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Part 1
The Mr. Olympia title represents the pinnacle of achievement in the sport of bodybuilding. Beginning in 1965, one man was chosen to represent the absolute best in muscular development in the entire world. It’s only natural that bodybuilders around the world, seeking to improve their own physiques and aspiring to greatness, would look to these men as role models on how to sculpt their own bodies and bring them closer and closer to perfection. Based on their in-the-trenches experiences we’ve gathered 50 excellent training tips from six Mr. Olympia champions with a total of 34 Olympia titles between them. Take their combined wisdom and use it to forge your own destiny in iron and muscle! In the first part of a three-part series we focus on Jay Cutler and Dorian Yates. Part 2 will be posted Wednesday, Nov 16, and the final part will be posted on Monday, November 21.
Mr. Olympia 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010
Chin-ups build your back. “Plain and simple, chin-ups are the best exercise you can do for your back, in my opinion. I was quite humbled at how bad I was at pull-ups when I tried them again after years of not including them. It’s not so much a strength issue, because I can pull a ton of weight on a lat pulldown any time. But with chins, or pull-ups, there’s a technique to it that requires a bit of a learning curve and a good deal of practice before you get it down. I do them at every back workout now.”
Forget about how many plates are on the bar. “Back is one muscle group where too many guys get all hung up on how much weight they use. They think because Dorian rowed over 400 and Ronnie was doing 500 in his video, that’s what they should use to get a huge back. But 99 times out of 100, these guys are just yanking the weight up and letting it drop, and getting almost no stimulation in the lats at all. They would be so much better off forgetting about how many stupid plates are on the bar and focusing on what they feel in their backs during the set.”
Do an isolation movement first. “Many times, I do lateral raises first on shoulder day to get a good pump going in the medial heads of my delts as well as for a pre-exhaust effect. I really believe that a pumped muscle responds better to heavy weights, and that you’ll feel the compound movement that much better if you do an isolation movement first.”
For impressive shoulders, develop your rear lats. “Fully developed rear delts are a little-known secret for having very impressive shoulders. Whenever you’re seen from the side in the quarter-turns or the side chest or triceps poses, that extra development in the rear delts adds a whole other level of impressiveness to the shoulders that most bodybuilders are too blind to realize.”
Jay’s Back Workout, Circa 1992 – Age 18
Lat Pulldowns to Front 4 x 10
Pulldowns Behind the Neck 4 x 10
Close-grip Pulldowns 4 x 10
Seated Cable Rows 4 x 10
One-arm Dumbbell Rows 4 x 10
Barbell Rows 4 x 10
T-Bar Rows 4 x 10
Jay’s Back Workout as Mr. Olympia
Lat Pulldowns (standard or reverse-grip) 3-4 x 8-10
Deadlifts* 4 x 8-10
One-arm Dumbbell Rows 3 x 8-10
Barbell Rows** 3 x 8-10
T-Bar Rows 3 x 8-10
Seated Cable Rows 4 x 8-10
Standing Cable Pullovers Using Rope (FST-7 “Sevens”) 7 x 8-10
*Done at every other back workout.
**Alternates overhand and underhand from workout to workout.
Challenge yourself with the weight. “I really don’t think high reps are the best way to build mass in the legs. I’ve seen the best results by sticking with eight to 12 reps, but doing a lot of overall volume. Your legs can take a lot of abuse. You walk around on them all day. You want to challenge yourself with the weight, and don’t be afraid to do a lot of sets. It takes me two hours to train quads and hams, and I don’t rest much at all. I want to keep the blood flowing and a pump going that whole time.”
Make sure the muscle is doing the work, and not momentum. “Guys get caught up all the time with using as much weight as they can, but they usually end up either not using a full range of motion, cheating the weight up, or both. It really doesn’t matter how much weight you use. It’s about getting nice, full contractions and stretches on all your reps. That’s why I’ll do things like pause in the hole when I squat for a second or two before driving back up, and slowing my negatives down so I feel the quads or hams stretching as I lower the weight. You recruit a lot more muscle fibers this way, and you make sure the muscle is doing the work, and not momentum. I don’t use more than 405 on squats, which some people like to knock me for, but I get a lot out of every rep. If you’re using a ton of weight but not feeling the quads and hams work and you don’t get a pump, you’re not getting much out of your leg workouts.”
Jay’s Leg Routine
Leg Extensions 4 x 12 (as warm-up)
45-degree Leg Press 2 x 12-15 (warm-up), 4 x 10
Hack Squats 4 x 10
Leg Extensions 4 x 12
Smith Machine Squats 4 x 10
Vertical Leg Press 3 x 10
Seated Leg Curls 4 x 10
Single Leg Curls 4 x 10
Lying Leg Curls 4 x 10-12
Stiff-leg Deadlifts 4 x 10
Jay’s Chest Workout
Incline Dumbbell Press 2 warm-ups of 12-15, 3 x 10-12
Flat Smith Machine Press 3 x 10-12
Incline Dumbbell Flyes 3 x 10-12
Decline Barbell Press 3 x 10-12
Dumbbell Pullovers 3 x 12
Dumbbell pullovers for a bigger chest. “I’ve always done [Link niet meer beschikbaar], all these years. I really do believe they can help stretch out your chest and allow for more growth if you do them with a good pump in your pecs.”
Keep your chest high when pressing. “Two major technique adjustments helped me improve my chest thickness. One was to keep an arch in my back when I did any type of press. I found that I had to get my chest up higher than my shoulders, or else my delts would always take over the movement. I would say to myself, chest high, chest high, as a reminder of the position I needed to maintain during the set. The other adjustment was limiting the range of motion a bit on presses. When I used to touch the bar to my chest, I could feel my shoulders and triceps working to get it moving back up again, not my chest. I found that if I stopped short an inch or two, I could keep the tension on my pecs and I felt them doing a lot more of the work.”
Mr. Olympia 1992-1997
Barbell, machine or cable rows are better than T-bar rows. “I never liked T-bar rows, as the plates hitting your chest cuts down on the range of motion compared to a barbell row. Some have suggested using smaller plates, 25s instead of 45s, to increase the range of motion. The problem you will run into there if you have decent pulling strength is that you will run out of room on the end of the bar, before you have enough resistance to truly challenge yourself. The T-bar also tends to put more strain on the lower back. So I would stick with barbell rows, a good machine row like Hammer Strength or cable rows.”
High-intensity training triggers muscle growth. “I consider the type of training I did and still advocate to be high-intensity training (HIT). So what is HIT? Anyone can have their own definition and keep it as specific and narrow as they like, but to me, HIT simply acknowledges that the relative intensity of exercise is the key trigger to muscle growth. This extremely intense training needs to be balanced with rest and recovery, so respect has to be given to limiting training frequency and volume. Does that mean one set per exercise, or two, etc.? That’s all up for debate. All I can say is that I experienced excellent results with my own variation of HIT, and so have many others. If people want to argue forever about whose type of HIT is the ‘one true way,’ that’s all well and good. To me, it’s just not something I’m concerned with.”
Your heart’s got to be in the game. “I always saw training as a physical, mental and spiritual challenge. You really can’t separate those three elements to it. To push yourself like that, you’ve got to see it like that. If you do it more for your ego, fame or glory, you’re not going to be able to go there. And you sure won’t rise to the very top and stay there, either. That’s why I didn’t sweat about some of my competitors posing out in the Venice sun with their pimped-out cars and fitness model girlfriends. Their hearts were never really in the game, and that’s how I beat them all, even when they had better genetics.”
Try different exercises. “I never attempted singles as I wasn’t powerlifting, but I can give you examples of some poundages I used for six to eight reps in my workouts. I did decline presses with 515 pounds, incline barbells with 440, bent rows with 440 also, leg-pressed 1,500 and did seated dumbbell presses with 160s. I didn’t do free-weight squats or bench presses past my first few years of training, as I found I got better results from other movements. Powerlifters have no choice. They have to do bench presses and squats, but bodybuilders always have options. I always did deadlifts at the end of my back workout, so I never needed to go any heavier than 500 pounds.”
Genetics play a role in calf development. “I relied on two exercises for calves: standing calf raises done as heavy as possible to failure for 10-12 reps, and seated raises for six to eight reps. All my reps were absolute full range. I would rise up high on my toes for a full contraction, and let my heels lower down for a full stretch. I worked up to around 1,500 pounds on standing raises most of the time. I haven’t trained calves at all now for over seven years, and they are still better than most of the current pros, so genetics do play a big role.”
Allow for adequate recovery. “One concept to always keep in mind is that the process of muscle growth happens only when a muscle has been stimulated via intense stress, such as would occur with intense weight training, and then the muscle is allowed time for adequate recovery and overcompensation. If you train too often, that vital last stage of overcompensation (growth) never occurs.”
Do multi-joint movements like squats and deadlifts. “The most effective exercises for stimulating muscle growth are multi-joint movements like squats, bench presses, deadlifts, chin-ups and dips. The musculature of the human body was never meant to work in isolation. All the compound movements put a great deal of stress on the belly of the muscle in the mid-range of motion, which is usually their sticking point as well.”
Increased volume won’t increase muscle growth. “A very popular misconception that has been around for many decades is that increasing volume is the most effective means of stimulating muscle growth. If that were the case, you wouldn’t need heavy weights and you wouldn’t need to train to failure. That begs the question: how many sets should you do? If three sets are better than one, why not do 10 sets, 20, 50 or 100 sets? Training with a very high volume demands light loads and low intensity, and it won’t stimulate muscle growth.”
Part 2
The Mr. Olympia title represents the pinnacle of achievement in the sport of bodybuilding. Beginning in 1965, one man was chosen to represent the absolute best in muscular development in the entire world. It’s only natural that bodybuilders around the world, seeking to improve their own physiques and aspiring to greatness, would look to these men as role models on how to sculpt their own bodies and bring them closer and closer to perfection. Based on their in-the-trenches experiences we’ve gathered 50 excellent training tips from six Mr. Olympia champions with a total of 34 Olympia titles between them. Take their combined wisdom and use it to forge your own destiny in iron and muscle! In the second part of a three-part series we focus on Ronnie Coleman and Lee Haney. Part 1 was posted on Monday, November 14, and the final part will be posted on Monday, November 21.
RONNIE COLEMAN
Mr. Olympia 1998-2005
Push yourself beyond limits, every day. “Mentally, I felt very strong throughout my career because I knew I was putting in the time and no one was working harder than I was. I didn’t cheat myself by slacking, ever, and that gave me a sense of security. I pushed myself beyond limits, every day. I loved being a champion and I didn’t want that to ever change.”
Train with a group or on your own? “Many times, I trained with three other guys all at the same time, all friends of mine. We all used pretty much the same weights and we always kept a good pace. When you train real heavy like we did, you don’t want to jump right into another set right away. You need to catch your breath and regroup, especially with stuff like squats and deadlifts that take a lot out of you. But it’s an individual thing. Some people like to move quicker, so for them training with no more than one person is probably the best way to go. A lot of people are probably better off training on their own. You have to figure that one out for yourself. I never had a problem training with a few people.”
Deadlifts, chins and barbell rows build a great back. “There are a couple reasons you don’t see too many great backs. One thing is, the exercises that work best for the back are all tough, tough exercises: deadlifts, chins and barbell rows. Most guys would rather just do lat pulldowns and seated cable rows, or some machines. Avoiding the harder exercises that give the best results is definitely one thing. Another reason most guys don’t have much back development is they just don’t do enough for it. They will work chest or arms for a couple of hours, once or twice a week, but if they even do back it’s just a few easy sets. I trained my back hard twice a week, with two different workouts, every week for almost 20 years. And last, I don’t think too many guys think they can even get a good back. It takes a long time and a lot of work to build one, and I think most guys give up and settle for a little bit of width and a tiny bit of thickness. I never gave up!”
Do squats first on leg day. “Squats require a whole lot of balance and coordination. I always did them first, when I was fresh and had the most energy. That allowed me to use the maximum amount of weight, and I don’t believe my legs would have looked the way they did if I hadn’t squatted so heavy all those years. In my DVD “The Cost of Redemption,” you can see me squat 800 pounds and leg press 2,300 pounds for reps, in the same leg workout!”
I don’t care if you hate squats— do ‘em anyway! “I don’t know anybody who ever built huge legs without squatting. All of us guys with great legs— me, Branch, Jay, Kai, etc.— all put in a lot of hours over the years at the squat rack. It’s the toughest leg exercise and the most uncomfortable one you will ever do, but that doesn’t matter because it’s the most effective. Something about having that heavy barbell on your back and needing to keep it balanced makes the entire lower body work harder— not just the quads, but also the hams, glutes and even the calves. Show me a guy who works his butt off on squats for a few years, and put his legs next to a guy who doesn’t squat, and I bet you a Bentley GT the guy who paid his dues and busted his ass on squats will have legs that put the other dude’s to shame. I don’t care if you hate squats— do ‘em anyway!”
Train more than three days a week. “I don’t care whether or not you’re natural, three days a week is not enough training to build the physique of a bodybuilder. That’s more like what some guy who works 70 hours a week in an office— who barely has time to ever get to the gym— would do to try and stay in some kind of shape. I mean … it’s better than nothing. But even when I was natural, I still trained the same way I did later on— six days on, one day off (Sunday). Four days a week is a minimum, and five is probably even better if you’re a young guy trying to grow. The muscles need to be worked hard and often to become much bigger and stronger, and three days a week won’t cut it.”
Do shoulder presses first. “I always started with barbell or dumbbell presses for shoulders, when I was fresh and strong. My feeling was that the more weight I could handle on presses, the more overall shoulder muscle I would stimulate. The only time I think it would make a lot of sense to pre-exhaust with laterals was if you had some type of shoulder injury and you needed to make less weight feel like more on presses. Otherwise, do your presses fresh because that’s when you’ll be able to keep the most weight balanced and in control. That’s not too important with machines, but with free weights you’re better off doing them early in the workout.”
LEE HANEY
Mr. Olympia 1984-1991
Basic chest exercises deliver gains. “The best mass exercises for chest will always be the same whether you’re an ectomorph, a mesomorph like me or an endomorph. You should do a flat press with either a barbell or dumbbells, an incline press with a barbell or dumbbells for the upper pecs, and dips for the lower pecs. That’s it! If you focus on just those three foundation movements and work hard for four work sets of eight reps, you can’t go wrong. Once you have some good mass in your chest, you can start adding in a shaping movement like flyes or a cable crossover. But generally speaking, where most guys go wrong is getting too fancy with their chest workouts by doing a lot of cables and machines, when they should be applying their energy to the handful of basic movements that are guaranteed to deliver gains.”
Great abs with quality gains, not quantity gains. “I believe the key to having great abs is consistency in training them, and keeping body fat under control at all times. If your goal is to add mass, always be mindful of quality gains instead of quantity gains. Keep my famous piece of advice in mind at all times: ‘If you can’t flex it, don’t carry it!’ If you gain 10 pounds and your abs are still there, that’s great. If your gain five pounds and can’t see abs, you’ve picked up too much body fat. That means it’s time to incorporate the treadmill, elliptical or speed walking to lower body fat. There’s a right way to put on mass without losing your abs.”
Don’t train a muscle group just once a week. “I don’t agree with the current methods of training a muscle group just once a week. Prior to the 1990s, that was unheard of in bodybuilding as champions like Steve Reeves, Bill Pearl, Larry Scott, Arnold and Sergio Oliva worked everything two or even three times a week. I still believe in working muscle groups twice a week, but will less overall volume than what most guys today will devote to a given body part, due to the fact that they won’t touch it again for seven days. Something like this would work very well for most bodybuilders:
a.m. p.m.
Day 1: Chest Shoulders and triceps
Day 2: Back Biceps and calves
Day 3: Quads Hams
Day 4: Rest
I realize that not everyone can get to the gym twice a day, so in that case the two workouts can be combined.”
Do behind-the-neck presses. “The military press to the front was always my main foundation movement for shoulders. Behind-the-neck presses are a more awkward movement, but for complete shoulder development they are extremely valuable. Pressing to the front doesn’t activate as much of the medial delts as behind-the-neck presses. But because they are a less natural movement and they put your shoulders into a position of external rotation, I never went too heavy on them and they were always my second pressing exercise. You don’t want to do them when you’re fresh, and capable of handling maximum resistance.”
Start with a “bread-and-butter” movement. “It doesn’t take much training to stimulate growth, if you are specific in your exercise selections and make the most out of each set. For whatever body part you are training, you should always include a fundamental basic movement, what I like to call ‘bread-and-butter’ exercises. You start with that while your energy is fresh because it’s the most important part of that workout. After that, you add on your shaping movements.”
Cut back on your sets and reps. “I admit that I really only fine-tuned my training toward the very end of my competitive career. In 1991, while I was training for my last Mr. Olympia win, I cut back on the number of sets and reps I was doing overall. As a result, new life came back to muscles and I looked better than I ever had. Previously, my belief had been that the more training I did, the better I would look. I found that shorter, more intense and focused workouts were better.”
Remember the mind-muscle link. “The mind-muscle link is not the same thing as the ‘mind-muscle connection’ that we talk about in bodybuilding, which is related to isolating target muscles and feeling them work during a set of a given exercise. That’s important, but not nearly as significant as the mind-muscle link. One way of understanding it, if you’re a fan of the ‘Star Wars’ films, is to think about it like ‘the Force.’ In the very first episode, Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Jedi Knight, tells his pupil Luke Skywalker to ‘let go and feel the Force.’ Using the Force was really nothing more than focusing and harnessing the energy all around and inside you. In terms of what we do in the gym, the mind-muscle link consists of visualizing a successful set, locking in completely on the task at hand, and following through with full belief that you will succeed. Another way to think about it is what actors call ‘being in the moment.’ When it’s time for your set, nothing else exists in your universe.”
Bodybuilding is a 24/7, 365 endeavor. “We bodybuilders often use the phrase ‘off-season,’ but I feel that title is a bit misleading. ‘Off’ infers that we are resting or taking it easy, as many athletes in seasonal sports do. Bodybuilding is a 24/7, 365 endeavor. When we say ‘off-season,’ what we’re talking about is a shift in our style of training and the goals we are pursuing. This is when you should be decreasing the overall volume of your training, focusing on purely the basic, fundamental mass-building exercises, and taking more rest days to recover and grow.”
Part 3
The Mr. Olympia title represents the pinnacle of achievement in the sport of bodybuilding. Beginning in 1965, one man was chosen to represent the absolute best in muscular development in the entire world. It’s only natural that bodybuilders around the world, seeking to improve their own physiques and aspiring to greatness, would look to these men as role models on how to sculpt their own bodies and bring them closer and closer to perfection. Based on their in-the-trenches experiences we’ve gathered 50 excellent training tips from six Mr. Olympia champions with a total of 34 Olympia titles between them. Take their combined wisdom and use it to forge your own destiny in iron and muscle! In the concluding part of a three-part series we focus on Dexter Jackson and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Part 1 was posted on Monday, November 14, and Part 2 on Wednesday, November 16.
Dexter Jackson
Mr. Olympia 2008
Terrible form will make you look like crap. “There are a few guys who can get away with terrible form and still manage to grow. But they are the exceptions, not the rule— most guys will just look like crap, training that way. When I’ve done most of my reps in really nice form, I will loosen up the form a little to get a couple more. Cheat reps should help you work the muscle harder by continuing the set— not make it easier because you’re jumping and swinging around, and using every other muscle group except the one you’re supposed to be training.”
Hit your arms hard, but don’t overdo it. “The arms are a smaller muscle group than something like back or legs, but you still see so many guys doing as much if not more for them. Arms are fun to train, and since few of us are satisfied with the biceps and triceps we see when we flex them in the mirror, it’s natural to want to do more. More is not better. Not counting warm-ups, you shouldn’t need any more than eight to 10 sets total for the biceps, and the same for triceps. Hit them hard and be done with it.”
Switch-up your arm exercises. “You have to switch-up the exercises you do for arms on a pretty regular basis to keep seeing results, and you can’t avoid exercises just because you don’t like them. There are definitely exercises I don’t care for, like straight bar curls, that I still throw in there once in a while because I know they deliver good results. Staleness in training is one of the silent killers of muscle gains.”
Incline presses to build upper chest. “Even if your upper chest isn’t weak, you should still start with incline presses every other workout. But if it’s weak, of course you should always start with inclines! Why wouldn’t you? You’re fresh in the gym, and you can push much more weight at that time. Another thing I tell guys who need more upper chest is to lower the bar higher up on the chest near the bottom of your throat, instead of down close to the nipple line. That puts more stress on the upper chest.”
Feel your lats contracting. “Some body parts might respond even with crappy form, but back isn’t one of them. Forget about heaving, snapping or jerking the weight. Think stretch and squeeze with every rep you do, and make sure you feel your lats contracting. If your back never gets a pump or sore, you can be pretty sure your form sucks. Use less weight and do it right.”
Use straps on back day. “Some guys think it’s macho to never use straps on back day, but I think it’s stupid. Look at how big and powerful the back is, then compare it to your hands and forearms. They are a weak link. Your grip will always give out before your lats are truly done. I use Versa Gripps, and have for years. You can say whatever you want about straps, my back development is proof that I made the right choice.”
Be aware of your posture, and don’t let your back round out. “You should always be aware of your posture, but especially if you’re doing things like barbell rows or deadlifts. Never, ever let your lower back round and go convex. Always keep a slight arch in it, and your shoulders up and back. I’ve never had a serious lower back injury, but plenty of guys I know have, and it makes life miserable. One of the reasons I always wear a belt is because it’s an unconscious reminder to never let my back round out.”
Don’t worry about being the guy who can bench press the most. “Things like pec and rotator cuff tears happen because guys don’t warm up enough, they go way too heavy and they don’t use proper form. I never jumped into a heavy weight on the bench press right away— that’s insane. Instead, I would start with 135 for 15, then 185 for 12, 225 for 10 and then start my work sets. My reps were never under eight, and mostly right at 10. You have to remember you’re doing this exercise to build your chest, so focus on good contractions instead of worrying about being the guy at the gym who can bench press the most.”
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Mr. Olympia 1970-1975, 1980
Train at the right kind of gym. “A few good bodybuilders are able to train at home or in their garages, but for most, the key to success is training in the right kind of gym. You don’t necessarily have to come out to California and train at Gold’s Gym, but you do have to find a place where there is enough intensity so that unusual effort is considered normal. If you can do a 250-pound bench press and nobody around you can do any better, you are going to have trouble progressing to 300 pounds. But if there are some bodybuilders pressing 500 pounds right beside you, you are not going to remain satisfied with your own efforts for very long. You need a gym with both the right kind of facilities and the right kind of atmosphere.
“You have to be able to concentrate on what you’re doing, and some gyms allow this, while others discourage it. If you can find the right kind of training partner, so much the better. When you are aiming at 100 percent intensity in your workouts, you need somebody to kick you in the behind from time to time as well as praise you and give you encouragement when you finally get it right.”
The mind is more important than the body. “The body is important, but the mind is more important than the body. You have to visualize what your body ought to look like in order to make it win, because that’s what then creates the will. The will that makes you go into the gym every day, the will that makes you go and do the forced reps, that makes you go beyond. When you do the 500-pound reps in squats, and you can’t do another rep and your body is shaking, it’s the will that makes you go down one more time and struggle up. It’s all of this— the mental aspect— that motivates you and makes the difference between being in the gym full of joy and looking forward to doing that extra rep, and looking forward to doing those extra 100 reps in the sit-ups, and working past the pain barrier— all that is the mind. It’s not the body. That’s why I think the body is very important, but the mind is more important than the body.”
Every rep gets you closer to making your vision a reality. “You gotta go to the gym and feel like every rep that you do is getting you one step closer to that goal, to make that vision that you have turn into reality. And that’s why when you look at “Pumping Iron,” you can see that we always had great joy in the gymnasium. People were always saying, why would you laugh and have a good time— you’re working out for five hours? We did because I knew that every workout, every five hours, would get me closer to winning Mr. Olympia, Mr. Universe, Mr. World and all these things.”
Expand your chest, stretch and flex. “I think that the three exercises for chest that I have always done— the first year when I started training and the last year when I was training— are the bench press, incline press on different levels, so they start low, medium and high, and then flyes. Flyes were an exercise that gave me the full pectoral development because I went all the way out, almost hitting the ground. And I was a big believer in expanding the chest as much as possible and getting that stretch, because remember with muscles, the important thing always is to get the stretch, and get the flex. So to me, to go as far away with the dumbbells to get that stretch, and then to come in and have the dumbbells touch, and then flex like you’re doing the most muscular and then go out again— those are the kinds of exercises to me that you could not replace them with any machine. This was it.”
Shock the muscle. “One of the main things when you are creating size, and to create muscle growth, is that sometimes your body will hit the wall. What that basically means is that the body is saying, ‘I know all your tricks. I know you’re going start with the bench press. Then I know you’re going to walk over to the chin-up bar and do chin-ups. Then I know you’re going back to the bench press, back to the chin-ups and so on. I know that routine. I know exactly everything you do, and I am prepared for that.’
So you have to go and use the shocking principle. The body, if it’s chest, knows I’m going start with 135, and then 225 and 275. I’m going to go now, and I’m going start with 315. And I’m going do 20 reps with 315, and then I’m going to have the guys go and pull off plates, and I have 225 left. And then I’m going to do another 10 reps. Then I’m going to take another 45-pound plate off and I have 135 left, and I’m going to do another 10 reps. Or maybe if I can, do another 15 or 20 reps, and let’s see if the pectoral muscle is used to that. And then all of a sudden, you’ll find that your pectoral muscle is shaking after that. And you don’t know what to do because it is cramping, and it is being tortured. It is in pain. Because you have now shocked the muscle.”
Work on your weak points. “I think we have to work on our weak points, and we have to expose our weak points so we’re embarrassed about it, and you do something about it. My weak point was my calves. Your calf measurement is supposed to be the same as your biceps. My biceps were 21 inches at that point, and my calves were only 19 inches. Therefore, I had to go and start training them with 1,000 pounds and do calf raises every day, 20-25 sets, and I had five or six guys on my back doing donkey raises, and I became a fanatic about that. But that’s the only way to really win.”
Bent-over rows give you thickness. “Bent-over rowing with a barbell, and the T-bar row— any kind of rowing exercise— gives you the thickness. Those are the exercises I always relied on, from the beginning to the end. There’s a lot of bodybuilders who have a deficiency when it comes to the lower back and the striations of the lower back, which you only get from stiff-leg deadlifts and from regular deadlifts, and bent-over rowing, and all that stuff without supporting your chest. You have to let your body be free and let your lower back hold up your body while you’re doing the bent-over rowing.”
Use heavy weights for peak biceps isolation. “I was up to doing reps with 275 in the barbell curl. Many times, you would start out with a heavy weight and do just one rep, and then have them pull off plates in the curl. But just enough that I can now do two reps, then pull off plates and do three reps, then pull off more plates and do four reps after that. And this is how we would go and build without ever putting the bar down, to really let the biceps know ‘you don’t know what’s coming.’ You’re not going to get used to my training methods. I’m going to have all kinds of tricks up my sleeve. It’s absolutely essential to do barbell curls to create the thickness of the biceps, the dumbbell curl on an incline bench and do the concentration curl. Because the concentration curl isolates the biceps. We did heavy weights to isolate, to concentrate and really create that peak on the outside of the biceps that you need when you do your back shots.”