver. 6) Jen Hendershott gets her just desserts. 7) Odd Haugen makes it count. 8) Emcees all: Dan Solomon, Clint Richards, Bob Cicherillo and L.T. 9) A Yogi look-alike prowls the expo. 10) Brandi Akers shakes it for Merv’s camera. 11) L.T. is mobbed at the Party With the Pros. 12) The always incredible Lou Ferrigno.

To contact Lonnie Teper about material possibly pertinent to News & Views, write to 1613 Chelsea Road, #266, San Marino, CA 91108; fax to (626) 289-7949; or send e-mail to tepernews@aol.com.

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L O N N I E T E P E R ’S R i si n g St ar s

IRON MAN

Phil

Clahar

Ian Ware \ IAJ Ian Ware \ IAJE Photography

Weight: 240 contest; 275 off-season Height: 6’ Residence: Land O’ Lakes, Florida Contest highlights: ’08 NPC Florida Championships, overall; ’05 NPC New Jersey Championships, overall Factoid: He has an extensive background in martial arts, boxing and free-style wrestling. Contact: JamaicanTank@ comcast.net

E Photography

Age: 34

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IRON MAN

John

Merv

LO N NI E T E P ER’S R isi ng S ta rs

Merv

Durante Age: 30 Weight: 171 contest; 190 off-season Height: 5’5” Residence: West Palm Beach, Florida Contest highlights: ’09 IFBB Arnold Amateur, middleweight, 5th; ’07 NPC Junior Nationals, middleweight, 2nd Factoid: Born and raised in the Philippines, he’s been competing since 2003. Contact: JCDurante@ yahoo.com

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Profiles in Muscle

Abbas Khatami National-Level Bodybuilder and Muscle Asylum Project Athlete Compiled by Ron Harris Full name: Abbas Khatami Date of birth: June 11, 1975 Height: 5’8” Off-season weight: 265 at 6 percent bodyfat Contest weight: 240 Current residence: Orange County, California Years training: 16 Occupation: Nutritionist and personal trainer Marital status: Single and available Hobbies: Traveling—I’ve been to places like Australia, but I really love Mexico: Cancun, Puerta Vallarta, Cabo and Mazatlan. How did you get into bodybuilding? I wrestled in high school and would weight train between seasons to get stronger. I moved up from the 152- to the 172-pound class in a couple of years and loved the changes I saw in the mirror. At 19 I competed in my first contest, and I was hooked. Who inspired you when you were starting out? I grew up in Washington, D.C., and Kevin Levrone was our local star. I always liked his physique, with the powerful shoulders and thighs. I would have to say that my real inspiration in the early years was IFBB pro and IRON MAN Pro winner J.J. Marsh. I was lucky enough to have him as one of my first training partners, and he trained with me for my first big win at the Collegiate Nationals. J.J. showed me what true intensity in the gym was all about. Top titles: ’95 NPC Collegiate Nationals, lightheavyweight winner; ’99 NPC California Championships, heavyweight and overall champion; ’04 IFBB North American Championships, superheavyweight winner Favorite bodypart to train: Honestly, I like training everything equally. Favorite exercise: I love walking lunges because they hit the entire leg. I have my whole gym doing

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them! I also like heavy partial deadlifts for back and bent-over rows. Recently I’ve gotten into Ronnie Coleman–style corner T-bar rows. I don’t put 11 plates on there like Ronnie, though—eight is plenty for me! Best bodypart: My back and my legs get a lot of compliments, though people also tell me my shoulder width is impressive for a man of my stature. Most challenging bodypart: My chest and my triceps are currently areas I want to improve, as other areas around them have grown. Every other week I train them twice a week to specialize on them, and I also have deep-tissue work done on them to promote growth. Do you have a quote or a philosophy you try to live by? Be straight up and honest with people. They might not like it at first, but in time they learn to appreciate it. Coming from the East Coast, I found that a lot of people in California didn’t appreciate my honesty when they first met me, but later on they all told me I was one of the few people they knew who were honest. How do you stay motivated? Keeping my goals in mind helps me stay motivated, and recently I have found that eliminating as many stressful people and situations from my life as possible enables me to consistently sustain my focus and motivation. How would you describe your training style? For a few years I was very much into the low-volume, heavy weight and lower-reps HIT-style that was similar in some ways to Mike Mentzer’s and Dorian Yates’ methods. More recently I have started training higher volume, and I’m growing like crazy. It’s a whole new type of stimulation that my muscles weren’t used to after the years of HIT. Training split: Week 1 Monday: chest, biceps; Tuesday: off; Wednesday: back, triceps; Thursday: chest, biceps; Friday: off; Saturday: shoulders, forearms, calves; Sunday: off Week 2 Monday: quads, calves; Tuesday: chest, biceps; Wednesday: off; Thursday: back, triceps; Friday: shoulders, calves; Saturday: hamstrings, forearms; Sunday: off Favorite clean meal: Salmon with lemon pepper seasoning, rice and a nice big salad. Favorite cheat meal: Baby back ribs, carrot cake and a cold Corona. What is your favorite Muscle Asylum Project supplement, and why? I have two. Before training I love N.O. Plasmacore. Combined with the higher-volume training, the pumps I get are ridiculous. After training, I always take Anabolic Optimal Dose. It has everything you need to start the recovery and growth process, including amino

acids, creatine, glutamine and many other important nutrients. Goals in the sport: My short-term goal is to win the ’09 IFBB North Americans. From there I want to enter the IRON MAN Pro and make the top five, qualifying for the Mr. Olympia. Just being on the Olympia stage would be the fulfillment of many years of hard work and sacrifice. I would also like to compete in the Arnold Classic at least once. IM www.ironmanmagazine.com \ JUNE 2009 257

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RUTH SILVERMAN’S

About June • • • •

International Champs Figure Notables Snazzy Performances Pump-Pourri—ASF

Photography by Ruth Silverman and Roland Balik

I N T E R N AT I O N A L C H A M P S

SWEET Jen Hendershott devoured the competition, taking both physique rounds, a first, plus the routines to nail a 45-point win. She’s now the Fitness Olympia and International champ—again. What will she do next?

GLAMMIN’ IT UP Iris Kyle brought a new look—and full muscle bellies—to the stage.

QUARTERTURN TO THE RIGHT Nobody does it better than Zivile Raudoniene.

FRIDAY NIGHT AT THE ARNOLD Two returning champs and one pleasant surprise marked the Ms., Fitness and Figure International competitions, held March 6 in Columbus, Ohio. In fitness and women’s bodybuilding, favorites Hendershott and Kyle had their day. In figure the surprise: Raudoniene’s two-point win over defending champ Gina Aliotti. 260 JUNE 2009 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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HIGH FINISHERS BIG LEAGUES Debi Laszewski displayed her best combo of curvature and conditioning ever, cruising past defending champ Yaxeni Oriquen-Garcia to earn a perfect second-place score.

YOU’LL GET ‘EM NEXT TIME Oriquen-Garcia and Aliotti decorated a booth together at the expo. “Debi looked so good,” said Yaxeni of her fellow Floridian. “I’m happy for her.”

FIGURE I N O TA B L E S 2

3 Merv

1) Sherilyn Roy showed a supreme ability to strut her stuff onstage, and the judges took notice. A top-10 finish went to the ’08 Team U champ in her pro debut. 2) Kristal Richardson Richardson’s star continues to rise. Seventh at the Olympia, she moved up to fourth in Columbus, and it doesn’t take a Ouija board to predict that her first pro win could come anytime. 3) Folks who were counting out Mo Brant need some tutoring in arithmetic. The one-time Fitness O champ was in fine form after a 1 1/2-year layoff from the figure stage and finished sixth. 4) Felicia Romero Romero’s fierce determination in the gym—after her second-in-a-row last-place landing at the O—improved her legs so much, she sprinted all the way up to fifth. www.ironmanmagazine.com \ JUNE 2009 261

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SNAZZY PERFORMANCES

SMOOTH OPERATOR Speaking of fierce determination, Julie Palmer gave her most polished performance ever in the routines to pick up her best International placing ever— second.

BACKSTAGE BONDING Heather Armbrust (left) and Isabelle Turell have a lot more in common than being USA Overall champs. For one thing, they’re both major X-framers.

HUNGARIAN RHAPSODY Their prize for winning the ’08 Timea Majorova Fit Model contest in Budapest included a trip to the Arnold for Daniel Toth and Suzy Howak, here with promoter Ildiko Buranitz.

FEARLESS FLIERS

1) Tina Durkin’s breakout fifth-place finish was one of the delights of the show. If you think her moves look good, you should see her bod.

2) Great energy and some killer floor feats helped Regiane Da Silva leap into fourth. 3) Shannon Meteraud 3

returned to the stage at 40. In case you’re wondering, the F stands for fitness. 4) Oksana Grishina floored it as well, earning respect from the judges but not as much as some think she’s due.

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SAY, PURR-R-R It was a regular coug-a-rama when Dr. Z. Catherine Navarro and Nancy Di Nino of “Living Beautiful Radio” joined Cynthia James and me at our annual dinner at Morton’s (from left): yours truly, Nancy D., C.J. and Dr. Z.

WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS

JUST BECAUSE

CROWD-PLEASER Nicole Duncan may have gotten “dissed at the Arnold,” as one of my friends declared regarding Duncan’s 14thplace finish, but she was a huge hit with the audience.

DARLING DUO Sure, I knew that ’08 NPC National champ Sheila Bleck (right) had a twin sister, but what a kick to actually meet Sherry. “Twinpowered fitness and beauty”—you betcha.

SO GOOD TO SEE YOU Two years after her husband Ray Stern passed away, Debi Lee reemerged on the judging panel in Columbus. She’s teaching gymnastics again, she said, and is recently remarried, to a lucky guy named Keith Wilson.

HOT PROPERTY Jennifer Stano’s star turn at the STS booth had fitness-industry folks suggesting that the New York–based actress and model has a body built for bikini competition—among other things.

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HERSTORY LESSON Juliette Bergmann (right) and Bev Francis recalled competing in the first Ms. International, in 1986. Juliette came in second, and Bev was third. To find out who beat these two legendary female flexers, see Steve Wennerstrom’s new Femme Physique series on page 266.

PUMP-POURRI—ASF As a marketing exec, fitness contender Jessica Clay understands the effect of this image. Who wants a bar?

Ever wonder how Mo Brant and hubby Scott Peckham (left) put together their reality videos? Talk about always being ready for your close-up.

Arnold Amateur Figure champ Jayme Galloway makes a colorful impression. In addition to quarterturning, the 5’2” graphic designer from Manitoba offers promotional services and materials for athletes at www.Jayme Galloway.com.

Cathy LeFrancois awaits the finals with the confidence of a gal who knows her nail polish matches her outfit.

Tanji makes a lastminute decision in favor of being able to see onstage— and takes off the mask.

Shannon Meteraud and Tracey Greenwood give the Sisterhood of the Traveling Cat Suit official greeting.

Ron Coleman #1.

Texas figure gal Lori Pavesi wins the Most Enthusiastic Expogoer award. “It’s my first time at the Arnold,” gushed the mom of three. “I was always pregnant or nursing.” Above left: Mass confusion. Ron Coleman, the ’94 World Amateur champ, reports that there are now three guys with his name in bodybuilding.

Photography by Ruth Silverman

Left: Sherry Goggin decorates some prime expo real estate: the Bodybuilding.com booth.

Left: Jen Hendershott introduces me to her little brother, John. Little, yeah. I’ve got one of those.

The Figure I is a fun—but duespaying—experience for Mexico’s Georgina Lona.

Right: Rave review. This year’s Arnold Classic was the “best ever,” according Jessica Schmidt, seen here meeting Ahmad Haidar. The weekend is a family affair for Jessica, who’s the granddaughter of IM Publisher John Balik and niece of lensman Roland Balik.

Lena Squarciafico-Mishin is amazingly versatile. Watch her go from athlete spouse to fitness competitor in a single season.

You can contact Ruth Silverman, fitness, figure and women’s bodybuilding 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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Femme Physique

The Ms. International A Prestigious Display of Muscle Since 1986

Wennerstrom

by Steve Wennerstrom, IFBB Women’s Historian

Wennerstrom

ny passionate female pro bodybuilder will tell you that an invitation to compete in the annual IFBB Ms. International is a dream come true—and an honor of the highest order. Over the years, as the Ms. International has grown into what is now one of the most prestigious bodybuilding contests for women, it’s been called everything from the Columbus Colossus and the Beef Bonanza to Ms. Olympia’s Big Little Sister. With promoters Arnold

Australia’s Erika Geisen (above left) was the first Ms. International champion in 1986. American Cathey Palyo (above) won the title in 1988.

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Most Ms. International Victories Yaxeni Oriquen-Garcia, Venezuela, 4 (’02, ’03, ’05, ’08) Iris Kyle, USA, 4 (’04, ’06, ’07, ’09) Vickie Gates, USA, 3 (’99, ’00, ’01) Laura Creavalle, Canada, 3 (’90, ’94, ’95)

Ms. International Champions 1986 – Erika Geisen, Australia 1987 – Not Held 1988 – Cathey Palyo, USA 1989 – Jackie Paisley*, USA 1990 – Laura Creavalle, Canada 1991 – Tonya Knight, USA 1992 – Anja Schreiner, Germany 1993 – Kim Chizevsky, USA 1994 – Laura Creavalle, Canada 1995 – Laura Creavalle, Canada 1996 – Kim Chizevsky, USA 1997 – Yolanda Hughes, USA 1998 – Yolanda Hughes, USA 1999 – Vickie Gates, USA 2000 – Vickie Gates, USA 2001 – Vickie Gates, USA 2002 – Yaxeni Oriquen, Venezuela 2003 – Yaxeni Oriquen, Venezuela 2004 – Iris Kyle, USA 2005 – Yaxeni Oriquen, Venezuela 2006 – Iris Kyle, USA 2007 – Iris Kyle, USA 2008 – Yaxeni Oriquen-Garcia, Venezuela 2009 – Iris Kyle, USA

Vickie Gates won three successive Ms. International crowns in 1999, 2000 and 2001. Schwarzenegger and Jim Lorimer lending their expertise to the event for more than 20 years, the Ms. International—along with the Ms. Olympia—is a prized contest jewel that can put an exclamation point on the competitive career of any pro flexer. The Ms. I can claim a double inauguration—one in 1986, the other in 1989. In ’86 the contest was held in conjunction with the men’s event, which was called the IFBB Pro World Championship. In ’87 the women’s contest simply didn’t materialize. In ’88, however, Lorimer and Schwar-

zenegger felt the women’s competition should become a regular event along with the men’s. With the coming of 1989, the men’s Pro World Championship was renamed the Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic, and the Ms. International became a permanent fixture of what is today called the Arnold Sports Festival while continuing to use its original name. Throughout its 22-year run the Ms. International has been considered the gold standard for classy contest promotion, as well as for its outstanding treatment of competing

* Jackie Paisley was awarded the title after Tonya Knight was stripped of the crown due to IFBB rule infractions.

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athletes, giving them all the amenities that make for a memorable competitive experience. All that said, the show has also taken on a personality of its own, complete with colorful stages for both the prejudging and finals, an annual group of highly competitive contestants who are inspiring, motivating, occasionally controversial, but always entertaining and impressive—all qualities we have come to expect of the Ms. I. Here are some facts about the Ms. International: • In the contest’s 22-year history a total of 144 different bodybuilding competitors from 21 countries have vied for the Ms. International title. • The first two events, in ’86 and ’88, were designated as pro-am contests, and top amateurs were also

Roland Balik

Femme Physique

Four-time Ms. Olympia winner Iris Kyle won her fourth Ms. International crown on March 6.

twice, with the winner taking the title by just two points. The first narrow victory came in 1991 when Tonya Knight topped Germany’s Anja Schreiner by a score of 30 to 32. Schreiner returned in 1992 to win the title. The second two-point victory occurred in 2008, when Yaxeni Oriquen-Garcia edged runner-up Dayana Cadeau—also by the score of 30 to 32. • Since 2002—a total of eight years—Yaxeni Oriquen-Garcia and Iris Kyle have been dominant as the only two competitors to win the Ms. International during that time. • From the “What Are the Chances?” file: At the ’99 Ms. International, in a field of 19 contestants, Yaxeni Oriquen placed 18th, followed by Cathy LeFrancois in 19th. Undaunted, the two returned, and in 2003

Dobbins

The ’09 event offered a total of $156,000 to the top placers in bodybuilding, fitness and figure.

Betty Pariso is tied with Yaxeni Oriquen-Garcia for having received the most invitations to compete in the Columbus Colossus: 11 apiece. invited to compete. In ’86, when 20 contestants from six countries took part, Ben Weider proclaimed that the top six finishers would qualify for IFBB pro status (if they weren’t already pros) and be invited to compete at the ’86 IFBB Pro World in Toronto. That rule held true for the ’88 event—if an amateur placed in the top six, she was given the opportunity to move into the pro ranks. • The total prize money at the ’86 Ms. International was $10,000, and the winner’s share was $5,000. The ’09 Ms. I offered a total of $156,000 to the top placers in bodybuilding, fitness and figure competitions. • Yaxeni Oriquen-Garcia and

Iris Kyle are now tied as the only competitors to have won four Ms. International crowns, but threetime winner Vickie Gates is the only champ to have claimed the title three years in succession. • Kim Chizevsky and Iris Kyle are the only Ms. I winners who went on to become Ms. Olympia in the same calendar year. The double victory combines to create the “grand slam” of women’s bodybuilding. Chizevsky won both titles in 1996, while Kyle has accomplished the feat three times—in 2004, 2006 and 2007—and possibly could do it again this year. • The closest margin of victory at the Ms. International happened

(a year when the contest featured weight classes), Oriquen won the heavyweight class, while LeFrancois topped the lightweights. Leaping from last to first in four years is a remarkable accomplishment—especially given the extremely competitive nature of this contest. Truly amazing. • At the same ’99 Ms. International, Iris Kyle—the ’98 NPC USA overall winner—made her pro debut. She finished a distant and unheralded 15th. She was back on track in short order and has since become a superstar in the sport. • Reading like a who’s who of women’s bodybuilding during the ’80s and ’90s, the Ms. International fields have included such luminaries as Kay Baxter, Juliette Bergmann, Bev Francis, Carla Dunlap, Sharon Marvel, Sandy Riddell, Sharon Bruneau, Nikki Fuller, Natalia Murnikoviene, Laura Binetti, Melissa Coates, Andrulla Blanchette, Jitka Harazimova, Marjo Selin, Shelley Beattie, Joanne McCartney, Nancy Lewis, Lesa Lewis and the infamous Paula Bircumshaw—who is a story all by herself—to name a few. IM

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Bodybuilding Pharmacology BODYBUILDING PHARMACOLOGY BODYBUILDING PHARMACOLOGY BODYBUILDING PHARMACOLOGY BODYBUILDING PHARMACOLOGY BODYBUILDING PHARMACOLOGY BODYBUILDING

by Jerry Brainum

Natural Testosterone Boosters Are They for Real? Part 2 Stinging nettle shows up in many current testosterone boosters. Several studies show that the herb is useful for preventing prostate gland enlargement. It binds sex-hormone-binding globulin, or SHBG, which ties up testosterone in the blood. Lowering SHBG would have the effect of increasing free, or active, testosterone. When bound to SHBG, testosterone is inactive. On the other hand, more free testosterone also means a greater chance of its encountering the ubiquitous aromatase enzyme. When that happens, testosterone converts into estrogen. Sure enough, one case study— which, admittedly, doesn’t mean much—describes a 33-year-old man who acquired gynecomastia from drinking two cups of nettle tea per day for a month. He had no other risk factors for gyno, such as steroid use. A woman the same age, also described in the study, had very high estrogen after drinking nettle tea for a month.1 On the other hand, another herb, called Macuna pruriens, a.k.a. horny goat weed, contains natural L-dopa, which is a precursor of various brain chemicals, including dopamine. Dopamine has an inverse relationship with prolactin, a pituitary hormone that stimulates lactation in women but in men lowers testosterone and causes impotence. A recent study of infertile men showed that they had high counts of prolactin; giving them MP increased their testosterone, luteinizing hormone, dopamine, epinephrine and norepinephrine while also increasing sperm count and motility.2 Increased dopamine in the brain stimulates growth hormone release and is the brain neurotransmitter most associated with feelings of sexual pleasure. Another herb, red maca (Lepidium meyenii) was found to prevent the enlargement of the prostate gland accompanying the administration of testosterone in rats.3 In fact, the herb worked better than the drug finasteride (trade name Proscar). It worked by inhibiting the effects of DHT, a testosterone metabolite that causes prostate enlargement. It turns out that the active ingredients in red maca are similar to compounds found in cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli and brussels sprouts, that also help prevent vari-

ous types of cancers, including prostate cancer. Chrysin, a flavonoid that still turns up in supplements, experienced its 15 minutes of fame about 10 years ago, courtesy of pro-hormone maven Pat Arnold, who dubbed it “flavone X.” Arnold found some esoteric studies in which chrysin was compared to Cytadren, a drug that inhibits the enzyme aromatase. Chrysin not only proved superior to Cytadren but also proved to be the most potent natural anti-aromatase yet found. As you might expect, chrysin soon became available in various supplements as a “testosterone booster.” The wind, however, dropped out of its metabolic sails when two studies published in 2001 found that the substance was nearly unabsorbable in humans—98 percent was excreted unmetabolized. The favorable studies of chrysin had involved in vitro, or test tube, isolated-cell designs. It appeared that in an intact human body, chrysin acted more like fiber, just passing through. A recent isolated-cell study that used mice as subjects found that chrysin significantly increased the response of the Leydig cells of testes, primary site of testosterone synthesis, to cyclic AMP, a cellular messenger that amps up testosterone and other hormone production.4 Doing that in the testes boosts the activity of steroidogenic acute regulatory protein. STAR, as it’s called, carries cholesterol into the testes, where it converts into testosterone. It turns out that clever steroid chemists have managed to manipulate the structure of chrysin to make it far more absorbable. Taking a chrysin supplement with a black pepper derivative called piperine may also help increase chrysin uptake in the intestine. Chrysin not only boosts STAR activity but also selectively inhibits the activity of COX-2, an inflammatory enzyme that increases with age and is one of the reasons testosterone usually decreases with age. COX-2 interferes with the activity of STAR. Another common ingredient showing up in many reputed testosterone-boosting supplements is Avena sativa, which is the Latin name for oats. A single study published in 1976 indicated that giving Avena sativa to rats increased the release of luteinizing hormone, which would boost testosterone release. No study of human subjects has ever confirmed the effect, although unpublished research by the Institute of Human Sexuality soon after the rat study appeared claimed that avena does have potent aphrodisiac effects in humans. Perhaps that explains the expression “Feeling your oats.” Another herbal extract, from Malaysia, is called Tongkat ali, or longjack. It has a reputation as a testosterone booster. The problem is that, though their results are impressive, most of the studies also come from Malaysia. Claims for longjack include a 76 percent average increase in free-testosterone levels, along with a significant drop in SHBG, which would explain the rise in free testosterone. On the other hand, the researchers explain those results by suggesting that the testosterone rise comes from a 47 percent increase in DHEA that occurs after three weeks of longjack use. That mechanism sounds like the way tribulus

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works and, if so, would present similar problems. There may be something to longjack, but the substance needs to be tested in a bodybuilding population under scientifically controlled conditions before it can be characterized as an effective testosterone booster. When considering plant-based testosterone boosters, you want to avoid outright ripoffs. One notable example is a product billed as a potent testosterone booster by its pro-

ducer. The active ingredient is an herb called rhodiola, and the product contains 65 milligrams of rhodiola per capsule at a cost of 90 capsules for $129.95. While rhodiola is a useful antistress and antifatigue herb, it doesn’t do much to boost testosterone. In addition, I purchase rhodiola, 500 milligrams per capsule, for $8.49. Be dubious of alleged testosterone boosters with little or no research behind them or only animal research. One example recently discussed in this column An herb called Macuna was an African herb called Fadogia agrestis. pruriens contains natural After one rat-based study of it was published L-dopa, which is a in an obscure andrology journal, several precursor of various companies began marketing it with claims brain chemicals, including that it boosted testosterone by as much as dopamine. Increased 200 percent. They failed to mention that the dopamine in the brain is study used rats as subjects and that a followestablished as a stimulus up study found that the herb could induce to growth hormone paradoxical damage to rats’ testes if used release. in too high a dose or for too long. Besides, as I noted above, what works in rats doesn’t always work in humans. The same researchers who presented fadogia recently published studies on two other putative African testosterone boosters, namely Bulbine natalensis and Massularia acuminata. Both work the way tribulus does—quite well in animals, less so in humans. I advise waiting for human evidence, published in a reputable medical journal, before using these alleged new testosterone boosters. After all, are you a man or a mouse?

“Some of these bodybuilders in their 30s had hearts that looked like they belonged to 70-year-olds.” In simple terms, the long-term high-level use of steroids prematurely aged the heart.

The Unlucky Lottery

While no one in his right mind would argue about the effectiveness of anabolic steroids in stimulating gains in muscle size and strength, the side effects of the drugs are still a point of intense controversy. Those who espouse the use of steroids often ask, “Where are the bodies?” They note that the often dire reports of side effects don’t seem to be apparent. The problem with that position is that while you may look good on the outside, what’s going on internally may be another matter. Another problem involves idiosyncratic reactions to the drugs. One man may use them and develop a world-class body. The next guy may wind up with a heart attack or stroke or just drop dead. It doesn’t happen very often, but it has happened and does happen. You simply cannot predict the result, although using the drugs foolishly—such as taking large doses without a break—does have more predictable consequences. Take, for instance, a recent case study of a 31year-old professional bodybuilder.5 He entered a hospital complaining of pain in his chest for three days. His doctor had previously tested him, finding an elevated presence of a heart enzyme linked to heart damage. The pain in his chest radiated out to his left arm, and he complained of nausea and excessive sweating. All of those symptoms point to a myocardial infarction, a.k.a. heart attack. He had a history of high blood pressure and seizures, for which he took medication. He didn’t smoke, drink alcohol or use recreational drugs, nor did he have a family history of heart disease. He had, however, used various anabolic www.ironmanmagazine.com \ JUNE 2009 275

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BODYBUILDING PHARMACOLOGY BODYBUILDING PHARMACOLOGY BODYBUILDING PHARMACOLOGY BODYBUILDING PHARMACOLOGY BODYBUILDING PHARMACOLOGY BODYBUILDING PHARMACOLOGY BODYBUI

Jerry Brainum’s Bodybuilding Pharmacology

Studies of bodybuilders who use large doses of steroids find that low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol increases an average of 36 percent, while protective high-density lipoprotein drops an average of 52 percent, a scenario that greatly boosts cardiovascular risk. steroids for 10 years. At the hospital he was treated with anticoagulants—his heart attack was precipitated by a clot in his right coronary artery—and nitroglycerin to dilate his coronary arteries to increase blood flow to his heart. He was discharged after two days. Possible cardiac complications of large-scale steroid use include high blood pressure, left-ventricular hypertrophy, increased arterial resistance and restricted diastolic heart function, which relates to the filling of the heart with blood. Bodybuilders who have had heart attacks have shown occluded coronary arteries, while others showed the same picture as this guy—narrowed arteries blocked by a clot. Steroids can bring on clot formation because they lower prostacylin, an eicosanoid that favors free-flowing blood platelets, thus preventing clots. Steroids tip the balance toward thromboxane formation, which is consistent with platelet aggregation and clot formation in arteries. Other negative effects induced by steroids include endothelial dysfunction—that's the lining of the arteries—accelerated atherosclerosis and adverse blood lipid changes. Studies of bodybuilders who use large doses of steroids find that low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol increases an average of 36 percent, while protective high-density lipoprotein drops an average of 52 percent, a scenario that greatly boosts cardiovascular risk. Another case study reported on an ischemic stroke, which is a stroke caused by a blood clot blocking an artery in the brain, in a 26-year-old man whose only risk factor was that he had taken stanozolol (trade name Winstrol), an oral anabolic steroid, at a relatively modest dose of 10 milligrams for three months prior to his stroke.6 Strokes in people younger than 45 are rare, which led the researchers, knowing the cardiovascular complications of steroid use, to conclude that the man’s reaction to Winstrol was likely the culprit. Winstrol, in particular, has adverse effects on blood-clotting mechanisms. Although the man had no other risk factors, his stroke was serious enough to result in permanent severe disability. In still another case a 56-year-old man was given a shot of testosterone (1,250 milligrams), followed a week later by another shot of Deca-Durabolin (150 milligrams) to treat a shoulder he’d injured while training at the gym.7 His physician administered the treatment once a week for three weeks, but he wound up with a 10-day bout of swelling and stiffness in his right calf. The diagnosis was venous thromboembolism—a clot in the veins of his lower leg—which traveled up through his blood into his lung, resulting in a life-threatening pulmonary embolism, or clot, in the lung. He received anticoagulants and went to the hospital for three days, and he recovered with no lasting damage. Perhaps the most alarming report was published two

years ago.8 The coronary arteries of 14 elite professional bodybuilders were scanned to detect their calcium content. Coronary artery calcium deposits have been recently acknowledged in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine as a reliable way of predicting heart attacks. None of the bodybuilders in the study showed any symptoms of cardiovascular disease. Despite that, seven of the men showed very high deposits of calcium in their coronary arteries. As expected, they were also low in HDL. The average age of the bodybuilders was 39, with a range of 28 to 55, and they admitted to an average anabolic steroid use of 12.6 years. Three of the subjects who were younger than 40 showed significant calcium scores, meaning they were at high risk for atherosclerosis. The other indices of heart function and blood lipids were all normal in the men. Commenting on the study, one of the authors, cardiologist Lawrence J. Santora, M.D., of the Orange County (California) Heart Institute and Research Center, noted, “Some of these bodybuilders in their 30s had hearts that looked like they belonged to 70-year-olds.” In simple terms, the long-term high-level use of steroids by these men had prematurely aged their hearts and led to changes in their arteries that are harbingers of future heart attacks. So much for looking good on the outside but not so good on the inside.

References 1 Sahin,

M., et al. (2007). Gynecomastia in a man and hyperestrogenism in a woman due to ingestion of nettle (Urtica dioica). New Zeal J Med. 120:1265. 2 Shukla, K., et al. (2008). Macuna pruriens improves male fertility by its action on the hypothalmus-pituitary-gonadal axis. Ferti Steril. In press. 3 Gasco, M., et al. (2008). Dose-response effect of red maca (Lepidium meyenii) on benign prostatic hyperplasia induced by testosterone enanthate. Phytomed. In press. 4 Jana, K., et al. (2008). Chrysin, a natural flavonoid, enhances steroidogenesis and steroidogenic acute regulatory protein expression in mouse Leydig cells. J Endocrin. 197:315-23. 5 Wysoczanski, M., et al. (2008). Acute myocardial infarction in a young man using anabolic steroids. Angiology. In press. 6 Santamarina, R.D., et al. (2008). Ischemic stroke related to anabolic abuse. Clin Neuropharmacol. 31:80-85. 7 Liljeqvist, S., et al. (2008). Pulmonary embolism associated with the use of anabolic steroids. Eur J Intern Med. In press. 8 Santora, L., et al. (2006). Coronary calcification in bodybuilders using anabolic steroids. Preventive Cardiol. 9:198201. IM

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Only the Strong Shall Survive

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Build Stronger, More Secure

Shoulders by Bill Starr Photography by Michael Neveux

Model: Skip La Cour

road shoulders are synonymous with strength and power. Louis L’Amour’s main characters always have them, as did John Wayne and Conan. They’re symbols of masculinity, and every youngster who’s been bitten by the weight-training bug wants them. They’re even more impressive when they sit on top of a wide back and tree-trunk legs. While big arms and chests are often hidden under layers of clothing, wide shoulders can never be concealed. Even before I got hooked on lifting weights, I admired anyone who possessed a wide shoulder girth, but it wasn’t until I visited the old York Barbell Gym on Board Street that I saw shoulder development of a magnitude that overwhelmed me. That afternoon, in the cramped upstairs weight room, I met Vern Weaver, Steve Stanko and John Grimek. They were ideal examples of manhood, and although all facets of their amazing physiques were eye-popping, my attention kept returning to their extrawide shoulders. How in the world did they build such powerful shoulders? I won-

dered, yet I knew the answer. Years and years of very hard work. At that moment I vowed that I would also put in as much time and effort as it required to come close to the development that those three had achieved. That day I changed my training focus. Sure, like any other beginner I wanted arms and a chest that would do a tank top justice, but my goal was to get wide shoulders. I’m certainly not alone. Broad shoulders are high on the list of every strength athlete and bodybuilder. The trouble is, they put too much emphasis on the wrong exercises. In a nutshell, they do too many exercises lying on a bench rather than standing. Flat- and inclinebench presses are the primary upper-body exercises in most routines. Standing movements for the shoulder girdle are seldom done, except for a few relegated to auxiliary status. That’s why you don’t see many members of gyms sporting broad shoulders. In fact, it’s rare to see any trainee with exceptional shoulder development, even those who have big arms and

thick chests. The reason is that flat benches and inclines hit the pecs more than the deltoids. Along with lack of shoulder development come injuries to the shoulder joints due to the amount of work put in on the benches. At the same time the other groups that help secure the shoulder joints, especially the traps and rear deltoids, get little attention. So while the pecs and front deltoids get bigger and stronger, the groups supporting the rear portion of the shoulder joint lag behind, creating a disparity in strength. When the disparity becomes significant, problems result. Initially, it may just be minor discomfort in one shoulder or both. If nothing is done to change the disproportionate strength, the pain escalates to the point where all exercises that involve the shoulders have to be curtailed. Or worse, medical attention—and sometimes surgery—is necessary to remedy the situation. I need to point out that the bench press per se is not to blame but, rather, the way it’s used. It’s basically too much of a good thing. I’ve watched countless people in comwww.ironmanmagazine.com \ JUNE 2009 283

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Only the Strong Shall Survive mercial gyms spend 75 percent of their workouts benching and inclining at every session while completely neglecting the rear portions of their shoulder girdle. Flat benches should not be given priority in a strength program but should be relegated to an ancillary role and worked diligently only once a week. Given a choice, I much prefer the incline bench over the flat version. The incline is more a pure shoulder exercise in that it involves the deltoids to a much greater extent. It’s also more difficult to cheat on than on the flat bench. Cheating moves—rebounding and bridging— will sooner or later take their toll on the shoulder joints. I also like the fact that inclines hit the higher part of the chest, which helps secure the joints, whereas flat benches work the lower and middle chest. Unlike flat benches, inclines are rarely overworked. I guess that’s because no one ever asks, “How much can you incline?”—except me because I consider it a truer test of upperbody strength than the flat bench. The bottom line is that in order to build impressive, superstrong shoulders, you have to get up off a bench and do some work from a standing position. Overhead movements, such as military presses and jerks, are what build the cannonball delts that highlight shoulder development. The three physical specimens I encountered at the York Gym gained their broad shoulders from doing the three Olympic lifts: press, snatch and clean and jerk. All were champion Olympic lifters before they turned to physique competition. Most of those who weight-train know that, and the reason they do more flat or incline benches is that they’re easier and more fun to do than any overhead lift. Once people get the feel of performing overhead presses or jerks, they discover that they, too, can be fun. The bonus of doing some sort of overhead work is it helps stabilize your shoulder joints. That’s because overhead presses not only hit your deltoids in a slightly different manner but also strengthen the groups that play a very direct role in securing your shoulder girdle—specifically the traps, but any overhead exercise

also involves all the rest of the back as well as the hips, glutes and legs. That’s not the case for flat benches or inclines. All athletes need to include at least one primary overhead lift in their program because the strength gained from that type of movement readily converts to all sports, particularly when a sport requires the athletes to extend their arms overhead. When you stop to think about it, that covers almost every sport there is, except maybe bowling. Overhead lifts benefit those who play basketball, volleyball, baseball, lacrosse, soccer (throw-ins), the field events in track and the large majority of positions in football. Only interior linemen benefit from doing flat benches, whereas the entire offensive backfield, defensive backs, linebackers, wide receivers and tight ends use the strength gained from lifting weights overhead more than from any kind of benching. Overhead lifting provides one other benefit that few think much about. Movements such as the military press and jerk very thoroughly work the middle back, where the rotator cuffs are located. When overhead presses were the standard of strength, everyone did them. As a result, there were no rotator cuff injuries. When the shift to the bench press came along and athletes ceased doing any form of overhead lifting—and seldom bothered doing any specific work for their middle backs—rotator cuff injuries became common. A thing about overhead lifts I always liked is that you can do them without any spotters. That means you can do them while training alone and not have to be concerned with safety. If the weight isn’t pressed or jerked to lockout, just return it to your shoulders, or if it’s really heavy, dump it. You can do several overhead lifts, but one or two are sufficient. Military presses, push presses, jerks and push jerks all provide the desired results if they’re worked diligently and with heavy weights—heavy being a relative term. I like to start beginners out with military presses. Once they learn correct form on that exercise, it’s easier to teach them to do push presses, push jerks and split

jerks. Most like to do four to five sets of military presses and follow them with push presses or jerks, which is a good idea. The presses help set up the correct line, and the working muscles are thoroughly warmed up before they get overloaded. While form on the presses and jerks doesn’t have to be perfect, it needs to be at least adequate in order to be beneficial. I’ve covered the technique of the press previously but will go over the major points again as a reminder. Your feet should be set at shoulder width, with toes pointed straight ahead. Do not place one foot ahead of the other, a mistake many beginners make. That creates a weaker base and places an undue stress on the lower back. Grip the bar at shoulder width so that when you extend your thumbs, they’ll just touch the smooth center. Your elbows must stay under your wrists throughout the movement. So if your forearms aren’t in a vertical position, alter your grip until they are. You can either power clean the weight or take it off the rack. Fix the bar across your front deltoids, not on your collarbone. Do that by elevating your shoulder girdle to create a muscular ledge. Your elbows shouldn’t be high, as in parallel to the floor, or pointed downward, but set somewhere between those two extremes. Your wrists must stay straight and locked during any overhead lift. If that’s a problem for you, tape or wrap them. After the bar is set firmly on your shoulders, tighten all the muscles in your body, from your feet on up to your traps. Think of trying to grip the floor with your toes. That will provide a solid foundation from which to move the bar upward. Ease your midsection a bit forward so that you’re coiled like a muscular spring. Your knees should be locked, and they need to stay that way during the lift. Eyes front. Beginners often get into the habit of following the bar upward with their eyes. That’s incorrect because it makes you lean backward as the bar moves over your head, and you don’t want to do that. Take a breath and drive the bar off your shoulders. It should travel

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Only the Strong Shall Survive upward very close to your face, nearly touching your nose. Follow through immediately—no hesitation whatsoever, for that causes the bar to pause in midair, which adversely affects the lift. As the bar moves up past the top of your head,

ates negative intrathoracic pressure, which means you no longer have a solid base. Once the bar is locked out, hold it there for a few seconds, and on the final rep of every set hold it longer, five or six seconds. That forces all the groups responsible

the feel of the lift. When the exercise is done right, the bar will float upward almost as if it’s being pulled up by an unseen force. Five sets of five work well while you’re learning proper form. Then move on to this formula: two sets of five with the

Model: Johathan Lawson

High-pull-type movements can give the overall shoulder structure a blistering workout.

push your pelvis forward and extend your head through the gap you’ve created. Those coordinated moves keep your power base under the bar and help you use your levers more efficiently. Keep pressure on the bar until it’s completely locked out, and then take another breath. Don’t inhale or exhale during the execution of the press; either action causes your diaphram to relax, and that in turn cre-

for controlling the weight overhead to get to work and will strengthen nearly every group from your shoulders to your feet. It’s especially valuable to the back muscles that support the spine. Lower the bar to your shoulders. If the weight is heavy, take a short dip to cushion the descending bar. Then reset, take another breath, and do the next rep. Stay with light-tomoderate poundages until you get

warmup weights, then three to five sets of heavier triples. If you’re successful with the work sets of three, add weight the next time around. Should you fail with any of the work sets, stay with that same weight at your next press session. You do push presses in the same manner as military presses, except you set the bar in motion with a knee kick. Not a huge kick—just enough to move the bar up over

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your head and almost to lockout. Then you quickly follow through and secure the bar with your arm straight overhead. Obviously you can use more weight on the exercise, and that’s the idea. So if you’re military-pressing 175x5, you should be handling somewhere around 205x3 on the push press. Do threes on all your push presses. Since you’re using heavier weights, when the bar is reset on your shoulders, it tends to slip out of the ideal starting position. That means it’s not a good idea to do higher reps. Push jerks are very similar to push presses, but the main difference is that the jerks are not pressed out at all. The bar goes from your shoulders to lockout in one explosive move. That means your drive has to be more aggressive than with push presses, and, since it’s done so fast, your line has to be precise. Again, do three reps on these and hold the bar overhead for a set count of five or six on the final rep of each set. Split jerks also build stronger shoulders, but because they require a good bit more technique, you might want to wait until you’ve mastered the push jerk before trying them. Many find they like push jerks more than split jerks. Another exercise that I highly recommend to anyone wanting to increase shoulder size and strength is weighted dips. When I first got interested in weight training, dipping with weights was considered a primary exercise just like full squats for any Olympic lifter, strength athlete or bodybuilder. With the introduction of so many machines, though, dips slowly disappeared from physical culture. Seldom do I even see dip bars in gyms any longer, and if they’re used, it’s only as a warmup exercise. Nevertheless, weighted dips are a great exercise for building stronger deltoids and triceps. Few are able to handle any extra weight at the beginning. That’s fine. It’s not where you start; it’s where you end up. When you can do 20 reps, freehand, you’re ready to do them with weight. Just use a dumbbell. Tuck one between your thighs, and then lift your lower legs to secure it and dip. It works only up to about 100 pounds; then you’re going to need a dipping

belt. I’ve rigged two regular lifting belts together to hold plates, but it’s quite awkward. Dipping belts are readily available and worth the cost. Most dip bars are fairly high, and trying to get in position with more than a hundred pounds strapped on is difficult, as is getting down from the bars after the set is over. So pull a bench up close to the bars. Ease off the bench, and take a moment to set up so that you’re not swinging at all. Knock out your reps, and then step back on the bench. Problem solved. The key form point for weighted dips is to lock the weights tightly between your legs to prevent them from swinging. If the weights start moving around like a pendulum, stop. That can be risky to your shoulders and elbows. When you hit a sticking point, look up and lean back. That will help you keep the weights directly under your shoulders. I like to vary the set-and-rep sequence at every dip session. Four sets of eight; five sets of five, followed by a workout where you do two warmup sets of five, then four sets of three. The higher reps greatly improve the workload, and the lower reps hit the attachments. It’s a nice combination because every workout is a bit different. What else? Pressing heavy dumbbells is a terrific way to get bigger, stronger shoulders. Because the dumbbells have to be controlled much more than a bar, they force different muscles to get involved, and that means more overall strength. Front and lateral raises with dumbbells are also good because they isolate the front and lateral heads of the deltoids. Overhead lifting, dipping and incorporating dumbbell exercises into your routine, however, is only half of the equation. In order to create broader, stronger shoulders and stabilize the shoulder joints, you must include exercises that work the upper back. The ones that get the job done are heavy shrugs, using both a clean and snatch grip, clean- and snatch-grip high pulls, and power snatches. I’ll begin with power snatches. The reason they’re so beneficial is that you have to pull the weight

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Only the Strong Shall Survive

Model: Mike Morris

very high. When that happens, you hit the rear deltoids directly. That group is very difficult to strengthen, but power snatches do just that. When you do snatch-grip high pulls right behind power snatches, the rear delts get a double dose of work. Another reason I like power snatches for building shoulders is that when the bar is locked out with the wider grip, you use muscles that aren’t used in locking out with a closer grip, especially the lateral delts and lats. Shrugs are a no-brainer. They overload the traps as no other exercise can. You can use a great deal more weight on the shrug than on the high When you perform them with dumbbells, bent-over rows do pull or power clean. The key to making an excellent job of hitting the elusive rear deltoids. shrugs productive is to pull every rep just as high as you posrear deltoids. You can do them one higher reps for the dumbbells—two sibly can. It sets the pattern for the arm at a time or with both arms at sets of 20. Or, if you have only lighter upcoming heavier sets. the same time. I find that when I dumbbells at your disposal, do two You’ll need straps for shrugs once rest my forehead on the back of a sets of as many as you can in perfect you start handling in the mid-300s and above. The standard I set for my padded chair, I can concentrate bet- form. ter on getting a full range of motion By working one or more of the athletes was to be able to handle six with the dumbbells. To put more overhead lifts hard and heavy, then 45-pound plates on each side of the emphasis on the rear delt, I pause attacking your upper back with the bar for five reps by the end of the at the topmost part of the pull and suggested exercises, you will build off-season strength program. That’s hold for a brief second or two. extremely strong, impressive shoul585 pounds, and those who applied Dumbbell rows fit in as an auxilders. While you may never reach the themselves made it, typically before iary movement, but barbell rows are point where people mistake you for spring break. definitely in the primary category. Conan, if you apply yourself fully, I find it helpful to change from Do them in strict fashion. That is, they just might. a clean grip to a snatch grip every keep your upper body parallel to so often. Again, the slight alteraEditor’s note: Bill Starr was a the floor and try not to let it move tion brings different muscles into upward at the end of the row, except strength and conditioning coach the mix—always a good thing in for the final couple of sets. Then you at Johns Hopkins University from strength training. 1989 to 2000. He’s the author of The can cheat a bit. By cheating, I mean Although bent-over rows are Strongest Shall Survive—Strength bringing your torso higher at the generally thought of in terms of Training for Football, which is conclusion of the movement. That the middle back, they’re also useful available for $20 plus shipping from enables you to handle more weight in making the upper back stronHome Gym Warehouse. Call (800) and still hit the target muscles. ger. When you perform them with Five sets of five are recommended 447-0008, or visit www.Homedumbbells, bent-over rows do an Gym.com. IM for the barbell bent-over rows and excellent job of hitting the elusive 288 JUNE 2009 \ www.ironmanmagazine.com

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MIND/BODY MIND/BODY MIND/BODY MIND/BODY MIND/BODY MIND/BODY MIND/BODY MIND/BODY MIND/BODY MIND/BODY MIND/BODY MIND/BODY MIND/BODY MIND/BODY MIND/BOD

MIND/BODY

Mind/Body BOMBER BLAST

Take Me to Your Dumbbells t a recent Bomber wingding, I asked the bombardiers— packed to the rafters—to assist me in determining the most outstanding muscle-building problem: the top of the heap, the biggee, utterly unbearable, sheer misery, pure torture, slow death and dag-nab unthinkable. I passed out several thousand questionnaires (a little shot of me in the upper-right-hand corner hitting an overhead biceps shot, big smile; nice touch—Laree’s idea) listing the 10 most troublesome bodybuilding dilemmas and asking them to number each according to their difficulty. The dark list was composed of, as you’d expect, losing undesirable fat, gaining well-shaped muscle, building cannonball biceps, forming horseshoe triceps, creating cantaloupe deltoids, developing colossal pectorals, acquiring washboard abs, crafting diamond-shaped calves, constructing oak-tree thighs and getting back to the gym with high-spirited enthusiasm and confidence after a long layoff. The inquiries with the cool picture in the top corner were collected, and the answer was swiftly computed by the ever-popular wing girls. Almost unanimously, the final entry, getting back to the gym, was selected as numero uno, the most excruciating bodybuilding dilemma of them all. The remaining nine were by no means less difficult, yet you’re in the gym before the weights, racks and benches consistently and actively applying yourself. Every workout, though not meeting your expectations, granting your wishes and fulfilling your high hopes, is in your hands, under your direction and providing progress beyond measure. Simply being amid the iron and at work is a triumph. Curling, pressing, pulling and lifting with all your heart, mounting the sets, stacking the reps, combing the movements and forming the grooves; exerting, willing, forcing and finessing; stretching, straining, struggling and sweating. You hear the metal, feel its coolness, leverage its gravity and fight the fight. You finish with a smile somewhere on your face and joy someplace in your heart and an ache of fulfillment all over. Another step forward. You win once again. Woe to the men or women who have forfeited the battle, tossed in the towel, given up the game. They lose, they know it, and they hate it. How do they fix it is the ultimate question. “How do I get back to the iron and start bombing with enthusiasm?” Having agreed on the problem, let’s consider the solution. We know from experience that you don’t one day simply go back to the gym and pick up where you left off. You revisit the obligatory self-loathing, guilt, cowardice, doubt, numbness, gagging and excuses. That often leads to the couch, the TV and a bowl of popcorn. Bad start. Seeking sincere help, I turned to the well-informed winged warriors for their input. Bombers, recommendations, please: Bomber: Never quit in the first place. DD: That’s sort of like saying don’t spill the milk, and there’ll

be no spilled milk to cry over. Good one, but not the answer we’re looking for. B: Recruit a personal trainer for advice and accountability. DD: A good answer and one to consider. There are personal trainers here who’ll totally agree with you, but bombers are self-reliant characters (a.k.a., stubborn, pig-headed, proud) who prefer to succeed or fail on their own. B: Start with a light regimen of aerobics, like walking, jogging or biking. DD: A smart beginning for sure, enlivens the body and its systems and awakens—reintroduces—the mind to health and fitness. A good starter, a valuable investment. B: Dig out and refresh the ol’ gym bag and training gear, and place it in a conspicuous yet unobtrusive corner. Don’t want the other half giving you grief (“George! Get your crap off the kitchen table!”). A small reminder, a tiny first step. DD: Another clever and effective suggestion. Another step closer. B: Guilt works. Let it bristle. When feeling low, break out the gym membership card and be certain it’s updated. Or, if you train at home, casually check out your gear to see it’s in order, free of grime, used tires, wheelbarrows, cobwebs and rats. DD: First things first, bombers. We’re making progress. Continue: Let’s see some more hands. B: Now’s the time to reconsider the diet. Is it balanced with sufficient protein, good carbs and fats to suit you needs? Are you eating too much or not enough? Are you getting plenty of fresh, living foods? Are you eating regularly, are you eating junk? Are you willing to fix it? Fix it. DD: Tough one. Spilt milk. Clean it up—fix it. When the time comes, when the guilt and self-loathing have done their work, when we can’t look in the mirror or sleep at night or just hang out with ourselves as we used to, we need a strong personal confrontation. How do I get back in the gym with spirit and confidence? A question is often answered with a question: What if I don’t? The answer is evident, by our asking, by our disposition and by our lack of strength and health. The answer is straightforward and not so pretty. The question then becomes, What do I do about it? Do I do something about it now, or do I confront myself next time? Wait, there’s more: Where will I be then? If a question with three faces doesn’t scare you into action, upgrade your TV to a supersized flat

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screen with TIVO and surround sound. You’ll need it. Here’s what I’d do, though I can’t say this is what I’ve done, ’cuz it’s been over 50 years since I’ve similarly laid off—el nutso—after answering the proposed Q and not accepting the grim answer: Sit down—by now you’re tired and out of breath—calm yourself and gather your nerve. What a great opportunity; you’re seriously moved to do something about your desolate condition. You’re in control, despite the low position you think you hold. You know all there is to know, you’ve been under the iron, your plate has been sufficiently full or spare, according to your needs. Recall the clang, the first and last rep, the last set, the pump, the burn, the energy and endurance. These things aren’t forgotten, they’re not history, and they’re not childhood games or tasks of the past. They’re high hopes, your high hopes and eagerness for today and tomorrow. Do this for the first week before the iron and before the chow line: 1) Make a sufficient assessment of yourself; it’s the last you’ll see of this floundering fellow. Be nice. Check, for example, bodyweight, tone, activity and lack of activity, general well-being—good time for a doctor to give you the once-over, bombers of all ages, especially those over 40. You know the drill—personal inspection. 2) Dump the killer pop and junk food. Assure balance to your menu, upping the protein and fresh veggies and some fruit, as you can deal with it. Don’t make life miserable with excessive rules and regs. Let time rebuild good habits. Do persevere. 3) Don’t stop with the body; review the mind and the spirit as well. Get those vital components in order by discarding the negatives—like guilt for not exercising and for poor eating—by imagining your under-construction improvements and anticipating the powerful progress ahead, by thanking God for your revival and abilities and goals. As I said, you know the drill. 4) Having arranged the absolutely necessary training time and place, slug down your Bomber Blend, put on your duds, and head for the gym, like a magnet straining for a pile of steel. 5) In 60 seconds or less, while fumbling with your gym bag in a safe corner of the weight room, review your inventory of exercises and pick two or four of them, your favorites, easy ones that require no setup nor cause any commotion. Stealth and strength, bombers. While you’re there, with a bench for assistance, do a warmup of leg raises and rope tucks. Be gentle and focused and allow the body and mind to loose themselves, accelerate and synchronize. Physics, not Zen. My faves would be curls plus well-executed close-grip bench presses. My extended choices would be incline dumbbell presses and seated rows. Two to three sets of each with light-to-moderate weight—enough to strain sweetly at rep eight or 10, 20 on the pulley work. 6) Wipe your brow and go home with a smile on your face and a pump in your biceps and the sense of satisfaction that comes only after a terrific workout. The rest follows as the days go by. You’re off and flying. Godspeed. —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.

Mental Might

Surf Your Brain Waves

ccording to the February ’09 Bottom Line Health, Web surfing is good for your brain. Scientists measured brain activity in 24 adults, aged 55 to 76, as they searched the Internet or read books. Searching the Internet won out, triggering more extensive brain activity than reading. It’s believed that searching the Internet produced more brain activity because it requires quick evaluations of significant amounts of information. —Becky Holman

Intimacy

Sex: Male vs. Female ccording to Laura Berman, Ph.D., romance and sex are important for men and women but for different reasons: “Sex often feeds intimacy for men, so the more sex they have, the more likely they are to want to hug, kiss and cuddle. For women the opposite is true—those little romantic gestures rev their sex drive.” Men, do you want more sack time? Try showering her with romantic gestures, compliments and touches.

—Becky Holman

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MIND/BODY BodySpace Physique of the Month

MIND/BODY

Nola Trimble

Editor’s note: For more BodySpace bodies and info, visit Bodybuilding.com.

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Photography by Ian Sitren \ SecondFocus

hen you first meet Nola, you might think that she’s kind of quiet and reserved. When you talk with her for a while, though, you find out how really out-there and aggressive she can be! There’s a lot to this lady. She’s 5’6” and a successful figure competitor, as well as a full-time federal firefighter, EMT and hazmat specialist at March Air Reserve Base in Southern California. She enlisted in the Air Force right out of high school and became a surgical tech—as well as a champion USAF golfer. After the Air Force she stayed with golf as she got her bachelor’s degree in business administration. Then she discovered the gym, went in search of her personal-training certification and was introduced to the world of figure competition. She ultimately made her way to the national level, where in 2008 she competed at the prestigious USA Championships in Las Vegas. Nola is crossing over to women’s bodybuilding this year, so you might find her at Gold’s Gym, Venice, pushing some serious weight around when she’s not on duty and on base. By the way, she works out on the base too, and in her spare time she’s taken up martial arts in the Japan Karate-Do federation. Where do you find people like Nola, and where does Nola find people as interested as she is in health and fitness? On BodySpace at BodyBuilding.com, of course. Visit Nola at BodySpace.com/fffitgirl and tell her that you’re as impressed as I am. —Ian Sitren

MIND/BODY Sleep

Snooze to Lose Fat

And gain muscle

ne of the biggest culprits slowing your muscle gains and fat losses may be lack of sleep. You’ve probably heard of cortisol, the stress hormone that causes your body to burn muscle tissue for energy, wreaks havoc with your health and leads to weight gain through various mechanisms, including carb binges. Researchers compared subjects getting six hours of sleep to those getting eight, and the six-hour group had 50 percent more cortisol in the bloodstream. If you want to get the best results from your workouts, be sure and get enough sleep to keep cortisol low. —Becky Holman

Hygiene

Germ Warfare om always said to wash your hands after you go to the restroom. That’s to rid your hands of not only waste products that may have migrated to your fingers but also germs from anyone else who may have left them on things you touched. Moreover, washing may not be enough. Once you wash, what do you do? Grab the doorknob to exit. Did you know that cold viruses can last up to three days on any hard surface? So, yes, wash your hands, but use a paper towel to open the door—especially if you’re in a public restroom. —Becky Holman

Metabolism

Move It to Lose It esearch out of the University of Massachusetts shows that the longer you sit, the greater your appetite. Sedentary subjects felt almost 20 percent hungrier than those who moved more during the day. Apparently, being still for long periods triggers the release of ghrelin, a hormone that ups your appetite. If you’ve got a desk job, get up and move around every 30 minutes. —Becky Holman

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MIND/BODY Competition

MIND/BODY MIND/BODY

Who Are We to Say? Ronnie Coleman. ecent interviews with eight-time Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman have revealed his intention to keep competing despite his gradual downward tumble in placings at his last two appearances on the Olympia stage. That announcement from the man who mentally or physically handicapped, dominated pro bodybuilding for some were extremely out of shape close to a decade sparked a firefor many years, and others have storm of debate from those who felt been though a traumatic life experiBig Ron needs to hang up his posence, such as the death of a loved ing trunks and move on with his life. one. For them, setting the goal of The consensus is that any future getting in the best shape they could contest outings that Coleman fails and competing in a contest helped to win will only serve to tarnish them focus on something positive his legend. Lee Haney, the only and gave them a clear target. other eight-time Mr. Olympia, left You never know if the guy with the sport undefeated and in his blurry abs and smooth legs used to prime. His successor, Dorian Yates, weigh 400 pounds or if the woman bowed out after six Sandows with with hardly any muscle mass is a the understanding that the multiple cancer survivor. Plus, if the only muscle tears he’d incurred throughpeople who competed were the out his reign would make future title ones who had a serious chance defenses futile. of winning the overall, there would Meanwhile, Ronnie shows obvibe very few athletes, and our sport ous signs of wear and tear, most would be even smaller than it alnotably in his withered left lat and ready is. triceps. Ronnie, however, is adaSo whether we’re talking about mant in stating that he simply loves Ronnie Coleman or the guy at your to compete, regardless of whether gym who doesn’t seem to be all his days of dominating lineups are there, nobody has the right to say over. that person should not compete. Well, really, who are we to tell Ultimately, that’s his or her choice Ronnie to stay retired? and his or hers alone. In my first That brings to mind something contests back in 1989, I didn’t really I’ve seen many times at bodybuildbelong up there, yet I gained valuing contests, all the way from the local level to the national level. Often able experience and motivation that enabled me to improve each time I there’s at least one competitor who competed again. looks completely out of place, lackBodybuilding is the ultimate ing the muscle size, condition or individual sport. If you love it, no structure of the others. Audience one can or should tell you that it’s members—and, far more often these days, anonymous online post- not for you. —Ron Harris ers—scold those athletes for daring to get onstage among “superior” Editor’s note: Ron Harris is the physiques. author of Real Bodybuilding, availThere’s usually a story behind each of those people, and I’ve talkable at www.RonHarrisMuscle.com. ed to a number of them. Some are

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Merv

MIND/BODY Classic-Book ReviewMIND/BODY

How to Win Friends and Influence People f you’re looking for a book that could change your life, check out How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. It’s a true classic that has sold more than 15 million copies. It was written in 1936, but the information is timeless, primarily because human nature doesn’t change. There are four parts, or veins, in the book: Fundamental Techniques in Handling People, Six Ways to Make People Like You, How to Win People to Your Way of Thinking, and Be a Leader: How to Change People Without Giving Offense of or Arousing Resentment. Some of the “gold” you’ll find in those sections: Don’t crticize, condemn or complain; smile; give honest and sincere appreciation;

become genuinely interested in other people; be a good listener and encourage others to talk about themselves; and make the other person feel important (something Arnold is very good at). Those are just a few of the nuggets, and while some may sound like common sense, you’ll find yourself immersed in the anecdotes that drive them home, nodding your head and understanding how to adopt them. You’ll also find yourself reading the book over and over, and every time you’ll come away a better person with a new attitude, improved self-esteem and a shining personality—shimmering more and more like gold. —Becky Holman

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3) The Precontest Bible by Larry Pepe 4) The Russian Kettlebell Challenge by Pavel Tsatsouline 5) Ronnie Coleman’s Hardcore Top E-book: The Ultimate Fatto-Muscle Workout by Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson. Get bigger and leaner without long, mind-numbing cardio sessions (available at www.X-Rep.com).

MIND/BODY Health and Aging

Learning Can Keep New Brain Cells Alive

xercising our minds isn’t just a cliché; it’s a mantra we should all live by if we want to keep fresh neurons—thousands of which are generated each day—alive. Recent research with rats shows that learning enhances the survival of new neurons in the adult brain, specifically in the hippocampus. Moreover, the more challenging the problem, the more cells that survive. That research builds on findings from work done in the 1990s by Elizabeth Gould, which showed that the mature mammalian brain was able to grow new neurons, a process called neurogenesis. Scientists had long believed that only young, developing minds were able to perform that critical function. While exercising the brain through learning can keep neurons alive, the new cells don’t survive indefinitely. In fact, most disappear after just

a few weeks. Based on their work with rats, a team led by Dr. Tracey J. Shors, a professor in the Department of Psychology and Center for Collaborative Neuroscience at Rutgers University, believe that the cells are made “just in case.” “If the animals are cognitively challenged, the cells will linger. If not, they will fade away. Gould, who is now at Princeton University, and I made that discovery in 1999, when we performed a series of experiments looking at the effect of learning on the survival of newborn neurons in the hippocampus of rat brains,” writes Dr. Shors in the March 2009 issue of Scientific American. The Shors team used a learning task called trace eyeblink conditioning, in which a rat hears a tone and a half second later receives a puff on its eyelid, causing it to blink. After several hundred trials, the animal usually makes a mental connection and blinks before receiving the stimulation. That provides a good way to Even older brains can grow new neurons. Keep challenging your measure “anticipatory learning,” which thought processes. is the ability to predict the future based upon the past, according to Dr. Shors. The scientists conducted additional studies to determine which types of learning work. They found that tasks that required the most mental effort to master rescued the greatest number of new neurons from death. —Dr. Bob Goldman www.WorldHealth.net Editor’s note: For the latest information and research on health and aging, subscribe to the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine e-zine free at World Health.net.

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Letters

Women With Muscle

True Legend

I have been buying your magazine off the newsstand until today, when I finally got around to subscribing for the year. I enjoy and appreciate not only the male muscle articles and instruction but also the female portions. I particularly enjoy the Bill Dobbins photos that showcase female muscle and figure. While my personal taste is not for the large, bulky women, it is definitely not for the thin, untoned models that often appear. I enjoy seeing a woman with good muscle and definition without having to wonder what substance she’s taking to get so big. Bravo to Bill Dobbins’ work. We need more. Bruce Barton via Internet Dobbins \ www.BillDobbins.com \ Model: Inga Neverauskaite

Editor’s note: We’ll have more from Bill Dobbins in future issues. You’ll also like the new Femme Physique column from IFBB Women’s Historian Steve Wennerstrom. See page 266.

Back-Attack Believer I’ve always believed that behind-the-neck exercises, like presses and pullups, are terrible, dangerous exercises. Then I read “Big-Back Awakening,” which described [IFBB pro] Derik Farnsworth’s back program. I was shocked that he starts one of his back workouts with 100 reps of behindthe-neck pullups, doing as many sets as it takes to get that 100. Then I saw the photo of him doing the exercise and how his entire back was contracted, from arms down to erectors and every muscle in between. I tried it and got lat and trap soreness I’ve never experienced. Thanks for teaching this old dog a new trick or two. Jack Hardwicke Derik Farnsworth. Baton Rouge, LA

Thank you for publishing an interview with one of my all-time-favorite bodybuilders, Rory Leidelmeyer [Legends of Bodybuilding, March ’09]. The man’s physique is flawless, and he was the true personification of what bodybuilding should be. His answer to what he wanted to achieve in bodybuilding is classic: “Creating a physique every man admired and every woman wanted.” Mission accomplished. Charlie Spielman via Internet

Rory Leidelmeyer.

IM Throwback I’m a big fan of IRON MAN. The other bodybuilding magazines just don’t compare. You guys don’t just talk about getting freaky muscles; you cover the legends of bodybuilding and strength, like Doug Hepburn; up-andcoming bodybuilding stars as well as the current champs; in-the-trenches training with bodybuilders I can identify with, like [Steve] Holman and [Jonathan] Lawson; the latest happenings in [Lonnie Teper’s] News & Views; the ladies in [Ruth Silverman’s] Pump & Circumstance; and strength training with coaches Charles Poliquin and Bill Starr. Amazing! Thanks for being so diverse. I’m a reader for life. Stan Sommers Hackensack, NJ

Muscle Quick Start I just got the e-book Quick-Start Muscle-Building Guide from the Web after seeing it in IRON MAN, and I printed it out for my 14-year-old son. He’s been watching me work out for a few years and is ready to give it a go. The guide sounded like the right program, and I wasn’t disappointed. I read the e-book in one sitting, and I highly recommend it. It’s the perfect starter manual for a bodybuilder of any age. It’s easy to understand, the exercise illustrations and tips are indispensable, and the programs are based on real research. What more could you ask for? Gerard Padilla Baton Rouge, LA Editor’s note: For more on the e-book Quick-Start Muscle-Building Guide, visit www.MuscleQuickStart.com.

Neveux

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Vol. 68, No. 6: 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. Canada, Mexico and other foreign subscriptions: 12 issues, $49.97 sent Second Class. Foreign orders must be in U.S. dollars. Send subscriptions to IRON MAN, 1701 Ives Ave., Oxnard, CA 93033. Or call 1-800-570-4766. Copyright © 2009. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any manner without written permission from the publisher. Printed in the USA.

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