Dallas McCarver: The Growing Threat

Move Over Big Ramy, This American Country Boy is the Next Big Thing

This article appeared in the June 2014 issue of MD

The anticipation of untapped potential

All of us bodybuilding fans follow the top stars of the game like Phil Heath, Dennis Wolf, and Kai Greene. But the reality is, these men have been doing this a while now and have essentially 'maxed out' their physiques or are at least close to their full potential. That's why it's so exciting to watch the 'Young Guns' like Evan, Steve Kuclo, Juan Morel, Jonathan Delarosa, Antoine, and the rest who are still very much growing and improving every year. We know their best is yet to come, and there's no telling just how good they will ultimately be. A year ago, all the buzz surrounded an enormous young man from Kuwait by way of Egypt known as 'Big Ramy.' The rookie phenom dominated at his debut at the New York Pro at 285 pounds, beating established veteran and pre-contest favorite Victor Martinez. Now we have our very own giant growing as we speak, homegrown down in the birthplace of Jack Daniels whiskey, Tennessee. Former college football player Dallas McCarver became the youngest man in the history of the NPC to win an Overall national title when he was crowned the 2012 Super Heavyweight and Overall IFBB North American champion at just 21 years old. At 6-1 and about 250 pounds, it was clear to anyone with an eye for potential that this kid had a frame that was capable of carrying far more muscle. His physique was a diamond in the rough, and ever since then he's been working on improving so he can step onstage as a legitimate threat in a pro show. As you can see from these photos, McCarver has been making steady progress; getting bigger and looking more and more like a contender. By the time he competes in his first pro show, he will own one of the biggest physiques in the sport.

Goodbye gridiron, hello growing pains

Had Dallas been an amazing football player rather than just a pretty decent college ball player, you would probably be watching him on ESPN rather than reading about him in MD. But all it took was one season playing for Bethel University in Tennessee for him to realize he would never make it to the NFL. "Even though I was starting as a freshman over Juniors and Seniors, I knew I wasn't that good compared to the kids out there in the bigger Division 1 schools who would ultimately end up getting drafted," he says. "And honestly, I just wasn't enjoying football anymore. I felt I had achieved all I wanted to, and it was time to move on." It was around this time that he became infatuated with the sport of bodybuilding, reading the magazines, and spending more and more time on the MD web site reading threads and watching videos. "It consumed me, but I hate to use the word obsessed," he explains. "I just couldn't get enough, and soaked up everything I could." Dallas knew he wanted to be a bodybuilder, but would not switch up his workouts from the strength and agility work for football until he was certain he was finished with it. Just before he had to report for training camp in the late summer of 2010, he made that decision to quit playing and never looked back. Still, he waited until New Year's of 2011 to begin training like a bodybuilder, performing a wider variety of exercises with higher repetitions, striving to feel the target muscle, and using shorter rest periods to allow for a maximum pump and burn. Though he was probably making excellent gains from that very moment on, what McCarver remembers most about his first few weeks training like a bodybuilder was the debilitating soreness. "I would wake up every morning so incredibly sore in whatever bodypart I had worked the day before," he notes. "If I had done chest, it would feel like my chest had been ripped off my body, the muscles just torn up." Leg days were the worst, as you might imagine. "I would be limping around for two or three days, and my friends thought it was hilarious."

Descended from giants

The big old country boy from the South has been a cultural stereotype in films and television for many decades. It's also worth noting that guys the size of Dallas typically don't come from families of short, slender people. Dallas asserts that his parents are 'normal size,' but he is quick to point out that there are examples of hulks on both sides. "I have a cousin on my dad's side over in northern Mississippi who is about 6-7 and a solid 350," he tells us. "And all of my mom's uncles are big, tall men." Luckily for the 6-1 Dallas, he doesn't have the blocky bone structure of a Strongman competitor or the lanky build many taller men are cursed with. Instead, he has the wide clavicles, narrow waist, and smaller wrists and ankles that are suited perfectly for bodybuilding. Yet without those 'big genes,' Dallas would be just another average bodybuilder of 5-6 to 5-9 capable of weighing a maximum of 220-240 pounds in shape. At 6-1 and with the sheer size of his frame, I wouldn't be surprised to see McCarver on stage one day a few years from now pushing 300 pounds.

The long wait to make his pro debut

Prior to Dallas, the longest gap I had seen between a man turning pro and making a pro debut was Evan Centopani. Evan won his card at the 2007 NPC Nationals and didn't step on a pro stage until May of 2009, winning the New York Pro on his first appearance on an IFBB stage. Dallas has elected to make his own debut at an undisclosed contest in 2015, which surpasses Evan's gap of less than two years and will make it closer to three years for Dallas between the time he turned pro and his debut. Why do damn long? And doesn't he worry that his fans are growing impatient? "I do understand that my fans want to see me compete, that's only natural," he acknowledges. "But there would be nothing to be gained by getting up there before I'm truly ready. Evan took plenty of time after he turned pro to compete, and then he waited almost two years before he competed again. He won his first two pro shows, and has been in the top five at the Arnold Classic all three times he's been in that show now. His example showed me it's smart to bide your time and make the improvements as opposed to just jumping into contests before you're ready. We've all seen new pro's get blown away and place poorly doing that. It seems like even then, they get stuck in the top five as smaller shows and never really get past that level." As for the specific improvements he feels he needs, Dallas defers to his coach and the same man who has guided Phil Heath's entire pro career, Hany Rambod. "Hany has a vision for what he wants and expects me to look like, and short and long-term plans for my career. I trust and believe in him, because he has not steered me wrong once so far." That vision includes more size overall, with particular emphasis on his back and legs. I should mention that Hany has gone so far as to say that McCarver has the potential, based on his shape and structure as well as his height, to possibly become Mr. Olympia someday in the not-so-distant future. As for a stage weight when we see Dallas next, he conservatively estimates he will be 265 in perfect condition. "Considering Dennis Wolf just won the Arnold Classic at an inch shorter than me and 270 pounds, I think I can be very competitive at that weight," he notes. "But it's never about the weight, it's about bringing up weaker areas and getting bigger overall. A higher bodyweight is just a residual result from doing that." I for one happen to agree with his modest self-assessment, and like many others am eagerly awaiting what he has in store for us as well as his fellow pro's. With his genetics, work ethic, and also considering he has youth and one hell of a coach on his side as well as great sponsors like MD and BSN in his corner, Dallas McCarver is a growing threat on the horizon. It's only a matter of time now until that threat is unleashed on the sport of pro bodybuilding.

Training Split*

Day 1               Quads AM                             Hams and calves PM

Day 2               Chest AM                              Biceps and some triceps PM

Day 3               Back

Day 4               Shoulders and traps AM         Triceps and some biceps PM

*Rest days are taken as needed. Typically Dallas will train two or three days in a row before taking a day off. AM workouts are done at 12:30 PM, PM workouts take place at 7 PM.

Training by bodypart

Quads

Leg extensions                           7 x 10-12 (FST-7 style, pre-load/pre-exhaust)

Hack squats                               3 x 12-15

Walking lunges                           3 sets of 30 steps, 15 per leg

Leg press - finish with one of two variations

Variation one:

4 plates each side x 20, 5 x 30, 6 x 40, 7 x 50, 6 x 40, 5 x 30, 4 x 20

Variation two:

5 plates each side x 50, 6 x 40, 7 x 30, 8 x 20, 9 x 15, 10 x 10

Hams and calves

Seated leg curl                                 4 x 12

Lying leg curl                                   4 x 10-12

Standing leg curl                              3 x 10-12

Stiff-leg deadlifts with dumbbells        5 x 10

Calves: 3 rounds of the following giant set (no rest between exercises, two minutes rest between rounds)

Seated calf raise x 50, standing calf raise x 50, toe press on leg press x 50

Rep total for above, 450 reps!

Chest

Incline dumbbell press                           4 x 10-12

Flat dumbbell press                               4 x 10-12

Incline dumbbell flye                              3 x 12-15

Flat Hammer Strength bench press         4 x 12-15

Incline Hammer Strength press               7 x 7 (FST-7 style, 30 seconds rest between sets)

Biceps with some triceps

Standing EZ-bar curls                            7 x 10-12 (FST-7 style, pre-load/pre-exhaust)

Straight bar cable curls                          4 x 12-15

Rope Hammer curls                              4 x 12-15

Spider curls                                         4 x 12-15

Reverse grip EZ-bar curls                      3 x 12-15

Rope pushdown                                   4 x 12-15

Skull crushers                                      3 x 12-15

Superset with

Hammer Strength dip machine               3 x 12-15

Back

Behind-neck lat pulldowns                     4 x 10-12

Reverse grip pulldowns                         3 x 12-15

Reverse grip barbell rows                      4 x 10-12

Overhand wide grip cable rows              3 x 10-12

One-arm dumbbell rows                        3 x 10-12

Rack deadlifts*                                     8-10 reps

*Dallas will start with 225 for 8-10 reps and continue adding plates until he can no longer get 8. This is either at 495 or 585, depending on how he feels that day.

Shoulders

Smith machine press to front                 4 x 10-12

Seated dumbbell press                          3 x 10-12

Barbell front raise                                  3 x 10-12

(face down on incline bench)

One-arm dumbbell laterals                     4 x 10-12

Reverse pec flye machine                      3 x 12-15

Bent dumbbell laterals                           3 x 12-15

High rope pulls                                      3 x 12-15

Traps: 3 rounds of the following giant set

Dumbbell shrugs x 10-12, Hammer Strength shrugs x 10-12, Smith machine shrugs x 10-12

Triceps and some biceps

Rope pushdowns                                  7 x 12-15 (FST-7 style)

Straight bar cable pushdown                  4 x 10-12

Close grip bench press on Smith           4-10-12

machine

Skull crushers                                       4 x 10-12

Superset with

Hammer Strength dip machine               4 x 10-12

One-arm dumbbell preacher curl             3-4 x 12-15

Standing barbell curl                              3-4 x 12-15

The Dallas 'Get Huge' Meal Plan

Meal 1
3/4 cup cream of rice
1.5 cup egg whites
4 whole free range omega eggs
1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 cup Greek yogurt

Meal 2
10 oz chicken
1.5-2 cups jasmine rice
1/2 avocado

Training session #1
75 carbs and BCAA post training

Meal 3
12oz fish
1.5-2 cups jasmine rice

Meal 4
10oz fillet
10oz red potato

Training session #2
Same carbs and BCAA

Meal 5

12oz fish
1.5-2 cups jasmine rice

Meal 6
6oz fillet
1 cup egg whites
1 cup oats (sometimes rice)

Dallas's complete contest history

2011 NPC Hub City Fitness Quest          Junior Heavyweight and Overall Champion

2011 NPC Battle at the River                  Super Heavyweight and Overall Champion

2012 IFBB North American                     Super Heavyweight and Overall Champion

Dallas grows through the years

June 2009: 280 pounds

Dallas graduated high school at a sloppy 280 pounds. He estimates that if he had dieted down then, he would have been in shape at 220 pounds.

September 2010: 315 pounds

This is when Dallas came to the end of his football days and was toying with the idea of competing.

May 2011: 243 pounds

Dallas competed in his first contest at 243, and admits he could have been about 10 pounds leaner.

August 2012: 243 pounds

In only his third contest, Dallas weighs the same as the year before, but is in much leaner condition. Having weighed in at a very depleted 243, he immediately began carbing up. McCarver estimates he was about 255 on stage when he received his Overall award. Later that night after chowing down, he stepped on a scale at 263.

March 2014: 305 pounds

This is the what Dallas weighed when these photos were shot the weekend of the Arnold Classic while he was there working for his sponsor BSN. It's not far from where he started off before his first contest, but the composition is drastically different now; far more muscle and far less fat.

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