What are the best supplements to use to reduce subcutaneous water from the body, and what dietary adjustments should I make? I've done well trimming down with lower carbs, lower salt intake and a solid training program combining cardio and weights. I just can't seem to fine-tune my definition to the degree I'd like. I haven't had a body fat test or anything, but when I look in the mirror, I think it's mainly water that's hiding my abs, not fat. 

            I have to tell you that I have seen many a man and woman delude themselves into thinking that body fat was nothing more than water. Training at Gold's Gym in Venice for so many years and watching so many bodybuilders get ready for shows, it's a scenario I have watched play out 100 times. The competitors aren't as lean as they should be at six, four, even two weeks out from the show, but they assure anyone who sees them that it's just a little water, and once they get rid of it at the last minute, all the cuts will be there clear as day. And believe it or not, I have known pros who fooled themselves this way, not just amateurs. That's why a body fat test every week or two throughout the course of a contest diet is a nice way to keep track of what's really going on.  

            But I will assume in your case that you're retaining an excessive amount of water. The first thing I would tell you to do is to see your doctor and get checked up to make sure your water retention isn't stemming from a medical condition, such as heart or kidney disease, or something of that nature. Obviously, something like that is more serious than whether or not your six-pack is in nice and tight. If there is a legitimate medical reason for your edema, the actual term for water retention, you may be prescribed a diuretic. This is the same type of drug bodybuilders often use right before a show to shed the last bits of fluid underneath the skin to get that grainy, shrink-wrapped look.

 I would never recommend the use of such a dangerous item, but your physician would actually be prescribing it and instructing you on proper dosage. Another reason you may be holding water is simply that you aren't drinking enough of it! That's right; as crazy as it sounds, dehydration causes the body to hoard what little water is left in the body just to try and keep you alive and healthy. But if you're drinking plenty of water, and for a 200-pound bodybuilder that should be about a gallon and a half a day, and you're still holding water with no medical reason, try some natural supplements containing dandelion root. There are also plenty of over-the-counter products designed for women, since they hold water during their menstrual cycle. You can find these next to the tampons in your local drug store. If you're embarrassed, say they're for your wife!

            I'm trying to come up with a good workout routine where I do quads on one day and hams on another. I'm having a real problem, though, when it comes to overlap. For quads, I understand leg extensions fit perfectly, and for hams, all types of leg curls and stiff-leg deadlifts hit the hams only. But I worry that certain compound movements like squats, leg presses and lunges work both the quads and the hams, making it tough to figure out which day they should be done on. I'm concerned with recovery, too, so I don't want to hit the quads, say on Monday, then do hams on Wednesday and include exercises that wind up getting them involved again. I guess you could say I'm really concerned about overtraining if I'm not careful enough about overlap. Please suggest a good routine for quads and also one for hams, that address my concerns.

            Overlap can be a problem when you train quads and hams, which is why a lot of pro and top amateur bodybuilders will do them on the same day, split up between a morning and a later afternoon or early evening session. That way, you can hit quads in the morning, get a few meals and maybe a nap in, then hit hams, and you don't have to touch legs again until you return to them in your body part rotation, usually five to seven days later for most guys. But you can also work quads and hams on separate days. I would put at least 48 hours between them and I would also do all the compound movements on quad day.  My hamstring workout is shorter and isolates the hams completely. I will run down an effective workout for each so you can try it yourself, then give you some pointers. 

Quads

Leg extensions (warm-up)               4-5 sets of 20 reps

Leg press                                                       4-5 sets of 10-20

Squat machine/harness squat                     4 sets of 10-20 reps

Hack squats or reverse hack squats          4-5 sets 10-15 reps

Leg extensions (heavy)                                3 sets of 10-15 reps

            I like high reps for quads and hams, because I feel you get both the size and the muscle quality that way. For the leg press, be sure to add weight on each successive set. I suggest the squat machine because it lets you get down really low, to parallel or below, and you get a lot of the ham-glute tie-ins when you do that. On that machine, I suggest you wrap your knees, wear a belt and don't go up all the way to full lockout. Keep the tension on your quads. To get the most out of hack squats, do your reps very slowly. Once you can use some serious weight like that, I guarantee your quads will be formidable, because you have been tapping deeper into those muscle fibers than most guys ever will. Finish off with heavy leg extensions to put the final growth pains into that four-headed monster. Your teardrops should be crying a river when this is done.

Hams

Lying leg curls                                                4 sets of 25 reps

Seated legs curls/hamtractor                       4 sets of 15-25 reps

Stiff-leg deadlifts                                           3 sets of 15 reps

For leg curls, I like to do my reps faster than I do for quads, because hamstrings have a higher percentage of fast-twitch muscle fibers. That's why I also like to keep the reps a little higher for this endurance muscle. I want to point out that I don't treat the stiff-legs as a mass builder, but more as a movement to use to get a great stretch and to squeeze the hams at the top. I actually like to put a 10-pound plate under the balls of my feet, not the heels, so I get an even better stretch. Don't bend your knees and don't even think about going too heavy. Stiff-leg deadlifts are not a power movement and heavy weights can very easily lead to a lower back injury or a hamstring tear. All I use are a 25-pound plate on each side of the bar, so you definitely won't need more than that unless you're a lot bigger and stronger than the Real Deal!  Good luck with the routine; I know it will produce results for you.

            I'm a teenage bodybuilder (16 years old) and I'm starting to use Creatine. I was just wondering how you would recommend I start using it. I'm not sure how to "load," as in how much to take at once and how often. Then, I need to know how much and how often I need to take it during the "maintenance" phase that follows. Also, I should mention that I would have a difficult, but not impossible, time being able to take it during school, so the only easily available times to take it would be morning and starting late afternoon, or before and after school. Would missing these six to eight hours matter a whole lot?
            Hey, Chris, the whole concept of having to do a loading phase for Creatine has sort of gone out the window over the past couple of years, since various studies showed it didn't make much of a difference as opposed to just taking it pre- and post-workout. That's all you need. You load up the muscles with Creatine before training, then you saturate them with it once you're done training. You should notice an immediate difference in the volume of your pump, especially since you have never used Creatine before. You will also find yourself getting a couple more reps than before on just about everything and you will be able to use a little bit more weight.

I recommend you get yourself some Cell-Tech from MuscleTech. I believe this is the best Creatine product you can buy today in terms of absorption. I was recently up at their headquarters in Canada and I can assure you this company spares no expense in research and development, or in production. Also, there's no need to cycle on and off Creatine. You can use it indefinitely and it doesn't lose its effects. So, that's it. Take it around your workouts. If you work out right after school, you may want to have a serving of Cell-Tech powder ready in a shaker bottle right in your locker. Fill it up with water from the fountain, shake it up and drink and head off to hit the weights hard.

I've been training my traps hard for almost the entire 10 years I've been in the gym, but they just don't pop up over my clavicles the way yours do. Oddly, I have pretty good lats that are both wide and thick. It just puzzles me why my traps don't have that big bulge to them, like they're trying to touch the ears.  Please give me some tips that might help me finally get some decent traps!

            It may be a genetic thing. Some guys don't have to do much at all for their traps and they just blow right up; I would definitely fit into that category. After a few years of heavy training, they were pretty ridiculous. But I did find certain things that helped them grow even better that you should be able to apply to yourself. For one thing, use dumbbells instead of a barbell. You get a much better range of motion and a stronger contraction. Use straps (I recommend Scheik brand), so you can go really heavy and keep the dumbbells directly by your sides. Back in the day, we used to roll the traps backward as we shrugged, rather than just shrug straight up and down. I know that exercise physiologists came along and tried to say this was pointless, but a lot of guys got some monster traps doing it that way.

Another old-school trap builder I like is one I stole from the legendary Bertil Fox, who was one of the original mass freaks of bodybuilding back in the late ‘70s and into the ‘80s. I was actually privileged to compete with him in 1994 when I made my pro debut at the Ironman and it was surreal just to be sharing the stage with that living legend. Anyway, he liked to do narrow-grip upright barbell rows, pulling up to the nose. I don't think you need to go quite that high, maybe just to the upper chest or chin, and you probably don't need to use 315 like he did, either. But try that along with the shrugs, even as a superset, and your traps should start to blow up.

            I have a problem I never thought I would be facing all those years ago when I first started working out. I am now 5-10 and 270 pounds with visible abs, so I am far from fat. But I can't find clothes that fit right, at least nice clothes. I've been wearing mostly workout clothes for the past couple of years, which I've been able to get away with since I'm a personal trainer, but my wife is getting sick of me looking like a bum. I have tried a couple of big and tall men's shops, but they are really for super-tall or really fat guys. You always look pretty stylish, so can you hook me up with some stores or websites you like to get your clothes from?

            Since not many people are built like us, there's no reason for most clothing designers to make stuff that fits us well. Still, I have found a few clothing lines that seem pretty well suited to the bodybuilder's unique proportions, with our broad shoulders, small waists and big thighs. I like Roca Wear, Sean John, G-Unit and Guess. You can find all these at most major department stores in the men's section. I'm also working on my own clothing line that I think you will enjoy and I will let you know when it's ready to launch.

Training and Lifestyle Journal

June, 2005

New York Pro Show: It Just Ain't the Same as the NOC

            I was at the New York Pro show for MuscleTech and I have to admit the luster of the Night of Champions, the show that this was taking the place of, just wasn't there for me. I won the NOC in 1997 and competed in it several other times, and it was a show with a lot of history to it. Until Wayne DeMilia started the NOC over 2O years ago, the Olympia was the only pro show that existed. That's right, until then, the pros only had one contest a year! I remember when I used to train with Robby Robinson, who won that show a couple of times. He would tell me about the old days when he and the other competitors would go all around New York City promoting it- to all the gyms and stuff. It was exciting and back then it was second only to the Olympia in prestige.

            This year's show didn't have a very deep level of competition. There was not one surprise in the contest. Once you saw everyone, you knew Darrem was the clear winner. There was a lot of hype about a few rookies, but I don't see any of the new guys who have turned pro lately being good enough to make top six at the Olympia, like it was back when me and Flex turned pro. Here are a few comments on the top six, starting with Darrem.

Darrem Charles

He looked really good. Darrem seems to be getting a little bigger while maintaining his tiny waist and great conditioning. His presentation is flawless, and he is a killer poser.

Ahmad Haidar

            I have seen Ahmad tighter than he was here, especially in the glutes and hams. I was also surprised to see his contest color looking uneven and streaked. That's not like Ahmad at all. He wasn't even dark enough at the judging, though he fixed it for the night show. It looks like the judges are sticking to the mandate about rewarding more aesthetic physiques. Also, Ahmad looked like he improved his back a little, which he needed. Now he just needs some more arms on him and he'll be all set.

Victor Martinez

            Even though I haven't always gotten along perfectly with Victor, I found myself rooting him on here in his hometown. I had seen him a few weeks before and thought there was no way he would even be able to get close to as lean as he was at this show. I also told him it's not healthy to get so heavy and then drop it so fast, but he told me he just loves to eat. Vic has a lot of muscle and really doesn't need any more, so I hope he focuses on refining and coming in with better condition from now on. He was a good 10 pounds too heavy here, and threw away a show he could easily have won.

Craig Richardson

            Craig has been coming up the ranks pretty steadily the past two seasons. He has very good genetics and a pleasing shape, though I think he would look better with a little bit more size overall. Like Capriese Murray, his lats seem to be pretty high, but Craig is doing the best he can with what he has.

Capriese Murray

I was so happy to see Capriese come in ripped. So many amateurs turn pro and then show up too heavy at their debut, thinking the added size will put them in the mix. They don't realize that the judges want to see them in the same condition or better than when they got their pro card. Capriese achieved that. He was a couple of pounds heavier than he was at the Nationals, and even leaner. Good job, kid!

Chris Cook

            Chris reminds me a lot of a very good bodybuilder from 10 years ago, Mike Francois from Ohio, just without the crazy wide and thick back. Like Mike, Chris comes in lean and grainy, but he lacks all those fine details, just the little lines across and around the muscles that put the finishing touch on a physique. He also talked about how happy he was to be competing with the guys he has been idolizing in the magazines, but none of those athletes were in this show. I assume he meant the top men like Ronnie, Jay, me and Dexter. I think he was sizing me up in the gym and deciding he could beat me, but you can't tell what I look like in the gym, dude!

            Overlooked?

            Some people were saying that Mustafa Mohammad was overlooked at this show, and I could see why they would. He has a lot of thick muscle and his quads are some of the craziest things I have ever seen, the way they sweep out. But like so many guys in this show, he came out looking great and then faded fast in the judging, losing fullness and hardness at the same time. There was also a controversy around him being warned by Jim Manion not to have any more medical emergencies at the competitions. I know Milos Sarcev, Mustafa's manager, coach, friend, whatever he is to Mustafa, got into it with Manion back at the Cal a couple of weeks before. I agree with Jim. We don't need anyone else dying in our sport and especially not backstage. I have no idea why this guy keeps having so many problems, but he needs to get that shit in check.

            Decide on Olympia Yet?

            I was conflicted about doing the Olympia for a while, but now I have decided to compete. Dexter is out and if I didn't do it, the quality of the show would really be down. My dilemma was that I wanted to just focus on the 2006 Arnold so I can finally win the damn thing, but I have to realize that I'm getting older. At any point now, I could get injured, or my body could start shutting down and just not react the way it used to, and then I will have to retire. So, there really is no time left for me to be skipping Olympias. I'm resting right now from heavy training and hard dieting, so I should be able to look my best by mid-October.

            A New Sponsor and a Raffle for My Fans

            I wanted to also let everybody know that I have a new sponsor, Eggwhites International. This is an easy way to get the highest quality protein without the hassle of cracking and separating all those eggs. You can order from my website. 

            Please log on to http://www.chriscormier.com/ for updates.