Dear Craig, I've been working on my quadriceps for a long time to try to get an overall trunk look to my legs. I'm also trying to increase my power for sprints, because I like to run in my free time. I'm currently making good progress with the normal free squat, but I saw Ronnie Coleman was making enormous gains with front squats. That scared the hell out of me and I have never really seen or heard of anybody doing that. It seemed way hardcore! What are your thoughts on that because you got some big ass quads.

The front squat is an excellent exercise. It'll jack up your quads in hurry. It isolates your quads more than regular back squats. The thing is, start slow and get the movement down.

This is something you need to do with any new exercise. Take your time and build up your strength and balance. It's slightly awkward, so I suggest using the smith machine until you get the hang of it. Then move on to the free bar. Don't replace regular squats with front squats. Incorporate them so that you're alternating between the two from workout to workout. Do four sets of twelve to twenty reps with very little rest time in between.

STRETCHING THE TRUTH
I'm having trouble building my calves. I noticed a few people in my gym stretching their calves prior to lifting. Should I stretch them too, and if so, for how long?

Calves are a tremendously hard body part to build if you're not genetically gifted. That's a proven fact. Any kind of stretching will definitely help, not hurt. I'd stretch them out for at least twenty minutes prior to training. This will open up the tissue and let the blood flow in easier. This is one of the steps I took to make my calves grow, and believe me, I am not genetically gifted when it comes to calves. In fact, I attribute my calf development to stretching prior to and in between training sessions. I've been doing this for a year now, and trust me brother, it works.

Knowledge is power and to really excel in this sport you have to educate yourself. I had to discover what worked best for me in order to get calves, because the traditional approach wasn't cutting it. Your best trainer is your mind. So learn all you can from publications like the one you're holding, and you'll find out what works best for you.

ATKINS' ALRIGHT FOR BODYBUILDERS?
Do you think that aspiring bodybuilders can benefit from a low carbohydrate diet? If not, what's an acceptable amount of carbs for shedding fat while maintaining lean muscle mass?

I've answered this question several times in earlier columns. Carbohydrates are tricky bastards. People like Jay Cutler and a few other monsters in the business need a lot of carbs to keep their muscles full. Yet they stay very lean and don't put on body fat. On the flip side, there are people like me who have to go moderate carbs because I have a tendency to gain a lot of fat on high carb diets. I'm a very carb sensitive athlete.
I keep my protein at a set amount to build and maintain muscle. I eat two grams per pound of lean bodyweight, and then decrease my carbs slightly. I keep them at this set amount and use the mirror and calipers to gauge body fat. From there, I adjust them accordingly to get leaner.
It's a fairly simple process. You start at a set point of caloric intake for both carbs and protein. Then you incorporate training and cardio to see how lean you're getting. If you're not getting leaner, decrease your carbs slightly. Don't go way low all of a sudden, because then you'll be eating away muscle. Keep decreasing in small increments until you start getting leaner.

ULTERIOR MOTIVE
I've always been a big fan of athleticism from an early age. I played sports and have been into cross training for several years. For the past two years I've been concentrating solely on weightlifting because I received a free membership to a local gym and got hooked. I read MD religiously and it's proven to be both helpful and motivational for my workouts. I'm 20 years old, and I aspire to begin competing in local competitions. However, I'm a college student and I cannot afford a personal trainer. Nowadays all help seems to come with a price. Any suggestions?
First of all, reading MD is a step in the right direction. There are tons of great training articles and columns that will answer most of your questions. When I started bodybuilding in Houston, I had the luxury of talking to Lee Labrada. He offered me a lot of information for free, which I'll always be grateful for. Try talking to one of the guys in the gym. Pick their brain for advice on training and nutrition. Maybe you could even take him to lunch or dinner. Try spending your money that way before hiring a personal trainer. Life's lessons are all about experience and relationships play a huge factor.


TRAINING JOURNAL
By
Craig Titus

PERFECT-ALMOST
Everything was on point for the Ironman. I looked exactly the way I wanted. I got to Pasadena dessert dry and hard as nails. No changes at the end, just as planned. It couldn't have been better. But, I spoke too soon. I went a tad overboard on the carbs, which made it a bitch to control my midsection and subtracted from my V-taper. I'd guesstimate that I was 85-90%. With Lee Priest looking right on the money and Troy Alves in supreme condition, I felt fourth was a lock. What can I say?

1st Gustavo Badel
What the hell has this guy been doing? He's an absolute freak now! He gets full credit for morphing into a monster in one year. Gustavo is branded in the judges minds as a bona fide top tier athlete. Although he won, I felt Lee should have taken it because Gustavo's midsection was humongous. From the side it looked like he swallowed a watermelon. His gut was the only reason I felt he should have gotten second. Still, he was very impressive.

2nd Lee Priest
Runner up honors went to Lee Priest. The guy looks like a freaking cartoon character. He was 100% on the money. The arms, delts, and that bone dry conditioning were all there.

3rd Troy Alves
I had him in third because he brought his A-game. His conditioning was superb. He was the same size Troy always is, 221 pounds. But his conditioning on that day was probably the best in the entire show.

4th Melvin Anthony
I had Melvin in fifth, behind me. Melvin softened up on stage. True, he has fantastic shape and his posing is unparalleled, but he started to fade away. He asked me backstage what I felt, and I told him he would probably get moved to fifth. Melvin donated a portion of his Best Poser award winnings to me as a gesture of good faith. In effect, he was saying that I should have been in the top five. That was one of the nicest things anybody's ever done for me. My hat's off to him. Team Pinnacle members got each other's backs.

5th King Kamali
I didn't have King in the top five. His midsection is totally, totally blown out. His arms are still way too small for his body, and his calves are not there. Obviously, his back carried him. His width is unbelievable. He was down from his Australia condition. If he was sporting the size and condition he had in Australia, I wouldn't question his placing.

AND ME
Sixth place went to yours truly. Like I said, I thought fourth was mine. Some guys need to be 100% on, with no margin for error because nobody's gonna give them a thing. I happen to be one of them. I have no complaints. I was 90% on.

The judges worked me to death. I was the first name called out in every call out after the first one. Going by that and my conditioning, you can see why I thought fourth was in the bag. As for falling to my knees, that was just a little showmanship, Titus Style. I shook all the guys' hands. There was no disrespect at all. The crowd reaction tells the story. They were just as shocked as I was when my name got called for sixth. Hell, even Flex Wheeler had me higher and he doesn't give me anything. He's brutally honest, right to my face-which I respect. Anyway, I'm looking forward to moving up the ladder at my next two showings.

LAID UP IN THE HOSPITAL
I had a slight pull in my right calf during the second round compulsories. It popped and I got cellulitis due to the fluid overcompensating to heal it. I was laid up for four days, trying to get my calf drained. I'm going to Australia, no matter what. If I'm 100%, I'll step on stage. If I can get the cellulitis out of my calf, I'll be oiled and ready. If not, I'll still be there. I'll just have to wait ‘till the New York Pro Show to get it on.

I'm keeping everything the same: same training, same diet, same old same old. The only thing I'll change is that I won't overdo it on the carbs at the end. I expect to be a lot drier for it. I'm feeling good because all I have to do is tweak it a little here and there to get it perfect. And I love the New York crowd, they're animals.
Richard Greenbaum and I are teaming up for the rest of our careers. He likes to do the same things I like to do. It's just good old school basics, nothing crazy. Just good old-fashioned training, the way it's supposed to be. It's gonna be a fruitful partnership.

THE REAL WORLD, IT AIN'T
My NBC documentary was alright, despite the fact that the film crew didn't have clue one on what they were filming and how to actually capture it on film. Nobody knew what bodybuilding was. They tried to sensationalize it by talking about things that aren't even relevant to a pro bodybuilding show. Backstage they thought they needed to spice it up so they read off comments and had me tell them if it was true or not. You should have heard these comments. One was, ‘We heard somebody died in the parking lot. Is this true?' Gimme a break! That's just plain stupid. I told them to get away from me with that crap. I know you're trying to sensationalize it with lies.
One time, at my house, one of the producers asked me where the bathroom was and "Do I have a magazine?" In my home! Dude, don't you have any class? Do you possess a shred of dignity and decorum? Keep what you do in the bathroom to yourself!

Also, the main anchorman used to date the producer, so they were throwing digs and trying to start a fight. I told them to keep it in the hotel room, or you can forget about coming over to film today. You know me, I'm not pulling any punches. Either keep it straight, or get the hell out of my house! They were very strange characters, to say the least.

GET YOUR TAN ON
I wanna give a shout out to Real Tan in Las Vegas. That's where me and Kelly get our rich, dark tans. We used to tan at Vegas Body & Tan, but we're not with them any longer. So, if you're gonna tan in Vegas, go to Real Tan. They'll treat you right!

ARNOLD CLASSIC REVIEW

1ST Dexter Jackson
Absolutely sensational. Rock granite hard. Appears to have put on about five or six pounds more muscle. Un-friggin-believable. The guy is becoming a planet unto himself. He's awesome. His skin was paper thin. His conditioning was fantastic. His muscularity, his insertions, and his size are unbeatable. It was his as soon as he walked on stage. He looked better than ever. Definitely the best I've ever seen him look.

2ND Chris Cormier
A solid second place. If Chris and Dexter had changed placings, fifty percent of the audience would disagree. Not that it couldn't have gone either way, but in my opinion it was Dexter's show. Chris looked good. But he had a thin film of water that Dexter didn't have, and that cost him the title. Of course, his body is flawless with absolutely no weak points. He was just slightly out-conditioned by Dexter.

3RD GUSTAVO BIG BELLY BADELL
Big belly. That's Gustavo's new nickname. Unfortunately in this sport, and I've seen it time and time again, you place well in a few shows and you're cemented into the judges' minds. So here comes Gustavo, walking on stage looking like he's in his third trimester. He wasn't hard and grainy. He was huge, with a big waistline, and not in condition. Honestly, I had him fifth. He was better at the Ironman. I can't believe he wasn't penalized for that gut. If it was me, I never would have heard the end of it. This whole Gustavo thing is getting out of control. He can come in off and still place. Yes, he's big. But his stomach matches his body. It's getting ridiculous. That's the way I saw it. It's spoken, it's written, it's done.

4TH Lee Priest
I had Lee in third behind Chris Cormier. Lee was bigger and harder than usual. He looked like a cartoon character, which he almost always does. Absolute freak.

5TH Darrem Charles
I had Darrem in front of Gustavo and Melvin Anthony. Darrem was hard and separated, with more size than usual. He may not have been as crisp, but he still possessed enough separation and graininess to surpass Melvin and Gustavo easily.

6TH Melvin Anthony
I had Melvin in fifth or sixth. He looked better than he did at the Ironman. He still was not as ripped as he was when he won the NOC last year, but his shape was impeccable. He looked awesome, with his small waistline. This is where I actually had Gustavo.

WHAT HAPPENED VIC?
Victor Martinez did not make the top six. He was at least ten to twelve pounds too heavy, if not more. A disappointing showing for Victor.


I DEMAND JUSTICE
I just find it very strange and disheartening that my wife takes second place five years in a row at the Olympia. And then as soon as Suzi Curry retires, she's all of a sudden fifth or sixth in the physique rounds against the same girls that she was beating before. My wife didn't get worse, she got better. It's mysterious to say the least and it makes you go, hmmmmmm. And that's it. That's all I got to say.