Victor Martinez Master Class

Common Training Problems Answered

Rise of Victor’s Delts

 What was the toughest body part for you to develop? How long was it a weak point, and how did you eventually get it to match the rest of your physique?

 A lot of people don’t believe it when I tell them now, but my delts were not very good at all in my early years. It wasn’t like I wasn’t doing the right exercises. I did presses and laterals just like today, and my form wasn’t even bad. But I had no mind-muscle connection. I was moving the weights, but I wasn’t feeling any type of contraction in my shoulders. Once I figured out that was missing, I worked hard on making sure I felt the heads of the delts working during the exercises. I also started doing a wider variety of exercises to hit all angles, like upright rows, front raises and different variations of laterals instead of the same old standing side raise. That’s when they finally grew.

The Quest for Striated Glutes

 I’ve heard that certain exercises help bring out striations in your glutes, like deep squats, glute machines and walking lunges. Do you think they really make a difference, or is it just a matter of getting your body fat down to 2-3 percent?

 You do need to get your body fat down to practically nothing to see striations in your glutes, no doubt about that. But you also need to have those muscles developed. You can’t have striations in a flat chest, so how can you have striations in a flat ass? Squats, leg presses, lunges and step-ups will all help develop the glutes. Then you have to figure out how to get rid of pretty much all the body fat through dieting and cardio, which is easier said than done!

Massage: When Pain Is Good

 A lot of bodybuilders seem to use foam rollers now at home to get some of the same benefits you would from seeing a chiropractor or a deep-tissue massage therapist. I doubt it’s just as good, but for those of us who simply can’t afford those other types of therapies on a regular basis, do you think it’s worth doing?

 Put it this way. It’s better than nothing. You will be able to release some of the bound-up tissue and adhesions. The problem is, the roller isn’t precise. It’s really hard to try and target a small, specific area like a therapist could by digging in with a thumb or an elbow, plus they can attack it from every angle that way. I know a lot of you guys are on tight budgets, but even if you can only get a deep-tissue massage once a month, every other month, or if you’re totally broke, four times a year, it’s well worth it. Just make sure you find a therapist who works with athletes and isn’t afraid to really get in there and dig hard. A productive deep-tissue massage should be pretty painful. If it’s not, you’re probably wasting your time and money.

What Would I Change?

 Your genetics seem to be just about perfect. But since all great bodybuilders are their own worst critics, if you could magically go back and change any aspect of your structure, muscle shape, etc., is there anything you would alter?

 I guess I would have been more of a pure mesomorph who gained muscle very easily. Looking at me now, most people assume I got this big right away, but it took me years and years. When I was in my late teens I had already been lifting steady for a few years, and I only weighed 175 pounds. For my first couple of NPC shows, I was a light heavyweight competing around 190. It all worked out in the end because eventually I put the size on that I needed to, but since you asked— yeah, I would have liked to have done it quicker!

How Much Water Is Enough?

 We are told to drink a gallon or two of water every day. I am sure the amount of water we each need must vary depending on things like our size, activity level and the climate we live in. How do we know if we are drinking enough? Should we be drinking so much water that we have to pee every 15-20 minutes, or does that sound excessive to you?

 Nobody should have to take a piss every 15 minutes, that’s just ridiculous. What are you gonna do, wear those adult Depend diapers just in case you can’t make it in time? I think about a gallon or a gallon and a half of water a day is enough for most guys unless you’re in severe heat. I don’t even drink much water with my meals, mostly between meals because I feel it interferes with my digestion otherwise. If you’re getting thirsty you might need to be drinking more, but if not I wouldn’t worry about it.

Turning Hams Into Beef on Leg Day

 I really don’t have time to hit the gym often enough to split legs up into different workouts for quads and hams. At the same time, my hamstrings definitely lag behind my quads. I’ve been told to work hamstrings first on leg day, but when I do this the weights I use on squats and leg presses suffer a bit. Should I keep doing it anyway, or do you think I could do just as well training hams after quads?

Don’t forget that all those compound movements like squats and leg presses involve the hamstrings along with the quads. That’s why on leg day I make sure to start the workout off by warming them both up and doing leg extensions and leg curls. When I worked with Oscar Ardon, he had me do that and then come back to hams after quads were done and hit them with more leg curls and stiff-leg deadlifts. But if your hams are really lagging behind, you should probably just work them first and not worry that your compound movements are down a little in weight. That’s only happening because like I said, the hams do assist in squats and leg presses, so they’re pre-exhausted. It’s probably a good thing in the long run because a lot of guys wind up wrecking their knees and/or lower backs from going super heavy on squats too often.

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