Written by Chris Cormier
10 October 2006
One Long-Ass Workout

I know a lot of the guys in the ‘70s, especially Arnold, trained chest and back in the same workout. Why is it you don't do that, and why don't today's pros hit back and chest together?

First, let me say I have nothing but respect and admiration for the pioneers like Arnold, Robby Robinson, Sergio Oliva and Franco Columbu who paved the way for Chris Cormier, Ronnie, Jay, and the rest of us today. They were all great champions who redefined the possibilities of what the human body could be transformed into. And no doubt those guys were all very hard workers who trained their asses off. At the same time, we have the advantage today of a lot of information that these men were not privy to. Obviously, the science of nutrition and supplementation has advanced light years since the age of disco, and so has training knowledge. 

Specifically, we are a lot more aware now that more is not always better.  We know there's such a thing as overtraining and it can actually prevent you from making gains. Overtraining was an obscure term back then and I am pretty sure the only people making noise about it were Arthur Jones and Mike Mentzer. You have to remember, these were the days of "intensity or insanity," when Mr. America Steve Michalik used to do 100 sets per body part and put training partners in the hospital. The gang at the original Gold's Gym in Venice also liked to do a lot of sets and reps, much higher volume on average than today's pros and top amateurs do. If the accounts are true, they would train twice a day for up to three hours at a time. They hit every body part two or three times a week. That was just the way it was done back then and very few bodybuilders questioned it.

 Now, almost 30 years later, we know muscles need to recover in order to grow. We also know there is a point of diminishing returns when it comes to each workout. After about an hour, your body stops releasing the good anabolic hormones like testosterone and growth hormone and starts flooding your system with catabolic muscle-eaters like cortisol. Now, it takes me a good hour to train chest if not closer to 90 minutes, and definitely about 90 minutes to hit back. If I tried to do them both in one workout, I would be looking at a three-hour workout. I don't care if you are Superman or using some top-secret steroids the rest of us don't even know about yet, there is just no way you can maintain your intensity for that long. The logic of the old-timers in doing chest and back together was that they were antagonistic muscle groups, meaning one contracts when the other stretches. You could superset something like bench presses and barbell rows without any overlap. 

I look at it this way. The chest and the back together is just too much muscle mass to train at one time. Maybe you're a beginner and you're not using very heavy weights, so you can get away with it. But when you get more advanced and are capable of training heavier and harder, it's not a smart idea.  I think both the back and the chest would suffer in a case like this, because you would be so fatigued by training them both that neither one would get a good workout. You can only put out so much quality effort at one shot; after that you are just wearing out your body and your nervous system. Lee Haney put it best when he said, "Stimulate, don't annihilate." I would say every once in a while, if you want to combine chest and back for a change of pace, go ahead and do it, but reduce your usual volume on each so you still finish in under 90 minutes.  Most of the time, I recommend training these big torso muscle groups on different days. The ‘70s were some golden years in bodybuilding, but this is 2004 now, dudes.

 

Tearin' Shit Up

It seems like everyone is tearing a muscle lately- Markus, Kevin, Art Atwood. Has this made you think about perhaps training a little lighter yourself? You do throw some crazy weights around. I'm sure an injury would be a Real Pain in the ass for the Real Deal!

I would be lying if I said I haven't been a little more concerned with injury prevention lately, what with all my homies tearing a triceps here and a quad over there. We pro bodybuilders depend on our physiques to earn our living, so if we can't train and compete, that's a huge problem. You think we can go out on disability and collect a check every week like an injured firefighter or police officer? Hellz no! In fact, a lot of times a company will actually terminate your contract if you get hurt. Weider did it to my boy Flex Wheeler when homeboy broke his neck in a car accident back in 1994. Did it cold-blooded too, with a fax! I heard Jean-Pierre Fux had no choice but to compete in the Night of Champions this past May, just a year after tearing both his quads, or else Weider was gonna ice his contract, too. He didn't look anywhere near his best because he didn't have enough time to train properly, and he placed far out of the money. 

Yeah, I know, he got hurt in a photo shoot for a Weider magazine, too, right? That's just how messed up bodybuilding is. You da man unless you get injured, and then it's like, who do you think you are that we should still pay your busted-up ass? So I have to stay healthy. I have a great relationship with MuscleTech and I am not sweatin' that they would cut me loose if I got hurt, but I depend on my contest winnings to pay my bills, too. If I can't do the spring shows or the Olympia in any given year, that's one big fat mess of Benjamins I would miss out on. Plus, I love to train and I love being big and strong. I can't think of anything more depressing than not to be able to lift weights and to feel myself getting smaller and weaker every day. I sure as hell would be one miserable brother.

So what am I doing to make sure that shit never comes to pass? I train hard and heavy, but I also train smart. First off, I always, always take plenty of time to warm up before I even think about lifting a lot of weight. A few good minutes of cardio and then at least three warm-up sets of progressively heavier weights are mandatory. I don't care if I'm in a rush to get somewhere after the gym or not, skipping warm-ups or cutting them short is not an option for me.  Next, I always put 100 percent focus on the exercise I'm doing and on using proper form. The only serious injury I ever suffered was years ago when I turned my head to talk to someone while I was squatting heavy. That taught me how dangerous it can be to let yourself get distracted during your set. Once I start that set, I shut out everything else in the world except my form and the feeling in the muscle group I'm working.

 Another thing is that I take advantage of support gear. People have commented on how silly those big neoprene supports I wear over my elbows look. I could care less about how they look, they keep my elbow joints and tendons warm, which is damned important when you are pressing heavy weights for chest and shoulders. My lifting belt is important, too. Anytime my spine is going to be compressed, as in a heavy overhead press or a squatting movement, that belt gets cinched on tight first. And a last bit of preventative medicine is that I know my body pretty well after all these years and I stay away from exercises that I know could lead to trouble. I have tweaked my lower back badly a few times in the past doing bent barbell rows and deadlifts with a barbell, so now I use a Smith machine. That way, the resistance isn't always pulling me forward and I am less likely to round my lower back. I also use the Smith machine for overhead presses on shoulders, because it's more stable than a barbell or dumbbells. 

When you can press a whole lot of weight overhead, it can get dangerous because one slip out of that exact groove and boom! There goes your rotator cuff. Guys like to talk shit about how the Smith machine is for wimps, but they can go take a flying leap with their macho bullshit. All I know is that it allows me to do a couple of exercises heavy that I normally wouldn't feel safe performing.

A final safety factor I employ is to stay within my limits and never do anything stupid. I ain't tryin' to be a powerlifter, so you will almost never see me doing less than eight reps of anything. If I can't get eight reps, it's too much weight and I go down for the next set. And I listen to my body. If I'm feeling like I am starting to get sick or I didn't get enough sleep the night before, I will not hesitate to use a little less weight that day in the gym. Ignoring the signs your body is trying to tell you is an easy way to get hurt. So, as you can see, I am still training Real Deal style and taking all the necessary precautions so you won't be seeing any pictures of me with a torn biceps or pec (knock on wood!).    

 

Keep the Muscle, Lose the Fat

I am dieting for my first show and already I am starting to lose muscle along with the fat. How can I avoid this situation? I want to be ripped, but what good is that if I lose half the muscle I started with?

Luckily I am in a good position to answer this, because I have helped out a lot of up-and-coming amateurs getting ready for shows. I noticed that they all made the same few major mistakes. The first mistake is letting yourself get too fat in the off-season. People seem to have a misconception of what bulking up is really all about. It is not a license to eat all kinds of junk all day and let yourself get sloppy looking. That's just gluttony and lack of willpower. Junk food is fine for an occasional treat, like maybe once a week, but no one who considers him or herself a bodybuilder should be eating it every day. You should always be able to see your abs and serratus somewhat. Once you can't, you know you've let yourself get too fat. 

The problem is that you want your contest diet to be gradual and not too painful until the end. If you start dieting 10 weeks out from a show and you have a little jelly roll spilling over your belt, you will need to drastically reduce calories and do tons of cardio to get into even respectable condition in such a short time. Drastic is always a dirty word when it comes to dieting. When you go on a crash diet like this, you are bound to lose just as much muscle as fat. Worse, when you don't eat enough calories, eventually your metabolism will slow down as an automatic reaction to protect you from starving to death. That means you will get to a certain point where you won't be able to lose anymore fat, which is very bad news if you still have excess body fat to get rid of. Small and smooth is not a winning look.

Too many bodybuilders think cutting their calories way back is the key to getting ripped. I disagree totally. You certainly do need to burn more calories overall than you eat to lose fat, but you still have to keep eating enough to support your muscle mass and your activity level. Most bodybuilders know enough to consume plenty of protein, but they often fail to keep enough healthy fats and complex carbs in their diets. Without them, you will have a very tough time maintaining your muscle mass.

The last thing I see all the time is bodybuilders losing muscle leading up to their contests because they get so overtrained. For some reason, a lot of guys and girls start doing twice as many sets and reps and adding in extra exercises when a show is coming up. They will do two hours of cardio every day and weight train twice a day, five days a week. That may work for a few pros that can get plenty of rest to recover from that regimen, but not if you work a nine to five job, have kids, etc. Don't try to mimic the way me or Jay Cutler gets ready for a show unless you, too, are getting paid to be a bodybuilder! Take off days when you feel exhausted, even if you are supposed to train that day. You will always be better off in the long run getting a little extra rest than by trying to run yourself into the ground. Follow my advice and you should be able to hold onto all that precious muscle mass you worked so hard to build while still getting shredded. Good luck!  

 

Apples, Oranges and Nectarines

People complain about the judging in the IFBB all the time, but I wonder how it's even possible to say one physique is better than another when you have such different types of bodies up there. Assuming everyone is in shape, it really does seem to be one of those "apples and oranges" types of comparisons. Isn't it all just a matter of opinion and personal tastes?

Yes, bodybuilding is a subjective sport that depends on a judging panel to reach the scores of the athletes who compete in it. Different judges will have their own unique perspectives and opinions as to what they consider the best physique- and that's fine. I knew going into this game that it wouldn't be as cut and dried as my former sport of wrestling. In wrestling, if you pinned the other guy's shoulders for three seconds, you won the match- no two ways about it.  You could also win on points for takedowns and so on.

Bodybuilding isn't quite as simple. But you have to look at it this way.  There are plenty of other sports, like figure skating, that are judged subjectively, too. But they manage to get it right most of the time because they have a whole series of areas they are closely watching when the skater or skaters go through the routine. Bodybuilding also has its own distinct criteria. The winner should be the man who has the best "complete package" of size, shape, symmetry and cuts. You can't be severely lacking in any of these areas and still win in a high-level competition. For instance, some big guy can have the best size and shape in a show, but if he is really smooth, he shouldn't win. That's because having too much body fat and/or water takes away from the aesthetic impact a physique should have.

To me, bodybuilding is all about aesthetics. I think some of the best physiques of all time have been the guys with incredible shape like Frank Zane, Bob Paris, Lee Labrada and Flex Wheeler. Without sounding too arrogant, I consider myself in this group, too. That's why I have a problem when some guy with all the aesthetics and lines of a dump truck wins a pro show. I have said many times that big bloated bellies have no place in bodybuilding. They are ugly as all hell. Giant butts are not pleasant to see, either. The ideal bodybuilder will have wide shoulders, a small waist and narrow hips, and flaring quads to make up a perfect "X-frame." That is the look I have always strived for, and I have avoided several things that would have detracted from it over the years. So I get a little twisted when I see some of my peers getting rewarded for nothing more than freaky size and cuts, when they have let their guts and butts get disgustingly out of control. 

You should look at a champion and say to yourself, "Wow, what an awesome body; I would love to look like that." Instead, I think you look at some of these guys out there now and say, "Yuck, that cat looks like some ugly alien; I would never want to look like he does."  See what I'm sayin'? It's not really about apples and oranges, it's all about beautiful bodies and ugly bodies. I don't see how hard it is to choose between those two for a winner, do you?

 

Late-Night Protein

A lot of guys these days seem to be drinking protein shakes in the middle of the night to stay in positive nitrogen balance and avoid slipping into a catabolic state. What do you think? Is it really necessary to get up in the middle of the night and throw back a shake, or is it a waste of time?

Do I think it's absolutely necessary? No. Is it a good idea? I would say that if you are really dedicated to building the most muscle mass you possibly can, you would want to get a little protein in during the eight hours or so you sleep. I would not, however, set an alarm clock to do this. Only if you naturally get up to use the bathroom should you have that shake. Otherwise, you are disrupting your deep sleep pattern, and you can't recover and grow from your workouts if you don't get quality rest. Some guys can't get back to sleep for a while once they wake up, which takes away from the amount of sleep they get.

 If you don't normally wake up at night to urinate or whatever, here's what I would suggest. Have a small meal with some fat in it before going to sleep, so it will take a while to digest. Your body digests food slower while you sleep, anyway. Some good choices are whole eggs, lean red meat or even a protein shake with some all-natural peanut butter or a cup of almonds. That should go a long way toward keeping you out of that dreaded catabolic state you're worried about. If you do decide to go with a shake, use one like NitroTech by MuscleTech that's low in carbs and sugar. If you're trying to stay lean, those are the last things you want to be eating in the middle of the night. Also, have it already pre-mixed so you don't have to be messing with that while you're half asleep.