With Friday comes another random thoughts of the week post, where I am going to cover what has gone on this past week in bodybuilding.

Enjoy!

Up first I want to go back to something I touched on before, Dennis Wolf at the just past Mr. Olympia.

Reason being, is that, there is a big thread on what happened to Dennis at the Olympia, on one of the more popular bodybuilding sites on the web.

A Lot of people are saying that he should dump Chad Nicholas and switch to someone else.

Personally, I was not aware of all the people Chad has trained, but after reading the posts, I agree, I think he should get rid of Chad and try Pit Trenz or Charles Glass.

But again this is just my opinion.

Another thing that was pointed out on the thread was words to the effect that since he placed so low he will have less pressure, I agree with this, he can go back home, get his head together and just train and grow.

However, one point that Dennis needs to deal with now is qualifying for the Mr. O, as last year he was already in based on him placing in the top ten.

This means he will have to do at least one show, but maybe more, to qualify for the O.

But, in fairness to Dennis, this could be EXACLTY what he needs, because if something happens at the first show he enters, say he comes in flat, he can learn for this mistake and try and fix it for his next show.

Which can help him come prep time for the O.

I touched on this before, but Dennis has, according to what I’ve read, an extremely fast metabolism, so this can be a factor in why he just can’t get is condition spot on.

Another factor with Dennis, could be that his metabolism while still fast, it has started to slow, and since it was always very fast, he did not know how to deal with this.

Dennis is still young, as noted in a prior post I believe he is still in his twenties or just thirty, so he has plenty of time.

With another year of solid training under his belt Dennis can come back next year and really surprise a lot of people.

HANEY OR CUTLER

I saw this poll question and wanted to comment on it.

They are asking who has the better physique, Lee Haney or Jay Cutler

For those who don’t know Lee started his run of eight consecutive Olympia’s in nineteen eighty four.

To me it is no contest, Lee Haney all the way.

Better shape, small waist, to me he just looks better.

I realize Jay Cutler is big than Lee, but to me, again Lee just looks better.

O.K.

That’s all for this week.

HOPE YOUR WEEKEND GOES GREAT.

Until Next Week

WORK SMART

Just recently, I’ve been reading about high intensity training—well actually I have read about it for years, but seeing as how I just read about it again, I figured I’d give you my opinion on it.

High intensity training, the way I understand it, involves doing a couple of progressively heavier warm-up sets and then one all-out work set.

Yes, you actually only do one work set, but the set is taken to failure.

The high intensity style of training is brutal, but it works, however, there are many problems with it.

The fact that it is brutally hard, now there is nothing wrong with hard work, to the contrary you must work hard if you want to succeed in anything not just bodybuilding.

However, to me there is just too much of a chance for burn-out.

Every time you go workout, it has to be all out—how long is this going to last, a week maybe two.

Of course, I can hear people saying, well then you could just take a week off every couple of weeks to help your body recover.

Bingo.

Great concept, except for one thing.

You still go back to the same all-out training style and for my money; mentally this is going to get old really quick.

Sure every four to six weeks you COULD switch over to a more traditional bodybuilding style routine, where you do eight to twelve reps per set for multiple sets, all the while leaving something in the hole—meaning you don’t go to failure.

Sounds good right?

Wrong.

The way the high intensity people lay-it-out, (at least in my opinion) high intensity training is really the only way to make gains.

Wrong.

Tons of muscle has been built over the years using every single idea around.

Some professional bodybuilders have used high intensity training successfully—but to me this just compounds the problem.

Most professional bodybuilders have genetics that are so far ahead of most people it isn’t even funny.

They can use the above high intensity training and grow, because they have the genetics for it.

SOME COMMENTS

So where does that leave someone with average genetics, or even below average genetics—are you sunk?

No.

High intensity training works, as does every-other form of training, but only for a few weeks.

So if you want to give high intensity training a shot, do so but only for a few weeks, and keep a VERY close eye on how you are feeling.

So if you start feeling burned out, ie; loss of appetite, no desire to train, and lifts start falling off, stop using high intensity and take a week off of all training.

If this happens to you only after a week or so, then I would advise you to take a close look at everything, your sleep habits, your eating habits, everything.

If you are doing everything right and are still not going good on high intensity training, then simply stop it, and know that you gave it a shot and it just did not work out for you.

On-the-other-hand, if you are still feeling good after four weeks of high intensity training—stop it and go back to your regular bodybuilding style workouts, knowing that you can come back to high intensity training a few times a year, when you want to change things up.

SOMEMORE COMMENTS

If you decide to try high intensity training, there are three things that you MUST do.

First, warm up very well before your all out set.
And second, make sure you are getting at least six hours of sleep per night; however, eight would be better.

Plus, make sure your eating is spot on, no missing meals.

Make sure you are taking in plenty of protein to help with muscle growth and repair.

CONCLUSION

High intensity training, to me, is just like any other method, it works, but only for so long, and then you need to make a change.

If you’re up for a challenge give high intensity training a go.

Just don’t fall into the trap of believing it is the only way to train.

Until Next Time

KEEP MOTIVATED

One sports figure that I really admire is Tiger Woods, to be honest I don’t admire him because he is a golfer I admire him because of the way he plays.

Let me explain.

I think Tiger has pretty much nailed it down so that even if he were to retire today he would go down as one of the greatest golfers in history.

Plus he has enough money to live the rest of his life the way he wants to.

But, he still wants to win more tournaments, get more trophies.

Wouldn’t you think it would be easy for him to wake up and say, well, I’ve done enough I really don’t need to do much more.

But he doesn’t, and that is what separates him for all the others.

Same goes for training, yes, you just gained ten pounds—six months ago.

Of course after an all out training blitz you do need a break, but not six months.

Or are you simply living off you past gains, and not really motivated anymore to train as hard as you need in order to make another ten pound weight gain.

To illustrate what I am talking about, I want to bring something up that I read by Ron Harris in the current issue of Iron Man Magazine.

He said that he got put through a biceps workout by six time Mr. O Dorian Yates and he realized that he really wasn’t putting out as much effort as he thought he was, in his own training.

Sorry Mr. Harris if I missed quoted you a bit, but I was writing the above from memory.

SOME POINTS

The thing to remember is, are you really putting in a great workout, or are you satisfied with just going through the motions.

Another thing to consider is your eating and sleeping habits.

What I mean by this is, if you are chronically tired from lack of sleep or really do not take in enough quality calories to make gains, you may think you are training hard, but the reality of the situation is that you probably are not.
So make sure you have all your bases covered, as it is easy especially for veteran lifters to think that they have it all under control, when if fact they have been slipping up little by little, like staying up later than they used to, or missing meals.

All the while thinking that they are doing everything right, but wondering why their gains have slowed.

CONCLUSION

The next time you find yourself loafing between sets; re commit yourself to working at a quicker pace and really giving it your all—on every rep and every set.

Same goes for your eating habits.

Examine them and make sure you are really getting in six to eight quality meals per day or have you been slipping up and have been too tired to get those last couple of meals in.

Over time those kinds of things can make the difference between making gains and making none or losing fat and losing none.

It doesn’t take much to get into the groove again, and one other thing you can try is sitting back one day and thinking back to why you got into this sport of bodybuilding in the first place—not to mention flipping through an old muscle magazine as this can bring the memories flooding back, and along with it your old zeal and excitement for training.

Until Next Time

KEEP WORKING

Picked up the latest issue of Muscular Development Magazine and went through the interview that Ron Harris did with Mark Alvisi and wanted to comment on it.

First congratulations to Mark as this is a major accomplishment because of course, while you want to do damage in the pro ranks—you have to get there first, and this win got Mark his pro card.

Second, despite the fact that most people were saying that Mark was sure thing to turn pro, I’ve been following this sport for a LONG time, and have seen guys that were sure-to-turn-pro, get second and then third, and then second, and well you know the story, they just never got over-the-hump.

Third, it seems like Mark has a good head on his shoulders and knows what he needs to do to improve—and obviously he did the job from last year because he got his pro card.

My opinion of his physique is that while he has wonderful shoulders, he needs bring up his chest a bit, and add some more to his legs, especially the inner thighs.

Also, and this is just from the pictures I’ve seen in the magazines, Mark needs to keep an eye on his waist so that it does not get bigger.

But as stated above, I think Mark has a good head on his shoulders and knows what needs to be done—and will do it.

Plus, I feel he his doing it the right way, take some time off to put on some size and then compete.

To me competing just for the sake of it is not really worth it.

SOME COMMENTS

You must congratulate Steve Blechman the publisher and editor-in-chief or Muscular Development Magazine as he has put together a fine collection of young bodybuilders that can be battling-it-out for top honors at shows for years-to-come.

With Mark Alvisi, Evan Centopani, Erik Fankhouser, and probable soon-to-be pro Branden Ray.

Not-to-mention Dennis Wolf.

All of the above young men are just that, young, and will be around this sport for years to come.

Also, to be honest, Muscular Development Magazine has tons of great info in it every month, for guys like me, and I’m sure thousands of other young and not so young men, who simply love training, and want to learn everything they can to improve them selves, but have no desire to compete.

CONCLUSION

Congrats, again to Mark Alvisi on his overall win at the 2009 USA Championships and to Steve Blechman for putting together one heck of a magazine.

Until Next Time

NEVER STOP DREAMING

For my money the best thing you can be when you go out to drop your hard earned money on something is—educated.

And that is EXACTLY what you will be—if you buy Bodybuilding Revealed—the next time you go out to drop big bucks on a supplement.

Why?

Simple.

In Bodybuilding Revealed Will Brink lays out everything you need to know about supplements—everything from Whey Protein to HMB.

Plus if you have a question all you have to do is visit Will’s private members only forum—which you get access to when you purchase Bodybuilding Revealed—and ask a question and either Will himself or one of his very educated moderators will answer your question.

And you know what—this feature alone will save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars per year on supplements because you’ll KNOW which ones are worth the money and which ones are pure garbage.

Honesty, if Will only provided this feature the book would be worth its weight in gold, but no, Will covers training with just as much zest and zeal as he did supplements.

Will hits it straight on covering everything from whole body programs to the classic three day split to four day splits as well.

Honestly, there is one section during the training chapter that I am glad Will talks about and this is—keeping detailed records—doing so is vital and really can make a difference in your progress.

Another thing that separates Bodybuilding Revealed from the amateur books out there written by so-called experts is the way Will put Bodybuilding Revealed together.

I’ve read hundreds of e-books and I can’t remember very many that were set up the way Will’s book is.

The side bar on the left gives you quick one click access to any chapter of the book—want to re-read that section on nutrition—simply click—saves you time by putting the information you want right at your finger tips.

Plus throughout the book there are links to Will’s forum—so for example if you are reading about whey protein ( Will’s information on whey protein is excellent I might add) you can simply click the link provided and it will take you directly to the members area so you can discuss this topic with other members of Will’s forum—or ask a question.

Again, this is just another little extra that sets Will’s book apart from the rest.

Will Brink’s Bodybuilding Revealed is a soup to nuts affair—everything and anything YOU need to improve your body is here.

From nutrition to cardio—Will covers everything you need to not only make informed buying decisions but, to also make informed choices about how to train and eat to make your body the best it can be.

Bodybuilding Revealed gets my highest recommendation for anyone who wants to learn how to burn fat, build muscle, and totally reshape their body using the power of solid nutrition, training and good honest supplements.

Note: Please if you do nothing else if you know anyone (but young men and women in particular) who want to start bodybuilding please buy them a copy of this book—so they can get started the right way—

Before they get brainwashed by all of the fancy ads and goofball information that is out there.

I wish I had access to this when I started training over twenty years ago!

Great job Will!

For more information on Will’s

Fantastic book—CLICK HERE.

There has been a lot of talk on the forums and in one of the major muscle magazines about which diet is better, the low or no carb diet, or dieting with carbs.

For me, personally I have always been a low carb guy.

Why?

Simple.

I gave the carb thing a try and it did not work for me.

And this is the main point of this post—regardless of if you are into low carbs no carbs or carbs—the best thing you can do is try everything and see how it works for you.

Reading about the benefits of low carbs is great, but if you never try it, how can you really know for sure if it works—for you.

Heck, you might feel wonderful on low carbs—but then again you might feel terrible—but you would have never known this fact if you didn’t try it.

Same goes for different methods of training, some people can gain doing singles and while this approach might look goofy or appear to be without merit—the only thing that counts is that this method works for that particular person.

So even though it might go against all you thought you knew about building muscle—lets say the next time you go stale on a routine—you think back to that guy you saw doing singles—and give them a shot.

Hey the worst thing that can happen is that they don’t work for you—no big deal—lesson learned and you move on.

SOME POINTS

One thing most people forget is that the body is always changing, so you know that super mass gaining routine that you did when you were eighteen—well now that you are thirty five it just might not work anymore.

Same goes for your nutrition—you know that all day pig-out fest you’ve been having for years on Tuesday—worked great up until six months ago—again your body could have changed.

A WORD ON LOW CARBS

As long as I brought up the low carb, no carb, and carb debate, I might as well chime in with my two cents.

Honestly, I feel that most people eat way too many carbs—for the reason being that most people’s lifestyles are VERY sedentary.

Even if you lift weights hard for an hour four days per week, the rest of the time you might be sitting at a desk somewhere eight or more hours per day.

There are exceptions of course, the guy who busts-his-but in the gym four days per week and has a physical job eight hours per day will obviously need more carbs (and calories) than the rest of us.

However, for the most part, I think people (after getting the O.K. from their doctor or health care provider) would do better on a lower carb diet.

To me though, there is a limit, the whole no carb or trace carb diet, where the only carbs that are found in the diet are the ones found in nuts and seeds and vegetables—for example—is pushing it WAY too far.

People will only stick to something that they can live with and I don’t think too many people can live with the no carb thing—for very long anyway.

O.K.

That ends my rant on the carb debate.

CONCLUSION

Trying new things can be hard, but if you don’t try you will never know.

So the next time you are at a loss for a new way to train—how about having the courage to try something out-of-the-ordinary.

Who knows, you might just discover a new favorite way to train.

Until Next Time

KEEP AN OPEN MIND

Setting goals is a great way to motivate your self to make progress, however, as with everything; there is a right way and a WRONG way to go about it.

Say for example, you are one hundred and ten pounds soaking wet (and maybe just maybe your pet elephants big toe was on the scale).

Plus your arms are only eleven inches.

Now, of course, you want to be two hundred and fifty pounds ripped-to-the-bone with twenty-two inch arms.

Plus you wanted it yesterday.

As lofty of a goal as the above is, a better way to go about making progress, is to focus on mini (or short term) goals.

For example in instead of saying I want to gain thirty pounds in six weeks.

Say, I am going to gain a half pound to one pound of bodyweight per week.

I know the later does not sound like much, but if you slowly but surely gain weight (good solid weight) every week or every-other-week, you will over time reach your main goal of putting on thirty pounds.

Same goes for losing weight, if you want to lose thirty pounds by next summer, break it up into mini goals.

For example, tell yourself I am going to walk an extra three miles this week.

When you accomplish that goal set another, like I am going to walk more hills this week.

Little, by little as you achieve your mini goals you will as a result, be achieving your main goal as well.

CONCLUSION

Goal setting is a great way to achieve whatever it is you want, be it a better body, more money, or a better job.

However, looking at a goal that may take you a year or more to achieve can really be hard to handle.

But by breaking your main goal up into a set of easier to reach (say week long mini goals) not only will you have something to strive for every week—you will slowly but surely be getting closer and closer to achieving your main goal.

One last point—

Don’t get so caught up in achieving your goal—that you forget to enjoy the journey.

Until Next Time

STAY FOCUSED

In the last post we talked about building wide shoulders, by building up the side delt head using the overhead press, either done with a barbell or dumbbells.

To reiterate what I said in the last post—to me wide shoulders—tell the world I am strong and in shape—and yes building up your shoulders is a terrific way to start building YOUR X Frame physique.

YOUR SECOND EXERCISE

While I truly believe that anyone can build cannon ball sized delts with the overhead press alone I also know that I would be cheating you out of growth if I did not include this next exercise.

LEAN AWAY LATERALS

Lean away laterals are a fantastic exercise for adding plenty of meat to your side delt head (the one that will truly make you look like you won’t be able to fit through a doorway).

To do them grab a moderately heavy dumbbell and with your free hand grab hold of something sturdy and lean until your body is at approximately a forty-five degree angle.

Raise the dumbbell until it is just about at head height.

The reason this exercise is so good at packing muscle on the side head of the delts is because a greater load is placed on the side delt at the top of the movement.

SOME POINTS

To get the most out of the above movements I would hit the overhead press hard using the tried and true 5×5 program (that’s five sets of five reps per set for a total of 25 reps).

Gradually trying to increase the amount of weight you use on this exercise.

For the lean-away-laterals I would not go as heavy (relatively speaking of course) and aim for a more traditional 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps per set.

Of course, the above are just guides and should not be thought of as the only way to do these exercises—once you get comfortable with them feel free to shake-it-up as you see fit.

DON’T FORGET QUALITY NUTRITION

Lots of people blast it at the gym and then wonder, why they are not seeing the results they want.

Plenty of times it is because of their nutrition or I should say lack of nutrition.

The above exercises are fantastic but to make optimal progress you need to treat your eating habits just like you treat your workouts—to important to miss.

Focus on eating every two to three hours and make sure you are getting one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight, so for example if you weigh two hundred pounds then you would need to shoot for two hundred grams of protein per day divided up into six meals.

Protein should come from lean beef, chicken, turkey, fatty fish, whole eggs, etc.

Carbs sources should be things like oatmeal (preferably steel cut oats) whole wheat breads (the kind that have at least five grams of fiber per slice), yams, sweet potatoes, and all kinds of fruits and vegetables.

Fats should come from fatty fish like sardines and salmon (for the omega 3 fatty acids) natural peanut butter (read labels to make sure the peanut butter you choose does not include extra sugar) and all kinds of nuts and seeds.

And yes, if you are young and your metabolism is running along, a couple of trips (every now-and-then) to your favorite fast food place won’t hurt.

A WORD ON POST WORKOUT NUTRITION

A lot has been made lately of post workout nutrition, but don’t let it be the determining factor in whether or not you make gains.

By this I mean, if you have the money and can afford a good post workout product or just a high quality whey product shake for that matter, great.

If not, just eat a high quality, highly nutritious meal after your workout—although you don’t want too much fat or fiber in this meal, so something like white meat chicken and white rice would be good.

Trust me on this point, plenty of world class gains have been made, on nothing but good quality food and hard work, so don’t let your lack of fancy supplements hold you back.

CONCLUSION

Overhead presses and lean away laterals give you the perfect one-two punch for building massive and wide shoulders.

Always remember to warm up first, and then hit it hard, but sensibly.

If you do this, maybe one day, someone will mistake your shoulders for boulders!

Until Next Time

WORK HARD BUT SMART

A few interesting things happened at this years (2009) U.S. Open Tennis Championships.

First was Serena Williams (the younger of the two Williams Sisters) outburst over a foot fault call—which finished her tournament.

And Roger (the five time defending champion) Federer losing his cool over a late challenge being allowed.

Considering that both Serena Williams and Roger Federer were the defending champs—to me it brings up the issue of confidence, with then brings up the issue of mental toughness.

Wouldn’t you be confident if you were Mr. Federer—knowing that you basically OWN the court at the U.S. Open.

Same goes for Serena Williams—as she was the defending champion.

You might be asking yourself, how exactly this relates to bodybuilding.

To me it relates perfectly.

First, while I am all for switching routines, I think to many people get ants-in-their-pants syndrome and lose confidence in their current routine, so they keep switching routines in hopes of finding that magic one.

Second, it applies to supplements; people drop hundreds of dollars a month on the latest wonder supplement, only to drop serious coin the next month when the newest hot thing comes out.

They never give the first supplement a chance to work (not that it would as most supplements are hype).

AN EXAMPLE

I know a gentleman that committed to a business years ago, now the business was not flashy, but the way he related it to me was, once he committed to it, that was it, no wavering or changing plans—he did his research and he KNEW that what he was doing was solid.

Honestly, I know something about the business he went into and it is a high effort affair, hours and hours per day need to be spent working the business.

And you cannot really take any time off, because you need to do it daily.

However, he committed to it and now enjoys the rewards.

Same goes for the bodybuilder who commits to a course of action, say getting stronger on the basics—he did his research—found a solid routine—so he sticks with it—and over time builds an impressive level of strength.

Which, will, chances are, translate into more muscle when/if he switches back to a more traditional routine?

CONCLUSION

I know that the grass-is-always greener on the other side, but the next time you start a new routine—give it time to work.

Yes, it will be hard, but remember it is not where you start but where you finish.

Until Next Time

STAY FOCUSED

I’ve always trained my abs at first it was the very basic crunches and reverse crunches and it has evolved over the years, but I’ve always added in some ab work at the end of most workouts.

But as with anything, you keep reading and studying and you come to different conclusions than you had before.

I now realize that if you squat and dead lift your abs probably get enough work.

But does that mean I have given up training my abs—no way.

I know that it is probably just me, but I always feel better knowing that I did some ab work.

My favorite is steep incline sit ups done on a slant board.

However if you really haven’t done much ab work I would start with planks and then work up from there.

To do planks, position yourself like you were going to do a standard push-up except put all of your weight on your forearms.

Now you must keep your back flat as you don’t want your but sticking up in the air.

It sounds easy I know—but take this exercises seriously and work up to being able to hold a solid plank for a good two minutes before advancing onto harder exercise.

SOME POINTS

Of course, to be in total shape you need to incorporate some form of weight training and cardio into your routine.

A note on cardio—I don’t care what the expert’s say—the only cardio worth doing is one that you will do on a regular basis.

So if like walking—go for brisk walks—but if you’d much rather play a hard game of tennis go for it—you will only see results if you do it on a regular basis.

Also, I know what people say, but to me doing some form of ab work helps to lean out the waist faster than not doing any.

CONCLUSION

I know my abs are getting worked during my bodybuilding workout but I don’t care I still like the idea of doing some ab work at the end of my workout.

Give this approach a try as well—you may find like I do that it is the ideal way to end a good workout.

Until Next Time

EVERYTHING IN MODERATION