Embryonic Bodybuilding “The Original Not the Imitation”
Distributed by www.dennisbweis.com
© 2003 Dennis B. Weis Weis
Many years ago the late Don Ross (Pro Mr. America, prolific bodybuilding writer and author of the book MUSCLEBLASTING) and I used to engage in conversations about the many aspects involved in bodybuilding What I would like to do now is share with you (the reader) the insights and expressions that Don and I had from these conversations (back in the ‘80’s and early ‘90’s ) about what we called Embryonic Bodybuilding.. We agreed that one of the greatest accomplishments accomplishments in body building, aside from winning a big title, is making outstanding muscular gains on a program of your own planning. In this “Rent-an expert” 21 st century age, even a few top-notch competitors don’t get to experience this. They have everything laid out for them by personal trainers and advisors. If you fall into this category, you don’t know what you’re missing. There’s nothing wrong with consulting a reputable trainer in your beginning or intermediate stages. It may be a good idea to employ an accomplished accomplished “trainer of champions” from time-to-time when preparing for a show. Don’s main beef about personal trainers was that too many of them are businesspeople first, and teachers last, if not at all. They put you through programs without explaining the WHYS or HOWS, or without really wanting to you learn. The more ignorant you remain, the more money they make off of you. In his three decades plus of training people, Don never once had a “client” Clients are the customers of accountants, lawyers and those trained in specialized fields remote from your own interests and experiences. After several visits to a lawyer or an accountant, you’d never be expected to practice law yourself, or do your company’s bookkeeping. People he trained were always his STUDENTS. There’s a BIG difference. A student is learning how to do it himself. He expected a student to eventually graduate…to become their own expert. If you’re content to be Mr. or Ms. Joe Average and just attend your training sessions to prevent heart attacks and keep the gut down, you might not mind being trainer-dependant. But being a TRUE BODYBUILDER means being an expert unto yourself. Otherwise, you are just the BODY, while your trainer is the BUILDER. Many of you follow programs you read about in the magazines. This is the reason for his ultra HIGH INTENSITY articles in the magazines. He provided readers with new workouts each month, to experiment with and borrow
2
Many years ago the late Don Ross (Pro Mr. America, prolific bodybuilding writer and author of the book MUSCLEBLASTING) and I used to engage in conversations about the many aspects involved in bodybuilding What I would like to do now is share with you (the reader) the insights and expressions that Don and I had from these conversations (back in the ‘80’s and early ‘90’s ) about what we called Embryonic Bodybuilding.. We agreed that one of the greatest accomplishments accomplishments in body building, aside from winning a big title, is making outstanding muscular gains on a program of your own planning. In this “Rent-an expert” 21 st century age, even a few top-notch competitors don’t get to experience this. They have everything laid out for them by personal trainers and advisors. If you fall into this category, you don’t know what you’re missing. There’s nothing wrong with consulting a reputable trainer in your beginning or intermediate stages. It may be a good idea to employ an accomplished accomplished “trainer of champions” from time-to-time when preparing for a show. Don’s main beef about personal trainers was that too many of them are businesspeople first, and teachers last, if not at all. They put you through programs without explaining the WHYS or HOWS, or without really wanting to you learn. The more ignorant you remain, the more money they make off of you. In his three decades plus of training people, Don never once had a “client” Clients are the customers of accountants, lawyers and those trained in specialized fields remote from your own interests and experiences. After several visits to a lawyer or an accountant, you’d never be expected to practice law yourself, or do your company’s bookkeeping. People he trained were always his STUDENTS. There’s a BIG difference. A student is learning how to do it himself. He expected a student to eventually graduate…to become their own expert. If you’re content to be Mr. or Ms. Joe Average and just attend your training sessions to prevent heart attacks and keep the gut down, you might not mind being trainer-dependant. But being a TRUE BODYBUILDER means being an expert unto yourself. Otherwise, you are just the BODY, while your trainer is the BUILDER. Many of you follow programs you read about in the magazines. This is the reason for his ultra HIGH INTENSITY articles in the magazines. He provided readers with new workouts each month, to experiment with and borrow
2
from. These learning experiences should contribute their own training programs. You will learn the options and techniques that will eliminate years of trialand-error learning and set you in the right direction in becoming your own instructor. I suggest you save this e-report to use as a guide in planning your workouts in years to come. Like most of you, he once thought there was a magic formula that would create a championship physique. To reinforce this myth, ads galore appear in the bodybuilding magazines offering you that magic formula. For the first half of his bodybuilding experience, he was on a quest to discover a “unified field theory” of bodybuilding…a formula combining the best techniques that would work for everybody. Some of the famous trainers of the past claimed they found it (and many still do.) He tried all these methods at one time or other, and many of his own. Don tried them on others as well. What he discovered was unique in itself…
This paradoxical statement requires an explanation. You find people growing on routines that all bodybuilding literature rejects as ineffective. A lot is written about overtraining, for instance. Yet, some of the top pro’s flourish on routines that last for 6-8 hours! Others obtain similar muscularity on 45 minute barbell blasting sprints. Everybody knows that more than 20 reps will tear the muscle down rather than build it, yet some of the most muscular men of all time have grown from extremely high reps. At the same time, each bodybuilder gets their best results from different routines. There must be a factor that makes a specific routine work great for one person, while another form of training works best for another. That mysterious factor is the same element that makes one person a champion, while another with the same potential never gets good enough to compete. It’s that force that allows a healer to place his hand on the forehead of someone with an incurable disease and heal him. Simply stated, it’s…
If the bodybuilder is convinced that the method he’s using works, he’ll naturally apply that extra effort it takes to make it work. This theorem also works in reverse. If you hate the routine or don’t give it credit for
3
effectiveness, you’ll end up “going through the motions” and “spinning your wheels”. In this way, a trainer is right convincing a student that the routine he’s on is the very best and can’t fail to produce results. That is, provided the student can follow the program safely within any physical limitations. Also, the routine must be complete, leaving out no major muscle groups. While he has seen the process of muscle building defined in a 200-page dissertation, he said it could be simplified to a single sentence.
From this simple fact, you can deduce the answer to many of bodybuilding’s mysteries. For example, why will a workout produce remarkable improvement, then one day, stop working? Your strength and size gains have come to a grinding halt? Quite simply, your muscles have adapted to the exercises, the reps, sets, and so on.
4
UNACCUSTOMED RESISTANCE is often referred to as “intensity”. There are many ways of achieving intensity in a workout. When we first began training, we learned the first method – progressively ADDING POUDAGE to our exercises. Next, we gravitate toward INCREASING THE VOLUME of our training by adding exercises and sets. Eventually, your body adapts to these methods. Your routines become too long to add any more to. At this point, we have to “shock” the muscles into growth using new forms of intensity. Options include REDUCING REST PERIODS between sets and CONTROLLING REP SPEED. When we study set progressions and tempo, you’ll learn several techniques of achieving this. Another way to change intensity is through your REP SCHEMES. The truism that once dominated bodybuilding goes like this: Heavy weights+6-8 reps = size, Medium weight+10-12 reps = shape, and light weight+20 reps = definition. Less than 5 reps build’s strength, but not muscle size. More than 20 reps create’s thin, wiry muscle. In the beginning phases of bodybuilding, we generally respond best to the 6-12 rep range. Advanced bodybuilders who hit progress plateaus often find higher reps increase both size and strength. Seems ironic, but there are times when it’s best to use LIGHTER weights in order to get bigger and stronger. The 5-6 rep range is best for power-bodybuilding. It stimulates the deep muscle tissues (Myofibrils). Many of the biggest bodybuilders in history employed this rep range including Bill Pearl, Reg Park, the late Mike Menzer, Jim Quinn, and Dorian Yates. 8-12 reps are the most common among past and present bodybuilders. The higher reps provide more of a pump, which increases the capillaries. It still allows fairly heavy weights to be used. I’d guess that 65%-70% of the contest winners train in this rep range. 15-20 reps, though often believed to be definition builders, have produced some huge physiques. Steve Reeves, the late Jack Delinger, Sergio Oliva, and Nimrod King are examples from several eras. Serge Nubret uses 20-25 reps to build his outstanding physique. High reps build the endurance fibers of the muscle. Increasing poundage with this rep range must also build myofibrils. The tremendous pump you get from higher reps increases the number of capillaries, (as it does with the medium rep range) and enlarges existing blood vessels. This, in itself, increases the size of the muscle. More
5
important, those vascular pipelines and continuous pumping action force feed muscle-building nutrients into the muscle fibers. Super-high reps DO play a role in muscle building. Years ago, Don suffered an injury that would have forced most bodybuilders to lay off. Instead, he continued training using extremely light poundage, doing one set of 100 reps per exercise. The weights were too light to affect the injury, (except to speed the healing by brining blood to the area) and he hoped it would maintain his muscularity during that time. This was the most challenging routine he had ever done. To his surprise, his muscles grew from this program! When he thought about it, he recalled watching Sergio Oliva back in the early ‘70s, training at the Duncan YMCA in Chicago using light weights fire sets if around 40-50 reps. England’s Johnny Fuller, one of the most muscular men in the ‘80s, trained in the 30 rep range. Today, the huge Rory Leidelmeyer grows on sets of 40 reps. Gary Strydom and Tom Platz, at one time in their careers, tried sets of 100 for the thighs to trim the area, but obtained more muscle growth! Realizing the different advantages of each rep system, some champions derive the best of each of these. Phil Hernon and others following the Bulgarian System, change their rep scheme every three weeks. I’ve heard of bodybuilders making this change weekly. A few years back, Mike Quinn began using the BREAKDOWN system devised by Dr. Fred Hatfield. Each exercise was done in three rep ranges. The first set was 5-6 reps with a heavy weight. 20% of the poundage was removed and a set of 10-12 followed. the weight reduced again to 40-50% of the original poundage, was used for a set of 20. Soon Robby Robinson, Rick Valente, and Dorothy Herndon tried it with much success. He added a new dimension to it by adding a set of 9 between the 6 and the 12 rep sets. Sonny Schmidt and Mike Sable do the reverse of this in their training. Starting with a light weight, they squeeze out a set of 20 reps. With each set, they increase the weight which lowers the reps, working to maximum efforts. More common than either of these methods is the practice of going heavy, low reps for half of the week, then medium to high reps the second half. Rick Gaspari, Vince Taylor, Ranel Janvier, Samir Bannout, and often Mike Quinn and Robby Robinson work out like this. Another popular rep-combining method is doing the basic exercises heavy, and the isolation movements medium and high reps. Berry DeMay, Francis
6
Benfatto and Joe DeAngelis use this method. Theirry Pastel often bounces around to different rep ranges with each exercise. When you hit an impasse and those muscles won’t grow, it’s time for a change. Changing only the rep range can produce amazing results.
.
Quite simply, that is the secret to continuous progress in bodybuilding. This may sound as simplistic as Kenny Rogers’ advice to the gambler, “Know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em” which is meaningless without the answer to the follow-up question…”HOW do you know?” When you’ve invested every bit of energy and guts into those workouts and you just hit a plateau that cements your progress like superglue, the next question is “HOW do you increase the intensity of the resistance when you’re already giving it all you’ve got?” The solution is to use another means of increasing intensity that your body has yet to adapt to. In Part 1, we explored three ways of increasing intensity: A) progressively adding poundage to each exercise. B) Increase the number of sets and exercises (volume training). C) Altering the resistance through varying the rep range. Two forms of progressive resistance that are very effective and practiced among many world champions are:
These two methods of intensity have little to do with one another, though they can be used simultaneously. VARYING REST PERIODS In the early days of bodybuilding, training wasn’t much different than competitive weightlifting. They’d do a set, then take a long rest to recover completely from the previous set. Some of the latest studies on strength training show heavy weight, low reps, and five minute rest periods between 7
sets produce maximum anabolic metabolism. It worked then as it does now, producing thick, bulky physiques. World and national title winners then looked much like today’s bodybuilders do on off-season when they weigh some 20-30 pounds above their competitive shape. Some of the early pioneers including the late Vince Gironda and Jack LaLanne, and later in the 60’s, Bob Gajda, trained with very short rest periods between sets. This kind of training carved deep muscular definition that didn’t come into style until later years. In the 70’s, the highly defined, vascular bodybuilders began to emerge. Champs like Frank Zane, Pete Caputo, Mohamed Makkawy, Ed Giuliani, Steve Davis and Don Ross discovered this method of adding muscle size and deep definition at the same time. Using descending sets, (reducing poundage for each set), or supersets and trisets (alternating exercises nonstop). They reduced rest periods to ten seconds between sets. Though they may have started the exercise heavy, the decreasingly lighter poundages had the same effect on their muscles as a heavy weight. At the same time that the reps for each maximum effort where low (usually in the 6-8 rep range) working the deep muscle fibers much like “powerbodybuilding”, the continuous movement provided the advantages of a high rep workout (endurance fiber building and aerobic effect). Their workouts were condensed to half the time they’d normally take to perform. Along with their high protein diets, they’d get deep definition and size as well. Contemporary proponents of this system are Charles Class, Renel Janvier, Laura Beaudry, and Laura Creavalle. These bodybuilders get as shredded as possible with this very tough training method. Since the early 80’s, the trend is back to longer rest periods and heavier poundages. The aim is to train primarily for size. 30 minutes to as long as 2 hours of non-stop cardio exercise (stationary bike, treadmill, stairmasters, etc.) are used for fat burning. Of course, a higher carbohydrate intake is necessary to compensate for all the extra aerobic activity. Most of today’s champions still reduce their rest periods for pre-contest training, but not nearly as severely. most cut back to 30-60 seconds, or until the training partner finishes a set, “which may be as long as 2 minutes”. If this method works for you, by all means use it, but I see so many potential champions unable to etch out that super definition necessary to win. For these people, I highly recommend the shorter rest intervals. Everybody who gives it a fair trial gets ripped on it! This means NO TRAINING PARTNER, unless the partner is following you, rather than slowing you down by alternating with you. By supersetting, you could do
8
“exercise A” while your partner’s working on “exercise B” (both working at the same time). The time it takes for another person to complete a set is too long. Progressively reduce your rests to 10 seconds on most muscle groups and no more than 30 seconds on leg pressing movements (squats, leg presses). Resting less than 10 seconds is ineffective because your reps will be limited by lactic acid build-up. You’ll make amazing gains for a long time on this short-rest method, but on every program, your muscles will eventually adapt. When this happens, it’s good to return to a slower pace. Heavier weight training with a partner to help with an extra forced rep or two at the end of a set is great for offseason strength and size. REP TEMPO A novice may assume that there is a “right way” to perform a rep. Most books and articles on the subject emphasize strict, controlled movements. Walking into a hardcore gym with several top caliber bodybuilders working out at the same time can certainly confuse the issue. Some bodybuilders train extremely heavy without full movements in all exercises. Others do everything ultra-strict and sometimes, not very heavy at all. Some speed through a set like a Concord jet, others move at a snail’s pace. Don’s two favorite examples are Joe Bucci and Phil Williams. Both were world title winners, both had similar development, but their workout methods were day and night. Bucci would fire the weight up, then let it fall, moving through each set at tremendous speed. He’d use body momentum and swing the weights, yet his physique responded tremendously. “Experts” would scratch their heads, but Joe had the last laugh as these workouts build him those famous 20+ arms. Williams used light poundages and would move through every rep at an extremely (exaggeratedly) slow speed. Each rep was done with full extensions, and flexing the muscle for a full count at the point of contraction. The results of this slow motion training for Phil, was a massive, beautifully proportioned physique that won top professional honors in IFBB Pro competition. MEDIUM SPEED – THE POPULAR TEMPO While Joe Bucci and Phil Williams represent the two opposite extremes in workout tempo, most champion bodybuilders train in the area that lies between. When we first learn to workout, we are usually instructed to use medium speed in both directions in all exercises. A majority of excellent
9
bodybuilders find this is the most advantageous tempo for the positive movement, with a slightly slower, more controlled return movement. This is far easier on the tendons and attachments than quick burst training and targets the muscle fibers that contribute most to size. The list of champions that use the medium tempo would take up many pages. It includes Lee Haney, Sonny Schmidt, Robby Robinson, Rich Gaspari, Mohammed Benaziza, Lenda Murray, Dorothy Herdon, Sandra Blackie, and Shelley Beattie. The ultra-ripped Andreas Munzer, considers tempo most important. His partner is instructed to assist him when the reps start slowing down below the pace of the first few, keeping the pace steady throughout. WBF stars Aaron Baker and Vince Comerford use medium speed with a pause and a hard contraction at the completion of each. SLO-MO INTENSITY Very little controversy surrounds medium speed training. Slow motion and speed training have their die-hard critics and advocates. Years ago, Don spoke to an exercise physiologist promoting a heavy-duty type system who stated emphatically that slo-mo training limits your poundages and doesn’t attribute to muscle growth. He smiled at such truisms, knowing scores of huge, powerful bodybuilders who make their best gains on this system. By slowing down the movement, you create intensity with CONTINUOUS TENSION. Lighter weights become as hard to lift as heavier weights, creating much the same effect on the muscles but with far less trauma to muscles and tendons. The low impact of slow, ultra-controlled movements eliminates the shock to joints and connective tissues. Practitioners of Slomo training experience fewer injuries as a result. In fact, this is an excellent way to train through an injury or work a frequently injured body part. Slo-mo training was popular in the 1940’s. One reason may have been the metal shortage due to World War II. Bodybuilders often had to make due with the weight sets they had. When they outgrew these, they could increase their workout intensity with slower movement. Don Ross’s first instructor, Tony Armento, 1945 Mr. Michigan, used this method to build 19 ½” arms in an era when 17” arms were winning world titles. Steve Reeves did all his movements slowly and very strict. Bodybuilders of this day would sometimes criticize him for lack of power in the heavy lifts. Reeves would silence these critics by challenging them to working out w ith the same poundage he used, using the same strict movement and slow speed. This never failed to bring a cringe of frustration after the challenger would be forced to submit after a few sets. Slo-mo training DOES build strength, but a sustained, rather than explosive strength.
10
The late Mike Menzer, one of the most massive bodybuilders in history, strongly believed in slo-mo training. “By regulating movement, you bring more muscle fibers into play”, he explained. “Faster movement creates momentum, completing the reps with less muscular exertion.” Eddie Robinson uses his own version of slo-mo training he calls “The Slow 10”. He performed ten slow reps per set. If the weight feels too light by the 4th or 5th rep, he would slow the movement. Though he used the same weight for all sets of an exercise, and never more than ten reps, every tenth rep is a maximum effort through regulating the speed. The beautiful International Pro Champion, Tonya Knight and thickly muscled National Champion, Kevin Levrone, find they make the best improvements using slow, concentrated movements. The ultimate Slo-mo trainer is Phil Williams. Each set is performed so extremely slow, it takes several minutes to perform each one. A workout of 12-18 sets takes him 2 ½ to 3 hours to complete! RAPID-FIRE METHOD Even more controversial than Slo-mo training is Rapid-fire training: fast movement in both directions. This high impact method puts tremendous stress on muscles and connective tissue and is more likely to cause injury, even when lighter poundage is used, than more controlled work regardless of the weight. The effectiveness of rapid-fire training is the result of stimulating fasttwitch muscle fibers which compose the largest ratio of muscle cells in the bodybuilder. Aside from Joe Bucci, who flings up the weight, then quickly lowers it to fire up the next rep, others build huge muscles from fast movement. Shawn Ray and Renal Janvier use fast, but full, strict movements. During Sergio Oliva’s reign as Mr. Olympia, I’d watch him do very rapid, partial movements on many of his exercises. He seemed to inflate like a balloon with each rep! Anyone using this method should ALWAYS start with a good warm-up and some stretching. Don strongly felt that a weight should ALWAYS be controlled on the return movement, and never just dropped into the starting position. EXPLODE WITH SLOW RETURNS Toward the end of the ‘60’s, weight training was being accepted by coaches as a means of improving the strength, hence the performance of
11
their athletes. Universities began conducting experiments to discover what weight training methods worked best for various goals. Most of their conclusions were known by bodybuilders for decades already as a result of experience. We knew that the ideal speed of movement differed from one individual to the next for the goal of muscularity. Studies implied that explosive movements worked best for speed and lifting power. Slower movements developed stamina and sustained strength.
Don Ross performing a repertoire of Strongman Stunts, and as Pro-Wrestler “The Ripper”
Don wanted the best of both worlds. Aside from his bodybuilding goals, he was also a performing strongman and was about to enter Professional Wrestling (as “The Ripper”), so he needed it all…a world caliber physique, short-burst power, heart and lung stamina, and sustained strength. So, he combined explosive initial movements with slow, controlled return movements on every rep. This training was in sync with an important finding of that time: the discovery of fast- and slow-twitch muscle fibers. That was the era of Art Jones and his much-publicized Nautilus Principles, emphasizing the slow return movement. For years to come, he taught the fast-up, slow-down method. Two men he introduced to it were Samir Bannout, who used it to win the Mr. Olympia, and Tom Platz, who went beyond his genetic limitations to build his superfreaky physique. While the explosive positive movement does the same as the rapid-fire method, building those fast twitch fibers, the controlled returns make it far less dangerous to joints and tendons. It may also eliminates momentum, increasing direct work on the muscle. Many bodybuilders and athletes find this the best tempo for building big, strong, highly functional muscles. Dorian Yates, Joe DeAngelis, Jim Quinn, and Bev Francis are just a few who used this tempo.
12
MULTI-TEMPO FORMULAS One way to derive the advantages of several different formulas is to combine the formulas. Berry DeMay, Francis Benfatto, and Gier Paulsen used different tempos for different exercises. A method he used years ago that produced notable improvement in muscularity and was tried successfully by several top bodybuilders. Three sets were used for each exercise. The first set was done with a heavy weight for 5-7 reps. Each rep was a fast, explosive movement (limited in speed by the heaviness of the weight, of course). The return movements were controlled to prevent injury. Set 2 was done with a medium weight in the medium rep range, 10-14 reps, at a medium speed in both directions. The final set, done with a light weight for 20 reps, was performed at a slow speed. Those final sets were killers! Talk about a muscle burn! Charles Glass, shredded Pro competitor and top trainer, often uses a multitempo program that’s the reverse of the one Don just presented. The first set is done heavy and slowly in both directions. With each set, poundage is reduced and the action is sped up. Glass used this method to get Mike Christian into the best shape ever for top placing in the last Mr. Olympia he entered before signing with the WBF. He also taught it to Vicki Sims, who used it to win her class in the Nationals and North American Bodybuilding Champions. All three of these bodybuilders pulled out of a progress standstill with multi-tempo training. TEMPO, REST-PAUSES, AND GREAT WORKOUTS Which tempo will work best for you? What is the factor that makes one type of training work better for one person, while another training speed works best for another? A popular theory is the ratio of fast-twitch to slow-twitch muscles in the individual. Yet, I’ve seen people who made great gains with one tempo for a number of years. When they reached a progress plateau, they tried a complete opposite tempo and started growing again. Certainly, their muscle fiber ratio didn’t change. Don noticed a factor years ago that lends to a more logical conclusion. Those with more animate personalities seem to prefer faster training. Calmer, more meditative types seem to gravitate toward slower training. In the extreme cases of Joe Bucci and Phil Williams, you can see this clearly. Bucci had an aggressive, highly energetic, out-going personality. Williams, a laid-back, easy-going personality. Bucci admited he’d go crazy if he had to do ultra-slow, long rest training. Williams thrives on taking lots of time on just about everything he does. As we discussed before…
13
Once your body adapts to your favorite exercises, rep range, and/or tempo, it’s not as enjoyable to train without results, so a change will make that allimportant difference both physically and mentally. Take this into account when you plan your routine. Whatever tempo you’ve been using, try another, or a combination of two or more. The music of your muscular gains can come to life by changing the beat.
When planning a routine for renewed progress, it is vital to find new ways of achieving muscle-building intensity. We studied REP RANGES, RESTPAUSE VARIATIONS and REP TEMPO in Parts 1 & 2. The fourth important consideration is your EXERCISE SET PROGRESSION. Exercise set progressions, simply defined, is what you do after your first set. Do you ADD poundage, DECREASE poundage, use the SAME poundage, etc.? As with the other factors we looked at, changing this aspect of your workout alone can result in dynamic new progress. ASCENDING SETS – BASIC AND POPULAR Your first workouts most likely fell into this category. Most of the many bodybuilders and athletes I’ve interviewed over the years use this method. It’s standard in strength training, Olympic-style lifting and powerlifting. The ascending set is the most tried and proven, having been around for at least a century, hence its popularity. You may know it as “Progressive resistance”, “Light-heavy training”, or the “Weider Pyramiding principle”, but ASCENDING SETS is a far more descriptive and less confusing term. Ascending sets begin with warm-up poundage for an easy set of medium to high reps. With each set, you add weight. Your final set is a maximum effort with the most weight. You can subdivide Ascending Sets into two categories: A) The Stable Rep Method – Keep the reps the same with each set. Begin your warm-up with (for example) ten reps, but with a weight you can do twenty reps with. Increase the weight in increments where each gets more difficult and the final set is a maximum effort. A list of champs who use this method is endless. Most of the oldtime champs (from the late John C. Grimek to Reg Park and Bill 14
Pearl) to modern wonders (including 8-times Mr. Olympia, Lee Haney, Vince Taylor, Mike Matarazzo, and Mohammed Benaziza) prefer it. B) The Descending Rep Method – Starting with the high-rep warm-up set, or the second set,, do as many reps as possible with each set. As you add poundage with each set, your reps will naturally decrease. Your rep range on your sets might look like this: 20 reps, 15 reps, 10 reps, and 6 reps. Method B is more advanced and intense, giving you the advantage of several rep ranges and multiple maximum-effort sets. Ask muscular Sonny Schmidt, the huge Gier Paulsen, or ripped Mike Sable who use it. Method A is great for back-cycling after a contest or for power-bodybuilding. DESCENDING SETS – GETTING TOUGHER You’ve heard these referred to as Down-the-rack, Step-bombing, Reverse Pyramiding, Railroading, and Heavy-light training. Descending sets are for the serious muscle-blaster. Tougher than ascending sets, this superintense method allows less rest between sets and every set is a maximum effort.
Jack Delinger
The method was first popularized by 1956 Mr. Universe, Jack Delinger who learned it from the true FATHER OF MODERN BODYBUILDING, the late John C. Grimek. It has since produced some of the most deeply defined and vascular bodybuilders. Its practitioners include Arnold Schwarzenegger, Charles Glass, Renel Janvier, Paul DeMayo, Anja Langer, Laura Beaudry, and Laura Creavalle. Early in his bodybuilding career, Don had often rep on the final set…that rep you have to fight caused muscle growth. It seemed logical that method would provide this maximum effort on
15
heard that it was that last to complete, that actually the best muscle building EVERY set. He used this
method to build both deep cuts and muscle mass enabling him to win National and International titles and three-times “America’s Most Muscular Man”. This was in the 70’s when few bodybuilders did aerobics and many of his contemporaries found it impossible to build both size and definition. Those who used descending sets discovered you could build both without specific cardio work. Two methods of Descending sets are: A)
Classic Descending Sets – Proceed your workout with a light, warm-up set of the first exercise. Perform your first set with the most poundage you can use for your intended rep range. Do as many reps as possible. Take a 10-20 second rest as you decrease the weight by just enough to keep your reps the same as the previous set. Continue this progression, doing maximum efforts with every set. Do between 3-5 weight drops to complete your descending set.
B)
Breakdowns – We took a look at this method in Part 1. Breakdowns are essentially the same as descending sets, except the poundage is reduced by 20% or more, changing the rep range.
As you did with descending sets, start with a light warm-up, then go directly to a heavy poundage for a maximum effort of 6 reps. Reduce the weight by about 20%, which should enable you to squeeze out 12 reps. do this again for a final set of 20 reps. You can either do a second cycle of the same exercise, or a similar movement for the same muscle. Different muscle fibers are engaged in each rep range. This is evident in the surprising fact that you can go back to the heavy, 6 rep poundage after a set of 20 and have almost the same strength as you did on your first set! Strength coach, Dr. Fred Hatfield (www.drsquat.com) considers this the most effective bodybuilding workout, since it works all muscle fibers with its multi-rep range. He introduced it to Mike Quinn, who in turn, showed it to Robby Robinson, Dorothy Herndon, and others. He quickly adopted this great method and added a set of 9, so an exercise consisted of sets of 6, 9, 12, and 20 reps. PYRAMID SETS – THE BEST OF TWO WORLDS If Ascending sets are the most popular set progression, Pyramid sets must be #2 in popularity. Ms Olympia, Lenda Murray uses it, as do Victor Terra, Kevin Levrone, Shawn Ray, Vince Comerford, Tonya Knight, Shelly Beattie…the list goes on and on.
16
The attraction to Pyramid sets is the double benefit of providing a warm-up as well as the tremendous intensity of several maximum efforts. The process begins with ascending sets. Starting with warm-up poundage, add weight for two or three sets. When you reach the set of maximum effort, decrease the poundage for two or more sets to failure. As with ascending sets, pyramid sets can all be done to failure for an even more intense workout. The standard method using warm-ups is, by far, the most popular. INVERTED PYRAMID SETS – WHERE ONLY THE TOUGHEST DARE VENTURE If you’ve tried the other set progressions and want something even tougher, the INVERTED PYRAMID is the most intense set progression yet devised. Few bodybuilders use it, and only for short periods of time. Francis Benfatto and his trainer, Rene Meme, occasionally use inverted pyramids in their training. National lightweight champion, Dean Tornabene, was the first person Don knew to use it. Dean came up with this progression to increase his strength on basic lifts, where he hoisted near-record poundages. He cautioned that the method may overtrain small muscles like arms. However, Don used to train his entire body using reverse pyramiding with outstanding results. He always alternated these workouts with high rep, standard set workouts to allow proper recuperation. Begin with one or two warm-up sets, then proceed to the heaviest weight you can use for six to eight reps. Drop the poundage for three or four descending sets of maximum effort. Conclude with three more sets working back up using the same increments you used in the descending part of the pyramid. You will only be capable of doing one or two reps on the final set and may need assistance in completing that final rep. What a workout! SAME-WEIGHT SETS – MODERATE WEIGHTS CAN GET VERY HEAVY This progression employs the same poundage for every set of the exercise. There are three sub-divisions of same-weight sets where intensity is created in ways other than adding weight. A) Same-Rep Method – Like ascending sets, this provides warm-up sets for bodybuilders who respond best to one maximum effort per exercise. Do the same number of reps on each set. Start with a weight where you can complete these reps with moderate effort.
17
On the last set, the final rep should be close to, if not an all-out effort. When you can exceed your target rep range on the final set, add weight to the exercise on the next workout. Gary Strydom, Eddie Robinson, and Robby Robinson use this method frequently to build their incredible physiques. B) Ascending Reps – This is the training method used by the fabulous ageless wonder, Serge Nubret. Nubret credits this style of training for enabling him to maintain that physique that won him numerous Mr. Universe and Mr. World titles, past the age of 50. The gradual increase of intensity makes it the safest form of training. Staying free of injury assures continued progress and longevity in bodybuilding. Use a weight you can do twenty reps with. Begin with a set of ten, increasing the reps with each set. Do a set of 12, 15, 18, then conclude the set with an all-out effort of as many reps as possible. Nubret goes as high as 25 reps on that last set. C) Descending Reps – The diametric opposite of ascending reps and much more forceful, along the lines of descending sets. Phil Williams, Steve Brisbois, and David Hawk use this method. I’ve come to using it a lot because of its high intensity, yet lower impact on the joints and tendons due to lighter weights being used. (Remember it’s INTENSITY, not poundage, that builds muscle!) Start with a weight you can do twelve to twenty reps with, depending on the rep range you prefer. (Try different ones for variety). Do as many reps as possible with each set. Of course, your reps will decrease with each maximum effort. Your rep range during an exercise will look something like this: 15, 12, 9, and 6. This variety of rep ranges is another benefit of the descending reps system. MULTI-PROGRESSION TRAINING – VARIETY, THE SPICE OF LIFE When assembling your next workout, you might decide to specialize on certain areas by using a more intense set progression on that area, or favor an easily injured area by applying a less intense method to the body part. You may even decide to combine different progressions for each exercise. This is Multi-progressional Training. Thierry Pastel and Francis Benfatto use many progressions with each workout. Pastel shifts his set progressions around from exercise to
18
exercise, from workout to workout for the sake of variety. Her uses continuous change to prevent progress barriers due to muscle adaptation. Benfatto also uses a different progression with each exercise, but each movement is assigned a specific progression. Each body part, he found, responds best to a certain rep range and combination of set progressions. He reminds other bodybuilders that his best combinations are individually formulated and might not work for everybody. We each have to discover our own training pattern. USING EXERCISE SET PROGRESSIONS When planning your new workout, it’s a good idea to try a different exercise set progression, preferably one that’s new to you. Use it as long as it works and keeps your interest. While some champions stick to a set progression they found works best, others change it with every workout. Intensity changes stimulates muscle growth, but this doesn’t necessarily mean to increase that intensity. Following a period of extremely high intensity, like descending sets, inverted pyramids, or descending reps, a program of ascending sets or ascending reps can lead to renewed progress by allowing muscles fiber recuperation.
Don Ross poses for photo journalist Denie Walter
After reading and assimilating parts 1–3, you’re almost ready to put a workout together. You’ve decided on your rep range, tempo, and set
19
progression. Now we come to our next consideration…WHAT ORDER to arrange your exercises. When training beginners, Don usually arranged their exercises starting from the legs and working upward. He did this for two reasons. First, because lower body work is the hardest and it’s psychologically better to get the tough part out of the way first. Just as important, you want to give the beginner the exercises that require the highest energy output in the beginning when their strength is at an optimum. Later, as their condition improves, this is less important. Beginner’s routines are generally done in SYNERGETIC order. You have to look in the unabridged dictionary to find that one. It can be defined as the dynamics of movement where one body part assists another to do the exercise. For example, you do your bench presses, pec machine, and incline flyes for your chest, but this also involves the deltoids. Since the delts are warmed up and ready to go, it makes sense to work shoulders following chest. Synergetic order, then, would begin with calves, work up to thighs, abs, chest, shoulders, back, arms, and maybe forearms. Sometimes abdominals are done in the beginning as a warm-up. As you advance and your routine becomes longer, you divide it into a split routine. The first step is usually a two-way split. Upper body one day, lower body the next, and the third day off. Since there are more body parts in the upper body and that workout would be longer, you may find it more convenient to do the chest, shoulders, and back one day and arms, legs, and calves the next. Abs can be done on either or both days. In his youth, Don would train chest and legs together, and the rest of the body the next day. The two seemingly unrelated body parts did have an important element in common. Squats left you breathless. As he gasped for air between sets, he did deep-breathing pullovers to expand his rib cage. Later, as he intensified his leg workouts, they became so tough that he had to do them by themselves. Upper body was a longer, but easier workout. As your routines continue to expand with your advancing knowledge and experience, you will split your routine three ways. Those with nothing to do in their lives but body build split it further by training twice a day. (Some bodybuilders train their body over four, or even five days. These are usually long workouts per body part that provide secondary work for some of the muscles that are resting.)
20
SYNERGETIC VS. NON-SYNERGETIC What’s the best way to organize a 3-day split routine? You have a choice of SYNERGETIC or NON-SYNERGETIC order. Each has its advantage. The synergetic workout provides added intensity by pre-exhausting a body party by training an adjacent area with similar movements. A popular pattern is chest, shoulders, triceps one day, and back, biceps the next. Chest and shoulder work engages the triceps while the pulling motions for the back, involves the biceps. In a non-synergetic training pattern, the intensity comes from the second body part being fresh and rested so harder work can be applied. A typical example of this pattern is: chest and biceps the first day, back and triceps the second day, and shoulders and legs the third day (split into A.M. and P.M.). Don has seen both methods used successfully by top pro champions. TRANSITIONAL EXERCISES Don recommended a synergetic training order. It intensifies the work and, while it requires more energy, it also takes fewer sets and exercises to accomplish the same muscular stimulation. When planning the order of exercises in a synergetic routine, plant an exercise in between the two muscle groups that either works both areas, or isolates a small muscle lying between the two areas. These are TRANSITIONAL EXERCISES. Here are some examples of these transitional exercises: Transitional exercise Front Raise Pullover Wide grip rows Bent over flyes (or read delt machine) Dips (leaning forward) Dips (body straight) Rev. grip chins or pulldowns
Transition between… chest and deltoids chest and back back and delts delts and back chest and triceps delts and triceps back and biceps
Transitional exercise Reverse grip curls Hyperextensions Leg press (feet forward)
Transition between… biceps and forearms back and hamstrings quads and hamstrings
Transitional exercises play an important role other than a lead-in warm-up for the next body part. They create deep furrows of separation between the muscle groups that completes a physique. When you see an experienced bodybuilder who lacks this separation, you can bet his routine consists of heavy basic mass movements with few, if any, transitional exercises. Not too long ago, there was a “heavy duty” fad, where several bodybuilders
21
went back to very few sets of one or two of basic exercises per body part to failure. Though they reached very low body fat levels through dieting and cardio exercises, they lacked that deep separation between the muscles seen in those who isolated those areas through specific exercises. THE PRIORITY PRINCIPLE When organizing your exercises, how do you determine the order of body parts? The successful bodybuilder uses the PRIORITY PRINCIPLE. Train the areas that need the most work first. If you’re lacking chest and back development, you’d train chest and shoulders on day 1, back and arms on day 2, legs and calves on day 3. If you need more width, train shoulders and arms on day 1, back and chest day 2, legs and calves day 3. If you have weak hamstrings, train them first, before your quads. Train calves first if they’re lacking. You might even train weak calves or abs three days a week, before the rest of your routine. Arms present a different problem. Since these muscles are involved in all your upper body exercises (and some lower body movements), it would be counterproductive to your large body parts to work arms first. He tried this long ago for super-specialization. Arms preceded chest work, since that was a strong point for him. It worked fairly well, though he had far better arm than chest workouts. Since then, Don found the very best way to specialize on arms. Train them by themselves. Such a workout would look like this – back, chest, shoulders day 1, triceps, biceps, forearms day 2, legs, calves day 3. Women’s bodybuilding is somewhat different in its emphasis. Though most women competitors learned from men and do the same programs, other realize that women’s physiques should be structured differently than men’s. When women train on men’s program, they often get those physiques that Mr. and Ms. general Public always criticize for “looking like men”. Women need to emphasize leg, gluteus, and hip structure work. A typical men’s 3-day split routine is two upper body days and one leg day. A typical 4-day split is three upper body days and one leg day. Women’s programs have to be about 50-50 between upper and lower body. A 3-day workout would like this: Chest, shoulders, triceps day 1, back, biceps, hips and glutes day 2, legs, calves day 3. Or…chest, glutes, leg pushing movements day 1, back, shoulders, leg extending and adducting (front and inner thigh) day 2, arms, hamstrings, calves. Abs every other day.
22
AN IMORTANT CONSIDERATION Before putting a pen to paper to write your new workout, let me remind you of another consideration. It seems obvious, but the best of us have designed new programs only to realize that they have to be considerably altered when we get to the gym.
If the gym is always crowded, the equipment spread out rather than organized according to body parts, or suffers poor management where weights and handles are strewn about rather than kept in order, you obviously can’t plan a workout utilizing super-sets, tri-sets, or rapid-fire descending sets. If you have a choice of gyms in your area, you’re better off joining one without those problems, even if it’s a smaller club. You’ll still have a larger variety of workout options. In smaller cities, gyms are often tiny establishments with only the basic equipment. With some imagination, you can work around anything a gym lacks. If you move, or are traveling and have to settle for a small gym, analyze the movement of the exercises you did on your favorite machines and what direction the resistance is coming from. You can always figure out a way to create similar resistance with free weights or pulleys. During his wrestling days, Don often ended up in facilities with little more than a lat machine, and a rack of free weights. There were times he felt lucky when a hotel had a universal circuit and a rack of dumbbells going up to 50 lbs. Sometimes, Don made do with less than that. In various places, he had to use the ab board for incline and decline chest work, the leg press or hold a dumbbell in one hand for calf work, a chinning bar for both pullups and rows (by placing my feet against a wall in front of the bar) because of lack of pulleys. But he always had a good workout. Always let necessity breed creativity.
23
Don checking out his ‘six pack’
So far, Don has outlined the considerations and steps you have to take to plan the most effective, muscle-building routines. While you’ve probably spent lots of time reading bodybuilding stars’ training articles searching for those “secrets” to championship muscularity, Don’s revealing them all to you in this 5-part e-report. It’s now up to you to try each technique and discover which works best for your particular physique. Only one question remains unanswered…Which exercises are the best for each body part? During his consultations with amateur and professional bodybuilders, Don always requested that they write out their exactly routine so he could “trouble-shoot” and suggest improvements. The most frequent error he found in their routines was… Too many exercises that are basically the same. When you work a muscle, you want to pick exercises that put an emphasis on different areas of that muscle. This makes for a thorough workout and builds correct shape and balance to the area. He has been handed routines that look like this: Chest Bench Press – 4 sets of 10-12 Dumbbell Bench press – 4 sets of 10-12 Seated Bench Press Machine – 4 sets of 10-12 Bent Arm Flyes (on flat bench) – 4 sets of 10-12 Shoulders Barbell Press – 4 sets of 10 Press Behind the Neck – 4 sets of 10 Dumbbell Press – 4 sets of 10 Press on Smith Machine – 4 sets of 10 24
Can you see what’s wrong wit these pec and delt workouts? They consist of 16 sets of essentially the same movement…exercise redundancy. Four sets should suffice for any one aspect of a muscle. Change the angles on the chest work and substitute some of those overhead pressing movements with laterals or upright rows and throw in some front and rear delt work and you have a good routine. The exception to this rule is the application of UNI-ANGULARTRAINING. If you are specializing on one area of the muscle that’s lagging in development, you do this by hitting all your exercises for that body part with exercises that isolate the weak area. Let’s say you have bottom-heavy pectoral muscles with lacking upper pec development. (This is common in those who follow routines consisting primarily of flat bench work. I call this condition “bencher’s pecs”.) The way to correct this is to do all your pec work on an incline: Incline Barbell Press – 4 sets of 10 Incline Dumbbell Flye – 4 sets of 10 Incline Flye (between low cross-pulleys) – 4 sets of 10 Notice that even in uni-angular training, we chose one exercise that works the muscle belly (Incline Presses), one that works the outer area (dumbbell flyes), and one that puts the tension on the inner pec area (Incline crosspulley Flyes). If you aren’t specializing on re-shaping a muscle group, or back-cycling to “advanced basics” on off season, it’s essential to work each muscle from various angles. Look at your current routine. Take each exercise and pantomime the movement as if you were performing it in the gym. Think about what your limbs are actually doing. If you do this with the chest routine in my first example, you’ll see that the upper arms are doing the exact same thing during each movement. Make sure the exercises in your routine incorporate movements in different directions. You’ll notice that many exercises you thought were different are actually the same. Here are some examples: 1) Bent over flyes, and Wide Grip Barbell Rows (with elbows out to the sides). 2) Leg extensions and Lean back Sissy Squats 3) Dumbbell Pullovers and Close Grip Lat Pulldowns
25
4) Medium Grip Bench Presses (with elbows moving close to the body like many power lifters do), Barbell Front Raise, and Dips (with elbows back and body straight) As you can see, it’s important not only to select exercises that differ from each other for a more complete workout, but to pay attention to how you perform the exercise so you work the body part you intended to. Using the bench press described in example #4, many think they are working their chest when in fact, they are doing more for the front delt and triceps. This is one reason you see men who can hoist tremendous poundages in the bench press with poor chest development. By bringing the bar down higher on the chest and keeping the elbows out to the sides, the pecs get a workout. Don suggested 3 to 4 sets per exercise. In one simple sentence, here is the secret of exercise selection:
THE BEST EXERCISES FOR EACH BODY PART Entering his fourth decade of bodybuilding and having done virtually every exercise and training program in existence, Don had found what he considered the very best exercises for each muscle group. He reveals these with an explanation as to why each is the best. Remember, though, that there are reasons to use other exercises that perform similar action. Certain injuries may make an exercise he recommends painful and limit your progress. By using a barbell rather than a dumbbell, or a machine rather than a free-weight exercise, you may find that you can make better, pain-free gains. Also, an exercise is only as effective as the effort you apply. You will, therefore, show more improvement with a movement you enjoy doing rather than a similar exercise that you have a mental block against. With this in mind, here are the ultimate bodybuilding exercises: CHEST INCLINE DUMBBELL PRESS – This builds muscle mass in the upper chest. Using dumbbells allows an extra 15° of movement at the top than you’d get with a barbell. The steeper the incline, the more the deltoids, rather than the pecs, are performing the lift. Too many bodybuilders use a 45° incline. This is too much. 30 to 35° is perfect for upper pec development.
26
PEC DECK (SQUEEZE-TOGETHER CHEST MACHINE)- Works the central pec with an emphasis on the inner area, building depth between the pectorals (cleavage). Don prefers to do this with arms straight in front rather than the forearms angled upward. This takes stress off the shoulder joints. These are better than flat bench dumbbell flyes. Since dumbbells rely on the pull of gravity, tension decreases at the top the movement. This is precisely where you want the most resistance to carve that inner pec detail. If your pec machine is under repair, substitute flyes between the low cross-pulleys on a low bench. DECLINE DUMBBELL FLYES – Since you worked the inner pecs with the last exercise, the decline fly works the outer pec as well as outlining the lower pecs. Use a 35° decline bench and do the exercise with arms slightly unlocked. Start with palms up. Keep this hand position throughout the exercise. SHOULDER LYING FRONT RAISE – Sit in front of the low pulley and attach a straight bar. Lie back. Take a 6 inch grip on the bar, palms down. Keeping your elbows slightly unlocked, raise the bar up to forehead level. This is the same as a barbell front raise, only you can’t use body momentum nor put strain on the lower back. This is the very best movement for isolating those front deltoids. DUMBBELL LATERAL RAISES – Start with the dumbbells in front of you, all four sides touching. Keeping the elbows slightly unlocked, raise them out to the sides to ear level. This brings out the medial delt and widens the shoulders. Unlike the lateral raise machine, you can give yourself forced reps at the end of a set by bending the arms more, turning them into “L-laterals”.
PRESS BEHIND THE HEAD – This completes the movement you did in the previous exercise. On a Smith or press machine, start with the bar behind your head, about level with the tops of your ears, forearms parallel with each other. Push the bar completely overhead. You will be able to handle more weight in this partial movement, working the strong area of the delts with some residual trap work. REAR DELTOID MACHINE – Seated, facing the machine, do a set with your hands above shoulder level, two sets at shoulder level, and a final set slightly below shoulder level. Keep your elbows slightly bent. You can substitute bentover flyes for this one. Do these with your forehead braced
27
against a high bench, a stool, or lying prone on a high bench. This prevents you from using body momentum and takes strain off the lower back. This is an important shoulder exercise since underdeveloped rear delts are so common among bodybuilders. TRAPEZIUS
Don displays his traps With A Most Muscular Pose
SHRUGS ON THE STANDING CALF MACHINE – Unlike barbell or dumbbell shrugs, you are not limited by your gripping strength. Stand under the calf machine. Raise your shoulders straight up as high as possible. Hold for ½ second, lower slowly. You don’t have to move your shoulders back, as your rowing and rear delt work gets the muscles that make that movement. UPPER BACK LAT MACHINE PULLDOWN TO NOSE – Take a medium-wide grip on the bar, just beyond shoulder width. Too wide a grip limits the degree of movement. You’ve always been taught to pull the bar all the way to your chest. It’s time to unlearn this. By doing that, you limit your poundage to the amount you can bring down that far, working only the weaker aspect of that muscle. By pulling to your nose, you can pull much more weight, working with the strong outer area of the lats, packing on tremendous size and width. 45° ROW – If your gym doesn’t have a seated pulley slightly above your head, you can do this on a seated lat machine leaning back. Use a close grip handle. The first two exercises worked the first function of the back muscles, bringing the arms down to your sides. This one works the second function, bringing the arms in front of you. The pullover machine utilizes a similar movement. Keep your back straight. Pull the handles to your solar plexus. Not only does this exercise work the inner area of the upper back, but widens it as well by working the infraspinatus under the armpits.
28
