Flex_UK_№10_2013

E FROEKLEIKTE

BOTRAIN LYMPIA

MEET BRITAIN’S BODYBUILDING BARRISTER

L

BRITISH EDITION

MR O

SQUAT TILL YOU DROP

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OCTOBER 2013

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36

Kai Greene’s biceps training philosophy

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TRAINING 36 BI’S LIKE KAI’S

50

Kai Greene tells all on the dos and don’ts of his biceps workout.

By Michael Berg

74 SUPER SHREDDED, PART 2 The second instalment of our supreme muscle-building programme.

By Jim Stoppani

102 H.U.G.E.®: RETRO-GRAVITY The benefits of going negative.

By Greg Merritt

FEATURES 50 PHIL VS JAY The 10-year friendship and rivalry between Mr Olympias Phil Heath and Jay Cutler.

By Greg Merritt

62

92 GENERATION IRON An in-depth look at the bodybuilding feature film.

By Dave Lee

116 THE BODYBUILDING BARRISTER Maria Scotland is one of Britain’s best physique competitors. She’s also one of the brightest.

By John Plummer

CONTEST 62 THE BEAST FROM THE EAST Big Ramy raises the roof at the 2013 IFBB New York Pro.

By Tony Monchinski

102 BONUS FREE 32-PAGE BOOKLET: TRAIN LIKE MR. OLYMPIA

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VOLUME 31 NUMBER 7 FLEX

108 From the Trenches

WEIDER ATHLETES 150 152 154 156 157 158

Expert advice for hardgainers.

124 Gym Bag

Phil Heath Shawn Rhoden Flex Lewis Fouad Abiad Roelly Winklaar Ramy Mamdouh Elssbiay

DEPARTMENTS 12 Editorial The next few weeks are the most exciting of the year.

14 It’s Only My Opinion Squats, chins and parallel dips.

18 Hard Times The first-ever Asian Pro; Kai Greene in the hot seat; and more!

30 Home Scene News and gossip from the UK.

86 Get Big Column How to hand yourself bigger muscles.

Our usual mix, including training tips, research, and more.

132 Big Ass Mass Creatine’s safety tested.

134 The Diet Doc The case for cortisol.

174 Under the Microscope We put Matrix Nutrition’s Anabolic Matrix under the microscope.

176 The Shot Victor Martinez

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138 Lift Strong Hybrid exercises.

140 Only the Strong Travel on track.

142 Hardcore Nutrition Lower leg logic.

146 King Khan Unleashed Zack gives us lessons on owning a monkey and robbing a bank.

160 Looking Back A look back at the career of the massive Mike Francois.

168 ET Column Ex pro British bodybuilder Ernie Taylor draws on his vast experience to answer your questions .

OLD METHOD, NEW ANGLE Blow it up with this modern-day twist on a timeless classic

CHRIS LUND

PAVEL YTHJALL

VOLUME TRAINING:

ER

Phil Heath reveals his back-burning techniques

OB CT

THE GIFT

R BE E M SU E VE IS L O 3 A N 01 N S 2 O

BACK AND FORTH WITH

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PLUS, all the other training, nutrition, news and gossip you have come to expect from the world’s number one bodybuilding magazine! facebook.com/flexonlineuk

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“Strive for excellence, exceed yourself, love your friends, speak the truth, practise fidelity and honour your father and mother. These principles will help you master yourself, make you strong, give you hope and put you on the path to greatness.” — Joe Weider, Trainer of Champions BECAUSE YOU TAKE BODYBUILDING SERIOUSLY, SO DO WE! FLEX acts as your monthly bodybuilding guide. At great expense, we visit the champions at their gyms, at contests, and in their homes, gathering information and photographs. We learn the latest strategies that they will use to further develop their title-winning physiques, and the competitive goals that they will apply them to. We bring this state-of-the-art information from the champions to you instantly and accurately in order for you to reach your ultimate muscular goals by the fastest route possible. Even if you had the time, money and practical wherewithal to visit the champions as we do, you still wouldn’t be able to extract the precise information you need to succeed. We know which aspect of bodybuilding each star is an authority on, and we select the appropriate spokesperson for the appropriate subject. This policy ensures that you will consistently receive the best advice possible. In FLEX, you will see no rehashes of old information, no phony “interviews” with the stars, no make-believe theories from armchair experts. You will be hearing directly and accurately from the champions themselves. The champions talk only to FLEX because they trust us to present their expertise faithfully to the bodybuilding community. FLEX is also the only bodybuilding magazine the champions themselves read, because they know that they can learn from their fellow competitors. The champions consider FLEX the bible of hardcore bodybuilding. You should do the same, and guarantee yourself a direct pipeline to the stars every month. FLEX is not just another bodybuilding magazine: It is the voice of the champions! We assume no responsibility for returning unsolicited material, including but not limited to photographs, artwork, manuscripts and letters.

Every care is taken to assure the accuracy of the information in FLEX, but no responsibility can be accepted for the consequences of action based on the advice contained herein. Weider Publishing Ltd., makes every effort to ensure that the advertising contained in FLEX is derived from respectable sources. It does not, however, assume responsibilty for the advertisements, nor any claims and representations made therein, nor the quality or delivery of the products/ services themselves.

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Editorial articles relating to food supplementation and sports nutrition reproduced in this issue of Flex, are for information purposes only and are not intended to solicit or otherwise promote any commercialised product containing the mentioned supplements. Flex is distributed on an international basis. To the extent permitted by law, Weider Publications LLC and its affiliates; Weider Publishing Ltd, Weider Publishing Italia Srl and Mediafit SARL, do not accept liability for the effects of reported supplements or products, legal or illegal or any loss, injury or damage caused by their use. It is the responsibility of the individual to abide by the laws and dosage allowances specific to their country of residence. Always consult a doctor before commencing supplementation or changing dosages. Some supplements may not work effectively outside specific dosage ranges and may potentially cause harm if taken in excess. Not all supplements, combinations of supplements, or dose ranges of supplements may be suitable, safe or effective for everybody.

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SQUEAKY BUM TIME

Anth Bailes (centre) defeats Daz Ball (left) and Ricardo Correia (right) for the overall title at last year’s British Championships

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FLEX

track as diets begin to bite. The heat is on and inevitably some will blow it. By this stage, contest preparation is more mental than physical. It’s what Sir Alex Ferguson famously called “squeaky bum time”, when it’s all about holding your nerve. Besides the domestic action, there are lots of big international shows. There are the women’s IFBB World Championships in Kiev, the Arnold Classic Europe in Spain and the small matter of the Olympia weekend in Las Vegas. British interest centres on Welshman Flex Lewis in the 212 Showdown and England’s

Michelle Brannan in the bikini class. Even with all the new classes, only 12 Brits have stood on the Olympia stage this century, as our list in Hard Times on page 20 reveals. This illustrates why the Olympia remains the pinnacle of the sport and why thousands fly to Las Vegas each year to see it. Good luck to Flex and Michelle. With so much happening, all we can confidently predict is that it’s going to be exciting. Stay tuned to flexonline.co.uk and our Facebook page for regular updates. FLEX

MATT MARSH

The next few weeks are the most exciting of the year, with contests virtually every weekend until the British Championships in Harrogate on October 19th and 20th. The late qualifiers include the Birmingham show on September 22nd and the last one of all a fortnight later at Leamington Spa. Try to go to one. Some competitors will be nervously awaiting those events; others who have already qualified will be hoping to stay on

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COMMENT

BY CHRIS LUND PHOTOS BY CHRIS LUND

SQUATS, CHINS, AND PARALLEL DIPS I can always remember my very first workout. We kicked off with barbell squats inside a handmade wooden squat rack. I loved squats from the off, even though I couldn’t walk properly for three days afterwards. Regular squats are the hardest exercise in the bodybuilder’s handbook, but they are still the most result-producing movement you can do. They will build up your thighs and lung capacity like nothing else can. Do 20 reps for the best results. We then spent 15 minutes doing donkey calf raises at the bottom of a stairway. Bench presses were next, followed by barbell bentover rows, and then chins, because we were told that we always had to do them. Chins were, in effect, an absolute must. Remember, this was no fancy modern-day gym, complete with all the latest hi-tech exercise machines. The room we worked out in was located in the basement of an old run-down YMCA, and the chinning bar was simply a barbell cemented into two corners of a wall. I must admit, I dreaded chins, only because I wasn’t very good at them, but I still did them and eventually I got better at them. After chins we did seated dumbbell presses, with someone sitting behind you, back to back, to give you support. I must admit I really did love seated dumbbell presses, and still do. Good old-fashioned barbell curls were next for the biceps, and the final exercise in the entire workout was parallel dips, which, we were told, was just as important as squats and chins. The dipping bars, like everything else in the gym, were handmade and simply consisted of two pipes sticking out of a wall. Some of the younger, lighter bodybuilders could do countless reps of parallel dips whilst

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others, myself included, struggled to even complete five lousy repetitions. While chins work almost every single back muscle, they also give your biceps one heck of a workout as well. Parallel dips, on the other hand, take things even further; they work your chest, shoulders, and triceps like crazy. Back in the days when so-called abbreviated workouts were in fashion, we read that if time was short you could get a tremendous workout from doing only squats, chins, and parallel dips! Personally, I never actually tried that, but it does make sense because any workout is better than none. Back in those good ol’ days every bodybuilder did squats, chins, parallel dips, curls and bench presses. However, during the last 25 years or so, I have seen less and less people doing squats, chins and especially parallel dips. Apart from the really top hardcore bodybuilders, I doubt very much if these exercises are being done like they were 50 to 70 years ago. Because, let’s face it, these three exercises are probably the hardest and most demanding exercises in bodybuilding. Having said that, I would really like to point out that almost every top pro bodybuilder who I have worked with during the past 30 years was tremendous at doing squats, chins, and parallel dips. Champion bodybuilders such as Ronnie Coleman, Jay Cutler, Nasser El Sonbaty, Kevin Levrone, Phil Heath, and many, many more, used immense poundages in these particular lifts. It’s also really amazing when you realise that most of these guys weighed around 280 pounds. How can you chin and dip with 100 pounds strapped to you when you already weigh a ton? Beats me!

Today, there are more leg machines available in any decent well-equipped gym, but would a thigh extension, leg press or hack machine build better thighs than good old-fashioned squats? I doubt it. Every great bodybuilder always works his thighs with squats before he even thinks about doing anything else. Some only use thigh extensions as a warm-up to squats. Things are different as far as chins are concerned because there are many revolutionary back machines out there that can work your back muscles in a much less demanding way than chins do. But does that mean that you shouldn’t do them? The same applies to parallel dips. There are so many easy, enjoyable, and far less demanding exercises to do for your chest and triceps. So, why would you want to work your muscles really hard with parallel dips when you can do easier options like cable crossovers and pressdowns? The answer is simple. Parallel dips are superior to these exercises and you will build a bigger chest, bigger triceps and bigger shoulders if you do them instead. Squats, chins, and parallel dips are old-school, but what’s wrong with that? If these exercises built great physiques way back in the 50s, 60s and 70s why shouldn’t they still do that today? If you’re just starting out in bodybuilding, make sure you include squats, chins, and dips in your workouts. If you’ve been training some time and you don’t do these exercises, then shame on you. Start doing them now! See you next month, and keep training. Chris Lund FLEX

DON LONG

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BIG NEWS, GOSSIP, AND MORE

GOLDENTIMES IFBB ASIAN PRO BODYBUILDING CHAMPIONSHIPS IN CHINA!

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latest event, which was finalised this past April, will bring the sport to a whole new world of fans who will witness firsthand, the greatest professional bodybuilders battling onstage. One will go down in history as the inaugural Asian Pro Bodybuilding winner and the first professional bodybuilder IFBB 2014 ASIAN PRO BODYBUILDING CHAMPIONSHIPS Zhengzhou International Conference Centre, China

to be crowned as champion in China. With $60,000 in total prize money, the 2014 IFBB Asian Pro Bodybuilding Championships is open to all IFBB Professional League athletes. Currently, there is no official competitor list, but several top IFBB pros are expected to enter. BILL COMSTOCK

It’s been years in the making, and in 2014 the world will finally see it happen with the first-ever IFBB Professional League contest in China—in fact, the first pro bodybuilding contest ever held in China— the 2014 Goldentimes IFBB Asian Pro Bodybuilding Championships. Promoted by Mr Gao Yan, this milestone moment will take place at the Zhengzhou International Conference Centre in Zhengzhou. The IFBB Professional League’s mission is to expand to all parts of the globe, and this

APPEARANCES SINCE 2000

Flex Lewis looking to repeat in the 212s

Flex Lewis

2008, 2009, 2011, 2012

Kizzy Vaines

2010, 2011, 2012

Ernie Taylor

2002, 2003

Andrulla Blanchette

2000, 2001

Shaun Joseph-Tavernier

2011

James Llewellin

2011

John Hodgson

2009

Lee Powell

2009

Nicole Scott

2007

Eddie Abbew

2007

Joanna Thomas

2004

JD Dawodu

2001

MATT MARSH

ZDENÐK DRYÁK

Michelle Brannan— first British bikini Olympian

OLYMPIAN BRITS

British bodybuilders have had a tough time at the Olympia since the halcyon days of the 1990s, when Dorian Yates ruled the roost. Our competitors have had their moments—most

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notably last year when Flex Lewis won the 212 Showdown and in 2000 when Andrulla Blanchette claimed the lightweight Ms Olympia crown. But it’s generally been slim pickings.

Since the turn of the century only 12 Brits have appeared on the Olympia stage. Of those, only four have returned and not one has featured in the men’s open class since Eddie Abbew in 2007. At this year’s Olympia, from September 26th to 29th, Welshman Flex Lewis and English rose Michelle Brannan are likely to be the only Brits rocking Sin City. Lewis will be hoping to retain his title while Brannan will become Britain’s first Bikini Olympian. Let’s hope 13 is her lucky number. It’s 2013 and she will be the 13th Brit to appear at the Olympia this century.

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IN THE HOT SEAT

KAI GREENE “I’m inspired to imagine what my best will actually be, and I’m eager to share that with the world.”

At the 2012 Mr Olympia, Kai Greene unveiled a physique that many in attendance felt was at or near his all-time best. With a streamlined waist and fine detailing, the contest became a duel between Greene and defending champ Phil Heath. Despite Greene’s best efforts, Heath retained the title and a week later and halfway across the world, the outcome was identical at the Sheru Classic. But, as Greene says, “2013 is another year” and the No. 2 bodybuilder on the planet is focusing only on the Olympia. And unlike past off-seasons, Greene has been staying remarkably lean. His eye-popping condition for guest posings, especially compared to his fellow Olympia-bound competitors, has generated plenty of talk about what could possibly go down at the big O. We sat down with Greene and got the full scoop as we count down the weeks leading up to the Olympia Weekend. ON HIS FIRST MR OLYMPIA IN 2009 The opportunity was amazing considering that there was a time when being on that stage was almost unthinkable. You spend a million moments getting ready and once it happens, you’re only onstage for a few minutes and then it’s all over. Up until that point, the [magazine] write-ups weren’t very favourable and I got the sense that I was still on the outside looking in. I felt like I was the guy who wasn’t invited to the dance but came anyway because I knew somebody who was. But still, there was the expectation to do exceedingly well. There was a lot to prove [Greene placed fourth]. ON PLACING SEVENTH AT THE 2010 MR OLYMPIA The fact that you went from being uninvited to having the red carpet almost rolled out for you was a significant change. All of a sudden, in the days leading up to the show, every phone call was a new opportunity. The world was a bright and beautiful place that was responding to the brilliance

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of the opportunity that your efforts seemed to represent. But the day after the show, the experience was quite the opposite. No one returns your phone calls because they’re busy celebrating with the people that did better in meeting the expectations of what was expected of them. I remember feeling intensely embarrassed. But I chose to use that experience to help me move forward in a positive way. It’s really important how you choose to look at things because sometimes you may think it’s harmless, but a negative, hopeless way of thinking can lead to self-sabotage and self-destruction and the inability to realise your brightest dreams. I have to say I was fortunate enough to have had some experiences that really went a long way towards putting things in their proper perspective. You learn that even what you may first perceive as being negative can contribute to empowering you in a positive manner. The setback is incidental to the desired end result—if you have the right mind-set and the will to get the necessary work done.

Kai accepting defeat at the hands of Phil Heath in 2012.

Having placed second last year, I don’t feel the least bit slighted or disrespected by that. They obviously have a friendship that goes back several years. He’s got the right to worry or think of the things that he feels are priorities for him on his quest to become Mr Olympia again. If he thinks that Kai Greene isn’t a factor in his world, he’s totally entitled to his opinion—however, when we get onstage, that’s another reality because there’s only one Kai Greene.

Kai Greene at the 2012 Olympia.

“THERE ARE LOT OF MEN THAT HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO COME OUT AND ATTAIN THAT REALITY…BUT THERE’S ONLY ONE KAI GREENE.” their own goals, a road that can at times test your limits. ON GOOD FRIEND SHAWN RHODEN I’ve been fortunate enough to be in touch with Shawn Rhoden for the past few years. I remember he was dealing with particularly trying situations, and I was able to be there for him and encourage him not to give up, to see the bigger and brighter opportunities that lay ahead of him. That’s the thing with this thing we call life: it really does take something extra to see beyond difficult moments and stay focused on the bigger promise ahead. The fact that he turned it around as well as he did last year shows me that he’s a man who’s willing to work hard to see his dreams

realised. It should be no surprise when you see things come together if you put the work in. I’ve always thought that if I work dutifully, doing what I have to do to be my best, there is no way I can imagine that my best will not be rewarded, and that holds true for everyone. As for Mr Rhoden at the Olympia, Shawn’s pretty smart, but Shawn’s the child, and when it comes to the day of the contest, I am his father. He comes to me for advices. So it’s not that hard for me to give him the wrong “advices.” [Laughs] And let’s not forget, there’s only one Kai Greene. ON JAY CUTLER’S RETURN Jay has every right to believe that Phil’s his main competition.

ON A REMATCH WITH HEATH Phil is the reigning Mr Olympia. That’s no small feat by any means and I definitely respect what he’s accomplished. He’s the one that people recognise as the man to beat. It’s funny because a lot of times, in order to give ourselves a pat on the back, we tend to feel it necessary to throw dirt on the name of someone else, to disrespect the body of work that the individual has taken the time to create. Phil has been nothing but highly respectful of me and that shows the calibre of the champion that he is. Like I said, he’s the reigning Mr Olympia from 2011–2012, but 2013 is another year, and there are lot of men that have the opportunity to come out and attain that reality…but there’s only one Kai Greene. Are we friends? If he were on fire, I’d definitely run and find someone to help him. [Laughs]. I’m excited to show my best. I’m inspired to imagine what my best will actually be and I’m eager to share that with the world.

FLEX

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BILL COMSTOCK

ON SECOND PLACE (DOES IT REALLY SUCK?) Honestly, it’s always easier to judge when you’re not in the middle of it. I know from experience now that there’s a lot more information that has to be considered. Ultimately, everyone wants their best efforts to be rewarded, but I don’t think that we possess the ability to be as impartial as we like to think we can be. I’d love to be able to get the response that I’m praying for, but even if that doesn’t happen, I still need to be OK with that and recognise the opportunity available to me. I believe everything prepares you for the next level in your life. For example, what kind of road did you travel on your way to becoming Mr Olympia? If you haven’t been through anything, what is the message you can impart? If you’ve gone through some hardships and you’ve been fortunate enough to be a better athlete and a better person because of them, you’re much more capable of recognising the opportunity available to you in that moment, and that message of hope is something you can impart to someone else who might be able to use it. They see that you struggled before you experienced success, and that can be an inspiring observation for a person who is still on the road to achieving

2013 IFBB TORONTO PRO SUPERSHOW

FIGURE

1 Ann Titone* 2 Swann Cardot 3 Natalie Waples 4 Aleisha Hart 5 Candice John *Qualifies for 2013 IFBB Figure Olympia

BIKINI 1 Ashley Kaltwasser* 2 Jennifer Dawn 3 Gigi Amurao 4 Nathalie Mur 5 Jessica Renee *Qualifies for 2013 IFBB Bikini Olympia

WOMEN’S BODYBUILDING 1 Jennifer Scarpetta*

212 AND UNDER

2 Anne Luise Freitas

1 Jose Raymond*

4 Melody Spetko 5 Michelle Cummings *Qualifies for 2013 IFBB Ms. Olympia

MEN’S OPEN BODYBUILDING

2 Mark Dugdale

1 Victor Martinez* 2 Fouad Abiad 3 Jon Delarosa 4 Frank McGrath

4 Mboya Edwards

3 Raul Carrasco

5 Mohammad Ali Bannout *Qualifies for 2013 IFBB Mr Olympia

5 Al Auguste *Qualifies for 2013 IFBB Olympia 212 Showdown

FITNESS

MEN’S PHYSIQUE

1 Ryall Graber-Vasani*

1 Matthew Acton*

1 Toni West*

2 Tyler Anderson

2 CeaAnna Kerr

2 Michelle Blank 3 Nicole Duncan 4 Vanda Hadarean 5 Fiona Harris *Qualifies for 2013 IFBB Fitness Olympia

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WOMEN’S PHYSIQUE

3 William Sullivan

3 Mindi O’Brien

4 Vincent Fiore

4 Kim Tilden

5 Craig Capurso

5 Jill Rudison

*Qualifies for 2013 IFBB Olympia Men’s Physique Showdown

*Qualifies for 2013 IFBB Women’s Physique Showdown

ISAAC HINDS

3 Maria Rita Bello

Photograph by ISAAC HINDS

HARDBODY CONFIDENTIAL

SWANN CARDOT

IFBB figure competitor What did you want to be when you grew up? A ballerina. What languages can you speak? French and English. What’s the best French food? Simple, a French baguette or a croissant with butter is the best! Best birthday gift: My first watch. My parents bought me a Guess watch when I was 12, and I still wear it today. What’s one thing a guy should never say to a woman? That she’s fat. What’s one thing a guy should always say to a woman? That he loves her. Biggest pet peeve: Shoes in the house. One thing I want to do before I die is…Go to Bora Bora. One thing I’ll never do is… Let myself get out of shape and become unhealthy.

ALL IMAGES COURTESY OF BPI SPORTS

ACCORDING TO THE GUYS AT BPI Q The most challenging aspect of putting on contests is securing sponsorship and making sure all of the athletes are comfortable and having the best experience possible. Knowing all the ins and outs of competing, Cutler uses this knowledge to help keep the ship running smoothly.

JAY CUTLER

PRESENTED BY

BE POWERFUL

THE DRIVE FOR FIVE

This is how it’s done! As evidenced by these photos, Jay Cutler has turned up the heat in preparation for the 2013 Mr Olympia. The four-time Mr Olympia is not only one of the greatest competitors and ambassadors the sport has ever seen, he’s also an accomplished 28

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contest promoter, with successful shows such as the NPC Jay Cutler Classic, the NPC Jay Cutler Desert Classic, and others. So how does Cutler manage to promote the BPI Jay Cutler Elite Series supplement line and prepare for a fifth title run at this year’s Mr Olympia?

Q The most rewarding part of being a contest promoter is seeing the athletes perform well and charting the rise of new talent. After all, it was back in 2005 that Cutler e-mailed photos of a young, amateur bodybuilder to FLEX. That bodybuilder’s name was Phil Heath, and today, well, you know the rest. Cutler won’t put his name on anything that doesn’t live up to his high standards, and he takes great pride in putting on shows that both competitors and fans alike can appreciate as his way of giving back to the sport. FLEX

BY JOHN PLUMMER

BIG NEWS, GOSSIP AND MORE

O’REILLY DYNASTY

Dad Sean gives Matt the thumbs-up

discipline appealed to me in a big way. I wasn’t a big kid but was always very strong.” But football was his main sport until injury struck and he turned to the iron. He’s the first to admit he benefits from the family connection. “My dad never pushed me into bodybuilding,” he says. “I chose this path myself but he’s helped me tons. He’s shown me loads of techniques that I’ve been able to use to improve my training tenfold.”

KEVIN HORTON

Most people who follow bodybuilding are familiar with the name O’Reilly. Sean O’Reilly was a top British bodybuilder in the 1990s who, after a stage comeback a few years ago, is now a leading UKBFF official and judge. Wife Helen was also a successful bodybuilder who played Panther in the original Gladiators on ITV and is now a UKBFF official. Today they run stage-ready boot camps and UKBFF education courses at their Panther’s Gym in West London so they remain highly active. Now there is another O’Reilly on the scene—Sean’s son Matt. He made a winning debut in the beginners’ class at this year’s London and South-East Championships and is now heading to Harrogate for the British Championships on October 19th and 20th. Bodybuilding is in Matt’s blood. “My earliest memories of my dad are of him taking me to the gym where, whilst he trained, I would be treated to a protein shake topped with ice cream,” he recalls. “And we would sit for hours watching various Arnold and Stallone films.” Matt started training at 14. “Being surrounded by these larger-than-life guys living a lifestyle with so much

PHYSIQUE SHOWDOWN

Riches moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in fitness and now has 40,000-plus Twitter followers and his own sports nutrition company. That’s big time. His fantastically muscular and conditioned physique is the basis of his success.

MATT MARSH

MATT MARSH

4 RYAN TERRY

Williams is on a hot streak: this year he has won the tall class at the UK Nationals and bagged a silver medal at the European Championships. At 6 ft 2 ins and 91 kg, and with wide shoulders, he cuts an imposing figure.

2 ASHLEY GRANT

Winner of the short class at the inaugural UK Nationals, Terry has made a successful transition from male pageants. Won a bronze medal at European Championships. Gets ripped and is extremely symmetrical.

The Muscletalk qualifier had one of the toughest line-ups this year so Grant, the winner, has to be a serious contender. Like Williams, he packs plenty of muscle and has deep abs and a great chest.

5 ALEX EDWARDS

TAUSEEF ASRI

3 LEON WILLIAMS

1 ROB RICHES

MATT MARSH

Men’s physique was only introduced in the UK this season but already it is often the most popular class. Even traditionalists who weren’t keen on board shorts are beginning to accept it and when you look at the quality of physiques it’s easy to see why. These guys might not be freaks but they carry the size and condition most men aspire to. Like the bikini fitness class for women, it is opening up physique contests to the masses and providing a more commercial look. So who will be the contenders at this year’s inaugural British Championships, which has two height classes? Here are five names to look for, in no particular order.

Edwards has the distinction of winning the UK’s first ever men’s physique contest. He has watched others steal the limelight since, while he has kept his powder dry, but his classy, aesthetic lines make him a contender.

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31

BORN IN BRAZIL

She has a Masters diploma, is fluent in three languages and is proficient at surfing and ballet… Luciana Del Giudice would be an impressive woman even if you ignored her physique. The half-Brazilian, half-Italian beauty won this year’s tall bikini fitness class at the South Coast Championships and is now preparing for the British Championships in Harrogate. Del Giudice, 35, started lifting weights after moving to Brighton in 2007 and was encouraged to compete, which she finally did in April this year, when this photo Date of birth: 10th September 1978 was taken. With such superb genetics it will Place of birth: Salvador, Brazil be a surprise if she isn’t in the shake-up in Lives: Brighton Harrogate. Height: 170 cm (5 ft 7 ins) She is working out six days a week and Weight: 58 kg (128 lbs) Career highlight: UKBFF South Coast Chamis also training to be a gym instructor pionships bikini fitness champion, tall class after previously working in international Ambition: To become an IFBB pro hospitality. “I have always lived a healthy Training advice: Set smart goals. Be specific– lifestyle,” says Del Giudice. “Now I want to emphasise what exactly you are going to do. put this passion into my profession.” To contact: Via Facebook

LUCIANA DEL GIUDICE

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ERIC GUY

POWERFUL PAIR AJS PHOTOS

Here’s a well-built couple you’re likely to be hearing plenty of in the years ahead. Yo Lazarov has already made her mark by winning the bodyfitness class at the NorthWest Championships this year. She is now preparing for the British Championships. Fiancé Matt Wild, a former finalist, was hoping to do a late qualifier in the super-heavyweights. Lazarov was a cardio bunny until Wild started helping her at the end of last year. In less than half a year she transformed her body to such an extent that she also won the overall female title at her debut contest. We wonder who gets the most attention when they go out. FLEX

Lazarov wins in Warrington

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Want to build arms like two-time Arnold Classic champion Kai Greene? That’s fine—just don’t attempt to emulate his biceps workout rep for rep. We’ll let him explain why. BY

MICHAEL BERG PHOTOGRAPHS BY JASON BREEZE

PAVEL YTHJALL

Flip through the pages of this Kai Greene biceps-training article, and you might notice one key element is missing. Sure, you’ll see the requisite photos of the 275-pound Brooklynite, showing off a physique that might just earn him a Mr Olympia title at this year’s event. You’ll also read plenty of information about workouts, and even a few key biceps exercises you might want to take advantage of. So what’s not there? Well, an actual biceps workout. No sets. No reps. No handy little box neatly listing everything, ready for you to tear out and take to the gym with you, all in an effort to start crafting arms you hope to one day be as voluminous, muscular and ripped as Greene’s mighty peaks. Indeed, you have come across a rarity in bodybuilding media. Who knows, it may even be the very first of its kind. Because right now, you’re about to delve into a biceps workout article that, oddly enough, doesn’t include an actual biceps workout. And if you think that’s a head scratcher, well, that’s all part of the territory when exploring the often surprising, inimitable psyche of Kai Greene—bodybuilding’s resident philosopher and reigning king of ultrafreaky, otherworldly muscle development.

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GREENE DOESN’T ZONE OUT DURING A WORKOUT. HE DOESN’T AIMLESSLY RATTLE OFF REPS. HE’S NOT HAPHAZARDLY STRINGING EXERCISES TOGETHER. GREENE IS 100% IN THE MOMENT, ANALYSING EVERY TWITCH AND TREMOR OF HIS PHYSIQUE. KNOW THYSELF Greene trains biceps about once a week, usually on the same day as chest, triceps, and forearms. A student of the iron game would assume pecs would come first, followed by arms…but when it comes to the enigmatic 2012 Mr O runner-up, you soon learn to expect the unconventional. “Say I’m travelling and not really expecting to perform big lifts for my chest, but instead just want to pump some blood into the area—there’s a chance I may do triceps first,” Greene says. “I might also start with forearms, triceps, biceps and then do chest, or start with chest and triceps followed by forearms and then biceps.” Greene pauses a moment, as if he can hear the visceral reaction from exercise physiologists and by-the-book lifters alike as they react to the perceived lunacy. After all, doesn’t tiring your triceps negatively impact your ability to work your pecs to their max? Not to mention launching a workout with forearm moves, which can compromise your grip strength for the heavier chest and arm exercises to come. For Greene, though, personal experience trumps the science. “There are days you don’t want to go too heavy and risk injury,” he says. “You may be nursing a shoulder injury, or dealing with some elbow issue, or be worn out from long days on the road. For chest, I might select exercises with that in mind, and lift lighter than usual.” To that end, then, pre-fatiguing his arms hasn’t compromised his performance. How does he know? Well, for one, you’ll probably never come across an athlete so attuned to the inner workings of his body. Greene doesn’t zone out during a workout. He doesn’t aimlessly rattle off reps. He’s not haphazardly stringing

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exercises together. Greene is 100% in the moment, analysing every twitch and tremor of his physique. “The absolute wrong way to go about biceps training is to turn off my mind and not process what my body is feeling, what it’s telling me,” Greene explains. “From the first rep to the last, sensory triggers are stimulated, and if you’re attuned enough, you can interpret that data and make good decisions that’ll further advance you towards your desired goal. It does take experience in the gym, so you can’t expect a beginner to walk in and do it, but it’s something that can be learned.” With that statement, we have some proof to the theory that Kai Greene isn’t a mere mortal, but a supercharged, bodybuilding machine that can create otherworldly, freaky, dense muscle mass with precise superhuman calculation. But for the rest of us, there’s an integral lesson to be learned: successful training requires immersive, unyielding engagement of the mind on every single rep. Cue the exit of the old workout paradigm: the sweat-beaded guy in the stained T-shirt grunting through intensive sets, zoned out to power through the pain, all while aggressive guitar chords envelop the scene in hazy harmony. A Greene workout requires reading and reviewing a constant stream of data. During biceps training, his vital feedback includes the feeling of the biceps contracting and extending during a rep, the strum of connective tissues, the recognition of “good” pain versus “bad,” and the monitoring of blood flowing into and out of an area, creating the internal pressure of a pump on muscles that triggers growth.

“Working out is a mental activity—your mind is the key to making the activity profitable or a waste,” he says simply.

ONE OF A KIND The 37-year-old has often unabashedly cited his ultimate goal: “over the past 20 years in bodybuilding, I’ve been working to create a masterpiece,” he says. In his view, all the workouts

(many of them performed in the hard-core basement environs of 5th Avenue Gym in Brooklyn), along with every single competition since his seventh-grade teacher pointed him towards the stage as a better way to dispel his aggression, have culminated in the person he is today. Ever since he emerged as a force on the pro scene by winning the 2007 Colorado Pro, his

01

ONE-ARM MACHINE PREACHER CURL Preacher curl movements—including barbell, EZ-bar, and dumbbell curls on the free-weight preacher bench as well as single- and dual-arm curls using the machine—often find their way into Greene’s repertoire. The bench helps restrict cheating and focuses form on the bi’s like a laser point.

DO IT RIGHT MAKE IT HARDER

Adjust the seat height so your upper armpit is snug against the pad when you sit. Grasp the handle with your working hand, using your nonworking arm as a brace. Without standing or wriggling in the seat, curl the handle as far as you can without your elbow detaching from the pad, then lower it to a point just before the weight stack touches down.

Selectorised machines make dropsets easy—simply move the pin up a plate or two after failing, and work your way through the remaining lighter weights on the stack.

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39

particular “masterpiece” has defied categorisation. He’s nearly impossible to compare to any of his contemporaries, because his physique is so dramatically different from just about any body that’s come before it. He’s had to overcome much along the way, from living as a ward of New York State during his troubled teen years, to dealing today with the certainly less-bleak but still challenging trappings of success—including, for example, the constant demands on his time, which—while appreciated—send him jet-setting across the globe, continually jostling his training and nutrition regime. But no matter what obstacle has been thrown his way, Greene has responded with studious aplomb. It certainly helps that his physique has proved eager to respond. “Over the years, I’ve had body parts that at times I haven’t been as connected with as I’d like, and have needed to concentrate on more,” he says. “That’s been an issue at different times in my career, but I’ve had no stubborn body parts.” Take his biceps, which have blown into cartoonish proportion thanks to an approach that often changes from one workout to the next. Greene walks into the gym with a plan, but it’s malleable and ever morphing as each exercise, set, and rep is executed. “A lot of times people are too rigid in their workouts,” Greene says. “You gotta be flexible, so you can make gains while dealing with varied circumstances.” You also need to be willing to toss aside preconceived notions about what a “perfect workout” really is. “If you’re an athlete working to see your vision realised, you have to be willing to do more, to stretch beyond your comfort zone. In so doing, you’ll learn a lot,” Greene says. “But there’s a lot that goes into training that’s not interesting to a layperson. It’s like a baseball player who’ll swing at 1,000 balls

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02

STANDING EZ-BAR CURL Greene isn’t committed to one type of bar—he’ll use both a straight bar and the cambered bar, and flirt with a number of grip widths (including a very close grip and a very wide one, out near the plates) to coax the desired response from the muscle.

DO IT RIGHT

Take a sturdy standing position and hold an EZ-bar with a shoulder-width grip, hands on the cambered portion where your palms are angled slightly inwards. With your abs tight, chest up, and eyes focused forwards, contract your biceps to curl the bar towards your chest, keeping your elbows at your sides throughout. Hold for a one-count at the top, squeezing out the muscle peak, then slowly return the bar along the same path. Repeat for reps.

MAKE IT HARDER

If you have a partner, you can do handoffs. Stand facing each other, and do your reps to failure, then immediately hand the bar off to your partner. He does the same thing, then hands it back to you for your second set. Continue passing the weight back and forth. This technique offers two intensity boosters: it limits your rest periods, and it introduces a competitive aspect as you try to outdo your partner at each turn.

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“WORKING OUT IS A MENTAL ACTIVITY— YOUR MIND IS KEY TO MAKING THE ACTIVITY PROFITABLE OR A WASTE.”

STANDING ONE-ARM DUMBBELL CONCENTRATION CURL

03

Greene likes the typical standing dumbbell curl, but in his world, variations are not only welcome, they’re mandatory—whatever it takes to elicit muscle growth.

DO IT RIGHT MAKE IT HARDER

42

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Bend over slightly at the waist, with your nonworking hand on your hip and your working hand holding a dumbbell next to your outer thigh, elbow straight but not locked out. From there, moving only at your elbow, curl the dumbbell in front of you towards your upper chest. Squeeze the biceps hard at the top before lowering the dumbbell back to the start. Finish all reps with one arm, then switch. If you sit while doing a concentration curl, you can use your nonworking hand to finish your set with three to five negatives after initial positive failure, lifting the dumbbell up with an assist and then lowering it slowly and under control.

CEDRIC MCMILLAN


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in practice. An average person might stay interested for a little while, but after 20–30 swings, the enthusiasm wanes.” How does that translate to a biceps workout? “You should leave no stone unturned,” Greene says. “You may have arm-training sessions that last two hours. It may become an ongoing effort that continues over the course of multiple sessions in three days. It may require doing something related to arms at the beginning of every training session for a little while.” In many fitness circles, what Greene does is considered overtraining. It’s an argument he’s heard many times—so often, in fact, that he hesitates to talk about it. “People don’t argue with results—if your arms are 22 inches, or look like they are,” he says, “most of the time people don’t care what it took for you to get them there.” But Greene also offers a counter to those who stick to a preset set-and-rep scheme. “What if, at the end of your workout—say, 12 working sets in—you find that you’re really just starting to get a contraction in your biceps? What if you weren’t working with the presence of mind to make sure each contraction counted? If your approach is set in stone and you see you’ve done all your exercises for the day, what then? “The truth is, you can go through your entire ‘training session’ but were really just warming up—so you need to technically ‘overtrain’ just to get the muscle to really do the work that’s needed.” Just as you need to learn to read the signs telling you to continue, you must also absorb the signs your body gives to tell you your mission’s complete. For those looking for an exact frame of reference, well…you may be disappointed. “You need to use your best judgment, based on your past successful training experiences,” Greene counsels. But as you gain experience, the signs will become more and more obvious: the

04

CAMBERED BAR CABLE CURL Cable movements offer the benefit of continuous tension throughout an exercise; unlike free weights, the cable offers resistance throughout the arc of a biceps curl. Those types of slight differences in how a movement engages the biceps are why it’s smart to include various free-weight, machine, and cable exercises in an overall biceps training blueprint.

DO IT RIGHT

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Stand holding a curl bar attached to a low-pulley cable with an underhand grip, arms extended. Keep your abs tight, chest up, and head straight. Contract your biceps to curl the bar towards your chest, keeping your elbows at your sides. Hold and squeeze at the top, then slowly return the bar along the same path. Repeat for reps.

MAKE IT HARDER

Once you’ve failed through the full range of motion, continue with partial reps, bringing the handle as high as you can, until you can move it only a few inches at most.

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ONE-ARM DUMBBELL PREACHER CURL

05 tautness of a pump, the fatigue of the targeted muscle group, the feeling you’ve left it all in the gym and that any further reps would be counterproductive—these are all the hallmarks of a fruitful, finished effort.

DUEL IN THE DESERT Ask any pro bodybuilder what his favourite biceps exercises are, and he’ll quickly recite a list etched in memory. Greene, however, hesitates before naming four: the barbell curl, the incline dumbbell curl, the preacher curl, and the alternate dumbbell curl. However, they come with a caveat. “I’m reluctant to name these, because if I believe I have a preferred exercise, it can impair my ability to think clearly and make good decisions during

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Single-arm movements are key, in that they don’t allow a weaker limb to piggyback on the strength of a stronger one, which tends to happen with bar-based exercises. You may discover a strength discrepancy between your arms, which you can work to correct over time by pushing the weaker arm to perform the same number of reps as the dominant arm.

DO IT RIGHT MAKE IT HARDER

Grasp a dumbbell and place your arm over a standing or seated preacher bench. Keeping your shoulder down and wrist rigid, raise the dumbbell in an arc towards your head, stopping just before your forearm is perpendicular to the floor. Squeeze your biceps to get a maximal contraction at the apex, then return to the start position, making sure to stop before full-lockout elbow extension. Upon reaching failure, with your palm facing up, twist into a hammer-style grip and continue for as many reps as you can manage. This position engages the brachialis muscle along with the biceps.

a workout,” he says. “If I have a favourite, it may lead me to do one exercise when really I should be leaning towards another.” His mantra? Don’t play favourites. “Don’t get into the habit of checking off a selection of favourite exercises each time. Think about it—how many people do you know who do a particular exercise in a particular way because they saw their favourite bodybuilder in a magazine recommend it? That can lead you down the wrong path.” Greene’s path, meanwhile, is running straight towards Las Vegas,

where a two-time reigning Mr O, Phil Heath, awaits a rematch of 2012’s one-two finish. Heath and Greene—along with four-time champ Jay Cutler, returning after a one-year break—are the odds-on favourites to fight it out for the Sandow. But that final step is the most difficult breach to cross, Greene knows. The annals of history are filled with amazing bodybuilders who’ve finished second— Mohamed Makkawy, Rich Gaspari, Lee Labrada, Kevin Levrone, Flex Wheeler, Shawn Ray—who, despite maniacal efforts, were destined to

fall just short of the pinnacle. Greene’s approach, however, is unrelenting. “Honestly, my goal now is to amass a body of work…I’m still eager to learn and study,” he says. “I started on this bodybuilding journey as a teenager. Now my expectations of what I can do onstage are higher. I’m putting forth my highest effort. I’d like to stand and be counted at my absolute best— I want to know what that would look like. My goal and that of my team right now is to do that, to bring that ultimate Kai Greene to Las Vegas.” FLEX

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BILL COMSTOCK

and p i h s d frien Olympias r a e y The 10 between Mr Cutler rivalry ath and Jay e Phil H

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HEAD-TO-HEAD PLACINGS JAY

PHIL

2008 Mr Olympia 2nd [ 3rd 2009 Mr Olympia 1st [ 5th 2010 Mr Olympia 1st [ 2nd 2011 Mr Olympia 2nd [ 1st

APRIL ’03 It may be a stretch to say Heath and Cutler were pals soon after meeting. It was the 2003 NPC Northern Colorado—the debut contest of 23-year-old Phil Heath, and as a 192-pound light-heavyweight, he won the novice and open overall titles. The guest poser, 29-year-old Jay Cutler, had won his second straight Arnold Classic the month prior, and many considered him the favourite for that year’s Olympia (he’d been second in 2001 and sat out 2002). On that April day, he was 100 pounds heavier than Heath, although both are 5'9". And yet the unknown neophyte told the world-famous veteran pro he would compete against him one day on the Olympia stage.

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Yeah, right. It’s just one of those things starry-eyed wannabes tell celebrities, and Cutler politely played along like he always does—and like Heath does now. Nobody to legend: “I’ll see you on the Olympia stage one day.” Legend to nobody: “Keep training and you’ll get there, kid.” But this time would be different—maybe for the only time in history. This time the nobody became a legend, too—and then things got really interesting.

APRIL ’05 When Cutler returned to pose at the same contest in 2005, the other guest poser was that wannabe from two years before. And yet 30 pounds heavier, Heath had morphed into something nearly unrecognisable. The two went out to eat afterward, sparking a bond. That day, Cutler recognised the gifts of the Gift, and he e-mailed photos to us at FLEX.. Before the 25-year-old Heath won the USA

THIS TIME THE NOBODY BECAME A LEGEND, TOO— AND THEN THINGS GOT REALLY INTERESTING.

Championships in July 2005, and earned pro status on his first try (like Cutler did, at 23, at the 1996 NPC Nationals), he was signed to Weider/AMI, and, against all odds, his Olympia prophesy had gone from “yeah, right” to “OK, maybe”—though it was still more than three years from fruition.

JULY ’06

FLEX was there the first time the two future Mr O’s trained together. It was in a Las Vegas gym, three days before Cutler’s 33rd birthday, and two months before he won his first of four Olympia titles. At 285, he was leaner than Heath, who weighed 50 pounds less. The Gift was 26, a Pro League rookie who had won his first two professional

BILL COMSTOCK(3); KEVIN HORTON; COURTESY OF PHIL HEATH

2011 Sheru Classic 2nd [ 1st

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“BEFORE THAT, I THOUGHT OF WORKOUTS AS SORT OF A RUN-THROUGH, LIKE IN BASKETBALL. AFTERWARDS, I WENT ALL OUT.” later said of that lats-kicking. “Before that, I thought of workouts as sort of a runthrough, like in basketball. Afterwards, I went all out.” He too adopted more free weights, and, by 2008, his previously weak back was a strength.

SEPTEMBER ’08

While Cutler collected Sandows in 2006 and 2007, his “little brother” steered clear of the Olympia stage. Not until his

third year in the Pro League when he had acquired sufficient mass did Heath make his Olympia debut. He weighed 227. Cutler was 260. But the gap seemed much closer due to the Gift’s superior collection of cuts. The O rookie looked even better at Saturday’s finals than Friday’s prejudging, and many, including yours truly and head judge Jim Rockell, thought he deserved to be the first man to win the Olympia on his initial try

KEVIN HORTON(4)

contests that spring. If he thought he could skate by on his stellar genetics, this back-thickness workout with the man he called his “big brother” was his wake-up call. The nine-year pro schooled the rookie with a fast-paced, high-volume barrage of basics, forcing “little brother” to use much lighter weights and suck for air between sets. It was just what Heath needed. Cutler had also got by on his DNA in previous years, relying too much on machines, winning Arnolds but losing the Olympia annually to Ronnie Coleman. Then, he returned to compound basics and split his weekly back training into width and thickness sessions. That September, for the first time, he beat Coleman. Heath got the same lesson. “I learned what it means to be a professional bodybuilder,” he

(excluding the inaugural Olympia). It wasn’t to be—but then again it wasn’t Cutler’s show, either. Dexter Jackson was named the 2008 Mr Olympia. Still, the Blade’s win seemed to merely postpone the inevitable showdown between Cutler and Heath. “I’ve been second before, and second isn’t so bad, but it’s not the way I want to finish off, so I’ll be back,” a subdued Cutler, 35, said afterwards. In contrast, Heath, 28, was jubilant to enter bodybuilding’s triumvirate on his first try. “Getting third place was just unbelievable,” he said. “This show proves miracles can happen and dreams do come true.” And yet he, like Cutler, who finished just one place ahead of him, had bigger dreams to fulfil.

JANUARY ’09

It was time for a rematch—not on the stage but in the gym. When Heath and Cutler trained together again for a FLEX feature—an off-season chest workout—the former was 270 and the latter 294. Thus, the previous body weight gap had been cut in half. What’s more, Heath virtually matched Cutler’s weights and he equalled his pace and intensity. “This time I wasn’t going to lose,” the Gift said. “I lost once. I wasn’t going to

lose again.” Since that initial workout in 2006, the two have often trained together, and, once the Gift acquired the right mind-set and upped his strength, they’ve been gym equals. “After that first back workout, I’ve always hung with him,” Heath affirmed. “He knows it, and we both thrive on it. We push each other to be the best.”

SEPTEMBER ’09

If you just look at the placings, their second onstage clash looks like no contest. But numbers fail to tell the true story. First, let’s deal with first.

PAVEL YTHJALL(3)

“AFTER THAT FIRST BACK WORKOUT, I’VE ALWAYS HUNG WITH HIM, AS GYM EQUALS WE BOTH THRIVE ON IT. WE PUSH EACH OTHER TO BE THE BEST.”

FLEX

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HAMPERED BY HIS FRIDAY SCORE, HEATH WAS FIFTH, BUT BY THE CONTEST’S END HE WAS, IN THE ESTIMATION OF MOST, THE SECOND-BEST BODYBUILDER ONSTAGE. and his legs were deflated. Food poisoning early that morning had violently rid him of 13 precious pounds. Still, he roared back at Saturday’s finals when he appeared much fuller, closing the gap on scorecards by tying for second in the posedown. In the end, 31 points separated first and second place, but, in an incredible four-way logjam, only nine points separated second from fifth. Hampered by his Friday score, Heath was fifth, but by the contest’s end he was, in the estimation of most, the

PRO CONTEST STATS JAY

PHIL

Pro Contests 31 [ 13 Pro Posedowns 28 [ 13 Pro Wins 15 [ 5 Pro Winning Percentage 48% [ 38% Olympias 12 [ 5 Olympia Wins 4 [ 2 Olympia Winning Percentage 33% [40%

KEVIN HORTON(2); BILL COMSTOCK(2)

Many were counting Cutler out and predicting Heath’s elevation to bodybuilding’s throne—or if not Heath, defending champ Dexter Jackson or that year’s Arnold Classic champ, Kai Greene. And yet at 271 dry pounds, Cutler romped to a blowout victory. “I was just physically, mentally, and emotionally prepared to be on top once again,” he averred afterwards. “It’s very emotional, because I realised when I lost it how special it is, and I’m willing to bust my ass to stay on top.” Now, look at the scorecard. Down, down, down through the placings we find the name Phil Heath in fifth. He’s never been lower. He had planned to come in at a ripped 240 and seize the Sandow. The day before the show he was on target. But at prejudging on Friday he was 227

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AGE STATISTICS JAY PHIL

Age at first contest 19 [ 22 Age when earned pro status 23 [ 25 Age at first pro contest 24 [ 26 Age at first pro win 26 [ 26 Age at first Olympia 26 [ 26 Age at first Olympia win 33 [ 31 Age at 2013 Olympia 40 [ 33

SEPTEMBER ’10

Finally, the third time they stood on the stage together we got the showdown between “big brother” and “no-longerlittle brother.” During the 2010 Olympia posedown, the chants of their respective fans—Cut-ler! Heath! Cut-ler! Heath!—melded into a collective roar. And later, after the other names were called, they were left alone at centre stage, the top two in the world awaiting the announcement of No. 1. Cutler told Heath then, “Who would’ve thought when we met that we would actually be on the same stage and be friends and be the last two standing here for the Mr Olympia.” Who, indeed? Maybe only Heath. A mere three points separated Cutler and Heath at prejudging. Only 15 pounds separated them on the scales: Heath at 245 and Cutler at 260. Even more than those numbers indicate,

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however, this was one of the closest Olympia contests—a true apple versus orange decision between the broader, bulkier 37-yearold Cutler and the denser, crisper, 30-year-old Heath. In the end, Cutler carried home his fourth Sandow, but the decision fuelled a debate that lasted 12 months. Afterwards, Heath expressed his joy at being one of the last two standing with his good friend, and then he added, grinning, “And I had him, boy, I just know I had him. And he was like, ‘Holy crap, this young guy can get me.’”

SEPTEMBER ’11

Twelve months later, Heath didn’t just get him. He became the 13th Mr Olympia in dominating fashion. At a high-def 248 pounds, his was arguably the most impressive combination of, as he says, “freaky and pretty” ever seen on a bodybuilding stage. In contrast, the 258-pound Cutler was off. His left biceps was torn and inflamed, his legs were

BILL COMSTOCK(4)

second-best bodybuilder onstage. “Losing like this is going to bother me,” he said, “but it’s going to fuel me, too.”

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bodybuilding’s ultimate title. “That was the best feeling of my life,” he said. “It was especially awesome knowing I beat a Mr Olympia to be Mr Olympia. It would’ve been different if he had retired and the title had been vacant and I had won that way. But to know I beat a four-time Mr Olympia, a guy who was relevant over 10 years in bodybuilding, being top two, and such a good friend, that’s incredible.”

SEPTEMBER ’13

Last year, when Heath won again, it was the first of his five Olympias without his “big brother” in the lineup. He admitted it was strange not having his friend there. It seemed Cutler had retired, but the four-time Mr O never officially said so. This year, he announced his return and his intention of collecting Olympia title number 5. Meanwhile, Heath is striving to do what Cutler failed to do twice and earn his third Sandow in a row, stamping this era as his. Cutler will be 40 when he steps on the stage on September 27, and it will be two years since his last contest. Can he regain or

surpass his previous form? Heath, at 33, will be in his prime and in still only the seventh year of his pro career (by contrast, it will be 16 years since Cutler’s pro debut). Either man winning will be a tremendous story. But those aren’t the only intriguing plots. There’s Kai Greene, last year’s runner-up, looking to climb the final rung on the ladder. There’s Shawn Rhoden, who shocked the world with his dramatic new additions last year and his third-place finish. There’s two-time Arnold Classic champ Branch Warren and that other Mr O, the ageless Dexter Jackson. And what about Mamdouh Elssbiay, fresh off his victory at the New York Pro—can “Big Ramy” become the first man since Flex Wheeler 20 years

“TO KNOW I BEAT A FOUR-TIME MR OLYMPIA… AND SUCH A GOOD FRIEND, THAT’S INCREDIBLE.”

ago to crack the O top three as a rookie pro? The 49th Mr Olympia is shaping up to be the most exciting of all time. Two of the favourites will continue to be close friends, but this may be the final time they share an Olympia stage, and, as the past 10 years have proved, you never know what will happen when these legends clash. FLEX

BILL COMSTOCK(3); ISAAC HINDS

downsized, his upper body was flat. Again, the two friends were alone waiting the announcement of who would take home the Sandow—but this time there was no doubt. Heath said, “Thanks for never letting our friendship get messed up by this whole industry.” Cutler nodded, and said, “You’re gonna be the king now. Are you ready?” The soon-to-be Mr Olympia replied, “Yeah. I’m ready, because you showed me how to do this.” One week later in Mumbai, India, at the Sheru Classic, Heath beat Cutler again, but before then, backstage at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, he savoured the moment of accomplishing it for the first time and securing

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EAST Big Ramy Raises the Roof at the 2013 IFBB New York Pro

134 COMPETITORS! BIGGEST IFBB PRO LEAGUE CONTEST OF ALL TIME! 62

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PRO PRO

Jose Raymond Wins the 212 Division May 25,2013

BY

TONY MONCHINSKI PHOTOGRAPHS BY

ISAAC HINDS

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NEW YORK PRO

New York fans will vocally let you know they love two things: hometown favourites and freaks. The first callout, coming after three hours of IFBB physique, figure, bikini, and men’s 212-and-under bodybuilding, in the biggest NY Pro show—and the biggest IFBB Professional League show to date (134 total competitors)— delivered on both counts. It featured four New Yorkers: Victor Martinez, Juan “Diesel” Morel, and Jon Delarosa and Anthoneil Champagnie. The freaks came by way of Belgium— former 212-and-under competitor Clarence DeVis—and Kuwait, in the person of Big Ramy. It quickly became apparent that Martinez, a two-time Arnold Classic champion, the same Martinez who’d dominated the New York stage at 2003’s Night of Champions, was back. The Dominican Dominator had returned to form after nearly two years of sorting out his immigration status and mending a broken arm. The crowd reception was very

1ST PLACE MAMDOUH ELSSBIAY

BIG UP!

 Big Ramy. Not only did the 28-year-old win his pro debut, but his wife also gave birth to a baby girl that weekend in Kuwait.

NEW YORK PRO enthusiastic—they were happy to have him back. True, Martinez wasn’t carrying the size he had in the past, and there was a noticeable discrepancy between his right arm, his left thigh, and their matching halves (though not distractingly so); but what he lacked in usual mass he more than made up for with his conditioning. Vic was shredded. At one point, he turned his back to the audience, squatted down, then rose up onto his toes, the fibres of his hams, glutes, and lower back feathering and splintering. This is a man who’s suffered on a par with Job for the better part of the last decade, and it’s a testament to him that he can bounce back—his shape, lines, and conditioning all intact. But then there was Big Ramy. Though before we get to that…

to underwhelm, not living up to expectations. It’s been said before and it bears repeating: he possesses all the tools to rise to the top of the sport: the height and the width, the X-frame, the round muscle bellies. Last year, McMillan gave all a glimpse of the greatness so many of us have seen in him. Last year McMillan popped. He was crisp, round, and full. Last year. Not this year. This year McMillan paled in comparison to what he’d shown us 12 months before. He was soft and flat. He appeared slim, especially through the thighs. McMillan, the man who could have it all, didn’t make the top 10.

2ND PLACE VICTOR MARTINEZ

THE BIG MAC IN THE BIG APPLE  There really wasn’t as much hype about defending champ Cedric McMillan returning to the New York stage as there might have been. This is because McMillan continues

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NEW YORK PRO

QMamdouh Elssbiay is reminiscent of a mass monster of the ’90s, without the distended gut. At six feet, the 288-pound Elssbiay has the muscle to fill out his frame. Say what you will about bikini girls and implants, Elssbiay looked like he had a bikini girl implanted in each bulbous thigh. He was so huge he looked like he’d eaten a 212 competitor for breakfast. Elssbiay dwarfed those onstage with him. And the men onstage with him were not small

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men. Morel came close to matching shoulder width with the giant, but both Diesel and Martinez lacked the chest-through-back thickness Big Ramy had in abundance. No one came close to matching him in the side chest shot. Looking at Elssbiay up there with the top six, it was like a “Which doesn’t belong?” picture, with Ramy’s mass setting him apart. Yes, he lacked the extreme detail and separation of a Martinez or a Morel, but at nearly 300 pounds, Elssbiay took up so much space

onstage he threatened to eclipse whoever came into his orbit. In the middle of the line for the initial comparison round, Big Ramy wasn’t moved. Martinez and Morel took turns on either side of the enormous Egyptian. “We might want to bring a couple of you back,” head judge and IFBB Professional League/NPC president Jim Manion announced as he dismissed the top three from that first comparison, although they weren’t finished until the finals, when Elssbiay and Martinez stood side by side for the last callout of the night. Moving ahead, he’ll need to etch in more detail and separation, as well as focus on greater hardness. He can add more mass to his calves, and a bit more to his upper body (to balance out his quads). Twenty-eight years old and this guy’s been training for only three years? Holy smokes!

NEW YORK PRO

JUAN & JON QJuan Morel and Jon Delarosa both live in New Rochelle, north of Manhattan in New York’s Westchester County. Both trace their ethnicity to the Dominican Republic. And both have come up through the ranks on this very stage: the NPC Eastern (Morel was 16th as a light-heavy in ’07, and second in the heavies a year later; Delarosa was second in the light-heavies in ’07, and third in the same class in ’08), the Met (sixth for Delarosa in the heavyweight class in ’07), the Atlantic States (Delarosa won the heavies and overall in ’09), and the 2012 New York Pro (Diesel placed fourth, Delarosa fifth). The two friends moved up a slot this weekend. Fourth-place finisher Delarosa, who got engaged that weekend to fellow IFBB pro figure competitor Swann Cardot, is very thick for his height. Arms and delts are special standouts. Morel, in third, is tall and wide, with a thick back and

4TH PLACE JON DELAROSA 68

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delts. Morel gives lie to the claim that Dominicans can’t bring hard-as-nails conditioning to the contest stage (as Martinez also did this day). Morel has more room to grow than Delarosa, and if he does he’ll be hard to beat. Still, when you’re compared against the best in the world— and these men are definitely among the best in the world— your flaws become apparent. Where Morel’s arms need more mass and his legs demand more sweep, Delarosa would benefit from added chest mass.

3RD PLACE JUAN MOREL

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NEW YORK PRO 5TH PLACE CLARENCE DEVIS

THE DWARFING EFFECT

QThe 2013 NY Pro lived up to the hype. It was the most competitive and exciting contest up to that point in the year. The contest marked the return of Martinez to near-winning form, and introduced a potential new superstar. The last time a bodybuilder making his pro debut here won this show was

when Evan Centopani did it four years ago. How will the Big Ramy “dwarfing effect” play out against Phil Heath, Kai Greene, and Shawn Rhoden—not to mention returning four-time Mr Olympia Jay Cutler—come September at the Mr Olympia in Vegas? Elssbiay says he’ll be in the top three. We’ll know soon enough.

BIG UP! QFifth-place Clarence DeVis, looked like Kai Greene’s long-lost younger (and shorter) brother. This Belgian national grimaced something fierce squeezing his considerable mass into his poses, but come the night show, it was obvious he was having fun up there, hitting splits during his routine.

BAPTISM BY FIRE QSeveral men were making their pro debuts in this, the toughest New York Pro line-up to date. Sixth-place Brooklynite Anthoneil Champagnie, who qualified for pro status when he finished second in the heavyweight class at the 2012 NPC Nationals, represented himself well here. Champagnie has a pleasing shape and round, full muscle bellies, with standout (pop-out) arms. Jeff Beckham, the 2012 NPC Team Universe overall winner, who tied for 15th, also has pleasing lines and looked happy to be onstage, but at six feet, he’s going to need a great deal more mass to hold his own with these boys. Despite good shape, Canada’s valiant Antoine Vaillant, who finished 14th, appeared soft in some poses. And his posing trunks, which looked like they were made of felt, were too big at the back, like granny pants. Keith Williams, in eighth, brought the condition he needed to place as well as he did here.

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BIG UP! QParaguay’s Pablo Ayala, took 10th. Since the cards didn’t deal him the shape and structural advantages of others, Ayala obviously decided to pack on the mass, which he had in abundance.

QMarcus Haley, in seventh, brought his not-inconsiderable size, shape, and conditioning to a stacked house and controlled his stomach the entire time.

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DOGFIGHT IN THE 212s QBig Ramy wasn’t the only mass monster onstage in New York. What do you do when you find out the contest you’d agreed to guest pose at turns out not to be sanctioned by the NPC? You could make your appearance and swallow a fine and suspension, or you could get in your car and drive down to the Big Apple to mix it up with the 212-and-under class a week before you’re set to compete at the IFBB Toronto Supershow. Boston’s Jose Raymond chose the latter. One of the shorter men in the class, Raymond was also the thickest. It’s amazing that this is the guy who won the right to a pro card four times in weight classes ranging from the lightweights to the middles. A week out from his intended show, Raymond’s conditioning was wicked grainy, if not quite up to par with what he displayed here two years back. And for all the size he’s added, Raymond can still suck it up into a vacuum when he hits a front double biceps. That said, it was very close between Jose and Bahrain’s Sami Al Haddad. How close, you ask? Two points close on the final scorecard. A lot of people in the audience had the Bahraini winning this show last year. And they went home disappointed again this year. Whatever your tastes in

1ST PLACE JOSE RAYMOND

bodybuilding—Sami has a “prettier,” more aesthetic physique, whereas Jose lives up to his “Boston Mass” moniker—it was a battle down to the wire, with fans getting their money’s worth. Washington’s Mark Dugdale dropped down from the open class to leapfrog past impressive 24-year-old rookie Aaron Clarke for third place. The Bronx’s Marco Rivera rounded out the top five in a competitive line-up that left many in attendance scratching their heads and wondering, à la Wally, where in the world was Kevin English?

BIG UP! QAustralia’s Constantinos Demetriou, who landed in ninth. He lacked the muscle mass of the larger men, but was hard and grainy.

2ND PLACE SAMI AL HADDAD

3RD PLACE MARK DUGDALE

PHYSIQUE, FIGURE,BIKINI

QBalanced, pleasing physiques carried the weekend in these classes. Long Island’s Sadik Hadzovic won the men’s physique contest. Juliana Malacarne, looking like the best that female bodybuilding had to offer 25 years ago, defended her NY Pro women’s physique title from last year. In figure, Candice Keene also defended her title, adding a third win to her 2013 record (she was first in the Australian Pro and Arnold Classic). Yeshaira Robles took the bikini title—her second for 2013—this time around after her win at the IFBB Pittsburgh Pro. FLEX

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PART 2 OF OUR 8-WEEK TRAINING PROGRAMME DESIGNED TO ADD SIZE, GAIN STRENGTH AND BURN TONS OF FAT BY

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75

HERE’S A BRIEF SUMMARY OF PART 1 FROM LAST MONTH’S ISSUE: QSupersets: All exercises are done as supersets (two exercises performed back-to-back) to burn more fat during the workout and keep burning fat after the workout. QVolume: High-rep sets burn more calories during the workout as you perform more work when doing more reps. The total number of sets performed per workout in Weeks 5–8 increases to keep you burning more calories. QLow reps: We also included low-rep sets to keep you burning calories after the workout, which is known as EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption). QLess rest: Research has also shown that resting just 30 seconds between sets burns half as many calories again during a bench-press workout as does resting the standard three minutes between sets. In the final two weeks, you will rest only as long as it takes to set up the next exercise.

WEEKS 5-6 EXERCISE

MORE ON THE SECRET WEAPON Q Last month, we introduced you to Tabata interval training, which is a specific method of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) in which you alternate 20 seconds of exercise with 10 seconds of rest done for eight cycles, for a total of four minutes. The major reason HIIT works so well to drop body fat is the greater calorie burn or EPOC that’s maintained when the workout is over. A 1996 study from Baylor College of Medicine, in Houston, Texas, reported that subjects who performed a HIIT workout on a stationary cycle burned significantly more calories during the 24 hours following the workout than those who cycled at a moderate steady-state intensity. The real trick to the Tabata HIIT in this programme is that it’s jammed in between body-part exercises. When you train chest, shoulders, and triceps, you’ll perform Tabata exercises between chest and shoulders, then again between shoulders and triceps, and yet again at the very end of the workout. A 2003 study by the University of Missouri-Columbia found that when subjects performed either a 30-minute treadmill run or three 10-minute bouts of running at the same intensity but separated by 20-minute rest periods, the intermittent cardio was much easier—and they even burned more fat. Intermittent cardio has also been shown to raise EPOC higher than the same amount of cardio done continuously. Researchers found that two 15-minute cardio sessions raised EPOC 40% higher than one 30-minute session. And Northeastern Illinois University researchers reported that two 25-minute cardio sessions raised EPOC by 120% more than one 50-minute session.

WORKOUT 2 (TUESDAY)

WORKOUT 1 (MONDAY)

Sets/Reps

Rest

Jump Squat superset with Leg Extension

4/5–6 4/21–25

– 30 sec.

– 30 sec.

Front Squat superset with Squat

4/21–25 4/5–6

– 30 sec.

Leg Curl superset with Romanian Deadlift

4/21–25 4/5–6

– 30 sec.

Squat*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Kettlebell Snatch*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

4/20 4/to failure

– 30 sec.

Sets/Reps

Rest

Bench Press superset with Dumbbell Flye

4/5–6 4/21–25

– 30 sec.

Incline Dumbbell Flye superset with Incline Dumbbell Press

4/21–25 4/5–6

Push-up*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Jumping Jack*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Dumbbell Shoulder Press superset with Dumbbell Lateral Raise

4/5–6 4/21–25

– 30 sec.

Bentover Lateral Raise superset with Dumbbell Upright Row

4/21–25 4/5–6

– 30 sec.

Exercise

Leg Press Calf Raise superset with Body-weight Standing Calf Raise

Kettlebell/Dumbbell Swing*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Lunge*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Smith Machine Power Clean *

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Mountain Climber*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Close-grip Bench Press superset with Lying Triceps Extension

3/5–6 3/21–25

– 30 sec.

Hanging Leg Raise superset with Oblique Crunch

4/to failure 4/to failure

30 sec.

Triceps Pressdown superset with Overhead Cable Triceps Extension

3/5–6 3/21–25

– 30 sec.

Crunch*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Cable Woodchopper*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Dead Landmine*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Burpee*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

76

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CHRIS LUND

*DO THESE EXERCISES TABATA STYLE

WEEKS 5-6

Sets/Reps

Rest

Barbell Row superset with Reverse-grip Barbell Row

4/5–6 4/21–25

– 30 sec.

Straight-arm Pulldown superset with Wide-grip Pulldown

4/21–25 4/5–6

– 30 sec.

Kettlebell Snatch*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Bench Step-up*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Barbell Shrug superset with Behind-the-back Barbell Shrug

4/5–6 4/21–25

– 30 sec.

Dumbbell Clean*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Bench Hop-over*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Seated Barbell Curl superset with Standing Barbell Curl

3/5–6 3/21–25

– 30 sec.

Prone Incline Dumbbell Curl superset with Dumbbell Incline Curl

3/21–25 3/5–6

– 30 sec.

Barbell Wrist Curl superset with Barbell Reverse Wrist Curl

3/5–6 3/21–25

– 10 sec.

Dead Landmine*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Jumping Jack*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

PAVEL YTHJALL

WORKOUT 3 (WEDNESDAY) EXERCISE

*DO THESE EXERCISES TABATA STYLE

FLEX

77

WEEKS 5-6

WORKOUT 4 (THURSDAY) Sets/Reps

Rest

4/5–6

–

superset with Incline Dumbbell Flye

4/21–25

30 sec.

Low Cable Crossover superset with Cable Crossover

4/21–25 4/5–6

– 30 sec.

Push-up*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Exercise

Sets/Reps

Rest

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Squat superset with Lunge

4/5–6 4/21–25

– 30 sec.

4/5–6

–

4/21–25

–

4/21–25

30 sec.

One-leg Leg Press (alternating legs) superset with Leg Press

4/5–6

30 sec.

Deadlift superset with Romanian Deadlift

4/5–6 4/21–25

– 30 sec.

Incline Bench Press

Jumping Jack* Behind-the-neck Shoulder Press superset with Smith Machine Upright Row

WORKOUT 5 (FRIDAY)

Cable Rear Delt Flye superset with Cable Lateral Raise

4/21–25 4/5–6

– 30 sec.

Squat*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Kettlebell/Dumbbell Swing*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Kettlebell Snatch*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Smith Machine Power Clean*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Seated Calf Raise superset with Body-weight Standing Calf Raise

4/20 4/to failure

– 30 sec.

Lying Triceps Extension superset with Bench Dip

3/5–6

–

3/21–25

30 sec.

Reverse-grip Triceps Pressdown superset with Triceps Pressdown

3/21–25

–

3/5–6

30 sec.

Dead Landmine*

8/20 sec.

Burpee*

8/20 sec.

78

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Lunge*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Mountain Climber*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Cable Crunch superset with Oblique Crunch

4/8

–

4/20

30 sec.

Reverse Crunch*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

10 sec.

Barbell Rollout*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

10 sec.

*DO THESE EXERCISES TABATA STYLE

PAVEL YTHJALL

Exercise

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WEEKS 5-6

Sets/ Reps

Rest

Pulldown superset with Reverse-grip Pulldown

4/5–6 4/21–25

– 30 sec.

Straight-arm Pulldown superset with Wide-grip Pulldown

4/21–25 4/5–6

– 30 sec.

Kettlebell Snatch*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Bench Step-up*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Smith Machine Behind-the-back Shrug superset with Smith Machine Shrug

4/5–6 4/21–25

– 30 sec.

Dumbbell Clean*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Bench Hop-over*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

EZ-bar Curl superset with EZ-bar Preacher Curl

3/5–6 3/21–25

– 30 sec.

Dumbbell Incline Curl superset with Standing Dumbbell Curl

3/21–25 3/5–6

– 30 sec.

Dumbbell Reverse Wrist Curl superset with Dumbbell Wrist Curl

3/5–6 3/21–25

– 30 sec.

Dead Landmine*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Jumping Jack*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

80

FLEX

COURTESY OF WEIDER HEALTH AND FITNESS

WORKOUT 6 (SATURDAY) Exercise

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WEEKS 7-8

WORKOUT 1 (MONDAY) Exercise

WORKOUT 2 (TUESDAY)

Sets/Reps

Rest

Bench Press superset with Dumbbell Flye

4/3–4 4/26–30

– –

Incline Dumbbell Flye superset with Incline Dumbbell Press

4/26–30 4/3–4

Push-up* Jumping Jack* Dumbbell Shoulder Press superset with Dumbbell Lateral Raise

Sets/Reps

Rest

Jump Squat superset with Leg Extension

4/3–4 4/26–30

– –

– –

Front Squat superset with Squat

4/26–30 4/3–4

– –

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

4/26–30 4/3–4

– –

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Leg Curl superset with Romanian Deadlift

Kettlebell Snatch*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Squat*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Bench Step-up*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Kettlebell Snatch*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Leg Press Calf Raise superset with Body-weight Standing Calf Raise

4/25 4/to failure

– –

Barbell Shrug superset with Behind-the-back Barbell Shrug

4/3–4 4/26–30

– –

4/3–4

–

4/26–30

–

Bentover Lateral Raise superset with Dumbbell Upright Row

4/26–30

–

4/3–4

–

Kettlebell/Dumbbell Swing*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Smith Machine Power Clean*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

3/3–4

–

Close-grip Bench Press superset with Lying Triceps Extension

3/26–30

–

Triceps Pressdown superset with Overhead Cable Triceps Extension

3/3–4 3/26–30

– –

Dead Landmine*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Burpee*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

82

FLEX

Exercise

WORKOUT 3 (WEDNESDAY)

Lunge*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Mountain Climber*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Hanging Leg Raise superset with Oblique Crunch

4/to failure 4/to failure

– –

Crunch*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Cable Woodchopper*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Exercise Barbell Row superset with Reverse-grip Barbell Row Straight-arm Pulldown superset with Wide-grip Pulldown

Sets/Reps

Rest

4/3–4

–

4/26–30

–

4/26–30

–

4/3–4

–

Dumbbell Clean*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Bench Hop-over*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Seated Barbell Curl superset with Standing Barbell Curl

3/3–4 3/26–30

– –

Prone Incline Dumbbell Curl superset with Dumbbell Incline Curl

3/26–30

–

3/3–4

–

Barbell Wrist Curl superset with Barbell Reverse Wrist Curl

3/3–4 3/26–30

– –

Dead Landmine*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Jumping Jack*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

*DO THESE EXERCISES TABATA STYLE

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Sets/Reps

Rest

4/3–4

–

superset with Incline Dumbbell Flye

4/26–30

–

Low Cable Crossover superset with Cable Crossover

4/26–30 4/3–4

– –

Push-up*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Jumping Jack*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

4/3–4

–

4/26–30

–

Cable Rear-delt Flye superset with Cable Lateral Raise

4/26–30 4/3–4

– –

Kettlebell/Dumbbell Swing*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Smith Machine Power Clean*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Lying Triceps Extension superset with Bench Dip

3/3–4

–

3/26–30

–

Reverse-grip Triceps Pressdown superset with Triceps Pressdown

3/26–30

–

3/3–4

–

Dead Landmine*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Burpee*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Incline Bench Press

Behind-the-neck Shoulder Press superset with Smith Machine Upright Row

WEEKS 7-8

KEVIN HORTON

WORKOUT 4 (THURSDAY) Exercise

WORKOUT 5 (FRIDAY) Exercise

*DO THESE EXERCISES TABATA STYLE

Sets/Reps

Rest

Squat superset with Lunge

4/3–4 4/26–30

– –

One-leg Leg Press (alternating legs) superset with Leg Press

4/26–30

–

Exercise

Sets/Reps

Rest

4/3–4

–

Pulldown superset with Reverse-Grip Pulldown

4/3–4 4/26–30

– –

Deadlift superset with Romanian Deadlift

4/3–4 4/25–30

– –

Straight-arm Pulldown superset with Wide-grip Pulldown

4/26–30 4/3–4

– –

Squat*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Kettlebell Snatch*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Seated Calf Raise superset with Body-weight Standing Calf Raise

4/25 4/to failure

– –

Lunge*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Mountain Climber*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

4/6 4/25

– –

Cable Crunch superset with Oblique Crunch

WORKOUT 6 (SATURDAY)

Kettlebell Snatch*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Bench Step-up*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Smith Machine Behind-the-back Shrug superset with Smith Machine Shrug

4/3–4 3/26–30

– –

Dumbbell Clean*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Bench Hop-over*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

EZ-bar Curl superset with EZ-bar Preacher Curl

3/3–4 3/26–30

– –

Dumbbell Incline Curl superset with Standing Dumbbell Alternating Curl

3/26–30 3/3–4

– –

Dumbbell Reverse Wrist Curl superset with Dumbbell Wrist Curl

3/3–4 3/26–30

– –

Reverse Crunch*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Dead Landmine*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Barbell Roll-out*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

Jumping Jack*

8/20 sec.

10 sec.

84

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INSTRUCTION

BY STUART McROBERT PHOTOS BY CHRIS LUND

HOW TO HAND YOURSELF BIGGER MUSCLES Whether it’s Jean-Pierre Fux, Craig Richardson, Ronnie Coleman or Alq Gurley —whose photos illustrate this article—or any other big-name bodybuilder from the past or the present, or anyone who trains, the hands are the underappreciated essential link to barbells, dumbbells and machines. Without strong hands you’ll never be able to reach your potential for muscle mass. That many bodybuilders have weak hands, and hands that are prone to injury, seriously hampers their progress. Improve your bodybuilding progress by giving your hands a high priority. Hands have tremendous potential for increased strength and robustness, but only if the load on them is increased gradually. If you make sudden substantial increases in demands, hand injuries can result—with the fingers usually being more at risk than the palms. Unless you already have very strong hands and thick skin—perhaps from a lot of manual labour, or from years of successful training—it’s easy to injure your hands. But even with strong hands, if you cut them while doing something with a sharp tool in the kitchen or the garden, or blister them from a bout of manual work, or get bitten or scratched by a cat or a dog, you’ll quickly learn how limiting a hand injury can be. And hand injuries can easily happen in the gym.

TRAINING-RELATED HAND INJURIES Exercises that involve pulling motions are

86

FLEX

especially demanding on the hands and grip, and can contribute to strengthening the hands. But if not done properly, these exercises, which include all variations of the deadlift, row, pulldown, chin-up and pull-up, and shrug, can cause hand injuries. What sometimes happens is that bodybuilders make a hook with their fingers, and then hold the bar in just that hook. This takes the palms out of the hold (and perhaps the thumbs, too), and puts most or all of the strain on the four fingers of each hand— on the small bones of the fingers (the phalanges), and on the joints there. When the weights used are challenging, the stress can lead to finger irritation and then injury, which can require several weeks (or more) of recovery time to heal. Sometimes, the hold of the bar may be reasonable at the start of the set but as the grip fatigues, the hands are allowed to open so that the fingers alone are holding the bar at the end of the set. It’s best, of course, to hold the bar properly from the beginning and throughout each set, to prevent hand problems from occurring in the first place. Hold the bar against the palms alongside the base of your fingers, with your fingers and thumb of each hand wrapped around it. This distributes the strain over the fingers, thumbs and palms, rather than directing it on just the fingers. Not only is this safer for your hands, it’s also a more secure, stronger way to hold the bar.

Grip machines can also cause problems because they may place more stress on your finger bones and joints than they can tolerate. This varies according to the design of the machine, and the size and condition of your hands. Start out very light and easy, and find how to hold the handles so that the stress is applied safely to your fingers, thumbs and palms. Then progress in weight gradually, so that you don’t start training hard on a grip machine for at least several weeks. Hand grippers, properly used, can be terrific. But they can be harsh on the skin and structure of your hands, depending on the size and condition of your hands, how sharp the knurling of the handles is, and how soon you start working the gripper hard. Proceed carefully. Start with a gripper you can close easily for 10 or more full reps. Spend some time learning the safest way to hold the gripper for you, then build up your reps gradually. Don’t work a gripper more than twice weekly. Wait until you can perform at least 15 full reps continuously— clicking the handles together on each one, and pausing there for a second—before you progress to the next gripper in the sequence.

ELBOW PROBLEMS Elbow problems can also arise from hand problems. If you heavily overload your hands and forearms with movements that involve twisting and rotating your wrists,

JEANPIERRE FUX

CRAIG RICHARDSON not only can you injure your hands, wrists and forearms, but your elbows can be affected as well, leading to tennis elbow (outer area of the elbow) or golfer’s elbow (inner area of the elbow). These problems can occur even if you never play tennis or golf and they can arise from activities done outside of the gym. If you’re not used to manual work, and do a lot of actions involving wrist rotation—painting and decorating or gardening, for example— that could lead to elbow problems. Even controlled grip work in the gym, without any twisting and rotating of your wrists, can lead to elbow problems if you overdo it, or try to progress too quickly. Furthermore, if you work only on your gripping muscles, without any exercise for the opposing muscles—the finger extensors— that can also lead to elbow problems. Unless such elbow problems are treated successfully at the earliest signs of development, they can be very stubborn, and very limiting.

HOW TO AVOID HAND INJURIES 1. Be especially careful whenever you handle a knife or blade.

88

FLEX

2. When doing any manual work where there’s a risk of injury to your hands (including blisters), wear leather gloves. 3. Unless you’re already well used to manual work, don’t do a lot of it at any one time. Spread it out over several small bouts, with sufficient recovery days between bouts so that no hand, wrist, forearm or elbow problems develop.

a bar, you’ll reduce the stress on your hands, and encourage grip weakening. Train without straps or hooks, hold the bar properly (not merely in your fingers), strengthen your grip through aid-free lifting, and train your grip with some specific grip work. 8. Do specific grip work twice weekly to increase the strength of your hands. Do the grip work at the end of your workouts.

4. If you have to handle an animal that you know could bite or scratch you, wear leather gloves.

9. Do one or two work sets of finger extension exercise for each hand after each bout of grip work.

5. When you train, increase the load on your hands gradually, in small increments.

GRIP WORK

6. When you do chin-ups, pull-ups, pulldowns, rows, shrugs or any type of deadlift, don’t merely hook your fingers around the bar. Put the bar across your palms near the base of your fingers, wrap your fingers and thumbs around the bar, and hold it between your fingers, thumbs and palms. 7. Avoid grip aids other than lifter’s chalk. If you use straps or hooks to attach yourself to

One of the simplest but most effective ways to improve your grip strength is to hold a thick bar for time—thick-bar holds. If where you work out has a thick bar—one thicker than the normal inch-or-so diameter bar, and ideally one about two inches thick—use that. Put it across the pins of a power rack positioned at about mid-thigh height, so that you can take the bar easily and hold it as if you were in position to start a standing shrug. Hold the bar between your fingers and your palms, with your thumbs around the bar (not over it). Hold

RONNIE COLEMAN

ALQ GURLEY it securely in your whole hands. Try to crush the bar as you hold it. Provided you can hold it for 60 seconds continuously, with a few seconds to spare, increase the weight a little next time, and so on. One hard 60-second hold twice a week is sufficient. If there isn’t a thick bar where you train, you could use a normal-diameter bar instead and still improve your grip, but a thick bar is much more effective. Or try some Fat Gripz. They’re the perfect solution and available from Weider Mail Order www.weidermailorder.com/50-fat-gripz If there’s a grip machine where you train, try that for one bout each week but if it produces any finger problems, stick to the timed holds exclusively as your specialised grip work.

FINGER EXTENSION Especially when you’re doing a lot of grip work, the finger extension is an important supplementary exercise. It strengthens the muscles that extend the fingers, whereas exercises that involve the grip work the muscles that flex the fingers. A strength

90

FLEX

imbalance between these opposing muscles can cause elbow problems. Here’s a manual resistance finger extension exercise. Put the digits of your right hand together. Put the tips of the fingers (and thumb) of your left hand on the outside ends of the corresponding digits of the other hand. Open your right hand against resistance provided by your left hand. Allow the finger joints to bend sufficiently to produce a full range of movement. Once you’re working the exercise hard, following a period of gradual adaptation, perform a warm-up set for each hand with minimal resistance. Then perform the work sets with enough resistance to make each rep taxing. Apply resistance against the fingers as they open and close—positive phase and negative phase, respectively. Provide more resistance during the negative phase. Perform each rep smoothly, over a full range of motion. Another method is to place the tips of your right hand together, and put your hand between your lower thighs while seated, with your wrist turned so that your right thumb is against your right inner thigh. Keep all your

digits straight, and spread the load evenly over all of them. Find the precise positioning of your hand and thighs that permits this. Perform each rep smoothly, over a full range of motion, with enough resistance from your thighs to make each rep taxing on the positive and negative phases. The manual finger extension doesn’t permit measurable resistance. Over time, however, gradually increase the manual resistance. FLEX Personalised, one-to-one training advice is now available from Stuart— by phone, email, MSN Messenger, or Yahoo Messenger. For further information, please contact him by email at [email protected] Editor’s note: The author’s newest book is STUART McROBERT’S NEW BRAWN SERIES, BOOK 1: How to build up to 50 pounds of muscle the natural way. To order, contact Weider Mail Order on 01423 877 052.

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DAVE LEE

CHRIS SORENSON/ THE VLADAR COMPANY PHOTOGRAPHS BY

Part 1 of our in-depth look at the making of modern bodybuilding’s first feature film From the opening clip of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Franco Columbu plié-ing in a ballet studio, to the piano chords leading into Michael Small’s theme song with the great first lyric “Everybody wants to live forever,” to the training (with gym equipment you’re likely to find only in man caves), to the contest scenes, and everything in between—oh, and all the dialogue that’s been quoted by bodybuilders everywhere for the past 36 years—1977’s Pumping Iron, starring Schwarzenegger, Columbu, Lou Ferrigno, Ed Corney, Mike Katz, and Serge Nubret, among others, has been the inspiration for generations of aspiring bodybuilders. Now, with Generation Iron, bodybuilding gets a long-awaited

and long-overdue makeover. Narrated by Oscar-nominated and Golden Globe-winning actor Mickey Rourke, Generation Iron takes over where Pumping Iron left off. Filmed last year, the docudrama stars Phil Heath, Kai Greene, Branch Warren, Dennis Wolf, Roelly Winklaar, Ben Pakulski, and Hidetada Yamagishi, and captures the real-life drama of the sport’s greatest athletes as they vie to become the 2012 Mr Olympia. Here, in the first of our Generation Iron features, writer, director and producer Vlad Yudin gives us an insight into the making of this groundbreaking film. We also get up close and personal with Kai Greene on what it means to be in a movie that’s sure to inspire the next wave of bodybuilding stars.

TO SEE THE TRAILERS, GO TO GENERATION-IRON.COM

The movie’s executive producers are Vladar Co. partner Edwin Meija, Pumping Iron producer Jerome Gary, Damon Bingham, AMI chairman and CEO David J. Pecker, and Jim Manion, NPC and IFBB Pro League president.

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FLEX: It’s been well over three decades since Pumping Iron. What was your motivation for making Generation Iron, and why do it now? VLAD YUDIN: There are a few reasons. First and foremost, I’m a huge fan of the original. There had been nothing of such magnitude done on this sport—at the time, most of the public wasn’t even aware that this was an actual sport. Pumping Iron changed the whole bodybuilding and fitness industry and the way regular people viewed weight training. I had a conversation with Jerome Gary [producer of Pumping Iron] and we talked in great detail about how this film changed the public’s perception of bodybuilding. Really, most people didn’t know what bodybuilding was. It’s one of those sports that’s

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TO THIS DAY, THERE’S A LOT OF DYMISUNDERSTANDING ABOUT BO BE A BUILDING, SO THERE NEEDS TOIT RE-EDUCATION. WE DECIDED ROWAS THE RIGHT TIME TO REINTN. DUCE IT TO THE NEW GENERATIO largely unknown; to this day, there’s a lot of misunderstanding, so there needs to be a re-education. We decided it was the right time to reintroduce it, if you will, to the new generation. When did you first see Pumping Iron? When I was in high school. I’d heard about it before, but I’d never sat down and seen the whole thing. But when I finally got around to watching it from start to finish, I was riveted. There

were so many cool elements to it. Just the characters themselves were so unique. The way they talked about bodybuilding was entertaining. I’m an outsider to the sport, and in a way that’s good, because this film needs someone who isn’t involved in it. Looking at it from an outsider’s point of view is a good way to bring in others, because it’ll help others relate to it. After that movie, I became a fan of bodybuilding because it’s so different from other sports. I

was never a bodybuilder— though I’m training now—but that film stuck with me through the years. And that’s what we’re trying to achieve with Generation Iron. We want to make something that bodybuilders will appreciate. It’s very important that we keep true to the essence of the sport so bodybuilders will see that it’s treated with the respect it deserves. At the same time— and this was a key challenge— we wanted to take something that’s unique and present it in a way that people who are new to the sport can identify with and appreciate it. Once the business side of making the movie was done, what was the next step? To be perfectly honest, filming

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was quite a challenge. It was a very involved process, because I wanted to be as prepared as possible. My goal was to get full access to the athletes. You can imagine that when you’re training for the biggest contest of your life, you don’t want to be bothered with all these cameras in your face, following you around all day. The tough part was to get them to know me. It took a lot of conversations and meetings. One thing I know from previous work is that you need a level of trust between the filmmaker and the subject being filmed. If the person isn’t comfortable, you won’t get the best footage. It’s important to spend time

with them so they’re relaxed and natural on camera. Once they know you, they trust you and let down the wall, so to speak—it’s easier with some than with others. You also have to be mindful of the circumstances when you’re shooting. Filming these guys during the off-season, when they’re a long way from the contest, is different from when they’re just weeks away from competing. Then they’re extremely focused on this one show where they have to look their absolute best to those who’ll determine who’s the greatest in the world. That’s very stressful. Imagine all that preparation to look the best you’ve ever looked for just two days—out of the entire year! So

many things have to go right. So, of course, when you bring your cameras around, they don’t always want to do an interview, especially at the end of a long, hard day. They want to nap, or eat, or spend time with their families. Throw in hot weather, like you have in New York and Texas, and you have a very challenging situation. But because you’ve laid the groundwork and got to know these guys, they realise the magnitude of the situation. All of them were inspired by Pumping Iron, and now it’s their chance to be immortalised onscreen for the next generation. It boils down to mutual respect. Respect for what

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they’re trying to achieve and respect for the film that’s capturing the journey. When did you start filming? Principle photography began last spring. We started in New York with Kai and Victor. We shot them training and just going about their day-to-day lives to show people how these pro bodybuilders do it. And when did filming wrap? We did the bulk of the shooting leading up to the Olympia and then at the Olympia, as that’s the culmination of all the training and preparation. Then we did pickups a couple of months later. The last scene was at Bev’s Powerhouse, which

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AT WE KEEP IT’S VERY IMPORTANT TH THE OF TRUE TO THE ESSENCE ILDERS BU SPORT SO THAT BODY D WITH TE EA WILL SEE THAT IT’S TR . ES THE RESPECT IT DESERV was cool, because that’s where we started. Over the past few months in Hard Times, we’ve gone behind the scenes with Victor, Hidetada, Roelly, Branch, Dennis, and Ben. Which brings us to the last two guys, Kai and Phil. Now, Kai was actually the first guy you shot... Yes, and it was very interesting that we started with Kai. We spent some time with him before we

started filming—we wanted to make sure he understood the mission and was comfortable in front of the camera. He’s a true artist by nature; if he weren’t a bodybuilder, he’d be doing some other form of artistic expression. There are many layers to him. He’s very multi-dimensional. The more time we spent with him, the more we uncovered. Everyone was drawn in by his personality. He makes a really good impression because he’s so passionate.

At the same time, the Kai sequences were very challenging because you’re talking about over-100° days in the middle of July in New York. It was brutal! And here you have Kai walking around the streets covered up from head to toe, wearing his black hoodie. We were all thinking the same thing: “How is he doing that?” Once we got to the gym, I told everyone to stay out of his way. The key—and this went for all the guys—was to make sure that they didn’t change for the cameras. We wanted to capture everyone in their natural environment, being themselves, being real, with as little compromise as possible. And what about the meals? I understand you were treated to

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Kai’s version of Masterchef. Oh, my God, it was very tough scheduling things in between all the meals the guys eat. They don’t miss their meals for anything! We had to plan ahead and then often change plans right in the middle. There was a lot of improvising, because we’d be shooting and have to stop so Kai could go cook one of his meals. But we filmed that, too, of course, and it was very interesting to see how big a role food plays in being a bodybuilder. Most people automatically think that being a bodybuilder means lifting weights in the gym, but they don’t think about the other half of the lifestyle, which is the eating.

And Kai was cooking in his tiny little apartment with all the burners on the stove going at once. The heat was unbearable—but he was still in his hoodie and sweat pants! I know this isn’t the sequence in which you filmed the guys, but let’s jump over to your visit to the FLEX offices in New York City. Yeah, Kai was there, too. It was interesting to see how the office staff reacted to him. His exterior can look intimidating. He’s got scars on his face and unusual hair, not to mention his size. Right away you see a character walking by. But

that’s just the outside. He’s very insightful, well-spoken, and soft-spoken—not the typical image people have of a bodybuilder. It’s cool to show that, because people have their stereotypes. This film will show the many dimensions of all these guys. It’s a great representation of bodybuilders as individuals, and what they do to excel at this sport.

NEXT MONTH: PART 2 OF OUR INTERVIEW WITH VLAD YUDIN Watch our for updates on the international release dates for the movie and the DVD of Generation Iron.

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GREENE DAY

The Predator talks about the challenges of filming, opening up for the camera, and being a part of history in the making FLEX: When did you first see Pumping Iron? It was sometime in the late ’80s. It was the class movie at the institution I was in at the time (Greene became a ward of the state at age 6), and I remember the main character was this huge dude who liked working out. It became a point of reference for my life because I was working out by that time, but didn’t know what competitive bodybuilding was, didn’t really know what bodybuilding itself was, until that movie. The ’80s was a time when pop culture was very heavily influenced by the idea of working out—you had Olivia Newton-John telling everyone to “Get Physical” and Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon was still very popular. Hollywood was showcasing Arnold, Sylvester Stallone, Jean-Claude Van Damme and other action heroes who were larger-than-life, with equally larger-than-life muscles. That exposure made a lasting impression on me as a teenager. Seeing that movie definitely changed my life forever. I’ve seen it hundreds of times. My friends and I could quote the entire movie verbatim. In fact, several years after seeing it, at my first Colorado Pro [in 2006], I got a chance to meet [IFBB pro] Darrem Charles. The whole time we were backstage, we went back and forth with dialogue from the movie. It was clear we were both

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WHEN THE CAMERAS ARE ROLLING, THIS IS ME GETTING READY FOR THE BIGGEST MOMENT OF MY LIFE. AND THAT’S WHERE THE VULNERABILITY COMES IN. well-versed in the art of Pumping Iron. That was our common ground. I can imagine— I hope—aspiring athletes in the future will do the same with Generation Iron. You met with Vlad before filming. What was going through your mind, knowing that you were going to be in the film? I remember being very excited and honoured. I wished that the people who were in my life 20 years ago were still around so I could share this with them. Part of me wanted to call them up and say, “I’m going to be in the new Pumping Iron!” The uniqueness of this sport is in how lonely the journey can be as you dare to dream and aspire to be the best bodybuilder in the world. It’s unfortunate that the people who were in my life then are no longer in it now, because my life

is drastically different today. There’s no one here today that I could compare notes with from 20 years ago. But it was still very exciting! With several training videos under your belt, you’re no stranger to the camera. But were you prepared for the size of the Generation Iron crew? Vlad had upward of 10 people on his team. At times it seemed like even more than that! It was an amazing spectacle. We were walking the streets of Brooklyn and people were looking out their windows and coming out of their buildings to see what was going on. People were saying, “They’re filming that dude with the muscles who’s always carrying bags of food.” Normally you don’t see a film crew that size in the working class areas, so it was interesting seeing their reactions.

The goal of the documentary filmmaker is to capture subjects in their natural state. Did having the cameras and all those people following your every move affect you at all? Yeah, as much as I want to say it didn’t, there were a lot of times when I struggled to keep my concentration. It’s a tremendous demand to focus on what you need to do. I definitely learned firsthand that it can be very challenging, particularly those times you think you’re prepared but realise you really aren’t. There’s a certain amount of practise one needs in order to be natural and comfortable with that many unblinking eyes on you—and that’s one thing about the camera, it does not blink, ever! It’s like having people come to your house—you want to clean up and put away your dirty laundry, so to speak, before they enter your home so you don’t expose parts of yourself you may not feel comfortable putting on display. But it’s like you hid the dirty laundry behind the door, and people are there in your home, looking behind the door and

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seeing it. Now it’s revealed to the masses, so there’s a certain amount of trepidation that comes with the experience. That feeling of vulnerability can cause a lot of anxiety. Will people understand and accept me? Will the fact that a professional bodybuilder is not driving a $100,000 car reflect poorly on my status, or on the expectations people have of a two-time Arnold Classic winner? How did you deal with that? You want to be the athlete getting ready for the biggest and most important competition of your life, and that’s all—you’ve invested so much in being ready for that moment you’ll be called upon. There’s a part of me that recognises the responsibility of being in the spotlight. As I’m committing myself to making my dreams tangible, I have to be aware of the fact that people are paying close attention to my actions and words. The audience may need to hear a much more powerful message than just how many sets and reps I do. In that moment, there could be individuals watching who are willing to make themselves available to you and whatever it is you have to say, with more respect and attention than they might give their own parents at any given time. I didn’t grow up with a father in my home, but through TV, movies, and various other mediums there were other role models. That’s why I have to give credit to the Bill Cosbys of the world for giving me a point of reference I could draw upon in my own life—be it fostering a loving relationship between me and my niece, or being with other people who make my life more fulfilling— even if it was only something I was watching onscreen. But getting back to the question, the shooting days were at times very long. While you’re trying to get this work done, you want to make sure you’re concentrating on doing what you—the athlete aiming to be the best in the world—should be doing. The last thing you want is to not place well at the show. I didn’t want it to be a case of thinking afterwards,

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ERIENCE AT THE ROOT OF THE BODYBUILDING EXP ER POW AL SON PER OF N ITIO OGN REC IS THE AND THE ABILITY TO USE IT. “My parts were great, but I didn’t do well in the show.” I felt continually torn between serving two masters. I thought, What would [six-time Mr Olympia] Dorian Yates do? Would he allow distractions to interfere with his goals? Then again, you realise that this is a golden opportunity, a million-dollar moment, and you’d be an absolute idiot to let it pass you by. So you put your best foot forward and do whatever needs to be done. The trailer came out shortly before last year’s Olympia. What was your reaction on seeing it? There’s a part of you that thinks, “Aw, man! I could have done that better!” or “I wish I would’ve said this...” But the truth is, when you were in the actual trenches of the experience, there were so many things going on. What about the gym scenes? Did you put any pressure on yourself to make them memorable for the film? There might have been times when I thought like that, but I didn’t want to get injured. Would that serve my goal? No. You really have to keep your ego in check, and with all my years of training experience, I’ve been pretty good at keeping my ego at bay. Actually, there were a lot of things I’d like to be able to take credit

for now, and say I knew what the end result would be, so I decided to do this or say that, but I didn’t. That credit goes to the filmmakers and to the situation at hand, and how it all just played out naturally. Being an athlete who has a responsibility to himself and his sponsors and fans can be daunting, because you try to keep everybody happy—but sometimes you come up short at the end of the day. So you just do the best you can and focus on things that are immediately important as the cameras are rolling. You realise that this is representative of my preparation at this period. This was my big-screen acting debut, so in my mind I was thinking of Apollo Creed or Clubber Lang from Rocky, because characters like that resonate with me. But then you tell yourself that this isn’t some part I’m playing. I’m not a thespian. I don’t need to know what my “motivation” is before a scene, because this is real life—my life. When the cameras are rolling, this is me getting ready for the biggest moment of my life. And that’s where the vulnerability comes in. Because you aren’t acting, you’re just being yourself and the whole world is watching. What do you hope people will come away with after watching Generation Iron? At the root of the bodybuilding

experience is the recognition of personal power and the ability to use it. You’re not a victim of circumstance, genetics, or the permissive will of a deity. You have the power to create your own reality. It’s through the application of decisions that are made from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep that I’m able to define myself as a champion. My successes and failures are not a product of the sins of my father or the demonstrations of love by my mother. My own hand decides to create what I will with my life. That’s the biggest lesson this lifestyle teaches. I got the support I did as a youngster embarking on this journey not because someone expected me to be Mr Olympia, but because they understood that at the root of this, this young man would be able to devote his energy, anger, whatever, towards developing skills—crafting a physique, following a diet plan— that will carry him through life. That’s the beauty of this lifestyle, and that’s the lesson I hope people watching the film come away with. You can create your own destiny. You’re an active participant in that process every day, with every decision you make. And whether you recognise that power in your hand or not, that reality is not one to run from, but one to recognise and embrace. To embrace it puts you in the driver’s seat to create and make of yourself and your life what you will. FLEX

HARDGAINERS ULTIMATE GROWTH ENHANCEMENT SYSTEM®

THE WEIDER PRINCIPLES

RETROGRAVITY

How going negative can have a positive impact on your bodybuilding gains

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Admittedly, some of these Weider Principles haven’t had the most marketable names. Flushing Principle? That one probably should’ve been, let’s say, flushed. In marked contrast, this month’s tenet was given arguably the coolest name: retro-gravity. It’s just a fancy way of saying “negative”, but, to state the obvious, negative is not positive. Likewise, negative’s more scientific title, “eccentric”, is a synonym for weird. And so we get retro-gravity, which sounds like something a planet-hopping superhero would employ to defeat the laws of time and matter. Cool! As we’ll explore, retro-gravity is actually a method for immediately using more weight or doing more reps, which can quickly boost your strength and size gains. Again, cool!

GREG MERRITT

CHRIS LUND

BY

FLEX

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THE WEIDER RETRO-GRAVITY PRINCIPLE

H.U.G.E.

®

RETRO-GRAVITY ROUTINE

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reps, or you can do all-negative sets, to use more weight. To push sets beyond failure, do 6–10 regular reps until you can’t get another. Then have a training partner (or two) help you raise the weight. Fight the weight’s descent, never halting but going at a slow, steady pace for 3–6 seconds. Do 2–4 such negative reps. To do all-negative sets, select a weight that’s approximately 20% greater than what you can maximally use for 6–10 positive reps. Have your partner help you raise the weight, then fight its descent for a set of 6–10 negative-only reps. Note that retro-gravity reps aren’t appropriate for some lifts. These are basically the same exercises you should avoid combining with forced reps: ballistic or heavy, free-weight basics like lunges, power cleans, deadlifts, and squats.

Q Our H.U.G.E.® retro-gravity hamstrings routine incorporates both types of negative reps. In the leg curl exercises, go to failure on regular reps before doing 2–4 additional negatives. The negatives can be done without a spotter if you stop short of failure and then lift the weight with both legs and lower it with one leg, alternating sides on each rep. (In this case, do twice as many total negative reps as prescribed in our routine to compensate for the fact that only one leg is being worked at a time.) On the Romanian deadlifts, a spotter helps lift the bar, then you slowly lower it back to the starting position. A Smith machine makes it easier to assist on these and other lifts because the spotter can stand out of your way to one side and lift up on just one of the bar’s collars.

H.U.G.E.® RETRO-GRAVITY HAMSTRINGS ROUTINE EXERCISE

SETS

+REPS

-REPS

Lying Leg Curl

4

6–10

2–4

Seated Leg Curl

4

6–10

2–4

Smith Machine Romanian Deadlift

4

8–12

2–4

+Reps = positive reps -Reps = negative reps

PAVEL YHTJALL

Q Every rep has a positive half (contracting the muscle) and a negative half (lengthening the muscle). Usually, the former occurs when raising the weight, and the latter when lowering the weight. So about half of your time under tension during a set is spent returning to the starting position. The interesting thing about this is that research has shown you’re approximately 20% stronger during the negative halves of reps than during the positive halves. The Weider RetroGravity Principle prescribes that you slow down the negative side of reps— that is, effectively resist the pull of gravity—to work your muscles during the period when you’re at your strongest. Take approximately 3–6 seconds to complete each negative half-rep. There are two ways to do retrogravity reps. You can use them to push your sets beyond failure, to get more

THE WEIDER RETRO-GRAVITY PRINCIPLE

Here are the pluses of going negative Q STRENGTH GAINS Because you’re approximately 20% stronger on the eccentric (negative) portion of reps than the concentric portion, lowering heavier weights than you can raise overloads your nerves and muscles and boosts strength and growth.

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Q MAXIMISING EFFICIENCY Since you spend half of every rep on the negative side, this adds up to a lot of workout minutes—you may as well focus on maximising your effort during this time.

DISADVANTAGES

There are two potential pitfalls to emphasising retro-gravity. Here’s how to avoid them Q HELPING HANDS REQUIRED On free-weight exercises, you’ll need a spotter to assist in raising the weight. However, on some machine exercises you can go negative without a spotter by lifting the weight with two arms or legs and lowering it with one arm or leg, alternating sides each rep.

QMUSCLE ADOPTION Your muscles will grow accustomed to the additional stress of negative reps. To keep negatives fostering new gains, include them in your routine for only two weeks every two months.

Q Because you’re stronger in the negative portion of reps than the positive portion, you can add resistance to the former. The way to do this during a set is via forced negatives. These are reverse forced reps in which the spotter makes the reps harder instead of easier. He pushes or pulls down on the weight during the negative portion while you resist. For example, on retro-gravity pulldown reps, you’ll pull down the bar on your own (or the spotter can help you), then as the weight is lowered and the bar goes up, the spotter pushes down on the bar, increasing resistance. The key is for the spotter to add just enough to make the negative half-rep harder—but not hard that you can’t smoothly and slowly lower the weight for at least three seconds. With experience, a training partner should be able to add just enough resistance to negative reps to make them about 20% harder. FLEX

PAVEL YTHJALL

ADVANTAGES

Q&As

BY STUART McROBERT PHOTOS BY CHRIS LUND

DAVE DRAPER

QI

You sometimes refer to the bigname bodybuilders who were in their prime during your youth, including Arnold Schwarzenegger. What about Dave Draper? Did he leave an impression on you?

AI

Oh yes . . . I can still vividly recall images of Dave from the 1960s. Dave is a special case—he’s not just a famous bodybuilder who is blessed with phenomenal genetics for muscle building. He’s also very erudite and articulate. Dave was in his competitive prime in the 1960s, which overlapped with the early years of Arnold’s competitive bodybuilding career. They trained together for a time in California. But whereas Arnold progressed further and dominated bodybuilding for several years, Dave moved on from bodybuilding competition following his victory in the Mr World in 1970, and pretty much disappeared from the bodybuilding world for a time. His photos from the 1960s still appeared in the 1970s though, and it was some of those images that I saw when I first started reading muscle magazines. His combination of exceptional physique, dark tan and very blond hair made him especially striking, and earned him his nickname of the Blond Bomber. Because he was so jaw-droppingly impressive at the time, I made the assumption that the training methods that worked for him (and Arnold, Frank Zane and Sergio Oliva) would also work for me. But they didn’t. Largely due to his fantastic genetics for bodybuilding, Dave was able to respond to a volume and frequency of training that would overtrain genetically normal, natural bodybuilders. It’s essential that bodybuilders modify training methods so that they fit their own genetic potential, recovery ability,

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age, life circumstances, goals, and so on. Dave was born in 1942, and was training consistently from about age 12. Even without any muscle magazines to guide him, or role models, his efforts produced very good results. In Dave’s words, “It’s interesting to note here that these things took place almost by accident. I knew of no muscle magazines, looked toward no competitive rewards, idols or flimsy self-gratification.” His terrific genetics for bodybuilding enabled his random but consistent efforts to yield outstanding results. Dave won the 1962 Mr New Jersey title, which alerted the Weider Barbell Company of an upcoming superstar, and he got a job with them in Santa Monica, California. Then, for the next eight years, he was at the forefront of the bodybuilding world, and featured heavily in the muscle magazines of that time. He won the Mr America in 1965, and the Mr Universe in 1966. His bodybuilding success brought opportunities in the TV and movie industries. He appeared on a number of TV shows, including an episode of The Monkees. He was also in several movies, including the 1967 Don’t Make Waves alongside Tony Curtis and Sharon Tate. Although it’s been many years since I saw that film, I can still clearly recall images of Dave, such was the impression that he made on me. The film itself is goofy, but I didn’t watch it for its script. There’s a lot more to Dave than just brawn. It was, in part, because of the inadequacy (for him) of the consequences of bodybuilding success, including all the razzmatazz that accompanied physique stardom and celebrity status, that Dave dropped out of the bodybuilding world for a long while. Dave loves the outdoors, because he’s so comfortable with solitude and being away from the hoopla of life. With regard to his love of training, he noted that “the exclusiveness and loneness of the adventure had and still has a

quality that reaches to the marrow of my bones.” Discover for yourself how erudite and articulate Dave is by visiting his website www.davedraper.com and signing up for his weekly newsletter.

STUART

QI

You must be over 50 now. Do you still train?

AI

I’m 54. I still train. During my youth I was obsessed with bodybuilding. I sought muscle and strength primarily for aesthetic reasons, and I mistakenly thought that exercising was for young people only. Today, I still have aesthetic concerns, and I still enjoy working out, but my primary motivation for exercising is my health. My concern now is with the whole package of muscle, strength, leanness, cardio conditioning, flexibility, healthy nutrition, and being injury-free—so that when I have blood tests and check-ups, the figures are good. As you get older, it’s ever more challenging to keep that entire package in good order, but with age should come the wisdom and experience required to deliver the goods. But none of this matters unless the constant desire to stay in good condition is there. I still have that desire. The health-related benefits from exercise should be the primary motivation for you to train, regardless of your age. Unless you die young, you will grow old. Growing old with good health is far superior to growing old with health problems, especially if they are self-inflicted. Don’t take risks with your health when you’re young—whether inside the gym or outside of it—else you’ll regret your recklessness later in life when you start to pay the price. There must be an investment of time in an exercise programme, but the benefits are so huge that you should make the time to

DAVE DRAPER

LATERAL RAISE

QI

Is it best to do the lateral raise two-handedly, or one side at a time?

AI

Should you be doing the lateral raise at all? If you’re a beginner, forget about the lateral raise. If you’ve trained for a few years, but still haven’t built much muscle, never mind about the lateral raise for a good while yet. If you’ve already built a lot of muscle, then moderate use of the lateral raise could be helpful, especially if you feel that the side head of your delts is lagging behind the rest of your torso. Most hardgainers, for most of the time, don’t need the lateral raise. All the lateral raise does in such cases is distract from much more important training issues. It would be much better for you to apply extra effort to your overhead press (and just a handful of other big exercises for the rest of your physique) rather than use up precious energy, time and recovery ability on secondary exercises. In his prime, Eddie Robinson applied himself with vigour to the lateral raise, because it was an exercise appropriate to him and his goals at the time. But Eddie’s requirements were very different to those of typical hardgainers. His focus then was on honing and refining his already huge muscles. Most hardgainers need to focus fully on building some substantial muscle mass in the properly, consistently, and the components of first place, and the lateral raise isn’t a mass recuperation are fully attended to each day, builder. But Eddie also knew about the just two workouts each week can produce priorities for building mass. At his strongest terrific results, even for youngsters who crave he could bench press over 600 pounds, and increased muscle mass. squat over 800 pounds.

EDDIE ROBINSON

exercise even if you have a very busy life. It’s a myth that it’s necessary to have to do a great deal of exercise. Anyone can make the time for two workouts per week—but not just any workouts. When the workouts are done

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The one-arm lateral raise, with the disengaged hand holding something for support, may permit more focus than the two-arm version, but it may also be more likely to produce sloppy form, and it increases the number of sets you have to apply yourself to, because you have to work each side individually. Generally speaking, for bodybuilders for whom the lateral raise is a useful exercise, I’d recommend the twohanded version while lying face down on an incline bench.

CLARENCE DE VIS

LAT DEVELOPMENT BOOST

QI

Following a recommendation you made recently, I’ve been momentarily pausing most of my exercises at both the top and the bottom of each rep. Initially, it caused increased soreness, especially in my lats. Does this mean that I’m likely to see a boost in my lat development in particular? I especially want to increase my lat width.

AI

Check out the astonishing lat spread of Clarence De Vis. (I don’t know whether or not he pauses his reps.) Briefly pausing each rep at the top and the bottom is a very good idea, although I don’t recommend pausing at the bottom of barbell squatting and partial-range-ofmotion stiff-legged deadlifting, because of the high risk of losing the correct lower back positioning. Muscle soreness is a strange thing. Some muscles readily get sore, but others don’t. Sore muscles can become bigger, provided that the training isn’t excessive and recuperation is adequate. Muscles that don’t get sore much, if at all, can also grow bigger, provided that the training is hard enough but without being excessive in volume and frequency, and provided that recuperation is adequate. Healthy soreness is a good sign. It’s reasonable to think that what you’re doing will improve your progress in general, including your lats, provided that your training intensity is sufficient, your training volume and frequency aren’t excessive, and your recuperation is excellent. That increased soreness is an indication that your form has improved in your lat work. Now that you’re pausing momentarily at the bottom

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of each pulldown and row, and actually using your lats more to hold the resistance there, rather than having momentum and assistance muscles take on much of the strain, you are training your lats more effectively.

LEG RAISES

QI

I never do leg raises now because they used to bother my lower back, yet I still see many people doing them. Why is this exercise such a mainstay in gyms when it’s not a good exercise?

AI

Tradition, and bodybuilding hokum. Turn over to see a photo of Troy Alves illustrating the leg raise. It’s mostly youngsters who can stick with this exercise. Others who do it usually get

lower back irritation sooner or later, although they may not realise the contribution that the leg raise made to that irritation. Chances are that they performed a number of exercises incorrectly, which in total produced lower back irritation or even injury.

The reason why the leg raise is a problem, whether it’s done on a horizonal bench, an incline bench, or an apparatus that enables your torso to be upright, is that this exercise primarily works your hip flexors, not your abs. Your abs are involved, but in a secondary way.

FLEX

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TROY ALVES As your hip flexors work in this motion, they pull on your spine in such a way that it gets irritated. Eliminate the leg raise, and substitute crunches instead, perhaps along with the side bend or the rotary torso, to exercise your abs, obliques and the other muscles around your midsection and between and around your vertebrae. You’ll only be able to see your

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six-pack if your bodyfat is low, but the strengthening of all your midsection muscles will increase your resistance to back injury. FLEX

To submit a question for answering in this column, please send it to Stuart at the aforementioned email address.

Personalised, one-to-one training advice is now available from Stuart—by phone, email, MSN Messenger, or Yahoo Messenger. For further information, please contact him by email at [email protected]

Editor’s note: The author’s newest book is STUART McROBERT’S NEW BRAWN SERIES, BOOK 1: How to build up to 50 pounds of muscle the natural way. To order, contact Weider Mail Order on 01423 877052.

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MARIA SCOTLAND IS ONE OF BRITAIN’S BEST PHYSIQUE COMPETITORS. SHE’S ALSO ONE OF THE BRIGHTEST BY JOHN PLUMMER PHOTOGRAPHY BY KEVIN HORTON FLEX

117

When Maria Scotland was a girl growing up in London her father gave her some advice. “He said ‘you will have two problems to overcome,’” she recalls. “‘You are black and a female so don’t follow the crowd. Be a leader.’” Scotland heeded the advice and learned to find her own path. It worked: she is now a leading barrister and an international bodybuilder. She only started competing two years ago but since then she has won numerous contests and placed in the top six at British and world level. She is a great role model for black women and single mothers and a walking rebuttal of some of the stereotypes that afflict bodybuilders—and the excuses for not training hard. Bodybuilders are stupid… er, so when were you called to the bar? Women with muscles look awful… well, show us a 43-year-old with a better body. I don’t have time to train… are you a single mother with two children doing a highly stressful job? Although Scotland didn’t compete until her 40s, bodybuilding is in her blood. Her brother Kenneth Scotland was hugely into the sport. “He started training at 13 and turned our garage into a gym,” she says. Pictures of Arnold and Lenda Murray covered the walls. Maria, however, never got into it. She didn’t imagine she could look that good. Back then there was only the bodybuilding class. Bodyfitness, bikini and physique had yet to arrive. “I thought it was impossible,” she says. “I was all bum and boobs. I got picked on for the way I looked so I’m learning now to like myself and that’s what it’s about, besides competing.” Sadly Kenneth died in 1999 at the age of 23. He appeared in the film Gladiator but passed away before it came out. But he, more than anyone, inspires his sister. For years, motherhood and career left little time for anything else. She became a barrister in 1995 and now specialises in family law for Clerksroom barristers chambers. She had dabbled in running and aerobics but a few years ago she joined Virgin Active and started weight training. “Because of my brother it felt natural,” she says. “I knew you had to push yourself hard.” Her personal trainer asked what she wanted to achieve. “There was a picture on the wall of a girl who had won FAME the year before and I said I wanted to look like her,” she recalls. Many women would like to look like a fitness model contest winner but few have Scotland’s drive. You don’t have to be around her long to realise why she is so successful: she exudes energy. She loves to laugh and joke but it’s obvious she is one determined woman who gets things done.

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I JUST BECAME A DIFFERENT PERSON ON STAGE

She trained intensely for six months, entered FAME and won the figure class and came second in the muscle model category. She loved the experience. “I just became a different person on stage.” On a high, she wanted to do it again so she switched to the United Kingdom Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation, the UK’s premier physique federation, and won a regional contest in the bodyfitness class, which qualified her for the British Championships, where she placed sixth. In 2012 she won anther regional qualifier and placed sixth again at the British Championships. She also represented the UK three times internationally in the IFBB masters category for women aged 35-plus. She won a silver medal at the Arnold Classic Europe in Spain, finished fourth at the World Cup in Bulgaria and 11th at the World Championships in Hungary. This year she placed fifth at the European Championships in Spain in the masters bodyfitness, which is when most of these photos were taken. Each year she has made noticeable improvements in muscularity and balance, particularly in her lower body. She is always in condition—in fact she was penalised at last year’s British Championships for being too hard. But that’s typical Scotland—more likely to overdo something than not try hard enough. She never had a single cheat

TRAINING SPLIT Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

Legs Shoulders and chest Back and biceps Plyometrics Glutes, hamstings & calves Cardio only

Sunday

Rest

On stage at last year’s British Championships

meal from April to December last year. “I have learned to relax a bit since then,” she says. Juggling work and hobby isn’t easy. Law firms and courtrooms aren’t the most bodybuilderfriendly environments and at first Scotland, whose aunt Baroness Scotland is a former attorney-general, didn’t tell colleagues. “I kept it quiet for a long time,” she says. “I could have applied to be a judge in 2011 and decided not to in case the press found out. There is potential for trouble, wearing a bikini and being a barrister. "But then people started finding out. Eventually my chambers said ‘You should be proud’ and sent an email round.”

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Eating every three hours isn’t easy. “I used to be embarrassed about being in court and having to eat all my meals,” says Scotland. ”I would make excuses to go to the toilet so I could eat but now I say ‘Sorry, I have to eat for dietary purposes.’ I don’t have to say it’s for bodybuilding.” Finding time to fit everything in is also challenging. Scotland, a member of Shannon Dey’s Team Bombshell, usually gets up at 6am and does 45 minutes on a Stairmaster at home. She lifts weights after work at Virgin Active, which has a crèche for her two girls. “You have to be really organised,” she says. “If I’ve got a big trial I won’t get to eat or drink and may have to cut my weights to a 30-minute superset.”

MATT MARSH

Maria knows how to get in shape

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She usually lifts four times a week and does one plyometrics session. Four or five sets per exercise is the norm but rep range varies. “One week I do 15, 12, 10 and 8 and the following week I do 10 or 20 reps every set. I go as heavy as I possibly can.” Scotland’s legs used to be weak but heavy squats soon changed that. “I have squatted 140 kg but now I do 100 kg max and try to go deeper,” she says. She has oatmeal, five egg whites, stevia sweetener and protein powder for breakfast in her off-season followed by five more meals, each one containing protein and carbohydrates. “I got terrible cravings and lost a lot of weight when I tried reducing carbs,” she says. Sweet potato, brown rice and oatmeal provide most of her carbohydrates. She has vegetables and small portions of fruit, mainly oranges, with most meals and derives protein from swordfish, salmon, chicken and, closer to contests, turkey. She eats lots of asparagus pre-contest. She takes many supplements, including glutamine, vitamin C, iron, zinc, glucosamine and protein powder. She wants bigger shoulders and says she’s been working on her glutes, calves and core. Most bodybuilders are never satisfied with their appearance but Scotland’s restless nature means she constantly seeks improvement. She plans to compete internationally again this autumn and may enter the British Championships again in Harrogate on October 19th and 20th. Scotland might be a late starter but she’s already achieved more than most and wants more, so wigs and posing costumes will both continue to feature in her wardrobe. “I’ll be still competing in 10 years,” she says. “This is my life now.” Her brother continues to inspire her. “He’s been my driving force and training has been a relief for my grief,” she says. FLEX

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...and posing costume for her passion

MARIA SCOTLAND

Date of Birth: 30 June 1970 Place of birth: London Lives: Reigate, Surrey Height: 167 cm (5 ft 6 ins) Weight: 58 kg (9 st 2 lbs) contest, 62 kg (9 st 10 lbs) off-season Career highlight: 5th at IFBB 2013 Masters European Championships Ambition: To do well at the World Championships this autumn and get a pro card Training advice: Bodyfitness is not about being muscular; it’s about shape. The pros look big in photos and a lot of girls in England strive for this but when you see them, they are tiny. So train for shape and proportion. To contact: Via Facebook

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TRAINING TIPS FOR YOUR NEXT WORKOUT

A TALE OF TWO CITIES Eight-time Mr Olympia Ronnie Coleman trained only one-way: heavy! On the other hand, Jay Cutler and Phil Heath train with relatively lighter weight and more volume. Heath has stated many times the importance of longevity in the sport and being able to preserve joints and avoid career-ending muscle tears. So the question that all bodybuilders have is: can you train light and still make gains? Researchers examined gene responses to heavy and light training by having subjects train with light (16% of 1RM) and heavy (70% of 1RM), volume-matched resistance exercise and examined growth-factor genes related to muscular hypertrophy. The study lasted 12 weeks, and muscle biopsies were taken before and after the study to examine how each protocol affected gene responses in muscle. For the light-weight protocol, 10 sets of 36 reps were performed with one leg and the other leg performed 10 sets of eight reps with the heavy load. The researchers found that heavy weights caused a greater acute response in the expression of genes related to growth—including satellite cell activation and also reduced myostatin expression—than light-weight exercise did. However, several genes related to muscle growth were not affected, such as IGF-1, MHC, MRF, and atrophy-related genes. Additionally, type I and type II muscle fibre recruitment did not appear to be different between high- and low-loading protocols. Based on the results of the study, heavy weight affected some of the genes related to muscle growth and is important, but many of the other genes for muscle growth and atrophy weren’t affected. Bodybuilders should cycle their training, including load (heavy and light weights), volume, intensity, etc., to continue growing.

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CHRIS LUND

MUSCLE GENE RESPONSES TO HEAVY AND LIGHT TRAINING

ADVANCED VITAMINS & MINERALS WITH D-ASPARTIC ACID

WHAT’S BEST FOR A MASSIVE CHEST? The best alternative to bench presses for huge chest gains

Six-time Mr Olympia Dorian Yates never did bench presses because so many of the bodybuilders he knew injured themselves performing the exercise. Yates was a huge proponent of pec-deck and cable flyes for bringing up his chest, but research on cable flyes hadn’t yet been conducted. Fortunately, now it has. Recent studies examined barbell bench presses, bentover cable crossovers, seated chest presses, incline dumbbell flyes, and pec-deck flyes to determine the muscle activation of each. EMG testing and analysis included motor-unit recruitment as well as firing rate and synchronisation to determine which chest exercise resulted in the highest level of muscle activation. Both the pec deck (at 98% of muscle activation) and the bentover cable crossover (93% of muscle activation) elicited muscle activation nearly equivalent to that of the barbell bench press. For those bodybuilders who don’t like bench presses, either a cable flye or a pec-deck machine can be a suitable alternative.

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Q Bench press, squat, and deadlift—the three kings of exercise, as most bodybuilders would call them. As multijoint exercises, they engage more than one muscle group simultaneously. In his book Dinosaur Training, author Brooks D. Kubic bases his workouts on multijoint exercises such as presses, deadlifts, squats, and rows. Of course, most bodybuilders throw a few isolation exercises into their routine as well. But what if you want to build the most muscle in the shortest amount of time? Researchers decided to test to what extent single-joint exercises contribute to the gains achieved in upper-body muscle strength and size. In a 10-week study, they divided 29 subjects into two groups: one group performed only bench presses and lat pulldowns, while the other performed these exercises as well as triceps extensions and elbow-flexion exercises. The exercises were performed two days a week for three sets of 8–12 reps done to failure. At the end of the study, researchers found no difference in strength or size between the two groups. The study was performed for only a 10-week period, so results might differ over a longer period. But, bottom line, multijoint exercises may be all that are needed.

YATES: DEHAAN; KEVIN HORTON

MORE MUSCLE IN LESS TIME…

SQUAT TILL YOU DROP!

knee flexion. The researchers also measured the cross-sectional area of the thigh muscles and of the patellar tendon using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at nine distances in a proximal-to-distal order. So are you ready for the slap in the face for partial squats or half squats? Both full and partial squats produced increases

ONLY FULL SQUATS PRODUCED THE GREATEST IMPROVEMENTS IN OVERALL THIGH LEG MASS AND ISOMETRIC KNEE EXTENSION STRENGTH AT 75 AND 105 DEGREES. in 1RM squat, but only full squats produced the greatest improvements in overall thigh leg mass and isometric knee extension strength at 75 and 105 degrees. More importantly, the front thigh muscle cross-sectional area, which was measured by MRI at

Phil is known for getting in unreal conditioning, but the hot tub may be his secret fat-loss weapon.

HOT TUB & CAFFEINE STACK?

Q If you’ve seen the preview for the movie Generation Iron, you may have seen Phil Heath relaxing in his hot tub. Phil is known for getting in unreal condition, but the hot tub may be his secret fat-loss weapon. Caffeine burns fat, which preserves the alternative (glycogen, glucose, amino acids) from being burned. Researchers in Korea had subjects ingest 3 mg caffeine per kg body weight (in water) before sitting in a hot bath (42°C; up to the navel) for 30 minutes. When the subjects just sat in the hot tub, circulating levels of free fatty acids increased by 52%; but when the subjects consumed caffeine, their free fatty levels increased by nearly 80%. For greater fat loss, consider using a hot tub and caffeine stack.

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nine different points, only increased at the two most proximal sites for partial squats whereas full squats increased muscle mass at all nine points. If you want superior leg strength and mass, you have to squat Draper-style!

FOAM ROLLERS: THE REAL DEAL?

Q There is a lot of useless gym equipment that has come and gone over the years, but what about foam rollers? Foam rollers are a form of self-myofascial release. In a nutshell, you use your own body weight to massage away restrictions to normal soft-tissue extensibility, almost like a deep-tissue massage. Japanese researchers measured the blood vessel elasticity and the concentration of nitrates in subjects’ blood before and after use. Subjects massaged their adductors, hamstrings, quadriceps, their iliotibial band, and their upper back and traps for 15 minutes immediately followed by blood vessel and nitrate testing. The researchers found that the foam roller session made the blood vessels less stiff, and the concentration of nitric oxide (NO) precursors in the blood increased. The bottom line: foam rollers are legit!

DRAPER: ZELLER, © FITNESS PUBLICATIONS, INC., COURTESY OF WEIDER HEALTH AND FITNESS; HEATH: PAVEL YTHJALL

In gyms across the world, there are bodybuilders committing a crime against leg training: guys loading up the bar and squatting halfway down! Ego lifting is common—bodybuilders love to load up the bar and look like beasts, but is it optimal for making your legs grow? Dave Draper, aka “The Blond Bomber”, was known for going rock bottom on his squats. Researchers examined if there was any difference in muscle strength and size while performing either a full squat (parallel) or partial squat. The subjects performed a periodised programme comprised of three squat workouts per week for 12 weeks. The partial squats were performed to 60 degrees of knee flexion while the parallel squats were performed to 120 degrees of

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RETRO-TRAINING

MIKE MATARAZZO How “the Boston Mass” turned his calves into fully grown cows

Every now and then someone arrives on the bodybuilding scene and upsets all expectations. The 1991 USA Championships featured future legends Flex Wheeler and Chris Cormier, who went on to win a collective 28 pro contests. But that same year, in only his second contest, an unheralded Bostonian stunned everyone by beating Wheeler and Cormier in the heavyweight class on his way to winning the USA overall and securing pro status on his first attempt. His name was Mike Matarazzo, and he was only 24. He subsequently became one of bodybuilding’s most popular pros—despite never winning a pro contest. “The Boston Mass” was known for his ham-like arms, his capacious calves, and his propensity for sticking out his tongue when he crunched most muscular shots. In 32 pro contests during a 12-year career, he made the top five nine times. He may have been at his best at the 1998 Mr Olympia, where he finished ninth in a stacked lineup. After retiring, he had openheart surgery in 2004 and suffered a heart attack in 2007. He subsequently worked as a bail bondsman in Northern California. Matarazzo didn’t have an ideal structure—his long torso trailed his limbs—but he’s fondly remembered for the passion he brought to his training and competition; for the out-of-nowhere shocker he pulled off in 1991; and for two of the best calves ever to grace a stage. FLEX

MATARAZZO ON CALVES “After each set, I stretch my calves out thoroughly. Then I sit down and massage them briefly before I do my next set.” “With calves, range of motion is key. I stretch and contract as much as I can on each rep. I get a peak contraction on every rep, holding it for a second or two.”

MATARAZZO’S CALF ROUTINE EXERCISE

SETS

REPS

Standing Calf Raise

4

10–13

Seated Calf Raise

4

10–13

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“I train my calves the same as anything else—hard and heavy.” “I fully condone cheating on calf exercises, as long as you do the movement strict at the beginning and save the cheating for the end of sets.”

by GREG MERRITT

CHRIS LUND (4)

In his youth, Matarazzo was an accomplished boxer. He won the light-heavyweight Massachusetts Golden Gloves championships in 1985.

FLEX TRAINING

BY BRYAN HAYCOCK

CREATINE MYTH: SQUASHED! With the exception of protein supplements, creatine is probably the most popular and effective supplement used by bodybuilders. It’s also one of the least understood supplements when it comes to parents and coaches. Creatine is thought by some to cause muscle cramps, dehydration, and damage to the liver and kidneys. When these unfounded claims are challenged with research on the safety of creatine, one of the main complaints is that the research wasn’t done on bodybuilders (who are thought by this same group to have unhealthy kidneys due to their consumption of a high-protein diet). Keep in mind, these are the views of people who don’t like— let alone understand—the physiological effects of creatine or protein supplementation. Researchers working out of the University of São Paulo (Brazil) recently gathered a group of test subjects who better represented the population of bodybuilders—the biggest users of creatine supplements—to see if creatine supplementation, done on a high-protein diet while weight training, would negatively affect kidney function. In the 12-week trial, test subjects were randomly allocated either creatine (20 grams a day for five days, followed by five grams a day for the rest of the trial) or a placebo. All subjects were engaged in weight training, and ate a high-protein diet. Result: At the end of 12 weeks, it was found that creatine

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supplementation had caused no changes in kidney function whatsoever. These findings are in line with those of previous studies, which found, for example, that no changes in kidney or liver function occurred in college athletes that used creatine for up to five years. For those of you who may be new to this supplement, here’s some history: Creatine, which was discovered back in 1832, is not an amino acid but a similar nitrogen-containing compound called an “amine”. Creatine is found naturally in some foods, especially meats and animal products. Consuming a normal, nonvegetarian diet, the average person will consume about one gram of creatine per day. However, this average person needs about two grams a day for normal functioning (primarily in the liver, kidney, and pancreas), so the body simply makes more creatine from the amino acids glycine, arginine, and methionine. The body adjusts synthesis of creatine to dietary intake so that the necessary amount is always available. Considering that creatine supplementation enhances performance by increasing power output, muscular strength, work capacity, and muscle fibre size, and—to top it off—is safe even with long-term supplementation, it’s no wonder this is one of my first-tier supplement recommendations for safely and effectively putting on muscle size. FLEX

QYour muscle tissue is in a constant state of flux; anabolic processes are triggered by food and training, while catabolic processes are triggered by lack of food and training. The ratio of anabolic to catabolic activity will determine muscle gain or loss. We spend a great deal of time searching out new ways to enhance the anabolic activity in our muscles. But that’s only half the picture. We eat a ton when we’re trying to gain body weight, which can tip the scales towards growth—but also tip the scales towards getting fat. That’s why every bodybuilder at some point must diet in order to uncover all the hard-earned muscle he/she has built. It’s during these periods of dieting that we must try to actively prevent muscle loss—at least, as much as we try to build muscle. Researchers at Tufts Medical Centre in Boston wanted to see if supplementing with potassium bicarbonate could reduce muscle loss in rats. In addition, they hoped to learn whether vitamin D status had any impact on the process. To do this, they measured various factors that can indicate anabolic and catabolic activity, such as nitrogen excretion, genes for catabolic proteins, muscle fibre cross sectional area, and IGF-1 expression. The group found that supplementation with potassium bicarbonate improved nitrogen balance (for a muscle-sparing effect), doubled the phosphorylation of Akt protein (a critical component of the anabolic signalling pathway), and significantly increased the size of type-I muscle fibres. But, interestingly, all these positive effects were blunted by low vitamin D intake. In short, potassium bicarbonate supplementation preserves muscle mass—with the help of vitamin D. Remember, though: too much potassium can interfere with your heart rhythm and even trigger a heart attack. So, it’s best to never go above three grams a day, divided throughout the day and taken about 30 minutes prior to meals. Add a good vitamin D supplement and you have a very promising muscle-preserver for your next cutting phase.

ISAAC HINDS

REDUCING YOUR ACID LOAD MAY BE ANTI-CATABOLIC

FLEX EXPERT

BY CHAD NICHOLLS

“Cortisol is bad!” This is the message that’s been emblazoned in our minds. Over and over again we’re told that cortisol makes us fat and tired, that it destroys lean muscle mass in the body—a nightmare for the competitive bodybuilder! However, before embarking on a crusade to eliminate cortisol from your life—let’s take an in-depth look at what cortisol is, why it can sabotage your muscle-building efforts, and, more importantly, why we must have cortisol in our bodies to survive. Cortisol is a “stress” hormone (a corticosteroid) and is also called a glucocorticoid. Cortisol is produced by the zona fasciculata of the adrenal cortex in the adrenal gland. Cortisol is crucial to the way our bodies respond to both mental and physical stress, and, as a product of the adrenal system, is involved in raising our blood pressure, heart rate, blood sugar levels, and energy expenditure to endure such stresses. Additionally, slight increases in our cortisol levels can be helpful when we’re brought face-to-face with a stressful situation or a crisis, as it can help increase our tolerance for pain (and give our immune system a surge) if we’ve been injured, supply a sudden burst of energy to react in an emergency, and heighten our senses and intellect to deal with a crisis. These are just a few of the positive effects cortisol can have on our bodies when levels are elevated for brief periods of time. Problems arise when the body produces too much cortisol and we experience elevated cortisol levels for extended periods of time. When our cortisol levels are constantly elevated, rather than help us deal with stress, it puts our bodies into a state of constant, chronic stress. And when our bodies are continually under stress, our cortisol levels increase even more, making the problem worse. High blood pressure, high blood sugar,

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insomnia, hypothyroidism, and protein catabolism are just a few of the negative side effects of having high cortisol levels for prolonged periods of time. On the flip side, one can also experience adverse effects from the production of too

little cortisol in the body. When the body lacks sufficient amounts of cortisol, it can wreak havoc on the metabolism, slowing it, as well as lowering blood pressure, decreasing cardiac output, and causing low blood sugar. Insufficient amounts of cortisol can also lead

CHRIS LUND

THE CASE FOR CORTISOL

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to a compromised immune system and the inability to fight off infections, muscle weakness, lethargy, thyroid issues, and insomnia—to name just a few. As with all hormones, too much or too little cortisol is not a good thing. Knowing what level is best for your body is as simple as taking a saliva sample. EFFECTS OF HIGH CORTISOL LEVELS IN BODYBUILDING During my career as a nutritionist, I’ve run across a couple cases of athletes whose performances were plagued by elevated cortisol levels. These athletes possessed exemplary amounts of muscle, and a couple of weeks prior to a show looked incredible—to perfect their physiques, all they needed was the usual carb load and ridding the body of excess water, and they’d look unbelievable. Unfortunately, the week of the show, stress would kick in. I know everyone gets a bit nervous and uptight before a show, and usually cortisol levels are raised briefly the day of the show, putting the body in “survival” mode and helping you get through this stressful time. However, for these athletes, the cortisol kicked into high gear the week prior to the show, and stayed there the entire week, till the show was over. By the time they got onstage, they didn’t look like the same athletes I’d seen two weeks—or even 24 hours—prior to the show. The elevated cortisol took its toll—flattened them out, softened them up, and made them look unrecognisable. We pinpointed the problem and knew that getting a handle on “stress” issues was the key in both instances. There are many ways to “self-eliminate” stress from your body, but sometimes stronger measures are needed. Though a doctor’s visit may be needed to pinpoint exactly what type of de-stressing therapy or medicine can help, sometimes it’s as easy as taking an antidepressant or antianxiety medicine. BALANCE IS THE KEY When healthy levels of cortisol are maintained in the body, they can help the adrenal system transform proteins into energy. As well, when the body is under stress—be it physical or environmental (such as toxin build-up in the body)— healthy, balanced cortisol levels can serve as a natural anti-inflammatory. In addition to these positive effects, an evenly balanced cortisol level can help regulate functions

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MAINTAIN PROPER CORTISOL LEVELS YEAR-ROUND

To do that, incorporate as many of the following foods and natural supplements as possible: QLean meats QLiquorice (pure QBCAAs QSchizandra QPoultry liquorice or liquorice QVitamins B5 and B6 QPhosphatidylserine QFish extract from a QBlack tea QAnd, if you’re not QVegetables health food QRelora extract dieting, a bit of pure QVitamin C store—not Liquorice QRhodiola rosea dark chocolate is good QRosen root QOmegas Allsorts!) to add in!

with your digestion, metabolism, organs, heart rate, blood pressure, and blood sugar, etc. First and foremost, if you feel you have a cortisol issue, it’s always best to see your doctor to determine the cause. While in extreme cases your doctor may prescribe cortisol blockers, most of the time cortisol issues brought on by unnecessary stress can be treated through diet, natural supplementation, physical exercise, and mental exercise. FOCUSING ON A SOLID “8” We know that sleep and rest are very important for muscle recovery and muscle growth—but they’re also the keys to maintaining a healthy cortisol level. With all that goes on in life (work, training, family, etc.), it can be difficult to sleep well in general, let alone during a contest prep; yet you still need to focus on getting eight hours of sleep a night. Many studies have concluded that sleeping six or fewer hours a night results in a 50% higher cortisol level than that found in individuals who get at least eight hours a night. The sleep doesn’t have to be successive, either—if you can get in only six hours during the night, but are able to take a two-hour nap during the day, this still counts as your “eight”. So this is the magic number for maintaining a healthy cortisol level.

plateaus while maintaining forward progress—it’s very important to stay on a strict eating schedule during the off-season. A constant diet of five, six, or seven daily off-season meals consisting of good proteins, fats, and carbohydrates in addition to moderate junk foods is imperative for keeping the body on an even keel. If you’re inconsistent with the off-season and take in only three daily meals that consist mainly of junk, when it comes time for the contest diet, you’ll throw your body into a state of complete shock and constant stress. Although it’s good to temporarily shock the system when switching over from off-season to pre-contest, you don’t want to put it out of whack to the point where it can’t recover properly, and therefore throws your cortisol production into high gear for a long period of time.

DON’T OVERTRAIN! Finally, listening to your body is extremely important. Remember, more isn’t always better when it comes to training, whether it’s weight training or cardiovascular training. Overtraining can put a great deal of stress on not only your muscles but your internal system. Listen to your body—this is the key indicator of when you’re ready to train again. If it’s time to train a certain body part again but it’s still very sore, skip it—it’s better to come back to it later in the week than to train “on schedule”, further stressing out the body and risking muscle injury. By keeping DIET AND SUPPLEMENTATION Even though, as a competitive bodybuilder, you your body in a constant state of stress, you’ll not only raise your cortisol levels, you’ll also follow a very strict diet with good proteins, risk injury (adding even more stress), which fats, and carbohydrates during contest prep, means it’ll take even longer for your body it’s important to maintain consistency to heal and recuperate. throughout the entire year. Now, I’m not Still, I can’t emphasise enough how saying to follow a contest-prep diet all year important it is to see a professional if you long; but consistency in the types of foods fear your cortisol levels are hindering either you eat all year is key. By this, I mean that your progress as an athlete or your health in following a structured off-season diet is general. So, before following any of these just as important as following a structured suggestions for creating a “balanced” cortisol pre-contest diet. Although there needs to level, talk to your doctor, have your cortisol be a distinction between what you eat in levels tested, and—most importantly—rule the off-season and what you eat during out any serious disorder first! FLEX your contest diet—to keep you from hitting

FLEX TRAINING BY CHARLES POLIQUIN

HYBRID EXERCISES

I’ve heard it’s impossible to lose a large amount of fat without losing muscle. What’s your take on this? On average—provided an individual consumes enough protein and avoids nutrient deficiencies—adult males could lose about 2.2 pounds (1 kg) per week without compromising muscle mass. A research study presented in 2012 in Norway looked at the effects of calorie reduction in athletes involved in heavy

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weight training. One group reduced their energy intake by 500 calories a day, and a second group reduced their daily intake by 1,000 calories. Subjects in the group that reduced by just 500 calories were able to avoid muscle loss while significantly improving their upper-body strength, lower-body strength, and vertical-jump height. The 1,000-calorie group didn’t improve their vertical-jump performance at all, and experienced

significantly less improvements in upper-body and lower-body strength. It took the 500-calorie group three weeks longer to lose the same amount of weight as the group that reduced intake by 1,000 calories, but their athletic performance improved significantly. If you’re trying to lose weight and build muscle, I recommend you take branched-chain amino acids. Creatine supplementation has also been beneficial.

PAVEL YTHJALL

My gym is often crowded, and it’s tough to do supersets. Any ideas on how to get in a good workout without supersets? My primary focus right now is fat loss. A training method called hybrids should fill your needs and provide a nice change of pace. A hybrid exercise is a combination of several movements in a single repetition. The clean and jerk is an example of a hybrid exercise, as it combines the following exercises in this sequence: deadlift, upright row, reverse curl, front squat, and jerk (which itself combines a quarter front squat, military press, and split squat). That’s a lot of bang for your buck. Here are some benefits of hybrids: Qwork a large number of muscle groups in a single exercise Qaccomplish a great amount of work in a short time Q can be used to train many athletic qualities (such as coordination, power, or muscular endurance) Qcan be performed in a single location Qadd variety to your workout to prevent boredom Qcan be performed with just one piece of equipment If your primary goal is fat loss, these

Also known as complexes, hybrid sets were popular as a conditioning method in Europe. Using this method, Romanian strength coach Istvan Javorek has trained many medal winners in Olympic sports, professional basketball players and several world-record holders in track and field. With hybrid sets, you perform one set of an exercise and immediately follow it with one or more sets. Let’s say you want to trash your shoulders. You could combine four exercises, starting with the hardest and

Are Smith machine squats as good as free-weight squats? Short answer: No! The free-weight barbell squat activates the quads much more than a Smith machine squat does,

and does the same with other major muscle groups. Research published in 2012 showed greater muscle activation from free-weight squats compared with Smith squats by 26% in the biceps femoris,

ending with the easiest, such that the difficulty of each exercise is constant. Start with 10 reps of the lateral raise, and then do 10 reps of the front raise, 10 reps of the military press, and 10 reps of upright rows (or bentover rows). For the legs you could do 10 reps of lunges or split squats followed by 10 back squats. I’m not suggesting you make hybrids a staple of your training programme, but for a change-of-pace workout that’ll really get the heart pumping, hybrid exercises really deliver.

34% in the gastrocnemius, and 49% in the vastus medialis when using an 8 RM load. The abdominal muscles are also more engaged in the free squat. FLEX

FLEX

PAVEL YTHJALL

exercises will produce a lot of lactate; high lactate levels will stimulate the production of growth hormone, which, in turn, will accelerate fat loss. The number of hybrid exercises is limited only by your imagination. For example, after performing a front squat, you could immediately follow it with a push press; or you could follow a good morning with a back squat. Either of these hybrid exercises could be performed with barbells or dumbbells. You can also expand this concept to hybrid sets.

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FLEX EXPERT BY BRIAN SHAW

TRAVEL ON TRACK

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ABOVE ALL ELSE, HAVING THE MENTAL STRENGTH TO BE ABLE TO TRAVEL AND COMPETE AT A HIGH LEVEL CANNOT BE OVERLOOKED.

level of dehydration can significantly reduce peak strength and athletic performance. The obvious problem is that drinking more can also cause more trips to the toilet…which reverts back to the problem I’ve mentioned above! The next, more obvious thing to plan for is food. Try to look at your flight and layover times to see if you’ll have time to find a place to eat at the airport or if you’ll need to bring food with you. I always try to carry food with me so I can stay on track with my

meals. It’s also easy to carry a shaker bottle with you and to pre-measure shakes to bring in your carry-on bag. Because of the high number of calories, protein, and carbs, a shake can serve well as a meal replacement when I can’t get enough real food. When you arrive at your destination, be aware of any time change and try your best to get onto their schedule as quickly as possible. One of the worst mistakes to make is to go to bed during the middle of the day. That really screws up your internal

clock and can adversely affect you for days to come. The best strategy, especially when flying east, is to stay up as long as possible the day you arrive and then hit the sack in the evening. At that point you might’ve been up for 30 hours straight and will be exhausted, but you’ll sleep like a baby for 12 hours and it’ll reset your internal circadian rhythms and get you back up to speed quickly. If it’s absolutely necessary, take a short nap, then get back up, and only go to bed when it gets late so you can adapt to the time change as quickly as possible. Above all else, having the mental strength to be able to travel and compete at a high level cannot be overlooked. After the contest, all anybody will remember is who’s standing on the top of the podium! FLEX

COURTESY OF MHP

With all the travelling I do for competition and appearances, I get questions all the time about how I train, eat, and stay on track. In truth, the questions cover a lot of different topics, so I’ll try to shed some light on them for all of you. The majority of the questions are about my size and about how I fit into aeroplane seats! Well, let me tell you, it’s never easy for me to fly anywhere. With the airlines making the seats smaller and smaller all the time, I don’t think they’re really trying to cater for a guy who’s 6'8" and close to 440 pounds! I always get a laugh as I walk down the aisle, watching all of the people on the plane praying that I don’t sit next to them! I could easily make someone’s trip a real nightmare! The simple truth is that most of the time, I try to purchase either two seats together or upgrade to first class if possible. I also have to watch small things like hitting my head on the ceiling, luggage compartments, or doorways, plus getting hit by the food/drink carts (or other passengers) as they move up and down the aisle. Worst of all, most of the time I can’t fit in the toilets very well, so I have to plan for that (or suffer for the entire flight!). Sounds fun, right? Ha! One of the most important things you need to do is carry and drink lots of extra water. I try to drink almost two times as much water as I normally would during a comparable time outside of the flight to stay hydrated, as flying can dehydrate you quickly. This isn’t a small problem, either, as research shows that even a small

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FLEX NUTRITION

BY JOHN KIEFER

LOWER LEG LOGIC For massive, defined calves, science says to reverse the order

EVERYBODY’S STUCK There’s no point in denying—so I won’t— that genetics plays a significant role in the insertion, form, and function of the lower leg. The consequences of genetics, however, don’t excuse having pathetically developed calves. I’ve worked with literally hundreds of people who’ve told me they’ve beaten their calves to a pulp with every routine they could find, without making any progress. As a result, most of them ended up abandoning their dreams of developing the coveted split- and double-diamond points everyone wants. In solving the calf conundrum, I researched the basic physiology, fibre type, and activation properties of the lower-leg muscles and put together a programme any first-year kinesiology student should be able to come up with. Most people focus on working the gastrocnemius, or gastroc for short—which

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PAVEL YTHJALL

I usually talk about nutrition and supplementation in this column, but the running theme I try to maintain in everything I do is cutting-edge science. This means I definitely have my share of bones to pick with training, too, and one particular bone—or muscle, as the case may be—I have to pick is with the way people train their calves. Some calves are designed for jumping. Others do better with running, and some were made specifically to generate raw power. Regardless of the type of calves you have, your progress doesn’t need to stall, nor is there any reason your lower legs should stay undeveloped, shapeless, or puny. As with everything else, science and common sense tell us there’s a better way.

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is typically trained with straight-leg calf raises—or the soleus, trained with seated calf raises. They rarely, if ever, train the two together. If they do, they’ll train the gastroc first and the soleus second. This is the standard prescription that’s been handed down from bulging-calf gurus for decades. For years I also did it this way, with mediocre results—and I’d guess about 95% of you do the same. REVERSE THE CURSE Stop wasting your time. Big calves require brutal training of the soleus, followed by isolated training of the gastroc. Read that again: brutal and isolated. This doesn’t exactly make for a fun day at the gym, and I highly recommend dedicating a single workout for this routine—along with preparations for its hobbling aftereffects. In the lower leg, the soleus is the dominant muscle for strength and endurance. Only when your knee is locked is the gastroc fully activated and the soleus sort of deactivated— although not very much. When you do standing calf raises with a rested lower leg, the soleus takes up the slack as soon as the gastroc fatigues. This takes anywhere from six to 10 reps. No matter how straight your leg is, a fresh soleus absorbs a lot of the workload, leaving the gastroc underworked and understimulated. The solution to this problem is a simple one: beat your soleus to a pulp—leaving it exhausted and twitching—while sparing the gastroc, keeping it fresh for extreme isolation. The routine is described on the right.

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SEATED CALF RAISE REPS: 100 TOTAL SETS: AS FEW AS POSSIBLE

Load a seated calf machine with a 45-pound plate. Sit down and make sure the bend in your knees is less than 90 degrees. The sharper you keep this angle, the more deactivated— and, consequently, the fresher—your gastroc will be. Each rep should be performed in a slow and controlled manner on the way down, achieving a full stretch at the bottom for a one-second pause, then exploding into the ascent. Do as many reps as you can till you’re near failure. If you can’t get 100 reps on your first try, rest for 30 seconds then keep going. If you do hit 100 the first time, you need to use more weight. Conversely, if you can’t do more than 30 reps, you’re going too heavy. ANGLED CALF PRESS 6 SETS OF 6–10 REPS Load an angled leg-press machine with moderate weight. Get into position, with your hips at roughly a 90-degree angle, your knees locked, and your feet slightly closer than shoulder width on the edge of the sled platform. Do 6–10 reps, a total that should get you close to exhaustion. Again, keep these reps slow during the descent; pause for one second at the bottom; then explode into the top. After each set, rest for about two minutes, then repeat. If you’re using four or more plates on each side, unlock your knees, maintaining only a slight bend. This will protect the ligaments and tendons around your knees.

CHRIS LUND

THE AFTERMATH This routine is embarrassingly simple on paper, but it’s devastatingly difficult in real life. It may make you cry, it may have you limping for a week—and it’s definitely going to send electric shocks through both your legs. But it’ll bust you through all your plateaus and take your calves to places you considered previously unattainable. As a bonus, training your calves this way will also fully develop your peroneals— the long, sinewy muscles that run along the outside of your lower leg. This will give your legs fullness from a frontal view and a crazy, snaky view from the side. To fully round out your lower legs, finish this routine by performing tibialis raises by placing your heels on a board—or a 45-pound plate—then lifting a heavy dumbbell with your toes. FLEX

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FLEX THE FREAK

BY ZACK KHAN

MONKEY BUSINESS

“IF YOU MESS WITH PEOPLE’S PROPERTY—WHAT ISN’T YOURS— EXPECT TO BE DISCIPLINED.”

A woman who’s alleged to have abused her pet monkey after it was found wandering around an Ikea car park is continuing her fight to have it returned. Darwin the monkey hit the headlines last year after being found outside the Toronto store wearing a miniature sheepskin coat and a nappy. The owner, Yasmin Nakhuda, has been giving evidence in court, and during the hearing the court was shown home videos of her with Darwin. The Japanese macaque has been under the care of Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary since Toronto Animal Services confiscated the animal last December. Hope this matter gets sorted ASAP, as I can imagine the monkey’s feeling lonely and misses this crazy woman now. Actually, I’m sure he’s been trying to escape, but this crazy woman doesn’t seem to get the message. Poor Darwin…

QTrying to steal a $35 (£23) rack of pork ribs will cost a Texas man 50 years in prison. WTF?! I hear you say… This stiff sentence dates back to an incident in September 2011, in which Willie Smith Ward, 43, attempted to steal a package of meat from a shop in Waco. An employee approached Ward and asked what he had under his clothing. Ward said, “I got a knife” after the ribs fell out from beneath his shirt, the Waco Tribune-Herald reports. Ward’s lengthy rap sheet likely affected the decision of the jurors, who needed just two minutes to convict Ward and roughly an hour to determine his sentence. His previous convictions included burglary, attempted robbery, cocaine possession, and theft, among others. I hope these criminals get the message: If you mess with people’s property—what isn’t yours—expect to be disciplined, ya rib-eating raas claat.

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QA man in Florida has reached a rare milestone after donating 100 gallons of blood over the last 35 years. Damn! This guy is a legend! It’s hard getting 50p off people nowadays, never mind blood. Harold Mendenhall, 84, started giving blood on July 7, 1977. Last month, he reached 100 U.S. gallons (83 imperial gallons, or 666 pints). Mr. Mendenhall started giving blood when his wife, Frankie, was diagnosed with breast cancer. When she died seven years later, Mr. Mendenhall says he was lost. He stopped by the blood bank on his way home from work, and was soon donating up to 40 pints a year. He said giving blood helped him cope with the loss of his wife and, later, his two sons. “For some reason, I’m still here and I’m grateful,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons I keep donating.” Mr Mendenhall’s donations are especially coveted because he gives blood platelets—small cells in the blood that help with clotting. Aside from saving the lives of others, there are also financial benefits for donors in Florida. The local blood bank runs a reward programme, offering coupons for meals at local restaurants. Good on the guy—giving that much blood has given him enough protein shakes…bless him!

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Q Two pussy claats who allegedly robbed a Burger King outlet were caught by police after leaving the restaurant and finding their getaway car had disappeared. Police said Jeremy Lovitt, 23, and Gabriel Gonzales, 19, held two employees at gunpoint at the Burger King in Stockton, California and demanded they hand over the restaurant’s cash. However, during the robbery, another worker slipped out the back of the store and found an empty car with its engine running and the keys in the ignition. I would love to have seen these two dumb f**ks’ faces when they ran into the car park and thought, “I’m sure we left the car here!” The Burger King employee, realising it must’ve been the robbers’ getaway car, drove off and hid the vehicle around the corner. This guy should get free burgers for life—and I hope he got his big whopper out later for the girls so he could enjoy being a local hero. Lovitt and Gonzales then tried to run away, but were quickly caught by police, authorities said. Lovitt was charged with felony robbery and is being held in the San Joaquin County Jail on $150,000 (£99,768) bail, police records showed. Gonzales is being held without bail on

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the robbery charges and several other outstanding warrants, including a misdemeanour charge of receiving stolen property. These two dumb f**ks are both due to appear in court soon.

HIGH-TECH CRIME STOPPER

QMini drones are set to start flying over train depots in Germany to catch vandals who come out at night to deface train cars with graffiti. Damn, talk about getting high-tech on these taggers. Guys, enjoy it while you can. You start taking up clay-pigeon shooting, as a blind person can shoot these drones down, ya German shepherds…Raas!! The Deutsche Bahn railway company plans to start testing the aerial vehicles—which have four helicopter-style rotors and can shoot high-resolution pictures using thermal imaging cameras—soon. A pilot will remotely steer the drones, which can fly at a height of up to 150 meters and speeds of up to 33 mph. “We’re going to use this technology in problem areas where taggers are most active,” said a Deutsche Bahn spokesman. Yeah, of course you are, until they shoot your raas down like Call of Duty. Last year, the company suffered £7.6 million in damages done by people spray-painting the carriages. It hopes to use the images collected by the drones as evidence in any prosecutions. However, the rail operator said it would use the drones only over its depots, not in public areas, in line with German anti-surveillance laws. FLEX

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THE GIFT UNWRAPPED PHIL HEATH As a guy with narrow shoulders, I’ve been told to avoid trap training because it’ll only make me look narrower. What do you think about that? I’ve heard people say that. Supposedly, if you fill out your traps your shoulders will look narrower because there will be less space on either side of your neck. But it’s called bodybuilding for a reason. My plan has always been to fill in everything. People said I was narrow, so I added a lot of muscle to my delts and to my traps, too. I wanted to make my whole shoulder complex—delts and traps—bigger so that would be a focal point. Now your eyes are drawn to my shoulders, and you see all the muscle that I have there that other guys don’t have. I turned a weakness into a strength. Now I think traps are one of my best body parts, and that’s an area I can use in certain poses like the most muscular and rear double biceps and even the standing relaxed shots from the front and back, because a lot of guys just don’t put the same work into shrugs that they do with other areas. I did, and I continue to, and it’s an advantage I can exploit. For example, I’ll do sevens when I do shrugs (seven sets with only 20–30 seconds’ rest between sets) to keep the intensity up. Other times I’ll do two exercises for traps, dumbbell shrugs, and barbell shrugs, or shrugs on a machine. Some guys just throw in three or four sets of shrugs at the end of their shoulder workout as an afterthought, and they don’t really get much out of it. Train your

traps as hard as any other body part. Of course, you want to keep everything in balance, so you want to cap off your shoulders by growing your delts. That might need to be your priority if that’s a weakness. But don’t worry that bigger traps are going to make you look more narrow. Small traps are only going to make people notice that lagging area more. Focus on growing everything. If you have a complete physique then that’s what people will see. They’ll see that you have the right proportions and everything flows together and nothing is a glaring weakness. Growing up in Seattle, did you ever imagine you’d go to all the places you’ve travelled to? I never thought I’d see half of these places, but when I became a pro bodybuilder I knew I’d have an opportunity to see the world. I’m acquainted with quite a few pro basketball players who haven’t seen half of what I’ve seen, and they probably never will. I know guys in the NBA who’ll go to South Beach in the off-season or Hawaii, but they’ll never get out of the country. I feel blessed that I’ve seen so many countries, and I have fans all over the world. Sometimes my schedule is tight, and I don’t have time to see as much as I’d like to when I go to other countries for appearances. But, when I can, I like to take in the sights and experience some of the local foods and things. FLEX

MR. O TWEETS Q Congrats to my dude/brother/ContestPrepCoach @HanyRambod and his wife Farinaz for having their firstborn child last night (May 23), Kameron Rambod.

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Q Getting some much needed decompression on the DRX (traction machine) and chiro today. Gotta get this body tip-top for yet another title defence.

PAVEL YTHJALL

SHAWN RHODEN

What have you been doing on the business end to expand the “Flexatron” brand? Are there any plans for DVDs in the works? My manager, Oscar Gan, and I started to brand Flexatron a little more over the past two years. One way we’ve done that

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is by making a 3-D image of poses. We put the image on hats, tank tops, posters, and pictures. As of right now, we’re working on a few other projects, such as the Shawn Rhoden Classic in the Philippines, but what we’re very excited about is making my first DVD! The title is The Rise of Flexatron, and it’ll be different from most training DVDs out today. It shows me taking a break from the gym in October until mid-January and just giving my body a rest from the strain of a long contest season. It also shows me training with Charles Glass out

at Gold’s Gym. With me getting back into the gym, I wanted to show fans what I was doing after a long lay-off, and how Charles attacks different body parts. His style of training is very new to me, and unorthodox, so hopefully fans will learn something from it. Follow me on shawnrhoden.com, my fan page on Facebook (Shawn “Flexatron”Rhoden), and on Instagram (@flexatronrhoden). How do you balance training on the road with guest posings and appearances? The one thing I have to keep in

mind is that I’m not at my home base. Everything around me isn’t part of my normal routine. So what I do is make sure to work with promoters of events so I don’t miss a step with food or training. I go light or moderate in the gym when I’m on the road. The workouts aren’t anything that would knock a person’s socks off, but they’re very productive and I break a good sweat. Food intake directly affects training on the road, so I try to keep my intake up. Of course, some weight loss is to be expected, but nothing that’ll make a huge difference.

How are you mentally preparing for the Olympia? Q I’m not doing anything special right now. I’m still enjoying my off-season and making good gains. I’m also making sure I’m getting my food and training in despite doing appearances almost every weekend. My mindset right now is to put together days when I do everything I’m supposed to do, correctly. That means waking up on time, eating on time, training on time, and going to bed on time. If I do that, then my body will keep making the improvements I want it to make. When contest time comes and I’m at home more, that’s when things start to change and I get more intense and serious in my eating and training. I start thinking about every facet of the Olympia. The stage, the lights, the sounds, where I’ll stand onstage, how I’ll stand onstage, and how I’ll hit each pose. I can’t control any of my competitors’ prep, so I can’t think about them. I can only put together the best prep that I can, and everything else will fall into place. FLEX

CHARLES LOWTHIAN

Are you a fan of circuit training or supersets for muscle growth? I’m not a fan of them for muscle growth necessarily but more so as part of depletion workouts at the tail end of my prep. I think they can be a great tool at some point during the off-season, but they shouldn’t be the main part of your training. I’m more a fan of supersets, doing two exercises back-to-back without rest, than circuit training. With supersets, you can keep the weight a bit higher and shoot for more compound exercises.

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THE WELSH DRAGON’S LAIR FLEX LEWIS How does all your travel affect your training? You do what you have to do. You get your workouts in when you can—even if it’s the middle of the night. I will say all the travelling I’ve been doing this year has affected my training. When I’m home, I play catch-up, and as soon as I’ve caught up I’m on the road again. I just need to get a handle on all the travelling I’m doing this year, because I know the hungry guys who are chasing me now aren’t travelling nearly as much as I am. But you have to adapt. I shut all the travel down in June, and since then my focus has been entirely on keeping the Olympia 212 title.

What breed are your dogs? I have two American bullies, one white and one black. They have a bulldog body and a pit bull face, but they’re not pit bulls. They’re a different breed. I’m breeding my female this year. Mine

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FLEX’S TYPICAL BREAKFAST Q 10 egg whites Q2 whole eggs Q1 bowl of porridge Q1 banana Q1 pot of yogurt QMultivitamins QBCAAs

are show dogs—my female could win shows. They’re amazing dogs. You could put 25 of them together and the last thing they’d want to do is fight. They’re great dogs, but they need to be disciplined and trained when they’re young. FLEX

DRAGON TWEETS Q Fat is the new massive!

Q Killing arms with my boys Johnnie Jackson and Branch Warren at Ultimate Fitness. #BodyPowerExpo Weekend.

Q Reflection on the battles that have been and the battles to begin. My Olympia prep begins as soon as I leave my family here in Wales. I will leave #NoStoneUnturned

TAUSEEF ASRI

What’s your typical breakfast now? Is it anything like what you ate growing up in Wales? Growing up I always had a proper British breakfast: sausage, beans, eggs, tea with sugar and milk, all that. Everyone did. The Welsh and the British are famous for their heavy breakfasts. It’s definitely not pre-contest diet food. You won’t get just eggs and porridge over there. They’ll be like, “That’s all you want? What’s wrong with you? Are you sick or something?” But I had that every single day. Now a typical off-season breakfast is much lighter than that— low-fat, low-sugar, and focused on protein and complex carbs.

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Gladiator Wayne ‘Doom’ Gordon

GETTING SHOW READY

16 WEEKS OUT At this point, you are too far out to go crazy and you shouldn’t be losing more than a pound or two a week. With my clients I generally use Weeks 16 to 12 to overfeed them, but only with the food in the diet. So if they’re eating fish, steak, chicken, porridge, and rice in their diet, they’ll be eating it in mass quantities. I want their metabolism to catch up to the food they’re eating, not slow down because they aren’t eating enough. 12 WEEKS OUT This is the first phase of transformation. I want to start to see some significant changes at this point. I will generally keep food high but begin to increase the cardio. This keeps the muscles fed and keeps you strong while letting the cardio do the work on burning the fat. To this point, most people would have been doing one session of cardio (about 40 minutes) but at the 12-week mark I usually increase this, either in time or I add a second session of 30 or so minutes.

SIX WEEKS OUT This phase of the diet is where posing, abs, and smaller details like stretching and foam rolling all begin to play an integral role in what my physique is going to look like at the end of the six weeks. I take a long look at how things have gone to make a proper assessment of whether things have to change dramatically or if things are on the right track and I can keep blasting through days. FOUR WEEKS OUT At this point I want to burn whatever fat is left and get it off in two weeks so I can cruise to

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the finish line. So there may be some calorie reduction at this point, still in a low-carb, higher-fat setting. Cardio might be boosted even higher. I may end up doing as many as two 60-minute sessions if I don’t like what I see at this point. TWO WEEKS OUT I like to do a dry run of a short carb load to see how my body is assimilating the food and, after that, I like to deplete for about a week before I begin my carb load. This phase of the prep is almost purely mental; strength is at an all-time low, and pumps are hard to find if they’re there at all.

CARB LOAD If you’ve depleted properly you’ll need to start carb loading on Wednesday or most likely you won’t be loaded up properly. If you use mostly junk food to carb load the more likely it is that you will look like shit. I always suggest the safe route and loading up with clean foods. Lastly, vascularity doesn’t matter! The judges don’t care about veins! In fact, it might actually hurt you if they’re too dense and cover your muscularity. Please stop drinking red wine to bring out veins, stop using boosters to bring out veins, stop all the extra nonsense that most likely is making you look worse than making you look better. FLEX

IT’S ALL IN THE DETAILS Water: Don’t perfect your entire food diet and then drink only two glasses of water a day. You’re an athlete—drink and stay hydrated, the more the better.

Sodium: I’ve worked with the top ‘gurus’ in the sport and all of them have told me to cut out salt. This is a crazy concept. Salt has a host of important benefits, mainly that it

helps with muscle contraction. Spices: They do not hurt and in fact in some cases actually aid in digestion and antiinflammatory response.

Sugar/Sugar substitute: Adding a ton of aspartame, sucralose, or whatever else you need to get you through the day isn’t going to help you in the long run.

COURTESY OF SCITEC NUTRITION

EIGHT WEEKS OUT At this point, I will begin to drop carbs, increase fats, and really push the body through this plateau. The other addition that really starts to ramp up at this point is supplements. Carnitine, green tea, guarana, and tyrosine are all added and sometimes doubled if they’re already there.

THE DUTCH BEAST ROELLY WINKLAAR What’s your opinion of consuming only one protein source? Is that an advisable practice? I think it’s a double-edged sword. There are people who have very sensitive digestive systems, and they can only eat certain types of proteins. And there are those who can eat myriad protein sources with no issues or allergic reactions whatsoever. I think you should consume a variety of food in the off-season because you get a complete amino acid profile. On top of that, each source you eat brings something unique to the table. Red meat has an abundance of B vitamins, naturally occurring creatine, and fat. Some fish have an abundance of omega-3 fatty acids. The only time that list gets pared down is in contest prep. During that time, you eat for a look, but even then, there are a variety of sources you can get protein from. If you can tolerate eating various sources of protein, then go for it. If not, then I suggest you find the sources that work, and stick with them.

Are negatives an essential training tool for growth? I feel controlled negatives are, but pure negatives, where you control only the lowering portion of a rep, may be an injury waiting to happen. You can lower more weight than you can raise or hold. So overloading your body with more weight than you can handle during a normal rep may not be the best path for growth. However, with a controlled lowering, you can get the benefits of negative-rep training without a lot of the risks specific eccentric work carries. Dorian Yates is the best example of using a controlled movement, while emphasising the eccentric portion of the rep. If you’ve watched his DVD Blood and Guts, he slows down the lowering portion of the rep while picking up speed on the concentric (raising) movement of the weight. That should be enough to tell you true negatives don’t have to be in your arsenal to be a monster.

How do you keep your intensity up in the gym? Have you ever stagnated before? When you do something for a long time, there is a strong possibility you will have a period where you basically stand still. That’s not necessarily a bad place to be, but it’s not optimal for success in bodybuilding, where you have to string together good days in order to make improvements. To keep my intensity up in the gym, I have to make sure I do things correctly outside of the gym. What I mean by that is I have to make sure my home is in order, my rest is good, and my food and supplement intake is optimal. When those things are in order, I turn my attention to what I do in the gym. Another thing that helps with intensity is just being flat-out hungry to improve. When you desire to be compared to Phil Heath, Kai Greene, Shawn Rhoden, and others, you just “bring it” to the gym consistently. They are some of the best the sport has to offer, and if you can’t get up your intensity to try and compete with those gentlemen, then you may as well take up knitting. FLEX

JASON MATHAS

Do you get nervous before shows? How do you keep your composure? Q If you do everything you can in the off-season and pre-contest, then you really shouldn’t be nervous. However, that’s if we live in a perfect world, which we don’t. I get a little on edge before a show, only because I want to do everything right. It’s usually the last couple of days when I travel to different venues that make me a bit nervous, but I try to avoid that by doing my research and reading up on where I’m travelling to and what resources are available, such as supermarkets and gyms. I keep my composure by knowing I gave 100% in my off-season and prep, so I bring the best package I can to the stage.

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BIG RAMY’S OFF-SEASON DIET

BIG RAMY MAMDOUH

QMeal 1 12 egg whites 3 whole eggs 225 g sweet potato

QMeal 2 140 g rice 225 g chicken breast

ELSSBIAY

QMeal 3 Protein shake QMeal 4 4 whole eggs 225 g sweet potato QMeal 5 225 g chicken breast 200 g brown rice 150 g sliced pineapple QMeal 6 285 g salmon 100 g white rice QMeal 7 285 g steak Green salad QMeal 8 (taken in the middle of the night) Protein shake with 2 tbsp peanut butter

You’ve grown so much in three years—I’m sure a lot of guys would like to know exactly what you eat every day. You seem to keep your body fat pretty low even in the off-season. What’s your typical off-season diet? First of all, genetics plays a big part. I have very good genetics and don’t put on fat easily. Second, I do some sort of cardio every day off-season, even if it’s just 15 minutes on a treadmill after I lift. But everyone starting out in bodybuilding needs to realise that nutrition is the real secret to winning shows. Anyone

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can lift heavy weights, but to grow as much as I did in just three years, you need to be exceptionally disciplined with your food intake and never miss meals, no matter what. I believe you need to take in carbs, fats, protein, and a little simple sugar in the form of fruit every day. I keep my diet very simple and hardly ever cheat, which is how I stay lean off-season. Someone who’s just starting out can adjust the number of meals to five or six, but the key is eating every two to three hours, even if that means waking up to

drink a shake. If you keep the diet simple, there are no excuses for missing meals. Every bodybuilder has a weak body part—but you don’t seem to! Do you train all body parts equally hard, or do you have some stubborn ones you train more than the others? Most of us don’t have a critical enough eye to see what’s incomplete in our own frame. Having a trainer or experienced eye look at you is very important, especially in the off-season, when you’re making drastic changes to your physique. There are months when I train some body parts twice a week, but as they grow, I back off and go down to once a week or sometimes every other week. I’m lucky that I’m very symmetrical, but that’s the result

of having my coach constantly giving me feedback. When you train at Oxygen Gym in Kuwait, do you have a training partner? I’m wondering who motivates you to give it 100% every day. Oxygen Gym has to be the best-equipped gym in the Middle East. It has everything a bodybuilder could possibly need, so I consider it my home away from home. I’ve never found a training partner there who can keep up with me, which is fine because I don’t need anyone to motivate me to push past my limits in the gym. I’m pretty intense and know exactly where I want to be in a few years, so I’ve always let that be my motivation. I have a lot of friends at Oxygen who support me and give me honest critiques. And the owner, Bader Boodai, believed in me from day one. FLEX

ALEX ARDENTI

Q The newest member of Team AMI/Weider, Mamdouh “Big Ramy” Elssbiay, earned his IFBB pro card (and qualified for this year’s Mr Olympia) by winning the 2012 Amateur Olympia in Kuwait. At the IFBB New York Pro on May 25, when Ramy crushed the competition to win his pro debut, the message he sent to the bodybuilding world was crystal clear: there’s a new player in town! Ramy’s next stop will be the Mr Olympia.

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RETROSPECTIVE

BY CHRIS LUND, UK EDITOR SINCE 1985 PHOTOS BY CHRIS LUND

MIKE FRANCOIS (UNCROWNED MR OLYMPIA)

This month’s Looking Back features a bodybuilder who only competed in world-class bodybuilding competition for seven years (1991-1997). However, during that period, it looked as though MIKE FRANCOIS was virtually unbeatable, especially after he won his first four pro competitions in a row, on his way to the 1995 Mr Olympia. 160

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I first met Mike after he won his pro card by annihilating everyone at the 1993 NPC Nationals. Mike displayed an extraordinarily massive and powerfullooking physique at the NPC Nationals, but along with this, he had the clean-cut look of a Mr America about him that promised an incredible bodybuilding future. The first time I photographed Mike, I was impressed with his laid-back professionalism and his total lack of the bodybuilding egotism that was quite common in the business. To be honest, he never really said much; most of the conversation took place through his wife Shannan, who attended every photo shoot we did from that day on. “Mike likes to get things done without a fuss,” she explained. “He is a no-nonsense type of guy, and that’s why I love him!” When former U.S FLEX Editor-in-Chief Peter McGough organised a training photo shoot with Mike and Dorian Yates, I thought “Great! We will get some magic black and white shots today.” And we did, except that both bodybuilders hardly said a word to each other throughout the entire back workout. I looked over at McGough as if to say “What’s your game, then? Why are you doing this to me?” “They’re both in awe of each other,” he replied, with a sly smirk. “They are what you might call real hardcore bodybuilders!” I guess he was right! During 1997, however, the bodybuilding world was sent into a state of shock. Rumours began circulating worldwide that Mike Francois was seriously ill and that his pro contest career was over. Apparently, he was suffering from colitis and the prognosis was not looking good, although he somehow still managed to enter the 1997 Mr Olympia, where he placed a disappointing 11th. Mike would never again enter another bodybuilding contest. In June this year I spoke to Mike and asked him to look back at the incredible highs and deadly lows of his short, but dynamic career as one of the greatest bodybuilders of all time. Mike Francois is old school, as you will learn from this very candid and honest interview.

When and why did you start training? I started with weight training in high school, around the age of 14, 15—nothing serious, just as a way to get stronger and become a better athlete. My goal at that time was to be a great athlete; I participated in all the sports available to me (football, baseball, basketball, wrestling and track and field). I guess if that was my beginning in training, I would have to credit the athletics director at my high school for being ahead of the times in 1979-1980 and strongly encouraging athletes to work out. As far as training as a bodybuilder, that was many years later. I began bodybuilding in earnest in 1990 or so. I received help from a local bodybuilder turned trainer named Greg Greenzalis, who was a great help in learning how to train and diet. How did you train in the beginning? At first I did a lot of powerlifting-type movements, such as deadlifts, squats and bench pressing. Obviously, I supplemented my heavy movements with more detail exercises. Also, I remember Greg having me do a ton of supersetting and giant sets. For example, we would do leg presses for 20 reps, hack squats for 20 reps, weighted step-ups—10 on each leg—and finish with 20 leg extensions. We would giant set those, rest for two to three minutes and repeat three times. It was a killer to say the least. I am not sure how much size I actually gained but I know it showed me what it took in terms of intensity and effort. What about your diet back then? Diet played a huge role in the beginning. Eating clean was never an issue for me as I had been doing that as a way of life from high school on. However, eating enough food was what I needed to work on. As a result, I began slowly increasing my food intake, until it reached as high as 10,000 calories at one point early on. So yes, nutrition was a huge part of progressing. Were you an easy gainer? Yes, I guess I was an easy gainer. I never thought that at the time, killing myself in the gym and eating like crazy every day. But looking back on it, my progress was pretty rapid compared to those I trained around. I competed for the first

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time in 1990 and turned pro in 1993 and won my that. I never was a partier or late-night guy, first year as a pro, so I guess genetics as an easy so my lifestyle was conducive to progress gainer was definitely in play. as well. I also never missed a workout and I poured myself into every single training I always thought that you were a session. I went to the gym, trained as powerlifter to start with. Is that so? intensely as I could and left—no talking, no I wasn’t actually a competitive powerlifter loitering around the gym. I just had a mindset but I trained with some of the best powerlift- of no nonsense; if I was going to do this, I ers in the world at Louis Simmons’ Westside would do it all to the best of my ability. I think Barbell in Columbus, Ohio. It was truly a that is what helped me the most—I looked at blessing that I was allowed to train there. everything I did in and out of the gym like this. It is an invitation-only gym and really not too If it wasn’t going to help make me a better “bodybuilder-friendly”, so to speak. I think bodybuilder, I was not interested in doing it. they feel that bodybuilders spend too much My life was church, family, home, gym and time at the mirror instead of the squat rack! grocery store—just ask my wife! Pretty boring, However, they invited me over and once they but it was the only way I felt I could reach my realised I was there to work hard and grow, goals. My wife has just informed me that is they accepted me as one of their own. Every the way it still is (the boring part) and nothing day there was like a competition in terms of has changed! who could train heaviest and with the most intensity. I absolutely loved it! I had a training You won your first four pro shows in 1994 partner from there, Chuck Vogelpohl, who at and 1995 and then placed 7th at your first the time was one of the strongest men in the Olympia. Is that correct? world in his weight class. We went back and Yes, I did win my first four pro events, so when forth, challenging each other (all in an I placed 7th at my first Mr Olympia I was unspoken manner) with every set and rep. pretty upset. I don’t know if you would call it Believe it or not, as strong as he was (and he bad sportsmanship or what, but I never kept was very strong) we still kept the pace of the any of the medals given to me at the Mr O workouts at a very high level, no three to four each year by Joe Weider. minutes’ rest between sets for us. As soon as If I didn’t do as well as I had wanted in any I set a weight down, he would grab it and do particular show, I never wanted it to be his set and so on. because I hadn’t trained as hard as I possibly could. As a result, I will never have to face Why did you decide to compete as looking back at my career and saying “what if a bodybuilder? I had trained more intensely or made more I decided to compete only because other sacrifices?” That has never been an issue for people suggested it. I didn’t have a huge me. My training was almost exclusively a two desire to get on stage and pose. I just loved days on/one day off schedule. So, I trained on the training and the progress I was making. Monday and Tuesday, took Wednesday off However, I thought “why not?” and decided to and trained again on Thursday and Friday give it a shot. I absolutely had no aspirations to with weekends off. This worked really well become a pro bodybuilder, nor did I think I had for me and allowed the proper recuperation the potential it takes to get there. period. Also, it worked well with the frequent travelling to guest posings etc. You did very well right from the start. You placed 3rd at your first attempt at the How did you train during this period? 1992 USA Championships, and then you On Monday I trained chest, biceps and abs. won your pro card the following year at On Tuesday I trained back and calves. I took the NPC Nationals. Wednesday off, then on Thursdays I trained As I said earlier, I guess I was an easy gainer, so legs and calves and on Friday I trained genetics was a huge part of it. The rest I would shoulders, triceps and abs. As far as training say was just done through listening to those volume is concerned, I generally did the who were on my “team” and not varying from following:

Chest: 12-15 working sets Biceps: 9 working sets Abs: 6-9 working sets Shoulders: 15-20 working sets Triceps: 9 working sets Back: 15-20 working sets Calves: 5-8 working sets Legs (hams and quads total): 20-24 working sets One of the big exercises that I had as a mainstay in my programme was the deadlift, which I did in a variety of ways (out of a rack, off the ground, while standing on a box, etc.). The more angles and variety of heights and styles of deadlifting I did, the more my back grew. Some of my best deadlifts were in the 800 lb range. I loved to deadlift and feel that it made my whole body bigger, not just my back. Behind-the-neck shoulder presses were also a big exercise I liked to use. I was able to do 405 lbs for five to eight reps. Squatting was my all-time favourite exercise, and I think it also put a lot of size on my whole body. I know that when I squatted heavy all my lifts would go up and I would grow as well. My best squats were in the 700-800 lb range for five reps or so. I never maxed out, so to speak, because as a bodybuilder I wasn’t that concerned with how much I could lift. I was a lot more concerned with growing as much muscle as I possibly could. However, I did know that the heavier I lifted the bigger I would be. What was your nutrition like in those days? My nutrition was always good. I started eating healthily way back in high school, so the bodybuilding diet was never a struggle. I was used to being disciplined and staying away from junk food, so when I took up the sport of bodybuilding, that was one big hurdle I had already overcome. I ate a lot of chicken, eggs and red meat for protein. For carbs, I mainly stayed with grits, oats, rice and vegetables. My fats were minimal. My calorie intake at one time early on in my career was in the 10,000 range. Later, when I was more concerned with both refining my physique and growing (rather than just growing), I was probably in the 4,000-5,000 range in the off-season. In the contest prep period, my food sources were much the same as they were in the off-season but of course, the quantities were less. It varied, but I was probably in the 2,500-4,000 calorie range while dieting.

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You were definitely on your way to becoming Mr Olympia. Everyone said this and I can remember Joe Weider going crazy over you, but then you developed colitis and your career came to a sudden end. Unfortunately, I was never able to realise my dream of winning the Mr Olympia. I hate thinking that I not only let myself down, but also those who supported me along the way. Honestly, that is why it is hard for me to be around the sport at all now and, frankly, to answer questions like this. If I had been able to give it my best effort for 8-10 years I probably wouldn’t feel so badly but due to my colitis issues, I didn’t get that chance. So, I have a lot of emotions that come out when talking about this topic. But, at the same time, I have to realise how blessed I am to have had the chance to compete at that level, however briefly. I was also blessed to have people like Joe Weider to support me, and countless others as well. Did you have much personal contact with Joe? Unfortunately, I didn’t get the pleasure of a lot of one-on-one experience with Joe. Being out here in Ohio, 2,000+ miles away from the Weider offices, was a big factor in that. However, I have a few stories that I can share. The first would be when Joe offered me my first Weider contract. When I first turned pro in 1993 I already had signed a deal with Champion Nutrition. That contract was good through 1995, the year I won the Arnold. In fact, I had just won the Arnold and the next weekend I was in California for the San Jose Pro Invitational, my fourth pro win in a row. After that contest, I had to travel to Palm Springs for a guest posing appearance. I was in my hotel room with Nasser El Sonbaty and his wife, relaxing, and the hotel phone rang. It was Joe! I had never spoken to him, but I knew his voice well. At first I wondered who it was—no way could it be Joe Weider. How would he know where I was, let alone where I was staying? He offered me a six-figure Weider contract. I was floored! I said I was honoured, but I was still under contract with Champion until approximately the end of the year. He said he knew that (how I am not sure) and we would just date the contract to start the day the Champion one ended. So, now I was a Weider athlete!

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As I said earlier, colitis ended my bodybuilding career and almost my life. I spent a total of two months in hospital and had my last rites from the priest two times. During that time, a rival magazine kept calling and talking to my mother or whoever they could reach at the hospital to check on my condition. I had actually done a lot of interviews with this magazine before my Weider contract, which forbade interviews and photo shoots for any magazines other than Joe’s. Well, when I finally made it out of the hospital, that magazine turned all those phone conversations plus photos they had taken previously into a full-blown article. Once Weider’s lawyers got wind of this, I received a letter saying they were taking a month’s pay from me. After just getting out of the hospital and lucky to be alive, the last thing I needed was that news. Also, my contract was due to finish at the end of the year and since I knew my bodybuilding days were over, there was no question that that would be the end of the contract as well. Needless to say, I wasn’t thinking good thoughts about Joe after that lost month’s pay. Then at the end of the year, much to my surprise and delight, Joe gave me another year on my contract. Of course I thanked him, but I never asked him why he did it. I never made any bones about the fact that I was done, yet Joe stepped up and did that out of the goodness of his heart. It allowed me to get my health and life back on track and I will be forever grateful to Joe for that. Mike, you had the thickest and broadest back in bodybuilding. How did you build it? I worked hard to develop my back. It definitely wasn’t a strength when I began competing, but by the end it was a body part I was proud of. The biggest difference I feel that I made in my training was deadlifting. I had never really done much of it early on, but was introduced to it by my powerlifting friends. For one to two years straight I did some form of deadlifting in every back training session. Obviously, I did auxiliary exercises as well, but deadlifting either off the floor, out of the rack or off a box was the first exercise of every back workout. Here is a typical back workout from that period in my career:

Warm-up Rack pulls (deadlifts out of the power rack) 135 lbs x 5 reps 225 lbs x 5 reps 315 lbs x 5 reps 405 lbs x 5 reps 495 lbs x 1 rep 585 lbs x 1 rep 675 lbs x 1 rep 765 lbs x 1 rep At this point I would start adding less weight each set, maybe 10-20 lbs each set of one rep. I would keep going up until one of two things happened: I couldn’t get the weight up or I felt that I was at my limit that day. I would try to increase the weight each week, and I was usually able to keep moving my max rep weight up. I would do this same routine for three to four weeks and then I would switch the type of deadlift. For instance, I would deadlift the next three to four weeks off the floor, and follow the same scheme as above. Shrugs: 4 x 10 Cable rows to waist: 4 x 10 Reverse-grip row to waist: 4 x 10 Pulldowns to chest: 4 x 10 How many times a week do you think a muscle should be trained? I trained each muscle group once a week. At one point early in my career I tried to train each body part more than once a week but it only burned me out and led to no progress. How many times a week should the average guy train? I think that the average person should train three to four times a week. Less than three isn’t enough, three times doesn’t really allow enough separating of major body parts. I feel that four is ideal: you can break the body into enough segments, so that no major muscle groups will be trained on the same day. Also, this method allows adequate recovery time for maximum growth. You obviously believe in very heavy training. I believe wholeheartedly in heavy training. However, training heavy in and of itself isn’t enough, you must train heavy with maximum intensity. This type of training builds dense thick muscle. If you just want to be a powerlifter, then slow heavy training is what you want

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R OU T E SI OR Y I V ST DA TO

(for the most part). However, to build a bodybuilder’s physique you need to also add the ingredient of intensity. You placed only 10th at your second Mr Olympia in 1996. What happened? I made two mistakes, which I regret to this day. I placed 7th in my first Mr O the year before that and felt the reason for this was that I wasn’t hard enough. It was the first show out of my first five pro shows that I didn’t win and I overreacted. I got away from what got me there. I sacrificed too much size trying to get harder and it cost me. I also got away from the person who had helped me to that point with my nutrition, another big mistake!

Who is the greatest bodybuilder of all time? I think that the greatest bodybuilder of all time is Dorian Yates. I hate saying that about someone I was trying to beat, but the progress he made and the granite-hard condition he was able to achieve was amazing. He continued to make progress each year. I realise he tore a couple of muscles in the process of winning multiple Olympias, but he was the best in my eyes. Also, his quiet demeanour and humble attitude in the time I spent around him was very admirable.

How can we create a better image of bodybuilding? Bodybuilding has always had kind of a bad rap. Some of that is warranted, but much of it isn’t. I think the athletes being more approachable Your final year of competing (1997) was would be a good start. Unfortunately, the a lot better. You placed 3rd at the Arnold only opportunity many fans get to see the Classic, 3rd at the San Jose Pro Invitational bodybuilders is at contests. This is a difficult and 11th at the Mr Olympia. time for the athletes— they are dieting and I got back to what had got me there and focused—so many times they appear to be started to get things going in the right direction arrogant or aloof. I am not sure how to remedy again. Although it wasn’t the result I wanted this, other than the fans seeing the athletes at (3rd at the Arnold and 3rd again the following guest appearances and in other more relaxed week in San Jose) I felt I was back. But between settings. Also, I think the attitude of some those two shows and the Mr O that year, I was bodybuilders needs to change. Just because diagnosed with colitis and went on several you may have bigger muscles than someone medications to help remedy it. Unfortunately, doesn’t mean you are better than them or have the meds were very catabolic, the opposite of the right to treat them poorly. The athletes what I needed while training for the Olympia. need to go out of their way to promote the I was even hospitalised for a few days prior to sport and treat people with respect. the Olympia. Obviously, I kept it quiet; no one other than my family and Chris Aceto knew Any other bodybuilding stories, Mike? about it. I didn’t want anyone in the IFBB or I remember a couple of things that were quite Weider to hear about it for obvious reasons. funny. One involved the late Nasser El Sonbaty. I made it through the Olympia, but the results I was with my wife Shannan in Hawaii for guest were a nightmare and embarrassing! posing shortly after winning the Night of After the 1997 Olympia the colitis really took Champions (NOC). I was trying to stay in decent hold and more medicine was required than shape, and maybe gained 10-15 lbs in the few before. Initially, the meds worked and the weeks following the show. We ran into Nasser doctors were very pleased with how things were and his wife who were on holiday there. Nasser, going, even to the point where they took me off whom I had just beaten at the NOC, had already all the medicine. At that time I was training put on 50-60 lbs and weighed 300 lbs or so. for the 1998 Arnold Classic. Unfortunately, One evening we went out for ice cream. I ordered the colitis came back full blown and that was a sugar-free fat-free yogurt, still trying to look the end. I wasn’t able to continue, and a week good for my guest posing. Nasser of course before the Arnold, surgery was required to ordered a huge banana split! Shortly after remove my large intestine. It’s a long story, ordering I excused myself to the restroom and but after cheating death a couple of times in my when I came back to the table not more than a two months’ stay in hospital and losing roughly couple of minutes later, they had brought the 95 lbs (from 270 lbs to 175 lbs or so), my career food to us. Nasser had not only eaten his banana as a professional bodybuilder was over. split in that two to three minute stretch, he had

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CONTEST CAREER 1991 Musclemania Chicago, Heavyweight, 1st and Overall Winner NPC Southern States, Heavyweight, 3rd 1992 NPC USA Championships, Heavyweight, 3rd 1993 NPC USA Championships, Heavyweight, 2nd NPC Nationals, Heavyweight, 1st and Overall Winner 1994 Chicago Pro Invitational, 1st Night of Champions, 1st 1995 Arnold Classic, 1st San Jose Pro Invitational, 1st Mr Olympia, 7th 1996 Mr Olympia, 10th 1997 Arnold Classic, 3rd San Jose Pro Invitational, 3rd Mr Olympia, 11th

also eaten my yogurt! Of course he had that grin on his face that only Nasser could pull off! Quintessential Nasser! Sad to see him go, he was a unique guy, to say the least, but we always got along well. RIP buddy! One story involves another guy I got along well with, Porter Cottrell. We were both in Spain for a guest appearance. On the flight over, I read a story in one of the magazines about the large amount of counterfeiting of US $100 bills that was going on in Europe at that time. After a long trip and a great time, the promoter handed me an envelope with $5,000 in it. Whenever I travelled and did appearances, getting paid was always the last thing that happened. Usually it occurred on the way back to the airport or right before leaving the venue. Any contact with the promoter after this point was usually minimal. So, he handed me the envelope, I put it in my pocket and said thank you and good-bye. Porter and I were both staying at the same hotel and went back there for the night; we were due to fly out first thing in the morning. Remember, we were in Spain; I speak no Spanish and basically didn’t know anybody there except Porter. We got back to the hotel and I opened my envelope.... uh oh... these $100 bills don’t look like anything I have ever seen before, so now I have $5,000 worth of nothing! I was beyond worried: I was in a strange country, and didn’t have any way of really doing

anything to get this straight.I frantically went to Porter’s room and showed him what I thought were bogus $100 bills and asked to see what he had been given. I told him we had got screwed and we were out of $5,000. He just looked at me and laughed. He went on to tell me that these were the brand new US $100 bills that had apparently just been distributed around the world. I was very relieved to say the least! What do you do these days, Mike? I have a personal training and consulting business—Francois Fitness Consultants Ltd. Also, Shannan and I promote the Mike Francois Classic. Our contest is a bodybuilding, figure, physique and bikini contest, and this year was our 16th annual show. Do you still train? I still train, if that is what you want to call it! I do a little cardio and train with weights for a total of about 25-30 minutes six days a week. I get up every day at 4:20 a.m. and train in our gym here at home. I don’t do heavy weights or anything close to what I used to. My main objective is to stay in shape and keep my body fat levels low. Is there anyone you would like to thank, Mike? I truly appreciate this opportunity to let people know a little about my career and what ended it and what I am up to now. There were a lot of people who helped me along the way, some whom I have already mentioned. But I would like to thank a few key people in my life who helped me achieve any success I may have had in the sport of bodybuilding and in life: my wife Shannan and two boys Beau and Elijah; my parents and eight brothers and sisters; Joe Weider and all the photographers (especially Chris Lund of course!) and writers; Ed Connors; my training partners; Jim Lorimer; all the fans of the sport; and most importantly God, who has blessed me with many gifts. FLEX Mike Francois can be contacted via his website www.mikefrancois.com.

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LETTERS

BY ERNIE TAYLOR “THE BRITISH PHENOMENON” PHOTOS BY CHRIS LUND

“THE MAN” HI ERNIE, Who would you say had one of the best physiques when you were competing in the Mr Olympia? Personally, I would say that Flex Wheeler was the man back in those days, just as Phil Heath is the man today. So Ernie, who was the man back then and today? Iain Hi Iain, During the time that I was competing (1993- 2004), there were many great physiques around, such as Kevin Levrone, Dexter Jackson, (still holding his own today), Flex Wheeler, Chris Cormier, big Mike Francois, Lee Priest, Mustafa Mohammad, Nasser El Sonbaty, Dorian Yates, Jay Cutler, and of course the one and only Ronnie Coleman. Before I turned pro, I was a big fan of bodybuilders such as Francis Benfatto, Andreas Munzer, Gary Strydom and Vince Taylor. I’m sure that I have forgotten many others through the passage of time and I apologise for that. I did compete against the best of them all, and even though I was one of their competitors, I still managed to make life-long friendships with many of them. Unquestionably, eight-time Mr Olympia Ronnie Coleman should take the crown of best bodybuilder the world has ever seen. We should never forget the time when Ronnie was absolutely unbeatable, and every other Mr Olympia competitor was actually training for second place! Next to Ronnie, I always liked (and still do), Dexter Jackson, because I felt that he had a physique that was similar to mine. I was also usually impressed with Chris Cormier, especially when he was in really top condition. He had a superb wide upper body

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that tapered down to a tiny waist, with huge, fat-free abdominals, which simply blew everyone away. Chris was also as strong as an ox and would have made a great powerlifter. He was the master poser onstage and when the judges called out for a front lat spread, Chris had this nice little trick of turning it into his own personal masterpiece. Just before hitting the front lat spread, he would put his head down, flex his magnificent abs and thighs, and then spread his lats. This gave the front lat spread pose a whole new meaning, and naturally everyone went crazy. Nobody could do this like Chris Cormier. I agree with you that current Mr Olympia Phil Heath is the best bodybuilder in the world today. Phil has everything: superb symmetry, terrific muscular balance and shape, plus he is now incredibly massive. I think it’s going to take an exceptional bodybuilder to knock Phil off his throne, and at the present moment you’re looking at Kai Greene, Dennis Wolf, Victor Martinez or former Mr Olympia Jay Cutler. ET

BURNT OUT DEAR MR TAYLOR, I have been training for about eight months, and even though my diet is very good, I am having trouble because my body is not responding at all to the workouts. I train seven days a week. I was once very fat but since I started training I have managed to stick to this diet and I have now lost all of the weight that I needed to. However, I simply feel tired all the time, even though I recently upped my daily calories. I want a physique like a pro bodybuilder, and I want it now! Quent Mills

your calorie intake. What has happened is that your body has grown accustomed to your training, and because you have been working it seven days a week for eight months, it has nothing else to offer you. Basically, you are burnt out which means that your body will start to cannibalise itself because of this severe overtraining, until there is no more body fat to burn. You say that you would like the body of a pro bodybuilder, and you want it now. Well Quent, I can tell you this now: you will never build even a decent physique, never mind a pro bodybuilder’s body, if you continue training like you are. Take two weeks off from all training and then return to the gym and train as follows: Monday: Shoulders and triceps Tuesday: Back and rear deltoids Wednesday: Rest Thursday: Chest and biceps Friday: Legs Saturday: Rest Sunday: Light cardio After warm-ups do only one work set, in perfectly strict fashion, and do not allow any one workout to last longer than 40 minutes. Good luck, ET

SIMPLE DIET

DEAR ERNIE TAYLOR, Can you please make me out a simple diet to help me get started in bodybuilding? I am getting all the calories I need, but I think they come from the wrong types of food, and sometimes, I don’t have time to eat because of work. In fact, my diet is pretty messed up and my physique is starting to suffer now that I’m in my 30s. I was wondering if you can give me some idea where to start—all I want Hi Quent, to do is keep it simple. I’m sorry but this tiredness that you are Matt experiencing will not go away even if you double

GÜNTER SCHLIERKAMP

Hi Matt, If you want to keep it simple (because of your job) then you need a minimum of three solid meals every day, which means, breakfast, lunch and dinner. In between those three meals, you should add a protein meal replacement shake so that you can take in more clean calories. You should have your first meal in the morning when you get up and this could consist of 100 g of cooked porridge oats with protein

powder mixed in. Three hours later you should have your second meal of a protein shake. Your third meal should be two 250 g chicken breast fillets along with 100 g of white rice and broccoli. Your fourth meal should be another meal replacement protein shake. Your final meal of the day should be 300 g of salmon fillet plus a large bowl of salad. Matt, this simple approach to your diet will get your physique kick-started. It’s very simple to

follow because you’re only eating three meals a day and drinking two protein shakes. You now need to make certain that your training is up to scratch! Good luck, ET

BIGGER SHOULDERS HI ERNIE, I’m 23 years old and work the night shift at a

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local factory. I then train straight after I finish work. Even though I’ve been training for three years, I am a little confused as far as shoulder development is concerned. I train my shoulders twice a week for about one hour at a time, but I still need more muscle mass— they are so narrow that my arms overpower them. I also want to get more serious about my training so please can you help me out? Adrian Hi Adrian, First of all, for best results you should only train your shoulders once every seven days. If you train them any more than this, you will achieve the exact opposite to what you want. Also, your individual shoulder workouts should take no more than 40 minutes to get through. A one-hour body part training session is far too long. Your workout should be fast, furious and super-intense. Always be sure to keep your shoulders, back and chest upright throughout every set—this will help you to retain perfect posture as well as decrease the risk of injury. Always lower the weight slowly when you are performing the negative part of any rep. Remember, the negative part of the rep is just as important as the positive and you will gain faster this way. Lift or push the poundage in a very controlled fashion and lower it even more slowly. SHOULDER ROUTINE 1. Dumbbell side lateral: Three warm-up sets of 10-12 reps then one work drop set of 8-10 reps 2. Seated dumbbell press: Two warm-up sets of 10-12 reps then two work sets of 8-12 reps 3. Close-grip barbell forward raise: Two work sets of 8-10 reps 4. Barbell shrug: Three work sets of 10-12 reps Good luck, ET

GET BIG DIET HI ERNIE, I am a 185 pounds, 6' 7" 24-year-old male, and I’m very strong, with solid muscles despite my lean frame. I have difficulty gaining muscle mass, and know that my diet

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has been found wanting, and that consistency is the key. I am hoping that you can shed some light on nutrition for my particular body type and that you can give some advice for tall guys wanting to pack on the brawn. I know that 10 pounds on a shorter guy will look more obvious and impressive compared to a lankier chap like me, but I have a burning desire to prove that tall guys can build a broad and aesthetically pleasing physique. Anthony Hello Anthony, You need to be consuming 1.5 g of protein per pound of body weight every single day. So when you round it up, you’re looking at 276 g of protein per day. Your carbohydrate intake should be exactly the same, because it looks to me like you have a fast metabolism. You’re absolutely right, Anthony, when you say that a muscle gain of 10 pounds looks more impressive on a short guy. However, with you being so tall, those 10 pounds of muscular gain will be all lean quality muscle tissue. Also, you’re only 24 which means you have many years of growing ahead of you. If you continue to train hard and correctly you will soon experience a growth spurt, and in no time at all you will reach that 200 pounds body weight mark. Your particular body type is similar to Günter Schlierkamp’s who is 6' 2" but still carries a phenomenal amount of muscular mass. And let’s not forget the incredible Lou Ferrigno who stood 6' 5" and was a mass monster! Basically, you need to eat big and clean year-round, and you should only train any muscle group once every seven days, never more than that. You also need to rest and recuperate more, because that’s when muscular growth occurs. Get plenty of sleep and always train hard with short, fast and intense workouts. And, don’t forget to drink three litres of water every day. Try this get big diet: Meal 1: 100 g cooked porridge oats mixed

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with honey and two scoops of protein powder Meal 2: Two chicken breast fillets, a large baked potato and some cottage cheese Meal 3: 400 g salmon fillet with 75 g white rice and a large salad Meal 4: Protein shake and two pieces of fruit plus a tablespoon of peanut butter Meal 5: 500 g fillet steak and a bowl of mixed vegetables

Meal 6: Two chicken breast fillets and a large salad Good luck, ET FLEX You can send your questions on training and nutrition to Ernie Taylor: ET Column c/o Weider Publishing Ltd, 10 Windsor Court, Clarence Drive, Harrogate, North Yorkshire, HG1 2PE or email [email protected].

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UNDER THE

Taking a purely scientific look at the best products in the world of sports supplements

OSCOPE

By JIM STOPPANI

MATRIX NUTRITION ANABOLIC MATRIX

WE EXAMINE THE CRITICAL ACTIVE INGREDIENTS IN VARIOUS SPORTS SUPPLEMENTS. WE AWARD HIGH MARKS TO THOSE WITH EXISTING SUPPORTIVE DATA, REAL-WORLD RESULTS AND INNOVATION IN FORMULATION. HERE WE PUT ANABOLIC MATRIX UNDER THE MICROSCOPE. WHEY PROTEIN is well recognised as the most beneficial protein for building muscle. After all, it’s the fastest-digesting protein that you can consume and it’s one of the richest sources of the branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) leucine, isoleucine, and valine. Maintaining a dose of BCAAs to your muscles is the best way to stimulate muscle protein synthesis, which leads to muscle growth as research confirms. ANABOLIC MATRIX includes both whey protein isolate and whey protein concentrate. Whilst whey protein isolate is the purest form of whey that you can get, whey protein concentrate is also beneficial because of the gentle processing it undergoes which keeps the important whey peptide fractions fully intact. These include beta-lactoglobulin, alpha-lactalbumin, bovine serum albumin peptides, immunoglobulins, lactoferrin and

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lactoperoxidase, which are critical for muscle growth and provide antioxidant and immuneboosting properties. GRADE:  REASON: Research confirms that there is not a more potent protein available for stimulating muscle growth than whey protein. MILK PROTEIN is simply a concentrated form of the protein in milk with most of the carbohydrates and fat removed. Milk protein is composed of both whey and casein, but since 80% of this protein is casein, it is a good source of the slow-digesting micellar casein protein. Adding milk protein concentrate to ANABOLIC MATRIX along with the fastdigesting whey proteins and moderate-

digesting pea and soya proteins forms a protein source that extends the protein synthesis time by several hours. It also decreases muscle breakdown, with the result being a greater potential for stimulating muscle growth. GRADE:  REASON: Milk protein is a high quality protein that provides both whey and casein protein for a combination of benefits. PEA PROTEIN ISOLATE is a very concentrated protein powder typically made from split peas or yellow peas. Peas are considered to be a vegetable allthough botanically they are fruits, but they’re packed with protein as far as fruits and vegetables go. So it should be no surprise that pea protein powder is a good alternative source of protein. The

manufacturing process of pea protein powder starts by grinding down the dried peas into a fine powder. The ground peas are then concentrated and the majority of the carbohydrates are removed via a special extraction and purification process which leaves a protein powder that is about 85-90% protein. That’s a higher protein content than whey protein concentrate and close to whey protein isolate. Pea protein powder is fairly rich in glutamine and BCAAs. In addition, it has almost three times the arginine content as whey protein. Having such a high amount of arginine means that pea protein can help to further boost nitric oxide (NO) and growth hormone levels. GRADE:  REASON: As an alternative to milk proteins, such as whey and casein, pea protein is a solid alternative for those who cannot consume milk protein due to allergies or for ethical reasons. SOYA PROTEIN ISOLATE may be a plant-based protein powder, but it is also as potent a muscle builder as the milk proteins whey and casein. Combining soya with whey and casein, as in ANABOLIC MATRIX has been shown to maintain greater muscle protein synthesis for longer than whey alone, and that can lead to significant increases in muscle growth. This is due to the numerous benefits that soya delivers that the milk proteins do not. For starters, soya protein provides antioxidants that have been shown to aid muscle recovery. Plus soya is rich in the amino acid arginine, which stimulates NO and growth hormone production. In fact, research confirms that soya protein directly increases both NO and growth hormone levels. Soya protein isolate digests at a moderate rate. It is slower than whey yet faster than casein. This helps bridge the gap between fast-digesting whey and very slow-digesting casein to further extend the protein synthesis that whey protein kickstarted for greater muscle growth. Although there is some misconception regarding soya protein’s influence on men’s testosterone and oestrogen levels, a review of all the studies relating to soya confirms that there are no negative effects on testosterone or oestrogen.

5

GRADE: REASON: Soya protein offers unique properties that benefit muscle growth. Combining soya and whey provides a more optimal protein for promoting muscle growth than either alone. AMINO ACID MATRIX includes leucine, glutamine, glycine, taurine, and also creatine. These amino acids, as well as the creatine, will help to further promote muscle growth and energy levels during workouts or throughout the day. So getting an extra dose of each of these ingredients any time you have a protein shake is a good strategy to help build more muscle and increase muscle strength. Although whey and milk protein are rich in the BCAA leucine, getting in extra is a smart thing to do. Leucine is the most critical amino acid for instigating muscle protein synthesis, which leads to muscle growth. So you can never have too much of this amino acid. Glutamine is another amino that you generally can’t have too much of. It aids recovery, keeps your immune system functioning properly, boosts growth hormone levels and can even increase metabolic rate. Getting a dose of creatine with your protein is also never a bad thing. This will help to keep your intramuscular levels of this critical energy supplier high. That can help you generate more explosive energy when you need it during workouts to help you get stronger and grow bigger. It is also a critical energy supplier for nerve cells and has been found to aid brain function and enhance mood. Taurine is another amino acid that you want to maintain high levels of in your muscle cells. Exercise has been shown to deplete taurine and you’ll want to prevent this since it is important for maintaining energy and muscle strength. GRADE:  REASON: Getting an extra dose of these nutrients with your protein can only enhance performance and muscle gains. FLEX

THE RATINGS  Outstanding scientific research on humans available  Solid research available; anecdotally effective  Not much human research available but premise is sound

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Classic, and in what many felt was a controversial decision, placing runner-up at the Mr Olympia. In 2011, after winning the inaugural Arnold Classic Europe in Spain, he was detained on immigration issues upon returning to the U.S. and held from October until late April of 2012. Martinez returned to competition this past May at the New York Pro, where he placed second. A week later he won the Toronto Pro Supershow to qualify for the 2013 Mr Olympia. Martinez’s laid-back demeanour underscores a competitive hunger that has driven him to five pro wins and to maintain his position as a top-tier athlete for most of his career. We look forward to seeing him back in action on the Olympia stage. FLEX

CHRIS LUND

Whether faced with personal tragedy (the death of his mother in 2005, the murder of his sister in 2009), injury (torn patellar tendon in 2008, a broken arm in 2012), or other circumstances, Victor Martinez continues to find the inner strength to bounce back and overcome anything life can throw at him. Martinez won the 2000 NPC National heavyweight and overall titles to earn his IFBB pro card and scored his first pro win at the 2003 Night of Champions. In 2007, he came into his own, winning the Arnold

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