A: That’s a great question because I remember feeling a lot like you when I was your age. I remember looking at the bodybuilders in magazines, and it seemed impossible that I could ever develop my skinny body to look anything remotely close to the physiques I saw there. I recall the first time I saw a picture of Arnold; I honestly thought he was wearing a phony rubber suit. His muscles were so big, they didn’t look real.

It’s very important to look at the progress you make as an individual and not to dwell too much on how the bodybuilders in the magazines look. When I was 14, I’d actually get very depressed because I thought it was an impossibility to ever build my physique as big as guys like Arnold, Lou Ferrigno, Franco Columbu and Robby Robinson.

What made it even worse was that there were two guys in my high school—both my age—who had really impressive physiques. One guy, Greg Burda, was very bulky and thick, and the other guy, Ricky Kruz, was very muscular but also ripped, with definition and vascularity that were really unusual for a 14-year-old.

I was obsessed with developing big muscles, which made it hard to go to school every day and see those guys. Even more frustrating was that they were not as disciplined as I was. Greg would eat whatever he wanted, including junk food, and Ricky was known as a guy who liked to party. Meanwhile, I wouldn’t touch anything that had sugar in it. I was working out twice a day, six days a week, but I didn’t look nearly as good as they did.

It was around that time that I read an article about genetics. The author stated that only about one in 100,000 individuals had the genetics to actually become a champion bodybuilder. He clearly stated that it wasn’t just dedication or discipline that enabled you to develop a Mr. Universe physique. It was something that you had no control over: your genetics. Basically, he said, if you weren’t born to be a bodybuilder, you were screwed.

Reading that article made me even more depressed. I figured that the reason I was so skinny was because of poor genetics. It didn’t matter how hard I worked; I’d never be able to develop my body to look like the impressive physiques of the bodybuilders I admired in the magazines. I also thought that Greg and Ricky were blessed with those rare genetics, and that’s why they were able to attain such advanced development without putting in the same hard work I did.

After my freshman year of high school, I read an article written by Arnold Schwarzenegger. The topic was the power of the mind. Arnold talked about how he used positive thinking and visualization to create his championship physique. He also mentioned other bodybuilders, such as Franco Columbu and Frank Zane, who didn’t appear to have the genetics for bodybuilding when they began training. Each, however, eventually went on to win the Mr. Olympia title by believing in himself and being persistent with training and nutrition.

Arnold’s article changed my attitude. I started to believe in myself more and began to think much more positively. I also started to look forward to workouts because I was anticipating great progress and working on building my own Mr. Universe physique. It also helped that I was on summer break, which meant I wasn’t seeing the advanced physiques of my classmates on a daily basis.

That was a magic summer for me because I made so much progress in my development and learned the value of positive thinking. The mind is powerful, and it can work for you or against you, depending on how you think.

At the end of that summer, I had my brother Don take some pictures of me. I copied the poses that I saw my favorite bodybuilders do in the magazines, such as the front double-biceps, front lat spread, side chest, most muscular, back double-biceps and lat spread.

When I examined the pictures, I could see that I had some potential for bodybuilding. I had wide shoulders and a big rib cage, so I knew I had the structural foundation for building a good physique. I also took note of several muscle groups that grew easily and were strong points, such as my biceps and my lats.

The pictures enabled me to see what I needed to work on. I could tell that my triceps weren’t as developed as my biceps. I also needed to work on my lateral-deltoid heads to develop the caps of my shoulders. Finally, my legs were behind my upper-body development because I didn’t work my legs as hard during my first year of training.

Another important thing I learned about my young physique from the pictures we took was that I had good long-term genetics. I could see that I had a good structure and good shape in several of my bodyparts (peaked biceps, wide and low lats and pecs and good abs). I just needed to add more muscle all over my physique, and I knew that would take time because I was naturally skinny and not muscular—more ectomorphic than mesomorphic. It gave me hope, however, that the best was yet to come and that had a remarkable change on my attitude.

Taking pictures of your physique every few months is a great way to motivate yourself to train hard and make progress. If you know that you have to take some pictures on a certain date, you’ll train harder to make gains in time for your deadline. The pictures will also provide you with the feedback you need to analyze your physique and figure out which muscle groups you need to improve.

My training routine when I started working out was a little too advanced for my experience. Initially I followed the routine that Arnold used when he trained for the Mr. Olympia competition. That meant I was training six days a week, twice a day. I got up early in the morning and worked out before I went to school, and then I worked out again at night when I got home.

Although I was obviously overtraining, I still gained 20 pounds of muscle in that first year. I was only 135 pounds at 14 when I started high school, but by the end of the following summer, I was up to 155 pounds.

It was around that time that I read another article by Arnold. He said that he trained only four days a week in the off-season when he was trying to add more size. Three months out from a contest, he would increase his training to six days a week, twice a day. His precontest routine was for refining his physique, while his off-season program was designed to add more muscle.

I immediately changed my routine to training only four days a week. Because I trained at home for the first two years, my leg workouts were pretty limited—but I trained my upper body very hard. My dad even installed a big metal pipe in the hallway of our house so I could do wide-grip chins to build my lats.

As for my nutrition, I didn’t know as much about it then as I would eventually learn, but I knew what was good to eat and what to stay away from. I was very strict about not touching anything that had sugar in it. I didn’t eat junk food at all the first couple of years when I started bodybuilding.

I ate a lot of protein—beef, tuna, eggs, chicken—as well as plenty of complex carbohydrates, like whole-wheat bread, baked potatoes and oatmeal. My metabolism was so fast when I was young that I had to eat a lot of food to gain weight. The supplement industry was in its infancy back then, so there weren’t many good protein powders available. I relied mostly on good food to build my physique.

My advice to you would be to stay positive and focus on your own progress. Begin by taking pictures of yourself hitting several of the bodybuilding poses. Also take measurements of the key areas of your physique: chest, waist, arms, thighs, calves, forearms and neck. Update the measurements once a month, and take new pictures every three months so you can measure your progress.

Keep your training days limited to three to four a week so you can recuperate and grow. Eat six meals a day, with each meal containing a complete form of protein—eggs, beef, chicken, fish, turkey, milk, cheese—and a complex carbohydrate—oatmeal, whole wheat or Ezekiel bread, potatoes, rice, pasta. Add protein drinks between meals—a weight-gaining protein powder like Optimum Nutrition’s Pro Complex Gainer is a great choice—and you’ll be on your way to developing your own championship physique. Good luck!

Q: Over the years I’ve heard several renowned bodybuilders discuss calf training, and one of the things they always recommended was to train calves after a quad and hamstring workout to keep the blood flowing through the legs. After thinking about it, however, I’m wondering, wouldn’t it be counterproductive for the calves to be trained after legs because the blood in the legs is carrying away the lactic acid from the thighs, thereby limiting the blood flow to the calves and not letting you achieve the maximum stress from calf work?

A: I’ve always separated my workouts for thighs and calves. I understand the theory that you’d get a much better pump by training calves immediately after thighs, but I’m not sure how effective that calf workout would be.

Leg training is probably the hardest workout you can do in the gym. The thighs are extremely powerful muscles, and they need a tremendous amount of resistance in order to grow. The legs also respond to higher repetitions, so the combination of heavy weight and high reps is brutal.

If you train legs properly, you should be completely wiped out after a leg workout. I have only enough energy to stumble out of the gym after one. I don’t train any other muscle groups after legs because I don’t feel I could have an effective workout for those muscles.

I tried training calves after upper legs, but my legs were so wiped out that they were shaking with exhaustion as I tried to do my calf work. It didn’t take me long to realize that I should train calves at a different workout if I really wanted to get them to grow.

I currently work my calves twice a week—with chest and triceps and then three days later with deltoids and traps. I do two exercises at each calf workout, three to four sets per exercise. Here are the calf workouts I use:

Workout 1 (with chest and triceps)

Seated calf raises 4 x 20, 15, 12, 12

Standing calf raises 4 x 12, 10, 8, 8

Workout 2 (with deltoids and traps)

Donkey calf raises 4 x 15-20

Leg press calf raises 3-4 x 12, 10, 10

Editor’s note: John Hansen has won the Mr. Natural Olympia and is a two-time Natural Mr. Universe winner. Check out his Web site at www.NaturalOlympia.com, or send questions or comments to him via e-mail at John@NaturalOlympia.com. Look for John’s DVD, “Natural Bodybuilding Seminar and Competitions,” along with his book, Natural Bodybuilding, and his training DVD, “Real Muscle,” at his Web site or at Home Gym Warehouse, www.Home-Gym.com. Listen to John’s new radio show, “Natural Bodybuilding Radio,” at www.NaturalBodybuildingRadio.com. You can send written correspondence to John Hansen, P.O. Box 3003, Darien, IL 60561.  IM

That’s the reason  it’s not uncommon for low-carb dieters to get constipated. Eating less fruit, vegetables and whole-wheat bread means a low fiber intake—and when fiber’s low, you don’t go, at least not as often as you should.

One solution is psyllium-husk powder. It’s the husk of the seed from the psyllium plant, and it’s packed with natural fiber. The husk swells when it comes in contact with water, and that helps push fecal matter through the colon more quickly. People in India and Europe have been using psyllium husk to ease constipation for centuries.

Here are a few tips on using it:

1) If you take capsules, drink plenty of liquid when you do. If you use the powder form, mix in at least eight ounces of liquid.

2) Take it between meals, not immediately before or after, as it may interfere with digestion. Plus, taking it between meals can help alleviate hunger.

—Becky Holman
www.X-tremeLean.com

Weight: 225 contest; 275 off-season

Height: 5’10”

Residence: Danbury, Connecticut

Occupation: Owner of Braun Fitness and nutrition counselor

Contest highlights: ’09 NPC Eastern USA Championships, heavyweight, 1st; ’08 NPC Atlantic City Championships, superheavyweight, 1st, and overall

Factoids: He has a passion for film and television and has appeared on “The Maury Povich Show.”

Contact: pjbraunfitness@yahoo.com

A: That’s not as much of a problem as you might think, my friend. Let’s look at a few possible solutions so that you can fully reap the rewards of your Shock workouts.

First, have you ever considered trying to train at a different time of day? I don’t know whether your schedule allows for it, but in the early afternoon hours most gyms are rather empty, as the busiest times are normally right before and right after work. If that’s not possible and the time you train is set in stone, there are other solutions.

For example, instead of using supersets during Shock week, perhaps you can use other intensity techniques that don’t require you to commandeer two pieces of equipment at a time—like drop sets, X Reps, 1 1/2 reps and pause reps. Those can work well in place of supersets. Let’s take a quick look at how a quad routine might look:

Leg presses (1 1/2 reps—lower to the bottom, press halfway, lower again, press all the way; that’s one rep) 2 x 8-10

Smith-machine squats (drop set—do a set to exhaustion, reduce the weight, then immediately do another set to exhaustion) 2 x 8-10(4-6)

Leg extensions (end-of-set X-Rep partials—at exhaustion, do eight-inch partial pulses near the bottom of the stroke, the semistretch point) 1 x 8-10

Finally, you can incorporate supersets that permit you to stay on one machine, one bench or at least in the same area. Since I’m a big proponent of using supersets during Shock workouts, I suggest you make the effort to use this intensity technique for at least one pair of movements. Here are a couple of examples for each major bodypart:

Chest

• Bench presses and flat-bench flyes

• Dumbbell bench presses and cross-bench dumbbell

pullovers

Lats

• Undergrip pulldowns and stiff-arm pulldowns

• Wide-grip bent-over rows and deadlifts

Shoulders

• Seated dumbbell presses and seated lateral raises

• Barbell front raises and wide-grip upright rows

Biceps

• EZ-curl-bar preacher curls and standing EZ-curl-bar curls

• Reverse-grip low-cable curls and low-cable curls

Triceps

• Close-grip bench presses and lying EZ-curl-bar extensions

• Forward-lunge overhead cable extensions and pushdowns

Quads

• Smith-machine front squats and Smith-machine back

squats

• Leg extensions and alternating lunges

Hamstrings

• Lying leg curls and barbell good mornings

• Stiff-legged deadlifts and seated leg curls

Now that I’ve given you some viable solutions, it’s time to go Shock yourself!

Editor’s note: Eric Broser’s new DVD “Power/Rep Range/Shock Max-Mass Training System” is available at Home-Gym.com. His e-book, Power/Rep Range/Shock Workout, which includes complete printable workout templates and a big Q&A section, is available at X-Workouts.com.

An interesting study done by Dr. Jay Hoffman examined the effects of acute L-alanyl-L-glutamine intake on performance changes and various stress and recovery markers in response to exhaustive endurance exercise and different scales of hydration. Ten active men exercised under five different conditions:

1) Normal hydrated state

2) Dehydrated by 2.5 percent of bodyweight

3) Rehydrated to 1.5 percent of bodyweight with water

4) Rehydrated to 1.5 percent of bodyweight with an L-AG-supplemented drink of 0.05 grams per kilogram of bodyweight

5) Rehydrated to 1.5 percent of bodyweight with an L-AG-supplemented drink of 0.2 grams per kilogram of bodyweight

Note that the last condition just used a greater amount of L-AG.

The data showed that AG supplementation provided a significant ergogenic benefit by increasing time to exhaustion during a mild hydration stress.

That effect was likely helped along by an enhanced fluid and electrolyte uptake.³ In fact, the highest dose of L-AG produced the greatest benefits for exercise performance. For a 200-pound man, that dose is roughly 18 grams.³

What’s interesting is that water alone did not appear to  help. Water is the most used ergogenic aid. If you go back 20 to 30 years, many exercise physiologists were skeptical of sports drinks and certainly any that contained amino acids. Funny how dead wrong some of the eggheads can be when entrepreneurial types come up with products that later prove in scientific investigations to be safe and effective. With L-AG, the sports drink segment has a very interesting player on hand. Forget the sports drinks that contain just sugar and electrolytes. You gotta have dipeptides, baby!

Editor’s note: Jose Antonio, Ph.D., is the CEO of the International Society of Sports Nutrition (www.theissn.org); also check out his site www.TheWeekendWorkout.com.

References

¹ Oda, S., et al. (2008). Safety studies of l-alanyl-l-glutamine (l-AG). Regul Toxicol Pharmacol. 50:226-38.

² Goeters, C., et al. (2002). Parenteral L-alanyl-L-glutamine improves 6-month outcome in critically ill patients. Crit Care Med. 30:2032-7.

³ Hoffman, J., et al. (2010). Examination of the efficacy of acute L-alanyl-L-glutamine ingestion during hydration stress in endurance exercise. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 7:8.

Scientists who have studied the village believe it’s due to a diet that relies heavily on potatoes and other roots. That helps the body generate more hyaluronic acid, which can lubricate the cartilage between joints. According to dermatologist Kenneith Beer, M.D., hyaluronic acid in topical form also helps smooth and hydrate wrinkled skin by drawing water into it for a temporary swelling effect that puffs out fine lines. Look for it in eye creams, lotions and skin serums. Maybe we can say bye-bye to Botox.

A: Not necessarily. The only problem with cable curls is weight-stack drag, which makes the negative, or lowering, stroke slightly easier; however, you get much better continuous tension with a cable curl than with barbell or dumbbell curls. That’s very important for max-growth stimulation. There’s also another big benefit.

According to Olympic coach and massive-arms expert Charles Poliquin, Japanese researchers have found that the biceps muscle responds best to faster concentric contractions. You get more biceps-muscle fibers in the action if you do the positive stroke in about one second. If you curl the weight up slowly, you tend to recruit the brachialis.

With that in mind, a cable curl becomes even more effective because you can drive the bar up in about one second without losing tension on your biceps. Not so with a barbell or dumbbells—you lose tension all over the stroke during a fast positive due to momentum. That makes the cable curl the better choice for rapid-fire sets.

To ease your mind about not using free weights, you can do cable curls at one biceps workout and dumbbell curls at the other. On dumbbell day try doing your dumbbell curls while seated on a high-incline bench. That will prevent cheating and enable you to do a fairly rapid concentric movement without losing much tension.

Here’s another tip: On cable curls use a close grip for an outer-biceps-head hit. That’s the head that produces the most peak. At the next workout the incline curls will naturally be a “wide-grip” movement—to avoid hitting your legs—and you’ll get more inner-head emphasis. The inner head creates more biceps fullness and thickness—that’s the out-for-in/in-for-out rule.

To summarize, switch from close-grip cable curls to high-incline dumbbell curls at every other arm session. You’ll emphasize each head at alternate workouts, just as the giant-arm-specialization programs in the e-book X Arms suggest, and you’ll be on your way to sleeve-stretching success.

Q: I’m using the three-way split in the basic program listed in the e-book X-traordinary X-Rep Workout. I’ve added about six pounds of muscle in only a month. My arms are larger than they’ve ever been, but I’m not satisfied with my legs. I’m doing what you guys show in your training blog, working legs only once a week on Tuesdays, with the two upper-body workouts alternating on Monday, Thursday and Friday. Should I add some leg work somewhere?

A: That’s one of the best bodypart splits you can use for mass, as there’s very little overlap. Plus, you get optimal muscle recovery and plenty of systemic recuperation. So keep the XX Workout split as you’re doing it—with legs only on Tuesday. The fix is, every other week, when back day lands on a Friday, add deadlifts for some residual leg work—like this:

Week 1

Monday: Chest, delts, triceps, abs

Tuesday: Legs

Wednesday: Off

Thursday: Back, biceps, forearms

Friday: Chest, delts, triceps, abs

Week 2

Monday: Back, biceps, forearms

Tuesday: Legs

Wednesday: Off

Thursday: Chest, delts, triceps, abs

Friday: Deadlifts, back, biceps, forearms

Repeat week 1, followed by week 2 and so on.

So at week 2—and every other week after that—your back workout falls on a Friday. That’s when you add deadlifts, and the residual leg work should give you a new blast of lower-body mass.

You may want to reduce the sets on your other back exercises on those Fridays because deadlifts are extremely taxing. They work about 80 percent of the muscles on your body, with a shocking emphasis on legs and back—plus, they provide a great overall anabolic kick.

Q: In some of your Positions-of-Flexion leg workouts you use hyperextensions for hamstrings. I thought hypers were more for lower back. Also, you call for incline one-arm lateral raises and leaning one-arm lateral raises. Aren’t incline and leaning laterals the same thing?

A: Hyperextensions are often classified as a lower-back exercise; however, if you keep your lower back flat throughout the stroke, you’ll hit your hamstrings hard with help from your glutes. Make an effort to feel your hamstrings elongate as you lower to the bottom position; force them to bear the brunt of the resistance. Remember, don’t let your lower back round at the bottom.

If you do let your lower back round, resistance will fall off the hamstrings and your lumbars will become more engaged in the action as a prime mover than as a stabilizer. So for hamstring work keep your lower back locked flat—as in stiff-legged deadlifts.

As for incline one-arm laterals, you do those with your nonworking side against an incline bench. It’s a stretch-position move in POF training because your arm moves down in front of your torso.

You perform leaning one-arm laterals by leaning out, in the opposite direction from what you do on incline laterals; for example, you put your feet next to the upright base of a crossover machine, grab the post with your nonworking arm and lean out till your support arm is straight. Then do laterals with your free arm.

Leaning laterals work more of the contracted position—the top end of the lateral-raise stroke. They provide a unique squeeze on the medial-delt head that most bodybuilders never get.

So the two exercises make a very complete routine for the medial-delt head. You get stretch with incline one-arm laterals and then contracted-position work with leaning laterals, training the full stroke against resistance. You could even superset the two for a gigantic pump.

Q: I’ve been reading a lot about low-carb diets, and I was thinking about trying one. I need to lose about 30 pounds, and getting rid of carbs seems to be the best way. What do you think?

A: Gradually reducing your carb intake is the way to go, but you don’t want to take your daily carb total too low—and never go to zero. At our lowest carb count near the end of a ripping phase, we still get around 120 grams a day.

As Jonathan Lawson, my training partner, and I say in our e-book X-treme Lean: “In general, decreasing one of the macronutrients—fat, protein or carbohydrate—to abnormally low levels isn’t the way to go for fat loss. You may lose weight, but in the case of low carbs some of it may be muscle.”

We like the carb-stacking approach, which is putting most of your daily carb allotment at breakfast and after your workout, when the muscles are depleted and will absorb most of the sugar as glycogen.

The rest of your meals should be protein dominant with very few carbs. That will force your body to burn fat for energy—and with protein circulating to feed your muscles, which you train heavy often, you don’t need to burn muscle for energy. So you get bigger and leaner. Plus, protein has a higher energy cost—it takes more energy to absorb it than carbs.

One last important tip that we’ve just realized: It’s been taking a lot longer for Jonathan and me to get lean the past few years, and after looking at our training-nutrition diaries from our best years, we now know why. The past few years we switched to a whey-only protein supplement, which spikes insulin. That turns off fat burning. Our bodies were swimming in insulin all day long, hardly ever able to burn bodyfat. We’ve switched back to a whey-micellar-casein-and-egg protein array that includes CLA, or conjugated linoleic acid, and our leanness is back on the fat track.

Editor’s note: Steve Holman is the author of many bodybuilding best-sellers and the creator of Positions-of-Flexion muscle training. For information on the POF videos and Size Surge programs, see the ad sections beginning on pages 208 and 264, respectively. Also visit www.X-Rep.com for information on X-Rep and 3D POF methods and e-books.  IM

How you handle disagreements, conflicts and confrontations will depend on what you believe about them. Many of your beliefs about how to handle conflict may have been formed when you were taught to be a good little boy, not start any trouble, and make sure that everyone likes you. Now is the time to reevaluate your current way of thinking when it comes to resolving conflict with other people.

The alpha male understands that disagreements, conflicts and confrontations are inevitable in the competitive world he lives in. The alpha male doesn’t view every single conflict as negative. He understands that conflict is often a necessary step toward getting to the very best solution for both parties. He is mentally and emotionally prepared for conflict. The alpha male welcomes the opportunity to resolve conflict with other people effectively when it occurs.

Have you heard the expression, “It’s not personal; it’s business”? Well, that’s exactly how the alpha male views the occasional conflicts that occur in his life. “It’s not personal; it’s just what naturally happens sometimes when people interact.” One person isn’t necessarily wrong but just views the situation differently. Someone has to take a leadership role and determine the direction both parties follow.

Compare the alpha male’s perspective to that of less dominant men and beta males: To the latter, conflict avoidance is their primary objective, whether or not they’re conscious of it. They even rationalize that they are the “better man” when they successfully avoid confrontation.

I can understand how avoiding conflict can serve you well in the short term, but is it serving you well in the long term too? Is it helping you get what you really want in life? Or is it preventing you from getting what you ultimately want?

Conflict resolution doesn’t mean conflict avoidance. If you believe conflict avoidance is an effective strategy for getting what you want in life, you must understand that you’re not necessarily a “better” person just because you can successfully avoid those challenging situations. If fact, you’re probably selling yourself short with other people by doing so.

Disagreements, conflicts and confrontations are often important parts of the negotiation process between people that will eventually lead to agreements that can satisfy both parties. Of course, it may appear that you are getting along well with people when you avoid conflict.

If you spend a lot of time and energy avoiding conflict like the “good little boy” you were taught to be and have only gotten in, say, five conflicts in the past couple of years, what’s going to happen when you’re forced to deal with someone who may have gotten into five conflicts before lunch today. When you go head-to-head with that person, really, who do you think is going to be more skilled, poised, confident and comfortable?

The alpha male is extremely confident and comfortable in the midst of conflict, stepping up to the challenge every time he must. If he thinks that he must stand up for himself and his position—then he does it. He conditions himself to never back down during those challenging times—even if he’s uncomfortable. The alpha male practices and exercises that mind-set until it is firmly integrated into his personality. The alpha male practices and exercises taking action until it becomes automatic. If you practice anything long enough, how can you not eventually become great at it?

I certainly understand how getting into occasional disagreements, conflicts and confrontations can be uncomfortable. Isn’t it better to put yourself through the discomfort now and work on getting better at handling conflict? Wouldn’t it be better to go through the discomfort now than having it linger for years?

In life, you get what you focus on. You can improve on anything you do with enough focus. Conflict resolution is no exception. Read books on the subject. Constantly evaluate your interactions with other people. Evaluate other people’s interactions. Fall in love with the process.

What if you were to dedicate yourself to becoming a master at conflict resolution over the next year? You’d have those skills for the rest of your life. Every instance that occurred would be viewed as an opportunity to get better at conflict resolution. The more times you put yourself through the process, the better you would become.

Leaders don’t worry about being liked while they’re striving for common ground. Don’t try to be the man everyone likes. Be the man everyone respects. When you’re confident and comfortable in your position, what others may think about you during a conflict will become insignificant.

The alpha male understands that other people don’t always live by his rules, values, beliefs or standards. He understands that other people may not even believe in his values, let alone live by them. He never makes the mistake of assuming that they will—or even that they should. The alpha male also never takes it personally when other people don’t play life by his rules.

When the alpha male does get into conflicts, he doesn’t feel the need to talk about them afterward. He doesn’t need the “emotional therapy” of talking, justifying, rationalizing or explaining the conflict to other people. He has no need to do so because he never views any conflict as a bad experience.

Is the conflict-avoidance approach really working for you? Be honest! If you’re in a place of pain because you can’t get what you really want in life, then you absolutely must be honest with yourself for things to change. If you truly want to have more and better options, you absolutely must be honest with yourself.

Make sure that you immediately adopt the perspective of a strong leader—the alpha male—when challenged by disagreements, conflicts or confrontations. Then hold on to that mind-set and take action steps every chance you get.

Remember, when it comes to effectively resolving conflicts: If you think it—you must do it! There’s no backing down from that moment forward.

Editor’s note: Six-time national-champion bodybuilder and success coach Skip La Cour is the creator of MANformation, a powerful personal-development and fitness program for men that is based on the qualities and actions of the world’s most powerful, influential and charismatic men. It is a structured series of alpha leadership strategies for transforming you into the man you really want to be. It doesn’t matter where you are in your life right now, what you’ve achieved so far or your age. The MANformation program will help you become a better version of yourself—step-by-step and one strategy at a time. To learn more about the MANformation personal-development program, visit www.MANformation.com. Sign up for the free weekly e-newsletter, and you’ll get a free alpha leadership e-book.

Q: I hear everyone saying that you can’t build big arms without heavy squats and deadlifts. Is that true?

A: I’d love to tell you yes because I like making people miserable, but it would not be true. Although heavy powerlifts will definitely help your quest for big pipes, 18-inch guns have been built without a squat rack or a deadlift platform in sight. Just look at guys such as national arm-wrestling champion Jason Remer, who sports a great bodybuilding physique. Although these days this rare gentleman athlete is serious about training his whole body, a couple of years ago Remer won his first national title with no lower-body work at all.

Before you let your squat rack get overgrown with spider webs, though, you need to know one thing about Jason’s training. Unlike a typical curl artist who bounces, pumps and burns with sissy weights and high reps, the arm-wrestling champ treats his curls as serious strength training. He lifts heavy, slow and tight. A perfect and conservative triple with 150 pounds is a routine set of barbell curls for Jason.

One of the top profesional arm benders in the Midwest, Marty O’Neal, has 17-inch pipes at 176 pounds of bodyweight on a 5’11” frame. When I met the up-and-coming athlete a few years ago, he was wiry but certainly not bursting out of his sleeves. In other words, it’s not just genetics. It’s the training: heavy curls plus arm wrestling, which is the ultimate in time under tension.

—Pavel
Beyond Bodybuilding

Editor’s note: Beyond Bodybuilding is availble from www.Home-Gym.com.

—Becky Holman
www.X-tremeLean.com

Age: 21

Weight: 122 contest; 127 off-season

Height: 5’8”

Residence: Arlington, Texas

Occupation: Full-time student and a manager at Palm Beach Tan

Contest highlights: ’09 NPC Nationals, bikini, E-class, 3rd; ’09 NPC Capital of Texas Roundup, bikini, overall

Factoid: A senior at the University of Texas, Arlington, she’s a marketing major.

Contact:
Ellenb8288@yahoo.com

Weight: 217 contest; 240 off-season

Height: 5’11”

Residence: North Brunswick, New Jersey

Occupation: Police sergeant

Contest highlights: ’09 NPC National Championships, heavyweight, 8th; ’08 NPC New Jersey Championships, heavyweight, 1st, and overall

Factoid: He hopes to land a role in a commercial, TV show or movie: “Hollywood, here I come.”

Contact: DHop114@aol.com

You’ve probably heard the stories of Arnold visualizing his biceps as jagged mountain peaks as he trained them. He pictured other bodyparts as bigger than life, exploding with extreme growth during his workouts as well. He was a true master at dialed-in mind-to-muscle effort.

John Balik, IRON MAN publisher and a man who lived and trained with Arnold back in the ’70s, describes those sessions: “I’ve seen others use more weight or do more reps than Arnold, but I’ve never seen anyone train with such all-out ferocious, focused intensity.”

As Balik says, you have to have the will and the want, and you must be able to channel it into every set of every workout. A psyched training partner can help. Arthur Jones, the creator of Nautilus machines, was a taskmaster who could drive trainees to extraordinary gains. As he put it, “If you do 10 repetitions of an exercise when you could’ve done 12, you may as well stay in the parking lot!” That’s why he drove his trainees to 100 percent effort on every set.

For example, back in 1970 Jones trained Casey Viator using quick-but-brutal full-body Nautilus workouts. Viator was gunning for the coveted Mr. America title. With Jones supervising and driving him at every workout, Casey, at 19, became the youngest winner of that prestigious contest. That was after only five months of all-out Jones-inspired muscle assaults.

As we discuss in Chapter 3 of The X-traordinary Size Surge Workout, Jones was also the one who trained with Casey during the Colorado Experiment, in which Casey gained 60 pounds of muscle in four weeks. Much of those results can be attributed to Jones’ relentless “motivation”—rumor has it he carried a loaded pistol to ensure that Casey cranked out as many reps as possible. Obviously, working with all-out, take-no-prisoners intensity during every session was the key. They trained only three days a week for one month to build the muscle.

In our camp, Jonathan is a prime example of intensity for immensity. His becoming reinspired to train is a big reason he was able to pack on 20 pounds of muscle in 10 weeks with the Size Surge program in the 1990s. As he explains in Chapter 1, Revving Up for Radical Results, he had all but given up on building muscle and was “going through the motions” on a three-days-per-week program. He wasn’t making any gains and was just coasting until…

“I got a job in the product division at IRON MAN magazine and met Steve Holman, editor in chief. He told me he was developing a program that could add pounds of muscle to just about anyone’s frame in 10 weeks. That got me curious and excited! I convinced Steve to let me be the guinea pig for the Size Surge program. When he agreed, I felt a wave of motivation unlike any I’d ever felt before.”

Jonathan rode that wave of motivation through five weeks, pulled back for one week to recharge, then went all out again with an altered full-range workout program for four more weeks. By week 10 he’d achieved results that many would deem impossible without steroids. He did it drug-free and with very few supplements. For more info and his strength stats and before and after photos, visit www.SizeSurgeWorkout.com.

Interesting that Jonathan’s workload in the gym wasn’t that different before he started the Size Surge program—he was training three days a week for about an hour per workout. What changed was his mind-set. Before his brain told his body that he was coasting, there was no fire. Once he got motivated and tore into the Size Surge workouts, his mind shifted to mega muscle—and his intensity skyrocketed!

The point is, you must do everything possible to keep your motivation running red hot. Get an inspired training partner. If that’s out of the question, at least continue to explore the best ways to build muscle. So read up, get excited, and continually tweak your workouts with new ideas and techniques to keep your mind and muscles peaked.

—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com

Charles Bamforth, from the University of California, Davis, and colleagues studied commercial beer production to determine the relationship between beer production methods and the impact of silicon on the body. They examined a variety of raw-material samples and found little change in the silicon content of barley during the malting process. The majority of the silicon in barley is in the husk, which is not affected greatly during malting. The malts with greater silicon content are pale colored and take less heat stress during the malting process. The darker products, such as the chocolate, roasted barley and black malts, all get substantial roasting and have much lower silicon content than other malts, for reasons that are not yet known.

The hops samples analyzed showed surprisingly high silicon content with as much as four times more than is found in malt. Some studies have suggested that moderate beer drinking may help fight osteoporosis. The finding by these researchers that “beer is a very rich source of silicon” takes on a potential importance for preventative health pending further studies into the underlying mechanisms of the bone-boosting properties of beer.

Casey, T.R., et al. (2010). Silicon in beer and brewing. J Sci Food and Agric. In press.

Nutrient Cocktail Maintains Youth

Declining physical movement, known as bradykinesis, is considered a reliable biomarker of aging and risk of death. David Rollo, from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, and colleagues formulated a dietary supplement consisting of ingredients such as vitamins B1, C, D, E, aspirin, beta-carotene, folic acid, garlic, ginger root, ginkgo biloba, ginseng, green-tea extract, magnesium, melatonin, potassium, cod liver oil and flaxseed oil. Multiple ingredients were combined based on their ability to offset five mechanisms involved in aging.

Feeding the formula to old mice by administering bagel bits soaked in the supplement, the team found that the formula maintained youthful locomotor activity into old age, whereas old mice that were not given the supplement showed a 50 percent loss in daily movement. In the latter group the researchers also observed a similar dramatic loss in activity of the mitochondria, the cellular furnaces that make energy, and declines in brain-signaling chemicals relevant to locomotion.

The researchers had this comment: “Results provide proof of principle that complex dietary cocktails can powerfully ameliorate biomarkers of aging and modulate mechanisms considered ultimate goals for aging interventions.”

Aksenov, V., et al. (2010). Dietary amelioration of locomotor, neurotransmitter and mitochondrial aging. Exp Biol Med. 235:66-76.

—Dr. Bob Goldman
www.WorldHealth.net

Editor’s note: For the latest information and research on health and aging, subscribe to the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine e-zine free at World
Health.net.

• double the risk of heart failure.

• increase the risk of stroke by 78 percent.

• increase the risk of coronary artery disease by 45 percent.

Those conclusions were reached after researchers studied more than 27,000 people aged 50 or older. Oh, one more stat: Being low in vitamin D can increase your risk of death by 77 percent. Get out in the sun or take vitamin D supplements—about 5,000 international units per day.

Age: 29

Weight: 126 contest; 131
off-season

Height: 5’5 1/2”

Residence: Spokane, Washington

Occupation: Admissions adviser

Contest highlights: ’09 NPC Nationals, figure, D-class, 3rd; ’09 NPC USA Championships, figure, D-class, 34; ’09 NPC, figure, 5’4-5’7”, 1st, and overall

Factoids: She was a competitive figure skater for eight years and was a cheerleader at Gonzaga University

Contact: Legallyblonde1981[at]hotmail.com

A: Before I answer your question, let’s review some definitions. A concentric contraction is when a muscle contracts and shortens, an eccentric contraction is when a muscle contracts and lengthens, and an isometric contraction is when a muscle contracts and no movement occurs.

In sports they say speed is king. That’s certainly true when you’re going for a single-leg takedown, which is the reason so many strength coaches who work with wrestlers emphasize fast, concentric exercises such as the power clean. When you’re on the mat, however, the muscular effort shifts toward the isometric. So I recommend that young wrestlers emphasize slower movements to more closely approximate the majority of the muscle activity that occurs in their sport.

The following is an upper-body workout I would prescribe for a young wrestler. It contains two pulling exercises and two pressing exercises, performed in superset fashion, for four sets of each exercise.

A-1  Chinups, 4 x 1, tempo 30/0/30/0, rest 90 seconds

A-2  Dips, 4 x 1, tempo 30/0/30/0, rest 90 seconds

B-1  Bent-over EZ-curl-bar rows, 4 x 6,

tempo 5/0/5/0, rest 75 seconds

B-2  Seated dumbbell presses, 4 x 6, tempo 5/0/5/0,

rest 75 seconds

On the chinups you start by pulling yourself to the top position in 30 seconds, and then take another 30 seconds to lower yourself to the bottom. That is one rep and, in this case, one set. On the dips you use the same tempo, but you begin by lowering yourself to the bottom position in 30 seconds and then straightening your arms in 30 seconds.

Give that workout a try. It’s tougher than it looks on paper and is guaranteed to make your son tougher on the mat.

Q: I see that Walmart is now selling vitamin D3. I figure if Walmart is selling it, there must be something behind the hype. I do powerlifting and bodybuilding but have no interest in competing. Would vitamin D3 be a good supplement for me, and if so, how much should I take?

A: The problem with your logic is that Walmart also sells soy-based protein powders! That said, it did right with vitamin D3. Besides fish oils, I would go so far as to say that vitamin D may be the most important supplement for your health, as virtually every disease and adverse medical problem is associated with lower vitamin D levels. Among those problems are the following:

· Autoimmune conditions

· Blood sugar regulation and insulin resistance

· Cancer

· Cold, flu and respiratory-tract infection

· Depression and other neurological concerns

· Fetal brain development and immune function

· Maternal health

· Hypertension and congestive heart failure

· Multiple sclerosis

· Psoriasis

· Rickets, bone density, osteoporosis, osteopenia,
osteomalacia

In addition to what I’ve learned from scientific, peer-reviewed research about the benefits of vitamin D3 supplements, I get nothing but positive feedback from bodybuilders, powerlifters, weightlifters and other athletes about their experience with vitamin D3 in helping build strength and size.

How much vitamin D3 do you need? Probably more than you think and certainly more than the amount recommended by the supplement companies that design their D3 capsules to contain less than 5,000 international units (one company offers capsules of 500 I.U.). I’ve found that if you supplement with 5,000 I.U. of vitamin D3 every day, you should achieve the normal range within about three months. I’ve achieved better results using a much higher dose twice a week, such as 30,000, until reaching optimal D3 levels.

There is, however, an asterisk associated with those numbers.

What you must consider is that before designing a vitamin D3 protocol, I encourage my clients to get their D3 count checked so we can establish a baseline; they get rechecked later to see how the protocol is working. As with any supplement, you should always check with your health-care professional to see if there are any contraindications for taking higher doses.

There is no other substance I know of that has this kind of power behind it. So, yes, when it comes to vitamin D3, Walmart knows best!

Q: How often should I change exercises? I am a 24-year-old male and have been lifting for two years. I can bench-press 305 pounds at 175 pounds bodyweight.

A: In the ’70s a top bodybuilder wrote a training booklet that had a question-and-answer section, and one of the questions was, “When is the best time to train?” The answer: 2:30! Any more questions? Class dismissed.

That example illustrates one of the major problems in strength and bodybuilding training in that those involved in them are often looking for a single, simple answer to their questions. Unfortunately, all the information necessary to determine rate of exercise change cannot be addressed in this column; for that, you must consider such factors as genetics, fiber makeup and nutritional status. Let me give you an example.

A coaching colleague and I conducted an experiment with six different national teams in preparation for the Albertville Winter Olympic Games in 1992. We were testing the validity of a premise: If athletes make great progress changing their workouts every six training sessions, changing at every workout would be even better-—more is better, right? And hey, having a new workout every training day might help with motivation—variety is the spice of life, right? Not quite.

What we found was that only 11 percent of those gifted athletes responded well to changes made at every workout. Again, they were Olympians. If we extended that experiment to the general population, a much lower percentage would benefit from training. Although it’s interesting to examine the training programs of elite athletes, it is unlikely that they would be appropriate for the average trainee.

In the early days of modern bodybuilding, when much attention was focused on the training coming out of Gold’s Gym in Venice, California, many of the best bodybuilders performed an extremely high volume of training. How high? As much as 20 sets per ^-bodypart! Whether those workouts were actually performed or were simply a media trick to generate interest in the champion bodybuilders of that era, the fact is that few people could make progress on such programs without chemical enhancement.

Further, it’s likely that the top bodybuilders would have made better progress on lower-volume programs. When I hear of the success that some elite bodybuilders have had with low-volume workouts, I attribute much of their progress to the fact that they were previously so overtrained. As I am fond of saying, Fatigue masks fitness!

Another example of how individual response bears on exercise change was an experiment performed by Russian weightlifting coaches who concluded that one of the most important traits of a champion weightlifter was the ability to tolerate a high volume of training. Lifting candidates were given an initial program that involved high-volume methods, such as 15 to 20 sets of snatches in one workout. After the first few weeks more than half the candidates quit. Within a few months, when only a few athletes remained with the program, the prevailing opinion among the coaches was that the remaining athletes were likely to be among the highest achievers in the sport.

The bottom line is that you cannot overlook the unique, innate qualities of the individual when designing resistance-training programs. Some will respond better to frequent changes in exercises—e.g., every one to two weeks—while others will respond better to changes made less frequently, like every five to eight weeks.

Editor’s note: Charles Poliquin is recognized as one of the world’s most suc-cessful strength coaches, having coached Olympic med-alists in 12 different sports, including the U.S. women’s track-and-field team for the 2000 Olympics. He’s spent years researching European journals (he’s fluent in English, French and German) and speaking with other coaches and scientists in his quest to optimize training methods. For more on his books, seminars and methods, visit www.CharlesPoliquin.net.  IM

Push A: Monday

Bench presses

Military presses

Close-grip bench presses

Squats

Seated calf raises

Pull A: Tuesday

Bent-over rows

Pulldowns

Dumbbell shrugs

Dumbbell curls

Stiff-legged deadlifts

Push B: Thursday

Incline dumbbell presses

Dumbbell presses

Skull crushers

Leg presses

Leg press calf raises

Pull B: Friday

Deadlifts (full or rack)

Pullups

Barbell shrugs

Barbell curls

Leg curls

A: I think it’s a good idea to switch to a split routine after using a full-body program for some time. As you mentioned, when you get stronger and use heavier weights on exercises such as squats and deadlifts, it becomes physically exhausting to do them all in one workout.

The next step is to train half of the muscle groups in one workout and the other half in the next workout, as with the push-pull routine you listed. I included several variations of the two-way split in my book Natural Bodybuilding, but I think the best version for you would be the intermediate program where you train each muscle group twice a week.

The routine that I used for bulking up when I was in my early 20s was a push-pull routine. I trained chest, deltoids, triceps and calves on Monday and Thursday and abs, legs, back and biceps on Tuesday and Friday. I focused on using the basic exercises with heavy weights, and it gave me great results, although it was a very tough routine to follow.

I used approximately three exercises for bigger muscle groups and only two exercises for smaller muscle groups like arms and calves. I tried to keep the total sets for each workout under 30 so I didn’t overtrain.

Looking at the routine you listed, I think you could add more exercises to develop the muscles fully. The benefit of using a split over a full-body routine is that you can do more than one exercise for each muscle group.

Here’s an example of a more complete push-pull program for you to try:

Push Routine A

Bench presses 3 x 10, 8, 6

Incline dumbbell presses 3 x 8, 8, 6

Military presses 3 x 10, 8, 6

Upright rows 3 x 10, 8, 8

Barbell shrugs 3 x 10, 8, 6

Pushdowns 3 x 10, 8, 6

Lying extensions 3 x 8, 8, 6

Standing calf raises 3 x 12, 10, 8

Seated calf raises 3 x 15, 12, 10

Pull Routine B

Incline situps 2 x 30-40

Incline knee raises 2 x 30-40

Squats 3 x 10, 8, 6

Leg curls 3 x 10, 8, 6

Wide-grip chins 3 x 10, 8, 8

Barbell rows 3 x 8, 8, 6

Deadlifts 3 x 8, 8, 6

Barbell curls 3 x 10, 8, 6

Push Routine B

Incline presses 3 x 10, 8, 6

Dumbbell bench presses 3 x 8, 8, 6

Seated dumbbell presses 3 x 10, 8, 6

Lateral raises 3 x 10, 8, 8

Dumbbell shrugs 3 x 12, 10, 8

Close-grip bench presses 3 x 10, 8, 6

Dips 3 x 10, 8, 8

Donkey calf raises 3 x 15, 15, 15

Leg press calf raises 3 x 12, 10, 8

Pull Routine B

Hanging knee raises 2 x 20-30

Kneeling cable crunches 2 x 20-30

Leg presses 3 x 12, 10, 8

Stiff-legged deadlifts 3 x 10, 8, 8

Pulldowns 3 x 10, 8, 6

One-arm dumbbell rows 3 x 10, 8, 8

Hyperextensions 3 x 15

Seated dumbbell curls 3 x 10, 8, 6

This routine is best performed four days a week with three days of rest. You’ll be training each muscle group twice a week, which will give you enough recuperation time for the muscles to grow.

The key to the split routine, as with all training programs, is to train heavier consistently so the muscles keep getting bigger. By focusing on the basic exercises and using a moderate number of total sets for the workout, you’ll be able to progressively increase your muscle mass and strength.

Q: I’m writing from sunny South Africa.  Are there any tips you can give in regard to training? I train, let my endocrine system recover completely—two to three days of rest—and train again. That appears to me to be the only way it makes sense for a natural trainer. I do two to three warmup sets and one heavy set, four to six exercises per workout, splitting the body into two groups and training every three to four days. It makes no sense to me to train back if my chest is still sore from yesterday or the day before, with the hormone system still depressed. The only supplement I take is whey protein powder, three to four times per day, with three to four other meals. Sometimes I like to train more, but having started out as a hardgainer, 160 pounds at 6’1”, I find my body doesn’t handle it. I’m now 230 pounds, but about 22 percent bodyfat, so slowly burning that up.

A: Recuperation is key for making progress in bodybuilding. As you noted, if the muscles aren’t fully recuperated, growth won’t take place. It’s not just the muscles that need recuperation, however. The body as a whole does as well.

Everyone recuperates at a different rate. I once had a training partner who would get so sore, it would take him a week to recover from a hard session. I remember that he even got sore for days after pumping up for a contest. His recovery rate was very poor compared to most people who weight train on a consistent schedule.

You obviously have figured out the correct amount of recuperation you need because you’ve progressed from 160 pounds to 230 pounds; however, you might want to try pushing yourself a little more in your training to see if you’re still getting the recuperation your body needs.

I like to take a full day off from training after two consecutive days of working out, but I train different muscle groups from day to day, so it doesn’t matter if the muscles that I trained the day before are sore when I train the next day. Because I’m hitting different muscle groups, I stick to the schedule and train the following day.

I arrange my program to separate muscle groups that may overlap. For example, my shoulders are worked pretty hard when I train my chest. If you schedule your chest and shoulder days back to back, you will end up overtraining the deltoids because you’re essentially working them two days in a row—one day indirectly and the next day directly. For that reason I make sure that my chest and shoulder workouts are separated by three days.

I use the same strategy when it comes to my legs and my back. The lower back is indirectly involved in leg exercises like squats and stiff-legged deadlifts. If I were to work legs the day before or the day after working back, I’d end up overtraining my lower back or possibly injuring that vulnerable area of the body. That’s why I separate my leg and back sessions by at least three days.

There’s nothing wrong, however, with training chest and triceps the day before I train legs. If my chest is sore when I go in to do legs, it won’t affect my leg workout. I also train deltoids the day before I train back and biceps—again, muscle groups that won’t affect one another.

You mentioned that the only supplement you use is whey protein powder. I can suggest a couple of others that may help you recuperate. The first is a recovery drink taken immediately after your workout. It should contain fast-acting protein and carbohydrate to replenish your muscle cells after a hard workout.

I always use two scoops of 2:1:1 Recovery from Optimum Nutrition after my workout. It contains 35 grams of easy-to-digest protein and 70 grams of carbohydrates. The carbs are absorbed into the muscle cells to replace the glycogen that you burned during your workout. The higher carbs also raise the insulin level, making absorption of those important nutrients even easier. The amino acids from the protein in the 2:1:1 Recovery are also transported into the muscle cells.

Another great supplement that aids recuperation is HMB from Optimum Nutrition. The HMB helps with muscle recovery by increasing protein synthesis and reducing muscle tissue damage. HMB, also known as B-hydroxy B-methylbutyrate, is a natural compound produced during the metabolism of the essential amino acid leucine. Leucine also occurs naturally in foods such as soybeans, beef and fish.

I can attest to the power of HMB in my own workouts. I’ve been supplementing with three grams of Optimum Nutrition’s HMB capsules for the last three weeks and have noticed a significant improvement in muscle recuperation and recovery. Although I’m using heavier poundages in my workouts and pushing the intensity, I’m not getting so sore that I find it hard to move.

I recommend that you try switching up your workouts so you’re not training related muscle groups on back-to-back days. In addition, take advantage of some of the great supplements that are available today, like 2:1:1 Recovery and HMB to get ultimate recuperation.

Editor’s note: John Hansen has won the Mr. Natural Olympia and is a two-time Natural Mr. Universe winner. Check out his Web site at www.NaturalOlympia.com, or send questions or comments to him via e-mail at John@NaturalOlympia.com. Look for John’s DVD, “Natural Bodybuilding Seminar and Competitions,” along with his book, Natural Bodybuilding, and his training DVD, “Real Muscle,” at his Web site or at Home Gym Warehouse, www.Home-Gym.com. Listen to John’s new radio show, “Natural Bodybuilding Radio,” at www.NaturalBodybuildingRadio.com. You can send written correspondence to John Hansen, P.O. Box 3003, Darien, IL 60561.  IM