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Trainer of Champions - March 2004 |
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Written by Charles Glass
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Thursday, 26 April 2007 |
I always hear about how you need to stick with heavy free weights to build muscle, but I've read about some funky cable moves you have clients like Gunter Schlierkamp and Chris Cook do. Do you feel cables can provide the same growth stimulation as free weights? I have been training two years now and have gone from 150 to 180 pounds at 5-9 and I really enjoy certain cable exercises for the pump.
Your question is a legitimate one, but if you read through it again you will notice something. Both gentlemen you made reference to are advanced bodybuilders who already carry plenty of mass on their frames. Gunter weighs 340 pounds in the off-season and Cook is up around 280. Essentially, their training plays by a slightly different "set of rules" than yours probably does. You are still very much in the beginner phase as a bodybuilder, which is a great thing- you have many years of growing to do and a lot of potential yet to be realized. But it also means you're still "laying the foundation" of muscle mass for your physique. To build that strong foundation in the most efficient manner possible, your training should be mostly with free weights at this time. It's okay to use cables as a finishing movement here and there for a body part like arms, chest, or shoulders, but the core of your workouts should revolve around using barbells and dumbbells.
The purpose of this is to pack as much raw size and strength onto your body as possible. Notice how I used the word "raw" there? That was no accident. Once you have this raw bulk, you can get to work refining it. By evaluating your physique at that point, as well as soliciting the opinions of experienced sets of eyes like seasoned competitors or judges, you will get a solid sense of what areas you need to work on to improve your overall proportions. This is a never-ending process, as every bodybuilder continues to strive for perfection, yet never attains it completely. So, when you see me putting one of my clients who happens to be a very advanced bodybuilder through a workout, you will notice some exercises or twists on exercises that seem kind of strange to the untrained eye. I might have someone lying face down on an incline bench and pulling a lat pull-down bar at a 45-degree angle down, to target a very specific region of the upper back we need to bring up. I like cables because they are very precise. I can set up just the right angle and direction of push or pull to get at exactly the area of muscle that needs to grow. Free weights, and even machines, are less discriminating, if you will. It's tougher to use them to pinpoint and isolate a part of a muscle group that we want to focus on.
Thus, cables are actually a lot more valuable to advanced bodybuilders who already have most of the overall size they need. Think of it in terms of a wood sculptor. When he is first starting with a huge log, he can use an axe or a chainsaw to begin shaping his creation, roughly hewing the form. As he proceeds, he needs to get more accurate in his sculpting and his tools become smaller and more precise. Near the end, he is chipping away with a tiny hammer and chisel to finish off the fine details. So, I would say to you, until your own personal "sculpture" is a little further along, don't get ahead of yourself; stay mainly with free weights and some machines.
Where do you stand on the subject of overtraining? Some experts, like the late Mike Mentzer and his protégé John Little, believe anything more than a few sets in a workout is overkill and will keep you from making gains. Others, like John Parillo, say as long as you eat plenty of good food and get your rest, it's almost impossible to overtrain. I am curious which side you lean toward?
Yes, overtraining is possible. But what is overtraining, really? Most people focus on the volume and frequency of their workouts, which is of course a big factor. But what is often overlooked is exactly what steps one takes to recover between workouts. I work with many elite athletes whose job it is to present some of the best physiques in the world. Some of them weight train up to six days a week and do cardio up to two hours a day preparing for a major event. Why can they thrive on such a rigorous schedule, while the average guy would burn out? I will acknowledge that most top athletes in any sport are genetically gifted to be able to tolerate higher workloads. Steroids also play a role, at times. But what most people don't recognize is that top athletes like pro bodybuilders have a lifestyle specifically geared toward recovering from workouts.
First of all, is nutrition. Unless you eat like an elite bodybuilder, don't you dare try to duplicate his training regimen. Guys like Chris Cormier, Gunter Schlierkamp and Chris Cook all make nutrition a top priority in their day-to-day lives. They eat four or more solid meals a day that are carefully planned to provide plenty of high-quality protein and carbohydrates, plus another two to four shakes and bars on top of that. Some pro bodybuilders like Jay Cutler actually eat 10 times a day to keep a steady stream of nutrients flowing as fuel for muscle recovery and growth. These men also take advantage of a wide variety of supplements like Creatine, L-Glutamine, whey protein, EFAs, multi-vitamins and minerals, branched-chain Amino Acids, glucosamine and chondroitin and many more, to further assist their bodies in training harder and recuperating faster and more completely. And this is important; they are extremely regimented about using these supplements at the proper times each day. They rarely go anywhere for any length of time without bringing their pre-prepared meals and supplements with them, as well as plenty of fresh drinking water. That's just the nutritional side of the coin.
These men also pay meticulous attention to rest, often getting a full eight or nine hours of sleep a night, plus a one- or two-hour nap in the afternoon. Top bodybuilders also employ other techniques such as deep tissue massage, saunas and regular chiropractic adjustments to keep the machinery running at peak performance ability. Basically, they can endure longer and more intense workouts than the average gym member because everything they do between workouts is geared toward allowing their muscles and nervous systems to heal and recharge for the next session.
Now, let's look at an average guy in the gym and his lifestyle to see how it compares (and obviously, I'm aware that there are some rare men who are able to more closely approximate the ideal lifestyle the pros lead). Joe Average tries to eat well, but he often skips meals or gets something bad on the run like a donut that doesn't serve any role in helping his body train harder or recover better. He uses supplements, but is inconsistent and often forgets to take them or doesn't bother. Joe only drinks water when he's thirsty, if it's readily available. He works 40 to 50 hours a week at a high-stress job and doesn't sleep well. Mr. Average can't even catch up on sleep on weekends because this is when he runs his errands or spends time with kids, if he has them. Joe thinks of massage only as something that happens in sleazy red-light districts with women of questionable virtue, and he considers chiropractors quacks.
What happens then, when Joe Average reads about Jay Cutler or Ronnie Coleman's workout and decides to give it a go? He becomes "overtrained," or should we more accurately say "under-recovered" inside of a week. This man would have been much better off limiting his workouts to a volume and frequency that his lifestyle could accommodate, perhaps something like three or four days a week with workouts of 45-60 minutes. Even then, he would still reap superior results if he put more effort into his nutrition, supplementation, and rest, as well as managing his stress levels with relaxation techniques and therapies. So, while it's true most average bodybuilders shouldn't do quite as many exercises, sets and reps as the pros tend to do, it's also true that paying a lot more attention to what is happening outside the gym would make the whole problem of overtraining much less of a concern.
Please help! I'm desperate to get huge arms, but I'm cursed with being a true ectomorph just like my dad and older brother. I am 20 years old, 6-2 and a pathetic 150 pounds. My arms taper out at only 13-1/2 inches pumped, and I want to have at least 20-inchers. I've been trying all kinds of arm workouts, but nothing seems to work. That's why I am now turning to you. I should also mention that I only train arms because I want to apply all my energy toward them instead of wasting it on legs, or whatever. Give me the magic arm workout I need and I will be very grateful!
What if I told you I won't give you an arm workout, because it's actually the last thing you need to reach your goal? You'd probably think I was being a jerk and messing with you, right? I am being totally serious. There is absolutely no way in the world you are going to ever have 20-inch arms, no matter what type of training you do for them, as long as you continue to ignore the rest of your body. You said it yourself; you are a "pathetic" 150 pounds at six-foot-two. (Pathetic is not a word I like to use, by the way, as I always try to emphasize the positive when discussing anyone's body).
I have known many great amateur bodybuilders who didn't weigh much more than 150 pounds, and not a single one of them had arms approaching the 20-inch mark. Of course, they were all around a foot shorter than you. Of the men your height or close to it I have known, a 20-inch or better arm usually didn't happen until they got their body weight up to 260-270 pounds. What you must understand is that your body is an integrated system. Everything has an effect on everything else. This is especially true when we talk about weight training and bodybuilding. Your arms won't grow much until your whole body grows. What you really need to do is forget about lengthy arm workouts and even forget about your arms in general for a period of at least a year. In that time, you must make it your sole mission to concentrate on adding muscular body weight. Here is the workout I want you to follow for a year. Do not add or substitute any exercises. Your goal is simple: to add weight to each of these exercises at regular intervals.
Day One
Bench press 3 x 8-12
Deadlift 3 x 8-12
Military press 3 x 8-12
Chin-up 3 x 8-12
Day Two REST
Day Three
Dip or weighted dip 4 x 8-12
Barbell row 4 x 8-12
Squat 5 x 10-15
Day Four REST, repeat
Notice there are no direct arm exercises included. That's because they will get plenty of work from the compound movements like bench presses and barbell rows. If you can get stronger and stronger on just that short list of exercises, I guarantee that within a year you will have packed on at least 20 pounds. Don't neglect your nutrition, either. Make sure to eat at least three meals a day with meat and starches combined, like chicken and rice or steak and a potato, plus three more bars or shakes. You can even get away with the high-calorie weight gainer shakes, as someone with your metabolism isn't apt to gain much fat. I would have a "cheat" meal about every other day, too, something like fast food or pizza. At your age and being an ectomorph, you can use all the quality calories you can eat. Work hard on the program I outlined above and eat like it's your job. Do that and write back to me in one year. I promise you, if you do what I say I will be glad to design a great arm workout for you at that time!
I am currently a blue belt in Shotokan karate and I am also getting more involved in weight training since I started reading MD six months ago. I am starting to worry that the bigger I get, the more I will lose critical speed and flexibility. Since I can't see myself giving up karate for weights or vice versa, what do you recommend?
I wish you had indicated in your letter how much larger you want to get than you are now. At a certain point, you would probably start losing speed, but I highly doubt you are anywhere near that size. In fact, most bodybuilders never approach that level of muscular bulk. To use a hypothetical example, say you are 5-9 and 175 pounds right now. As long as you keep up your martial arts practice, I doubt you would notice any drop in performance until you got your body weight up to over 220 pounds or so. But even then, I have known a few men who were able to successfully combine extremely muscular physiques with martial arts expertise.
How about Bolo Yeung? You may remember Bolo from the famous 1973 Bruce Lee film "Enter the Dragon," though he has appeared in a dozen more films since then. Bolo is a very big, very strong guy, who can still move quite well (even at over 60 years of age now). I don't know if he would necessarily be any faster if he was smaller, but I bet the increased power in his punches and kicks more than Make Up for it. And I don't know if you were aware that early in his bodybuilding career, Flex Wheeler was a very successful tournament fighter. He wasn't nearly as large as he eventually became, but even then, he was much more heavily muscled than his opponents. If I'm not mistaken, he was undefeated in tournaments, as well. There are a couple of Gold's Gym regulars whom you may also recognize from the movies. Jean-Claude Van Damme and Oliver Grunier have both starred in many martial arts and action films, and both have impressive physiques. I am not sure of Van Damme's competitive experience, but Grunier was a champion in kickboxing and savate before he made the move to acting.
As for the issue of flexibility, this is a myth that will probably never die. Adding muscle does not mean you automatically lose flexibility. As long as you continue to stretch, you will not become stiff or "muscle-bound." All the above men are very flexible and many bodybuilders today incorporate front or side splits into their posing routines. A 250-pound man easily going into a split while hitting a double biceps shot? It's hard to imagine until you see it. So what I'm trying to get across is that putting on muscle does not have to interfere with your martial arts training at all. In fact, I'm guessing it will actually help by strengthening your muscles and tendons.
How old should a boy be before he can start weight training? My son is 13 and just starting puberty, but he's obsessed with bodybuilding. My gym won't let him train unless I'm there with him, but he is begging for a membership. His fourteenth birthday is coming up in a few months and that could be his present, but I wanted to check with you first.
I get this question all the time, because most boys develop some kind of interest in weight training right around the age your son is. My feeling is that there is no optimal age, but rather we should consider your son's level of physical maturity. You said he is just starting puberty. That means his body is starting to produce more testosterone and triggering all the changes that will eventually transform him into a man.
Can he work out with weights right now? Absolutely. Should he work out with very heavy weights like an older teenager or young man would? I would say not at this time. First of all, his hormonal environment is not quite where it needs to be to support muscle gains. Signs to look for with respect to him being ready are a voice that has already changed, facial and body hair and having approached his full adult height. Until those changes have transpired, he will most likely not have enough testosterone available to cause his muscles to grow to any significant degree from training. The other major factor to consider is that heavy weight training can actually "stunt your growth" by causing the epiphysial plates (cartilage at the end of the bone shafts where bone growth occurs from birth to adolescence) to prematurely fuse. This is thought to result from the heavy trauma of weight training giving a false signal to the bones to stop growing.
For now, I would say you certainly can bring your boy to the gym with you, but his training should be with light to moderate weights. Put the emphasis on learning perfect form, as good habits formed now will serve him well once he is a little older and able to safely use heavier resistance. I would also have him doing a lot of body weight exercises like chin-ups, dips and push-ups for general strength and conditioning. You didn't mention whether or not he plays a sport, but this style of training should help his performance if he does. Another thing your son can do is take this time to study and learn as much as he can about proper training and nutrition. MD is a great place to start. Then, by the time he's ready to commence heavier training, he should be far ahead in terms of knowledge and correct lifting technique. Best of luck to you both!
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