Conceive, Believe, Achieve!

Hard work and diligent training will bring about the results you desire.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction3 Chapter 1.. 6 Body types Chapter 2..9 Baseline diets Chapter 3.16 Program design Chapter 4.....37 Overtraining Chapter 540 Sample programs Chapter 648 Eating for muscle gains Chapter 751 Cardio

Chapter 854 Contest dieting Chapter 961 Sample diets Chapter 10..75 Supplements Chapter 11.77 Peaking Chapter 12.81 Q&A Chapter 1387 Coming off your diet Chapter 1490 Closing

INTRODUCTION
PEAKED: 'peKt also 'pE-k&d Function: adjectiveto reach a maximum (as of capacity, value, or activity) -- often used with out transitive senses : to cause to come to a peak, point, or maximum PHYSIQUE: f&-'zEk Function: noun Etymology: French, from physique physical, bodily, from Latin physicus of nature, from Greek physikos : the form or structure of a person's body: bodily makeup WELCOME Welcome to the Team Sully Coachs Companion. Before we get into the nuts and bolts of this manual, I would like to take a moment to explain its purpose. I did not set out to write an end all book on muscle building and fat loss. There is just too much information out there, some good and some down right dangerous. It would take a lifetime to sift through it all, and more is coming out every day. We live in a golden age where Science is doing research at a record pace, attempting to dissect all things fitness. There is also quite a bit of contradictory information - eat carbs vs. dont eat carbs are two common statements in the media. One must remember, in most media publications, only a tidbit or fragment of the information is published and the conclusion may be taken out of context. The example of the above statement is one. The answer is both, eat carbs and dont eat carbs depending on a variety of factors. This manual is designed to help you sift through the information out there, but not replace it. I intend to present you with solid information that you can use, and hopefully research further on your own. I must also add that none of this information is mine, but is presented to you from a wide variety of sources. I have not taken the time to cite all sources because my footnotes would be longer then the manuscript itself, and some information was never published or proven in any scientific study. Although not proven, I have found it to be accurate and on point. I would like to take a moment to point out some of these sources: Fred Hatfield, Vince Giranda, Charles Poliquin, Chris Aceto, Dennis B. Weis, Dr. Joe Klemczewski, Chad Waterbury, Lyle McDonald, Don Ross, Charles Glass, Craig Stevenson, Peter Ciccone, Alwin Cosgrove, Dr John Berardi, Christian Thibaudeau, Ian King and Layne Norton. All have contributed in large part to this manual and without their research I would have nothing to write about. As I tell my clients, I am a coach. A coach is there to guide and assist an athlete, as the athlete learns for himself or herself. A coach is a teacher. Like all teachers, they merely present and explain information to a student. Once the student has the information, it is up to them to move on and find other sources to learn from. That is my job; I present information to you the student, so you can move on and learn more on your own. I would highly recommend any of the above names to further enhance your knowledge. Once again, thank you. I hope you come away with something that will aid in your pursuit of physical enhancement. Your Coach, Sully

WHO AM I?

Im Batman! This will be the most easily skipped part of this manual. It is only intended to help you understand your coach. I never read any material without first understanding who and where it comes from. All excellent coaches and researchers have background information; here is mine. It is not intended to sound self-serving and I do not want to appear as though I am an egotist (however, I am a bodybuilder and ego is a prerequisite for bodybuilding). I have decided to write my own background, although it is common to have someone else write it for you. I am, however, my toughest critic. Besides I know myself better then anyone else. I have been involved in physical culture (the old slang for bodybuilding and weight training) for more than 25 years. It started with a chance encounter with the great Arnold, in 1979, in Columbus Ohio. I was 13 and we met by accident. Arnold provided me with two tickets to the Mr. Olympia. The following day I watched the muscle show and was hooked. I was invited to the after dinner party and had a chance to talk to the champions of the day. I was most impressed with their keen knowledge of diet and training and how much went into their preparations. From that moment on, I began to research every written word on the topic of training, nutrition and eventually supplementation. I went across the country to attend seminars hosted by various bodybuilders. In 1980 I moved to Cape Cod, MA and opened my first gym. OK, it was in my mothers basement, but at the time it was the most equipped facility in the area. I had sports teams from all the surrounding schools training there and on any given night 20-30 people used my basement gym. I wrote every program, and had a blast as I watched skinny guys grow muscles and fat guys get lean. My information came mostly from magazines, but I also spent a small fortune on phone consultations (popular then before the computer age). I recorded it all; reviewed it and then disseminated to my friends. It was a grand time. In 1983 I graduated high school and had to make a choice, collage or the military. I had always seen myself in the military after school, but now I also wanted to study physiology,

nutrition and kineasiology. I elected to do both; I joined the USMC with the promise that I would be stationed in California after boot camp. California was after all the hub of information on physical culture. After boot camp, and a short deployment to Beirut, I was shipped to the West Coast. I began hanging out in all the big gyms; Golds, the new Worlds and Vinces gym in North Hollywood. Every weekend that I had leave, I would be in the corner with my notebook taking it all in. At Golds, it was Charles Glass who took me under his wing. Although, I never worked directly with him, he always got a kick out of watching me try to write everything down he was telling to his paying clients (down as fast as Charles spoke). In Worlds I met the late Don Ross, who in my opinion was the most knowledgeable person I had ever encountered. I also spent time at Vinces and came to learn that the man was decades ahead of his time. So much of the information he passed out was criticized back then has now been validated by science. Vince was a character and I still remember our first meeting: Hi Vince, my name is Sean Sullivan and I am here to train. His reply, So what? took me by surprise, so I thought a complement was in order, Well sir, youre the best so I came to learn something from the guru. In typical Vince fashion he replied, You want to learn something? Youre fat, now leave me alone! Vince had a knack of pushing overzealous people away to see how serious they were to learn. He did not want to waste his valuable time. He eventually came around after he saw how serious I was about learning. He was a SOB, but his honesty and quest for information was refreshing to me. As I continued in the Military I began taking college courses and working on my degree. I was able to eventually earn a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Aviation Science, but did take every available course in chemistry, biology, nutrition, etc. I was eventually commissioned as an officer and assigned to fly helicopters. Being an officer gave me more time for research. As I was stationed across the country, and around the globe, more sources and more information then I could handle, became available to me. By now I think you get the point, I am knowledge hungry. I have also spent this time training others. I was the fitness officer in my unit and always found a job outside the base as a personal trainer. I must admit now, I hated being a personal trainer; I am not cut out for the job. This is when I decided I was fit to be a coach (no pun intended). The difference? A personal trainer stands over you and tells you what to do, the client does not have to think, only perform the request. A coach teaches to the point where they become obsolete in time. Being a coach is not lucrative, but is much better suited my personality. I have continued to learn, going to seminars and paying for other coachs services to increase my basis of knowledge. I have experimented on myself and had great success in power lifting and bodybuilding. My clients have also done well in their endeavors. This is what led me to this manual; to pass some of the knowledge I have learned to others and hopefully cut down on some of the time it takes to achieve an outstanding physique . Now that you know where I come from, lets start by taking a look at you!

CHAPTER 1: Body typing and associated variables

DO YOU KNOW YOUR BODY TYPE? The first step in finding the program that works best for you; one must understand their body type. There are three basic body types; no one is strictly of one type, but combinations of the three. There are several models to follow to determine what type you are but I prefer Mike Mentzers 7 scale. Read the following descriptions and then assign yourself a number from each category from 1-4, but the numeric total can only be a 7. For example, I consider myself a 3 on the endomorph scale, and 3 on the mesomorph scale leaving only a 1 for the ectomorph scale. This means I need to pay attention to information on endos and mesos but can skip most of the ecto rules. Once again, no one is strictly one type or the other. There is even deviation among types, but the information included below should at least give you a ball park estimate of how to start training and dieting to reach your best .Here are the body types:

Endomorph: Usually puts on muscle easily and retains it for long periods of time, but typically stores larger amounts of body fat. In restricted caloric conditions, they can retain muscle better. The problem for endomorphs is having trouble taking off the last little bit of fat. Endomorphs almost always have sensitivity to carbohydrates, although this does diminish with the addition of more muscle and proper dieting. Mesomorph: Normally maintains a muscular build with little body fat. Generally gains muscle easily, retains muscle well, and has a fast metabolism. Can eat almost anything and still lose fat and gain muscle. It is not uncommon to see a mesomorph diet only four to six weeks in preparation for a competition. It is estimated that pure mesomorphs make up only about 1-2% of the population. Ectomorph: Has smaller muscularity and little body fat. Has trouble filling out and often looks ripped, but with little sweep to the muscle. Has a bony structure and exhibits little muscularity. Ectomorphs are not ideally suited for bodybuilding, but there are a number of highly successful ectomorphs in competition. Ectomorphs may build some muscle density, but they will still appear long and lanky. On the positive side, ectomorphs can take in a large amount of carbohydrates and still have low insulin sensitivity, unless they create sensitivity themselves through a prolonged poor diet.

In order to accurately determine your body type, you need to consider determining factors such as bone structure, skeletal muscle disposition of fast/slow twitch fibers, tendon lengths in relation to muscle insertion points, endocrine and thyroid function, and normal levels of thyroid stimulating hormone, testosterone and estrogen. However, you can usually gather a pretty accurate assessment that isnt so technical by reviewing your personal and family histories. What was your body like as a child? What body type do your parents most resemble? Most people are combinations of the various body types with one type being more dominant. Different body types respond better to different diets, training and cardio programs. Is also possible for a person to change body types over time? Yes! For example, an ectomorph who consistently neglects proper nutrition and training habits can develop endomorphic qualities. Endomorph Diet Diet is the most important factor for endomorphs. Endomorphs are usually sensitive to carbohydrates, and they hold a lot of water and hold on to muscle glycogen stores well. A few days of zero carbs will usually not hurt an endomorph. They may not even use all the glycogen stores from muscles during that time. While I do not recommend ever going to zero carbs, the point is that an endomorph can tolerate a much lower carb intake. An endomorph can go as long as seven days before depleting glycogen stores and can refill them in just one day. Endomorphs respond well to high amounts of dietary fat. A cycled diet is ideal, where a low carbohydrate/high protein diet is adhered to for several days and then followed by a moderate carbohydrate/low fat day. An endomorph is better off not attempting to carb load for long periods due to their sensitivity to carbs. Training Endomorphs are better suited to short-term high intensity cardio of 15-25 minutes total duration, 5-6 times per week. Endos also respond better to multiple short sessions of hard cardio spread throughout the day. For example, 30 minutes of cardio for an endomorph would be more effective in burning fat by splitting the time into two 15 minute sessions or three 10 minute sessions, (rather than one lasting 30 minutes). Endos are also better off cutting rest intervals in training and doing weight training in an aerobic manner. Cutting rest intervals to 20-30 seconds will burn a significant amount of body fat. It is difficult for an endomorph to over train, so dont worry about the short rest periods. Endo/Mesomorph Diet Endo/Mesomorphs carry characteristics of endomorph and mesomorph body types. They are water-holders and need to monitor their carb intake closely. This is one of the most common body types in this modern era. Most endo/mesos would be true mesos if not for long term poor diet habits. McDonalds and Pizza Hut are responsible for turning out more endo/meso then Detroit is for turning out SUVs. Training The good news is that Endo/Mesomorphs make good bodybuilders but have a tendency to gain fat easily. They need to follow a program geared toward building a harder and leaner physique. They respond well to heavy, high-rep work. There is also a need to include basic movements without neglecting detail and finishing exercises. For example, a leg workout could be comprised of heavy high rep squats followed by leg extensions and lunges. Endo/Mesomorphs

can overtrain but can get away with doing more heavy sets than their ecto/mesomorph counterparts (to be discussed below). It is possible to overtrain an endo/mesomorph, but not as quickly as an ecto/mesomorph type. Endo/mesomorphs also respond well to variety. For example, hitting muscles from a large number of angles in each workout, then totally changing workouts in three to four week increments is very beneficial. Cardiovascular activity is another aspect of preparation. Endo/mesomorphs can (and often will); look soft if too many long duration cardio sessions are performed. Ectomorph Diet Ectomorphs cannot train or eat like the majority of people. If they do, they will appear stringy and flat. An Ectomorph needs lots of carbohydrates to load up on glycogen. Starchy carbs are best, but lots of greens should also be eaten. Ectomorphs should also eat more frequently. Eight meals a day is not a stretch for an Ectomorph. Each meal should contain lots of protein with a moderate amount of fats. Food does not stay with an Ectomorph for long; nutrients cycle through rapidly, making frequent feedings a must. An Ectomorph might not need to deplete carbs very long. The Ectomorph should reverse the carb up cycle, using only two days of depletion and up to six days of slow carb loading. Ectomorphs naturally stay harder and they have a tendency to not hold water. For this reason, they need to eat calories, burning fat through exercise instead of through caloric restriction. Training Ectomorphs respond to training with heavy, low rep sets with a minimal number of total sets per workout. Keep the intensity of each set high, and utilize a long rest (2-4 minutes) between sets for recovery. Keep to the basics and avoid high reps and supersets. Ectomorphs need to resist the urge to increase volume because it increases metabolism and depletes glycogen. They need to get lots of sleep and try to recover completely between training sessions to maintain lean tissue gains, to avoid the state of overtraining. Cardiovascular work is a key to body fat loss. Unlike an Endomorph, who needs to diet harder and do less aerobic exercise, Ectomorphs are better off getting lean through cardio, rather than sacrificing calories. Doing longer, slower cardio is best for this type. The goal is to burn fat stores, not rev up the metabolism. Typically, an ectomorphs metabolism is already fast. Mesomorph You may have noticed that I have not yet talked about diet and training for Mesomorphs. That is because I intend to avoid them in this article. Why? Mesomorphs typically need little help. Almost any diet or training program will work for them, so Mesomorphs probably arent reading this. They are also rare, and I only know two in natural bodybuilding. As stated above if a Meso is not careful they can soon become Endo/Mesos or even worse a true Endo. Just look at any retired pro athlete. If a careful transition to a good diet and workout program is not followed they become fat and endomorphic. Look at most former high school athletes at the 15-year high school reunion. Most would be lucky just to see their toes over their engorged bellies. Mesos are lucky, but some overlook this good fortune and think they can get away with a lifetime of poor eating. If youre a 4 on the Meso scale then your nutrition should be of key importance to you. Make sure you take in a majority of healthy carbs in your diet, limit sugar and eat high quality sources of protein. You may be able to get away with some junk food and little to no cardio, but dont tempt fate.

CHAPTER 2: Basic Nutrition and establishing a baseline

NUTRITION 101 Now that you have some idea of what body type you may be lets get into nutrition basics. I decided to start with nutrition because as Vince Giranda once said Results are 90% nutrition. Now that figure may be somewhat high, but I can guarantee that you will not lose fat, gain muscle or improve your physique without proper nutrition. Even if this is the first thing you have ever read on the topic of nutrition (and for most of you I doubt it is) I am sure you already know what a protein, carbohydrate and fat are. I will assume you know the difference of the three and that protein is used as a building block, and carbohydrates and fats are energy sources. For that reason I will just expose some of the myths associated with each and what you need to know to fix your diet and nutrition. Carbohydrates are the bodys preferred energy source because they are the easiest to digest and are readily converted to glucose. Carbohydrates can be classified as simple sugars, complex or fiber. Simple carbs are readily converted to glucose and normally cause a large spike in Insulin. Insulin itself is misunderstood by most, and we will get to its role later in this manual. Yes, intake of excess simple carbs can and will cause fat gain, however simple carbs do have a purpose in muscle building. When taken post training, they have a pronounce muscle building effect. Complex carbs digest slower therefore, create less of an insuligenic response. They provide a steadier stream of energy and are preferred energy sources to fuel hard training sessions. Fiber is non-digestable, provides a cleansing effect in the intestine and is necessary for general health. Digestion of carbohydrates occurs in the stomach where the carbohydrates are converted to glucose and then the glucose is absorbed in the small intestine. All carbs, with the exception of fiber, are converted to glucose. However, there are many forms of carbohydrates and many different pathways of digestion. This effects energy levels, mental acuity, athletic performance and general health. The glycemic index is what is used to describe the rate at which carbohydrates affect blood sugar and insulin levels. A food with a high GI rating will have a fast and dramatic effect on blood sugar and cause large responses in insulin. Carbohydrates with a lower GI rating will be broken down and absorbed at a more controlled manor. This will not have as significant of an effect on insulin. Normally carbohydrates with higher ratings are poor choices and should be limited to key times of the day, such as in the morning when coming off a fasted state or post workout. This glycemic index is helpful to those attempting to add muscle and lower bodyfat. Those individuals with higher bodyfat levels will experience higher blood insulin levels in response to eating carbs. Since high insulin levels inhibit fat breakdown and promote fat storage, those seeking to decrease bodyfat should keep an eye on the GI. This is why the Atkins and Zone Type diets are so popular for fat loss. They are designed to control insulin levels. I personally do not believe in limiting

10

carbs to zero grams, but I think there is an upper limit for each individual. I do recommend you keep carbohydrates as high as possible to effect the changes in body composition youre after. In other words, eat as many carbs as you can tolerate and still lose fat and gain muscle. Here is a list of common foods and there GI rating.

Cereals All Bran Bran Buds + psyll Bran Flakes Cheerios Corn Chex Cornflakes Cream of Wheat Frosted Flakes Grapenuts Life muesli, natural Nutri-grain oatmeal, old fash Puffed Wheat Raisin Bran Rice Chex Shredded Wheat 51 45 74 74 83 83 66 55 67 66 54 66 48 67 73 89 67

Snacks chocolate bar corn chips croissant doughnut graham crakers jelly beans Life Savers oatmeal cookie 49 72 67 76 74 80 70 57

Pasta cheese tortellini 50 fettucini linguini macaroni spagh, 5 min boiled spagh, 15 min boiled spagh, prot enrich vermicelli Soups/Vegetables beets, canned 64 32 50 46 33 44 28 35

Beans baked black beans, boiled butter, boiled 44 30 33

cannellini beans 31 garbanzo, boiled kidney, boiled kidney, canned lentils, green, brown lima, boiled navy beans pinto, boiled red lentils, boiled soy, boiled Breads bagel, plain 72 34 29 52 30 32 38 39 27 16

pizza, cheese & 60 tom Pizza Hut, supreme popcorn, light micro potato chips pound cake Power bars pretzels saltine crakers shortbread cookies 33 55 56 54 58 83 74 64

black bean soup 64 carrots, fresh, boil corn, sweet french fries 49 56 75

grean pea, soup 66 green pea, frozen lima beans, frozen 47 32

baquette, Frnch 95 croissant 67

11

Special K Total Fruit apple apricots banana cantalope cherries dates grapefruit grapes kiwi mango orange papaya peach pear pineapple plums prunes raisins watermelon

54 76

Snickers bar strawberry jam vanilla wafers

41 51 77 67

parsnips

97

dark rey hamburger bun muffins apple, cin blueberry oat & raisin pita pizza, cheese pumpernickel sourdough rye

76 61

peas, fresh, boil 48 pot, new, boiled 59 pot, red, baked pot, sweet 93 52 63 70 66 38 54

38 57 56 65 22

Wheat Thins Crackers graham rice cakes rye

44 59 54 57 60 49 54 64 70 68

74 80 68 72 67

pot, white, boiled pot, white, mashed split pea soup w/ham tomato soup yam Milk Products

103 soda 25 46 52 55 43 58 42 58 66 39 15 64 72 Wheat Thins Cereal Grains barley basmati white rice bulgar couscous cornmeal millet Sugars fructose honey maltose table sugar

25 58 48 65 68 71

chocolate milk custard ice cream, van ice milk, van skim milk soy milk tofu frozen dessert

35 43 60 50 32 31

white wheat Drinks apple juice colas Gatorade

40 65 78 48 46 46

115 grapefruit juice 30 36 14 orange juice pineapple juice

22 62

whole milk yogurt, fruit

105 yogurt, plain 64

Weight training does increase muscle sensitivity to insulin, and this is a good thing. As stated earlier, insulin can promote muscle gain or fat gain. Insulin drives carbohydrates from the bloodstream into the muscle where its stored as muscle glycogen. Insulin also drives amino acids into the muscle; (thus) more muscle can be made. Therefore insulin is very important in the role of muscle building; however, high amounts of carbohydrates, particularly high GI simple carbs,

12

will be stored as fat inside the fat cell. There are insulin receptors on both muscle and fat cells and only so much carbohydrate can be stored in the muscle. The rest will be converted to fat and stored for future use in the fat cell. The trick is consuming just the right amount of carbs for muscle gain and to prevent fat storage. Here are a few words about the glycemic index. As stated the GI establishes the rate at which carbohydrates increase blood sugar levels. The common belief is that foods with a higher GI, such as a baked potato or carrots, are poor choices for the bodybuilder. Bodybuilders who carry quite a bit of muscle, they have keen receptor sites on the muscle and thus the pancreas will output less insulin because the muscle uses it better. By combining foods, (adding protein and fats with the carbs), slows the digestion and absorption of the carbs and lowers the GI rating. Finally, most bodybuilders will break up the diet into 5 or 6 meals, making each feeding smaller. This better controls insulin. Hopefully youre also keeping fiber high. Fiber slows the absorption of carbs and also alters the GI rating. I do recommend you eat whole food, good carbs and avoid junk. It is important that you dont dismiss a carb just because it has a higher GI rating. Some carbs, such as fructose, have a very low GI rating, but cause a rapid and high insulin response. This is because fructose skips a key enzymatic process and becomes rapidly available in the blood stream causing a rapid insulin response. Be aware of the GI index, but do not become a slave to it. Any talk of GI must also include a few words on insulin. Insulin is a major anabolic hormone in the body and performs three jobs. It drives amino acids into the muscle cell that triggers growth and recovery. It also drives carbohydrates into the muscle to be stored as glycogen. This glycogen storage is the basis behind the carb loading theory. A fully glycogen loaded muscle will appear larger and more defined. This also has to do with water and the fact that water will follow the carbs into the muscle. Finally, too much insulin will convert glycogen to fat and be stored in the fat cells. How much insulin does one need? That is difficult to say, however by eating healthy foods and avoiding large quantities of refined carbs you will be on your way to successful insulin management. There are a few tricks for carbohydrate manipulation. Make breakfast and post training the largest carb meals and taper carb intake throughout the day. By making breakfast a large carb meal you will be starting to replace glycogen stores that were depleted through the night. Taking in some simple carbs post workout will offset the catabolism (breakdown) of muscle and shuttle glycogen and amino acids into the muscle for repair. The receptor for insulin on the muscle cell is more sensitive at this time and there is less chance that the glycogen will be converted to fat and stored in the fat cell. By tapering carb intake you will take advantage of the bodys circadian rhythm, where metabolism slows through the course of the day. Insulin metabolism also changes through the day and the body outputs more insulin as the day progresses. The next energy nutrient is fat. Dietary fat is the most concentrated source of energy yielding nine calories per gram as compared to four calories per gram of both protein and carbohydrates. From a body fat control standpoint, it would make sense to not eat a large amount of fat. There is however, the fat exception. Essential fatty acids (EFAs) are essential for hormone regulation and growth. The body cannot manufacture EFAs; therefore they are essential for growth and normal body function. Diets that contain less then 15% dietary fat have been shown to lower testosterone and actually blunt fat burning. Fat is necessary (but must be in moderation).

13

There are two types of fat, saturated and unsaturated. Saturated fats are defined as those fats that are solid at room temperature and are derived primarily from animal sources. Saturated fat is bad fat and is associated with several health issues. Saturated fat can also lower the receptor cite affinity on muscle cells, making it harder to shuttle glycogen and amino acids into the cell for growth. Unsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature and come mostly from nuts and vegetables. Linoleic acid is an essential fat, required for hormone regulation and growth. Cold-water fish such as salmon contain omega 3 fatty acids. Omega 3s reduce inflammation and speed repair of damaged tissue creating an anabolic environment. Fish oils also increase the sensitivity of the muscle receptor site for insulin and have been shown to illicit positive body comp changes. Gamma Linolenic Acid (GLA) another healthy fat, is found in nuts. Borage and flax oil aid in the production of prostaglands in the body. Prostaglands are messengers that are being released in the body as a result of stress. There are good and bad prostaglandins but GLA promotes release of good prostaglands called PGE-1. PGE-1 enhances blood flow to training muscles and supports immune system function. PGE-1 also helps make anabolic hormones such as growth hormone and thyroid. As you can see there are many fats necessary for muscle growth and fat metabolism. Proteins are comprised of amino acids, the building blocks of life. Amino acids are used in almost every chemical reaction that takes place inside the human body. Protein, like carbohydrate, has different absorption rates. This makes some fast acting proteins, such as whey protein, and ideal source of amino acids after training or fist thing in the morning. Slower acting proteins, such as casein or beef, are absorbed more slowly and better suited for later feedings or before bed. Mixed protein sources are best through the day. The amount of protein necessary for muscle building is a debated topic, but I think 1 gram per pound of bodyweight is a good starting point. Excess protein can be stored as fat, although there is a thermogenic effect of protein of around 30%, too much of any macronutrient will be stored as excess energy (fat). Thermogenic effect of food is the release of heat (energy) associated with digestion. Protein has a Thermogenic Effect of Food (TEF) of 30% compared to 8% for carbohydrates and 2% for fats. Increasing protein when dieting is a good strategy, but even then, I see no reason to go above 1.5 grams per pound of bodyweight. Excessively high protein intake, 2 grams or more of bodyweight, has been shown to blunt the fat burning effect, even when calories are reduced. The trick is to use the right amount of protein at the right times. I suggest breaking your daily intake up evenly throughout the day. Over the course of 4-6 meals and post training consume 20-50 grams of protein depending on your bodyweight. Use a variety of lean proteins such as lean red meat, fish, eggs, cottage cheese, chicken, turkey and protein supplements are all good choices. Start with 1 gram per pound of bodyweight as a guide. Now that you have the basics down lets construct your diet. I call the first step in the process coming up with the baseline diet. BASELINE DIET How can people know how to get where theyre going, if they dont know where to start? When I was an aviator in the Army and given the task of planning a mission, the first thing I did was to plot my exact location on a map. As competitors progress in their dieting, how will they

14

determine whether they need to increase or decrease calories? Whether to increase or decrease the amount of cardio? What is needed in order to arrive at their target body fat composition for competition day or a photo shoot? A baseline diet establishes a starting point for contest dieting, from which comparisons can be made, or the basic diet for maximizing muscle building and body composition changes. A baseline is determined by cleaning up the diet. Taking in a consistent amount of calories, to allow the body to stabilize at a reference point. You should also use this time to replace empty calories with wholesome foods. This reference point can then be used in the off season to add lean tissue with the absence of fat or peak for that family gathering, high school reunion or bodybuilding/figure contest. I will go on the assumption that most of you are seeking to lean out or peak, to allow your muscularity to show. No matter what the goal, the baseline diet is the first step. Why do you need a baseline? Have you ever heard someone who has started a diet tell you that they are not losing weight? Has this happened at the start of your diets in the past? The reason is simple; people do not normally eat the same number of calories each day. You may eat 2000 calories Monday, 3000 Tuesday and 4000 Wednesday. If you start your diet at 2200 your body will see no reason to tap into the fat stores because it has been conditioned NOT to release fat. Why? In this case the body knows it will eventually get a large number of calories in order to make up any deficit, so why should your body tap into the precious fat stores? High, low, too high, and too low methods of eating are all too common today. When you eat roughly the same amount of food for several days, your body will begin to adjust its metabolic rate to that amount. When your body adjusts, BANG! you binge eat for a day or two. Feeling bad, you then cut way back and do more cardio then an Olympic marathon runner. After a few days or a week your willpower is gone and BANG! you pig out again. A ream of Fig Newtons is a small snack, that gallon of double brownie fudge ice cream is a pre dinner snack and the Dominos delivery guy is on a first name basis with you. After a few days you calm down and say youre just happy where you are. You eat normally for a few days, but this time your metabolism does not change. Your body is still in fat storage mode because it knows from its conditioning that it will next go through a period of severe underfeeding, followed by gorging on everything in site. Why adjust to a mere week of low calories? In fact, why change at all? Your body will just hold on to that fat, and perhaps even store some more just in case. This is why a two to four week baseline is essential before you even think about losing fat. For some people you may have to stay on a baseline for up to three months before fat loss can be initiated. Lets look at the above example using the same three-day caloric average. If we take the three day average calorie intake of, 2000 calories + 3000 calories + 4000 calories = 9000 calories. This is our theoretical three-day average. Take that number and divide by 3 and you get 3000 calories. This will be your baseline caloric target. After 3-4 weeks at 3000 calories per day and you decrease your calories to 2300, your body will know at once a deficit has occurred and begin to tap into those fat stores to cover the deficit in energy. For our other helpless victims of the diet roller coaster, I recommend starting with a number between 12-15 and multiplying that times their bodyweight. I would recommend starting with the higher range for males and the lower range for females, but 13 is right in the middle. The point is to not start so high that you gain weight, but you cant go too low so that you start to lose.

15

The perfect number is the one that causes you to maintain your weight through the baseline. It would be normal for an extremely obese person to lose 13 calories per pound of bodyweight at first, but most would likely be fluids. The body would then regulate and from there a baseline could be established. Once you have the number, lets say its also 3000, go to step two. For all of our meals, we want to keep the same amount of calories and replace empty calories like soda and snack cakes with energy and muscle building foods like oats, whole grains, yams, chicken, eggs, cottage cheese and other lean proteins. Fruits and vegetables are a must and make sure you take in some nuts or other essential fats. Meals should be typically pieced together using a source of lean protein, a source of complex carbohydrates, and some vegetables (for fiber and vitamins/minerals) with the remaining calories coming from fats to total the desired number of calories and macronutrient ratios. Tailor your macronutrients to your individual body. Starting with protein you should strive for 1 to 1.5 grams per pound of lean body mass. Lean body mass is defined as what your body weighs minus your fat stores. You will need to take a body composition test to determine this. Once you know your fat percentage deduct that number from your bodyweight. For example, a 200 pound man at 20% body fat would have 160 pounds of lean mass so he would use 160 x 1.0 or 1.5 to determine his protein needs. You need to take in protein at every meal, so I prefer to split my daily total into the number of meals I take in. At 160 grams and 6 meals this bodybuilder would try to take in 25-30 grams per meal. Remember to choose only lean, quality sources of protein. I also recommend consuming a post workout shake that includes whey protein after each weight training session. From here determine how many grams of carbohydrates and fats are needed to round out our diet. In our example the baseline calories are 3000 per day. Take the number of grams of protein, in this example 160 @ 1.0 gram per pound of lean mass, and multiply by 4, or the number of calories per gram of protein. That number is 640. Now deduct the 640 calories in protein daily from the 3000 total calories eaten per day. This will give us 2360 calories per day of carbs and fats. The number of fat and carbohydrate calories is individual and should be based on body type (ectomorph, endomorph and mesomorph), as should the amount of protein (1.0 grams or 1.5 grams). But for the baseline attempt to eat about the same percentage of fats and carbohydrates as you normally would. If youre not sure then I suggest taking 65% of the remaining calories as carbohydrates and the remaining 45% as fats. Simply divide the remaining total of 2360 by .75 and then divide that number by 4 (four calories per gram of carbohydrate) and then divide 2360 by .25 and divide that number by 9 (the number of calories per gram of fat) and this will give you your daily macronutrient profile. In this case our 200 pound 20% fat male will baseline on 3000 calories, 160 grams of protein, and 440 grams of carbs and 60 grams of fat. Carbohydrates are the primary fuel source during weight training, and you need to make sure your taking in enough to meet your energy demands. Carbohydrates do not make you fat; however, poor choices in their intake and poor timing can. When carbohydrates are taken in they enter the blood stream as sugar. This causes the release of a powerful anabolic hormone called insulin. Insulin has two anabolic functions. First, it shuttles the carbohydrate (sugar) from the bloodstream into the muscle where it is stored as glycogen until needed by the body. The next anabolic role of insulin is driving amino acids into the muscles so that can be repaired after training. You must consume carbohydrates on the baseline to aid in recovery, energy and repair. If you take in too few carbohydrates then the amino acids from your higher protein intake will not be able to efficiently repair your muscles and you will have less energy to weight train. There is a

16

down side, however. The same receptor sites located on the muscle cell are also located on the fat cell. Too high a carbohydrate intake, or consuming too many simple carbohydrates (cookies, candy, white bread and processed foods) will cause extremely high and unbalanced waves of insulin that will shuttle all that sugar into the fat cell where it will be stored as future long term energy deposits (this is all a fat cell really is) and it will also cause nonlinear energy waves. This is also known as the sugar crash. Excess carbohydrates can and will make you fatter and this is the reason the old high carb diets of the early 80s failed. How many grams per day is an individual thing, but I always advise athletes I work with to take in as many grams as they can tolerate without getting fat. We know we need to eat carbohydrates to optimize our muscle building and energy systems; however, we do not want to get fat along the way so we need to follow some simple rules. First, eat smaller frequent meals throughout the day. I always shoot for five to six meals, and make sure I have a proper amount of carbohydrates at the pre and post training meals. Next, taper your carb intake to meet your energy cycle and recovery demands. Do this by taking in the majority of your carbs at three distinctive times (meals) per day. The first essential carb meal is breakfast. When you wake after 8-10 hours with no food your glycogen stores are low and carbohydrates eaten at this time are less likely to be stored as fat. The next meal would be the pre training meal 2-3 hours before your workout. The final meal would be the post workout meal, and this is the only meal where I suggest simple carbohydrates be consumed. The best option is one of the powdered recovery drinks that are on the market, but the need can also be met with fruit, juice or even better Gatorade. The next whole food meal post training should also contain a good dose of carbs, but keep these as complex as possible. Taper the remaining carbs in the rest of the meals by increasing the amounts in the early meals with less in the final meal of the day. The final rule is actually two rules in one. Eat protein with each meal and choose your carbs carefully. By eating protein with each meal you slow the insulin release (exception is the whey protein with simple carbs post training, this actually causes a beneficial insulin spike) and a slow and balance insulin release will prevent energy and fat storing spikes. Again choose whole sources such as oats, whole grains, sweet potato, brown rice, beans and lots of fibrous carbs like broccoli, cauliflower, green beans and salads. The last piece of the nutrition puzzle is fats. There are two types of fats; saturated and unsaturated sources. Saturated fats provide no health benefits and are linked to many health related ailments. Unsaturated fats contain many essential fatty acids such as Linoleic acid. Other essential fats can be found in cold-water fish such as salmon and contain omega 3 fatty acids. Essential fats are required for hormone regulation. They can increase insulin sensitivity of the muscle receptor and have been linked to favorable body composition changes. Essential fatty acids are exactly that, essential to health, muscle building and fat loss. Avoiding fats of the unsaturated variety would be a foolish as avoiding protein in the diet. Make sure that large portions of your fat calories come from unsatured fats by taking in whole nuts such as walnuts and almonds and a good amount of fatty fish, such as salmon. I also recommend supplemental fats such as flax oil or borage oil and round out the intake with monosaturated, or neutral fats, like olive oil. Now that the baseline is established you should begin to record all your meals. Be sure to eat 5-6 times per day and make sure with each meal youre eating a good lean protein source. The recording will make it easy to track your progress and make changes. It will also provide you with the habit of writing and tracking it all so when the contest diet starts youre already in tune with your body. I cannot emphasis this enough, use a training and diet log through your contest journey. This will provide valuable feedback and serve as a source of documentation for future

17

contest diets. Remember, establish a baseline, eat the proper foods, train hard and keep track of everything and you will easily attain your goal.

Here is a list of common bodybuilding foods.

Proteins:
Tuna or most any fish. Cottage cheese. Eggs (especially the whites). Chicken breast (boneless skinless). Turkey breast (boneless skinless). Lean beef. Low fat or no fat cheese. Low fat pork. Milk or whey protein powders

Best carb choices:

Sweet potatoes. Oat meal, oat bran, oat bran cereal (i.e. cheerios). Bran cereal Brown rice Whole grain breads or wraps Beans Fruits (choose lower GI types) Vegetables.

Fats
Fish oils Primrose oil Borage oil Olive oil Nuts (however, most people have at least a minor allergy to peanuts) Egg yolks Fatty Fish (salmon and sword are excellent)

18

With the baseline diet down, its now time to head to the gym and add some muscle. But how do you start building quality muscle? How many sets and reps should you do? How many days per week? First, lets see what we want our training to do for us.

We all have our before photos!

19

CHAPTER 3: Training and program design

TRAINING AND MUSCLE GROWTH Training, or in this case weight training specifically, is as varied as diet. Everyone has the best program, and every new champ brings a change to the way millions of us train. Why? As athletes we seem to take up the charge of the latest sensation with no regard to the thought process that went into the program. When Arnold was King we all did 2-hour workouts with 30 sets a body part. Then came Mentzer and we all went to the 3-day per week one set phase. Haney became King and moderate volume and high reps were in vogue. In Yates's day it was blood and guts intensity and now we shot back to the volume theory with Coleman. Who is right? Well, all of them actually. Why? Because they all found what worked best for them, but that may not be what is best for YOU! I cannot provide you with a best program, but just like diet, I can provide you with some variables to add and get you on your way. First, all training programs will work... and all programs will stop working. This is due to the adaptogenic response. Fred Hatfield was one of the first to write about this topic. His research led him to what is know as the 21 day window. After approximately 21 days your body will acclimate to the stimuli and gains will be diminished. The program may still work, but each cycle completed will produce fewer results. I am not sure the 21-day window fits all, but I do find that in 3-6 weeks I have fully adapted to a program and need to change things around. How much you change is another topic of debate. Some such as Ian King feel the program must change from the ground up, reps, speed of the rep, number of sets, number of days training etc.. If you fall in line with the Max-OT theory (see www.ast-ss-com for info on Max-OT) then you only change order of exercises or the day you train a specific body part. The point is the body does need change to have progressive results. How much and how often is up to you, but I do have methods to determine program effectiveness. Some of my clients change workouts weekly or even daily, and others once a month. It again depends on many variables. There is one constant I have found. The older your training age (number of years training) the more often and more dramatic the change needs to be. Another aspect of training is hormonal manipulation. Training needs to provide two functions, fiber stimuli and hormonal secretion. There are scores of studies confirming certain types of training produce significant release of certain hormones. How much of that release can actually be used by the body for muscle increase and fat loss is debatable. Empirical evidence suggests there is merit to hormonal secretions and training. An example is testosterone. Research has concluded that testosterone is secreted in large amounts from heavy lower rep loads and shorter duration workouts. A typical 45 min heavy squat workout will raise test levels far greater then a giant set back workout with lesser loads performed for 90 min. The giant sets will however trigger a greater GH (growth hormone) release then the squat workout. This becomes another variable in training, cycle workouts based on specific hormonal secretions. One way to do this is by alternating specific workouts over a 2 to 3 week cycle. For example do heavy low rep work

20

over a 3 day split week #1. Week #2 could be a 5 day split using giant sets for 12 reps to get a pump effect and GH release. Week #3 could be a moderate volume week with negative reps to increase IGF-1 release (another hormone) The point is to put some logic in your training and base the program on your goals. I have come up with many program designs that I base on my clients goals. These programs are then tweaked, taking in variables such as chronological age, training age, body type and whether they are in a negative calorie diet (pre-contest mode). Specific ideas and design I use are not necessarily a product of my own. I have found that most information is not unique to the coach or trainer. There are some cutting edge or new program designs out there and I will provide you with a list of the best to review and research for your needs: The Max-OT training system is a valid and useful program. It is available at www.astss.com and you can sign up for the program for free. I find myself going back to this site often. Another excellent source is T-mag.com (T-nation) and they have several excellent programs you can pull up in their archives. Use the search engine and check out Pendulum bodybuilding by Christian Thumbed, HST by Brian Haycock, and the EDT series. As for books and authors I found Fred Hatfields books to be excellent. I also have the full Charles Poloquin and Ian King series. Both are highly respected authorities and use valid scientific points to back there theories. Other good sources of training information are www.bodybuilding.com, www.TheOCBwebsite.com, www.bodybuildingworld.com and www.joesrevolution.com. The last two deals mostly with diet, but there are excellent training articles as well. To begin making gains you need to understand what your objectives are and use some rational in your training. Plan your programs using your own body's needs and punch in your specific variables. Explore other training systems and keep what works. Never blindly follow the latest superstar arm workout!

A WORD ON EXERCISE FORM AND SELECTION You will notice that I have omitted any description of exercises, basic or otherwise. I refer to many exercises you may not know in my programs, such as diver rows, cobra pull downs, spider curls and many more. I do not go in depth on performance because there are just too many nuances in their proper performance to ever pass on proper performance through the written word. Yes, I can describe a bench press, but not a low incline neck press. Even with photos the tiny tweaks used to make the exercise more efficient would be lost in translation. I am available to go over this information on the phone, but you would have to set up a personal visit to get the form down. I have thought about a DVD, but that is far down the road. I can recommend several good options. First, www.t-mag.com is an excellent resource to find new and inventive ways to train. There are many articles on exercise form and exercises you have never done. Another is www.bodybuilding.com and they have a database of exercises on web cam that you can watch and review. Finally, there is a DVD available on www.vincegiranda.com that is excellent. Vince was way ahead of his time and he knew every way to isolate any muscle in the body. I highly recommend these as a resource. I must also mention that I rarely see anyone perform even the most basic exercises properly. Even simple bench press and curling exercises are butchered regularly. Not just by the novice bodybuilder, but by grizzled vets too. Here is a good tip; if you do not FEEL the exercise working the intended muscles there is something wrong with your form! Never add loads to an

21

exercise until you can do 3 sets of 12 reps and feel a great pump and burn in the target area. No pump, no burn, no way youre doing the exercise properly. And do not give me the Its a core exercise so I need to move a greater load BS, that is hogwash! There is an 80-year-old man named Sri Chinmoy who can do a one arm presses with almost 7,000 pounds. The weight is budged by mechanical means, meaning is puts his body in a proper point of leverage and moves the weight a few millimeters. Sri is all of 140 pounds. If a 140 pound 80 year old male can budge 7,000 pounds through leverage then a 200-pound man can move 500 pounds in what appears to be a squat without ever firing a neuron in his quads. Form + Load = Muscle Gains. As for new exercises, here is what I recommend. Say you read about a new cable back exercise in the latest muscle magazine. There are a few photos and a brief description. The next back workout you do that exercise, and that exercise only, for 12 sets of 10-15 reps with a moderate load. If any time during your sets you cant feel the pump in the target area, lower the load. Keep your rep speed at 3 seconds for both the positive and negative and keep the rest between sets to 40 seconds or less. When you wake up the next day the target area should be quite sore, if its not there is either something wrong with your form, or that exercise may not be the right one for you. Not every exercise works for every physique. Things like fiber recruitment patterns, muscle insertion points, leverage factors and fiber type dominance all play into exercise selection. Here is an example. I love back work, but no matter how good my form is or what body position I use, bent over rows do nothing for me. No back stimulus at all, and I usually wake up with a sore lumbar and pain in my front deltoids. However, I get wonderfully sore from various forms of dumbbell rows with cables. Now all the old school hard-core gym experts tell you cables suck, no stimulation and no growth because of poor loading blah, blah, blah. I have not done any rowing in 15 years, but my back has improved dramatically once I dropped rowing in favor of cable work. My response now is Come beat me in a back double biceps pose. Not every exercise is for every body, find the ones that work for you and stick with them. Now for a final word on exercise selection, if it feels good then use it. Dont get hamstrung in doing only squats for legs because everyone says squat. Dont shy away from leg extensions if you get an incredible pump and burn. Yes, the squat should be better for you then the leg extension, but dont exclude one for the other. Find a variety of exercises that work for you and alternate though them with all your routines. Experiment with new exercises and always attempt to make adaptations to your exercises that cause the working muscle to be stressed more. In other words learn how to make it harder. Do not cheat a large load up and down, working nothing. If there is a secret to weight training, thats it.

BASIC TRAINING PROGRAM DESIGN Everyone has a theory on reps sets and workout parameters. Most programs work, but all will stop working at some point. This is where the theory of micro cycles comes in. Frequent change in workout stimulus has been proven to make longer lasting gains and maximize results. There is one area that most programs fall short and that is hormonal manipulation. After all the most effective way to build muscle is to combine anabolic hormones and training. Any IFBB pro is proof positive of that. Manipulating hormones artificially and training to enhance the effects of those hormones creates a powerful synergy. However, we as natural bodybuilders refuse to compromise and cross those boundaries, but does that condemn us to being small? NO! For every bodybuilding drug there is a corresponding hormone that is naturally produced by the body, and can be manipulated by your training. Finding a way to increase the secretion of your natural

22

hormones is the second biggest factor in your program selection. Through careful manipulation of training variables you can increase various growth producing hormones and the corresponding receptors in your muscles that mediate their anabolic effects. Through careful manipulation of training stress you can convince your body to release each hormone at specific times, and increase receptor sites on the muscle itself. Interested? Read on. A smart training program will fulfill three necessities: 1) To provide enough stress to the muscle fibers to trigger repair and growth. 2) To increase the levels of various anabolic hormones. 3) To regulate corresponding muscle receptors and get the most out of those anabolic effects. Before we get into the nuts and bolts of the training design lets look at various forms of training, their affect on hormonal manipulation and the effect on the muscle receptor sites. These are not my ideas, I did not develop anything, and most of this is common knowledge to most of you. I am just here to link it all together, after all I am just a cop with a degree in aviation science so what do I know? I know enough to look at the science behind the training theories and what corresponds to specific muscle building hormones and anabolic states. First, lets look at testosterone boosting and training. We know through endless research that testosterone, the holy grail of muscle building hormones, is triggered through specific training. That training consists of heavy movements, specifically heavy partial squats. This is not a 1/4 squat but to parallel or just short with maximum poundage. Rep speed should be constant with an explosive acceleration. Forced reps are great to increase the intensity of the exercise as well. The workout also needs to be short, less than 45 minutes is best. Anything longer and testosterone levels will plummet rapidly! Testosterone boosting has long-lasting effects but the effects are compromised when too many workouts of this type are strung together too often. This is why the old 20 rep squat programs have short lasting results, but by manipulating this type of workout infrequently, say every six to eight days, you can maximize the effects. All high intensity training will increase your testosterone level to some degree, as long as the sessions are kept short. It will not be as potent as the testosterone boosting squat workout, but it will enable you to extend the effects of the workout as you focus on manipulating other hormones. If squats are out of the question then leg press or rack dead lifts can also fit the requirement. However, squats are the king of testosterone boosting workouts, and yes ladies this means you too! Negative only training has been shown to force the muscle to secrete insulin like growth factor 1 and fibroblast growth factor, two powerful autocrine/paracrine anabolic hormones. This type of training causes extreme soreness and muscle trauma and again needs to be done infrequently. Sets need to be limited to 2-5 Negative only sets of 6-10 reps. That is a 10-15 second Negative with a 3-5 second pause between the reps. Between all sets stretch, and if youre not familiar with Dantes stretch protocols then I would research it. There is a forum topic devoted to his idea on www.Ironmass.com. All other movements in this training session should be heavy with a maximum stretch at the bottom and peak contraction at the top. Hold the top and bottom positions for 2-4 seconds. Again this training needs to be infrequent with 24-30 days between negative only workouts for the same body parts. Another training fact is growth hormone manipulation training. If you combine a heavy compound exercise with an explosive positive, slow negative and a single-joint movement for the

23

same muscle a pronounced GH releasing effects occurs. This superset will boost GH secretion and increase GH receptors on the trained muscle. The second exercise needs to be lighter and you should go for the burn. Reduce the range of motion as the muscle fatigues to optimize the burn. A superset of bench press done heavy with a 5-6 second Negative for 6-10 reps combined with cable crossovers done for 15-25 controlled reps and 4-5 partials or burns at the end would be an ideal chest combination. Only the combination of more GH secretion (the compound exercise) and increasing the GH receptors on the muscle (quick burns) will induce muscle growth. Insulin depletion workouts followed by a high carb post training drink can maximize the insulin effect of muscle building. Insulin will shuttle carbs into one of two places, fat cells and muscle cells. By training to deplete glycogen in the muscle and bringing in as much blood as possible, then follow the session with a high GI carb drink you can better train the muscle to store carbs in the muscle and maximize the anabolic effects of insulin. Think about your carb depletion workouts pre-contest. They are designed to do just this, and then maximize the volume with carbs and shuttle the nutrients into the muscle cell. Why do we only do this precontest? Would it not be best to throw in a few of this type of workouts a week and harness the growth and recovery potential of insulin? Use a typical carb depletion workout of high rep, and short rest fast tempo workouts. Use non traumatic movements, cables and machines, and reduce the range to increase the pump and force more blood into the muscle. Follow the workout with a high-carb food or even better a high GI post workout shake. An hour or two after training take in another high carb meal. Muscle tension will rapidly increase the number of androgen receptors on the trained muscle and negate the effect of the cortisol receptors. By increasing muscle tension, and decreasing fiber trauma you can harness the power of the secreted testosterone, IGF 1 and GH in the muscle. The reduced fiber trauma will decrease cortisol production and receptors as the training induces fiber growth. This workout would be the opposite of the Negative only workouts. You want to accentuate the positive part of the movement and negate the negative effect. The Negative workout will maximize trauma, but this workout is designed to minimize it. Movements need to be done with a 4-6 second positive, and a 2-second pause at the top and bottom and a 1-2 second Negative. Train strictly and keep the muscle under tension for as long as possible, Use static holds at the end of each set to really increase the tension on the working set, and get a maximum contraction at the top of each rep. Use movements that have the greatest range of motion and peak contractions such as, leg extensions and hack squats for the quads. Avoid bouncing and too many sets, as long workouts this will burden recovery and release cortisol. Now that we discussed the ways various types of training affect the endocrine system, how we can use this to our advantage in the quest for more lean tissue. One way would be to use the system of linear periodization where you alternate several weeks of training into blocks that affect the various hormonal pathways. An example would be two to three weeks of testosterone boosting workouts followed by a week or two of GH training using supersets and perhaps some high reps. Still another way would be to use undulating periodization using different types of workouts interspaced through the weekly or monthly cycle. I hope to align what we have learned into a rotational training system that can maximize both fiber trauma and endocrine function using a combination of both methods. This would be a nonlinear undulating periodization program. Although difficult to follow, I think its the best at covering all the bases. Lets see how we would set up such a program for ourselves. First lets review the base elements. Heavy low rep training increases the production of testosterone and adds a base of power. Heavy training employs the first tenet of muscle growth,

24

progressive overload. By continually adding weight to your basic power exercises you become stronger and increase testosterone production. Rep speed also changes function by increasing release of hormones and increasing receptor affinity. Movements done with a slow negative followed by an isolation exercise for a high rep burn increases growth hormone and negative only reps increase IGF-I/FGF. Workouts done with a slow positive increase androgen receptors and lessen the effect of cortisol. High rep, superset type workouts followed by a high carb liquid meal, increases insulin affinity to the muscle cell as apposed to the fat cell. One rep pattern not covered, that is a critical part of this workout, is the high rep set. By high reps I mean 100. Yes that is 100 reps of an isolation exercise. This is done for two reasons, it forces more blood into the muscle and speeds the healing process and it forces the mitochondria to use fat as fuel. The type I muscle fiber contain a substance called lipoprotein lipase. The type II fibers, although capable of hypertrophy, do not. This means the type I fibers can be trained to burn fat as fuel even if they are not capable of the same hypertrophy as the type II. The best way to maximize this action is through high reps. By aiming for 100 reps you are sure to activate this process without becoming too bored, and the high rep set can be just as brutal as any other form of training if done properly. First the 100 rep set is limited to a recovering body part, and its best to use an isolation exercise like leg extensions as apposed to a compound exercise like a squat. Next pick a weight you can get around 30 reps with before you need to summon willpower to go on. Try to reach 50 reps before the burn is so great you need to pause, rest 10-15 seconds and crank out more reps and continue this pattern until you reach 100 reps. Once you can get more then 70 reps without a pause add 5% to the load. Lets now put it all together. I will not recommend specific exercises, number of sets or frequency of training. This program can be split into a number of different patterns and you must make you own adjustments based on training age, and other variables. This is my outline, that of a 41 year old male with 26 years of training. I will not cover number of sets specific to my workouts but I will normally perform between 4-10 sets per body part. Now here is how my program outline looks. I train two on one off and begin the cycle with my heavy low rep work. I split the body in half doing lower body day one and upper body day two. I pick one exercise per body part and after a warm-up go for 3-4 sets of 4-5 reps one set of 2 and a back off set of 20. I do forced reps or rest pauses as necessary to pump up the intensity. After a rest day I split the body into four workouts and again go 2-1-2-1. Now here is the tricky part, I use three different styles of training over the remaining split with the 100 rep sets thrown in. I will rotate the following three workouts: negative sets with slow negative/high rep supersets, tension workouts with slow positives, static holds and step bombs for high reps. I then pick up the rotation for the 4th workout. After a rest day its the two heavy days and back to the 2-1-2-1 split picking up where I left off. Confused? Here is how it looks on paper. Note: I have omitted the rest days but as stated above I work no more then 2 on 1 off. Day #1: Heavy quads, hams & calves Day #2: Heavy back, chest and delts (no direct arm work on heavy days) Day #3: Negative Quads and calves with 100-rep chest and triceps Day #4: Slow positive/tension hamstrings and delts work with 100-rep back and biceps

25

Day #5: Step bombs for Chest and triceps with 100 rep quad and calf Day #6: Back to the Negative workouts for Back and biceps with 100 rep ham and delts. I start back with the same split only day #3 becomes the slow positive/tension day, day #4 step bombs, day #5 negative and day #6 slow positives. The rotation will continue on the next cycle, just continue rotating the three workouts over the 4-day split Now for some specifics on the negative, slow positive and step bomb workouts. For the negative workouts, I start with a compound movement and do negative only reps. After several sets I will then do several supersets of a slow negative set with an isolation superset for high rep burns. For the negative only set; lower the weight in 10-12 seconds, rest 2-4 seconds and continue for 6-8 reps. For the superset; lower the weight in 4-6 seconds with a controlled positive. For the second exercise, pick an isolation movement and rep out until the burn becomes intolerable. On the second exercise, use partial reps and burn to really get the lactic acid levels high. Stretch well between sets to accentuate the GH effect. Here is an example of a back workout: 1: Negative only weighted chins 2: Superset barbell rows with slow negative and high rep pull down 3: Superset cable rows with slow negative and high rep pullovers 4: Superset rack chins slow negative and straight-arm pullovers. The tension/slow positive sets are the opposite of the negative work. The weight should be raised over 5-7 seconds, with a 2 second pause at the top and bottom of the movement. Keep the negative portion under control but limit the time it takes to lower the weight. Make sure you hold the bottom position for a two count. This will increase muscle tension by limiting momentum. You do not want to induce muscle trauma, but increase tension. Add a few static holds at various points of the movement for 10-20 seconds. Try to keep the time under tension (total time it takes to complete the set) at 65 seconds or more, so 8-10 reps are best. I like more machines for tension movements so I do not have to concentrate on balance. Here is a tension/slow positive chest workout: 1: Smith inclines 3X10 2: Cable fly 3X10 3: Hammer inclines 3X8 4: Cable crossover 3X8 Now, onto step bombs. This is my favorite workout, and if done properly you will have nothing left after the workout. Use a normal rep tempo of 2 up 2 down. After a warm up pick 3-5 exercises for a body part and start the first exercise with a weight that limits you to 8 reps. After getting as many reps as possible in positive fashion rack the weight and lower it by around 15% and go for another 8 reps. Continue this for 5 steps, this is one step bomb. Rest 45 seconds and go

26

on to the next exercise and do the same 5 step drops. Each set should consist of around 40 reps, all drops done to positive muscle failure with a weight allowing no more then 8 reps per drop. The short rest burns more glycogen in the muscle and if youre not flat on your back after the workout then there is something wrong with your intensity. Drink a high carb post workout drink right after your workout. Here is a quad step bomb workout:

1: Leg press: 1000 X 8, 950 X 8, 900 X 8, 800 X 8, 700 X 8 2: Leg extensions 180 X 8, 150 X 8, 120 X 8, 100 X 8, 80 X 8 3: Sissy squats 45 X 8, 35 X 8, 25 X 8, 10 X 8, body weight X 8 4: Hack squats 270 x 8, 230 X 8, 180 X 8, 140 X 8, 90 X 8 5: Squats 315 X 8, 275 X 8, 225 X 8, 185 X 8, 135 X 8 Do not forget to end the workouts with the 100 reps set for a recovering body part . This method of training can be complex and yes there are many variables to track, but after a few cycles you will get the hang of it. Variety is key here, your body will have difficulty adapting to the changing variables and the different anabolic techniques used. A far more simple method would be to include sets of all types in your training and not getting stuck on just one style of method of overload. I still feel this HMT is ideal for long term muscle gain with little stagnation, but there is still a recovery issue with training. How long should I wait before training the same muscle again? I address that with variable split training. WHAT IS VARIABLE SPLIT TRAINING? I am often asked questions about the science of bodybuilding, training and nutrition. Most common questions reflect around how many days per week someone should train, how many reps per set and what type of volume should the workout entail. People expect me to sort out the facts and provide a one size fits all solution to their training needs. In the area of training science there have been a great many breakthroughs over the last 50 years, and much contradictory information to go along with it. It seems science and the real world doesnt always get along. There is also the problem of media introduced training programs. These usually feature some steroid induced monstrosity that is posing all nicey-nicey with some weights featuring a workout he more then likely has never seen, until that issue comes out in print. This workout will be blindly followed by 1,000s until the next issue arrives and the program is changed in favor of the next Big innovation featuring another similar looking physique. I am not here to present such information, and I dont have any photos on hand of the current Mr. Unigalixympia. This information is based on science and real world results. The concepts are not my own, I have only researched and disseminated the work of others. I am also sure this information will be met with great enthusiasm, and soon after forgotten by most. Why? Because it will have to be individually tailored to meet your specific needs. Due to individual recovery patterns, you will have to develop a schematic to assist you with your schedule. Also, this is not a typical split where you

27

work each muscle the same days each week, it is ever changing and the volume is dependant on what is trained and when. I have learned through the dissemination of the Hormonal Manipulation Training (HMT) program that use of a program is not based on results for many, but convenience. This program, like HMT, is not easy to follow, but I assure you the results are far greater than the traditional methods. So if youre still interested, lets take a look at what Variable Split Training (VST) is all about. To understand VST you must first look at the term Split and how it is used in most traditional training methods. The term split refers to your normal training schedule, or how you train your body over the course of the traditional seven-day week. An example of the three-day, full body split would be training the whole body every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. On a four day split you may go upper body Monday and Thursday and lower body Tuesday and Friday. On a six day split you may train one muscle per day on the same day each of the six days of the week with one day off. This is a traditional split. Variable split means that program has no constraints, or no repeated pattern. On a traditional split each Monday may be devoted to back and biceps on a variable split this combination may only be repeated once every 10-12 workouts. Each workout on variable split is unique, chest and triceps one day, chest, deltoids and back another or chest as a solo workout on another. The hierarchy of the system is not day specific but based on independent muscle recovery with no regard to muscle groupings or a certain day of the week. This program is designed to prevent overtraining AND under training a muscle, and not to be a convenience to its user. In VST the recovery time for a muscle is assessed independent of other factors and the recovery time is used to plan the next training session. This moment in time is referred to as the Absolute Optimum time to for restimulation. The absolute optimum time does exist, and VST is the only way to take advantage of this time for every muscle group. The absolute optimum time is the point in time between the training stimulus (workout) and the return to the homeostatic state (pre-training norm). Each muscle has a point of overcompensation, where another bout of training stimuli (workout) should best be planned so youre at the top of the training ball curve. The training stimulus results in a fatigued muscle. For some time the muscles output is diminished. Your body will sense this damage and set out to repair the muscle. The effect in response to this damage is for the body to repair the muscle so its better then its original condition. This over repair, rebuilding the muscle stronger and bigger is overcompensation. The period of overcompensation will only last about 24-36 hours and then it will slowly return to its homeostatic state. This return to its previous state is called involution, and once back to the original state you have lost the opportunity to take advantage of the overcompensation point. If you hit the muscle at the overcompensation point the muscle will be able to handle a greater load and hence greater gains. If you train before this period you will overtrain and once you have returned to the homeostatic state your back at square one. This window of opportunity through VST is the only way to effectively take advantage of this window of opportunity for every muscle group. Modern training splits often result in some muscle groups being under trained and others overtrained. This is the shortcoming of most standard split programs. You end up training at the recovery time of your slowest recovering body part and not when the muscle is at its overcompensation period. If you look at the body as five major muscle groups, (chest, shoulders, back, legs and arms) that can leave up to four muscle groups under trained and one trained just right. On most modern splits legs are the slowest recovering body part closely followed by back. The currently popular one muscle per day/per week program takes this leg and back recovery into account and the rest of the program is based on leg and back recovery. On the normal five day split I often find that my legs are properly recovered but I am ready for chest in four days and

28

arms almost every other day. Why? Because larger muscles like legs and back reach deeper muscle fibers but also require more neurological recovery time before the fiber can optimally fire again. Smaller muscles like arms and shoulders recover far more quickly due to less deep fiber stimulation and shorter neuron twigs (neurons have twigs that run along the length of the muscle fiber and branch out through the muscle. Smaller muscles have shorter twigs and fewer neuron requiring shorter recovery periods and fewer sets to stimulate growth) Yes, a case can be made for the involvement of smaller muscle groups when training a larger muscle, for example the triceps involvement in chest work, but these secondary workouts provide only moderate stimuli for growth. Even after a hard back workout to total fatigue, the average trainee can do an arm workout well within the normal seven day programmed recovery threshold. So it youre training your legs just enough and your back almost enough then why are you training the rest of your body not enough? The VST program is designed to target the stimulus to the muscle during the period of overcompensation, but that point is an individual adaptation and also different for each muscle. The point of overcompensation is affected by age, training age (number of years training) loads placed on the muscle, diet, fast twitch fiber distribution, sheer muscle size and the intensity of the contractions. For simplicitys sake you can work from shear muscle size and realize a larger muscle requires more recovery than a smaller muscle. I recommend you begin with the recovery of legs and back and work around all other body parts from there. The legs and back can impede growth if trained too often by throwing the body into a catabolic state throughout the body and impede growth. Using a seven-day week I would begin by training the legs one day out of seven so legs would be trained once per week. For back I would start with five days between workouts as a minimum. Most trainees fail to properly stimulate the back when training; however, a properly executed back workout would take six days minimum recover for most. Chest, although smaller than the leg and back group, is densely packed and five days between would be a minimum. Shoulders are a smaller group, but over utilized in upper body training, again five days would seem proper for most. Biceps and triceps normally recover in three days and calves and forearms as little as two. Once you arrive at your recovery rates, you need to structure your program. I recommend using a calendar or making a spreadsheet and begin plotting your workouts. This will make the VST workable and you will not have to constantly ask yourself, What am I training today? I always recommend taking a week off every 8 to 12 weeks so arrange your training block from your first workout through the last workout before your next de-training period. The number of days you train is also a varied thing, but for my model I will go with five days per week. I prefer to train no more then three days in a row and then take a day off so my split is a 3 on 1 off, 2 on 1 off. I then start the first three workouts using a common three day split; chest, shoulders and triceps day one, back biceps day two and legs day three. I then take each muscle independently and using the recovery calculations I place each training session on the calendar, one muscle group at a time, until all groups are in place and the period is complete. For example on legs, I simply count six days and place my leg workout on that day. Next is back and I count five days and place my back workout on that day, and so on. This may seem simple, but I have to first X out my off days and make sure I have no more then three body parts per day and that there are no incompatible relationships. For example, doing heavy legs and back the same day would not be good so I will adjust my schedule by one day (24 hours) to accommodate for that. With this program you must also consider the details such as exercise selection, intensity and the volume of each workout. You dont just take a three sets of ten approach. Its more complex then that. There will also be days where you train only one muscle and days where youre doing up to

29

three. On a day when you only one muscle, say chest, you can use far greater intensity and volume then on a day when you have chest, back and triceps. On a day when I hit a solo muscle I know I can really kill it so I may add an extra day for recovery. This actually allows the cycle to be groomed better and there is less contrast and multiple muscle group days. Once my calendar is set all I have to do I look each day to see what my workout will be. The lack of repetition is actually enjoyable and I find far more enthusiasm towards my training on this program. One-month example of VST schedule Sunday Monday Tuesday Rest Chest Back Shoulders Biceps Triceps Rest Back Legs Triceps Rest Legs Shoulders Triceps Chest Biceps

Wednesday Legs

Thursday Rest

Friday Shoulders Triceps Chest Triceps Back

Saturday Chest Biceps Back Biceps Triceps Biceps Legs

Shoulders Biceps Chest Biceps Back Triceps

Rest

Rest

Rest

Shoulders

Rest

Shoulders Biceps

This is an oversimplified version of VST, and the schedule incorporates my specific recovery patterns for overcompensation, but it should be able to provide you with a format to begin construction of your own VST program. Once again I would like to point out that this research is not my own and has been inspired by the work of Dr. Fred Hatfield, Charles Poloquin, Sean Phillips and others. This method has been around for quite a long time, and I first read of this approach back in the early 80s. The only reason this method is not more widely accepted is due to the complexities of setting up your training colander. Most trainees prefer to spend far more time on exercise and weight selection then muscle groupings on a recovery based program. Humans gravitate to what is comfortable and the standard 2 on 1 off, 2 on 2 off split is comfortable. You know exactly what youre training each day through the entire program. There is far less confusion, but there is also a greatly diminished training effect. Simply planning out months in advance on a calendar takes much of the confusion out of the VST program. It also allows for far greater variety in your workouts and puts the fun back into the workout because each workout is different. EFFECT OF THE REPETITION ON MUSCLE FIBER SIZE Now that we have our schedule down lets discuss rep, set selection and workout volume. How many reps per set is a highly debated topic. In general most will tell you that the 3-6 range will develop strength and some hypertrophy, 7-12 range to develop hypertrophy and 15+ to develop endurance. Before I can recommend my preferred rep range I want to review the muscle cell. A muscle cell is comprised of many different components, each requiring a different form of stress for it to adapt. Each component of the cell makes up the overall size of the cell itself, and ultimately the size of the muscle. Muscle cells are made up of myofibrils, mitochondria, sarcoplasm, capillaries, fat deposits, glycogen, connective tissue and other sub cellular substances. The membrane surrounding the cell is the sarcolemma. Just beneath the sarcolemma are the cells nuclei. The fluid inside the cell contains the myofibrils and is the cells contractile elements. The fluid is called the sarcoplasm, and is actually a gelatinous protein substance. Tiny

30

organelles called mitochondria are found between the myofibrils and are responsible for oxidative metabolism and production of adenosine triphosphate or ATP. Each part makes up an approximate percentage of the cells total size and each has a different method of overload. For example the myofibrils make up 20-30% of a cells size and are overloaded in the 6-12 rep range. The mitochondria make up 15-25% of a cells size and the method of overload is in the 15-25-rep range. The sarcoplasm makes up 20-30% and is worked in the 7-10 rep range and with exocentric training. Fat deposits, glycogen and other subcellular substances are mostly affected by nutrition and rest factors. The muscle cell is a very complex entity and no single method of training can force an adaptive process to occur in all aspects of the cell. All of the cells components take up space and therefore contribute to overall muscle size. Each component responds to a different form of stress by adapting to that stress. Once adaptation has occurred, a greater amount of stress must be delivered at the right time for greater development. To maximize cell size a wide variety of stressors must be applied to the cell, allowing a greater number of the cells components to be developed. High reps, low reps, fast movements, forced reps, cheat movements, iso-tension and everything in between should be preformed to make the muscle grow. And finally the overcompensation period must be determined for each muscle group to both recover and hypertrophy. As you can see limiting yourself to one type of rep pattern will not allow for maximum hypertrophy. Now for putting it all together, we need a variety of rep patterns for maximum hypertrophy. High reps are often overlooked by bodybuilders, but the high rep sets will increase mitochondrial mass and can account for up to 20-30% of the gross size of a muscle. Performing high reps with continuous tension will force a greater number of capillaries to form enabling the vascular bed surrounding each cell to become more prolific, thereby contributing to greater size. The fluid portion of the cell, the sarcoplasm, will also increase and will contribute as much as 2530% of the cells total size. The lower rep work will increase the number of myofibril elements in a cell and that accounts for 20-30% of the cells size. Fast, explosive movements tend to affect the fast-twitch (low-oxidative) fibers more than the red slow-twitch (high-oxidative) fibers. The slow-twitch fibers respond more to the higher reps with a lighter load and slower movement. So at a minimum each workout should incorporate sets of 4-6 explosive reps done with a normal cadence. Sets of 12-15 reps should be done at a moderate speed with holding the contracted and extended portion of the rep, while sets of 20-25 should be done with a slow continuous tension with no rest or pause through the set.

REPETITION SELECTION AND HORMONAL RESPONSE Lets look at the relationship between testosterone boosting and rep selection. Endless research has shown that testosterone, the holly grail of muscle building hormones, it triggered through specific training. That training consists of heavy movements; specifically heavy explosive compound movements done at 85% of one rep maximum for sets of 4-6 reps. The rep speed should be constant with an explosive acceleration. Forced reps are great to increase the intensity of the exercise as well. Testosterone boosting has long-lasting effects and the effects are compromised when too many sets of this type are done too frequently or the volume is too great. By manipulating this rep pattern infrequently, say two to four sets of squats, deadlifts and push press per week you can maximize the effects. All high intensity training will increase your testosterone level to some degree, as long as the sessions are kept short. It will not be as potent as s testosterone boosting squat workout, but it will enable you to extend the effects of the workout as you focus on manipulating other hormones. If squats and deadlifts are out of the question then

31

leg press or rack dead lifts can also fit the requirement, but squats and deadlifts are the king of testosterone boosting workouts, and yes ladies this means you too! Negative only training has been shown to force the muscle to secrete insulin like growth factor 1 and fibroblast growth factor, two powerful autocrine/paracrine anabolic hormones. This type of training causes extreme soreness and muscle trauma and again needs to be done infrequently. Sets need to be limited to 2-5 Negative only sets of 6-10 reps. That is a 10-15 second Negative with a 3-5 second pause between the reps. Between all sets stretch, and if youre not familiar with Dantes stretch protocols then I would research it. Movements using this type of training session should be heavy with a maximum stretch at the bottom and peak contraction at the top. Hold the top and bottom positions for 2-4 seconds. Again this training needs to be infrequent with 14-21 days between Negative only sets for the same body parts.

Another successful method is training to manipulation growth hormone. If you combine a heavy compound exercise with an explosive positive and slow Negative with a single-joint movement for the same muscle a pronounced GH releasing effects occurs. This superset will boost GH secretion and increase GH receptors on the trained muscle. The second exercise needs to be lighter and you should go for the burn. Reduce the range of motion as the muscle fatigues to optimize the burn. A superset of bench press done heavy with a 5-6 second Negative for 6-10 reps combined with cable crossovers done for 15-25 controlled reps and 4-5 partials or burns at the end would be an ideal chest combination. Only the combination of more GH secretion (the compound exercise) and increasing the GH receptors on the muscle (quick burns) will induce muscle growth. High rep work added to your workout then followed by a carb/protein drink post training can maximize the insulin effect of muscle building. Insulin will shuttle carbs into one of two places, fat cells and muscle cells. When training depletes glycogen in the muscle and brings in as much blood as possible, i.e. High rep work, then follow the session with a high GI carb drink you can better train the muscle to store carbs in the muscle and maximize the anabolic effects of insulin. Think about your carb depletion workouts pre contest. They are designed to do just this, and then maximize the volume with carbs and shuttle the nutrients into the muscle cell. Why do we only do this precontest? Would it not be best to throw in a few sets of this type each workout and harness the growth and recovery potential of insulin? Use a typical carb depletion workout set of high reps 15-25, and short rest fast tempo sets. Use non-traumatic movements, cables and machines, and reduce the range to increase the pump and force more blood into the muscle. Follow the workout with a high-GI carb simple protein post workout shake. An hour or two after training take in another high carb moderate protein meal. Muscle tension will rapidly increase the number of androgen receptors on the trained muscle and negate the effect cortisol receptors. By increasing muscle tension, and decreasing fiber trauma you can harness the power of the secreted testosterone, IGF 1 and GH in the muscle. The reduced fiber trauma will decrease cortisol production and receptors as the training induces fiber growth. This type of set would be the opposite of the Negative sets. You want to accentuate the positive part of the movement and negate the negative effect. The Negative workout will maximize trauma, but this workout is designed to minimize it. Movements need to be done with a 4-6 second positive, and a 2-second pause at the top and bottom and a 1-2 second Negative. Train strictly and keep the muscle under tension for as long as possible. Use static holds at the end of each set, this will really increase the tension on the working set, and get a maximum contraction at the top of each rep. Use movements that have the greatest range of motion and peak contractions such as leg extension and hack squats for the quads. Avoid bouncing and too many

32

sets as long workouts this will burden recovery and release cortisol. I would suggest 2-4 sets of tension work be done every few workouts, but not the same day as negative only sets.

Total volume of the workout, will vary based on many factors (number of muscle groups trained, the size of the muscle group, training age, muscle size, overload selection and nutrition factors). I would prefer to see greater intensity applied to a workout and less volume. Far more trainees are guilty of using too much volume rather then too little. When planning my training volume I prefer to look at the total training time and go from there. I feel those of an advanced training age (10+ years) should be in the gym no more then 45 min. Moderate training age (5+ years) up to one hour and novice (1+) up to one hour and fifteen min. Plan the volume according to those guidelines and you should avoid the overtraining bug. On days where I train only one muscle group, say back, I will plan my negative sets to go along with a few low rep testosterone boosting sets, some moderate speed work in the 10-12 ranges and my high rep work. After an increased volume workout of this type its usually best to add another 24-hour recovery period before the next workout for that same bodypart. On a three muscle group day, chest, shoulders and triceps, select only a few exercised for 2-3 sets each with one exercise in the 4-6 rep range, one in the 10-15 reps range and one in the 20-15 rep range. This allows maximum saturation and lower volume for that workout. Again this type of training takes some thought before each workout, but is far more effective and enjoyable then following the exact same leg workout for 12 weeks at a time.

EXERCISE SELECTION, THE FINAL PIECE OF THE PUZZLE One of the most pervasive views among bodybuilders is that different exercises for a specific muscle group will target fibers at different points along the muscle belly. This is not tenable due to noncontiguous innervation. As stated previously, nerves entering the muscle will branch out into twigs. Each twig transports the electrochemical charge that causes each cell to contract. Not only do all of the cells serviced by the single neuron contract upon stimulation but they do so at the same level of strength and all along the muscle belly. It is impossible to isolate a small quadrant of a muscle, the fibers will either fire or not. Does this mean all we have to do is perform the basic movements and no supplemental exercises? Yes and no. Where only a basic movement will benefit overall hypertrophy there is still a crossover effect of various movements to the surrounding synergistic stabilizers muscles. Most major muscle groups are also divided into sub groups. The chest for example, is made up of the sternal pectorals (lower chest) and the clavicular pectorals (upper chest). The upper portion of the chest has nerves stimulating it that are not involved in the contraction of the lower portion. There is no question that each can be stimulated separately, and should be for maximum development. However, there is no way to stimulate the inner chest or outer chest separately. It may feel that way when doing a set of wide grip dips or dumbbell bench press, but both are stimulating the neurons along the lower chest more then the upper chest.

33

The next factor in exercise selection is the compound movement over isolation movements. The incline bench press will more directly stimulate the upper pecks, but the deltoids, triceps and many other muscles are also involved in the contraction. With cable crossovers you eliminate more of the stabilizer muscles and in effect provide more direct stimulation to the chest region. With higher rep training some of the smaller muscle groups will give out long before the target group receives sufficient overload. Cable crossover would be a much better choice for 20 reps then the bench press. Once again variety is key and exercise selection must also meet the various requirements for cell hypertrophy. At a minimum three exercises would be selected, a core or compound movement for the lower rep explosive sets, another for the medium rep sets of 12-15 and an isolation exercise for the high reps sets. A good example of a triceps workout would look like this: Close grip bench press: 2 sets of 4-6 reps done with an explosive cadence Seated triceps extension: 2 sets of 12-15 reps at a 3-1-3-1 tempo (3 seconds to raise the weight, hold the contraction for 1 second, 3 to lower and 1 second stretch at the bottom) Cable triceps kickback: 2 sets of 20-25 reps done in continuous tension

Once again this only touches on the basics of the VST program. There are many more factors involved and this process must be individualized to each trainee. I have only provided the basics and uncovered a new approach to program design. I do not expect this method to become popular for most. It is quite involved and most trainees do not want to carry a schematic around in the gym every day. But for those of you who are looking for a new approach that will definitely improve your recovery and increase results give VST a test run. After the first eight-week cycle the program actually becomes easy to follow, simply repeat the previous eight-week structure, or make slight changes to the workouts but use the same monthly template. If youre tired of the modern splits, and feel like something new then this is as far away from the norm as you can get. TRADITIONAL TRAINING SPLITS I am in no way against any traditional training split. I have used, and will continue to use modern training splits with my clients. If the above programs are better then why would I use a normal 2 on 1 off 2 on 1 off? Because they are still productive and there are less variables making them easy to follow and easy to track. I prefer to keep to programs that maximize recovery and allow for two or more complete days off from training, but there are exceptions to that as well. In general, the number of days training each week depend on a number of things, training experience, and level of fitness, goals and lifestyle influences. Beginners can actually train more frequently and with higher volume then an advanced trainer. This may seem odd at first, so let me explain. Advanced trainers use larger loads, higher intensity levels and have better nerve pathways. This means they actually do more, efficient work in less time and therefore need more time to recover. As you progress from beginner to intermediate you should train each body part less

34

frequently, but with more intensity. Beginners, after learning proper technique, can train each muscle up to three times per week. A good split would be the three day full body program. Interestingly, this program is also effective for an advanced trainer, as long as the intensity is cycled through the week. A good beginners program should focus on proper form, learning the mind muscle connection and feeling the weights. Strength gains and basic core exercises should form the foundation of the beginner program. Exercises per body part should be limited until the form is correct, and as a rule of thumb, 1 exercise for biceps, triceps, deltoids and calves and 2 for the other muscles. For intermediates, a four-day split working each muscle once or twice weekly is effective. Exercise variations should be added, intensity increased and rep speed altered. Some movements should be done with a controlled negative and others in an explosive fashion. Some sets can be taken to momentary muscle failure, but advanced intensity techniques should be avoided. Again, strength and weight progression should be stressed as overload at this level will create more hypertrophy or growth. In the advanced stage, you will require more variety of exercises to create different recruitment patterns. Use of basic core exercises is still essential, but training just to increase loads will not be as productive. You can only gain strength for a finite period, at some point you will just not be able to add weight to the bar. This does not mean your progress will halt, but now is the time to look at other aspects of intensity and add intensity multipliers to training. Shorter rest periods, supersets, giant sets and forced reps will all increase intensity without creating the need for a greater load. Be aware, the more intensity you generate the more time you need to recover, and you will also need less volume. Advanced trainers can also vary intensity, volume and frequency. The point is the longer you train the more variety you need. For someone with a training age of 25 years, such as myself, the workout needs to be changed every 14 days. Perhaps not the entire program, but some aspects will have to be altered. An advanced trainer should alter their workout every 21-28 days. Here are some excellent techniques for the advanced trainer. Keep in mind they should be cycled and recovery needs to be monitored. I recommend that all advanced trainers chart their morning temperature and heart rate in their training logs. If body temp begins to drop and heart rate increases when you take your readings (as soon as you wake up, before you get out of bed) then youre overtraining and will need to cycle back. Rest Pause- take a weight that reflects 95% of your one rep maximum and do one rep. Rack the weight and rest for 10 seconds, pick the weight back up and do another rep. Continue in until you reach total muscle failure. You should be able to get 5-7 reps at 95% of your one rep max. Drop sets- there are many ways to drop set. Going up or down the rack or stack with a short rest between maximum efforts is the most common. Step bombs are a form of strip sets. Forced reps- Common practice to have your partner assist with 1-2 reps after reaching failure. You need a partner you trust, and one who is strong enough to take the load if you

35

hit total failure. I once had someone spot me on incline press with 315 lbs. and when I hit total failure he could not stop the bar from crushing my chest. Supersets- Again many forms of supersetting exist. You can pair exercises for antagonistic body parts, biceps and triceps for example. Anther is doing an isolation exercise followed by a compound exercise for the same muscle. This is known as preexhaustion and an example would be cable crossovers followed by bench press. Still another is double impact supersets. This is an isolation exercise followed by a compound movement and then on to another isolation exercise. An example for legs would be leg extension, followed by squats followed by sissy squats. 1 reps- Do a full rep and then either do a rep at the contracted or extended position. On a curl for example you would raise the weight, bring it of the way down, all the way up and then all the way down. This is one rep. Burns- This is my favorite. It involves doing partial reps at the greatest force point of the movement after you can do no more full reps. The guys at Ironman Magazine now call this X-rep training, but I assure you its been around for decades. Cheating- Simply using momentum to do more reps after you have exhausted the capacity to do any more reps without using momentum. This is my least favorite of all techniques due to its abuse leading to injuries. There are more methods out there, and you can come up with variables of these to create your own intensity factors, as always, monitor your recovery! Another misconception is increasing training volume and intensity during periods of limited calories, such as the contest diet phase. It is not logical to expect the body to recover better when youre reducing nutrients by up to 30%, and increasing activity and cardio by up to 300%! If youre making gains on 3,000 calories and training four times per week for 60 min with two 20 min cardio sessions, how can you expect to not lose muscle on 1,500 calories, training 6 times per week twice a day and doing 60 min cardio per day? It just does not work. Yes, there are periods of overtraining pre contest, but they need to be moderated and programmed in at key times. Most are actually better lowering volume per contest along with increasing cardio and decreasing calories and carbs. Keep the weight training the same, or reduce it. Do not increase the volume!

CONSIDERATIONS FOR FEMALES

One thing is certain in weight training; men have no fear of lifting big weights or doing barbell movements. They constantly strive to add more muscle and avoid aerobics classes, say protein and circuit training like the plague. On the other hand I see more and more women in the gym, but using light weights, machines and way too much cardio. I also see there male counterparts making excellent gains in muscle density and fat loss, but those same poor women look the same year after year. Why? Because they have been conditioned to believe big weights and barbells will make them look like she-males. They think that high reps and tons of cardio will

36

tighten and sculpt. If you try to convince them they should get off the treadmill and squat youre met with a barrage of arguments, all courtesy of one of the many popular female fitness magazines. But what they dont see is there bodies have not changed ever! What could they be doing wrong? There is no reason women should train any differently then men with a few minor exceptions. First, women do not have the same fiber recruitment pattern as men so they should do more reps per set. How many more? Only 1-2!! So if a male is doing one of my programs that call for 4 rep sets a woman should be doing 5-6. The actual best rep range for women is the 6 to 12 rep range. This type of training will build more muscle and increase fat loss. The only other consideration is that some women may need an extra set or two because of that same neuromuscular recruitment issue. Men have more nerves in there muscles allowing for better contractions and faster saturation under high loads. Women have slightly fewer nerves so an extra set or 1-2 more reps is all that is needed. Now lets dispel the notion that heavy weights will make women look like men. Muscle size is controlled by lots of differences in the sexes, fiber make up, insertion points, bone structures, fiber numbers and concentrations and endocrine issues. Men have much more testosterone and other anabolic hormones in there blood. All these add up to the body differences between men and women. It is not possible for a woman to have the same size gains as men, and for there physiques to look male like. Yes, a woman will add more muscle with proper training causing a better metabolic profile and a more toned look. Remember muscle is metabolically active and fat is not. If you just diet and do cardio you will lose an equal amount of fat and muscle. If you do proper weight training you will save muscle and even add some. Now lets look at two different women. One does only cardio, and cuts calories drastically. She loses 10 pounds in a month, half from fat the other half from muscle. Number two does heaver weight training, smart cardio and loses 4 pounds, but she also gained 3 pounds of muscle. In reality the second person lost more fat and changed her body fat % more then the girl who lost 10 pounds. If both women started at 20% body fat, female number one gained body fat and number two lost body fat and has more metabolically active muscle on her frame so she can actually eat more calories and lose weight!

The point for women is that adding muscle is the best way to control fat. Dieting and cardio alone will produce the loss of muscle and fat. Weights will allow women to hold muscle, and even add more muscle providing a toned appearance that most women strive for. The second take home point is that aside from an extra rep or two and in scome cases an extra set, there is no difference in how a woman and a man should train. This does not take into account exercise selection. Yes, there are different considerations for exercise selection, but that is a different issue.

37

MAKING MUSCLE, THE SHORT VERSION We know that muscles grow as a byproduct of lifting weights, but how do we optimize this process and prevent ourselves from wasting endless hours in the gym for little gain. There are several factors that determine muscle growth. One is based directly on the stimulus placed on the muscle, or the load/weight. Another is the intramuscular tension placed on the muscle during the exercise. The third most important factor is the duration of the tension or time under tension (TUT) Weight training causes damage to the muscle fibers, known as micro trauma. The more damage you inflict the greater the bodies response to that damage. The goal is that the damage does not exceed the bodys ability to recover fully. The proper response to training is making the muscle tissue stronger and bigger. The greater the load, intramuscular tension and TUT are the more damage you inflict. So training is recovery dependant so how do we get the most out of these variables? Force = Mass x Acceleration This is the basic force equation found in almost every text book, but how do we properly apply force? Force can be increased by either lifting a heavy weight or by lifting a weight in an explosive manor. It would seem the best way to go would be to increase the amount of weight lifter; however, that will reduce another part of the equation, time under tension. On the opposite end of the force equation is lifting a lighter load for more repetitions. This limits micro trauma because the load is insufficient to cause much trauma. So using a weight greater then 90% of your one rep max will not allow proper TUT and conversely using a load that allows more then 15 reps has too small a load to generate enough force to cause micro trauma. The solution is to use a load large enough to cause muscle damage, but low enough to allow 30-60 TUT. % of maximum load 85-100% 80-85% 70-80% 50-70% -50% Number of repetitions 1-5 6-8 9-12 15-30 +30 Rate of damage high high moderate low Very low Force output Very high high high low Very low Total micro trauma low high high low Very low

TUT 5-20 sec. 20-40 sec. 40-60 sec. 70-120 sec. +120 sec.

From the table above you can see the widely accepted range of 6-12 reps per set with a load of 70-85% stimulates the maximum muscle growth. It is important to note that training in the other zones is not useless and has a place in a well planned training program. It just shows that we are best served from a hypertrophy standpoint by staying in the established hypertrophy zone. As the number of years spent in hard training (training age) increases the better your body becomes at adapting to the stress. I often use the simple analogy of a hard laborer (e.g. roofing) I was once employed as a roofer. It was a long and demanding job, 8-12 hours of bringing bails of shingles up and down a ladder. Each day the first week on the job I was totally spent! However, another laborer at the site had been working with my boss for years. He could go

38

up and down that ladder all day, and still make it to the gym for a heavy squat workout. It had not always been so; it took him years to adapt to the stress of that work load. The same holds true for strength training. Thus the greater the training age, the better the body is at handling that stress. In other words the more experienced the trainee is the higher the level the training stress should be to elicit progress. There is also a correlation between rep ranges and training age. Beginners need a greater TUT with a lighter load due to a less efficient neuromuscular system. Advanced trainers can get in the groove faster and respond to greater loads with less reps. I consider training age as beginner; less then three years, intermediate; 3-5 years and advanced; greater then 5 years. This is heavy and consistent training with not long term breaks. The table below shows optimum training intensity based on the training age of the subject. Experience level Beginner Intermediate Advance Load 65-75% 75-80% 80-90% Number of repetitions 10-12 reps 7-9 reps 3-7 reps Number of sets 2-4 sets 3-5 sets 4-6 sets

Different types of training also create different hormonal responses. Modulating hormonal responses to training may, in the long run, lead to additional muscle gain. I am not suggesting in any way that hormonal response to training will have the same effect as using exogenous hormone use, but it may elicit a small effect that over time will create an improved physique. What are some of the hormonal responses, and how do we activate them? Research has shown that using compound movements that involve more then one joint (squats, deadlifts, etc.) with a significant load (80-90%) cause a greater testosterone response. Using a greater TUT (3060 seconds) with minimal rest and creating a burn in the working muscle significantly increases lactic acid thus leading to a great hGH production. Myogenic tone can be increased by lifting both heavy and explosive and IGF-1 secretions increase when a weight is lowered with a slow controlled negative. So the best program would involve some heavy sets of compound movements done in an explosive exocentric with a slower, controlled negative. You would also want to include some sets that have a high TUT to get the lactic acid response, but is there more we can do? Yes, use insulin to our advantage. Insulin is the most anabolic hormone in the body, even more so then testosterone. By taking in a post workout meal of carbs and protein we can use insulin as an anabolic trigger. I will not dive into the debate surround the exact composition of the post training meal, or weather is needs to be a simple sugar solution combined with amino acids or protein. What the research does tell us without question is that the combination of carbs and protein post workout is a potent growth trigger. The final two steps to the perfect workout program are the ingestion of BCAAs during the workout to minimize cortisol and extreme stretching to up regulate the IGF-1 receptors. Cortisol is a catabolic hormone released from stress, and weight training is an extreme stress. By ingesting BCAAs (5-10 grams) during your workout you can lower the production of cortisol. Other supplements have also been shown to help lower cortisol such as phosphatildylserine ingestion before a workout, but I find use of BCAAs to be the best way to control cortisol levels and BCAAs also have an anabolic effect.

39

I have also read quite a bit on the topic of extreme stretching and its effect on the IGF-1 receptors, making them more responsive to unbound IGF-1. The greater the receptor affinity the greater the response to training induced IGF-1 secretions. I first read of extreme stretching (stretching against a load or some type of resistance) from an article by John Parillo. John was a pioneer in the training field and developed many new concepts in the early 80s. He worked with many top bodybuilders and all used his version of extreme stretching. John said that stretching a fully pumped muscle against a load for 30-60 seconds would stretch the fascial, the envelope surrounding the muscle. If it is too tight it can limit muscle growth. Dante Trudel (aka. Doggcrapp) is a modern day advocate of extreme stretching. Dante had a guide on line of exercises he recommends but I find that any exercise that fully stretched the working muscle is fine. The bottom position of a fly movement for chest, the lean back position of a sissy squat for the quads or the bottom part of the pullover movements for back are all good choices. Just add 30-90 seconds of a stretch position exercise to the workout.

So what do we have? Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5 Heavy compound movement to boost testosterone BCAAs taken through the workout to fight cortisol TUT exercise to increase lactic acid and GH Extreme stretching for 30-90 seconds to up regulate IGF-1 receptors. Post workout carbs and protein to boost insulin and start recovery

Now lets put it all together and design an example workout for our quads. We know we want to start with a heavy compound movement with a significant load. Our training age in this example will be advance, a male bodybuilder with 12 years training experience. Therefore our first movement would be full squats done with a 3-4 second negative and explosive positive repetition for 4 sets of 4-6 reps. After the heavy set is over we need to really push and get a strong lactic acid response to get the GH levels up. A good way to do this is supersets. Supersets increase TUT and allow the use of both compound and isolation movements. The two most common methods are to use the isolation movement to prefatigue the muscle followed by the compound movement or do the compound movement first with a greater load. In any case TUT needs to increase so either slow the reps down or increase there number. GH release has also been linked to multiple contraction sets and the use of burns or short and movements at the end of the set. Our lifter in this example ahs decided to go with the compound-isolation superset with burns on the isolation movement. His chosen movements are hack squats and leg extension. Both will be done for 8-12 reps with 3-5 burns on the leg extensions and 3 supersets of each. Next we want a beyond failure exercise to push IGF-1 production to the max. Any failure technique can be effective, drop sets, negatives, forced reps, rest pause training or step bombs. The point is to go to total failure, and then continue the set beyond that point. Our chosen exercise will be the leg press. It is best to pick a movement that is more forgiving at total failure so this is where machines have a place in our training. We also want a large mover and multi joint exercise so avoid the cables and go with Hammer Strength or Smyth machines. The leg press also makes it

40

difficult to do forced reps, drop sets and negatives without getting crushed or having to find willing spotters to remove plates so our lifter is going with the classic rest pause set. The rep goal is 15 reps with our 8 rep max so the steps would be 8 reps, 10 second break, 4-5 reps, 10 second break and so on until all 15 reps are completed. The final exercise will be the loaded stretch. In this case youre limited by safety concerns and exercise selection. The only way to fully stretch the quads under a load is either the bottom position of a hack squat with the hips thrust foreword or the bottom of a sissy squat using a Smyth machine or holding a plate. Our bodybuilder decided to go with the sissy squat and to hold the bottom stretch for a minimum of 60 seconds or until the pain is unbearable. Now its time for the post workout nutrition. Because our example is a cutting edge bodybuilder he has decided to go with a glucose polymer and whey protein drink consisting of 50-100 grams of maltodextrin and 25-50 grams of whey. Yes, he could have waited to go home and had a meal of rice and egg whites, but maltodextrin and whey are the fastest acting foods and cause the most favorable insulin spike. Now it is worth mentioning that for extreme endomorphs a solution of 10-15 grams BCAAs, 5 grams glutamine, 5 grams taurine and 5 grams of creatine has been shown to create a favorable insulin profile and not risk any fat gain. I use this exact mix when training for a show.

So here is our Making Muscle quad workout: Exercise A. Squat B1. Hack Sqt B2. Leg ext. C. Leg press D. Sissy sqt. BCAAs Post workout drink Load 80-90% 80% 70% 80% none Sets 4 3 3 3 1 reps 4-6 8-10 10-12 15 60 sec. Technique notes 4 second negative, explosive + Super set Superset with 3-5 burns Rest paused with 8 rep max Extreme stretching technique 10 grams taken through the workout 50-100 grams malto with 25-50 grams whey taken immediately post workout.

So there is out simplified training model taking all the variables into consideration. As you can see there is unlimited variation with this system and once you write your first program you will see the simplicity and just how easy and effective it is. I agree that almost all programs work, and all at some point will stop working, even this one. What I do find is that this is the perfect bridge between other programs and I cycle back top this system several times through the year. It is more or less my basic program from which I transition in and out of for 4-6 week blocks 3-4 times through the training year.

41

Smart training will bring about smart results!

42

CHAPTER 4: A word on overtraining

OVERTRAINING AND SCHEDULED LAYOFFS There is a fine line between just the right amount of training and too much. All weight training causes stress on the body, and that stress is the stimulus for muscle growth. How the body adapts to that stress will either create a larger stronger muscle the pre-stress condition or it will trigger a stress so great the body will have difficulty adapting to it. Bodybuilders and athletes everywhere have pushed too hard and sent themselves into the overtraining spiral. Most often when they reach a platoe the natural response is to push harder, train more and take less time off. More often then not this desire to excel will cause you to succumb to the effect of overtraining. Adaptive stress can quickly become destructive stress and all your hard work will suffer. Eastern European countries in their effort to excel in the World of Athletic endeavors did much of the early research on the phenomenon of overtraining. The Eastern European scientists defined the condition as a dip in training effect caused by an imbalance between the amount of stress applied to the body (or mind), and the individuals ability to adapt to it. Western Researchers have more clearly defined the effects of weight training and overtraining, they have noted four basic types of overtraining, attitudinal, muscular, neurological and endocrine. Attitudinal overtraining is the social, emotional or psychological factors associated with the individuals loss of desire to train. These can be caused by personal problems, financial problems, work stress or anything that has an impact upon your mental attitude. Mental burnout can cause lethargy, loss of attention, skipping workouts or sloppy workouts. Attitudinal overtraining is actually not as easy to diagnose because the trainee usually feels guilty about his lack of training desire and pushes himself to the gym even when the workouts are less then productive. Once diagnosed the trainee may resist any attempt to correct the cause, relationship problems for example, or feel that it has no effect on the training program, and continues to train. This can lead to other types of overtraining that are more critical and create long-term problems or injury. When faced with burnout the best remedy is to take a few days off and concentrate on relieving the outside stressor. This will refresh the desire to return to the gym. Muscular overtraining is caused by the bodies inability to fully recover from the previous stress or loads placed on the muscle. When the muscle fiber is not sufficiently recovered, there is usually a corresponding loss of strength and flexibility. Muscular overtraining is usually the most easily identified; because it is accompanied by lethargy, muscle soreness (delayed onset muscle soreness or D.O.M.S.) and a general feeling of unpreparidness towards the workout. I find, most trainees can easily identify muscular overtraining and take the proper remedy of an extra day or two off before attacking that bodypart again. Eastern Europeans have distinguished two different types of overtraining, Addisonic overtraining and Basedowic overtraining. Addisonic was so named because many of the symptoms resemble Addisons disease, a nervous disorder brought on by stress. Some symptoms include: overtired feeling, loss of appetite, low resting pulse rate, hypotension (low blood pressure) with a corresponding increase in diastolic blood pressure immediately after stress (+100mm GH). These changes result in the inability to sleep, change in metabolic rate or body temperature and this makes it difficult to diagnose. Only complete recovery between workouts, proper training volume and periodic layoffs can prevent this type of overtraining. Basedowic

43

overtraining is so named because those symptoms resemble Basedows disease, another neurological disorder far more sever then Addisons disease. Symptoms include lethargy, increased sleep requirements, reduced appetite, and weight loss, increased resting pulse rate, headaches, and slight increases in body temp, and increased blood pressure, reduced reaction times and a reduction in mental acuity. This is an easy condition to diagnose, but difficult to fully recover from. This is the type of overtraining commonly seen in Army Ranger School graduates. I took part in a study after I attended the Army Ranger School in 1988 that gauged the recovery of the graduates by taking full readings both before and after the grueling school. It was found that complete recovery took as long as one full year! Imagine the implications this could have on a competitive lifter? It is not uncommon to see advanced competitors push themselves to a point where no further progress is seen for years after being diagnosed with Basedowic overtraining. Only long periods of detraining and proper nutrition will counteract the neurological effects of this type of overtraining. Endocrinal overtraining occurs when one or more of the hormonal cascade pathways becomes disrupted and causes a diminished hormonal profile. Thyroid hormone problems are common in dieting bodybuilders. By cutting calories too low the thyroid produces less of the active thyroid T-3 and fewer conversion enzymes that convert T-3 to T-4. This causes an inability to lose fat and the metabolism slowing down. A further reduction in calories will only compound the problem and if carried too far the metabolism may take years to recover. Endocrine overtraining can manifest itself anywhere along the hormonal cascade and disrupt the homeostasis of the body preventing muscle gains. Proper training, rest and nutrition strategies will combat the problem. Now lets talk a little about layoffs. I always recommend a periodic layoff to prevent any of the forms of overtraining discussed above, and particularly attitudinal factors. A week of rest after 8-12 weeks can only benefit the trainee and there will be no loss of training effect. There has been much research on this topic and some coaches, like Bryan Hycock consider it the most important element in continued progress. Bryan calls his layoffs strategic decoditioning and has this to say about the concept: What does strategic Deconditioning mean and how do we apply it to continue growing? Strategic deconditioning is simply a period of time free from training which is long enough to allow a reversal of some of the acute adaptations in muscle tissue, referring specifically to the repeated bout effect. This usually requires 9 - 12 days straight with no training. The term strategic is used because this 9 - 12 day period is not chosen at random or whenever you begin to feel "burned out" or even simply lose interest. It is done every 6-8 weeks depending on whether you finish your cycle with 5-rep work or with eccentric work respectively. Don't confuse deconditioning with recuperation. Recuperation denotes a restoration or rebuilding of the tissue. This is what your average personal trainer commonly advocates. He or she will tell you, "Give the muscle plenty of time to rest before you train it again." This pattern of training will not only produce slower gains but you will inevitably plateau more quickly, albeit a fully recuperated plateau. Your muscles will be fully recuperated within the first 7 days of the deconditioning period. At 7 days you will also still retain most of the repeated bout effects. Additional down time is required to allow the muscle to lower its defenses. 9-12 days is just long enough to allow deconditioning, but to prevent undue muscle atrophy. If you have ever followed Paul Cribs Max-Ot program he also advocates the rest week. In Max-OT this is known as cyclical recovery or CR. This is what Paul Delia has to say on CR:

44

Taking a week off from training every 8 to 10 weeks is very important for overall recuperation and muscle growth. Many people have a psychological barrier to taking time off from training. They feel like they are going to shrink. Not so. In fact, with Max-OT, after your week off for CR you will usually come back bigger and stronger. This week off allows your body to repair and grow. It is literally recovering from 8 or 10 straight weeks of heavy training. Fed properly, your body during this CR phase will be in a very high "anabolic" state. Muscle growth and repair will be constant, 24 hours a day. One very important thing, do not do any type of strenuous aerobic or anaerobic activity during this week. You don't have to be a slug, but refrain from any exhausting or physically taxing activities. This is a recuperation week, that is a key element in Max-OT. I could go on citing others such as Charles Poloquin, Ian King, Dr. Fred Hatfield and Dr. Steven Flisk just to name a few, but I think my point is clear. A scheduled week off is the best way to avoid overtraining and to ensure continued growth and improvement.

45

CHAPTER 5: Effective programs

Here are a few of my favorite workout programs: DEATH CIRCUITS I have my clients use this to strip off fat in both off-season and peaking phases. It is a short duration program and used for rapid fat loss. I would limit use to 21 days at most. Mon-Thurs Stepper: 10 min all out Then the following circuit done four times (one cycle is each exercise done once. Repeat the cycle four times): Chin-Squat-Dip-Row-Jump Rope (120 counts) Then this circuit for 3 cycles: Hanging leg lift- Dumbbell Press- Close Grip Bench Press- Jump Rope (120) Bike: 10 min moderate pace Tues-Fri Treadmill: 9% incline at max pace 10 min Then the following circuit done four times: Lunge-Deadlift-Incline Press-Push Press- Jump Rope (120) This circuit done 3 times: Incline Sit up- Upright Row- Curl- Jump Rope (120) Precore: 10 min moderate pace Wednesday-Friday: moderate cardio for 40-60 min The reps are 10 per exercise, done with a controlled negative and a 3-5 second positive. Example on the chins, lift to a count of 5 and then lower for a one count. The jump rope is for 1 min. However, I find it easier to just count reps until I do 120, as most people jump at 2 revolutions a second or 120 per min. GH TRAINING In the version of advanced GH training I am about to present, you must choose weights that accurately reflect your 6 rep maximum (RM) of an exercise, your 12RM, and your 25RM. In other words, you must pick an exercise that will cause positive muscle failure after 6 reps, after 12 reps, and after 25 reps. Here are some suggested movements, along with the prescribed rest periods. All (A) movements are done in a cycle with 10 seconds rest between exercises. Repeat three times then move to the (B) exercise. Day One: Chest, Back & shoulders A1. 6 Incline Dumbbell Presses at 45-degree angle Rest 10 seconds

46

A2. 12 Incline Barbell Presses at 45-degree angle Rest 10 seconds A3. 25 Incline Dumbbell Press at 30-degree angle Rest 2 minutes Repeat 3 times B1. 6 Weighted Chins Rest 10 seconds B2. 12 Bent-over Rows Rest 10 seconds B3. 25 Seated Cable Rows to Neck Rest 2 minutes Repeat 3 times C1. 6 Seated Dumbbell Presses Rest 10 seconds C2. 12 Seated Lateral Raises Rest 10 seconds C3. 25 Lateral Raises with Cables Rest 2 minutes Repeat 3 times End with 100 reps for upper and 100 reps for lower abdominals. Day Two: Arms & Legs A1. 6 Squats Rest 10 seconds A2. 12 Lunges Rest 10 seconds A3. 25 Leg Extensions Rest 2 minutes Repeat 3 times B1. 6 Leg Curls Rest 10 seconds B2. 12 Romanian Dead Lifts Rest 10 seconds B3. 25 Reverse Hyper Extensions or Back Extensions Rest 2 Minutes Repeat 3 times C1. 6 Dips or Close-Grip Bench Presses Rest 10 seconds C2. 12 Decline Barbell Extensions Rest 10 seconds C3. 25 Cable Pressdowns Rest 2 minutes Repeat 3 times

47

D1. 6 incline Dumbbell Curls Rest 10 seconds D2. 12 Standing Barbell Curls Rest 10 seconds D3. 25 Standing Pulley Cable Curls Rest 2 minutes Repeat 3 times End with 100 reps standing calve raise and 50 reps seated calf raise. BASIC SIZE UP PLAN Week one: Do 9-12 sets of 2-3 exercises for 5-9 reps. Go to positive failure on all sets and rest around 90 seconds between sets. Training 4 days per week and doing the same workout day 3 & 4 a sample would look like this: Monday: Back Chins 4 sets of 5-9 reps Rows 4 sets of 5-9 reps Pulldowns 4 sets of 5-9 reps Chest Incline bench with dumbbells 4 sets of 5-9 reps Cable fly's 3 sets of 5-9 reps Dips 3 sets of 5-9 reps Delts Lateral raise 4 sets of 5-9 reps Bent laterals 3 sets of 5-9 reps D/B press 3 sets of 5-9 reps Tuesday Arms Curls 4 sets of 5-9 reps Triceps press down 4 sets of 5-9 reps Incline dumbbell curl 3 sets of 5-9 reps Triceps extension 3 sets of 5-9 reps Legs Leg press 4 sets of 5-9 reps Hack squats 4 sets of 5-9 reps Lunge 3 sets of 5-9 reps Leg curl 4 sets of 5-9 reps Stiff leg dead lift 3 sets of 5-9 reps Calf press 6 sets of 15-20 reps (alternate between seated and standing too) This is just an example so feel free to choose your own movements. Week two: Same as the above but at the end of each set do one drop set. Reduce the weight by 25% after failure and do 5 more reps. Make sure you get the 5 reps with the 25% drop no matter what. If you have to stop for 2-3 deep breaths and bang out the last 1 or 2, then do that.

48

Week Three: Same as above but after the first 25% drop, do a second 25% drop and do an additional 5 reps after that drop. There should only be 5-10 seconds between drops to adjust weights. Do this after every set. Week Four: Cut rest time to 60 seconds between sets, BUT make sure the weights do not drop! If you were getting 100 pounds on bench press for 7 reps at week one, then you need to get 7 reps at week four. Do not do the drop sets this week, just do the same workout as week one but cut 30 seconds of rest time. Week five: Same as week four, but add the drop set back in, as in week 2. Keep the rest at 90 seconds between sets (5-10 for the drops) and keep the weights the same. Week six: same as week three, but cut rest time to 30 seconds between sets, and do the two 25% drops. This week will be the most difficult. Week seven: This is a down shift week. Only do straight sets, but try to add 2-5% to the core lifts. Go back to 120 seconds rest between sets. This is to recover and see if your strength improved. Week eight we start at week one, but change the order of exercises or choose new ones, and repeat the cycle. THE BREAK-IN MUSCLE GAIN PLAN This program is excellent for coming off a layoff, or just after a contest to cycle strength and intensity back up to previous levels. It is not a high intensity program, but is effective. Stop each rep at positive failure, do not go beyond failure using extensive forced reps, negatives, etc., this will only over stimulate the nervous system and not aid in hypertrophy. Most studies done on natural bodybuilders show a rapid fall off using the modern one muscle per week, total failure and beyond approach. This works well for our chemically enhanced cousins, not for us. First step is training program design. This is my recommended program for the next four weeks. We will work in blocks, each block will be different and most aspects of that block will change. This will help foster an environment of hypertrophy, not over stimulation. After four weeks, I will make some adjustments but the outline will be much the same. Here is the program: Day One: Chest, Back, Shoulders Day Two: Legs, Arms Day Three: Off Day Four: Back, Chest and Shoulders Day Five: Legs, Arms Day Six & Seven: Off Chest: 9 sets total 3 sets 4-6 reps Bench Press 3 sets 8-10 reps D.B. Flies 3 sets 10-12 reps Incline Bench Press(If you wish to add another exercise, reduce sets above to three.) Back: 12 work sets (may be more because of the chins) Front Chins (work up to 50 total reps over as many sets as you need) 3 sets 4-6 Bent-over Rowing

49

3 sets 8-10 one arm D/B row or Cable Row 3 sets Rack deadlift 12-6-20 reps (add weight for the first two sets. The set of 20 is heavy and all out, I am going to puke set) Quads: 9-12 work sets total 3-4 sets 8-12 Leg Press 3-4 sets 12-15 Leg Extension 3-4 sets 15-20 Squats one workout and Hack Squats the next Hamstrings: 6 work sets total 3 sets 6-8 Leg Curls 3 sets 10-12 Stiff-Leg Deadlifts (on alternate workout days that follow back "deadlift" day, perform Seated Leg Curls, One Legged Leg Curls or D/B Leg Curls) Calves: 6 sets with any combination of three exercises. For example: 3 sets 10-15 Seated Calf Raise 3 sets 20-25 Donkey Raise Shoulders: 9 work sets total 3 sets 8-10 Side Lateral Raises 3 sets 10-12 Rear Lateral Raises 3 sets 4-6 Shoulder Press (Smith Machine, Behind Neck, D/Bs - your choice) Biceps: 6 work sets total 3 sets 5-7 D/B Curl 3 sets 10-12 Barbell Curl Triceps: 6 work sets total 3 sets 5-7 Lying Triceps Extension 3 sets 10-15 Close Grip Bench Press You can pick your own movements, but keep the sets and reps the same. Use a 3-4 second negative and an explosive positive on the lower rep stuff. Other movements try to keep a continuous tension. Rest is 40 seconds between sets maximum, so the workout should take 60 min on a good day, 70 tops!

DEATH CIRCUITS PLAN B This workout is similar to the original death circuit program, but I use this as a 14 day peaking plan or if off season fat accumulation is too great. It is intense, but effective! With this program you do the four exercises in order with no rest between sets. Each set is done for 10 reps using the following reps speed: 3 seconds to raise the weight and 1 second to lower. Do not rest the weight in the contracted or relaxed position. All reps should be continuous. At the end of the last exercise in the cycle jump rope for one minute, then rest 40 seconds and then do the second group of exercises and finish with jump rope. Some days you will be doing more then one cycle of the workout so review the schedule below. There are four workouts in the cycle, rotated in order then repeated. Here are the workouts. Workout 1

50

Chins-Squats-Push ups-Bent over rows- Jump rope Hanging knee raise-Crunch-Bench Step ups- Jump Rope Workout 2 Deadlifts-Lunge-Dips-Overhead-D/B press-Jump Rope Incline Sit ups-Hyperextensions-D/B Squats-Jump Rope Workout 3 Leg Press-Incline Bench-Cable Rows-Close Grip Chin-Jump Rope V-ups-Ball Crunch-Leg Lift-Jump Rope Workout 4 Push Press-Close Grip Bench Press-Hack Sqts-Wide grip Chins Cable Crunch-Leg Curl-Curl and Press-Jump Rope Now for the really fun part, here is the schedule. As you can see you start with ONE cycle, but you perform the workout twice that day. Preferably in the AM and then PM, but you can do a cycle, rest one hour and do another if you cant get to the gym twice that day. As you progress through the cycle you add a circuit until you build to four circuits, but then its once per day: Day #1: Workout #1 one cycle twice per day, AM and PM (if possible, if not break one hour between cycles). Do some light cardio for 30 min pose and then do the second round. Day #2: Same as above with workout #2 Day #3: Same as above with workout #3 Day #4: Same as above with workout #4 Day #5: TWO circuits AM and TWO PM workout #1 Day #6: Same with #2 Day #7: Same whit #3 Day #8: Same with #4 Day #9: OFF Day #10: THREE cycles workout #1 only once per day Day #11: THREE cycles workout #2 only once per day Day #12: OFF Day #13: FOUR cycles workout #3 only once per day

Day #14: FOUR cycles workout #4 only once per day

THE VINCE GIRANDA 10-8-6-15 WORKOUT Vince Giranda was a man ahead of his time. So much of what is modern bodybuilding originated in his North Hollywood Gym. Vince was famous for getting people into shape fast. The 10-8-6-15 program was one of the best for rapid size gains,

51

and I cycle this into my off season training to this day. It never fails to produce results. This information is taken directly from his mail order course, which I first purchased in 1979; I still own a copy of to this day. Here is the exact text, reprinted from www.Ironguru.com. It should be understood that the 10 8 6 15 routine is designed to help get past sticking points and ruts in training. It is not designed to be a routine followed for extended periods.

Vince indicated in his course of instructions that you were to perform each of the four sets as follows: First set is to be performed for 10 reps with 50% of your maximum. Second set is to be performed for 8 reps with 75% of your maximum. Third set is to be performed for 6 reps with 100% of your maximum. Fourth set is to be performed for 15 reps with 35% of your maximum. Vinces description of the term maximum in this case was; whatever weight you can handle with effort, 6 reps is considered maximum. I know this description can leave a lot to ones imagination and it does not provide a good definition but that was Vince. In the original text Vince describes his ideal movements, and variations of common exercises. I have taken the liberty to modify his program somewhat using more common movements; however, I highly recommend that you seek out one of his old courses, or any material on the first guru of bodybuilding. Day 1 Chest, Shoulders, triceps Incline dumbbell bench press 10-8-6-15 Alternate with Wide grip dips 10-8-6-15 Wide grip bench press to neck 10-8-6-15 Lateral raise 10-8-6-15 Alternated with Wide grip upright rows 10-8-6-15 Seated barbell extension 10-8-6-15 Alternated with Dumbbell kickback 10-8-6-15 Day 2 Legs Sissy squats 10-8-6-15

52

Alternated with Leg press 10-8-6-15 Smith machine squats with feet foreword 10-8-6-15 Leg curl 10-8-6-15 Alternated with Dumbbell stiff leg deadlifts 10-8-6-15 Calf press 15-10-8-25 Alternated with Seated calf raise 10-8-6-15 Day 3 Back & biceps Sternum pulldown 10-8-6-15 Alternated with Parallel chins 10-8-6-15 Cable row 10-8-6-15 Alternated with Straight-arm pulldown 10-8-6-15 Incline dumbbell curl 10-8-6-15 Alternated with Preacher curl 10-8-6-15 Other excellent training programs that you can research on your own include, but are not limited to the following: Max-OT by the AST staff, Hypertrophy Specific Training (HST) by Bryan Hycock, Escalation Density Training (EDT) by Charles Staley, any of the Ian King strength programs, and of the full body programs popularized by Chad Waterbury or Alwin Cogsgrove and most of the Charles Poloquin programs. I also like the Giranda 8X8 system as well as his four sides to a muscle. There is an excellent article on the 8X8 program that Tom Venuto wrote and you can find doing a web search. My advice is to read widely, but wisely. Everyone has some tidbit of useful information, but no one person, or one training method is 100% correct.

53

CHAPTER 6: Eating for muscle

Now that we have our baseline diet and some good training programs to work with, how do we go about adjusting the plan to gain muscle? The most common approach to off season eating is the bulking approach, simply eat everything in sight. Sure your mass will increase, but so will your body fat. The baseline diet provided just that, a baseline. That means the calories are adjusted for that level of activity and to keep you in homeostasis, or balance. But we are bodybuilders and we dont want balance, we want 20 arms. Lets look at some ways we can increase our mass and keep our pant size down at the same time. First, lets look at one of the biggest myths in bodybuilding. You DO NOT need to eat radically above maintenance to gain muscle. This method was spread by bodybuilders who had the aid of pharmaceuticals and did not need to be concerned with the pitfalls of a normal metabolism. It is a fact that when on powerful androgens you need massive amounts of calories to help gain mass, but this simply does not work for natural athletes. You will simply end up fat and unhealthy. Most bodybuilders can gain consistent lean mass by upping there calories by 10002000 per day. Studies have shown that for each gram of protein synthesized into new muscle tissue, 220 calories are needed to turn the raw protein into new muscle mass. A pound of muscle is around 100 grams of so to build one pound of muscle we need around 20,000 calories. A 10 pound muscle gain in one year is considered excellent for a natural bodybuilder. Most bodybuilders like to compete once a year, so figure eating for muscle six months out of the year. This would mean that you would need around 1400 calories above maintenance to gain 10 pounds in six months. The majority of the meals should be clean but you can indulge in the occasional cheese cake or Super bowl party, but for the most part eat the same healthy foods, just more of them. The above equation represents a perfect situation. I must also note that it is imposable to gain just the 10 pounds of muscle. There will also be some fat accumulation and additional glycogen storage so the result of six months of off season eating will in all likelihood end up closer to a 20 pound gain with 10 pounds hopefully being muscle, 3-4 pounds of glycogen and 46 pounds of fat accumulation. The anabolic effect of insulin will also cause some fat gain because insulin cannot differentiate its shuttling capability to muscle only. However, with a clean bulk approach the fat gain will be minimized. You must understand that no matter how good your training and nutrition plan is your muscle building capability is ultimately limited by the physiological rate that your body can synthesize new muscle tissue. In simple terms, genetics will ultimately determine your muscle building limit. With the above approach you will be giving your body the best environment to build that muscle within your genetic capacity. You can also go with a lean gain approach, and attempt to maintain single digit body fat percentages for men, and low teens for women. This will slow muscle gains, mostly due to low circulating insulin (remember, insulin is the most anabolic hormone). This approach is better suited to advanced competitive athletes who need to stay close to show shape year round for photo opportunities. You will gain little mass with this approach, but if you have been training for 10 or more years chances are you have already added most of the mass you can. This is not to say advanced bodybuilders cant gain muscle, I have seen bodybuilders with 20+ years of training make excellent muscle gains, and it is just not as common as a beginner or intermediate.

54

Natural athletes attempting to gain muscle should stick with the established protein intake of 1.0 to 1.6 grams per pound of bodyweight. More is not necessarily better; however, I have seen some studies that show short term protein intakes in excess of 3 grams per pound of body weight accelerating the muscle building process, but this is short term. After 6-12 weeks the body adjusts and the anabolic effect of the protein is compensated for and the gains return to normal. Taking in that much protein on a daily basis is probably not that healthy and can cause undue stress on the kidneys. In health individuals this should not pose and significant problems, but remember the body craves balance, and 3 grams or more of protein per pound of bodyweight is not balance! As for the remainder of our energy needs you can go with either a carb dominant or fat dominant approach. Weather you go with a carb dominant or fat dominant approach should be based on how well you tolerate carbs in your diet. If youre a total endo and gain fat just looking at a bowl of oats then a more fat dominant approach is better. For most a balanced carb/fat approach is best. If you increase your baseline by 1400 calories and you already have your protein set at 1.0-1.4 grams per pound then simply add 700 calories of carbs and 700 calories of fats to bring us to the magic 1400 calories. This is in addition to the baseline nutrients we already established. You can add the calories in a variety of ways but I have found two approaches I like best. The first is the carb targeted approach. Simply add the 700 calories of carbs to the first meal of the day and the post workout meal. Now that the fats calories and divide them equally and add them to the other 4 meals you take in (exclude the first meal and the post workout meal). The second approach is to pick three meals to add the carb calories and three meals to add the fats. Due to the insuligenic reaction to carbs its best to take the extra carbs in at breakfast, the pre workout meal and the post workout meal. Now add the fats equally to the other three meals. Once again the nutrients should be clean foods, almonds, olive oil, flax and fish oils for your fats and oats, sweet potato and rice for your carbs. Simple carbs should only be taken in post workout, and for you extreme endos out there skip the simple carbs all together. Youre much better off taking whey protein immediately post workout and complex carbs around an hour or so later. You can also opt for a carb cycling approach. With this approach you fluctuate between a carb dominant, mixed and fat dominant approach. Pick your two hardest workouts each week, normally back and leg day if training each muscle once per week or what ever you consider your hardest workout if doing multiple hits per week. On that day take in the majority of the calories as carbs targeting the post workout meals for 50% of the additional intake, 25% at breakfast and the rest spread over the remaining meals. On your other workout days use the 50/50 approach and target the carbs at breakfast and post workout and the fats at the other meals. On your off days use the fat dominant approach and take in healthy fats for your additional calories. I have found carb cycling quite effective for adding calories and limiting fat gains because it controls insulin far better then other approaches and still allows for insulins anabolic effects. The final off season eating plan I want to touch on is the one popularized by Dr. John Berardi. Dr. Berardis plan is basic, simple and easy to follow. You dont measure a thing and the plan allows for moderate muscle gains with little or no fat accumulation and its down right healthy. Because Dr. Berardi is a full time coach and sells his plan I will only give you his 7 habits of lean eating. Habit #1: Eat every 2-3 hours or 6-8 meals per day Habit #2: Eat complete protein at every meal Habit #3: Eat veggies (3-5 servings) or fruit (0-2 servings) with every meal. Habit #4: Eat a mix of fats each day (1/3 saturated, 1/3 monosaturated and 1/3 polysaturated)

55

Habit #5: Eat simple and/or complex carbs only within the first 2 hours post exercise. Habit #6: Drink calorie free beverages with and between meals, water and green tea. Habit #7: Eat mostly whole, natural and unprocessed foods. To clarify the plan you eat a fruit and protein or veggie, healthy fat and protein each meal except post workout. Post workout you ingest a liquid protein and carb meal followed an hour later with a complex carb and protein meal. The fruit and protein meals are normally regulated to the morning hours with the protein, veggie fat meals after the post workout meals. No complex carbs are taken in on nontraining days. This is a simplified version of his diet, but for more information simply do an internet search of his name and you will be directed to many more articles and products. As you can see the days of the total bulk diet are gone. For health and muscle building use the above guidelines and add mostly muscle, not mostly fat. You cant flex fat.

56

CHAPTER 7: CARDIO
CARDIO THE WORD WE LOVE TO HATE Cardio seems to be as frequently misunderstood as dieting. Does this sound familiar, offseason do no cardio because it will impact muscle gains and pre contest do up to one hour two times per day? I have actually seen people do more then three hours per day! At below maintenance calories! Sure they end up getting somewhat muscular, but the weight gain rebound after the show is usually astronomical. I have two strong philosophies on cardio. First it should be done year round. Second do not rely on cardio to get you ripped. Yes, cardio is a necessity for fat loss, but not at the expense of a proper diet. If youre doing more then 30-40 min. per day there is something wrong with your precontest plan. I have never run into anyone who needs more then that. Too much cardio is as detrimental as none at all. Cardio should also be baselined just like your diet. This is why I feel some cardio should be done year round. I know for a fact I always diet better for a show and need far less cardio if I have been doing cardio all year long. I do not think any more then four 20 min sessions is needed as a year round base (and that is the extreme). Most can get away with twothree 15 min sessions. I have never seen anyone impact his or her development from starting a cardio program. If this is a concern then do your cardio on separate days from weight training, or at least eight hours apart. Now that you have decided to do your cardio year round how much do you do precontest? I have found that it's best to first increase the intensity rather then duration. Once youre hitting your cardio as hard as you can for the normal time frame you can add 20 min total every seven to ten days. Allow your body to adjust to the increase and if the session is hard enough that 20 min will be all you need to increase each week or so. I also like to alter caloric cuts with cardio. Only change one variable at a time. Remember if you go from 0 to two hours a day right from the start, where do you go from there? This is how my friends who end up at two to three hours a day got there. They started with way too much and the body compensated. If calories were way too low at the start of the diet then the combination of too few calories and too much cardio will more or less shut down the metabolism. Keep it in year round and add slowly . The next debate is intensity of the cardio. Some say high intensity is best for fat loss and muscle preservation, others like no more then 70% of VO2 max for much longer duration. The steady state group will tell you, fat burning will not start until after the first 20 min. The HITT pundits will tell you high intensity cardio will stimulate the metabolism far beyond lower intensity work. Who is right? Both! You actually need some sessions of both types, HITT anaerobic work and moderate intensity aerobic work. You should cycle your cardio between high and lower intensity, because both types target different motor units and fat burning pathways. In general, each type of cardio uses a different source of fuel for energy. Walking on a treadmill does not require as many motor units as sprinting and you will burn more fat as energy. On the other hand, sprinting recruits far more motor units, but uses primarily glucose as energy. Although walking will burn more fat then the sprinting the sprinting, will cause a substantial elevation of the metabolic process, which will last

57

for up to 48 hours. Guess what your body burns when the metabolism is elevate like that? Yes, good old fat! There is little of this training effect from lower intensity cardio. It is essential that you train both pathways as you diet, and alternating between the two, will also help prevent the body from adapting to one type over the other. Just like muscle fibers, each path and motor unit recruitment must be trained and doing just one type will blunt the effect of the other. It has been shown that repeated bouts of low intensity cardio could actually change fast-fatigue resistant motor units to slower acting motor units. This is also part of the reason long distance, low intensity cardio can cause muscle loss. There is also a direct relationship between high intensity cardio and fiber girth. Just look at sprinters legs in comparison to a marathon runners legs. However, some lower intensity cardio, for periods up to 30 minutes can and should be preformed to keep the aerobic pathways active. The next debate is when to do your cardio. I often hear that first thing in the morning is ideal because when your sleeping the body uses fat as a recovery energy source. As a result when you wake up fat tissues are broken down and the concentration of free fatty acids in the bloodstream is elevated. Although this appears on paper to be accurate, there are no scientific studies to bear this out. I have seen better results with morning cardio, so I do recommend it, but this recommendation is based on empherical evidence. I prefer to not do cardio with out at least having some branch chain amino acids (BCAAs) or a scoop of whey protein before morning cardio. I know that some of the BCAAs will be used as a rapid energy source, but I also believe it will be more muscle sparing then a total empty tank. The next best time is said to be right after weight training. This is because weight training causes a rapid depletion of glycogen and elevation of free fatty acids. Again the theory is that burning these fatty acids off will prevent there reentering the fat cells and stored as energy. Once again just a theory, but one I believe in. I also prefer cardio post training, if it cannot be done separate to training. Intensity is the next question, and I recommend 65-75% of your VO2 max for your cardio. To find your VO2 max simply use the following formula: 220 age X .65 (or .75) + resting heart rate = target heart rate This formula is for lower intensity cardio and not sprinting. One final word on cardio, when you do it is not nearly as important as actually doing it. If you wake up late, or run out of time after training just move the session to another day or time. The old just do it is the mantra I want you to remember. Now as for high intensity cardio, I think starting at two to three sessions of 12-16 min is best. You can add time and/or sessions as the diet progresses, but I never recommend going above 20 min or five sessions in a week. There are two ways to do high intensity cardio that I use with my clients. First, is all out for a set time. This is much like the AST Max-OT cardio, but it has been around for decades under other names. It is simply going all out; gut busting 100% effort, for the set time. You may, and will have to, adjust the effort level down as you go through the session. An example would be 12 min all out on the stair mill. Starting at level 20 (the maximum effort) I can go 3 minutes before I must lower it level to 18 or 19. I can muster another 3 or 4 minutes before again having to lower the level. By the end of the 12 min session I may be at level 15 but the entire session was at 100% effort and my heart rate never lowered one beat even though I lowered my level as the session progressed.

58

The next high intensity style is High Intensity Interval Training (HITT). This is done by combining a sprint, or all out burst of effort, with a more moderate or recovery level of intensity. The theory is that every time the heart rate begins to decrease you, hit it with another bout of high effort sprint work. This can be done with actual sprints or any machine. The duration of the sprint and recovery period can be adjusted, but some common cycles are: 20 seconds sprint, 1 min recovery; 30 seconds sprint, 90 seconds recovery; 1 min sprint, 2 min recovery or 1 min sprint, 1 min recovery. Again, 12-20 min is best and make sure you do a thorough warm-up and cool down. I also prefer to have at least one meal in me before I do sprint work. Sprint work, or high intensity cardio, can be quite catabolic. My final word on cardio is to do it year round, add slow and make sure you alternate between both moderate and high intensity work.

59

CHAPTER 8: CONTEST DIETING

FAT LOSS Fat loss is one of the most difficult things to get the human body to do is efficiently. This is because your body has evolved over the past 10 million years to be excellent at storing energy, but not as efficient at releasing it. This was a survival mechanism and was in response to periods of famine or when food was scarce. Lean individuals did not survive the winter, and muscle was added as a ready source of energy. Fat was stored and used spairingly as a last source of energy. This was great for survival and procreation of the species, but does not help us for cosmetic bodybuilding purposes. Think of it this way, without this mechanism we would have become extinct long ago. So getting huge and lean is not a biological priority. Yes, it can be done, look at any issue of Flex magazine and you will see lots of big ripped physiques, and fit feminine muscle. Part of this is due to the use of illegal drugs. Drugs allow one to create an ideal chemical environment that can add muscle and burn fat at the same time. The same biological processes that cause primal man to hold fat and catabolize muscle for energy, can be combated with the use of modern day drugs. I will not dive into this area. I am morally against the use of chemicals to enhance physique, and they are down right dangerous. More athletes die from drug associated problems then from the actual athletic event itself. Drug using bodybuilders are at the pinnacle of that wave. I could name at least 20 IFBB pro bodybuilders who have either died as a result of drug use, or have had serious health issues that have shortened their life span considerably and diminished their quality of life. OK, I will end my rant on drug use on a high note. With proper training principles you can forge an excellent physique. Genetic limitations will not let us all be on the cover of Mens Fitness, but you can develop an excellent physique. Some aspects into effective fat loss and muscle preservation include thyroid regulation, partitioning and leptin levels. For the most part we have covered the other big factor, insulin and insulin management. We know its a storage hormone and can help make us big and strong or fat and flabby. All of the diets outlined in this manual take insulins role into consideration. But, what about the other three and what the heck is partitioning? Partitioning is easily defined as where your calories go when you eat them, or where they come from when you diet. This is also known as calorie partitioning. When referring to partitioning researchers refer to something called the P-ratio. This simply refers to the amount of protein, or in this case muscle, that is gained or lost when we eat. A low P-ratio when dieting would mean your losing muscle and gaining fat. Therefore, a high P-ratio would be the reverse and a more ideal situation. The P-ratio is directly affected by hormones. Testosterone, thyroid, insulin and growth hormone are all factors in partitioning. P-ratio is mostly controlled by genetics, but in part, can be controlled through diet and training. As we discussed our chemically enhanced cousins create an environment where they can gain muscle and lose fat and the drugs actually create the ideal P-ratio. How can we do the same? Through hormonal manipulation using diet and training. We have already covered how various

60

types of training effect testosterone release, GH secretion and insulin receptor sensitivity. We also know that insulin can be managed through proper diet, and drops in thyroid levels can also be regulated. By following a proper fat loss program we can sway the P-ratio to our favor. No, it will not be as effective as taking chemicals, but it is far healthier and you do not have to worry about your door being smashed in at 4 AM by the DEA (something I do have experience with as a full time police officer). The final piece of the puzzle is leptin. Leptin is a protein that is released primarily from fat cells. There is a direct correlation between body fat levels and leptin levels. The more fat you have, the more leptin you have. Leptin release is also affected by food volume. For example leptin levels can drop by as much as 50% within a week of reducing food volume (number of calories). The good news is that the drop of leptin can be reversed and brought back to prediet levels in less then 24 hours by simply increasing food volume again. It does appear that leptin production by fat cells is controlled mainly by glucose availability. This means lower carbs and glucose is pulled for the fat cells, increase glucose and leptin is released from the fat cells. There are leptin receptors all over the body to include the brain. In muscle tissue leptin promotes fat burning. In fat cells leptin promotes oxidation of fatty acids and may make fat cells more insulin resistant. Leptin also positively effects immune function and low leptin levels effect your bodys ability to fight off infections. This is one reason dieters are more susceptible to catching an illness when dieting. The keys to successful fat loss and muscle preservation are diet systems that control insulin, prevent down regulation of thyroid, maintain testosterone and GH levels and periodically increase leptin levels. But where do we find such diets?

DIETING FOR THE MESOMORPH If you have been following along we have so far established our baseline diet, worked out the kinks in our training and have started our minimum cardiovascular work. With all the variables set its now time to begin the fat loss cycle in preparation for our photo shoot, competition or reunion. The goal is to lose the maximum amount of fat in the shortest time possible with the most muscle possible. How we do this will depend on a variety of factors such as an amount of fat needed to be lost, body type and condition goal. It is far easier to get a mesomorph carrying only 10 pounds of adipose down to 6% for a photo shoot. Its an entirely different problem taking an endo/meso or true meso down 45 pounds of fat to 3% for a contest. I will begin with the mesomorph, but these tactics will work well on meso/endos and endo/mesos. If youre a true ectomorph your more then likely not reading this part of the manual. For my ectomorphic clients I prefer to not drop calories and maintain a steady macronutrient. Slight increases in activity seem to be all our ectomorphic clients need. The first step with fat loss for a meso is getting an accurate body fat reading. This will determine exactly how many pounds of fat need to be lost. Lets say our mesomorph has a scale weight of 180 pounds. His body fat calculation has him carrying 18 pounds of adipose tissue (fat) and his goal is to come in at the upper limit for the welterweight class of 160 pounds. This means he wants to lose 15 pounds of pure fat. First, it is not possible to go through an entire diet without losing any muscle. If we are careful, the ratio of fat to muscle will hopefully be no more then a

61

4:1 ratio, meaning four pounds of fat for every pound of muscle. I have seen clients do much better and only lose 1-2 pounds total muscle, but 4:1 is the minimum effective rate. Any more muscle loss and its time to stop dieting for a week or two and eat at maintenance. With the goal of 160, would mean no more then 5 pounds total muscle loss and 15 pounds of fat loss. These number work, so that will be the goal, but it may be adjusted along the way. I have actually seen clients gain muscle at first, as they lose fat and come in with more muscle then we planned. I have also seen clients lose all of the preplanned fat, but still not be tight enough so more fat needed to be lost. This is just a theoretical goal for now. Now that we have our numbers lets determine how long it should take us to arrive at our goal. For a mesomorph I prefer going after one pound of fat per week. Most endos can get up to 2.5 pounds per week and in some short duration diets even more. Our meso is not as lucky as the endo, and will lose more muscle if not careful, but the diet will be far less painful. In this case there is a need to lose 15 pounds of fat, there fore 15 weeks would be the starting point. I then add the peak week, because we always want to arrive at our goal at least a week out so now we are up to 16, and I program in a 10% error, because there will always be a stage when the diet fails and we need to adjust things. Now we are up to 17.6 or rounded up 18 weeks to diet down. The first thing we do to start the fat loss process is make a cut in calories. Now if we established a proper baseline we know exactly how much to drop to equal 10%. Where do we start cutting the calories from? If we did a good baseline we are at 1-1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight. Protein has a high Thermogenic Effect of Food (TEF), around 30%, and has a role in muscle preservation when on restricted calories. We dont want to drop any calories from protein. We will also need some carbs in the diet to fuel the fat loss and maintain glycogen stores for our workouts. This leaves us with fat. We also know we dont want to drop below 1520% total fat, and need our EFAs so the first calorie cuts will come out of saturated fats like animal fat and egg yolks. Switching protein sources from beef to chicken can make a nice drop as well as skipping an egg yolk or two. In most cases this will be enough for 5-8% of the 10% we want to cut. So where does the rest come from? Yes, carbohydrates. When we take them is also crucial. I prefer to start with any late day carbs and work down from there. The meals I would take from last would be breakfast, post workout and the meal following the post workout meal. All other carbs are fair game and will be cut only when necessary. I am often asked, What is my macronutrient content? The answer is, whatever it needs to be to preserve muscle and lose fat. I also dont get too hung up on calories; they will be what they need to be and may be adjusted up or down at random to keep the fat burning going. I do ask that all food be weighed and measured so we can get a more accurate determination and precise reading on the diet. This just makes cuts easy and takes the guesswork out of how much chicken is actually 8 oz. I have seen clients on low calories eat 12 oz. and call it 8 because they went by there eyeball measurements. This is not good for fat loss. Inexpensive digital scales can be purchased at most retail stores. Once the cut is made I will go with that reduced level until fat loss slows or stops before making another cut. My next cut may be 5% or 10% of total caloric intake, depending on individual progress. I want to make sure I never go lower then 25-30% of total caloric intake below maintenance for my meso clients. Most will never need to go that far, but sometimes we get to a 30% cut. Once I get to 15% total calorie cut, I begin to add a refeed cycle. A refeed cycle is just a day at maintenance with some extra calorie from carbs. Most of the time, I just have them

62

eat the baseline diet for a day, once or twice a week. I also like to have the refeeds on days when the workout loading is highest, leg and back days are good. This just helps recovery and muscle preservation. Normally over the 18 weeks I will only need to make 2-4 cuts, with each cut coming in every 2-4 weeks. I do not increase cardio at first; I allow the diet to do its thing. In most cases I can gage the time to add cardio by the rate of fat loss. In this case for example or aspiring bodybuilder made his 10% cut and lost 1.5 pounds the first week and .8 the second. For week three I will keep calories the same because there was still some fat loss, but I will now bump up cardio by 20%. With mesos I do not like to drop calories and add cardio in the same week. I like at least a 10 day interval between both. This way I can make sure each variable is working before we move to the next. I also find it better for muscle retention and fat loss. Perhaps I will have them add one HITT session and add 5 min. to each session of lower intensity cardio. This process of alternated calorie drops and cardio bumps will continue through the diet until the desired condition is achieved. If we hit a stalemate I will implement some of the endo dieting tactics to get the fat loss moving along. I also try to get clients to monitor morning body temp and pulse rate to make sure the metabolism is moving along and we are not overtraining. A drop of one degree in AM temp will equal out to around a 10% drop in metabolism. If that happens we eat at maintenance for a week or so until temp is back up. This is why we have the 10% time fudge factor. For the most part the meso diet is easy, and not too challenging, but like I said less then 10% of the population is mesomorphic. What about the majority of dieter that varies on the endo/meso scale?

CARB CYCLING FOR ENDO/MESOS One of the most common body types is the endo/meso. The endo/meso will carry a ton of muscle, but also tend to carry extra body fat. I find most endo/mesos are in the 15-22% body fat range, not enough to be classified as obese, but it does make dieting harder. There are lots of former endos who through training and intelligent diet converted to the endo/meso body type. This is a good thing, but many want to get even leaner, some into the low single digits. It can be very frustrating getting down and most will find they store carbs very easily as body fat. Their insulin receptor sites on the muscle are dull. When the endo/meso eats carbs, the body releases insulin. The dull receptor sites do not do an efficient job and do not completely accept insulin as a driver of carbs and aminos. The receptor sites cannot efficiently do its job it overcompensates by releasing more insulin and the higher insulin levels stimulate fat cell growth. It also must be pointed out that anyone with a higher percentage of body fat will release more insulin and therefore create more possibility of fat storage. The best type of diet for the endo/meso is a diet that controls carbohydrates. Any of the modern low carb diets can be used effectively. Lowering the amount of carbs better controls the release of insulin and allows for more efficient fat burning. Low carb diets cause the release of a hormone sensitive enzyme, called lipase. Lipase encourages the fat cell to release fatty acids into the blood stream, which can be used as fuel. Low carb diets also cause the production of ketones. Ketones are by products of fat oxidation. Ketones can be used for energy, sparing muscle tissue

63

for being used as fuel. Ketones can also suppress appetite, one of the reasons the Atkins diet was so popular. Another way this type of dieting stimulates fat loss, is by stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). A high carb diet stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system and that will slow the metabolism. A higher protein, low carb diet will do the exact opposite and stimulate the SNS and that in turn stimulates brown fat metabolism. Brown fat is the fat found around the organs and is also concentrated between the shoulder blades. Like muscle, brown fat is metabolically active and exerts a calorie burning effect. How few carbohydrates depend again on a variety of factors? I would say 50-100 grams is a good round figure. As we covered before, protein has a TEF of 30% so we do want to increase protein. There is however an upper limit and I stick to my recommendation of 1.5 grams per pound of bodyweight. For a 200 pound male this would be 200 grams of protein and 100 grams of carbs. At 4 calories per gram of protein and the same for carbs this gives us 1,200 calories. The carbs should primarily come from vegetable sources, with a serving of carbs in the morning and again post workout. I suggest whole oats in the morning meal and some simple carbs, like Gatorade for post training. There are lots of post workout powders out there, but 25 grams of whey with 25 grams of powdered Gatorade will do trick. The remainder of the calories would come from fat, but again limit fat intake to 20%. In this case that would balance out to around 400 calories of fat or 40 grams if we round up. This makes our low carb day in the 1,600 range. That is not much food for a 200-pound male. Too few calories will eventually cause the body to lower production of thyroid hormone. To give a brief background on the topic, the thyroid gland releases two primary hormones T4 and T3 in a ratio of roughly 80:20 and does so in response to the hormone TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone). Most T3 is actually made in other tissues (especially the liver) from the metabolism of T4. T3, along with the catecholamine are two of the primary regulators of human metabolic rate. One response to low calorie and low carb dieting is a reduction in both T3 and catecholamine. This becomes a double edges sword. You need low carbs and lower calories to low the weight, but if you stay on the diet too long, you may suffer metabolic shutdown. How do we avoid this process and still lose fat? The answer is simple. Stop dieting. Yes, thats right. Stop dieting for a day. I have my clients flip flop between two diets, one low carb/low calorie and the other their baseline. We start with two days of dieting and one day back on their baseline. As fat loss slows we go to three days low and one baseline and so on. Normally, I never go more then five days maximum on the diet phase, but I may have a client go back to baseline for up to 10 days (if there is a problem with metabolic shutdown). Adding more carbs back also causes the muscle to swell with glycogen. This swelling acts as an anabolic switch and signals muscles to grow, or at least hold their size, when dieting. Training on the rotational diet will vary, but I always include cardio. The longer steady sessions will help burn up those free fatty acids, and the HITT sessions will free up more fatty acids and keep the metabolism stoked. I also make sure there is a good combination of heavy low rep work and lighter high rep work. Both are necessary for this type of diet. The heavy work will help maintain muscle size and low rep work is actually more fat burning then the higher rep training. High rep short rest training burns more calories and increases scaroplasmic expansion, or cell voluminization. If you recall increased size of the sarcoplasm and capillaries will translate into larger muscle fibers along with an increase in nutrient delivery to the muscle cell. The training program should balance both training styles.

64

No diet can go without adjustments. As body weight comes off, the diet becomes tricky. The endo/meso will want to hold that last bit of fat. As previously mentioned, we can add a day or two to the low carb phase, but as weight drops the diet will also need to be adjusted down. Once my 200-pound bodybuilder gets to around 180 pounds we need to refigure the diet. At that point, 1.5 grams of protein is 270 grams not 300. I may also drop the carbs to 70 and of course the fats would also come down (as would the total calories). The one aspect I do not tinker with, unless I have to, is the baseline. I will move it further along the diet path, but normally I keep the nutrient and caloric levels the same. Where we end up all depends on progress. Here are a few more points that need to be mentioned. On this diet, I do like to include some feedings of lean red meat. Red meat is high in alanine, a nonessential amino acid that is required to make glucose. High alanine levels help make glucose when carbs are low. The body can make alanine, but it will need to break down muscle to do so. This catabolic process can be avoided with the inclusion of a few servings of lean beef. Water must also be kept high on this type of diet. I suggest adding 50% to normal water levels. If youre off season water intake is a gallon move up to two. Another trick is to keep the water cold. Water can also be thermogenic. The body has to increase the water temperature to the bodys temperature in order to absorb the liquid. Cold water has been shown to increase metabolism by up to 25% for up to 30 min after drinking 16 oz of cold water. With reduced carbs, water also acts to hydrate the muscle and prevents them from appearing flat. Water is also used in the process of beta-oxidation when glycerol and free fatty acids are separated and moved into energy production. I also recommend keeping your salt intake up. A minimum of 2-3 grams of sodium should be taken in daily, with up to 5 grams for those in hotter climates. With water high and carbs low the salt will help keep blood plasma levels high. This will also help prevent you from looking flat and stringy. This diet may be further modified as needed until the client gets to his desired goal. The big problem with endo/mesos, is there is no set rate for fat loss. It will either go well and we get quickly into condition or it will take quite a bit of tinkering. This is why I like to take extra long with endo/mesos, and 22-24 weeks is a nice reference point. It is far better to be ready early, then to fall way behind and have to play catch up.

DIETING FOR THE EXTREME ENDOMORPH Sometimes I get clients that dont have stage aspirations; they just want to lose a ton of weight (no pun intended). These clients are classified as clinically obese and carry 50 pounds or more of adipose. I have been approached many times by clients wishing to lose 100 or more pounds, just to arrive at an endo/meso condition or 16% body fat. For extreme endos, most of the previously discussed information is still applied, but due to the large volume of fat that is needed to be shed the process is far more demanding and time consuming. The good part of extreme endos dieting is that fat will rapidly melt off at first. This is because any decrease in food volume followed by an increase in activity will help start the metabolic process. Endos usually dont have a timetable or specific date to be ready by. Most

65

endos are simply seeking a higher quality of life, and competition is far down the road, if at all. Time is on our side and small changes make a big difference in the approach. Endo dieting is best in stages of 6-8 weeks. That is 6-8 weeks of dieting and a return to a more moderate approach for 1-2 weeks. There is no real baseline with the endo; most have life long eating disorders and little knowledge of nutrition. Some are aware of proper nutritional methods, but find difficulty in following them. For this and many other reasons I forgo the standard baseline diet and just use a simple formula to determine a reference point. Here is the formula I use: BASE METABOLIC RATE (BMR) = 1.4 X 24 X bodyweight in pounds X .40 This is not 100% accurate and will not reflect activity level, but it gives me a number to go by. I will use this number and divide the total into 40% protein, 40% carbohydrates and 20% fats for a period of up to two weeks. After that we begin, the next 6-8 weeks of dieting. I have found this to be the best way to lose fat over the long term. The breaks in the diet teach the individual how to eat properly when not on a rigid diet. As for the diet phases, I use the same carb cycling diet I use with endo/mesos but I keep the low carb/calorie days at 5-6 and the refeed days at 1 to 1 (mostly comprised of quality carbs). On low days carbs are kept to a minimum, 10% or as low as 50 grams, protein at 60% and the remainder is fats. All the carbs will come from vegetables, and I eliminate all complex carbs. On refeed days, I go back to the 40-40-20 ratio and really increase the calories. I limit junk to a minimum. Endos just do not have the capacity to stop once the food trigger is pulled. Oats, sweet potatoes and brown rice are the staple foods. I also include daily red meat, for the reasons discussed earlier. I may also drop the low calories down to 40% of the BMR number we arrive at, and the refeeds can go as high as 50% over the BMR. This is to really take advantage of the partitioning effect and leptins role in weight loss. Activity is a must for endos and I try to get them to perform some type of activity daily. The type of work will depend on fitness level and general health, but I will always increase intensity and duration as the program moves along. It is not feasible to have someone who is 100 pounds overweight and has never trained hard before to sprint 2-3 times per week and lift heavy another 3-4 times per week. I may start them with just walking on a treadmill for 20 min. and slowly build up to HITT and moderate cardio work. Weight training is always added.

66

I never had good legs until I added smart cardio to my program.

CHAPTER 9: Sample diets

Here are a few sample plans I have outlined for my clients. One disclaimer, I would not just copy and follow any of these plans. These are just part of the process, and not the total process. I change plans frequently and these are just fragments of the entire process used. I am just giving an example of how it all fits together as a whole.

Plan A, a sample muscle gaining with minimal fat accumulation program for someone coming off a high volume or high intensity cycle.

Stop each rep at positive failure, do not go beyond failure using extensive forced reps, negatives, etc., this will only overstimulate the nervous system and not aid in hypertrophy. Most studies done on natural bodybuilders show a rapid fall off using the modern one muscle per week, total failure and beyond approach. This works well for our chemically enhanced cousins, not for us. The First step is training program design, and this is my recommended program for the next four weeks. We will work in blocks, each block will be different and most aspects of that block will change. This will help foster an environment of hypertrophy, not over stimulation. After four weeks I will make some adjustments, but the outline will be much the same. Here is the program: Day One: Chest, Back, Shoulders Day Two: Legs, Arms Day Three: Off Day Four: Back, Chest and Shoulders Day Five: Legs, Arms Day Six & Seven: Off Chest: 9 sets total 3 sets 4-6 reps Bench Press 3 sets 8-10 reps D/B Flys 3 sets 10-12 reps Incline Bench Press (You may wish to add a fourth three-set exercise.)

67

Back: 12 working sets (may be more because of the chins) Front Chins (work up to 50 total reps over as many sets as you need) 3 sets 4-6 Bent-over Rowing 3 sets 8-10 one arm D/B row or Cable Row 3 sets Rack dead lift 12-6-20 reps (add weight first two sets, set of 20 is heavy and all out, I am going to puke set) Quads: 9-12 working sets total 3-4 sets 8-12 Leg Press 3-4 sets 12-15 Leg Extension 3-4 sets 15-20 Squats one workout and Hack Squats the next Hamstrings: 6 working sets total 3 sets 6-8 Leg Curls 3 sets 10-12 Stiff-Leg Dead lifts (on alternate workout days that follow back "dead lift" day, perform Seated Leg Curls, One Legged Leg Curls or D/B Leg Curls) Calves: 6 sets with any combination of three exercises. For example: 3 sets 10-15 Seated Calf Raise 3 sets 20-25 Donkey Raise Shoulders: 9 working sets total 3 sets 8-10 Side Lateral Raises 3 sets 10-12 Rear Lateral Raises 3 sets 4-6 Shoulder Press (Smith Machine, Behind Neck, Dumbbells - your choice) Biceps: 6 working sets 3 sets 5-7 D/B Curl 3 sets 10-12 Barbell Curl Triceps: 6 working sets 3 sets 5-7 Lying Triceps Extension 3 sets 10-15 Close Grip Bench Press You can pick your own movements, but keep the sets and reps the same. Use a 3-4 second negative and an explosive positive on the lower rep stuff. Other movements try to keep a continuous tension. Rest is 40 seconds between sets maximum so the workout should take 60 min on a good day, 70 tops! Cardio: Yes, we do cardio year round! Try to do cardio 1st thing in the AM, empty stomach (but take 2 scoops of glutamine select by Beverly or Scivation Xtend). If you need to do cardio with weights do it after the weights and not on leg day. Now for cardio you start with a machine, I like the treadmill, and do HITT training for 5-10 min. After a 2-5 min warm-up go all out for 20 seconds, and then go easy fro 40 seconds. That is one rep, start with five and add a rep a week until youre at eight reps. On the treadmill I like to incline to 9% and go at 9 MPH, then step off onto the side of the mill and jog in place for the 40 seconds. I sometime will jump rope between or any other moderate activity. After the 40 seconds, CAREFULLY step back on and sprint for 20 seconds. If youre not into the mill use a stepper or any exercise. After you HITT go directly to another machine and do 15-20 min at a moderate pace, say 80% VO2. The HITT will free up

68

fatty acids, the moderate will burn them up. After cardio wait around 30 min and then eat. Again, you WILL NOT lose muscle. Don't believe every wise tale out there. I want three sessions per week. I would try not to do them on leg days. HITT can be brutal. Now the diet: (all food weights are prior to cooking) Sunday-Wednesday-Saturday Meal #1 6 egg whites - 2 whole eggs 1 cup of oats 6 strawberries or 1 orange Meal #2 Protein drink, I like ultra size or UMP (Beverly products) 1/2 a banana Meal #3 3 cups salad containing choice of salad vegetables w/ 2 tsp. oil +1 tbs. vinegar, 6 - 8 ounces lean protein (lean beef, chicken breast or turkey or fish) 40 grams complex carbs (your choice) Meal #4 6 ounces lean beef or 6 - 8 oz. chicken breast or turkey or fish 2 egg whites Meal #5 6 - 8 oz. chicken, turkey breast, or fish 3-4 cups vegetables Monday-Thursday Meal #1 6 egg whites - 2 whole eggs 1 cup oats 1 orange or apple Meal #2 Protein drink: same 6 fresh or frozen strawberries Meal #3 3 cups salad containing choice of salad vegetables w/ 2 tsp. oil +1 tbs. vinegar, 6 - 8 ounces lean protein (lean beef, chicken breast or turkey or fish) 40 grams complex carbs Meal #4

69

4 ounces lean beef or 6 - 8 oz. chicken breast or turkey or fish 2 egg whites 10 oz sweet potato Meal #5 6 - 8 oz. chicken, turkey breast, or fish 1 cup vegetables Tuesday-Friday Meal #1 6 egg whites - 2 whole eggs 1 cup oats Banana Meal #2 Protein drink: 6 frozen strawberries Meal #3 3 cups salad containing choice of salad vegetables w/ 2 tsp. oil +1 tbs. vinegar, 6 - 8 ounces lean protein (lean beef, chicken breast or turkey or fish) 40 grams complex carbs Meal #4 4 ounces lean beef or 6 - 8 oz. chicken breast or turkey or fish 2 egg whites 10 oz sweet potato Meal #5 6 - 8 egg whites 1 cup of oats

If you find a loss of energy or are losing weight add a sixth meal, another serving of Ultra Size or UMP. If youre gaining weight too fast, we need to adjust the carb totals down and dropping a few oz of potato or some rice etc. This diet is designed to provide three lower carb days, nonworkout days, and the others are adjusted for activity. I feel it takes more energy to squat a HEAVY weight for 20 reps then to do chest, so more carbs that day are needed for recovery. This diet is designed to create max hypertrophy with no fat gain. Supplements: I love Beverly, Scivation, AST and Labrada here are my choices for now: Beverly, Labrada or Natures best multi and antioxidants Beverly UMP or US, Labrada MRP or AST MRP Scivation Xtend or Beverly glutamine select Labrada supercharge pre workout (this kicks ASS!) San fish fats (best fish oil on market) AST VP2 or Beverly muscle provider post workout

70

AST micronized creatine or Beverly creatine select, post workout.

Plan B, a precontest plan using high/low carb dieting and using an undulating workout program. This includes a sample peak week Advanced GH/HITT Workout and Diet Plan Advanced GH Chest, Back and Shoulders Workout Choose weights that reflect your 6RM, 12RM and 25RM Tempo: 40 x 0=6; 20 x 0=12; 10 x 0 =25 Goal: Four Circuits Per Workout A1 6 Incline Dumbbell Presses at 45-degree Angle Rest 10 seconds 12 Incline Barbell Presses at 45-degree Angle Rest 10 seconds

A2

A3 25 Incline Dumbbell Presses at 30 degree Angle Rest 2 minutes Repeat 3 times B-1 6 Weighted Chins Rest 10 seconds B-2 12 Bent Over Rows Rest 10 seconds B-3 25 Seated Cable Rows to Neck Rest 2 minutes Repeat 3 times C-1 6 Seated Dumb Bell Presses Rest 10 seconds C-2 12 Seated Lateral Raises Rest 10 seconds C-3 25 Lateral Raises with Cables Rest 2 minutes Repeat 3 times End with 100 reps for upper and 100 reps for lower abs Advanced GH Arms and Legs Workout Choose weights that reflect your 6RM, 12RM and 25RM Tempo: 40 x 0=6; 20 x 0=12; 10 x 0 =25 Goal: Four Circuits Per Workout

71

A1

6 Squats Rest 10 seconds 12 Lunges Rest 10 seconds

A2

A3 25 Leg Extensions Rest 2 minutes Repeat 3 times B-1 6 Leg Curls Rest 10 seconds B-2 12 Romanian Dead Lifts Rest 10 seconds B-3 25 Reverse Hypers or Back Extensions (Hamstrings) Rest 2 minutes Repeat 3 times C-1 6 Dips or Close-Grip Bench Presses Rest 10 seconds C-2 12 Decline Barbell Extensions Rest 10 seconds C-3 25 Cable Press Downs Rest 2 minutes Repeat 3 times

Advanced GH Arms and Legs Workout Choose weights that reflect your 6RM, 12RM and 25RM Tempo: 40 x 0=6; 20 x 0=12; 10 x 0 =25 Goal: Four Circuits Per Workout (Continued) D-1 6 Incline Dumbbell Curls

Rest 10 seconds

72

D-2 Rest 10 seconds

Standing Barbell Curls

D-3 25 Standing Pulley Curls Rest 2 minutes Repeat 3 times End with 75 reps Seated Calve Raises and 75 Standing Calve Raises.

Advanced GH Power Workout Choose weights that reflect your 5 RM A-1 3-5 Back Squats Rest 30 seconds A-2 3-5 Lying Dumbbell Triceps Extension Rest 60 seconds B-1 3-5 Pull-up Rest 30 seconds B-2 3-5 Leg Curl Rest 60 seconds C-1 3-5 Standing Barbell Military Press Rest 30 seconds C-2 3-5 Standing Calf Raises Rest 60 seconds D-1 3-5 Dumbbell Hammer Curls Rest 30 seconds D-2 3-5 Incline Dumbbell Bench Press Rest 60 seconds Repeat Eight Times

Advanced HITT Cardio Workout Cardio Only on Monday and Thursday Workout Followed by Cardio on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday Begin each cardio session with a five minute warm-up After the warm-up do the following:

73

20 seconds sprint and 40 seconds at a reduced level five intervals Use 9 12% incline @ 9-12 mph Add one minute (20/40) per week until you reach 10 intervals After the sprints, do 25 minutes on a different machine (do 15 minutes on workout days) Do not eat for pre-cardio and following the cardio consume 30 grams of whey with no fat. Take two-three scoops of L Glutamine pre cardio

Consume meal Number One about an hour after cardio Advanced GH/HITT Diet Plan Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Pre AM Workout 2-3 scoops of L Glutamine and 1 scoop Creatine Post AM Workout 1 scoop Muscle Provide and 1 scoop Creatine Meal 1 8 egg whites 1 yoke

Meal 2 6 oz chicken, turkey or tuna 1 cup vegetables Meal 3 2 cups salad with vegetables + 1 Tbs oil & 1 Tbs vinegar

Meal 4 8 oz chicken, turkey breast or fish 2 egg whites Meal 5 Meal 6 6 oz chicken, turkey breast or fish (Thursday) cup oatmeal, 6 oz sweet potato + 20 gms fruit

This is a low carb/cal diet and serves to put the body in a fasting fat burning state. Advanced GH/HITT Diet Plan Friday Power Workout Day Pre AM Workout 2-3 scoops of L Glutamine, 30 gms liquid carbs and 15 gms of whey with 5 gms of Creatine Post AM Workout

74

1 scoop Muscle Provider and 2 scoops of Gatorade and 5 gms Creatine Meal 1 Meal 2 Meal 3 Meal 4 Meal 5 8 egg whites, 1 yoke, cup oatmeal 6 oz chicken, turkey breast or tuna 8 oz tuna or other lean protein 8 oz chicken, turkey breast or tuna, 2/3 cup brown rice 6 egg whites, cup oatmeal Advanced GH/HITT Diet Plan Contest Week Monday Meal 1: 6 egg whites + grapefruit Meal 2: 6 oz white fish + 2 cups green beans Meal 3: 6 oz white fish + 2 cups green beans Meal 4: 6 oz chicken + 2 cups green beans Meal 5: 6 oz chicken +1/2 grapefruit Tuesday Meal 1: 6 egg whites + grapefruit Meal 2: 6 oz white fish + 1 cup veggies Meal 3: 6 oz white fish + 1 cup veggies Meal 4: 6 oz chicken + 1 cup veggies Meal 5: 6 oz chicken + 2 cup lettuce +2 TSP vinegar Wednesday Meal 1: 6 egg whites + grapefruit Meal 2: 6 oz chicken + 1 cup veggies Meal 3: 6 oz chicken + 1 cup veggies Meal 4: 6 oz. chicken + 1 cup veggies Meal 5: Carb up Meal: 2/3 cup oatmeal + 6 oz sweet potato Thursday Meal 1: 6 egg whites + grapefruit Meal 2: 6 oz chicken Meal 3: 6 oz chicken Meal 4: 6 oz. chicken Meal 5: Carb up Meal: 1 cup oatmeal + 8 oz sweet potato + small banana

75

Friday Meal 1: 5 oz 93% lean beef + grapefruit Meal 2: 6 oz chicken + 1/2 grapefruit Meal 3: 5 oz 93% lean beef + 1/2 grapefruit Meal 4: 6 oz chicken + 1/2 grapefruit Meal 5: 5 oz 93% lean beef + 1/2 grapefruit

Advanced GH/HITT Workout Plan Contest Week

Cardio Monday Friday, do 40 minutes a day, decreasing intensity each day so by Friday you are taking a leisurely walk in the park. No HITT cardio, just 40 minutes of light cardio work. Monday hard, Tuesday less, and so on until Friday. Workout Pose 15-20 minutes, 2-3 times a day Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday Do a whole body workout, including legs (leg extensions, abduction, adduction, leg curls, lunges, sissy squats.) Do high reps (12-30) and rest 15-20 seconds between sets. This is a free-exercise pan, working muscle to muscle, doing the number of sets that you want to do. Keep repeating, keep working, and do circuit training. Strive for a maximum pump and burn. Total workout should be about 90 minutes Thursday and Friday Do a whole body workout, but cut the time to 45 minutes on Thursday and 25 minutes on Friday Note: Replace Glutamine with Mass Aminos and drop Creatine until Friday and reload it Friday and Saturday. Keep water high until Friday and than have 24 oz between 6 PM and morning. Keep sodium light until Friday and then cut it out. No Potassium. Advanced GH/HITT Workout Plan Contest Day

76

Saturday Early Saturday morning (when you wake up in the middle of the night) eat 4 oz of sweet potato When you wake up Saturday morning, eat another 4 oz of sweet potato and a very small portion of chicken (optional) Drink 24 oz of water between waking up and prejudging Drink normally after prejudging Do a light pump up before going to the venue (push ups, dips, band stretches, to serve as a primer allowing glycogen to go into the muscles Two hours before prejudging eat 6 oz of sweet potato 45 minutes before pumping up have of a Snickers bar When you pump up, have 6 oz Gatorade Repeat the Snickers and Gatorade when pumping up for your second Class Between the two shows have a light meal Have fun.

Plan C, is a sample carb rotational diet for the endo/meso. The rotation diet Diet There are two different plans you bounce back and fourth from. Phase 1, a low carb low calorie day, and phase 2, higher calorie and higher carb day. To start the plan you go two days on phase 1 followed by one on phase 2. This rotation will be continued for three cycles, or nine days. On the tenth day you will stay on phase 1 for three days followed by one day at phase 2. This rotation will continue until the plan is further modified or changed. Phase 1- 10 calories per pound of bodyweight in the following breakdown; 55% protein, 20% carbs, 25% fats. An example for a 140 pound female would be 1400 calories, 195 grams of protein, 70 grams of carbs and 38 grams of fat broken into five regular meals and one post training meal. Here is an example of a meal plan. Meal #1- MRP such as UMP and grapefruit Meal #2- 8 egg white with 1 yolk, grapefruit

77

Post W/O- 30 grams whey Meal #3- 5 oz chicken, 2 cups green veggies Meal #4- 8 egg whites with 1 yolk, large salad Meal #5- 8oz. cottage cheese, 1 tablespoon natural peanut butter Phase 2- 12 calories per pound of bodyweight in the following breakdown; 40% protein, 50% carbs, 10% fats. For out 140 pound example the macronutrient content would be 1700 calories, 170 grams of protein, 210 grams of carbs and 20 grams of fats in our five regular meals and one post workout meal. Example meal plan would be: Meal #1 UMP with 3/4 cup dry oats Meal #2- 6 egg whites with 1 cup cooked rice Post W/O- 30 grams whey and 30 grams Gatorade Meal #3- 4 oz. chicken, 1 cup rice, 1 cup green beans Meal #4- 6 egg whites, cup oats Meal #5- 3 oz. chicken, large salad Training Training will combine both high and low volume and high and low rep work. Workouts will alternate between two heavy, low rep explosive days followed by two high rep controlled movement days. Movements on the heavy days will be comprised of primary movements (core type exercises such as leg press, squats, dead lifts, chins, presses, rows etc.). The following days will be comprised of a secondary core movement and some isolation movements. Training will be done on a split system, working each muscle twice every seven days, use a 2 day on, 1 day off, 1 day on, 1 day off cycle. The workouts will be split between upper body one day and lower the next. Here is an example of the power days: Day #1- Alternate between A & B movements, but this is not a superset. Do your first set of a movement, rest 40-60 seconds and then do your B movement, rest 40-60 seconds etc. until all sets in the A-B sequence are completed. Rep cadence will be an explosive positive, followed by a controlled negative. Take 2-3 seconds to lower the weight and then force the weight to a lockout, in a controlled explosive movement. A1- Incline press 6 sets of 4 reps. Try to keep the same weight each set but adjust the angle of the bench down every two sets starting at 45% and working down to 10%. B1 - Cable rows 6 sets of 4 reps. Change handles every 2 sets starting with the V-handle, then the straight bar and finally the wide bar. A2- Overhead press 6 sets of 4 reps B2- Chins 6 sets of 4 reps. Change grips every 2 sets from wide to close grip.

78

A3 - Triceps press down 6 sets of 4 reps. Change handles after 3 sets. B3- Curls 6 sets of 4 reps. Change hand position after 3 sets. Hanging Knee raise- 3 sets of 10-12 reps Day #2 - Use the same rep tempo as day #1. A1- Leg press 6 sets of 4 reps B1- Leg curls 6 sets of 4 reps A2- Hack squats 6 sets of 4 reps B2- SLDL 6 sets of 4 reps A3- Calf raises 6 sets of 8 reps B3- Seated calf press 6 sets of 6 reps Incline sit-up- 3 sets of 10-12 reps Day #3 off Day #4 Now we move into a lighter, high rep program using continuous tension on the muscle. Use more angles, but fewer overall sets per exercise. Rep speed should be 2-3 seconds to raise and lower the weight with 1 second contraction at the top and bottom of the movement. To increase tension of the muscles we will be doing alternates for the same muscle group. Again, using A1 and A2 resting only 15-20 seconds between exercises and both exercises will be for the same muscle. A1- Incline bench press machine 2 sets 12 reps B1- Peck deck flys 2 sets of 12 reps A2- Dips 2 sets of 12 reps B2- Cable crossover of 12 reps A3- Medium grip pull down 2 sets of 12 reps B3- Spider pull down 2 sets of 12 reps A4- Diver rows 2 sets of 12 reps B4- Straight arm pull down 2 sets of 12 reps A5- Dumbbell lateral raise 2 sets of 12 reps B5- Upright rows 2 sets of 12 reps A6- Incline dumbbell curl 2 sets of 12 reps B6- Spider bench curls 2 sets of 12 reps A7- Triceps dips 2 sets of 12 reps B7- Long triceps ext 2 sets of 12 reps Bench leg lift 3 sets of 20-30 reps Day #5- off

79

Day #6- Use the same rep tempo as day #4. A1- Belt squats 2 sets of 20-30 reps B1- Leg extensions 2 sets of 15-20 reps A2- BB hack squats 2 sets of 15-20 reps B2- Walking lunge 2 sets 20 reps per leg A3- Leg press 2 sets of 20-50 reps B3- Sissy squat 2 sets of 12 reps A4- Leg curl 2 sets of 12 reps B4- Seated leg curl 2 sets of 12 reps A5- Butt blaster 2 sets of 12 reps B5- 45% hyperextensions 2 sets of 12 reps A6- Inner thigh 2 sets of 15 reps B6- Outer thigh 2 sets of 15 reps A7- Hack calf 2 sets of 30 reps B7- Calf press with knee bent 2 sets of 50 reps Ball crunch 3 sets of 20-30 reps Cardio Cardio will be done daily but alternated between moderate and HITT sessions. Moderate sessions will be done twice a day for 30 min in the AM and another 30 min post workout. Choose any machine and try to maintain 70-80% of your max heart rate. HITT cardio will be done in a sprint and preferably on a treadmill, but the bike or Stairmaster may be used. HITT should be done for 16 min not including a 2-3 min warm-up and cool down. I also recommend HITT and sprint training NOT be done first thing in the morning. Due to the extreme nature of HITT it is best to have at least one meal in on HITT days. You will do your HITT on your off days, but each HITT session will be comprised of a different sprint/walk or high intensity/low intensity period and number of reps or cycles. For the example, listed sprint does not necessarily mean actually sprinting, but a period of 100% maximum effort using any cardio you choose. Here is the HITT template: Day #3- 20 seconds sprint 1 min walk/jog for 12 reps. Preformed for 16 min and again you may use the bike, sprinting or Stairmaster but sprinting is the best choice. There will be days when leg soreness dictates a different option. If you sprint and experience knee inflammation or leg soreness on the following sprint day, you may use a non-impact piece of cardio equipment. Day #5- 30 seconds sprint, 90 second/jog walk for 8 reps Day #7- 1 min sprint, 3 min walk/jog for 4 reps Do not increase the length of the sprint or number of reps, but always strive to work harder each session.

80

A FINAL WORD Once again this is just an example of the process I use to achieve a clients goals. Diets are as individualized as fingerprints, and everything shifts off the baseline diet. I must also add that the base line diet needs to be established yearly. There are many variables that affect metabolism, and they change constantly. Just because you had a baseline of X number of calories in X ratio of macronutrients last year it does not mean it will be the same this diet cycle. Determine your body type, establish the baseline, and implement your diet and training strategy and youre on your way to a peaked physique.

CHAPTER 10: Supplements

SUPPLEMENTS, FILLING IN THE BLANKS I remember when I started back in the late 70s there was little to choose from as far as supplements were concerned. There were some chalky tasting powders, mostly soy, sugar and milk solids, cod liver oils and vitamins. The really exotic stuff was desiccated liver and glandular. The theory was ingesting a gland would somehow help your own glands to produce more hormones. Not too many claims were made about their effectiveness then and not too many people I knew took anything more then vitamins. In the 80s the supplement world exploded. It was affected mostly by marketing and hype, and companies were using the effect of steroids to convince the consumer that Mr. America got his 20 arms from taking Boron. For those who were not around back then, boron is a trace mineral that was sold as a testosterone booster. It sold as a sublingual liquid, even though no boron could be assimilated that way, for about $35.00. It looked scientific and made lots of money, but did not contribute to an ounce of muscle. As the 80s progressed marketing became even better and products such as Cybergenics and Hot Stuff would fly off the shelves. Cybergenics was the first to prefect the before and after photos started long ago with the Charles Atlas cartoons in comic books. You saw a before and after photo of someone who took the product for the magic 60 days and went from Don Knots to Frank Zane. All through the use of this great series of products, and it came with a diet and nutrition guide, all for just $139.99! Yes, marketing at its best. There was actually some value to the information in the manual, but the supplements cost less then $7.00 to manufacture.

81

By the 90s it had gotten out of hand. I remember using FRAC, a rice derivative, smilax, a plant sterol (hormone) and just about every formula they came up with. Still the only useful items in my supplement cabinet were good old vitamins and minerals that I overlooked. That was until Met-Rx and soon after EAS. Met-Rx started the MRP craze with a really solid product. That did not throw in a lot of crap, kept it basic, solid and included just the right amount of vitamins and minerals. They used a combined protein matrix and avoided soy as a source of protein. It was an excellent product for its day, and is still a solid choice for meal replacement. Met-Rx had actually put some thought and science behind its product. A few years later EAS, once the champion of Met-Rx, came out with their own line of supplements. They too put some research into their products and even hired several top researchers, such as Anthony Almeda, to find them products that would work. EAS brought us two cutting edge products, creatine monohydrate and glutamine. From there, the industry began to play catch-up and soon everyone was doing research, some valid but some was a real stretch. From the 90s on, some solid products did begin to emerge. Just as there are good and solid products that do work, there is quite a bit of unsubstanted JUNK! There is also a current trend towards producing real steroids and selling them as supplements just because they fall between the lines legally. The consumer these days must make an effort to educate himself and to know exactly what they are taking and where it came from. I will not get into specifics on supplements, or delve into what works and what does not. There is just way too much out there. I will provide a short list of supplements my clients may see in a program, and rest assured, if I include them in my programs they have been validated. Here is my Team Sully short list: Multiple Vitamins Antioxidants Whey Protein Meal Replacement Powders Creatine Branch Chain Amino Acids EFAs Fish Oils Ephedrine products (only for clients who tolerate stimulants, and who compete in federations that do not have a ban on ephedra) Green Tea extracts Caffeine Desiccated Liver (yes, old school but effective) Special fats (CLA, Sesamin) L-Carnitine 7-Keto-DHEA

This is just a short list. I add and subtract products all the time based on effectiveness and research. There are some products that are validated by science, that dont seem to work, and others that have not been proven, but do seem to produce results. I will not give specific examples of products I use, but I do like the following manufacturers: Beverly, AST, SAN, EAS, Labrada Nutrition, Scivation, Primaforce and Cytosports. There are other solid manufacturers, but I trust these the most.

82

Once again, buyer-B-where! Do your research, and not at the companies website. Review the rules of the federation youre planning on competing in because some items, ephedra, DHEA etc. are allowed by some and banned by others. Dont buy into the hype or marketing of any product. If you need a reference try www.pubmed.com and type in any product claimed to be scientifically studied If it was, it will be on pubmed and the results will be there as well. Check with respected people in the industry such as Layne Norton or Doug Miller if you have a question. Both are active on many websites and Layne has his own site, www.physiquescience.com Remember supplements are just that, supplements to an excellent diet and training program.

CHAPTER 11: The art of peaking

PEAKING, THE FINAL WEEK The process of peaking is simply the art of arriving on contest day in the best possible shape. The culmination of months of diet and training can either be enhanced by the efforts of the last week to ten days, or it can destroy all your hard work. Yes, there are things that can be done to influence how you look on stage, but there is nothing that can be done to dramatically affect your physique. Yes, there are theories out there and everyone seems to have some secret on how to come in ripped and dry, but in reality there is nothing you can do to create a dramatic positive change. However, there is much you can do to sabotage your look. To protect the innocent I will walk you through a few of my failed peaking strategies. When I first began to compete I was told that I should not drink any water for up to four day precontest. I did this and ended up with an IV hooked to me the day before the show. Another time I was told to drink an entire case of diet soda the night before the show, something about the carbon and caffeine? I made it through 16 cans before I felt violently ill. Another time, I was given a cycle where I would eat no carbs for 4 days and then gorge for three, cut out all sodium and take in 99 MG of potassium every hour for the last few days, and then cut my water the last two days. I went from full and hard a week out to flat and squishy the day of the show. I once did a sodium and water load, drinking up to 4 gallons of water a week out and then cut it back to a gallon over the course of the week to trick the body into shedding more water, or something like that. I was so sick from the 4 gallons that I skipped the show. I have also sodium loaded (that was a disaster), ate 10 grapefruits per day the last week (almost got an ulcer) and many other foolish experiments. In 1996 I decided to just walk into the contest and do nothing special. I won the show and was in my all time best condition. You cant fool the body.

83

Now over time I have found ways to subtly influence how you look on stage, but you must understand the body has thousands of chemical reactions going on all the time. These reactions are all controlled by your brain and the brain always wants the body in a state of homeostasis or dynamic equilibrium. It will always find a way to achieve balance and the process will not always make the physique look better. You must control some variables the final week. Carbs, sodium and water will be controlled, but not to a dramatic extent. These variables will differ person to person and are based on sex, muscle size and density, body fat percentages and the individual ability to tolerate carbs. We know that some individuals are carb sensitive and insulin resistant. Some have food allergies and the wrong carbs or a new food not on the precontest diet can cause water retention. This is all determined in the weeks and months prior to the show, and not peak week. The point here is do not eat anything the last week you have not eaten through out your diet, and do not increase the normal amount of any macronutrient too far beyond what you have been doing. If the maximum daily number of carbs you could tolerate through the diet was 200 grams in a day, dont eat 450 the last three days before the show. If you could not tolerate that much carbohydrate through the diet phase then how can you expect the body to process them just because its peak week? Let me start by saying the carb up, as normally presented, does not work unless you have chemically altered you body physiology. You cant take in more carbs then the body can tolerate, without some spillover extracellulary. That means not all the carbs and water will end up in the targeted muscle cells. On average the body can store 250-450 grams of carbohydrates in the body. Of that only around 70% will go to the muscles, around 20% into the liver and the rest as blood glucose. If you take in too much glycogen the rest will end up as interstitial fluids and water will follow glycogen, right under your skin. This means smooth! How much carbohydrates you take in and when they are consumed will depend on a variety of factors, but I would suggest no more then you tolerated on a refeed day. When you take in your carbs is also individualized. I find mesomorphs can start taking in carbs the night before a peak. Some meso/endos can wait until the day of the show and still others are best off carbing two days out and then switching back to high protein, moderate fats and low carbs. This causes a slight diuretic effect and will prevent any spill over. I would rather have a carb sensitive individual come in dry and hard with less fullness then full and soft. A suggest a few trial runs once your lean enough to get an accurate reading on how the carbs are effecting your physique. A few notes jotted down over the last month of refeeds, can go a long way towards perfecting the loading day. The number of days of loading and depleting varies. I do not believe in depleting the final days. What I do suggest is taking in the usual number of carbs you ate daily but changing the workout to a glycogen depletion style workout. This means high reps, high sets, low rest and more moderate loads. I like full body workouts, death circuits or giant sets the last week. Lots of posing also helps depletion. I will have some clients train 90 minutes or more starting Monday and cycle down the training time until the Friday before the show. Again it is individual. I also do not totally avoid leg work, and I keep the cardio in, but stop the HITT work. Again it varies. The point is, I do not deplete the carbs, just go with the natural rhythm of the diet itself. If I have a meso client taking in 180 grams on a low day, we stay at 180 or at most drops to 130-150. If youre an endo and eating 50 grams a day, we stay at 50. The body will not be affected by less, it cant tell 50 from 0 anyway, and 50 are much easier on the diet then 0. As stated before the loading day will be about the same as a normal refeed day, with perhaps a 10% jump for a real

84

meso. I like to carb for no more then 24 hours, to decrease the chance of spillover. Once you fill glycogen stores in the muscle and liver, the rest goes to the skin. Water, water, water. One word on water, do not eliminate water. The body is 60% water, with muscle tissue being 70-75% water. If youre as little as 2% dehydrated it will impact muscle hardness and density. Just look at how full and hard you are the week before the show. That is how you want to look on stage, full and vascular. That is because the muscles are filled with water, fully hydrated and dense. When youre fully hydrated the water will go into the muscle cell, and any excess will be eliminated. Little or no water will be stored as interstitial plasma, or under the skin, because the body knows it has enough. It will only store there when the brain signals the body that it is dehydrating. This is done through the release of hormones, such as aldosterone, and is a self-preservation mechanism to allow the body time to get water. Aldosterone will begin to be released in as little as 12-14 hours after a water shortage is recognized. I never have a client cut out water, but I may have them reduce fluid intake the last 12-14 hours. This is a slight reduction, not an all out cut! Never cut water completely, and if you do reduce the volume, do not reduce more then 10-20% for more then 12 hours. This is only in extreme cases for endos, all others need not apply, just keep drinking. The last variable is sodium. I always tell my client to keep sodium at normal levels through the diet. If water is high excess sodium will flush out. The average person needs between 2-3 grams per day. More if youre losing quite a bit through sweat, so in the summer time or in hot climates, even more is recommended. I make sure clients salt their food the last few weeks before the show. All low carb diets should be higher in sodium as well. This increase blood plasma and allows for fuller muscles when glycogen is low. I prefer to keep the sodium high right up until the day before the show. At that point I will have client lower sodium, but never eliminate it. Sodium and potassium are responsible for the balance of fluids inside and outside the muscle. You cannot influence one without affecting the other. When you drop out sodium there is a corresponding drop in blood pressure and plasma is pushed out of the vascular system, and into the skin. The kidneys will then do all they can to prevent more sodium from being eliminated and the sodium will be reabsorbed and serum sodium levels will remain unchanged. In essence your body will stop eliminating sodium, aldosterone levels will increase and blood plasma levels will decline. Can you say soft and squishy? As for potassium, the balance works on both ends. You cannot increase potassium and not expect sodium to be effected. Remember the body strives for balance and the balance between sodium to potassium is roughly 2:1, meaning that you want two times as much sodium as potassium. Any more and the balance is disrupted. If youre taking in 2-3 grams of sodium then you want 1-1.5 grams of potassium. If you attempt to potassium load, with the idea that potassium ions inside the muscle will pull more water to the muscle, your wrong. Excessive potassium will stimulate the release of aldosterone; again the body strives for balance. I want to discuss a few of the little things that make a physique stand out on stage. The first is presentation. Yes, that means posing. I will not present a long chapter on posing, but I do recommend you find a qualified posing coach to help you through. This goes for bodybuilding and figure. Presentation is the key. As a long time judge I can say there are times when the best physique does not win because the individual does a poor job at presenting what they have. You must practice your mandatory poses, and not in front of a mirror! I can tell those who use the mirror as a guide ever time I see them on stage. They always have a slightly lost look because they cannot feel when the pose is right. You must be able to feel when youre locked in; there are no mirrors on stage to guide you.

85

I suggest you begin posing at eight weeks out and start with one or two cycles of the mandatory poses a few times each week. If you do not have a posing coach then check out a posing guide on one of the bodybuilding site such as www.bodybuilding.com or www.ocbbodybuilding.com or pick up a good posing video. Another trick is to get a video of a prejudging and actually go through the mandatory poses as the judge calls them out. It will give you the feel for the contest and you will have an idea of how long to hold each pose and what sequence they are called in. Just make sure whatever federation you are competing in has a list of there mandatory poses. I competed in a show that one called for a pose I did not know. I looked foolish on stage attempting to emulate what the others were doing. It was my fault; right on the application it had the list of mandatory poses. Review and practice. As for a routine, again check with the guideline for the event. Some shows are 60 seconds, others 90 seconds. Ask the promoter what the case is if you go over. At larger shows it is 60 seconds and they are timed. If your routine is 69 seconds your music may be cut in mid pose and you will have to finish in silence. Also check on props, as some federations ban them. I once saw someone come on stage with a baseball hat and sunglasses and the head judge threw him out of the show. That was extreme, but it happened. Check the rules and make sure youre prepared. Start shaving early, and get a tan. Dont wait until the last day to shave your body. This causes inflammation as well as shaving bumps. 4-6 weeks is a good time to start hair elimination. Tan early as well. I am Irish, and do not tan well, but I have found even a slight base tan helps my color on stage. It also seems to tighten up the skin. 3-4 sessions in the tanning bed should be enough. Bronzers and artificial tanning is a MUST. Yes, read that again, it is mandatory to have some type of color on stage no matter if your figure or bodybuilding, light or dark skinned. Even African American bodybuilders need to apply at least one coat of Protan or some other brand of dye. This serves to even the tan out and give the body a harder look under the lights. There are many products and methods out there to try and I suggest you do a few dry runs before the show. Some like several coats of Protan, others like Jantana bronzers and others Dremtan. Try them all and see what works best for your skin. If you use a dye, start applying coats early, as early as Wednesday for the really fair skinned. The directions are on the labels, but all are messy. Have grubby cloths and old sheets to sleep in as the dye will get everywhere. They are also a pain to get off, so you will look like you have a skin disease for a few days after the show. One final thing, for gods sake, do your face, feet and hands! NOTHING looks more ridiculous then someone who Dream tanned their whole body but had a big white face and hands on stage. You look like a Mime! Make a list of items to bring to the venue. Food, extra copy of your music, directions, two sets of posing trunks, a camera, film, towels, some bands to pump up with, extra clothes and a book to read are all necessities. Have a map of the area too. There is a lot of down time at a show and nothing worse then being stuck in the parking lot for hours. I like to have a trainer with me back stage, but its not necessary. There is lots of camaraderie at natural shows, but not as much at nontested shows. A trainer can help with the final touches like applying oil and making sure you have your number on. Its also noteworthy to mention that they do not need to be experienced. They just need to be trustworthy. Let them know what you need and expect from them and you should be fine. Finally, have fun! I will state this again, HAVE FUN! There will only be one winner, and the judges do there best. If its not you, just hold your comments and do not make a fool of yourself on stage. Also tell your friends to hold off on any outburst till after the show. I once had

86

a trainer who exploded on stage when his client came in a close second. He belittled the winner, and disrupted the show. I was judging and took it upon myself to get up and remove the individual from the show. He has never been allowed back to any show held by that promoter. Not only was this embarrassing to the class champion but it was a poor reflection on his client. I have also seen trophies smashed and people not respond on stage when called at less then first place. Poor sportsmanship is a sure sign of insecurity and poor self-image, and trust me the audience and competitors never forget a poor sport. Win or lose the achievement is being on stage, not in what some award says. If you win, youre still the same person you were before. There will be no marching bands or parades in your honor, and for the most part, no one but you will really care. Its only bodybuilding, so have fun, make some new friends and enjoy the experience.

CHAPTER 12: Q&A

Q & A Section.
Q: How many times a week should I train a body part? A: I have found that an average body part frequency of twice/week or, once every 5 days works best for natural bodybuilders. Some people have found success with even higher frequencies, hypertrophy specific training (HST), The Chad Waterbury method and Alwyn Cosgroves approach to training hit everything three times/week, but the stress is varied each workout. The every 5th day approach used in Doggcrapp and most Charles Poliquin workouts is also effective. The one body part per day/week workouts were first popularized by anabolic steroid using bodybuilders who could recover and grow training once a week because of there artificial hormonal system. This rarely works for anyone other then the genetic superior mesomorphs training naturally. Q: How many days per week should I take off? A: A minimum of one day totally off per week is necessary for full recovery, and I normally recommend up to 3 days off, or just light to moderate cardio. I find its also beneficial to take 5 days of rest or active recovery training every 3-4 months to give your body and mind a break, you won't lose anything and you may find that you gain a lot when you come back to the gym. Charlie Francis, sprint coach extraordinaire, often gave his athletes 5 days completely off from training between every 12-16 week block. So they'd work up to a new peak over 12 weeks (on a 3 week hard/1 week easy schedule) including their final taper, take 5 days off to recharge and then do it again. I have NEVER met a bodybuilder who did not benefit from taking more days off each

87

week and taking scheduled recovery periods. Most beginners need to train more on a regular basis. Advanced guys need to train less but train harder. Q: Should I use lean body mass or total weight to set my caloric intake? Or should I use goal weight? A: I recommend basing caloric estimates on current total bodyweight. Because that is the determinant of how many calories you need at this moment. Most people, assuming a relatively average activity level (exercising 3-4 days/week and not too terribly sedentary) have a maintenance caloric requirement of 12-16 calories per pound, with women tending to be at the lower end. From that point, you can adjust calories depending on goals. You can decrease estimated maintenance calories by 10-20% for fat loss, increase it by 10-20% for weight/muscle gain. Please note that these are only starting points, you will still have to adjust calories each week based on real world changes in body composition. Q: Should females train any differently for fat loss and muscle gain? A: Not really, although females tend to respond to slightly higher reps in the beginning and I also find that heavy core work using the power movements yields better results with women. Females are also much easer to work with as they have no preconceived ideas as to how to train. They are not as driven by ego either so their form is better. As far as overall program design there is little difference in male and female clients. Q: Is too much protein bad for the kidneys? A: This is one of the myths that permeate this field (Squats killing knees is another). It's true that people with pre-existing kidney problems have to restrict their protein intake but that doesn't mean that a high protein intake will give you kidney problems. There is no evidence that a protein intake in the realm of 1-1.5 g/lb bodyweight will be damaging to the kidneys. Q: What is the best way to maintain muscle mass during a diet? A: First, make sure you take in enough protein. Aim for 1-1.5 g/lb while dieting. Next is to continue performing at least some heavy weight training. Too many people try to mimic pro bodybuilders, who often use high reps to 'cut up' (and who have anabolic steroids to prevent muscle loss) but this is the worst thing that a natural do. The volume and frequency of heavy work should be reduced but the load (weight on the bar) should be maintained. Finally, don't go nuts with aerobics, especially if you're cutting calories significantly. If you start doing 12 hours of aerobics per day along with a major calorie reduction you will lose significant muscle. Start with a maximum of 20-30' of moderate intensity aerobics and build up from there. Q: Should I be doing high intensity, interval or steady state cardio. A: There are pros and cons to all of them. Steady state aerobics tend to burn more calories during the exercise bout than interval training due to the longer duration and can be done more frequently. On the flip side it tends to be boring, especially for long durations, excess seems to cause muscle loss and it can be difficult to burn a huge number of calories unless the duration of each workout is extremely high. Interval training leads to a greater fat loss despite a smaller calorie burn during activity because it generates a much larger EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) which are the calories burned post exercise. Interval training also improves the muscle's ability to use fat for fuel more effectively than aerobic training. However, intervals

88

are high intensity so they are limited in how many days they can be performed. So the best answer is, both. Doing 2-4 moderate steady state cardio workouts with 2-3 high intensity or HITT workouts will yield the best fat loss. Q: Is fasted cardio the best way to burn fat? A: The basic idea is that, under fasted conditions, with blood glucose low and blood fatty acids high, the body will burn more fat for fuel. Current research has shown that it doesn't matter whether you burn fat or carbs during your workout; if you create a deficit, that deficit will be pulled from fat stores. One exception is stubborn body fat or lower body fat in females. Unless you suffer from large amounts of stubborn body fat it is less important when you do cardio than that you do it. Q: Is there a correlation between morning temperature and metabolism? A: A low body temp relative to normal indicates that metabolism is suppressed. Every degree below a norm of 97.8-98.2 is about a 10% reduction from so called 'normal' metabolism. This is related to changes in thyroid, nervous system, insulin and leptin levels Q: What can I do to restore my metabolic output if I start to over diet? A: Start by taking 1-2 weeks at maintenance eating with at least 1/g lb of carbs. This helps to bring leptin; thyroid and nervous system activity back up. If it is still legal in your State the ephedrine/caffeine stack would be the next step as that serves to fix the nervous system impairment. I would also suggest getting your thyroid levels checked to make sure your output is in the normal range. If not your doctor may recommend thyroid medication. Q: What is the best way to warm-up? A: I prefer the Max-Ot low repetition warm-up with the goal of doing the minimal amount of work possible so that I am warmed up, but not taxed before my work sets. A typical warm-up would be: Empty bar for 15-20 reps 50-60% of work weight for 12 repetitions 60-70% of work weigh for 5 reps 70-80% of work weight for 3 reps 80-90% of work weight for 1 rep The first set is just to pump some blood through the joints and get you loosened up. As the warm-up weights go up, the reps come down to avoid unnecessary fatigue. Q: Is there anything you can do about loose skin after weight loss. A: It seems like whether or not people end up with loose skin when they lose weight is fairly genetic; some get it and some don't. It seems that if you're younger (and skin is more pliable/flexible), it tends to bounce back a little more easily but older folks tend not to. Degree of fatness and how rapidly the weight comes off might also have an impact. There doesn't seem to be any fix to it (short of surgery) or any way to know if you will or won't get it.

89

Q: Why do you recommend yohimbe for stubborn fat loss? A: In the body, there is something known as an alpha-receptor of which there are two primary types: alpha-1 (a-1) and alpha-2 (a-2). These receptors normally bind the catecholamine hormones (adrenaline/noradrenaline) Alpha-2 receptors do a number of things in the body and their general effect is inhibitory but of importance to fat loss, they inhibit lipolysis (fat mobilization). Certain depots of stubborn body fat (women's hip and thigh fat and men's abdominal fat) tend to have lots of a-2 receptors. Yohimbe acts as an a-2 receptor antagonist which means that it blocks the effect of that receptor and it will increase fat mobilization from certain stubborn fat depots. A-2 receptors inhibit blood flow, heart rate/blood pressure and lipolysis and yohimbe inhibits a-2 receptors. When you inhibit an inhibitor, the net effect is positive or in this case increased lipolysis. Q: Fish oil or Flax? A: I consider fish oil to be an essential supplement for fat loss. Data from the University of Western Ontario shows that fish oil supplementation increases lean body mass (during nondieting conditions), increases BMR (by up to 400kcal/day), decreases inflammation, and improves the ratio of fat/carb oxidized (sparing carbs, burning fat). Fish oil fatty acids (EPA and DHA) are more potent biologically than the linolenic acid in flax. Still, linolenic acid appears to have effects of its own, without conversion to EPA and DHA. Flax oil also contains lignans which have anti-estrogenic properties and a very favorable overall fatty acid composition. Still I prefer fish oil over flax for overall health, and fat loss. As a recommended dose Start with 6-10g per day of total fish oil (assuming 30% EPA and DHA). Q: Will heavy weights increase testosterone? A: Yes! Heavier loading increases CNS activation and can lead to an increase in Testosterone production. It can also improve the efficacy of the CNS to recruit muscle fibers. The more fibers you can recruit, the more growth you can stimulate. Studies have shown a greater increase in "Test" when heavy loads were used. For example, Raastad et al. (2000) found that a protocol of sets of 3RM led to a greater increase than a protocol using 70% for more reps. Q: Are Pull downs as good as pull-ups for back development? A: No. The pull-up is superior to the lat pull down because the forearms stay perfectly perpendicular to the floor and in line with the torso. If you want a wide back, this is crucial. Most people do the lat pull down wrong: they bend their torsos back at a 45 degree angle and don't pull straight downward (keeping the forearms perpendicular to the floor, elbows end up pointed straight down) but rather down and back (elbows end up pointing backward and toward the ground). Not bad for thickness development, but it sucks as a back width exercise because it basically takes the lats out of the movement. Q: What is the best way to do squats? A: A power lifting squat (wide stance, hips back, torso at a 45 degree angle) will give you the best levers to make a big lift. However, as a quadriceps exercise for a bodybuilder, this type of lift is basically worthless. A narrow-stance squat performed with the torso as upright as possible will place more stimulation on the quads despite using smaller weights. Heaving heavy weights,

90

without regard to correct targeted tension, won't necessarily help you build the muscle groups you want. Q: What is the best way to train abbs? A: Most people do a poor job training abbs. They do fast, short movements with no contraction and as a result, they have a tendency to switch the bulk of the workload to the psoas and rectus femoris, taking away from the abs. Using added resistance will only compound the problem as the body will be even more prone to resort to the more powerful hip flexors. Start training abs with at a slow tempo, focusing on contracting your abs maximally at the top of the movement for 3-4 seconds and slowly go back to the starting position. Using a stability ball for your crunches will allow for a maximal extension. I also favor lower abdominal work (although I do not think you can train the upper and lower abbs as separate entities) in the form of hanging leg raises and leg lifts off the end of a bench allowing my heels to touch the floor before brining them up to a 45% angle for a full contraction. Personally I do little direct abb work and find heavy squats and dead lifts with my core tight is all the abb work I need. Q: Should I stretch before or after training? A: Stretching should be preformed after a workout, or on non-weight-training days and not before the training session. Stretching before a workout leads in a loss of force production and there is no reputable scientific evidence to support the notion that stretching prior to exercise prevents injuries. To increase range of motion, perform your stretching when your muscles are warm: either after the workout or on your "off" days (after warming the muscles). Extreme stretching, aka Doggcrapp style, can actually change the look of a muscle. I have had my doubts, but after 4 weeks of post set stretching the way Dante recommends I did see a change in my leg and back development. If you're interested in finding out more about effective stretching routines, refer to the excellent book, Stretching Scientifically, by Thomas Kurz. The Q & A in the back of the book is especially helpful. Q: How much fiber should I be taking in when I diet? A: High fiber intakes lower risk the risk of fat gain by lowering the insulin and glycemic effects of a meal. About 5g of soluble fiber can drop the glycemic index of a sucrose meal by 50%. This does not even take into account the intestinal benefits and the regularity concerns of low calorie/low carb dieting. Men should get 38g of fiber per day and women about 25g. Q: I need a good calf routine? A: I have found few problems with most programs, but several problems with the form used with calves. Here are some common form errors. Not keep the knees lock, or almost locked on calf raise exercises. When you bend your knees during the up lifting phase with a bent knee it will induce a stretch-shortening effect and provide a plyometric bounce that will result in greater lifting capacity. This is great if just lifting the weight is the priority, but it will do nothing for hypertrophy. As you near full extension at the ankle, be conscious of keeping your knees locked out so the knee angle does not change. This is critical if you want to isolate the full range of the calf. Also make sure to use full range of motion on all your reps. I find most calf blocks are limiting on there range of motion. Try using a 4 X 4 with no weight and lower yourself until your heels can touch the floor, or almost so, as you keep the knees locked. Now go all the way up on the balls of your feet until you feel a searing contraction. Hold the concentric and eccentric

91

position for 4 seconds each. When you can do 20 reps without breaking into tears then your ready to move on to other exercises. Q: What is the best way to get rid of stubborn fat? A: The only way I have found that works is combining a low carb diet with weight training and Lyle McDonalds Alpha Mediated cardio and yohimbee/caffeen combo. Here is Lyles program in a nutshell. First and foremost, this is one of the places where morning/pre-breakfast cardio is probably crucially important. This includes whey protein, but you can take a small amount of BCAAs a half hour before cardio with 200 mg caffeine, 1-3 grams of L-tyrosine and yohimbe at a dose of 0.2 mg/kg (start with a half-dose to assess tolerance). There are two segments to the cardio. The first segment is for mobilization, to get those stubborn fatty acids out of the fat cell. The second segment is the oxidation part, to burn them off in the muscle. For the first segment of the cardio, use a machine that you don't normally use. So if you normally do the treadmill, do the first segment on the Stairmaster or bike or something. Just make it different. First segment warm-up: 3-5 minutes go hard: 5-10 minutes. I mean hard, as hard as you can stand for the entire time. Or you can do intervals alternating periods of 30-60 seconds activity/rest or 10-15 seconds with a longer rest (50-45 seconds) to avoid lactate accumulation. Second segment Go to your normal cardio machine. Do at least 30 minutes at moderate/high moderate intensity. Go home, and wait and hour before having your first meal. Start with 3 days per week. Why this works To get stubborn fat mobilized, you have to overcome a fairly severe resistance in terms of both blood flow and lipolysis, this requires very high concentrations of catecholamines (adrenaline/noradrenaline). Sadly, jacking up levels of catecholamines (necessary for mobilization) limits burning in the muscle which is why you follow the high intensity with low intensity. Basically, you jack up levels to get the fat mobilized, and then let them fall so that the fatty acid can be burned in the muscle. I have a study showing that Ephedrine before intense activity lowers the catecholamine response, that's the reason for avoiding it. Studies also show a lower than normal catecholamine response as people adapt to a given type of cardio; doing a different machine will result in a higher catecholamine response than you'd other wise get. The bigger problem with stubborn fat has to do with blood flow to the fat cells: which are typically very low, odds are your butt is cold to the touch compared to other areas of your body so it's harder to mobilize: both because of impaired blood flow, and because of adrenoceptor issues.

Q: What is the best post workout liquid carb; maltodextrin, dextrose, fructose or sucrose? A: Lets look at each individually. Maltodextrin is a glucose polymer (glucose polymers are groups of glucose units put together in much the same way that amino acids are put together to form protein peptides) Although it is a

92

complex carbohydrate it still has a rapid digestion and the GI is the highest. Maltodextrin is the best carbohydrate to consume during exercise for rapid muscle glycogen recovery, and it is best for fluid uptake. Dextrose is a simple carbohydrate unit and although it is good post exercise carb, maltodextrin is better. Adding some dextrose to your maltodextrin may enhance the fluid uptake even more as dextrose has been shown to have a slightly better performance in that area. Fructose is a simple sugar but has to be treated by the liver before it can be absorbed into the muscle and therefore is a poor choice post exercise. Fructose can also cause GI problems and decrease fluid uptake. I would avoid any fructose post exercise. Finally sucrose is a combination of both glucose and fructose blended together. With sucrose you will get the benefits of the glucose but the consequences of the fructose. Therefore it is not an ideal solution post workout. The simple answer is dextrose is good but maltodextrin is better.

CHAPTER 13: Coming of the diet

ENDGAME, COMING OFF YOUR CONTEST DIET

Over the last 20 years I have had the opportunity to diet many times for competition. I have also trained countless individuals for contests, bodybuilding, figure and fitness, and worked with many other great coaches and trainers. Along the way I have learned many great things about diet, training and fat loss. This has allowed me to fine tune my contest preps and improve my conditioning the way. However, in my 20+ years of research I have found little helpful information about coming OFF the contest diet! I fee there are four phases to a successful contest approach. Each phase is critical and must be mapped out for a successful contest diet. The phases are; baseline diet, conditioning phase, peaking and the endgame or coming off the diet. Of all the phases the most neglected is the endgame. Is this familiar, you start the diet at 12-18% body fat, diet hard for 10-24 weeks, get down to a low single digit body fat percent, do all kinds of stuff the last week to improve the condition of your physique, do the show and then eat everything in site? A week later your 20 pounds

93

over contest weight, your mental state is in flux, you wont take your shirt off in public and you cover all the mirrors in the bathroom so you dont have to look at yourself! There must be a better way to come off the diet? First, here are a few things that happen when we slowly and systematically diet to low body fat percentages; a reduction in metabolic rate and sympathetic nervous system output, a reduction in thyroid hormone output, a reduction in testosterone, GH and other hormones, increased insulin insensitivity and a uncontrolled affinity for bad food. This is all common with dieting and a drop in metabolic rate and thyroid and other hormone concentrations con not be avoided in natural bodybuilders. Hormone concentrations are sensitive to energy balances, so a reduction in energy balance (calories in) causes a corresponding reduction in metabolism and hormone concentrations. The insulin insensitivity is caused by the drop in percentage of carbohydrates that accompanies most dietary approaches. Most of the Team Sully diets involve some type of carbohydrate restriction or cycling based on individual needs. As for the desire for Bad foods, do I even need to elaborate? So what happened in the week following the diet? First there is a huge rebound in water due to increased carb consumption. Remember, water will follow glycogen in about a 3:1 ratio. Your poor tolerance to carbohydrates will cause most glycogen to be shuttled into the fat cell as opposed to the muscle cell. Besides that you will suffer huge mood swings and suffer lethargy. So at the end of a week we are a fat and depressed 20 pounds over contest weight. There is a better way! Just like your contest diet, have a plan to come off the diet. I like to do things in 3 week intervals when I diet, so lets use the same process to reverse the diet. It is a two to three step process followed over 6-9 weeks that allows for a proper transition into off season eating. The first thing I recommend is to enjoy a set period of unrestricted eating, a SHORT, set period. I prefer 24-36 hours post contest to indulge in a few favorites, pizza, ice cream and pancakes are a few of my favorites. After that clean out the crap or you will end up wearing a tent to work because nothing in your word robe fits. Once you have satisfied all your cravings the next step is to an extra meal per day. Keep the meal clean, lean meats, veggies normal contest foods. Add the condiments back in to make all meals more satisfying, and add things like cream to your coffee or perhaps some sugar free coco mix at night. If you were on a cyclogenic diet, several low carb days and a high carb day, keep the same process but cut a day between refeeds. In other words if you were going four low carb days then a refeed, move to three lows and a refeed. You can allow yourself to have one of the refeeds as a cheat meal, but again try to limit the damage at first. A few slices of pizza and an ice cream would be acceptable. Spending all day Sunday at an all you can eat buffet is not. Follow this for three weeks and then move to the next step. For the next three week segment increase the number of calories you're eating per meal by about 100kcal. Make sure the majority of the calories come from clean foods, such a second scoop of protein in a drink, one whole egg and one egg white or 4 oz. lean meat to your protein feeding or 8 oz. sweet potato or cup oats to a carbohydrate feeding. For example if your first meal is egg whites and grapefruit, add 100kcal of egg and grapefruit. If modifying the diet after a ketogenic or carb cycling diet then and youre adjusting a refeed meal of oats and sweet potato, add 100kcal of oats and/or potato. You can also move the refeed day back another day. In our example above we started at four lows and a refeed and adjusted to three lows and a refeed for the first three week segment. For this three week segment move the refeed so youre having two lows

94

and a refeed meal. Again choose the same foods you did in the last weeks of your diet, lean meats, vegetables, whole oats, sweet potato and egg whites. Now for the final three weeks add another 100 calories to each meal. You can also start to change the macronutrient profile by adding in more carbs to your first meal and the post training meals. If coming of the ketogenic or carb cycling approach them move to a 1:1 ratio of low to high carb days, one low and one high. Add another 100 calories to the refeed day as well and one or two cheat meals per week would be permissible. At the end of the nine weeks your metabolism should be readjusted and you would be ready to follow a more balanced off season diet. If coming off the ketogenic diet or carb cycling approach stop doing the refeeds and balance out your daily carbs intake in all 6 meals or take carbs and proteins in at meal #1 and your pre/post workout meals and keep the other three meals as protein and fats with veggies. As you gradually increase your calorie intake as well as micronutrient intake, you should also begin to taper off your supplements. Start with 1/3 less of your fat burning supplements the first 3 weeks, then another 1/3 the next three and finally the last 1/3 the final three weeks. Keep your normal health supplements in, multiples, fish oils and post workout whey protein should stay, but if you did high dose BCAAs then should be dropped by over the same 9 weeks. I still like to keep my BCAAs in year round. If you were using creatine then you can just drop it for the nine weeks without tapering. Dont end the cardio cold turkey! Again use the rule of 1/3s and drop both the intensity and duration by 1/3 the first three weeks. If you were doing 60 min and 20 of that was HITT 5-6 days per week then go to 40 min with only a 10 min HITT session for 4-5 days per week (drop one day). After the first three weeks drop another 1/3 and stop all HITT work and drop one more day so it would be 4 days per week for 20 min. The final three weeks drop one more session, but keep to the 20 min moderate cardio 3 X week. I strongly believe in cardio year round, but 15-20 min 3 X week is enough. If you have followed the previous nine weeks then you should have a decent baseline. If you want to maintain your current weight adjust as stated above, balance the carbs out and go with a 40-40-20 macronutrient plan, or have three carb/protein meals and three protein/veggie meals. If you want to gain weight start by adding 500 calories to the above plan, but no more at first. Add slowly and weigh yourself weekly and monitor body comp through the mirror. If youre gaining too fast, mostly fat, cut 250 calories, if too slow add another 250. This is the best way I have found to prevent looking like the Goodyear blimp in 2 weeks and puts the final phase, the endgame, in place for a proper transition into off season.

95

Its all about making friends and having a good time. This is me with randy Glass, an excellent bodybuilder and new friend.

CHAPTER 14: Closing words

BODYBUILDING: SPORT, ART OR SOMETHING ELSE? I wanted to end with a few words on what bodybuilding really is to me. I think of bodybuilding the same way someone involved in the martial arts thinks of their activity. Its as much of a discipline and way of life, then a sport. In fact, there is really nothing sport-like about bodybuilding, other then the competition itself. I also do not feel one has to compete in order to be classified as a bodybuilder. Even for competitive purposes, I always include Fitness and Figure as part of bodybuilding. No sir, bodybuilding at its root meaning, has absolutely nothing to do with competition. Back in the days of Muscle Beach there were thousands of bodybuilders in the Venice area that never once set foot on a stage. They were all included in the click that was then Muscle Beach. To them, the activity was about self-exploration, discipline, self-achievement and building confidence far more then muscle shows. Everyone was part of a family. Everyone shared

96

information and for the most part egos were set aside. Beautiful physiques were admired, not envied and those that possessed them were self assured, not arrogant. No one looked down those that did not possess the same level of development they had, but instead they helped those novice physiques along. If that novice one day achieved a better level of development, then they possessed they felt proud to have been a part of their transformation. Even in the days of early competition, you never heard of anyone smashing a trophy, or criticizing another physique for its flaws. I have large stacks of magazines from the good old days and there is not one derogatory remark about any physique. There was also an absence of mud slinging, and I never heard of a single fight between competitors in a gym. Back then, bodybuilding was almost mainstream, although many misconceptions arose surrounding the activity, the general population accepted it as healthy. The sport began to change with the advent of drugs. It slowly lost the interest of the mainstream population and now bodybuilding at its highest level is a freak show. The word bodybuilder is used as an adjective to describe the self centered, egotist that is breaking the law on so many levels. Just the other day, I was reading a copy of Police Beat magazine where the author of an article about a gang shooting had to use the term bodybuilder to describe one of the arrestees. Three pages later a drug case involving hard-core drugs was profiled with the title Bodybuilding Champion caught in drug sting. No mention of any steroids or other reference to the bodybuilder was made other then to point out the dealer was once a bodybuilding champion of some type. No one died from being a bodybuilder back in the day. However, today being a nonnatural pro bodybuilder is more hazardous to your health then diving with Great White Sharks. It is so sad to see an activity that started out with so many positives fall to where it is now. I had a chance to glimpse the end of that era when I started back in the 70s. I mentioned that Arnold was the one who provided me with my first taste of the sport. I failed to mention it was because he knew I was a youth on my way down the wrong path. I also failed to mention that he sat me right next to Mike Katz, one of the champions that night, and a schoolteacher. Mike spent hours talking to me about the value of education and how to use bodybuilding as a tool. Bodybuilding training taught self-discipline and improving your physique was a form of self-achievement. Both are key tools to excel in scholastic studies. From that point on, I put as much into my studies as I did into my training. The take home message here, is do not get wrapped up in the competitive aspect of bodybuilding. It is an activity of limited popularity at best and a circus side show at its worst. Try to realize that it is a form of self-discovery, a journey that only you can make. Success or failure is all based on what is inside you. As your physique develops so will youre inner self. Help others, hold yourself to a higher standard and never once think your better then anyone just because youre built. Its artificial and like physical beauty your physique will fade with age, but you will always be a bodybuilder. Hold your head high and always remember to respect those around you so that they will in return respect you.

Train hard. Be well and welcome to the team, Sully

97

TEAM SULLY SUPPORT ITEMS

TRAINING LOGS
98

$14.00

TEAM SULLY T-SHIRTS

Mens S-M-L-XL Colors: Royal Blue, Red, and Black Womens scoop top S-M-L-XL Colors: Pink, Blue and White Cammo available for a $3.00 additional charge

$18.00

TEAM SULLY DRY FIT TRAINING TOPS

Sizes: S-M-L-XL-XXL Colors: Red, Royal Blue, Black and White

$25.00

TEAM SULLY PERSONAL TRAINING

Contest prep package One year program Custom programs available, price varies. Prices subject To change without notice. All training programs include diet, supplementation, Cardio and workout programs with unlimited questions and access to feedback. To order contact Sully at: www.soabodybuilding.com To send feedback or questions e-mail me at: Sulcop96@aol.com

$300.00 $500.00

99