Q&A with Cedric McMillan, Justin Compton & Jon Delarosa
Q&A With The Pros
Cedric McMillan, Justin Compton & Jon Delarosa
Cedric McMillan
Sorry, Wrong Numbers
How much do you bench, squat and deadlift?
I’ve never been a powerlifter. Never maxed out. I work out alone, so I don’t play around like that. Sorry if you were hoping for some numbers!
Have Stubborn Lower Body Fat? Drag It Off!
If you have some stubborn lower body fat, I would recommend pulling a weight sled for cardio. Sixty minutes of this will have you so drenched in sweat it will look like you just jumped in a pool, and you’ll burn way more calories than you ever would on some machine. Drag it down the road at a walking pace. I stop halfway for about two or three minutes and take off again. I use three plates if I’m only doing 30 minutes, and two plates for 60-minute sessions. I have to lean into it, and the pace is slow.
Triceps Workout Given to Me by Dante of DC Training:
Choice of three for first exercise:
1. Lying (decline) cambered bar triceps extensions— 3 sets, last one to failure, rest-paused for 20-25 reps – OR
2. Smith machine close-grip bench press— 3 sets, last one to failure, rest-paused for 20-25 reps – OR
3. Reverse-grip Smith machine press— 3 sets, last one to failure, rest paused for 20-25 reps.
Second exercise:
Seated dip machine— two sets, last one to failure, around 15-25 reps.
Serious Hamstring Work
For hams, I love supersetting seated leg curls with stiff-leg deadlifts for three to four sets of 12 reps. Then I do a final set of seated leg curls for as many as I can get with a light weight, holding the contraction for two seconds, and finish with glute/ham hypers for three sets of eight reps.
When Are You Ready to Compete?
I want to do my first show, but I’m not sure if I should just jump into it, or continue to eat a clean diet and try and grow some more. You need to get your feet wet sometime to see where you are, right? What do you think?
I say, don’t compete just to get your feet wet. Compete because you absolutely want to within your own judgment. Wait until you feel ready, not when somebody else says you should. If you’re not ready and do badly, it could make you not want to do it again!
First You Build, Then You Carve
Would you recommend that a beginner first try and gain mass and then cut down for definition, or just go straight for definition (and abs) in the beginning, and worry about mass later?
I would suggest eating a lot of clean meals with a few junk meals like sweets, pizza and burgers a few times a day. Try to invest six months into growing, without gaining excessive body fat. Then if you want to do a show, pick one that’s maybe six months away. Try to grow for another three months, and then diet to try to get as ripped as possible for the last three months before the show. But if you don’t have the muscle mass, that needs to be your priority for now.
Justin Compton
Change Your Diet Based on Needs
Hello, Justin! What macros are you shooting for in the off season, and how much cardio are you doing? If you could give us a typical day with meals including supplements, that would be great!
I feel the body is a creature of habit, so it needs a constant change to keep moving in the proper direction. That being said, I am constantly manipulating my diet. I change it based on what it needs, meaning whether the food needs to go up or not. Also, I don’t like the idea of “macros” as too many people are falling into the “fitting their macros” plan, when they need to focus on micros, in my opinion. My diet will change around every few days, but to give you an example, here is a typical plan:
Meal 1: 6 whole eggs, 1.25 cups of oats, two-thirds of a cup of quinoa flakes, 5 ounces of blueberries.
Meal 2: 8 ounces of turkey, 2.5 cups of brown rice.
Meal 3: 5 ounces of bison, 1 whole wheat bun, 1.5 cups of white rice, 1 cup of kidney beans.
Meal 4: 50 grams of whey isolate, three-quarters of a cup of Cream of Rice.
Meal 5: 5 ounces of beef, 14 ounces of yam.
Meal 6: 8 ounces of chicken, 17 ounces of yellow potato, 1 tablespoon of macadamia nut oil.
Meal 7: 4 ounces of pork, 1 cup of plain Greek yogurt, 2 tablespoons of almond butter.
I also do pre- and intra-shakes as well.
Exercise Some Variation When Doing Warm-ups
Do you do a warm-up set or two for every exercise in your workout, or just two or three for the first exercise for each body part if you’re doing something like chest and triceps? Also, do you do a compound movement like deadlifts and squats first in your workout, or last?
Once I warm up and knock out a few working sets on the first movement, I do not warm up on the following exercises. I start out lighter and pyramid up in weight as the sets go on. When I switch muscles, I will warm up again. Like when going from back to biceps, I might do one or two warm-ups for biceps because they were being used during the back movements. But when going from biceps to calves, I’ll start fresh on calves and do probably three warm-ups. I mix things up with the squat and deadlifts. Sometimes I do them in the beginning and sometimes at the end. I like to keep variation.
If You Want to Grow, You Have to Recover
Hey, Justin! I have a contest in six days, and after that I want to take two years off for mass building. What do you believe is the best option for this off-season period— training each body part once a week with some rest days, or training everything twice a week?
My advice is to do everything twice per week, but at the same time listen to your body. I am back to once-per-week training at the moment, because I started getting a little achy in general while hitting everything twice. So I backed my training down some, and now I am good to go. When you notice you’re too drained, it might be time to back things down. Remember, if you aren’t recovering, you’re not growing.
Jonathan De La Rosa
De La Rosa’s Rules for Ab Training
Hey Jon, I’d like to know your philosophy on ab training.
1. How many days a week do you train them?
2. How many working sets do you usually do for abs per workout, and do you have any tips or recommendations in regard to ab training?
3. What might one of your ab routines look like?
1. I train abs two to three times a week. They are a muscle like anything else, so it doesn’t make sense to train them every day. The abs need to recover just like your biceps, pecs or quads do.
2. I do eight to 10 sets, total. My biggest tip is not to use any extra resistance, just bodyweight. It’s OK to do higher reps for abs. It’s not a muscle group you really want to thicken up! This advice goes double for anyone who already has a thick trunk genetically.
3. Four sets of hanging leg raises, four sets of crunches and two to three sides of twisting oblique crunches, all for 20 reps per set.
Different Rep Ranges Keeps Me Growing
I read that you like to do about 12 reps for arms in the off-season. What is your rep range pre-contest, then, and have you tried the opposite— fewer reps off-season and more reps pre-contest? It doesn’t seem like the norm, but obviously it’s working for you.
Hey buddy, you’re right. When I’m in full-blown off-season, I like to keep my rep range between eight and 10, but because I am closer to my prep being a few weeks away as I write this in January, I am giving my body a bit of a break. Shortly after I start my prep, I will bring my rep range back to eight to 12. Toward the end, I will bring it back to 12-15. I like to do it this way because it keeps everything guessing and keeps me GROWING!
For Quad Sweep, Hit the Squat Rack
Hey Jon, I just wanted to get advice regarding quad sweep. What are your suggestions for improving that?
I love hitting the hack squat and getting my feet a little closer than shoulder width. Be sure you don’t let your knees bow out at all, and go as deep as you can unless it bothers your knees. Try it and let me know what you think.
Legs Need Slightly Higher Reps
What kind of a quad and hamstring routine would you recommend for an 18-year-old trying to bring up his legs, in terms of exercises, sets and reps? What do you think would be a good base to start with? I know you train on instinct, but as a beginner, I’m looking for a solid base. And how much can you squat?
Hey buddy, I love to train in a rep range of 10-15 for quads and hamstrings. I feel that there is so much muscle in your legs that there is no way that you would be able to maximize size with anything less. Again, I’m just going on what has worked for me, but most bodybuilders have found that their legs respond better to slightly higher rep ranges than the upper body. I also like to do quads and hammies together on the same day. I train legs once a week. I really never wanted to see how much my max was on my squat in fear of hurting myself, but I’d imagine it’s up there. I once squatted seven plates for three reps, ass to bucket, and it’s on YouTube!